Monster Ecology: Succubus

Monster Ecology: Rot Grub

Campaign Diary Three

Monster Ecology: Bugbear

Monster Ecology: Intellect Devourer

Monster Ecology: Bebilith and Pale Night

Monster Ecology: Goblin

Campaign Diary: Session Two

Grabbing some interesting ideas for quick planar modifiers.

• Acheron. A creature gains 10 temporary hit points whenever it reduces another creature to 0 hit points.
• Arborea. Plants in the zone act at the start of the initiative order. Any evil creature within 5 feet of a sizable plant, such as a tree or bush, must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is restrained by the plant. The restrained creature can use its action to break free by making a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
• Arcadia. Creatures are immune to disease and any creature suffering from a disease is instantly cured upon entering the overlap zone.
• The Abyss. Demons know the exact whereabouts of any non-evil creature within 100 feet of them.
• The Beastlands. Any beasts gain a +2 bonus to AC and all creatures have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
• The Blood Fields. The protection from evil and good and dispel evil and good have no effect.
• Bytopia. At the end of a short or long rest, creatures of a lawful good or neutral good alignment gain 20 temporary hit points.
• Carceri. When entering the overlap zone, all creatures must succeed on a DC 10 Charisma saving throw. Creatures who fail feel a rush of despair which lasts with them as long as they remain in the overlap zone and stays with the creature for a 24-hour period after leaving the overlap zone. This despair imposes disadvantage on all saving throws.
• Elysium. Creatures in the overlap zone cannot be frightened.
• Feywild. Spells which deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage deal an extra 5 damage per spell level of that damage type.
• Gehenna. Creatures gain advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks.
• Hades. It takes twice as long to gain the benefit of a short or long rest.
• Limbo. Any solid ground in the area is constantly quaking. Once per hour all standing creatures must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and the ground around them shakes and moves.
• Mechanus. Any creature who tries to lie must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be compelled to tell the truth.
• Mount Celestia. The conjure celestial spell has a duration of 8 hours and does not require concentration.
• Murderfall. When a creature scores a critical hit, it rolls all of the attack’s damage dice three times and adds them together with any modifiers to calculate damage.
• The Nine Hells. Devils know the exact whereabouts of any non-evil creature within 100 feet of them.
• Pandemonium. Strong winds in the area prevent creatures from flying higher than 10 feet off the ground.
• Plane of Air. Creatures without a fly speed gain a fly speed equal to their walking speed. Creatures with a fly speed have their fly speed doubled.
• Plane of Earth. While in the zone, an effect that would normally kill a creature instead causes it to regain hit points equal to its hit point maximum and become a petrified stone statue.
• Plane of Fire. Spells and attacks which deal fire damage, deal an extra 10 fire damage.
• Plane of Water. Creatures can breathe underwater and creatures with a swim speed have their swim speed doubled.
• Savalization. Civilized (as determined by the DM) humanoids have disadvantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws and ability checks.
• Shadowfell. Undead creatures resist all damage except bludgeoning and radiant.
• Stryfe. Creatures who die are targeted by a reincarnate spell.
• Ysgard. A creature heals 5 hit points whenever it reduces another creature to 0 hit points.

Monster Ecology: Obyrith

TMG: Mail Bag

Campaign Diary: session one

Monsterology of the Abyss

Monsterology: The Dexterity Statistic

Monster Ecology: Vampire

Monster Ecology: Dao

Monster Ecology: Marid

Monster Combat: Legendary and Lair Actions

Mighty Gluestick: Origin Story

Monster Ecology: Efreeti

How to Make: Easy Tabletop Trees.

Monsterology: Monster Mental Stats

Monster Ecology: Yuan-ti

Video Response: Who Goes to Hell?

Monster Ecology: Bone Devil

Monster Ecology: Nymph

Monster Ecology: Cockatrice

Official Announcement : God Forge

Monster Ecology: Manticore

Monster Combat: Mobs

Monster Ecology: Death knight

Monster Ecology: Cloaker

Monster Ecology: Stirge

Monster Ecology: Rast

Monsterology of Constructs

Monster Ecology: Lizardfolk

Monster Ecology: Weretiger

Monster Ecology: Wereboar

Monster Ecology: Werebear

Monster Ecology: Remorhaz

Miniature Crafting: Beholder Work in Progress

Monster Ecology: Merfolk

Product Review : Raging Swan Press

Monster Ecology : Thri-Kreen

Monster Ecologies

Man I love my youtube subscribers and all their excellent comments!
I really do, it is the main reason I started making monster ecology videos, because that was the feedback I got from people.
This morning, I woke up and checked my comments feed, and there was a series of fairly abusive remarks from Alexis The Dragon, which started out kind of constructive, with corrections on how to pronounce Baator and Acheron, and comments about the conflicting tales of the origin of the Nine Hells, the version of the cosmology of the planes.. but, then it sort of went off the rails and ended up being just abusive, saying I was pulling information out of my ass, that I should not be making lore videos if I was not presenting canon information, etc.
Well, comments are a privilege, it is, after all, my channel, and rather than get into a pointless argument with someone who seems to expect me to be something I never claimed to be, that is, an expert on monster lore, I just blocked the comments and publically notified the channel what had happened.

See, I never claimed to be presenting nothing but absolute facts, a lot of what I draw from is wiki articles, blogs and such, also, the subject matter is far more complex than even my lengthy videos can cover.
Alexis pointed out that the Asmodeus lore is conflicting, and said he could not recall the other version.. yeah, which one?
The one where he was the archangel of a god who he killed and the Nine Hells was that former god's domain?
Well that is fine, as long as you ignore the complete rewrite that happened to all of that in the 80's due to religious persecution of the hobby.

Look at a first edition monster and compare it to a fifth edition version.. a lot of changes!
Which one is factually accurate?
Not important, because I am making videos about the current edition of the game, I may reference older information, but I try to stay on track with the current edition and just enrich the current world view.
So with the infernals and demons and fey and divine lore, it is going to be very muddled, but, people want to hear about it, so, I will do my best.

I never claimed to be the best, I have no obligation, my videos are just entertainment, designed to inspire ideas and allow DM's to sit back and think about the creatures, examine all the angles and bring interesting new facets to the game for the players. and themselves, to enjoy.

I am not a monster encyclopedia.
I'll answer questions as best I can, from the resources available to me, that is the best I can offer.

Monster Ecology: Shambling Mound

Monster Ecology: Dryad

Plans within plans

What many who know me personally are aware of, is I love Frank Herbert's Dune series, I watch the movie on my birthday, every year, I have read all the books, played all the games, I think Herbert was a genius.
What many may know is that Frank Herbert, Poul Anderson and Jack Vance were all very good friends, and the magic system of Dungeons and Dragons is based on the concepts of Jack Vance.. this trio of authors wrote some of the best science fiction and fantasy stories in the world.
There is something to be said for writing as a team project, particularly for good friends who really inspire each other, without writing teams, we would never have had the Dragonlance series, for instance.

Currently, I am exchanging ideas for a writing project, which is all I can really say about it for the moment.. but the body of work includes some stuff which, I hope, will be fundamental concepts which go on to inspire others to create some really amazing things.
On my own, I can write a passable story, or design a fairly good set of twists and turns on an adventure, but when I am riffing with another creative and motivated person, I seem to act as a catalyst.. same thing with my monster ecology videos on Youtube, I am largely just collecting information in manuals, wikis and blogs or forums, and presenting a unified concept of a creature, according to how the larger body of D&D players have envisioned it.. this info is often contradictory and alters a lot between editions or even game systems (such as a creature shared between D&D and Pathfinder) but I have a knack for finding, filtering and presenting the information, and I can do this fairly quickly.. the bulk of the time in vid creation is finding image files, then there is a read through of the current manual listing, a search through popular and well archived wiki pages and following links listed as sources, which is a process that is just a matter of speed reading and looking for non-repeated information, this all gels in my head, and I turn on the mic and it all comes out of my head, as you hear it on the vids.. then I grab all the image files and slot them in, before making a title page and uploading it all.
All up, a vid usually takes me three to four hours, and I aim to upload twice a week.

Aside from the monster vids and collaborative writing, I have a few personal writing projects on the back burner, not really getting a lot done on those, but not dead, just.. simmering. I also get sculpting projects, and those typically suck up eight or nine hours a pop. I really have not managed to sell many, which is OK, I like having them around, and I don't want to be stuck in a situation where I have to churn out the same thing over and over again for a pay check, as that grind is the reason I don't draw very much.. I can draw, but I don't really want to draw for anyone, other than me... I tried an art career in graphic design and it was clearly not my artistic strong suit.. I should have just stuck with sculpture the whole way through.

Anyway, while I spent the last few years heavily involved in online forums, chats and facebook groups, that sucked up a crap load of my time and ended up being pretty damn vicious, so, no more of that shit.. There are some great places to contribute and participate, but I am done with creating or running social media hubs or running video chat games or writing guest articles for other people's sites.

Been there, done that, got the sweat shirt.

Time for other plans.

Monster Ecology: Roc

Monster Ecology: Flail Snail

Episode 01 - Acquisitions Incorporated The Series

Monster Ecology: Ghoul

Monster Ecology: Wererat

Monster Ecology: Lamia and Jackalwere

Monster Ecology : Werewolf

Monster Ecology: Gorbel

Monster Ecology: Kuo-toa

Casting Fungus Terrain

Painting Fungus Terrain

Monster Ecology: Chain Devil

Monster Ecology: Treant

Youtube channel going well.

I had to write up a new viewer request list today, as there were so many crossed off monsters, it was getting cluttered.
It also seems that my Monsterology vids have turned into vlogs about specific environments, and I am fine with this.. I have the various layers of the Nine hells to cover, The Abyss, The Shadowfell, The Feywild, and so many more.
I have a long term goal of eventually running out of official published 5th edition monsters.. but I feel that before I get close to that, there will be new supplements to cover.
However, I do want to expand into making new monsters for the game.

Meanwhile, there are Lycanthropes, Constructs, Djinn, Shambling mounds and all the other viewer requests waiting for me to get to them.

I am so lucky to have no end of inspiration for such a narrow focus in video content.
And so appreciative of the viewers who give me such excellent feedback about what they want to see, what works, and what doesn't.

The Ethereal Angler
Within the realm of the Endless Flesh, there exist many weird and violent organisms, most of them are predatory and, when not gorging on the gargantuan bounty that is their environment, they turn their attentions and their appetites on each other. Some develop defensive strategies that are very effective, and quite bizarre, and a perfect example of this is the Ethereal Angler.

Nestled like great blisters on the membranous walls of the Endless Flesh, many thousands of Ethereal Anglers soak in noxious, nutrient rich fluid, surrounded by torpid tadpole offspring, barely moving at all as they cast their mind out across the multiverse, hunting psychically for their prey.

Physically, the Anglers are nightmarish conglomerations of spider-like legs, crab-like eye stalks, squid-like tentacles and tremendous fangs unlike any earthly animal, all of this fronts a weak and bloated sack of organs which comprises the rest of it's body, somewhat akin to the slug-like abdomen of the Hermit crab.
One of it's front appendages ends in a bulbous, brain-like organ that allows it to project it's conciousness across the dimensional viel, seeking sentient victims.

Once the Angler finds a suitable being, it inserts a subtle psychic suggestion into the creature's mind, that compels it into performing an act of perversion.
This can be anything that would necessitate the target going off somewhere alone, with very little chance of anyone disturbing it.
When it gives in and acts on this unnatural craving, the Ethereal Angler strikes.

In the illustration, we see a farmer alone in his barn, about to do something very unsavory with his livestock, when there is a rending tear in reality and a horror from beyond bursts through, in a fountain of the foulest slime, great claws and tentacles lunge at the farmer and snatch him into fangs like elephant tusks, where he is quickly, silently dispatched and pulled back into the dimensional breach, to add fresh nutrient's to the Anglers cyst-like lair.

In the pool of slime that remains behind, most of the maggot-like offspring of the Angler will die, but one or two may latch onto nearby prey, and feed on them, in the manner of a leech.
After some time, they will burrow into the host and form a cyst of their own, going through many states of development, until they are strong enough to find the psychic signature of their own kind, and transport themselves across the dimensional barriers, to return to the Endless Flesh.

Morphic reality in D&D as a plot device

(Article reposted here from last year, for my own reference)

A couple of the things I like the most about High Fantasy settings is the idea of otherworldly realms and magical artifacts, so I have dived into the latest Dungeon Masters Guide for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons with gusto!

  

Today I was pouring over the entry on the alien dimension called Limbo and the clever way that the morphic quality of the dimension has been handled with the rules.. and it got me thinking, planning, plotting and cackling away as epic and evil ideas formulated in my head, pretty much all day.

So, for those who did not just leap right to pages 61 and 62 of the DMG, let me outline it for you. Morphic refers to an environment that can be manipulated and transformed by the force of will alone. So, a creature may use an action and roll vs a set difficulty class or DC, using that creature’s intelligence bonus, on objects within thirty feet, the DC is based on the size of the object being manipulated.

Now, I have to say, hats off, what a flawlessly simple way to handle this mechanic, and what a HUGE scope for this there is in a game where magic, the manipulation of reality based on will power, is a core part of the game!

So, lets say I give a player character an object, say a Rod, called the Scepter of Demigods, and instead of only being able to manipulate matter on the otherworldly plane of Limbo, the character can now do it anywhere.. the only restrictions are that the DC for doing this is higher when not in Limbo, and very high in dimensions with a high amount of intrinsic order (lawful aligned), also, it might be really dangerous for a mortal adventurer to use such a potent artifact, costing Hit Points every time the object is used, draining the character’s life away as the will is imposed and reality is warped and manipulated. Other applications are as simple and as far reaching as you are wanting to go, such as a Jedi style ability for a Monk or Paladin, or some sort of transmutation rules for an Alchemist.

Also, I would not hesitate to give every god-like being this sort of power on its home plane of existence, from Archdevils to high ranking Modrons, the odd Demigod that steps foot in the Prime Material should certainly be able to transmute stone to metal, lift and hurl matter, reshape it into objects and structures, turn matter into energy and generally be awesome and god like. Plus, when a character is in one of those critical points where their deity is taking a direct interest in their activities, this is the sort of power that the deity might grant, easily handled with a simple Intelligence check.

I would advise you set the DC’s for morphing the environment at a level that you, the Dungeon Master, are comfortable with.. ask yourself this question “Is it OK for the character to accomplish this right now?”, because that is the ONLY consideration. Being able to manipulate reality should, essentially, be a story based thing, it should never be handed to a player with a set, fixed chart and then left completely up to them as to when, how and why it is used, unless it is very costly (hence, life drain will give a player pause, when losing hit points could be hugely dangerous if they get caught in a potentially lethal random encounter), because players will abuse this power, like fish will breathe water, and it will detract from the enjoyment of the game if things are made too easy for the players, or if the party Mage now finds herself out of a job.

Never be afraid to give the players fantastic items of power, but you don’t have to tell them how many times they can use it if you don’t want to, in fact, if my DM handed me something like the Scepter of Demigods. my first thought would be “Oh shit, what heinous monstrosity am I about to walk into that requires this broken thing just for my character to survive?”... I’m not a pessimistic kind of person, thats just years of gaming honed instincts.

So, well done Wizards of the Coast, that is an excellent optional mechanic, it makes the plane of Limbo make a lot of sense, it gives me a cool toy to play with, a possible solution to players who just have to be some sort of Jedi, and with a new Star Wars movie on the way, this is definitely going to be an issue, lets not kid ourselves.

Happy gaming!

Writing up a new batch of monsters

So, I have been making videos about 5th edition D&D monsters over the last year, I shall continue to do so, I quite enjoy it and people seem to like the vids. As a side project, I have come up with twelve new Aberrations, or, otherworldly beings of quite a hostile and horrific nature, my original intent was to create some sort of PDF file for people to purchase.. however.. I really don't care if it makes money or not, so, I am just going to create these things and share them with who ever reads this blog.
It is a convenient place to work on the documents that I can access from anywhere.

It all starts with a mysterious peddler of a strange narcotic gas....