Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf Issue 13: Terithran

Issue 13 Terithran

There are only four monster entries in this issue, perhaps because Don Turnbull was busy preparing the Fiend Folio and had less time to spare for the Fiend Factory, or perhaps the space allocation for the article was reduced due to an increasing amount of other material in the magazine.

Well, whatever the reason, it largely makes my job easy, especially since of the four monsters, two of them are in the 5^th Edition Monster Manual.

Julian Lawrence’s Doombat is an undead bat, and I toyed with converting these, but I still think that the Death Snake is an adequate dip into the “undead version of a regular monster” waters for the time being.  In the White Dwarf stats, there isn’t much in the way of abilities that make it undead, apart from the fact that it can be turned by a cleric.

By the time these get into the Fiend Folio, they are no longer undead (although they hate sunlight), and have gained a sonic attack ability that disrupts spell concentration and attack ability. I think they’re fine, but of the two monsters in this issue that don’t already have 5^th edition stats, this one was the more prosaic.

M. Stollery’s Imps became the Mephits when they entered the Fiend Folio (and from then on in future editions) changing from Imps, to “creatures of the Lower Planes” in the Fiend Folio, to mischievous elementals by the time they make it to 3^rd Edition. Here, and in the Fiend Folio, are Fire, Lava, Smoke and Steam Imps/Mephits, and I note that after expanding their number to include all variants of the elemental planes and their intersections for 3^rd Edition, by the 5^th Edition the mephits revert to these four basic types again.

Pictured from the Fiend Folio is a smoke mephit, and I rather like this one as it’s reminiscent of a mediaeval depiction of a demon – you can imagine this in the corner of a Heironymous Bosch painting – even though it’s by the usually unimpressive Alan Hunter.

I rather like these, they’re great nuisance monsters, but as they’re already statted, I’ll leave them.

I thought that the Shadow Demon, by Neville White, was in the 3.5 Monster Manual, but it’s not; perhaps it’s in one of the supplementary books because I’m sure I’ve seen them. They’re definitely back in the 5^th Edition, where they are kind of an undead version of demon, an empty non-corporeal shell left where a demon is killed but unable to return to its home plane to reform. The original version, however, is a demon bound into a Shadow, of the undead variety.

I note that the newer version has flight, rather than the assisted charge of the earlier version (those tiny wings in the picture are deliberate; the original shadow demon is unable to fly with them).

These guys also seem to be product-ident nowadays as well, perhaps after one featured in the Dungeons and Dragon cartoon as a minion of the antagonist Venger (that one could fly as well).

Ronald Hall’s Terithran is an interesting concept, in some ways succeeded by the Ethereal Filcher and Ethereal Marauder of 3.x Edition. It’s an ethereal-dwelling creature that gets annoyed when wizards start flinging spells around and making a lot of disturbance in the ethereal plane. Hence it appears when a lot of magic, or high-powered magic, is being used and attempts to drain and kidnap the wizard (or perhaps item-user) responsible.

There are a couple of unique aspects of the terithran that make it interesting to convert. In the original version it has a lower armour class on the material plane due to its insubstantial nature; I converted this into disadvantage.

The other is the weird cluster effect of the per-day powers. Rather than each power having its individual number of uses, the terithran can use any combination of its powers, but no more than six in total per day. There is another creature that does something similar that we will see in a later issue.

The powers themselves are easy to convert – I think that the Drain Power ability is potentially very frustrating to magic-using characters, but the saving throw is low. It may also be slightly tricky to adjudicate the different number of per-day uses between the ethereal and material planes, which could be dispensed with instead of strict fidelity to the original.

But there we are, rather a fun little monster I think:

 

Terithran

Medium monstrosity, neutral

Armour Class 13 (natural armour) Hit Points 27 (5d8 + 5) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 8 (-1) 12 (+1) 10 (+0)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing made with nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered Senses detect magic, passive Perception 11

Languages Primordial

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Detect Magic. The terithran can detect magic, at will, as the spell. This is an innate ability and is not itself magical. Insubstantial. On the material plane, the terithran’s outline is indistinct. All attacks directed against it have disadvantage, unless the attacker does not rely on vision to target its attacks. Magic Resistance. The terithran has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.  ACTIONS

Multiattack. The terithran makes two claw attacks. Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) slashing damage. On the ethereal plane, the terithran’s claws cause 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage. Innate Powers (6/day). The terithran has up to 6 total uses of its innate powers, each of which it may spend on one of the following: Drain Power: If the terithran makes a successful melee attack against a spellcaster, the spellcaster must make a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or lose all its available spell slots. It can regain lost spell slots after a long rest, as normal, or if it has any special abilities that allow it to regain spent spell slots. Inflict Wounds: As the spell, cast using a 1st level slot. On a successful melee spell attack (+3) the terithran causes 16 (3d10) necrotic damage. Stunning Blast. The terithran sends out a wave of ethereal energy. All creatures within a 10-foot radius must make a DC 11 Constiution saving throw or be stunned until the start of the terithran’s next turn. On the ethereal plane this power also causes 22 (5d8) psychic damage, or half on a successful save. Transportation. The terithran shifts to the ethereal plane, along with one creature that it can touch. The creature gets no saving throw. On the ethereal plane, the terithran can use its powers up to 16 times, but any spent on the material plane count against this total. A terithran regains all uses of its powers after a long rest.