Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Blights

Plants with an evil will and unatural vitality, the origin and motivations are tied into a famous adventure series from the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons, now adapted and brought to 5th edition in The Tales of the Yawning Portal. Blights are nature gone bad, evil plant life that actively seeks to kill and dominate.
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[@jasonrustmann9876]

"Very strange behavior for a legume" I'm dying lol

[@berner]

In one game, my Gnoll archer was cursed and combined with a blight. I renamed him "The Grassy Gnoll".

[@SonicArrow451]

Two words; tumble blight

[@matthewmelson1780]

So basically a plant droidika?

[@SonicArrow451]

@@matthewmelson1780 nah, I’m talking a blight that mimics a tumble weed till it’s within close enough distance to grab their target and roll off with them. Imagine walking down a dusty desert trail, tumble weeds all over the place and though you know it’s stupid as hell, you swear they’re following you almost.

[@kingmasterlord]

one word: fireball

[@jacobfreeman5444]

I like it. At a distance it would be hard to know their size as there may be precious few markers for scale. So the odd pattern of movement would be the only sign something is wrong at first. If you are observant, that is. Then as they draw closer, both size and the willful intent behind their movements more obvious, you get a creeping sense of doom as you realize either A. They have you surrounded or B. You have walked right into a natural bottleneck that will limit your paths of eacape. Then it comes down to your wits as you desperately seek a way to either escape or ward off what you originally assumed was just another piece of windblown plant debris.

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

Having been jumped by a tumble weed irl that is a very evil idea, great job.

[@davidthebarbarian6851]

The way I used twig blights was some Hags marked their territory by hanging twig effigies from the trees much like Blair witch and when the players plucked one of these strange twig symbols down all the other twig men stirred to life and attack them.

[@blackhawk3975]

I remember one time, the dwarf sorcerer of our group succeeded a charisma check and turned a vine blight into a drinking buddy, he also had a damaged modron as a butler. (After he fixed the modron.)

[@peytonsims5380]

Initial idea: vine blight with a Jack-o-lantern head for menace, and so I could always add the option of it breathing fire

[@steveno3141]

Take your idea a step further, go headless horseman but as a vine blight, and the jack o lantern release spore/seed blights when thrown, one use only. ( those that fail and die to the spores turn into headles horsemen vine blights. Could also add that they retain some skills and knowledge. Or go full out "The Ruins"

[@nyarparablepsis872]

"Evil pollen"... dear gods, as a member of a household with lots of pollen allergies that thought is truly terrifying.

[@shamusfarmer]

I've never seen a video on dealing with colossal or awesome entities in-game before, that sounds like a great idea! I also didn't know that the "awesome" size category even existed!

[@robertwilson2516]

You know the guy is Evil when his topiary garden wants to kill you.

[@AJPickett]

Why is that Bay laurel holding a severed head?!

[@robertwilson2516]

@@AJPickett* What oh don't mind that it's just the rebels fertilizing my garden. In fact if you're in a mood for some entertainment than I can arrange for the prisoners to traverse my hedge maze while we have lunch on the balcony above.* I really enjoy blights because of the freedom for how they got to where you put them like a tyrant wizard putting them in his garden, a circle of evil druids corrupting the local flora to attack local settlements, or if you're dealing with some players that are letting ther high Level get to their heads than include blight summoning as an extra regional effect and or lair action for a Green Dragon.

[@TheHornedKing]

This video was giving me ideas of blights that are also druids, but then I noticed your video about Zuggtmoy in the side bar, and now I'm thinking of a blight themed demon lord who rules over even Gulthias trees and seeks to infest the entire multiverse with blights. You know what, I'm gonna homebrew just that. Zuggtmoy doesn't have anything to do with blights, does she?

[@AJPickett]

Not officially..... but why not?

[@TheHornedKing]

@@AJPickett I have already started on my blight demon lord. So far he is basically a huge, beefed up spore druid, using several plant-themed druid spells to control the battlefield (and of course he can also cast blight) while he beats people up with a staff and a necrotic dmg aura wither them away. He is of course gonna create blights, but so far I have just given him the treant's Awaken Trees ability, except it creates tree blights. Visually I imagine an extra nightmarish tree blight that is shaped vaguely like a humanoid corpse, with blood-sap leaking out of openings here and there, and skulls and other parts of old victims lodged in his body. Vines and dead leaves hang from him in a manner that resemble clothing, and from a distance it might look like he is wearing some kind of robe.

[@aubreyackermann8432]

@@TheHornedKing just a thought: the blight takes the clothing of people buried too close to the roots, creating humanoid blights to fill them and interact with settlements. The blight agent then sells seeds and crops, takes walks through fields and orchards, and steals a child or an animal if it can, using the child as bait to lure parents into the blight wood. A demon lord associated with blights might have an awesome sized blight grown into a walking castle. Ballistas shoot cursed bolts at any who stray too close as smaller blights rain down from the ramparts to sabotage any counter attacks. What happens to an infected dryad? Does she become a super intelligent blight? Does she retain the ability to think and question? Can she still charm and enchant men, and what would she use them for? She could be an interesting lieutenant.

[@TheHornedKing]

@@aubreyackermann8432 I love it.

[@legithopecrew]

Did you and Jorphdan collaborate? He just did a video on the dragon and you did a video on the blights! Perfect timing if not!

[@AJPickett]

Lol! I had no idea. Wow, he is awesome. :)

[@movespammerguyteam7colors]

Great, evil Groots... Someone get the flamethrower and carry some extra Napalm tanks...

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

I wonder if Amber from a blight tree would have any unique properties if utilized in weapons or jewelry, like poison, or unnatural fear?

[@AJPickett]

I would say that's a hard yes.

[@BoojumFed]

I'm a simple man. I see an AJ video => I like it.

[@DreamPen]

Blighted beans... If a player makes his perception check, he notices a tiny by unmistakably humanoid face on the bean. It is harsh, skull-like, evil, fixed in a silent snarl.

[@AJPickett]

1d4 damage from 'unspeakable farts'.

[@jasonniebuhr8607]

Ha! A prophecy like that one in Macbeth, where he can’t die until the woods marches on his castle, and then an army of blights does that very thing

[@jasonniebuhr8607]

So, the castle is Blackfang, where the Heart of Ashardalon is still hidden in the catacombs. The Gulthias Tree has been cut down and Gulthias has returned. He is leading the army of blights to use the Heart as the focus in a ritual to return Ashardalon to this plane to rule it once again

[@virtualhimeji462]

My players fought a dozen vine blights last week. I reskined them to be made out of sea weed

[@AJPickett]

Nice :)

[@chrishamby1614]

Oh how you spoil us

[@LokiSilverFlame]

There is so much to learn in the D&D universe! How have I never heard of these awesome, AWESOME monsters? I love hags and dark fey, I'm going to have fun with these.

[@ryderma1]

Lich Lord surrounded by his Blight Myconid Samurai 🍄🍄🍄

[@oiops]

I like these for my woodpile, they make alot of heat and little smoke on the fireplace.

[@AJPickett]

Some say the thin smoke the fire gives off attracts bats...

[@AnonymousAlcoholic772]

Im just overcome by the comedic and story possibilities when combining the shrubbery in Monty Pythons Holy Grail with blights. Perhaps the key to the quest would be the Holy Hand Grenade of Agent Orange?

[@charlesduffy9755]

I've had ideas for these guys for months. Looking forward to using them.

[@zmishiymishi5349]

Ecoterrorism must be pretty easy in dnd thanks to this guys

[@CarsonZXY]

For anyone who has played FF13, imagine Cocoon, but it's a truly colossal tree that provides for all of the needs of its inhabitants. Like... you can have apartment complexes built on some of the larger branches. The inhabitants are descendants of a tribe of nomadic humans who have no idea that the tree is sentient, they just assumed it was a manifestation of Yggdrasil bearing wondrous fruit. There are no divine casters but there are many warlocks who treat the tree as a patron. The only suspicious thing is the aura of evil that seems to stretch for miles around the tree, killing all of the plant life that once sustained the wildlife the old tribe hunted. Maybe adventurers are hinted off by the free food when the gourd they recieve has the texture and flavor of a perfect ribeye steak. The entire tree, easily a mile or more in height, is actually a titanic blight that found the skull of Absalom and took root over it. The Blight intends to form a symbiotic relationship with the humans in its branches, using their waste to nurture its own growth while fostering a metropolitan population that has grown fat and dependent on this tree that provides for all of the population's needs including plumbing, food, and heat. When the population reaches the size of (for example) Toronto, the tree plans to make its move. There are few people who noticed that a map of the major roads bears a striking resemblance to a summoning circle that would be pointed at the lower planes. Engineers might notice that the number of sentient lifeforms on the tree would provide enough mana to resurrect a minor demigod or raise a single entity to divine status if that circle were ever activated.

[@Haunted_Gallows]

"Once you know where they come from, you can really *sink your teeth*..." I see what you did there, AJ. GoodPunisGood

[@florenmage]

Justin Thompson that feeling when you know someone has to explain to the local druids that the trees aren't normal and their fern gully style protect the forest ideas aren't going to work here

[@boianko]

Ran a blight bard with giant flowers growing out of its head that bellowed to have it cast spells, very menacing.

[@nedyse7200]

And now I have an excuse to call off the winter pruning!!!!!

[@RVR121]

As you enter the town a peasant distressed and covered in dirt runs up to the guard 30 feet to your left. *dirty peasant voice* "GUARD! guard! *cough* My pot plants are destroying my house!" The guard stands silent for a moment before crossing his arms obviously not believing the outlandish story told to them.

[@AJPickett]

Player character leans over the dying stranger to hear his last gurgled words, a look of horror on his face "The salad.. the... salad..."

[@daniell1483]

I had no idea that Blights had such a unique background! Great video. Though I am curious about how you mention here that the Positive Energy plane is where souls are formed, that certainly is new info to me. I hope there is more info to be had there.

[@BenC...1975]

A Colossal and Awesome sized monsters video? Yes please!

[@winterrye3022]

"There is always room for evil plant life" Wow, that's the one sentence summation of my entire philosophical outlook on life I never realized I needed.

[@trequor]

Wow. Just checked the date on this, I was expecting it to be old in the archives but it's right on time for my purposes. I'm running Strahd and we ended the session at Yester Hill. Thanks for giving me some good ideas to role with!

[@AJPickett]

My pleasure.

[@ichaukan]

Question... if a Tabaxi happens to eat a blight fruit, would they be able to regurgitate a violent hairball?

[@AJPickett]

Yes

[@ichaukan]

@@AJPickett I originally thought of that as a joke, but it randomly evolved into a character in my mind. Groves By Shifting Meadows is a Tabaxi Alchemist who specializes in herbalism. He wanders the world searching for all of the variations of blight fruits he can find either to distill into bolstering libations, or use them to soothe his chronically upset stomach. Groves is a fluffy kitteh, and is predisposed to hairballs after all.

[@jackbuck6773]

Giant Sequoia blight

[@gabrieladerre2862]

Another awesome video AJ! And I don't recall ever having heard of these guys! So that's makes the video even sweeter!

[@Archeantus_]

Now I have to add a sarlaac blight to a campaign featuring a draco-lich... You should do a video on Spellfire. I haven't found anyone yet who's covered it.

[@cowdogg3085]

Oh I so agree about this. Spellfire is such an underrated and talked about subject. 👍👍

[@gasmonkey1000]

Worst of them all is the Potato Blight.

[@gasmonkey1000]

@Fabius Maximus Light cleric? Are you insinuating Solaire or something? That's not a bad thing but what do you mean by "Light Cleric?"

[@gasmonkey1000]

@Fabius Maximus Oh okay.

[@isaacbankston1396]

In curse of strad their is a tree blight

[@AJPickett]

Yes, I contemplated talking about that, but there was already enough backstory to almost overload this video with lore.

[@gabrielshervo678]

Blights and an an enormous, ancient evil tree for Halloween. I'll start a folder

[@jasonniebuhr8607]

Gabriel Shervo that’s all in the grove of the Sunless Citadel, but could probably use more power for characters above 3rd lvl

[@HBHaga]

A 'trap' in one of my old DM's adventures was a triggered portal to a Blight infested portion of the jungles of Chult. That one got, ah ... thorny

[@rickeymariu1]

Even if you have high level players, small blights can make great flavor. Even if they get swatted in bunches of 2 or 3 at a time.

[@KevShaw808]

As always, your videos do so much to inspire amazing stories. The last one about a Hag that uses Blights to open portals to the Fey Dark is something I want to try.

[@rizuopal8153]

A undead abyssal version of poison ivy would be horrifying

[@wailandkarisma4279]

Wow that's a mighty piece of stake.. stake proficiency feat, hedge all bets feat, greater stake specialisation feat..

[@zacharyhawley1693]

Don't forget the Aights. Or the dreaded Nights. Oooh when are you going to cover Fights? Or where they flights? How about Bites? Cause you already covered the wights.

[@AJPickett]

There should be some form of monster called a Bite.

[@virtualhimeji462]

I see you musr rehearse To speak so well in verse

[@sanguiniusonvacation1803]

please do a video on awesome sized creatures . I'm running a game set during the dawn war and need something for very large enemies

[@AJPickett]

You got it!

[@jujujohnson01]

Thank you. Just made Thundertree a lot more fun in LMoP instead of blights be a waste of time. Gave me some great ideas to ‘spruce’ it up

[@godspeaks8663]

Fantastic. I will need to do Pez Heads of these characters! Great work AJ!

[@mathewpoole3589]

Blights don't necessarily need to be evil. They could be fey/elemental creatures that are trying to reclaim the world for nature. Think treant, but more aggressive with weed like tendencies, not the slow and methodical stereotypical guardians of the forest. Or even a variation of shambling mounds (which I've come to view as the tormented ghost of a treant itself) With the recent inclusion of the druid subclass, circle of spores, the blights are an excellent thematic fit for this druids raised zombies, or at the least their infestation ability's raised zombies. I say use the blight as either evil incarnate or true neutral nature at it's fiercest.

[@matthewpieffer]

I am Groot

[@mathewpoole3589]

@@matthewpieffer Yes. Yes you are

[@saeyabor]

Used by shadow druids like a zombie horde.

[@danielk.5864]

I have them in my campaing in some other way. One of the Gods of my world(Nature and Wilderness) Created them for purging anything evil. Blights go anrround search corrupted evil and sucking the curroption out of it. So they are not hostile against the Party....exept for the Tiefling. So every encounter with Blights, they´ll go only after John.

[@AJPickett]

Dang, poor Tiefling!

[@MerridianPrime]

I love blights, I’ve created a few my favourite so far has been the Blight Queen

[@Shannahar]

You good sir have amazing timing, I was just about to start my own blight and gulthias tree story. Always great to listen to you talk about D&D, great for inspiration and lore.

[@JPdrrraws]

This is a really great vid. about a lovely monster. Awesome variety for use.

[@aaronm2410]

No mention of how the Gulthias Tree made it to Yester Hill in Curse of Strahd? I mean, the book really doesn't explain, but since I was a fan of Sunless Citadel from so long ago, I went ahead and made a guess: The Gulthias Tree roots from the stake still plunged in a still-beating black heart, feeding itself with his eternal, vampiric blood. Though a group of adventurers successfully cut down the Gulthias Tree inside the Citadel, the Stake of Gulthias was recovered by a group of vampire cultists who tended to the sapling. The cult came into contact with a group of Strahd-loyal Vistani who saw the tree as the perfect gift for their master. They slayed the cult, dug up the stake, and planted it in Barovia in Strahd's honor.

[@AJPickett]

There is a couple of ways to tie Curse of Strahd to the Forgotten Realms Gulthias tree.

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

They could have something to do with Chernovog the green God

[@AJPickett]

Very easily.

[@funsizesheep892]

I've been looking at using blights recently this video was amazingly help full and has given me a couple ideas of how I can use them thank mans

[@vindicareassassin271]

They should be vulnerable to fire acid poison and lightning attacks

[@agsilverradio2225]

If they're anything like shambling mounds, they are resistant to all of those, and electricity makes it stronger.

[@GuardianCitadel]

Some fun extra flavor and structure for one of my own monsters, which mixes the concept of the Blights, with the climbing, stealth, and abduction tactics of Aliens. Victims are dragged back to a hollow to spawn more blights, and they can hibernate for years as rotted-out stumps, allowing once wiped-out villages to repopulate. Evil druids can reawaken them as convenient fodder. They don't need to be hulking combat machines, few things scare a player more than being dragged off in the dark alone, or squaring up against a swarm when they figure out they actually aren't one-off loners.

[@cowdogg3085]

AJ you my man are the go to when I just need a fresh perspective on monsters. Love the work you do! 👍👍👊👊 thank you!!!

[@AJPickett]

Most welcome, thanks for the kind words Cowdogg30

[@bradluttrell8111]

I really enjoyed this video!

[@Greenscyth22]

Plant based foes are always unassuming until they ambush you. Blights are scary, but Splinterwaifs are far more terrifying. I wonder if they would work in tandem to wipe out towns, with the Splinterwaifs killing off the children(whats they do), and the Blights waiting for the concerned parents to wander off into the woods to look for them. OMG do a creature combs video!!!!

[@nullvoid4063]

Nice work AJ!

[@steveno3141]

Blight druids

[@benthomason3307]

"They are very fast... for plants."

[@5trafficcone921]

in my first campaign that I ever ran, the final boss was a Gulthias Tree that had taken over much of a jungle continent. the party had to plunge into a literal heart of darkness to stop the evil tree from overgrowing the world. I treated the tree itself like an invasive species that was slowly assimilating the jungle and all the life in it.

[@petedarock1521]

how would I introduce travel from forgotton realms to revenica in 5e

[@petedarock1521]

this has nothing to do with blights I just would like a change of scenery in my chANpeign per say @@thurismundbotheric7598

[@AJPickett]

Well, the easiest way is with a magical portal that takes one right out of the D&D multiverse, exactly as they handled it in the Acquisitions Incorporated game. Another would be that the player characters, for whatever reason, are summoned or sent there by a Planeswalker, who may have a relatively simple task for them to complete, no questions asked and without stirring up any inter-guild politics. They may accidentally go there via a planar portal mishap, a wild magic surge or go through a color pool in the astral plane that leads there, they could also drop out of the negative or positive energy plane and wind up on Ravnica.

[@chillinnstuff7538]

Just outta curiousity, have you ever considered adding royalty free mood music into the backgrounds of these videos? Your videos are SO good and informative, I feel like it could really add to it! Love your channel man

[@AJPickett]

Oh I do every so often, but that is something I have found viewers to be quite divided on, some like it, others hate it.

[@raflevas3755]

I think I've never put blight in my games. And this video just give me a great idea. Thx for all the lore , you are doing a really good job. :) I discovered your channer since the last 2 month meaby, but damn I think you save me at least 100 hours of research on the internet and in my old dusty box of d&d stuffs. :P

[@wraithreaper22]

I ran a deadly green hag encounter last most and threw every blight at my party 😂 they nearly died

[@nullvoid4063]

I just watched a video explaining the cordyceps in “the last of us” video game... ...I feel a campaign idea coming on! >:D

[@AJPickett]

Ooooo... Evil.

[@nullvoid4063]

Mwahahahaha...

[@Fyre19]

Blights and shambling mounds and wisps vs ents,Forset spirits,amber dragon cold war

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Dont fight the blight....until u tell us how to kill...the monster

[@flibbernodgets7018]

6:40 I was just thinking this sounds like the mordrem from Guild Wars 2, and boom, there's the loading screen art from the Brisban wildlands

[@CreatorCade]

I cast fireball.

[@nurontondemento4803]

Aj! My guy I love your work! Do you have a video on the drider? Can’t seem to find a good one

[@jchart01]

Blights would blend well with the Unseelie Psychopomps in my Creature Feature Quarterly Volume 1.

[@DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH]

Bless the Mighty GlueStick

[@agsilverradio2225]

Are shambling mounds a type of blight?

[@AJPickett]

No, though they share many similar traits.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

I would say...why not make one? Maybe the mound eat some blights, or blights corrupt a mound?

[@chriscalvin5083]

Good video AJ

[@AJPickett]

Thanks Chris :)

[@chaunceyshearinjr5997]

Nice bro

[@matthewpieffer]

I AM GROOT

[@Yuudaddy]

I am Groot?

[@josephfernandez8015]

I am EVIL Groot

[@namekman01]

blight forest: exists circle of wildfire druid: smiling like a balor: "THIS IS WHAT I WAS MADE FOR!"

[@conner8319]

Meet the tree blight from curse of strahd who is not vulnerable to fire because it’s so soaked in blood

[@loki3275]

Gonna use these in a jungle campaign. Lol.

[@commissarchaplainradke92]

Oh I am SOOOOOO glad my cleric of zuggtmoy awakened that tree and took it to his base of operations now. 😂

[@cypher4783]

Blights would be able to leave some serious trauma in a game setting kind of like the big three nature classes ranger, druid, and barbarian. Using the small blights to push and pull the party, medium sized blights using their roots to twist and change the battle field or use spores as spell, and the really big ones like aj said like heavy hitters, tanks, or major plot points.

[@cypher4783]

Thank you. But I would use a rival or a mirror composition in a encounter sparingly mainly because if you have two or more sides that are equal in all aspects it slows down combat as each side jockeys for position.

[@cypher4783]

It would be fun in a story driven fight

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

the dead aspen forest is all one beast?

[@math5743]

Soo if a blight is undead. But also not really undead. Would a paladin or a cleric be able to sense them with thier (the name escapes me) sense undead ability? And is yes, would an infected forest just be a big mass of undead energy?

[@AJPickett]

Unfortunately no. The blights are a new, weird life form in their own right, certainly infused with some sort of supernatural vitality, but it is not negative energy.

[@math5743]

@@AJPickett Thank you for the answer :)

[@ronnieferris8313]

Man love what you do n how fast you do it I'll support ya any way I can. Lol I leave u play list up when I sleep at night jus so you get more views. Lol I might change my firm stance on banks jus to join ur patron. ✊💯

[@AJPickett]

Thanks Ronnie :D

[@bluephoenix4357]

spore circle druids can create them too yeah? 🤔

[@AJPickett]

Mmmmmaybe

[@bluephoenix4357]

@@AJPickett i think so theoretically, i was reading the 5e and saw they can use fungal spores to animate the dead so maybe not a stretch!?! 🙏☺️

[@daddyaf945]

The Iron Maw beat you to this template

[@locorocky1]

Can you do a video on the Brainstealer Dragon?

[@dragonturtle7645]

Is there still a connection to said dragon (not even going to attempt to spell his name) besides devotion, and will he get a video? Also, how dose the blight spread to plants: proximity, contact, dark ritual, etc?

[@betawolf3697]

Based on what I found, it doesn't look like there is any direct connection to Ashardalon, though if the Gulthias Tree can control them when they are close enough, so might he be able to. It looks like it spreads sort of like a plant disease, where it kills off or chokes plants in the area, and many of the surivors become diseased, are warped to become toxic or thorny, or become more blights themselves. This spreads through the roots of the blight when it settles, generally. I think based on the on the "Undead Plant" nature of them a necromancer or druid with enough knowledge of the workings of nature and negative energy magic could create their own blights. I hope this helps!

[@AJPickett]

DragonTurtle Agreed.

[@dragonturtle7645]

@@betawolf3697 It did, thank you.

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

yay blights like in the dragon age games, yay

[@gogglesthewizard598]

mage blights , = sneak mage

[@snake3368]

I'd check that Top Quality Razer Link... it has things that will get you in trouble

[@AJPickett]

This is why I don't do channel or video sponsors any more, ever. Thanks Snake!

[@kikiblair5132]

I really need more plant enemies.

[@NevermindThatEighter]

Dear AJ, consider this idea awesome and stolen by your nemesis. Soon I will posess all your awesome knowledge of creature ecology, fool! Kind regards Your Nemesis

[@richardwoodrum1568]

I am Groot