7 Small Scaries of 5E D&D

A while back I wrote a beefy post about the chonkiest bois in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. As a follow up I looked at the deadliest Tiny 5E D&D creatures. For some reason or another the latter began showing up in the top posts over the last week or so and I thought perhaps folks might be curious about creatures who fall between the two extreme ends of the size spectrum in 5E D&D. The title for this post clues you into where I’m starting for a closer look at the monsters of more moderate size. Let’s get into it.

5E D&D’s second most miniscule monsters

Like the monsters with the most hit points there isn’t an equally quantifying trait to measure these Small creatures other than their challenge rating. Several of the monsters in this list punch above their weight — well above in a few cases — but nevertheless this is the metric we have to gauge their power.

At the moment there’s 157 Small creatures among official 5E D&D sources. These include a whole lot of NPCs found throughout different adventures and for the purposes of this post I’m ignoring all of them. Instead I’m looking at the broad strokes for stat blocks representing a grouping of creatures rather than unique individuals. The Small creatures presented here are in no particular order.

Korred

Surely not the most dangerous challenge 7 creature when it contends with monsters like the draegloth, oni, blue slaad and others. But the korred’s collection of traits and features suggest some devious behavior. If an encounter with a korred leads off with two Greatclub attacks something has gone horribly wrong for these Small fey creatures. With their Stone Camouflage and other stone manipulating powers coupled with their natural secretiveness a korred can harass those who insult them or annoy them with the sounds of mining. All of a sudden the rope miners (or adventurers!) use to secure themselves for a dangerous descent begins entangling those who rely on it for safety while this Small fey giggles from inside the stone they’ve melded into. Not for nothing the korred’s strong follicle connection appeals to me as well. We didn’t create an entire Beardomancy concept with all the strands it entails for nothing!

Egg Hunter Adult

Straight from the most recent 5E D&D book this Small creature from Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons benefits from modern design more than anything else. The same way the Dungeon Master versions from our own line of Character Build Guides evolved from fairly generic interpretations of the player character versions to include more dynamic actions and inspiration rather than iteration, 5E D&D creatures increasingly include more unusual traits. Here we see a terrific ambush monster, which among other things produces a slow spell effect. Attention homebrewers — swapping components around like this is a fantastic way to spice up your games!

Neogi

How can I resist a creature whose origins lie in my favorite D&D setting? I got on board with Spelljammer’s wild fantasy space adventures back when it was the fresh new boxed set on the scene during second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ era and never disembarked. Neogi appear as preeminent antagonists in the setting and it’s their power to control minds making them a serious threat. A singular neogi may not pose much of a threat on its own but their Enslave action can turn opponents into charmed allies for an entire day and the appearance of one neogi portends much greater danger.

Norker War Leader

There’s a lot of wonderful stuff within Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio Volume 1 like the killmoulis who got the spotlight as a Tiny terror of 5E D&D. Here’s another one from that source and this time we’ve got basically super goblins. At the bottom of the goblinoid food chain only because their nastiness offends all others of their ilk the norkers add an interesting wrinkle to this family of 5E D&D monsters. Norkers also share a peculiar relationship with Maglubiyet, which could be fertile ground as vessels for Maglubiyet’s Will…

Meenlock

Another fey creature and perhaps evidence of my affection for such things the meenlock are deformed fey who loathe all that’s good, innocent and beautiful. Their extreme Stealth coupled with the ability to teleport between shadows and strike fear into nearby beasts and humanoids by their presence alone makes them notably dangerous. The flavor text accompanying these twisted fey evokes a lot of intriguing ways to incorporate them into a story and the Telepathic Torment they’re able to inflict makes these Small monsters into big time threats.

Spined Devil

Adventurers facing off against this low CR fiend at a level-appropriate time may find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Spined devils boast significant defenses against both magic and conventional weapons while staying safely mobile. As a harbinger of greater fiendish threats to come or simply as a villain orchestrating devilish plots that ensnare low level adventurers even a lone spined devil can put a party to the test. In numbers the infernal legion’s flying artillery can instantly make a battle against a bigger fiend a hell of a lot more perilous.

Diseased Giant Rat

Better hope you’ve got a paladin in the party or you know a good Centaur of Disease Control. All of a sudden clearing out the rats in the basement got a lot more dangerous! Against a fledgling party of 1st level adventurers one of these probably isn’t too terribly dangerous but there’s always a chance to contract a virulent disease preventing natural healing and debilitation to the point of death. In numbers this becomes a problem for characters of any level without expending a lot of resources to rid afflicted adventurers of the disease caused by their bite. One tactic you might try is distracting them with giant slices of pizza but I hear this only works on Waterdeep rats.

*Featured image — Scary things come in Small packages when it comes to 5E D&D monsters. These seven creatures may not be the ultimate masterminds behind adventures for 20th level characters (they could be though!) but they each bring a unique challenge to the table. [Composite images courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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