Fiend Factory 5e: White Dwarf Issue 9, The Whipper

Issue 9: The Whipper

White Dwarf Issue 9’s Fiend Factory starts with Cricky Hitchcock’s Svart, a blue-skinned small humanoid creature, described as “mediary between goblins and kobolds”. I don’t know if that’s meant to mean that they are related to both, which seems an odd thing since the kobolds are reptilian creatures, or if they are meant to be a bit tougher than a kobold but weaker than a goblin.

Either way, they seem pretty pointless as they don’t really offer anything that you couldn’t use a goblin or a kobold for. Don Turnbull reckons that they were inspired by the svart-alfar of the Wierdstone of Brisingamen, which itself only really uses elements of Norse folklore. But my recollection of the book is that the “maggot-brood of Ymir”, as they get colourfully called, could be rendered in game mechanics as simple goblins.

The svarts make an appearance in Albie Fiore’s excellent dungeon adventure, The Lichway, also published in this issue (suggesting that Albie had a little foreknowledge of the svart, but is also quite cunning for linking the adventure to the Fiend Factory). They also make an appearance in UK2 The Sentinel, part one of a two-part adventure that makes good use of the skulk, and also has an extensive svart lair.

Or, as they became known by the time of the Fiend Folio, the Xvart, with an X. I’m not sure why, but possibly to avoid any unpleasant association with apartheid-era South Africa? The Fiend Folio version also gets rid of the weirdly uncharacteristic element where hobbits like to stage combats between svarts and kobolds for entertainment. It would certainly give a different tone to the Green Dragon at Bywater if it had a svart-kobold fighting pit out the back!

I think I prefer the White Dwarf illustration better – I still can’t work out of the Fiend Folio xvart is wearing a flat cap or if it’s bald with a prominent brow ridge. I put the Monster Manual goblin next to it to play spot the difference in the stats, and, er … the goblin has a slightly better armour class? And is a foot taller. So, yeah, I stand by my assertion that the svart/xvart adds absolutely nothing new and could simply be flavour text for a different tribe of goblins. 

I also couldn’t help but notice an uncomfortable similarity between both the xvart and goblin illustrations with Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda:

Not saying that either Dave Trampier or the unknown xvart artist (I think it might be Emmanuel) are anti-semitic. If anything, it’s because the Nazis wanted to portray Jews as sub-human monsters that they made them look vaguely goblin-like. But it sits a little uncomfortably with 21^st century sensibilities. Another reason to prefer the original White Dwarf illustration, there are no racist overtones.

Well. That took a sudden turn.

So let’s instead look at the Ian McDowell’s Dakon, which is described as being a hairy ape-like creature with almost human intelligence. It obsessively hoards treasure and ….

Damn. Guess we’d better skip that one as well.

Who would have guessed that after all the monstrosities he was responsible for, that the last crime of Joseph Goebbels would be to spoil a bit of innocent RPG fun? At least the fiend factory image is unambiguous and a little bit benign:

Moving swiftly on, we get to Andrew Key’s Imorph (almost impossible not to think it ought to be spelled “iMorph”), and I think we’re safe from anti-Semitic stereotypes with this one.

It’s quite a fun monster, a kind of blobby thing that each round moves its Hit Dice and Armour Class by up or down by 1 point each until they are the same as the creature that it is fighting. It also gradually takes on the appearance of the creature as it does so. As soon as the two characteristics match, it also then takes on movement modes and attack probabilities of its opponent. There’s a little bit more detail in the Fiend Folio version – hit points remain the same even if HD change, for example, and there’s a nice colour detail about part of the animal that can be extracted to make a polymorph potion. For some reason, it gets no Fiend Folio illustration.

As far as I can tell, we’re also safe from accidental racism with Roger Musson’s ridiculous Stair Stalker, even though it’s a hairy humanoid. The stair stalker lives only on stairs, which it travels up and down and attacks anyone that tries to go past. It’s a good example of a “dungeon” beast from those early years where dungeons were huge complexes filled with tricks and traps that adventurers spent their whole career exploring. It’s so stupid, I’ve actually come to quite like it. (It’s also a little like a child’s game, which would be fun and make a lot of noise to annoy the adults).

The Flying Fish by Dave Waring is a huge blood-sucking lungfish that floats in the sky through the means of hydrogen lift. And obviously, it will explode if it attacked with fire. It’s okay; I think I’d use something like this as a piece of background colour for an alternative realm; maybe some intelligent race uses them as a risky mode of transport.

Nick Louth’s Urchin is also pretty straightforward, a kind of sea-urchin creature that fires out spines – how many, with what level of accuracy and for how much damage is determined by a colour-coding system. I’ve just now noticed that it has a fly speed, I’d always assumed that they were land-based. For nearly 40 years! Note that for these, and the flying fish, poison causes hit point damage and isn’t a save-or-die effect. It makes them very easy to convert to 5^th Edition.

Next is Stephen Wood’s Umpleby. This is, what, the third shaggy humanoid thing this issue? At least with the umpleby the shagginess is an important feature, as not only does it generate static electricity, it weaves its own hair into nets which it carries wrapped around its waist. The umpleby belongs to the class of monsters from the “puzzle dungeon” style of play – like the Carbuncle last issue, or the Squonk before that (or, indeed, the Tween

that I statted up), the umpleby is one of those monsters that like to follow adventuring parties around for no obvious reason.

In the case if the umpleby, it is treasure-mad. It’s sort of implied that such a creature would try and abscond with any treasure that the party finds, although the text just tells us that it leaves in a sulk if not given its share. Somewhere in there, there’s an interesting monster waiting to get out, but it needs better flavour text.

Lastly, before we get to the Monster Of The Week, is another Roger Musson creation, the Nasnas. To be fair to Roger, he didn’t invent the idea, the nasnas comes from Arabian folklore (see also the Gaelic Fachan). I think it’s one of those folklore monsters that might sound terrifying to meet when you’re talking about at night around the fire, but is actually pretty silly and doesn’t really work as a D&D monster.

Roger plays a little prank with the damage dice, where 6d6 are rolled, but only the 1s are counted. This is another typical example of the “puzzle dungeon” style of play where the DM is out to mess with the players. I can’t really see the rationale of using it for this particular monster (maybe for an illusory creature, yes).

And so we get to Bob Scurfield’s Whipper. There’s nothing really unusual about this creature, apart from it being a rare plant monster, but I like the versatility of it. It’s not a one-off joke like the stair stalker, or a specific set of behaviours like the dakon or the umpleby, or utterly redundant, like the svart.

The whipper “hates sunlight”, and that’s easy to replicate mechanically. Its main feature is the death-frenzy, and as plenty of existing creatures have death throes that, too, is easy enough to write. I went back and forth about being able to sever the tendrils separately, but I think on balance this ought to be allowed as it’s not only part of the original monster but is also a clever tactic to prevent the death-frenzy.

And so:

Whipper

Medium plant, unaligned

Armour Class 14 (natural armour) Hit Points 39 (6d8 + 12) Speed 10 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 15 (+2) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 2 (-4) 10 (+0) 6 (-2)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Damage Immunities psychic Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, exhaustion Senses blindsight 60 feet, passive Perception 10

Languages –

Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Death Throes. If the whipper is killed, it convulsively makes one tendril attack against every creature within 15 feet, causing double damage if it hits. Sunlight Sensitivity. If the whipper is in direct sunlight it has disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. Tendrils. The tendrils of a whipper can be attacked individually. They have AC 16, 10 hit points, and immunity to piercing and bludgeoning damage as well as the immunities of the whipper as a whole. If a tendril is destroyed, the whipper can no longer use it to make attacks. A whipper typically regrows a new tendril in 1-2 weeks. ACTIONS

Multiattack. The whipper makes two tendril attacks. Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10 + 2) bludgeoning damage.