What Happens When You Let The Lich Take Guitar Lessons?

don't you find the connection between music and magic in most fantasy settings to be kind of interesting magic and music have a long history in the stories we tell dating back thousands of years and today we're going to explore the darker side of this connection hello and welcome to monster of the week the only show on the internet that fully endorses the band kid to Undead Abomination pipeline this week we're looking at a group of Undead musicians sure to chill your bones and make you dance till you're dead the Crypt chanters as always we're going to talk about the Crypt chanters lore and ecology where they come from what they're up to and of course go over some story ideas for how you can use them at the game table we're also going to convert them from D and D Third Edition into 5e with some shiny new artwork for you to use as you see fit this is actually a monster I wanted to talk about back in October during spooky season but I ran out of time so now we're going to talk about it during the holidays which for some of you might actually be the scariest time of the year but before we dig up this disturb being Undead monster I need to talk to you about something I find truly disturbing and that of course is having my information stolen by naves and brigin on the internet but thankfully nordvpn has a way to prevent such things a VPN is a virtual private Network I imagine most of you probably already know what that is and how it works but for a super simple explanation it allows you to connect to the internet through one of nord's many high-speed servers that run out of 60 different countries it's an awesome service because not only does n protect you from hackers online scammers and malware but it can also be used to virtually change your location so that if say for example you really wanted to pretend it's 1999 and watch The Blair Witch Project on Netflix but you're not in the UK with the Press of a button you are now connected to a server in the United Kingdom and you can watch people stare into the corner as much as you like something I actually learned when I was exploring content from other countries is that the UK has the largest Netflix catalog compared to any other country by a lot and Canada is actually second with a lot of content that is country specific so in other words there's tons of content from other countries around the world to explore that you might not even know exists to put it in D and D terms it lets you cast non- detection and nist's Magic Aura at the same time with your computer and they even have an app for your smartphone so you can keep yourself safe and entertained while connected to public Wi-Fi and because Nord has so many servers they're able to provide a really fast connection that in my experience has been quite seamless so whether you're interested in Nord for its oneclick online security or because you just want to check out content from other countries around the world in either case you can try it out for 30 days completely risk-free and if you don't like it for any reason Nord has a money back guarantee if you do decide to sign up right now as part of their holiday offerings you can get up to 4 months completely free all you got to do is follow my link in the pinned comment in the description down below that's nordvpn.com dungeon dead check out Nord for yourself and see if it's right for you so thank you Nord for sponsoring this video about the duest duon monster I've ever seen speaking of which I hope you pack some extra earplugs or some wax or cotton or something because it's time for monster of the [Music] week today we are taking a trip back to everyone's favorite horror themed DND D book from Third Edition libris mortise the book of Undead like many of the other Undead monsters in this book The cryp chanter would be a complete one-off only ever appearing once in all of d history which is a shame because this thing Taps into a lot of awesome ideas and by awesome ideas I mean it lets you murder adventurers with the power of music so what exactly is a cck chanter on the surface it's an undead rock star they appear as humanoid Undead that can be of any species and while they may look very tangible they are actually incorporeal Undead making them essentially a musically talented ghost their palet gray flesh is obscured by a dark cloak that is is Supernatural in nature keeping the creature obscured in a veil of Darkness apparently they're Undead metal heads the original artwork depicts a pair of them playing the flute but a cryp chanter much like a b can perform any type of instrument to fuel their profane Magic including the use of their singing voice do instruments of torture count no is mayonnaise an instrument the instruments they play are also magical and ethereal in nature meaning that a newly born cryp chanter can summon an instrument at will and if the creature is destroyed its instrument vanishes along with it now as I always say every Undead monster always has a story behind its creation and not all Undead are created equally there's a vastly different set of circumstances that leads to the creation of something like a Revenant versus a zombie or skeleton for example and often the story behind an Undead's creation is especially involved when the creature in question is sentient which the Crypt chant most definitely is unfortunately given their status as one-off monsters we have no official explanation for where the first cryp chanters ever came from we do however know how they propagate their species and that of course is with music when the Crypt chanter begins to sing play its flute or otherwise perform using its instrument of choice it has devastating effects on living creatures who can hear it it starts by lulling the living into an enthralled state where it's victims can do nothing but stop and stare at the Chan's performance then if nothing is done to stop it the dark magic in the Chan's Melody begins to infect the people it has transfixed with song this infection quickly takes root causing The Afflicted to dance and sing along with the horrid Melody it then begins channeling away the life force from its audience into the creature itself and once a living creature has had their life force completely drained they die and rise again as a chanter destined to join the performance of their creator so if ever set loose on a highly populated area even if some of the living manag to resist the Crypt chanter song of undeath usually enough of them will fall to the Chan's tune to quickly turn the tide against those who still live but this dance maob isn't without its weak spots probably the most glaring of which is that the cryp chanter can't exist in an area of direct natural sunlight when exposed to direct sunlight their musical Powers don't work and they become completely vulnerable the only thing they can do in an area of direct sunlight is take the dash action and try to run to the Shadows well F and crying is always a free action as incorporeal beings they can pass through walls and stuff like a ghost so this isn't too hard for them to achieve but it does mean that any incursions into the land of the living are going to take place during nighttime hours the other glaring weak spot in the cryp chanters armor is that beyond their necrotic music their quite physically weak but I think that's starting to get into mechanics territory so let's move on and talk about just exactly what makes the Crypt chanter [Music] tick clocking in with a challenge rating of seven the chanter is certainly no joke as I just mentioned their list of attacks is pretty limited the only actual attack action they have is called withering touch and it does 4 D6 necrotic damage that's not nothing but compared to other monsters at the same challenge rating it's on the low end but the real reason you'd want to use this monster as a DM of course is because of their draining Melody this massive wall of text explains how the draining Melody works but allow me to break it down in simple terms essentially if you can hear and you're within 60 ft of a crypt chanter you need to make a wisdom saving throw while it performs if you fail you're stunned and then at the end of your next turn you get to make another wisdom saving throw to try and break free and if you fail that one too you are now enthralled any creature enthralled by the chanter takes a bunch of psychic damage at the end of their turn and if that damage knocks you down to zero you die anytime you take that damage you are of course allowed another saving throw to break free of the melody but if you can't shake loose after you die you come back to life 1 D4 rounds later as a chanter and anytime a new cryp chanter is created while they of course become an evil NPC under the DM's control they are also directly under the control of the cryp chant who created them and then any chanters they create will be under their control but of course they're still under the control of the cryp chanter who created them so it's just a giant pyramid scheme of cryp chanters all the way down this of course means that if a cryp chanter who created a bunch of other chanters is killed it essentially allows them to Splinter off and go do whatever they want they might still work together but they don't have to but it does mean that if one of these things is just allowed to freely roam through town every person it kills is going to come back as a new band member which is bad for anyone who doesn't want to be killed them brought back to life as a new band member this is obviously really scary for an adventuring party to go up against but it's also a near guaranteed death sentence for a bunch of commoners in town if nobody stops the thing commoners aren't exactly known for their survivability it is also worth noting that if you manage to make your saving throw against the cryp chanter song even once you are immune to that cryp Chan's Melody the cryp chanter can stop playing and start performing a new song which you will have to make a new saving throw against if it wants but if it does that this also means any creatures who are being affected by its song are instantly released and allowed to make a new saving throw against the new song so depending on the circumstance it may simply continue playing the same Melody trying to dominate as many people as possible with it or it might be skipping through songs like a teenager with their first iPod why do you have 10,000 songs on there if you're going to just skip them all until you get to the same 20 tracks you always listen to God this joke is so dated when did I get so old something I do really like about this creature's design though is that because of the way it's draining Melody works you have to be able to hear it which opens up a lot of options for the players casting silence suddenly becomes a godsend and taking the time to prepare by stuffing your ears with cotton or wax will also get you pretty far gemen fingers in your ears and make the la la sound la la la la la if the characters do decide to deafen themselves as a preventative measure against the chanter Tunes I would highly recommend forbidding the players from speaking to each other regarding things that are happening in the game well not necessarily required by the rules or anything it can be a really fun roleplay and also combat challenge to try to coordinate your plans by only communicating with hand signals and looks across the table while generally pretty simple in concept I find the cryp chanter to both be horrifying and really compelling for some reason for me I think it all circles back to the idea of magic as music which is a topic I could make a whole video about and who knows maybe someday I will but for now let's talk about where this monster really shines and that is in the plot hooks Department the CP chanter is one of those monsters that can be played entirely straight and fit right at home in a serious horror campaign or be played entirely silly while still being a proper threat you could easily set them up as a proper haunting although instead of your typical ghost you would have the chanter luring people away from town each night with its haunting Melody each night it seems someone from the town disappears into the darkness and while the party investigates the cryp chanter slowly builds up a symphony of undeath perhaps you even have a Bard turned Lich who is acting as the conductor of this Symphony and they're using the cryp chanters as lesser minions maybe they're even specifically targeting musically inclined members of society head hunting them and using the cryp chanter Melody to transform them into musical Undead to what end that's up to you it could be something as simple as amassing a powerful Army of minions or perhaps once they've completed an entire Undead Orchestra they are able to perform a sort of ritual that will grant them incredible power or something maybe your musical Lich or Necromancer is trying to perform a profane love song that will bring their deceased lover back to life or perhaps the ritual is the very thing that will Ascend the Bic Necromancer from a mere mortal to the status of proper Lich but whatever the case this is bad news for the surrounding populace and terrible news for any accomplished musicians maybe the party gets involved because they're hired to investigate all the disappearing musicians around town not only are they trying to figure out what's happened to them but they're also trying to protect the still remaining members of the town's musical Community maybe the first violin of the local Orchestra has hired the party as bodyguards fearing that they may be next to disappear into the night there are so many twists and turns that this story could take but I feel like a final showdown with with a conductor Lich in his orchestra of Undead minions would be a perfect finale to a campaign or maybe for the satanic Panic fans in the room there is a heavy metal band roaming from City to city and their music is allegedly causing corruption among the youth causing them to run away into the night the truth of course is actually much more Sinister I know more Sinister than heavy metal I also really like the idea of a cryp chanter just showing up as part of an undead Army maybe they're there to provide morale support for the skeletons and zombies charging the gates because remember even if their song doesn't kill the living people who hear it it might paralyze them long enough for a group of other Undead to get some free attacks in this actually makes them great support units and if they do happen to kill anyone with their song The Little musical division of the Dark Lord's Undead Army will only grow stronger as a kid who played trombone and army Cadets I can assure you the military band is always looking to add to its ranks another thing you should try to keep in mind is that the chanter is no Mindless Undead they have an intelligence of 14 which actually makes them pretty smart so not only will they be capable of concocting plans and schemes but they can also speak and communicate this means they could end up in all sorts of alliances rivalries or any other social circumstance you can think up maybe there are even two rival chanters that are competing in a battle of the bands type situation except they're catching tons of innocence in the crossfire and if you want to keep it simple hey one of these things lurking in a dungeon filling the halls with its haunt music could make for a great random encounter But ultimately no matter what you choose to do the Crypt chanter is a really neat little piece of D and D's history and I hope you enjoyed listening to me talk about it as always Linked In the description down below there is a Google document that contains all the fifth edition stats you will need to run this thing successfully at the game table and of course if you are one of my lovely patreon supporters over on the dungeon dab patreon page you can find the 5e stat block presented in a highres PDF with the new artwork and all kinds of fancy little touches the information's all the same it's just my way of saying thank you for the extra support you guys throw my way speaking of patrons it's time for patron of the week this week's randomly selected Patron is Christopher Parker thank you so much for parking your eyes in front of my content I truly appreciate it and thank you for watching as always if there's a monster from an older edition of D and D Pathfinder another ttrpg or even just from pop culture or something that you really like and you would like to see converted into fifth and talked about on this channel let me know in the comments down below or over on the monster suggestions channel on the dungeon dad Discord which is also linked in the description down below and your suggestion will be added to the master monster suggestions list and who knows you might just see it show up in a future episode of Monster of the week I appreciate you guys so much for showing up here every week to check out what we're working on if you do like what I'm doing here and you want to support the channel a real easy and free way to do that is to like this video subscribe if you're not already all that stuff helps me up a bunch helps me up a bunch helps me out a bunch it's helpful but otherwise I will catch you in the next one stick around to the very end for a preview of what's coming next week and I'll see you [Music] then is that a fish Frankenstein I see well technically it's a fish Frankenstein's monster but you know what I mean an Amalgamated freak of the nine Hells is on the way and The Hags had a hand in its creation too next episode stitched devil tune in next time for lots more fan service

Channel: Dungeon Dad

Views: 66,378

Keywords: How to play Dungeons and Dragons, dungeons and dragons lore, dungeons and dragons combat, d&d lore, d&d story, d&d online, d&d basics, d&d battle, dnd monsters, d&d monsters lore, dnd monsters explained, dnd monsters for level 1, d&d game breaking monsters, best d&d monsters, d&d cool monsters, creepy d&d monsters, d&d 5e custom monsters, classic d&d monsters, Dungeon Dad, Monster of the Week, D&D 5e, Dungeons and Dragons 5E, aj pickett, mr rhexx, D&D explained, homebrew

Id: LhNAVWnEZEM

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 23 2023