Ideas that have been proposed, but cannot explain all 3 major MitD scenes (circus; tower; escape.
See 3a)
Anaxim (SRD or ELH 158)
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Construct, no teleportation.
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only one eye, gargantuan, can't explain the escape
(SRD or ELH 159)
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Undead: doesn't eat or sleep.
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28 STR, probability travel might be a form of teleport (unclear), fairly unrecognisable. However, also not specially disgusting looking.
(SRD or MM 22)
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Pros:
- Eats a lot, and gets stronger as he eats (reference)
- Greater Barghest has dimension door
Cons:
- Not really all that strong, (max 20)
- No earthquake ability
- Dimension door doesn't explain the escape well
- can speak (but not in common)
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Large, ugly as every troll, but looking demonic on top. Can cast Teleportation without error, explaining the escape (but not what the hell a troll is doing with that spell and 10 INT and CHA). Unfortunately, not quite strong enough.
(SRD or ELH 170)
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Strong and relatively ugly, but can't explain the escape
Braxat (MM2 37)
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Not particularly strong, CR9 and can only explain the escape with Dimension Door.
Brood Keeper (MM3)
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Can't explain the escape, the fear aura doesn't fit the circus scene, too big, not strong enough. Rich may have had a hand in their creation.
Bigfoot
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Very strong, presumed ugly even though no-one ever manages to see him. However, no magic, and thus doesn't explain the escape.
(SRD or MM 32)
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Not strong enough, can't explain the earthquake, the tower scene, the circus scene or the escape.
(four-faced version)
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Pros:
- Strength of 36.
- "four-sided head with the faces of a lion, ox, eagle, and man," which can be disgusting
- Wish as an SLA, easily explains the escape
- Has earthquake as a power, could explain the stomp.
- Large size
- Can be advanced to gargantuan, meaning that MitD's "father" could be either another larger cherub who was raising him or just a god specifically.
- Strange to find a cherub in a rainforest.
Cons:
- Like most angelic hosts and demonic armies, it is hard to understand how it went unrecognised in the circus act - most people would have heard of them at their religious service of choice.
- OotS Cherubs don't look like that.
- Four sets of eyes
- Unsurprising it can talk common (can talk all languages)
- SBGH would probably not likely sell divine beings into slavery
- Immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.
- Doesn't really fit with why Xykon and Redcloak expect him to be "scary" and eat children
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Vaguely defined. Weird looking, but not particularly revolting. Can speak.
Coeurl
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CR4, nowhere near powerful enough. Can't explain the escape
Corpse Tearer Linnorm (MM2 141)
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Strong and with access to miracle, but only through cleric spells, which would give him Animate Dead, which MitD is known not to be able to cast
Crystalle
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Can cast Wish, but limited since the ioun stone has limited charges. STR 33. Cons: appearance not particularly disgusting; Elemental: doesn't eat or sleep.
Cuatl
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Cannot explain the escape (caster level not high enough), since it has cleric abilities, should be able to help RC
Dao (MoP 172)
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aka "earth genie". Pros:
- Can grant wishes
- Can cast earthquake
- Has a "shove" ability to push enemies
Cons:
- Unsurprising it can talk
- CR6, little strength, no defences
- Not unusually ugly
- Unclear how father would be "bigger and hungrier"
Disenchanter
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Not strong enough, cannot explain the escape, not powerful enough to be Xykon's Ace in the Hole.
Displacer Beast (MM 60)
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Can't explain the escape, not strong enough
(SRD or MM 68 + most MMs)
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Pros:
- Decent defences
- they like to eat and sleep
Cons:
- They don't get the kind of strength and powers needed until they are way too big for the box.
- They are very recognisable, and thus don't match the circus' reactions.
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Sprouts from the ground, but we have seen MitD in high floors of towers.
(SRD or ELH 161)
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Pros:
- Worst Nightmare ability explains circus' reactions (as long as it is a 'young' dream larva, so that it is not immediately lethal)
- Very strong (42), high CR, defences and DR
- Dreamscape allows teleportation, with a certain amount or rules bending (see here for an explanation)
Cons:
- Immune to mind-affecting effects
- Dreamscape doesn't explain the escape all that well
- Not known for its appetite, or its need to sleep
- Unclear if a young dream larva can even exist, and would be less lethal than an adult one.
(SRD or MM 97)
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Unstated how it would cause the escape, it cannot provide material for undead
Efreet
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Not powerful enough in D&D, regardless of how powerful they were in the original mythology
Enveloper (1e FF)
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Insufficient strength, it's main ability of absorbing powers (thus explaining the escape scene), would also give MitD knowledge that would be at odds with his known naïvety and ignorance.
Ephemeral Hangman (ToM 161)
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Pros:
- Looks like a mass of black tentacles centered around a large maw and a trunklike body.
- Large, but when in darkness or shadowy illumination, it can fit into spaces that appear too small for it
- The base species prefers eating children "and others too small and weak to fight back"
Cons:
- Can't explain the escape scene
- Probably too weak: CR7, STR 22
(SRD or ELH 181)
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Pros:
- Have access to Wish
- Very strong
- Like most dragons, it likes to eat and sleep
Cons:
- They don't get the kind of strength and powers needed until they are way too big for the box.
- Beautiful (sp. prismatic)
- They are very recognisable, and thus don't match the circus' reactions.
Fiendwurm (MM2 99)
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strong and known for eating constantly, can't talk, can send people to the Abyss, but that explains the escape very badly if at all, and lack of limbs and gargantuan size are problematic.
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too many eyes, not strong enough, not challenging enough, can't explain the escape.
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Not strong enough to explain the tower scene
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Sorcerer with access to 9th level spells, and STR 36. Doesn't quite match the circus scene's public reactions
(SRD or MM 114)
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while able to cast wish, they can talk, they are not particularly ugly, and they're nowhere near powerful enough for MitD
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Decently strong, but insufficient CR and too big. Being a demon, it's morality and 'father' doesn't match well MitD's.
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Not strong enough, no magical powers, not ugly enough for the circus scene
(SRD or ELH 191)
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Can't stomp due to lack of limbs. Shouldn't leave tracks. Too many eyes and mouths. No explanation for Escape, except far-fetched "ate someone with access to wish the day before".
Girard (Member of the Order of the Scribble)
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Unsurprising it can talk, wouldn't be exhibited as a circus freak, wouldn't be hunted by the SBGH, is now known to be dead.
(SRD or MM 43)
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Pros:
- Access to wish
- Fairly powerful
Cons:
- Too big
- No parent
- Unlikely to change morality (since it is a denizen of a morality plane)
- Low CR
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Fairly strong, very powerful, but has no eyes, shadow walk isn't quite good enough to explain the escape and "tall, very dark, elf-eared person with a cloak" is not exactly "I've never seen anything like it before"
Goristro
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Huge, and can't teleport, or explain the escape in any other way. See also Pit Fiend.
Gozilla (& family)
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Too big, unclear how they account for the escape. Copyright issues possible
(SRD or MM 138)
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Too many eyes, and unclear how it accounts for the escape.
Grendel
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Unclear how it accounts for the escape scene, except if it were demon-spawn due to conversion to D&D, which is a very big stretch. Difficulty addressing its strength, defences, earthquake ability.
Grey Slaad (MM 231)
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can teleport people both within a plane and between planes, but so-so strength
Guardinal, Leonal
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Not strong enough, aura of fear for evil creatures should have been seen in the comic.
Gug (CoC)
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(From Call of Cthulhu) Very ugly, and causes loss of sanity when looked at. Has a small chance of knowing how to teleport, but is not strong enough, particularly if young version is assumed due to size problems.
(SRD or ELH 195)
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Access to wish, and fairly strong although, being gargantuan, too big for the umbrella (when moving), and lack of limbs make several scenes difficult to explain (like pulling on the rope). Not particularly vomit-inducing. Proposing a child version reduces the strength bellow appropriate amount. Psionic powers could explain the earthquake, but not the tower scene.
(SRD or XPH 200)
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Strong and psionic, but can talk, unclear how it accoutns for circus scene and the escape.
Hellfire Wyrm (MM2 125)
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Dragon, and thus can't explain the circus scene properly. Too big (huge)
(SRD or ELH 197)
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Very strong, can plane shift, but not revolting enough to explain the circus' reactions
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Undead; due to paralysing aura can't explain the circus scene.
Illithid
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Not strong enough, can't explain the escape
Illurien (MM5)
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Female, Insufficient strength
Incubus
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Not powerful enough, difficulty changing alignments, can't explain the circus scene
(SRD or ELH 164)
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Immune to mind affecting spells, unclear how it accounts for the escape scene (it's greater teleport is self-only). Can animate dead, which RC claims MitD cannot.
Jaberwock
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Difficult to gauge if it fits or not, since the jaberwocky is never really described. However, being unique, it doesn't fit the comment of MitD being "one of these".
King-Kong descendant
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Problem addressing strength and size at the same time. Cannot explain the escape scene.
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Can't explain the escape, since it can only self-teleport. Created after strip #100
Lamassu, Celestial
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Not strong enough, can cast cleric spells.
Li Lung (Earth Dragon) (OA)
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Pros:
- Yellow eyes
- Reasonably strong, potentially challenging, and correctly sized up to young adult
- Damage reduction
- Earthquake AND a powerful roar
- Plane Shift
Cons:
- plane shift doesn't explain the escape well
- Personality (sleepiness, constant desire to consume, etc) doesn't match typical li lung's description
- As a young adult, it is not powerful enough
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Construct, has a vendetta against undead, embodiment of a morality plane
(WotC book previews or Fiendish Codex 1)
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Not particularly strong, can only teleport themselves, and kill any level-1s that look at them, thus having difficulty explaining its success as a circus act.
(SRD or ELH 206)
Neo-otyugh (2e MM?)
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Can't explain the escape. Unclear strength (otyugh is definitely too weak). Too many eyes (3).
Nessie the Loch Ness Monster
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Too big for the umbrella, can't explain the escape scene, difficulty existing in dry land
Nightmare Beast (MM2 161)
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Pros:
- Fairly strong
- spends most of its time looking for food, and then sleeping
- Dimension door
- Can't talk
Cons:
- Dimension door doesn't explain the escape well
- Red eyes
- Everyone in the city should've been having terrible nightmares
Ophan Angel
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Good stats, but hundreds of eyes, and no good explanation for the escape.
Outsider, The (H.P. Lovecraft)
Paizo Golem
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Construct. Can't explain the escape scene or the circus scene. Created 5 years after strip #100
Phaerimm (Monsters of Faerun 70)
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Very, very ugly, access to wish through sorcerer levels, but not strong enough for the tower scene, and has no eyes.
(SRD or MM 57)
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Pros:
- Strong, good defences
- Highly skilled in Knowledge Arcane, -Religion, -Planes and in Spellcraft which would explain how the MitD could identify the ritual with merely a glance.
- Access to Wish
Cons:
- Pit Fiends probably don't have children and aren't child-like. (From Roy's Archon's words here, it seems OotS-verse has normal "advancement" of celestial beings. On the other hand, two demons have mentioned parents)
- It is not surprising it can talk.
- It can reanimate the dead
- Circus scene presents two problems: demonic creatures are not difficult to recognise (in a broad sense, if not the specific type), and the reaction one would expect is fear, not vomiting.
- Rich's comments in W&XPs seem to indicate that morality planes creatures can't change alignments more than slightly.
(SRD or MM 11)
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Has cleric levels
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Can grant wishes, but is not strong, is too small and being damage by water is something that does not match well with MitD's life in the rainforest. Also, Psammeads cannot grant their own wishes, so it cannot explain the earthquake or the tower scene.
Reality warper (e.g. Superman's Fifth-Dimensional Imp)
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Their reality revision power would explain the escape scene, but not the tower scene. A reality warper can cause anything they desire to become true, but in the tower scene, the exact opposite of MitD's desires (to hit as lightly as possible) happened.
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Published in 2007, didn't exist during comic #100. Can't explain the escape (except by an undefined unrestricted ability to adapt). The personalities are very different. Arguably too powerful to be MitD.
Shadow Dragon (Draconomicon 191)
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Pros:
- It can cast Dimension Door as a supernatural ability once per day.
- Its size is Large as a young adult and adult, and Medium if it is juvenile.
- It has damage resistance 5 when it becomes a young adult.
- It's Shadowy and gets 9/10ths concealment from this....
Cons:
- Not incredibly strong
- Doesn't explain the earthquake or the escape
(FF)
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Not strong enough. Unclear what its stats are in 3.5. Not surprising it can talk.
Shoggoth (CoC)
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Unclear if it can explain the escape, it may drive the public of the circus insane.
Shadowcloak Elder
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Shadow Blend doesn't match MitD's instructions to stay in the shadows (other than in Xykon's tower), not quite strong enough, can't talk, can't explain the escape.
Shirokinukatsukami
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Not enough strength (20), can't explain the escape due to only self-teleporting
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Insufficient strength, female, beautiful, can't account for the escape.
Snark
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Cannot explain the escape scene, and most likely cannot explain the earthquake or tower scenes (although the descriptions are vague)
(SRD or MM 12)
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Cons:
- Solars don't really have children and aren't child-like.
- It is not surprising it can talk.
- It can reanimate the dead
(SRD or MM 232)
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Not really strong enough; the suggested idea was a kind of rock sphinx, but that can't be found in the stat'ed lists.
(aka Son of Cthulhu)
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Drives people looking at him insane, thus having difficulty explaining its success as a circus act. Strength high, but not impressively so.
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Talks, no father, not part of a group, vegetarian.
(SRD or MM 242)
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Pros: High Strength, mythologically, the Titan Uranus ate his children.
Cons: The only way to rescue O'Chul is by using Maze, which fits badly. It wouldn't be surprising it can talk.
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Not surprising it can talk. Can't explain the circus.
Troll
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Not strong enough, can't explain the escape, has difficulty explaining the circus (trolls are fairly common creatures, not something that unrecognisable).
Truly Horrid Umber Hulk (MM 248)
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Fairly strong, confusing gaze might explain the circus' reactions. However, doesn't have teleportation abilities, or earthquake.
Two-headed Cyclops
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Two heads, but only one eye each, lazy & fairly ugly, but can't explain the escape and are not that strong. They can also speak, but only elven, not common.
Ulgurstasta Sorcerer
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Undead. Eats (swallows whole) bodies to produce undead, so should have been able to help RC. Gargantuan. Defences too weak to explain the Tower scene or Belkar's attack.
Ultroloth
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Demonic (morality problems), insufficient strength & defences, can't explain the escape
Uluu Thalongh
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Not surprising to be found in a jungle/rainforest. Unclear if it accounts for the escape.
Umpleby (1st ed FF)
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Can't explain the circus scene, or the escape.
Vasuthant (MM3 182)
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Undead. Can't explain the escape
(SRD or ELH 226)
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revolting sight, but can speak and is immune to mind-affecting spells.
Warforged (Eberron or MM3 190)
Wendigo (FF 186)
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Very strong, fairly ugly, famously hungry creatures. However, no magic, and thus doesn't explain the escape.
Wild Things
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Cannot explain the escape
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Doesn't explain the escape.
Yeti
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Very strong, presumed ugly even though no-one ever manages to see him. However, no magic, and thus doesn't explain the escape.
Xor-Yost (Planar Handbook 122)
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Can't explain the escape
(FF 199)
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Pros:
- Very strong
- Can cast wish once in a lifetime, and any spell three times in a lifetime
- Human-sized
- Invulnerable to all damage except bludgeoning explains his resistance to Belkar's and Miko's attacks.
Cons:
- Does not explain the circus scene, since it basically looks like a man in a black armor
- The official version of Zodar is a construct, which would discard him; there is, however, an unofficial version that retains the 2.0 version that was monstrous, and that existed before the official one.
Re: MitD V: MitD and the Templates of Doom (Please Read the First Post)
Originally Posted by The Giant
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