Flumph — Telepathic Lantern of the Deep
A gentle telepathic aberration that feeds on stray thoughts, warns travellers of psychic predators and would rather flee than fight.
The flumph is one of the strangest creatures in the deep earth: a small, floating, jellyfish-like being with eyestalks, trailing tentacles and an instinctive awareness of telepathy. Unlike many aberrations, flumphs are usually benevolent. They gather near psychic creatures to feed on stray mental energy, and they often try to warn travellers when they sense predators such as Mind Flayers.
At a Glance
Run It Tonight
A flumph encounter should begin with a thought that is not the character’s own. The creature hovers just beyond torchlight, projecting warning images, fear, or the impression of something worse moving deeper underground. If attacked, it sprays foul musk and retreats rather than fighting to the death.
Rules by Edition
Flumph
Small Aberration, typically Lawful Good
AC 12; Initiative +2 (12)
HP 10 (3d6)
Speed 5 ft., Fly 30 ft. (Hover)
6 (−2)
15 (+2)
10 (+0)
14 (+2)
14 (+2)
11 (+0)
Skills Arcana +4, Insight +4, Religion +4
Vulnerability Psychic
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 12
Languages understands Undercommon but can’t speak; telepathy 60 ft.
CR 1/8 (25 XP); PB +2
Traits
Thought-Eavesdropper. The flumph notices telepathic communication occurring within 60 feet, though it does not automatically learn every detail unless the communication is directed through it.
Psychic Veil. The flumph has Advantage on saving throws against effects that read thoughts, emotions or intentions, and its mind can’t be detected through ordinary telepathic scanning.
Upside-Down Trouble. If the flumph gains the Prone condition, it also has the Incapacitated condition until the end of its next turn unless it succeeds on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw.
Actions
Acid Tendril. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) Acid damage.
Foul Spray (1/Day). One creature the flumph can see within 15 feet makes a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, it has the Poisoned condition for 1 minute. It repeats the save at the end of each turn, ending the effect on a success.
Warning Pulse (Recharge 5–6). One willing creature within 30 feet gains Advantage on its next Wisdom saving throw before the end of its next turn.
Flumph
Small aberration, lawful good
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 10 (3d6)
Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
6 (−2)
15 (+2)
10 (+0)
14 (+2)
14 (+2)
11 (+0)
Skills Arcana +4, Insight +4, Religion +4
Damage Vulnerabilities psychic
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages understands Undercommon but can’t speak, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Traits
Psychic Listener. The flumph becomes aware whenever a creature uses telepathy within 60 feet.
Guarded Mind. The flumph has advantage on saving throws against effects that read thoughts or emotions.
Awkward Flight. If knocked prone, the flumph is incapacitated until it succeeds on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw at the end of one of its turns.
Actions
Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) acid damage.
Stench Spray (1/Day). One creature within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Flumph CR 1
XP 400
LG Small aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7
Defense
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +4 natural, +1 size)
hp 9 (2d8)
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +5
Offense
Speed 5 ft., fly 20 ft. (perfect)
Melee sting +5 (1d4 plus acid injection)
Special Attacks stench spray
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 13
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Diplomacy +2, Fly +18, Perception +7, Sense Motive +3, Stealth +11
Languages Aklo, Common
Special Abilities
Acid Injection (Ex). A sting deals 1d4 Acid damage immediately and another 1d4 Acid damage on the following round. Water or a DC 15 Heal check can end the lingering effect.
Stench Spray (Ex). Once every 1d4 rounds, the flumph sprays a 20-foot line. Creatures struck make a DC 10 Fortitude save or are sickened for 5 rounds. At close range, it can concentrate the spray against one target, potentially causing nausea instead.
Ecology
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, pair or colony (4–16)
Treasure standard
Flumph
Small Aberration
Hit Dice 2d8 (9 hp)
Initiative +3
Speed 5 ft. (1 square), fly 20 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class 18 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple +1/−3
Attack sting +5 melee (1d4 plus acid)
Special Attacks acid injection, stench spray
Special Qualities darkvision 60 ft.
Saves Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities Str 10, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills Diplomacy +2, Listen +7, Spot +7, Hide +15
Feats Weapon Finesse
Environment underground or remote wilderness
Organization solitary, pair or colony (4–16)
Challenge Rating 1
Treasure standard
Alignment usually lawful good
Compatibility Note
This 3.5e block adapts the open Pathfinder chassis to 3.5e terminology. It is not presented as an official 3.5e SRD flumph.
Behaviour
Flumphs are cautious, social and unusually empathetic for aberrations. They prefer observation and communication to confrontation, often hovering at the edge of a traveller’s light while trying to decide whether contact is safe.
They are sensitive to nearby telepathy and often gather close to psychic predators because the mental activity provides food. That means a flumph sighting can be a warning that something much more dangerous is nearby.
Signs Before Initiative
- A soft coloured glow moves behind stone columns without footsteps.
- A character receives a warning image before hearing or seeing any creature.
- Several flumphs pulse their lights in the same rhythm while facing the same tunnel.
- Tracks are absent, but faint acid marks dot the stone where tentacles brushed the ground.
- A hidden colony has arranged rings, shells and minerals into geometric patterns.
If Violence Starts
A flumph tries to escape. Its stench spray is a deterrent, not an opening attack, and its acid tendrils are used only when cornered or defending another flumph. A colony scatters rather than forming a battle line.
Counterplay
The easiest way to deal with a flumph is not to attack it. Calm behaviour, telepathic communication and visible restraint can turn the encounter into an information exchange. Characters who smell foul after being sprayed should wash rather than chase the creature deeper into dangerous territory.
Colonies, Dreams and the Seeding
Flumph communities are structured, cooperative and unusually interested in dreams, omens and the night sky. They make pacts seriously, share resources and may use geometric cave paintings to record communal knowledge.
Pathfinder-era ecology also describes a remarkable reproductive migration called the Seeding. A community carries a chosen flumph high into the atmosphere, where it launches a protected egg-seed into space. The seed can remain dormant for extraordinary periods before eventually falling into warm water on another world and releasing aquatic larvae. This gives flumph colonies a plausible reason to appear on widely separated worlds without turning them into planar invaders.
Using a Flumph in an Encounter
The warning light. A lone flumph follows the party for hours, repeatedly projecting the same image of a tentacled face.
The silent colony. An entire flumph community has stopped communicating because something nearby can hear telepathy.
The falling seed. A strange object lands in a mountain lake and begins dissolving into harmless jelly around newly hatched flumph larvae.
The bad omen. A colony abandons its home after interpreting a celestial sign as an approaching psychic catastrophe.
Related Creatures
Flumphs frequently detect the activity of Mind Flayers, Aboleths and other psychic creatures in the Aberration Bestiary.
Rules Sources and Licensing
The Flumph is not included as an open monster stat block in SRD 5.1 or SRD 5.2.1. The 5e/2014 and 5.5e/2024 panels on this page are original compatibility adaptations built around the creature’s established identity rather than reproductions of closed-source Monster Manual statistics.
The Pathfinder 1e material derives from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3, © 2011 Paizo Publishing, LLC. The D&D 3.5e presentation is a compatibility adaptation of that open Pathfinder chassis.