Classic SPELLJAMMER monsters are...weird

Gnomes? How about Autognomes! Stone golem? Try Radioactive golem who  unwittingly poisons all nearby living things   but desperately wants to know true friendship! Yes, Spelljammer, the nautical-space-themed  setting of 2e D&D is weird, and it’s coming to 5e with  all these weird monsters! There’s 10 free ones in the new  “Monstrous Compendium” on D&D Beyond-- that actually includes an important Easter  Egg we’ll talk about at the end of the video-- but there are 50 monsters in  the 1990 Spelljammer Monstrous   Compendium on the DMs Guild! With classic  illustrations, tons of inspiring lore, and... ...what is up with these stat  blocks?? Armor Class: -1? So we’re going to scroll through  these weird 2e Spelljammer monsters,   and share some simple ideas  for bringing them into 5e, because I’m Bob, this is where we learn  how to have more fun playing D&D together-- and this first monster is actually not that  weird it's like an evil plant race we've   hear a lot about that in today's times how just  having an evil race of people even though these   are like plant people is like a little bit lazy  um however they are kind of cool again they are   nomadic vegetables i feel like maybe a druid would  be a little conflicted about uh fighting fighting   off these guys but since this is our first one  i do want to take a good look at the stat block   here just to give you a sense of how you can run  some of these guys in 5e we start off with some   ecological type of information climate and terrain  any so these guys are crossing space anywhere it's   not clear if they actually need the sun to survive  because they're considered omnivores here but they   are rare to find in any case one bit of neat  information that i do really like is it says   you'll always find these warriors in a in a  group of either 10 to 100 so you could roll   10 d10 i guess to find out your number every time  you're gonna face them that's pretty interesting   but here's the important stuff armor class of  six sounds really low right but that's because as   you are probably aware a d and d uses descending  armor class where low numbers are actually better   but with a six we're really looking at an ac  of around 13 because a general rule of thumb   that i've heard is 19 minus their old ac that's  definitely not what they did for some of these   creatures that we're going to see in here that  were republished in the new monstrous compendium   so of course that's a good starting point and  then you can kind of make it whatever you want   because that's what the professionals did too  and a movement of six i believe that means their   speed is going to be about 30 feet if anything  maybe more like 20 for these guys because i think   10 is like your average speed and maybe the last  important thing that we'll point out on this stat   block then we'll move to a new creature is that  our hit dice of two plus one i'm pretty sure   means they have two d8 hit die therefore that'd  be an average of like nine or ten uh hit points   total now in a d and d 10 hit points was still  pretty dang good so this guy might have anywhere   of around like 50 hit points but probably  somewhere between like 30 and 60. the elbari   are a race of magical bird-like creatures that  are equally at home in wild space or the flood   flagestan i still don't know how to pronounce that  i'm pretty sure we don't need to worry about the   word flagestan though because i think it's just  being replaced with the astral c in the new spell   jammer they are dedicated to the cause of chaos  and seem to exist for no other reason but to throw   other beings lives into unrest and you could take  that a really edgy direction agent of chaos style   uh but i see these guys as being pretty goofy  like they're weird bird people with as written and   almost human face three to four feet tall so like  this is like borderline playable race right here   but avoid physical combat whenever possible if  forced into physical confrontation in the air they   attack with their two talon feet which cause 1d3  points of damage each how interesting and also   interesting to note how you'll see there is combat  information muddled into all the lore in these   stat pages so really i commend all of you two e  dungeon masters who had to find what you needed on   the fly in combat using one of these pages ah the  ancient mariner clearly created by a poet uh rhyme   of the ancient mariner i don't remember who wrote  it chaotic evil that's fun and look at that art   that slobbery guy but there's another guy near the  end of our of our list here that's similar but way   more interesting so we're just going to move on  the argos uh kind of an uzi covered in mouths   and eyes you know we we get that it can extrude  several pseudopods each tipped with a fanged maw   or toothy maw if you will this could be cool  but this is still kind of like run-of-the-mill   eldritch horror we're here for the extra weird  stuff here we go uh but maybe my favorite because   it is most appropriate for something named in the  1990s is the blasazoid it is a huge spherical body   consisting entirely of fiery plasma gas so  basically it is a living comet and and like i say   and this is where things start to get interesting  it's a gargantuan creature 30 feet in diameter but   15 hit dice again for 2e 15 hit dice is insane  and it makes sense it's a gargantuan creature   but it just gets better blastozoids are the  progeny of a huge living star like the blazazoids   themselves this star consists of living energy  unfortunately this star which refers to itself as   i does not recognize material beings as alive much  less intelligent therefore it believes itself to   be the only sentient being in the universe to  determine whether this is true i has formed   millions of emissaries from its own body and  dispatched them to the far ends of the universe   in search of another living star and it even says  they're incapable of altering the basic beliefs   that i has imprinted on them so this is a  causeless uh living comet that shoots through   the universe if you encounter this thing i don't  i don't know how you get away from this and that   is something cool that is a unique challenge for  sure and it's called the blasazoid come come on   all right the chater this is a small mammal that  exhibits both traits of primates and rodents so i   mean just looking at the imagery here it's kind  of like a like a buff lemur without a tail and   honestly do you not see this as just like an  awesome animal companion that would be so cool   to have around a ship like swinging from mast  and rigging and sails that would be so fun oh   yeah and they even have this cool nickname space  bandits because they kind of look like raccoons   with their weird little eye mask thing now the  clockwork horror this is one that's already in   the newly republished monstrous compendium on the  on d beyond but this has multiple versions that   just has one version that says a copper one silver  one electrum gold platinum and adamantine and   the stats of the new one don't really reflect any  single one of these although it does describe them   as being made of adamantine they just want to kill  things find metal parts and replicate themselves   great for some sort of mechanical infestation of  a ship that also feels very spell jammer to me and   the colossus might be one of my favorites because  he's just a just a tall and extra wide man these   dim-witted giants are 60 feet tall and weighs 70  tons that's 140 000 pounds 35 hit dice so actually   that's that's way more than the comet yeah they  wear heavy coarse clothes usually a tunic breeches   and sandals crude though it is the tailoring is  much too fine for any colossus to have stitched it   so that's interesting i wonder where their  clothes come from that that's a fun quest hook   an interesting bit of ecology here no one has ever  seen a sick colossus or seen one die from anything   other than injuries oh and they're herbivores  i didn't i did not notice that before so that's   pretty fun even though a lot of these monsters  have more detailed ecology than you'll find in 5e   there's missing pieces and that makes them more  mysterious more wondrous and more fitting for this   wide expansive multiverse that spell jammer is  trying to bring back into dnd okay the delphinid   looks like maybe the monster we should have  gotten instead of that uh what's it called   the dolphin delighter in morning canaan's monsters  of the multiverse uh i really like how they have   trilateral symmetry that's pretty cool that's  like a unique feature i've never heard of for   any living or fictional creature before uh and  despite how creepy they look in this art piece   they're chaotic good if a sailor falls off deck  delphins have been known to carry them back to   the ship and if they're feeling particularly  frisky they may even give a sailor a joy ride   anyway let's go a little faster now the aesthetic  is a biological symbiotic creation of the rygar   who are basically like spell jammer elves but  again this is like a cool thing that makes sense   in spelljammer like giant jellyfish organism  that is also a ship i like it almost as good   as this other giant jellyfish organism the folkoid  which appears as three very difficult to see   almost invisible gelatinous spheres joined in  a short chain they literally form themselves   into giant lenses that focus get it focoid  vocaloid that light into a super powerful laser   it's listed that there are bounties up to 500 gold  pieces for every focoid carcass brought in because   these are obviously very dangerous to have around  ports and the fractine i kind of hate to gl gloss   over this but i'm going to because it's one in  the modernized supplement but they are literally   two-dimensional mirrored trapezoidal planes uh at  rest they resemble vast mirrors they can literally   be used like allow themselves to be used for  scrying and they can capture creatures within   their weird two-dimensional plane so this is what  i'm talking about and i'm so glad that this one   has already made it into 5e like this is weird  i've never seen anything like this let's check   out the radiant golem this is another one of my  favorite creatures in here and just get some of   this lore the radiant golem is a unique creature  that some claim is as old as the race of elves   gnomes and dwarves and as you can see here its  special attack is a death aura but the golem   does not know about its death aura and will not  understand or believe in the aura if told of its   existence aware that is almost immortal the golem  simply assumes that living things die very quickly   in fact the golem often bemoans the fact  that fate has made mortals so fragile   all at once as it will tell adventurers is a  friend if that is not some epic space tragedy   i don't know what is alright let's just get  a couple more here we got the gravis layer   a navigational hazard hated by spell jammers its  body resembles a sphere of flesh roughly six feet   in diameter it only has a giant mouth and it does  this really cool thing where it can change gravity   by targeting a single object or living being and  making them a powerful gravitational source that   literally like it gives you these little tables  for all these pebbles boulders or planetoids   that will be attracted to your character this  is a wild creature this is some spell jammer   stuff unlike these these weird apes that just  wear flashy shirts that's that's ridiculous   and i find it too ridiculous personally and  the giant space hamster but here we get several   varieties the subterranean giant space hamster  sabertooth the rather wild giant space hamster   invisible sylvan miniature armor-plated yellow  musk ethereal carnivorous two-headed the great   horned giant space hamster the abominable  giant space hamster the tyranno hamsterus rex   weighs 75 tons that's more than the colossus  wide guy and the giant space hamster of ill   omen possibly legendary creature is an  individual rumored to be of unusual size   even larger than a tyranno hamster saurus  rex woolly rupert as he is known among gnomes   gnomes everywhere fear the wrath of woolly rupert  though they laugh nervously and claim otherwise   so yes some of these make the most sense for  space but some of them can really be used for   any d setting much like our longtime sponsor  describe an online library of descriptive scenes   for monsters places characters items spells and  more that are way easier to search on the fly   than a 2e stat block there's over 7 000 scenes  cool interactive maps and you can unlock some   of that for free through the link below so they  know who sent you or get everything and save 10   when you sign up with the coupon code bob all  right and we still have a bunch of creatures so   let's just hit some of the top ones that i cannot  not show you the jammer leech these are barnacle   like immature crajons i don't know what a creation  is but basically it's this weird tentacle with an   eye and a spiky little tongue on it that literally  latches onto a ship and slowly siphons magical   spells specifically spells away from the caster  who is controlling the spell jammer ship this is   a very add thing where you can kind of lose or  forget spells but i like it 5e needs something   like this i don't think they'll i don't really  think they'll do it but i want it the lumino   are these vast diaphanous creatures that inhabit  the flow some sages liken them to giant mantas   of earthly seas and to others they are like white  cells gliding through the lifeblood of the cosmos   filtering potential impurities that's really  cool but by potential impurities they mean levels   from your characters as they accidentally  pass through these things they cannot see   so this is another nautical hazard you could  say but basically like a trap usually does not   intend to kill its captives it drains them to  a minimum of level one the lutum or mud woman   in their true form the malicious lutums  appear to be amorphous beings of tangelatinous   clay that move by rolling able to sculpt  themselves into bipedal and quadrupedal forms   with few exceptions they choose humanoid female  shapes the best part and by best i mean worst it   is just kind of like it's kind of cringe i have no  choice but to laugh at it the lutems have learned   that imitating attractive women rather than plain  ones or males helps them further their goals wow how far we have come can you imagine if  that were published today oh man that would   doubt the missy or missy which does not exist  in three of the four dimensions that humanoids   are capable of sensing they have no physical  manifestation in terms of length width or height   instead they exist solely in the fourth through  six dimensions so they cannot be injured by any   physical form of attack uh and but they can  be affected by magic and they feed on magical   emanations and are therefore attracted to spell  jamming ships when misi attach themselves to a   ship the ship drops out of spell jamming speed  and is stranded until the mesi finish feeding   the rogue moon is a huge to gargantuan yeah only  if it gets within 30 feet of prey it suddenly   increases its size tenfold as it enlarges  the rogue moon sucks smaller prey toward it   oh man this is literally kirby we have the  murderoid man now that's a name uh so named by   travelers because of their aggressive evil nature  perhaps the largest denizens of space to 600 miles   in diameter billions to trillions of tons how is  this and 50 hit dice this is actually ridiculous   this is just like you're fighting an asteroid and  it's called a murderoid oh man i'm starting to   i'm getting spell-jammed  over here the flog crawler   it's a flachistan entity does that mean it's  literally yeah it takes a form of a piece   of the flatter stone for justin i still don't know  how to pronounce that to see a flog crawler is to   be attacked by a flog crawler have no other diet  than the life energy of living creatures that's   terrifying and the slinker not last and not least  either this would be my favorite familiar for   wizard characters in spell jammer it's just such a  creepy disgusting little like fat little rat bird   look at its weight like th the art looks like it  was just roasted in a fire they come in packs of   one to twenty that's adorable that's a special  little guy right there okay asteroid spider this   is in the new one it's super cool it's a 10 legged  rock that will eat your whole ship spirit jam   the soul of an evil cleric or wizard who died  while spell jamming oh that seems like the subject   of a prague rock story album okay and the survivor  this is one that is the cooler version of our ancient mariner high level intelligent humans   or demi humans or humanoids that are trapped in  a state of suspended emanation for many years   often centuries sometimes longer their alignment  is listed as neutral good but it literally says   that their only desire is sensory input which it  has been starved of for so long and it will do   anything to get it that is a creepy motivation and  i really like it and what it does is it literally   mind controls everybody on a ship starting with  the least intelligent like this could be a great   plot hook like finding this sloan guy  just floating through the astral sea   and then you bring them on board and you don't  know at first but they're slowly taking over   the minds of everyone on board that's really cool  and the symbiont might be my favorite it is this   magic sucking so not just spells but literally  will drain the magic out of magic items parasite alright several weeks ago i posted this video  with my predictions about what would be the next   new d d setting i briefly mentioned spell  jammer because it was obviously coming back   just like dragon lance but they're not new they're  being republished maybe with some little changes   my two predictions for the new settings were  major reworks and rebranding of birthright or   dark sun and this 5e monstrous compendium on dnd  beyond includes the nightmare beast a monster   originally published in dark sun and apparently  its stats are very different but i think we could   be getting a planet in spell jammer that is  very much like the planet athes of dark sun   but with a different name some  different lore and if people like it   that could eventually become the new dark  sun but we'll see let me know what you   think down in the comments check out that  video for more evidence and keep building

Channel: Bob World Builder

Views: 24,378

Keywords: dnd 5e spelljammer monsters, d&d, d&d 5e, d&d player guide, dungeons and dragons, bob world builder, dungeon master guide, dnd 5e, d&d beyond, dnd, 5e, dnd beyond, wizards of the coast, wotc, spelljammer, 5e spelljammer, dnd spelljammer, monstrous compendium, spelljammer creatures, free dnd monsters, dungeons and dragons 5e, monsterous compendium, dnd 2e monsters, adnd 2e monsters

Id: 4MLP0k7bS98

Length: 19min 25sec (1165 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022