D&D's Talking Undead Nightmare 

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Painspeaker ruthlessly hunts down an old wizard friend, finally reaches them. "Your... hat... looks... ridiculous..." And then it crumbles to dust.

Had a player that left session and they were playing a bard. He was washed overboard in a storm to explain him away. Now I know who is going to be paying his old adventuring group a visit.

Painspeaker runs up to a party member. "I was told to deliver this to you. Your hands only." The painspeaker crumbles to dust after giving said member a note.

If you want something simple and horrifying, imagine a painspeaker inside a cage in an otherwise abandoned torture chamber or strapped to a rack.

Pain speaker was a healer who came up with a cure for an illness that plagued a city, he was mugged and killed on the way before being able to tell them the cure. The pain speaker now risen wanders the town, but has no one to tell the cure to because they all died from the illness

I am known to love a tragic undead spooky guy

I like the idea that the Painspeaker was about to cast Vicious Mockery, before they died. Now they want to finish that stinging pun to someone, even though the context doesn't make sense at all! Examples: "Does your evil monologue always 'dragon'?" --- killed by a dragon, insult won't make any sense to most adventurers. "Beauty is inside the eye of the beholder. It's definitly not outside, that's for sure!" --- killed by a beholder It could be a bit of foreshadowing for a monster in the area. Though i mostly just think it's funny if a partymember gets an insult that wasn't meant for them.

Book of Vile Darkness to denote swear words is just 👌 comedy gold

I love the idea to have a twisted version of this monster as a dreadful boss, with all the party struggling to face it, as it unleashes horrors upon them, the cleric with their last spellslot tries a desperate maneuver with speak with dead to just have this monster tells a random bad joke and vanishes.

There are so many sad stories in reality of spouses, friends, and family members getting in fights and saying something mean, but one of them dies before they have a chance to apologize. Imagine the party killing a Pain Speaker and finding a tattered note in their clothing that says something like “I’m in trouble and I don’t know if I’ll survive to make it back to tell you just how sorry I am for what I said. I love you, [character name].” That would be a major heartbreaking item to find.

Idea for a Painspeaker: The party meets this NPC that they befriend, they eventually find out that this NPC has really important information that they need to know. However this NPC is murdered or loses their life in someway while on their way to deliver some information to the party. Thus the party needs to fight this painspeaker but also somehow get the information that he needed to deliver to them.

I have a strong urge to create a painspeaker that was just a guy that heard a joke that he didnt get, but just as he died he finally got it and he rampages all across the land just to tell to the person that told him that joke that he gets it.

Back in 3.5 I had a rakshasa pay the party to seek out and capture 5 painspeakers. Turns out each was speaking part of a ritual to summon the rakshasas boss. They were very grumpy.

A villain telling you their evil plan before killing you takes on a whole new meaning if Painspeakers exist. It would be a potential method of making undead minions.

Painspeaker who is a deceased party member who never got to tell the party something important has so much story potential

I think I'd mix up their origin when using them in my world: having them manifest the "true" language of negative energy implies that these weren't just people who never got to convey their message, but perhaps told a such a severe perversion or lie of the "true" message that it torments their soul into staying behind. Plot hook wise, it could give a lot of ins or even twist leverage if the painspeaker becomes a non-aggressive NPC. Thanks as always, Dad!

These guys give a whole new meaning to “talking someone to death”

My brain immediately went off to consider that the painspeaker could be a dead relative of a party member. Say the PC thought their father abandoned them and grew up resenting them, only to find their painspeaker and learn how much they actually cared about them and why they never came back. Sounds like great character development!

When you brought up the spell" "Speak with Dead", I had the thought of what if the spell could create Painspeakers, either by trying to cast the spell on a corpse that had previously already had the spell cast upon it, trying to get the dead too much makes a painspeaker. Could be interesting. Or another idea of how that spell results in a painspeaker is if the questions asked when the spell is used are particularly troubling to the subjected soul in a deeply emotional way giving rise to the Painspeaker. Imagine the chaos of someone, possibly even the party themselves, accidentally creating a painspeaker

A Painspeaker fights its way thru a city, up to the castle and into the throne room. It walks up to the captain of the guard. It says, "Told... you... I... would... return.... captain... sir...". And it crumbles to dust

Here's an idea for a Painspeaker: "In the village of Assito, there was an deaf farmer. He was a single man with very odd habits. He had a set of clothes for a wife he never had, and clothes for children he never cared for. He often gave sorrowful looks towards those who had to throw out the extra garments the village pranksters would leave in people's houses. He would often shake a passersby to get their attention before pointing in a random direction and signing 'Monster! Monster!' repeatedly. That last oddity would prove to be deadly. One day, a bandit was passing through town on his own. He ate like a dozen men and could drink anyone under the table. The old man went to the bandit and shook him, pointing to the top of town square and signing, 'Monster! Monster!' Confused and annoyed by the act, the bandit cut off the deaf man's hands before beating him up. When the bandit was done, his victim was dead. The bandit left town soon after, selling off ten spare bedrolls for ale. When the bandit left, the deaf man came back. He was not like what he was before. He was decayed, rotten, making gibberish sounds as he wandered through town. A local wizard determined the man had turned into a Painspeaker, a creature that had a message meant for the living. However, the man was born deaf and didn't know how to speak. How was the deaf creature supposed to give a message without his hands? Eventually, the townsfolk locked the undead villager in the abandoned church. To this day, the local hospital is trying to figure out what they can do to reattach the hands so they can finally give the villager's spirit peace. If only the town had a doctor."

I think an interesting idea could be like a little tragic Romeo and Juliet sidestory where two painspeakers that were former lovers who never got to confess are seeking eachother, and when they finally meet, they finally get to tell eachother they love the other, and finally hold hands one last time as they disintegrate to nothing like ashes to the wind

I imagine a word archon sending a group of players to deal with a pain speaker to prove they are worthy of obtaining one of the archon's words

I love the idea of the party killing a low tier scout/messanger in the early game only to be encountered later as a pain speaker and his mission resumed. Or the pain speaker could be the corpse of a reclusive mage who died before he could pass down his arcane knowledge and it becomes a living Mcguffin as different groups search for the wandering undead to be the ones taught the magic. The knowledge could be teachings on how to cast a spell the late mage created or an enchanting/alchemical recipe and whoever gets to it first learns the knowledge.

My first thought for the painspeaker is to have it be a member of a previous group of adventurers who died trying to take down the Big Bad the group's going up against. Maybe give them some armor and an actual weapon. They learned some way to weaken the villain, but died before bringing that information back to their group. The deadly dancer and ethereal hangman that got teased also look very cool... 😲

Painspeakers got a solid idea behind it, and could be intertwined with some Lovecraftian campaign. They could utter a word that could drive anyone mad, but those who could understand it may have a key to unlocking some Cosmic Horror. Idk, they are super cool though

I could see a cool reoccurring enemy that starts off as the basic Pain Speaker Monster. But every time it is killed, it returns in a stronger form (Revenant style) until it is can speak its peace. Basically until the party figures out what it wants or it aquire its goal, it just keeps coming back. Maybe to the level of a lich as the BBEG eventually.

One of my immediate ideas for a fun NPC is a painspeaker who was revived by them never getting to confess their love to their best friend and life partner, but somehow they're aware that to do so will just finally separate them from their lover, so they have to continue to live in the painful happiness of being in the presence of their soulmate without ever saying that they love them.

Holy cow. I love the idea of a pain speaker who was secretly a brilliant singer but always too cripplingly shy to show their talent and perform just bringing a party to tears with their first and final performance. Great story stuff I love the speak with dead combo

Another possible creative solution to the Painspeaker - which is only valid at a high enough level (too high for this creature to be a threat to the party, so not really available, generally speaking) and if the intended recipient of the message is still alive - would be to revive them. That way, they could go back to life to accomplish what they were set to do.

Idea, give the Revenant's Rejuvination and Vengeful Tracker powers to the Pain Speaker, its desperately trying to find the person the message was meant for and can only truly die when that person hears the message. Sadly, it also constantly mutters unholy death magic and will probably kill them in the process of telling them unless someone is there to act as a middleman Huh, I guess you best me to that idea

An Intoner with an ARMY of Painspeakers. THAT sounds like a campaign.

Worlds first ADD DND monster. Love it. I have a scene in mind where the adventuring party goes on an epic quest to allow this thing to speak its last words and when it finally does they are “ I quit“ One of the people in the party is so pissed off that he responds. “ you waited around for 1000 years to say that you quit?? What’s wrong with you??” As the creature is starting to disintegrate into the earth- “ you know what, you can’t quit! You’re fired!!“ The pain speaker pops back up. Everybody else in the party gives the guy a dirty look

Ooh. You could add the words for darkness or unlight (darkness spell) for some extra horror! They died, but all they can see is darkness - they're trapped in-between, where nothingness is the only thing

Glad I got to watch this before work.

Silenced by agents of Vecna for discovery of Spellweaver ruins, the Painspeaker rises in undeath.

Man, I wish I had this stat block for a few arcs ago in my campaign. I had an entire city die due to some other event. And the party was the perfect level to throw like two or three of them at the party before the boss

I get that it's a lot more dramatic & most likely better for story, but you'd think with a creation background like that Painspeakers would be fairly common. I would've imagined them as something that randomly happpens when raising corpses of people killed by Power Words, or at least died not long after being exposed to one.

*_Would you kindly_* cover Steel Dragons?

Painspeaker ideas that aren’t super plot relevant: -A villager who died before coming out to their family. -An overworked and employee who died on their shift, rose, and marched towards their boss declaring “I quit” before crumbling to dust. -A public speaker who fell I’ll and perished before their big speech, and won’t stop terrorizing the city until they have enough attention to give their speech. Painspeaker ideas that could have story beats/secret info for the party: -A solider who was slain before giving a report to their commander that has info the party needs. -The murder victim of a murder mystery. The unspoken intent could be as useful as confirming the killer, to as silly as an ego-inflating toast about themselves that could still have evidence in it. -A villain the party has slain (BBEG or otherwise) that didn’t get to give their evil speech. The speech could include details about unknown intentions/plots, and it would be a humorous excuse to have the party listen to a drawn out, grandiose villain speech.

As a new DM with Regularly low level PCs, I’d love to see some more low level/CR monsters!

A cleric of a god on undeath in killed before turning those in its church into undead by the party, only to rise again moments later and give a cursed sermon that turns them into undead anyway. I think that would be a cool way to have a phase two to a powerful boss fight.

Funny you should bring Pointy Hat's Entoner, since one the first questions that came to my mind was what would happen if the one thing the Painspeaker really wanted out there that was their Magnum Opus? The one they would use to become a bardic lich? 🤔

I wouldn’t hate a video about vestiges, dad. They were so damn neat.

Excellent! As a crossover with the content of the Book of Vile Darkness, I could definitely imagine a version of the pain speaker representing a foolish diabolist that died attempting to utter the blasphemous Dark Speech, and now just keeps imperfectly stuttering the curse it attempted to use on its long forgotten foe.

"I'm calling to reach out to you about your carriage's extended warranty....!"

The first thought that came to mind when hearing about this was a Paul Revere who died before he could pass on the message. Imagine coming across a Pain Speaker in a tattered and ancient set of soldiers armor dragging its undead body towards where the capital of the country that came before used to be, now just a set of ruins, with its final message being something along the lines of "They've decimated our last line, is coming, they , please evacuate the royal family and my children." before crumbling after speak with dead is used.

I love the fact that there is stockfootage of a zombie moaning at a computer

I just cant imagine the number of bards turning in Pain Speakers after deceasing...

This monster makes me think of the hero's shade from Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. (And honestly a lot of spirits from that series that have lingering regrets) The fledgling party is traveling between towns, hired to guard a local merchant on his traversal between towns. A painspeaker of unusually high power shows up and solos the party before telling them they're not strong enough for the trials ahead And then he keeps returning to teach the party cool techniques or becomes the mentor of the fighter. He only moves on after he's taught all of his techniques to the party.

I look forward to the Mediterranean mountaineer monster the SpainPeaker (how does true name magic and dyslexia interact?)

oh boy i am planning an Age of Worms campaign right now and let me tell you, this fella is gonna speak some NASTY PROPHECY!

As I soon as you mentioned it being a bard, my mind also immediately jumped to thinking of the Intoner from pointy hat. Glad you also thought of it lol

I can imagine a lich telling peasents that they need to deliver a message or all their loved ones will be turned into zombies but then the lich kills then before they can say this to specifically cultivate these creatures

This monster has given me a very good idea for an upcoming encounter. The party is currently in a sewer system trying to rescue some courtesans who were kidnapped by a thieves guild, and the big bad of the campaign, a Lich, was going to have killed all the thieves in their lair and raised them as undead minions. Now I can have the Lich say something along the lines of "I'm sure some of these men had something they wished to say... I'll let you lend an ear to their pain." as he buggers off and some of the corpses raise up as zombies and ghouls ect, and can toss in some Painspeakers.

The pain speaker sounds like the inverse of an Allip, one is cursed with undeath for never sharing information they should have and the other for learning information they shouldn’t have.

Wow I've never seen a pack of fries filled to the brim like that.

I have an idea that utilizes your speak with dead concept. A king discovers a spy who found out a major secret of the king and has the spy killed before they can tell anyone. This could give the party a way to discover a major plot point.

"we.... Have been... Trying to reach you about your cart's extended warranty...." Would actually be horrific in the right circumstances. Actually, are we sure that robocalls aren't just real pain speakers?!

This is why they tell you to “speak now or forever hold your peace” at weddings.

We had a villain who had a whole fortress filled with nothing but traps, that the party had to make their way through as he pulled levers and shouted insults via a loudspeaking system. He was slain before delivering the final taunt. *I guess he is coming back now.*

Oooo, my first thought was a classic plot twist: maybe a big important General or Monarch or whatever sends the party on a quest to kill a bad guy. They go and do it and are rewarded. Quest done, right? Oh no. Now that guy keeps rising from the dead and coming after them, no matter how many times they put him down. Then maybe they seek guidance somehow and learn he's a Painspeaker, and cast Speak With Dead on him. The guy's final message? A warning: the person who sent them to kill him is crooked, and only wanted him dead because he planned to turn them in. And now that they know his secret, he'll be after them next.

"I.. am here.. to speak... to you... about... your.. cars extended warranty."

"Within the underground labyrinth of the city, undead walk with impunity. Too vast to ever fully clear of this infestation, these areas of the Underreaches have become regular dumping grounds for unsavory endeavors. Of late however, eerie whispers have begun to echo through the silent tunnels, and tales have spread of some who fell dead upon hearing." -- I feel like the Painspeaker is just begging to be put in some environment where '30 ft' can mean 'two tunnels over, but still clearly audible.'

I'm going to totally take some notes from the tale of the monkey paw, and someone's son is going to be tormenting them because they never got to tell them something. Party gets told that something seems to be lurking around their house, muttering at night, and somehow they get led to the Painspeaker son.

I absolutely love this idea especially the adjusted lore with the 'Speak with Dead' spell and I can't wait to incorporate that into my homegame! :D

In response to Speak with Dead being able to instantly destroy this creature, I propose that the same spell might be used to create such a creature. perhaps someone died so vehement to never speak that when someone forces their corpse to talk it fights back. I'm also of the mind that the thing it has to say ideally is vital intel for the party. perhaps a famous thief died without telling anyone how they broke into a wizard's vault that the party needs to get into. Or an alchemist who discovers a cure for some magical ailment dies before publishing their findings that could have save the party's favorite npc. Consider also the interaction with the Silence spell. what happens when this type of creature is rendered unable to speak?

Interesting idea, an abandoned town full of pain speakers. Most of their final words are very simple things, but it's odd that they all had these unresolved words. The reveal is that they were a Victorian-like society, where it's not 'proper' to say certain things in 'polite society'. The only non-pain speaker around is an old deaf homeless person who a) always said whatever they wanted because 'polite society can go screw itself' and b) couldn't hear the words spoken by the pain speakers, so was immune to them.

Imagine your chilling, then a pain speaker walk up to you “you fuckin suck dude” and disintegrates

Almost did a spit take with the "it's the ladder"! Great vid Josiah! As a fellow Canadian, I love your humour. Thanks for all you do. I always want to use your creatures in my game.

I'm glad I found out about this monster because I'm working on a short campaign about a calamity that happens every so and so hundred years and each time it happens the divine deities have to choose a band of heroes to quell it. Past calamities will be referenced so pain speakers would be a good plot device to have

A necromancer and Cult about to ascend to lich hood but Is killed before finishing the chanting right now they return as pain speakers to finish the rite upgrade themselves to high undead

A necromancer, acting as a messenger for an ancient kingdom. he was supposed to deliver a message about an advancing army but was killed before he could make it and the kingdom was destroyed. now risen, he and his horde wanders the land in search of a kingdom long since forgotten to time.

This creature actually brought to mind the Speaking Demon from the first book in the Dark Tower series. In that it actually says that only a corpse may speak prophecy. But they also can’t be trusted to speak truthfully. So I’m now thinking of a Pain Speaker being some sort of prophetic demon infused corpse, inhabitable because the person died like in the source material. But it can be compelled to prophecy if certain conditions are met, maybe a charisma check once it’s been beaten to half health or something… Just some initial thoughts

I was thinking of this creature a bit…and what about a main villain coming back to life as a pain speaker? Either to tell some sort of ‘heir’ to their scheme to continue the scheme, or maybe in a rare case to congratulate or even thank the main party for killing them? Maybe some villains had their hands tied, so dying to get away from the plan they were forced into led them to want to thank the party. Imagine the party fleeing from this ‘monstrous being’ who keeps killing all in their path, but all they want to do is talk to the party. Did I ramble? Yes. But I thought it was a cool little idea of mine.

Nice video as always!! I'd love if you covered Elemental Mages: Ken-Kuni, Ken-Li and Ken-Sun from 3.5E. Always thought they were interesting, but have no idea how to adapt them to 5E

Imagining a scenario in which 3 or more people are transformed into a Gray Philosopher, a Nothic, and a Pain Speaker as a result of thoughts about the same knowledge at varying stages. The 1st is yet to reach it, the 2nd did and transformed on discovery, the 3rd was on the way to tell others but died before they could.

The way I would run the Painspeaker is a person that died and either did not speak necessary truth or the spoke a great lie. For example, Alexandros had know that his once best friend was not the one to kill the high priest of Torm. In fact, he had evidence that would free him, but Alexandros kept silent as his once best friend was led to the gallowsand he thinks "Good riddance. He deserves this for stealing the love of my life." Later Alexandros meets the end of his life at point of a bandit's dagger and later rose as a Painspeaker. His Soul not allowed to rest till he speaks the words that would heal the pain that he has caused.

First idea I had is to have Painspeakers as failed users of true word magic. Maybe in a Strixhaven like setting: "What? You are doing Magical Grammar? Well, good luck. Hope you know what happens when you fail the oral part of the exam...."

I like the idea of using the painspeaker fairly early in a campaign. If the party uses the speak with dead spell they could get a good clue for the campaign earlier than normal.

It's weird. The first time I've eaten Arbys in like 20 years, and this video comes up on my recommends.

"Ch-ch-ch...Chicken butt" *crumbles to dust*

Please make a monster of the week video for the dungeons and dragons marsh dwelling cousins to the Hill Giants called Marsh Giants please

12:11 Oawohh. Poor dragon. :( That was a horrible time. Could you imagine, everything that makes you you, gone, replaced only with anger and hatred and a drive to kill.

Couple things: 1. I think it needs to be clarified that their message needs to be said to their intended recipient or an appropriate proxy. It cannot just be said. So if the intended recipient is dead and gone then things need to get creative. 2. As far as suggestions: Cyrano Grave of the Fireflies A paladin or priest losing their faith A lich coming to redemption A zealot who wasn't done preaching especially if they were a cultist of an Eldritch Abomination Make the thing a template so it could be on other creatures

Imagines an internet troll coming back because they didn't get in that last sick burn, choked to death on Baja Blast and Cheetos...🤔😂

I have a setting already that this creature would fit in.... my poor players. Bonus points, the previous story they played in this setting involved another video on your channel. The False Hydra.

the painspeaker is what happens when you finally come up with a good comeback but the argument is already over

Yes I do indeed love pointy hat as well, that would be a really fun moment in a campaign, im fighting the urge to share this with my dm too, I might save it as an idea for a future character

Painspeaker: "We have been trying to reach you about your armor's extended warranty."

Painspeaker: Have you heard about NFTs?

I think another thing that could be cool to add, though should only be done with caution as it increases the powerlevel of the creature by quite a bit, is to allow its ability to also heal nearby undead. If it is literally muttering words of power that are about unlife and necrosis, then I feel like it would make sense that creatures who represent such things should gain the same effect as a living creature being healed by "life" words of power.

As you have mentioned the idea with the painspeaker only coming back to say a knock knock joke could make a great short-effect plot point if he was to die from laughter. Imagine encountering an undead laughing manianically at himself and then he swoops in to attack only to stand his ground and say his great joke only to dissipate into thin air soon after

You lay there broken on the floor the pain speaker, rotting corps leaning over you in your ear, in a weezing voice it says. " Neverer gunna give, never gunna give."

you mentioned an evim lesanger getting revived. maybe all messangers are enchanted to turn into painspeakers to increase the chance of the message getting where it's supposed to.

Painspeakers also have a lot of potential for intrigue. Like messengers killed before spreading the news of a great evil setting up in the main town. They may wander along their route between two cities, rendering the whole surrounding area dangerous, or even patrol the city at the behest of the big bad necromancer.

"I know a bunch of you guys also watch Pointy Hat" bruuuuh, I feel so spied on right now

I started following your videos not long ago, those are awesome! Thank you for doing those!

My idea for the painseeker is actually somewhat opposite to yours; that speak with dead is the animating force that brought it to unlife. Imagine a corpse that was given this moment of clarity and understanding… and then never got to answer the questions it was expecting to, for some reason. Left alone, the animating magic begins to corrupt and distort the corpse’s message, eventually leading it to rise and find some end to its existence, spreading its pain and misery to all who cross it.