I'm imagining now wild stews who have colonised hot springs, sometimes pulling animals into the mess of somewhat acidic and naturally hot water to drown and boil them.
@@AJPickett i want to give an idea for a monster, a tool/minion, kind of thing, basically a fleshy bomb with a mouth that floats, it goes after players then bites on then to latch itself and then explode about 3 turns later, you can make a strenght save to break its teeth that are about as strong as shark teeth, if you suceed it falls motionless, and can be picked up, then stored somewhere or tossed like a granade, like a fireball spell, it hits something with enough strengh it explodes, if you lack strenght it just bounces about, comes from various sizes, from handgranade sized to beachball size, to which case it can be lauched by a trebuchet, the teeth can vary in shape, quantity, and sometimes size, to four big ones , that act more lake a bracelet, to hundreds of tiny needle like teeth, to mantain that creature docile, you have to occasionaly break its teeth, those grow back in three days, this flying ball of explosive, is easy to modify, all it takes is feed it the right thing, like poison to change to a poison explosive, to liquid ice, or any magical brew, dominate monster can work though to fire from hand or contraption you have to break teeth, the teeth can be used by being powdered, and if you can remove the explosive content, the secretion also has uses, modify its alchemical property, before squeezing it like a lemon, and you get a fair amount, of that magical nitroglycerine, be mindfull though, outside the body it acts like nitroclycerine being easier to ignite due to oxygenthough if you dilute it with some water and alchemical solution it can be made drinkable for the producton of potions, just don't expect it to taste all that great, the way out is even worse , get those mile on the iron stomach feat, the liquid, once diluted is safe, oddly enough, for the potions effects, it allows you to acess a temporary buff effect that grants a + 5 to a random stat, and depending of the elemental affinity of the liquid at the time of potionmaking, it can be granted immunity to poison, resistance to ice, or even resistance to fire or magic, your characteristics as a species, is not a factor, it just plains ignores it, everbody suffers equally, valuable if dangerously unstable little critter, if the teeth are there. its inteligence is.......well it just bites living things taht get too close , you can use automatons or undead to get close and pick then up from the air ,just be carefull not to disturb too many at once , does make noise, chittering of teeth, or pincing noises depending of the teeth, and a gross gurgling noise when squeezed name : chittering bomb when it blows up it returns to the original plane were it comes from, being tecnichally a demon, though ne that for some reason don't produce corruption, it has to do with the liquid inside of it, whatever it is in there, is not telling anyone its secrets, money sink that one.
the chittering bomb, is summoned from, and manifests in the abyss, may hold the secret to stop demonic corruption, acts a bit like a ..crazed cell, crossed with a lemon, and the judge gave up on telling if it is a demon or not, it comes from the abyss, but has no abyssal connection, nor corruption, despite being as disgusting as any demon, nothing makes sense on that freaky little thing, demons don't bother much, havesting teeth and keeping it calm is fun to them, like bubble wrap, so the minions can't complain too much. summoning then is a hassle, open then close, open then close, why it works like that, that's is not understandable either, is just tedious work.
@@AJPickett is not a demon, no, but although it was often compared to something akin to beholders, or thigs connected TO beholders, it is not even a false beholder, it has no eyes to speak of, though some have small almost imperceptible eyes (two), but never the one big eye of beholders, nothing even close, beside it function more or less like you can guess it does, a ball that bites, has muscles of a mouth, weights about what you'd expect, save the beachball sized ones that is slightly heavier or lighter deending on content with the ice one being one of the if not *the* heaviest effective one, though some alchemists manged to make other more...bizarre ones, like the lead bomber variant, fed with substance? of liquid metal it makes it heavy like lead, but only at certain heights (?!!!!) so it can twist gravity...somehow, it is fired from a catapult, and strike and sinks like a cannon ball, then in three turns, explodes, in metal shrapnel or metal spheres, 50/50 chance roll to decide, i can only imagine it happens because of the manipulation of gravity that occurs inside, and that that one somehow triggers because of whatever liquid metal that alchemist put there, whoever it was, died with the secret, maybe because it revealed the control of gravity, up in the air , who has access to it now, thank the gods this variant is crazy rare due to this, no to mention difficult to make, and likely expensive too. If you find a demonic army with it, then a) we know where that alchemist went to and b) they will not exactly spam it
Love the idea of a perpetual stew leading a camp of monsters to gather ingredients to make itself more powerful like collecting monster parts like dragon and troll meat.
I grew up in rural Alabama, born into a home with a coal stove in the kitchen and a wood stove in the living room, and an outhouse out back. Grandma always kept a pot of stew on the stove and all of the leftovers went in plus whatever we foraged, trapped or fished from the local creeks. We farmed our land, sold the extras at the market. We worked odd jobs for neighbours that brought in a little money. We scratched out a living, but we never felt poor.
Being poor is a state of being. Even if you lack the means to readily resupply from outside sources if you have the means to meet your needs easily you are not poor. It is just a different way of doing things. Maybe harder in some ways but no less viable.
Makes me think of my sentient potion, which didn't want to be consumed, only to find out it was a sentient bottle that refills once per day with randomness.
I used a grog looking bottle with a cork, filled it with water, color and glow in the dark powder, then drew a happy and a freak out face on opposite sides as a prop item. Enjoy!
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but a great variation of this would be based on the Australian kits book, the magic pudding. A fully sentient, immortal, endlessly replenishing, grumpy bowl of pudding with a strong desire to be eaten and the ability to change its properties on request.
I am imagining a tavern run by a family of soup pots. Mama stew in the kitchen cauldron. Papa stew is a brewer, soup bard to entertain, maybe a laundry bucket full of fragrant flowers caustic soda and saparin rich berries, and the doorman/ boiler is a fiery brew in a steam work golem or stationary construct responsible for lighting hot water and mechanical functions. Plot hooks possible stolen family recipe by their cousin the food cart.
I don't see why it needs to be a stew, specifically. What about a dwarven still that has been kept going and hasn't been completely emptied in hundreds of years? It's a sapient ooze, a booze, if you will, who just enjoys brewing alcohol for the hardworking dwarves to relax with. Probably a bit brusque, but attentive to the needs of others. Especially if you're tired and sore, and you just need a good beer.
How about a perpetual stew who worships Gond, and sustains its own existence via fish bowl walker golem? The sheer confusion on everyone's face when the golem's top opens, and it dips up bowls of its own innards would be priceless!
"I swear I didn't know he was a sapient cauldron of broth!" "He introduced himself as a Perpetual Stew!" "I thought Stu was just his name, and he was immortal or something!"
Another version of the perpetual stew tradition is a large communal pot, often referred to as stone soup. Everyone in the community contributes whatever they can, even if it's just a stone in the pot to hold heat and raise the level of the pot. If one of these were to awaken, it would be a formidable foe indeed. 🤠👍
So, the Awakened stew, the Awakened Cauldron, and... the Fire "Demon" from Howls Moving Castle... the conversation had would be mind warping for most GMs to play with.
So, resistance to nonmagical slashing and piercing damage. Seems pretty logical. May as well throw in bludgeoning, because I don't think a hammer helps here, either. Your little thought experiment just cranked up the cr of these critters in my world. Hopefully, my players won't notice 😂
@@johntheherbalistg8756 honestly I'd give them full immunity to nomagical weapon damage, unless you decide to count an object being thrust into their cauldron so forcefully it splatters them all over the walls as bludgeoning.
Fun fact: in Kentucky, we call it "burgoo". In the Carolinas, its called "Brunswick stew". The original ingredients in early settler times well into the 1800s were chicken, rabbit, squirrel, fox, hedgehog, opossum, basically any small game a hunter could get their hands on, along with standard root vegetables of potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery, and the usual mix of tomatoes, corn, green beans, peas, whatever a farmer could grow in their garden. You can still get burgoo today in most barbecue spots in Kentucky. The usual mix now will be smoked chicken, pork, and brisket, along with the vegetables. If you're here, try some! It's great! No barbecue meal in Kentucky is complete without a cup of burgoo for your starters, before you have your main course!
Amateur Worldbuilder: Ok, so these are my races, their kingdoms and this is their world. Advanced Worldbuilder: _Art thou prepared to learn 'bout fantasy culinary?_
well, that does it brother, im starting a US non profit church named church of perpetual stew, get together with my players, make food and play, then offer the food up at a local park to the hungry. IRS exempt church supporting DnD style rpgs. ...ironic. i was kicked out of the US Army for engaging in "occult activity"- ie, playing D&D. Ill soon be a legit church leader. playing D&D, feeding the hungry. Im a Wizard! and a rascal DM .
This reminds me of the growths you see in cultured buttermilk. Those growths are basically immortal colonies of many different useful bacteria that constantly grow as long as there are good conditions. I can easily see someone tossing such things into a low heat simmering perpetual stew and having interesting results. That actually sounds nice, I think I'll try making a living perpetual stew analog one of these days. One could use a vessel in which portions can be and are readily kept merely warm while other sections are kept nice and hot. One could in an edible growth medium held within such a vessel grow all sorts of interesting and wonderful things.
I have three hags in my home brew and this makes for a wonderful addition to their lore. The hags are chaotic good and helpful to the PCs most of the time, when it suits them and their designs. Having a living stew never crossed my mind. Thank you😂😂😂 There is a PC in the group that has a hexborn alchemist artificer and might bring this up as a familiar.
@@AJPickett this could also fit a reskinned imp for a pact of the chain warlock or a battle smith artificer who made a magical moving cauldron for the stew. I brought your idea to the table this past weekend and the brain storming was hilarious.
I remember a friend of mine, his granma was cajun. She asked if we wanted any gumbo. I asked what was in it. her reply was, "Whateva didn run fas enough."
Im imagining a restaurant called The Perpetual Pot, run by a Huge-sized Perpetual Stew that manifests itself like the BOTW Great Fairies, and accepts logs of wood or new ingredients in addition to coin for payment.
This kind of reminded me of some old dnd ideas from back when I played (2e,3e,3.5e). Goblins make an alchemical pit where 2/3 die but the survivors have crazy mutations and powers. Have a caldron that does that making mutant monster goblins! Have a caldron that helps the party and npc's but when an opportunity presents itself the caldron will release sleep gas on those close enough to fall in, making them apart of the stew! Maybe it can even turn it's victims into walking skeletons that serve it, or maybe turn them into some kind of minor flesh golems! Man I miss playing dnd.
After watching this video I ended up creating a character named Stu the Stew. Already drew a picture and everything. He has two kids, Sue the soup and Po the potage. He is a college of Cuisine bard from Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting.
So cute, but my fav is 7:46 the Hell Broth, it just looks so evil. Also, thanks so much for all the art, let's keep doing it, I think this video is a great proof of concept :)
What a fantastically creative entity! It's lore like this that, to me, really distinguishes good D&D Multiverse content apart from other collective imaginings.
My grandpa grew up during the depression. This was his standard technique. By the end of the week the “stew” was pretty iffy. Never accept food from a 90 yr old that grew up during the depression. Lol.
Imagine fight with a hag that uses evil perpetual stew in sentient cauldron to aid her in combat. It spews its insides at the players dealing acid or poison damage and causing random potion effects with each attack, or trying to grab the players and drown them inside so it can add them as ingridient. Even better when its inteligent enogh to be persuaded into turning against hag that created it. Previosly I was only considering using hags chiken legged house as her potential ally, throwing random hag themed items from its insides and trampling players with its legs.
This sounds like something from the Feywild. There are stories of talking bread asked to be taken out of the oven, apple trees who want their apples picked, etc. There could be a fun Feywild story where the Archfey is an awakened stew asking for rare ingredients. And now I want to run that adventure.
This is one of the most unique creature concepts I have heard in a while. Which is difficult considering you pull the most strange and obscure monsters of D&D history into the spotlight every week. I would love to see a Volo's Guide style chapter on the Perpetual Stew and the variations of it.
A Halfling caravan could make quite a living as a traveling restaurant with one of these at it's hearth. The flavor of their dishes change based off what local ingredients they can chuck in the living stew. I once added an NPC traveling cook who was a cleric of Fharlanghn to a campaign. He had a strange back harness grown from living wood by a druid which looked like elegant curved branches sprouting from his back to dangle different spices, cookware and produce off of. He also had an animated hanging cooking pot that acted like his pet and ambled around on tripod metal legs.
⭕ Open Source ⭕ (or, in this case, sauce 😁) A cauldron is a hidden portal, a living stew is it's guardian; a nearby flesh golem carves off strips of itself to add to the pot. The midden is mostly tooth and bone fragments, possibly a gold filling or two, periodically dredged up from the bottom of the soup. While this spectacle is somewhat macabre, the aromas are perfectly mouthwatering. Welcome to Hell's Kitchen.
I have been told we don't use the word hobo any more, in New Zealand, we would call this a "Boil Up", traditional Maori cuisine, a large pot with pork bones, watercress, bits and pieces... delicious.
Having watched every single momster video you have, I think this might be the best one you've made yet! I am DEFINITELY making the halflings of a particularly cold region in my setting organize their extended families around particular cauldrons of Forever Stew.
"Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old." Just be careful about that tenth day. The porridge might eat you instead. :P Seriously, though, I like this.
Love this concept, it reminds me of Calcifer from Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle”. It’s really cozy and atmospheric. When you mentioned hags also made these it reminded me of the ritual to turn yugoloths into altroloths by boiling them in a cauldron. Maybe the hellbroth mutates those dipped inside it, or a ritual to create an altraloth ha a chance of failing and melting the yugoloth into stew.
That is exactly what I was thinking about as well, but cut that bit of lore for perhaps expanding on later... some sort of culinary magic book would be cool to make I think.
@@AJPickett culinary magic is basically just tasty alchemy, and creating long lists of potions that players can go on quests to gather ingredients and recipes for sounds amazing, especially when they have whimsical effects and side-effects
I like the idea of the stew having an emergency humaniod soup dumpling mode or mash potato cradle if its spilt on the ground. There are supposed to large soups that are never refreshed in some asian restaurants. That would bea great idea for like a village elder stew in a local of community eating hole.
Excuse me, did I just hear: _Perpetual Stew _*_GURREN LAGANN?_* _Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY! Just who the hell do you think I am?!_ _When they talk about the brave, beguiling and mighty Leader of Team Gurren Lagann, they're talking about ME: Kamina, the one and only!_ -a stew that wasn't transferred but born in a mighty machine, made to make/obtain his own ingredients, and (lacking dexterity of form) has seen no other option but to construct a much larger child who will one day pierce the heavens
I have always included perpetual stew in my campaigns, and never thought to use it like this! Your videos are such a fantastic fountain of inspiration, I thank you so much for helping in coloring and infusing my worlds with such great ideas like this one.
Thank you! This is an awesome idea for a creature and I'm already looking for places to add them. I'm thinking a potion shop in the frozen north, where the stew is the actual potion maker while a slightly ruthless, though not malicious, shopkeeper keeps it warm and fed in exchange of service. I mean, where else is it going to go? It's well below freezing, on the warmest days, outside. ;)
This is the best homebrew idea I've heard in ages. The interesting possibilities are endless. A good/neutral stew npc could make an amazing ally as well as creating fun roleplaying options. By the way, I really liked the artwork that you picked out for this video, beautifully illustrated bizarrerie.
Behind the scenes, the art work on this video is almost entirely created by the Discord server community and one person in particular who was knocking it out of the park with Stable Diffusion software. So, this video is a good proof of concept and we have set up a workable system where I can provide some means to earn a bit of money on my server, as I pay NZ$5 per image I accepted for the vid.
A perpetual stew of oil, coolant, grease, and maybe a few screws/bolts found in a Gnomish workshop. A few levels as an armor artificer here, a couple of heating coils there. Toss in some tool proficiencies and bam! Magical Mobile Garage.
Oh the possibilities, Like everything in DnD to every rule there has to be an exception, Is how about a gaspato, A cold perpetual stew that can only survive only survive in frigid but not freezing environments It wouldn't want to get freezer burn
Hmm maybe give the party one in a campaign you dont wanna have them worry about food for survival, as a means to help explain why they dont need rations for the campaign. And assuming a little explanation on keeping it hot and alive and filled with ingredients, but that shouldn't be to hard lol. Quite a strange but interesting creature, think I will be using this xD
I’d be afraid of making a perpetual stew available to a dnd party, it seems too likely that they’d take it as an invitation to try out cannibalism. Now the murderhobos don’t just murder your npc, they straight up eat them alive.
WOW...A "modified' shield golem as a mobile cooking pot for a perpetual stew to use as a body.. AwEsOME!!🥳🤯🤯😳🤤🤤😎... I'd imagine the "stew golem" would need some sort of heat/fire runes inscribed and enchanted to keep the "pilot" stew comfortable... so many possibilities... lil halfling nanies, battle medics, new interesting RP experiences if it's used as player character. AJ thanks so much for these amazing vids this one is now in top 5 favorites of your vids for me. keep up the amazing work and have an awesome holloween.
Oops! I’ve just decided that’s the name of my perpetual stew: Bloody Brilliant. It’s what nearly everyone who tasted it had to say about it, so, like a parrot, it was the first thing it said upon awakening.
Indeed... however, have you ever tried to knock over a heavy iron cauldron, piping hot and full of scalding, sticky liquid? It's not as easy as it sounds.
I got a construct idea for ya, the wicker man, a hag/tribal construct of enormous size consisting of a giant ephagy usually of a humanoid that is animated by a dark ritual, ancient in orajin, that culminates in a victim being placed within the thing and lighting the hole thing on fire. The thing would be a flaming siege weapon capable of breathing massive cones of fire acin to a needed red dragon as well as having a burning ora acin to fire elemental, give it a frightful presence do to the screams and wailing both from the victim and the wicker man that can be heard for miles. Entiraly evil, usually created to take vengeance on civilized lands or opposing religious organizations.
Bravo! This is an incredible idea and, if I ever get around to DM'ing, I will most definately be stealing it (though if promise not to steal your personal Perpetual Stew).
I love this idea! I like sassy magical items with personalities that act as fun sources of exposition for the main characters (a la Bob the Skull from the Dresden Files), and this monster seems like a good way to do that. It's also just plain fun to take something mundane and make it fantastical.
I'm imagining now wild stews who have colonised hot springs, sometimes pulling animals into the mess of somewhat acidic and naturally hot water to drown and boil them.
See, I never even considered that!
@@AJPickett i want to give an idea for a monster, a tool/minion, kind of thing, basically a fleshy bomb with a mouth that floats, it goes after players then bites on then to latch itself and then explode about 3 turns later, you can make a strenght save to break its teeth that are about as strong as shark teeth, if you suceed it falls motionless, and can be picked up, then stored somewhere or tossed like a granade, like a fireball spell, it hits something with enough strengh it explodes, if you lack strenght it just bounces about, comes from various sizes, from handgranade sized to beachball size, to which case it can be lauched by a trebuchet, the teeth can vary in shape, quantity, and sometimes size, to four big ones , that act more lake a bracelet, to hundreds of tiny needle like teeth, to mantain that creature docile, you have to occasionaly break its teeth, those grow back in three days, this flying ball of explosive, is easy to modify, all it takes is feed it the right thing, like poison to change to a poison explosive, to liquid ice, or any magical brew, dominate monster can work though to fire from hand or contraption you have to break teeth, the teeth can be used by being powdered, and if you can remove the explosive content, the secretion also has uses, modify its alchemical property, before squeezing it like a lemon, and you get a fair amount, of that magical nitroglycerine, be mindfull though, outside the body it acts like nitroclycerine being easier to ignite due to oxygenthough if you dilute it with some water and alchemical solution it can be made drinkable for the producton of potions, just don't expect it to taste all that great, the way out is even worse , get those mile on the iron stomach feat, the liquid, once diluted is safe, oddly enough, for the potions effects, it allows you to acess a temporary buff effect that grants a + 5 to a random stat, and depending of the elemental affinity of the liquid at the time of potionmaking, it can be granted immunity to poison, resistance to ice, or even resistance to fire or magic, your characteristics as a species, is not a factor, it just plains ignores it, everbody suffers equally, valuable if dangerously unstable little critter, if the teeth are there.
its inteligence is.......well it just bites living things taht get too close , you can use automatons or undead to get close and pick then up from the air ,just be carefull not to disturb too many at once , does make noise, chittering of teeth, or pincing noises depending of the teeth, and a gross gurgling noise when squeezed
name : chittering bomb
when it blows up it returns to the original plane were it comes from, being tecnichally a demon, though ne that for some reason don't produce corruption, it has to do with the liquid inside of it, whatever it is in there, is not telling anyone its secrets, money sink that one.
the chittering bomb, is summoned from, and manifests in the abyss, may hold the secret to stop demonic corruption, acts a bit like a ..crazed cell, crossed with a lemon, and the judge gave up on telling if it is a demon or not, it comes from the abyss, but has no abyssal connection, nor corruption, despite being as disgusting as any demon, nothing makes sense on that freaky little thing, demons don't bother much, havesting teeth and keeping it calm is fun to them, like bubble wrap, so the minions can't complain too much.
summoning then is a hassle, open then close, open then close, why it works like that, that's is not understandable either, is just tedious work.
@@pensador6953 Sounds like a modified Gas Spore false beholder.
@@AJPickett is not a demon, no, but although it was often compared to something akin to beholders, or thigs connected TO beholders, it is not even a false beholder, it has no eyes to speak of, though some have small almost imperceptible eyes (two), but never the one big eye of beholders, nothing even close, beside it function more or less like you can guess it does, a ball that bites, has muscles of a mouth, weights about what you'd expect, save the beachball sized ones that is slightly heavier or lighter deending on content with the ice one being one of the if not *the* heaviest effective one, though some alchemists manged to make other more...bizarre ones, like the lead bomber variant, fed with substance? of liquid metal it makes it heavy like lead, but only at certain heights (?!!!!) so it can twist gravity...somehow, it is fired from a catapult, and strike and sinks like a cannon ball, then in three turns, explodes, in metal shrapnel or metal spheres, 50/50 chance
roll to decide, i can only imagine it happens because of the manipulation of gravity that occurs inside, and that that one somehow triggers because of whatever liquid metal that alchemist put there, whoever it was, died with the secret, maybe because it revealed the control of gravity,
up in the air , who has access to it now, thank the gods this variant is crazy rare due to this, no to mention difficult to make, and likely expensive too.
If you find a demonic army with it, then
a) we know where that alchemist went to
and b) they will not exactly spam it
Love the idea of a perpetual stew leading a camp of monsters to gather ingredients to make itself more powerful like collecting monster parts like dragon and troll meat.
It almost writes itself.
Now I'm just imagining a stew learning a cantrip like prestidigitation or firebolt and continually casting it to heat itself up
Very much so, heat metal is also a good option once they level up
I grew up in rural Alabama, born into a home with a coal stove in the kitchen and a wood stove in the living room, and an outhouse out back. Grandma always kept a pot of stew on the stove and all of the leftovers went in plus whatever we foraged, trapped or fished from the local creeks. We farmed our land, sold the extras at the market. We worked odd jobs for neighbours that brought in a little money. We scratched out a living, but we never felt poor.
Being poor is a state of being. Even if you lack the means to readily resupply from outside sources if you have the means to meet your needs easily you are not poor. It is just a different way of doing things. Maybe harder in some ways but no less viable.
Makes me think of my sentient potion, which didn't want to be consumed, only to find out it was a sentient bottle that refills once per day with randomness.
Ha ha! I am borrowing that idea, thank you!
I used a grog looking bottle with a cork, filled it with water, color and glow in the dark powder, then drew a happy and a freak out face on opposite sides as a prop item. Enjoy!
There is something in my dark twisted mind that likes imagining a cauldron suddenly attempting to eat the halfling cooking something in it.
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but a great variation of this would be based on the Australian kits book, the magic pudding. A fully sentient, immortal, endlessly replenishing, grumpy bowl of pudding with a strong desire to be eaten and the ability to change its properties on request.
I am imagining a tavern run by a family of soup pots. Mama stew in the kitchen cauldron. Papa stew is a brewer, soup bard to entertain, maybe a laundry bucket full of fragrant flowers caustic soda and saparin rich berries, and the doorman/ boiler is a fiery brew in a steam work golem or stationary construct responsible for lighting hot water and mechanical functions. Plot hooks possible stolen family recipe by their cousin the food cart.
Lol! Fantastic!
Start with water. Add one Emperor of Mankind. Serve.
Add a bit of Chaos into it for the spicy kick.
@@zawwin1846 my tongue is now a barbed tentacle but I enjoy that extra zing
I don't see why it needs to be a stew, specifically. What about a dwarven still that has been kept going and hasn't been completely emptied in hundreds of years?
It's a sapient ooze, a booze, if you will, who just enjoys brewing alcohol for the hardworking dwarves to relax with. Probably a bit brusque, but attentive to the needs of others. Especially if you're tired and sore, and you just need a good beer.
That works
How about a perpetual stew who worships Gond, and sustains its own existence via fish bowl walker golem?
The sheer confusion on everyone's face when the golem's top opens, and it dips up bowls of its own innards would be priceless!
"I swear I didn't know he was a sapient cauldron of broth!"
"He introduced himself as a Perpetual Stew!"
"I thought Stu was just his name, and he was immortal or something!"
Another version of the perpetual stew tradition is a large communal pot, often referred to as stone soup. Everyone in the community contributes whatever they can, even if it's just a stone in the pot to hold heat and raise the level of the pot. If one of these were to awaken, it would be a formidable foe indeed. 🤠👍
So, the Awakened stew, the Awakened Cauldron, and... the Fire "Demon" from Howls Moving Castle... the conversation had would be mind warping for most GMs to play with.
Wait, hold on. Would something like a sword even be able to harm something like this? "Oh no, you've minced my ingredients further. _How harmful._ "
Not really. Good point.
So, resistance to nonmagical slashing and piercing damage. Seems pretty logical. May as well throw in bludgeoning, because I don't think a hammer helps here, either. Your little thought experiment just cranked up the cr of these critters in my world. Hopefully, my players won't notice 😂
@@johntheherbalistg8756 honestly I'd give them full immunity to nomagical weapon damage, unless you decide to count an object being thrust into their cauldron so forcefully it splatters them all over the walls as bludgeoning.
Fun fact: in Kentucky, we call it "burgoo". In the Carolinas, its called "Brunswick stew". The original ingredients in early settler times well into the 1800s were chicken, rabbit, squirrel, fox, hedgehog, opossum, basically any small game a hunter could get their hands on, along with standard root vegetables of potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery, and the usual mix of tomatoes, corn, green beans, peas, whatever a farmer could grow in their garden.
You can still get burgoo today in most barbecue spots in Kentucky. The usual mix now will be smoked chicken, pork, and brisket, along with the vegetables.
If you're here, try some! It's great! No barbecue meal in Kentucky is complete without a cup of burgoo for your starters, before you have your main course!
I think the cup of Burgoo would do me just fine, a bit of salad and some buttered bread, I'm happy.
Amateur Worldbuilder: Ok, so these are my races, their kingdoms and this is their world.
Advanced Worldbuilder: _Art thou prepared to learn 'bout fantasy culinary?_
Heh! Accurate
well, that does it brother, im starting a US non profit church named church of perpetual stew, get together with my players, make food and play, then offer the food up at a local park to the hungry. IRS exempt church supporting DnD style rpgs. ...ironic. i was kicked out of the US Army for engaging in "occult activity"- ie, playing D&D. Ill soon be a legit church leader. playing D&D, feeding the hungry. Im a Wizard! and a rascal DM .
AJ is my Perpetual Stew. always warming my heart with his endless DnD knowledge.
This reminds me of the growths you see in cultured buttermilk.
Those growths are basically immortal colonies of many different useful bacteria that constantly grow as long as there are good conditions. I can easily see someone tossing such things into a low heat simmering perpetual stew and having interesting results. That actually sounds nice, I think I'll try making a living perpetual stew analog one of these days.
One could use a vessel in which portions can be and are readily kept merely warm while other sections are kept nice and hot.
One could in an edible growth medium held within such a vessel grow all sorts of interesting and wonderful things.
I have three hags in my home brew and this makes for a wonderful addition to their lore. The hags are chaotic good and helpful to the PCs most of the time, when it suits them and their designs. Having a living stew never crossed my mind. Thank you😂😂😂
There is a PC in the group that has a hexborn alchemist artificer and might bring this up as a familiar.
excellent.
@@AJPickett this could also fit a reskinned imp for a pact of the chain warlock or a battle smith artificer who made a magical moving cauldron for the stew. I brought your idea to the table this past weekend and the brain storming was hilarious.
The name Perpetual Stew made me think a cannibal from warhammer 40k ate the primarch Vulkan lol
A kroot would go for that.
I remember a friend of mine, his granma was cajun. She asked if we wanted any gumbo. I asked what was in it. her reply was, "Whateva didn run fas enough."
I was discussing this creature with my brother, when I accidentally said "perpetual stool," which we decided was a new 9th level curse.
Lol, dear gods no. Ha ha
@@AJPickett "you made a decanter of endless _what?_ "
Im imagining a restaurant called The Perpetual Pot, run by a Huge-sized Perpetual Stew that manifests itself like the BOTW Great Fairies, and accepts logs of wood or new ingredients in addition to coin for payment.
This kind of reminded me of some old dnd ideas from back when I played (2e,3e,3.5e).
Goblins make an alchemical pit where 2/3 die but the survivors have crazy mutations and powers. Have a caldron that does that making mutant monster goblins!
Have a caldron that helps the party and npc's but when an opportunity presents itself the caldron will release sleep gas on those close enough to fall in, making them apart of the stew!
Maybe it can even turn it's victims into walking skeletons that serve it, or maybe turn them into some kind of minor flesh golems!
Man I miss playing dnd.
After watching this video I ended up creating a character named Stu the Stew. Already drew a picture and everything. He has two kids, Sue the soup and Po the potage. He is a college of Cuisine bard from Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting.
11:00 is my favourite piece of the lot. How can anyone feel bad watching a sentient stew with googly eyes fishing in it's own stock?
So cute, but my fav is 7:46 the Hell Broth, it just looks so evil. Also, thanks so much for all the art, let's keep doing it, I think this video is a great proof of concept :)
@@AJPickett Any time. Any need for a good celestial owl in your near future? I left a bunch of those on the AI Art channel. ;p
Imagine an old hell-broth making an army of cauldron-born!
I lost it when you started explaining the behaviors of good and evil-aligned stews. XD
What a fantastically creative entity! It's lore like this that, to me, really distinguishes good D&D Multiverse content apart from other collective imaginings.
Just boiling some potatoes listening to this. Gonna eat them with some Onion, spring onion, jalapeno and beans.
*leek, not spring onion. Quite spicy for leek though.
My grandpa grew up during the depression. This was his standard technique. By the end of the week the “stew” was pretty iffy. Never accept food from a 90 yr old that grew up during the depression. Lol.
That's a vital part of my martial arts training, that and trying to play beat sabre under a waterfall.
Water destroying spells must also be a fear of these guys as they could dry out and die
Yes, very much so.
I’ve been waiting for this!
Now I'm waiting for 15 minutes of you talking about different varieties of soup!
For some reason this reminds me of a hedge witch character we had one time that cast a pickling spell on an ogre.
the last part sounds both hilarious, and scary
Imagine fight with a hag that uses evil perpetual stew in sentient cauldron to aid her in combat. It spews its insides at the players dealing acid or poison damage and causing random potion effects with each attack, or trying to grab the players and drown them inside so it can add them as ingridient. Even better when its inteligent enogh to be persuaded into turning against hag that created it.
Previosly I was only considering using hags chiken legged house as her potential ally, throwing random hag themed items from its insides and trampling players with its legs.
This sounds like something from the Feywild. There are stories of talking bread asked to be taken out of the oven, apple trees who want their apples picked, etc. There could be a fun Feywild story where the Archfey is an awakened stew asking for rare ingredients. And now I want to run that adventure.
This is one of the most unique creature concepts I have heard in a while. Which is difficult considering you pull the most strange and obscure monsters of D&D history into the spotlight every week.
I would love to see a Volo's Guide style chapter on the Perpetual Stew and the variations of it.
A Halfling caravan could make quite a living as a traveling restaurant with one of these at it's hearth. The flavor of their dishes change based off what local ingredients they can chuck in the living stew. I once added an NPC traveling cook who was a cleric of Fharlanghn to a campaign. He had a strange back harness grown from living wood by a druid which looked like elegant curved branches sprouting from his back to dangle different spices, cookware and produce off of. He also had an animated hanging cooking pot that acted like his pet and ambled around on tripod metal legs.
⭕ Open Source ⭕ (or, in this case, sauce 😁)
A cauldron is a hidden portal, a living stew is it's guardian; a nearby flesh golem carves off strips of itself to add to the pot.
The midden is mostly tooth and bone fragments, possibly a gold filling or two, periodically dredged up from the bottom of the soup.
While this spectacle is somewhat macabre, the aromas are perfectly mouthwatering.
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen.
Hobo stew is fine cool as long as its kept covered and reheated at least once a day
I have been told we don't use the word hobo any more, in New Zealand, we would call this a "Boil Up", traditional Maori cuisine, a large pot with pork bones, watercress, bits and pieces... delicious.
Reminds me of an old story called ,"Stone Soup".
Or was it a button?
That's a rad concept definitely lol.
A necromancer with a perpetual human stew or like a perpetual stew that was a litch lol 🍲 ☠️
A litch that made a perpetual stew out of their own original flesh and possibly their original body?
Having watched every single momster video you have, I think this might be the best one you've made yet!
I am DEFINITELY making the halflings of a particularly cold region in my setting organize their extended families around particular cauldrons of Forever Stew.
"Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old."
Just be careful about that tenth day. The porridge might eat you instead. :P
Seriously, though, I like this.
What a tasty monster. Thanks AJ
an inn that's run by a perpetual stew named Stewart
Nothing beats a perpetual stew that you've managed to keep alive and healthy for over 6 months😄
Amazing idea for a homebrew creature AJ😁👍
Love this concept, it reminds me of Calcifer from Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle”. It’s really cozy and atmospheric.
When you mentioned hags also made these it reminded me of the ritual to turn yugoloths into altroloths by boiling them in a cauldron. Maybe the hellbroth mutates those dipped inside it, or a ritual to create an altraloth ha a chance of failing and melting the yugoloth into stew.
That is exactly what I was thinking about as well, but cut that bit of lore for perhaps expanding on later... some sort of culinary magic book would be cool to make I think.
@@AJPickett culinary magic is basically just tasty alchemy, and creating long lists of potions that players can go on quests to gather ingredients and recipes for sounds amazing, especially when they have whimsical effects and side-effects
How about a one-shot where an evil hellbroth has run amock in a gnome factory, moving thru steam pipes to torment the various workers?
Halloween creation with a Firefly reference? Shiny!
Stew golem is now my favorite warforge variant idea
Well, ain't that a flavourful entry (or should I say Entrée?)!
I like the idea of the stew having an emergency humaniod soup dumpling mode or mash potato cradle if its spilt on the ground. There are supposed to large soups that are never refreshed in some asian restaurants. That would bea great idea for like a village elder stew in a local of community eating hole.
Love the idea of magical ingredients in DnD we need some culinary gods in official lore. Honestly surprised there isn't one in the halfling pantheon
One of my players plays a nerdy young wizard who is obsessed with soup. Behold, thy familiar!
I first saw Jon Pertwe at the doctor but grew up with Tom Baker as my doctor.
Excuse me, did I just hear: _Perpetual Stew _*_GURREN LAGANN?_*
_Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY! Just who the hell do you think I am?!_
_When they talk about the brave, beguiling and mighty Leader of Team Gurren Lagann, they're talking about ME: Kamina, the one and only!_
-a stew that wasn't transferred but born in a mighty machine, made to make/obtain his own ingredients, and (lacking dexterity of form) has seen no other option but to construct a much larger child who will one day pierce the heavens
So, someone reheated leftovers until the leftovers complained.
This has got to be one of the best, most entertaining monsters I've had the pleasure of learning about! I'm sure to put one into my homebrew game.
This made me smile. I have to use it in my next campaign.
I could use a good aligned perpetual stew, that sounds amazing!
I have always included perpetual stew in my campaigns, and never thought to use it like this! Your videos are such a fantastic fountain of inspiration, I thank you so much for helping in coloring and infusing my worlds with such great ideas like this one.
My pleasure
This is one of the most creative OC monsters I've seen, keen to have one in the tavern of my Avernus game
Thank you! This is an awesome idea for a creature and I'm already looking for places to add them. I'm thinking a potion shop in the frozen north, where the stew is the actual potion maker while a slightly ruthless, though not malicious, shopkeeper keeps it warm and fed in exchange of service. I mean, where else is it going to go? It's well below freezing, on the warmest days, outside. ;)
Very nice.
This should go exceptionally well with a good fresh gluestick. Nice!
I’m picturing a puppet sort of like the trash queen from fraggle rock, but stew in a cauldron instead of a heap of garbage.
This is the best homebrew idea I've heard in ages. The interesting possibilities are endless. A good/neutral stew npc could make an amazing ally as well as creating fun roleplaying options.
By the way, I really liked the artwork that you picked out for this video, beautifully illustrated bizarrerie.
Behind the scenes, the art work on this video is almost entirely created by the Discord server community and one person in particular who was knocking it out of the park with Stable Diffusion software. So, this video is a good proof of concept and we have set up a workable system where I can provide some means to earn a bit of money on my server, as I pay NZ$5 per image I accepted for the vid.
Anyone remember myrlunds (sp) spoon? A magic spoon that produces a hearty beef stew sounds great. Now do something that produces fried chicken.
A magical bucket perhaps?
Troll chickens, endless drumsticks!
Great Homebrew!
Do you mind if I make my version of Perpetual Stew public on DnD Beyond?
Mind?! Nothing would please me more!
Imagine a perpetual Curry with a hindi accent and epic noodle mustache
A perpetual stew of oil, coolant, grease, and maybe a few screws/bolts found in a Gnomish workshop. A few levels as an armor artificer here, a couple of heating coils there. Toss in some tool proficiencies and bam!
Magical Mobile Garage.
Something else I never even considered! Awesome, thanks Gamma!
I cannot express how much I love this
Perpetual Stew is great for people who are too lazy to wash the dishes! 😀
Also, unfortunately, a good way to draw the attention of Zuggtmoy if you aren't careful.
Oh the possibilities, Like everything in DnD to every rule there has to be an exception, Is how about a gaspato, A cold perpetual stew that can only survive only survive in frigid but not freezing environments It wouldn't want to get freezer burn
Ha! Of course, excellent 👍
Hmm maybe give the party one in a campaign you dont wanna have them worry about food for survival, as a means to help explain why they dont need rations for the campaign. And assuming a little explanation on keeping it hot and alive and filled with ingredients, but that shouldn't be to hard lol. Quite a strange but interesting creature, think I will be using this xD
I’d be afraid of making a perpetual stew available to a dnd party, it seems too likely that they’d take it as an invitation to try out cannibalism. Now the murderhobos don’t just murder your npc, they straight up eat them alive.
Clearly a labor of love. Amazing work, I will try to use this!
Now I'm thinking about a certain perpetual pudding. Better whistle thrice
WOW...A "modified' shield golem as a mobile cooking pot for a perpetual stew to use as a body.. AwEsOME!!🥳🤯🤯😳🤤🤤😎... I'd imagine the "stew golem" would need some sort of heat/fire runes inscribed and enchanted to keep the "pilot" stew comfortable... so many possibilities... lil halfling nanies, battle medics, new interesting RP experiences if it's used as player character.
AJ thanks so much for these amazing vids this one is now in top 5 favorites of your vids for me. keep up the amazing work and have an awesome holloween.
It's in my top ten list as well. Thanks Dominic
I love the idea of a Stew Golem.
Leomond's Plate & Cup... I just want that magical item lol
What have you done now I'm hungry
Oh this is bloody brilliant
Oops! I’ve just decided that’s the name of my perpetual stew: Bloody Brilliant. It’s what nearly everyone who tasted it had to say about it, so, like a parrot, it was the first thing it said upon awakening.
Oh I am so happy enjoying the potential of this
Of course if you intend to use one as an enemy, you'll have to come up with a reason for why the players can't simply knock the cauldron over.
Indeed... however, have you ever tried to knock over a heavy iron cauldron, piping hot and full of scalding, sticky liquid? It's not as easy as it sounds.
I was just going to mention Wurzel n his interchangable heads as a character option.
Appease the stew or become it! 🍲💀
q
So they are pretty much the Ghibli and Disney version of Nopons and Kupos.
I got a construct idea for ya, the wicker man, a hag/tribal construct of enormous size consisting of a giant ephagy usually of a humanoid that is animated by a dark ritual, ancient in orajin, that culminates in a victim being placed within the thing and lighting the hole thing on fire. The thing would be a flaming siege weapon capable of breathing massive cones of fire acin to a needed red dragon as well as having a burning ora acin to fire elemental, give it a frightful presence do to the screams and wailing both from the victim and the wicker man that can be heard for miles. Entiraly evil, usually created to take vengeance on civilized lands or opposing religious organizations.
Deliciously diabolical 🎃
It has just been brought to my attention that the ocean is a stew.
I smell what the Mighty Gluestick is cooking
I love this idea🤣💕
Bravo! This is an incredible idea and, if I ever get around to DM'ing, I will most definately be stealing it (though if promise not to steal your personal Perpetual Stew).
This is such a good idea.
Thanks AJ!
I love this idea! I like sassy magical items with personalities that act as fun sources of exposition for the main characters (a la Bob the Skull from the Dresden Files), and this monster seems like a good way to do that. It's also just plain fun to take something mundane and make it fantastical.
Chanko nabe has a posse.
Yay!