Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Death Sheep 

www.nzonscreen.com/title/black-sheep-2007

Great band name. "DEATH SHEEP"

"FOUR LEGS GOOOOD, TWO LEGS BAAAAAAD"

You fall asleep after being bitten. You dream you are on a beach of stones, there is no life, only the stinking rot draged up by a monotonous tide. You walk away from the shore to get away from the smell and find a pen with a single sheep in it. There is no food in it's trough and it's water is filthy and the whole scene strikes you as sad. You decide to put the sheep out of it's misery so it doesn't starve to death, but as you bring the stone down on the back of it's skull you suddenly jump awake and sit bolt upright. There is a bloody stone in your hand.

When a Necromancer sends you on a two part quest. You've acquired the mint jelly, easy enough, and are wondering what the second half is.

I may be using this one as my Christmas special.

That Monty Python skit about gangster sheep could have been a distant inspiration for that

You can never know the number of your enemy, since everyone who tries to count them falls asleep.

The description of the death sheep's fangs and the similar symptoms of their victims reminds me of the 'blaspheme' undead monster from the 3.5 splatbook "Libris Mortis." It would be changing both creatures' lore a bit, but I think it would be really fun if humanoids that succumb to the death sheep disease become blasphemes, and any normal sheep bitten by a blaspheme will become a death sheep after about half the time it takes for a humanoid to turn. The undead creature is perfectly intelligent, and it would lurk near a sheep farm and slowly abduct the animals over the course of a month or two. Then with a full flock of death sheep ready to go, the blaspheme drives them back into town, and the sheep give nasty bites to all the citizens. The undead fiend seeks out the local cleric at the same time and dirtnaps them, leaving the town without any hope of stopping the disease from creating a small army of blasphemes. From there the large band of blasphemes fan out and overrun the countryside very quickly. The PCs are given a quest to investigate when the neighboring hamlets and cities hear nothing from the empty village. If the party dawdles too long the ghastly outbreak will be nigh unstoppable!

These are off putting in a very David Lynch sort of way, taking something normally inocuous and making it threatening. Gives me the heebie jeebies.

Going back to our 2E days, my group is always willing to soak a sheep in oil, open a door to the enemy keep, light up the sheep, and close the door behind the sheep. That's our death sheep. Fire in the hole!

Do Liches count Death Sheep?

That intro about New Zealand was amazing, the tourism board should give you a grant for that

Okay, but what about famine sheep, pestilence sheep, and war sheep?

''but i cant toss a blink mammoth, they're huuuuge'' I laughed so hard

Fi Fie Foe FU- raise these things and you'll never have to worry about a cyclops or a hill giant again

First an ambush predator that looks like it came from a Lewis Carroll acid trip. Now a carnivorous sheep with magical rabies. You're spoiling us AJ and Christmas is still three weeks away.

Me: that demonic sheep impression at the end didnt sound very realistic Me remembering hes from new zealand: well, hes the expert...

Counting sheep just became a bloody nightmare.

Blink mammoth joke made me spit my tea

I'm sorry, but what?! Not complaining, cuz death sheep is fun to say.

Ah yes the plane of Zealand a realm filled with such supernatural joy outsiders must occasionally focus on highly negative thoughts such as being brutally murdered by monsters to avoid dying from the effect of the plane

I had a painting of these... years ago some poor paladin managed to be magically sucked into the painting and everyone watched the animatic of these guys running down the poor guy

I can imagine ONE way to control the Death Sheep: Necromancy. If you did reanimate Death Sheep, might the contagion of the madness plague be bonded to the negative energy causing it to also result in contagious zombification? Thus setting Basil in the center of a zombie apocalypse.

Wait, you burst apart of sheer bliss? Is new Zealand the positive energy plane?

lol. I guess this means that the killer cows with halberds from the Secret Cow Level in Diablo has competition, now. It could a modified form of Rabies, but it could also be a modified form of Scrapies, since that disease is sheep specific.

Heh, this reminds me of a 2007 movie, Black Sheep. Need to rewatch that one

That sounds baa-baa-baa-d... I'll see myself out...

When a wolf in sheep's clothing is in more danger than the sheep

I love these older, weird but unassuming monster videos, it gives me creatures to put into my exploration based game

I can’t help but think of the Not-a-Deer creepy pastas. And Drop Bears. Delightful concepts all.

At first I was going to share this with my Dnd group but now I realize the gem of a plot hook you've given me!

The movie Black sheep was great. I was waiting for you to say that the disease turns people into were sheep.

Literally not kidding, I made up this exact thing, down to the black teeth, but without the disease, with my DM friend while we were doing some one shot worldbuilding. Never knew this was ACTUALLY a thing!

[waves from across the Tasman] These will fit right in with all the demons currently in the Underdark. Maybe with a jolly jumbuck too.

Hmmm, I can imagine a flock of these moving around casting hypnotic pattern or sleep whenever someone tries to count how many sheep are in the flock.

I am going to use these in my campaigns.

I have always loved the mundane enhanced through magical manipulation. My favorite is a skunk, with cloud kill

I love the MS Paint fangs that were drawn on the sheep! Totally going to use Death Sheep on my party now. Thanks for the inspiration!

Having the partys druid have a deathly realization that it's death sheep would be hilarious

Hey! It isn't easy being a wizard. You can disintegrate gnolls, clone yourself, steal money from the hells, trick an enemy sorcerer into blowing up an orphanage with a dragon illusion, whatever. But you accidentally turn ONE sheep into a flesh crazed killer...

Well _someone_ at TSR clearly lost a bet that day.

All I can think about now is the movie Black Sheep.... so feckin good....props to your country folk on comin through clutch with that one, Aj. Haven’t thought about it in a long time, gonna have to dig it up and watch it now heh

Your blissful cloud comment and my sip of coffee didn’t go together well...😂

"...but I can't toss a blink mammoth, they are huge." Im deac. 💀

You can now troll your players with deaf sheep.

Hello AJ, Death Sheep sounds like a heavy metal band. That is some beautiful countryside you live in. Thanks AJ & have a great day.

Between these and Gorgons I'm starting to wonder what the farm would look like if Old MacDonald had been a wizard with a penchant for horrifying magical creatures?

I love throwing these weird niche monsters at my players. Thanks for adding to me collection!

i was like, wait a minute...did i read that right?

Sounds like a nightmare for a Kiwi.

This reminds me of a creature I created called the wolf in sheep's clothing which was a carnivorous sheep which captured its prey by hiding among flocks of sheep waiting to maul unsuspecting predators that were targeting their herd...

That sheep at the end reminds me of the Night sheep in one of the stories written by L.E. Modesitt. Those were 2m long, red eyes, completely black, and razor sharp crystalline horns. The strongest nightrams were nasty enough to go head to head with the 3m long, crystalline toothed wolves that hunted night sheep.

I have a horrible distrust of undulates in general ever since I was headbutted by a cow at a petting zoo once. These sheep remind me of the Simpson's episode with the ToMacco-crazed livestock. Perhaps they're a result of some necromantic farmer(Evil Druid) who plants fields of corrupted grass to convert them into Death Sheep.

My brothers and I invented a similar monster on a camping holiday in Wales

Sheep are going to get you! 🐑 💀

Someone watched the Black Sheep movie and decided "My D&D game needs that"

Ah yes the carnivorous sheep of Greek legend

I love these weird videos! My homebrew world has this theme of a little weird, but not too weird. So like the flail snail, yak-men, and now the death sheep, are all a part of my world😊

This reminds me of when necromancers tried to take over the Isles in the Moonshae Trilogy books in the late 80's by Douglas Niles. Great beastie for Kiwis and Brits! (And never go to the Falklands without a Cleric or 5)

The ad for 2016 "Black Sheep" : "there are 40 million sheep in New Zealand, and they're pissed off" AJ: there are 26 million sheep Me : Ima sue the New Zealand film commission for false advertising

Pre-emptive like because I can tell this is gonna be a good one

the most *metal* of sheep

This is perfect!!! I am totally using this for an encounter and foreshadowing for a game I’m running.

Now this may be the most odd one yet. (Odd and horribel a magical sickness making you a rabbid and wild predator...oh me...oh my. This is the sort of thing or monster too fear).

I guess they’re the baaaa’d guy

Another great video. Well done!

goats don't need to become evil, they'll eat anything anyway.

When I read the name, I flashed back to my campaign, remembering the displace cows on the monster farm.

Okay, now that you’ve shown them, I wanna see the pigeon toad and killer spruce!

Ok at 6:16 I see mention of a pigeontoad and a killer spruce. I definitely need to hear about that second one

We say we’re hunting wolves But they’re mostly wearing wool ‘cause some of them are fellow sheep See, the risk of combating monsters Is the risk of becoming monsters In this game of us or them Will we ever be the same again?

Death sheep, death cheese. Is there anything in Toril that's not trying to kill you? It's a wonder there are any peasants at all considering how most things are actively hostile to folks without magic/combat skills.

Bah bah death sheep have you any drool?

Death sheep would make a good name for a metal band.

so for other beasties of the land of the long white cloud... has the tanipha ever shown up in d&d? i could be imagine someone making up a stat block back in the early 80's era of white dwarf...

Something tells me to blame the Welsh

Sometimes an unfamiliar bad guy has a name that leaves me curious. Sometimes its a death sheep. I love it.

I have used a similar mechanic for “dire” plages. mutation, growth, unnatural behavior from starvation.

I would love a good list of the most CAMP creatures and things of dnd.

So who's the BBEG a circle of shepherd druid with a flock of sheep. Ook? 2 game later Run!!? Run!!? For your life the sheep are attacking

Pretty much like the sheep from the movie Black Sheep, except in the movie, those who are bitten by them turns into a weresheep

This sounds like something that would be in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. I mean the killer rabbit seems awfully similar minus the black gums and teeth.

Flipping brilliant

6:12 I think we need to hear more about the Killer Spruce

Very nice intro, I thought you might a New Zealander. Along with South African, two of the most pleasant accents to listen to. I've also been binge watching Viva la dirt league d&d sessions lately, very silly and funny bunch.

Wait. Wait. *DEATH* sheep?!

Am I the only one just now finding out Death Sheep was a thing?

I think I encountered a killer spruce on my snowboard when I was a teenager

Kudos to you for another fantastic monster ecology video from the classic AD&D games!!! Amazing how this unique and deadly creature have never been rebooted into the 5E setting. About time since they've rebooted almost all of the classic 1st and 2nd editions of AD&D. My DM have already introduced, with my help, a Death Weresheep creature which is immune to the Death Sheep disease, even in human form. Awesome video! Keep up the great work you do for us RU-vid viewers/subscribers like myself!!!

homebrew these guys a bit and you could get a Black Sheep campaign.

What?! Yes! This just made my morning 😅

Death Sheep how to make itchy wool apparel for the heavy metal enthusiast, all products only come in black.

AJ Pickett: Death Sheep Disease. My evil wizard: (Rubs hands evilly) Guess I'm a Shepherd now Also would you ever consider making monsters based off of the monsters of your nation's mythology.

Hi AJ! I have a suggestion for an interesting video. The origin story behind THE SpellJammer. Not the campaign setting, the actual ship it's named for.

XD Why is this so cute and so terrifying all at once?

So like the Horses of Diomedes, but multiplied by a dozen or so and made much more unpleasant. Fun!

I never thought I'd be writing the words Death Sheep. *Que Senator Palpatine's quote; "A surprise to be sure, but a welcomed one."*

Favorite video in weeks. Thanks sir!