A lot of interesting monsters. Those vampiric flowers were really cool and I could see them being grown by vampires at their mansions/castles for their beauty and protection.
It would be a very decadent form of gardening, flowers that feed on the same blood the gardener needs to live. But for a wealthy vampire aristocrat, who owns land and commands fealty, there are worse ways to spend one's peasants.
Maybe it's just me but I think dragging your weakend self out of a crypt after killing something that was feeding off your life force builds character.
3.5 had the tome of vile darkness, the epic level handbook, and that sourcebook with the first martial maneuver types. Monster manuals are nice but 3.5 had some really incredible options for material.
@@ChazTheYouthful for sure! Also it was “The Tome of Battle: The book of 9 swords” that had the combat maneuvers, that was a great book and helped in some of late stage difference in martials and spell casters. It also had my favorite class Sword Sage that let you feel like you were from crouching tiger hidden dragon. 3.5 were good times, but soooo much math. The I found GURPS and realized 3.5 wasn’t that bad.
3.5 wasn't that crunchy, have you ever played Shadowrun? Even Pathfinder, "Math"finder, isn't all that crunchy. Call of Cthulhu has more math to deal with than 3.5 The ONLY things you needed to remember in 3.5 were simple addition and subtraction, and the rules only got really complex when you started messing with stuff like sundering items
Have you considered doing a top ten of books from earlier editions for taking monsters or for developing a setting? I'm trying to get some of the 3rd and 4th edition books, and a top ten for either list would be amazing.
First few books for 3.5:epic level handbook, book of vile darkness, book of exalted deeds, psionics handbook, manual of the planes, deities and demigods, players handbook, dms guide, monster manual (1,2,&3) fiend folio, ultimate arms and equipment.
Fiendish Codex Fiendish Codex II Denizens of Avadnu Bane Ledger, volumes I and II Creature Collection, revised Minions v3.5 Tome of Horrors, revised Draconomicon Lords of Madness Monster Manuals.... all of them.
Fun fact: word "Lumi" means "Snow" in finnish language and culturally it's associated with purity and beauty yet without ignoring it's darker aspects such as freezing to death or getting a cold. 3.5. creature Lumi reflects this concept similarly. They are beings of positive energy, they are virtuous but they are not harmless, helpless nor merciful.
When I was a kid, I lived in a neighborhood with a lot of retired people and only one other kid my age (and he was a jerk). I was a big fan of DnD, but I had no one to play it with. I would save up and buy the monster manuals and spend hours looking at the monsters and imagine stories about them.
I wouldn't be surprised if the designers were treating the Feywild as a catch-all plane to dump all the fairy and nature elements of D&D into. Much like how they folded the Domains of Dread (like Ravenloft) into the Shadowfell. Keeping everything within a limited number of boxes loses some variety, but it also keeps things tidy.
Since I play with people who are DMs in their own right, I may adapt some of these to 5e so that they can encounter something they are unfamiliar with!
I've had Death Giants bookmarked for a campaign I've been running for the past two years. They fit perfectly with a characters backstory, and I stumbled on them by chance. Really does make you wonder why they didn't put these monsters into 5e.
I think the death giants have a good chance of coming back in 5e, considering they were in both 3e and 4e. Maybe WotC are saving them for a campaign module with a Shadowfell-related setting.
I think this is very ironic! We're bringing back many of these creatures in our Khor setting Esper! Interesting that the algorithm put this video in my que! Nice job Esper!
After I listened to you discuss the Nycter race, I would definitely love to see you attempt to revamp the lore of D&D races that are underdeveloped or lackluster. As much as I love the idea of playing a rabbit person, the lore of the Harengon is quite scarce.
18:00 I home brewed that those abilities only remove mundane/physical afflictions or low level curses. I treat magical diseases a bit like the Sanguinare Vampiris in elder scrolls; you are on the clock. Vampirism can be cured before a certain time or before first feeding. Lycanthropy can be cured by the base level remove curse as long as it is before the next full moon. After that, those kinds of curses move beyond the scope of the spell and it's a quest to remove.
I actually prefer they don't do an official release of any of 3E monsters for 5E. As a DM, I have access to those old ones and can convert them myself and when players run into something I throw at them that isn't in a 5E official release they say "Whoa, what the hell is that?". Which stops attempts at metagaming vs. monsters, and is the actual experience characters should have with most monsters rather than "Oh, it's a beholder, because I've seen them in the monster manual, even though my character has never even heard of them". They can expect a mimic (to some degree) but they don't expect vampiric flowers at all.
Reminds me of Warhammer Fantasy/Age of Sigmar/40K, with the Horrors of Tzeentch. When a Pink Horror is slain, it turns into two Blue Horrors, who each in turn can be split into two Brimstone (read: yellow) Horrors.
I’ve actually used a lot of these in my game (so they’ve been translated to 5e). Splinter waif was a focal point of a side quest of investigating missing orphans, I made the splinter waif a punishment of a fey warlock who ran afoul of his patron. Summoning ooze added a little bit more chaos to a boss fight and led to a memorable moment as the group feather fell down a corridor with the ooze on their platform. Dread blossom and night twist weren’t fully utilized but that’s because it gave the sorcerer to show off the power of blight.
That's really cool to read. Did you keep them close to how they are in MM3, like with the same abilities? Or did you change them to have a strong 5e style?
@@esperthebard out of curiosity, what would you call a “strong 5e style”? A big bag of HP with “Multiattack: the creature makes one bite attack and one attack with its claws”?
@@Ellebeeby Well what I meant was how 5e tends to shy away from giving monsters multiple unique abilities that are detailed and in depth. The 5e design approach is more streamlined. While it is not as extremely uniform like 4e was (thankfully), things get simplified and whittled down in 5e. There are exceptions, such as vampire, merrenoloth, draconic shard, and legendary creatures with lair actions and regional effects, but for each deep and unique monster, there are 5 simple ones.
@Esper the Bard My reaction to Marilith's 5e statblock (where she has Multiattack and Teleport as only aviable actions) was basically "Dear Graz'zt, what they did to you?!"
what you can do with curse's and dieases\s is that the caster must have something that is related to the curse. example. a sample what the diease is from eg: death dogs saliva. or the a strand of a hags hair if cursed by a hag. this gives quests and things to do for your players as well. it also gives rangers a much more important job in tracking and seeking these types of things because that is what they are meant to be able to do.
I like the idea of a Curse DC, but that like how a Cleric's Turn Undead gets better as they level up, maybe you automatically succeed in removing curses with a DC equal or lower than your level
These are grand Esper times. One video after the other!! God bless you Esp! Great observation and thoughts given to each creature! I personally never got to actually play 3E myself. Mainly second and first editions. But I loved how obscure the 3E designs felt and in fact, I the MM and the Book of Vile Darkness just for fun :)
The positive and negative energy planes dont really exist in 5e. the DMG says "The Positive and Negative Planes. These two planes enfold the rest of the cosmology, providing the raw forces of life and death that underlie the rest of existence in the multiverse." They no longer are inner planes like they were in 3.5. They are just ssilly non planes that dont really get any info. so I dont think we will see any of the creatures associated with those unless they get reworked.
Hell yeh! More Esper magic! Love these videos and would love to see some spell ranking videos or some more class breakdowns! Your opinions are very valued to a DM here!
It makes sense to me that most curses would be fairly trivial to remove for PCs because they are exceptional when compared to the common folk. If every curse required some monumental task, then the common folk would be screwed. However, i do agree that this nulls the challenge for the PCs. So i propose a homebrew rule: Dire Curses. Most curses can be wiped away with a spell or potion, but a Dire Curse requires much more to remove, like you were saying. Simply add an additional DC to the save or something to see if the curse is normal or dire.
saving this video for later for when I actually have time. Thanks for being the least cringe dnd youtuber and I'm looking forward to getting your book.
Have a similar table rule for curses too. Remove curse will remove minor hexes and basic curses but the real bad one's have conditions that must be met to break them. Example: slaying the caster of the curse. Or your classic fantasy/ fairy tail type rituals like the slap of a princess will cure the curse, or bathing in holy water at midnight in Hades. You gotta play with effects and conditions to get the danger across
I'm not as bothered by the idea of beast-people races. Though I agree that when you start including them, it makes the setting feel really crowded. Like, between all the possible beast people and all the regular D&D staples (elves, dwarves, halflings, goblinoids, gnolls, etc), it can seem like the ultimate kitchen-sink setting. Where do you even put them all?
i always thought the inevitables from 3.x were a creature that should have carried over to later editions....the idea of a visit from a mechanical being from the plane of neutrality who is there is ensure you dont break a bargain, and is perfectly capable of kicking your butt if you do just seems like a cool concept to me, way better than modrons that are a classic but just dnt have that coolness facotr like the inevitables.
I think the 'night twist' should cast Geas on everyone within the range of that ability (with a relatively low DC so it doesn't just draw everyone in). I love the idea of bringing these creatures forward to 5e.
Monster Manual 2 and 3 are by far my favorite of the 3.5 monster manuals and I highly appreciate you showcasing some of the best of what the latter book has to offer. I'd love to see your take on the second Monster Manual, as it has one of my favorite monsters ever; the avolakia. The night twist in particular, that's a monster that is so underrated.
If it breathes, it can be suffocated and if it requires some form of pumping motion to breathe it can be strangled as well. Neck is an obvious spot for strangling, but snakes don't rely on attacking it to strangle it's prey.
Love that you highlighted some older editions monsters 2e and 3/3.5e had such a large variety of monsters to really throw the unusual at your players Really enjoyed this Cheers
The cave fisher makes me think a bit of New Zealand's glowworms. They catch their prey into strands of slimes, paralyze it and devour it alive. The creepiest part? These are the larvae. Adults quite often fall prey to their young.
Man I miss the art style of the fantasy genre seen in MTG and D&d from the mid 2000s up through the early 2010s. That was the peak when it came to make gorgeous fantasy art, before Wizards made it so everything had to be so photo realistic. :/
That reminds me I watched zee bashew homebrewing monsters and making them a puzzle to figure out 1st, before the fight and making them tough to make them scary, as monsters should be. In 5e Nothings scarier than monsters that can curse u and exhaust u to death with hunger and thirst from 75 miles away. Dying - thats scary. Welcome to 3e
Great video! Can’t believe Ted from nerd immersion didn’t mention any of these! He has the weirdest taste in monsters! Me and you are on the same page!
A shout out to the MMIII Grisgol, a construct with some real character for when a wizard is crazy enough to use a captive lich to power their tower guard.
I think that creatures like the Gimweird could still reduce player levels, just instead of them being gone permanently, they come back after a long rest. One at a time.
I converted and used the Dread Blossom once in my campaign, it made for a fun hazard in an underdark segment of the campaign where my party got separated in a collapse triggered by an earthquake. One of the party members got lead into them by a mud mephit who would trick creatures into venturing past them for fun and ambush them.
5:50 so true evil plants are so awesome.. this example reminds me of the Asphodels'field in old greeks Hades ,, the perfum of the flowers kills all your memory and past ...forever... that's terrifying..same thing with the lotophages in Odysseus''s legend... but the kid i have been reminds also of the.....WHEEEEEEEEEELED WARRRRRRRRRIORRRRRRRS ....LOL. =0)
No vermin lord is a pity, but he would be hard to implement and can be a bit complex, but adding more to their personality would be amazing, like as relatives of thri-kreen
With the Death Giants, what if the "Guardian Souls" acted like a perpetual Guardian Spirits spell which could still be temporarily dispelled with a Turn Undead.
I would like more good aligned nature based creatures. I grew up in the Warcraft universe before WoW destroyed it and I always really liked how at least I saw that setting's nature plane as more of a source of good creatures than bad ones.
My favorite entry is changelings on pg 25 MMIII. Level mod of +0 makes them playable and there is just so much you can do with them as characters. I played one that was an actor and another that was a body double/bodyguard both were really cool characters.
The protean is really mecanichly interesting, but it needs a new look... We already have too much devil looking creatures. I love how you use vintage MTG illustrations !
Maybe keep the devil shape, but have them be bisected down the middle, each side two different colors. Combinations might be Black and White, or Black and Red. When the creature splits into two, they're each wholly of one color or the other. A way to signpost what has happened, or what _might_ happen.
The only creatures from your list I really wanna see back are, Splinterwaif, Death Giant, Night Twist and maybe the blossom swarm. The others, never was a fan. If one summon type monster should return it is the Deepspawn, I never understood why that isn’t as famous as Behir, Beholders and Goblins...
All beholders are cool monsters, but many have a hard niche, most exist to fill a beholders lair with strange creatures or other areas with odd things. Gazer and spectators they can be placed anywhere and at nearly every level of play which gives them a higher ranking in my opinion. It's maybe the main thing I hold against high Cr creatures is their availability how often can I integrate them into a world and when can my players expect to face them.
As cool as these monsters were, 5e would most certainly not do them justice and just turn them into bags of hp with multi attack like almost every other monster
I actually have a mini hobby of taking older edition monsters and playable races and updating them for 5E, so far I've borught the Tall mouther, The Hound Archon, the Hellfire wyrm, and many more on to dnd Beyond!
Dungeon Dad did a 5e update of the Night Twist I believe! But this dude is so grim which is okay because this game is about playing to your own personal taste. But I feel like there’s a lack of whimsy in this content. But if a horror aesthetic is what you prefer that’s all good. I just prefer high fantasy and more frivolity.
You really doesnt need a redo for all those monsters, its a d20 system, their all full compatible. I use pathfinder bestiaries from 1&2e and still use AD&D creatures with low to non redoing them at all (just adjust AC, and Attack)
