Scroll Eaters

[Palanan]

Are there any creatures which seek out and devour scrolls, either specifically or as part of general magic-item consumption?

I’m open to anything from all official WotC and Pathfinder material. I thought I’d come across something like this once, years ago, but it would be great to know for sure.

[Thurbane]

In earlier D&D editions there was the Bookworm, which from memory ate spellbooks and scrolls. I don't think it got an official 3.5 update. Unsure about Pathfinder. It got statted as a 3.5 hazard in Tome of Horrors (revised).

Spellgaunts (MM2 p.188) snatch items and devour their magic with a disjunctive bite. They have no particular preference for scrolls AFAIK.

Disenchanters (FF p.62) try to drain magic from items, which would include scrolls, I guess.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Not specifically said to seek out scrolls, but could be easily adapted and fits the theme: the grisgol, or grimoire golem, as I like to call it. It's just a golem made of scrolls that can read itself to cast spells. I would easily envision the creator of a grisgol asking it to retrieve as many scrolls as possible and incorporate them to itself to bring them back to them.

[DragonIceAdept]

Balhannoths (MM4) eat all kinds of magic items, which includes scrolls.

[Hunter Noventa]

In Pathfinder a Witch can add more spells to her spells known by feeding scrolls to her familiar.

[tiercel]

Not a creature, but the Lorestealer Weapon of Legacy gives its wielder a limited ability to cast from scrolls by chopping them with the axe blade

[Ratel]

Dragon Mag 94 had the Ekrat, a kind of leprechaun living in libraries, eating paper and drinking ink, and feeding on written magic (from scrolls to explosive runes to tomes) by a 4/d, 60% success erase. Very AD&D in taste, but nicely done. Creature Catalog converted it to 3.0, though it's definitely not official content.
Edit: CC also converted the Bookworm. Could be fun having to enlist the local ekrats to help fight a bookworm infestation in a major arcane library.

[Thurbane]

Good call, I must admit I'd forgotten all about that one. Here's some links:

Bookworm (https://web.archive.org/web/20120616023446/http://creaturecatalog.enworld.org/cc/converted/hazard/bookworm.htm)

Ekrat (http://creaturecatalog.enworld.org/cc/converted/view_c.php?CreatureID=813)

[Psyren]

Pathfinder has the Cyphergull, a bird that can steal scrolls, eat them, and then cast the spells they contained. It's low CR but you can either buff it with templates or just transfer its ability to something else.

[ShurikVch]

The "Not Necessarily the Monstrous Compendium" article (Dragon #156) includes a Paper Dragon, which feeds on magical inks

https://i.ibb.co/yBnvQJG/Paper-Dragon.jpg

(#156 was the April issue :smallwink:)


Dweomervore (City of Splendors: Waterdeep) drains charges from magical items; if you rule Scrolls as "magical items with charges" - then yes, they would drain Scrolls too

Mostly same thing about the Power Symbiont (http://lost.spelljammer.org/ShatteredFractine/critters/monsters/powersymbiont.html)

[Bronk]

There's also the Nishruu from MoF, and the Ghazneth from Dragon and the Cormyr novel series.

[Vizzerdrix]

I recall seeing a mummy looking beast that was made of magic items. Used scrolls instead of bandages as wrappings.

[Tzardok]

I recall seeing a mummy looking beast that was made of magic items. Used scrolls instead of bandages as wrappings.

That's the grisgol, a golem made from magical trash. It's been mentioned already.

[Crake]

Balhannoths (MM4) eat all kinds of magic items, which includes scrolls.

Nitpick: Balhannoths devour the magic from magic items, but they do not actually devour the magic item itself. So after a balhannoth is done with a scroll, it would just be a mundane piece of paper, but it wouldn't actually eat the paper.

Self Correction: In fact, I don't think they even devour the magic from magic items, but rather the latent magical energies emitted by magic items, so the magical items remain magical, but they just kinda... I dunno, huff the magic vapors off magic items?