Magmin: Walkin’ Talkin’ Boom Babies

Don’t ask me what that title was about, I don’t even know anymore.

You can probably guess what this little bastard is about. Unless you somehow can’t figure out what magmin is alluding to.

Lore: Frenzied Flaming Servants

Magmin are small fire spirits bound into physical forms by magic that only appear on the Material Plane when summoned. Only the control of their summoner keeps them from setting everything ablaze simply for the fun of it. They make ideal minions for creating chaos and destruction; a mob of them could burn a whole castle down within only a few minutes.

Although their flames are among the hottest one could find, their hard shells made from magma prevent them from immediately setting the world ablaze. However, that does little to contain their unpredictable natures. It could be argued that they aren’t malicious, as they are unaware of the effects their flames have on the Material World. Sometimes it will seek out areas of great heat while they’re fulfilling a task, such as a volcano, or maybe they’ll just set objects ablaze for the fun of it.

There’s not a whole lot you can do with this. Maybe you could do a mystery kind of story about a wizard who uses magmin to set towns ablaze. Or the players could try to turn the chaotic magma children against their master. But if you want to do anything more compelling or long-term, you’ll need to find another monster.

Design: Burning Child

Remember that scene in the Lost Children arc of Berserk? The one where Guts is being attacked by the flaming ghosts of children? Yeah, it’s kind of like that. Except not nearly as disturbing or sad. And it’s not like that at all.

This is the best design we’ve discussed in a while. It’s creative, it’s unique, and it tells a bit of a story.

You can just feel the malice and insanity in this thing’s eyes, especially with that wicked grin. The fire oozing out of its hands and head give it a sinister air. Its whole body is sort of cracked or melting, like the energy contained within it is threatening to explode. And when it does, this little monster will be laughing the whole damn time.

On top of that, this is a really creative look. It isn’t just ‘child, but fire’. The artists clearly went to great strides to communicate the monster’s magma-based shell while still making it feel like a living, breathing thing. It isn’t as unique as some of the more cosmic-horror style monsters we’ve seen, but it’s still plenty unique.

Overall, I love this design. Definitely one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. I only hope the fight that goes along with it is worth while.

Stats: Baby’s First Fire Enemy

Yup. It’s a low-level enemy. But to be fair, it’s definitely one of the more interesting ones.

On the surface, this seems like an easy monster to kill. Its HP sits in the single digits and its AC is just barely into the double digits. However, its immunity to all non-magical melee damage may present a challenge to a low-level player. That, and its complete immunity to fire.

Oh, I’m sorry level one wizard, did you spec entirely into fire? Well that’s your problem, not mine.

Killing it also presents a bit of a problem: the bastard explodes when it dies. And for a monster with a challenge rating of 1/2, it does a fair bit of damage! Better hope you succeed that Dex save, or your level one character may very well be toast! Maybe more than one, if you’ve got multiple melee players in your party; that explosion has a radius of ten feet, so everything in that range is going boom.

It can also set itself ablaze. It doesn’t do any damage, but it does give off light. So… that helps, I guess.

In terms of attacks, this monster only has one: Touch. This does a fair bit of fire damage for a low level monster. Worse yet, there’s a chance that it will set the victim ablaze. Until they take an action to extinquish the flames, they’ll take an extra 3(1d6) fire damage at the end of each turn.

All of this combines to make for one of the more interesting encounters an early-game party can hope for. How do they hurt it if they don’t have magical weapons? How do they deal with the explosions upon death? How do they balance fighting with putting out the fires burning them alive? It’s a dangerous struggle that will force the players to get creative in their approach.

Or just run away like little sissy babies.

Placement

This was a surprisingly strong monster! The lore is pretty weak, sure. But the design is excellent, and the stats all make for one of the more interesting battles for an early-game party! This is a surprise winner!

With all that in mind, let’s put the Magmin 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. Sea Hag
14. Lamia
15. Bronze Dragons
16. Brass Dragons
17. Copper Dragons
18. Gold Dragons
19. Chuul
20. Kuo-Toa
21. Gibbering Mouther
22. Kraken
23. Intellect Devourer
24. Chimera
25. Death Knight
26. Fomorian
27. Bone Devil
28. Dracolich
29. Faerie Dragon
30. Lich
31. Magmin <————————
32. Kobold
33. Kenku
34. Hobgoblins
35. Night Hag
36. Green Hag
37. Ankheg
38. Hook Horror
39. Storm Giant
40. Hill Giant
41. Empyrean
42. Efreeti
43. Grimlock
44. Dao
45. Cloud Giant
46. Drow (all four of ’em)
47. Shadow Demon
48. Marilith
49. Drider
50. Aarackockra
51. Azer
52. Demilich
53. Spectator
54. Hydra
55. Marid
56. Harpy
57. Werejackal
58. Half-Dragon
59. Cambion
60. Fire Giant
61. Animated Armor
62. Banshee
63. Basilisk
64. Yochlol
65. Bulette
66. Cloaker
67. Darkmantle
68. Doppelganger
69. Ghoul and Ghast
70. Ettin
71. Pit Fiend
72. Erinyes
73. Chain Devil
74. Bearded Devil
75. Barbed Devil
76. Spined Devil
77. Ice Devil
78. Djinni
79. Nalfeshnee
80. Glabrezu
81. Chasme
82. Grell
83. Barlgura
84. Horned Devil
85. Balor
86. Shadow Dragon
87. Werebear
88. Lizardfolk
89. Vrock
90. Dretch
91. Gnolls (all three)
92. Goristro
93. Hezrou
94. Manes
95. Frost Giant
96. Weretiger
97. Werewolf
98. Duergar
99. Quasit
100. Dryad
101. Flumph
102. Goblin
103. Wereboar
104. Wererat
105. Githyanki
106. Planetar
107. Imp
108. Clay Golem
109. Flameskull
110. Displacer Beast
111. Carrion Crawler
112. Githzerai
113. Grick
114. Invisible Stalker
115. Rug of Smothering
116. Bugbear Chief
117. Bugbear
118. Flesh Golem
119. Vine Blight
120. Twig Blight
121. Needle Blight
122. Bullywug
123. Hellhound
124. Ettercap
125. Gas Spore
126. Cockatrice
127. Lemure
128. Homonculus
129. Solar
130. Deva
131. Gorgon
132. Hippogriff
133. Griffon
134. Cyclops
135. Centaur
136. Ghost
137. Fire Elemental
138. Water Elemental
139. Air Elemental
140. Stone Giant
141. Deep Gnome
142. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
143. Iron Golem
144. Stone Golem
145. Earth Elemental
146. Galeb Duhr
147. Helmed Horror
148. Flying Sword
149. Crawling Claw
150. Violet Fungus
151. Shrieker
152. Gargoyle