Fomorian: That’s an Ugly Fella, Right There

I’ve discussed a lot of nasty monsters. But this one? This guy takes the cake.

The Fomorian is a diamond in the rough. At first glance, it’s a big bruiser. Nothing new. But when you look into its lore, you’ll find a monster that’s surprisingly unique, interesting, and even menacing! It’s a surprisingly good monster that I really want to put to use in a campaign!

If for no other reason than to do Skeletor voices. I don’t know why but that’s all I can hear out of these things.

Lore: Beauty and the Beast… without beauty. And Beast is kinda a huge asshole.

Fomorians were once among the most handsome races of all, hard as it may be to believe. Their magical abilities and minds were nigh unparalleled. Unfortunately, and predictably, their hearts were anything but pure. Blinded by greed, they tried to conquer the Feywild and take the power there for themselves.

Guess how they ended up like this. But hey! Now they’ve got a lifetime of vengeance to plan!

These giants reside in the Underdark, using slaves to help them keep fed. Should those slaves fail to deliver the food, they themselves will fill the role. Such depravity is the basis of Fomorian society. This even goes so far as the markings of their territory, which is defined by lines of their enemy’s corpses.

While Fomorians are willing to make alliances to achieve their goals, they are never trustworthy. They may not even wait for their goals to be achieved. Should they feel like it, they would betray their allies on a mere whim.

Worst of all: a Fomorian has the ability to share its suffering with others. With the Curse of the Evil Eye, it can twist and deform a victim’s body to look just like its own. While this curse isn’t permanent, it’s a good way to look into the twisted agony these monsters suffer through daily.

Design: Ugly Mothafucka

You know? I kinda want to see what they used to look like. Give me a baseline to compare to! Come on, Wizards of the Coast, give us pure Fomorians!

This is a super fun design. It does a great job of communicating just how distorted and disgusting a Fomorian body is. You can tell just looking at this boy that it is not happy to look the way it does.

Plus, it’s freaky looking! This dude is the last thing I’d want to see in a dark place! Or smell, for that matter; he looks like how an alcoholic father smells.

If there’s a problem, it’s that it doesn’t go far enough. Compared to some of the other unique beasts of D&D, gnarled and disgusting giant isn’t the most interesting thing it’s got. There are plenty of other monsters that are even more grotesque than this guy. Wizards could’ve gone much further with displacing this thing’s features and making it nasty. It’s decent, but not incredible.

Though I still love it. It looks like it’d be fun to voice.

Stats: I’LL GIVE YOU THE STINK EYE!!

No joke, dude, that Evil Eye ability saves this monster from being the most boring thing in the entire book. That one ability makes it one of the coolest.

At first glance, this thing is pretty simple. A beefy boy with a low AC, high HP, and lots of hitting power.

But then you get the Evil Eye. Two flavors of it, in fact!

Evil Eye itself forces a DC 14 Charisma saving throw. Fail that and you’re taking 27(6d8) psychic damage, half that if you succeed.

And you’d better hope you succeed. That thing about sharing its curse we talked about in the lore? Yeah, that wasn’t just flavor text. This thing can actually do that. And guess what? You only get to repeat the saving throw after a long rest. You know! Once a day!

Which means that this guy has an instant ‘remove player from party’ button. Better hope your group is rolling well!

Placement

I was not expecting to like this monster as much as I did! I thought this would be the kind of entry that wouldn’t do anything to impress. Yet, here we are with a monster well deserving of a spot in the upper tiers!

With all that in mind, let’s put the Fomorian on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Dragon Turtle
4. Green Dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Blue Dragons
7. Black Dragons
8. White Dragons
9. Silver Dragons
10. Couatl
11. Behir
12. Aboleth
13. Bronze Dragons
14. Brass Dragons
15. Copper Dragons
16. Gold Dragons
17. Chuul
18. Chimera
19. Death Knight
20. Fomorian <—————————–
21. Bone Devil
22. Dracolich
23. Faerie Dragon
24. Ankheg
25. Empyrean
26. Drow (all four of ’em)
27. Shadow Demon
28. Marilith
29. Drider
30. Aarackockra
31. Azer
32. Demilich
33. Spectator
34. Cambion
35. Animated Armor
36. Banshee
37. Basilisk
38. Yochlol
39. Bulette
40. Cloaker
41. Darkmantle
42. Doppelganger
43. Ettin
44. Pit Fiend
45. Erinyes
46. Chain Devil
47. Bearded Devil
48. Barbed Devil
49. Spined Devil
50. Ice Devil
51. Nalfeshnee
52. Glabrezu
53. Chasme
54. Barlgura
55. Horned Devil
56. Balor
57. Shadow Dragon
58. Vrock
59. Dretch
60. Goristro
61. Hezrou
62. Manes
63. Duergar
64. Quasit
65. Dryad
66. Flumph
67. Planetar
68. Imp
69. Flameskull
70. Displacer Beast
71. Carrion Crawler
72. Rug of Smothering
73. Bugbear Chief
74. Bugbear
75. Vine Blight
76. Twig Blight
77. Needle Blight
78. Bullywug
79. Ettercap
80. Cockatrice
81. Lemure
82. Solar
83. Deva
84. Cyclops
85. Centaur
86. Fire Elemental
87. Water Elemental
88. Air Elemental
89. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
90. Earth Elemental
91. Flying Sword
92. Crawling Claw