Fun Facts - Missing from Mordy's
The newest Dungeons & Dragons book, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, is coming out in May (unless you want to drop close to $170 bucks on the bundle), touting that it Includes over 250 monsters to challenge your players. This is quite the misnomer since none of those monsters are actually new. WotC has bundled all of the monsters into one significant old volume from its litany of books. I find this quite disappointing since the writers wouldn't even have to spend the time creating them. There are so many monsters from previous editions that fell on the wayside as the editions progressed. The writers could have pulled some of these forgotten creatures out of the abyss and breathed into them.
I own many older texts, some that I kept and some that I've bought recently, and my favorite ones are the Monster Manuals. Did you know that the 5th edition is the only edition that has not released more than one book entirely made up of monsters? Some are bizarre, a few are terrifying, and some are so bad they need to be forgotten. However, held within those books are some that I wish would come back to kill my character. So, dear reader, I present my list of forgotten creatures that deserve a second chance.
1e Thought Eater (MM1) - WotC
Thought Eater - Introduced in the 1st edition Monster Manual (1978), this freaky little creature looks like a skeletal platypus, but that description doesn't come close to doing it justice. Its giant head looks strange on the tiny little body, and it has these odd webbed claws. It floats through the Ethereal Plane, looking for yummy brains to satiate its hunger.
You don't have to be on the Ethereal Plane for it to sense your massive brainpower. If your brain is big enough, it will come visit you on the Material Plane. The Thought Easter will suck the psionic energy of creatures, but if it gets close enough, it will start eating your actual thoughts. As it does so, your Intelligence will drop, and that loss is permanent. Here's what the description says happens (exact wording, I apologize it offends anyone).
At intelligence 0, the creature is dead, 1 equals mindlessness, 2 idiocy, 3 imbecility, and Intelligence of 4 is equivalent to a low-grade moron.
Aren't you glad you made Intelligence your Dump Stat? Got to love those 1st edition creatures. The Thought Eater made it all the way to the 3rd edition, with its last appearance in the Guide to the Ethereal Plane.
1e Tirapheg (MM1) - WotC
Tirapheg - Oh man, this one is a must, primarily because of its appearance. Found first in White Dwarf #11 (1979) and later in the 1st edition Fiend Folio (1981), this 7-foot tall guy must be in the top five of ridiculous creatures ever created. The Tiraheg has three heads, and only the head in the center has eyes and what passes as ears. The other two heads are void of any features. A Tiraheg has three arms, one that is in the center of its chest with a strong three-finger hand, the other two ending in pointy, spear-like tips. It has three legs similar to the legs, except it has powerful toes instead of fingers. And one last thing; its mouth is in the center of its chest.
The Tirapheg love decayed flesh, so once it kills you, it will probably keep your body around to rot. The way it murders you is by stabbing you with the pointy arms, which automatically grapple you if they hit. Once that happens, the Tirapheg will choke you out with its middle hand. If you somehow manage to be winning the battle, the creature will create two illusions of itself and attempt to flee. My recommendation is to let it, and hopefully, never reencounter one.
2e Leprechaun (Monstrous Compendium) WotC
Leprechaun - Here's one that truly needs to return. The Leprechaun appeared first in the 1st edition Monster Manual and again in the 2nd edition. It's not like they've stopped creating fey creatures, so why cast out the impish creature? Maybe it's a bias because they are only half-fey, as the other half rumored to be halfing. It could be that the Leprechaun isn't a creature that wants to actively kill you, just steal some of those shiny things in your possession. We know wanting to kill you is a requirement in the early editions. Or maybe they just decided they had too many fun-love, mischievous creatures.
1st edition Leprechauns didn’t have a pot of gold, but the 2nd edition did give them a horde mostly made up of the coin. They have some fantastic abilities. These include invisibility at will, polymorph (only inanimate objects), create illusions, and ventriloquism. There's even a rumored Leprechaun king. Imagine the fun stuff you could do with that creature! It's a shame the Leprechaun was cut so long ago. #bringbacktheleprechaun
Brain Mole - If you haven't figured out by now, I have an affinity for the older creatures. The Brain Mole was introduced in the 1st edition Monster Manual and cut in the 2nd edition. Beyond that? No more Brain Mole. It's another psionic creature. When the mental brainpower concept known as psionics was dropped, so were many creatures, including the Brain Mole.
2e Brain Mole (Monstrous Compendium) WotC
If you had psionic abilities, your mental power could be their lunch. They didn't do this out of hate, but everyone has to eat, and these little guys need a snack once a week or die. The 1st edition was straightforward; suck your psionic powers, which had a chance 20% of causing you to go permanently insane. The 2nd edition provided the Brain Mole with family life, a society it lived in and even had them serve as pets for the rich and powerful. But alas, we are still waiting for the Brain Mole to make, would only be, a glorious return to Dungeons & Dragons.
2e Feyr (Monstrous Compendium) - WotC
Feyr - There are a couple things, in my opinion, that makes the Feyr great. Only found in the 2e Monstrous Manual and 3e Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1992), the Feyr looks like someone thought it would be a good idea to mash together with a beholder, a gibbering mouther, and Jabba the Hut. Created by people's nightmares, residual energy, and the emotions of large groups of people, this brings us to my second favorite reason the Feyr exists. They are one of the few monsters that roam large cities. Too often, the only bad guys we encounter in cities are other humanoids. There was even a Great Feyr, as a massive creature created by a bunch of regular Feyr that merged. The Feyr provides a DM with a terrifying option that isn't a murderous kobold.
In the 2nd edition, Feyr had five eyes, two tentacles it used to slither around, and many creepy mouths filled with pointy teeth. The 3rd edition creature was even more horrid, with more tentacles and a long-tail-like one that seemed to make the creature hover as it moved. While it used those mouths to attack, killing you wasn't its real purpose. It wanted to strike fear in as many people as possible, and the Greater Feyr could do this just by its appearance. These creatures appeared only at night as direct sunlight sun killed them. All the more reason to be snug in your bed at the local tavern.
Volt - Finally, we have the Volt. The creature appeared in the 1st edition Fiend Folio and again in the 2nd edition Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (1992). No matter the edition, they were both were mean as hell.
1e Volt (Erol Otus from Fiend Folio) - WotC
The Volt was a creepy little 3-foot long flying worm-like creature. It had two giant eyes that took up most of its "face" and mouth with sharp teeth and a long tail. And let’s not forget about the two horns protruding from the top of its head. The Volt would fly up to you, bite you in the neck, and then latch on. If you wanted it off, you had to kill in. While its teeth were holding on tight, the Volt would whip its tail around and zap you with electricity. In typical 1st edition fashion, the tail attacks automatically hit. In the second edition, we find out when the Volt was biting your neck, it was also sucking the blood out of you. So you could either die from all your blood being drained via your neck or repeatedly being zapped by its tail. Neither option sounds particularly appealing.
These are just a few of the monsters that have been unjustly removed from the game. I'll be doing another one of these fairly soon. I had a blast searching for these creatures again and, in the process, saw so many more creatures that deserve to be brought back. I'm interested in the creatures you wished they had in the 5th edition, so please share them in the comments below.
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