It consistently blows my mind how often I’ll be researching a monster for a potential video only to see it site up here the next day. It’s uncanny! Anyways, these guys are awesome
Personally, I would have preferred if they were sadomasochists that respond to the pain of both themselves and others with maniacal, ungodly laughter seeing as the whole voice mimicry thing originates from the noises hyenas make being misidentified as laughter.
perfect to introduce to a campaign as a stalker, high perception checks giving glimpses of shadows. Until the party hears a favorite npc calling for them (even better if you write down the initial introduction and repeat it)
@15:08 "But what if Leucrotta were to Blink Dogs as Tolkien's orcs were to his elves?" Because that's nightmarish and a clever kind of worldbuilding one sees surprisingly little of. It also took me a second, to get all the implications of the ending, here. Didn't expect to suddenly feel that spooked during the AM shift at work.
A few years ago, I watched Locrius Planetoid's video on Leucrotta. You'd get a kick out of it AJ. I can link it if requested. It's very entertaining. They also did Aurumvorax, and that the first time I had heard of either. Your videos are a lot more informative, though.
*Elrond Voice* I was there Keith, 3000 years ago... in fact Locrius and I did a collab video along with Arthur Kidawa from World of Monsters. I miss Locrious, he is a hell of a fun guy for a space goblin.
A folk remedy for mange is to bathe the creature in a bath of gasoline or diesel. So I can imagine a particularly bold tanner attempting to work with a local alchemist and a few swords for hire to keep a leucrota just long enough to clear its hide for skinning to sell its fur as a luxury item. Now just imagine the quests when one of the leucrota escapes in the small city where the tanner was planning on selling his wares.
Another example of a monster with not really overwhelming stats or abilities, but when you take into account and use their lore/ecology, make for very interesting foes. Numbers and game mechanics are essential, but it's good story telling that make a game worth playing. You have to have a good (as in interesting) bad guy for there to be a good story.
You know what's funny? The ancient ancestors that whales evolved from, are very much like what this creature looks like. Whales came from smart, hoofed carnivores, that had a huge bite. You should check it out? And I think the legend may have come from preserved fossil remains from Pakistan and Northern India. It's exactly where they find these fossils.
Great video AJ. And, wow... 5e seemed to have really nerfed them. Most people don't understand just how bright Int 8 and above is. That's as smart as the low end of average human intellect and higher. Now, factor in their cruelty and the basics of their tactics. They also teach their young... *TEACH.* These things are far more dangerous than higher-threat human Brigands who generally work via ambush. Also, they should have kept them as treasure collectors just so they can bait their traps. In an area they share with Gnolls and Lamia, they are also dangerously underestimated on top of often mistaken for other beasties or animals.
So socially they behave like a bunch of bully junior high school boys acting out of hand. That's Int:8. Role playing notes give the leucrotitta three levels of rogue for more flanking attack damage and skill: Performance( mimic.) along with a boost in their CR xp value. And a couple of levels of sorcerer so they can fart out a Stink spell.
Excellent video. My current campaign is set in the Shaar and I have steadily been teasing dangers which can lie just over the next ridge, or lying in the long grass. Leucrotta were on my list of things to harass the party with, and watching this just bumped them up.
Man people forget how scary a monster that can mimic sounds can be especially as players usually don't suspect monsters like kenku to be misleading them into traps and such by mimicking the sounds of people in danger especially a npc the party know and have rescued before
I have this homebrew continent I’ve been making which includes a lot of desert and grasslands. On this continent I’m including the exsistence of particular dinosaurs like Carnotaurus. As I was watching this video I thought how awesome it would be to start a leucrotta encounter by watching two or three kill an adult Carno.
Perfect timing on this video popping up in my feed, I'm currently running an adventure where one of the villains is an orc who's gained the service of a band/cult of gnolls and has a leucrotta as his mount.
Once again you have taken a monster that I typically pass over and made it interesting and provide a lot of adventure ideas. My players may not thank you but I do. Great work as always.
Truly disturbing creature. I like the lower level CR creatures described in detail, you realize how deadly any encounter in DnD truly is. Thanks again for another great video😊
AJ - just gave this video another listen and to say I just used some Leucrotta as minions / allies to a Gnoll sect of Yeenoghu. They are an almost perfect monster as they can be used as a serious baddie to a low level party, as a serious middle level encounter with a pack, or a high level party free for all with a full band plus Gnoll companions. Great combination of Armor Class, Hit Dice, Attack Ability plus some very interesting special abilities (Ventriloquism and Voice Mimicry). I have also used them in service to a Greater Lamia. It just works
I looked away during your outro, thinking that was it. The sudden pause grabbed my attention just in time to see that nightmare dog fade into view. Well done, AJ.
Thanks for always seeing thru and pointing out Wizard's watering down of good monsters! I've known about these but never knew how terrifying they should be!
I love how this video came out the week after my party finally bested the Beast of Holden’s Hill, which was of course a Leucrotta since none of them had any idea what it was.
Man, I love the additional lore behind the creatures that you do. Makes the world more fleshed out. Instead of just here is a monster in front of you. Stats, how it acts, all of that is just part of the world building. Something lacking in mmos. I want to be able to gather info about the creature and then have a... field guide kind of thing. That would be really cool thing to work towards in an mmo than just, go fight and get loot. Field guide in addition to the go kill loot method. Ah well... one can hope and dream. Keep up the great work.
One time, I forgot that these were already a thing in D&D and made a home brew version, except I called them Leucrocutta(a regional name for the same creature in real life)
Love your lore videos! Ever since I watched your orange dragon video I've been trying to find a way to implement it in a game I'm DMing. Amazing monster!
I made a gnoll warband for later use. It has 3 leucrotta which stay by its leader, a flind gnoll The entire horde, I named The Rotted Ravagers include: 1 flind, 3 leucrottas, 18 gnolls, and 4 gnoll flesh gnawers. They serve yeenogu, seeking to bring him to the material plane and he gives the horde special features. Food and drink spoil 5 miles from the horde, their rotten stench can be smelled up to 5 miles away, and they carry an unknown necrotic disease. Those who eat the spoiled food/drink are infected, same with those who breath in their stench for half a day, any wound becomes infected and the gnoll's bite is instant disease. Survivors carry the disease and transfer it to others, but die within a week (a week in fearun is 10 days) if not cured. No cure is currently known besides a wish. But that is how I plan to introduce my players to these gnolls. They are looking for a cure to a disease that has been sweeping across the countryside.
What's fascinating to me is how chimeric the leucrota has been in both d&d and irl. That the hooves were originally equine but later cervine is an exception: there are 2 lineages of hoofed mammal that are defined by having either split hooves (deer, cows, pigs, etc) or single-hooves (horses). (Not all members of each lineage have hooves, but I digress). The fact they ended up with split hooves is appropriate because only the split hooves ever produced predators: the lueceotta likely has taken inspiration from entelodonts ("hell pigs") and/or Andrewsarchus. The hell pigs also have high shoulders, which could fit the weird neck morphology. The badger and hyena allusions also fit the chimeric pattern: the two groups are quite far apart. Hyenas are close relatives of mongoose on the cat side of the carnivora group, while badgers are with weasels on the dog side. The most interesting bit is the part about the ridge of bone instead of teeth in literally every description. There has never been a mammalian lineage that has teeth that strange... except one. Thylacoleo; an Australian marsupial that adapted their incisors something akin to an ax head. They had the strongest pound-for-pound bite of any mammal ever and may well have decapitated its prey. These things died out nearly 50,000 years ago halfway around the world, and Pliny BS'd his way to accidentally describing them. (Ironically, thylacoleo was extremely dumb by mammalian predator standards. They traded brain size for jaw muscle attachments.)
When I heard it described, my first thought was of the so-called "Hell Boar" from around 38-19 million years ago. They had cloven hooflike feet, a close to canid body shape and they were omnivores. Not sure if this information actually helps anyone, just thought I'd share :)
Wanna know how to turn a strongly Neutral Good party into a bunch of war criminals in one encounter? Some leucrottas chasing a kid and wounded dog, driving the dog insane by mimicking the kid screaming his name. The dog & kid *barely* made it out of there. The Leucrotta got Vlad Tepesh'd at the outskirts of town.
Hey AJ, this is one of your best videos ever! Loved the artwork, storytelling and the vast amount of information. I remembered the original pencil artwork but that was it, lol. This is a wonderful monster to be added to any campaign. Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!
Having extra beasts to add to the ranks of other more well-known creatures goes down a treat. In addition to flinds and witherlings you now have the leucrotta to add to a gnoll slaughter/hunting band.
Idea, the party has found itself staying in a wandering caravan or similar (how this happens is up to you) that has found itself stopped in a Gorge or a Canyon. Set up for campfire stories to unearth some character backstories/ bonding. At some point you could have some fog or mist roll in and screams come from one of the tents. The party only gets to see a terrified person being dragged into the darkness. And just the very edge of the Leucrottas Jaw (horrible teeth included). When the party inevitably goes to find the person they find themselves in a low visibility cavernous built up area lots of hiding spaces as the Leucrotta mimics the terrified pleas of the person dragged away. Even better if they find the person dead, throat crushed yet can still hear the pleas for help (a la predators), really ramp up the fear. Leucrottas numbers and minions up to you. Bonus points if you record the original terrified pleas for help and run it through some form of distortion effect so it sounds slightly off.
3.5e arcane 4th-level spell Lesser Planar Binding, calls an 8hd outsider. creature type fiendish Leucrotta. follow with Polymorph Other and change the Leucrotta into a large dog, and cross breed it with other dogs, maybe a cow for a larger than normal beast. Follow with a few generations covering a ten year breeding program, something that a wizard would do to pass the time.
That gemstone thing could easily be translated into "treasure". Also I believe thease would still function well enough with animal level of intelligence, cleaver animals then.
One of my all-time favorite besties from the beginning. I really like your suggestion to make them more horrific and I already associate them with Gnolls and Lamia moving in packs. The historic embellishments are sounding like a great way to sidestep metagamers.
These were already on my list for potential encounters for my current campaign, so thank you for this video and some of the suggestions for new abilities!
i can think of it now a evil ranger of what ever race having a hunting pair that are well trained to lure animals and other people god that would be awesome
I use to have nightmares about zombies where it always ended with them biting me to death. I distinctly remember the imaginary feeling of bone being crunched through like it was a wafer. That's what I always assumed that's what the Leucrotta's bite was like. The image of a pack chasing down a stray child, feinting to instigate more fear before the near fatal bite is terrifying. They can always be amped up though by simply adding a template. Add an skeletal template and they become fearsome minions for Liches, an incorporeal template and they become dauntless ambush artists for Vampire lords who use them to soften up players with fear tactics before the big reveal. Infernal or Demonic templates would be obvious choices too.
There was a no sleep story where a girl is camping and goes into the public bathroom and while in the stall “someone” starts talking to her with her own voice. The speech is made up of words she had spoke out loud before going to the bathroom. All I could think about while listening to this were these creatures
i was listening to this while munching down on a sandwich and when you described the mange and smell i damn near yacked, your descriptions and voice are 10/10 every video
Yay thank you sir. Ive had these guys stat blocks for awhile and found them intresting. Definetly can see a varience that dwells the barren outback of Osse
Love your coverage bro. Everyone wants to play in one of your campaigns. AJ's Mega Monster Manual and Deluxe Deities & Demigods? Then again it could include just about every other book and issue of Dragon magazine. I particularly like your own commentary and info dump. I always get more I've ever known about your subject.
Yeenoghu has created enough mutated creatures into being that i would definitely include this into his portfolio. Maybe mutigenic blood in the fangs of Yeenoghu. I once had a character kill a fang of Yeenoghu and pray over its holy weapon. He became a warlock and was cursed with a nightly madness where he would kill to feed his hunger until he was blessed and cured.
Another amazing video AJ. I can imagine a powerful Gnoll hunter having a few of these as hunting dogs. Or maybe a Shoosuva leading a pack of leucrotta.
Love the surprise ending to the video. Now that I know about these, I'll have to incorporate them into my D&D game. My players are going to be so screwed. XD
I once had a mountain mine,abandoned after troll attacks become the lair of an arumvorax who would attack the troll who had fed on the adventurers sent to cleanse them. The Golden gorger would ambush the trolls and tear the metal gear and loot from their guts shrugging off attacks to scamper off. This allowed the trolls to regen and gather more metal for its constant hunger. After hunting down some stray trolls the party fought the gorger for three rounds before retreating to collapse the mine shaft. General consensus was fighting fifty trolls would have been better than one of these small critters.
Thanks for another one. I've got an annis hag in need of creepy canine minions, and with a few adjustments these guys will do nicely 👌. I'll be sure to tell them you said hi AJ.
I love when you cover leaser known creatures. Personally i wish you would do one on the Talderax. The idea of dragons playing nations, armies, and power brokers like chess pieces in a great game of wages and chance like poker meets chess.
@@AJPickett one of the waterdeep saga books had a thread going through the middle of it, and FirKrag in Baldurs Gate 2 was apparently a player. Seems like a good way to spend ones time when their life is measured in centuries.
Hi, AJ how's your day going love the video, what's your favorite spell in dnd 5e? Love that you tell people to give them an advantage of stealth checks of course its a no brainer but some people might miss it or want to run them by the book I got an idea, these monsters could be used as a perfect "tamed beast" used by gnolls, and Yeenoghu influenced Leucrotta as mounts and could also be used as a tool for the gnoll warbands, in combinations of hyenas and other "evil creatures"
For some reason this reminds me of a horror story from the scp foundation. A creature that imitated people in distress , and hunted people whenever it could.
Why do hyenas always have to be evil in DnD? I thought I laughing joking humanoid hyena would make a lovely and entertaining player character. Fun to roleplay, too.
You can make them whatever you want Ruby, the game is entirely yours when you play, however you wish to play it, and you will find basically every player is perfectly fine with altered details like that.
@@rubyamateurtactician4354 It's not a question of statistics, its all about alignment, bonds, motivations, upbringing and so on. The thing to do is DISCUSS this with your friends in your gaming group, its 100% better to form bonds and shared goals with the other player characters in the game, because otherwise, why on earth would they be associating with a monstrous horror like a Gnoll? If you would prefer to have a culture of "good" gnolls in the game, absolutely discuss this with the Dungeon Master and accept that this may or may not sit well with the story they would like to craft for you.
Narrator: And that, kids, is how Saccillia almost died and used up the party's only Regeneration Scroll to regrow the "petting hand". Child: Where is Saccillia now? Narrator: Oh, I'm sure that one is still looking for a Leucrotta that will accept a petting hand. Child: Awww... Narrator: **closes book** I give up **walks out**
I've got a player that's managed to piss off all of nature and the Dagda has sent their dogs on a foxhunt (player is a fox folk) been looking for more dog enemies
Try the yeth hound, Or Barghest for evil antagonist. Or maybe jacklewere? I like your fox hunt idea. Of course maybe shadow mastiff with a rider on a night mare if high level. Or if foxhole character is evil. Maybe blink dogs and quicklings. Tell me if you like any of these!!!
I imagine some Leucrotta hate gnolls, seeing the human in them. I also imagine some gnolls hate Leucrotta, seeing the curse in themselves.
Correct
It consistently blows my mind how often I’ll be researching a monster for a potential video only to see it site up here the next day. It’s uncanny! Anyways, these guys are awesome
I knew you'd say that 😄
Luecrotta hunting calls: "hey, there sailor" "help my virginity is killing me" "I hope no one sees naked..."
Personally, I would have preferred if they were sadomasochists that respond to the pain of both themselves and others with maniacal, ungodly laughter seeing as the whole voice mimicry thing originates from the noises hyenas make being misidentified as laughter.
perfect to introduce to a campaign as a stalker, high perception checks giving glimpses of shadows.
Until the party hears a favorite npc calling for them (even better if you write down the initial introduction and repeat it)
Nice I just got off work, and can now relax listening to some lore from my favorite sage!
@15:08 "But what if Leucrotta were to Blink Dogs as Tolkien's orcs were to his elves?"
Because that's nightmarish and a clever kind of worldbuilding one sees surprisingly little of.
It also took me a second, to get all the implications of the ending, here. Didn't expect to suddenly feel that spooked during the AM shift at work.
A little horror can go a long way 😎
A few years ago, I watched Locrius Planetoid's video on Leucrotta. You'd get a kick out of it AJ. I can link it if requested. It's very entertaining. They also did Aurumvorax, and that the first time I had heard of either. Your videos are a lot more informative, though.
*Elrond Voice* I was there Keith, 3000 years ago... in fact Locrius and I did a collab video along with Arthur Kidawa from World of Monsters. I miss Locrious, he is a hell of a fun guy for a space goblin.
@@AJPickett Awesome, also a lot has changed in 3000 years, hasn't it? :P
@@keithwinget3450 Sure has!
These comments are more reasons why aj is one of the best that has ever done this
A folk remedy for mange is to bathe the creature in a bath of gasoline or diesel. So I can imagine a particularly bold tanner attempting to work with a local alchemist and a few swords for hire to keep a leucrota just long enough to clear its hide for skinning to sell its fur as a luxury item.
Now just imagine the quests when one of the leucrota escapes in the small city where the tanner was planning on selling his wares.
Oh God, imagine if one of these got a hold of a blink dog.
BLINK LEUCROTTA
Another example of a monster with not really overwhelming stats or abilities, but when you take into account and use their lore/ecology, make for very interesting foes. Numbers and game mechanics are essential, but it's good story telling that make a game worth playing. You have to have a good (as in interesting) bad guy for there to be a good story.
You know what's funny?
The ancient ancestors that whales evolved from, are very much like what this creature looks like.
Whales came from smart, hoofed carnivores, that had a huge bite.
You should check it out?
And I think the legend may have come from preserved fossil remains from Pakistan and Northern India.
It's exactly where they find these fossils.
Great video AJ. And, wow... 5e seemed to have really nerfed them. Most people don't understand just how bright Int 8 and above is. That's as smart as the low end of average human intellect and higher. Now, factor in their cruelty and the basics of their tactics. They also teach their young... *TEACH.* These things are far more dangerous than higher-threat human Brigands who generally work via ambush. Also, they should have kept them as treasure collectors just so they can bait their traps. In an area they share with Gnolls and Lamia, they are also dangerously underestimated on top of often mistaken for other beasties or animals.
So socially they behave like a bunch of bully junior high school boys acting out of hand.
That's Int:8.
Role playing notes give the leucrotitta three levels of rogue for more flanking attack damage and skill: Performance( mimic.) along with a boost in their CR xp value.
And a couple of levels of sorcerer so they can fart out a Stink spell.
A match made in hell?, a misnomer good sage! A match made in the abyss! Regardless of such trifles, another excellent video. Thank you.
Excellent video. My current campaign is set in the Shaar and I have steadily been teasing dangers which can lie just over the next ridge, or lying in the long grass. Leucrotta were on my list of things to harass the party with, and watching this just bumped them up.
Man people forget how scary a monster that can mimic sounds can be especially as players usually don't suspect monsters like kenku to be misleading them into traps and such by mimicking the sounds of people in danger especially a npc the party know and have rescued before
For sure..always kinda takes me back to in my humble opinion the best horror movie carpenter "the thing" .I still watch it .
Love your suggestions on how to beef these baddies up, makes more sense for them to be like a dark forest road horror encounter
Play on a party's good moral properly and you can basically force them to place them selves right into a bad situation
Fun facg: hyenas make the laughing sound when nervous or afraid
I have never used these monsters but I'm going now. Thank you.
I like the deceiving voice! That can be fun in a campaign. Love the intros on these videos. Excellent work!
I have this homebrew continent I’ve been making which includes a lot of desert and grasslands. On this continent I’m including the exsistence of particular dinosaurs like Carnotaurus. As I was watching this video I thought how awesome it would be to start a leucrotta encounter by watching two or three kill an adult Carno.
Perfect timing on this video popping up in my feed, I'm currently running an adventure where one of the villains is an orc who's gained the service of a band/cult of gnolls and has a leucrotta as his mount.
This is the kind of video I love the most, like, 'okay, the stats say this, but we can do better.'
Once again you have taken a monster that I typically pass over and made it interesting and provide a lot of adventure ideas. My players may not thank you but I do. Great work as always.
Truly disturbing creature. I like the lower level CR creatures described in detail, you realize how deadly any encounter in DnD truly is. Thanks again for another great video😊
Sweet i just got done w the inevitables video for like the 20th time. Love that one. Keep up the great work AJ
Luecrotta sorcerer variant "Burn... I likes to make things burn....."
AJ - just gave this video another listen and to say I just used some Leucrotta as minions / allies to a Gnoll sect of Yeenoghu. They are an almost perfect monster as they can be used as a serious baddie to a low level party, as a serious middle level encounter with a pack, or a high level party free for all with a full band plus Gnoll companions. Great combination of Armor Class, Hit Dice, Attack Ability plus some very interesting special abilities (Ventriloquism and Voice Mimicry). I have also used them in service to a Greater Lamia. It just works
I looked away during your outro, thinking that was it. The sudden pause grabbed my attention just in time to see that nightmare dog fade into view. Well done, AJ.
Yusss! If I got just one person it was all worth it 😎
Thanks for always seeing thru and pointing out Wizard's watering down of good monsters!
I've known about these but never knew how terrifying they should be!
I consider it a vital part of my job :)
I love how this video came out the week after my party finally bested the Beast of Holden’s Hill, which was of course a Leucrotta since none of them had any idea what it was.
Man, I love the additional lore behind the creatures that you do. Makes the world more fleshed out. Instead of just here is a monster in front of you. Stats, how it acts, all of that is just part of the world building. Something lacking in mmos. I want to be able to gather info about the creature and then have a... field guide kind of thing. That would be really cool thing to work towards in an mmo than just, go fight and get loot. Field guide in addition to the go kill loot method.
Ah well... one can hope and dream. Keep up the great work.
I just love these kinds of creatures. So realistic that it seems as if it could almost be real.
One time, I forgot that these were already a thing in D&D and made a home brew version, except I called them Leucrocutta(a regional name for the same creature in real life)
Perhaps the leucrotta lacked stealth because of the overwhelming odorthey emit?
Thanks for yet another one!
An amazing video, loved the Pliny part, I personally make my monsters looking at their old bestiaries
"A match made in hell to be sure."
Would it not instead be a match made in the abyss?
Yes, but it didn't sound as snappy.
Love your lore videos! Ever since I watched your orange dragon video I've been trying to find a way to implement it in a game I'm DMing. Amazing monster!
I made a gnoll warband for later use. It has 3 leucrotta which stay by its leader, a flind gnoll
The entire horde, I named The Rotted Ravagers include: 1 flind, 3 leucrottas, 18 gnolls, and 4 gnoll flesh gnawers.
They serve yeenogu, seeking to bring him to the material plane and he gives the horde special features. Food and drink spoil 5 miles from the horde, their rotten stench can be smelled up to 5 miles away, and they carry an unknown necrotic disease. Those who eat the spoiled food/drink are infected, same with those who breath in their stench for half a day, any wound becomes infected and the gnoll's bite is instant disease. Survivors carry the disease and transfer it to others, but die within a week (a week in fearun is 10 days) if not cured. No cure is currently known besides a wish. But that is how I plan to introduce my players to these gnolls. They are looking for a cure to a disease that has been sweeping across the countryside.
I’m going to use this as inspiration for part of my campaign!
@@GeneBrodeJr have at it. Hope it works out great
What's fascinating to me is how chimeric the leucrota has been in both d&d and irl.
That the hooves were originally equine but later cervine is an exception: there are 2 lineages of hoofed mammal that are defined by having either split hooves (deer, cows, pigs, etc) or single-hooves (horses). (Not all members of each lineage have hooves, but I digress). The fact they ended up with split hooves is appropriate because only the split hooves ever produced predators: the lueceotta likely has taken inspiration from entelodonts ("hell pigs") and/or Andrewsarchus.
The hell pigs also have high shoulders, which could fit the weird neck morphology.
The badger and hyena allusions also fit the chimeric pattern: the two groups are quite far apart. Hyenas are close relatives of mongoose on the cat side of the carnivora group, while badgers are with weasels on the dog side.
The most interesting bit is the part about the ridge of bone instead of teeth in literally every description. There has never been a mammalian lineage that has teeth that strange... except one. Thylacoleo; an Australian marsupial that adapted their incisors something akin to an ax head. They had the strongest pound-for-pound bite of any mammal ever and may well have decapitated its prey. These things died out nearly 50,000 years ago halfway around the world, and Pliny BS'd his way to accidentally describing them. (Ironically, thylacoleo was extremely dumb by mammalian predator standards. They traded brain size for jaw muscle attachments.)
When I heard it described, my first thought was of the so-called "Hell Boar" from around 38-19 million years ago.
They had cloven hooflike feet, a close to canid body shape and they were omnivores.
Not sure if this information actually helps anyone, just thought I'd share :)
Wanna know how to turn a strongly Neutral Good party into a bunch of war criminals in one encounter?
Some leucrottas chasing a kid and wounded dog, driving the dog insane by mimicking the kid screaming his name.
The dog & kid *barely* made it out of there. The Leucrotta got Vlad Tepesh'd at the outskirts of town.
Definitely another one of those monsters, like Gnolls, that aught to be reclassified as "Fiends".
Hey AJ, this is one of your best videos ever! Loved the artwork, storytelling and the vast amount of information. I remembered the original pencil artwork but that was it, lol. This is a wonderful monster to be added to any campaign.
Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!
Having extra beasts to add to the ranks of other more well-known creatures goes down a treat. In addition to flinds and witherlings you now have the leucrotta to add to a gnoll slaughter/hunting band.
Idea, the party has found itself staying in a wandering caravan or similar (how this happens is up to you) that has found itself stopped in a Gorge or a Canyon. Set up for campfire stories to unearth some character backstories/ bonding. At some point you could have some fog or mist roll in and screams come from one of the tents. The party only gets to see a terrified person being dragged into the darkness. And just the very edge of the Leucrottas Jaw (horrible teeth included).
When the party inevitably goes to find the person they find themselves in a low visibility cavernous built up area lots of hiding spaces as the Leucrotta mimics the terrified pleas of the person dragged away. Even better if they find the person dead, throat crushed yet can still hear the pleas for help (a la predators), really ramp up the fear.
Leucrottas numbers and minions up to you.
Bonus points if you record the original terrified pleas for help and run it through some form of distortion effect so it sounds slightly off.
Well now, thanks for this.
Always a fan of the demonic horror stuff. Keep it coming please.
3.5e arcane 4th-level spell Lesser Planar Binding, calls an 8hd outsider. creature type fiendish Leucrotta.
follow with Polymorph Other and change the Leucrotta into a large dog, and cross breed it with other dogs, maybe a cow for a larger than normal beast. Follow with a few generations covering a ten year breeding program, something that a wizard would do to pass the time.
That gemstone thing could easily be translated into "treasure". Also I believe thease would still function well enough with animal level of intelligence, cleaver animals then.
One of my all-time favorite besties from the beginning. I really like your suggestion to make them more horrific and I already associate them with Gnolls and Lamia moving in packs. The historic embellishments are sounding like a great way to sidestep metagamers.
These were already on my list for potential encounters for my current campaign, so thank you for this video and some of the suggestions for new abilities!
cool. might have to add these in for the vilhon reach area. will have gnolls able to field different units other than hyenas or the packlords.
i can think of it now a evil ranger of what ever race having a hunting pair that are well trained to lure animals and other people god that would be awesome
I use to have nightmares about zombies where it always ended with them biting me to death. I distinctly remember the imaginary feeling of bone being crunched through like it was a wafer. That's what I always assumed that's what the Leucrotta's bite was like. The image of a pack chasing down a stray child, feinting to instigate more fear before the near fatal bite is terrifying. They can always be amped up though by simply adding a template. Add an skeletal template and they become fearsome minions for Liches, an incorporeal template and they become dauntless ambush artists for Vampire lords who use them to soften up players with fear tactics before the big reveal. Infernal or Demonic templates would be obvious choices too.
This Beast has been around since AD&D and if used correctly can be terrifying.
There was a no sleep story where a girl is camping and goes into the public bathroom and while in the stall “someone” starts talking to her with her own voice. The speech is made up of words she had spoke out loud before going to the bathroom. All I could think about while listening to this were these creatures
Thanks, This has given me some great ideas foe a d100 non-combat encounter table I am working on.
Much love from Alaska! Finally caught up on your videos, loving the content
Thanks for the binge-watch, much appreciated!
The leucrotta is one of my favorite monsters
Love the videos AJ they are so good. The narration and story telling are fantastic.
Thanks Drew!
i was listening to this while munching down on a sandwich and when you described the mange and smell i damn near yacked, your descriptions and voice are 10/10 every video
Now this is a particularly good selection, AJ. Very well put together, too. Excellent work, as usual
Yay thank you sir. Ive had these guys stat blocks for awhile and found them intresting. Definetly can see a varience that dwells the barren outback of Osse
"Leucrotta" being an old word just describing hyenas has roughly the same energy as giraffes being referred to as camelopards.
I’m so glad I found this channel!!! You share the same name as a friend I had in junior high!
Welcome!
Love your coverage bro.
Everyone wants to play in one of your campaigns.
AJ's Mega Monster Manual and Deluxe Deities & Demigods? Then again it could include just about every other book and issue of Dragon magazine.
I particularly like your own commentary and info dump. I always get more I've ever known about your subject.
Yeenoghu has created enough mutated creatures into being that i would definitely include this into his portfolio. Maybe mutigenic blood in the fangs of Yeenoghu. I once had a character kill a fang of Yeenoghu and pray over its holy weapon. He became a warlock and was cursed with a nightly madness where he would kill to feed his hunger until he was blessed and cured.
Sounds more interesting than "only wants to destroy everything" for sure.
I like to include an elder or two.
Give the elders some levels of war lock or cleric. Yeenoghu as their patron.
Good call
I have a leucrotta as a mount for a necromancer boss, she eats the flesh and leaves her rider the bones to make skeletons
i'd prefer facing off against heyenas than a group of these things
edit:seeing the ending. i feel foolish
I'd rather not be hunted by either.. Hyenas are extremely formidable predators, better hunters than lions, in fact.
Thanks AJ.
I really like leucrotta, it is shame that they don't have any interesting abilities.
this is a partcularily good video even more inspireing than normal
Another amazing video AJ.
I can imagine a powerful Gnoll hunter having a few of these as hunting dogs. Or maybe a Shoosuva leading a pack of leucrotta.
My personal favorite way to give my players trust issues I'm excited to watch this one!
Could you imagine having one as a pet I don't think anyone would bother you then
Yay!
DnD lore and some real-world mythology? Nice!
Love the surprise ending to the video. Now that I know about these, I'll have to incorporate them into my D&D game. My players are going to be so screwed. XD
Good Timing. Apparently the demon lord Kostchtchie keeps a small pack of large/huge versions of these and I'm about to throw him against my party.
I remember these! Their bone-ridge teeth are somehow WAY more terrifying than normal teeth. They gave me the shivers in 3.5e.
I once had a mountain mine,abandoned after troll attacks become the lair of an arumvorax who would attack the troll who had fed on the adventurers sent to cleanse them. The Golden gorger would ambush the trolls and tear the metal gear and loot from their guts shrugging off attacks to scamper off. This allowed the trolls to regen and gather more metal for its constant hunger. After hunting down some stray trolls the party fought the gorger for three rounds before retreating to collapse the mine shaft. General consensus was fighting fifty trolls would have been better than one of these small critters.
Thanks for another one. I've got an annis hag in need of creepy canine minions, and with a few adjustments these guys will do nicely 👌. I'll be sure to tell them you said hi AJ.
Thanks Jake
great video! really enjoyed!
How has shocker lizard not happened yet? Can you cover that one?
Yes I can!
I love when you cover leaser known creatures. Personally i wish you would do one on the Talderax. The idea of dragons playing nations, armies, and power brokers like chess pieces in a great game of wages and chance like poker meets chess.
Yes, I plan on talking about the great game some more 🙂
@@AJPickett one of the waterdeep saga books had a thread going through the middle of it, and FirKrag in Baldurs Gate 2 was apparently a player. Seems like a good way to spend ones time when their life is measured in centuries.
Fun Fact: Hyena's that are interacted with by zoologists, are actually very amiable creatures.
Until they eat your cat....
They're just cats that are trying to be wolves. Being hypersociable is a huge benefit to pack hunters.
One-third hyena, one-third goat, one-third Hannibal Lecter.
Hi, AJ how's your day going love the video, what's your favorite spell in dnd 5e?
Love that you tell people to give them an advantage of stealth checks of course its a no brainer but some people might miss it or want to run them by the book
I got an idea, these monsters could be used as a perfect "tamed beast" used by gnolls, and Yeenoghu influenced Leucrotta as mounts and could also be used as a tool for the gnoll warbands, in combinations of hyenas and other "evil creatures"
For some reason this reminds me of a horror story from the scp foundation. A creature that imitated people in distress , and hunted people whenever it could.
Why do hyenas always have to be evil in DnD? I thought I laughing joking humanoid hyena would make a lovely and entertaining player character. Fun to roleplay, too.
You can make them whatever you want Ruby, the game is entirely yours when you play, however you wish to play it, and you will find basically every player is perfectly fine with altered details like that.
@@AJPickett would I have to explain why the character is a 6-foot bipedal friendly hyena? I don't understand the way stats work in order to start
@@rubyamateurtactician4354 It's not a question of statistics, its all about alignment, bonds, motivations, upbringing and so on. The thing to do is DISCUSS this with your friends in your gaming group, its 100% better to form bonds and shared goals with the other player characters in the game, because otherwise, why on earth would they be associating with a monstrous horror like a Gnoll? If you would prefer to have a culture of "good" gnolls in the game, absolutely discuss this with the Dungeon Master and accept that this may or may not sit well with the story they would like to craft for you.
@@AJPickett I'd rather leave gnolls alone and home brew a new race
One of my favorite Medieval Bestiary monsters!
7:04
Nice.
Can you do a video on the Elemental plane of lighting/Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning? ⚡
I'd still try to pet it.
Narrator: And that, kids, is how Saccillia almost died and used up the party's only Regeneration Scroll to regrow the "petting hand".
Child: Where is Saccillia now?
Narrator: Oh, I'm sure that one is still looking for a Leucrotta that will accept a petting hand.
Child: Awww...
Narrator: **closes book** I give up **walks out**
Alternative video title: Basically Sinonyx (a recommendation to google this real prehistoric creature)
Hello Mr. Picket, I really enjoy the narration on your lore videos. So, when is that Fantasy Novel coming out? 8)
When its done and not a moment before! :)
thank you!
I've got a player that's managed to piss off all of nature and the Dagda has sent their dogs on a foxhunt (player is a fox folk) been looking for more dog enemies
Try the yeth hound, Or Barghest for evil antagonist. Or maybe jacklewere? I like your fox hunt idea. Of course maybe shadow mastiff with a rider on a night mare if high level. Or if foxhole character is evil. Maybe blink dogs and quicklings. Tell me if you like any of these!!!