Cursed from Birth. Curses lie as a part of our world, sometimes just as benign as a harmless trick from a wronged fairy, turning the milk sour. Most believe that curses only strike the wrongdoers and sinners, but the truth is that our words and actions can have more power and consequences that we often realize. The story of a botchling is always a sad and gripping tale, as it was cursed from the very moment it entered this world. A botchling hideous outer appearance, a partially-decayed fetus twisted with hatred and malice, can almost be seen as a metaphor for the ugliness of its predicament, it rises from pure sadness and devastation: the corpse of an unwanted infant abandoned in the wild or from a stillborn baby unnamed and discarded without funeral rites.

Dark Beacon. At times of famine, one more mouth to feed can spell the end for an entire family. Giving birth to an illegitimate child, or gods forbid, a tiefling, could bring shame and accusation of witchcraft to the parents. Sadly, there are many reasons for a child to be abandoned, each more heartbreaking than the last. The feeling of utter abandonment and the complete absence of love that defines the botchling make it glow like a dark beacon for wraiths that are born from powerful negative emotions. As a result, many elements of folklore give to botchling the power to rise or control the undead in some manner, but in truth it is merely a side effect of the botchling’s emotions flaring when it becomes agitated.

Hunger for Love. The botchling has a feverish hunger for maternal love, a fact that reflects in its feeding habits. A botchling will emerge from its lair at night to lurk by the bedside of an expectant mother, draining her strength and that of her unborn progeny as she sleeps. A woman thus beleaguered first suffers from troubling dreams, then fever, delirium and a general weakening of the flesh. After a few such nights she is enfeebled and unable to defend herself – it is then the botchling attacks directly, sinking its long, sharp fangs into her body and drinking her blood until mother and fetus perish together.

Undead Nature. A botchling doesn't require air, drink or sleep.

The Power of Names

The only way to save a botchling’s soul is when one of its parents embraces it as its own, ceremonially names it and buries it under the hearth of the family estate. This rite will put the spirit to rest so it can emanate as a lubberkin, a guardian spirit that watches over the family it never knew and the household it never could call its home. However, attempting this rite isn’t without risks. Firstly, subduing the botchling itself can prove difficult, and secondly its cries during the rite will attract all sorts of hostile specters and undead. Finally, there is always a chance that a greater wraith called a night maiden will claim the botchling as her own, turning the botchling into a myling.