This is for your continuing knowledge about Graz'zt (and eventually Iggwilv). I hope you enjoy it and find a use for these sneaky fiends. Have them levitate over your players and drop down on them from above. grappling the players and burning them with their acid skin.
Hey there, @welovettrpgs! Aten, I just really needed to tell you how awesome you are! My beard may not be as spectacular as yours (but it is approaching that color) and I don't know much about official DnD lore (since, from the beginning, I built my own) but I still try to do "mythologically accurate" in my game worlds. So how surprised was I to learn that the Babau was an actual creature from myth and folklore! In my games, I usually re-write all the critters to make them more like their historical folklore versions and have taken great care to research and re-work the jinn, ifrit, wights (draugr), kobolds, and many others. But I never know that the Babau was sourced from Italy! I just assumed that it was a made-up thing by TSR! THANK YOU! I'm going to dive into some Italian myths this weekend and see what I can find out to make this "murder demon" even closer to the boogeyman of children's bedrooms while still keeping it a fierce adult foe! Oh, by the way: do you think you'll ever go over some of the interesting lore variations that Pathfinder 1st and 2nd editions inherited and modified from their DnD versions? (I still play PF1e, myself, as my aging brain started to choke on remembering the slightly-to-major rule changes between 1st and 2nd when almost all of the terminology stayed the same...) Anyway, long post at an end, here: you are a great gamer and have a love for history and myth and legend that is inspiring! From one 56-year-old grey-beard to an amazing GM: Thank You for this series and all your other work!
The babau origin story mirrors that of elves; mortal elves are supposed to be the drops of blood that Corellean Larethian shed in battle with Grumsh. My mind flashes back to the old-school film "Clash of the Titans", when the sack holding the severed head of Medusa was stabbed, blood dripped to the stones, and giant scorpions sprang up to fight the heroes. Classics are classic for a reason - Thank you again, Aten! Graz'zt is going to be featuring in my next fantasy game thanks to your inspiration.
TY for clearing a bunch of stuff up for me. I never played 4e and a bunch of my players have been coming at me with lore that is... not what I learned. I am starting to get a clear picture why that is.
4 E went out of their way to intentionally change everything except names of monsters. they were trying to create a whole new game but to keep the D&D name. ill do a full video about that in the near future. thanks for watching! Great to see you!
Thank you for your hard work, Aten, I got good mileage out of Babau in my 3rd Ed campaigns. Especially when one of my players chose to make a Tiefling Warlock specifically sired by Graz'zt in a coven's ritual. That player chose for this character a Tragic Hero path, and the Dark Prince was forced to send squads of Babau after the party to express his displeasure.
Hey Aten. Great post as always. I remember Babaus from MM2 (AD&D). I love the abilities the original had - that it hides in shadows and can backstab as a thief, or fly and levitate. It's nice that in 5e they've kept a few of its spell features but only a DC11 save? Pretty pathetic. They seem to have homogenised monsters in 5e - there's too few surprises when a party meets a new monster.
Hi buddy! Thanks for watching! I think the thing we should all know is that all monster stat blocks (unless we're talking about specific named creatures like an Arch Devil, Demon Prince or god - for example) are just the most common "rank and file" version of that creature - thus the lowliest version. Therefore it is up to every DM to use the stat blocks as a starting point - a framework - from which to build. I would use the published stat block for the monster in question as just the individuals of a mob ( a group of them, sort of like zero level commoners) but I'd boost the stat block (to include powers from previous publications / editions) for special encounters. And remember, it is up to the DM to decide if a monster could also have levels in one of the character classes. If so, you could have a Babau wizard or barbarian, etc.
Greetings Aten! I've had a few Mandela Effects myself. The biggest one was with Marlon Brando 🤣. I used to play Plane Scape back in the day as a player. I really enjoyed it. We never encountered a Babau during our campaign's, but I remembered reading about them in my 2nde, in fact this video made me grab my copy of the Monster Manual 2nde for a refresher. I'm going to have to fit one into a future game of my Ravenloft campaign. I like the idea of "From above" sneak attack's. It's been my 35 years experience that most P.C. s don't usually look UP when making observation roll's. Just down and around. Thanks once again for yet another inspired idea! That's why I LOVE your channel. We get to share and exchange ideas/experience's with others outside our regular group's, and it leads to fresh ideas, and as we D.M./G.M.s know: we gotta keep it fresh, or it's get's REAL boring real quick . See you next video my friend! P.s. reading post's about beards, I'm rocking a Gandalf the Grey myself that I often braid. Not that it's a competition...🤣🤣. 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦🕊️
Wow... been obsessing on your videos all day. It's refreshing to find someone who his both imaginative, creative and realistic. Not to mention... you speak like someone who graduated someplace like oxford, instead of an silly street speaking millennial.
The Babau, I think, work best as advanced scouts and shock troops. The heralds of the Dark Princes forces and the first summoned by his cultists. I also like the idea that everything 'born of' Graz'zt is twisted and broken, beleeing his beautiful exterior and reflecting his true nature. Though i wonder when you are going to talk about the other two of the major demon lords.
Thanks! I'm getting near a point in my own campaign were these are about to show up. As for demons, my plan has been to cover all of them. Right now I'm sticking to the theme of Iggwilv / Graz'zt.
This is for your continuing knowledge about Graz'zt (and eventually Iggwilv). I hope you enjoy it and find a use for these sneaky fiends. Have them levitate over your players and drop down on them from above. grappling the players and burning them with their acid skin.
Hey there, @welovettrpgs! Aten, I just really needed to tell you how awesome you are! My beard may not be as spectacular as yours (but it is approaching that color) and I don't know much about official DnD lore (since, from the beginning, I built my own) but I still try to do "mythologically accurate" in my game worlds. So how surprised was I to learn that the Babau was an actual creature from myth and folklore!
In my games, I usually re-write all the critters to make them more like their historical folklore versions and have taken great care to research and re-work the jinn, ifrit, wights (draugr), kobolds, and many others. But I never know that the Babau was sourced from Italy! I just assumed that it was a made-up thing by TSR!
THANK YOU! I'm going to dive into some Italian myths this weekend and see what I can find out to make this "murder demon" even closer to the boogeyman of children's bedrooms while still keeping it a fierce adult foe!
Oh, by the way: do you think you'll ever go over some of the interesting lore variations that Pathfinder 1st and 2nd editions inherited and modified from their DnD versions? (I still play PF1e, myself, as my aging brain started to choke on remembering the slightly-to-major rule changes between 1st and 2nd when almost all of the terminology stayed the same...)
Anyway, long post at an end, here: you are a great gamer and have a love for history and myth and legend that is inspiring!
From one 56-year-old grey-beard to an amazing GM: Thank You for this series and all your other work!
Thank you! We're both the same age too! I have a very long list of video topics, including many other games. I appreciate your support!
The babau origin story mirrors that of elves; mortal elves are supposed to be the drops of blood that Corellean Larethian shed in battle with Grumsh. My mind flashes back to the old-school film "Clash of the Titans", when the sack holding the severed head of Medusa was stabbed, blood dripped to the stones, and giant scorpions sprang up to fight the heroes.
Classics are classic for a reason - Thank you again, Aten! Graz'zt is going to be featuring in my next fantasy game thanks to your inspiration.
Oh I love the original Clash of the Titans! And thank you for letting me know my videos have helped you! I appreciate you!
TY for clearing a bunch of stuff up for me. I never played 4e and a bunch of my players have been coming at me with lore that is... not what I learned. I am starting to get a clear picture why that is.
4 E went out of their way to intentionally change everything except names of monsters. they were trying to create a whole new game but to keep the D&D name. ill do a full video about that in the near future. thanks for watching! Great to see you!
Thank you for your hard work, Aten,
I got good mileage out of Babau in my 3rd Ed campaigns. Especially when one of my players chose to make a Tiefling Warlock specifically sired by Graz'zt in a coven's ritual. That player chose for this character a Tragic Hero path, and the Dark Prince was forced to send squads of Babau after the party to express his displeasure.
Thanks! That sounds like it was fun! Your player regretted his life choices too ... :)
Hey Aten. Great post as always. I remember Babaus from MM2 (AD&D). I love the abilities the original had - that it hides in shadows and can backstab as a thief, or fly and levitate. It's nice that in 5e they've kept a few of its spell features but only a DC11 save? Pretty pathetic. They seem to have homogenised monsters in 5e - there's too few surprises when a party meets a new monster.
Hi buddy! Thanks for watching! I think the thing we should all know is that all monster stat blocks (unless we're talking about specific named creatures like an Arch Devil, Demon Prince or god - for example) are just the most common "rank and file" version of that creature - thus the lowliest version. Therefore it is up to every DM to use the stat blocks as a starting point - a framework - from which to build. I would use the published stat block for the monster in question as just the individuals of a mob ( a group of them, sort of like zero level commoners) but I'd boost the stat block (to include powers from previous publications / editions) for special encounters. And remember, it is up to the DM to decide if a monster could also have levels in one of the character classes. If so, you could have a Babau wizard or barbarian, etc.
Using a Behir as a storage chest. Brilliant.
thanks
I'm perpetually impressed with your research and presentation in these lore videos. :-) Please never stop doing them!
Thank you so much my friend! You'v been here from the start and my first very vocal supporters. I deeply appreciate you.
Greetings Aten! I've had a few Mandela Effects myself. The biggest one was with Marlon Brando 🤣.
I used to play Plane Scape back in the day as a player. I really enjoyed it. We never encountered a Babau during our campaign's, but I remembered reading about them in my 2nde, in fact this video made me grab my copy of the Monster Manual 2nde for a refresher. I'm going to have to fit one into a future game of my Ravenloft campaign. I like the idea of "From above" sneak attack's. It's been my 35 years experience that most P.C. s don't usually look UP when making observation roll's. Just down and around. Thanks once again for yet another inspired idea!
That's why I LOVE your channel. We get to share and exchange ideas/experience's with others outside our regular group's, and it leads to fresh ideas, and as we D.M./G.M.s know: we gotta keep it fresh, or it's get's REAL boring real quick . See you next video my friend!
P.s. reading post's about beards, I'm rocking a Gandalf the Grey myself that I often braid. Not that it's a competition...🤣🤣. 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦🕊️
Thanks buddy!
Wow... been obsessing on your videos all day. It's refreshing to find someone who his both imaginative, creative and realistic. Not to mention... you speak like someone who graduated someplace like oxford, instead of an silly street speaking millennial.
Thank You! It has been taking a long time to find my audience but slowly we are getting there. Welcome aboard! Great to have you!
The Babau, I think, work best as advanced scouts and shock troops. The heralds of the Dark Princes forces and the first summoned by his cultists. I also like the idea that everything 'born of' Graz'zt is twisted and broken, beleeing his beautiful exterior and reflecting his true nature. Though i wonder when you are going to talk about the other two of the major demon lords.
Thanks! I'm getting near a point in my own campaign were these are about to show up. As for demons, my plan has been to cover all of them. Right now I'm sticking to the theme of Iggwilv / Graz'zt.
Those things are gnarly 😳
they really are!
What if cause he's in certain lore to be the offspring of asmodias to be able to spawn them from his wounds from that moment forward
🔥🖤🔥
So Aten, are you saying that Babau are not to dance with?
I dunno, I think under the right circumstances, if you put a pretty pink dress on a Babau in the right mood it could work.
Nice use of "Mandela effect"
I was certain it was from Lost Caverns