Flumph
| Flumph | |
|---|---|
| File:Flumph.JPG | |
| First appearance | Fiend Folio |
| Information | |
| Type | Aberration |
| Language | Cannot speak, but understands Undercommon and uses telepathy |
| Alignment | Lawful Good |
The flumph /flʌmf/ is a monster found in the fictional world of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. Flumphs are described as sentient, and are the only Lawful Good creatures in the original 1981 Fiend Folio. Since the 3rd edition of D&D, license-holders Wizards of the Coast have primarily used flumphs for comedic value.[original research?]
Publication history[edit]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988)[edit]
The flumph was designed by Ian McDowall and Douglas Naismith, and was first introduced in the Fiend Folio (1981) monster sourcebook for D&D 1st Edition.[1] In the humorous adventure Castle Greyhawk (1988), flumphs inhabit the plane of Silly and Unused Monsters, and appear in an encounter titled "The Room That Lets the Party Make It to the Next Set of Rooms".[2]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989–1999)[edit]
The flumph was updated for D&D 2nd Edition rules in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Vol. 2 (1995).[3] The flumph is further detailed in "The Ecology of the Flumph" in Dragon #246 (April 1998).[4]
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000–2007)[edit]
The flumph was officially featured in the 3.5 edition adventure "Box of Flumph"[5] by Tim Hitchcock in Dungeon magazine #118 (January 2005).[6] A 2006 April Fool's joke announced the release of miniatures for Modrons, flumphs, and similar creatures.[7] Knowledge Arcana #9 (May 2007), an electronic magazine which drew largely on contributions from members of the Wizards of the Coast online community, features the articles "Lawful Great – One Flumph's Epic Journey to Herodom" which includes a stat block for a male celestial flumph,[8] and in "Unglued! Top Secret New D&D Miniatures Set" there is a D&D miniatures version of Flumphy, the Huge Fiendish Dire Flumph of Legend.[9]
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008–2013)[edit]
As part of a 2009 April Fools joke, 4th Edition stats for the Flumph were included in the "Fool's Grove" Dungeon Delve article.[10] The flumph appeared in fourth edition in the humorous adventure "Fools Grove" on the Wizards of the Coast website.[11]
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (2014–)[edit]
Wizards of the Coast discussed potential changes to the flumph for fifth edition in 2013.[12] In May 2014, Wizards of the Coast confirmed the flumph would be included in the Monster Manual for fifth edition, released September 30, 2014.[13][14]
Physical description[edit]
Flumphs are depicted as similar in appearance to jellyfish. However, they float in the air rather than water, and have eyes on stalks. Flumphs are helpless if flipped on to their "back".
Other publishers[edit]
The flumph appeared in the Tome of Horrors (2002) from Necromancer Games.[15] Center Stage Miniatures created two flumph miniatures for the Tome of Horrors Complete.[16]
The flumph is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Misfit Monsters Redeemed (2010), on pages 34–39.[17] The flumph also appeared in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3 (2011), on page 118.[18]
Other mentions[edit]
Flumphs have appeared in online comics, including 5 Minute Workday,[19] d20Monkey,[20] and in The Order of the Stick, where the flumphs are recurring characters.[21] The flumph has featured in Something Awful,[22] and on Dungeon Bastard.
Knowing what happens when a flumph is flipped on its back was cited as an example characteristic of a hardcore fantasy role-playing gamer by writer David M. Ewalt in his book Of Dice and Men.[23]
Reception[edit]
CJ Miozzi included the flumph on The Escapist's list of "The Dumbest Dungeons & Dragons Monsters Ever (And How To Use Them)".[24]
Screen Rant compiled a list of the game's "10 Most Powerful (And 10 Weakest) Monsters, Ranked" in 2018, calling this one of the weakest, saying "In order to defeat the flump, all you have to do is turn it over, then it becomes helpless. You don't even need to unsheathe your sword or cast a spell, as your hands will do the job just fine. Just make sure to pack some Axe body spray in order to alleviate the effects of the flumph's smelly spray. If you ever have a character who is slain by a flumph in battle, then you are honor-bound to give up playing Dungeons & Dragons and take up a new hobby, as you will never be able to wash away the stain of losing an adventurer to a Lawful Good smelly jellyfish."[25]
References[edit]
- ↑ Turnbull, Don, ed. Fiend Folio (TSR, 1981)
- ↑ Breault, Mike, ed. Castle Greyhawk (TSR, 1988).
- ↑ Pickens, Jon, ed. Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (TSR, 1995)
- ↑ Richards, Johnathan M. "The Ecology of the Flumph". Dragon #246 (TSR, 1998).
- ↑ "Box of Flumph – RPGNet RPG Game Index". Retrieved 2011-04-22.
- ↑ Hitchcock, Tim. "Box of Flumph." Dungeon #118 (Paizo Publishing, Jan 2005)
- ↑ "Wizards of the Coast news, 1 April 2006".
- ↑ Knowledge Arcana #9, p8, "Lawful Great – One Flumph's Epic Journey to Herodom" (May 2007)
- ↑ Knowledge Arcana #9, p57, "Unglued! Top Secret New D&D Miniatures Set" (May 2007)
- ↑ "Dungeon #165 Dungeon Delve: Fool's Grove by Logan Bonner and Chris Sims".
- ↑ "Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page – Article (Fool's Grove)". Retrieved 2014-09-25.
- ↑ "Wandering Monsters: Fiend Folio". Retrieved 2014-07-11.
- ↑ Tomlonovic, B. (May 22, 2014). Twitter / Brent Tomlonovic Ref Q: ACD Open House WotC rep confirms Flumph in Monster Manual. Retrieved July 11, 2014 from [1]
- ↑ "EN World: The Flumph is Back". Retrieved 2014-07-11.
- ↑ Green, Scott; Peterson, Clark (2002). Tome of Horrors. Necromancer Games. pp. 139–140. ISBN 1-58846-112-2. Search this book on
- ↑ "Kickstarter Update 70: Flumph – not just one, but two!". Retrieved 2014-07-11.
- ↑ McComb, Colin, Rob McCreary, and James L. Sutter. Misfit Monsters Redeemed (Paizo, 2010)
- ↑ Bulmahn, Jason (lead designer). Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3 (Paizo Publishing, 2011)
- ↑ "5 Minute Workday » Surprise Attack". www.5mwd.com. 2012-11-22.
- ↑ "Don't Be Frank". 20 April 2012.
- ↑ "Giant In the Playground Games". www.giantitp.com.
- ↑ "Something Awful - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: 1st Edition Fiend Folio (part 1)".
- ↑ Ewalt, David M. (2013). Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It. Scribner. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4516-4052-6. Search this book on
- ↑ "The Dumbest Dungeons & Dragons Monsters Ever (And How To Use Them)".
- ↑ "Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Most Powerful (And 10 Weakest) Monsters, Ranked". ScreenRant. May 20, 2018.
Further reading[edit]
- Burlew, Richard. "The Order of the Stick: Dungeon Crawlin Fools". [2] 2007
- Roving Band of Misfits. "Why We Should Care About the Flumph (aka Owlbears, WTF?)". [3] Nov. 2011.
External links[edit]
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