D&D Monster Spotlight: Modrons Are Living Cogs In The Cosmic Machine
Single-minded Modrons are creatures that work tirelessly towards a single goal, and you DON’T want to interrupt that goal.
First Edition
Modrons are weird little creatures from The Plane of Nirvana, a plane of balance and order. Five “base” Modrons and ten “hierarch” Modrons make up an exact society of hierarchy, classifications, regulations, and procedures. Modrons thrive in what the rest of us would consider bureaucracy hell, but it makes for creatures that are immune to beguilement, charm, domination, hold, hypnosis, and sleep spells, as well as any other spells or illusions that would affect the mind. Hierarch Modrons have spell-like abilities that they will use if and only if told to by a Priums Modron, which include fair audience clairvoyance, commend, dimension door, teleport (with no error), and wall of force.
Second Edition
Primus Modrons are huge, creepy-looking beings that rise from energy pools central to their towers and keep a complete command over all of the Modrons beneath them and also act as the source of their spells. When a Primus is killed another Modron fills that vacancy, but not before this gap in power causes an amount of turmoil that some outsiders have mistaken for civil war. In reality it’s the culmination of a lot of beings with poor decision-making skills having to think for themselves for the first time. On very rare occasions a Modron will “go rogue”, but they are quickly found and brought back to Modron society for trial and sentencing. What that entails is a mystery, but I’d bet it’s not great.
Third Edition
Ultra lawful, geometrically shaped, and never without a task to complete, Modrons are the epitome of cogs in their own machine. Unfortunately, what their tasks are and what the purpose of these tasks may be are a mystery to everyone but the Modrons and nobody outside of their society can really say they understand them. What we do know is that there are fifteen varieties of Modrons, each with their own general function in Modron society. For example the Modrones are single functioning general laborers while Pentadrones act as law enforcement, Octons act as governors, and the Primus rules over all Modrons. Sometimes they will interact with other species; wizards find Modrons to be exceptionally helpful librarians. In battle each variety of Modron has a slightly different attack style, some biting, some using claws and spears, some with spells.
Fourth Edition
In Modron society, the more sides or complexity your physical form has, the higher your place in the hierarchy. Basic Monodrones are spherical while Duodrones are square, but there can be pyramids, stars, or any number of other geometric shaped creatures running around, completing their given tasks. Fourth Edition also specifies that Rogue Modrons are usually either destroyed or reeducated, but reeducation isn’t something many Modrons survive.
Fifth Edition
Hive like and with little concept of self outside of the collective, Modrons are a little like bugs or cells. They only communicate with their own rank and ranks directly above and below them, and if one were to die or was destroyed their remains disintegrate before they are replaced by a lower ranking Modron who is in turn replaced by another lower ranking Modron. They are lawful neutral and probably won’t bother with your party… unless you’re creating a risk to the Primus Modron’s end goal and then they will lawfully have to fight you. And with millions of lower-ranking Modrons, you won’t want that.
Have you encountered a Modron in your adventures? What did they do and act like? What level of Modron did you meet? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
