Ecology of Giant Snakes for Dungeons and Dragons

As I journeyed out of the deserts of the Anuaroch and later sailed on a modest merchant caravel to the islands of the Moonshaes, I just happened to have the misfortune to encounter not one but two giant spitting snakes; the first of them was a dark scaled horror that took out one of our mules as we stopped during the heat of mid-day by a stand of palm trees, we had no idea it was there thanks to the thing almost merging with the rough trunks of the Palm trees, it ignored me and the Bedine traders I was traveling with, we just saw a flash of movement, a quick jet of venom lanced out and hit the mule right in the face and the moment it stumbled, it was all over, the snake was latched on and hauled it into the palms so fast, there was nothing we could do but try to calm the horses we were on and then gather up what bags and gear had flown free of the poor mule in its sudden and violent demise.

If you have ever read Elminster's Ecologies, he describes a very important point about the diversity of life in the forgotten realms, and I quote..

"A rabbit isn't always a rabbit. A rabbit from one region doesn't necessarily behave like a rabbit from another, even though they may look alike. I discovered a rabbit in the Hullack Forest that sleeps on its back, its feet straight in the air. A species from Harrowdale can rotate its eyes in opposite directions. I have heard of a rabbit from Brynwood that not only whistles like a canary, but can be taught an impressive repertoire of tunes. A hippogriff from the Dragonspire Mountains may be docile, even passive, while his cousin from Ring's Reach may quickly take offense. It is often impossible to make these distinctions from casual observations. As in the case of the excitable hippogriff, experience can be a cruel teacher.  The physical form of an animal can also vary dramatically from region to region. The pseudodragon presents a striking example; they always tend to have the same mannerisms and attitudes, but their appearance differs from region to region."

Giant snakes in the realms are apex predators but not always interested in eating humanoids, or, as is the case of the rough scaled Boa of the Stonelands, they have a very specific diet for Goblins. Still, snakes are true carnivores, if need be, they will eat any meat they can get, and they are very good at getting it.

On Earth, the closest thing there has ever been to the giant snakes of planet Toril are the Titanoboas; like most giant snakes (aside from the Giant Coral Snakes of the Forgotten Realms), they have the same number of vertebrae as their much smaller cousins so fossil samples of the huge vertebra can tell a lot about the true size of the creatures when they were alive, so, ading in some details from the few skulls found in South America, we know the Titanoboas reached up to 47 feet or 14.3 meters long with a body just over 4 feet wide and weighed in excess of 1700 pounds or 770 kilograms and the fact that a number of these fossils were of a similar size means that its highly likely this was a regular size for the species, and some no doubt were freakishly large in that population, I would wager good gold coin on it. As for the giant snakes of the Forgotten Realms, this is also a fairly standard size; as I mentioned, some, like the Giant Coral Snake, can be even longer, leading to them often being mistaken for Sea Serpents, which are quite a different species altogether.

Within the large variety of Giant snakes to be found, they can be broadly divided into the Giant Constrictor snakes, the poisonous snakes, the Sea snakes, the Spitting snakes and the Amphisbaena, which is unique to Toril with nothing like it ever existing on Earth, more on them in a moment. 

Giant snakes differ from the largest of their smaller cousins, the Boa Constrictors in that they have a larger number of fangs in their mouths and they are not as firmly connected to the Jawbone, also, they are not nearly as reliant on the ambient temperature being as tropical as that found during the middle and late Paleocene or in South American jungles and such, an average temperature of 32–33 °C (90–91 °F) and plenty of rainfall is mainly what allows them to grow to such a large size, with all the snakes getting smaller and smaller as the temperature decreases further from the tropics. Giant snakes of Toril don't have that same limitation; you can find 40-foot-long poisonous snakes hunting mountain goats even in high alpine zones of many mountain ranges across Faerun and Kara-tur.

If the size of the giant snakes is not scary enough, they can hunt and eat prey between 14% and 50% of their own mass. However, they can go weeks and sometimes a couple of months without food after such a large meal. Their metabolism is much faster than that of their smaller cousins, who can last longer between feasts.

Reproduction varies, even within the same species; giant snakes are almost always solitary until the hottest months of the year, during which times the females will lay down pheromone trails for males to follow, though often a female will pick a good spot where the wind can carry her pheromones for many miles and wait there, with males moving in on her location, this is often how unexpected encounters happen, males on the move outside of their usual hunting territory and looking for an opportunistic meal of whatever game they happen to find in their path, and all too often, that prey is humanoid. 

The absolute experts on Giant Snake ecology are the Yuan-ti, as you might expect, and I have read some rather eye opening details about how many males may arrive at the female's location at the same time, where they all swarm into a huge mating ball of coiled snakes of enormous size, up to 12 males have been observed coiling around one female, each individual 30 to 40 feet long and as thick as an oak tree trunk, solid muscle the lot of them, the heat from this mating swarm can be felt from a distance and can be lethal to some of the snakes involved as they can remain in this breeding ball for up to two to four weeks, a disturbing scratching sound is caused by the male's breeding spurs which they try to dig into the female while aggressively pressing their cloacal regions hard against her body. 

I won't go into further detail, but trust me when I say, the Yuan-ti most certainly do, at length, with a great number of illustrations, most of which are both outrageously fanciful and completely depraved. I will spare you the memories I am now haunted by.

Females are usually larger and stronger than males, probably for this very reason, and they most certainly choose the mate they consider the largest and strongest of the males; selecting for size is the reason their species maintains such huge proportions, even in environments that don't otherwise have the right conditions where this adaptation occurs spontaneously. Once mating is done, the female gestates for around eight months before giving birth to live young; they do not lay eggs. Litters consist of ten to twenty offspring, sometimes less, sometimes more, and the whole process is quite taxing on the female, who loses a significant amount of body weight. 

The newly birthed snakes are called Neonates and are born ready to hunt and kill. They need no parental care, and some of their first meals are likely to be among their siblings. They grow quickly to around ten feet long and reach sexual maturity well before they reach their full adult size, and it takes several years for them to get to over thirty feet long; the aquatic Giant Coral snakes are the fastest growing, while those that inhabit alpine regions are quite slow by comparison, due to the metabolic cost of maintaining their body heat in such cold environments. The black crested mountain viper of Ulgarth are spectacular looking, extremely dangerous mountain apex predators with a mane of lustrous, black feathers that grow from a cobra-like hood, this layer of feathers helps keep them warm of course, it also makes their head a very valuable and rare trophy that is highly prized by Cloud Giants. There is also a few of them all the way into the great Yehimal Mountains where they are, perhaps not feared, but certainly given a lot of respect by the equally dangerous Yak Folk.

To give you some idea of how dangerous they truly are, one of their primary prey species are Griffons. Enough said.

Giant spitting snakes are found in land-based and aquatic species, they have a poisonous bite and are all capable of projecting their spittle at creatures up to 30 feet or just over 9 meters from them with a high degree of speed and accuracy, this venom will both poison and blind a victim, making them easy for the snake to maim further and then consume without a lot of risk to itself. The venom of the Giant Coral Snakes is a bit more fearsome, their bite is +5 to hit and inflicts 4 to 11 points of piercing damage and the target must contend with a massive injection of venom with a saving throw difficulty of 12 against their Constitution, failing to withstand the effect will result in the target becoming instantly stunned until their next turn, then the secondary effect of the venom kicks in and the target begins to hallucinate, the nature of which depends very much on the mind of the victim, but it has an effect similar to short-term madness and will last up to ten minutes, which would be harrowing enough even without the fact a giant snake is also about to eat you.

Above all else, Giant snakes are efficient killers; they are very stealthy and patient but also relentless and completely merciless predators with just enough intelligence to serve their needs.

All giant snakes have a highly acute sense of taste, which doubles as a sense of smell, granting them a scent-based blind sense with a range of ten feet. Many of them can see body heat thanks to sensitive pits on their head and while the constrictor snakes may not have a poisonous bite, they still inflict 6 to 16 points of piercing damage with their fangs; how they kill is with their densely muscled body though, constricting is +6 to hit, inflicts 6 to 20 points of bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled, of course, with an escape difficulty of 16. Until this grapple is broken, the victim is restrained and very likely to get crushed to death quite quickly without help from an ally.  The constrictors are some of the most long-lived of the giant snakes, with some reaching 60 years, while most other species rarely live past 40 years, and some only live for 10, often dying during mating or fighting among rivals, both males and females will fight to the death during mating season, but otherwise, Giant snakes stay well clear of each other.

Giant Sea Snakes have a membrane that seals their nostrils tightly, allowing them to dive to great depths and they can remain underwater for hours, they are one of the only Giant snake breeds to have both a poisonous bite and the ability to crush victims and small boats using a constriction attack. Technically though, they are the same general type as the snakes known as Vipers.

We encountered a variety of giant spitting snakes near the Moonshae islands. This one was not interested in eating any mules, that's for sure. We managed to deter it using fire, a risky venture on a wooden caravel, but it saved the lives of the captain and all but one of the crew.

Now, finally, the truly exotic Amphisbaena is a species of double-headed Giant snake. Still, they have a head at either end of their body and a unique method of grabbing one head with the other and rolling their body like a hoop, which sounds silly but doubles their speed to 60 feet per round. In combat, amphisbaenae could use both heads to snap at opponents simultaneously. This enabled the monster to attack and defend at the same time.

Now, one can't talk about snakes without talking about the different types of venom, it is essentially a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins.. Venom or Zootoxin is delivered into the body actively via a bite, sting, or similar action, while Poison is passively delivered by being eaten, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin, and Toxugens are actively transferred to the external surface of another animal via some delivery mechanism... So, a cobra that bites you will deliver venom with the bite, but if it spits it, we call it poison. I know it's pedantic, but it is also precise terminology.

Venoms are often complex mixtures of toxins such as Necrotoxins, common among Vipers, these work mostly by proteass that rip apart the peptide bonds of amino acids, so, they dissolve tissue basically, causing mass cell death, a bit like being injected with acid. Neurotoxins are less common in Giant snakes, but they primarily affect the nervous system of animals; Dendrotoxins are a class of presynaptic neurotoxins produced by mamba snakes that block particular subtypes of voltage-gated potassium channels in neurons causing convulsions or very painful tension paralysis which can cause muscles to tear free from the bone and lungs and heart to shut down, causing death. Myotoxins are found in Rattlesnake venom and a few lizard venoms that can cause severe muscle necrosis; they are very fast acting, often causing instant paralysis and death through the victim being unable to breathe by themselves as their muscles just won't cause their lungs to take in air. Finally, the Giant snakes you will find in Grasslands and Savannahs, such as the gold-headed Giant snakes of the Shaar, which are known to be particularly violent and loud, when disturbed they let off one hell of an ear-piercing hiss that shrieks like a lantanese steam golem, their powerful bite inflicts both deep piercing wounds and secondary bludgeoning damage from the sheer force of it, the venom contains Cytoxins, which cause severe hemorrhages, profuse bleeding and swelling, its some of the most lethal venom to humanoids, very painful, causing limbs to become stiff and extended, unable to be relaxed and bent because of the internal bleeding and coagulation in joints and muscles. If not treated carefully and quickly, necrosis is widespread, very gross and quite lethal, I would say this is the most fearsome venom, hands down, its a horrible way to die.

Aside from being captured and transported to exotic markets, many humanoid societies make use of Giant Snakes, the Priests of Sseth were known to construct special shields by treating the shed skin of giant snakes and wrapping them around a core of ironwood. The meat of many giant snakes makes pretty good spiced jerky that you sometimes find in salt packed barrels of strange, oily green wood in the ports along the Dragon coast and Vilhon reach, I was shocked when I found out these are produced by rural marsh villages in Halrua, but, sure enough, they are.

I think that just about covers the subject of Giant Snakes of Faerun at least, I'm no expert on if the creatures can be trained or any way domesticated, but I certainly know there is a good trade in live specimens among the churchs of Malar and that's usually where the kind of people who put them in dungeons to act as lethal deterants get them from.

My name is AJ Pickett, thanks for listening and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.

Elemental locus Dungeons and Dragons lore

There is an area in the far north of the Anauroch desert where the Bedine tribe's people very rarely venture; its also shunned by all but one or two young and adventurous Blue Dragons, the occasional Lamia or Sphinx and packs of very fast and aggressive Axe beaks, at least, I've seen them on the outskirts, but there is a wide area featuring some rather spectacular landscapes left behind by the mighty excavations of the fallen Netherese Empire, one or two such locations are unmistakable even from some great, and safe distance, and that is where I advise you to stay.

When the Netherese performed some of the most epic feats of magic, the fabled spell, in this case, being known as Proctiv's move mountain, the amount of magical energy channeled into a very small area was extremely large, to put it in perspective, the magical energy suffusing the air, rocks and many unfortunate living plants and animals was higher than you would find carefully contained and confined within the swords, shields, amulets and such which are considered high powered magical items by today's standards, the weave is not able to sustain this sort of concentration without causing other areas to become dangerously devoid of natural magical energy, which is why there are many areas, still, quite blank and devoid of its normal flow, the ley lines and such fade away. The lands become barren, robbed of their spark and vitality. Where the concentration was most severe, what often remains are areas so disrupted that normal magical flow has become permanently chaotic; we call these areas of Wild Magic, but, in some cases, it is a lot more complicated than that, and I don't think Proctiv fully understood the long term consequence of his Move Mountain spell.

Then again, I suspect this epic spell may have been slightly different every time he cast it due to the extremely rare nature of the components required. You are familiar with Proctiv, perhaps not by name anymore. Still, you will have heard of his spell called Stone Shape, which he created 3606 years ago, followed by Move Earth, Glassteel, Transmute Rock to Mud, then Transmute Water to Dust, which I have not seen cast for quite some time, I think it may be out of fashion or not currently being taught to anyone. Still, that spell always did bother me, and then the very useful spell called Dig which he first demonstrated 3547 years ago. Proctiv is also credited with some spells involving more cosmic concerns, but, as you can see, he was very focused on Elemental Earth in his magical experiments; he was of the class of wizards called Variators, those whose magic is used to transform things, energies and states of being, as well as interdimensional conjurations.

This includes the summoning of elementals.

As I have talked about this before, I will try to be brief and recap what elemental energy is.

It is alive; very simply, elemental creatures do not have a set and fixed portion of energy called a soul; they are made of as much energy as they have consumed and are currently composed of. We refer to elemental spirits because this energy is not as reliant on very specialized matter in which to contain it, they don't need a nervous system, muscles and all that organic stuff that we do; in their home dimension, these spirits flow freely through raw elemental substance, such as solid rock, as though they were luminous fish swimming an endless ocean, to us, they are nearly impossible to detect and their spirit ecology within all that solid matter is largely a mystery. 

Why are some elemental creatures so organic looking, with such regular and identifiable physical forms, and others are much more crystalline and just rocks and minerals animated into motion by some internal force? Well, their ecology is just as diverse as those of organic beings from the prime material plane, even though it is so poorly understood, the evidence speaks for itself in what we can observe, though its highly likely we are only witnessing the tip of the iceberg and many more types of elemental spirit don't have the ability to animate and move around in raw physical matter, so we never get to see them. 

The elemental spirits consume each other largely by a test of willpower, as far as we know, with the dominant spirit entity consuming and combining with the other into a larger spirit form, so within every elemental lord are millions of lesser elemental spirits it has consumed over time. The Strong willforce required to maintain this cohesion is also what gives rise to the emergent intelligence and ego of the elemental lords, the less elemental spirit energy there is within what we would call an individual entity, the less intelligent it is, and it can't maintain control over large amounts of raw matter to create physical forms, so they tend to be smaller, or very unstable, they use this matter like a vehicle to contain and move around it's energy outside of it's home dimension.

When Proctiv summoned that much elemental power in such a confined region, the result was the creation of an elemental Locus; in later castings of the spell that creates the floating enclaves, the elemental energy was more carefully handled, but initially, he forced it into coherent forms that levitated the sheered off mountain tops and flipped them over to levitate up into the sky, but in a few cases, things did not go according to plan. It's even worse these days; after Mytra banned the casting of such high-level magic, every first attempt at casting Proctiv's Move Mountain will automatically fail and most likely create another Elemental Locus, hence why nobody is foolish enough to try it, and as I said, those components for the spell are ridiculously rare and difficult to get your hands on, so, it may be impossible to cast it the same way nowadays.

According to the Tome of Beasts from Kobold Press, Elemental loci are living spirits inhabiting or embodying tracts of land and geographical features. They are the ultimate personification of nature—the land itself comes to life, and they are fiercely protective of any ecological networks contained and supported within their gargantuan formt, tolerating no interference in the natural order and violently destroying anything putting it at risk. This is slightly strange behavior for an elemental, but, unlike most other elementals this powerful, they are bound to an area of land or ocean no larger than 100 square miles. If they leave this region, they lose the ability to invest a fraction of their elemental power into spawning new elementals. If it remains outside the region, it automatically teleports back to the center of this area after 24 hours, regardless of distance. 

While within that location, the Loci can magically create up to 2-12 mephits or 1 Elemental with a challenge rating of 5 or lower. The Elementals arrive at the start of the locus’s next turn, acting as allies of the locus and obeying its spoken commands. Actually I have seen this happen and the Mephits seem to start out as some sort of internal disturbance and then pour out through the sounds the monster utters. 

The locus can create elementals that match the terrain they are currently inhabiting, so in the desert they create mephits best suited to hot, dry, sandy or rocky conditions such as steam or dust Mephits, but there are other options, as long as they fit the restrictions the Locus has on raw materials surrounding it and comprising its own massive form. 

The created  Elementals remain for 1 hour, until the locus dies, or until the locus dismisses them as a bonus action. The locus can have any number of Elementals under its control at one time, provided the combined total Challenge Rating of the Elementals is no higher than 8.

If the elemental locus dies, it returns to life in 1 to 12 months, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears in a space of the locus’s choice within its bound land. Only a wish spell can prevent this trait from functioning.

Killing one is much easier said than done however.

An elemental Locus has an armor class of 16 and at least 290 Hit Points with immunity to acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, they can't be  charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned or knocked unconscious and the have Magical Resistance with Advantage on all saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Given the size and power of them, all Elemental Loci are able to move freely through difficult terrain at their normal speed of 25 feet per round, they also have a trait called Seige Monster because the Elemental Locus always deal double damage to objects and structures in it's path.

Thankfully, it can't maintain an excursion from the territory it inhabits and will always be forced to teleport back there after 24 hours, no matter how far it has ventured or been somehow transported... a fact some evil wizard is going to exploit at some point, what a perfect safeguard, summon a massive elemental that safely removes itself after a set time? Yes, that is something which could devastate an entire city and leave behind nothing but horror and confusion. In combat, the rampaging Loci will perform three slam attacks each round, or exchange any of those attacks to instead spawn more mephits or elementals, the slams have a reach of 15 feet are +15 to hit and inflict 31 points of damage on organic, living targets who need to make DC 18 strength saving throws each time they are hit or be knocked prone. It can just as easily bring down a whole building on top of a crowd of people however, its not a stupid creature and will make full use of their abilities. About the only weakness they have is their lumbering speed of 25 feet per round and their dismal dexterity, which is compensated somewhat by their ability to use Tremorsense, and their high passive perception of 16, making them very hard to sneak up on, but much easier to attack from the air.

Thus far I have only seen the Elemental Loci who dwell in the sheered off mountain areas, but I suppose any dominant elemental type is possible. I shudder to think what a titanic living mass of water or air could do, and a fire elemental of that size is best not thought about at all.

On the world of Midgard, the Sorcerers of Kush have been trying to capture and enslave Elemental Loci located there, thankfully they have had no luck even after decades of research and repeated failed attempts, yet despite the inevitable distastrous results, they keep trying and are even growing bolder in their attempts, despite all evidence to the contrary, they seem to believe they are getting better at it each time. I certainly hope not.

My name is AJ Pickett, thanks for listening, and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.

Ecology of the Dorreq, Dungeons and Dragons Lore

In the vast expanse of the multiverse, the encounters between great cosmic beings are as rare as the stars in the night sky. They traverse the dimensional boundaries and space, their rules and powers vastly different from those of mortal creatures. Yet, even these mighty beings have their limitations, with one exception-the enigmatic Great Old Ones.

The Immortals, free to roam the realms, demiplanes, and dimensions, are a mystery to mortal kind. They patrol their assigned sections of space, occasionally venturing into the Ethereal or Astral plane to traverse the cosmos at unimaginable speeds. Their presence is rarely witnessed, appearing as fleeting shooting stars, their vaguely humanoid forms a blur to mortal eyes.

There are very few places that pose any sort of difficulty for the immortals to travel to or from. Even becoming two-dimensional is a weird but not impossible experience, but should the immortal try to access higher-dimensional space, they will always encounter the vortex.

The vortex was created by the Great Old Ones; I am not going to confuse the matter by saying when they did this; such a term makes no sense when you look at the fractured, often rebooted, and twisted nature of true time in the cosmos, suffice to say, the vortex is always there, even if one attempts to approach the beginning of time, in which case, the Slaadi god Ygorl is the supreme power that you have to be very very polite towards to either enter that zone or ever leave it. Ygorl makes no sense when asked about the vortex, Ygorl has no answers for you, and neither does Pale Night, the Lady of Pain, or any of the truly ancient powers; they rarely, if ever, communicate anyway, perhaps the cosmos that exists now is so alien to them, they no longer bother to make sense of it at all, so why communicate with anything in it?

Some of the greater powers do make use of some of the architecture left behind by the Great Old Ones, the vast elemental powers, and the first primordials or the outer planes, the words of power, the Mephits, the symbols in some diabolic circles, and the runes are linked to these vast threads of energy and effect, the very domains that the gods bicker over for control are remnants of the first thoughts and concepts that sprang from the alien minds of the Great Old Ones, like notes in a song, if you ask priests of the gods of knowledge, particularly the God Denier, the entire lattice of creation is one vast song, the harmonic scales are the different dimensions or planes, which is exactly why arcanists make use of special tuning forks, to chime a specific frequency, a sound, a color or something that resonates in some way, perfectly on that tone, which gives their spells and rituals the power to alter reality or leave it altogether for another reality or parallel dimension.

Beyond the great Vortex dwell the Great Old Ones, and none can venture into those higher dimensions to learn what exactly it is they are doing there, the only thing we can know is that access to those dimensions would give far greater freedom to move around the multiverse and provide much greater awareness, connection and control over all planes of existence, all parallel dimensions, in a weird way, its safe to say that the Great Old Ones at both removed from all of us, and so intimately connected to us all, that everything we do, is their actions, on a much vaster and deeper level, and all we do, say and think are merely the echoes, the ripples on the surface. Our reality is nothing more than their dreams and figments of their imagination.

To put this more clearly, and sorry to break it to you, but our reality is no more solid than a thought, and at any moment, it could all vanish into the exact nothing from which it came.

This is the great horror that underlies all deep mysticism. The closer one comes to a real understanding of power and the way the cosmos works, the more this becomes revealed.

I know these are disturbing thoughts, enough to drive many beings quite insane.

Speaking of insanity, many mortal beings persist in trying to reach the attention of the Great Old Ones, thinking that vast power could be theirs for the taking if only they could somehow find a loophole, a back door, or some method to identify and follow the cords and tones of the lattice of reality back to their source and somehow create a breach in which the Great Old Ones can escape.

See, most of these nutjobs think that the Great Old Ones were imprisoned behind the Vortex, that somehow the gods created this barrier to save reality or stabilize reality, trapping the Great Old Ones in a slumber were they dream the same dream, the one in which we all exist, over and over again. This is nonsense of course, no god is powerful enough to make a barrier like that, and it is us who are imprisoned, not the other way around, but, every now and then, these insane gaggles of robed and wretched cultists actually manage to do it, and the attention or influence of a Great Old One is oh so briefly gained, to the inevitable utter disaster and ruin of everyone and everything involved.

But they still try, no matter how many of their cursed grimoires are confiscated and destroyed. Even as I tell you this, some lich is feverishly pouring its boney fingertips over some eldritch Necronomicon, convinced they are on the cusp of godlike power.

Oh, there are ways in which such power can be accessed; there are plenty of Warlocks who have managed to form pacts with vast beings of the far realms, all too ready to call themselves great old ones, but such beings are usually greatly exaggerating their importance and concealing their true nature and intentions. 

Those who witness some cult who actually manage to make contact with a real Great Old One will invariably report the same sorts of phenomina, one of which I am here to talk about today.

When some portal opens very close to the Great Vortex, swarms of these creatures called Dorreqi are almost inevitably bound to appear. They are kind of like the Blowflies of that realm, buzzing through an open window, erratic, annoying, evil little scum bags that are difficult to control and deal with, best just exterminated as efficiently as possible.

What is their purpose? I don't know, they are just there and unfortunately, they can exist in our reality quite easily, though it is very alien to them I imagine.

The Dorreq comes to us from the pages of the Tome of Beasts from Kobold Press; they fill a great niche as nasty but relatively straightforward aberration minions of medium size and a reasonably low challenge rating of 4, so they hit that sweet spot where you can pitch a few against a low-level party or a swarm of them against more formidable player characters, combining well with several other creatures, the Grick being a great example.

Dorreqi appear out of nowhere, from a seeming nightmare void of shattered space they materialize and fly through at a relatively slow speed of 20 feet per round, gravitating to any surface they can adhere their weirdly twitching tentacles to, they are relatively flat, like a flying starfish with irregularly sized tentacles for arms, at least eight of them, sometimes more, they don't have spines, hooks or suckers, but they do have a vicious beak like a squid, however, when you do catch a good look at their underside, its pure nightmare, as they seem to have a very ugly and distorted humanoid face, with two black eyes and a bulbous and wide nose with nostrils leaking noxious slime, their squid beak seems to thrust violently out of their mouth and the lips are raw and split around it, almost gangrenous. They tend to hover up quite high or slither up walls and pillars to cling to the ceiling, as they prefer to drop down on victims which they attack randomly and viciously.

Dorreqi do tend to attack any creature that is in any way involved in the breach that summoned them so they are, ostensibly, some sort of guardians, but its more organic than that, they are essentially part of the immune system of the Elder beings, a macro-organism, performing the same role as a micro-organism. But, they are far from mindless attack cells, they have the same capacity for intelligence that an average human does, though they have none of the same sort of experiences or conditioning from our reality so, aside from the terrible drone of void speech, they have no way to communicate other than violence and sabotage. They are also wickedly cruel creatures that delight in confounding and tormenting victims, driving them to the point of exhaustion before swarming over them, snaring them with their tentacles and then tearing them apart. They also have a strange ability to warp through solid stone or even sandy ground, similar to the way fey creatures can sometimes step from one tree to another, they use this a lot when moving around because doing so grants them 30 feet of movement per round, rather than their slower flight or climbing along surfaces at 15 feet per round.

When they do pop out of solid material, pay attention to the +8 bonus they have to Stealth checks and this movement method should afford them a saving throw to avoid damaging area effects as they vanish and appear nearby. They also have innate spellcasting, able to cast Blink, Dimension door, haste or Shatter.

Interestingly, the Dorreq shown in the Tome of Beasts on the D&D Beyond website is slightly different from the print version I have in my printed book; overall, what we have here is an improvement, but I do question turning the Stone Step ability into a bonus action rather than having it as an alternative to the creatures normal movement for the round.

Bonus actions are confusing and this is a pointless alteration that I don't think improved the creature at all, in fact, it just makes its movement capability a bit ridiculous, so, feel free to change it back to using Stone Step in place of normal movement for the round, not as a bonus action, its not dashing through solid rock, that is silly.

So, what do we have here?

Armor class of 15, 93 hit points and +6 dexterity bonus, resistant to Acid, Cold and Lightning damage and a couple of nasty proximity effects caused by its reality warping nature.

The area around the dorreq is warped by its connection to the Void. A creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the dorreq must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or its speed is halved until the start of its next turn. Also we have a power called Void Thrum, rechargable on a roll of 5 or 6, The dorreq emits a barely audible, vibrating thrum laced with Void energy. Each creature within 20 feet of the dorreq must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 3d6 thunder damage and 3d6 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. This should have been Psychic damage in my opinion, but the necrotic damage does make sense.

On its turn the Dorreq can make one bite and two tentacle attacks, they are both +6 to hit, the tentacles have a reach of 10 feet, which is a significant tactical advantage, the bite inflicts 2d8+4 piercing damage, the tentacles do 1d8+4 bludgeoning damage each, nd if the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 14) and pulled up to 5 feet closer to the dorreq. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained. The dorreq can grapple up to two creatures at a time and has a tremendous strength of 19, so, its perfectly reasonable that a Dorreqi could just throw a grappled victim using up one of its tentacle attacks that round to do so. With a strength of 19, it will toss an average medium sized adventurer 19 feet and do around 4d6 damage with the victim landing prone. It should be an option I think, feel free to modify your monsters, no two of them should be exactly the same.

One thing you may want to consider is that the corpses of the Dorreqi are interdimensional toxic waste that can be nearly as dangerous as demonic contamination, they will cause mutations in creatures exposed to their putrification and dispersal into the environment unless someone takes steps to dispose of them completely, the use of magical disintegration is ideal for this, but, throwing them through portals into voids or loading extradimensional storage containers with them and then locking those containers away forever is another good option, otherwise you are going to end up with all sorts of problems cropping up over time. These things have no place in civilized reality.

That being said, those wizards who are responsible for the likes of Owlbears and Howler Wasps will pay pretty good coin to the unethical adventurers who bring them such abominable treasures. But we really must avoid enabling those lunatics, honestly, the ownbears turned out ok, but those Howler wasps that the wizard Otiluke created are a bloody nightmare that should be exterminated completely.

That is a tale for another time, for now, my name is AJ Pickett, as always, thanks for listening and I shall be back with more for you, very soon.

Ecology of the Su-Monster, Dungeons and Dragons lore

The Su-monster comes to us from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition Complete Psionics Handbook, published in 1991. This followed the complete wizard's handbook and was followed by the complete book of the Dwarves in this excellent softcover supplement series. There is a monster ecology article in Dragon Magazine issue 167 written by Roger E. Moore also in 1991, which I will draw on heavily in this video of course, as the info there is far more comprehensive than the 5th edition monster listing for them, as they appear in the modern Tomb of Annihilation adventure, but, aside from a few details, such as their appearance, the details there are accurate enough. 5th edition handles Psionic creatures about as gracefully as a Tesla truck on a tightrope, but at least there is something to show they have that capacity.

While the Su-monster does have psychic power, nobody seems to know why, and even the god Silvanus has specified that while Su-monsters are self-aware, they are not truly sentient and are thus monstrosity and not under his protection. I am certainly not going to argue with a god. Still, Su-monsters are very smart and extremely dangerous predators that typically kill more than they can eat. They have a complex behavioral language among their own kind, mainly based on their spooky howling calls and the position they hold their prehensile tail. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's go to my journal and my entry about my encounter with them.

As I headed up and up into the impressive Snowflake mountains of Faerun, some of the tallest mountains on the planet were arrayed around me and stretched off into the blue distance when I rounded a bend in the goat track path I was following. I stopped and admired the view, with the sun setting so early it was like a blue sky sunset, and I watched while I applied a little oil to my tired feet. That was when I spotted the pit trap not ten feet from where I stopped to sit down.

I approached it and carefully examined it without too much disturbance.

This was made by a Kech, not related to the Su Monster, but certainly a very dangerous Primate predator common in these northern forests; they move around a lot, so encounters could happen at any time. I recall a ranger who called them Leaf monkeys; thanks to their hairless hide growing in green flaps that blend perfectly with forest canopy cover, they are not rivals of the Su-monster and sometimes do inhabit the same territory, but I can't image relations between the species are very nice, given the nature of the Su-monsters which are, as we shall learn, very aggressive. Kech differ in a few ways from the Su-monster; aside from appearance, they are slightly taller with less variation between male and female size and are adept at mimicking the sounds of distress of other creatures, including humanoids; they have their own language and can speak some basic words in the common tongue on occasion, plus, they set traps, crude but effective traps such as pits covered in leaves, falling logs, and are very accurate with thrown objects and ... substances.

Su-monsters do occasionally throw rocks, but they don't build pit traps or anything of the sort, though they are smart enough to use an existing trap they know is there as they chase or ambush their prey.

In appearance a Su-monster is a large monkey with more of a quadroped build with filthy gray fur that darkens to black on the head, the face and tail are always black, while the grey fur varies with those who live underground being quite pale, and those living in deep forests being almost black. The skin on the hands is deep red, almost looking like they are perpetually stained with blood, the rest of their skin is a dull and ashy black, they have wicked claws and their rounded, ape-like muzzles are full of sturdy fangs. They have a very strong prehensile tail and fully opposable thumbs. Adult males are 5 feet tall and appear starved and thin, weighing around 60 kilograms or up to 130 pounds, females are slightly smaller and have shorter fur on the shoulders and head with a hairless face, although older males also have no fur on the face. While the lifespan of the Su-monster can be up to 30 years, they rarely live that long, thanks to their violent lifestyle.

Su-monsters live in an extended family group called a Cadre or an  Enclave, there may be a dominant male, but its common enough for rival dominant males to kill each other, so Cadres with no leader are common and their social behavior is best described as chaotic and occasionally brutal, yet in matters of mating, they tend to form mating bonds for life and both males and females care for their own offspring with some devotion, the females will look after the infant for up to two years, not much is known about this behavior, but it seems clear the long nurturing period is typical of the intelligent primates and Su-monsters are no exception.

Su-monsters are often thought of as strictly tropical jungle dwellers, but that's a recent misconception, those who encounter them in the Underdark, cave networks near the surface or in dense alpine conifer forests will tell you that they always make their camp near a source of fresh water, and much like the forest canopy and natural hollows in tree trunks they prefer, even in caves they will always dwell high up near the ceiling if possible, digging out alcove nests and lining them with fresh leaves, pine needles or dry moss. Su-monsters are anything but lazy and when not taking a sporadic sleep, day or night, they will be very active. There is no such thing as a relaxed Su-monster; if one of them appears placid and calm, it's definitely acting that way as part of a hunting tactic, and you are absolutely on its menu.

Su-monsters may appear starved, but that is just metabolic, they are omnivorous hunters who will eat any prey they can kill, eat and digest, the killing part is most important, Su-monsters are notoriously difficult to trap or poison because they never eat anything that is sick or dead, meaning you have to use live bait every time or they will just ignore it, also, they are very smart, so if you fail to get them the first time, switch tactics because once they figure out what you are trying to do, they will not fall for it again and most likely turn the tables and start hunting you, if they are not doing it already.

Given a choice, their preferred ambush method is to swing directly overtop of a humanoid victim, particularly those on horseback, hanging down by their strong prehensile tail, and just rip and tear the hell out of the victim's face and upper torso as quickly and savagely as possible. Hanging like that, a Su-monster attacks with all four sets of claws and that short muzzle jaw full of razor-sharp fangs.

in 5th edition it states that a Su-monster makes two attacks each round, one with claws and one with its bite, but there are exceptions to this you need to know. First, hanging upside down by its tail the Su-monster can use both hands and feet to attack, the way this is represented in the monster's stats is a simple doubling of the potential claw damage from 2d4+2 slashing damage to 4d4+2, which is simple enough, though I think it takes away the potential for more critical hits if it is attacking with advantage... and this is where two other factors come in, one is related to the monstrosities psychic abilities, the other is old school lore you don't find in 5th edition but is historically accurate for their behavior. First, the psychic attack, previously the Su-monster had a range of powers, but in 5E it's just got this attack called Psychic Crush, a rechargeable ability that requires one target within 30 feet to make a DC 11 Wisdom save or become stunned for one minute or until the victim manages to make another saving throw on their subsequent turns, if they are still alive, see the Crush inflicts 5d6 psychic damage, which most creatures have no resistance to, and being stunned in 5E means the victim can take no actions or reactions, can't move, can't save against any strength or dexterity effects, can only speak falteringly, and most importantly, any attacks against them are made with advantage, so, the Su-monster is just going to tear them apart unless they either make that save or some ally gets them the hell out of there as fast as possible, or takes out the Su-monster very fast. But wait, there's more and you won't find this in 5th edition lore, but... Su-monsters may be feral killers, but they do have strong bonds with their mate and offspring.  Females who's young are attacked gain the effect of a haste spell for six rounds, and males whose female mates are attacked will attack in a hasted frenzy for four rounds.  That means their speed on the ground, climbing or swimming increases from 30 feet per round to 60 feet, their armor class goes from 12 to 14, they gain advantage on dexterity saves and they gain an extra action each turn, normally this would be an attack, but they can also use it to make a dash action, with their speed increased to 120 feet, only infants will attempt to disengage or hide, adults will typically fight to the death.

Another favored tactic of the Su-monster is simply overpowering their prey with brute force and numbers, if they outnumber their targets they dive from their vantage points and attempt to knock victims down, holding them prone for other attackers. If a successful overbearing attack is made on a mounted character, the character takes 1-4 hp damage and must save to avoid being stunned for one round, unable to regain their feet after being thrown. Pummeling attacks are rarely used by su-monsters and only with small, hard objects, like large rocks and sticks. While they are intelligent enough to use a simple hand held weapon, they prefer to use their claws in combat, plus carrying around a weapon like that would get in the way of their mobility. One interesting change from early editions up to now is that Su-monsters will kill more than they can eat and will bury the remains of their victim that they can't eat in one session, in previous editions, this meant they buried any treasure in unmarked shallow graves, in 5th edition it states that they mark these graves with treasure from the victim, but, this makes no sense as the Su-monsters do not eat carrion, so there is no reason they would mark the location of a kill, they are not coming back to consume the rest of the body, as they don't eat carrion. What is much more likely is that they would leave the bits of treasure as a lure to an ambush.

Su-monsters are active year round and are not restricted to nocturnal activity like the Kech are, they hunt day and night, only resting for about 3-4 hours, hanging upside down to sleep or slumbering in their tree hollow or cave alcove. True omnivores, they balance their mostly meat diet with berries, grasses, lichens and anything else edible and easy to gather in their area, they have excellent senses, very sharp vision in day or night and they have no preference for either, in the winter months their senses appear to be even more accute and they spend most of their hunting time seeking out hibernating creatures to dig out and eat. Thanks to their constant hunting, although they always look half-starved to death, they don't seem to ever run completely out of food and are even capable of tearing open rotten logs to find grubs or swiping fish from rivers much like bears do.

Su-monsters breed throughout the year and have gestation periods of about 6-7 months, with infants being born singly. The infant will cling to the mother and feed on her milk most of the time, never moving too far away from her because other members of the cadre may be far to rough and end up injuring or killing an infant that accidentally annoys them. Bitter feuds and rivalries exist in each Cadre, the youngsters quickly learn to avoid anyone behaving aggressively toward either of their parents, as they are very likely to take their emnity out on a rival's offspring, regardless of the consequences. 

Barbarians who dwell in the Snowflake mountains and the Wealdath forests call Su-monsters the Wolf-in-the-treetops or simply the Apre-Bear, they will avoid them if possible and give the creature the appropriate amount of fear and respect.

Su-monster flesh is poisonous, any who eat it will be sick for a week, during which time natural healing will be impossible for the victim. I'm not sure if you can eat Kech, but I advise against it. It's never a smart idea to eat another primate.

Finally, while they may flee combat, Su-monsters don't surrender (they have no understanding of this concept), nor can they be subdued. If captured, a Su-monster thrashes in its bonds until it is either broken free or has mortally broken itself and died; they do not live long in captivity and are nearly impossible to tame, so nobody really bothers; they simply capture them alive and throw them into gladiator pits to fight to the death for the entertainment of the crows.

Thankfully, I managed to avoid getting murdered by Su-monsters during that long trek on the way to the Spirit Souring Cathedral, I have a few more tales to tell of that journey, but in the meantime, my name is AJ Pickett, thanks for listening and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.

Homebrew Fantasy Narcotics for your Dungeons and Dragons Games

Welcome to the follow-up video to the Complete Guide to Dungeons & Dragons Narcotics. The first video featured a heap of substances found in the pages of official printed game books. What follows today is a big selection of homebrew or unofficial fantasy narcotics of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse.

The easiest way to handle narcotics with addictive properties or otherwise in 5th edition, D&D is to use Constitution saving throws; in some rare cases, such as magical addictions, Wisdom is the attribute used for the more psychological addictions.

When characters use drugs in D&D, they experience immediate and secondary effects. The immediate effect happens immediately, while the secondary effect occurs after an hour.

Each time a character uses a drug, they must make a Constitution saving throw against the drug’s Addiction DC. Failure means they become addicted and need to use the drug regularly, usually daily.

If an addicted character misses a dose, they must make another Constitution save against the Addiction DC. Failure results in withdrawal effects, where they usually suffer disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws until they use the drug again.

To recover from addiction, the character must make a daily Constitution saving throw against the Addiction DC for 1d6 days. Success means no withdrawal symptoms for that day, and after they make it through those grueling days and nights, they overcome the addiction. If they use the drug during withdrawal, the process restarts of course.

I should note again that this is just a suggested option; nothing in this video is official content. The 5th edition rules for drugs are: You fail a saving throw and get poisoned, plus some other effect, then you save, and it ends, so even a little improvement goes a long way, I think.

From this YouTube Channel's Discord server and the depths of my own imagination come the following substances-

Wish or Miracle is a potent drug that grants miraculous fortune or healing, but it comes with a heavy price. Users often find themselves addicted and ruined. The initial effect gives you an incredible boost, granting advantage on all saving throws for an hour. However, once the effect fades, you’re left with a foggy mind, suffering disadvantage on Wisdom checks for the next two hours. Daily use becomes a necessity, or the user faces harsh withdrawals, including disadvantage on all saving throws for up to six days.

Third Eye is a drug favored by those seeking heightened perception and insight. When ingested, it grants advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks for an hour. But the heightened awareness comes at a cost, leaving users with dulled senses and disadvantage on Dexterity checks for two hours afterward. Addiction sets in quickly, and without it, users struggle with Wisdom and Intelligence checks for several days.

Inspiration, often used by bards and artists, sparks creativity like nothing else. Inhaling this substance grants advantage on Charisma checks and performance-related skill checks for an hour. The downside is a severe crash, leaving users with disadvantage on all checks for the next two hours. Regular users quickly become dependent, facing significant withdrawal symptoms if they miss a dose.

Weave Dust is made from the very fabric of magic itself. Inhalation grants temporary sorcerous powers, allowing users to cast a 1st-level spell of their choice for an hour. However, this powerful substance heavily taxes the body and mind, leading to disadvantage on all Intelligence and Constitution saves for two hours afterward. Users must take it daily or suffer the inability to cast spells and disadvantage on all saves for up to six days.

Orangespice is a rare and potent spice that boosts physical abilities significantly. When ingested, it provides a +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity for an hour. The drawback is a drop in constitution, with users suffering disadvantage on Constitution checks for the next two hours. The addiction is swift and severe, with withdrawals resulting in a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity and disadvantage on all saves for several days.

Eye of the Beholder is a rare tincture made from beholder eye fluid. Drinking it grants truesight out to 30 feet for an hour. However, the after-effects are devastating, leaving users with disadvantage on all Intelligence and Constitution saves for two hours. This substance is highly addictive, and withdrawal symptoms include the inability to cast spells and disadvantage on all saves for up to six days. Harvesting Beholder eye stalks is extremely dangerous and not for the faint of heart, plus the flesh of those other-dimensional horrors is as strong as low grade metal.

Anthusae pollen is an exotic substance derived from flowers grown by flower nymphs. It’s primarily used by wealthy women as perfume or makeup due to its calming effects on men and its ability to grant the wearer a beautiful fey-like appearance. Inhaling or applying the pollen causes mild addiction, but injecting or ingesting it can restore youth and beauty in women, with more extreme addictive effects. Withdrawal symptoms range from mild sickness and emotional instability to vivid nightmares and an obsession with beauty, potentially leading to accelerated aging and death if the nymphs were wronged in the process.

Pwll is a fae drug that, when ingested, acts like a minor suggestion spell. At higher doses, the user is forced to follow suggestions given by the one who provided the drug, even harmful ones. This makes it a dangerous tool in the wrong hands.

Dreamlily is a psychoactive liquid that smells and tastes like your favorite beverage. Originally used to manage pain, it’s now the most abused substance in Sharn. Dreamlily dens are common, and users experience euphoria and remarkable resistance to pain, with the downside of being poisoned for an hour. While poisoned, they are immune to fear and can avoid death once. A dose is relatively cheap but heavily taxed, leading to a thriving black market.

Pixie Wing Tincture is made by soaking powdered pixie wings in alcohol. This liquid induces euphoria, rapid eye color changes, and erratic emotional swings. It also lowers inhibition, causing users to act on impulse, which can lead to dangerous situations. The high is fleeting, but the desire for more is strong, making it a highly addictive substance.

Centaurs are known for their connection to nature and stamina. Centaur Elixir, brewed from centaur herbs and blood, grants the user enhanced speed, allowing them to move 10 feet faster for an hour. The rush of speed leaves users with disadvantage on Dexterity and Constitution checks for two hours. Addiction is swift, with withdrawals causing fatigue and a -2 penalty to Dexterity for several days.

Demon's Draught is a fiery liquid distilled from the blood of fiends. Drinking it grants the user resistance to fire damage and advantage on Intimidation checks for an hour. The infernal essence lingers, leaving users with disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma checks for two hours. Addiction is fierce, with withdrawal symptoms including intense rage and a -2 penalty to Charisma for several days.

Mermaid's Whisper is a rare potion rumored among fishermen and mermaids. Made from enchanted seaweed, it grants the user the ability to understand and speak Aquan for an hour. The magical effect leaves users with disadvantage on Wisdom and Intelligence checks for two hours. Dependency is swift, with withdrawal symptoms including longing for the sea and a -2 penalty to Wisdom for several days.

Necrotic Ichor is harvested from the decaying flesh of powerful undead creatures. Ingesting this ichor grants the user resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on Intimidation checks for an hour. The vile nature of the ichor, however, leaves users with disadvantage on Constitution and Charisma checks for two hours afterward. Addiction is swift and severe, with withdrawal symptoms including constant chills and a -2 penalty to Constitution for several days.

Mindflayer Extract is derived from the cerebral fluids of mindflayers. Drinking this extract allows the user to cast the detect thoughts spell once within the next hour. The alien essence of the extract leaves users with disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks for two hours afterward. Addiction is fierce, with withdrawal symptoms including migraines and a -2 penalty to Intelligence for several days.

Void Essence is a viscous fluid extracted from creatures of the Far Realms. Ingesting it grants the user resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saving throws against fear for an hour. The eldritch power is disorienting, leaving users with disadvantage on Charisma and Dexterity checks for two hours afterward. Dependency sets in quickly, and without it, users experience nightmarish visions and a -2 penalty to Charisma for several days; their gaze has a typically exhausted and haunted look with dark rings under the eyes.

Changeling Essence is made from the essence of changelings. Drinking it allows the user to mimic voices perfectly for an hour. The fluidity of identity strains the mind, causing disadvantage on Intelligence and Charisma checks for two hours afterward. Regular use leads to dependency, with withdrawals causing identity confusion and a -2 penalty to Charisma for several days.

Half-Elven Ambrosia is a sweet nectar distilled from the facial hair of half-elves. Drinking it grants the user a +2 bonus to Charisma and advantage on Persuasion checks for an hour. The charm wears off quickly, leaving users with disadvantage on Wisdom and Constitution checks for two hours. Addiction is common, with withdrawal symptoms including melancholy and a -2 penalty to Charisma for several days, plus a rash on the underside of the jaw and sides of the neck.

Volcanic Ash Brew is a potent drink brewed from volcanic minerals and fire newt scales. Ingesting it grants the user resistance to fire damage and advantage on Strength checks for an hour. The heat lingers, causing disadvantage on Constitution and Dexterity checks for two hours. Addiction sets in quickly, with withdrawal symptoms including severe sweating and a -2 penalty to Constitution for several days.

Eladrin Elixir is brewed from the spinal fluids of the celestial fey elves. Ingesting the milky fluid allows the user to teleport up to 30 feet once within the next hour, similar to the misty step spell. The fey magic lingers, causing disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks for two hours afterward. Dependency develops swiftly, with withdrawals causing confusion and a -2 penalty to all Intelligence checks for several days, though addicts tend to deny these symptoms and are more aggressive than usual. You can thank a Lizardfolk shaman named Gurgizz for this invention, among other, even more disgusting salves and slimes created from the fat and brain tissue of murdered fey folk. If you never concern yourself with where your wondrous substance comes from, then Gurgizz does make some very reliable products suitable for adventurers needs.

Frog Throat Swill is drawn from a cursed, ancient pond. Drinking it grants the user the ability to breathe underwater and advantage on Stealth checks while submerged for an hour. The curse leaves users with disadvantage on Constitution and Charisma checks for two hours and a green shade to the whites of their eyes. Addiction develops quickly, with withdrawal symptoms including persistent coughs and a -2 penalty to Constitution for several days, plus they may develop warts.

Gnomish Brew is a concoction made by gnomish artificers but originally stolen from a Thri-Kreen alchemist on an extremely dry and nasty world one of the Gnomes visited briefly during a dimensional laboratory accident. Drinking it grants the user advantage on all Intelligence-based skill checks for an hour. The mental sharpness fades, leaving users with disadvantage on Dexterity and Constitution checks for two hours. Addiction sets in quickly, with withdrawal symptoms including headaches and a -2 penalty to all Intelligence checks for several days but the urge to speak rapidly remains, resulting in stutters, gibberish and slurring.

Astral Dream Dust is a rare substance known among the Githyanki. Made from the dust of astral diamonds, it grants the user the ability to cast plane shift once within the next hour. The otherworldly power is disorienting, leaving users with disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks for two hours. Dependency is swift, with withdrawal symptoms including vivid, disorienting dreams and a -2 penalty to Wisdom for several days, the addict may develop elaborate conspiracy theories that are harmless but annoying to listen to.

Doppelganger Serum is synthesized from the blood of doppelgangers. When injected, it grants the user the ability to change their appearance as per the disguise self spell for an hour. The shifting magic causes disorientation, leaving users with disadvantage on Wisdom and Constitution checks for two hours. Addiction develops rapidly, with withdrawal symptoms including paranoia and a -2 penalty to Wisdom for several days, a severe allergy to salt and an inability to gain the benefits of a long rest without using magic or narcotics to get the addict to sleep.

Aarakocra Feather Tonic is created from the feathers of Aarakocra. Drinking it grants the user the ability to cast feather fall once within the next hour. The aerial magic leaves users with disadvantage on Dexterity and Constitution checks for two hours. Addiction develops rapidly, with withdrawal symptoms including vertigo and a -2 penalty to Dexterity for several days, this was orignally created by a Kenku sage named Hraas obsessed over reclaiming his people's lost ability to speak and create original thoughts, but he ended up creating the feather tonic as well as a few other feather based substances, never quite achieving his true goal.

Divine Nectar: This rare liquid is collected from the blossoms of celestial plants found in the Upper Planes. When consumed, it fills the user with a sense of profound joy and divine energy, granting temporary invulnerability to disease and poison. However, addiction can lead to a deep sense of loss and emptiness when not under its influence, causing severe depression and yearning for the divine presence. Gathering nectar is not illegal in the outer planes, but narcotic use is not tolerated, usually being the sign of a much deeper problem that needs addressing in an addict.

Dreamleaf Brew: Brewed from the leaves of the rare Dreamleaf plant, this potion induces vivid, euphoric dreams and enhances creativity. Users often feel inspired and enlightened. However, overuse results in an addiction to the dream state, making it difficult to distinguish dreams from reality, leading to long-term cognitive impairments. Oddly enough this exotic tea was discovered accidentally by Drakonis of Murghom, a dragon blooded sorcerer who was obsessed with harnessing the full power of his draconic lineage. He delved far and wide for some external enchantment, but eventually discovered that it was internal enhancements that were the key. His original brews were not great and he got a lot of quite serious injuries and by the time he perfected Dreamleaf brew, he prefered to spend all his time under it's effects, rather than struggle to live with his many permanent physical and mental afflictions.

Enchanter's Essence: This shimmering liquid is derived from the essence of enchanted objects, providing a significant boost to enchantment spells and abilities. It grants users heightened charisma and persuasiveness. Addiction, however, causes a dependency on the essence to feel confident and capable, leading to paranoia and loss of self-esteem when not in use. The interesting technique of creating the essence is thanks to the work of Lyria of Yoodoon, a largely unknown colony of Tritons who serve a storm giant near the Moonshae Isles; Lyria worked out that certain light when streamed over magic items could create an aura that was able to be siphoned off and distilled using some delicate lenses first designed by Karsus of the late great Netheril empire.

Earthblood Tincture: Extracted from the veins of living earth elementals, this potent tincture grants enhanced physical strength and a deep connection to the earth. Users feel grounded and resilient. Prolonged use leads to addiction, causing the user to crave physical contact with the earth and suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms like tremors and muscle weakness. This tincture is easily available from the City of Brass and is a growing problem among the Efreeti population there. It was first created by a Svirfneblin Deep Gnome named Nolgrimmer at the time, who was experimenting with elemental blood, as he called it, to help extract rare elements from ore samples. He eventually went mad from inhaling mercury fumes, but not before transforming one or two metallurgical techniques that have benefited many Deep Gnomes.

Sorcerer's Mist: A vapor created through complex alchemical processes involving arcane reagents, this mist enhances spellcasting abilities and magical resilience. Inhaling it provides a surge of arcane power. However, it is highly addictive, with users experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms, including a loss of magical control and sporadic bursts of uncontrolled magic. This vapor was created for an entirely different purpose some time ago by a Changeling named Whisper who sought to unlock the deep memories of victims as he read their mind telepathically prior to assuming their identity after their murder. The mist has had a turbulent history on many different worlds since then, having gained popularity in the interdimensional markets of the City of Brass and Sigil, the city of Doors. Versions of Sorcerer's Mist show up all over the place, the complexity of it's creation means that the end products differ in exactly how the surge of power manifests, and there is more demand for some than others.

Ethereal Dew: Collected from the condensation of the Ethereal Plane, this dew grants the ability to walk through walls and see into the Ethereal Plane. Users feel a sense of ethereal lightness and freedom. Addiction causes users to become increasingly detached from the Material Plane, with a growing inability to interact with solid objects and people. The first Dew created was formulated by the Minotaur philosopher Ruratona from the Labyrinthe of Crethus, it not only gained his freedom from a maze trap, it protected him from the gaze of a deadly medusa who had been sent into the maze to kill him. Ruratona's grandson was a notorious addict of the Ethereal Dew and eventually left the material plane to dwell in the border ethereal realm for the rest of his life, writing haunting poetry.

Clockwork Serum: A liquid derived from the intricate mechanisms of clockwork constructs, this serum grants enhanced reflexes and precision. Users feel an increased sense of control and efficiency. However, overuse leads to addiction, causing the user to develop a mechanical mindset, becoming overly rigid and emotionless.

Frostbite Elixir: Brewed from the liver of the Yeti and Glacier ice, this elixir grants resistance to cold and the ability to withstand freezing temperatures. Users feel invigorated and resilient but can't shake a numb feeling in their fingers and toes, no matter how warm they get. Addiction results in an overwhelming need for cold, with severe withdrawal symptoms including fever, chills, and hallucinations of icy landscapes. There are some tales of a mighty elixer created from far more formidable yeti and the waters of the planar river oceanus that can grant a permanent resistance to cold, but also passes on a berserker curse.

Thrain Ironforge, a master rune smith, sought to craft the ultimate weapon that would ensure his clan's dominance during some of the more chaotic and war torn days of the Empire of Shannatar. He ventured deep into the Underdark where he crossed a mysterious stone bridge, built long before the Dwarves settled the area, he discovered a cavern network that contained the purest ores and the most potent magical gemstones, insude one of which was trapped an indestructable octagonal plate inscribed with runic symbols that caused his mind great unease to even look at. By the time he returned to his clan his mind was deeply impacted and he could no longer communicate in any modern language, but, he had uncovered the secret to creating the Decipher Elixer, a fizzy concoction, granting the ability to understand and speak long-lost languages. Users feel a connection to ancient knowledge and wisdom. Prolonged use leads to addiction, causing an obsession with ancient artifacts and texts, and an inability to communicate in modern languages.

Azara, a tiefling warlock, made a pact with a powerful fiend in exchange for knowledge of a dark and potent brew called Basilisk's Breath: A potion made from the essence of a basilisk's eyes, granting temporary petrification resistance and the ability to partially turn objects to stone with a touch. Users feel powerful and invincible. However, addiction leads to a craving for the sensation of stone, with severe withdrawal symptoms including rigidity and paralysis. Azara was eventually found in a petrified state inside her lair, surrounded by the petrified collection of hundreds of different animals, monsters and more than a few of her enemies.

In the depths of the Nine Hells, an infernal alchemist named Baelgor concocted Necrotic Ichor: A dark, viscous liquid collected from the underworld, granting the ability to sense the presence of the undead, control minor undead and resist necrotic damage. Users feel a sense of dark power and control. Prolonged use leads to addiction, causing a dependency on necrotic energies and a gradual transformation into ghoulish obsession with undeath, leading to addicts seeking this path to what they consider immortality.

Solstice Serum: Brewed only during the summer or winter solstice, this serum grants a powerful surge of energy and harmony with the magical energies of the weave. Addiction results in a dependency on the serum to feel energized and aware of magic flows, with severe withdrawal symptoms including lethargy and disorientation, plus a sense of profound loss. In a rare collaboration, the dwarven alchemist Thorgrim Grimnatson and the elven enchanter Elion of the Muskwood created the first Solstice Serum, it can only be made with moonlight collected by spidersilk dew collected on a perfectly polished  mithril mirror forged by both enchanter and alchemist with great difficulty and care.

In the heart of the mist-shrouded mountains, an ancient Tiefling alchemist named Elrikus stumbled upon an ancient tome while searching through forgotten ruins. The tome detailed the process for creating Heaven's Ambrosia: This golden liquid is distilled from the essence of a celestial being's tears. When consumed, it grants a euphoric sense of peace and clarity, making the drinker feel invincible. They gain temporary immunity to fear and charm effects, but become hooked on the stuff, their eyes become very bloodshot from frequent use and withdrawal symptoms including severe depression and hallucinations. Elrikus spent decades deciphering the cryptic language and gathering the vanishingly rare ingredients. He succeeded, but the ambrosia’s addictive nature corrupted his mind, leaving him a hollow shell consumed by the quest for more divine essence.

Glowroot Elixir: Made from the roots of a bioluminescent plant found in deep forests, this Gnomish recipe emits a soft, glowing light. When ingested, it enhances night vision and grants a sense of calm and heightened senses. Overuse leads to an addiction where the user craves darkness and isolation, becoming increasingly sensitive to light, despite this risk, it is common enough that Gnomes add it to cocktails at fancy dinner parties.

Arcane Dust: This fine powder is created by grinding down fragments of ancient magical artifacts. Snorting it provides a burst of arcane energy, enhancing spellcasting abilities for a short period. However, prolonged use leads to a dependency and a gradual loss of one's innate magical abilities when not under its influence. Not to mention the dangers of meddling with strange and ancient magical artifacts that may not be as deactivated as you think. 

Fireheart Essence: Extracted from the heart of a fire elemental, this fiery liquid is both dangerous and potent. Drinking it grants resistance to fire and a temporary boost in physical strength. However, it also causes a burning sensation and an insatiable desire for warmth, leading to an addiction that can drive users to madness.

Wizards' Whisper: Created by alchemists through dangerous arcane experiments, this silvery potion enhances mental acuity and telepathic abilities. It allows users to read minds and communicate telepathically. Addiction results in paranoia and the inability to distinguish between their own thoughts and those of others. Severe addiction can be staved off by eating the powdered toxin found in the skin of the amphibian Grung people, reclusive and located in deep tropical jungles.

Zarathor, a warlock with a thirst for forbidden knowledge, made a pact with a shadowy entity from the Far Realms. In exchange for his soul, the entity revealed the formula for Astral Drift: This shimmering liquid is collected from the ethereal residue left by travelers between planes. Consuming it grants the ability to phase through solid objects and enter the Ethereal Plane temporarily. Users become addicted to the sensation of weightlessness and detachment, eventually losing their ability to stay anchored in the Material Plane. Zarathor became a formidable sorcerer, but the Astral Drift liquid's influence twisted his reality, causing him to lose his sanity. 

Golem's Grit: A gritty powder made from the crushed cores of defeated golems. When ingested, it grants enhanced physical durability and resilience. However, it also causes the user to gradually lose their humanity, becoming more mechanical in thought and action, and leading to addiction with a craving for rigidity and order. It became quite a popular sporting past time in the Sembian capital of Ordulin, but increasingly across the wider reaches of Faerûn all the way to Waterdeep to create these humanoid-shaped fighting dolls that stood about one foot tall with a little sword and shield, they went through a lot of them as they fought for the crowd's entertainment and someone figured out how to turn their wasted magical cores into a narcotic. You can still buy the fighting dolls through Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog for seven gold coins each.

Desert Mirage: A rare liquid found in the heart of magical deserts, this potion grants the ability to see through illusions and mirages. Users feel an overwhelming sense of clarity and truth. Addiction leads to constant hallucinations and an inability to perceive reality accurately, as they become dependent on the potion for clarity. This liquid is traded by the Bedine people of the Anuaroch desert to Jann emmisaries from the distant lands of Zakhara for very rare spices and delicately crafted metalware. 

Pharaoh's Blessing: An ancient potion recipe from a long-lost civilization, granting temporary control over minor undead. It provides a sense of power and control. However, users develop a craving for necromantic energies and a disturbing fascination with death and decay, leading to dangerous behavior and addiction. The hag Morgatha concocted this from the venom of cursed serpents and the essence of dark magic found in the unhatched eggs of black dragons and the powdered remains of mummified organs retrieved from ancient canopic jars. Morgatha used the potion to dominate her territory, but her own consumption led to her downfall as she turned into a necromantic monster obsessed with murder, eventually destroyed by those she terrorized as they set loose her other nightmare creations to feed on her body and soul.

Saint's Tears: Collected from sacred relics, this holy water grants healing and protection from evil creatures. Drinking it makes the user feel divinely blessed and invulnerable. Overuse leads to an obsessive need for the substance and a gradual weakening of their own natural defenses and resilience. This was originally developed by a Netherese explorer named Thalmar, later something of a detractor to the new shadow magic trend in Netheril towards the end of the empire's days, Thalmar was a scholar of the ancient alchemy of the Yuan-ti and he developed a variant on a dangerous black potion called "Phoenix Blood". This potion could  rejuvenate the body and grant temporary immortality. Driven by a desire to preserve his life’s work, Thalmar created and consumed the draught regularly. However, the addictive nature of the potion caused his body to deteriorate rapidly when not under its influence. Thalmar's endless pursuit of the draught’s fleeting immortality left him a shadow of his former self, constantly teetering on the brink of death.

Chimera's Breath: A potent gas harvested from the lungs of a chimera. When inhaled, it grants the user multiple physical enhancements, such as strength, speed, and night vision. Addiction causes the user to develop bestial traits and a growing loss of their human identity, leading to uncontrollable urges and behavior.

This is related to a legendary Dragon's Breath Elixir. Xarvorth, an ancient dragon with a vast hoard of knowledge, discovered the secret to creating an elixir granting the ability to breathe fire and enhancing physical prowess. Xarvorth shared this knowledge with a select few in exchange for their loyalty. However, those who consumed the elixir became fiercely addicted, their bodies gradually transforming into draconic abominations. Xarvorth’s experiment ultimately led to the rise of a new breed of twisted dragonkin, loyal but grotesque and thankfully short lived and infertile.

In an ancient, crumbling tower, the reclusive wizard Malkor discovered a hidden chamber filled with scrolls detailing lost arcane practices. Among them was the recipe for Shadowfell Shroud: A dark, viscous liquid from the Shadowfell, granting the ability to become invisible in darkness and heightened stealth abilities. However, users become addicted to the feeling of being unseen and start experiencing intense fear of light and exposure, eventually losing their ability to operate in daylight. Malkor was later killed by a group of Darkling assassins who destroyed as much of his work and samples as they could find before returning to the Shadowfell.

Phoenix Ash: Ashes from a phoenix's rebirth, mixed into a potion. Drinking it grants regeneration and temporary invincibility to harm. Addiction causes users to seek out danger recklessly, craving the sensation of being reborn. Prolonged use leads to an inability to heal naturally and dependence on the substance.

Eclipse Elixir: Brewed only during a solar eclipse, this rare potion grants temporary power over shadows and darkness. Users feel empowered and cunning. Addiction leads to a need for darkness and an aversion to light, with severe withdrawal symptoms including blindness and extreme sensitivity to sunlight.

Spellscour Residue: Collected from the residue of powerful spellcasting events, this unpredictable substance is a vivid metallic purple ooze that feels a lot heavier than it is, the users eat this goo and gain greater power from drawing on the weave of magical energies, however the side effects can result in outbursts of wild magic and confusion. Addicts will seek out places where a lot of spell casting is taking place so they can get their fix. Thalassia, a merfolk scholar from Seros, the Sea of Fallen Stars, discovered Spellsour Residue during her investigation and research on the lost secrets of Liquid Magic from the fallen Empire of Netheril, her secret recipe was highly sought after. However Thalassia herself became a recluse, hopelessly addicted to her own residie creation.

These sort of substances can add interesting tools for players, provide great story hooks, flesh out the lore of your games world setting and can be a lot of fun! If you would like more videos like this or perhaps a look into the land of Kara-Tur where Alchemists try to make themselves immortal by taking lethal amounts of deadly liquid mercury and arsenic! Either way, thanks for listening, my name is AJ Pickett and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.

Suturefly Dungeons and Dragons lore from Tome of Beasts

Variety is the spice of life, and the meat and potatoes for the adventuring sage.

On a distant world named Midgard there lives a kind of insect that I think surely must have come from one of the lawfully aligned other planes of existence and been transported to other dimensions just because of its usefullness.

That insect is called the Suturefly, it has many other titles, stitchbug, tyrant fly and deathweaver are among them, the Suturefly at rest, perched on some plant is quite good at blending in, their long body is mostly a drab green color with their wings folded back, something that dragonflies don't generally do, as that is what the Suturefly most resembles, comparisons are handy, they do look like larger dragonflies except they have three pairs of wings, which have a brighter orange color that is on display when the wings are in use, with a transparent stripe just before the tip of each wing. While six inches or fifteen centimeters doesn't sound big, its certainly large for a flying insect coming right at your face at high speed, believe me, some rumours persist about giant specimens found in deep, ancient woodland like the Old Margreve forest with ten foot wingspans, but those are most likely not naturally that size and serve as battle mounts for some of the more dangerous fey folk. I am not about to venture into the deep Margreve to find out for myself, not unless I am invited. I intend to make it into the deep forest at some point, those fey are just one thing I care to learn more about, and pass those details on to you, of course.

The local people if Midgard are a very diverse lot, one group I was eager to meet were the Halflings, and sure enough, it was during one of their rare legal trials that I happened to wander into their community center, which was also a general goods store of some size that remained open for business while all the local halflings decided the fate of some halfling farmer who had stolen a bunch of sheep, which would not have been a big deal, but people got hurt bringing the matter to justice and he was also on trial for assualting the local wardens, a much more serious offence as those wardens were the much loved sons of the local folk hero and, it so happens, the local magistrate. Despite that conflict of interest, it was a fair trial and it turns out the wardens did goad the sheep rustler and threatened his family. I was shocked to hear the young warden admitting this, I mean, there is honest and then there is admitting behavior that might get him removed from the local wardens... curious, I got in among the crowd to get a better look at what was going on, and that was when I saw and heard the hovering Sutureflies, each of them was flying just above a little decorated wooden coffer that they had been released from, I couldn't see any physical thing keeping them hovering there, so perhaps they were enchanted and under someone's control.

Fascinated and having never seen them before, I nudged a local and asked what they were and why they were there, as they looked pretty, but kind of dangerous.

Oh yes, I was assured, they are very dangerous, the Suturefly can kill you, sure enough.

I couldn't believe the outcome of this trail could mean death though, and I was right, the local shook his head, no no, he might get banished but its likely here he just has to do some community service, like road work or mending the stone fences around the paddocks. The Sutureflies were there to ensure that everyone told the truth as they attack anyone who tells a lie near them. This was stunning news! Were the insects intelligent? No not really, they have the same behavior as Dragonflies, though they don't reproduce around water, they are forest canopy insects who weave nests from living leaves to protect their eggs. They eat large figs that have caustic juice but are not acid spitters or anything, they don't even have mouthparts suitable for biting and have no harmful poison stinger, they are not coated in poison, they are just very fast, accurate and have turned their leaf weaving into a deadly weapon.

Outside of agriculture, that was about all the local knew about Sutureflies. He just said the flies knew when someone spoke a lie because these ones in the trail were of the particular breed maintained by the wardens. There were other types of sutureflies, and they detected other spoken misdeeds, such as attacking anyone who blasphemes.

How do they attack? I asked.

I needn't of bothered, at that moment the Sutureflies surrounding the sheep rustler buzzed and charged at him all at once, flying around and pestering him severely, they were attacking his head, which was twisting and jerking around, his screams became horribly muffled and he collapsed onto the ground, thrashing his legs and clawing at his face with his fingers. The two bailiffs hauled him up onto a rope-cutting bench and carefully sliced into his face with their daggers, wadding clean cloth over his profusely bleeding head.

That's how, said the local, in the dry wit of the hobbits.

Oh, 'Suture' Fly, they literally stitched his mouth, nose, and eyes closed! But that still didn't answer how they could detect a spoken lie.

The stitching behavior has a simple biological explanation, it is clear that the weaving prowess of the insects is how they choose their breeding partners and, much like the peacock's tail, has resulted in a very extreme ability to weave objects together using nothing more than piercing the flesh repeatedly and threading a loop of the target's own skin through the previous hole. Contact with the insect causes these skin loops to blacken, shrink and draw the stitch closed tightly, it requires careful attention to cut open these suture stitches and is intensely painful for the victim, who may not be able to breathe while this is being done, so sometimes it's necessary to stab a breathing hole in their windpipe to save their life.

But, how do they detect lies, or other verbal offences? 

Turns out, there was no complex biological reason for that, they were essentually granted this power by the gods, which is not that uncommon on Midgard, the gods play quite an active role there, including having children with mortals and often physically manifesting among them. Midgard is not a planet, its a gigantic disc of land floating on a sea of living stars, the land has powerful ley lines the locals use for a lot of their magic and all of them seem to know that they live on a flat surface, with mountains and all that stuff, but they are fine with the fact their world has an actual edge and no, they have no idea what is on the underside of their world. Such environments are not that weird, the Old Ones seem to have had a phase where they made a lot of Discworlds for some reason, who knows? The old ones are mysterious, very mysterious, beware that mystery, for that is how they hook you into a descent into obsessions and madness.

Midgard has humans, dwarves, elves, kobolds, minotaurs and gearforged, plus centaurs, gnolls, gnomes, goblins, tieflings and hobbits, it also has a dragon empire and a rich history. The Midgard world setting was written for the Pathfinder ruleset and was created by Wolfgang Baur, a prodigious writer in the RPG industry, he published it originally in 2012 and you can pick up a PDF copy for twenty bucks on DrivethruRPG. All of the Tome of Beasts books and the Creature Codex are written for Pathfinder, have now been fully converted to 5th edition D&D versions with notes on how they fit into the midgard setting, but you can pop them into your game setting as you see fit. There are hundreds of monsters, creatures and such to cover, so if you are interested in more monster ecologies and lore explorations, and expansions for kobold press books, let me know in the comments below the video.

If you happen to frequent the DnDBeyond web site, you can purchase access to the Tomb of Beasts volume one, it says, and I quote "Numerous suturefly varieties exist. Some attack based on verbal triggers other than lies. Black-banded sutureflies, for instance, detect curses and religious blasphemies. When attacking, sutureflies dart from hiding to surprise opponents. Once they sew someone’s mouth closed, they target the same victim’s nose, unless threatened by another opponent. Sutureflies attack until they have sewn all of their opponents’ mouths, eyes and noses closed or until they’re destroyed." and I see here that they are also known to sew the eyes of Dryads shut to protect them against the evils of Civilization.

What twisted being enchanted an entire species and numerous sub-species to use their weaving ability with such ferocity? I am thinking its a fey lord of some kind, not Baba Yaga, but probably someone or something just as formidable.

The Tomb of Beasts lists the Suturefly as a Tiny Beast without evil intent, I think they would work just as well as a swarm for higher level player characters, it would give them a bit more agility as they would be able to occupy the same space as another creature. Sutureflies have an armor class of 12, 10 hit points, a flight speed of 40 feet per round, they can make one Sew action each round, +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or the suturefly sews the target’s mouth, nose, or one of its eyes closed (the suturefly’s choice). With supernatural speed, the suturefly repeatedly pierces the target’s face, each time threading a loop of the target’s own skin through the previous hole. These skin loops rapidly blacken, shrink, and draw the orifice tightly closed. If a target’s mouth is sewn shut, it can’t speak. If its mouth and nose are sewn shut, it can’t breathe, and if both eyes are sewn shut, it is blinded. A creature, including the target, can take its action to cut open one of the sewn orifices by succeeding on a DC 12 Dexterity check with an edged weapon or tool.

They have +4 to stealth checks, and make them with advantage while in forest terrain. They will rest high up on a tree trunk just below the leaf canopy and watch you... waiting and listening.

So, you know, carefull with the idle banter while walking through deep forests, you never know who or what is listening.

My name is AJ Pickett, thanks for listening and as always, I will be back with more for you very soon.

Song of Yondalla

Together bond, the old and young
Beneath her gaze, our songs are sung.
Yondalla, keeper of the flame,
In every heart, she plants her claim,
Nurturer of the roots we grow,
Yondalla's love, forever flows.
In fields of gold, where dreams unfold,
Yondalla's grace, for young and old.
Nurturing all, with love untold,
Her light shines bright, in hearts so bold.
Guarding homes for every kind (every kind)
The bountiful goddess, she's so divine (so divine)
In her grace, a feast unfurls
She weaves the magic, in our world (in our world)
Guarding homes, she blesses all
The merry hearts, from the big to small (big to small)
Goddess of love, hear our call,
In your light, we stand tall.

Yondalla, (Yondalla), Yondalla, (Yondalla), Yondalla, (Yondalla)!