Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

“Larva Mage” is a more generic name for the Spawn of Kyuss, a monster that as far as I know appeared in the Age of Worms adventure path for 3e. Here, they are only present in the MM.

The Lore

A larva mage is what you get when an evil spellcaster dies and their restless spirit takes over the maggots infesting their corpse. This possessed mass assembles itself in a roughly humanoid shape to seek revenge or simply to continue whatever schemes it had in life.

On the surface larva mages seem like a more disgusting variety of lich, and you could play them that way, but there are some differences. Becoming a larva mage is a spontaneous process, not an intentional ritual, and it may cause the mage to lose some of the magic power it had in life.

A particularly powerful specimen might retain much of its power, but it’s not guaranteed. The first larva mages were created by an elder evil named Kyuss, to guard vaults of forbidden lore. These are the most powerful among their kind.

Though larva mages are hard to hurt, they can be destroyed through a sufficient application of violence. When that happens, the worms that comprise their bodies lose their cohesion and sapience.

The Numbers

We get a single stat block, which supposedly represents a “typical” larva mage whose powers are a mix of spells and being made of worms. You can give them more combat spells and however many rituals you think are appropriate to represent an individual that retained more of their magic ability.

Larva Mage

This is a Medium Natural Magical Beast (undead), and a Level 21 Elite Artillery monster with 304 HP. As an undead, it has Resist 10 Necrotic and Vulnerable 10 Radiant. As a swarm creature, it takes half damage from melee and ranged attacks, and has Vulnerable 10 to close and area attacks. A radiant area attack will really ruin this thing’s day.

Larva Mages have Speed 6, and like the lamias we just covered, they can disassemble to squeeze through openings as if they were Tiny creatures.

The larva mage’s basic attack is a Corrupting Touch that does necrotic damage, but as an artillery monster it doesn’t want anyone to get close to it. For that, it will use its Horrific Visage (Ranged 10 vs. Will; minor action; recharge 5-6) on melee-focused PCs. This dazes them and prevents them from attacking the mage (save ends).

It will follow that up with Rays of Cold Death (Ranged 20 vs. AC), which do cold and necrotic damage, with a big damage bonus against bloodied targets. Against groups it will use Withering Flame (Area 1 within 20 vs. Reflex) for fire and necrotic damage.

If someone looks like they’re near death or manages to get too close, the mage will use Worm’s Feast (Ranged 5 vs. Will; recharge 6), an illusion that tricks the victim into believing worms are eating their flesh. This does a big chunk of untyped damage, but only if that damage would reduce the target to 0 HP. If it wouldn’t, the victim is instead stunned for a turn.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

We get three sample encounters:

  • Level 21: 1 larva mage, 4 slaughter wrights, 1 sword wraith.

  • Level 22: 1 larva mage, 3 rot harbingers, 5 abyssal ghoul myrmidons.

  • Level 22: 2 larva magi, 2 rockfire dreadnoughts, 8 grimlock followers.

From this we gather that larva mages tend to hang out with other high level undead, or similarly powerful summoned servants depending on what spells they knew back in life. They need these servants, too, since they’re pretty much dead if an epic-level party manages to corner them in melee. If their buddies manage to keep the PCs far away, though, they can do a lot of damage.

I haven’t actually read Age of Worms or anything else related to Kyuss, so larva mages don’t stir any strong emotion in me in that regard. Their imagery is nice and creepy, though.