Let’s Convert the Fiend Folio: Babbler, Giant Bat, and Berbalang

While there is a lot I like about the Fiend Folio, not every monster is equally cool. It is completely okay to have utilitarian monsters. This book has a few monsters which are either completely utilitarian, or relatively uninteresting. Sometimes there is a good monster lurking in the shadows, but the author failed to get their intent across adequately.

Other times, as is the case with giant bats, the monsters are so obviously useful that they already appear in Dungeon Crawl Classics. There are going to be times when I simply refer you to the core rulebook, an adventure, or some other published source. In other cases, I might re-imagine or expand upon already published work. There is no reason that every goblin needs to use the same statistics, and a lot of good reasons (Make Monsters Mysterious!) why they should not!

This time, though, we are also converting the Berbalang, a creature from Filipino folklore, and one of the most interesting (to my mind) monsters in the Fiend Folio. The original writing was by Albie Fiore, who also wrote the Carbuncle, the Dragonfish, the Fire Newt, the Giant Strider, the Grimlock, the Quipper, the Susurrus, and the Vodyanoi. I am not prepared to say that these are all great monsters, but I have used more than half of them!

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Babbler

Babbler: Init +3; Atk bite +3 melee (1d8) or claw +1 melee (1d6); AC 14; HD 5d8+5; MV 20’ or slither 40’; Act 3d20; SP: Camouflage +6, scent, slither; SV Fort +4; Ref +2; Will +2; AL C.

Sometimes called marsh-gibberers, babblers are wetland-dwelling, 8-foot-long reptiles which resemble small carnosaurs when upright. While slow upright, they can slither along on their bellies at twice their walking speed. When prone, they are hard to see, gaining a +6 bonus to stealth checks. A prone babbler can only attack with its bite, and has only one Action Die. When upright, it gains two additional Action Dice to make claw attacks.

Babblers give off an odor which animals find disturbing. Animals detect this scent from a considerable distance, so that those travelling with animals are forewarned of a marsh-gibberer attack.

These creatures are named for the sound they create, which is perhaps a language, but which has defied non-magical analysis thus far. They are cunning enough to work with lizardmen, and some sages believe that babblers are a weird offshoot, or mutation, of the more common lizardman strains.

 

Giant Bat

See Core Rulebook, pp. 396-397

 

 

Berbalang

Berbalang (Astral Form): Init +2; Atk Bite +0 melee (1d6) or claw +2 melee (1d4); AC 14; HD 1d6+1; MV 20’ or fly 60’; Act 2d20; SP Infravision 120’, astral projection; SV Fort +1; Ref +2; Will +6; AL C.

Berbalang (Material Form): Init +2; Atk By weapon +2 melee (by weapon); AC 12; HD 1d6+1; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Infravision 120’, astral projection; SV Fort +1; Ref +2; Will +6; AL C.

The dread berbalang, when hunting, appears to be a humanoid with leathery skin and bat-like wings, but this is the form of its ghoulish soul, sent forth from its body as a solidified form of astral projection. Berbalangs walking in their daytime bodies appear like normal human beings, save their pupils are slitted like a cat’s. Berbalangs are said to be solitary, but this is merely wishful thinking. Whole villages of the hateful creatures exist, posing as human. In other cases, human villages may protect one or more berbalangs, under the hopes that the ghoulish monsters will prey on neighbors and rivals instead of the host village.

Berbalangs spend most of the month hibernating in a well-protected or well-hidden location, while its astral form is projected forth, hunting and killing creatures weaker than itself. Berbalangs only eat in their astral form, which is another way to identify them, but they are driven to consume human flesh at least once a month. It is believed that their astral form also consumes the soul, and that it is this which sustains them.

It takes a berbalang a mere 1d20 rounds to enter into a trance and project its solidified astral form. However, a roaming berbalang takes 1d100 rounds to return to its material body if that is discovered. If the material body is slain, the bereft astral form is also slain 75% of the time. Otherwise, it becomes an astral searcher.

If its astral body is damaged, the berbalang immediately attempts to return to its material body. If it is able to merge, the material form is undamaged, and the astral body is completely healed. If the astral body is slain, the material body dies with it.