ไม่สามารถเล่นวิดีโอนี้
ขออภัยในความไม่สะดวก
Kythons: D&D's Most Savage Monster
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ส.ค. 2024
- Kythons are a classic D&D monster straight from the infamous Book of Vile Darkness. I've converted them into 5E and put together this week's episode to go over their lore, ecology, and mechanics as well as how I think they could be used to great effect in building an encounter. We've got plot hooks, we've got story ideas, we've got horrible eyeless monsters that tear up everything in their path! What's not to like? If you're looking for a new Dungeons and Dragons monster for your next DnD game, look no further Dungeon Masters! It's time for Monster of the Week!
#DungeonsAndDragonsLore #DnD #MonsterLore
The D&D 5E stat block for this monster - docs.google.co...
The Live Stream- • One-Shot of the Week -...
Join the Dungeon Dad channel to get access to fun emojis and support the community:
/ @dungeondad
Support the TH-cam Channel Patreon - / dungeondad
Come hang out on Discord - / discord
@ me on Twitter - / dungeonpapa
Reddit and the monster archive - / dungeondad
Facebook is here too - / dungeondad
All graphic design for this channel was done by the talented Akira Arruda. To contact her for graphic design work, check out her website here - www.AkiraArruda.ca
Most artwork in this video is provided courtesy of Wizards of the Coast. All other artwork is sourced below. If you own a piece of artwork that appears in this video and you would like it removed, please e-mail me at DungeonDadDM@gmail.com and it will be redacted immediately.
toywiz.com/war...
www.artstation...
wh40kartwork.t...
• StarCraft II: Heart of...
Music By: Beta Records Link: goo.gl/peHHCX
paizo.com/prod...
www.mobygames....
gatherer.wizar...
Hearthstone Dragon Egg: www.artstation...
starcraft.fand...
www.artstation...
/ crossroads_battle_map_...
www.artstation...
deadliestficti...
wh40k.lexicanu...
0:00 - INTRO
01:24 - THE BOOK OF VILE DARKNESS
02:50 - WHAT IS A KYTHON?
14:15 - COMBAT // MECHANICS
18:54 - PLOT HOOKS // STORY IDEAS
Thanks for watching everyone!! What kython variants do you think would make for a cool encounter?
Pythons!... wait.
Let it be known I made this joke before I reached the Slaymaster point.
@@NoFame, kythons adapted to Mechanus
Kython Infiltrators, they look like adults, but they have a small felt moustache.
In all seriousness, a kython could grow a creature that looks exactly like a humanoid but the creature is always blind. This would be a very rare occurrence, and would only happen if a slaymaster or slaughterking decides they need a spy or informant in a settlement that could be a possible threat, or if a kython leader realizes it is totally outmatched, like an army is on their way to the hive, and it needs a creature that can communicate with the invaders to discuss surrender. Or perhaps, to stall for time, all while the kythons prepare traps and new brood.
I literally watched the older video this week ... Are you in my head ?
Kython's are at least human intelligence, meaning they can think up all the same tactics that say, a human bandit could think up. A Kython Nest could truly be something absolutely horrific, with strange traps around every corner. Take the biological weapons to the extreme. Acid mines that go off when stepped on, poison mist sprays, biological dart traps, you can go really wild with it. If you're willing to bend the whole "only Kythons can use the unique weapons" rule, you could even come up with specific magic items for the Nest. A bone blade with a poison effect attached to it, acid grenades that the party could throw, maybe even converting the tough hide of one of the monsters into armor. Really, it seems like the sky's a limit with these things, even before getting into unique monster variants!
and also means in someways you can EVEN USE them as the party memebers ie an entire game were your players are part of this hive also spices the mess farther
Love it.
Scorn weapon
You sound like a fun person to play with
The acid mines, stomach sacks filled with acid to the point of almost bursting. The kython that can make these can regenerate their own stomachs and maybe even have more than one. Could even use them in combat by throwing them at enemies.
The second you mentioned Tyranids, I could hear all the 40K players running to grab their Tyranid Codex and laughing evilly. Also looking forward to the comment being filled with people just taking Tyranids and Zergs and replacing two or three words to make new Kython types.
All it's missing is the Genestealer Kython
I was one of those people XD
@@Xtra_Medium i mean they did come from the book of vile darkness, so really that would be a return to fucked up lore
First thing that popped into my head as well. Slotting in a hydralisk or pyrovore inspired Kython to grant them ranged capabilities almost feels like a no-brainer. Kython Splinterer or Kython Immolator or something for fluffy names or w/e.
It’s me I’m 40K players
It's entirely possible for the tarrasque to be a "fully" evolved form of Kython
As a lore master i have to raise a finger here and go... but there is only one, and it was established by the gods... usually
@@bravojr "Usually" being the key word
@@bravojr That also very much depends on the lore, given that supposedly Tarasques have their OWN FUCKING PLANET where they're kind of just... peacefuly existing.
@@Muriuki34 That sounds terrifying, especially if it's Monster Manual II's Tarrasque...
@@Muriuki34what fresh hell awaits for any who go there also HOW THE FUCK IS THAT SOMETHING I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BEFORE ALSO WHAT THE HELL ELSE COULD BE LIVING THERE THAT COULD LIVE WHAT THOSE FUCKING THINGS THAT EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT AND THEN SLEEP FOR MONTHS IF NOT YEARS ON END BEFORE WAKING UP AGAIN
wait a minute if that why the turrasquce (I know I spelled it wrong don’t even start) has such strong armor what the hell could be on that planet that could A Live with not one but many Turrasquces and B maybe MAYBE EVEN HUNT THEM FOR FUCKING FOOD!!!!
I have so many questions but I just can’t wrap my head around this realization so I’ll just say this…..
How to fuck did I not know about this shit….
And why just why WHY GOD WHYYYYYYY!?!?!?!?
This is the PERFECT race of creature to make as the center of a unique D&D RTS.
"you must construct additional brood chambers.."
"slaughter king research complete, my lord.."
"our impalers have returned with food..""
"our nest is under attack!
Edit : ON TOP OF THE FACT, them having blind-sight would actually give canonical explanation to the game having "Fog of War". This is just to perfect.
I had a similar thought
Have you ever heard of avp extinction? The aliens campaign is exactly what you are looking for
A secretly pvp campaign. One side, a team of heroes, roleplaying and reacting to the other, a single player, ruling his kython hordes as an RTS...
@@lostrangerjosh8680 Yes! This exactly.
Kython Fleshshaper
A Kython advanced in fleshcrafting used to modify growing hatchlings Into new and improved specialized Kythons. It is the architect of whatever crazy homebrew Kythons you can think of later down the road. It even has the capability to integrate other species' traits to hatchlings using the corpses of dead creatures. Pretty much Abathur of Kythons
Will be using this
The players find a rock. A smooth shiny rock. Strangely, while in possession of this rock the party find their morale improves.
Soon the party realise they're being hunted. Kython Impalers are stalking them. When they attack they attempt to slaughter the party, of course, but their main priority seems to be the rock.
The rock is of course an egg. A kython egg. This kython has already begun to mutate before it has even hatched. It is unlike it's brethren in two ways; it has psionic abilities, and it is not inherently evil.
The current Kython Slaughterking sensed the threat the Unhatched posed and would have destroyed it, had the Unhatched not used it's abilities to have some weaker willed Kython steal it away and bring it far from the nest.
The Unhatched's powers are steadily growing. Eventually it will be strong enough to usurp the Slaughterking and take control of the entire kython brood, but until then it must be protected from the increasingly dangerous Kython assassins sent to destroy it.
The aforementioned morale boost is of course courtesy of the Unhatched, and in return for the parties continued protection it can offer further gifts, mostly in the form of psionic buffs.
Whether the Kython are a known threat to the realm, or some hidden menace that has been growing in secret, the Unhatched may well represent the best hope for dealing with that threat by wresting control of the brood from the bloodthirsty Slaughterking.
However; while the Unhatched isn't inherently evil, that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to be good. If the party don't put some real effort into "raising" what is essentially a newborn child they may well just be trading one horror for another.
If the party failed to raise the unhatched properly, you could have one of 2 possible plot hooks:
A. Their demon child attacks the party, and they have no choice but to put it down, but now they have to figure out a different way to stop the current infestation from growing and destroying everything
Or B. The party can't stop their kython child from escaping into the wilderness. Now the party has to figure out how to stop an ALL OUT WAR between 2 kython tribes, one lead by the current slaughter king (or even higher kython subtype maybe), and one lead by the child the party had failed
Can I use this?
@@theliegeoflettuce854 every good DM steals from stuff that they like, just like the designers of the game stole from all the stuff they liked when they made each new edition. Clearly this plot hook stuck with you, so go ahead and run it. However, I don't know how much experience you have as a DM or with D&D in general so I'll urge you to be EXTREMELY careful with a scenario like this. Making either side of the conflict too strong will ruin some of the tension for the players, and so will pulling your punches if your players don't take proper care of the broodling after it hatches. Have a spectrum of its relationship with the party, and a list of specific behaviors that will strengthen and weaken said relationship, as well as ones that will outright doom it, such as straight up abuse, and then make multiple consequences for where on the relationship spectrum your party is with the broodling. Again, PULL NO PUNCHES. If they raise that thing wrong, it should still be even more powerful than the Slaughterking in adulthood, and its army of lesser Kythons should be larger as well, maybe even with multiple Slaughterkings beneath it.
@@theliegeoflettuce854 I'm not just okay with that. I'm honoured.
Hope you don't mind but I might steal this because that sounds great and could lead to a very emotional encounter with a big bad later down the line.
Kython Gorger - Similar in body plan to the Slaymaster. The Gorger performs a unique role in the Kython community. Like an enormous honeypot ant it provides a form of sustenance for the community by becoming a living larder. It's job is to consume and process prey, dead Kythons, and any other battlefield gore into an edible substance for the Kython brood. In the aftermath of battles it pulsates and slithers through the battlefield devouring every corpse and wounded creature it can find before hulling its bulk beneath ground and suspending itself from the ceiling where it excretes its slurry of liquified flesh and bone to hungry broodmates.
Equipped with shredding jaws and grasping tendrils this monsters is equipped to devour anything it can catch. When threatened it also can eject the contents of its belly in a foul smelling stream that nauseate foes and create difficult terrain.
That is horrifying. I love it!
*gag* Good job!
Ah, a nursemaid for the broodlings. How grotesque.
Oh! I had a similar idea because honeypots are my favorite ants. I thought about changing the behaviors of the kythons when the hive has a pot cast, preferring to maim invaders or prey to be dragged, still alive to be digested
YES!
( 11:58) let’s make this work.
Introducing the Kython Blood Singers. These Kythons are more colorful than the rest and have large, even more colorful frills on their backs and heads. These frills flare up whenever they produce a Psionic Scream that triggers dopamine and adrenaline rushes in all other kythons that can hear it. Increasing those kythons’ movement speeds and damage until the end of the Blood Singer’s next turn. However they can’t do this two turns in a row because they have to catch their breath afterwards.
That would probably need to be a recharge ability
@@TrueAnts1 probably. Either once a day, or tied to a stat modifier or something.
Recharge 5-6 seems fair enough imo. Just stick to using em with fodder for earlier encounters, and save em for Impalers towards mid-level encounters. Can also give it other scream effects to screw with party members as well.
@@gratuitouslurking8610 like a fear inducing scream, or just raw psychic damage. Or something else weird.
Imagine if kythons under the effects of the psychic scream start making uncontrollable wailing noises that resemble hysterical laughter, adding in the comedian part.
The Weavelord
A kython who's position is that of an architect. They spin sinuous threads into gross shapes, and after a time the flexible strands harden into a chitin like material
Their back legs form into spinnerets and both pairs of forelimbs become thick powerful legs that all end in blades sharp enough the carve through their woven structures
They're a combo of expanding foam and spider, so don't get squirted
Does it have dreads? That would be the ultimate weave lord lol
I thought I had a good idea. This is incredibly imaginative.
I kinda had a similar idea, except I didn't think of a new sub-type, I was just watching Alien and thought of them making a chitonous membrane to make their nests out of
Several ideas for variations is, "What if one ends up in the Elemental plains?" Would one that had gotten into the Earth Plain gain some sort of biological drill? Would They gain Earth Glide? Or the Plain of Air would gain some sort of flying such as Patagia (Bat membrane wings) or grasshopper like legs to jump from platformer to platformer?
Or better yet to build on that, what about a Kython that breaks down and incorporate elements into themselves. Like forming rock plates, or gaining flying or swimming affinities.
I did a variation of them from Mechanis and made em metal clockwork horrors.
@@peterrants9634 dang nice
They make me think of slivers in Magic, so imagine one that broadcast their niche abilities to nearby member of their brood.
imagine a world of sorcerer king ruled nations which are in a constant state of continent shifting wars, during one of their great battles they tear a rift through the realities momentarily opening a portal that lets thousands of kython through. after a short amount of time(no more than a year or so) the kings of all the world nations and all of their wizard advisors are discussing how best to deal with the growing and unstoppable threat, until finally it is decided that they will seal them inside of a mountain larger than the new england area of the U.S.. after thousands of years the kython within have evolved into subspecies divided by warring hives, preying on each other and the now extremely dangerous wildlife that has evolved alongside them. most of the offshoot species of the kython have smaller numbers in terms of the hive but they make up for it with far deadlier specilizations, such as the soundspitter kython which are able to essentially cast the spell shockwave due to a special organ in their mouth this developed along with the ability to use echolocation and the loss of eyes, or the rhino kython which were named due to a similarity to rhinos as both have extremely thick armoring, have massive horns on their faces(although a rhino kython has a much longer and more slender horn) and both will charge their enemy, as well as the main kython species is still maintaining a hive within griefs plateau
I love how an angry dm was the only thing more deadly than a kython
Kython Drills: As the name suggests, these kythons have a drill-like shape. When the brood's tunneling comes across solid stone, metal, or something similar that is too tough for the typical kythons to penetrate, Kython Drills will be deployed to grind their way through to continue the expansion of the brood's territory. They would have an insanely high AC to account for the extremely tough exoskeleton necessary for drilling through stone and metal.
Kythons flyer: evolves a pair of wings and claws move lower into 6 legs with claws in order to capture/carry away creatures. gain a fly and barrow speed. gains a echo location sight. 120 blind sight. Their stinger can now shoot off the tail and re grow 1d4 rounds later. This is done in order to carry eggs far distance to start a new hive in order to expand the hive. They also ambush creatures and carry them back to the hive to feed the rest.
Sounds crazy, I like it
my god
I just finished driving my idea and saw this 😅
guess alot of ppl have the same idea
I wouldn't do both a fly and burrow speed but still kool
Add a elite variable that is a Slaughter King, with less armor, but with 4 dragonfly wings that has 2 normal Kyton legs, but with 4 arms, 2 normal and 2 bladed and call it Royal Guard for the Queen Kyton
The book of vile darkness and its antithesis the book of exalted deeds, are some of my favorite books from previous additions.
I wish they'd put that level of detail into 5e content. So often I find that I'm dipping into 3.5 lore to add or expand ideas that 5e doesn't do a great job of fleshing out.
@@joshwalton25 I feel the same way, I honestly stopped playing 5e because its not up to the same level of detail I liked from 3.5
For all the edge-lord stuff in the Book of Vile Darkness, there is still a lot of really good, gross content.
@@hjorhrafn not to mention it's really funny to think that people really thought that a book that finally delves into the demon and devil arch-lords, their servants and their place in society wouldn't have vile and depraved shit. Then again most campaigns don't have more than some surface level interaction with demons and devils since their stat blocks/CR are quite high.
Same. Have both. Use both. The point is that the content in those books should be outliers, not the norm of the campaign, imo. They were both intended to be used extremely sparingly, to punctuate encounters.
Kython Kollector: a Kython breed that's meant to go out and collect DNA samples of different races/monsters and if one bites your player and gets away, later on they could have an encounter with a Kython based on their character build (a kython Barbarian strain, Kython Sorceror strain, Etc.)
I asked my kids this question about the kylons, my 11-year-old said a kython that was a birthing pod with 10 birthing sacks on its sides. She suggested that it would be sluggish in nature with a sharp beak. My 8-year-old suggested a kython that was snow and ice based, it would be able to melt and change shape to resemble humanoids, she also added that it could produce snowballs that are thrown with deadly efficiency. My suggestion is more like an insect swarm of kython that from the underbelly appears to be a cloudy gray but from above is a opalescent carapace. Each one being only a half of a millimeter tall they have gnats like razor wings. Worst still is they are filled with The Phlogiston. This is how They control their floating height. They will often appear as a gray rain cloud in the sky that is slowly descending . It's not until the cloud is actually among the creatures that the creatures will see in opalescent shimmering of the Phlogiston in these tiny particles which are actually these gnat size kython. If anybody uses fire within the cloud swarm of kythons it will cause an immense explosion doubling the area of effect and doubling the damage dice of the fire effect Immediately from the fire source.
The Kython Siren. Possesses a large and complex mouth which dominates most of its biomass, supported by several small but highly articulated legs.
It causing several different complex songs in the strange Kython language which have various effects on Allies and enemies. It can sing anything from songs to boost the growth speed and attack potency of fellow Kythons, to horrible screeches and demonic curses that can drive humanoids mad
I love this
My idea for a variation - Kython Overseer:
This variant evolves from a Slaymaster who’s needed to help the colony from within. The main task of this variant is to be literal eyes and ears of everything happening in and around the nest. In appearance they’re medium sized, more spherical versions of the slaymaster. These krythons are hyper intelligent (20-24) but have very little physical protection - no claws, tails, and thiner plating (10 AC of natural armor). The overseer is completely blind, but its psionic capability is even higher than the slaymaster. This even allows the overseer to “see” its surrounding with psionics alone. The overseer is arranged to stay resident within the nest, and inside it is kept in a chamber of its own. From inside, the overseer is able to innately scry to anywhere inside the nest and up to 1 mile around it at any time. The overseer is also able to telepathically communicate to/command unspecialized adults within this radius. The real capability of the overseer is to control the adults like pawns. The overseer is able to optimize and Hivemind adults to a degree far greater than their normal capability. In conclusion the Krython Overseer is a defensive security system, nest defense strategist, and a way to hyperdrive hive efficiency if needed.
That’s a really cool idea
@@DungeonDad I thought it would be a really cool idea to add a level of true danger when approaching/exterminating a highly developed hive once the high level party was ready. A near never ending swarm of adult Kythons rushing the party as they try to navigate through the find the overseer or another “queen” of sorts is a very flavorful idea. It also doubles as a plot reasoning device to allow the average intelligence Kythons adults to suddenly become a very efficient platoon at defending its territory or mass producing defenses/resources.
@@firespirit8026 and add a queen who is activly spawning and maybe even activly able ot rapidly "rear/raise" the yong into full adults so the hives by nature have more exclusive members that just so happen to be extream cases for evolving but in turn the hive is more swarm like with them having to not just feed the numbers but also maybe has to seek out thies specal reacionary locations chemicals or something to evolve their lesser broods into stronger more capable members. so they dont just seek to live but are trying to expand eather their own hive or spawn more hives so like if a young princess gets formed thies are extreamly rare born like 1 in a mil deal, and they happen to with some event evolve an adult into a new slaymaster they inturn both of them as defence and breeder and the slaymaster may even be early on a breeder, but that later can be taken into by the queens guard. so a new hive can grow, but if you got some cleaver player or they want ot, realise they could make abuse of this intel with eather preventing any more slaymasters from forming and forces a hive to grow so rapidly from it breeding its self to death or, with really sadistic folks maybe jar of soul the things so this could even be a bbeg deal, and begian being a hive leader. but of corse it would take 2 who are willing to basicly throw humanity and proably sanity down a drain and become masters of their own breed hive. also to lazy to fix the grammar as i got a game going
@@DungeonDad Only two words, Kython Ooze. time for a partial ooze hybrid! Parts of it can partially liquify, turning into a strong, malleable substance capable of changing between the physical characteristics of chitin and maple syrup.(had to make the joke cuz 14:08)
The Liliana captioned with “It’s what my character would do!” Makes sense. She feels like the PC of an edgy wizard who just stopped showing up for sessions, and so the DM gave some emergency character development and turned her into a DMPC in the party
Ain't gonna lie. Had those nipple clamps for my gnome wizard. Loved that DM. Made me regret it instantly but still 10/10 will always take if available.
Need to get some of these... for my dnd character
I’ve got a player who probably would want those. I’m afraid to give them to him but I think it’s a dream come true.
@@maxwellfujs6124 do it >:3
@@maxwellfujs6124 The player or the character??
@@MichaelVeurink both 🥲
Take the Kython growth tree and reverse it.
Kython broodlings enter a new hardening larval phase ---> They emerge as tiny creatures that can burrow through wood, stone, and flesh.
Burrowers enter yet another larval phase, shrinking them further ---> Their cocoons begins to bubble and multiply, experience a sort of cytokinesis ---> They emerge in the thousands, or hundreds of thousands, and begin to swarm. Bonus points if you give them locust wings.
Oh the disgust on my players faces when they encounter these will be so memorable, I love this idea
The kython battleforger: a kython that could have been a slaughter king but using its higher intelligence it becomes a monster that forges new, powerful and deadly weapons and armor. Suddenly the kython broodlings have a suicide vest of acid pods or a mature one has spiked gauntlets dipped in poison that comes from its bite attacks. Slaughter kings are given giant great swords made of thick heavy bone dripping with acid or a flail using a spikes that come from the spike growths of other kythons.
And that also leads to the kython Spartans: a mature kython with more intelligence than a mature one that is able to use weapons and armor but isn’t as strong as a slaughterking. Making up a militaristic army of kythons could leave a party doomed as they try to fight them off or they are a force from a different multiverse that has just grown so powerful and smart they lost all their animalistic behaviors
I love the concept of some kind of winged kython, like if their tunnel system was in a mountain range, so they could so easily go between high altitude flight, dive into a tunnel entrance, and be the typical underground traveller
Actually, I made a Githyanki character who was based off the Yuuzhan Vong from the Star Wars EU, and the Nipple Clamps of Exquisite Pain sounds like something he'd be VERY interested in.
Kython Rearer - A smaller variant of the slaymaster. It has tubes that connect it to up to 12 broodlings. While connected, the broodlings develop at a significantly faster rate and share all of the knowledge of the Rearer. Moreover, each broodling has a 10% chance of being capable of developing into a Rearer rather than a normal adult. The Rearer can also connect to any other grown form of Kython to learn directly from it's experiences, and imparting those experiences directly to future progeny.
The above allows for a significantly faster reproductive cycle, taking what would be an already threatening social creature into a ticking time bomb of a population explosion that will adapt to all tactics used against them over time.
I have a few ideas for new kython variants (don't have names though ).
1) a adaptation that appears in broods that live in smaller caverns (i.e., mines that they took over), this version loses the bite attack and has a slower base speed in exchange for heavier (higher damage) claw attacks, higher AC, and a burrow speed. Its primary function is to expand the tunnels and caverns in which the brood lives, but it can also serve as a "tank" combatant.
2) a swarm of miniature broodlings, which hatch from one egg instead of a weapon or regular broodling.
3) a Medium-sized Kython that trades strength for psionic (or magical, if you're -a coward- not comfortable with the psionics rules) power, serving as a slaughterking-level threat that can more easily handle annoying mages and the such.
Plot hook idea:
Turns out something about the way Kythons were created made them unconsciously aware of all of life on the plante... and made them evolve to match the power of the strongest thing in existence in the material plane.
So, your town has been harassed by baby kythons for, well, ever since you can remember, but lately, they have been getting bigger... and bigger ... and... bigger....
Knowing you cannot possibly outgrow a Kython colony, you set out to understand what makes them grow so much, and you learn of a lich waking up from eternal slumber, or celestials being stranded on the material plane, and you must find a way to stop it from happening to bring the strenght of the kythons back down to a manageable level
And by doing so the players get so powerful that they become the problem
@@thedootlord Ah, a Catch-22. Good...
The Kython Swarm Lord: This size huge walking brood nexus has their exoskeleton exposed around their stomach. Having a fattened, hole filled gut with an orifice that resembles a mouth of sharp teeth. Could you imagine this thing picking you up and stuffing you in there? This rancid acidic stomach mouth with dozens upon dozens of broodlings inside as well ripping into your body? Sounds down right traumatic
I imagine it being like those frogs that carry live young in holes on their back. Trypophobia central, population too many
Gosh I don't even want to imagine this... Bravo!
@@conanmaolcheann5088 and give a random artist to realisticly draw this. and you will make a typophobic out of them
Kython Magemelter with a spell-deflecting carapace, increased mobility, and a sticky, burning spit that doesn't do all that much damage but is great for forcing concentration checks. Has a "magic sense" that allows it to sense spells being cast outside it's normal blindsense radius and a drive to hunt them down. Carapace is a bit weak, lowering their armor, since it's made to stop spells, not swords. Maybe a "disrupting screech" reaction that can interrupt a spell similar to counterspell, but always having to roll for it instead of auto-succeeding against weaker spells.
Tends to evolve when they're in areas of heavy magic use or magical disaster area.
I like the idea
I'll k no nj up mj my koii ok ok bed nkjujyk
Sounds like a really cool utility addition for an encounter, nice
Ok i might steal this for tomb of annihilation because the tomb is so suffused with magic
the kython clutchmother: an evolved slaymaster of huge size with two long claws (looking very similar to hydralisks) which produce and protect eggs for the colony. there is only ever one clutchmother a hive (and if there is one there are two slaymasters one for the hive and one for her guard) the clutch mother lives in the deepest part of the hive often several miles below the surface and produces corrosive sticky sludge to stick the eggs to the walls of her den which also functions like a xenomorph queens royal jelly as a means to promote another slaymaster in the case of her death.
So the impaler type reminds me of mantis shrimp, which come in smasher types and spearer types. The spearer types are terrifying, and remind me a bit of kythons. I kind of want to make a huge spearer mantis shrimp out of these rules, but I think it might be a, "make a coin flip, tails you die" kind of encounter...
Idea time: Kython Crushers: deployed alongside the Impalers to dispatch threats. Crushers will handle the more heavily-armored targets. Armed with sledgehammer-like appendages, these Kythons will pulverize bone, warp metal armor, and cause its victims' brains to suffer deadly concussions. Even the strongest of adamantine armor is not enough to protect yourself from these creatures. Even if they miss you, the concussive force from such blazing fast speed of their strikes might still be enough to do you in.
@@emmasilver2332 I like it
These actually fit perfectly into a world I've been designing, maybe even as bioweapons abandoned by the bbeg because they couldn't control them
hm maybe they might have a hate TO him for just trying to control them or at lest a hive does. and maybe this hive can be a temp friend agenst the bbeg but once the basters gone that can quickly change
@@lechking941 That is an interesting idea, the bbeg is an Elder Brain with a habit of genetically engineering species to serve it's will. I have already established it's way of dealing with failures is to cast them aside and watch what happens.
@@treyhamner385 feel free to use :P when im trowing ideas in comments its free realistate at that point. but hm quite a interesting choice maybe you can meld in chaos beasts as well, being unstable genetic monsters that can easily be a problem. DD has a vid on em and i had an idea of one posably using a chaos beast corruption fo their DNA into a tool and weapon but of corse theres the even once controlled heavy drawbacks of it with possibility of waking up with no gender identifying marks let alone the organs to even do it as one thing or just being with mouths in anyplace but the face for the more unstable sides, or just plenty of minor imperfections that scream your no longer what you want to be ie a dwarf with to much elf like features. so real wacky results BUT for quick early treatments a minor healing magic removes the problem or any form altering effects WILL make you into that form or stone skin just seals ya form for the duration of the spell. (any form shift locks ya shape for a time) and you can go even NUTS here as its another bioweapon thats a lose self spreading cannon. (also gives posably a weapon the party could if extreamly desprate an option at the cost of WHO they are if they let it become them for to long)
Kython Ideas challenge:
Kython mindscreamer - an evolved Slaymaster, covered in thick bony plates. Sacrifices his disruption field ability for a more focused attack that does psychic and thunder damage. More importantly, it provides a mind link to its minions, allowing him to get instant feedback from sentries and coordinate the brood against intruders.
Kython gulper. Evolved impaler, specialised for capturing and interrogating targets. It has a limited ability to perceive light, enough to further improve its stealth with mimicry ability; trades the impaling spikes for paralyzing stingers, and has an ability to telepathically probe a helpless target by stabbing his tongue into their skull. The name comes from the last unusual feature - at the cost of losing a bite attack, the front of the kyton's body can stretch and distend into a pelican-like gullet, allowing it to roll up and swallow a helpless target up to human size, carrying it off to interrogate in peace once out of sight.
Kython deathshaper. Evolved slaughterking, it is distinct bu growing a more typical fiendish face on top of its upper jaw, as well as retractable bone blades in the four arms. It loses the poison spray ability, but can absorb and 'learn' up to four abilities of magical creatures by devouring them (they get one power from each victim and can lose an ability to learn a better one later) It is especially keen to hunt other fiends for this purpose. This could be something active like a spell-like ability, a new immunity. If a power is linked to a special mode of movement, a deatshaper will get it too (such as gaining a swim speed to go with immunity to Styx water)
Kython Sanctumcrusher: A Huge Kython variant that is very slow and not terribly powerful in one-on-one combat with a powerful foe, but has extremely thick armour plating and the siege monster trait. It develops when the Kythons begin taking on settlements; and its purpose is to take down watchtowers, city gates, and other structures.
I can see something like Kython symbiotes who latch onto either other Kythons or other creatures and basically act like secondary characters who do things like firing fire balls while the bear it's attached to charges the party or give a kobold a force field. You could also willing let the symbiotes attach to you which can allow wizards and barbarians to have more armour or extra range power, over time the symbiotes can (if not pruned) slowing grow more powerful but will try to make you side with the Kythons which adds a risk/reward aspect.
Kythovore:
Physically inept they are able to consume magic items and use as well as pass on the effects to new brood (though that brood will be Kythovore as well) and only so many item effects can be bequeathed, no 100 item Kythovores.
They also gain the ability to cast spells by eating magic users, though only prepared spells can be learned, a kythovore can learn up to 5 spells, ranging from the levels of the magic user eaten. These spells can be passed on to new generations and exist next to the item adaptation. Some of Kythovore may even learn more powerful and numerous spells.
Custom Kython variant: The Kython Maw-Master.
Only slightly taller than the average adult kython, but much wider, the Kython Maw-Master is a a decent bit stronger than a regular adult in melee, due to having extra weight it can throw around, and having a stronger bite, as well as a 5-6 ability to try and swallow an enemy whole, but it’s primary distinguishing characteristic is it’s ability to produce acid from its mouth as a ranged attack, essentially giving it an innate and enhanced version of the acid spitter weapon, being able to utilize it in three separate forms: a long range spit, that acts the same as the acid spitter weapon, just at a much longer distance, a medium range upchuck, where it coughs out a glob of acid that bursts in a small area within the attacks range, dealing damage to all creatures within the area of impact, and a short ranged spray, allowing it to damage all enemies within a cone around the Maw-Master.
I loved that book when it came out and made a powerful Jerren Necromancer. Kythons are so cool. I'll always equated them to the Xenomorphs from Aliens. So cool.
Ideas;
Kython Mock Dragon
A juvenile may stay to remain a juvenile as long as it wishes, though getting larger and experiencing more and more pain as it grows due to 1. Growing pains and 2. Needing more to eat. If one reaches an absurd enough size, it may adapt wings and the ability to launch a stinger from the end of its tounge like a missile to become the devastatingly powerful Kython Mock Dragon. The different dragon ages are instead replaced by how large the Juvenile Kython was before it adapted; not only more physical force is granted, but also a further drive to kill and exact revenge on the world from extended pain.
Broadcaster Kython
A Kython with a scrawny, drained and fragile 8ft main body but an absurdly long neck that takes up 2/3 of its length, topped by multiple heads pointing outward like some nightmare mix of a flower and a mace. It lets loose echoing cries that not only disorient any adventurers nearby or in the nest when it comes to location, but also bark orders to other Kython. Although they don’t attack themselves as their limbs would snap like twigs, their cries are deafening at close range and serve to stun any non-kythons. For those thinking this is just siren head, yes, indeed it is.
The Kythonic Beast Lord is the oldest and by far most powerful Kython. He has been here almost as long as some of the oldest ancient dragons. He has grown to be the size of an adult red dragon, however he is much smarter, able to have very complex thought, and can even infer when things are happening, when he isn't even close to where they are. He is much more draconic than his hive of smaller Kython. He has regrown his tail from the beginning of his life, to keep balance better. Now he lies and waits, till the kingdoms have been weakened by war, so he can finally do what his creators could never have even dreamed of. Rule the material plane.
They really started to sound like someone wanted to put some Zerg genes in there too when you pointed out they can choose to just grow weapons out of the eggs instead of bloodlings. That being said, it would be terrifying if there were an equivalent to the Zergling from Starcraft that was tiny but appeared in hordes of ten or more. They wouldn't have much health or deal crazy amounts of damage individually but sometimes it's the inexorable tide of anklebiters that will do the unprepared prey in.
Remember the Kythons are intelligent, so they would learn that the short range of their blindsense is a major limitation after encountering other lifeforms and would take steps to overcome it:
0) There will be obviously be guards and scouting patrols before meeting other intelligent creatures once the brood reaches a certain size.
1) The first measure, implemented immediately, would be ordering patrols to call for backup before engaging enemies _en masse_ (As DM, you can decide how likely Kythons are to follow these directions.) and creating a system of tunnels with hatchlings or juveniles stationed within to serve as an early warning system.
2) If they have adults, the Kythons would eventually work to devise a stationary emplacement that extends their detection range, effectively working like watch towers. This could directly extend their blindsight, or supplement it with another sense such as hearing, detecting the psionic emanations of creatures, radar/lidar/passive or active sonar, or detecting life force or souls. The sky's the limit with fiends, just be consistent about how it works.
Whatever the method, as soon as it's invented, the Kythons would set to work miniaturizing it.
3) First Kython-portable, but stationary sensors that must be set up in place.
4) Then a handheld sensor that takes the place of a weapon while it is being used, like the motion sensor from the _Alien_ franchise or a telescope. This gives adventurers the option to "blind" a group of Kythons by killing the holder or stealing the sensor.
5) Finally a magic item that can be worn or magic enchantment that can be applied to weapons or cast as a spell, etc.
As the DM, you can decide how fast you want them to develop.
Kython oculus: a creature specifically designed as an alarm for the hive. Its blindsight is much further or perhaps its tremorsense and it can convey any information it gleans to any other creature of the hive in that range, but its immobile and has no combat capabilities of its own.
For a plot hook make some of the eggs loot in a dungeon. The party cant identify them and theyre dormant until some blood gets on them. Likely they will be sold off to some merchant. Next time the party checks in to the same town it is in the grips of a minor infestation originating from the merchants house. The merchants logs mention having sold the other ones but keeping this one for himself but theres more of the eggs than what the party sold in the merchants house. Ideally they will piece together that they brought this fate upon the town and there are other eggs at large
Yo. Kython Double. An offbranch of Kython that have taken a much more humanoid appearance, adapting to have two arms and two claw-arms. These claw arms are often kept tucked close to their backs. These Kython Doubles are much less feral than the rest of Kython society, as they are often used for espionage or scouting in order to find or make opportunities for benifiting the rest of the brood- mostly. Some Kython Doubles may ditch their hives and persue their own paths, which will to their being exiled or being hunted down by their brood.
These creatures are easily my favorite in DnD history, such fluid ways to use them and they're the closest things to Xenomorphs in DnD. Am looking forward to plotting with my DM to include these in his campaign, cheers!
I was planning this for a long time, I was looking for a Tyranid type monster in my world(Aka Krotea), long story short the first campaign which was the Calamity war ended(This was a conflict between the God of Evil against Mankind) the second campaign started, so I wanted to make a world-level threat to the continent of Clecegor. I have already made the BBEG, however, a giant threat was yet to appear, so I began to search for a creature which was a new organism produced by the nature made to dominate the world, and now thanks to this video, I am planning a massive adventure arc which will culminate with them entering a Kython hive which will be kilometers deep and will have hundreds of thousands of eggs, it would look like the dragon nest scene from httyd where they would literally cover the ceiling, and about 10000 active Kythons in it. And in the center of the hive will be a CR 23 Queen, and a CR 19 Swarmlord, who will be the boss fights, I plan on them being level 13 so they will have to run.
So in the end they would escape and see the hill on which the hive entrance is located, would be destroyed by a Burrowing Kuthon and an army of Kythons emerging, this army would look like a sea of kythons and there would be weaker flying Kythons in such amounts that it would block out the sky. This will be the turning point not only for the campaign but for the whole homebrew world I created, the next major adventure arc would be convincing other nations to help Suwupia(in where Kythons have emerged). This will lead to a MASSIVE WAR, and I mean a continent size war, NOWHERE will be safe, they will get you anywhere you are no matter how hard you try.
so you want a *END TIMES* war event than, lovly
Also brody I know you read this comment, and yes your character will be killed if you tell it to other players.
@@LorgarAurelius XD *falling over form laughter*
Kython Dreadmage: A very rare mutation caused a Slaughterking to become attuned to the Weave, and magic surges all over its body. It gains the ability to cast spells from the Sorcerer's spell list.
The first thing that came to mind is a Tarrasque. It's the equivalent to their high command, or it's used as a siege weapon bashing down fortress walls.
Ah yes. The DnD Tyranids.
I askes my grandma buy this book for me when i was about 14. She didn't know what she bought. Sorry Nana. 😆
Oh your poor poor grandmother-
What about this for the kython creations.
The kython barbspitters: A kython specialized in both air and ground subduction. AKA, it effectively fires out either a single harpoon-type projection, or a kind of grape shot of sinew resembling a net. Both of these are used for dealing with hard to reach or targets too large to effectively overwhelm. Flying and giant creatures are both prime targets, and after they are subdued, are bore down on from any other more effective kython form.
For a Kython idea "Devourer" dog sized creature, who pretty quick but are moderately weak physically both in defence and attack, and try using cover to stay out of sight until the prime opportunity hits utilizing their blindsight to still be aware of their surroundings (possibility of being able to burrow underground to hide, but not tunneling movement) they could then latch on to a creature who comes within range and if they hit they can attempt to absorb the targets DNA some sort of con save to resist. Other varients could focus on absorbing magic cast nearby (effectively counterspelling) or psionics.
If successful they gain huge amount of power and rapidly grow and evolve, becoming unstable with all the excess energy/power. If stealing DNA would attack in a wild frenzy with large number of powerful attacks until they die either from the enemies or due to overexerting unrelenting attacks, they lose all sort of preservation and often the overexertion of muscles and frenzy kills them. While with magic stealing variant they would run as quickly as they can near the foes of the hive and explode dealing massive magic and or acid type damage. Since some ants that can suicide to defend their nest so thought this was fitting.
Also as a question for you guys any thoughts on monsters i can run in my campaign, Im running a custom game set several hundred years after curse of strahd in barovia where the adventurers beat him but cults sort of sprang up and the mist is the overarching evil of the campaign. I want some really sinister hive mind based creatures that live in the mist and occasionally attack out of it like mist is their lair. Ideally something creepy and wierd, and have some mist like qualities to them.
Great video!
You mentioned Tyrannids, which got me thinking - what about a Kython superassassin that is very similar to the Impaler, but with camouflage properties and a much, much higher intelligence, similar to Tyrannid Lictors. Or hell, what about Kythons that can literally cast Greater Invisibility, or even Disguise Self?
Mix that with the Phase organ. That's terrifying
My idea for a variation is a gigantic snake like one with a bladed hood like a cobra, it would in circle its sleep/incapacitated prey then wrap its mandibles around their face and force eggs into their stomach which would burst out some time later.
What if there was a Kython that had somehow evolved bones or barbs that it could shoot out from its arms, wrists or back and they would grow back on their own! I know it's a simple possible evolution but I still love the idea :D
Ooh, ohh! What if instead of shooting from the arms, they grew long spines from their backs and plucked them to use as javelin.
@@quynlanvuorensyrja5484 ooh, nasty. I like it.
Kython Heartstopper: A specialized form of Kython that evolves from an adult like the other three specialized forms. These typically appear in smaller Kython broods that need to handle a large amount of enemies at one time, particularly if they've been left alone for a while. They're capable of rapidly rubbing segments of their swollen back carapace together like a cricket to produce a baleful trilling sound that can be heard from hundreds of feet away. Creatures that can hear it must make a wisdom saving throw each round or become frightened. Creatures within 30ft of it who are already frightened need to make constitution saves against gaining levels of exhaustion each round as their heart starts beating irregularly in their terror. Unlike normal exhaustion, this resembles jitters, hyperventilation and heart palpitation and can therefore be removed with Calm Emotions or spending ten minutes to destress in a safe environment.
Leaning on the Alien and Warhammer inspiration, I propose the Kython infester. Unlike other kython adults, the infester keeps its stinging tail and their body is slimmer and sleeker. Their tail has the ability to “infest” creatures they sting. This functions as a dominate person spell as well as makes the target view the kython and its’ brood as friends and can receive telepathic orders from the infester and other higher level kython. This allows brood husks to infiltrate humanoid settlements without raising suspicions. After 1d4 weeks, the infested individual mutates into a kython brood husk, effectively a lobotomized husk of a former person with chitinous plates and spikes protruding through their skin. (You could use basic zombies as a template for these.) These husks can then spread the infection further.
Oh boy, genestealers in DND
Or you could make them walking eggsacks. On the outside it may look like some kind of tumor that bursts in the day of invasion, spawning 1d4 broodling
I'm gonna take this. Sorry not-sorry.
What kind of save would you say a Player would need to make, and what DC would you recommend. You know, just in case.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim Constitution, and DC is probably around 16-17
@@user-fg6nf8iy2r Many thanks. I find this might become relevant soon in my campaign. 🤣
One of my players told me that they wanted me to "Take off the kiddie gloves."
My adaptation: The Brood Cage
Size huge creature with a hollow cavity in its bulbous abdomen and a muscular sphincter that opens the cavity. The armor is very tough (lots of hp) and it floats similar to a blimp. Inside the cavity, it holds the kython army. They'll hover over to a town or village and drop the brood down on the heads of their (soon to be) food down below. Like a flying APC
I unironically love the Kython
Kython that flys. plain and simple... and terrifying-
Kython Magebane: A kython dedicated to slaying mages or long range fighters. They have heavy Magic resistance and only take physical damage. They also have a very fast speed and always go after casters first. They hold a large spear that is also their tail that they can use to spray poison that causes their opponent’s ranged spell attack modifier to be lowered by 1d4.
Kython armorer: a large size kython with a somewhat humanoid shape trailing into a more worm like hindquarters covered in overlapping plates of exoskeleton, with it’s arms stopping at the elbow. At the end of its X number of shortened arms it has 6-9 (nice) small extremely sensitive appendages similar to spider legs, as well as an opening that can secrete a thick acid like substance it uses to make it’s creations. The nimble appendages shape and mould the substance as it dries and hardens into a tough chitinous piece of armor or weaponry made specifically for a brood member. A brood will typically only have one or two armorers, as the amount of food required to sustain them and their production would put a fair amount of strain on any brood. The armorer is mostly stationary, has a movement speed of 15, but a dummy high ac. The armorer is also capable of using it’s reaction to raise the AC of a kython within 30 feet by 5 until the end of that creatures next turn. The armorer’s primary attack ability is an acid spit from the glands in its arms, has a range of 60 feet and deals single target damage. The effected creature must make a dc 17 dexterity saving throw, on a failure the creature takes 4d6 acid damage and half that for a success. A creature that fails it’s saving throw also gains the “hardening” status. Over the next 1 minute, the effected creature must make strength saving throws to perform any action, reaction, movement, or bonus action; with the dc starting at 5 and increasing by one for every action the creature takes, failing the strength saving throw prevents you from taking whichever action you were attempting. At the end of the creatures turn, the dc is automatically increased by 5. After one minute has passed, the creature is now considered petrified. The effected creature can prevent petrification in any way your players decide they want to get a bunch of acidic rubber cement off of themselves, get creative. Once petrified, the creature Gains 8 AC and immunity to acid damage until the exoskeleton is destroyed. The fully hardened exoskeleton has 45 hit points, along with some of the more obvious resistances, and a weakness to bludgeoning and thunder damage. Finally, the showstopper…..
Multi attack
2 claws
And a bite
That’s all folks
This is definitely one of the best thought out I've seen so far, great job!
I feel like the Kython could be adapted to become something very similar to the Chimera Ants from Hunter X Hunter, where they take attributes from the creatures they kill to further evolve themselves. That would make for quite an interesting and terrifying story.
I stumbled across this late, but let me confess. I love Kythons. Back in University I ran a group and decided to implement some Kython related horror. Of course, I was fully prepared to reward the party with a reward well above their level due to how brutal Kythons were. The premise...was an abandoned village that they had been sent to investigate as academy students....and they eventually discovered an Aliens-esque hive of Kythons through a series of encounters that...well, let's be honest. It jump-scared the party to the point that after just barely slogging their way through...getting to the very, very final building with easily a CR 8's worth of treasure, funds and rewards (from previous investigations, local law enforcement etc) in the cellar. With a -single- Kython hatchling. Simple, right? One small babeh Kython to make bank. So much bank. Even only taking a small share they'd be exceptionally well kitted up.
No. The party stood at the edge of the cellar. And started pouring down every bit of lantern oil they had. Then cooking grease and fat. Then starting to actively rip up spare spellbooks and scrolls to throw parchment down. And wood. And kindling. Smashing furniture. And then, they set it ablaze. Their final Kython encounter was 'NOPE.' They ditched an insane amount of reward for the slog they had crawled through and left the abandoned village, with its hall burning away... and effectively had all wound up with PTSD. We broke the drow's ego and pride. The rogue's confidence. The sorcerer's 'unlimited power' trip. All of them were broken and shattered....
That is still one of the most loved sessions simply because it became pure horror. A claustraphobic dungeon crawl against close quarter apex predators.
I do love homebrewing them - using Xenomorphs and Tyranids as templates you can get them further and further toward epic levels.
Also, btw, the Miniatures Handbook from the same era had Kruthik - who aesthetically matched Kythons rather well and with a bit of basic tweaking of type and HD, adding some blindsense etc. made a very nice 'sub species' to add in.
I've been waiting for this update video ever since I found this channel a couple months ago. I became a Patreon just in time to see it come out early and to specifically ask for it, so the timing couldn't have been better. Thank you bro.
Now for the challenge of creating a Kython that is stronger than the slaughter king. In my opinion, 5e actually already has a creature perfectly suited as a Kython. It's semi insectile, is covered in spikes and plates, and is known for causing untold destruction. Wring a bell? The Tarrasque is a perfect creature for the Kythons to be led by, and giving it both actual sight and the senses and abilities of the two major Kython alphas, as well as many of the upgrades Kythons can get bumped up to 11, the Tarrasque is the ultimate boss that can actually scare parties of 20th level with it's new minions and gargantuan bone ballista it just laid as an egg and shoved into it's spine.
Good luck to your players
Happy to be of service! Also you just blew my mind. The Tarrasque as a kython is such a wonderful idea. I may just use that!
kython scouts, they are sent out by the colony to find more area to grow and expand when the nest gets to big, and alert and lead slaymasters to the area to colonies or away from danger, are also used to find sources of food or danger, and lead the impalers to the far away targets. the scouts look like adults except they have a set of wings and a fly speed, they are also very agile having the same if not more dex then the impalers, though do to having a soft exoskeleton to fly resulting in a low AC, they are not very powerful but have the same bite and claw attacks as well as the ability to disengage as a bonus.
I watched your first video years ago and ended up running an entire campagin based on them. They were sealed away and the seal was breaking and they were slowly waking and descending down a mountain. This caused war with the fleeing goblin tribes and the kingdom below. Though not my best game as a DM, it was my favorate story line. Thank you so much for bringing them to my attention. I just love them.
Recently discovered you, but this video gave me the inspiration I needed to work on a one shot for D&D based on Dead Space with the Kython as a stand in for the Necromorph threat. I'm really looking forward to traumatizing my players!
I think the real horror here is letting the party assume they're mindless, Claw and bite using monsters... and then spring a squad of Kython cross bows on them, or have the monsters deliberately lure the party toward traps. Have them show the party that they're *just* as smart as them, if not smarter. Plus if they don't fear death, they can make traps really dangerous, deliberately grappling and pulling them in to take the party member with them.
I love the adaptive hive mind style that Kythons bring to the game.
Glad that this was revisited.
"Do we really need the rules for the Nipple Clamp of Exquisite Pain?" Yes, most assuredly yes we do.
So watched this video after the night twist and it reminded me of a biology special I shared with my gf. There's this thing called Devil's Gardens in tropical forests. A plant had basically formed a symbiotic relationship with ants, hosting their colony in it's body. The ants in turn trim back vegetation and plant it's seeds to grow new colonies. So as a nightmare scenario, what if we were to do the same with these 2 monsters? An invasive alien species trimming back other civilization with trees that draw in unsuspecting victims into it's hollow trunk for it's precious friends to kill
A kython type I would make would fly and drop fully matured broodings and a bunch of corrosive enzymes, sort of like a bomber plane. It would have a high blind sight to fly and also sometime swoop down to attack enemies of the hive, perhaps I could evolve to one that drops slay kings as a sort of nuke
Well mating ants fly to spread their colonies far and wide so maybe a new Kython could specialize in moving to new dimensions. Scrying and dimension door would be obvious.
You know what? I think I'm cool with the BoVD after all these years. It has this fucked up exploitation movie feel to it, and I'm fine with that being a thing. It's... definitely not for everyone, but I can dig something like this being out there every now and again.
The Defender:
Is really tall (8-9ft tall or something) and have lots of chitin plating and are very bulky, and has several bulky long arms (probably 5-6 fr long) that have large chitin plates at the end of each arm. This unit defends other Kythons from attacks by quickly blocking those attacks with their “shields”, and can do so from a long distance. They also have multiple eyes around their head so that they can react quickly and interpose their “shields” to block multiple attacks to multiple Kython soldiers at once.
When they need to fight back, they use their arm length to swing their chitin plates at their target with great momentum, much like swinging a hammer.
OK I've got a cool variant.
It would be called a watcher(an evolution of the slay master), it wouldn't have eyes but the creature could serve almost as a communication tower between the other Kythons because it's evolution would be to have telepathy, burrow speed, a lot of hit points(it would be a chonky boi), a breath attack(poison and acid dmg because why not) and obviously blind sense out off 1 miles.
It would be the perfect tactician(s) and could be an objective for the party to take down one to weaken the horde(or hoard idk).
Maybe call it a listener instead?
horde is a large group of people, or kythons in this case, hoard is what dragons do with stuff they like
I like to think the Kython Slaymaster just has retractable claws that only extend when in use.
Thanks for including Zerg footage, I always liked the similarities between the two.
I used kythons (mock-ups from your 5E conversion guide video) in my Rime of the Frostmaiden game. I moved the illithid capsule from Karkolohk to Revel's End and put a kython egg inside of it instead of the gibbering mouther. When my players went looking for the prisoner they needed to talk to, they instead found an empty (at first) prison that had clearly been through hell. As the party descended deeper underground to reach the Solitary Confinement ward, they stumbled into the nest and had to fight their way out.
We're all fans of the alien franchise and it was one of the most nail-biting sessions any of us had ever experienced.
I have an idea about a Kyython that can switch between every state of it's evolution and use that as an advantage, like transforming into an egg and when prey gets close they transform into a Slautherking
A Swiss army knife Kython.
You know it's hardcore when it looks like its from Warhammer
After seeing this video a while ago, I recommended the channel to my DM in a Spelljammer game we're playing.
Last week he dropped the hook that the Kythons had taken over an entire sphere and several factions were fighting then, so that's cool and also terrifying.
Kython variant Idea;
Batterer;
Two of their limbs have become enlarged to brutally powerful fists that can both pack a massive punch and knock down the sturdiest of gates.
Like the Impaler if they move at least 10 feet towards a foe, they take extra damage; taking bludgeoning damage instead of piercing, and instead of grappling, they shove any foes up to 30 feet away in addition to knocking them prone on a failed strength save.
They have the Siege monster ability; dealing double damage to structures, and their Claw attacks count as adamantine for overcoming resistance and immune to non-adamantine weapon attacks; covering a horde's notable weakness to golems.
The Slaymaster was intended to have 50 magical nipple clamps, each enchanted with death Ray magic.
A huge thank you for digging these up. They were just what I needed for the campaign I am creating :)
I dont know if anyone mentioned this, but since these very much look like they were heavily inspired by 40k Tyranids, if anyone wants to see what the original inspiration might've been for the Slaymaster, look up how a Malanthrope looks like.
For the lazy bunch, this means Slaymaster was indeed supposed to lose its legs, but keep the front claws for attacks. Could mean they were supposed so slither around or maybe even float a bit with their psychic powers.
I watched the stream way back then, and binged your TH-cam channel after that 😊 Kython idea: low CR plant-like ones that can deal with open fields, absorb sunlight to convert into magic or traps, and alert a brood in the tunnels below that prey are overhead. Make 'em spiky, thorny, or even like pitcher plants and Welwitschia bushes.
Kython Planeswalker: this Kython subspecies can shift between different planes.
Kython Juggernault: this Kython subspecies can take massive amounts of damage.
Kython Shifter: this Kython can shift gravity and space around either a location (such as a hallway) or a person (for example decreasing the gravity the fighter currently going against the Slaughterking would be experiencing)
"Book of Vile Darkness" considering the name and the fact that in game reading from it causes psychic damage....yeah I think it can be pretty edgy
Kython onlooker- This type of kython surrounds their territory and look out for threats, they need little food and even though they are skinny, they are quite strong, but don't worry they have thousands of eyes, along with that they have harpoon tails and THEY HAVE SPECIAL EYES for freezing potential threats in fear(and to add in a creepy factor, they can secrete a thick fog that cause hallucinations, and to add even more fear their eyes glow in the fog) so, what do you all think?
Kython Inflitrator, medium fiend - a kython capable of polymorphing itself capable of becoming any creature of the same CR or less as an action. They gain the movement and natural attacks of creatures they transform. They are capable of telepathy with all other kythons from their brood within 1 mile. They can learn the languages of any creature they fully consume. They also will often regain fragmented memories of their former meal.
I would mix Kythons and Kruthics as they are pretty similar and it would be beliveable that both these monsters belong to the same race. Also there should definitely be a flying variant.
And in the end, what would be cooler then if the kythons lair is actually an enormous kython? A bit like the leviathans of the zerg swarm or the hive fleet of tyranids. A super slow and lumbering menace can obliterate anything that stand in its way, the only way to destroy it is at its core.
Finally, if I were to make a fully fledge campaign based on them I would allow them to infiltrate and corrupt peoples and really add The thing angle were anyone could be working for the kythons.
In my current campaign I've got almost exactly that... like the "Alien" xenomorphs, I've got Kythons using Kruthiks as the incubators and incorporating their features... death from below, or above, or through the walls... and at range with thrown spike attacks.
I mean Kython are intelligent and you have ants that enslave each other all the time. Kython could figure out how to enslave and incorporate Kruthik easily enough.
They sound a lot like the Kruthik (5e) also like the Slivers (MTG) just a ton more evil and horrid. I would thumb thru my Sliver deck for some flavor and inspiration. A flying Kython, kython that give others + to hit, kython that can rapidly age the others… d4 rounds egg becomes young, d6 rounds young become adult.
As a quick side note, the nipple clamp of exquisite pain is actually a cornerstone for a 3.x experience farming machine. It was put together to basically sidestep one of the main crafting costs in the system (because it costs experience to create items in 3.x... for some reason)
When I found your channel, I started with your old videos first (more or less). I've gotta say, watching your well founded confidence and deliberate methods improve has been really neat.
Imagine Kythons mixed with Illithids. That would be horribly delightfull
You monster!
@@DungeonDad wouldn't it be an interesting campaign? Freeing a Kython brood of the influence of Illithids? And, as Illithids, I can see the attraction of weaponized Kythons to be used agains't enemies
I present the idea of a Kython Kaiju: The Devestation Tyrant.
A Gargantuan sized Kython the result of tens of thousands of Kython korpses being mashed together into a singular monstrosity. This creature walks on all six limbs and has a blind sight that stretches as far as a mile, with a bulk and strength to tear down city walls and level castles.
But it's REAL danger is with how it uses its poison. Either by spewing it directly from its maws or by opening organic vents on its sides, the Kython spews such an ungodly amount of poison into the air that it begins to RAIN with in, causing all non kython creatures within a mile of it to make a con saving throw or take poison damage on top of the permanent reduction in HP.
the brew-savant.
basically, a kython potion seller that brews dozens of potions within its grotesque and bulbous, lumpy body, that range from simply an upgraded form of their venom to a potion that can forcefully evolve an adult or age up a younger member of the brood.
A Kithon that carries a huge sac of its young on it's back to spread the swarm.
An evolved Impaler that can go invisible. Much like a lictor.
A living artillery piece that bombards settlements and barricades with acid globs.
Snatchers, steal away villagers to take back as food. But does so with what sounds like a serene song but it actually a psionic attack on the mind that turns them into a blubbering mess.
Sorry carried away there.
Great video
Kython Recycler: Roughly the size of an ordinary Kython adult, but their legs fuse together into a mermaid-esque tail ending in a stinger. This is useful as it generates a acidic slime bubble that they sit inside like a nucleus. Something kind of like a warhorse and rider, but the warhorse has no thought of its own and the rider is inside the warhorse. They can use these acidic slime balls for defense, as it will offer resistance to attacks and the ability to evade at the cost of reducing the huge ball's size. These Kythons use their balls for terraforming and melting biological matter into slurry which can be used to feed the young. These Kythons can also host biological weapons within the bubble like a cell's organelles to use them or act as a carrier for other troops weapons. If the bubble is sufficiently damaged the ball would become too small to offer any protection and cause the Recycler to lower it's speed to a mere 10ft as they must crawl with their arms.