D&D: Space Dragons, Vampirates, Hungry, Hungry Asteroids, & More – ‘Spelljammer’s Monsters
Spelljammer’s monsters are an eclectic bunch. You’ll find the comical and the cosmic, often side by side. Here’s what lurks in deep space.
Spelljammer, as a campaign setting, has a lot of work to do. It has to introduce rules for Spelljamming in special space ships. Has to lay out how space works. As a campaign setting, it has to have plenty of player-facing options. This includes new race options and new backgrounds.
But it has to be a world that’s hostile to player characters too. Because in D&D combat is one of the core tenets of gameplay. Without monsters to fight, what’s the point? But it can’t be all combat either. The campaign setting has to make space feel full and lived in and wondrous.
So Boo’s Astral Menagerie has its work cut out for it.
Spelljammer‘s Monsters From the Silly to the (Deadly) Serious
But fortunately, Spelljammer‘s monsters are an incredibly diverse lot. You might have seen the Space Clowns so far (and if you haven’t just scroll on). But there’s so much more than that waiting for you in Boo’s Astral Menagerie. This is the Monster Manual for Spelljammer packed with 73 different statblocks.
And each one shows off the variety of the setting. You’ll find monsters like the Space Clowns:
Sure, they’re terrifying on a gut level. But they also embody a whole category: monsters and NPCs made by affixing the word Space to one other thing.
Space Eels. Space Guppies. Space Swine, even albatrosses get the treatment in the form of Space Mollymawks.
There’s no one connecting thread to them. Most Space variants either don’t require air or can hold their breath long. But in the case of Space Hamsters and Giant Space Hamsters, that isn’t true. But they all serve to make Wildspace less of a void.
It’s not all goofy monsters though. You’ll find graceful space whales like the Kindori:
Or fearsome foes that mean business like Neogi:
Or Scavvers:
Dragons of the Sun and Moon
Even Spelljammer knows, though, that it’s a game about Dungeons & Dragons. And the latter is present here in two big forms. There’s the Solar Dragons, pictured above.
Also called radiant dragons or sun dragons, they’re dragons born in the heart of a star. They’re cosmic creatures from day one. They nest in the radiant cores of stars, and they swim through the Astral Sea with ease. And their stat blocks are space-ified.
Here’s just a taste of the Ancient Solar Dragon. As you can see it can make flyby attacks, it has legendary resistances and deals even more damage to objects and buildings (and Spelljammers). As you might expect from a “radiant dragon” its breathweapon deals radiant damage, and at CR 20, it deals it in pretty huge chunks. It breathes a radiant fireball, basically, but one that deals 12d10 damage.
Its bite and tail are no slouch either.
Meanwhile, Lunar Dragons, or moon or phase dragons, are the more isolated, xenophobic kind. They dwell in the depths of desolate moons and love to take treasure from creatures.
Their abilities make them much tougher foes than initially presented. A Lunar Dragon can phase out of reality, becoming resistant to most damage. And it breathes icy blasts that rob foes of the ability to move.
Literal Cosmic Horrors
Then there are literal cosmic horrors. These are malevolent entities from beyond the stars (or at least from the Far Realm), who are alien and deadly and who could bring ruin to the material plane. But for all that, they’re not as reality-warping as the Daelkyr of Eberron. But they make for a great summonable threat that functions more like a kaiju than an eldritch horror.
The Best Monster in Spelljammer
However, there’s one inarguable best monster in all of Spelljammer. The Dohwar. These are pudgy, flightless avians that look and move like penguins. Dohwars are space merchants who favor wearing hooded cloaks. And they show up in the most unexpected places.
Also, they have psychic powers.
Happy Adventuring
