Fantastic Beasts and How to Slay Them: Niffler

Have you ever wanted a Bag of Holding that is also a fluffy, kleptomaniacal duck-billed platypus?

You… you haven’t? Oh… I guess great minds don’t always think alike.

Well, either way, it exists. And now they can be in your D&D game. An adorable, beaky thief with an extradimensional space in their itty bitty tummy.

Niffler

As written, the Niffler doesn’t actually have the belly space. Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them contains only a brief paragraph. It is the movie series that made the addition. So, to be true allow for accuracy to the lore (because that’s important to many) I have added this feature as a ‘variant’ rule, which a multitude of D&D monsters have.

I’m especially happy with the fact that it takes a lot more effort for the Niffler to remove items than it is to store them – probably more to do with reluctance than ability.

I could have also added details about the Niffler’s greed – the Niffler must make a Wisdom Saving Throw to fight the compulsion to steal all shiny things it can see – but that feels very much like a personality feature. I’ve always thought that Newt’s Niffler was especially greedy compared to the rest of his species. That little fellow has absolutely zero self-preservation when jewellery is present, to the extent that if all Nifflers were like that, they should absolutely be extinct by now.

Or at least been spotted in many more shop windows.

Thank You For Reading

Fantastic Beasts from A to M are now complete for your Dungeons & Dragons game, and can be found here.