Thankfully for the Nothic, 4th Edition expands on them with their release in the Monster Manual 2 (2009), these guys are just moving on up. No longer consigned to a random book, but now in an official Monster Manual! There are three types of Nothics listed and even the lowly Cackler is a much more fearsome creature that the 3rd edition Nothic. The other two, the Nothic Mindblight and Nothic Eye of Vecna are not creatures that you want to encounter alone, and it's not just because any creature that has the name Vecna in it can’t be good.

Nothics are not native to the planes, where they orginated from is not known, but many believe that they arrived here by hitching a ride on pieces of the Far Realm, floating aimlessly until finding their way to the Planes and the Material World. Vague but interesting backstory, we wish this was expanded upon, but alas this is the only tidbit we receive about the origins of these twisted creatures.

Physically, the Nothic remains a pathetic creature, with long, dangling arms and a giant, bulging eye that takes up a majority of its head. They don’t hop now but walk with a strange uneven gait. We aren’t sure that is better or worse, but it adds to the general creepiness to the creature for sure. Mentally, the Nothic has a loose grip on reality and is borderline insane, as floating around the Far Realms would probably drive anyone out of their minds, but the assumption is that the Nothics were already mad before then.

While these are not the traits most people want in their pets, people of great power have been known to keep a Nothic around, if for nothing other their own amusement. Even more appealing to their masters is that the Nothic is loyal to a fault. If their master is attacked, they will launch themselves at the enemy with a fury that is matched only by its insanity. One of the great things about being insane is that you never know what you are going to do next, and this applies doubly to the Nothic. Whether laughing like a manic at nothing at all or running full speed into a stone wall, the Nothic’s unpredictable actions make it a form of twisted entertainment. It’s a strange choice for a court jester, but the cruel and evil find them amusing.

When it comes to fighting the Nothic, 4th edition makes the scenario much more interesting. New abilities and stronger attacks make them a creature that can no longer be dismissed as a minor nuisance. While their physical attacks may not be any stronger than their 3rd edition counterparts, they gain new abilities that make them much harder to subdue. The Cackler Nothic has four new abilities, three of which originate from their giant middle eye. Mind Rot and Maddening Cackle are attacks that can push their enemies away or a charm effect that causes the target to attack a creature of the Nothic’s choice. Rotting Gaze gives us the bump up in strength that we wished for the Flesh-Rotting Gaze in 3e, doing necrotic damage along with weakening the target so that they take a penalty to all their defenses. The last ability is Distorted Visage, a small buff ability that increases its AC.

The Nothic Mindblight is considered the laziest of the Nothics, but that doesn’t make it a slouch at all, instead, it uses its eye effects to hunt at prey that is far away and only gets closer when the target is weakened enough for it to munch down without much of a fight. It gets three of its own special abilities, the Eye of Insanity, Necrotic Eye and Mesmerizing Visage. Psychic damage is still the name of the game for the Nothic, but its abilities now include charm and fear effects. Each one of these abilities is is stronger than its Cackler’s counterpart. Add onto that a higher AC and more hit points and this droll and lazy Nothic should not be underestimated.

With the name Eye of Vecna, you know this creature is not going to be a pushover. While these creatures are still reduced to being the insanely loyal court jester, they do so for those who worship Vecna. They are connected to Vecna because the maimed god has granted them abilities beyond those of the Cackler and Mindblight. In turn, Vecna can see through the eye of anyone of these Nothics, making them invaluable to the god of secrets. Its eye abilities are limited to just one, Eye Rot, which when the Nothic hits a creature with it, the Nothic becomes invisible to the target. This directly plays into its invisible advantage ability. When the Nothic is invisible to a creature and hits them, it grants an attack of opportunity to an ally to hit the same creature, which feels a bit mean. Despite the new powers given to them by Vecna, they are still the babbling idiots that the other Nothics are, and they often talk to other Nothics and people in incoherent languages.

5e - Nothic