Nishruu

A nishruu, also known as an eater of magic, was a large, misty creature, which was originally from another plane.

Description
Nishruus resembled red spheres that glowed and pulsed regularly. They were large creatures that had mist-like forms, and were sometimes referred to as "magic-eaters". A more vicious form of nishruu was a subrace known as hakeashars.

Behavior
As a gaseous mist, nishruus could pass through narrow openings and small holes, and also took reduced damage because of their swirling form. They were silent, and moved towards the highest concentration of magic within 60 ft (18.2 m). They could be summoned to the Prime Material plane by powerful mages.

Combat
Eaters of magic didn't use physical attacks, and in fact didn't even interact with them. Standard attacks went straight through them, unless they were magically enchanted. However, nishruus moved without fear towards such enchanted weapons, and thus were a bane to both those with and those without access to magic or magical items.

Other creatures could stand within the globular mist of the nishruu without taking damage, unless they were somehow attuned to magic. Nishruus were horrific for spellcasters to face in battle. The creatures absorbed all incoming damaging spells, gaining health for the amount of damage the spells would have done. The only exceptions were fire and cold spells, which dealt damage but then were immediately dissipated.

As well as absorbing damaging spells, non-damaging spells directly healed nishruus; the more powerful the spell, the more health gained. Mind-control spells as well as illusion spells had no effect on these magic eaters. Even magical weapons couldn't last against nishruus, as every few seconds, the creature would drain multiple charges from them.

If an opponent was surrounded by such creatures, they found they could not even use magic items immediately, such as scrolls and potions. Magical artifacts also had no effect. However, out of all the known items, only a ring of spell turning or rod of absorption had a chance of affecting nishruus, although they had a one-in-twenty chance to actually hurt them, otherwise, the item was negated.

Spellcasters lost one random prepared spell when inside the red globes of nishruus. Every six seconds inside the shroud, they lost another spell until entirely drained, and had a chance to become feebleminded.

If adventurers were lucky enough to carry bags of salt around with them, they found that they could damage nishruus by lobbing a handful towards the crimson mist. This would deal moderate poison damage if continuously applied. If finally slain, their bodies would dissipate and charge the surrounding magical items.

Ecology
Nishruus were solitary wanderers, and could not voluntarily transfer magical spells or charges to other beings. They only fed on magic, and drifted endlessly in search of sources, whether it be items or mages themselves. No limit on energy absorption was known, and no nishruus were known to starve from lack of magic. It was believed that nishruus were also sustained by moisture and sunlight, as would a plant.

History
Nishruus originated from another plane, but came to Faerûn in search of magical energies. These misty outsiders were first discovered in Faerûn on the Moonshae Isles, but were found in other places where magic was practiced or highly active. Thayan enclaves struggled with the presence of nishruus throughout their history.

In 1355 DR, the Sceptanar of Cimbar sent envoys to Cormyr, Sembia, and the Dalelands, seeking accounts of the assault on Scornubel by a nishruu. He offered much to those who could send the nishruu trapped under his home back to its home plane without catastrophic results.

The twin brothers Tarik and Chaid al Farid al Fuqani, young apprentices at Blackstaff Tower, used floating disks to destroy an invading nishruu on Uktar 28 of by dumping salt upon the creature.

Notable Nishruus

 * Syluné's Warden, a powerful nishruu summoned by Esvele Greycastle

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Halls of the High King • Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land
 * Novels
 * Blackstaff
 * Video games
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal • Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition