Some locations—the wizard’s tower, the sunken temple, or the haunted house—have a well-trod presence in stories and adventures. In this series, we’ll explore the potential of these archetypal wizard’s tower, playing with or defying tropes, and presenting rules and ideas to bring them to life.
Let’s talk about creatures in a wizard’s tower. Besides the mysterious wizard, witch, sorcerer supreme, etc., there should probably be something else to encounter.
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More than a Wizard
There are, of course, some good go-tos for populating a magical abode:
- Constructs. Golems, animated objects, little clockwork critters, it’s the best of both worlds: Grumpy wizards get defenders without having to interact with anyone.
- Outsiders. Because devilish deals are great and nothing can go wrong with summoning circles.
- Magical experiments gone awry. Lots of Monstrosities have origins in Jurassic Park territory. (“You wizards were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should!”)
- Undead. For as long as necromancers are a thing.
Wizards aren’t necessarily immune to mundane concerns, either. It’s also not impossible for a tower to get overrun by bandits or torn apart in a crossfire between rival apprentices. Sometimes the things the PCs encounter won’t be something the wizard intended to put there.
And a New Kind of Occupant
On that subject, since we’ve done some talking already on the ecosystem, so to speak, between wizards and their towers: What about a different kind of creature encounter? One reflecting not only the very stuff that makes a magic tower or a wizard, but also the sometimes-unknowable consequences of magic?
Maybe something happens when a caster delves too deeply into a particular branch of magic at the expense of others. Maybe there’s a problem when magic item vaults and wards and spells are left standing, unattended, for centuries and on.
What if a wizard’s tower sprang a leak?
New Creature: Arcanavore
An amorphous quicksilver blob hovers in the air, its surface turbulent and shifting. Briefly, it coalesces into a fragment of broken sigils before losing shape again. Dripping tendrils oscillate beneath it, yet it s only trace is puffs of shimmering dust.
Stagnant Magic. Arcanavores are bizarre quirks of magical ephemera. When one form of magic, typified by school divisions, is overwhelmingly dominant in an area long enough without intervention or upkeep, it sometimes “leaks” into the shape as a strange, ooze-like arcanavore. While arcanavores come in varieties matching the schools of magic, abjuration-eaters are common. The protective circles and wards of forgotten magical places linger, destabilizing and rotting, in an abundant source of stagnant magical essence.
Arcane Pests. Despite the name, arcanavores are problems for more than just Arcane practitioners. They are born in abandoned wizard towers, ritual sites, or any space where powerful magic was wielded and then forgotten, neglected, or overwhelmed. While they are devastating pests for magic-users and enchanted items, arcanavores have little resilience against physical reality. Against magic of the school which birthed it, however, an arcanavore is virtually impervious.
Spelleaters. An arcanavore’s substance, diet, and manifestations of energy reflect the school which made it. “Alive” only in the vaguest sense, arcanovores can’t survive without magic. Given time and its preferred magical diet, arcanavores devour magic items and effects. They hungrily consume a spellcaster’s own spells with their siphoning tendrils. Well-fed arcanavores grow and multiply when exposed to magical energy. A starving arcanavore eventually dies, after centuries of withering and shrinking until it’s only shimmering, ephemeral dust.
ABJURATION ARCANAVORE CR 2
Small Ooze
Armor Class 9
Hit Points 52
Speed 10 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)
Perception 8 Stealth 9
Vulnerable bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks
Resistant Ooze Resilience
Immune abjuration spells and effects | Ooze Resilience
Senses keen sense 60 ft. (can’t see beyond this radius)
Languages —
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| +2 | −1 | +3 | −5 | −2 | −5 |
Amorphous. The arcanavore can move through a space as narrow as 1-inch wide without squeezing.
Devour Abjuration. The arcanavore consumes abjuration magic. Unattended magic items containing abjuration spells or effects in the arcanavore’s space at the end of the turn have their effects suppressed for 1 minute. Charged items in the arcanavore’s space lose 1d6 charges at the start of each of its turns; items with limited uses per day lose one daily use instead, and single-use items such as potions or scrolls are destroyed. Magic effects of the abjuration school in the arcanavore’s space are dispelled (as if affected by dispel magic cast with +5 spellcasting ability).
Limited Magic Immunity. Arcanavores can’t be affected by abjuration-school spells of 6th circle or lower. It has advantage on saves against all other spells and magical effects.
Sense Magic. The arcanavore can sense and pinpoint the location of magic (including spellcasters’ spells) within 60 feet of it. This sense extends to 120 feet for abjuration magic.
Ooze Nature. The arcanavore doesn’t require sleep.
Ooze Resilience. The arcanavore is resistant to the restrained condition, and it is immune to exhaustion and to the blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, and prone conditions.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The arcanavore makes two Siphoning Tendrils attacks. If both attacks hit one creature, a lowest-circle abjuration effect or abjuration-imbued magic item in the creature’s possession is affected by Devour Abjuration.
Siphoning Tendrils. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d6 + 6) force damage. If a spellcaster is hit by this attack, they must succeed on a DC 13 CHA save or expend their lowest-circle, unused spell slot.
BONUS ACTIONS
Unstable Glyph (Recharge 5–6). The arcanavore’s quicksilver form spasms, rapidly undulating strings of broken symbols and glyphs and emitting a low hum. Until the start of the arcanavore’s next turn, dealing damage to the arcanavore causes the glyphs to burst. The attacker must make a DC 13 DEX save, taking 9 (2d6 + 2) force damage on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
REACTIONS
Arcane Gorger. When an arcanavore which is Large or smaller dispels an effect or destroys an item through Devour Abjuration, its quicksilver mass rapidly energizes and coalesces into the next size category larger. For 1 minute, it has advantage on STR checks and STR saves, and its attacks and Unstable Glyph deal 1d4 extra force damage. Afterward, the elevated energy recedes and it returns to normal size.
Split. When an arcanavore which is Small or larger is subjected to magic damage, it splits into two new arcanavores if it has at least 10 HP. Each new arcanavore has HP equal to half the original arcanavore’s, rounded down. New arcanavores are one size smaller than the original arcanavore.
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