Dungeons and Dragons: Leucrotta

[@Zasek2112]

I imagine some Leucrotta hate gnolls, seeing the human in them. I also imagine some gnolls hate Leucrotta, seeing the curse in themselves.

[@AJPickett]

Correct

[@DungeonDad]

It consistently blows my mind how often I’ll be researching a monster for a potential video only to see it site up here the next day. It’s uncanny! Anyways, these guys are awesome

[@AJPickett]

I knew you'd say that 😄

[@purplehaze2358]

Personally, I would have preferred if they were sadomasochists that respond to the pain of both themselves and others with maniacal, ungodly laughter seeing as the whole voice mimicry thing originates from the noises hyenas make being misidentified as laughter.

[@LSDireWolf]

Nice I just got off work, and can now relax listening to some lore from my favorite sage!

[@nohface4544]

perfect to introduce to a campaign as a stalker, high perception checks giving glimpses of shadows. Until the party hears a favorite npc calling for them (even better if you write down the initial introduction and repeat it)

[@cernunnos_lives]

You know what's funny? The ancient ancestors that whales evolved from, are very much like what this creature looks like. Whales came from smart, hoofed carnivores, that had a huge bite. You should check it out? And I think the legend may have come from preserved fossil remains from Pakistan and Northern India. It's exactly where they find these fossils.

[@chadlynch1551]

Another example of a monster with not really overwhelming stats or abilities, but when you take into account and use their lore/ecology, make for very interesting foes. Numbers and game mechanics are essential, but it's good story telling that make a game worth playing. You have to have a good (as in interesting) bad guy for there to be a good story.

[@spoon1710]

Fun facg: hyenas make the laughing sound when nervous or afraid

[@keithwinget3450]

A few years ago, I watched Locrius Planetoid's video on Leucrotta. You'd get a kick out of it AJ. I can link it if requested. It's very entertaining. They also did Aurumvorax, and that the first time I had heard of either. Your videos are a lot more informative, though.

[@AJPickett]

*Elrond Voice* I was there Keith, 3000 years ago... in fact Locrius and I did a collab video along with Arthur Kidawa from World of Monsters. I miss Locrious, he is a hell of a fun guy for a space goblin.

[@keithwinget3450]

@@AJPickett Awesome, also a lot has changed in 3000 years, hasn't it? :P

[@AJPickett]

@@keithwinget3450 Sure has!

[@snarkback]

These comments are more reasons why aj is one of the best that has ever done this

[@That80sGuy1972]

Great video AJ. And, wow... 5e seemed to have really nerfed them. Most people don't understand just how bright Int 8 and above is. That's as smart as the low end of average human intellect and higher. Now, factor in their cruelty and the basics of their tactics. They also teach their young... *TEACH.* These things are far more dangerous than higher-threat human Brigands who generally work via ambush. Also, they should have kept them as treasure collectors just so they can bait their traps. In an area they share with Gnolls and Lamia, they are also dangerously underestimated on top of often mistaken for other beasties or animals.

[@krispalermo8133]

So socially they behave like a bunch of bully junior high school boys acting out of hand. That's Int:8. Role playing notes give the leucrotitta three levels of rogue for more flanking attack damage and skill: Performance( mimic.) along with a boost in their CR xp value. And a couple of levels of sorcerer so they can fart out a Stink spell.

[@zacharyweaver276]

Man people forget how scary a monster that can mimic sounds can be especially as players usually don't suspect monsters like kenku to be misleading them into traps and such by mimicking the sounds of people in danger especially a npc the party know and have rescued before

[@phillycakeboss]

For sure..always kinda takes me back to in my humble opinion the best horror movie carpenter "the thing" .I still watch it .

[@izanaginomikoto1893]

Excellent video. My current campaign is set in the Shaar and I have steadily been teasing dangers which can lie just over the next ridge, or lying in the long grass. Leucrotta were on my list of things to harass the party with, and watching this just bumped them up.

[@doms.6701]

I made a gnoll warband for later use. It has 3 leucrotta which stay by its leader, a flind gnoll The entire horde, I named The Rotted Ravagers include: 1 flind, 3 leucrottas, 18 gnolls, and 4 gnoll flesh gnawers. They serve yeenogu, seeking to bring him to the material plane and he gives the horde special features. Food and drink spoil 5 miles from the horde, their rotten stench can be smelled up to 5 miles away, and they carry an unknown necrotic disease. Those who eat the spoiled food/drink are infected, same with those who breath in their stench for half a day, any wound becomes infected and the gnoll's bite is instant disease. Survivors carry the disease and transfer it to others, but die within a week (a week in fearun is 10 days) if not cured. No cure is currently known besides a wish. But that is how I plan to introduce my players to these gnolls. They are looking for a cure to a disease that has been sweeping across the countryside.

[@GeneBrodeJr]

I’m going to use this as inspiration for part of my campaign!

[@doms.6701]

@@GeneBrodeJr have at it. Hope it works out great

[@purplehaze2358]

"A match made in hell to be sure." Would it not instead be a match made in the abyss?

[@AJPickett]

Yes, but it didn't sound as snappy.

[@elderk2352]

Perhaps the leucrotta lacked stealth because of the overwhelming odorthey emit?

[@bradondykes2276]

I have this homebrew continent I’ve been making which includes a lot of desert and grasslands. On this continent I’m including the exsistence of particular dinosaurs like Carnotaurus. As I was watching this video I thought how awesome it would be to start a leucrotta encounter by watching two or three kill an adult Carno.

[@ericgeesey9817]

Luecrotta sorcerer variant "Burn... I likes to make things burn....."

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

One time, I forgot that these were already a thing in D&D and made a home brew version, except I called them Leucrocutta(a regional name for the same creature in real life)

[@OmniGSage]

Perfect timing on this video popping up in my feed, I'm currently running an adventure where one of the villains is an orc who's gained the service of a band/cult of gnolls and has a leucrotta as his mount.

[@samsamsamsamsamanilla5281]

Truly disturbing creature. I like the lower level CR creatures described in detail, you realize how deadly any encounter in DnD truly is. Thanks again for another great video😊

[@1969bigsexxy]

I have never used these monsters but I'm going now. Thank you.

[@davidevans2863]

Idea, the party has found itself staying in a wandering caravan or similar (how this happens is up to you) that has found itself stopped in a Gorge or a Canyon. Set up for campfire stories to unearth some character backstories/ bonding. At some point you could have some fog or mist roll in and screams come from one of the tents. The party only gets to see a terrified person being dragged into the darkness. And just the very edge of the Leucrottas Jaw (horrible teeth included). When the party inevitably goes to find the person they find themselves in a low visibility cavernous built up area lots of hiding spaces as the Leucrotta mimics the terrified pleas of the person dragged away. Even better if they find the person dead, throat crushed yet can still hear the pleas for help (a la predators), really ramp up the fear. Leucrottas numbers and minions up to you. Bonus points if you record the original terrified pleas for help and run it through some form of distortion effect so it sounds slightly off.

[@hjorhrafn]

Well now, thanks for this.

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

Once again you have taken a monster that I typically pass over and made it interesting and provide a lot of adventure ideas. My players may not thank you but I do. Great work as always.

[@saeyabor]

Wanna know how to turn a strongly Neutral Good party into a bunch of war criminals in one encounter? Some leucrottas chasing a kid and wounded dog, driving the dog insane by mimicking the kid screaming his name. The dog & kid *barely* made it out of there. The Leucrotta got Vlad Tepesh'd at the outskirts of town.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

That gemstone thing could easily be translated into "treasure". Also I believe thease would still function well enough with animal level of intelligence, cleaver animals then.

[@shepherdbrooks7609]

When I heard it described, my first thought was of the so-called "Hell Boar" from around 38-19 million years ago. They had cloven hooflike feet, a close to canid body shape and they were omnivores. Not sure if this information actually helps anyone, just thought I'd share :)

[@knightofberenike9633]

I love how this video came out the week after my party finally bested the Beast of Holden’s Hill, which was of course a Leucrotta since none of them had any idea what it was.

[@matthewbennett1972]

There was a no sleep story where a girl is camping and goes into the public bathroom and while in the stall “someone” starts talking to her with her own voice. The speech is made up of words she had spoke out loud before going to the bathroom. All I could think about while listening to this were these creatures

[@theonielson1007]

I looked away during your outro, thinking that was it. The sudden pause grabbed my attention just in time to see that nightmare dog fade into view. Well done, AJ.

[@AJPickett]

Yusss! If I got just one person it was all worth it 😎

[@1998topornik]

I really like leucrotta, it is shame that they don't have any interesting abilities.

[@Infernoraptor]

What's fascinating to me is how chimeric the leucrota has been in both d&d and irl. That the hooves were originally equine but later cervine is an exception: there are 2 lineages of hoofed mammal that are defined by having either split hooves (deer, cows, pigs, etc) or single-hooves (horses). (Not all members of each lineage have hooves, but I digress). The fact they ended up with split hooves is appropriate because only the split hooves ever produced predators: the lueceotta likely has taken inspiration from entelodonts ("hell pigs") and/or Andrewsarchus. The hell pigs also have high shoulders, which could fit the weird neck morphology. The badger and hyena allusions also fit the chimeric pattern: the two groups are quite far apart. Hyenas are close relatives of mongoose on the cat side of the carnivora group, while badgers are with weasels on the dog side. The most interesting bit is the part about the ridge of bone instead of teeth in literally every description. There has never been a mammalian lineage that has teeth that strange... except one. Thylacoleo; an Australian marsupial that adapted their incisors something akin to an ax head. They had the strongest pound-for-pound bite of any mammal ever and may well have decapitated its prey. These things died out nearly 50,000 years ago halfway around the world, and Pliny BS'd his way to accidentally describing them. (Ironically, thylacoleo was extremely dumb by mammalian predator standards. They traded brain size for jaw muscle attachments.)

[@VerityAran]

Sweet i just got done w the inevitables video for like the 20th time. Love that one. Keep up the great work AJ

[@Greenscyth22]

I use to have nightmares about zombies where it always ended with them biting me to death. I distinctly remember the imaginary feeling of bone being crunched through like it was a wafer. That's what I always assumed that's what the Leucrotta's bite was like. The image of a pack chasing down a stray child, feinting to instigate more fear before the near fatal bite is terrifying. They can always be amped up though by simply adding a template. Add an skeletal template and they become fearsome minions for Liches, an incorporeal template and they become dauntless ambush artists for Vampire lords who use them to soften up players with fear tactics before the big reveal. Infernal or Demonic templates would be obvious choices too.

[@marclytle644]

Man, I love the additional lore behind the creatures that you do. Makes the world more fleshed out. Instead of just here is a monster in front of you. Stats, how it acts, all of that is just part of the world building. Something lacking in mmos. I want to be able to gather info about the creature and then have a... field guide kind of thing. That would be really cool thing to work towards in an mmo than just, go fight and get loot. Field guide in addition to the go kill loot method. Ah well... one can hope and dream. Keep up the great work.

[@yangxiaolong7779]

I have a leucrotta as a mount for a necromancer boss, she eats the flesh and leaves her rider the bones to make skeletons

[@josephjohnson5415]

Luecrotta hunting calls: "hey, there sailor" "help my virginity is killing me" "I hope no one sees naked..."

[@zmishiymishi5349]

Thanks for yet another one!

[@nicolasmountcastle4724]

Always a fan of the demonic horror stuff. Keep it coming please.

[@gustavopaez2444]

An amazing video, loved the Pliny part, I personally make my monsters looking at their old bestiaries

[@tonyromasco1735]

I like to include an elder or two. Give the elders some levels of war lock or cleric. Yeenoghu as their patron.

[@AJPickett]

Good call

[@matthewbennett1972]

This Beast has been around since AD&D and if used correctly can be terrifying.

[@AKNeal81]

Thanks for always seeing thru and pointing out Wizard's watering down of good monsters! I've known about these but never knew how terrifying they should be!

[@AJPickett]

I consider it a vital part of my job :)

[@yungo1rst]

cool. might have to add these in for the vilhon reach area. will have gnolls able to field different units other than hyenas or the packlords.

[@jamesgordon364]

Yeenoghu has created enough mutated creatures into being that i would definitely include this into his portfolio. Maybe mutigenic blood in the fangs of Yeenoghu. I once had a character kill a fang of Yeenoghu and pray over its holy weapon. He became a warlock and was cursed with a nightly madness where he would kill to feed his hunger until he was blessed and cured.

[@RokuroCarisu]

Sounds more interesting than "only wants to destroy everything" for sure.

[@Saccillia]

I'd still try to pet it.

[@That80sGuy1972]

Narrator: And that, kids, is how Saccillia almost died and used up the party's only Regeneration Scroll to regrow the "petting hand". Child: Where is Saccillia now? Narrator: Oh, I'm sure that one is still looking for a Leucrotta that will accept a petting hand. Child: Awww... Narrator: **closes book** I give up **walks out**

[@bradywomack9751]

One of my all-time favorite besties from the beginning. I really like your suggestion to make them more horrific and I already associate them with Gnolls and Lamia moving in packs. The historic embellishments are sounding like a great way to sidestep metagamers.

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hey AJ, this is one of your best videos ever! Loved the artwork, storytelling and the vast amount of information. I remembered the original pencil artwork but that was it, lol. This is a wonderful monster to be added to any campaign. Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!

[@aricgoetz910]

The leucrotta is one of my favorite monsters

[@alexr2753]

i was listening to this while munching down on a sandwich and when you described the mange and smell i damn near yacked, your descriptions and voice are 10/10 every video

[@antwan1357]

For some reason this reminds me of a horror story from the scp foundation. A creature that imitated people in distress , and hunted people whenever it could.

[@Zippyser]

How has shocker lizard not happened yet? Can you cover that one?

[@AJPickett]

Yes I can!

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Now this is a particularly good selection, AJ. Very well put together, too. Excellent work, as usual

[@jamesgordon364]

I once had a mountain mine,abandoned after troll attacks become the lair of an arumvorax who would attack the troll who had fed on the adventurers sent to cleanse them. The Golden gorger would ambush the trolls and tear the metal gear and loot from their guts shrugging off attacks to scamper off. This allowed the trolls to regen and gather more metal for its constant hunger. After hunting down some stray trolls the party fought the gorger for three rounds before retreating to collapse the mine shaft. General consensus was fighting fifty trolls would have been better than one of these small critters.

[@gigatwin5298]

Now imagine a Lupin Scottish terrier squaring off against one of these things

[@theHedgex1]

Demon hyenas

[@trajanfidelis1532]

i'd prefer facing off against heyenas than a group of these things edit:seeing the ending. i feel foolish

[@AJPickett]

I'd rather not be hunted by either.. Hyenas are extremely formidable predators, better hunters than lions, in fact.

[@Sgt-Wolf]

7:04 Nice.

[@KAINIVERUS]

Yay thank you sir. Ive had these guys stat blocks for awhile and found them intresting. Definetly can see a varience that dwells the barren outback of Osse

[@cernunnos_lives]

Love your coverage bro. Everyone wants to play in one of your campaigns. AJ's Mega Monster Manual and Deluxe Deities & Demigods? Then again it could include just about every other book and issue of Dragon magazine. I particularly like your own commentary and info dump. I always get more I've ever known about your subject.

[@lawrencepaul6448]

My personal favorite way to give my players trust issues I'm excited to watch this one!

[@TheBottegaChannel]

Love the surprise ending to the video. Now that I know about these, I'll have to incorporate them into my D&D game. My players are going to be so screwed. XD

[@matthewfritz4629]

Another amazing video AJ. I can imagine a powerful Gnoll hunter having a few of these as hunting dogs. Or maybe a Shoosuva leading a pack of leucrotta.

[@theakspud]

Much love from Alaska! Finally caught up on your videos, loving the content

[@AJPickett]

Thanks for the binge-watch, much appreciated!

[@aliceofspades]

I remember these! Their bone-ridge teeth are somehow WAY more terrifying than normal teeth. They gave me the shivers in 3.5e.

[@anathema1828]

Spooky!

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks AJ.

[@Mortablunt]

Awwwwwrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, more YIFFnoghu stuff!

[@AJPickett]

I'll allow it.

[@ameise1595]

this is a partcularily good video even more inspireing than normal

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

I hear hunting these is incredibly leucrotta-ve (lucrative) if you can find a buyer.

[@jakecrichton562]

Thanks for another one. I've got an annis hag in need of creepy canine minions, and with a few adjustments these guys will do nicely 👌. I'll be sure to tell them you said hi AJ.

[@AJPickett]

Thanks Jake

[@Mister_Cy]

Hi, AJ how's your day going love the video, what's your favorite spell in dnd 5e? Love that you tell people to give them an advantage of stealth checks of course its a no brainer but some people might miss it or want to run them by the book I got an idea, these monsters could be used as a perfect "tamed beast" used by gnolls, and Yeenoghu influenced Leucrotta as mounts and could also be used as a tool for the gnoll warbands, in combinations of hyenas and other "evil creatures"

[@Rietto]

One of my favorite Medieval Bestiary monsters!

[@Nikoli492]

Can you do a video on the Elemental plane of lighting/Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning? ⚡

[@blackgriffinxx]

This is one monster that can be a BBEG by it self in a one shot , short campaign or a lieutenant, to BBEG They live a long life ,can learn to talk and just pure evil. I'll have one be a master mind behind a 4d chest cat and mouse game. A hurt man run up to the party and ask for help. The man is a prisoner and saboteur for the Leucrotta. (who mainly "eat" the travelers) He is Kept in check with the promise of freedom and threat on his love ones. They beat him when he fails to do as he is told. His body full of hoof marks where you can't see them. His main task is to weaken the party. Tips off to his master and divide the part up. So his master can pick them off one by one. Or beat them. I'll give the Leucrotta items to give them some range attacks and to aid in it trickery .

[@AJPickett]

Excellent

[@firesuppressionequipment]

great video! really enjoyed!

[@BrokenShale]

Oh I like that intro!

[@DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH]

Bless the Mighty GlueStick

[@cfakatsuki17]

I’m building a character with ties to gnolls any other creatures besides this and the shusuuva you’d recommend looking into that relate to the gnolls and their exploits?

[@AJPickett]

Check out my latest video on Umber Hulks, quite close to the end of the video I talk about Yeenoghu and the Abyssal Hulks.

[@nobodyspecial9097]

Can we get a video on the politics of races of D&D please? Thanks for the content.

[@AJPickett]

You'll have to narrow that down, its far to complex a subject... the Dragons alone would comprise a series of videos, even one video covering the ancient custom of Xorvinthaal would be pretty damn densely packed with lore.

[@nobodyspecial9097]

@@AJPickett maybe a video highlighting the major alliances and rivalries that have occurred between the races. How did they manage to coexist together and when they couldn’t what drives them to conflict. You touch on it in your videos but I think they deserve deep dives all there own. What I enjoy most about learning about all the new creatures is understanding how they fit into the world around them, and how that in turn affects other creatures. Again love content.

[@michaellove2249]

Hello Mr. Picket, I really enjoy the narration on your lore videos. So, when is that Fantasy Novel coming out? 8)

[@AJPickett]

When its done and not a moment before! :)

[@Sean-ni4qy]

In theory, I think this means Yeenogu made a Leucrotta into a Gnoll as a sort of messianic creature. I wonder what its stat block would look like? could make gnolls a mid-tier threat again

[@mmardh799]

thank you!

[@brandondiotte2104]

Well time to destroy my party's rations and force them to hunt some "deer" for food.

[@nicolaezenoaga9756]

Thanks

[@Everleighcraig]

Hey keep it I love you’re videos like I learn a lot but idk if I will ever be a good dm like you

[@AJPickett]

No, you will be a GREAT DM!

[@Everleighcraig]

I mean not like you I have a good story but I need to get some money to come see you in Life to know you as a person to learn more if that makes since lol

[@Zasek2112]

I imagine it's a little like stand up comedy, the first few times it'll feel a bit weird but you'll get better at it over time.

[@Everleighcraig]

I will try I want to be better how life give us if that understand

[@AJPickett]

@@Everleighcraig You would never get to see me, I spend all my time reading old books and magazines and making D&D content.

[@Soviless99]

this creature makes me think of the Beast of Gevaudan. its description

[@chriscalvin5083]

good video AJ

[@lorenburnham821]

Thank you for your voice

[@AJPickett]

You're welcome!

[@mikemccoy5092]

Just curious which edition of the game did u play when u first started mr Pickett your story telling voice is pretty good

[@AJPickett]

AD&D and Basic

[@mikemccoy5092]

Thanks now I know any older edition monsters u would like to see them bring back for the current version that doesn't already have stats my vote is for some of the odd ones in monster manual 3 for 3.5

[@That80sGuy1972]

@@AJPickett Did you use all of the D&D boxed sets? Basic to the Immortals?

[@AJPickett]

@@That80sGuy1972 No, we just played AD&D, we had plenty of other RPG systems to play when we were not playing AD&D. So, while D&D basic got me into the hobby, ironically its the D&D system I have played the least (aside from white box which I have never played).

[@That80sGuy1972]

@@AJPickett When I played them, they were Basic (red), Expert (blue), Companion (aqua), Masters (black), and Immortals (gold). My homebrew AD&D divine ascension was an adaptation of the Immortals set into AD&D, rooted in the Legends and Lore, adding my Mana Point system. I guess the white boxed set came out long after I transitioned into AD&D with those old sets as my core homebrew inspirations. The Masters boxed set was awesome for the weapon variances, especially polearms. If you can get some digital versions of those old boxed sets, you might find them to be very tasty mind candy... not to play but as sheer mind candy.

[@boldbearings]

"Leucrotta took my baby!" 😱 .... sorry 😑

[@zacharyweaver276]

Oh boy new monster lore

[@almitrahopkins1873]

New?

[@zacharyweaver276]

@@almitrahopkins1873 New as in I haven't heard of it yet

[@almitrahopkins1873]

@@zacharyweaver276 It goes all the way back to 2nd edition. It was a bit meaner then...

[@zacharyweaver276]

@@almitrahopkins1873 Yeah I joined in 5e so a lot of the classic monsters I'd never heard of before until I started watching AJ

[@almitrahopkins1873]

@@zacharyweaver276 Welcome to the tribe. You're going to love some of the stuff us old farts can show you.

[@Everleighcraig]

All Ik you are good I been following you a lot I wish I had the money to help more like and see you grow and a creator Bc you make me happy to love D&D

[@Everleighcraig]

And as lol

[@AJPickett]

Your views are a huge help my friend, thank you!

[@יובלעקיבא-ד6ט]

Can you please make a video about Bane's bladelings? I'm intending yo use them in my current campaign later on and I'd like to have you flesh them out!

[@AJPickett]

I sure can

[@bcodero6713]

Great stuf

[@Solkard]

If they are that wretched in odor, should they really get a bonus to stealth checks?

[@iamzid]

i suppose it depends which way the wind is blowing.

[@robinmcgee9277]

Alm9st sounds like a regional chimera

[@joshuazane3210]

Dreadful creatures, definitely on my kill on sight list.

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Storytime I guess

[@AJPickett]

There were stats in there dude. You really need to get that attention deficit of yours sorted out ;)

[@dragonballtalk8527]

@@AJPickett lol I know sorry

[@phillycakeboss]

The idea of it learning and trying mimicking the language of peoples along with the hoofs reminds me of the monster in annihilation movie.looks kinda similar also by Alex Garland..same guy that did ex machina and that series Devs..all pretty good.

[@phillycakeboss]

You should check it out if you haven't AJ.Although it looked more like a bear and stag mix mabye.

[@AJPickett]

@@phillycakeboss That was indeed a terrifying monster, it gave me the heebie jeebies. That was a great movie let down with a bullshit ending.

[@phillycakeboss]

@@AJPickett yeah me too but worth the watch,was best part of movie that strayed off..kinda like the newest arrival movie that reminiscent of his sytle.

[@phillycakeboss]

@@AJPickett on another note.if you haven't already AJ I'd suggest you check out MSA 21 KZbin channel..especially the "At the Mountains of Madness" audio and illustration series and others..in English adapted and Russian I believe orginal. It's a lovecraft comic book audiobook. Best I've seen.

[@rogerwilco2]

Leucrotta not Leucrota.

[@AJPickett]

spellcheck doesn't work on weird monster names.