Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Devourer

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  • Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
  • A detailed examination of the current version of the Devourer, and previous versions from older editions of the game.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 305

  • @AJPickett
    @AJPickett  5 років тому +93

    Q: "What happens when they find their Soul?"
    A: If it has any unfinished business it might live on as a Revenant perhaps, it might become a Lich, or it simply breaks whatever unholy force was animating it, crumbles to dust and the soul goes onto whatever afterlife fate has in store for it.

    • @jacobfreeman5444
      @jacobfreeman5444 5 років тому +5

      So...the devourer is when a corpse is animated with the ego being the motivating force and not a soul? I am trying to comprehend how it can even be since it doesn't have a soul of any kind. It isn't a puppet animated by an necromancer nor does it have a negitive energy spirit making it get up. It just...is. Almost like an elemental but without an element. Still feel like that is a flawed understanding :s

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +13

      @@jacobfreeman5444 not just the ego, it's possible that an entity replicates it's memory and sustains it via negative energy. We don't know what the mysterious third factor is in their creation.

    • @jacobfreeman5444
      @jacobfreeman5444 5 років тому +7

      @@AJPickett hmmmm...souls are born on thr positive energy plain...
      Could this be a sort of reflection? A kind of negative energy soul that desires to cancel itself out by reuniting with thr original? Ah, well, that is a good idea to use but there is no canon, right? Guess we can make up whatever sounds cool.

    • @BruderSenf
      @BruderSenf 5 років тому +3

      @@AJPickett what happens when he has a soule,not his own from dont know, adventurer xy and the devourer meets a demilich,the demilich dosent like the devourer(dont know why maybe he ows him money) and he snatches the soule from the devourer, filling a soul gem can the devourer snatch it back,would it be a game of soul snatch?

    • @kevinferreira6608
      @kevinferreira6608 3 роки тому +1

      Basically the base for the nameless one imortality ritual made by Havel.

  • @thevoidcritter
    @thevoidcritter 4 роки тому +35

    "being of incarnate chaos, derives pleasure from acts of brutality and evil" ...you mean like every other demon?

  • @markusnavergard2387
    @markusnavergard2387 5 років тому +31

    Devourers in Pathfinder has a rather cool backstory. they are undead creatures,made from planar travelers who ventured to far and encountered...something, something that gave them instructions and then set them loose

    • @chazzwozzio
      @chazzwozzio 3 роки тому +2

      Perhaps the same force that Zon Kuthon met before he turned into the horror god he is now

  • @KillerandUndertaker
    @KillerandUndertaker 5 років тому +24

    Despite all my hit points, I am still just a rat in a rib cage
    Despite all my hit points, I am still just a rat in a rib cage
    Someone will say, "With bad rolls you cannot be raised."
    Despite all my hit points, I am still just a rat in a rib cage

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +4

      Brilliant

    • @That80sGuy1972
      @That80sGuy1972 5 років тому +1

      @@AJPickett I actually heard that as alternative lyrics to Bullet with Butterfly Wings playing in my head.

    • @KillerandUndertaker
      @KillerandUndertaker 5 років тому +1

      @@AJPickett :)

  • @christopherc3698
    @christopherc3698 3 роки тому +10

    Fun concept, Devourers are the remains of discarded gith being absorbed by the lich queen, it's husk being sent to the negative energy plane as sort of a mass "garbage" pit. Where in the lifeless hunt gains new life from the plane. This could also work with demi-liches who take souls and remove the excess corpse it doesnt need into the negative energy plane

  • @manuelcamara6400
    @manuelcamara6400 5 років тому +8

    5E Devourer: *Exist*
    AJ Pickett: Look at how they massacred my boy.

    • @johngleeman8347
      @johngleeman8347 5 років тому +5

      Seriously. The 5th edition version doesn't even work well with the other demons it would presumably be allied with. For goodness sake Mearls, once adventurers get north of 5th level you can start throwing crazy monsters at them. Nobody will bat an eye when the gloves come off at 10+ CR. Urrgh.

  • @nullvoid4063
    @nullvoid4063 5 років тому +14

    To me it’s just another example of the same misidentification as the phoenix . The monster in Volo’s guide is simply an example of convergent evolution. Besides, don’t trust every factoid that Volo says. Wizards of the coast had to make a disclaimer to that effect. Just don’t ask him in person, or else you might get turned into a flumph...

    • @maxx8362
      @maxx8362 5 років тому +2

      Yes, but what is Mordenkainen's excuse for the travesty that is the pheonix?

    • @nullvoid4063
      @nullvoid4063 5 років тому +2

      Most likely, a case of mistaken identity. If you were to see a flame elemental in the shape of a great bird, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a phoenix before you had a chance to interact with it. After all; if it looks like a fish, and swims like a fish, it might be a dolphin.

  • @cazador7131
    @cazador7131 2 роки тому +8

    First version: Exceptionally intriguing.
    Second version: that just sounds stupid.

  • @someoneonyoutube8622
    @someoneonyoutube8622 3 роки тому +17

    Wait wait wait... hold up... if one possible way to create these things is if a failed lich’s body turns into one and one way to make a boneclaw is to have a failed lich’s soul bond to a random person does this mean a Lich can be split into a devourer and a bone claw if they fail the process???
    And if so would that not be an interesting plot to have the devourer seek out the boneclaw to reunite with itself perhaps into the BBEG dark mage with the party caught in the middle of the drama

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  3 роки тому +4

      That sounds awesome, so yes.

  • @infoweeb4634
    @infoweeb4634 5 років тому +12

    The undead version is so fucking sick, best bit of lore ive ever heard from dnd.

  • @bakihanma7233
    @bakihanma7233 5 років тому +7

    If you combine some of the mechanics together and keep the old backstory, you get the perfect devourer. I like the idea of soul drained victims becoming undead as well, perhaps if they had enough hit dice they could even be raised as a new devourer themselves. Imagine a zombie apocalypse, but for souls.

    • @da_BemBem
      @da_BemBem 4 роки тому +1

      The Bodak already does that, to some extent. Bodak apocalypse are terrifying.

  • @milesthatcher
    @milesthatcher 2 роки тому +6

    The ritual in making a Lich, when gone wrong, can also make a Boneclaw.

  • @tatsusama3192
    @tatsusama3192 5 років тому +8

    You were right, the original version was much better. It had a deeper, sad existence trying to find it's soul and needing to devour others to fill that literal hole. In comes 5e turning it into a meaningless, undead factory. . . Awesome

  • @cameronpearce5943
    @cameronpearce5943 5 років тому +6

    I'd modify them a bit to include some of that old school lore and features, but I kinda like the 5e version

  • @Just_Call_Me_Tim
    @Just_Call_Me_Tim 4 роки тому +9

    5e seems to just want to make everything either about the Blood War, or in direct opposition to the player characters, with little interaction among each other outside of that.
    But! Your barbarian gets taken? “Despite all your rage, you’re trapped like a rat in a cage!” And you can sing it!

    • @Lazycandle
      @Lazycandle 4 роки тому +1

      Sad smashing pumpkin noises

  • @zacharygadzinski3147
    @zacharygadzinski3147 5 років тому +9

    Seems like there should be two different types for this creature. The undead and demonic versions could be two different creatures depending on how they are created.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +1

      True

    • @zacharygadzinski3147
      @zacharygadzinski3147 5 років тому +1

      @@AJPickett Maybe they'll give the Devourer the succubus treatment in the future by giving them different subtypes or do what they did for orcs and Ondontis, similiar creatures but with differences.
      Speaking of the Ondontis, I'm surprised that they haven't been brought back to D&D. I may not be a player race yet. They may look like orcs, but I think to make them stand out is to give them blue skin and yellow eyes and reintroducing their history of pacifism, but note that after being enslaved and one tribe being protected by their goddess that they developed a thirst for justice and rebel against their slavers. Not to mention an extended backstory that mentions that Gruumsh ditched the Ondontis to add some flair. Not to mention they could be the best of both worlds when it comes between racial abilities derived from orcs and half orcs: Dark Vision, larger builf ability, has a chance to be dropped to 1hp, multiattack ability, and a unique ability to unnerve and confuse enemies since they would be confused by what they consider a blue orc spouting fighting for justice and killing anyone who owns slaves while being a good buddy outside of combat.

  • @rjoukecu
    @rjoukecu 4 роки тому +9

    The new version of this creature is like a necromancer with extra steps

  • @MsGhoulz
    @MsGhoulz 5 років тому +8

    Orcus is aware that he's being mocked and still doesn't care.

    • @DyrgeAfterDark
      @DyrgeAfterDark 5 років тому +3

      I'm sure he believes all life is a mockery.

    • @Im-Not-a-Dog
      @Im-Not-a-Dog 5 років тому +1

      It’s a pro level “Counter Trolling” maneuver. Turn the troll into your servant. Well played Orcus, well played.

    • @jgr7487
      @jgr7487 5 років тому +1

      no, he hates AJ for mocking him. but he hates every living thing, so it doesn't matter.

    • @Im-Not-a-Dog
      @Im-Not-a-Dog 5 років тому +1

      JoaoG R Orcus is like the opposite of Jesus.
      He hates everyone equally. And that’s just fine.

  • @avenshil
    @avenshil 5 років тому +4

    Im so grateful you did a video on this guy...i was looking into this a potential encounter but now im realizing the original versions of this guy make a whole lot more sense.

  • @Im-Not-a-Dog
    @Im-Not-a-Dog 5 років тому +11

    Would a Devourer target a person who has sold their soul to a Devil or made a Warlock pact? Would it still try to take their soul or would it recognize it as being claimed by something more powerful?

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +7

      That sounds like a great situation to explore through a roleplaying game.

    • @cachos-story-lab
      @cachos-story-lab 4 роки тому +3

      Sounds like the classic thug in a movie that steals a suitcase, containing an "insurance" payoff to a crime lord...
      The amount of collateral damage could be reason enough for a full on battle that could only stop if that devourer is found in time and handed over.

  • @michaelkelligan7931
    @michaelkelligan7931 5 років тому +7

    Interesting form of undead,my warlock philosopher has a keen interest in it! 😀 Thank you AJ!

  • @florenmage
    @florenmage 5 років тому +7

    I still remember my reaction when i first saw this thing in the monster manual long ago.I think it was something like this.OMG WTF KILL IT WITH FIRE THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.
    This is one of the most horrifying creatures in D&D basically.

  • @BruderSenf
    @BruderSenf 5 років тому +7

    ya the old days.....remember the tomb of horrors with its save or death poison spikes,the stone mouth you have to climb in to get to a switch but if you chose the wrong mouth you crawl into a sphere of annihilation....ah good times

    • @AmigoRoberto
      @AmigoRoberto 5 років тому +2

      I just had a party messing with a orb of annihilation trap. Spent 30 minutes real time and just emptied the junk from there packs into it before moving on. (Barby broke a wall down instead of spending a high level dispel magic)
      Fun trap. :)

  • @grimmmickey5125
    @grimmmickey5125 2 роки тому +11

    So you're saying despite all their rage they're still just a rat in a cage lol

  • @stephenclements6158
    @stephenclements6158 Рік тому +8

    You're right: the githyanki version is much more interesting.

  • @stevenpeterson8582
    @stevenpeterson8582 3 роки тому +6

    I don't see why you couldn't have two versions of the Devourer in a campaign, using the same creature stat block. Have an undead version that matches with the lore and exists in ancient tales and forgotten locations, and have a demonic version as a relatively new creation of Orcus or another demon lord as a weapon in the ongoing war against Law, Good, and life.

  • @Im-Not-a-Dog
    @Im-Not-a-Dog 5 років тому +8

    It kinda bothers me that they turned them from Undead to Demons and yet made them way weaker. That just doesn’t make sense to me.

  • @tomkerruish2982
    @tomkerruish2982 4 роки тому +8

    I didn't know the lore before. I just looked at the 3.5 picture and thought "Freddy Kreuger". (At least one of the movies showed his torso, with the faces of the children's souls he was devouring desperately pleading for help. Nightmare fuel - literally!)

    • @Babbleplay
      @Babbleplay 4 роки тому

      Nah, check the monster manual; Nightmares eat rotten meat. (joke)

  • @zmishiymishi5349
    @zmishiymishi5349 2 роки тому +5

    Deeper than i expected

  • @johngleeman8347
    @johngleeman8347 5 років тому +4

    I kinda dig making undead spawn lesser creatures so you have these vast rings of servitude with hordes. Devourers create mohrgs from their victims, nightshades make bodaks, ghasts make ghouls, banshees make allips, hullathoins make vampires, etc.

  • @zacharyhawley1693
    @zacharyhawley1693 5 років тому +6

    I found it interesting that devourers think they're rivals to liches.

  • @SageofCancer
    @SageofCancer 5 років тому +7

    Cartoon physics when Devourers swallow Minotaurs.

  • @the_wanderer8898
    @the_wanderer8898 5 років тому +10

    3.5 dm for life. This isn't the first time they ruined a creature in 5e. Skull lords and shadows got neutered too. What's with all the hate toward undead? They are literally the most versatile creature type in 3.5. Corporeal/incorporeal, good/evil, shambling/sprinting/flying/burrowing, templates galore, literally the best.

    • @user-qd8yy9lc4g
      @user-qd8yy9lc4g 5 років тому +2

      Do not forget the bodaks! Perhaps one of the greatest dangers in Abyss, becoming one is possible for pretty much anyone who sees too much mind-rending horror, made into another undead in service of Orcus. The stats are roughly similar, but 5e is seriously lacking in lore department.

    • @TheWonkster
      @TheWonkster 5 років тому +1

      That’s fine, you can change the lore however you want. That’s the beauty of D&D and especially 5e, you can change whatever you like and really don’t have to worry about how it’s going to interact.

    • @user-qd8yy9lc4g
      @user-qd8yy9lc4g 5 років тому +2

      Still, good lore inspires you to use it, as you can see interesting options and ideas that can work with it. And even if you do not want to use it immediatelly you still get inspired by it, while lackluster lore does not make you want to do anything with the monster except just for their mechanical value. To each their own, I guess.

    • @matrimalviarin5043
      @matrimalviarin5043 5 років тому

      I think that might be why they changed it. The most versatile of monster types would weaken the versatility of other monster types, and make them subsequently the most-used of monster types

    • @AmigoRoberto
      @AmigoRoberto 5 років тому +1

      Does anyone else think they may be holding a campaign book about orcus back from us? Just a thought reading this thread.
      They kind of did the same thing with giants at the beginning of 5e

  • @aliceofspades
    @aliceofspades 3 роки тому +5

    I agree that the original Undead Devourer is much more compelling than the new Demonic Devourer. One can almost feel sorry for a pain-wracked corpse looking for their lost soul, whereas a Demonic servant of Orcus elicits no pity (or hesitation) at all. Hack 'n' blast it!

    • @boianko
      @boianko 3 роки тому +3

      The undead are much more tragic, but unlike most tragic monsters in DnD these guys actually have a chance of a happy ending if they find their old soul. I think that and the fact that they are intelligent makes them so much more compelling.

  • @joshuazane3210
    @joshuazane3210 5 років тому +5

    7:55 Bloody hell. I can't wait until selective memory deletion is a thing so I can unsee that.

  • @LeetMasterAce
    @LeetMasterAce 2 роки тому +11

    Your Grognard is showing. I actually like both the old and new versions of the Devourer! Maybe they should've just created a new name for this new version as a demon Orcus created as an even fouler mimicry of the already vile original Devourer.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  2 роки тому +3

      Agreed, on all counts.

    • @derskalde4973
      @derskalde4973 Рік тому

      I'm just gonna call the new one a demonic devourer for my games.

  • @DarthRamzes
    @DarthRamzes 3 роки тому +7

    The way I see demonic Devourer is a blatant fuckup of Orcus experiment. Hear me out:
    1. In my opinion as a undead hunting it's own soul, underlaying motive for Devourer would be coming back to life from the ubearable state of agonizing undeath. This would make it the undead standing in opposition to Orcus goals and as such maybe even immune to his call.
    2. The soul might've move on to after life. If Devourer retains intelligence, and memories, maybe even personality, it stands to reason, in life they weren't necessarily morally upstaning creature. Such a soul could have been directed to the Abyss, considering this. Such a soul could have been transformed to Tanar'ri form.
    3. While trying to gain control over Devourer, Orcus was trying to feed it with his demons and it just so happened, he feed undead it's own soul, twisted by warping power of the Abyss.
    4. Such an event brought Devourer back from the state of complete undeath, but not to life, rather to state of demonhood. It has become something twisted and compeletly insane in the process, vulnerable to Influence of Prince of Undead. Also considerably less cool and powerful.
    It has found out it's own soul, but it didn't fit anymore and so Devourer is still searching for the right one. But that soul no longer exists and so it is doomed to spending eternity in pain.

  • @AmigoRoberto
    @AmigoRoberto 5 років тому +18

    Wait. It's a humanoid in 5e and it doesnt have a sword? What is this madness

  • @kordelshorgar122
    @kordelshorgar122 5 років тому +7

    the 3.5 origin is so much better in my opinion, much more unique,in th other hand the 5th is like one of the most generic thigs ever, like if we didn't have enough demons with almost that exact same description also 25:40 that's a kickass image

  • @RakabooEntertainment
    @RakabooEntertainment 5 років тому +6

    My party is going to be playing Curse if Strahd soon.
    I’m thinking of giving Strahd some of the Devourers features. I feel like it fits in with the soul-trapping theme of Barovia.

  • @Ideataster
    @Ideataster 5 років тому +6

    So, the reason the Devourer was different in Volo's is that it's specifically in the context of the Forgotten Realms.

  • @chappywilkerson2777
    @chappywilkerson2777 5 років тому +3

    I'm a simple man . I see TMG lore video, I clicks it.

  • @lidlonez
    @lidlonez Рік тому +4

    I used this for my b-day ttrpg game

  • @squirrellordsgaming2772
    @squirrellordsgaming2772 5 років тому +4

    Still have to unleash this one on my party, I personally first saw them when I first stated playing during the 3.5 era of the game. They were perfect nightmare fuel... I'm saving this one when the players really get in over their head...

  • @benderbendingrodriguez8305
    @benderbendingrodriguez8305 2 роки тому +6

    I died when he said train wrecked dumpster fire

  • @andrewmorgan2537
    @andrewmorgan2537 5 років тому +4

    Sounds like replacement for an adapted 4th edition Devourer is the way to go. They didn't Nerf the Devourer for 5th edition as much as just made a halfass garbage retcon.
    That is the greatest strength of D&D the ability to replace or exclude suckage. Most games are set in ironclad rules only the creators can change.

  • @Greenscyth22
    @Greenscyth22 5 років тому +5

    Apologies to all the demon lovers out there, but I’m a 3.5 or die person, and I strictly see Devourers as undead. It feels like somebody looked at the whole soul trapped in a chest and just assumed it was more demonic. That said, I really don’t like Morags being linked to them either.

  • @johnandjessicapage1777
    @johnandjessicapage1777 5 років тому +9

    So a devourer has a connection to a failed lich? Seems like there are a lot of ways a lich can get messed up. Do other undead have as many possible end points?

    • @misterjoshua5720
      @misterjoshua5720 5 років тому

      Lotta ways ethereal undead can get mucked up.

    • @misterjoshua5720
      @misterjoshua5720 5 років тому +1

      @@johnandjessicapage1777 Gotta die faithful to something. Really sucks to be an atheist in D&D.

    • @darrinstanfill6846
      @darrinstanfill6846 4 роки тому

      I think that’s the thing about the lich as to why it is so powerful. Something with so much power must be very difficult to obtain. I kinda like it because you can use so many would be characters to become “almost made it” to lich monsters.

  • @Exile_Sky
    @Exile_Sky 5 років тому +3

    5E Devourer: Only good for closed in claustrophobic areas in an event that the players must protect very soft NPCs from being consumed. I increase the range decrease the dice, increase the speed and change the type to undead.

  • @Parasmunt
    @Parasmunt Рік тому +6

    Orcus seems more like a creature of Order than Chaos to me.

    • @TraciPeteyforlife
      @TraciPeteyforlife Рік тому +2

      I feel like Orcus is bio polar at this point. He claims he wants quite, but he came back from death. He should just go back to death.

    • @Dahaka-rd6tw
      @Dahaka-rd6tw Рік тому

      Well, for a time he was. Thecnically he became Primus for a while

    • @stephenclements6158
      @stephenclements6158 Рік тому

      This is the problem with inconsistent designers playing havok with the character.
      Plus, WotC will never let an important character die for realz.

    • @CJVS995
      @CJVS995 8 місяців тому

      Warhammer has the same problem where they have cool concepts or ideas, but they never really do anything with them or say screw it and keep wrecking what isn't broken@@stephenclements6158

  • @danielstellmon5330
    @danielstellmon5330 2 роки тому +7

    I want to set devours loose amoung hag soul farms.

  • @Zasek2112
    @Zasek2112 5 років тому +11

    What if one of these things found it's soul but only has it's hunger sated? Then without the constant fear of going insane it can start playing the long game and become a real power in the abyss? With it's own cult feeding it souls it can just eat and eat and eat and become something truly terrible.

    • @Zasek2112
      @Zasek2112 5 років тому +3

      @Rich Dad Summit Why thank you sir :) I do have them from time to time.
      (edit) actually I was having a really crap day and this really put a smile back on my face. :D

  • @digunder14
    @digunder14 4 роки тому +8

    honestly I find the "there is only orcus" thing from the 5e version

  • @TresBS1
    @TresBS1 5 років тому +2

    AJ, I love your stuff. Really only found your channel like a week ago. But 7:54 scared the crud out of me. I was looking away and then saw that on screen!

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому

      Bwuahahaha! *twirls mustache*

  • @flameofazure
    @flameofazure 5 років тому +9

    Yeah, the original origin sounds way cooler, in my opinion. I also thought it was weird that they were made into demons now. Btw how do you spell The githyanki general's name that tried to throw the coup? I have a campaign were a player is a githyanki swashbuckler rogue who used to serve proudly in a successful Githyanki raiding group but is now a fugitive that Vlaakith is looking for and the name might be nice to have for lore or plot twist devourer material.

  • @That80sGuy1972
    @That80sGuy1972 5 років тому +4

    Truly a nightmare inspiring monster. This beats most of my nightmare-ish homebrews and I made many gamers cringe in horror. I'm gonna' use this one as a basis of some of my new homebrews and even replace some I have with it. Such a horribly wonderful monster, it is.

  • @user-qd8yy9lc4g
    @user-qd8yy9lc4g 5 років тому +2

    Also, while the statblock of devourer in Pathfinder is pretty much updated 3.5 statblock, lore-wise the majority of devourers are actually fiends that venture into the farthest reaches of reality to find power. They do not remember their existence before such violent transformation, but their heritage shows through their alignment and alternate spell-like abilities. Diabolic devourers' spells are of trickster bent, including various transformations, mind controls, and summonings; demonics' are all about raw power and damage, with various elemental attacks like fireballs and lightning bolts; and daemonic ones' have spells centered around negative energy and emotion control, like vampiric touch and fear.

  • @volstadgermaine2510
    @volstadgermaine2510 5 років тому +4

    I remeber running into one of these horrors in an ancient city sewer in 3.5. Even as a Cleric of St. Cuthbert it became a little terrifying a few rounds in once we began to understand what we had tried to fight..... tried. Huh, good memorues. :)

  • @mattnerdy7236
    @mattnerdy7236 5 років тому +9

    Hey AJ, I agree with you. The older version was way more scarier. Diffidently a better story line. I was laughing when you where talking about level drains. Back in the AD&D days nobody and I mean nobody wanted to face any undead that had level draining abilities. Even your most blood thirty murdering hobo party would cry and run from a undead level drainer. Nothing like being a 10th level character and barely making an escape as a 5th level character. Thanks for the walk down memory line.
    Thanks AJ & have a great day.

  • @mrl9418
    @mrl9418 5 років тому +6

    The devourer is the original Crystal Skull

  • @Dirpman42
    @Dirpman42 4 роки тому +7

    There's so different I'd run them as seperate monsters. Just change the demon to a different name.

    • @caiusdrakegaming8087
      @caiusdrakegaming8087 4 роки тому

      Technically, wasn't the Devourer given a different names as well as a weaker and stronger variant in 4e? Just use those guys, how different can their stat blocks in 4e be to 5e's stat blocks?

  • @digunder14
    @digunder14 4 роки тому +8

    i imagined and kinda assumed that the 5e version kinda had some sort of space warping magic to the process, kinda compacting the target into a fitable size

    • @idiom2805
      @idiom2805 4 роки тому

      I prefer to think of it's body expanding and warping in a horrifying manner where it envelops the target like a blob of living, putrid flesh.

  • @winterswede5496
    @winterswede5496 5 років тому +4

    Time to sate my neverending hunger for lore (and maybe souls as well)

  • @saeyabor
    @saeyabor 5 років тому +8

    8:30 is it deliberately orchestrated by another devourer?
    Or is it deliberately ORCUS-trated?

    • @AmigoRoberto
      @AmigoRoberto 5 років тому +1

      Noooooooooooooooooooooooo. How dare you.

  • @destonlee2838
    @destonlee2838 Рік тому +3

    Not having even looked at 5e, I hoped this was the intellect devourer from the MM1, an astral plane? Critter that looks like Donald Duck and eats intelligence points.

  • @GrimgoreIronhide
    @GrimgoreIronhide 5 років тому +7

    I have been playing and following D&D lore for years, and I'm still not exactly sure what a soul is in D&D lore. The original devourer has no soul, yet he still has all his memories, even after his brain has presumably rotted past the point of retaining information. What exactly constitutes the devourer itself? Wouldn't anything that ultimately contains consciousness and can learn and have a will of it's own constitute a soul, at least de facto?

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +4

      There is some unknown, third factor going on with the undead Devourer that is not described, on purpose. So yes, Devourers don't seem to make sense in their retention of their memory.

    • @GrimgoreIronhide
      @GrimgoreIronhide 5 років тому +1

      @@AJPickett It might we'll be a very complicated manifestation of the will of the negative energy plane itself. Either that, or some kind of soul like vessel that has many of the same functions of a natural soul, but lacks the spark of divine power that demons and devil's crave may be present. Something not unlike the petitioners in hell after they have been processed, but before they have become larva. Either way, where consciousness and free will are involved, whatever fits in the hole left behind by a soul begins to look and sound awful like one when you drill down to the details of what purpose it's serving.

    • @GrimgoreIronhide
      @GrimgoreIronhide 5 років тому

      @Khashon Haselrig It definitely could be something like that, but I am suspicious of separating the negative and positive sides of a soul into different things. A soul should be negative and positive mixed together, and unless explicitly stated, when the word soul is used, I assume that it has both. This model would imply that an evil warlock who became a devourer would become a saint while the evil parts of his spirit (IE the things that form most of his soul at this point) would be left behind in the devourer body. For an esspecialy evil person, the missing part of the soul would be very small, and you could effectively say that most if not all of their soul was still intact. The books call all Devourers souless, not just the ones who were good in life.

    • @Roadblock911
      @Roadblock911 5 років тому +1

      I hate bringing up a corny movie for it... But the brendan fraser movie, the mummy. When the chariot pulls out Imhotep's soul. You see him still 'alive' and conscious. He knows something vital was ripped from him, and he knows it was his soul. Yet he's still functional. Does it make sense, not really. Does it have to, nope. Are mortals even meant to comprehend the entirety of its soul?

    • @GrimgoreIronhide
      @GrimgoreIronhide 5 років тому +1

      @@Roadblock911 This is a bit complicated, it touches on the Egyptian concept of the soul, which is incompatible with the D&D model. The Egyptians believed that a person was constituted of 5 soul parts and their body. The Ren (Your birth name), the Ba (the personality that you develop over time), the Sheut (Your shadow, the impression your soul leaves on reality, and also the thing that affixes you to this world) the Ka (Your life force, or breath of life, literally your body heat, pulse and other basic vital signs) the Ib (Your heart, the thing that ties it all together) and your body, the actual vessel you pilot around.
      Being Dead Imhotep is missing his Ka. Although we see his shadow at several points in the movie, he is also likely to be missing his Sheut, which is why he can turn into sand and move around as he does, as he is no longer pinned down to this earth by his shadow. His Ren was likely taken from him by the Priest's who entombed him alive, but this was returned to him when the incantation was read in the Book of the Dead. He is going around devouring people, probably takeing their Ka's, and he does not revert to a skeleton after, so that cant have been what was taken. By process of elimination the thing in the Chariot was likely either his Ib, the only part of him unaffected at this point, or his Ren, the thing that allowed him to rise in the first place, and makes him able to be killed again now that it is gone.
      I'm especially inclined towards it being his Ren, because without his Ren or his Ka he is a motionless corpse. Now however, he has accumulated a good deal of Ka meaning he can still move, but without his Ren he can be injured like anyone else. The Ren is also the thing that was returned to him when the Book was read from at the beginning, and they get the chariot to come by reading from the book, so it makes sense that they were fixing what they did earlier, takeing his Ren back away from him. It is his accumulated Ka that he stole from his victims that is keeping him ambulatory past that point and necessitates injuring him to put him back in the ground. His Ba remains with him the entire time, which is why he carries the grudge of that incident into the next movies and remembers everything.
      Edit: PS: There is also a certain significance to the people he hypnotizes constantly chanting his Ren, Imhotep over and over again. Its probably something they just thought sounded cool, but it fits very well. His Ren is what is keeping him bound to this earth, and its the thing in jeopardy that he wants to protect at all cost. Having been without it for so long, im sure hearing it spoken gives him some degree of comfort or satisfaction. Even outside of Egypt, across almost all the near East having your name forgotten was considered to be a kind of soul death.

  • @dragonlord498
    @dragonlord498 5 років тому +5

    devourers are a cool scary undead i remember first reading about them i think it was a 3e? 3,5e?4e? book and my reaction was well what a scary concept and image

  • @joesantos7085
    @joesantos7085 2 роки тому +5

    kinda reminds me of hollows from bleach which if I remember correctly come about if a spirit lingers to long and doesn't pass on there soul chain is slowly eating away and when reaches the chest the person loses there mind and becomes a hollow there is a lot I don't remember it been awhile since I watched it and I only saw up untill they started the half hollow half shinigami arc and I haven't watched it in a while

  • @Martdogg3000
    @Martdogg3000 7 місяців тому +3

    I'm a little confused about the succession of Vlaakith. Is the Vlaakith that shows up after the last one dies the same Vlaakith? Or is it a different Vlaakith but she's also a lich? My assumption would be the first, that it's the same one, because that's how I understand liches to work, but the way it's worded at 4:17 makes it sound like it's a new, different Vlaakith.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  7 місяців тому +1

      They are usually different Vlaakith's

  • @howardhumbert129
    @howardhumbert129 5 років тому +4

    Undead or Demon. They still want you over for dinner.

  • @foxunix101
    @foxunix101 5 років тому +4

    All I know is if my players complain about the suffering I’m going to inflict on them with this monster I’m going to say it’s your fault. Because it is!! Haha

  • @Baraborn
    @Baraborn 5 років тому +5

    What happens when they find the soul?

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +1

      If it has any unfinished business it might live on as a Revenant perhaps, it might become a Lich, or it simply breaks whatever unholy force was animating it, crumbles to dust and the soul goes onto whatever afterlife fate has in store for it.

  • @rylandking5677
    @rylandking5677 4 роки тому +7

    Honestly I just consider it an undead in my games and use the old lore

  • @jasonsoto5273
    @jasonsoto5273 4 роки тому +4

    The devourer sounds surprisingly like a hollow!

  • @Im-Not-a-Dog
    @Im-Not-a-Dog 5 років тому +3

    AJ encounters some BS “Yeah! That makes sense!”

  • @TrueTydin
    @TrueTydin 5 років тому +3

    love this channel, like to listen to the videos while i lay in bed, just annoying on my phone theres like 3 adds, but the browser version only the once at the start

    • @LockSteady
      @LockSteady 5 років тому

      get an adblocker for your phone

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому

      UA-cam premium is well worth it, also great for us creators as it takes the power of censorship away from advertisers.

  • @matthewdylla6090
    @matthewdylla6090 Рік тому +4

    I think it's a few problems compounded into one entry.
    1. Satanic Panic probably altered the way they always wanted to portray the devourer. (I'm sure this isn't the only victim of this.)
    2. The difficulty curve of 5e compared to previous editions makes it much weaker than previous editions. (This is mixed into my next point.)
    3. 5e, D&D Beyond and 1 D&D are all getting progressively more "accessible" which normally I'm fine with but as I said in a few other videos over time this leads to really brain dead mechanics because heaven forbid someone not realize they shouldn't stand in lava produced by a monsters lair effect etc. Death saves become arguably trivial and monsters become copy and paste rather than elaborate encounters built up over several sessions.
    I think it's forgivable for the lore changes with it being attributed to Orcus as a sort of captain of many other undead but many of the issues you brought up still ring true beyond that. There should essentially be a development of them like they use for Dragons imo but I think once they got the Demon moniker it would be too much a departure from other monsters in their category for some DMs and players to adjust to despite ot being a familiar mechanic for veteran players.
    Love your stuff AJ and I am try to weave together three different modules for a sort of Canon "Ragnarok" game for my first time DMing once I'm done moving and I couldn't have done most of my research without your videos. So thank you and hopefully soon I can repay you, out of curiosity do you plan to go back to your narrative style videos? I'm sure it's harder to write the script for but I do so miss your Candlekeep scribe aesthetic presentations.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  Рік тому +2

      2023 is going to heavily feature the character of the Sage, I assure you.

    • @matthewdylla6090
      @matthewdylla6090 Рік тому

      @@AJPickett that's the best present I could have asked for, thank you for all you do in the world of our changing hobby.

  • @theHedgex1
    @theHedgex1 3 роки тому +3

    I'm going to hit a nap 1 when I tell a devourer to eat me.

  • @AKNeal81
    @AKNeal81 5 років тому +4

    Ok now I need to know what happened to the Living Wall?

  • @jamespace2567
    @jamespace2567 4 роки тому +5

    Ok I been watching forever and yes I don’t like subscribing but your channel is worth it

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  4 роки тому +3

      Legendary! Thanks James, it means a lot to me.

  • @Babbleplay
    @Babbleplay 4 роки тому +3

    Had a game once where I bent the rules because players were so creative, involving using a devourer to draw out and cage a possessing ghost instead of the resident soul of the body.

  • @victorvaldez8869
    @victorvaldez8869 5 років тому +3

    Might they be SELF replicating? The empty husk of a body the Devourer leaves behind might sometimes make it's own bridge to the Negative Energy Plane & go out seeking for a soul to fill the empty spot where it's own soul once was? If so such a Devourer would never find it's original soul as it was burned away by it's sire & the quest to find it's soul would be a never ending task that is doomed to failure. I can see Orcus approving of this as well.
    As far as Orcus's personality I would change him up just slightly in that he hates ALL life & sentience INCLUDING his own. He feels a desperate need to destroy every other being & soul in the Multiverse to grant them peace, if using their empty bodies can be used as a tool to this end that's two birds with one stone. He'd prefer an empty multiverse, if one MUST exist at all, with just dead planets & stars drifting through empty space. Yeah I'm kind of drawing from the Specters of Wraith The Oblivion in World Of Darkness RPG settings, & the Auditors Of Reality that Terry Pratchett invented.

  • @hyfryd6677
    @hyfryd6677 2 роки тому +4

    I'm likely going to reskin the 5e version to make it some Orcus affiliated demon instead.

  • @floppa2154
    @floppa2154 14 днів тому +2

    помню в Книге мерзкой тьмы 3.5 , было описание игрового Класс Пожиратель душ ! и мне он очень нравился :3. Но к сожалению , если игрок играет им , то Мастеру приходиться постоянна ломать себе голову , с негативными уровнями на монстрах ...эх

  • @CJAFTER5
    @CJAFTER5 5 років тому +4

    I like the idea of them coming from orcus because it's said that to become a lich orcus has to share the secrets of immortality with you, so seeing how Lich-y they are that makes sense... but I gotta say i don't quite like the fact that they're fiends now, really like the idea of them desperately trying to fill the void their soul left with other souls, its a really cool concept!

  • @HallowPrimordia
    @HallowPrimordia 5 років тому +4

    My dude. Devourer's are not humaoind, so other Devourers do not hurt eachother with soul rend.

  • @samsamsamsamsamanilla5281
    @samsamsamsamsamanilla5281 5 років тому +5

    Wow. I agree with you @AJ Pickett, 3.5 edition did it better justice. Later versions seem to be trying too hard to make it work

  • @seamusfish7009
    @seamusfish7009 5 років тому +3

    Here wuz Seamus!

  • @docop8926
    @docop8926 5 років тому +4

    What happens if it finally finds it's actual soul?

  • @dracosdiabolis1769
    @dracosdiabolis1769 5 років тому +7

    ahhhhh Level Drain, useful to a pc when you want to rewrite your character cause of its not a good fit or a bad build. something. And your DM is being a jerk and says NO!
    Not that ive every done it.....(whistles innocently) cause level drain takes away the abilities of the levels gained, but not the characters experience of being that level. its not like you lose a few levels and your the person you were then. Naw, its like relearning how to walk or talk or rehabilitation after some traumatic
    event. you remember but you got to relearn how to walk and talk, whatnot. So when your "Rehabing" why not rebuild better and stronger than before.
    level 1. Peasant. levels 2 thru 6. Survivor ? Ringing any bells for the 3.5 players

    • @knightghaleon
      @knightghaleon 5 років тому +2

      That's how I changed class in a campaign. Had a sorcerer who had to become a wizard because the devourer stole his innate magic from him and he had to lose what was left along with his studies to become a wizard. Had a similar campaign where a wizard became a druid. It's pretty fun going from spellcaster to another caster.

    • @dracosdiabolis1769
      @dracosdiabolis1769 5 років тому +1

      @@knightghaleon a friend of mine and I did it just because our dm was being a dick. and he said we couldn't reroll our characters because how we were building them and the story didnt match up. to the point of we were playing a games of magic during gaming because we were so I effective. and the dm still refused to let us reroll. so we came up with a plan. and when the time was right we acted. all the way down to 0 level. but we asked if we could be a npc class so we dont lose the characters. the dm agreed and the rest is history.
      we became more involved in the story, more rp. etc etc because we liked the characters personally more than the class. we just wanted the chance to let the class reflect the personality.
      after a few games after our level drain event. and the dm saw the growth in our characters, he ate crow and apologised for not telling or letting us reroll sooner.
      we just smiled and said "well' you should never tell us no."

    • @knightghaleon
      @knightghaleon 5 років тому

      @@dracosdiabolis1769 I don't know why a DM would say no, its essentially like putting a reset on a difficult campaign situation. The characters have lost power and don't feel like going after Baddy McEvilson until they regain that power somehow. And you can use that opportunity to take the campaign in another direction without having to have a new session zero and scrap your whole world. Its a great chance for a DM.

    • @dracosdiabolis1769
      @dracosdiabolis1769 5 років тому

      @@knightghaleon not that I'm defending but he was having some hardships in his life at the time, and dming I'm guessing was his way of dealing with it and gaining some control over something yaknow. we didnt find out till after we did what we did.
      he moved away shortly after. so.... alls well that ends well.

    • @knightghaleon
      @knightghaleon 5 років тому

      @@dracosdiabolis1769 Seen that before too. Its always tough because they then use the game as a way to vent frustration but not in a constructive way through challenging combat or solving story problems but by simply making your players mad.

  • @avakio19
    @avakio19 Рік тому +3

    MPMM turned em back to undead at least.

  • @CreatorCade
    @CreatorCade 5 років тому +4

    You see it’s stuff like this is why the whole satanic panic thing happened in the first place. 😈

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  5 років тому +4

      Reeeee.. moral panics, just batton down the hatches and ride it out.

  • @joshchandler13
    @joshchandler13 5 років тому +2

    I have a high leveled Devourer that feeds on Celestials in one of my campaigns.

  • @cachos-story-lab
    @cachos-story-lab 4 роки тому +3

    Man that first picture looks like Vic Rattlehead !

  • @EgaoKage
    @EgaoKage 2 роки тому +3

    11:25 _"Locust_ ...of incredible destructive power" ... 12:05 _"Buzzing_ ...on the good stuff", ...eh?
    _As a fan of old-testament plagues, I like where this is going!!!_

  • @patchlasses5649
    @patchlasses5649 8 місяців тому +1

    This is the kind of thing that makes me thing the people who are making 5th edition smoke something a little too much and it just makes them unable to see reason in what they are making.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  8 місяців тому +5

      change without reason or improvement is just vandalism

    • @CJVS995
      @CJVS995 8 місяців тому +3

      Its being edgy or quirky for the sake of being that. Its not even interesting and that's the worst part.

  • @MrJudeWanamaker
    @MrJudeWanamaker 4 місяці тому +1

    Love you AJ lgreat commentary

  • @theHedgex1
    @theHedgex1 2 роки тому +6

    Hard nerf

  • @thefelprince8391
    @thefelprince8391 4 роки тому +7

    the hollows from bleach remind me of these a little

    • @caiusdrakegaming8087
      @caiusdrakegaming8087 4 роки тому +2

      Might have been a slight inspiration.

    • @joeyuzwa891
      @joeyuzwa891 3 роки тому

      @@caiusdrakegaming8087 kubo’s a big fan of melodic death metal (old in flames, dark tranquility, etc.) and death metal fans have a tendency to be colossal nerds (i can speak from personal experience haha) so i wouldn’t be surprised at all if he also liked dnd.

  • @dargo1183
    @dargo1183 8 місяців тому +2

    Is it possible for the more powerful ones to have several souls at the same time. If so could they feed off a little bit of each soul, like drawing from several batteries instead of one. If so could they keep the souls for longer.

    • @AJPickett
      @AJPickett  8 місяців тому +1

      sure :)

    • @dargo1183
      @dargo1183 8 місяців тому

      @@AJPickett thanks love the channel