#meazel

Meazel

3D render for Baldur's Gate 3

On the left is the Nagpa! A cabal of powerful wizards turned into these human-sized vulture creatures, cursed to only learn more magic from the ruins of civilizations. They're incredibly smart, charismatic, manipulative, know at least 6 language, and are typically plotting to bring down governments and cities. They also have a wide variety of magic to dominate, restrain, manipulate minds, fly, create illusion, and whatever else that particular ancient wizard has gotten its hands on. Good argument for these things to have near any spell. Also has mage hand for spectral hand fun, and can paralyze others within 30 feet (without a daily limit)!

This week, we’re delving back into the dark with Maezels, the gloomy, garrote carrying recluses of the Shadowfell.

Meazel Appearance

Now, despite the Shadowfell being a place mostly filled with Undead and some negative-energy elementals, Meazels were actually evil humanoids, usually having wholly black eyes, mops of twisted, stringy dark hair, clawed hands with webbed fingers, and had skin that ranged from corpse-gray to venomous-green. 

The most common warning sign of them however was the presence of red blotches over approximately 85% of their body, believed to be caused by a skin disease that gave them an appearance similar to people suffering from leprosy.

History states that the first Meazels were created centuries ago, when a city was ravaged by a plague that caused insatiable, eternal hunger that killed people in days. At the peak of the disease’s rampage, a voice offered the survivors both a limitless food supply and immunity from death by the plague, and those who made the deal found themselves cursed by the Seventh Duke of Hell, the archdevil Baalzebul.

He was true to the letter of his word, as these proto-Meazel would never die from their affliction, but forever suffer from its effects in the form endless hunger and monstrous blotches on their skin, and they were absolutely offered an eternal food supply, but only in the form of the flesh of sentient humanoids. Normal food could not satisfy a Meazel’s hunger, and so they were cursed to hunt and kill the living in order to find respite from an unending starvation.

There also existed subtypes of Meazel that were created without the aid of Baalzebul, primarily when individuals spent too much time within the Shadowfell and its energies began to twist and stain their souls, though how the two occurrences relate to one another is a matter of debate. Who knows? Maybe the aforementioned city that Baalzebul preyed upon was in the Shadowfell.

Meazel Abilities

As a result of their eternal plague or Baalzebul’s fiendish curse, the original Meazels were immune to almost all other diseases, and their very presence caused others around them to be weakened the longer they remained, almost as if the Meazel could sap life essence just by being near.

Their blood was also notably painful to touch, capable of contaminating others with their disease upon blood-on-blood contact. Later iterations of the Meazel could infect others with just their claws, and Shadowfell-specific Meazels were capable of teleporting via the use of shadows, but the most common weapon that Meazels used were garrote wires, allowing them capture and strangle their prey quietly without damaging the meat to much, allowing them to consume it later. 

Shadowfell Meazels were also capable of inflicting a simple hour-long curse on their victims,  which caused Undead and other Shadowfell creatures to be drawn to their location. This often would ensure that the target was killed even if they managed to escape from the Meazel, allowing it to simply stalk after the victim until some other monster did the dirty work and moved on.

Meazel Behavior & Culture

In terms of behaviors, when not encountered in the Shadowfell, Meazels were found in marshes, subterranean caves, and even urban sewer systems anywhere that was dark, damp, and cold which was ideal for their affliction.

They were capable of reproducing normally with one to two whelps being born and reaching maturity at about six years, but beyond that, Meazels often were reclusive and kept themselves isolated, even from their own kind. This often resulted in them being terrible allies, either by being genuinely untrustworthy or just by being a hell of a downer to be around. Some exceptions include undead who fed on essence of living creatures that were not flesh, such as vampires who drank blood or liches who consumed souls, allowing the Meazel to devour the rest undeterred whilst also gaining a powerful ally.

This mixture of self-imposed exile and people’s distinct attempts to avoid them meant that Meazels were also skilled thieves, often capable of stealing whatever they couldn’t build or grow themselves, ranging from common baubles and finery, to weapons, armor, and even pets in order to make their hunts easier to engage in.

In fact, Meazels had a distinct penchant for keeping beasts as hunting companions, such as drakes, giant spiders, shadow mastiffs, displacer beasts, or even elementals bound by conjuration and abjuration magic.

With this in mind, while you're more charismatic or empathetic players might try their hardest to befriend a Meazel, its curse to eat mortal flesh to alleviate its pain, as well as its frequent bad experiences with people fearing or trying to kill it, will make them wary to trust another creature that is not of their own ilk or native of their area. A Meazel might be willing to try and manipulate this friendly mortal into a position of weakness to kill or steal from it, but the only way to truly gain a Meazel’s trust would require breaking its curse and truly freeing it from its endless agony, which would require some powerful magic and risk the PCs getting on Baalzebul’s radar.

Meazel were also known to practice various types of religion, worshiping gods such as Loviatar, Beshaba Shar & Bane just to name a few due to their portfolios including suffering, pain, and struggle. They were also known to align with non-deific entities such as the maligned fey of the darker fey courts or distinct enemies of Baalzebul such as the archdevil Levistus.

And finally, due to their curse of eternal suffering and agony, Meazel were also known to turn to the path of necromancy in order to become undead themselves, trading the need to consume flesh for souls, which can result in some pretty interesting Meazel variants of undead, such as Meazel Shadows, Death Knights, and maybe even Liches.

Meazel Components

In terms of magical components that one can extract from Meazels upon slaying them in combat, the pickings are a bit slim but I have some ideas that you guys can use.

Their hair may be useful when properly treated as a component for Potions of Invisibility or even shadow-focused spells like Shadow Blade.

You can also truly embody your chaotic evil side by dipping arrows in Meazel blood to spread its disease to those wounded by them. Just allow your monsters to delve fully into war crime mode when they encounter your players and enact their evil plans.

Meazels in Combat

Now when it comes to running Meazels in combat, they have several approaches that you can take as a Dungeon Master.

The most common use of them is to have them lie in wait, use their Garotte wires to grapple and strangle individual party members, and teleport away with their quarry so as to inflict them with their undead-attracting shadow curse.

Doing so will require the failure of several checks and saves however, but can be very excellent for making off with your wizard or cleric before they can get any meaningful spells off., as well as upping the difficulty factor by having undead and other Shadowfell creatures close in upon them over time.

For a higher level of challenge, your Meazels can be accompanied by a single or multiple hunting companions, which can vary depending on the area they’re encountered. When found in swamps or marshes, I’d recommend Black or Green Drakes, Giant Spiders, or even Froghemoths if you really want to be fucking mean.

Likewise, in the Shadowfell, you can have Death Dog or Shadow Mastiff bloodhounds, stealthy Displacer Beasts or Shadow Asps, Catoplebas mounts, or flying creatures such as Deep Crows and Cloakers. All of these can help vary your Meazel encounters, especially if your campaign primarily takes place in the Shadowfell or if your party’s shenanigans end up taking them there.

Beyond those strategies, you can have them make use of their own blood as poison for arrows and blades, and then there’s the idea of utilizing shadow-aligned classes to accentuate their abilities: such as Shadow Sorcerers, Twilight Clerics, & so on.

Meazel NPCs & Quests

In terms of NPCs and Quests, Meazel’s don’t have much in terms of what they want, at least, anything that a decent D&D party would agree to help out with. Unless you're running a straight-evil party or have a villain that your party hates enough, they’re not going to try and help a Meazel feed on some living soul, even if the people they would end up eating were evil themselves.

With that said, I do have some great ideas for NPC dynamics and plot hooks using Meazels that you guys can drop in your games easily.

The Hunting Team

First we have the Hunting Team, where a Meazel and a Vampire have formed a pact in order to make the most of the people they hunt, the vampire feeding on their blood while the Meazel feeds on the flesh, with them perhaps tossing the bones to a local necromancer for further recyclability.

I like this dynamic because you can have several sub-relationships within it, such as one being a martial class while the other is a caster to cover all their bases, the two of them being the same class for a dynamic duo edge, and while most vampires and meazel may form this partnership only out of necessity or proximity, maybe they begin to form some sort of trusting bond with one another, even if they’re killing people and feeding off their corpses.

Perhaps if you PCs encounter and kill one of this pair, they draw the eternal ire and vengeance of the other who hunts them relentlessly for future sessions. For this, I would recommend calling upon classes such as Way of Shadow Monks, Gloomstalker Rangers, or Phantom Rogues, or you could go the loud and proud approach such as Shadowfell-themed Wild Magic Barbarians or Echo Knights who conjure clones from the shadows.

The Undead Meazel

Next we have the Undead Meazel, which, as it says on the tin, is a Meazel who sought out freedom from their curse and eternal suffering by turning themselves into an Undead, the level of which can range from a simple Shadow for lower levels, to a full-on lich for more epic campaigns.

This can roll into a further plot where the Meazel conjures a legion of zombies and skeletons to scour the swamps or Shadowfell in search of living sentient creatures, before overwhelming them and bringing them back to their lair for later consumption. This way, the Meazel does not have to risk its own skin and can still feed or collect souls, and you can even have this Undead Meazel lich become the ruler over a small cadre of other Meazel, promising food and protection in exchange for loyalty.

For this, I would recommend calling on classes such as Twilight or Death Clerics, Swamp or Spore Circle Druids, Shadow Sorcerers, Undead Warlocks, and Necromancy Wizards.

The Meazel Ranger

And lastly, there’s the Meazel Ranger, which is just taking an animal companion and sticking it on a Meazel for additional flavor.

You can go for the classic man-and-dog trope with Shadow Mastiffs, Death Dogs, or even Hell Hounds if you really want to bring the hurt, while predators like Displacer Beasts or Cloakers lean very well into the Meazel’s penchant for stealth kills.

For the big guns, perhaps a Meazel Drakewarden warlord can harass your party either alongside a Black Drake, or atop the back of a Shadow Dragon.

Meazel-Inspired Magic Items

Here are some items that can either be made out of Meazel components, or can be found on the bodies or in the lairs of Meazel enemies as loot for your players. I stuck mostly to necrotic-damage dealing weapons, Shadowfell-favored items, and those that emulate the Meazel’s abilities such as the Cape of the Mountebank’s Dimension Door ability mimicking the Meazel’s Shadow Teleport. I’ve also included all of the books and page numbers that these items can be found on.

Dark Shard Amulet (XGE p137)

Lash of Shadows (EGW p276)

Shadowfell Brand Tattoo (TCE p134)

Shadowfell Shard (TCE p135)

Potion of Poison (DMG p188)

Nightfall Pearl (EGW p268)

Cape of the Mountebank (DMG p157)

Ring of Obscuring (EGW p269)

Acheron Blade (EGW p265)

Outer Essence Shard (Chaotic/Evil) (TCE p133)

Vicious Weapon (DMG p209)

Corecut Dagger (TDCSR p195)

Legendlore Magic Item: Meazel Blood

And for our homebrew magic item this evening, we have the Meazel Blood, a potent poison that can be useful for tracking foes and ending sieges.

Meazel Blood has a DC 12 Medicine check needed to apply it to a weapon if you do not have the Poisoner feat, and once applied, deals an additional 1d6 poison damage on a successful hit.

The target must also make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw  or become infected with the Meazel Disease, where large lesions begin to spread across their skin and they begin to accrue one level of exhaustion each day that they don’t pass a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. Additionally, creatures of the Undead subtype are attracted to them, granting them Advantage on all checks to find them and on all attack rolls made against them until the disease is cured.

Image © Wizards of the Coast

[I like what 5e has done with a lot of classic D&D monsters. But I do not like their meazel. I love the art; it’s a faithful adaptation of the original Russ Nicholson design. But I do not like that they’ve taken away the disease connection that they’ve had since the beginning (the 1e mezel merely suffered from disease, but from 2e to 4e, they could spread it) and replaced with with yet another shadow teleport ability. Lots of Mordenkainen monsters have shadow teleport abilities, because a major theme of the book is the Shadowfell.

The origins of meazels have been bandied about in different ways in various editions. In 4e, they were humans who made a bad deal with Baalzebuul. In 5e, they’re hermits who retreated into the Shadowfell and became twisted monsters. But personally, I’ve always thought of them as being based on The Mewlips, a poem by Tolkien. Both meazels and mewlips live in marshes and are greedy and murderous. So I’ve given the meazels the name mewlip as an endonym, making this also a literary themed monster.]

Meazel CR 4 NE Humanoid This humanoid has sallow skin covered in a painful-looking rash. Its face is long and mean, with a sunken nose and a wild shock of greasy hair. It has clawed fingers, a slight webbing forming between them, and carries a sword and rope.

Meazels are ill-tempered, murderous hermits native to swamps, caves and other remote areas. They are motivated primarily by a combination of greed and spite, waylaying travelers and merchants in order to rob and eat them. Their origins are somewhat obscure, but they have some orc heritage—despite this, meazels and orcs hate each other. Orcs attempt to kill meazels on sight, and meazels for their part usually keep orcs alive long enough to torture. The name given to meazels by other creatures comes from their various diseases. Meazels cultivate diseases the way other species keep pets, and have a variety of disfiguring symptoms without suffering any greater harm. They call themselves “mewlips”.

Meazels are usually solitary ambushers, lurking behind potential prey for hours before striking when they least expect it. They usually attempt to pick off a scout or straggler rather than attack the core of a group, dragging them off with a garrote or simply stabbing them in the vitals. Most meazels keep swords or clubs on hand, but they are just as deadly with their claws. Meazels hate a fair fight, and will typically flee if their potential victim puts up much of a struggle.

Most humanoid creatures of all alignments hate meazels, and the feeling is mutual. Few meazels can stand the company of others of their own kind either, with small family groups being the primary unit of society. These stay together as long as it takes to raise the children, which isn’t long—meazels are dangerous by the age of three and fully grown by six. They are omnivores with a taste for fungi and carrion, and will often let meat rot for a while in order to make it palatable to their tastes. Some meazels are religious, keeping small shrines to Apollyon, Mammon or other powers of disease, death and avarice. They prefer coins and precious metals to other treasures.

Meazels are short for a medium creature, standing between four and five feet tall.

Garrote Exotic Weapon; Price 3 gp; Weight 1 lbs. Damage special A garrote is a length of cord with a handle on each end. A wielder proficient in garrotes may use one to initiate a grapple as a melee touch attack without provoking an attack of opportunity, as long as the creature it is trying to grapple is within 1 size category of itself. A garrote is wound around the neck—a creature that is grappled using a garrote cannot speak or breathe. Once the wielder initiates a pin, it deals 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage a round with the garrote (assuming Medium size); proficient wielders can add their sneak attack dice to this each round, if they have them. A wielder may, as a standard action, tie the garrote together and leave it behind, continuing to do damage—in this case, the DC to escape from the garrote becomes 10+ the CMD of the wielder. Garrotes tied off in this fashion do not continue to deal sneak attack damage.

Meazel

3D model for Baldur's Gate 3