As both a D&D and paleontology fan, a note about terror birds: Bigheaded, bigbodied land birds evolved from 3 seperate lineages in the Cenozoic era: One in the Americas, one in Northern Hemisphere, and one is Australia The Eurasians were the first with Gastornis, the original axebeak. We find their remains from Wyoming to Hesse to London to Henan. While their beaks are extremely heavy duty, nitrogen isotopes indicate a mostly herbivorous diet, meaning that the plants of the era had already evolved large coconut-like seeds. They are relatives of Screamer Birds and ducks Interesting, immediately after the extinction of Gastornis were have the Terror Birds in the Americas. The first big ones show up in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas. But even as they go extinct, other members of the order evolve in South America: Sao Paolo, Santa Cruz, Canelones, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Mision, Catamarca, and Rio Negro. These are hypercarnivores, fast predators that outcompeted other predators until the ice age. Some of them even migrated north to Texas and Florida, but between new and larger big cats and dogs, they eventually died out The third were the Australian mihurungs. Like Gastornis there were herbivores related to ducks. However, they evolved later and went extinct at the end of the ice age as Australia became extremely dry and humans wiped them out.
That’s a funny way to say the aborigines literally burns the continent down that is to my knowledge also how the great plains came into existence apparently so yeah humans suck and they kill all the mega fauna
I love the ideas of Tortles raising and training these things. I imagine one of these pissed off murder birds just standing there angrily but mostly ineffectively slashing at the Tortle NPC's shell while he calmly gives the PCs directions to the next town.
You know, I never really gave the axe-beak or its brothers much thought. Coming from video games, I always thought it was just a random bird enemy with an axe because "magic". But this video really gave me a lot more respect for them. Also I'm gonna send a pack of these at my players and scare the bejesus out of them by having them cross the battlemap in one action.
they are amazing riding animals for any class/level! much better than horse, particularly the phorhoracos. but there is question if they can handle weight and fight effectively. in my campaigns, pretty much only lightly armored wood elves can use them effectively in combat.
If you want the terror of velociraptors but dinosaurs just do not fit the setting then thease just may. Our ancestors feared thease things for real and with good reason.
I quite like these videos about more ``normal creatures'' (like birds and the bovines from the Rothé vid). They make me think i can make my worlds interesting with just regular real-world stuff.
I love the idea of tricking out a mount like this with all the best gear so it becomes a true terror in combat. Fitting a Axe Beak with a magical saddle imbued with a haste spell, and a riding bit enchanted with the Vorpal ability to give it's axe attack a deadly edge. Great mount for a Windrider prestige class.
The manual says the lizardfolk can only make a few things from what they kill but in my opinion the lizardfolk could pull a predator and turn the head of the ax beak into a great ax
In my campaign I have a hunters guild (monster hunter style) and the leader always uses his own personal names for monsters. Murderbirb is being used now.
I've used a pack of these in a fight before. Like you said, put them in tall grass and it makes for a very memorable fight, especially if you allow players with slashing weapons or access to fire to try and clear away the grass for better visibility. I'd say give them a free trip attempt on a successful kick and make them strike in hit-and-run attacks. Good stuff. My players now fear the tall grass...
I actually seem to remember Jarlaxle never using this bird as a mount, but more of a combat distraction. In books that he's heavily featured, he's ridden a Nightmare.
There's something delightful about looking to natural history and pitting stalwart adventurers against the deadliest animals of the planet primeval. Steel and spell versus inhuman strength and reflexes.
The closest I ever came to tpk'ing my group was with a flock of these. 😂 The Bard misunderstood the description and thought that they were really tiny and tried to feed them jerky. Which was okay, but then he ran out of jerky and tried to pet one and things quickly spiraled out of control.
So, I'm putting my stuff together to start a campaign, right now (super excited about that), and I was trying to find this video, cuz I'm gonna have, in my homebrew world, a whole ass phylum of these guys. They're going to play a huge role in my global economy and culture. I'm gonna have them from the size of the axebeak, down to chicken sized. They'll be used as mounts, guard animals, livestock, game and pets, all depending on their size, intelligence and disposition
Personally, I think the basic Axe Beak is a domesticated version gone feral rather than a wild one as a monster or as one that's someone's mount. A wild one would be a lot nastier to deal with. There's also the new subspecies that shows up in Rhime of the Frostmaiden, it at least looks pretty cool and fluffy
I love the idea of having non-horse mounts, and the first paladin I got to play as was able to ride one of these creatures into combat. When things like this dire turkey, giant lizards, steeders and so many more creatures exist, it kind of irks me that non-human tribes or the eccentric villains get access to all of these wonderous things but only horses and other kind of boring mounts are readily available to most parties. Unless you have Find Steed of course, but thats a potential smite that could be used to implode a wraith.
When i think about it thats a reason to maybe bump the axe beaks ac/health.... took ten bullets on average to kill a single emu because their fluff was so thick it obscured their organs
Here's another fact, the term " Dyatrima " is no longer used in this bird, it is now called as " Gastornis " but the newest part about this bird is its diet, it's now a plant eater
A history lesson, and lore. Yay! Also I think the kicks from an axebeak would be less "Hiya!" Adjacent and more of a secretary bird snake stomp while hunting. A defensive peck may be more likely when dealing with adventurers but they may have kicked for territorial disputes.
I got to go to Australia once when I was very little. I got to feed a cassowary through the bars of its enclosure at a zoo in Queensland. I'll never forget the look in its eye. Makes me shudder to this day.
“I think the intent is using the bird as a riding animal.” Based off my years reading Drizzt books and seeing Jarlaxle’s use that item more than once, no. He certainly rides it on occasion, but the most commonly described thing he uses it for is caving in skulls. Usually when there’s simply too many enemies for him and his current number of allies.
That is one of the truths about the 5e Monster Manual, there are many great and fantastic creatures and beast that deserve a page of their own. But get nothing more than a brief description, not even artwork and a stat block that leaves to be desired. That's the great thing about this channel, helping DMs fill in the gaps and explore possibilities.
Couldn’t sleep so this vid kept me company, thanks for the great content yo, I can just one of these stalking through high grass or on a savannah somewheres
Great video AJ. I'm a life-long fan of these birds but (relative to AD&D) for a bit odd reasons. Before I got into AD&D, one of my favorite video games was Joust. Basically, you (the good guy) rode a flying ostrich and the bad guys rode mountable vultures/buzzards. When I got into AD&D, I home-brewed my breed of axe beaks to be kind of like those. Then I got into Final Fantasy, and they introduced chokobus (I think that's how it's spelled), and those even got diverse. So, by the end of the 90s, I had all sorts of "domestic" and "wild" breeds of axe beaks... from the smaller wild and farmed ones that are food for people and prey animals for large predators to the Elite Air Axe Beak, which can fly wearing some armor with a knight in full plate mail, using a shield and a heavy lance. None had the ability to just glide so very long-distance flights were impossible save for the undead kind. Most campaigns I run have at least one nation use these birds as primary mounts and beasts of burden. One northern tribe uses Axe Beak Sleds, they are like dog sleds with smaller axe beaks that can do winged hops and dashes. I don't make any of their heads look much like normal giant avians. I stick with all of them having a beak that looks very much axe like. If I'm gonna' take that away, I'm gonna' change the name of the bird.
Imagine if the birds that mimic human speech weren't the corvids/parrots but the big buggers like ostriches. Imagine a flock of these Axe Beak fellas leaping out the grass repeatedly squawking 'I've heard they can kick a man's guts out his arse-THUMP SQUELCH!!!'
That birds popped it's mind cogs! I like to think that it's adopted the 'I'm not big or tough but if I act crazy no one will mess with me' approach to surviving in the wild/school/family weddings.
Nice mounts/companions; back in the day I never really paid that much attention to them then in the early 2000s I was playing the MMO "Guild Wars" and fell in love with its "Moa Bird" (their version of a terror bird).
I would not suggest using any meat eater as a mount but they have been attempts to ride on ostriches, pigs, elks, zebras etc. The reason why this didn't catch on was that horses have millennia of breeding for that purpose ahead of thease wild animals and with horses readily avalibe they could not compete.
@@michaelpettersson4919 Then that would include Dragons, ROCs, Griffins, Wyverns, Hippogriffis, Drakes, the list goes on and kind of put a damper of "fantacy gaming"
I don’t know if it’s in any edition of D&D but in Pathfinder there’s a creature called the Amarok. It’s a beast from Inuit mythology that is basically the mother of all wolves, could we get a video on that?
Cool fact: There is still a living relative of the terror birds alive today, the Seriema. They are native to South America and are just under a meter tall, they run down their prey, usually rats, mice and lizards, as well as insects, grab them with their beaks and slam the prey item to the ground to stun or kill them, then they eat them whole. Pretty awesome and beautiful birds.
Really interesting video, I love terror birds, so as disapointed as you with how weak it is : I straight up use the Giant Vulture stats with a Speed of 50 ft. If you want to have a really giant one use the Allosaurus stats.
The speeds in D&D only really bothers me when you start looking at things like Dragons. They are a MAGICALLY flying things the size of a jet plane and immensely powerful both physically and magically. There is no reason that during flight they are only moving at less around 15mph. Yes during combat, to make it manageable and interesting, it is fine that they have to keep at a much slower pace, but during average flight there is no reason they shouldn't be going probably above 100mph (again MAGICALLY flying).
Just as a paleontology note, terror birds and similar flightless birds do not have hollow bones. Hollow bones is an adaptation for flight, pretty much any flightless bird has normal bones. Penguins, in fact, have very thick bones in their wings so a slap from their flippers can easily result in a lump lol
Would the forested variety be found in the same elephant-grassy areas as Loxo? I had always thought that these creatures were domesticated by Dwarves for their nimble agility traversing rocky crags & cliff-faces...?
Come to think of it... are Loxo even a thing in Forgotten Realms?? I don’t remember what monstrous compendium they were even published from...? That combo Loxo/Loxodon video was so long ago... if they were however, I would have loved to see a wooly mammoth variety in Icewind Dale, ha
So, you've used the wintery axebeak art from the Icewind Dale book, but you haven't mentioned any axebeaks adapted to arctic terrain. I'm about to run that module, and I was wondering about the Dale breed
As a bird owner, I can say that they are very unchill and notice everything. Except in the dark. They are damn near blind even in dim light. Owls, though, would fare much better.
See this people? This is how you mash geanres of geek together to make somthing awesome. This is also how you could summon a Chocobo in DnD5e for a final fantasy esque setting.
Soon as you said you liked to hide Axe Beaks in elephant grass I thought about how fortunate I am to keep sickles on hand and how annoying it must be to stare and gleaming golden armor at noon. Yes, exactly what you want at noon. Another sun to blind you. Purely coincidence but now I know I have an alternative chicken for DnD setting. Their legs have so many weird joints though. Chickens have the hip and one knee. These things have 2 knees?
@@TheKing-qz9wd Same number of joints, they just walk on the front pad of their foot, the ball of their foot/ankle is up off the ground, so it looks like a backward knee. Ya savvy?
Hello AJ, great video! You can take the most basic monster in D&D and turn it into one of the most exciting beast in D&D. Love your real world touch to your videos. Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Love this information. I have the build I'm still milling around in my head. A warforge speedster. Moon Druid. The axe beak is one of the animal forms I am considering. The build is in the air still milling over. But anything to boost the base land speed. Lol monk, barbarian etc etc.
Think these birds could live on the same continent as wolves and boars and bears or would they have to be in a more arid place that mammal hunters struggle in?
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
As both a D&D and paleontology fan, a note about terror birds:
Bigheaded, bigbodied land birds evolved from 3 seperate lineages in the Cenozoic era: One in the Americas, one in Northern Hemisphere, and one is Australia
The Eurasians were the first with Gastornis, the original axebeak. We find their remains from Wyoming to Hesse to London to Henan. While their beaks are extremely heavy duty, nitrogen isotopes indicate a mostly herbivorous diet, meaning that the plants of the era had already evolved large coconut-like seeds. They are relatives of Screamer Birds and ducks
Interesting, immediately after the extinction of Gastornis were have the Terror Birds in the Americas. The first big ones show up in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas. But even as they go extinct, other members of the order evolve in South America: Sao Paolo, Santa Cruz, Canelones, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Mision, Catamarca, and Rio Negro. These are hypercarnivores, fast predators that outcompeted other predators until the ice age. Some of them even migrated north to Texas and Florida, but between new and larger big cats and dogs, they eventually died out
The third were the Australian mihurungs. Like Gastornis there were herbivores related to ducks. However, they evolved later and went extinct at the end of the ice age as Australia became extremely dry and humans wiped them out.
@Tyrone the Vikang hey there. Is everything okay? I can still see deleted comments in my notifications
So, the argument of would you rather fight 50 regular geese or one horse sized goose has some merit....
Good to know for my half orc hunter.
@@calebchristensen900 For Paleocene predators, the choice between fighting 50 horses the size of geese and 1 goose the size of a horse was very real
Mental notes taken for next time I create a campaign world. Thanks.
That’s a funny way to say the aborigines literally burns the continent down that is to my knowledge also how the great plains came into existence apparently so yeah humans suck and they kill all the mega fauna
Evil Bard: See that demiplane filled with tall grass? Totes harmless filled with loot.
Party after failing several sense motive checks.
"Neat."
*hides in tall elephant grass to ambush prey*
"Clever girl"
I love the ideas of Tortles raising and training these things. I imagine one of these pissed off murder birds just standing there angrily but mostly ineffectively slashing at the Tortle NPC's shell while he calmly gives the PCs directions to the next town.
Exactly 😂
You know, I never really gave the axe-beak or its brothers much thought. Coming from video games, I always thought it was just a random bird enemy with an axe because "magic". But this video really gave me a lot more respect for them. Also I'm gonna send a pack of these at my players and scare the bejesus out of them by having them cross the battlemap in one action.
As a riding animal they are an amazing assets to a low-level character.
This is true in DnD and Ark
they are amazing riding animals for any class/level! much better than horse, particularly the phorhoracos. but there is question if they can handle weight and fight effectively.
in my campaigns, pretty much only lightly armored wood elves can use them effectively in combat.
Trying to outrun an axe beak is akin to trying to out run a doberman pinscher...not gonna happen
In my land, we call them "Terror Birds"
If you want the terror of velociraptors but dinosaurs just do not fit the setting then thease just may. Our ancestors feared thease things for real and with good reason.
I quite like these videos about more ``normal creatures'' (like birds and the bovines from the Rothé vid). They make me think i can make my worlds interesting with just regular real-world stuff.
I love the idea of tricking out a mount like this with all the best gear so it becomes a true terror in combat. Fitting a Axe Beak with a magical saddle imbued with a haste spell, and a riding bit enchanted with the Vorpal ability to give it's axe attack a deadly edge. Great mount for a Windrider prestige class.
Give it a Jeweled Bridle and name it Glenn
Big Bang Theory.ref
I like the monsters based off of actual animals, pretty interesting.
Now I’m just dying to have some sort of time sensitive mission for an NPC to say “nothing moves faster on land then an axe beak!”
The manual says the lizardfolk can only make a few things from what they kill but in my opinion the lizardfolk could pull a predator and turn the head of the ax beak into a great ax
Just when you think your world building is complete: You got any prehistoric beasts yet?
My motto is when it doubt add more prehistoric beasts. And now my party tamed a mammoth and fought zombie T.rex
That cover was absolutely one of my favorites of Dragon Mag. Keith Parkinson captured a brilliant scene.
fully agree.
Can I put in a formal petition that Axebeaks in D&D should just be called Murderbirbs?
In my campaign I have a hunters guild (monster hunter style) and the leader always uses his own personal names for monsters. Murderbirb is being used now.
I've used a pack of these in a fight before. Like you said, put them in tall grass and it makes for a very memorable fight, especially if you allow players with slashing weapons or access to fire to try and clear away the grass for better visibility. I'd say give them a free trip attempt on a successful kick and make them strike in hit-and-run attacks. Good stuff. My players now fear the tall grass...
@Ian Yoder When your players stab keyholes with enchanted daggers... you may have gone too far.
I actually seem to remember Jarlaxle never using this bird as a mount, but more of a combat distraction. In books that he's heavily featured, he's ridden a Nightmare.
Any one else pick up on how much fun AJ must have had making this vid? His tone was almost giddy
I get to talk about ecology and biological sciences as well as D&D, my favourites!
There's something delightful about looking to natural history and pitting stalwart adventurers against the deadliest animals of the planet primeval. Steel and spell versus inhuman strength and reflexes.
Kind of surprised no Info on the Axe Beaks of Icewind Dale.
Gave one of these bad boys to the halfling beastmaster player in my last campaign. Best decision ever.
Congratulations!!! You just described the first ranger I played.
The Axbeak Lancer Rides Again!!!
@@Im-Not-a-Dog My player favored crossbows and rifles, but I dig the lance idea!
The mini paint job I’m most proud of so far is an Axe Beak that I painted!
The closest I ever came to tpk'ing my group was with a flock of these. 😂 The Bard misunderstood the description and thought that they were really tiny and tried to feed them jerky. Which was okay, but then he ran out of jerky and tried to pet one and things quickly spiraled out of control.
Lol! Classic.
So, I'm putting my stuff together to start a campaign, right now (super excited about that), and I was trying to find this video, cuz I'm gonna have, in my homebrew world, a whole ass phylum of these guys. They're going to play a huge role in my global economy and culture. I'm gonna have them from the size of the axebeak, down to chicken sized. They'll be used as mounts, guard animals, livestock, game and pets, all depending on their size, intelligence and disposition
You should do a food chain video about what monster eat what and who are the apex predator of apex predators! Also fantastic video !
Personally, I think the basic Axe Beak is a domesticated version gone feral rather than a wild one as a monster or as one that's someone's mount. A wild one would be a lot nastier to deal with.
There's also the new subspecies that shows up in Rhime of the Frostmaiden, it at least looks pretty cool and fluffy
AH HUGE FLIGHTLESS BIRDS!
In my campaigns, some breeds fly... and one breed is borderline giant AND flies.
Sneaky murderbirds,hiding in the tall grass. Nightmares are going to be had...😱
I love the idea of having non-horse mounts, and the first paladin I got to play as was able to ride one of these creatures into combat. When things like this dire turkey, giant lizards, steeders and so many more creatures exist, it kind of irks me that non-human tribes or the eccentric villains get access to all of these wonderous things but only horses and other kind of boring mounts are readily available to most parties. Unless you have Find Steed of course, but thats a potential smite that could be used to implode a wraith.
I bet kobolds would love them, good for many uses and makes quite a bit of food.
(Mounted light cavalry maybe?)
Plus if one wanted to really soup them up, making them half-dragon sounds like chaos.
Dude you can fit 10 kobolds on one Axe beak. It would be a war platform.
@@dustinmccollum7196 That is awesome, I am stealing that.
5:50 Screw the birds! Lets talk about that 3 legged contortion cat.
Emu's once defeated Australia in a war.
Don't test the murder birds.
Dammit, will everyone stop mentioning the Emu's!! *Boards up windows*
@@AJPickett lol. I'm sorry. As an American, it astounds me that humans with guns lost a fight to large chickens.
When i think about it thats a reason to maybe bump the axe beaks ac/health.... took ten bullets on average to kill a single emu because their fluff was so thick it obscured their organs
I used these stats because I wanted to randomly throw Chocobos into my FR campaign >)
Here's another fact, the term " Dyatrima " is no longer used in this bird, it is now called as " Gastornis " but the newest part about this bird is its diet, it's now a plant eater
Friendly reminder that all birds are terrifying if you think too much about them.
My druid everytime the group needs to run across a big field...
Thank you, AJ, you have helped me find the perfect mount for a Orc Ranger/Beastmaster!
Ironclaw Buzzardiers - MtG
A history lesson, and lore. Yay! Also I think the kicks from an axebeak would be less "Hiya!" Adjacent and more of a secretary bird snake stomp while hunting. A defensive peck may be more likely when dealing with adventurers but they may have kicked for territorial disputes.
Damn! that thing u'll kick you open like a saloon door!
I got to go to Australia once when I was very little. I got to feed a cassowary through the bars of its enclosure at a zoo in Queensland. I'll never forget the look in its eye. Makes me shudder to this day.
Pure Evil.
“I think the intent is using the bird as a riding animal.”
Based off my years reading Drizzt books and seeing Jarlaxle’s use that item more than once, no. He certainly rides it on occasion, but the most commonly described thing he uses it for is caving in skulls. Usually when there’s simply too many enemies for him and his current number of allies.
I like bird themed monsters and also dinosaurs.
They make a big comeback in rime of the frost maiden, as prefers mounts in the snow. The book suggests they move better because of their large feet
*points* THAT'S A TAUNTAUN. *'Eyyyeeeaaaglapglapglapbbbggllllglapglap* "No bird smells that bad.... on the outside"
@@AJPickett no joke, the book has them right next to sled dogs as appropriate travel in the tundra
@@samuelreese1816 Oh I know, but I could not pass up the opportunity to make a perfect star wars Hoth joke.
@@AJPickett yeah I'm DM in the campaign, and I'm waiting for them to try and pull a taun-taun
@@samuelreese1816 This is the Way.
That is one of the truths about the 5e Monster Manual, there are many great and fantastic creatures and beast that deserve a page of their own. But get nothing more than a brief description, not even artwork and a stat block that leaves to be desired. That's the great thing about this channel, helping DMs fill in the gaps and explore possibilities.
I am on a mission.
Damn, this thing is cool. I need to make a small saddle for my forest gnome druid, so he can come charging in on one of these things.
Couldn’t sleep so this vid kept me company, thanks for the great content yo, I can just one of these stalking through high grass or on a savannah somewheres
I'm a simple man. I see Axe Beak, and I press Like
Great video AJ. I'm a life-long fan of these birds but (relative to AD&D) for a bit odd reasons. Before I got into AD&D, one of my favorite video games was Joust. Basically, you (the good guy) rode a flying ostrich and the bad guys rode mountable vultures/buzzards. When I got into AD&D, I home-brewed my breed of axe beaks to be kind of like those. Then I got into Final Fantasy, and they introduced chokobus (I think that's how it's spelled), and those even got diverse. So, by the end of the 90s, I had all sorts of "domestic" and "wild" breeds of axe beaks... from the smaller wild and farmed ones that are food for people and prey animals for large predators to the Elite Air Axe Beak, which can fly wearing some armor with a knight in full plate mail, using a shield and a heavy lance. None had the ability to just glide so very long-distance flights were impossible save for the undead kind. Most campaigns I run have at least one nation use these birds as primary mounts and beasts of burden. One northern tribe uses Axe Beak Sleds, they are like dog sleds with smaller axe beaks that can do winged hops and dashes. I don't make any of their heads look much like normal giant avians. I stick with all of them having a beak that looks very much axe like. If I'm gonna' take that away, I'm gonna' change the name of the bird.
I've been wondering what an underdark Diatryma bird was reading through the drizzt books.
I use them as a halfling mounts and draft animal. Everyone jokes about the chicken rides until...
I also love the idea of a cadet getting a fluffy chick 🐥 like a MWD puppy.
fun fact! in zoos zookeepers have to have a phalanx guard using riot shield to protect the keeper while they clean the pen/ stock food
Perfect timing on this. I’m running Out of the abyss and was looking to do some encounters with hordes of animals fleeing demons in the cave networks.
Nothing says problems ahead like a stampede of freaked out giant murder chickens.
Imagine if the birds that mimic human speech weren't the corvids/parrots but the big buggers like ostriches. Imagine a flock of these Axe Beak fellas leaping out the grass repeatedly squawking 'I've heard they can kick a man's guts out his arse-THUMP SQUELCH!!!'
Oh man, the Lyrebird of Australia is amazing, check this out ua-cam.com/video/wky_xsmR0Zs/v-deo.html
That birds popped it's mind cogs! I like to think that it's adopted the 'I'm not big or tough but if I act crazy no one will mess with me' approach to surviving in the wild/school/family weddings.
Oh shit. I was taught by some friends that they were referred to as executioner birds, and I thought that was true for well over a year now.
Nice mounts/companions; back in the day I never really paid that much attention to them then in the early 2000s I was playing the MMO "Guild Wars" and fell in love with its "Moa Bird" (their version of a terror bird).
I would not suggest using any meat eater as a mount but they have been attempts to ride on ostriches, pigs, elks, zebras etc. The reason why this didn't catch on was that horses have millennia of breeding for that purpose ahead of thease wild animals and with horses readily avalibe they could not compete.
@@michaelpettersson4919 Then that would include Dragons, ROCs, Griffins, Wyverns, Hippogriffis, Drakes, the list goes on and kind of put a damper of "fantacy gaming"
@@thomasrobson6370 Fantasy gaming are just fine. For real however I advice against it.
DnD very own Terror Birds. Fun facts, these birds are big replacements of carnivorous Dinosaurs
Fast and dirty fix, use the 5e Deinonychus stats from Volo's but change the size category to large and the Bite Attack damage type to slashing.
Legit
I don’t know if it’s in any edition of D&D but in Pathfinder there’s a creature called the Amarok. It’s a beast from Inuit mythology that is basically the mother of all wolves, could we get a video on that?
Cool fact: There is still a living relative of the terror birds alive today, the Seriema. They are native to South America and are just under a meter tall, they run down their prey, usually rats, mice and lizards, as well as insects, grab them with their beaks and slam the prey item to the ground to stun or kill them, then they eat them whole. Pretty awesome and beautiful birds.
Diatryma was actually proven to be a herbivore that was renamed to the bird Gastornis that i mentioned in a previous comment, The Terror Duck
Really interesting video, I love terror birds, so as disapointed as you with how weak it is : I straight up use the Giant Vulture stats with a Speed of 50 ft.
If you want to have a really giant one use the Allosaurus stats.
The speeds in D&D only really bothers me when you start looking at things like Dragons. They are a MAGICALLY flying things the size of a jet plane and immensely powerful both physically and magically. There is no reason that during flight they are only moving at less around 15mph. Yes during combat, to make it manageable and interesting, it is fine that they have to keep at a much slower pace, but during average flight there is no reason they shouldn't be going probably above 100mph (again MAGICALLY flying).
To be fair in the old versions of DND they could actually grow to the size of large passenger planes and once they became ancient even bigger
Thanks. I plan on using a modified axebeak on the plains of my version of The Isle of Dread.
Oh lovely I just make a few of these for an encounter
Diatryma(Gastornis) is thought to be herbivorous now.
Well, there is plenty of flora in the Underdark.
Brontornis would be a great stand in
Just as a paleontology note, terror birds and similar flightless birds do not have hollow bones. Hollow bones is an adaptation for flight, pretty much any flightless bird has normal bones. Penguins, in fact, have very thick bones in their wings so a slap from their flippers can easily result in a lump lol
Ostrich? Hmmm, always more to learn 👍
Would the forested variety be found in the same elephant-grassy areas as Loxo? I had always thought that these creatures were domesticated by Dwarves for their nimble agility traversing rocky crags & cliff-faces...?
Yes, certainly.
Come to think of it... are Loxo even a thing in Forgotten Realms?? I don’t remember what monstrous compendium they were even published from...? That combo Loxo/Loxodon video was so long ago... if they were however, I would have loved to see a wooly mammoth variety in Icewind Dale, ha
This is a stupid question but could a axe beak use it beak to chop wood? If so that would be a very useful farm animal!
-wood- elves
@@cmelton6796lmao! like I said before a very useful farm animal. ;)
G.M.W.P's, Giant murder wood peckers? I don't think they exist...
@@AJPickett **evil DM grin** Now they do.
So, you've used the wintery axebeak art from the Icewind Dale book, but you haven't mentioned any axebeaks adapted to arctic terrain. I'm about to run that module, and I was wondering about the Dale breed
As a bird owner, I can say that they are very unchill and notice everything. Except in the dark. They are damn near blind even in dim light. Owls, though, would fare much better.
See this people? This is how you mash geanres of geek together to make somthing awesome. This is also how you could summon a Chocobo in DnD5e for a final fantasy esque setting.
Maybe axe beaks could take the dash action as a bonus?
I always remember the old art for it wish u had showed that pic good video
Well everybody's heard about the bird,
B-b-b-bird, bird, bird. B-bird bird's the word.
Now I'm singing it because it popped in my head and is stuck.
Soon as you said you liked to hide Axe Beaks in elephant grass I thought about how fortunate I am to keep sickles on hand and how annoying it must be to stare and gleaming golden armor at noon.
Yes, exactly what you want at noon. Another sun to blind you.
Purely coincidence but now I know I have an alternative chicken for DnD setting.
Their legs have so many weird joints though. Chickens have the hip and one knee. These things have 2 knees?
The backward knee is what we refer to as an ankle. Birds have digitigrade feet, meaning they walk on their toesies...
@@alexandrudorries3307
Bloody what? They have another knee under the feathers? Here I thought that bird legs looked like arms
@@TheKing-qz9wd Same number of joints, they just walk on the front pad of their foot, the ball of their foot/ankle is up off the ground, so it looks like a backward knee. Ya savvy?
@@AJPickett
I savvy. Drew some dogs and dragons before so I know the leg, it's just that I did not think birds would have that shape.
Chocobos.
@@talonus202 I did that for decades. My players all loved them... except when they met wild ones who were hungry...
Hello AJ, great video! You can take the most basic monster in D&D and turn it into one of the most exciting beast in D&D. Love your real world touch to your videos.
Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Good work as always AJ😃
so this is amazing haha i have a plan how im gonna have a groupe of gnome knights who raise and ride them
Love this information.
I have the build I'm still milling around in my head. A warforge speedster. Moon Druid. The axe beak is one of the animal forms I am considering.
The build is in the air still milling over. But anything to boost the base land speed. Lol monk, barbarian etc etc.
It's all chicken to me.
Dire Turkey
@@AJPickett I am corrected loregiver
They can drop kick? Hell yeah.
I see chookobos I click.
I have a personal theory that chocobos are the domesticated form of these.... like, the dogs to terrorbirds' wolves.
I had axe beaks customized into being kind of like chookobos in my campaigns for decades... including some axe beak breeders. ;)
good video AJ
Those look like the weaker cousins of "beak things"!
Dm challenge to kill a player w one.
That could be a series, make a scenario where you kill someone or tpk with unlikely mobs
I see you understand my channel quite well. 🧙♂️
You can't just mention Steve Irwin like that without a heads up lol, now I'm tearing up ;(
I featured an Australian creature of great interest and much danger... you were warned.
if these murder ducks are anything like tamed emus then keep your chickens faar away.
Oh, yes, they will eat other, smaller birds for sure.
@@AJPickett or just stomp them for fun...
So.... Murder chocaboos....
The sweet natured, brown feathered Chocaboos. 😉
Low HP? Didn't the Emu's famously survive machine gun fire?
To my understanding, it was more that the emus scattered and had sheer numbers which kept the kills low.
Emu's clearly made dark pacts with Baba Yaga.
Yay!
Oh wow..I recommended this..thanks aj..great video as always..I killed many a low level adventurers w packs of axe beaks
Most welcome Ed, thanks for the request.
So.... it's a Chocobo.
Except that Chocobos are herbivorous and have much larger wings.
@@RokuroCarisu Who said all Chocobo's are herbivorous?
@@MrRedFoxorMrelzorrorojo So far they have only been shown eating plants in games.
Think these birds could live on the same continent as wolves and boars and bears or would they have to be in a more arid place that mammal hunters struggle in?
Yeah, they would overlap for sure.
How about Felidars next ^~^
[Deep Throated Tweet]
Odd that the diatryma is a carnivore and also found in the underdark.
oi AJ I'm up late in the USA. What time do you go live? And how do I join your discord or twitch?
Discord link is in the video description, I don't do Twitch. I go live on the weekend on UA-cam: 5:00 p.m.EST, Saturday, 14 November 2020