Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf 30: The Stirge Demon

 Issue 30 Stirge Demon

The Fiend Factory this issue is titled “In Good(?) Company”, and is loosely themed around creatures that are either companion beasts, or have companion beasts.

But before that, there’s a scenario by Phil Masters called “The Curse of the Wildland”, which is a compact little low-level wilderness quest based around seven or so encounter areas with a mix of combat, roleplaying and exploration. It also features a phung, so you can use the one that I statted up for Issue 18 (you’re welcome), and one unique monster, the Hsiao.

I did a quick search, and it looks like there is a Hsiao for 5^th Edition, but it’s an intelligent owl, rather than this hybrid creature. It’s a fun little monster, though, and one I may come back to as a bonus.

Onto the Fiend Factory proper, and first up we have the Weresnake, by Cas Liber. (Actually, second. The first monster is the one I’m going to convert in this instalment).

It’s a pretty simple addition to the ranks of lycanthropes, and also a surprisingly overlooked concept. It’d fit in with the yuan-ti, I’d guess, or be usable as a non-identity-protected alternative. Under 3.5 rules it’d have been easy to cobble one together with the template, but also not too difficult with 5^th Ed rules.

Roger E Moore’s Muryan are an “ant-man” race, in this similar to the thri-kreen in that they are bipedal with four arms, rather than the centaur-like body structure of the 3.5 edition Formians. They are pretty much immune to mind-affecting effects, and they have a rough hierarchy of progressively tough sub-leaders and leaders, and they use giant ants or giant wasps as guard animals.

Pretty straightforward, and quite similar to the Aspis from Slave Pits of the Undercity. Also, I’ve already done the Flymen.

Our old pal Phil Masters is back with the Sprite Knight

This is a tougher version of the sprite, which you could pretty much recreate by giving fighter levels to a regular sprite (it has a few more innate spellcasting powers as well). The Cavalier from Xanathar’s Book of Everything would work well, but any fighter (or paladin, or ranger) pathway would work. Phil’s sprite knights ride anything from a giant bat, a bloodhawk, a wild boar, a wild dog or a giant spider (all evocative and interesting – one could imagine different orders of sprite knights perhaps).

The Vampire Wolf (aka Coacula) by Trevor M French is another monster that was easy under the 3.5 template rules – it’s basically a vampire worg, although without as many powers as a full vampire, or even vampire spawn. It has gaseous form, charm and anyone killed by one rises again as a vampire (spawn, I’d suggest).

Also interesting is the mention at the end of other undead wolves – shadow wolves (solvi), wraith wolves (gubbliyi), spectre wolves (rataki) and ghost wolves (satani).

And finally, D Parrington’s Minidrag is a pet/familiar kind of creature, a little reptile that can sense emotions, rearing up (and possibly attacking) anyone that means it (or its owner) harm. The minidrag has a very potent poison spitting attack – a good old 1^st Edition “save or die” poison, and even if you don’t die you might be blinded. I’d scale this back, to some poison damage on a ranged attack, plus maybe temporary blindness that can be avoided with a saving throw.

Which leaves the Stirge Demon, by Ivo [sic] Smith, a humanoid figue that drains blood through its long hollow claws and is often accompanied by stirges. (The stirge demon, that is, not Ivo Smith. A least I hope not).

First off, let’s make it a fiend for real. Since Ivo gave it an alignment of Lawful Evil, it’s not going to actually be a demon, but I’m fine with clueless mortals giving it the wrong term. I don’t think it’d be a “devil” either, more a nonspecific kind of fiend, like the rakshasa.

The other major change I made is to make its powers innate rather than the result of magic items – that includes its ability to summon and control stirges, but also its flight. It seemed more fitting.

I doubled the Hit Dice, otherwise the attack and blood drain were pretty straightforward. There’s nothing in Ivo’s description to suggest skills, saving throws, or even resistances, but perhaps resistance to mundane weapons would be fitting.

The last adaptation was the “disease of the blood”. I went back to the 1^st Edition DMG, page 14 where the diseases are given. A blood disease causes the loss of a point of Strength and Constitution per week. I’d already pencilled in that it causes the loss of a point of Strength per day, and on reflection decided to keep this instead. Feel free to change it though.

And so:

Stirge Demon

Medium fiend, lawful evil

Armour Class 14 (natural armou) Hit Points 85 (10d8 + 40) Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 20 (+5) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 12 (+1)

Proficiency Bonus +3 Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal

Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Disease. Any creature that has taken damage from the stirge demon’s Blood Drain action must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw 24 hours later, contracting a disease on a failure. Until the disease is cured, the target loses a point of Strength every 24 hours. The target dies if its Strength is reduced to 0. It can repeat the saving throw every 24 hours; two consecutive successes halts the process. Any lost Strength points are restored by a long rest once the disease has been halted. Magical Flight. The stirge demon flies by magical means. This effect cannot be dispelled, but will not function in an anti-magic zone. Stirge Mastery. A stirge will never attack a stirge demon. ACTIONS

Multiattack. The stirge demon makes two claw attacks. Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) piercing damage, the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Blood Drain. The stirge demon can drain the blood of a grappled opponent. At the start of the stirge demon’s turn, the target loses 7 (2d4) hit points due to blood loss. A stirge demon will release a grappled creature after draining 24 hit points. Summon Stirges (2/day). The stirge demon can summon 3d6 stirges, which appear immediately and obey the stirge demon’s commands. If the stirge demon is slain, the stirges remain but behave as normal stirges.