Need a TPK? Hire Orcus!

[@thefollowingisatest4579]

"Orcus got me 5 dead players! Thanks Orcus and associates!" This video is so delightful

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Put it on the brochure! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@spicyboi544]

"your party needs a humbling" understatement of the year. Especially when they forget they lost a card game to a fish cause its been a week and no one takes notes :)

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Ok, THAT sounds like an awesome story! Too bad Orcus is coming for them!

[@patrickmcathey7081]

Orcas being outsourced by zandathar? Only famous fish I know

[@alexandercross9081]

Just remember, there are several heavy hitters like Vlaakith, Acererak, and Vecna, who respond "how high" when Orcus says jump. Orcus automatically knows the location of a liches phylactory and can destroy it with a thought

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

He has the best team in the game! Truly nobody out there has a better firm!

[@FaceD0wnDagon]

Open-ended abilities like "500 HP of undead" are some of the strongest in all of D&D, regardless of edition. Turning every monster manual into a shopping catalog is silly-good.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Honestly, when there are creatures like liches and death knights you can summon, it really becomes an incredibly powerful thing. I love it!

[@leonardhollsten8145]

New one is even sillier. 30 undead of any type Oops 30 liches. Oops, 15 death knights and 15 liches. Oops 30 dracoliches.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Truly unhinged for Wizards to release that!

[@tapurate638]

​@@leonardhollsten8145 oops, 30 advanced demiliches.

[@leonardhollsten8145]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT Granted, its only for Orcus, anyone else can only summon 15 skeletons and 15 zombies.

[@jonathangibson9482]

I love this. I love Orcus and I love the concept of the video and I love how correct it is. Orcus WILL cause a TPK when dealing with cocky or ill-prepared players. Magnificent.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it! It was a fun one to come up with and put together, and Orcus is one of my faves!

[@GamingTreasureChest]

I have a cult of orcus in my campaign, so the players haven't met the big guy yet haha. But I did love the clue I left them, was actually a clue I found somewhere online many years ago and can't remember where. It was the following, the group found a near dying man in A jail in the unknown cults lair they had just defeated, the man said he knew what this was about but was cursed to be unable to say. as he was dying he used mage hand to carve this message in his back "the ckbla anoce of thdea, all but edesrec mfro our iesbod, we lwil ecom and quercon the ingliv, at the eranceutt of our dslor mandcom, and yonl entsil eathund lwil ainrem." with the message, the first of the 3rds is the key to understanding. if you unscrable the words which is just a case of moving the last 3 letters to the front of each word and then take the first letter of all the 3rd words in each line it spells orcus. Great video as always!

[@jackalkhan5676]

That's a good puzzle, I neve had to seclo one eye to drea it perlypro.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s very cool! I love foreshadowing like that, I’m sure your players are in for a crazy ride!

[@lanibentz9976]

I was looking back through Out of The Abyss before I watched this video just to reflect on how strong Orcus actually is, and was reminded “oh right he can summon two Dracolichs of variable color”

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Right??? Actually insane!

[@nkosig4995]

i love that orcus has canonically been to, I think it was Colorado

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Is that from an old advevture??? That sounds insane!

[@RainbowGod666]

Id say something about how weird this is but 1) theres a rock song named "the devil went down to georgia" 2) fortnite had an ad where things from the game became Real™ 3) Florida, Ohio, and Oklahoma existing apparently What the fuck is going on in the states?????

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

All weirdness, all the time!

[@clarkside4493]

For those looking to run an Orcus campaign, 4th Edition had an Orcus adventure path. I converted the first in the series, Keep on the Shadowfell, from 4th Edition to 5th Edition on the DM's Guild. I'll eventually get to the others, but life just keeps getting in the way.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s awesome, thanks for sharing! I’ve never heard of that adventure before

[@clarkside4493]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT No problem! It's not a bad adventure. I tried to add some more personal hooks to the very beginning, which I think is its weak point. However, once you get them going, most players like the dungeon crawl. It has some interesting NPCs to interact with, there's stuff they can miss out on depending on their choices, and it has some unexpected monsters.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s really cool! I might have to check it out, as evidenced by the video I love anything Orcus!

[@clarkside4493]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT In order, the rest of the adventures in the series are: Thunderspire Labyrinth Pyramid of Shadow King of the Trollhaunt Warrens Demon Queen's Enclave Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress Death's Reach Kingdom of the Ghouls Prince of Undeath

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you!

[@jakedge3]

can confirm, one of my level 1 parties stole candy from a baby one time and orcus came down and cleaned house and killed them and the whole town (He spared the baby though and gave it more candy) sometimes you gotta send a firm message.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Another successful case! Sure, sometimes others get caught in the crossfire, but he has to be thorough!

[@kquixotic]

This was a hilarious and informative breakdown on strats using Ole' Orcus; loved it!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you, I’m glad you liked it! It was a fun one to write!

[@popularopinion1]

I ran Orcus once. Included in that 500 hit points of undead, i threw in a nightwalker

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Now THAT is mean! I’m sure your players were appropriately humbled!

[@The_Sharktocrab]

Much more effective than that time I hired Yeenoghu...

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Total amateur hour with that guy! If you want results, you need the best!

[@GambledMyhouse]

I’m pretty sure our DM is alluding that we’re gonna fight this guy after we finish fighting back a demon invasion and honestly. Despite the fact we got 2 clerics and 3 paladins (because we all operated on one brain cell) I don’t feel to confident

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s about as good a party comp as you can get for it! Good luck!

[@viviblue7277]

Only 20 AC and 405 AC? That’s low enough that your average party of level 15 min maxers could NOVA him down before he gets a turn!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s where those resistances come into play! You’d be surprised how long he can hang on when their big damage spells are all doing half of their normal output!

[@viviblue7277]

@ he doesn’t resist Thunder, Radiant, nor magical weapons, which are the most common NOVA damage types. You average moderately min maxed Bladesinger Wizard Paladin Fighter at level 15 with only a self provided buff (haste) and one feat (metamagic adept) and a +1 long sword could hit him for 42d8+48 base damage +6d8 extra because he’s a fiend damage in a single turn. That averages out to 264 damage. From one party member. Now you might say what about that 20 AC? Well remember this is a 10 bladesinger wizard 2 paladin 3 battle master fighter, he already just has a +10 to hit and he can precision attack for a bonus average of 4.5 to hit, and in the not remotely unrealistic scenario they’re buffed by bless that’s an extra 2.5 to hit for an average attack roll of 27.5. Suddenly hitting 6 times in a row doesn’t seem that unlikely. And this was with very minimal magic items, give them a +3 long sword and a belt of fire giant strength and now they’re never gonna miss even without bless with their +14 to hit and precision strike and do an extra 24 damage. Also he’ll take an extra 3d8 lightning on his turn if he moves but if one player is doing that much damage he probably won’t survive until his turn. If you’re curious how all that damage is dealt quickened booming blade (from the feat), actions surge, bladesinger unique extra attack twice, a single haste attack, and 3 4th level slots, both 5th level slots, and the one 6th level slot (or they could save their 5th and 6th level slots and use their third level slots and only do 3d8 less total damage) adds up to 3 booming blades, 3 regular attacks, all with max power divine smites. I assumed 20 strength which is possible via point buy because we only took 1 full feat and Tasha’s has a race that lets you start with an 18 with point buy since it comes with a +2 and then we can take a half feat and give us the 13 charisma, we need for multiclassing, 14 intelligence, 12 constitution, and a 10 in one of wisdom or dexterity while the other is the dump stat at 8. That’s some pretty poor constitution, but far from unlivable, especially since with the first level being fighter for those con saves, they also get access to heavy armor. This is a pretty realistic build for a min maxer to end up with by level 15, and if you made the mistake of giving them an amulet of health or the party has a high level artificer that problem is solved. And with a whole party of minmaxers? Yeah no way orcus is even gonna get a turn against level 15s who are freshly rested.

[@velcalo]

@@viviblue7277 As far as I understand this build, this requires that combat starts with Orcus in Melee range, but Orcus can perform perfectly well at range.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That build is insane, and admittedly a party of players running similarly broken set-ups would absolutely win a fair fight. I’d question if that would be fun though!

[@viviblue7277]

@ this does assume the player is using haste movement to get the drop on orcus. If you ambush a level 15 party you can just kill them with a dozen hellhounds, no need to bring orcus into it.

[@gianlucaguidotto8920]

Then you realise that the new staff of Orcus allows him to summon 30 of ANY undead, and things get way more interesting 😈

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

WHAT? I haven’t read through all of the new DMG yet so that’s news to me! He’s going to have to raise his prices!

[@gianlucaguidotto8920]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT "Call Undead. While holding the wand, you can take a Magic action to conjure 15 Skeletons and 15 Zombies. These Undead magically rise up from the ground or otherwise form in unoccupied spaces within 300 feet of you and obey your commands until they are destroyed or until the next dawn, when they collapse into inanimate piles of bones and rotting corpses. Once you use this property, you can't use it again until the next dawn, While holding the wand, Orcus can summon any kind of Undead, not just skeletons and zombies. These Undead don’t perish at dawn the following day, remaining until Orcus dismisses them." This is from the new DMG.

[@strawberrymilk5009]

​@@gianlucaguidotto8920 Ah, so infinite army of liches

[@gianlucaguidotto8920]

@strawberrymilk5009 yeeees 🔥

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That is INSANE. Can’t wait to use this!

[@mrmuffins951]

This is awesome! I love your videos about monsters. Orcus’ wand is too tempting for my min/maxing players to resist!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

They’re gonna have to work for it then! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@emgee2807]

Remember, if all else fails.. throw in some other demon princes at the same time.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

There are others at the law firm!

[@Монс-й1ь]

DM: I'm not going to sugarcoat it *proceeds to turn campaign into Jujutsu Kaisen*

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Exactly!

[@BurningMonkey]

this was a very welcome break from the garbage I have been dealing with, into the realm of silly, and I loved it. thank you!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Glad I could be a distraction! Sorry to hear you're dealing with garbage, but hopefully it passes soon!

[@BurningMonkey]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT thanks!

[@mildlymarvelous]

One of our player characters- an order cleric who hates all gods- got forcibly humbled by an encounter with an avatar of Orcus. Started trying to cockily make a deal, ended up having to sell his soul just to pacify Orcus and save the party. So now the character who hates gods is being forced to serve a particularly nasty one.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Brutal, but hopefully that’ll lead to some awesome character moments and a chance to break free! Another successful case!

[@reubendaly827]

i'm terrified that my friend will find this before i get to run a fight with him because i've threatened extensively about the boss i'm using and he thinks its gonna be a lich

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Fingers crossed! I hope Orcus lives up to the hype!

[@reubendaly827]

@TheBardsCollegeYT we're running this at 20th level so i gave him a mythic action that restores him to 105 hp in the form of a writhing serpent of necrotic hatred with a breath weapon, a bonus action to expend hit dice and an ability that summons a random creature's skeleton from a custom table that will maybe come to life

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Maybe they’ll have a chance, then! I hope it goes well!

[@SamuelDancingGallew]

Alternative summon to guarantee world domination: Shadows. They're guaranteed to kill your average commoner after 10 Hits, assuming the commoner takes no damage somehow, and the shadow gets all ones. On Average, four is barely a one-turn overkill. And since he can summon up to 12, then provided they all focus on the pesky spellcasters that might have radiant or AoE, including the Paladin and Cleric, the Party will quickly become overwhelmed, even at higher levels. All Orcus needs to do, is summon them, and make sure the Cleric can't use Spiritual Guardians to wipe them all out en masse. And if he wins, he's got 4 more shadows that can slay another commoner in one turn, and make another shadow, to slay more commoners and more shadows...

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Orcus is recruiting them for his firm as we speak! Great observation!

[@mnfrancis]

This is definitely a superb way to crit your players.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

A crit they’ll never recover from!

[@TestingThisOkay]

And don’t forget…crit your players 🫵

[@angeryfluuf6514]

Not me making Orcus a part of my backstory expecting a boss fight later in the campaign.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

You’re a brave soul suing his firm like that!

[@DalfAxolotl]

i love this video, also as a rogue player, that joke at the start is fair.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

They’re just too good! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@calebthedoomguy2730]

Fought Orcus as a Way of the Sun Soul monk on a common cat stat block (leveled, with feats. But started as just a house cat) and due to rolls, speed, and environment we got him to below half. He time stopped and dropped undead and left. We like to think that was the day he learned why otherworldly beings are scared of cats

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

In any multiverse, cats reign supreme! That’s awesome, glad you lived to tell the tale!

[@TestingThisOkay]

The suit! It’s amazing! 💚

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you! I was gonna put on a tie but failed to get it knotted right once and gave up. So the blazer had to do!

[@Cynidecia]

Level Drain. Save or Die.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Even Orcus isn’t THAT cruel!

[@Cynidecia]

@TheBardsCollegeYT Death is certain, but the survivors will emerge as ministers of it, ready to claim glory by the throat.

[@zenixsakai8326]

He was the big bad of a campaign I was in, one of 4 campaigns in a world (the others had vecna, an ancient black dragon, and a fleet of mindflayers) and he was utterly terrifying when it came to fighting him lol. It ended as a war with the parties of the orcus and mindflayer campaigns all together where we had to fight both orcus and the mindflayers, was amazing and shit scary

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That sounds incredible! Two parties coming together to face impossible odds, doesn’t get better than that!

[@zenixsakai8326]

@TheBardsCollegeYT I was in two of those campaigns, the first and fourth, (vecna and orcus) and I've got nothing but respect for my dm. Ran 2 campaigns at once in the same world, all at different time periods in the world, with what we did affecting everyone else in their campaigns (my first character became the Raven Queens grim reaper and showed up a lot lol) and managed to keep track of it all. He's now running eve of ruin for 2 groups at once (we're doing better than the other ha) and then he's gonna start up an entirely new homebrew world!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Wow, much respect! They sound like an awesome DM, I’m glad you’ve found a great group to play with!

[@blankdragon1636]

I love this, subscribed!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you so much! More to come!

[@Gift_Of_Victory]

My thoughts after seeing Orcus: Imma solo it.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I love the spirit! Good luck!

[@RottenRogerDM]

PCs roasting on an open fire, it beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Orcus is just getting in the holiday spirit!

[@Danothyus1]

No joke, while all demon lords are dangerous, Orcus has always being imo on a league of its own because of that friggin summoning ability.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

The summoning truly is insane! Glad you agree!

[@erosdavidvillarroelrodrigu894]

Hey man just wanted to say: great video. Your personality and way to present the content is really interesting an engaging. Loved the video!😊

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you so much! That’s really kind to say, I’m glad you enjoyed it! More to come!

[@astrossarave]

You should make more videos like this one! Great video too!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I’m glad you like it! Definitely planning to!

[@Live_Nameless_Deity_Reaction]

This is truly amazing. I showed this to my dad (who used to play DND back in the 3.5 days) and he loved it. He told me about a campaign he had ran but never finished to get one of his pals into Demi-God status, since my dad's character had become was a god. (I'm pretty sure the guy he was trying to get to Demi-God status was the DM of the campaign that my dad's god character was in.) He told me he had made a homebrew monster just for the final fight, but that he probably could've used Orcus instead. It's a shame I won't be able to use him because 1) I'm don't really play DND that much, and 2) I already have a very powerful Homebrew Monster I made that I could use instead.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I’m glad you loved the video, and the fact you shared with your dad and got to hear that awesome story makes it even better! I’m sure your homebrew monster will be able to open their own form and terrorize plenty of players, too!

[@Live_Nameless_Deity_Reaction]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT I doubt I'll ever really be a DM, but if I do, considering how my family is, I expect I'll need something to humble them, and my Homebrew Monster is right up that alley. Although, it may destroy them a bit too fast for them to relish in their hopelessness, since it IS a CR 85 creature.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

You never know! If you do, I hope you and your family have a great time! And don’t forget to let them be the heroes in-between the humbling (even if deserved) - hopefully they can eventually take down your monster!

[@RainbowGod666]

[YTP] D&D&TNT: the trial of trials

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Now THAT’S a video I’d like to see!

[@TyanFH]

Ya, understatement.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

You can never be too sure!

[@SYSyphysDelta]

I absolutely would love to see this format of video, but with other high-level monsters!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Good to know! It seems like a lot of people agree, so I might have to oblige!

[@Crimsonaurora]

Had orcus as a bbeg and abused his create undead ability to send an ancient blue dracolich after the party almost every day (min max combat loving party so they enjoyed it) then had his lair guarded by one by and ancient dracolich of every chromatic. Level 20 is fun

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Another happy customer! I’m glad you and your players had so much fun with him as the villain!

[@nikolibarastov4487]

Easy way to humble your players; play a different edition than 5th... Also Orcus is even scarier in earlier editions

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I’ll have to look at some of his older stat blocks, an even tougher Orcus sounds terrifying!

[@JC500]

You laid out so many red flags for a DM in the opening that it was the easiest click-off ever.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Sorry if it isn’t apparent, bit that part of the video (and many others) is a joke! I don’t actually believe those things - or that you should TPK your party at will - I just wanted a fun way to talk about Orcus

[@Mic15000]

Great video! Leaving a comment here to support :)

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you so much! I’m glad you liked it!

[@Ferretino]

Looking at his statblock and GWM fighter\barb at my table. Well If he flying he have a chance... Last session he stompted Pit Lord that was buffed to 500 HP and had 3 legendary resistances against goddamn Raulothim's Psychic Lance.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That’s where time stop, flight and summoning undead to help come in handy! As someone who also has a GWM barbarian in their high-level party, I feel your pain!

[@NotlostMoon]

I don't know if my cousin Vinny could deal with this, I think I'll have to consider this service!

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Your cousin Orcus is even better! At his firm, you’re treated as family (once deceased)

[@sal23246]

Wall of force.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Better place it well!

[@heheatlas]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I kind of just wish my DM would just throw this at us, or any official monsters. He homebrews like, 80% of the monsters and they are a little... half baked. We're a party of 6 level 5 adventures and he keeps throwing enemies at us with health at or near our average damage per turn, so they are getting one or two shot. He complains about how "powerful" we are and we try suggesting he give them more HP, but he insists that it's a damage problem with his monsters. At this point every combat is about throwing all of our resources at the enounter to end it round 2 or sooner because we know we'll get TPK'd.

[@martinlovsin4776]

retard DM. mine just has a mafia boss DMPC that basically solves every problem and the girls in our party have just sort of put him in the centre of attention permanently and now hes apparently the main character of our story, which is 99% roleplaying anyway

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

That sucks, I’d suggest talking to them about it but you did! Something more subtle you could try, if you’re up for it, is having one of you run a one-shot where they’re a player. You can use some cool official monsters and show them what they’re missing! Just a suggestion, hopefully they figure it out!

[@heheatlas]

@TheBardsCollegeYT That's a really good suggestion! Thank you :)

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I hope it helps!

[@ThePencilWizard]

What about the Old Man and the Seven Canaries?

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

We don’t talk about him in Orcus’ law firm, he’s beaten him on a LOT of cases!

[@bomberooski]

Hahahaha. That was wonderful.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

[@MagesINC]

This guy is awesome

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Orcus is just too cool!

[@MagesINC]

@ honestly

[@MrEnollx]

Leaving a comment for KZbin juice.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Always appreciated!

[@shadowolf-oq8ny]

Our dm made the mistake of putting him in a canyon in what i guessing was to stop us from running and he wasted his time stop on stopping our bird person can’t spell the species name tried to fly away to warm the town we where nearby and ti possibly get help as well and then our two wizards dropped about three tons of rocks on him and killed him in about three turns after that the dm wasn’t happy about it but he had made rocks crumble off and block our escape so couldn’t make the argument that the rest of the canyon wasn’t also crumbly and 2 high rolls later for some well places fire balls and the fight was over so I’m sorry orcus but even you can’t escape fire ball cheese it was definitely just bad terrain placement by our dm especially since we as party have used our surroundings to our full advantage since session one bit it did make for a very funny memory

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

“Rocks fall, everyone dies” can get even Orcus! That’s an awesome story, thanks for sharing!

[@LoarvicLoarvic]

He can fly...

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

True! Though I’m guessing the rocks fell on the player’s turn before Orcus could fly!

[@JohnBluemon]

Heavenly ^^.

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@AlwaysDecent]

if that does not work I got the cr 35 variant and his 2 generals in my tome of horrors book. (:

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Dear gods, those players will be HUMBLED

[@AlwaysDecent]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT yeah, Orcus should be stronger than a Tarrasque. Frog god games makes a ton of good stuff. (:

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I’ll have to check them out!

[@AlwaysDecent]

@@TheBardsCollegeYT you got a fan discord server?

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Not at the moment, maybe I should make one, though!

[@ApocRNG]

why are you mixing legal stuff with a demon?

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

I just thought it would be a fun way to frame a video about Orcus!

[@karakune]

Hilarious 😂

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TwinSteel]

🥳🫂👍🏿 The Texas Hammer got nothing on this guy

[@TheBardsCollegeYT]

Who needs a hammer when you have a wand? Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@TwinSteel]

@ great presentation - you made reading a stat block enthralling 💪🏿