I see carrion crawlers hunting in a manner similar to predatory caterpillars from Hawaii. The crawler would hang from the ceiling camouflaged as a pillar or stalagmites or stalactites. When an oblivious passerby moves pass, they strike grabbing with their tentacles and injecting them with their paralytic venom
5:10 I learned Jelly venom potency can vary greatly depending on the species during my time as a commercial fisherman, with some feeling like a pepper burn to some feeling like a white hot coal fell on your hand, though most species stingers are to small to puncture human skin and deliver venom. These are usually the clear short tentacled jelly fish, but not always. However almost all species that can puncture human skin will reactivate when reintroduced to water, especially saltwater. The stingers potency can last for a surprising amount of time, with even overlooked dried pieces on clothing mainly hats being re-moistened by rain or sweat is enough to start the stings again days even weeks later. The stingers can be removed or neutralized with certain chemicals some say vinegar, but in my experience wiping off and letting it dry is really all the same, especially if you are going to be re-jellied soon. I think that adding intensity or reigniting pain or damage when the affected area stung by the crawler touches blood or viscera if within a certain time frame, or a party member leaving the tentacle remnants on their person to deactivate.
Seriously with running modules it’s always good to come across a new monsters and be able to go directly to your channel and get some help. I just want to say thank you so much for taking a lot of time out of many days to go through out the whole monster manual and do detailed reviews on them. By the way I’m running a water deep campaign for my twin brothers so this really helps. Plus one of my brothers are new to DnD while the other along with myself are pretty experience
The good old days of Save or Die roleplay. Nothing brings out the paranoia better. 5e is a cake walk by comparison. Paralysis was even more of a threat back then.
In my campaigns, I do something similar. I have a trope of a mad alteration wizard who specializes in making larger monsters. The giant Carrion Crawler makes giants in the know avoid them. Your version would probably eat mine for lunch.
@@That80sGuy1972 What's funny is that, at the intended Challenge Rating, high level parties can beat the big bad crawler easily since it can't fly or contend with powerful spells. But it would turn a melee character into a pink mist, sure enough. XD
@@johngleeman8347 Arrogant (confident) high-level players follow such monsters into their home territories... like their favored underground turf. Like "I cast (or use or simply do) fly" then I say "Fine, action used... no advantage gained in this enclosed environment." Realization and curses ensue.
Love your stuff AJ...One of my first battles in the early days of D&D was this and I still remember it we barely survived... It kicked our butts and ate our fighter lol...A hard earned victory...We always played more than one character in those days so we had a few to spare...
Yeah, in early D&D that was far more common, I am not sure when it became sort of a taboo to run multiple characters.. I never found that it detracted from the experience at all.
I remember that the original D&D red box edition had a solo adventure "demo" included and I thin the first monster you encounter is a carrion crawler. It might've been a rust monster though. Yeah. I could see a medium level adventure clearing out a nest of these things, with a giant "queen crawler" protecting her eggs in a nest deep under a city sewer system.
In my recent session I am playing a Half-Elf Sorcerer and my group are all stuck in a prison, two sources of food for the place are Stymphalian birds (Giant Macaws with Adamantine Feathers) and Carrion Crawler. My character is almost always on kitchen duty, so I had to help a fellow inmate subdue that days Crawler. I approached the thing in it's pen my fellow hunter at the entrance ready to shut the door so the other things can't get out, I roll a Animal Handling check after getting the thing to notice me. Cue Nat 20 and my character playing with the thing like it's a puppy, tickling it where a chin would be and luring it out. The Wood Elf who was with me a NPC and the one holding the door just stares in disbelief as I get this massive worm to follow me with the promise of more tickling, he slams the gate as we leave and attacks, the creature is now after him so I try to get it to target me. I smack the thing on a lump and it fails to notice me, next round after dodging the other crawlers who are now at the fence most likely thinking "Fresh meat, fresh meat!" I pop it in the exact same lump so no damage again but this time it notices me and I say to it "I never really was on your side." A few turns later we have downed the thing, I fumble a strength check on how well I can help carry the thing back to the kitchen but the head of the kitchen pats me on the back and says that I proved myself a man. This after getting one of those Adamantine feathers from the above mentioned birds stuck in my knee my first day while screaming "It's in the bone, it's in the bone!" till I pulled it out. Yeah I go from pansy halfling to respected fighter in a week not bad for a first ever play of a DnD campaign.
Its videos like this that make me think. That Goblin Slayer was made by old school D&D players. Oh gods why......nature you are scary! I'm scared of the ocean for a reason, and this is one of them.
An intresting fact about carrion crawlers is that their larvae can be used for cerebomorphosis like illithid tadpoles are used. The result is a primitive, baboon-like, psionic humanoid called saltor, which are sometimes found in and around illithid cities as guards or menial workers. In this way, a carrion crawler is to saltor what a neothelid is to an illithid - a neotenic form that continues to grow as a larva instead of undergoing cerebomorphosis and becoming an "adult" creature.
15:17 I actually really like that depiction! It looks more like a velvet worm, which is not only the only exception to my fear of long, many-legged insects, but is one of my favorite animals.
Carrion Crawler Brain fluid is also a great thing to harvest from dead crawlers. Also, a 3rd party 3rd ed book actually has an evolved Crawler, the carrion moth. Give the carrion crawler wings and its even more deadly.
I think Carrion Crawler where the first monsters I used in my first encounter first time I GMd. I made it an easy encounter, but boy did they teach the party to be cautious of combat.
These are a lot of people's first favorite/dreaded monsters. Didn't know the "Far Realm" connection - thought like Gelatonous Cube were some crazy wizard in the far past doing experiments.
Aj my friend You have an amazing way of translating the best parts of a monsters characteristics Challenging me Too think more like the monster. Think like the beasties . Unbeknownst to my players After listening to you All my story’s are more scary real , challenging and intriguing. Keep up the good influence I enjoy your videos thank you
I had this idea to use with a Carrion Crawler where they ate a hand of a guy wearing a ring of water walking. Now the creature can walk on water, and I gave an explanation to why monsters have loot inside of them.
@@AJPickett , do not mistake the concept. A Carrion Crawler with 19 Intelligence is not a smart monster, it is a genius monster that can easily overcome the players and make strange traps with whatever it has laying around.
Or steals rare and fantastic components, constructing a spelljamming vessel in extensive burrows beneath the city, with mind-controlled purple worms and umber hulks as it's pack beasts, guards and workforce.
I ran a 3 5 game where the party was in a slick sewer that required balance checks to move at full speed. The party split up and one of them ran into the carian crawler, the others were forced to haul ass back to save him leading to the cleric almost drowning in sewer water. They were lvl 5.
A game I'm running is in the upper Underdark at the moment, so they are totally going to encounter some Carrion Crawlers. Of course they will be mounted by Svirfneblin holding sticks with rotten meat danglies to lead them around and the Crawlers will be wearing big doggy cones around their heads to protect the riders from tentacle slaps. These are definitely players who will need to try this themselves, and the attempts will surely prove entertaining.
@@AJPickett could you spare me a shout out in your content? :^D My work is far from canon, but as of 2019 I have 50 or so monsters that I have added to the hobby.
I love using these monsters as a single monster encounter for a low-level mission, especially as an opener (or borderline opener) to a mission. After the bout, the players go from haughty to cautious and take the mission a bit more serious. Also, on a lark, I had a high-level party encounter a dozen of them. It was the scene of a huge battle, piles of bodies everywhere. The party of 5 was nearly exterminated. The party of 5 high-level characters. I repeat, high-level characters. If the rogue did not have a Ring of Free action, it would have been a party extermination. Through running and clever darts-snatches, he saved the party. We all suddenly remembered the "oh crap, that's powerful" effect of paralysis. The same party easily killed my home-brew mega-size Carrion Crawler. It turns out, having the party need to make an unGodly level of saves vs. paralysis is almost a nuke bomb against them.
Well Dungeons and Dragons worlds have to be far future worlds - think their original inspiration 'Jack Vance - The Dying Earth' - the Magic is degenerate ultratech per A.C. Clarke's rules - the monsters are results of genetic experiments - the world covered in layers of dungeons is the result of at least one hundred eras of civilizations rising and falling versus a dozen or less with several major ones. So Carrion Crawlers, Gelatanous Cubes and the "Chinasaurs" are indeed stuff that some idle techno mage might make 100K years from now then let them roam his estate or dungeons - then he dies or suicides after 100K years of life - and his beasties run around willy-nilly.
@@tomkerruish2982 Sorry - consider Monte Cook a negative influence on D&D and RPG gaming in general. The "Consent in Gaming" contract that is Mazes and Monsters bait - and opening and nailing open the door for the "Tourists" wrecking it now. Too bad because he wrote awesome stuff over the years but I'd not use it as toilet paper. One Man's Opinion.
Kind of a cool take on how many cephalopods actually reproduce, however I would bet good money a decidedly not safe for work joke or two was made when that idea was presented.
@@AJPickett cleric natural oned. It was at that moment I realized I killed everyone. Gave the players extra exp. On the condition they had to endure the doomed encounter to its conclusion. And I have to say. The soundtrack that came on was titled feeding time.
Perhaps an ancient wizard bred the CC to devour undead, then, like happens with some cordyceps sp., the CC filled with undead is controlled by some arcane program to deliver them to a.n urban area. Necromancer sappers.
Joe White I hear so many people today talk about Bards. As a kid our DM just killed them off almost immediately on general principle he said due to their annoyance.
Oh god, I remember reading about these things in the novel Canticle by RA Salvatore, it was a little passage but it was so disgusting probably more so than any other evil things in that particular novel. I wish there were only novels that include nice positive creatures lol aside from the book of exalted deeds i dont really know any other positive happy one xD.
"One might trample the fire" Okay, I know that they are not intelligent, but it is hard-wired for every animal to fear fire. I know that there are a lot of creatures in D&D that are immune to fire, so in those cases it would make sense for that to happen, but carrion crawlers dont have that. I dont know, kinda breaks immersion.
A female carrion crawler who is pregnant and needs to lay those eggs is hyper aggressive when it comes to charging at prey and will go right through a campfire.. they really are that stupid.
It could also be more of an instinctual thing than an intellectual one. Rhino’s stomp out fires not because it knows that fire will kill it, but because fire burns the grass, which is the rhino’s food source. A carrion crawler might have an instinct to snuff out fires not because it’s a tactical advantage, but because firelight makes the crawlers eye hurt. Animals sometimes do really smart things for really dumb reasons.
So they could be... From the FUTURE?!... though to be honest that kind of makes sense and that thought kept coming back to me as you kept on explaining their features, definitely has a bit of that Cthulian feel.
The first monster i ever fought was actually the other members of our party... we started as prisoners used in a gladiator fight. that was how we all met and then the DM had aslave riot give us a chane to break free. So i guess my Gnome Wizard fought the High Elf Paladin First. he first real npc monster though would be a dwarf guard. The First monster i used as DM was Gnolls. so they are probably my favorite early reoccuring monster to use. 18 years later.
@@AJPickett Its a bit inaccurate to refer to a eurypterid as a sea scorpion. Case in point: There is a species of eurypterid that looked like a giant man-sized horseshoe crab that lived entirely on land (I dont remember what its name is)
@@AJPickett Though I do remember that it was alive during the carboniferus (AKA that time that whatever creator deiti who may or may not exist fell asleep on the "More oxygen" button)
I saw in a documentary that after someone is stung by a jellyfish they commonly pour vinegar on the tentacles that may have or have broke off or are still attached to the leg some of the harpoons don't fire right away and the vinegar is used to "disable" the remaining harpoons from going off during removal
@@chancesherman4285 I just know to stay the hell away from them, and when going after a crayfish down a crevice, do not press your face against a sponge on the rock to get a better reach down the hole...
You could do a game were all the insect creatures are forced above ground by a more powerful creature, humanoid, demon ,evil underdark druid!and make it a long campaign were you fight all the creepy crawlys of the deep! Im talking all of them attercaps, carrion crawler, rust monsters, gaint spiders, flial snails, glow beetles, you name it they gotta fight it maybe dwarves help out. could be a ridiculous ruckus of creepy creature mayham!
One criticism I have (I have this for a lot of youtubers, even, no, especially good ones like you) is that you tell your audience to like and subscribe. If they liked the video, they will like it. If they want to see more, they will subscribe. You dont have to tell them to do so. Still love the content :)
I always gag when I see concept art for them. I have a crippling fear of any kind of arthropods, *ESPECIALLY* long ones with a lot of legs (centipedes, millipedes, maggots, worms, etc.)
One of my very first campaigns included a carrion crawler, this was about 1982, it was also my first character death... ... ... Odd, I have played at least fifty or sixty characters in my life and I always remember THAT character's description and every excruciating detail of the death of that character.
@@purplehaze2358 HAHAHAHA!!! Indeed and I still have my original manuals, campaigns and even some of my Chainmail manuals as well as a copy of "Little Wars" I inherited from my brother, if you want a great read and precursor to all the D&D madness, pick up a copy, the author was H. G. Wells... Yeah, worth the effort... LoL
What if an adventurer stumbles upon some of those spermataphores?, would they be able to take them to an alchemist and be made into some kind of tonic or elixir if they have any alchemical qualities?
I wonder, how difficult would it be to make one of these a mount? (Hmm, now that brings to mind if they can get to be huge, so a larger PC can use them as a mount.)
"Make sure to have a contingency plan if all the players get paralyzed." How 'bout "roll up new characters"? You're an adventurer, you willingly go into deadly situations, so if you're unlucky or foolish enough? You die. If the GM bails you out of your losses, your victories don't mean anything.
And sometimes you don't actually want a TPK on the first or second session because IT SUCKS and all the cool stuff you have planned just went down the toilet. The DM also gets to have fun. :) That being said, I prefer it when players make decisions that get their character killed, far more than just roll badly until their character dies.
@@AJPickett Them's the breaks, though. Getting into melee with more carrion crawlers than you have companions *is* a decision that might get your character killed, and your decisions matter.
@@citycrusher9308 I'm not sure what any of that has to do with what I'm saying, which is only this: if your character gets into a fight to the death, *they might die.* If you're attached to your character and want them to live? Good, then you should avoid engaging multiple carrion crawlers in melee. They only move 30. so unless they literally fall on your head, you can outrun them and use ranged attacks. The fact that it's very hard to die in 5e is all the more reason you should let deaths stick. You have more survivability than ever, so why should your GM have to bail you out?
@@citycrusher9308 You just said that "people get attached to their characters". I apologize for assuming you considered yourself a person, I guess? I am not objecting to the 5e rules. I am objecting to the GM being expected to grant the players plot armor. You have plenty of actual chances to live within the ruleset, the GM doesn't need to bend circumstance for you as well.
Maybe it'd be a high level spell that will make the mind feel like it's burning doing fire damage and making you have disadvantage on intelligence saves
BUGS! Kill em with fire! Drokk this! Nuke the entire site form orbit, it's the only way to be sure... Speaking of witch, is there something like magic nukes(artifacts, spells etc) in D&D?
Yes, there is an epic spell that allows the creation of a volcano, and one which creates a massive tidal wave that a wizard can uplift a tower with and surf across the land, blasting out lightning bolts at anything they don't like. And of course, meteor swarm.
So, I was in my apartment, right? I heard my close friend shout for me. He said that it was really important. I thought my friend was fucking dying or some shit, but when I cam to him, he just turned to me, and held out a vape. He said "Look at this new vape." Okay, so you know the hyper beast skin in CS: Go? Yeah, that, but its on a vape.
Dr Bright, I had to rescue all these comments from my spam folder because they got flagged as such by RUclips. Try to save them up for multiple parts of one comment and save me the time in future please my friend. :)
I see carrion crawlers hunting in a manner similar to predatory caterpillars from Hawaii. The crawler would hang from the ceiling camouflaged as a pillar or stalagmites or stalactites. When an oblivious passerby moves pass, they strike grabbing with their tentacles and injecting them with their paralytic venom
I see no reason why there couldn’t be variants that have different colorations.
THANK YOU!
The Crawler was the first monster I fought as a player too, and yeah, it was as much a scary bugger for me as you describe it.
5:10 I learned Jelly venom potency can vary greatly depending on the species during my time as a commercial fisherman, with some feeling like a pepper burn to some feeling like a white hot coal fell on your hand, though most species stingers are to small to puncture human skin and deliver venom. These are usually the clear short tentacled jelly fish, but not always. However almost all species that can puncture human skin will reactivate when reintroduced to water, especially saltwater. The stingers potency can last for a surprising amount of time, with even overlooked dried pieces on clothing mainly hats being re-moistened by rain or sweat is enough to start the stings again days even weeks later. The stingers can be removed or neutralized with certain chemicals some say vinegar, but in my experience wiping off and letting it dry is really all the same, especially if you are going to be re-jellied soon. I think that adding intensity or reigniting pain or damage when the affected area stung by the crawler touches blood or viscera if within a certain time frame, or a party member leaving the tentacle remnants on their person to deactivate.
With the humidity of certain Underdark areas, those could basically reactivate at any moment.
Seriously with running modules it’s always good to come across a new monsters and be able to go directly to your channel and get some help. I just want to say thank you so much for taking a lot of time out of many days to go through out the whole monster manual and do detailed reviews on them. By the way I’m running a water deep campaign for my twin brothers so this really helps. Plus one of my brothers are new to DnD while the other along with myself are pretty experience
Greyhawk got a mention!!! take a drink
The good old days of Save or Die roleplay. Nothing brings out the paranoia better. 5e is a cake walk by comparison. Paralysis was even more of a threat back then.
One of my favorite custom monsters in 3rd edition was a colossal-sized Carrion Crawler with multiple heads. >:3
In my campaigns, I do something similar. I have a trope of a mad alteration wizard who specializes in making larger monsters. The giant Carrion Crawler makes giants in the know avoid them. Your version would probably eat mine for lunch.
@@That80sGuy1972 What's funny is that, at the intended Challenge Rating, high level parties can beat the big bad crawler easily since it can't fly or contend with powerful spells. But it would turn a melee character into a pink mist, sure enough. XD
@@johngleeman8347 Arrogant (confident) high-level players follow such monsters into their home territories... like their favored underground turf. Like "I cast (or use or simply do) fly" then I say "Fine, action used... no advantage gained in this enclosed environment." Realization and curses ensue.
Love your stuff AJ...One of my first battles in the early days of D&D was this and I still remember it we barely survived... It kicked our butts and ate our fighter lol...A hard earned victory...We always played more than one character in those days so we had a few to spare...
Yeah, in early D&D that was far more common, I am not sure when it became sort of a taboo to run multiple characters.. I never found that it detracted from the experience at all.
I remember that the original D&D red box edition had a solo adventure "demo" included and I thin the first monster you encounter is a carrion crawler. It might've been a rust monster though. Yeah. I could see a medium level adventure clearing out a nest of these things, with a giant "queen crawler" protecting her eggs in a nest deep under a city sewer system.
That's right!
In my recent session I am playing a Half-Elf Sorcerer and my group are all stuck in a prison, two sources of food for the place are Stymphalian birds (Giant Macaws with Adamantine Feathers) and Carrion Crawler. My character is almost always on kitchen duty, so I had to help a fellow inmate subdue that days Crawler. I approached the thing in it's pen my fellow hunter at the entrance ready to shut the door so the other things can't get out, I roll a Animal Handling check after getting the thing to notice me. Cue Nat 20 and my character playing with the thing like it's a puppy, tickling it where a chin would be and luring it out.
The Wood Elf who was with me a NPC and the one holding the door just stares in disbelief as I get this massive worm to follow me with the promise of more tickling, he slams the gate as we leave and attacks, the creature is now after him so I try to get it to target me. I smack the thing on a lump and it fails to notice me, next round after dodging the other crawlers who are now at the fence most likely thinking "Fresh meat, fresh meat!" I pop it in the exact same lump so no damage again but this time it notices me and I say to it "I never really was on your side."
A few turns later we have downed the thing, I fumble a strength check on how well I can help carry the thing back to the kitchen but the head of the kitchen pats me on the back and says that I proved myself a man. This after getting one of those Adamantine feathers from the above mentioned birds stuck in my knee my first day while screaming "It's in the bone, it's in the bone!" till I pulled it out. Yeah I go from pansy halfling to respected fighter in a week not bad for a first ever play of a DnD campaign.
Its videos like this that make me think. That Goblin Slayer was made by old school D&D players. Oh gods why......nature you are scary! I'm scared of the ocean for a reason, and this is one of them.
Well done as always AJ. Nice work!
Thanks Null!
An intresting fact about carrion crawlers is that their larvae can be used for cerebomorphosis like illithid tadpoles are used. The result is a primitive, baboon-like, psionic humanoid called saltor, which are sometimes found in and around illithid cities as guards or menial workers. In this way, a carrion crawler is to saltor what a neothelid is to an illithid - a neotenic form that continues to grow as a larva instead of undergoing cerebomorphosis and becoming an "adult" creature.
That is an interesting concept.
15:17 I actually really like that depiction! It looks more like a velvet worm, which is not only the only exception to my fear of long, many-legged insects, but is one of my favorite animals.
This made my boring day better thanks AJ
The cavern is silent with the subtle sounds of clicking.
Player on watch: It's probably some rocks falling.
Carrion Crawler: Omae wa mou shindeiru
LOL, meme win.
1:17, A bit too high level but I add Slaad to that list. I don't want to repeat the scene from alien.
15:15 ooooh, that looks like that one worm that shoots webs at passing moths! That would be a cool variant
absolutely, we know that they are aberrations and travel into all sorts of environments, so perhaps they do mutate into new and frightening forms.
i'm very old school, for me the Crawler will always be the gigantic maggot that roams undead infested locals :) great video though, very interesting .
Party of 5, Carrion Crawler in the beginning of the Mystemer adventure in the red box set, a few bad rolls equaled TPK.
lol, yep, anything with Paralysis at low level should be shot full of arrows from a decent range and then be soaked with oil and set on fire.
Carrion Crawler Brain fluid is also a great thing to harvest from dead crawlers. Also, a 3rd party 3rd ed book actually has an evolved Crawler, the carrion moth. Give the carrion crawler wings and its even more deadly.
This monster earned immediate nuke status like mind flayers among the player groups I was in.
Folklore says that peeing on your wounds neutralizes the sting from the carrion crawler's tentacles.
I think Carrion Crawler where the first monsters I used in my first encounter first time I GMd. I made it an easy encounter, but boy did they teach the party to be cautious of combat.
Yeah old school game was orders of magnitude harder than any edition past 2. Then it turned into WoW.
Yes another video I've been wondering bout these too
Having been stung by a Portuguese Man o'War, that info made me fear these so much more
Jellyfish stings are no joke folks. Also, the sea louse, a member of the Cnidaria family, is a tiny, flesh-eating terror.
hey my fav poison factory..love it man
These are a lot of people's first favorite/dreaded monsters.
Didn't know the "Far Realm" connection - thought like Gelatonous Cube were some crazy wizard in the far past doing experiments.
You know what else is called a Carrion Crawler? WOTC. You will have my money and interest way before them.
My favorite kinds of encounters are when there are multiple creatures who are fighting each other.
Aj my friend
You have an amazing way of translating the best parts of a monsters characteristics Challenging me Too think more like the monster. Think like the beasties .
Unbeknownst to my players
After listening to you
All my story’s are more scary real , challenging and intriguing.
Keep up the good influence I enjoy your videos thank you
good video AJ
I had this idea to use with a Carrion Crawler where they ate a hand of a guy wearing a ring of water walking. Now the creature can walk on water, and I gave an explanation to why monsters have loot inside of them.
Extended Idea: what would happen if a Carrion Crawler eats the head of a wizard wearing a headband of intellect?
@@abdullahalghanimi379 a smart carrion crawler? Now there is a terrifying thought.
@@AJPickett , do not mistake the concept. A Carrion Crawler with 19 Intelligence is not a smart monster, it is a genius monster that can easily overcome the players and make strange traps with whatever it has laying around.
I will not be surprised if the creature starts a crime or a thieves guild.
Or steals rare and fantastic components, constructing a spelljamming vessel in extensive burrows beneath the city, with mind-controlled purple worms and umber hulks as it's pack beasts, guards and workforce.
I ran a 3 5 game where the party was in a slick sewer that required balance checks to move at full speed. The party split up and one of them ran into the carian crawler, the others were forced to haul ass back to save him leading to the cleric almost drowning in sewer water. They were lvl 5.
Carrion crawlers love to infest flooded caverns where they and otyughs take advantage of eddys where drowned creatures bobb about...
Carrion Crawlers,if i had a nickel for every time ive encountered them id have alot of money in my pocket! Nice video A.J. thanks m8!
A game I'm running is in the upper Underdark at the moment, so they are totally going to encounter some Carrion Crawlers. Of course they will be mounted by Svirfneblin holding sticks with rotten meat danglies to lead them around and the Crawlers will be wearing big doggy cones around their heads to protect the riders from tentacle slaps. These are definitely players who will need to try this themselves, and the attempts will surely prove entertaining.
*stamps approval*
1) make Rot Grubs baby Carrion Crawlers
2) join both in an encounter
3) ???
4) Profit
Yeah no, you still get top billing as an evil DM JoaoG
personally the original art work is still my favorite
If I ever encountered a crawler I would harvest their venom to use for later fights. Maybe I could use it on a troll in the future.
Look up Hammunds Handbook. Gives you all kinds of cool things to harvest
Was there ever a compiled collection of the Ecology articles? As a fellow monster maker I would love to get my hands on a PDF of them.
Tell you what... once I complete all the vids for the core monster manual, I will see if I can compile a PDF of scripts.
@@AJPickett could you spare me a shout out in your content? :^D My work is far from canon, but as of 2019 I have 50 or so monsters that I have added to the hobby.
My players only know these as “cave bugs” and absolutely hate them. Nothing seems to irritate them like having to fight them.
I love using these monsters as a single monster encounter for a low-level mission, especially as an opener (or borderline opener) to a mission. After the bout, the players go from haughty to cautious and take the mission a bit more serious. Also, on a lark, I had a high-level party encounter a dozen of them. It was the scene of a huge battle, piles of bodies everywhere. The party of 5 was nearly exterminated. The party of 5 high-level characters. I repeat, high-level characters. If the rogue did not have a Ring of Free action, it would have been a party extermination. Through running and clever darts-snatches, he saved the party. We all suddenly remembered the "oh crap, that's powerful" effect of paralysis. The same party easily killed my home-brew mega-size Carrion Crawler. It turns out, having the party need to make an unGodly level of saves vs. paralysis is almost a nuke bomb against them.
Yeah man, groups of crawlers are far more dangerous.
Dude, my bro's running a campain with a druidic Black dragon, these would make PERFECT guard dogs for him, like big, murderous velvet worms.
Well Dungeons and Dragons worlds have to be far future worlds - think their original inspiration 'Jack Vance - The Dying Earth' - the Magic is degenerate ultratech per A.C. Clarke's rules - the monsters are results of genetic experiments - the world covered in layers of dungeons is the result of at least one hundred eras of civilizations rising and falling versus a dozen or less with several major ones.
So Carrion Crawlers, Gelatanous Cubes and the "Chinasaurs" are indeed stuff that some idle techno mage might make 100K years from now then let them roam his estate or dungeons - then he dies or suicides after 100K years of life - and his beasties run around willy-nilly.
Have you looked at Numenera?
@@tomkerruish2982 Sorry - consider Monte Cook a negative influence on D&D and RPG gaming in general. The "Consent in Gaming" contract that is Mazes and Monsters bait - and opening and nailing open the door for the "Tourists" wrecking it now. Too bad because he wrote awesome stuff over the years but I'd not use it as toilet paper. One Man's Opinion.
the velvet worm crawlr is suddenly my favorite
Kind of a cool take on how many cephalopods actually reproduce, however I would bet good money a decidedly not safe for work joke or two was made when that idea was presented.
I can use this for a series of bounty based side quests im planning that are centerd around harvesting monster parts.
Well this is nightmare fuel.
Oh, stick around, I'm just getting started!
Do not mix Ghouls and Carrions Crawlers. I TPKed the entire party on accident.
undead Carrion crawlers
Yeah, perfect example, thanks Zachary.
@@AJPickett cleric natural oned. It was at that moment I realized I killed everyone. Gave the players extra exp. On the condition they had to endure the doomed encounter to its conclusion. And I have to say. The soundtrack that came on was titled feeding time.
Troglodytes would fit well with CCs! give the LAIR the Ghoul's Stench ability.
Perhaps an ancient wizard bred the CC to devour undead, then, like happens with some cordyceps sp., the CC filled with undead is controlled by some arcane program to deliver them to a.n urban area. Necromancer sappers.
We fought one a few weeks ago..pretty interesting fight. Our bard did not think so..
Were they composing a new melody "Uncomfortably Numb"?
Joe White I hear so many people today talk about Bards. As a kid our DM just killed them off almost immediately on general principle he said due to their annoyance.
@@AJPickett never got to play a turn.
@@erikmartin4996 not the case for us. Play what you want just don't be disruptive.
The C is silent in cnidarian. Bonus points for now being much easier to say.
I thought it was pronounced like snih-dare-ian
@@gwynbleidd1917 nope. It's pronounced like nigh-dairy-an
I stand corrected, in my defence, I was taught to say it that way at Waikato University.
Oh god, I remember reading about these things in the novel Canticle by RA Salvatore, it was a little passage but it was so disgusting probably more so than any other evil things in that particular novel. I wish there were only novels that include nice positive creatures lol aside from the book of exalted deeds i dont really know any other positive happy one xD.
hmmm... the Clerics Quintet by R.A. Salvatore is fairly nice, aside from some skeletons.
I had a toy of one of thease it was bendable and green it was from 80s
That is where these first monsters came from.. cheap plastic toys.
My carrion crawlers all spit acidic bile, I think it’s just a natural feature for any large insectoid.
sometimes one just has to add insult to injury!
Why not shoot sticky sludge like the velvet worms they look like?
Dan Rice it actually is more of a gel, it sticks to creatures and deals 1d6 acid damage at the end of the turn unless they wash it off
I dont think i ever encountered this one! Until i saw 3e picture i didnt even knew it was a basic monster, and they even have lore!
"One might trample the fire"
Okay, I know that they are not intelligent, but it is hard-wired for every animal to fear fire. I know that there are a lot of creatures in D&D that are immune to fire, so in those cases it would make sense for that to happen, but carrion crawlers dont have that. I dont know, kinda breaks immersion.
A female carrion crawler who is pregnant and needs to lay those eggs is hyper aggressive when it comes to charging at prey and will go right through a campfire.. they really are that stupid.
It could also be more of an instinctual thing than an intellectual one. Rhino’s stomp out fires not because it knows that fire will kill it, but because fire burns the grass, which is the rhino’s food source. A carrion crawler might have an instinct to snuff out fires not because it’s a tactical advantage, but because firelight makes the crawlers eye hurt. Animals sometimes do really smart things for really dumb reasons.
@@Im-Not-a-Dog I legitimately did not know that.
hmmm mindflayer and carrion crawler. Mindflayers experiment on other species. The MINDCRAWLER!
imagining it hurts my soul.
but Carrion Neolithids is worse.
So they could be... From the FUTURE?!... though to be honest that kind of makes sense and that thought kept coming back to me as you kept on explaining their features, definitely has a bit of that Cthulian feel.
The first monster i ever fought was actually the other members of our party... we started as prisoners used in a gladiator fight. that was how we all met and then the DM had aslave riot give us a chane to break free. So i guess my Gnome Wizard fought the High Elf Paladin First. he first real npc monster though would be a dwarf guard.
The First monster i used as DM was Gnolls. so they are probably my favorite early reoccuring monster to use. 18 years later.
A couple of months ago, I found an article claiming that they were eurypterids.
Sea scorpions eh? No, they are much closer to a Sea Louse ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_louse )
@@AJPickett Its a bit inaccurate to refer to a eurypterid as a sea scorpion. Case in point: There is a species of eurypterid that looked like a giant man-sized horseshoe crab that lived entirely on land (I dont remember what its name is)
@@AJPickett Though I do remember that it was alive during the carboniferus (AKA that time that whatever creator deiti who may or may not exist fell asleep on the "More oxygen" button)
looking forward to the Coutal, Demilich and Half Dragon videos
Yes, Coatl next, though I may pop up a game session and a ramble about summoning very soon.
reading the comments here I realised I'm not as evil a DM I thought I were. thx for the horrid deas!
What if a person poured abunch of vinegar on it would it's stingers still fire? Cause vinegar keeps jellyfish stingers from fireing
Vinegar is used in the treatment of stings, not the prevention of them, as far as I am aware.
I saw in a documentary that after someone is stung by a jellyfish they commonly pour vinegar on the tentacles that may have or have broke off or are still attached to the leg some of the harpoons don't fire right away and the vinegar is used to "disable" the remaining harpoons from going off during removal
This information is afew years old I may have to do a research day on jellyfish soon
I mean the information I stated
@@chancesherman4285 I just know to stay the hell away from them, and when going after a crayfish down a crevice, do not press your face against a sponge on the rock to get a better reach down the hole...
So, cnidaria have cells that rupture when they hit things? Basically weaponized acne, if you ask me.
You could do a game were all the insect creatures are forced above ground by a more powerful creature, humanoid, demon ,evil underdark druid!and make it a long campaign were you fight all the creepy crawlys of the deep! Im talking all of them attercaps, carrion crawler, rust monsters, gaint spiders, flial snails, glow beetles, you name it they gotta fight it maybe dwarves help out. could be a ridiculous ruckus of creepy creature mayham!
One criticism I have (I have this for a lot of youtubers, even, no, especially good ones like you) is that you tell your audience to like and subscribe. If they liked the video, they will like it. If they want to see more, they will subscribe. You dont have to tell them to do so. Still love the content :)
Well, it was more of a thank you for subscribing.. but sure, I get you.
I got an idea to attach a piece of rotten meat to a stick, subdue a carion crawler and use it as a mount with the stick as a driving wheel.
Don't forget to put the cone of shame around the "neck" to keep those tentacles off you.
“He wears the cone of shame!”
I always gag when I see concept art for them. I have a crippling fear of any kind of arthropods, *ESPECIALLY* long ones with a lot of legs (centipedes, millipedes, maggots, worms, etc.)
I am creating a set of encounters that include carrion crawlers, rust monsters, gorgons, and a Galeb Duhr. Diz gunna be gud.
One of my very first campaigns included a carrion crawler, this was about 1982, it was also my first character death... ... ... Odd, I have played at least fifty or sixty characters in my life and I always remember THAT character's description and every excruciating detail of the death of that character.
Wow, being a 17 year old, I feel awed by the idea that someone was alive in 1982. Millennials, am I right?
I was born one year before D&D was published Dr Bright :D
Whipper snapper
@@purplehaze2358 HAHAHAHA!!! Indeed and I still have my original manuals, campaigns and even some of my Chainmail manuals as well as a copy of "Little Wars" I inherited from my brother, if you want a great read and precursor to all the D&D madness, pick up a copy, the author was H. G. Wells... Yeah, worth the effort... LoL
What if an adventurer stumbles upon some of those spermataphores?, would they be able to take them to an alchemist and be made into some kind of tonic or elixir if they have any alchemical qualities?
Good question
Can You Cover the Gnoll Rot Walkers and Gnoll Witherlings?
Your profile pic is deeply disturbing.,, because I know where it is from. :)
Thanks, Don't Hug me I'm scared is a deeply messed up animation.
Will these guys eat undead?
No, they don't eat the undead.
@@AJPickett pity that, would be a great way for the Harper's to mess over Thay.
@@coenistheman seems you could breed a version that eats undead
Why stop there, I'm dreaming up a carrion beholder that spawns undead a sort of obyrith cambion bastard beast.
*Relevant Comment*
I wonder, how difficult would it be to make one of these a mount?
(Hmm, now that brings to mind if they can get to be huge, so a larger PC can use them as a mount.)
@@LurkerDaBerzerker They can get to 10 feet long and they are strong enough to carry a rider, so sure, I can see it.
WHOA
Soo these are alot like predetory sea cucumbers.
yeah, a little bit, I mean, that is on the same sort of track.. but, they are alien critters really.
@@AJPickett well of course i just thought they reminded me of sea cucumbers, love your videos!
"Make sure to have a contingency plan if all the players get paralyzed."
How 'bout "roll up new characters"? You're an adventurer, you willingly go into deadly situations, so if you're unlucky or foolish enough? You die. If the GM bails you out of your losses, your victories don't mean anything.
And sometimes you don't actually want a TPK on the first or second session because IT SUCKS and all the cool stuff you have planned just went down the toilet. The DM also gets to have fun. :)
That being said, I prefer it when players make decisions that get their character killed, far more than just roll badly until their character dies.
@@AJPickett Them's the breaks, though.
Getting into melee with more carrion crawlers than you have companions *is* a decision that might get your character killed, and your decisions matter.
@@citycrusher9308 I'm not sure what any of that has to do with what I'm saying, which is only this: if your character gets into a fight to the death, *they might die.*
If you're attached to your character and want them to live? Good, then you should avoid engaging multiple carrion crawlers in melee. They only move 30. so unless they literally fall on your head, you can outrun them and use ranged attacks.
The fact that it's very hard to die in 5e is all the more reason you should let deaths stick. You have more survivability than ever, so why should your GM have to bail you out?
@@citycrusher9308 You just said that "people get attached to their characters". I apologize for assuming you considered yourself a person, I guess?
I am not objecting to the 5e rules. I am objecting to the GM being expected to grant the players plot armor. You have plenty of actual chances to live within the ruleset, the GM doesn't need to bend circumstance for you as well.
@@Leafy1-j1l That could also be interpreted as taking away the DM's agency in the game. May as well be playing a solo game of Tunnels and Trolls.
I'm going to use these with mind flares
Edit: mind flayers not mind flares
Mind flares... that gets the award for the most intriguing typo of the week... I wonder what a wondrous item called a mind flare would do?
@@AJPickett thanks for correcting me
Oh, no problem, I am not kidding, I have been pondering mind flares for hours now.
@@AJPickett lol
Maybe it'd be a high level spell that will make the mind feel like it's burning doing fire damage and making you have disadvantage on intelligence saves
BUGS! Kill em with fire! Drokk this! Nuke the entire site form orbit, it's the only way to be sure... Speaking of witch, is there something like magic nukes(artifacts, spells etc) in D&D?
Yes, there is an epic spell that allows the creation of a volcano, and one which creates a massive tidal wave that a wizard can uplift a tower with and surf across the land, blasting out lightning bolts at anything they don't like. And of course, meteor swarm.
@@AJPickett Do it...
@@AJPickett Also Hellball ( www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Hellball ) although it is slightly less powerful
So, I was in my apartment, right? I heard my close friend shout for me. He said that it was really important. I thought my friend was fucking dying or some shit, but when I cam to him, he just turned to me, and held out a vape. He said "Look at this new vape." Okay, so you know the hyper beast skin in CS: Go? Yeah, that, but its on a vape.
Dr Bright, I had to rescue all these comments from my spam folder because they got flagged as such by RUclips. Try to save them up for multiple parts of one comment and save me the time in future please my friend. :)
Just wanna point out. The C in Cnidaria and Cnidocite is a hard C. So basically knidaria/docite.
I blame Waikato University
yeah, for starting characters going cave diving, they're like the buggies b4 characters encounter things like dragons!😉👍
The c is silent =3
What?
silent C, like cNidorino. temperate anemones make great pets- if you cant tell by my profile pic..