No mention of shakti queen of the mariliths? Huge size and 8 arms and rules her own layer of the abyss according to the last published issue of dragon magazine.
Marilith confidence is well earned. You don't keep looking that good if you can't fend off endless waves of hungers. I often forget how self-assured they are, they seem aware of their limitations. anything can be temporarily beyond them. It would be interesting to see a Marilith's reaction to someone doing that which she thought impossible. Sounds like love at first strike.
"So, would you prefer I do this with a cross-cut or top-to-bottom?" - General Virulena of Plague Mort, a marilith known for her "generosity" and odd sense of humor, to a fallen opponent.
Recently my Dumb as Rocks Barbarian fought against a Marilith. Reason why is because my Barbarian unknowingly betrayed Graz'zt in the delivery of a magical item, it was the receiver that did the betraying... ANYHOW! During the fight, Begur (Renamed Barbarian because of DM reasons) grabbed the Marilith by the tail because she lunged past him and attacked his Smart as Books friends. "You mean pretty snake lady! Don't touch my friends!" Begur hurled the Marilith on a double nat 20s with his +7 strength mod (We're level 20 now) into a weird rune written wall. Turns out the wall was build with holy imbued energy that really hurt the Marilith... and due to us destroying a sacred ruins; we now made enemies with a faction of angels. *Sighs* Begur is probably going to have to change his name again.
There's one semi-notable marilith in a published D&D campaign - in _Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus_ you have an opportunity to fight one of Yeenoghu's mariliths, which is basically one with a body resembling a gnoll instead of a human. I also had this funny idea about a section of that same campaign involving a more traditional marilith - significant spoilers ahead: There is a market called The Wandering Emporium that is run by a rakshasa named Mahadi, who poses as a human. The Emporium sells almost worldly thing one could desire, though you usually have to pay in soul coins. I would include a massage parlor where the masseuse is a captured marilith who has since come to enjoy her new job. Players could get a massage from her for one soul coin, possibly receiving some sort of minor but tangible benefit (such as having advantage on certain types of rolls for X amount of time), or she might reveal some relevant information, depending on how well she's treated. Or if your players are okay with that sort of thing, she could go into more...mature territory.
I had a campaign where my players were "neutral" and took up some evil missions. They took up some missions from a cult whose only condition that they bring their cleric and thief. The party had a cleric (more is better) and their thief is more of a scout than what their thief could do. They did not ask for shares of the treasure. They were glad to work for the group and sung their praises. I added role-playing comments that the NPC's did to show that they were evil, the party ignored that as "Well, we help anyone who pays us. Next week, we will be their enemies against them, hired by the good guys." I told them that that is a Lawful Evil and sometimes Neutral Evil stance, but two of their "rules lawyers" dismissed that. So, six missions. The party really gained and readily and happily surrendered the "hurts when non-evil touches it" weapon each time from the endgame vault. Then, the party spends pro-good missions... because doing evil is acceptable because you will do good as long as you are neutral... eh. I won't go into the "reasoning." It is bad-writer level stupid. So, the players are doing a really hard mission for The Warriors of Light, a lot of twists and turns. I was a fair DM, so I favored the players by throwing in lotsa' clues... the players ARE the story. A fair DM throws in clues when having clueless players would just make it player character bullying. I threw in clues that the weapons collected were of use by the enemy of The Warriors of Light. I threw in that most of their high priests were specialists in protection from evil and exorcisms. They were smart, following the clues to most of the special items. However, they did not expect the "final boss" to be the Marilith and a bunch of demon scrubs to enter the battlefield, with her having the very weapons that her cultists collected. The party (I expected to be a campaign ender) survived with one survivor and she was killed. She revived everyone. All the Marilith's weapons were collected. My brain shorted out, I did not expect the win. I got 1000% more creative to make great stories. They became a "good-aligned" party just because of their anti-evil. I then reformatted my narrative to them as far more mercenary, petitioned by the forces of good, with a Marilith enemy (not a minor thing).
I don't know, them doing both good and bad missions does sound like a neutral thing to do. Make friends with them both so they don't go after you, no morals behind it, just good business.
My evil arch-necromancer saved his party from certain doom in one campaign when captured in the abyss by flirting with a VERY powerful maralith,the only reason it worked was due to the fact the flirting was genuine....yeah I know he's got problems...lolx2
@DEEPFOXJUDE Maybe, maybe not. Look up the short comic story "The Bargain", which was originally included in the Planescape accessory "Hellbound: The Blood War".
I threw a Marilith at my Lv 2 players at the start of a campaign. The look on their faces as she suddenly materialized and chain-hooked half a dozen NPCs to death like a Hellraiser Cynobite made for one of my favorite moments as a DM. "Alright guys, round two. Lets roll those initiatives"
I think it'd be fun to have a Marilith use two hands to juggle two severed heads while using the other four to use her four vorpal swords. Along with two more sheathed at her hips. Oh! And the heads could be thrown, casting fireball wherever they land! I'd make this Marilith look like Britney Spears with the tail of an albino serpent. Why not give her some sorcerer/rogue levels too?
Why not telekinetically juggle the heads, while simultaneously vorpal fencing with six limbs? And every head that is decapitated at the end of a lost dual "IS" the reload to that fire ball action. So she can take on infantry and bombard archers at the same time. And make her a bard(high level.) aswell while your at it. I really like your idea, you've inspired me. She fights her own battles, herself. she sings her own songs, about herself. She covers her own arse, herself. She takes what she wants, by herself. And she convinces and talks her own self into everything. 👍
2E Planescape did a gloriously twisted and satisfying job of relating the chaos inherent in the relationship between the nalfeshnee, marilith, and balor breeds of tanaar'ri. The nalfeshnee had the edge in intelligence but were petulant, the marilith was the tactical field commander of the assembled demonic hordes and thought they should be running the show, and the balor was the charismatic and personally powerful mover and shaker driving Abyssal aggression towards the rest of the multiverse at the behest of a demon lord or prince. None of them liked one another and they spent much of their time and energy screwing with one another's plans. Devils were far fewer in number, but when it came to projecting power and influence on the Prime Material plane they usually got a lot more done than the demons because of non-stop demonic in-fighting. Good times!
Imo, nothing will ever rival Planescape in terms of creative ingenuity, or simply the capacity to create such a compelling and fascinating setting. It's why I took an interest in the fluff of D&D at all. I don't keep up with WotC, but I've heard they're going to reinvent it like they did with Spelljammer, and I really hope that isn't the case. They're just Murphy's law incarnate at this point.
In my home-brew campaign: the Serpent Islands. There is a Succubus, that is under the disguise of a traveling Sword-master. Funny enough, she is less interested in sex and seduction, but revels in combat and swordplay and testing characters ability to fight. She is a forward scout for a much more powerful villain. I now have an idea of who her boss is.
I hate to break it to you AJ, but they aren't second to Balors. They're equal to Balors. And everytime I've had the two fight, a marilith will give the balor a serious kicking to the teeth
Commissar Chaplain Radke Love reigns above all, even for the hateful Balor. Ofc Balor succumb, despite their hate. Rare would be those would/could succeede her power. A Balor that could succeed her draw would be rare, and withdrawn. That said, the war is epic.
Truthfully, demons have no rankings. Whoever is strongest is in charge. Both mariliths AND nalfeshnee consider themselves superior to balors, whom they view as brutish bullies, but in the Abyss, brutish bullies tend to admired far more than smarts. Even by some marilith, as the comic book story that was included in Hellbound: the Blood War" shows. Often, a marilith might be something of "the power behind the throne" to a balor king, but not always.
I definitely think Mariliths wouldn't wield all six swords. They'd probably have a grappling whip, at least one throwable weapon like a trident or spear, two swords for parrying, and maybe a greatsword or other two-handed weapon.
Their weapon choice gives the GM an opportunity for personalization. Your loadout could be for a eminently practical and flexible demon. Whereas one who enjoy torture might arm themselves with whips, nets, cudgels and a variety of nonlethal or trapping weapons. Another might arm themselves with weapons from fallen foes and boast about the defeat of previous owners. A particularly vainglorious one might arm themselves with impractical but glittery showpieces to accentuate her beauty (perhaps one of her arms holds a mirror!). Along the bragging line, a literary type might reserve two arms for a parchment and pen, and chronicle her victories as they occur, administering the coup de grace with a vicious pen stab. Demons at this level should be individuals, and the weapon choice is one way to demonstrate it.
I know I'm a little late, but to put this into perspective: The average male green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) weighs 148.5kg (330lb) and grows to around 6m (19.7ft) long, though this is just observed specimens, there could very well be larger members of the species. The green anaconda, while not the longest member of the Serpentes Suborder (that honour belonging to the reticulated python), it is still the heaviest. That the marilith weighs on average 1814.4kg (4000lb), is a testament to both its sheer size (where the serpentine part of the demon should reach from 30 to 50 feet when completely uncoiled, and be 3-5 feet thick) and the unholy *density* of its musculature. If a marilith constricts a regular human, that human now has sand where their bones should be, assuming their organs weren't turned to strawberry jam or squeezed out like toothpaste. Armour that isn't magical or made of adamantine would buckle, break, and crumple under the pressure of the demon's coils. *This does not take into account any magic or abyssal alchemy the marilith would rightly have on their horrifically resplendent person.* Assuming all my estimations are somewhat accurate, it is no wonder why the marilith are second only to the Balors and Princes of the Abyss.
clever mythology and narrative; her magnetism of leadership is an interesting unique ability despite her "instinct" to eliminate all possible future threats.
Great video, I loved the intro! These might be my favorite demon, and it's so cool to learn more about them. I'm going to have to use that boulder drop tactic.
My first encounter with 1 was the marilith Yxunomei in icewind dale. the party was battle wary from fighting an army of yuan ti. It freaked me out cuz i did not expect the little girl to turn into a (insert height here) foot tall demon snake woman with 6 hands who had high hp magic res and immunity to normal weapons and more minions.
Or great at anything that would benefit from its practitioner having six arms. If I were to run a campaign like Descent Into Avernus, I'd definitely have a marilith masseuse (person who gives massages) somewhere in there.
@@JanusHoW actually, since posting that I've read the tvtropes page for "multi-armed multitasking," which point out that certain parts of such a creature's brain would have to be many times bigger just to keep track of where all these arms are in relation to eachother. after all, us two-armed folk have a bit of trouble just patting out heads and rubbing our stomachs at the same time.
Ya know, I just finished the “Queen of the Demon Web Pitts” audio novel and the Marilith in there just weirded me out so bad haha. She was actually nothing like what AJ is talking about here even to the point of cowering for her life at a few points. She was a bookworm and it just struck me as so……. Weird. Then I realized that The Paul Kidd GreyHawk books are essentially someone’s DnD campaign in written form and I quickly got over it.
This is why I don't believe in the alignment system on an individual level, only as a group, which is why I liked the addition of the word "typically" before an alignment instead of removing the whole concept. The D&D universe is too large and diverse to not have the odd creature that goes against suggested alignment. Just as Celestials fall, so can Fiends rise.
To be fair, in that book the marilith in question is cowering from Lolth, the titular Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Even greater demons recognize when they’re in danger. Also she does end up slicing and dicing a vampire, albeit off-page. I liked her, she was kind of sweet.
@@snakemilthescienceeel2565 and I get that. I guess in my head a demon might not know fear but they would understand caution. And as such my head cannon would have a demon as strong as a maralith be more prone to acquiescing and placating the demon lord in question rather than outright cowering. Or at the very most being twitchy and agitated at the prospect of getting killed by their leader.
AJ Pickett, a question. Ignoring the watering down of alignment in 5e; what would a Marilith be like if someone managed to get a Helm of Opposite Alignment on her head and she failed her save? How would her personality change? Would she become a pacifist? What do you think?
After a long period of screaming and writhing around in absolute despair, she would most likely attempt to decapitate herself, knowing she is beyond all redemption and unable to live with the remorse for her eons of murder and vile actions, she will lament that there is no escape for her either. Opportunistic player characters might convince her to give up a significant portion of her demonic power before she destroys herself, though she may not want to, knowing such power will only result in more evil.
@@AJPickett Interesting. Could anyone or anything convince her not to kill herself, and instead make amends by saving lives? Now I kind of have this weird mental image of a good aligned marilith that's taken her need to cut and slash along with a vow of pacifism, choosing to take up the scalpel and become the best surgeon in the realms. XD
Hmm I always interpreted demons as propagators of chaos and evil rather than just defined by those traits. I believe she would just become a soldier of justice and good rather than kill herself. That being said she would probably be beheaded by another demon almost instantly
In Paul Kidd's "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" Lolth had one as a secretary/assistant. It was pretty funny. In the first book they had an Erinyes.....could you do a video on Erinyes? : )
I have talked a little about them in my series on the nine hells, but I have not made a video specifically about them yet. They are pretty fearsome entities.
Marilith must die. The amount of wipes a well prepared Marilith is capable to deliver is a number high enough to rival Elministers age. I have a question to AJ. I have read (I believe in a monster book, 3rd/3.5 edition, I cannot remember) which says the Marilith knows when they are or can avoid being seen by Diviners. Is this true? Did you find any data on this? I've put it into my worlds lore that Mariliths knows it, but generally finds it amusing, showing whoever is looking their body in "seductive" poses - before lashing out with a psionic scream. (Think Banshee, just mental.) Which deals 4d10 with an easy save to half damage taken. Also AJ, another question if you don't mind. You said Mariliths will engage in Alliances, can you specify what that would include in your opinion? "You and I shall devour X and Y but I want the super-cookie-maker" or something along those lines?
Ah the Waifu Demon. I don't like there appearance I like my demons monstrous they should not be human or human-esque so I would give them these creepy faces neither fully woman neither fully snake but an uncanny hybrid between the two with snake like mouth the dissents to several times the length of their body to intimate foes or eat large prey.
You should do a video about that multiple possession demon lord you've home brewed, i think a marilith and lesser mariliths(r'riliths) army could give it a run for it's money. But that fight on a prime material plane would have no survivers. "The sword" verses "Infinite infilitration".
my first impression of the marilith was kind of off putting when i but it beside a balor but now i kind of appreciate her much more as a feminint form of chaos and destruction which makes it a lot more understandable where it peaking order would be .
with that in mind they literally are most fitting to be generals of demons . for a demon i wouldnt think of anything more inspiring , stunning and terrifying to see. a balor doesnt quite pull that off.
I'm going to call Marilith on that one, as the lesser Beholders are spawned from the nervous dreams of Beholders who feel inadequate. Marilith never doubt themselves.
The story intro stuff? We'll see, when I do write them, I am just trying to evoke a scene and a feeling out of them, so, I guess they are as long or as short as they need to be.
I made a half devil in 3rd Edition who was in a freaky three-way love triangle with one of these serpent b****** and a succubus needless to say they were both extremely possessive and jealous
Evil in general is possessive and incredibly jealous. An evil in love is willing to murder/ sacrifice half or an entire world just to make you happy. A demon's love is no different. It is a chaotic passionate affair the more passion you coax from them the less likely they will ever let you go willingly. A devil's love is obsessive, controlling and dominating. The passion is too dangerous to them so they have to control their lover by any means nessacary. Its funny in a way. Evil knows hate better than any other alignment but their very nature also makes it nearly impossible for them to understand that just as love can be poisoned and twisted into hate. The process can work backwards. Which is why the succubus falls for the paladin or the goody two shows cleric or other good.
"They can infect" would be a more accurate description. Demons don't have DNA, imagine it is more like the infusion of elemental energy into humanoids resulting in a Genasi, well, in this case it is the warped and evil power of the abyss, a corrupted elemental energy, that creates demonic, fell creatures, they are described as demon hybrids for convenience, but what they really are is mutated and twisted forms of life, corropted by abyssal energy.
*right now all i can picture is a bunch of swash buckling succubuses larping it out as cheer leaders shaking pom poms chanting "mar - ri - lith!" in a summoning circle, to the arival of a rather flattered such', weilding an ornate cutlass in each hand bearly mannaging to reach past the extra broad hat - facing down a rather nervous looking paladin counting on his suit of guilded enchanted neck to foot full plate armour with a helmet to see him though. with a rather old and macarb ghoulishly humoured robed chronicler behind him possitively giggling away at all the depraved wanton evils a said champion must face. chiming in with "dEmons also can summon dEmons!?!? though you have already put the cultests to the sword, they have already let "them" in... if only you had butched the poor innocent pleasure cultists faster and "she" wasn't unleashed... we both know that you will never defeat her... hyeh hyeh hyeh!!!" and the shifting sword. dancing marilith eventually whispering to the paladin "eye slits... it's got to be the eye slits. don't look at me like that shiny, i can't just go and lose now can i? the armours "not fare"..." to the chronicler gleefully cackling in with "hyeh hyeh hyeh' hyeh!? dEmons!? dEmons from hEell..." and the inevitable desprate & doomed dual that follows* hmmm, since you can make your own monsters in DnD I'm definitely putting together a lesser mini marilith as minions/foot soldiers for the former. this monster will not be wasted... not in the least.
Brian Corvello "Too fool for luck bland thrall for bait!/E-e-e- eviscerate!/So tall unstuck? stand here dual gait!/A-a-a-annihilate!" At this point it's the opening soviet theme for C&C red alert 2. Six limbed archers really are deadly. In some ways it's worse than the fireball barrages.
I too would like to say, Awesome intro. It was truly brutal. I would also very much like to listen to that song in full but I'm having trouble finding it. Is there any chance you could provide me with a link? Either way, thanks for this new video!
Which song, the one in the background of the vid or the intro stinger.. the intro was specifically composed for this video series, link to the artist in on the end screen of the video. The background sound also comes from their website.
Ah, yes, and thank you!, I was thinking of the 'intro stinger'. I checked out the link but couldn't find the song on that person's channel - but it's because it was made specifically for you, I see... Well all I can say is I would love to hear more!
So using the Third Edition rules I made a completely broken character I don't even think it's a legal character technically it's a half Celestial half gold dragon and according to the Third Edition rules that makes him immune to every energy type there is from electrical to fire to acid to sound because the celestials are immune to everything but fire and half gold dragons are immune to fire he counted as a natural sorcerer And as a natural cleric but his class so to speak was Paladin the only time I've ever played a paladin and needless to say it was the most fun character I've ever played but he took an extremely strict stance on his code he was a follower of Bahamut
@@lyebatenkaitosofgluttony2452 Hard to say. The Planescape splat book Planes of Chaos says a demon's physical form can be almost anything, and that the sub-races in the Monster Manual are just the most common forms that mortals have catalogued. Seeing as the same source has details on a Guvner's project to catalogue the layers of the Abyss, with about half the layers marked "interdicted" (meaning mortals literally cannot survive there) it seems the common thread is, "no matter how horrible a mortal can imagine, the Abyss has something worse." Although, that does bring up the question of the Slaadi, who are supposed to be embodiments of Pure Chaos, untainted by Good or Evil. Thing is, as a race, they have little individuality at all, having only five subspecies (seven if you count the White Slaad and Black Slaad from the Epic Level Handbook), all of which look like big, humanoid frogs, and all of them are predators driven solely by survival and hunger. (Compared to say, demons, which has dozens of known subspecies and a wide variety of bodily forms, shapes, and personalities.) Even devils and modrons (both Lawful planar races) show more variety in form and function and less conformity than the slaadi do. I guess this sort of thing just isn't supposed to make sense...
@@briancorvello3620 slaadi are weird and could be done better They're beings of pure chaos but then all of them are run by the death slaad who are evil and then there's the fact that it's super easy to determine exactly what a slaad will be like when making one and it will not deviate at all from their normal And then there's the fact that all of them are easy to gain complete control over just by grabbing a funny gem No mixing evil into my pure chaos! And no making my pure chaos monsters too basic either! Slaadi suck they could have been cool Oh and I guess I'll never know and will continue to wonder about male marilitjs for the rest of eternity
Looks like the FFXV animated movie. I forgot the exact name of it but it detailed the past of the three guys and a short on Noxtis avenging his mother from the demon attack. That demon just happens to be the snake lady in the screenshot.
XD oh look it's a marilith, they're so pretty... *slowly turns around* i bet this one will be truelly amazing... *BODAK FACE & STARE ATTACK* ... *orcus laughing ominously at your fate*
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #1 НАЧАЛО ПУТЕШЕСТВИЯ [Новый сезон] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/380Q7gLWGvk/mqdefault.jpg)
No mention of shakti queen of the mariliths? Huge size and 8 arms and rules her own layer of the abyss according to the last published issue of dragon magazine.
Marilith confidence is well earned. You don't keep looking that good if you can't fend off endless waves of hungers.
I often forget how self-assured they are, they seem aware of their limitations. anything can be temporarily beyond them.
It would be interesting to see a Marilith's reaction to someone doing that which she thought impossible.
Sounds like love at first strike.
At least you brought up the thought that crossed my mind many times: Marilith and Yuan-Ti breeding serpent-like teiflings
"So, would you prefer I do this with a cross-cut or top-to-bottom?"
- General Virulena of Plague Mort, a marilith known for her "generosity" and odd sense of humor, to a fallen opponent.
Recently my Dumb as Rocks Barbarian fought against a Marilith. Reason why is because my Barbarian unknowingly betrayed Graz'zt in the delivery of a magical item, it was the receiver that did the betraying... ANYHOW! During the fight, Begur (Renamed Barbarian because of DM reasons) grabbed the Marilith by the tail because she lunged past him and attacked his Smart as Books friends.
"You mean pretty snake lady! Don't touch my friends!"
Begur hurled the Marilith on a double nat 20s with his +7 strength mod (We're level 20 now) into a weird rune written wall. Turns out the wall was build with holy imbued energy that really hurt the Marilith... and due to us destroying a sacred ruins; we now made enemies with a faction of angels.
*Sighs* Begur is probably going to have to change his name again.
I would love to have this be a cross between General Grievous and Assaj Ventress.
That... is the next NPC villain I make.
There's one semi-notable marilith in a published D&D campaign - in _Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus_ you have an opportunity to fight one of Yeenoghu's mariliths, which is basically one with a body resembling a gnoll instead of a human.
I also had this funny idea about a section of that same campaign involving a more traditional marilith - significant spoilers ahead:
There is a market called The Wandering Emporium that is run by a rakshasa named Mahadi, who poses as a human. The Emporium sells almost worldly thing one could desire, though you usually have to pay in soul coins.
I would include a massage parlor where the masseuse is a captured marilith who has since come to enjoy her new job. Players could get a massage from her for one soul coin, possibly receiving some sort of minor but tangible benefit (such as having advantage on certain types of rolls for X amount of time), or she might reveal some relevant information, depending on how well she's treated. Or if your players are okay with that sort of thing, she could go into more...mature territory.
The day D&D becomes real, this is one of those things on the list of run and keep running.
So look out in the wild!? :0
A demon I feel is under-utilized and could be a central villain. Hmmm.
i agree.
Drizzt killed her and banished her for 100 years during the sundering
Was it Drizzt? I forget. Someone did.
I had a campaign where my players were "neutral" and took up some evil missions. They took up some missions from a cult whose only condition that they bring their cleric and thief. The party had a cleric (more is better) and their thief is more of a scout than what their thief could do. They did not ask for shares of the treasure. They were glad to work for the group and sung their praises. I added role-playing comments that the NPC's did to show that they were evil, the party ignored that as "Well, we help anyone who pays us. Next week, we will be their enemies against them, hired by the good guys."
I told them that that is a Lawful Evil and sometimes Neutral Evil stance, but two of their "rules lawyers" dismissed that.
So, six missions. The party really gained and readily and happily surrendered the "hurts when non-evil touches it" weapon each time from the endgame vault.
Then, the party spends pro-good missions... because doing evil is acceptable because you will do good as long as you are neutral... eh. I won't go into the "reasoning." It is bad-writer level stupid.
So, the players are doing a really hard mission for The Warriors of Light, a lot of twists and turns. I was a fair DM, so I favored the players by throwing in lotsa' clues... the players ARE the story. A fair DM throws in clues when having clueless players would just make it player character bullying. I threw in clues that the weapons collected were of use by the enemy of The Warriors of Light. I threw in that most of their high priests were specialists in protection from evil and exorcisms. They were smart, following the clues to most of the special items.
However, they did not expect the "final boss" to be the Marilith and a bunch of demon scrubs to enter the battlefield, with her having the very weapons that her cultists collected. The party (I expected to be a campaign ender) survived with one survivor and she was killed. She revived everyone. All the Marilith's weapons were collected.
My brain shorted out, I did not expect the win. I got 1000% more creative to make great stories. They became a "good-aligned" party just because of their anti-evil. I then reformatted my narrative to them as far more mercenary, petitioned by the forces of good, with a Marilith enemy (not a minor thing).
I don't know, them doing both good and bad missions does sound like a neutral thing to do. Make friends with them both so they don't go after you, no morals behind it, just good business.
My evil arch-necromancer saved his party from certain doom in one campaign when captured in the abyss by flirting with a VERY powerful maralith,the only reason it worked was due to the fact the flirting was genuine....yeah I know he's got problems...lolx2
... that's when the campaign boss becomes his Half Demon child of the abyss from the future
Unknown Nope lolx2 👹😨
Michael Kelligan Hmm your friend pleases Slaanesh
@DEEPFOXJUDE sure
@DEEPFOXJUDE Maybe, maybe not. Look up the short comic story "The Bargain", which was originally included in the Planescape accessory "Hellbound: The Blood War".
I threw a Marilith at my Lv 2 players at the start of a campaign. The look on their faces as she suddenly materialized and chain-hooked half a dozen NPCs to death like a Hellraiser Cynobite made for one of my favorite moments as a DM. "Alright guys, round two. Lets roll those initiatives"
lol.
I really need to figure out how to play d and d aswell as where to play! I can't believe how cool this shit is
My players met one on Monday, how appropriate a topic. Best part is they haven't yet finished the fight.
I think it'd be fun to have a Marilith use two hands to juggle two severed heads while using the other four to use her four vorpal swords. Along with two more sheathed at her hips. Oh! And the heads could be thrown, casting fireball wherever they land! I'd make this Marilith look like Britney Spears with the tail of an albino serpent. Why not give her some sorcerer/rogue levels too?
Why not telekinetically juggle the heads, while simultaneously vorpal fencing with six limbs? And every head that is decapitated at the end of a lost dual "IS" the reload to that fire ball action. So she can take on infantry and bombard archers at the same time. And make her a bard(high level.) aswell while your at it. I really like your idea, you've inspired me. She fights her own battles, herself. she sings her own songs, about herself. She covers her own arse, herself. She takes what she wants, by herself. And she convinces and talks her own self into everything. 👍
Like the idea but if you do this against nonlv20 party you're evil
1:35 hodor, hodor!
One of my favourite creatures, never fought one though
I feel sorry for the poor bastard who unfortunately catches their eye.
In my campaign a half orc bardbarian decided to try and seduce one it worked a bit too well
Aw man, badass intro!
2E Planescape did a gloriously twisted and satisfying job of relating the chaos inherent in the relationship between the nalfeshnee, marilith, and balor breeds of tanaar'ri. The nalfeshnee had the edge in intelligence but were petulant, the marilith was the tactical field commander of the assembled demonic hordes and thought they should be running the show, and the balor was the charismatic and personally powerful mover and shaker driving Abyssal aggression towards the rest of the multiverse at the behest of a demon lord or prince. None of them liked one another and they spent much of their time and energy screwing with one another's plans.
Devils were far fewer in number, but when it came to projecting power and influence on the Prime Material plane they usually got a lot more done than the demons because of non-stop demonic in-fighting. Good times!
Excellent summary!
Imo, nothing will ever rival Planescape in terms of creative ingenuity, or simply the capacity to create such a compelling and fascinating setting. It's why I took an interest in the fluff of D&D at all. I don't keep up with WotC, but I've heard they're going to reinvent it like they did with Spelljammer, and I really hope that isn't the case. They're just Murphy's law incarnate at this point.
Yet the love remains.
Love is EVERYTHING.
This is what we live for, a magnificent GM outlay.
TY!
that's why you send paladins and not petty wizards.
Anathema marilith hybrid would be an absolute nightmare to battle
she'd thrive on twitch
Marilith bathwater for sale.
My favorite race/demon in DnD and Pathfinder
In my home-brew campaign: the Serpent Islands. There is a Succubus, that is under the disguise of a traveling Sword-master. Funny enough, she is less interested in sex and seduction, but revels in combat and swordplay and testing characters ability to fight. She is a forward scout for a much more powerful villain. I now have an idea of who her boss is.
I hate to break it to you AJ, but they aren't second to Balors. They're equal to Balors. And everytime I've had the two fight, a marilith will give the balor a serious kicking to the teeth
Commissar Chaplain Radke
Love reigns above all, even for the hateful Balor. Ofc Balor succumb, despite their hate.
Rare would be those would/could succeede her power.
A Balor that could succeed her draw would be rare, and withdrawn.
That said, the war is epic.
Truthfully, demons have no rankings. Whoever is strongest is in charge.
Both mariliths AND nalfeshnee consider themselves superior to balors, whom they view as brutish bullies, but in the Abyss, brutish bullies tend to admired far more than smarts. Even by some marilith, as the comic book story that was included in Hellbound: the Blood War" shows. Often, a marilith might be something of "the power behind the throne" to a balor king, but not always.
I definitely think Mariliths wouldn't wield all six swords. They'd probably have a grappling whip, at least one throwable weapon like a trident or spear, two swords for parrying, and maybe a greatsword or other two-handed weapon.
Their weapon choice gives the GM an opportunity for personalization. Your loadout could be for a eminently practical and flexible demon. Whereas one who enjoy torture might arm themselves with whips, nets, cudgels and a variety of nonlethal or trapping weapons. Another might arm themselves with weapons from fallen foes and boast about the defeat of previous owners. A particularly vainglorious one might arm themselves with impractical but glittery showpieces to accentuate her beauty (perhaps one of her arms holds a mirror!). Along the bragging line, a literary type might reserve two arms for a parchment and pen, and chronicle her victories as they occur, administering the coup de grace with a vicious pen stab. Demons at this level should be individuals, and the weapon choice is one way to demonstrate it.
*_FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS?!_*
They're thic
I know I'm a little late, but to put this into perspective:
The average male green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) weighs 148.5kg (330lb) and grows to around 6m (19.7ft) long, though this is just observed specimens, there could very well be larger members of the species. The green anaconda, while not the longest member of the Serpentes Suborder (that honour belonging to the reticulated python), it is still the heaviest.
That the marilith weighs on average 1814.4kg (4000lb), is a testament to both its sheer size (where the serpentine part of the demon should reach from 30 to 50 feet when completely uncoiled, and be 3-5 feet thick) and the unholy *density* of its musculature. If a marilith constricts a regular human, that human now has sand where their bones should be, assuming their organs weren't turned to strawberry jam or squeezed out like toothpaste. Armour that isn't magical or made of adamantine would buckle, break, and crumple under the pressure of the demon's coils. *This does not take into account any magic or abyssal alchemy the marilith would rightly have on their horrifically resplendent person.*
Assuming all my estimations are somewhat accurate, it is no wonder why the marilith are second only to the Balors and Princes of the Abyss.
@@WarMonger_the-One-and-Only I perfectly understand the reasoning, but it's still no less disturbing.
These are my favorite demons thanks for the extra information. I will be unleashing a marilith on my party as soon as I can
clever mythology and narrative; her magnetism of leadership is an interesting unique ability despite her "instinct" to eliminate all possible future threats.
YAY! Mariliths! Gotta add this one to "Watch Later" to make sure I don't miss any of it!
I was waiting on this one. Wonderful work as always the intro was 👌👌
Marilith
Daughters of Lilith
So the 3rd strongest. "Hell yeah".
nice use of the marilith that drizzit fought
Demons always mess with peoples minds
I love your series. Any chance of an ice devil video any time soon?
For sure! I really like them.
Well, time to play a Yuan Ti.
Public poll: who would in a death match
The featured creature, a Marilith or a Lamia?
Hope I spelled those out right.
The Maritlith would chop any Lamia to pieces, but the Lamia would most likely just bow and serve a Marilith and allow her to kill her or make demands.
@@That80sGuy1972 "Bow down" 😏
Best place to put these is armouries & barracks- area of assured death
Great video, I loved the intro!
These might be my favorite demon, and it's so cool to learn more about them. I'm going to have to use that boulder drop tactic.
Love that intro story!! 😈😈
My first encounter with 1 was the marilith Yxunomei in icewind dale. the party was battle wary from fighting an army of yuan ti. It freaked me out cuz i did not expect the little girl to turn into a (insert height here) foot tall demon snake woman with 6 hands who had high hp magic res and immunity to normal weapons and more minions.
Sweet, I always love more demons!
Can't wait for your Balor and Pitfiend videos!! Love your channel and content.
I thought this was a devil, refreshed my reference.
a marilith would make a great Japanese hibachi chef.
Or great at anything that would benefit from its practitioner having six arms. If I were to run a campaign like Descent Into Avernus, I'd definitely have a marilith masseuse (person who gives massages) somewhere in there.
@@JanusHoW actually, since posting that I've read the tvtropes page for "multi-armed multitasking," which point out that certain parts of such a creature's brain would have to be many times bigger just to keep track of where all these arms are in relation to eachother. after all, us two-armed folk have a bit of trouble just patting out heads and rubbing our stomachs at the same time.
I wonder if this could be a twisted version of a Naga, maybe one of the forms or leftovers from a Naga God that asmodeus conquered?
Ya know, I just finished the “Queen of the Demon Web Pitts” audio novel and the Marilith in there just weirded me out so bad haha. She was actually nothing like what AJ is talking about here even to the point of cowering for her life at a few points. She was a bookworm and it just struck me as so……. Weird. Then I realized that The Paul Kidd GreyHawk books are essentially someone’s DnD campaign in written form and I quickly got over it.
The "marilith" makes an appearance in the latest Drizzt novels. Highly recommend...
Yeah, lore from novels is fairly low on the reliability scale, and that is fine, Authors should have as much creative freedom as they want.
This is why I don't believe in the alignment system on an individual level, only as a group, which is why I liked the addition of the word "typically" before an alignment instead of removing the whole concept. The D&D universe is too large and diverse to not have the odd creature that goes against suggested alignment.
Just as Celestials fall, so can Fiends rise.
To be fair, in that book the marilith in question is cowering from Lolth, the titular Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Even greater demons recognize when they’re in danger. Also she does end up slicing and dicing a vampire, albeit off-page. I liked her, she was kind of sweet.
@@snakemilthescienceeel2565 and I get that. I guess in my head a demon might not know fear but they would understand caution. And as such my head cannon would have a demon as strong as a maralith be more prone to acquiescing and placating the demon lord in question rather than outright cowering. Or at the very most being twitchy and agitated at the prospect of getting killed by their leader.
4:02 pathfinder marilith !!! also 4:54 that's an awesome image
4:54 I thought so aswell.
Basically a D&D version of "Drakaina" Najsu, charming, deadly snake lady.
AJ Pickett, a question. Ignoring the watering down of alignment in 5e; what would a Marilith be like if someone managed to get a Helm of Opposite Alignment on her head and she failed her save? How would her personality change? Would she become a pacifist? What do you think?
After a long period of screaming and writhing around in absolute despair, she would most likely attempt to decapitate herself, knowing she is beyond all redemption and unable to live with the remorse for her eons of murder and vile actions, she will lament that there is no escape for her either. Opportunistic player characters might convince her to give up a significant portion of her demonic power before she destroys herself, though she may not want to, knowing such power will only result in more evil.
@@AJPickett Interesting. Could anyone or anything convince her not to kill herself, and instead make amends by saving lives? Now I kind of have this weird mental image of a good aligned marilith that's taken her need to cut and slash along with a vow of pacifism, choosing to take up the scalpel and become the best surgeon in the realms. XD
@@AJPickett thats pretty damned accurate AJ! I personally believe other demons would destroy her immediatly upon sensing the "goodness" in her!
Hmm I always interpreted demons as propagators of chaos and evil rather than just defined by those traits. I believe she would just become a soldier of justice and good rather than kill herself. That being said she would probably be beheaded by another demon almost instantly
In Paul Kidd's "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" Lolth had one as a secretary/assistant. It was pretty funny. In the first book they had an Erinyes.....could you do a video on Erinyes? : )
I have talked a little about them in my series on the nine hells, but I have not made a video specifically about them yet. They are pretty fearsome entities.
Thank you for the shout out🤗🤗👍🏼👍🏼💯
What is the source for that initial story about the Marilith and the cultists? I've read it before but can't remember where.
Probably a dragon magazine or tyrants of the nine hells or the demonomicon
Marilith must die. The amount of wipes a well prepared Marilith is capable to deliver is a number high enough to rival Elministers age.
I have a question to AJ. I have read (I believe in a monster book, 3rd/3.5 edition, I cannot remember) which says the Marilith knows when they are or can avoid being seen by Diviners. Is this true? Did you find any data on this? I've put it into my worlds lore that Mariliths knows it, but generally finds it amusing, showing whoever is looking their body in "seductive" poses - before lashing out with a psionic scream. (Think Banshee, just mental.)
Which deals 4d10 with an easy save to half damage taken.
Also AJ, another question if you don't mind. You said Mariliths will engage in Alliances, can you specify what that would include in your opinion? "You and I shall devour X and Y but I want the super-cookie-maker" or something along those lines?
I did not encounter that fact in my research.
With all these demons can you please do a video on everyone’s favorite former prince of demons, miska the wolfspider
So I guess would be some the top demons in Blood war conflicts.
DuskyPredator yeah there one of the toughest demons in the game, only beat out by Balors, Molydeuses, Sibriexs, and the Demon Lords in strength.
I recall they were often employed as generals by the Demon Lords, for their tactical intelligence and sword-swinging capability.
That mage shoulda cast teleport without error.
She was probably terrified beyond the capacity for logical thought.
So, she lost her head twice.
Brilliant, thanks mate!
Ah the Waifu Demon. I don't like there appearance I like my demons monstrous they should not be human or human-esque so I would give them these creepy faces neither fully woman neither fully snake but an uncanny hybrid between the two with snake like mouth the dissents to several times the length of their body to intimate foes or eat large prey.
Think you mean alu... Marilith would never submit. Not exactly waifu material for a weak lil weeb.
8:40 I had a pet orange Corn Snake that had these exact markings, haha
*sinister music, camera slowly zooms into eyes of the pet snake, one of them winks*
haha, I treated her really well. I think I'd be safe when she started her conquest of our city:P We'd probably witch places and then I'd be the pet
keep this up AJ ... wow everyone stellar
Thanks for this
Good video AJ
I wonder how many jokes will spawn from "thicc in that action" when talking about pretty snake lady, forbidden fruit indeed.
A Marilith and a Succubus confronted each other in the thicc of the action.........
Two very different meanings to the term "ripped his heart out"
CatholicDragoon
ERECT
You should do a video about that multiple possession demon lord you've home brewed, i think a marilith and lesser mariliths(r'riliths) army could give it a run for it's money. But that fight on a prime material plane would have no survivers. "The sword" verses "Infinite infilitration".
I wonder what kind of a powerful being could be created from combining the naga, yuan-ti and Marilith?
add a gorgon to that.
My campaign my ranger Bjorn has recently gone threw a curse leading to a transformation into marilith/medusa/ yuan-ti hybrid...
Throw in a hydra and it's even better.
my first impression of the marilith was kind of off putting when i but it beside a balor but now i kind of appreciate her much more as a feminint form of chaos and destruction which makes it a lot more understandable where it peaking order would be .
Exactly
with that in mind they literally are most fitting to be generals of demons . for a demon i wouldnt think of anything more inspiring , stunning and terrifying to see. a balor doesnt quite pull that off.
Adam Di'Cristofaro mariliths are the ideal couple for balors. Like pbnj
are they the peanut butter or the jelly?
A delicious sandwich is delicious regardless if one or the other is the peanut butter or the jelly.
I wonder how many ppl want to roll up a fiend pact bladelock now ? Because I do !
Marilith vs Beholder-who has the greater ego?
I'm going to call Marilith on that one, as the lesser Beholders are spawned from the nervous dreams of Beholders who feel inadequate. Marilith never doubt themselves.
Just caught up with the C-Team--now I feel I know why you picked this one :)
McHaven07 Same!
Right?!
Loved the vid A.J, can I convince you to do more of these intros but shorter?
The story intro stuff? We'll see, when I do write them, I am just trying to evoke a scene and a feeling out of them, so, I guess they are as long or as short as they need to be.
I made a half devil in 3rd Edition who was in a freaky three-way love triangle with one of these serpent b****** and a succubus needless to say they were both extremely possessive and jealous
Evil in general is possessive and incredibly jealous. An evil in love is willing to murder/ sacrifice half or an entire world just to make you happy. A demon's love is no different. It is a chaotic passionate affair the more passion you coax from them the less likely they will ever let you go willingly. A devil's love is obsessive, controlling and dominating. The passion is too dangerous to them so they have to control their lover by any means nessacary. Its funny in a way. Evil knows hate better than any other alignment but their very nature also makes it nearly impossible for them to understand that just as love can be poisoned and twisted into hate. The process can work backwards. Which is why the succubus falls for the paladin or the goody two shows cleric or other good.
ua-cam.com/video/k8jHXyWQeUM/v-deo.html "Spell Book of Pages" made me lol
Weird, our party took one on and she didn't seem that tough.
You probably have an inexperienced DM who doesn't know how to play Marilith to her full potential.
Your DM was kind or lazy
@@Zero8880 it was a sick marrileth
Can you do a video on psychic and mystics, and how they are different from other magic user's.
Sure.
1:35 looks like it's from a tv show or movie
It is, from Final Fantasy (I link to it no less than twice in this comment section, if you care to look for my replies down below)
women generals of the armies of hell towered over by the demon kings lol
So they have no inherent connection to the Yuanti or naga, they can just breed together?
"They can infect" would be a more accurate description. Demons don't have DNA, imagine it is more like the infusion of elemental energy into humanoids resulting in a Genasi, well, in this case it is the warped and evil power of the abyss, a corrupted elemental energy, that creates demonic, fell creatures, they are described as demon hybrids for convenience, but what they really are is mutated and twisted forms of life, corropted by abyssal energy.
One of my favorite she-demons😈😈😈!
*right now all i can picture is a bunch of swash buckling succubuses larping it out as cheer leaders shaking pom poms chanting "mar - ri - lith!" in a summoning circle, to the arival of a rather flattered such', weilding an ornate cutlass in each hand bearly mannaging to reach past the extra broad hat - facing down a rather nervous looking paladin counting on his suit of guilded enchanted neck to foot full plate armour with a helmet to see him though. with a rather old and macarb ghoulishly humoured robed chronicler behind him possitively giggling away at all the depraved wanton evils a said champion must face. chiming in with "dEmons also can summon dEmons!?!? though you have already put the cultests to the sword, they have already let "them" in... if only you had butched the poor innocent pleasure cultists faster and "she" wasn't unleashed... we both know that you will never defeat her... hyeh hyeh hyeh!!!" and the shifting sword. dancing marilith eventually whispering to the paladin "eye slits... it's got to be the eye slits. don't look at me like that shiny, i can't just go and lose now can i? the armours "not fare"..." to the chronicler gleefully cackling in with "hyeh hyeh hyeh' hyeh!? dEmons!? dEmons from hEell..." and the inevitable desprate & doomed dual that follows* hmmm, since you can make your own monsters in DnD I'm definitely putting together a lesser mini marilith as minions/foot soldiers for the former. this monster will not be wasted... not in the least.
also i wonder how a marilith would work with gorgons? as they share afew of the same tropes.
I can just imagine what their cheer would be:
"You all suck and we're all great!
D-d-d-decapitate!"
Brian Corvello "Too fool for luck bland thrall for bait!/E-e-e- eviscerate!/So tall unstuck? stand here dual gait!/A-a-a-annihilate!" At this point it's the opening soviet theme for C&C red alert 2. Six limbed archers really are deadly. In some ways it's worse than the fireball barrages.
@@thedarkmaster4747 Not bad....
Brian Corvello well i do have a mind for poetry.
I too would like to say, Awesome intro. It was truly brutal.
I would also very much like to listen to that song in full but I'm having trouble finding it. Is there any chance you could provide me with a link?
Either way, thanks for this new video!
Which song, the one in the background of the vid or the intro stinger.. the intro was specifically composed for this video series, link to the artist in on the end screen of the video. The background sound also comes from their website.
Ah, yes, and thank you!, I was thinking of the 'intro stinger'. I checked out the link but couldn't find the song on that person's channel - but it's because it was made specifically for you, I see... Well all I can say is I would love to hear more!
Hey mate so is the balor next?
Not yet.
So using the Third Edition rules I made a completely broken character I don't even think it's a legal character technically it's a half Celestial half gold dragon and according to the Third Edition rules that makes him immune to every energy type there is from electrical to fire to acid to sound because the celestials are immune to everything but fire and half gold dragons are immune to fire he counted as a natural sorcerer And as a natural cleric but his class so to speak was Paladin the only time I've ever played a paladin and needless to say it was the most fun character I've ever played but he took an extremely strict stance on his code he was a follower of Bahamut
Where is the image @1:32 from?
There is a Final Fantasy XV Anime that has this scene.
So I'm a bit late, but you should have talked about the Maralith that's two of them
Sorry what?
@@AJPickett Forgive me, I got it mistaken with a Pathfinder one, it was a Siamese Twin Maralith with 12 arms
@@Gabronthe yeah that one was cool and brutal as hell. But also only in PF. Unfortunately
@@AJPickett mariliths remind me of the whiplash from Doom Eternal
I watched this video because I wanted to know if a Marilith can be made from the soul of a man or not
guess I'll never know
Demons are embodiments of Chaos. I would say... yes.
@@briancorvello3620 opinion noted but what does Canon dnd lore say is what I need to know
I should probably google it
@@lyebatenkaitosofgluttony2452 Hard to say. The Planescape splat book Planes of Chaos says a demon's physical form can be almost anything, and that the sub-races in the Monster Manual are just the most common forms that mortals have catalogued. Seeing as the same source has details on a Guvner's project to catalogue the layers of the Abyss, with about half the layers marked "interdicted" (meaning mortals literally cannot survive there) it seems the common thread is, "no matter how horrible a mortal can imagine, the Abyss has something worse."
Although, that does bring up the question of the Slaadi, who are supposed to be embodiments of Pure Chaos, untainted by Good or Evil. Thing is, as a race, they have little individuality at all, having only five subspecies (seven if you count the White Slaad and Black Slaad from the Epic Level Handbook), all of which look like big, humanoid frogs, and all of them are predators driven solely by survival and hunger. (Compared to say, demons, which has dozens of known subspecies and a wide variety of bodily forms, shapes, and personalities.) Even devils and modrons (both Lawful planar races) show more variety in form and function and less conformity than the slaadi do.
I guess this sort of thing just isn't supposed to make sense...
@@briancorvello3620 slaadi are weird and could be done better
They're beings of pure chaos but then all of them are run by the death slaad who are evil and then there's the fact that it's super easy to determine exactly what a slaad will be like when making one and it will not deviate at all from their normal
And then there's the fact that all of them are easy to gain complete control over just by grabbing a funny gem
No mixing evil into my pure chaos!
And no making my pure chaos monsters too basic either!
Slaadi suck they could have been cool
Oh and I guess I'll never know and will continue to wonder about male marilitjs for the rest of eternity
Hey if you add some shirts to your merch can you include Talls. I'm XLT and I don't have a Mariliths figure to be showing off this belly.
The screen grab at 1.42 ... where is that from?
Looks like the FFXV animated movie. I forgot the exact name of it but it detailed the past of the three guys and a short on Noxtis avenging his mother from the demon attack. That demon just happens to be the snake lady in the screenshot.
ua-cam.com/video/sPXhQqkg5UA/v-deo.html
1:25 where is this from ?
ua-cam.com/video/sPXhQqkg5UA/v-deo.html
Thx dude, appreciate it.
Marilith Bodak
outsiders cant normally become undead do to the immunity to being raised.
XD oh look it's a marilith, they're so pretty... *slowly turns around* i bet this one will be truelly amazing... *BODAK FACE & STARE ATTACK* ... *orcus laughing ominously at your fate*
The content of this video was exceptional, as usual. The audio quality was a bit lacking
How do you know you're on the other side of the world?
Results may vary.
where is the picture from in 1:24 ?
Final Fantasy XV anime. I'll be honest I've only ever seen clip so I don't know if it's just a little featurette what part of a fuller movie
My dragonborn would called her butherhead
Comment
Love the videos, but half the time I just skip to the art.
Me to!
Still love your work, and I have listened to many videos while working on my own D&D things.
Excellent, I hope I inspire many wondrous ideas to share with your group.
where did you find/ and or can you tell me the artist and or origin of the image at 1:43
ua-cam.com/video/sPXhQqkg5UA/v-deo.html
I skipped the part at beginning that was like a story
y