#berbalang

On the left, the Berbalang. They live on the floating remains of dead gods, for they have the power to speak to spirits and draw knowledge from a creature's bones. They're about 4‒7 ft (1.2‒2.1 m) tall, pretty anti-social, and live for the pursuit of hidden knowledge. They can also create a spectral duplicate to act as a spy, if you'd rather screw a ghostly version!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of content lately (life has been throwing me curveballs left and right) but I'm finally back with another warlock subclass!

Berbalangs are, in my opinion, one of the most interesting and overlooked monsters that were included in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. They don't have a very high CR (and only have 17 intelligence for some reason, despite being basically immortal, having truesight and being able to speak every language?) but their lore and spectral duplicate ability make them incredibly interesting NPCs nonetheless. Berbalangs are obsessed with secrets, and they find them by hopping about planes using duplicates of themselves. The features of this subclass are modeled after a berbalang's own abilities and lore, mainly giving you utility features for outside of combat.

Remember, the high quality PDF version of this subclass is avaliable on my patron-only dropbox alongside a bunch of other homebrew stuff (including more Warlock subclasses). Supporting me there gives you access to loads of exclusive stuff, and really helps to support me. You can find my patreon here.

The Berbalang are malevolent creatures from Filipino folklore. They are vaguely humanoid in appearance, but possess bat-like wings, narrow eye pupils and a frightening countenance. They are known to dig up graves and eat corpses.

If an area's population of corpses has been consumed, Berbalangs will retreat into nearby grasslands and go into a trance. They will send out their astral forms to find living victims to kill and devour. They can be detected by the sound of their wings and the glint of their eyes, but the only protection is said to be a coconut pearl or a lime-soaked blade.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Ever since I learned that githyanki swords cut silver chords, I wanted to know more about the astral plane. Thing is, no D&D supplement ever seemed to really know any more than I did. That changed when Monte Cook’s (no relation to Zeb) A Guide to the Astral Plane fell into my hands.

Cook is a pivotal figure in RPGs and I am not sure his approach to things really fits in my wheelhouse. That said, this is a masterpiece of imagination, charting the corners of a difficult-to-comprehend corner of the multiverse simply, concisely and with more adventure hooks than a tackle box.

The astral plane is less a plane itself than it is the space between planes. It’s a silvery void cluttered with the ductwork that connects the planes. Think of it as the hollow space inside your walls, except infinite and containing whales, dead gods and berbalangs. It was great fun to run a couple adventures here recently; despite buckling some swash against a githyanki warship, I think a brief encounter with an astral whale was the most memorable moment for the players.

This book contains my favorite DiTerlizzi art. He’s more refined here, tighter, with much more control over his watercolors and his choice of color palettes. Another artist named Adam Rex accompanies him. The two complement each other well (unlike, say, Brom and Baxa in the Dark Sun books). Love those astral dragons.

On the left, the Berbalang. They live on the floating remains of dead gods, for they have the power to speak to spirits and draw knowledge from a creature's bones. They're about 4‒7 ft (1.2‒2.1 m) tall, pretty anti-social, and live for the pursuit of hidden knowledge. They can also create a spectral duplicate to act as a spy, if you'd rather screw a ghostly version!

On the left, the Berbalang. They live on the floating remains of dead gods, for they have the power to speak to spirits and draw knowledge from a creature's bones. They're about 4‒7 ft (1.2‒2.1 m) tall, pretty anti-social, and live for the pursuit of hidden knowledge. They can also create a spectral duplicate to act as a spy, if you'd rather screw a ghostly version!