Five Deadliest Legendary Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons 5e
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... These are five of the most fearsome and powerful monsters in the entire game, each with a deadly edge!
Thanks to the Hammerdog Games team for sponsoring this video! Working with great sponsors helps us continue making more content on UA-cam. Check out Denoa, World of Adventure by Hammerdog Games, live on Kickstarter through January 2020 here: bit.ly/denoa-ks.
4:32 Beholder
9:55 Sibriex
13:51 Shadow Dragons
18:33 Molydeus
21:22 Demilich
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The deadliest legendary monster will always be the Scheduling Conflict.
Once per day: Entire party makes a Charisma save vs. "Something just came up". Those who fail can't make it to the game session later
😢
If at least 3 of my 5 player can make it, we play
ain't it the truth.
facts
Monty: have monsters 3 to 5 levels above the characters
my party: almost total TPK against 4 goblins in the first round
Bro, my party literally took 8+ hours to kill 5 goblins and an orc
@@jordanhoadley7243 meanwhile my parties first session had us kill 5 goblins in three turns
ah yes, the total total party kill
@@jordanhoadley7243 4e?
7 players that are lv 4 KILLED A BEHOLDER
Beholders: Because having to choose between a death ray or a disintegration ray is lame.
@Matt Rondeau - Well, he is an “eye”-conic creature... 🥁🥁🥁
queenannsrevenge100 *loud groans from that pun*
@@queenannsrevenge100 Eye see what you did there.
@@queenannsrevenge100 Iris-ent you so much for that pun
@@queenannsrevenge100 That's a cornea joke than any I've heard in a long time.
The first time I ever killed a PC, it was because of a Shadow Dragon. Got two of them in one breath attack.
One of them was my fiancee.
I slept on the couch that night.
LordGavinGames F
Someone was salty lol
LordGavinGames I killed my wives cleric with one breath attack also... I’m seeing a pattern here.
In my current campaign, a couple of them have come dangerously close (1hp) type situations, and the pesky rogue has had more near death experiences than I can count. Im trying to be fair, but if they keep pulling this Houdini shit, I swear one of them is getting “smited by the gods.” *coughroguecough*
First time i killed a PC, it was a human paladin - wannabe oeathbreaker - in level 2. By goblins.
Next time i killed my gf's fighter, she died against some dark druids in lvl 3.
The last time (so far), was a girl's male half orc barbarian at lvl8, it was killed by failing 3 death saves after a battle versus some ghouls and 2 maurezhi.
It was all in the same campaign.
They will visit Avernus next time, just to get some levels before a beholder. In it's lair.
The party may not even get strong enough to fight these monsters if they don't survive the low-level legendary monsters known as "Tucker's kobolds."
I would have been severely disappointed in people if they hadn't remembered these.
They covered those in the low level deadly monster video
They did covet Tucker's Kobolds elsewhere, but I felt they did not really do justice to them. The main danger of Tucker's Kobolds is their use of tactics, terrain, and sheer numbers. This can be very difficult even for experienced DMs, but that's what makes them memorable.
I think Tucker's Kobolds, as a horde, deserve Legendary and Lair actions, which would really amp them up, while potentially actually reducing the complexity.
This was hilarious to watch with subtitles. Favorite replacements for Sibriex: Soup Reacts, Cyber Axe, and Slippery Axle.
My favorite: "The lich 'ass rock'" - well, that's a tellingly name, albeit not very flattering. :D
Hammer dog games lol
I ALWAYS have the captioning on. It is hilarious!!!
What about all the snacks at D&D sessions? I always fail my CON save and feel awful the next day.
That might need its own video. ;)
@@RaiderAvian that definitely needs it's own video. Snacks are very deadly
too much carbs, not enough water.
You obviously need to make a Will save to keep from eating it. 😁
CC:
" Deme lich"
"Danny lich"
"Debbi lich"
"Demolicious"
"Demiurge"
"Demi litter"
"damage is"
villain group
Screamy skull boi
Demolicious sounds like it could be a fun new word and now I can't help but wonder what it could potentially mean. xD
After playing weekly for over 5 years with nearly 250 sessions we had a battle hardened and well experienced group of six Level-20-characters. There were no monsters that could shock us. And then we met the Molydeus. First he charged my Dragonborn Sorcerer and crit-killed him with a single blow. The Elven Ranger wanted to pass him by and received a critical opportunity attack. Two really heavy playercharacters - killed in the first round of the battle. The rest of the group fled...
That sucks lol
Were you resurrected?
@@durnsidh6483 Yes. The druid succesfully fled and ressurected both of us.
Smart party
How did you get away?
I have learned first hand on the differences in legendary creatures.
I had a huge Green dragon, but the cleric had pre-buffed the party with hero's feast, which kind of nullifies the dragon's greatest advantages.
I did also throw a Lich (not the demi- variety) at the party as well (later in the campaign), but they have 4 casters (Cleric - War / Wizard - Transmuter / Sorcerer - Gold Dragon / Warlock - Hex Blade) and basically counter spelled it to death (And Hero's feast again can stop some spells as well). The wizard negated necrotic grasp (the ability that gave the party the most trouble), by opening a demi-plane (lvl 8 spell).
Once it was destroyed The cleric prayed for a miracle for the phylactery to be destroyed and rolled a 10 on a d100 (then Bahamut then cast Gate for the cleric targeting the lich (which is now in the phylactory) and the party destroyed it - (the party was in the Shadowfell and the phylactery was hidden on the material plane)).
Now the party has access to level 9 spells, and I am going to have to borrow the shadowdragon to pose much of a threat to the party (the others would not make much narrative sense). (4 casters makes it really tough at high levels, because most enemies only have 3 legendary resists and all 4 casters have save or suck spells).
Try a Spell-casting Ancient Gold Shadow Dragon. Pretty crazy lair actions, and you can give it up to like level 8 spells IIRC. You're in the endgame, why not go ham with the monsters.
I think the easiest way to challenge a 4 caster party is wearing them down with mooks, be it as ambushes or simply having a lot of threats in that one big fight :) It might be lame to simply wear out their resources I guess, so personally a much bigger fan of the second variant :P
But that being said I think your stories sound awesome regardless, I don't really view their epic battles and luck as a problem tbh :) As long as everyone is having a blast ^^
@@Micras08 The Huge Dragon was not alone, it had a small army of kolbolds, 11 green half dragons and 1 large green dragon. They party had 7 encounter before hand mostly of kobolds and half-green dragon veteran (variant on the half red, CR5, 65 HP, 18 AC, 2 attacks). The biggest pre boss was a custom Green dragon sorcerer that had a ring of invisibility that ambushed. The Wizard is a controller/utility and locked down the ancient dragon at the word go with force cage, while his simulacrum told all the body gaurds to run away ( the dragon born). The sorcerer & Cleric nuked the kobolds while the warlock kept the large occupied. After that the wizard locked down the large dragon with wall of force (He held action until the warlock had cast sickening radiance first).
Once the large dragon realized he was taking exhaustion levels he pleaded for his life so the party accepted (polymorphed into a goldfish and into a bowl). the ancient refused to admit she was bested so the party wore down the legendary resistances and the sorcerer gambled on dominate monster and won. The wizard then teleported the group & hostages to a high temple to Bahmut were an ancient Gold could pass judgement (The party is trying to save their city from a dragon war, and the cleric realized if they kill an ancient Green, that pretty much seals the deal on dragons wiping out everything they care about, just so the young mortal races don't get any ideas).
All in all it is alot of fun. I am just trying to come up with foes and encounters that can challenge them (in all fairness if initiative had turned out differently or if they were up against a non-poison breathing dragon this enounter would have turned out much differently).
@@ianmorse9381 That is a pretty good idea. I like the idea that the cleric of Bahamut has to redeem a fallen gold dragon. It does not get spells, but it can polymorph into any beast or humanoid with less CR (a base ancient Gold is CR 24, so an archmage is a valid choice so would Drow Matron).
@@chaosburger307 Oh for sure, sounds like there was a lot of lucky rolls as well :)
But I totally feel you, sometimes it's just impossible to challenge your party because they are really smart about their tactics, really lucky that evening or a combination of both :P
It's a struggle, but a fun one :D
this is why you hug a paladin when you are low
But that strokes the already massive ego of the paladin. And if prefer to die then make my friends paladin a cocky bitch
Yes my friend, wrap your arms around us and be intertwined with your salvation.
You guys should do a Deadliest Named legendary creatures(not like the tarrasque, but those demon lords/arch devils, Gods[theirs only one stated god I think?], etc) it would be a interesting topic to go through
there are a ton of named gods
@@jschlatt167 yes but there are only a few stated in 5e
@@nickh3205 no, if you look at the back of the players handbook theres a ton of them
@@jschlatt167 only a few have actual statistics, you know monster statistics
Demogorgon, Fraz Urb'luu, Graz'zt, Orcus, Zariel.
Had a shadow dragon on the wing use its breath attack to Devastate almost two dozen people using a flyby death attack. Not only did all 24 victims dye, they arouse as shadows right after.
Getting ready to run my first big campaign this Saturday I'm Running SKT can't wait to use some tips I've picked up from you guys!
Best of luck!
Good luck and have fun! I start a homebrew campaign next friday, level 1 to about 10 or 11. It's gonna be a great year lol.
@@T3h_Marganus yeah we are gonna try for once a week it's going to be fun
God luck ad have fun
We'll be going bi-weekly with ~3 hour sessions. And of course it'll be fun. It's D&D!
We had a Demi Lich in a one shot we played for Halloween but luckily I had just picked up a luck blade with one charge in it and I wished that sucker to Menzobarrenzon 👍
HA!!!! I hope it was a male Demi Lich!!! Otherwise, it might have either joined the Drow, or the Drow may have joined it.
Hang onna minnit... Doesn't Drizzt come from Menzo.?
@@Raz.C yes. But its drizzit you uncultured swine. How very dare you sir.
@@johnathanera5863
I haven't seen him for almost twenty years! I'm entitled to misspell his name, following such an absence. Coincidentally, though, I did run into one of his scimitars two years ago, so I can't help but wonder what happened to him...
@@Raz.C last time I've seen him I pickpocketed his +3 scimitar somewhere along the sword coast
@@Mikey-zj8bn
Was that in a small town just west of Naskell? I think I remember reading about that...
sibriex: how could one of such a feeble mind ever hope to escape from the hordes of the abyss?
Drakkenforce handled a beholder pretty nicely
One of the most devastating things is having a demilich with the optional ability to literally steal/imprison the soul of characters
Watching this on half speed is like talking to two dudes drunk at a party, and the dude on the right is trying to seduce me.
I'm going to start doing this on every video I watch from now on.
Drunk. Talkin' 'bout monsters.
Suspiciously specific
Double speed makes them sound like those fast talking animators
Me: *plays at 2x speed*
"Something's wrong I can feel it."
Jupiter Jones: Yeah, I'd say sibriexes are pretty deadly...
@Erdi Erdmaennchen105 He will live on in our hearts and in Caspian legend.
Oh I may start listening again!
I hear that Pluto Jackson killed an entire Bridge of Sibriexes.
@@euansmith3699 I hear he killed a throne room of Sibriexes and a bridge of minotaurs, and his friend Sebastian burned a courtyard of paladins!
@@evanabney3659 And yet, both of them speak in awed tones of the damage output of someone called Veo Sjena! :O
Oh, and them "Paladins"... I hear they had it comin'.
Might be late to the party, but an interesting note for something you mentioned during the Shadow Dragon segment: Daylight doesn't actually produce sunlight despite its name, so isn't as effective against the dragon as you'd expect. It helps prevent the resistance, but doesn't induce disadvantage on attacks. Even if the party thinks it is prepared and ready with daylight, you can still surprise them and devastate the party with a Shadow Dragon, especially if you abuse the bonus action hide and kite the party.
Thats why I love the spell Dawn
My friends and I took on and beat Tomb of Horrors in Adventurer's League. We fought Acerak he killed half the party with soul trap. Demiliches especially Acerak are terrifying. We will fully kitted out full resources and the fight was still brutal.
Ripcord303 how many were in your party?
@@58847436 There were five of us the boss was clearly juiced up too. It was an Epic fight all that was left were my Archer and the Bard. We were like a duo and he was obsessed romantically with my character. My guy was pretty stoic though. The bard was able to get the last shot in it was hilarious because whenever he cast magic missle he said "boom boom missle" that finished the boss.
Absolutely loved this video - i think you have nailed 5 of the deadliest monsters, especially that Demilich!! Keep up the shows, i find them all very interesting and informative as a player and a DM
I love springing Legendary Actions on new players, it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine as a DM.
Player: “Wait, it’s not the vampire’s turn, why is it moving towards me?”
Me: “I’m about to teach you a new game mechanic, my friend.”
When I run a beholder encounter, I use the petrification ray to alter the battlefield. I let it create a 5 foot block of stone, so the melee characters can start climbing the manipulated field and get closer to the flying beholder
PinkCanoeDaVagoo very nice
Why would a beholder actively shape its surroundings in a way that makes it more likely to die.
@@wafl7212 this is if the characters pass their saving throw. I flavor it as the day didn't fully hit the PC and turns the area behind them into this giant block of stone. It allows a terrain that the players can strategize
I doubt I'll DM for or play against any of these terrors soon. But thanks for videos like this. As a new DM, I find high level monsters intimidating to run. So many abilities, spells, etc that it feels overwhelming. Nice to see this stuff broken down to basics.
16:29
Krillin: SOLAR FLARE
-it's extra funny cause GTs shadow dragons-
Take a shot for every time Monty says the word “outright”
You guys should do a podcast, I just love to hear you two talk
Wait you guys don’t give *EVERY* creature legendary actions and resistances?!
Inquisitor Thomas that blind elderly kobold? Yeah he just chose to resist your Hold Person.
Ben Holeman You know the old saying, “Beware the Old man in a job where most men die young.”
You guys are getting healing?
Inquisitor Thomas that’s what I’m talkin about!
Something might point to a homebrewed boss tea
So glad you put beholders in here, even though their classic status might've made them obvious. The CR is technically correct, and if the DM plays one brainlessly it shouldn't be too bad, but if you read all the beholder lore and set up the fight in a way that actually makes sense considering the creature's paranoia and intellect, it should be an incredibly challenging fight even for a tough group of well-prepared players. The beholder already thought of their tactics, and has plans for that.
I think the best example of a creature getting really amped up through legendary status is the vampire. I had a group of players who encountered vampire spawn and dealt with them without much issue, but when I played the actual vampire as smart as his stats and age would indicate, with legendary actions and henchmen at his disposal, it was a very near TPK. Legendary resistances and actions are a force multiplier, and are even more deadly in the hands of a really tactical monster.
We fought ancient red dragon. On an island that was hovering 2000m above the landscape. We managed to transform it into a fish and throw it off. He took about 1000 fall damage.
In third edition, I cast polymorph on a beholder and it miraculously failed it's save. I turned into a fish and it suffocated because it can't turn off it's floating ability. :P
@satsunada That won't work, it will drop to 0 hitpoints and turn back into beholder. The same goes for the dragon, it would turn back into a dragon before hitting the ground
@@exantiuse497 Not before the hitting ground. It would hit the ground, take the full fall damage, and go to 0 on its Polymorphed form's hp. Then the overflow would go to its normal form, which would bring their normal hp down to 0 as well.
@@DerUberGaijan Read the rules regarding drowning in DnD. You'll go unconcious after 1+(your Con modifier) minutes, then your hitpoint will fall to zero after 1+(your Con modifier) rounds (minimum of 1). Drowning usually applies to characters falling in water, but it also applies to fish taken away from the water
A fish would most likely have a Con modifier in the negatives (e.g. a quipper, which has Con of 9 and Con modifier of -1), meaning it would fall unconcious immediately and then fall to 0 HP after one round, or 6 seconds, which isn't enough for it to fall from the sky, so it would revert back mid-fall
I've been so sick today. So glad a video came out to distract me! Thanks, dudes!
You guys are awesome. I havd been DMing for a little over a year and your channel is so helpful for a newer DM. Your tips have helped me create my own world for my players
Pro Tip: Never roll their eye rays randomly. Pick the ones that make the battle feel the best.
Pro tip right here, I petrified one of my players and realized I had pretty much just killed him. I retconned some bulshit in and said they found a spell scroll that contained the spell to revert the condition, but I learned that day to be very wary of "kill buttons" like that.
My group just killed a beholder. We only lost 7 allies. Rest In Peace bomboom.
you guys can make anything sound very appealing.
I like to add a greed enthrall to (valuable) cursed items. Playing alignment as the advantage or disadvantage based on alignment. The demiliches gems would be beautiful for this. Of course even if you fail using divine intervention can force success despite yourself.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Beholders are a classic, but the other creatures sound very spicy and fun as well :D Good stuff, Dudes!
Year long campaign I DM for 7 playerss just ended with a TPK against Lord Soth, a powerful death knight. Excited to see what made it here :D
Please make more of this series! I’ve greatly enjoyed the low, medium, and high CR monsters and I’ll be using a lot of these in a new campaign I’m making.
Demilich is like Kid Buu. Technically weaker than the form you're familiar with, but somehow more deadly.
It makes no sense that the Sibriex and Molydeus have legendary powers but not the Pit Fiend and Balor, who are suppose to be at the top of the Devil and Demon, respectively, hierarchy.
crankysmurf To be fair, the Molydeus is actually above even the Balor in the demon hierarchy - it is essentially a demon lord’s emissary and chief enforcer; according to its description, its snake head serves as a direct link to their respective demon lords, allowing them to literally be the ‘voice’ of their master. Because of that, the Molydeus is the closest thing to a demon lord without it actually being a demon lord.
Andrew Dinse in addition to that, a sibriex is one of the oldest and most cunning creatures in the multiverse, it just makes sense that they’d have legendary status.
meanwhile the balor and the pit fiend are both kind of... boring? they just don’t feel very inspired to me
@@Hazel-xl8in the Balor is my fav dnd monster.
Sibriex is one of the oldest demon types. Molydeus is more powerful than a balor. Makes sense.
@@kelliechristinadick9623 Back in the day, Molydei were basically unkillable. 90% straight up magic immunity and immunity to normal AND magical weapons. I've had balors and pit fiends dropped on the party, but never one of those. It was as close to being a god as you could get without being one. Furthermore their axe is vorpal meaning instant decapitation on a natural 17, no save, and was considered +5 for overcoming resistances.
In the 2E description, their job was to police the True Tanar'ri and murder their asses if they so much detected a hint of cowardice or desertion. Kind of ironic how the forces of chaos rely on this internal policing, but if you think about it, the only way to force compliance out of hordes of CE scum is by terrorizing them into submission. It was put in the game for the purpose of hard countering every other demonic creature in the game.
Old school D&D planar creatures were just terrifying. Even something like the lowly succubus had full fire immunity, magical weapon immunity +2, and 40% chance of gating in a balor.
Our GM threw a Beholder at our group during the Rise of Tiamat campaign last year. We didn't realize the anti-magic field affected our magic weapons, armor, & items too. So all those + attack & damage roll perks were GONE!
My multiclass Ranger/Rouge relied HEAVILY on his Sharpshooter Feat to deal damage.
Can't wait until my lvl 4 sorcerer to be able to take one of these on (...hopefully at least a few levels higher)
Last session we fought 2 fire giants one of them being a dreadnaught and while these aren't considered particularly deadly as the only sorta tank(pali/bard/barb multiclass) in our lvl 10 party of 4 it was for me quite scary as after 1 round of combat I was at 15% health it was such a intense and fun combat encounter. Which I survived thanks to the druid.
Brock Smith fire giants are not to be underestimated. I had one down a level 18 player due to getting a terribly timed crit on an opportunity attack. If not for the bard he guranteed would have died before his next turn.
@@christopherclubb9167 I myself would never underestimate them and am not surprised they took down such a high lvl PC. My lvl 10 PC Levi had never dealt with them before only read a bit and didn't know what to expect but was counting on Bahamut to give him strength in this case it worked 😁
Brock Smith the crazy part is that this was a medium encounter on the way to the actual boss fight in the dungeon. It should not have been a big deal, but the giant was rolling well and I rarely fudge rolls unless it would derail the plot
@@christopherclubb9167 yeah rolling crits is especially devastating now that implemented the rule the @dungeon_dudes suggested. I love seeing both the faces of elation when a crit is rolled and those of utter horror when a crit is rolled against them. They all want adamantine armor now 😂
So basically, ensure you take CON saving throw proficiency....
If you are a spellcaster of any type. Take resilient(con) and warcaster. Both will save you countless times
@@Dice_and_Beans My aberrant mind sorcerer has the Eldritch Adept feat instead. The Eldritch Mind invocation is better than Warcaster for concentration saves because it's not relying on taking damage for the advantage
Another way to make a dragon more threatening instead of making them a shadow dragon is to allow them to use the variant spellcasting rules found in the Monster Manual. An ancient red dragon capable of casting 8th level spells could be scary. Scarier still would be a spellcasting ancient red shadow dragon, who given the way the variant spellcasting rules in the MM work (maximum spell level = the dragon’s challenge level divided by 3, rounded down) could cast 9th level spells.
Casting blindness on a beholder be like
Now i'm imagining a beholder forgeting which stock does what, like
Beholder: DEATH RAY!!! (Uses charm ray) FUCK!!!
Love the list guys. I'd love to see a list of monsters that arent as bad to fight as they appear to be.
the kraken, for starters
Happy New year dudes! Great video as always!
Cool video guys, a few more suggestions for more video in this line: more rank and file 15+ monsters, monster tactics and how to properly use minions in higher level play (sorta like how the ratling where used in your video recently), and a real look at all those little variant rules like dragon spell casting and demon summoning.
you kinda missed one of the deadliest monster, bag of devouring, it's save or die
The Bag of Devouring is a magic item, not a monster.
But a great waste management system for a smart party of adventurers! 😉
The bag of devouring.. or as we refer to it.. a portable guiatine
@@nightflame69 guillotine
New to D&D beholders seem like a MaraBola from Final fantasy amped up to the Nth degree
Beholders fought in lair is a virtually unbeatable creature. A random eye ray every six seconds, the entire time the party explores long before they even get to the beholder itself.
That's not how Lair actions work, at all.
That's also not possible even using lair actions PROPERLY because it takes 18 seconds for an eye ray to be able to be used again. A beholder has to rotate thru its entire lair action repertoire before using it again.
Good list although as an old school player (going back to the 80s) I miss when demi liches were hard core. The 1e and 2e versions where someone died every round no save.
that just sounds like bad design
@@Hazel-xl8in The earlier editions were more DM vs players
Keep in mind Daylight as written is not Sunlight. You can rule it is as a DM but that's giving a fairly accessible tool to players at low level that basically nullifies many powerful monsters like Vampires, Drow, or shadow dragons. When they're not supposed to get those tools until Dawn which is a 5th level spell or 4 character levels later.
Hardest fight my party has had was against what I think is a Bone Devil (DM never confirmed but it fits the description)
My Tabaxi Druid was able to finish it off by wild shaping into a Giant Constrictor Snake and constricting/suplexing it into my previously cast Moonbeam. It took like 5 tries on the constrict roll but man it came through.
I.E. a new boss encounter sponsored by Dungeon Dudes!
I been making my own homebrew world to dm for my group and the five deadly mid-level monsters and this videos been a big help.
I would have no idea how to play this. But I would enjoy going to a dnd night and see the creativity and the geeky ness you dudes do. I have no skill in RP but, man would my mind build a world so fast.
Have you checked out their series? Campaign 1 (Dungeons of Drakkenheim) had 52 episodes, campaign 2 (Shadows of Drakkenheim) started earlier this year with a small break of 2 part episodes while they got used to playing online.
Local news: Shadow dragon dies to elemental adept
That sibriex is an utter nightmare
Small point of correction: the daylight spell will not affect the shadow dragon because the daylight spell does not produce sunlight.
I’ve seen a party of 7 level 7-8 characters dropped by a tpk by a ambush by a black dragon..
Sunlight hits the Sunlight sensitivity trait. However normal light beats living shadow and shadow stealth. So a few daylights in a lair forces the dragon to take regular damage instead of half and makes hiding much harder.
In a D&D 2ed campaign, in the final battle I sacrificed myself by using the retributive strike.
The deadliest monster is the Dungeon Master
16:32 The Daylight spell does not create sunlight, only bright light, so it will not affect the Shadow Dragon’s sunlight sensitivity (it will still get rid of Dim light and darkness in parts of the lair, though)
I haven't played for a while and I haven't encountered Beholders except in system 1 and 2, but I am suddenly wondering if any party following the rules. Met up with a beholder played like a genius well-prepared creature in its lair, and actually won without the DM fudging some stuff. By genius, I mean something that plans ahead for well equipped powerful parties and uses lair design, minions, and strategy to attack the party's weak points and negates their strengths. Uses traps, ambushes, defenses, stealth, illusions, defense magic beyond it innate powers and well prepared strategic retreat to determine when, where and how the battle will happen.
Almost any monster would be much deadlier if you treated it this way, but the combination of extreme intelligence, unusual powers, control of minions, elaborate lairs and paranoia would seem to make beholders even more deadly than a well-played dragon.
I had a group of mostly new players and wanted to give them a good introduction to the dragon part of d&d. I ended up using the spellcasting variant, and damn invisible dragons are no joke. I went the whole nine yards. Opened the fight with a surprise round breath attack, grabbed and dropped PCs, kobold archers for support, a surprise 2nd dragon! They managed to kill one, and now there's an invisible dragon with a grudge against them out there somewhere.
Fought a Sibriex as a Hexblade. Early in the campaign I acquired Black Dragon Scale Mail and a Periapt of Proof Against Poison. The DM was sitting there helpless as I dished out my extreme DPS because the Sibriex was unable to get solid damage and their warping effects couldn't even give me exhaustion.
Trap soul is an insane ability. I think it kinda forces the party in a due or die situation or the party member is gone.
I'm curious: How come the Tarrasque didn't make this list?
The Tarrasque isn't that crazy of a legendary monster as written. It can't cast spells, and is basically just a big melee fighter. A party of high enough level characters could slay it pretty easily.
Comparatively speaking, the Tarrasque isn't really that deadly -- it can deal a lot of damage in melee, but that's basically it. It is overpoweringly deadly when pitted against much, much, lower level PCs as an environmental threat, but even characters as low as 13th level or higher could handily dispatch the Tarrasque.
@@DungeonDudes Well, there you go. I haven't played D&D since 1997 I think, game has changed, haha. Thanks for the answer. I very much enjoy your content even though I've stopped playing. Keep it up!
@@rconnor2006 Thanks for answering. Back in my day those kind of monsters where a pain as well, haha.
@@JoeyKneecap power creep is the cancer in D&D since the begining, without the newly introduced legendary actions it was even more. Get a possibility of flying and kill it with ranged weapons = you have to build a new house for your new trophy.
Totally making a 1 shot that starts right after a battle with a demilich where a (npc) member of the group is sucked into a head gem and now the group has less than 24 hours to find the demilich and save their friend.
I love your vids dungeon dudes ! Thx for making them !
Molydeus, molydeus! Mo...lydeus, mo-mo-molydeus! Rock me, molydeus!
Hope to see a list for named NPCs soon!
I'm surprised that beholders aren't a higher challenge rating because it just LOOKING at you is more powerful than the wish spell.
Little known fact: if you check the different sections of lore for the demilich you can see that the Demilich automatically has maximum hitpoints on its hit dice. So I believe (I can’t remember off of the top of my head) but it’ll have like 132 hit point, not 80.
TFW the 20th level party picks a fight with Orcus but he summons 6 demiliches, 12 ghouls, 3 ghasts and 4 mummies in the first round of combat.
Can I request a video about playing as lizardfolk? Their culture, and the whole thing about how their minds function differently from other humanoids, would make a video about them very useful and interesting.
the book called ghosts of Saltmarsh has alot+you could just online search :P
@@freyjaseren6915 Searching online isn't allways enough, and even if it is, people would still probably like that video. The Dungeon Dudes are just so great at coming with ideas and inspiring people, and their videos are usually more informative than something I just read online.
I'll have to check out that book though.
Runesmith has a pretty good video on them.... basically
@@piece1309 I have watched it. Really good.
Try playing similar to a more primitive adaptation of Silurians from Doctor Who
I really like the channel I just wish you used more art
one pepper spray and the beholder is done.
i dont like the fact that a shadow dragon can probably be over 100 ft long and still just straight up disappear. thats terrifying
the two deadliest spells against a beholder is darkness and earthbind, both level 2 spells, both will completely screw over a beholder!
Anti magic field it just has to look.
anti-magic eye says otherwise lol
@@michaelball2529 anti magic field doesn't dispel but suppresses magic, so if your hiding in darkness and beholder looks towards you yeah it might suppress darkness but that would also put you in anti magic field, either way it would prevent you from being targeted by eye beams! also beholder couldn't look at it self with big eye to suppress earthbind.
Your right and would it would probably be helpful because it has to keep the anti magic field on the earth bind spell to avoid falling leaving the party free of it.
You should also do a diferent list with dangerous named monsters/characters
I love that you guys always finish your paid promotion at precisely 1:20
I set an Elder Brain against my party, it was quite terrifying. They thought they were safe from the mind blast behind the wall - then they all got stunned.
Love the Thursday videos! My favorite part of the day
The most dangerous monsters are the d20 dice that I roll higher than an 8 on.
Nah, it's the d20 that is upset at you for using a different die
As a DM I always ruled that a beholder has to close its central eye to fire eye rays in the direction its facing,unless that creature is on a diffrent plane ie flying or climbing.
My party first legendary was Vampire, ohh that charm on cleric ...
Oh god... I can hear the panic...
is it just me or is Monty look like a more handsome version of Kevin Smith?
Gregus its the style, but yes more handsome
I actually encountered both a Beholder and Demilich in the same campaign.
The Beholder petrified my Wizard. I knew in my gut she'd fail the secondary save, so I had her remove the party's Bag of Holding so it could be picked up from the floor easily before hitting it with Disintegrate. I ended up doing almost half its HP pool as damage as a farewell, though its treasure hoard had the diamond for restoration.
The Demilich was encountered rather late in the campaign. A Scarab of Protection saved her from falling to the Howl, and the Paladin made the save outright. With a Nine Lives Stealer in hand to ensure accuracy and Haste on his side, our Oath of Vengeance Paladin was well equipped to land three crippling Divine Smites upon it and fell it in short order.
The big bad of the campaign, a corrupted Solar, was actually conveniently undone by a simple Antimagic Field to stop its Greatsword from flying around, while flight allowed other party-mates to hinder its archery with the otherwise deadly Slaying Longbow.
Could a half-dragon/dragonborn be made into a Shadow Dragon? That could be interesting for my group. There is a dragonborn that escaped and is now hunting them. This could be an interesting twist on the hunter.
I don't think the Raven Queen would allocate that much power to such an inferior creature. That said, I could easily see a Dragonborn Warlock of the Undying Patron... or choose Hexblade.
Drew Carroll the book says only true dragons can transform into a shadow dragon, and only after it remains in the shadowfell for several years.
however, if you think it’d be a neat thing to do, go for it! maybe your shadowfell is different from anyone else’s! maybe your shadow dragons are different! if someone complains about it, ask them “well how do YOU know that?” or “it’s not a shadow dragon, it’s a... shodaw dagron!” don’t let other people tell you you’re having fun wrong.
what you want is a zekyl
Astral Dreadnought, the reason why I no more use a robe of stars if isn't really necessary.
I love love Shadow Dragons. I ran an ancient shadow dragon that obeyed the instructions of the bbeg of the campaign (a level 20 conquest paladin demi god).
Our DM sent an Ancient White Dragon against us with who knows how many levels of wizard, so the thing was casting spells against us, and laughed off int-saves, too.
*Please do a sequel for each of these videos ( they are awesome ) .*