The Black Knight is the best guard you can hire. He can kill almost anyone in a fight, and he's been known to insist that even the most grievous injuries are mere "flesh wounds." Instinct: Prevent any from passing

• Fight relentlessly
• Bite your legs off

Death isn't such a bad guy, really. He just needs to make sure that everything happens on schedule. In fact, he's been known to make deals from time to time, especially if he hears a real sob story. He's kind of tired of his job, to be honest, and probably wouldn't mind finding an apprentice to take over for him . . . Instinct: To move the universe towards its predestined conclusion

• Claim living souls
• Take the form of a lost loved one
• Call on the souls of the departed
• Teleport instantly to any point on any plane

Maxwell was once a physician, but an encounter with a mysterious drifter with juju eyeballs entrusted him with an ancient Silver Hammer. Now he is a deadly force of the absurd, luring the compassionate to their dooms with his charm and seemingly good intentions. The silver hammer he wields is a mysterious planar artifact not to be used lightly. Instinct: Lash out against those who would aid him

• Strike living things until they are dead
• Creep up from behind

The Nowhere Man is the sole living inhabitant of Nowhere Land, a terrible plane rendered gray and lifeless after a well-intentioned priest's attempt to remove the force of entropy also removed change and liveliness. The Nowhere Man has no goals of his own, but when he is accidentally summoned into the Dungeon World, unsuspecting humanoids often find themselves lulled into a magical sleep, becoming part of the Nowhere Man. Directionless, passionless, and blind, the Nowhere Man brings destruction in his wake purely incidentally. He doesn't know where he's going to, but pray it isn't in your direction. Instinct: To do nothing

• Instill apathy
• Magically inflict a state of blindness and consuion
• Turn humanoids into fixtures of Nowhere Land
• Return to Nowhere Land instead of dying

Slimes appear like little droplets with faces. They are usually blue, but they come in a variety of colors. They fill an unusual niche in their ecosystems; they feed almost exclusively on beginning adventurers. Once heroes have become more established, however, the slimes will usually prefer to socialize, often engaging in business and social transactions with more powerful adventurers. Instinct: To multiply

• Assail weak passerby
• Strategic retreat

Ancient and terrible, these shades dwell in the land of the dead and prey on those who would presume to wield necromancy. A wizard believing himself to be a "master of death" will have to contend with the dark mirror of his own hubris, his own pride turned into an unstoppable monster. Only the wisest wizards and their friends will be able to learn the monster's true nature in time to escape its terrible mastery. Instinct: Replace the souls of the living

• Pursue the proud
• Exploit a secret
• Possess the living
• Feed on fear and pride
• Move between the lands of the living and the dead

Not a true monster, the unicorn is as old as the sea, old as the moon. Protectors of forests, legend has it that only the truly pure of heart can approach a unicorn. Both beautiful and terrible, their horns have the power to slay dragons or bring a dying innocent back from the brink of Death's kingdom. Instinct: Preserve purity

• Heal the hurt
• Shatter dark magic

Born in darkness, the Forgotten Bane was once a human child wrongly imprisoned by a mad sorcerer-king. Tormented by years of occult experiments and the tragic hope of escape, the nameless child finally grew strong enough to escape and killed his captors. Now, fueled by alchemical elixirs and pure hatred, he returns to civilization to establish his own rule. He is relentless and treacherous, using his enemies' most secret weaknesses against them. If you face him, which will break first . . . your spirit, or your body? Instinct: Bring civilization to its reckoning

• Break them
• Find enemy's weakness
• Use lesser warriors as pawns.

A creature resembling a twisted turtle riding a floating cloud emblazoned with a mocking smile. It throws spiky balls at passers-by, hoping to impale its prey. Instinct: To harass

• Pelts travelers with projectiles from the sky
• Remains out of reach

These utterly vile entities hail from another branch of reality ruled by a Swordmage known only as "The Elder Brother." Created to serve some decadent and unspeakable purpose, perhaps merely a mad joke of the Elder Brother, these miniature cloth golems now simply wait for any creature unlucky enough to stumble into their lairs. Having the appearance of some sort of perverse puppets, they quickly prove to be something far more sinister . . . Instinct: Impudently defy authority

• Leap onto unsuspecting humanoids
• Pretend to be inanimate
• Pile them wrist-deep in impudent puppets
• Teleport when people aren't looking