DW Monsters: Ogri

The next few stories, taking us through the remainder of season 15 and into season 16 are:

• Underworld – the enemy here is a unique one, a computer that has built its own robots.
• The Invasion of Time – other than the Sontarans, this features the Vardans, who have powers of telepathy and teleportation and can turn insubstantial but otherwise basically appear human.
• The Ribos Operation – The only ‘monster’ here is the Shrivenzale, a local predator. From what we can tell, there is little to suggest that its game statistics would be radically different from, say, a tiger.
• The Pirate Planet – This story does not feature a monster.

This brings us to The Stones of Blood. This features three different types of alien. Apart from their physical appearance, the only significant difference between Diplosians and humans is that the former are essentially immortal. The Megara are microcellular machines, more of a game effect than a ‘monster’ in the RPG sense. 

That leaves us with the titular monsters of the story, the Ogri. Although they have since been mentioned in passing, the Ogri are a one-off monster on the TV show. They have made brief appearances in the spin-off novels, although not so far in the audios… at least partly, one assumes, because they are silent. 

DW Monsters: Kastrians

The primary antagonist in The Masque of Mandragora is not only a unique entity, but one that’s more of an abstract threat than something we could stat up; it produces visible effects and controls people, but it doesn’t really qualify as a “monster”. Following that story, though, is The Hand of Fear and Eldrad. Now, Eldrad himself is also unique, in that he’s the last surviving member of his species, the Kastrians, but because we can throw time travel into the mix, that doesn’t mean we could never meet another. Having said that, the Kastrians do not return, or even get much of a mention, elsewhere in the TV series. Indeed, their only other appearance to date is in the audio story Eldrad Must Die! which is, of course, a direct sequel.

DW Monsters: Gelth

The third story in the revised series is The Unquiet Dead, for which the alien menace are the Gelth. They are a one-off monster in the TV series, and, apart from a few minor mentions here and there, have only appeared once since, and that in a short story, rather than anything more substantial.

Description and Biology

We are told that the Gelth were originally regular organic beings. They somehow lost their physical bodies during the Time War, becoming gaseous instead. How this would work is obviously unclear, but, in fairness, we have little idea from the TV series of how exactly the Time War was fought or what the weapons brought to bear in it were capable of.

Either way, the Gelth as they are now are gaseous wraiths, capable of creating partially humanoid shapes, but generally not bothering to do so. The evidence suggests that are composed of organic gases; they can survive without difficulty in natural gas, which is mostly methane, so it’s unlikely they contain much of that or they’d diffuse away, but ethane, propane, butane, and more complex hydrocarbons may all be involved. Biologically, it’s hard to see how this could possibly work, at least in Earth-like conditions, so a more likely explanation is that the body is somehow held together by force of psychic will.

Which is basically saying “it’s magic”, rather like the air elementals of fantasy games, but it’s what we’ve got.

The Gelth can control and move their gaseous substance around which, in the context of the story, means that they can inhabit the putrefying gases inside a human corpse and make it move around. Their preference for humans here, since any other animal would surely also work, is likely a simple matter of availability, given where they happened to appear. Assuming that they were originally humanoid, as the briefly-seen blue form implies, there’s probably also an improved degree of familiarity with the form that makes it easier (and arguably more useful) for them to animate a human cadaver than, say, a dead rat.

We know essentially nothing of Gelth society and culture, beyond the fact that it was destroyed in the Time War. We don’t know whether they breathe or how they obtain energy although whatever they do it’s likely not obvious – obtaining energy from the air molecules around them, say. Lacking any actual sense organs, we’re again left with psychic powers to explain how they navigate the world around them; perhaps the ‘real’ Gelth are purely psychic constructs that find it easiest to interact with the environment by controlling gas molecules. Although, if so, the molecules must act as a necessary tether, since destroying them (by combustion) kills the Gelth and prevents it from reforming.

How, and even if, Gelth reproduce is equally mysterious. Potentially, it could be an ability that they lost when they lost their bodies, although with “billions” of them supposedly still in existence at the time of the TV story, that must have been a recent event for them – for whatever that means in the Time War.

Game Attributes

While inhabiting human bodies, the Gelth are essentially zombies, a concept familiar in many fantasy games and echoed a few other times in Doctor Who itself. We can see that they move slowly and clumsily, doubtless due to the difficulty of the Gelth controlling the host body, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they are any physically stronger than they were in life. They likely are physically resilient, however, being unable to bleed to death and having no vital organs since they are animated purely by the putrefying gases inside them. Similarly, they won’t feel pain, since even if their nerve endings are still functional (which seems unlikely) the Gelth isn’t actually inhabiting their nervous system and wouldn’t receive any signals from it. Destroying the zombies is instead a matter of somehow getting the gas to leave the body or destroying enough of it that it’s no longer functional.

Depending on the game system, this could be quite difficult or just a case of knocking a few hit points off.

The Zombies seem unintelligent, partly because the Gelth don’t seem to have enough control of their vocal cords to be able to speak. Logically, this is something they could get the hang of with time, since gas moving about is rather how speech works, but gaining the necessary fine control evidently isn’t a simple process. Nonetheless, while it may appear stupid, the zombie is directly controlled by a Gelth, and these are presumably no less intelligent than the average human – and their leaders likely more so. Some remnant of the original soul apparently remains, but the Gelth seem to be able to force it down with a little effort.

There’s also the question of the Gelth in their natural form. Here, they appear agile but have a physical strength no more powerful than a breeze, likely at the very minimum that a given system will allow. How difficult they are to destroy depends on how strongly the animating force can hold the molecules together and, from everything we see, that’s pretty tough. Physical attacks aren’t going to do anything to them, so we’re left with psychic assaults and effects that might change their chemical composition. The obvious example here is combustion, since we know they are flammable, and this seems a particularly high vulnerability. (When it comes to D&D, it’s worth noting that lightning attacks would probably also ignite them).

They probably can’t be poisoned, even with other gases – unless, perhaps the ’poison’ reacts with their hydrocarbon molecules to make something they can’t control. But this isn’t necessarily an issue in plausible conditions. For example, while hydrocarbons react with chlorine, the result is usually still a gas, which the Gelth may not have any problem animating… although they’re likely to smell worse as a result.

Lack of any knowledge of their culture makes it harder to say what skills the typical Gelth might have. Being so silent, they’re going to be stealthy and they can evidently sense their environment and communicate with anyone who is psychic, but otherwise we don’t see them doing anything that’s indicative of what they get up to. Possibly not much, lacking bodies as they do.

Other than psychic communication, their only special power is the ability to possess corpses.

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5E - Gelth Zombie

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armour Class: 8 (natural)

Hit Points: 34 (4d8+16)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 6 (-2)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Damage Resistances: piercing, bludgeoning

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: poisoned

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Actions:

Unarmed. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage.

Challenge: 1/8 (25 XP)

5E - Gelth

Medium elemental, neutral evil

Armour Class: 18 (partially insubstantial)

Hit Points: 26 (4d8+8)

Speed: fly 60 ft.

STR 1 (-4)	DEX 16 (+3)	CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 10 (+0)

Skills: Deception +2, Stealth +5

Damage Resistances: cold, poison, thunder

Damage Immunities: acid, bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Damage Vulnerabilities: fire, lightning

Condition Immunities: grappled, paralysed, prone, restrained

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Actions:

Possession. As an action, a Gelth can possess a recently deceased corpse, creating a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie falls to 0 hit points, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.

Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)

BRP - Gelth Zombie

STR 3D6 (10-11)	CON 2D6+9 (16)	SIZ 2D6+6 (13)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6 (7)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 15	Move: 8
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: None

Skills: Grapple 50%, Stealth 30%

Combat Skills: Brawling 50%, damage: 1D3+1D4

BRP - Gelth

STR 0	CON 2D6+9 (16)	SIZ 1D6+6 (9-10)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6+9 (16)	CHA 3D6 (10-11)
Hit Points: 13	Move: 15
Base SR: 7

Armour: None

Skills: Dodge 80%, Fly 70%, Persuade 50%

Possession: A Gelth can possess a recently deceased corpse, taking one round to enter and animate the body. This creates a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie is destroyed, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.

GURPS - Gelth Zombie

ST 10	DX 6	IQ 10	HT 14
Thrust: 1d-2		Swing: 1d
Speed: 5		Move: 3

Advantages: Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, High Pain Threshold, Injury Tolerance (Unliving)

Disadvantages: Appearance (ugly), Bad Smell, Cannot Speak, Compulsive Behaviour, Unhealing

Skills: Brawling-10, Stealth-8, Wrestling-10

GURPS - Gelth

ST 0	DX 16	IQ 10	HT 14
Thrust: 0		Swing: 0
Speed: 7.5		Move: 7
Size: -2		HP: 10

Advantages: Body of Air, Doesn't Eat of Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Enhanced Move-1 (Air), Possession (parasitic, dead bodies only), Telecommunication

Skills: Acting-12, Persuade-12, Stealth-18

Savage Worlds - Gelth Zombie

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d8
Strength: d8	Vigour: d10

Skills: Fighting d4, Stealth d6

Hindrances: Mute, Slow (major), Ugly

Special Abilities: Undead

Pace: 4                  Parry: 4                 Toughness: 7                      Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Gelth

Agility: d12	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d8
Strength: 1	Vigour: d10

Skills: Persuasion d6, Stealth d8

Edges: Dodge

Powers: Possession (can possess a recently deceased corpse, taking one round to enter and animate the body. This creates a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie is destroyed, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.)

Special Abilities: Elemental, Flight, Gaseous Form

Pace: 8                  Parry: 2                Toughness: 6                      Size: -2

STA - Gelth Zombie

Control: 6	Fitness: 12	Presence: 7
Daring: 10	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 1	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 13	Resistance: 0

STA - Gelth

Control: 11	Fitness: 9	Presence: 10
Daring: 10	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 1	Security: 1	Science: 1
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 10	Resistance: 0

Gaseous: Cannot be injured by physical attacks; can enter a recently deceased body and possess it, creating a Gelth Zombie

D&D Monsters: Xorns

Xorns are an original creation of D&D, with no particularly obvious antecedents. The name was almost certainly chosen so that the 1E Monster Manual had at least one monster for every letter of the alphabet... the same is probably true of the quasit. Which, other than that it's a monster largely built around defence rather than offence, is about all one can say about the general concept.

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1E

The original xorn has a barrel-shaped body covered with scales that basically take the form of roof slates, and are likely made of a similar, if less fragile, material. It is notable for its (mostly) triradial symmetry, something that makes it look particularly alien. It has three legs, which seem to lack knees and are similarly covered in the armoured stone scales - if anything, it's a wonder it doesn't move even more slowly than it does. The arms look to be less heavily armoured, and are clearly more flexible; they're positioned above the spaces between the legs rather than directly above the hips. 

The toes are long and seem to be at least partially prehensile, although how much this would help given the stiff legs is debatable. Both hands and feet have three equal digits each, following the triradial theme. There are three large, slightly bulging eyes positioned around the body, one above each leg. They have horizontal pupils, like those of a goat, and readily apparent eyelids. The only feature that's obviously not triradial is the mouth, which is formed from two parallel jaws similar to those of a vertebrate... except that they're positioned at the apex of the body, which lacks anything you could describe as a head. 

No other orifices or appendages are apparent.

It doesn't seem to be very strong, since its limbs do very little damage, but the bite is impressive for 1E, so the jaws are far more muscular than the arms. This may be to allow it to eat tough minerals, and it's notable that the teeth are flat and, to use the technical term, bunodont, which is exactly what you'd expect of something eating solid, crunchy, matter rather than biting into soft flesh. (We see something similar, for instance, in animals that feed largely on clams or lobsters). The armoured shell is particularly tough; superior to the hide of a red dragon or the coating of an iron golem.

While there's no hint of real society for the things, and they travel in small groups, they are of human-level intelligence and it's implied that they can communicate with at least some humanoids.

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2E

The 2E version of the xorn is ovoid, rather than cylindrical, and has much longer, thinner arms than the one in 1E. The armoured scales are still present, but are much smaller and narrower than before, giving quite a different look. The legs are positioned closer to one another than previously, so that there isn't a flat undersurface beneath them. They appear to have ankles, but still no obvious knees, and the prehensile toes have been replaced with short, stubby claws that don't look as if they'd be of much use as either pitons or weapons.

The hands appear to have three fingers and a thumb, in a clear change from the previous look, but the biggest change is in the mouth. This is now triradial, with a high triangular 'jaw' above each eye, creating an overall Y-shape. The teeth are small and sharp and would probably be less effective at crushing up rock than the previous version.

In most other respects, the xorn has not changed in 2E, although we're told that they live in "clans". Whether this is intended to mean anything more than "small group" is debatable, since it may depend on how they are supposed to reproduce, which isn't stated.

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3E

The look of the xorn has changed even more drastically in 3E. The body is squat and bulbous and gives the impression of being covered in a highly flexible, warty hide. It has lost its previous ability to camouflage itself against rock and has instead turned green. The legs are shorter than before, and while they do have both knees and ankles now, look rather uncoordinated - presumably they aren't, but the creature does look as if it hauls itself along the ground with some difficulty instead of walking in a stiff-legged gait.

There are only two fingers on each hand, and probably only two toes on each foot; the former have long claws, but the latter are back to their prehensile appearance. The eyes project out from the body on blobby projections, once again giving a very mobile appearance to the body rather than the solid rocky form it previously had. While the 2E version in particular looked like it might at least be passably effective at burrowing through rock (as it's supposed to) it's very hard to see this one doing so. The mouth is back to having bilateral jaws, but retains the small sharp teeth and a fleshy gullet with wide rubbery lips. Which seems a bit odd.

The armour has improved slightly as have the ability to use the claws as weapons - although they're still pretty feeble given the stated high strength. We're told that the xorn can sense its environment by detecting vibrations in the ground, which sounds a lot more useful on the Elemental Plane of Earth than its visual senses would be. 

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5E

The shape of the xorn's body in 5E is closer to that in 1E than to either of the other versions. However, the legs are no longer stiff, and the toes are stubby with strong claws. Rather than being positioned radially, as in the first two editions, the toes all point outwards, and there is a declaw facing inwards on the opposite side, as if it had evolved from some four-toed creature. The claws on the hands, which are more effective than in previous editions, are heavy, and the central finger is larger than the two to either side.

The eyes are proportionately smaller than before, and have vertical pupils, rather than horizontal ones. The hide of the creature is pebbly rather than scaled (or slated) and, while the camouflage ability has returned, the one in the picture looks more of a rich earthy brown than a rock-like colour, so perhaps it has emerged from soil or mud... or some kind of ore like limonite or bauxite. The mouth retains the traditional two-jawed shape, but the teeth are sharper and longer than before, looking even less useful for the purpose for which they're intended - great for biting into flesh, less so for grinding rock.

In many respects, the xorn in 5E has been toned down. Its base statistics are broadly similar, but the bite is noticeably weaker than it used to be and the creature has lost most of its ability to resist injury. It's also lost the automatic ability to speak Common that it had in 3E although this isn't really surprising given how rarely xorns are going to interact with humans.

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Xorns are earth elementals and, as such, do not necessarily follow the rules of physics and biology that apply in our own universe. Having said that, their appearance, particularly in the form of their eyes, does suggest that they are at least partially biological as we would understand it, and may be composed in a similar fashion (in a way that, say, a regular earth elemental clearly isn't). 

But if so, their internal anatomy is certainly going to be odd.

With the possible exception of the 1E version, the limbs of the xorn appear to be constructed in such a way that they must have an endoskeleton, with muscles attached on the outside, as in vertebrates. Indeed, the structure of the limb is very similar to that of a vertebrate, especially in the later editions. Assuming that that's the case, there's probably a skeleton in the torso, too, but that obviously isn't going to be similar to our own. One possibility is a ribcage with three sterna, one above each leg/between each arm, connected by hoop-like ribs, some of which are modified to function as pectoral and pelvic girdles. The jaws at the top are presumably also bony (except possibly in 3E), but there may not necessarily be bones equivalent to a skull or spinal column.

Perhaps the most significant constraint on the layout of the internal anatomy is the fact that, in the absence of a head, the mouth is at the top of the body, with a centrally located digestive system below it. The anus, most likely, is in between the legs. A starfish is a good parallel here, since that has its mouth in the centre of its underside, from which food passes up into the stomach, and then out through a hole in the top. The xorn, of course, is the other way up, but the principle is much the same.

The xorn, however, has the additional problem that it must have a brain, and the lack of a head is a bit of an issue here. The most plausible solution to this is that the brain is doughnut-shaped, and wrapped around the throat. Most likely, it's somewhat triangular, with a lobe behind each eye and thick nerve cords connecting them, as well as others running down to the legs and across to the arms. There's no single spinal cord which is why I say it doesn't really need a spine (the nerve cords to the legs would be protected by the sterna anyway). This, again, has some resemblance to the neural layout in a starfish, although calling what it has a "brain" is probably stretching the definition a bit. 

There is no evidence of nostrils on any picture of a xorn, but it's worth noting that they're always shown with their mouth open, so possibly they breathe through that - and, per 3E, even most outsiders do need to breathe. Under this theory, the nostrils are located somewhere in the throat; most likely three of them, each connecting to a separate lung rather than there being a single trachea.

Most other organs do not need to be present in triplicate although there's also no reason why they can't be, especially where, such as with kidneys, they are paired in most bilaterally symmetrical animals. The heart is an example of an organ that probably wouldn't be; you really don't need more than one. True, octopuses are often said to have three hearts and this is sort of true, but it's more accurate to say that the parts that make up the vertebrate heart are, in octopuses and squid, spread between three organs: a central one that performs the function of the ventricles, and two accessory ones that act like our atria. 

If a xorn had an arrangement like this, it would actually have four "hearts" in total. This isn't impossible, but a single heart is equally likely, albeit, perhaps with six chambers in total rather than the four of mammals and birds.

On the other hand, it's also possible that it doesn't actually have blood, distributing energy through its body using metallic fibres or something of that sort. We certainly know that its body isn't composed of what we'd normally think of as flesh, even if it may have anatomical structures that are loosely like our own. The absence of blood would, for instance, explain why the 5E version is resistant to cutting and piercing weapons but not to blunt force trauma.

In earlier editions, xorns are also unaffected by extremes of temperature and can't be burned, and they're also resistant to electricity. The latter is probably them earthing themselves effectively, and the former to their alien composition which may be silicon rather than carbon-based. While this resistance is gone in 5E, it remains the case that xorn eat, not carbon-based lifeforms, but rock, much of which is comprised of silicates.

Crystals such as quartz may provide xorn with the basic nutrition needed to build their rocky bodies, but a possible use for the copper, silver, and gold that they crave is that these are what their nerves are made of, conducting electrical signals through the body in a manner that may, in some respects, outperform squishy organic neurons. Gemstones may provide them with rarer elements not commonly found in basic rock - beryllium from emeralds, chromium from some garnets, and so on. These may fulfil a function for xorn similar to that of vitamins in organic lifeforms.

How xorn reproduce is not stated in the core books. If they are sexual beings then telling the difference between males and females is likely tricky at best, but it could well be that they are not, reproducing parthenogenetically. Live birth and egg-laying are equally plausible from the little that we know although, since xorns do have some sort of culture, if only by sharing a common language, parents must raise their young rather than simply depositing them somewhere to do as best they can.

D&D Monsters: Salamanders

Salamanders are, of course, real creatures - long-tailed amphibians with a vaguely lizard-like appearance. The Ancient Greeks and Romans attributed a number of magical abilities to them, some of them related to fire, but it's clear that they were describing the real animal when they did so. In the Middle Ages, however, there's more of a split between the amphibian and the fantastic creature, with the latter taking on more exotic forms and powers. This culminates in the 16th century with Paracelsus adopting the name for what he termed "fire elementals" and it's this that's most likely the inspiration for the D&D monster.

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1E

The salamander in 1E is roughly humanoid from the waist up, with the legs replaced by a single tail that keeps the creature in broadly human proportions. A series of narrow frills extends along the back, and also down each of the arms; these are partially erect, but whether they are buoyed aloft by hot air or are self-animated tendrils isn't something we can determine from the picture. The head has a flattened cranium and a triangular jaw with sharp carnivorous teeth. The ears are significantly elongated, with further frills on them and a pair of branching tendrils project out from either side of the nose, which we might suppose to be sensory. The creature has a partly striped and partly mottled pattern, with the background colouration shading from yellow to red along the length of the body.

The salamander is very difficult to injure without the use of magic, being invulnerable to regular weapons (unless wielded by someone with 'great strength', which isn't clarified). Assuming that an attacker can get past this admittedly significant obstacle, the tail of the salamander has the equivalent of plate armour on it, presumably in the form of resilient scales, and even the rest of the body is as tough as mail. 

Salamanders are more intelligent than humans, although there's not much indication of any society. This could well be explained by their chaotic alignments, although it's notable that, in this edition, they are never encountered alone, always travelling as at least a pair. Sociable then, but not hierarchical or inclined to follow any social rules. On the other hand, it's also possible that their inhospitable native environment has prevented anyone from finding out much about how they live their lives.

And inhospitable it certainly is. Salamanders become uncomfortable below 150°C (300°F) although it does take a few hours for temperatures too low for the inside of an oven to actually kill them. Even this level of heat isn't their preference, however, because what they really like is a steady 260°C (500°F). That's hot enough to melt tin, although admittedly it's well short of, say, making iron glow red. But it's impressive for something that at least superficially appears to be organic.

The 2E version has semi-rigid spines instead of the mobile frills and has a pair of large antlers sprouting from its scalp. The tendrils on the face are more bushy than branched and may be more hair-like than anything else, since this salamander also has a beard. The ventral surface of the tail and abdomen have especially heavy scales, not apparent in the earlier version, but suitable for crawling along rough ground like a snake. We're told the creature is seven feet long (215 cm) which, since the tail now makes up about three-quarters of that length, would make the upper body closer in size to a halfling than a human...

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3E

The tail is even longer in proportion to the body 3E, despite the fact that the overall creature doesn't seem to have become any larger. The frills are now jagged claw-like projections, sticking out of the lower body more or less at random with far fewer on the arms than before. There is some form of head ornamentation, although it is more palmate than before and doesn't seem to be paired. There's an actual burst of flame where the beard was previously, but otherwise, the salamander is duller in colour, tending more towards brown than orange, and with a black, rather than coppery, face.

There is more information given on salamander society in this edition and it turns out to be fairly sophisticated. That may partly be because they're no longer automatically "chaotic", although they are always cruel to other lifeforms. Having said which, they aren't normally encountered in large groups, and power seems to be based on physical strength and the ability to work magic. The magic they use is, of course, all flame-based, which, when you think about it, must be almost totally useless on their home plane... if probably easy to learn.

The exact temperature range that salamanders prefer is no longer given in this edition. However, it does imply that the salamander's own body heat is sufficient to make their spears glow red, which would put it at at least 460°C (900°F) and implies that their natural habitat is at least somewhere in that ballpark.

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5E

The 5E salamander is closer to the original 1E version in some respects, although the colour is comparatively uniform, and the tail is about 90% of the body length. Salamanders are now larger than humans, however, so this doesn't have quite the same implications for how large the humanoid part of the body is. They now have just four fingers on each hand, but it's their head that has changed the most. This is now more reptilian than humanoid, lacking the prominent nose of earlier editions, and with a pair of long, mobile and unbranching tendrils projecting backwards from it. There are no antlers, just a profusion of fleshy frills rising from the top of the head. The text describes these, and the other projections on the body as "spines", which would fit with 2E and 3E, but the illustration shows something much closer to the flexible wafting flaps of skin apparent in 1E.

Salamander intelligence has dropped significantly in this edition, putting them on a par with the average human, although they are physically much stronger (which is fair enough, given that they're also larger). The hide over the whole body is equivalent to mail now, rather than some of it being closer to plate steel. Perhaps to fit in better with the way creatures are described in this edition, we're back to a single alignment for salamanders, which is less chaotic than it was in 1E, although they're still hardly what you'd call companionable.

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There is every indication that, unlike efreet, salamanders are physical beings composed of much the same sort of matter as those native to the material plane - for instance, they don't simply vanish in a puff of fire when they die. In this context, it's interesting to note that the Elemental Plane of Fire is usually depicted rather differently than its three regular counterparts. Those consist of an essentially infinite expanse of whatever their element may be, with the odd other thing floating or embedded in it. But the Plane of Fire is typically shown as a blasted landscape, with plains, mountains, and all the other features we'd expect... only burning. 

That is, the Plane of Fire seems to have substantially more earth and air than the other planes have of the equivalent elements there. Which makes it easier to see how salamanders could be composed of something at least analogous to regular matter even though fire itself is more energy than it is a physical substance. Having said which, "analogous" is about as far as we're going to get since it's clear that the basic laws of physics and chemistry can't work in the same way on the Elemental Plane of Fire as they do in the material world.

Nothing organic is going to survive temperatures that will melt tin, let alone those that will make iron red hot. Furthermore, one thing the Plane of Fire does seem to lack is water (except, conceivably, as steam) so salamander biochemistry is not a thing as we'd understand it, or uses some entirely different substrate as a solvent - liquid sulphur is a possibility here. And, at least in 3E, being outsiders, salamanders don't need to eat, perhaps getting their energy directly from the environment (where, to be fair, there's plenty of it).

Anatomically, salamanders appear to have both reptilian and amphibian features, although they're weird enough that their internal organs must at least function differently, even if they aren't in different locations. For instance, the frills of 1E and 5E are reminiscent of the crests of newts - which are, technically speaking, a specific kind of real-world salamander - but the underside of the body in the 5E illustration appears to be scaled like a snake. 

The mix of reptilian and amphibian features is especially clear when it comes to reproduction. The different editions are contradictory as to how this works. 2E states that females exist, and have some humanoid feminine features, although not necessarily to the extent of having a mammalian chest. 3E, however, states that salamanders are sexless and parthenogenetic. 5E is silent on the matter, although the look of the salamander in that edition implies that it might be hard for humans to tell.

Crucially, however, salamanders are said to lay eggs with shells made of volcanic glass. The presence of the shell is reminiscent of reptile eggs (and, for that matter, birds and monotremes) and real-world amphibians are, in part, defined by its absence. It does raise the question of what, besides the embryo, is inside the egg, taking the place of yolk and albumen. Is it liquid sulphur? Some kind of plasma? Or perhaps an organic material that doesn't quite follow the physics and chemistry of our world?

While the egg may appear reptilian, the salamander that hatches out of it is notable for having a snake-like body and lacking any limbs. It is, in effect, a tadpole, although the nature of the Elemental Plane of Fire means that it isn't aquatic or anything equivalent to that. They grow up remarkably quickly, developing their arms and reaching full size in just a year although, to be fair, we don't know how long the adults live. These larval "fire snakes" are unable to speak, which is true enough for humans at that age, too, although they're apparently able to understand the language of their parents without difficulty, which is perhaps less so.

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At this point, there are just seven more entries to go in this blog series. So it's as good a time as any to explain what didn't make it in. I used two basic criteria in deciding what to include. Firstly, a creature had to appear in the core Monster Manual books for 1E, 3E, and 5E. This cuts out a lot, keeping the total down. So no Gith, perytons, or tarrasque, among many others.

But there also has to be something to say once the descriptive parts of the post are out of the way. A creature could fail to meet this standard for a couple of reasons. It could be too similar to something else I had already done, so that I'd just be repeating myself. For instance, having done both gorgons and medusae, there was no reason to include cockatrices or basilisks. Others, however, failed to make the grade because there isn't anything much to say that would fit within the themes of the blog. Ogre mages, for instance, are distinctive largely because they use spells and there isn't much to say about that, so out they went. Night hags suffered a similar fate, along with such things as rakshasas and imps. Nor did I feel there was much to say about vampires that hasn't been said elsewhere.

So, seven still to go, although they'll probably slow down again for the next few months. And then we'll see what happens next.

D&D Monsters: Efreet

Ifrit are a type of demon in Islamic folklore, associated with the jinn, and in some cases having similar powers (such as the ability to grant wishes), although their exact relationship is nebulous. They are associated with the underworld, fire, and smoke, and are generally hostile. This explains many of the attributes of efreet in D&D, which are specifically described as the fiery counterpart to djinn. (The idea that therefore must be watery and earthen versions of the same thing does not appear in the original Monster Manual, although it was introduced later during the 1E era, with the name "marid" being borrowed from another kind of Islamic demon, and "dao" seemingly being original to the game).

D&D Monsters: Djinn

The djinn originate in Middle Eastern mythology; they are typically associated with Islamic beliefs today, but pre-date that religion. They were originally human-like beings with magical powers, perhaps associated with a creation preceding that of humans and, at least by Islamic times, were regarded as neither inherently good nor evil. In modern western culture, they are mainly thought of as granting wishes and being trapped in lamps, ideas that come from an 18th-century edition of One Thousand and One Nights, although the specific legend is presumably older - they are not part of the original concept of djinn.

In D&D, djinn are described as powerful inhabitants of the Elemental Plane of Air, since many  (although by no means all) of the magical powers associated with them in myth are linked with the air. In the game, the alternative Anglicised name for the beings, "genie", instead refers to a broader category of being, of which the djinn are merely one of the most common. While the wish-granting, oil lamp dwelling, sort of djinn are stated to exist in the universe they are, at best, extremely rare and not typical representatives of their kind.