KRAKEN WEEK: Improving the Kraken in D&D 5e

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  • Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
  • The Stat Block: docs.google.com/document/d/1w...
    Check out all the watery-good Kraken Week videos: • Kraken Week '24
    If you like what I do and would consider supporting this channel through Patreon:
    / treantmonkstemple
    Timestamps:
    0:00 Intro
    0:41 The Kraken is easy to beat
    4:08 Weird and weak stat block
    8:06 Lack of published alternatives
    9:33 My DEADLY homebrew Kraken
    12:20 Tentacles that are scary
    15:13 Mythic trait
    17:55 Other actions
    20:29 Defeating the Kraken
  • ИгрыИгры

Комментарии • 236

  • @JamCliche
    @JamCliche 3 дня назад +79

    10 individual identical minions all controlled by a single creature within 60 ft? Bro that's the old conjure animals Spell. You monster.

    • @Hyruler
      @Hyruler 3 дня назад +1

      Lol, indeed. But they are more important now and don't use a spell slot.

    • @TreantmonksTemple
      @TreantmonksTemple  3 дня назад +34

      Conjure Animals that isn't obliterated by Fireball!

    • @foldionepapyrus3441
      @foldionepapyrus3441 3 дня назад +4

      Hehehe, love the comparison. However I feel like the largest objection to the old conjure spell is the amount of time spent on one players turn - when its the DM doing it everyone of the players should be engaged worrying if what you do is going to screw with their next turn plans, or kill them... So the extra targets here are basically no different to having a few minions for the boss - just more threats for the players to kill, incapacitate or avoid.

    • @eraz0rhead
      @eraz0rhead 3 дня назад +4

      @@foldionepapyrus3441 as Nixon said, "when the DM does it, it's not illegal", or something like that.

    • @lmsimao77
      @lmsimao77 3 дня назад

      ​@@TreantmonksTemplethats the thing.

  • @Johnny5isstillalive
    @Johnny5isstillalive 4 дня назад +82

    Really love the design around weakening the Kracken by attacking the tentacles. Fun, thematic, memorable.

  • @jessemarcus9262
    @jessemarcus9262 4 дня назад +106

    Another important takeaway: the Kraken has 20 Charisma. They're the Don Juan of da Sea.

    • @blakenoir7890
      @blakenoir7890 4 дня назад +9

      You know how PC's always ask to seduce the dragon? well how about the Kraken roles to seduce a PC? lmao pull an uno reverse card on the bard.

    • @T3hIluvatar
      @T3hIluvatar 4 дня назад

      @@blakenoir7890 No wonder there's such an abundance of tentacle porn

    • @danielderamus9573
      @danielderamus9573 3 дня назад +3

      Krakens get bard levels like dragons get sorcerer levels and liches get wizard

    • @alexandrudorries3307
      @alexandrudorries3307 3 дня назад +2

      “Let me sing you the song of my people…”
      *weird screeching bellows and whale noises

    • @jonathanfrederic7292
      @jonathanfrederic7292 День назад +2

      So charismatic that everybody turns around to Sea. 😂

  • @axby1922
    @axby1922 4 дня назад +47

    This seems so much better. I also wish there was a smaller version that could be used as a more generic sea monster, or something in line with a turtle dragon. But this seems like the end of campaign boss that it should be.

    • @jimmyredd
      @jimmyredd 3 дня назад +3

      A Krackling?

    • @Geinedofv
      @Geinedofv 3 дня назад

      There are the two sea serpents in Fizban's but it's weird that it took until that book to get them

    • @catkittycatcatkittycatcatcat
      @catkittycatcatkittycatcatcat 3 дня назад +2

      that’s okay, the old kraken is now a juvenile kraken :Þ

    • @andirach
      @andirach 3 дня назад +1

      I believe Ghosts of Saltmarsh has stats for a juvenile kraken

  • @elementzero3379
    @elementzero3379 6 дней назад +28

    When I think of a Kraken, I think of Ssessimyth from the Forgotten Realms.
    This thing was handicapped by a mythallar physically stuck in its brain, and it still gave two ancient Shade Archmages a fight. (These guys were over 2000 years old, real Archmages, one also a Cleric and the Chosen of Shar.) Later, when they unleashed it on the city of Yhaunn, it leveled the place. Shout out to Paul S. Kemp for the best Forgotten Realms novels ever written, the Erevis Cale trilogies. 👍🏻
    I love your version of the Kraken. That's a scary creature. It looks very fun to fight and to run. 🐙

  • @michaeldejean3742
    @michaeldejean3742 3 дня назад +25

    I always assumed you were supposed to be fighting the Kraken underwater, which adds a lot of challenges on its own. So the lightning is like an electric eel emanation

    • @Leafy1-j1l
      @Leafy1-j1l 12 часов назад

      Sure, but this is still a 17th level party. They can get their ship wrecked, hold their breath for minutes at a time (read: tens of rounds), gut the thing and leave, even if the spellcasters can't cast. They probably can, because the wizard isn't an idiot - Water Breathing is a ritual, it lasts 24 hours, and you're in sea monster country.

  • @travisdunlap4526
    @travisdunlap4526 3 дня назад +33

    My thoughts:
    Overall: This is a much better version of the Kraken, with a lovely staged approach where the Kraken will gradually weaken but won't get instantly snuffed out, and so it has the feeling of a nice epic fight (and it basically comes with its own minions!). I also like the idea that the kraken could use its multiattack to move a bunch of grappled party members together and then lightning strike the heck out of them
    My nitpicks:
    1) The biggest issue I see here are area attacks on the tentacles. You mentioned that the party can't fireball the tentacles, but reading the statblock I see no reason that would be, and frankly if you put a bunch of minis on the board with stats, a party is going to expect to be able to hit them with a fireball. Saying "oh you can't because your still just attacking the kraken" just doesn't work. So either the design needs to accept that area effects are going to happen, or provide a mechanic to avoid them (something like: Submerge (reaction) the kraken and its tentacles can move underwater X feet to avoid an attack or area effect).
    2) If I use epic fortitude with a tentacle currently grappling a player, does that player take damage as well? Seems like they might but no mention of it.
    3) Any creature of this epicness should have some form of regeneration (and a tentacle should regenerate after an hour or a day or something). Even if its not enough to really make a difference in combat, if the kraken runs away it should be able to recover quickly, creating pressure for the party to finish the job or risk the creature returning and its full strength.
    4) Multi-attack is a bit vaguely worded. I think you are saying I get 2 tentacle attacks OR a bite, but the wording following the fling replacement does give an impression it might be a tentacle attack replacement as well, so I would just reword that, probably make it a seperate sentence.

    • @NapoleonSoares
      @NapoleonSoares 3 дня назад

      When a hydra grows more heads do you expect to be able to hit all of them with one fireball? The tentacles are all part of one monster, it doesn't matter that they are represented by a health bar, if I as the DM tell you at the start of the encounter that these are all one unit and not individual entities, then there should be no confusion as to how it works. They are not separate entities and the fact that they are all part of a SINGLE monster's stat block should make it very clear that you cannot hit them with aoe spells. I cannot off the top of my head think of a single monster in the monster manual that I would assume gets hits multiple times by aoe spells, so why would this particular one be any different? Bone swarms are made up of the skeletons of many dead humanoids, so they literally come from separate entities, but it is a single creature. Do you really expect players to say something like "well there are 10 heads in the pile of bones so I should be able to have fireball deal damage 10 times?"

    • @AnaseSkyrider
      @AnaseSkyrider 3 дня назад +1

      1) The tentacles could also take half as much damage from area attacks.

    • @drunyonator
      @drunyonator 3 дня назад +3

      Just giving the tentacles evasion and saving throws equal to the kraken would achieve the desired outcome in a way that uses existing mechanics and seems less like a DM fiat. The kraken's relatively weak dex save means that many AOE spells could still do something, but it'll be half damage no matter what. I know what Chris is trying to say, but the players at the table aren't going to see it his way. This change just provides clearer communication imo.

    • @AtelierGod
      @AtelierGod 3 дня назад +1

      @@drunyonatorthe way they are likely to see it is as DM vs Player mentality where instead of working with the players it’s like the DM is trying to win against the party.

    • @lukasmayer9041
      @lukasmayer9041 3 дня назад

      i think its all about communication. i dont think there is any problem if i simply communicate to the players at the very start that there are no actual tentacle units, and they are therefore not affected by area attacks, since the players are still only fighting the kraken.
      if the tentacles actually are their own units, and just have some kind of protection against aoe, then it becomes very easy to make aoe either too strong, or so weak that it feels like i baited them into using aoe, when actually those tentacles are functionally immune.

  • @DnDDeepDive
    @DnDDeepDive 3 дня назад +11

    Glug Glug Glug

  • @williamtaylor6886
    @williamtaylor6886 4 дня назад +28

    You RUclipsrs are kraken me up this week. 😂

  • @Zr0din
    @Zr0din 3 дня назад +5

    @5:00 I was thinking about all the times I hear people talk about LOW AC for monsters because it's not fun to MISS.

  • @AndrewBrownK
    @AndrewBrownK 3 дня назад +6

    I think the idea with fling is that if you land farther away, you were thrown with a higher velocity, not that you accelerated in mid air

    • @eraz0rhead
      @eraz0rhead День назад

      @@AndrewBrownK like fall damage.. it's based on how far you fell

  • @DrLongWang
    @DrLongWang 4 дня назад +6

    I was running an encounter for a medium optimized party with no items that added to attack rolls or saving throws. The monster I ran had a +18 to all saving throws and 5 legendary resistance. 20 AC along with 2,000 hp. Every sorcerer spell and sorcery points that came back every turn. Was immune to anti magic (as a demigod) and could as a reaction force a creature to choose between taking half a crits damage or turn their crit into a normal hit (we were also using crunch crits). On top of that, their multiattack was 4 attacks and one spell of any level.
    It was by no means easy, but they won, at level 12. And this wasn’t artichrons and magic missile goblins. It was just characters with some dips who were picking good subclasses and good spells. They did absolutely no cheese as well. They did over 1,000 damage in the first 3-4 rounds burst, and had consistent enough damage to reduce the creature before it killed them.
    That monster I made would dog walk any creature wizards of the coast has made. Sul Katesh might be trouble if their anti magic works on gods for some reason. But even then they would win, it’d just be kinda close. Wizards is as bad at stating high cr monsters as they are selecting spells for their casters.

    • @jimmyredd
      @jimmyredd 3 дня назад

      DrLongWinded

    • @pheralanpathfinder4897
      @pheralanpathfinder4897 3 дня назад

      To true. The new monster manual will need a massive power boost to keep up with the power boost in 2024. And that still leaves half the game lacking proper challenges.

  • @tomgymer7719
    @tomgymer7719 3 дня назад +5

    I mean, I would rule that water is an object and also rises, so the Kraken can swim through it still. I get the general idea though, no legendary resistances really is a problem for such a creature.

  • @minikawildflower
    @minikawildflower День назад

    This is incredible! I love the way the tentacles can function independently, that's such a big feature of famous Kraken fights in movies - sometimes they'll think they have the Kraken beat, only for another tentacle to whip out at the last second and continue the fight.

  • @GroovyLemming
    @GroovyLemming 4 дня назад +8

    To aid in design, it might be good to say that the tentacles are medium sized, as per your battle map.

  • @mitchu50
    @mitchu50 4 дня назад +9

    The deep calls Chris!

  • @eraz0rhead
    @eraz0rhead 3 дня назад +6

    There doesn't appear to be much incentive for the Kraken to emerge from beneath the waves to give players a clear target. Even in the original design, the Kraken isn't best used bobbing around on the ocean surface.
    I'd say the churning waves are more than enough to grant concealment deeper than 10 feet, or maybe 20 feet if you have darkvision.
    The Kraken doesn't attack the party. It attacks the ship.
    .. with surprise, as the first the party knows about it are the tentacles suddenly wrapped around the deck.
    The original Kraken does 20*2 damage to structures with a tentacle. There aren't official rules for sailing ship stats. Play test material gives them AC 15, DR15 and 300 hps. So that's a measly 75 damage for 3 attacks, but the ship is then grappled and restrained, and the Kraken can move .. down .. dragging the ship with it at half it's swim speed.
    Now the party has to quickly transition from their comfort zone to an underwater combat where things are possibly less optimized for them. (Helms of Underwater action notwithstanding)
    Admittedly, once everyone is below the surface, darkvision is probably sufficient to see the Kraken, unless there's a lot of debris (say from the cargo of a sinking ship), so the reverse-gravity trick is likely going to work, and it might even save some of the crew too :)

  • @a99barnsey
    @a99barnsey 4 дня назад +8

    That was really fun to play… Treantmonk monster book incoming?

  • @RdotDoyle
    @RdotDoyle 8 дней назад +6

    Great stuff! So many smart choices here to restore the Kraken to an epic creature. Happy Kraken Week 🐙

  • @atingley0913
    @atingley0913 4 дня назад +3

    Good morning Chris! Kraken week has been a blast! Love seeing the whole community gather around and support a sweet idea!
    Love this video! Been considering shamelessly ripping the Mass Effect story and setting it in fantasy for a dnd campaign. So happy to have ideas to make the BBEG something fearsome (they are squid/cuttlefish sort of looking machines so a Kraken is PERFECT!) I especially love the idea for using its tentacles as "buff minions" that it attacks through.
    Much love, until the next one! 💜 Have a great day, thank you for being an awesome person and for all the work you put in making these videos!

  • @SebasTian58323
    @SebasTian58323 3 дня назад +3

    Honestly, I think the kraken from pirates of the Caribbean was terrifying

  • @shfhthgh
    @shfhthgh 4 дня назад +3

    Reverse gravity would also affect the water around the Kraken, so it would be able to swim out of the area, possibly falling on the ship

    • @TreantmonksTemple
      @TreantmonksTemple  4 дня назад +4

      I'm not sure whether terrain is effected or not, but the spell does say anyone in the effect can only move with a fly speed

    • @jevette7576
      @jevette7576 3 дня назад

      Water in this situation a DM should treat water as an object in this situation. And kraken then it ink clouds.

  • @ChristnThms
    @ChristnThms 3 дня назад +12

    I've actually used a lot of this design theory before, for any monster I want to feel really epic.
    By the rules, a gargantuan creature just isn't very big, and being limited to a single hp pool is inevitably easier to kill.
    On a colossal statue, I had legs, arms, head and torso as separate hp pools, and the head or torso couldn't be attacked directly until either the movement was zero or the arms were destroyed. For attack actions, it had grab, grab, stomp, laser vision.

  • @ayindehorton2803
    @ayindehorton2803 3 дня назад

    Kraken week couldn't have come at a more opportune time! My group is lvl 16 and is about to embark on an nautical adventure this weekend and I was thinking on ow to revise some aquan creatures. This revision of the Kraken is PERFECT! Thank you!

  • @jordanprice6457
    @jordanprice6457 3 дня назад

    I really like to see this kind of monster building content for tables to play! Chris does such a great job and understands the state of the game so well that it really improves on the fantasy and makes the game more strategically fun with designs like this.
    I remember when the channel put out the special Christmas Troll video last year and I absolutely loved that video. It’s a shame it didn’t perform as well as it deserved, I would love to see Chris able to do these kinds of videos more often. I feel like the optimization community focuses so much on character builds that sometimes we forget that DM’s are players too and need help facing optimized parties 😂

  • @blakenoir7890
    @blakenoir7890 4 дня назад +2

    Treant! Your videos are great, your voice is soft spoken. Im sure that if you and Colby were to narrate a DND bed time story, it' sell off the shelfs >.< . Great work on your channel.

  • @Geinedofv
    @Geinedofv 3 дня назад

    I love this redesign to make the kraken a truly terrifying monster! I'd love to see more homebrew monster adjustments on this channel (cough cough terrasque).
    One small suggestion: "objects of magical force" is a vague term that some DMs might misinterpret as meaning all magic items are destroyed. If the intention is to eliminate wall of force, just say the ability specifically destroys a wall of force, similar to the text of the Disintegrate spell.

  • @TheVaultDescendant
    @TheVaultDescendant 3 дня назад +2

    One thing that I think is worth noting is that the Krakens lair action might just destroy a ship that relies on a lot of common NPC sailors. So while its an easy combat encounter the party would be left dead in the water. Not that it makes a huge differance but I thought it was worth noting.

  • @keeperoflenneth
    @keeperoflenneth 3 дня назад

    I think i'd do a few things differently but this is a vastly superior starting point than any of the existing options. 10/10 chief, great work here. Happy Kraken week. ;)

  • @collin4555
    @collin4555 3 дня назад

    Having legendary/epic resistances be tied to a consumable resource that can be independently targeted makes so much sense, that's good design. My immediate thought for another monster that can easily adopt that is the Vampire, who can use Vampire Spawn in pretty much an identical way.

  • @rainycake
    @rainycake 4 дня назад +1

    Amazing video. Made me realize that I should make my bosses as "solo" creatures instead of giving them minions.

  • @RexCogitans
    @RexCogitans 3 дня назад +2

    An enemy who dies quicker when the encounter is basically won, great design! It can be a bit of a grind when enemies have ton of actions after the fight is functionally decided.
    Great video, I'd like more homebrew improved monsters. It's easy to integrate in homebrew games

  • @AwesomeWookiee
    @AwesomeWookiee 3 дня назад +1

    Love this kraken. By the way, 100% Certainty that Tromokratis is based on the Borderlands boss "Crawmerax the Invincible" from the DLC of the first game, rather than a Kraken. Also I've run him and he's such a cakewalk.

  • @Gumby-vx7ki
    @Gumby-vx7ki 3 дня назад

    Treantmonk turns a guppy into a shark. Well done.

  • @Magnushamann
    @Magnushamann 3 дня назад

    This is the kind of monster design I expect at high levels!
    I for one would welcome more of ths content! :)

  • @50layersofshrek83
    @50layersofshrek83 3 дня назад +1

    love your videos man, they are truly a joy to watch, and I mean that.

  • @kojopilgrim9550
    @kojopilgrim9550 3 дня назад

    Between this and the troll video, I am convinced a treantmonk monster book would be 400 pages of death

  • @Dmcdougall1019
    @Dmcdougall1019 День назад

    Happy Kraken Week! Great video!

  • @PearseNation
    @PearseNation 4 дня назад

    I live that you all are doing this! I hope we get more events like this!

  • @noamshavit
    @noamshavit 3 дня назад

    Love this "redesign monster" video concept. Would love for you to make more of those!

  • @Simon_Laserna
    @Simon_Laserna 3 дня назад

    What an awesome idea to create a themed week!! Love that you joined in the fun.

  • @higherqi13
    @higherqi13 3 дня назад +3

    A 4x4 token size for gargantuan creatures never made much sense to me. Our dm did gargantuan demon that was a 10×10 token size and that really brought the sense of the creatures size to life and changed battlefield tactics in a big way. It was very fun!

    • @aurtosebaelheim5942
      @aurtosebaelheim5942 3 дня назад +1

      The issues are firstly that people are really bad at judging size from a top-down perspective - if you saw the height of a 4x4 creature relative to your characters it seems much bigger. Using round tokens doesn't help either when it's used to visualise everything from oozes to snakes and giraffes - what does "Large" mean for any of them? Surely a snake should occupy more ground space than its equivalent mass in giraffe.
      Secondly, it's kind of unclear how big creatures are meant to be beyond their token size, this isn't 5e-specific, it's a legacy issue and the clearest example is the Pathfinder Blue Whale - the Blue Whale is Colossal, so has a 30x30ft. token, but also has 30ft. reach, its description mentions that they can reach lengths of up to 100ft. - clearly the whale isn't wholly contained in its 30x30ft. token. For a 5e example, the Tarrasque is Gargantuan, but is described as being "50ft. tall and 70ft. long" - clearly extending beyond its 20x20ft. space. Now a human is obviously smaller than a 5ft. square, the 5ft. is just their controlled area, but it's unclear how to interpolate the area between these extremes. Does a Gargantuan Demon take up a much larger area but only 'control' a 20ft. square or is it actually smaller and able to move to 'control' a larger area than itself? Who knows? At best we might get a height stat which is hard to visualise and translate to a top-down game board.

    • @TheHighestNoon
      @TheHighestNoon 3 дня назад

      @@aurtosebaelheim5942 In D&D 3.5 the book they released for dragons made it clear that the token size for an adult or greater dragon did not include neck and tail length. So a dragon that is 100ft from nose to tail tip is still only taking up a 35x35 token space.

    • @AtelierGod
      @AtelierGod 3 дня назад +1

      That’s because Gargantuan doesn’t have an upper limit to how big it can be, it’s just the biggest stated size by name.

    • @user-ni7ji3fb8m
      @user-ni7ji3fb8m День назад

      @@aurtosebaelheim5942 for some reason so many people just ignore "or larger" in Size Categories table. Gargantuan is from 4x4 to whatever you want it to be. Just bonus stacking like push or enlarge spell doesn't scale anymore. So Tarrasque is 70ft long aka 14*14 squares.

    • @aurtosebaelheim5942
      @aurtosebaelheim5942 День назад

      @@user-ni7ji3fb8m Except the issue continues with smaller size categories. A Remorhaz is Huge - a 15x15ft. token, but has 10ft. reach with a bite and length estimates range from 20-40ft. Adult Dragons are also Huge and have 10ft. reach bites and 15ft. reach tails. - assuming you get a free 5ft. of wiggle room to hit things outside your space, that still puts an Adult Dragon at twice the length of its space. But who knows for creatures that don't have attacks coming out of both ends, that's kind of the problem here, most creatures don't list a length so we're left to guess how much they extend beyond their space and how much of their space they even occupy.
      So the Tarrasque with its 10ft. bite and 20ft. tail is more realistically 10x10 spaces.
      As for the Kraken, no measurements are listed so we have to infer. Its tentacles look to be over half its length in the official art, I'll be generous and say they're exactly half. They have 30ft. reach, so taking off the 5ft. wiggle room, that gives us a 5x5 space token and a total length of 50ft. including tentacles.

  • @jay_caspian2050
    @jay_caspian2050 3 дня назад

    What an awesome video. I especially like the idea of legendary actions being tied to the tentacles. Awesome idea!

  • @jakewarman7277
    @jakewarman7277 2 дня назад

    I used a similar system for my first homebrewed boss monster. I used a moderately powerful undead upped its hit points and had three cultists summoning it. With each cultist dying it lost a legendary action, took them three rounds of wailing on the boss to realize this, and it was almost a tpk.

  • @chiepah2
    @chiepah2 3 дня назад

    That looks great! I might homebrew a creature for my party based on these mechanics. I especially like the minion/not minion nature of the tentacles, I picture the Wizard casting fireball and the Kraken just smacking it mid air losing the tentacle but also preventing the area damage, at least, that's how I'd flavor the interposing of the tentacle to prevent the damage. I imagine it would feel sort of like the fight at the end of Big Hero 6, epic.

  • @xenonuke1194
    @xenonuke1194 3 дня назад

    This is fantastic, I'm currently running a greek themed campaign. Players will only be hitting level 5 next session, but this is going in my future monsters folder

  • @Enginskywalks
    @Enginskywalks 2 дня назад +1

    I hope we get more named Kraken statblocks. I feel like when we go back to Greyhawk we should get more on Tirbitus.

  • @CJWproductions
    @CJWproductions 3 дня назад

    That's magic for ya! Trivializing deadly encounters since the game's inception.

  • @seankennedy4548
    @seankennedy4548 3 дня назад

    Really like these changes. Great job!

  • @TheGuyWithZeHair
    @TheGuyWithZeHair 3 дня назад

    I absolutely loved this video and I'd love to see you tackle other creatures of similar challenge rating in a similar manner!

  • @brianschneider1961
    @brianschneider1961 4 дня назад

    Great video. Happy Kraken week!

  • @pacattack2586
    @pacattack2586 4 дня назад +2

    I'm too early - I read this as Karen week, improving the karen in D&D 5e.

  • @andyenglish4303
    @andyenglish4303 3 дня назад

    this seems like a great final boss for a paragon tier campaign.

  • @mikegilkey
    @mikegilkey 3 дня назад

    Your kraken is amazing!!! Awesome work

  • @BenjaminSmith-xw8em
    @BenjaminSmith-xw8em 3 дня назад

    Very cool! I don’t think I’ve seen a Treeantmonk video on a monster stat block before. The new thumbnail style is good too

  • @backonlazer791
    @backonlazer791 3 дня назад +1

    I once pitted a Kraken against my, I believe at the time, level 15 party. They weren't prepared for underwater combat so naturally they smoked the Kraken in three rounds 😂

  • @Arcahnslight
    @Arcahnslight 3 дня назад

    Great job, Chris!

  • @synmad3638
    @synmad3638 3 дня назад

    This was a fun format, I hope you make more design videos in the future

  • @floofzykitty5072
    @floofzykitty5072 3 дня назад

    Really love the "sacrifice something for Legendary Resistance". I have been using that in all my boss creatures in some way and it's much more satisfying for players who try to cast save or suck spells that mostly just suck vs LR.

  • @Balcamion79
    @Balcamion79 2 дня назад

    Love this! Btw, I think the idea of 1d6 damage per 10 ft mived by fling indicates how hard it was thrown rather than speeding up.

  • @robertmccutcheon3174
    @robertmccutcheon3174 3 дня назад

    I always like your videos but this one was exceptional. Instead of analyzing others’ designs, you flexed your muscles and intimidated the heck out of players everywhere.

  • @b0baf00t8
    @b0baf00t8 3 дня назад

    I've never run a kraken before because of some of the issues you pointed out. I will absolutely run this version. Nice work

  • @mikecarson7769
    @mikecarson7769 3 дня назад

    nice creative work with the tentacles!

  • @plainwelltoad
    @plainwelltoad 3 дня назад +1

    LOVE THIS. Although I'm not sure the Reverse Gravity would play out that way--wouldn't the water and your own ship also "fall" up to the top of the spell's area? I guess that assumes the party are only spotting the thing when the tentacles rise up out of the water all around their boat. (ie: I guess if you spotted it somehow off to the side of the ship before it attacked, you could use it in the way you described.)
    That notwithstanding, I love the changes you made!!

  • @liaminal4934
    @liaminal4934 3 дня назад

    I love the solution to the necessary evil of legendary resistance. Such an unfun mechanic that I feel bad for using (and also for not using) as a dm. Great fix that empowers players while still ensuring the fight goes on!

  • @chazzerine7650
    @chazzerine7650 4 часа назад

    One problem i have with 8 legendary actions is that it's likely to not get to use all of them if there aren't 8 or more individual initiative rolls. As such, I'd allow it to use 2 at a time instead of one.
    Or i suppose it'll just use all its actions on lightning strike.

  • @ElJefeRules
    @ElJefeRules 3 дня назад

    Love your DM focused videos.

  • @asgardga0
    @asgardga0 3 дня назад +4

    Why wouldn't the kraken's lair action try push everyone off the ship into the stormy water? If the wizard and 1-2 other players get flung off, this battle starts of very, very different.

  • @leorblumenthal5239
    @leorblumenthal5239 2 дня назад

    The tactics of the Kraken matter. First, in the surprise round, the Kraken should attack the boat the PCs are on. If the Kraken does enough damage to sink or capsize the ship, it then attacks the PCs who are trying not to drown. The Kraken should have Sahaugin minions, and reef sharks should be drawn to the combat. Then, and only then, does the Kraken electrocute its opponents, who are busy making Strength (Athletics) checks not to drown and need to make Concentration saving throws due to rough water if they want to try using Reverse Gravity.

  • @patryklesnau4388
    @patryklesnau4388 3 дня назад +1

    Soooo sweeeet work! 🎉

  • @CitanulsPumpkin
    @CitanulsPumpkin 2 дня назад

    I have a few fixes for "kraken" fights.
    1. Just use Tromokratis in Theros. MM krakens are "lesser" krakens, some of which travel in schools of 3 to 6.
    2. Use the kaiju rules D&D Shorts made for Ryoko's. Makes the save or die spells a non issue.
    3. Every round, the kraken spawns 3d6 fathomless warlock tentacles using minion rules. The MCDM minion rules rule that it takes a hit with something that has an attack roll to kill minions, but they go down in one hit.
    4. Use the water elemental summoning listed as a regional effect and the kraken cultists in Volo's.
    Hell, why is a creature as smart and "powerful" as the kraken attacking on its own? Give it minions. Its wake spawns water elementals. It has worshippers. Take the water elemental evil cultists in princes of the apocalypse, all the Simic coded stat blocks in the back of Ravnica and the kraken priest in Volo's.
    Or make a mirror party of bad guys who have the same classes as the party, but every dipped at least two levels into fathomless warlock.
    There's more than enough in 5e to make the kraken the campaign big bad. Not an after thought you pull out because the campaign is effectively over.

  • @foldionepapyrus3441
    @foldionepapyrus3441 4 дня назад +1

    For me to keep the Kraken flavour yet make more sense I'd not have the being thrown hurt you at all (unless you hit something in which case use falling damage rules. Instead as you are wrapped in the stinging tentacle pass a con save or be paralysed for a round, on success you move speed is halved - you are now in the water and probably being left behind by your ride. No save to avoid being thrown IMO unless your size is large or up - it is just too big for anything smaller to resist so it just has to catch you - Much more terrifying, and it can force any thrown player to spend resources to get back into range, might even take them out of the fight for a round as they have to chose between long range or dashing to get close etc.

  • @chrisg8989
    @chrisg8989 3 дня назад +1

    You should really make a monster book Treant Monk. You know what you're doing. Maybe for DC20? 😁👍

  • @foldionepapyrus3441
    @foldionepapyrus3441 4 дня назад +2

    Interesting take - though I don't actually think the Kraken stock is a bad as you suggest (though clearly it needs a minimum some legendary resistances or stat bump to actually make a few saving throw). However its not as bad as you suggest IMO as the big threat to ocean combat is being hurled overboard or your boat being sunk - you can kill the magically held aloft Kraken, but does your party then drown as the boat burns and sinks etc? Which isn't all that hard to think happens as 99% of players never have the ability to know about the stuff under the surface - so the boat takes a massive hit or two before the player even manage to identify the Kracken is quite likely.

  • @nikcantsnipe
    @nikcantsnipe 4 дня назад +3

    Call of the deep! I've personally always wanted to redesign the Kraken. Thanks for this. I've always liked water themed one shots and campaigns, in fact, I'm playing one next month. We were considering doing a 20th level one shot and then this drops. Between you, Colby, Pack and Pointy Hat, I'd consider myself very inspired. Happy Kraken week to you! 🦑

  • @clmdcc
    @clmdcc 2 дня назад

    I like this version of an epic creature.

  • @GunnarWahl
    @GunnarWahl 4 дня назад +1

    I'm going to pull this out for my level 8 party, don't worry, i'll just make it so they have to defeat just 1 or 2 tentacles, or however many feels right to make them sweat. >=3

  • @pederw4900
    @pederw4900 4 дня назад

    This seems really fun!

  • @tscoff
    @tscoff 4 дня назад

    This is really creative. I love it!!

  • @kurtoogle4576
    @kurtoogle4576 3 дня назад

    I'm going to use this on my 4th level party as an example of what is out there. ;)

  • @kylanshireman2875
    @kylanshireman2875 3 дня назад

    More Kraken week! Let’s goooo!

  • @mezcla191
    @mezcla191 3 дня назад

    Damn talking about a major overhaul. Wouldn't want to meet that thing in the water, (yes, I wanna fight it).

  • @jonathanhaynes9914
    @jonathanhaynes9914 2 дня назад

    Thanks Chris

  • @shawnyoung8858
    @shawnyoung8858 3 дня назад

    My players are trying to rescue Hekaton from Storm King’s Thunder this Friday. Perfect for me to showcase this massively improved stat block for the Kraken.

  • @JoshMacLeod
    @JoshMacLeod 3 дня назад

    One thing I did to boost the Kraken slightly was use its history of servitude to gods and give it resistance to divine magic along along with regeneration in water that didn't apply to the tentacles, just the Kraken proper. Each tentacle has a variable amount of HP and once 5 of 10 were lost it would retreat for the moment.
    The party made a deal with it to ensure it wouldn't come after them and their ship again, all got kraken tattoos and sang its praises in ports and cities.

  • @whynaut1
    @whynaut1 3 дня назад

    You seriously need to write your own dnd supplement book. I don't care if it is a bestiary, homebrew subclass, or adventure module. We KNOW it will be interesting and balanced (and I will buy 3)

  • @mathguydave3699
    @mathguydave3699 3 дня назад

    Going to run this Kraken next week

  • @johnhunter4946
    @johnhunter4946 3 дня назад

    Amazing job

  • @chrisg8989
    @chrisg8989 3 дня назад

    Well done. 👏

  • @alexanderwizardjar9540
    @alexanderwizardjar9540 3 дня назад

    i'd love to watch you running this fight, or be a player fighting it!

  • @michaelmuirhead910
    @michaelmuirhead910 4 дня назад

    Never played a water based campaign, or even a one shot.
    I think it would be fun. Just finished the Vecna Eve of Ruin book. Seeing how weak the Kracken is in the Monster Manual is just sad.
    Epic monsters and Villains should be this updated kind of badass.
    Nice job making this thing scary as hell!

  • @remarkablerocketlaunches2260
    @remarkablerocketlaunches2260 2 дня назад

    This kind of monster redesign is what I want to see in the new Monster Manual. Have you considered selling a pdf on Dungeon Master's Guild with creative redesigns such as this?

  • @alejandrocorres9835
    @alejandrocorres9835 2 дня назад

    Hey Chris, big fan here. Is there a text based statblock to import automatically into foundry? Thanks!

  • @bartstibflisague2090
    @bartstibflisague2090 3 дня назад

    Looking through the official books, there is another Kraken NPC statblock in Storm Kings Thunder who does have legendary resistances and the ability to cast some spells like Feeblemind, Power Word Kill, Foresight, Fly, and Teleport to help with some issues the base Kraken has. That being said it still has most of the the weird traits and problems of the base Kraken, still doesn't have skills despite being a champion of a goddess and with them being a specific NPC they have trouble fitting into most campaigns.
    That being said, your version of the Kraken is pretty cool and is much more fun sounding to use than the ones in the official statblocks.

  • @SetArk
    @SetArk 4 дня назад

    Now. THIS IS A KRAKEN!
    NICE!

  • @spencershephard624
    @spencershephard624 3 дня назад

    "This creature needs no minions"
    Yeah, because it comes with a bunch of minions that are effectively immune to CC and AoE attacks.
    Me personally? I'd feel like shit if I had a weakened tentacle lined up for the kill on my initiative, and then the kraken sac'd it for a save.

  • @LuizCesarFariaLC
    @LuizCesarFariaLC 3 дня назад

    I really doubt that the designers at D$D can deliver this level of mayhem with the new DMG

  • @jean-christopherouleau1626
    @jean-christopherouleau1626 3 дня назад

    You should 100% run this with Colby form D4 and the Dungeon Dudes as a one shot

  • @101Fisan
    @101Fisan 3 дня назад

    Love the changes to this! Any chance this will be made public on dndbeyond's homebrew collection?

  • @michaelc9056
    @michaelc9056 3 дня назад +1

    Man, and JUST when I decided to make the Warlock in my party's patron a Kraken 😈
    Hey Chris, I'm NOT trying to get you to break NDA here or anything, but I was curious if this was maybe with....let's call it "next edition thinking" in mind as well? I guess since you don't have the new Monster Manual you might not be able to say, but I feel like you would have taken the time to ensure that this will be fun and compatible with any new rules/conditions/etc changes coming ahead?

    • @TreantmonksTemple
      @TreantmonksTemple  3 дня назад

      Yeah, I haven't seen the new MM either so there's no way for me to design this with the new MM in mind, though I don't expect any kinds of changes that would make this not work