The phaerimm were weird, but the Sharn are even weirder. They are large black creatures with three eyeless heads and three arms that each end in three hands with three fingers and an eye in each palm. Like that phaerimm, they are powerful sorcerers but also clerics and they can create three small portals through which they can stick their hands to cast spells at targets behind walls, around corners, or similar situations. To make things worse, sharn are always under the effect of the haste spell, which under the rules version of this book allows them to cast two spells every round. Not surprisingly, these creatures are so alien that they are immune to any magic that manipulates their minds or changes their bodies. A somewhat unusual quirk is that no magic can change the shape of another creature to look like a sharn. Why that is the case seems to be simply an oddity of the universe. While the sharn are both very weird and alien, they are thankfully not really evil and they also hate the phaerimm. In fact it was the sharn who created the magical barrier that trapped the phaerimm under the Anauroch desert. These guys are some really trippy stuff. They first appeared with the phaerimm in the sourcebook Anauroch, which I didn’t know was actually written by Ed Greenwood himself. It’s strange that they have such a tiny presence in the Forgotten Realms. I only ever saw them in this monster book and the Return of the Archwizards novels, which are about the return of the Netherese Empire from the Plane of Shadow, which got the phaerimm all rilled up.
The Sivs are a race of frog people similar to the classic bullywugs, but also very different. While bullywugs are primitive savages, the sivs are as smart as humans and usually Lawful Evil, and even have training as monks. I’m not sure if there’s a kung-fu toad style. They also have the ability to run on the surface of water, which is very kung-fu indeed. It all looks like a quite intriguing idea, but sadly there isn’t really any useful description to how they behave and what they want.
The Tall Mouther is classic old-school D&D weirdness. It’s a big head with a big maw and six arms, covered in blue fur. Otherwise it’s a bit like an ogre and especially loves to eat halflings.
The Tomb Tapper is one of the more mysterious creatures of the Forgotten Realms. They are huge golems that resemble humans, but have no face. Instead their large mouth is in the center of their stomach and they don’t have any eyes at all. Tomb Tappers only exist to search for and collect magic items. They are usually found deep underground where they are digging into ancient tombs and subterranean ruins. Not only are they incredibly strong and very smart, they are also almost impossible to hurt with all but the most strongly enchanted weapons and can sense their environment perfectly in total darkness. They were originally created by the wizards of Netheril to fight against the phaerimm and destroying nonhumanoid spellcasters (including mind flayers, aboleths, and so on) is the one thing that has a higher priority for them than collecting magic treasures. Rumor has it that the tomb tapper take all the magic items they find to a single location deep below the Anauroch desert, which very well might be the greatest treasure hord and collection of magic in the whole world.
Remember all the Bane monsters at the start of this book? Here’s more! The former high priest of Bane and later high priest of Banes son Xvim created the Tyrantfog Zombies as a means to destroy the rival clerics of the new god Cyric, many of which had been priests of Bane before. Once touched by a strange green fog, they would fall ill and die. Then they would rise as zombielike undead that continue to spread the magical fog through the world. Thankfully the fog that flows from their mouths and holes in their rotting bodies does not have the power to create more tyrantfog zombies but only drains the strength from living creatures that get too close to them. When injured by the claws of the tyrantfog zombie, they spread a terrible disease that can permanently cripple anyone who gets infected, even if they survive it.
The Beasts of Xvim are another creation of Xvims high priest. They are normal animals that get magically transformed to get bigger, stronger, and utterly evil. They are always black with green glowing eyes and glowing green mist coming from their mouths. Once created, these beasts have to kill living people and devour their souls.
The Cursts are once mortal warriors who had been killed by the forces of the death god Myrkul while inside zones of wild magic douring the Time of Troubles, when the gods of the Forgotten Realms walked the world in physical for and spread lots of chaos and destruction. The curst are undead and somewhat insane, and also almost impossible to destroy. As long as the head remains, the rest of the body can magically grow back. They are not evil, but their insanity still makes them a serious threat.
Monsters of Faerûn Cliche Creature Counter:
- Evil Apes: 0
- Variant Ghouls: 3
- Demon Dogs: 1
- Skeletons with Robes: 0