Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1

 While we have to wait until August to officially get our Spelljammer book set, today a digital release of the Monstrous Compendium, available to anyone with a Wizards or DnDBeyond account (which are both free to make,) came out with 10 Spelljammer-appropriate monsters, ranging in CR from 1/8 to 16.

Wildspace seems like it's a dangerous place, and the monsters here are not messing around. Let's get into them.

I'm going to change the order here to build up to the really crazy stuff, so we'll start with the lowest-CR monsters.

Gadabout, CR 1/8:

This is an unaligned plant creature that is honestly closer to a magic item than a creature, though it does have a stat block. Used primarily by the elves, Gadabouts are plants that can attach themselves to a humanoid and function essentially as a space suit. They create a bubble of air around the creature's head and also provide nourishing leaves that can keep a creature fed in space. It can also propel them using butterfly-like leaf-wings.

Goon Balloon, CR 1/8:

So, if you ever actually read H. P. Lovecraft, his monsters sometimes come off less as pure gooey, tentacled horror and sometimes fall a bit more into the 50s B-movie monster vibe (which were likely inspired by Lovecraft, after all). The Goon Balloon fits right in with those "scary" creatures like the Elder Things and the Great Race of Yith that... well, maybe seem a little more Jim Henson than Rob Bottin. Anyway, these are evil beach balls with bird-like legs and eyes covering their surface. They're more mischievously meanspirited than profoundly evil, but they can both bounce like a beach ball as a bonus action and also have vulnerability to piercing damage, popping and a poisonous explosion when killed.

Clockwork Horror, CR 2:

One of the classic concepts of Sci Fi is robots run amok, and in this case, these constructs are dedicated to nothing but building more of themselves, and will slash anyone who gets in their way with their dual buzz saws. Most worrying, they can take over the Spelljamming Helm of your ship. The art on this one I think is really fantastic, feeling both high-tech and also fantastical.

Star Lancer, CR 2:

So, we're not just going to be in Wildspace in Spelljammer adventures, but also the Astral Plane (which I gather might be taking the place of the Phlogiston in 5th Edition - that's not confirmed, mind you). And the Astral Plane has the bodies of dead gods floating in them. Some of the souls of people who worshipped those deities become these odd four-winged shark-like celestials, and the Githyanki have made an effort to ally with them and use them as mounts. Most excitingly (and terrifying for anyone fearing Githyanki raids) is that Star Lancers can cloak themselves and their riders, becoming invisible to allow them to strike from out of nowhere.

Puppeteer Parasites, CR 3:

Now we're getting into that real cosmic horror dread. These are basically brain slugs - they attach to a humanoid creature and can either drain the victim or cast Suggestion on their host.

Yggdrasti, CR 7:

These gargantuan plant monsters are broken-off branches of Yggdrasil, the world tree. They look like gnarled, twisted dead trees covered with barnacles. Yggdrasti will attack pretty much any other living thing, but it can also hide in plain sight as a tree if it buries its roots in soil. But the massive creature is also capable of spaceflight, and has its own gravity plane and air pocket, along with hollows where hitchhikers can stay while traveling across wildspace.

Fractine, CR 9:

So, I didn't immediately guess the pop culture reference, but these are essentially constructs that act similarly to the Phantom Zone portals from Superman II. Appearing as Large 2-dimensional mirrored surfaces, these can capture creatures small enough to fit within them, which are displayed on their surface. Many damage types will split the Fractine into shards, which are smaller versions of the same basic monster, but this also will free any monster trapped within it. As a mirror, they also have the ability to reflect damage.

Asteroid Spider, CR 15:

Ok, warning to all the arachnophobes out there, this one might be a bit much for you. Imagine you're traveling through an asteroid field, and you pass one big rock about 30 feet in diameter. And then it unfolds eight 30-foot long spider legs and starts shooting webs at your ship, revealing it's actually a spider that disguises itself as a crater-pockmarked rock. Oh yeah, and its webs? They can shut down a Spelljamming Helm.

Eldritch Lich, CR 15:

So, let's say a wizard or warlock starts studying the forbidden magic of the Great Old Ones, and decides that they've figured out a shortcut to the eternal unlife of lichdom. All they need to do is let this eldritch abomination implant a tentacled parasite into their body. The parasite can now infect the lich's foes with a poison that can potentially transform them into a Gibbering Mouther, and the lich is resurrected in the Far Realm should it ever be destroyed (though if you interfere with that process by killing the lich in a Magic Circle, well, the resurrection isn't going to look so pretty, as they come back as an Otyguh. The Eldritch Lich, also, to be clear, puts out a TON of damage - on average if everything hits, you're looking at 100 damage per round.

Nightmare Beast, CR 16

Technically a monstrosity, this massive, 40-foot-long quadruped are living siege engines, and beyond their powerful claws and tusks, they can also disintegrate targets with their gaze.

So, there you have it. I highly recommend checking out the Monstrous Compendium. These are some very cool monsters, and I cannot wait to see what we get in the Spelljammer box set. Just four months, right?