#Purple Sapient Orb

[aerial-ace97]

Honorable Mentions

As promised, I will be ranking the 50 aberrations throughout the modern D&D multiverse best to use for your next Big Monster Evil Guy over the course of January.  You can see the original post under the BMEG tag and this month will also fall under the tag of Janu-Alien, which is what the month for aberrations will now be referred to as.

But going into the meat of this, this was incredibly difficult to narrow down from the 141 aberrations that I was given to work with.  Even with today just being our honorable mentions, there were still phenomenal monsters that I couldn’t even make room for with 10 places given.

To clarify briefly, while I can’t guarantee that my bias won’t factor in on occasion, this list is what I believe to be the best aberrations to be the final villain of a questline.  It is NOT my favorite monsters and certainly not the BEST monsters.  Please bear that in mind and don’t be too upset if your faves didn’t make the list.  I won’t be going as deeply into these ones as when we get into the real list.  There were further rules given in my previous post but without further ado, my places for 60 through 51 are as follows:

#60 - Purple Sapient Orbs - Starfinder

This may be a bit fickle, but a large part of the reason this creature barely misses the list is simply because it is called a purple sapient orb.  That’s not true.  I actually kinda dig it.  But the creature has such a number of small things that I fluctuate between liking and finding too ridiculous to justify putting on this list.  It has some interesting lore about their desire to make contact with new species but with the lack of ability to commune.  Though they are Neutral Good, an interesting story could be made out of this frustration of disconnect dissolving into either obsession or vitriolic antipathy.  But a few things I both like and dislike.  Pairing this cartoonish name with a creature that is complex is something I like and dislike.  Making this an aberration instead of an outsider or ooze is something I like and dislike.  Making it specifically purple and not just different colors and giving us Sapient Orb as opposed to this far too long name is something I like and dislike.  Literally calling the language of their species orbian is something I like and dislike.  There is cool visuals and concepts in their lore but when the theme makes me so uncertain I can’t put it in this list.

#59 - Vaspercham - Pathfinder 2e

On occasion, Pathfinder 2e has one major flaw over its predecessor.  That flaw is its fairly meager one to two paragraph limit (usually) when it comes to giving us the lore, motivations, and ecology of its monsters.  The Vaspercham especially suffers in this realms.  It has style and some really neat water abilities revolving around creating tides that can make you lose your mind and I love water monsters.  For all these reasons, and the fact it has power that can rival the toughest powers gets it a spot in the runner-ups.  Its lore, however, prevents it from actually cracking the list, as it basically just amounts to being territorial.  Now mind you, there’s nothing wrong with simple motivations on occasion but when there is little to no detail given behind it, it just kind of feels like a waste.

#58 - Flumph - D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder, 5e

The flumph is a divisive creature, with some who think it shouldn’t exist and others loving it deeply for its cartoonish nature.  I kind of fall into the territory of saying of course something like this exists.  How many ridiculous animals evolved in our regular world that could prove that.  More an acceptance than anything.  Flumphs have some genuinely interesting lore and I think it would be outrageously funny to have a final villain of a quest that was the above image, but not funny enough that I could put it on the official list.

#57 - Tychilarius - Pathfinder

The tychilarius is incredibly powerful and a great encounter for the end of any quest and most likely the end of a campaign.  At a whopping CR 23, it comes just shy of being a Great Old One and in fact was thought to have spawned from a black hole and is now imprisoned in a place no one knows.  There are just two big problems.  Number one is that there is only one, and while.you can change that for your world, I’m limited by having to follow the written word in judging these entities.  And two is more major and its this, knowing its origin and knowing that is is imprisoned gives us nothing to work with.  It has surprisingly great mechanics and a pretty major intellect, but no given motivations to utilize those things towards.  In a rare case, Pathfinder gives us nothing on this.  Sure any good DM can come up with good stories, as they can any monster, but a strong baseline always helps and that’s what I’m judging these on.  And I don’t wanna hear any nonsense about how its lovecraftian and so its desires are mysterious and unknowable.  Slapping that title on it doesn’t make it so.  Even lovecraftian entities have something specifically weird about them you can hook too without just being like *shrug* we just don’t know.  We can give credit to Tychilarius for the Dominion of the Black though (which is interesting because Starfinder has no stats on Tychilarius even though this is where the Dominion of the Black more heavily features), something which will spawn far more developed creatures down the road for us.

#56 - Tolokand - Pathfinder 2e

This thing oozes style to me, but ultimately is once again let down by minuscule lore from 2e.  It is an avatar creature.  Sometimes referred to as the waste walker, it embodies absolute desolation in an unknowable and unstoppable sense.  This alone makes for a good final boss but lacking much of a human connection.  Beyond a lack of lore, the other thing selling the Tolokand short is a lack of ability to speak.  The other problem is that they almost have to be actively engaged with, as they don’t seek out people but rather just land to ravage which kind of takes a bit away from a give and take relation you might desire from a Big Monster Evil Guy.

#55 - Mimic - D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e, 5e

You might be surprised to know that mimics are quite intelligent given their simplistic predatory nature.  There are actually many very intelligent aberrations and other monsters that still mostly content themselves to the hunt.  Mimics have distinct advantages over many of these though.  One is the sheer variety available from the ability to become any inanimate object they desire, which I would invite for you to utilize for more varied mechanics than those provided.  The other lies in the fact that across many editions, their have always been references to elder mimics, which could be buildings or towers, or I would go on with space ships and sea ships for other settings.  This possibility can imply so much via the idea alone, but unfortunately must also be the place at which I keep mimics from entering the true list above.  While a neat concept, I’ve yet to see an official variant of this.  It therefore is a little presumptuous perhaps to assume that an elder mimic might be anything more than just a larger predator.  Take it forward with your own steps though, and you can imagine living wizard’s towers, cybernetically enhanced and evolved spacecraft mimics, and ecosystems designed of the very edges of the creature’s imaginations.  As the books leave it though, we must resign the mimic to honorable mentions.

#54 - Isqulug - Pathfinder 2e

The Isqulug suffers the same problem as we’ve seen from our other 2e placements so far.  The lore we have is quite interesting, but with only a single paragraph and a small subsidiary comment to go on, it is hardly enough to make it.  This creature has one fascinating quality.  It comes from the Feywild.  Or sorry.  The First World as it is known in Pathfinder.  The interplay of aberrations and the fey is a fascinating concept and one that you would think might instantly put the Isqulug in the top 50 just from being such a unique rarity.  You’d be surprised to know however that in doing my research, it’s actually not that rare of a notion.  There were two or three aberrations that have interplay that didn’t make it to honorable mentions, one that we’ll see farther down this post, and at least one more that made it to the top 50.  The Isqulug simply didn’t have enough motivation or lore to land it in that same running, even as unique its concept, design, and mechanics are.

#53 - Deh-Nolo - Starfinder

Now hear me out.  Are the Deh-Nolo one of the most powerful and frequently encountered creatures that make the ranks of the infamous Dominion of the Black?  Yes they are.  Are they on-brand for the uniquely disconnected, monstrous and creepy but yet undeniably intellectual, alien design prevalent throughout this organization?  Yes they are.  Do they give credence to the technologically aspects of Starfinders universe?  Yes they do.  Do they have their own unique lore that can function independently of the Dominion of the Black.  Um.  Eh.  Ok yes they do.  But when compared to many creatures in the Dominion they do not compare.  The Dominion’s inhabitants are mostly all there own thing.  The Deh-Nolo feel like they should’ve just been a variant of the Neh-Thalggu just like the Yah-Thelgaad are.  They all revolve around the extraction of brains.  In fact almost everyone of their traits feels like it could be a Neh-Thalggu.  This seems like the obvious choice.  Deh-Nolo feel somewhat unnecessary for how powerful and prevalent they are and while you could certainly make good villains out of them, the lore for other members of their guild feels like the more solid choice and with so many creatures in the Dominion, a few had to take the arrow of being just honorable mentions.

#52 - Will-O’-Wisp - D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e, 5e

I love the idea of a final villain that is a will-o’-wisp if I’m honest even if there are significant barriers to it.  It can’t speak and it can’t manipulate objects but both of these things can be mitigated through clever story telling and class levels so that’s no significant problem.  Will-O’-Wisps pose a significant enemy for their CR/level with their crazy AC and invisibility and fairly powerful shocks and consume life ability though some of these things depend on the edition being used.  This unassuming creature can be so interesting as a luring and destabilizing villain reliant on tricks, illusions, and mazes.  Finally, they once again harken to the fey and we see that interaction again with the fey realm by aberrations.  There is one major problem though (admittedly not a problem for 5e) and that is that Will-O’-Wisps are almost entirely immune to magic.  Now taking your party’s ability to fight minor enemies is one thing, but that becomes a much bigger deal for the big boss.  I think its important to test characters, put things against them that outwit or resist parts of their kits, and all of these sorts of things, but personally I never think it is a good idea to make any singular character completely useless against a main boss and the Will-O’-Wisp comes dangerously close to doing that against all magic users.  For this reason alone, I must preclude Will-O’-Wisp.

#51 - Bee Man - Pathfinder

The bee man is a truly unique concept that merges aberration, swarm, and humanoid into a creative blend of mechanics.  It has an aesthetic I love and can conceivably be quite terrifying.  It can interact in roleplay while having an alien motivation and vile undertones.  The lore of being driven mad by the divination found in bee watching and absorbing that in to the self is freshly disturbing and cool.  Now the lore does technically say there is only one bee-man but that can be borrowed for your world and made into something more or just the singular bee-man.  This minor qualm does hold it back a bit though for me.  For some reason, it doesn’t feel quite right to put.a creature on this list that canonically only exists once.  As well as this fact, I do feel the bee-man might work a tad better as a fey than an aberration thematically.  In spite of me not being able to let it crack the top 50, I genuinely encourage you to look into this and most of the creatures mentioned here to see if they are right for your next big bad.  And tomorrow you can join me as we see our first 2 additions to the true list.

[thesumlax]

So I`ve been taking venlafaxine for quite a while, and aside from allowing me to properly function as a human being, it has an interesting side effect of sending the dream-generating parts of the brain into overdrive. Unfortunately, it does not improve the ability to remember the dreams, so these are all that`s left from a truly massive amount of ideas...

1) A cetacean with messed up eyes that produces glowing purple slime from its back, mainly for communication. It has two related species that are mostly blind and use their slime (one`s green, the other`s blue) to construct nets for hunting. These dolphreaks apparently inspired some legendary sea serpent, though the legends actually made them less weird (unsurprisingly).

2) Apparently a very large fly (like a medium-sized bird or smth). Very dangerous, presumably beacuse it`s venomous. Also very intelligent and has a habit of deliberately attacking people who know what it is and try to avoid it.

3) A sapient echinoderm that uses three of its arms as "heads". Despite the obvious differences in... everything, they seem to live in apartments very similar to human ones.

4) There was an underwater landscape full of some Spore-looking creatures, this is the only one I remember.

5) Possibly the same dream as the previous one, this large black worm with translucent green and blue entrails was apparently some sort of video game controller. Like, you dissect and manipulate its guts to play - I don`t know how it`s supposed to work.

6) The monstorus earth whale, a terrifying predator that swims rapidly through the earth. In this exact pose, yes, sticking vertically out of the ground. Eventually it transformed into an absolutely enormous magma beast, kinda split up and fused seamlessly with the surrounding rock and magma. It was fought by a weirdly agile cartoonish Godzilla and, I kid you not, Aleksander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, who was piloting a bizarre transforming robot tractor of his own design -  №7 is an approximation of what that may have looked like.

8) Kaiju transformation of some alien guy - the most interesting part is how his eyestalks turned into serpents.

9) There was a massive line-up picture depicting several related families of Lovecraftian gods and monsters. This is the only one I remembered.

10) This one`s very fuzzy, but I think there was this scuzzy bird, with cartoonish and ridiculous appearance but also terrifyingly large, just standing motionless in the sea. Completely ossified and sessile, it relied on its flying offspring to feed it.

11) This Dark Souls-looking executioner guy was actually just a costume used in a school play. Despite the ridiculously high quality of the suit itself, they were armed with a regular cheap hatchet.

12) Apparently an ice-themed member of a set of elemental dragon creatures, colored blue with yellow fringes. Bizarrely, its main power has nothing to do with ice - it`s producing these edible "fruits" (№13). I don`t really remember the other dragons, but I think several of them were depicted like №14.

15) A "gorgon" that was playable in some kind of monster arena fighting game. Had multiple skins, one of which was identified as a "vampire" due to its unusual dentition (№16).

17) A hypnagogic picture (possibly a DeviantArt post) of an entity identified as "Tdirr Ilbot, the Horse Dragon". Their integument was like a green and brown moss or lichen, and their faces were featureless black glass orbs. I think "Horse Dragon" is their job title.

[izayoichan]

River: Hey. It's going to be alright. Look at me… It'll be alright. Deep breaths.

Flynn looks at his dad and nods, all of them finding a good spot in his bed, putting a movie on while they waited. No one really watched the movie, but it was there, to try and keep their mind occupied. Fannar made sure his twin took some painkillers just in case. His mom had always told him that stress could lead to headaches, and he still remembered his uncle getting them when they were stressed.

Vy goes into the bathroom. He's the dragon down and places a hand over its face.

Vy: Show me your human form. I want to see if you are a beast or if there is indeed a dragon there.

To force the change he actually gave energy to the dragon. Who wined and growled as its body was forced to change. Vy stepped back. Staring at the dragon. 

Vy: So, you are sapient. 

Emil growls in warning. Scooting away, flaring his wings. Vy stared at him. He looked emaciated. As if he hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Vy growled and kneeled down. The dragon tried to get away by Vy grabbed a handful of its hair forcing those purple orbs to look at him.

Vy: You were going to kill them? Weren't you?

He pulled the dragon again

Vy: You were going to kill them and eat them. Weren't you? Emil: Yes! 

He grabs Vy's hands, spitting at him.

Emil: Yes! Vy: If Flynn was to free you, you wouldn't go home. Would you? You'd attack us. You'd keep killing.

Emil growls defiantly.

Vy: You tried to kill a child! You're sapient! You're a dragon, and yet, you tried to kill a child!

Vy glares at them and throws them to the ground. The dragon scoots back, waiting in silence.

Vy: Why would you do that? Why are you doing this? We want to help you!

Beginning - Previous - Next

[blues-sevenfold00]

Nuvole Spazio: Yeap, Another Dream Land <3

~*~ Marina ~*~

Marina is the main originator of the dream land. When she was twelve years old, she started getting interested in lucid dreaming. By the time Marina is sixteen, she has mastered the art of lucid dreaming and began the creation of Nuvole Spazio - which combines two passions of hers: the sky and outer space.

The land is largely pastel colours during the day and is largely black contrasted with neon colours at night. Sapient five-point stars in a variety of colours are quite plentiful, as well as planet-like orbs (some with rings) floating in the sky/space along with the clouds. The cloud platforms are largely pink with sprinkling of other pastel colours, whereas the metallic platforms are metallic neon in colour with large doses of azure. The lakes are a light violet during the day, and dark purple at night. The grassy regions are light green during the day, and dark blue at night. Cloud buildings and cloud trees are plentiful, as well as buildings made of metal and crystals. Meteor showers are a common occurrence, as well as light colourful translucent bubbles drifting up.

Marina is pregnant at nineteen, and she later falls ill of a fatal disease - of which there are no known cures that don’t also risk the fetus’ life. Shortly after the birth of Faith, her physical body passes on - and her spirit takes up permanent residence in Nuvole Spazio. Prior to her physical death, Marina has published a book called Nuvole Spazio, which is largely aimed at children and is a collection of stories.  Since then, the book has seen very successful sales.

~*~ Marino, Stefano, and Dreama ~*~

Marina is mourned by both her fraternal twin brother (Marino) and her husband (Stefano). Marino and Stefano have also been best buds for years, and Marino helps Stefano to raise Faith. Both have been able to visit Nuvole Spazio throughout the duration of Marina’s pregnancy, but is no longer able to do so.

About a year later... Marino meets a girl with pink skin, purple hair, and aqua eyes named Dreama. Marino quickly learns has Dreama was a recurring visitor to Nuvole Spazio, even though Dreama and Marina had never met on the physical plane. As with Marino, Dreama no longer has the ability to visit that land.

After a few unsuccessful pregnancy attempts, the couple decides to clone Dreama - and implant the clone cells into her womb. Nine months later, Dreama’s clone is born as Misty. Misty takes after her mother, and is very close.

~*~ Misty ~*~

When Misty was sixteen years old, she was pushed down the stairs by a boy who was angered by her rejection of him as a date. This results in Misty being comatose for forty days. During that time, Misty has spend forty (160, actually) years in Nuvole Spazio. She ended up marrying a man maned Skyler - who has pink skin, purple hair, and chartreuse eyes. Together, they end up spawning three children: Starla, Angela, and Twila - all of who are two years apart. She remembers having grandchildren when she wakes up from her coma, but she doesn’t remember what their names are.

A few months later, Misty meets Skyler on the physical plane - who looks exactly the same as his dream counterpart. As Skyler has no memories of having ever been to Nuvole Spazio, Misty figures that Skyler isn’t technically the same person - but he has the same personality as his dream counterpart, and the two eventually marry. On the physical plane, they end up having only one child - who they end up naming Aurora.

~*~ Aurora ~*~

When Aurora was four years old, she began dreaming about Nuvole Spazio - and she is the same age as Angela. In addition, Aurora and Angela bear a striking resemblance - and they look just like identical twins! The dream version of Misty comes to see Aurora as her daughter, and she tells her mother about it. Her mother is very intrigued, but doesn’t explain that she herself was there.

~*~ Faith, Hope, and Joy ~*~

At the same time as Aurora is born to Misty, Joy and Hope are born to Faith. Joy and Hope look almost like identical twins - but Joy has blonde hair and blue eyes, whereas Hope has red hair and green eyes. Faith has brown hair and brown eyes. When Joy and Hope are four, they began dreaming about Nuvole Spazio - and they befriend Faith, not realizing that Faith is her mother who has also has dreams if Nuvole Spazio as a child... although the dreams stopped with Faith was five. Faith did, in fact, name Hope and Joy after her childhood dream friends - but has no idea that they would become the same people! Aside from hair and eye colour, the three girls look a lot like triplets!

Faith, Hope, and Joy are also quite friendly with Aurora and Angela - although Hope and Joy don’t meet Aurora (their second cousin) on the physical plane until they stay at Luna Laguna’s house.

~*~ Stefano/Angelo ~*~

Stefano died shortly before the births of Hope, Joy, and Aurora of a brain tumour - and, in his dying days, he had recurring dreams of Nuvole Spazio... and her reunion with Marina! In Nuvole Spazio, he changes his name to Angelo. Due to the now significant physical age difference, Angelo and Marina have a different sort of relationship - but they are still very close. There was actually less waiting from Marina’;s end. Faith and Misty both knew Angelo during their time in Nuvole Spazio, and figured that Angelo reminded them of Stefano - but never realized they were the same person!

~*~ Jimmy Reed and Zacky Vengeance ~*~

The three girls end up staying at Luna Laguna’s house, with two or three others. Zacky Vengeance and Jimmy Reed are also staying there - and, quite naturally, the two also end up visiting Nuvole Spazio.

*** Other Info ***

Like most other dream lands, Nuvole Spazio is a looping flat land. There is no observable sun, but daylight and night shifts through the sky/space colouring. There is also no observable moon, but planet-like orbs are plentiful and light up at night.

Time works somewhat differently from most other dream lands, and runs largely on Narnia Time (based on the series by CS Lewis):

Aurora (starting at age four) shows up in Nuvole Spazio at the same time as Misty duration in the land (during her forty day coma at the age of sixteen, five years before Aurora was born) and could pass as Angela’s identical twin sister! Later on, Angela develops the ability to swap bodies with Aurora on the physical plane.

Hope and Joy (starting at age four) shows up in Nuvole Spazio at the same time as Faith (also starting at age four) did. Faith was 25 years old when Hope and Joy were born.

Aurora, Hope, and Joy (all the same age on the physical plane) all visit Nuvole Spazio concurrently!

Stefano becomes a permanent resident (and changes his name to Angelo) of Nuvole Spazio upon his physical death at the age of 45. He arrives in Nuvole Spazio before Misty’s long-term residence there, even though Misty’s visit there had occurred five years prior.

For recurring dream visitors, time usually passes four times as quickly in Nuvole Spazio than on the physical plane - as with most other dream lands. This means people there also age four times as slowly, including Misty and her Nuvole Spazio family!

It is relatively common for older children to undertake spiritual journeys in Nuvole Spazio - which usually results in imprints of their favourite locations, various people they know, talking versions of their pets, and even imaginary friends and younger versions of themselves! Even after the journey is complete, the imprints remain in place and take on lives of their own.

Typically, dream walkers and lucid dreamers are the only dreamers who can visit Nuvole Spazio beyond the age of nineteen - although a few exceptions do exist.