These Creatures from Monster Manual 3 Need to Make a Comeback in 5e D&D
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- There are so many great monsters and art in MM3 from D&D 3e. Some have been remade in 5e, but many still await their comebacks.
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Music
“Miniscule Plante” Jade Wii
“Dark Matter” Chasms
“Lost at Sea” Track Tribe
“Mist” Odonis Odonis
“Back Home” Coyote Hearing
“Dark Matter”
“Observer” Chasms
“19th Floor” Bobby Richards
“Badlands” ELPHNT
“Spacetime Blues” Loopop
0:00 Monster Manual 3
1:18 Death Giant
3:59 Dread Blossom Swarm
6:15 Grimweird
8:33 Lumi
11:52 Lurking Strangler
14:21 Night Twist
19:08 Nycter
21:36 Odopi
24:03 Protean Scourge
27:36 Shrieking Terror
31:02 Splinterwaif
35:12 Summoning Ooze
38:27 Conclusion - Zábava
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.
@@Bluecho4 Neighborhood gardening clubs but with vampires?
I would say they're more of a trap than a creature though.
@Ethertask Sebastian Naw, that's what the Vampiric Pumpkins and Watermelons are for. (Look it up).
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.
I'd forgotten about the Dread Blossom Swarm! That really needs to come back. Such a unique and terrifying thing.
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.
3.5 also had a crap ton of rules that made running a game like solving astrophysics equations.
@@dsan3516 not gonna deny that, I had to scale encounters to how much math each pc could handle building a character
@@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.
@@dsan3516 no , it didn't 3.5 is superior to anything that came after it in every way.
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.
Dungeon Master Guide 2 from 4th Edition is one of the best books I would recommend. Has lots of good advice.
That's a good idea. I just might have to do that.
I 2nd this idea!
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.
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!
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'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.
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.
Imagine if a new monster book dropped that 1.5-ified literally every past D&D monster.
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?!"
5e hasn't really covered the Beastlands at all. they just keep making more and more stuff about the Fey Wild.
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.
Yeah… I wish more things came from a larger variety of planes in 5e, but besides that 5e’s lore is mostly fine with me
If you have an idea just home-brew it. You want it fleshed out? Flesh it out.
All the book lore is just to give a creature a rough sense of grounding.
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!
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.
I would love to homebrew a protean scourge that splits forever, each new split halving their hitpoints.
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.
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.
The tree monster was the most interesting for me.
The Kenku appeared in the AD&D Fiend Folio (1981).
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 :)
You should check out the fiend folio as well. It's one of my favorite 3rd/3.5 monster manuals
That's a good one too.
The Odopi is one of the freakiest looking monsters I have ever seen
I agree. It could be done in a darker, more horror style to terrific effect.
Nothing says freaky body horror like a monster that's all grasping hands and staring eyes. I love it.
It reminds me somewhat of the Unspeakable Horror of Ravenloft’s 5e setting book, but with a much more consistent appearance
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
Strangely, the first image for the summoning ooze reminds me of Nightmare from the first Devil May Cry.
Death Giants showed up in an Adventurers League adventure and wow oh wow did they kick some but.
That's cool to hear! I wouldn't be surprised if they make a comeback in 5e.
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!
I'm glad to read that. There are a bunch of things cooking up around these parts, but no spoilers yet ;)
I wish my play group would take this game serious. I but you make a great DM, also im digging all the magic card arts
3E MM4 was my favourite. Especially the varag, Spawn of Tiamat (dragonspawn) and the zern.
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?
Absolutely quality video right here! I can so much use your thoughts on other monsters.
Lots if thanks from Denmark.
Happy Jul / Christmas :)
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.
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
Freaking great! Thanks Esper!
Some of these were actually adapted for 5E in third-party material.
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.
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.
Great work esper. Thank you sir
I'd love to see your take on bringing these monsters to 5e - Creating Stat Blocks and whatnot
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
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.
Some interesting additions I've never heard of. I'll be back to watch this again.....
3/3.5e just seems so deep compared to 5e, they just need to bring more stuff to 5e in general ngl
My players all know the 5e monsters so I love to go to the older editions and adapt stuff gotta keep them guessing
I great moment is when the players think they know what a monster is, then--wham! Some unexpected monster ability hits them.
A very interesting video! Loved the explanations and i would very much like the additions to the current edition!
We need more of these interesting oozes and plant monsters in 5e and in general in my opinion.
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.
I'm in agreement, there's a lot of great monsters that can be used for 5e. Good video!
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.
First time running into your channel, definitely got a sub from me! Loved that book!
Welcome to the channel!
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.
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. :/
I was hoping you'd include the Nycter. They definitely should be in 5th edition.
The Night Twist honestly reminds me of the False hydra conceptually
Thank you will be reread my book for new ideas beside the ones you have already given me
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)
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.
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!
It's because Ted has a mild obsession with all things craps.
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
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.
Flavor text is some of my favorite parts of the monster manuals, next to the art ha ha.
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.
Love Dreadblossom. a field of them is very deadly and if defeated leaves "clues" found on the bodies they were buried in for the PCs.
These are some very cool monsters! If they don’t bring them back, I may have to take some off their hands.
This was my fav manual ever, this and libris mortis
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.
I gotta agree this was one of the first monster books I got for my monster collection
Energy drain, levels of exhaustion, an underused status effect in 5e
I really luv 3.5 e and I really hate when they come out with a new editions and they don't keep all the monsters in the new eddition
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
Energy drain? Sounds luke exaustuon to me on a failed con save!
Remove curse should function like dispell magic
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.
for Energy Drain would it just be a straight strength reduction on a failed save? can be reversed by high level healing spell or ritual only.
Among these I like the night twist the most. Very climactic creature.
Night Twister it’s the tree from lost children
I had the book, but I never used any of these. I’d like to give them a chance.
The Vargouille was already added to 5e in Volo's Guide to Monsters.
And he mentioned a variant of the vargouille being added, not the vargouille themselves.
Correct, but not the shrieking terror.
I remember these monsters.They should come back😊
Esper, I'm your greatest fan.
You need to throw in some timestamps and crearure list.
Love and wishes, happy holidays
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.
In 5e terms, perhaps an Arcana or Medicine check could be required to remove curse or cure disease.
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...
3.5 was truly special
No. For two reasons.
1. They'll be nerfed to hell.
2. People are going to rule 34 or lay keels for ships.
The first book I ever got was the Monster Manual from 3.0! 😃
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.
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!
I would love some minis of these creepy creatures to review on my channel and unleash on my party tehee 😅
Love your videos man from one d&d guy to another love em, also ever wanna do a collab video let me now
3.5e needs to make a comeback altogether
+1 on that statement of D&D needs more plant monsters
Let's hope this idea *takes root*.
@@esperthebard Wizards of the coasts need to Branch Out a little.
I like alot of unique anthropomorphic animal races, but I play an offshoot of spelljammer so they make easy aliens.
"I think 5e needs more plants"
*What I've been fuckin' saying for years*
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.
The help action in remove curse?
Can I get 'Espers Emporium of Esoterica' in print somewhere? I see that your website has a pdf.
Doh, Just had to wait like 30 seconds for the answer. I'll get the hardcover version when it's available.
I haven't seen any news, how far along is your book?
I actually prefer the spectator as the minor beholder
Spectator is awesome, actually I think it has ranked the highest out of all the beholderkin (so far) in my monster ranking videos.
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.
Would you consider a charater that doenst sleep imune to that nigthmare effect?
Too bad the death giant’s pictures din’t match their “favor text.” Heavily armored? Bracers and shin guards?