Few creatures in the Dungeons & Dragons bestiary evoke such a level of existential horror in our minds as the gibbering mouther. These Chatty Cathys sludge their way through dungeons as an unrecognizable hodge-podge of their former victims. But have you ever wondered what happens when a gibbering mouther combines with another gibbering mouther, or two, or six?

Let’s visit one of the more insatiable aberrations introduced in Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, the flesh meld. Yes, you read that right. Flesh. Meld. A name that serves as both a title and an extremely apt description of a monster.

• I Call the Big One Bitey
• Flesh Meld Traits
• Using the Fled Meld in Your Game
• A Word on Hard and Soft Limits

I Call the Big One Bitey

Artist: VICKI PANGESTU

A flesh meld is the cutesy name for when gibbering mouthers combine into a slightly more intelligent aberration that realizes it is spending far too much time on that whole “shouting out from all these mouths” business and not enough on chewing. Namely, chewing on adventurers who may find themselves entering the flesh meld’s lair.

Every sinewy appendage that finds its way out of this Huge-size aberration is yet another mouth with an unacceptable number of teeth ready to offer you an invitation to join the fun. And by fun I mean, an existence as yet another tube of flesh, mouth, and teeth ready to find even more friends to feed upon.

Traits of These Hungry, Hungry Horrors

What makes a flesh meld worthy of its Challenge Rating (CR) of 7?

It has a slightly higher Armor Class than its smaller compatriot, but is a lot quicker, with a movement and climbing speed of 30 feet. It’s also pretty limber; it’s able to slide its fleshy form through a gap as narrow as a single inch without squeezing. If you see one of these things coming toward you, move quickly because its Aura of Death trait inflicts 1d6 necrotic damage and the poisoned condition on each creature within 5 feet of it that fails a Constitution saving throw.

On top of this, the flesh meld can bite twice, and grapple and pull you in as it does.

What really makes the flesh meld a fright though is its signature bonus action, Consume Creature. It’s exactly what it sounds like: The flesh meld can target any Large or smaller creature that it’s grappling within 5 feet of itself, and make a hearty meal out of them. The swallowed creature then finds themselves restrained and blinded and taking 10 (3d6) necrotic damage at the start of their turn. If this damage reduces a swallowed creature to 0 hit points, not only do they die, but the flesh meld also consumes their body.

So, an important safety tip: Don’t get too close to the flesh meld.

Using the Flesh Meld in Your Game

So you’ve got these big piles of flesh lying around the house… er, dungeon. Absent of letting one devour you so you can join its sinewy abyss, here are some other options for their use.

Body, Body, Body Horror

For those who are particularly repulsed by body horror (it’s me, hi) the flesh meld is a particularly gruesome new baddie to face or throw at players. I found myself caught by the fact that its body description was “teeth, blood, and body parts.” Not specific body parts, no. The general concept of body parts. As in the maybe still recognizable body parts of whomever it ate. The sheer nastiness of this creature and the way it consumes its prey make it the perfect creature to unsettle a table.

Simultaneously the Best and Worst Pet

The increase in a flesh meld's Intelligence over its smaller counterpart means that it now falls more in the range of monsters and beasts that can follow the occasional order. While it doesn’t speak any languages itself, it does understand all of them, so a dungeon dweller will know that it can hear and process their instructions.

While the idea of simply wandering into a huge mound of flesh that eats you is terrifying, the idea of someone calling it their pet and trying to train it and take care of it so that they can send it after you is so much more scary and will tell your party a lot about their adversary. (And frankly, tell you a lot about your players if they start asking to make one of them their pet.)

A Gruesome Solution to a Mystery

Given the flesh meld’s aptitude for absorbing its victims, the reveal of one could be a clever—albeit extremely dark and disturbing—reveal at the end of a story about a mysterious disappearance. If the party is in search of a missing person, a flesh meld is a way that they could technically find them.

Leveling Up a Familiar Threat

While the gibbering mouther is a familiar creepy crawler, it is still a CR 2 creature, so it will mostly only be a threat to lower-level adventuring parties. The flesh meld takes the creepy factor of this lower-tier monster and adapts it into a different kind of threat, one that is CR 7. This makes it a true danger for early-level characters who might wander into its path. It remains a danger even for those who have started tier-2 play (levels 5–10).

A Word on Hard and Soft Limits

I’ll be honest here, if I was hearing about a flesh meld for the first time being described by a Dungeon Master at the table, I might have to get up and walk away for a moment. But that brings us to an important note: Every D&D player has their hard and soft limits when it comes to gameplay. That’s why it’s important for DMs to hold a discussion ahead of time, such as during a session zero, about what things their players are comfortable with being included in an adventure. By respecting limits, you can help ensure everyone has a good time at the table, especially during moments of horror.

For more about the new threats and aberrations that await the town of Phandalin, check out Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk.

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.