When you really think about it, Yrthak are a perfect collective of land, sea, and sky. Being crocodilian ties them to both the land and water, but the capability of flight provides connection to the sky.
I love this monster. I once used an yrthak to wipe a tribe of kobolds. The only survivor became an avenger and swore to get revenge for his fallen comrades, and that he did. The mad lad managed to kill it with the help of the PCs. It was a fun fight.
I am just picturing the disturbing visual of slapping some tentacles on this guy's face. I can see an Elder Brain thinking that having a few of these undergo ceremorphosis would be a good asset to have in it's sensory arsenal for defending the hive. Picture Illithid Yrthak flying about a darkened canopy to control the fleshy puppets of the forest below. I apologize if you have the same nightmares that this will bring me. Also on the topic of non-humanoid Illithids, my mind also re-edited & reskinned the Intellect Devourerer to being a canine or other like sized quadruped that underwent ceremorphosis, so instead of it looking like a brain on legs, it's a vicious canine Mind Flayer, with tentacles where it's face once was. In order to add a few more nightmare points I decided that instead of them being octopus tentacles, to give it two extra long ones like a squid effectively doubling the base animal's length with the reach of the tentacles.
I like the croc with the wings version better. The pterodactyl version kind of loses the major " OH crap we are screwed" factor But as monster. It become more scary as the fight goes on. It become one of those "WTF was that ? He just drop dead!" monster Where the DM has to give hints on how the monster doing damage and what it look likes.
Perhaps they gather and sing sometimes. Remembering the scene from "Starship Troopers" where the one trooper gets sent up on a ridge to get better radio reception and gets picked off, dying instantly. That would be an interesting way to start an encounter. They are wise and perceptive enough to ambush from behind and one shot kill the spellcaster. Then wipe out the party. Or better yet, fly off and eat the spellcaster then wait.
Spine of the World? You mean I can have flying harmonic crocodiles in my Rime of The Frostmaiden campaign (situationally)?! AJ, you mad man, you've done it again!
And I thought a croc death roll was bad underwater...... Imagine being plucked off the ground by a mouth as big as you are, the carried upward at 20 ft. per second, your body wracked with pain as you rocket upward in a twirl, gravity and centripetal force causing you to sink deeper into the bite as it spins skyward, then, once its gained what it deems to be enough altitude, drops you, bleeding and flailing back to the earth for one final painful impact.
The high intelligence makes me wonder if these are potentially tameable as mounts like Wyvern are. And then what an airforce of these might be capable of...
Being tameable and being intelligent are not directly relative. Sometimes, if the creature is intelligent, a level of "convincing" is required to "tame" it despite it being more relationship-building than taming. That's as simple as I can paint that. Humans are believed to be the apex of intelligent beings in our world, how "tameable" are people relative to say... crows, wolves, chimps, cheetahs, octopi, bonobos, dolphins, orcas, tigers, bears, boars, blue jays, cardinals, peacocks, squids, and lions? These beasties, I don't see them as tameable. I can see temporary partnerships formed if the rider helps it get food in excess of its normal means but I can also see it as eating the rider immediately as soon as it feels the rider is only worth being mere meat and what the rider helps with in meat is no longer worth the cost of what the rider wishes.
I thought I knew this bugger from somewhere! He was a boss in the 2003 smash hit (slight overstatement) original Xbox game "Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes". He was kept by the Yuan-Ti in the tropical forest zone called the Wilds. God, what nostalgia right now!
So it is like a crocodile wyvern. Crocodiles are a amazing family of archosaurs. so many prehistoric forms that look like thery where taken from a DnD book, Like Armadillosuchos, the armadillo crocodile. or the running terrestrial Kaprosuchus, the boar croc. Hell, i like to imagin Bulettes as a species of fast burrowing crocodiles
*opens demiplane in upcoming wizard tower* *yeets one of these inside* *throw baetith documents on scalykind transmorgification on the floor* *leave in demiplane since the spellplague* Enjoy your surprise not-dragon in your dungeon, players!
Ever since I started playing D&D, I've kept my eyes open for something like this. A monstrous version of a crocodile. This is right up my alley. Thanks for the vid, AJ.
Well, giant crocodile already existed for literally decades as did gargantuan versions. If you wanted a flying sonic-weapon version that was beyond animal in big-brain ability, then this is what you were waiting for. ;)
I love this monster, BUT it kinda makes my favorite of all time monster, Destrachan, less special, so I just use the model of this monster for my Air Drake, but blue instead of venom green. I love this channel, so much videos I still have to watch, hope you do videos on the Destrachan, Hullathoin, Ulgurstasta, Steel Predator, Sunwyrm, Quarrak Demons, Grey Jester and Deadly Dancer one day. Keep it up!
This is the one that I voted for. I like anything that does sonic damage because it's incredibly hard for players to deal with. They do good structural damage and generally have some immunities too.
Sonic damage is nasty in any universe. You rupture their eardrums and nobody will be able to fight. They'd be blind and helpless. (eardrum rupture can impinge on optic nerve signals from what I've heard and since almost all humanoids get their balance from the inner ear...)
@@Wastelandman7000 Agreed. I really like sonic, force and acid as far as Dungeons and Dragons go. Not really sure if they're as good in 5e. I almost entirely play 3.5. Lol.
@@voodoophil Acid is mostly d4s on 3.5 too as is sonic and force (force is more likely to do d6s than the others). It's because they have additional like acid and sonic dealing better damage against structures and force being able to hit ethereal creatures. You can also substitute damage types in 3.5 to get more useful results like acid ball and cone of sonic or a force version of burning hands.
@@voodoophil I mean that's cool, but a wizard used to be able to just research it and create the spell. I just prefer Vancian spellcasting. It's not for everyone though. Spellcasters were insanely powerful in 3.5. Like to the point where there wasn't really any reason to play a martial class.
I think I'll have a Proto-Yrrthak, that is only capable of gliding and unable to focus its thunderous attacks into a beam and instead uses AOE effects around itself. But with heavier armor...
I would have such an attack locking the creature in place as since it relies on hearing rather than sight so such an attack would disorient the beast as well. So let's say it has to skip all actions and reactions until its next turn?
Love the video AJ, particularly the Dragon magazine reference and the bit about "He who hums". Are you going to have a video soon about the mighty Gulgar, who ride the Yrthak into battle.
I've always liked the idea of yrthaks being used as mounts, since they have wildly different senses from humans. They probably will have troubles flying in storm, though - they create a lot of sound, and a thunderclap could seriously disorient them.
This monster was actually a completely new one to me. And now I’m determined to implement one. As always: excellent work AJ. Your hard toil at research and scribing are greatly appreciated!
Sorry wrong @Marcus Archaeologists dig up artefacts from any period historic or pre-historic. That is why archaeologists have dug up homo erectus (prior to written history - i.e: prehistoric) and they can dig up anything to the present day i.e colonial, whale industry sites etc etc Anthropologists don't dig up anything. They try to interpret human culture from what archaeologists' dig up even if the species are extinct, or to interpret a culture from a current human culture like a new amazonian tribe.
These things are amazing! I’m excited to drop em on my crew of intrepid adventurers. They’ve all been playing (as I have) for 30+ years, but I’ll bet these rock stars will stump em…. Muah ha ha ha!!!
I also get warm fuzzies knowing they'll outlive our self-generated destruction. The only reason I'd want to make it would be to congratulate the Earth on being rid of us. Great video.
I first heard about this as a kid in the 3.5 children's book "A Practical Guide to Monsters" but didn't hear much about it later on when I started playing 5e.
Flying thinking sonic-weapon crocodiles. Sounds like a lame B-movie, almost a joke... until you think about it... and then think "Holy crap, this is a bad^ss monster! Kill it with fire! Kill its young! It will end all we know and all we love!" Then you must thank Dragons. Why? Dragons are the reason these beasties didn't kill and eat literally everything. Thank even the evil Dragons. Also, it's motive to stop Dragonslayers from making Dragons extinct or even endangered.
This is an awesome monster. The first thing I thought of was male crocodile/alligator doing that low bellowing during mating season that vibrates the water all around it
Huh, the Wisdom save on the ultrasonic beam attack seems weird. Not sure why instinct or perception would save you from that. Feels more like a Constitution or even Strength save - how much damage you take will depend on how well you're put together. That's how most Thunder damage works.
I would love to add if someone is standing behind a full play individual the monster cant see them, but if it uses a focus infra the full plate character partly explodes and characts take shrapnel damage/piercing damage and or bleeding effect
Advance the monster, advance the damage. As it goes from Huge to Gargantuan and the Hit Dice have increased the save has increased and the Sonic Damage has increased as well as the radius of the Area Effect.
I've been wondering to myself whether or not destrachans could tame yrthaks as a flying mount. Both are creatures highly resistant to sonic damage, both are blind creatures immune to visual effects and unaffected by darkness, both are thematically congenitally blind cave-monsters that use sonic pulses to puree their prey. While yrthaks have a high INT, destrachans are far more intelligent, and yrthaks have an extra 20ft of blindsight on destrachans, and given their INT could possibly be trained to squawk information to its rider without the ability to speak a language. You'd probably have to use something like Savage Species to give the Destrachans the skills necessary to be a yrthak rider, but I think the payoff of having a squadron of Magical Beast-mounted Aberrations literally buzzing an village into splinters is a unique enough encounter to be worth the extra trouble faffing about with different editions or sourcebooks.
Jones nailed it! AJ I always listen to your videos while having coffee or editing videos! Love your stuff, gives me a ton of ideas for y weekly DnD games!
Much love from the frozen North. Already snowing here in alaska so the DnD months are here. We shall huddle inside for days while the outside bitterly watches us stay warm.
Hey AJ, great video! I thought at first you where doing the Thunderhead. I think they are some how related. Maybe two sides of the same coin. Thanks AJ, you have a wonderful day!
Thanks for the video. Recently saw a headline that there were guys arrested in New Zealand for smuggling KFC fried chicken during COVID restrictions. I thought ‘Oh no, AJ wanted chicken for a marathon gaming session’.
Declaring something a spell vs. an ability fundamentally changes the narrative of what is occurring. Abilities don't have components most of the time, which means you can no-longer disarm the caster, and supernatural abilities tend to limit the amount of fun a group can have from an environment since they are usually vague enough that nothing can prevent you from succeeding in using them. As an example, it used to be standard that not being able to hear yourself speak gave you a chance to fail a spell. That made a trip involving a storm much more interesting than just "you get wet" which is purely narrative.
Interesting how they look like dragons when Saint George killed what he thought to be a dragon only for it to be found latter to be an Imperial-flesh Crocodile, it was still a great feet to travel that far and kill one though.
Right... Lemme go prepare my psuedo phylacteries for my occult paladin. Hunting several of these ones is bound to go about as south as those orange and black dragons that took a while to whittle down one on one. And then the damn thing might hunt me down if I bring or bard or play a song. Wow. I've found my mortal enemy.
Imagine a bunch of goblins with bows or crossbows on the back of this monster. Now imagine an entire air force of that kind of military unit. Now imagine that they fly over a human kingdom land and their leader starts making demands for terms of surrender. That would be terrifying.
Since sound travels further underwater I'd love to see an aquatic variant of the Yrthak. It would be bigger than a Dragon Turtle and ferocious enough to dominate an entire seaboard. It might even be smart enough to extort sirens and sea elves to serenade it before wolfing them down.
Not to sound like a troll, my friend, but did you not notice that they are all three levels of beastie? They are a flying crocodile, a big one... on top of being intelligent and using sonic natural weapons. Crocodiles are apex land and water besties. This one adds air, intelligence, and sonic innate weapons. It is aquatic *PLUS* everything else, terrestrial, aquatic, and flying. Having an aquatic version would mean removing something from it unless you mean just adding the ability to also breathe water. Its sonic abilities are enhanced underwater as it is... because it swims, because it's a Superman version of a crocodile.
@@That80sGuy1972 True, but maybe the fully aquatic version has a stronger sonic attack because it evolved that way. Or perhaps it has a faster swim speed than the original has a fly speed?
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
Gather round the fire, beverages in hand. Lorekeeper Pickett has stories for us
You should put this under each of his videos.
So here's me... A DM running a monster hunter-esque campaign. And then this video comes along...
Y
When you really think about it, Yrthak are a perfect collective of land, sea, and sky. Being crocodilian ties them to both the land and water, but the capability of flight provides connection to the sky.
No, Dr. Bright. You cannot breed them into pets. I know what you’re thinking. Stop.
8:50 What that bard really needed, was for an artificer to invent radio.
Or the internet
I love this monster. I once used an yrthak to wipe a tribe of kobolds. The only survivor became an avenger and swore to get revenge for his fallen comrades, and that he did. The mad lad managed to kill it with the help of the PCs. It was a fun fight.
I am just picturing the disturbing visual of slapping some tentacles on this guy's face. I can see an Elder Brain thinking that having a few of these undergo ceremorphosis would be a good asset to have in it's sensory arsenal for defending the hive. Picture Illithid Yrthak flying about a darkened canopy to control the fleshy puppets of the forest below. I apologize if you have the same nightmares that this will bring me.
Also on the topic of non-humanoid Illithids, my mind also re-edited & reskinned the Intellect Devourerer to being a canine or other like sized quadruped that underwent ceremorphosis, so instead of it looking like a brain on legs, it's a vicious canine Mind Flayer, with tentacles where it's face once was. In order to add a few more nightmare points I decided that instead of them being octopus tentacles, to give it two extra long ones like a squid effectively doubling the base animal's length with the reach of the tentacles.
Remember kids. A zone of silence is invaluable since it makes you invisible. To these things.
All I can imagine is a cleric or paladin of great renown summoning a celestial Yrthak to bring down the walls of a city or fortress
I like the croc with the wings version better. The pterodactyl version kind of loses the major " OH crap we are screwed" factor
But as monster. It become more scary as the fight goes on. It become one of those "WTF was that ? He just drop dead!" monster
Where the DM has to give hints on how the monster doing damage and what it look likes.
Perhaps they gather and sing sometimes.
Remembering the scene from "Starship Troopers" where the one trooper gets sent up on a ridge to get better radio reception and gets picked off, dying instantly.
That would be an interesting way to start an encounter. They are wise and perceptive enough to ambush from behind and one shot kill the spellcaster. Then wipe out the party. Or better yet, fly off and eat the spellcaster then wait.
Hmmm, it would be hilarious if elevation extended the range of a sending spell.
Spine of the World? You mean I can have flying harmonic crocodiles in my Rime of The Frostmaiden campaign (situationally)?! AJ, you mad man, you've done it again!
I had no idea they had such a detailed ecology! And that they were so big!!!
And I thought a croc death roll was bad underwater......
Imagine being plucked off the ground by a mouth as big as you are, the carried upward at 20 ft. per second, your body wracked with pain as you rocket upward in a twirl, gravity and centripetal force causing you to sink deeper into the bite as it spins skyward, then, once its gained what it deems to be enough altitude, drops you, bleeding and flailing back to the earth for one final painful impact.
"And they'll survive the mass extinction going on right now..." AJ is getting real af on us right now. Jesus.
Oh man I absolutely adore when you narrate the origin myths of creatures. You sir are astonishing xD
*blushes* You're astonishing.
Sarcosuchus imperator or as they are called in DnD "Gaint crocodile"
This creature is one of the boss battles in the Dungeons and Dragons Heroes game for the original X-Box . I still love playing that game.
I got big eyes 👀 when you said " flying crocodiles "
The high intelligence makes me wonder if these are potentially tameable as mounts like Wyvern are. And then what an airforce of these might be capable of...
Being tameable and being intelligent are not directly relative. Sometimes, if the creature is intelligent, a level of "convincing" is required to "tame" it despite it being more relationship-building than taming. That's as simple as I can paint that. Humans are believed to be the apex of intelligent beings in our world, how "tameable" are people relative to say... crows, wolves, chimps, cheetahs, octopi, bonobos, dolphins, orcas, tigers, bears, boars, blue jays, cardinals, peacocks, squids, and lions?
These beasties, I don't see them as tameable. I can see temporary partnerships formed if the rider helps it get food in excess of its normal means but I can also see it as eating the rider immediately as soon as it feels the rider is only worth being mere meat and what the rider helps with in meat is no longer worth the cost of what the rider wishes.
Great now all I can imagine is a hyper enthusiastic ranger in kaki shorts riding one.
who ever gave the crocodile wings needs to take a permanent visit to baator!
That might be the place they were created at.
I thought I knew this bugger from somewhere! He was a boss in the 2003 smash hit (slight overstatement) original Xbox game "Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes". He was kept by the Yuan-Ti in the tropical forest zone called the Wilds. God, what nostalgia right now!
This thing feels like a Monster Hunter wyvern waiting to happen.
Love the classical myths. Having players find them before or after an encounter adds so much
I replaced the Xanathar Guildmen captain's wyvern mount of Skull Island in DotMM with an Yrthak
I heard of this beastie from Dingo Doodles “Fool’s Gold” campaign. Now I’ve been taught what they are finally.
So it is like a crocodile wyvern. Crocodiles are a amazing family of archosaurs. so many prehistoric forms that look like thery where taken from a DnD book, Like Armadillosuchos, the armadillo crocodile. or the running terrestrial Kaprosuchus, the boar croc. Hell, i like to imagin Bulettes as a species of fast burrowing crocodiles
Yeah, that fits for the Bulette quite well!
Goddam another croc lover! It’s a shame the only one left is the amphibious type. I could see a croc styled like an azdarchid
It's such a primal-sounding name. *yrthak* sounds like the noise a person makes right before they vomit.
*opens demiplane in upcoming wizard tower*
*yeets one of these inside*
*throw baetith documents on scalykind transmorgification on the floor*
*leave in demiplane since the spellplague*
Enjoy your surprise not-dragon in your dungeon, players!
WOOO Yrthak! One of my favorite bizarre monsters.
Ever since I started playing D&D, I've kept my eyes open for something like this. A monstrous version of a crocodile. This is right up my alley. Thanks for the vid, AJ.
Well, giant crocodile already existed for literally decades as did gargantuan versions. If you wanted a flying sonic-weapon version that was beyond animal in big-brain ability, then this is what you were waiting for. ;)
Wow! That's one of the coolest monsters you've covered!
I love this monster, BUT it kinda makes my favorite of all time monster, Destrachan, less special, so I just use the model of this monster for my Air Drake, but blue instead of venom green.
I love this channel, so much videos I still have to watch, hope you do videos on the Destrachan, Hullathoin, Ulgurstasta, Steel Predator, Sunwyrm, Quarrak Demons, Grey Jester and Deadly Dancer one day. Keep it up!
im wondering how much damage can be done by their sound attacks if they somehow got into a large body of water...hummm
Same but at twice the range of the attack.
@@That80sGuy1972 cool thanks!
This is the one that I voted for. I like anything that does sonic damage because it's incredibly hard for players to deal with. They do good structural damage and generally have some immunities too.
Sonic damage is nasty in any universe. You rupture their eardrums and nobody will be able to fight. They'd be blind and helpless. (eardrum rupture can impinge on optic nerve signals from what I've heard and since almost all humanoids get their balance from the inner ear...)
@@Wastelandman7000 Agreed. I really like sonic, force and acid as far as Dungeons and Dragons go. Not really sure if they're as good in 5e. I almost entirely play 3.5. Lol.
@@voodoophil Acid is mostly d4s on 3.5 too as is sonic and force (force is more likely to do d6s than the others). It's because they have additional like acid and sonic dealing better damage against structures and force being able to hit ethereal creatures. You can also substitute damage types in 3.5 to get more useful results like acid ball and cone of sonic or a force version of burning hands.
@@voodoophil I mean that's cool, but a wizard used to be able to just research it and create the spell. I just prefer Vancian spellcasting. It's not for everyone though. Spellcasters were insanely powerful in 3.5. Like to the point where there wasn't really any reason to play a martial class.
I think I'll have a Proto-Yrrthak, that is only capable of gliding and unable to focus its thunderous attacks into a beam and instead uses AOE effects around itself. But with heavier armor...
I would have such an attack locking the creature in place as since it relies on hearing rather than sight so such an attack would disorient the beast as well. So let's say it has to skip all actions and reactions until its next turn?
So a giant Crocodile-Bat….
(with the ability to crush rocks with ultrasound)
It’s those eyeless pterosaur guys
This is a very monster hunter type of monster
You are the reason I got into d&d lore I stumbled on a video you did on the cauldron born, I'm hooked bravo man.
Nice! Thanks ZBH
Love the video AJ, particularly the Dragon magazine reference and the bit about "He who hums".
Are you going to have a video soon about the mighty Gulgar, who ride the Yrthak into battle.
You know what? Sure, they are quite obscure and I bet most folks have never heard of them, so that sounds like fun :)
@@AJPickett Hooray for weird adamantine chin spikes.
Dingo Doodles informed me of their existence. Mr Pickett has enlightened me of their power. Thank you Mr AJ Pickett for these amazing videos:)
You are most welcome.
I've always liked the idea of yrthaks being used as mounts, since they have wildly different senses from humans. They probably will have troubles flying in storm, though - they create a lot of sound, and a thunderclap could seriously disorient them.
This monster was actually a completely new one to me. And now I’m determined to implement one. As always: excellent work AJ. Your hard toil at research and scribing are greatly appreciated!
Archeologists diggs up human history. paleontologists digs up prehistoric animals. An Anthropologist digs up prehistoric humans
What were they digging for? For all I know, they were gold prospectors.
Sorry wrong @Marcus
Archaeologists dig up artefacts from any period historic or pre-historic. That is why archaeologists have dug up homo erectus (prior to written history - i.e: prehistoric) and they can dig up anything to the present day i.e colonial, whale industry sites etc etc
Anthropologists don't dig up anything. They try to interpret human culture from what archaeologists' dig up even if the species are extinct, or to interpret a culture from a current human culture like a new amazonian tribe.
Yoink. Adding this to my HB world.
These things are amazing! I’m excited to drop em on my crew of intrepid adventurers. They’ve all been playing (as I have) for 30+ years, but I’ll bet these rock stars will stump em…. Muah ha ha ha!!!
I also get warm fuzzies knowing they'll outlive our self-generated destruction. The only reason I'd want to make it would be to congratulate the Earth on being rid of us. Great video.
the earth will never be rid of us; there are too many of us now to be wiped out.
@@iamzid nah there are a few supervolcano's that can wipe us out fairly easily. Same with all active fault lines in the ocean.
The first minute of this video is so poetic.
Solaris, you had one job
I first heard about this as a kid in the 3.5 children's book "A Practical Guide to Monsters" but didn't hear much about it later on when I started playing 5e.
Flying thinking sonic-weapon crocodiles.
Sounds like a lame B-movie, almost a joke... until you think about it... and then think "Holy crap, this is a bad^ss monster! Kill it with fire! Kill its young! It will end all we know and all we love!"
Then you must thank Dragons. Why? Dragons are the reason these beasties didn't kill and eat literally everything. Thank even the evil Dragons. Also, it's motive to stop Dragonslayers from making Dragons extinct or even endangered.
Sound dragons! (With a bat + abberation + crocodile theme)
Would that legendary Colossal-sized Yrthak be nicknamed 'Brannius', perchance?
This is an awesome monster. The first thing I thought of was male crocodile/alligator doing that low bellowing during mating season that vibrates the water all around it
You know I've been looking for this creature for like the last 10 years of my life it's crazy because I saw an old old video
Reminds me of something youd see in a oil painting from 80s metal fantasy
Todays video: Ythak: *"A Flying Heart Attack"*
Huh, the Wisdom save on the ultrasonic beam attack seems weird. Not sure why instinct or perception would save you from that. Feels more like a Constitution or even Strength save - how much damage you take will depend on how well you're put together. That's how most Thunder damage works.
By all means.
Yo! Someone send this to Dingo Doodles!
Wow really good video.
very insight full thanks
I can't be the only one that watched this and thought I want to ride one of these into battle in my next campaign
I would love to add if someone is standing behind a full play individual the monster cant see them, but if it uses a focus infra the full plate character partly explodes and characts take shrapnel damage/piercing damage and or bleeding effect
I remember 3.5 edition fight vs these. Thinking they were pterodactyl only to be blasted with vicious sonic damage
Man...you always post the coolest things.
That's one ugly looking Wyvern
This makes me really happy becauze i recently added these guys to my homebrew world ive been making with my friends on discord. Nice to have details!
Thanks for providing imagination fuel as always!
Advance the monster, advance the damage.
As it goes from Huge to Gargantuan and the Hit Dice have increased the save has increased and the Sonic Damage has increased as well as the radius of the Area Effect.
I've been wondering to myself whether or not destrachans could tame yrthaks as a flying mount. Both are creatures highly resistant to sonic damage, both are blind creatures immune to visual effects and unaffected by darkness, both are thematically congenitally blind cave-monsters that use sonic pulses to puree their prey. While yrthaks have a high INT, destrachans are far more intelligent, and yrthaks have an extra 20ft of blindsight on destrachans, and given their INT could possibly be trained to squawk information to its rider without the ability to speak a language.
You'd probably have to use something like Savage Species to give the Destrachans the skills necessary to be a yrthak rider, but I think the payoff of having a squadron of Magical Beast-mounted Aberrations literally buzzing an village into splinters is a unique enough encounter to be worth the extra trouble faffing about with different editions or sourcebooks.
Epic
Jones nailed it! AJ I always listen to your videos while having coffee or editing videos! Love your stuff, gives me a ton of ideas for y weekly DnD games!
I’m ready for a Halloween themed monster!!🎃
Much love from the frozen North. Already snowing here in alaska so the DnD months are here. We shall huddle inside for days while the outside bitterly watches us stay warm.
Please do a video about the history of the wizard costume
can we just let it die?
Could it be that the Music played to He Who Hums is what keeps him sleeping?
could be
Got my battle map and character sheets. I love them. Great design. 🥰
Awesome! Thank you!
@@AJPickett thanks for coming up with them. Looking at opening a game store next year. Wish I could sell them there.
Thank you, AJ, there's no official 5e statblock, but this really helps.
You have def earned my attention. Thank you Sir for the wonderful telling!
Hey AJ, great video! I thought at first you where doing the Thunderhead. I think they are some how related. Maybe two sides of the same coin.
Thanks AJ, you have a wonderful day!
Thanks for the video. Recently saw a headline that there were guys arrested in New Zealand for smuggling KFC fried chicken during COVID restrictions. I thought ‘Oh no, AJ wanted chicken for a marathon gaming session’.
I make a mean chicken curry, no KFC required 😄
Declaring something a spell vs. an ability fundamentally changes the narrative of what is occurring. Abilities don't have components most of the time, which means you can no-longer disarm the caster, and supernatural abilities tend to limit the amount of fun a group can have from an environment since they are usually vague enough that nothing can prevent you from succeeding in using them. As an example, it used to be standard that not being able to hear yourself speak gave you a chance to fail a spell. That made a trip involving a storm much more interesting than just "you get wet" which is purely narrative.
.... what part of the video brought this up? Just curious
@@AJPickett good question... pretty sure this comment was intended for an entirely different video on a wildly different (but still dnd) topic. Huh.
Interesting how they look like dragons when Saint George killed what he thought to be a dragon only for it to be found latter to be an Imperial-flesh Crocodile, it was still a great feet to travel that far and kill one though.
Yrthaks AJ! XD 😆
Crikey, danger, da*BLAST!*
Positive comment
Right... Lemme go prepare my psuedo phylacteries for my occult paladin. Hunting several of these ones is bound to go about as south as those orange and black dragons that took a while to whittle down one on one.
And then the damn thing might hunt me down if I bring or bard or play a song. Wow. I've found my mortal enemy.
But I like these guys! They remind me a little of Cliff Racers in Morrowind!
Praise be to Juib the Eradicator, Bane of the Winged Scourge and Saint of Vvardenfel.
@@Im-Not-a-Dog Praise be to Juib, Eradicator knight of the Reclamations!
In some rural areas of the Deep South "the screamers" refers to being afflicted with diarrhea. The more you know.
what edition is this beast in
3.5 onwards, not in 5th yet (but hey, what is?)
Think this could work in a darksun setting?
One on Red Dragon Kaluth
Thanks AJ.
YOU DID IT! i remember asking for this when i was a new subscriber! Thnam you!
Happy weekend AJ!
This is so fucking cool, i love you
The difference between lizards, dinosaurs and dragons always confuses me this seem like a mix of dragon and lizard
The loremaster speaks
Imagine a bunch of goblins with bows or crossbows on the back of this monster.
Now imagine an entire air force of that kind of military unit.
Now imagine that they fly over a human kingdom land and their leader starts making demands for terms of surrender.
That would be terrifying.
Yay!
Since sound travels further underwater I'd love to see an aquatic variant of the Yrthak. It would be bigger than a Dragon Turtle and ferocious enough to dominate an entire seaboard. It might even be smart enough to extort sirens and sea elves to serenade it before wolfing them down.
Not to sound like a troll, my friend, but did you not notice that they are all three levels of beastie? They are a flying crocodile, a big one... on top of being intelligent and using sonic natural weapons. Crocodiles are apex land and water besties. This one adds air, intelligence, and sonic innate weapons. It is aquatic *PLUS* everything else, terrestrial, aquatic, and flying. Having an aquatic version would mean removing something from it unless you mean just adding the ability to also breathe water. Its sonic abilities are enhanced underwater as it is... because it swims, because it's a Superman version of a crocodile.
@@That80sGuy1972 True, but maybe the fully aquatic version has a stronger sonic attack because it evolved that way. Or perhaps it has a faster swim speed than the original has a fly speed?
@@Greenscyth22 Fair enough. After all, even Dragons were divergent... and almost all of them can dominate all 3 ranges.