Monster Ecology: Purple Worm

As its name implies, it is a deep purple color, with a pale yellow underbelly. Separating its yellow part from its purple part are hard crests going down its sides. It is well armored and segmented. One end ends in a large toothed mouth with slit-like eyes above it and dragon's ear-like limbs at the sides, and while many worry about falling into the worm’s mouth, they often forget about the creature’s tail, which ends in a poisonous stinger.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

60 feet is just the range where it’s tremor sense is so accurate that you don’t have advantage attack rolls against it for being unseen. I imagine it can feel the fact that a medium sized creature is somewhere north and above but not knowing it’s exact location from a distance much much further.

[@guybob548]

" That's how they git you. They're under the goddamned ground!" - Valentine Mckee, Tremors 1.When I need an uncompromising beast to reduce the number of redshirts around I know who to call.

[@AJPickett]

That movie is a classic and it never gets old.

[@That80sGuy1972]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought of Purple Worms when I saw the movie. I even created the Purple Hydra as an elder Purple Worm for my players soon after seeing the movie.

[@kingstewy]

He who controls the spice...

[@AJPickett]

Controls the universe.

[@casemueller8964]

kingstewy that's what I was thinking too

[@wisesavvy3065]

Controls everything naughty or nice?

[@smilingbandit6900]

shai hulud!

[@thomassosby9068]

@@AJPickett llllllllk look

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

Imagine a party of adventures morving along a purple worm tunnel and start to find more and more fresh slime.

[@bobbobbing4220]

worse thing to say during an event " keep this up and ill show you my purple worm" - dm to player character who kept oneshotting everything

[@AJPickett]

*cough* -shuffles papers- indeed.

[@Raivan31]

I'm just happy I wasn't the only one that immediatly thought of this.

[@jamesgorman5692]

I like the idea of killing one to access the underdark via it's tunnel.

[@vincentwagner9233]

This is exactly what is happening in my campaign today; Drow elf player is being plagued by his past and is aware of a strike squad of drow (including his younger sister) elves coming to the surface looking for something, or someone.

[@purplehaze2358]

I really miss the “Monster ecology” titles for these. It seems as if that being the title of this one is a relic of the past, which I somewhat enjoy.

[@golemandgoblin8205]

Great video! Thanks for including my artwork 8:27 ! I found your videos on the Fey extremely helpful for my last D&D game!

[@AJPickett]

Alec that is an excellent picture! You should be streaming your techniques and making a living from those skills. Thank you for the kind words, hopefully many more fey vids to come this year :)

[@MarkATorres1989]

Hmmm we must have had a lenient DM then. He allowed our swallowed wizard to open a planer gate to the negative plane inside the belly of the worm.

[@lemankurtz8950]

@Ian Robertson The first time I ever had a player killed in D's was the sting of one of these bastards. Loved that character too.

[@clocktowers1]

Oh shit, that's what the Massacre Worm from mtg is based off of. I didn't even think about it before.

[@hamstsorkxxor]

Also, the enfungling worm as well, maybe.

[@harryrcarmichael]

Mating worms - ran across a pair on a hike, the scouts still talk about that.

[@PungiFungi]

My favorite illustration of the worm is the back cover of the 1E MM, with its googly eyes staring at fleeing humanoids.

[@rejvaik00]

*Grabs a handful of dirt and sniffs it* Me: "Worm sign" *Handful shows tiny sign with worm written on it*

[@Demonica2539]

It's a GIANT ALASKAN BULLWORM!!!!!!

[@asgrahim9164]

I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-kiri rock. I need scissors! 61!

[@lordmoldybutt6361]

Your intros are the best.

[@crocutable]

walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm.

[@AJPickett]

Shai Halud!

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Bless the maker and his water. Bless the coming and going of him. May his passing cleanse the world.

[@draxthemsklonst]

I just realized that insinuates the great enemy and prescient view. The recognizable patterns that the golden path was meant to avoid. Unpredictability. Odd.

[@tatsusama3192]

I love coming to these videos after I've watched an episode of Critical Role. My greatest challenge, when I finally get to play my first campaign (whenever that may be) will be to not be a mettagamer. Your videos have armed me with a fount of knowledge everlasting!

[@TheVelvetTV_Riesenglied]

did you play your first one yet?

[@vincentwagner9233]

How’d your first session go?

[@tatsusama3192]

@@TheVelvetTV_Riesenglied I did, thank you. I loved it. Our group doesn't play often, due to time zones, but we've played two sessions as of yet

[@tatsusama3192]

@@vincentwagner9233 It was really fun. As my original comment said, I've been watching Critical Role for years so it went really smoothly. They were surprised how easily I got acclimated 😋

[@blackhawk3975]

Me and my group once killed one from the inside..... We didn't go in through the mouth..... I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

[@beastwarsFTW]

You cut it open and crawled in like a chigger? I can't think of a hole big enough to fit a halfling, I don't think its anus would work.

[@Iguana5k]

Give me a lubed up goblin and a barrel of tnt and I show you how to kill a purple worm from the inside xD

[@lisagaughan7154]

I don't wanna know where you got through

[@blackhawk3975]

@Ian Robertson the dm simply allowed it because he thought it was entertaining. That's what DnD is for, entertainment.

[@metalskirmish]

your intros and outros are getting to be my new favorite band.

[@deedoubs]

These things were brutal in the 1993 TSR Stronghold game... mostly because they came in groups of like 30 and they are unhittable until they attack.

[@Alexrider02]

I once had a Warlock in 3.5 who had The Dead Walk, which was essentially an Animate Dead spell, and resurrected a purple worm as a skeleton, then went to a town and had them fasten long bands of mail to its bones, giving it banded mail armor and a sort of "skin". I used it to burrow below us, then pop up, grapple an enemy, swallow them, burrow down, drop them in the bottom of a hole, then come back up to rinse and repeat. It was ridiculous and hilarious (to me), but I think the DM was getting a bit frustrated with my antics at that point. xD

[@frankmarchand8986]

Zansi purple worm is like a shark or is supposed to be. So it should have been a zombie instead.

[@Alexrider02]

@@frankmarchand8986 3.5 Animate Dead allows you to choose zombie or skeleton if it is capable of becoming either one. Now that I'm rereading the actual Animate Dead spell, it does funny enough mention Purple Worms as not having skeletons, but this was a very topsy-turvy, mutated version of the D&D world where things weren't quite the way they were meant to be, and I did specifically ask the DM when we killed it if it had a skeleton, so DM fiat allowed for this mutant purple worm to somehow have a skeleton and become a skeletal purple worm. xD

[@Alexrider02]

@Ian Robertson Nope, we were level 10 and the 3.5 Animate Dead spell allows you to control up to 4x your Caster Level in HD worth of undead. It was a 16 HD purple worm and so well within my 40 HD limit.

[@That80sGuy1972]

I dislike most of the post 2nd Ed Purple Worms because they have skeletal issues that imply not a worm but some form of land shark or eel and not the zero skeleton worm base. I softened my stance as a teen when I saw the movie Tremors as a teen and figured that a giant worm might just need a skeleton of sorts and created a Purple Hydra as an elder form of Purple Worms that can only exist on the surface world. It is much faster, not able to go through the hardest of materials, but its hardened head can use armored head tentacles to attack those just above where it is parked.

[@riseofhyro]

I love the idea of making a small settlement or tower out of a paralyzed purple worm I need to use that some how

[@ultimateninjaboi]

So busting out of this thing means pitting your strength against it's +14 strength? Well, then. Here's hoping the Black/Copper Dragonborn Barbarian gets swallowed, then, eh?

[@charlottewalnut3118]

Oh thats genuis

[@beastwarsFTW]

That makes me think of that scene in Guardians of the Gallery where Drax tries to kill a monster by jumping into its mouth and stabbing it on the inside.

[@TheVelvetTV_Riesenglied]

it's +9 strength

[@probablythedm1669]

Somewhere a bard is singing "Purple Worm" (D&D version of Purple Rain by Prince) right now... at least in my imagination. :P Edit: Also, what song is that after the channel intro?

[@lordsubziro2824]

Kudos on this very interesting video. I noticed you used the artwork of the Bone Worm from Magic: the Gathering. Purple worms is one of the core monsters of AD&D back in the early days of this highly successful role playing game. When I was DMing one of my games, the party surprising encountered a purple worm, hiding in plain sight with its mouth wide open to appear as a cavern opening and its teeth appears like stalactites and stalagmites. They weren't paying attention and I thought I could ambush them for being so reckless, but the thief made an incredible spot roll and quickly discovered the trap and alerted the party of the danger. After defeating that monster, the party's attitude quickly because more serious and on high alert. Some of the PCs did liked the way I handled that surprised encounter with no warning at all. Of course veteran PCs are not fooled by my trick afterwards, so I thought up some more challenging ways to excite the party. Back to the video... I have enjoyed this and other monster lores but you do have to improve your narrative a bit. Too many pausing (dead space) where you're thinking of what to say or something distracts you and you're trying to find where you left off from. No biggie of course, but it is time consuming. Keep up with the great work you do and I can't wait for the next monster lore. I love them!!! Especially now that I've retired from playing AD&D as well as Magic the Gathering.

[@ironreed2654]

"they don't have a head brain like we do", lol, use that headbrain Aj!

[@vincentwagner9233]

Brilliant

[@kingstewy]

Then, a Purple Worm hunting expedition party would be pretty common in the Underdark. Be a neat party if you made it a cooperation from various races.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, although, the Drow would totally back stab everybody and sell them into slavery. It's what they do.

[@kingstewy]

AJ Pickett Still be a neat encounter especially if the party could convince the creatures like the deep gnomes, not going to spell it, of their future betrayal.

[@woodslore8537]

AJ Pickett ah the drow. One can always trust them to be untrusting.

[@venkelos6996]

Purple worms are neat! One of my personal favorite little incidental encounters in Undermountain is the Bore Worm; a massive construct digging engine that uses most of the monster's stats, and it's my favorite poison/venom because the damage and DC are actually impressive; I feeling they justify actually using on a poisoned weapon, when that would be Assassin only has a limited time frame to try and down someone, before party action economy gets him assassinated, instead. I've had a few NPCs with stuff written in to try and get them access to this poison, and one Drow enclave that even sort of farms them, as much as one can, to stockpile the venom for its operative's use. On the other hand, purple worms are one of my examples for problems with battle mat encounters. The fill like a 5x5 space, yet they are upwards of 100' long, and I sometimes struggle to feel like that is well represented on mats.

[@charleswines9375]

I always carry a few bottles of purple worm stomach acid, so many uses!

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks AJ.

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Is there any warning that a purple worm is going to come out of the ground like tremors or something or is it your walking along the underdark and all of a sudden, " OH SHIT, A PURPLE WORM!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[@AJPickett]

Passive perception, up to the DM to set the DC based on the location, higher for soft soil and a noisy environment, lower for hard rock in a quiet cavern.

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Ah, ok.

[@MrGreensweightHist]

Bard with Noble background: The DM meant to cause us sorrow The DM meant to cause us pain I could tell by the way he was laughing When the Cleric's DX save rolled a two And he was swallowed by the purple worm Purple Worm, purple Worm Our healer rolled a two And is now inside the purple worm

[@Tracker947]

Love the music

[@Bake-kurijra]

I love the purple worm I really want a miniature. Purple worm vs any magic the gathering worms who would win ?

[@hugobernard9874]

We had to face one of these guys in a session, this was the time we learned the hard way not to underprepare anymore for fights. Anyway, we killed it quicly, after our fighter who transported all the explosives in the group was eaten by the worm and decided to blow himself, killing it once and for all.

[@mikemccoy5092]

Loved the old pics of the purple worm is there other color variations

[@maxwellvindman7212]

I can only imagine a group of Hellenic people killing purple worms for their blood to make into ink similarly to purple conch.

[@brianroberts783]

However, since each worm is able to produce a large amount of ink, unlike the conch, there's a much lower risk of over hunting these.

[@bradleymallard6347]

I had a game with one of these and the party of lvl10 characters made it a joke. The initiative order was the wizard, then the worm then the rest of the party. So the wizard cast polymorph making it a helpless animal then the on the worms turn it could not do anything so the party just wailed on it breaking the polymorph after the first hit but we had some good damage. Then the wizard recast polymorph, worm cannot do much, repeat party damage and the worm died in 2 turns with the party taking no damage. We probably would of had someone get swallowed or killed if the thing got to attack but that did not happen lol.

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Amazingly smart.luckily wizard had polymorph

[@Horusbonrea]

Welp one of my players have now suplex a purple worm and bested It in 1v1 combat because the barbarian got turned 30 ft tall and said let's do this

[@HighmageDerin]

their Graboids :)

[@lansonid4104]

I know you did a death knight video but could you do a video on Lord Soth himself please?

[@markterry2318]

Purple worm has a gelatinous cube stuck in side and the party has to kill the gelatinous cube to save the purple worm and now they have a purple worm as a pet

[@zeedevil4409]

Beware the Purple worm

[@omega311888]

oddly enough, i have never used one of these nor have i ever fought one. time to rectify that oversight.

[@purpleboye_]

Cool channel I've stumbled across here. Subbed.

[@AJPickett]

Thanks! Let me know if you ever have any requests for future vids.

[@purpleboye_]

Monster Ecology: Warforged

[@AJPickett]

Good call! That was not on the list, and I actually quite like Warforged, so I am going to do a vid on them this month.

[@purpleboye_]

cool

[@GringatTheRepugnant]

Wonder why you picked that one. ;)

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

Purple worms will eat you whole.. purple is the color of royalty. The king of da wurms

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Hope my fire giant critique isn't to harsh for ya AJ!

[@AJPickett]

*Shrug*

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Good that's the way to handle any critique a "shrug".......the art work in your videos is pretty damn good! especially the gray dwarves! I was suprised there wasn't artwork of them on the backs of giant spider mounts. Another reason the Drow hate them so much for using spiders in such a profane way!

[@AJPickett]

oooo, good point! Damn, I want to go back and slip that into the video now.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

@@AJPickett do it then! 😁

[@MadKingDrooby]

question! will there be a atropal episode? or is there enough lore on them to make 1.

[@AJPickett]

Oooo, do you think people are prepared for a video about them?They are super creepy.ADDED TO THE LIST!

[@dragonballtalk8527]

I want to know fun easy or creative ways or theories to kill every monster on this channel

[@ayamiaka3074]

could you fix your audio in the future. I love listening to your videos because you go through all editions of the game and in our home brew we do as well. but I get the crap scared out of me during the intro and credits because i have to crank up the sound to hear the contents.

[@digunder14]

hope some of these quieter videos get a redux soon, just so u can hear it better at least

[@arthurdeleniq]

i onde had a cleric/druid , i managed to roll an animal handle with a purple worm , that means I HAD A PURPLE WORM PET !

[@randyranderson690]

Nice petrified purple worm tower, now all I need is to stake out a cockatrice and use a thumper. Instant Mage Tower. Why spend thousands of gold when this is so much easier.

[@TalkativeHands]

Just found a random bit of info that states that Fomorians can developed relationship with the worms and become caretakers of their eggs. Did you find anything about this and how this comes about?

[@AJPickett]

I don't recall seeing that. Where did you read that?

[@TalkativeHands]

@@AJPickett on the forgotten realm wiki page for purple worms but not on the Fomorians' page. I like the idea but it doesnt 'add up'.

[@thehillz726]

@@TalkativeHands maybe they cover them selves in a pheromone that makes the worms ignore them and stash the eggs stratigically to protect themselves?

[@trajanfidelis1532]

Does anyone know the name of the song/band at the beginning?

[@adrenalineunlimited]

Reminds me of Penny Arcade DnD. Season... 8? Dark Sun.

[@Iguana5k]

You have to roll against 14+ strenght to get out of it or get dissolved alife... This is what gives my kobold character nightmares xD Especially since hes the sneakyest one meaning he will be the one who as to distract it by making sound , then sneaking etc so the rest of the group can escape...

[@LysmaticStudios]

- starts first ever dnd campaign last week. lvl 3 bard. DM jokingly makes us give food to 2 worms guarding a underground city to enter. One worm KOS the other. I jokingly roll animal friend on downed worm. I ROLL A 20. I am now a newbie lvl 3 bard with a purple worm. all my paladin op friends who were talking shit about me being a bard now fear me. I use worm to scare tavern owner to give me tavern. im now most powerful player In that section of the city. Noone fucks with me lmao

[@jeffreylucier5266]

sweet

[@baconlover7747]

This one is definitely going in the home brew......

[@MrIzzy5466]

Our first time in the underdark starts next session. So far, one of our party members went ahead and found the road destroyed and a massive beast crawling under the ground. Thats when the session ended. Our DM didn't tell us what the creature was. I accidentally stumbled across it while looking for some undead for my Necromancer. I feel like we are gonna lose the party member who ran ahead... he's a rogue

[@Swatman170]

Hello, I recently subbed and began watching a lot of these videos, have you done one on Ogres yet. I know you have one on trolls.

[@AJPickett]

I covered Ogres at the same time I was talking about Hill Giants, as the two are very similar in many ways, but they probably do need their own video at some point.

[@Swatman170]

I almost forgot, what about Ettins, roleplaying two arguing heads has always been a fun time. One head deciding that it wants you cooked over a spit and the other wanting you raw.

[@iamscoutstfu]

8:57 deal 2 damage to all creatures opponent controls.

[@cernunnos_lives]

Man this thing would love our sedate world today.

[@lawrenceverdekal8551]

What is a weakness or how to get rid of a p.worm away from an area other than faking a tremor?

[@AJPickett]

While a purple worm (or mottled worm) has no natural resistances or immunities, it is a massive creature and has a huge con bonus, so it's practically immune to poisons and can survive a long time without food or air, its also very fast, so can burrow away from quite a few splash damage attacks like fire and acid. It has a decent wisdom bonus which represent both its fine senses at close range, but also its ability to shrug off quite a few spells that could control it. So, lightning, cold, force, radiant (always a good choice) and basically anything direct, either an instant blast of a fireball, because the purple worm has terrible dexterity saves, or something that doesn't give the creature a save at all, like Witch Bolt (which will force the worm to burrow to get away from it), and of course, every time the creature opens its maw, hurl bombs down its guts. Make sure your characters have something to cause 30 points of damage to the thing if they get swallowed, and remind your Dungeon Master that if your characters are not in contact with the ground and not moving, the purple worm can't see them.

[@BrokenCurtain]

I didn't hear anything about the connection between purple worms and mind flayers. :(

[@thehillz726]

Maybe your looking for this ? Idk those two working together is terrifying. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6mtiZyiabaUZqM

[@001shadowknight]

Ok. So a wizard with 8th tier spells can kill these. Polar Ray anyone.

[@josiahklein70]

Has any adventuring party killed a full-sized purple worm?

[@susinator]

Josiah Klein I ran a party that barely killed one. They had two wizards (necromancer and bladesinger), a warlock, a rogue, and a life cleric. One of the wizards had a shield guardian, and the warlock had an earth elemental. The warlock and the rogue almost died because of the stinger and the necromancer with his shield guardian were both swallowed. They survived, and the last wizard managed to kill it with a lightning bolt. They later had to infiltrate a purple worm nursery, because they needed a purple worm egg for a spell component. They were soundly beaten into a pulp, they didn't kill any worms, but they managed to BARELY get an egg,and dimension door/teleport our of there.

[@arthurdeleniq]

What is the size ?

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Does it grow back if it's cut in segments

[@AJPickett]

It does not.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

How old are you AJ? Do ya fart dust yet? lol Your Duergar video had some awesome artwork! Nice one!

[@AJPickett]

With or without the Spice?

[@michaelkelligan7931]

AJ Pickett hahahaha yup it takes you two trips to haul ass!

[@lr-]

Sauté!

[@yogsothoth7594]

Shi-Hulud!

[@AJPickett]

Thing of Eternity, Great Maker, Old man of the Desert, Old father Eternity!

[@yogsothoth7594]

It would be interesting to add in worm riders with their hooks and thumpers. Plus you could have knowledge checks and NPCs giving advice of creating the irregular rhythm of walking to avoid attracting the attention of the worm.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Time to crack out the thumpers and maker hooks, we're going to Sietch Sharularen.

[@Zeemis]

This video was really helpful but that outtro is rough dude, really need a new one man

[@Bake-kurijra]

Ho a massacre worm

[@thomasandries2846]

Fiendwurms are scarier

[@vlastalicajaime5107]

Did you prepare at all for this video? Sounds like your winging it mist of the time learning as we listen. Come on man asking for donations with this type of production is not right. You can do better and have. Im a fan but this one was pretty hard to listen to.

[@AJPickett]

Video from three years ago, thanks to feedback and better equipment, being able to do this full time and write well researched scripts... quality has improved. I encourage you to check out my latest videos to compare them.

[@BigDad138]

I thought you said semen's when you were saying segments...

[@derpicorn7945]

Please lower the volume on your intros. It is so loud compared to you speaking and is very unpleasant.

[@AJPickett]

Three year old video, thanks for the feedback, I certainly took note and have since fixed that problem with my more recent work, hope you check it out :)

[@muninrob]

Watch a video about bloodworms and work that visual into your description of how the purple worm attacks - the extra touch of detail makes getting swallowed whole even more terrifying.