I actually use Centaur Ants in my campaigns. There is a player character version, the Rogue Centaur Ant. Its head and limbs vague resemble humanoids. It is heavier than human but human-sized. Imagine a humanoid giant ant that has the added mass of the abdomen ("tail"). Unknown to the player and the party, it is not truly a rogue. It is playable, but it transmits information to its hive subconsciously. It's kind of a diplomat and a spy. It can become whatever class the player wishes aside from faith-based ones (paladin, priest, cleric, druid, ranger, etc). If the player character's party encounters the Rogue Centaur Ant's home nest and the players decide to go hostile, I inform the player of the Rogue Centaur Ant that he cannot allow harm to come to the Centaur Ants and he must take immediate violent action if talking his party out of harming the colony is not an option. Because of the player character Rogue Centaur Ant, the intel he gathered, the party is EXTREMELY disadvantaged against them. If the hive dies, the Rogue Centaur Ant loses most of its bonuses but gains wings and can, at any time, choose to retire as a queen Centaur Ant (player gives up control, his old character flies off to start its own colony, shed its wings, and start the cycle over). A PC Centaur Ant is both heavily advantaged and disadvantaged, more so than a PC Mantis Warrior. Expert players only.
A particularly old and powerful Formian Queen is actually my favorite patron to make a pact with as a Warlock character. You can rely on them to keep their promises as long as you keep yours, they aren't trying to corrupt or steal your soul, they won't judge you or threaten to end your pact if you gotta get your hands real dirty, and they will give you a lot of juice for the low-low price of finding safe locations to summon a few Formians that will allow them to start a new hive.
@@thomasjames7568 That would have to be an impressively long campaign for it to develop long enough for a hive to start encroaching on other territories noticeably. Would make for an interesting set of problems to deal with, but the drow and Lolth have lots of enemies already. Might just open the door to new bargains, an opportunity a warlock always needs to be looking for regardless of fair or dire circumstances.
I once had a character that sadly never got more than one or two sessions from the campaign they where in but they where a adventurer who was "Rescued" by the Formians however had wanted to use the adventurer to better the hive, so they used there diplomacy and mind control powers to slowly make him a fighter for the hive. He went on to leave the Formians and fight for justice in the name of the Hive, spreading word about said hive so they would be looked upon more graciously by other countries as "oh hey there champion saved us sweet" or so on. One of my more interesting characters. He used the red mantis assassin armor from pathfinder but modified to look more like an ant as his man equipment and he would always say things like "FOR THE HIVE!" when charging into combat.
@@AJPickett ok after reading some comments a fun concept I just thought of would be that somehow a Formian Queen managed to Mind Control a Elder Brain and thus gained control of a Ilythid colony, they use there combination of slaves to feed the ilithids and get the ilithids to do other things for the colony...god so many ideas now
One of my favorite races in D&D, glad to see a video on them. I have been trying to kick off a campaign in which the players start the game as "slaves" raised from birth in the Formian mega colony that is expanding beyond control in a continent.
The wasp group is actually a little weird. Wasps are defined as "A wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant." So it's kinda like bees and ants are highly derived variations of wasps. This is actually one of my favorite fun facts. Another fun fact is that eusocial insects like termites bees and ants aren't actually controlled by the queen much at all, they instinctively work together, but the caste composition of a hive is actually driven by one of the few things the queens and workers never agree on, the queen always wants extra drones because they ensure her line continues, while workers dislike drones because they don't work or fight, so there is this constant tug of war for how much resources the hive will spend on drones. Very interesting imho
The formians always captured my imagination. They combine the horror of a bug swarm a la StarCraft Zerg or the bugs of Starship Troopers with incredible logic and intellect
Since I've always seen them just as big ants, I always try to apply different templates to them to get different "types" of ants. Fire template turns them into giant fire formians. Place them in Arborea, they become leafcutter formians. put them in the abyss...you get fendish formians. Put them in Celestia, you get Golden formians. I imagine they'd be like those honeypot ants with abdomen full of holy royal jelly or something.
Like the creativity! Ever think of winged formians? Ants are, basically, "cousins" of bees, wasps, hornets etc. I mentioned that because you brought up Celestia formians, which by your logic (if I'm following correctly) might be flying...maybe honey bees?
Making a regicidal sabateur rogue/ battlemaster fighter Formian that beheaded their queen with a giant set of industrial sheers (later broken into singular serated khopesh) and blew her apart in front of the entire hive to stop them from arrogantly attempting to crush a slumbering terrasque into subjugation. (timeskip to the beginning of my friends campaign) They're now a roaming, infamous, anarchic, alchemist and assassin, with a magical All Pupose Tool and the magical Molten Bronze Plate Armor stored in their flask that when released, covers their exoskeleton and welding goggles in black armor, shimmering with heat and donning them the moniker "Black Knight".
Thank you. I was disappointed that the Formian wasn't in the Monster Manual or in Mordenkainen's or Volo's books. This is one of the monsters that I consider an icon of Law.
My friend had a Dark Sun character,named "antlike dude",it was a weird human/formian crossbreed created by his insane preserver,hilariously played as well! 😉
I think those larva are souls of lawful humanoids that were sent to Mechanus after they died. It appears the queen (or a myrmarch) is using a dominated human to cook them up.
They need to make new stats for the Formians in 5e they are a cool and interesting group to through at your party, I can see a Queen Formain that trades with other races for certain materials like weapons and possibly armour, and working materials
As was said, I've always been a bit of a fan for Formians as I am fond of multiple creatures basically functioning as bigger and bigger creatures via collective thought and action. It's sort of a shame that there isn't a Lawful Evil version of this; some methodical bugs out to force Order upon the Chaos of the Abyss, and its denizens, and willing to do whatever to achieve it, for the betterment of the multiverse, and as they see it. They'd be willing to form contracts, and use those to force others to serve their wills, because the grand scheme is all that matters, and they wouldn't suffer the usual conniving, and backstabbing, of Devils, because they would be Lawful Evil, but favor more the Lawful aspect. And maybe Formians COILD do that, though I personally don't see it, as they rarely strive to force their ideals upon others, so long as those others aren't a threat, or food. Is sort of like to see Formians vs Illithids, or Elder Brains with 50 mile range.
Actually, formians were lifted from sci-fi author's Milne Farley's "Cupians", as early D&D won't do. As such, formians are sometimes presented not as outsiders, but as aliens - notably, in Spelljammer and later independently Pathfinder, which settled them on a pulp Venus-styled planet, and thus formian workers are available as a race in Starfinder, owing to spinoff's "Mos Eisley Cantina effect". I think that two backstories are not mutually exclusive - in my mind, formians have settled the planes from Prime Material enough time ago to become a natural part of the Outer Planes.
I would combine this with the video on AntsCanada to flesh them out more. I think these creatures are highly under utilized and if you build off of different species of ants you could have all sorts of types to build from.
reminds me of the empire trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts . They have a similar race in their world. It was a great read as it ran almost simultaneously and crossing over with the riftwars trilogy.
AJ I'm so happy to see a new video from you I've been working for the past two days straight and I am exhausted posting this comment 42 seconds into the video and can't wait to watch thank you for all your hard work
Thank you so much for this. These are my favorite species to create a world ending empire that's eschews the normal tropes such as undead or demonic cults and such
Dracos Diabolis M.I.: "Why!?!?!?" Araknid: "Because you are insane... Your... Individuality... Is... An abomination!!! hahaha!!! mawhaharhar!!! harharhirhar!!!" And it actually makes perfect sense from an insects perspective, "humanity" is madness.
I first encountered the -the more in vicinity, the more intelligent they are- in Mass effect's Geth, it was such a cool lore flavor. Thanks for letting me know that D&D did it first. Seems like all media is influenced by D&D! Hope the new home is doing you well!
Gah! The more I learn about these inter-planar creatures the more I wish there was more info/planescape related things in 5E. How fitting that the ultimate LN alignment based creature would be ants. Makes you wonder how possible diplomatic relations would go in a less dominating oriented hive if possible.
Thri-Kreen might find Formian way of life acceptable and in a way respectable, with their nested-packs mentaility, and the settled Tohr-Kreen may do so even more. But, despite both of races being insects, they are not mindless, and will regard each other as distinct creatures and treat with wary; and, despite the cool factor of insect people interacting, there is no good chance of them doing that (the Kreen do have scant knowledge of planes, but no more advanced than those of non-educated humans), but if Kreen somehow mastered some supreme forms of interplanar psychoportation, it may just happen.
Wait, there super strong like normal ants? Considering how much an ant can lift relative to size, that has SO much potential. Imagine being baried under rubble, and having these lifting literal tons of rock and dirt after sensing the vibrations of the collapse, inadvertently saving the party.
For the Swarm! Great video AJ. I really enjoyed this one. Formians are another creature I thought were pretty cool, but have never encountered. I think I shall find a place for them in my campaign, probably somewhere on the road to subternia (underdark). As ever, thank you AJ for the well ordered inspiration.
AJ, What do they wear? Seemingly limited armor but weapons and tools. What of coin and cloth? Trade can be useful and giving workers belts and pouches can let them carry more. Great strength is vital but one only has so many hands. Workers don't just gather everything.
Lol a balor get summoned in the middle of a hive.... lol you just hear the poor guy whimper and starts getting torn apart. That might make PCs think twice hahaha
Any good (or lawful) reason why the hyper intelligent Queen does not have a Dimension Door or at least a Fly to move around the hive under it's own power?
Well moving around would require any formians at the edge of her range to move back into range so in general that should be avoided. In combat to defend themself however that may be a good choice for them to learn
I'd like to think that rather than grant the wishes a person asks for it would read their minds and then grant their innermost wishes even if their counterintuitive to what the person said out loud.
I would say no. But only because of the difference between the far realms and the more familiar realms. So maybe it would be better to reflavor something like a beholder if you want such?
I like to think of them as still being like individuals with brains and therefor egos but there ego is just occupied by the idea of not being and individual or having an ego if that makes sense. Also having there insectoid instincts, the feeling of not being able to communicate with speech and having telepathy with the queen influence there behavior unlike how a robot would only be able to do what it’s been made to do and therefor act like.
Yeah, much like the Mindflayers, from the moment they are born, the Queen is a part of their thought process, a large part of it, the workers barely need to think for themselves at all and being taken away from the hive is like taking away a modern teenagers internet access.. its like half of their brain just switched off.
I always thought that Formians would make such a great evil empire. Go watch the movie antz and you will see what I mean. Imagine a massive multi continent spanning Formian Empire deciding to consort with Devil's and enslaveing people en mass. Great villan potential very underused. Edit: While technically neutral, I don't think I'm reaching to far to say that most humanoids will find Formians decidedly sinister, and because even reluctance to benefit them can get you categorized as a threat or a resource conflict with them is virtually inevitable for any normal human society.
@@thedarkmaster4747 Consider for just a moment that if a Formian stumbled upon a human town in conflict with a group of Devil's they would in the long run almost certainty side with the Devil's if they got involved at all. The Neutral placard they carry around is worth virtually nothing. If anything it just means you can't use smite evil on them while their dragging your town away in chains.
Edda233 YOU GET IT!!! XD rotflmao!!! They would not care at all, hell maybe they might take qualms with the devils obcession with torture, but well... whatever keeps the bloodwar away from their hive. Then again a human town could feed a formian hive & coexist peacefully with them. well untill the formians got hungry enough *clicks fingures* >XD hell maybe if the drought ends, they might actually re seed the entire town... in several locations if they thought it was an "efficient" food source. "sinister" and then some lol! best just worship them as gods & hope for the best in it.
I like how much you accidentally say formorian. I know that formians are named after formic acid (an acid used by various species of ants to cause pain to large targets) but still.
Why do I feel like this would be dealing with the AI from The Matrix or IRobot? Actually these things could be more like the Kiliks from Star Wars or the Formics from Ender's Game now that I think about it.
I had this idea of a ant people who have in the last 300-500 years evolved to the point of self awareness so they as individuals now a days are in a mid point for there people where some stay as a member of the collective while others are trying everything to understand the world. Maybe I'll make them a subspecies of the formorians with way to long separated from the plains of order.
Nice work AJ, always great to see one of your videos. As a sidenote, Have you ever considered doing more crossovers with other channels like Shadiversity and Espar the Bard?
I have a question im trying to dm for the first time and ik the monsters i want to use after binge watching your stuff but im not 100% sure what encounters i give and what challenge ratings are good together
Well there are some tried and true tropes in D&D for first level encounters.. clearing giant beetles and other vermin out of tavern basements is always a pretty good start. My friend DMG has a walk through video of just that sort of adventure you should check out ua-cam.com/video/DoB2ltqsBmU/v-deo.html I would say, stick with creatures from the pages at the back of the monster manual, experiment with changing the number of foes the player characters face, and then try combinations of different creatures, to see how things work.. this is as much about training yourself as entertaining them... trust me, they will be having fun.
Yknow fancy hats for people in positions of power isn't just a fantasy thing I mean that's just reality from the pope to the queen of England to Pharos even Donald trump wears that big hairy piece of headgear
Warriors are not smart enough, Taskmasters are too devoted to the hive, they would never rather die than leave. I think a rogue Myrmarch, Juvenile Queen could work.
What if demons killed the hive got the queen and tortured her into madness turning her neutral evil and then allowing her to survive and repopulate her hive just to cause horrible problems for some unlucky party of adventurers to solve
Not all wasps are eusocial, but all ants, hornets and bee's are. Ants are a demi obcession of mine & in someways i'd say humans are lucky that they're so small. seriously. It wouldn't be hard for me to come up with a horror campaign. a formian queens personality: unsettlelingly dominant, agressive, mercyless, ruthless, cunning, inhumanely efficient, prejudiced against the inefficiencies of non eusocial societies, deeply deeply "canibalistic", but also charming, entertaining, cultured, well mannored, flamboyant, slighty vain, aristocratic, creepishly romantic(like a hedonistic warrior poet with no concept of moral. or not eating everything.), very sympathetic and quite nurturing. But also hopelessly megalomaniacle with an ego that is more impersonal than it isn't. Yes you will be eaten, but "when", WHEN... wh-hen'nn... this occurs, is the question of your new existence. And every bite you take hence forth will now remind you of this fate.
lol campaign idea, a queen has gone from natural or lawful to chaotic. and now the underlings are showing signs of various insanitys and abnormal behavior. and the PCs have to deal with this because unlike everyone else. they are not affected by the queen. lol or so they think
The Dark master Your version of a formian queen reminds me of the Chimera Ant Queen and, later, King (Meruem) from the Hunter X Hunter anime. Those creatures are far more fantasy and much less based on real world ants and insects, but as far as ant/hive insect-based horror is concerned, did a darned good job at it. They're alien, arrogant, and want to eat you. Interestingly, the series also gave them massive amounts of character depth and development, so there's that, too.
As a fantasy take on ants, Hunter X Hunter's Chimera Ants are pretty creative (and horrifying) as a whole, not just in terms of their Queen and King. Naturally, some mileage may vary where certain anime tropes and styles are applied, but ultimately the entire Hunter X Hunter franchise took a dark turn when the Chimera Ant story arc came up. I don't want to spoil things. I hope you like it, both as an ant fan and a D&D player. May they give you ideas.
Dracos Diabolis I absolutely love the trope of viral species jumping hormones/pheromes slowly and subtly altering the default state of your mood/attitude. 👍
A juvenile queen would be best. Since they are ones who have the closest thing to a personality. Maybe a hive was wiped out and the juvenile queen was the sole survivor.
Formian: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution 12 Medium size Speed 40 feet Bite and Sting: You can use your jaws and stinger as melee weapons with which you are proficient. Your bite deals 1d8 piercing damage + your Strength modifier. Your sting deals 1d6 piercing damage + your Strength modifier, and you may also add poison damage equal to your level to the attack if you hit. If you add poison damage, you must finish a short or long rest before adding poison damage again. Formian Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, frightened, petrified, or poisoned. Hive Mind: If a formian queen is within 50 miles of you, you can communicate telepathically with her and with any other formians communicating with her. Hybrid Nature: You have two creature types: humanoid and monstrosity. You can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of your creature types. Languages: Common, Formian
Because 5e lives on tabletop gaming equivalent of pop culture references and also because it takes some damn effort to sufficently sum up such a complex race for a bestiary.
Ants Canada needs to get a hive of these started. I'd watch the hell out of that video
You are assuming he isn't one already
Unrelated: I'm trying to make a Dream Parade spell based on Paprika that adds different effects based on the level it's cast.
I actually use Centaur Ants in my campaigns. There is a player character version, the Rogue Centaur Ant. Its head and limbs vague resemble humanoids. It is heavier than human but human-sized. Imagine a humanoid giant ant that has the added mass of the abdomen ("tail"). Unknown to the player and the party, it is not truly a rogue. It is playable, but it transmits information to its hive subconsciously. It's kind of a diplomat and a spy. It can become whatever class the player wishes aside from faith-based ones (paladin, priest, cleric, druid, ranger, etc). If the player character's party encounters the Rogue Centaur Ant's home nest and the players decide to go hostile, I inform the player of the Rogue Centaur Ant that he cannot allow harm to come to the Centaur Ants and he must take immediate violent action if talking his party out of harming the colony is not an option. Because of the player character Rogue Centaur Ant, the intel he gathered, the party is EXTREMELY disadvantaged against them. If the hive dies, the Rogue Centaur Ant loses most of its bonuses but gains wings and can, at any time, choose to retire as a queen Centaur Ant (player gives up control, his old character flies off to start its own colony, shed its wings, and start the cycle over). A PC Centaur Ant is both heavily advantaged and disadvantaged, more so than a PC Mantis Warrior. Expert players only.
@That80sGuy1972
Maybe Z and the rest of the characters could be Formians from the DreamWorks 1998 movie Antz
A particularly old and powerful Formian Queen is actually my favorite patron to make a pact with as a Warlock character. You can rely on them to keep their promises as long as you keep yours, they aren't trying to corrupt or steal your soul, they won't judge you or threaten to end your pact if you gotta get your hands real dirty, and they will give you a lot of juice for the low-low price of finding safe locations to summon a few Formians that will allow them to start a new hive.
If I was you DM you would incur the wrath of Lolth. Those Formians are going to encounter the Drow sooner or later.
@@thomasjames7568 That would have to be an impressively long campaign for it to develop long enough for a hive to start encroaching on other territories noticeably. Would make for an interesting set of problems to deal with, but the drow and Lolth have lots of enemies already. Might just open the door to new bargains, an opportunity a warlock always needs to be looking for regardless of fair or dire circumstances.
A war between the Formian and Modrons would be fascinating to observe, so woudl probably ever interaction between the two species.
Or against the Clockwork Horrors, therefore making the Formians the default good guy if base survival of life is of importance.
I once had a character that sadly never got more than one or two sessions from the campaign they where in but they where a adventurer who was "Rescued" by the Formians however had wanted to use the adventurer to better the hive, so they used there diplomacy and mind control powers to slowly make him a fighter for the hive. He went on to leave the Formians and fight for justice in the name of the Hive, spreading word about said hive so they would be looked upon more graciously by other countries as "oh hey there champion saved us sweet" or so on. One of my more interesting characters. He used the red mantis assassin armor from pathfinder but modified to look more like an ant as his man equipment and he would always say things like "FOR THE HIVE!" when charging into combat.
heh! nice
@@AJPickett ok after reading some comments a fun concept I just thought of would be that somehow a Formian Queen managed to Mind Control a Elder Brain and thus gained control of a Ilythid colony, they use there combination of slaves to feed the ilithids and get the ilithids to do other things for the colony...god so many ideas now
One of my favorite races in D&D, glad to see a video on them. I have been trying to kick off a campaign in which the players start the game as "slaves" raised from birth in the Formian mega colony that is expanding beyond control in a continent.
A tarrasque has been spotted over the mountain!!
No worries mate. The Formians want to square up with it and have made Ant Voltron
Ant Voltron! *REEEEEEEE!!*
The wasp group is actually a little weird. Wasps are defined as "A wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant." So it's kinda like bees and ants are highly derived variations of wasps.
This is actually one of my favorite fun facts.
Another fun fact is that eusocial insects like termites bees and ants aren't actually controlled by the queen much at all, they instinctively work together, but the caste composition of a hive is actually driven by one of the few things the queens and workers never agree on, the queen always wants extra drones because they ensure her line continues, while workers dislike drones because they don't work or fight, so there is this constant tug of war for how much resources the hive will spend on drones. Very interesting imho
I always loved Formians. Perfect example of expansionistic conquerors who still aren't evil. Never considered a Formian Mecha, though. And I love it.
The formians always captured my imagination. They combine the horror of a bug swarm a la StarCraft Zerg or the bugs of Starship Troopers with incredible logic and intellect
Well a formian mecha fighting a demon lord will now feature in my run through of 'Out of the Abyss'.
Since I've always seen them just as big ants, I always try to apply different templates to them to get different "types" of ants. Fire template turns them into giant fire formians. Place them in Arborea, they become leafcutter formians. put them in the abyss...you get fendish formians. Put them in Celestia, you get Golden formians. I imagine they'd be like those honeypot ants with abdomen full of holy royal jelly or something.
Like the creativity! Ever think of winged formians? Ants are, basically, "cousins" of bees, wasps, hornets etc. I mentioned that because you brought up Celestia formians, which by your logic (if I'm following correctly) might be flying...maybe honey bees?
Love those ideas.
Well they do have Abeil. But I think they share a lot in common with formians.
+Greenscyth22
Sounds like that's it! Abeil. Didn't know they were a thing.
Making a regicidal sabateur rogue/ battlemaster fighter Formian that beheaded their queen with a giant set of industrial sheers (later broken into singular serated khopesh) and blew her apart in front of the entire hive to stop them from arrogantly attempting to crush a slumbering terrasque into subjugation. (timeskip to the beginning of my friends campaign) They're now a roaming, infamous, anarchic, alchemist and assassin, with a magical All Pupose Tool and the magical Molten Bronze Plate Armor stored in their flask that when released, covers their exoskeleton and welding goggles in black armor, shimmering with heat and donning them the moniker "Black Knight".
Whoever thumbs downed this needs to tell me why they did it, how did this video not do everything it set out to do? Great video AJ, as always!
That is my most loyal viewer, reliable as clockwork, thumbs down every video I make, I honestly would be sad if they stopped doing it now.
A magically enhanced version of the corticeps fungus could wipe out/decimate a formian threat.
Great, you just created a horde of undead.
Thank you. I was disappointed that the Formian wasn't in the Monster Manual or in Mordenkainen's or Volo's books. This is one of the monsters that I consider an icon of Law.
My friend had a Dark Sun character,named "antlike dude",it was a weird human/formian crossbreed created by his insane preserver,hilariously played as well! 😉
Me: 'sees formian larva with human faces, makes a face.'
Adventurer in picture: 'Making the same face.'
I think those larva are souls of lawful humanoids that were sent to Mechanus after they died. It appears the queen (or a myrmarch) is using a dominated human to cook them up.
@@AGrayPhantom I thought they were Soul Larvae.
Mechanus was always a favorite starting point for the planes in my campaign, thank you for this video.
Most welcome, I hope you like the next one, as Arcadia is right next door to Mechanus.
named for formic acid which is an acid ants use for defense I assume
They need to make new stats for the Formians in 5e they are a cool and interesting group to through at your party, I can see a Queen Formain that trades with other races for certain materials like weapons and possibly armour, and working materials
As was said, I've always been a bit of a fan for Formians as I am fond of multiple creatures basically functioning as bigger and bigger creatures via collective thought and action. It's sort of a shame that there isn't a Lawful Evil version of this; some methodical bugs out to force Order upon the Chaos of the Abyss, and its denizens, and willing to do whatever to achieve it, for the betterment of the multiverse, and as they see it. They'd be willing to form contracts, and use those to force others to serve their wills, because the grand scheme is all that matters, and they wouldn't suffer the usual conniving, and backstabbing, of Devils, because they would be Lawful Evil, but favor more the Lawful aspect. And maybe Formians COILD do that, though I personally don't see it, as they rarely strive to force their ideals upon others, so long as those others aren't a threat, or food. Is sort of like to see Formians vs Illithids, or Elder Brains with 50 mile range.
Actually, formians were lifted from sci-fi author's Milne Farley's "Cupians", as early D&D won't do. As such, formians are sometimes presented not as outsiders, but as aliens - notably, in Spelljammer and later independently Pathfinder, which settled them on a pulp Venus-styled planet, and thus formian workers are available as a race in Starfinder, owing to spinoff's "Mos Eisley Cantina effect". I think that two backstories are not mutually exclusive - in my mind, formians have settled the planes from Prime Material enough time ago to become a natural part of the Outer Planes.
Agreed, they have been around for quite some time and are prone to expansion and exploration.
I would combine this with the video on AntsCanada to flesh them out more. I think these creatures are highly under utilized and if you build off of different species of ants you could have all sorts of types to build from.
Gallowglass: YES! I love that channel. It would be a great cross-over.
Fire ant Formians, don’t get bit...or hit with their weapons covered in their venom.
reminds me of the empire trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts . They have a similar race in their world. It was a great read as it ran almost simultaneously and crossing over with the riftwars trilogy.
AJ I'm so happy to see a new video from you I've been working for the past two days straight and I am exhausted posting this comment 42 seconds into the video and can't wait to watch thank you for all your hard work
i also love the formians by the way among my favorites for sure
Formic acid might be why they are named such
Thank you so much for this. These are my favorite species to create a world ending empire that's eschews the normal tropes such as undead or demonic cults and such
while watching this video, great video by the by A.J., but I was having flashbacks between Starship Troopers, and the Zerg from StarCraft.
Dracos Diabolis M.I.: "Why!?!?!?" Araknid: "Because you are insane... Your... Individuality... Is... An abomination!!! hahaha!!! mawhaharhar!!! harharhirhar!!!" And it actually makes perfect sense from an insects perspective, "humanity" is madness.
Shouldn't these guys get pact tactics to represent their extreme ability to work together?
Agreed
I first encountered the -the more in vicinity, the more intelligent they are- in Mass effect's Geth, it was such a cool lore flavor.
Thanks for letting me know that D&D did it first. Seems like all media is influenced by D&D!
Hope the new home is doing you well!
Gah! The more I learn about these inter-planar creatures the more I wish there was more info/planescape related things in 5E. How fitting that the ultimate LN alignment based creature would be ants. Makes you wonder how possible diplomatic relations would go in a less dominating oriented hive if possible.
Its pretty easy, provide them with resources and pose no other threat and they are happy to deal peacefully with you.
You should put a counter in the corner that goes up every time you accidentally call them fomorians lol.
LOL, I know! Arrgh.
lol!
what would Formian and a thri-kreen interaction look like?
would Formian consider it a threat or another Formian?
what would the thri-kreen think.
They don't play nice together. Thri-Kreen are a threat to the Formian hive and Thri-kreen have zero respect for the rigid order of the hive.
@@AJPickett nice to know
@@kairos5382 unless they were both out casts or last of there hive and displaced n teamed with a drsgonborn n warforged for a campaign
Thri-Kreen might find Formian way of life acceptable and in a way respectable, with their nested-packs mentaility, and the settled Tohr-Kreen may do so even more. But, despite both of races being insects, they are not mindless, and will regard each other as distinct creatures and treat with wary; and, despite the cool factor of insect people interacting, there is no good chance of them doing that (the Kreen do have scant knowledge of planes, but no more advanced than those of non-educated humans), but if Kreen somehow mastered some supreme forms of interplanar psychoportation, it may just happen.
Wait, there super strong like normal ants? Considering how much an ant can lift relative to size, that has SO much potential. Imagine being baried under rubble, and having these lifting literal tons of rock and dirt after sensing the vibrations of the collapse, inadvertently saving the party.
For the Swarm! Great video AJ. I really enjoyed this one. Formians are another creature I thought were pretty cool, but have never encountered. I think I shall find a place for them in my campaign, probably somewhere on the road to subternia (underdark). As ever, thank you AJ for the well ordered inspiration.
AJ,
What do they wear? Seemingly limited armor but weapons and tools. What of coin and cloth?
Trade can be useful and giving workers belts and pouches can let them carry more.
Great strength is vital but one only has so many hands. Workers don't just gather everything.
Good video AJ
I also like the abeil (bee people)
Oooooh. I'd be interested in an AJ'ed version of those.
I've only ever used these guys once. It will be fun to know more about them
Hope it was :)
So if you hide chemical signatures, they get confused, right?
Starship Troopers!
Love your videos! Keep it up!
Can a gnome or dwarf ride a ant person formian.if so can a player somehow ride a giant spider or bat or scorpion
Its situational.
I always lean into a hard yes on that one, because it is very cool.
Yes
dragon ball talk Depends on how nice your DM is, or maybe they’re like AJ and just really love things like that.
Lol a balor get summoned in the middle of a hive.... lol you just hear the poor guy whimper and starts getting torn apart. That might make PCs think twice hahaha
Poor guy....
Personally, I think it makes more sense for the queen to be a Psion.
What if someone managed to convert a young formian queen to Chaotic Good?
Their society implodes
Is it bad that all I can think is get a colassal magnifying glass ?
Yes.
Any good (or lawful) reason why the hyper intelligent Queen does not have a Dimension Door or at least a Fly to move around the hive under it's own power?
Well moving around would require any formians at the edge of her range to move back into range so in general that should be avoided. In combat to defend themself however that may be a good choice for them to learn
It would also generally be a pointless use of magical energy that is generally less efficient than ordering minions to do things
And maintaining flight spells may use up enough concentration to mess with piloting the hive
It's a thematic thing. Queens in ant colonies don't move a lot. They just make babies.
Any interaction between Formians and Thrikreen?
What would happen if a soul attached itself to the physic powers of the far realm would it be possible to have a physic genie?
my that is a random question, um... yes, I think so.
I'd like to think that rather than grant the wishes a person asks for it would read their minds and then grant their innermost wishes even if their counterintuitive to what the person said out loud.
I would say no. But only because of the difference between the far realms and the more familiar realms. So maybe it would be better to reflavor something like a beholder if you want such?
I like to think of them as still being like individuals with brains and therefor egos but there ego is just occupied by the idea of not being and individual or having an ego if that makes sense. Also having there insectoid instincts, the feeling of not being able to communicate with speech and having telepathy with the queen influence there behavior unlike how a robot would only be able to do what it’s been made to do and therefor act like.
Or really there ego is just indivisible from to the colony.
Yeah, much like the Mindflayers, from the moment they are born, the Queen is a part of their thought process, a large part of it, the workers barely need to think for themselves at all and being taken away from the hive is like taking away a modern teenagers internet access.. its like half of their brain just switched off.
@@AJPickett If the queen gets sick or old, would that affect the ability of the others?
New favorite race. Can't wait to run it!
I always thought that Formians would make such a great evil empire. Go watch the movie antz and you will see what I mean. Imagine a massive multi continent spanning Formian Empire deciding to consort with Devil's and enslaveing people en mass. Great villan potential very underused.
Edit: While technically neutral, I don't think I'm reaching to far to say that most humanoids will find Formians decidedly sinister, and because even reluctance to benefit them can get you categorized as a threat or a resource conflict with them is virtually inevitable for any normal human society.
"THIS"^ XD "We are the hive, resistance is futile, you will be re-allocated." 🐜😵🐜
@@thedarkmaster4747 Consider for just a moment that if a Formian stumbled upon a human town in conflict with a group of Devil's they would in the long run almost certainty side with the Devil's if they got involved at all. The Neutral placard they carry around is worth virtually nothing. If anything it just means you can't use smite evil on them while their dragging your town away in chains.
Edda233 YOU GET IT!!! XD rotflmao!!! They would not care at all, hell maybe they might take qualms with the devils obcession with torture, but well... whatever keeps the bloodwar away from their hive. Then again a human town could feed a formian hive & coexist peacefully with them. well untill the formians got hungry enough *clicks fingures* >XD hell maybe if the drought ends, they might actually re seed the entire town... in several locations if they thought it was an "efficient" food source. "sinister" and then some lol! best just worship them as gods & hope for the best in it.
Why do these remind me so greatly of the insectoid race of Thri-keen?
I like how much you accidentally say formorian. I know that formians are named after formic acid (an acid used by various species of ants to cause pain to large targets) but still.
same demi stutter here aswell lol! 👍
great job aj! keep up the great work!
Why do I feel like this would be dealing with the AI from The Matrix or IRobot? Actually these things could be more like the Kiliks from Star Wars or the Formics from Ender's Game now that I think about it.
More like Tholians from Star Trek
You should do a update video with the starfinder lore.
This reminds me of Ender's Game
Matthew Petrone them buggers
Same.
I had this idea of a ant people who have in the last 300-500 years evolved to the point of self awareness so they as individuals now a days are in a mid point for there people where some stay as a member of the collective while others are trying everything to understand the world. Maybe I'll make them a subspecies of the formorians with way to long separated from the plains of order.
There was a D20 setting with those, don’t have the time to scour the archives on my computer right now to find it though.
@@nvfury13 oh really? I quess not all ideas can be unique
@@dicorockhimself From what I remember, they were very poorly done. Never worry about your ideas not being unique, worry about how well they come off.
@@nvfury13 oh I know its always fascinating how ideas can be reformed from different people
Nice work AJ, always great to see one of your videos.
As a sidenote, Have you ever considered doing more crossovers with other channels like Shadiversity and Espar the Bard?
I don't really know them, though I would love to meet them some time and have a chat.
Can humans eat them or ride them in a game
You really do not want to try eating them, and depends, some you could ride, in theory.
2nd ed Fiend Folio relieased in 2003? You mean 3rd edition?
I have a question im trying to dm for the first time and ik the monsters i want to use after binge watching your stuff but im not 100% sure what encounters i give and what challenge ratings are good together
Well there are some tried and true tropes in D&D for first level encounters.. clearing giant beetles and other vermin out of tavern basements is always a pretty good start. My friend DMG has a walk through video of just that sort of adventure you should check out ua-cam.com/video/DoB2ltqsBmU/v-deo.html I would say, stick with creatures from the pages at the back of the monster manual, experiment with changing the number of foes the player characters face, and then try combinations of different creatures, to see how things work.. this is as much about training yourself as entertaining them... trust me, they will be having fun.
@@AJPickett thank you so much
Could they fill the role of the local lords? With the peasants being willing or lightly mentally enslaved food producers ?
It is more likely you would find them doing that work, with the humans trading them some other resource they desire instead.
I wonder if they automatically consider creatures with long tongues as a threat.
If so, they might have a blacklist for Gene Simmons.
Just on principle.
6:45 plot idea detected...
“A nominal domination..”
Fitting slip of the tongue.
Yknow fancy hats for people in positions of power isn't just a fantasy thing I mean that's just reality from the pope to the queen of England to Pharos even Donald trump wears that big hairy piece of headgear
Also, how would a rogue individualistic formian warrior or taskmaster work as a player character? Anyone ever try it?
Warriors are not smart enough, Taskmasters are too devoted to the hive, they would never rather die than leave. I think a rogue Myrmarch, Juvenile Queen could work.
Thanks for the vid sir.👍🏼👍🏼
What if demons killed the hive got the queen and tortured her into madness turning her neutral evil and then allowing her to survive and repopulate her hive just to cause horrible problems for some unlucky party of adventurers to solve
What if indeed? Sounds like you are off to a good start.
i have a plan Formian in my mind.
Your mind is a hive of activity.
yup it rely bugs me
What would happen if a player character actually rescues a Formian that was captured and they bring it back to its hive?
They would be fed, cleaned and thrown out peacefully.
@@AJPickett, well, I guess that's better than being torn to pieces, lol
Can u play as one and can u enter the yawning portal tavern as one
Well, they all are connected to a hive mind, so if one enters a tavern, then they're all technically entering the tavern.
It would be cool to team a thri kreen mantis with a ant formian
Their interactions would be pretty interesting too, since their typical alignments are opposite.
Not all wasps are eusocial, but all ants, hornets and bee's are. Ants are a demi obcession of mine & in someways i'd say humans are lucky that they're so small. seriously. It wouldn't be hard for me to come up with a horror campaign. a formian queens personality: unsettlelingly dominant, agressive, mercyless, ruthless, cunning, inhumanely efficient, prejudiced against the inefficiencies of non eusocial societies, deeply deeply "canibalistic", but also charming, entertaining, cultured, well mannored, flamboyant, slighty vain, aristocratic, creepishly romantic(like a hedonistic warrior poet with no concept of moral. or not eating everything.), very sympathetic and quite nurturing. But also hopelessly megalomaniacle with an ego that is more impersonal than it isn't. Yes you will be eaten, but "when", WHEN... wh-hen'nn... this occurs, is the question of your new existence. And every bite you take hence forth will now remind you of this fate.
lol campaign idea, a queen has gone from natural or lawful to chaotic. and now the underlings are showing signs of various insanitys and abnormal behavior. and the PCs have to deal with this because unlike everyone else. they are not affected by the queen. lol or so they think
The Dark master
Your version of a formian queen reminds me of the Chimera Ant Queen and, later, King (Meruem) from the Hunter X Hunter anime. Those creatures are far more fantasy and much less based on real world ants and insects, but as far as ant/hive insect-based horror is concerned, did a darned good job at it. They're alien, arrogant, and want to eat you.
Interestingly, the series also gave them massive amounts of character depth and development, so there's that, too.
Javier Patag I'll have to check that anime character out. 👍
As a fantasy take on ants, Hunter X Hunter's Chimera Ants are pretty creative (and horrifying) as a whole, not just in terms of their Queen and King. Naturally, some mileage may vary where certain anime tropes and styles are applied, but ultimately the entire Hunter X Hunter franchise took a dark turn when the Chimera Ant story arc came up.
I don't want to spoil things. I hope you like it, both as an ant fan and a D&D player. May they give you ideas.
Dracos Diabolis I absolutely love the trope of viral species jumping hormones/pheromes slowly and subtly altering the default state of your mood/attitude. 👍
6:48 Omg, an ant Gundam?!?!
I wonder if there's any relation between Formians and Dromites
ua-cam.com/video/Sphczd8xj30/v-deo.html
AJ! Payed pafinder pc game yeat?
Negative, I am hooked on Magic the Gathering: Arena
Tengen Toppa Gurren Antan
WOOOOH Formians!
This mf sounds like Korg. I’m in!
hey AJ do you know what came before the fomrian? preformian..... d&d dad joke
Can I play as a Formian?
I could see someone coming up with a rogue Myrmarch, Juvenile Queen or some such as a possible playable character.
OK thanks. :D
A juvenile queen would be best. Since they are ones who have the closest thing to a personality. Maybe a hive was wiped out and the juvenile queen was the sole survivor.
cool I like that.
Formian:
+2 Strength, +1 Constitution 12
Medium size
Speed 40 feet
Bite and Sting: You can use your jaws and stinger as melee weapons with which you are proficient. Your bite deals 1d8 piercing damage + your Strength modifier. Your sting deals 1d6 piercing damage + your Strength modifier, and you may also add poison damage equal to your level to the attack if you hit. If you add poison damage, you must finish a short or long rest before adding poison damage again.
Formian Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, frightened, petrified, or poisoned.
Hive Mind: If a formian queen is within 50 miles of you, you can communicate telepathically with her and with any other formians communicating with her.
Hybrid Nature: You have two creature types: humanoid and monstrosity. You can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of your creature types.
Languages: Common, Formian
Taskmaster Formian = Shop Foreman. [:
Pretty much.
A better recording setup maybe?
What bothered you about the audio?
@@AJPickett it feels a bit suffocated and with a lot of background noise.
ant mech!
WTF aren't these in 5e yet?
5e aint got nothing u gotta combine all them in a clever way
I know right? Mordenkainen's really should have had a mention, and also Bladelings, etc.
Because 5e lives on tabletop gaming equivalent of pop culture references and also because it takes some damn effort to sufficently sum up such a complex race for a bestiary.
Look up danians from chaotic that would be a better Formian’s. Damn typo corrections.
Xill