Brandes Stoddard shared the table of contents from Quests from the Infinite Staircase, along with the stats for the elder evil Zargon the Returner, over on BlueSky. Quests from the Infinite Staircase comes out on July 16th, and is an adventure anthology for character levels 1-13.
D&D 5E Quests from the Infinite Staircase TOC and Zargon.
- Thread starter MonsterEnvy
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Brandes Stoddard shared the table of contents along with the stats for the elder evil Zargon the Returner.
Demetrios1453
Hero
As a fan of the OG Baldurs Gate CRPG, it's nice to see gibberlings finally get updated to 5e...
I can't say much about the table of contents, but man, that Zargon!
He looks like a monster actually capable of facing off against a 15th level party. He has a regen that can only be cancelled by damage types that he resists, which usually means a damage reduction in any case.
An anti-magic debuff on his gore! Totally crazy.
He looks like a monster actually capable of facing off against a 15th level party. He has a regen that can only be cancelled by damage types that he resists, which usually means a damage reduction in any case.
An anti-magic debuff on his gore! Totally crazy.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
“The Returner”? Has Zargon gone by this title before? Is he going to earn it?
Nikosandros
Golden Procrastinator
Well, he returned for yet another version of The Lost City, so there's that.
Not a Decepticon
Explorer
Ok let's compare them
- Both are huge aberrations, lawful evil
- Goodman Zargon has better AC, point for Goodman
- WotC Zargon has roughly 75 more hit points (78 more on average, 73 if both are maxed), point for WotC
- WotC Zargon is faster on land and MUCH faster in water, point for WotC
- Goodman Zargon beats WotC Zargon on all stats except Charisma, where WotC Zargon is better, and Wisdom, where they're matched. Point for Goodman
- Goodman Zargon has better saving throws and skills, point for Goodman
- WotC Zargon has resistances and immunities. Not "has better resistances and immunities" but "has them at all". Point for WotC
- They both have the same truesight, but Goodman Zargon has better passive Perception, and also blindsight and darkvision. Do they even give him anythign truesight doesn't? If no, half a point for Goodman , if yes, a whole point
- WotC Zargon speaks all languages but has only 120 ft telepathy, while Goodman Zargon has laughably only two languages, but a thousand feet telepathy. no points
- WotC Zargon has one more use of Legendary Resistance and doesn't lose them alongside the horn. Point for WotC
- Neither Zargon cannot be scryed on and divination doesn't work on him. Point each
- Goodman Zargon has better regeneration (25 hp per turn vs 20) and only loses it if his horn gets yanked out of his head, he also cannot die with the horn still on. Meanwhile WotC Zargon loses his regeneration when hit with one of two damage types he is resistant too, which kinda offsets the point of removing his regeneraiton to begin with, except for end tap when he goes down. Point for Goodman
- If Zargon does die, WotC one may reform in anywhere between 1 to 10 days, while Goodman one in 13 freaking years! There is no information if horn of Goodman Zargon is immune to damage, like WotC one. Point for WotC
- Horn of Goodman Zargon needs to be destroyed in a location within the same area he is fought, but it has to be done within 24 hours. Meanwhile, horn of WotC Zargon can only be destroyed by dissolving it in waterfall from upper plane for 101 days, and even then it will permamently poison said water. This is flavor mostly, both tell different story of killign Zargon for good, point for each.
- Goodman Zargon has spellcasting that include being just able to Freedom of Movement himself out of anything as many times as he wants and multiple new spells from the book. I only find them tangently useful, so I will give Goodman 2 points
- 3 times a day he can summon either 1 ooze of CR up to 4 each, two of CR up to 2, four of CR up to 1 or 8 of CR up 1/2. So he cannot call an Adult Oblex, but anything below may be good
- He can use Slime Spit 3 times a day. Which is weird, because it's a cantrip that scales with level. If we take his Hit Dice as his level, he can deal one targed 3d8 acid damage and then 3 pointd of acid damage for its next two turns.
- He can also use 1 time a day transmute rock, which can turn mud into rock or vice versa. Why does he have it, I don't know
- In combat Goodman Zargon makes whooping SIX attacks with his tentacles, but he can split them between only three targets AND then either bite or Gore attack. WotC Zargon makes two tentacle attacks, one bite and one gore, total of 4. They both attack with +12 to hit. Point for Goodman for more attacks, even if WotC Zargon will more consistently be using his bite and gore.
- Goodman Zargon does more raw damage on tentacle and gore per hit, while WotC Zargon has better bite. Point for WotC, half a point for Goodman
- WotC Zargon automaticall grapples large or smaller creatures on a hit with a tentacle and can pull them closer to himself by 20 ft, and escape DC from hsi grasp is 20, as opposed to 17 on Goodman Zargon. Goodman Zargon deals extra 20 damage to grappled creatures per turn, buut he only gets to grapple a target he has his with THREE tentacle attacks in a single turn, which seems very unlikely to happen. Point for WotC
- Goodman Zargon's bite also forces saving throw against being corrupted with his slime, which prevents non-magical healing and you need to repeat the save every day or take 13 damage, and if you die you turn into a pile of goop. It can be dealt with through remove disease spell. Dunno if preventing nonmagical healing also means no healing on short or long rest, because that makes it MUCH nastier. Point for Goodman, two if this would prevent healing from rests.
- WotC Zargon's gore on a hit puts you in a 10-ft wide antimagic zone until end of Zargon's next turn, possibly nerfing you or removing a caster for a turn. Point for WotC
- Goodman Zargon has Spew Slime, while WotC Zargon has Slime Wave - both recharge on 5-6 and have Zargon, well, spew slime in a cone, dealing damage to creatures. WotC Zargon's cone is twice as big, he deals 20 points of damage more and poisons you for one minute (ends on repeated saves at end of your turn), while Goodman Zargon only blinds you for a single turn. Also, if this attack kills you, you rise as a Gibbering Mouther under Zargon's control. Point for WotC
- Goodman Zargon can use Legendary Actions - he can burn two to cast one of his mediocre spells, he can use one to make THREE tentacle attacks agaisnt a single target, or he can just autohit you for 10 necrotic damage, no attack, no save. 2 points for Goodman
- WotC Zargon has THREE REACTIONS PER ROUND, but can only use one a turn. He can use his horn to effectively counterspell any spell targetting him or one that would damage him, dealing force damage if he succeeds. Sadly it doesn't stop spells like Wall of Force or Forcecage. He can also spew slime on a creature that gets too close, for ridiculously low 7 acid damage, than can be halved with a save. I cannot imagien anyone using it at this level. Two points for WotC
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Not a Decepticon
Explorer
He went by it in Elder Evils book, which I think was main influence for this statblock.
TheSword
Legend
The first Forgotten Realms adventure for 2nd Edition AD&D in the boxed set also made a feature of gibberlings.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Since B4, I believe. He is called that in the 2014 PHB entry for GOO Warlocks, as well, since he is a potential Patron.
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