Hey, waaaaaait a minute. (Banshrae)

[RigaMortus2]

Why would they need that hole if they have no mouth (and therefore, no way to eat?)

They stick food up their butts and eat that way. Didn't you see that Southpark episode? I was gonna Youtube it, butt (pun) I couldn't find it.

 

[Sanzuo]

Finally an honest response from CS!

Dungeons & Dragons is a storytelling settings. Some things are just left up to the player and DMs imagination. If you want a logical answer, then I might state if I were the DM, that they do not have a vocal box for singing and the concept of wind instruments are beyond their grasp. Its really up to you and your DM to decide how you want to answer this question. Have fun deciding how they do it.
Please let me know if you need anymore help!

Translation: "I have no idea, figure it out."

 

[fuzzlewump]

Translation: "I have no idea, figure it out."

Actually, lacking a voice box is a pretty good explanation for me. I'm going to give credit to CS on this one.

 

[Iron Sky]

When we actually ran into them in Sanzuo's game, we just assumed that they actually had bagpipes. That way they could even make them semi-automatic (for their burst attack).

 

[Teemu]

Maybe they just have a really tiny mouth that's hard to notice. They'd eat like butterflies, using a proboscis (yes, I had to google that word).

 

[Ryujin]

Maybe they just have a really tiny mouth that's hard to notice. They'd eat like butterflies, using a proboscis (yes, I had to google that word).

Or they have a permeable membrane of skin over what would otherwise be their mouths. Sort of like living in a skin tight cloth bag all your life.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

In the race description of the Banshrae in the Monster Manual it clearly shows that the Banshrae have no mouths, and even says that Banshrae are unable to sing or play wind instruments... fair enough.

And yet they are ARMED WITH BLOWPIPES.

Can anyone explain?

I found the Design & Development article for 3e's MMV that talked a bit about the banshrae. In that article it says "I doubt it’s a coincidence that codename “Piccolo” (named after Bears fullback Brian Piccolo) became the banshrae, a monster that plays a flute." There's even this pic of the banshrae:

So for some reason they decided to drop the flute playing.

In any case, my theory for how they can use blowguns or play the flute is that they are able to magically impel air through the device. This is perhaps not as satisfying a solution as simply farting, but it is more genteel and refined.

 

[Herobizkit]

I'm in the "fart dart" camp, FWIW.