![]() ![]() Curiously, the text specifies that when reduced to 3 or fewer hit points a will-o’-wisp can be forced to reveal its treasure. Scattered through Supplement I are the will-o’-wisp’s substantial hit dice (9), excellent armor class (-8!), zippy movement speed (18), damage (2-12 points of electricity damage if cornered), number appearing (just one), chance of being found in a lair (1%) and treasure type (A, which mean potentially thousands of copper, silver and gold as well as a 50/50 chance to find 6d6 gems or items of jewelry plus a 40% chance of any three magic items). ![]() We don’t get a good explanation of the nature of a will-o’-wisp but we do get some statistics and some insight into how wisps behave. ![]() The Dungeons & Dragons version of the will-o’-wisp made its debut in the 1975 Supplement I: Greyhawk, where they are known as “will o’ wisps” (no hyphens). It is no surprise that the translation of will-o’-wisp in many languages is “ghost light”. Many cultures view will-o’-wisps as some sort of spirit or phantom one Colombian story, for example, claims a will-o’-wisp is a flaming, ghostly grandmother. In Brazil wisps are the fiery eyes of a serpent that only eats the eyes of others. In some Mexican folklore, it is witches who transform into these marsh lights. In European folklore, will-o’-wisp are viewed as related to fairies or elemental spirits. The illustration above is a portion of an 1882 painting titled Das Irrlicht by Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin. A will-o’-wisp is sometimes referred to using the Latin ignis fatuus, (“foolish fire”), but this is a translation from the German Irrlicht (“wandering light” or “wrong light”), first coined in the 16th century to lend intellectual credibility to the German name. Other English names include friar’s lantern, ghost-light, hinkypunk, hobby lantern, jack-o’-lantern, and spook-light. Hence a will-o’-wisp was originally a ne’er-do-well named Will who was doomed to wander the marshlands carrying a torch as penance for his misdeeds. Will-o’-wisp (sometimes written as “will-o’-the-wisp” and with both the hyphens and the apostrophe seemingly optional) is a composite of the name “Will”, and the word “wisp” meaning a bundle of straw or hay used as a torch. ![]()
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