Conflagration Ooze

Conflagration oozes are one of those things where people aren't sure whether they're a magical creation, a natural accident or some kind of mean joke. The fire inside the ooze is an especially painful toxin. Physical contact with the ooze causes the toxin to burn and seep though the skin and causes both fire and Constitution damage. Most oozes are mindless creatures, but this particular ooze (essentially roiling flame barely kept contained by a thin membrane) has malevolent intelligence behind it.

They're as smart as humans, and show strategy when hunting, immobilizing victims with their spell-like abilities before consuming them. Some of them are even imbued with hellish power (called Infernal Conflagrations Oozes), which albeit not more intelligent, are much more deadly.

Behir

Behir are huge serpentine creatures that live in warm rocky hills. They have a dozen small limbs, though most of the time they have them tucked against their body and slither along the ground like a snake. They're very dragonlike (right down to a lightning-based breath weapon), but actually loathe dragons with a ferocious passion. The alignment and type of the dragon does not come into consideration; hatred makes all things equal. Should the dragon prove too powerful for the Behir to kill, it will immediately leave it territory for a more dragon-free environment. Even though it has a breath weapon, it's only used in combat against multiple opponents or big enemies; it's much more likely to simply bite and swallow an adventurer.

Tried out something a bit different with the image this time. I feel I don't do it enough on this blog.

Aoa

The Aoa are a phenomenon that occurs when rifts for the Positive and Negative Energy Planes touch. Some planar scholars theorize that they're energy-neutral version of energons. They float along in the Astral and Ethereal planes, but can sometimes be found near planar rifts, absorbing magical energy. In fact, they do little more than float, and are only motivated into movement by the presence of strong magical auras. Which is unfortunate for people travelling through its home planes, since that requires precisely that sort of magic. If you try to attack them by magic, there's a very good chance that the spell will be reflected back on the caster.

Aoa appear in two forms: Sphere and Droplet versions. The former is the parental form, and the latter is the small blob that breaks off when it reflects enough magic.

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.

Eyeball Beholderkin

Beholders are (except for some rare occasions) solitary creatures. They're solitary because they're vain and spiteful creatures. They believe that they, as an individual, represent absolute physical and intellectual perfection, and can't stand the presence of other hideous, horribly imperfect creatures. They especially loathe other beholders, since the presence of another of their species is an insult to themselves.

They also really really hate beholderkin. Beholderkin are mutanted versions of this first species. Not sure how they came about, so I'm going to say wizards is probably most likely.

Eyeball beholderkin are the least threatening and weakest of the bunch. Where an actual beholder in a 8-foot creature of hate sporting a mass of eyestalks capable of party-ending magic, the eyeball beholderkin is an 8-inch nothing menacing you with cantrips (and a level one spell). They get used as familiars by wizards. They're on the same level as cats, toads and weasels in that sense.

Brain Mole

Amazingly psychic moles aren't another entry in the silly things wizards make tag (not to my knowledge, at least), but it's darn close. These little fellas must be quite annoying for early-level psionic adventurers, draining your precious power points and giving you psychic-only diseases.

Psionics (psychic magic) is one of those sets of rules I never bothered learning with D&D. The game is already complicated and varied enough as it is without throwing another form of casting in the game. All I really know about it is what I read about in this monster's entry, and the various complaints of loud people in forums claiming that they're broken.

Any psionic stories from you guys?

Zelekhut

There are numerous extradimensional creatures, Inevitables, from that deal with those that break the Law. Not little things, like thievery or such, but the Laws of Justice, Promise, Death, Space and Time. Zelekhuts are the ones who pursue those who broke Justice by escaping punishment. These gold and white robots chase after that person and capture them. If said fleeing miscreant happens to be executed by him arm spiked chains or any other reason, well, that's just too bad. Zelekhuts are also the weakest of the Inevitables, so it only gets stronger from here.

I tried to be alter the design into something a bit weirder. In Mechanus (where these things come from), I don't imagine they have the empathy to give their Terminator the somewhat comforting features of a humanoid creature. There's also no reason to have them look like a horse, but work with me here. So I tried to make the Zelekhut more aberrant, like something you really, really wouldn't want chasing after you.

Also replaced the wings with jet engines going on the sides. Because you don't need no stinkin' wings in Mechanus. Jets! If you're gonna catch criminals, you do it with a eyeless, hand-footed, cage-bodied golden centaur with JETS.

In other news, a viewer was so enamoured with my partner's Grisgol that they went and did a spectacular figurine out of it.

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.

Medusa

The Medusa is a classic creature (of Greek mythology if you don't know, and if you don't know a classic creature like a medusa from mythology what are you doing liking D&D anyway). Too often I feel that these monster women, which in the myths turn people to stone though an overwhelming mystical ugliness, get portrayed in too sexy a way too often. Like, just a scaly hot chick with snakes for hair that turns you to stone because her eyes are magic or something.

In D&D, their petrification powers do come from their eyes (called petrifying gaze), so I guess you get a free pass for that. But I tried to get the more monstrous aspect of the original Medusa across because having a monster that turns you to stone through sheer ugliness just strikes me as more interesting than magic eyes. That's horror stuff right there. You can't even sneak up and kill her in her sleep because her awful melted, pockmarked, scarred, malformed, sunken, twisted, scaly, oozing face is like right there, man.

And then I up and come with something mildly unsexy but otherwise just a silhouette. I did have something a bit uglier in my sketchbook, but I started doing some silhouettes which just looked nicer. That and if I rendered Medusa's true face at the height of my capabilities I may not have an audience anymore. I do this for your own safety, folks.

The MCM Expo was quite swell, despite me messing up on printing times and being unable to bring new stock. Still, it was nice and I sold out on some of my things and got to talk to some nice people and get a handful of new followers out of the deal. Special hello to the nice girl that recognized me from the internet (always an ego boost). I hope that the rush at the MLP booth wasn't too taxing and that you're enjoying the goofy hippogriff drawing.

Devourer

The Devourer is a giant undead creature, looking like a mummified shambling creature with great claws and an exposed ribcage. There's a little person in the ribcage. This little person is YOU.

Well, not really you. Potentially you. As in it's a full-round save-or-die ability it uses to suck the soul out of you and stick in its chest, slowly being consumed as it uses its magical abilities. This is another creature you should probably stick to using arrows for.

Also, this weekend (26th-27th of May) me and Joe Sparrow will be at the London MCM Expo. I'll be selling a couple of Dungeons & Drawings stickers and prints, and he'll be selling his own original artwork and comic. So drop by and say hi!

Arcane Ooze

You know what's hard to design? Oozes. There's only so many ways you can try to design an amoeba. Still, this is a sight better than that catastrophe under the title of Reekmurk. Eegh. I should really redo that particular image.

Some people have a lot of complaints about D&D being really caster-biased. Wizards and such are really squishy early game, when in later levels they gain powers of deific proportions, leaving combat-based classes in the dust. Well, for the sake of balance in the game, you have to break out the occasional mage-killer. The kinda monster where you totally aren't targeting the caster; it just likes to eat magic. If you didn't want to get eaten by a giant magic-eating lime jelly maybe you shoulda rolled a rogue.

This fella's shown up a couple of times now. He doesn't seem to be a very good wizard. I should probably give him a name. Rinceko? Orkwind? I'm sure I'll think of something.

Crypt Chanter

The Crypt Chanter is music-themed wraith. They gather together in choirs and orchestras, and using their lyrical powers they overwhelm nearby creatures then slowly begin to drain the life from them. When the victim dies, he rises and becomes another member of the group under the control of a spectral conductor.

Personally, I quite like monsters whose strategy seems a little bit more mysterious than "smack the PCs with my scary-strong attacks". These fellas are incorporeal too so that's... almost like being a slighty invisible shadow? Well, if you fluff them right they can be. Just find a way to block all the exits and the PCs are now stuck in a room with some weird spooky hymns echoing around as wavering shadowy singers float above your heads.

Featured on The Going Last Gaming Podcast's May of the Dead Carnival.