#forlarren

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Which Edition of D&D had the best design/artwork of a Forlarren?

First Edition

Fifth Edition

Voting ended onMar 17

[oldschoolfrp]

Psst, hey, c'mere, I got some pictures to show you (Russ Nicholson, AD&D Fiend Folio, TSR, 1981) This illustration from the book's title page looks like a forlarren, a descendant of a good nymph and an evil greater demon, torn between alternately attacking and befriending strangers.

[chronivore]

Forlarren

[moneteres]

Autumn Ink 5: Forlarren UFO

Float like a fey, sting like a fiend 

Vex those below like something in between

[furvanoctua]

Did a quick colouring of a sketch of an NPC in Melany's game. A little unsure about the colours, but here she is. This is Odette. She's a forlarren, and for anyone who doesn't know, they are very tragic creatures... and obviously my gf needed to introduce one in our angsty ghost campaign xD

While the forlarren is a creature from d&d, I don't think they've been reintroduced since some of the earliest editions? However, Pathfinder has also introduced them in their game and that's where my gf came across them.

The deal with forlarrens is that they are half fiend, half fey. A creature with a both inherently good and inherently evil nature. They are a creature that is sometimes the result between a nymph and a fiend. In terms of tragedy, to start with, the creation of a forlarren is generally non-consensual... and many nymphs die while giving birth. The ones that don't, try to raise the child caringly, but in about every case the forlarren ends up killing their mother.

Their internal turmoil and lack of community (as neither fey nor fiends want them) make them very aggressive and will quickly lash out at anyone, but because of their good nature they also carry immense guilt and remorse for the things they do.

Forlarrens age incredibly quick and reach maturity at the age of 1! And while they could likely live for centuries with the blood of a fiend and a nymph, most die through violence before the age of 10.

Odette here is 3 and has been on her own for a year since she killed her mother. The party found her as a prisoner by a group consisting of two paladins and a cleric. They had been ordered to take her to someone that would do research on her because of her unique nature. We had just had a lot of shit go down in large part because of the leader of this group (which I hope to talk about in a different post. There's a lot of posts I want to make of what has happened in the campaign), so Melany was very emotionally charged and desperately needed to do anything she could to rectify a situation she had seen as injust.

Since nothing could be done about the situation that had already happened, she opted to try to help the prisoner, knowing the nature of a forlarren. While only one was guarding the prisoner, Melany and half the party approached him and convinced him what his group was doing was wrong and that we should be allowed to try to help the forlarren instead. He agreed and we ran off with her.

It's only been hours since we escaped with Odette and Melany has practically already adopted her as a younger sister. She just really wants to help this extremely troubled girl, no matter how many bites and scratches she has to endure (she's already endured a few). Oh yeah, she also tries to burn everyone regularly with Heat Metal. Luckily, the only one with armour that can't quickly remove the metal on themselves is fire resistant. I'm very excited to see where this goes and if we can help Odette at all.

[infravisions]

"These creatures are the descendants of a good nymph and the greater devil who enslaved her. They wander alone, seeking vengeance on good and evil alike, as they detest their own existence in a limbo. They attack characters on sight," using fists and their ability to heat metal. "As soon as it has killed one character the ambivalent nature of the forlarren is revealed. It will show great remorse and will offer any survivors its services and powers (the blood of its ancestral mother still runs through its veins). After a time the dominant evil part of the forlarren resumes control and it will leave the party it is aiding. From that time on, the forlarren will again attack on sight..." I dunno. You'd have to contrive things awful carefully to keep your average party of Chaotic Greedy dungeon marauders from immediately killing the abject forlarren. Even in a heavily role-playing focused group wouldn't the player with the dead PC be a little resentful? "Wait, now you're gonna trust this creep?!" Did I mention the forlarren's listed as semi-intelligent (equivalent of Intelligence 2-4) and speaks only a rudimentary form of the common tongue? Is this a monster or a fairy pantomime? Even still, it's always struck me as one of the more memorable bits of monster characterization, and it suits the Fiend Folio's title page quite well, embodying as it does both the "malevolent and benign". Forlarren Russ Nicholson Don Turnbull and Ian Livingstone, text Fiend Folio