#fiend folo

[thecreaturecodex]

Meenlock

Image © Wizards of the Coast

[The meenlock holds a special place in my heart, as it’s a monster that I figured out as a teenager where it came from, as opposed to having to be told. Reading through a thrift store copy of the original Fiend Folio, I thought to myself, “this sounds familiar”. And it was! The meenlock is based off of the little horrors in the made-for-TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Although the monster’s MO has changed very little since 1979, its appearance has. The original Fiend Folio art is clearly related to the movie version, with ridges on the head and shaggy black fur, but given pincers and a vaguely arthropod body plan to make it look less like an actor in a cheap costume (the originals kind of remind me of the gremlin in The Twilight Zone: effective in a quick jump cut, more goofy if seen for extended periods). Over time, they’ve gotten more and more bug-like.

The 5e version stands out to me because it is a fey creature, which fits both the 5e approach to the Feywild being reactive to strong emotions and the Pathfinder approach of having bogeymen and other fear themed monsters being fey as often as not. It might also be a reference to them being Tooth Fairies in the Guillermo del Toro produced remake that came out a decade ago. So I kept that creature type. I also kept their light sensitivity and amped it up to light blindness, in keeping with the flavor text that’s been around forever and the Dark in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. I reinstated their mind rending, which has been reduced to just flavor text in 5e, but put my own spin on it considering my love of the Occult Adventures spell list.]

Meenlock CR 3 LE Fey This disturbing creature stands about half human height, with a body that looks vaguely humanoid but warped and deformed. Bristles and ridges protrude from their bodies, and they have clawed hands like the pincers of a crustacean.

Meenlocks are minor fey of fear. The first meenlocks were created when an elder bogeyman developed a ritual to congeal the fears of its victims into sapient creatures, and the little horrors are now contagious. Any humanoid creature tortured by a meenlock long enough will transform into a meenlock themselves, and the primary goals of meenlock broods is to create more of their kind while indulging in recreational terrorism.

Meenlocks are physically weak, and so prefer to fight dirty, attacking unprepared or disadvantaged targets whenever possible. They communicate solely through telepathy, and often forecast their attacks with whispered voices, movements seen at the edge of vision, and other telepathic torments designed to stoke paranoia. Up close, their fear auras scatter parties, even if the meenlocks remain hidden. Once enemies are isolated and frantic, the meenlock will close to melee with their claws, paralyzing an opponent, scratching at them until they are unconscious, and then dragging them back to their lair for conversion into a new meenlock.

Meenlock lairs are dank, cramped places, uncomfortable and difficult for Medium creatures to navigate. They often feature corkscrew tunnels, soft black moss to muffle noises, and a central chamber used to house and transform captives. Meenlock hands are not skilled at fine manipulations, so they have little in the way of arts and crafts. They do collect such items from their victims, however, favoring useful devices like manacles and rope. Most meenlock broods are isolated units, but some act as scouts and minions for greater fear-inducing entities like bogeymen and popobalas.

Meenlock                 CR 3 XP 800 LE Small fey Init +2; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, Perception +10 Aura fear (10 ft., Will DC 14) Defense AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural) hp 31 (7d6+7) Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +6 Immune fear; Weakness light blindness Offense Speed 20 ft. Melee 2 claws +7 (1d6-2 plus paralysis) Space 2 ½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks create spawn, paralysis (DC 14, 1 minute), rend mind Statistics Str 7, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 13 Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 12 Feats Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +9, Climb +10, Escape Artist +10, Intimidate +9, Perception +10, Stealth +18, Survival +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth, +4 Survival, uses Dexterity to Climb Languages telepathy 300 ft. SQ shadow teleport Ecology Environment any forests and underground Organization solitary or brood (2-5) Treasure standard Special Abilities Create Spawn (Su) A brood of at least three meenlocks can create another meenlock by telepathically tormenting a helpless humanoid. The meenlocks participating must remain adjacent to the humanoid and use their telepathy continuously for at least 1 hour. Every hour the humanoid is subjected to this torment, they take 2d4 points of Wisdom damage (Will DC 14 half). A humanoid reduced to 0 Wisdom by this process begins to change—unless a remove curse, heal or similar magic is used on them within an hour, they transform fully into a free willed meenlock allied with the brood. A creature so transformed can be returned to life, but only by methods that do not require a body. The save DC is Charisma based. Fear Aura (Su) All creatures within 10 feet of a meenlock must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be frightened for as long as they remain in the aura and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to the fear aura of that meenlock for the next 24 hours. Rend Mind (Su) A meenlock can focus on a creature’s mind within the range of its telepathy as a standard action, filling it with disturbing thoughts. The creature must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be affected as by a paranoia spell (CL 7th). This is a mind-influencing phantasm effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Shadow Teleport (Su) A meenlock can teleport up to 60 feet once every 1d4 rounds, as long as both the square it leaves and the square it enters are in dim illumination or darkness.