Gibberling
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Gibberlings are fictional humanoid creatures in D&D.
Appearance
The first impression of gibberlings 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 noises. The screaming mob is completely disorganized in form, and random in direction. They usually carry short swords in their overly long arms. Their forward motion slows only long enough to kill anything moving, and then continues forward, their bloodlust apparently unabated. They always fight to the death. 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 imagine a gibberling social structure. It can be roughly compared 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 discernable language.The only true hope of survival, should a herd of gibberlings be encountered, is to take strategic advantage of their fear of bright light. The gibberlings generally frequent only dense forests and subterranean 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.
It is unclear how or when or even if gibberlings procreate.
Ecology
Attempts to find the gibberlings' lairs have inevitably 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 invariably 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 rest. 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 prodigious 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.
References
- Turnbull, Don, ed. Fiend Folio (TSR, 1981).
- Fiend Folio Monstrous Compendium 14 (1992)
- Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1994).
- Dragon Magazine #265
- Wyatt, James and Rob Heinsoo. Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).
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