Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Kyuss

[@kingdomrains]

A few years ago I was given a Samoyed named Kyuss by my uncle. He was actually named after the band, I found out about the D&D connection much later. He is a gorgeous fluffy elder evil!

[@jima6545]

The Age of Worms is fucking savage. Our DM kept an obituary, 42 character deaths. The Spawn of Kyuss first showed up in AD&D Fiend Folio. Yes, I'm that old

[@user-nz4dg4db7k]

Came for the band stayed for the mythology

[@AJPickett]

Well, now you know exactly who they are named after :)

[@AJPickett]

Green Machine! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iF6whJmaZ7hqotE

[@jasonc3a]

I love that they named their band off of something so relatively obscure even lots of modern D&D fans would know. I don't know if this is true, but there was apparently a bunch of weird copyright stuff with their name. Something like, they started off as Sons of Kyuss, and that was copyrighted, so they changed it to Kyuss, which TSR somehow let slip through? Then later they held rights to the name Kyuss, so in a supplement somewhere he had to be explicitly referred to as "The Worm that Walks", even though his followers were still "The Sons of Kyuss", and then later when Kyuss (the band) reformed, because Josh Homme was a part holder of the rights, they had to be called "Kyuss Lives!", but WotC got the go ahead to call him Kyuss again at some point. Just from memory, always fascinated me that such a sequence of events from what I thought were two vastly separate portions of my interest could occur and be related.

[@thorild69]

Check out The Crystal Method - Born Too Slow - featuring vocalist from KYUSS.

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

You see an evil, ancient force of rot and entropy and death. I see an infinite supply of bait.

[@johnwalsh4857]

the sons of Kyuss are the most fascinating of the monsters in the original fiend folio I bought at a San Francisco Toy store in Sutter street back in 1981. Loved it. they made a good impression on me first time I read about them. Played against them a few times and yah they can be very deadly. That is why just burn them then ask questions later. and dont swallow the worms.

[@genehetzel2036]

Was friends with guys from Kyuss, who became Queens of the Stone Age. His cousin played D&D and he dug the wierd name.

[@cernunnos_lives]

Thanks for keeping this idea for this character going. I really like how you can easily see from his point of view. An interesting character idea. Defying life, death, and the Gods.

[@Reddotzebra]

Let's stop and rewind... 4:56 Is that an Illithid with WOLVERINE CLAWS? 0.o

[@AJPickett]

Yep

[@nicholaspokorny5058]

I may have read it wrong, but in Elder Evils, in the backstory for Kyuss, I felt that it was heavily implied that the temple where Kyuss made his bid for godhood was a Spell Weaver Spell Engine.

[@AJPickett]

Ooooo.. I like it!

[@kordelshorgar122]

the worm that walks deserves his own video :p great video as always AJ

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Ahhhh, Greyhawk. The Good Old Days.

[@Daleksaresupreme1]

This is especially useful for me as I'm running Age of Worms starting next week.

[@That80sGuy1972]

Kyuss made appearances in my campaigns in the 80s before there were official stats for him. I used him as a rival demigod against Abberrus and other "corruption" (undead and undead affiliated) gods. Orcus also had something to say. One setting, the players were of mixed alignments. They looked to work for a patron against undeads and their masters. They kept finding missions, but for some reason they kept finding their boss, no matter who, somehow friendly towards undead affiliates. That settting, all the patrons were evil... cults of Kyuss, Orcus, Aberrus and Nightbay. Letting them decide who was the lesser of evils was fun. Aberrus was the most insidious. Much of his creations seemed more like cyborging and technology (now called "steampunk") than undeads and disease.

[@jima6545]

You should take a look at Against The Giants, G1-3. 1st edition, published in 1979. All I have to say is King Snurr's Throneroom remains the only challenge unbeaten.

[@rizuopal8153]

I like the idea of orcus getting involved like lets say your party is sleeping outside and the fire flickers and the wizard or necromancer wakes up to see orcus or vecna standing before them and they tell the players of Kyuss's death cult is becoming heavily active and orcus looks at the necromancer saying destroy my enemies and you'll gain the knowledge of lichdom if not ill feast on your heart mortal

[@AJPickett]

I bet one of the players tries to roll an attack :)

[@lordofrandomspaces3469]

Orcus would probably shrug and rattle something off about "This is why I don't interact with such inferior forms of existence".

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Why would either of them directly interact at all? That is what minions are for. Vecna could probably send a dream message by some method so he doesn't even have to even bother with trying to hold a conversation and Orcus would just take control of an undead near the target and have it rattle off his terms. Maybe multiple in case of murderhobos. Bonus points if Orcus can manage a barbershop quartet to deliver his message.

[@Eisenwulf666]

I don't like the idea of them showing up,whether as an illusion or avatars or at all. Vecna is the lord of secrets, he would never make it clear it's him . Orcus is too proud to interact with some random necromancer and also involved in ten thousand other schemes and plots, showing his cards so blatantly seems a bit odd and could put some of them in jeopardy. Have the bones of what the party has eaten or maybe dead animals from the forest rise up or, better yet assemble in a unholy abomination, and speak to them in a chorus of whispers and screams. Or a beautiful angel, going full deception. Maybe hint at some weird, unusual details in their exterior or behaviour, make them doubt a little

[@H3xx99]

I'd like to request Atropus, the Death Planet.

[@Licjr]

Hexx Bombastus I wish I could like this more than once. Nothing like a good old fashioned zombie apocalypse in your d&d campaign

[@H3xx99]

I'm writing a campaign at the moment with an all new setting. It's going to culminate in Atropus, but the planetoid isn't going to retreat when the avatar is destroyed. Something a little extra is going to be required... mwahahaha

[@bruggeman672]

The Worm that Walks is straight out of Lovecraft! Maybe not the most powerful but one of the most unsettlingly creepy monsters ever!

[@Golnax]

I'm sad that you didn't go into more detail about kyuss as an Elder Evil :< Still, nice to have a list of creatures relates to kyuss for when inintroduce The Worm That Walks into my d&d world~

[@mikegould6590]

Thank you AJ. I have the collected “Age of Worms” campaign in PDF format, but never ran it. Given how my players treat everything behind them as a “closed chapter”, Kyuss would rule the world by player level 5. If it means anything to you, it was -24C consistently for a while, and was -14 until today. Welcome to Nova Scotia Canada. Tomorrow will be 8C and rain. Snow storm on Tuesday. This province truly has a random table for weather.

[@sanddry738]

The image of Lord Ao just pointing a giant hand down at Kyrus during the end of his apotheosis and saying “NOPE” is amazing. It’s really cool to know more about him and where he came from. Although I wonder if on the multiverse/planescape side of things he’s considered to be from Oerth or Toril.

[@jprp999]

Just had a re-watch, is there any chance of an overview of Undeath deities/demigods and daemons and how they do/don't relate to each other?

[@DeanNatheos-eq3hl]

A disgcusting character and extremely interesting excellent video and please have a good evening thank you

[@AJPickett]

Thanks, you too!

[@Yuudaddy]

The undead would also make very good protectors of a village or small town against bandits or some wild beasts.

[@Orthanderis]

I, as the DM, for anlevel 2 or 3 encounter, once had a group of zombies infesting a graveyard to keep the villagers out as it had become a home to a wraith. When the party arrived they assumed it was a regular old smash and loot, but quickly realized something was up when all the zombies would grapple them, drag them, push them, and throw them out of the graveyard. They eventually realized when they pushed past the grapple zombies and to their horror realized the wraith could attack them through the walls of the catacombes. Theu ended up using the zombies as human shields and emergency exit mechanics since thr wraith couldnt leave tje graveyard either.

[@andresmarrero8666]

@@Orthanderis important question, were the zombies willfully in that state as in they are spirits that bound themselves and possess their old bodies to keep the humans out and safe or were their bodies forcibly animated by someone and the dead messed with?

[@Orthanderis]

@@andresmarrero8666 first one, they wanted to protect the villagers from the wraith, so they were trying to keep everyone out. If someone went down the zombies just scoop them up and throw them out for the villagers; good, fun, safe adventure for level 2

[@andresmarrero8666]

@@Orthanderis ah, then there is nothing wrong with them then. Once the wraith is dealt with they would probably return to their graves and properly depart to the afterlife. There is an important lessons for adventurers there, not all spirits are evil.

[@Orthanderis]

@@andresmarrero8666 Yeah, I love throwing in stuff like that as a curveball every now and again to keep them on their toes

[@fonandoozmando5961]

you made a serie of videos on the lords of destructor, you made a video on the most iconic monster, the beholder, you have a serie on the dragons and out of nowhere you release a video on and Elder Evil, Kyuss, The Worm that walks? I like it!

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, I am a bit eclectic. I try to get the viewer requests done, as I work on my own interests, a lot of the time the two are one and the same, I want to learn about the same things people want to see :)

[@ceastin4935]

This was a great video as ever and I can't wait to see what else you make on these lords of destruction. As a request, could you do either a video on the lords of elemental evil or on atropus?

[@elricengquist9989]

I have always found Kyuss interesting, kinda in the same way I found Bane really interesting in how they take existing monster/types of monsters an alter them to make them more interesting an dangerous in alternative ways than merely increasing hit dice/damage/stats. I think that Kyuss would make an amazing Dark lord type villain in the Ravenloft setting, as since in the setting the Dark-lords are bound to an area (region, city, even a specific building) that they can not leave even though they have nearly full control over that area, and also they earn their power an imprisonment in their kingdoms via their own actions that bring the attention of the dark gods of Ravenloft to them.

[@midnightgreen8319]

Elric Engquist I'm running the Age Of Worms in Ravenloft now. Going great so far!

[@grocerybagg366]

Great quote at 18:05 "It is amazingly fast how such things can become normalized as long as nobody's getting eaten"

[@kingstewy]

Who is Kyuss as a Warlock Patron? Undying or Great Old One?

[@AJPickett]

He is Undying.

[@Essex121514]

11:47 😂😂😂 This made me laugh harder than it should have. Well played AJ... well played.

[@jprp999]

Lol at the illustration of Jessica Nigri cosplaying "MS Captain America". :)

[@jprp999]

4.10

[@venkelos6996]

So, there was a window of time wherein I wanted to try and build a Necromancer who wasn't evil; they have a certain assumption made that they are just monstrous fiends toying with the remains of other people's loved ones, and the like, and I wanted to try something else. Since I suffer from long bouts of perpetual-DMitus, the backstory more became the start of a story I sort of wrote. In that world, the kingdom trained Necromancers on their dime, and then put them to work. They could speak to the dead; start to solve crimes, and other things. The big catch, though, was that towns were expected, as part of their "taxes" to surrender the corpses of their dead, and the rulers then had these bodies animated. They could be put to work, maintaining fields, or building/labor. They could be raised for the army, and fight the nation's enemies. It could seem grotesque, to some, but others were almost honored. If your grandfather died, would he be upset if his body was used to protect his home from bandits? Would he not literally storm back into the living world to protect loved ones, if only he could? Criminals were also executed, and then animated to work off their debts, instead of paying to incarcerate them. The Necromancers could animate the bodies of horses, and let riders cover ground atvan accelerated rate. Despite the usual bad connotation that Necromancy has,I felt it wad a bit of a positive spin on it, though it can still be awful.

[@docbaker3333]

Great DnD villain Great Metal Band Great Video all around I hope you Remake this with the quality of your more recent video better yet a Video describing the other Elder Evils like the mother of Monsters Ragnorra who I love due to her being a creature of Corrupted positive energy something associated with good creatures for the most part. My one compliant you didn't play Demon Cleaner over the video.

[@seanwarren9357]

Best desert rock...

[@AfroChef]

Man you werent kidding about unique monsters. Some of those I'd never seen before and want to know more about

[@3dagalathor]

Is Kezef the Chaos Hound tied in anyway with Kyuss? Im only familiar with Kevef from his involvement in the Forgotten Realms Avatar Series. Kezef's description and abilities seem to be right in line with Kyuss and hell the names are even similar to each other. Thank you again for yet another great video, Sir.

[@Mushezable]

Kyuss more like "Gimme a kyiss"

[@AJPickett]

ha ha! ew!

[@jacobfreeman5444]

An idea for Kyuss. Maybe he did succeed in becoming divine but due to some serious arrogance and narcissism on his part the other divine spirits refuse to let him join the table, sort to speak. So he has a divine spark but no room is being made for him to join them. He can't be unmade a god, he fits the criteria. But nobody wants to vouch for him so his choices are either sit and twiddle this thumbs or continue to force his way into being accepted.

[@Babbleplay]

True Fact : When I was a little Mr Babble, the 'Sons of Kyuss' Monstrous Compendium entry was one of the pics that scared me a little.

[@ItamarO93]

Do more Elder Evils, plz.

[@cultofnatethemagnificent5879]

yessssss

[@Daimon-X]

Lich King: Now you're making me angry. You don't want to see me angry. Kyuss: Oh, you think you're bad, huh? You're a f*cking choir boy compared to me! A CHOIR BOY!

[@jima6545]

PS we killed him. Took an entire 8 hour session and as party healer I used 12 Miracles to see us through

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

A interesting idea is kyuss is a finger puppet for a greater power from the far realm, He has been empowered to the point of demi god but as this beings ability to interact with this plane is limited so is the power he can grant kyuss. Perhaps kyuss has a limited control and though worshipers mean nothing to this unknown being they grant kyuss more power through worship as he seeks to gain full godhood or to slip the reins of being just a pupput.

[@anathema1828]

At my Eberron table, Kyuss is the right hand of Katashka the Gatekeeper- very similar concept!

[@whitecreamymilk8436]

I think kyuss would be cooler as a full on god of decay. He seems a bit more mysterious then the other necromancer gods which just kinda makes him more lovecraftian. Hes more interesting than orcus, slightly less than venca.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

I think Orcus seems less interesting because he is only allowed to be one dimensional. As a demon lord he can only truly be interested in destruction of all. Where as Vecna's role seems to be collection of power and securing forbidden knowledge from those who shouldn't have it. Allows a much more nuanced approach. Think Orcus would be more interested if his position as demon lord made him an invader god and instead of destroying all he wanted to simply dominate all by making it undead. That forcing them to be tormented forever in such a form was what he wanted. That allows for more interesting directions for him to take.

[@commissarchaplainradke92]

@AJPickett are you planning on doing Zuggtmoy and Jubillex?

[@AJPickett]

I most certainly am!

[@sanick4864]

Is he the demon cleaner?

[@willynthepoorboys2]

Happy Happy, Joy Joy a new video, thanks, A.J.

[@austinbostrom5304]

Is there enough information on that Silver Dragon Vampire that you mentioned to do a video?

[@AJPickett]

Maybe a video short?

[@gwyndolin1536]

Kyuss vs Orcus

[@juliogouvea9447]

You beautiful bastard, I really miss those videos! 😘

[@ARreckless14]

Keep the vids coming aj! 👍

[@dibaterman]

How about doing one on each of the Elder Evils?

[@jaymeVos]

There could be a slight chance, say 1-10% chance, to come back as undead when ever a low level raise dead-type spell is cast to bring someone back from death. Maybe it is cumulative of the same PC has to raised more than once? Just a thought. I do not use that in my games but one ov the folks that play in my games also runs his own and that is one ov his house rules. Makes the group consider both sides when ever the need comes up.

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

18:56 the priests from the Tales of Wyre had the same opinion.

[@rizuopal8153]

By the way great video AJ grab some ice cream that should help against the heat

[@adamholcomb200]

Thank you a lot for this video one of the admins in AL has his DDAOs revolving around this evil Demi god. I have heard of him and was myself interested in his info....thank for sharing😎👍🏼💯

[@midnightgreen8319]

My group is almost to facing Kyuss in the Age of Worms. My first 1-20 campaign ever

[@st4ne4rmthevill63]

What's the party makeup? How'd the fight go?

[@midnightgreen8319]

@@st4ne4rmthevill63 Halfling Rogue/assassin, Elven Necromancer, Human Ranger/Tempest, Human Voodoo priest of a Fire Loa. My players were playing evil PCs, which made things more difficult I believe. The Rogue got hurt and almost dropped the first round, so he used his winged books to fly up straight in the air, to get away. The Ranger stuck to ranged attacks at first. Voodoo priest and Necromancer used thier most effective magic, the ones that don't allow for spell resistance. Kyuss threw everything at them. Quickened spells and spell like abilities, and melee attacks. They go back and forth for 6 rounds, burning through spells like crazy. At this point, Kyuss has been damaged a lot and is about to use Harm to cure his wounds again. The Halfling Rogue drops a Daern's instant fortress on top of Kyuss, from 180 feet in the air. That was the killing blow, and it was fantastic! He totally had us convinced he was flying away to bail on the group and live. It was awesome.

[@tombirmingham7033]

oh fond memories of the Sons of Kyuss spitting worms at my PC's. Come at me bro, field of oil caltrops and bear traps will fix that.

[@jima6545]

Also of note is Threshold of Evil. Voted most deadly adventure ever ( yes, it's way worse than Tomb of Horrors). Published in Dungeon Magazine

[@theredneckunicorn9752]

Love that nope hand. Need that for a prop for my game.

[@matthewbennett1972]

On a unrelated topic what happens when Ragnora crashes into Atropus

[@N-cromancer]

Imagine a spear that houses green worms inside, like a deadly hypodermic needle spear of kyuss!!

[@danielmedvedev878]

It was my 1-st campaign, I was DMing, and it was great, unfottunately th playing was interrupted after 10 level. Sincerely hoping to restart campaign with new party, and convert modules to play in Amn in Forgotten realms.

[@onemisterfranko]

That image around 7 minutes is Nagash a character from war hammer and age of sigmar. He is a awesome evil necromancer and eventfully a god of death. I love the character. :)

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

I could really see where they got this dude, I was just looking up these dudes in the monscer manuel

[@juggernaut6544]

Character concept a retired necromancer who took up farming and uses undead as beasts of burden and farm hands

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Have you done doppelgangers yet? I recently read the belonging kind and though that was a good idea for them.

[@AJPickett]

Yes I have, one of my older videos, please excuse the bad sound. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aImwYaaYZpilsNE

[@Fibonochos]

Lol, Kyuss is head of the church of the temporary mortal condition forgotten realms branch

[@135mikerules23]

I’m surprised some Nightshades aren’t under Kyuss’s banner, after all aren’t they all about spreading entropy?

[@eddiebendigo7317]

Who would win? All the wizards, or one VERY wormy boi?

[@willrogers3793]

So basically the god of “Oh F*** the Hell NAW.”

[@jacen16]

Thanks for the vid. I know orcs are on the list will you do half orcs at the same time or would that be its own topic?

[@AJPickett]

A bit of both, orcs as monsters need a whole video, which includes half orcs (including monstrous half orcs, which don't get any attention) and Half orcs as player character race needs a video also.

[@trinisantana]

Here is an idea have you seen the t.v. series the strain....someone needs to make a kysuss spawned hive worm vampire.

[@AJPickett]

I really liked that show, the Strigoi were innovatively done in a very believable way by Del Toro (He really gets monsters, I feel like I could talk with him for DAYS)... here is how much the television industry is broken, and I quote from Wikipedia "In 2006, del Toro pitched The Strain as a television series, but negotiations broke down when the network president at Fox Broadcasting Company asked him to make it a comedy". That sentence makes me hate that entire media network and all it stands for.

[@aaronhumphrey2009]

The Master could be an acolyte or even an Avatar of Kyuss..the ' master Worm ' could be an unusually large undead green parasite- worm.. I was in an Epic campaign that eventually faced the Demi-God Kyuss as he tried to complete a ritual to ascend to full godhood..the burrowing Kyuss- worms involved were still a nasty threat , even at 20th lvl..my PC was a Stone Dreamer Dwarven Wizard that summoned a Stone Monolith to pound Kyuss to a messy paste ..our gnome archer/ ranger actually did Demigod in with his heavily enchanted arrows, doing phenomenal dmg per Rd. Fun times..

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

So that brings the number of Undead deities or gods associated with undeath and the dead to ?um I lost count

[@alanpatrick5260]

Good stuff here! I recently wrote and released two Kyuss-themed adventures for the D&D Adventurers League. Small world :)

[@Canadian_Ry]

Stifling hot, eh? Come on up to Ontario. We've got lots of snow to cool you down with.

[@norbertzacharczuk1064]

40K has a character like that. A being made up of just worms and a cloak over top of that.

[@zaelzvandera3799]

Im about to start an age of worms campaign, wish me luck.

[@AJPickett]

Good luck

[@sorath1396]

Kyuss looks kinda like my pfp. I think it's the eyes and hood that do it.

[@fortewiddenlow]

Hey can you do a video on the City of Brass?

[@zmishiymishi5349]

I bet he have tons of unique items

[@pbr-streetgang]

Thanks for the vid sir.

[@rickeymariu1]

I really did like the campaign walkthrough in this episode.

[@davidsequeira92]

I love undead is my favorite category of monsters

[@DED_MEEM]

I saw the thumbnail and my brain autocompleted it to "Kyussy" I am a completely broken human being.

[@TraciPeteyforlife]

The Elder Evil that is the worm that walks. More things that need burning. Likely he's not friends with Orcus who likely hates him. Because he wants to murder everything himself. Graz'zt likely doesn't like him. Because well he's into getting around with all females and burning the upper realms. Yeah I can't think of any powerful being who won't want to help off Kyuss. I could be wrong.

[@Guardian978]

Am running a semi-Greyhawk homebrew and Kyuss recently went on a rampage and destroyed a large chunk of the campaign world. They're working Kingmaker style to reclaim the Dead Scar he left behind, but Kyuss, his remaining cults and the forces behind him are an existential threat hovering over the multiverse still.

[@spedwyrm7427]

I've indulged my personal interest in this entity and the AoW campaign by placing it in it's own domain of dread. Shifting and altering the events and locations with each playthrough by groups.

[@AJPickett]

Great idea!

[@00784865]

Hey Aj do u have any advice on how to make a mindflayer character?He would be a renegade from the colony.

[@AJPickett]

I've never done that myself, but there are resources online you can consider using, just google "Mind Flayer Character 5E"

[@KyussSpeed-sg5je]

Shout out to the gang who's parents thought it was a good idea to name them after a mass of worms and maggots

[@shamusfarmer]

I've always been more of a hoard kind of undead guy than a cloak and worm kind of undead guy, myself...

[@jesseb43]

When arw you going to do a vid on pazuzu?

[@AJPickett]

I'll try to fit him in this week

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

okay you've mentioned this quite a bit in quite a few videos and as I only have a passing understanding of it what is the Dungeons & Dragons Divine Law is it written down somewhere can we read it does it have like thal shalt not steal the domain of a god or you know something like that

[@theblocksays]

Gawd won't somebody make an Age of Worms PC adventure game already, whether it's a more action oriented like Dark Alliance or the more point-n'-clicky classic Baldur's Gate engine like with the new one...just this needs an adaptation with a better polish then Temple of Elemental Evil was with incorporating early 3rd edition rules.

[@esotericagriculture6643]

Great choice in Kyuss!!!

[@KyleJordanGaming]

(Albert Wesker entered chat.)

[@epicfunbomb1879]

cool video , I added you on instagram , be cool if you could put up some snaps of the monsters your going to do. Like while your compiling your research, little sneak peaks hah

[@zacharyhawley1693]

[@gusargoan]

I would like to see the powerful entities from Malazan- Book of the Fallen converted for AD&D use.

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

Ya kyuss gains immortality, gets rid of his church they talk trash about kyuss and becomes infested with worms Haha. Can't be driven by bad opinions lol

[@paulcoy9060]

12:50 Sakatha, the vampire Lizard King.