Grimlock

Greyhawk Creature

Grimlock
A grimlock, as depicted in the Monster Manual (2000).
General information
Type:	Monstrous humanoid
First appearance:	Fiend Folio (1981)

Grimlocks are a race of monstrous humanoids that live in the Underdark.

Ecology

Grimlocks prefer to keep to themselves, but their isolation is often disrupted when mind flayers raid their packs looking for slave fodder or, as more often is the case, their mushroom fields are razed and their water cisterns are drained by drow. This leaves the grimlocks starving and desperate, and they are forced to raid surface communities in order to survive. For this reason, grimlocks are hated and feared by surface dwellers.

Grimlocks prefer fresh meat and fish, but they will live on fungi, insects, and even resort to cannibalism if they need to. They do not permit weak members of their tribes to survive.

Grimlocks act xenophobically toward other races, as they are fed on by mind flayers, enslaved by both drow and mind flayers alike, and subjected to extreme depravity by aboleth.

Environment

Grimlocks are found in various underground environments. Though native to the Underdark, grimlock enclaves are sometimes found closer to the surface, as was the case with Grallak Kur's band, discovered in 595 CY beneath Diamond Lake.

Typical physical characteristics

Grimlocks are humanoid creatures with slightly scaled, gray skin that is usually scarred from hunts through constricted passageways. Perhaps the most striking feature of a grimlock is the complete absence of eyes or eye sockets. Blank skin stretches across the upper face, giving grimlocks a shadowed, masked visage. However, their exceptional senses of hearing and smell more than compensate for their lack of vision.

The average height for a grimlock, male or female, is five to five and a half feet. The average weight is around 180 pounds. They mature within three years.

Grimlocks scarify their bodies with unique spiral patterns describing their names and biographies. They use these scars to help identify one another by touch.

Alignment

Grimlocks are often neutral evil.

Society

Grimlock society is organized along tribal lines. They tend to have intense distrust toward any race other than their own. They sometimes build fortress-settlements far from other races. Used to being exploited or raided by other races, they find it very difficult to trust anyone. Their language has no word for "friend," but they have the concept of an ally or brother. Very rarely, a bond of absolute trust between two grimlocks or even a grimlock and non-grimlock will develop.

Grimlock art is usually based on touch, scent, and moisture level. They normally create sculptures or etchings carved into stone walls. They also manipulate the flow of wind in the caves to create mournful music.

Religion

Grimlocks worship Pyremius, though some tribes have been known to revere Erythnul. Some grimlocks worship powerful beings of the underoerth such as aboleths, medusae (who value their immunity to the medusa gaze attack), and dragons, serving them in exchange for protection.

Language

Grimlocks speak Grimlock, a patois of Terran and Undercommon.

History

According to Dragon #327, grimlocks were originally surface-dwelling barbarians with stonelike skin. After enduring their bloodthirsty raids for generations, other races eventually united to drive them into the underoerth. There they managed to survive, though many became enslaved by mind flayers, who bred them like cattle, augmented them with their profane sciences, and sometimes sold them to other slave-holding races of the depths.

The grimlocks of the illithid-created world of Penumbra are descendants of the forerunners of the githyanki and githzerai species, transformed by mind flayer science into something very different. The mind flayers brought these grimlocks to the many worlds of their empire as their thralls.

Creative origins

Grimlocks were created by Albie Fiore for White Dwarf Magazine.

Publishing history

Grimlocks appeared in 1981's Fiend Folio.

External links

Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.

• SRD stats for grimlocks.

Bibliography

• Boyd, Eric L. Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1999.
• Brown, Lloyd III. "Primitive PC's." Dragon #265. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1999.
• Cordell, Bruce. Dawn of the Overmind. Renton, WA: TSR, 1998.
• Cordell, Bruce R, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick. Underdark. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
• Hart, Mark A. "Ecology of the Grimlock." Dragon #327. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
• Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994.
• Turnbull, Don, ed. Fiend Folio. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1981.
• Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
• Williams, Skip, et al. Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
Grimlock	Monster		Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, D&D 4e	3, 6, 8, 14, 27, 32, 53, 92, 93, 121, 158
Grimlock	Monster		Fiend Folio, AD&D 1e	48
Grimlock	Monster		Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad, AD&D 2e	63, 64, 66, 70, 88
Grimlock	Monster		MC14 - Monstrous Compendium - Fiend Folio Appendix	Insert (Grimlock)
Grimlock	Monster		Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e	175
Grimlock	Monster		White Dwarf #041	29