I love this video and this topic. I enjoy using Aboleth, not always as the big bad, because of their innate abilities. As for the returning to the plain of water concept. I have just chosen to incorporate that as a pocket within the plain that houses empty Aboleth carcasses. These empty shells serve as backup bodies for the oldest of Aboleth consciousness to inhabit once their current bodies are beyond repair. I have also used Aboleth as reoccurring encounters in some long running campaigns.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I am starting a home brew long form campaign with aboleths as the central plot point. Thankyou for this incredibly comprehensive video, I have so many ideas to write down now! It’s as if they… knew to show me this
I think i know the reason 5e mentioned this plane of water stuff.... Explanation: In the plane of water there is the "Sea of Timelessness" realm, Indicating there is close ties between the Demiplane of time and Plane of Water. We can actually directly tie them with the base default campaign setting throughout the 1980-1990's which is Mystara. This is the source of where being like Ulgurshek (mentioned in Fiendish codex hordes of the abyss and etc...) comes from, He is a Draeden in the 92nd layer of the abyss who IS the demonweb pits as a single entity. Back in these days, God's didn't require beliefs and were called "Immortals" and used 5 general spheres of power throughout the Astral Sea (which actually still exists to this very day seemingly). And during the "Dungeons and Dragons Players Guide to Immortals", Time itself is DIRECTLY labeled to be tied to the Element of water (or at least most closely tied to water)! I think this is why 5e mentioned Abeloths soul going to the plane of water. Because Abeloth exists beyond the standard Material Planes time. Soooo~ In order to materialize in the material plane from the far realms, They need to use an element. And it just turns out they're most compatible with water via being outside the material planes time. It all checks out, The 2 are compatible. 😁👍
The lords of madness states that the illithids and the aboloth have what amounts to a mutual respect for one another but wouldn't the aboleth brain be highly sought after by the illithids?
Without a doubt, they'd love to, but that might be a bucket of worms they don't want to kick over. Aboleths might actually win that one. Might be fun to play out, with a party in the middle, though
Yes, both ways in fact. Both sides benefit greatly from information the other has, which is why they trade. I don't know whether they send this info telepathically or use brain chunks for the purpose of devouring, either way it has the same effect. They don't attack each other, because neither are confident that they could win that fight.
For what it is worth, the most direct inspiration for the aboleths is the 1964 short story The Inhabitant of the Lake, by Ramsey Campbell. If you like exteneded Cthulhu Mythos, it is a pretty good read. The story details a foul, alien, powerfully psychic being called Glaaki. It enslaves people who eventually become aquatic undead. The absurd 1st ed D&D art was an attempt to make a legally distinct version of a creature that was originally a spiky egg-frog. Check out early (3rd and below) edition art for Call of Cthulhu. I think a good look for an aboleth accentuates this mostly sedentary aspect. While giant lanternfish does not work, I also don't like leviathanesque eels or snakes. Playing off of Glaaki, I think a proper aboleth should be primarily sea urchin with aspects of starfish and soft corals.
We had an Aboleth who had converted the local clergy into worship of one of then”older things”! Bent the sorcerer into becoming a great old one Warlock , and finally the local lore master into reading a bit too much into a few lost tombs! The party was having the lore master research his own patron without even knowing all the while the GOO warlock was being fed collaborated information from the local Aboleths “parent”! The entire party ended up going insane in epic proportions!
I agree, especially when one looks at the monsters associated with them. There is far less monsters associated or made by Aboleths compared to those from Illithid.
Aboleths are from the far realm, but with their big brains they eventually figured out a way to reform in a part the plane of water they corrupted as to more easily return to the material plane. It took them a great amount of time and effort to return from the far realm.
So all my townspeople are acting funny. Polishing already clean tables, overfilling drinks, so on. What my players dont know is the entire town is mind controlled. The barbarian just went off with two little kids who are playing hide and seek with him in some caves... with an underground stream....
The simplest way to square the circles of the Aboleths changing lore from edition to edition is to just look at each edition shift as a big event where divine battles that extended backward in time rewrote the fundamental nature of reality again and again, and the aboleth posses the knowledge and power to take advantage of each of these shifts. Thus when reality was changed over to 5E, the Aboleth took the opportunity to route their transition through the elemental plane of water to grant themselves immortality.
I was wondering if you’ve seen the Dungeons of Drakkenheim unique version known as The Dutchess who goes from a “common” aboleth to a gargantuan psychic leviathan by exposure to a sort of eldrich radiation of meteor fragments Something I find very interesting is while she does enslave thralls and mutates them, she genuinely thinks she’s benevolently saving her subjects from the awful dry surface world like some lovecraftian reverse little mermaid
Is their mouth a gaping maw filled with sword length fangs? Is it multiple disks of razor blades like a lamp ray. Is the aboleth's skin smooth grey and spongy, or is it rough and covered with spikes? The answer to these and many more questions regarding the aboleth's physical description is "Yes". They are all of these and many more all at once. Their physical bodies are anything and everything. Their features are formed from the fears and nightmares of those material beings that have the unfortunate fate of coming into contact with these oldest of all horrors. Every creature sees the aboleth differently depending on that creature's deepest darkest fears. This however is no illusion. This is how the aboleth truly looks. Many different forms all at once. They have been alive long before the material plane came into existence henece they are not bound by its rules of physics.
I wonder if the Illithid are a distant relative of the Aboleth or maybe a subspecies. Maybe an Elder Brain is an Aboleth transformation that happens when they are in their Deep slumber...
I really like all the artwork you have in the video. I remember the Night Below campaign as having a number of aboleth and it would be fun to have different art for each.
Hey Rich, I just discovered your channel maybe a week ago, while I was searching for inspiration for my big bad in the campaign I'm running. I've watched a few of the videos now and I absolutely love the way you execute them, how you tell a narrative to start and then get into it. Well done man, and I look forward to what else you have in store for us.
Great timing! Im prepping to run a Ghosts of Saltmarsh fame soon and i was gonna use the Aboleth as the maig bg and some extra content from Yawning Portal to have the game go to 15/16. Im 1000% gonna make a lair aboleth if you don't. Thanks a bunch!
You really did a nice job on this one man. Really impressed with the level of detail you included. I think this just might be my favorite video of yours, thanks 👍👍
I think someone needs to go through all D&D lore from all books (from the earliest to the latest, or at least through 3.5) and write wiki articles that describes the evolutions and retcons as if one was recounting the history of what in-universe scholars have claimed, to make it easier for DMs to read through and pick and choose what they want to consider to be canon. As for Aboleth origins, I headcanon the Wheel formed _from_ a chunk of Far Realms, and the Aboleths were the natives when this happened who didn't get booted, destroyed, or driven insane, and perhaps the elemental plane of water was what was formed around them as the Wheel settled.
Thanks for the lore drop! I’m going to go against the grain and use the aboleth as an alien in a single session of a Spelljammer campaign - I’ve always loved this monster though. Definitely have to make a psychically enslaved town/city-state sometime in a future campaign
Your timing was perfect. I am throwing my group against an Aboleth very soon and was just thinking of looking for a vid like this when bam! Here you are
I have never heard of the aerial variant. I think I'll make then exiles from the main aboleth community. Maybe they started worshipping a god or practicing magic.
The idea of Aboleths being ancient, psionic, lawful, and anti magic gives me some interesting ideas. Some MCDM lore has a race of LN beings who deal with major paradoxes and reality warping caused by magic. These beings seek to limit magic. The idea of Magic coming from chaos, these Inexoriables being allied with Aboleths, and maybe even Illithids in limiting and possibly trying to seal away magic seems really cool to me. After reading that MCDM book I have been using bottles of Chaos to give extra oomph when casting spells. It seemed fitting.
My players still whisper in hushed tones about their battle with the "nightmare catfish". I had them shaking at the table way before a single die was rolled.
I actually really love the Aboleth and wish DND would give them more to work with, I’m currently making a domain of dread where its hallmarks are black seas and Aboleths.
The abole5h going into stasis is interesting for me. I'm building a desert campaign and love the idea of some ancient aboleth existing deep beneath the sands of some long-dried seabed. Could have some interesting consequences.
I can think of a reasonable explanation why an aboleth would partake in magic while still maintaining the phychic supremacy. We see a similar thing with the Ilithids. Magic is considered a taboo. Looked down upon. But just because its thought poorly doesn't mean there won't be those who wish to partake in them. Aboleth outcasts seem like fitting creatures for curiosity and mastery of magic. Many say to destroy an enemy, and you must use their own tactics against them to succeed. And abolith with a desire to succeed in any cost and to partake in taboos in their societies to do it seem like a very fitting reason of a few stragglers. Especially if said stragglers are also deemed to be of the lowest class of aboleth. With nothing left to lose, what's a good few arcane experiments. They gotbplent of ofbtest subjects after all.
Magic is an external power taken from the Weave, borrowed from the world at the privilege allowed by a God. An Abeloths power us psionic it's from within, their own power not given to them by another. Their infallible belief that they are the greatest living entities and even the Gods are flawed and lesser means that to use magic would to acknowledge their own limitations and the authority of a God over them. Which wouldn't happen, their ego and arrogance in the own supremecy would never allow them to put another being above themselves.
I actually really have a soft spot for 3.5 aboleth design as though on a surface level it just kinda looks like a fish it's got so many things that make it wrong. The tower-like head with the multiple seemingly redundant eyes on a tower-like skull, many extra tentacle like fins, what seems to be a complete lack of a mouth, weird orifices all over it's body with an unknown purpose. It's very lovecraftian in more of Dagon/Deep One type way. The 3.5 iteration of the Skum are also just straight up Deep Ones lmao.
I had an Aboloth as a BBEG in a campaign that didn't work out. It was using the under dark to get around and it was enslaving many creatures. A Slaver aboloth got ahold of a bunch of goblins and were using them to kidnap humans for better slaves. The goblins almost worshipped it, calling it Wide Maw. The partt thought it was stupid and mocked me for it.
I think the reason why the art takes away from the horror of the Aboleth is that they have been shown in full light and light backgrounds. Nothing about their physical form is left unknown. They are almost like a child’s story, simplified for ease of communication by people that have never experienced the mind bending wrongness that they represent. Making it “known” removes the imaginative strangeness and the unknown. The unknown is where cosmic horror draws its power. It’s like a spotlight that removes the shapelessness and presents a specific image. If I had an Aboleth to present to my players, they’d be well aware that the pictures in the books are a poor representation of what someone who heard a legend, that was passed down over generations, might believe. It that truly minimizes and tries to make sense of something that is truly beyond our visual comprehension.
One of my first thoughts while listening to this was the "Source of All Living Matter" from Attack on Titan as a miniature parasitic variant of aboleth that dominates & propagates through "royal" hosts until it matures and re-collectivizes into it's ultimate colossal form
I’ve always liked aboleth ever since 2e Night Below campaign. However I think I’ve always just had a love of that campaign, rather than the aboleth specifically.
Personal headcannon as far as all of the origins of the aboleth is that they are not too dissimilar to demons, more specifically the original ones who came into the universe from another. (Cant remember the specific species rn) But the aboleth make sense as an invading species who probably dropped into the elemntal plane of water either first or was their preferred domain once they saw it; basically no different than the demons with the abyss. Blends both the far realm theory and the elemental plane, and makes sense for a hyper intelligent 'fish' monster.
A stein lowers as the cloaked figure shifts in her seat. "Wait, twenty-one... strength and... nine dexterity." She sighs. "And a thick, aquatic mucus. This isn't... a Gulper." Her blue eyes narrow. "Ugh!" Her body shudders. She cringes. "The snotty... texture. Even the Razor Fins (shark)... wouldn't eat it." Bass gags at the thought...
A possible explaination for the 5e sentence is that in creating the Aboleth there spirits are derived from the Elemental Plane of Water but were created in the Far realm. Although that does raise further questions.
I think the Aboleth are waaay under represented! I hope my video moved the needle just a fraction towards fixing that! :) Thank you for the watch and words!
I think it’s honestly more intriguing when the aboleth are the true inheritors of the material plane. Not made by the hands of any god, but shaped by primordial forces older than any god and utterly alien to both them and their creations. It makes even the material plane more intriguing by speaking to its original nature prior to the arrival of the gods and makes the Aboleths’ enmity towards gods and mortals much more earned
I'm getting together a campaign right now that is going to be, at least at first, all about the Far Realm. I can't wait until I get to run these things. Mindflayers will be fun, but aboleths 😘👌
Just for anyones amusement. I have an Aboleth that shows up in all of my games. She feeds off of ambient emotions, specificly favoring Romance, Lust, and Love. So she has been writing cheap romance novels under the name Sertsa Loo'bove.
So I’m working on creating history of my world. I have it that a lone aboloth (not sure on what size or version) was the creature that first caused “law” to exist. As they corrupted IO’s spell to first create this world. Those creating the tween dragons Ahriman and Jazirian.
I went on black rabbit in Channel and I actually started listening to the sovereignty books on there the first one anyways the first book was pretty good I've got to admit but one problem that D&D really has I've noticed is that they like to jam love triangles into their books so I'll give the second one a listen and if it has love triangles I'll just drop it like the rest
As much as I like them in concept I just don't see how you can reasonably challenge much less defeat or even reason with these guys. Unlike dragons/beholders, the deep boys seem almost unbeatable
Were these the monsters that were once the "higher power", before the gods time? They hate the gods and plot to get back power over humanoids, or something? I have a vague memory of reading about these, somewhere. Ahhh yes you confirmed it. Nice! I love these videos! Thanks!
Always wondered why a being who eats nightmares; in a world where monsters make, cause, and are nightmares, and nightmares are form of monsters; was considered evil. Maybe people just call anything-not-a-so-called-god evil, despite the habits and behavior of said gods calling much into question.
8:04 it’s been my experience that the vast majority of D&Der tend to run 3.5 or a version of it some use 4th but most find that 3.5 offers the most freedom and allows more creativity.
I see Aboleth mages the same way as Illithid mages. Its not that they cant learn and use magic, it's that they culturally reject it. Thus those that do take up magic are ostrasized.
For a creature of the Far Realms, aboleth reproduction is kinda boring. I'd jazz it up a bit and say it uses its psionics to implant a part of its psyche in the minds of mortals. These mortals, plagued by visions and nightmares are driven to return to the watery depths where eldritch magics combine the victims into an aboleth egg. The older the aboleth the more mortals it takes. You could see entire seaside villages disappearing overnight!
I just recently added the art for the various volumes to my patreon site as a perk for my supporters (link below). However I always feel bad asking people for support, so if there is a particular few images you would like, just shoot me an email and I will send you what you need. Email: richesandliches@gmail.com Patreon Shop: www.patreon.com/richesandliches/shop
That is super kind and generous, thank you. The truth is I love creating the content... so much so that I aspire to do it full time so that I can continue to get better and do more. So again thank you for the assist in that goal... :) As for the art packs, I think I have the last 5 volumes up plus some specialty art packs. As time allows I am also going back to older volumes and adding their packs as well but its a slow process. However moving forward, all new packs since I think the Blood War are up and all new videos have a volume up a few days after the videos release. Do let me know if you have any questions. Rich
The difference is scale. One wishes to dominate the world, the other to subsume the multiverse. (Insert Giancarlo Esposito "we are not the same" meme here)
Im gonna run a campaign with an abolleth as a twist secret villain. So there are ethnic tentions brewing in the far northern orc settlement due to a recent string of disappearances of young orc women. The heroes will have to solve this murder mystery only to learn of this like incell outcast orc that was offered the community he sought by doing the Abolleths bidding. Playng on the mindcontroll powers of the monster. But is the evil orc just another tool? (Yes, yes he is, his wisdom is far bellow the ability to challenge the abolleths power).
3:37 so there is that fear of what you can’t see down them but for me there is also a fear of what I actually do know is in the water…. Somewhere and the knowledge that I’m hopelessly outmatched by them, not only outmatched but to the point it’s actually funny just how out of your depth (pun not intended) you are, at least when your on land you have freedom of movement and if it’s a bear your facing you can maybe scare it off by been big and making a lot of noise but you can’t do that with a great white, now granted if you fail to scare it off your screwed as it can run faster than you and it can climb anything you can climb, but back to that deep water, stuff like sharks are more scary as we are so not designed for water movement we’re slow and clumsy, we can’t breathe under the water and out vision even with equipment helping us is extremely limited to the point that when we see a shark it’s already in attack range if it wants to and we having even seen it yet, a lion is just as dangerous but at least we have the fact of us both been designed to work on land but when it comes to water you notice something is quite different between a human and say a shark, dolphin, orca they are all perfectly adapted to speed in the water while us humans even at out best just aren’t.
I love this video and this topic. I enjoy using Aboleth, not always as the big bad, because of their innate abilities. As for the returning to the plain of water concept. I have just chosen to incorporate that as a pocket within the plain that houses empty Aboleth carcasses. These empty shells serve as backup bodies for the oldest of Aboleth consciousness to inhabit once their current bodies are beyond repair. I have also used Aboleth as reoccurring encounters in some long running campaigns.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I am starting a home brew long form campaign with aboleths as the central plot point. Thankyou for this incredibly comprehensive video, I have so many ideas to write down now!
It’s as if they… knew to show me this
I think i know the reason 5e mentioned this plane of water stuff....
Explanation:
In the plane of water there is the "Sea of Timelessness" realm, Indicating there is close ties between the Demiplane of time and Plane of Water.
We can actually directly tie them with the base default campaign setting throughout the 1980-1990's which is Mystara. This is the source of where being like Ulgurshek (mentioned in Fiendish codex hordes of the abyss and etc...) comes from, He is a Draeden in the 92nd layer of the abyss who IS the demonweb pits as a single entity.
Back in these days, God's didn't require beliefs and were called "Immortals" and used 5 general spheres of power throughout the Astral Sea (which actually still exists to this very day seemingly).
And during the "Dungeons and Dragons Players Guide to Immortals", Time itself is DIRECTLY labeled to be tied to the Element of water (or at least most closely tied to water)!
I think this is why 5e mentioned Abeloths soul going to the plane of water. Because Abeloth exists beyond the standard Material Planes time. Soooo~ In order to materialize in the material plane from the far realms, They need to use an element. And it just turns out they're most compatible with water via being outside the material planes time.
It all checks out, The 2 are compatible. 😁👍
If you say so haha
The lords of madness states that the illithids and the aboloth have what amounts to a mutual respect for one another but wouldn't the aboleth brain be highly sought after by the illithids?
That is an excellent question and one that I have added to my research notes for the Mindflayer video that is on the roadmap.
Without a doubt, they'd love to, but that might be a bucket of worms they don't want to kick over. Aboleths might actually win that one. Might be fun to play out, with a party in the middle, though
Yes, both ways in fact.
Both sides benefit greatly from information the other has, which is why they trade.
I don't know whether they send this info telepathically or use brain chunks for the purpose of devouring, either way it has the same effect.
They don't attack each other, because neither are confident that they could win that fight.
I always liked the analogy Lords of Madness used, that they're basically the bookends of history.
@@KS-PNW yes I loved that too
For what it is worth, the most direct inspiration for the aboleths is the 1964 short story The Inhabitant of the Lake, by Ramsey Campbell. If you like exteneded Cthulhu Mythos, it is a pretty good read. The story details a foul, alien, powerfully psychic being called Glaaki. It enslaves people who eventually become aquatic undead.
The absurd 1st ed D&D art was an attempt to make a legally distinct version of a creature that was originally a spiky egg-frog. Check out early (3rd and below) edition art for Call of Cthulhu. I think a good look for an aboleth accentuates this mostly sedentary aspect. While giant lanternfish does not work, I also don't like leviathanesque eels or snakes. Playing off of Glaaki, I think a proper aboleth should be primarily sea urchin with aspects of starfish and soft corals.
Excellent comments and i will check out that book!
Never thought about that before.
I get strong Dagon vibes from them
We had an Aboleth who had converted the local clergy into worship of one of then”older things”! Bent the sorcerer into becoming a great old one Warlock , and finally the local lore master into reading a bit too much into a few lost tombs! The party was having the lore master research his own patron without even knowing all the while the GOO warlock was being fed collaborated information from the local Aboleths “parent”! The entire party ended up going insane in epic proportions!
Hot take: D&D needs far less Mind Flayers and far more Aboleths!
I agree, especially when one looks at the monsters associated with them.
There is far less monsters associated or made by Aboleths compared to those from Illithid.
More like a tepid take but I agree
Aboleths are from the far realm, but with their big brains they eventually figured out a way to reform in a part the plane of water they corrupted as to more easily return to the material plane. It took them a great amount of time and effort to return from the far realm.
Excellent video! As a Chicagoan in classical music, I approve of your use of the Chicago Symphony.
What are the odds this comes up on my feed as I’m prepping for Level 4 of Dungeon of the Mad Mage 😂😂 incredible watch, thank you
So all my townspeople are acting funny. Polishing already clean tables, overfilling drinks, so on. What my players dont know is the entire town is mind controlled. The barbarian just went off with two little kids who are playing hide and seek with him in some caves... with an underground stream....
The simplest way to square the circles of the Aboleths changing lore from edition to edition is to just look at each edition shift as a big event where divine battles that extended backward in time rewrote the fundamental nature of reality again and again, and the aboleth posses the knowledge and power to take advantage of each of these shifts. Thus when reality was changed over to 5E, the Aboleth took the opportunity to route their transition through the elemental plane of water to grant themselves immortality.
That 3e rendition goes dumb with it i absolutely love him
I was wondering if you’ve seen the Dungeons of Drakkenheim unique version known as The Dutchess who goes from a “common” aboleth to a gargantuan psychic leviathan by exposure to a sort of eldrich radiation of meteor fragments
Something I find very interesting is while she does enslave thralls and mutates them, she genuinely thinks she’s benevolently saving her subjects from the awful dry surface world like some lovecraftian reverse little mermaid
HAHA I love that perspective. I am not familiar with the dudes homebrew, but it sounds interesting!
Is their mouth a gaping maw filled with sword length fangs? Is it multiple disks of razor blades like a lamp ray. Is the aboleth's skin smooth grey and spongy, or is it rough and covered with spikes? The answer to these and many more questions regarding the aboleth's physical description is "Yes". They are all of these and many more all at once. Their physical bodies are anything and everything. Their features are formed from the fears and nightmares of those material beings that have the unfortunate fate of coming into contact with these oldest of all horrors. Every creature sees the aboleth differently depending on that creature's deepest darkest fears. This however is no illusion. This is how the aboleth truly looks. Many different forms all at once. They have been alive long before the material plane came into existence henece they are not bound by its rules of physics.
Always happy for more Aboleth content and hope you do a follow up with homebrew mechanics etc!
I'm with you on this, everything I recall from 1st through 4th edition tied them to arriving with the Obyriths, and coming from the far realm.
I always found it cool that Aboleths are actually afraid of Illithids, because they have no idea where or *when* they came from.
Absolutely. I left that out due to the video already breaking an hour, but it will be in the Mind Flayer video.
Great comment!
Loved the aboleth since I first read the Ecology of the Aboleth in Dragon 131, including the savant.
I wonder if the Illithid are a distant relative of the Aboleth or maybe a subspecies. Maybe an Elder Brain is an Aboleth transformation that happens when they are in their Deep slumber...
Lords of Madness hints that they might be a distant ancestor of the flayers.
I really like all the artwork you have in the video. I remember the Night Below campaign as having a number of aboleth and it would be fun to have different art for each.
Hey Rich, I just discovered your channel maybe a week ago, while I was searching for inspiration for my big bad in the campaign I'm running. I've watched a few of the videos now and I absolutely love the way you execute them, how you tell a narrative to start and then get into it. Well done man, and I look forward to what else you have in store for us.
Lots more coming, I am closing in on completing the next video, which is the Crown Wars.
Thanks for the kind words and comment!
Great timing! Im prepping to run a Ghosts of Saltmarsh fame soon and i was gonna use the Aboleth as the maig bg and some extra content from Yawning Portal to have the game go to 15/16. Im 1000% gonna make a lair aboleth if you don't. Thanks a bunch!
You really did a nice job on this one man.
Really impressed with the level of detail you included. I think this just might be my favorite video of yours, thanks 👍👍
So glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for taking the time to watch and leave such a motivating comment!
Really means a lot... /bow
I think someone needs to go through all D&D lore from all books (from the earliest to the latest, or at least through 3.5) and write wiki articles that describes the evolutions and retcons as if one was recounting the history of what in-universe scholars have claimed, to make it easier for DMs to read through and pick and choose what they want to consider to be canon. As for Aboleth origins, I headcanon the Wheel formed _from_ a chunk of Far Realms, and the Aboleths were the natives when this happened who didn't get booted, destroyed, or driven insane, and perhaps the elemental plane of water was what was formed around them as the Wheel settled.
Savants did have a sidebar explaining how to make them psionic, and very much said you ought to do so if you had the books for it.
I saw that in my research, but my script was already over an hour so I could not elaborate... great comment and insight!
Hour long video!? Yes please!
Thanks for the lore drop! I’m going to go against the grain and use the aboleth as an alien in a single session of a Spelljammer campaign - I’ve always loved this monster though. Definitely have to make a psychically enslaved town/city-state sometime in a future campaign
Your timing was perfect. I am throwing my group against an Aboleth very soon and was just thinking of looking for a vid like this when bam! Here you are
So glad you made this. Far realm is the most interesting IMO can you do the Obyriths?
Great detail. I once used a Morkoth being framed by a greater Aboleth to take the fall when the adventurers finally came for it.
I have never heard of the aerial variant. I think I'll make then exiles from the main aboleth community. Maybe they started worshipping a god or practicing magic.
Awesome stuff, if possible would love a deep dive into the Sibriex
The idea of Aboleths being ancient, psionic, lawful, and anti magic gives me some interesting ideas.
Some MCDM lore has a race of LN beings who deal with major paradoxes and reality warping caused by magic. These beings seek to limit magic.
The idea of Magic coming from chaos, these Inexoriables being allied with Aboleths, and maybe even Illithids in limiting and possibly trying to seal away magic seems really cool to me.
After reading that MCDM book I have been using bottles of Chaos to give extra oomph when casting spells. It seemed fitting.
My players still whisper in hushed tones about their battle with the "nightmare catfish". I had them shaking at the table way before a single die was rolled.
I actually really love the Aboleth and wish DND would give them more to work with, I’m currently making a domain of dread where its hallmarks are black seas and Aboleths.
Love Aboleth as a big baddy. My current campaign is progressing through a series of adventures leading up to one. Thanks for the timely video :)
Loving your stuff! Aboleths are so freaking interesting, I first learned about them from AJ Pickett!!
Ah, the majestic SploogeFish (as our table has taken to calling them). In our pirate themed campaign, our DM loves thowing us at these things.
LOl I love the nickname!
I assume they came from the Far realm, but they are banished (there souls are bound to) the elemental plane of Water by the gods.
Illithid video please. The interaction of these to species is something else.
I agree- these horrifying behemoth’s are not given their due in 5e!
Despite this, they remain terrifying.
Truly, aboleth is more.
~_~
The abole5h going into stasis is interesting for me. I'm building a desert campaign and love the idea of some ancient aboleth existing deep beneath the sands of some long-dried seabed. Could have some interesting consequences.
I can think of a reasonable explanation why an aboleth would partake in magic while still maintaining the phychic supremacy.
We see a similar thing with the Ilithids. Magic is considered a taboo. Looked down upon.
But just because its thought poorly doesn't mean there won't be those who wish to partake in them.
Aboleth outcasts seem like fitting creatures for curiosity and mastery of magic.
Many say to destroy an enemy, and you must use their own tactics against them to succeed.
And abolith with a desire to succeed in any cost and to partake in taboos in their societies to do it seem like a very fitting reason of a few stragglers.
Especially if said stragglers are also deemed to be of the lowest class of aboleth.
With nothing left to lose, what's a good few arcane experiments. They gotbplent of ofbtest subjects after all.
Magic is an external power taken from the Weave, borrowed from the world at the privilege allowed by a God.
An Abeloths power us psionic it's from within, their own power not given to them by another.
Their infallible belief that they are the greatest living entities and even the Gods are flawed and lesser means that to use magic would to acknowledge their own limitations and the authority of a God over them.
Which wouldn't happen, their ego and arrogance in the own supremecy would never allow them to put another being above themselves.
I actually really have a soft spot for 3.5 aboleth design as though on a surface level it just kinda looks like a fish it's got so many things that make it wrong. The tower-like head with the multiple seemingly redundant eyes on a tower-like skull, many extra tentacle like fins, what seems to be a complete lack of a mouth, weird orifices all over it's body with an unknown purpose. It's very lovecraftian in more of Dagon/Deep One type way.
The 3.5 iteration of the Skum are also just straight up Deep Ones lmao.
I agree on the official art for Aboleth. Aberrations really need to be nightmare fuel. 🦑
I had an Aboloth as a BBEG in a campaign that didn't work out. It was using the under dark to get around and it was enslaving many creatures. A Slaver aboloth got ahold of a bunch of goblins and were using them to kidnap humans for better slaves. The goblins almost worshipped it, calling it Wide Maw. The partt thought it was stupid and mocked me for it.
Thank you!!!!!!!!! This was the ep I have been waiting for
I always played Aboleth in 2-3.5 as phasing into the plane of water on hitting 0 unless you plane locked them.
I think the reason why the art takes away from the horror of the Aboleth is that they have been shown in full light and light backgrounds.
Nothing about their physical form is left unknown. They are almost like a child’s story, simplified for ease of communication by people that have never experienced the mind bending wrongness that they represent. Making it “known” removes the imaginative strangeness and the unknown. The unknown is where cosmic horror draws its power. It’s like a spotlight that removes the shapelessness and presents a specific image. If I had an Aboleth to present to my players, they’d be well aware that the pictures in the books are a poor representation of what someone who heard a legend, that was passed down over generations, might believe. It that truly minimizes and tries to make sense of something that is truly beyond our visual comprehension.
Your videos are amazing. Keep em coming please ❤
Evil magic eel of deep underwater castles 😱
Very good, thanks for your work :)
It's the channel that just keeps on giving! Absolutely sterling work, Mr ;)
One of my first thoughts while listening to this was the "Source of All Living Matter" from Attack on Titan as a miniature parasitic variant of aboleth that dominates & propagates through "royal" hosts until it matures and re-collectivizes into it's ultimate colossal form
The closet comparison you can make is a Hag fish. With the mucous it makes sense
I’ve always liked aboleth ever since 2e Night Below campaign. However I think I’ve always just had a love of that campaign, rather than the aboleth specifically.
Personal headcannon as far as all of the origins of the aboleth is that they are not too dissimilar to demons, more specifically the original ones who came into the universe from another. (Cant remember the specific species rn) But the aboleth make sense as an invading species who probably dropped into the elemntal plane of water either first or was their preferred domain once they saw it; basically no different than the demons with the abyss. Blends both the far realm theory and the elemental plane, and makes sense for a hyper intelligent 'fish' monster.
A stein lowers as the cloaked figure shifts in her seat. "Wait, twenty-one... strength and... nine dexterity." She sighs. "And a thick, aquatic mucus. This isn't... a Gulper." Her blue eyes narrow. "Ugh!" Her body shudders. She cringes. "The snotty... texture. Even the Razor Fins (shark)... wouldn't eat it." Bass gags at the thought...
A possible explaination for the 5e sentence is that in creating the Aboleth there spirits are derived from the Elemental Plane of Water but were created in the Far realm. Although that does raise further questions.
I love the idea that aboleth are native to the prime material plane and they are just horror from before the rule of the gods
I think the Aboleth are waaay under represented! I hope my video moved the needle just a fraction towards fixing that! :)
Thank you for the watch and words!
I think it’s honestly more intriguing when the aboleth are the true inheritors of the material plane. Not made by the hands of any god, but shaped by primordial forces older than any god and utterly alien to both them and their creations. It makes even the material plane more intriguing by speaking to its original nature prior to the arrival of the gods and makes the Aboleths’ enmity towards gods and mortals much more earned
I'm getting together a campaign right now that is going to be, at least at first, all about the Far Realm. I can't wait until I get to run these things. Mindflayers will be fun, but aboleths 😘👌
So excited for this video! Love your content!
Awesome video!... I have an Aboleth in my campaign
that the party think they have defeated permanently...
Mu hahahahaha
Amazing, in-depth vid!
Just for anyones amusement. I have an Aboleth that shows up in all of my games. She feeds off of ambient emotions, specificly favoring Romance, Lust, and Love.
So she has been writing cheap romance novels under the name Sertsa Loo'bove.
Me, looking at my holy-inclined monk who knows Deep Speech because I didn't know what it was:
So I’m working on creating history of my world. I have it that a lone aboloth (not sure on what size or version) was the creature that first caused “law” to exist. As they corrupted IO’s spell to first create this world. Those creating the tween dragons Ahriman and Jazirian.
I went on black rabbit in Channel and I actually started listening to the sovereignty books on there the first one anyways the first book was pretty good I've got to admit but one problem that D&D really has I've noticed is that they like to jam love triangles into their books so I'll give the second one a listen and if it has love triangles I'll just drop it like the rest
As much as I like them in concept I just don't see how you can reasonably challenge much less defeat or even reason with these guys.
Unlike dragons/beholders, the deep boys seem almost unbeatable
"This Wizards writer has no clue what they're doing or anything about this monster"
First time?
LOL you said it, not me! :)
Aboleth lore/concept: 200/10
Aboleth offical art: 3/10
23:00
Lisan al'Gaib !
I just watched Dune for the second time last night... well timed and well played. :)
Visual empowerment achieved!
Well... time to add a new possible BBEG and underlings to my world. There goes another 12 hours 😀
Junji Ito's "The Thing On the Shore" makes for an amazing introduction for any players not aware of the Aboleth.
Hey can you go over the aboleth in Pathfinder? They play a huge roll in development too but they have a variant above aboleth called veiled masters
Were these the monsters that were once the "higher power", before the gods time? They hate the gods and plot to get back power over humanoids, or something? I have a vague memory of reading about these, somewhere. Ahhh yes you confirmed it. Nice!
I love these videos! Thanks!
Where did you find most of the art for the video?
oh psychic catfish, tell me your wisdom
Great vid! Ty
Always wondered why a being who eats nightmares; in a world where monsters make, cause, and are nightmares, and nightmares are form of monsters; was considered evil. Maybe people just call anything-not-a-so-called-god evil, despite the habits and behavior of said gods calling much into question.
Huh...I wonder if Ruidys is a trapped Aboleth.
PSA: don't type anything while completely exhausted (also a note to self)
Been there my friend :)
@@RichesandLiches thank you
Great Video
Wow, i have only ever seen basic knowledge. Aberrations are scary f@#$$
Deep Speech is older than the Aboleths. It's the language of the Far Realms.
Wow munchies and drink ready, doggo and kitty minions next to me ready, lights out music up. WOOT WE ARE READY!!!
8:04 it’s been my experience that the vast majority of D&Der tend to run 3.5 or a version of it some use 4th but most find that 3.5 offers the most freedom and allows more creativity.
They are a playable race in Dominions game.Well for one era lol.
Dominions game?
Here for the footnotes and commentary, stay for the Younligns
Yooo fam is there any news on bg2 story vid?
It is on my roadmap, but likely another month or two away. My apologies.
@@RichesandLiches cant wait bro its going to be lit 🔥
I see Aboleth mages the same way as Illithid mages. Its not that they cant learn and use magic, it's that they culturally reject it. Thus those that do take up magic are ostrasized.
15:14 what books?
For a creature of the Far Realms, aboleth reproduction is kinda boring. I'd jazz it up a bit and say it uses its psionics to implant a part of its psyche in the minds of mortals. These mortals, plagued by visions and nightmares are driven to return to the watery depths where eldritch magics combine the victims into an aboleth egg. The older the aboleth the more mortals it takes. You could see entire seaside villages disappearing overnight!
Is there any way to get links to the artwork for all the villages and things from this video? Would love to use some as references at my table.
I just recently added the art for the various volumes to my patreon site as a perk for my supporters (link below).
However I always feel bad asking people for support, so if there is a particular few images you would like, just shoot me an email and I will send you what you need.
Email:
richesandliches@gmail.com
Patreon Shop:
www.patreon.com/richesandliches/shop
@@RichesandLiches I was on the fence about the patreon and that sells me, you deserve something for such quality work.
That is super kind and generous, thank you. The truth is I love creating the content... so much so that I aspire to do it full time so that I can continue to get better and do more.
So again thank you for the assist in that goal... :)
As for the art packs, I think I have the last 5 volumes up plus some specialty art packs. As time allows I am also going back to older volumes and adding their packs as well but its a slow process. However moving forward, all new packs since I think the Blood War are up and all new videos have a volume up a few days after the videos release.
Do let me know if you have any questions.
Rich
Do they leave dead bodies? Can they become undead?
Budget Lovecraft. Ignore them & go straight for Dagon & the Deep Ones.
The difference is scale. One wishes to dominate the world, the other to subsume the multiverse. (Insert Giancarlo Esposito "we are not the same" meme here)
@no-sp8xt Tell us you've never actually read Lovecraft without telling us you've never actually read Lovecraft.
Unknown to most there is a small minority of Aboleth that refuses to enslave others. They are called Abolethionists! 😀
Well played sir... well played INDEED!
Im gonna run a campaign with an abolleth as a twist secret villain.
So there are ethnic tentions brewing in the far northern orc settlement due to a recent string of disappearances of young orc women. The heroes will have to solve this murder mystery only to learn of this like incell outcast orc that was offered the community he sought by doing the Abolleths bidding. Playng on the mindcontroll powers of the monster. But is the evil orc just another tool? (Yes, yes he is, his wisdom is far bellow the ability to challenge the abolleths power).
3:37 so there is that fear of what you can’t see down them but for me there is also a fear of what I actually do know is in the water…. Somewhere and the knowledge that I’m hopelessly outmatched by them, not only outmatched but to the point it’s actually funny just how out of your depth (pun not intended) you are, at least when your on land you have freedom of movement and if it’s a bear your facing you can maybe scare it off by been big and making a lot of noise but you can’t do that with a great white, now granted if you fail to scare it off your screwed as it can run faster than you and it can climb anything you can climb, but back to that deep water, stuff like sharks are more scary as we are so not designed for water movement we’re slow and clumsy, we can’t breathe under the water and out vision even with equipment helping us is extremely limited to the point that when we see a shark it’s already in attack range if it wants to and we having even seen it yet, a lion is just as dangerous but at least we have the fact of us both been designed to work on land but when it comes to water you notice something is quite different between a human and say a shark, dolphin, orca they are all perfectly adapted to speed in the water while us humans even at out best just aren’t.