Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Shambling Mound Secrets

[@jakobthorin5072]

Funny story, did a 5e with a bunch of people inexperienced with the system and role playing in general. We encountered what some of us recognized as a shambling mound.. We exchanged glances and fought, but it was no problem for our party. It "died", and we exchanged further glances, preparing to leave.... Enter: the dwarven paladin who've never played DnD before... "I hit the compost heap again, just for safety". Shambling mound dies for real. Thank god for new players.

[@ConstantChaos1]

One time we dropped an elder white dragon who was supposed to escape only because of the 1d4 trip one of the party members' articles wolf pup managed to pull off

[@gblakney1]

hey Rule #1: always make sure they're dead. XD

[@daltonthompson7111]

Bro, I thought you were gonna say he striked it with lightning and brought it back to life

[@windhelmguard5295]

saw a guy do that by yelling at the corpse like: "this is what you get for messing with us fuckface!" he then rolled for damage killing the main bad guy with vicious mockery.

[@MrMooseticles]

It would be cool to see the lore on one of my favorite monsters to throw into a campaign: The Gelatinous Cube.

[@joshuafogg6600]

MrMooseticles Especially the one that became a Swashbuckler.

[@Meteor2022]

@@joshuafogg6600 Please say this is real.

[@joshuafogg6600]

@@Meteor2022 It is indeed canon.

[@ylfennaie5541]

I got some neeewwws for you

[@lecutter9382]

The GC is hands down my fave. I'm always saddened and bit miffed that the GC is so rare in CRPGs.

[@camerabox1]

it seems the method of birth "lightning striking the water" is a reference to the swamp man an idea that if a man walks into a swamp pool and is struck with lightning, dies, and an identical "swamp man" is born which may be why they act very humanoid

[@ZacLowing]

Oh... my... garsh... there might be... shambling moose mounds??? Bear mounds?? What about that ice age deer with huge antlers?

[@NorthernCrafts]

Hey Rhexx, I love these D&D videos you're making. Could we get a couple on Devils, Demons and their chains of power?

[@cuboidham]

Shambling Mounds, or The Vegan's Front Line

[@drtoonie]

That is a fantastic line.

[@BlueNEXUSGaming]

Except its an omnivore, meaning it eats meat.

[@thomasl1061]

Front Yard*

[@beastwarsFTW]

@@BlueNEXUSGaming So it's nature's wrath against vegans?

[@Android-dg5ri]

vegans kill plant life. why would plants protect them?

[@curtcleancut]

MrRhexx - Please keep making these Dungeons and Dragons ecology videos. The background music, lore and video is beautiful not to mention informative. Kudos my friend. Keep up the amazing work!

[@javiergarrido1728]

Oh shit, tomorrow my players are going to enter into a super deep forest, im going to try out this .... XDDD

[@baileywright729]

Deep forests are every DMs wet dream. Have fun.

[@neukworst]

Deep wet bushes!

[@firetarrasque4667]

You just learned of this? They were worse in 2nd Ad&D. I read in Dragon of a player that charmed a Mound then pumped lightning into it until it became absurdly powerful (69 hit dice and counting).

[@Babbleplay]

Wouldn't work in my campaign. After a number of HD gains, the mound would split into two new ones, uncharmed, and each with 1/2 the previous HP total.

[@3232yyy]

Hey, I Just fell in love with your d&d lore videos. I never played any roleplaying game, but after watching all your videos (3 times) I want to explore this world as much as I can. Right now im searching for people in my town to play with, Reading manuals, and thinking about how to make my character. All in all i Just want to thank you for igniting my adventurous spirit. I would love to watch more of your videos about forgotten relams (your voice is So calm). All the best. Sincerely yours new fan

[@yamatohekatsue9143]

Back in 3.5 my DM ran an encounter for us, that involved us finding a shambling mound that wasn't agressive but was living in a pond, on the property of a small church. The priest wanted us to stop the shambling mound from aggravating a nest of shocker lizards who would try to defend their nest/rotten log from the mound by attacking with lightning this not only fed the mound but amused it. However every time it riled the nest up some of the shocking attacks would hit the church and damage it. The priest was a follower of a nature deity so he didn't want the mound or lizards killed. Our party took almost 3 weeks in game trying to remove the mound without killing it. We settled on catching all the shocker lizards and moving them away causing the mound to follow. After we went to collect our reward the priest paid us what he could hardly any coin at all but told us to check the old log for a blessing from his deity. When we went to investigate we each found a newly hatched shocker lizards that imprinted on us thinking we were their Mom's. It was fun and our rouge's was the only one to have their lizards live til the end the campaign.

[@BigFantasyGames]

I love your channel. I would like to hear you explain the Otyugh or Gelatinous Cube. The Beholder vid was great.

[@ZacLowing]

I played D&D with an original boxset from "The Dungeon", the store in Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. These videos are very entertaining and perfect to have on as I do other things! I used to know all this stuff and it's really cool to tie up loose ends in my knowledge here. Good times

[@adrianparmentier9150]

Amazing video, I was just searching for this type of monster's lore presentation, it was a real struggle to find some. I'm glad I found you!

[@ShadowmarkReturns]

Talk about the classic Kobold.

[@firetarrasque4667]

Or Tucker's kobolds.

[@kishinasura1989]

Took over a tribe of kobolds got them proper gear and now we own a fort with a dwarven ore mine next to it lets just say the miners and smiths never have to worry about most monsters ever again

[@Real_Iron_Smith]

These things are fantastic at terrifying players, and the inclusion of one in the Short module "Death House" is a great example of how to really amp up their fear factor.

[@TheJprox]

I slowly hear Rex evolving into Christopher Walken

[@bigpoppapump2594]

I heard it at "La-yer" too

[@Nocturnal_talon]

I'm just playing all of these videos on my phone while I go to sleep, your voice is super relaxing

[@Beeman42]

I'd like to here more about the Rakshasa

[@Rakshasa1986]

Me too.

[@cipherstrife1991]

Me three

[@riscas4070]

He finally posted a video on them yesterday

[@junkoenoshima7368]

I swear Enter The Gungeon has WAAAAY more dnd references then I thought!

[@drtoonie]

I love how it's presented, not as a review of the history of a fictional creature, but more like a dissertation on the known research by mages and priests. Like, it sounds like it could be given as a presentation at the mages college or something.

[@cococate_8009]

I love the sound of your voice, it's really relaxing. And the D&D videos are so cool too, really interesting to hear about the lore

[@thegreatdreamer8377]

The Most startling swamp creature of them all, the Man Thing

[@DarkGrif]

I'd like to suggest Wyverns next. Or maybe one on the differences between Wyverns, Wyrms, and Dragons, as there seems to be a lot of confusion on the topic.

[@jaysonisgreat]

This ranks fairly high as one of my favorite videos he's done. But my absolute favorite, is the modron video. He did such a good job, with such am interesting topic. Love it.

[@colemayer5090]

i really appreciate these videos! me and 2 of my friends have recently started playing Dungeons and Dragons, and it's nice to know stuff like in these videos

[@maddhatter6551]

How do you actually kill them then. Just keep slashing after it collapses

[@OrphanCrow]

probably try to slash at the stomach brain root thing

[@moregasmthepowerful2959]

Fire.

[@DkKombo]

Could you slash straight through the matter with a condensed blade of frost? I feel that would be effective. Or making it grow bigger through lightning and using that against it through enlarging a part of them and making it grow like a tumor and then cutting it off.

[@maledwarfwarrior]

You probably would use a more exotic form of magical energy, like force, sonic, or negative energy damage. If it isn't lightning, which heals them, throwing enough damage of any variety will kill it... eventually. Fire might take a few days though.

[@ChristmasPterodactyl]

Dessecation or acid, I'd imagine.

[@AmberGlowBug]

Loving these. Keep it up man. Can't wait till my players are high enough level to encounter some of the things you've been talking about.

[@legithopecrew]

Love the video, gave me the idea of making shambling mounds hive mind protecters of swamps and "the green" as you see from swamp thing from the DC comics.

[@ethanh9275]

I remember that when I first fought a shambling mound, my first attack was a lightning bolt, really embarrassing, but the next time I fought one, I was pretty frustrated at the time, and I ended up almost maxing out the damage of a blight spell!

[@Dramoklos]

nice blight is real nasty against plant creatures

[@Taricus]

That's what happened to my sister in a recent game too. She tried a flaming sphere and it didn't work, so she cast a lightning bolt. She cheered when I was describing the lightning playing across its body and then got shocked when it started absorbing it and growing LOL!

[@williamdavid8705]

Love the work you are doing. Well reseached, informative and useful for the DM. I gave up on D&D when 4e came out, and tried 5e to my disappointment, but still play pathfinder. Im with CanadianGamerJ, Demons, Devils, and Yugloths would be a great cover for you. and conversely, all the good aligned counter parts from the upper planes too.

[@TheKancerManLive]

I tend to subscribe to the theory that shambling mounds are concentrations of residual power spread across the multiverse upon the "death" of the god Moander (slain by Finder Wyvernspur during the time of troubles).

[@drfate7863]

In other words, always rip out the root cord and burn it to kindling.

[@joaoalonso351]

Make an video about mind flayers

[@catherine_404]

All your videos I recently saw are perfect. Kudos!

[@ConriDubhghail]

Just ran into your series of D&D lore videos today, and have to say I love them. If you haven't already, could you make a video about Mind Flayers?

[@lordmoldybutt6361]

I'm not sure if you care, but Mr rhexx. I enjoy your videos very much. You're awesome.

[@Rakshasa1986]

7:30 That's my face when I get a package from Amazon that took forever to get to me.

[@MrPiepschuim]

Love the series! I would love a video about Aboleths. The description in the MM makes me very curious for more

[@BeastnBrushes]

Onwards with the D&D vids, they're awesome

[@jonathandixson1424]

I'm really enjoying these D and D lore videos! Keep it up! And my suggestion for the next lore video is abominations. Tarrasque, Phane, etc, etc. And have a nice day, person scrolling through the comments. Rhexx, ma boi, you better put this comment in your next video. Boi.

[@TheTeaNinja]

Love these DnD videos! They make me want to try out DnD myself!!

[@MrRotzilla]

Found your channel yesterday, loving it!

[@marmyeater]

I didn't know most of this, and congratulations! You managed to get me to like shambling mounds.

[@apollofell3925]

Wish I'd found this video before my teifling rogue lost his life to one of these while several spectral figures chanted "HE IS THE ANCIENT, HE IS THE LAND" Just a real bad day for both myself and Walter.

[@MrBlast4230]

Great job. Such enthusiasm for the game with great detail. I would like to see Cloud Giants. Thank you.

[@99zxk]

Swamp Thing. Got it.

[@ImADogRuff]

Hey man, found you cause of these DND videos and they're great. Would you be cool with me putting you in my game as a sage to help my PCs with lore and monster knowledge? Cheers

[@MrRhexx]

Sorry for the late response, but of course xD

[@lecutter9382]

On a MUD I used to play on waaaay back in the day SMs were just brutal. Unless you came across one with a large and experienced group you were always best off fleeing for the hills.

[@brycevo]

These are such cool creatures. I actually wouldn't mind making one a potential NPC guide for my party

[@fishercapps6206]

Keep these up man love them

[@Darwyn4321]

Go with another D&D classic - the illithid!

[@Lobster_Bib]

I love that background music, so chill. Videos are coo to

[@BIGESTblade]

D&D has the largest collection of the most fascinating monsters in the tabletop existence. You can easily find here stuff you've never ever seen anywhere.

[@Walter-Anderson]

BIGGESTblade they stole this from DC Comics Swamp Thing.

[@Zilegil]

so you use arrows and magic missile to burst them down from afar. Or if you have multiple str18 tank/meleedps then if one gets grappled you can use the other one to deal damage Although in most encounters it's going to ambush you so that might not help if you do manage to get away you might be able to lay some form of trap for it. Maybe use the mold earth cantrip to create a deep enough pit and polarms to keep it down there. Then you could use fireballs, magic missiles, rocks, arrows, whatever you have to hand you can damage it with The Shambling Mound has a high enough wisdom to probably not just walk into the hole. But depending on how the DM rules it, the Mound is essentially blind. A huge pit doesn't register as it most likely has no electromagnetic presence unlike the bioelectricity of humans. So it might not be able to see the hole. But if it is ruled that the mound can sense its surroundings then an illusion spell to hide the pit or a layer of branches and leaves won't help

[@kidyomu89]

Imagine, a group of mages and wizards and such, who aren't too keen on shambling mounds, all fire a barrage of electricity, millions of watts, in hopes to destroy that yucky plant monster.

[@ZakFerguson]

I love all of these videos man.

[@runebeargames899]

I love these videos Rhexx, hope to see more!! maybe one on drow??

[@minibuscus2]

bloody love this series please could you do a video on the archdevil. I've always been a fan of dispater and the cold lord

[@kindoflame]

I was so excited that I could make a joke about how Man-Thing is in D&D, but you beat me to it!

[@CaptainFirespitter]

It’s always priceless when the DM tries to introduce a level 5 monster to seriously challenge the party and potentially kill a few people. Except that he never even gets his turn because the party just goes to ham on the damn thing!!!😂 Just a minor headache and annoyance for everyone.

[@scoots291]

love the d&d lore. how about a segment on drunk magic creatures like the owlbear

[@rickyevans2697]

Finally!!!! Someone got it right!!! Thank you. It’s Frankenstein that’s the doctor, the monster is just the Monster.

[@kenis77]

This is quickly becoming my most watched channel. Can you do one on Half-dragons?

[@luigicabeludo]

this is so going to be my next adventure with the players

[@archellothewolf2083]

My friends and I used Awaken on a Shambling Mound. After convincing it to join us we fed it the corpses of various things we murder-hoboed and eventually gave it Barbarian levels. Was pretty OP actually.

[@MacquarieRidge]

"I fear no man, but that thing, it scares me"

[@Alexrider02]

I would love to hear more about the eternal war between the Devils and the Demons.

[@narancsikvince8447]

Well, I might be pretty late with this, and I know that Pathfinder is not quite D&D (as far as I know Paizo is independent from WotC) but in the newest crpg installment of Pathfinder (yep, in Kingmaker) I have ncountered a shambling mound along with a journal, describing the birth of said mound, which was as follows: The victim, a wounded elf, was covered with a liquid substance, labeled "If contacted with skin, wash off immediately". After being covered in this substance, fungal and plant growth began to grow out of the body, and slowly was grown into the mound. If we take Pathfinder as somewhat canon, we can assume that the mound actually spread through spores or some very similar manner, and are in fact resemble humanoids because they retain some of their traits from the earliest stages of growth, when the host body, the first victim, is being used as some sort of skeleton/nutrient rich ground. Well, I'd be happy to ear your opinions too.

[@Welther47]

Priests ALWAYS suggest it [anything] is the will of the god(s) - even in fantasy.

[@rcticfloof]

Well I mean when the pantheon is as vast as the dnd one it makes sense, no such thing as an atheist when people can channel their deities hahah

[@gblakney1]

@@rcticfloof well not exactly true but yeah I get ur point.

[@anathema1828]

Nice work on the video!

[@Samthane]

My party of four had to fight three of these once. It took us four hours. All but one passed out, but we managed to defeat in the end. Both our characters and we the players were tired as heck afterwards.

[@elfsings]

Would you ever consider making a video about the different planes of existence of the FR multiverse ? Like Baator, the Abyss, Elemental Planes, Gods Domains ?

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

Perhaps lightning strikes a Wandering soul as it passes through thick vegetation and perhaps it is a God of sorts bring them to be in order to balance out good and evil these wandering Souls are tasked with fixing the balance by becoming essentially becoming Swamp Thing

[@acropolismauve8496]

Love the D&D videos, could you do your next video with Drow society?

[@VenomWabbit]

Awesome! PCs were given the option to go into the swamp for a while now and I've been planning to use shambling mounds if they do. Hopefully I can use this info to really make them "come to life."

[@VenomWabbit]

Also, I'd love to hear about Remorhaz.

[@raspberrypie1706]

My personal idea for shambling mounds is that they are a natural version of a golems (An elemental bound to a body created of nonliving material like clay, stone, metals, or even flesh Frankenstein style), they are effectively flesh golems but with plant matter instead of meat. This would explain their humanoid forms as elementals (and therefor golems) often take the form of humanoids

[@kaidedshardxzanderain3483]

I think it be interesting to hear the lore behind templates for monsters and the like.

[@Sparrowly1]

I've been loving this series!

[@therealshadow99]

The Forgotten Realms (depending on edition) does have an alternative origin for Shambling mounds. I forget the exact details, but a 'primal god' of decay was said to be the origin for these. In rumor they are considered to be his physical agents in our realm, if that part is true or not is unknown.

[@dogf421]

imagine a shambling mound that constantly has crackling lightning around it letting it cast lightning spells, have regeneration and also electrocute as they engulf something

[@Wintermute909]

I think the first forgotten realms novel i read as a kid was Curse of the Azure Bonds, & I'll always remember the god Moanda which was sort of like the god of Shambling Mounds

[@animeknight4142]

Great video but can you do a video about the most powerful creature or thing in the entirety of d and a please?

[@lucasfinck7040]

cool and I know there is allot of content for them already but think you can do dragons and dragon kin or maybe even manticore

[@rexalley8397]

The lighting strike might be a catalyst for some sort of life like how some people think life was created a lighting strike made some random chemicals in ancient (like 3.2 billion years ancient) waters creating self replicating molecules, dna rna ect ect

[@gblakney1]

yeah Evolutionists have deliberately vague/improbable explanations for their beliefs to justify their lack of actual real evidence.. in truth the whole belief is an attempt to reject the idea that God created all things. not a single Evolutionist will ever admit to this but when u look at their belief system with how little actual evidence there is, one cannot think of any other explanation for why so many ppl would follow such a vaguely defined and fairly unverified belief system.. its simply an excuse to reject God plain and simple.

[@gblakney1]

I mean what sounds more believable? an all powerful and all knowing God created the universe in all its perfectly balanced complexity or some random chemical reaction of *ASTRONOMICALLY* low odds of ever occuring just happens to create perfectly designed and coded DNA? random chance or intelligent design which is more likely and more supported by the fields of science?

[@LadyLandsknecht]

I would love to learn more about The Radiant Sisters, the Lilitu Bards.

[@digunder14]

i'd guess ice would be one of the few effective ways of harming them since u could freeze them to where if u get it cold enough they will break and be frozen solid

[@matc8085]

lots of swamp and man thiings pics nice vid btw :)

[@FLUXXEUS]

you've got that Christopher Walken speach pattern going on 😆

[@NobodyDungeons]

so what one of my parties ended up doing is using a shambling mound to kill a tarrasque by pumping it full of lightning spells and so it was big enough and strong enough to fight the tarrasque and it worked with help from the party

[@gabef9538]

Homebrew druid-sniper multiclass shapeshifting into a shambling mound and have it take out a high-duke that you are protecting.

[@ClassMRule]

SWAMP THING

[@Walter-Anderson]

ClassMRule i thought I was the only one who noticed this

[@BunnyTheOverlord]

I wonder what a Shambling Mound farm would look like, maybe tesla coils and shrubberies all around, maybe looking like an abandoned laboratory with no walls or ceiling.

[@aubreyackermann8432]

I would think the lightning is probably normal, but there's another factor at work. Maybe it needs to be directly on top of a humanoid grave? The roots of the plants would be interacting with the body and becoming aquatinted with the form.

[@archellothewolf2083]

I wish my DMs would throw these at me more. I always wanted to cast awaken on one, become friends with it, and make it gain Rogue/Ranger levels. xD

[@357Dejavu]

I know it’s old. I’d love to see lore on a purple worm... that is if I didn’t miss it and you don’t all ready have it, rust monsters would be cool too!

[@devangoad]

Using picture of man thing, sure he is a shambling mound, but swamp thing on the other hand... cmon, he’s got a mind and a voice! Most of the time i think, he might’ve started the same but I can’t remember for sure now

[@jimslack1492]

Manthing started in fear comics then marvel comics. My brother went to art school with the creator of swamp thing, he "borrowed" the idea from manthing... scientist had an accident & blended with the swamp story

[@pablorodriguez2325]

Ooo yes, I need more plant monster secrets

[@toddhobza]

i would love to see a d&d lore video of giants

[@Bigj089]

The very first time I was killed in D&D/Pathfinder was to one of these. Second death was the same. The first time it outright killed my poor level 4 Magus in a single, surprise round. Second time was with a fighter that lasted 2 turns.

[@TheCompleteMental]

3:10 Yes... that's what eyes do, see electromagnetic waves.

[@NegatveSpace]

These videos are also fun to think about the biological or scientific aspects of creatures. For example when listening to this video and how its organs work, what if its stomachs were really just an area where all its roots are somewhere inside its body. When it injests something it gets pushed to this area where it maybe has some way of expediting decomposition almost like an acid effect and absorbs the nutrient byproducts. As for the brain and nervous system, this could be almost another form of entity where the electrical currents throughout its body form a sort of consciousness. This could somehow play into the mythos of how it is created. Another way is somewhat based on something someone else said which is maybe someone died in a swamp and got consumed by vegetation. Perhaps some of their electrical current still exists or the tissue structure for electrical current then when hit by lightning it gets a big enough jolt to bring it to life.