flipping through a monster manual It’s a great joy to prepare to play a game of Dungeons & Dragons, with each page offering potential friends and foes for your players. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space Revives the bizarre pulp science fiction setting of Dungeons & Dragons after more than 30 years with a box set featuring an adventure on the Astral Plane and a campaign guide filled with new character choices and rules for spaceships. but the real gem is Boo’s Astral MenagerieA bestiary filled with over 60 new creatures that live in the magical oceans known as Wildspace.
The book features many of the creatures found in the original spelljammer, such as the magic item merchant Merken, as well as Lovecraftian horrors such as the brain-collecting Neh-thalgu. But if you really want to make the most of the space opera setting, these are the five weirdest creatures you should add to your game.
[Ed. note: Definitely some clowns in here. Don’t say we didn’t tell you.]
couplet
Image: Brian Metheny / Wizards of the Coast
Shopping has never been more lovely when it involves a group of couple, also known as cartels. The 3-foot-tall brightly colored penguins like to create an air of mystery by wearing cloaks and mingling in dark alleys, even when they are only doing mundane business. They are difficult negotiators because they can explore ideas and are often mentally connected to each other, a process known as merging. They worship every god of wealth and business in the D&D universe, from the Wouken of the Forgotten Realms to the Greyhawk’s Zilchus in hopes of gaining their favor and becoming the multiverse’s top trader.
Dohwar also produces space pigs, flying pigs that are used as trackers or beasts of burden. They can also be trained for battle and covered in armor, given the title of death squealer, or roasted and served with apples.
Image: Jessica Nguyen / Wizards of the Coast
Kindori
If you want to base an adventure doctor who episode “The Beast Bottom” or Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, spelljammer Have you covered with these 80-foot-long space whales. They are mostly chilly, swimming through wildspace and feeding on sunlight, while communicating with each other through indiscriminate flashes from the beams of their eyes. But they offer a lot of adventure hooks, as they are hunted by dragons and are so large they have their own gravity and air bubbles where the smaller creatures can live.
You might find a scavenger followed by a kindori, effectively a space shark that likes to eat the parasites that try to colonize the whales. When a kindori dies of disease or old age, scavengers will clean its flesh, but the bones are remarkably flexible. The skeleton of the legendary beast can also be turned into a particularly creepy witchcraft ship.
space joker
Image: WizKids
Image: WizKids
Inspired by bloody clown from outer space, Space Jokers are fiendish inhabitants of a system known as Clownspace. They sail in ships equipped with pie-flinging catapults and giant klaxon horns, using spelljamming techniques purchased from Dohwar. The citizens of the Three-Ringed world worshiped the god of revelation, but were corrupted by his priest, who made everyone addicted to an elixir called Thrill Joy that is distilled from the demon Ichor and the Bozo flower. That potion eventually gave him his fearsome clown-like appearance.
Space clowns eat other humanoids, attack them at sea or lure them into carnivals with the promise of fun. They are skilled performers and acrobats who can always pull a trick out of their pocket, such as shocking with a touch or firing a regan that acts like the clown’s gas and causes the victim to laugh uncontrollably. They too are masters of illusion – in a gesture This, Space clowns can make themselves look like a floating balloon.
Photo: Charlie Hall / Polygon
space hamster
There are plenty of animals in this book with the word “space” thrown in front of them, but few have the rich history of the space hamster. Giant space hamsters are the size of a grizzly bear but are just as cute as a typical rodent, making them the perfect companion for a ranger or druid. Gnomes have tried to power enchanted ships with giant hamster wheels, but so far no luck.
The book’s name, Boo, is believed to be a miniature giant space hamster, a species created by witchcraft experiments on their giant relatives that made them small, smart, and telepathic. Boo is Ranger Minsk’s animal companion in origin Baldur’s Gate He appears to be a normal hamster, despite the many claims of Minsk in video games, and vice versa. But according to lore he, and indeed all hamsters on the physical plane, are hiding their psychic powers from everyone except their best friend. As a tribute to Minsk’s most memorable line, space hamsters have the power to “go for the eyes,” which blinds them and damages their targets.
vampire
Why have a ghost ship when you can have a clever port? Vampires are pirates who die, but they continue to travel the wild, stealing not only the loot but the essence of their victims’ lives. They live life through touch or a ranged attack rather than drinking blood. They don’t need to eat or drink, but they do like to do it, especially enjoying sipping rum while singing deep-sea shanties.
Killing vampires usually requires a lot of work, but as soon as they drop to zero hit point, these versions explode in a cloud of harmful necrotic dust. However, you don’t always have to fight them. in adventure Light of Xaryxis, the players are likely to collaborate with Vampire Captain Grimzod Gargenhael. He is accompanied by Lefty, his own hand that he lost in a sword fight and animated as a creeping claw. It is like a parrot, except it can play instruments and communicate by making gestures. Possibly the Left favors uncivilized people.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space Will be released on 16 August. It was previewed with a pre-release copy of the books provided by Wizards of the Coast. Vox Media has an affiliated partnership. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commission for products purchased through affiliate links. you can find Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here,
