Phaerimm

Phaerimm are a species of aberrations native to the Forgotten Realms. They look sort of like big floating sunflowers with a conical stem that tapers into a stinger, a toothy maw at the flower's center, and four arms arranged radially around their head.

By and large, Phaerimm were malicious and delighted in lording over other creatures. Not surprisingly, they have a preference for mind-control and domination spells, and as a result individual Phaerimm will have a "retinue" of controlled creatures to order around.

Phaerimm are naturally powerful in magic, with Elder Phaerimm being more than a match for the Epic-level casters of Netheril (CL 21+). They also had a strong resistance to magic, and depending on the edition, also had the ability to reflect spells back on their caster.

An unfortunate side-effect of their magic however was the fact that it drained the moisture from the area around the caster. It is unknown if this gradual use of magic by the entire race over the course of thousands of years meant that they created the Anauroch desert, but as many would see later on, they would gleefully exacerbate its spread via life-drain magics.

Why would they do this? Setting aside that they were already sick bastards to begin with, they felt threatened by the flagrant use of magic by the arcanists of Netheril, which were destroying the Phaerimm's underground homes. The arcanists in turn did NOT appreciate seeing what little arable land the empire had left turned into a dustbowl.

The Phaerimm were finally put in their place, but NOT by the Netherese -- (the great arcanists Karsus, in trying to destroy the Phaerimm in one fell swoop instead destroyed the Netheril empire) -- instead the Sharn trapped the Phaerimm in the Anauroch, behind a magical barrier called the Sharn Wall. This halted the spread of the Anauroch as well, by the way.

Gallery

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  "Run!!! The flying tube sock's army approaches"

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  Mind flayers are no match for the powers of the tube sock

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  a classic magic duel, Netheril wizard vs tube sock

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