D&D 5E Wandering Monsters: Through the Vast Gate

[Plaguescarred]

Wandering Monsters
Through the Vast Gate
By James Wyatt

The Far Realm serves as the focus for this week’s Wandering Monsters. Enjoy some descriptions of foulspawn and gibbering mouthers, then share your feedback with us..

What did you think?

 

[Plaguescarred]

I found the foulspawn and gibbering mouther's descriptions pretty good.

I also think other foulspawn should deserve more attention, such as the dolgrim, dolgaunt and dolgarr.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I don't have a lot invested in the foulspawn. I do like the move to adjust the Far Realm in general to being more fundamentally horrific place, a corrupting mutation of reality wherever it touches, and thus moving "weird critters" from being so intimately linked to the Far Realm. I like how foulspawn and gibbering mouthers affect the world by their existence, and are fundamentally warped creatures, not "natives of the Far Realm" or anything like that. Solid.

 

[MarkB]

This is okay, I guess, but to me, the whole concept of something as bizarre and alien as the Far Realm just doesn't show through in these creatures.

The influence of something that strange and unknowable shouldn't be producing predictable results at all. The resulting creatures should be far more varied, both in form and motivation, each one a weird and unique being.

Not very Monster Manual-friendly, I admit - but perhaps some middle ground could be found, a set of random physical and mental variances that could be applied to these beings when building an encounter.

 

[Savage Wombat]

The foulspawn feel distinctly "4th ed" to me. You can practically see the combat roles and encounter design dripping off them. Also, the name doesn't evoke "far realm" to me - it sounds Abyssal.

I suppose that's not really a problem, but that's my reaction.

 

[Cyberen]

Yes, the Gibberish mouther and some Foulspawn as described sound more Moorcock Chaos than Lovecraft Horror.

 

[Kinak]

The Far Realm seems like it's supposed to be a place of horror, which doesn't come across in these monsters very well. I think most of that is the presentation "The Far Realm is super creepy... here are the tactical considerations of fighting things it's touched."

If they're going to focus on the fight, which I totally understand, they should really push the horror flavor to the forefront in the fight itself.

For example, if foulspawn are attached to a gate, give us some mechanics for the gate. Maybe taking long rests near the gate moves you one step closer to being a foulspawn, which can only be reversed after closing the gate. Certain foulspawn could advance the condition on exposure.

Or play up the absorption horror for the mouther. Maybe it can absorb a victim easily, but the victim remains entirely aware and can make Will saves to take an action as the mouther. But, until you're freed, each round also advances the looming risk of insanity and physical assimilation.

The "this thing is creepy, make a save or be creeped out" is a pretty weak way to represent horror. Even without a mechanical basis, some more focus on their horrific origins would go a long way.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Savage Wombat]

For Far Realms Horror, they should find whoever invented the concept of ceremorphosis and ask them for more ideas.

 

[Kinak]

For Far Realms Horror, they should find whoever invented the concept of ceremorphosis and ask them for more ideas.

Or this. I'd take this.

It also nicely answers the question of why there's a whole race of a given monster. The products of the Far Realms may be infinitely varied, but a single "tadpole" might be successful enough to spawn an entire race of brain-eating horrors.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[I'm A Banana]

The Far Realm seems like it's supposed to be a place of horror, which doesn't come across in these monsters very well. I think most of that is the presentation "The Far Realm is super creepy... here are the tactical considerations of fighting things it's touched."

If they're going to focus on the fight, which I totally understand, they should really push the horror flavor to the forefront in the fight itself.

For example, if foulspawn are attached to a gate, give us some mechanics for the gate. Maybe taking long rests near the gate moves you one step closer to being a foulspawn, which can only be reversed after closing the gate. Certain foulspawn could advance the condition on exposure.

Or play up the absorption horror for the mouther. Maybe it can absorb a victim easily, but the victim remains entirely aware and can make Will saves to take an action as the mouther. But, until you're freed, each round also advances the looming risk of insanity and physical assimilation.

The "this thing is creepy, make a save or be creeped out" is a pretty weak way to represent horror. Even without a mechanical basis, some more focus on their horrific origins would go a long way.

Cheers!
Kinak

I am into all this. I think it fits nicely with my heretical idea of an MM that's not just an alphabetical listing of monsters, so I might be biased, but I like this.