Lore: Sharing a Drug Trip Dream
Residing in the Underdark, myconids are peaceful seekers of enlightenment. They gladly share shelter or allow safe passage through their colonies to travelers, seeking only knowledge in return. Their tribes, called circles, are led by the largest among them, the sovereign; they work together, live together, and meld together.
Melding is a unique form of communal meditation myconids occasionally use to, quote, ‘transcend their dull subterranean existence.’ The spores produced from their bodies link the circle together, blending their consciousnesses together into one. While melded, the circle shares a dream, which they use as a form of social interaction and entertainment. This is what the myconids consider to be their purpose in existing, using melding to pursue their ‘enlightenment.’
So… they’re mushrooms… that do magic mushrooms together… My god, they’re literally just stoners hanging out in a basement!
This lore is… okay. It could make for a fun friendly encounter during an Underdark campaign. Maybe the party is hurt and tired after a previous battle and take residence within a myconid circle. Or you could have them get involved in a melding and get really weird for a session. Perhaps a more deadly enemy threatens the myconids and the party needs to defend them.
Or betray them, as D&D players are wont to do.
Design: Shroom Men
I will not make the obvious Guardians of the Galaxy joke. Nope. I’m not going to do it. You can’t make me!
These are some truly fantastic character designs. They’re just so damn weird and creative! The artists at Wizards of the Coast took the concept of mushroom people and stretched it to its most bizarre and it looks amazing!
My only real gripe with it is an incredibly small one. That being that they look oddly hostile for a species of pacifist stoners. Yes, they are monsters in the Monster Manual; they kinda need to look somewhat menacing. I wish they were depicted as more friendly, as is described in the lore. But it’s a small, personal nitpick.
Overall, this is still a really strong design. It’s one-of-a-kind and it just looks amazing! It’s definitely the strongest aspect of this entry.
Because the stats sure aren’t doing much for me.
Stats: Do you like… SPORES?!
Of course there are four of them. My job might be easy if there were any less.
The first and weakest of these is the Myconid Sprout. This little guy sports a near-single digit AC and HP so low a bare-handed wizard could kill it in one hit. Its only melee attack has a negative modifier, though the extra poison damage does slightly make up for that.
It makes up for that by having a few different Spore-related abilities. Distress Spores sends out a distress signal to other myconids whenever it takes damage. Rapport Spores can be used thrice a day, and grants anything within a ten-foot radius the ability to communicate telepathically with others under the same effect.
Provided they have an intelligence higher than 2.
It also has the Sun Sickness ability. Whenever it is in direct sunlight, it has disadvantage on every roll it could make. If it spends an hour in sunlight, it dies. Just in case you had doubts as to how pathetic this monster is.
Next is the Quaggoth Spore Servant. And… there’s nothing really to talk about. It has a claw attack. That’s it. The only reason its stronger than the sprout is that it has a much higher AC and HP total.
After that is the Myconid Adult. It has all the abilities of the sprout, only its stronger. It also has an extra ability: Pacifying Spores. With this, it can stun a target, should they fail a save. It can use this up to three times.
Finally, we have the Myconid Sovereign. It has all of the abilities of the adult, with more than a few others. With Animating Spores, it can turn corpses into spore servants to aide it in battle (though it needs 24 hours for the servant to come to life, and it only stays alive for a certain number of weeks). With Hallucination Spores, it can poison a target, provided they fail a saving throw.
Even with all of that, none of these guys make for a particularly interesting fight. If anything, they make for an annoying one. If they’re not just being a regular slugfest, then they’re bombarding the party with frustrating saving throws and status effects. It requires patience to beat these, not strategy. Which is really lame.
Placement
I have conflicting feelings on this monster. The lore is okay, but enjoyable and can make for some fun encounters. The design is fantastic. But the stats make for an annoying and frustrating battle, not a fun and memorable one. I’m honestly not sure where I want to place this one.
But we’re about to find out.
With all that in mind, let’s put the Myconids on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Mind Flayer
- Dragon Turtle
- Mummy/Mummy Lord
- 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
- Minotaur
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Manticore
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Modrons (all five of ’em)
- 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
- Mimic
- Djinni
- Merrow
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Myconids (all four of ’em) <—————–
- 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
- Merfolk
- 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
Jonah's Daily Rants 