#shocker lizard

Daily D&D Monster: Shocker Lizard

Pazi Parazi and his shocker lizard, Kazkaz.

The gentle breeze, the hurricane gale, the air that you breath, the crackle of lightning, the nightmarish sucking wind of a flying polyp. All of these things are aspects of air and wind, which is where today’s entry takes us.

Wind spirits, as they are collectively known, are essentially the spirits of atmosphere, being embodiments of every breeze, wind, area of still air, and every thunderstorm and other weather phenomena. As such I can imagine that they vary a lot depending on the atmosphere of the world they are encountered on. After all, atmosphere does not necessarily mean breathable air.

Universaly though, I imagine that these spirits are graceful and free-spirited. It is extremely difficult to contain them, and they know it, imparting that power to a receptive shaman or other spirit-channeling mage. Some, particularly the spirits that arise from storms, might be particularly violent or boisterous, their voices like the crackling boom of thunder or the howl of a strong wind. Even the spirits of still air are full of energy, for though it may not be perceptible, gases are constantly moving and shifting about on a particle level. Their role as breath-givers also means that these spirits also have a link to life that survives by respiration, animals, plants, and otherwise.

For their part, shamans that bind with these spirits often appear windswept, or always caught in a breeze, regardless of pervading air conditions, and seem unusually graceful or light on their feet. It would be foolish to consider them dainty or weak, however.

 The spells granted by these spirits give total mastery over the wind, everything from altering prevalent winds, unleashing forceful blasts of air, enshroud others in a protective wind barrier, direct powerful streams of air, directly control the direction and force of winds, blast an area with superheated air, control the weather, create tornados, and even command the winds to attack and defend the shaman all at once.

Like all spirits, they also provide a variety of unique hexes, such as the spirit solidifying air around the shaman to ward them from attack, especially ranged projectiles.

Some can also command their spirit to charge a foe with a steady, but strong amount of static electricity, causing them to constantly, visibly spark and even be vulnerable to painful discharges from metal weapons that strike them.

Many of these shamans never find their eyes bleary or blinded by strong wind or windswept particles, but their enhanced perception goes beyond that, allowing them to cast their gaze anywhere that air can travel within a certain distance, slipping through small gaps to see beyond.

With a touch, other shamans can ward an ally with powerful winds, potentially blocking projectiles and even magical rays.

The spirit animals of these shamans crackle with sparks and static harmlessly when moving, allowing them to illuminate the nearby area with their glow. Furthermore, this gives them a natural resilience to truly hazardous electricity.

Electricity is the common weapon of air, and with a touch these shamans can discharge a powerful jolt into foes with the help of their spirit.

They also gain their own resistance to electricity, and can unleash a relatively weak, but nonetheless torrential discharge at foes in their path.

Like other elemental spirits, they can merge with and help transform their shaman into an elemental form. Interestingly though, they turn the shaman into a lightning elemental rather than simply an air elemental. It is unclear if they gain the metal mastery or spark leap abilities (presumably the latter), but they do benefit from this unique transformation.

The most powerful shamans with this ability, however, command the air and lightning with a mastery few can match, becoming highly resistant to electricity, and able to add various metamagical effects to their air and electricity spells at will.

Interested in an aerial mage with a combination of wind-based control and defense, as well as electrical blasting? This spirit may be for you. Alternately, you can take this as a wandering spirit to benefit from both of those things for a day. This spirit calls for a back-line build focused on keeping the shaman out of trouble and unleashing hell from afar, both in terms of lightning bolts and in terms of harassing foes with various wind effects that keep them from moving to where they want to go.

 I’ve said it before, but master of the air might be as fickle as the winds, but what about the spirits themselves? Such beings may give the behaviors of mere spellcasters a run for their money, ranging between playful mischief to boisterous rages or play that terrify those who witness them, only for them to die back down to a serene calm.

  Monsoon season in the Tebeki Rainforest is a time of powerful winds and storms, not to mention torrential rains. To the tree-dwelling catfolk that live there, this is a time of preparation and endurance, with their shamans going from dwelling to dwelling, warding them against the wind and commanding the worst of the storm to pass them by.

 In a rare planar conflux of chaos and air, Mehebi Highlands have become a war zone between proteans and a cabal of flying polyps eager to control the new territory. In desperation, the polyps have begun attracting cultists, many of which are bound to spirits of the dark tapestry or the winds, to aid them, even going as far as “recruiting” the locals by binding the souls of slain polyps to the terrified mortals.

We’ve talked before about the bond between wizard and focus/familiar, but we’ve never touched on how the familiar bond tradition links modern wizardry to the old ways of witchcraft. Today’s entry does a nice attempt though.

Familiar adepts attempt to blend the focus of the familiar in witchcraft with the focus of individual arcane schools in wizardry, creating a unique combination that few expect.

This is a great archetype for emphasizing the importance of the familiar, and might represent a dual-disciplined character without multiclassing, or perhaps a pioneering innovater in arcane magic.

 The devotion to this new, (or old, as the case may be in your world) style of wizardry does somewhat limit their understanding of traditional trappings of wizardry, not learning the basics of scroll scribing, having to take an additional opposition school, even if a professed universalist, and so on.

The results are quite impressive, as their familiar automatically becomes what is known as a school familiar, gaining unique magical powers that we will cover at a much later date, including the ability to channel the wizard’s school powers, and gaining special abilities tied to the school they are linked to.

Though they have no patron, these wizards also use the minds of their familiars as a living spellbook, the beast being less a conduit and more of a data storage device.

Though their own archetype allows them to funnel their master’s school powers through themselves, their special connection also allows them to use the least of those powers by themselves once a day.

Interested in having a familiar that is not only linked to your choice of arcane school, but also shares a much deeper connection with their wizard, acting as a spell repository? This archetype may be for you. Pick your arcane school based on what magic you want you and your familiar to specialize in, and be sure to also provide magical protection for them due to their increased importance.

 Founder of wizardry in ancient times, fledgling witch who turned to book magic early on, or school-focused mage desiring a powerful familiar that matches their interest, all and more are possible reasons for taking this archetype, but there can be no denying the bond they share with their familiar, transcending the power granted to true friendship in many cases.

  In the wizardly courts of the nation of Gendleflam, it is considered high fashion to have a powerful familiar, either through learning the secrets of bonding with outsiders and other creatures, bonding imaginary figments given life, particularly brutish specimens enhanced by their bond and so on, or in many cases, bonding with a familiar tied directly with their arcane school. There are even pageants every year that seek to judge these creatures based on breeding, physical fitness, and arcane capability.

 Traveling far and wide with her shocker lizard: Mr. Brewster, the gnomish wizard Genatty is always on the lookout for new and exciting evocation spells, discovering new ways to evoke magical power into energy. Mr. Brewster even gets in on the fun, absorbing stray blasts of electricity to fire them off himself.

We’ve talked before about the bond between wizard and focus/familiar, but we’ve never touched on how the familiar bond tradition links modern wizardry to the old ways of witchcraft. Today’s entry does a nice attempt though.

Familiar adepts attempt to blend the focus of the familiar in witchcraft with the focus of individual arcane schools in wizardry, creating a unique combination that few expect.

This is a great archetype for emphasizing the importance of the familiar, and might represent a dual-disciplined character without multiclassing, or perhaps a pioneering innovater in arcane magic.

 The devotion to this new, (or old, as the case may be in your world) style of wizardry does somewhat limit their understanding of traditional trappings of wizardry, not learning the basics of scroll scribing, having to take an additional opposition school, even if a professed universalist, and so on.

The results are quite impressive, as their familiar automatically becomes what is known as a school familiar, gaining unique magical powers that we will cover at a much later date, including the ability to channel the wizard’s school powers, and gaining special abilities tied to the school they are linked to.

Though they have no patron, these wizards also use the minds of their familiars as a living spellbook, the beast being less a conduit and more of a data storage device.

Though their own archetype allows them to funnel their master’s school powers through themselves, their special connection also allows them to use the least of those powers by themselves once a day.

Interested in having a familiar that is not only linked to your choice of arcane school, but also shares a much deeper connection with their wizard, acting as a spell repository? This archetype may be for you. Pick your arcane school based on what magic you want you and your familiar to specialize in, and be sure to also provide magical protection for them due to their increased importance.

 Founder of wizardry in ancient times, fledgling witch who turned to book magic early on, or school-focused mage desiring a powerful familiar that matches their interest, all and more are possible reasons for taking this archetype, but there can be no denying the bond they share with their familiar, transcending the power granted to true friendship in many cases.

  In the wizardly courts of the nation of Gendleflam, it is considered high fashion to have a powerful familiar, either through learning the secrets of bonding with outsiders and other creatures, bonding imaginary figments given life, particularly brutish specimens enhanced by their bond and so on, or in many cases, bonding with a familiar tied directly with their arcane school. There are even pageants every year that seek to judge these creatures based on breeding, physical fitness, and arcane capability.

 Traveling far and wide with her shocker lizard: Mr. Brewster, the gnomish wizard Genatty is always on the lookout for new and exciting evocation spells, discovering new ways to evoke magical power into energy. Mr. Brewster even gets in on the fun, absorbing stray blasts of electricity to fire them off himself.