Dungeons and Dragons: The Quom

[@zacharyweaver276]

Man these guys would be a great player race trying to hunt down all the fragments by collecting pieces of Locale joining an adventuring party to hunt down specific magic items believed to have fragments of locale in them

[@AJPickett]

Agreed

[@dracorex426]

An interesting scenario: The Quom finally put Locale back together and she is horrified and outraged by their actions. As for what happens next, maybe she just kills all the Quom (the boring answer). Or maybe her mind breaks and she goes mad. Perhaps she exiles all of the Quom, either forever or until they have truly atoned for their crimes. Or worst or all, it's possible she kills herself in her grief and despair. And then in the latter three scenarios, how do the Quom react? Denial? Despair? Descent into madness? And if it's the worst reaction, what if the Quom refuse to accept her divine suicide? What if her death once again shatters her into a million million fragments? What if they just do the exact same thing? What if it's already happened? What if it's already happened *many times?*

[@PetroBeherha]

Those are wonderful scenarios. I thought some similar scenarios about what would happen, although one of them was that she "comes back wrong" because of her new broken nature and tries to destroy, warp or do something awful to the rest of the multiverse. Whatever the case, no doubt the Quom will be in for a terrible surprise.

[@itzybitzyspyder]

The Quom flagship, Tacocat, bears the burden of leading them on their quest to restore their dead god.

[@Greenscyth22]

You feel for their plight, but hate the monsters they've become.

[@CPK-iz5dd]

Thank you for this video. The Quoms' role in the Rod Of Seven Parts from my 2nd DM's campaign still fuels my imagination after 30 years...

[@saeyabor]

You ever mess up so badly it turned Gandhi into John Wick? [an old man and his parakeets awkwardly leave]

[@AJPickett]

LOL!

[@ianyoder2537]

Civilization's nuclear Gandhi.

[@saeyabor]

@@ianyoder2537 y'know, I forgot about Sid Meier's Salt(ed two-stage fusion) March Gandhi

[@alexanderlaplante5477]

Seems like a whole bunch of Thanos walking around the cosmos, randomly taking chunks of rocks magic items or people, and saying sorry, this is my God's foot, I'm going to need this.

[@AJPickett]

Fairly accurate

[@ericconnor8419]

You hardly ever see quilted armour anymore, it is the most old school fantasy armour type.

[@bebejemzy1090]

I'm guessing that the Quom must hate the obyrith considering that they like symmetry.

[@AynRKey]

I've got a challenge for you. I would like to know more about the Hordelings of Hades. So little is written about them other than they are all evil and all unique.

[@neurolancer81]

Thanks AJ, this really helps me with a story arc for my current campaign.

[@LeetMasterAce]

Wow. What a cool idea for a multiversal villain! I could just imagine the Dark Powers of Ravenloft having a laugh by killing off a random Quom-containing character in one of the realms of dread. I wonder how the Quom would ever hope to locate such a piece.

[@AJPickett]

That question is an instant cosmic D&D campaign my friend.

[@maromania7]

The Quom are interesting in concept, though I really wish they look more fantastical than the Blue Man Group.

[@abdulrahmanabduljawad2956]

Oh my god that thanos in the thumb nail took me off guard hahahahahahaha.

[@clknight2008]

I really like these guys. Very interesting motivations and aesthetic

[@billberndtson]

09:15 My favorite palindrome is "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog." Loving your content as usual, AJ! 😃

[@ducksinthewild]

This race is the definition of "the hero in one story is the villain of another"

[@eros5420]

Ive got no Quoms with this video.

[@dagonnemo1811]

Can't beleave l slept on this for a hole 7 minutes

[@glorbojibbins2485]

Imagine your boss gives you a promotion and you grow a face on the back of your head 😅

[@GRIMJAW112796]

Homeboy Its been so long I've missed you Haven't seen the video yet, but it looks like thanos taking a poop xD

[@AJPickett]

I mean... I can see that. lol

[@Neazriel]

I wonder if the reason that every Quom believes they are the final saviour of their people is that they all have a piece of Lakal in them. I wonder what would happen to Lakal if they get reassembled, will it be fine or will it be a Zombie God-Planet. I also do see some parallels to Atropus here.

[@docbaker3333]

I think that if in the unlikely event that Lakal is restored she being a good being would likely disown the Quom due to their violent ways and the sheer trauma this would cause the To commit ritual suicide en masse and after that she would start over with a newer gentler race not as likely to go batshit with grief and she might even forgive Bahamut after all he didn't know his breath weapon take Lakal out with Nihil.

[@groudonmario]

Man you know a monster is good when it leaves you with a lot of questions and ideas

[@demetrinight5924]

This is a fascinating bit of lore and a potentially relentless foe to an adventuring party.

[@phantasmalemperor8887]

Your videos are always brilliant. It makes me want to make lore videos on DnD.

[@AJPickett]

You should!

[@phantasmalemperor8887]

@@AJPickett if I do I'll give you a mention!

[@alexanderlaplante5477]

One of these days, I would like to see your personal take on the tarrasque, like how you would imply its existence and utilize it in your games in ways different from the standard monster manual bulldozer that goes to sleep a lot. I've always try and find a plan for using it, and then it just falls apart. Maybe one of these days you can do a video on spicing up vanilla creatures, not to say it's too vanilla, it does have a reflective carapace and Godzilla level strength, but still. I know we can do better.

[@JohnQ5]

For all of its flaws the 4E books I will never stop loving are the planes books because they capture that wild and unknown lands feeling of a lot of the 2E settings.

[@mitchellthorp5711]

I enjoy all your videos. You paint a picture with words that puts me right into the story. Thank you.

[@anathema1828]

The quom are unique indeed! Thanks for the deep dive AJ

[@DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH]

Bless the Mighty GlueStick

[@thatotherguy4245]

Very entertaining and new to me...which is surprise to me because I've been playing D&D for a long time. Just goes to show why this hobby is still going strong!

[@AKNeal81]

The obvious seems to have them meet the party bc one of the characters has a piece of their god on them but I think a better idea it's to have the party encounter The Quom in need. Kinda like coming across an old man looking for his glasses. The party bonds with them as they are asked to help rebuild a smashed device that helps them locate their god's presence. Only after completion it is determined that the party's most valuable magic item contains just what they're searching for! Suddenly the pleasant folk they have been helping turn coat and become VERY demanding indeed! *evil DM laugh* 😈 Also one of them has the second face and casts sandstorm (SORRY! I HAD TO!)

[@AJPickett]

Now we're talkin!

[@AfroChef]

How many innocent Shardminds have been slain for having some motes of the dead goddess in them? Space D&D is the best

[@AJPickett]

YES! Oh I am looking forward to talking about Shardminds and how they relate to the crystal beings of the Radiant Citadel :D

[@AfroChef]

@@AJPickett I'll have to set aside an especially tasty beverage for that episode!

[@LSDireWolf]

I didn’t receive a notification for this one, dang. But love the race, can’t help but feel a little bad for them. Also for the player of mine that just found an odd glowing crystal of indeterminate origin

[@zacharyweaver276]

Awesome new race video

[@trajanfidelis1532]

The Quom are so cool! (Don't tell the shard minds I said that) Thanks AJ!

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hey AJ, I knew Spelljammer lore would be epic. What a great and spooky story on a race of people. Talk about wandering encounters (in space). That would be a great way to start off an adventure. Advising the party that one of them has a strange material on them or in them. Thanks AJ, you have a wonderful day!

[@burningbronze7555]

Quom with a sandstorm attack has to be made just for the joke.

[@Moctipotili1]

Awesome. Thanks for the intro to this race of beings.

[@nickh3205]

A cool set of creatures that would be interesting to see a lore video be made on them are the Phyrexian’s from MTG

[@AJPickett]

Oh... yes.

[@brettonalwood4173]

Why did KZbin not notify me that this was out! I'm over a day late to a great lore video.

[@janpetrie5498]

This sounds familiar, but from different angle. The mind flayer as of Thoon are constantly seeking out a mysterious substance called Quintessence which they learned about when journeying to the far realm. It can be found in living beings, items or just laying about. They use Quintessence to power their experiments, vessels and themselves. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out that the Quom and mind flayers of Thoon are seeking the same substance?

[@AJPickett]

indeed!

[@docbaker3333]

If this is true could Thoon really be the Conciousness of Lakal separated from her divine spirit and driven irreversibly Mad by her traumatic death and the influence of the Far realm? MMMMMMMM Theory craaaafting.

[@AJPickett]

@@docbaker3333 Thoon is thoon and thoon is all.

[@conmacmara2743]

@@docbaker3333damn

[@chadlynch1551]

And wouldn't it be juicy if it turns out the Arcane use a major fragment of the Quom's dead god to make their spelljamming helms?

[@AJPickett]

Very

[@davidkoudelka10]

...Hmmmm...Thank you for the idea for my campaign...😈😈😈❤

[@jacobfreeman5444]

I think the irony is if the Quom succeed in their quest the likely result will be the birthing of a god not at all like the that died. All the cold hearted brutality from her people will surely have an effect. Her perfection and symmetry will likely be ruined and be nothing but an evil, if pretty, shell of what she was. Maybe, just maybe, if the recreation involves some sort of mass self sacrifice they can infuse enough positive belief into her to truly remake her. But I suspect their quest is quite doomed. Not because they can't find the pieces but because the methods they employed to achieve it will devastate the heart of their god. Leaving her, evil, mad, heartbroken, or some combination thereof.

[@AJPickett]

Also, Nihil was composed of largely pure, solid negative matter, so parts of Lakal simply no longer exist, its like she got hit with a negative energy bomb which peppered her with speeding Spheres of Annihilation like a frag bomb (not to mention the disintegration beam of Bahamut!), so yes, Lakal will be nothing like what she was before.

[@Christopher_Pug]

This is a great write-up, I totally agree. It'd be a very compelling story for a campaign. Find out the secret, and then stop the Quom from reviving their broken god...

[@ianyoder2537]

Also as stated once all the shards are collected then all the commit ships will be set on a collision course back together. The commit ships that have the majority of their homes, businesses and populations on them. even if they do succeed in recreating their god/planet they'd devastate their race allover again. And I don't think a god born of such death and destruction is a god you're gonna want to be in the presence of for very long.

[@Christopher_Pug]

@@ianyoder2537oooooh what if all the Quom ships are programmed to seek the last piece once their tiny shards are collected. And the campaign could be a big race to destroy or redirect all of the incoming ships before they collide with the final shard -- maybe it's the shard around which the Radiant Citadel adventures are set....!

[@davidkoudelka10]

That is an AWESOME theory of which I may add to my campaign!❤

[@Doomseer]

Hmmm.. I wonder perhaps if any members of this race have even asked themselves if their Goddess will even recognize them as her children once they've reformed her considering by that time they're fundamental natures might have become so warped due to the atrocities they've committed that nothing of the peaceful and caring species they once were remains..

[@docbaker3333]

Bahamut sees the Quom: NO NO NO NO NO DON'T KILL ME I'M SORRY IM' SORRY I'M SORRY *sobs* Tiamat looking on: Laugh's in Chromatic Dragon while munching on the nine hells equivalent of Popcorn.

[@cobytaylor2097]

Fried bebles :) prepared by Asmorandandticular herself

[@andyenglish4303]

The nine hell's equivalent of popcorn? So... caltrops.

[@guldarheel1204]

@@andyenglish4303 skulls

[@AJPickett]

Spicy Acid Dipped Abyssal Wingtackles (SADAW's) and also, would Tiamat work to assist the Quom in finding the last few fragments, and reveal to them Bahamut has hid the fact his divine form is riddled with the stuff on the Astral plane, but he has kept his body shrouded in potent anti scrying magics ever since the end of the dawn wars. hmmm?

[@docbaker3333]

@@AJPickett If that happens I can imagine it would lead into the Quom through nothing but pure zeal drive and Hatred killing Bahamut and using his corpse to Finally revive Lakal, but with this act of deicide Tiamat is able to claim the souls of all Metallic Dragons and their ferrous dragon cousins turning every single one of them all at once to Evil. and if this is the case She will send all of these Evil dragons out In a wave death and destruction having them enslave and slaughter non Draconic life wherever it may be forcing them to worship causing her to grow and grow in power both through worship and be devouring all other gods until after about millions of years with every dragon thoroughly and irredeemably corrupted by her influence having dominated the multiverse with her as the only and most powerful god in all of existence in this universe so utterly destroyed by Evil the one force of goodness left is Lakal changed to become harder and sterner thanks to bahamut's influence protecting the few virtuous folk of reality with the help of Her remorseful Quom children filled with Shame over their past seek to redeem themselves in the eyes of their home, their parent, their god, by being the protectors and guardians of the last embers of good in the Multiverse

[@digunder14]

didn't Ao at some point determine bahamut's existence to be mandatory for at least realm space? does this make their potential desire to kill the dragon god a less or even more dangerous thing?

[@AJPickett]

Well, killing Bahamut might not be required... extracting thousands of fragments of Lakal from his body won't be pleasant though.

[@Ashen.Elixer]

@@AJPickett And, to be precise, if the wording was "needs to exist", that doesn't necessarily translate into "has to be alive". A floating god-corpse might very well serve the same function, just with the exception of...well, nobody remembering why that specific body is important

[@JimmyRa6s]

Yes more spelljammer ty very much

[@Frederic_S]

Oh my god that blue Homer Simpson in the thumb nail took me off guard :D

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, I fixed the thumbnail

[@Frederic_S]

@@AJPickett I appreciate that kind of dedication ☺️👍 that’s why I watch all your videos even if the topic does not interest me much. There is always something in it to learn or steal.

[@anthonyambrose7830]

Never see something say seconds

[@mikewaterfield3599]

Stuff like this makes me wish I played around with spell jamming more. Makes a great setting for what used to be called epic level adventuring.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

This reminds me of the plot for the Original Campaign of Neverwinternights 2 where the protagonist have a fragment of a githanky sword embedded inside the body. Let's just say that the gith are just as unreasonable as thease quoms, thus driving the plot. Being unreasonable can ve costly, very costly.

[@dragonnasxavier3473]

Cheers, Mr. Pickett

[@theaveri]

My group thanks you for this! Hugs brother.

[@AJPickett]

My pleasure, hugs back

[@lordk.gaimiz6881]

This reminds me A LOT of the church of the broken god, from SCP. If you have time to read or watch you can look it up either on the SCP wiki or here on KZbin on the channel The Exploration Series. Btw great work AJ!

[@Christopher_Pug]

They’re finally getting to these guys in Critical Role, I think….

[@KyleJordanGaming]

Thanks, Bahamut... 😒

[@thomasgordon2855]

More spell jammer please!! Monsters and player races! I love your videos man!

[@AJPickett]

Coming right up

[@animefan3794]

Pretty sure “so on” isn’t a palindrome. Or an emordnilap.

[@tatsusama3192]

When I first added this to my Watch Later list it looked like it had Thanos as the thumbnail, haha

[@semulationjune]

love the thumbnail

[@yosakie]

Let's go! I remember your video on the shardminds and you meantion them Quom back then. It's awesome that you brought the back up with this new re-release of Spell Jammer. The missed the mark a little with this release though. Like where aremy blasted Gith?! I want to be a gith PC in AL.

[@TheHornedKing]

Very interesting race. Great lore.

[@deepsea5266]

I like them. Gender flipped a player once and that player got so mad, they left during the game. Luckily, we played another session and the player was restored after recovering a shard.

[@markr.7835]

Been a busy year but miss your videos AJ. Hope to have some more time after Nov!

[@ianyoder2537]

Not gonna lie, the one monster I was begging to see get a 5e version in the new module (aside from clock work horrors, although I might still gripe about that at the end of the comment) is the spell weaver. In my opinion it'd make a more interesting and thematic boss type monster than the eldrich litch. Also, I watched my sister take real life psychic damage when I told her it can cast 6 spells in one round. I'm kinda disappointed that we only got the one clockwork horror, DND loves to make "monster party's" like the star spawn and the CH would have been perfect for it. Copper would be the grunt, silver would be the obligatory hunter assassin, electrum would be the fighter, gold would be the caster,platinum would be the mini boss, and adamantine would be the final boss. It fit's perfectly.

[@AJPickett]

They saved a lot of page space and gave us the base template to build as many variant clockwork horrors as we want (since it is a breeze to make monster mods in 5E), and as for the Spellweavers, Eric L Boyd published arguably the most MIND BLOWING pdf on Jergal the lord of the end of Everything (Jergal the forgotten realms god is a spellweaver) on the DMsGuild (and DrivethruRPG) which I am building towards making a video about soon.

[@DarthRamzes]

Hmmm, the Unsundering will be soon complete. Insane scientist managed to gather many motes and send those to Far Realm. Then he let Quom know where to find them. He will be watching with great curiosity if inconcievable energies of Far Realm corrupt reborn Lakale.

[@davidkoudelka10]

@@AJPickett Wait WHAAAAT😨😱😱😱 JERGAL'S A SPELLWEAVER!?!?!? But now it makes sense! His appearence, his multi-armed body, his big eyes, his mouthless head, it all makes sense!!!!😱

[@theirDevil]

I wonder what would happen if they succeed, how would Locale feel about her savior's actions?

[@Rebomor]

I’ve been very interested in the Quom lately, but I’ve had no luck in researching them on the Forgotten Realms Wiki. I’d really love stats for a player version of this race so I could play them in a Spelljammer game. What would you suggest for the racial benefits and features? Perhaps someone on the DM’s Guild has already done one but I would really like to know more!

[@AJPickett]

Physically, they are like Dwarves in their proportions, but they are of human height, so, they are strong and durable, they are skilled in exotic man-catching weapons like nets, bola, man-catcher, light crossbows, blowguns, paralytic poison, etc. The typical chararacter class levels they take would be cleric, fighter and ranger.

[@Christopher_Pug]

My theory is that this is where Matt Mercer got the idea for the Luxon beacons.

[@burningbronze7555]

Not what I asked for but suitably odd I am happy.

[@raedien]

Wait wait wait....were they left out of the latest release?!

[@AJPickett]

I research and integrate all the lore from all the editions, so, the Scro from 2nd edition, the Spellscales from 3rd edition, the Quom from 4th edition... its all still great stuff :)

[@raedien]

@@AJPickett right, I get that but how does WorC leave such a great story out of the latest release? *sigh*

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

@@raedien They do that every time they change editions, if we are lucky with might get an incredibly abridged version of something in the new edition, and have to go lore diving to get the full story (and even then, we might not get the full story).

[@sirloin869]

Yes,YES!..

[@travisterry5855]

Good morning!

[@AJPickett]

Morning! Hope your day goes well.

[@morganmcconal4785]

How much do quom hate dragons?

[@AJPickett]

Not much

[@ruhalajn]

Sounds like a great story for a fiend to make up. The corruption of an entire race of formerly selfless do-gooders? Delightful.

[@dirtywhitellama]

Interesting video (and timely since I am working on a spelljammer campaign). Looks like some of the background images were AI generated? Disturbing*. Only thing I've seen AI do really well is cosmic horror..... XD *not on principle, but the art itself - things look like they should be familiar, but you can't actually find relevant details to focus on, just an overall sense of familiarity.

[@Comicnut64]

sweet vid AJ I wont Lie though I thought the thumbnail looked like fat thanos

[@AJPickett]

I mean, Thanos will probably get a few clicks, so, I am ok with this.

[@Comicnut64]

@@AJPickett Rock & Roll

[@Fl0wchart]

Giving me Ascian vibes from Final Fantasy XIV.

[@charion1234]

They're going to be fun to create names for. Racecar, radar, uh... ok harder than I thought. Unless we go for near unpronouncible like Vollov or T'wllwt'.

[@AJPickett]

Gomog, tragart, moom, mertrem, gwollowg, sammas, bruturb, slekels..

[@ianyoder2537]

If the quam's entire language is palindromes, then shouldn't there name the the quomouq? I've got a similar complaint that the word palindrome isn't in and of itself a palindrome. "Palindnilap"

[@AJPickett]

Their entire language is not composed of palindromes, for example a palindrome sentence need not be composed only of palindromes. for example * "Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo"* is a palindrome sentence :)

[@AloisWeimar]

Who mourns for Quom

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

Like what if Manichaeism was a species

[@emperorxander666]

It be a shame if someone cast imprisonment on a huge chung and it can only be freed when no one care for it put back together

[@AlphaCocoAudio]

Imprisonment can only target creatures.

[@firesuppressionequipment]

cool race or species or what ever you wanna call it

[@Emil-Tiger02]

Yay!

[@zmishiymishi5349]

They also remind me of gith somehow...

[@AJPickett]

Because they both live on...

[@chriscalvin5083]

Good video AJ

[@AJPickett]

Thanks Chris, and good morning, have a great day.

[@DCJMS]

was Lakal old enough to agree with the other Gods to the send ''sinners'' to the Nine Hells? 😈

[@AJPickett]

No. (also, that may have occured in another iteration of the multiverse, since we need to stop thinking of these iterations as 'before' or 'after' the current iteration)

[@DCJMS]

@@AJPickett oh well, the devils have to own recruiting then, maybe they could buy souls with Lakal fragments

[@MarkLewis...]

Are the followers and members of "The Quom" called Quom-anon? Sure not the first post of this joke... 🤪

[@zmishiymishi5349]

Wouldn't anihilation of god of anihilation make said god stronger?

[@AJPickett]

You would think, but no, the chunks of Nihil most likely plunged into the negative energy plane and started to slowly, slowly gain mass again.

[@deofol4474]

Do you dm dnd games online?

[@AJPickett]

Yes, I don't tend to upload any recordings of them, been there, done that, right back when people were first starting to do so over google hangouts.

[@deofol4474]

@@AJPickett might be a good incentive for patron donations. I would

[@AJPickett]

@@deofol4474 I find private games more enjoyable.

[@Pyre]

I didn't like much about 4th edition, but goodness they went *in* on ways to have justified and interesting conflict between *everyone* didn't they? This whole thing is just on the side of too grim for me to have in my games, but it's compelling as heck. And the plot options for faithful of Bahamut, and Bahamut himself, are stunning. But also, that almost-throwaway just a couple minutes in, I... I'll save the full comment for the video *on* the Spellweavers that's promised. Suffice it to say, some people are probably thinking the same thing already, about a game with some of the best writing I've ever, ever seen in any media. But it's such spoilers, so; "For instance, I don't consider you to be truly alive, therefore I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you."

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, the games of immortals are scary

[@bigsarge2085]

👍

[@johnstewart1266]

If I may ask. How does this translate to 5E?

[@AJPickett]

They are residents of the Astral sea, so, part of Spelljammer lore for 5E

[@johnstewart1266]

@@AJPickett Are they listed in the new Spelljammer bestiary?

[@AJPickett]

@@johnstewart1266 no, they are from 4th edition, but they fit snuggly into 5E Spelljammer (and Planescape)

[@onisinn1]

🔥🖤🔥

[@joshuazane3210]

I'm not normally one to advocate the g word but it would be best for the rest of the multiverse if they were... made to no longer be a factor. **cough**

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

A better solution would be for a powerful wizard to first develop a spell to detect the pieces of Lakal, and then a spell to extract the pieces of Lakal without harming the individual or object said piece is in.

[@Telenaus]

🤘on

[@Arkenrae]

2nd lol

[@Potato-pn8sg]

These guys look pretty boring, I wish there was more creative designs in dnd, spelljammer seems like the perfect setting to go absolutely insane with designs, but I keep finding quite boring designs.

[@AncientRylanor69]

d