By the way, Yes I am aware that the origin of the Swamp of Akhlaur is because of something else, the Sage is not though and will discover this in a later video on the Laraken monster. :)
Every time some weird monster exists across the Prime with multiple different creation stories on different worlds; my first instinct is 'ah, failed Aboleth experiment then'
I can see why Illithids (mind flayers), get Umber Hulk minions. Mind flayers only eat brains (well, brains, an certain fungi and lichens), and the brainless bodies would start to pile up and stink up the place something fierce, so the Umber Hulk is a good way to get rid of said bodies.
"There's no way they can penetrate the walls of my solid stone structure hideout!" You mean these creatures that can not only tunnel underground, but dig through granite, and quickly dig through castle walls much thicker than your hideout's stone ones? That's like saying you can't walk through a wall of paper or tear open a cereal box.
I was absolutely ecstatic when I killed one of these things with my level 6 barbarian. The party kept getting one bad confusion roll after another, and the umber hulk and I just kept trading huge damage while I kept getting lucky rolls on my saves. Finally it ce down to "whoever gets the next hit will win" and I pulled it off at critical hp.
"If I told a Torilian how many humans get killed by cars every day, they'd be horrified." Somehow, this is the line that made me realize how well and nicely your presentation has crystallized and refined over the years.
"The difference between Chicken and Duck and Turkey to them" Which explains the Umber Hulk TurDucken, a Halfling, stuffed inside a Dwarf, stuffed inside a Human; delicious! But you only get it on special Holidays bc it takes so long to prepare.
"100's of videos to binge watch, like you are Neo learning Kung Fu" 🤣 Very true though, AJ's sage teachings have guided, and given me inspiration as a DM for years "I know Kung Fu"
I like to Use an Umber Hulk early on as a kind of MR X type of enemy. Be it in a kobold mine bursting through from underground, confusion attack on a poor kobold followed by it being ripped asunder. Or in an abandoned temple sort of area where it will track and chase the party through the halls like a minotaur. Nothing quickens party fear than a large monstrous insectoid bursting through the ground and an 'auto passive perception' to tell the party that this thing is stronger than you are and hangry. Clever work from the party will be able to kill it, but most just run. It's great when they think they have lost it. Only for it to tear through a wall.
@@AJPickett you made a comparison on how danger perceived is relatively and how people in Toril would be shocked to learn how many people die in traffic, the way we perceive people getting eaten on Toril. And I thought it was funny that the statement in it self was a good example of how the lethality of cars compared to trains and planes is perceived very differently.
I’m literally obsessed with the ecologists from the perspective of the sage. Make the ecologists more like a short story, so good to listen to while I work. Can’t believe there was a was to step up the already great vids man, keep it up!
What a magnificent video. Told in character, with bonus info on other horrible monsters to boot. Plus the variations, origins, and tactics we expect. Thank you AJ!
So, one of my favorite places in the Realms is Undermountain; Halaster Blackcloak is one of my favorite NPCs, and even though current Skullport seems oddly accessible for existing totally within the mega-dungeon, I really enjoyed getting to run a campaign through the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I bring this up because I remember when my party ran into some of these monsters, while traipsing along through one of the many floors of Undermountain, and they were doubly surprised that not only could umber hulks rend through stone, but they could rend through the stone walls of Undermountain; something they had already learned the magic of that place usually prevents! I think it's the only time I have gotten to use these, and it was fun because the party weren't automatically aware of what to expect.
I ran a monster hunter inspired 3.5 game once and one of my players decided he wanted to get umber hulk plate armor. The party was level 11ish and decided this would be an easy hunt and started doing some brief research before tracking one down. And they did. However what they thought was a lone umber hulk was actually a Truly Horrible Umber Hulk, a 16 foot tall, 4 ton monstrosity. And that's how I taught the players to be more cautious about their hunts. The survivors at least
yeah, in a Rod of Seven Parts adventure, one of the rod parts was located in an ancient vault that was sealed by giants back in the days of the war with the dragons, so, to open the vault required the severed heads of all the different types of chromatic dragons (just the classic five), they were doing well, but then got sloppy, failed to scout a lair and ran right into an Illithid Elder Brain and a pack of Mind Flayer thralls... it was a brutal TPK and ended the campaign.
Funny, I find the encounter a little underwhelming for its CR: sure it has a significant amount of HP, but its Armor Class is pretty low for that level, even though it comes with 3 x Improved Natural Armor as feats, and its Confusion ability only has a caster level of 8. Not to mention the fact is has no ranged ability and a low speed of 20ft, so you can easily take it out at range, although it'll probably decide to burrow before long. Quite a bit of damage and a high attack, though, so that's more of a Brute than anything else.
@@Harrowed2TheMind if you let the players take out a burrowing creature at range it's entirely your fault as a DM. Their low int doesn't mean they're dumb it means they've found a strategy that works and rarely need to think up something else. So burrow underground, pop up in the middle of the players formations, confusion for all and big ol bites for the softest looking people, then back under ground
@@corneredbadger Pretty much the conclusion I came to as well. That being said, it cannot pop in the middle of the players' formation and make a full attack on the same round, so the players have the advantage, action economy-wise. Unless they split the party, in which case the players kinda had it coming, lol. Speaking of which, realistically, considering the fact it is sapient and pretty much of average human intelligence, it would probably burrow and flee once it finds out it is outmatched and attempt to ambush the players once they are isolated (if the party splits, once they send a scout, etc.). It would probably even try to take matters in its own hands and cause a cave-in somewhere on their road so as to cause the party division itself. I don't know if hit-and-run tactics (more like hit-and-burrow, but you catch my drift) and throwing rocks/boulders are really their type, but like AJ said, there's a lot of variety between individuals, what with them existing for tens of thousands of years, and all, so you got lots of options to keep it a challenging encounter in any case.
@@Harrowed2TheMind they dont need to make a full attack their lone claw hits for 3d6+13 and when I say they pop up in the middle of the party I mean exactly that. They leave a 20' wide 20+' deep pit in the middle of the party, making them deal with reflex save vs sudden pit fall and a Huge aberration. so now some of the party is in a hole, the squishy looking one is probably bleeding badly and theres a giant monster right in the middle of them. Their burrow even says they dont leave a tunnel unless they CHOOSE to do so and they can definitely use the simple tactic of bury the party in separate holes to be eaten later. If youre not using ALL the monsters abilities against the party youre not using them to their fullest. Burrow isnt supposed to be just for round one surprise or running away at the end of the fight
My party once faced a mother an her three hulklings and OF COURSE we couldn't bring ourselves to actually kill them. Thankfully one of the casters used animate rope to lure the babies away, like dangling a strand of yarn in front of a cat. Then the mother had to go chasing off after them and we got away. It was the cutest possible solution. I've had a soft spot for Umber hulks ever since. I desperately want to believe they aren't _really_ chaotic evil, they just don't know any better.
The other week the party I am in, we fought two undead Umber Hulks. That was a nerve-racking battle. The little pyramid with the mummy Lord thanks to that bag of beans was really scary and nasty.
@@AJPickett the ranger, Druid and rogue all had magical weapons but nobody else did. The Barbarian used to but he wrecked it with nat 1s. He was using a non-magical great axe.
@@AJPickett if we get to nat 1s in a row, the weapon is broken. Dark, The beastmaster Ranger's pseudodragon companion completely wrecked his stinger with two nat 1. It is still regrowing the stinger.
Live these lore entrys from the Sage od Candlekeep. Peoplw who disbelieve the quantity/density of monsters in D&D should remember most monsters would not be allies and would constantly war with each other not just prey on intelligent humanoids.
Um, wow. 😳 The color correction right off the bat makes these things way more fascinating. I wouldn't want to go around a tree in a dark woods and see THAT staring back! 😬
"a baby umberhulkling has the strength to snap a human finger like a twig" fun fact, so you do, fingers are about as tough as carrots we're just naturally psychologically averse to inflicting gore on ourselves & other humans
Hey AJ, great video! Didn't realize how intelligent Umber Hulks are, sometimes I just need to hear it from another person. Also didn't know about the abyssal Umber Hulks. As you know been looking at the abyssal creatures (Maw Demon). Was surprised that there is no stats for abyssal ants in 5e. No giant ant stats either, lol. Gary definitely had a beautiful mind. Thanks AJ, you have a wonderful day!
"Professional TH-cam RPG Sage" is quite the impressive title and well earned! I had a side quest planned for my party to bring the head of an Umber Hulk to an artificer so they could craft a helm of confusion. Excellent video as always!
As a biology major, I can't help but get irk whenever I see a fantasy arthropodal creature with both insect mandibles _and_ human jaws, because that's basically four jaws.
@@DIEGhostfish yeah but i never encountered them in a campaign until out local Lovecraft fan of a DM had a coven of mind flayers using them as guard dogs and corpse disposal. Besides everyone hates the spell jamming spider slavers.
@@DIEGhostfish I know that was a typo, but now I want a race of benevolent, agrarian, fuzzy chonkers called the Negoi that the Neogi absolutely LOATHE. :)
As an individual who has been playing DND since first edition and who would consider myself an expert on the lore and mythology of DND, I must say, you are one of the best sources of information I have ever encountered. Love what you do. Keep up the good work A.J.
About tunneling. As rubble produced by tunneling is less-dense than the rock being tunneled through, without evacuating the rubble any tunneling creature would simply run out of room quickly, become immobilized and then suffocate. Yet, fantasy tunneling creatures can just slice through rock like a hot knife through butter - Imagine a tunnel boring machine that could cut at 20 foot per round! The only conclusion is that the claws, or some other effect, have a phase or dimension shifting ability tuned to rock - presumably the elemental plane of earth. Each strike of the claws reduces the rocks density by 90% or so, leaving the remainder soft enough to broken up by tools of similar strength and hardness to iron.
It is an alien planet in an alternate universe or parallel dimension, so, could be. The rock itself could have different properties but I do agree its hard to get past the laws of volume.
@@AJPickett maybe, or the dimension hopping formian ant folk, most notably we need something like a butterfly like race just something to be that quintessential beautiful druid/mage race, but the umber hulk would be a good start, Maybe a way to bring a burrowing speed into mainstream with player races, have it’s maddening gaze be its version of the dragon born breath weapon or something
I’d love to see a vid for kas the bloody handed I’ve recently made a character that’s a fighter/warlock he was a guard that was chosen and offered a pact by vecna but what does vecna need of a mostly martial character that one of his magic caster followers couldn’t do so much so that he went out of his way just to offer the deal to a seemingly run of the mill guard? Could go easy route and say he needed something magic resistant/proof dead but that’s boring so the best answer I could think of was that perhaps vecna slightly missed his killer and once greatest general Kas the bloody handed and perhaps saw potential in my guy to be a more loyal replacement for him given both time and opportunity
Thanks for the video! I want to buy one of your Vecna did nothing wrong shirts but I am rather chonky... would you be willing to make them larger by request?
Is there any chance that Gary Gygax's Umber Hulk could have been inspired by the Alien Bounty Hunter Zuckuss and his Side Kick Droid 4-LOM from Empire Strikes Back?
@@AJPickett Just think if Umber Hulks are intelligent and value money they would make for some fairly effective bounty hunters as long as they don't eat (all of) their quarry :) The only issue is that no one ever draws the required "Dog the Bounty Hunter Mullets" on Umber Hulks.
Unlikely if it is one of the original creatures of D&D, as D&D is older than Star Wars by several years. Dungeons and Dragons was originally released in 1974. A New Hope was released in 1977.
@@AJPicketti know but different color as you mentioned. Umbra is shadow so it seems to be more fitting ;) im guessing its possible that back in the day when it was created author might have mixed up "umbral" aka shadowy with "umber" aka brown. Its just a theory tho :)
Ah yes splendid, just started my vacation and have finally time to watch more of your Videos again :D Maybe even play the bloody game again xD that is if elden ring lets me and the others play sth other than itself...it is...demanding...
one day we will have every creature under the imaginary celestial body, very unlikely we will see the full list on the non fictional space but that's okay.
Locations in the realms is not easy lore to come by on TH-cam. I think you got a pretty good idea their. Start with Phandalin, then slowly spread from section to section of Faerun. I’d watch it, but I play a lot in the Forgotten Realms so yeah!
“For this reason, the males are very protective of the females, often sacrificing their own lives in their defense.” Ah, male umber hulks are simps. Good to know.
Even though there are many monsters with the ability to converse or understand their prey, it's hard to halt a hungry or angry Umber Hulk. What adventuring group thinks far enough ahead to bring a extra supply of meat just incase they encounter a pack of Gnolls or the like? What if a party encounters an Umber Hulk and offers it all the salted pork they have, only for the beast to swat it away in place of "fresher meat"?
You never know. When I DM, there is always some option for the players to avoid combat if they can think of it, or discover it. (or just plain win me over with their bullshit)
@@AJPickett I can't wait for the next vid keep up the good work with the video. seeing a reboot of a old vid giving it more depth was definitely a appreciated touch on the lore
Hah! i have been watching all of them since the newborn arrived in December. In order from oldest to youngest. Just watched the Glazia now (gonna rewatch and take notes) but i am almost caught up to current again! Like Neo learning Kung Fu indeed :)
@@AJPickett p sure this is like my 3rd go around since i started thinking about running dnd. Before thing 1 was born… 4ish years i think. Although each go around there is more content 🤘🙂
I actually recently played a Spelljammer game (more home brew than the recent release) in which I played an Umber Hulk freed from slavery by a well meaning Paladin who realized that Hulks are thinking things. Said Umber Hulk stated going by the name "Man De Bell" and became quite the capable Barbarian. Having a PC who can literally disassemble a rival Spelljammer with his bare hands really spiced the campaign up.
Hmmm, unknown, up to the DM, personally, I would give the mandibles a slow regrowth rate, higher for any claws as they need to replace talons all the time from digging through rock.
Hi AJ big fan, it would mean alot to me to see you do a video on the Orcs of Yurtus from Volos Guide. Im running dungeon of the mad mage very soon and though i've read the article about them in the book would love a deep dive from you!
I always assumed the name umberhulk came from umbral, which I thought ment underworld but it means entrance way. Weird Also this might be your most chaotic video in a while.
@@AJPickett I have been hard at work trying to build a race worthy of you doing a video on its lore so it would be a homebrew player race with stats and details you that you could show to others in a video with your normal level of expansion.
The meat is going to be similar in texture to chicken. The taste will have some similarities to crawfish, but will be closer to the taste of shark. And, like shark, you will want to soak the meat prior to preparing it for consumption, and it is recommended to cook it thoroughly.
By the way, Yes I am aware that the origin of the Swamp of Akhlaur is because of something else, the Sage is not though and will discover this in a later video on the Laraken monster. :)
Oh man, I'm loving the story of the Sage
And more Halruaa to come?! Yes!
Is the sage a transplant from out world or are you switching between IC and OOC?
Had a campaign where the BBEG biomage was creating a blend of number hulk, thri-kreen, and goristro.
Nasty business, that
UMBER
DAMNED AUTOCORRECT DOESN'T KNOW THE WORD UMBER!
Every time some weird monster exists across the Prime with multiple different creation stories on different worlds; my first instinct is 'ah, failed Aboleth experiment then'
The picture of the figurine at the end of this video is a toy i had as a kid, it even had the mandibles break off just like the on in the picture
I can see why Illithids (mind flayers), get Umber Hulk minions. Mind flayers only eat brains (well, brains, an certain fungi and lichens), and the brainless bodies would start to pile up and stink up the place something fierce, so the Umber Hulk is a good way to get rid of said bodies.
NEO: "whaoo...I know D&D"
MORBIUS: ( begins to pull out character sheets) "hmm...show me"
"There's no way they can penetrate the walls of my solid stone structure hideout!"
You mean these creatures that can not only tunnel underground, but dig through granite, and quickly dig through castle walls much thicker than your hideout's stone ones? That's like saying you can't walk through a wall of paper or tear open a cereal box.
I was absolutely ecstatic when I killed one of these things with my level 6 barbarian. The party kept getting one bad confusion roll after another, and the umber hulk and I just kept trading huge damage while I kept getting lucky rolls on my saves. Finally it ce down to "whoever gets the next hit will win" and I pulled it off at critical hp.
"If I told a Torilian how many humans get killed by cars every day, they'd be horrified."
Somehow, this is the line that made me realize how well and nicely your presentation has crystallized and refined over the years.
"The difference between Chicken and Duck and Turkey to them" Which explains the Umber Hulk TurDucken, a Halfling, stuffed inside a Dwarf, stuffed inside a Human; delicious! But you only get it on special Holidays bc it takes so long to prepare.
.... wow. But I mean, yeah.
A HalfDwarfMan..if you will.
"100's of videos to binge watch, like you are Neo learning Kung Fu" 🤣 Very true though, AJ's sage teachings have guided, and given me inspiration as a DM for years
"I know Kung Fu"
*gestures at Roll20* You think those are Dice you are rolling? hmmm, interesting. /morphius
Umber Hulk is my second favourite underdark creature.
I know, nothing beats the Flumph.
I used to have one of those monster figures shown at the end of this video, i didnt know at the time it was an Umber Hulk
I like to Use an Umber Hulk early on as a kind of MR X type of enemy. Be it in a kobold mine bursting through from underground, confusion attack on a poor kobold followed by it being ripped asunder. Or in an abandoned temple sort of area where it will track and chase the party through the halls like a minotaur.
Nothing quickens party fear than a large monstrous insectoid bursting through the ground and an 'auto passive perception' to tell the party that this thing is stronger than you are and hangry. Clever work from the party will be able to kill it, but most just run. It's great when they think they have lost it. Only for it to tear through a wall.
Trains and Planes are but a footnote in the statistics of causes traffic deaths
What?
@@AJPickett you made a comparison on how danger perceived is relatively and how people in Toril would be shocked to learn how many people die in traffic, the way we perceive people getting eaten on Toril.
And I thought it was funny that the statement in it self was a good example of how the lethality of cars compared to trains and planes is perceived very differently.
@@HiopX ah, thanks, I see now.
I’m literally obsessed with the ecologists from the perspective of the sage. Make the ecologists more like a short story, so good to listen to while I work. Can’t believe there was a was to step up the already great vids man, keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
Hmm...
And then I realized I have Destructive Wave on my Warforged.
Nuts to the party. The Umber Hulk is about to be surprised.
What a magnificent video. Told in character, with bonus info on other horrible monsters to boot. Plus the variations, origins, and tactics we expect. Thank you AJ!
Maybe they meant UMBRAL Hulk originally?
I think he may have, yes.
I was thinking the same
So, one of my favorite places in the Realms is Undermountain; Halaster Blackcloak is one of my favorite NPCs, and even though current Skullport seems oddly accessible for existing totally within the mega-dungeon, I really enjoyed getting to run a campaign through the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I bring this up because I remember when my party ran into some of these monsters, while traipsing along through one of the many floors of Undermountain, and they were doubly surprised that not only could umber hulks rend through stone, but they could rend through the stone walls of Undermountain; something they had already learned the magic of that place usually prevents! I think it's the only time I have gotten to use these, and it was fun because the party weren't automatically aware of what to expect.
Good stuff as always!
I ran a monster hunter inspired 3.5 game once and one of my players decided he wanted to get umber hulk plate armor. The party was level 11ish and decided this would be an easy hunt and started doing some brief research before tracking one down. And they did. However what they thought was a lone umber hulk was actually a Truly Horrible Umber Hulk, a 16 foot tall, 4 ton monstrosity. And that's how I taught the players to be more cautious about their hunts. The survivors at least
yeah, in a Rod of Seven Parts adventure, one of the rod parts was located in an ancient vault that was sealed by giants back in the days of the war with the dragons, so, to open the vault required the severed heads of all the different types of chromatic dragons (just the classic five), they were doing well, but then got sloppy, failed to scout a lair and ran right into an Illithid Elder Brain and a pack of Mind Flayer thralls... it was a brutal TPK and ended the campaign.
Funny, I find the encounter a little underwhelming for its CR: sure it has a significant amount of HP, but its Armor Class is pretty low for that level, even though it comes with 3 x Improved Natural Armor as feats, and its Confusion ability only has a caster level of 8. Not to mention the fact is has no ranged ability and a low speed of 20ft, so you can easily take it out at range, although it'll probably decide to burrow before long. Quite a bit of damage and a high attack, though, so that's more of a Brute than anything else.
@@Harrowed2TheMind if you let the players take out a burrowing creature at range it's entirely your fault as a DM. Their low int doesn't mean they're dumb it means they've found a strategy that works and rarely need to think up something else. So burrow underground, pop up in the middle of the players formations, confusion for all and big ol bites for the softest looking people, then back under ground
@@corneredbadger Pretty much the conclusion I came to as well. That being said, it cannot pop in the middle of the players' formation and make a full attack on the same round, so the players have the advantage, action economy-wise. Unless they split the party, in which case the players kinda had it coming, lol.
Speaking of which, realistically, considering the fact it is sapient and pretty much of average human intelligence, it would probably burrow and flee once it finds out it is outmatched and attempt to ambush the players once they are isolated (if the party splits, once they send a scout, etc.). It would probably even try to take matters in its own hands and cause a cave-in somewhere on their road so as to cause the party division itself. I don't know if hit-and-run tactics (more like hit-and-burrow, but you catch my drift) and throwing rocks/boulders are really their type, but like AJ said, there's a lot of variety between individuals, what with them existing for tens of thousands of years, and all, so you got lots of options to keep it a challenging encounter in any case.
@@Harrowed2TheMind they dont need to make a full attack their lone claw hits for 3d6+13 and when I say they pop up in the middle of the party I mean exactly that. They leave a 20' wide 20+' deep pit in the middle of the party, making them deal with reflex save vs sudden pit fall and a Huge aberration. so now some of the party is in a hole, the squishy looking one is probably bleeding badly and theres a giant monster right in the middle of them. Their burrow even says they dont leave a tunnel unless they CHOOSE to do so and they can definitely use the simple tactic of bury the party in separate holes to be eaten later. If youre not using ALL the monsters abilities against the party youre not using them to their fullest. Burrow isnt supposed to be just for round one surprise or running away at the end of the fight
My party once faced a mother an her three hulklings and OF COURSE we couldn't bring ourselves to actually kill them. Thankfully one of the casters used animate rope to lure the babies away, like dangling a strand of yarn in front of a cat. Then the mother had to go chasing off after them and we got away. It was the cutest possible solution.
I've had a soft spot for Umber hulks ever since. I desperately want to believe they aren't _really_ chaotic evil, they just don't know any better.
As I said, they have been around for tens of thousands of years, so, they exist in great variety... anything is possible.
The other week the party I am in, we fought two undead Umber Hulks. That was a nerve-racking battle. The little pyramid with the mummy Lord thanks to that bag of beans was really scary and nasty.
Excellent!
@@AJPickett the ranger, Druid and rogue all had magical weapons but nobody else did. The Barbarian used to but he wrecked it with nat 1s. He was using a non-magical great axe.
@@billcox8870 Give your DM a high five from me for wrecking weapons with bad rolls!
@@AJPickett if we get to nat 1s in a row, the weapon is broken. Dark, The beastmaster Ranger's pseudodragon companion completely wrecked his stinger with two nat 1. It is still regrowing the stinger.
Live these lore entrys from the Sage od Candlekeep. Peoplw who disbelieve the quantity/density of monsters in D&D should remember most monsters would not be allies and would constantly war with each other not just prey on intelligent humanoids.
I swear you've done a video on these guys before must be those darn confusion eyes of there's
This is a remastered video... should I add like, a disclaimer when I do these?
@@AJPickett It would probably help either way I'm going to watch and enjoy. You could at least add it in the description of the video
Um, wow. 😳
The color correction right off the bat makes these things way more fascinating.
I wouldn't want to go around a tree in a dark woods and see THAT staring back!
😬
"a baby umberhulkling has the strength to snap a human finger like a twig" fun fact, so you do, fingers are about as tough as carrots we're just naturally psychologically averse to inflicting gore on ourselves & other humans
Old myth that's been debunked, a finger is tougher than a carrot.
@@BlitzkriegBryce oh
I thought your insight was interesting M
Hey AJ, great video! Didn't realize how intelligent Umber Hulks are, sometimes I just need to hear it from another person. Also didn't know about the abyssal Umber Hulks. As you know been looking at the abyssal creatures (Maw Demon). Was surprised that there is no stats for abyssal ants in 5e. No giant ant stats either, lol. Gary definitely had a beautiful mind.
Thanks AJ, you have a wonderful day!
Yeah, i kind of felt like neo when i dove down the rabbit hole that is Io. Wow
Fantastic. Ready now to throw these at an unsuspecting party in a fishing village. THANKS!
"Professional TH-cam RPG Sage" is quite the impressive title and well earned! I had a side quest planned for my party to bring the head of an Umber Hulk to an artificer so they could craft a helm of confusion.
Excellent video as always!
Ahh, fresh glue for the snacking! Don't mind if I do!
As a biology major, I can't help but get irk whenever I see a fantasy arthropodal creature with both insect mandibles _and_ human jaws, because that's basically four jaws.
It's not a naturally evolved creature.
@@AJPickett good point.
Ah yes but the second set of humanoid eyes fits in perfectly with your major in biology.
@@a15godzilla I studied Biological sciences at university.
“Vodyenoy” translates from Russian as “marine”.
Oh well, that makes perfect sense then! :) Thanks Aaron
i always think of ilithids when i think of these things, nasty death bugs!
But don't they work for the Negoi? A sometimes-rival of the Illithids.
@@DIEGhostfish yeah but i never encountered them in a campaign until out local Lovecraft fan of a DM had a coven of mind flayers using them as guard dogs and corpse disposal. Besides everyone hates the spell jamming spider slavers.
@@DIEGhostfish I know that was a typo, but now I want a race of benevolent, agrarian, fuzzy chonkers called the Negoi that the Neogi absolutely LOATHE. :)
As an individual who has been playing DND since first edition and who would consider myself an expert on the lore and mythology of DND, I must say, you are one of the best sources of information I have ever encountered. Love what you do. Keep up the good work A.J.
About tunneling. As rubble produced by tunneling is less-dense than the rock being tunneled through, without evacuating the rubble any tunneling creature would simply run out of room quickly, become immobilized and then suffocate. Yet, fantasy tunneling creatures can just slice through rock like a hot knife through butter - Imagine a tunnel boring machine that could cut at 20 foot per round! The only conclusion is that the claws, or some other effect, have a phase or dimension shifting ability tuned to rock - presumably the elemental plane of earth. Each strike of the claws reduces the rocks density by 90% or so, leaving the remainder soft enough to broken up by tools of similar strength and hardness to iron.
It is an alien planet in an alternate universe or parallel dimension, so, could be. The rock itself could have different properties but I do agree its hard to get past the laws of volume.
I presume some of it evacuates out the back for short range burrowing, but after a certain distance that seems unlikely to keep going
Umber hulks are pretty useful if you can manage to break/tame one. Thanks for the video AJ!
My first game with a 5 player party of lvl 2's dnd 2ed we got flat lined by this bastard
Its what they do.
I'm happy that Umber Hulks are not real. That we know of? How's New Zealand?
New Zealand is set to open up for international travel soon, so that's good.
Excellent content!
"Humans of course, are the chickens" 😅😅😅
I really do like the umber hulk and would love a semi nerfed version to be a player race, there aren’t enough bug bois for players in 5e
And it would offer fairly interesting race flavor with the chitin, claws and culture
Like some offshoot of the Thri Kreen?
@@AJPickett maybe, or the dimension hopping formian ant folk, most notably we need something like a butterfly like race just something to be that quintessential beautiful druid/mage race, but the umber hulk would be a good start, Maybe a way to bring a burrowing speed into mainstream with player races, have it’s maddening gaze be its version of the dragon born breath weapon or something
Too many nerfed player races (and now that they just get to put their +es anywhere why bother making anything new?
@@DIEGhostfish stats are only one thing the real flavor comes from the races other abilities like vision, natural weapons, and various extra powers
I’d love to see a vid for kas the bloody handed I’ve recently made a character that’s a fighter/warlock he was a guard that was chosen and offered a pact by vecna but what does vecna need of a mostly martial character that one of his magic caster followers couldn’t do so much so that he went out of his way just to offer the deal to a seemingly run of the mill guard? Could go easy route and say he needed something magic resistant/proof dead but that’s boring so the best answer I could think of was that perhaps vecna slightly missed his killer and once greatest general Kas the bloody handed and perhaps saw potential in my guy to be a more loyal replacement for him given both time and opportunity
Greyhawk Vampire, now a lord of a Plane of Dread, could be interesting.
@@AJPickett Isn't he one of Tasha's kids?
Hey I remember this the first time round -- what was that the Axe Poison Epoch (APE)?
Even Earlier! It was one of my very early videos in the Talky Face Epoch (TFE)
@@AJPickett Arr right, so right at the transition from the HGGE (hot glue gun epoch)
love what you do here, dont play but grew up on David Eddings and such and, while different, this scratches an itch!
I hugely appreciate every non-D&D player who enjoys these videos, so, thank you very much :)
@@AJPickett you are welcome! And just in case you too were a Eddings fan, the Elenium > the Begariad
@@sakomanlee oooo I think I have to agree with you there, Sparhawk is very cool.
@@AJPickett Agreed! And it was a hell of a thing when Kurik died.
I once paged theough the MM withoutnpaying attention as a kid, and later someone mentioner Bugbears, and I thought these were them.
Thanks for the video! I want to buy one of your Vecna did nothing wrong shirts but I am rather chonky... would you be willing to make them larger by request?
That's out of my control, but if you email me I can send you the image and you can get it custom printed on a garment of your choice.
Is there any chance that Gary Gygax's Umber Hulk could have been inspired by the Alien Bounty Hunter Zuckuss and his Side Kick Droid 4-LOM from Empire Strikes Back?
Zuckuss, hmmm unknown.
@@AJPickett Just think if Umber Hulks are intelligent and value money they would make for some fairly effective bounty hunters as long as they don't eat (all of) their quarry :)
The only issue is that no one ever draws the required "Dog the Bounty Hunter Mullets" on Umber Hulks.
Unlikely if it is one of the original creatures of D&D, as D&D is older than Star Wars by several years. Dungeons and Dragons was originally released in 1974. A New Hope was released in 1977.
One of my favorite Dnd creatures, thank you AJ!
Im guessing name is taken from word "umbra" possibly missheard.
Umber is a colour
@@AJPicketti know but different color as you mentioned. Umbra is shadow so it seems to be more fitting ;) im guessing its possible that back in the day when it was created author might have mixed up "umbral" aka shadowy with "umber" aka brown.
Its just a theory tho :)
@@Amdor a Game 🎮 Theory
Ah yes splendid, just started my vacation and have finally time to watch more of your Videos again :D
Maybe even play the bloody game again xD that is if elden ring lets me and the others play sth other than itself...it is...demanding...
Where there is a will, there is a way.
14:06 . . . He's dabbing
one day we will have every creature under the imaginary celestial body, very unlikely we will see the full list on the non fictional space but that's okay.
When I run out of monsters, I will just make more.
@@AJPickett I feel like you still have a lot more monsters available but I've also liked your homebrew monsters thus far so I have faith in you.
@@firesuppressionequipment I HAVE SO MANY MORE TO COVER ITS CRAZY!
Say AJ, ever consider doing a video on Phandalin and the surrounding area?
I have not, perhaps I should.
Locations in the realms is not easy lore to come by on TH-cam. I think you got a pretty good idea their. Start with Phandalin, then slowly spread from section to section of Faerun. I’d watch it, but I play a lot in the Forgotten Realms so yeah!
A monster that gave me nightmares since the 80s....
Hey, AJ. Would you be open to doing a video on Thokola from the Planescape milieu? Thanks!
I'd have to basically invent all the lore for them.
More like Amber Hulk, lol
“For this reason, the males are very protective of the females, often sacrificing their own lives in their defense.”
Ah, male umber hulks are simps. Good to know.
Thanks AJ.
*yo i'm actually running something with umberhulks.* lets goooooooooooooooooo
Thanks.
I love that illustration where it’s flinging stuff behind it. Looks like he’s dabbing…
Vodyanoi are always very slow to adopt new dance moves.
Always nice to see another video from you
Such a classic! I think our party choose to run away at the time lolzzz
Good call.
@@AJPickett haha, yepp. One of our 1st ever parties, also lowww level heheh. Ages ago pffff
Hook horror next please!
th-cam.com/video/n_5lseFaiCg/w-d-xo.html Not ready for a remaster yet, that one.
Even though there are many monsters with the ability to converse or understand their prey, it's hard to halt a hungry or angry Umber Hulk. What adventuring group thinks far enough ahead to bring a extra supply of meat just incase they encounter a pack of Gnolls or the like? What if a party encounters an Umber Hulk and offers it all the salted pork they have, only for the beast to swat it away in place of "fresher meat"?
You never know. When I DM, there is always some option for the players to avoid combat if they can think of it, or discover it. (or just plain win me over with their bullshit)
Yay a reboot of a old vid
Yep, remastering videos is quite a lot of fun actually, I basically just start from scratch as though I had never heard of the beast before.
@@AJPickett I can't wait for the next vid keep up the good work with the video. seeing a reboot of a old vid giving it more depth was definitely a appreciated touch on the lore
A excellent video as always aj!🤘 Also do think ixitxachitls could use vodyanoi like the neogi uses Umber hulks? What do you think?🧙♂️
Entirely likely, yes.
This was the creature my group was suppose to face, they ended up going for a ok with a neothelid instead xD
Yikes! I'd rather face the hulk.
Look the work Aj
Thanks Ken
Like. Didn't realize auto correct kicked in
@@delmirev5468 Awww, I assumed you wrote Love :)
Hah! i have been watching all of them since the newborn arrived in December. In order from oldest to youngest. Just watched the Glazia now (gonna rewatch and take notes) but i am almost caught up to current again!
Like Neo learning Kung Fu indeed :)
I really should make some sort of certificate for those who complete "The Mighty Binge-Watch".
@@AJPickett p sure this is like my 3rd go around since i started thinking about running dnd. Before thing 1 was born… 4ish years i think. Although each go around there is more content 🤘🙂
Please do the Pech.
I actually recently played a Spelljammer game (more home brew than the recent release) in which I played an Umber Hulk freed from slavery by a well meaning Paladin who realized that Hulks are thinking things. Said Umber Hulk stated going by the name "Man De Bell" and became quite the capable Barbarian. Having a PC who can literally disassemble a rival Spelljammer with his bare hands really spiced the campaign up.
That sounds amazing. Do you have a link to the homebrew race of the umberhulk you used?
Do the bits regrow ? Like the mandibles? They could have a market around selling "mouth scythes" or others they shead or ripped off a rival.
They seem insectoid so maybe when they molt they'll regrow them?
@@ChasoGod maybe?
They're also weird alien cretures and healing items are a thing
Hmmm, unknown, up to the DM, personally, I would give the mandibles a slow regrowth rate, higher for any claws as they need to replace talons all the time from digging through rock.
the bob of hulks hehe
мне понравилось ! лайк и комментарий , для алгоритмов ютуба =)!!!
Hi AJ big fan, it would mean alot to me to see you do a video on the Orcs of Yurtus from Volos Guide. Im running dungeon of the mad mage very soon and though i've read the article about them in the book would love a deep dive from you!
I always assumed the name umberhulk came from umbral, which I thought ment underworld but it means entrance way. Weird
Also this might be your most chaotic video in a while.
It was a pretty wild time in Halruaa.
what do you call a barbarian wizard artificer?
Gifted.
Question AJ Pickett would you do a home brew race?
You mean like variant dragonborn? What did you have in mind?
@@AJPickett I have been hard at work trying to build a race worthy of you doing a video on its lore so it would be a homebrew player race with stats and details you that you could show to others in a video with your normal level of expansion.
As always awesome
What do you think Umber hulks taste like?🤔
btw is there a livestream this week?
Think I might Livestream tomorrow. I think Umber Hulk taste like a swift visit to the hospital.
The meat is going to be similar in texture to chicken. The taste will have some similarities to crawfish, but will be closer to the taste of shark. And, like shark, you will want to soak the meat prior to preparing it for consumption, and it is recommended to cook it thoroughly.
the river ones might be tasty lol
good video AJ
👍
I like to play an artificer Gnome then tame and ride an umber hulk around like it's a rancor.
Who runs Barter Town!?
man i only just got this? weird i'm gonna have to un sub resub sigh