I do like the idea of true lawful beings having the obsessive compulsion to organise when they're idle, even if its something inconsequential like grains of salt. I'll definitely carry that into my games
@@Direblade11 The edit shall be made, ty. Though now I like the idea of a devil that corrects all of a wizards spelling and glyph mistakes for free because it's just something to do
@@yamatohekatsue9143 The reason I liked the idea so much is that it shows that they're truly immortal, who's got the time to arrange Salt? Timeless creatures do. This has changed the way I picture the city of Dis
"Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction, but I have seen the face of time and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm." -- The Prince of Persia
General Metos Krodaxx has spent the best part of his eternal afterlife fighting the Blood War. His lust for battle and sharp tactical mind has seen him rise quickly through the ranks, the combination of courage and intelligence helping him overcome insurmountable odds. He held the Redoubt of Shattered Dracolichs on the Plane of Acheron against a tumultuous horde of over fifty thousand demons with only a handful of Stitched Devils, and chewed and clawed his way out of the foetid biomass of the Shoggoth Emperor during the Battle of the Endless Oozes. These and countless over daring exploits have made him a valuable resource for the Archdevils, and in all that time his loyalty to duty has never faltered, a trait carried over from his mortal life. He had been a soldier then too, though he remembers very little of what he was before he became a Devil, retaining only nightmare visions of burning villages, screaming women and piles of butchered children that continually return to torment his dark mind. His whole existence revolves around the Blood War and the final victory of the Nine Hells, his driving passion to see the hated Abyss and its obscene inhabitants eradicated from existence once and for all. He has never faltered in furthering that objective, until now that is. Over the last few centuries he has begun to secretly question whether victory is possible; every triumph against the demons is followed by a defeat, every bit of ground taken is taken back just as swiftly and the seething chaos of the Abyss grows larger and larger with each passing eon, threatening to engulf all of creation in its rancid embrace. Krodaxx’s fears that defeat against such odds is inevitable were confirmed somewhat when he led a secret mission to retrieve a powerful artefact located in a pocket universe on the Astral Plane. The Time Scanner allows its user to see into the past and present and to view possible future timelines. When Krodaxx discovered the device he beheld a fleeting glimpse of the multiverse being utterly consumed by demons and the final, ignominious defeat of all devilkind. Nobody else on the mission saw this vision and the machine was destroyed before Krodaxx could deliver it to his masters and though he knew that this was only one possible outcome and might not come to pass, it tallies chillingly with other information he has accrued over recent years. In the gloomy corners of the Emporium, drunken Night Hags mutter to each other that the Gods share this vision of utter ruin and are planning to escape the multiverse before it is too late. Slowly and secretly, the Gods have been shepherding together their followers, whose faith energy they leech off, ready for their push to abandon reality altogether, callously leaving behind the rest of the multiverse to its fate. Worse still, a blasphemous rumour suggests that the Overlord of all the Dukes of Hell himself has secretly cut a deal with the Gods to escape with them when the time comes, deserting his loyal minions and abandoning the Nine Hells to its destruction. The general is no coward but in the face of such bleak evidence he refuses to simply stand by and accept his fate while the cause he has served so loyally casts him aside. To that end, he has come to strange and secretive Sigil investigating an obscure piece of lore that hints of a mystic hidden realm lying far beyond the known multiverse and even outside of time and space itself, where deepest, darkest desires are made flesh and even the cruellest of beings are welcome without judgement. Krodaxx seeks an audience with the cunning and twisted entity that created and governs this realm, believing his agents are active in the city. Since arriving here, he as been receiving unconscious impulses which he believes are coming directly from the entity he seeks. It was one of these impulses that prompted him to share forbidden knowledge with a wandering sage from Candlekeep, and another that compels him to linger in the city. He senses an inscrutable intelligence observing him and now awaits to be approached. It remains to be seen whether he is willing to pay the heavy price of an entity as deranged and unpredictable as the Demogorgon and cold and calculating as Asmodeus to gain entrance into his sinister Promised Land before it is too late.
Now that was a nice prelude for this video ! Do you practice writing like this normal, on Discord, or this just spark your mood ? How long did this take ? If I had time I would really like to game with you. 2.) I started in early 1990's as a teenager with AD&D2ndE, WEG west end games Star Wars, and TMNT. During 1998 into the early 2000's, my first gaming shop at 21yo before WotC ran AD&D and did multiple Planescape setting Blood Wars campaigns. We even ran Baator devil PCs, nigh hags, and mortal/planar stander races PCs as lower plane mercenaries. As for demons they are too chaotic to have good plot story arch characters. An since we had many Whitewolf/World of darkness (WoD) vampire and werewolf players, they exist on games where wealth is measure in social political favors which demons have no interest in making let alone keeping. Then WotC rolled in, love 3.5e. We took Star Wars Rebel era source book and applied the multi classing and skill point ranks of imperial sector moif, Corportation managers, and a few admirals such as the multi classing and skill ranks for Thrawn to Baator lords. b.) DM running the game and the PCs are free booting looking for low risk work in the lower neutral evil planes after getting a job done for a night hag. Baator bearded devil spearmen were battling a small horde of demons which meant to be random background to easily avoid, it was just scenery. Player ask DM how many and the DM rolls the number. It was low enough the PC decided to join the Baator since they were Le and Ne. But the DM hadn't plan run the encounter, so have the group split to PC the demons and the two groups battle it out as a full war game. Along with the DM rolling random battle outcomes in the flow of battle and added dramatic effects with how impress the Baator were with the PC actions and words. In short we won favor, other than the minor renown for working for a given night had we gave the night hags some petty side gossip to chat about. c.) PC draw random index cards with prewritten stats, equipment, characters. Few time we just ask the players which Baator they though was cool looking and we just them that level of PC to play. For get gaining levels one by one, game by game. If you wanted to play a 15th-level wizard, lets play that game story role. Those players like to PC barbarian berserkers take the Baator beard devil. Here is the thing they are unit group fighters so why would they ever travel along. Lost from unit ? Last of their unit ? On a lone mission ? PC rolls surprise on beard devil, " What is your mission ? We seek .. favor .. be it yours or in time ours !" Why would a beard devil pass up gaining the favor from a 12th-level wizard and his warband ? d.) After the PC get done two dozen jobs for a few night hags, and give aid to a dozen Baator without asking for reward at the moment leave both free to go their own way. They carry a mark of the Baator on them for being .. honorable .. and aiding Law in Need. They gain a bonus on social rolls with Baator, the Abyss demons hate them, and they have to start dealing with Baator politics on the dangers of which minor field leader lord they do favors for.
This is interesting in an old school sources of magic kind of way, what if all spells cast were actually summoning a type of entity, like the "Aparts" that we cant see but can observe the effects of.
So, Far Realms creatures that are more like phenomena and less like creatures? I actually like that, it's a nice change from the "too many tentacles" take that most Lovecraftian stuff ends up being.
They aren’t really tentacles. Your mind perceives them as tentacles as a protection from knowing what they really are. Madness would consume you before your heart made its next beat if you saw what it really was.
The incompatible creatures sound like nightmares to encounter. This was not just a fascinating insight into the incompatibles but to at least a particular bearded devil.
Weird lore I just remembered: I read/heard a long time ago that pixies/fae apparently have an unbreakable compulsion to count spilled salt or sugar. The salt pile section reminded me, haha
you know at first I didn't really like this sage personality you started putting on, at first it had a bit of a disconnect once you started talking "out of character yet still in character at the same time" but i've grown to really enjoy it. It gives an extra layer of immersion to your videos, and makes them feel like a part of a deeper world.
Hey AJ! What do you think about some of the creatures in the Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft book? The Necrichor and Boneless are undead things you might like talking about
Aj, I’ve come to enjoy the narrative framing these monster ecology videos just as much if not more than the creatures themselves! You’re so good at building up a feeling of a vast and complex, often hostile universe surrounding these little stories we experience.
Killing it AJ. Like a murderhobo of D&D explication. I'd have worked the Lady of Pain in there somewhere, though; she's certainly relevant to the topic, being the most 'incompatible' thing in any given encounter.
@@AJPickett That is the fundamental nature of pain; incompatible to our existence, and 'unknowable' in the sense that we start forgetting it the moment it leaves us... This setting reminded me of Poe's terrific story 'Silence - A Fable', by the way. One of the best intro's ever conceived.
@@dakotabarlett2604 Skulks, shades, shadar-kai, there are lots of humanoid races of darkness, all of them quite mysterious and difficult to find, but I shall add them to the list and hope for the best.
This is just the video I needed! I'm running a Planescape campaign, mainly set in Sigil, with a big focus on encroaching forces of the Far Realms. Beautiful narration, great storytelling, love it!
Devils can make surprisingly reasonable company when you catch one in a thoughtful mood, fascinating and even pleasant to share an evening with provided you can avoid stoking their ire. But if you want truly insightful conversation, I suggest you seek out an arcanaloth. Many are quite chatty, and the traveling ones are perhaps the most personable fiends you'll ever find.
Been in many WotC3rdE games where a night hag played nanny to our PC groups, along just being half-fiends tieflings who are the nigh hags unmature children and grandchildren. Granny knows best, and we were a bunch of thieving, murdering b@stards but we were family and family always looks after family first.
@@AJPickett **Puts his hands up and sighs* Now now let's not be too hasty here my friend! It was merely a suggestion. After all, can you blame me for wanting to bend the ear of a scribe so renowned as yourself? Such learned and thoughtful men are hard to find. And what harm could come from us sharing a few secrets, hmmm? (also ngl I hope all the time you'll do something on arcanaloths somedsy. Easily my favorite fiend!)
I've had some experiences with 'Incompatibles' before. There's a kind of temporal parasite, called a Pyredox. It appears as a small candle flame, usually a soft off-white or pastel blue in color. They often approach the elderly and those getting close to the natural end of their lives, using the proximity of death and the Ethereal Plane to manifest temporarily in reality. They don't have minds that can be detected or communicated with in any meaningful way, except (according to a servant of a particular great Old One) by the telepathic prowess of a being with no less than seven lobes in its brain. I'm inclined to write that off as gibberish, but when dealing with unknown-unknowns, it's best to include all available data. The Pyredox approaches elderly and dying individuals and attempts to consume them. Not with fire, but it devours them backwards in time. The subject grows younger by one month per round as the fire spreads across their bodies. While this may seem like a wonderful boon to the aged and infirm, it is actually a danger to reality itself. As the victim grows younger, the Pyredox erases the things that individual has done, starting at the beginning. Parents, if they're still alive, will forget their birth. Old friends begin to forget their childhoods together, the works of artisans fade away and the changes they individual has made to the world around them throughout their life begin to never-have-happened. Even the most mediocre and milquetoast commoners still play their part weaving the tapestry of life and reality together, and erasing them from ever having existed can destabilize entire worlds. Worse still if the Pyredox approaches a king or sage whose words shaped public policy. Worse still, there are things that the Pyredox cannot consume. Any time, place, or object touched by magic of any kind. If a simple farmer is erased, nothing he did would have ever happened, except those things where he interacted with magic. The fairy ring he warned the town guard about would still have been discovered. The travelling wizard who performed illusions for entertainment in the town square would leave everyone who had been there remembering the victim being there, but with no memory of who he was outside that context. The one time a local druid cast a spell to remove his gout several summers ago would still have happened. These 'causeless-events' and 'causality errors' build up, destabilizing material reality and making more anomalous events probable. Small rifts, planar leakage, temporal oddities, and the spontaneous manifestation of some of the more exotic aberrations are not uncommon in an area where the Pyredox has fed. Worse still, with each feeding, the Pyredox grows stronger, and larger. Able to consume not just animals and people, but entire places. This is to be avoided at all costs. The simplest way to destroy a pyredox is negative energy. They seem to be allergic to entropy, so any spell or effect that draws on the Negative Energy Plane or the Plane of Shadow can banish the pyredox instantly, snuffing it out. This is why the Pyredox never attempt to consume undead. Indeed, the mere presence or proximity of undead can halt the Pyredox's consumption. Time-altering spells also provide viable wards against Pyredox, a Haste or Slow spell freezing the Pyredox in place, allowing the victim to simply walk away from it. Without a victim to feed on, the Pyredox can remain in reality no more than 1d12 rounds, after which it vanishes. The exact origin and nature of the Pyredox is unknown, whether it is a type of creature, a single unique creature encountered multiple times, or a pseudo-natural phenomenon. One particular warlock (whose sanity is heavily questioned) insists that it is the feeding mechanism for "a Great Old One that does not exist", his words, not mine. Whatever their cause, Pyredoxes are blessedly rare, only three ever having been recorded. Pray to all the Saints and Powers you hold dear that they remain that way.
Gods move through dimensions mostly as they please. Perhaps only limited by the perspective of the mortals they decide to anchor themselves to. What if a god chooses to not anchor itself at all and just drifts through the dimensions randomly? The only confirmation of its existence is itself? Does it really exist if nothing else confirms it does? If the very idea of what it is remains obscured?
I can see some poor sap of a wizard trying to 'harvest' one of these as a material component and ending up with a disaster. Could loop arond with how the weapons (time bombs, etc) are made. Lawful evil devils couldn't have the suicidal intention of making them nor would the chaotic demons have the patience. But they would grab the results from the ashes of a ruined experiment 'gone horribly right'.
Nice to see you changing up the picture of yourself keeps things fresh got so used to you using the painting showing you with a quill that the selfie surprised me.
Well, the Loops actually have a function, much like Bones in your body are continually eaten by one type of cell, and rebuilt by another type, over time the internal structure of your bones changes to better support your lifestyle, so the internal bone structure of a marathon runner and that of a lazy ass youtube are quite different. The Loops are just doing what they normally do, except they have been pulled into the wrong place and more importantly, the wrong time. I'll be bringing a few more far realm entities to you in the coming months, including more homebrew monsters who mess with physics quite a bit.
@@AJPickett So in a nightmare case a Druid could call a Loop to an arcane/psionic temporal displaced area. 3rd-level Demi-Sadow Magic + 4th-level Hallucinatory Terrain = 7th-level Limited Wish. = 40% of breakdown of reality. Treat as Wall of Fire damage. N/PC fixing reality as the stander PCs are battling demons/far realm. a.) Divine beautiful angel praising the lawful nature of the multiverse in the name of their god. b.) Lich/Baator preforming ritual. c.) Druid doing something. d.) Imps hammering and nailing reality back together and want a snack after wards e.) Janitor with a scrub brush sweeping up the area. f.) Computer programing fixing the Matrix code. Did that for a Twilight Zone episode for Star Wars games. Bored imperial officer type up an image and placed it on the monitor that Darth Vader was standing behind the security monitor officer view screen. Roll Use Computer skill as Spellcraft DC: 22 and Vader Teleports to said location till he is removed from camera program. The players PCing Vader, Han, and Leia turn a bull zhit joke into a 40minute cat and mouse game. The space station crew had such a bazaar moment they were too scare to report it. Storm trooper, " No man, no way ?! There was a hallway here a second ago ?!" Along with a bit too much reverse exploding toilet jokes, with backwards flushing waste water. So you have two guys off duty messing with that station's cameras laughing themselves silly at their jokes. Not realizing the station is going nuts. Because what they are creating is bending reality. 2.) Loops are Titan children play toys like draw string tops. Star Trek Voyer the .. Q .. civil war, Q Continuum muskets were causing stars to nova. Men in Black, universe were children's marbles.
I am impressed by your prose if this is your work. You could write fiction of any sort. Or anything really. Not stilted and just descriptive enough to make fantasy seem natural. Go with it man, you have a future in it.
How would dragons have destroyed the abyss? You mentioned it in the red dragon video, and I’ve been curious about it ever since. Also still curious about Psionics in dnd lore.
Thank you for your good works. Always informative and entertaining. Wish I could auto-thumb up all your content. Im certain you’re going to be Knighted for going above and beyond for the good of the Realm. Cheers
Eh, you were in Sigil. The devil just did not want to break any rules and face the Lady of Pain's judgement. Great job as always. If I could suggest a race to do a video on, possible the 3.5 ed Illumians?
What a stunning coincidence... I have a very special project coming up all about the Illumians, the Astral dominion of Shom... how Illumians were some of the best player characters I ever had in my buddy Iain's D&D campaign, etc. So yeah, got it covered John and you are going to LOVE it.
I wouldn't trust a mf thing a devil inside a circle says, and neither should you. They're far less likely to tell lies or half truths (usually that will end up in a fatal accident for you), when encountered in the wild. You don't want something that much smarter than you to be that kind of pissed off at you
I read that first as the "Incapables" I'm sure that temporal inertia mechanic would work well for deja-vu. Also, black hole buckshot would turn into a bolo-shot right? Or just another metal band like snapping puppies?
Amazing video and voice acting as always! What software do you use for the voice of the devil? I’m looking at messing with that stuff while DMing online.
The scribe, obsessively writing down every thing he hears, would please a devil’s lawful nature. It is a servant lacking a master, still fulfilling his purpose, which the devil would happily be, for a time. The danger is when the energy of worship from a living being serving it grows dim again. Only then is the poor scribe truly in danger. Once the devil has tasted the power that fuels the gods and it grows accustomed to it, the devil can be manipulated, but it can also become enraged. Beware the devil willing to speak. It makes the fey lords seem predictable.
They fey are predicable, you just can't survive long enough to know all their opinions and navigate them They're emotional, not random! All those little rituals and warnings are based on navigating social situations among those who never "calm down" for better or worse. I will not stand for fey shit talk! hahaha
As I mentioned on twitter, there is a lot of crossover between D&D monster lore fandom and SCP lore fandom, and I'm drifting closer to the creamy center of that overlap a little more every day.
@@AJPickett I did that and the CC says "Ayamara demons" for which I found no information. Eventually I found where you answered someone with Loumara demons. So I found the information eventually. Sorry for wasting your time.
Ohhhh shit new video!! I'm super nerdy and drank to many beverages all already. Full bottle full throttle. Best story telling, listen to it on my hour drive to work.
"and this gave the Dii-em ideas. Terrible, AWEFUL ideas!" And as it pondered how to better torment it's Peasees, the Dii-em's lips stretched into a nasty, curdled smile, and a horrid malice lit up it's many eyes!
Their wild variation in their forms and abilities reminds me of the angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Incomprehensible abominations are always the best kind.
Eldridge abomination. Only the low rank angels appeared like us as their purpose involves making contact with us. Those whose function would normally never have them cross paths with us are truly strange and terrifying. Even the low rank have that fey like presence of being equal parts attractive and horrifying.
I'm sorry Moonring, I have been very slack with the livestreams lately, I have a pretty fun activity for the next one... eating weird snacks from China, including, but not limited to, Cod flavored Sunflower seeds and unidentifiable brown blobs with enough spices to nearly kill me. That will be very soon, maybe even tomorrow, I will let you know in the community tab as usual.
I listened to a half orc bard this one time and I think I lost some of my soul to how bad the performance was, but, that was just that one time, I am certain there are truly wonderful half orc bards around somewhere.
Half dwarves of Human or Elven heritage are normally just a part of Dwarven society, they look so similar to other dwarves that you would barely be able to tell, hence why is often seems like their are no half dwarves... remember, dwarves have children at a much slower rate than humans, so, having a human or elven parent is not a huge stigma, it more like something the family will just avoid making a big deal about. That being said... individual results may vary.
@@AJPickett thank you for your time. I was not expecting a reply any time soon. I thought that they would treat them the same as past generations treated people with mental disabilities. If nothing else, then I thought the elves would tread such hybrids as mules. I.e. they would have them only do menial work, or was I making the mestake mixing J. R. R. Tolkien's work with DnD?
@@pheorrungurd8746 It's very rare for half dwarves to live in elven communities, but a half human dwarf will fit into human society very well, again, to others they just look like a dwarf and they act like a dwarf, their physiological differences are more obvious to dwarves and in their choices of food and drink, plus the amount of hours they sleep and of course, how long they live is generally less than dwarves, but in the case of the half elven dwarf... more.
hey, AJ, here's a question you might not get very often. with the shadowfell and feywild being mirrors of the material plane, do you as a dungeon master ever put any thought into what's in the underdark of the two planes for your world? what about in the shadowfell and feywild versions of space? what is their phlogiston's like? what about the other planets in your crystal sphere within these mirror planes? it's something I regularly think about for my world, I like to try and imagine every map I draw as effectively 3 maps, because of the overlapping planes. But i'd like to hear if you have any thoughts on the matters for your own games.
2:35 - Devil's Intro
6:02 - Defining Incompatibles
6:34 - The Apart
8:19 - Black Stars
9:45 - A Loop
10:01 - Chronovoids
10:46 - Loops DM Example
14:19 - Devil's Outro
Thank you.
Apologies early viewers, processing is real slow on this vid as I am having internet issues and have to hotspot off my mobile phone to upload this.
I know that feeling...
I do like the idea of true lawful beings having the obsessive compulsion to organise when they're idle, even if its something inconsequential like grains of salt. I'll definitely carry that into my games
When they're* idle.
Sorry, obsessive compulsion :P
@@Direblade11 The edit shall be made, ty. Though now I like the idea of a devil that corrects all of a wizards spelling and glyph mistakes for free because it's just something to do
I've done the rearranging of books alphabetically and straighting pictures but never thought of salt before
@@yamatohekatsue9143 The reason I liked the idea so much is that it shows that they're truly immortal, who's got the time to arrange Salt? Timeless creatures do. This has changed the way I picture the city of Dis
But their presence causes that to happen
The idea of "I keep a few Beholders on standby just to deal with these", is truly horrifying.
So, both powerful enough to control them, and what they're dealing with is even more horrifying...
"I keep a few beholders on standby just so I can run away as fast as I can from these" even more so.
"Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction, but I have seen the face of time and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm." -- The Prince of Persia
"Time is an ocean, not a garden hose"
- Some high Rasta man in the movie "John Dies at the End"
Please oh wisest of sages, enlighten us more, it is a great pleasure being your acolytes.
“These entities appear and seem to feed on pockets of time”
Ah, so loops are basically king crimson.
General Metos Krodaxx has spent the best part of his eternal afterlife fighting the Blood War. His lust for battle and sharp tactical mind has seen him rise quickly through the ranks, the combination of courage and intelligence helping him overcome insurmountable odds. He held the Redoubt of Shattered Dracolichs on the Plane of Acheron against a tumultuous horde of over fifty thousand demons with only a handful of Stitched Devils, and chewed and clawed his way out of the foetid biomass of the Shoggoth Emperor during the Battle of the Endless Oozes. These and countless over daring exploits have made him a valuable resource for the Archdevils, and in all that time his loyalty to duty has never faltered, a trait carried over from his mortal life.
He had been a soldier then too, though he remembers very little of what he was before he became a Devil, retaining only nightmare visions of burning villages, screaming women and piles of butchered children that continually return to torment his dark mind.
His whole existence revolves around the Blood War and the final victory of the Nine Hells, his driving passion to see the hated Abyss and its obscene inhabitants eradicated from existence once and for all. He has never faltered in furthering that objective, until now that is.
Over the last few centuries he has begun to secretly question whether victory is possible; every triumph against the demons is followed by a defeat, every bit of ground taken is taken back just as swiftly and the seething chaos of the Abyss grows larger and larger with each passing eon, threatening to engulf all of creation in its rancid embrace.
Krodaxx’s fears that defeat against such odds is inevitable were confirmed somewhat when he led a secret mission to retrieve a powerful artefact located in a pocket universe on the Astral Plane. The Time Scanner allows its user to see into the past and present and to view possible future timelines. When Krodaxx discovered the device he beheld a fleeting glimpse of the multiverse being utterly consumed by demons and the final, ignominious defeat of all devilkind. Nobody else on the mission saw this vision and the machine was destroyed before Krodaxx could deliver it to his masters and though he knew that this was only one possible outcome and might not come to pass, it tallies chillingly with other information he has accrued over recent years.
In the gloomy corners of the Emporium, drunken Night Hags mutter to each other that the Gods share this vision of utter ruin and are planning to escape the multiverse before it is too late. Slowly and secretly, the Gods have been shepherding together their followers, whose faith energy they leech off, ready for their push to abandon reality altogether, callously leaving behind the rest of the multiverse to its fate.
Worse still, a blasphemous rumour suggests that the Overlord of all the Dukes of Hell himself has secretly cut a deal with the Gods to escape with them when the time comes, deserting his loyal minions and abandoning the Nine Hells to its destruction.
The general is no coward but in the face of such bleak evidence he refuses to simply stand by and accept his fate while the cause he has served so loyally casts him aside. To that end, he has come to strange and secretive Sigil investigating an obscure piece of lore that hints of a mystic hidden realm lying far beyond the known multiverse and even outside of time and space itself, where deepest, darkest desires are made flesh and even the cruellest of beings are welcome without judgement. Krodaxx seeks an audience with the cunning and twisted entity that created and governs this realm, believing his agents are active in the city. Since arriving here, he as been receiving unconscious impulses which he believes are coming directly from the entity he seeks. It was one of these impulses that prompted him to share forbidden knowledge with a wandering sage from Candlekeep, and another that compels him to linger in the city.
He senses an inscrutable intelligence observing him and now awaits to be approached. It remains to be seen whether he is willing to pay the heavy price of an entity as deranged and unpredictable as the Demogorgon and cold and calculating as Asmodeus to gain entrance into his sinister Promised Land before it is too late.
Thank you very much
Now that was a nice prelude for this video !
Do you practice writing like this normal, on Discord, or this just spark your mood ?
How long did this take ?
If I had time I would really like to game with you.
2.) I started in early 1990's as a teenager with AD&D2ndE, WEG west end games Star Wars, and TMNT.
During 1998 into the early 2000's, my first gaming shop at 21yo before WotC ran AD&D and did multiple Planescape setting Blood Wars campaigns. We even ran Baator devil PCs, nigh hags, and mortal/planar stander races PCs as lower plane mercenaries. As for demons they are too chaotic to have good plot story arch characters. An since we had many Whitewolf/World of darkness (WoD) vampire and werewolf players, they exist on games where wealth is measure in social political favors which demons have no interest in making let alone keeping.
Then WotC rolled in, love 3.5e. We took Star Wars Rebel era source book and applied the multi classing and skill point ranks of imperial sector moif, Corportation managers, and a few admirals such as the multi classing and skill ranks for Thrawn to Baator lords.
b.) DM running the game and the PCs are free booting looking for low risk work in the lower neutral evil planes after getting a job done for a night hag. Baator bearded devil spearmen were battling a small horde of demons which meant to be random background to easily avoid, it was just scenery. Player ask DM how many and the DM rolls the number. It was low enough the PC decided to join the Baator since they were Le and Ne. But the DM hadn't plan run the encounter, so have the group split to PC the demons and the two groups battle it out as a full war game. Along with the DM rolling random battle outcomes in the flow of battle and added dramatic effects with how impress the Baator were with the PC actions and words. In short we won favor, other than the minor renown for working for a given night had we gave the night hags some petty side gossip to chat about.
c.) PC draw random index cards with prewritten stats, equipment, characters. Few time we just ask the players which Baator they though was cool looking and we just them that level of PC to play. For get gaining levels one by one, game by game. If you wanted to play a 15th-level wizard, lets play that game story role.
Those players like to PC barbarian berserkers take the Baator beard devil. Here is the thing they are unit group fighters so why would they ever travel along.
Lost from unit ? Last of their unit ? On a lone mission ?
PC rolls surprise on beard devil, " What is your mission ? We seek .. favor .. be it yours or in time ours !"
Why would a beard devil pass up gaining the favor from a 12th-level wizard and his warband ?
d.) After the PC get done two dozen jobs for a few night hags, and give aid to a dozen Baator without asking for reward at the moment leave both free to go their own way. They carry a mark of the Baator on them for being .. honorable .. and aiding Law in Need. They gain a bonus on social rolls with Baator, the Abyss demons hate them, and they have to start dealing with Baator politics on the dangers of which minor field leader lord they do favors for.
Wait... are you actually Demogorgon?
Let me just say that narratively , I LOVE "The Sage of Candlekeep" . Such an interesting vehicle for dispensing lore! Keep up the good work!
Wise (and long-lived) is the sage who can ignore the bait on an adventure hook, especially when a devil is dangling the line.
Loved the story vibe of this one. No new demon vids on 9 months though, was enjoying this playlist
I maaaaay have some more on the way.
@@AJPickett 👀
This AJ level shit
This is interesting in an old school sources of magic kind of way, what if all spells cast were actually summoning a type of entity, like the "Aparts" that we cant see but can observe the effects of.
Right? The idea that there is a substructure to the planes, perhaps even a plane of magic.
I'm not sure how you did the devil voice, but it sounds like something straight out of a big budget movie. Well done! And what a concept!
This is one of those AJ vids that, when I watch it, no matter how many times I've watched it, I must watch it twice. There's so much going on
"Devils are not to be messed with"
Half of my party probably should hear that
This was very good.
Thanks Bud!
You both are very good
The Apart reminds me of classic Loony Toon's depiction of the Tasmanian Devil.
Accurate!
wait, this explanation of the Beholders was AJ's idea? that's amazing!
Thanks
So, Far Realms creatures that are more like phenomena and less like creatures? I actually like that, it's a nice change from the "too many tentacles" take that most Lovecraftian stuff ends up being.
imagine a number elemental
@@kingmasterlord There is something very much like that.
Oof, you may not like the loads of tentacles in my next video
@@AJPickett player: two what?
dm: no, it's a _Two_
twins every spell or something
They aren’t really tentacles. Your mind perceives them as tentacles as a protection from knowing what they really are. Madness would consume you before your heart made its next beat if you saw what it really was.
The incompatible creatures sound like nightmares to encounter. This was not just a fascinating insight into the incompatibles but to at least a particular bearded devil.
On the flip side, they are coming from a place with completely different rules. I imagine our plane(s) are nightmares for them as well.
Weird lore I just remembered: I read/heard a long time ago that pixies/fae apparently have an unbreakable compulsion to count spilled salt or sugar. The salt pile section reminded me, haha
They do certainly get very concerned when anyone starts making circles of salt, thats for damn sure, heh heh!
Vampires, as well.
I am ready to be informed, Sage Pickett!
you know at first I didn't really like this sage personality you started putting on, at first it had a bit of a disconnect once you started talking "out of character yet still in character at the same time" but i've grown to really enjoy it. It gives an extra layer of immersion to your videos, and makes them feel like a part of a deeper world.
I like to think that the sage may have been working on something and the Devil was passing along a "friendly" warning.
Yes, exactly what was in those rare books the sage was collecting from Sigil?
Hey AJ! What do you think about some of the creatures in the Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft book? The Necrichor and Boneless are undead things you might like talking about
Certainly
Aj, I’ve come to enjoy the narrative framing these monster ecology videos just as much if not more than the creatures themselves! You’re so good at building up a feeling of a vast and complex, often hostile universe surrounding these little stories we experience.
Killing it AJ. Like a murderhobo of D&D explication. I'd have worked the Lady of Pain in there somewhere, though; she's certainly relevant to the topic, being the most 'incompatible' thing in any given encounter.
If I give any explanation of the Lady of Pain, I violate the fundamental lore of the Lady of Pain... she is unknowable.
@@AJPickett That is the fundamental nature of pain; incompatible to our existence, and 'unknowable' in the sense that we start forgetting it the moment it leaves us...
This setting reminded me of Poe's terrific story 'Silence - A Fable', by the way. One of the best intro's ever conceived.
The fact I've been waiting for another dragon tale.... and here you turned it into an informative one as well.
Hey! You passed your insight check with a Nat 20, you get an inspiration point.
@@AJPickett how do you feel about the race variant of shade from 3.5 and maybe how it could be updated to current?
@@dakotabarlett2604 Skulks, shades, shadar-kai, there are lots of humanoid races of darkness, all of them quite mysterious and difficult to find, but I shall add them to the list and hope for the best.
I really like the way you portray devils.
Imps have got to be in my top ten of most frequently used monsters to seriously manipulate player characters in my games.
I think the best way to describe the incompatibles would be imaginary numbers being forced into counting numbers.
Loved the narrative way of explaining this. Looking forward to the next ones.
This is just the video I needed! I'm running a Planescape campaign, mainly set in Sigil, with a big focus on encroaching forces of the Far Realms.
Beautiful narration, great storytelling, love it!
Keeping beholder slaves on hand to make use of their antimagic fields is a clever tactic.
Will you ever do a video about living spells? They seem really interesting
Probably
@@AJPickett hells yeah!
Devils can make surprisingly reasonable company when you catch one in a thoughtful mood, fascinating and even pleasant to share an evening with provided you can avoid stoking their ire. But if you want truly insightful conversation, I suggest you seek out an arcanaloth. Many are quite chatty, and the traveling ones are perhaps the most personable fiends you'll ever find.
Been in many WotC3rdE games where a night hag played nanny to our PC groups, along just being half-fiends tieflings who are the nigh hags unmature children and grandchildren. Granny knows best, and we were a bunch of thieving, murdering b@stards but we were family and family always looks after family first.
No Remigus Ker *pulls off mask to reveal an Arcanoloth* we are wise to your trickery.
@@AJPickett **Puts his hands up and sighs*
Now now let's not be too hasty here my friend! It was merely a suggestion. After all, can you blame me for wanting to bend the ear of a scribe so renowned as yourself? Such learned and thoughtful men are hard to find. And what harm could come from us sharing a few secrets, hmmm?
(also ngl I hope all the time you'll do something on arcanaloths somedsy. Easily my favorite fiend!)
I've had some experiences with 'Incompatibles' before. There's a kind of temporal parasite, called a Pyredox. It appears as a small candle flame, usually a soft off-white or pastel blue in color. They often approach the elderly and those getting close to the natural end of their lives, using the proximity of death and the Ethereal Plane to manifest temporarily in reality. They don't have minds that can be detected or communicated with in any meaningful way, except (according to a servant of a particular great Old One) by the telepathic prowess of a being with no less than seven lobes in its brain. I'm inclined to write that off as gibberish, but when dealing with unknown-unknowns, it's best to include all available data.
The Pyredox approaches elderly and dying individuals and attempts to consume them. Not with fire, but it devours them backwards in time. The subject grows younger by one month per round as the fire spreads across their bodies. While this may seem like a wonderful boon to the aged and infirm, it is actually a danger to reality itself. As the victim grows younger, the Pyredox erases the things that individual has done, starting at the beginning. Parents, if they're still alive, will forget their birth. Old friends begin to forget their childhoods together, the works of artisans fade away and the changes they individual has made to the world around them throughout their life begin to never-have-happened.
Even the most mediocre and milquetoast commoners still play their part weaving the tapestry of life and reality together, and erasing them from ever having existed can destabilize entire worlds. Worse still if the Pyredox approaches a king or sage whose words shaped public policy.
Worse still, there are things that the Pyredox cannot consume. Any time, place, or object touched by magic of any kind. If a simple farmer is erased, nothing he did would have ever happened, except those things where he interacted with magic. The fairy ring he warned the town guard about would still have been discovered. The travelling wizard who performed illusions for entertainment in the town square would leave everyone who had been there remembering the victim being there, but with no memory of who he was outside that context. The one time a local druid cast a spell to remove his gout several summers ago would still have happened. These 'causeless-events' and 'causality errors' build up, destabilizing material reality and making more anomalous events probable. Small rifts, planar leakage, temporal oddities, and the spontaneous manifestation of some of the more exotic aberrations are not uncommon in an area where the Pyredox has fed.
Worse still, with each feeding, the Pyredox grows stronger, and larger. Able to consume not just animals and people, but entire places. This is to be avoided at all costs.
The simplest way to destroy a pyredox is negative energy. They seem to be allergic to entropy, so any spell or effect that draws on the Negative Energy Plane or the Plane of Shadow can banish the pyredox instantly, snuffing it out. This is why the Pyredox never attempt to consume undead. Indeed, the mere presence or proximity of undead can halt the Pyredox's consumption. Time-altering spells also provide viable wards against Pyredox, a Haste or Slow spell freezing the Pyredox in place, allowing the victim to simply walk away from it. Without a victim to feed on, the Pyredox can remain in reality no more than 1d12 rounds, after which it vanishes.
The exact origin and nature of the Pyredox is unknown, whether it is a type of creature, a single unique creature encountered multiple times, or a pseudo-natural phenomenon. One particular warlock (whose sanity is heavily questioned) insists that it is the feeding mechanism for "a Great Old One that does not exist", his words, not mine.
Whatever their cause, Pyredoxes are blessedly rare, only three ever having been recorded. Pray to all the Saints and Powers you hold dear that they remain that way.
Gods move through dimensions mostly as they please. Perhaps only limited by the perspective of the mortals they decide to anchor themselves to. What if a god chooses to not anchor itself at all and just drifts through the dimensions randomly? The only confirmation of its existence is itself? Does it really exist if nothing else confirms it does? If the very idea of what it is remains obscured?
Hey can I make this?
(Any/all)
Help yourself. I'm always happy to help others make their games/stories a little weirder.@@eliotoole4534
@@mitchhaelann9215Thanks!
The technical term for what happens when crossing an event horizon is "spaghettification."
which leads to the slow squeeze into literal 2D on the outside of the sphere, not but information.
Yeah, the black stars are not naked singularities, that would be far more extreme.. they are just chunks of neutronium.
I can see some poor sap of a wizard trying to 'harvest' one of these as a material component and ending up with a disaster. Could loop arond with how the weapons (time bombs, etc) are made.
Lawful evil devils couldn't have the suicidal intention of making them nor would the chaotic demons have the patience. But they would grab the results from the ashes of a ruined experiment 'gone horribly right'.
Yugoloths and hags are the culprits most of the time.
Really liked this one. Eager to hear about more spooky weird stuf
No Fighting in the Interplanar Pub
Awesome! I very much like the Time Loop mechanics. I will be applying them to an artifact I had a dream about. Thanks!!
You are most welcome. Take notes!
There's the sound now.
Try reloading guys.
Noted, don't attack the abyss. It will eat you.
Demons have tried to invade Hell, frequently - they have yet to get past Avernus.
Devils, it seems, have more common sense.
Yay! New update as I wake the hell up!
Sigil backdrop! :D
Stories from fiends are my favourite. Especially from Baatezu
Nice to see you changing up the picture of yourself keeps things fresh got so used to you using the painting showing you with a quill that the selfie surprised me.
shocks me as well, lol.
The framing in these videos is soooo good.
Captivating story telling as a means of imparting knowledge. As we would come to expect from an accomplished DM. 👍
damn this is good, AJ! i cant tell where the lore ends and you begin!
That’s one for the “favorites” folder
2:00 You don't have to be lawfull alligned to have OCD.
Never said you did.
Do Inevitables or gods or other extraplanar force hunt these, or are they essentially a match?
"Just stay away and it'll burn itself out"
Well, the Loops actually have a function, much like Bones in your body are continually eaten by one type of cell, and rebuilt by another type, over time the internal structure of your bones changes to better support your lifestyle, so the internal bone structure of a marathon runner and that of a lazy ass youtube are quite different. The Loops are just doing what they normally do, except they have been pulled into the wrong place and more importantly, the wrong time. I'll be bringing a few more far realm entities to you in the coming months, including more homebrew monsters who mess with physics quite a bit.
@@AJPickett So in a nightmare case a Druid could call a Loop to an arcane/psionic temporal displaced area.
3rd-level Demi-Sadow Magic + 4th-level Hallucinatory Terrain = 7th-level Limited Wish. = 40% of breakdown of reality. Treat as Wall of Fire damage.
N/PC fixing reality as the stander PCs are battling demons/far realm.
a.) Divine beautiful angel praising the lawful nature of the multiverse in the name of their god.
b.) Lich/Baator preforming ritual.
c.) Druid doing something.
d.) Imps hammering and nailing reality back together and want a snack after wards
e.) Janitor with a scrub brush sweeping up the area.
f.) Computer programing fixing the Matrix code. Did that for a Twilight Zone episode for Star Wars games. Bored imperial officer type up an image and placed it on the monitor that Darth Vader was standing behind the security monitor officer view screen. Roll Use Computer skill as Spellcraft DC: 22 and Vader Teleports to said location till he is removed from camera program. The players PCing Vader, Han, and Leia turn a bull zhit joke into a 40minute cat and mouse game. The space station crew had such a bazaar moment they were too scare to report it.
Storm trooper, " No man, no way ?! There was a hallway here a second ago ?!"
Along with a bit too much reverse exploding toilet jokes, with backwards flushing waste water.
So you have two guys off duty messing with that station's cameras laughing themselves silly at their jokes. Not realizing the station is going nuts. Because what they are creating is bending reality.
2.) Loops are Titan children play toys like draw string tops.
Star Trek Voyer the .. Q .. civil war, Q Continuum muskets were causing stars to nova.
Men in Black, universe were children's marbles.
@@krispalermo8133 I like the idea of reality warping in the vicinity of super heavy magic, like a star wars interdiction field.
I am impressed by your prose if this is your work. You could write fiction of any sort. Or anything really. Not stilted and just descriptive enough to make fantasy seem natural. Go with it man, you have a future in it.
I assure you, this is my own work :) and thanks
@@AJPickett And good work it is.
AUDIO BOOKS
Another good one, thanks! I just landed my campaign into Sigil so this gives some ideas.
How would dragons have destroyed the abyss? You mentioned it in the red dragon video, and I’ve been curious about it ever since. Also still curious about Psionics in dnd lore.
@AJ Pickett yes please more on this subject!!
Thank you for your good works. Always informative and entertaining. Wish I could auto-thumb up all your content. Im certain you’re going to be Knighted for going above and beyond for the good of the Realm. Cheers
Sir AJ Pickett, Sage of the Realms, Lorekeeper, TH-camr and meat popsicle. Got a nice ring to it!
AJ Pickett and metal music? Nice.
Its been a while since I uploaded any demon series vids, that is the standard intro for the fiendish type topics... a bit of Metal!
Good morning y’all , can’t think of a better way to start the day than a DND video from AJ to get the creative juices flowing!
You, Sir, did this extremely well
Eh, you were in Sigil. The devil just did not want to break any rules and face the Lady of Pain's judgement. Great job as always. If I could suggest a race to do a video on, possible the 3.5 ed Illumians?
What a stunning coincidence... I have a very special project coming up all about the Illumians, the Astral dominion of Shom... how Illumians were some of the best player characters I ever had in my buddy Iain's D&D campaign, etc. So yeah, got it covered John and you are going to LOVE it.
I am going to run a time loop as a BBEG in my Spelljammer campaign.
Thanks for the inspiration
I mean, if you're gonna interview a devil anywhere, Sigil is probably the safest place outside of confinement
Unless he wants to get mazed! XD
From a long-term standpoint, Sigil is safer than confinement -- the Devil is likely to want revenge against whomever confined it.
I wouldn't trust a mf thing a devil inside a circle says, and neither should you. They're far less likely to tell lies or half truths (usually that will end up in a fatal accident for you), when encountered in the wild. You don't want something that much smarter than you to be that kind of pissed off at you
I read that first as the "Incapables"
I'm sure that temporal inertia mechanic would work well for deja-vu.
Also, black hole buckshot would turn into a bolo-shot right? Or just another metal band like snapping puppies?
*Black Hole Buckshot* is an excellent band name.
please stand by
These sound like paradox entities from Mage: The Awakening. Cool.
It sounds more like the Nephandi to me
Amazing video and voice acting as always! What software do you use for the voice of the devil? I’m looking at messing with that stuff while DMing online.
Audacity, all I did was lower the pitch, that's it.
Great material. Love your videos.
5:47 in and I know this is going to be a great story for the Halloween season!
The scribe, obsessively writing down every thing he hears, would please a devil’s lawful nature. It is a servant lacking a master, still fulfilling his purpose, which the devil would happily be, for a time.
The danger is when the energy of worship from a living being serving it grows dim again. Only then is the poor scribe truly in danger. Once the devil has tasted the power that fuels the gods and it grows accustomed to it, the devil can be manipulated, but it can also become enraged.
Beware the devil willing to speak. It makes the fey lords seem predictable.
They fey are predicable, you just can't survive long enough to know all their opinions and navigate them
They're emotional, not random!
All those little rituals and warnings are based on navigating social situations among those who never "calm down" for better or worse.
I will not stand for fey shit talk! hahaha
Thanks!
Thank you!
Now this is the kind of SCP style nightmares I'm here for! 😔👌
As I mentioned on twitter, there is a lot of crossover between D&D monster lore fandom and SCP lore fandom, and I'm drifting closer to the creamy center of that overlap a little more every day.
@@AJPickett At this point I'm 90% sure Vecna is an O5 or the Administrator.
@@AJPickett antimemes and illusion magic make my pants tight
What type of demons were created when the gods attacked the abyss? I could not understand him.
The video included free scripted captions so you don't have to take the time to type questions like this.
@@AJPickett I did that and the CC says "Ayamara demons" for which I found no information. Eventually I found where you answered someone with Loumara demons. So I found the information eventually. Sorry for wasting your time.
The loop encounter sounds fascinating. I’m definitely gonna use it
Always a big fan of the demon and devil lore.
A very interesting bit of homebrew, AJ, thank you for this.
Lovely framing, 10/10
Ohhhh shit new video!! I'm super nerdy and drank to many beverages all already. Full bottle full throttle. Best story telling, listen to it on my hour drive to work.
Full Bottle Full Throttle would be a cool band name.
I love this. This is great stuff.
Thank you for the great content
"and this gave the Dii-em ideas. Terrible, AWEFUL ideas!" And as it pondered how to better torment it's Peasees, the Dii-em's lips stretched into a nasty, curdled smile, and a horrid malice lit up it's many eyes!
As always, love the storytelling addition!
Thanks for the video AJ! More fodder for my campaign! 😈
This was so good! The lore is so rich I can taste it! Another awesome story!
A chronovoid sounds like a metroid
They suck the remaining time out of biology for energy, that’s wild
Yea yesh. Even weeping angels from doctor who are kinder with how they feed on ya.
Their wild variation in their forms and abilities reminds me of the angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Incomprehensible abominations are always the best kind.
Eldridge abomination. Only the low rank angels appeared like us as their purpose involves making contact with us. Those whose function would normally never have them cross paths with us are truly strange and terrifying. Even the low rank have that fey like presence of being equal parts attractive and horrifying.
I love this type of d&d stuff the weird and awesome
I always love hearing about negative space wedgies like these.
Well that was interesting 😊
Hey when do you think the next livestream will be? Also could you do a video the on gaj from darksun since it In the new spelljammer?
I'm sorry Moonring, I have been very slack with the livestreams lately, I have a pretty fun activity for the next one... eating weird snacks from China, including, but not limited to, Cod flavored Sunflower seeds and unidentifiable brown blobs with enough spices to nearly kill me. That will be very soon, maybe even tomorrow, I will let you know in the community tab as usual.
Very intriguing.
Nice video!
0:45 how is that any different than talking to a half orc as a gnome?
fair point
The half-orc won’t consume the gnome’s soul right there on the spot?
I listened to a half orc bard this one time and I think I lost some of my soul to how bad the performance was, but, that was just that one time, I am certain there are truly wonderful half orc bards around somewhere.
Good video AJ
Thanks Chris.
Bless the Mighty GlueStick
AJ, what is the picture that you pan through starting at 7:35? Where did you find it? Thank you
Artist Leo Hao www.artstation.com/artwork/Q0BB4 another gorgeous battle scene www.artstation.com/artwork/L0B8r
@@AJPickett thank you AJ, appreciate the response back👍
All these Demons and Devils are quite charming and intriguing.
I'll be looking forward to these lol
May I make a request on dwarf/elf hybrids? Just curious on what your opinion would be on them.
Half dwarves of Human or Elven heritage are normally just a part of Dwarven society, they look so similar to other dwarves that you would barely be able to tell, hence why is often seems like their are no half dwarves... remember, dwarves have children at a much slower rate than humans, so, having a human or elven parent is not a huge stigma, it more like something the family will just avoid making a big deal about.
That being said... individual results may vary.
@@AJPickett thank you for your time. I was not expecting a reply any time soon. I thought that they would treat them the same as past generations treated people with mental disabilities. If nothing else, then I thought the elves would tread such hybrids as mules. I.e. they would have them only do menial work, or was I making the mestake mixing J. R. R. Tolkien's work with DnD?
@@pheorrungurd8746 It's very rare for half dwarves to live in elven communities, but a half human dwarf will fit into human society very well, again, to others they just look like a dwarf and they act like a dwarf, their physiological differences are more obvious to dwarves and in their choices of food and drink, plus the amount of hours they sleep and of course, how long they live is generally less than dwarves, but in the case of the half elven dwarf... more.
hey, AJ, here's a question you might not get very often.
with the shadowfell and feywild being mirrors of the material plane, do you as a dungeon master ever put any thought into what's in the underdark of the two planes for your world?
what about in the shadowfell and feywild versions of space? what is their phlogiston's like? what about the other planets in your crystal sphere within these mirror planes?
it's something I regularly think about for my world, I like to try and imagine every map I draw as effectively 3 maps, because of the overlapping planes. But i'd like to hear if you have any thoughts on the matters for your own games.
Yes, very much so.
Loops remind me of Langoliers in concept.