Myconid (Redux)

Sometimes, in the darker regions of the forest, you may catch sight of these creatures as they ponderously shamble among the trees. Famously shy, myconids stay far from the bustle of human civilisation, serving as stoic watchers over their hallowed groves. Whilst their bodies may seem weak and pallid, they are quite hardy; a clan of myconids will not hesitate to gang together to protect their young and their weak from outside attack, aided by the poisonous spores they continuously shed.

I'm gonna cop to some influence here from the mushroom in Hollow Knight, but this also makes me think of the mushroom-people from the Dark Souls series, the way they travel in packs of children and adults. Also the design trope of a monster lumbering about with a bunch of weapons lodged in its hide is a real favourite of mine, the way it sort of tells a story, like - many have tried to kill this thing, but all have failed.

Chain Golem

Chain golems are one of those golems found almost exclusively in Hell under the command of kytons -- devils which already have a morbid fascination with hooks and chains. If one is ever seen on the Martial Plane, it means that someone somewhere is about to have a very very bad day. The primary weapon of the chain golem is, of course, the chains, which come with all sorts of pointy things attached. When threatened, the chains whirl around it, creating an almost a protective wall where any incoming object or person will likely get sliced to pieces. Though neutral like all other golems, they are inherently servants of kytons and if its kyton master dies, it comes under the command of the nearest kyton or other kyton its previous master mentioned.

I should probably draw a kyton.

Blanca's Tumblr

Phase Wasp

Though with a name similar to the Phase Spider, the Phase Wasp is called as such not because it can travel between dimensions, but because it can attack between dimensions. Your ordinary Phase Wasp is a creature of the Material Plane, a magical insect about a foot long (yikes), but without the venom that ordinary wasps have. Instead, their stinger shoots bolts of force, as per the magic missile spell, which allows it to hit creatures whose bodies are in the planes which are overlaid over the material. The wasp also has the natural ability to see invisible creatures which, again, helps it defend itself against etheral creatures.

The source of the Phase Wasps' magical powers are not explained, but I have my own theories. Like ordinary wasps, these dudes make their nests out of chewed wood pulp and paper. They have a special fondness for making them out of the papers of spell books, which makes a Phase Wasp infestation especially bothersome for mages.

So my theory is that Phase Wasps at some point in the past were ordinary wasps just looking for materials for their nests. A couple of conveniently available magical libraries you have a new breed of giant magical super-wasps. Thanks a lot, wizards.

EPIC MONTH: Phoenix

The Phoenix is a unique creature. In fact, it may be the only one of its kind.

Its plumage is the colours of fire and burn with the same intensity. Even when a feather is shed, assuming it doesn't simply burn away, it retains heat and golden light indefinitely. It can start fires with a touch and its blood burns like lava. The Phoenix's fire is more than just mundane flame, as creatures normally immune to it find themselves burned by divinity.

The most striking ability of the Phoenix is its self-immolation. Every few centuries, the Phoenix spontaneously bursts into flames and a younger version rises from the glowing ashes. This same ability is also used as a defense mechanism, making it able to burn away all damage in a matter of seconds. To see the Phoenix self-immolate can be considered a good or bad omen, depending on your interpretation. However, it is certainly a bad omen if you're within the burn range.


Welcome to Epic Month. As a celebration of Dungeons & Drawings four-year anniversary, we're going to be posting epic-level creatures, i.e. creatures which should only be fought by adventurers of 20th level or higher. At this challenge rating, creatures encountered are more divine forces than ordinary forces, capable of levelling landscapes, destroying souls and bending time and space.

Honestly, the Phoenix's immolation supernatural ability seems a bit OP to me. Basically, as a full round action it can kill itself, dealing massive damage within a certain area, reapparing at the end of the round with full hit points. You can probably count its spell-like abilities as refreshed too, since this phoenix technically counts as a "new" bird. I suppose its AC is on the low side compared to other epic-level creatures, so it won't be to hard to whittle it back down again. Just enjoy taking 40d6 fire damage every few rounds as it regenerates itself.

Glimmerskin

"Glimmerskin" is the name given to peculiar entities known, on occasion, to venture to our plane from that of positive energy. Little is known of their origin or behaviour, except that they seem inexplicably drawn to sites of conflict and violence on the material plane. Being incorporeal and thus unable to participate in the destruction they crave, they have been known to conduct semi-formal symbiotic "bondings" with earthly creatures (typically warmongers, or those who experience violence on a daily basis).

When thus contracted, the Glimmerskin encapsulates the "host" in a veil of light, often taking the appearance of a glowing cloak, or a radiant set of armor. The bond is willingly made - in exchange for sating the creature's appetite for blood, the host is bestowed with a portion of the Glimmerskin's magical positive energy - empowering his attacks and bolstering his defence. The Glimmerskin itself exerts no control over its partner, merely communicating its wishes telepathically; after all, it is more than capable of "jumping" to another host if the current one isn't fulfilling his duty!

The idea of Glimmerskins is pretty terrifying, particularly as they exist to further empower the already strong and bloody. I can imagine the presence of just one in any situation would be enough to shake things up considerably - people might try and outdo each other in acts of wanton violence in order to tempt it from owner to owner! It was fun to think of a symbiotic creature that goes in a different, light-themed direction from creatures like Venom. I'm quite happy with the design, although the host ended up going in a sort of Final Fantasy direction, which was... unexpected? I guess it reminds me a little of the centaur I did.

Anyway! This week marks the 3rd consecutive Sunday I've posted an image up ON TIME. WHOA! I even have a buffer. Aren't you guys proud of me?!

- Joe

Immoth

Immoths are large elementals of ice, making their home in the coldest parts of the material plane. Their dense flesh makes them difficult to damage and their bodies are encrusted with magic runes, whose powers they are able to unleash at will. It is said that Immoths inscribe these runes themselves as they travel from place to place. They are famously curious, possessing a deep hunger for information of all kinds, and barter (and some times fight) to obtain it. There is a legend that Immoths are recipients of some ancient information-gathering curse, forcing them to compulsively travel and learn. If this is true, it is thought the magic runes on their bodies started as a way to remember things.

This week's monsters are a kind of new idea - Blanca and I both chose monsters for each other to illustrate, and we didn't look at any existing images of our creatures. I think it helped me think outside the box a little more, so we're thinking of trying it again. Anyway, enjoy!

- Joe

Fire Bat

The only thing worse that getting a bat stuck in your hair is when said bat is on fire. If you're familiar with the Zelda series, you know how annoying a fire bat can get.

Like the Salamander, Rast and Efreet, the Fire Bat is a creature native to the Elemental Plane of Fire. They normally appear as winged bitey fireballs and reveal their more bat-like nature when their fire is extinguished (normally on death). At first you might think that the Fire Bat is your pretty standard fire-based creature. If it touches you, it burns, capable of setting things on fire, etc... But it also has a pretty interesting ability.

These fellas are voracious flesh eaters. Their strategy is to bite someone, keep their teeth in until they've eaten their fill and then fly away. However, where a fire bat gets full, it has a change to split into two fire bats. Both of which are hungry.

Just carry a bucket of water with you. They don't like water.

Ocean Strider

The Ocean Strider is a sea-bound guardian. They appear as 20-foot tall humanoids with rubbery orca-like skins that walk on the surface of the water. The very sight of this black and white colossus walking towards your boat, wreathed in fog and flanked by dire sharks, whales and giant quid is enough to strike fear into the scurviest of sea dogs.

It's a little unclear whether the protection they give their spot of the ocean is altruistic or fierce territoriality. What are you doing on my property, and all that business. Any creature that doesn't belong is that part of the ocean is quickly seen to. So any boats that have the misfortune of being there can expect some kind of encounter with these guys. Fortunately, the promise to keep fishing to a minimum, avoid dumping, and getting out as soon as possible is all they ask. But if you try to fight them or sail by, you can look forward to terrible weather, attacks by elementals, having your ship sunk and your crew eaten by sea creatures. Also they reeeeally don't like anyone who wants to plunder the ocean depths.

I really like orcas. They're one of the more striking sea-mammals, thanks to their monochromatic markings. I also really like fey, the balance between nature protector and tricky little jerk. So obviously I really like this creature.

However, the stat block is kinda confusing. So they're Huge sized creatures, yes? Then why do they only have 19 STR? I know that Ocean Strider's are fey, which are always more about trickiness than brute strength, but this is a fey that's half killer whale and it likes to sink ships. For reference, an orca as statted out in the books has 27 STR. The description says they normally wear mithril armor, but that's not taken into account in the AC. They wield Gargatuan weapons, but I don't think the numbers are quite right (doesn't a Gargantuan falchion deal 4d6, not 2d8 damage?). And their CR is 18, but they seem a little too weak for that. I guess they get a couple of CR points for the extra damage they can do with their summoning spells and the fact that if they get you in the water, that's probably gonna be it for you. I don't know if I'm just misunderstanding the stat block though. I still like this creature though.

Ormyrr

The Ormyrr are, in many ways, a noble race; they have merely been dealt something of an ignoble genetic hand. Descended from slug-like creatures living in the silt deposits of rivers, they have nonetheless risen to form societies comparable in intelligence with those of humans, although the individuals are giant - averaging around 30 feet long in adulthood.

The chief failing among the Ormyrr is their utter dearth of any magical adeptitude. Whether by chance or intent, the Ormyrr are genetically incapable of producing mages or magic-sensitive offspring. In a colourful world of wizards and magical monsters this has bestowed the Ormyrr with a jealous fascination with all things magical - they hoard enchanted items for use as currency and commonly attack the owners of any they find. Some say the ultimate goal of the Ormyrr is to finally breed a sorcerer.

In an odd counterbalance to their jealousy the Ormyrr are fastidiously law-abiding creatures. Many have escaped death at their hands by appealing to their deep-seated sense of right and wrong.

Needlefolk

The Needlefolk are a race of sentient plants. They're not especially intelligent, but have good problem-solving skills and ambush tactics. However, they do not form societies. They live as individuals, walking around the forest finding sustenance in decaying animals, sunlight and pools of water (lacking a root system, they must drink water through a facial orifice). One of the few times you're likely to see groups of them is when groups of them are growing from their seeds. Since Needlefolk tend to stay in small territories, their seeds are spread in a small area.

The only other time you're likely to see large groups of them is when they're stalking their most hated enemy: elves. No one's entirely sure where this incredible hatred come from, but Needlefolk feel such a passionate loathing that they've even developed the bizarre ability to sense elven blood from 1,500 feet away. Even if it's a large troupe of elves, a single Needlefolk will stalk them, seething, until a big enough number of Needlefolks have been drawn to the elves to warrant an attack. They're smart enough to put aside hatred in the name of strategy and survival.

Needlefolk have no magical abilities, but can shoot the thorns from their body into one target. The thorns sting like the dickens. You'll be quite safe duing winter months though. Since they're decidous plants, Needlefolk shed their leaves in auturm and sleep through the cold.

Nimblewright

Most golems are, by and large, not constructions of great finesse. The materials usually available to the artificer - wood, stone, metal - lend themselves to sturdy, simple designs, which perfectly suit the usual role of constructs as gatekeepers and bodyguards; difficult to damage, and with considerable stopping power. As with all magical engineering, however, there is always somebody willing to take matters a step further.

Thus, we have the Nimblewright. The Nimblewright is unique among constructs in a number of ways. It is humanoid and of medium size, built more for agility than physical presence, and notably capable of impersonating a humanoid creature in appearance with a few add-ons and a spell or two. More than this, the thing that truly distinguishes the Nimblewright is its intelligence: golems are normally nonintelligent machines, capable only of understanding a few simple commands from their controller. The Nimblewright is animated by an elemental spirit of water, imbuing it with human intelligence and a unique personality, allowing for intuitive thinking in any situation. For this reason, Nimblewrights are often used as assassins and spies.

Robot form is sort of inspired by the aesthetics of that robot girl from the more recent Tekken games, she has some great moves where she sort of casually pops her head off. I'd love to revisit this and animate a transformation, I imagine it'd be horrifying in a Ghost-in-the-Shell way to see it happen. Blanca says the robot form looks like Samus. :(

Blanca's been working this weekend, so her post will be up later in the week!

Leviathan

The Leviathan is not so much a creature as a force of nature. Resembling a whale of colossal size, the beast rarely leaves survivors of the creatures it encounters, mindlessly gulping down gallons upon gallons of water and indiscriminately consuming any matter floating therein. Some speculate the Leviathan to be merely a mercifully rare breed of monster, encountered occasionally by hapless sailors - other stories paint it as a single, legendary beast, of the same magnitude of the Tarrasque. In any case, unless you happen to be a warrior of epic level or have some kind of armada backing you up, the Leviathan is one of those creatures where by the time you encounter it it's probably far too late.

Feel bad that Blanca managed a non-digital offering this week when I stayed safe and photoshopped it up. My excuses are that I'm still trying to stick with this style of rendering (something I've been bad at in the past) and I just need to get it done quickly so I can get on with other stuff.

Jahi

The Jahi is a manifestation of unfulfilled desires of the dead. They concentrate and eventually give rise to a ghostly serpent, which silently seeks out someone to use as its puppet and force them to indulge in all sorts of hedonistic pleasure, and draw others into an orgiastic celebration of excess. To the naked eye, it looks like the person is uncouth and unmodest, though strangely alluring. But those who look closer notice the creature.

This creature is actually based on a demoness of Zoroastrianism. She is a servant Ahriman, the evil side, and seeks out to destroy good with filth and sexuality. She possesses and tempts women and makes them lascivious, and mensturation is a sign of her defilement of them.

My applause to the writers of D&D for taking this creature in an interesting direction. Instead of making the Jahi yet another succubus-like sexy demon lady, they went for something amazingly weird: a multi-headed snake that drains Charisma and controls a host. This is an great monster to have as a bad guy. Though it's Tiny, its challenge rating is a whopping 16. Its touch attack is especially dangerous dealing 1d3 damage and 1d4 Charisma damage (with an extra 5 points of damage to your hp per Charisma taken). Also a neat creature that will probably fight to keep the host it's so carefully been grooming and will probably cut its losses to seek another better host if discovered.

Ixitxachitl

Yet another monster with those names I either constantly have looked up or be ready to copy paste. Looked up if it was based on or inspired by some mesoamerican monster, but it doesn't seem to be.

These dudes are manta rays with a bad disposition. And that's pretty much the beginning and end of it. When I first saw them I was hoping they were gonna be some kind of aboleth-like creature but they are literally intelligent four-foot long manta rays. The Demon Lord Demogorgon just gathered a bunch of these little fellas up and gave them smarts and a superiority complex. They're not even stingrays (no poison), they're just kinda slippery and mean. I've attempted to give them something a little more to their look so they have tell-tale signs of demonic influence. Some of them are called Vampiric Ixitxachitl, which aren't undead, just a subspecies that can feed off your life energy.

They should make for an interesting early-level enemy for your underwater campaign, instead of relying on kuo-toa and sahuagins. Plus your players may not think too much of the innocent little ray that's lying in the sand. Then come the negative levels.

Rogue Eidolon

A Rogue Eidolon usually begins as a statue or idol to a deity in a temple or place of power. Whether by the intent of its deity or merely an unintended result of proximity to divine rituals, the statue is imbued with or accrues a spark of divine power from the god it was built to venerate.

In some rare cases, however, this strange power causes them to spontaneously experience a degree of sentience. The result is often catastrophic. The shock of awakening sends the unprepared golem utterly insane, spelling death for its unsuspecting worshippers. Should a Rogue Eidolon escape, there is no telling what it might do, as its movements are frantic and random - it will attack any and all creatures it finds in a mad rage.

Not only does a Rogue Eidolon have all the benefits of being a construct (huge strength, immunity from many forms of damage) but its corrupted divine power gives it some terrifying abilities - its touch sends men mad (and we're not talking 1d4 rounds here, we're talking a permanent Confusion spell that can only be removed with a Wish) and, horribly, it weeps a sort of blood from the divine symbols on its body, which it can regurgitate in a spray at foes. This blood also has a maddening effect that causes its victims to attack their allies.

Those of you who've read the entry for Rogue Eidolons probably realise that I've been a little liberal in my interpretation of the text - technically they only count evil gods as patrons. However, I really like the Rogue Eidolon with an emphasis on Rogue - as in, something that starts out good but "goes rogue". The idea of an evil statue coming alive and doing bad things seems pretty straightforward. But what if the same was possible of a statue dedicated to someone like Pelor? I really like the idea that divine power - even the divine power that comes directly from a good-aligned god - can at some point become perverted, corrupting. It makes the idea of the Rogue Eidolon seem like a really nasty aberration that needs to be stamped out.

The illustration above is actually of a Rogue Eidolon of Pelor who's the villain in a campaign I'm writing. Not only is he murderously crazy, but his Evil Plan actually involves trying to kill Pelor, who he (understandably?) resents.

Trying to develop my style of digital painting some more. Particularly inspired by the art style of Dota 2, which I've been playing a bunch.

Please view the full-size version!

Bogun

Bogun are the homunculi of the druidic world. Where a wizard uses clay and alchemical ingredients to construct a homunculus, the bogun is created using woodland refuse including leaves, feathers, sticks, mud, animal skeletons, insect carapaces, slime... meaning that each bogun vary wildly in their physical appearance according to the materials used. Creation of both things require some blood of its master before being infused with life.

It's not a creature meant for combat, but can carry out small tasks for its master (fetch that, watch this...). It does have a weak poison that can cause some pretty bad rashes and cramps, so that's useful for annoying low-level adventurers intruding in a sacred grove.

Myconid

Myconids are the mushroom-people. Something quite well suited for your Mario-themed D&D game I suppose. They live to about 24 years of age, getting larger and stronger with each passing year until the ruler of a circle of myconids is about 12 feet tall. They do a good many things via spores, the main three being communication (initating a telepathing link with someone), alarm and reproduction. Older myconids can use their spores to pacify and cause hallucinations --essentially drugging the target-- and to briefly reanimate dead bodies as vaguely fungoid puppets. Eventually the eldest mushroom-man is able to produce potions, which I like to think is actually some organically generated goo rather than something from a cauldron.

So I guess if you do want to use these guys for your Mario-themed D&D game, having an older myconid around can really give it more horrifying angle.

I like mushrooms. They're a delicious piece of not-plant. I also like how weird they look; there are some that you could look at and be astounded to find that they are, in fact, a mushroom. All of the myconids in this image take inspiration from different kinds of mushroom, varying in crazy looks and deliciousness.

GUEST WEEK: Gravorg by Emmie Bednall

The Gravorg is pretty much just an animal.

A hilarious animal.

Okay, so you're in this cave, right? And all of a sudden you lift off the ground. You go all the way up until you smack into the ceiling. You don't fall again, so you start to stand up on the ceiling. You manage, quite easily in fact. Then you drop again. Then you go up again. Then down again. Smack, smack smack!

That's because the Gravorg is a slow, lazy, sloth-like creature (despite being the size of a horse) and prefers to soften up any prey or enemies by reversing gravity and smacking you around the room until you pass out.

Like I said: hilarious.

Image brought to you by Emmie Bednall. She likes silly animals.

GUEST WEEK: Death Knight by Cristian Ortiz Martinez

We all know that sometimes when you die, you don't stay underground like you should. Maybe the right prayers weren't performed, or maybe you're full of hatred that reaches beyond the grave. Or maybe you were chosen by some dark god to become their general for their massive undead army.

That's what a Death Knight is: a warrior of evil disposition who so impressed the forces of darkness that they decided to give him a promotion. They're like evil paladins (a recommended class for these guys tends to be the blackguard class), surrounded by an aura of fear, able to summon hellfire and attracting any undead within a 200 mile radius. That has the potential to be the mass migration of the undead of a smallish country to the spot where this guy is standing.

Also these fellas have turn immunity, so good luck with that strategy, clerics for the forces of good.

This image brought to us by Cristian Ortiz Martínez, a.k.a Crom.

Abeil (animated)

THIS S IS ANIMATED YOU SHOULD FOR RIZZLES CLICK THE PICTURE



Now that that's out of the way, this is an Abeil... vassal. A vassal is probably most accurate.

The Abeil are a race of tall, industrious bee-like humanoids. Their society is divided into three castes: vassals (the workers, in all different roles of society), soldiers and a queen. The worker is obviously the weakest of these three, but still possess a muscle-atrophying poison and the ability to create a buzz with their wings that leaves enemies into a sleepy stupor. Soldiers also have an amplified eardrum-rupturing version of this.

Like many insects, Abeils like to expand their territory, partially through economic means, which may or may not be good for any other surrounding cultures.

And now for my biological lecture for anybody who cares to read far enough down to this bit. I know why they seperated abeil society into worker-soldier-queen society: it makes for easy classification into who the commoners, the ones you fight and the one you diplomatize with are gonna be. Actual bee society is also quite interesting in that it's a worker-drone-queen society, where the all-female workers do all the work and defending of the hive. The stingless, all-male drones exist purely for the purpose of mating with the queen, usually of a different hive, since the queen stores all the genetic material necessary from previous drones for her 3-5 year lifespan.

The queen is also a really interesting thing. While the term 'queen' implies control, she's a slave to the hive. She literally spends her whole life laying eggs, and if she ever stops, the workers will raise a larva to become the new queen, which will kill the old one. Beekeepers usually imprison the queen in a certain section of the hive, so we can enjoy delicious, larva-free honey.

Also a little bit disappointed that abeils don't have a racial penalty to smoke-based attacks.