Said hobo: "You are a see of grass, fooder! nourishment for the ecology of life. For cattle you have bred and bereaved the wild, and so the cattle of wild will reave ye. You... All of you are a relics... decrept ruins... Broken down statues of the past. Be overgrown!!!" 👍
Monsters like Gorgons are always good candidates for templates to me. Ghost/Spectral versions of Gorgons are terrifying just as a Celestial version are too. And nothing would be more beautiful to see than a Arch Devil with a infernal pasture of Fiendish Gorgons grazing on the rust red powder of victims and running free.
That note on the save DC is what I've been saying about 5e for a long time, all the monster save DCs are so low that monsters' cool save abilities are likely to never actually proc, and it makes me very sad.
Gorgons make up part of the living iron animals. Perytons, Manticore, and, Gorgons make up an interesting ecology, but it necessitates the existence of Rust Monsters if they're going to figure heavily into your game. Like keeping a few rust monsters in wooden fenced pens along the order of a farm would be a necessity in places where Perytons, Manticore, or Gorgons exist.
I did have a farming town that never had metal. Cause this community had managed to tame rust monsters. Rust Ranch. Haha. The army wasn't allowed within a day of that place. Cause all the metal made the rust monsters frenzy. The king had to personally collect the taxes.
1.) Are they at all related to the elemental plain of earth? 2.) Dose that mean that they can turn a medusa to stone, and if so, will looking at it still turn you to stone 3.) Theoretically, can a sorcerer with subtle spell still cast spells and take long rests while petrified. 4.) What happens if you are damaged or transmuted (ie. turned into mud or adamantium) while as stone? 5.) If you get petrified while astrally projecting, what would happen? 6.) Do things like resistances/immensities, spell like abilities, and magic items/boons work while petrified? 7.) Can you destroy normally (virtually) unbreakable objects while petrified? 8.) Can you train rust monsters enough to use them as hunting dogs against gorgons if you are trying to collect their blood, or protect an area from them? 9.) Dose that mean gorgons can not be possessed? 10.) Can you use gorgon blood to do things like make weapons effect astral and ethereal creatures, or armor that can stop ghosts, by coating in in the blood or using it in the items construction, or just as a component of a magic item that have those properties?
1. Up to you, I'd say yes but established lore might disagree 2. I'm fairly sure things that petrify other things are also immune to petrification. 3. Possibly as they're stuck in a dream state, but if you want that possibility I'd reccomend including some sort of mental save to retain faculties after being petrified 4. You die and/or lose whatever's been broken off 5. You die. Death or injury sustained while astrally projecting is sustained by your body as well. So you'd technically have two statues for the price of one. 6. Depends on gm ruling and the abilities in question. One could argue that since you're still technically alive, so long as they don't require activation then yes they would. 7. if the item is in and of itself also petrified and it's invulnerability is not a result of it's make-up. However you now have to break stone, which can be hard without proper tools. 8. Yes actually. You can train rust monsters pretty easilly, just don't expect to ever have equipment capable of being rusted ever again. You also still need to deal with the fact that rust monsters can't actually deal with the gorgons themselves, but if you have a proper weapon (I.E. a greatclub) then they're much less hard to deal with when their ac gets dropped to ten. 9. unless the ghost sneaks up on them while they're asleep 10. Depends on DM ruling. I'd say if you did, gorgon blood would be one of the components usable to make a "+X" armor or weapon.
1.) There is no evidence to suggest they are in the lore. 2.) Medusa are not immune to petrification, when turned to stone, they lose the ability to turn other creatures to stone. 3.) Theoretically. 4.) You die. 5.) You get snapped back into your body and wake up with a splitting headache. 6.) Theoretically. 7.) No. 8.) Certainly, goblinoids and Orcs do that in areas where gorgons are a problem. 9.) Never say never, it is not impossible. 10.) I certainly would not rule it out, that would be a great complication to throw at a player who is trying to make such an item, prompting them to go on a Gorgon hunt.
on that petrified elder brain and not aging while petrified. aren't the a bunch of fallen angels in the underdark that are petrified and insane that can be used as patrons for warlocks?
You prolly dont care but if you guys are stoned like me atm you can watch pretty much all the latest movies and series on InstaFlixxer. I've been streaming with my gf for the last couple of months =)
Oh god i have to combine them now. It's just that it's jaws are too narrow to fit a person whole in their stomach. So they're gonna have to be alot bigger. 🐃🔥😱
I appreciate and understand the reasons for your more common/new intro tagline, but I do love the old "I make D&D videos fulltime so you don't have to." :-) I simply love your channel and would absolutely cherish if my first pen and paper game was at your table! Anyways, good luck and keep up the wonderful work, Sir AJ Gluestick. Sending our best regards from Ho Chi Minh City.
Always learn something new from your videos. Doing a bronze age Mediterranean region homebrew campaign soon, very basic prompt of everyone just being monster hungers. Can't wait to throw a gorgon at my players, that info about its blood being useful for stopping magical travel was chefs kiss, thank you!
Take one cow miniature, dunk in gun metal paint, then highlight with mithril silver paint, and add a wash of copper paint, then dab splotches of Verdigris green.
@@AJPickett I could do that, painting it wont be to hard I paint a lot of warhammer minis and it should give me the paints to do as you suggested it should be easy enough to do. Thank you.
In 5e it's unstated that, as in real life, taking any serious wound immediately drops you to 0 hp as you no longer capable of fighting. So any amount of damage that does not drop you to 0 is bruises/burns/cuts/minor breaks that impair your ability to fight, but not seriesly harm you. The more experienced and powerful you are the better you can avoid taking serious harm
@@AJPickett I feel like that's where the optional rules for massive damage come in for the translation between damage and hp. That, and if you drop to 0 and someone hits you with a minor health potion/healing word you're basically functioning on adrenaline at that point
I imagine hit points as meaning "hero points". As Colville once said, "HP is a measure of your heroism" (paraphrased). It's funny that hit points are very poorly portrayed in Western media, if at all, but certain Eastern media (like Shonen anime) portrays them very well. Anime heroes take fireballs to the face and suffer only a nosebleed, until that last hit that takes them down.
Esper the Bard did find out why it's called a gorgon and explained it in one of his monster rating videos. Some hear-ye hear-ye guy in the ?1300s? wrote a monster manual type book and just kind of gave things names. love your videos guy i'm chipping through your monster manual playlist right now
Imagine them combined, where they have a flame breath weapon. And can repair their damaged/rusty plates - by heating the metal from "feeding the cauldron".😈🐃🤪
@@thedarkmaster4747 I think the execution device is nasty enough there...having constucts powered by it kind of take it more to the twisted humor side of things...
Bounty hunter: "Get up, and fight me, coward. You're pathetic." Player character: "I c-can't" Bounty hunter: *Grabs player character by the throat and lifts him up* "Take off that mask." Player character: "N-No! You can't" Bounty hunter: "W-wha-How did you get those scars?" Player character: "I don't remember...." Bounty hunter: "Well then, let me remind you. It's massive, 15 feet tall. It's eyes burn with an eternal hatred, and it has a permanent, toothy smile. Most apparently, it's body is wreathed in astral flame. Whenever it comes near, everything, even animals that are physically incapable of feeling humor, will burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. When it touches you, it doesn't burn...it feels like your blood is turning to ice. Sound familiar?" Player character: "H-How did you k-know that?" Bounty hunter: "Take a good, long look." *reveals the exact same scars on his chest* This, right here, is one of my favorite interactions between one of my characters and an NPC.
Ha! Players come across a pile of weapons and gold. Start picking through it. Out bursts a gorgon charging full speed, followed by a pursuing rust monster. Roll initiative.
now why is it an omnivore? for the meat body how does it turn metal into stone? or are the only things affected by the breath are plant & animal...I could've missed that portion of the video. I can totally picture coming into a Gorgon's grazing zone: grass as high as the knee, and stubbing my hobnailed boot against a muted clank, looking down and seeing a trampled breastplate with maybe some odd looking stone "crumbs". A few feet further and finding more trampled armor pieces, a bent sword, a blunted ax, scattered gold coins, and everyone is looking at the ground, until the ground gives a little shake and looking up: majestically gliding through the tall grasses a small herd of shiny, shiny cattle with very large proportions.
Great video as usual AJ. I altered Gorgons in Loom of Magus (my campaigns) because I loved the Greek mythology version (God of Metalworking and Machinery). They are living bovine-like beings, but they are living because they are such complex artificial beings. They are 100% metal and mineral. Their breath weapon is a flame breath that ALSO has a petrification status effect. Their specialized metal is more like rust-immune steel. And, given time, they can heal 100% from anything. Because Rust Monsters can rust any metal, even rustproof metal, they do flee from Rust Monsters. They blast their breath at them before turning to flee, often cooking them. And they do charge even those scary (to them) creatures when cornered. Their blood is a special kind of oil that carries everything they need and have organs that produce, refine and filter it from what they eat. They do reproduce akin to normal bovine ways. They eat any mineral, ash, and particularly love eating their petrified victims. They shun eating actual organic material if it is not ash or borderline ash. They can eat it but it tastes vile to them. Because they need gaseous oxygen, they do "statue" when submerged until they can dry out. I do give them special vulnerability against anti-golem and anti-construct magics. Nearly all are born Gorgons, but their race was created as complex machinery that truly mimics life. Philosophically and technically speaking, they are life forms. They are so close to being alive, they can be reanimated as undead beings. Undead Gorgons are nightmares. Their parts pull themselves back together, floating back to the body. You can only keep one down by area-effecting obliteration (overkill on Fireball and other stuff) or release Rust Monsters on a destroyed Undead Gorgon. In the undead state, it has no blood nor need to feed. It still eats. What it eats is secreted by it as powder and ooze... from... everywhere. Also, it has no limits to when it does its breath weapon. It just attacks that way 25% of the time. Veterans of AD&D in other campaign worlds had mixed feelings about Loom of Magus Gorgons. They did love how Gorgons react (predictably) to how someone holding a Sword of Rust (Loom magical item that mimics Rust Monster abilities, looks like a shoddy rusty sword when discovered) as if they were a Rust Monster.
I know be basically impossible to get ahold of but if they're organic and their cattle that means that the females produce milk imagine that imagine the cheese
@@linguisticallyoversight8685 They don't have udders, it is quite difficult telling males apart from females. (If they do produce milk, you know that is going to be THE HARDEST CHEESE)
My party recently got attacked by a trio of gorgons. Our warforged ended up getting petrified weirdly enough, and my Gnoll Barbarian decided to try a taste of gorgon “meat”. DM said it tasted awful.
Wise DM. Gnolls can eat and like all meat. Gorgon meat is toxic to most. To a Gnoll, it simply tastes bad. However, like getting a taste for beer or stinky cheese for humans, a Gnoll an acquire a taste for it.
I have a Minotaur Paladin in my group... I'm wanting to give him a cool mout for find steed. He is multiclassing so he will get the spell at a later level... Would it be way too op to give him a gorgon mount?
why am I picturing a half Gorgon Minotaur breathing this foul breath weapon, charging with this metallic skin (Colossus ish) with metal etched tattoos.
Hey AJ, forgot how nasty Gorgons are. Those was would make for a great random encounter. Mix it up give the party something to think about, like how to change there friend back to flesh & bone. Great intro great video, you always give so much information. Thanks AJ & have a great day.
The Dark master Wildebeest are from Africa, Komodo dragons are from the Island of Komodo, about 5000 miles away. There’s no way a wildebeest has ever been “cornered by Komodo dragons.” You might be thinking of a water buffalo, but even they don’t fit the description you’ve given them.
Waterbuffalo sorry, my bad lmao!!! You'd think after watching all those docs i'd not make a mistake like that. 😔🤨🤔 i've seen one hold up to bunch of dragons post bite. I've seen them try to kill lion cubs in order to stop the inevitably of the food chain. They hold on... and i wouldn't be suprised if one gets filmed raging against the darkness of ligers released into the wild at night.
It might have been native to the howling tunnels of Pandemonium, or it was bred by an ancient race for the purpose of warfare, or it is the result of a magical mishap or mutation. The is some lore that says they can occasionally interbreed with Chimera.
AJ Pickett Oh that's interesting.I wonder what a hybrid of those two would be like.Im sure it would make the average adventurer shit their pants and run for the city gates.
Some say: Somebody slapped a god in the face, for failing to fertilize their unyeilding lands, they were a cattle farmer. Who smithed on the side. But their true passion was sculptures. Unfortunately it was "sacrelidge". Thats my theory.
There are a lot of stories in the ancient world where the gods dick around like that.It makes a great setup for angry defiant rebel characters.I approve of this approach to fantasy.
@@AJPickett the divine beast ishtar pestered her father to give her for Gilgamesh insulted her. Seven years of drought but in the end Gilgamesh brought the divine bull down.
If they turn to stone when immersed in water what would happen if they get caught in a massive rainstorm. Might make an interesting encounter to find one like this.
@@bluesap7318 Medusa are Gorgans, Gorgans need a different name because the bronze bulls were never called Gorgon. The word gorgon is a snake haired woman, the name Medusa is the name of a person, it’s just confusing why insist on the name of a mythical creature that shares ZERO similarities to the namesake?
The reason for the name is a book of monsters where a creature similar to the catoplebas was called a gorgon. It's also why Marvel's Inhumans have a minotaur-like bullman called Gorgon
Well, the Gorgon doesn't die from getting attacked by the rusties, it just loses all it's protection and becomes vulnerable to other predators, plus there is no way it is going to attract a mate if it is devoid of armor plates.
OK I need a domestic version you can ride The demi gorgon . it breath does not turn things to stone but slow them down till they are frozen like stone . You only have 2 way to get to ride it one beat it in to the ground to a inch of it life ( one time thing ) 2 befriend it. Good luck with that way. need to roll a 17 ( 1d20) every 2 week to keep it as a friend or feed it some thing of a elemental power farmer of this beast are strong . most can wrestle them to the ground they used the blood from them in spells ti seal things to keep energies from leaking out. or block them from getting in. It does not work as good as the real one but it can cause things to get stuck while passing though it but it can be used on a wide range of thing but the strength change base of the strength of what it is used on. you can trap a ghost in paper but the ghost can do a strength check to rip the paper
There was a book called “the history of four footed beasts” published in the 1600s that called a metal bull that turned people to stone with it’s breath a Gorgon. A few monsters come from that book. Including the other severely misnamed monster the Lamia. And the Catoblepas
I like how you mention Medusas ONCE at the start and never again in the whole video, and never talk about the most popular and well known type of Medusa. Or how in MTG the Gorgon is a creature type for all Medusas creature cards. And MTG is directly linked to Dungeons and Dragons, so the most popular type of Gorgon is the Medusa... and that's... well.. okay.. 15 minute long video and you mentioned it literally _once_. Nothing like leaving out the core most well known Gorgon of them all from a video about Gorgons.
Outside of Dungeons and Dragons, the Medusa race is also known as Gorgons, in Dungeons and Dragons, the Gorgon is not a medusa, it is a different monster because that is how they were written. You will probably love this little fact while we are at it.. Kobold means "Gnome".
Gorgon is a greek word meaning dreadful or terrible. It is attached in Greek folklore to a trio of sisters, the leader of whom was Medusa and the others were Stheno and Euryale. The latter two were immortal while Medusa was not. D and D took a different tack with the naming conventions of several monsters, most notably the Gorgon and Catoblepas (a so called African Gorgon due to it's lethal gaze). Both creatures share similar backgrounds in folklore of various cultures. The d&d gorgon appears to have come from an amalgamation of the Lybian Beast (also called a Gorgon) which was a bull like creature that chewed poisonous plants and as such had deadly breath, and the khalkotauroi, a bronze clad bull that breathes fire that the Argonauts had to fight. So while Medusae are traditionally considered Gorgons due to their popularity and infamy, there are other such named creatures in folklore. So long story short, just chill dude, no need to get indignant about things, it's a tabletop game and it's all made up. And this is a video about a VERY SPECIFIC type of creature that has been in the monster manual for quite some time. HEY AJ, if you see this I have another little nugget for you. You mentioned the ettercaps were named after Cob, an old word for spider, but Cobb (two b's) means seagull as well. EDITED: for clarity as I confused the African gorgon and Khalkotaruoi, now fixed.
You watched the entire video and couldn't' deduce that he's not talking about that kind of Gorgon? What kind of fucking cognitive dissonance are you experiencing, mate?
Well first off it's like a slideshow of images to help add visual aid to the video. This being in mind the artists them selves post the art pieces to the public internet with their watermark or signature on it. The watermark or signature is there to show who made the art. Now if he removed the mark, that would be scummy considering that he's again only using them for visual aid... not claiming there his work, not using it for direct profit, just to pair with his voice.
Good suggestion for an adventure hook. Local Gorgan farmer needs you to hunt down some rust monsters that are bothering his herd.
had a necromancer friend who revived one of these as Gorgon Ramsay
Imma steal that
AJ: "they can't be tamed"
Me, a druidic murderhobo: "M'kay."
That sounded lie "Challenge Accepted!" to me.
Said hobo: "You are a see of grass, fooder! nourishment for the ecology of life. For cattle you have bred and bereaved the wild, and so the cattle of wild will reave ye. You... All of you are a relics... decrept ruins... Broken down statues of the past. Be overgrown!!!" 👍
Monsters like Gorgons are always good candidates for templates to me. Ghost/Spectral versions of Gorgons are terrifying just as a Celestial version are too. And nothing would be more beautiful to see than a Arch Devil with a infernal pasture of Fiendish Gorgons grazing on the rust red powder of victims and running free.
Gorgon Bodak might be the most terrifying thing I've heard of...my players are not going to be happy XD
D&D can be so brutal. Being concious while petrified would drive me insane for sure. As a player I would roll probably a Wisdom save for sanity
Love the depth and love for even for such an uncommon critter choice. The real world cryptozoology was fantastic, thanks brother!
I have had the displeasure of fighting this thing only once...
Blitzed the whole party. R.I.P kenku rouge. (Awesome video as usual btw)
Yeah, these things are no joke.
@@AJPickett true but, we were level two and the only reason we were even fighting one was because the DM was pissed at our murder-hobo halfling bard
Man, you never run out of intros.
Also, first.
The never-ending quest to find the perfect intro.
I think this one is very good.
@@thejamaicanempire3561 Yeah, I think the soft sound and info theme really suits the content.
“Heavy metal cattle” sounds like a great band name.
That note on the save DC is what I've been saying about 5e for a long time, all the monster save DCs are so low that monsters' cool save abilities are likely to never actually proc, and it makes me very sad.
Gorgons make up part of the living iron animals.
Perytons, Manticore, and, Gorgons make up an interesting ecology, but it necessitates the existence of Rust Monsters if they're going to figure heavily into your game.
Like keeping a few rust monsters in wooden fenced pens along the order of a farm would be a necessity in places where Perytons, Manticore, or Gorgons exist.
I did have a farming town that never had metal. Cause this community had managed to tame rust monsters. Rust Ranch. Haha. The army wasn't allowed within a day of that place. Cause all the metal made the rust monsters frenzy. The king had to personally collect the taxes.
What happens when the gorgon loses its power?
It becomes a DEMOGORGON
1.) Are they at all related to the elemental plain of earth?
2.) Dose that mean that they can turn a medusa to stone, and if so, will looking at it still turn you to stone
3.) Theoretically, can a sorcerer with subtle spell still cast spells and take long rests while petrified.
4.) What happens if you are damaged or transmuted (ie. turned into mud or adamantium) while as stone?
5.) If you get petrified while astrally projecting, what would happen?
6.) Do things like resistances/immensities, spell like abilities, and magic items/boons work while petrified?
7.) Can you destroy normally (virtually) unbreakable objects while petrified?
8.) Can you train rust monsters enough to use them as hunting dogs against gorgons if you are trying to collect their blood, or protect an area from them?
9.) Dose that mean gorgons can not be possessed?
10.) Can you use gorgon blood to do things like make weapons effect astral and ethereal creatures, or armor that can stop ghosts, by coating in in the blood or using it in the items construction, or just as a component of a magic item that have those properties?
1. Up to you, I'd say yes but established lore might disagree
2. I'm fairly sure things that petrify other things are also immune to petrification.
3. Possibly as they're stuck in a dream state, but if you want that possibility I'd reccomend including some sort of mental save to retain faculties after being petrified
4. You die and/or lose whatever's been broken off
5. You die. Death or injury sustained while astrally projecting is sustained by your body as well. So you'd technically have two statues for the price of one.
6. Depends on gm ruling and the abilities in question. One could argue that since you're still technically alive, so long as they don't require activation then yes they would.
7. if the item is in and of itself also petrified and it's invulnerability is not a result of it's make-up. However you now have to break stone, which can be hard without proper tools.
8. Yes actually. You can train rust monsters pretty easilly, just don't expect to ever have equipment capable of being rusted ever again. You also still need to deal with the fact that rust monsters can't actually deal with the gorgons themselves, but if you have a proper weapon (I.E. a greatclub) then they're much less hard to deal with when their ac gets dropped to ten.
9. unless the ghost sneaks up on them while they're asleep
10. Depends on DM ruling. I'd say if you did, gorgon blood would be one of the components usable to make a "+X" armor or weapon.
1.) There is no evidence to suggest they are in the lore.
2.) Medusa are not immune to petrification, when turned to stone, they lose the ability to turn other creatures to stone.
3.) Theoretically.
4.) You die.
5.) You get snapped back into your body and wake up with a splitting headache.
6.) Theoretically.
7.) No.
8.) Certainly, goblinoids and Orcs do that in areas where gorgons are a problem.
9.) Never say never, it is not impossible.
10.) I certainly would not rule it out, that would be a great complication to throw at a player who is trying to make such an item, prompting them to go on a Gorgon hunt.
on that petrified elder brain and not aging while petrified. aren't the a bunch of fallen angels in the underdark that are petrified and insane that can be used as patrons for warlocks?
You prolly dont care but if you guys are stoned like me atm you can watch pretty much all the latest movies and series on InstaFlixxer. I've been streaming with my gf for the last couple of months =)
@Amos Ismael yea, I have been watching on InstaFlixxer for since november myself :D
My guess is they were covered with metallic scales in reference to the Brazen Bull of Sicily.
Maybe, I could not find a direct link to it in the published lore and did not care to speculate.
Oh god i have to combine them now. It's just that it's jaws are too narrow to fit a person whole in their stomach. So they're gonna have to be alot bigger. 🐃🔥😱
Just want to say how much I enjoy your videos. Really wonderful stuff. Watching the planescape campaign now (the war forged character is hilarious)
I appreciate and understand the reasons for your more common/new intro tagline, but I do love the old "I make D&D videos fulltime so you don't have to." :-)
I simply love your channel and would absolutely cherish if my first pen and paper game was at your table!
Anyways, good luck and keep up the wonderful work, Sir AJ Gluestick. Sending our best regards from Ho Chi Minh City.
Ah yes. Another monster you don't pair with anything if you don't want a TPK.
Always learn something new from your videos. Doing a bronze age Mediterranean region homebrew campaign soon, very basic prompt of everyone just being monster hungers. Can't wait to throw a gorgon at my players, that info about its blood being useful for stopping magical travel was chefs kiss, thank you!
I had an idea for a magical item. The gorgauntlet. It's a gauntlet that turns anything that the palm touches to stone.
It's all fun and games until your balls itch.
@@wagz781 I was going to say something less family friendly but the same area. So... here's your like instead. ;)
A solid monster hopefully I can find a mini of one in the near future.
Take one cow miniature, dunk in gun metal paint, then highlight with mithril silver paint, and add a wash of copper paint, then dab splotches of Verdigris green.
@@AJPickett I could do that, painting it wont be to hard I paint a lot of warhammer minis and it should give me the paints to do as you suggested it should be easy enough to do. Thank you.
In 5e it's unstated that, as in real life, taking any serious wound immediately drops you to 0 hp as you no longer capable of fighting. So any amount of damage that does not drop you to 0 is bruises/burns/cuts/minor breaks that impair your ability to fight, but not seriesly harm you. The more experienced and powerful you are the better you can avoid taking serious harm
Seriously hurt people can certainly continue to fight, thanks to that magical substance called adrenalin, but yes, you make a good point.
@@AJPickett I feel like that's where the optional rules for massive damage come in for the translation between damage and hp. That, and if you drop to 0 and someone hits you with a minor health potion/healing word you're basically functioning on adrenaline at that point
I imagine hit points as meaning "hero points". As Colville once said, "HP is a measure of your heroism" (paraphrased). It's funny that hit points are very poorly portrayed in Western media, if at all, but certain Eastern media (like Shonen anime) portrays them very well. Anime heroes take fireballs to the face and suffer only a nosebleed, until that last hit that takes them down.
I love the gorgon hes such an awesome creature lol. good video aj my favorite move is the smoke breath
Esper the Bard did find out why it's called a gorgon and explained it in one of his monster rating videos. Some hear-ye hear-ye guy in the ?1300s? wrote a monster manual type book and just kind of gave things names. love your videos guy i'm chipping through your monster manual playlist right now
Great vid AJ,their blood is awesome for multiple reasons 🐃
Had an Eldritch knight Medusa with a magically dominated gorgon mount in a campaign once, it was awesome
For origins, part of the modern design also comes from the Brass/Brazen Bull which is a horrifying thing to consider as well...
Imagine them combined, where they have a flame breath weapon. And can repair their damaged/rusty plates - by heating the metal from "feeding the cauldron".😈🐃🤪
@@thedarkmaster4747 I think the execution device is nasty enough there...having constucts powered by it kind of take it more to the twisted humor side of things...
Huh, the Gorgon trying to steal your weapons is very interesting.
And logical.
I loved the Gorgon/Minotaur, that would be a fun home brew monstrous civilization/race.
It's like the fiendish lovechild of a Catoblepas and the Cretan Bull if it was a literal Bronze Bull
Bounty hunter: "Get up, and fight me, coward. You're pathetic."
Player character: "I c-can't"
Bounty hunter: *Grabs player character by the throat and lifts him up* "Take off that mask."
Player character: "N-No! You can't"
Bounty hunter: "W-wha-How did you get those scars?"
Player character: "I don't remember...."
Bounty hunter: "Well then, let me remind you. It's massive, 15 feet tall. It's eyes burn with an eternal hatred, and it has a permanent, toothy smile. Most apparently, it's body is wreathed in astral flame. Whenever it comes near, everything, even animals that are physically incapable of feeling humor, will burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. When it touches you, it doesn't burn...it feels like your blood is turning to ice. Sound familiar?"
Player character: "H-How did you k-know that?"
Bounty hunter: "Take a good, long look." *reveals the exact same scars on his chest*
This, right here, is one of my favorite interactions between one of my characters and an NPC.
"They can't be tamed" while a picture of a Medusa riding a Gorgon in harness is on screen.
If you look closely, that is a bull wearing chainmail.
Ha! Players come across a pile of weapons and gold. Start picking through it. Out bursts a gorgon charging full speed, followed by a pursuing rust monster. Roll initiative.
Heavy metal cattle
now why is it an omnivore? for the meat body
how does it turn metal into stone? or are the only things affected by the breath are plant & animal...I could've missed that portion of the video.
I can totally picture coming into a Gorgon's grazing zone:
grass as high as the knee, and stubbing my hobnailed boot against a muted clank,
looking down and seeing a trampled breastplate with maybe some odd looking stone "crumbs".
A few feet further and finding more trampled armor pieces,
a bent sword,
a blunted ax,
scattered gold coins, and everyone is looking at the ground,
until the ground gives a little shake
and looking up: majestically gliding through the tall grasses a small herd of shiny, shiny cattle with very large proportions.
Yes, as far as I know, they don't turn metal to stone, just living tissue, this includes the wood and fluids of a Warforged.
Great video as usual AJ. I altered Gorgons in Loom of Magus (my campaigns) because I loved the Greek mythology version (God of Metalworking and Machinery). They are living bovine-like beings, but they are living because they are such complex artificial beings. They are 100% metal and mineral. Their breath weapon is a flame breath that ALSO has a petrification status effect. Their specialized metal is more like rust-immune steel. And, given time, they can heal 100% from anything. Because Rust Monsters can rust any metal, even rustproof metal, they do flee from Rust Monsters. They blast their breath at them before turning to flee, often cooking them. And they do charge even those scary (to them) creatures when cornered. Their blood is a special kind of oil that carries everything they need and have organs that produce, refine and filter it from what they eat. They do reproduce akin to normal bovine ways. They eat any mineral, ash, and particularly love eating their petrified victims. They shun eating actual organic material if it is not ash or borderline ash. They can eat it but it tastes vile to them. Because they need gaseous oxygen, they do "statue" when submerged until they can dry out. I do give them special vulnerability against anti-golem and anti-construct magics. Nearly all are born Gorgons, but their race was created as complex machinery that truly mimics life. Philosophically and technically speaking, they are life forms. They are so close to being alive, they can be reanimated as undead beings. Undead Gorgons are nightmares. Their parts pull themselves back together, floating back to the body. You can only keep one down by area-effecting obliteration (overkill on Fireball and other stuff) or release Rust Monsters on a destroyed Undead Gorgon. In the undead state, it has no blood nor need to feed. It still eats. What it eats is secreted by it as powder and ooze... from... everywhere. Also, it has no limits to when it does its breath weapon. It just attacks that way 25% of the time.
Veterans of AD&D in other campaign worlds had mixed feelings about Loom of Magus Gorgons. They did love how Gorgons react (predictably) to how someone holding a Sword of Rust (Loom magical item that mimics Rust Monster abilities, looks like a shoddy rusty sword when discovered) as if they were a Rust Monster.
Heavy Metal Cattle. 💜
Early Dungeons & Dragons mentality how do we make things more metal( 🤔 thinks very long and hard about it) literally cover it in metal
Ah, yes, the heraldic beast of my favourite dragonmarked house; Cannith. I'm glad to know the gorgon is a properly savage moster.
The catoblepas is a monster in Volos guide
It's been around in D&D for quite some time.. otherwise known as the death cow.
what if a Gorgon a medusa, a basilisk and a cockatrice face off against eachother?
Medusa is intelligent, kills Gorgon, Cockatrice is basically just a mean chicken, the Basilisk is a fairly slow giant lizard, so, Medusa wins.
@@AJPickett hmmm. farmer medusa. tending heards of gorgons and flocks of cockatrixes.
@@AJPickett true but if she fails her save...
Stone cold silence.
Markus Nävergård You get a statue garden??
I just picked up the Nolzur’s mini of the Gorgon.
Variant I have used are the faywhild cold iron version, the very strong adamantine gorgon and the very metal spiked gorgon.
So rust dragons are the stuff of nightmares to them.
I was thinking the samething.
Hell yeah, puts them right back on the bottom of the food chain, where they belong.
The Gorgon herd structure reminds me of... elephants I think.
Little bit.
You've already done a video on the Gith, could we see future videos on some of the other Psionic races?
Sure.
Just the thing I needed for a long drive home. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos.
You petrified, impaled, flung, then trampled. That person is now dust.
Chris Walker The gorgon then licks up the powered murder hobo like a Mexican kid licks up lemon-lime Lucas.
*queen starts playing* 😎🐃🎼🎵🎶
What an awesome mount it could make, of course if for some odd reason it allows you to ride it.
Maybe a magically altered gorgon? Just take the breath poison out. Maybe it breaths out a pleasing fresh pine scent
@@SlothinAintEasy aww
love this creature!😉 one of my suel greyhawk, now not there, archmages has one as his personal mount.
so with older gorgons with missing armor plates would you lower natural 19 AC or would you give more chances for a critical hit?
Lower their natural armor class, older Gorgons with a lot of damaged plates will start with an AC of 16.
hell yeah! nice video
I fought these a few times, interesting to find that they have a natural predator
all hail the mighty glue stick
Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute if they're able to communicate telepathically that means they're still able to use psionics
IF you want to include that OPTION then... yes.
I know be basically impossible to get ahold of but if they're organic and their cattle that means that the females produce milk imagine that imagine the cheese
@@linguisticallyoversight8685 They don't have udders, it is quite difficult telling males apart from females. (If they do produce milk, you know that is going to be THE HARDEST CHEESE)
@@AJPickett as a joke component for a ritual have it require gorgon cheese
I don't remember rust monsters being immune to petrification in 3rd edition when did that change
This was specifically talked about by Ed Greenwood in the ecology article, so that would be AD&D.
I remember their blood being also ingredient in healing potion
My party recently got attacked by a trio of gorgons. Our warforged ended up getting petrified weirdly enough, and my Gnoll Barbarian decided to try a taste of gorgon “meat”.
DM said it tasted awful.
Wise DM. Gnolls can eat and like all meat. Gorgon meat is toxic to most. To a Gnoll, it simply tastes bad. However, like getting a taste for beer or stinky cheese for humans, a Gnoll an acquire a taste for it.
That80sGuy1972 Yea, honestly the hardest part was *getting* to the meat. I had to pry it apart with my pact weapon to get to it’s heart.
I have a Minotaur Paladin in my group... I'm wanting to give him a cool mout for find steed. He is multiclassing so he will get the spell at a later level... Would it be way too op to give him a gorgon mount?
If you are the DM, go for it!
@@AJPickett I am and I will :)
Thanks for the inspiration. As always a pleasure to watch your video. ☺️
The Sicilian Bull, torture device, comes to mind. Grim.
good video
Can you do a video on the displacer beast?
I already have.
@@AJPickett Beat me to posting that. ;)
[laughs in Warforged]
*casts heat metal*
@@AJPickett wait these things are spellcasters?
why am I picturing a half Gorgon Minotaur breathing this foul breath weapon, charging with this metallic skin (Colossus ish) with metal etched tattoos.
That'd be my fault. I did that years ago...
Hey AJ, forgot how nasty Gorgons are. Those was would make for a great random encounter. Mix it up give the party something to think about, like how to change there friend back to flesh & bone. Great intro great video, you always give so much information. Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Thanks Matt!
Man, wildebeest were way more badass back in the ancient greek’s day. I wonder why they stopped? 🤔
Not a Dog wildebeest are badasses, they'll fight anything that attacks them. They never give up, even when they're cornered by kammodo dragons.
The Dark master Wildebeest are from Africa, Komodo dragons are from the Island of Komodo, about 5000 miles away. There’s no way a wildebeest has ever been “cornered by Komodo dragons.” You might be thinking of a water buffalo, but even they don’t fit the description you’ve given them.
Waterbuffalo sorry, my bad lmao!!! You'd think after watching all those docs i'd not make a mistake like that. 😔🤨🤔 i've seen one hold up to bunch of dragons post bite. I've seen them try to kill lion cubs in order to stop the inevitably of the food chain. They hold on... and i wouldn't be suprised if one gets filmed raging against the darkness of ligers released into the wild at night.
my favorite crreature in homm3
Pliny again!
Ah Pliny, what a scamp.
AJ Pickett that's it . I'm making him a NPC.
“A surprisingly good sense of heat.” Oh fuck, they have heat vision too??
I wonder how this monster was created
It might have been native to the howling tunnels of Pandemonium, or it was bred by an ancient race for the purpose of warfare, or it is the result of a magical mishap or mutation. The is some lore that says they can occasionally interbreed with Chimera.
AJ Pickett Oh that's interesting.I wonder what a hybrid of those two would be like.Im sure it would make the average adventurer shit their pants and run for the city gates.
Some say: Somebody slapped a god in the face, for failing to fertilize their unyeilding lands, they were a cattle farmer. Who smithed on the side. But their true passion was sculptures. Unfortunately it was "sacrelidge". Thats my theory.
There are a lot of stories in the ancient world where the gods dick around like that.It makes a great setup for angry defiant rebel characters.I approve of this approach to fantasy.
I thought it bases off the bull of heaven.
I'm not familiar with that one?
@@AJPickett I would say it probably based off of two other like creatures. Like the Khalkotauroi and Colchis Bulls to for the metal looked.
@@AJPickett the divine beast ishtar pestered her father to give her for Gilgamesh insulted her. Seven years of drought but in the end Gilgamesh brought the divine bull down.
Where did that pic of the medusa riding a gorgon come from?
Pinterest
@@AJPickett oh Pinterest, made my imagination come to life with so many great ideas. I push it to all my friends. Love it.
Pinterest is a gateway drug to tumblr.
Go ahead try and ride one without reinforced padded leather underpants kiss you gnads goodbye.
Gorgon riding is not for the faint of heart.
If they turn to stone when immersed in water what would happen if they get caught in a massive rainstorm. Might make an interesting encounter to find one like this.
That's the general idea :)
Coming from the north with his face to the south, he is quite sure he can knock you out.
And all this time I thought they just confused Gorgons and Katoleps lol
They should have given it a better name.
It’s based of the gorgons. What do you expect?
Off
@@bluesap7318 Medusa are Gorgans, Gorgans need a different name because the bronze bulls were never called Gorgon.
The word gorgon is a snake haired woman, the name Medusa is the name of a person, it’s just confusing why insist on the name of a mythical creature that shares ZERO similarities to the namesake?
The reason for the name is a book of monsters where a creature similar to the catoplebas was called a gorgon. It's also why Marvel's Inhumans have a minotaur-like bullman called Gorgon
Lol heavy metal cattle.
A beautiful intro.
Can we get a Minogon video?
you still thinking of making a cooking video where you make something that could exist in the d&d world? lol :)
Are there Gorgon Minotaurs. I know there is a Gorgon Chimera
This is what my Dm sent to try to kill my player while casually strolling through a forest. 4 of them.
Can they be domesticated so my 3rd edition goblin necromancer can ride one ooh good idea
Ok they can't be tamed but remove it's brain then zombify it ooh better idea
@@mikemccoy5092 Yeah, that will work.
hmmmm. a brazen Bull Gorgon. being super hot and breathing fire.hmmmmmmmmm
But it needs to be bigger so it can swallow people whole. On occasian. XD
What's your thoughts on bast*rds and bloodlines
I am not familiar with it.
What about the demigorgon
Gorgons are demons I've cracked the code
Wait... so they can petrify ghosts...?
Technically, yes.
XD
Seamus wuz here!
can i ride one tho or have a rodeo with them
bobby ray this will happen someday I will see to it
bobby ray You a Texan too?
@@gasmonkey1000 Georgia
bobby ray Well you certainly think like one, friend. You're more than welcome in Texas.
@@gasmonkey1000 i be true i never played d&d but that doesn't stop my joy or imagination of this game
Gorgon vs 10 Rust Monsters?
Well, the Gorgon doesn't die from getting attacked by the rusties, it just loses all it's protection and becomes vulnerable to other predators, plus there is no way it is going to attract a mate if it is devoid of armor plates.
AJ Pickett So it would only be lethal to its love life?
Lol. I wrote this before finishing the video and seeing that you had already pretty much covered this topic. My bad.
@@Im-Not-a-Dog Correct.
OK I need a domestic version you can ride The demi gorgon . it breath does not turn things to stone but slow them down till they are frozen like stone . You only have 2 way to get to ride it one beat it in to the ground to a inch of it life ( one time thing ) 2 befriend it. Good luck with that way. need to roll a 17 ( 1d20) every 2 week to keep it as a friend or feed it some thing of a elemental power
farmer of this beast are strong . most can wrestle them to the ground they used the blood from them in spells ti seal things to keep energies from leaking out. or block them from getting in. It does not work as good as the real one but it can cause things to get stuck while passing though it but it can be used on a wide range of thing but the strength change base of the strength of what it is used on. you can trap a ghost in paper but the ghost can do a strength check to rip the paper
Ah yes, the demigorgon, not to be confused with medusa - gorgon or demogorgon
Anyone else here cause of critical role? lol
Me!
Bidet to you.
First googled what is was then wound up here lol
Why did they name them Gorgons tho? A Gorgon is the name of the Greek monster race that Medusa is a member of.
my guess is that since everyone attributes the stone-turning ability to medusa, it was just a reference to that.
There was a book called “the history of four footed beasts” published in the 1600s that called a metal bull that turned people to stone with it’s breath a Gorgon.
A few monsters come from that book. Including the other severely misnamed monster the Lamia. And the Catoblepas
@@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar kinda like if they came out with an aquatic monster and named it Nessie.
Stupid name for something that has no resemblance to any gorgon. One of the worst named creatures in DnD. Big fail.
what name do you suggest?
@@AJPickett
Colchis Bull, Khalkotaur, Brazen Bull, Catoblepas.
@@austinreed7343 well, two of those are taken, but I like the first two.
I like how you mention Medusas ONCE at the start and never again in the whole video, and never talk about the most popular and well known type of Medusa. Or how in MTG the Gorgon is a creature type for all Medusas creature cards. And MTG is directly linked to Dungeons and Dragons, so the most popular type of Gorgon is the Medusa... and that's... well.. okay.. 15 minute long video and you mentioned it literally _once_.
Nothing like leaving out the core most well known Gorgon of them all from a video about Gorgons.
Outside of Dungeons and Dragons, the Medusa race is also known as Gorgons, in Dungeons and Dragons, the Gorgon is not a medusa, it is a different monster because that is how they were written. You will probably love this little fact while we are at it.. Kobold means "Gnome".
Gorgon is a greek word meaning dreadful or terrible. It is attached in Greek folklore to a trio of sisters, the leader of whom was Medusa and the others were Stheno and Euryale. The latter two were immortal while Medusa was not.
D and D took a different tack with the naming conventions of several monsters, most notably the Gorgon and Catoblepas (a so called African Gorgon due to it's lethal gaze). Both creatures share similar backgrounds in folklore of various cultures. The d&d gorgon appears to have come from an amalgamation of the Lybian Beast (also called a Gorgon) which was a bull like creature that chewed poisonous plants and as such had deadly breath, and the khalkotauroi, a bronze clad bull that breathes fire that the Argonauts had to fight. So while Medusae are traditionally considered Gorgons due to their popularity and infamy, there are other such named creatures in folklore.
So long story short, just chill dude, no need to get indignant about things, it's a tabletop game and it's all made up. And this is a video about a VERY SPECIFIC type of creature that has been in the monster manual for quite some time.
HEY AJ, if you see this I have another little nugget for you. You mentioned the ettercaps were named after Cob, an old word for spider, but Cobb (two b's) means seagull as well.
EDITED: for clarity as I confused the African gorgon and Khalkotaruoi, now fixed.
@@AJPickett And, after finally getting to watch the episode, you....already mentioned all of that. Don't mind me, Nothing to see here.
You watched the entire video and couldn't' deduce that he's not talking about that kind of Gorgon? What kind of fucking cognitive dissonance are you experiencing, mate?
I enjoy your videos, but what's with using watermarked pictures from Deviantart? Show a little respect and get the artist's permission.
Well first off it's like a slideshow of images to help add visual aid to the video. This being in mind the artists them selves post the art pieces to the public internet with their watermark or signature on it. The watermark or signature is there to show who made the art. Now if he removed the mark, that would be scummy considering that he's again only using them for visual aid... not claiming there his work, not using it for direct profit, just to pair with his voice.