Orcs, Vampires, and Beholders!

16 Feb, 2026

Introduction

Part of my gaming habit this semester is a biweekly open table where I run Whitebox: FMAG. Doing so has given me the awesome opportunity to run more of the Spokelands, my home setting that all of my home material gets written for and played in.

This time around, I was really interested in rewriting classic D&D monsters to fit the particular context/vision that I had for the area. I'll present three of them here, alongside some "designer" commentary for how/why they are the way they are.

Orcs

Orc, Small HD 1-1 AC 8 Damage as Weapon

Orc HD 1 AC 6 Damage as Weapon

Orc, Giant HD 9 AC 4 Three Mudstone Fists, 1d6+1x3

Orc Larvae grow in clusters of 2d6, typically manifesting as pulsing forearm-sized grubs with twinkling ends. When inserted into mud, they extend a proboscis, taking control of a large portion of earth and rising from the earth as a dripping humanoid. One larvae may create a small humanoid, anywhere from 3-4ft in height. Two larvae, working together, may produce a 5-6ft humanoid. In both cases, the larvae tend to prefer remaining exposed on the head of the mud creature, twirling their long body this way and that to scent the air with their heightened olfactory organs. Ten larvae, when placed in a muddy field without much greenery, may produce a giant, nearly 15ft tall. In this instance, the larvae center around the chest in a circular pattern, long bodies intertwined and pulsing like a leaky asshole covered in leeches. There are no wild Orc Larvae; they have been bred to be totally reliant on human care.

Diet wise, the larvae consume a diet of primarily seed oils. This contributes to their slimy body and gives them their characteristic sheen. Orc Larvae live for approximately 30 days, at which point they wither and secrete all their bodily fluids. These fluids, when collected, may be cast about a plot of barren earth to seed the soil. New larvae will sprout from the soil there in a month.

Orc Larvae do not speak, though they seem to have no trouble understanding all languages they've been exposed to thus far. Instead, the larvae seem to communicate with others via empathic color changing, red for anger and blue for sadness, yellow for fear and green or blue for pleasant thoughts.

Orc Larvae follow the commands of their creator unerringly. They are not thought to be sentient by those who use them.

I've always hated Orcs in fantasy. The main reason I have them here is because when I was rolling up the village on the Wilderness Hexploration tables one of the government buildings was "oracmitory" which seems to be a portmanteau of orc and dormitory. So I came up with these guys to justify why there was an orc dormitory in the village! I'm pretty happy with them. The inspiration for the larvae are these guys which are very freaky!!

Vampire, Old HD: 9 AC: 2 Damage: 1d6+1 claw + energy drain, see last sentence. Old Vampires are immune to nonmagical weapons and regenerate 3hp/round of combat. Foes they kill and drain of life rise as thralls which obey the orders of the Old Vampire without question. When slain, the Vampire explodes into an incredibly sharp crystal dust, rolling to attack all those in melee range at once. They leave behind a small Sphere of Annihilation as wide as a door is tall. If this sphere isn't dispelled within 24 hours, the Vampire emerges from it at full strength. Old Vampires may move the sphere with a movement of 2 per dungeon turn. This movement can happen at any speed (i.e. they may move at a snail's pace throughout a turn or leap forward twenty feet immediately and spend the rest of the turn resting.) Old Vampires regenerate 4hp per round of combat unless exposed to intense heat. Vampires drain 2d20*10xp with each successful hit.

Vampire, Young HD 7 AC 4 Damage 1d6 Young Vampires are immune to nonmagical weapons that have not been silvered. Foes they kill and drain of life rise as thralls which obey the orders of the Young Vampire without question. When slain, the Vampire explodes into an incredibly sharp crystal dust, rolling to attack all those in melee range at once. They leave behind a small Sphere of Annihilation as wide as a door is tall. Young Vampires regenerate 2hp per round of combat unless exposed to intense heat. If this Sphere isn't dispelled within 24 hours, the Vampire emerges from it at full strength.

Vampire, Thrall HD Variable AC as armor worn Damage as weapon

A voidfisher is told a tale before he steps into the rifts between the worlds for the first time. It is not a long tale, or even a particularly interesting one, but it is told and will be told until the rest of the world falls away into that black mist. It has been reproduced in part (it is different each time, like a flame caught by photograph) here:

Each night in a faraway land a shivering child slides a candle in front of a window during a great black snowstorm that rages always. The light is small, scarcely visible past the window, and pales in comparison to the roaring hearth beyond, whose coals cast red across the room.

A shadow, perched just outside the candlelight, watches the home and the hearth beyond and wishes only to sneak past the little flame, lift up the flimsy frame that claims falsely to separate the hostile world from the kinder one, and bury itself in the warmth of the hearth and the warm entrails of those nearby. It is very cold and has been for quite some time.

The candle, small but hypnotizing, is both ward and wherewithal for the shadow. It will not pass by a meal, starving and prideful as it is, and so remains transfixed by the appetizer before it, but to be noticed by such a shadow is to be plunged into a freezing ocean of recognition. This will happen to you soon.

The candle cannot waver or be snuffed out, but it must diminish itself before returning to the warm embrace of the home, lest it bring behind it a shadow far darker than its light could ever hope to shine away.

Those who do not heed the story and come back from the mists beyond full of vigor and life usually carry in their lungs a Vampire.

Vampires in the Spokelands may take any form they wish, though many prefer to don the skin of man. Their skin is cold to the touch and transparent when held close to an open flame. They are, as a rule, light as a feather and capable of feats of movements thought impossible by their figure

These are pretty classic vampires, though I've added a few fantastic elements to them here to make them a little tougher than the average oldschool vamp. Most of the work was fitting them into the setting and writing the stupid fable.

Beholder, aka Voidfish HD: 11 AC: 5 Attack: 1d6+1 Spectral Teeth and 1 Eyebeam, see table

Though the world is cracked and broken, something akin to life still stalks that murky umbral ocean in the spaces between. Hulking anglerfish with obsidian skin and glass teeth, Voidfish lay Void Pearls, little gemstones of condensed black mist with myriad uses both magical and mundane.

In their youth, before their eyestalks have matured, they are grossly unintelligent, chasing shadows in the mist and often braining themselves on the sides of splinters. This is how most meet their end. When encountered in this state, they have HD 7 and may only bite.

The rare voidfish who survives to adulthood gains a threefold intelligence from their eyestalks. At this point, the psyche of the voidfish changes entirely, if you believe those who hunt them. Some say that particularly ancient Voidfish who have wet their teeth on the blood of man have learned to walk amongst the Splinters, and make their homes in the halls of kings as viziers and advisors from another plane...

When in combat, Voidfish utilize their eyestalks each round. Roll on the table below to determine which eyestalk is being used. Eyestalks have 1d6+1HP and AC 0. Voidfish have no nerves and thus cannot tell in the midst of combat that their eyestalk has been destroyed; do not reroll disabled eyestalks when determining a Voidfish's attacks.

Just a classic Beholder reskin. Longstanding fans of the Spokelands will recognize both Voidfishers and Voidfish; I should be putting out a Voidfisher Cleric-shaped thing soon to shape out these guys a bit more and give this group of people more character.