New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 25 of 50 FirstFirst ... 151617181920212223242526272829303132333435 ... LastLast
Results 721 to 750 of 1476
  1. - Top - End - #721
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Somewhere
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Demons, devils, dinosaurs, dragons.... I really (really) don't want to do any of those, but this thread deserves to continue. Unless someone else is interested, in the next few days, I'll do Demons the way MrConsideration planned to: first general fluff, then (if nobody else chimes in) the individual types.
    It's Eberron, not ebberon.
    It's not high magic, it's wide magic.
    And it's definitely not steampunk. The only time steam gets involved is when the fire and water elementals break loose.

  2. - Top - End - #722
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    mephnick's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2012

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Just post a short story about Demons riding Dinosaurs fighting Devils riding Dragons and skip to Dro....actually skip to Dryad.

  3. - Top - End - #723
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SamuraiGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Colorado
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    I think the Dinosaurs are ridiculously few in number. And probably underpowered.
    This ... is my signature finishing move!

    "It's never good when you make a fiend cringe" - MadGrady

    According to some online quiz, I'm a 6th level TN Wizard. They didn't give me full XP for all the monsters I've defeated while daydreaming.
    http://easydamus.com/character.html

    I am a Ranger Archetype: Gleaming Warden (thx to Ninja Prawn)

  4. - Top - End - #724
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kobold

    Join Date
    Apr 2012

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Alejandro View Post
    To build on what was noted above, I wonder if a powerful demon or devil has ever tried to attain lichdom? :D
    I don't think they can anyway, but more then that, why would they bother. They have other easier ways to increase their power, they are already immortal, They can even create objects that behave like Phylacteries, (Which they would only want on their home plane, any other plane and they respawn back home anyway.)

  5. - Top - End - #725
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WhiteWizardGirl

    Join Date
    Feb 2013

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Shining Wrath View Post
    I think the Dinosaurs are ridiculously few in number. And probably underpowered.
    I think the idea was to create some high power "beasts" so that anyone with abilities related to that category of monster wouldn't feel they had wasted their early training once they had passed level 10 or so.

    The problem is that dinosaurs REALLY don't fit into a lot of campaigns (in theme or size). Plus, at the end of the day, they are just animals. It's hard to come up with motivation for why they would want to fight the party or, even harder, why they wouldn't just run away once they were down to 1/2 HP or so.

    I don't lose to much sleep when my character kills evil orcs or mindless undead, but killing a "beast" always leaves me feeling like a bit of an *******. Like I should have tried harder to just find a way to leave it in peace.

  6. - Top - End - #726
    Orc in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2016

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mith View Post
    I would say that the Ettin demilich would be the same as a regular demilich, with either both skulls being involved in any attack actions, or one skull does something, while the other one shouts insults. The two skulls occupy the same 5' square.
    I've always pictured the Monty Python version of the Ettin -- with the two heads like squabbling twins. So now I'm picturing the two undead heads as a demi-lich and the disembodied head of a death knight -- both wanting to reclaim control of the giant body, but using it entirely differently.

  7. - Top - End - #727
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Sep 2013

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    I've always pictured the Monty Python version of the Ettin -- with the two heads like squabbling twins. So now I'm picturing the two undead heads as a demi-lich and the disembodied head of a death knight -- both wanting to reclaim control of the giant body, but using it entirely differently.
    The only reason for my reasoning was to keep the mechanics of one demi lich with the absurdity of a dual headed insane entity. Though a conflict that randomly determined how the entity would react (as a death knight or as a demi lich) would also be interesting.

  8. - Top - End - #728
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Virtual Austin

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    I've run a Demilich before. To keep down the silliness quotient, the dust around the skull rose up to form the diaphanous shape of the lich's body.

    So it looked as if the demilich was the ghost of the lich, with the skull still there as the last physical manifestation.

  9. - Top - End - #729
    Orc in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    London, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Demon Fluff*

    As a point of comparison, I spilt some virtual ink on Devils here.

    Demons are in one way fascinating and in another way tedious because of the exact same predilection – they value violent destruction. They are capital-C, capital-E Chaotic Evil and as a result their primary engagement with a player character is going to involve rolling initiative and duking it out – facing a demon’s litany of resistances, whacky powers, spell-like abilities and multi-attacks. I actually find Wizards’ text on demons really evocative here, possibly because their usual hyperbolic descriptions of depravity and cruelty are the very essence of demonhood. Luckily for Wizards, I don't need an ecology, really. It's a demon. It's daily activities including killing you and eating your children. I’ll discuss my favourite aspects below.

    Capricious Elevation. Demons occupy a Hobbesian world of war-against-all. There are only underlings, overlords and rivals. This makes them intriguing (they want to conquer the OTHER Galbrezu just as much as they want to devour the hearts of your adventurers) and it adds a consistent ability for players to manipulate them if they’re smart. A Demon would love to pull off a Red Wedding-esque betrayal on their overlord if it elevates them to command. I also love the liminality and mutability of demon’s forms: that their political evolution is echoed by physical changes. Demon’s forms should be highly representative of their nature – they’re a metaphor that can punch you in the throat, Good stuff.

    Signs of Corruption.
    This is one of my favourite aspects of Demons. A mortal army – even an evil one – can only conquer you and enslave you, Contact with the demonic can change you – beloved glades become fetid wombs of rot-monsters; a conquered city a hellscape of Silent Hill-monstrosities, slaves start to warp, and become manes themselves. You can ham this up with your players and play on the body horror aspect of this, “When you stare into the Abyss….”

    In the world of The Last Day Dawned, a significant part of the steppes of the setting are overrun with Demonic Warbands. This has created a taxonomy that is warped – a nature that is wrong. A horrifying secret, as yet undiscovered, is that the 666 worlds of the Abyss are all previous Prime Material planes that Demonkind overran.

    Demonic Possession. You know I love me some possession, and you’ve read through my possession rules for 5e religiously, no doubt.

    Some parts of the Demon Fluff are a bit silly, though, like a ‘Demon Amulet’ (imaginative name) which exists to ruin the achievements of your players. If your players physically go to the Abyss and kill a demon, enduring whatever horrors you inflict on them to do so, that demon stays dead. Come on!

    As for the Demon Lords, they’re all brilliant, and memorable, fleshed-out concepts. Lolth and Orcus are such powerfully distinctive enemies that they shame the generic list of Devil big-wigs utterly. Their mythology is strong, they’re iconic and all of them have a distinct, utterly freaky feel. Even Demogorgon, who should be by all accounts an utterly ridiculous concept, pulls off his weirdness with considerable aplomb.




    Art:
    A single, excellent side-bar featuring a ruined city slowly descending in into some kind of Abyssal swamp. A single, enigmatic figure surveys the scene with a touch of dramatic flair. What I love about this piece is the way the angles and geography are all wrong – it highlights that the Abyss is a fundamentally warped place. The pallid, grey-green colouration beautifully connotes an atmosphere of despair, and the enormity of the figures surroundings tell a potent story of vulnerability.

    Verdict: Demons are classic for a reason. Wizards got them right.





    *Two words that seem mightily incongruous together.
    Here is my DIY D&D blog, where I post my thoughts and homebrew ideas, mainly for 5e. Currently I'm working on Sea Wolves, an Age of Sail setting undergoing systems collapse.


    Here is where I posted my Let's Read of the 5e Monster Manual and here are my current Monster Reviews.

  10. - Top - End - #730
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    And we're back!

    I like the implication of the Abyss being, essentially, the demon, some sort of endless, incomprehensibly large astral being that swallows metaphysics whole. It eats demiplanes, dead gods and other astral debris, and every demon that the players can interact with are just a by-product of its digestion processes. If you've read the manta series Bleach, it's the Koryu; the cleaner of the Astral Plane. If you could look at it from the outside without blowing your mind, it'd probably look a lot like a slug, except not at all like a slug.

    My thoughts on individual demons can wait. MrConsideration, you've rules for possession, but what about channelling? You know, when a celestial allows a mortal to take on some of its powers?
    Spoiler: Quotes from the Playground
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by JoeJ View Post
    In fact, I will here formally propose the Zeroth Rule of Gaming: No rule in any game shall be interpreted in a way that breaks the game if it is possible to interpret that rule in a way that does not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

    (aka "The Doppelbanger")
    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    Shhhhh, shhhhhh. Be calm, inhale the beholder's wacky float gas and stop worrying.


    Adapting published monsters to Eberron: Naturalist's Guide to Eberron Latest: Annis Hag

    Avatarial Awesomeness by Kymme!

  11. - Top - End - #731
    Orc in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    London, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    I definitely agree that's an awesome way of looking at the Abyss.

    I have a Word document that is unfinished which was meant to establish a Willing Vessel as a character class - a sort of willingly-possessed creature. It was going to be something of a mix of Monk and Warlock - getting a certain number of boons and at-will powers based on the spirit you're using. I'll revisit it and see it I'll let namby-pamby good two-shoes celestials in on the action.

    I've also granted boons from Celestials before but they were pretty minor (free all-day Bless for 24 hours).
    Here is my DIY D&D blog, where I post my thoughts and homebrew ideas, mainly for 5e. Currently I'm working on Sea Wolves, an Age of Sail setting undergoing systems collapse.


    Here is where I posted my Let's Read of the 5e Monster Manual and here are my current Monster Reviews.

  12. - Top - End - #732
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by MrConsideration View Post
    I definitely agree that's an awesome way of looking at the Abyss.

    I have a Word document that is unfinished which was meant to establish a Willing Vessel as a character class - a sort of willingly-possessed creature. It was going to be something of a mix of Monk and Warlock - getting a certain number of boons and at-will powers based on the spirit you're using. I'll revisit it and see it I'll let namby-pamby good two-shoes celestials in on the action.

    I've also granted boons from Celestials before but they were pretty minor (free all-day Bless for 24 hours).
    Thanks. =) It's stated in one of the demon-centric books that there's a new kind of ethereal demon appearing, and that they're the Abyss assimilating dreams of dead gods. I thought it made sense to expand the concept a little.

    I remember the channelling rules from the ECS 3.5: it was less like the Good celestial possessing the mortal, and more like the celestial willingly letting itself be drawn upon. The character used the celestial's stats or its own, whichever was higher, and could use some of the celestial's abilities. The fiend forced control, the celestial relinquished it.
    Spoiler: Quotes from the Playground
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by JoeJ View Post
    In fact, I will here formally propose the Zeroth Rule of Gaming: No rule in any game shall be interpreted in a way that breaks the game if it is possible to interpret that rule in a way that does not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

    (aka "The Doppelbanger")
    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    Shhhhh, shhhhhh. Be calm, inhale the beholder's wacky float gas and stop worrying.


    Adapting published monsters to Eberron: Naturalist's Guide to Eberron Latest: Annis Hag

    Avatarial Awesomeness by Kymme!

  13. - Top - End - #733
    Orc in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    London, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!


    The Balor

    The Balor is the original – the Ur-Demon. Whilst whips and chains are somewhat uninspired and only really excite Rihanna, this Balrog knock-off has a pretty noble vintage and classic feel. Initially coined so as not to get sued by the Tolkein estate when your fellowship fights one, I feel that the Balor as rather failed to establish itself as a concept in its own right in the same way other D&D homages have – even D&D Hob- Halflings have a distinctive niche.

    Art
    Normally, I’d object to huge chunks of this image – the flaming whip and lightning-sword are exactly the sort of stupid, over-the-top silliness that irks me – but when you’re a millennia-old CR19 badass it works. The fetish-gear made of skulls is enormously tacky and utterly stupid – I’ve always hated this excessive grimdark nonsense, and you’d think an 20 INT and 22 CHA beastie would have better fashion sense. I especially like the use of colour, though – those red-black fades and the white-hot inferno within give a primal sense of threat, and the intense flames on that whip put the Balrog of Morgoth to shame. There’s nothing particularly imaginative to this piece but then there’s nothing particularly imaginative about the Balor, either.

    Purpose and Tactics.

    It’s a boss for epic-level characters to fight, and unlike most end-game threats, it purely does this with melee damage. Close-quarters fighting with a Balor exposes you to its nasty multi-attacks whilst you wither in the fire-aura. It lacks any of the usual abilities of ‘boss’ monsters to do much more than fight in melee – it has a Teleport ability should you attempt to screw with the creature from range but this uses an action – making kiting it a useful strategy for the PCs, dependent on terrain (it does have an 80ft flight speed, though, so not eveyr character is going to escape clobbering range). To leverage the Balor’s strengths, players must be in close-proximity – an enclosed room or labyrinth, or trapped in the press of some Blood War battle, should force your players to contend with it. Standing toe-to-toe with the Balor and exchanging blows with the damn thing until either side dies doesn’t sound like a particularaly interesting combat encounter to me, so I’d be tempted to include elements of terrain to be utilised against it – elevated areas, traps you could lure it into teleporting into – maybe have the whole combat be aerial and three-dimensional and have terrain features be storm-clouds or fog for cover. Much of the Balor’s abilities are of the ‘nerr, nerr, nerr’ variety – that is to say, they nullify things players do. It has mighty saves and advantage on saves against all spell effects to stop anyone shutting it down with a Save-or-suck (Landing a Bestow Curse or Polymorph first should make it easier to land nasty effects on later). It has a big list of resistances and immunities. When it dies, it might just blow up the entire party with a lucky roll using its explodes-on-death-voltorb silliness. All this feels like a raised finger to the players, and funnels the combat into a straight up brawl which will come down to dice-rolls and see your casters spending their slots buffing the front-line – hardly the most scintillating D&D scrimmage I can envision in actual play.

    Fluff
    One paragraph of essentially vapid hyperbole about a Balor’s nastiness. Not particularly inspiring or gameable, although the notion of them as generals, rather than overlords, grants the possibility of interesting social encounters.

    Hooks

    The Devil Catalbraxitas has marched his legions to this desolate corner of the Abyss to hold some far-flung half-forgotten bastion of Hell for his liege-lord. Opposite him, the Balor Skunnik Toothbreaker has assembled a great warband of demonkind – easily enough to break Catalbraxitas and consume his soul. Would you heroes accept payment in souls or lucre for ending this petty warlord’s pretentions before it need come to the messiness and risk of an actual battle?

    Fire-On-The-Corpse-Of-Empires has conquered many planes for demonkind, and glutted himself on the souls of thousands. All he desires now is to see his two fellow Balor-generals disappear so the glory can all be his. In the coming battle, could you mercenaries ensure the other Balors do not survive?

    Verdict: For a creature of the Abyss, they are far too vanilla. Genre-savvy players will be unimpressed and they fail to deliver an engaging battle or story.
    Here is my DIY D&D blog, where I post my thoughts and homebrew ideas, mainly for 5e. Currently I'm working on Sea Wolves, an Age of Sail setting undergoing systems collapse.


    Here is where I posted my Let's Read of the 5e Monster Manual and here are my current Monster Reviews.

  14. - Top - End - #734
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    ZenBear's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by MrConsideration View Post
    Whilst whips and chains are somewhat uninspired and only really excite Rihanna
    Made me lol

    Good to see you back broseph!

    I agree, Balors are uninspired, but you would be too if you were that old. They still serve their function of big beef boy baddie quite well. They are not a thing you build a story around, but they are the perfect punctuation to a demon campaign.
    Last edited by ZenBear; 2016-06-29 at 10:10 AM.

  15. - Top - End - #735
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    A balor dropping out of the sky is basically the Abyss' way of saying "we know you're here" to overeager adventuring parties.
    Last edited by Regitnui; 2016-06-28 at 11:51 PM.

  16. - Top - End - #736
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SamuraiGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Colorado
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Fluffwise I like the Balor as a throwback to the Balrog from the Silmarillion: a creature designed to lead armies of evil doers into battle and lead from the front. No subtlety, no gimmicks; he doesn't hide behind his minions, he kills you himself and enjoys doing it. Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, slayer of Feanor.

    Gamewise he is pure brute force and resistance. There's something to be said for this as the essence of demonkind; despite his ability scores, he still enjoys wading into combat, slashing and whipping and mocking your feeble efforts to harm him. If a balor charges into an army of ordinary soldiers you can just imagine the carnage, and so can he.

    What a demon craves is to slaughter the innocent. A way to make the party fight the balor up close and personal is to have innocents around; if the party tries to use hit and run tactics, the balor turns and rends a few orphans or kicks some puppies or what have you.
    This ... is my signature finishing move!

    "It's never good when you make a fiend cringe" - MadGrady

    According to some online quiz, I'm a 6th level TN Wizard. They didn't give me full XP for all the monsters I've defeated while daydreaming.
    http://easydamus.com/character.html

    I am a Ranger Archetype: Gleaming Warden (thx to Ninja Prawn)

  17. - Top - End - #737
    Orc in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    London, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Barlgura

    The Barlgura is another demon with roots in the earliest iterations of the hobby, originating in a module from 1982 with a number of other demons. It has made an appearance in every edition since – never a particularly iconic creature like the Balor, but always present. Unlike the Balor, the Barlgura appears to be an original D&D creation and draws much more on the pulp-fantasy roots of the game rather than the poncey high-fantasy Tolkeinania. Without further monkeying around…

    Art

    It is a big orange monkey. Kudos to the artist who took ‘evil, swole Orangutan’ as his concept direction and just ran with it – the Barlgura dominates the page with its size, leaning forward, enormous fists prominent and teeth bared – a model of primate aggression. It’s a well-executed piece but nothing about it fires my imagination. I think for the Barlgura to really connote threat it needs an image that contextualises it – barely seen in some steaming Abyssal jungle or reaching from above at some unaware foe. I find the admittedly campy original illustration pretty chilling actually.


    Fluff


    Being a demon, the barlgura is also shafted with a mere blurb. There is literally nothing in this blurb that isn’t obvious from the artwork – so give me something gamable for the fluff. What locales do barlgura hunt in? Who do they get trophies from? What’s their social organisation? What do more urbanised demons think of these barely sapient primate thugs?

    Purpose and Tactics:
    They’re a strange combination of brute force and stealth. With numerous boots to ambush (Stealth +5, invisibility, disguise self, excellent movement stats) and to their ability to spot you first (Perception +5, Darkvision and for some inexplicable reason, Blindsight) these great apes will generally get the jump on your adventurers – perhaps literally from 40ft away. Once they’re ambushing, the barlgura have a riff on the barbarian’s Reckless Attack to get advantage on their three attacks, very feasibly dropping a character in a round. This is balanced by anaemic HP as the Reckless barlgura is very likely to go down quickly. This creates a brilliant and intense combat situation, especially if you use the terrain to the barlgura’s advantage. In a teeming Abyssal jungle, or wind-swept labyrinth of canyons or ruined temple complex the barlgura’s guerrilla tactics will require tactics from your PCs beyond hacking it to pieces as it escapes into the terrain, leaping over rivers of lava or climbing sheer cliff faces with any dropped PCs draped over their shoulder, King Kong-style.

    As a solo encounter, I think the barlgura would not work: after potentially ruining a caster’s day, the rest of the party will destroy it in the next combat round. Against a higher-level party a group of Barlgura s far more engaging: able to target the rear with hit-and-run attacks, cut off their retreat with Entangle, and leap away carrying their prisoners or prey.

    Hooks

    Baphomet will return the soul of a great hero if you can prove you are master of the untamed wilds. Cross the jungles of Kulkulkellatzan and emerge on the other side, or succumb to the savagery of the wilds.

    Captain Berufex of the 667th Infernal Hussars has trounced a demon warlord in open battle, giving him a taste of Hell’s steel! However, the Warlord has absconded into some wretched jungle…

    An urbane, educated Barlgura keeps his predilections towards violence in check: instead, he takes trophies from his intellectual conquests – a book-page here, a scroll there – to add to his cabinet of curiosities. He wants only one thing to complete his collection – the love of a good woman. Can you find a bride for this bookish Barlgura?

    A Barlgura Chief wishes to know how mortal races have created great civilizations whilst his people have spent millennia subsisting on stolen flesh. Can you help the king of the swingers, the jungle VIP?

    Verdict: A silly concept executed with aplomb. My players better watch the canopy…
    Here is my DIY D&D blog, where I post my thoughts and homebrew ideas, mainly for 5e. Currently I'm working on Sea Wolves, an Age of Sail setting undergoing systems collapse.


    Here is where I posted my Let's Read of the 5e Monster Manual and here are my current Monster Reviews.

  18. - Top - End - #738
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Great article. I love the idea of civilized beasts almost as much as I like the idea of ambiguous alignments, so the intellectual barlgura may make an appearance in my campaign. I also like the idea of emphasizing the barlgura's bestial nature; Druids make deals with them to allow them to rampage through forests and areas where the balance of nature is irrevocably upset, with much the same effect as a wildfire.

    Quote Originally Posted by MrConsideration View Post
    Can you help the king of the swingers, the jungle VIP?
    But since I now have a D&D version of this song stuck in my head, I'm taking back the points.
    Spoiler: Quotes from the Playground
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by JoeJ View Post
    In fact, I will here formally propose the Zeroth Rule of Gaming: No rule in any game shall be interpreted in a way that breaks the game if it is possible to interpret that rule in a way that does not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

    (aka "The Doppelbanger")
    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    Shhhhh, shhhhhh. Be calm, inhale the beholder's wacky float gas and stop worrying.


    Adapting published monsters to Eberron: Naturalist's Guide to Eberron Latest: Annis Hag

    Avatarial Awesomeness by Kymme!

  19. - Top - End - #739
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2014

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Regitnui View Post
    But since I now have a D&D version of this song stuck in my head, I'm taking back the points.
    My google-fu has failed to supply my curiosity on this d&d version of the song, where can one be located?

  20. - Top - End - #740
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by GorinichSerpant View Post
    My google-fu has failed to supply my curiosity on this d&d version of the song, where can one be located?
    I made it up. If you must;

    Spoiler: Song
    Show
    I'm the demon king of the swingers,
    rule the jungle VIP.
    I've reached the top and had to stop and that's what's bothering me.
    I want to be a PC, mancub, and stroll right into town.
    And be just like them other races. I'm tired of monstering around.
    Oh, dooby-doo, wap-baby, I wanna be like you-oo-oo.
    I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too-oo-oo.
    (Deeby-deeby)
    You see it's true-oo-oo, some one like me-ee-ee.
    Can learn to take, class levels like you.
    (take me home, daddy)
    Can learn to take, class levels like yooooooooou.
    Spoiler: Quotes from the Playground
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by JoeJ View Post
    In fact, I will here formally propose the Zeroth Rule of Gaming: No rule in any game shall be interpreted in a way that breaks the game if it is possible to interpret that rule in a way that does not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

    (aka "The Doppelbanger")
    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    Shhhhh, shhhhhh. Be calm, inhale the beholder's wacky float gas and stop worrying.


    Adapting published monsters to Eberron: Naturalist's Guide to Eberron Latest: Annis Hag

    Avatarial Awesomeness by Kymme!

  21. - Top - End - #741
    Orc in the Playground
     
    EvilClericGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    London, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Your song is inspired, Regitnui. I guess everyone just wants to jump ship from the Monster Manual to the Player's handbook eventually.

    Chasme

    The Chasme is another demon that was borne from 1982’s Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, that has also been re-used in numerous iterations of D&D. Whilst I can understand the refrain of creatures which are conceptually developed and have an iconic vibe (Mind Flayers, Owlbears, Beholders…) there must have been someone in TSR or Wizards’ history who looked at this thing and admitted they could do better than ‘big demon mosquito’.


    Art


    It’s bloody awful. It’s a giant blue shiny fly with a toupee. The artwork is utterly static and does nothing to connote its speed or size of ability to ambush you. It’s just sat here. No effort has been made to make mileage out of the instinctive revulsion most people feel towards insects, and insectile bodies, either. Earlier artworks capture that either the whip-like speed or insectile horror that should define the creature. Nothing about this work fires the imagination or inspires fear.

    http://www.lomion.de/cmm/img/spc/chasme.gif

    Fluff.

    The Chasme’s blurb is a little longer than your average demon. It describes aspects of its attack pattern – a merciless drone that afflicts you with lethargy (I’d refluff it as overwhelming ennui or outright depression as that feels more Abyssal to me) and drink your blood. There’s a sort of metaphor or moral to this approach, a sort of fairy-tale logic that I quite like. The idea of them as overzealous torturers and interrogators is great: it differentiates them from our previous “roar, smash, kill” and places them in the thick of the messy world of Abyssal politics, ripe for adventure hooks.

    Purpose and Tactics

    I’ll blab about how to fight the silly demon bug once I’ve got this off my chest:

    Why is every demon telepathic? Why is there an Abyssal language when every single demon is telepathic? At what point did the Chasme learn and acquire language and for what purpose if ii can simply insert its thoughts directly into your brain without all the messiness of slopping face-bits together to make noises? Language is a clumsy tool we use to approximate thought. Why would a telepathic creature develop speech at all, especially if it doesn’t have a mouth? What would Ludwig Wittgenstein think of all this?

    Ok, enough philosophy – we must be careful when staring into the Abyss that it does not stare back at us, after all. The Chasme also works best as an ambushing attacker – the damn thing can fly hugely fast so having it emerge from some canyon or swoop down out of the maelstrom give it the mileage to get amidst your players in order to allow Drone to do its nasty. Whilst as with many save-or-die effects there’s a small chance of swinginess portending the doom of your player-characters, it seem unlikely with the legions ways to achieve advantage or rerolls in 5e. After this, it whacks an opponent with its Proboscis, doing a mighty 4d6 + 2 and then 7d6 damage, which could easily down a character. The to-hit chance is a little low, so you want to direct this at low-AC casters to take them out of the fight. It does outright kill someone who hits 0, though, and To stop the Chasme being easily shut down it has Magic Resistance.

    I think the best way to use the Chasme is to pair it with other demons – when assaulting a Demon Warlord his loyal torturer joins the fray, disrupting your lines with Drone and sniping at your caster backline with impunity thank to its fly speed. You’d need to focus fire on it to take it down as your save-or-suck spells would likely bounce off. Much like an actual fly, it would be a persistent irritance.

    Like other demons it also has a fun shopping-list of extraneous abilities. It can Spider Climb (why ever do this when you can fly?), Blindsight, Telepathy, and a really high WIS.

    Hooks:


    Eight beautiful women – drawn from races throughout the cosmos – have escaped the harem of Pulukcuk the Putrid. They beg your heroes to help them escape, for Pulukcuk’s spymaster, the droning Chasme, hunts them with a band of vagabonds….

    Cattle mutilated. Children missing. All the villagers can remember is an unholy drone, and awaking, exhausted, to see the absence of loved ones.

    Degruk the Defiler is a Chasme who has served his overlord well for millennia, growing fat on secrets and souls. Now, Degruk feels there should be a new master, if only he could find a hand to rid him of his current employer…

    Verdict: A wonky concept. Not a A-lister but a diverting back-up monster for another Demonic talent.
    Here is my DIY D&D blog, where I post my thoughts and homebrew ideas, mainly for 5e. Currently I'm working on Sea Wolves, an Age of Sail setting undergoing systems collapse.


    Here is where I posted my Let's Read of the 5e Monster Manual and here are my current Monster Reviews.

  22. - Top - End - #742
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Professor Gnoll's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2014

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    That smooth little slicked-back toupee on the 5e Chasme sure does look weird, doesn't it? Makes me think of it as a smooth-talking salesman type. "What? No, no, this little infernal chariot here's barely done five hundred planar spans! It belonged to a little old Balor who only drove it to the Howling Armoury once a week..." Buzzing smoothly, doing that thing flies do where they rub their faces with their forelimbs (like a salesman would slick back his hair)...
    Hazama avatar by me. Other avatars that I've made:
    Spoiler: Avatars
    Show

  23. - Top - End - #743
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2014

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Professor Gnoll View Post
    That smooth little slicked-back toupee on the 5e Chasme sure does look weird, doesn't it? Makes me think of it as a smooth-talking salesman type. "What? No, no, this little infernal chariot here's barely done five hundred planar spans! It belonged to a little old Balor who only drove it to the Howling Armoury once a week..." Buzzing smoothly, doing that thing flies do where they rub their faces with their forelimbs (like a salesman would slick back his hair)...
    Slicking back greasy hair in the manner that flies rub their faces certainty adds to their image.

  24. - Top - End - #744
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kobold

    Join Date
    Apr 2012

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!


  25. - Top - End - #745
    Halfling in the Playground
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Victoria, Canada
    Gender
    Intersex

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Common misconception: lack of depth perception makes aiming harder when it's close to you, not when it's far away! That's why sniper rifles only have a single scope and so-on. The depth perception you get from your interocular distance is pretty negligible once something has some range on you, but up close, it's going to be harder to judge distances.

    Maybe, I dunno, have the first range increment have a disadvantage since it's TOO close, but a cyclops has no penalty to the next one over that, since they're brawny enough to muscle a rock that far?

  26. - Top - End - #746
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Vinland
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by MrConsideration View Post
    [B][U]An urbane, educated Barlgura keeps his predilections towards violence in check: instead, he takes trophies from his intellectual conquests – a book-page here, a scroll there – to add to his cabinet of curiosities. He wants only one thing to complete his collection – the love of a good woman. Can you find a bride for this bookish Barlgura?
    It's gems like this that make this my favorite thread.

  27. - Top - End - #747
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    ShikomeKidoMi's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2010

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Envyus View Post
    snip
    It looks like someone's attempt to draw a more realistic pokemon of some sort. I'm not using that as shorthand for awful as part of a random put-down, I mean it literally, that conical nose and the toupee hair really look like pokemon features for me. The oddly shaped leg joints that can't actually straighten match those creatures, too.
    Last edited by ShikomeKidoMi; 2016-07-13 at 08:26 PM.

  28. - Top - End - #748
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SamuraiGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Colorado
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    I'm curious if the Chasme predates the Stirge, because both creatures are essentially Mosquitoes From Hell. In general, I like my demons in combined arms settings, and the Chasme makes fine light cavalry.
    This ... is my signature finishing move!

    "It's never good when you make a fiend cringe" - MadGrady

    According to some online quiz, I'm a 6th level TN Wizard. They didn't give me full XP for all the monsters I've defeated while daydreaming.
    http://easydamus.com/character.html

    I am a Ranger Archetype: Gleaming Warden (thx to Ninja Prawn)

  29. - Top - End - #749
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    SolithKnightGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    cocoa beach, fl
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Shining Wrath View Post
    I'm curious if the Chasme predates the Stirge, because both creatures are essentially Mosquitoes From Hell. In general, I like my demons in combined arms settings, and the Chasme makes fine light cavalry.
    The stirge goes back at least as far as OD&D red box. I think chasme appeared in AD&D 1e so probably stirge is older.

    Barlgura feels like it would fit into a ruined city in the jungle of a pulp setting. The jungle natives have become restless, they are sacrificing outsiders they once traded with to some foul new god. Can you put a stop to this new cult and restore order? Chasmes could fit in well to this setting now that I think about it.
    DMs don't cheat, they just change the rules.

    "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't" -Margaret Thatcher

    "Celebacy is no match for a natural 20!" -RandomNPC

    "If you're so goth, where were YOU when we sacked Rome?" -Swordguy

  30. - Top - End - #750
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Regitnui's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

    Quote Originally Posted by Tallis View Post
    The stirge goes back at least as far as OD&D red box. I think chasme appeared in AD&D 1e so probably stirge is older.

    Barlgura feels like it would fit into a ruined city in the jungle of a pulp setting. The jungle natives have become restless, they are sacrificing outsiders they once traded with to some foul new god. Can you put a stop to this new cult and restore order? Chasmes could fit in well to this setting now that I think about it.
    Chasmes work best as part of the Abyss. If any demon swarms the players immediately after they arrive, it's the chasme. It underlines just how alien and, frankly, disgusting the Abyss is.
    Spoiler: Quotes from the Playground
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by JoeJ View Post
    In fact, I will here formally propose the Zeroth Rule of Gaming: No rule in any game shall be interpreted in a way that breaks the game if it is possible to interpret that rule in a way that does not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

    (aka "The Doppelbanger")
    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    Shhhhh, shhhhhh. Be calm, inhale the beholder's wacky float gas and stop worrying.


    Adapting published monsters to Eberron: Naturalist's Guide to Eberron Latest: Annis Hag

    Avatarial Awesomeness by Kymme!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •