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.
