Nothic

Nothics were one-eyed, twisted aberrations that were extremely erratic and malevolent.

Description
Nothics resembled hunched, misshapen humanoids with an awkward gait. Their most distinctive feature was the large, single eye that dominated their face.

Behavior
Nothics were utterly insane and almost as evil, capering and gibbering in and out of combat for no apparent reason.

Abilities
Nothics' main magical gifts were focused in their eyes: they possessed both darkvision and truesight, and their gaze could rot the flesh of other creatures. Some nothics could unleash other necrotic or psychic attacks to damage foes, and certain individuals could mentally dominate a target as well. Yet other nothics could magically learn a secret about a target via some weird insight.

Combat
Nothics could attack with their claws, but were not particularly adept at doing so, prefering to rely on their strange magical abilities to disable opponents before killing them.

Ecology
Nothics were aberrant creatures variously said to have drifted into the Material plane from the Far Realm, or to have been created from wizards who, in their research of arcane secrets, stumbled across a curse left by Vecna (a curse later also used by the lich Acererak ). If the latter was true, then nothics retained no awareness of their former selves but were nonetheless driven by half-remembered memories and desires they no longer understood.

They were known to live in underground ruins and caverns as solitary predators, or to serve more powerful creatures that found their erratic behavior amusing. Such behavior generally made them seem more like a pet than the torturer-jester they were normally "employed" as, but their lack of sanity meant they would perform functions that other creatures refused to consider. Nothics were also sometimes found in cults of Vecna; it was said that such nothics had a strong psychic connection to the deity they served and that he could, if he focused, see through their eyes.

Nothics were also known to be drawn to places of magical learning, infiltrating and lurking inside such places. Their insanity gave them a strange understanding of forbidden lore and secrets, and they coveted magic items. It was said they were drawn to such places out of a half-understood obsession with reversing their condition- and that some understood the obsession as a false hope and a lesson for their folly.

History
Some of the few Netherese spellcasters that survived the destruction Ythryn became afflicted with a malady known as the arcane blight. These unfortunate souls were transformed into nothics, running rampant across the frozen necropolis for centuries.

In the, a nothic inhabited a crevasse within a hideout occupied by the Redbrands in Phandalin, lured to the location by an emanation of magic. The creature had struck a deal with the Redbrands to guard the location in exchange for food and treasure.

In the late 15 century DR, groups of nothics wandered the surroundings of Neverlight Grove, attracted by the growing influence of Zuggtmoy in the region.

Notable Nothics

 * Wyx, a nothic who served the Cult of the Eternal Flame.
 * Acererak's devotees, a group of wizards who became nothics after trying to decipher their master's secrets.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Shards of Selûne • That Which Never Sleeps • Lost Mine of Phandelver • Curse of Strahd • Princes of the Apocalypse • Out of the Abyss • Tomb of Annihilation • Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus • Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
 * Video Games
 * Board Games
 * Tyrants of the Underdark: Aberrations and Undead
 * Tyrants of the Underdark: Aberrations and Undead