Baphomet, Prince of Beasts, lord of the 600th layer of the Abyss. Join the Discord community: discordapp.com/invite/HP8wgrq Become a patron: / themightygluestick Shop for Mighty Gluestick Merchandise teespring.com/stores/the-migh...
Cow skulls, mazes full of bloodthirsty monsters; guys, I think DOOM was set on Baphomet's level of the Abyss. I kept thinking of the most confusing levels of DOOM II while listening to this.
After watching this a few times I’ve realized that Baphomet is what happens when your Barbarian has a 20 for its Int stat. Genius level intellect with brutal application.
@@jerrytroy2677 a few countries don’t let their citizens watch videos about baphomet because the church of satan in the real world worships the figure he was named after
Hearing about Baphomet's love for bio-science makes me think of minotaurs that are into medicine in the most vicious way. Like Dr Freakenstein mixed with the medic, seeing healing as a side effect of satisfying there curiosity.
When I heard of Baphomet was researching science, I honestly thought, here's somebody trying to find answers to the multiverse... I should've known better. He's just turned to making living weapons...
So, I once thought that the Forgotten Realms equivalent of the predator was a bog-standard gloomstalker bugbear, but making them a cultist of Baphomet makes things so much more interesting.
You should do a vid on Obox-ob. All I can find on him on the wiki(the “fandom” one) is basically limited to “He was the first Demon Prince, then he got demogorgon-ed.” And I know there has to be more to Obox than just getting beat up by the Squid-Monkey.
He was first defeated by Demogorgon, Orcus, Baphomet, and Garash (a primordial). They threw him so hard he sundered the Abyss and drained the Blood Ocean to depths unknown. He spent a long time protecting the shard in the lowest depths of the Abyss where no other demon could go. Eventually he was defeated by the Queen of Chaos and Miska the Wolf-Spider, who became the second Demon Prince. The Abyss, though, never forgot what Obox-ob did for it and so rebirthed him in one of the lowest reaches: a layer called Zionyn. He lurks there now as the prince of filth and vermin. Vastly weaker than he once was but still a demon prince.
@@ShadowXardas 4th edition? In earlier editions the queen of chaos defeated him and created/captured demogorgon. Miska was promoted to consort and the war agsinst law started.
There isn't much on him. He was only developed as the first and most powerful of the demon princes during the tail end of 3.5e. I don't know what 4e did, but 4e ignores established lore set in previous editions (Orcus, for example, started his career as a mortal necromancer-priest that died and went to the abyss).
Totally donable if you trade in many levels. About 10 if I recall correctly over the top of my mind. Less if the DM is equally compensating other characters for completing their own personal quest. Barbarian of the Fiend totem, perhaps?
3:06 in my head canon he was Pan's twin brother (Pan Cernunos and Baphomet Cernunos), a god of large beasts while Pan was a god of small beasts but he was exiled had his divine spark stripped of him and given to his brother and was drawn into tha Abyss becoming the demon lord of beasts.
@Dillon BrunschonIn D&D going from good to evil requires a huge nerf in power and he also lost his godhood so he'd be much weaker than he was originally
So canonically Baphomet is sort of demonic ultra powerful Hank McCoy. Good to know. Do we get to beg and plead with you to do an episode about Yeenoghu, the Beast of Butchery? Will that video include a soulful mix of hyena noises and death metal?
I would prefer black metal but I guess you would be closer to his taste in music... Probably in Hemdale, Cattle Decapitation or Cannibal Corpse lol I could be happily devoured if they at least had some good music. I could see some old Burzum being blasted over the Infernal/Abyssal speakers ;) Just for ambient noise maybe.
I love the concept of the lost, image tribes and survival groups of gnolls and other humanoids that have managed to survive and create these hidden tribes that fight for survival almost every day
So, here's a fun story. I'm running a campaign for my friends since quarantine is unending. One of my players is playing a Minotaur Barbarian/Paladin named Grug, son of Grig, spelled like Grug. My friend even plainly said that Grug is a joke character he made, and that he kinda wants him to die since the campaign is taking a little more serious tone. So, as part of a way to both prove him wrong and bolster his confidence, I've decided its my mission to give Grug a character arc. And once I read up on Baphomet, I got it. The thing about Grug that's accidentally genius is that he represents the duality of Minotaurs in the modern world (basically forgotten realms with a couple tweaks/re-interpretations by me). On one hand, Grug is the stereotypical Minotaur Barbarian. Charging into battle with reckless abandon in a blind rage. But on the other hand, he's a Paladin worshipping Lliira, the Goddess of Joy, and has a generally cheery and jovial disposition when he's not chopping fools in half. And as of recent sessions, Grug has been asked questions that are beyond his comprehension. Grug has an Intelligence of 8, so he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm thinking perhaps Grug will eventually come face to face with the conundrum of the Minotaur. The Minotaur that have accepted peace and civilization, and also the Minotaur that have retained their savage and barbaric nature from Baphomet. Maybe Baphomet will end up being the endgame boss whenever they reach that level. Maybe Grug will survive for that long, who knows.
So, out of curiosity, what prevents Baphomet from defeating Yeenoghu? It's not your typical strong vs smart; Baphomet is both, and while I dont think Yeenoghu is thoughtless, Baphomet is defined by, among other things, his intelligence. He can tailor living weapons to his needs, and even baseline, he has his own demons, Minotaurs, and more, which seem superior to Gnolls, and Ghouls. What advantage does the Beast of Butchery possess that lets him go up against, and at least stalemate, a suoerior strength, intellect, and served Lord of Beasts? Just curious!
Druid: "we are neutral because Nature doesn't take sides, it just survives" also Druid to a bunch of hinterland Baphomet worshipers: "hallo, fellow Nature worshipers!" yeah, now I want to play (or DM to) a Druid who comes from a natural cult of Baphomet
This actually gives me an idea for a one-shot or sidequest where the PCs find a cult to Baphomet, and they're kidnapping people to turn them into horrible beast hybrids to please their lord or whatever. Also a more sinister take on why monsters like owlbears can exist.
He was the final boss for the D&D game I ran for my parents. They had to fight both him and swarms of hell bovine (cows from the cow level in Diablo). Incredible end to a magnificent story.
Our DM is doing a homebrew and we are in this main center city and have discovered the surround towns have been destroyed in a fashion that it makes a sigil of baphomet/pentagram and we just recently sent our halflng warlock's familiar into the random portal that appeared. We quickly took the bat back out of it but I about shat my pants when I learned whom we are going up against as the big bad for this campaign. I'm not looking forward to this fight but I do want the xp that comes with it lol
PIERCER & ROPER (Continued from Angels) _Theme Music Starts_ _Piercer & Roper logo pops on screen_ Announcer: “Last time on Piercer & Roper!” _Flashback montage starts_ “Our Underdark Underdogs finally managed to get out of the traffic jam and on to the surface streets of Downtown Menzo. The two then found a place to stash the car. After covering the car in Invisibility Tarp that would put Harry Potter to shame, the pair waited until the time was right and then got into position for their stakeout. What follows are the hour-by-hour reports from both Senior Detective James Roper and Detective Perceval Piercer.” _In a deep, calm, voice_ Roper’s Report 4 to 5 Am: In position in alley near back door. 5 to 6 Am: No activity as of yet. 6 to 7 Am: 6:23, I can hear noises from inside occasionally. I believe the apothecary will open soon. 6:42, an employee brought some garbage out to the dumpster. They were a Goblin, male, unarmed, about 3’3”, and emaciated. Presumably part of the salve labor that keeps the shop running. 7 to 8 Am: 7:00, shop opens, no activity out back. 7:43, another employee, a female Goblin, about 3’, also unarmed and emaciated, carries out what looks to be a broken aquarium, about 2’ long and 1’ wide, and throws it in the dumpster. 8 to 9 Am: 8:16, an employee steps out back for a smoke. This time it’s a Svirfneblin, male, dressed in rusted half-plate, with an almost comically large mace hanging from his hip. (How does he even swing that thing??) Most likely he’s a thug that Snipdik hired to work “security” here. 9 to 10 Am: No Activity. 10 to 11 Am: 10:39, Two teenage Derro begin making out, rather loudly, against the back wall of the shop near a partially open window. 10:42, a Drow, male, about 6’, dressed in heavy chainmail(looked like 10-in-1 chain. Metallic purple in color. Definitely enchanted. Expensive.) coupled with an ornate black breastplate baring a crest I didn’t recognize(a purple skull with red Carrion Crawlers emerging from each eye socket), and two shortswords sheathed on either side of his belt. He chastised and ran off the teens. One thing he said during this stood out; “I’ve got an important shipment comin’, an’ I don’t wanna see you two love birds flappin’ ‘round ‘ere when it gets in. SO PISS OFF!!!” I gotta see what’s in that shipment. 11 Am to 12 Pm: 11:15, three employees come out, the two previously described Goblins, and a third that looked like he could be the first Goblin’s twin. They sweep the area behind the shop clear and then the three of them spend around 20 minutes shoving on the side of the dumpster, slowly moving it to reveal a cellar door leading under the apothecary. The three Goblins then stand there looking up and down the alley occasionally. 12 Pm: At exactly 12 Pm, a Rothe pulled cart covered in a tarp pulls up to the back of the apothecary and one of the Goblins shouts into the nearby window, “It’s here boss!” Shortly after, a Svirfneblin, male, dressed in a finely embroidered silk robe, presumably Snipdik, steps out accompanied by the Drow that ran off the teens. Snipdik walks up to the driver of the cart, a Drow, female, dressed in plain black robes, hands her a coin purse from inside his robe and says “Thank you. Tell your mistresses that I will need double the shipment starting next month, and they will of course receive double the platinum the following month and each month there after.” To which the Drow replies “Very well.” At this point the armed Drow that’s accompanying Snipdik looks at the Goblins and nods. The Goblins then remove the tarp from the cart and begin unloading sealed aquariums filled with a pink liquid and taking it down through the cellar door...wait it’s not a liquid...it’s an Ooze!! Ooze Possession is enough to charge him with but I want to see where they process it. A first hand account of them making Pink Dust from an officer will make sure that the charges stick. I’m going to wait until they finish unloading and everyone clears out, then I’m going to sneak in to the cellar. End of Report. Piercer’s Report 4 to 5 Am: In position above front of apothecary. 5 to 6 Am: No activity yet. 6 to 7 Am: A Snirfveblin.... a Svinfnablon...a Svartliglin... a little grey guy in a fancy robe leads a fancy Drow and another grey guy in rusty armor up to the front door followed by 3 Goblins. I think they’re getting ready to open shop. (Goblins look even shorter from up here.) 7 to 8 Am: Shop opens. A fancy lookin Hob lady goes into the store. Her dress reminded me of something a Drow slaver once told me about. He said that on the surface they have these things that look like moths but really pretty. They call them butterflies. He said they’re little and delicate and don’t live very long so it’s hard to keep them as pets, but he showed me a drawing one of the Halflings he was bringing to the slave market had drawn of one of them. I had never seen or even imagined something so beautiful could exist. To this very day I think back to that drawing and wonder...what do they taste like? 8 to 9 Am: There’s a stalactite a little bit to my left that looks like my uncle Bernie. Some people come and for from the store. 9 to 10 Am: I’m bored. I wonder what Ropers doing. 10 to 11 Am: All of these stalactites are starting to look like my family members....and they all look disappointed....except uncle Bernie, he’s passed out drunk. 11 Am to 12 Pm: I AM ONE WITH THE STALACTITES! 12 Pm(ish): Some noise shook me free of the grip the stalactites had on my mind. Sounds like Roper started the party without me. I’m gunna look for a weak spot on the roof to make my entrance...Got it. Preparing to breach. I am a brick in the wind. End of Report. _We see two grayish blue tentacles holding the reports sides by side then sliding the pages of the reports into one stack and setting them on a desk. As the papers lowed we see the face of an huge Aboleth behind the desk. The same voice that read the reports seems to errupt from the silence from everywhere at once, and says in the same calm tone._ Captain Azmorda: “Now how about you tell me what happened next?” _Shot changes to Piercer & Roper standing in front of the desk_ Roper: “YOU SEE, WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS...” Announcer: “Seems as though our boys in blue have some ‘splaining to do. Will they be able to talk their way out of this? Will Captain Azmorda finally have enough of Piercer and Roper’s antics? Will Piercer ever figure out how to say and spell “Svirfneblin”? Find out next time on...” _Theme music starts_ “Piercer & Roper!!!!” _Credits Roll_
AJ Pickett I wanted to show the contrast between the mindset of Piercer and Roper. This seemed like the best way to do it. Roper is a workaholic that pays attention to the details and Piercer, well, “I am a brick in the wind.” pretty much sums up Piercer.
Do you watch Critical Role, Professor Pickett? Baphomet was name dropped two episodes ago. Like anything I hear about in that show I immediately look for a video on the subject from your channel. This is actually how I found your channel a few years ago. I was watching the first campaign and wanted to know what a monster was and thus the addiction/binge watching began😂
What if a player came to your table with a fiendish warlock who they say got their powers form baphomet via a successful animal handling check? I'm almost tempted to myself just for the sheer inanity of it.
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I always get adds for baby stuff cus my little boy watches Sesame Street on my YT account. And I watch a lot ov weird stuff. So that will be fun to explain when he gets a bit older! "Dad what is with this stuff about D&D or SCP...are you going to sacrifice me to a goat or something" "ov course, son. What do you think we had you for?"
Sweet, just finished playing with my friend and now I have a new lore video to listen to as I dream of marilith and yuanti cultists summoning an old god (with all manner of demonic talk playing underneath)
if you had to compare a demon lords power to a celestial type of creature, what would you choose so it as close to evenly matched. and thanks for the video AJ made my morning.
Without going into stat crunches etc, a broad estimate of power, interesting question. First, as we know the demon lords are different tiers. Lowest tier would be unique demons. Demons powerful enough to 'force' the abyss to recognize their own unique form and powers. Kerzit, the minions of demogorgon seen in the savage tide adventure paths. Usualy servants, can not create avatars and sometimes less powerful than true tanar'ri with class levels, like a balor fighter 6 or marilith sorcerer 7. A celestial counterpart would be a ghaele eladrin, maybe an astral deva or equinaal guardinal Then you have abyssal princes. Unique form, still cant make an avatar but has 'recovered' their strength from forming a unique form. A lot are found on the plain of infinite portals. Some independant, some are vassals to stronger demons like mastiphaal to malcanthet or baltazo to fraz urb'luu. Stronger than class level true tanar'ri, not being able to control a layer and form an avatar keeps them below true lords. Comparable to an tulani eladrin with class levels, leonal guardinals with class levels or planetars with class levels Minor lords control a layer, can form avatars and have tha backing of the abyss itself: if slain, the abyss will reform them (if hordes of hungry demons dont find the regenerating corpse and use it as a never ending buffet). All demon lords and ladies are awesome fighters, theyve fought their way to the top and include zuggtmoy, fraz urb'luu, ryxhalli, vucairik, verin, ardat, socothbenoth, jubilex etc. Beyond true tanari'ri with class levels, celestial counterparts would be solars, retired guardinal paragons and the 'weaker' rulers of celestia Demon gods like baphomet, sess'inneck, kotschchee and yeenoghu. True power, can form multiple avatars but ironically that makes their avatars weaker. Recieves petitioners but their worshippers recieve their power from the abyss, not them personally. Cant plane shift avatars either. Celestial counterparts are the eladrun nobility, solars, avatars of the gods , guardinal paragons and the leader of the asuras, general absalom Major demon lords including graz'zt, orcus, demogorgon, pale night, queen of chaos, miska the wolf spider, dagon, pazuzu, obox-ob. Can freely form avatars, the tanari'ri lords can plane shift. Not only do they control their layers, the abyss itself creates new soldiers for them. Undead for orcus, greater than normal manes for demogorgon and graz'zt (which they promptly forge into more powerful than normal demons like rutterkin for graz'zt and lemorian golems for demogorgon. Their clerics recieve their spells from THEM, not the abyss. Powerful enough to meddle in the affairs of gods, wage war on dozens of fronts. Celestial counterparts would be only the most powerful beings, morwel of the eladrin, talsid of the guardinals etc
Is there any creature that matches the chimeric description of the Tarasque of Tarascon? 6 bear-limbs, body of an ox, the shell of a turtle, the tail of a scorpion and the head over a lion and towering over the landscape? I've become quite enamoured by this version of the Tarasque and I wonder why D&D made it more Godzilla-like.
Pretender if I had to guess they made the creature first and then just stole the name from the legends. That’s what they did a lot in the early days of D&D. In folklore Shadows, Ghosts, and Spectres are all basically the same thing..
Working on a homebrew campaign where for the last 400 years Baphomet and his armies have overtaken a world, and the last remnants of civilization retreated in to the sky. Not know to most, is that for a demon lord to be on a world for that long would have dragged it in to the abyss by now. The reason being is that Baphomet is scouring the world for something that Pale Night wants, and cant allow the other demon lords to possess, so she has cut the world off from the rest of the prime material plane. The campaign kicks off with a magical experiment by the magocracy causes part of the city to fall off and float/crash on the surface. The party is on a chunk that falles miles away, but are helped by a friendly wizard NPC who's actually from our version of Faerun (from the book games we've run, she's my PC), who's investigating. The party's gonna end up being one of the few groups separated from the lost chunk to survive, and ends up being charged with finding resources so they can float what's left of their city back up again and escape the surface. But in the mean time they come across demons and ogres and all that fun stuff, and plot happens.
@@AJPickett Sorry, i rambled a bit. Pretty much think Netharil, but on an even larger scale. Like, imagine if the Red Wizards lifted up all of Thay, divided it in to chunks, and set them flying over the abandoned surface world
@@AJPickett I have an idea that maybe they accomplished this with the help of Devils, who plan on swooping in and obtaining the artifact once the Demons find it, meanwhile leading the magocracy in to decadence and corruption
It would be sweet to do a pve one shot where a group of hero’s got teleported to the field of brass and were put up against waves of monsters for Baphomet’s enjoyment
Excellent video AJ! Your always so well thought out and your efforts are appreciated! What are the chances of seeing a Yeenoghu lore video? Or an update on gnolls, the original video's audio is not the best, it was an early video but I think the race deserves another look!
@@AJPickett I think that is one reason I liked Pazuzu. But as a kid I didn't really remember his name in that movie, I remember it more form Exorcist 2, since it had more lore in it.
I'm sure he hates Haagenti for his preference of using non-living creations such clockwork horrors & alchemist's potions. Now that Wizards Of The Coast have decided to cross the streams by adding Ravnica as a playable setting, this also implies that the Machine Hell of Phyrexia & it's recreated form of New Phyrexia exist in the D&D multiverse too. As that plane was ruled by Yawgmoth The Father Of Machines & all organic life started to mutate into machines & vice versa I can EASILY see Baphomet having a hatred for that Plane as well. The current rulers of New Phyrexia are the five Praetors two of which I can see him having a philosophical enmity & one a DIRE competition. Jin-Gitaxias The Core Auger would find his "experimentation" depressingly haphazard & not deserving of the term "science," who wouldn't last a day as a researcher in The Progress Engine. Elesh Norn The Grand Cenobite religious head of the Machine Orthodoxy, would find his lack of organization a fatal weakness to exploit and would send agents to convert his realm into parishioners or failing that, raw materials. Finally Vorinclex the Voice of Hunger would find his level of interference in the naturally cut throat process of evolution to be a crime against the brutal beauty of the natural order in which strength is honed by testing against strength. From the Setting In Nomine the Prince Of Technology Vapula would also find his use of the natural world as something other than to be harvested the good of "progress" as a total waste, what good is creating a new organism if it doesn't have a potentially selfish commercial use for people to damn themselves with? What good is Science if you aren't tinkering to discover the secrets of the universe, even if you have to tear the whole of it apart to understand how it works?
If I can ever get involved with an evil campaign, playing a Thrall of Baphomet wielding a glaive and being cruel and merciless sounds like fun (does that make me a sociopath? 🤔)
Great video AJ. I used Baphomet in many of my campaigns and made him really interesting... but nowhere near to the depth you explored here. I guess I should have used more of his authentic material than my home-brew stuff. But, to be fair, I used him in the 80s and 90s. I made him more bipolar than split (Jekyll/Hyde) and I made his efforts greater godlike but fail because his methods make them implode. Oh, and when the player says "So which artistic depiction looks like him" I say "All of them. He is cosmetically changing as you see him, vaguely keeping to a theme. You even see flesh tear and mend during the shifts and hear his bones pop and snap. In observing this, you feel dread. Time for you to make a save..."
@@AJPickett Thank you! I'm tempted to rant about the Baphomet based cults I did but I digress. Again, great video AJ. Thanks for making this dinosaur (me) proud.
@@TexasDevin Usually a slow build. Baphomet is simultaneously brilliant and savage, he's almost war itself. He's almost intrigue itself, subterfuge itself, etc... the dirty hands' parts of it. The last time, I had a campaign where the players set off to find "White Iron". As an ore, it's worth its mass in cut topaz. When forged into a metal item (alloyed or not), the item is thousands of times its worth... not only because it's a special property iron, steel or other alloys... but because its rarity makes it a precious metal that is as valuable as a precious stone. The players go to the island... a giant country of an island. They fight their way across the docs from monsters springing out of the water with the help of the Dwarfen guards that are stationed there. There is always an attack when a ship is boarded or disembarked. The players notice that they are aquatic ghouls and the Dwarves's weapons have a special ability to tear through them. Those ghouls are also energy draining, something the Dwarves seem immune to. Upon entering the city, they come to find out that the nation is dominated by 3 "soulless kingdoms". The Beast Men of the East (surprisingly organized lycanthropes of many types), The Lich King of the North (all types of undead except for vampires dominated by a Lich king and a few Lich vassals), and The Blood Legion of the West (surprisingly organized vampires). A sliver to the south are the survivors, a confederacy of many types of "normal" people but dominated by the Dwarves and Minotaurs, an uneasy alliance in opposition to the 3 super-powers. The players usually try to crudely march through each kingdom, having one fight after fight. I keep track of the kills (and include the temporarily "killed") and tally them against the population changes. I also tally how some background stuff replenishes the losses. Sometimes they take the airships and find out how horrible that idea is as taking to the sky in that nation is almost certain death. They then discover that many in the survivors have characters of level 5-12 as a common basis and they refuse to join the players in a suicidal march of attrition, telling them that's how their population shrank from many millions to hundreds of thousands. The survivors have one "champion", a fiend that sometimes kills some of the survivors, but it is always attacking the Beastmen, Vampires, and The Dead. Leaving that monster alone is a flood-stop to keeping their area monster free... relatively speaking. What is that fiend? They call it the "Werepyre". Decades ago, when the kingdoms on the giant island turned to using darker powers, a "white necromancer" deeply studied vampires and werewolves. He figured he could make a fighting force that had both their strengths and neither of their weaknesses. When the kingdoms that would later on be known as the Beastmen and the Vampires found out that he was being sponsored by both of them, they sent forces to kill him and steal his research. The bitter enemies had a one-strike-force alliance to storm his keep. Seeing his forces fall, the necromancer used his discovery to convert himself. Alone, he fled from one place to another, converted each of his dying men and women to a "werepyre". Within an hour, as the enemy forces were just in search mode as there were no one alive and fighting, a dozen werepyres attacked the combined enemy task force of over 100. That 100 were destroyed, becoming werepyre thralls by nightfall the next day. It was no blessing, the werepyres are only able to be civil half the time. The other half, they turn to maurading beasts. The cost was heavy but at least they survived the purge. Fast forward to the PC's time. All 3 factions constantly try to get over on each other, except when werepyres are involved. They team up in every way to obliterate them, withdrawing in peace to stage a new fight against each other after that. The reason the natives left un-converted on the island are Dwarves and Minotaurs is that the "white iron" the Dwarves and Minotaurs have been exposed to and carry make them immune to conversion. The "white iron" is both bait and the prize. Wear at least a trinket or a ring made of "White Steel" or something similar and you are immune to negative material attacks of all kinds, recover from disease faster, heal quicker, starve slower, dehydrate slower, and sleep better. Wearing a chestplate or more of it, your system stablizes faster and pain is not as painful... bonus hit points. Wearing any at all, any being connected to the negative material plain gets a "zap" with a bit of pain. Making a "White Steel" weapon is a typical steel weapon save for 2 things. One, it can be enchanted at any make or quality. Two, any enemy hit that is linked to the negative material plan has any weapon immunity ignored AND it gets a bonus to damage, bonus damage relative to how strong the linke to the negative material plane is. Going ethereal will not dodge a white weapon's strike at all, ethereal beings are even softer targets. The players must, from the survivors and found contacts, find a way to destroy the kingdoms of monsters. Attrition is not an option. The white iron alone makes the constant influx of new converts a thing. I have many ways of doing it. Worst mission end: Destroy the leaders of the 3 kingdoms. Baphomet somehow instantly replaces the first Werepyre then the Werepyres, select Minotaurs, various cultists, and Abyssal forces overflow the entire land, consuming it within hours. The party can stay and fight, eventually getting over-run, or escape the land. Fortunately, the forces of Baphomet never leave that land. It turns on itself as Baphomet makes his own forces and thralls fight each other when not fighting those foolhardy enough to make landfall on the place. The land, within a decade, falls to ruin as a bored Baphomet leaves the Prime. All missions to the land find nothing but waste. They can scrounge for alchemical stuff, even rare stuff, but the time and effort are not really worth it. Nothing can really be mined. Not can grow on the land. No good stone can even be mined. Best mission end: Make peace between the 3 kingdoms (yes, it's meant to be a bitter pill). The armies will be at the meeting. The Werepyre will show up with his first converts, seeming to want peace. He starts to talk like a diplomat then falls to his knees in pain. His first converts fall apart into gore and bone, writhing up to him, wiggling inside him through wounds they make. They form a horrid pile of writhing gore and bone, shaping itself into Baphomet. He roars "Vile peace! Everyone will die screaming!" All of the Werepyre forces attack everyone, coming in from out of the darkness everywhere. It's all background for the player characters, they only have to fight Baphomet. The players can call any of the engaged NPCs they befriended to help. That also calls the same level of Baphomet forces to join the PC's fray as it pulls those NPCs from fighting them. Also, if a PC attacks anyone but Baphomet, that also calls Baphomet forces into the fray. If the PCs defeat Baphomet (quite likely, it's easy to be high level by the time Baphomet happens), the NPCs quickly win their fight against Baphomet's forces. That is where I record the name of every PC in that fight. They are officially heroes of that land, not just heroes, but THE heroes, of that land. Oh, and winning against Baphomet "cures" the remainingg (dead and dying... few living) Werepyres of their werepyre status. The former vampires turn to gas and fly to their former homes, the former lycanthropes heal to being barely alive in their human/humanoid form, the former mortals happily die in peace with a few (very few) surviving. The above is just a summary, a summary that did it no justice. I was broke (cheap with my hobbies when I wasn't), so a lot of my stuff was home-brew. Over the years I found out there were official things I was close to. When I have a group of 4 or more regular players, I spend hours a night brainstorming the next session, editing, even reading related books. My players thought outside of the box just as much as I did, so I had to create content on the fly too. So, I made situational templates and flow charts. And with the above "best ending", that created a LOT of interesting changes in the missions. One, the players are forever enemies of Baphomet. Not really a big deal as Baphomet has a LOT of enemies to harass. Two, other cultists of other demon lords will try to use the PC's because of the former. Three, monsters leaving the land as "adventurers". Four, religious invasion of that land... some of the monsters are open to being "cured", joining and-or tolerating various religions that they once passionately opposed. Five, "white ore" trade. The Dwarves and Minotaurs are both rivals and allies in that monopoly, it's still super-expensive and rare but it cannot become priceless. Six, "the Crusades", various powerful religious organizations amp-up their holy war against that land and it leads to nations that have a trade agreement with them to fund privateers against them. No matter the ending, even when Baphomet is "slain", even in the best ending, Baphomet won. Still awake? Believe it or not, this is a really simple summary. I take outer-planar lords, ladies, rulers, etc. seriously. With how much my players focused on that land, it became a major campaign focus. I am kind of lazy, so it is also a template. Opposing super-powers that fell to some "deal with the devil", some hero that also did a "deal with the devil", some bait that is real tasty to invite others in (the PC's), too much to simply fight through (Role Play Required), and the twist (expected by my veterans) that the original hero is the main bad guy... and it was a surprise to that original hero. Then, aftermath planning. A demon lord in the prime is a campaign-changer... the nuclear fallout, metaphorically speaking.
@@TexasDevin To be fair, I thought I created Baphomet. I seriously did. I guess I am just blurring my memory lines between home-brew and official stuff... stuff that I often home-brew altered.
I couldn't find any mention of it, but I'm sure that some Minotaur worship other deities or greater powers besides Baphomet. I'm sure they are a minority among their species, but extra boons should be provided for those rare few who don't serve demon lords. A Minotaur who worships Kord, or perhaps Hextor should be a applicable NPC for adventurers to encounter.
I normally favor the Lords of The Nine, as they were among the first "monsters" that I formed a great interest in, back when I was little, but old enough to read my dad's 1st edition D&D books. Baphomet is an old favorite of mine! And 5th edition has given me an appreciation for the Demon Lords, and their particular brand of madness and evil! That, and I have a crush on Graz'zt. Which, I'm sure, is perfectly normal! 🤣
This gives me an amazing idea for a book series set in the maze maybe a city of Damon’s souls trapped in the maze as punishment. Follow our “hero” an a cast of living ,dead an damed as they try to fight their way to the center of the maze an challenge the lord of the plan for release or w/e -also would be a fun campaign tbh lol
kris palermo hmmmm how about goblins who have become crazed and canabalistic from being lost in the maze and over time mutated by the abyssal energies. The chain devils finding these creature amusing use them as hunting dogs to chase down and tire out unwary adventures before the devils move in for a capture or kill. How’s that sound? Was jus the first thing to come to mind :p
@Alex Paul goblin hunting dogs sound like a good ideal. I was going with the second Hell Raiser movie and Jim Henson Labyrinth I play 3.5e and had the AD&D2e "Planescape" box set campaign setting. Also had 3.5e Manual of the Planes.(MotP) Had a prestige class called Planeshifter. That class had a class ability called Planar Swap. Where once a week they can move 1,000 ft radius of one plane to another of equal surface area. " They are know for moving legions in the Blood War." Plot ," Out of no where a vast maze show up out of the thin air." Adventure calls."
@@Im-Not-a-Dog demogorgon, should he so choose, commands an infinite army Asmodeus army of nessus would inevitably be ground down and destroyed regardless Something tells me demogorgon would rather keep the status quo actually
tony H Demogorgon = Not a God. Asmodeus = A God. Plus Asmodeus has literally moved the entirety of the abyss before. He’s a lot more powerful than the squid-monkey. But if he wiped out the Abyss, then the Hells wouldn’t look as good by comparison. They’d be the new worst place and it would make convincing people to sign away their souls a lot harder.
I love the demons and devils lore this channel covers. AJ, do you have any plans to do dragon videos? There are so many named dragons, but they havent gotten proper ecologies yet! 😅
Playing my own campaign for DnD. Using Demigorgon, the 9 layers and celestia. But also made up my own Dragon deity that is returning to life. But also the group has ran off the rails... Good rolls on thier end... And alot of 1s on my end as the GM letting them get away with alot making a lot of jokes. They all are builting thier own artifacts. But looking for a Demon lord to use to help yhem get back on track.... Thinking i just found him.
He is my most favorite demon lord and a beast. He is intelegent on another level of experimentation and he is a savage in combat with a mastermind level of tactician most beings cant even imagine from his bestial frame. On top of that he allows other demons to use his monsters making him unassailable by groups or pacts as he can be requested to make monsters for other demon lords for favors and is a badass all round
@Ian Robertson Yes, but whatever does step in to fill that void is basically the new Baphomet. These sort of universal concepts don't cease to exist because you've destroyed their incarnation (which is all Baphomet actually is). Sure, kill Baphomet all you like, but you wouldn't be destroying anything, really.
