Welcome to the second in my new series about things in the world that may or may not be true. Most of this is aimed at Dungeons and Dragons, but Pathfinder players may also find a few things to mine……If you missed the first in the series, it can be found HERE.
In this post we look at the nothic which was first introduced in the Miniatures Handbook, and is one of my favorite monsters to use. Its ability to pick out secrets from the minds of others can lead to some fun stuff. I recommend visiting The Monsters Know What They are Doing page for some really good advice on running them (Link here).
Nothic Origins
Failed Liches
Nothics are what is left of a wizard that fails in their attempt to become a lich. They search for the secret to success, but since they are not mentally stable, they don’t know that’s what they are searching for. These nothic love nothing more than pulling spells out of other’s heads.
Cursed Sepllcasters
Spellcasters of all kinds are filled with hubris, face it, they think they are better than all of us! Anyway, sorry about that friend. Sometimes I get carried away. So, some spellcasters that think they are better than everyone else are cursed by the gods to live a life where they remember they are smart, that they can use magic, but are completely unable to do so. This eventually drives them insane, twists their bodies, and turns them into nothics. These nothics are looking for a cure to their curse, and seek out clerics and other servants of the gods to see if they can get this reversed. Of course, they don’t know that’s what they are trying to do. A small sect of the god of forgiveness and hope seeks out nothics and tries to cure them. No one knows if it works or not. Some believe they aren’t trying to cure them out of kindness, but to learn the secrets they’ve learned.
Delved too Close to the Secrets of Creation
Vecna, who in our world has ascended to godhood, works to keep other spellcasters from learning the secrets of creation. It is part of his duty as a god to protect those secrets, whether he wants to or not. Spellcasters that get too close are given tests by Vecna. Those that succeed are turned into nothics. The gods don’t want more gods, after all. These nothics serve Vecna, searching ever for more secrets, and for others that think they can become gods.
Far Realm Oddities
I guess that’s redundant, eh? Everything from the Far Realm is an oddity. Anyway, most people I speak to are sure that nothics are created when spellcasters interact with the Far Realm. Most of these were warlocks, but not all. These nothics aren’t searching for anything for themselves, but for some THING in the Far Realm. They read our minds to help whatever creates them understand us. Of course, the odds of them understand us are about as high as us understanding them. The servants of many gods seek out nothics in an attempt to stop this knowledge from getting to the nothic’s creator, out of fear that knowledge will be used to invade us.
Nothic Traits
Everyone that has seen a nothic describes them as having one massive eye in an elongated head. Descriptions of bodies, however, vary some. Some describe them as large dog-like creatures that sort of move upright. Others describe them as hunched humanoids that have extra long arms. Anyway, here are some things I’ve heard about what that eye can do, and how they interact with us through telepathy.
All Seeing
A friend of mine liked to go into dangerous areas invisible. Unfortunately, nothics can see invisible creatures, and my friend, well, he didn’t make it out alive when we went looking for the nothic in the endless caves.
Flesh Eating
There are reports that the big eye causes the flesh of creatures to rot and fall off their bodies.
Mind Invasion
I barely survived this attack. A nothic stared me in the face, and I saw my friends die, my flesh burn, and everything I love pulled into massive mouths that covered a body the size of a castle. I’m told I fell to the ground and curled into a ball, crying like a baby, before my friends killed the Monster of the Forest.
Insane Cackle
The sound of a nothic laughing and otherwise trying to speak is enough to drive others out of their minds and paralyze them as they try to understand the “words” and sounds it is making. One cleric claims they can understand nothics, and that they are trying to warn us not to delve too closely to evil, but most believe she’s making that up to try to keep others in line with her god’s doctrines.
Charming, So Charming
The adventuring party known as the Fearsome Ones (they named themselves, clearly, given their abilities……) claim to have defeated a nothic that charmed their warrior (I believe her name is Samnair) into nearly killing Arnor (their spellcaster).
Distracted by Magic
One way to protect yourself when you meat a nothic is to throw some magic on the ground and run away. Nothics are obsessed with magic. Some say they eat it.
Mind Reading
This is the most misunderstood ability of a nothic. Maybe variable? Hard to say, but nearly everyone disagrees with the power of this ability. Some claim that nothics understand the emotions of those around them, and play on those. Others think nothics can steal memories (usually secrets of some kind) out of other’s minds. A third rumor is that nothics can steal spells from others. Then there is the theory that Vecna itself uses nothics as extensions and that the god is actually “there” as a manifestation and is searching minds for something.
Nothic Goals and Motivations
I mean, no one really knows what nothics are up to. Or even if they are up to the same things as other nothics. Or if they are up to anything at all. But there are a few theories…..
Spies for Vecna
An awful lot of people think Vecna is using the nothics to gather information. Some think they are sent to steal secrets so that mortals can’t have them.
Servants of Some Thing from the Far Realm
Others think nothics are gathering information for some unknown entity from teh Far Realm.
Trying to Get Back Their Previous Lives
Some nothics use their telepathy to find ways to get back to what they were before they were turned into nothics.
Just Trying to Survive
Jumberlain the necromancer thinks that nothics actually feed on the memories and secrets of others, and they are only trying to survive. Of course, they are a necromancer, and think everyone uses others for their own good, so take that with a grain of salt.
Nothic Abilities and Attacks
Feel free to beg, borrow, steal these ideas to change up the nothics in your game.
Features:
Distracted by Magic: A nothic has disadvantage on attacks when a magic item is within ten feet of it and the item is not being carried by another.
Eater of Magic: A nothic can learn and cast a spell if it eats a scroll with that spell on it. It must cast that spell within 1 minute of eating the scroll.
Telepathy, Full: The nothic can communicate with any creature within 100 feet.
Telepathy, Cryptic: The nothic speaks into others minds in cryptic and often incomprehensible messages, but those always have meaning.
Actions:
Eat Spell: The nothic targets one spellcaster it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, the nothic regains 10 hit points.
Insane Cackle: The nothic verbally and telepathically laughs and utters complete gibberish. Each creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the nothic must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature finds it difficult to move or act. It’s speed is halved and it has disadvantage on all rolls using a D20 until the end of its next turn..
Skin Eating Stare: The nothic targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 7(2d6) necrotic damage. At the start of the target’s next turn, if the nothic is still alive, the target suffers from Skin Eating disease (see below).
Steal secret: The nothic pulls one piece of information from a creature within 100 feet of it.
Terrifying Whisper: The nothic reads one target’s mind (within 30 feet) and discovers their greatest fear. It then fills the target’s mind with images of that fear. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or take 10 (3d6) psychic damage. If the target fails by five or more points, it falls prone.
Charming Eye: The nothic targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Charimsa saving throw. On a failure the target attacks one adjacent ally. If no ally is adjacent to the target, it moves up to its sped and attacks one ally.
Steal Spell: The nothic targets one spellcaster it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, a random spell is pulled from the caster. The nothic can cast the spell (as if it was the caster) as a bonus action as long as it does so in the next minute. The spellcaster loses that spell slot as if it had cast the spell.
Skin Eating Disease
(Designer’s note: This uses rules from a product I hope to create someday with lots of odd diseases…..infected creatures start at Initial Phase. They make a save when indicated in the text. On a success, they move up one stage. On a failure, they move down one stage. On a critical save, they move to cured.)
Cured: The creature suffers no more effects.
Stage 1: The first time the target enters this stage, it loses 5% of its skin, suffers 10 necrotic damage. Whenever the target is in this stage it has disadvantage on Con saves (other than saves to stop this disease, we don’t want to create a death spiral).
Stage 2: The target loses 10% of its skin and most of its hair. It has disadvantage on Charisma checks and Con saves. The target is Poisoned.
Stage 3: The target is Unconscious and loses 5 hit points per day.
Checks: The target makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the end of every long rest to determine if it moves up or down in stages.
Known Cures: Cure Disease spells. The target can eat the eyeball of a nothic. The flower of a blood rose bush can be made into tea.
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I went in skeptical, but I cannot deny, these are really cool ideas to embellish your story and your world!