I would LOVE a video with the most versatile monsters for reskinning. As you were talking about space clowns and giants with simple stat blocks, I'd love to see what your list of reskins for monsters would be.
Definitely not deliciously evil but I love the starlight apparition a lot. The art and the lore behind it is awesome. I think you could make a really cool encounter or even NPC using one, showing up to help guide the party through perils that led to their death. Very cool.
Neh-Thalggu are a reprint from Mystara and Basic D&D. One cool thing about their original version is that they are native to the dimension of nightmares. Which is not just another plane, it is an entire duplicate multiverse with its own prime material plane, it's own elemental chaos, etc. And the Neh-Thalggu are often scholars and researchers. They've been reprinted often, but I do like their original lore. This is a more fun statblock though.
The first thing i thought of with the clowns is a movie called Killer Klowns from Outer Space. A great watch if you want to run a great clown themed campaign
I absolutely love the Spelljammer bestiary. I plan on running a homebrew Ravenloft campaign, where the party is basically a group of occult detectives hired to investigate different cases throughout the many Domains of Dread. Maybe I could homebrew a Domain where (if the party agrees to take the case) they’re hired to search this “strange castle” that dropped from the sky, that’s actually a spaceship, obviously, and the party encounters some of these more horror-friendly Spelljammer creatures. Ooh! I’m excited!!!
The Cosmic Horror gives me the idea of using two of them as the tentacles of an even bigger 4-dimensional monster for a high-level parry to fight. The idea of getting snatched by one of these things and physically dragged through the planar boundary as you are "teleported" is really cool.
A lot of the monsters in the book were taken right out of the Dark Sun setting of a previous edition. The Neh-Thalggu I remember being part of The Dominion of the Black in Pathfinder and most of that came because Mind Flayers/Illithids were/are the copyright of WOTC. All that aside, the setting is left a bit bare bones, but I am one that likes to brew a lot so I don't mind that so much. I like the Clowns, inspiration was definitely Killer Clowns from Outer Space there
The space theme is WHY I love all these monsters! Things from the great beyond coming down into the Material is always a good time. From what I’ve seen Spelljamming has some basis in Dragonlance according to the books, so it’s fluid enough for my brain! If we can have Mindflayer aliens, Clown Aliens and Alien Giants are just fine in my book!
I think one of the best monsters I found was the Soulshaker. It fits well in a dead-space esque theme. But it works even better in a dungeon full of undead as a 'gate-guardian' mini-boss. It has an amazing grappling skill for 5e, and it can even use Geas 1/day, and at low levels, a combat focused character such as the ranger/fighter/rouge/wizard are not going to be able to pass that Charisma save DC. It turns what is naturally a 4 party encounter into a nightmare as it turns a situation from 4 down to 3 players vs the encounter. It can then make things worse as a 2 vs the encounter when it has such a good grappling skill that it can lock down one member and start draining their life to heal itself. So the party has to choose between knocking their friend unconscious, which could result in it then instantly going to try and kill their friend. Or, they try to kill it as soon as possible before the combined power of the Soulshaker + Geas Party Member strike them down. And that is all without back-up. It was super fun and made combat just stressful enough that when they finally beat it, they were highly satisfied with their lives on the line. Did I mention this thing is literally made from like a ton of crawling hands as well that when it dies, it splits into like 7+ and if even one manages to survive, it'll regenerate back into it's full monstrous form? Talk about an abomination.
Ran an Encounter with a Zodar against 3 level 7s (who had a TON of magical items and extra abilities - Other similar CR encounters were easy for them) and let me tell you its quite devastating. Lots of fun though. Best new monster.
I’ll be running House of Lament in October. Now I want to put a Jack-in-the-box in there, with multiple Space Clowns popping out for the players to fight. Also, “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”
My player's are right now wandering a vault of a lost civilization that has several wierd things in them. Now one of this things is the preserved corpse of a Zodark, probably with a description modified enough so they can link to a previous plot hook, and eventually will find a room of several dead Zodark. I want to see how paranoid they can get on those wishes.
I can really see the Knee-Falgu being a true threat. Using illusion magic and other nasty tricks (like minions) to lure unsuspecting victims. I could also see something like the movie Alien, where this thing is wrecking havoc on a lower level party.
I think the Vampirates are pretty cool. CR2 with a death burst and spider climb BUT they also have Energy Drain that if it reduces a PC to 0 instantly dies and becomes a shadow (another monster that can kill PCs very easily) under the DMs control. I think if you reskinned the silly out of these they would be super deadly juvenile vampires for an undead setting, a Domain of Dread, or Curse of Strahd
Wasn't overly excited when I read through spelljammer. However, the moment I flipped to that page, I knew space clowns were going to be in my campaign somehow.
As a person who has played Spelljammer in previous editions jist use normal ship to ship combat rules, there isn't enough difference to make any need for more rules, and nobody flies a spelljammer like an x-wing anyway so three dimensional movement isn't ever really a factor in use.
@@shanerasmussen5225 if I wanted to run regular ship combat I'd just run ship combat from saltmarsh nland not buy another book. You tell me I get a 3d battlefield I want to use it
I'm confused the spelljammer books just released, do have ship to ship combat with ship weapons, special equipment, move speed and initiative and even ships that can bash and grapple. Am I missing something?
@@DasCrooks Well I've seen endless complaints that "spelljammer 5e doesnt have ship combat rules" all over the place, even DnDshorts the channel that got the Hadozee errattad made the comment in a video. So I'd say you missed the people saying it, but thats better than being the people who missed the rules being there. That said, special rules are still not needed.
Zodar was sadly a wasted opportunity. Would be better if they had; time stop, reverse gravity, wall of force, stone shape, modify memory, Creation, and fabricate. (Mine will) The goal would be not to kill, but to make a strange and difficult opponent who is essentially a planar traveler.
Is it just me or the monsters on this book are WAY more dangerous than other monsters with the same CR? I mean, the Psurlon Ringer is a CR 1 monster with a 3d8+3 psychic damage attack and the other Psurlons are big hitters too. Maybe WotC is buffing the monsters to balance the buffs players will get in one D&D?
@@weepingwalnut Wow. How interesting, lol. But yeah, as someone that mostly mains spellcasters (because they are undoubtedly better than martials), I was hoping to get a few new spells to play with. Although obviously, martials deserve so much more love tbh. They could use a whole new book of optional rules and feats and weapons to make them closer to casters
The problem is that I'd actually have to spend money on what may be the worst product WotC has put out for 5e. There just isn't enough here to justify the price, even the Amazon price. I don't recommend anyone buy this so just maybe they won't try this blatant cash grab again.
It's actually pretty decent, don't let the RUclipsr talking heads turn you off it. A lot of them have to be inflammatory and hyperbolic for the clicks. There are some negatives for sure, but even if you aren't playing the setting, the races and monsters are worth picking up at the very least.
@@chaosblade5906 Depends on what you like. As a GM/player who likes classical toned down fantasy most of the weird and amorphous monsters are really not up my avenue. But I am even highly critical of the multiverse idea. Then again, perhaps I am not really the typical d&d player.
@@chaosblade5906 60 bucks for 6 races and a tiny MM?? I guess we have wildly different ideas on what qualifies as "worth it". And I don't watch "hyperbolic" youtubers. Thanks for the concern but I do know how to think for myself.
Ok here is an interesting conundrum. A Halfling is 3 Feet tall, a Longsword is 3 1/2 feet long. How can a Halfling wield a Longsword and not be hindered in some way?
Spelljammer is shit, and I’m not spending money on it. I will use those monsters, though. And I sincerely suggest everyone else to pirate WoTC products.
It's not unlucky on one save, it requires the player to be incapacitated first, so technically at least two saves if not more. It's just dangerous enough that players need to take it very seriously and not attempt to solo one.
@@palladin9479 the brain eating attack does not require a save, it just happens, so its still only one save. It does only eat the brain if the attack brings the creature to 0 hp, but the incap attack dus 2d8 damage and the brain eating attack 10d6. Have fun surviving that at lv4.
@@FieryKanata It can't do both at the same round. Again this is just dangerous enough that players need to take it seriously and not attempt to solo one.
Awesome recommendations sir. I elected not to buy the books just yet so I greatly appreciate this. The reference to Starship Troopers...🤌 ..so sick. Loved that movie. Definitely gonna implement 1-2 of these in my Rime of the Frostmaiden group. (What with all the other left-field shit that is already built into the book. Should sync in just fine LMAO) Thank you for your quality content.
I would LOVE a video with the most versatile monsters for reskinning. As you were talking about space clowns and giants with simple stat blocks, I'd love to see what your list of reskins for monsters would be.
"Space Clowns with Ray Guns" lol :) Great video!
Definitely not deliciously evil but I love the starlight apparition a lot. The art and the lore behind it is awesome. I think you could make a really cool encounter or even NPC using one, showing up to help guide the party through perils that led to their death. Very cool.
Neh-Thalggu are a reprint from Mystara and Basic D&D. One cool thing about their original version is that they are native to the dimension of nightmares. Which is not just another plane, it is an entire duplicate multiverse with its own prime material plane, it's own elemental chaos, etc. And the Neh-Thalggu are often scholars and researchers. They've been reprinted often, but I do like their original lore. This is a more fun statblock though.
I personally dislike the way Far Realm has been used as dumping ground for weirdo monsters since 3e or so. Just... makes them and the place boring.
I've got a thousand ideas for that Feyr, thanks for the share Cody!
The first thing i thought of with the clowns is a movie called Killer Klowns from Outer Space. A great watch if you want to run a great clown themed campaign
I absolutely love the Spelljammer bestiary. I plan on running a homebrew Ravenloft campaign, where the party is basically a group of occult detectives hired to investigate different cases throughout the many Domains of Dread. Maybe I could homebrew a Domain where (if the party agrees to take the case) they’re hired to search this “strange castle” that dropped from the sky, that’s actually a spaceship, obviously, and the party encounters some of these more horror-friendly Spelljammer creatures. Ooh! I’m excited!!!
Killer Klowns from Outer Space!!!
The Cosmic Horror gives me the idea of using two of them as the tentacles of an even bigger 4-dimensional monster for a high-level parry to fight. The idea of getting snatched by one of these things and physically dragged through the planar boundary as you are "teleported" is really cool.
A lot of the monsters in the book were taken right out of the Dark Sun setting of a previous edition. The Neh-Thalggu I remember being part of The Dominion of the Black in Pathfinder and most of that came because Mind Flayers/Illithids were/are the copyright of WOTC. All that aside, the setting is left a bit bare bones, but I am one that likes to brew a lot so I don't mind that so much. I like the Clowns, inspiration was definitely Killer Clowns from Outer Space there
Neh-Thalggu are actuall from Basic D&D published back in the '80s originally.
I honestly prefer Pathfinder art much more. Actually, you know, alien and not just an evil potato.
The space theme is WHY I love all these monsters! Things from the great beyond coming down into the Material is always a good time. From what I’ve seen Spelljamming has some basis in Dragonlance according to the books, so it’s fluid enough for my brain!
If we can have Mindflayer aliens, Clown Aliens and Alien Giants are just fine in my book!
I like the B’rohg, giants should be a tough fight.
The cosmic horror sounds cool too, maybe team them up with mindflayers
I think one of the best monsters I found was the Soulshaker. It fits well in a dead-space esque theme. But it works even better in a dungeon full of undead as a 'gate-guardian' mini-boss. It has an amazing grappling skill for 5e, and it can even use Geas 1/day, and at low levels, a combat focused character such as the ranger/fighter/rouge/wizard are not going to be able to pass that Charisma save DC. It turns what is naturally a 4 party encounter into a nightmare as it turns a situation from 4 down to 3 players vs the encounter. It can then make things worse as a 2 vs the encounter when it has such a good grappling skill that it can lock down one member and start draining their life to heal itself. So the party has to choose between knocking their friend unconscious, which could result in it then instantly going to try and kill their friend. Or, they try to kill it as soon as possible before the combined power of the Soulshaker + Geas Party Member strike them down.
And that is all without back-up. It was super fun and made combat just stressful enough that when they finally beat it, they were highly satisfied with their lives on the line.
Did I mention this thing is literally made from like a ton of crawling hands as well that when it dies, it splits into like 7+ and if even one manages to survive, it'll regenerate back into it's full monstrous form? Talk about an abomination.
The neh-thalgu has two mind flayer moves
Ran an Encounter with a Zodar against 3 level 7s (who had a TON of magical items and extra abilities - Other similar CR encounters were easy for them) and let me tell you its quite devastating. Lots of fun though. Best new monster.
I’ll be running House of Lament in October. Now I want to put a Jack-in-the-box in there, with multiple Space Clowns popping out for the players to fight.
Also, “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”
Killer Clowns from Outer Space, what an original concept.
True... But the stat block was very well executed.
My player's are right now wandering a vault of a lost civilization that has several wierd things in them.
Now one of this things is the preserved corpse of a Zodark, probably with a description modified enough so they can link to a previous plot hook, and eventually will find a room of several dead Zodark.
I want to see how paranoid they can get on those wishes.
Space Clown as the leader of a bunch of Rakdos low level minions. The perfect Tier 1 BBEG. 😂🤪
I can really see the Knee-Falgu being a true threat. Using illusion magic and other nasty tricks (like minions) to lure unsuspecting victims. I could also see something like the movie Alien, where this thing is wrecking havoc on a lower level party.
I think the Vampirates are pretty cool. CR2 with a death burst and spider climb BUT they also have Energy Drain that if it reduces a PC to 0 instantly dies and becomes a shadow (another monster that can kill PCs very easily) under the DMs control. I think if you reskinned the silly out of these they would be super deadly juvenile vampires for an undead setting, a Domain of Dread, or Curse of Strahd
Wasn't overly excited when I read through spelljammer. However, the moment I flipped to that page, I knew space clowns were going to be in my campaign somehow.
SPACE! CLOWNS!
I think I have a new favorite monster.
I'll definitely use the Nhe-Thalggu in a serial killer one shot!I can already see a Huge Mimic as a red herring when the carpenter disappears!
I have to sneak some evil space clowns into my nexst sesson.
9/10 doctors recommend it
Is this the spelljammer with no ship to ship combat? Glad the monsters turned out cool at least
As a person who has played Spelljammer in previous editions jist use normal ship to ship combat rules, there isn't enough difference to make any need for more rules, and nobody flies a spelljammer like an x-wing anyway so three dimensional movement isn't ever really a factor in use.
@@shanerasmussen5225 if I wanted to run regular ship combat I'd just run ship combat from saltmarsh nland not buy another book. You tell me I get a 3d battlefield I want to use it
I'm confused the spelljammer books just released, do have ship to ship combat with ship weapons, special equipment, move speed and initiative and even ships that can bash and grapple. Am I missing something?
@@rikusauske Sure sure, waste money on an unneeded item, nothing in wildspace leaves the ecliptic at any time so its a waste of money.
@@DasCrooks Well I've seen endless complaints that "spelljammer 5e doesnt have ship combat rules" all over the place, even DnDshorts the channel that got the Hadozee errattad made the comment in a video. So I'd say you missed the people saying it, but thats better than being the people who missed the rules being there. That said, special rules are still not needed.
Zodar giving off strong Mr Meeseeks vibes.
Neh-thalguu for sure has a cutesy, high-pitch voice
It is fairly ironic coming from the video from 'How to be a Great GM' and how he said he was never opening this book up again.
Lol your information is perfect for my teaching
The Menagerie is really pretty decent.
It is
Monsters YASS, the best part of the set
Is spelljammer a sci fi setting ?
If yes, isnt not better to just pick up Wrath and Glory and use the warhammer setting instead ?
My dm sent me a picture of the cosmic horror. We do an eldritch horror campaign, I'm scared
Zodar was sadly a wasted opportunity. Would be better if they had; time stop, reverse gravity, wall of force, stone shape, modify memory, Creation, and fabricate. (Mine will)
The goal would be not to kill, but to make a strange and difficult opponent who is essentially a planar traveler.
Ayo Cody be back
Is it just me or the monsters on this book are WAY more dangerous than other monsters with the same CR? I mean, the Psurlon Ringer is a CR 1 monster with a 3d8+3 psychic damage attack and the other Psurlons are big hitters too. Maybe WotC is buffing the monsters to balance the buffs players will get in one D&D?
We’re all just here for the exploding space clowns with ray guns 🤡 🦐
FUELLED BY MAGIIIIIIIIIIIIC
Spelljammer is not planescape.
It's not sci-fi either.
It's planetary romance; sword & planet with an early modern nautical twist.
It's called Spelljammer but didn't include any new SPELLS.
It had two, or really one considering one of them just makes a spell jamming helm.
Air Bubble, which creates an air bubble.
@@weepingwalnut Wow. How interesting, lol. But yeah, as someone that mostly mains spellcasters (because they are undoubtedly better than martials), I was hoping to get a few new spells to play with.
Although obviously, martials deserve so much more love tbh. They could use a whole new book of optional rules and feats and weapons to make them closer to casters
It's called spelljammer because spells is what fueled the ships. Past tense, now it costs nothing because reasons...
@@backcountry164 Yeah, I know, was just pointing out the amusing irony
funny how some tentacle thing like the cosmic horror has 24 charisma even though it's ugly af
Tentacles Can be very persuasive...
Zodar Behlits. Your welcome everyone
Oh my....
git that brain!
The problem is that I'd actually have to spend money on what may be the worst product WotC has put out for 5e. There just isn't enough here to justify the price, even the Amazon price.
I don't recommend anyone buy this so just maybe they won't try this blatant cash grab again.
It's actually pretty decent, don't let the RUclipsr talking heads turn you off it. A lot of them have to be inflammatory and hyperbolic for the clicks. There are some negatives for sure, but even if you aren't playing the setting, the races and monsters are worth picking up at the very least.
@@chaosblade5906 Depends on what you like. As a GM/player who likes classical toned down fantasy most of the weird and amorphous monsters are really not up my avenue. But I am even highly critical of the multiverse idea. Then again, perhaps I am not really the typical d&d player.
@@chaosblade5906 60 bucks for 6 races and a tiny MM?? I guess we have wildly different ideas on what qualifies as "worth it".
And I don't watch "hyperbolic" youtubers. Thanks for the concern but I do know how to think for myself.
Ok here is an interesting conundrum. A Halfling is 3 Feet tall, a Longsword is 3 1/2 feet long. How can a Halfling wield a Longsword and not be hindered in some way?
Spelljammer is not here in glory. This atempt at updating spelljammer sucks.
Spelljammer is shit, and I’m not spending money on it. I will use those monsters, though. And I sincerely suggest everyone else to pirate WoTC products.
Yarr Harr me maties
insta kill shit is shit.
four arm giant bad :(
I really hate creatures that can one-shot players just because they got unlucky on one save. So Neh-thalggu, what about No-Thankyou
It's not unlucky on one save, it requires the player to be incapacitated first, so technically at least two saves if not more. It's just dangerous enough that players need to take it very seriously and not attempt to solo one.
It only one-shots if they're unconscious. If they're unconscious, they've failed a lot more than "one save"
@@SilentFlatulence Incapacitated and its mindblast incaps you if you fail the dc14 wisdom save
@@palladin9479 the brain eating attack does not require a save, it just happens, so its still only one save. It does only eat the brain if the attack brings the creature to 0 hp, but the incap attack dus 2d8 damage and the brain eating attack 10d6. Have fun surviving that at lv4.
@@FieryKanata It can't do both at the same round. Again this is just dangerous enough that players need to take it seriously and not attempt to solo one.
I think it's a hate crime to call monsters evil now in D&D
Awesome recommendations sir. I elected not to buy the books just yet so I greatly appreciate this. The reference to Starship Troopers...🤌 ..so sick. Loved that movie. Definitely gonna implement 1-2 of these in my Rime of the Frostmaiden group. (What with all the other left-field shit that is already built into the book. Should sync in just fine LMAO) Thank you for your quality content.