How about a tier list of "final boss" monsters? The sort of big bads and/or ultimate threats that you save for the end of a campaign or story arc. Krakens, Beholders, Vampire lords and the Torrasque , to name a few.
I'd say the Tarrasque is less of a final boss and more of a natural disaster. I don't really think a good DM would use one as a big bad enemy that the party fights at the end of the adventure. I would say it would be better used as something to distract or run away from. I mean sure you CAN kill it, it's possible. But it's CR 30 for crying out loud, I don't think such a cr is supposed to be fought.
@@lawaern3474 The Book of the Tarrasque has an adventure centered around the tarrasque and it's really good. Also despite being CR 30, the Tarrasque is an easier fight than most Ancient Dragons.
@@Knyex Unless you factor in its literally infinite regen, but I think that really cheapens the encounter from a huge kind of raid boss fight to just "oops it's invincible better run."
CR is essentially a dead system when you apply numbers to it. Wizards admits this and typically goes with CR being more of a "recommended party level based on playtesting"
Dnd has corrupted my thoughts of everything fantasy, and its always funny watching stuff like charmed with these surface level lore where demons are just demons and its cool how you can always feel dnd in the dna of even the most mainstream (albeit interesting and emtertaining imho) media.
Yeah, I would love to see a demon lord tier ranking. Much more so than devil Archdukes ranked. The fact that demon lords don't have a clear hierarchy among them makes it more interesting.
I feel like the Balor was the ultimate expression of the 5E habit of simplifying monsters to make the more managable, with everything good and bad that comes with it. The creature is certainly a lot easier to run as part of a large encounter, being effectively this big batleship of a monster that takes big swings and wades in to the party to maximize it's fire aura, but apart from it's natural true-sight shutting down a fair number of magical options, the Balor itself doesn't have much in the way of options. In 3.5, by comparison, the Balor had utility in Greater Dispel Magic, Telekenesis(As a free action 3 times per day), and Unholy Aura... potential to kill (or effectively kill) at range with Fire Storm, Dominate Monster, Insanity, Power Word: Stun and Implosion.... it could summon other demons (Including another Balor), it's sword instant-kills targets on critical hits with it's vorpal property... the list goes on and on and on. Like a lot of high-level 3.5E monsters, they are strategically multi-faceted, but riddled with redundancy (do you really need power word: Stun, Blasphemy, Insanity *and* dominate monster at will?) Were I re-writing demons in 5e (Something I might have to do), I'd try to aim for a balance between the two, putting some of the meat back into the Balor but trimming back on the excesses that might make the beast a little hard to manage, especially in conjunction with other demons that also have exotic spell like abilities.
Most monsters don't last more than a couple rounds in combat, so they don't really need to have 26 different innate spells to cast, plus it's really easy for the DM to add some spells that fit what they have in mind for the encounter.
In my world you can find Sibryaxes in various planes at random, they are exploring the planes, spreading the chaos of the abyss while gaining more knowledge
I heard ghouls don't affect elves because their creator made them so. He was an elf who served Orcus so he was made into the first ghoul, but when he was in trouble Orcus was too busy to help so he asked the elven pantheon for help and they took pity on him, so he tweaked the ghoul curse to thank them. I don't know the source tho, ask AJ Pickett. ua-cam.com/video/TOmTEePH98Y/v-deo.html
Rubens Martins de Carvalho “Some say that” can be a cop out allowing them to change this later, a way to make it sound more like lore (bad writing) or an implication that the statement is what people believe rather than what actually happened. It means that someone in game should know that lore- and that the DM can decide that is not what actually happened as long as he comes up with a good reason most knowledgeable nps would believe it. Its essentially saying “this is lore but may not be fact” and allowing DMs some leeway with interpretation.
i made a post already explaining stats and tactics, but balors are the lords of hell. in classic dnd and 3.5, you dont fight them, you run. they took everything away from them. unless your party is level 18-20, you dont stand any kind of chance at all. just read the 3.5 entry. its sad what they did to them, like what is the point anymore if your going to make it so mundane? these things are 2nd only to gods of hell. some of them ARE gods!
"Oh shit! A marilith!" -Our party two sessions ago. She carved the barbarian up pretty good in the one round before he heroically wrestled her back into her prison. Even through the rage he took more than half his hp in damage. (we were 11th level) The Marilith is one of those creatures that offers an amazing base to add things on to. They have an evocative aesthetic, several diverse roles they lend themselves to story-wise and an incredible statblock that can create some really memorable creatures if you give them some class levels. Need a Marilith to serve as your demon lord's greatest bodyguard? Give her some abjuration wizard/sorceror levels to counter EVERY party member's spellcast and be really hard to kill to boot! Need a Marilith to corrupt the King and pervert his court? Give a Marilith some levels in bard to disguise herself and bend everyone to her whim. She'll be far harder to excorcise than a mere succubus. Need a Marilith to represent the primal fury of the abyss and lead the hordes from the front? Give her a few levels of barbarian. The extra resistances and damage to all attacks turn her into a terrifying teleporting monster of a meatblender! (also 20AC from unarmoured defence+parry) Need a Marilith to be a master assassin? Give her a few rogue levels, and use her teleport to catch her victims entirely by surprise. Her tail can guarantee sneak attack, and as people flee from her in terror she'll be able to make an opportunity attack with sneak on every single one of them! Need a creature to be elusive, yet deadly? Need it to pick the characters apart one by one using the terrain and party's positioning to its advantage? Well she can do that even without class levels, but some monk fits it quite well =P My biggest gripe with them is actually that they're such a high CR. It means they'll hardly ever come into play and if you give them such tweaks and customisations that a demon only one step down from the Balor deserves, then they quickly rise in power to the point of being unreasonable to use in a group of demons, as they really should be. I prefer to run them with a bit fewer base HD and the longsword attacks counted as coming from a medium creature rather than a large one, then giving them some class levels to put them to about the CR they have in the book, but with a unique individuality.
You could use one as "greater evil" for lesser demons or a cult in session where the characters aren't capable of easily handling such high CR monster, especially with veteran players who know how dangerous a marilith is and it's not just a name in a sourcebook.
When talking about the wastrilith, my mind immediately went to TFS At The Table, and the potential ramifications had the DM there pulled this out earlier with a mimic ship and a merman as a part of the crew. Sadly both have been retired. :(
I remember when I used the molydeus in a game I DM'd. The players got hold of a mysterious golden bottle decorated with ancient runes warning people not to open it. However, one of the NPCs that were following them wanted to prove himself after a few shortcomings and did it in order to slay whatever would come out of it. They were aboard a skyship, it was night and the party woke up due to a blood-churning roar. A molydeus stood on deck fighting the NPCs. He screamed that he was free - Zkarrnak, the Defiler was free at last and the party would be his first meal in eons. At this point, the party was all comprised of high-level characters with gestalt levels. Almost nothing scared them, but this guy did. They watched with horror when he decapitated the centaur barbarian and used telekinesis to hurl the paladin (the same NPC that wanted to prove himself) overboard. Not only that, but the fight ended up messing with the airship, they lost control of it and nearly crash landed on a city, killing hundreds of people. The demon, watching the destruction he had inflicted, teleported away. It took the swordmage - a teleportation specialist - to conjure up all of his power in order to teleport the whole ship away to a safer location. The molydeus went on to wreak havoc in a battlefield and years later, I would play as a character that was majorly influenced by it. He was a viking-like barbarian who got wrecked by the demon and lost his ability to walk and speak. He got shunned by his prideful society, but was taken care of by his family. One day, however, he was visited by a featureless humanoid, with a vein-ridden body. The creature startled his family and they took to arms. But it did not attack - it just stood there, facing my character. And when it did, my character stood up and spoke "This is my fylgja. This is my spirit". Everyone was suspicious of this "fylgja", but it did help my character recover. He trained himself in order to become a warrior again and ventured off into the world so he could prove himself worthy. Now, as he leveled up, the fylgja would assume strange characteristics (my character was a pathfinder summoner and the fylgja was his eidolon): claws, a snake-like tentacle coming out of its neck, a wolf-like maw, powerful muscles... my character was too enamored with this "fylgja" to realize that it was slowly, but surely turning into the demon that broke him so many years prior! The Defiler was defeated in that battlefield, exorcised by several priests. My character did not see that, he was already knocked out cold. He did not see the demon's essence appear to vanish from this world and did not even feel a part of it enter his body and use it as a vessel in order to return to this Material Plane. All this to say that, yeah... the Molydeus is awesome.
“The Quasit is not very smart, with only an intelligence of 7, so I don’t see it making any plans...” *my 6INT Barbarian being the key battle tactician for the group*
@@l.psimer6124 To be fair, *someone* in the gaming group has to be the battle tactician, and if none of the other players including the guy playing the 18 INT Wizard can do it...
This may be a little embarrassing, but I had an “ Oh, shit…” moment once when I was informed of an in-campaign infestation of lowly Intellect Devourers. I may jokingly refer to them as Brain Frogs, but I am also terrified of them.
I'm not a regular viewer of yours, so I can only assume this joke is as old as your channel, but this video gave me (bardic) inspiration, so thank you.
I have little experience of playing DnD as it originally was, but through my experience of games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, I've learned to not piss about when a Marilith shows up.
13:50 Well watching this (and some of your other monster rankings videos) does give ideas. For example, creating named characters from monsters and giving them slightly higher stats and additional tricks to make them stand out from the rest. For example, a Nalfeshnee who can actually cast spells. Or a Balor who is a walking LotR references (like attacking players on a bridge and starting the fight by saying *YOU SHALL NOT PASS* and stuff like that).
I've been waiting for this part 2 as I'm working on a campaign based on the infighting between Vecna and Orcus (and their followers) as they plot to destroy the Raven Queen. I call it the Devil's Triangle. But it's going to feature a lot of undead, demons, and devils.
I wouldn't call censorship of the Marilith being "politically correct". It's just censorship. A lot of parents don't want their kids seeing nudity, and whether we like it or not DnD is also targeted for children. I will agree that America has too many hangups when it comes to boobs.
If your video has one improvement that I could mention, I think in the name of Chaotic Demons, you should start screaming really loudly at random intervals throughout. This way your voice won't soothe me to sleep anymore.
This is the balor in 3.5 they are the lords of hell, not meant to be killed, maybe by a full party of 20th level characters. 290 HP flaming vorpal great sword+1(in one hand) (it can cast greater magic weapon at will, caster level 20, so just assume it has already cast it and has +5 sword and whip) auto kill on a natural 20 (the sword turns to dust when the balor dies) +1(+5) vorpal longsword +31(+35)/+26(+30)/+21(+25)/+16(+20) melee (2d6+8(+12)/19-20) and +1 flaming whip +30(+34)/+25(+29) melee When it dies it deals 100 damage explosion, dc 30 reflex for half. Its body flames do 6d6 damage to anything grappled, and it grapples you with its whip. Spells at will *Blasphemy: anything in 40 ft level 15 or lower gets Dazed: The creature can take no actions for 1 round, though it defends itself normally. Weakened: The creature’s Strength score decreases by 2d6 points for 2d4 rounds. Paralyzed: The creature is paralyzed and helpless for 1d10 minutes. No save *Power word stun: no save, if you have 150 hp or less, your stunned *It casts unholy arua and greater magic weapon before combat. Unholy aura: 1d6 str damage to attacker when hit, +4 ac +4 saves, and 25 magic res *Insanity DC 25 *Telekenesis DC23 *dominate monster at save DC 27! Spells 1/day *Implosion: it looks at you, fort save or die. It can concentrate for up to 4 rounds and kill one target a round (usually it will fly around and do this after incapacitating any casters or ranged fighters) 20d6 firestorm now imagine fighting two at a minimum, they always gate in a friend, 100% chance and it doesn't take a round, no other demons gate can do this. They nerfed the balor to make it killable. Look at the original 2nd edition version and the 3.5. I cant believe they took away the vorpal sword, this is the most badass demon in the book. It's the classic example of a monster that you don't fight. EVER! its like trying to fight a tarasque, you always run. Its like they want you to kill it in 5th that kinda makes me sick (I guess some poor nerd needs a self esteem boost). there should be things so challenging it takes a miracle to kill them, or even survive. That's what makes it special. no one fights them, they just talk about them. Now their just mundane, like you said, a boring brute. These are the LORDS OF HELL! second only to a GOD (and i believe some have ascended to godhood)
Wastrilith should be top tier, that thing is just what I like in monsters, everything is SPOT ON, best demon in this list by far! (Apart for my favorite Marilith of course)
Remember everyone if you see demons you must be worse.Rip and tear til it is done.Rip and tear. Also can we get celestials next? Get a nice holier than though attitude going.
In my party that 'Oh shit' moment is whenever a Tarrasque is revealed. One notable moment is when the DM had a linear path set but the group wanted to go to the lake by following a path on the side. A Tarrasque emerged from the lake essentially yawned and walked off into the woods in the opposite direction as a clear message from the DM to get back on track.
I love using the Nalfishne mostly because of the model. But yeah I play up the Intelligence aspect for roleplay as they usually give the adventures an option of complete ___ task and I have no reason to stay in this mortal realm, or choose to fight it. In one case it had been bound by a cult to do thier bidding and the party chose to free it allowing it to deal with the whole cult on its own having worked out with it beforehand that it go back home after finishing it's grizzly work.
Whenever I play a Quasit, I think of Gremlins. I like to have them cackle at hilarity only they can find in the horrendous and give them a simple cunning and an almost playful, casually evil quality.
Balor also have a chance to summon one or more of a number of different lesser demons. The highest of which being a goristro. I actually ran a high level one shot a few weeks back and used a balor as my big bad. I did give him legendary actions and resistances though, and a few spells. My PC's were level 17 so I had to make it tougher.
To remark on the reflection on the end on Fiends entirely. Imagine a Campaign that blurs these guys with a healthy dash of home brew could be fun. One of my characters is a powerful Arch-Devil Warlord who goes by the name of Dusk. I play him as a very pragmatic character who I imagine would probably have some means to control the savage demons and pair them with Devils who would know how to best utilize them. Have you ever considered mixing and matching Fiends in a matter like this. Someone finding a way to utilize both.
Great list, as always. Btw, 23:27 You pronounced it perfectly. That's exactly how Hebrew speakers say it. Personally, my main problem with Balors is that they are just too much of an obvious "Inspiration" from Balrogs. Although, they were added in the days d&d had no clue about what Tolkien was writing about (Gandalf = Level 5 wizard). Balrgos are actually Maiar, just like Gandalf and Sauron. Basically, lesser gods. The head of the Balrgos was said to be as powerful as Sauron in his prime... So I always felt that reducing this to a mare demon (Super powerful, but still doesn't come close to what a Balrog truly is), doesn't do the original justice.
Gotta say esper , I love the story you made for the maurhezzi encounter . Only on my third time watching this video did I realize that lady jazmina must have been slain 😢
Huh... my personal ranking is almost spot on with this. The 5e campaign I'm hosting features demons as recurring enemies and the mass majority of the demons I've used are the D and E ones, with C demons as mini-bosses and B tier ones as the main boss. My only discrepancy was the Yochlol, I guess I've been using them wrong, or introduced them too late in the campaign, so I guess I'll keep them out of combat settings as much as possible from now on.
My guess for the reason that the HP of various demons are lower than expected has to do with various summoning spells - particulalry to ensure a summoned demon isn't necessarily a complete party wipe if getting out of control but leaving the PCs a chance to take it out before they are all killed off. Likewise it serves to ensure that a summoned demon isn't an I-WIN card for the summoner as it could otherwise be easily abused. That way opponents also have a chance to defeat the demon in question and make such a summoning spell more of a diversion than a strategy for winning a given battle outright.
I love the monster rating videos. The demon series most of all. It gives me a place to search for Creative demons for the summon lesser and greater demon spells. I typically just throw out a Bulgara because he's the highest CR now I have some other options depending on the situation
I think there was a horror movie that had a dybbuk as its main monster. I can't remember the name, but it was about this wooden box that had a spirit inside of it and it possessed a little girl who was spending some time with her father after their parents broke up. It had this whole scene about him going ask a rabbi about what the thing was, and it was really interesting because I watched after I read MTF so I was like "oh shit I know that"
The Dibbuk has so far been one of the best fiends I've run in my game. It followed a Deathlock into the prime material looking for fun. The players met it inhabiting the corpse of a child in the Deathlocks lair under a city. They helped it escape and sent it with ONE guard to the local hospital. Of course, they never made it, later they found the child's corpse, a few smears of blood but no guard. They left it too long in tracking down that guard. All they found was the guard and family brutally murdered (blood, sh*t and vomit everywhere). All except the dog, which they never found. So now I can start another campaign somewhere with a very Thing style quest where a strange dog turns up and starts demonic shenanigans. Fantastic creature
I PERSONALLY love demons. My players aren't too picky about stories, they just wanna smash in the faces of increasingly badass beasts. Although they still do enjoy a good story. Earlier today my players cast awaken using a scroll on a tarrasque (I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO IT ON MONSTROCITIES BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS COOL SO I LET THEM) and the dracolich guarding the tarrasque had a boss fight. It was 2 level 5 characters vs an ancient red dracolich with 4 skeletons and 2 wights. The tarrasque however aided them in the fight and stomped the dracolich as they handled the mob of undead. It was fun.
Love your tier vids. I wish I could afford to be in your patreon. In case you're reading could you do fae tier video? I feel that they're pretty underestimated and unappreciated as far as D&D monsters go.
Like the way you put the names of Slayer songs for you demonic hierarchy, that makes an old metal head smile :) If, for some reason, I played a pens and paper version of that game, I would put he demonic divine into their proper ranks, add some noble demons you didn't mention ( like King Paimon, King Purson, Marquise Orias, Crown Prince Lucifer, Azazel, Dagon [he's an evil/dark/chaotic demon], Lucifuge Rofacal, Bael, Baeleth, Crown Prince Levithan, President Orobas, Grand Duke Dantalion, etc....... ). King Paimon, for example, commands 200 legions. Half of them are of the order of angels and half are of the order of Potentates (Powers ); his powers should reflect that in game. Oh, BTW, circles don't repel entities, they attract them. I would also add the Enns ( words of calling, invitation and respect to a demon. E.G. Lucifer's is Renich tasa uberrica biasa icar Lucifer). Good choice on the Slayer titles,are you a fan?
Did you remember to adjust the Nabassu's effective HP and AC for things like resistance, immunity, and various abilities like its Magic Resistance, etc.?
I usually combine Devil/demons/fiends in my setting. I know it may break some of the dnd native lore, but the idea of kinda crafting my own fiendish army using factions/creatures from all three is just too alluring to me. Is this normal? I am not as well versed in DnDs native lore as I would like to be.
The idea behind the Nalfeshnee and other outer planar creatures with wings that don't logically work for their size is an illustration of how wings of outerplanar beings work, they don't really use physics by structure, they manipulate the environment supernaturally relative to how their nature is... no matter the size, no matter the surface area... so wraith (no material) and skeletal (low material) wings still work as they should. As for the lack of lore with demons, I believe that was intentional. Their history is pure chaos, each one, each "organized" loremaster, has their own version of Abyssal lore. If you, as a DM, want lore with the DM, it's your job to just make it up... and it will be true, or as true as it gets, for all demons. And, each demon template, is not standard. No two demons are alike. A bunch of the same type of demons together will be very distinct from one another. Many even change how they look over time. So, who's artistic expression of each demon is correct? All of them.
Succubi/Incubi are Neutral Evil, and fall into the category of fiends that are neither devils nor demons. Hence, they were included in the miscellaneous fiends tier.
I feel Like an A or B tier is missing. That being Krokek'toek. He has a massive hp pool can vomit up plenty of demons to even the action economy. He might not have the roleplay potential but I definitely think he puches above his weight class with the disgorge ability.
I think those creatures shared some amgical abilities and immunities all demons have, esp the higher tier ones. That might be the case that increases their CR so much
I Vaguely remember reading in a Pathfinder module that the Nelfeshnee vied for souls so it could go through a Metamorphosis to become some other high tier demon... I may be mistaken.
How about a tier list of "final boss" monsters? The sort of big bads and/or ultimate threats that you save for the end of a campaign or story arc. Krakens, Beholders, Vampire lords and the Torrasque , to name a few.
Sean McFadden So anything with legendary actions, basically?
@@BLIGHTROT666 Maybe. I was thinking more about the role rather than mechanics.
I'd say the Tarrasque is less of a final boss and more of a natural disaster. I don't really think a good DM would use one as a big bad enemy that the party fights at the end of the adventure. I would say it would be better used as something to distract or run away from. I mean sure you CAN kill it, it's possible. But it's CR 30 for crying out loud, I don't think such a cr is supposed to be fought.
@@lawaern3474 The Book of the Tarrasque has an adventure centered around the tarrasque and it's really good. Also despite being CR 30, the Tarrasque is an easier fight than most Ancient Dragons.
@@Knyex Unless you factor in its literally infinite regen, but I think that really cheapens the encounter from a huge kind of raid boss fight to just "oops it's invincible better run."
> Yochlol has Detect Thots
Yes but when it is among Drow, this is going off all the time. Positive results everywhere!
A very useful ability to have !
@@Nr4747 NOt really, common sense will do you well in that regard. As our lord, Jesus Christ, said: "If she breathes she's a thot."
You sure put the "lol" in "Yochlol".
@@mikeoxlong1395 😂 is that you in the pfp? You look harder than granite!
@@abdoul5176 No, but as somebody else said in a comment from a while ago "that man looks daddy as fuck."
TierZoo got weird.
Top tier comment
Lul
You won. I think this is _the absolute best_ comment ive ever seen't
No, that’s the beast tier list; which hasn’t happened yet.
CR is essentially a dead system when you apply numbers to it. Wizards admits this and typically goes with CR being more of a "recommended party level based on playtesting"
Maybe the playtesters where noobs?
Lots of people use it wrong.
Following CR generates a *medium* encounter, of a which a party can take *6-8 encounters a day*
@@حَسن-م3ه9ظ does that mean between long rests?
@@clockworkpotato9892 between long rests, with 2 short rests a day
@@حَسن-م3ه9ظ ok
Lowest rank: moving corpse
Highest rank: moving corpse
… *wait*
Oh boy, do I Tell him about the Undead ranking or do you?
My GM linked just linked us this video and said "Be afraid be very afraid!" and now we are XD
I wish you courage to face the coming darkness
Well Good Luck!
I fucking love your dm lol
Rest in pieces
@DialatedPupils unless he just wanted them to have a general idea of how bad things CAN get - but takes things into an entirely different direction.
Dnd has corrupted my thoughts of everything fantasy, and its always funny watching stuff like charmed with these surface level lore where demons are just demons and its cool how you can always feel dnd in the dna of even the most mainstream (albeit interesting and emtertaining imho) media.
Rank the Demon Lords themselves ?
I don't think that would work as any ranking of the demon Lords would be temporary at best
linguistically oversight 86 you're right one minute Demogorgon is a pain of madness and the next Jubilex is sliming it up 🍮
@@MagickGOATee Lol is that a flan emoji.
Yeah, I would love to see a demon lord tier ranking. Much more so than devil Archdukes ranked. The fact that demon lords don't have a clear hierarchy among them makes it more interesting.
I feel like the Balor was the ultimate expression of the 5E habit of simplifying monsters to make the more managable, with everything good and bad that comes with it. The creature is certainly a lot easier to run as part of a large encounter, being effectively this big batleship of a monster that takes big swings and wades in to the party to maximize it's fire aura, but apart from it's natural true-sight shutting down a fair number of magical options, the Balor itself doesn't have much in the way of options.
In 3.5, by comparison, the Balor had utility in Greater Dispel Magic, Telekenesis(As a free action 3 times per day), and Unholy Aura... potential to kill (or effectively kill) at range with Fire Storm, Dominate Monster, Insanity, Power Word: Stun and Implosion.... it could summon other demons (Including another Balor), it's sword instant-kills targets on critical hits with it's vorpal property... the list goes on and on and on. Like a lot of high-level 3.5E monsters, they are strategically multi-faceted, but riddled with redundancy (do you really need power word: Stun, Blasphemy, Insanity *and* dominate monster at will?)
Were I re-writing demons in 5e (Something I might have to do), I'd try to aim for a balance between the two, putting some of the meat back into the Balor but trimming back on the excesses that might make the beast a little hard to manage, especially in conjunction with other demons that also have exotic spell like abilities.
Most monsters don't last more than a couple rounds in combat, so they don't really need to have 26 different innate spells to cast, plus it's really easy for the DM to add some spells that fit what they have in mind for the encounter.
In my world you can find Sibryaxes in various planes at random, they are exploring the planes, spreading the chaos of the abyss while gaining more knowledge
I heard ghouls don't affect elves because their creator made them so. He was an elf who served Orcus so he was made into the first ghoul, but when he was in trouble Orcus was too busy to help so he asked the elven pantheon for help and they took pity on him, so he tweaked the ghoul curse to thank them. I don't know the source tho, ask AJ Pickett.
ua-cam.com/video/TOmTEePH98Y/v-deo.html
AJ Pickett videos are awesome, good call.
Is what is said on the MM
Rubens Martins de Carvalho yeah and I hate that he was too lazy to go and read that in the Monster Manual, I like the guy but jeez that's just lazy
I also didnt understand the "some say it" "some say that"
It's lore on MM, is just there
Rubens Martins de Carvalho
“Some say that” can be a cop out allowing them to change this later, a way to make it sound more like lore (bad writing) or an implication that the statement is what people believe rather than what actually happened.
It means that someone in game should know that lore- and that the DM can decide that is not what actually happened as long as he comes up with a good reason most knowledgeable nps would believe it.
Its essentially saying “this is lore but may not be fact” and allowing DMs some leeway with interpretation.
I just have a thing for the balor. It get my top "just plain cool" stamp of any monster, but i do agree with your ranking of the base balor
i made a post already explaining stats and tactics, but balors are the lords of hell. in classic dnd and 3.5, you dont fight them, you run. they took everything away from them. unless your party is level 18-20, you dont stand any kind of chance at all. just read the 3.5 entry. its sad what they did to them, like what is the point anymore if your going to make it so mundane? these things are 2nd only to gods of hell. some of them ARE gods!
If the balor just had better lore it would be so much higher on the list.. because the balor is pretty much the coolest looking demon..
@@derpman2029 did the Molydeus not exist in 3.5?
"Oh shit! A marilith!"
-Our party two sessions ago.
She carved the barbarian up pretty good in the one round before he heroically wrestled her back into her prison. Even through the rage he took more than half his hp in damage. (we were 11th level)
The Marilith is one of those creatures that offers an amazing base to add things on to. They have an evocative aesthetic, several diverse roles they lend themselves to story-wise and an incredible statblock that can create some really memorable creatures if you give them some class levels.
Need a Marilith to serve as your demon lord's greatest bodyguard? Give her some abjuration wizard/sorceror levels to counter EVERY party member's spellcast and be really hard to kill to boot!
Need a Marilith to corrupt the King and pervert his court? Give a Marilith some levels in bard to disguise herself and bend everyone to her whim. She'll be far harder to excorcise than a mere succubus.
Need a Marilith to represent the primal fury of the abyss and lead the hordes from the front? Give her a few levels of barbarian. The extra resistances and damage to all attacks turn her into a terrifying teleporting monster of a meatblender! (also 20AC from unarmoured defence+parry)
Need a Marilith to be a master assassin? Give her a few rogue levels, and use her teleport to catch her victims entirely by surprise. Her tail can guarantee sneak attack, and as people flee from her in terror she'll be able to make an opportunity attack with sneak on every single one of them!
Need a creature to be elusive, yet deadly? Need it to pick the characters apart one by one using the terrain and party's positioning to its advantage? Well she can do that even without class levels, but some monk fits it quite well =P
My biggest gripe with them is actually that they're such a high CR. It means they'll hardly ever come into play and if you give them such tweaks and customisations that a demon only one step down from the Balor deserves, then they quickly rise in power to the point of being unreasonable to use in a group of demons, as they really should be. I prefer to run them with a bit fewer base HD and the longsword attacks counted as coming from a medium creature rather than a large one, then giving them some class levels to put them to about the CR they have in the book, but with a unique individuality.
You could use one as "greater evil" for lesser demons or a cult in session where the characters aren't capable of easily handling such high CR monster, especially with veteran players who know how dangerous a marilith is and it's not just a name in a sourcebook.
Need an elemental boss monster? Give her a fire template and call her Kary.
When talking about the wastrilith, my mind immediately went to TFS At The Table, and the potential ramifications had the DM there pulled this out earlier with a mimic ship and a merman as a part of the crew. Sadly both have been retired. :(
>six arms
>and a crushing snake tail
h-hot
I remember when I used the molydeus in a game I DM'd. The players got hold of a mysterious golden bottle decorated with ancient runes warning people not to open it. However, one of the NPCs that were following them wanted to prove himself after a few shortcomings and did it in order to slay whatever would come out of it. They were aboard a skyship, it was night and the party woke up due to a blood-churning roar. A molydeus stood on deck fighting the NPCs. He screamed that he was free - Zkarrnak, the Defiler was free at last and the party would be his first meal in eons.
At this point, the party was all comprised of high-level characters with gestalt levels. Almost nothing scared them, but this guy did. They watched with horror when he decapitated the centaur barbarian and used telekinesis to hurl the paladin (the same NPC that wanted to prove himself) overboard. Not only that, but the fight ended up messing with the airship, they lost control of it and nearly crash landed on a city, killing hundreds of people.
The demon, watching the destruction he had inflicted, teleported away. It took the swordmage - a teleportation specialist - to conjure up all of his power in order to teleport the whole ship away to a safer location.
The molydeus went on to wreak havoc in a battlefield and years later, I would play as a character that was majorly influenced by it. He was a viking-like barbarian who got wrecked by the demon and lost his ability to walk and speak. He got shunned by his prideful society, but was taken care of by his family. One day, however, he was visited by a featureless humanoid, with a vein-ridden body. The creature startled his family and they took to arms. But it did not attack - it just stood there, facing my character. And when it did, my character stood up and spoke "This is my fylgja. This is my spirit".
Everyone was suspicious of this "fylgja", but it did help my character recover. He trained himself in order to become a warrior again and ventured off into the world so he could prove himself worthy.
Now, as he leveled up, the fylgja would assume strange characteristics (my character was a pathfinder summoner and the fylgja was his eidolon): claws, a snake-like tentacle coming out of its neck, a wolf-like maw, powerful muscles... my character was too enamored with this "fylgja" to realize that it was slowly, but surely turning into the demon that broke him so many years prior! The Defiler was defeated in that battlefield, exorcised by several priests. My character did not see that, he was already knocked out cold. He did not see the demon's essence appear to vanish from this world and did not even feel a part of it enter his body and use it as a vessel in order to return to this Material Plane.
All this to say that, yeah... the Molydeus is awesome.
Really love that old planscape art. Nice job with the gnoll and infected village stories on the last one.
The dregloths put the LOL in Lolth.
Also I can confirm my reaction to seeing a Marilith in a game was "Oh shit a marilith!"
It's funny because this was uploaded as I'm watching the first part
I just love the Glabrezu and Draegloth... wonder under what circumstances there was a story were you could rp as a Draegloth
“The Quasit is not very smart, with only an intelligence of 7, so I don’t see it making any plans...” *my 6INT Barbarian being the key battle tactician for the group*
How did you manage that?
Your playing his stats wrong but that's not the worst.
@@l.psimer6124 To be fair, *someone* in the gaming group has to be the battle tactician, and if none of the other players including the guy playing the 18 INT Wizard can do it...
@@l.psimer6124 i definitely did not play his stats wrong…
"So when i yell WAAAAAGH youz all charge the gate. cunnin plan innit?"
I met Nabassu once. In a village near Baldur's Gate. It was an F-tier. F for "Freaking Overpowered".
This may be a little embarrassing, but I had an “ Oh, shit…” moment once when I was informed of an in-campaign infestation of lowly Intellect Devourers. I may jokingly refer to them as Brain Frogs, but I am also terrified of them.
"Keeping demons politically correct"...
>_
*Laughs in Abyssal*
What are you talking about?
Mortally challenged
I'm not a regular viewer of yours, so I can only assume this joke is as old as your channel, but this video gave me (bardic) inspiration, so thank you.
Sadly my favorite demon in dnd hasnt made the cut yet. But, i keep hoping that they will add the klurichir to 5e
Luci from Disenchantment reminds me very strongly of a Quasit, and the next time I feature one I'm definitely borrowing some inspiration from him.
I have little experience of playing DnD as it originally was, but through my experience of games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, I've learned to not piss about when a Marilith shows up.
Look at that bell curve.
Fitting for creatures of chaos.
13:50 Well watching this (and some of your other monster rankings videos) does give ideas.
For example, creating named characters from monsters and giving them slightly higher stats and additional tricks to make them stand out from the rest.
For example, a Nalfeshnee who can actually cast spells. Or a Balor who is a walking LotR references (like attacking players on a bridge and starting the fight by saying *YOU SHALL NOT PASS* and stuff like that).
I've been waiting for this part 2 as I'm working on a campaign based on the infighting between Vecna and Orcus (and their followers) as they plot to destroy the Raven Queen. I call it the Devil's Triangle.
But it's going to feature a lot of undead, demons, and devils.
I wouldn't call censorship of the Marilith being "politically correct". It's just censorship. A lot of parents don't want their kids seeing nudity, and whether we like it or not DnD is also targeted for children. I will agree that America has too many hangups when it comes to boobs.
Frostman411
To be fair, nerds, who are the main fanbase of D&D, have too much of an interest in boobs and sexualizing female characters
@@staticcharm3808 This is about 99% of the reason.
@@staticcharm3808 Glad someone said it.
Sometimes armour only adds to the badassery of the monster. Provided the armour in question is convincing and functional (and aesthetically good).
Monstrosity tier ranking
My favorite
I want to see if the Owlbear would land in F-tier.
I want elementals
Owlbear s tier
If your video has one improvement that I could mention, I think in the name of Chaotic Demons, you should start screaming really loudly at random intervals throughout. This way your voice won't soothe me to sleep anymore.
I think you'd prefer Davvy Chappy
Great post, Esper! Enjoying your rankings and like that you show art from all of the different editions of the game.
This is the balor in 3.5 they are the lords of hell, not meant to be killed, maybe by a full party of 20th level characters.
290 HP
flaming vorpal great sword+1(in one hand) (it can cast greater magic weapon at will, caster level 20, so just assume it has already cast it and has +5 sword and whip) auto kill on a natural 20
(the sword turns to dust when the balor dies)
+1(+5) vorpal longsword +31(+35)/+26(+30)/+21(+25)/+16(+20) melee (2d6+8(+12)/19-20) and +1 flaming whip +30(+34)/+25(+29) melee
When it dies it deals 100 damage explosion, dc 30 reflex for half.
Its body flames do 6d6 damage to anything grappled, and it grapples you with its whip.
Spells at will
*Blasphemy: anything in 40 ft level 15 or lower gets
Dazed: The creature can take no actions for 1 round, though it defends itself normally.
Weakened: The creature’s Strength score decreases by 2d6 points for 2d4 rounds.
Paralyzed: The creature is paralyzed and helpless for 1d10 minutes.
No save
*Power word stun: no save, if you have 150 hp or less, your stunned
*It casts unholy arua and greater magic weapon before combat.
Unholy aura: 1d6 str damage to attacker when hit, +4 ac +4 saves, and 25 magic res
*Insanity DC 25
*Telekenesis DC23
*dominate monster at save DC 27!
Spells 1/day
*Implosion: it looks at you, fort save or die. It can concentrate for up to 4 rounds and kill one target a round (usually it will fly around and do this after incapacitating any casters or ranged fighters)
20d6 firestorm
now imagine fighting two at a minimum, they always gate in a friend, 100% chance and it doesn't take a round, no other demons gate can do this.
They nerfed the balor to make it killable. Look at the original 2nd edition version and the 3.5. I cant believe they took away the vorpal sword, this is the most badass demon in the book. It's the classic example of a monster that you don't fight. EVER! its like trying to fight a tarasque, you always run. Its like they want you to kill it in 5th that kinda makes me sick (I guess some poor nerd needs a self esteem boost). there should be things so challenging it takes a miracle to kill them, or even survive. That's what makes it special. no one fights them, they just talk about them. Now their just mundane, like you said, a boring brute. These are the LORDS OF HELL! second only to a GOD (and i believe some have ascended to godhood)
Friend: “Dude wants to bone a snake lady wtf!?!”
Me:”Well he is a bard.”
Wastrilith should be top tier, that thing is just what I like in monsters, everything is SPOT ON, best demon in this list by far! (Apart for my favorite Marilith of course)
22:00, Esper admits he wishes the snake women would get their chebs out.
Remember everyone if you see demons you must be worse.Rip and tear til it is done.Rip and tear. Also can we get celestials next? Get a nice holier than though attitude going.
In my party that 'Oh shit' moment is whenever a Tarrasque is revealed. One notable moment is when the DM had a linear path set but the group wanted to go to the lake by following a path on the side. A Tarrasque emerged from the lake essentially yawned and walked off into the woods in the opposite direction as a clear message from the DM to get back on track.
I love using the Nalfishne mostly because of the model. But yeah I play up the Intelligence aspect for roleplay as they usually give the adventures an option of complete ___ task and I have no reason to stay in this mortal realm, or choose to fight it. In one case it had been bound by a cult to do thier bidding and the party chose to free it allowing it to deal with the whole cult on its own having worked out with it beforehand that it go back home after finishing it's grizzly work.
Nice description of demon births. You took the wicked words right out of my mouth.
Another good video. I love learning about these monsters. It helps keep us inspired too.
Nalfeshnee looks like me when im hungry
Whenever I play a Quasit, I think of Gremlins. I like to have them cackle at hilarity only they can find in the horrendous and give them a simple cunning and an almost playful, casually evil quality.
I always appreciate these videos, it gives me ideas for my campaign that I would never think of on my own.
Balor also have a chance to summon one or more of a number of different lesser demons. The highest of which being a goristro. I actually ran a high level one shot a few weeks back and used a balor as my big bad. I did give him legendary actions and resistances though, and a few spells. My PC's were level 17 so I had to make it tougher.
These videos were great fro my new demon hunting character to drop some role playing demon knowledge on the rest of the table
Marilith wasn't censored in first edition, succubus was for some reason
I still have nightmares about the Marilth. Six vorpal blades is just unfair.
You should do a construct ranking
Totally agree. The only problem is there are very few constructs outside of simply golems so it would likely be quite a short video.
Keep these videos coming please. Solid gold ranking series. Thanks again, man.
To remark on the reflection on the end on Fiends entirely. Imagine a Campaign that blurs these guys with a healthy dash of home brew could be fun. One of my characters is a powerful Arch-Devil Warlord who goes by the name of Dusk. I play him as a very pragmatic character who I imagine would probably have some means to control the savage demons and pair them with Devils who would know how to best utilize them. Have you ever considered mixing and matching Fiends in a matter like this. Someone finding a way to utilize both.
Great list, as always.
Btw, 23:27 You pronounced it perfectly. That's exactly how Hebrew speakers say it.
Personally, my main problem with Balors is that they are just too much of an obvious "Inspiration" from Balrogs.
Although, they were added in the days d&d had no clue about what Tolkien was writing about (Gandalf = Level 5 wizard). Balrgos are actually Maiar, just like Gandalf and Sauron. Basically, lesser gods. The head of the Balrgos was said to be as powerful as Sauron in his prime... So I always felt that reducing this to a mare demon (Super powerful, but still doesn't come close to what a Balrog truly is), doesn't do the original justice.
Do a video on the D&D gods.
Gods tier rankings!
He'd have to divide it up by settings and possibly pantheons, but I'd like to see that too.
Gotta say esper , I love the story you made for the maurhezzi encounter . Only on my third time watching this video did I realize that lady jazmina must have been slain 😢
Huh... my personal ranking is almost spot on with this. The 5e campaign I'm hosting features demons as recurring enemies and the mass majority of the demons I've used are the D and E ones, with C demons as mini-bosses and B tier ones as the main boss. My only discrepancy was the Yochlol, I guess I've been using them wrong, or introduced them too late in the campaign, so I guess I'll keep them out of combat settings as much as possible from now on.
Marilith+6 Vorpal Swords=Instant-Superboss.
*busts out plate mail immune to slashing damage*
@@williethenerfherder2193 😂
Fantastic video as always! I look forward to seeing your next lists!
The dybbuk is in the miniseries legend of earthsea from sci-fi if I remember correctly and it was rather interesting.
My guess for the reason that the HP of various demons are lower than expected has to do with various summoning spells - particulalry to ensure a summoned demon isn't necessarily a complete party wipe if getting out of control but leaving the PCs a chance to take it out before they are all killed off. Likewise it serves to ensure that a summoned demon isn't an I-WIN card for the summoner as it could otherwise be easily abused. That way opponents also have a chance to defeat the demon in question and make such a summoning spell more of a diversion than a strategy for winning a given battle outright.
I love the monster rating videos. The demon series most of all. It gives me a place to search for Creative demons for the summon lesser and greater demon spells. I typically just throw out a Bulgara because he's the highest CR now I have some other options depending on the situation
fun fact: Sibriex is actually an Obyrith, not a Tana'ri.
Oooh, that's really helpful for the campaign I'm planning!
The original Monster Manual featured the best depiction of a marilith: topless and cantankerous.
Demons from Magic in the artwork are a great touch!!
Measure for measure yours is the best D&D channel I have seen (so far). Also, thanks for awesome content! Me like! Me like!
I think there was a horror movie that had a dybbuk as its main monster. I can't remember the name, but it was about this wooden box that had a spirit inside of it and it possessed a little girl who was spending some time with her father after their parents broke up. It had this whole scene about him going ask a rabbi about what the thing was, and it was really interesting because I watched after I read MTF so I was like "oh shit I know that"
The Dibbuk has so far been one of the best fiends I've run in my game. It followed a Deathlock into the prime material looking for fun. The players met it inhabiting the corpse of a child in the Deathlocks lair under a city. They helped it escape and sent it with ONE guard to the local hospital. Of course, they never made it, later they found the child's corpse, a few smears of blood but no guard. They left it too long in tracking down that guard. All they found was the guard and family brutally murdered (blood, sh*t and vomit everywhere). All except the dog, which they never found.
So now I can start another campaign somewhere with a very Thing style quest where a strange dog turns up and starts demonic shenanigans. Fantastic creature
I PERSONALLY love demons. My players aren't too picky about stories, they just wanna smash in the faces of increasingly badass beasts. Although they still do enjoy a good story. Earlier today my players cast awaken using a scroll on a tarrasque (I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO IT ON MONSTROCITIES BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS COOL SO I LET THEM) and the dracolich guarding the tarrasque had a boss fight. It was 2 level 5 characters vs an ancient red dracolich with 4 skeletons and 2 wights. The tarrasque however aided them in the fight and stomped the dracolich as they handled the mob of undead. It was fun.
Love your tier vids. I wish I could afford to be in your patreon. In case you're reading could you do fae tier video? I feel that they're pretty underestimated and unappreciated as far as D&D monsters go.
Thanks Gustav! I'm looking into doing dragons, fey, and monstrosities
Like the way you put the names of Slayer songs for you demonic hierarchy, that makes an old metal head smile :) If, for some reason, I played a pens and paper version of that game, I would put he demonic divine into their proper ranks, add some noble demons you didn't mention ( like King Paimon, King Purson, Marquise Orias, Crown Prince Lucifer, Azazel, Dagon [he's an evil/dark/chaotic demon], Lucifuge Rofacal, Bael, Baeleth, Crown Prince Levithan, President Orobas, Grand Duke Dantalion, etc....... ). King Paimon, for example, commands 200 legions. Half of them are of the order of angels and half are of the order of Potentates (Powers ); his powers should reflect that in game. Oh, BTW, circles don't repel entities, they attract them. I would also add the Enns ( words of calling, invitation and respect to a demon. E.G. Lucifer's is Renich tasa uberrica biasa icar Lucifer). Good choice on the Slayer titles,are you a fan?
Beware spoilers of A- and B- Tier!
B Tier: Maurezhi, Draegloth, Glabrezu, Marilith, and Dybbuk.
A Tier: Yochlol, Molydeus, and Sibriex.
Using Drow , Lolth and the Yochlol was super fun in my last session!
Did you remember to adjust the Nabassu's effective HP and AC for things like resistance, immunity, and various abilities like its Magic Resistance, etc.?
Exactly. The stuff on that chart in the DMG is only half the process, when determining CR. People always forget the fiddly bits.
God I love that AD&D 2e Balor pic,I don’t know why. It’s just so greasy evil
"They are rage, brutal and without mercy. But you, you will be worse. Rip and tear. Until it is DONE."
I usually combine Devil/demons/fiends in my setting. I know it may break some of the dnd native lore, but the idea of kinda crafting my own fiendish army using factions/creatures from all three is just too alluring to me. Is this normal? I am not as well versed in DnDs native lore as I would like to be.
You've worked so hard on this run, maybe do an easy category like Oozes!
The idea behind the Nalfeshnee and other outer planar creatures with wings that don't logically work for their size is an illustration of how wings of outerplanar beings work, they don't really use physics by structure, they manipulate the environment supernaturally relative to how their nature is... no matter the size, no matter the surface area... so wraith (no material) and skeletal (low material) wings still work as they should.
As for the lack of lore with demons, I believe that was intentional. Their history is pure chaos, each one, each "organized" loremaster, has their own version of Abyssal lore. If you, as a DM, want lore with the DM, it's your job to just make it up... and it will be true, or as true as it gets, for all demons. And, each demon template, is not standard. No two demons are alike. A bunch of the same type of demons together will be very distinct from one another. Many even change how they look over time. So, who's artistic expression of each demon is correct? All of them.
Been out of D&D for a long, long time. Are Succubi not demons anymore?
Their devils
Succubi/Incubi are Neutral Evil, and fall into the category of fiends that are neither devils nor demons. Hence, they were included in the miscellaneous fiends tier.
1:30 those look like the gray demons in the anime: Seven deadly Sins! I wonder...
It was a *great* idea to watch this home alone at 1AM with headphones....
Man your videos are awesome. Watching them has been helping me plot for my current campaign which is using a.....Butterfly Effect System
would love to see a ranking of the demon lords from oota/mtof
I threw a balor at my level 5/6 party. I straight up told them they shouod run away. I'll give you three guesses what they did.
Nice touch with the Slayer tier names!!!!
I sent a Marilith against my Party. It was a fun fight, went in two stages and I can't wait to do it again.
I've notice that I can, by and large, ignore the CR system.
Could a Dybbuk possess the corpse of another Dybbuk?
i loove the nabassu . the hardest encounter my level 20 party was ever faced with was an encounter with two nabassu
I feel Like an A or B tier is missing. That being Krokek'toek. He has a massive hp pool can vomit up plenty of demons to even the action economy. He might not have the roleplay potential but I definitely think he puches above his weight class with the disgorge ability.
Thanks to that "typical zombie" image of Dybbuk I would totally miss it!
That was truly awesome thank you for these videos 😈👍🏼👍🏼💯
I wish they were consistent with their naming conventions. "Draegloth" makes me immediately think "oh, a yugoloth!"...
I think those creatures shared some amgical abilities and immunities all demons have, esp the higher tier ones. That might be the case that increases their CR so much
Love how the tiers are Slayer songs
Haha...Slayer songs. The ranking list. Nice touch
I Vaguely remember reading in a Pathfinder module that the Nelfeshnee vied for souls so it could go through a Metamorphosis to become some other high tier demon... I may be mistaken.
I love that all of the rankings are Slayer songs!!!