D&D Lore - Races of the Underdark

[@belainegibsson.2082]

I just started to read the Dark Elf trilogy, and I have to say that R.A. Salvatore's description of the Underdark has aided me in picturing what the Underdark actually is, as well as to understand the culture of the Drow. I think I'll end up going through the entire Drizzt series, because it's so good

[@AngryLotus]

Can't recommend all of them enough. They were a huge part of my life for decades, and the only book series I have ever read that actually brought me to tears. Amazing series .

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Just remember that most drow cities aren't like Menzoberranzan. It is one of the most religious city states in the Underdark.

[@Clockwork_Lazy]

What is it about Ilithid security that slaves always escape from their grasps?

[@l0ker507]

Numbers probably. They count them every morning until one day they're like "2137, 2138, 2139... Oh who cares. 2210, 2398, 2571, and 3000. All here."

[@blshouse]

Perhaps, at least some portion of theses escapes are just part of the Mindflayer Elder Brains' master plans. Certainly their experimentations altering the slave races, making them psionic and or resistant to psionics, is a contributing factor.

[@jonathanjoestarwithpluck4930]

Reno Milano Donato even when they literally controlled the entirety of the material plane, they got destroyed by their slaves. It’s like these guys are destined to fail at being the ruling class.

[@stefanb6539]

Jonathan Joestar with Pluck They WILL rule the universe at the end of times, so they are destined for greatness.

[@arthas640]

They hire guards from the same temp agency that Arkham Asylum uses

[@Greatermememan]

Ah the mindflayers responsible for almost everything in dnd.

[@mikebucket1658]

In my headcanon, mindflayers are the ancestors of the Asari.

[@jacobmacock]

And the aboleths

[@adamwelch4336]

Pretty much

[@jonalynmisalang9447]

@@jacobmacock Basically Check any and all aberrations

[@jamietimon9899]

Keep up the good work Jorphdan! I get so happy each Wednesday when these come out and am happy to see your channel growing because it means you will be motivated to keep these coming out. I know it takes a ton of time to research the topic, write the script, find suitable images, and then record everything and put the video together. You are doing great!

[@anthonyalexander8886]

*Duergar escape from slavery.* Duergar: Hey, slavery is neat! Let's get some slaves!

[@rejvaik00]

That's basically what happened to the nation of Liberia

[@Thalaranthey]

@@rejvaik00 pretty sure slavery in africa was rampant since before even colonization era tho

[@rejvaik00]

@@Thalaranthey of course it was but the arriving members who went to found Liberia we're unique because they were all former US slaves who literally got the assistance of the US government to be "returned" to Africa And once they did so they started taking away land from the natives such as the Kru and Gebo people Then they implemented a policy of exclusion, only protestant English speaking Americo-Liberians would be given rights

[@Thalaranthey]

@@rejvaik00 the irony of the situation would've been fckin hilarious under diffrent circumstances

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

Just like Warhammer's Chaos Dwarves.

[@zachpurcell8097]

building an underdark evil based campaign right now, and I gotta say, these videos are great for ideas and inspiration, thanks!

[@ZoeAlleyne]

This is giving me Out Of The Abyss flashbacks. My DM had such a hard time with pronounciation.

[@tiredboi9639]

ZoeAlleyne I recently joined an out of the abyss campaign, had the first session of the campaign last night

[@squishgod9094]

@@tiredboi9639 how's the campaign going? I started dming Out of the Abyss this week, and I'm excited to keep going :)

[@tiredboi9639]

Squish God it’s going good so far, but we’ve had to postpone a lot recently

[@squishgod9094]

@@tiredboi9639 that's unfortunate, but it can't be helped given current circumstances

[@nicoles.8162]

As a DM for Out of the Abyss... I feel the pronouncitation issues... there are so many weird names!

[@Alexandru_Iacobescu]

Thank you for the video. I am currently running an underdark campaign so the info is interesting.

[@toastghost3174]

Something interesting I discovered while reading up about koa toas~ I read some Lore slightly different from the Lore presented here, from what I read koa toas didn't have a cause for going mad, it was a mysterious sickness that plauges them as a race. That's why they always act so suspicious and jittery around each other. Once an outbreak of madness starts, it can devestate an entire colony of koa toas.

[@Dark-Lord-Of-The-Sith]

My Drow city on the surface is going to have a deep gnome population

[@georgemercer402]

I started writing a campaign recently that involves escaping the Underdark beginning at the bottom and going up through a tower that extends 6,000 tall; the episode "Quest for the Skeleton Warrior" from the cartoon provides much of the inspiration for it. Anyway, the "mission" is to remove a sort of corruption that's turning the tower's source of stability while escaping from the area altogether, though a flaw will occur: eliminating said corruption will cause the tower to collapse along with the sections of the Underdark surrounding it (including 5 cities every 1,000 stories of the tower). The main problem of course is who to have as my BBEG: Either a tiefling sorceress, or a death knight who delved into necromancy. Other ideas are brewing as I type this, so expect a progress report 5o come at some point

[@ragoth6207]

Yeah if you really wanting an underdark campaign I think Out of the Abyss works out. Never really played it past the intro but I hear it's a good one. Get to explore madness occasionally.

[@ericvansteenbergh4688]

I wish I found your channel sooner. Amazing work, good Sir! Thank you!

[@stevenmckinney7553]

Love the Underdark videos! You should do a video going into detail about one of the Underdark cities.

[@samwisegamegee551]

Wonderful video! Though I notice a distinct lack of flumphs... ;) I look forward to each new video, thank you for making these lore videos!

[@misomiso8228]

Yeah underdark campaigns are amazing. The All Gnome idea is something i had as well. Out of the Abyss had some amazing ideas, but I felt it lacked an overarching theme or goal from the beginning to tie it all together.

[@N-cromancer]

I imagine a campaign where the bbeg is continually forcing a colony of kuatoa to live together with various different evil entities to create a new evil god.

[@weare7043]

Thanks for the escapism!

[@heathers.7755]

Wasn't there another race, though? I remember in one of the source books I read about a race in the underdark that was good aligned. They were fey with butterfly/moth wings? Edit: Gloura - That's what I was thinking of.

[@austinwilliams9096]

I was really surprised the Myconid had no relation to the Demon of Fungus Zuggtmoy, is there any history between them?

[@Siegsoul]

I know this is old but zugutomy to myconoids as humans are to Asmodeus

[@Niludjenkins]

If you have to roll 50d6 you might as well just look to the PC and say "You're dead"

[@DeadAnimalOnMyDesk]

If anyone is interested in the underdark stuff, the Out of the Abyss campaign has more information about that stuff. Though the campaign itself is a bit difficult to recommend.

[@StephenGillie]

Hi "Jordan", if the PH is silent, then you can call me "Steen". ;)

[@horizon241]

Great video. Did anyone notice the spin-down dice pictured near the end?

[@adamholcomb1906]

Drow are the undisputed masters of the Underdark their close second are mindflayers🕸🕷💯

[@2Steave]

I have watched and replayed your videos no less than 50 times, using your descriptions of planes, history and cities in my campaign. I'm only running my second ever campaign so I treat this videos like the Bible of D&D. Also, what do you guys think of an all-inclusive long term campaign, as in no really big narrative, but a kind of open world do everything kind of campaign? Is it a fun one to play and run?

[@EtherealDoomed]

Dr. Taco They can be fun, but you want some kind of overarching plot, even if it's on a really slow burn. Most groups need some kind of direction or else they get bored and feel aimless. That is, unless, you're either plotting a LOT of potential story hooks or are good at coming up with them on the fly. (I do the second, for the most part.)

[@alainpbat3903]

There's good representation of kuwatowa in darkest dungeon's Weald section

[@saintpoli6800]

Myconids are adorable looking.

[@Stavol2Dual]

When my character sees a drow they immediately attack, but deep gnomes and dorfs are fine though.

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

Thanks for the video! Did you ever create that Underdark campaign?

[@warlock1080]

sounds like an interesting campaign!

[@DLAlucard]

Well that was interesting, but I was hoping you'd mansion another race I've been trying to track down. They were outlined in an expansion book I don't remember the name off, but I recall it was official. I believe they were an Underdark race, but its possible I'm completely wrong on that point. What I do recall for certain though is their characteristics. They were large hairy bat like race that lived in caves. Their main produces were mushroom farms and they breed bats as a pastime and might have used larger ones for travel. It was a tolerant, possible good or neutral monstrous race with subsonic hearing abilities, dark vision and possible limited flight/gliding. If you happen to know the race then please let me know their name and book. Thank you.

[@johndotcom9648]

It was a 3 or 3.5 edition monster. It was in one of the supplement books kind of like a fiend folio. Sorry I forgot the name

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

I'm almost certain you are thinking of "Corbies". Let me know if I was right

[@fumarc4501]

I’m surprised there aren’t more insect races in the Underdark.

[@jj-bd9oe]

You got my sub for that Very nice job

[@kalebscott282]

You said those cups and I immediately bought one lmao

[@noone3216]

good job, mindless consumer. you're exactly the kind of person society loves

[@MySerpentine]

Everyone in the Underdark is nuts

[@wesleyviers1550]

I'm running OotA and the kuo-toa NPC I changed to female named Blipdool and she is actually the goddess in disguise. She will show her true form in Sloop when things hit the fan.

[@Jorphdan]

awww snap!

[@aliince9372]

That picture at 5:18 is so dated... I doubt any remembers those people. I miss the old internet.

[@DoctaLivingston]

You should do a video on FR holidays.

[@Kyllision]

Can you do a history of Duergar as it is really tragic, like a deep dive of their history or all the children of the Dwarven God

[@reahthorolund8373]

I wanna go chillin with my mushroom homies.

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

Do you think the mindflares could have created the Blues the blue-skinned Goblin kin that have psionic powers?

[@JordonVirtue]

Did I spy an aesthetically similar yet legally distinct space marine type entity on that dice cup

[@diegoalves7611]

Hey, Jorphdan! I have some ideas of videos, if you'd like to: - Kingdoms; - Knowledge in Faerun; - How deities work in general (powers, birth, death... these kind of stuff). Thanks for the attention ^^

[@Jorphdan]

Thanks :D

[@atanarjuat6525]

Just love these.

[@adamholcomb1906]

5e needs to add Gloaming and Deep Imaskari races to the Underdark along with Slyths a elementals race👍🏼👍🏼💯

[@dawi4ever]

I want to play as lovecraftian races more

[@maltt8715]

Look up the far realm theres also a pretty good homebrew race called the farspawn, they are like tieflings from the far realm

[@truck6859]

How do the drow craft weapons, if their eyes are too sensitive to a smelting fire?

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

Slaves, probably. They have a lot of those.

[@Colin12475]

The underdark is no playground.

[@legogandalf5453]

Blibdoolpoolp. A name to conjure with.

[@TalosBjorn]

Por que no drow?

[@snakeenjoyingacanofbeans5219]

Every full moon I turn into a Duergar and arrack my friends

[@Jorphdan]

full arrack!

[@usernameunidentified9874]

Why do the Geth look like a lovechild between an orc and Voldemort?

[@magwaaf]

nice kickstarter ad but i roll all my dice 2 at a time

[@xanathar8659]

If you compare the auto captions with what he says... For example when he said "myconids" it came out as "my kids"

[@Jorphdan]

I ran out of time but I'll upload the correct subtitles soon :)

[@xanathar8659]

Thank you. You know someone is dedicated to their KZbin channel and to D&D when you upload correct subtitles!

[@chesthoIe]

Hey, I am Blibdoolpoolpeese and it actually IS pronounced that way. Just like it sounds, I tell people.

[@arte0021]

mindflayers look like Cthulhu

[@LockSteady]

I like the way Matthew Colville says it: DWWARR---GARRR

[@XX-sp3tt]

I honestly don't care for the idea of Blibdoolpoolp being an imaginary god that just came to life. I prefer the idea of her being her species' creator deity.

[@clarkside4493]

It could be neat to have an adventure where the real Blibdoolpoolp returns for her subjects and is clashing with the made-up Blibdoolpoolp. Your players would never see it coming as the adventure would well establish that the Kuo-toa make up their gods.

[@austinwilliams9096]

As far as the pantheon system goes though lesser deities get their power from the number and devotion of their followers I would have thought all lesser deities were made from hope

[@XX-sp3tt]

I'm pretty Ao the overgod invoked that mechanic because he was sick and tired of the deities ignoring their devoted.

[@austinwilliams9096]

X X that makes sense!

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

It works with the idea of a tulpa too

[@KJ-ud9uf]

Could you do lore about yuan ti?

[@Jorphdan]

Sounds like a great idea. I'll add it to my list of topics

[@ephraimlura5222]

Bakit bah kasi walang movie ng Forgotten Realms?!!!

[@movietroll2303]

Been forced into 5th edition. I prefer Pathfinder, but all my pals went to 5E.

[@hughjassole2204]

Aw, no honorouble mentions to Grimlocks?

[@Demolitiondude]

Hey Jordan. You forgotten about the chitine.

[@StevenMichaelCunningham]

The question is; What tribe members remain of the Duergar? 😶

[@stevenmichaelcunningham4085]

5:46 Me too. (*_*)

[@manuelleites5981]

Yeah wednesday!!

[@l3ergamot539]

So in preparation for starting a seafaring campaign I've been working on for almost a year I started watching your videos. I think I've nearly watched them all lol I kind of love you! Your videos have been extremely helpful. A while ago I found dnd.eizzn.com and it's great but is kind of like reading that chapter in the Bible where they document the decendants of Adam lol. It's been way easier to get an overall feel for the history of the realms because of your videos. So thanks! Now I have a couple of questions for someone that's done as much research as you have. What do you know about the island orlumbor? My parties starting base is going to be the island. All I've ever found is that it was originally settled by pirates like a Barbados or something but is now home of shipwrights that rival the elves, and that there's lots of shepherds? I think I saw a note from older editions about amn trying to control the shipyards and that waterdeeps navy usually protects it to keep it a free port... But 5e's sword coast book mentions that Neverember sank waterdeeps navy somehow..? I'm thinking of having a large temple to umberlee there and that the main town is entirely cavernous and built into the cliff side that faces the mainland as a sort of defense. I was just wondering if you had found anything about this island that might help me? Thank you! Also I think a video that explains the relationship between spelljammer stuff and f.e. stuff would be super helpful. You mention the crystal spheres in many videos and I've also read that Ao answers to a higher being and was probably just charged with creating one sphere. That and I think you mentioned something in that lich guys video that made me think the realms and their God's are the same in greyhawk so did Ao also make the realms??? Anyway long comment...thank you for all your videos and for reading (and hopefully responding to) all this lol

[@Jorphdan]

Hi there! Thanks for watching :D I don't know much about that island, and looking it up doesn't appear to be a ton of stuff written about it. Probably a great time to come up with something and make it your own! But I'd check the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide for more and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (AD&D). www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16782/Forgotten-Realms-Campaign-Set-1e?term=forgotten+realms+campaign+set&test_epoch=0&it=1?affiliate_id=728035 I do love spelljammer! It wouldn't be a bad idea getting into how all the worlds are connected. I'll add it to my list of potential topics thanks!!

[@l3ergamot539]

Jorphdan thanks man that was really quick! Yeah I was pretty much resigned to having to do that but thank you for looking into it. I'm glad it's not just me like there's really just not much written about it lol

[@SrwpkMX]

Here after Baldur’s gate 3

[@ryancoke9301]

Its not Doer-gar Its Dwere-gar

[@roboticjanitor3332]

Ye

[@vanKrapfen]

One thing that annoys me about the Duergar is how everyone seems to pronounce them Doo-ergar. That sounds so clumsy and is almost certainly not how it‘s supposed to be pronounced. The word derives from Old Norse dvergr for Dwarf which I think would have been pronounced with a w sound, maybe with an f sound. Anyway, I like to pronounce Duergar as Dwergar and I‘m gonna proselytize for it because Doo-ergar is silly.

[@rash7382]

the first species you talked of do not only exist in myths and games but actually exist in reality...stories from west africa china mongolia and others....just saying

[@msterns1852]

no jorf-dan the PH is not silent. thats how people read it and say it.