Check out Guillman's Guide to Speed right here! - www.kickstarter.com/projects/onlycrits/guillmans-guide-to-speed?ref=c6avqx Thanks for watching gang! What monster would you like to see show up next on the channel? edit: for those asking, the next time segment is still a thing! It'll be back next time (lol). The timing of this video and the next upload got messed up due to some PC issues, so I left it out of both of them. But in the video after that it'll be a thing again!
The hullathoin. (Fiend Folio p. 96) It's a _very_ disgusting undead that creates deformed vampires. Interestingly, it's implied to have been a dragon once
I really like the idea of them wearing special fabric/magical items that stop light from reaching their skin, and still acting as very laid back, reasonable merchants. It makes sense to present a face that doesn't scare the hell out of potential customers when you need this material so badly, and for anyone who knows their actual ability, it's a handy analogue for the sawed-off behind the counter.
I really love that in the dnd youtube community, ads are almost always something directly related to dnd, instead of nordvpn or raid shadow legends, etc. When its ads for campaign books, i dont even skip through it
1st thing that came to my mind after seeing their ability to to teleport with someone else is, opening a traveling agency. They help people go in and out of shadow fell for obsidian.
You know what would be funny? If they had like, shadow clothes that grew and shrink with them, and if they left one behind, it’s just left massive or teeny. Like a shadow trench coat that’s big enough to cover a house, that then shrinks down to be a baby’s swaddle or something.
Just an idea: One of them has been launched to space by a party who doesn't know how they work. As they continue their adventure, every day gets dimmer. Fast-forward to the party being level 20, a solar eclipse happens...
This is literally the plot of several folk tales/myths explaining eclipses, you would be placing the party in the role of gods, demigods, or mythic champions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just contains implications for social pressure afterward and effects the tone of the story
As far as curse of strahd goes changing the dusk elves from getting genocided to being damned to search for light in the darkness plane sounds like a good alternative to the default lore
I know you’re covering the metallic dragons atm, but it’d be interesting to see you cover a ruby dragon or even Sardior himself in the future (his lore is a real interesting read!)
Not just that but there are many dragons that aren’t in fifth edition chaos dragons,battle dragons,Jade dragons,gloom dragons,rust dragons,cobra dragons,adamantine dragons,Kobold dragons,obsidian dragons and more
With regards to Dark Sun, I doubt Wotc would really try and bring it back to 5e, but if they did, they'd probably have the book they bring it back in based in that one City-State in lore that overthrew its tyrant, freed its slaves, and became a fledgling republic; The bulk of the book would be about the city and how it's a chaotic democracy always on the brink of collapse or invasion or civil war, the rest of the book would mostly be about exploring generic wastelands and a bit of lore for the wider Dark Sun setting but not that specific, and maybe a few pages dedicated to other specific locations, like a paragraph describing other major City-States
Wow I was just trying to work out a way to get the Umibōzu (giant made of shadow that stands in the ocean) legend into my campaign, and this is perfect for that. Raise the size up to Gargantuan so they can stand on the seafloor with shoulders over the surf, and even modify the dice accordingly.
More particularly, rather than an actual dimension, they drag you to the actual bottom of the ocean. They're not so strong down there, but they also don't have to contend with the rest of your party. I have one player who has recently become undead and can survive down there for long enough, and for lore reasons the undead have the urge to avoid deep water, the Umibozu being the manifestation of that fear.
Most yokai are more fitting as obstacles or nuisances than encounters, IMO. Either having to avoid them or deal with the consequences of what they do. Because some of them are just OP or conversely not very dangerous in the lore.
This is so perfectly timed for me! One of the BBEGs for my campaign is a vampire who was banished to the Shadowfell for a century and has managed to return to try to recruit his dhampir kids to his side. I needed a way for him to feasibly protect himself from the light and move back and forth from the Shadowfell, and this thing can do both in a super flavorful way! I will definitely be softening up the Descend though since I'll be using a good amount of these bad boys.
Shadow Giant lifeguard. Shrinks down when under their umbrella, then when they’re needed they’re able to get super big and just pick up drowning people from water, or stop boats from sinking.
Loved the Robocop reference. A+. Loved all the conversions you made. You're not wrong about us likely never seeing this monster while 5e exists (or ever). Also, kudos to you for checking off both a "giant" and "Dark Sun" checkbox. So many Dark Sun requests over the year, especially after Kyle Brink did all those interviews, and a giant monster during Bigby's release is just what the doctor ordered. Feel weird not seeing a "Next Time" on the video. You've conditioned me to expect that music. XD
I meant to mention that in the video and forgot! Because the timing got so screwed up with the Naztharune video I didn't know what order these uploads were coming in so I just left it out. Next week it will return!
And to be honest, let's face it, even if WotC didn't find Dark Sun's setting/tone "problematic, it doesn't play well with 5E rules. It didn't work well with 4E rules either but a lot of the more casual players who got in via 5E would not be too happy with the viscous brutality of a Dark Sun campaign.
Bro. This is perfect. One of the two BBEGs in my campaign is a reborn goddess called "The Lady in Black" whose purpose is to spread her divine domain to the entire material plane. I think shadow monsters who literally eat light itself is a match made in Hell. Thanks!
Alright, okay, hear me out- What if the “Shadow Giant” is the dreaded last stage of the Darklings? Shadow Creepers and their evolved form, Shadow Stalkers, explode with the trapped light they carry within themselves upon death. It’s as if they are the embodiment of unstable isotopes. The lore suggests that there is an unknown ritual to transform a creeper into a stalker. Perhaps there is a further procedure or ordeal (maybe a magical object that requires obsidian) that can allow a Shadow Stalker to brave the light and take the form of a Shadow Giant! I’m all in on this one: the light absorption debuff of Darklings is an intriguing oddity that captured my imagination. I appreciate the inspiration from this one🖤Thanks! 🍻
They're based on a trait of mythological dwarves that didn't make it into pop culture: sunlight literally killing them because they're creatures of deep darkness.
The idea of a shadow monster getting stronger from bright light is something that, now I've seen it, I'm surprised I haven't seen before. Shadows don't get stronger in the dark, they disappear. It's light that makes shadows.
I’m adding these to my Eberron campaign. The land of the giants was destroyed by the dragons and so there are very few giants left but these could be the actual shadow of the giant given that giant’s sentience by the magic that destroyed them. Slight variations in the stat block might be needed but nothing substantial. Thanks for the great vid. I’ve already added a few others like the False Hydra to the game. It was a heart wrenching moment when the party realised the NPC girl they had helped earlier in the campaign had been consumed by the False Hydra and that they had delivered it (unknowingly) to the Mror Holds themselves.
If you use older D&D cosmology, specifically when it comes to elemental planes, you could always just use the Negative Energy Plane in place of The Black. It's literally as you described it: A universe of endless, featureless, black void which naturally drains light and life from anything within it that isn't undead. And if you are using more modernized cosmology, you could always just slip in the Plane of Radiance / Plane of Radiant Energy and the Plane of Necrosis / Plane of Necrotic Energy, since radiant and necrotic are what the positive energy and negative energy damage types got re-flavored as in 4e and 5e.
I like the idea of using these guys in a plot that's kinda the opposite of Lord Harkon and his vampires in Skyrims Dawnguard DLC. They want to get a magic bow (Auriel's Bow) which has the magic capabilities to blot out the sun, allowing vampires to run free, whereas you could have a faction of Shadow Giants trying to find some sort of artefact that would allow them to bring about an age of eternal sunlight, making them too powerful for any other faction to stop. Maybe their motive is that they want revenge on the descendants of those who cast their Halfling ancestors into The Black all those years ago and that revenge has gone slightly over scaled and is now just aimed at the world generally
An idea cones to mind. Shadow giants accidently made Shadowfel. Every time they bring stuff or people back to the Black, there was always that little piece of dirt or material that came with them. Over time this led to the creation of Shadowfel as these pieces coalesced into bigger and bigger pieces of land/existence. Creatures that inhabit it are folks lucky enough to escape from the Black.
Me, about to sent my party into a den of Kythons. Also having already set up a material called 'Abyssal Essence' as basically the physical corruption of the BBEG: I really want to make a new Kython to scare my players This Episode: finally gives me the inspiration I needed to make Abyssal Essence infused Kythons.
Shadow Giants actually did make it into the 4th edition re-release of Dark Sun in the Creature Catalog, although as this iteration dropped the controversial "halflings were the precursors" angle from 2e's Revised Edition of the setting, they were instead reflavored as the wrathful spirits of the giants massacred by the Sorcerer-Kings during the Wars of Cleansing, and ditched the convoluted "light availability = size" mechanics of 2e.
I seriously hope you make more Dark Sun videos. It's such a fascinating setting, I seriously wish we could get some new content for it. I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.
Can I just say, I absolutely love your music choices. They're always good, but I grew up playing Sonic Adventure and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, so hearing Sand Hill and Sky Tower hyped me up a lot.
Ok, plot hook idea. A powerful vampire lord is working with a shadow giant to destroy the sun. Vampire gets a world of darkness and shadow giant gets a source of light so powerful that it will make them like a god.
I actually just brought one of these into my campaign recently! The party unknowingly ventured into the cavern it had been hiding out from the city guard in, as the thieves guild it was being paid by was destroyed by the party and it had no reason to stay. Druid hit it with moonlight almost instantly, and the cleric immediately went for the dick measuring context and cast daylight. Problem was that it was a fairly low ceiling cave, it had been described earlier in the campaign as about eight feet. So the shadow giant grows and gets stuck, looks at the party, gives a big hollow smile, opens it's mouth and just inhales both spells, leaving the cave completely black except for it's massive, glowing grin, that slowly begins to descend till it disappears beneath the floor. Party told the guards they handled it, passed the deception check (they knew that this was not handled), packed up everything, sold the tavern, and fled in the dead of night. Ironically he considered the spells a gift of light and was heading home to grab gifts for them. I'm thinking I'll have him try to find them, have them hear about sightings if they stay in an area for a bit, and eventually when i decide he catches up he'll give them level appropriate gear. I'm basically gonna make him a spooky version of the "CHOCOLATE!!!" guy from SpongeBob
I actually love when Dark Sun gets conversions to a modern stat block even though I don't play d&d anymore my group plays a hybrid version RPG we've been working on for a couple of years now we try different ideas out for rolling and converting older monsters/creatures/npcs and normal game play. Thanks for bringing this one up I've been thinking about a way to get my group back to Athas since at the moment they are in a converted Ultima Online / Sosaria - Trammel world where everyone thinks the Dragonborn / Dragonoid (humanoid dragonkin) is a Gargoyle which in this world are usually hostile to outside races.
I just got back from a trip and have a session tomorrow. I had no time to prep for it on my trip and seeing this video gave me the perfect idea for the session! Thank you and I love your videos! So many ideas for my Spelljammer campaign!
When you mentioned possibly having the black be a particular part of the Shadowfell, I had a fun mental image of like--the deep ocean, intricate caves, or even a version of The Underdark existing within the Shadowfell where they just descend into that absolute blackness. You try to grab a torch it offers no heat or light. Could even do something mirroring the shadow-giants themselves where light or light magic expand its scope/power. Whole idea of being in an absolute void where nothing should live but knowing you're not alone and something comes for you.
I'm getting ready to run a Theros campaign and these dudes sound like they'd work well as servants of Erebos to drag mortals to the underworld. Great video as always. Thanks for providing a source of inspiration throughout the years.
Parenthood automatically qualifies one for DMhood in campaigns I've been in. I love taking ideas for forgotten/obscure monsters, and using it towards monsters the players may know. Like adaptive abilities or skills some may have. And changes usually occur when it comes to food or livelihoods.
Best I can imagine is a group of them trapped in the shadowfell as prisoners along with the dark Athan wizard and a servant tries to dupe the party into bringing a magic item into the jail that casts daylight which will make the giants strong enough to break out
Ooooh, this one really got the mind juices flowing, especially the "Dark Sun" part. Since I really like the other giant races you've covered, Sun, Moon, Runic, etc and have my own tweaked versions in my Forgotten Realms campaign world iis giving me some great ideas on how these guys would fit in the worlds existing lore but keeps some original flair. Like I said the Dark Sun got me going so I'm thinking they're Sun Giants that got trapped/banished to the Shadowfell with the lack of light and holy energies causing their bodies to weaken and shrink before finally being completely corrupted and twisted by the dark plane. This explains why they react to light so differently than the normal denizens, as originally beings of light they can still draw power from it just in a more twisted and perverse manner. Definately a WIP, but it's what popped into my mind after first reading the videos title!
Love this channel. As a lover of older lore and settings this is like candy to me. Its a shame we won't be getting another dark sun book but probably never will because of WotC's design philosophy of not telling your players "no you can't play that". Even if we did get a book it would probably be some unbalanced subclasses for a descecrator wizard, cleric elemental domains, some spells, amd a handful of monsters. Im terms of future videos, I really want to see the Suel Lich. A lich that converts its soul from positive to negative energy and inhabits the bodies of fresh mortals as it decays instead of leaving itself in a phylactary.
it being part of the shadowfell makes sense, did you know that there is a completely unexplored area of the ocean that light doesn't reach that makes up like 60% of the surface of earth?
...I was going to write that a kidnapping plot could be really interesting, but you stole that right out of my brain at 15:02 😅 Great minds! 😉 Seriously though, I think it could make for such an interesting encounter, even for a higher level party: 4 massive shadow giants show up, so they try fighting them off. You can make it so that the party doesn't seem to do much damage, and once they're all grappled, they're zipped off to The Black/Shadowfell/etc. Suddenly their grapplers are the about equal in size to the party, and they simply plead them to follow along to their destination. I really like the halfling origin for this creature, too; it adds a little extra something. I'm not sure why, but I kind of want older or more powerful shadow giants to be extra short in The Black, which somehow gives them a capacity to become even larger on the material plane than their younger/less powerful comrades. Maybe once your kidnapped party is taken to the leader of the shadow giants, you could surprise the party and have the leader just be an extra small shadowy halfling-shape, just casually dragging on a pipe with tendrils of light coming out of it 🚬😤 (sorry, no pipe emoji) Thanks Dad!
One option for an origin might be to tie them back to some of the bigger planar disruptions, perhaps they're actually from the Plane of Shadows rather than the Shadowfell, being tied to that part of things from past editions. Also, there are other domains of Ravenloft...Barovia doesn't really fit them. Perhaps one of the minor domains is their home and they can spill out into others, or, occasionally, out of Ravenloft and into other settings
@@DungeonDad The shadowfell kind of ended up doing more to make it an "evil" plane than the plane of shadows was...and then they rammed the Ravenloft setting into it
I am absolutely using this in my Eberron campaign, I plan on making an arc that brings my characters to the realm of Mabar and I think they'll be perfect for that. (For those unfamiliar with Eberron Mabar is the plane of darkness, where lifht yields to shadow amd not the other way around)
Great video. I discovered you not too long ago and I'm enjoying your content a lot! I've got lots of DMing experience across the editions, and this is giving me ideas. For example, when the Shadow Giant is grappling someone and tries to drag them off to the Shadowfell or the Black, a forgiving-but-not-TOO-forgiving DM could give them a save to escape.. but depending on how well they succeed or fail, they could take damage and levels of exhaustion, as a portion of their life essence is torn away from them into another world. They could even end up with permanent scars (or stat loss, if your players are more hardcore).. but hey, they don't die!
Have you considered making a video about the Vampire Muse from 4e? Fey vampires that inspire creativity in artists, but also slowly drain blood from said artists, a lot of which they store in a Blood Cauldron that function similar to a lich's phylactery. They sound very interesting.
I'm running Strahd now. I had a pc make somewhat of a bargain where he sold his shadow for a sword. I think I just changed my mind what that shadow turned into. I can't wait. He also has the sun sword. This is going to be great fun
A good idea i am using with them is Eschowdow from chultan lore. The shadow giant which is an aspect of Ubtao tainted by Shar. Connects it to the shadowfell quite well.
In my setting there is "The Darkness". An unknown (so far) force of ultimate evil, or should I say, anihilation. It is set on devouring EVERYTHING. It was fortold as 4 riders of apocalypse. Sphere of anihilation is a oneway portal into dimension of "The Darkness". And Shadow Giants are perfect fit for a corrupted souls of mortals, who ended up in The Darkness and were reborn there.
Try also looking at Nightwalkers (Mordekainen's Tome of Foes/Monsters of the Multiverse). Originally those are produced when original folk is accidentally teleported on Negative plan, and in exchange a man-shaped hole in the fabric of reality that is Nightwalker is created.
Leave it to the shadow people to sell the best coffee. "The Black" is just a hipster coffee shop with bad dark poetry and a stand-up comedy night. This week's special guest? Jack Black.
Can I suggest adding something that forces them to return to The Black because it seems like they would want to spend as much time as possible in the Material Plane. Maybe something like overcharging where spending too much time there is damaging like how in older editions staying on the positive elemental plane caused people to explode.
You could also use it to drag your players into the world of Dark sun and do a Dark sun campaign, Could explain it away as the Shadow Giant was particularly powerful and was able to explore "Other" material planes, this could also be a fun plothook to have your players explore other DnD worlds and campaigns!
Here's another idea for how Shadow Giants came to be in a Forgotten Realms setting (or anything that uses the Plane of Shadow)! The Black could also be a Domain of Dread as opposed to an entire separate plane. As you said yourself, The Black is basically the equivalent of the Shadowfell, but it's supposedly a realm of darkness. Perhaps the Darklord and its people live in this plane of existence, haunted by a special darkness in the Domain of Dread that haunts the Darklord or something. Haven't nailed down the specifics, but I think this idea has legs.
That would make sense, since in their original lore, they were the followers of a particularly evil Sorcerer. If Strahd's a bad enough guy to be made a Darklord, what with his crimes being making a pact with the Dark Powers and killing his own brother, then surely a guy who committed multiple genocides deserves his own realm.
My idea would have The Black essentially being the Shadowfell's version of the Lower Dark (the area where the Shadowfell most bleeds into the Prime Material Plane).
I was working on a version of the Shadow Giant that was summoned by Clan Duergar. With the reclamation of the Invisible Art from their Mindflayer captors centuries ago, they opened ancient pathways into the earth below the Shadowfell: the Deepfell. This is where they communed with, and conjoined with, the Shadow Giants.( It made more sense to me than the fiendish connection hinted at for the duergar creation in the original FR lore, and gave them a more unique lore relative to the other races save the Shadar'kai.)
i think that in adition to obsidian, they might also trade for other things that they need, but that they cannot obtain or make in the black abyss they call home specifically. lights they need light in order to stay strong, to heal, and in the black no such thing exists or can exist, and so the only way to bring light sources in is by trading for them
an idea that instantly popped to mind with this thing's statblock is to have a higher level mixed encounter with them and normal shadows, putting the players in a sort of 'plague or cholera' situation. if they light the place up, the giant becomes stronger, but the shadows can't do their "hide and seek" style combat. if they keep it dark, they can deal with the giant, but the shades become a real problem. for sure one to keep in my back pocket!
Fun fact in my worlds if any of the characters stats hit zero they are rendered unconscious but if your constitution hits -10 the character dies and can’t be resurrected tho legend does tell of a way to mend the body to allow resurrection
With some enhancements I might use the stat block for this Shadow Giant as a base template for a major BBEG in my campaign. Over time I have been building up for my players that one of the "Doomsday Level" threats in my homebrew world to be a dark entity known as The Shadow Monarch. Much like the Domains of Dread, The Shadow Monarch is imprisoned within the Shadowfell with their true power sealed away. If nothing else this helped me give a more defined shape to how I wish to strike fear into my players when the BBEG says "I will drink your Light" and mean it.
Counterpoint; maybe the black is accessible for other campaign settings? Why wouldnt a demiplane of another world overlap other realities? Also Planescape sort of allows that to happen, as it explains that everything is connected everywhere. One idea is that maybe the black is the only route of escape from Athas? That'd be a cool direction to take it.
what would be interesting, if the shadow giants had an issue with shadow. as in, if there is no light, they have no form. light allows them to form their shadows in shapes, limbs, etc. but when there is no light and only darkness. they can't shape their shadows into limbs.
How I would use the Shadow giant: - A powerfull one gets obsessed by one member of the party because he "likes the light in his/her eyes". Maybe is the most positive one, maybe is the most cringe one and the giant wants to take the last remaining light. Basically it's a serial killer or a weird guy, it's just nice the parallel between real light and "emotional light" - This nemesis will try its best to make them fear the shadows and the night by making any horror conceivable attack them during sleep and such (night hags, vampires, etc). he will lead creature there, lead the party in problematic situation, buy mercenaries, everything. - This is the ground for a psychological horror campaign with sleep deprivation, paranoy and depression, which high chance for the players to isolate themselves or the victim. In a way or another, their "lights" have to grow weak. - Eventually the Shadow Giant will lead them to the equivalent of our norther states during summer whitout them noticing it or by simply forcing them trought conspiracy and stuff. Here the light time is way longer than usual. - Final Showdown, they will have to resist the siege and if they're smart enough, they'll be able to make the giant forget about "winter". Otherwise, they can even be able to fight him during the day or who knows. I mean I like the idea of a dark creature obsessed by light that's dangerous during day and that makes night a living hell, really Berserkersque. I would also implement some rule about fatigue and depression to enanche that (lesser and momentary malus to ST, Abilities, characteristic, often describing things in a way that gives an uncertain feeling, HP damages on long term and so on)
The forgotten realms also has the plan of negative energy which you can enter through the shadowfell (its also the home of night walkers aka the big scary undeads that kill you by existing)
Check out Guillman's Guide to Speed right here! - www.kickstarter.com/projects/onlycrits/guillmans-guide-to-speed?ref=c6avqx
Thanks for watching gang! What monster would you like to see show up next on the channel?
edit: for those asking, the next time segment is still a thing! It'll be back next time (lol). The timing of this video and the next upload got messed up due to some PC issues, so I left it out of both of them. But in the video after that it'll be a thing again!
Roving Mauler
Perhaps the Zakharan Giants
Gibbering orb and ioun beholder (they're quite similar).
Iron dragon or the Nerra from the plane plane of mirrors.
The hullathoin. (Fiend Folio p. 96) It's a _very_ disgusting undead that creates deformed vampires. Interestingly, it's implied to have been a dragon once
DD: “At the risk of this turning into a Dark Sun lore dump video….”
Me: “I got time…. Go on….”
I'm always down to hear more about Athas.
Any time anyone says they might info dump on me
YES! I want the LORE!!!!!!!!! Athas is such an interesting world, I wish we could get some more material from it!
3:50am uploads won't stop me
Hero mode
finally, a gmt+0, friendly upload
I am happy that’s 11 am for me)
Yeehaw!!! 👍
Well done, Kropolis. You have been blessed with one Wish
I really like the idea of them wearing special fabric/magical items that stop light from reaching their skin, and still acting as very laid back, reasonable merchants.
It makes sense to present a face that doesn't scare the hell out of potential customers when you need this material so badly, and for anyone who knows their actual ability, it's a handy analogue for the sawed-off behind the counter.
I really love that in the dnd youtube community, ads are almost always something directly related to dnd, instead of nordvpn or raid shadow legends, etc. When its ads for campaign books, i dont even skip through it
1st thing that came to my mind after seeing their ability to to teleport with someone else is, opening a traveling agency.
They help people go in and out of shadow fell for obsidian.
That's a pretty neat way to use them, especially if they can do other planes than the Prime Material and Shadowfell.
You know what would be funny? If they had like, shadow clothes that grew and shrink with them, and if they left one behind, it’s just left massive or teeny. Like a shadow trench coat that’s big enough to cover a house, that then shrinks down to be a baby’s swaddle or something.
Just an idea:
One of them has been launched to space by a party who doesn't know how they work. As they continue their adventure, every day gets dimmer.
Fast-forward to the party being level 20, a solar eclipse happens...
it's immune to radiant damage, but not fire
whos to say the sun deals fire damage@@benthomason3307
@@benthomason3307 the sun (and other stars) is, however, very very bright
This is literally the plot of several folk tales/myths explaining eclipses, you would be placing the party in the role of gods, demigods, or mythic champions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just contains implications for social pressure afterward and effects the tone of the story
How exactly would you get them into space?
As far as curse of strahd goes changing the dusk elves from getting genocided to being damned to search for light in the darkness plane sounds like a good alternative to the default lore
And the fact the shadow giants absorb light means the descendents who did not make the original mistakes actually get to find light :)
I know you’re covering the metallic dragons atm, but it’d be interesting to see you cover a ruby dragon or even Sardior himself in the future (his lore is a real interesting read!)
I am so stoked for the metallic dragons, but gem dragons are equally fascinating to me.
You use these things as grate assassins
Not just that but there are many dragons that aren’t in fifth edition chaos dragons,battle dragons,Jade dragons,gloom dragons,rust dragons,cobra dragons,adamantine dragons,Kobold dragons,obsidian dragons and more
@@ananslator3655I'd love to see him cover the Lung Dragons
@@skycr7059 yeah same here there’s still loads of dragons left
I dont know why, but i like the idea of them being merchants seeking obsidian. Would also be a great merchant pick for inside a dungeon.
With regards to Dark Sun, I doubt Wotc would really try and bring it back to 5e, but if they did, they'd probably have the book they bring it back in based in that one City-State in lore that overthrew its tyrant, freed its slaves, and became a fledgling republic; The bulk of the book would be about the city and how it's a chaotic democracy always on the brink of collapse or invasion or civil war, the rest of the book would mostly be about exploring generic wastelands and a bit of lore for the wider Dark Sun setting but not that specific, and maybe a few pages dedicated to other specific locations, like a paragraph describing other major City-States
Wow I was just trying to work out a way to get the Umibōzu (giant made of shadow that stands in the ocean) legend into my campaign, and this is perfect for that. Raise the size up to Gargantuan so they can stand on the seafloor with shoulders over the surf, and even modify the dice accordingly.
More particularly, rather than an actual dimension, they drag you to the actual bottom of the ocean. They're not so strong down there, but they also don't have to contend with the rest of your party. I have one player who has recently become undead and can survive down there for long enough, and for lore reasons the undead have the urge to avoid deep water, the Umibozu being the manifestation of that fear.
Most yokai are more fitting as obstacles or nuisances than encounters, IMO. Either having to avoid them or deal with the consequences of what they do. Because some of them are just OP or conversely not very dangerous in the lore.
Hey i remember the umibõzu, it was the bane of my nioh play through and somehow my favriot boss too.
And the use of obsidian as “eggs” to propagate their species might give them reason to be attracted to volcanic islands.
This is so perfectly timed for me! One of the BBEGs for my campaign is a vampire who was banished to the Shadowfell for a century and has managed to return to try to recruit his dhampir kids to his side. I needed a way for him to feasibly protect himself from the light and move back and forth from the Shadowfell, and this thing can do both in a super flavorful way! I will definitely be softening up the Descend though since I'll be using a good amount of these bad boys.
Shadow Giant lifeguard. Shrinks down when under their umbrella, then when they’re needed they’re able to get super big and just pick up drowning people from water, or stop boats from sinking.
Loved the Robocop reference. A+.
Loved all the conversions you made. You're not wrong about us likely never seeing this monster while 5e exists (or ever). Also, kudos to you for checking off both a "giant" and "Dark Sun" checkbox. So many Dark Sun requests over the year, especially after Kyle Brink did all those interviews, and a giant monster during Bigby's release is just what the doctor ordered.
Feel weird not seeing a "Next Time" on the video. You've conditioned me to expect that music. XD
I meant to mention that in the video and forgot! Because the timing got so screwed up with the Naztharune video I didn't know what order these uploads were coming in so I just left it out. Next week it will return!
Why would a giant monster video be relevant to a release of Bigby's- *slapping my forehead*
And to be honest, let's face it, even if WotC didn't find Dark Sun's setting/tone "problematic, it doesn't play well with 5E rules. It didn't work well with 4E rules either but a lot of the more casual players who got in via 5E would not be too happy with the viscous brutality of a Dark Sun campaign.
Bro. This is perfect. One of the two BBEGs in my campaign is a reborn goddess called "The Lady in Black" whose purpose is to spread her divine domain to the entire material plane. I think shadow monsters who literally eat light itself is a match made in Hell. Thanks!
Alright, okay, hear me out- What if the “Shadow Giant” is the dreaded last stage of the Darklings? Shadow Creepers and their evolved form, Shadow Stalkers, explode with the trapped light they carry within themselves upon death. It’s as if they are the embodiment of unstable isotopes. The lore suggests that there is an unknown ritual to transform a creeper into a stalker. Perhaps there is a further procedure or ordeal (maybe a magical object that requires obsidian) that can allow a Shadow Stalker to brave the light and take the form of a Shadow Giant!
I’m all in on this one: the light absorption debuff of Darklings is an intriguing oddity that captured my imagination. I appreciate the inspiration from this one🖤Thanks!
🍻
100/10 idea
They're based on a trait of mythological dwarves that didn't make it into pop culture: sunlight literally killing them because they're creatures of deep darkness.
The idea of a shadow monster getting stronger from bright light is something that, now I've seen it, I'm surprised I haven't seen before. Shadows don't get stronger in the dark, they disappear. It's light that makes shadows.
I’m adding these to my Eberron campaign. The land of the giants was destroyed by the dragons and so there are very few giants left but these could be the actual shadow of the giant given that giant’s sentience by the magic that destroyed them. Slight variations in the stat block might be needed but nothing substantial. Thanks for the great vid. I’ve already added a few others like the False Hydra to the game. It was a heart wrenching moment when the party realised the NPC girl they had helped earlier in the campaign had been consumed by the False Hydra and that they had delivered it (unknowingly) to the Mror Holds themselves.
Whooo!
A Dark Sun monster?
Lets go!
"Eats light"
'the goddess Shar want to know your location'
Oh man, do more Darksun stuff. It's my favorite setting from AD&D
They're part of the Shadow Wizard Money Gang without a *shadow* of a doubt.
100%
The original in many respects since the Prism Pentad plot was written in the early 90s
Ahh, Dark Sun; the setting that watched too much Mad Max and played too much Fallout as a kid
Also some John Carter of Mars in there I'd say.
With a little hue of Dune
If you use older D&D cosmology, specifically when it comes to elemental planes, you could always just use the Negative Energy Plane in place of The Black. It's literally as you described it: A universe of endless, featureless, black void which naturally drains light and life from anything within it that isn't undead. And if you are using more modernized cosmology, you could always just slip in the Plane of Radiance / Plane of Radiant Energy and the Plane of Necrosis / Plane of Necrotic Energy, since radiant and necrotic are what the positive energy and negative energy damage types got re-flavored as in 4e and 5e.
A new Monster of the Week makes a lovely complement to my morning coffee.
*hugs dungeon dad* thank you for this monster soon starting a 5e dark sun campaign
I'm always pumped when you showcase Dark Sun content. Every new creature video & creator interview is awesome. But this week's Giant? Chef's kiss.
I really did miss ur channel until this upload, I subconsciously checked in on it every day, basically ty
It's a shame that one video can come across as being made with more care and enthusiasm than an entire book from a team of people
Also, kick ass video
@arch-warlock7409 wotc cosoomer cuck. Yes consoom product. Support corporation. Don't think. Just consoom
@@arch-warlock7409 I disagree, it's lackluster at best.
@@arch-warlock7409 improvement seems a safe expectation
Fun video to watch instead of sleeping? Hell yes
Let's gooo! Sleep is for the weak! (and the well adjusted, but that's okay!)
I like the idea of using these guys in a plot that's kinda the opposite of Lord Harkon and his vampires in Skyrims Dawnguard DLC. They want to get a magic bow (Auriel's Bow) which has the magic capabilities to blot out the sun, allowing vampires to run free, whereas you could have a faction of Shadow Giants trying to find some sort of artefact that would allow them to bring about an age of eternal sunlight, making them too powerful for any other faction to stop. Maybe their motive is that they want revenge on the descendants of those who cast their Halfling ancestors into The Black all those years ago and that revenge has gone slightly over scaled and is now just aimed at the world generally
An idea cones to mind. Shadow giants accidently made Shadowfel. Every time they bring stuff or people back to the Black, there was always that little piece of dirt or material that came with them. Over time this led to the creation of Shadowfel as these pieces coalesced into bigger and bigger pieces of land/existence. Creatures that inhabit it are folks lucky enough to escape from the Black.
This is awesome. Im curently running a homebrew LoX campaign and im using athas space for doomspace. So this is exactly the kind of thing i needed
Me, about to sent my party into a den of Kythons. Also having already set up a material called 'Abyssal Essence' as basically the physical corruption of the BBEG: I really want to make a new Kython to scare my players
This Episode: finally gives me the inspiration I needed to make Abyssal Essence infused Kythons.
Shadow Giants actually did make it into the 4th edition re-release of Dark Sun in the Creature Catalog, although as this iteration dropped the controversial "halflings were the precursors" angle from 2e's Revised Edition of the setting, they were instead reflavored as the wrathful spirits of the giants massacred by the Sorcerer-Kings during the Wars of Cleansing, and ditched the convoluted "light availability = size" mechanics of 2e.
That's very interesting!
That's what made them interesting, though. What's the point of just another shadow-being if it doesn't have any interesting gimmick?
I seriously hope you make more Dark Sun videos. It's such a fascinating setting, I seriously wish we could get some new content for it. I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.
Can I just say, I absolutely love your music choices. They're always good, but I grew up playing Sonic Adventure and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, so hearing Sand Hill and Sky Tower hyped me up a lot.
Oh ho! You thought uploading before the asscrack of dawn would stop any of us from watching?!
YOU UNDERESTIMATE OUR INSOMNIA!
Ok, plot hook idea. A powerful vampire lord is working with a shadow giant to destroy the sun. Vampire gets a world of darkness and shadow giant gets a source of light so powerful that it will make them like a god.
Love shadow giants! Love dark sun. My two current campaigns are set in a homebrew (but very heavily inspired by athas) setting!
I actually just brought one of these into my campaign recently! The party unknowingly ventured into the cavern it had been hiding out from the city guard in, as the thieves guild it was being paid by was destroyed by the party and it had no reason to stay. Druid hit it with moonlight almost instantly, and the cleric immediately went for the dick measuring context and cast daylight.
Problem was that it was a fairly low ceiling cave, it had been described earlier in the campaign as about eight feet. So the shadow giant grows and gets stuck, looks at the party, gives a big hollow smile, opens it's mouth and just inhales both spells, leaving the cave completely black except for it's massive, glowing grin, that slowly begins to descend till it disappears beneath the floor.
Party told the guards they handled it, passed the deception check (they knew that this was not handled), packed up everything, sold the tavern, and fled in the dead of night.
Ironically he considered the spells a gift of light and was heading home to grab gifts for them. I'm thinking I'll have him try to find them, have them hear about sightings if they stay in an area for a bit, and eventually when i decide he catches up he'll give them level appropriate gear. I'm basically gonna make him a spooky version of the "CHOCOLATE!!!" guy from SpongeBob
I actually love when Dark Sun gets conversions to a modern stat block even though I don't play d&d anymore my group plays a hybrid version RPG we've been working on for a couple of years now we try different ideas out for rolling and converting older monsters/creatures/npcs and normal game play. Thanks for bringing this one up I've been thinking about a way to get my group back to Athas since at the moment they are in a converted Ultima Online / Sosaria - Trammel world where everyone thinks the Dragonborn / Dragonoid (humanoid dragonkin) is a Gargoyle which in this world are usually hostile to outside races.
I'm always down for more Dark Sun in my life.
Talking about a monster from Dark Sun being weird, and I'm just going, "Well yeah, obviously."
I just got back from a trip and have a session tomorrow. I had no time to prep for it on my trip and seeing this video gave me the perfect idea for the session! Thank you and I love your videos! So many ideas for my Spelljammer campaign!
I just saw this and thought: “new dungeon dad video? Yay!”
When you mentioned possibly having the black be a particular part of the Shadowfell, I had a fun mental image of like--the deep ocean, intricate caves, or even a version of The Underdark existing within the Shadowfell where they just descend into that absolute blackness. You try to grab a torch it offers no heat or light. Could even do something mirroring the shadow-giants themselves where light or light magic expand its scope/power. Whole idea of being in an absolute void where nothing should live but knowing you're not alone and something comes for you.
I'm getting ready to run a Theros campaign and these dudes sound like they'd work well as servants of Erebos to drag mortals to the underworld.
Great video as always. Thanks for providing a source of inspiration throughout the years.
Parenthood automatically qualifies one for DMhood in campaigns I've been in.
I love taking ideas for forgotten/obscure monsters, and using it towards monsters the players may know. Like adaptive abilities or skills some may have. And changes usually occur when it comes to food or livelihoods.
Always fun to see you aploaded a new video😊
Best I can imagine is a group of them trapped in the shadowfell as prisoners along with the dark Athan wizard and a servant tries to dupe the party into bringing a magic item into the jail that casts daylight which will make the giants strong enough to break out
First new episode since I joined.
Great work.
Ooooh, this one really got the mind juices flowing, especially the "Dark Sun" part. Since I really like the other giant races you've covered, Sun, Moon, Runic, etc and have my own tweaked versions in my Forgotten Realms campaign world iis giving me some great ideas on how these guys would fit in the worlds existing lore but keeps some original flair. Like I said the Dark Sun got me going so I'm thinking they're Sun Giants that got trapped/banished to the Shadowfell with the lack of light and holy energies causing their bodies to weaken and shrink before finally being completely corrupted and twisted by the dark plane. This explains why they react to light so differently than the normal denizens, as originally beings of light they can still draw power from it just in a more twisted and perverse manner. Definately a WIP, but it's what popped into my mind after first reading the videos title!
Love this channel. As a lover of older lore and settings this is like candy to me.
Its a shame we won't be getting another dark sun book but probably never will because of WotC's design philosophy of not telling your players "no you can't play that". Even if we did get a book it would probably be some unbalanced subclasses for a descecrator wizard, cleric elemental domains, some spells, amd a handful of monsters.
Im terms of future videos, I really want to see the Suel Lich. A lich that converts its soul from positive to negative energy and inhabits the bodies of fresh mortals as it decays instead of leaving itself in a phylactary.
it being part of the shadowfell makes sense, did you know that there is a completely unexplored area of the ocean that light doesn't reach that makes up like 60% of the surface of earth?
Pokemon mystery dungeon quicksand cave ost, you got taste
...I was going to write that a kidnapping plot could be really interesting, but you stole that right out of my brain at 15:02 😅 Great minds! 😉
Seriously though, I think it could make for such an interesting encounter, even for a higher level party: 4 massive shadow giants show up, so they try fighting them off. You can make it so that the party doesn't seem to do much damage, and once they're all grappled, they're zipped off to The Black/Shadowfell/etc. Suddenly their grapplers are the about equal in size to the party, and they simply plead them to follow along to their destination.
I really like the halfling origin for this creature, too; it adds a little extra something. I'm not sure why, but I kind of want older or more powerful shadow giants to be extra short in The Black, which somehow gives them a capacity to become even larger on the material plane than their younger/less powerful comrades.
Maybe once your kidnapped party is taken to the leader of the shadow giants, you could surprise the party and have the leader just be an extra small shadowy halfling-shape, just casually dragging on a pipe with tendrils of light coming out of it 🚬😤 (sorry, no pipe emoji)
Thanks Dad!
Sounds like The Black should be a Domain of Dead inside The Shadowfell.
One option for an origin might be to tie them back to some of the bigger planar disruptions, perhaps they're actually from the Plane of Shadows rather than the Shadowfell, being tied to that part of things from past editions.
Also, there are other domains of Ravenloft...Barovia doesn't really fit them. Perhaps one of the minor domains is their home and they can spill out into others, or, occasionally, out of Ravenloft and into other settings
That's a neat idea. I do miss the more polarized planes, so this could be an excuse to bring it back!
@@DungeonDad The shadowfell kind of ended up doing more to make it an "evil" plane than the plane of shadows was...and then they rammed the Ravenloft setting into it
They work really well with the negative energy plane in my opinion.
I love up converting things from my dads dark sun book its always a hoot to get em to both work and be simple
I am absolutely using this in my Eberron campaign, I plan on making an arc that brings my characters to the realm of Mabar and I think they'll be perfect for that.
(For those unfamiliar with Eberron Mabar is the plane of darkness, where lifht yields to shadow amd not the other way around)
Great video. I discovered you not too long ago and I'm enjoying your content a lot! I've got lots of DMing experience across the editions, and this is giving me ideas. For example, when the Shadow Giant is grappling someone and tries to drag them off to the Shadowfell or the Black, a forgiving-but-not-TOO-forgiving DM could give them a save to escape.. but depending on how well they succeed or fail, they could take damage and levels of exhaustion, as a portion of their life essence is torn away from them into another world. They could even end up with permanent scars (or stat loss, if your players are more hardcore).. but hey, they don't die!
The horror of watching an essential npc getting picked up like a handbag and disappearing in the middle of the night sounds awful in the best way
Have you considered making a video about the Vampire Muse from 4e? Fey vampires that inspire creativity in artists, but also slowly drain blood from said artists, a lot of which they store in a Blood Cauldron that function similar to a lich's phylactery. They sound very interesting.
Been waiting for your enxt upload buddy, thank you
seeing those pictures from the dark sun monster manual really takes me back
Like the transitions 😁
I'm running Strahd now. I had a pc make somewhat of a bargain where he sold his shadow for a sword. I think I just changed my mind what that shadow turned into. I can't wait. He also has the sun sword. This is going to be great fun
honestly makes sense given what they are, why you wouldn't find them in bigby's
A good idea i am using with them is Eschowdow from chultan lore. The shadow giant which is an aspect of Ubtao tainted by Shar. Connects it to the shadowfell quite well.
11:28 AYO? Certified PMD music moment? Let’s gooooooo I almost never see an overlap between mystery dungeons and dragon dungeons haha
Sorry I'm late but my house burned down. I'm really glad you released a video because I love them so much!
In my setting there is "The Darkness". An unknown (so far) force of ultimate evil, or should I say, anihilation.
It is set on devouring EVERYTHING. It was fortold as 4 riders of apocalypse. Sphere of anihilation is a oneway portal into dimension of "The Darkness". And Shadow Giants are perfect fit for a corrupted souls of mortals, who ended up in The Darkness and were reborn there.
Try also looking at Nightwalkers (Mordekainen's Tome of Foes/Monsters of the Multiverse). Originally those are produced when original folk is accidentally teleported on Negative plan, and in exchange a man-shaped hole in the fabric of reality that is Nightwalker is created.
You could also utilize Rhyxali (Gra'azt's sister) and her Abyssal layer of Shaddanon as the source of The Black
You just know someone is scrambling to get a kingdom hearts campaign together now we have a way of throwing darkside in there
Love for you to cover some more of the real weird 1e fiend folio monsters!
Leave it to the shadow people to sell the best coffee.
"The Black" is just a hipster coffee shop with bad dark poetry and a stand-up comedy night.
This week's special guest? Jack Black.
Can I suggest adding something that forces them to return to The Black because it seems like they would want to spend as much time as possible in the Material Plane. Maybe something like overcharging where spending too much time there is damaging like how in older editions staying on the positive elemental plane caused people to explode.
You could also use it to drag your players into the world of Dark sun and do a Dark sun campaign, Could explain it away as the Shadow Giant was particularly powerful and was able to explore "Other" material planes, this could also be a fun plothook to have your players explore other DnD worlds and campaigns!
Here's another idea for how Shadow Giants came to be in a Forgotten Realms setting (or anything that uses the Plane of Shadow)! The Black could also be a Domain of Dread as opposed to an entire separate plane. As you said yourself, The Black is basically the equivalent of the Shadowfell, but it's supposedly a realm of darkness. Perhaps the Darklord and its people live in this plane of existence, haunted by a special darkness in the Domain of Dread that haunts the Darklord or something. Haven't nailed down the specifics, but I think this idea has legs.
That would make sense, since in their original lore, they were the followers of a particularly evil Sorcerer. If Strahd's a bad enough guy to be made a Darklord, what with his crimes being making a pact with the Dark Powers and killing his own brother, then surely a guy who committed multiple genocides deserves his own realm.
My idea would have The Black essentially being the Shadowfell's version of the Lower Dark (the area where the Shadowfell most bleeds into the Prime Material Plane).
I was working on a version of the Shadow Giant that was summoned by Clan Duergar. With the reclamation of the Invisible Art from their Mindflayer captors centuries ago, they opened ancient pathways into the earth below the Shadowfell: the Deepfell. This is where they communed with, and conjoined with, the Shadow Giants.( It made more sense to me than the fiendish connection hinted at for the duergar creation in the original FR lore, and gave them a more unique lore relative to the other races save the Shadar'kai.)
A "giant" that is not a gaint, very interesting monster. Grat video , as always!
We can put it in that catogory with the Miniature Giant Space Hamster.
I'll be using these I'm my homebrew Feydark campaign, thank you very much!!!!!
Another awesome video! Will you ever consider compiling all of your monster stat conversions to a book?
Someday, I’d really like to do exactly that!
@@DungeonDad I'd love to get my hands on a copy when that day comes :)
More Dark Sun monsters please. Another great video Sir.
I’m running a horror themed campaign with a heavy emphasis on *not* ever being in pure darkness. This thing is perfect for a twist enemy
i think that in adition to obsidian, they might also trade for other things that they need, but that they cannot obtain or make in the black abyss they call home
specifically. lights
they need light in order to stay strong, to heal, and in the black no such thing exists or can exist, and so the only way to bring light sources in is by trading for them
an idea that instantly popped to mind with this thing's statblock is to have a higher level mixed encounter with them and normal shadows, putting the players in a sort of 'plague or cholera' situation.
if they light the place up, the giant becomes stronger, but the shadows can't do their "hide and seek" style combat. if they keep it dark, they can deal with the giant, but the shades become a real problem. for sure one to keep in my back pocket!
Fun fact in my worlds if any of the characters stats hit zero they are rendered unconscious but if your constitution hits -10 the character dies and can’t be resurrected tho legend does tell of a way to mend the body to allow resurrection
With some enhancements I might use the stat block for this Shadow Giant as a base template for a major BBEG in my campaign. Over time I have been building up for my players that one of the "Doomsday Level" threats in my homebrew world to be a dark entity known as The Shadow Monarch. Much like the Domains of Dread, The Shadow Monarch is imprisoned within the Shadowfell with their true power sealed away. If nothing else this helped me give a more defined shape to how I wish to strike fear into my players when the BBEG says "I will drink your Light" and mean it.
14:09 seeing destiny gameplay in a dnd video is not what i expected lol since I love both
Nice work on the video!
Thanks!
I'm playing kings of thunder campaign, I think it is time for a could giant lord to be involved in an experiment
Dope video as always! Would love to potentially see the Sibriex at some point!
Counterpoint; maybe the black is accessible for other campaign settings? Why wouldnt a demiplane of another world overlap other realities?
Also Planescape sort of allows that to happen, as it explains that everything is connected everywhere.
One idea is that maybe the black is the only route of escape from Athas? That'd be a cool direction to take it.
what would be interesting, if the shadow giants had an issue with shadow. as in, if there is no light, they have no form. light allows them to form their shadows in shapes, limbs, etc. but when there is no light and only darkness. they can't shape their shadows into limbs.
How I would use the Shadow giant:
- A powerfull one gets obsessed by one member of the party because he "likes the light in his/her eyes".
Maybe is the most positive one, maybe is the most cringe one and the giant wants to take the last remaining light.
Basically it's a serial killer or a weird guy, it's just nice the parallel between real light and "emotional light"
- This nemesis will try its best to make them fear the shadows and the night by making any horror conceivable attack them during sleep and such (night hags, vampires, etc). he will lead creature there, lead the party in problematic situation, buy mercenaries, everything.
- This is the ground for a psychological horror campaign with sleep deprivation, paranoy and depression, which high chance for the players to isolate themselves or the victim.
In a way or another, their "lights" have to grow weak.
- Eventually the Shadow Giant will lead them to the equivalent of our norther states during summer whitout them noticing it or by simply forcing them trought conspiracy and stuff. Here the light time is way longer than usual.
- Final Showdown, they will have to resist the siege and if they're smart enough, they'll be able to make the giant forget about "winter". Otherwise, they can even be able to fight him during the day or who knows.
I mean I like the idea of a dark creature obsessed by light that's dangerous during day and that makes night a living hell, really Berserkersque.
I would also implement some rule about fatigue and depression to enanche that (lesser and momentary malus to ST, Abilities, characteristic, often describing things in a way that gives an uncertain feeling, HP damages on long term and so on)
Didn't expect this to start with a clip from The Lost World Track of Sonic Adventure, Excellent choice by the way
You promote a campaign about speed, you gotta go fast, and Sonic music works for that.
The forgotten realms also has the plan of negative energy which you can enter through the shadowfell (its also the home of night walkers aka the big scary undeads that kill you by existing)
Insane that you and runesmith haven't done a video together, it's gold waiting to be mined.