D&D Monster Spotlight: Gibberlings – Beware the Underground Weremonkeys
These howling hoard monsters haven’t yet made it back into Fifth Edition, and maybe that’s better for modern adventurers everywhere.
Not to be confused with the Gibbering Mouther, Gibberlings are nocturnal humanoid-ish creatures from the Underdark. While they don’t seem to have a history in real-world mythology, they can look a little like a hybrid between an ape and a werewolf in some editions and hit a few of those ‘classic encounter monster’ boxes. So far Gibberlings haven’t made an appearance in D&D’s Fifth Edition, but who knows what the future of D&D and these monsters will have in store for us.
First Edition
Thee pale, hunched humanoids have short legs, long arms, and live in subterranean caverns. Nocturnal and living under ground, they hate bright light, fear fire, and come out to play at night. When Gibberlings do attack, it’s usually in large numbers. Their howl’s will leave adventurer’s checking their moral, and when they attack Gibberlings use regular weapons like swords with a +1 probability bonus. They’re aggressive, rely on their ability to overwhelm the opposition with numbers, and always ready to fight to the death. Plus, you’ll always encounter a Gibberling at night or underground, so you’ll be contending with the darkness, too.
Second Edition
Attacking by the dozens, or possibly even hundreds, aren’t much different in Second Edition than First. Which is to say that they’d be pretty terrible to encounter then, and are still not great. Gibberlings don’t seem to think much about their attacks. Subtly, safety, and strategy aren’t considerations to these masses of screaming fur. And once they’ve killed they retreat randomly back into the darkness.
Third Edition
3E describes Gibberlings as the “unstoppable army ants of the Underdark,” and appearing in hoards to tirelessly work towards a single, seemingly thoughtless goal, this seems like an apt description of them. They rampage, shrieking, through the darkness and consume any creature to slow or stupid to get out of their way. They stop once morning breaks, or they’re full. And if there’s food in front of them they don’t get full. Gibberlingss almost feel random in their viciousness as apposed to malicious. But when a hoard of these screeching monsters is coming toward your party, I’m sure that isn’t much comfort or protection.
Fourth Edition
During daylight hours Gibberlings burrow into the ground. They’re vulnerable during this time, but when they rouse it’s as dusk comes and in unison. This means that in any 4E adventure, if your party is traveling at dusk there is always a non-zero chance that a hoard of hundreds of Gibberlings may pop out of the ground around your party well rested and ready to hunt. Maybe they’ll come back for Fifth Edition and we can all have that experience, wouldn’t that be fun? 4E also introduces the Plaguechanged Gibberlings. This version has no love for their more mundane cousins and will eat them just as readily as any other prey. They also become even more dangerous when bloodied, using their “Bluefire Burst” ability as a reflex when first hit.
Have you encountered a Gibberling hoard? Would you like to see them come to 5E or do you think D&D is doing fine without them? Do you prefer solitary monsters, or ones that attack in a hoard? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
