Needleman

Greyhawk Creature

Needleman
A needleman illustrated by William O'Conner, MC Annual, vol 3 (1996).
General information
Size:	Medium
Alignment:	Neutral
Type:	Plant
Patron deity:	None
First appearance:	White Dwarf #6 (April 1978)

The Needleman (also known as needlefolk or needle blight) is a type of genderless, barely intelligent plant creature found in the Flanaess.

Description

A Needleman by Mike Dutton (2002).

Typical physical appearance

A Needleman by Tom Baxa (1990).

A Needleman is a humanoid plant creature which is sometimes confused with a human(oid) undead such as a zombie.

A covering of a needleman's "skin" is a layer of miniscule leaves which change with the seasons. They "appear ruddy green, mottled with browns and reds in autumn" and "green in spring and summer, red and yellow in autumn, and brown in winter" Because of their gauntness and shuffling gait, some assume they are undead, though they are not.

From a human perspective, the Needleman plant has a general body-shape which is more similar to the male human form than anything (thus the moniker "man"). Though it appears distinctly emaciated, it is not suffering from starvation or a similar condition, they simply have gauntly built arms, legs, etc., much like plants have branches and stems.

Abilities

Typically, a needleman or needle blight will attack with its thorny needles to strike an opponent, much as would an animal using its claws. They can also make a volley of needles burst forth, flying towrd an opponent.

""A needle blight lashes out with these needles or launches them as an aerial assault that can punch through armor and flesh.""

Possessions

In early editions, some needlemen wear "perhaps ceremonial" white robes. and others wear "tight-fitting yellow breechcloth" They are a plant creature without society and have no external sexual reproductive organs, making this behaviour seemingly peculiar to cover itself with human-style garments. Needlemen in clothing only appear in first and second editions.

Society

A true "society" is not something needlemen are capable of, due to being little more intelligent than wild animals.

"[Needlemen] have no appreciable society or culture. They live in the forest with no more social organization than trees or shrubs would have."

However, like some other plants, when threatened the needle blight releases a pollen that other needle blights can detect in the wind. It's possible if there are multiple needle blights in the area, a chance encounter with a needle blight can turn overwhelming in a very short time.

Relationships

Though needlemen do not have "parental" relationships, their seedling pods typically fall nearby, and it is therefore not uncommon to find groves of needlemen.

Enemies

While needlemen haven't a particular culture which would generate "hatred", they are known to favor the "flavor" of elves. They can "smell" elves at a great distance. It has been proposed this is a clue to the origin of needlemen.

Publication history

The first edition needleman first appeared in White Dwarf #6 (April/May 1978). Then, in White Dwarf #15 (Oct/Nov 1979), readers were asked to vote for their top ten "Fiend Factory" monsters. The top ten, including the needleman, were later reprinted in Best of White Dwarf Articles (1980). Needlemen then appeared in the original first edition Fiend Folio (1981).

The needleman appeared in second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for the Greyhawk setting in the Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix (1990), and was reprinted in Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (1996).

The Needleman appeared in third edition in Dragon #292 (February 2002), and later that year in Monster Manual II (Sep 2002). As was common during the era, needlemen became known as "needlefolk"—typical for monsters which previously used "man" in their names (beastfolk, lizardfolk, mongrelfolk, etc.) and which had society of some form and more than one gender. They are renamed again in fifth edition (see below).

In fifth edition, the "needlefolk" reappear as the "needle blight" and are amongst a class of similar plant creatures which includes tree-, twig-, and vine blights. The name-change is explicable, since they have no society and are not "folk", per se.

Gallery

• 
  Original needleman, by Polly Wilson (1978).
• 
  By Russ Taylor (1981).
• 
  By Tony Diterlizzi (2002).
• 
  By Conceptopolis (2014).

References

Bibliography

• Bonny, Ed, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman and Skip Williams. Monster Manual II. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002. Item code 88268.
• Boucher, Grant, , William W. Connors, Skip Williams, et al. MC5 Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990. Item code TSR2107.
• Pickens, John, ed. Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996. Item code TSR2166.
• Turnbull, Don. Fiend Folio. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1981. Item code TSR2012.

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

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
Needleman	Monster		Fiend Folio, AD&D 1e	67
Needleman	Monster		I7 Baltron's Beacon	13
Needleman	Monster		Monstrous Compendium - 1996 Annual, Volume 3	82
Needleman	Monster		MC5 Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix	Insert (Needleman), Encounter Tables
Needleman	Monster		1993 TSR Trading Cards - Gold Set	400
Needleman	Monster		White Dwarf #006	6, 7
Needleman	Monster		White Dwarf #BOV1	42