D&D Monster Spotlight: Five of the Weirdest Spelljammer Creatures
The monstrous additions to Dungeons and Dragons through Spelljammer are some of the weirdest and most fun that we’ve seen in a long time.
Even if Spelljammer isn’t your favorite addition to Fifth Edition, you have to respect that treasure trove waiting in Boo’s Astral Menagerie. It turns out, fantasy deep space is full of some of the most buck wild creations possible. And your characters can encounter them whenever your DM wants from now on! These are some of the weirdest and some of my favorite entries in Spelljammer‘s new bestiary.
Neh-Thalggu
I hate/love this one. And as far as the wacky monsters that Spelljammer has given us, it is one of the closest to a pretty-normal-D&D-creature. The Neh-Thalggu collects and consumes humanoid brains. But once it’s collected twelve brains it’s overcome by an urge to return to its home in the Far Realm. To be honest, the Neh-Thalggu reminds me of the Brain Bug from Starship Troopers so much that I had to look up which came first. And the novel came out in the 50s…
Cosmic Horror
We find quickly that Spelljammer doesn’t bother with getting flowery about monster names. Somebody looked at one of these guys, said, “Let’s avoid that cosmic horror,” and somebody else jotted it down. But it lives up to its name. These malevolent creatures come from the Far Realm, attracted by the light of stars, and eat the bodies and minds of the inhabitants of any planet unlucky enough to be in its path. No two look the same and they’re nearly impossible to describe in human terms. So just imagine a hundred feet of eyes and tentacles and then avoid anything that looks like that.
Vampirate
Let’s be honest, you know what this one is already. It’s all in the name. The undead husks of pirates who preferred plundering to moving onto the afterlife, Vampirates are literally just vampire pirates. With attacks like Spider Climb and Energy Drain they have a lot of the classic Vampire go-to’s. But they can also turn their space pirate ship invisible from time to time.
Murder Comet
Sometimes an evil spellcaster combines the essence of an earth elemental with a fire elemental and creates a screaming head of stone and flame to fly through space looking for ships to destroy. And then sometimes, that person can put their own spirit into this comet. This monster is ridiculous on its face, and I love it.
Space Clowns
Hailing from a part of Wildspace known as Clownspace, Space Clowns require an elixir known as Thrill Joy. And of course, they set up carnival tents to lure in their victims and wield colorfully painted ray guns. Were they just an excuse to combine Killer Clowns From Outer Space with D&D? Absolutely you know it was.
What’s your favorite new monstrous addition in Spelljammer? Which would you like to avoid at all costs? What sort of monster would you create for a fantasy adventure in space? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
