D&D MONSTER RANKINGS - DEMONS (pt. 2)

continuing our journey into the Abyss ...
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Music
Ethan Meixsell
“By the Sword” “Thor’s Hammer” “The Coming Storm” “Vindicated” “Taking a Beating” “Pride Before the Fall”
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Licensed under Creative Commons - KZbin Audio Library

[@seanmcfadden3712]

How about a tier list of "final boss" monsters? The sort of big bads and/or ultimate threats that you save for the end of a campaign or story arc. Krakens, Beholders, Vampire lords and the Torrasque , to name a few.

[@BLIGHTROT666]

Sean McFadden So anything with legendary actions, basically?

[@seanmcfadden3712]

@@BLIGHTROT666 Maybe. I was thinking more about the role rather than mechanics.

[@lawaern3474]

I'd say the Tarrasque is less of a final boss and more of a natural disaster. I don't really think a good DM would use one as a big bad enemy that the party fights at the end of the adventure. I would say it would be better used as something to distract or run away from. I mean sure you CAN kill it, it's possible. But it's CR 30 for crying out loud, I don't think such a cr is supposed to be fought.

[@Knyex]

@@lawaern3474 The Book of the Tarrasque has an adventure centered around the tarrasque and it's really good. Also despite being CR 30, the Tarrasque is an easier fight than most Ancient Dragons.

[@juniperrodley9843]

@@Knyex Unless you factor in its literally infinite regen, but I think that really cheapens the encounter from a huge kind of raid boss fight to just "oops it's invincible better run."

[@chrism353]

TierZoo got weird.

[@BigTimeTony]

Top tier comment

[@someguynamedsomething9612]

Lul

[@asseating_mailman]

You won. I think this is _the absolute best_ comment ive ever seen't

[@nettlesandsnakes9138]

No, that’s the beast tier list; which hasn’t happened yet.

[@Porphyrogenitus1]

> Yochlol has Detect Thots Yes but when it is among Drow, this is going off all the time. Positive results everywhere!

[@Nr4747]

A very useful ability to have !

[@mikeoxlong1395]

@@Nr4747 NOt really, common sense will do you well in that regard. As our lord, Jesus Christ, said: "If she breathes she's a thot."

[@오주환-b1n]

You sure put the "lol" in "Yochlol".

[@abdoul5176]

@@mikeoxlong1395 😂 is that you in the pfp? You look harder than granite!

[@mikeoxlong1395]

@@abdoul5176 No, but as somebody else said in a comment from a while ago "that man looks daddy as fuck."

[@scream6671]

My GM linked just linked us this video and said "Be afraid be very afraid!" and now we are XD

[@esperthebard]

I wish you courage to face the coming darkness

[@erlanddrow7950]

Well Good Luck!

[@dicorockhimself]

I fucking love your dm lol

[@Gyverno_le_artist]

Rest in pieces

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

@DialatedPupils unless he just wanted them to have a general idea of how bad things CAN get - but takes things into an entirely different direction.

[@Frostman411]

CR is essentially a dead system when you apply numbers to it. Wizards admits this and typically goes with CR being more of a "recommended party level based on playtesting"

[@debreczeniarpad9956]

Maybe the playtesters where noobs?

[@حَسن-م3ه9ظ]

Lots of people use it wrong. Following CR generates a *medium* encounter, of a which a party can take *6-8 encounters a day*

[@clockworkpotato9892]

@@حَسن-م3ه9ظ does that mean between long rests?

[@حَسن-م3ه9ظ]

@@clockworkpotato9892 between long rests, with 2 short rests a day

[@clockworkpotato9892]

@@حَسن-م3ه9ظ ok

[@dank_smirk9971]

Lowest rank: moving corpse Highest rank: moving corpse … *wait*

[@boitata2617]

Oh boy, do I Tell him about the Undead ranking or do you?

[@GrumHellsong]

Rank the Demon Lords themselves ?

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

I don't think that would work as any ranking of the demon Lords would be temporary at best

[@MagickGOATee]

linguistically oversight 86 you're right one minute Demogorgon is a pain of madness and the next Jubilex is sliming it up 🍮

[@Hidden_Egg]

@@MagickGOATee Lol is that a flan emoji.

[@tiervexx]

Yeah, I would love to see a demon lord tier ranking. Much more so than devil Archdukes ranked. The fact that demon lords don't have a clear hierarchy among them makes it more interesting.

[@cynicthehedgehog385]

Dnd has corrupted my thoughts of everything fantasy, and its always funny watching stuff like charmed with these surface level lore where demons are just demons and its cool how you can always feel dnd in the dna of even the most mainstream (albeit interesting and emtertaining imho) media.

[@dreammirrorbrony1240]

"Keeping demons politically correct"... >_

[@thomasl1061]

*Laughs in Abyssal*

[@حَسن-م3ه9ظ]

What are you talking about?

[@АлександрДараган-з8ц]

Mortally challenged

[@ninelivesstealer]

>six arms >and a crushing snake tail h-hot

[@l0ker507]

I heard ghouls don't affect elves because their creator made them so. He was an elf who served Orcus so he was made into the first ghoul, but when he was in trouble Orcus was too busy to help so he asked the elven pantheon for help and they took pity on him, so he tweaked the ghoul curse to thank them. I don't know the source tho, ask AJ Pickett. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioDQhXibha1sbrs

[@Supernaught00]

AJ Pickett videos are awesome, good call.

[@Darknight4434]

Is what is said on the MM

[@zavexcapricious2519]

Rubens Martins de Carvalho yeah and I hate that he was too lazy to go and read that in the Monster Manual, I like the guy but jeez that's just lazy

[@Darknight4434]

I also didnt understand the "some say it" "some say that" It's lore on MM, is just there

[@GnarledStaff]

Rubens Martins de Carvalho “Some say that” can be a cop out allowing them to change this later, a way to make it sound more like lore (bad writing) or an implication that the statement is what people believe rather than what actually happened. It means that someone in game should know that lore- and that the DM can decide that is not what actually happened as long as he comes up with a good reason most knowledgeable nps would believe it. Its essentially saying “this is lore but may not be fact” and allowing DMs some leeway with interpretation.

[@kevingriffith6011]

I feel like the Balor was the ultimate expression of the 5E habit of simplifying monsters to make the more managable, with everything good and bad that comes with it. The creature is certainly a lot easier to run as part of a large encounter, being effectively this big batleship of a monster that takes big swings and wades in to the party to maximize it's fire aura, but apart from it's natural true-sight shutting down a fair number of magical options, the Balor itself doesn't have much in the way of options. In 3.5, by comparison, the Balor had utility in Greater Dispel Magic, Telekenesis(As a free action 3 times per day), and Unholy Aura... potential to kill (or effectively kill) at range with Fire Storm, Dominate Monster, Insanity, Power Word: Stun and Implosion.... it could summon other demons (Including another Balor), it's sword instant-kills targets on critical hits with it's vorpal property... the list goes on and on and on. Like a lot of high-level 3.5E monsters, they are strategically multi-faceted, but riddled with redundancy (do you really need power word: Stun, Blasphemy, Insanity *and* dominate monster at will?) Were I re-writing demons in 5e (Something I might have to do), I'd try to aim for a balance between the two, putting some of the meat back into the Balor but trimming back on the excesses that might make the beast a little hard to manage, especially in conjunction with other demons that also have exotic spell like abilities.

[@Klaital1]

Most monsters don't last more than a couple rounds in combat, so they don't really need to have 26 different innate spells to cast, plus it's really easy for the DM to add some spells that fit what they have in mind for the encounter.

[@kostaskladis6665]

In my world you can find Sibryaxes in various planes at random, they are exploring the planes, spreading the chaos of the abyss while gaining more knowledge

[@Frostman411]

I wouldn't call censorship of the Marilith being "politically correct". It's just censorship. A lot of parents don't want their kids seeing nudity, and whether we like it or not DnD is also targeted for children. I will agree that America has too many hangups when it comes to boobs.

[@staticcharm3808]

Frostman411 To be fair, nerds, who are the main fanbase of D&D, have too much of an interest in boobs and sexualizing female characters

[@oximofo9]

@@staticcharm3808 This is about 99% of the reason.

[@elijahdavila3684]

@@staticcharm3808 Glad someone said it.

[@АлександрДараган-з8ц]

Sometimes armour only adds to the badassery of the monster. Provided the armour in question is convincing and functional (and aesthetically good).

[@alexanderrogers4557]

I just have a thing for the balor. It get my top "just plain cool" stamp of any monster, but i do agree with your ranking of the base balor

[@derpman2029]

i made a post already explaining stats and tactics, but balors are the lords of hell. in classic dnd and 3.5, you dont fight them, you run. they took everything away from them. unless your party is level 18-20, you dont stand any kind of chance at all. just read the 3.5 entry. its sad what they did to them, like what is the point anymore if your going to make it so mundane? these things are 2nd only to gods of hell. some of them ARE gods!

[@darksoulsss2618]

If the balor just had better lore it would be so much higher on the list.. because the balor is pretty much the coolest looking demon..

[@ivanschweizer9146]

@@derpman2029 did the Molydeus not exist in 3.5?

[@TheFirstLanx]

"Oh shit! A marilith!" -Our party two sessions ago. She carved the barbarian up pretty good in the one round before he heroically wrestled her back into her prison. Even through the rage he took more than half his hp in damage. (we were 11th level) The Marilith is one of those creatures that offers an amazing base to add things on to. They have an evocative aesthetic, several diverse roles they lend themselves to story-wise and an incredible statblock that can create some really memorable creatures if you give them some class levels. Need a Marilith to serve as your demon lord's greatest bodyguard? Give her some abjuration wizard/sorceror levels to counter EVERY party member's spellcast and be really hard to kill to boot! Need a Marilith to corrupt the King and pervert his court? Give a Marilith some levels in bard to disguise herself and bend everyone to her whim. She'll be far harder to excorcise than a mere succubus. Need a Marilith to represent the primal fury of the abyss and lead the hordes from the front? Give her a few levels of barbarian. The extra resistances and damage to all attacks turn her into a terrifying teleporting monster of a meatblender! (also 20AC from unarmoured defence+parry) Need a Marilith to be a master assassin? Give her a few rogue levels, and use her teleport to catch her victims entirely by surprise. Her tail can guarantee sneak attack, and as people flee from her in terror she'll be able to make an opportunity attack with sneak on every single one of them! Need a creature to be elusive, yet deadly? Need it to pick the characters apart one by one using the terrain and party's positioning to its advantage? Well she can do that even without class levels, but some monk fits it quite well =P My biggest gripe with them is actually that they're such a high CR. It means they'll hardly ever come into play and if you give them such tweaks and customisations that a demon only one step down from the Balor deserves, then they quickly rise in power to the point of being unreasonable to use in a group of demons, as they really should be. I prefer to run them with a bit fewer base HD and the longsword attacks counted as coming from a medium creature rather than a large one, then giving them some class levels to put them to about the CR they have in the book, but with a unique individuality.

[@SampoPaalanen]

You could use one as "greater evil" for lesser demons or a cult in session where the characters aren't capable of easily handling such high CR monster, especially with veteran players who know how dangerous a marilith is and it's not just a name in a sourcebook.

[@AlgaeNymph]

Need an elemental boss monster? Give her a fire template and call her Kary.

[@oneleghendo5239]

“The Quasit is not very smart, with only an intelligence of 7, so I don’t see it making any plans...” *my 6INT Barbarian being the key battle tactician for the group*

[@Lordmewtwo151]

How did you manage that?

[@l.psimer6124]

Your playing his stats wrong but that's not the worst.

[@Lordmewtwo151]

@@l.psimer6124 To be fair, *someone* in the gaming group has to be the battle tactician, and if none of the other players including the guy playing the 18 INT Wizard can do it...

[@oneleghendo5239]

@@l.psimer6124 i definitely did not play his stats wrong…

[@necromion13]

Sadly my favorite demon in dnd hasnt made the cut yet. But, i keep hoping that they will add the klurichir to 5e

[@Varatho]

Look at that bell curve.

[@exomancer3632]

Fitting for creatures of chaos.

[@critsfreaks9970]

Monstrosity tier ranking

[@guilhermereinaldo1104]

My favorite

[@RokuroCarisu]

I want to see if the Owlbear would land in F-tier.

[@mestre12]

I want elementals

[@someguynamedsomething9612]

Owlbear s tier

[@Skullofdarkness1]

When talking about the wastrilith, my mind immediately went to TFS At The Table, and the potential ramifications had the DM there pulled this out earlier with a mimic ship and a merman as a part of the crew. Sadly both have been retired. :(

[@an0rangutan]

It's funny because this was uploaded as I'm watching the first part

[@howlingarmadillo]

If your video has one improvement that I could mention, I think in the name of Chaotic Demons, you should start screaming really loudly at random intervals throughout. This way your voice won't soothe me to sleep anymore.

[@coyraig8332]

I think you'd prefer Davvy Chappy

[@SquirrelGamez]

The dregloths put the LOL in Lolth. Also I can confirm my reaction to seeing a Marilith in a game was "Oh shit a marilith!"

[@Nightingale1986]

I met Nabassu once. In a village near Baldur's Gate. It was an F-tier. F for "Freaking Overpowered".

[@wesleyvalk9129]

Wastrilith should be top tier, that thing is just what I like in monsters, everything is SPOT ON, best demon in this list by far! (Apart for my favorite Marilith of course)

[@raphaelgomes402]

I remember when I used the molydeus in a game I DM'd. The players got hold of a mysterious golden bottle decorated with ancient runes warning people not to open it. However, one of the NPCs that were following them wanted to prove himself after a few shortcomings and did it in order to slay whatever would come out of it. They were aboard a skyship, it was night and the party woke up due to a blood-churning roar. A molydeus stood on deck fighting the NPCs. He screamed that he was free - Zkarrnak, the Defiler was free at last and the party would be his first meal in eons. At this point, the party was all comprised of high-level characters with gestalt levels. Almost nothing scared them, but this guy did. They watched with horror when he decapitated the centaur barbarian and used telekinesis to hurl the paladin (the same NPC that wanted to prove himself) overboard. Not only that, but the fight ended up messing with the airship, they lost control of it and nearly crash landed on a city, killing hundreds of people. The demon, watching the destruction he had inflicted, teleported away. It took the swordmage - a teleportation specialist - to conjure up all of his power in order to teleport the whole ship away to a safer location. The molydeus went on to wreak havoc in a battlefield and years later, I would play as a character that was majorly influenced by it. He was a viking-like barbarian who got wrecked by the demon and lost his ability to walk and speak. He got shunned by his prideful society, but was taken care of by his family. One day, however, he was visited by a featureless humanoid, with a vein-ridden body. The creature startled his family and they took to arms. But it did not attack - it just stood there, facing my character. And when it did, my character stood up and spoke "This is my fylgja. This is my spirit". Everyone was suspicious of this "fylgja", but it did help my character recover. He trained himself in order to become a warrior again and ventured off into the world so he could prove himself worthy. Now, as he leveled up, the fylgja would assume strange characteristics (my character was a pathfinder summoner and the fylgja was his eidolon): claws, a snake-like tentacle coming out of its neck, a wolf-like maw, powerful muscles... my character was too enamored with this "fylgja" to realize that it was slowly, but surely turning into the demon that broke him so many years prior! The Defiler was defeated in that battlefield, exorcised by several priests. My character did not see that, he was already knocked out cold. He did not see the demon's essence appear to vanish from this world and did not even feel a part of it enter his body and use it as a vessel in order to return to this Material Plane. All this to say that, yeah... the Molydeus is awesome.

[@ThorDog81]

too many of the problems you show are just general problems with the 5E mindset that everything should be super easy on players and no one should ever lose a character under any situation. more a flaw in that system i think.

[@TeddyXGarm]

I just love the Glabrezu and Draegloth... wonder under what circumstances there was a story were you could rp as a Draegloth

[@zoroarkking18]

I'm not a regular viewer of yours, so I can only assume this joke is as old as your channel, but this video gave me (bardic) inspiration, so thank you.

[@memebasterd1080]

Nalfeshnee looks like me when im hungry

[@stripeybag6977]

Remember everyone if you see demons you must be worse.Rip and tear til it is done.Rip and tear. Also can we get celestials next? Get a nice holier than though attitude going.

[@Kainlarsen]

I have little experience of playing DnD as it originally was, but through my experience of games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, I've learned to not piss about when a Marilith shows up.

[@itamarlevin3543]

Actually u where pronauncing dybbuk corectly it is how its pronounced in hebrew

[@esperthebard]

Thanks, I checked the pronunciation when I was recording and tried to do it justice

[@kevinsmith9013]

Watch "a serious man" hilarious dybbuk scene

[@dakotacross1519]

@@esperthebard good things this game has its own dm be creative and make changes to monster!

[@dakotacross1519]

@@esperthebard my dm idea is that great good and evil champions are just up and dying and have a rather unique 8 orbs around a giant one tattoo on them appearing. your team is sent to investigate a disturbance on some mountain some npcs have nicknamed the Balanced Equilateral. you see that the village has some rather odd townsfolk as in races beings good and evil are just helping one another. before reaching the top the mountain explodes releasing some divine energy of good and evil chaotic and orderly. the gods of old and new both alignments seek this energy it smashes them all into the ground it scans the deities and sees bahamut and tiamat first. its takes form as a dragon humanoid with 9 alignment orbs arounds its neck it speaks and says its a being of netruality and there followers were chosed by fate to die. all the gods strike only to feel as if they punched themselves this being says it is a fusion of their many powers and blood from many battles and seeks to maintain order by preserving knowledge it disappears into a portal and gone. but it leaves a door for ur group open to a grey like plain of wonders of endless cities and skylines and as you go through the thoughts of violence go away and your tour of the Nine Realms of Alignment begin! basically its a world where many good and evil monster have fallen out of favor of thier gods and worship this new king and the main race guarding the plains are dragonkin but with fancy cloths each color of the alignments. you tour what makes each alignment special and see the other 8 mini realms in all their glory as guest of this new god! from the brutal Plain of Anarchy to the Militaristic world of the Tyrants. from the Holy Realm of Sanctimonious. to the funny and peaceful realm of Peace and Tranquility. each one guarded by the alignment version of these new dragonkin like people from the Warmongers to the Zealots from the Glories to the Peaces. each one will show what makes the alignment special a tour of the Bloodsports Arena or the Military Death Training Halls or the Court of Harmony or the Enjoyments of Life. each realm represents its people and each represent this new Neutral God. while you'll find mortal and immortals now serving this new god as well

[@Pugiron]

Been out of D&D for a long, long time. Are Succubi not demons anymore?

[@dicorockhimself]

Their devils

[@patheronaetherson2860]

Succubi/Incubi are Neutral Evil, and fall into the category of fiends that are neither devils nor demons. Hence, they were included in the miscellaneous fiends tier.

[@verdandex]

Love your tier vids. I wish I could afford to be in your patreon. In case you're reading could you do fae tier video? I feel that they're pretty underestimated and unappreciated as far as D&D monsters go.

[@esperthebard]

Thanks Gustav! I'm looking into doing dragons, fey, and monstrosities

[@firstpersonforge]

22:00, Esper admits he wishes the snake women would get their chebs out.

[@dorkseid5874]

I've been waiting for this part 2 as I'm working on a campaign based on the infighting between Vecna and Orcus (and their followers) as they plot to destroy the Raven Queen. I call it the Devil's Triangle. But it's going to feature a lot of undead, demons, and devils.

[@Jpteryx]

Luci from Disenchantment reminds me very strongly of a Quasit, and the next time I feature one I'm definitely borrowing some inspiration from him.

[@MacTruckBrickHouse]

These videos were great fro my new demon hunting character to drop some role playing demon knowledge on the rest of the table

[@w415800]

fun fact: Sibriex is actually an Obyrith, not a Tana'ri.

[@amiablereaper]

Oooh, that's really helpful for the campaign I'm planning!

[@psychosmit5258]

Friend: “Dude wants to bone a snake lady wtf!?!” Me:”Well he is a bard.”

[@lunatic0verlord10]

13:50 Well watching this (and some of your other monster rankings videos) does give ideas. For example, creating named characters from monsters and giving them slightly higher stats and additional tricks to make them stand out from the rest. For example, a Nalfeshnee who can actually cast spells. Or a Balor who is a walking LotR references (like attacking players on a bridge and starting the fight by saying *YOU SHALL NOT PASS* and stuff like that).

[@adviel]

Do a video on the D&D gods.

[@TheFirstLanx]

Gods tier rankings!

[@MrDe4dGuy34]

He'd have to divide it up by settings and possibly pantheons, but I'd like to see that too.

[@josephreynolds1220]

Really love that old planscape art. Nice job with the gnoll and infected village stories on the last one.

[@derpman2029]

This is the balor in 3.5 they are the lords of hell, not meant to be killed, maybe by a full party of 20th level characters. 290 HP flaming vorpal great sword+1(in one hand) (it can cast greater magic weapon at will, caster level 20, so just assume it has already cast it and has +5 sword and whip) auto kill on a natural 20 (the sword turns to dust when the balor dies) +1(+5) vorpal longsword +31(+35)/+26(+30)/+21(+25)/+16(+20) melee (2d6+8(+12)/19-20) and +1 flaming whip +30(+34)/+25(+29) melee When it dies it deals 100 damage explosion, dc 30 reflex for half. Its body flames do 6d6 damage to anything grappled, and it grapples you with its whip. Spells at will *Blasphemy: anything in 40 ft level 15 or lower gets Dazed: The creature can take no actions for 1 round, though it defends itself normally. Weakened: The creature’s Strength score decreases by 2d6 points for 2d4 rounds. Paralyzed: The creature is paralyzed and helpless for 1d10 minutes. No save *Power word stun: no save, if you have 150 hp or less, your stunned *It casts unholy arua and greater magic weapon before combat. Unholy aura: 1d6 str damage to attacker when hit, +4 ac +4 saves, and 25 magic res *Insanity DC 25 *Telekenesis DC23 *dominate monster at save DC 27! Spells 1/day *Implosion: it looks at you, fort save or die. It can concentrate for up to 4 rounds and kill one target a round (usually it will fly around and do this after incapacitating any casters or ranged fighters) 20d6 firestorm now imagine fighting two at a minimum, they always gate in a friend, 100% chance and it doesn't take a round, no other demons gate can do this. They nerfed the balor to make it killable. Look at the original 2nd edition version and the 3.5. I cant believe they took away the vorpal sword, this is the most badass demon in the book. It's the classic example of a monster that you don't fight. EVER! its like trying to fight a tarasque, you always run. Its like they want you to kill it in 5th that kinda makes me sick (I guess some poor nerd needs a self esteem boost). there should be things so challenging it takes a miracle to kill them, or even survive. That's what makes it special. no one fights them, they just talk about them. Now their just mundane, like you said, a boring brute. These are the LORDS OF HELL! second only to a GOD (and i believe some have ascended to godhood)

[@calzonestry4429]

You should do a construct ranking

[@adamthepanda00]

Totally agree. The only problem is there are very few constructs outside of simply golems so it would likely be quite a short video.

[@maxblake5564]

This may be a little embarrassing, but I had an “ Oh, shit…” moment once when I was informed of an in-campaign infestation of lowly Intellect Devourers. I may jokingly refer to them as Brain Frogs, but I am also terrified of them.

[@greyfox999]

I still have nightmares about the Marilth. Six vorpal blades is just unfair.

[@CaptmagiKono]

Could a Dybbuk possess the corpse of another Dybbuk?

[@mjolnirsoul9214]

Marilith wasn't censored in first edition, succubus was for some reason

[@jakemoonwolf1079]

I threw a balor at my level 5/6 party. I straight up told them they shouod run away. I'll give you three guesses what they did.

[@ironmuro]

I usually combine Devil/demons/fiends in my setting. I know it may break some of the dnd native lore, but the idea of kinda crafting my own fiendish army using factions/creatures from all three is just too alluring to me. Is this normal? I am not as well versed in DnDs native lore as I would like to be.

[@I-VisiBomb-I]

actually, as someone who's talking fluid Hebrew, you pronounced Dybbuk correctly. and the name actually refers to 'sickness of the mind' or 'possession'.

[@manuelcamara6400]

Marilith+6 Vorpal Swords=Instant-Superboss.

[@williethenerfherder2193]

*busts out plate mail immune to slashing damage*

[@manuelcamara6400]

@@williethenerfherder2193 😂

[@khalidkhothiwale4124]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 its a shame that a slime weakend demons have more cr then brutes and high strength monsters

[@ashvandal5697]

I'm not really sure how you missed the succubus. Other than she should be a devil, but alas, she's a demon and somehow you forgot her.

[@esperthebard]

Succubus is in my Fiends Ranking, in 5E this monster is neither devil nor demon

[@ashvandal5697]

@@esperthebard Welp, shows what I know.

[@soulslvr9562]

Dude.... The Nalfeshnee looks like Gannon from legend of Zelda if he had little itty bitty wings

[@eeksgames1800]

Another good video. I love learning about these monsters. It helps keep us inspired too.

[@sblower9410]

1:30 those look like the gray demons in the anime: Seven deadly Sins! I wonder...

[@vindicareassassin271]

Could you do lawful good creatures next please cuz I don't know that many and I really want to make a D&D session where the players have to fight lawful good creatures

[@Dachimotsu]

Did you remember to adjust the Nabassu's effective HP and AC for things like resistance, immunity, and various abilities like its Magic Resistance, etc.?

[@Bluecho4]

Exactly. The stuff on that chart in the DMG is only half the process, when determining CR. People always forget the fiddly bits.

[@LuCa8_]

I assume the balor are like rip off balrogs from lord of the rings

[@RokuroCarisu]

Could you rank familiars sometime? Or character subclasses?

[@RedwoodTheElf]

And don't underestimate how scary that Soul Devouring thing is. That's a "No resurrection Possible" demise there. If Stormbringer and Mournblade existed in AD&D, they would be transformed Nabassu. And I like the Nalfashnee encounter described over at Puffin Forest: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKPGqaKVaN1phbs

[@samgafford2371]

They are rage, brutal, unyielding. But you, you will be far worse. Rip and tear, until it is done

[@SnuubScadoob]

I've notice that I can, by and large, ignore the CR system.

[@dreadmaelstrom1010]

In my party that 'Oh shit' moment is whenever a Tarrasque is revealed. One notable moment is when the DM had a linear path set but the group wanted to go to the lake by following a path on the side. A Tarrasque emerged from the lake essentially yawned and walked off into the woods in the opposite direction as a clear message from the DM to get back on track.

[@carsonrush3352]

Beware spoilers of A- and B- Tier! B Tier: Maurezhi, Draegloth, Glabrezu, Marilith, and Dybbuk. A Tier: Yochlol, Molydeus, and Sibriex.

[@stripeybag6977]

I recall a messed up thing my Lore Master Wizard did to a Sibriex. Me- "Hey I've come to kill you." Sibriex- "Oh really? Okay go ahead." Me- "Wait what?" Sibriex- "Yeah go ahead and kill me. My life sucks anyways." Me- "Oh come on it can't be that bad can it?" Sibriex- "Are you kidding me look at me! I'm a giant disgusting floating head and the only reason anyone comes to see me is either to ask me something or kill me. Hell you're not even the first person today! I'm just done with this shit man." Me- "Oh come on. I'm sure if you got out of the Abyss you'd probably be able to find a friend or two. Hell people on the material plane might rever you like a god or make you a celebrity or something. You know just get out there live and stuff." Sibriex-"Hey you know what you're right! Oh man today is a new day for Grorblokapsh!" Me- "Oh wait never mind cause I'm sort of funding an iron golem and I need the gold so yyyeeeeaah. Radiant Swords! (Meteor Swarm but radiant damage) By the way gl on your dex save cause I changed it up too." And that was the last we ever heard of Grorblokapsh because he was obviously wiped from existence via a giant sword of light crushing him to death. But that Golem I got was awesome and I do like riding it's back plus I got a cool encounter with a Druid latter cause of it.

[@montezuma0000]

You've worked so hard on this run, maybe do an easy category like Oozes!

[@RedwoodTheElf]

How about a Rankings video for all monsters capable of impersonating others (Yochlol, Kitsune, Dopplegangers, Dybbuk, Succubi, etc.)

[@SophiaAphrodite]

Not showing nudity isn't PC culture. It's simply American culture. Long before the term "PC" was invented.

[@JackCaliber]

First player who wants to play a female drow, imma try and convince them to play a yochlol instead and keep it a secret from the other players as long as possible.

[@АлександрДараган-з8ц]

Regarding the Marilyth I guess it would be only logical for a CQB combatant to use armour (functional armour, not a chainmail bra). Just imagine a six armed combination of battle prowess, tactical acumen, finesse, combat pragmatism, efficiency and style. Come on, these ladies are not here to seduce. They have a battle objective and wits and skills and gear to match. Compare with the SoB in WH40k. No fanservice armour there as well, only death and fiery destruction.

[@wolfoflight]

The dybbuk is in the miniseries legend of earthsea from sci-fi if I remember correctly and it was rather interesting.

[@bardssinisterstories2607]

I PERSONALLY love demons. My players aren't too picky about stories, they just wanna smash in the faces of increasingly badass beasts. Although they still do enjoy a good story. Earlier today my players cast awaken using a scroll on a tarrasque (I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO IT ON MONSTROCITIES BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS COOL SO I LET THEM) and the dracolich guarding the tarrasque had a boss fight. It was 2 level 5 characters vs an ancient red dracolich with 4 skeletons and 2 wights. The tarrasque however aided them in the fight and stomped the dracolich as they handled the mob of undead. It was fun.

[@_Yomoholo_]

were is the sucubus on this list?

[@kgmotte2363]

Fairly Certain he Didn't Include them because they're not Classified as Demons in 5e.... Though they Totally should have been in there Considering they've been Demons for the Rest of D&D Editions and Have the most Unique Traits among Demons, what with their Ability to play the Long Con Slowly Spreading Dissent and chaos among the mortals they Pretend to be... Nevermind the Fact that they have the Built in abilities to Create more Demons in a Number of ways: 1, Corrupting Mortals Better and more effectively than ANY other type of Demon in order to Have something else Cause the Chaos they love so much, and then eventually Said Corrupted Mortal's Soul Goes Straight to the Abyss to become a Demon upon their Death... 2, Actually BREEDING More Demons from their Beyond Numerous Affairs with Mortals, Be it as Mothers who take the Seed of Men to Bring it back to the Abyss to be incubated into any Kind of Demon they want, or by Shape-shifting into Men to Impregnate Women who are in for a MEAN Surprise when Jr. Pops out with Horns, a Tail and the Odor of Sulfur (which oddly enough is less than Half the time a Half-Fiend, and more often a Full Demon, Half-Fiends only really happen from Succubi Breeding when the Succubus WANTS them to for whatever Reason)... 3. The Soul Draining Kiss, which the Succubus does NOT Eat, but rather Directly sends to the Abyss to be instantly turned into a LEAST Demon like a Quasit or Dretch (Results of this method are FAR weaker than any other at a Succubus' Disposal, so it's Preferable to them to Take the Long Route to Properly Corrupting mortals).... 4. Make someone they Corrupted Sacrifice Other people to the Abyss, which Usually only gives Maggots, but hey, Currency has it's Uses, and it's one less Soul for the Celestial planes to Claim so Win/Win for the Succubus or it's Master... 5. then there was that Succubus Specific Prestige Class form 3e Fiend of Corruption (From the Fiend Folio), Specifically Designed to Damn Mortals as absurdly Fast as possible, with Dark Gifts such as Demonic Grafts and Granting Wishes in return for the Recipient's Soul...

[@dantefiore8442]

They're devils

[@kgmotte2363]

@@dantefiore8442 Succubi were Never Classified as Devils, in All older Editions of D&D (Including Pathfinder), they Were Demons, and in 5e they are Simply Fiends, Neither Devils or Demons

[@carsonrush3352]

@@kgmotte2363 I believe they were classified as devils in 4e, and then were removed from both camps for 5e.

[@PungiFungi]

Somewhere along the line the game designers got it wrong. Erinyes, being Lawful, would be corruptors. The whole point of the Hells is to have mortal commit to evil freely. Succubi, being Chaotic, would be rapists.They don’t wait around, they used their charm powers and take what they want and move on.

[@cthulhu6697]

Like the way you put the names of Slayer songs for you demonic hierarchy, that makes an old metal head smile :) If, for some reason, I played a pens and paper version of that game, I would put he demonic divine into their proper ranks, add some noble demons you didn't mention ( like King Paimon, King Purson, Marquise Orias, Crown Prince Lucifer, Azazel, Dagon [he's an evil/dark/chaotic demon], Lucifuge Rofacal, Bael, Baeleth, Crown Prince Levithan, President Orobas, Grand Duke Dantalion, etc....... ). King Paimon, for example, commands 200 legions. Half of them are of the order of angels and half are of the order of Potentates (Powers ); his powers should reflect that in game. Oh, BTW, circles don't repel entities, they attract them. I would also add the Enns ( words of calling, invitation and respect to a demon. E.G. Lucifer's is Renich tasa uberrica biasa icar Lucifer). Good choice on the Slayer titles,are you a fan?

[@Teriblthundrlzrd]

Haha...Slayer songs. The ranking list. Nice touch

[@PungiFungi]

The original Monster Manual featured the best depiction of a marilith: topless and cantankerous.

[@wesleyvalk9129]

You are so right about the marilith lol, why are Americans so afraid of nipples? That is so pathetic. Anyway, the art for the Marilith in 5th edition is UGLY and BORING, no offence to the artist, but that isn't my Marilith at all, my marilith is more like the one from 4th edition! Btw, I'm gay myself, but I still wouldn't mind seeing succubi and marilith less armored and more sexy, it suits these creatures so well!

[@wesleyvalk9129]

I always loved the Glabrezu, but I never understood why they made the Balor large, and the Glabrezu huge... I would turn that around, the Glabrezu being huge takes away the magic for me. Have you seen the movies the Wishmaster? I think the Glabrezu is like a demonic Genie/Djinn type monster, its wishes will always end up badly for the poor wishing person/creature and eventually leads to it's downfall or even death.

[@That80sGuy1972]

The idea behind the Nalfeshnee and other outer planar creatures with wings that don't logically work for their size is an illustration of how wings of outerplanar beings work, they don't really use physics by structure, they manipulate the environment supernaturally relative to how their nature is... no matter the size, no matter the surface area... so wraith (no material) and skeletal (low material) wings still work as they should. As for the lack of lore with demons, I believe that was intentional. Their history is pure chaos, each one, each "organized" loremaster, has their own version of Abyssal lore. If you, as a DM, want lore with the DM, it's your job to just make it up... and it will be true, or as true as it gets, for all demons. And, each demon template, is not standard. No two demons are alike. A bunch of the same type of demons together will be very distinct from one another. Many even change how they look over time. So, who's artistic expression of each demon is correct? All of them.

[@curtisfranzen986]

I enjoyed this very much. However, I felt that Balrog's (not just Balor) were too low on the list. Further, may I ask a question? When, in DND did Balrog's become Balors? Balor is 1of the 6. Are the other original Balrog's dead?

[@frankacciarito6099]

I think your downplaying Balors too much, 5e nerfed them but older editions they had more powers including gating in basically any other demon, they are hyper intelligent, genius generals and the ultimate corrupters. Wendonai a Balor that is Lloths champion was single-handedly responsible for corrupting all the dark elves! That’s some plotting!

[@catfeldman3614]

would love to see a ranking of the demon lords from oota/mtof

[@Delgen1951]

I remember grating a Quzite(Sorry my dyslexia is defending spell checker today) calle R. restbests Q, who was a insane ninja Quzite Rouge who would popup to pester the party on occasions and do stuff as staring down a Paladin and look around the party and open his book of Ninge , Which was a blank book by the way, flip a few pages and draw his finger down the page like he is reading something and slam the book closed and say in one case " Book of Ninge say, ninge always takes something of victim in a low voice while looking at each party member, and stared at the Paladin player who was not paying attention at the time, and as the player looked up as saw R.Restbestis looking at him, when R. Restbestis Screamed "Ninje Always takes something of his Victim and leaps onto the paladin and pulled his feet out from under him and the paladin falled his dex check and fell on his back the rest of the party was monetary frozen in surprise at this , R. Restbestis then pulled of the left boot of the Paladin and then pulled off the left sock and took a deep whiff of it and put it on his left ear and screamed at the top of his voice "Ninge always takes something from his victim", and vanishes into thick air. Needlessly the party was on edge the rest of the night. R. Restbestis Q would show up from time to time thereafter, and the party would always try to out smart him, most often falling, I knew my players quite well.

[@alexhurst8649]

I'm watching this two years after it came out and only know a little about dnd but really? A balor as your top tier C rank? All I hear is you bitching about these creatures not having enough lore. Oooooooooooo. He has plenty of lore?! He's an actual creature of lore? Oh but let's put a cr fucking 1 right before him makes sense. There's a reason he's a cr 19 like what?

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

My guess for the reason that the HP of various demons are lower than expected has to do with various summoning spells - particulalry to ensure a summoned demon isn't necessarily a complete party wipe if getting out of control but leaving the PCs a chance to take it out before they are all killed off. Likewise it serves to ensure that a summoned demon isn't an I-WIN card for the summoner as it could otherwise be easily abused. That way opponents also have a chance to defeat the demon in question and make such a summoning spell more of a diversion than a strategy for winning a given battle outright.

[@wesleyvalk9129]

I don't really understand why you like these random spells put on the Babau? Heat metal? What does that have to do with the theme they went for? I mean, give that poor demon more blood based and more stealth-based abilities, they are assassin-blood demons after all, I would love for the babau to have the ability to animate corpses with their blood-like ooze, or use their own blood to create weapons with (like Skarlet from Mortal Kombat does) or drain the blood of other creatures through their hollow fingers and turn that blood into blood-ooze like minions, the Babau has so much potentional, but all they do is give it random abilities that suit other creature more, like heat-metal suits the Salamander, not the babau.

[@Lolgun2]

honestly for the quasit i think baldur's gate did it better, making it almost look like a spikey red and green sphinx cat thingy, who also has the personality of being overly excitable at terrible acts, and even directly lying to cause more chaos

[@Rex10111]

....has anyone ever done a Dibbuk possessing a dragon? Sounds like it could be pretty scary....provided You can actually do that in-game, haven't played much DnD myself to know

[@garrettk67]

I feel Like an A or B tier is missing. That being Krokek'toek. He has a massive hp pool can vomit up plenty of demons to even the action economy. He might not have the roleplay potential but I definitely think he puches above his weight class with the disgorge ability.

[@soulbrothanumbuh3200]

I had to stop the video after you got on your political soapbox whining about nudity, I don't care, I'm watching a video about D&D demons if I wanted halfassed political opinions I'd read Austrian Economics.

[@wesleyvalk9129]

Nabassu I never liked, they remind me too much on the much cooler Gargoyles and especially the Barghest, which also eat souls and grow into different monsters after they ate enough souls, the Nabassu looks just like a standard winged demon with the abilities of the Barghest, made somewhat stronger, not a fan.

[@Frydaddyj84]

Balor also have a chance to summon one or more of a number of different lesser demons. The highest of which being a goristro. I actually ran a high level one shot a few weeks back and used a balor as my big bad. I did give him legendary actions and resistances though, and a few spells. My PC's were level 17 so I had to make it tougher.

[@notawarpspawn2107]

I was a dm in a game where one of my players managed to take a marilith as a wife. I was going to make so she would slowly try to corrupt the party and town they had but nope. The player tried to convince/suduce her so I made him roll with disadvantage. Both of them were fucking 20s. We played a camping based in the same setting and we were doing some homebrew classes/subclasses. A demon bloodline for the sorcerer was one of them so you can put the rest together

[@wesleyvalk9129]

Nalfeshnee I never cared for as well, the tiny wings are so annoying for some reason, I can't unsee them, they should leave them off the creature, the creatures abilities are also random, like the colorful nova attack? Wtf? What does that have to do with this intelligent demon at all? This demon is too random for me, with the quasit, Manes, Nabassu my least favorite of demons.

[@georgemercer402]

1. Mr. Tolkien did justice to the Balor 2. The yuan-ti might consider Mariliths to be goddesses 3. Only one thing comes to my mind when I see a Sibriex: Kraang