Dungeons and Dragons Lore : Crawling Claw

Dungeons and Dragons feature many kinds of undead, the crawling claw is a creepy severed limb of a murderer, reanimated by dark magic and unable to be turned by the divine powers unleashed by a cleric.
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[@CDblade]

i just realized that you can use this creature as a familiar...Would be...handy...

[@AJPickett]

*chuckle* Yeah, I see you got a firm grasp of the concept.

[@darrylviljoen6227]

Can you have it as a familiar in 3.5? I need one of these :D Do you know? I'm hanging on every word :P

[@krispalermo8133]

Ask your DM if it is ok. If I was running the game, I will say yes.

[@sortagoodish8491]

Hyuck hyuck.

[@Arachobia]

So in 5e, there's a part that mentions a severed hand can by animated while the murderer is still is alive. If you kill the claw, the murderer dies but if you kill the murderer the claw is fine. So, have the followers/cultists/whatever of your necromancer be drawn from murderers or made into murderers. As part of their initiation ritual, the necromancer cuts one of their hands off. Your players, whenever they run into these folks, are likely to notice the missing hands - it is a fairly obvious thing (although maybe some magic is used to hide this). Either way, when they finally encounter the necromancer, he has his army of crawling claws - cleaved from the limbs of his loyal followers. I also imagine it's an extremely twisted way of a necromancer following through on his promise to his followers that even if they die, they'll still live on.

[@darrylviljoen6227]

Arachobia, in 3.5 the create crawling claw spell only worked on left hands. would be very appropriate for a vecna cult.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

But the claw follows the murderers commands not the creators

[@mrbenjiman5]

I wonder if it were possible to do this ritual on a Giants hand? I don't think I've heard of it happening in a game before, but it sounds fun.

[@AJPickett]

I see no reason why not.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

It sounds like the kind of thing that the rules would leave vague, and without clarification, there's no reason not to, but most DMs would say "no" to.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

A great example of the "programmed crawling claw" is in Sam Raimis' classic film Evil Dead....when Bruces character Ash cuts his own hand off with a chainsaw in that film I laughed so hard when It ran around flinging china plates at him and flipped him off!.........classic! God bless Bruce!

[@AJPickett]

Merry Christmas, end of year, time to unleash some of the content my patreon subscribers get to enjoy.

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

I have in the past combined the crawling claw with the magic item hand of glory/fate just to add more creepiness. Also the hand of a murderous caster could retain some small casting ability like a cantrip or limited use low level spell, so fun.

[@itzybitzyspyder]

In CoS my players got the drop on Izek and beat the crap out of him. They wanted proof to take to Lady Fiona Watcher so they chopped off his devil hand. After they gave it to her she brought it back as a crawling hand...it retained it's fire throwing abilities and tormented the party for weeks.

[@imlaughing2death]

I remember in the game Medievil, these were skittering around all over, and in the sequel, you could attach your head onto them and pilot them.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

"How many separate undead can you get from one corpse" challenge. Go

[@michaelkelligan7931]

The beauty of the crawling claw is that there is no limit on the size of one.....my warlock/philosopher made some from slain dragons that had better hit points and AC due to size and composition....id love to make some from a slain Terrasque. That would be epic!

[@darrylviljoen6227]

I would like to see the crawling lich claw from 4e translated to 5e

[@AspenBrightsoul]

Very late but I had a great chance to use these guys in a game, especially the party where trying to capture someone from a Necromancer layer to question before facing the necromancer but all they grabbed where two crawling claws. Cut to two hours later in the tavern with the whole party playing hand Charades with a pair of very rude hands. Great social encounter.

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hey AJ, great video! These are fantastic little undead creatures. Since they are tiny size. Thats 3 per base or 3 crawling all over one creature. They can hide easily and immunity to being turned is huge for such a tiny monster. You said that they can't be turned because the way they where created. To me its a evil creator who got wise to how clerics turn undead (Each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw). Thanks AJ & have a great day.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

Could a necromancer cut off their own hand and have a familiar like crawling claw that casts or delivers spells? I imagine it could cast spells that had no verbal components. Which would be perfect for a second reaction that can cast counter spell! Just ignore that MM text about the murderer falling into a coma and destroying the claw kills the murderer. That’s kinda weird lore, for a murderer to be just fine as the claw comes back to them and then fall into a coma and die if the claw is destroyed if it leaves again, when the claw is bound to them before renitting itself. But the idea of a necromancer mimicking vecna by having severed their left hand, which is a crawling claw that can be their hand or come off sacrificing a hand for a Thing is deeply interesting from lore story and mechanics. Think I’ll make a necromancer with a crawling claw for a left hand which can deliver spells like a familiar cast counter spell or interact with the environment. Just need another similarly effective minion for gouged our undead eye.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

So...crawling claws are basically undead golems. Less a raised dead spirit and more a construct.

[@ichaukan]

I always think of the "Strangling Hands" from Blood that go around saying "I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!"

[@jacobfreeman5444]

I instead think of evil dead 2

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

Does the hand need be severed to do the ritual? Probably not, or at least it can be re nit as described in the monster manual. So why not animate your zombies hands as crawling claws to remove themself from the zombie if destroyed? After all they are turn immune, and zombies are destroyed by destroy undead. A perfect encounter for enemies arriving in waves. A death burst that summons 2 other enemies

[@MrBiloxifireman]

Looks like the Dark Elfs would be best for this. They have a silent hand language like sign language so you can then speak with your claw and it could talk back. . ;) Your welcome ;)

[@chakatBombshell]

Now I'm wondering since they are taken from things like killers and such and animated by the psychic leftovers of that persons emotions which is what makes them such kill happy creatures, I wonder if you can game rule it that if the hand came from a nice person could you instead end up with Thing from the Adams family which would be a friendly crawling claw. (I useually don't like to rule most undead as evil unless it specifically states in the flavor text they are made through evil or are things born from evil beings like wights and wraiths)

[@AJPickett]

chakatBombshell yeah, if you are not basing undeath on the D&D idea of negative energy, there is no reason why you couldn't make a friendly crawling claw.

[@darrylviljoen6227]

In 3.5 they we constructs and we're as much undead as a a flesh or bone golem. They also had a str of 10 and a climb speed. Good stuff.

[@darrylviljoen6227]

Omg I love these guys. Ever since seeing the wow crawling claw. Which looks awesome :D

[@dragonballtalk8527]

These are in Castlevania symphony of the night

[@That80sGuy1972]

I've used these little monsters so often in my campaigns it's almost a Loom of Magus meme.

[@marcosreed9894]

Could a infernal interfere with a resurrection if the recipient of the spell has made a contract with it?

[@joebonar]

[@goontubeassos7076]

The swarm Ranger just came out, monk,necromancer, multi class with it.

[@eliotoole4534]

5e has tremor sense

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Remastered video candidate

[@AJPickett]

for sure.

[@jamestingley5907]

Can these claws be imbued with magic or spells such as magic missle? Just think of a legion of claws casting magic missle at your party. TPK.

[@brandonsmith5743]

Do u have any info on a wizards apprentice? Preferably necromancer?

[@AJPickett]

Lore wise, not a huge amount, for 5th edition this is mainly covered by the backgrounds for Scribe, Sage or Acolyte (certainly Acolyte for a Necromancer apprentice). They spend a lot of time just in day to day service to the mage they are studying under, at the beck and call of their master, fetching supplies, preparing things, cleaning, cooking, lots and lots of reading and performing very difficult mental tasks to train their mind to be able to handle spell casting.

[@craptastiko6513]

guy or gal could make a lot of money with a stable of these giving out "creepy handys" for 5G

[@fuckoff1786]

Sick

[@kikiblair5132]

In 3e they're constructs.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

It’s a feasibly weak monster. I can’t imagine the ritual being any harder than the animate dead spell getting two claws instead of a zombie with one casting. After all why not let players have them? They can be necromancer and they kill murderers all the time. Wonder what the ritual is? Something a novice necromancer can preform and that a master necromancer might have done thousands of times surely it’s not one of those comically expensive rituals that take years for no other reason that you want a reason for npcs to be able to do something players can’t? Right?