Old Monsters Create Extra Life Through DM’s Guild’s Fiendish Folio
Did you know the Extra Life D&D team has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last few years for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals? One of the ways they raise money is through special products available through the Dungeon Masters Guild. The most recent of these is Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Volume 1: Monsters Malevolent and Benign, a collection of monsters for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The creatures contained within first appeared in the Fiend Folio, a classic title from first edition AD&D. Back when I was a fledgling young nerdy D&D player the Fiend Folio was very special. There was one older kid in the neighborhood who had a copy and everyone loved flipping through there. The death knight lurked in there. And drow. And svirfneblin! I can’t wait to see what this new iteration contains. So let’s check it out.
Secrets of Fiendish Folio revealed!
Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Volume 1: Monsters Malevolent and Benign is 21 pages, much smaller than the original 128 page hardcover Fiend Folio it draws inspiration from. Details for 18 new creatures for 5E D&D are contained within, and like the monsters is the original, these creatures are weird. The introduction penned by Mordenkainen himself adds a nice touch, with the wizard explains his thinking behind revealing these secrets. It’s worth a read before delving further into the material. I did not follow that advice, and after my initial flip through I was left thinking, huh? But as the great keeper of the Balance explains, exposing the knowledge of these creatures isn’t so great a concern. Many of them are laughable in the wizard’s own words.
On the other hand, the design team behind this creature collection stands out to me in particular due to the developer, Dan Dillon. Dan is one of my favorite creators, who designed or had a hand in a heck of a lot of great products I use in my 5E D&D games all the time. With art direction by Richard Whitters and graphic design from Emi Tanji I knew it would look slick too.
Every creature in the book includes really interesting lore and details, like any other official 5E D&D product. This in general is such an awesome inclusion with this edition’s creatures, a conscious design choice to give Dungeon Masters inspiration and provoke our imaginations. So many new DMs start off simply by looking through something like the Monster Manual, reading an entry and coming up with ideas for adventures. I still do that all the time!
Here’s a perfect example, and it comes from the lowliest source in the whole book: the killmoulis. This Challenge 0 creature is a tiny fey that arises spontaneously in the Feywild whenever someone commits an act of charity to help a tired or lost traveler. They crave creature comforts, and if they’re treated well they help make everyone else comfortable too. But if treated poorly, they can make travel unbearable and uncomfortable. Basically they’ll sneak along with a group and either help or hinder them while they sleep.
To simulate how a killmoulis can affect travelers, the stat block has two unique actions: Blessing of Bountiful Generosity and Curse of Poor Hospitality. I absolutely love the design of this creature and although I don’t know for certain, I see a lot of Dan Dillon influence. With Dan’s background as a designer with publishers like Kobold Press he brings a lot of cool ideas to the table in terms of creature abilities. That being said the whole design team for Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Volume 1: Monsters Malevolent and Benign deserves praise. Creatures don’t come any lower than this (literally!) and to pack so much storytelling potential into the lore and mechanics is so terrific.
At the other end of the spectrum the book presents an extremely powerful new adversary — Ygorl, Lord of Entropy. This Challenge 23 aberration is tied to one of the most interesting and dangerous monster groups out there in the multiverse, slaad. Interdimensional toad demons come in all sorts of sizes and colors from the CR 1/8 slaad tadpole to the CR 10 death slaad.
And now they have a big boss! If the idea of a slaad campaign sounds intriguing to you, I highly recommend checking out this video where Nerdarchy friend Professor Bill explains how he would translate the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity War into 5E D&D. Thanks to good ol’ Ygorl here you’ve now got a Thanos to add to the campaign.
Just as I lamented the lack of art to show this wonderfully chaotic entity I noticed a notation from Mordenkainen explaining the lack of any visual representation. Touche, Wizard of the Coast. Thankfully the lore and details section about Ygorl paints a compelling picture of this large aberration.
Like the killmoulis and every other creature in the book (except the poor crab folk) Ygorl comes packing some nifty traits, features and actions including legendary actions of course. I don’t want to spoil too much but I will say one of Ygorl’s attacks causes levels of exhaustion so this lord of entropy is not messing around.
If I have any criticism for this book, it’s the crab folk for two distinct reasons. First off, there’s got to be a better name than crab folk. Aldani get a unique name, why can’t these magically transformed ogres get a cool sounding moniker?
Whether crab folk are a true species in terms of propagating and developing their own culture, they ought to have a little more imaginative name either way. Their origins include a hag’s magic, so something with a little more razzle dazzle would have been nice to see.
Along with the boring name, the stat block doesn’t include any snazzy abilities like every other creature in this book. They’re big and tough, and they can grapple with their claws. At least they could have vulnerability to drawn butter or something.
All this aside, crab folk will 100% find their way into my games. Anything with at least tenuous culinary ties usually does.
You can find Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Volume 1: Monsters Malevolent and Benign on the DM’s Guild here. All proceeds from this product are to be contributed to Extra Life. You can learn more about the D&D Extra Life team including ways to get involved yourself here.
And as a reminder, take a look at more of these great books that’ll add new and interesting twists and ideas to your 5E D&D games while helping raise money through Extra Life right here on our own website.
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