One should know that long ago, even before Dark Sun, Spelljammer has said that Kreen are descendants of an ancient star-faring civilisation, predating even the illithids' arrival. You are onto something there!
For a more fleshed-out version of this race, read Thri-Kreen of Athas from the Dark Sun setting. It covers how their weapons are made, communication, trade, and much more that helps answer questions this video poses.
@@locknivar According to Athas.org: "Thri-Kreen first appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons game with the Monster Cards accessories in 1982. From there they were published in the Monster Manual II for AD&D 1st edition in 1983. Following that they were included in the Forgotten Realms setting in 1989. After they appeared in Dark Sun, Thri-Kreen have been heavily tied to psionics and were included in several Psionic related books for 3rd edition D&D". So, Thri-Kreen were once much less developed, with this video reflecting that underdevelopment. The issue for me is the lack of delineation between the two, all the Dark Sun art, and the use of the DS names 'gythka' and 'chatkcha' to describe the original 1E weapons. I also think the amazingly detailed Thri-Kreen of Athas book would be a better introduction to the race for general audiences.
The Thri-Kreen was a race that I at first was exited to learn more about after first seeing them, and then was disappointed right after reading their rather dull description. I do wish that they did have some sort of extra zest to them, thinking that their design and insect inspirations were cool. Glad to see that you made a video on them! Will maybe change them up a bit for my own campaign.
@@Alpha115-YT plus they are mentioned and characterized in a lot of the other books from that setting, but that book in the most detail. I have the pdf if anyone here wants it
I mean Thri-Kreen do have a culture and a reason for why they’re Psionic, they were created for the Dark Sun setting. But since the Monster Manual is generally Forgotten Realm centric or Setting Agnostic, a lot of the quirks are unexplained and kinda random, it’s like trying to explain a Kalashtar or Warforged outside of Eberron, you can do it, but it doesn’t come with the same degree of complexity when you look at their lore in their primary setting.
Warforged have happily started to get more treatment, but lot of dark sun/spelljammer goodness there still. I really liked the half-dwarf culture struggle stuff going on too, but found better homebrew stuff to play that out.
@@RalphGrella Uhhhhhh... Got a source for that? Pé Chói are almost nothing like thri-kreen, aside from being bug people. For a start, the Pé Chói are described as having finned heads and curled tails more like a sea horse. Then theres the fact the Pé Chói have pronounced sexual dimorphism where the Thri-kreen are routinely stated to be almost indistinguishable between the sexes to non Kreen. The Pé Chói are admired by humans for thier subtlty and control while Thri-kreen are feared as emotionless killers. I won't deny the Tékumel setting probably had some influence, but the Thri-kreen have their own identity and were created for D&D. Barker doesn't own the concept of humanoid bugfolk.
In all seriousness if you wanted to make the Thri-kreen a bit more interesting you could get a lot of mileage by looking at what other games do. I made a oneshot-thrikreen and based their persona and culture off the Hissho from endless space 2. The conversion from space-chicken-samurai to fantasy-bug-samurai was seamless
Or look at the lore they have in older D&D settings. They have been a player race in AD&D to 4e D&D. They have lore just 5e does not reference or use any of it.
I mean 5e's official content is often barebones outside of stuff player characters get to use. If the Thri-Kreen ever get playable (Either in a Dark Sun or Spelljammer book) it would considerably improve their 5e write ups.
I've got a plan to put these guys in a setting, except I'm basically throwing away the 5e description and basing them off the Mantis tribe from Hollow Knight. I like the sound of a proud warrior race governed by 3 matriarchs, making them sort of similar to real-world ant and termite colonies. Also giving the Thri-kreen a subterranean home infinitely expands the potential for them, and it neatly fits them thematically due to their insectoid nature. Insect-humanoids have so much cool potential considering how cool real-world insects are, and having them just be mindless, wandering and killing things is so underwhelming.
5e is the edition that makes them dumb mindless killing machines. In second edition they had an entire book dedicated to them in the dark sun setting (138 pages, goes over society, culture and more), and apparently a lot of lore in spelljammer setting for them as well. 5e really just threw them in the Monster manual and never does anything with them. They used to be a playable race in every edition of D&D since AD&D.
@@whee2390 I've seen playable Thri-kreen homebrew around the internet, but honestly you would need to totally overhaul the history and culture to make them interesting outside of stats. Still, absolutely go for it.
@@marmato9332 The race has a ton of official lore from older editions. They have a whole book about them and they have been a playable race up until 5e. Which is the edition where they are not playable.
@@Alpha115-YT You can use the older material to make it an interesting playable race, I meant. If you don't expand or change the 5e lore they are just not interesting tho. I'm sure they were cool in older editions, but I don't know how they were outside of 5e.
Runesmith, a few points: - Where you see a fallen race, I see the budding potential of a new race. It's like the Thri-Kreen are on the cusps of sentience and becoming their own civilization. It's like they're ready to evolve into a sentient race, but for whatever reason, it's always just beyond them. Maybe the environment isn't quite right. Maybe the physical inability to communicate more complex ideas is holding them back. Maybe the niche they would have filled was already taken by another sentient race, so the pressure to evolve wasn't there. Whatever the reason, they're stuck in this "just-short" existence. After all, look at the great apes. They're our distant ancestors, and they have some of the same social and cultural traits as we do, and yet we evolved to take over the planet and they didn't. Looking at them from this context, you could see the production of a psychic Thri-Kreen as nature trying to push this stubborn bolder of a species over the edge hoping this time it'll stick. But it never does. - I agree that I don't like the color changing pigment of the carapace, but for a different reason. You said that changing colors in an environment devoid of things to hide from is useless, and I give you the cuttlefish. No, don't look at it! Runesmith, don't look at it! Don't loo- Oh, crap. Someone help me with Runesmith. He was looking at a cuttlefish, and now he's hypnotized Yes, where the octopus and squid uses their ability to camouflaged themselves to hide and ambush or not to be eaten, the cuttlefish use it TO HYPNOTIZE PREY! Yeah, there's video of these psychedelic little acid trip shows making fish stop moving. No, my beef is that the description implies their carapaces are covered in tiny dots with small muscles to stretch out or contract these little dots to provide the color changing abilities the way that coleoids do. NO! This is SOFT TISSUE abilities, and the whole point of having a shell means not having soft tissue on the outside. No, I'd like to argue a different mechanism to allow these lonely desert dwellers (Hey! That's ME!) to mess with light and fuck with people's minds. What if their carapace was coated in tiny little, microscopic crystals that bend and filter light in the same way that butterflies create the color blue on their wings. (Yeah, Butterflies uses physics instead of pigments to make blue. Check that shit out.) And maybe they change what kinds of light they're throwing back by flexing little muscles that slightly bend their shells in different ways. This could make for some basic communication that only Thri-Kreen are capable of understanding. And can you imagine these little insect bois flexing on you, causing their shells to shimmer in a way that might incapacitate our tiny primate brains or make it optically harder to hit them (unless you have something like true sight). And, sadly, you know what having psychedelic armor means in the D&D world... People are going to be hunting those bad boys just to skin them. A mage probably could make some armor that could be enchanted with spells like Blur, Calm Emotions (cuttlefish anyone?), any Charm spell, Invisibility, etc.
In Spelljammer 2nd edition, the Thri-Kreen were one of the spacefaring races. There were some hints that they or their ancestors were one of the older spacefaring races.
Dark Sun is such a cool setting that needs more love I recomend you check it out. its like this post apoclyptic wasteland with no gods lots of psionics sorcerer kings and only one dragon on the planet who is basicly a god
Im actually obsessed with desert settings, and while i haven’t necessarily *read* Dark Sun, i have researched it a bit and it is great for inspiration. Also, just a bit of a DM lifehack here: take whatever ecosystem youre trying to make into a fantasy setting and paste it over the concept of Atlantis. Ancient advanced civilizations are golden every dang time.
@@dank_smirk2ndchannel200 I had no idea you also had an interest in d&d? Also I was thinking about an all tomorrow's ttrpg game, most likely reworked from d&d.
@@skeepodoop5197 you could probably reflavour some races to be AT posthumans. The Tabaxi as the Killer Folk for instance, though I’m not sure how you’d do a Modular Person.
@@skeepodoop5197 D&D really is not a system made for playing with strange creatures or sci-fi. Try Savage Worlds, Mutant Epoch or something more roleplay oriented than mechanic oriented.
Their psionics and the general trend of insect hive minds when combined with the list civilization troupe. Really reminded me of of 40k Orks and their super advanced and psionicly gifted Krork ancestors.
"psionics and the general trend of insect hive minds when combined with the list civilization troupe" makes me think of the Mantids from First Contact.
I always love playing thri-kreens as more ants than mantis, having a communal colony of hundreds of thri-kreens underground, taming ankegs, posing such a great threat over the desert and surrounding areas, all working together to raise young and expand and a thri-kreens queen sounds like a absolutely awesome encounter
I think you could also make a good go of a 40k-Ork-style-ee-thing. Lean into the whole Ant stuff and have them exist as shattered colonies that have a small background barely noticeable psionic ability, but - given a large enough population, that group psionic ability begins to manifest in more and more complicated ways, eventually appearing as a whole society with castes, manufacturing capabilities and complicated manners and ritual societal interactions.
@@AaronWhiting18 A inhospitable world! The sun is dying, there are no oceans and water is scarce, magic typically drains the life energy from the world. Psychics are a thing, and almost everything kills you. The halflings want to eat you, half dragon sorcerer kings rule the world. And did I mention that everything wants to kill you?
@@AaronWhiting18 It's an official campaign setting. It's essentially a dying world that the Gods have forsaken. The sun is permanently eclipsed. The entire world is a scorching desert. Civilization has regressed back to the bronze age, minus the bronze. Workable metal is extremely scarce. And magic is mostly fucked except for a select few who bleed the mana from the world itself and hord it like toilet paper. But it's great if you want a dark Conan-esce campaign setting.
You got most of the Thri Khreen right on Dark Sun and Spelljammer Thri Khreen cant talk to non Thri Khreen but are smart enough to understand other races languages by either Sign languages, Writting, or one sided Telephaty to a willing creature Their Carapace Armor ended up being natural armor that also acts a Camo And the 2 extra Mini Arm.... these are their best feature
I first encountered the race in an old AD&D campaign setting called “DarkSun”. Their unique weapons are created by regurgitating a slurry of vegetable / mineral matter that they create internally by ingesting the materials, combining them in a gullet and then, … puking … them up (as the bone-like, chitinous product they are) and then shaping them. Similar to a bee creating the hive in which it dwells. It’s time-consuming, but requires no tools other than a ready supply of the raw materials to ingest / regurgitate. CMIIW (Correct Me If I’m Wrong).
I was looking through lore on these guys recently (planning an adventure with bugfolks) and apparently in Dark Sun, the species is just called kreen. Thri-kreen are the nomadic ones ("thri" means "wandering" in their language) and the tohr-kreen ("tohr" = "settled") are the ones who live in actual cities. The difference is just cultural. Apparently thri-kreen just got stripped of all their interesting lore when they got transplanted to the Realms.
@@thebaron2277 I tried typing this out a few times but it was entirely too wordy. Long story short, 3 players at level 4. Wizard ranger and bard. They picked a rocky area in the dunes to camp. When approaching they all rolled terribly on perception and did not see the thri-keen silhouette in the fading light. As they got closer it did its camouflage thing (its 1 thri-keen hunter the pole arm variant) they go about setting up and cooking and the ranger goes to check the surroundings for his outlander feature. Suprise round. 2 attacks. Both crits. Instantly unconscious ranger. Roll initiative. Thri-keen goes first and goes for wizard as he is closer. 1 hit lands, second hit crits. Wizard is down. Bard makes a break for cover and uses command but fails. Thri-keen runs down bard and finished her the next round after a rapier attack lands. Then, in the moment and high on adrenaline I go to the ranger and finish him off, then the wizard. the bard failed all death saving throws by the time I got back to her. I was mortified and elated
My DM and I Homebrewed the thri-kreen in his setting so that I was able to play a ranger thri-kreen named "tik-tik" because that's the noise he always made
Holy shit. I had a player in my game who also named his Thri-kreen that. He was a Psionic Warrior, though. He chittered angrily when the party didn't do what he told them to. Or when the enemies actually landed a hit on him. Or when they didn't die in one round. Tik-Tik chittered angrily about a lot of things, actually. He also did puppet shows with his arms using the decapitated heads of the Gnoll leaders the party was sent to kill.
I miss Dark Sun in DnD, I wish wizards try to adapt it to 5E some day, the storie of the scenario is quite rich and make good stories of rebels and liberty fighters in a world full of tirany and death
To me it always felt the Thri-Keene were missing an overlord race, like they’re what happens when a species of intelligent bug people run out of royal jelly to make queens.
When I was starting out DM'ing I didnt know much about DND lore, most of my first campaign was absolute chaos and almost exclusively homebrewed to an excessive degree. Three years later and after having spent a number of hours listening to Lore, watching DND shows, etc. I've been able to return to the setting of that first campaign and realized how Unintentionally well I was able to slot it into official DND and make my own spin on things Nowhere is this more Evident in a Homebrewed empire I made of exclusively insectoids. In campaign one they were zealous Sun worshipping warmongers with a code of honor. With me returning to the setting, I've made it canon that these Insectoids originally descended from Thri-Kreen and a few other beings being mashed together in some Magical hoo-haa. It was an Interesting Interaction when one of my players who plays as one of these Insectoids met with a Thri-Kreen and was initially mistaken for one of them.
That race was literally the first contact i had with dnd. I remember playing a random ass story over then without any consistent rules as a kid with my friends.
In my game, I run it so Tlincalli (Scorpion men from Volo's) are able to command and overpower Thri-kreen, basically becoming dictators. And also Ankhegs are used as mounts for Thri-kreen warriors.
It might also help to go back to their advent as part of the DarkSun setting. If they were somehow transplanted to Ferun, that would explain much of their alieness.
Read the Thri Kreen book and the Darksun setting from 2e. They were super super cool and a playable race. I like that lore better than tjis, personally, but some cool ideas here too!
I really hope you make this a series, the the Thri-Karen are one of many things that could be improved upon and I’d love to hear your thoughts & takes.
They got so much more depth in darksun. They had this extra deep druidic theme along with them. I'd recommend looking at the 2e and 3.5 entries on them. It does them so much more justice.
Omg I am so glad you made this video. I am making a campaign where the thri- kreen are the main antagonistic group in the setting and I appreciate this video so dang much.
Them talking by rubbing their arms together for some reason reminded me of Mr Crab saying "Oh let me play you a sad song on the world smallest violin". Now the these sneaky bug men talk by rubbing their fingers together in my HeadCannon. Thanks
Seeing the various Samari comments got my brain churning. What would a tri-cream had music sound like. Of course traditional Japanese string instruments! Now I am imagining a group of ninja tri-kreen going to attack a party, but the party is freaking out because random music started playing around their camp, and just when the music gets the most intense the ninjas strike. Killing, with ambience.
Thri-kreen had a little bit more depth in the Dark Sun setting. Book 2 of the Dark Sun pentad had a major thri-kreen support character. They had a lot of fun cultural misunderstanding moments. When the main characters were sleeping for the night, the thri-kreen asked "why are you all waiting?"
For my group’s Waterdeep campaign, I played a Thri Kreen Ranger. She came from the home plane of the Thri Kreen - a death world - in order to record information about monsters. She wanted to create a Monster Manual, if you would. Also, she decided she liked the idea of being a “female” after spending time in the material plane.
It’s great that you’re talking Thri-Kreen today, I’m playing a Thri-Kreen Barbarian named Pak’cha in Lost Mines of Phandelver. When I started playing her, I resorted to using a soundboard with Predator clicks, Alien Screeches, and animal roars and then describing her facial expressions and physical gestures as best as I could. However, last session took a bit of a turn. We came into contact with a Jester-like warlock patron named Mousetrap at a circus in the forest around Conyberry. We had to play a game with him to save the benefactor of one of the PCs; we had to knock off his hat in order. Pak’cha was able to get close to him and knock his hat off, but a smaller hat was underneath it. This happened a total of three of four times. It got a point where Pak’cha was basically cursing at Mousetrap in Thri-Kreen. However, Mousetrap did not take kindly to her “foul language,” and also did not like the language barrier between them. So, Mousetrap flicks Pak’cha on the forehead and the next words out of her mandibles are said in Common!! When the last hat is finally on the ground, the Benefactor is released (in a deep sleep), one of the PCs makes a pact with Mousetrap, and Pak’cha can PERMANENTLY speak Common. Our next session is tomorrow...and it should be interesting...
Thank you for introducing me to a race, ive never heard of before. I think they look awesome, and if I ever plan to use them, there will be much homebrew reimagining to mske them much more interesting.
I made a thri-kreen hive in a campaign that worships and cultivates a fungus in the desert. They'd been entering my port city looking for the most exotic grubs of the tastiest bugs, to grow and then feed to their fungal overlord. Gave them some hive mind like abilities.
they were more fleshed out in previous additions as well as primarily living in the dark sun setting. they were apex predators, due to their constant need for hunting, especially with the amber like substance that they made by eating herbs and mixing that spit with sand. thri kreen were also a subset of kreen, with thri meaning wanderer in their tounge, where they also had settlements and various kinds as well. there were the mantis based manti with arm blades, the vespi meaning wasp that could fly, and scarab based scara that could tunnel and had tougher carapaces
I had a player in my campaign who played a Thri Kreen that was at face value an actual murder hobo. As it turned out, however, he actually just really loved to cook, and would kill things to make meals out of them for his friends.
I played an old DOS computer game series based on 2e rules set near Waterdeep that had thri-kreen in it. The buggers were OP and terrifying. They had double the attack speed of player characters, their attacks caused paralysis, and a poison effect that could kill a character in minutes. Probably the reason I like them so much.
I use a “mundane” version of Thri-Kreen that have evolved nuanced mouths for speaking, wear armor, and sprouted wings. I got rid of their psionics, and instead developed a deeper system of their acid (combining different bio sprays to make chemical reactions for flames, ice, regeneration, etc). I kept the nomadic vibe, but I make sure each tribe feels like a connected hive. They are stoic and task-oriented, but have an intricate dance tradition (like real life bees do). They believe in living efficient lives because their lives are so short - so they are very direct with their emotions.
Hi Runesmith, long time enjoyer of content both online and offline (love Stibbles Codex) first time commenter. In one of my home brew campaigns, my friend requested the ability to play as a Thri-Kreen and being the good person and benelovent dungeon master I am, I said yes. This meant we had a big bug creature incapable of speech who was our designated rogue of the group. It's made for some interesting dynamics to be sure and from this the Thri-Kreens player and I have created a whole society for these bug men that suit our world. While the books detail them as nomads who roam the desert wastes, in my wacky world they have an established Queen, her Kings, guards, drones, as well as false Kings who act as elite guards and false Queens who tend to the ever growing brood of the Queen Mother. They're essentially big ants who wage war with other Thri-Kreen groups, and any poor unfortunate soul who stumbles upon their hive and are either sliced to pieces or get out with one missing limb or two. I do like your idea of them having once been a more established society though as it would explain the sudden and sporadic blessings of psy-magics directly into their bug brains. It's always nice to see underappreciated creatures from Dungeons and Dragons getting a spotlight, especially from one of my favourite content creators. Keep up the wonderful work!
I played a Thri-kreen once. I was a fighter with a few quivering Palm Monk levels and basically was the odd shaman of the group. One of my favorite aspects of Kreen is that they have no relgion to speak of and it makes interactions with other races hillarious.
If I'm not mistaken, they released a UA that just gives Thri-Kreen a form of telepathy in order to communicate with other creatures. They don't even need to have any particular language in common (just be willing and in range). They still have chameleon skin and can rest without sleep, they just can't do anything strenuous for 6 hours. The secondary arms also can only wield light weapons and nothing else (not even shields).
for camouflage I like the idea that not only what environment they're in determines what color they are but what they eat does if the prey they eat blend into the environment they slowly change to that color naturally over time. so if one moves from a desert to a jungle they would slowly turn green based on the animals they eat
Nice timing, I just introduced these to my campaign a couple of games ago. They were, seemingly, a random encounter. But I had plans to have more of them. This video has me thinking of what more I can do. Thanks
I'm currently working on the sound and music for a Nevereinter Nights dark sun expansion, fan made obviously. This is my friend's favorite race, Great job as always and let me know if you're interested at all in the project Much respect
I weirdly like monsters with really basic non-descriptions. I just start filling in the blanks on my own and it turns into a unique spin on creatures in my campaign that is technically still faithful to the books which keeps my players from getting confused.
5:24 You could also use the lore of the Nagpa (or something similar) to explain the sudden Psyonics of the Thri-Kreen; a transfer of magic made as a result of someone else's curse. This could play into their nomadic history, their tribes trying to find a place to settle while much of the world that is near them has been claimed already. Really enjoyed the idea of environmental Thri-Kreen as well but I feel like they would also have different physical traits that would benefit their surroundings (similar to how real ants radiate even in smaller areas)... but even the idea of giving them subraces gives me the hope that Thri-Kreen may, one day, be a playable race in Dungeons & Dragons.
thank you for tackling one of my favorite monsters in the entire game, despite how lame they are in the game lmao. Despite being insects they lack almost any of the cool features actual insects have Im just a big fan of bugs and bug people, the thri kreen were a great creative jumping off point for me to homebrew like 20 variants on their species and how they might interact. Maybe flying bee thri-kreen? ones with a really cool stinger attack that can kill them instantly like real bees naturally armored beetle thri-kreen that make impeccable tanks I think the idea of them living in hives is the best path for party interaction and world building, just imagine the tension and chaos of two separate hives nesting in what the other calls their territory, and the party needing to deal with the potential immediate war that could fall out if any of the two hives realize (like with real bugs) More Cool Bugs is what I need.
I think you need to look into the book Thri-Kreen of Athas. Its 138 pages dedicated to these bugs. they used to be a player race in older editions 5e did them dirty. The book in question mentions how there society works and they have a caste system.
Their lore is all stuck in the Dark Sun setting where they had a dedicated splatbook in 2nd edition. The gythka and chatkcha make sense in a setting where metal is rare, weapons are usually made from bone and stone, and making weapons from a hard but brittle material formed by their spit and sand is a great benefit. There were also some lore bits saying they were offshoots of a more advanced and hidden empire of mantis people and whole lot of other details that fleshed them out
A few years ago, buddy at work was trying to get a dnd game together. It'd ben decades since I played. Flipping through his book I think I saw a pic of this race and was like "I wanna be that!"... got a quick "NO". I cried.
I believe Complete Psionics for 3rd edition expands more on them. Maybe it was elsewhere. EIther way, I recall descriptions that they tend to view everything in the world as either predator, prey, or part of their clutch. Their clutch usually was their immediate family group, usually comprised of siblings or other children around the same age as them, but lone Thri-Kreen sometimes clutch-bonded with other Thri-kreen or even other races (such as a party of adventurers). Thri-kreen will sacrifice their lives for their clutchmates without a second thought. They very much view the wellbeing of the clutch as a whole over the wellbeing of any individual member, including themselves. Also, sometimes, they're capable of fashioning knives and other simple tools out of spit and sand, in at least one version of the Dark Sun setting.
So fun fact, there is one book I know that is all about the thri-kreen back in second edition of D&D. Its called the thri-Kreen of athas and its a 138 pages. It goes over there society, psychology, physiology, and more. Problem is 5e, does not do anything with theses guys but if you look back on older editions you can find some neat info on various creatures. For anyone interested in this race I'd recommend giving the book a read.
Thri-Kreen are one of my favorite races because of their design and their lack of information around their nomadic behavior and their self imposed avoidance from other creatures. I love the sad bug people.
Really sad how much awesome Thri-Kreen information is chilling neglected in prior editions. Love me some Thri-Kreen (And am currently playing one in a 3.5 game) When is WotC just gonna bring back Dark Sun?!
Before I hit play, I made Roachlings as a playable race. Focused on survival, like surviving on half rations, being able to make an action or movement before rolling deathsaves... and crawling at normal movement speed (25) but swimming counted as "rough terrain" so they could only swim 5ft per turn.... and they have disadvantage on charisma related skills when interacting with nonRoachlings (unless specified by the DM that so-and-so is NOT disgusted by you...)
I really like the idea of them being a civilization that has their minds weakened, and the detail that an awakened Thri-Keen could get others to follow it is really nice and could lead to some epic campaigns. It gives me the vibes of the Pale King from Hollow Knight, where his greater intelligence helped heighten the minds of the bugs around him.
like gnolls I want these bug people to be a playable race. I mean it's technically possible with custom lineage but how would you balance the psionics?
Grabbing Telekinetic/Shadow Touched can grab some of their psionic spells but not everything. Aberrant Mind sorcerer is a fitting class for a Thri-Kreen PC and nets you telepathy at level 1 to move past not being able to speak.
@@Toximit I'm talking about their innate abilities, is it like with certain sub species where they can use them once for free or are they added to their spells list if they have them. kinda like the gith
For my games to explain the Thri-kreen, i made it a forgotten dimension in history. Any thri kreen that are found in the normal world are ones that were kicked out of the hive, where a queen controls them all. Basically the danian area in the old tv show chaotic as its own dimension lol
I saw Thri-kreen literally once in the Monster Manual and went, "hey, that looks fuckin' rad, I'm gonna make a homebrew race on that," so maybe I should expand on it a little...
I play a Thri_kreen kensei monk in one of my campaigns, we reimagined the PC statblock from an old Spelljammer setting, and I absolutely love him! One of my favorite characters and in-game races for sure, it should definitely be explored more.
So for my D&D world, Thri-Kreen and Umber Hulks share a common ancestor and have been around for a very, very, long time and have also basically been everywhere. Thri-Kreen are still nomadic, but they have a language and a culture. Their language is essentially made up of what was described in the video, mandible clicks a little bit of cricket like noises and a lot of carapace rubbing, scratching, and slapping noises. And Thri-Kreen do make stuff for art, it just has to be relatively small and able to be carried around (Since you know, nomads). Now the reason why Thri-Kreen have psionic powers (and in extension, Umber Hulks with their strange abilities) is because their common ancestor was the result of some Eldritch God-monster-thing interacting with the material plane before humans and other humanoids evolved. Obviously the Aboleths remember this, they had a similar creation except it was millions of years before hand when all life was under water. Edit: Wow cannot believe this comment has been up for 4 months, and I never realized I didn't put the word psionics in there when talking about their psionics
Here's an idea: a more antlike Thri-Kreen Warlock whose patron is its queen. The character backstory practically writes itself, and the DM has an easy way to give that character a job.
"Thanks quarantine for pushing us further from monkey and closer to crab."
-Runesmith, trying to tell us CritCrab is holding him hostage.
New story about what he’s doing with him? I say yes.
You have discovered more than enough. The Crab will come after you if you don’t stop now.
@@nerdysniper6194 I beg to differ. After all, we can’t expect God to do all the work.
@@sterilebroth8933 You know what, you are right. We have to do something. *loads sniper rifle*
Let’s go hunt some crabs!
@@nerdysniper6194 Yee.
One should know that long ago, even before Dark Sun, Spelljammer has said that Kreen are descendants of an ancient star-faring civilisation, predating even the illithids' arrival. You are onto something there!
who were really into flesh grafting for some reason.
@@burningbronze7555 in Spelljammer, Tri-Kreen has a relative called Xixchil who are into most modification...
@@chiengdc yeah those guys seem to run things on dark sun as well.
@@burningbronze7555 imagine a thri-kreen preserver bug dragon
@@kingmasterlord that would be cool.
For a more fleshed-out version of this race, read Thri-Kreen of Athas from the Dark Sun setting. It covers how their weapons are made, communication, trade, and much more that helps answer questions this video poses.
Wanted to suggest the same. I always think of Dark Sun when I think of Thri-Kreen because of how better fleshed out they are there
Yeah, I was going to say 'Why is this missing everything from the Dark Sun setting?' You know, where they come from...
@@locknivar According to Athas.org: "Thri-Kreen first appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons game with the Monster Cards accessories in 1982. From there they were published in the Monster Manual II for AD&D 1st edition in 1983. Following that they were included in the Forgotten Realms setting in 1989. After they appeared in Dark Sun, Thri-Kreen have been heavily tied to psionics and were included in several Psionic related books for 3rd edition D&D". So, Thri-Kreen were once much less developed, with this video reflecting that underdevelopment. The issue for me is the lack of delineation between the two, all the Dark Sun art, and the use of the DS names 'gythka' and 'chatkcha' to describe the original 1E weapons. I also think the amazingly detailed Thri-Kreen of Athas book would be a better introduction to the race for general audiences.
Because 5e's approach to lore and fluff is kinda crap.
The Thri-Kreen was a race that I at first was exited to learn more about after first seeing them, and then was disappointed right after reading their rather dull description. I do wish that they did have some sort of extra zest to them, thinking that their design and insect inspirations were cool. Glad to see that you made a video on them! Will maybe change them up a bit for my own campaign.
Thri-kreen are mantis forearms they are so cool.
Dark sun is a godsend in this regard, so much cool lore and ideas about them
UnimprotantHero is right they are a big deal in an older setting of D&D, they have a 138 page book about them.
@@Alpha115-YT plus they are mentioned and characterized in a lot of the other books from that setting, but that book in the most detail. I have the pdf if anyone here wants it
Try older editions books they should have more info
I mean Thri-Kreen do have a culture and a reason for why they’re Psionic, they were created for the Dark Sun setting. But since the Monster Manual is generally Forgotten Realm centric or Setting Agnostic, a lot of the quirks are unexplained and kinda random, it’s like trying to explain a Kalashtar or Warforged outside of Eberron, you can do it, but it doesn’t come with the same degree of complexity when you look at their lore in their primary setting.
Warforged have happily started to get more treatment, but lot of dark sun/spelljammer goodness there still. I really liked the half-dwarf culture struggle stuff going on too, but found better homebrew stuff to play that out.
They were not created for the dark sun setting, they weren't even created for D&D
@@RalphGrella for what then?
@@Vadiklol7 D&D lifted thi-kreen from the Tékumel fantasy setting written in the 40s by M. A. R. Barker, they were called the Pé Chói.
@@RalphGrella Uhhhhhh... Got a source for that? Pé Chói are almost nothing like thri-kreen, aside from being bug people.
For a start, the Pé Chói are described as having finned heads and curled tails more like a sea horse.
Then theres the fact the Pé Chói have pronounced sexual dimorphism where the Thri-kreen are routinely stated to be almost indistinguishable between the sexes to non Kreen.
The Pé Chói are admired by humans for thier subtlty and control while Thri-kreen are feared as emotionless killers.
I won't deny the Tékumel setting probably had some influence, but the Thri-kreen have their own identity and were created for D&D. Barker doesn't own the concept of humanoid bugfolk.
The lack of a decent bug race for a PC is criminal and these guys would be a good fit...if there was ANY push from wotc to do it, come on
I'm guessing you want to play Cocytus. Fair point, more bug people would be great.
Home brew’s the way to go my dude. Find somebody who can set you up
Having a playable race that works with four arms and sleeps less than elves and warforge could be very interesting.
They did add more the the gith
I've actually written up a spiderpeople homebrew race myself where the men and women are vastly different creatures mechanics-wise. Wanna see it?
“I don’t like that they can change the pigmentation of an exoskeleton.” The crawfish mocks you
As does the crab spider.
Besides, that pigmentation is a psi-like ability called chameleon, which made them viable outside of their natural habitat.
In all seriousness if you wanted to make the Thri-kreen a bit more interesting you could get a lot of mileage by looking at what other games do. I made a oneshot-thrikreen and based their persona and culture off the Hissho from endless space 2. The conversion from space-chicken-samurai to fantasy-bug-samurai was seamless
Endless Space mentioned, swell with big fish crime mommy milkers
So basically the Hivers from Kenshi? I mean Thri-Kreen were originally from Dark Sun and Kenshi is Sci-Fi Dark Sun mixed with Fist of the North Star.
Or look at the lore they have in older D&D settings. They have been a player race in AD&D to 4e D&D. They have lore just 5e does not reference or use any of it.
@@Tmanowns she's gonna buy the galaxy
Ooh, now I want to homebrew Cravers. :O Maybe the Necrophages?
Look into their lore in the darksun setting. They are much more interesting in older editions.
Agreed. Their lore in Darksun and other older editions was amazing.
I second this. hoping for a dark sun revamping at some point soon too🤞 it deserves more attention
I mean 5e's official content is often barebones outside of stuff player characters get to use. If the Thri-Kreen ever get playable (Either in a Dark Sun or Spelljammer book) it would considerably improve their 5e write ups.
I've got a plan to put these guys in a setting, except I'm basically throwing away the 5e description and basing them off the Mantis tribe from Hollow Knight. I like the sound of a proud warrior race governed by 3 matriarchs, making them sort of similar to real-world ant and termite colonies. Also giving the Thri-kreen a subterranean home infinitely expands the potential for them, and it neatly fits them thematically due to their insectoid nature.
Insect-humanoids have so much cool potential considering how cool real-world insects are, and having them just be mindless, wandering and killing things is so underwhelming.
5e is the edition that makes them dumb mindless killing machines. In second edition they had an entire book dedicated to them in the dark sun setting (138 pages, goes over society, culture and more), and apparently a lot of lore in spelljammer setting for them as well. 5e really just threw them in the Monster manual and never does anything with them. They used to be a playable race in every edition of D&D since AD&D.
I wonder if maybe I could homebrew up a thri-kreen race for 5e. Could you link the info from dark sun?
@@whee2390 I've seen playable Thri-kreen homebrew around the internet, but honestly you would need to totally overhaul the history and culture to make them interesting outside of stats.
Still, absolutely go for it.
@@marmato9332 The race has a ton of official lore from older editions. They have a whole book about them and they have been a playable race up until 5e. Which is the edition where they are not playable.
@@Alpha115-YT You can use the older material to make it an interesting playable race, I meant.
If you don't expand or change the 5e lore they are just not interesting tho.
I'm sure they were cool in older editions, but I don't know how they were outside of 5e.
Runesmith, a few points:
- Where you see a fallen race, I see the budding potential of a new race. It's like the Thri-Kreen are on the cusps of sentience and becoming their own civilization. It's like they're ready to evolve into a sentient race, but for whatever reason, it's always just beyond them. Maybe the environment isn't quite right. Maybe the physical inability to communicate more complex ideas is holding them back. Maybe the niche they would have filled was already taken by another sentient race, so the pressure to evolve wasn't there. Whatever the reason, they're stuck in this "just-short" existence. After all, look at the great apes. They're our distant ancestors, and they have some of the same social and cultural traits as we do, and yet we evolved to take over the planet and they didn't. Looking at them from this context, you could see the production of a psychic Thri-Kreen as nature trying to push this stubborn bolder of a species over the edge hoping this time it'll stick. But it never does.
- I agree that I don't like the color changing pigment of the carapace, but for a different reason. You said that changing colors in an environment devoid of things to hide from is useless, and I give you the cuttlefish. No, don't look at it! Runesmith, don't look at it! Don't loo- Oh, crap. Someone help me with Runesmith. He was looking at a cuttlefish, and now he's hypnotized Yes, where the octopus and squid uses their ability to camouflaged themselves to hide and ambush or not to be eaten, the cuttlefish use it TO HYPNOTIZE PREY! Yeah, there's video of these psychedelic little acid trip shows making fish stop moving.
No, my beef is that the description implies their carapaces are covered in tiny dots with small muscles to stretch out or contract these little dots to provide the color changing abilities the way that coleoids do. NO! This is SOFT TISSUE abilities, and the whole point of having a shell means not having soft tissue on the outside. No, I'd like to argue a different mechanism to allow these lonely desert dwellers (Hey! That's ME!) to mess with light and fuck with people's minds. What if their carapace was coated in tiny little, microscopic crystals that bend and filter light in the same way that butterflies create the color blue on their wings. (Yeah, Butterflies uses physics instead of pigments to make blue. Check that shit out.) And maybe they change what kinds of light they're throwing back by flexing little muscles that slightly bend their shells in different ways. This could make for some basic communication that only Thri-Kreen are capable of understanding. And can you imagine these little insect bois flexing on you, causing their shells to shimmer in a way that might incapacitate our tiny primate brains or make it optically harder to hit them (unless you have something like true sight). And, sadly, you know what having psychedelic armor means in the D&D world... People are going to be hunting those bad boys just to skin them. A mage probably could make some armor that could be enchanted with spells like Blur, Calm Emotions (cuttlefish anyone?), any Charm spell, Invisibility, etc.
How do Crayfish do it? They can shift colour while having an exoskeleton can't they?
No one read that.
In Spelljammer 2nd edition, the Thri-Kreen were one of the spacefaring races. There were some hints that they or their ancestors were one of the older spacefaring races.
You just made me want to play one now; just a psychic bug trying to figure out what he’s doing in this world, looking for other psychics
It's a good hook; a 5e player race spread for them would be fun. Hacked one for a barbarian Giff I played awhile back myself.
I was just about to start writing a desert campaign and was hitting some writer's block. Thanks for the ideas!
Read dark sun, it has a goldmine of desert content and wayyy better thri kreen
Dark Sun is such a cool setting that needs more love I recomend you check it out. its like this post apoclyptic wasteland with no gods lots of psionics sorcerer kings and only one dragon on the planet who is basicly a god
Im actually obsessed with desert settings, and while i haven’t necessarily *read* Dark Sun, i have researched it a bit and it is great for inspiration.
Also, just a bit of a DM lifehack here: take whatever ecosystem youre trying to make into a fantasy setting and paste it over the concept of Atlantis. Ancient advanced civilizations are golden every dang time.
I've literally never heard of this race. Never clicked on a video faster lmao
its really prevalent in Dark Sun which is an awesome setting i would recommend checking out
The Thri-Kreen (like everything else in Dark Sun) either has a chitin, psionics, or both.
Thri-ken are an old player races from 2e there communicate telepathically with others and with pheromones .
A personal favourite race of mine. I don’t think any race in 5E can use four true arms.
I know you!
@@skeepodoop5197 even outside of AT videos I’m well known it seems,
@@dank_smirk2ndchannel200 I had no idea you also had an interest in d&d?
Also I was thinking about an all tomorrow's ttrpg game, most likely reworked from d&d.
@@skeepodoop5197 you could probably reflavour some races to be AT posthumans. The Tabaxi as the Killer Folk for instance, though I’m not sure how you’d do a Modular Person.
@@skeepodoop5197 D&D really is not a system made for playing with strange creatures or sci-fi. Try Savage Worlds, Mutant Epoch or something more roleplay oriented than mechanic oriented.
Their psionics and the general trend of insect hive minds when combined with the list civilization troupe. Really reminded me of of 40k Orks and their super advanced and psionicly gifted Krork ancestors.
step one: paint yourself purple
Step two: believe purple = invisible
Step three: invisibility go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
"psionics and the general trend of insect hive minds when combined with the list civilization troupe" makes me think of the Mantids from First Contact.
I always love playing thri-kreens as more ants than mantis, having a communal colony of hundreds of thri-kreens underground, taming ankegs, posing such a great threat over the desert and surrounding areas, all working together to raise young and expand and a thri-kreens queen sounds like a absolutely awesome encounter
I think you could also make a good go of a 40k-Ork-style-ee-thing. Lean into the whole Ant stuff and have them exist as shattered colonies that have a small background barely noticeable psionic ability, but - given a large enough population, that group psionic ability begins to manifest in more and more complicated ways, eventually appearing as a whole society with castes, manufacturing capabilities and complicated manners and ritual societal interactions.
Time to take these guys into the Darksun campaign like setting I'm making.
You made a Darksun campaign without them? That's their native campaign setting!
@@fuzzyzombielove what’s Darksun?
@@AaronWhiting18 A inhospitable world! The sun is dying, there are no oceans and water is scarce, magic typically drains the life energy from the world. Psychics are a thing, and almost everything kills you. The halflings want to eat you, half dragon sorcerer kings rule the world. And did I mention that everything wants to kill you?
@@AaronWhiting18 It's an official campaign setting. It's essentially a dying world that the Gods have forsaken. The sun is permanently eclipsed. The entire world is a scorching desert. Civilization has regressed back to the bronze age, minus the bronze. Workable metal is extremely scarce. And magic is mostly fucked except for a select few who bleed the mana from the world itself and hord it like toilet paper. But it's great if you want a dark Conan-esce campaign setting.
You got most of the Thri Khreen right on Dark Sun and Spelljammer
Thri Khreen cant talk to non Thri Khreen but are smart enough to understand other races languages by either Sign languages, Writting, or one sided Telephaty to a willing creature
Their Carapace Armor ended up being natural armor that also acts a Camo
And the 2 extra Mini Arm.... these are their best feature
I first encountered the race in an old AD&D campaign setting called “DarkSun”.
Their unique weapons are created by regurgitating a slurry of vegetable / mineral matter that they create internally by ingesting the materials, combining them in a gullet and then, … puking … them up (as the bone-like, chitinous product they are) and then shaping them.
Similar to a bee creating the hive in which it dwells.
It’s time-consuming, but requires no tools other than a ready supply of the raw materials to ingest / regurgitate.
CMIIW (Correct Me If I’m Wrong).
I was looking through lore on these guys recently (planning an adventure with bugfolks) and apparently in Dark Sun, the species is just called kreen. Thri-kreen are the nomadic ones ("thri" means "wandering" in their language) and the tohr-kreen ("tohr" = "settled") are the ones who live in actual cities. The difference is just cultural.
Apparently thri-kreen just got stripped of all their interesting lore when they got transplanted to the Realms.
Ah yes. The only monster I've TPK'd with in my 5 years of dm'ing. Its perfect
tell me the story of said TPK
@@thebaron2277 I tried typing this out a few times but it was entirely too wordy. Long story short, 3 players at level 4. Wizard ranger and bard. They picked a rocky area in the dunes to camp. When approaching they all rolled terribly on perception and did not see the thri-keen silhouette in the fading light. As they got closer it did its camouflage thing (its 1 thri-keen hunter the pole arm variant) they go about setting up and cooking and the ranger goes to check the surroundings for his outlander feature. Suprise round. 2 attacks. Both crits. Instantly unconscious ranger. Roll initiative. Thri-keen goes first and goes for wizard as he is closer. 1 hit lands, second hit crits. Wizard is down. Bard makes a break for cover and uses command but fails. Thri-keen runs down bard and finished her the next round after a rapier attack lands. Then, in the moment and high on adrenaline I go to the ranger and finish him off, then the wizard. the bard failed all death saving throws by the time I got back to her.
I was mortified and elated
My DM and I Homebrewed the thri-kreen in his setting so that I was able to play a ranger thri-kreen named "tik-tik" because that's the noise he always made
Holy shit. I had a player in my game who also named his Thri-kreen that. He was a Psionic Warrior, though. He chittered angrily when the party didn't do what he told them to. Or when the enemies actually landed a hit on him. Or when they didn't die in one round. Tik-Tik chittered angrily about a lot of things, actually. He also did puppet shows with his arms using the decapitated heads of the Gnoll leaders the party was sent to kill.
Ah yes. A very weak hollow knight enemy.
Yo I had a Thri Kreen ranger named Tik Tik. He would give dirt to people.
I’m running a mind flayer campaign and I am totally adding a Thi-keen helmet of psyonic protection.
I miss Dark Sun in DnD, I wish wizards try to adapt it to 5E some day, the storie of the scenario is quite rich and make good stories of rebels and liberty fighters in a world full of tirany and death
To me it always felt the Thri-Keene were missing an overlord race, like they’re what happens when a species of intelligent bug people run out of royal jelly to make queens.
Michael Snow covers the thri-kreen pretty well in his Dark Sun video. They even have a thri-queen empire on the otherside of the dark sun world
When I was starting out DM'ing I didnt know much about DND lore, most of my first campaign was absolute chaos and almost exclusively homebrewed to an excessive degree.
Three years later and after having spent a number of hours listening to Lore, watching DND shows, etc. I've been able to return to the setting of that first campaign and realized how Unintentionally well I was able to slot it into official DND and make my own spin on things
Nowhere is this more Evident in a Homebrewed empire I made of exclusively insectoids. In campaign one they were zealous Sun worshipping warmongers with a code of honor.
With me returning to the setting, I've made it canon that these Insectoids originally descended from Thri-Kreen and a few other beings being mashed together in some Magical hoo-haa.
It was an Interesting Interaction when one of my players who plays as one of these Insectoids met with a Thri-Kreen and was initially mistaken for one of them.
That race was literally the first contact i had with dnd. I remember playing a random ass story over then without any consistent rules as a kid with my friends.
"strength of your friendship to level up your companion"
does this mean I get an umbreon if they befriend me at night?
When I first saw these, i thought it was finally gonna be our first playable insect race.
I was sorely disappointed.
In my game, I run it so Tlincalli (Scorpion men from Volo's) are able to command and overpower Thri-kreen, basically becoming dictators. And also Ankhegs are used as mounts for Thri-kreen warriors.
It might also help to go back to their advent as part of the DarkSun setting. If they were somehow transplanted to Ferun, that would explain much of their alieness.
Ah yes. locust-people from bug life
4:20 the thing with the chameleon carapace is that it was originally a type of psionics they could perform in the 2e psionics system from dark sun
A Thri-Kreen Druid was actually my first real character in 3.5e when I was a lot younger, so I'm excited to hear what edits you've got for them!
Read the Thri Kreen book and the Darksun setting from 2e. They were super super cool and a playable race. I like that lore better than tjis, personally, but some cool ideas here too!
I really hope you make this a series, the the Thri-Karen are one of many things that could be improved upon and I’d love to hear your thoughts & takes.
I'd like to speak to your manager, I don't think that hairstyle is appropriate for an insectoid!
I would love a whole series on improving under developed entities in D&D
They got so much more depth in darksun. They had this extra deep druidic theme along with them. I'd recommend looking at the 2e and 3.5 entries on them. It does them so much more justice.
Keeping this new and improved version to my Wild West area of my dnd world. Thanks Logan!
Omg I am so glad you made this video. I am making a campaign where the thri- kreen are the main antagonistic group in the setting and I appreciate this video so dang much.
Them talking by rubbing their arms together for some reason reminded me of Mr Crab saying "Oh let me play you a sad song on the world smallest violin".
Now the these sneaky bug men talk by rubbing their fingers together in my HeadCannon. Thanks
Seeing the various Samari comments got my brain churning.
What would a tri-cream had music sound like. Of course traditional Japanese string instruments!
Now I am imagining a group of ninja tri-kreen going to attack a party, but the party is freaking out because random music started playing around their camp, and just when the music gets the most intense the ninjas strike.
Killing, with ambience.
Thri-kreen had a little bit more depth in the Dark Sun setting. Book 2 of the Dark Sun pentad had a major thri-kreen support character.
They had a lot of fun cultural misunderstanding moments. When the main characters were sleeping for the night, the thri-kreen asked "why are you all waiting?"
Take a note from Palladium and do what they did for the Xiticix. That would make them much more interesting.
Turning on notifications is like having the Alert feat
i dont have notif's i just have the alert feat
For my group’s Waterdeep campaign, I played a Thri Kreen Ranger.
She came from the home plane of the Thri Kreen - a death world - in order to record information about monsters. She wanted to create a Monster Manual, if you would.
Also, she decided she liked the idea of being a “female” after spending time in the material plane.
Banger of a vibeo Logan. I hope you had fun making it
It’s great that you’re talking Thri-Kreen today, I’m playing a Thri-Kreen Barbarian named Pak’cha in Lost Mines of Phandelver. When I started playing her, I resorted to using a soundboard with Predator clicks, Alien Screeches, and animal roars and then describing her facial expressions and physical gestures as best as I could. However, last session took a bit of a turn. We came into contact with a Jester-like warlock patron named Mousetrap at a circus in the forest around Conyberry. We had to play a game with him to save the benefactor of one of the PCs; we had to knock off his hat in order. Pak’cha was able to get close to him and knock his hat off, but a smaller hat was underneath it. This happened a total of three of four times. It got a point where Pak’cha was basically cursing at Mousetrap in Thri-Kreen. However, Mousetrap did not take kindly to her “foul language,” and also did not like the language barrier between them. So, Mousetrap flicks Pak’cha on the forehead and the next words out of her mandibles are said in Common!! When the last hat is finally on the ground, the Benefactor is released (in a deep sleep), one of the PCs makes a pact with Mousetrap, and Pak’cha can PERMANENTLY speak Common.
Our next session is tomorrow...and it should be interesting...
Not a word about their telepathic powers? Perhaps that's just a Spelljammer thing?
Thank you for introducing me to a race, ive never heard of before. I think they look awesome, and if I ever plan to use them, there will be much homebrew reimagining to mske them much more interesting.
I’m so glad this video was made I love the thri kreen
I made a thri-kreen hive in a campaign that worships and cultivates a fungus in the desert. They'd been entering my port city looking for the most exotic grubs of the tastiest bugs, to grow and then feed to their fungal overlord. Gave them some hive mind like abilities.
they were more fleshed out in previous additions as well as primarily living in the dark sun setting. they were apex predators, due to their constant need for hunting, especially with the amber like substance that they made by eating herbs and mixing that spit with sand. thri kreen were also a subset of kreen, with thri meaning wanderer in their tounge, where they also had settlements and various kinds as well. there were the mantis based manti with arm blades, the vespi meaning wasp that could fly, and scarab based scara that could tunnel and had tougher carapaces
I had a player in my campaign who played a Thri Kreen that was at face value an actual murder hobo. As it turned out, however, he actually just really loved to cook, and would kill things to make meals out of them for his friends.
I played an old DOS computer game series based on 2e rules set near Waterdeep that had thri-kreen in it. The buggers were OP and terrifying. They had double the attack speed of player characters, their attacks caused paralysis, and a poison effect that could kill a character in minutes. Probably the reason I like them so much.
I use a “mundane” version of Thri-Kreen that have evolved nuanced mouths for speaking, wear armor, and sprouted wings. I got rid of their psionics, and instead developed a deeper system of their acid (combining different bio sprays to make chemical reactions for flames, ice, regeneration, etc).
I kept the nomadic vibe, but I make sure each tribe feels like a connected hive. They are stoic and task-oriented, but have an intricate dance tradition (like real life bees do). They believe in living efficient lives because their lives are so short - so they are very direct with their emotions.
And closer to crab
Me for no reason: CLOSER TO CRITCRAB #CRABARMY BABY
Hi Runesmith, long time enjoyer of content both online and offline (love Stibbles Codex) first time commenter. In one of my home brew campaigns, my friend requested the ability to play as a Thri-Kreen and being the good person and benelovent dungeon master I am, I said yes. This meant we had a big bug creature incapable of speech who was our designated rogue of the group. It's made for some interesting dynamics to be sure and from this the Thri-Kreens player and I have created a whole society for these bug men that suit our world. While the books detail them as nomads who roam the desert wastes, in my wacky world they have an established Queen, her Kings, guards, drones, as well as false Kings who act as elite guards and false Queens who tend to the ever growing brood of the Queen Mother.
They're essentially big ants who wage war with other Thri-Kreen groups, and any poor unfortunate soul who stumbles upon their hive and are either sliced to pieces or get out with one missing limb or two.
I do like your idea of them having once been a more established society though as it would explain the sudden and sporadic blessings of psy-magics directly into their bug brains.
It's always nice to see underappreciated creatures from Dungeons and Dragons getting a spotlight, especially from one of my favourite content creators. Keep up the wonderful work!
Fun fact they bugs have an entire book about them in 2e D&D and were a playable race option until 5e. Look up the book Thri-kreen of athas.
I like your re-imagining of them, I'm going to apply them to my game.
I like this version better.
Thank you, Logan. 👍😀
I love your take in the Ant Boys. You should really make them into a player race with that lore.
I had no clue these existed until now which really shows how little they're explored
I played a Thri-kreen once. I was a fighter with a few quivering Palm Monk levels and basically was the odd shaman of the group. One of my favorite aspects of Kreen is that they have no relgion to speak of and it makes interactions with other races hillarious.
If I'm not mistaken, they released a UA that just gives Thri-Kreen a form of telepathy in order to communicate with other creatures. They don't even need to have any particular language in common (just be willing and in range). They still have chameleon skin and can rest without sleep, they just can't do anything strenuous for 6 hours. The secondary arms also can only wield light weapons and nothing else (not even shields).
for camouflage I like the idea that not only what environment they're in determines what color they are but what they eat does
if the prey they eat blend into the environment they slowly change to that color naturally over time.
so if one moves from a desert to a jungle they would slowly turn green based on the animals they eat
Nice timing, I just introduced these to my campaign a couple of games ago. They were, seemingly, a random encounter. But I had plans to have more of them. This video has me thinking of what more I can do. Thanks
I'm currently working on the sound and music for a Nevereinter Nights dark sun expansion, fan made obviously. This is my friend's favorite race, Great job as always and let me know if you're interested at all in the project
Much respect
1:25 Waiting for "The Truth about the Preying Mantis" video now, you have peaked my curiosity.
I weirdly like monsters with really basic non-descriptions. I just start filling in the blanks on my own and it turns into a unique spin on creatures in my campaign that is technically still faithful to the books which keeps my players from getting confused.
Me, in the middle of designing a desert empire in my own world, trying to determine any potential interior threats to it: sees video, and smiles
5:24 You could also use the lore of the Nagpa (or something similar) to explain the sudden Psyonics of the Thri-Kreen; a transfer of magic made as a result of someone else's curse. This could play into their nomadic history, their tribes trying to find a place to settle while much of the world that is near them has been claimed already.
Really enjoyed the idea of environmental Thri-Kreen as well but I feel like they would also have different physical traits that would benefit their surroundings (similar to how real ants radiate even in smaller areas)... but even the idea of giving them subraces gives me the hope that Thri-Kreen may, one day, be a playable race in Dungeons & Dragons.
They have been a playable race in Dungeons and dragons since AD&D. They even have a book about them its 138 pages long. 5e gave them the shaft.
thank you for tackling one of my favorite monsters in the entire game, despite how lame they are in the game lmao.
Despite being insects they lack almost any of the cool features actual insects have
Im just a big fan of bugs and bug people, the thri kreen were a great creative jumping off point for me to homebrew like 20 variants on their species and how they might interact.
Maybe flying bee thri-kreen? ones with a really cool stinger attack that can kill them instantly like real bees
naturally armored beetle thri-kreen that make impeccable tanks
I think the idea of them living in hives is the best path for party interaction and world building, just imagine the tension and chaos of two separate hives nesting in what the other calls their territory, and the party needing to deal with the potential immediate war that could fall out if any of the two hives realize (like with real bugs)
More Cool Bugs is what I need.
I think you need to look into the book Thri-Kreen of Athas. Its 138 pages dedicated to these bugs. they used to be a player race in older editions 5e did them dirty. The book in question mentions how there society works and they have a caste system.
Love your take on these guys! The idea that they used to be a major power and that's why they're 'lesser' now. Reminds me of the Nerubians from WoW.
Actually crab spiders can change exoskeleton colors to blend in with flowers but the process takes a few days.
Thri-kreen are the perfect enemies to use for colosseum fights, because they show up out of nowhere and attack in a combative group
I love the Thri-Kreen. You have done them some justice here
Their lore is all stuck in the Dark Sun setting where they had a dedicated splatbook in 2nd edition. The gythka and chatkcha make sense in a setting where metal is rare, weapons are usually made from bone and stone, and making weapons from a hard but brittle material formed by their spit and sand is a great benefit. There were also some lore bits saying they were offshoots of a more advanced and hidden empire of mantis people and whole lot of other details that fleshed them out
I like your changes, but they remind me of the Kir’ko from Age of Wonder. I’m not complaining!
I didn't know this was in dnd, i only knew of their existence from a well written short story.
A few years ago, buddy at work was trying to get a dnd game together. It'd ben decades since I played. Flipping through his book I think I saw a pic of this race and was like "I wanna be that!"... got a quick "NO". I cried.
I believe Complete Psionics for 3rd edition expands more on them. Maybe it was elsewhere. EIther way, I recall descriptions that they tend to view everything in the world as either predator, prey, or part of their clutch. Their clutch usually was their immediate family group, usually comprised of siblings or other children around the same age as them, but lone Thri-Kreen sometimes clutch-bonded with other Thri-kreen or even other races (such as a party of adventurers). Thri-kreen will sacrifice their lives for their clutchmates without a second thought. They very much view the wellbeing of the clutch as a whole over the wellbeing of any individual member, including themselves. Also, sometimes, they're capable of fashioning knives and other simple tools out of spit and sand, in at least one version of the Dark Sun setting.
So fun fact, there is one book I know that is all about the thri-kreen back in second edition of D&D. Its called the thri-Kreen of athas and its a 138 pages. It goes over there society, psychology, physiology, and more. Problem is 5e, does not do anything with theses guys but if you look back on older editions you can find some neat info on various creatures. For anyone interested in this race I'd recommend giving the book a read.
Thri-Kreen are one of my favorite races because of their design and their lack of information around their nomadic behavior and their self imposed avoidance from other creatures. I love the sad bug people.
Really sad how much awesome Thri-Kreen information is chilling neglected in prior editions. Love me some Thri-Kreen (And am currently playing one in a 3.5 game) When is WotC just gonna bring back Dark Sun?!
And as I see this video, I ran a Thri-Kreen encounter with a homebrewed Thri-Kreen as a boss.
Before I hit play, I made Roachlings as a playable race. Focused on survival, like surviving on half rations, being able to make an action or movement before rolling deathsaves... and crawling at normal movement speed (25) but swimming counted as "rough terrain" so they could only swim 5ft per turn.... and they have disadvantage on charisma related skills when interacting with nonRoachlings (unless specified by the DM that so-and-so is NOT disgusted by you...)
I really like the idea of them being a civilization that has their minds weakened, and the detail that an awakened Thri-Keen could get others to follow it is really nice and could lead to some epic campaigns. It gives me the vibes of the Pale King from Hollow Knight, where his greater intelligence helped heighten the minds of the bugs around him.
like gnolls I want these bug people to be a playable race. I mean it's technically possible with custom lineage but how would you balance the psionics?
Grabbing Telekinetic/Shadow Touched can grab some of their psionic spells but not everything. Aberrant Mind sorcerer is a fitting class for a Thri-Kreen PC and nets you telepathy at level 1 to move past not being able to speak.
@@Toximit I'm talking about their innate abilities, is it like with certain sub species where they can use them once for free or are they added to their spells list if they have them. kinda like the gith
@@oscarpine7145 they were a playable race in older editions 5e just decided not to have them, as an option. They even had a book about them in 2e.
For my games to explain the Thri-kreen, i made it a forgotten dimension in history. Any thri kreen that are found in the normal world are ones that were kicked out of the hive, where a queen controls them all.
Basically the danian area in the old tv show chaotic as its own dimension lol
I saw Thri-kreen literally once in the Monster Manual and went, "hey, that looks fuckin' rad, I'm gonna make a homebrew race on that," so maybe I should expand on it a little...
I play a Thri_kreen kensei monk in one of my campaigns, we reimagined the PC statblock from an old Spelljammer setting, and I absolutely love him! One of my favorite characters and in-game races for sure, it should definitely be explored more.
stridulation is exactly where my mind went when you mentioned their antennae
So for my D&D world, Thri-Kreen and Umber Hulks share a common ancestor and have been around for a very, very, long time and have also basically been everywhere. Thri-Kreen are still nomadic, but they have a language and a culture. Their language is essentially made up of what was described in the video, mandible clicks a little bit of cricket like noises and a lot of carapace rubbing, scratching, and slapping noises. And Thri-Kreen do make stuff for art, it just has to be relatively small and able to be carried around (Since you know, nomads).
Now the reason why Thri-Kreen have psionic powers (and in extension, Umber Hulks with their strange abilities) is because their common ancestor was the result of some Eldritch God-monster-thing interacting with the material plane before humans and other humanoids evolved.
Obviously the Aboleths remember this, they had a similar creation except it was millions of years before hand when all life was under water.
Edit: Wow cannot believe this comment has been up for 4 months, and I never realized I didn't put the word psionics in there when talking about their psionics
Here's an idea: a more antlike Thri-Kreen Warlock whose patron is its queen. The character backstory practically writes itself, and the DM has an easy way to give that character a job.
glad I'm not the only person who has been slowly morphing into a crab during quarantine
In my games thri kreen are the adult stage of what used to be giant wasps before they were awakened millennia ago to guard the imprisoned tarrasque.