Xorn

Xorns are curiously neutral within the food chain of the world. Strange, elemental creatures of rock, they have little interest in soft-fleshed creatures, consuming instead the raw materials of the earth to sustain themselves. Hardly encountered by any except earth-digging races like Dwarves and Gnomes, a Xorn's voracious appetite for gold and gems, coupled with its extraordinary ability to glide through rock and earth without leaving any sort of disturbance, can make it a huge nuisance. In Xorn-populated areas, Dwarves are wise to line their treasure-rooms with lead or steel - Xorns are unable to pass through metallic substances in this way - although the fearsome strength of an Elder Xorn will still make short work of such defences.

The description of a Xorn in the first Monster Manual makes it sound almost like an earth elemental or a construct - a "stonelike" body, "stone-lidded eyes" - so I thought I'd take it away from the twisted, frog-like depiction in the illustration and more towards my preferred chunky, geometrical look. If the arms were segmented they'd remind me of those Laputa-esque robots in the fleetway Sonic comics.

The description of the Xorn's Earth Glide ability is kinda weird as to how you might visualise it. As with the Phase Spider I'd need to animate that blue-edged glow to properly communicate how it's meant to look! Maybe one day.

- Joe