I love the creature though I do think you have a missed an opportunity to include the Arcons reaction to something in the universe that can use so many power words and the fear they have of them corrupting those words
Fun fact: The sniper monkey from BTD6 with elite defender can shoot 123 shots each second. So with a round being 6 seconds that would equal 738 a D&D round.
Is the CR 18 representative of a newborn Asfaraba, or an experienced one? If newborn, would an experienced one have class levels? If experienced, how would a newborn CR be, or what would be different about it? Sometimes they have more than one stat block for a monster of different age/experience categpries, like with dragons and their age and size.
Love the monster. Since asfaraba are born from the emotions of other creatures, and presumably can’t be born from the emotions of other asfaraba, I wonder if there is a faction of asfaraba who goes around manipulating events to cause more asfaraba to be born. Since they do not share the same sense of morality as creatures living on a mortal scale they probably wouldn’t care what emotion they created, all they would value would be the intensity of the emotion even if it caused irreparable harm to the fabric of the community they were using to incubate new asfaraba. A parental asfaraba might go around saving the sick and helping the needy one month, and engage in mass murder the next in order to birth a child that personifies gratitude and then a child that personifies helplessness. I’m struggling to come up with a goal besides reproduction though. Maybe an asfaraba that was born from a particularly negative emotion might wish it had never been born, and might eradicate and erase from existence some terrible villain that the heroes killed a long time ago who caused enough misery to birth the asfaraba. By erasing the villain that precipitated the misery that was its womb the asfaraba erases itself, and inadvertently splits the party up, with the heroes never having come together without a villain to fight. The heroes that remember what once was might struggle to reunite the party in the new version of reality, and might search for a way to jog the memories of any party members that have forgetting by journeying through the portal created by the death shroud of the asfaraba that erased the villain and itself.
The stat block for the asfaraba seems to be missing the power rend: ability mentioned in this video otherwise I'm gonna use this in my spooky lovecraftian campaign
100d8 psychic damage to all creatures that can see the asferaba. All creatures that can see the asferaba must make a constitution saving throw, becoming incapacitated on a failure
Just a quick suggestion: there seems to be such a significant difference between newly born asfaraba and elder asfaraba, they probably should have 2 separate entries in the manual
Yeah or just something progressive with the stats : keeping everything at 20 except charisma and/or wisdom which could grow with their training to master their emotions.
@@TheodoreEustacheI think the idea of Wisdom and Charisma being super low (maybe even so far as being 0) when they’re first born and those stats growing as the child grows is super sick and I like it. Hard to be wise or charismatic when the only thing you know is a horrific rage you cannot understand
I think Asfaraba elders would be a single emotion or the first emotion as they are older than ancient. Or the elders of Asfaraba are older than the current multiverse and are explorers that are fascinated by the creations beyond just the emotions they are born to. For instance they are drawn to the people that are opposite of their emotional spectrum because its foreign to them and they want to experience it for themselves. Or a collector Asfaraba that has power over time and space so when they find a particular moment to their liking they collect that moment ripping the being from time and space to store.
It's only fitting that you put so much focus on their flexibility. Considering it looks like you could tie them into a clay colored yarn ball without much discomfort
Asfaraba Idea: One of them has just used Power Word: Eradicate to erase a Minor Deity, Demon Prince, Archfey, or Celestial Paragon from existence, and the planes have been plunged into chaos.
A demon prince cultivating a kingdom's suffering into creating an Asfaraba to siphon its power and getting immediatly deleted at the apex of the opening and everything popping off would be hilarious.
The true danger of putting out a monster video this damn good, is with thousands of us experiencing happiness and delight from watching we could very well be responsible for bringing an Asfaraba into existence. 🙂 Loved this video, my friend. An absolute home-run.
I like the idea of a wizard or someone powerful pushing a city known for its knowledge into some crazy puzzle or riddle. The magic man doesn't want to control the newly born asfaraba, but follow it in its unrelenting curiosity to learn new things
It being bred from emotion opens up sooooo many doors. You can have it fight your party, and after seeing their will to win it decides to let them live, respecting their competence. You can have one join your party temporarily to defeat a kingdom uniting threat, there are so many possibilities. I love D&D and I love good story telling. You provide both in an epic way, mad props to you 🤙🏼
I really appreciate that this creature is not strictly evil, and offers the opportunity for the party to role play or use other skills (rather than martial) to solve challenges. It offers so much space for creativity for the DM and players alike!
Asfaraba idea concept: “The Council.” Five Asfaraba have joined together to rule…something (DM’s choice, like a cosmic order, or the first mage’s guild or something.) The Asfarabas are named Wrath (core emotion: rage), Anguish (core emotion: sadness), Paranoia (core emotion: fear) Jubilance (core emotion: joy), and their leader, Logic. It’s unknown what emotion he represents, as he is the most monotone and makes desitions base on, well, logic. Maybe the party needs to ask them for help, or it’s like a court room scenario where they have to convince The Council of something.
Logic (core emotion: depression) It isn’t sadness, but the feeling that nothing you do matters. That’s why they solve everything through logic; emotions hurt too much.
@@NokoTheTacoi was gonna say pride... as a lot of people use logic as a social weapon. But I do like the interpretation that if the asfaraba is particularily ancient logic could very well stem from depression about the illogical inevitability of mortals.
"And it was all a dream.png" But that would also be interesting, as at least one of the party members would end up noticing that it happened, and it would be an interesting story to have them find each other
You'd get frustrated gaming with me. I use the resilient timeline narrative, returning the pre-"Time Machine" (the novel) version of perceived time travel from time control to just time travel. Power Word Eradicate the BBE means that the BBE never existed, but all others in the world were moved around by that vacuum to leave someone else, or something else, almost identical to fall into that place. Let's use WWII as an example, eradicate Hitler, then some other art school failure who got a grudge against the Jews by being a momma's boy who blames her Jewish doctor for not being able to stop her from dying.... probably someone in the original timeline that even died and-or never signed up for the military until Hitler ceased to exist and caused that person to fall into that place. Now, imagine the perceived madness of people remembering "how it really was" will be treated. I had someone use a Wish that his parents died before he was born. He thought he was clever, thinking I would "unfairly" make his character cease to exist. The Efreeti, laughing with joy, said, "Granted. Such an easy wish to grant. I need not even twist it for fun. Watching you will be fun". The Efreet granted the wish. His character didn't cease to exist. His history simply shifted that he was found by a barren childless couple that were just like his parents as an "abandoned gift" in their home. When that player looked into his actual origin, his actual bloodline, it didn't change. He was just from an alternate possible timeline, but in his current reality, his blood parents were dead before meeting and his adoptive parents that raised him in the exact same way leading to almost exactly the same life just kept his actual origin secret. And, unless the rules of Wish changed, meaning it cannot actually break the in-game reality, that was far within the rules and canon to do. With top-powers in my campaigns, never aim at the big picture because it's more powerful than the top-powers... individual actions (choices) asked by the big picture have far more control than those top-powers ever will. Eradicate is most likely rarely used because it's rarely actually useful other than making a player character replaced by an NPC... if the DM is generous in PC-NPC hybrid parties, like most were pre-1990s.
I perceived this a false hydra type removal, where the person just vanished from that moment going on. It happening retroactively can be a shitshow for an elf or a long lived person.
But... What a good way to start 'The Next Arc' of a story!!!! If you're one of the ones who remember, you might also remember all the good you did along the way to getting to that BBEG, that has now been undone!! Or you realize that another at-first-weaker, but more insidious evil has crept into the land that the previous BBEG had been keeping in check just by being a larger threat in terms of raw power. The players would have the choice of keeping their own character, reset to level one WITH THEIR MEMORIES INTACT, and able rebuild how they level up.. ooor a player can become a new character that gets swept up in this new conspiracy. This would leave previous named-PCs open for the DM to put in soooo many narritive-driven spots. Maybe they joined the other side. Maybe they became victims. Sooo much delicious plot!!
So I’m the guy who planned to implement the City Corrupter and The Sibyllic guardian into my campaign since I already had an evil demon like Duke who wanted to destroy the city and I had a physic player who needed to be trained by a strong individual. I also had an entity in the game created because a race of elves felt an immeasurable fear when they were wiped out, causing this entity of fear to manifest. Now I have a good template for this creature. Once again, thank you so much for all of your hard work and collection of magnificent monsters.
That elf idea seems sort of eldar/slanessh inspired. I also had recently been planning a campaign including over 10 monsters of the week. That was until scheduling issues caused it to be canceled for good.. :(
I can easily see these things being nomadic, traveling around the multiverse, from the depths of the Abyss to forgotten islands on the material realm. Edit: Also, I really like the idea of an Asfaraban Mask item. It simply places the user under the effects of the Calm Emotions spell, but it also can be sold to a collector for incredible sums, like 10,000 gold or something. Or, traded over to an Asfaraba for something in return.
What an amazing concept so many ways to use this. Got fixated on an idea that you are the only one member of your party to pass the check to recall your companion being erased and it becoming your mission to return them. Your party thinking you’re crazy, obsessing over someone that has never existed. Either needing a wish or the optional inter-plainer hunt for a creature that belongs to a creepy society of beyond ancient majora’s mask salesmen. Wild, and the implications that this creature might also be hunted by a god, or it being a high ranking individual in that society, what effects these masks have on mortals. So many ways to connect this narratively and don’t get me started on how cool that combat encounter can be… really great work.
This creature is giving me heavy Hathor vibes Edit: I feel like there should be a 'Power Word: No' Edit 2: I also like the idea of a creature that is created by accident, by a strong enough force, one I had the idea for was a creature created as a side effect of a mortal ascending to godhood or something
I also heard "Power word: NO" at first, and really the idea of a Power word: Denial. Feel like you could go two ways with it. Either it's a hyped-up counterspell (maybe one that doesn't require a roll, and just automatically cancels any action or spell), or it's a powerful, wish-style spell that totally undoes the ramifications of a certain event or action, maybe that happened within a certain time frame. I would use either as a high-level wizard.
@@ericbrownhill1333 I was thinking it's basically a 9th level counterspell or antimagic type thing, but it's also able to negate other things(like a contract or something similar)
I’m gonna make 2 comments this week. I absolutely love the idea of this creature! I can imagine one Asfaraba being so old and ancient in lies that he’s now known collectively as long as the others as the Lord of masks. Perhaps he was the first one to be created. Or perhaps he’s the one that survived the longest and first learned how to master his emotions through the control of the masks. Either way, I have a situation in my world that I can definitely see was caused by a Asfaraba and you have not given me a possible idea for a campaign. It needs to be worked on but it’s there! The second comment I’m making is a suggestion for a monster that I think you’re going to absolutely love! It comes from Brazilian folklore and it very much has traits resembling that of a Fey called a Saci. I won’t go too much into details but imagine a creature who is responsible for all of the little annoyances throughout the day. To use modern day examples, you wake up and you find out that your phone wasn’t plugged in correctly so it didn’t charge, the lid to your coffee came on done just as you picked it up the spilling it all over yourself, the presentation that you printed somehow miraculously disappeared from your book bag, and many other things like this are caused by the Saci. There are ways to appease him though! Anyway, please if you can check them out! There’s a lot of good monsters in Brazilian Folklor that are being ignored by many fantasy writers. I would love to see the Saci along with some of the others make their way into DND!
Ok so my little two cents is that I absolutely LOVE IT! A fantastic creature design that if used right could really shake-up a campaign. Also, and maybe this is my love of CoC creeping in, but its noticeable references to Hastur (one of my favorite CoC deities) is just the cherry on top. I'm not a big fan of kickstarter, due to personal issues, but I'm certainly looking forward to your book. The only issue I have, is how difficult its going to be for you to top this in the future lol.
Absolutely love this monster design. It feels simultaneously Eldritch and Fae in nature. I'll definitely implement one in a future campaign. Can't wait for your book!
I think the holes in reality being permanent is awesome. Trying to close it, or prevent something coming from the other side could be a quest in and of itself
"they have very soft faces" oooohhhhh i DO NOT like that wow gee whilikers thank you you have done a very good job of making me very uncomfortable very quickly ok...ok, upon watching the rest of this video, this sounds like an exceptional opportunity for a very impactful and heart-wrenching encounter for your players. Imagine, they go into a cave in an ancient, bizarre landscape, and come across a lone creature, huddled in a cave that is the personification of doubt and worry, and therefore has not fully learned to control their emotions. Just a very broken and sad, weird, squishy poor ball of emotion that is scared of everything and themselves and even if they try to attack, its out of panic and uncontrolled fear
Give some ways to resolve it, based on character classes. Like a Bard could lull it to sleep with music, or a wizard or sorcerer could use their magic to distract it, or a warlock beseeching their patron to aid the Asfaraba
I really like the idea of an individual masterminding some kind of large-scale ritual to summon an Asfaraba for their own bidding. Throw some time wizard shit in there and it could get incredibly complicated with the baddie travelling back through time and zapping important figures from history. Maybe only the party members can actually remember these figures like some kind of mandela effect situation. This is really rad though. This creature has so much potential. You really made something truly wild here dude.
Ok..I really like the idea of a cunning Sorcerer, aberration, Demon, etc, creating a unique more monstrous mask that convinces the emotional being that it is itself a evil and monstrous being. Maybe as a distraction for their own evil deeds, to use them for revenge, or even to control them and their power.. Dunno, just really like masks and monstrous ones intrigue me. Overall great monster, thanks Dad
I'm now imagining a small town ignored by the rest of the world because it is protected by cosmic beings. Every few centuries their festivals produce a new being so they are preserved.
banger of a video. sadly im neither a player nor a DM, so i have no use for your monster manual, but i sure do appreciate a good monster. amazing work!
I love this thing! Not saying you have to add this to the Asfaraba, because it could be very different from your vision, but something I may do with it is make it very in-touch with other creatures' emotions if they are coming through particularly strong. For instance, someone who has just lost a child will be very depressed, and if they meet with an Asfaraba it would be interesting to see it sort of empathize with the parent on a very deep emotional level, which could give the parent some peace either intrinsically or perhaps with the Asfaraba offering them a mask. Likewise, someone who knew of this ability of an Asfaraba could take advantage of it and use it to bend the will of one to their own, focusing intensely on emotions regarding their goal for the Asfaraba to aid them in some way (kind of like the demon lord interference you talked about in the video). This creature is certainly really cool, you did a good job with it.
I'm already picturing using this creature as a legendary oracle in my setting; I can picture my PCs wanting to use the ancient wisdom from a long lived Elder Asfaraba. It would make sense to me that a creature as powerful as this, and as close to the gods as this creature once was, would have a lot of respect and reverence thrown its way if other mortals came into contact with it. It could even be that other mortals at once convinced it to alter reality in a way that benefit their kingdom or country, and while that region saw this as a great boon, it was detrimental to neighboring regions in some way. I can see this creature being a super fun addition to the game. I will definitely be using it at my table.
i absolutely love the concept of the encounter in the book. im imagining an asfaraba born out of fear and anguish but the party manages to calm them down and then they get attached.. like this 20 foot tall eldritch being is tagging along with a gaggle of tiny adventurers bc "they were nice to me :)" and thats just so wholesome
I love the idea that the death of a Asfaraba leaves behind raw creation. Giving the players a limited wish or some other macguffin that can undo an eradication or for plot reasons.
I like the concept. This type of creature can be molded or used in so many different ways. It makes me think of that real incident where people would just dance non stop until they literally dropped dead.
This sounds so cool. Especially when you hear about the imagery. The creature seems both power, to have as a sort of BBEG thing, AND as a plot device. Even just having a spell or something that could summon them would be just as cool. Provided you have Dm's approval.
Your videos have been the biggest source of inspiration for DMing/ writing my campaign in my entire time (only like 5 years) playing dnd. Thank you for doing what you do!
What a fascinating monster. The concept of a party member being erased from memory and then being rescued by people who don't know who he is anymore sounds so fun to roleplay
I love this concept! Metaphysical monsters like these are my bread and butter. I love throwing things like these at players, and love to create similarly weird beings. I can't wait to see what else is in the Quin!
This basically morphed into an entire character premise in my head as I was listening. An Asfaraba is born of the collective terror and anguish of a population put through something horrific, spends years trying to master its emotions but the fear remains and inhibits its ability to function. Determined to overcome this, it travels to the material plane on a mission to confront and put down the cause of the atrocity that led to its birth. Could do interesting stuff with PTSD themes, but also concepts of shame/cowardice and the idea of courage not being an absence of fear but doing what is needed in spite of it. I like blurring the lines between playable options and monster options myself for narrative purposes, would love exploring one of these if stats could be scaled.
Ngl, I’m going to have to join the kickstarter after seeing the care you put into all the aspects of this creature. It’s pure narrative creativity distilled into an extremely versatile form
I just saw this video and it couldn't be more perfect!!! On this one specific campaign I'm playing all the gods are afraid (for some very specific but complex reason) and I was trying to come up with an enemy that would be the God's Fear taken physical form. Now here it is!!!
This is awesome, and perfect timing!! I was just setting up a campaign for my friends, and I'm currently in the process of making all the lore and what not. But I knew that I wanted it to heavily focused around aberrations as a great war with the far realms happened long long ago. So I guess now my BBEG is going to be a Asfaraba, born from the constant fear and anxiety of the twisted beings from the Far Realms will come back to destroy the world.
It makes sense to me that as beings born of, and essentially made of emotion, the Asfaraba would be motivated to master every possible emotion. In order do so, the Asfaraba needs to experience every emotion, and over the course of eons will put themselves into every conceivable situation. Making friends with untrustworthy people in order to experience the pain of betrayal by a friend, but also taking unfaithful lovers to experience the subtly different pain of being betrayed by a lover. Saving entire worlds from tyranny, destroying civilizations, scratching a dog in just the right spot behind the ear to make its leg start kicking, all pursued with the same focus, drive, and commitment to become a being that understands, encompasses, and can express the full spectrum of emotion. And with every successful mastery, the crafting of a new mask.
I love the Asfaraba. In the world I'm making, The first Asfaraba is the first bard, channeling it's emotions through writing. It also invented the college of lore. I think a more emotional take on a worlds history would add a twist to the world's tales. Thank you so much for making it. This is by far my favorite creature. Good job Dungeon Dad.
This monster seems super sick! Did you take any inspiration from arrival? The asfaraba's form, language-based power, and goals that span centuries remind me a lot of that film. Can't wait to grab the whole book when it's released!
The statement that they seem cold because they have learned to control emotion, but are actually very extreme in how emotional they are, reminds me of Star Trek Vulcans
The creation of this creature was genius, I'm running a campaign where a very powerful character with very powerful emotions will decide how the campaign ends, and this creature gives me the perfect way to explain their story
Really cool monster. It's like a much more powerful version of the Shade from the Ironclaw system, which is essentially a formless creature borne of some strong emotion, a psychic impression of one or many people experiencing a powerful emotion given form. I was half-contemplating suggesting it and renaming it since Shade is taken in 5E, but looks like you've got such a thing covered with your own homebrew. Hope the book was successful!
When you were talking about the Asfarabas death portal and showed a black sphere, my mind immediately went to a Sphere of Annihilation. Honestly it could be an interesting lore tidbit that the death of these emotional demigods who can control the universe result in a point of space where all is obliterated or simply transported violently.
This creature intreasted me ever sense you first showed it and honestly I really like it. I thougt it will be just some random spooky monstet, but its far more complex and intreasting then I ever imagind. Cant wait to see what else you got in your book.
Hey dude, recent subscriber, and new DM. I have to say, love the channel, and love the new monster. I have to say, not even including the other monsters you've done, just this one, has given me a lot of ideas as far as one shot encounters, as well as possibly starting off a campaign with the asfaraba not necessarily being the BBEG, but possibly a tool for a BBEG. Looking forward to backing the book, and someday reading through it!
I like how they’re created similarly to how a false hydra is created and that they even look like more “perfect” versions of what a false hydra looks like. Maybe not what you intended but definitely an angle I’m going to play with
Very cool monster, looks like a neat book. I don't think it's technically an issue but I will mention Power Word Pain is already a spell in 5e. Obviously some things occasionally share names but considering the specificity of power words it might do well to switch up the legendary action's name
This channel has been so good for helping me write in interesting encounters but this takes the cake. In our campaign a whole countryside was wiped out by a vengeful child who found the tome of an old necromancer. They swept town to town slowly wiping out everyone until there was nothing left. Rumors in the regions capital spread and people turned on each other in their fear and uncertainty which spawned 2 entities. A False Hydra and an Asfaraba. The Asfaraba is being blamed for strange happenings and but it’s a being scared out of its mind due to being born of collective fear and uncertainty. I can’t wait to see how my party handles it cause they don’t even know the False Hydra is a factor
I love this. Every creature you bring out, I can always immediately find a place for them in the world. Power Word Eradicate even solves some issues I was having with the backstory of the campaign. Anybody thinking of using time travel to make an interesting backstory should just think of something else that causes less headaches for you.
Oh my, this got me thinking real hard, i really loved this concept * ____ * It's like the answer to "what if 'Inside Out' was REALLY OUT, and was an epic 4 armed masked DND Monster?" Also, i love the concept of cosmic therapy. Oh, i just realized: an Eldritch Cosmic Horror Entity could use Asfarabas as it's minions, as the feeling of dread and despair is overwhelming by it's presence. And maybe a deep understanding about "that's how the way things are" could be the only antidote that would calm them, spreading the acceptance of one's place in the cosmic scale and them making the Asfarabas empathetic towards it's previous victims, making them rebel against their creator. Really cool and flexible monster, and it can be the core to many many campaigns and stories.
This monster opens the possibility of a kingdom collectively deciding to throw a party so rad that a being is born of the collective joy and revelry of the city and I think thats beautiful.
Since they’re sentient, you could supply some sort of playable version that, perhaps, is not a legendary creature. 😅 Or perhaps a more animalistic version with fur or something for animal emotions? I don’t know but I love this monster
I love the idea of a party having an emotional support Asfaraba. An eldritch Horror that visits them every time they set down to rest. Maybe the help them get over the loss of a party member, maybe they just lost a pet, maybe he is just there to share their joy of victory, so many ways to just... Be there. Of course, there would be a huge ass "Oh... OH!" Moment near the end of the campaign that would resolve why he was with them all the time but that is for another time.
I love this thru and thru. i'm starting up a campaign (only currently with 2 players but eh, its fun) and i can think of many ways to use this. the LORE is amazing, the rammifications of them is amazing, and I absolutely look forward to use them... Infact the one thing that i've been racking my brain over is the first mission to kick start... This, This has opened the door for it... Soooo ya thanks Dungeon dad. Also Planning on hopefully 4 orders in the future for your book if the creatures are as great as this. One for me and one for each of my other DMs to have fun with. Already posted this video since we are further in their campains and i'm certain they will have amazing uses for it!
As a longtime Magic player, it was really interesting to see which images you used to describe the creatures and when. Also… if the asfaraba were real, there would definitely be a new one representing the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyway, amazing work! Fits into the Theros setting and the concept of devotion so nicely, but they could conceivably be effective anywhere. And they’d make fantastic warlock patrons…
Did you set out to make an autism analogy as a race? Because you nailed it regardless. I can say that as an autistic individual myself, a majority of us are intensely emotional, often hyperemotional, and work extremely hard to control our emotions due to the backlash of expressing that to others. We learn to put on masks of neutrality, or other acceptable social emotions, instead of expressing how we truly feel, for the sake of fitting in. It usually isn't until much later in life, and with significant sacrifice and loss of our social circles, that we finally begin to deconstruct and take off our masks and accept ourselves. Masking literally is a common term we use, in fact. Ironically it is the lack of empathy for the abnormal that makes masks essential for us. I could see using them in my own one-shots in this kind of angle.
I would urge you not to generalize, but as an autistic person myself I do agree that this is a common experience. I would hesitate to take the metaphor literally or too far as it's a pretty drastic example of one part of autism. But it's certainly there. I too have felt like an asfaraba at many points in my life.
Being autistic myself I never got the point of masking. If someone else has a problem with the expression of basic human emotion, that's a them problem. Why should I bend to please petty people?
I don’t know how much Star Trek you watch, but I’m catching hints of Vulcan in their behavior. Not in the sense that they’re super logical, but rather their extreme emotional discipline being perceived as being emotionless. Really cool creature all around and one that my players are definitely gonna run into.
I could totally see one of these guys being a warlock patron that bestows a mask collection to the warlock, and the masks are used to fuel different abilities, but you can only wear one at a time. As the warlock levels up they get access to more nuanced masks.
3:42 ok thats amazing! i know this is a very tall order, i know how much work making a fully functional “balanced” creature, that it takes an impressive amount of thought and work. but a few totally custom monster videos here and there would be awesome! because this guy is absolutely fantastic!
Wizard asfaraba PC sounds like an interesting idea. Like one who is already old enough to control their emotions but far from old enough to know all of the power words, this young specimen decided it wanted to go and learn from the material plain and ends up meeting the party.
Check out the book here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrtarrasque/the-quintessential-guide-to-monster-encounters
I love the creature though I do think you have a missed an opportunity to include the Arcons reaction to something in the universe that can use so many power words and the fear they have of them corrupting those words
Fun fact: The sniper monkey from BTD6 with elite defender can shoot 123 shots each second. So with a round being 6 seconds that would equal 738 a D&D round.
Is the CR 18 representative of a newborn Asfaraba, or an experienced one? If newborn, would an experienced one have class levels? If experienced, how would a newborn CR be, or what would be different about it? Sometimes they have more than one stat block for a monster of different age/experience categpries, like with dragons and their age and size.
Love the monster. Since asfaraba are born from the emotions of other creatures, and presumably can’t be born from the emotions of other asfaraba, I wonder if there is a faction of asfaraba who goes around manipulating events to cause more asfaraba to be born. Since they do not share the same sense of morality as creatures living on a mortal scale they probably wouldn’t care what emotion they created, all they would value would be the intensity of the emotion even if it caused irreparable harm to the fabric of the community they were using to incubate new asfaraba. A parental asfaraba might go around saving the sick and helping the needy one month, and engage in mass murder the next in order to birth a child that personifies gratitude and then a child that personifies helplessness. I’m struggling to come up with a goal besides reproduction though. Maybe an asfaraba that was born from a particularly negative emotion might wish it had never been born, and might eradicate and erase from existence some terrible villain that the heroes killed a long time ago who caused enough misery to birth the asfaraba. By erasing the villain that precipitated the misery that was its womb the asfaraba erases itself, and inadvertently splits the party up, with the heroes never having come together without a villain to fight. The heroes that remember what once was might struggle to reunite the party in the new version of reality, and might search for a way to jog the memories of any party members that have forgetting by journeying through the portal created by the death shroud of the asfaraba that erased the villain and itself.
The stat block for the asfaraba seems to be missing the power rend: ability mentioned in this video otherwise I'm gonna use this in my spooky lovecraftian campaign
Dungeon Dad, playing out an asferaba encounter: “He pulls out his mask of; I’m not angry, just disappointed.”
100d8 psychic damage to all creatures that can see the asferaba.
All creatures that can see the asferaba must make a constitution saving throw, becoming incapacitated on a failure
the bad ending
Take my like fir this top tier comment😂😂😂
this deserves more likes
40 points of Psychic damage
Just a quick suggestion: there seems to be such a significant difference between newly born asfaraba and elder asfaraba, they probably should have 2 separate entries in the manual
Yeah or just something progressive with the stats : keeping everything at 20 except charisma and/or wisdom which could grow with their training to master their emotions.
@@TheodoreEustacheI think the idea of Wisdom and Charisma being super low (maybe even so far as being 0) when they’re first born and those stats growing as the child grows is super sick and I like it. Hard to be wise or charismatic when the only thing you know is a horrific rage you cannot understand
I think Asfaraba elders would be a single emotion or the first emotion as they are older than ancient. Or the elders of Asfaraba are older than the current multiverse and are explorers that are fascinated by the creations beyond just the emotions they are born to. For instance they are drawn to the people that are opposite of their emotional spectrum because its foreign to them and they want to experience it for themselves. Or a collector Asfaraba that has power over time and space so when they find a particular moment to their liking they collect that moment ripping the being from time and space to store.
That's the opposite of human elders.
@@HenriFaust yes and it’s interesting
*FUCKING TECHZEN!* (the collector idea just ripes a 40k meme RIGHT form my starved braincells)
@@lechking941 tzeentch
I love the idea of the collector asfaraba... could be a villain or a helpful npc for the players
It's only fitting that you put so much focus on their flexibility.
Considering it looks like you could tie them into a clay colored yarn ball without much discomfort
Is that a reference to something?
@@greeninja5991No just calling it like I sees it
Asfaraba Idea: One of them has just used Power Word: Eradicate to erase a Minor Deity, Demon Prince, Archfey, or Celestial Paragon from existence, and the planes have been plunged into chaos.
Y'know there's a question I've been wondering what happens when power word eradicate is used ON an asfarabra
An idea is an asfaraba eradicating an npc in a place the players aren't in and not acknowledging the change
A demon prince cultivating a kingdom's suffering into creating an Asfaraba to siphon its power and getting immediatly deleted at the apex of the opening and everything popping off would be hilarious.
The true danger of putting out a monster video this damn good, is with thousands of us experiencing happiness and delight from watching we could very well be responsible for bringing an Asfaraba into existence. 🙂 Loved this video, my friend. An absolute home-run.
Thanks dude
@@DungeonDad NO STOP YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT MORE POWERFUL
@@DungeonDad A thought:
Baiting the Asfaraba into casting "Power Word: Know" to relay the wish to stop fighting and calm things down.
I like the idea of a wizard or someone powerful pushing a city known for its knowledge into some crazy puzzle or riddle. The magic man doesn't want to control the newly born asfaraba, but follow it in its unrelenting curiosity to learn new things
An Asfaraba of Curiosity, now that would be super interesting! It could turn out to be a great merchant or a Legendary Librarian when it's older
It being bred from emotion opens up sooooo many doors. You can have it fight your party, and after seeing their will to win it decides to let them live, respecting their competence. You can have one join your party temporarily to defeat a kingdom uniting threat, there are so many possibilities. I love D&D and I love good story telling. You provide both in an epic way, mad props to you 🤙🏼
Hell, it's entirely possible to reflavour the archfey patron as an Asfaraba
I really appreciate that this creature is not strictly evil, and offers the opportunity for the party to role play or use other skills (rather than martial) to solve challenges. It offers so much space for creativity for the DM and players alike!
Asfaraba idea concept: “The Council.”
Five Asfaraba have joined together to rule…something (DM’s choice, like a cosmic order, or the first mage’s guild or something.)
The Asfarabas are named Wrath (core emotion: rage), Anguish (core emotion: sadness), Paranoia (core emotion: fear) Jubilance (core emotion: joy), and their leader, Logic. It’s unknown what emotion he represents, as he is the most monotone and makes desitions base on, well, logic.
Maybe the party needs to ask them for help, or it’s like a court room scenario where they have to convince The Council of something.
Logic (core emotion: depression)
It isn’t sadness, but the feeling that nothing you do matters. That’s why they solve everything through logic; emotions hurt too much.
@@NokoTheTaco ooh, I like that idea.
Oooh, nice.
@@NokoTheTacoi was gonna say pride... as a lot of people use logic as a social weapon. But I do like the interpretation that if the asfaraba is particularily ancient logic could very well stem from depression about the illogical inevitability of mortals.
I think you just brought the Quintessons from Transformers into D&D. Good job.
Thank you Dungeon Dad, cause you have given name the eldritch horror agents for my game.
My pleasure!
If you use power word eradicate on the BBEG does that mean the party never got together and the players can narrate happy endings for them?
absolutely
"And it was all a dream.png"
But that would also be interesting, as at least one of the party members would end up noticing that it happened, and it would be an interesting story to have them find each other
You'd get frustrated gaming with me. I use the resilient timeline narrative, returning the pre-"Time Machine" (the novel) version of perceived time travel from time control to just time travel. Power Word Eradicate the BBE means that the BBE never existed, but all others in the world were moved around by that vacuum to leave someone else, or something else, almost identical to fall into that place.
Let's use WWII as an example, eradicate Hitler, then some other art school failure who got a grudge against the Jews by being a momma's boy who blames her Jewish doctor for not being able to stop her from dying.... probably someone in the original timeline that even died and-or never signed up for the military until Hitler ceased to exist and caused that person to fall into that place. Now, imagine the perceived madness of people remembering "how it really was" will be treated.
I had someone use a Wish that his parents died before he was born. He thought he was clever, thinking I would "unfairly" make his character cease to exist. The Efreeti, laughing with joy, said, "Granted. Such an easy wish to grant. I need not even twist it for fun. Watching you will be fun". The Efreet granted the wish. His character didn't cease to exist. His history simply shifted that he was found by a barren childless couple that were just like his parents as an "abandoned gift" in their home. When that player looked into his actual origin, his actual bloodline, it didn't change. He was just from an alternate possible timeline, but in his current reality, his blood parents were dead before meeting and his adoptive parents that raised him in the exact same way leading to almost exactly the same life just kept his actual origin secret. And, unless the rules of Wish changed, meaning it cannot actually break the in-game reality, that was far within the rules and canon to do.
With top-powers in my campaigns, never aim at the big picture because it's more powerful than the top-powers... individual actions (choices) asked by the big picture have far more control than those top-powers ever will. Eradicate is most likely rarely used because it's rarely actually useful other than making a player character replaced by an NPC... if the DM is generous in PC-NPC hybrid parties, like most were pre-1990s.
I perceived this a false hydra type removal, where the person just vanished from that moment going on.
It happening retroactively can be a shitshow for an elf or a long lived person.
But... What a good way to start 'The Next Arc' of a story!!!!
If you're one of the ones who remember, you might also remember all the good you did along the way to getting to that BBEG, that has now been undone!! Or you realize that another at-first-weaker, but more insidious evil has crept into the land that the previous BBEG had been keeping in check just by being a larger threat in terms of raw power.
The players would have the choice of keeping their own character, reset to level one WITH THEIR MEMORIES INTACT, and able rebuild how they level up.. ooor a player can become a new character that gets swept up in this new conspiracy. This would leave previous named-PCs open for the DM to put in soooo many narritive-driven spots. Maybe they joined the other side. Maybe they became victims. Sooo much delicious plot!!
So I’m the guy who planned to implement the City Corrupter and The Sibyllic guardian into my campaign since I already had an evil demon like Duke who wanted to destroy the city and I had a physic player who needed to be trained by a strong individual.
I also had an entity in the game created because a race of elves felt an immeasurable fear when they were wiped out, causing this entity of fear to manifest. Now I have a good template for this creature.
Once again, thank you so much for all of your hard work and collection of magnificent monsters.
That elf idea seems sort of eldar/slanessh inspired.
I also had recently been planning a campaign including over 10 monsters of the week. That was until scheduling issues caused it to be canceled for good.. :(
I can easily see these things being nomadic, traveling around the multiverse, from the depths of the Abyss to forgotten islands on the material realm.
Edit: Also, I really like the idea of an Asfaraban Mask item. It simply places the user under the effects of the Calm Emotions spell, but it also can be sold to a collector for incredible sums, like 10,000 gold or something. Or, traded over to an Asfaraba for something in return.
What an amazing concept so many ways to use this. Got fixated on an idea that you are the only one member of your party to pass the check to recall your companion being erased and it becoming your mission to return them. Your party thinking you’re crazy, obsessing over someone that has never existed. Either needing a wish or the optional inter-plainer hunt for a creature that belongs to a creepy society of beyond ancient majora’s mask salesmen. Wild, and the implications that this creature might also be hunted by a god, or it being a high ranking individual in that society, what effects these masks have on mortals. So many ways to connect this narratively and don’t get me started on how cool that combat encounter can be… really great work.
I love this monster. It's really uniqur and uses a lot of underused concepts from fantasy. Very good job and very deep lore with a ton of flexabliity.
This creature is giving me heavy Hathor vibes
Edit: I feel like there should be a 'Power Word: No'
Edit 2: I also like the idea of a creature that is created by accident, by a strong enough force, one I had the idea for was a creature created as a side effect of a mortal ascending to godhood or something
I also heard "Power word: NO" at first, and really the idea of a Power word: Denial. Feel like you could go two ways with it. Either it's a hyped-up counterspell (maybe one that doesn't require a roll, and just automatically cancels any action or spell), or it's a powerful, wish-style spell that totally undoes the ramifications of a certain event or action, maybe that happened within a certain time frame. I would use either as a high-level wizard.
@@ericbrownhill1333 *SHS Thanos voice*: DO-OVER!
@@ericbrownhill1333 I was thinking it's basically a 9th level counterspell or antimagic type thing, but it's also able to negate other things(like a contract or something similar)
Power Word: No feels like an ability that's exclusive just to Neo from The Matrix when bullets fly at him.
Hathor, the Egyptian goddess? Or Hastur, The Yellow Sign? If the latter, me too.
Incredible works guys! I’m soooo excited for your book to release!
I’m gonna make 2 comments this week. I absolutely love the idea of this creature! I can imagine one Asfaraba being so old and ancient in lies that he’s now known collectively as long as the others as the Lord of masks. Perhaps he was the first one to be created. Or perhaps he’s the one that survived the longest and first learned how to master his emotions through the control of the masks. Either way, I have a situation in my world that I can definitely see was caused by a Asfaraba and you have not given me a possible idea for a campaign. It needs to be worked on but it’s there!
The second comment I’m making is a suggestion for a monster that I think you’re going to absolutely love! It comes from Brazilian folklore and it very much has traits resembling that of a Fey called a Saci. I won’t go too much into details but imagine a creature who is responsible for all of the little annoyances throughout the day. To use modern day examples, you wake up and you find out that your phone wasn’t plugged in correctly so it didn’t charge, the lid to your coffee came on done just as you picked it up the spilling it all over yourself, the presentation that you printed somehow miraculously disappeared from your book bag, and many other things like this are caused by the Saci. There are ways to appease him though! Anyway, please if you can check them out! There’s a lot of good monsters in Brazilian Folklor that are being ignored by many fantasy writers. I would love to see the Saci along with some of the others make their way into DND!
Ok so my little two cents is that I absolutely LOVE IT! A fantastic creature design that if used right could really shake-up a campaign. Also, and maybe this is my love of CoC creeping in, but its noticeable references to Hastur (one of my favorite CoC deities) is just the cherry on top. I'm not a big fan of kickstarter, due to personal issues, but I'm certainly looking forward to your book. The only issue I have, is how difficult its going to be for you to top this in the future lol.
Absolutely love this monster design. It feels simultaneously Eldritch and Fae in nature. I'll definitely implement one in a future campaign. Can't wait for your book!
I think the holes in reality being permanent is awesome. Trying to close it, or prevent something coming from the other side could be a quest in and of itself
This is so freaking cool. You literally took the stereotypical, "We always wear a mask" and made it a creature. I love this so much.
"they have very soft faces" oooohhhhh i DO NOT like that wow gee whilikers thank you you have done a very good job of making me very uncomfortable very quickly
ok...ok, upon watching the rest of this video, this sounds like an exceptional opportunity for a very impactful and heart-wrenching encounter for your players. Imagine, they go into a cave in an ancient, bizarre landscape, and come across a lone creature, huddled in a cave that is the personification of doubt and worry, and therefore has not fully learned to control their emotions. Just a very broken and sad, weird, squishy poor ball of emotion that is scared of everything and themselves and even if they try to attack, its out of panic and uncontrolled fear
Give some ways to resolve it, based on character classes.
Like a Bard could lull it to sleep with music, or a wizard or sorcerer could use their magic to distract it, or a warlock beseeching their patron to aid the Asfaraba
I was expecting Power Word No to be the ultimate counterspell.
I really like the idea of an individual masterminding some kind of large-scale ritual to summon an Asfaraba for their own bidding. Throw some time wizard shit in there and it could get incredibly complicated with the baddie travelling back through time and zapping important figures from history. Maybe only the party members can actually remember these figures like some kind of mandela effect situation.
This is really rad though. This creature has so much potential. You really made something truly wild here dude.
Ok..I really like the idea of a cunning Sorcerer, aberration, Demon, etc, creating a unique more monstrous mask that convinces the emotional being that it is itself a evil and monstrous being. Maybe as a distraction for their own evil deeds, to use them for revenge, or even to control them and their power..
Dunno, just really like masks and monstrous ones intrigue me. Overall great monster, thanks Dad
I see someone's been reading "the King in yellow" good stuff, good stuff. Keep it up you guys, that's some great monster design
Hell yeah! Another monster of the week episode!
As a magic player, I appreciate all the card art you use in this series
As an air enjoyer, I appreciate oxygen.
Hey let's all have lots of holidays so we have more happy cosmic beings in the multiverse!
I'm now imagining a small town ignored by the rest of the world because it is protected by cosmic beings. Every few centuries their festivals produce a new being so they are preserved.
@@dahelmang do you really want creatures that are embodiment of drunk and horny as the protectors of your little town?
@@kutalyl7153 isn't that basically what all pagan gods are like?
banger of a video. sadly im neither a player nor a DM, so i have no use for your monster manual, but i sure do appreciate a good monster. amazing work!
I love all the Magic in this. Well done
I love this thing!
Not saying you have to add this to the Asfaraba, because it could be very different from your vision, but something I may do with it is make it very in-touch with other creatures' emotions if they are coming through particularly strong. For instance, someone who has just lost a child will be very depressed, and if they meet with an Asfaraba it would be interesting to see it sort of empathize with the parent on a very deep emotional level, which could give the parent some peace either intrinsically or perhaps with the Asfaraba offering them a mask. Likewise, someone who knew of this ability of an Asfaraba could take advantage of it and use it to bend the will of one to their own, focusing intensely on emotions regarding their goal for the Asfaraba to aid them in some way (kind of like the demon lord interference you talked about in the video).
This creature is certainly really cool, you did a good job with it.
I'm already picturing using this creature as a legendary oracle in my setting; I can picture my PCs wanting to use the ancient wisdom from a long lived Elder Asfaraba. It would make sense to me that a creature as powerful as this, and as close to the gods as this creature once was, would have a lot of respect and reverence thrown its way if other mortals came into contact with it. It could even be that other mortals at once convinced it to alter reality in a way that benefit their kingdom or country, and while that region saw this as a great boon, it was detrimental to neighboring regions in some way.
I can see this creature being a super fun addition to the game. I will definitely be using it at my table.
i absolutely love the concept of the encounter in the book. im imagining an asfaraba born out of fear and anguish but the party manages to calm them down and then they get attached.. like this 20 foot tall eldritch being is tagging along with a gaggle of tiny adventurers bc "they were nice to me :)" and thats just so wholesome
I love the idea that the death of a Asfaraba leaves behind raw creation. Giving the players a limited wish or some other macguffin that can undo an eradication or for plot reasons.
I like the concept. This type of creature can be molded or used in so many different ways. It makes me think of that real incident where people would just dance non stop until they literally dropped dead.
I really really like the way these guys r designed. The emotional birth,the masks, the use of words of creation
Interesting seeing an original monster from you. I am enjoying the mythological elements, it has a very Theros vibe to it that I am enjoying.
This sounds so cool. Especially when you hear about the imagery. The creature seems both power, to have as a sort of BBEG thing, AND as a plot device. Even just having a spell or something that could summon them would be just as cool. Provided you have Dm's approval.
Your videos have been the biggest source of inspiration for DMing/ writing my campaign in my entire time (only like 5 years) playing dnd. Thank you for doing what you do!
What a fascinating monster. The concept of a party member being erased from memory and then being rescued by people who don't know who he is anymore sounds so fun to roleplay
imagine your just chillin and a giant black disc appears and a bunch of random creatures come out into your bedroom
I love this concept! Metaphysical monsters like these are my bread and butter. I love throwing things like these at players, and love to create similarly weird beings. I can't wait to see what else is in the Quin!
This basically morphed into an entire character premise in my head as I was listening. An Asfaraba is born of the collective terror and anguish of a population put through something horrific, spends years trying to master its emotions but the fear remains and inhibits its ability to function. Determined to overcome this, it travels to the material plane on a mission to confront and put down the cause of the atrocity that led to its birth. Could do interesting stuff with PTSD themes, but also concepts of shame/cowardice and the idea of courage not being an absence of fear but doing what is needed in spite of it.
I like blurring the lines between playable options and monster options myself for narrative purposes, would love exploring one of these if stats could be scaled.
Ngl, I’m going to have to join the kickstarter after seeing the care you put into all the aspects of this creature. It’s pure narrative creativity distilled into an extremely versatile form
I just saw this video and it couldn't be more perfect!!! On this one specific campaign I'm playing all the gods are afraid (for some very specific but complex reason) and I was trying to come up with an enemy that would be the God's Fear taken physical form. Now here it is!!!
notif squad
I really needed this week's episode
I got sick... glad I can watch some new stuff
Feel better soon!
Let the rubber sorrow man soothe you
This is awesome, and perfect timing!! I was just setting up a campaign for my friends, and I'm currently in the process of making all the lore and what not. But I knew that I wanted it to heavily focused around aberrations as a great war with the far realms happened long long ago. So I guess now my BBEG is going to be a Asfaraba, born from the constant fear and anxiety of the twisted beings from the Far Realms will come back to destroy the world.
Phenomenal idea! There's simply no part of this I don't find fascinating...Bravo.
Love the King in Yellow inspiration that went into that creature, it's one of my favorite books of all time
It makes sense to me that as beings born of, and essentially made of emotion, the Asfaraba would be motivated to master every possible emotion. In order do so, the Asfaraba needs to experience every emotion, and over the course of eons will put themselves into every conceivable situation. Making friends with untrustworthy people in order to experience the pain of betrayal by a friend, but also taking unfaithful lovers to experience the subtly different pain of being betrayed by a lover. Saving entire worlds from tyranny, destroying civilizations, scratching a dog in just the right spot behind the ear to make its leg start kicking, all pursued with the same focus, drive, and commitment to become a being that understands, encompasses, and can express the full spectrum of emotion. And with every successful mastery, the crafting of a new mask.
I love the Asfaraba. In the world I'm making, The first Asfaraba is the first bard, channeling it's emotions through writing. It also invented the college of lore. I think a more emotional take on a worlds history would add a twist to the world's tales. Thank you so much for making it. This is by far my favorite creature. Good job Dungeon Dad.
This monster seems super sick! Did you take any inspiration from arrival? The asfaraba's form, language-based power, and goals that span centuries remind me a lot of that film. Can't wait to grab the whole book when it's released!
The statement that they seem cold because they have learned to control emotion, but are actually very extreme in how emotional they are, reminds me of Star Trek Vulcans
Definitely a point of inspiration!
@@DungeonDad Really loved this video. I've just discovered your channel today and am enjoying binging your content!
imagining a lost little asfaraba that was birthed from despair and sadness that the party must either save or destroy.
The creation of this creature was genius, I'm running a campaign where a very powerful character with very powerful emotions will decide how the campaign ends, and this creature gives me the perfect way to explain their story
I watched this video after the Bagman episode, and that “in between” space sounds like a great asfaraba home!
Production quality stay high like damn boi.
More seriously, awesome to see the channel growth continue!
I was like “oh yeah that’s kinda cool” but ended up at “ that’s dope af!” Thank you for this, will definitely be getting the book.
Really cool monster. It's like a much more powerful version of the Shade from the Ironclaw system, which is essentially a formless creature borne of some strong emotion, a psychic impression of one or many people experiencing a powerful emotion given form. I was half-contemplating suggesting it and renaming it since Shade is taken in 5E, but looks like you've got such a thing covered with your own homebrew. Hope the book was successful!
When you were talking about the Asfarabas death portal and showed a black sphere, my mind immediately went to a Sphere of Annihilation.
Honestly it could be an interesting lore tidbit that the death of these emotional demigods who can control the universe result in a point of space where all is obliterated or simply transported violently.
So, there was that oldschool adventure called Bzallin's Blacksphere...
This creature intreasted me ever sense you first showed it and honestly I really like it. I thougt it will be just some random spooky monstet, but its far more complex and intreasting then I ever imagind. Cant wait to see what else you got in your book.
Hey dude, recent subscriber, and new DM. I have to say, love the channel, and love the new monster. I have to say, not even including the other monsters you've done, just this one, has given me a lot of ideas as far as one shot encounters, as well as possibly starting off a campaign with the asfaraba not necessarily being the BBEG, but possibly a tool for a BBEG. Looking forward to backing the book, and someday reading through it!
13:51 A SKULL MONKIES REFERANCE?!
That's a sub alright
I like how they’re created similarly to how a false hydra is created and that they even look like more “perfect” versions of what a false hydra looks like. Maybe not what you intended but definitely an angle I’m going to play with
Very cool monster, looks like a neat book. I don't think it's technically an issue but I will mention Power Word Pain is already a spell in 5e. Obviously some things occasionally share names but considering the specificity of power words it might do well to switch up the legendary action's name
This channel has been so good for helping me write in interesting encounters but this takes the cake. In our campaign a whole countryside was wiped out by a vengeful child who found the tome of an old necromancer. They swept town to town slowly wiping out everyone until there was nothing left. Rumors in the regions capital spread and people turned on each other in their fear and uncertainty which spawned 2 entities. A False Hydra and an Asfaraba. The Asfaraba is being blamed for strange happenings and but it’s a being scared out of its mind due to being born of collective fear and uncertainty. I can’t wait to see how my party handles it cause they don’t even know the False Hydra is a factor
I love this creature so much I wanna make one that servs a lovecraftinen God in my campaign one born out of collective madness
That would be sick actually. I love that idea.
I love this. Every creature you bring out, I can always immediately find a place for them in the world. Power Word Eradicate even solves some issues I was having with the backstory of the campaign. Anybody thinking of using time travel to make an interesting backstory should just think of something else that causes less headaches for you.
i absolutely LOVE this concept. Primarily the opportunities we can implement regarding NPC's and an ultimate BBEG for an arc.
Well done!
Finally, a channel that accepts Klaymans incredible power level
I saw that, Dungeon Dad. What you did there with that pie chart? Slick.
Oh my, this got me thinking real hard, i really loved this concept * ____ *
It's like the answer to "what if 'Inside Out' was REALLY OUT, and was an epic 4 armed masked DND Monster?" Also, i love the concept of cosmic therapy. Oh, i just realized: an Eldritch Cosmic Horror Entity could use Asfarabas as it's minions, as the feeling of dread and despair is overwhelming by it's presence. And maybe a deep understanding about "that's how the way things are" could be the only antidote that would calm them, spreading the acceptance of one's place in the cosmic scale and them making the Asfarabas empathetic towards it's previous victims, making them rebel against their creator. Really cool and flexible monster, and it can be the core to many many campaigns and stories.
This monster opens the possibility of a kingdom collectively deciding to throw a party so rad that a being is born of the collective joy and revelry of the city and I think thats beautiful.
That picture of the monster without it's robes really reminds me of a -skinwalker- dream I had once.
Since they’re sentient, you could supply some sort of playable version that, perhaps, is not a legendary creature. 😅 Or perhaps a more animalistic version with fur or something for animal emotions? I don’t know but I love this monster
a newborn asferaba would be such a cool race and background
Thanks! I hate it hahah But honestly that monster sounds suppppppper cool! The art makes me super uncomfortable though lol
Perfect!
I love the idea of a party having an emotional support Asfaraba. An eldritch Horror that visits them every time they set down to rest. Maybe the help them get over the loss of a party member, maybe they just lost a pet, maybe he is just there to share their joy of victory, so many ways to just... Be there. Of course, there would be a huge ass "Oh... OH!" Moment near the end of the campaign that would resolve why he was with them all the time but that is for another time.
Amazing video!
I really liked this video. I think it would be awesome to see more original monsters every-so-often.
I really appreciate all the OG Theros Block art used here, very nostalgic
These could be the most empathic of all the DnD creatures. Beeg magical friend.
In this comment is a list of all of the issues and improvements I think are merited to improve the Asfaraba:
Harsh, but understandable.
I love this thru and thru. i'm starting up a campaign (only currently with 2 players but eh, its fun) and i can think of many ways to use this. the LORE is amazing, the rammifications of them is amazing, and I absolutely look forward to use them... Infact the one thing that i've been racking my brain over is the first mission to kick start... This, This has opened the door for it... Soooo ya thanks Dungeon dad. Also Planning on hopefully 4 orders in the future for your book if the creatures are as great as this. One for me and one for each of my other DMs to have fun with. Already posted this video since we are further in their campains and i'm certain they will have amazing uses for it!
I love the use of magic the gathering artwork in all of your videos, it's fun while watching to try to remember what card each artwork comes from
Thanks for the cool design, probably my new favorite new monster.
Excited that I'm backing this book! Thanks for your work!
As a longtime Magic player, it was really interesting to see which images you used to describe the creatures and when.
Also… if the asfaraba were real, there would definitely be a new one representing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anyway, amazing work! Fits into the Theros setting and the concept of devotion so nicely, but they could conceivably be effective anywhere.
And they’d make fantastic warlock patrons…
Pandemic Dread Asfaraba is a fascinating conceit for some urban fantasy adventure 30 years from now when we're actually over it.
War-born Asfaraba
Did you set out to make an autism analogy as a race? Because you nailed it regardless. I can say that as an autistic individual myself, a majority of us are intensely emotional, often hyperemotional, and work extremely hard to control our emotions due to the backlash of expressing that to others. We learn to put on masks of neutrality, or other acceptable social emotions, instead of expressing how we truly feel, for the sake of fitting in. It usually isn't until much later in life, and with significant sacrifice and loss of our social circles, that we finally begin to deconstruct and take off our masks and accept ourselves. Masking literally is a common term we use, in fact. Ironically it is the lack of empathy for the abnormal that makes masks essential for us. I could see using them in my own one-shots in this kind of angle.
I would urge you not to generalize, but as an autistic person myself I do agree that this is a common experience. I would hesitate to take the metaphor literally or too far as it's a pretty drastic example of one part of autism. But it's certainly there. I too have felt like an asfaraba at many points in my life.
Autistic people are also able to erase people from reality on occasion
YES this is exactly what I was thinking
The more I learn from autistic people, the more I wonder if I'm on the spectrum. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Being autistic myself I never got the point of masking. If someone else has a problem with the expression of basic human emotion, that's a them problem. Why should I bend to please petty people?
The Asfaraba sounds like an terrifyingly OP encounter to culminate an adventure with!
I don’t know how much Star Trek you watch, but I’m catching hints of Vulcan in their behavior. Not in the sense that they’re super logical, but rather their extreme emotional discipline being perceived as being emotionless. Really cool creature all around and one that my players are definitely gonna run into.
I'm liking the idea, also speculating how one of these would work as a potential warlock patron.
I could totally see one of these guys being a warlock patron that bestows a mask collection to the warlock, and the masks are used to fuel different abilities, but you can only wear one at a time.
As the warlock levels up they get access to more nuanced masks.
@@DungeonDad Maybe having a mask representing joy could give advantage against fear effects?
3:42 ok thats amazing! i know this is a very tall order, i know how much work making a fully functional “balanced” creature, that it takes an impressive amount of thought and work. but a few totally custom monster videos here and there would be awesome! because this guy is absolutely fantastic!
Finally been waiting for you to release a new video!!!! Love your videos
How is Barovia not infested with these things?
Wizard asfaraba PC sounds like an interesting idea. Like one who is already old enough to control their emotions but far from old enough to know all of the power words, this young specimen decided it wanted to go and learn from the material plain and ends up meeting the party.
Love it. Going to use it. Thank you so much. I have many different plans with this and love the flexibility of it.