Monday, May 30, 2022

Monstrous Mondays: Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium for 5e

Monstrous Compendium Vol One: Spelljamer Creatures
Getting back to my Monstrous Mondays with a review of a Monstrous Compendium, but this is a new Monstrous Compendium for 5th Edition D&D. 

This might very well be the new format for monsters for D&D 5.5/5r.  

Monstrous Compendium Vol One: Spelljamer Creatures

Wizards of the Coast released this free in PDF format and on DnDBeyond.  

Inside are 10 new (to D&D 5) monsters.  They are,:Asteroid Spider, Clockwork Horror, Eldritch Lich, Fractine, Gadabout, Goon Balloon, Nightmare Beast, Puppeteer Parasite, Star Lancer, and Yggdrasti.  They range from CR 1/8 to 15. 

It is a fun little sampling, a nice appetizer till we get some proper Spelljamer materials later this year.

What I find interesting is the switch from Wildspace to the Astral Sea. Personally, that is what I wanted to do back in the 2nd ed days, but the point became moot when I never got my Spelljammer game off the ground, literally and figuratively. 

So I am really looking forward to the new setting this summer.

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This is my, rather late, contribution to this month's RPG Blog Carnival.  This month hosted by Rising Phoenix Games. Check out all the posts about Spelljammer from this month.


1 comment:

Dick McGee said...

Well, the Puppeteer Parasite is lifted straight from Star Trek episode Operation: Annihilate. Presumably they're susceptible to intense UV radiation to complete the obvious steal.

The Yggdrasti apparently hates other living creatures, so I imagine they team up with constructs and undead a lot. No doubt their greatest nemesis will turn out to be giant space beavers, because those stupid hamsters can't be the only spelljamming rodent out there. Although if we're sticking to Norse myths, it ought to be giant space squirrels.

Star Lancers look like rejected Everblight artwork from Privateer Press. Similarly, the Clockwork Horror art belongs in some C-list manga. Very uninspired work on both of those.

I wonder how angry an edritch lich is going to be when it reforms as an otyugh? And between this entry and the goon balloon, what's with the rhyming obsession?

Interesting to note that the flavor text mentions both Wildspace and the Astral Sea, as well as Greyspace. Wonder if the Astral Sea is replacing the Phlogiston/Flow as "interspheric space" between systems?