Gibberling

context
Infobox D&D creature
name=Gibberling
alignment=Chaotic Neutral (Evil tendancies)
type=Humanoid
subtype=
source=Monsters of Faerun, 2E Fiend Folio (MC14), 1E Fiend Folio, 2E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Monstrous Manual
first=
wizards_image_URL=http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG52.jpg

Gibberlings are fictional humanoid creatures in D&D.

Appearance

The first impression of gibberlingsWho|date=January 2008 is of a writhing mass of fur and flesh. The pandemonium is actually a mass of pale, hunchbacked humanoids, with pointed ears, black manes and grinning faces. Their eyes are black, and shine with a maniacal gleam.

Combat

Gibberlings attack in great numbers, uttering ghastly howls, clicks, shrieks, and insane chattering noisesWho|date=January 2008. The screaming mob is completely disorganized in form, and random in direction. They usually carry short swords in their overly long arms. Where they get these swords is unknownWho|date=January 2008, and they may instead wield crude weapons made from bone.

The horde's forward motion slows only long enough to kill anything moving, and then continues forward, their bloodlust apparently unabated. They always fight to the deathFact|date=January 2008. All food in their path is devoured, including the fallen among their own number, and any unfortified building or objects are generally wrecked.

Habitat and Society

It is difficult to imagineWho|date=January 2008 a gibberling social structure. It can be roughly comparedWho}] to the social structure of a school of piranha in a feeding frenzy. There is no sense, no organization, and no individuality. Though they clearly have a primitive means of communicating among themselves, they have no discernible language.

The only true hope of survival, should a herd of gibberlings be encounteredWho|date=January 2008, is to take strategic advantage of their fear of bright light. The gibberlings generally frequent only dense forests and passages, loathing bright light of all kinds, and are particularly afraid of fire. If found during the day gibberlings awake, but generally cower in fear at the bright light surrounding them.

In the original 2nd Edition Monster Manual, it was left unclear how or when or even if gibberlings procreate. The mysteries of gibberling reproduction were revealed in the module "The Gates of Firestorm Peak". The module mentioned a second form called the brood gibberling, which gives birth to larvae called gibberslugs, which writhe beneath the skin of the brood gibberling. They are injected into the flesh of anyone the brood gibberling bites, including other gibberlings. The slugs then grow steadily and consume the body of their host from the inside, eventually bursting out through the skin. A brood gibberling can actually control those it has created, leading to the development of "clans" of the monstersOr|date=January 2008.

Ecology

Attempts to find the gibberlings' lairs have inevitablyWho|date=January 2008 led back to subterranean passages, where the trail is eventually lost in the deepest rock-floored recesses of the caverns. They can easily be tracked by the path of chaos and destruction they leave, and can be quickly dispatched while they lie dormant just beneath the surface of the ground. Gibberlings traveling above-ground invariablyWho|date=January 2008 burrow into the ground to hide during the daytime, and it is at such time that they are most vulnerable. Subterranean gibberlings may burrow into the ground, or may simply lie down in a curled, fetal posture at times of restOr|date=January 2008. They awake suddenly, as a group, and burst in unison out of the ground, howling and gibbering in a most frightful way.

Gibberlings require a prodigiousWho}] amount of food to support their manic nocturnal existence, stripping to the bone anyone or anything that should fall in their path. Their fur is commonly infested with lice and other pests picked up during their burrowed slumber. Their hides are vile and worthless. Gibberlings carry no treasure or other useful items. Their swords are of the commonest variety, with no markings or decoration, and are often pitted and dull. In short, gibberlings serve no purpose and no known master, save random death in the night.

The gibberling species originates in the Far Realm, a place of madness beyond the known planesFact|date=January 2008. The brood gibberlings seemWho|date=January 2008 somehow connected to its energies, and in the case of Firestorm Peak, must remain within the field of corruption created by the magical "Vast Gate" within the mountain, open to the Far Realm.

References

*Turnbull, Don, ed. "Fiend Folio" (TSR, 1981).
*Williams, Skip, et al. "Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix" (TSR, 1992).
*Stewart, Doug, ed. "Monstrous Manual" (TSR, 1994).
*Cordell, Bruce, "The Gates of Firestorm Peak" (TSR, 1999).
*Brown, Lloyd III. "Primitive PC's." "Dragon" #265 (TSR, 1999).
*Wyatt, James and Rob Heinsoo. "Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun" (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).