5E: Fifth Edition Monster Variants Inspired by Fourth Edition Sources

[Casimir Liber]

yep/description time

 

[Cleon]

yep/description time

How's this…

A scarlet mist is a vaporous undead whose body is a clump of fog that stinks of blood. It turns into streamers of mist when moving rapidly but must coalesce into a ghostly humanoid shape to attack. Despite the name a scarlet mist is normally as white as a cloud, but it flushes crimson whenever it drains blood.
 Bodiless Thirst. Scarlet mists are not intelligent, being barely more sapient than animals. Their sole motivation is an insatiable thirst for humanoid? blood which drives them to attack any living intruders who disturb them.
 Haunts of Mists and Ruins. Much like regular ghosts, a scarlet mist is tied to a place and never leaves its territory. They always inhabit misty or foggy places, often haunting ruined buildings on desolate shores, swamps or moors. Scarlet mists can be summoned by necromancers who bind them to guard their lairs. The necromancer's living servants fear and avoid these sentinels, for even if the mist is strictly ordered never to attack its master's minions its blood-drinking aura will still harm them.
​

Slightly undecided whether it's thirsty for any sort of blood or prefers humanoid blood like a regular Vampire.

So do you prefer "an insatiable thirst for humanoid blood" or "an insatiable thirst for blood"?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Re blood - good question. Am tempted to make it any blood as it's amorphous (and makes a contrast to the vampire for instance)

description looks good though seeing "undead" used as a noun in this way (not as collective noun) I find a little grating for some reason...I'd use it as an adjective, hence "undead being" or something but not too fussed if you feel strongly about this.

 

[Cleon]

Re blood - good question. Am tempted to make it any blood as it's amorphous (and makes a contrast to the vampire for instance)

Let's make it "insatiable thirst for blood" then.

description looks good though seeing "undead" used as a noun in this way (not as collective noun) I find a little grating for some reason...I'd use it as an adjective, hence "undead being" or something but not too fussed if you feel strongly about this.

Well it doesn't bother me. Doesn't every living dead monster use it as a noun in its type line, including the Scarlet Mist's "Medium undead, neutral evil"?

That said, I have no objection to tweaking the first paragraph if it'll make you happier.

How about:

A scarlet mist is a vaporous undead creature whose body is a clump of fog that stinks of blood. It turns into streamers of mist when moving rapidly, but must coalesce into a ghostly humanoid shape to attack. A scarlet mist is normally as white as a cloud, but flushes crimson whenever it drains blood.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok looks good - published here

 

[Cleon]

ok looks good

Updated the Scarlet Mist Working Draft.

published here

Okay, I'll run a quick compare-and-contrast…

Okay, there are three points of divergence.

First the D&D Beyond version has proficiency in WIS saves while the Enworld one has no Saving Throws listed.

We need to change one to match the other. Would you rather keep it and have me add WIS +5 to Enworld or cut the WIS +5 from Beyond?

Second to match the 5E Vampiric Mist precedent we renamed its "Mist Form" Special Trait to Misty Form.

Third the Description is missing the note about the living vapour/undead issue.

Note: The original AD&D Vampiric Mist was a living vapor not a misty undead; it debuted as the Vampire Mist in I7 – Baltron's Beacon (1985) by Philip Meyers. See the "Blood Mist" entry for a conversion of that creature.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ok - kept WIS save

new version here

 

[Cleon]

Ok - kept WIS save

new version here

Y'okay.

I'll add the WIS save to the Scarlet Mist Working Draft so they'll match and we can declare this one done…

…and it's added.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Huzzah!

 

[Cleon]

Huzzah!

Updated the Index of 5th Edition Conversions of 4E Monsters and Completed Fifth Edition Creatures Index.