Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf 34: The Unborn

White Dwarf 34: The Unborn

 Last month is was psionic creatures, this month, undead, with a Fiend Factory called “More Dead Than Alive”.

First up are the Morbe, aka the “Semi-Dead”.These are by Albie Fiore, which is always a little suspect that the editor sneaks in his own creations, but I like Fiore’s work so I’m willing to forgive!

My original intent was to do a conversion for these guys, but in the end the mechanics were just a bit too clunky to adapt for my tastes.

The Morbe are not completely undead, but neither are they completely living, existing in a kind of limbo state, brought about by a disease. If their Constitution score is under 18 they count as being in their “undead” state, and their attacks drain Constitution from their victims, adding it to their own until they reach 18+, at which point they enter their “living” form. While in “undead” form, attacks against them cause hit point damage.

In “living” form, their attacks only cause normal weapon damage, but attacks against them reduce their Constitution, not hit points. And thus they kind of see-saw between “living” and “undead”. I’ll be honest, I think this sounds better on paper than it would work in practice.

There’s no Phil Mastery this issue, but we do get a Roger E Moore creation, the Rusalka.

 

Taken from Slavic folklore, the rusalka is one of those many Slavic spirit creatures that want to drown you. They’re a combination of the kind of powers that you’d expect – they can grapple a character and drown it underwater, and they can kill instantly with a kiss. With the Book of Lost Monsters, I used an undead version of the Kelpie to create a Rusalka, and I don’t see the need to recreate one here.

 

There have been a couple of Ringwraith-inspired monsters in White Dwarf before, including the very obvious homage, the Night Rider and, in fact, an actual attempt to stat up the Ringwraiths a couple of issues ago (in an article attempting to convert parts of Lord of the Rings to D&D). Daniel Secker’s Wraith Warrior seems like it also borrows from the Ringwraiths, since its main feature is that the sword that it wields injects a “cold venom” into the victim, which not only causes damage but also impacts their fighting ability due to the pain. After 4 turns (which, as I recall, in old money is something like 40 minutes), the venom reaches the character’s … brain, not heart, and converts them into a wraith warrior.

 

The last of the batch is the IJ Chomacki’s Goldfinger – not a Bond villain, but a zombie with a Voltaic pile inside it, so that it delivers electric shocks via its gold-tipped fingers. If it were me, I think I’d make this a flesh golem alternative rather than a zombie variant, but it’s entertainingly simple.

 

Fine as all of the preceding monsters are, I think that they’re in general little more than variants in exisitng creatures, and although I was tempted by the Morbe, on balance I much preferred The Unborn, by David Howard.

 

The tormented souls of murdered children; what a temptingly horrible idea, one that will surely invoke horror and pity in all but the most sociopathic of players. So although these are dangerous foes, they’re also tragic victims, and I like that tension.

Also, although they initially seem like a will-o’-wisp variant, they’ve got an interesting arsenal of attacks that makes them more novel than the other entries in this issue.

 

The Unborn

Small undead, unaligned

Armour Class 13 Hit Points 10 (3d6) Speed fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 3 (-4) 16 (+3) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 12 (+1)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Damage Immunities cold, fire, poison Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, exhaustion, grappled, paralysed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained Senses darkvision 60 feet, passive Perception 10

Languages all (telepathy 120 ft.)

Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Alternate Form. The unborn can use its bonus action to switch between the form of the spirit of a tormented child, and as a spheroid. In sphere form it has the same statistics except that it is size Tiny, has Dexterity (Stealth) +7 and can only use its Destroy Soul action. Changing forms does not count against the unborn’s Limited Actions total. Ephemeral. The unborn can’t wear or carry anything. Incorporeal Movement. The unborn can move through solid objects and creatures as if they were difficult terrain. If it ends its turn inside a solid object it takes 5 (1d10) force damage. ACTIONS

Limited Actions. The unborn can only perform a total of six of any combination of its actions per day before it must return to the Abyss. Bolt of Evil. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. Destroy Soul. The unborn hovers over a creature that has recently died and sends its soul to the Abyss. After this, the creature cannot be resurrected or otherwise restored to life by any means short of a wish or similarly powerful magic. Shadow Web (Recharge 6).  The unborn casts a web of negative energy. This functions like a web spell, except that any creatures caught within it take 2 (1d4) necrotic energy at the start of the unborn’s turn. The web is immune to fire damage, but can be dispelled by a bless spell cast using a 3rd level, or higher, spell slot. Share Torment. Three or more unborn working together can give a single creature a glimpse of their existence in the Abyss. Any creature that is not a fiend must make a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or become stunned until the end of the unborn’s next turn. The next round they act as if under the effect of a confusion spell. After this, the character must make a second saving throw or develop a long-term madness, if the DM is using the optional madness rules from the DMG.