Wizkids: Monsters of Exandria Set 3

 

Another box I picked up during the Wayland flash sale was the Wizkids "Monsters of Exandria" Set 3. I picked them up because of the look of them, so I didn't realise when I bought them that these are all specific monsters from the first season of Critical Role.

The first season of Critical Role is before I got into it, and a lot of it isn't really my cup of tea. So once I started going through the box, I realised there was a bit more work than just using a pre-published stat block to use these in D&D games.

First up is Symphior. This is a cursed evil Celestial that was designed by Matt Mercer with the results of a viewer poll, which is why you have the weirdness of a tiny evil Celestial. For my use of this, I think that this is far more useful as a malicious fae, either as a summoned generic critter, or as part of an encounter in its own right.

The "abyssal abomination" is another Matt Mercer custom monster, but as a "creepy mutated person", it has a much wider potential for usage. This could easily be used for some kind of far realm incursion or a mad scientist's efforts. I'm also keen to use it as an Eberron creature for the Daelkyr cults of the Dragon Below, for which it's basically perfect.

Next up is a Naga Abomination, the last of the homebrew monsters. It's based on a Spirit Naga but with multiple heads. While it was used as a mutation, the five heads would work quite well as a Tiamat minion. It's definitely in the "boss monster" or highlight fight category, so there's plenty of options to see some use.

Finally we have Ghurrix and and "Servant of Ghurrix". While these are named characters, Ghurrix is a Pit Fiend and the Servant of Ghurrix is an Erinyes. These are high level, powerful devils who are likely to show up in the end game or mid game respectively. There's probably more Pit Fiend models than their Challenge Rating of 20 merits in terms of usability, but both devils are solid staples who can fit into any campaign with hellish forces as antagonists or allies of the antagonists.

All in all, this is a weird set that seems to mostly be aimed at collectors who are fans of the early show, rather than for game utility. That said, with a little thinking, there's plenty of games that these could fit into, although outside Critical Role, they're likely quite different campaigns. If you're not a Critical Role fan and a DM, this set is an assortment of rarely used monsters / homebrew that could easily provide something different for an antagonist - but it's certainly not a good pick for a newer DM who's looking for staples with a lot of reuse potential.