DMR2 Creature Catalog - F

Faedorne.

Female creatures of great beauty that live on strange timeless islands which float high above the world. 

I'd characterise them as Neutral Elven demi-gods, with powers of illusion, scrying, summoning (Silver Warriors, detailed later on) and 12th-level Magic User equivalence. Text says they embody many elvish ideals but prefer to be subtle in their interventions.

Faedorne (and Silver Warriors) as appearing in the 1984 module O2 Blade of Vengeance by Jim Bambra; Moorcockian stylings by Jeremy (Jez) Goodwin; #BOSR.

Their islands are known as the Shining Isles and are only visible at night, when they appear to be stars or satellites or other heavenly points of light. You could take this to mean they are invisible during the day, or out of phase, or not physically present, or are the product of a sleeper's dreams.

I like to think of the Shining Isles as being fragments of a nearby faerie dimension, or else the Isles and the Faedornae (they slip the plural in) as being of sufficiently advanced technology that they are indistinguishable from magic.

While on the Shining Isles (their own or any?), a Faedorne's phantasmal force is at -5 to disbelieve, and there's a reading that suggests they it can be used to project visions at a great distance (appearing to the communicant in a mirror or pool).

An old setting of mine had 'Star People' that were an approximation of the Faedorne (with a brush of the big-eared ancient astronauts to them). More recently, I think of them as being the ancient eldritch folk who would one day become these Fomorians.

Feywing.

There are hints of a weirder-looking creature when comparing the description (bulbous, elastic body) to the Dave Simons illo, which shows what is basically a three-headed Dragon - which is what the Feywing basically is.

No breath weapon, but it can carry off cattle impaled on its horned snouts - which makes a change to claws (specified as both soft and weak). There's no elaboration on this, so maybe it's for narrative purposes; I suppose a 'kill' can be abstracted as fulfilling the conditions to impale-and-carry-off.

Its tail is feeble but prehensile, which I find suggestive, alongside it being intelligent enough to gather treasure as a lure and for bargaining. It has a given Intelligence of 4 and there's no mention of speech, so maybe it uses its tail to make significant gestures, or scratching messages in the dust if you want to go further.

The Feywing can deflect arrows and daggers with its horny, hooded eyes 40% of the time, which I sometimes conflate/confuse with the Dracolisk's nictitating eye membranes. Why not add both characteristics the next time you need to spice up a Black Dragon for an adventure?

Incidentally, they can attack with a three bites (2d4 each) or three horn gores (d10 each) or a combination. So maybe an impale for carrying something off is simply a successful horn gore? One for a halfling, three for a cow.

One monster that I would be interested to see further detailed in AD&D 2e, but - alas.

Fish, Giant.

Catfish: Giant fish that can use its mouth-feelers to attack, even though that's not their primary purpose. 

Use as the base stats for a BECMI/RC Aboleth, maybe?

Carp (Gargantua): it can swallow whole any opponent of less than giant size, smashes things with its tail and can produce a blast of water that can knock you off your feet and propel you 100'.

I think of this as being one of those sea monsters routinely drawn on old maps and I like it.

Fish, Piranha (Cold-Water).

It says Cold-Water, but we've really only got their word for it.

Piranha: In tropical waters, they can be bigger (2hp rather than 1). Attack in shoals, so some transferable swarm mechanics. 

Plus they get attack and damage bonuses when in a feeding frenzy.

Giant Piranha: Their feeding frenzy means they don't have to make Morale Checks.

Specifically says they inhabit warm fresh waters.

AD&D 1e Fiend Folio has Quippers, which are a little bit more robust than the regular Piranhas here.

Flitterling.

As themselves, I don't really like them (another type of miniature faerie folk), but I think there's promise in the details.

As presented, they're one-quarter of an inch tall, so barely qualified for the 1 hp they are given. Their physical attack is to stab with their equally tiny silver swords. A group of five can cause 1 hp on a successful attack, if you're armoured or have a natural descending AC of 5 (+4) or better and 2 hp if you're unarmoured/ natural descending AC of 6 (+3) or worse. A point of damage kills a Flitterling, but you can only kill a maximum of 5 per blow. No elaboration regarding magic and AoE. A reasonable swarm mechanic.

Their preferred attacks are to sing at you. A group of 50 can charm monster or cause fear by song. Multiple groups cannot affect the same target. Keep those number requirements, but attach to the next settlement the adventurers visit - Normal Humans (or ghosts!) able to survive in the monster-haunted wilderness, as long as the bonds of community are not disrupted.

They're bound to their homes (tree trunks and mushrooms), and to the rings of magical mushrooms they cultivate. Damage their homes beyond repair and/or deplete their mushrooms by more than 50%, and they'll die in d6 horrible days.

Magic mushrooms of varying colours give varying useful effects: neutralize poison, haste, clairvoyance, cure light wounds, especially nourishing food. They will allow you to pick mushrooms if you are friendly with them, but will fight to the death if you try to take more than your fair (and their vital) share.

Bolt the special abilities onto a statblock and you've got some serviceable Myconid analogues/variants. Maybe they could also be linked to the Fungoid (below)? Possibly as their avenger, or maybe just as their muscle. 

Frog, Giant Poisonous.

I always have time for Giant Frogs.

This one is bright yellow and lurid green, has a grabbing tongue and is poisonous even just to the touch.

Fundamental.

Apart from their ACs, Move rates and the Fire Fundamental being immune to fire, all four types of Fundamental are mechanically/statistically identical. 

They're nothing more than pairs of air/earth/fire/water composed batwings that fly around without a body. Sometimes follow summoned Elementals.

I'd probably replace their swoop attack with something other than a damage die: maybe Air deafens, Earth bashes your head in, Fire sets you alight, Water stuns you with 1 round of drowning. Possibly also an equivalent benign ability.

They're weird and alien, so I quite like them. Maybe they can join the Neutral (evil) with Unratable Intelligence crew?

In 2e, they all get a little more detail - basically fluff but including some habits and quirks as well as more physical description, and all perfectly serviceable.

Fungoid.

It's an ogre-sized humanoid fungus that can't be affected by spells vs. plants, because fungus aren't strictly speaking plants. The text doesn't go any deeper, but I suppose this is based on the scientific fact(oid?) that fungi are more like animals than they are like plants (or something). 

They're also (nearly) mindless, so no illusions or charms or similar work against them. Text specifies that the Fungoid never fails a morale check, but it wouldn't anyway because its Morale is 12 - or have I been labouring under a misapprehension for years?

Takes double damage from fire, and cold does no damage but stuns it. Interesting. For further elaboration, you could make the Fungoid immune to crits/impales and maybe have weapons getting stuck in it.

The Fungoid is simultaneously incredibly strong but kind of soft and squidgy, so it is described as only causing 2d10 hp with each of its fist attacks (you're also knocked down if you fail to save). However, this is the same damage as a Rock Golem (next post), so - while it's more likely this is just a case of separate creators and an oversight/non-existence of balance/standardisation - it implies that the Fungoid is stronger than the Golem. Which means the Fungoid could be put to some interesting and extraordinary tasks if it could be controlled (or was intelligent).

According to folklore, these creatures grow near the sites of unavenged murders or great battles: no further details.

They lurk underground, below a growth of mushrooms (including a ring formation), though the text only says they may be connected to the fruiting bodies on the surface.

These last two characteristics are food for thought, with the possibility of a variation of the Fungoid leaning in the spirit/undead direction, or something more in tune with either intelligent fungus beings or faerie folk.

The squishiness combined with great strength could also serve as something to build a brain/flesh golem or anthropomorphic shoggoth from.

Fyrsnaca.

The Fyrsnaca can breath a line of fire and is intelligent and can be bargained with to perform tasks. 2e specifies that you need speak with monsters, as Fyrsnaca have no language.

It also internally burns so hot after reproducing (vomiting up 2d6 babies - Red Worms; see later) that it has to remain dormant in a large body of water for 50 years to cool off. If prevented from doing so or awakened prematurely, it will attack furiously - as it will be consumed by its own heat if it leaves the water.

Bony, unsegmented relative of the Purple Worm.

This sounds very wyrm-ish, as opposed to worm-ish, but the Fyrsnaca (clearly a vertebrate) is supposedly cousin to the Purple Worm (clearly an invertebrate). Lacking an illo, 2e gives a sparse description that 'corrects' this.

Also, it's not carnivorous and eats ores and minerals as it burrows through the earth. 2e says to offer it gems and precious metals when bargaining or distracting - the costly equivalent of tossing rations.

I'd use one of these instead of a Dragon. And because of the 50 year dormancy period, I think I'd make this one of the type of monsters that are a level-inappropriate adventure/dungeon threat that doesn't have to be directly engaged with and/or can be turned on other monsters.