D&D 5E Potential Monsters in Quests from the Infinite Staircase Adventures

Cynidiceans, the werefoxes and polymars... oh my!

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Since the adventures contained in Quests from the Infinite Staircase have been revealed, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the monsters appearing in the original adventures and speculate about what new fifth edition monsters we might see in the upcoming anthology.

For each adventure, I’ve split the review into new monsters and other monsters. The former refers to creatures presented as “new monsters” at the end of the original adventure, while “other monsters” covers the rest of the creatures appearing in that adventure. In a few cases, the other monsters were also new to D&D when they were published.


B4: The Lost City (June 1982)
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Fifth edition versions of The Lost City monsters have already appeared in Goodman Games’s licensed OAR4: The Lost City (2020). Since that is now out of print (and fetching a considerable price in online auctions), we can safely ignore OAR4 for the purpose of guessing what might be updated in Quests from the Infinite Staircase. There are four new monsters in The Lost City: the banshee, Cynidiceans, the werefox and the polymar. The adventure also features a fair number of monsters from the Basic and Expert D&D sets that haven’t yet appeared in fifth edition.

New monsters
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The banshee in The Lost City is not the same creature as the banshee in the Monster Manual. The fifth edition version is a spirit of a female elf and is the direct descendant of the groaning spirit in the first edition Monster Manual (1977). This banshee is a ghost-like figure that haunts families, warning of an impending death. Despite having all the characteristics typically associated with undead creatures, The Lost City is adamant that this banshee is not, in fact, an undead creature. When it was reprinted in the Creature Catalogue (1986) it remained definitely not undead and became the “lesser” banshee, presumably to differentiate it from the AD&D banshee. Given the confusing name and nature of this creature, it seems likely that it will just be replaced with an alternative monster in Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

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Unusual variations of humans were a popular inclusion in several early Dungeons & Dragons adventures. At least the Cynidiceans of The Lost City have some differentiating characteristics; they are humans who have lived underground so long that they have pale skin, unusually large eyes, infravision, and an aversion to sunlight. They also wear colorful masks and bright clothing. Three factions of Cynidiceans play a role in the story. The Brotherhood of Gorm are lawful male fighters who wear golden masks of Gorm, the god of war. The Magi of Usamigaras are neutral magic-users who wear the silver masks of Usamigaras, the smiling child god. The Warrior Maidens of Madarua are neutral female fighters who wear the bronze masks of Madarua, goddess of birth, death and the seasons. Both Jim Holloway’s art and the list of Cynidicean encounters give the impression that the Cynidiceans are not to be taken entirely seriously. Fifth edition doesn’t typically treat cultures as new monsters, and some aspects of the Cynidiceans might not survive a sensitivity and inclusivity review. A sidebar noting the Cynidiceans’ mutations seems a more likely approach for Quests to take than a monster entry.

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The werefox is listed in The Lost City as a type of lycanthrope but since it is a fox that can change into a human, rather than a human who can take the form of a fox, it is more accurately classified as a shapechanger, like the jackalwere. Lycanthropic vulpines have an inconsistent history in D&D. There is a foxwoman (a lycanthrope) in the first edition Monster Manual II (1983). She shares the werefox’s charm ability, but the AD&D version can only take female form and it has an in-between form that is a mix between fox and elf. There is also already a fifth edition version of the werefox—the redtooth werefox from Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures—but that is setting specific, so an updated version of the original seems quite possible for Quests.

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Last of the new monsters in The Lost City is the polymar, which is an underwhelming version of the mimic. Indeed, when it appeared in the second edition Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) it was specifically referred to as a more sociable version of the mimic. While there is a small chance that we’ll see an updated version in Quests from the Infinite Staircase, substituting the adventure’s lone polymar for a mimic would make more sense.

Other monsters
Of the six adventures being updated for Quests, The Lost City is the lone import from Basic D&D instead of Advanced D&D. Nonetheless, the majority of the creatures in The Lost City can be found in the fifth edition Monster Manual, including: basilisk, black pudding, blink dog, blue dragon, carrion crawler, chimera, displacer beast, doppelganger, fire beetle (in fifth edition this is correctly referred to as “giant”), gargoyle, gelatinous cube, ghoul, giant bat, giant rat, giant scorpion, giant weasel, hellhound, hill giant, hobgoblin, hydra (although the version in The Lost City has eight heads instead of five), manticore, medusa, minotaur, mummy, ogre, owlbear (spelled “owl bear” in The Lost City), rust monster, shadow, skeleton, spectre, sprite, stirge, troll, vampire, werebear, wererat, weretiger, wolf, wight, wraith and zombie. Green slime and yellow mold can be found in the fifth edition Dungeon Master’s Guide.

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Basic D&D has a slightly different set of “core” monsters than AD&D. Several of the monsters The Lost City uses are from the Basic Set (1981) and didn’t make it into the fifth edition Monster Manual, but could be represented by very similar creatures that did. White apes are nocturnal apes that, like the Cynidiceans, have become pale over time. They could be replaced with fifth edition’s generic ape. Rock baboons are a larger, more intelligent version of the baboon but could be substituted with ordinary baboons. The spitting cobra, pit viper and rock python are serpents that could be replaced with fifth edition’s generic (giant) poisonous and/or constrictor snakes. A trilogy of giant lizards, the gecko, draco and tuatara could easily be substituted with fifth edition’s generic giant lizards. Giant shrews would be simple to replace with giant rats. Giant oil beetles and giant tiger beetles do not have fifth edition versions, and while they could also be replaced, it would be a pleasant surprise for some new giant beetle variations to join the Monster Manual’s lonely giant fire beetle.

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There are some killer bees guarding a treasure room in The Lost City. Found in the Basic Set (1981) they were renamed as giant bees in the 1983 Basic Set. Giant bees also appeared in the AD&D Monster Manual II (1983), the second edition Monstrous Manual (1993), and the third edition Monster Manual (2000). There don’t seem to be any giant bees in fifth edition yet, but there are giant wasps, a possible replacement. There is also no fifth edition giant ant to use for the driver ants, but since they appear only on a wandering monster table, that entry will probably be replaced.

The Lost City’s living iron statues are not the same as the fifth edition living iron statues in Ghosts of Saltmarsh (2019). Basic D&D has “living statue” equivalents of most of AD&D’s core golems. Golems and living statues aren’t quite the same thing, but they are pretty close, so a replacement with an iron golem in Quests is a strong possibility.

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This brings us to the thoul. At least one theory is that this monster is the result of a typesetting error mixing toads and ghouls in Book III of the original 1974 D&D boxed set. The first proper description of a thoul was in the Basic Set (1981), where it is described as a magical combination of a ghoul, a hobgoblin and a troll. This monster is odd enough to deserve a monster entry, but only appears on a wandering monster table in The Lost City, so would be trivial to replace in Quests.

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As well as monsters from the Basic Set (1981), The Lost City also used five creatures from the Expert Set (1981). The bone golem is one of several golem variants debuting in the Expert Set. It is made from the bones of dead men and sometimes has additional weapon-wielding limbs attached. The bone golem was reprinted as the skeletal golem in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) and D&D has several other golems made of bones, but none in 5th edition. However, since the bone golem appears only once in the adventure, an updated monster entry seems unlikely.

The caecilia worm first appeared in Monster and Treasure Assortment: Sets 1-3 (1980), which is strange since it didn’t appear in any of the original assortment sets. Instead it seems to have been edited in to replace various other monsters specifically for the Sets 1-3 compilation. This is despite it not getting a monster entry until the following year’s Expert Set where it is described as a thirty foot long gray wormlike creature that swallows prey whole. There’s really no need for an updated version of the caecilia, which can be easily replaced with a purple worm or the young purple worm from Princes of the Apocalypse (2015).

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The devil swine is another refugee from the Expert Set (1981). A lycanthrope with human and hog forms, devil swine have a taste for human flesh and the ability to charm those they meet. Although the devil swine was reprinted as the wereswine in the second edition Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994), it faded from D&D after that. A replacement creature seems likely for the devil swine’s single The Lost City appearance in Quests.

The lesser djinni is a bit of an oddball. It seems intended to be a less powerful version of AD&D djinni, but in its initial Expert Set (1981) appearance it is described as a free-willed air elemental with a human-like appearance. The text of later descriptions amends this to be a free-willed enchanted creature from the elemental plane of Air, instead of an actual elemental. However, this fairly redundant monster is unlikely to get any sort of update in Quests.

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Although fifth edition doesn’t yet have a wood golem, there have been a surprising number of them in D&D history. As well as the Expert Set (1981) version, there is a wood golem in Imagine #19, another in Dragon #119, an Athasian version appears in Monstrous Compendium Dark Sun Appendix: Terrors of the Desert, and Dragon #341 has yet another. The original Expert Set version is a golem carved from wood, so essentially an animated wooden statue. The wood golems in The Lost City aren’t integral to the plot, but they did get their own illustration, which probably increases the odds of seeing an updated version in Quests.

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We wrap up the monsters from The Lost City with, of course, Zargon. Described as a fifteen foot tall humanoid figure with the head of a lizard, a single red eye, a single sharp horn, six taloned tentacles instead of arms and six more tentacles instead of legs. (Quite how any part of this could be considered “humanoid” is left as an exercise to the reader!) Zargon is the primary antagonist in the adventure, and although it doesn’t get a Monster Manual style write-up in The Lost City, it will almost certainly get one in Quests from the Infinite Staircase. It has to be noted that Zargon has already been mentioned several times in fifth edition. The Player’s Handbook (2014) includes Zargon as an example of a Great Old One who might act as a warlock’s patron, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018) lists Zargon in the sidebar on Elder Evils, and Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures (2022) includes Zargon on a list of Great Old Ones who might be a benefactor of an arcane lich. The promotional video for Quests confirms an Elder Evil stat block. The coming of Zargon has been heralded!

So what’s the verdict for The Lost City?​
  • A near certainty for a full update: Zargon.​
  • Quite likely to get a full update: werefox.​
  • Likely to be updated but not get a full write-up: Cynidiceans.​
  • Might get an update: wood golem.​
  • Small possibility of an update: banshee, bone golem, caecilia worm, devil swine, giant oil beetle, giant tiger beetle, polymar, thoul.​
  • Unlikely to be updated: driver ants, giant draco lizards, giant gecko, giant shrew, giant tuatara, killer bees, lesser djinni, living iron statue, pit viper, rock baboon, rock python, spitting cobra, white ape.​

In the next installment, we will be turning our attention to UK4: When a Star Falls

What do you think of the monsters in The Lost City?
Do you have any fond memories of encounters with these monsters?
Do you have a favorite creature you’d like to see updated for fifth edition?
 

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Echohawk

Shirokinukatsukami fan
S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (February 1980)
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The sixth and final adventure in Quests from the Infinite Staircase is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, TSR’s foray into science fiction themed D&D. All of the new monsters in the original Expedition were updated in some way in Goodman Games’s licensed OAR3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (2019), but for the purpose of guessing which monsters will be updated in Quests, it is probably safe to ignore OAR3.

New monsters
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The unusual sci-fi flavor of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks means that the two pages dedicated to new monsters cover both monsters and machines. Vegepygmies and russet mold are the new monsters. Vegepygmies are humanoid plants who form communities of up to a few hundred, but smaller hunting and scavenging groups are typically encountered. Russet mold is a type of plant that is dangerous only because it emits clouds of irradiated spores. The mold can also be used by vegpygmies to propagate. Both creatures already have fifth edition analogs in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), but a reprint in Quests from the Infinite Staircase doesn’t seem unlikely.

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The other creatures with full stat blocks and descriptions are advanced constructs. Androids are shiny humanoids, and have a variety of specialized purposes. Mentioned in Expedition are a nurse, a surgeon, several physical training androids (a boxing/wrestling trainer, a fencing instructor, a karate master and a weight lifter) and guard androids. Several of them are malfunctioning, making them a threat to adventurers investigating the crashed spaceship. Monster descriptions for some of these seems like a sure bet for Quests, especially given that the promotional artwork for this adventure features three of the physical training androids.

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Robots are more mechanical in nature, but also have multiple types, with separate stat blocks given for two main categories: police robots, and worker robots. The robots are more numerous than the androids and it is possible for the players to obtain a remote control box for the repair robots, giving them limited control over the machines. Monster entries for at least some types of robots are a sure bet for Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

Other monsters
A lot of the monsters encountered in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks can be found in the fifth edition Monster Manual: couatl, displacer beast, doppelganger, gray ooze, intellect devourer, mind flayer, phase spider, roper, shambling mound, shrieker, umber hulk and will-o’-wisp. There is a brown pudding in Expedition, but it is a brown-coloured black pudding, so we can probably consider that covered by the Monster Manual too.

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A few Expedition monsters have already appeared in other fifth edition sources. Green slime and yellow mold are detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The aurumvorax from the dangerous animals section of the spaceship has a fifth edition version in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. (2022). The froghemoth, slithering tracker and trapper are in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016) and Monsters of the Multiverse (2022). Quests from the Infinite Staircase could reprint some or all of those monsters, with the froghemoth being a near certainty, since it gets singled out in the product announcement. As noted in the review of Pharaoh, the trapper is also likely to be reprinted, since it appears in three of the Quests adventures, while the lurker above will probably become simply an upside-down trapper, an approach also taken in Goodman’s OAR3 version.

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Expedition introduced a variety of dangerous plants to D&D. Four of these were detailed further and reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) but with new names: the globe palm became the retch plant, the snapper-saw became the forester’s bane, the strangle vine became the choke creeper, and the vampire thorn vine was renamed to bloodthorn. The horrid plant and the purple blossom plant don’t seem to have been promoted to full monsters, but several of these plants could be covered by descriptions of them as hazards.

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A slightly better known plant is the tri-flower frond, which has already appeared in Tomb of Annihilation (2017). The plant puts its targets to sleep with its pollen, drains their body fluids and dissolves the bodies, with each of its colorful flowers responsible for one part of the process. A reprint in Quests from the Infinite Staircase seems likely.

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Even more likely is an update of the bizarre wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing (also known as “The Cute Little Bunnyoid on the Stump”), since we’ve already seen promotional images of this creature. This monster pretends to be a rabbit on a tree stump, but is really a tentacled predator. Although it is described in the Monster Manual II as a “vegetable monster”, it seems like it should be an aberration in fifth edition.

The reference to a bunnyoid in the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing is a recurring theme in the adventure, with baboonoids (essentially more intelligent baboons), leechoids (described as “nearly the same” as giant leeches), and lizardoids (described as near-dinosaurs). These are likely to have abbreviated stat blocks in the text of the adventure rather than full monster entries. The same is true of the brilliant fish (similar to a piranha) and the scintillating phosphorescent fish (a pretty but poisonous fish) if they aren’t simply treated as hazards or dropped entirely.

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Returning to plant creatures, we have the gasbat. Gasbats float around waiting for unsuspecting adventurers to accidentally ignite their highly volatile vapors and then explode. OAR3 updated these using a description of a hazard rather than giving them a monster block. This seems a likely approach for the fifth edition version, since the poor gasbat has never had a full monster stat block.

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The eye of the deep is an aquatic cousin of the beholder from the original Monster Manual (1977). It had second and third edition versions, but seems to have fallen out of favor for fourth and fifth edition. An updated monster entry for this once core creature is a strong possibility for Quest from the Infinite Staircase.

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The shedu is another creature from the Monster Manual (1977) that has skipped recent editions. A human head, equine body and huge wings make up this lawful good, plane-hopping, psionics-wielding beast that loves nothing more than to help allied creatures. Like the eye of the deep, the shedu appears in only one encounter in Expedition, but that might be enough for it to get an updated stat block.

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The squealer is a gorilla-sized predator with a characteristic third arm on its back. It gets its name from the habit of mimicking the cries of distress of other creatures, luring them into an ambush. It was reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) and the second edition Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995), but has been absent for a few editions. Is it significant enough to get a monster entry in Quests? We’ll see.

7waQxQDbi_W0Up_6J142V1WKyAu6oTa_sIch0iop33xRZlWTsvxvdRf4LMgojZ4wyaN57envxmJMBudr-Ejo7mn3ib6V-LZvkoznHEdv23HqHbJUHULbEDY7nGR-bsssLVWgB4sqDee2WarTnYAiFYo

When the webbird was reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) it was made clear that it is not actually an avian, but more likely a feathered insect or arachnid. Small creatures, webbirds are only really dangerous in groups. They attempt to drop webs onto targets, snare them and then use a chest appendage to lay eggs inside the victim’s body. The webbird make it into second edition in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995) and third edition in Dungeon #148 (2007) but hasn’t yet featured in fifth edition, so a monster entry in Quests from the Infinite Staircase is a distinct possibility.

So what’s the verdict for Expedition to the Barrier Peaks?​
  • A near certainty for a full update: android, police robot, wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, worker robot.​
  • Very likely to be reprinted: froghemoth, russet mold, tri-flower frond, vegepygmy.​
  • Quite likely to get a full update: eye of the deep, squealer, webbird.​
  • Likely reprints: slithering tracker, trapper.​
  • Fairly likely to get a full update: globe palm, snapper-saw, strangle vine, vampire thorn vine.​
  • Likely to be updated but not get a full write-up: baboonoid, brilliant fish, gasbat, leechoids, lizardoids, scintillating phosphorescent fish.​
  • Small possibility of an update: horrid plant, purple blossom, shedu.​
  • Unlikely to be updated: brown pudding, lurker above.​
What do you think of the monsters in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks?
Do you have any fond memories of encounters with these monsters?
Do you have a favorite creature you’d like to see updated for fifth edition?
 

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Echohawk

Shirokinukatsukami fan
That brings us to the end of this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

To wrap up, here’s a consolidated list of the monsters and NPCs that I think we’re most likely to see in Quests from the Infinite Staircase:
  • NPCs/unique creatures: Drelnza, Green Man, Munafik, Sion, Zargon
  • New monsters: android, barkburr, coffer corpse, dracolisk, dustdigger, gibberlings, maschin-i-bozorg, memory web*, mud-men, pech, police robot, thunderherder, werefox, wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, worker robot, xag-ya, xeg-yi.
  • Reprints: derro, froghemoth, giant subterranean lizard, shadow mastiff, russet mold, trapper, tri-flower frond, troglodyte champion, vegepygmy.
*This was on my list before @Hexmage-EN pointed out that it has likely been replaced by the obliviax (memory moss) so I’ve kept it.

Of the monsters on this list, I’m most keen to get stats for the androids and robots, so that I can use them in my current Spelljammer campaign. I also have a soft spot for the xag-ya/xeg-yi and the wolf-in-sheep’s clothing because they are such odd creatures. Which monsters from these adventures are you the most excited to see updated?
 

Yeah the trouble with vegepigmies is that 5e makes them CR 1/4, and this is a level 10+ adventure, rendering them effectively harmless.

Also, they have become rather familiar to be “weird aliens”, also having a significant role in ToA. My guess is they will be replaced with something completely different, or made friendly to the PCs.

The froghemoth has similar issues. We might get an "Elder Froghemoth" to make it the boss-level challenge it's intended to be.

I expect there will be a lot of refluffed standard creatures in this one.
 
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S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (February 1980)
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The sixth and final adventure in Quests from the Infinite Staircase is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, TSR’s foray into science fiction themed D&D. All of the new monsters in the original Expedition were updated in some way in Goodman Games’s licensed OAR3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (2019), but for the purpose of guessing which monsters will be updated in Quests, it is probably safe to ignore OAR3.

New monsters
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The unusual sci-fi flavor of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks means that the two pages dedicated to new monsters cover both monsters and machines. Vegepygmies and russet mold are the new monsters. Vegepygmies are humanoid plants who form communities of up to a few hundred, but smaller hunting and scavenging groups are typically encountered. Russet mold is a type of plant that is dangerous only because it emits clouds of irradiated spores. The mold can also be used by vegpygmies to propagate. Both creatures already have fifth edition analogs in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), but a reprint in Quests from the Infinite Staircase doesn’t seem unlikely.

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bZW5QqZIorpcQVaaWrVhTERDY6NdzAYbOb0WjCUlQaovEf_oW1U4_wwvxHGE4gDD8z1YVhZM6ZOB2oVjcDXNurIZhZpriFIO8bjfwZW6YVNpIqOTjoHcwO7bNFuK6slU2pNCFY0-272MgY8H5um2AlE
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EgFL50SpSZJiN7yD5Urlm-NzLFEDvt4rLTQiECGpz_z9QAJ6gucE-64ROW_AqZ5xheSE4Zx8eChS9BOZQK2lfa3NrI1CIeUYLDgJkhVYpwd1kypYxhCdg8eNydJCjpiemP63IcwG8f9iRH_hlcvCMkk

The other creatures with full stat blocks and descriptions are advanced constructs. Androids are shiny humanoids, and have a variety of specialized purposes. Mentioned in Expedition are a nurse, a surgeon, several physical training androids (a boxing/wrestling trainer, a fencing instructor, a karate master and a weight lifter) and guard androids. Several of them are malfunctioning, making them a threat to adventurers investigating the crashed spaceship. Monster descriptions for some of these seems like a sure bet for Quests, especially given that the promotional artwork for this adventure features three of the physical training androids.

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dMNS1l6y3yTgeipMPQSAbbK9dT7jtVPCIZlBHRaoBY3Raf6HMIkD0pIumjOrQX5cxIQn-Q4ZHPGOGS_fLEnym8S-BKq8mYr1_4LLDK9QF9wimcxj90IqZQ1xPC0qyrybtVyJTs5GKprTufAKfcFtYW4

Robots are more mechanical in nature, but also have multiple types, with separate stat blocks given for two main categories: police robots, and worker robots. The robots are more numerous than the androids and it is possible for the players to obtain a remote control box for the repair robots, giving them limited control over the machines. Monster entries for at least some types of robots are a sure bet for Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

Other monsters
A lot of the monsters encountered in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks can be found in the fifth edition Monster Manual: couatl, displacer beast, doppelganger, gray ooze, intellect devourer, mind flayer, phase spider, roper, shambling mound, shrieker, umber hulk and will-o’-wisp. There is a brown pudding in Expedition, but it is a brown-coloured black pudding, so we can probably consider that covered by the Monster Manual too.

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A few Expedition monsters have already appeared in other fifth edition sources. Green slime and yellow mold are detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The aurumvorax from the dangerous animals section of the spaceship has a fifth edition version in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. (2022). The froghemoth, slithering tracker and trapper are in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016) and Monsters of the Multiverse (2022). Quests from the Infinite Staircase could reprint some or all of those monsters, with the froghemoth being a near certainty, since it gets singled out in the product announcement. As noted in the review of Pharaoh, the trapper is also likely to be reprinted, since it appears in three of the Quests adventures, while the lurker above will probably become simply an upside-down trapper, an approach also taken in Goodman’s OAR3 version.

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Expedition introduced a variety of dangerous plants to D&D. Four of these were detailed further and reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) but with new names: the globe palm became the retch plant, the snapper-saw became the forester’s bane, the strangle vine became the choke creeper, and the vampire thorn vine was renamed to bloodthorn. The horrid plant and the purple blossom plant don’t seem to have been promoted to full monsters, but several of these plants could be covered by descriptions of them as hazards.

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A slightly better known plant is the tri-flower frond, which has already appeared in Tomb of Annihilation (2017). The plant puts its targets to sleep with its pollen, drains their body fluids and dissolves the bodies, with each of its colorful flowers responsible for one part of the process. A reprint in Quests from the Infinite Staircase seems likely.

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Even more likely is an update of the bizarre wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing (also known as “The Cute Little Bunnyoid on the Stump”), since we’ve already seen promotional images of this creature. This monster pretends to be a rabbit on a tree stump, but is really a tentacled predator. Although it is described in the Monster Manual II as a “vegetable monster”, it seems like it should be an aberration in fifth edition.

The reference to a bunnyoid in the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing is a recurring theme in the adventure, with baboonoids (essentially more intelligent baboons), leechoids (described as “nearly the same” as giant leeches), and lizardoids (described as near-dinosaurs). These are likely to have abbreviated stat blocks in the text of the adventure rather than full monster entries. The same is true of the brilliant fish (similar to a piranha) and the scintillating phosphorescent fish (a pretty but poisonous fish) if they aren’t simply treated as hazards or dropped entirely.

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Returning to plant creatures, we have the gasbat. Gasbats float around waiting for unsuspecting adventurers to accidentally ignite their highly volatile vapors and then explode. OAR3 updated these using a description of a hazard rather than giving them a monster block. This seems a likely approach for the fifth edition version, since the poor gasbat has never had a full monster stat block.

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The eye of the deep is an aquatic cousin of the beholder from the original Monster Manual (1977). It had second and third edition versions, but seems to have fallen out of favor for fourth and fifth edition. An updated monster entry for this once core creature is a strong possibility for Quest from the Infinite Staircase.

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The shedu is another creature from the Monster Manual (1977) that has skipped recent editions. A human head, equine body and huge wings make up this lawful good, plane-hopping, psionics-wielding beast that loves nothing more than to help allied creatures. Like the eye of the deep, the shedu appears in only one encounter in Expedition, but that might be enough for it to get an updated stat block.

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The squealer is a gorilla-sized predator with a characteristic third arm on its back. It gets its name from the habit of mimicking the cries of distress of other creatures, luring them into an ambush. It was reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) and the second edition Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995), but has been absent for a few editions. Is it significant enough to get a monster entry in Quests? We’ll see.

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When the webbird was reprinted in the Monster Manual II (1983) it was made clear that it is not actually an avian, but more likely a feathered insect or arachnid. Small creatures, webbirds are only really dangerous in groups. They attempt to drop webs onto targets, snare them and then use a chest appendage to lay eggs inside the victim’s body. The webbird make it into second edition in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995) and third edition in Dungeon #148 (2007) but hasn’t yet featured in fifth edition, so a monster entry in Quests from the Infinite Staircase is a distinct possibility.

So what’s the verdict for Expedition to the Barrier Peaks?​
  • A near certainty for a full update: android, police robot, wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, worker robot.​
  • Very likely to be reprinted: froghemoth, russet mold, tri-flower frond, vegepygmy.​
  • Quite likely to get a full update: eye of the deep, squealer, webbird.​
  • Likely reprints: slithering tracker, trapper.​
  • Fairly likely to get a full update: globe palm, snapper-saw, strangle vine, vampire thorn vine.​
  • Likely to be updated but not get a full write-up: baboonoid, brilliant fish, gasbat, leechoids, lizardoids, scintillating phosphorescent fish.​
  • Small possibility of an update: horrid plant, purple blossom, shedu.​
  • Unlikely to be updated: brown pudding, lurker above.​
What do you think of the monsters in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks?
Do you have any fond memories of encounters with these monsters?
Do you have a favorite creature you’d like to see updated for fifth edition?

I can them adding the Shedu to random encounters in Pharoh, it just looks like something that would fit in with its flavour.
 


What monsters were not in the original adventures that you would like to see added to them?

Given one of is now set in the Feywild I want the Nymphs from Theros updated for it.

For Pharoh I would like a Mulhorandi unique monster.
 

What monsters were not in the original adventures that you would like to see added to them?

Given one of is now set in the Feywild I want the Nymphs from Theros updated for it.

For Pharoh I would like a Mulhorandi unique monster.
Pharaoh isn't set in Mulhorand, they have gone back to the original setting-agnostic version, not the 1987 retcon. And why would any creature be unique to that location anyway? It's either part of the Forgotten Realms or part of Earth.
 

dave2008

Legend
That brings us to the end of this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

To wrap up, here’s a consolidated list of the monsters and NPCs that I think we’re most likely to see in Quests from the Infinite Staircase:
  • NPCs/unique creatures: Drelnza, Green Man, Munafik, Sion, Zargon
  • New monsters: android, barkburr, coffer corpse, dracolisk, dustdigger, gibberlings, maschin-i-bozorg, memory web*, mud-men, pech, police robot, thunderherder, werefox, wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, worker robot, xag-ya, xeg-yi.
  • Reprints: derro, froghemoth, giant subterranean lizard, shadow mastiff, russet mold, trapper, tri-flower frond, troglodyte champion, vegepygmy.
*This was on my list before @Hexmage-EN pointed out that it has likely been replaced by the obliviax (memory moss) so I’ve kept it.

Of the monsters on this list, I’m most keen to get stats for the androids and robots, so that I can use them in my current Spelljammer campaign. I also have a soft spot for the xag-ya/xeg-yi and the wolf-in-sheep’s clothing because they are such odd creatures. Which monsters from these adventures are you the most excited to see updated?
Thank you for your hard work Echo!

I'm looking forward to:
Drelnza, Green Man, Munafik, Sion, Zargon, dracolisk, xag-ya, xeg-yi. shedu
 

Riley

Legend
Supporter
Thank you for the refresher on these, Echohawk!

Wizards chose an excellent set of adventures to update. I have the two OAR 5e conversions already, but When a Star Falls, Pharoah, and Crystal Cave are all favorites. I really look forward to introducing these to my son, etc.
 

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