if I haven't missed you already covering it somewhere, Bulette are pretty funky cool land sharks. They're not as obscure as some of what you go into, but they do look kinda funny
This is strange because most "people" in Ravenloft don't have souls and aren't real people. This is stated a few times in CoS. So this should be a rare monster in that realm.
Do something about the Crypt Thing from the 1st edition Fiend Folio. I've always loved the idea of an undead dude just sitting there staring at the party but just randomly teleporting characters away is just frustrating to try to play around.
In honor of Tears of the Kingdoms release, could we get a rules creation for Cuckoos? An entire species of indestructable telepathically linked avians. Willing to be domesticated if treated well, but the entire hive mind will retaliate if any member is harmed, the entire species teleporting to their defence in an unstoppable wave of claws and clucks
Fun idea: When you finally get to the climactic fight with the killer, the corpse candle helps you fight. It'd be like the party had lair actions, they'd probably enjoy that
It could also be quite cool to have opposing aim and perception between the party and the corpse candle with regards to “justice”. Like the party want to kill the murderer, while the corpse candle try to nudge the party so that they bring the killer to the authorities so that he stands trial. So the corpse candle is supporting both party during the fight.
@@voidwyrm6149 it would look terrifying... Probably like a conjoined mass of writhing undead covering the person in grasping hands of the rotting dead all protruding from their back out of seemingly nowhere. A sight so vile the true sight user may have to go and puke.
Man. It kinda makes sense, and not the weirdest thing to enter an eye. Did you forget Yoshikage Kira's third bomb basically enters the eye of whoever activates it?
The rogue kills a guy to be edgy, the paladin checks the corpse and gets possessed by the candle. Now one party member is being possessed by a firebending spirit that's trying to kill another party member, shenanigans ensue.
This is a pretty cool concept, eye based possession from a corpse. Could add a new meaning to closing the eyes of the dead/putting coins in them in setting (preventing possession)
In my own world, I would make it have less to do with this specific monster so much as a general in-universe belief that it helps to ensure the corpse rests peacefully, preventing the soul escaping the body before it can be collected by whatever psychopomp exists in the world.
Players hunt down the killer, and actually find evidence and legally gets the murderer convicted and executed. Problem is, the Corpse Candle does not pass on, and if asked, it is genuinely as baffled as the PCs; it has no idea what went wrong. Turns out, the murderer was a vindictive bastard, and his bitter desire to get revenge on the party, and in fact, the entire town that sentenced him to death, has returned as a ghost, and the Candle cannot rest till the murderer is completely removed from the mortal plane.
Imagine if a player's backstory is using the Haunted One, and joins the party preemptively infected by a Corpse Candle. Could make for a pretty interesting narrative.
Haunted one warlock with undead patron? They need to find the killer and bring them to justice, killer is fae serial killer who can jump around the world and is hard to track, PC asks group to help trap it in climactic battle to cap off that characters backstory, spirit moves on, possibly meaning warlock can't gain further levels in warlock class, up to your group but fun idea.
I was thinking something similar as a background for the Haunted one. As in they are possessed by their own spirit technically. Which would be an interesting concept. You are an undead possessed by your own spirit. Food for thought.
Would be a great "client" for a noir-ish murder mystery quest. "I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, there was the dame. Every time I lit a cigarette, there was her face in the lighter flame - both a beacon and a threat."
I kinda like the idea of the guy that got away "scott free" being possessed by the corpse candle himself. Then it spends the rest of his horribly burned life tormenting him. Teach you to cheat justice.
if that happened to a party member, it could make for an interesting adventure. the party would have to find a way to exorcise the corpse candle before it tortured the character to death
What I had in mind is contriving to get the judge to look into the murder victim's eyes. Now the judge has to clean up what he's done (and even then maybe the candle will be so pissed it will nightmare/burn the judge to death after anyways).
So a fire-based version of “The Telltale Heart”, where the only way for the murderer to end his torment is to either turn himself in, or die? Sounds like an awesome plot hook!
What I always found interesting about this guy is it's way more useful the earlier it's used. Like, you haunt a 1st level character and boom, you've got a guardian angel to protect you while you're still squishy, a way for the DM to nudge the players in the proper story direction without railroading them, and hey, maybe some clever PC comes up with a way to use their powers when having minor pyromantic control is still relevant, before the party can just start throwing fireballs around.
Good thinking! And there are plenty of reasons for the Corpse Candle to justifiably believe that not immediately (or at least directly) pursuing their killer is the wisest course of action. The CC’s killer doesn’t need to be the BBEG. Just someone that the CC knows is vastly outside of their host’s weight class...for now.
If the corpse candle was a high level wizard of some kind who was killed by a rival or an apprentice that betrayed them it would be a good justification as to how they are giving the host magic powers. It would also be a great story hook for a PC or NPC giving their character arc a high level nemesis bulit in, you could run it a side mission or something to the main campain.
It also makes the perfect backstory for a player or a npc the weird guy doing weird stuff is actually someone who routinely goes about being the host to a bunch of corpse candles as some ghost bounty hunter
I can imagine a sort of "Farryman" NPC, someone with vast knowledge of undead entities who purposefully haunts themselves to give them closure and put them to rest.
If you want to go the road of "vengeful spirit is denied its vengeance, and it gets progressively worse", it could eventually culminate with a boss fight against an effigy (Monster Manual II, from the 3.0/3.5 era, CR17 ) a fire-themed undead so angry, bodies it possesses combust and get turned into burning walking corpses.
That one goblin the party killed in the first session turns into one of these and latches onto the goblin chief, setting in motion an entire goblin tribe to hunt down the party
A series of murders by seemingly random individuals leads the party onto a wild goose chase, until one of them is possessed by a corpse candle. When they kill the murderer, the newly created corpse candle possesses someone else, in an endless feud between rival groups.
Related, a couple of party members get possessed and they have to manage the competing drives of their hitchikers because there was more than one murderer.
My Necromancer that's trying to fill his Necrodex is going to hate this one. He keeps murdering people, but so far he's only gotten the common vengeful undead.
I like the idea of the Corpse Candle actually turning out to be someone who absolutely deserved what they got. You can pretty much get the picture of where I'm going with this. What if the one who murdered the (now) Corpse Candle is their physically/mentally abused significant other who couldn't take it anymore? What if the Corpse Candle was personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of people and was killed by a vigilante? That would put the players in a very difficult situation. They need to get rid of the Corpse Candle, but do they really want to see the "culprit" punished too severely? Morality could actually be the hardest aspect of dealing with the Corpse Candle.
What if the murderer was in disguise but the corpse candle is going by a kind of ghost sense where they kind of know who it is but need to get close or light on certain clues to really figure things out? Or what if they work a bit like demons in Bujold's Chalion books, leaping from less to more intelligent beings trying to find one who can understand their plight, and the first task of the party is not only finding the murderer but finding the murder by combing through the ghost's memories of being a series of animals and retracing their journey? Might be a good way to tie in the Raven part of Ravenloft in a way that feels organic. Speaking of Ravenloft, My vote is for the adorable and malicious Midnight Cat
I like the idea of the corpse being controlled by its own ghost. The ritual of revivify had a hiccup in some way and the vengeful spirit of the person seperated from its body. The person lives on but its hatred of the killed literally haunting them. And if looked upon closely the face of the killer can still be seen in their eye
Great Backstory idea for a PC a lover or sibling was killed and became a Corpse candle. Now, you are forced to hunt down the murderer being made to never forget the pain of your loss. (Maybe there your Warlock Patreon)
Ive got the coolest idea for morally grey areas: Say the killer is by some twist, the first person to look into their victims eyes, and the CC possess their own murderer?! And now the CC torments them day in and day out for killing them but refuses to let them turn themselves in because to the CCs mind, they havnt suffered enough. In comes the party; Do you free a murderer from the consequenses of their own actions and force the ire of a very vindictive spirit, or leave them to suffer their undoubtedly cruel, but deserved punishment?
One unfortunate twist/addition to the Corpse Candle could be that, after being killed, the target of revenge always becomes a Corpse Candle themselves. So you wind up with a string of murders as each possession victim becomes the next possession perpetrator who claims the next victim who becomes the next perpetrator who becomes the next victim, etc etc.
Man that thing is alot more nefarious then I expacted. And it might because I have seen Jojo a little too much but as soon as you said how this thing jumps into your eyes I immediately started thinking on yoshikage kira.
I like the idea of some mutalism. Perhaps a spellsword purposfully turns into a corpse candle to not only get revenge on its own murderer, but then move on to be a fire wielding spellsword sworn to fight to for justice of others unjustly killed. Sort of like YuGiOhs Avendread but better lol
Limited pyrokinetic powers is my initial thought, there is a history of encounters giving abilities, like there's a mind contagion that grants telepathy while it infects you so it's not unprecedented
13:08 similar idea, what if the murderer gets put on trial, convicted and sentenced but the corpse candle isn't satisfied? The person is being punished but your party is still under threat so you have to either find a way to get rid of the spectre or take the law into your own hands. Honestly, I think there's more potential for ambiguity and inner conflict here than in the example where they get off scot free
Was not expecting brown dragons so soon. The corpse candle is interesting. While I started with AD&D, I didn't know that the corpse candle existed as a monster. I only knew of it as a 3.5 wizard spell that made it so incorporeal creatures counted as corporeal so everyone could hit it without ghost touch weapons. I could see a corpse candle creature being a decent warlock patron for a mini campaign.
Yknow personally I could also see a Corpse Candle acting as a long term buff or even a sort of secondary class feature if the target of the Candles wrath is the big bad. The idea of maybe the Cleric or Paladin that now has an undead spirit that sets people on fire could be a really nice touch and a fun way to spice up combat. Hell theres nothing saying that with enough time spent and a bond formed maybe the Corpse Candle and host become one after a time and the Candle is now just a set of abilities the PC now has, as a reward for hunting down a particularly grevious foe.
Our fighter is actually like this. He got possessed, and now he and the spirit are quite the team. A great moment is when we were preparing to clear a graveyard of ghosts. Now, part of the fighter's background is that his sword is an heirloom passed down in his family, and while it is an amazing sword, it's not magical.This is a problem as the fighter refuses to use any other sword and the magic crossbow he normally uses in this situation had been stolen by the questgiver. Our fighter was essentially resigned to be a healbot with potions until the wizard asked the DM, "Hey, if the corpse candle sets the sword on fire, can the sword harm ghosts?" DM thought about it, and ruled that yes, it can. Ever since then, our fighter's sword is perpetually on fire. XD
Dude, you need to get out of my head, its scary in there. This is the third time i've needed an enemy but nothing in 5e currently fit, and you put out a video when i was about to HB my own thing. XD Thank you so much for these vids. Keep up the amzing work.
@@DungeonDad you said that "speak with dead" acts differently when cast on a corpse that birthed a corpse candle than a normal corpse. But what happens when you cast the spell on the possessed creature, on the candle itself?
I like the idea that if the person is taking the call to action the only illusions they see are ones that are helpful to them, like when the killer is near it will indicate with his face around him or it will revisit parts that they need to check for a detail
A campaign where the Corpse Candle acts as a scorned lover who was killed by their spouse, only for it to be revealed that the spirit was actually super toxic and manipulative. The only reason their spirit refuses to move on is because it can't release the grasp it had on its victim(s) in life. The Party follows a sympathetic quest for justice only to discover who the true villain was upon hearing the full story from their target.
This sounds like an easy concept to adapt and merge with a warlock's patron, giving the warlock much more active interactions with said patron than is typical. Edit: Should have known this idea was already brought up.
I think it would be amazing to make an effort out of befriending the corpse candle to such a degree that it wants to "live on" as a permanent helper, even after it's killer yas been brought to justice. This effect would last until your PC dies, or someone forcible performs an exorcism on your PC.
Imagine 2 corpse candles who due to a shape shifter view each other as their murderer, trickster god flying with the nature of death where no one side will ever be content.
okay, ghost; you can't talk, and I cant cast speak with dead. Gonna ask some questions about the murder, and you light the red candle on the table for yes, or the black candle for no.
it'd be cool if you could use Speak with Undead on the person that the Corpse Candle is possessing. Maybe the possessed person would become fully controlled by the Corpse Candle until the five questions are asked, or some other effect might occur in a similar vein
This is scary how fitting this was when it came out. My players just killed a bloodbath diablos from monster hunter for a hunting competition. The barbarian of the party almost died before they could rage, so in anger, she pulled out it's only remaining eye. After handing it to the fighter blacksmith, it dilated in anger, exciting said kinda evil blacksmith. Now I have a super cool use for it other it being an angry eye. Thank you Dungeon Dad. You are the best.
I'd like to imagine a character that is possessed by a corpse candle who maybe didn't get a good look at their killer, or maybe the killer is elusive for other reasons, and maybe the painful memories of the corpse candle start to bleed into the memories of the host until they have trouble telling whose memories are whose anymore. Interesting idea.
Here's a devilish idea. What if the killer was under the influence of a mind control spell when they killed the victim? Does the Corpse Candle understand that they can't be blamed for their actions?
I think that can be the case. The Corpse Candle is riding around on the possessed person's shoulders. It can observe things going on around the possessed person.
Weirdly, there is also a spell called Corpse Candle in 3.5 that was a handle held by a zombie hand that emit a big area of light which would reveal invisible creatures and creatures on the Ethereal Plane
My immediate thought when I learned about this monster was "I’ll make a Corpse Candle out of the current king’s brother. You know, the one he murdered to take his place on the throne."
I actually got some inspiration for a character based off the corpse candle/possession mechanics because of this video. Play a barbarian (subclass doesn't matter so much, but we are focusing on the Rage mechanic, do with that as you will), and flavor it where your character ran into a corpse candle of a potentially very demented person. Your barb "rage" could now be flavored as your corpse candle possessor taking over your body for a bit (think Sukuna from JJK). And now your barb has different flavor than tribal hunter person! And you can potentially have cool interactions with an inner dialogue. Hooray for flavor!
Thanks as always, Dad! To be honest, I always find ghosts to be a little goofy, so I'd probably use this one for a goofy plot...like, the party stumbles upon a death tyrant's lair poorly guarded by possessed minions (let's say kobolds). They eventually find a super annoyed death tyrant resting with its eye constantly closed: it has gotten "infected" by corpse candles of some of the minions it had to kill for its lich ascension ritual, and those corpse candles also ended up possessing nearby minions. The party's tasked with finding a good exorcist since the Death Tyrant clearly can't technically off itself anymore (nor would it want to!).
I've been checking out Pathfinder's "Dark Archive" expansion book, which is all about the occult, cryptids, and conspiracies. There's a Cult of Cat and Mouse which is all about mercilessly murdering lesser people in games of sadistic sport. The thing is. They wear cat masks during these games, and transmute the heads of their victims into rodent heads for the game. Such a victim becoming a corpse candle would want to destroy all cat iconography, but probably remember the hands or other features of their killer, which might belong to, say, the mayor. Wonderfully terrible stuff.
Frick man! I don’t know how you do it, but like every monster you talk about makes me go “well, I have to figure out how to crowbar that one in” such well done sales pitches.
Just putting this here for anyone curious. I homebrewed and played as a corpse candle PC. Worked it out with the DM and it was awesome while it lasted. Things we figured out to make this work. (This Works perfect for one offs/temporary PCs, but also worked for a pro-longed PC). so first off-we decided my backstory was a PC that got back stabbed by a party member(not current party) in vengeance I became a corpse candle and possessed my own body. Becoming more or less just an undead version of myself. (So here’s the first part, I started at lvl 10 instead of the rest of the party at lvl 3, BUT I could not gain EX for any reason) plays on the whole dead adventure. Next thing. My character was a full body armor fighter. I was in armor head to toe like a knight, so no one could see the corpse inside). I had the constant urge for vengeance l and would do anything to achieve it (legal or illegal, chaotic or not, etc) so my alignment was just all over the place based on the situation. Other than my normal PC stats I got 3 main abilities. 1-instead of a long rest, I become a limp corpse again for X amount of time(DMs discretion) One time it was for 5 minutes, once it was 3 days. Let’s the DM have some fun. 2- the vision ability, my character at anytime can remove his helmet and look someone into the eyes and force my will of vengeance on them(plays by the corpse lights normal rules) BUT my body just becomes a corpse during this possession. So I basically just let the DM take over.(worked great for when I missed sessions). finally 3- when my HP would reach zero, instead of dying or making death save rolls. I just turn into a limp corpse and follow the long rest ability (DMs discretion on how long I’m out) then just wake back up. This character lasted for a few months until I finally got my vengeance, we killed the guy who killed me. the party originally despised me and my occasional possession. But they grew fond of me, and in the end, they were debating on letting the killer go just to keep me around. But we had a heat melting farewell and as they let me execute the killer. I went limp with him.
Extremely cool, makes me want to use it. So here's what I'm thinking: I had a vague idea that my PCs would find a broken magic sword, something quasi-legendary (at least locally) and that they might want to repair the thing to use against a later monster, some kind of Fairy Queen of Winter. The sword would be a life draining sword, destroyed because it's use as a weapon invariably outlasts the danger it was forged to fight against, and drives the wielder into a classic blood frenzied madness. People dig the thing up once an age and the cycle replays itself. Obviously someone was murdered. By that sword even! Or rather, by a broken part of it. Normally that would steal the life of the victim and feed it to the sword and wielder, but in it's state, it really just did a terrible amount of harm to the spirit and left it to transform into a Corpse Candle. The murderer was probably just some adventurer who found a cool broken sword in a ruin, and is themself more or less possessed now. The Candle doesn't know or care, it just needs to be whole again, and finding the Shadow Man with the Broken Blade is all it has to go on. Coming across the corpse will lead to the quest to find the killer, which gets resolved and awards the players with this awful cursed sword (which they may not know is cursed, even after all this,) that their powerful wizard patron probably wants to reforge to deal with the Winter Queen who will have been looming over everything the whole time. Adventure from front to back!
Oh, I forgot to suggest a creature. Have you covered the Nerras? They're the forgotten realm's take on the 'Fauna of Mirrors' legend recounted in Jorge Luis Borges' "Book of Imaginary Beings." Classic stuff.
I just imagine a guy standing over someone he has beaten to neat death and says to him "If you're wonder, we've never met, and from what I understand your a real scumbag, if you want to know why i'm doing this simply use this" And hands them a gem of true seeing so they can see this guy has like 5 corpse candles attached to him, each of this guy's victims.
I love your videos. They make me want to DM for my friends and implement your takes on these elder monsters. It's cool that you'll show us new dragon next week, fang dragon was awesome. Would you be interested in covering the vegan hermit dragon aka magneto dragon aka amber dragon?
If the murderer happens to be a fire genasi or another firey- or ashen-looking guy, there could be a really ironic end fight scene in some kind of fiery lair, where it'd be like a hall of mirrors fight, but with fire, because the corpse candle makes the possessed see the killer behind the fire whether they're truely there or not, making the fight harder 😈
I love the idea of the corpse candle spawning a fire elemental and using it's fire manipulation feature to create visages of it's killer within the elemental as it's attacking the party.
I think this would be a really neat idea for the patron of an Undead warlock. Maybe the victim was a powerful magic user and retained a measure of their power as the Corpse Candle, and gives some of it to their host. Too often I feel like the pact of a warlock can get overlooked, but it having more direct influence like a Corpse Candle does might be a really neat area to explore, and it would be pretty fun to play as the warlock who just stumbled into their pact because they were the first to a grisly murder, and all they have to go off for solving it is the cryptic description of the murderer.
I think an interesting plot you could do with this would be a problem of an ancient murder. The corpse candle has been waiting for decades to hundreds of years for someone to finally find its body and when it does, it possesses that person. However, its murderer has long since perished. The host is then tasked with hunting down all of the murderer's descendants as a way to really snuff out their existence. That would probably work best with a non-PC being possessed. It could be a murder mystery within a murder mystery, after the party discovers the death of one of those descendants.
This is going to make my party afraid of any and all corpses with their eyes open. Ooh imagine a battlefield full of corpses, but only one of these ghosties in found. A betrayal? A known enemy or a personal attack? Why do only one of these spirits linger?
I LOVE your videos, they only make me want to play D&D on a daily basis... I was wondering if you could make a video about eel hounds, I know, arguably a forgetable and low leveled creature, but sometimes a party of lv 2 characters need more interesting encounters besides the usual goblins or bandits (yeah, theres a lot of other creatures but the more experienced players sometimes need little surprises)
Gotta say regarding that ending bit: a Corpse Candle turning reverent during its own cremation WHILE it still has access to fire could make for an excellent sequel hook!
Late to the party, but with the corpse candle showing the visage of the murderer, it could be interesting if the murderer had the same face as someone else. Doppelgangers and other shapeshifters are an option, but a secret evil twin could be an interesting plot hook too. Or maybe a shapeshifting killer is killing randomly while wearing the face of an important person, specifically to create corpse candles who want to go after that public figure.
This actually unironically gave me the perfect link to connect two different plots in my current campaign. My group took up employment under a particular NPC they met who is a well known individual, though they've also found out that he's got a bad problem with groups under his employment just disappearing one day. Currently, the party is on their way to investigate a trade shipment that was supposed to arrive that never did, with some implication being that it was attacked by something. Initially I was going to just lay some hooks to guide the idea of following some clues if the party wanted to take that time, but with a Corpse Candle, I can give them the direct impetus to look down this path and learn that there's a criminal conspiracy targeting their employer and that the previous adventuring bands he's contracted were killed off to limit their employer's reach when it comes to people wanting to exploit the natural holes in a globally spanning resource network.
The corpse candle can act a a great warlock origin story where leveling up can act as the person killing the henchmen and level 20 being when you face off against the BBEG
Corpse Candle scalability, where a village is massacred by a passing army, maybe some dark/necromantic magic involved, and the majority of the bodies left behind are Candles. The party could wander into it and effectively find a minefield, or maybe it's a backstory for an antagonist.
It really is the best way to play it. Like other games that try to be horror kind of fail because they all give you characters that are pretty weak. Like you can still get invested in a weak character but you'll never overreach that investment because it'll always be at the back of your mind that a stiff breeze could kill them (AKA Game of Thrones Syndrome). But the whole point in D&D is you're playing a strong hero who can face anything... so coming across anything that threatens that perception is _terrifying._
Think I’ll add begging for help in the most broken way possible to that “can only describe their killer” bit. I mean… “I cast Speak With Dead.” “Before you can say anything, the head rolls to the side towards you. The eyes hang open, glassy & blind. It opens its mouth. ‘Please,’ a raspy, broken voice whispers, ‘Please. Please. Please.’” Also, wonder what happens if someone resurrects a corpse whose spirit became a corpse candle. The body reanimates, the spirit gets put back… but what’s left of their mind? What does that do to someone?
Thanks for watching everyone! What monster should I cover next?
if I haven't missed you already covering it somewhere, Bulette are pretty funky cool land sharks. They're not as obscure as some of what you go into, but they do look kinda funny
This is strange because most "people" in Ravenloft don't have souls and aren't real people. This is stated a few times in CoS. So this should be a rare monster in that realm.
May we please get a phaerimm conversion. I think it would go well the with the mage rippers.
Do something about the Crypt Thing from the 1st edition Fiend Folio. I've always loved the idea of an undead dude just sitting there staring at the party but just randomly teleporting characters away is just frustrating to try to play around.
In honor of Tears of the Kingdoms release, could we get a rules creation for Cuckoos? An entire species of indestructable telepathically linked avians. Willing to be domesticated if treated well, but the entire hive mind will retaliate if any member is harmed, the entire species teleporting to their defence in an unstoppable wave of claws and clucks
Fun idea: When you finally get to the climactic fight with the killer, the corpse candle helps you fight. It'd be like the party had lair actions, they'd probably enjoy that
Heck yes. I am stealing this idea.
Same!
ruclips.net/video/1PWVVVxARUQ/видео.html
Something about controlling fire and summoning fire elementals👍
It could also be quite cool to have opposing aim and perception between the party and the corpse candle with regards to “justice”.
Like the party want to kill the murderer, while the corpse candle try to nudge the party so that they bring the killer to the authorities so that he stands trial.
So the corpse candle is supporting both party during the fight.
Now I just wanna play a oath of vengeance paladin that seeks out corpse candles and allows them to possess them to be a bringer of the dead’s Justice.
i wonder what having 20 corpse candles sitting on your shoulders would look like with truesight
Do corpses candles stack?
@@voidwyrm6149 it would look terrifying... Probably like a conjoined mass of writhing undead covering the person in grasping hands of the rotting dead all protruding from their back out of seemingly nowhere. A sight so vile the true sight user may have to go and puke.
Would you be cool with it if I use your idea for my campaign?
@@doctorjimmy16 sure
who knew they could turn those floaters in your eye into a dnd monster
Man. It kinda makes sense, and not the weirdest thing to enter an eye. Did you forget Yoshikage Kira's third bomb basically enters the eye of whoever activates it?
@@SergioLeonardoCornejoJojo reference everywhere
@@roninread7011 it's the effect of an enemy stand user.
In D&D, everything's a monster.
So all I need is an exorcist to get rid of these damn floaters? Lol
Imagine a corpse candle latching onto someone with amnesia and that person also happens to be their killer
The character possesed by the corpse candel: " Well this investegation has become.... ghastly"
The corpse candle: "YYYEEEEAAAAAHH"
*tries to take off sunglasses, finds out sunglasses have melted into slag
THANK YOU I'M so happy I came to the comments for the punchline.
What's the pun?
@@youcantbeatk7006 never seen csi maimi?
@@Crazor2000 References aren't jokes,
The rogue kills a guy to be edgy, the paladin checks the corpse and gets possessed by the candle. Now one party member is being possessed by a firebending spirit that's trying to kill another party member, shenanigans ensue.
This is a pretty cool concept, eye based possession from a corpse. Could add a new meaning to closing the eyes of the dead/putting coins in them in setting (preventing possession)
Ya know
I have been looking for a reason why in my fantasy universe the keepers of the dead wear cloth over their eyes..
I think that's part of the original intent, a small version of the larger concept of not desecrating the dead.
In my own world, I would make it have less to do with this specific monster so much as a general in-universe belief that it helps to ensure the corpse rests peacefully, preventing the soul escaping the body before it can be collected by whatever psychopomp exists in the world.
Players hunt down the killer, and actually find evidence and legally gets the murderer convicted and executed. Problem is, the Corpse Candle does not pass on, and if asked, it is genuinely as baffled as the PCs; it has no idea what went wrong. Turns out, the murderer was a vindictive bastard, and his bitter desire to get revenge on the party, and in fact, the entire town that sentenced him to death, has returned as a ghost, and the Candle cannot rest till the murderer is completely removed from the mortal plane.
Isn't this the plot of FNaF?
lmao@@redman7775 💀💀💀
@@redman7775he ALWAYS comes back.
Thats fucking amazing
Imagine if a player's backstory is using the Haunted One, and joins the party preemptively infected by a Corpse Candle. Could make for a pretty interesting narrative.
Haunted one warlock with undead patron? They need to find the killer and bring them to justice, killer is fae serial killer who can jump around the world and is hard to track, PC asks group to help trap it in climactic battle to cap off that characters backstory, spirit moves on, possibly meaning warlock can't gain further levels in warlock class, up to your group but fun idea.
I was thinking something similar as a background for the Haunted one. As in they are possessed by their own spirit technically. Which would be an interesting concept. You are an undead possessed by your own spirit. Food for thought.
LITerally haunted! 🔥
I feel like this guy is a good quest giver, rather than an enemy
He's a railroading quest giver from the sounds of things.
@@brettwood1351 Well, I never said it was fair 🤷♂️
Would be a great "client" for a noir-ish murder mystery quest. "I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, there was the dame. Every time I lit a cigarette, there was her face in the lighter flame - both a beacon and a threat."
I kinda like the idea of the guy that got away "scott free" being possessed by the corpse candle himself. Then it spends the rest of his horribly burned life tormenting him. Teach you to cheat justice.
if that happened to a party member, it could make for an interesting adventure. the party would have to find a way to exorcise the corpse candle before it tortured the character to death
What I had in mind is contriving to get the judge to look into the murder victim's eyes. Now the judge has to clean up what he's done (and even then maybe the candle will be so pissed it will nightmare/burn the judge to death after anyways).
So a fire-based version of “The Telltale Heart”, where the only way for the murderer to end his torment is to either turn himself in, or die? Sounds like an awesome plot hook!
Ok, now imagine a spellcaster becoming a powerful Corpse Candle and acting as a warlock patreon(Fiend for the fire spells)
I'm writing that down!
What I always found interesting about this guy is it's way more useful the earlier it's used. Like, you haunt a 1st level character and boom, you've got a guardian angel to protect you while you're still squishy, a way for the DM to nudge the players in the proper story direction without railroading them, and hey, maybe some clever PC comes up with a way to use their powers when having minor pyromantic control is still relevant, before the party can just start throwing fireballs around.
Good thinking! And there are plenty of reasons for the Corpse Candle to justifiably believe that not immediately (or at least directly) pursuing their killer is the wisest course of action.
The CC’s killer doesn’t need to be the BBEG. Just someone that the CC knows is vastly outside of their host’s weight class...for now.
I think this would very interesting to have as a Warlock Patron, giving someone power to catch the killer
A warlock who is very specifically flame-oriented, of course.
@@chrisschoenthaler5184 Of course
This is not a bad idea.
I was thinking sorcerer,
Maybe a kalashtar.
Maybe using the aberrant mind traits for flavor Guidance.
Got to use fire spells though.
If the corpse candle was a high level wizard of some kind who was killed by a rival or an apprentice that betrayed them it would be a good justification as to how they are giving the host magic powers. It would also be a great story hook for a PC or NPC giving their character arc a high level nemesis bulit in, you could run it a side mission or something to the main campain.
It also makes the perfect backstory for a player or a npc the weird guy doing weird stuff is actually someone who routinely goes about being the host to a bunch of corpse candles as some ghost bounty hunter
I can imagine a sort of "Farryman" NPC, someone with vast knowledge of undead entities who purposefully haunts themselves to give them closure and put them to rest.
Honestly, this monster sounds like a great warlock patron and character backstory.
If you want to go the road of "vengeful spirit is denied its vengeance, and it gets progressively worse", it could eventually culminate with a boss fight against an effigy (Monster Manual II, from the 3.0/3.5 era, CR17 ) a fire-themed undead so angry, bodies it possesses combust and get turned into burning walking corpses.
That one goblin the party killed in the first session turns into one of these and latches onto the goblin chief, setting in motion an entire goblin tribe to hunt down the party
A series of murders by seemingly random individuals leads the party onto a wild goose chase, until one of them is possessed by a corpse candle. When they kill the murderer, the newly created corpse candle possesses someone else, in an endless feud between rival groups.
Related, a couple of party members get possessed and they have to manage the competing drives of their hitchikers because there was more than one murderer.
I was just in the middle of writing a horror session revolving around a Bodak and this is the perfect plot hook, great stuff.
My Necromancer that's trying to fill his Necrodex is going to hate this one. He keeps murdering people, but so far he's only gotten the common vengeful undead.
I like the idea of the Corpse Candle actually turning out to be someone who absolutely deserved what they got. You can pretty much get the picture of where I'm going with this. What if the one who murdered the (now) Corpse Candle is their physically/mentally abused significant other who couldn't take it anymore? What if the Corpse Candle was personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of people and was killed by a vigilante? That would put the players in a very difficult situation. They need to get rid of the Corpse Candle, but do they really want to see the "culprit" punished too severely? Morality could actually be the hardest aspect of dealing with the Corpse Candle.
or how about that the corpse candle was some guard your partner murdered in a previous story.
14:01 "another, more violent ghostly undead" *shows a ghoul*
What if the murderer was in disguise but the corpse candle is going by a kind of ghost sense where they kind of know who it is but need to get close or light on certain clues to really figure things out? Or what if they work a bit like demons in Bujold's Chalion books, leaping from less to more intelligent beings trying to find one who can understand their plight, and the first task of the party is not only finding the murderer but finding the murder by combing through the ghost's memories of being a series of animals and retracing their journey? Might be a good way to tie in the Raven part of Ravenloft in a way that feels organic. Speaking of Ravenloft, My vote is for the adorable and malicious Midnight Cat
I like the idea of the corpse being controlled by its own ghost. The ritual of revivify had a hiccup in some way and the vengeful spirit of the person seperated from its body. The person lives on but its hatred of the killed literally haunting them. And if looked upon closely the face of the killer can still be seen in their eye
Amazing way to tie in a Returned player character. Give them a warlock pact with the Corpse Candle to really get the fire roaring!
Great Backstory idea for a PC a lover or sibling was killed and became a Corpse candle. Now, you are forced to hunt down the murderer being made to never forget the pain of your loss. (Maybe there your Warlock Patreon)
Definitely keeping that.
Ive got the coolest idea for morally grey areas:
Say the killer is by some twist, the first person to look into their victims eyes, and the CC possess their own murderer?! And now the CC torments them day in and day out for killing them but refuses to let them turn themselves in because to the CCs mind, they havnt suffered enough.
In comes the party; Do you free a murderer from the consequenses of their own actions and force the ire of a very vindictive spirit, or leave them to suffer their undoubtedly cruel, but deserved punishment?
Here's a question. Does the Corpse Candle have to be the ghost of an innocent? Maybe the killer had a surprisingly sympathetic reason for the murder?
@@brettwood1351 A fair question. If I recall correctly, it was never stated it had to be an innocent: Just that they were killed in cold blood.
Corpse candles were traditionally akin to will-o-the-wisps, and predicted death like banshees.
One unfortunate twist/addition to the Corpse Candle could be that, after being killed, the target of revenge always becomes a Corpse Candle themselves. So you wind up with a string of murders as each possession victim becomes the next possession perpetrator who claims the next victim who becomes the next perpetrator who becomes the next victim, etc etc.
Man that thing is alot more nefarious then I expacted. And it might because I have seen Jojo a little too much but as soon as you said how this thing jumps into your eyes I immediately started thinking on yoshikage kira.
Dude, same!
A Ravenloft monster, originally. That setting had the best story based monsters.
It would be cool to see a crossover collaboration between you (Dungeon Dad) and the Dungeon Dudes…one can hope.
Someday I sincerely hope so!
@@DungeonDad I will keep my fingers crossed 🤞 🤞
Sounds like the perfect patrob for my pact of vengeful spirits warlock subclass
I like the idea of some mutalism. Perhaps a spellsword purposfully turns into a corpse candle to not only get revenge on its own murderer, but then move on to be a fire wielding spellsword sworn to fight to for justice of others unjustly killed. Sort of like YuGiOhs Avendread but better lol
Limited pyrokinetic powers is my initial thought, there is a history of encounters giving abilities, like there's a mind contagion that grants telepathy while it infects you so it's not unprecedented
@Constant Chaos I've never actually played before but I like the idea a lot
I was thinking more like the shiranui myself. But Vendreads also are a good choice.
@@spademagna2672 Shiranui is sick. I used to run Shogunsaga and Sunsaga in my Eldy deck
13:08 similar idea, what if the murderer gets put on trial, convicted and sentenced but the corpse candle isn't satisfied? The person is being punished but your party is still under threat so you have to either find a way to get rid of the spectre or take the law into your own hands. Honestly, I think there's more potential for ambiguity and inner conflict here than in the example where they get off scot free
In that case, I will try to convince the corpse candle to possess the killer so that it can torment them for the rest of their life in prison.
Was not expecting brown dragons so soon.
The corpse candle is interesting. While I started with AD&D, I didn't know that the corpse candle existed as a monster. I only knew of it as a 3.5 wizard spell that made it so incorporeal creatures counted as corporeal so everyone could hit it without ghost touch weapons.
I could see a corpse candle creature being a decent warlock patron for a mini campaign.
Yknow personally I could also see a Corpse Candle acting as a long term buff or even a sort of secondary class feature if the target of the Candles wrath is the big bad. The idea of maybe the Cleric or Paladin that now has an undead spirit that sets people on fire could be a really nice touch and a fun way to spice up combat. Hell theres nothing saying that with enough time spent and a bond formed maybe the Corpse Candle and host become one after a time and the Candle is now just a set of abilities the PC now has, as a reward for hunting down a particularly grevious foe.
Ooh, you could collect them as you come across more victims of the villain.
Our fighter is actually like this. He got possessed, and now he and the spirit are quite the team.
A great moment is when we were preparing to clear a graveyard of ghosts. Now, part of the fighter's background is that his sword is an heirloom passed down in his family, and while it is an amazing sword, it's not magical.This is a problem as the fighter refuses to use any other sword and the magic crossbow he normally uses in this situation had been stolen by the questgiver. Our fighter was essentially resigned to be a healbot with potions until the wizard asked the DM, "Hey, if the corpse candle sets the sword on fire, can the sword harm ghosts?" DM thought about it, and ruled that yes, it can. Ever since then, our fighter's sword is perpetually on fire. XD
Jojo's stand, Hanged Man attacks through reflections. Pulled a similar trick when he hide himself in people's eyes.
Dude, you need to get out of my head, its scary in there. This is the third time i've needed an enemy but nothing in 5e currently fit, and you put out a video when i was about to HB my own thing. XD Thank you so much for these vids. Keep up the amzing work.
Came for the monster stayed for the editing
This was seriously like Monty Python's Terry Gilliam editted a video essay and I loved it
I take that as a massive compliment! Thanks for watching!
@@DungeonDad you said that "speak with dead" acts differently when cast on a corpse that birthed a corpse candle than a normal corpse. But what happens when you cast the spell on the possessed creature, on the candle itself?
I like the idea that if the person is taking the call to action the only illusions they see are ones that are helpful to them, like when the killer is near it will indicate with his face around him or it will revisit parts that they need to check for a detail
A campaign where the Corpse Candle acts as a scorned lover who was killed by their spouse, only for it to be revealed that the spirit was actually super toxic and manipulative. The only reason their spirit refuses to move on is because it can't release the grasp it had on its victim(s) in life. The Party follows a sympathetic quest for justice only to discover who the true villain was upon hearing the full story from their target.
This sounds like an easy concept to adapt and merge with a warlock's patron, giving the warlock much more active interactions with said patron than is typical.
Edit:
Should have known this idea was already brought up.
I think it would be amazing to make an effort out of befriending the corpse candle to such a degree that it wants to "live on" as a permanent helper, even after it's killer yas been brought to justice.
This effect would last until your PC dies, or someone forcible performs an exorcism on your PC.
Imagine 2 corpse candles who due to a shape shifter view each other as their murderer, trickster god flying with the nature of death where no one side will ever be content.
I’m watching a shit ton of your videos and wow you’ve improved a shit ton.
An excellent choice making the jolly halfling the canonical host of the corpse candle. XD
okay, ghost; you can't talk, and I cant cast speak with dead. Gonna ask some questions about the murder, and you light the red candle on the table for yes, or the black candle for no.
I would genuinely allow this at my table. This is some good Steven King type shit.
@@Darasilverdragon Ignore deleted comment; brain got confused and gave a response intended for a different comment.
it'd be cool if you could use Speak with Undead on the person that the Corpse Candle is possessing. Maybe the possessed person would become fully controlled by the Corpse Candle until the five questions are asked, or some other effect might occur in a similar vein
This is scary how fitting this was when it came out. My players just killed a bloodbath diablos from monster hunter for a hunting competition. The barbarian of the party almost died before they could rage, so in anger, she pulled out it's only remaining eye. After handing it to the fighter blacksmith, it dilated in anger, exciting said kinda evil blacksmith. Now I have a super cool use for it other it being an angry eye.
Thank you Dungeon Dad. You are the best.
KILLA QUEEN: BITES ZA DUSTO!
I really dig these undead videos man. If you’re still looking for spooky ones, the Slaymate from Libris Mortis would be cool
I'd like to imagine a character that is possessed by a corpse candle who maybe didn't get a good look at their killer, or maybe the killer is elusive for other reasons, and maybe the painful memories of the corpse candle start to bleed into the memories of the host until they have trouble telling whose memories are whose anymore. Interesting idea.
Here's a devilish idea. What if the killer was under the influence of a mind control spell when they killed the victim? Does the Corpse Candle understand that they can't be blamed for their actions?
I think that can be the case. The Corpse Candle is riding around on the possessed person's shoulders. It can observe things going on around the possessed person.
I genuinely wish I had known about this creature before, for various reasons, but this will be very useful in the future.
This monster is new to me. I played AD&D 1st edition back in the early 80's
Absolutely one of my favorite monsters you've covered. Fantastic job. 👍
Weirdly, there is also a spell called Corpse Candle in 3.5 that was a handle held by a zombie hand that emit a big area of light which would reveal invisible creatures and creatures on the Ethereal Plane
Its ability to force action reminds me of the geas spell.
Old-school D&D was wild and so fun. I miss some of the more bizarre things.
My immediate thought when I learned about this monster was "I’ll make a Corpse Candle out of the current king’s brother. You know, the one he murdered to take his place on the throne."
「Killer Queen」 Daisan No Bakudan「Bites Za Dusto」
I actually got some inspiration for a character based off the corpse candle/possession mechanics because of this video. Play a barbarian (subclass doesn't matter so much, but we are focusing on the Rage mechanic, do with that as you will), and flavor it where your character ran into a corpse candle of a potentially very demented person. Your barb "rage" could now be flavored as your corpse candle possessor taking over your body for a bit (think Sukuna from JJK). And now your barb has different flavor than tribal hunter person! And you can potentially have cool interactions with an inner dialogue. Hooray for flavor!
Thanks as always, Dad!
To be honest, I always find ghosts to be a little goofy, so I'd probably use this one for a goofy plot...like, the party stumbles upon a death tyrant's lair poorly guarded by possessed minions (let's say kobolds). They eventually find a super annoyed death tyrant resting with its eye constantly closed: it has gotten "infected" by corpse candles of some of the minions it had to kill for its lich ascension ritual, and those corpse candles also ended up possessing nearby minions. The party's tasked with finding a good exorcist since the Death Tyrant clearly can't technically off itself anymore (nor would it want to!).
I've been checking out Pathfinder's "Dark Archive" expansion book, which is all about the occult, cryptids, and conspiracies. There's a Cult of Cat and Mouse which is all about mercilessly murdering lesser people in games of sadistic sport. The thing is. They wear cat masks during these games, and transmute the heads of their victims into rodent heads for the game. Such a victim becoming a corpse candle would want to destroy all cat iconography, but probably remember the hands or other features of their killer, which might belong to, say, the mayor. Wonderfully terrible stuff.
I like the idea of modifying this to become a warlock patron or a sorcerous origin.
Frick man! I don’t know how you do it, but like every monster you talk about makes me go “well, I have to figure out how to crowbar that one in” such well done sales pitches.
Just putting this here for anyone curious. I homebrewed and played as a corpse candle PC. Worked it out with the DM and it was awesome while it lasted. Things we figured out to make this work. (This Works perfect for one offs/temporary PCs, but also worked for a pro-longed PC). so first off-we decided my backstory was a PC that got back stabbed by a party member(not current party) in vengeance I became a corpse candle and possessed my own body. Becoming more or less just an undead version of myself. (So here’s the first part, I started at lvl 10 instead of the rest of the party at lvl 3, BUT I could not gain EX for any reason) plays on the whole dead adventure. Next thing. My character was a full body armor fighter. I was in armor head to toe like a knight, so no one could see the corpse inside). I had the constant urge for vengeance l and would do anything to achieve it (legal or illegal, chaotic or not, etc) so my alignment was just all over the place based on the situation. Other than my normal PC stats I got 3 main abilities. 1-instead of a long rest, I become a limp corpse again for X amount of time(DMs discretion) One time it was for 5 minutes, once it was 3 days. Let’s the DM have some fun. 2- the vision ability, my character at anytime can remove his helmet and look someone into the eyes and force my will of vengeance on them(plays by the corpse lights normal rules) BUT my body just becomes a corpse during this possession. So I basically just let the DM take over.(worked great for when I missed sessions). finally 3- when my HP would reach zero, instead of dying or making death save rolls. I just turn into a limp corpse and follow the long rest ability (DMs discretion on how long I’m out) then just wake back up. This character lasted for a few months until I finally got my vengeance, we killed the guy who killed me. the party originally despised me and my occasional possession. But they grew fond of me, and in the end, they were debating on letting the killer go just to keep me around. But we had a heat melting farewell and as they let me execute the killer. I went limp with him.
Extremely cool, makes me want to use it. So here's what I'm thinking:
I had a vague idea that my PCs would find a broken magic sword, something quasi-legendary (at least locally) and that they might want to repair the thing to use against a later monster, some kind of Fairy Queen of Winter. The sword would be a life draining sword, destroyed because it's use as a weapon invariably outlasts the danger it was forged to fight against, and drives the wielder into a classic blood frenzied madness. People dig the thing up once an age and the cycle replays itself.
Obviously someone was murdered. By that sword even! Or rather, by a broken part of it. Normally that would steal the life of the victim and feed it to the sword and wielder, but in it's state, it really just did a terrible amount of harm to the spirit and left it to transform into a Corpse Candle. The murderer was probably just some adventurer who found a cool broken sword in a ruin, and is themself more or less possessed now. The Candle doesn't know or care, it just needs to be whole again, and finding the Shadow Man with the Broken Blade is all it has to go on. Coming across the corpse will lead to the quest to find the killer, which gets resolved and awards the players with this awful cursed sword (which they may not know is cursed, even after all this,) that their powerful wizard patron probably wants to reforge to deal with the Winter Queen who will have been looming over everything the whole time. Adventure from front to back!
Oh, I forgot to suggest a creature. Have you covered the Nerras? They're the forgotten realm's take on the 'Fauna of Mirrors' legend recounted in Jorge Luis Borges' "Book of Imaginary Beings." Classic stuff.
I personally would replace the damage immunity of corpse candle with damage transfer (any damage that it takes is transferred to the host.).
This sounds like a really interesting plot hook! Very cool
I feel like whoever designed this definitely read Diamond is Unbreakable. This is giving me shades of Cheap Trick mixed with Bites the Dust lol
I just imagine a guy standing over someone he has beaten to neat death and says to him "If you're wonder, we've never met, and from what I understand your a real scumbag, if you want to know why i'm doing this simply use this"
And hands them a gem of true seeing so they can see this guy has like 5 corpse candles attached to him, each of this guy's victims.
Would be a cool ending to a detective thriller novel
I'm going to put one of these into a bottle of Dwarven Vodka.
The ultimate spirit
This. Is. Perfect!
My players might find a corpse with its ghost around trying to make them avenge her. I'm making that a corpse candle now
I love your videos. They make me want to DM for my friends and implement your takes on these elder monsters. It's cool that you'll show us new dragon next week, fang dragon was awesome. Would you be interested in covering the vegan hermit dragon aka magneto dragon aka amber dragon?
Love this enemy, it's a whole little adventure in one npc!
If the murderer happens to be a fire genasi or another firey- or ashen-looking guy, there could be a really ironic end fight scene in some kind of fiery lair, where it'd be like a hall of mirrors fight, but with fire, because the corpse candle makes the possessed see the killer behind the fire whether they're truely there or not, making the fight harder 😈
I love the idea of the corpse candle spawning a fire elemental and using it's fire manipulation feature to create visages of it's killer within the elemental as it's attacking the party.
Think I found my Oath of Vengeance Paladin’s backstory
Give the infected limited pyrokinetic power when they are cooperating
I think this would be a really neat idea for the patron of an Undead warlock. Maybe the victim was a powerful magic user and retained a measure of their power as the Corpse Candle, and gives some of it to their host. Too often I feel like the pact of a warlock can get overlooked, but it having more direct influence like a Corpse Candle does might be a really neat area to explore, and it would be pretty fun to play as the warlock who just stumbled into their pact because they were the first to a grisly murder, and all they have to go off for solving it is the cryptic description of the murderer.
I think an interesting plot you could do with this would be a problem of an ancient murder. The corpse candle has been waiting for decades to hundreds of years for someone to finally find its body and when it does, it possesses that person. However, its murderer has long since perished. The host is then tasked with hunting down all of the murderer's descendants as a way to really snuff out their existence.
That would probably work best with a non-PC being possessed. It could be a murder mystery within a murder mystery, after the party discovers the death of one of those descendants.
This is going to make my party afraid of any and all corpses with their eyes open. Ooh imagine a battlefield full of corpses, but only one of these ghosties in found. A betrayal? A known enemy or a personal attack? Why do only one of these spirits linger?
I LOVE your videos, they only make me want to play D&D on a daily basis... I was wondering if you could make a video about eel hounds, I know, arguably a forgetable and low leveled creature, but sometimes a party of lv 2 characters need more interesting encounters besides the usual goblins or bandits (yeah, theres a lot of other creatures but the more experienced players sometimes need little surprises)
Gotta say regarding that ending bit: a Corpse Candle turning reverent during its own cremation WHILE it still has access to fire could make for an excellent sequel hook!
Killer Queen is already in your eye!
Daisan no Bakudan, Bites za Dusto!
Oh man. You could have so much fun and create a whole "Kill Bill" storyline with this...
Late to the party, but with the corpse candle showing the visage of the murderer, it could be interesting if the murderer had the same face as someone else. Doppelgangers and other shapeshifters are an option, but a secret evil twin could be an interesting plot hook too. Or maybe a shapeshifting killer is killing randomly while wearing the face of an important person, specifically to create corpse candles who want to go after that public figure.
This actually unironically gave me the perfect link to connect two different plots in my current campaign. My group took up employment under a particular NPC they met who is a well known individual, though they've also found out that he's got a bad problem with groups under his employment just disappearing one day. Currently, the party is on their way to investigate a trade shipment that was supposed to arrive that never did, with some implication being that it was attacked by something. Initially I was going to just lay some hooks to guide the idea of following some clues if the party wanted to take that time, but with a Corpse Candle, I can give them the direct impetus to look down this path and learn that there's a criminal conspiracy targeting their employer and that the previous adventuring bands he's contracted were killed off to limit their employer's reach when it comes to people wanting to exploit the natural holes in a globally spanning resource network.
What if the murderer was themselves a person being compelled to commit the act by a Corpse Candle?
The corpse candle can act a a great warlock origin story where leveling up can act as the person killing the henchmen and level 20 being when you face off against the BBEG
We need this man to reach 10,000 subs!!!
A corpse candle might be a cool warlock undead patron, or motivation for an oath of justice paladin!
Corpse Candle scalability, where a village is massacred by a passing army, maybe some dark/necromantic magic involved, and the majority of the bodies left behind are Candles.
The party could wander into it and effectively find a minefield, or maybe it's a backstory for an antagonist.
D&D is such a great game. Any genre is possible here and i love the various takes on horror
It really is the best way to play it. Like other games that try to be horror kind of fail because they all give you characters that are pretty weak. Like you can still get invested in a weak character but you'll never overreach that investment because it'll always be at the back of your mind that a stiff breeze could kill them (AKA Game of Thrones Syndrome). But the whole point in D&D is you're playing a strong hero who can face anything... so coming across anything that threatens that perception is _terrifying._
the description of the creature also sounds like the plotline to some kooky paranormal anime.
Think I’ll add begging for help in the most broken way possible to that “can only describe their killer” bit. I mean…
“I cast Speak With Dead.”
“Before you can say anything, the head rolls to the side towards you. The eyes hang open, glassy & blind. It opens its mouth. ‘Please,’ a raspy, broken voice whispers, ‘Please. Please. Please.’”
Also, wonder what happens if someone resurrects a corpse whose spirit became a corpse candle. The body reanimates, the spirit gets put back… but what’s left of their mind? What does that do to someone?
"When a living people gets murdered..." made me chuckle more than it should have.