“The clouds parted, and I beheld the eyes staring into my oblivion. Hundreds of black, oozing eyes, covering the creature like parasites feasting on a carrion corpse. From the hovering body emerged Them– the people from the sky. As they floated down to the dirt and tainted earth, I heard my mouth begin to scream.”
When thinking of monsters that could fit a Halloween, campfire story-themed zine, one of the first things that came to mind was aliens. Specifically, UFOs. While there are certainly alien-like creatures in 5e, there weren’t any that seemed to scratch our itch. Thus, the Elseworlders were born.
The grunts of the Elseworlders are the groundlings, the grey aliens of Campfire Combat. On their own, the groundlings don’t seem like much of a challenge for the recommended level 11, but their difficulty skyrockets in groups. First, a Fly speed makes them hard to catch for martial characters, allowing the groundling to make use of its two offensive abilities. The simpler of the two, Mindblast, is the standard attack for the groundling, effective both up close and at range. The attack’s damage reflects the resistances and immunities of the Elseworlders, dealing a combination of Psychich and Cold for 17 damage total, on average. Shooting out two of these blasts a turn ensures the groundlings can’t just be ignored. Hijack Functions is where the true danger of the groundlings arises, allowing them to paralyze targets for up to 1 minute. Don’t be too scared, though, as one successful save renders this ability useless on the target for all groundlings for 1 hour.
The groundlings may seem pesky, but the real hitter of the Elseworlders is the terraprowler, a living UFO. The terraprowler takes a lot of inspiration from Jean Jacket from Jordan Peele’s Nope. This living aircraft isn’t just for the groundlings to get around; the terraprowler is the leader of the groundlings, consuming all it can. First off, the terraprowler is beefy. 232 hit points, type of beefy. And pairing that with a 16 AC and 50-foot flying speed, the terraprowler doesn’t just absorb a lot of damage, it avoids a lot too. Legendary Resistance protects against nasty spells and effects, making sure players can’t get around this beast too easily.
The terraprowler isn’t suffering offensively too much either, starting with its main attack, Numbing Tentacle. First off, the range. 100 feet combined with a high flying speed means the terraprowler can strike from just about anywhere, delivering 18 points of damage on average and reducing speed by 10. The prowler can do this 3 times around, leading to not just damage, but potentially immobilizing slower targets altogether. That’s the last thing you’d want, as Abduct is the terraprowler’s next move. Targeting creatures directly below it, the terraprowler sucks creatures up over two turns, restraining them in the process. Once abducted, creatures don’t have much time until the terraprowler consumes them, 28 damage on average at the end of the terraprowler’s turns. Up to 3 creatures can be abducted at a time, although dealing damage to the UFO while inside it causes the terraprowler to release them.
Legendary Actions only streamline consumption, as Groping Tendrils allows for a Numbing Tentacle attack at the end of another creature’s turn. Must Have Been the Wind lets the terraprowler turn Invisible and move, meaning not only can it hide, but creep that much closer to its targets.
Hopefully, you can pair the Groundling’s Paralysis and ranged assault with the Terraprowler’s Abduct to totally terrify your players this Halloween!
By Ivo Hoying
Epigraph by Inti Navia
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