Mi-Go — Fungal Scientists from the Dark Between Worlds
Extraterrestrial fungal scientists whose surgery, starflight and biological technology turn living beings into specimens, tools and servants.
The Mi-Go resemble insects or crustaceans only from a distance. Their bodies are fungal, their wing-like structures carry them through atmosphere and void, and their bulbous heads communicate through clicks, colour changes and unfamiliar sensory cues. They are explorers, miners, surgeons, colonists and experimenters whose understanding of biology and matter often looks like magic to terrestrial observers.
At a Glance
Run It Tonight
Mi-Go should fight like scientists protecting a field station, not like berserk insects. One stays mobile, another tries to restrain the most useful specimen, and a third withdraws with samples or equipment if the position becomes untenable. Their objective is often acquisition rather than slaughter.
Rules by Edition
Mi-Go
Medium Plant, typically Neutral Evil
AC 17; Initiative +5 (15)
HP 104 (16d8 + 32)
Speed 30 ft., Fly 50 ft.
16 (+3)
20 (+5)
15 (+2)
21 (+5)
14 (+2)
15 (+2)
Saving Throws Dex +8, Int +8
Skills Arcana +8, Deception +5, Medicine +8, Perception +5, Stealth +8
Resistances Fire, Lightning
Immunities Cold
Senses Blindsight 30 ft., Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 15
Languages Aklo, Common, Mi-Go; telepathy 60 ft.
CR 6 (2,300 XP); PB +3
Traits
No Breath. The Mi-Go does not need to breathe and is immune to inhaled poisons and other effects that require respiration.
Alien Surgeon. The Mi-Go has Advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks involving surgery, anatomy, alien technology or biological modification.
Starflight. Outside combat, the Mi-Go can enter a state of void flight capable of crossing planetary distances. This ability is for travel and cannot be used as tactical teleportation.
Actions
Multiattack. The Mi-Go makes three Claw attacks.
Claw. Melee Attack Roll: +8, reach 5 ft. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) Slashing damage. Once per turn, the Mi-Go can Grapple a Medium or smaller creature hit by this attack (escape DC 16).
Evisceration. One creature Grappled or Incapacitated by the Mi-Go takes 27 (6d8) Slashing damage and must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or begin bleeding for 10 (3d6) damage at the start of each of its turns. The bleeding ends when the creature receives magical healing or a creature succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check as an action.
Resonance Projector (Recharge 5–6). The Mi-Go projects a pulse at one creature within 60 feet. The target makes a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) Thunder damage on a failure or half as much on a success. On a failed save it is also pushed 15 feet.
Mi-Go
Medium plant, neutral evil
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 104 (16d8 + 32)
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft.
16 (+3)
20 (+5)
15 (+2)
21 (+5)
14 (+2)
15 (+2)
Saving Throws Dex +8, Int +8
Skills Arcana +8, Deception +5, Medicine +8, Perception +5, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances fire, lightning
Damage Immunities cold
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Aklo, Common, Mi-Go; telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Traits
No Breath. The Mi-Go does not breathe and is immune to inhaled poisons and effects that require breathing.
Alien Surgeon. The Mi-Go has advantage on checks involving surgery, anatomy, alien technology and biological modification.
Starflight. The Mi-Go can survive and travel through space, but this is a long-distance travel ability and provides no special combat movement beyond its fly speed.
Actions
Multiattack. The Mi-Go makes three claw attacks.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) slashing damage. Once per turn, the Mi-Go can grapple a Medium or smaller creature hit by a claw (escape DC 16).
Evisceration. One creature grappled or incapacitated by the Mi-Go takes 27 (6d8) slashing damage and must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) damage at the start of each of its turns from bleeding until healed or treated with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check.
Mi-Go CR 6
XP 2,400
NE Medium plant
Init +5; Senses blindsight 30 ft., low-light vision; Perception +12
Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural)
hp 66 (7d8+35)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +4
DR 5/slashing; Immune cold, plant traits; Resist electricity 10, fire 10
Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Melee 4 claws +10 (1d4+3 plus grab)
Special Attacks evisceration, sneak attack +2d6
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 20, Con 21, Int 25, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Atk +5; CMB +8 (+12 grapple); CMD 24 (32 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +18, Disable Device +12, Disguise +18, Fly +9, Heal +9, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (geography) +14, Perception +12, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +15
Languages Aklo, Common, Mi-Go; SQ deceptive, item creation, no breath, starflight
Special Abilities
Deceptive (Ex). Mi-Go gain a +4 racial bonus on Bluff and Disguise checks.
Evisceration (Ex). When a Mi-Go succeeds on a grapple check, it also deals its sneak attack damage. The victim must succeed on a DC 18 Fortitude save or take 1d4 ability damage chosen by the Mi-Go.
Item Creation (Ex). Mi-Go can manufacture biological and technological items that function as magic items. Their methods replace conventional spellcasting prerequisites but require unusual materials and increased construction cost.
No Breath (Ex). A Mi-Go does not breathe and is immune to inhaled poisons and effects dependent on respiration.
Starflight (Su). A Mi-Go can survive and travel through the void. Travel within a solar system takes months; interstellar journeys can take years.
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, scouting party (3–8), or invasion (9–16)
Treasure double
Mi-Go
Medium Plant
Hit Dice 7d8+35 (66 hp)
Initiative +5
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 50 ft. (good)
Armor Class 20 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple +5/+8
Attack claw +10 melee (1d4+3 plus improved grab)
Full Attack 4 claws +10 melee (1d4+3 plus improved grab)
Special Attacks evisceration, sneak attack +2d6
Special Qualities cold immunity, DR 5/slashing, fire resistance 10, electricity resistance 10, low-light vision, no breath, plant traits, starflight
Saves Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +4
Abilities Str 16, Dex 20, Con 21, Int 25, Wis 14, Cha 15
Skills Bluff +18, Disable Device +12, Disguise +18, Heal +9, Hide +15, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (geography) +14, Listen +12, Move Silently +15, Spellcraft +14, Spot +12
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, scouting party or invasion
Challenge Rating 6
Treasure double
Alignment usually neutral evil
Evisceration (Ex)
Whenever the Mi-Go succeeds on a grapple check, it can deal its sneak attack damage and force a DC 18 Fortitude save. Failure deals 1d4 points of ability damage of the Mi-Go’s choice.
Alien Technology
Mi-Go devices can be represented by existing magic items given fungal, surgical or crystalline forms. Characters unfamiliar with Mi-Go technology take a −5 penalty on checks made to identify or activate such devices until they have gained practical experience with them.
No Breath and Starflight
Mi-Go do not breathe and can survive in vacuum. Their wings and alien physiology allow long-duration travel through space, but starflight operates on travel time rather than combat rounds.
Behaviour
Mi-Go rarely act from hatred. They assess a settlement, organism or mineral deposit according to usefulness. A person might be ignored, questioned, dissected, recruited or reduced to a transportable brain depending on what the Mi-Go need from the encounter. This emotional distance makes bargaining possible but never comfortable.
They communicate among themselves with clicking pincers and changing colours across the head. Spoken voices are possible but crude by comparison, used mainly when dealing with creatures that cannot interpret Mi-Go signals.
Signs Before Initiative
- Mountain caves contain smooth cuts or boreholes no local tool can reproduce.
- Animals disappear without blood trails, while selected organs or bones are left behind.
- Unfamiliar alloys and translucent fungal membranes turn up among otherwise ordinary mining equipment.
- Witnesses hear buzzing speech but describe colours moving across the speaker’s head at the same time.
- A sealed room contains a living brain preserved in a cylinder or biological vessel.
- Heavy labour is being performed by altered creatures such as Greogs.
If Violence Starts
Mi-Go take the air whenever space permits. They use superior mobility to choose the angle of attack, grapple isolated targets and perform evisceration only when a victim is controlled. They understand the value of equipment and escape routes and will abandon lesser servants rather than die defending a laboratory that can be rebuilt.
A scouting party is more dangerous than a collection of identical stat blocks. One specimen carries samples, another protects the route to the sky, and a third uses specialised technology. Capturing or destroying the right Mi-Go can matter more than reducing every creature to zero hit points.
Counterplay
Force the Mi-Go into confined spaces where flight matters less. Their cold-adapted fungal biology makes cold a poor choice in the PF1e and 3.5e versions, while fire and electricity are resisted but not ignored. In fifth edition, changing damage types is less important than denying grapples and preventing isolated characters from being surgically disabled.
Their reliance on equipment is also exploitable. A field station can be made far less dangerous by identifying power sources, surgical controls and communications devices before the Mi-Go realise intruders understand what those objects do.
Colonies, Science and Servitors
Mi-Go strongholds favour remote mountains and cave systems with access to mineral wealth and open sky. Laboratories grow into mines, specimen vaults, fungal chambers and launch sites. Biological engineering produces servants suited to the environment, including Greogs designed for heavy labour and restraint.
Mi-Go activity is not limited to a single historical period. Their capacity for starflight, long-range colonisation and suspended biological transport allows individual operations to vanish for ages and reappear when a world again becomes useful.
Mi-Go Technology
Mi-Go tools blur the line between magic, surgery and engineering. A healing device may be a living injector. A weapon may be a crystalline emitter threaded with nerves. A container may preserve a brain while allowing it to communicate across enormous distances.
For older-edition games, an unfamiliar character takes a −5 penalty on Spellcraft or Use Magic Device checks involving Mi-Go equipment until practical familiarity removes the penalty. In fifth edition, use Intelligence (Arcana) or Wisdom (Medicine) depending on whether the device is primarily energetic or biological.
Using Mi-Go in an Encounter
The brain shipment. A caravan unknowingly carries sealed biological cylinders whose occupants are still conscious.
The mountain lights. Shepherds report coloured lights rising from a cave on moonless nights. The missing livestock are not being eaten.
The labour force. A mine becomes extraordinarily productive after new owners arrive. Nobody outside the compound has seen the workers.
The returning expedition. Explorers return from a remote peak apparently unharmed, but one now carries a Mi-Go transmitter beneath the skin.
Related Creatures
Mi-Go fleshcraft directly produces the Greog. Their alien biology also places them beside creatures such as the Elder Thing. Browse the Plant Bestiary for fungal and plant creatures, or return to the World Bestiary.
Sources
The Mi-Go originate in weird-fiction literature and were adapted to Pathfinder in Pathfinder Adventure Path #46: Wake of the Watcher. This page uses the Pathfinder presentation as the mechanical anchor while keeping the creature’s fungal extraterrestrial identity.
Rules Sources and Licensing
Pathfinder Adventure Path #46: Wake of the Watcher. © 2011 Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Greg A. Vaughan.
The PF1e block follows the open rules material previously used on this page. The 5.5e/2024, 5e/2014 and D&D 3.5e presentations are compatibility adaptations created for this entry and are not official versions of the Mi-Go for those editions.