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....