Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf 45: Fire-Tongues

Issue 45: Fire-Tongues

 

What’s this? No Phil Masters? You okay Phil?

However, it does give somebody else a chance, in this case two “somebodies”, Alan Craddock and Jason Micklewright, who give us a collection of elemental creatures in a Fiend Factory subtitled Plane Speaking.

 

The first of three entries from Alan Craddock is the Sand Demon, aka Dust Scurry. Now, I could have sworn that there was an officially published creature called a “dust devil”, but I’ve checked both the Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II, without success. The index in the MM2 lists creatures by pseudonyms as well, so even if the monster was under a different name, it would still be there, but it’s not. No, now I come to think of it, it was a spell, possibly in Unearthed Arcana. And, I finally tracked it down. A second level cleric spell in the old 1^st Edition Unearthed Arcana. Phew, I thought for a moment I was going mad!

 

Be that as it may, that’s essentially what a sand demon is – a creature from the para-elemental plane of Dust that can assume the form of a whirlwind of stinging, blinding sand. They can also create mirages, cast gust of wind and heat metal, and assume the semi-humanoid form seen in the picture. They also come with a list of effects that result when specific spells are cast at them, which is quite a 1E thing to do.

 

The Servants of the Flame, aka Fire Monkeys, also by Alan, are, pretty much, fire monkeys, servitor creatures thought to be created by Imix, Elemental Prince of Evil Fire.

 

Fire Monkeys are always going to be fun, but in the end these are basically monkeys with added fire damage, although some can also cast burning hands. I think mechanically you could just use magmin, but describe them as monkey-like.

 

Jason Micklewight gives four creatures for the price of one, with Para-Elementals of Ice, Heat, Vapour and Dust. They’re all pretty straightforward, as elementals tend to be, each delivering a damaging attack of the appropriate type, and most with some kind of additional effect. The dust elemental blinds and can choke characters trapped in it, the ice elemental can break off a shard in its target that continues to cause damage, and the vapour elemental cooks people in their armour. Only the heat elemental gets no extra effect – I’d give it powers of exhaustion, perhaps.

 

While I don’t think the artwork is the best (although better than a lot of Alan Hunter), I do like the humorous elements, like the guy using the heat elemental to make toast. My Monster of the Week gets a suitably jokey illustration as it attacks a waiter from an Arabian Nights themed restaurant, because these creatures are described as enjoying a good pyromaniac prank.

Yes, it’s Alan Craddock’s third entry, the Fire Tongues. (NB it’s really easy to keep referring to these as Flame Tongues, but that’s the sword).

 

Most of the abilities of these are easily adapted from both fire elementals and magmin. I translated “detect invisible creatures 75% of the time” to simply giving them blindsight (which can function as it is described in the fire tongue entry). Because they are small, they have d6 for hit dice – I took the average of the original 4d8 hit dice (18), and then worked out how many d6s would give the same result. Thus 4d8 original hit dice become 5d6 hit dice in 5^th Edition. You’ll also need Xanathar’s Book of Everything for the control flame cantrip, the nearest alternative for affect normal fires.

 

Fire-Tongue

Small elemental, neutral

Armour Class 15 Hit Points 17 (6d6) Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 16 (+3) 10 (+0) 4 (-3) 10 (+0) 10 (+0)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Damage Vulnerabilities cold Damage Immunities fire Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this distance), passive Perception 10

Languages –

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Death Throes. When the fire-tongue is reduced to 0 hit points it explodes in a fireball, causing 10 (3d6) fire damage to all creatures within a 10-foot radius. A successful DC 10 saving throw halves this damage. Fiery Body. A creature that touches the fire-tongue or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) fire damage. ACTIONS

Burning Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the creature struck must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or catch on fire. A burning creature takes 3 (1d6) fire damage at the end of the flame-tongue’s turn, unless it spends an action to extinguish itself. Control Flames. The fire-tongue can control flames as per the cantrip.