The blazing sun bears down on the party as they trudge across the sandy dunes of the barren desert. Their clothes are soaked with sweat but their waterskins are near dry as the air shimmers about them from the heat. They are granted a brief reprieve as a shadow floats over them – only for the shadow not to pass. The wizard is the first to look up and barely has time to scream as the vast, soaring serpent overhead unleashes a gout of lightning upon them.
Art by Daniel Larios
The idea for a fulgralisk came from a number of ideas, but really blossomed when I got to thinking about fulgurite. I got to thinking about a monster that could produce stuff like that and settled on the idea of a desert-dwelling beast with serpentine features. Obviously, this was going to be a magical beast, and given some of its capabilities, I wanted to give it immunity to electricity and fire damage. It only has a single bite attack, but it can increase the damage of that with its Improved Vital Strike, even combining that with Flyby Attack to strike for big damage and keep moving. Getting into the fulgralisk's special attacks is where it really starts to get fun. Bolt is the most extreme of its abilities, allowing it to completely turn its body into a streak of lightning, but I liked it for the fact that the way serpents move can sometimes take on the shape of a lightning bolt. Its breath weapon and constrict abilities are pretty straightforward, and sand cascade is a simple ability that allows it to potentially blind creatures. However, sand cascade really shines when it is used in conjunction with the fulgralisk's breath weapon for its glass casket. It took me a while to puzzle out how to make this ability work, but I'm happy with it both thematically and mechanically. I also wanted to give it some spells with electric, sand, and wind themes. As a side note, this is the highest CR original monster that I have posted!
Pathfinder 1e:
The only thing that I really added to the PF2e fulgralisk was its reaction, Sand Bunker, allowing it to blunt an incoming attack. I was even able to port over most of its spells though I swapped out sirocco for breath of drought.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Lightning in a Bottle: The heroes are tasked with retrieving a mystic artifact last seen in the possession of an adventurer making a trek through the desert. While decades or possibly even longer have passed since then, the heroes can attempt to track the adventurer’s path by finding settlements within the region or tribes that he interacted with. Ultimately, they are led to a glass nest where they find the adventurer as the centerpiece of a grisly collection. The resident fulgralisk is loath to let his prize piece go, but the heroes might be able to convince it, possibly by offering other works of art or devising an alternate means of dealing. They could also always try to take the fulgralisk head on or attempt to steal the corpse, or at least the artifact from it, while the fulgralisk is asleep.
I'd like to give a big thanks to Daniel Larios for providing the awesome art for this creature that I've been eager to post. Our next monster will actually be this Sunday as we have another Holiday Horror for Easter and after that we have a creature from the Kingdom Hearts series. We have a Monster Monday Discord where we chat about stuff we're homebrewing, across a swath of systems, and just general stuff, and we also have a Twitter where you can see teasers for upcoming posts.
Have a Monstrous Monday!
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