Modified Beasts and Where to Find Them: 3 Monsters Modified for use in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Ether-Wing Moths, Fey infused insects

At level one there are an overwhelming amount of beasts to throw at your party: Wolves, spiders, rats both big and small. But depending on your setting these beasts may not quite fit your encounter. Or if you're like me, someone who DMs for other DMs, the beasts from the Monster Manual can become monotonous and boring. Today we take a beast from Appendix A of the 5e Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, making changes to their stat blocks to fit into new settings, make them hardier, and a bigger threat for your heroic adventurers.

Ether-Wing Moths

Giant insects are interesting creatures to use against characters at any level of play. They make great minions to throw at your party. Jungles, deserts, forests, the secret lair of a mad alchemist, or even in the dreamlike Feywild. Enter the ether-wing moths, luminous flying insects that have been heavily altered by the ambient magic of the fey.

These cat-sized insects have large billowing wings, that come in a rainbow of purples, blues, and pinks. Two long, bushy gold antennae extend from above two bulbous compound eyes, that reflect light like an aurora.

They have learned to ward off predators using the magic of the Feywild. They can cast Eldritch Blast at will or use a slumber inducing powder made from the scales on their wings that put enemies to sleep.

Ether they are or they aren’t: Taking an Existing Stat Block to make a New Monster

There are no stats for a giant moth in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, so to create the stat block we look to Appendix A from the Monster Manual and the list of giant insects. This list is very short, making it easy for us to pick: Giant Fire Beetle, Giant Wasp, and Giant Centipede

None of these creatures have exactly what we’re looking for, but the Fire Beetle is the best fit. This tiny beast is small, and shares the bioluminescence quirk with the moth. This ability doesn’t change much mechanically, it simply adds a little interest while opening up avenues for storytelling.

To start upgrading the fire beetle, we add a flying speed of 30 feet, and since the moth would rely almost solely on the flying speed for mobility, we decrease its walking speed to 10 feet.

The moth also lacks a hard carapace like the giant fire beetle so we change the AC to a 9. It isn’t as sturdy as the base monster but since the moth doesn’t want to be in melee the lack of defense makes sense.

With that and a descriptive change we can move on to looking at the spells list.

As a first line of defense these insects vibrate their wings to shake the sleep inducing powder onto enemies. This powder works identically to the Sleep spell from the wizard’s spell list, knocking creatures unconscious, starting with the lowest Hit Points before moving onto the next.

But since most fey are immune to the sleep effect, the Ether-wings have learned to use offensive spells against would be predators as well, eldritch blast in particular. The moths fire a glimmering orb of fey magic at their target, dealing 1d10 force damage, and uses the wisdom modifier To Hit.

The moths can use the first-level sleep spell 2/day. After the slots have been spent, they resort to blasting foes with the cantrip while they try to make an escape or protect their eggs.

Here’s the stat block.

If you prefer a more offensive challenge for your party here are three alternatives you might try instead:

• Replace the eldritch blast cantrip with magic missile using a first level spell slot. Give it a limited number of uses per day equal to the moth’s proficiency bonus plus its wisdom modifier.

• Instead of the sleep spell your moths could cast fog cloud to obscure the battleground. Similar to how squid use ink.

• Increase the size, Hit Points and damage dice for the moth. Bigger is better right? Maybe your moth is as big as a horse. Could they be tamed as ridable mounts in this case?

• Since we’re using Eldritch Blast as an attack action of the moth, to add more complexity to the monster try using invocations from the warlock’s invocation list. Repelling Blast and Agonizing Blast would make great ways to control positioning on the battlefield.
  

Life styles of the Winged and Luminous

The moths gather in forests preferring locations with densely packed foliage. They lay their eggs on the underside of leaves or tree limbs staying in the area until the eggs have hatched.

Occasionally the insects find their way onto the Material Plane where their magic powers give them an advantage against the native fauna that live there. When this happens the moths population quickly grow out of proportion, off setting the balance of the environment. Druids and Horizon Walker rangers are known to watch for these incursions from the Feywild, many times relocating the moths back to their home plane. But wizards, nobles or alchemists are more prone to hunt the moths for the magic powder found in their wings or for the silk they produce as larvae, and may hire adventurers to gather these reagents.

What kind of creatures would pair well with Ether-wings? Fey monsters make the most sense, pixies and sprites may use them as mounts, while fairie dragons might keep them as guards for their hoard. With an immunity to sleep effects, fey creatures could use the moths as living weapons that weaken opponents before the more powerful creature moves in to finish the targets.

On the opposite, less violent end of the spectrum, I think an innkeeper could make great use of the moths. Her inn is known for giving its patrons the best sleep from miles around. The secret? She uses the moth’s powder to put her patrons into a deep slumber. This would be a great jumping point for a few different quests.

• The innkeeper is out of her sleeping reagent and needs the party to venture into the Feywild to gather more.

• A night hag has found a devious way of turning sleeping patrons dreams into nightmares and is ruining the innkeepers business.

• If the innkeeper raises the moths herself, the moths have began to reproduce out of control and now the party needs to return the creatures back to the Feywild before they wreak havoc on the surrounding area. The catch is that a merchant has hired thugs to take the moths for their unique qualities.

Conclusion

How would you use the ether-wing moths? Would you use them as a quest for your druid or ranger or does your party artificer need new components for a draught of sleep? Leave a comment and let me know. Look for the next two posts as we modify the Giant Ape stat block to create one of the worlds most notorious cryptids, and add abilites to spiders to up the creep factor for your TTRPG encounters.