Deep Dive - The Gibbering Mouther
The Gibbering Mouther is a creature from the darkest nightmares of a tortured soul that came to life. We’ll hold off describing the creature as you’ll find out what has made us shudder soon enough. Whether the creature was the creation of an evil mage or a denizen of a faraway plane, you’ll want to avoid these blobs of eyes and teeth at all costs, especially if you start hearing it gibber.
AD&D - Gibbering Mouther
Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 1
Move: 3”/6”
Hit Dice: 4+3
% in Lair: 95%
Treasure Type: Q
No. of Attacks: 6+
Damage/Attack: 1 (x6) +1 per round
Special Attacks: Spit, babble, save vs. confusion
Special Defenses: Control ground density for 5 foot radius
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Semi-
Alignment: Neutral
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Level/X.P. value: IV/210+5/hp
Monster Manual II, 1983 TSR Inc.
The Gibbering Mouther debuted in the C1 module Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980) and then in the Monster Manual II (1983). It's difficult to even know where to begin with a creature this hideous, and we aren't just talking about trying to kill it. Close your eyes and imagine a 6-foot tall earthy-colored blob consisting mainly of mouths and eyes. Whatever you have pictured, the Mouther is worse. This is an amoeboid, making it essentially a mass of cytoplasm with eyes filled with malicious intent, a brain in its midsection, and mouths filled with sharp teeth.
As you might have guessed from a creature made up almost exclusively of mouths, the Gibbering Mouther is perpetually hungry, devouring everything it comes in contact with. We mean everything as they have no problem eating animals, minerals, and vegetables... and of course, you are included in that in case you were feeling left out. The Gibbering Mouther is just one more monster whose sole goal in life is to eat you while your friends watch on in horror.
If you were hoping to gaze upon this gibbering mass of eyes and mouths and teeth, well, they do keep lairs. You'll know you are in one of their lairs as they are found largely underground and in cold regions, which are remarkably clean and barren of everything except the stone walls, ceiling, and floor. They eat everything in their lairs, and then feel bloated for the rest of the day, complaining about how their favorite jeans from high school no longer fit anymore. The only thing that isn't clean in their lair is at the very center is a mound of dirt and rock, which is basically what the Mouther looks like when it has all of its mouths and eyes closed. Once it senses someone is nearby, it waits until they get close enough for it to take a bite out of their leg and then opens everything up as it greedily tries to devour you.
Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, 1980 TSR Inc.
The opening of its eyes and mouths is freaky enough, but you'll soon find your attention drifting elsewhere. Once it sees you, the Gibbering Mouther begins to gibber and babble, spewing out confusing gibberish. If you are near the Mouther, and can hear its word-diarrhea, you must make a saving throw or become confused, like the confusion spell. For the next round, you may start to wander around aimlessly, be stunned, scared out of your mind as if under a fear spell, or attack your closest friends and allies. And while you are busy picking up daisies and braiding them into your beard, the Gibbering Mouther can slosh over to you and begin attacking.
If you begin to be attacked by a Gibbering Mouther, not even range can save you from this horrifying mass. If you are too far away from its teeth to reach you, it will start spitting at you. While spit might not be terrifying to most, if the spittle strikes a hard and cold surface, the saliva explodes into a bright light. This light blinds everyone near it for a round, giving the Mouther plenty of time to crawl up to you and take a few bites. Once you are close for a nibble, its mouths lash out and try to bite on to you for a measly 1 point of damage for each mouth. That's not too bad, except for the problem where if three or more mouths latch onto you, you may slip and fall prone. If you end up on the ground, the Gibbering Mouther oozes on top and begins biting with an additional 12 mouths. Your friends then get to watch in horror as it begins tearing chunks out of your flesh, armor, and clothes as it attempts to satiate its unending hunger.
If you've gotten all this way and are confused as to how an ooze of mouths and eyeballs move about, you already have the answer. With its multitude of mouths, the Gibbering Mouther simply bites the ground in front of it and pulls itself forward. The hard floor can be hard on a Mother's teeth, so it has a unique ability to make it easier. The Mouther can change terrain by warming it into mud or quicksand, allowing it to essentially swim across the mushy ground. This soft surface is easier on the Mouther's teeth, making it faster at oozing over towards you and taking a bite.
Dragon #160, Aug. 1990 TSR Inc.
Dragon #160 (Aug. 1990), The Ecology of the Gibbering Mouther written by Nigel D. Findley, brings us additional information on our disgustingly awesome friend. This information is provided as a 'biological trap' set up in a holy temple by a deceased high priest where cleric successors force a thief, known as Lykan, to disarm traps to a great vault within the temple. Lykan is no fool and has done his research, knowing that a Gibbering Mouther is a trap and has an insatiable appetite. Unfortunately, the deceased high priest never realized that a Gibbering Mouther would eat anything and everything, including all the treasure in the great vault. Our hero, Lykan, prepares for the encounter using earplugs and a loose blindfold of gauze. Inside the empty vault, he dodges the flashbang spit and gets out of there as fast as he can. Now that he has confirmed the Mouther is there, he tricks the cleric into thinking he disarmed the trap. Being a greedy cleric, the cleric strolls into the demise of his own making. The sound of his death is almost as bad as the gibbering.
2e - Gibbering Mouther
Climate/Terrain: Swamps, underground
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Day
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Semi (2-4)
Treasure: Q
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 1
Movement: 3, Sw 6
Hit Dice: 4+3
THAC0: 17
No. of Attacks: 6+
Damage/Attack: 1 (x6) + special
Special Attacks: Gibbering, spit, bite
Special Defenses: Ground Control
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: M (4-7’ tall)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 4 HD-975; 8 HD-2,000
Monstrous Compendium Annual Vol. 1, 1994 TSR Inc.
The Gibbering Mouther is found in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994) and is pretty much a cut and paste from the previous edition, but there are a few new fun details we can talk about. We aren't quite sure why such a hideous blob took so long to arrive, but at least it shows up to continue to consume adventurers.
We have an ecology to go along with the creature. Unsurprisingly, Gibbering Mouthers are not natural creatures but rather were created by evil wizards and cults. We know you're as shocked as we are. These creatures were not created to be hunters, but are scroungers, searching high and low for food, not matter how much it might disagree with being digested. While no reason is given for their creation, we suppose they might have just been an accident of creation.
If you were wondering how these blobs of mouth and eyes reproduce, we can finally fill you in on those dirty little secrets. When a Gibbering Mouther eats you, it gains a permanent +1 increase to its hit points. Once it reaches a maximum of 35 hit points, it then finds a quite den to hide in and begins the process of reproduction. Due to the Gibbering Mouther being an amoeboid life form, it reproduces by asexual fission, that is, it splits itself in half, creating two equal baby Gibbering Mouthers, one with 17 hit points and the other with 18 hit points. They then separate and create their own territories, free from other Gibbering Mouthers.
If you are wondering what would happen if you smoosh two Mouthers together, it's kind of like their reproduction but played in reverse. The two merge together, probably trying to consume each other, and this combines their stats and hit points, but also slows them down even more. While a giant Gibbering Mouther, spewing forth gibberish, is a frightening thought, at least you'll have an easier time of running away from it.
3e/3.5e - Gibbering Mouther
Medium-Size Aberration
Hit Dice: 4d8+24 (42 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 10 ft. (6 squares), swim 20 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (+1 Dex, +8 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+3
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1) or spittle +4 ranged touch (1d4 acid plus blindness)
Full Attack: 6 bites +4 melee (1) and spittle +4 ranged touch (1d4 acid plus blindness)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Gibbering, spittle, improved grab, blood drain, engulf, ground manipulation
Special Qualities: Amphibious, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, darkvision 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 13, Con 22, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 13
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +9, Swim +8
Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 15-12 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: -
Monster Manual, 2003 WotC
Respect is finally shown for this jiggling, gibbering, flesh monster as it makes it into the first Monster Manual (2000/2003) of this edition. Still a neutral creature on a never-ending quest for food, they now prefer the bodily fluids of creatures, its favorite being the blood of intelligent creatures, so at least we are safe. You're party's wizard, on the other hand, should be concerned.
We aren't quite sure how they made the Gibbering Mouther even more terrifying, but they did. They are 4 feet tall and 3 feet across, weigh up to 200 pounds, and of course, they have way too many eyes and mouths. Sometimes they will combine or arrange their facial features so it looks like they have a single face. It might seem odd, but Gibbering Mouthers can talk more than just gibberish as they can speak common, they just typically choose to use their mouths for eating instead of delightful conversations about the hottest gossip going on in their dungeons.
If they do talk to you, most of the time it is just going to be gibberish because they can then cause anyone who hears them within 30 feet to become confused. While confused, there is a chance you'll wander aimlessly, attack your allies, or simply just stand there trying to understand what that thing just told you, unable to move. Once you are completely confused, it then gets to start shooting its acidic saliva at you, if it hits, you get a chance to save or become blinded for up to 4 rounds. Luckily, if you have no eyes, you can't be blinded - and you don't have to look at this horrifying creature.
Spitting and gibberish aren't the only things that this human-flesh ooze monster has going for it. If it is within a few feet of a meal, it can shoot out tendrils of its flesh-colored but not flesh-consistency body at you, complete with a few eyes and a mouth. If it hits, it deals a measly 1 point of damage, but it can then attempt a free chance to grapple you. If it succeeds, it can then attempt to swallow you whole and begin draining your Constitution score as it slowly eats you and sucks out all your delightful liquid bits. You do get a turn to try and rip off any attached mouths, though it deals a bit of damage to you. You could instead use a sword, or your allies could use their axe or some other bladed weapon, to cut the tendrils away from their ally, and while the mouth doesn't come off and continues to deal damage, you are no longer grappled and in danger of being swallowed by an ooze pillow made of eyes and teeth.
Epic Level Handbook, 2002 WotC
This edition also brings us a new Gibbering abomination, the Gibbering Orb found in the Epic Level Handbook (2002). If you thought the Gibbering Mouther, being a CR 5 creature, was bad - you are really not ready for the Gibbering Orb who is a CR 27 creature and is what happens when a Gibbering Mouther and a beholderkin get nasty together. The Orbs are thought to be the strange cousins of Mouthers and beholderkin, and they have eye rays, gibberish, and way too many eyes and mouths. They float around, like a beholder, and wander the planes, seeking to consume pretty much anything that is alive to feed its never-ending hunger. If you get attacked by one, be prepared as it can shoot twenty four eye rays every round, though only up to five of them can be aimed at a single target due to the limitations on aiming - and so you don't just shoot 24 disintegrate spells at the wizard or perhaps cone of cold is more your speed, or implosion, inflict critical wounds, lightning bolt, power word kill, power word stun, prismatic spray, and so many other, horrible spells. Thankfully, these creatures are incredibly rare... until the DM finds this book and fills out an entire dungeon with these floating ooze balls.
4e - Gibbering Mouther
Level 10 Controller
Medium aberrant magical beast (undead) / XP 500
Initiative +7 / Senses Perception +4; all around vision, darkvision
Warped Ground aura 3; enemies treat the area within the aura as diffi cult terrain.
HP 110; Bloodied 55
AC 22; Fortitude 23, Reflex 16, Will 19
Speed 5, swim 5
Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Acid +15 vs. AC; 1d6 + 6 damage, and ongoing 5 acid damge (save ends).
Gibbering (free, once on its turn before it takes other actions; at-will) ✦ Psychic Close burst 5; deafened creatures are immune; +12 vs. Will; the target is daze.
Gibbering Feast (standard; recharge ⚅ ) ✦ Acid Close burst 5; unnatural mouths appear on dazed creatures in the burst and bite them; +15 vs. AC; 1d6 + 6 damage, and ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends).
Alignment Unaligned / Languages -
Str 19 (+9) Dex 14 (+7) Wis 8 (+4) Con 22 (+11) Int 4 (+2) Cha 18 (+9)
Monster Manual, 2008 WotC
This edition always takes the original creature and brings us a variety of versions, and it continues with the Gibbering Mouther in the Monster Manual (2008). This book provides three gibbering vile horrors, and they fall under the Gibbering Beast family of awful creatures you’d never want to meet. Each of the three monsters are bigger and uglier than the one before, which is something we hoped we’d never have to say. At least, they are no longer created by cults or evil wizards. Instead, the rumor is that these beasts suddenly appear when a sentient creature dies in a location touched by the Far Realm. They actually reside in the Far Planes, but many have turned up in our multiverse, where they move throughout the planes, feasting on anything they can get their hands, err, mouths on.
The Gibbering Mouther retains its terrain-changing ability along with talking in gibberish. The sound really hurts your brain, doing psychic damage, and in worst-case scenarios, the sound leaves you stunned. This makes it easier for them to slide up and bite you with their many mouths. It must be horrifying to witness, but what can you do if you're dazed. The creature will never stop gibbering throughout the entire encounter, which alone is enough to drive you mad.
Monster Manual, 2008 WotC
A Gibbering Abomination also drones on and on every round using its gibbering power, giving you the worst headache this side of a mind flayer. We advise bringing cotton balls for your ears. The Gibberer doesn't change the ground beneath it. Instead, it has an unnatural utterance aura that reduces your chances of hitting it. The Abomination then fires off tentacles from its body every round while holding back foes with its unnatural utterances aura. Medusa has nothing on the Gibbering Abomination, as its eye of despair power leaves you dazed, ready for the Abomination to come and devour you.
The last horrific gibbering monster is the Gibbering Orb, and what you get when you combine a huge Gibbering Mouther and a beholder. Lucky you! Melee combat isn't their thing. Instead, they bite their prey only to detach their biting mouths and float out of range. After that, every round the mouth continues to bite on its own until it fails one attack roll against your AC, at which point it dies and falls off. But you see, it's not the mouths you have to worry about but the eyes on the Orb. The Gibbering Orb can use two eye attacks, and oh boy, they are bad for your health.
Monster Manual, 2008 WotC
The mind carving ray does psychic damage and dazes you. The flesheating ray continues to rot your flesh with necrotic damage until you make your save. The bonewarping ray weakens you, while the bloodfeasting ray is a big burst of damage followed by ongoing pain. The farsending ray lets you make a quick one-round visit to the Far Realm. Coming home from vacation is never fun, and in this case, you'll take psychic damage, and a penalty to all your saving throws for a bit. The souleating ray harkens back to the days of the 1st edition. If you fail to save the first time, you're slowed. The second failed save results in being immobilized. If you are one of the lucky few to fail three saves in a row, you die. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. Just hope your cleric has a resurrection spell ready.
If you were hoping for more lore on the Gibbering Beasts, you are lucky as they make an appearance in Dungeon 192 (July 2011) in the Monster Manual Update: Gibbering Beast by Logan Bonner. While there isn’t a huge trove of new information, we do get some fun stuff - like if you ever find a faceless corpse with weird and twisted bones, that’s a sure sign that something is very wrong. You probably wouldn’t have realized that on your own, and so now you know. Such corpses are what’s left behind when a sentient creature dies in an area touched by the Far Realm and that creature transforms into a Gibbering Beast. Their face, literally, pulls itself free and begins a life of gibbering gibberish.
In addition, Gibbering Beasts have an effect on the world around them, often causing stone to soften like it’s mud or even cause the floor and walls to heat up as if there is a roaring fire. This is due to them not really following the rules of reality and just doing what they want, which is devouring as much animal, vegetable, and mineral matter as it can. In fact, Gibbering Beasts may not even have to eat; they just like to.
5e - Gibbering Mouther
Medium aberration, neutral
Armor Class 9
Hit Points 67 (9d8+27)
Speed 10 ft., swim 10 ft.
STR 10 (+0) DEX 8 (-1) CON 16 (+3) INT 3 (-4) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 6 (-2)
Condition Immunities prone
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages -
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Aberrant Ground. The ground in a 10-foot radius around the mouther is doughlike difficult terrain. Each creature that starts its turn in that area must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.
Gibbering. The mouther babbles incoherently while it can see any creature and isn’t incapacitated. Each creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the mouther and can hear the gibbering must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature can’t take reactions until the start of its next turn and rolls a d8 to determine what it does during its turn. On a 1 to 4, the creature does nothing. On a 5 or 6, the creature takes no action or bonus action and uses all its movement to move in a randomly determined direction. On a 7 or 8, the creature makes a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach or does nothing if it can’t make such an attack.
Multiattack. The gibbering mouther makes one bite attack and, if it can, uses its Blinding Spittle.
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 17 (5d6) piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is killed by this damage, it is absorbed into the mouther.
Blinding Spittle (Recharge 5–6). The mouther spits a chemical glob at a point it can see within 15 feet of it. The glob explodes in a blinding flash of light on impact. Each creature within 5 feet of the flash must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the end of the mouther’s next turn.
Monster Manual, 2014 WotC
It's back to evil wizards and perverted sorcery creating the Gibbering Mouther, found in the Monster Manual (2014). The Mouther is still a blob of eyes and mouths, but is also comprised of the liquified matter of the creatures it killed. It's the consumed prey of the Gibberer that howls gibberish, having gone mad after being consumed. There aren't words to describe how awful such an afterlife must be.
The Mouther is slow in this edition… like only 10 feet per turn slow. It’s swim speed is also pretty awful, and is an easy monster to outrun, especially as it has no camouflage ability and is constantly babbling. The only adventurers foolish enough to get eaten here are the ones who happen to think hitting something with a stick is the best way of defeating any monster they come across. Even their 10-foot swim speed isn’t enough to help them catch up as adventurers can swim at half their normal speed, so for most they are looking at 15 feet each round or, for the short guys, 10 feet.
Tales From the Yawning Portal, 2017 WotC
But let’s do say that they get close enough to you, maybe by falling out of the sky and landing within 5 feet of you. The Gibbering Mouther transforms the ground around it into syrupy mud, and while this doesn’t affect its movement at all, as it still pulls itself forward by biting the ground and dragging itself forward, it does slow you down. If you fail a fairly easy Strength saving throw, your speed is reduced to 0 and you are stuck there, like a delicious snack to be feasted upon. If you do manage to be outside the corrupted ground, it can also fling some spittle at you if you are within 15 feet of it. Anyone next to this flashing light must either succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or become blinded, which at least means you no longer have to look at this creature.
There is also the horrifying gibbering it exudes, causing all creatures within 20 feet of it to make a fairly easy Wisdom saving throw or be confused. You are subject to one of three other misfortunes, like doing nothing at all, wandering aimlessly incapable of doing anything else, or attacking the nearest creature, which is most likely your comrade. Hopefully, they forgive you when the battle is over. If you survive, that is.
A giant amoeba covered in mouths and eyes must be a sight to see... from a distance, of course. We hope we've conveyed why you'll want to pack earplugs and eyemasks during your adventures, even if it just to help improve your sleep at night. Though, if you come across a Gibbering Mouther's pristine home, you may be tempted to ask for housekeeping advice, until you realize it's so clean because they literally eat everything around them. Including you.
