Gremishkas

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I first encountered the Gremishka while reading Castle's Forlorn a few decades ago, though they are as old as the Ravenloft setting itself, first appearing in the Black Box. My first impression of them was that they were not unlike the Gremlins from the 1984 American black comedy horror film of the same name.

In the 2e it describes them as distant cousins of gremlins, without wings (Gremlins in 2e are often mistaken for imps) resembling cats or dogs from a distance, they have pointed ears and yellow cat-like eyes. Their hands allow for the grasping of tools and weapons, though they usually prefer traps to using any sort of weapon for lengthy periods of time. Although they dislike sunlight they are not harmed by it. They can attack as a swarm making anyone engulfed by them to suffer automatic damage and possibly exposed to hits by people trying to help them.

In 3e the picture resembles the gremlins from the 1984 film and the description of the monster is as lizard-monkey-rat-things. Their eyes are reptilian and needle-toothed mouths that appear too large fr their faces. They have an Improved Grab attack, they can attack as a Swarm and have the Skittering weakness that makes them roll a Fear save when exposed to bright ling such as sunlight or the daylight spell.

In 5e there is an evolution of the gremishka which appeared in VRGtRavenloft. The gremishka is described as a miniature cat-like small monstrosity that somewhat with the skin of a rodent and ears resembling those of a bat that has razor-sharp teeth. They are born from unstable magic that hunt spellcasters. The most notable ability of a 5e gremishkas is their aptitude to react to any magic cast within 30 feet of them called Magic Allergy, which is usable 1/day and can cause them to either create a blast of magical energy, heal themselves, or split into a swarm of smaller gremishkas. The swarm has the ability of Spell Redirection. In response to a spell attack roll missing the swarm, the swarm causes that spell to hit another creature of its choice within 30 feet of it that it can see. A 5e gremishka swarm is also immune to 3rd or lower spells.

Although in older editions gremishkas were omnivore eating anything. from rats, cats, or dogs or even children, in 5e they devour magic. Due to being born from unstable magic, gremishka hunt for magic of any kind to devour. They prefer to live in places with ambient magical energy and will chew through any spellbooks and material components that they came across. They compulsively hunt down spellcasters and often infest their homes.

Which one of the three do you prefer? A combination perhaps?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I'm new to the fandom and only know the 5e Gremishkas, which I love.
How were Gremishkas created in older editions?

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

How were Gremishkas created in older editions?

In Domains of Dread for 3.5, their origin is not elaborated on, but they are listed as "magical beasts." They are far less supernatural in their abilities than the 5e version. It is possible that they are natural creatures with a little bit of inherent magic to them that lifts them above regular beasts, or that they were shaped by magical forces at some point in their evolution, but that would be up to the Dungeon Master. I don't know what older sources might say.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

https://2d4chan.org/wiki/Gremishka

https://adnd2e.fandom.com/wiki/Gremishka

[Mephisto of the FoS]

How were Gremishkas created in older editions?

In Castles Forlorn after the Year of Woe and the grabbing of the domain by the Mists, the people of Forfar who survived the tremors and were not druids were transformed into goblyns and their pets into gremishkas.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

How were Gremishkas created in older editions?

In Castles Forlorn after the Year of Woe and the grabbing of the domain by the Mists, the people of Forfar who survived the tremors and were not druids were transformed into goblyns and their pets into gremishkas.

Awesome!
Can you tell me more about Forlorn? I tried to understand what's the deal with that one, but Mistipedia is not very informative about it.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Like, I know Tristen ApBlanc's backstory. I just don't get the domain itself.

[Speedwagon]

From what I recall, Forlorn is a really good example of what I like to call "wilderness domains". These are domains in Ravenloft where there isn't a focus on the folk of the domain or on their culture, as much as there is on the monsters within a domain and the environmental hazards you and your PCs can face and overcome. I've heard Forlorn referred to as "gothic fantasy Vietnam" to describe how much the PCs would have to deal with, but Mephisto is correct in that there is a pretty interesting and haunting gothic story at the center of the domain with Tristen ApBlanc and his castle. The module Castles Forlorn by Lisa Smedman is quite well written (Lisa Smedman has written for quite a few books in the Ravenloft product line and she tends to get high marks from fans for the quality of her work) and there's a 5e conversion on DMsGuild by Igor Communale & a 5e re-interpretation/follow-up by Oliver "Darkshire" Clegg called Standing Forlorn that is also pretty good.

If you're looking for others' thoughts on Forlorn as described in the Ravenloft Gazetteers (Gaz I to be specific), here's a Let's Read thread that might be able to help: https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtop ... 60#p299260.

Hopefully this addresses some of what you're looking for!

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Like, I know Tristen ApBlanc's backstory. I just don't get the domain itself.

Forlorn is the Scottish Highlands in Ravenloft, cold, cloudy and damp, goblyns in kilts play altered cultural games of Scotland, an old crumbling castle sits over a lake with an undead Loch Ness Monster, Shakespear's Macbeth evidently appears as the "moving" Birnam Wood becoming both the ruined village of Birnam as well as a forests full of evil tree monsters such as evil treants, quickwoods etc. in fact the first evil treant was created when Azenwrath a treant protecting a sacred grove lost its sanity and became evil, being corrupted by Forlorn's soil. The forests of Forlorn are diseased and goblyns try to destroy all the remaining forests, leaving tree stumps and acres of damp muddy soil that makes walking hard and running next to impossible.

The Maw of Arawn an ancient volcano fumes toxic clouds and goblyns rever it as a sacred place. Wolves and worg wolves both living and dead stalk the forests and the living kind become mounts for the numerous murderous goblyns living in the domain. The domain and especially the castle are haunted by ghosts with Castle Tristenoira being so haunted that it defies time existing in three main timelines and another possible two (pre-castle and future). The only surviving people the druids hide from the goblyns who hunt them down and try to survive hoping for the day when they will restore the land.

Finally the domain's darklord has possibly the most tragic story in the Demiplane of Dread, I still remember the feeling of reading the Weeping Land in my room when I was 13. Castles Forlorn was the first Ravenloft product I bought after the Denizens of Ravenloft Ral Partha miniature boxed set and was amazed with how well written it was creating the perfect gothic atmosphere. Just to give an example the Castle's name Tristenoira while to us could be translated as "Tristen the Black" or noir such as film noir (a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity), in-world it translates in Barovian as "Eve of Sorrows". To have the castle's name having a different translation while at the same time stating the mysterious darklord's "unknown" name has enough conceptual information such as mystery, ancient secrets, nothing is as it appears etc.