Category:Moonbeast
This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
A moonbeast is a horrific aberration that appears as a vast, cylindrical column of flesh teeming with hooks and barbed tentacles used both for movement and for grappling prey. It has several rings of eyestalks, though its front and back, top and bottom are all indistinguishable from each other. A moonbeast is able to alter its height, usually staying from a range of 20 to 30 ft. tall.[1]
Reclusive and disdainful of the outside world, moonbeasts lurk in isolated underground lairs dreaming in reverie of wherever strange places they originated. They only come out once in a while to find food, and always at night. The primary exception to a moonbeast's reclusive pattern of behavior is if its Moonstone is stolen. Although else seemingly unconcerned about it, a moonbeast cannot tolerate another creature possessing its moonstone.[2]
A moonbeast's wrath once provoked can be horrible indeed. A moonbeast possesses a number of terrible spell-like abilities, a number of damaging and summoning spells and even the ability to be invisible as it attacks, in addition to its formidable melee capabilities. The moonbeast is so frightening that its mere appearance can send foes running in a panic.[3]
Noncanon Information
This section contains Homebrew non-canon info, created by fans |
Moonbeasts can be encountered in Bluetspur. In that horrid domain, moonbeasts remain underground during the dangerous storm-wracked nights and come out during the sunless days to look for prey, reversing the "usual" activity patterns demonstrated elsewhere. A moonbeast is able to detect its moonstone within the same cluster but not beyond. Mind flayers sometimes purposefully steal moonstones and place them in the lairs of their enemies.[4]
Descriptive Text
This section contains Homebrew non-canon info, created by fans |
The old man came in quietly; I do not know how long he had been there when I first saw him. When he saw I had noticed, he came forward, smiling a soft unpleasant smile. "You must be Master Goldwin's daughter," he said. I assured him he was correct and asked if he knew my father. "Yes," he replied. "He and I are...old friends." There was something in his voice and manner which I did not like, but I thought little of it then.
He reached into his pocket and brought out a beautiful grey-blue gemstone of a kind I have never seen previously. "I owe your father a gift," he said, still smiling. "Please, give this to him, and tell him with it I intend to heal the rift between us. If only he will accept it, all is forgiven, all is forgotten. Can you do that?"
I said I would, but that if he cared to wait he could present it to my father himself. "Ah," he said, "the press of business takes me from here, and I must be far off before he returns. But see that he gets the stone." Turning, he donned hat and jacket and departed.
-The Moonstone, from Twelve Tales of the Macabre, Jean Lafolie[5]
References
- ↑ Monster Manual II (3.0) p. 149
- ↑ MM II p. 150
- ↑ MM II p. 149-150
- ↑ John W. Mangrum, The Definitive 3rd Edition Ravenloft Monster List p. 233
- ↑ Descriptive text from John W. Mangrum's Teeny Tiny Tales of Terror project (contributed by Nathan Okerlund), from posts on the Fraternity of Shadows message board.