30 Day Challenge: Day 16 Aberration - Nothic

Aberrations are interesting, but you don’t get them in the Rules Cyclopedia, at least not named as such. Of the monsters listed in 3.x as Aberrations and also appear in the Rules Cyclopedia you have the following:

• Beholder
• Carrion crawler
• Rust monster

Not exactly an exhaustive list. A few more show up if you add in the Creature Catalog, but it’s still a small number, and not really connected by any defining feature other than the fact that they’re all… other.

I like how they’re handled in 4e though where aberration are creatures/things from the far realm. I think a lot of that comes in part because I really like the 4e cosmology. They are what their category suggests… they are other, alien, different, not of this universe.

But it needs more to really tie them together. Taking a page from Pacific Rim and the Teratic Tome, I want them to be terraformers, working to make our realm more like theirs. It helps tie them all together, gives me an option for a big bad confrontation if I want, and explains a lot about them. For instance, Beholders have genius level intelligence, but are usually insane. Why? Because they’re in an alien realm where the laws of reality aren’t the same. They may in fact be completely sane, but not here.

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The small fire crackled, as Feris’ companions slept around him. He added another branch to the fire, and blew on it to help it catch, then stood, and looked back out into the woods, letting his eyes adjust to the deep darkness around them.

“What’s that?” Feris said to himself.

“Humph?” Nimble mumbled.

“Out there, that red glow.”

Nimble blinked and squinted into the darkness. “Nothing good” he yawned.

“Is it getting brighter?”

Nimble scrambled to his feet, and the red light seemed to surge closer. “Rathgar! Allianora!”

Throwing off their blankets, they quickly grabbed their weapons and got to their feet.

“By Gaxgy’s beard, I think I’m going to puke…” Rathgar groaned as the glow grew nearer.

“There!” Feris pointed. A long limbed crouching thing stood off in the darkness, and from where it’s head should be eliminated the glowing red light.

A soft skittering sound began to fill the air, followed by a wet smacking sound.

Nimble glanced down, and watched numerous bugs and worms crawling away from the red glow as quickly as they could. Looking back up, he leveled his crossbow at the center of the glow.

Nothic
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 5+2* (M)
Move: 120’ (40’)
Attacks: 1 claw/gaze
Damage: 1d4+2/Special
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: F6
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: K, L
Intelligence: 9
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 400

Monster Type: Monster (Enchanted) Aberration
These strange cyclopian creatures move with a deliberate and boneless grace. Their glowing giant red eye, which takes up almost the entire head area of the creature, looks upon our realm and twists it. Normal plants and animals will pull away from it, or eventually become as twisted as the Nothic. In combat, it flares the glow, causing all within 60' to make a save vs. poison every round or take 1d4 points of damage a round, and suffer a -2 penalty to all initiative and attack rolls.

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Image Source: ridureyu1