What They Don't Tell You About Griffons - D&D 

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Griffin- "I can quit eating horses whenever want!"

Party leads Griffin to stables. "you stay here for the night." "Alright! buffet!" - Griffin

Druid: "I wildshape into a horse." DM: "A Griffin swoops down out of nowhere and snaps your neck."

Pegasus and Unicorns: *Exists* Griffons: *Heavy Breathing*

An odd fact about dolphins in D&D: in at least 2e, dolphins had the Intelligence of 11-12 (!). Tying into that, the sea elven goddess Trishina, the spouse of Deep Sashelas, was not just a goddess with afinity to dolphins, dolphins were her _worshipers_ . I guess, one could argue that there is a species of dolphin as intelligent as humanoids in D&D, perhaps dwelling in Plane of Water or far oceans.

I never realized Griffons were such chads. i now know why my dm was adamant a fellow player could not suceed in taming a hostile starving adult griffon.

Warhammer Fantasy had a Leader character named Karl Franz, who came with the option of his personal mount being Deathclaw, a massive griffon he raised from an egg. The loyalty between the two was so great that when Franz was injured and knocked unconscious, Deathclaw fought the following battle over his wounded master never leaving his side for three hours until an order of knights came and rescued them! THATS LOYALTY!

They also don't tell you that griffins are all fantastic singers. Often being referred to as "the canaries of dragonlance", they can also be taught common and even form a barbershop quartet.

"Griffins need 60 pounds of fresh meat a day when active" "Griffins love horses" **does mental math** hmmm... "Griffins hunt in prides" yeah, that makes sense.

Griffons have always been among my favorite mythological creatures. They're just such an awesome combination of animals and rarely is a depiction of them not aesthetically pleasing.

I remember a campaign that lasted 2 years, where we just made a fair agreement where after we slay a "Boss" or what could pass as a "Sub-Boss". After it or they were slain, one person in an order decided since the campaign would take a turn on first picking an item regardless weather or not someone else can make better uses of it. We just killed a powerful evil Wizard and his acolytes. It was my turn and when we learned there was a Griffin egg. I had to get it. I was a ranger and cared for the egg till it hatch. Adorable little griffon and I named him Nightbeak. Boy, was he a hand full. He loved baths and bubble. He got my character's boots in every morning so we can hunt for breakfast, mostly for him, but also the party too. Teaching him to fly was a.... Interesting event. Nightbeak saved my character's life on more then one occasion. The rogue and I was scouting but the rogue was too greedy and orcs chased us. We got separated and I ran into a high cliff. Before the orcs reach me, I saw Nightbeak and jumped. He catch me and we flew off to the rest of the party, beating the rogue there. I also liked Nightbeak would sleep next to me as my character played his violin. The saddest part was saying goodbye. The BBEG and his forces were finally defeat after two years of playing, six in in-game time. My character was a hunting nd he was ready to retire but he knew retirement wasn't going to work for a Griffin. My character knew where a place where a Griffin pride was. Going there, Nightbeak got the attention of a Female Griffin, they flew together and rubbed each other's head against the other. Nightbeak came to me and I gave Him one last hug. Then he flew to his new mate. My Character found a Drow woman running a tavern surrounded by forest. We got married and had little half-Elf children. My character's story was over but would by shared from parent to child.

8:38 I didn't know about this for a long time, but 20/20 vision is a measurement on a relative scale. The 1st number is the average number of feet away from which a person could see detail on an object, and the 2nd is the actual. If you have 20/20 vision you're average. If 20/40, you can see stuff clearly in half the distance. How far away can you read a book from? 10 ft seems generous. 100ft away would mean you have at least 20/2 vision. Real life eagles have about 20/4, but gryphons have bigger eyes so it makes sense theirs would be better. I can't find the source but I remember hearing about a lady who had something ridiculous like 20/5 (4x better than average) vision and she couldn't enjoy watching TV because all she could see was the individual pixels and not the whole picture.

Reminder: if you want to tame monsters from eggs, goodberries are amazing for this endeavor.

in mythology, hippogriffs are when horses and griffins well, get it on

- How do I mount that? Said fighter and bard simultaneously.

I like how apes have the same int as my character farmer Joe

Can we get the Intelligence breakdown in a separate vid so I can show this to my players who always dump Int?

Rider: Uhh, Griffin where is my Horse? Griffin: Whaaat?? Rider: *WHERE. IS. MY. ARMORED. HORSE!?!* Griffin: Uhh, why do you need to know? Rider: I NEED IT!! Griffin: NAH UH, WE'VE PLANNING OUR RIDE FOR WEEKS!! Rider: THE CITY'S IN DANGER! Griffin: *I'M IN DANGER, I'LL DIE OF BOREDOM!* Rider: WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE GREATER GOOD!! Griffin: *GREATER GOOD! IM THE GREATEST MOUNT YOU'LL EVER GET!* Rider: *DAMMIT, YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE MY HORSE IS!!*

MrRhexx: How do I mount that? Me: PHRASING!

Why is it every single time I go "alrighty time to prep a session with this thing" you immediately upload a video about that very thing like the next day? It's happened like 8 times over the last year, Rhexx

My tiefling rogue lost all faith in people, the third or fourth session of our campaign, he got himself a griffon egg and chose to raise the chick thinking of all the money he'd make selling a trained griffon. It is now 1 year old and the bond my tiefling has formed with it is something I adore. I wouldn't say my rogue has regained faith in humanity but his griffon has definitely made him more bearable for my party. I've bought dozens of pigs for it to hunt and eat, an armor, a saddle, a magic collar making it look like a big dog when it was small enough, I've bought a magic bathtub to always stay clean, it's been a blast ! Get a griffon people !

3:30 man, I remember back in 3.0 when an Int score of 3 was the minimum a player could have (rolling 3d6 randomly for stats by some rules) and still be considered sentient. I also used to have a friend who wanted his Int as low as possible so another player could do Handle Animal checks on him so he wouldn't have to roleplay or take responsibility for his own actions...

I'll leave with this tip: "Travel by camel, not by horse."

You know it's a good day when he makes a video on DND creatures

I play an old elf who is a former griffon rider in a game. At 600 years old, he's already received Sehanine's mark and is going out for one last adventure before the end. This is a great insight for what his bond with his old mount must have been like. He'd been fairly young when he started raising it, been through many wars with it, before it finally died of old age a while after he himself had been wounded and relieved of service. It would have been one of a whole pride that each would have been raised by another elf in his squadron, serving as aerial cavalry in their wars with the drow and Zhentarim.

"The griffin can spot a horse from 2 miles away in the air. " Me: why are there horses in the air?? Lmao

I thought he wasn't posting for a month but realized they just weren't poping up in my sub feed

The griffon is such an amazing concept!! Great choice MrRhexx!! When we gonna get dwarves though?? Haha

18:20 Omg, those baby griffons are so cute!

I initially read the title as "What they don't tell you about girlfriends," and now I want a Rhexx explainer about the lore of female significant others.

Yessss, Griffon, my favourite creature ^^

Griffons are one of the most used monster type I use in my sessions! They also make epic mounts for the party!

I hope one day MrRhexx make a video about Solars, and by the way an excelent video as always

I love how he pronounces leopard

I'm currently in a long running 3.5 campaign with my group of friends where we have two sets of characters, a high level group and low level group. My low level Paladin reached level 5 after a very climactic battle with a BBEG who attacked our high level guild. She valiantly defended a Divine Soul of her God from a horrible undead monstrosity. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a baby griffon as her paladin mount. So now, after much training and love, my Paladin of Light now rides into battle atop her griffon, Sunlight. It fit well thematically and is easily one of my favourite gifts from my DM.

Damn you are such an amazing creator. My imagination hasn’t worked this hard in over sixty years. Great stuff! Thank You! All the best to you and yours!

Love this series! Hope everyone has a merry Christmas!

Harpy: ( sings) Gryphon: so you chosen death

Thanks for the video, this is great! Some interesting implications for the Waterdeep Griffon Cavalry: They likely wouldn’t accept humans or other short-lived races as riders in the cavalry, since it takes so much time and effort to raise and train one of the specialized mounts...and they live so long and only bond with one rider. Seems like the job would almost exclusively be filled by elves. The cavalry wouldn’t be housed in stables like normal cavalry but would be given large open nesting areas in the Castle Ward, where the mounts could live communally to hopefully bond with each other as an extended family. They would be like modern fighter jets, requiring constant training flights and heavy resource use in food and support, and only go out for actual missions in short bursts likely immediately around the city. If one of the mounts is killed in the line of duty and the rider survives, there could be a period of years before another mount is ready for active duty. Perhaps the rider is given a leave of absence or maybe they stay around and become a trainer for new recruits. If a rider retires from the cavalry and his mount is still alive, they would both be discharged from service, and likely be forced to leave the city for the safety of everyone’s horses. Just a few thoughts I had while watching he video. A campaign where the party are members of the Griffon Cavalry would be fun,starting at low levels with basic training and then having to acquire an egg...then hatching and training with the intended mount, then learning the specialized fighting techniques utilized by the Cavalry (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist talks about the Griffon Cavalry all being outfitted with rings of feather fall and training to free fall off their mounts with these rings, attacking enemies in the air and then being recaught by their mounts before hitting the ground)

Was just gonna use a griffon in my campaign. Quality content as always MrRhexx!

15:28 I know you talk about Manticores and Harpies later in the video, and a Pegasus and Hippogriff may be slightly more powerful when it comes to arial mounts as opposed to Giant Eagles and Giant Bats, but I feel a bit disappointed you did not mention the Wyvern. I could imagine that a Wyvern Rider would have a stronger mount compared to a Griffon Rider, but what about in the wild? From what it seems Wyverns and Griffons seem to inhabit the same regions, but how do they get along? You've previously stated that nothing other than true dragons in their natural habitat, but if Griffons hunt in prides much like lions, does that give an advantage over the usually solitary Wyvern? Or do they recognize it as a more powerful creature? Or is it simply a case of Live and let live? Though I recall reading somewhere that both Wyverns and Griffons both prefer the meat of the Hippogriff...

The more creatures you cover in videos the more this feels like a fun, interesting, compendium of creatures. Your references/use of sources is Amazing!

Griffin's are so cool. I wish other creatures had deep ecological descriptions like this.

You know your day starts well, when MrRhexx uploads just as you leave for work

Hey MrRhexx! Just wanna say thanks for all these lore videos. Being stuck at home all day has been kinda messing with me lately, and I like to stay at home! So, I was interested in trying out DnD after hearing some good things about it. I hope to try it out when I can. Even if I'm not that good, I think it would be fun to try and I think you lore videos give a lot of helpful advice. Thanks!

I think you’re underestimating how smart dolphins are

The D&D 5e 4th level spell "Find Greater Steed" added to the Paladin spell list in Xanathar's Guide to Everything allows you to summon a spirit in the form of a Griffon (among other forms).

FINNIALY MY FAVORITE CREATURE EVER aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

In Stromking's Thunder my party got Griffon mounts by making the tough choice of sacrificing the horses for a chance at a Griffion pride for our pack mounts or failing to do so and not having the griffons or horses. We succeeded and now my Half-Orc Fighter, has even when imported a permanent mount, "Swiftwind the Griffon" as part of his backstory.

I like that you included death claw and The emperor Karol Franz

Episode Idea: Can you do an episode about the demestication/taming/training process of various creatures found in D&D? This would include creatures like Griffens, Owlbears, Yetties, Displacer Beasts, Blink Hounds, ect. From a player stand point, this would help in the emersion of trying to get exotic pets or mounts for the party as well as a better understanding of just what it takes to train/work with these animals. Another possible topic to touch on would be selective breeding for less agression and a change in food prefferance (ie. griffens that prefer deer or beef instead of horses). I think this would make for an interesting episode topic. As an irl zooligist, I really enjoy learning about the ecology of these fictional beasts and would love to someday implement them into a game. A character I have been working on for a later campain is the son of Druid who owns a ranch/zoo/animal preserve that raises these types of creatures. Some are raised as mounts/beasts of burden for the nearby major city while others are raised for parts for spell components.

6:40 Just in case you run into the Grim hollow add and don't wanna listen to it.

21:54 wow thats awesome, so like if the mounted force of some awesome kingdom retires after victory, no matter what the city gives them, theyre gonna follow their old riders to hunt with, gotta steal new eggs or the old riders have to breed them

10:53 So a griffin with a gun killed Bamby's mom! I KNEW IT!

So much to work with at the table in this video! Thank you for posting

I feel like this video would be popular among ranger fans.

love the video, mostly just dropping a comment here for the algorithm but still just wanna say that you make quality content and I always love seeing it :)

Great video as always. One of my favorite D&D creatures and My first exotic mount way back in the Blue Box set.

I appreciate the use of pics and video from dogma. Game has some of the coolest griffons I've seen.

Ah yes. The 'Good guy' mount.

I think you underestimate the intelligence of Ravens.

Have a merry Christmas

I am writing an informative speech on dia de Los Muertos and as I'm writing my thoughts are in your voice so every so often after I write something I hear. "The day of the dead is *typically* when the Ofrendas are being used but you can keep them in your homes all year round, now let's get into what the monster manual didn't tell you" love your work! It's nice to enjoy learning every now and then when I don't have online school

The basic stuff is very accurate to the old myths. Gryphons were said to live in the Altai mountains and also in Transoxiana near the scythian steppe. Gryphons were said to be the enemies of the great Khagans who ruled the steppe, and to guard hoards of gold which lined their nests. These are the accounts given by greeks sources at least.

My Paladin has a great Griffon in our Pathfinder game. AC is 2 higher than mine and I'm in +1 full plate. Such a great tank.

I have an encounter with griffons planned for an upcoming session. NICE.

I’m pretty obsessed with that parrot griffin at the end.

This is perfect! A friend just gave me two griffin miniatures as an early Christmas present!

Dang, I need to get around to playing Dragons Dogma: DA. Got it digitally on sale and haven't played beyond leaving the starting town.

I'm getting so many new ideas for griffons now! Thanks for yet another informative video, dude!

Thank you for featuring Griffons! They're one of my favorite mythical creatures.

Binge watching the entire D&D series. Thank you MrRhexx 👍🏾🎁🙌🏾!

So great to know before my party of players reach the griffons in the Icewind Dale campaign. :D

I just noticed: your ads are some of the few that I don't skip or fast forward past, mainly because they don't break the immersion or the video. Could have picked up some Raid BS, and annoyed us viewers like so many other youtubers, but no. You (it appears to me) to out of your way to find an advertise thing RELEVANT to your viewers. I cannot properly express to you how grateful I am for that. Keep up the amazing work!

That parrot griffon is such a cursed image. I love it!

Love the Dragon’s Dogma image right at the beginning. Best griffin in history

Griffon - Dangerous when Hangry lol

This video and the video on owlbears is going to have a massive impact on my current druid character. Totally going to be a Myconid moon druid with an obsession for hybrid creatures, who wants to seek them out in order to raise them and study them, using his wild shape to help.

The intelligence comparison part was actually very useful! It would be great to have more stuff like stat comparisons with things that are relatable. Its hard to get an intuitive sense of how strong is 6 vs 8 or something. Especially for softer more abstract things like wisdom and charisma.

The Wildhammer dwarves make gryphon riding look easy.

got a character idea while watching :D A beastmaster ranger that seeks out and trains various animals and sells them when trained for money

I love Griffins in d&d, they're loyal, good parents, and are sensible

I think an aerial battle between an adult griffon and a nightmare would be a sight to behold.

Wonderful as always! Possible suggestion for another video would be a Kirin. Always thought the were beautiful and would love to see a video by you (specifically) on them. You are the master of D&D lore. :-)

Every time I see you include Dragon's Dogma, I am pleased and obligated to upvote. Carry on your good works, sir.

13:38 that night is doing the dab dance lol. Or maybe the hotline bling video thing

I think this is one of the best videos you've done in awhile and merry Christmas and happy Winter Solstice to you

Hi hi Mr Rhexx! I appreciate all your D&D content! I’d love to see what the monster manual doesn’t tell us about goblinoids!

Griffons: * get pissed off when hungry * Me: We would get along great.

This creates so manny new posibillitys. Thanks a lott for the inspirationfuel your lorevideos provide on such a regulr basis. With so much deeper understanding for these creatures the adventures centered on them are much more alive. I started to rewach videos about creatures i want to use in a region as a whay to gett my own hype going.

These lore videos are freaking awesome, so helpful

18:02 that dragons dogma gameplay 🥵

I like that Grimm hollow addition :)

You should make a video on the Harpy

Man, these videos about monstrous mounts are sensational

My PCs: "You guys wanna play HORSE?" Griffons: *EXCITED GRIFFON NOISES*

One of my players once convinced me to let them bond with a Griffon. I made it a literal nightmare to live with. Finally, they asked to borrow the Bard's Headband of Intellect, strapped that puppy on to its leg, and waited. Since Headbands of - Require attunement, I made them camp out with the Griffon to make sure the Griffon didn't remove it... before it finally "attuned" to the item. When it did, the Griffon was brilliant, for about 15 minutes before it realized it was far smarter than the player and given that it was fully aware now, noped out of the game. My player was so incredibly shocked. And I am like "You skipped the part I told you about them being proud. Intellect doesn't change the fundamental nature of the being. It's now a Griffon with a 19 int. It's about to be the bane of every single rancher in the countryside." Eventually I did have it come back to the Player's excitement and relief. An intelligent Griffon is a true terror.

Snowstorm where I live and see Mr. Rhexx has uploaded

OMD this Macaw griffon is wild.