As the caravan set out along to the southern coast, cutting inland through some well-travelled
tracks that seemed to be in some disrepair, I asked our local guide why every turn of this trade
route took such a wide path around every stand of woods that I could see. The guide, a dark skinned
wood elf named Feather, shook his head and said there was no safety in woodlands for my people...
he assumed I was human, many elves do, and even for a wood elf this one was abrupt and curt with
his answers to any queries I had, almost like every question I asked was some sort of challenge
to his role as our local expert, so, I soon backed off and instead asked our other local hire,
a wainright and pretty phenominal shot with a hurled hand axe named Regori Xaowyn,
not a dwarf but a swarthy human of Tuigan descent who was born in the Eastern Shaar, a region fairly
densely populated by dwarven people, he wore the hammer of Moradin on a cord around his neck and
did not speak a single word to our elven guide the entire trip as far as I recall, oh, maybe a
few sharp comments when we were struggling at the ford of the River Talar and every hand in
the party was needed to lift one side so a broken wheel could be repaired... things were decidedly
frosty right at the start of our journey and I felt it important to understand why.. our survival
could come down to something so trivial as one team member not speaking up at a critical moment.
According to Regori, the area that I knew as Lapaliiya, the cities of the southern
coast of the shining sea, was no more, it had become more of a lawless wasteland,
all these woods we passed were less than a hundred years old, new growth painstakingly restored by
the efforts of the local elven people and they did not welcome outsiders to this recovering land,
now known as the Elfharrow. Although our path was a well-travelled one historically, these days the
road from the sea, passing alongside the Dun hills and skirting a land known as the Bandit wastes on
our way to the town of Lapalgard was quite a lot more dangerous and Regori warned me that if we
spotted a patrol on horseback, it was likely from there, if on foot, we should prepare for combat as
it might be bandits or... and he just jerked his chin in Feather's direction, indicating without
words that the elves in this region were quite hostile, not much better than bandits themselves.
On the afternoon of the second day of our journey, when more stories were told and
feather came to understand my actual heritage, his demeanour around me changed quite a lot, so,
it seemed his animosity was reserved mainly for humans and not the Hin, but I am no great judge
of the emotions and motives of elven people and feather shared next to nothing about himself with
any of us, but, just before we reached the town of Dungar and he parted company with his payment,
the only story I did manage to coax out of him was when i asked what the most dangerous monster
in the Misty Vale was, an ancient forest that was located just beyond the Dun hills,
and told me, at some length, over a meal of wine and some very delicious olive stuffed roasted
peppers, about a creature called the Jabberwock. This is a monster I am happy to report that I have
never personally seen, and I'm quite sure that I never want to, and it was also the main excuse
feather gave us as to why we were avoiding the new woods springing up all along this coast.. but I
suspect he just steered us clear of the territory his own people had reclaimed as their own.
Easy to mistake for a true dragon, the Jabberwock is actually a dragonkin, one that the wood elves
knew of for a span of years greater than any human city that now stood, he said. My understanding, on
later investigations and fact checks in a library in Halruaa, is that the Jabberwock can be found in
the land of the fey and our elven guide meant that the creatures had arrived on Toril around the same
time as the original migration of the green elves, in very ancient eras lost to history.
Most people have no idea exactly what a Jabberwock looks like, some property of
the Feywild perhaps prevents a person from having a full and accurate recollection
of meeting the monster, just as those who return from the lands of fey quite often have no memory
of what they did there, as though on waking from a dream, it just fades from their mind.
This is clearly evident in the collected lore of the jabberwock over the history of
Dungeons & Dragons, as there are contradictions present each time the monster has been presented
in the various editions, appearing first appearing in Dragon magazine issue 54 printed in October
1981 for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, later included and updated for
advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition's Monster Compendium Annual Vol III which was printed in
1996 and finally the most recent listing inside the Wild beyond the Witchlight, published in
September 2021. The important thing is that, while the details may vary, the essence of what the
jabberwock is, carries through in each of these versions and going over all of them side by side,
you can see the logical progression the lore has taken, adapting itself for each new edition,
15 and then 25 years apart from each other. The Jabberwock is a huge reptilian beast that
inhabits light forests or broken wastelands with a particular fondness for inhabiting more recent
ruins located in areas where disasters have laid waste to the land, but it is now regrowing its
forests. The creatures resemble dragons in many respects, enough so that they can be
called draconic creatures while still not being True dragons. There may be some variation among
them back in their native environment of the vast and variable Feywild, so, its perfectly
fine for a DM to adapt them to being wingless, for example, or swapping some of the confusion
effects from a sound-based, to a gaze-based attack, and giving them draconic traits,
such as elemental resistances, or a supernatural aura of fear. In the feywild, they tend to take
on some of the dominant traits that a local Feylord will instil in the region they dominate,
so, some jabberwock can look extremely fearsome, or they may appear far more comical or cute,
which does nothing to reduce how tremendously aggressive and dangerous they are.
Adult Jabberwock are formidable, with a long neck as flexible as a tentacle, a body that is 30 feet
long, eight-foot tall at the shoulder and a thin tail that reaches another 25 feet beyond the body,
they are lean, very tough and have quite different proportions to a true dragon. Some have learned to
hoard treasure to attract greedy prey, some do it for their own pleasure, but mostly its because,
unlike dragons, they don't have a strong elemental essence and have a serious appetite for meat,
particularly human meat, which they prefer above all others, even elves and halflings.
Jabberwocks are solitary beasts, coming together only during their violent mating season.
They hibernate during periods of intense cold and are most active at brillig, er, 4 o'clock in
the afternoon. 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.
Two to eight eggs are laid after the spring mating season, which often only one adult,
usually 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. In the Feywild, mating can occur at fairly random times,
as there is no variation is seasons, rather seasons act more like geographical traits,
regional effects and the like. Nobody is quite sure how long Jabberwock live, but all are quite
certain that, if ever put into captivity, within a few weeks to a month, the jabberwock will die.
Oddly enough, the legendary creature's ties to the feywild mean that the fey realm perpetuates their
existence, so it may not be possible to ever fully exterminate them, as when a mature jabberwock is
slain, another one always seems to appear, not suddenly, but sometime within three to twenty-four
years later somewhere suitable within a thousand miles of where the last jabberwock was killed.
Since there are no accounts of juveniles being observed on the prime material plane, it seems
that they have the means to cross over into the fey realm and remain there until they are fully
grown, which can take quite some time thankfully, unless they happen to be in certain parts of the
fey where time flows differently, but, that's a subject for another sage. Another reason that
jabberwocks have a reputation for being near impossible to kill, is the fact that they can
regenerate even more tenaciously than a troll. The jabberwock regains 10 hit points at the start of
its turn. If the jabberwock takes slashing damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of its
next turn. The jabberwock dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
Note that this is not impaired by fire or acid damage and also, when you look at the jabberwock,
its gangly limbs, upright stance and loathsome creeping slitter, its baleful gaze and weird,
snapping mouth, those long talons and green hue to its hide... this could well be a Troll
Dragon if they ever become fully native to the prime material plane, just a thought.
Colouration is actually variable between greens and tarnished looking golden tans
and the body is protected by armor plates, while the soft underbelly is protected by its crouched,
slithering style of motion, its body is very flexible and it tends to snake its way around
almost as much as it uses its legs, with the belly barely two feet above the ground most of the time,
however, it also has the ability to stand upright and even take a few steps at a
time in a biped stance, which is freaky to witness and quite outlandish for a dragon,
particularly as its limbs end with digits equipped with wickedly curved talons
at least the size of short swords and the same glossy black as goblin claws.
In combat, which is almost certain with every encounter, the jabberwock will be eager to attack,
singling out one target at a time and savaging it with a flurry of claws in great rending strikes
as it tries to literally tear any humanoids apart and gobble them down in great sprays of hot blood,
it will also make sweeping attacks with its tail, which strikes as hard as a great club.
One thing that is not mentioned in fifth edition is that the other two versions of the jabberwock
also feature the stats for its bite attack, the jabberwock has a jaw well stocked with fangs,
particularly at the very front of its mouth and it can attack with its bite with the same 15 ft
reach its tail attack has. perhaps its the reduced size of the latest incarnation, dropping it down
to merely huge size where usually it would be much larger and with a bite capable of swallowing
a person whole. Just as well considering I have not even gotten to its ranged attacks.
One of the most dramatic changes to the stats and lore of the jabberwock concerns its burbling
sound and its terrible gaze. Some earlier accounts say that the gaze can cause paralysis, the latest
listing actually has the eyes jetting out a 5 ft wide and 120 ft long line of fire! Unless its eyes
are blinded the jabberwock can do this each round if it rolls a 5 or 6 on a six sided die each turn,
living creatures caught in the effect of that gaze must roll over 18 on a roll of a twenty-sided die,
adding any dexterity saving throw bonus or they take the damage of 1d8 times 7, even if
they make that saving throw number or better, they still take half that burnination damage the poor
bastards... no mention of its that also effects flammable structures, I presume so? I mean,
trees are living creatures, and the jabberwock lives in forests, and the flames don't stop its
regenerating flesh from healing... so, this thing can set the whole forest on fire, with you in it,
and be just fine.. you are, on the other hand, going to get BBQ'ed the longer the combat with the
dragon is going to take. If you wish to add some spice to the flame gaze, have victims who get any
damage also roll to save vs fear with a wisdom saving throw, I know that would freak me out.
Reminds me of the scene where Tom Cruise ran from the martian war machine with people getting
vaporized all around him, a character might sprint for safety and suddenly notice that
they are completely covered in the ashy remains of their immolated friends....
that's gotta be fairly upsetting. Jabberwocks have an armor class of 18
and 10d12+50 or between 60 and 170 with an average of 115 hit points, a strength of 20, 12 dexterity,
20 constitution, immunity to any and all poisons, also immune to the charmed or frightened condition
and the only vulnerability it has is it takes double damage from Vorpal swords,
which is absolutely a fey trait, legendary creatures of the fey are part of the stories
that deeply influence and transform the native landscape into fantastic realms of fable,
if located in such an environment, it may be that the only thing that can truly kill a jabberwock
is the lethal kiss of the enchanted vorpal blade. The mind of the jabberwock is thankfully no better
than a rabid wolverine, it has an intelligence of only 4, a wisdom of 7 and charisma of 11, it can't
speak or even really understand languages, yet, it has exceptional senses, with a passive perception
of 18 and +8 to any active perception checks, it has truesight out to a range of 120 feet, allowing
it to see right through illusions, invisibility and such, also the Jabberwock can unerringly
track any creature it has wounded in the last 24 hours, and it knows the distance and direction to
its quarry as long as the two of them are on the same plane of existence. Another clearly
magical ability. In older lore a Jabberwock can detect the existence of a vorpal sword from up
to one mile away, but not its exact location or direction, they really hate vorpal swords.
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.
The burbling sound the Jabberwock makes is not fully described in 5th edition,
so for a bit more detail we go to older lore. 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) and rapid movement produces an eerie whiffling sound which
rises from a barely audible wail at a trot to a screeching, banshee-like howling at full charge.
The whiffling noise made by a charging Jabberwock is greatly feared by horses and will cause them
to throw their riders and flee. The burble creates a supernatural confusion effect,
Any creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the Jabberwock and is able to hear its burbling
must make a DC 18 Charisma saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the creature can’t take
reactions until the start of its next turn, and half the time it may just stand where it
is and do nothing, or simply move in a random direction or actually attack a random creature
with a melee weapon or their bare hands if in range, which might include the Jabberwock but
is quite likely to be an ally instead, victims roll 1d4 to determine which outcome occurs.
Although the Jabberwock has weird, gill-like growths and lungs for breathing,
it doesn't say in the listing if it can breathe underwater, even though the creature is often
depicted as having webbed toes and preferring the more dank environments, its not an amphibian,
again, seems more troll-like to me. As a legendary creature the Jabberwock in 5th
edition has legendary resistance, so three times per day they can just automatically succeed on a
saving throw they have rolled a fail on. They also take legendary actions in combat, allowing them to
attack on other creatures turns during the combat round, so the Jabberwock could make two rending
attacks on its turn, and a slamming tail attack on three more targets during the rest of the round,
it can rather opt to make a rend attack with its talons or an attack with its wings,
beating them furiously each creature within 10 feet of the Jabberwock must succeed on a DC 18
Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 + 5 bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.
Due to the creature's burble attack, accurate descriptions of the Jabberwock are difficult
to come by, as dazed survivors often retain only a confused impression of parts and not
the whole. However, the sage Ludovicus Humphrey made a careful study of the beast before his
untimely demise on a research trip and reported his findings in a journal that
available for purchase in Halruaa and a copy is now located in the vast collections of Candlekeep,
securing me another season's accommodations along with my own leather-bound scribblings.
The Jabberwock is a solitary creature that apparently treats all other beings it meets as
prey. The only exceptions to this rule are druids, which the jabbewock ignores unless
provoked in any way, and sylvan creatures such as dryads, treants, forest gnomes and the like,
who can sense its approach and discreetly withdraw in order to avoid a confrontation.
Despite its unwavering ferocity, the Jabberwock serves a very important function for the forest.
In essence, it is the woods' protector, its very presence serving to keep away most of
those who would exploit or destroy the woodlands. My name is AJ Pickett, I produce regular weekly
videos about RPG lore, thanks for listening and I will be back with more for you, very soon.