Skirr

Skirr are massive undead flying creatures. The appear as vaguely humanoid avian creatures with long-toothed bull heads, often covered in funeral wrappings, like a mummy would. The question is what are these creatures? Who mummified them? Why would they do that? Are they an ancient intelligent race? Demons? Corporeal gods? A physical manifestation of evil?

Whatever they were, the evidence is long gone. Now they're animal-like monsters, crawling from their ancient tombs and flying in vast empty places where someone might be stranded. They swoop down on their unfortunate victim and snatch them up in their talons. They fly up as high as they can then let the victim drop...

Joe picked this monster for me to draw this week. It might be something we do to challenge the other person to step out of their comfort zone. Normally I don't go for skeletons. I can draw skulls okay, but the complicated-ness of the rest of the bone structure muddles my head up some. But I'm quite happy with the way the bones in this look, especially the rib cage, especially considering the extra weird-shaped bones that birds have.

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.

Zaratan

The Zaratan is an almost-legendary creature of the sea. There are islands that people get stranded on, but the island moves. It moves so slowly that the people on it don't realize that they're on a turtle instead of on land. This animal, while large and potentially dangerous, is also slow and lazy. It prefers to float on the surface of the water with its mouth open, letting fish fly into its gullet. The creature can't be actively directed like a ship or horse, but a musician may play certain songs that excite the giant turtle out of its ordinary stupor. It's uncertain whether these turtles are their own species or ordinary turtles who have grown over millenia. No young ones have ever been found.

The beast-landmass is a very well-trod trope in stories. It's usually a combination of the size and slowness of the creature. A titan, whale, giant turtle or other creature will be asleep for long enough (or simply slow enough) for vegetation to begin growing on its body. People unsuspectingly walk on or even inhabit the island before they realize they're on a living creature.

This trope first appears in the legends and folktales of ancient sea-faring cultures. Today, you can see this played out in the Discworld book series, Pokémon, Shadow of the Colossus, Avatar the Last Airbender and probably a ton of other entertainment. The Zaratan itself appears in Jose Luis Borges' The Book of Imaginary Beings.

--Blanca

Zodar

Beedle had been ready to run the moment he saw it move. Seasoned treasure-hunter or no, a gnome is wise to observe discretion over valour when, in the act of raiding some dead god's temple, he sees what appears to be a broad statue of bolted black metal shift its weight and come alive! Legging it out of the temple with a small sack-full of gold, he nevertheless considered the day well-spent.

It was the following night that he realised things would not go so smoothly. Awoken by an odd sound on the wind, he peered from his tent to note - with horror - that the statue had followed him! Rather than attacking him it simply stood, observing him with an unfaltering gaze.

At first, Beedle had made the obvious assumption that it was some avenging demon, set in place by its masters to protect their treasure. But the thing did not seem the least bit interested in the gold. It seemed rather to simply appreciate his company, and it followed him wherever he went. Whatever it was, it certainly had the gnomish spirit of adventure! It wasn't the slightest bit afraid of trespassing in ancient tombs and temples. And it was handy in a fight, too - the thing could pop a goblin's head off like a corked bottle! 

The hat and cape were Beedle's idea, but he had a feeling the golem didn't mind. This would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Zodars are pretty cool! A construct of unknown origin (no cop-out "a-wizard-made-it" backstory here; it's completely open), basically a shell of black metal filled with weird muscle-goo that can puff up to become strength 50 for a turn. For a medium-sized humanoid this is pretty crazy - but the interesting stuff is in the additional details.

 Firstly, Zodars are actually capable of altering reality with a Wish spell once per year (although, the book tells us, they rarely deign to do so). Also, despite not having an intelligence score, they are capable of speech, although a Zodar is not likely to speak more than a sentence in a human's lifetime. And get this - when they do speak, every creature that hears it understands it regardless of what languages they know. Weird, huh? Also the armour Zodars are clad in is presumably some mysterious dimension X material because they are literally invulnerable to all damage except by bludgeoning weapons.

They sound sort of eccentric, too - apparently they occasionally travel around with adventuring groups on an enigmatic whim. The book sets it up that they're moved to do so by strange profound force but I like the idea that they just find adventuring fun.

SHINY BLACK THINGS AGAIN WOO HOO

- Joe

Yeth Hound

The Yeth Hound is one of many breeds of hellish dog. Packs of these slim headless hounts can be found in grey wastelands and barren moors, hunting unfortunate lost souls. The howl of the Yeth Hound is its greatest weapon and strikes fear into the hearts of those who hear before they even see it. The best protection against these creatures is light; they fear and hate light, and fade away to nothing in the sun's rays.

The mythology of the yeth hound is a lot more interesting than the illustration in the Monster Manual would have you believe. They appear in the folklore of the British Isles, being described as the Devil's headless hunting hounds. Other sources say that the yeth hound is the spirit of an unbaptized child. The Isles have a good deal of legends involving ghostly dogs and large cats prowling along the moors. They also go by the name of yell hound, wish hound or whist hound. Their cry is both terrifying and mournful.

So it's kind of a shame that since the Yeth Hound is a headless dog, the official illustration is of a dog with a vaguely humanoid face. Especially since there's already plenty of other kinds of hellhounds and beastly canines among the monsters of D&D.

Their native plane is also quite interesting. The Gray Wastes of Hades are a plane of neutral evil, located between Hell and the Abyss, and is used as the main battleground between devils and demons. It seems to be the opposite of the Blessed Fields of Elysium. Where Elysium is colourful, warm and euphoric, Hades is pale, cold and depressing. Like Elysium, it can alter the mood of those who live in it, this time by making you as morose and apathetic that you can't find the energy with which to leave. The plane drains you of colour and substance, until you become a translucent shade.

Also, try to find The Drolls, Traditions and Superstitions of Old Cornwall by Robert Hunt. It's an older book (1881), so it may be difficult to get a hold of. But it tells lots of neat stories of giant, fairies, ghosts and demons that haunt the English countryside, and its where I got my Yeth Hound info from.

--Blanca

Yuan-ti Abomination

The Yuan-ti are an ancient bloodline of sorcerers who long ago traded their humanity for hideous power, becoming in the process horrifying, serpentine monsters. Almost the epitome of self-serving evil, Yuan-ti are to be feared without exception.

As a crossbreed between reptiles and men, Yuan-ti come in varying degrees of monstrousness. The most human-like, those called Purebloods, are in actuality the weakest, diluting their magical power for a more human appearance. At the other end of the spectrum sit those called Abominations, who often resemble little more than a giant snake with a twisted human torso and two muscled arms.

This one took me quite a few goes to get right, and I'm still not 100% happy with it. I started off with something maybe a little more realistic, but it looked a little too "anthro" in a way I really don't like - when characters have almost completely human bodies with a completely animalian head abruptly placed on top. Human anatomy and animal anatomy (particularly with snakes and lizards!) are so crazily different it feels lazy to just smash them together, so I tried to make it a bit weirder than that.

Also the idea of horns that are actually snakes was cool to me so I put that in there too.

The description of Abominations in the 3.5 MM is that of a large snake with "burly, humanoid arms". SOUND FAMILIAR??!?!?!?

- Joe

Xerfilstyx

The Xerfilstyx, also known by its more comfortable name of Styx Devil, is one of the natural residents of the River Styx, a long trail of oily blood-like water that runs through all the Lower Plains. Due to the river's length, it's possible to encounter this creature in Hades, Carceri, the Abyss, Pandemoium... but it will be a far more common sight in its native dimension, the Nine Hell.

The creature itself is of great size, resembling a cross between a horned man and a slug, with large wings and a great deal of exsanguinating suckers on its tail. It's difficult to say whether its home in the River Styx mean it's immune to it, or constantly under its power. The Styx has memory-wiping properties and even dipping a finger in it can cause the erasure of hours of your life. Complete immersion would leave you a blank slate as your memories are washed down the river. The Styx Devil is insane, possessing few, if any, of its own memories, and temporary keeper to the memories of countless souls as they wash over it. But in its dark heart the devil doesn't feel torture or grief at the absence of self, but joy in enlightenment. And it wants to share this joy with everyone.

The Xerfilstyx is an extremely powerful creature. Its constant subjugation by the waters of its own home probably prevent it from rising up and challenging the Lords of Hell. It has a great number of powerful spells, both protective and offensive. The tail is an appendage to be avoided; once its suckers attach to a person, the devil begins to drain both blood and memories. The stolen blood can be heated through the creature's hellish veins, mixed with the Styx waters and regurgitates on other unfortunates in a spray of boiling gore and forgetfulness.

Interesting note: the River Styx of the D&D cosmology is more alike to the River Lethe of Greek mythology. This was one of five rivers in Hades, all with different properties. Lethe is forgetfulness, Styx is hatred, Acheron is pain, Phlegethon is a river of fire and Cocytus is lamentation (possibly a river of tears). The Styx in mythology is the largest and most important (gods would swear on the Styx, since the goddess that represented it was considered honorable and true). Strangely, Charon the Ferryman doesn't even transport souls across the Styx; he does it over the Acheron. Maybe the threat of the painful waters dissuades any souls with cold feet from jumping in and swimming back to the living world.

Xerfilstyx's appearance influenced by the Glaucus atlanticus, also known as the blue dragon sea slug, an incredibly beautiful creature.

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

Werewolf

Lycanthropy is a magical affliction, transmitted through contact with cursed creatures known as Werewolves. The hapless subject experiences a painful and spontaneous transformation into a bestial form resembling a humanoid wolf either upon experiencing physical harm or being exposed to the light of a full moon. In time, the subject may learn to control his condition, eventually becoming able to suppress the more animalian urges that accompany the transformation and in some cases to effect the change at will.

Werewolves are dangerous foes, mixing the ferocity of a wolf with the best traits of the host creature. Their resilience, too, is legendary - foes attacking with anything but silvered weaponry are unlikely to kill them.

I wanted to do the werewolf because, like dragons and other famous monsters, I find most depictions of them take a similar sort of route. I've shamelessly plagiarised the red face/blue lips from Blanca's sublime Red Dragon but otherwise tried to take the monster away from the usual lithe, brown and muscular form and into something that belongs in a game like FFIX, big and colourful and blocky.

Also, it might not be immediately obvious but the host creature in this case is a dwarf - this was something that always made me curious. Do bigger creatures make for bigger werewolves? I like the idea that conservation of mass would make a dwarf into a rather short, stocky wolfman. Pleased with the painting quality I got for this one - make sure you click it to see it full-size!

- Joe

Worm That Walks

So while being a Lich is the classic way to live forever: magically binding your soul to a corpse while keeping a piece of it soul in a seperate object for protection. The other way doesn't keep the soul attached to a corpse or jewel; it binds it to a million squirming maggots.

Becoming a Worm That Walks is a much more obscure spell and ritual that sometimes requires the assistance of another similarly high-leveled wizard. The grave site must be tended for over a year before the death of the person to be transformed by watering it with blood and sowing it with meat. This focuses the magic and guarantees a healthy population of vermin. The dead spellcaster is placed in the grave, and his companion finishes the ritual by casting a spell that attracts all sorts of beetles and worms to feed on the body. After a week, the flesh, organs and bones of the deceased are consumed by the vermin, and they become a hivemind controlled by the spellcaster's soul. Assuming the ritual is performed correctly, there's still only a small chance that it will work. The spell requires a massive amount of magical energy to be in the recently deceased, which means that it's primarily epic level spellcasters that successfully become Worm That Walks.

So why become something as icky as a Worm That Walks rather than the comparatively less icky Lich? Potential increase in survivability. Yes, a Lich with a well-hidden phylactery will survive dying, but a savvy adventurer will destroy the phylactery before doing to fight the Lich (see the Harry Potter franchise). A Worm That Walks contains its lifeforce in its squirming mass. If it feels threatened, it will take the risky but potentially rewarding course of breaking its body apart, sending its bugs squirming everywhere. Since its body is made up of so many of these little critters, there's a good chance that at least one will survive and reproduce to create enough worms to form a new body.

Also, its attacks are pretty horrifying, especially the one where you get wrapped up and eaten alive by its body (100 points of damage per round). It's smart enough to disguise itself too, either preparing several extended disguise self spells or purchasing a hat of disguise.

Good against players with Scoleciphobia.

Lich

Wo Jia, Illustrious Scion of the Divine Kingly Bloodline and Peace-Loving Defender of the Sacred Light, reigned over the great Lowland kingdoms the better part of a century. His reign was an eventful one - he oversaw many great changes during his lifetime to which he always adapted in a way both harmonious and supremely willful, with the interests of the common man ever at heart. 

Despite the Lowlands being sandwiched between the aggressively expansionistic Dwarvish Commonwealth and the fervorous hordes of Kord, his Kingdom saw no war for the entire duration of his earthly reign. Indeed, he was so well-loved by his people that when he neared his end during an illness in his 117th year, there was panic among the nobles of his court. There was no heir to succeed him! How would the Kingdom continue to prosper without Wo Jia?

An agreement was reached. The ritual was performed in secret by a wizard - better for the public not to know, really. The ruse was faultless. At first, the difference was barely noticeable, since his flesh was already wasted away. They bathed him daily in perfumes, and incense was always burned in his presence. Over the years, though, it was clear to any onlooker with eyes to see; his skin was tanned like leather now, taut over bone like some delicate drum. If the people suspected, however, no man ever spoke of it. The King yet reigned, and the Lowlands flowered under his guidance. 


So, 200 images! Well, this is the 201st, I think. Blanca and I thought we'd celebrate by posting some of the most iconic creatures in the entirety of D&D - both ever-popular villains - the Red Dragon and the Lich (neither of which, miraculously, we've done before!). So, another big soppy thankyou (the second in a row) to everyone for sticking with us.

The Lich is pretty much the go-to guy for a scheming villain these days. Whether it's the eponymous villain of WoW's second expansion or Order of the Stick's cliché-embracing Xykon, a malevolent dead sorcerer is going to tick most of your boxes. Which isn't to say the formula isn't open to reinvention - one of the most popular villains of the last decade is actually a Lich! Who, you ask? Well, a Lich's defining characteristic is that he stores his immortal soul safely in a small trinket, called a Phylactery, in order to shield it from harm, rendering him unable to truly die. Can you think of any bad guys of recent years who would do something like that? Hint: he does it more than once!

Anyway, another big post. I'm not 100% fond of the image, but the idea of a Lich made out of good intentions is something I've been rolling about in my brain for a while. Enjoy!

-Joe