Lewis Carroll (real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a
19th-century English mathematician, deacon
in the Church of
England, poet, and storyteller. His most famous work is Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-
Glass and What Alice Found There, humorous children’s stories
(which are enjoyed by adults as well) that are among the most
famous children’s books in the world.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was originally told as a
series of short stories invented by Dodgson to amuse young
Alice Liddell and her friends. Alice was so enchanted by them
that she asked him to write them down for her. The pages were
spotted by a novelist who was visiting the Liddell household,
and Dodgson was urged to publish the work.
The Alice books were by no means Dodgson’s first or only
successes, although they are surely his most famous ones. He
wrote several books on mathematics and many poems, more or
less successfully. Some of his most famous poems appear in the
Alice stories, such as, “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the
Carpenter.”
“Jabberwocky” in particular is of special interest. It is essentially
a “nonsense” poem; most of the words have no meaning in
the English language, though the meanings can be guessed at,
and indeed some of them have become common words. Players
of the AD&D™ game will immediately recognize the vorpal
blade; this is where the term originated.
The Jabberwock’s description is purposefully left vague in
“Jabberwocky,” forcing the reader to use his imagination in
visualizing the monster. The Jabberwock as hereafter presented
for use in an AD&D game is the product of one reader’s imagination.
Although it is almost certainly not the creature that Lewis
Carroll envisioned, it is true to his scanty specifications, and I
hope you’ll find it to be a useful monster.
THE JABBERWOCK
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 0 head and body; 6 underbelly
MOVE: 9"; 15" when charging
HIT DICE: 10 x 10 to 12 x 12
% IN LAIR: 25%
TREASURE TYPE: F, R
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-16/4-16/3-36
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Tail, fear
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Surprised only on a 1
MAGICK RESISTANCE: Standard
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (evil)
SIZE: L (45')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
The Jabberwock is a huge reptilian beast which inhabits light
forests or broken wastelands. The creatures resemble dragons
in some respects and are occasionally mistaken for them in
conditions of poor lighting. Jabberwocks, however, are wingless
and far more ungainly than dragons. They do share the
dragon's interest in hoarding treasure. Jabberwocks are fierce
fighters, carnivores by nature, and fond of human meat.
Jabberwocks are solitary beasts, coming together only
during their violent mating season. They hibernate during periods of
intense cold and are most activeat brillig. The Jabberwock's lair
is generally found in a cave or underground in a moist, cool, and
dark place, since these are the conditions necessary for the
maturation of their eggs. Eggs (2-8) are laid after the spring
mating season, which often only one adult of a pair (fortunately
for Jabberwocks, generally the female) survives. The eggs mature
and hatch in roughly five years. They are generally laid in
different places each year, since Jabberwock hatchlings tend to
eat unhatched eggs when they can find them.
Jabberwocks gain hit points as dragons do, by age, and mature
in the same eight <ten> stages that dragons do, each stage representing
a period of about 15 years. It is unknown whether
Jabberwocks die of old age, since no one has ever been able to
observe one for any length of time in the wilds. Jabberwocks put
in captivity always die within a month.
Jabberwocks grow to tremendous size: 30-foot-long bodies
and 15-foot-long tails are not unusual, and a full-grown creature
stands 8 feet tall at the shoulder. The body is protected by thick,
muddy green armor plates, while the soft underbelly is protected
by its low (2-foot-high) ground clearance, when it is not
standing erect. It attacks via its two forefeet, with claws (the size
of a short sword) that cause 4-16 points of damage each, and its
huge mouth which can swallow a human-sized being whole. On
a roll of 20 which hits, the victim is swallowed and suffers instant
death from digestive juices which can dissolve a human body in
seconds. Larger beings can be partially swallowed, causing double damage
and the loss of a limb (determined at random),
which usually proves fatal.
A Jabberwock's eyes glow like flames, giving off a faint light in
the dark. Gazing upon the eyes and failing a saving throw vs.
paralyzation causes fear in creatures of less than 4+1 hit dice.
Those that fail the saving throw are rooted to the spot as if
paralyzed for 2-8 rounds unless they make a subsequent saving
throw, in which they will run in terror for 1-4 turns. Additionally,
the whiffling noise made a charging Jabberwock is
greatly feared by horses and will cause them to throw their
riders and flee.
Opponents to the rear of the creature will be attacked by the
Jabberwocky's spiky tail, which is constantly weaving back and
forth to prevent attacks from behind. The tail will attack 1 opponent
at a time (randomly determined if more than one is within
its 15-foot range), attack at -2 to hit and do 2-24 damage.
The Jabberwock is virtually immune to surprise because of its
extraordinary senses of smell and hearing. It wilt be aware of
invisible opponents, though it cannot see them. It has 90'
infravision.
The Jabberwock can detect the existence of a vorpal blade
from approximately a mile away. The creatures hate and fear
such weapons, the hate winning out in most cases. A Jabberwock
will seek out the wielder of a vorpal blade and stalk him
through all manner of terrain, waiting until the sword's owner
sets it aside or is asleep. Then it will charge the party, ignoring
all other threats to its safety, attempting to vanquish the vorpal
sword's owner before the blade can be put into action. Should
the Jabberwock SLAY all of the party and gain possession of the
sword, it will dispose of it in the bottom of a quicksand pit or
some other inaccessible place.
Description: The Jabberwock is heavily armor-plated everywhere
except its soft underbelly. Its four-footed body is dark
muddy green above an a pale yellow below. The head is
shaped somewhat like an alligator's, while the remainder of the
body is like a desert lizard. The three-toed feet are webbed and
heavily clawed, and its small, "flaming" eyes are protected by
bulbous horny ridges. A series of bony shoulder projections
(occasionally mistaken for folded wings) produce an eerie whiffling
sound which rises from a barely audible wail at a trot to a
screeching, banshee-like howling
at full charge.
The Jabberwock breathes through a gill-like mechanism as
well as through its lungs, producing a burbling sound when it is
under a strain (i.e., charging or fighting). This characteristic, as
well as the webbed toes and moist habitat, points to the Jabberwock's
evolutionary nich as a semi-amphibious predator.
| Dragon magazine | - | Monster Manual III | - | Dragon #54 |