The Eye of Fear and Flame in Dungeons and Dragons is a monster unlike most that I have written about. This one did not exist in many of the editions of Dungeons and Dragons. It was introduced in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition in the Fiend Folio. The Fiend Folio was a different collection of monsters than those of the Monster Manual or Monster Manual II. Many of the creatures were reader submissions from White Dwarf magazine. These readers were mostly from the United Kingdom.
The Eye of Fear and Flame in Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition
This was an unusual creature. It had the appearance of a skeleton or lich. It always wore a hooded robe keeping it’s face hidden until it was time to show it. The creature is an agent of chaos. It’s purpose is to wander and command individuals to do acts of evil.
The Eye of Fear and Flame is evil. It has the innate power to know the alignment of anyone it meets. It also has the power to speak all alignment languages. It will use these powers to find lawful or lawful/neutral parties and individuals and then demand that they perform some evil act. The act can vary but it will always be an act of evil. If the creature is refused then it will throw back it’s hood revealing a bare skull with a red jewel in one eye socket and a black one in the other.
These jewels are the weapons of the Eye of Fear and Flame. The red gem unleashes a 12 hit dice fireball every three melee rounds. The black gem acts as a wand of fear every round. These gems are worth 1000 to 2000 gold pieces each when removed from this skull or when the creature is killed.
The creature is a powerful adversary. A 12 hit die fireball is enough to wipe out most parties that are not high level. If the creature survives more than a few rounds it will likely do a great deal of damage to even a high level party. The creature has 12 hit dice and an armor class of only 2.
The Eye of Fear and Flame has the ability to transfer itself to the ethereal plane if things are going badly for it in combat. It takes two melee rounds to do so. It has no means to fight hand to hand so the two gems are critical to it’s success in combat. But casting a blindness or power word blind on the creature will have disastrous results. Both spells will be reflected back at the caster if these are cast upon the black gem.
It is said that chaotic evil gods created this creature for the destruction of lawfuls. But some believe that lawful/neutral gods created these in order to test. No one knows the truth. It is rumored that only twenty of these creatures exist.
History of the Eye of Fear and Flame in Dungeons and Dragons
After 1st Edition the creature disappeared for a long time. Finally it reappeared in the Book of Vile Darkness for 3rd edition in 2002. Later a version was offered for 4th Edition in an article in Dragon #364. Fifth Edition has no “official” version of the creature but there are some homebrewed ones being offered on the net. I will link some of those here so that you can get some idea of what it might look like for 5th edition play:
Placement of the Eye of Fear and Flame in Dungeons and Dragons
Okay. So now that we know the stats and the history just how do we place such a creature in our campaigns? Clearly this is not the sort of thing that one bumps into in town. It is probably not even the sort of thing one places as a boss monster in a dungeon. These creatures are searching the land for lawful or lawful neutral people to influence into doing evil acts. So clearly someone in the party that encounters this creature should be lawful. Otherwise the creature would probably not be interested in interacting with them. As it knows the alignments of everyone it meets it will instantly know that no one in the group is lawful.
Could it be a wandering monster on the roads to and from an adventure? That seems like a good possibility. It could be encountered during an adventure as a random encounter in some high level adventure or on some very deep level of a dungeon. And perhaps, since it has the ability to visit the ethereal plane, then it could be encountered there too.
And suppose the lawful person actually agrees and performs the evil act commanded? What then? The Fiend Folio does not say. It would seem logical that a deity might be upset when a character acts out of alignment. But what if the character is not a cleric or paladin or one of those classes where alignment dictates the abilities? Would there be any penalty at all for just doing what the creature asks? Obviously most players would want to fight the creature and would refuse. But some might not. The Dungeon Master placing this creature in an adventure should consider this possibility before it comes up in play.
The Eye of Fear and Flame in Dungeons and Dragons is an interesting creature
The creature is a bit of a mystery. It hides it’s identity with a hood and reveals itself only when it’s demands are refused. Who created them and their real purpose are unknown. They are a dangerous magical creature that can challenge high level parties. Use them with care.
If you enjoyed this article then you might enjoy these:
- Beholders
- Mind Flayers
- Undead
- Intellect Devourers
- Displacer Beasts
- The Underdark
- The Astral Plane
- Death Knights
