One of the monsters seen in the Dungeons & Dragons new publication Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes was created by a Make-A-Wish recipient.
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The new D&D book Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is a treasure trove of lore and new monsters from around the D&D multiverse. An early fan favorite is the Oblex, an ooze-like creature that can absorb a person’s memories and then create a duplicate of that person tethered to the Oblex by a small cord of ooze. The oblex is basically the D&D version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, especially if it takes the form of a beloved NPC who was killed and essentially replaced by the creature.
The Oblex is a new monster created by “Guest Designer” Nolan Whale. Whale was a Make-A-Wish recipient who asked to spend the day with the D&D team in 2017, during the production of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. Nolan spent the day working with the D&D and conceiving various new ideas for the upcoming book.
In a video produced by D&D Beyond (which can be used above), D&D lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford explained how the oblex came into being. “Nolan had this idea of this creature that was the result of Mind Flayer experiments on oozes,” Crawford said. “Mind Flayers, of course, are responsible for many sins of the D&D multiverse. D&D history is littered with the evil of Mind Flayers. Now, we get to add something to their list — the Oblex.”
While oozes are typically mindless blobs that slowly slink around dungeons and consume mindless prey, the oblex can absorb the thoughts and memories of a person they attack. When an elder Oblex consumes enough memories, it creates Oblex Spawn…which are essentially the excess memories of the victims an Oblex can no longer absorb.
The Oblex wasn’t Nolan White’s only contribution to Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. His old player character appears as a mohawked and tattooed dwarf.
We know that we can’t wait to terrorize our PCs with a village taken over by an Oblex. “I think there’s going to be some really dark tales that people will be able to tell in their adventures using the Oblex, thanks to Nolan,” said Crawford on the young guest designer’s contribution to Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. We look forward to D&D players getting majorly creeped out by Oblex stories in the coming months.
You can purchase Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes from hobby stores today. The book will be released on Amazon and other mass retailers later this month.
