#fiend folio

Wailer sprites in-game

The spritework in that mod is incredible

Aaaaand actually, originally these enemies appeared in Edmund's later game, The End Is Nigh

"Will-o-the-wisp" © Rob Powell, accessed at his deviantArt gallery here

[I missed Monday's monster because I was traveling for my birthday (which was lovely; I am feeling rather better than I was last week). So this is a twofer, both a Fiend Folio creature and a sponsorship. Mal on the Patreon wanted to play along and suggested to me the magnesium spirit, which is a critter I didn't have on my list. For one thing, it has no art; for another, it's another gotcha monster. The FF magnesium spirit rapidly and permanently kills a single character, draining one level a round when it possesses someone until it poofs back to its home plane and takes the host body with them. This really feels like a "screw you, I want this character dead with no way to undo it" monster, and that kind of antagonism is not a GMing style I support. So my take is radically different, taking the basic concept and making it much more involved and sinister. Like the eye of fear and flame, I wanted it to live up to its high intelligence score, and I wanted it to drive plots rather than just be a random encounter.

If you want to sponsor monsters like Mal, see bonus monsters like kaiju and monster girls, or just help an unemployed writer out, check out the Creature Codex Patreon here!]

Magnesium Spirit CR 7 LE Outsider (elemental) This skittering creature looks like a lanky metallic humanoid with an oversized head and a long tail. Both its head and tail burn with white smokeless fire.

The Plane of Metal is mysterious, having receded into the deepest recesses of the Inner Sphere for eons and only recently returned to prominence. Many of the metal elementals stranded on the Material Plane have been transformed by their home plane’s decline, including the magnesium spirits, half-dead creatures that despise the temerity of organic life to contain trace amounts of metals. Although some magnesium spirits are obsessed with the idea of finding a way back to their home plane, most are content to ruin the denizens of their prison, breaking down both mortal bodies and mortal lives.

Magnesium spirits are fast and stealthy, although their perpetual glow requires them to lurk in lit areas, or to use trickery to convince victims from afar that they are carrying light sources instead of made of them. A magnesium spirit on the attack maneuvers into the middle of a group and then amplifies its light into a blinding flash. Creatures that are not blinded are their preferred targets for the next stage—possession. A magnesium spirit can grab a creature with its prehensile tail and then pull itself inside of its victim’s body, its intelligence occupying the trace metals in bones and brains to command its new chassis. A magnesium spirit that cannot possess a host may try another, or simply flee if resistance to its attacks is sufficient.

Although it cannot read the mind of its host, magnesium spirits are excellent liars, and they pretend to have memory lapses to gather information about their new body. As the magnesium spirit slowly destroys its host’s body from within, they amuse themselves by ruining their host’s life. A magnesium spirit may drive away its host’s loved ones with cruelty, spend all of their money blithely, commit crimes to make them loathed and despised, or simply break all of their possessions one by one. A creature rescued from a slow death from magnesium spirit possession may find their lives irrevocably changed for the worse, a cruel fate that gives a magnesium spirit grim amusement.

I'm seeing some reports that the fantasy artist Emmanuel just passed away. One of the artists who helped hone the look of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I was especially a fan of his cover for the Fiend Folio, which I consider one of the sacred texts of AD&D. One of the many guides I used to check out from the library and draw monsters from.

"80 Minute Alien" © Roman Sachnow, accessed at his ArtStation here

[The terithran is another monster from the original Fiend Folio all but forgotten today, and I suspect that's due to how mechanically complicated it is. It's yet another monster that abducts people across planar boundaries, and it has different abilities whether it's in the Material or Ethereal Planes. It also serves the role of a "gotcha" monster, a way to punish players for doing things the DM is annoyed with, which is not uncommon for 1e monsters. But it doesn't even really hit that mark either. Its attention is attracted by high level spells, like 7th-9th level, but it only has 5 Hit Dice! 5 HD went a lot further in 1e AD&D than it does in a modern game, but it still seems like its ire is raised only by things punching waaaay above its weight class.

To sum up, the original terithran has a lot of problems, and my conversion ran into plenty of issues when I was trying to make it actually fun and playable for PF1e. So why did I bother? Mostly because a monster motivated by delusional spite is a fun idea, and I like the image of a little creep who hates wizards.

I, on the other hand, am motivated by a love of monsters and creative energy. If you'd like to help keep that going while keeping a roof over my head, please support me at the Creature Codex Patreon here]

Terithran CR 5 NE Aberration This short humanoid thing has a swollen head with no discernible neck, and its body is glistening and covered in low ridges. Its arms are abnormally long and spindly, capable of touching the ground without bending over, and end in clawed hands.

Terithrans are bitter hermits with occult powers and a hatred for arcane magic. They universally believe that arcane magic has permanent, harmful consequences to the fabric of the planes, and do their part to “correct” this by killing magic users. Of course, as terithrans are relatively weak and cowardly, they strike out predominately at mortal wizards, witches, and sorcerers while they are still fairly frail and inexperienced. Stronger monsters that use arcane magic, such as dragons, are creatures to be avoided, but the terithran will still hold a grudge against them regardless.

A terithran spends most of its life inside its own personal demiplane, where they plot, scheme and twist themselves into knots about how much they hate arcane magic. This demiplane has porous boundaries to the terithran’s senses, and it can detect spells being cast nearby its entrance on the Material Plane. They ignore divine magic, but arcane magic cast nearby their demiplane raises their ire. The terithran then attacks from ambush, popping out of its demiplane and attempting to stun its enemies with a synaptic pulse. They focus their attacks on arcane casters, hoping to grab them and drag them back into their demiplane to kill. Terithrans will also retreat to their plane if injured or if their assault is unsuccessful, trusting to the planar boundary to protect them. If their foes manage to breach their defenses and pursue them into their lair, however, the cornered terithran often fights to the death.

A terithran’s demiplane lair is cramped and filthy, as the creatures collect all manner of items from their environments, especially those with magical auras. Terithrans see no hypocrisy in using magic items themselves, and may have stolen wands, scrolls and potions that they turn against their foes. Terithrans often vent their spleen through writing, and reams of paper can be found in their lair, occasionally with useful insights into the surrounding region mixed among the diatribes and delusions. When a terithran kills an arcane spellcaster, it tears the heart from the corpse using its long claws and eats it; this appears to be the only food they consume. How terithrans reproduce is unknown—they have no discernible sexes and shun each other’s company. It is possible that terithrans are created through accidents of arcane magic, which would at least justify their bitterness, but there is no direct evidence for this hypothesis.

A terithran stands about four feet tall and weighs around 100 pounds.