Yes, you read that right. We’re gonna do all six of these little guys at once. Mainly because I can’t be bothered dragging them out for six whole weeks. Partly because each of them have less than a paragraph of lore on their own.
Hoo boy, this is gonna be exhausting.
Lore: Elemental Imps
Natives to the elemental planes, mephits are tricksters at heart. While they reside in the Elemental Planes or the Elemental Chaos, they do sometimes take residence on the Material Plane. When they do, they’ll find a place where their birth element can be found in large abundance.
Dust mephits have an odd fascination with death and gather in tombs and catacombs. Ice mephits are more cruel than any of the others and reside in the cold. Magma mephits are slow of thought and gather in volcanoes. Mud mephits often complain and beg for attention or money and often reside within the earth or water. Smoke mephits are lazy and love to lie and mock. Steam mephits are extremely sensitive and demanding, appointing themselves as the lords of the mephits.
This is extremely dull lore. All it really does is serve as setup for the placement of the enemy in your world and how they behave before and during combat. If you want to write a full-fledged campaign surrounding mephits, then you are fat out of luck.
Granted, this is an extremely low-level enemy, so I don’t see why you’d want to write a campaign all about them.
Design: One Candy, Six Flavors
That’s right, folks. They took the time to draw and design each and every one of these guys. And we still don’t have much to talk about!
Though to be fair: little does not mean nothing. Yes, these are all just different colored variations of the same design with a few cosmetic changes. But that core design tells you exactly what they are: obnoxious tricksters.
Just look at that face! That long, hooked nose, the narrow features, the wide grin, that is a face you know you can’t trust. Their forms may change, but that is true for each and every one of them.
Buuuut that’s still not enough to make their designs truly unique or interesting or memorable. We’ve already gotten plenty of trickster monsters and even more elementals. Ultimately, this look just doesn’t do anything new.
Stats: Tricksy Little Imps
You might think that analyzing six monsters all at once would take forever. Luckily for us, the list of things they all share is pretty long, so we can go through it fairly quickly.
None of the mephits are especially durable. Their ACs range from 10-12, so hitting them won’t be an issue. Their HP is also pretty pathetic, so they won’t stay alive for long. That said, each one has a short list of damage and condition immunities, so they aren’t total pushovers.
In terms of actions, all of them have claws and a breath attack. The claws are pretty pathetic, although some of them add a bit of extra damage on top of the base. The breath attack is pretty varied; some of them do little more than blind you, but there are a few that actually do damage.
All of them also have one spell (save the poor mud mephit; he gets nothing). These are incredibly basic and low-level spells, so none of them are going to make your players quiver in fear. Still, they add an extra little tool for the mephits to use to mess with your party.
Finally, the ability shared between them all: Death Burst. It’s pretty simple: when the mephit dies, it explodes. The effects of the explosion match the mephit’s breath attack, so it doesn’t mean massive damage. It can, but it can also mean being blinded or getting restrained.
And that’s all. See? That didn’t take so long.
While each of the five are fairly different, the basis of their encounters don’t really change. Pick one that will fit the setting the party is currently going through, then throw a small handful of them at your players. Will that make for a fun encounter? Well, it will certainly make for a tricky one; the mephits don’t have a dangerous toolset, but they do have variety on their side. Not bad for a low-level fight. But beyond level three, you’ll have expended their usefulness.
Placement
Overall, these six are all pretty weak and forgettable monsters. Their lore is basically nothing and their designs aren’t anything new. Sure, they can make for a fun early-game battle. But there are plenty of other monsters that could do the same job.
With all that in mind, let’s put the Mephits on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Dragon Turtle
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Sea Hag
- Lamia
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Kuo-Toa
- Gibbering Mouther
- Kraken
- Intellect Devourer
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Lich
- Magmin
- Kobold
- Kenku
- Hobgoblins
- Night Hag
- Green Hag
- Ankheg
- Hook Horror
- Storm Giant
- Hill Giant
- Empyrean
- Efreeti
- Grimlock
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Manticore
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Drider
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Hydra
- Marid
- Harpy
- Werejackal
- Half-Dragon
- Cambion
- Fire Giant
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Ghoul and Ghast
- Ettin
- Medusa
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Djinni
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Werebear
- Lizardfolk
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Gnolls (all three)
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Frost Giant
- Weretiger
- Werewolf
- Duergar
- Quasit
- Dryad
- Flumph
- Goblin
- Wereboar
- Wererat
- Githyanki
- Planetar
- Imp
- Clay Golem
- Flameskull
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Githzerai
- Grick
- Invisible Stalker
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Flesh Golem
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Mephits (all six of ’em) <———————–
- Bullywug
- Hellhound
- Ettercap
- Gas Spore
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Homonculus
- Solar
- Deva
- Gorgon
- Hippogriff
- Griffon
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Ghost
- Fire Elemental
- Water Elemental
- Air Elemental
- Stone Giant
- Deep Gnome
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
- Stone Golem
- Earth Elemental
- Galeb Duhr
- Helmed Horror
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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