I love the Crypt Thing. I was introduced to them running a 5E conversion of Gates of Firestorm Peak, and I am going to include them in my Old School Essentials conversion of Curse of Strahd for my group. I've already found a few fun places for them. 😈
I love that you watched this old video of mine (I promise i've gotten a lot better since then, lol) . :-) One of my favorite monsters of all time. So much nostalgia. Good to hear that you are a fan of it as well!
Convinced me. As a kid playing AD&D, I could never think of a good way to use these guys that was also fair, of course. Ten-year-olds have imagination, sure, but they aren't always good at being sporting. But now I'm thinking I've got a monastery that fell prey to darkness and despair, and turned away from it's former faith. A pair of these guys would make excellent Fallen Priors. When they spot the faithful on the monastery grounds, they are so certain of being abandoned by their gods, they can't be forced to bow to divine power. And as an added "your gods have no power here," they call forth the shadowy hands of their now ghostly brethren to drag players into the wine cellar, where those monks and nuns who clung to faith were condemned to starve, and reanimated as ghouls.
Awww yeah. I like where you're going with this! Glad I could help reintroduce you to the Crypt Thing. I am glad that you found my channel and sincerely appreciate the fantastic feedback and ideas you are leaving in the comments! :)
The nest time I use one I'm going to put it in a super easy to reach room. There won't be any combat on the way to its chamber. No traps. Nothing. But once the party gets to the chamber the Crypt Thing will teleport the PC's to the 4 corners of the dungeon and they will have to fight their way, solo style, back to the central chamber. That should be really fun. Personally, I don't have a problem with running a split party.
I introduced a Crypt Thing. I had it strike a conversation with the party. I think I made a mistake... they are growing fast friends over the threshold of the crypt it's guarding. I think I will implement a quest to try and let the party get in there and possibly even lay the Crypt Thing to rest without violence...
That is a very good question. I am not sure. What do you think if not undead? I was thinking either construct or aberration. I absolutely love D&D history, so I researched it a bit and here is what I found: In Dragon Magazine #55, Don Turnbull wrote an article in response to two other authors that heavily criticized the Fiend Folio. Here is the excerpt that Turnbull stated Crypt Thing was not supposed to be undead: "The Eye of Fear and Flame is not undead. If it were, it would be on the undead table (page 115). Nor is the Crypt Thing an undead monster. In neither case does the text leave any doubt - and even if it did, the undead table would resolve the matter." It was an interesting read. Here is where I found it: annarchive.com/files/Drmg055.pdf Thank you for the fantastic discussion Scott. :)
In keeping with it's sort of early, mysterious presence in the game, I'd think some sort of proto golem, earlier age ritual magic, eldritch arcana. If it's an aberration, then it's from the far realm, and it's teleportation is misalignment of non Euclidean coordinates or some crazy ancient mathematics based arcana. Do NOT look within those robes.
Personally, I'm flavoring it as a Shadow creature. Not quite undead, but now on the verge of even existing. It sees through shadows, because it is the shadows. It teleports by dragging people through the plane of shadow, where they'll be briefly forced to witness everything that could've been, but never was. It's minions are Shadows, as shadows feed on the good, "A creature that lives a life of goodness and piety consigns its basest impulses and strongest temptations to the darkness where the shadows hunger," and these guys are immune to the power of divine magic themselves.
I'm pretty sure there's an official Pathfinder version of the Crypt Thing. www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/crypt-thing/ I don't think that's 3rd party or anything.
Hello, my friend! That is the same link I was looking at and included in the note section. I tried searching for a version of Crypt Thing in a printed Bestiary, but couldn't find it. Because of the OGL, I wasn't for sure if everything on the d20pfsrd website is "officially" Pathfinder or included 3rd party and homebrews. Thanks for helping me on this and, as always, I appreciate everyone's patience through my learning curve. :)
Right on. On the SRD, if it's from a 3rd party publisher it'll tell you. Also, it says at the bottom of the Cryopt Thing's age that it was in Pathfinder Bestiary 2. Glad I could help and keep doing what you're doing!!!
I love the crypt thing it's like you cant let someone go and you move away and leave everything behind lol
Haha! Yes, I dig the analogy. And... I dig Crypt Thing!
I love the Crypt Thing. I was introduced to them running a 5E conversion of Gates of Firestorm Peak, and I am going to include them in my Old School Essentials conversion of Curse of Strahd for my group. I've already found a few fun places for them. 😈
I love that you watched this old video of mine (I promise i've gotten a lot better since then, lol) . :-) One of my favorite monsters of all time. So much nostalgia. Good to hear that you are a fan of it as well!
I'd love to have it fully tied to its domain and can see everywhere in it. Omniscience on a small scale. Perhaps it may be distracted, though.
Awww yeah, love this idea!
Ok, but I swear Pathfinder has an official Crypt Thing.
Yeah, Bestiary 2
www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/crypt-thing/
Oh dang, yep. There it is! Thank you for pointing that out. Cheers!
I loved the Crypt Thing.
Me too! I think it's still viable to run in a game today in order to "randomly" split the party. lol. Cheers!
Convinced me. As a kid playing AD&D, I could never think of a good way to use these guys that was also fair, of course. Ten-year-olds have imagination, sure, but they aren't always good at being sporting.
But now I'm thinking I've got a monastery that fell prey to darkness and despair, and turned away from it's former faith. A pair of these guys would make excellent Fallen Priors. When they spot the faithful on the monastery grounds, they are so certain of being abandoned by their gods, they can't be forced to bow to divine power. And as an added "your gods have no power here," they call forth the shadowy hands of their now ghostly brethren to drag players into the wine cellar, where those monks and nuns who clung to faith were condemned to starve, and reanimated as ghouls.
Awww yeah. I like where you're going with this! Glad I could help reintroduce you to the Crypt Thing. I am glad that you found my channel and sincerely appreciate the fantastic feedback and ideas you are leaving in the comments! :)
I love using Crypt Things!!!
Me too! I'll be introducing this dude to my new group very, very soon (insert evil laugh here, lol). Thank you for the comment my friend!
The nest time I use one I'm going to put it in a super easy to reach room. There won't be any combat on the way to its chamber. No traps. Nothing. But once the party gets to the chamber the Crypt Thing will teleport the PC's to the 4 corners of the dungeon and they will have to fight their way, solo style, back to the central chamber. That should be really fun. Personally, I don't have a problem with running a split party.
I introduced a Crypt Thing. I had it strike a conversation with the party. I think I made a mistake... they are growing fast friends over the threshold of the crypt it's guarding. I think I will implement a quest to try and let the party get in there and possibly even lay the Crypt Thing to rest without violence...
Wow, this was interesting. Any idea what they were before undead? Constructs?
That is a very good question. I am not sure. What do you think if not undead? I was thinking either construct or aberration. I absolutely love D&D history, so I researched it a bit and here is what I found:
In Dragon Magazine #55, Don Turnbull wrote an article in response to two other authors that heavily criticized the Fiend Folio. Here is the excerpt that Turnbull stated Crypt Thing was not supposed to be undead:
"The Eye of Fear and Flame is not undead. If it were, it would be on the undead table (page 115). Nor is the Crypt Thing an undead monster. In neither case does the text leave any doubt - and even if it did, the undead table would resolve the matter."
It was an interesting read. Here is where I found it: annarchive.com/files/Drmg055.pdf
Thank you for the fantastic discussion Scott. :)
In keeping with it's sort of early, mysterious presence in the game, I'd think some sort of proto golem, earlier age ritual magic, eldritch arcana.
If it's an aberration, then it's from the far realm, and it's teleportation is misalignment of non Euclidean coordinates or some crazy ancient mathematics based arcana. Do NOT look within those robes.
I appreciate the extra article. Thanks, fiend folio always was a favorite monster book of mine.
Personally, I'm flavoring it as a Shadow creature. Not quite undead, but now on the verge of even existing. It sees through shadows, because it is the shadows. It teleports by dragging people through the plane of shadow, where they'll be briefly forced to witness everything that could've been, but never was. It's minions are Shadows, as shadows feed on the good, "A creature that lives a life of goodness and piety consigns its basest
impulses and strongest temptations to the darkness where the shadows hunger," and these guys are immune to the power of divine magic themselves.
Cool monster, nice topic.
Thank you my friend! Much appreciated. :)
used it to ask for a password or riddles. very rewarding for players to pass it without combat.
Awww yes! So glad to hear that Crypt Thing is still out there doing its thing. Well done!
I'm pretty sure there's an official Pathfinder version of the Crypt Thing.
www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/crypt-thing/
I don't think that's 3rd party or anything.
Hello, my friend! That is the same link I was looking at and included in the note section. I tried searching for a version of Crypt Thing in a printed Bestiary, but couldn't find it. Because of the OGL, I wasn't for sure if everything on the d20pfsrd website is "officially" Pathfinder or included 3rd party and homebrews. Thanks for helping me on this and, as always, I appreciate everyone's patience through my learning curve. :)
Right on. On the SRD, if it's from a 3rd party publisher it'll tell you. Also, it says at the bottom of the Cryopt Thing's age that it was in Pathfinder Bestiary 2. Glad I could help and keep doing what you're doing!!!
oh dang! I totally did not know the source material was listed on the bottom of the page. Super cool, Thanx again! :)