For a creature of pure chaos and unpredictability, what’s more chaotic and unpredictable than perfect order and predictability? It makes no sense, thus for Limbo it makes perfect sense.
@@gwest3644 in other words, the most chaotic thing WoTC could think of is something that is 100% predictable and never goes outside its lane. Thats not clever, thats a rationalization to justify a bad implementation. These things are regarded as the planer archetype of chaos, and they fail miserably as that since they are as tightly structured as Modrons except with slightly opaque ways of operating. The best they have is a % chance of spawning two diffrent types of themselves upon stabbing a guy, and a randomized timer for another metamorphosis. Limbo incorperating the shard of order being part of its chaotic ways? Yes, love that, its a bit paradoxical but adaptability is chaos's perview(Modrons, beings of pure order, are incapable of adapting. Its the rules at all times). Slaads are not adaptable, unpredictable, or capable of anything other than murder. They themselves are not a bad idea, just as Limbo incorperated the spawning stone and was altered by it, the stone, which(as a rewrite) was supposed to spawn Modrons, was corrupted as well, creating orderly creatures with a tinge of randomness. The Slaads being a virus of order within Limbo is a better concept than the current one, where the embodiments of chaos are less varied and unpredictable than embodiments of order. But we need actual chaos elementals to balance the plane out, because currently its just the "lol Im so random" plane where you can predict what is coming out of it well in advance. Give me chaos elementals that change their resistances, damage, and vulnerabilities every turn(which reflects in their form, like a fire/lightning resistant, thunder/bludgining vulnerable could be depicted as fire that is as rigid as glass) forcing adaptability from foes. If Surviving on Mechanist requires following every law ridgidly and , otherwise swarms of modrons will decend to correct you, then surviving in Limbo should require just as much adaptability and spontaneity to interact with the ditizens there, by either you adapting to what they are doing, or you forcing them to adapt to your actions. There is an order to chaos, it cant break rules without rules to break, just as there is chaos in order as the modron march breeds chaos from its perfect order... but the Slaads aren't it. They are off-brand order cosplaying as being chaotic. And it pisses me off.
Above all the types of Slaad mentioned, there are the Slaad Lords. When the Spawning Stone was just created, the first few abominations to come out of it were the Slaad Lords, who altered the stone to avoid creating god-like entities willynilly. In contrast to expectations, the Slaad Lords don't have to take the appearance of other Slaads, though some do. To give an example, Ygorl (the only one statted out in 5e) is a large black skeleton with bat wings and horns, wielding a giant scythe with the word "death" written on it. He is frequently found riding his Brass Dragon. In comparison of other Slaads, he seeks to dominate things, and is really the only one who intentionally sets up armies. The others are a bit more lax, though they screw up things in their own way.
Each slaad lord also represents a different aspect of chaos. Ygorl is the only one I know much about, and he is the personification of entropy. Some also say that he was created from or during the death of all existence and experiences time backwards, finally dying at the birth if all realities. Which doesn't make sense with him being a slaad lord and all but forgotten realms lore is weird like that. There's also a slaad lord who usually appears as a golden slaad but whose true form is actually a golden ooze with a brain in its center. He has a golden palace in limbo which is only accessible when it randomly materializes on the horizon mimicking a sunrise, just with chaos instead of light. If I remember correctly he represents either madness or insanity, one if the two. Ive only heard him described once and it was years ago so I may have misremembered something. I also forget his name. Fairly certain he was the first slaad lord, with ygorl being either second or third but im pretty sure ygorl was second. That or ygorl was 1st and this guy was second. As I said I don't remember.
Here's some advice I got once about how to characterize slaadi that might help you, my fellow D&D DMs: 1) play up the disease-like aspect of how they spread. When demons arrive on the material plane it's an incursion; when slaad do it, it's an epidemic 2) 'chaos' in d&d is approximately 'anarchist' or 'anti-authoritarian'. Slaad are inherently affronted by control: they may be anti-slavery, the smarter ones will work to bring down governments just for the sake of it. 3) slaad are varied. They have different motivations, likes and desires. Some will want to reproduce much. Some will create things randomly, indulging in 'art' that perhaps pushes the boundaries of the term. They are likely to be curious, although given their size and small intellect this can cause problems for the subjects of their curiosity. For my world I introduced myriad alternative colours and forms of slaad to make them seem more variable 4) they are not evil. They don't do lol randumbz things that are particularly spiteful or harmful; to put one's own purposes above another like that is evil. But equally they are not good; they don't spontaneously give away their possessions or decide to help people on a whim. 5) slaad have little control over their lives. They don't plan much, relying on spontaneity and a confidence in their ability to find a path whatever happens. They might wander whimsically, uncaring of where the world might take them. Alternatively, they might seem like a constant edge-of-seat white-knuckle-ride action junkie. 6) for green and upwards slaad, their progression through different colours is a defining feature of their life. It might be an ambition, or something to be avoided, or just another future thing not to be worried about just yet. But every such slaad is aware that this can happen, and will be conscious of it day to day. 7) slaad lives are varied enough that a long-lived slaad will have tried many things over the years. They're likely to be a polyglot and polymath, similar to a less intelligent elf. Consider having them use the jack of all trades bard feature. If they're a recurring NPC, consider having them do wildly different crafts or skills each time they meet the party - crafting statuettes one day, robbing a bank the next, practicing the piano another time, training with their greatsword afterwards, etc .
I wish slaadi were this interesting as characters. I love slaad biology, their backstory is cool, and the slaad lord ygorl is metal as all hell. But slaad are not really like this and are much more one note. They exist to make more of themselves. They are usually destructive as they are bullied into servitude by greater slaad much like demons. Their ultimate leaders in such a structure are the death slaad, who are chaotic evil. Plus although alignment is up to interpretation, it is generally agreed upon that law and chaos does not refer to literal laws. Infact as far as im aware the original meaning if the lawful alignment was much more accurately described with the term principaled and chaotic as unprincipaled. Good just mean't selfless and evil just mean't selfless. So a chaotic neutral creature us as you say, neither selfish or selfless or are alternating between the two. However they may still benefit or harm those around them as a result if their actions, and they do not obey any sort of creed. I think alignment in general is outdated as a system and shouldn't be used to determine how a creature acts. I do agree that there should be more variants. Even counting the mud slaad and the white and black slaad as well as the slaad lords. You as a dm are free to change things in your own settings. I am just going off the original intent of the alignment system as far as I've been informed it was described in the original books (for everything starting from "plus although alignment is up to interpretation" to "i think alignment on general is outdated) ad well as how slaad are described in the lore for everything before that point. This is in no way mean't to harm, and I actually prefer your version. I just get sensitive about how information is presented if it is misleading or incorrect. My anxiety is acting up all of a sudden so now I can't say you're wrong, but I was about too. Once sgain, I do like your version better.
@@--CHARLIE-- yes but then again, dnd is all about creation and imagination. and since slaadi are inherently so imprevisible, do whatever you like with them, paperbullet's advice is incredibly good though so you might consider using it anyway
"Imagine an atom that is both neutral and ionized at the same time." I would've gone with quantum mechanics quarks, not only do they not make up their minds on where they are, but they can spontaneously change flavors.
Love the Slaad artwork from 2e. They’re still giant frogs but they have the face of a man. Shit's cursed. I also love how back in 4e they had a "Slaad Reaction Table" in the Secrets of the Plane Below splatbook, where trying to talk to a slaad could result in it suddenly becoming convinced the party doesn't exist, bursting into croaking laughter, attacking them in a mad frenzy, or its head exploding violently before the rest of it nonchalantly wanders off. It really brings out their nature of being "chaos incarnate".
The second best deity named Primus that I know of.... hence the worst.... I only know about this guy and the Transformers one. Transformers in D&D is now in my head.... SOMEBODY WRITE THAT DOWN!
@@0_Body I expect a subrace that picks from a table what type of siege engine they turn into. Giant cart-mounted gatling ballista turns into a large humanoid made of wood and hinges
"Becaus Chaos" is effectively all this plane is. In my setting, Limbo was a Chaos God that decided his body was too orderly to properly represent him, and so he turned partly into an eldritch beings and the rest into Limbo as we know it today.
Infinite roiling chaos having a region that obeys laws makes sense, when you accept that infinite rolling chassis would contain all possibe states including order.
Y’all, just wanted to throw this out there. I convinced my theatre teacher to let us play DND for a whole unit. I’m a first time DM running Lost Mine of Phandelver for like 12 people. Update: First Two sessions have gone swimmingly. Roleplay has been clean and most people want to engage, I’d say 9 out of the twelve have interesting and worth while input in every situation. The only real difficulty has been rolling dice and combat but with some help their slowly catching on. Will continue to update as the campaign goes on. Update 2: We’ve made it to the Cragmaw cave and things are going pretty well. The party tends to over think somethings which cuts down our 1 hour time block by a bit but mostly we are progressing at a decent pace. Will update further after thanksgiving break!
Mini story time: The character im playing now is a Lizardfolk Ranger that has Slaads as a favored enemy because in his background they attacked his tribe. After a bunch of stuff and in a seemingly random encounter in the Feywild, he managed to capture a Slaad and enslave it with its mind gem. It was some sort of poetic justice, but just in last session an army of Slaads attacked the Elven city in which we are staying and while my character is generally happy about the opportunity of capturing the death slaad that is commanding the army, i can't shake the feeling it's retaliation for slaving the first Slaad i encountered instead of just killing it.
Dude one time I just looked through the entire monster manual, took a look at the toads and said "yeah I can make fantasy alien with this." Like I just saw that the babies chest burst people or something and then the idea just came from the heavens
Campaign idea: The peace between order and chaos has broken, the creatures of limbo are now free to wander the material plane. These new creatures have overrun the town of [insert generic town name here] as a new group of bandits calling themselves the Gods of the Slaad have found a way to control the ancient beasts. Can you bring back order or will chaos rain supreme?
We had a Grey Slaad in our party for a bit, we managed to gain it's control gem. Then our wild magic sorcerer used the gem to create a potion of absolute chaos, he added in some crystals that cause wild magic surges but restore spell slots, the Control Gem, a Bag of Beans, a Rod of Wonder, a good bit of his blood, and a few other things I cannot remember. It went about as well as it could have.
One thing I noticed about the Slaad is that they’re Aberrations. That's interesting because Aberrations usually originate from the Far Realm, yet the Slaad are supposedly Planar beings from Limbo so them being Aberrations don’t really make that much sense. I have a theory about this. Basically the Spawning Stone didn’t actually truly spawn them but instead transported them to Limbo from somewhere in the Far Realm and infused them with the energies of Limbo to help keep them bound there, allowing them to keep a permanent station there and not be banished. They also reproduce eerily similar to how Illithids reproduce, and they’re from the Far Realm.
You forget to mention that blue slaad and red slaad tend to beaggressive to each other and since they arent immune to the reproducing shaningans, blue slaads basically create more red slaads by killing them, and vice versa.
In 5e, which these videos appear to be mostly about, they are immune. Only humanoids can be implanted with a tadpole, or infected with the transforming phage, and slaadi do not count as humanoids.
Last campaign I played in, our party took a Death Slaad's control gem and had it guard our ship captain friend Billy Joel... Only for the bad guy whose ass we kept kicking killed it offscreen and resurrected it as an undead monster. My response as the resident paladin was, naturally, to smite.
I was just thinking about Slaad today, and how nobody touches the alien frog with Covid. I love them, and have been dying for some help with designing an encounter for them.
Consider: Party gets stuck in limbo because shenanigans and the Githzerai are kind enough to offer them shelter in their temple from a chaos magic storm. However, several members of the Gith are already infected with slaad nasties. The party must root out the infestation before the Slaads kill enough Gith to destabilize the temple and let the chaos magic storm kill everyone.
Party is in a far off, remote research lab away from civilization. Gnome wizard experiments with a Wand of Wonder and accidentally detonates it, killing him and temporarily opens a gate to Limbo in the explosion. A single Red Slaad gets through. Run it like a horror survival game, with the Slaad acting like the Xenomorph, as mentioned in the video.
Have the party meet a helpful mage who is forgiving of their shenanigans and generous with his gifts. Maybe he accompanies them on a few side quests. He asks the party to retrieve strange objects, Macguffins, or plants and rewards them with whatever they wish (appropriate to their level): scrolls, magic items, platinum, and the like. He's friendly, accepting, wise, and maybe a little funny. After they retrieve his third (or some other number to reduce suspicion) macguffin, people in the local area begin to raise hysteria about animal attacks. Vague descriptions of frog-like monsters lead the party to slaads, which the party kills. But the slaads keep coming in greater numbers and power. Eventually, the party seeks the help of their magical NPC ally, who proposes investigating an area. Party gets ambushed there, almost die. They return to the mage, relate what they saw. He acts very concerned, suggesting they attempt a high level divination ritual in the basement. Partway through the ritual, slaads attack. First round of combat, mage casts a spell, no visible effect. Make a face as if the slaads resisted it and move on quickly, maybe describe falling sparks that cause a few slaads to shake their heads but nothing else. Second round, he transforms, revealing himself to be a green/gray/death slaad all along. The spell he cast before secretly buffed the slaads, and the party's greatest ally was secretly their worst enemy. This could be good for just one awesome encounter or, if you leave retreat as a viable option, a long term campaign villain
I think it is the same reason no one touch Inevitables despite them being a logical inclusion in the ubiquitus "became a god" plotlines. Because they are D&D originals that are not employed too much by the main lore, so people are likely to just forget about them and use some folkloristic creature instead.
You SHOULD be proud! Lots of people i know who are into DND have told me that your videos are the very things that made dnd feel accessible to them. :) thank you!
Fire doesn't stop it regenerating. Nothing does. Meanwhile, my necromancer is slapping the ever living hell out of a Slaad with the Chill Touch cantrip, which stops it from regaining hitpoints.
It’s awesome to hear you say you’re proud of something! The book sounds amazing and I’m so glad it came out so wonderfully. Thanks for all the great content!
Slaad, the monster that's only ever as scary as it realistically should be in a party of DPS players with no supports. These guys are like vampires and lycanthropes, you need to create elaborate, secretive plots to use them effectively, and your players will usually metagame the hell out of an encounter with them to avoid the transformations.... can't say I blame them
Slaad are the best. No mention of their masters though, who were randomly formed from chaos before gaining control of the spawning stone and FORCING all the slaad to adhere to this order, stopping all mutations by killing them.
Hell yeah! The Xenomorphic Slaad! Canno wait to watch this! Edit: The back thing got me since me and my bud have bad backs and can never limbo again. Love the Jotaro speaking in front of Golden Experience. Slaad are my favorite concept for an enemy. Thank you for making this video, it gave me some new information I hadn't learned before.
I once had to describe the craziest situation my DnD character got into but phrase it like a Florida man headline, so I said "Florida man travels to alternate universe and gets impregnated by a demon frog"
In icewind there's a secret where that Slaad thing can happen. If it does, a blue slaad pops out, and scratches another player, making a green slaad, which turns into a grey slaad. Conclusion: If certain things happen, you will have a Slaad party member just hanging around on a kiddie leash.
So a red toad makes a blue toad which makes a green toad which becomes a grey toad which if it eats a dead death toad it becomes a death toad Sounds about right
Fact: If you have a conquest paladin in your party, their desire to stamp out chaos can cause an interesting quandry if a villain unleashes slaad and then goes off to do evil deeds.
It's worth noting Slaad born without Control Gems can be forced to have one if they interact with the Spawning Stone; at least the M.M. says so. You can always ignore that if you want.
Unfortunately 5e doesnt talk about the rare, powerful White Slaad. Or the even rarer, even more powerful Black Slaad. Just imagine how many times the Slaad would say "this isnt even my final form"
Congrats on finishing you book my dude. i know that had to be stressful getting it exactly the way you wanted it and you worked hard to still entertain us while busting hump on that. you are truly an inspiration!!!
Me and my party killed a bunch of slad's but it took necrotic damage pulverizing them to paste, sticking them in a jar, and then chucking said jars into the feywild.
If there was ever an offering that could be made to Primus to get it to care about you, sacrificing some toad-boi control gems on an altar dedicated to it would certainly fit the bill. Would make for an interesting quest line for a warlock trying to shift his patron.
Big rock of creation and chaos... Now the spawning stone of slaads Red slaad grows inside you...blue slaad...evil chaos toad...grey slaad...death slaad. Magical gem.
The astral plane is on the left side of the great wheel, representing law and order, while the elemental chaos is on the right side of the great wheel, which represents chaos. The positive energy plane is on the top, with the negative energy plane on the bottom. That gives us the alignment system: lawful-chaotic, good-evil. With neutral being in the middle.
At an early level in one campaign I’m in my party was able to stun a death slaad and remove its gem with some lucky rolls. We then made it change its form into a human who wore a sundress. We named the slaad George. George casts fireball.
Congratulations on your book, man. With all the amazing content we enjoy thanks to you, you deserve this and to be proud of yourself. I'm happy for ya. Enjoy!
Oh wow I have discord notifications turned off and I didn't get youtube push until just now, 11 hours later. Discord announcement is why I normally see these right when they come out.
That physical chemistry you just described sounds terrifying. (I'm only a Forestry student, but i know just about it that i know not enough to truly comprehend.) Sounds scary nonetheless.
I can't believe he forgot to mention that nof only do reds make blues but they can also make greens, just like blues, and also if you aren't a spellcaster then a blue will turn you into a red. So reds make blues and blues make reds. Also reds and blues hate each other. Because chaos. Missed opportunity fir comedy using this knowledge, and also just something he could have made more clear. Aside from that, good work as always.
"Hey you want to be a slaad?"
"N-no?"
"This is going to be unfortunate then."
"How can scary toads" is my entire reason for being here
Does scary is toads?
i laughed like a stupid idiot and probably woke up a few of my roommates
"Remember 40 years ago, back in march?"
I hate how true this is
more like 40 minutes
Temporal perception is such a bitch lol
2020 be like
Seems like Limbo answers all "choose one" questions with "YES."
"Is this thing made out of metal, air, nitroglycerin, or a sword?"
Limbo: Yes.
Or just ”all of the above”
@@carpedm9846 this thing is made out of a sword
@@leyspun it is the limbo. You can expect a person to be made out of A shoe, and they sneeze adhd meds.
More like: "YES. Oh, but also no, because F*** it."
Ah yes, that place that makes more sense the less you understand about it.
Yes, so it's my mind. Makes so much sense now.
1:15 Florida Man can confirm this is true
The Quantum Physics of the Planes
AND IT'S GLORIOUS
Savage win call.
For such chaotic creatures the Slaad sure do have a bunch of strict rules to their biology. Perhaps a holdover from the spawning stone.
For a creature of pure chaos and unpredictability, what’s more chaotic and unpredictable than perfect order and predictability?
It makes no sense, thus for Limbo it makes perfect sense.
@@gwest3644 you can't break the rules when there are no rules to break
@@gwest3644 in other words, the most chaotic thing WoTC could think of is something that is 100% predictable and never goes outside its lane. Thats not clever, thats a rationalization to justify a bad implementation.
These things are regarded as the planer archetype of chaos, and they fail miserably as that since they are as tightly structured as Modrons except with slightly opaque ways of operating. The best they have is a % chance of spawning two diffrent types of themselves upon stabbing a guy, and a randomized timer for another metamorphosis.
Limbo incorperating the shard of order being part of its chaotic ways? Yes, love that, its a bit paradoxical but adaptability is chaos's perview(Modrons, beings of pure order, are incapable of adapting. Its the rules at all times).
Slaads are not adaptable, unpredictable, or capable of anything other than murder. They themselves are not a bad idea, just as Limbo incorperated the spawning stone and was altered by it, the stone, which(as a rewrite) was supposed to spawn Modrons, was corrupted as well, creating orderly creatures with a tinge of randomness.
The Slaads being a virus of order within Limbo is a better concept than the current one, where the embodiments of chaos are less varied and unpredictable than embodiments of order. But we need actual chaos elementals to balance the plane out, because currently its just the "lol Im so random" plane where you can predict what is coming out of it well in advance.
Give me chaos elementals that change their resistances, damage, and vulnerabilities every turn(which reflects in their form, like a fire/lightning resistant, thunder/bludgining vulnerable could be depicted as fire that is as rigid as glass) forcing adaptability from foes.
If Surviving on Mechanist requires following every law ridgidly and , otherwise swarms of modrons will decend to correct you, then surviving in Limbo should require just as much adaptability and spontaneity to interact with the ditizens there, by either you adapting to what they are doing, or you forcing them to adapt to your actions.
There is an order to chaos, it cant break rules without rules to break, just as there is chaos in order as the modron march breeds chaos from its perfect order... but the Slaads aren't it. They are off-brand order cosplaying as being chaotic. And it pisses me off.
I usually just call them “Salads” for my own amusement.
Same bro
Legend has it the first mage to summon a slaad had a lisp and did it unintentionally
Ah yes... the mighty Death Salad.
We were fighting one in one of my campaigns and we called him ceaser salad
and I call Salads Slaads on occasion
Above all the types of Slaad mentioned, there are the Slaad Lords. When the Spawning Stone was just created, the first few abominations to come out of it were the Slaad Lords, who altered the stone to avoid creating god-like entities willynilly.
In contrast to expectations, the Slaad Lords don't have to take the appearance of other Slaads, though some do. To give an example, Ygorl (the only one statted out in 5e) is a large black skeleton with bat wings and horns, wielding a giant scythe with the word "death" written on it. He is frequently found riding his Brass Dragon. In comparison of other Slaads, he seeks to dominate things, and is really the only one who intentionally sets up armies. The others are a bit more lax, though they screw up things in their own way.
you forgot to mention how ygorl experiences time backwards.
Each slaad lord also represents a different aspect of chaos. Ygorl is the only one I know much about, and he is the personification of entropy. Some also say that he was created from or during the death of all existence and experiences time backwards, finally dying at the birth if all realities. Which doesn't make sense with him being a slaad lord and all but forgotten realms lore is weird like that. There's also a slaad lord who usually appears as a golden slaad but whose true form is actually a golden ooze with a brain in its center. He has a golden palace in limbo which is only accessible when it randomly materializes on the horizon mimicking a sunrise, just with chaos instead of light. If I remember correctly he represents either madness or insanity, one if the two. Ive only heard him described once and it was years ago so I may have misremembered something. I also forget his name. Fairly certain he was the first slaad lord, with ygorl being either second or third but im pretty sure ygorl was second. That or ygorl was 1st and this guy was second. As I said I don't remember.
Can I ask in what book does he get stats in 5e? I might have missed him.
@@--CHARLIE-- Ssendam was the first slaad indeed (or atleast according to rumours).
@@stefanb8727 Modrenkainen's Fiendish Folio vol 1, which is found on DnDBeyond and DMsguild.
"Limbo is a state" *shows Florida* Me a Floridian: "Sounds about right"
@Basement Bohab Fuck it, why not both? 😆
Now I want to play a D&D game set in Florida.
Here's some advice I got once about how to characterize slaadi that might help you, my fellow D&D DMs:
1) play up the disease-like aspect of how they spread. When demons arrive on the material plane it's an incursion; when slaad do it, it's an epidemic
2) 'chaos' in d&d is approximately 'anarchist' or 'anti-authoritarian'. Slaad are inherently affronted by control: they may be anti-slavery, the smarter ones will work to bring down governments just for the sake of it.
3) slaad are varied. They have different motivations, likes and desires. Some will want to reproduce much. Some will create things randomly, indulging in 'art' that perhaps pushes the boundaries of the term. They are likely to be curious, although given their size and small intellect this can cause problems for the subjects of their curiosity. For my world I introduced myriad alternative colours and forms of slaad to make them seem more variable
4) they are not evil. They don't do lol randumbz things that are particularly spiteful or harmful; to put one's own purposes above another like that is evil. But equally they are not good; they don't spontaneously give away their possessions or decide to help people on a whim.
5) slaad have little control over their lives. They don't plan much, relying on spontaneity and a confidence in their ability to find a path whatever happens. They might wander whimsically, uncaring of where the world might take them. Alternatively, they might seem like a constant edge-of-seat white-knuckle-ride action junkie.
6) for green and upwards slaad, their progression through different colours is a defining feature of their life. It might be an ambition, or something to be avoided, or just another future thing not to be worried about just yet. But every such slaad is aware that this can happen, and will be conscious of it day to day.
7) slaad lives are varied enough that a long-lived slaad will have tried many things over the years. They're likely to be a polyglot and polymath, similar to a less intelligent elf. Consider having them use the jack of all trades bard feature. If they're a recurring NPC, consider having them do wildly different crafts or skills each time they meet the party - crafting statuettes one day, robbing a bank the next, practicing the piano another time, training with their greatsword afterwards, etc
.
I just make them color-coded deadpools.
I wish slaadi were this interesting as characters. I love slaad biology, their backstory is cool, and the slaad lord ygorl is metal as all hell. But slaad are not really like this and are much more one note. They exist to make more of themselves. They are usually destructive as they are bullied into servitude by greater slaad much like demons. Their ultimate leaders in such a structure are the death slaad, who are chaotic evil. Plus although alignment is up to interpretation, it is generally agreed upon that law and chaos does not refer to literal laws. Infact as far as im aware the original meaning if the lawful alignment was much more accurately described with the term principaled and chaotic as unprincipaled. Good just mean't selfless and evil just mean't selfless. So a chaotic neutral creature us as you say, neither selfish or selfless or are alternating between the two. However they may still benefit or harm those around them as a result if their actions, and they do not obey any sort of creed. I think alignment in general is outdated as a system and shouldn't be used to determine how a creature acts. I do agree that there should be more variants. Even counting the mud slaad and the white and black slaad as well as the slaad lords. You as a dm are free to change things in your own settings. I am just going off the original intent of the alignment system as far as I've been informed it was described in the original books (for everything starting from "plus although alignment is up to interpretation" to "i think alignment on general is outdated) ad well as how slaad are described in the lore for everything before that point. This is in no way mean't to harm, and I actually prefer your version. I just get sensitive about how information is presented if it is misleading or incorrect. My anxiety is acting up all of a sudden so now I can't say you're wrong, but I was about too. Once sgain, I do like your version better.
You say Slaad don't give away possessions but they give away their "condition" in droves! Checkmate atheists!
That sounds fun
@@--CHARLIE-- yes but then again, dnd is all about creation and imagination. and since slaadi are inherently so imprevisible, do whatever you like with them, paperbullet's advice is incredibly good though so you might consider using it anyway
"Imagine an atom that is both neutral and ionized at the same time."
I would've gone with quantum mechanics quarks, not only do they not make up their minds on where they are, but they can spontaneously change flavors.
Love the Slaad artwork from 2e. They’re still giant frogs but they have the face of a man. Shit's cursed.
I also love how back in 4e they had a "Slaad Reaction Table" in the Secrets of the Plane Below splatbook, where trying to talk to a slaad could result in it suddenly becoming convinced the party doesn't exist, bursting into croaking laughter, attacking them in a mad frenzy, or its head exploding violently before the rest of it nonchalantly wanders off. It really brings out their nature of being "chaos incarnate".
"i'm proud of myself for once."
didn't even need to watch the video any further, that's a like right there to promote healthy thinking
Limbo Exists:
Primus: I'm gonna do what's called a Pro Gamer Move.
Orcus: I'm about to end this man's whole career.
The second best deity named Primus that I know of.... hence the worst.... I only know about this guy and the Transformers one. Transformers in D&D is now in my head.... SOMEBODY WRITE THAT DOWN!
@@librarianseth5572 why make a siege weapon when you can BE the siege weapon, right?
@@dragonmanfirebane5078 THIS guy.....
..... THIS guy GETS it!
@@librarianseth5572 What do you think happens when you allow Warforged + Artificer
@@0_Body I expect a subrace that picks from a table what type of siege engine they turn into. Giant cart-mounted gatling ballista turns into a large humanoid made of wood and hinges
"Becaus Chaos" is effectively all this plane is. In my setting, Limbo was a Chaos God that decided his body was too orderly to properly represent him, and so he turned partly into an eldritch beings and the rest into Limbo as we know it today.
Ah, the Death Salad. A perfect side dish to really give your party that “crunch” factor.
And you can’t tell me I’m wrong because Limbo
'Limbo is a state.'
Shows Florida
'Represents fundamental Chaos'
I mean... You're not wrong.
Limbo is like a less intelligent version of the internet.
Are you sure it's not the other way around?
So, just the internet?
It’s less and more intelligent.
And the rock is government trying to do something
The internet is already a presence with a negative IQ, as in it destroys intellect to try and achieve equilibrium.
Was rewatching Evangelion when this dropped, limbo is where I am tbh
it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down.
I'm just disappointed that Slaad Tadpoles aren't called Slaadpoles
Infinite roiling chaos having a region that obeys laws makes sense, when you accept that infinite rolling chassis would contain all possibe states including order.
Y’all, just wanted to throw this out there. I convinced my theatre teacher to let us play DND for a whole unit. I’m a first time DM running Lost Mine of Phandelver for like 12 people.
Update: First Two sessions have gone swimmingly. Roleplay has been clean and most people want to engage, I’d say 9 out of the twelve have interesting and worth while input in every situation. The only real difficulty has been rolling dice and combat but with some help their slowly catching on.
Will continue to update as the campaign goes on.
Update 2: We’ve made it to the Cragmaw cave and things are going pretty well. The party tends to over think somethings which cuts down our 1 hour time block by a bit but mostly we are progressing at a decent pace. Will update further after thanksgiving break!
Bruh, that's gonna suck with so many people.
Dude that’s awesome 👏 although it is a lot of work to run for that many people. Any ways, good luck!
You might consider splitting that into two groups, 12 is a lot and having two groups of 6 seems much more managable. Or three groups of four!
You should kill off some of the characters by siccing slaad on them
You are already dead.
Mini story time: The character im playing now is a Lizardfolk Ranger that has Slaads as a favored enemy because in his background they attacked his tribe. After a bunch of stuff and in a seemingly random encounter in the Feywild, he managed to capture a Slaad and enslave it with its mind gem. It was some sort of poetic justice, but just in last session an army of Slaads attacked the Elven city in which we are staying and while my character is generally happy about the opportunity of capturing the death slaad that is commanding the army, i can't shake the feeling it's retaliation for slaving the first Slaad i encountered instead of just killing it.
Oh dang
Dude one time I just looked through the entire monster manual, took a look at the toads and said "yeah I can make fantasy alien with this." Like I just saw that the babies chest burst people or something and then the idea just came from the heavens
It'd be a gas to play a character who was just actually just a green slaad the whole time.
Campaign idea:
The peace between order and chaos has broken, the creatures of limbo are now free to wander the material plane. These new creatures have overrun the town of [insert generic town name here] as a new group of bandits calling themselves the Gods of the Slaad have found a way to control the ancient beasts.
Can you bring back order or will chaos rain supreme?
We had a Grey Slaad in our party for a bit, we managed to gain it's control gem. Then our wild magic sorcerer used the gem to create a potion of absolute chaos, he added in some crystals that cause wild magic surges but restore spell slots, the Control Gem, a Bag of Beans, a Rod of Wonder, a good bit of his blood, and a few other things I cannot remember. It went about as well as it could have.
Control gem? I think you mean "Chaos Emerald".
Chaos Control Gemerald
Chaos Control Emreald Splash
If you collect a gem from seven different colored Slaadi, do you go super Sayan?
@@Dethneko you make a yellow super slaad
"like Yin attacking Yang, this is what we call a Fundamentally Stupid Move." -Runesmith 2020
One thing I noticed about the Slaad is that they’re Aberrations. That's interesting because Aberrations usually originate from the Far Realm, yet the Slaad are supposedly Planar beings from Limbo so them being Aberrations don’t really make that much sense.
I have a theory about this. Basically the Spawning Stone didn’t actually truly spawn them but instead transported them to Limbo from somewhere in the Far Realm and infused them with the energies of Limbo to help keep them bound there, allowing them to keep a permanent station there and not be banished. They also reproduce eerily similar to how Illithids reproduce, and they’re from the Far Realm.
“I promise this isn’t another food video” My disappointment is immeasurable
You forget to mention that blue slaad and red slaad tend to beaggressive to each other and since they arent immune to the reproducing shaningans, blue slaads basically create more red slaads by killing them, and vice versa.
In 5e, which these videos appear to be mostly about, they are immune. Only humanoids can be implanted with a tadpole, or infected with the transforming phage, and slaadi do not count as humanoids.
"Basically" series from runeSmith and "things you didn't know about" series from MrRhexx is my favorite series in UA-cam DND community
Last campaign I played in, our party took a Death Slaad's control gem and had it guard our ship captain friend Billy Joel... Only for the bad guy whose ass we kept kicking killed it offscreen and resurrected it as an undead monster. My response as the resident paladin was, naturally, to smite.
I was just thinking about Slaad today, and how nobody touches the alien frog with Covid. I love them, and have been dying for some help with designing an encounter for them.
Consider: Party gets stuck in limbo because shenanigans and the Githzerai are kind enough to offer them shelter in their temple from a chaos magic storm. However, several members of the Gith are already infected with slaad nasties. The party must root out the infestation before the Slaads kill enough Gith to destabilize the temple and let the chaos magic storm kill everyone.
Party is in a far off, remote research lab away from civilization. Gnome wizard experiments with a Wand of Wonder and accidentally detonates it, killing him and temporarily opens a gate to Limbo in the explosion. A single Red Slaad gets through. Run it like a horror survival game, with the Slaad acting like the Xenomorph, as mentioned in the video.
Have the party meet a helpful mage who is forgiving of their shenanigans and generous with his gifts. Maybe he accompanies them on a few side quests. He asks the party to retrieve strange objects, Macguffins, or plants and rewards them with whatever they wish (appropriate to their level): scrolls, magic items, platinum, and the like. He's friendly, accepting, wise, and maybe a little funny. After they retrieve his third (or some other number to reduce suspicion) macguffin, people in the local area begin to raise hysteria about animal attacks. Vague descriptions of frog-like monsters lead the party to slaads, which the party kills. But the slaads keep coming in greater numbers and power. Eventually, the party seeks the help of their magical NPC ally, who proposes investigating an area. Party gets ambushed there, almost die. They return to the mage, relate what they saw. He acts very concerned, suggesting they attempt a high level divination ritual in the basement. Partway through the ritual, slaads attack. First round of combat, mage casts a spell, no visible effect. Make a face as if the slaads resisted it and move on quickly, maybe describe falling sparks that cause a few slaads to shake their heads but nothing else. Second round, he transforms, revealing himself to be a green/gray/death slaad all along. The spell he cast before secretly buffed the slaads, and the party's greatest ally was secretly their worst enemy.
This could be good for just one awesome encounter or, if you leave retreat as a viable option, a long term campaign villain
I think it is the same reason no one touch Inevitables despite them being a logical inclusion in the ubiquitus "became a god" plotlines.
Because they are D&D originals that are not employed too much by the main lore, so people are likely to just forget about them and use some folkloristic creature instead.
"How can scary toads?" It's Limbo. it's chaos you don't have to explain. Though I did understand your atom explanation.
0:38
"Mom! Can I have a Bulbasaur?"
"No, we have Bulbasaur at home."
*Bulbasaur at home*
"The cleric ran off with a bunch of monsters with ‘Death’ in their name. And the other half of their name was ‘Slaad’!"
You SHOULD be proud! Lots of people i know who are into DND have told me that your videos are the very things that made dnd feel accessible to them. :) thank you!
Fire doesn't stop it regenerating. Nothing does.
Meanwhile, my necromancer is slapping the ever living hell out of a Slaad with the Chill Touch cantrip, which stops it from regaining hitpoints.
What book is this from I'd like to incorporate some part of this into my game
@Spencer Neucks (student) thanks mate much appreciated
Planescape campaign setting. And they're sort of a level in limbo if you play Planescape Torment.
@@jtjames79 thank you thank you good sir *tips fedora*
If you like slaad, you should go watch Mr Rhexx’s video.
I belive every major plane is in the dmg
"How can scary toads" is one of my favorite science lectures on astrophysics.
It’s awesome to hear you say you’re proud of something! The book sounds amazing and I’m so glad it came out so wonderfully. Thanks for all the great content!
Runesmith: I promise this isn't going to be another food video
Me: Well, now I'm just disappointed.
"How can scary toads" is the best sentence ever recorded on youtube. I love this video and Runesmiths humor.
Congrats on the book, just started following you and Xp last month, it's inspiring to see a young author succeed.
Me watching all of his videos every days and crying
Slaad, the monster that's only ever as scary as it realistically should be in a party of DPS players with no supports. These guys are like vampires and lycanthropes, you need to create elaborate, secretive plots to use them effectively, and your players will usually metagame the hell out of an encounter with them to avoid the transformations.... can't say I blame them
I thought this was a guide o how to limbo
@Herald of dissonance caca
Bruh
I wasn't super invested in your companion book, but I'm really glad it's worked out well for you.
Slaad are the best. No mention of their masters though, who were randomly formed from chaos before gaining control of the spawning stone and FORCING all the slaad to adhere to this order, stopping all mutations by killing them.
Hell yeah! The Xenomorphic Slaad! Canno wait to watch this!
Edit: The back thing got me since me and my bud have bad backs and can never limbo again.
Love the Jotaro speaking in front of Golden Experience.
Slaad are my favorite concept for an enemy. Thank you for making this video, it gave me some new information I hadn't learned before.
You should be proud dude, thank you for adding your own personal piece to the community and thanks to the other creators that also made it possible
He shows crazy diamond, but plays Jotaro's Voice line about removing the fles bud from Kakyoin... RuneSmith, I love you so much
Congrats on the book Logan! I’ll definitely be ordering!
I once had to describe the craziest situation my DnD character got into but phrase it like a Florida man headline, so I said "Florida man travels to alternate universe and gets impregnated by a demon frog"
This is totally another food video advertising all of the various frog legs found in Limbo. Our insight is higher than your deception.
4e also had the void slaad. Basically a sladd corrupted by the abyss. Can't breed, but are worse than death slaads.
This will be my next campaign, and this video is both incredible and exactly what I needed.
In icewind there's a secret where that Slaad thing can happen. If it does, a blue slaad pops out, and scratches another player, making a green slaad, which turns into a grey slaad.
Conclusion: If certain things happen, you will have a Slaad party member just hanging around on a kiddie leash.
This might be my new favorite D&D video. I’ve never seen planar sarcasm.
Homebrew enemy: JShladd. Upon making fun of its name, it dies via a very intense panic attack
So a red toad makes a blue toad which makes a green toad which becomes a grey toad which if it eats a dead death toad it becomes a death toad
Sounds about right
Fact: If you have a conquest paladin in your party, their desire to stamp out chaos can cause an interesting quandry if a villain unleashes slaad and then goes off to do evil deeds.
It's worth noting Slaad born without Control Gems can be forced to have one if they interact with the Spawning Stone; at least the M.M. says so. You can always ignore that if you want.
Unfortunately 5e doesnt talk about the rare, powerful White Slaad. Or the even rarer, even more powerful Black Slaad. Just imagine how many times the Slaad would say "this isnt even my final form"
Damn that soup looks good. Also I hope you take some time to kick back, relax, and let the money flow in my man. You earned it.
Congrats on finishing you book my dude. i know that had to be stressful getting it exactly the way you wanted it and you worked hard to still entertain us while busting hump on that. you are truly an inspiration!!!
This just feels like a less bloody version of the Warp from Warhammer actually
Me and my party killed a bunch of slad's but it took necrotic damage pulverizing them to paste, sticking them in a jar, and then chucking said jars into the feywild.
In Limbo: Space constantly bends, Time constantly twists and Reality constantly warps.
If there was ever an offering that could be made to Primus to get it to care about you, sacrificing some toad-boi control gems on an altar dedicated to it would certainly fit the bill. Would make for an interesting quest line for a warlock trying to shift his patron.
Dude that's awesome! Congrats on Stibbles' Codex!
Red and Blue Slaads:*Exists*
The DM that likes the Aliens movies:It’s free real estate
Big rock of creation and chaos...
Now the spawning stone of slaads
Red slaad grows inside you...blue slaad...evil chaos toad...grey slaad...death slaad. Magical gem.
It's very cool and thematic that the storytelling of this video radiates some major chaos energy
I've been looking forward to your codex of companions way more than the new Tasha's book. I know what book I will be buying today.
Funny how he talks about chaos and how you'll never understand it ... *And I instantly forgot everything in the video*
Just the inspiration I needed. Slaadi everywhere, session 1. Embrace the chaos.
Order? Chaos? Machine Gods? Frog men whos names start with Slaa? I'm getting some serious Warhammer vibes
Limbo, also known as the best place for a wizard to put their reliquary.
you should feel proud of yourself, you did a good job logan. stibbles is on the same level as volos guide in terms of quality in my opinion.
Ayy it's done! Congrats on finishing the codex
2:38 80% of american history in a nutshell.
The astral plane is on the left side of the great wheel, representing law and order, while the elemental chaos is on the right side of the great wheel, which represents chaos. The positive energy plane is on the top, with the negative energy plane on the bottom. That gives us the alignment system: lawful-chaotic, good-evil. With neutral being in the middle.
I love, how the video about chaos has structural integrity, but feels like it doesn't.
At an early level in one campaign I’m in my party was able to stun a death slaad and remove its gem with some lucky rolls. We then made it change its form into a human who wore a sundress. We named the slaad George. George casts fireball.
Congratulations on your book, man. With all the amazing content we enjoy thanks to you, you deserve this and to be proud of yourself. I'm happy for ya. Enjoy!
The ammount of chaos of this video makes a chaotic solid yet non-solid soup of my mind
Oh wow I have discord notifications turned off and I didn't get youtube push until just now, 11 hours later. Discord announcement is why I normally see these right when they come out.
Thank god you finished Stibbles Codex of Companions when my birthday is right around the corner!
Because I finally ordered!
1:15
Just coming at us with a damn knife, huh?
That physical chemistry you just described sounds terrifying. (I'm only a Forestry student, but i know just about it that i know not enough to truly comprehend.) Sounds scary nonetheless.
And because I like to make things harder on myself, I’m going to write a connection between limbo and the elemental chaos in my setting.
just wanted to say that i am already working Stibbles codex into my game my players love it so far
I can't believe he forgot to mention that nof only do reds make blues but they can also make greens, just like blues, and also if you aren't a spellcaster then a blue will turn you into a red. So reds make blues and blues make reds. Also reds and blues hate each other. Because chaos. Missed opportunity fir comedy using this knowledge, and also just something he could have made more clear. Aside from that, good work as always.
Runesmith, are you gonna be reviewing Tasha's cauldron of Everything's subclasses?
I HAAAATTEEEE that the final form of the Slaad is evil instead of chaotic.
this gives me an idea of a campaign where the players are secretly Sladdi that are trying to make their way up the hierarchy
*flashes back to when a pc died and their souls was sent to limbo*
Good times