DnD's Worst Monster

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 10 ноя 2023
  • The Seeker's Guide to Enchanting Emporiums is coming out on the 21st of this month! www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
    Volo's guide revived one of the coolest most freakin awesomeist monster that everybody loves, the neogi. These things are based on moray eels and big hairy spiders, but everything else about them is based on cringy evil. So I made a video about it.
    Check out my 5e books! eldermancy.com/
    I’ve got Good Merch! www.bonfire.com/store/runic-f...
    My Patreon’s still full of stuff! / runesmith
    I’ve also got a silly ol’ discord server! / discord
    My X (Formerly known as Twitter)’s a real stinker! / the_runesmith
    Music Credits: Pretty much everything by Kevin MacLeod
    Link: incompetech.com/
    License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
  • ИгрыИгры

Комментарии • 528

  • @atlasminty-jq7fy
    @atlasminty-jq7fy 7 месяцев назад +1907

    You did point out something unique about them, that everyone hates them! You could have a confrontation between the party and any monster and have a neogi show up and then have the monster just say “hold that thought, these guys are literally the worst” and then the party and the monster take a brief pause to stomp the neogi

    • @henryhere
      @henryhere 7 месяцев назад +296

      Now I'm just picturing two players and a beholder giving the neogi a "the gang beats up a dude" scene from JoJo lol

    • @MGDrzyzga
      @MGDrzyzga 7 месяцев назад +250

      @@henryhere Mind flayer: *sips wine, then joins everyone else in kicking the heck out of that wretched neogi.*

    • @oichuckitinmegash8778
      @oichuckitinmegash8778 7 месяцев назад +124

      The inevitable episode of a Saturday morning cartoon where the heroes have to join forces with the villain they've been thwarting every week to fight something more stupidly evil.

    • @spaniard35
      @spaniard35 7 месяцев назад +93

      Party and Dragon are fighting and Neogis show up saying they will enslave you all. Dragon just says put this fight on hold, I hate these fuckers. Then party also says they hate those fuckers too. Beat there ass and remember you guys are in a fight. Dragon asks "what was our fight about" and you just say that you are here kill him, cause he terrorizing their land. He just goes, "well you hate those fuckers and helped me out. Look how about you guys take some of my old scales and teeth and tell town you dealt with me. Ill fly to another area for a year or so and then return later. You guys get your gold, and no one has to die today."
      With this comment I will now actually work this into my campaign because its funny and I know my greedy ass players will make deal and try to milk killing a dragon as heros of area.

    • @MoriShep
      @MoriShep 7 месяцев назад +14

      I wnt to be at the table for this, that sounds amazing.

  • @Tomha
    @Tomha 7 месяцев назад +1278

    "You're so evil, it's boring. You're basic!" - Finn the Human Fighter

    • @GavinG_
      @GavinG_ 7 месяцев назад +48

      Perfect quote.
      I think Finn could arguably be a barbarian too tbh

    • @ascrub8527
      @ascrub8527 7 месяцев назад +43

      ​@@GavinG_the show normally defines him as a fighter and normally his combat is normally more "technique" based then getting really mad. But I can kind of see where you're coming from

    • @Rinne0000
      @Rinne0000 7 месяцев назад +12

      Chad Human Fighter Enjoyer(Mle) vs virgin other classes and races fan (you)

    • @exzyyd392
      @exzyyd392 7 месяцев назад +40

      ​@@ascrub8527Finn's player: "Human male fighter"
      The DM adding the grass sword: "Warlock?"
      Finn's player, holding more swords: "Human male fighter"

    • @xk445g
      @xk445g 7 месяцев назад

      Okay, but what if Fern is the Finn that took levels in GOO warlock (Grass Old One)@@exzyyd392

  • @icarusty6481
    @icarusty6481 7 месяцев назад +990

    I think the one potentially redeeming factor of Neogi would be to play up the “everyone hates them” facet of their lore to eleven. The neogi are so despised that they can get Mind Flayers and Gith teaming up to deal with them. Then at least they’re spawning some cool unlikely alliances.

    • @sweetbeetyourfriend1808
      @sweetbeetyourfriend1808 7 месяцев назад +120

      Agreed! I feel like we all had the same-ish idea of "everybody hates them and they're the epitome of evil" as "beat up the cartoon villain like they're a ragdoll."

    • @leguan278
      @leguan278 7 месяцев назад +54

      God damn that sounds like a cool plot point, i can already see it now, the party is transported with a gith ship, gets a call from mindflayers and the gith dont emideatly end the call!
      Anyone that know anything about both races will know something is up.

    • @Will-cf1ob
      @Will-cf1ob 7 месяцев назад +1

      That's sick. Stolen.

    • @sweetbeetyourfriend1808
      @sweetbeetyourfriend1808 7 месяцев назад

      Not theft if they aren't making money off of it lol @@Will-cf1ob

    • @Attaxalotl
      @Attaxalotl 7 месяцев назад +17

      An encounter between some Giants, Mind Flayers, and Gith with their Dragons is defused by a single Neogi entering the wrong room and getting collectively assblasted by every individual in that vicinity.

  • @taterenforth6433
    @taterenforth6433 7 месяцев назад +211

    I actually quite like the Neogi. It's probably because in an old spelljammer comic I read as a kid the writers treated them like evil pokemon trainers mixed with pirates. Boarding spelljammers trying to collect one slave of every species.

    • @tctc4413
      @tctc4413 7 месяцев назад +11

      if u use them as setting spec. monsters they work esp . if the players are unfamiliar with them and what they can do. they really can surprise players .

  • @thegnarledpirate9198
    @thegnarledpirate9198 7 месяцев назад +344

    The mother comparasion is too specific. Are you okay, Runesmith?

    • @ViscountGaming-oe2df
      @ViscountGaming-oe2df 7 месяцев назад +10

      Yeah, there's phone numbers for stuff like that.

    • @planescaped
      @planescaped 5 месяцев назад +6

      Yeah that analogy was uhh... not one I'd consider very common. lol

    • @jonathanreichandco
      @jonathanreichandco 3 месяца назад +5

      @@planescaped no no, he was actually right on the money

    • @ShitpostingJoJo
      @ShitpostingJoJo Месяц назад +1

      Yeah, honestly that's... It kinda explains some attitudes I've seen him display on his videos. 💀

  • @TheSaylesMan
    @TheSaylesMan 7 месяцев назад +420

    I dunno. Sometimes you just need an unrepentant bastard that absolutely nobody likes. In that vein, Neogi are the perfect pencil-pushing villain. Administrative evil is not a niche that DnD has filled these days given its need for its villains to be things to be fun to stab. I like to adapt Neogi to be the guys who require their forms in triplicate.

    • @nazek4216
      @nazek4216 7 месяцев назад

      Administrative, pencil-pushing, forms-in-triplicate evil screams devils to me personally

    • @lottesghost
      @lottesghost 7 месяцев назад +35

      that's literally devils homie

    • @grinninggoblin3698
      @grinninggoblin3698 7 месяцев назад +36

      I love the Neogi being D&Ds version of the Vogons from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Just these nasty space bureaucrats. I think to differentiate them from devils, the Neogi don't bother hiding their evil or trying to be charismatic in the slightest.

    • @TheSaylesMan
      @TheSaylesMan 7 месяцев назад

      @@lottesghost Eh, devils are more of a using contracts to tempt you with massive powers to entrap you with their legalize. Those are lawyer baddies. Administrative villains are different.

    • @companyoflosers
      @companyoflosers 7 месяцев назад

      Administrative evil? Do you mean devils?

  • @crolithebard4964
    @crolithebard4964 7 месяцев назад +281

    I actually think these monsters are perfect for one thing in particular. Sometimes, it’s just fun to have a swarm of monsters that are 100% evil with no moral repercussions for defeating them. They’re a low enough CR to where it’s fun to defeat them especially if they act cocky, and it could just be fun to let out some frustrations on some goofy alien maniacs

    • @BigusGeekus
      @BigusGeekus 7 месяцев назад

      You can have irredeemable evil without making it a race. Just saying.

    • @mixmastermind
      @mixmastermind 7 месяцев назад +45

      They actually, in fact, EXIST for that purpose. Because Spelljammer expanded the Mind Flayers to lightly sand some of their edges off, the setting needed a different set of irredeemable monsters.

    • @johngleeman8347
      @johngleeman8347 7 месяцев назад +6

      Just be careful with the umber hulks. They are definitely not CR 3. XD

    • @mixmastermind
      @mixmastermind 7 месяцев назад +6

      @johngleeman8347 yeah Neogi are kind of neat because they're not very powerful themselves but every one of them has at least one Umber Hulk, which is not something to be trifled with

  • @justincarrel7930
    @justincarrel7930 7 месяцев назад +248

    They look incredibly stompable, like any battle with these things, could be ended by lowering my boot to the ground and ignoring any resistance I may or may not encounter.

    • @dragontear1638
      @dragontear1638 7 месяцев назад +6

      No. Stomp harder.

    • @AW-sx8hm
      @AW-sx8hm 7 месяцев назад

      Butt-kicking! For goodness!

    • @lorekeeper685
      @lorekeeper685 6 месяцев назад

      They would mind control you unless you have some defense
      Tho their slaves might weaken you

  • @paul_ujb
    @paul_ujb 7 месяцев назад +31

    "Why use themselves?"
    Matriphagy (young eating their mother) is a thing in several spider species, so that part is kind of accurate for a spider people.

  • @nathanbrent4295
    @nathanbrent4295 7 месяцев назад +60

    It could be used as a joke enemy.
    You're venturing through a dark cavern and come across an Elder Brain Dragon, but as you turn to flee it notices a horde of Neogi lurking around for some unknown reason.
    You glance at the horrifying entity from which you fled and, without the need for words, you work together and gank those nasty spidercocks before getting back to running away.

  • @shortcaveman1583
    @shortcaveman1583 7 месяцев назад +100

    It feels like an amazing race to use as a gag villain that introduces actually cool monsters from different movies, games, and books et.!😮

  • @masonabbey6353
    @masonabbey6353 7 месяцев назад +156

    I generally hand these guys laser guns and make them like evil Ferengi if I can. They are the aberrations that have the least amount of variation in what they do. If u need unrelenting evil though you won't find much worse than the Neogi
    They also have a few neat lore interactions with other races - they are usually the reason humans are on any d&d world

    • @martinramirez1856
      @martinramirez1856 7 месяцев назад +5

      Explain about humans

    • @mindlessscientist3772
      @mindlessscientist3772 7 месяцев назад +23

      ​@@martinramirez1856 They have lots of human slaves, and when they're wiped out for being evil their slaves are left behind

    • @martinramirez1856
      @martinramirez1856 7 месяцев назад +3

      @@mindlessscientist3772 a ok

  • @ianyoder2537
    @ianyoder2537 7 месяцев назад +63

    Personally I like to imagine spelljammer settings as having 3 main galactic "bad guy" empires to watch out for. Beholders, Mindflayers, and these guy's. And with every trio there's gotta be one at the bottom. The Neogi are the bottom, the "least" of the evils. Not because they're the least evil, they're the most vile, untrustworthy, conniving, backstabbing, profit hungry cantankerous, sellout, gromless, mingers, you'll ever meet. And that's why they're not as big of a threat as the Mindflayers and Beholders. Every one hates them, even themselves.

    • @Beepers559
      @Beepers559 7 месяцев назад +6

      I love how you used so many descriptors to describe how evil they are

    • @ianyoder2537
      @ianyoder2537 7 месяцев назад +8

      @@Beepers559 If you're gonna say something make sure it's worth being heard.

    • @georgeuferov1497
      @georgeuferov1497 5 месяцев назад +1

      Rule of three once again

    • @RipOffProductionsLLC
      @RipOffProductionsLLC 2 месяца назад +2

      Let me sum up my thoughts on those three races:
      Beholders are always a singular threat due to the nature of their intrusic psychology of egotistism and paranoia. At best they might have a few minions of lesser beings, but for the most part they will be by themselves, but will always be extremely dangerous(seriously, a Beholder played as smart as Beholders shpuld be, with the stats they have, should be terrifying)
      Mindflayers are literally a hivemind, and thus will always work together(barring extremely weird edge cases), and each one of them are dangerous in its own right.
      Naogi? I'd think their main threat should come from their eclectic collection of slaves, which are often far bigger and deadlier then they are, and could be a mix of any sort of creature; be they dim beast or brilliant sapient, rare or common, magical or mundane, predator or prey, all working together in ways that could never happen naturally.
      Sure, Mindflayers have thrawls too, but they're limited to keeping thrawls who are intelligent enough to serve as adequate food or hosts for tadpoles, but Naogi can use anything as a slave.
      You could also do something interesting with the backstabbing internal politics of a local Naogi... "society".
      Honestly, I think them being so university reviled might be a missed opportunity to have their nature as slavers tie into some kind of trade with other evil factions, since Mindflayers 100% never engage in diplomacy, and Beholders are a case by case thing and not exactly the mostvtrust worthy long-term, but Naogi? A clan could be running a very successful slave market for generations buying and selling people and creatures of all types from every corner of reality to every other corner of reality where slavery is exceptable. And you better be on your best behavior and pay up properly while there, or you're going to end up merchandise yourself.

    • @ianyoder2537
      @ianyoder2537 2 месяца назад +1

      @@RipOffProductionsLLC Honestly this is an old post and my opinions have changed and I like the Niogi a lot more now and have plans for a major NPC to be a Niogi.
      Here's the state of 3 major threats of the galaxy:
      Beholders, chaotic evil empire, basically the Daleks from Dr. who but less unified and slightly more likely to take prisoners/ hostages/ slaves/ test subjects/ whatever horrible thing is gonna happen to the party when they overestimate themselves and louse to beholders but still have a major character plot to follow. The main reason they haven't taken over the galaxy is they're at war with literally every one.
      Mind flayers (my favorite DND monster): Neutral evil, for the most part what you'd expect to see from the cannon lore. However the hive mind isn't as strong as you think. There's a massive civil war between the traditionalists (cannon mind flayers) who are the largest, richest, and most unified force of mind flayers. And the wildly unpredictable radical cells who've spit off from the hive mind and explore other means to power such as magic, non biological technology, inventing a cult in order to give oneself divine powers, actually using your body to fight like those dumb bruits in armor we control, and capitalism. The main reason(s) they haven't taken over the galaxy is the civil war and their plans are so careful and long term that like tree growing you don't see it come to fruition until it's bearing fruit.
      The neogi (who I like now): Lawful evil, the galaxy's mega-corp. No other empire has as many high quality goods, in such variety, and at such a competitive cost. Sure if you care about things such as ethics, sustainability, not letting an evil empire grow more powerful in this region, and concerns about standing in the same room as something with mind control powers, you could shop some where else. But who else sells a grapple gun, potions that positively affect only you and harm your enemies when drunk, and automated ship repair drones in the same place? (Guaranteed not to be cursed ... so long as you come back and shop again.) The Neogi are reliable business partners who would never do anything as shady as manufacturing wacky threats to sell their own weapons such as space clowns.

  • @queenannsrevenge100
    @queenannsrevenge100 7 месяцев назад +51

    I always loved the Neogi in spell jammer, perhaps because of their simplistic evil. I don’t recall the books ever giving a good explanation about their enslavement of Umber Hulks, so in my campaign canon, they exhibited a pheromone that made Umber Hulks Almost trancelike and servile. This meant pretty much any umber hulk that they encountered they could immediately dominate and put to use, explaining their power. On paper, they are horribly weak little monsters.

  • @federicopalacios7439
    @federicopalacios7439 7 месяцев назад +57

    You should talk about the Nilbog, I think they're really cool for roleplaying them as NPCs, you can even have an entire session centered just around one.

    • @boinkmcbingo8890
      @boinkmcbingo8890 7 месяцев назад +5

      I feel like it'd be a pretty short video but them plus a few other goblin adjacent monsters would be sick

    • @starwolf27
      @starwolf27 7 месяцев назад +2

      I had an entire two year long campaign centered around nilbogs, so I second this idea.

    • @donniejefferson9554
      @donniejefferson9554 7 месяцев назад +2

      I've been really wanting to play one as a pc. Would have to change the abilities but it could work well enough as a wild magic sorcerer

    • @the24thcolossusjustchillin39
      @the24thcolossusjustchillin39 7 месяцев назад

      I used them in a combat encounter once, it was hilarious😂 10/10 would do it again

    • @Yurt_enthusiast7
      @Yurt_enthusiast7 7 месяцев назад +2

      Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards! This is their kingdom!

  • @ohmygoditisspider7953
    @ohmygoditisspider7953 7 месяцев назад +24

    well that bit about childhood trauma was extremely real.

  • @intendtodream
    @intendtodream 7 месяцев назад +26

    You can use a Neogi like you would a shitty slave driver or positively repulsive crime lord--think Watto or Jabba the Hutt. You wouldnt use a mind flayer or beholder in those spots because theyre just too damn powerful to reasonably see skittering around in a port city haggling people-wares. Aboleths devastate. Neogi mingle.

  • @potatolord9715
    @potatolord9715 7 месяцев назад +74

    Dnds worst monster is usually the player

  • @chrishubbard64
    @chrishubbard64 7 месяцев назад +46

    I liked the one part you mentioned with relative cr of umberhulks and these guys as well as their size. The idea of small weak monsters that control more powerful units as their slaves and tools in a fight could be interesting. Like going up to this skinny asthmatic italian guy and trying to hassle him only for him to say "Yo, tony no knees, these gentlemen seem to have a problem, solve it for them." Then crunching and screaming happens. But yeah, the fact that we already have xenophobic mind controlling aliens in love with owning slaves in the form of mindflayers really does wear down the interest level. I guess if you want to run an insectoid based campaign with that theme it can work. The real threat is dealing with the underlings while these guys hang back screeching orders at their minions while trying to mind control you.

    • @thesatelliteslickers907
      @thesatelliteslickers907 7 месяцев назад +3

      dnd has a thing with enemies generally getting stronger the higher up the chain of command you go, so this could be a funny subversion of that

  • @RonaldMcJuicy
    @RonaldMcJuicy 7 месяцев назад +142

    I do think their "universally hated by everyone" schtick could be a fun gimmick for a shorter, more light-hearted campaign. Something like this:
    Somehow, a Neogi has managed to gain indomitable, godlike power, which threatens to subjugate all realms.
    So, over the course of five or so sessions, you and your rag-tag group of bastards have to travel across all elemental planes, the depths of hell AND the highest reaches of heaven, all realms of chaos and law, the deepest dark in the underdark, and the lairs of every warlord, vampire, lich, mad wizard, and anything else with any degree of power in an effort to assemble a team strong enough to defeat the stupid spider-dick.
    Most creatures are reluctant to team up, until the exact instant mention that you're fighting a Neogi, and then they immediately agree to help without any complications or compensation.
    The final session lasts a total of 15 minutes, and consists entirely of the DM explaining how each group of creatures beats the ever loving shit out of the Neogi in their own unique ways, and ends with everyone agreeing to go their seperate ways and never speak of this again.

    • @stingerjohnny9951
      @stingerjohnny9951 6 месяцев назад +9

      The Dawnfather and Asmodeus taking turns stomping on their giant spider nutsacks while Moradin and Vecna point and laugh.

    • @user-gj7lp5iz6k
      @user-gj7lp5iz6k 6 месяцев назад

      cringe

  • @BlazenBeard
    @BlazenBeard 7 месяцев назад +22

    They could work super well as black market dealers. I can see good uses for these guys. They are also universally hated in universe which is kinda unique. Most creatures in DND share a huge chunk of their personalities or lore with some other creature anyways.

  • @salempistorius7395
    @salempistorius7395 7 месяцев назад +37

    I typically use them as gag villains or henchmen to stronger evils (I know that's not lore accurate but it gives them something interesting), treating them as Grunts from Halo, harmless and even humorous alone, but when in large groups or allied with more intelligent aberrations, they become an unstoppable wave of two of the most common phobias combined. I also keep their desire to enslave everyone but they're too weak to do it so they just hold a silent contempt for the world. Also, them laying eggs in their elders makes for a really good horror scene to hide aboard a neogi ship, which I did in my first Spelljammer campaign and caused my table to erupt in disgust, in a good way.
    Just throw out all the bad lore and make them funny.

    • @chongwillson972
      @chongwillson972 6 месяцев назад +1

      @salempistorius7395
      kobolds and goblins fit the grunt from halo role far better.

    • @arandomcheese
      @arandomcheese 6 месяцев назад +1

      It would make sense if the Neogi were tricked into believing they were the ones manipulating the bbge and had agency.

  • @deltarno7502
    @deltarno7502 7 месяцев назад +217

    The Neogi are a fun monster when you're making either a fight against an evil capitalist, or when you want a guilt free genocide. I usually play them as Skelator, so over the top evil that it's a blast to, well, blast them.

    • @pancakes8670
      @pancakes8670 7 месяцев назад +17

      True, but there are more fun races to do that with. Heck, you could just have an over the top human Capitalist. The point of the video is that Neogi are unoriginal, and there's no role they fill that isn't already filled by something else.

    • @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg
      @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg 7 месяцев назад +15

      Capitalism is not really evil.

    • @UGNAvalon
      @UGNAvalon 7 месяцев назад +14

      @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg That’s why they specified “*evil* capitalist” as opposed to “just another capitalist”.

    • @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg
      @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg 7 месяцев назад +1

      Yeah fair enough

    • @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg
      @FirstnameLastname-bp2pg 7 месяцев назад +1

      Yeah fair enough

  • @gmkgoat
    @gmkgoat 7 месяцев назад +4

    “Talking to your mother about her place in your childhood trauma” oof… really cut deep there.

  • @sirtill8502
    @sirtill8502 7 месяцев назад +17

    Their sole purpose in the setting is to give every evil creature a reason to work with good ones, I swear.

  • @matthewmoran1866
    @matthewmoran1866 7 месяцев назад +4

    The most interesting set up I've seen for Neogi is having them be hyper capitalist traders in larger morally dubious locations and planar bazaars. Neogi can be found in Markets in places like the City of Brass or Dis in the 9 hells. They can also show up in Drow cities (usually just setting up a small stall on the outskirts or something) or even just moving through the under dark as a travelling caravan looking to trade.

  • @freakymoejoe2
    @freakymoejoe2 7 месяцев назад +9

    The whole "going around leaving invasive species everywhere" angle might have some potential. You could tune down some of their stupid blatant evil and have them essentially be extremely unscrupolous exotic space animal traders (and effectively arms dealers)

  • @LazyManFantastico
    @LazyManFantastico 7 месяцев назад +8

    My DM let me play a Neogi (reskinned Thri-kreen) that was a battle smith artificer for Tomb of Annihilation. I also reskinned the steel defender to look like an Umber Hulk. They fit in pretty well after they explained how "they weren't from around here" and created some pricey magical items for leaders of criminal organizations.

  • @dew-it8744
    @dew-it8744 7 месяцев назад +11

    (Light of xarterax spoilers)
    In light of xarterax, or at least the one I played in, they literally had these guys in a ship you investigate that was taken over by worm like guys that to my knowledge seem like better versions of them

  • @typhoon6346
    @typhoon6346 7 месяцев назад +9

    I think one way you could make them interesting is to make them like the helmacrons from Animorphs. They're tiny, comically evil, comically full of themselves, and comically weak despite possessing powerful technology. They're joke villains, things to be annoyances that you can never fully shake, and villains so annoying and so tedious to deal with that unlikely sides are willing to work together (and potentially try to screw each other over both in the process, as a fun little treat) just to make them go away.

  • @gaylordzapikowski9053
    @gaylordzapikowski9053 7 месяцев назад +13

    Ahhh, the Neogi. Love these guys. I made some minor lore tweaks and used them as the BBEG of my campaign, and my players had some terrifying interactions with them and only once did they ever fight them directly. *The Neogi won that fight.*

    • @clintriggen3554
      @clintriggen3554 7 месяцев назад

      what tweaks did you do?

    • @gaylordzapikowski9053
      @gaylordzapikowski9053 7 месяцев назад

      @@clintriggen3554 Divorced them from their spelljammer origins and made them former underdark denizens. Took their connections to the Far Realm Infested Stars and fucking ran a marathon with that. What I ended up with basically is that they were hunted to near extinction by the Drow to the point where everyone thought them dead, the Neogi then fell into a deep religious fervor with the Nine Far Realm Infested Stars and the survivors migrated into more surface adjacent caves and caverns.
      In play I had them operating as scheming string pullers, their ultimate plan to summon their gods to the star system and thus be able to gain a safe place to live on the surface and begin *settling their debts* with other races.
      Because they clearly weren't worthy of the genocide they received, I additionally made them even more fucked up to the point of brainwashing and conditioning slaves to the point that mind control wouldn't be totally necessary anymore.
      Things are slightly different now, they succeeded in summoning their gods and now are in a cold war with the Trolls. Explaining that will take a while though lol.

  • @moblinmajorgeneral
    @moblinmajorgeneral 7 месяцев назад +9

    3:46 They're so ass the blue dragon had to reach back to 2006 and combine memes to wipe them from existence

  • @TheSneakyHunter
    @TheSneakyHunter 7 месяцев назад +28

    He really said “You can adopt this thing” I need this

  • @Katosepe
    @Katosepe 7 месяцев назад +9

    Sometimes you just need a monster so despicably evil that nobody in the party will try to seduce it.

    • @luisfuentes3846
      @luisfuentes3846 6 месяцев назад +3

      The real reason they look like that. Bard repellant.

  • @emilyburkert7061
    @emilyburkert7061 7 месяцев назад +2

    transylvanian packers come to life got me. Now i can never look at those Neogis with a serious look again :(

  • @laayiv9449
    @laayiv9449 7 месяцев назад +7

    When you put up the picture of the neogi with their make-up, I instantly thought "That looks like The Dark Crystal", and then you actually compared them to the Skeksis like two sentences later! This isnt very remarkable but I love that movie.

    • @Ryu1ify
      @Ryu1ify 7 месяцев назад +4

      What's even better is how there's the nagpa who are even more skeksi like on account of literally being accursed bird sorcerers

    • @laayiv9449
      @laayiv9449 7 месяцев назад +1

      @@Ryu1ify Yeah I've seen them. They aren't even hiding that one.

  • @TsulaAngenati2292
    @TsulaAngenati2292 7 месяцев назад +8

    The only thing I can think of to make them interesting is to take inspiration from the San’Shyuum/Prophets from Halo and make them space politicians that like collecting a menagerie of diverse and more interesting monsters to fight for them to take over planets and sell them to presumably the Illithids at first but now the Gith?

    • @LupineShadowOmega
      @LupineShadowOmega 7 месяцев назад +3

      Them being planet brokers is at least interesting. Way better than generic evil, mcevilson..so fair idea.

    • @TsulaAngenati2292
      @TsulaAngenati2292 7 месяцев назад

      @@LupineShadowOmega Thank you

  • @enterchannelname8981
    @enterchannelname8981 7 месяцев назад +4

    I think their small size is the most interesting. If you're fighting some big giant who was enslaved by a Neogi, the party could try to kill only the neogi while leaving the innocent giant alive and unharmed. The mental image of the party scrambling to kill only the scuttling spider-thing as it crawls around on a beefy giant is tempting to me.

  • @caramelfrappe402
    @caramelfrappe402 7 месяцев назад +2

    You are such a great RUclipsr and clearly have inspired me a lot as a DM for my campaigns, I decided to buy your book(s), anticipating to buy the Enchanting Emporiums. Thank you for all of your hard work and of course, being really funny, as always. Love your content dude.

  • @annakoutsandreou2214
    @annakoutsandreou2214 7 месяцев назад +4

    They look like a yugioh normal monster except normal monsters have interesting flavor text

  • @Dintinosanto
    @Dintinosanto 7 месяцев назад +3

    Neogi make for good RP because they’re the excuse to team up with races you’d otherwise NEEEEEEEVER work with.
    That’s it. That’s the only compelling RP I can see coming from a Neogi campaign.

  • @connorjohnson8590
    @connorjohnson8590 7 месяцев назад +3

    The only time I ever used a Neogi in my game was to have one sell a bunch of unethical magic items like a staff of charming

  • @altromonte15
    @altromonte15 7 месяцев назад +1

    Plot idea: due to a freak psychic accident all the neogi suddenly get amnesia and forget being evil or wanting slaves

  • @AwesomeWookiee
    @AwesomeWookiee 7 месяцев назад +2

    I actually quite like that they're so lame and pathetic. They've featured in my games as dangerous villains - that always get wiped off the board immediately while I introduce an actually fun or scary monster.

  • @Reverence561
    @Reverence561 7 месяцев назад

    Great stuff as always happy you back in the game grinding out the goodness for all of us. 👍👍👍

  • @planescaped
    @planescaped 5 месяцев назад +2

    Wait, so they're literal spacefaring aliens and not just planar ships? Uhhh.... if they have ftl travel and presumably lasers and space-age weaponry, how have they not glassed and conquered Toril? wtf.
    Putting that level of sci-fi into a high fantasy setting like Forgotten Reams feels like mixing M&M's into my mac and cheese...

  • @jordanloux3883
    @jordanloux3883 2 месяца назад +1

    So they're basically DND's saturday morning cartoon villains.

  • @KnicKnac
    @KnicKnac 7 месяцев назад

    I'm looking forward to that second book. I figured you might be working on it. Loved the first one.

  • @liamcullen3035
    @liamcullen3035 7 месяцев назад +1

    I imagine if I was going to use them, I’d give them ray guns and have them based around a crashed starship. A few scouts went off to look for resources and murdered some commoners in the exact same way that humans do when they crash land on alien planets in movies, giving the players the hook to hunt down the source of the threat.
    And when one gets away, it hides itself and uses its advanced technology to create some sort of communication device to call for help. When the players realise this, they have to race against the clock to prevent it getting to the peak of the highest mountain with its device and beaming Earth’s coordinates to a rescue/invasion fleet.

  • @potatoboooi5168
    @potatoboooi5168 7 месяцев назад +7

    You should rewrite Neogi to make them interesting like you did with Thri Kareen

  • @grayrook8637
    @grayrook8637 7 месяцев назад +1

    Here ya want an immediately more interesting option: Morkoths. They are crazy demigod fragments who role around reality in demiplanes who compulsively collect odd things. All the Snek Scrotum features but better. I love them for a random "my players got Lost'ed to a mysterious island and now this thing is watching them like a movie" adventures.

  • @owlson2527
    @owlson2527 7 месяцев назад +6

    That part about childhood trauma really hit home.. Damn

  • @SeventhPlacePace
    @SeventhPlacePace 2 месяца назад +1

    This just helped my campaign a lot.

  • @rinarina6247
    @rinarina6247 7 месяцев назад +2

    I gotta say, Neogi might be fun to include as jobbers so annoying that the Aboleths will form a temporary alliance with the party to easily stomp them into extinction in like, 2 turns

  • @EvilBakaCat
    @EvilBakaCat 6 месяцев назад

    thanks I love these guys and will be using them for the slavers in my campaign. They look like they make execellent punching bags

  • @eldesconocidosenork5981
    @eldesconocidosenork5981 7 месяцев назад +1

    I use them as a secondary/extra villan when my players would benefit from a bit of chaos. Also it really helps with new players that are already fantasy nerds and are looking dor something new and different. A little tweak I did was that if one of your players has some sort of charm ability/spell I let them conteract the mind control on a versus check.

  • @tristanmoors7835
    @tristanmoors7835 7 месяцев назад +1

    Random line about mothers in childhood trauma hit me outta nowhere

  • @benjaminlyons6359
    @benjaminlyons6359 6 месяцев назад

    From the bit I read in the monster manual, I’d love to see an umber hull tactics/encounter video from you

  • @danielward4091
    @danielward4091 7 месяцев назад

    I'm so glad you're back. Where have you been?

  • @AzraelThanatos
    @AzraelThanatos 7 месяцев назад +2

    The ones on Toril are more of the survived through crashes or similar ways since they aren't native there. While they're pretty much evil for being evil's sake, it's with their main goals that they differentiate in a normal D&D game, they want to build up wealth and then GTFO and go to the "nicer" worlds that they control rather than being trapped/exiled on whatever world you encounter them in. They're SpellJammer creatures after all.
    There is a rather interesting rogue Neogi that is the bouncer in the World Serpent Inn that also runs their fighting pits.

    • @boinkmcbingo8890
      @boinkmcbingo8890 7 месяцев назад +1

      Yeah I think they'd also be really good in for giving the players a spelljammer (idk their CR off the top of my head so maybe not) . Didn't know they actually had their own so I just usually threw mindflayers with a nautilus in the few times I wanted to let people have spelljammers.

  • @hollowknight4630
    @hollowknight4630 7 месяцев назад +2

    Speaking of fun magic shops, I have a wand maker in my campaign who makes custom wands for spells but makes all of the trigger phrases stupid rhymes. My favorite being web, which is “icky icky, make them all sticky”

    • @Tengu125
      @Tengu125 7 месяцев назад

      What would be your trigger phrase for Fireball, and how would it differ from trigger phrases for lesser flame projectile spells?
      I'm genuinely curious to hear what you might have come up with using this idea.

    • @hollowknight4630
      @hollowknight4630 7 месяцев назад

      @@Tengu125 I was toying with stuff like “you know what doesn’t tire, a great raging ball of fire” or “you’ll surely finish last, behold my fire blast” and if I’m being honest the second one could be fire bolt or fireball the thing is I don’t think it matters as long as it’s different and fitting

  • @Revenante_of_Asylum
    @Revenante_of_Asylum 7 месяцев назад +1

    Ah yes, D&D's most recurring evil villain trope...
    Unpaid internships...!

  • @jandocarrillo2731
    @jandocarrillo2731 6 месяцев назад

    I ran an entire campaign about a neogi invasion. They had all sorts of spaceships and lazer weapons and other advanced technology. That made them unique at least for my game. They also had no magic, only tech

  • @coffeegroundsforsnorting6957
    @coffeegroundsforsnorting6957 7 месяцев назад +7

    So their bargin bin evil spider people with like nothing interesting. Like somehow even basic rampage orcs have more that you can do with them. Like being generic is somehow more interesting than prolonged exposure to them past like 3 encounters.

    • @LupineShadowOmega
      @LupineShadowOmega 7 месяцев назад +2

      I want Spider people: The Drow
      We have Spider people at home: The Neogi

  • @ImusakHctividar
    @ImusakHctividar 7 месяцев назад +3

    Personally I think they're fun little critters. Like the vanilla stats are kinda meh but conceptually of course a smaller or weaker guy would want big tough body guards, so them having things like umber hulks at their side to do the heavy lifting makes a ton of sense. Plus I think it's important to keep in mind that while D&D games have a specific setting, I'd argue a good chunk don't stick 100% to what the setting is. They just get the party together, skim through the monster manual for ideas, then write up something. One DM may want the intimidating but alluring Drow to be their go-to for underground slavers and evil dudes, or another DM might want funny spider creatures to be their underground slavers and evil dudes. All comes down to personal preference!

  • @derickpelton3107
    @derickpelton3107 2 месяца назад

    I use them because I didn't want to use Mind Flayers in my homebrew world and I liked the idea that one of them on an Umber Hulk reminded me of Krang.
    And I had Gnomes use their blood to create Dogpeople, Ratpeople, Turtlepeople, Lizardpeople, and Batpeople after repelling an invasion that brought most of the world back to the Stone Age.

  • @breadstick4458
    @breadstick4458 7 месяцев назад +1

    2 videos in one week! Guess Christmas really did come early huh?

  • @jacknerdlord3244
    @jacknerdlord3244 6 месяцев назад

    I had a pair of neogi warlocks as a boss and they were vicious. Picked up a lot of bodies.

  • @Just-hornet
    @Just-hornet 7 месяцев назад +11

    Runesmith always dropping gas videos like damn

  • @williamfrenzel327
    @williamfrenzel327 7 месяцев назад +1

    I think neogi’s are useful for an encounter as an intelligent creature that can act like humanoids but look thoroughly alien. They work really well for their spot in the spelljammer adventure Light of Xaryxsis because it immediately says “space fight”.

  • @prettysalty8447
    @prettysalty8447 7 месяцев назад

    Given how you brought up steven universe towards the end, I feel the diamonds would make amazing storm giants in a DND campaign, or something else more fitting for them

  • @grimulkin7111
    @grimulkin7111 5 месяцев назад

    I feel like you could spin them into something fun, by having them as a sort of comically evil side antagonist that pops up to annoy the party every now and then lol

  • @foxross
    @foxross 7 месяцев назад

    When I was about ten I played an AD&D 2nd Ed spelljammer adventure that had space pirates with a neogi captain so these creatures have a special place in my heart. Purely in honour of that game, I vow to find a way to make neogi interesting and scary.

  • @scionicog
    @scionicog 7 месяцев назад

    Man's hit us with that Lorem Ipsum in the first 5 seconds of the vid.
    Respect

  • @DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH
    @DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH 7 месяцев назад

    Bless the RuneSmith

  • @curtisthornsberry4236
    @curtisthornsberry4236 6 месяцев назад

    These spider-eels are fun for the party to blow off steam on. Like, the party just needs an evil thing to slay once in a while. When even my zombies where giving the party some feels, they just needed unapologetically evil thing, no questions asked. But that it, if I bring them in they are there to be slain for fun.

  • @AndrewJohnson-oy8oj
    @AndrewJohnson-oy8oj 26 дней назад

    Umber Hulks were originally introduced as thralls for Mind Flayers, so they don't even have that going for them.

  • @cubancavalier3051
    @cubancavalier3051 7 месяцев назад

    Ran into them one time playing the space prewritten game and I wiped them using stinking cloud and quicken spelled fireball to carpet bomb their ship on a flyby. Just the umberhulk survived

  • @jonbryan2995
    @jonbryan2995 7 месяцев назад

    I'm planning a campaign where neogi are the badguys and im basically going to play them like the daleks from doctor who

  • @Revenante_of_Asylum
    @Revenante_of_Asylum 7 месяцев назад

    "...buy a backbag with sharks in it." You son of a gun... I'm in!

  • @templebeast1324
    @templebeast1324 7 месяцев назад

    Make a neogi ruler so cartoonestly evil that he demands other niogi to put baby dogs a kittens in front of him to walk over.

  • @TamagoGangan
    @TamagoGangan 6 месяцев назад

    you are playing a dangerous game with those chibis for that dnd book.

  • @MrChoco409
    @MrChoco409 6 месяцев назад

    They absolutely have a purpose. I imagine encounters with them will be kinda like the replicators from Stargate SG1 (when they were still little spider guys). Filling every piece of the wall. There needs to be comically bland evil for there to be grey-zone intriguing evil.

  • @precascer8221
    @precascer8221 28 дней назад

    The old Spelljammer design kinda slaps tbh, at least from the "waist" up. I love this evil ass creepy grin.

  • @Babbleplay
    @Babbleplay 6 месяцев назад

    The Lifejammer. This is how Neogi travel space. It is a flying ship engine powered by life force. They just slap a slave into the fuel tank, and can travel around till he kicks the bucket, and is replaced by another prisoner.

  • @ShadeMeadows
    @ShadeMeadows 2 месяца назад +1

    The Neogi and Umberhulks reminds me of the Skeksis and Garthim... 😳

  • @AxiomDelver
    @AxiomDelver 7 месяцев назад +1

    I kinda want to have a single Neogi in my game, and base it on Marvel's Mojo. It would make sense, I thnk

  • @jwarner1469
    @jwarner1469 7 месяцев назад

    5:10 MAAAAN. The idea of an evil faction of creatures that tatoo the number of and varieties of slaves or powers they have on them as posturing of their power is suuuuper inspiring.

  • @pheivins99
    @pheivins99 7 месяцев назад +1

    I actually use the fact they are aliens to the advantage. In one of my games a Neogi ship crashes and they slowly start fixing it by capturing people and forcing them to work on it. The party had no idea they were aliens and the shock enough was worth it. It was a good excuse to pur sci-fi gear into a fantasy setting

  • @Lyze
    @Lyze 7 месяцев назад

    They fit well in their original setting of Spelljammer. They were universely despised. You could trade with the Mind Flayers, Beholders were mostly just genocidal with each other but Neogi were fast breeding slaver extreme. Letting them land on a planet and establish a colony was unthinkable, everyone would drop what they're doing to stomp it out. If I remember right, one of the introduction adventures to Spelljammer was a Neogi ship crash landing somewhere near the party and the characters go to stomp out the space horrors and get introduced to spelljamming by salvaging the rest of the ship for the helm.

  • @mrPAK215
    @mrPAK215 7 месяцев назад +2

    3:22 I like how he shows the correct pronunciation on screen, yet he STILL pronounces it wrong

  • @Trivial_Whim
    @Trivial_Whim 7 месяцев назад

    You did bring up a good one though, the potential to team up with the villains to murder neogi!

  • @cameronfreilinger3547
    @cameronfreilinger3547 7 месяцев назад

    Can we please make monster encounter strategy videos become more common. It helps me so much and I love the videos of bounty hunters, kobolds, etc. I’d like to see what you do with big solo creatures

  • @dariuskahmenleodros3646
    @dariuskahmenleodros3646 7 месяцев назад

    I was really surprised when Baldur's Gate 3 presented parts of them as food supply. And really appreciate when Lae'zel mentioned them.

  • @artemisday
    @artemisday 7 месяцев назад

    I kinda like the idea of a pathetic little eel-spider that literally every single creature despises to an extreme level. Could be a goofy npc to give the party and let them take pity on, or to just kill if they want

  • @Rufus555
    @Rufus555 7 месяцев назад

    My initial thought was to get all the other evil races and band together vs the Neogi.

  • @StonedPriest
    @StonedPriest 7 месяцев назад

    My campaign world is set in the far future of the D&D Multiverse, I'm going to have the players encounter a Neogi ship while spelljamming. The were said to be wiped out centuries ago, but this ship was seemingly a nursery that was still in stasis. The eggs are still viable. I'll have the players encounter a Neogi, and it will be the one time I bring genocide to the table as an option.

  • @matiasluukkanen7718
    @matiasluukkanen7718 7 месяцев назад

    These actually could be really fun encounters and antagonists in campaign with Gith players to prevent mindflayer overuse.

  • @quinnjackson9033
    @quinnjackson9033 7 месяцев назад

    Forgot the Giff existed and now must have them appear as npcs in something

  • @gabrielregli1222
    @gabrielregli1222 6 месяцев назад

    I wish I could work on D&D stuff with you