Light and shadow moved in an intricate dance as the old warrior coughed, and blood splashed into his silvery beard. A groan spilled from his bloodied lips as he gingerly touched the hole torn into his heavy armor. He’d seen enough wounds of this sort to know that his time was at an end – only magic could save him but there was no healer for him. Only him and the shadows dancing in the light of his flickering torch. It had been a foolish mission to venture into the ruins alone where the demon had been spotted, but he couldn’t wait for adventurers to come through town. And he had succeeded. The vile fiend lay not far from him, its form broken and its spirit already departed back to its torturous realm. He could pass on in peace.
Except a new shadow had joined the flickering light. One that didn’t move in the flame as the others did. One that stood, watching him before its bizarre silhouette stepped forward. Cold eyes studied him almost quizzically and a hideous smile stretched across a fang-filled maw. A clawed hand plucked a dark lantern hanging from curling horns and held it before the struggling knight. Something tugged at his very being and then his soul was unmoored, pulled into an ignominious fate – trapped, cold, and alone as a light for the cruel lamplighter.
Art by Daniel Larios
This is actually one of the first monsters I ever came up with. I remember discussing the concept of a fey that treads the line between light and shadow with friends at a hotel, a concept that developed into the lamplighter. I based the visual idea and name off of a Magic the Gathering card called the 'Lamplighter of Selhoff,' but I wanted this to be more than a simple zombie. As bizarre as the lamplighter was, I knew I wanted it to either be an aberration or fey and ultimately decided on the latter as a sort of twist on civilization within the Material Plane. The lamplighter uses its magic to manipulate light and darkness, leaving its victims trapped in darkness where it can use its see in darkness power to gain advantage over them, making sneak attacks against blinded creatures. Once it has worn its victims down, it tries to steal away their soul to light its lanterns. With its lit lanterns, it can drain the souls within them to empower itself or to summon minions. Aside from that, the lamplighter is focused on traversing and traveling places in a twist on an idea of 'lighting the way.' This is actually a monster I tested way back in the day and while it's been some time since then, but it performed well in its testing. Almost too well, but the test subjects won in the end!
Pathfinder 1e:
For the 2e version, there wasn't too much I wanted to change. I did end up giving it the Rend action, which I'm a little unsure on, but I do like the See the Light reaction that I gave it. This lets it further confound opponents while also potentially leaving them in a vulnerable state so that it can unleash the fury of its Sneak Attack. I also really liked the visual of it wielding its lanterns on chains of variable length as flails. The idea didn't work as well in PF1e with how manufactured and natural weapons interact, but it's much less of a problem in 2e, so I decided to include that in the 2e version since it seemed fun.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Light of His Life: A young noble that had taken up adventuring was slain in his journeys but as he lay dying, a lamplighter found him and drew his soul into one of his lanterns. The parents or other family member of the dead noble can accept his death as part of the life he chose, but that his soul isn’t granted the peace of the afterlife stirs their ire. They hire the heroes to track down the lamplighter that stole the soul and asks them to retrieve it somehow – whether by striking a bargain with the lamplighter or killing it and destroying the lantern. Tracking the lamplighter might prove more difficult than actually facing it as the fey regularly flits between dimensions. However, by talking to those that interact with the lamplighter and know it, they learn that it is something of a snob that prefers collecting the souls of nobles over anything else, knowledge they can possibly use to bargain or lay a trap with.
Trailing Shadows: While crossing through the Shadow Plane, whether as part of a quest or simply as a shortcut, the heroes draw the attention of a lamplighter who decides that their souls would look splendid in its lanterns. It begins to stalk the party, keeping back and hiding itself from sight as it watches and waits. Once it feels that the heroes have been suitably weakened, or possibly even in the midst of combat when one of their number has fallen, the lamplighter leaps in to steal away their souls. If the lamplighter opts to swipe a soul of a fallen ally in the midst of combat, it may lead to the heroes having to chase it down to retrieve the soul of their fallen friend. If they do, the lamplighter specifically leads them into perils and the like to whittle them down before it strikes.
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Until next time, have a Monstrous Monday!
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