Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf Issue 27: The Cold Beast

Issue 27 The Cold Beast

 

This issue’s Fiend Factory is titled “Near Misses”, and is another selection of creatures that didn’t quite make it into the Fiend Folio. For at least three of the ones featured here it’s because they’re clearly borrowed from other works. The remaining two are okay, but nothing that really makes them stand out. And so it was quite hard to pick one to convert.

The Spikehead (by an anonymous author) is okay, but really it’s just an ape with a gore/charge attack, so you could easily create one of these by just mashing a couple of existing stats together. I’m not sure if this one is from any work of fiction, but they look like quite common “servitor” beasts. They’d be good as hunting animals of the evil forces in a campaign.

Ian Beckinham’s Wirrn come from the Doctor Who story The Ark In Space, featuring Tom Baker (not to be confused with The Space Ark featuring William Hartnell!). This version is somewhat different, being more like the grub-like larval form than the adult insectiod form of the TV series, but they share the same “body-snatcher” horror aspect.

I was toying with using these as a conversion, since they have a range of interesting abilities, but as written they also have some oddly specific rules involving how they knock down a victim and implant it with eggs (as well as how easy it is for another person to sever the ovipositor). I may eventually attempt a conversion of these, to make them usable. Creatures that lay eggs inside adventurers are always terrifying to meet.

Brendan Bulger, who gave us the Plantmen, returns to his inner Barsoomian with a duo of creatures from Edgar Rice Burrough;s John Carter of Mars stories.

The Greenman is obviously based on the green martians – four armed with tusks and living in ancient abandoned cities. Pretty straightforward, almost boringly so, to be honest, and I’ve already done a four-armed humanoid with the Bogy. It was interesting that Brendan seems to be using the Basic D&D style of alignment, where only Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic exist.

The White Ape is Brendan’s second Barsoom creature this issue, and again to be honest it’s pretty straightforward. I did a Girallon version of the Giant Ape in The Lazy GM: Savage Creatures, which would also work as a Barsoomian white ape. Really, it’s just a giant ape with four claw attacks, at the end of the day. As with the spikehead, these make for good servitor beasts or wilderness resource-suckers.

Which leaves me with Dean Lockwood’s Cold Beast. A somewhat prosaic name, and I can’t tell if this one is a borrow from an SF/F work or not. Although basically a cold-using monster, it’s got an interesting twist with its blindsight and the fact that its gemstone “eyes” can be taken out and used as independent magic items. Its other signature ability is that it likes to grapple with its prey and thus subject them to its aura of cold up close.

Conversion-wise, all of these abilities are pretty straightforward.

 

Cold Beast

Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armour Class 12 Hit Points 45 (6d10 + 12) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 8 (-1)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Skills Perception +3 Damage Immunities cold, fire Senses blindsight 120 ft. (cannot sense beyond this range), passive Perception 13

Languages –

Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Aura of Cold. Any creature making a melee attack against the cold beast, or that is within 10 feet of the cold beast on the cold beast’s turn takes 3 (1d6) cold damage. Blindsight. The cold beast navigates by its sense of smell. It is immune to any effects that rely on vision. A cold beast unable to smell is also considered blinded except to anything within 5 feet of it. Keen Smell. The cold beast has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. ACTIONS

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage. Smother. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 3 (1d6) cold damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). Each round that the cold beast maintains the grapple it causes 3 (1d6) cold damage to its target. The cold beast cannot perform any other actions while maintaining a grapple, and has a +4 bonus to Strength checks made to maintain the grapple. Icy Gaze (1/day). The cold beast emits a 60-foot cone of cold from its eyes. Each creature in the area must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 13 (3d8) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.