Dungeons and Dragons: Starlight Apparition

Starlight Apparitions are souls from the Celestial plains (the Afterlife) projected into the Astral Realms to assist others, but they are just one rare type of a much more diverse and complex group of Astral Apparitions.
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aj pickett, the mighty gluestick, dungeons and dragons, roleplaying, tabletop, 5E, 5th edition, faerun, toril, forgotten realms, Eberron, pen and paper, Dungeons and dragons lore, monsters, magic, magic items, monster ecology, greyhawk, mystara, krynn, golarion, spelljammer, planescape, homebrew, live stream, Magic the Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, WotC, Ravnica, Ravenloft, Theros, Strixhaven, Fizban, Mordenkainen, Drizzt, cosmology, planescape, spelljammer, lore, stories, outer planes, elemental, artifact, toril, faerun, starlight apparition, astral beings, astral searcher, astral snapper, kobold press, creature codex, boo's astral menagerie, 5th edition spelljammer
#5E #spelljammer #monsters

[@Greenscyth22]

If these wayward souls are simply floating out there in the astral realm like minnows in a black sea, then there have to be beings that prey on them. Imagine a fiendish barge drifting through the nether manned by Night Hags who trawling for souls like fishermen. Setting out "Lures" to attract the apparitions, then hauling in their "catch" to sell at dimensional ports on the River Styx.

[@josh-oo]

*trawl

[@Greenscyth22]

@@josh-oo Thx, I'll fix that 😂

[@josh-oo]

@@Greenscyth22 You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. :)

[@carnim7929]

...do you mind if I nick that?

[@Greenscyth22]

@@carnim7929 My imaginations is for everyone, have at it sir.

[@AngelusAnsell]

Hearing about these souls getting trapped in the Astral Plane and just wanting to make it to their proper afterlife is just more and more evidence of why ma boi Kelemvor (and to a lesser extent the Raven Queen *i guess*) is so vital. He's out here doing Gods' work. (pun totally intended)

[@purplehaze2358]

“They could be stuck as a prisoner inside their own body for a very long time” That’s frankly downright horrifying.

[@trajanfidelis1532]

the concept of possession terrifies me. Definitely worth investing in protective charms and amulets to prevent such a thing. Thanks AJ!

[@malachijones-marrero8603]

Wait we cant just ignore this. What god was in charge of the astral dreadnaughts? Why was he imprisoned? Is the god still alive? I have so many questions

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Tharizdun. The chained god. AJ was just making a nod to his previous vids

[@GeraldBlack1]

Too bad I'm poor, but you have my undying moral support!

[@AJPickett]

Your views are also very much appreciated!

[@tonyoliver4920]

Hail Tharizdun

[@AJPickett]

Release the Chained God!

[@davidkoudelka10]

Hail to the Mad God, hail to the Chained Oblivion, HAIL TO THARIZDUN!!!!!... *...The spirals are so pretty, do you not think?...*

[@skippy9273]

Hail

[@AJPickett]

Tharizdun did Nothing Wrong!

[@christophermzdenek]

Hail to the entity that decided that typing correction fluid is no way to fix a typo and just decided reprinting it was better. "It", being all reality.

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

SA: It's so sad that Elminster died of Gar'gul. Party rogue: who the hell is Elminster? SA: Gar'gul my balls *erases rogue*

[@Xardis]

My own idea for my Warforged OC was a human that was saved from death by binding his departed soul into a gem, a aquamarine. The gem is put into a wood and metal golem like body, not a large one, human sized, and nature spells were cast to connect the wood with the gem via magical vines. The spell itself is sustained by the soul from the on, and he can control the body as his own. Only later he finds that the gem was a psychic repository long time ago, and some remnant knowledge and personality remained inside, allowing him to learn the basics of psionics, allowing him to manifest a blade made of astral energies, explaining Soulknife archotype.

[@daryldecker7469]

I love all the lore that has come about because of this game over the decades!

[@ultraman5168]

I'll admit that I'm still hurting for the uniqueness of old Spelljammer, but this is great stuff and I'm looking for ways to use it. These guys could still be right at home in a campaign using the Phlogiston Sea.

[@ruhalajn]

Imagine a soul state in which the soul is able to be a witness in and amongst the happenings of any plane at any time. It cannot affect or be affected by anything and may or may not even be detectable. Like imagine being in that state and just taking your time floating through the 9 hells knowing you can't be harmed.

[@lysander9957]

Oh, I LIKE that idea about Warforged. I may steal that for my Eberron Campaign.

[@rayanderson5797]

I use something similar for my spelljammer campaign. In that setting, warforged are inhabited by souls from the afterlife.

[@rjjone2853]

This is so cool, I've been waiting for spell jammer stuff. Like always great content

[@themightymoose5047]

Perfect timing, I was just looking for something to listen to while I do some work! You are the best AJ my friend!

[@lordvile1209]

perfect timing. i was just looking for something to listen to while a take a dump

[@AJPickett]

LOL

[@wittvantinkel3113]

I love the Mr.Rhexx reference.

[@rendarcrow]

Agreed I wanna see them play 20 questions dnd edition together 🤣

[@johnforeman5608]

Perfect timing, I was just looking for something to listen to whilst I match some paint colors at work :)

[@DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH]

Bless the Mighty GlueStick

[@Pyre]

"Is not in keeping with that design philosophy I think...well, let me correct that oversight." Heh heh. Cleverly done. Also I'm realizing, having gone to Starfinder for ship combat rules and then how my heart sang on hearing the word 'template', just how much I miss certain mechanics.

[@haydem0823]

Im converting the stats for this into a “moonlight apparition”, changing a few stats (like making it immune to force damage), making it a servant of the winter court of the feywild, and having it attack my party that has a fairy warlock that worships titania

[@AJPickett]

this is the way.

[@mrraisbeck]

Would love to hear your thoughts on some of the design changes made recently, I can't help but be a little saddened the game lore is being deteethed in some ways, not a fan of the Tiefling reputation for example.

[@AJPickett]

If you are not happy about it, you MUST complete the feedback surveys when they arrive, as it is vital to have our say in how the game develops.

[@groudonmario]

Could a genie warlock character use the ability to put willing creatures into objects safely bring these guys to the material plane? It could be a cool good aligned PC

[@AJPickett]

Hmmm, never put anything past a Genie.

[@kyklonos]

Great lore video as always.

[@ferrumchnop6617]

Perfect timing indeed

[@michaelmorford3932]

What awesome artwork you found for this episode. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@chriscalvin5083]

good video AJ

[@ryanmatthews5882]

I could see an evil version of this being like Azazel from The Fallen.

[@massage1010]

Great

[@kurayamaking6425]

Ty for the Great content !!

[@lordk.gaimiz6881]

Mmm, tell me what you think about this: Rift claws. Melee weapon attack, +4 to hit. Hit: 7 (2d6+2) force damage. If the astral predator hits a humanoid twice in the same turn it enters the target's body and begins to devour it from the inside, at the end of the target's turns they must make a DC 13 CON save. On a failure the target gains 1 level of exhaustion. On a success the astral predator is expelled, and the target is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours. If the target dies while the astral predator is inside it, it's chest will explode as the astral predator bursts out covered in gore. The target can only be revived with a spell of 5th level or higher.

[@AJPickett]

I added that buffer of burning the targets constitution bonus points because exhaustion levels are very severe, but yeah, good take.

[@krispalermo8133]

Book is around fifth teen or twenty years old, Whitewolf/World of Darkness (WoD): d10 system Mage the Awakening and Werewolf Forsaken. Spirits attack N/PCs to drain off Willpower points than possesses the body to feed off of one Willpower Dot per week till the N/PC dies or one Wp dot per two weeks. Most derange homeless people found on the urban streets had their Willpower/souls eaten away and sent out into the mental" astral", spirit " ethereal " to be reincarnated or in up in the shadowlands as ghost/wraiths trying to figure out their afterlife. Not to overly pick on your monster, but add on temporary wisdom drain for mental insanity/madness checks to avoid picking up derangements. Each week the spirit is attached to N/PC the spirit causes one permanent point of wisdom damage along with draining the life force through character class level drain. If your creature is a one attack hit wonder, have it do some constitution damage of some type. Your low Con DC:13 save could be implied that even a health peasant child could survive such an attack, other than the Force Claw damage. Your astral spirit creature could be mistaken for a vampire, Eastern European folk lore it was the corpse's .. spirit .. and not the body that left the grave to feed on blood. You can have some fun at misdirection here. A question I have can your creature be seen in mirrors/pond water out of the corner of your eye ? Base on the wealth tech level of the campaign setting, only rich people had small mirrors. Or the inn/tavern had a sheet of polish copper to function as a room mirror. Build up the dread of being stalked with multiple bouts of .. exhaustion .. throughout the week, then boom you get a chest buster moment.

[@lordk.gaimiz6881]

@@krispalermo8133 wow that's a lot... Uh yeah i mean, all this is just spit balling that i made in like 2 minutes not some well thought out thing, and as a GM you're free to change anything. Wanna change exhaustion for necrotic damage? Do it!, Want to make the DC higher? Do it! Want to make the exhaustion happen every long rest instead? Do it, it really doesn't matter. The rest that you asked is up to you as a GM, be creative. Have a good one ^^)/

[@lordk.gaimiz6881]

@@AJPickett Thanks! Could just replace the exhaustion for necrotic damage instead.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@lordk.gaimiz6881 Thank you for the reply, I haven't played close to fifth teen years and my last gaming shop groups prefer slow dread build ups to create dramatic tension. As a saying goes just because your PC passed the wizard Scare spell DC:12 doesn't mean that since they are in a crypt maze with only torch light doesn't mean they are not jumping at every .. sound .. they hear as a Shadow slowly drains their strength from them. Blind sider ambush by a cultist, bugbear, or half-ogre and had to make a bunch of strength/dexterity checks to wrestle yourself free. I have played line guard in football/rugby and it is physically .. exhausting .. so. As you wrestle with whoever in the dungeon you can have a Shadow feed on the PCs. An Invisible wizard with a Silence spell variant where they can still hear themselves cast spells and chant but the players' PCs can't see or hear the wizard. A bunch of casting low level illusion spells will drive the Players nuts with paranoia. Our home brew was a wizard had to take a few levels of rogue or bard to properly cast realistic illusion spells along with sound effects. With 3rdE skill Profession( stage craft actor) boosts Performance( chanting, mimic, Dance ) checks along with Intimidation to get body language down. A 3rd-level wizard with the feat: Craft Wonderous Items can be a real pain in the backside to deal with. Along with a party of 10th-level PCs hate being punked out by a 3rd-level wizard. Cheap shot, get " jump scare " then the PC charges shield rush to tackle opponent to the wall, only the opponent was an illusion and the PC bounces off the wall with full force taking damage. Wizard then rolls Spellcraft( illusion) follow with Performance ( acting ) with Intimidation to do an illusion of screaming melting as the cultist/ monster fades from sight. More dice rolling but it builds tension in the story. Top it off with the 4th-level spell Lesser Planar Binding to call/summon in multiple 8hd outsiders to stalk the party. What is real and what is an illusion ?

[@blakmajk3512]

Excellence!

[@dpme3fan193]

Can a blank body, what I call a body that's alive but doesn't have a soul, by used by an astral apparition as a vessel to inhabit? A clone or a specially made golem for example? Or does it specifically need to be a body with a soul that an astral apparition needs to connect to so it can inhabit its body?

[@AJPickett]

Good question, there is no correct answer to that though, as they are all good story elements that should never be ruled out, rather, the game narrative can shift and change as you decide how it works for that particular campaign or game session. If a player expresses a lot of interest in the subject, maybe it's time for them to play either an abjuration wizard, banishment cleric, necromancer or some such, so they can really signal to you to run games where they can explore these concepts further as part of their character development.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Well, golems are bodies with elemental spirits stuffed in, and created undead seems to be the same concept but with all manner of spirits associated with the realm of death(both those whom are more elemental as well as tormented souls that are somehow not moving on) so I don't see a problem. It is only limited by imagination and knowledge. Of course this process can be done without the spirit's permission and can in fact cause a lot of discomfort. So there is much territory to explore

[@Giozize]

Really disappointing they cut out all of this from BAM. It’s so interesting

[@TheodoreMinick]

The page count crippled the spelljammer release.

[@Giozize]

@@TheodoreMinick Agreed. The books are all meat with no bones. They are pointlessly three books. Eberron has more content as one book (and honestly settings always come with rules, then adventure, then bestiary. Why is it three books now???) In general I have been throughly disappointed with Spelljammer in a way that I hadn't since Strixhaven came out. Strixhaven was also the last book I bought before Spelljammer, so, lol. I have no hope at this point that other upcoming settings like Planescape are going to be any better

[@TheodoreMinick]

@@Giozize Splitting it into three books was actually one of the few choices they made with this release that makes sense. Separating the adventure and the monster book allows DMs to have both open at once, so they can see the monster and the adventure without flipping back and forth. And separating off the Player-facing content makes handing them the book a worry-free experience. I think where they screwed the pooch is by making them hardcover. If they'd gone for a proper boxed set, with softcover books, they could probably have doubled the page count, and still been cheaper.

[@Giozize]

@@TheodoreMinick fair enough. Though honestly I’d rather have that inconvenience over having a more expensive product with less content. I agree softcovers would have been a pretty good solution though But I don’t know if in the end the three book structure and size is really what hurt Spelljammer so much. After all, again, Strixhaven was just as disappointing and that was a regular release I think Wizards is putting a lot less effort on these books nowadays. The optimistic way to look at it is think that they are just focusing on One DnD and hoping to make it amazing…but who knows honestly

[@baynemacgregor8441]

There must be so much good material in the cutting room floor files of the 5e Spelljammer release. I can only hope that it sold well enough despite the community disappointment that they will still return to it and release another book like Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft and give us some of that missing material.

[@Kakkarot211]

I'd love to know if someone uses dead god matter as bullets in the astral sea and couldn't someone harvest these apparitions?

[@AJPickett]

The last large scale heist of a god body from the astral was performed by the nation of Netheril on the planet Toril. And yes, harvesting apparitions is both an interesting profession and a fairly lucrative livestyle.

[@Kakkarot211]

@@AJPickett thanks for the reply!

[@firesuppressionequipment]

Great video

[@garryame4008]

AJ, does the Blood War affect the SpellJammer setting at all? I Eagerly await more SpellJammer videos!

[@AJPickett]

Hmmm, good question, its one of the big multiversal conflicts so it can certainly flare up anywhere, but its really just a narrative option.

[@mak31589]

Love your stuff! I usually have it on in the background whilst I'm working and it's given loads of ideas for my current and future campaigns. Btw, do you have anything on Tyranthraxus and the Pools of Radiance? I'd love to add them in to my campaign but the information I've found on them is sparse and contradictory at best

[@96kidbuu]

Hey AJ! Love your stuff; your vids have been such an inspiration for my FR campaign. My players are level 13 and running through the last leg of Against the Giants! The module has taken them to Ysgard’s Muspelhiem to confront King Snurre and his stronghold, and the party very quickly bailed after discovering that some of their crucial magic simply didn’t work! Thankfully, they’re accompanied by a Hoarite cleric whose god had gifted him with an Amulet of the Planes, so their escape was a clean one. If you couldn’t tell already, I’m implementing Magical Conditions from 3e! I want to add a fun depth of lore and alien mechanics to the game to really reinforce the magnitude of planar travel. Do you have any videos on Planar Magical Conditions or maybe even the Spell Keys that unlock the barriers that restrict them? My players are keen to “find” said keys in the coming sessions so they might have a chance in the realm. Also, I’ve only watched the VOD’s of your livestreams. When will your next one be and how might I go about having my questions answered real-time?

[@AJPickett]

You can always just email me and I can help out with some inspiration for your campaign.

[@96kidbuu]

@@AJPickett wooo

[@96kidbuu]

@@AJPickett where is your email posted? I joined the discord and messaged you there. Would that work?

[@96kidbuu]

@@AJPickett SENT

[@bigsarge2085]

👍

[@danieldavis6288]

I'm curious if you ever do content on Monte Cook's splat books or Scarred Lands?

[@AJPickett]

Scarred lands? No, but I own a lot of Monte Cook Game's books

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@aarondennis5000]

Hi

[@onisinn1]

🔥🖤🔥

[@doctorwhy6366]

Your voice is to low on this video. Other videos play fine. I have to crank volume to even hear you on this one

[@AJPickett]

Thanks for the feedback, always appreciated

[@TheHornedKing]

Being one sounds horrible.