Millstone85
2016-10-14, 07:36 PM
There are creatures in D&D that really lend themselves to being fused with other creatures. An illithid tadpole can be implanted into the brain of many different things. Dragons are notorious for their recreative use of polymorph spells and the unlikely descendance it leads to. And of course the undead used to be all sorts of things in life. I think that a brainstealer dracolich would make a suitable stand-in for Cthulhu. :smallamused:
But here is a creature that has captured my curiosity: the gibbering orb.
It is a fleshy goo that collects the eyes, teeth and voices of its past victims, which it uses to seek, bite and confuse its current prey. They might actually still live inside of it. This makes the creature like a gibbering mouther.
It also spends most of its time as a ball floating in the air and has many eyestalks from which it can shoot various magical rays. And it is intelligent, albeit in an insane or alien way. This makes the creature like a beholder.
The first appearance of the gibbering orb was in the 3rd edition. It reappeared in the 4th edition, which also introduced the gibbering abomination. This one is like a gibbering mouther with tentacles, very limited flight and a single eye ray.
http://i.imgur.com/YUkQ41r.pngFrom left to right, a gibbering mouther, a gibbering abomination, a gibbering orb and a beholder.
Not to scale, but I think that the gibbering orb being huge is overkill and that lesser models should exist.
The gibbering orb was probably just slapped together but it does sound terrifying and cool and it leaves me thinking about its origins in-universe. How would such a creature come to be?
In 3e, it was suggested that the gibbering orb was "perhaps a common ancestor of both the gibbering mouther and the beholderkin". The original model, maybe even truly native to the Far Realm. I don't like this, because the gibbering mouther is supposed to be what happens when corpses are left near a portal to the Far Realm.
It would be much more amusing if a gibbering mouther transformed into a gibbering abomination, then a gibbering orb and finally a beholder. Perhaps that's even how new beholders are cultivated, a shameful secret for the race.
Or maybe the gibbering orb is just a gibbering mouther that ate a beholder. This way, the origins of the beholder remain fully mysterious.
What are the forum's thoughts on the matter? This is not for a campaign. I am just musing.
But here is a creature that has captured my curiosity: the gibbering orb.
It is a fleshy goo that collects the eyes, teeth and voices of its past victims, which it uses to seek, bite and confuse its current prey. They might actually still live inside of it. This makes the creature like a gibbering mouther.
It also spends most of its time as a ball floating in the air and has many eyestalks from which it can shoot various magical rays. And it is intelligent, albeit in an insane or alien way. This makes the creature like a beholder.
The first appearance of the gibbering orb was in the 3rd edition. It reappeared in the 4th edition, which also introduced the gibbering abomination. This one is like a gibbering mouther with tentacles, very limited flight and a single eye ray.
http://i.imgur.com/YUkQ41r.pngFrom left to right, a gibbering mouther, a gibbering abomination, a gibbering orb and a beholder.
Not to scale, but I think that the gibbering orb being huge is overkill and that lesser models should exist.
The gibbering orb was probably just slapped together but it does sound terrifying and cool and it leaves me thinking about its origins in-universe. How would such a creature come to be?
In 3e, it was suggested that the gibbering orb was "perhaps a common ancestor of both the gibbering mouther and the beholderkin". The original model, maybe even truly native to the Far Realm. I don't like this, because the gibbering mouther is supposed to be what happens when corpses are left near a portal to the Far Realm.
It would be much more amusing if a gibbering mouther transformed into a gibbering abomination, then a gibbering orb and finally a beholder. Perhaps that's even how new beholders are cultivated, a shameful secret for the race.
Or maybe the gibbering orb is just a gibbering mouther that ate a beholder. This way, the origins of the beholder remain fully mysterious.
What are the forum's thoughts on the matter? This is not for a campaign. I am just musing.