Crypt Thing in Dungeons and Dragons

“The party enters the chamber and finds a solitary skeletal figure sitting on a throne. It wears a brown robe with a hood over it’s skull. The creature shows no interest in the party initially. What could this creature be? A Lich perhaps? The dwarf finally decides to be the brave one in the group. He approaches the skeletal creature slowly.

Suddenly, it turns it’s head towards the dwarf, and raises a finger. The dwarf disappears. The rest of the party is stunned. What….what happened exclaims the wizard……

In the neutral alignment tongue the creature responds that the dwarf has been disintegrated…..

Ten minutes later the dwarf runs back in the room….. after the party attacks it and loses the thief to it in combat.”

Introduction to the Crypt Thing

The Crypt Thing was first introduced with the Fiend Folio tome for 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The creature was an unusual one., even for the Fiend Folio, which introduced many unusual creatures.

The creature was more of a trick to be encountered than a real combat encounter. The teleportation ability of the creature was confusing to parties but was basically harmless. Unless, of course, the person trying to get back to the group gets killed along the way.

The Crypt Thing itself was not a difficult combat encounter on it’s own. Party members that made a saving throw were able to avoid the teleportation. If a lot of the party failed the saving throw then perhaps the Crypt Thing might have a chance to win an encounter.

Characteristics of a Crypt Thing

The Crypt Thing is always a skeletal figure. It will always be found in it’s lair. And it always wears a brown hooded robe. It has empty eye sockets with a little point of light where the eyes would normally be. While the creature has the appearance of being undead it cannot be turned.

The creature is not aggressive. It will do nothing at all if left alone. The safest way of dealing with the Crypt Thing is to leave it alone entirely.

A rare variety of the Crypt Thing does not teleport people away from it. Instead it turns them invisible and paralyzes them.

The Crypt Thing is not interested in eating, or even killing, it’s victims. It seems to want only to create confusion. Perhaps this amuses the creature. No one knows for sure.

The Crypt Thing exists in many editions of Dungeons and Dragons

But it was not included with the monster manual for 5th Edition. There are, however, some home brewed versions of the creature which people are using with 5th Edition. The Crypt Thing is usually an entertaining encounter the first time players encounter it. When one, or more, of the player characters disappear it tends to cause them a little fear. Has their beloved character actually been disintegrated? Most find it amusing when they discover that they have just been teleported away.

One possible version of a 5E Crypt Thing can be found at the following link:

• Crypt Thing 5E

Creation of the Crypt Thing

After 1st edition some new ideas were introduced about the Crypt Thing. It is said that some Crypt Things rise as undead to protect the graves of others from grave robbers. It has also been believed that many were created by priests of wizards for some function.

Crypt Things can be a fun encounter

The Crypt Thing has the appearance of a Lich. This immediately gets the attention of the player characters as they are likely to be immediately wary of the creature. When party members begin disappearing the idea that the creature is a dangerous lich becomes reinforced. It can be assumed that the teleported characters will try to return to the group immediately so telling them (immediately) what happened at the table is unnecessary. And this is where the fun begins……

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