D&D: The Five Best Monsters In ‘Call Of The Netherdeep’
Matt Mercer makes marvelous monsters, and the team behind Call of the Netherdeep steps it up even further. Here are our five faves.
Let’s talk monsters. Specifically the monsters in Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, the latest adventure from WotC and Critical Role. Call of the Netherdeep pulls off some amazing tricks with monster design. A big part of this comes from the plot of the adventure. A creeping corruption takes the form of veins of magical rust/blood infect certain creatures, making them even more monstrous. As a result, you get several new stat blocks packed with plenty of power.
But which are the best? That’s what we’re here to talk about. Here’s our picks for the five best monsters in Call of the Netherdeep.
Light Devourer
If we’re talking Call of the Netherdeep monsters, let’s start with the Light Devourer. This is a giant anglerfish sea monster, which is by itself already pretty cool. But it’s a great challenge for a party of adventurers in the deep darkness of an underwater environment, owing to its abilities. The Light Devourer absorbs light – if it spends any part of its turn in an area of bright light, it absorbs it, and can discharge the absorbed light as an area attack. On top of that, it can bite for 5d6 + 4, so it’s dangerous enough in its own right. But if it’s got stored light? That bite does radiant damage.
Barbarians beware the glowing light devourer!
Death Embrace
Death Embrace, despite the name, is actually just an ominous looking jellyfish. It’s not inherently aggressive – but it is typically an evil creature that delights in capturing creatures in its tendrils and petrifying them.
Petrification aside, this monster is great because it has a reaction that allows it to redirect a single attack on a creature that it has grappled in its tendrils. This can be dangerous for a party caught unawares.
Slithering Bloodfin
The Slithering Bloodfin is an astoundingly toxic sea serpent. In addition to its powerful bite and tail attack, it can also swallow targets whole, and when it dies, it explodes in a burst of poisonous gore that might bring down a party member with it.
Monastic High Curator
But it’s not all sea monsters in Call of the Netherdeep. There are some truly amazing NPC statblocks in the book as well. And the Monastic High Curator proves to be a great example of what fighting a “PC class” is like.
On the surface, this is a lot like a Monk – the Monastic High Curator makes multiple attacks, each attack deals magical force damage, and the High Curator has a Monk’s unarmored defense. But there’s more to it. The Monastic High Curator can also damage up to two additional targets within line of sight, dealing 8d6 psychic damage and preventing the target from making reactions.
Potentially this NPC can hit up to five different targets with a single action. But even if it only hits a total of two, it can put a surprising amount of hurt out for its weight.
Occult Extollant
On the other side of the coin are the Occultists of the Vermillion Dream. These NPCs often serve an alien influence from beyond the stars. And the Occult Extollant is a powerful magic user. Like all spellcasting creatures since the release of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, the Occult Extollant can both cast spells and has a damaging magic attack that can’t be countered.
In this case, it deals a powerful psychic bolt (3d10 +4) and cn cast spells like mage armor, major image, or phantasmal force, each once per day. It’s a lot of fun to use and lives up to the new magic-using monster standard pretty well.
Happy Adventuring!
