Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Quaggoth

[@Diditallforthexp]

A large feral race of psychotic blood feasting merciless monsters who attack on sight... Drow: We can use this.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Of course. The drow enslave and make use of anything. They are so wicked even mind flayers are nervous around them.

[@RVR121]

Heavy armoured knight harassing the party? two words buddy! Heat metal.

[@jeremysnead9233]

The D&D Univers seems as if separate deities decided to take creatures from separate realities and have them go at it.

[@AJPickett]

Pretty much.

[@SirShawn-qb2fk]

I feel sorry for the Quaggoth. I feel that if they weren't forced into the underdark, they could have become an intelligent species.

[@johnheslin6914]

To answer your character sheet question, yes. My D&D group still uses paper character sheets

[@j-dubb614]

Also my D&D group still plays 3.5

[@jgr7487]

these guys look like a progenitor race of Bugbears, but bugbears got very lazy after being civilized.

[@Shiranui115]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought of this!

[@masonabbey6353]

Now I wanna do a quest where PC's find a lost tribe of Quaggoth on the surface in some cold frontier- making them more like there prehistoric selves

[@BigDaddyGoBoom]

I've always had a soft spot for Quagoth, but could never figure out how to use them other than henchmen or psudo orcs. Then I saw the movie The Descent 😯

[@That80sGuy1972]

I did not do these monsters justice in any of my campaigns. I treated them as more or less somewhat humanoid Underdark bears, usually akin to trained bears working for local Drow. I DM'd for decades and did not do these fella's justice.

[@darrinstanfill6846]

But then again,they served a purpose. Different worlds,different creatures.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

0:41 This is what happens when you give an Ewok HGH. Also, this original artwork always made me think these were some type of bear-people.

[@jaxx1258]

In my setting there's a primal continent where humanoids can go and visit, but no large permanent settlements exist. It's full of giant bug and reptiles, rocs, wild Zaratans, and other wild beasts you might expect to find in a game like Monster Hunter 3. The dominant humanoids here are indeed quaggoths, living arborially like they always have, napping during the day to avoid larger predators and climbing down to hunt at night in troupes for large nocturnal insects and anything they feel safe bringing down. My quaggoths supplement their diet with small bits of coarse poisonous vegetation, basically just to clear out intestinal parasites and innoculate themselves against potentially toxic stomach contents of their own prey, if it happens to be some type of grazing animal like deer or giant caterpillar

[@denewst01]

Adventurers arrive at a village, they hear about villagers disappearing into a rocky forest where there are a number of caves rumoured to lead into the underdark... the villagers aren't certain exactly what's causing it but they know its "qua-something?" The adventurers make the connection to quaggoths, then set out to investigate! Long story short, it's actually a whole load of quokka - the disappearances are caused by pixies using their enchanctment magics to rope locals in to look after the cute little critters :)

[@CatholicDragoon]

Considering they've been enslaved by several different Underdark races for millenia, I could see them having a number of sub breeds between these various populations. Now I'm wondering what if some Neogi capture a tribe or two of these guys. Or what if some ambitious, long-lived warlord/wizard decides to grab a few Quaggoths to breed into a powerful warrior race to serve as shock troops in a budding empire.

[@zmishiymishi5349]

"Thonot"? A.k.a. Thoon Quaggoth..? This would explain the psionics and different behavior!

[@Wolfphototech]

Poor qualgoth you guys did not deserve being pushed into the darkness and being destroyed by it .

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Very nice adding the Thonot to the description...most players that encounter your standard Quaggoth dont seem to realize that this species has the ability to have psy powers.......a real nasty surpise for the DM to spring on characters that believe its going to be a standard hack an slash encounter,My fighter/mage/psionic took several thonat/jalds and bred them as well as using psy surgury and wishes to increase their int.......make great servants! Yeah AJ i always use paper character sheets lolx10

[@gilgameshgod-kingofuruk4380]

These lore videos keep me going love em

[@dragonturtle7645]

1.) Why are they resistant to learning? 2.) How willing are they to serve other creatures (besides the drow). 3.) Do they have the same relationship with other underdark residents and/or venomous animals? 4.) What surface humanoids could live in the underdark and vice verca?

[@bitterzombie]

I dont know about the others, but Im guessing their aversion to learning skills & using tools is the result of two factors. Firstly, that they are carnivorous predators, physically equipped with the teeth, claws, and hide they need to survive. Unlike early humans, it was never necessary for them to develop toolmaking, agriculture, or any other form of industrialization. The second reason then is that all interactions that they've had with more developed and intelligent species/cultures have killed or enslaved them, basically treating them as animals. Elves, giants, mindflayers, drow, and probably others, present their social hierarchy and scientific knowledge to the quaggoth in a very negative way. Why would a quaggoth want to become more intelligent or use tools, if it would only result in them having more slave labor to perform, or have more graphic magical experiments done on them? They dont want to, those things arent helpful to them, so instead they embrace the more animalistic way of life that they had apparently been doing just fine with until they came into conflict with those emerging cultures.

[@maxx8362]

Haha, just when my player's thought they had seen all the horrible things the Underdark has to offer, the quaggoth attack.

[@wingwang8942]

Thought it was some kind of werewolf at first

[@draxthemsklonst]

Rotisserie goblin, mmmm yum

[@AJPickett]

The secret is in the stuffing.

[@DkKombo]

Right. Going to mix some of that pretty boy demon lord in there (the one with the extra finger) for power and good looks. Place some eldritch mutations so they have mouths on the palms of their hands, so to cast spells, small concentrated breath weapon among other things, as well as an extended tounge with small bone spikes with their blood which is where many of the functions of the mouth are found, which also doubles as a grappling hook, and a set of two beholder eyes on the backs of their hands and a small brain in the wrists to help them actualize all these actions. They will also have another set of arms which can be used to move faster as pseudo set of legs or just another set of arms and all the attachments that the other arms have as well. Have a small brain at the base of each limb, and have a mind crystal connected to each brain for better brain development and psionic and magical abilities, as well as a mind crystal to the main brain. Have their blood and bodies naturally produce these Crystal's as well for something to farm Mix it with a chimera as a base to make sure all these features stay and voila, you have yourself, (baring some details and after many, many years of experiments and selective breeding) a somewhat intelligent, demonic, spell throwing eldritch pretty boy Quaggoth that augments its natural strengths with magical ones to devastating effects. Another one for my drow character to add to its party on a conquest for the realms.

[@Lurklen]

My whole party, and every game I play in use paper character sheets. It doesn't really feel like D&D if I don't. But I also don't play in any online games.

[@eugenegualtieri2000]

More lore goodies. All your vids are super entertaining and interesting. Adds that little extra something to the game. Every time I watch one of these vids it makes me Wish I could find a group in my area!!

[@AJPickett]

What area (generally) do you live in, here is as good a place to advertise as anywhere, you never know, someone might be watching this vid who lives nearby.

[@eugenegualtieri2000]

AJ Pickett Detroit Michigan. There are game stores in town but the games are late at night during the week which don’t mesh well with my work schedule. Thanks for the vids. I’ll keep looking 😁👍🏻

[@hrolfbjornson6666]

I kinda wanna play as a quaggoth now.

[@joshuazane3210]

What happens when a sasquatch knocks up a bear? Here ya go.

[@blackhawk3975]

My group has somehow not run into any quogoths in our underdark campaign, how odd.....

[@Shiranui115]

I've long theorized that bugbears and quaggoths are related species. The morphological similarities are uncanny--give a quaggoth their original brown fur color from times past, shorten the arms a little and compare to modern bugbears. Maybe bugbears started out as captured and enslaved quaggoths which were bred by the hobgoblins to form a distinct (sub)species?

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

Shira117 given the new way the Quaggoth are drawn, idk. But the 1E Quaggoth kinda looks like modern Bugbears but they don’t look like 1E Bugbears, so again, idk. I kinda like to think of them as the Faerun equivalent of Big Foot. An early hominid offshoot that retained fur for cold environments, but again, the new art makes this seem MUCH less likely. But that look is supposed to be from living in the Underdark, so who knows.

[@AJPickett]

Different species, similar environment and hunting method, so, convergent evolutiuon.

[@adreabrooks11]

I put it to convergence - like how thylacines looked like canids, or how dollphins look like ichthyosaurs. Similar niche; similar morphology.

[@florenmage]

Fun short adventure idea.you all play goblins trying to get away from or rebel against your quoggoth masters.

[@MisterDTwenty]

I love the look of the quaggoth and wish I had more chances to use them in games...I might have to correct that with a proper Underdark run.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

Jordan Ferguson You could have a tribe of them get driven to the surface by Drow or something. The “forced to the surface” excuse for Underdark creatures outside of the Underdark has always worked for me.

[@styrax7280]

yes, we still use paper character sheets.

[@zeedevil4409]

Wonderful creature for an underdark campaign

[@seamusfish7009]

Here wuz Seamus!

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Sup seamus!

[@darthchocolate7911]

No profile pic Seamus? You inhabitants of the elemental plane of water are so capricious...

[@seamusfish7009]

@@michaelkelligan7931 just got off work, now i'm preparing for my dnd game tonight. One of my players is on trial for blowing up a guild. I've been preparing my legal battle all week.

[@seamusfish7009]

@@darthchocolate7911 not on this account, but on my primary one, yes. I like to be sneaky like that

[@bgcvetan]

The Underground Ewok.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

Now I want a Quaggoth PC race.

[@majesticgothitelle1802]

Lycanthrope type scale glabro, crinos, hispo or lupus. Definitely looking like glabro

[@christophermzdenek]

Definitely Red Talon Glabro.

[@rickeymariu1]

It's always after I have used these creatures that you publish a video A.J.

[@AJPickett]

Pure coincidence *rolls bluff check*

[@emmet_harris]

Really nice to have someone give a rounded presentation of a critter. Excellent style. Allows a GM to listen, note what is important, and be ready to run the critter. Loved your giants vid too.

[@tomasbaudin8799]

Yezzzzz new loreeee

[@digunder14]

anyone else notice that a lot of the non lycan artwork especially the black and white ones look kinda like the ewawks from starwars but if they gobbled up some super soldier serum and or steroids?

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, I agree.

[@theferrouslife]

I still use paper character sheets as well as a paper notebook and pen/pencil. Ain't no school like the old school.

[@Gworeldoreriverpass]

now i wish could play dnd 1e the o.g

[@AvromCrovax]

Yes I prefer a paper character sheet.

[@nopejhonson958]

they look like bugbears

[@AJPickett]

A bit

[@helmswake2339]

Cool monsters!

[@adamholcomb1906]

I’m going to have to mention the use of Quaggoths more by my Drow character in AL seeing how they are used by drow as a slave race 🕸🕷😈

[@-Thunder-Warrior-]

*Laughs in Goliath*

[@christophershrimplin1849]

Paper character sheets for life. I think this is gonna be a new favorite of mine....muhahahhahaha players beware, your in for a scare!

[@thelastmavrick]

Give me my piercer dogs

[@michaelfrost7467]

I use paper character sheets AJ and a note book 3.5 veteran d&d beyond naaahhhhhh

[@miroslavmalivukovic1534]

"I cast fire ball!" George Ledoux.

[@Hollowbarista]

Out of abyss brought me here: question what miniature monster would be close to quaggoth?

[@norokodven4768]

Bugbear maybe, perhaps some sort of lycanthrope?

[@wallaby1234567]

for your info this video played just fine on my Roku 4k player.

[@AJPickett]

Roger that.

[@jameswilliams2075]

If a group of 10 quogath fought 10 orks of average wepon and tactics who wins

[@mrl9418]

I've got an ad by Paizo for Kingmaker 😀

[@AJPickett]

Paizo, sneakin in like ninjas.

[@mrl9418]

@@AJPickett my thoughts exactly

[@purplehaze2358]

I expected some kind of Obirith from that name honestly.

[@foxunix101]

Great work man thanks again for the hard work.

[@antwan1357]

I discovered a lot of my players lose interest real quick . So I created instant action , where you got a pregenerated generic heroes and like the arcade game might and magic I spam out an endless flood of creatures from a magic mirror. The way to win is basically destroy all of the mirrors that are being used as portals to other universes that have completely different creatures that have agreed to share this universe to fix the overpopulation problem in the universes they come from.

[@AJPickett]

Oooh, there is a race of beings inside the mirror plane I need to make you a video about.

[@JCinLapel]

I make my characters digially but i print out character sheets i am to old school

[@justoutofframemoviereviews656]

giggity giggity goo. (war cry)

[@AJPickett]

PICKANIK BASKET!

[@ernestlam5632]

Seem related to yeti.

[@jasonsantos3037]

Yeah I know these guys are different but they still look like goddamn werewolves that's what I'm going to say

[@AJPickett]

Were-wolverines

[@ernestlam5632]

They could be infected with lycanthropy. Quaggoth gets bitten by werewolf. Becomes werewolf. No one notices any change.

[@earlrobinsoniii1829]

Love your work. Keep it up and thank you.

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

I understand you are a Forgotten Realms guy, but can you provide some more Greyhawk perspectives?

[@AJPickett]

Have you noticed more Greyhawk lore in my videos lately? 😊

[@jackiesantos2121]

Yeah I learned something from Doom always bring a shotgun with you or just like rage dovey rowdies creatures

[@aaronsmith2083]

You should just say.. weak yeti.

[@AJPickett]

That would be wrong though.

[@oz10great33]

Thanks man

[@ryuprimeus3719]

There no match for the werewolf.

[@johngleeman8347]

You could have a quaggoth werewolf!

[@AJPickett]

@@johngleeman8347 Yep, Quaggoth are not immune to Lycanthropy.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Yeah but a non psionic werewolf would have a problem facing a Thonat!

[@michaelkelligan7931]

0:42 😂

[@JinxTheloosecanon-tw7sr]

It’s Halsins ancestor!

[@RalphGrella]

Hey AJ, Great work as always, question: is there a place where you list your image references? I could freeze the video and screenshot them to reverse google search, but I'd rather not if you could help. TY again for the work you do.

[@AJPickett]

All of the images used in this video can be found on Pinterest, if you ever have a specific image you need a source for, just ask and I will be able to find it for you and post a reply.

[@RalphGrella]

Do you have a Pinterst board we could follow for them?

[@AJPickett]

@@RalphGrella Not for images, I used to be a lot more dedicated to posting video links there, but got zero traffic from it and so don't bother now.

[@RalphGrella]

any chance this you? www.pinterest.com/littlesculpture/

[@AJPickett]

@@RalphGrella That's me :)

[@davidfletcher6703]

I heard that the Drow word for Surface Elves is Darthir

[@AJPickett]

Fairy elves, yep

[@davidfletcher6703]

@@AJPickett, that and Sun-cursed race of traitors, lol

[@JinxTheloosecanon-tw7sr]

Or a Wookiee with mange

[@derrabbit7289]

There a player’s race for these guys?

[@fhuber7507]

Only if the DM is willing... and the PC is willing to be a hunted creature.

[@woodslore8537]

Had a player play as one before. They were the slave to the drow in the party.

[@AJPickett]

In 5th edition, there is no doubt some home brew stuff, in previous editions, Savage Species allowed you to play just about anything.. that Intelligence score though.. yikes!

[@jeremievivianagriffin9458]

You should do a video on quaggoth half breeds (quaggoth/hobgoblin).

[@humbertocobian4740]

I prefer a grimlock. But these are cool too.

[@magnuspedersen4211]

would it be possible to have a Quaggoth as a pet/companion, what do you guys think? I mean if the drow can domesticate them, then a party finding a baby Quaggoth should be able too right?

[@beatrixthegreat1138]

maybe but I recomend getting him fixed earlier so he'll be docile.

[@AJPickett]

Quaggoth playing fetch, often forget it was a stick you threw and come back with some other creatures leg.

[@zacharyhawley1693]

murder hobos no. A responsible party yes.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

You know, this really tests the Nature vs Nurture issue. Are the Quaggoth simplistic because they refuse to educate themselves or are they that way because they can’t be educated? If you raise it from birth, would it end up with an Int equivalent to that of a human or would it’s mental capacity be limited by its biology? As a DM, these details are up to you. But consider the moral implications of keeping a creature that is potentially as smart and sentient as you are as a pet. How would that effect the character’s alignment? Would the god of a Lawful Good Paladin still bestow it’s power to someone who’s keeping another being as a slave? Even if the Paladin believes the Quaggoth to be little more than a beast, the god would know better and still see this as an act of evil, unknowing evil but evil nonetheless.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

AJ Pickett There needs to be a Quaggoth Park in P&R Menzoberranzan that basically functions like a dog park.

[@Gworeldoreriverpass]

all my character sheets are on paper

[@jeremysmith9291]

Okay nothing wrong with that but what if I treated them all like lord byron or like beast from beauty and the beast all fancy and shit until they get stressed out which happens very easily so they're lack of intelligence and lack of a willingness to make tools comes from an indignant and impatient predisposition. like a race of people who think just like naked ass Beowulf thinking he has to defeat grendel without a weapon all by himself. That's the most gothic thing ever and that's how they deserve to be played. And the psyonic ones could be able to communicate with their dead ancestors through fragmented visions but they get along about aswell as Angelus(buffyverse) gets along with his father and hisself and everyone he loves. But this could still leave them with an almost romantic sentimentality about roaming the same place their ancestors once lived.

[@furkanzomer3982]

Ik ull be doing a different book once you are done with the monster manual, but please, please can ya do a video on the 4 types of Nightshades? Your Atropus video gave me inspiration and the will to start playing dnd as a dm Video 1 of asking

[@AJPickett]

You know, I see all these comments, or try to.

[@Plokman040]

You sure these things aren't furry Rancors?!! Blimey that size comparison Sketch really makes me think they are! Funnly enough in the RPG I am watching DMed by Monty Glu sister of Takahata101 (think I spelled it right, he is the dude who voiced Nappa in the DBZ Abridged and a cool guy IMHO) The Unexpectables they run into a ancient Druidic being (by which I mean the language it speaks is ancient Druid this creature is old but not as old as a Elf.) It is called Anje (sounds like the word On with the last syllable of orange shoved into it) it is a teal blue fur color and wears a bear skull attached to a pelt it wears over its head. Resembles these quite a lot but it is kind loves herding giant Goats (The Continent this is on in Monty's world is rife with wild magic, such as a cabbage that floats when you say lettuce, snow pulling a freaking Bone: Out from Boneville and falling all at once in a sheet of 2 feet puffy snow and Giant Chickens that if you smack them even by mistake a Rooster screams and you got the wildebeest chase from lion king running you down, thank goodness they are just as stupid as Green Koopas as they fell into a gorge full of spiky trees and were roasted by the party.) and attacked a Hag to save a baby! Despite how it looks it is too smart to be related to these things.

[@AJPickett]

It all tastes like giant mutant chicken. 'The Any-flavoured Meat'©

[@kikiblair5132]

I only only play in person with paper books, paper sheets, real dice and a battle board. I also still play 3.X.

[@NoNo-lt9bi]

Ok

[@thelastmavrick]

Obligatory were dragon comment

[@AJPickett]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJqceoxsYrOEZ6M Song Dragon, also known as the Were-Dragon. Now shush.

[@thelastmavrick]

@@AJPickett I will not be silenced

[@AJPickett]

@@thelastmavrick The Song Dragon IS the Were-Dragon. Officially. Anything else is homebrew. *sips tea* and I will not cover anything from the D&D Wiki

[@thelastmavrick]

@@AJPickett that explains why the info is so damn rare. Thank you

[@darthchocolate7911]

Dude looks like a Lycan...

[@AJPickett]

There is always one.

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

Ya my favorite bad race is the giants. Men have always been hardworking and honest. The elves eventually leave, and the giants look at the hardworking honest men and raid for thier supplies, all they did was get big and strong by fighting. Who cares about them. The elves can kill em

[@DedHedZed]

Miserable creatures.