that is in fact the plan for my current necro lol, gonna make a big deal about it though, side quests for the appropriate tuning fork, knowledge about nightwalkers and the negative energy plane. so its not just a planeshift+peasant push = free cr 20 creature
This is exactly why I modified the Nightwalker for my campaigns making it an actual intelligent creature that is more of a stalking terror that can actually mimic the form and memories of whatever they have killed or replaced even non humanoid creatures, they take on the mental sats of whatever they replace and also gain incorporeal movement. Passively other undead in the area are drawn to the Nightwalker like a beacon of death. And it heals for half the necrotic damage it deals. As for battle strats this version of Nightwalker prefers to remain hidden as it decimates a population but if it views adventurers as a threat it will attack full force. If it feels it will be defeated it will retreat not out of fear but out of desire to preserve its ability to bring doom to the rest of the plane and will proceed to shift into another form and stalk the party from a distance striking when they least expect. Needless to say the Cr is obviously a bit above Cr 20 but I feel like it does the Nightwalker the appropriate service for actually making it the ominous embodiment of doom that it’s described to be. This is something I pull out endgame when the players are wanting things like a tarrasque to fight and if I ever put hints to one mid game they know they’re not meant to fight it and to avoid the town at all costs
Maruts would be excellent for a Warlock in breach of contract! Not to pummel, although it might serve as a reminder, but the storytelling possibilities are phenomenal. What better time for a trial session, than a Patron seeking restitution for real (or perceived) abuses of contract?
Maruts are more than capable of wiping a party, but their goal is to just retrieve the character(s) that broke the contract. They'd be excellent for any high level (or even relatively low level... it's not like the marut wants to kill the party), high stakes courtroom drama surrounding a (debatably) breached contract.
@@toddthefox8993 .... I dont think the would work, Wild Mother got his back.... and is probably way scarier than Ukotoa.... though she has nothing on the Traveller
@toddthefox8993 Fjord did not make his pact willingly or consciously, so it would not be under the jurisdiction of the Halls of Concordence; he did not 'sign' any deal.
I can just imagine a high level Wizard PC signing a fiendish contract, his soul when he dies in exchange for knowledge; and the Wizard thinks becoming a Lich would save him from his contract.... but then the Marut comes
The Nightwalker also poses a very interesting and tempting opportunity for PC Necromancers, because it’s at CR20 PCs would normally be at at least level 15 when they face it, and the Control Undead ability that Necromancy Wizards gain at level 14 gives them the chance to snag this huge threat and make the Nightwalker their permanent thrall.
Lucas M. Nah, plenty of ways for a DM to fix that, it can be banished, its tie to the material plane might expire, a lich could grab it back, just to name a few. However, a better way to deal with this change would be seeing this as a story-advancing opportunity. Maybe having the Nightwalker could give the PCs the edge they need to challenge the more powerful BBEG, like Orcus himself, or the Ancient Black Dragon allied to the necromancer that first summoned the Nightwalker. A DM can never be outwitted by the players, since the DM represents the world itself. A good DM can take any player shenanigan and turn it into a plot point without coming off as adversarial.
Arngeir DM’s get outwitted all the time. There’s only so much a single person can do against a group of 3-5 people. There’s just too much of them for the dm to ever hope of never being outwitted. A good dm would take this with grace, admitting to either themselves, the table, or both that they were outwitted. I’d be suspicious of a dm that never seems to get outsmarted, because they’re likely using their power as the dm to “win” the game and silently changing things to fit their narrative. Either that or they have not very intelligent players.
Logan Sanders I don’t mean “outwitted” that way, I mean yeah, DMs get outmaneuvered by their players all the time, I mean they shouldn’t let player action screw with the story. If the players pull something the DM’s not expecting, instead of letting the rest of the campaign become a total mess, the DM needs to adapt the game accordingly so the players can still enjoy the game. I’m not saying DMs should railroad the game so player action doesn’t matter for the sake of the narrative, just that a good DM should take changes in stride and adjust future games in a way that still challenges the players while allowing room for player craziness.
@@1003JustinLaw If there is a necromancer in the group powerful enough to control the nightwalker it is very likely that the big bad will be aware of him/her and take preemptive measures to keep control of such powerful minion. If the player necromancer managed to get control of such monster it's due the DM allowing it because he plans a bigger challenge for the players or because it's a trap. A DM who managed to make a campaign last to 20 CR will be quite experienced handling PCs.
I almost slaughtered my whole party with 2 normal Yeti and 1 Abominable Yeti. Big scary monsters are great, but sometimes a simple group of average monsters can do the job well enough.
I can see why honestly. Yetis are some of the low level monsters that can use their signature ability AND multiattack in the same turn, and the abominable one has a high DC, meaning that if they succeed 2 out of 3, they can launch 6 attacks at advantage against half your party, critting a lot easier, and the affected players then would lose at least a turn being unable to act. Also, the Abominable yeti does a big chunk of AOE damage with his cold breath
when you outsmart the outsmarting challenges of your DM but then you realize he outsmarted your oursmarting by actually making you outsmarting him as part of his plan to outsmart you
@@nightflame69 essentially by having your players "outsmart" the DM, it generally leads into a situation that the DM wants the players in regardless, thus the original comment making more sense. It is a favourite tactic of mine actually...
Ren LI PCs fighting cult of Orcus which has a Devourer and Nightwalker, the base is underground and suddenly a Purple Worm, drawn by the commotion, blasts through a nearby wall. Meanwhile, the Drow matriarch the PCs pissed off two years ago had sent a Retriever after them and it shows up in the middle of this mess. However luck isn’t all on the side of the villain because at that exact moment the Marut that had been hunting the cult leader shows up, however the party barbarian mistakes the new metallic giant as an enemy and attacks it. You’re welcome.
Add in a Shadow Dragon and you'll have something to *really* scare your PCs. Shadow Dragons can be extremely dangerous, especially with their breath weapon.
Just got into D&D with some friends and have watched probably 40-50 hours worth of Dungeon Dudes content the past few weeks! Love you guys! One question: what app/program is the Drakkenheim party using on the tablets?
RE: Devourer. With respect to healing an imprisoned character. The answer may lay in the question : "What happens if it passes it Death saves ?" Sure it's unlikely, but it should be in the rules.
Peter Hine considering nearly all healing spells require either line of sight, or touch, being INSIDE of a monster will block said spell,as your not going to be seeing the captive without X-ray vision or the DM ruleing that it’s skeletal enough that you can see the captive in the rib cage, same stick with touch based skills, mind you lore wise they devourer is NOT see though, the only healing that could revive a downed person inside of a devourer would be aoe based healing, which could very well STILL not effect the target as the dm could easily rule that because the target is INSIDE the soul eating monster, the magic instead affects the devourer, not the devoured as it absorbs the healing intended, weather it actually heals the devourer or harms it since healing magic is generally hostile to undead and minions of orcus, but if the target successfully passes or already stableized its saveing throws, it’s still unconscious inside the devourer... imprisoned until you either heal them,[probably not gona happen) or defeat the devourer( easier said then done before it kills its captive But finally, if you SOMEHOW end up inside a devourer with hp and conscious,, as it’s specifically made to target 0 hp humanoids, it’s fair to say it’d be forced to release the target on its turn right? Well it can just obliterate the targets restored hp with a soul rend or attacking it to drop it back to zero hp, starting the saves over again, or just ending the targets life via doing this while the targets on zero hp, consuming their soul and regurgitating them on there next turn Basically, if a player gets devoured by a devourer, they are up shits creek for sure, without IMMEDATE help
@@jaycobhughes3932 yes but if you look at the devourers art it very clearly shows parts of the victim exposed which would indicate that you do indeed have line of sight on the character
Lockz1111 in the end it’s all up to the DM”s ruleing on it, I see the devourer as a giant almost paper thin cursed looking skin soul eating monster, that sucks in and gorges itself on its victims whole as it drains there soul away, others see it as a huge skeletal monster that imprisons you in it’s rib cage and sucks out your soul, Though unless you have direct line of sight even something like a thin layer of magic “soul” energy could technically block LOS casting, it’s all on how you interpret it in your game since it doesn’t specify this particular tidbit, but it does leave a good bit of room to play around with it so even if it’s blurry or hard to see you could technically still cast if the DM chooses to allow it,
7:54 I’d rule that on reviving a character whose soul is being consumed by a devourer, the character would have to make a contested WIS check against the devourer to gain the effects of the spell (like a grapple check)
"Before you stands a spider made out of pure metal... in fact it seems to be made of gold... what you have stumbled upon is the one and only... the legendary GOLDEN RETRIEVER"
Bram Valstar plot twist: the Lich also has Control Undead and he just snatched it back since he was a level 18 Necromancy Wizard back when he was still alive.
You can short-circuit a purple worm encounter if one of your casters has banish prepared. It'll be difficult for the worm to make that DC 18 or so Charisma save with its -3 modifier. That will give you a minute to skedaddle before it comes back, confused and angry.
@@DungeonDudes If I were a necromancer and the DM dropped a controllable nightwalker in before me, I'd be terrified of what I might need it for. Suspicious game generosity!
I don't agree with your last idea at all. If a character's BS has gone that far, the way to remove them from your game is by laying down the law out of character, not in character. It's your game, after all. You have every right to force a player to make a new character without a story justification. If they don't like it at that point, they know where the door is.
You know, I always look at a Retriever and think to myself as a DM, "Hmm... I wonder if my targetted player would actually have a fighting chance if put into a 1-on-1 situation with it." Only recently did I realize that my party's Oath of Devotion Paladin (who pissed off a powerful drow noble) is borderline the perfect counter to it at his current level of 13. Mostly because he's a mounted combatant and makes excellent use of Freedom of Movement the first chance he gets. The force damage will certainly be a problem for him, but if I had to put my bets on anyone: Either him or the Swashbuckler Rogue.
A DM i had sent a devourer after a party, along with other things. And we had 3 players. Highest was level 8 (me) and I got one hit. We should have died from the unfair fight however we somehow survive
Regarding a 17th level (+) party, using the most dirty tactic in the book, can OTK the Marut though. If you're not familuar with the strategy, it's basicly as such; *-* Preform actions that force the [target] to expend all Legenday Resistances (Can be anything, but generally something that forces them to use it or suffer greatly. Optimally; just repeat the next point untill sucsess.) *-* Any spellcaster with the abillity to cast *Polymorph* (Wisdom saving throw) use that against the *[target]*, turning it into a slug. *-* 17th level spellcaster w/ *Power Word Kill* casts said spell against the slug, and since the target for PWK has less than 100 HP, it straight out dies. (not dealing damage, mind you, the target just dies) But hey, that's not a fun way to play either. It is just a stupid broken combo that can even *kill a Terrasque* :P
About healing a PC inside the devourer. Is the PC visible? The art work suggests that there could be holes in skin or a not completely covered stomach / rib cage. If you can see it, and there is no invisible object or force blocking, then yes I believe it would be healed. Then wrestle out like other swallow types. Otherwise, if the target is not visible, can it be targeted by a healing spell? When an enemy has full cover, it can’t be targeted at all. Unless something like Sacred Flame says so. So does this apply to PCs? Further more, the magic must have a path. J. Crawford confirmed that sight alone is not good enough. You have to have a path free of obstruction. The example used was looking through a window and trying to fireball the room. JC says the fireball would instead go off at the window. TL;DR if the healer can see the PC and has an unobstructed path for the spell to travel, yes the PC can be healed. If not, good luck.
Running Storm King's Thunder in the finale and there is a nursery of baby purple worms in the lair of the big bad. I decided to make it a bit more challenging on the party and included two adult worms. They killed one of them, and forced the other to escape (it couldn't get far as it was magically chained to an area it was in). But it made for a challenging battle, none the less! Was very fun to finally get to use them in a campaign!
What monster would best suit being flavored as a ancient, long imprisoned, dark god? I plan on having a campaign where the PCs have to get legendary items, allies and power (levels and abilities) in order to stop a evil predicted to arrive by a prophecy. Btw: A large part of the dark gods power is sealed away in a sword. If he gets it the heroes pretty much lose.
Depends on the flavor of your "ancient dark god" and what level you expect the players to encounter him and how much of his power is sealed in a sword. Demons, devils, and undead all make great starts. Demon and devil Lords especially so.
Oneshots in your setting with high level characters and monsters not only build up your world's history, but they also are a great way to take a break from the monotony of a campaign
I've always liked the idea of using high level monsters as an event type encounter. Like using the retriever to attack a town or city searching for a specific NPC and its up to the party to either hold out or rescue other people if they aren't strong enough.
High-level D&D is just not fun - - it's not fun for the players to cakewalk every challenge nor is it fun for the DM to have to come up with bullshit constantly in attempt to challenge these demigods. It's honestly baffling that DM still operates in a "1-20 levels" frameset when all collected data proves barely anyone runs or plays games outside of levels 1 - 6 [see Adventurer's League data, Roll20 data, etc to verify this]. Character levels made sense in early editions when every character struggled just to survive and even grew at different levels, but the current Experience Points / Character Level system just plain doesn't work.
Night walkers would be a terrifying addition to a death tyrant encounter, just say it's dreams tore a hole into the negative energy plane and your players must now deal with varying eye beams, complete negation of healing, paralysis, and max hp reduction.
Getting healed while inside the Devourer seems strange. I'd consider the humanoid either "worn or carried", thereby uneffected by most spells, or I'd rule that there is no unobstructed line towards the target and as far as I know, most spells need that line
I believe healing spirit is just "start your turn in the radius" The art shows then half hanging out, so it's iffy on whether LoS is obstructed. Lots of room for DM interpretation.
@@michaelsorensen7567 I'd also rule for healing spirit to not ignore full cover and heal into the next room. But yes, essentially - like all good ttrpgs I've played - quite a lot is up for the DM to decide
@@ratman505 imagine the cheese though, like a fight club or something and have the faster in he next room just chilling while one of gets their shit pushed in but will just not go down. "Is he a monster?" "Here, try stabbing him" "Whoah, it just went to through without a mark!" "Call a priest"
Retriever: Somebody really wants you in their lab Nightwalker: Somebody really DOESN'T want you in their lab Marut: Somebody (possibly the DM) is officially fucking sick of your bullshit
Love your videos guy lots of good info wat better then just reading monsters or spells also I used the underrated spell trick you taught me in a game I was playing a orv barbarian and a mage had enlarge so I had him shrink me then had him use maghand to throw/guide me into a dragons mouth then he enlarged me while inside the dragon and I killed it from the inside my most epic dnd moment. (Magehand is cantrip so he managed to do both on one turn) his spell plus cantrip.
I will say the dungeon master wasnt happy with this trick. He tryed to say I was sufficating while in the dragon so he had me take dmg ever turn but he didnt realize I have a ridiculous amount of hp and the damage he chose was to low to kill me while in dragon. When I killed it the DM just was frowning and kept trying to tell me good job but I could tell he was pisssed.
Luiz Antonio Campos I can’t see them being high enough level for that to be appropriate, unless Drakkenforce returns and they resume playing their old characters.
For the marut, you could have a plot where your PCs have to tempt and trick a extremely difficult or if not unbeatable villain into breaking an un-breakable contract and get dragged off by a marut.
Question for you guys (and everyone in the comments): As the DM, how do you handle splitting the party? In the Examples you gave you had a Purple Worm swallowing a player and the borrowing away or the Retriever incapacitating a player and plane shifting away. How would that be handled game wise? Would you just take turns role playing with the party and the removed party member? Thank you. Keep up the great videos!
@@MRSterling78 if your players have Gate, they might be able to catch up before it's too late. Otherwise, I can't think of a way for them catch up, meaning that they should just start roleplaying. If they want to pursue and don't have Gate then it will probably become the next campaign arc.
what I think of each creature 3:25 the Devourer: hes not very sturdy is he? I mean 16AC with 178 HP? and only +1 dex? that is like one fighter action surge with sharpshooter or GWM you would need like 5-6 to even start to challenge a high level group, not to mention its a fiend so if the group has a paladin they can pretty much cut its HP in half with one attack! so give it like a 1/10 8:20 purple worm: this is a bit more like it with 18 AC and 247 HP with the threat of the poison damage on each of its +14 to hit, I would say for a party of 4 use 2, split the multiattacks inbetween players DON'T FOCUS ON ONE PLAYER WITH BOTH ATTACKS, spread the panic, if you just try to kill one guy than they go down and someone casts healing word and they are back up and there is no threat 14:30 retriever: always run 2-3 with a group of 4 or more drow of any type otherwise they are kind of big targets, with only a +5 preceptions can be easily bested by a rogue with a magic bow 18:00 nightwalker: more impressive on paper but really just slows groups down, its low AC make it extremely vulnerable to attack rolls of any type, fought two at once in a game once and they got killed super hard super easy (6 rounds) the warlock kept spaming eldritch blast with agonizing blast, repelling blast and lance of lethargy witch locked it out of combat while the rest of the group kited the other one my character able to fly backwards (with my boots of flight) and fire off my double crossbow with sharpshooter and maneuvers and we just did that again for the other one, they are only scary up close, lock down there movement and fire bows and spells (has acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder resistance) till it dies ex pz marut: now this one will give players a HUGE challenge mostly because there is no way to stop its damage and it has a high AC and HP pool, even high level players will think twice before engaging this creature because it damage is so high and unavoidable, almost nothing has resistance to radiant or force damage so have a bear totem barbarian handy, on top of that it can either deal 45 damage with a stun (wisdom save dc 20!) or 60 damage on two creatures or 120 on one, that is alot of missing HP on one creature, I DO NOT recommend running more than one at a time but I do recommend teaming it up with CR 15-20 creatures for backup
From reading your comment . It becomes more clear as it goes on . That the rule of cool and lose ruling for fun is the dominant manner in which the games you play in are run .
I agree with you guys but I'd actually add Orcus to this list. He's pretty much invincible. He can by RAW call up to 3 liches and a Death Tyrant to serve him as minions. Probably can be beaten by a party of 8 to 12 level 20 characters though, but still a unreasonable challenge nonetheless. Luv you guys, keep the good work!
We actually didn’t include any named villains or any legendary monsters in this list. We will be doing a future video for top named villains, we will see if Orcus makes our cut.
Being a gigantic beast, i don't think that a purple worm burrowing into the ground would go unnoticed...everybody would sense something similar to an earthquake , giving the party the time to maybe flee or do something. At the very least they would not be surprised...it's not som random best that scratch the earth, it's a titanic monster that it's literally causing a earthquake
Not sponsored, but I genuinely love world anvil. I had an isolated planet for one of my campaigns, but with world anvil it’s so much more complex now. Before it was just a planet for the characters to be on. Now it has an in-depth creation story, 4 new subclasses, 4 new subraces, SO MANY MAGIC ITEMS, and much, much more.
I wouldn’t be able to use any of these creatures effectively without frustrating my party. People use things like purple worms as brutes cause if you were tactical with them, your players would have little chance. Something I struggle with all the time as DM is how much I should be challenging my players without making things feel hopeless.
I am old school but this was the beast to beat in 2 edition (Tarrasque) you had to drop to 0 hitpoint burn to ash and wish it dead. If any part survived it would regenerate in to another so if you had say a finger and a toe that did not get burn and wished dead you would now have 2 of them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrasque_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)#Advanced_Dungeons_&_Dragons_2nd_edition_(1989%E2%80%931999) other editions may have weekend this this monster but in 2 edition this was a BAD BOY to run up against
I had to use a Marut on my players recently after they signed a contract with an NPC and never fulfilled their end of the bargain. To make a long story short never sign a contract with Trixie the Pixie, she has powerful friends.
Playing halfling monk in first ever D&D capaign coming in to start at level 10. Saw something like treasure, ran up to it only for 2 purple worms to come up. Surpise round. First one hits my guy twice (one crit), knocking me really low on HP, second one then hits, taking me down to 0 then swallows me (auto fail on the DC as unconcious). I'm screwed, im going to take damage and so fail a Death save everytime it's this worms turn so yeah very slim chance my lil dude gets out. BUT then our barabrian crits! DM rules the crit has sliced open the worm and my halflings leg is sticking out. Barabrian can use his 2nd attack to try pull me out, which he does making he saving throw. Another party member then restores me to 1hp, and then the cleric casts santuary on me. On my go i then stunning strike this worm, then flurry and push it 15ft backwards falling back into the hole it came up in. We then destoryed the first worm, before the 2nd one recovered, came bacjk out and was killed. EPIC!
Fought a Nightwalker with 4 others on lvl 10. I have never experienced such inability to do anything to keep others over half their max HP because not enough Restoration spells to use. IT WAS NOT FUN.
Maruts really are a plot device. Overpowering one is hardly ever the question ; they make me think of the old 2nd ed Solars. So you can use them to keep your players on the run, or force them to confront some sort of court ruling in Sigil. Or they could be protecting a NPC that is being hunted by a Marut ; but hey, inevitable is in its title. The very fact it isn’t a “legendary monster” indicates it simply isn’t designed to end up on a PC’s trophy wall.
Okay so i had used a Marut in an evil campaign where a LOT of deals got made by the group wizard and he broke all of them except one. That one along with the sheer batshit insane magical research that he did and barely survived allowed him to willingly be taken by a Marut after the party tried to fight it(they didnt want to let their buddy go to what was probably his death). When he got there he released a logic plague powered by the entirety of the Far Realms. The one contract he did not break was the one with every single higher entity in there. And basically destroyed Sigil. Well turned it into a realm of chaos and horror even greater then the Far Realms.
Yeah use the small tremor function of the cantrip to increase the size the worm is sensing and when it strikes it would have a chance of missing the player's
I love the idea of a Marut as a slow lumbering consequence for an encounter. Like the party needs to accomplish something but they are under constant duress that this fucking behemoth will pummel them into oblivion if they fuck around.
Reading through some of the comments on your other videos, someone mentioned a video on deities. Would love to see this. I know you’ve touched on the topic in your cleric video, but I’d love to hear how you handle them in your campaigns. Comparison to elder scrolls, are they more like the divine who act through the devoted, or more like daedra whom take the more direct approach?
Generally, Monty takes a "religions, not gods" approach. If you'd like to see an example of how we handle this in our campaigns, check out our livestream Dungeons of Drakkenheim!
3.5 art just takes me instantly back to being a kid reading thru these entries for fun. I had no idea how game mechanics worked then, just loved the monsters themselves. So fun to get to go back to them with added dimension now.
I know what that one-eyed Construct in the Thumbnail is. Always hits and does 60 force damage. It has 2 attacks and thus has an automatic 120 Force Damage per round.
I feel like a purple worm could easily be a much more threatening creature like you said but I find it hard to make it fair for players to deal with a creature that can move 50 feet through existing tunnels with a pretty much doomed player in its mouth. I also find it hard to justify that the purple worm would find its appetite satisfied by a single medium sized creature when it can fit an entire army of medium creatures in its space
Another great vid, idk what determines the videos you make but has anyone asked on how you adjudicate passive checks vs active checks? Like when you would use passive Perception, Investigation, and Insight? And even the difference between Passive Perception and Investigation. Just having a little problem at my table I DM for. I've got a player with 20 Passive Perception and Investigation and a 16 Passive insight and unless I make the DC over 20 for some stuff he just automatically knows were everything hidden is in a room he walks in and almost always can tell if someone lies to him. Just a question. Love the content!
My favourite way to use a Marut is straight from the beginning, like Mister X in RE2 it's always there slowly but surely stalking them through their adventure as the PC's play a desperate race against time against the karmic justice nipping at their heels.
I have never played at very high level, and certainly never against creatures like these. I have to ask: Do these encounters lead up to... boring and anti-climactic results? Lower levels of play can trade damage back and forth and battles can be touch and go. Exciting! Thrilling! Lengthy battles! But... after someone plays for two years, and suddenly their 19th level character goes against one of these and just... Dies. I get that challenges have to ramp up, and players need tougher and tougher enemies. But don't some of these just lead to almost a situation where it's: heads, you live, tails, you're dead? I'm not saying these are bad monsters or anything. I just can't get my head around how these creatures could be fought in a game session. How would the round-by round battle even go? Does anyone have a link to a video where battles like these take place?
Really depends on the game. At the level you’re fighting these thing your power will vary greatly depending mainly on magic items, as well as just the characters within the party having good synergy or not. If you’re completely stuffed with magic items you’re likely going to be able to fight things at many cr levels above what you should with relative ease. With few or none you could be expected to fight at or around your party level of cr. Also, a lot of higher tier monsters shouldn’t simply be something you could roll on a random encounter table while travel on the road and fight until death. With some exceptions (like purple worms), they should all be encountered in their own unique environments. Places that aren’t necessarily advantageous to the party, and very likely disadvantageous. Minions can also play a huge role. The cr system kind of gets wonky when only one monster fights the whole party, so giving the enemies a few more actions to do with as they please can really even the odds. Know though that some monsters, mainly the many named and high tier ones, likely don’t require minions of any sort to assist because of the inherent danger they pose. Hope that helps a bit. If you want a video and don’t want to watch the whole series, critical role has some pretty well designed fights with one big monster against the party. The final fight is probably one of the best I’ve personally seen in any game, it was extremely tense from beginning to end, and it was an extremely important moment in the story.
@@DungeonDudes Can you please give me an example of a creature that you can't sneak by their tremor-sense? And what's the case with Purple Worms? Thanks in advance. Also sorry if my wording is a bit weird, english isn't my first language.
with an Int of 1 and a wisdom of 8 I don't think a purple worm would use that much thinking in its tactics. If somehow controlled by some caster then I think it would be really scarey. I've only faced one and it was 1st ed. and we had a caster with psionics so they killed it in the 1st round with a mental blast(or what ever it was called)
Oh it's not thinking at all. It's not planning. Have you ever had a pile of worms and a bright light? They move away from it to any available shadow. Same thing, just with an insatiable appetite for stuff that likes the bright light. Two competing needs that instinctual drive it to grab a bite then gtfo so it's not where it doesn't want to be. Can't do math or remember history to save it's life. Still manages to eat and live.
Question: I want to use a purple worm for an encounter, but I need to contain it to a particular area. Ideas? Purple worms can go through earth, sand, and water. What prevents it from movement outside of a bounded space? I have heard that some Underdark cities are warded against purple works, but I can find no specific mechanism. I dislike just using “because magic” with no specific explanation for players.
So....make a mechanism. :shrug: maybe it hates troglodytes, so you have to make a glyph with troglodyte entrails. Maybe they fear phase spiders, so you need a totem built of phase spider legs. Maybe divine blessings can steer them away, so use Ceremony as a ritual that can *also* wards against people worms in ___ radius. 5e is open to DM building their world. So build it. ;)
Have you ever watched the movie "Tremors"? The worms there were similar to Purple Worms. they could move through earth but not stone. And maybe it had to be certain density or thickness.
because a nightwalker is spawned whenever a creature passes into the negative realm, a high level necromancer could sacrifice victims to the negative realm, then enthrall the nightwalkers as great beasts of death and destruction.
Also, I'd love to see you guys review third party products, like "5 deadliest creatures from Kobold Press' Creature Codex," or "MCDM's Strongholds and Followers - a guide to playing with strongholds" etc.
i actually always wanted to use a Marut, but he is so fucking strong i don't know its possible. My idea was doing a terminator like Marut, tricked to be sended to kill the party by a BBEG saying they broke an acordance made and be basically well, "inevitable", so the party would need to escape and discover wtf is happening.
As a new DM (and equally new player in this regard...) I still wonder, how I communicate, that things can kill them outright. I do not want to simply tell them but on the other hand I do not want to tell them by first irreversible killing one of them either...
Alresu Easy either build it up as a unbelievably terrifying enemy or simply have it instakill something else in front of the party (preferably something the party might see as dangerous in its own right) first
We fought a purple worm and my black dragonborn warlock got the brilliant idea to get intentionally swallowed by the worm so she could cast fireball inside of it, figuring her acid resistance would keep her more or less safe.
The marut is literally the most broken thing. You can’t avoid it and it deals massive damage, twice per round. Oh, you invested in ludicrous amounts of AC boosting magic items? Hah. Guaranteed hits. Oh, you’ve got a bunch of hit points and most attacks aren’t a problem? Hah. 120 damage per round. Oh, you’ve got a bunch of damage resistances? Hah. Rarest damage to have resistance to. Oh, you’ve got dodging abilities and powerful magic? Hah. You’re stunned now, and you’ve taken a bunch of damage. Oh, you’ve got strong attacks? Hah. High AC and high health.
Monsters like this make me wonder how i should foreshadow them. I wouldn't want my players facing a nightwalker without knowing that their death is permanent if it kills them. They wouldn't be as anxious during the fight plus they would feel extremely cheated when it suddenly turns out they can't revive anymore.
For the most part I’d have the quest giver fill them in on some of the ability’s of the monster, with lore flavor explanations, such as during a anchant battle the legendary hero who sealed it away lost a companion doing so, and no mortal magic was powerfull enough to bring back said fallen compatriot, if players ignore that, or don’t realize that means death is... well.... death, then perhaps break immersion and flat out tell them that this monster coming up has a do-not-pass-go instant kill ability, that can’t be undone, except with wish but it’s rare to see even long running campaigns reach that point I generally would never break immersion, but I would make a notable exception if I noticed the players just did not get even with abundant or obvious warning, that you were bringing something like these monsters into the campaign purely because if the players are attached to a character or characters sending something with instant kill mechanics that you can’t be revived from with no warning is a great way to lose players, or just outright ruin everyone’s fun, it’s one thing if this is a common theme throughout the campaign in which case shame on them for not being prepared, it’s quite another to just suddenly drop something like a night stalker on the party when you haven’t clearly stated, that hey, death is death now, plan accordingly or we’ll.. get a new character sheet
Nightwalker: *Appears*
High lvl Necromancer Wizard: "You're mine now."
Back away from my cauldron
YOINK!
that is in fact the plan for my current necro lol, gonna make a big deal about it though, side quests for the appropriate tuning fork, knowledge about nightwalkers and the negative energy plane. so its not just a planeshift+peasant push = free cr 20 creature
This is exactly why I modified the Nightwalker for my campaigns making it an actual intelligent creature that is more of a stalking terror that can actually mimic the form and memories of whatever they have killed or replaced even non humanoid creatures, they take on the mental sats of whatever they replace and also gain incorporeal movement. Passively other undead in the area are drawn to the Nightwalker like a beacon of death. And it heals for half the necrotic damage it deals.
As for battle strats this version of Nightwalker prefers to remain hidden as it decimates a population but if it views adventurers as a threat it will attack full force. If it feels it will be defeated it will retreat not out of fear but out of desire to preserve its ability to bring doom to the rest of the plane and will proceed to shift into another form and stalk the party from a distance striking when they least expect.
Needless to say the Cr is obviously a bit above Cr 20 but I feel like it does the Nightwalker the appropriate service for actually making it the ominous embodiment of doom that it’s described to be. This is something I pull out endgame when the players are wanting things like a tarrasque to fight and if I ever put hints to one mid game they know they’re not meant to fight it and to avoid the town at all costs
yeah nah
As we know the only way to avoid a purple worm is to walk without rhythm
I got that reference! ;)
That floating disk spell people often mock has a new purpose.
Dance walking!
I will not fear.
Fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
fuzzygreentiger
it has to follow behind you. So it’s not too practical
If you have one character who can fly slowly then it could work
Maruts would be excellent for a Warlock in breach of contract! Not to pummel, although it might serve as a reminder, but the storytelling possibilities are phenomenal. What better time for a trial session, than a Patron seeking restitution for real (or perceived) abuses of contract?
Maruts are more than capable of wiping a party, but their goal is to just retrieve the character(s) that broke the contract. They'd be excellent for any high level (or even relatively low level... it's not like the marut wants to kill the party), high stakes courtroom drama surrounding a (debatably) breached contract.
So apply this to Fjord?
@@toddthefox8993 .... I dont think the would work, Wild Mother got his back.... and is probably way scarier than Ukotoa.... though she has nothing on the Traveller
@@toddthefox8993 yes. Ukotoa wanted to be free and was using it warlocks to accomplish this.
@toddthefox8993
Fjord did not make his pact willingly or consciously, so it would not be under the jurisdiction of the Halls of Concordence; he did not 'sign' any deal.
3:25 Devourer
8:20 Purple Worm
14:30 Retriever
18:00 Nightwalker
22:45 Marut
Unsung hero
Funny....I fought all of these in 3.5 with my Grey Guard/Paladin.....Marut was the campaign ender. :p
Thanks
Stupid over powered. Meant for the Marut, sorry not you.
People like you make the internet better. Thank you, sir.
I can just imagine a high level Wizard PC signing a fiendish contract, his soul when he dies in exchange for knowledge; and the Wizard thinks becoming a Lich would save him from his contract.... but then the Marut comes
Marut punches the lich to double death and whisks the phylactery to sigil
The Nightwalker also poses a very interesting and tempting opportunity for PC Necromancers, because it’s at CR20 PCs would normally be at at least level 15 when they face it, and the Control Undead ability that Necromancy Wizards gain at level 14 gives them the chance to snag this huge threat and make the Nightwalker their permanent thrall.
But if they get it, the DM is screwed.
Lucas M. Nah, plenty of ways for a DM to fix that, it can be banished, its tie to the material plane might expire, a lich could grab it back, just to name a few.
However, a better way to deal with this change would be seeing this as a story-advancing opportunity. Maybe having the Nightwalker could give the PCs the edge they need to challenge the more powerful BBEG, like Orcus himself, or the Ancient Black Dragon allied to the necromancer that first summoned the Nightwalker.
A DM can never be outwitted by the players, since the DM represents the world itself. A good DM can take any player shenanigan and turn it into a plot point without coming off as adversarial.
Arngeir DM’s get outwitted all the time. There’s only so much a single person can do against a group of 3-5 people. There’s just too much of them for the dm to ever hope of never being outwitted. A good dm would take this with grace, admitting to either themselves, the table, or both that they were outwitted. I’d be suspicious of a dm that never seems to get outsmarted, because they’re likely using their power as the dm to “win” the game and silently changing things to fit their narrative. Either that or they have not very intelligent players.
Logan Sanders I don’t mean “outwitted” that way, I mean yeah, DMs get outmaneuvered by their players all the time, I mean they shouldn’t let player action screw with the story. If the players pull something the DM’s not expecting, instead of letting the rest of the campaign become a total mess, the DM needs to adapt the game accordingly so the players can still enjoy the game. I’m not saying DMs should railroad the game so player action doesn’t matter for the sake of the narrative, just that a good DM should take changes in stride and adjust future games in a way that still challenges the players while allowing room for player craziness.
@@1003JustinLaw If there is a necromancer in the group powerful enough to control the nightwalker it is very likely that the big bad will be aware of him/her and take preemptive measures to keep control of such powerful minion. If the player necromancer managed to get control of such monster it's due the DM allowing it because he plans a bigger challenge for the players or because it's a trap.
A DM who managed to make a campaign last to 20 CR will be quite experienced handling PCs.
I almost slaughtered my whole party with 2 normal Yeti and 1 Abominable Yeti. Big scary monsters are great, but sometimes a simple group of average monsters can do the job well enough.
I can see why honestly. Yetis are some of the low level monsters that can use their signature ability AND multiattack in the same turn, and the abominable one has a high DC, meaning that if they succeed 2 out of 3, they can launch 6 attacks at advantage against half your party, critting a lot easier, and the affected players then would lose at least a turn being unable to act. Also, the Abominable yeti does a big chunk of AOE damage with his cold breath
Season’s Greason’s
when you outsmart the outsmarting challenges of your DM but then you realize he outsmarted your oursmarting by actually making you outsmarting him as part of his plan to outsmart you
Ho? You’re outsmarting my outsmarting?
Do you mind repeating that.. In English! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@nightflame69 essentially by having your players "outsmart" the DM, it generally leads into a situation that the DM wants the players in regardless, thus the original comment making more sense.
It is a favourite tactic of mine actually...
😂 I love this
I love the monster topics you guys do.
*Purple worm exists*
Me: "IT'S AN ALASKAN BULL WORM!!!"
Epic list guys! Thanks!
*plans next encounter where PC have to fight all 5 monsters at once*
How?
Ren LI PCs fighting cult of Orcus which has a Devourer and Nightwalker, the base is underground and suddenly a Purple Worm, drawn by the commotion, blasts through a nearby wall. Meanwhile, the Drow matriarch the PCs pissed off two years ago had sent a Retriever after them and it shows up in the middle of this mess. However luck isn’t all on the side of the villain because at that exact moment the Marut that had been hunting the cult leader shows up, however the party barbarian mistakes the new metallic giant as an enemy and attacks it.
You’re welcome.
@@1003JustinLaw oh yeah, it's big brain time
Me: sees title
Also me: it’s time to give my bbeg some minions
im running an undead campaign and you guys just gave me my end game enemies, thanks : 3
Add in a Shadow Dragon and you'll have something to *really* scare your PCs. Shadow Dragons can be extremely dangerous, especially with their breath weapon.
Ahhh, a Purple Worm would've been the perfect cap to an encounter with a pack of Bulettes I ran for a 20th level one-shot
Just got into D&D with some friends and have watched probably 40-50 hours worth of Dungeon Dudes content the past few weeks! Love you guys! One question: what app/program is the Drakkenheim party using on the tablets?
Pretty sure it is D&D Beyond. You used to be able to look up their characters
It is indeed D&D beyond.
RE: Devourer. With respect to healing an imprisoned character. The answer may lay in the question : "What happens if it passes it Death saves ?"
Sure it's unlikely, but it should be in the rules.
Peter Hine also Spare the Dying cantrip.
I recommend a PC strength check vs Devourer Con check to determine if the PC can break out of the rib cage.
Peter Hine considering nearly all healing spells require either line of sight, or touch, being INSIDE of a monster will block said spell,as your not going to be seeing the captive without X-ray vision or the DM ruleing that it’s skeletal enough that you can see the captive in the rib cage, same stick with touch based skills, mind you lore wise they devourer is NOT see though, the only healing that could revive a downed person inside of a devourer would be aoe based healing, which could very well STILL not effect the target as the dm could easily rule that because the target is INSIDE the soul eating monster, the magic instead affects the devourer, not the devoured as it absorbs the healing intended, weather it actually heals the devourer or harms it since healing magic is generally hostile to undead and minions of orcus, but if the target successfully passes or already stableized its saveing throws, it’s still unconscious inside the devourer... imprisoned until you either heal them,[probably not gona happen) or defeat the devourer( easier said then done before it kills its captive
But finally, if you SOMEHOW end up inside a devourer with hp and conscious,, as it’s specifically made to target 0 hp humanoids, it’s fair to say it’d be forced to release the target on its turn right? Well it can just obliterate the targets restored hp with a soul rend or attacking it to drop it back to zero hp, starting the saves over again, or just ending the targets life via doing this while the targets on zero hp, consuming their soul and regurgitating them on there next turn
Basically, if a player gets devoured by a devourer, they are up shits creek for sure, without IMMEDATE help
@@jaycobhughes3932 yes but if you look at the devourers art it very clearly shows parts of the victim exposed which would indicate that you do indeed have line of sight on the character
Lockz1111 in the end it’s all up to the DM”s ruleing on it, I see the devourer as a giant almost paper thin cursed looking skin soul eating monster, that sucks in and gorges itself on its victims whole as it drains there soul away, others see it as a huge skeletal monster that imprisons you in it’s rib cage and sucks out your soul,
Though unless you have direct line of sight even something like a thin layer of magic “soul” energy could technically block LOS casting, it’s all on how you interpret it in your game since it doesn’t specify this particular tidbit, but it does leave a good bit of room to play around with it so even if it’s blurry or hard to see you could technically still cast if the DM chooses to allow it,
7:54 I’d rule that on reviving a character whose soul is being consumed by a devourer, the character would have to make a contested WIS check against the devourer to gain the effects of the spell (like a grapple check)
"Before you stands a spider made out of pure metal... in fact it seems to be made of gold... what you have stumbled upon is the one and only... the legendary GOLDEN RETRIEVER"
First hearing the " nightwalker" description made me think of the character "death " in the 80's arcade game " gauntlet "
Absolutely yes
That would make for a great session, filled with "Wizard needs food, badly..."
@@captainthorrek262 "Warrior, your life force is running out."
In Gauntlet Legends, as long as you had at least one potion, you could get rid of him stupid easy. If not...
I miss Gauntlet Legends though.
@@arnox4554 bought a 1-up console the other day. (Defender, rampage,joust,and gauntlet)
"Warrior needs sustenance"
Man the devourer makes me think of relinquish from Yu-Gi-Oh
prank the lich lord by being a necromancy wizard and turning his nightwalker against him
Bram Valstar plot twist: the Lich also has Control Undead and he just snatched it back since he was a level 18 Necromancy Wizard back when he was still alive.
@@1003JustinLaw that's not very cash money of him
The lich lord pranks the player making him believe that they got control of the nightwalker just to have it backstab him when most vulnerable.
You can short-circuit a purple worm encounter if one of your casters has banish prepared. It'll be difficult for the worm to make that DC 18 or so Charisma save with its -3 modifier. That will give you a minute to skedaddle before it comes back, confused and angry.
I would love for my level 20 Necromancer to fight a nightwalker. Because, the command undead just takes control of him perminantly
It sure does. We discuss that in our necromancer video and it’s a really scary concept..... for the DM.
@@DungeonDudes If I were a necromancer and the DM dropped a controllable nightwalker in before me, I'd be terrified of what I might need it for. Suspicious game generosity!
I don't agree with your last idea at all. If a character's BS has gone that far, the way to remove them from your game is by laying down the law out of character, not in character. It's your game, after all. You have every right to force a player to make a new character without a story justification. If they don't like it at that point, they know where the door is.
You know, I always look at a Retriever and think to myself as a DM, "Hmm... I wonder if my targetted player would actually have a fighting chance if put into a 1-on-1 situation with it."
Only recently did I realize that my party's Oath of Devotion Paladin (who pissed off a powerful drow noble) is borderline the perfect counter to it at his current level of 13. Mostly because he's a mounted combatant and makes excellent use of Freedom of Movement the first chance he gets. The force damage will certainly be a problem for him, but if I had to put my bets on anyone: Either him or the Swashbuckler Rogue.
A DM i had sent a devourer after a party, along with other things. And we had 3 players. Highest was level 8 (me) and I got one hit. We should have died from the unfair fight however we somehow survive
Regarding a 17th level (+) party, using the most dirty tactic in the book, can OTK the Marut though.
If you're not familuar with the strategy, it's basicly as such;
*-* Preform actions that force the [target] to expend all Legenday Resistances (Can be anything, but generally something that forces them to use it or suffer greatly. Optimally; just repeat the next point untill sucsess.)
*-* Any spellcaster with the abillity to cast *Polymorph* (Wisdom saving throw) use that against the *[target]*, turning it into a slug.
*-* 17th level spellcaster w/ *Power Word Kill* casts said spell against the slug, and since the target for PWK has less than 100 HP, it straight out dies. (not dealing damage, mind you, the target just dies)
But hey, that's not a fun way to play either. It is just a stupid broken combo that can even *kill a Terrasque* :P
The Marut is specifically inmune to effects that alter it's form, that combo wouldn't work with it.
Immutable form is a real bitch. Your OP tactic dont apply here.
Always wanted to throw a Nightwalker at my players. So damn scary
siriswarrior Suggestion: check out the Nightshades from Pathfinder
About healing a PC inside the devourer.
Is the PC visible? The art work suggests that there could be holes in skin or a not completely covered stomach / rib cage. If you can see it, and there is no invisible object or force blocking, then yes I believe it would be healed. Then wrestle out like other swallow types.
Otherwise, if the target is not visible, can it be targeted by a healing spell? When an enemy has full cover, it can’t be targeted at all. Unless something like Sacred Flame says so. So does this apply to PCs?
Further more, the magic must have a path. J. Crawford confirmed that sight alone is not good enough. You have to have a path free of obstruction. The example used was looking through a window and trying to fireball the room. JC says the fireball would instead go off at the window.
TL;DR if the healer can see the PC and has an unobstructed path for the spell to travel, yes the PC can be healed. If not, good luck.
Running Storm King's Thunder in the finale and there is a nursery of baby purple worms in the lair of the big bad. I decided to make it a bit more challenging on the party and included two adult worms. They killed one of them, and forced the other to escape (it couldn't get far as it was magically chained to an area it was in). But it made for a challenging battle, none the less!
Was very fun to finally get to use them in a campaign!
What monster would best suit being flavored as a ancient, long imprisoned, dark god? I plan on having a campaign where the PCs have to get legendary items, allies and power (levels and abilities) in order to stop a evil predicted to arrive by a prophecy.
Btw: A large part of the dark gods power is sealed away in a sword. If he gets it the heroes pretty much lose.
Depends on the flavor of your "ancient dark god" and what level you expect the players to encounter him and how much of his power is sealed in a sword.
Demons, devils, and undead all make great starts. Demon and devil Lords especially so.
A pit lord.
Michael Sorensen Thinking maybe titan like, power over death and destruction
The Paladin breaks their oath, expecting to become an oathbreaker. But instead a Marut shows up and teleports them to an Ace Attorney style encounter.
I’d love to have the chance to run a high-level monster sometime.
Oneshots in your setting with high level characters and monsters not only build up your world's history, but they also are a great way to take a break from the monotony of a campaign
I've always liked the idea of using high level monsters as an event type encounter. Like using the retriever to attack a town or city searching for a specific NPC and its up to the party to either hold out or rescue other people if they aren't strong enough.
High-level D&D is just not fun - - it's not fun for the players to cakewalk every challenge nor is it fun for the DM to have to come up with bullshit constantly in attempt to challenge these demigods. It's honestly baffling that DM still operates in a "1-20 levels" frameset when all collected data proves barely anyone runs or plays games outside of levels 1 - 6 [see Adventurer's League data, Roll20 data, etc to verify this]. Character levels made sense in early editions when every character struggled just to survive and even grew at different levels, but the current Experience Points / Character Level system just plain doesn't work.
The facial hair just like the d&d knowledge bombs, very on point and appreciated. Thanks bros!
Night walkers would be a terrifying addition to a death tyrant encounter, just say it's dreams tore a hole into the negative energy plane and your players must now deal with varying eye beams, complete negation of healing, paralysis, and max hp reduction.
Getting healed while inside the Devourer seems strange. I'd consider the humanoid either "worn or carried", thereby uneffected by most spells, or I'd rule that there is no unobstructed line towards the target and as far as I know, most spells need that line
I believe healing spirit is just "start your turn in the radius"
The art shows then half hanging out, so it's iffy on whether LoS is obstructed.
Lots of room for DM interpretation.
@@michaelsorensen7567 I'd also rule for healing spirit to not ignore full cover and heal into the next room.
But yes, essentially - like all good ttrpgs I've played - quite a lot is up for the DM to decide
@@ratman505 imagine the cheese though, like a fight club or something and have the faster in he next room just chilling while one of gets their shit pushed in but will just not go down.
"Is he a monster?"
"Here, try stabbing him"
"Whoah, it just went to through without a mark!"
"Call a priest"
"Surprise round"
-triggering intensifies
Yeay it’s Thursday, time for DM school!!!
Retriever: Somebody really wants you in their lab
Nightwalker: Somebody really DOESN'T want you in their lab
Marut: Somebody (possibly the DM) is officially fucking sick of your bullshit
Love your videos guy lots of good info wat better then just reading monsters or spells also I used the underrated spell trick you taught me in a game I was playing a orv barbarian and a mage had enlarge so I had him shrink me then had him use maghand to throw/guide me into a dragons mouth then he enlarged me while inside the dragon and I killed it from the inside my most epic dnd moment. (Magehand is cantrip so he managed to do both on one turn) his spell plus cantrip.
I will say the dungeon master wasnt happy with this trick. He tryed to say I was sufficating while in the dragon so he had me take dmg ever turn but he didnt realize I have a ridiculous amount of hp and the damage he chose was to low to kill me while in dragon. When I killed it the DM just was frowning and kept trying to tell me good job but I could tell he was pisssed.
I can't help but think that those are going to appear in Shadows of Drakkenheim
Luiz Antonio Campos I can’t see them being high enough level for that to be appropriate, unless Drakkenforce returns and they resume playing their old characters.
@@TheHandgunhero it's not uncommon for a big baddie to appear early in the story
All great and classic monsters, it's good to see them outlined as such in this video. Great job guys!
For the marut, you could have a plot where your PCs have to tempt and trick a extremely difficult or if not unbeatable villain into breaking an un-breakable contract and get dragged off by a marut.
0:44 Got ya
hmm..can you imagine a group of devourers vs a nightwalker..
Question for you guys (and everyone in the comments): As the DM, how do you handle splitting the party? In the Examples you gave you had a Purple Worm swallowing a player and the borrowing away or the Retriever incapacitating a player and plane shifting away. How would that be handled game wise? Would you just take turns role playing with the party and the removed party member? Thank you. Keep up the great videos!
Yeah I would just keep initiative order since it would be combat. If the worm is tunnelling away implement chase rules for the rest of the party.
E. S. Lavall Thank you. That makes sense. What about the retriever situation as technically combat has ended and the PC is essentially kidnapped?
@@MRSterling78 if your players have Gate, they might be able to catch up before it's too late. Otherwise, I can't think of a way for them catch up, meaning that they should just start roleplaying. If they want to pursue and don't have Gate then it will probably become the next campaign arc.
what I think of each creature
3:25 the Devourer: hes not very sturdy is he? I mean 16AC with 178 HP? and only +1 dex? that is like one fighter action surge with sharpshooter or GWM you would need like 5-6 to even start to challenge a high level group, not to mention its a fiend so if the group has a paladin they can pretty much cut its HP in half with one attack! so give it like a 1/10
8:20 purple worm: this is a bit more like it with 18 AC and 247 HP with the threat of the poison damage on each of its +14 to hit, I would say for a party of 4 use 2, split the multiattacks inbetween players DON'T FOCUS ON ONE PLAYER WITH BOTH ATTACKS, spread the panic, if you just try to kill one guy than they go down and someone casts healing word and they are back up and there is no threat
14:30 retriever: always run 2-3 with a group of 4 or more drow of any type otherwise they are kind of big targets, with only a +5 preceptions can be easily bested by a rogue with a magic bow
18:00 nightwalker: more impressive on paper but really just slows groups down, its low AC make it extremely vulnerable to attack rolls of any type, fought two at once in a game once and they got killed super hard super easy (6 rounds) the warlock kept spaming eldritch blast with agonizing blast, repelling blast and lance of lethargy witch locked it out of combat while the rest of the group kited the other one my character able to fly backwards (with my boots of flight) and fire off my double crossbow with sharpshooter and maneuvers and we just did that again for the other one, they are only scary up close, lock down there movement and fire bows and spells (has acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder resistance) till it dies ex pz
marut: now this one will give players a HUGE challenge mostly because there is no way to stop its damage and it has a high AC and HP pool, even high level players will think twice before engaging this creature because it damage is so high and unavoidable, almost nothing has resistance to radiant or force damage so have a bear totem barbarian handy, on top of that it can either deal 45 damage with a stun (wisdom save dc 20!) or 60 damage on two creatures or 120 on one, that is alot of missing HP on one creature, I DO NOT recommend running more than one at a time but I do recommend teaming it up with CR 15-20 creatures for backup
From reading your comment .
It becomes more clear as it goes on .
That the rule of cool and lose ruling for fun is the dominant manner in which the games you play in are run .
I agree with you guys but I'd actually add Orcus to this list.
He's pretty much invincible. He can by RAW call up to 3 liches and a Death Tyrant to serve him as minions.
Probably can be beaten by a party of 8 to 12 level 20 characters though, but still a unreasonable challenge nonetheless.
Luv you guys, keep the good work!
We actually didn’t include any named villains or any legendary monsters in this list. We will be doing a future video for top named villains, we will see if Orcus makes our cut.
Being a gigantic beast, i don't think that a purple worm burrowing into the ground would go unnoticed...everybody would sense something similar to an earthquake , giving the party the time to maybe flee or do something. At the very least they would not be surprised...it's not som random best that scratch the earth, it's a titanic monster that it's literally causing a earthquake
Not sponsored, but I genuinely love world anvil. I had an isolated planet for one of my campaigns, but with world anvil it’s so much more complex now. Before it was just a planet for the characters to be on. Now it has an in-depth creation story, 4 new subclasses, 4 new subraces, SO MANY MAGIC ITEMS, and much, much more.
I wouldn’t be able to use any of these creatures effectively without frustrating my party. People use things like purple worms as brutes cause if you were tactical with them, your players would have little chance. Something I struggle with all the time as DM is how much I should be challenging my players without making things feel hopeless.
I think it could be really cool to have a desert setting campaign based on dune with purple worms as sand worms reflaourved
I am old school but this was the beast to beat in 2 edition (Tarrasque) you had to drop to 0 hitpoint burn to ash and wish it dead. If any part survived it would regenerate in to another so if you had say a finger and a toe that did not get burn and wished dead you would now have 2 of them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrasque_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)#Advanced_Dungeons_&_Dragons_2nd_edition_(1989%E2%80%931999) other editions may have weekend this this monster but in 2 edition this was a BAD BOY to run up against
I had to use a Marut on my players recently after they signed a contract with an NPC and never fulfilled their end of the bargain.
To make a long story short never sign a contract with Trixie the Pixie, she has powerful friends.
Playing halfling monk in first ever D&D capaign coming in to start at level 10. Saw something like treasure, ran up to it only for 2 purple worms to come up. Surpise round. First one hits my guy twice (one crit), knocking me really low on HP, second one then hits, taking me down to 0 then swallows me (auto fail on the DC as unconcious). I'm screwed, im going to take damage and so fail a Death save everytime it's this worms turn so yeah very slim chance my lil dude gets out.
BUT then our barabrian crits! DM rules the crit has sliced open the worm and my halflings leg is sticking out. Barabrian can use his 2nd attack to try pull me out, which he does making he saving throw. Another party member then restores me to 1hp, and then the cleric casts santuary on me.
On my go i then stunning strike this worm, then flurry and push it 15ft backwards falling back into the hole it came up in. We then destoryed the first worm, before the 2nd one recovered, came bacjk out and was killed.
EPIC!
Fought a Nightwalker with 4 others on lvl 10. I have never experienced such inability to do anything to keep others over half their max HP because not enough Restoration spells to use. IT WAS NOT FUN.
Maruts really are a plot device. Overpowering one is hardly ever the question ; they make me think of the old 2nd ed Solars.
So you can use them to keep your players on the run, or force them to confront some sort of court ruling in Sigil. Or they could be protecting a NPC that is being hunted by a Marut ; but hey, inevitable is in its title.
The very fact it isn’t a “legendary monster” indicates it simply isn’t designed to end up on a PC’s trophy wall.
My plan for the purple worm was to have the players fight a homebrewed monster that deals a lot of thunder damage and have the worm drawn to the noise
Also the worm is so large that I would have the tunnel fairly easy to follow
Thanks for the video!
For the Devourer, would a shape-changed druid still be considered a humanoid for the Soul Rend damage?
Okay so i had used a Marut in an evil campaign where a LOT of deals got made by the group wizard and he broke all of them except one. That one along with the sheer batshit insane magical research that he did and barely survived allowed him to willingly be taken by a Marut after the party tried to fight it(they didnt want to let their buddy go to what was probably his death). When he got there he released a logic plague powered by the entirety of the Far Realms. The one contract he did not break was the one with every single higher entity in there. And basically destroyed Sigil. Well turned it into a realm of chaos and horror even greater then the Far Realms.
Can you use Thaumaturgy to confuse the tremor sense of the purple worm?
Interesting idea.
Yeah use the small tremor function of the cantrip to increase the size the worm is sensing and when it strikes it would have a chance of missing the player's
So when's World Hammer coming along?
Also, maruts fall, everyone dies.
I love the idea of a Marut as a slow lumbering consequence for an encounter. Like the party needs to accomplish something but they are under constant duress that this fucking behemoth will pummel them into oblivion if they fuck around.
With a purple worm in a desert, you could have it work like an antlion, making a sand trap to drag the party into it's mouth
The first time I heard of a Nightwalker I immediately printed it! I cannot wait to unleash it!
Make sure a party member has banishment or you’re going to murder your entire party
Reading through some of the comments on your other videos, someone mentioned a video on deities. Would love to see this. I know you’ve touched on the topic in your cleric video, but I’d love to hear how you handle them in your campaigns. Comparison to elder scrolls, are they more like the divine who act through the devoted, or more like daedra whom take the more direct approach?
Generally, Monty takes a "religions, not gods" approach. If you'd like to see an example of how we handle this in our campaigns, check out our livestream Dungeons of Drakkenheim!
I'm thinking of monsters I can pair together. Like goblins and phase spiders. Goblin Phase Spider Riders.
Theorycrafters: I have infinite AC!
Most DM's: Saving throws.
Dungeon Dudes: Marut.
I prefer the nightwalker to have a sort of uncanny, inhuman intelligence like the xenomorphs from Alien.
Just watching the Witcher and trying to figure out what that one insect monster that assassin had I think is a weaker version of Retriever.
I looked all through the About section...can't see an email address. Am I just missing it? My apologies.
You have to click a button to make it appear, it's to protect from bots and such :)
sorry, but purple worm was destroyed by a party of 6 characters of level 10. The party is too powerful
3.5 art just takes me instantly back to being a kid reading thru these entries for fun. I had no idea how game mechanics worked then, just loved the monsters themselves. So fun to get to go back to them with added dimension now.
I know what that one-eyed Construct in the Thumbnail is. Always hits and does 60 force damage. It has 2 attacks and thus has an automatic 120 Force Damage per round.
What's wrong, Kelly? It's going to be okay, man. Whatever it is, it's going to be okay.
I feel like a purple worm could easily be a much more threatening creature like you said but I find it hard to make it fair for players to deal with a creature that can move 50 feet through existing tunnels with a pretty much doomed player in its mouth. I also find it hard to justify that the purple worm would find its appetite satisfied by a single medium sized creature when it can fit an entire army of medium creatures in its space
The Marut makes me want the party to enter an impossible contract and have someone taken by him when they default
If you are reduced to 0 by a Nightwalker and are a zealot barb do you still instantly die or are they safe from it?
Have a fear of spiders. Sees the Retriever. "Aww, hell no."
Another great vid, idk what determines the videos you make but has anyone asked on how you adjudicate passive checks vs active checks? Like when you would use passive Perception, Investigation, and Insight? And even the difference between Passive Perception and Investigation. Just having a little problem at my table I DM for. I've got a player with 20 Passive Perception and Investigation and a 16 Passive insight and unless I make the DC over 20 for some stuff he just automatically knows were everything hidden is in a room he walks in and almost always can tell if someone lies to him. Just a question. Love the content!
My favourite way to use a Marut is straight from the beginning, like Mister X in RE2 it's always there slowly but surely stalking them through their adventure as the PC's play a desperate race against time against the karmic justice nipping at their heels.
There’s no better horror movie monster than a cyclopean robot that deals fixed damage.
I have never played at very high level, and certainly never against creatures like these. I have to ask: Do these encounters lead up to... boring and anti-climactic results? Lower levels of play can trade damage back and forth and battles can be touch and go. Exciting! Thrilling! Lengthy battles! But... after someone plays for two years, and suddenly their 19th level character goes against one of these and just... Dies.
I get that challenges have to ramp up, and players need tougher and tougher enemies. But don't some of these just lead to almost a situation where it's: heads, you live, tails, you're dead? I'm not saying these are bad monsters or anything. I just can't get my head around how these creatures could be fought in a game session. How would the round-by round battle even go?
Does anyone have a link to a video where battles like these take place?
Really depends on the game. At the level you’re fighting these thing your power will vary greatly depending mainly on magic items, as well as just the characters within the party having good synergy or not. If you’re completely stuffed with magic items you’re likely going to be able to fight things at many cr levels above what you should with relative ease. With few or none you could be expected to fight at or around your party level of cr.
Also, a lot of higher tier monsters shouldn’t simply be something you could roll on a random encounter table while travel on the road and fight until death. With some exceptions (like purple worms), they should all be encountered in their own unique environments. Places that aren’t necessarily advantageous to the party, and very likely disadvantageous. Minions can also play a huge role. The cr system kind of gets wonky when only one monster fights the whole party, so giving the enemies a few more actions to do with as they please can really even the odds. Know though that some monsters, mainly the many named and high tier ones, likely don’t require minions of any sort to assist because of the inherent danger they pose.
Hope that helps a bit. If you want a video and don’t want to watch the whole series, critical role has some pretty well designed fights with one big monster against the party. The final fight is probably one of the best I’ve personally seen in any game, it was extremely tense from beginning to end, and it was an extremely important moment in the story.
Imagine using a Marut as a means of introducing a quest giver that kidnaps people that he or she wants to give a quest to.
Can you stealth by walking carefully against a creature with Tremorsense?
Depends on the creature and the nature of their tremor-sense.
@@DungeonDudes Can you please give me an example of a creature that you can't sneak by their tremor-sense? And what's the case with Purple Worms?
Thanks in advance. Also sorry if my wording is a bit weird, english isn't my first language.
@@cainrivero1466 It's not 100% clear in the rules. unfortunately. It's entirely a matter of DM interpretation.
@@DungeonDudes Oh I understand, thanks for the answer and keep up the vids, they are both entertaining and informative!
Walk without rhythm, and we won't attract the worm...
Very inspiring. I just scripted my next 3 sessions using these monsters. Thanks Dudes!
with an Int of 1 and a wisdom of 8 I don't think a purple worm would use that much thinking in its tactics. If somehow controlled by some caster then I think it would be really scarey. I've only faced one and it was 1st ed. and we had a caster with psionics so they killed it in the 1st round with a mental blast(or what ever it was called)
Oh it's not thinking at all. It's not planning. Have you ever had a pile of worms and a bright light? They move away from it to any available shadow. Same thing, just with an insatiable appetite for stuff that likes the bright light. Two competing needs that instinctual drive it to grab a bite then gtfo so it's not where it doesn't want to be.
Can't do math or remember history to save it's life. Still manages to eat and live.
Question: I want to use a purple worm for an encounter, but I need to contain it to a particular area. Ideas?
Purple worms can go through earth, sand, and water. What prevents it from movement outside of a bounded space?
I have heard that some Underdark cities are warded against purple works, but I can find no specific mechanism. I dislike just using “because magic” with no specific explanation for players.
So....make a mechanism. :shrug: maybe it hates troglodytes, so you have to make a glyph with troglodyte entrails. Maybe they fear phase spiders, so you need a totem built of phase spider legs. Maybe divine blessings can steer them away, so use Ceremony as a ritual that can *also* wards against people worms in ___ radius.
5e is open to DM building their world. So build it. ;)
Have you ever watched the movie "Tremors"? The worms there were similar to Purple Worms. they could move through earth but not stone. And maybe it had to be certain density or thickness.
because a nightwalker is spawned whenever a creature passes into the negative realm, a high level necromancer could sacrifice victims to the negative realm, then enthrall the nightwalkers as great beasts of death and destruction.
Also, I'd love to see you guys review third party products, like "5 deadliest creatures from Kobold Press' Creature Codex," or "MCDM's Strongholds and Followers - a guide to playing with strongholds" etc.
i actually always wanted to use a Marut, but he is so fucking strong i don't know its possible.
My idea was doing a terminator like Marut, tricked to be sended to kill the party by a BBEG saying they broke an acordance made and be basically well, "inevitable", so the party would need to escape and discover wtf is happening.
And there’s the lore. Maruts only show up when someone breaks a contract with a deity.
I think your reasoning is right, the Marut lacks the (L) tag in dndbeyond.
Great video! I wish you had pictures of the monsters to introduce them though.
As a new DM (and equally new player in this regard...) I still wonder, how I communicate, that things can kill them outright. I do not want to simply tell them
but on the other hand I do not want to tell them by first irreversible killing one of them either...
Alresu Easy either build it up as a unbelievably terrifying enemy or simply have it instakill something else in front of the party (preferably something the party might see as dangerous in its own right) first
I’d love to see what you two think makes a great party buffer (instead of an enemy debuffer)
The Retriever is a really good choice for True Polymorph
We fought a purple worm and my black dragonborn warlock got the brilliant idea to get intentionally swallowed by the worm so she could cast fireball inside of it, figuring her acid resistance would keep her more or less safe.
Plane shift the purple worm in the Abyss.
Not your problem anymore.
The marut is literally the most broken thing. You can’t avoid it and it deals massive damage, twice per round.
Oh, you invested in ludicrous amounts of AC boosting magic items? Hah. Guaranteed hits.
Oh, you’ve got a bunch of hit points and most attacks aren’t a problem? Hah. 120 damage per round.
Oh, you’ve got a bunch of damage resistances? Hah. Rarest damage to have resistance to.
Oh, you’ve got dodging abilities and powerful magic? Hah. You’re stunned now, and you’ve taken a bunch of damage.
Oh, you’ve got strong attacks? Hah. High AC and high health.
It's exactly what a CR 25+ monster should be.
The marut functions like it’s not from DnD. And I like it for that.
Kelly, do us a favor and keep rocking that stache!
Monsters like this make me wonder how i should foreshadow them. I wouldn't want my players facing a nightwalker without knowing that their death is permanent if it kills them. They wouldn't be as anxious during the fight plus they would feel extremely cheated when it suddenly turns out they can't revive anymore.
For the most part I’d have the quest giver fill them in on some of the ability’s of the monster, with lore flavor explanations, such as during a anchant battle the legendary hero who sealed it away lost a companion doing so, and no mortal magic was powerfull enough to bring back said fallen compatriot, if players ignore that, or don’t realize that means death is... well.... death, then perhaps break immersion and flat out tell them that this monster coming up has a do-not-pass-go instant kill ability, that can’t be undone, except with wish but it’s rare to see even long running campaigns reach that point
I generally would never break immersion, but I would make a notable exception if I noticed the players just did not get even with abundant or obvious warning, that you were bringing something like these monsters into the campaign purely because if the players are attached to a character or characters sending something with instant kill mechanics that you can’t be revived from with no warning is a great way to lose players, or just outright ruin everyone’s fun, it’s one thing if this is a common theme throughout the campaign in which case shame on them for not being prepared, it’s quite another to just suddenly drop something like a night stalker on the party when you haven’t clearly stated, that hey, death is death now, plan accordingly or we’ll.. get a new character sheet