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Foulspawn had their 4e debut in the first Monster Manual. If you read the post I wrote about them, you’ll see that MM1 Foulspawn were plagued by some design flaws, but you could speculate from their lore that they were the end state of mortal Far Realm cultists.

The Lore

The lore in this entry is mostly a re-statement of the original foulspawn lore. They’re more actively inimical to the natural world than most other Far Realm denizens, and cross over where the barrier between dimensions is thin to attack mortal settlements. They drag some of their victims back with them, and those unfortunates eventually become foulspawn themselves after having their bodies and minds warped by the Far Realm.

There’s still plenty of room for you to portray foulspawn as the “end state” for a lot of mortal cultists who worship cthulhoid entities - they’re the ones who step into the portal willingly. If all you had to go with were the MM1 entries, this was kind of an ironic fate, as the foulspawn there were kinda weak. Let’s see if this is still true.

The Monsters

Foulspawn are Aberrant Humanoids with a ground speed of 6 and a teleport speed of 3. They mix physical attacks with powers that warp space and damage enemy minds.

Foulspawn Wretch

Most unwilling victims probably turn into these. Wretches are Small Level 7 Minion Skirmishers with low-light vision and the standard traits listed above.

They have a Ceaseless Murmurs passive trait that inflicts a -2 penalty to the Will of any PC adjacent to two or more wretches. Their basic Claw attack deals a bit of damage and allows another wretch within 6 squares to teleport adjacent to the target. And when they die, their Screaming Echo ability teleports a non-minion ally within 6 squares to the position previously occupied by the dead wretch!

Wretches are made to use standard “monster wave” tactics - use a lot of them and have them crowd around the PCs. Try to get them adjacent to the PC’s squishies on the back line, so that when they die they teleport your front-line bruisers there.

Foulspawn Mockery

A spellcaster with a raven skull for a head. Mockeries use mind-bending magic to force the PCs close together and then hit them with area attacks. They’re Medium Level 10 Controllers with 104 HP, low-light vision, and the standard traits outlined above.

Their basic attack is a bite which is actually stronger than almost any attack from a MM1 fouslpawn simply because it uses the correct math. They attack at range with a Mind Harrier spell that deals psychic damage and imposes one of those interesting custom effects. If a target hit by Mind Harrier is not adjacent to any of its allies by the end of its next turn, it takes an extra 10 psychic damage and 10 ongoing psychic damage (save ends).

Once the mockery has used Mind Harrier to push the PCs together, it can hit them all with a Maddening Burst (recharge 5+), which deals psychic damage and dazes (save ends).

Foulspawn Warpcaller

These are like aberrant bards, or those things that keep dancing around Azatoth playing flutes and pipes. They’re Medium Level 12 Controllers (Leaders) with 126 HP, Darkvision, and the standard traits outlined above.

Their Droning Pipes act as an aura (3) that makes enemies inside Vulnerable 5 to Psychic damage. This is important because Psychic is pretty much the signature damage type for foulspawn and other aberrants.

Warpcallers can bite in melee for good damage, but their magic is the star of the show here. Warped Sending is an at-will ranged attack that deals psychic damage and teleports a foulspawn ally within 5 squares of the target to a space adjacent to the target. Twisted Dismissal does the same damage, immobilizes the target (save ends) and teleports it 2 squares.

Finally, Warpmind Field (encounter) is a fireball-sized area attack that deals psychic damage and creates a zone that lasts for a turn and can be sustained with a minor action. Enemies who enter the zone or end their turns there take 10 psychic damage. An enemy inside the zone can’t target anyone further than 5 squares away. And the warpcaller can spend its move action to move the zone up to 4 squares.

Warpmind Field is an excellent fight opener if you drop it on the party’s archers. If they move outside the zone to fire on their turn, Twisted Dismissal can push them back inside and keep them there, possibly combined with a move action spent moving the zone closer. And Warped Sending is another handy way to teleport your brutes past the PC’s defenders.

Friends and Final Impressions

Foulspawn usually only work with other foulspawn, though if you’re using the ones from the MM1 you really, really need to fix their math. Other appropriate company includes gibbering mouthers and other aberrant creatures that deal psychic damage. And according to the book they also sometimes work with cultists of Tharizdun and Demogorgon - the kind of person who wants to wreck the world but doesn’t care how it happens.

The lore remains the same, but the mechanics on these foulspawn are quite a bit better. I’m not just talking raw numbers either - the MM1 foulspawn rarely did more than spam basic melee attacks. These have a lot more variety.