D&D MONSTER RANKINGS - UNDEAD

[@zachv4516]

The funeral was so sad even the undead were in tiers.....I’ll leave now

[@goldfish6525]

OH MY GOD!! THIS IS THE BEST JOKE EVER!! I'm not exaggerating, I literally said this when I saw this comment.

[@chadsknnr]

Undead Tears sounds like an emo goth band, or a Twilight prequel . . . .

[@elijahnajera5425]

My god this joke, it certainly got quite the chuckle out of me.😄

[@ishouldfindagoodname2416]

Please don’t.

[@Tengu125]

Ha, good one 😆

[@edkopik]

Skeleton is F tier? lads, we need to give this one more CALCIUM!

[@ggogaming7441]

he need some milk 🤣🤣🤣

[@redfaux74]

F that.....

[@michaelpettersson4919]

The skeletons are barely undead, more like a type of magical construct. The real monster are the necromancer that raised them.

[@chrisnichols9014]

@@michaelpettersson4919 Skeleton's were people that were once alive so they're still undead.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

@@chrisnichols9014 Well, technically but they are more into the territory of magical constructs. With few exceptions they cannot really think but are just mindless drones. This is even more obvius when someone make an golem out of bones.

[@nutmegmachine218]

"Where in the nine hells did they get all those murderer's hands?" Think you might have answered your own question there

[@matthiaslener2763]

Not quite the nine hells are pretty huge arent they?

[@Sophia-vk5bq]

McDonalds?

[@frozenlizard7738]

From all the adventure parties that take what they want/eldricth blast anyone in their way.

[@arbiterskiss6692]

I like to think of them as theives hands

[@amberkat8147]

I would love to make a small plot arch based on that, tbh.

[@Maxizio]

I refuse to see skeletons as F tier. Think of the possibilities. -arrows miss them constantly -immune to diseases, toxins and poisons -can't drown -no need to sleep -bone puns -no need to eat -can disconnect an arm or leg to use as a weapon -can chatter to intimidate

[@boitata2617]

-no need to drink -can make dice out of their knucles -can hide them in your closet without the stench of Death in your robes for the next week, shut up ghast, I know It protects against Divine Magic, but I trying to keep It low, and It doesn't help that I have to make a excuse for the smell every time someone comes over

[@ARC--5973]

-Can make their eye glow blue to indicate that their foe is going to have a bad time.

[@brianc9374]

Perfect guards

[@Skel1001]

skeleton butler

[@longdangley]

@@ARC--5973 you got me

[@BloodyCaesar]

"One striking thing I noticed as I was reviewing undead monsters is that they consistently rate high in Style, but low in Flexibility" Are you telling me they get Rigor Mortis?

[@HoboHunterRik]

Skeletons are 100% better than zombies. Zombies are one note fighters while Skeletons can use a variety of weapons and can even have slightly different personalities.

[@wyattben123]

a skeleton weighs 35 lbs and is as strong as a man because of magic. so they are ridiculously fast because they dont have to carry around all that weight. that means you could put about 165 lbs of armor on them, and it would be at the same level of agility as an unarmored man swinging a sword around. skeletons are OP AF.

[@primeemperor9196]

Exactly. ANYBODY who has played Minecraft knows that skeletons are master archers.

[@asahearts1]

@@wyattben123 It's hard to use your strength if you have no weight, though.

[@wyattben123]

@@asahearts1 my whole argument was about agility, not strength. that they had the strength of a normal man with the weight of a dried out human skeleton, and that without that extra weight, they would be deadly fast, and i even brought up the fact that you could weigh them down with over 100 lbs of armor to toughen them up and they would STILL be as fast as the average man. exactly what point are you trying to make? cause i dont understand it.

[@BuddyLee23]

You nerds. You’re mistaking the badassery of *skeleton warriors* for that of just common skeletons. 🙄 💀👎🧟‍♂️👍

[@blaked7532]

Here's a way i used undead in my dnd games and kept it 'fresh' (no pun intended) but i had a faction of necromancers called "The Wheat Kings" and they sold high quality wheat at a tiny fraction the price other grain sellers would and they afforded to do by having all their labour for farming and harvesting done by skeletons and zombies. They weren't evil with a capital E, but they did destroy farmers livings by undercutting their prices and forcing them to go broke, then they would swoop in and buy the land for cheap when the farmer has to sell it. Thats one way to use your undead in a different way that can help flesh out your world.

[@gregoryeverson741]

i like that, but it seems DMs arent making up their own "quests" i had a DM that made a skeleton pond that kept making sketeltons, and we had to destroy it, he let us use our imagination, we went to get barrels of holy water and holy wine, hired a high lvl Priest and 2 knights, and then all hel broke loose, was fun, whole point of D&D is making shit up

[@christuncks]

Could be worse the main character of Overlord (Light Novel, Manga and Anime) is basically a Super Lich who after conquering a human city mass raises death knights (mindless super wights in series) to act as guards, heavy labour and monster exterminators which basically puts the adventurers out of work (he actually wants to repurpose them as explorers as that's a task beyond his mindless undead minions)

[@goldfish6525]

Heh. That's an amusing idea.

[@KorporateKotoo]

Neat idea, but aren't there easier, more effective, and safer methods to use magic to make alot of money?

[@KorporateKotoo]

@OrangeManBad I think the hundreds of farmers being undercut might just mob attack the necromancers honestly, they could also probably scrounge up some coin to pay adventures, and I don't think it would be hard convincing adventures that the use of necromancy near the creation of food could be bad. Also I meant like druidic magic to grow better crops or to just sell your magic services to farmers, which would probably be more lucrative since it you could provide it to multiple farmers and it would give them a leg up over their competitors. I can't remember how dangerous necromancy is in DND but most games have it as an extremely risky and hard to learn/control magic compared to others.

[@mickodooku6058]

You know what makes undead scary? They're mindless. You can maybe see yourself talking your way out being killed by a goblin or hag. A Devil will at least pretend to be nice to you for a time. But undead don't understand anything that you're saying. You can only hope that you're strong, fast, or lucky.

[@boitata2617]

I think that even more scary than that is the possibility of becoming an Undead yourself, being removed from your eternal rest in other to serve some dark master, with no recolection of what you once were, running the risk of being obliviated, your soul destroyed, even the vilest soul can at least rejoice in remebrance of it's acomplishes in life as It is tormented in Death for all eternity, but There os no rest for the Undead

[@Lordmewtwo151]

Not all undead are mindless. Cases in point: Vampires and Liches.

[@АлександрДараган-з8ц]

"They can't be reasoned with, they can't be bargained with, they feel no pity..."

[@jimc7022]

Death Knight is top tier IMHO. They are the Darth Vader of D&D. Arguably one of the all time greatest villains in modern story telling. Death knights are way more flexible than you’re giving them credit for. They could have any number of motivations. Even more than a Lich or Vampire. Given the fact that they would have been a Paladin of great renown and deeds in life the tale of their long fall from grace can be very rich with lore. Lord Soth books are some of my favorite to read. He was far less predictable than Strahd and Lich characters. Mechanic wise Death Knights have it going on just as much as a vampire. They are a powerhouse with a large variety of different abilities and spells. They are no one trick ponies. Also Death Knights lend to combining them with a steed more so than a vamp or Lich. The coolness factor of a Death Knight mounted on a plate barded skeletal mount, Nightmare, or even a Dracolich easily bumps them to top tier.

[@morghulkale4112]

I think that part of the problem is that over the editions...they've been "neutered" somewhat. The original 1e Death Knights from the fiend folio were downright evil powerhouses.

[@SirSolomonAriel]

is it because of Arthas, the Lich King from Warcraft III/World of Warcraft and his Death Knights.

[@hamanu666]

Being able to launch a 20 d6 fireball once per day can ruin any party's day in 1E.

[@chrisruth7057]

Don't forget about thee Extremely Terrifying 😲😵 Atropal ☣

[@chrisruth7057]

A++

[@greedow]

1:43 - How funny is it that the snake is the example of low flexibility? I don't know if it was intentional or not, but hilarious nonetheless

[@esperthebard]

Maybe a crab instead haha

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The snake can only "snake" around. No way to grab things, walk, fly. It basically is a long tentacle with a venomous mouth on one end, from a mechanical perspective.

[@SerechII]

whoosh

[@redfaux74]

I didn't catch that..... 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@tannerlebel5167]

Tierzoo is spreading. And I like it.

[@mastermuffles7097]

I know right?

[@Futuristcoffee]

Tanner stop stealing my thoughts

[@trequor]

Tierzoo was created partially to make fun of these types of rankings, but also to pay homage to them. Tierzoo really didn't invent or even popularize tier-ranking videos

[@mauigonz]

2:34 what is that 1 star roleplaying? You can spice it like: A chopped hand of a noble that wanders in the city, the noble sends them to capture the hand, but when they meet the hand the hand tryes to guide the players into the noble's basement where he performs dark rituals.

[@Bluecho4]

Given that Mummy Lords are high priests (translation: high level Clerics), I'm inclined to consider them as having as good a potential for a major villain as the Lich does. Ditto the Vampire. While we're on the subject, though, I really wish the "Vampire" stat block was called something like "Vampire Lord". There should be a greater gradient of vampire enemies, with ones between "Vampire" and "Vampire Spawn". But that's just me.

[@redfaux74]

I totally agree.

[@amberkat8147]

You are so right.

[@Giles29]

Crowd (Chanting): "Imhotep! Imhotep! Imhotep! Imhotep!" "Ancient Spirits of Evil! Transform this decayed form to MUMM-RA the Ever-Living! Nyaaa ha ha ha ha!" Mummy Lords can easily be the big bad. Even in a less than completely serious campaign.

[@goldfish6525]

Whenever I see a dnd video I'm like: "Yeah!! I wanna use that!!" But I feel like 4 dragons and a tarrasque in one campaign is a bit... overkill...

[@williethenerfherder2193]

All the fucking dragons and dragonkin. We must push the players to the limit.

[@ianbyrne465]

Why not make the PCs negotiate with a dragon or two, having them try to persuade/ lure the dragon to fight off a raging tarasaue

[@boitata2617]

@@ianbyrne465 because the tarrasque has no chance unless you make some homebrew, since the dragons can Just fly away from it's reach, the dragons breath weapon, wich safe for fire and Poison the tarrasque is not immune to, are not Magic effects, so they Just gotta circle It and blast It with it's breath until It dies

[@lebanemcarl68]

Jasar 88 That’s were a glibness buffed bard would come in handy ;)

[@ceering99]

I view Revenants as less of a generic monster but as a punishment for your players. A close ally or friend who was betrayed by a member of the party who follows them for the entirety of their adventure until they get their revenge, or until their spirit becomes as broken as their body.

[@amberkat8147]

Good idea. If I ever have a player who's chaotic stupid/evil I may do that.

[@Jpteryx]

You could just change the Wraith's touch to a Dex save, which is a decent way to represent touch AC in 5e

[@dynamicworlds1]

+

[@esperthebard]

That is a great idea

[@NoESanity]

dex save, maybe add half of the ac from a large shield since the wraith can't see through it, so it's reaching into a blind attack.

[@dynamicworlds1]

NoESanity no need to complicate it. Shields not only reduce one's mobility, but using it in the way you describe would require putting an encumbered hand closer to the wraith. At that point, I'd call it even and keep the math quick.

[@NoESanity]

DynamicWorlds I'm guessing you've never actually been to a fair or anything where you could handle some of this stuff for real? 5e only has 1 srd shield. It says 6lbs. If we look back at 3.5 a metal heavy shield (fully body) only weighs 15... if you can't lift 6 or 16 pounds on one hand without it encumbering your movement... i feel sorry for you. Hell. The average adult male wouldn't have problems lifting a full tower shield at 45lbs on one hand without it restricting them. But hey, if you never did leg or arm day, you can still probably lift 45lbs without trying because it's really really light

[@markusnavergard2387]

I find that Skeletons can be highly flexible. because a skeleton dosent need to be a humans keleton. how bout monster skeletons? like a hydra? or a skeleton that is amde from other large skeletons? like say a Bone kraken ? give skeletons a a reassemble trait or even a ossification trait, basically they turn your muscles and soft tissue to bone. look it up its a real condition. Zombies can also be made into a threat. like causing rot,posion,disease, maybe womit up biles,blood and maggots, being big a bloated and exploding. have the severed body parts move even after they are cut off. Mummies can be made into clerics of old gods. yes Mummified animals, that should be more of a thing. I hade an idea of a Mummy dragon. Gave it a desication aura, mummy rot, multiple attacks, either a sand breath or a breath of flesh eating scarabs, decked it out in some nice magical ornaments and gave it two mummy clerics . Also Mummies of none human races.. Yuan-ti Mummies anyone? Draugr should be a more common undead in DnD and i dont mean the rather limp version from skyrim. I am talking about the Draugr from norse myth Ghosts also have so much potential. mad ghost wizards. annoyingly flinging fireballs at you while floating through solid objects

[@ANDELE3025]

How to make zombie a threat even for a level 16 party? Make them just cast AOE contagion (going by the twice printed RAW, not by the Crawford sage advice, as it makes far more sense and is a better spell when ruled as written) on a failed Undead Fortitude roll with 28-number of the failed con save as the DC.

[@Clin7Walker]

Krakens don't have bones geek

[@markusnavergard2387]

no but you can make a bone kraken from numerous skeletons. have hydra necks as tentacles

[@supercalifragic1551]

I like to always modify creatures when I incorporate them into a setting. For example: I give skeletons damage resistance to all but Bludgeoning and Radiant damage, and whenever slain they reassemble after 1d4 rounds with specific case by case variations (Like for example, their legs might be pulverized making them permanently Prone- except in cases where that just frees them and they gain a fly speed. Lots can happen). So you have to take care of the bodies with things like casting Gentle Repose when they fall, or execute them with radiant damage to the skull, or set the bones on fire (Create Bonfire is excellent). Zombies will similarly continue to reanimate but can be executed with critical hits or blows to the head when they go down, or by taking a -5 to hit to directly target the head with any attack. Zombies will have a cursed/toxic bite however, if bitten it's a reoccuring DC 10 save after 1d6 hours, and the once again after 24 hours or you die and rise as a zombie. Or if you're killed while Plagued, you rise as a zombie in 1d4 rounds or 1 minute out of combat. I also rule that most creatures don't attack Downed enemies unless they're particularly bestial and have some cause to. Zombies, however, are one such enemy and will swarm downed enemies. Then there's airborn diseases and a cursed atmosphere that coincides with zombie hordes and areas saturated with negative energy.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I always expect skeletons to be pretty resistent to piercing damage, no matter the setting. After all there is not much left to pierce into. blunt damage on the other hand .... like hitting cxardboard with a hammer.

[@TheLostArchangel666]

Running a campaign with many undead, this was perfect.

[@Mopakano]

tierzoo **ready to die for my sins**

[@000Krim]

Mopakano yep

[@brecoldyls]

I know right. Esper actually used to make videos years ago, but now that he’s returning he’s really riffing off of tierzoo haha

[@rorydelaney7088]

Ironically i was watching tierzoo before this

[@cannonfodderdk2300]

I have a plan of creating a horde of bog mummies... From a halfing village which was flooded by a necromancer, who then raised the haflings as mummies and trained them as monks. Picture this: the players are investigating reported attacks on caravans. In a wooded surrounding they are started being harassed by unknown assailants until the dark brown, undead haflings attacks them in force. This would be awesome! ^^

[@АлександрДараган-з8ц]

Halfling mummy monks sounds just like zombie ninja pirate robots. Hilarious though.

[@ninebreaker6438]

Thank you for not loading your videos with ads! Makes me watch them over other channels that puts 4 ads in a vid

[@Sav-C-Bin]

Crawling Claw is my favorite monster, my group had so much fun when one of them asked a necromancer to heal his cut hand and... well, you know what happened next. The concept presents so many possibilities and inspiration no other undead does.

[@KingNanoA]

Good to see you’re listening to your viewers. Like this video much better that the previous thanks to the change of “mythology” to “lore.”

[@adventuringwolf8517]

I think ghouls and other undead are interesting when you include the story of the misfortune of how someone became undead. It makes fighting the undead have more weight to it.

[@GRex7777]

I can only imagine if you made a video like this for the 4th edition book "Open Grave". Literally an entire monster manual of undead, both generic and full characters like Strahd and Vecna.

[@esperthebard]

Open Grave (4E) and Libris Mortis (3.5E) were both books that I greatly enjoyed

[@supercalifragic1551]

I miss Libris Mortis. Was one of my favorite books, as someone who is huge on Undead and find myself hard pressed not to accidentally end up with at least psuedonecromancers when I play casters. *Which is most my characters.

[@orrinellis856]

this series serves as a great starting place for evaluation of publisher content, an the same logic can be reasoned during creation of content for your home game

[@gene8447]

"This is just one of those things where you have to let go of what makes sense and embrace the smoothness of 5e's simplicity" What a very eloquent way of saying that WotC is absolute dogshit at their job, but have become great at expecting the players to fix their nonsense for them with house rules.

[@HollowTomajikate]

Sokushinbutsu Mummy Lords could be Lawful Good with divine magic since the practice was supposed to protect the province for as long as the mummy maintains meditation.

[@amberkat8147]

If a DM were to run an evil campaign and the players attacked a monastery, one of those would be an excellent boss fight for them.

[@amberkat8147]

Your passion for this is tangible. You're like a chef talking about favorite dishes and cuisine. Thank you very much for this.

[@cronotosaur2881]

Why do people keep saying TierZoo? It isn't like TierZoo invented the tier list and stats format. Or is this actually inspired by Tierzoo and I'm totally off base?

[@dynamicworlds1]

The assumption is that it was inspired by Tier Zoo, and there's no shame in that.

[@emilianorios4761]

Tier zoo most likely popularized it

[@landor5138]

It's different enough, tier zoo talks about real animals as video game characters. This guys ranks dnd characters. Tierzoo is very humorous, not so much hear.

[@Agreus-WolfsbaneYT]

Cronotosaur H. Who the hell are you taling about

[@jjs7650]

Lord Wolfsbane do you possess the ability to read? He’s talking about TierZoo. If you don’t know what TierZoo is, the KZbin search bar is right at the top of the page.

[@EnvisionerWill]

The Lich would be a lot more flexible if they hadn't tied its lore directly to soul-consumption. 3E made it vague exactly why the Lich was evil, giving the DM the luxury to decide that it *wasn't*, if he wanted to explore narrative themes about what it means to transcend mortality. I prefer to assume that most Liches don't start out evil, although centuries of living without the ability to empathize with the living almost inevitably turn them that way eventually. There's a tragedy to the idea of someone who was once Good having turned to undeath in order to continue his mission, only to lose more and more of his moral compass without noticing the process.

[@amberkat8147]

I agree, which is why I'm never going to acknowledge that change in lore.

[@EnvisionerWill]

@@amberkat8147 More people need to acknowledge that the default fluff in the published books is just a suggestion, not a hard and fast definition.

[@Secundussy]

Quit at 1:35 Do not insult the hippo men.

[@Bamulas]

not being funny but how can anyone think that hippo has no style

[@TalosAcephalos]

hippo men are so damn stylish

[@onik_dovah4354]

They look awesome

[@elgatochurro]

They're boring and too goofy

[@PaulSpurgeon]

"Where did those murderer's hands come from?" From Murder Hob...I mean, Adventurers.

[@MarkATorres1989]

Hmmmm just my own thoughts and grievances of some of the undead. I miss how the DemiLich is no longer the epic level powerhouse it use to be in 3.5. Now reduced into some... laughing skull in a jar in 5th edition. I miss that feeling of terror that the DemiLich used to have Trap a Soul and had to exercise extreme caution when fighting one. How the mighty have fallen. Also the Revenant... I always understood it to be bound by its desire for revenge, but once its completed its task. It disintegrates into nothing, not even the soul remains, nor the soul goes to the afterlife. Just vanishes for good. I always feel that is one of the most damning aspects of the Revenant. Bound to a quest of revenge and will stop at nothing to complete it, because your senses always pull you towards that one goal. Yet you know that once you complete that goal, your soul is damned to not a good afterlife anyway. Yet it makes it harder to complete the quest because what if your party stands in your way or they have an abrasion towards all undead? Least that is how I've roleplayed mine in one campaign. I agree that the Dracolich is a waste of potential in 5th edition... man makes me want to drag in the templates from 3.5 into 5th edition. Like the Vampiric Dragon or a proper DracoLich as the major hook villains. Also agreement on Vampires being among the best undead about. Especially with Count Strahd of Ravenloft and the Realm of Dread. That campaign was what got me into D&D after I was so invested into Castlevania. Ah the memories. Good video, I really enjoyed it! You got yourself a new subscriber.

[@exomancer3632]

Mark Torres To be fair, a Demilich shouldn't be more powerful than a full Lich. The same way a Demigod wouldn't be as powerful as a full god.

[@Darksylux99]

Gotta say, the Revenant's soul doesn't fade away to nothingness. It does pass on to the afterlife (your comment made me check the Monster Manuel and its explicitly says it does). "The body crumples to dust and its soul fades into the afterlife"

[@MarkATorres1989]

@Exomancer I suppose you're right. I'm just remembering how terrifying it was encountering it in the 3.5 edition. Then again Liches were almost absurdly powerful then too. Nostalgia has blinded me many times before.

[@MarkATorres1989]

@Darksylux99 Yeah it is as you said. I thought everything got wiped clean due to how gods and such beings don't like you coming back to life and cheating death. Plus it was the setting me and DM agreed on to make the Revenant interesting; plus the DM's attempt to dissuade me from using an undead.

[@tobyakers2936]

Actually, in 3rd edition all the way back to 1st (not sure about 4th) a demi-lich is a more powerful version of a lich. A lich evolves into a demilich once it's magical abilities have progressed so far that it no longer needs to be bound to a body. Demi-lich doesn't refer to lesser-lich, the Demi in demilich refers to Demi-God. Which is the power of a Demi-Lich. The Demi-Lich's essence is generally exploring the outer planes and doing other god-like tasks. The Demi-lich monster that the PC's face are it's last remains and they have their own abilities to defend themselves. Demi doesn't always mean lesser, for example Demi-Humans (Dwarves, elves, etc..) are certainly not lesser versions of humans. There was quite a bit of changes to the lore in 5th, 2 biggies on this list would be the Demi-Lich and the Will-O-the-Wisp (which traditionally is not an undead creature, but a fey creature). Maybe whoever wrote up the monsters for 5th just hates hyphenated monsters.....

[@cavv0667]

Tier Zoo ... still covering alot of creatures in one video... doing templates or type categories would allow you to dig deeper into each creature... templates such as Vampire or Skeletons... or types like Goblinoids ... would allow for a deeper look and a more varied investigation of all the creatures you're featuring, or breaking them down even further like "Sentient Undead" there are so many creatures and varieties that doing a deeper dive wouldn't take anything away from the videos.

[@esperthebard]

I want to keep improving, and believe me, I intend to decrease the video length some. The idea of delving deeper into the monsters' lore is pretty appealing. Goblinoids are a possibility I'm considering.

[@ijemand5672]

a lot*

[@alexandremachado3190]

I like the BODAK and the NIGHT WALKER from the 3rd edition, i plalyed that edition a lot and still playing this

[@Hazel-xl8in]

Alexandre Machado i believe you can find the bodak in Volo’s guide, idk where the night walker is

[@vonslagle]

I went to D&D Camp in 1982 and it was amazing. Our campaign had a Beholder in it. Very memorable. Gary Gygax was there

[@s0up391]

I had a will-o-wisp whisper to a black Dragon about the undead god of vecna ened up as a draco litch it was awsome then it got killed like all bosses do.

[@jaykkinell7267]

How to make the skeleton more versatile and interstiting. Add a second type of necromancy. In wich the undead are not mindless and regain their old souls as they were in life. (Basicly they become sentient.) *you can still use them as mindless creatures. (this is what I refer to as type 1 necromancy.)* This can be used in many ways, such as: •necromancers being hero's as they reunite family's who were separated by death. •whole towns of undead as they go about their lives • interesting NPC'S •and whateverelse you can think of! •

[@purplehaze2358]

“I want to play a sorcerer.” “Good choice.” “Can I be an undead or a skeleton?” “Sure, so for it. Have you decided on a name?” “.......” *earrape Megalovania plays*

[@Joe-ti9bf]

Where did this info about demiliches being *lesser* come from? They've always (to my knowledge) been an EVOLUTION on the basic lich, transcending the need for their body on a whole.

[@raspberrypie1706]

SJCA DBS because 5e is dumb and ruined a lot of good lore. "Haha it's demi so it must be weaker" -dingdong in charge of writing 5e MM.

[@themurmeli88]

Demi lich comes from being lich-demi-god. It's pretty sad when people writing the lore, are too lazy to read what they are writing about. xS Will-o'-wisp is also something they changed in the 5th. In the 3rd 3.5, 4 etc. it's NOT undead. It's either an aberration or fey creature.

[@kiltedcripple]

5th ed actually fixes that. Demi should mean lesser lich, as the root is Latin "dimidius" meaning half. While I understand your confusion, as older editions used a demilich as an upgraded lich, that was their mistake.

[@spunkyspaz]

I'm too old to change to the newer editions, I started with AD&D, moved on to 2nd ed. and stopped there. (where, yah, Will-o-wisp was NOT undead, in fact this vid is the first I've herd of that). I do however play Dungeons & Dragons Online which is based loosely on 3.5 ed. And I love these vids

[@bryanbridges2987]

@@raspberrypie1706 But the word 'demi' does denote some sort of lack or a falling short. If a demi-lich is greater than a lich then why did they name a demi-lich?

[@bradschonder7879]

Just wanted to say these types of videos are amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!

[@esperthebard]

Thanks Brad!

[@Mandraw2012]

Skellies are better than rotheads( zombies ) !

[@mrbananahead2005]

Zombies are better. They have a unique ability.

[@Mandraw2012]

@@mrbananahead2005 yeah ,but no ranged attack or advanced strategies ( skellies can, tough you have to explain it to them ) I think my favourite quote about skellies from monster manual ( read it with a national geographic voice ): "Although they lack the intellect they possessed in life, skeletons aren't mindless. Rather than break it's limbs attempting to batter it's way through an iron door, a skeleton tries the handle first."

[@mrbananahead2005]

@@Mandraw2012 It's a lot easier to give a zombie a shortbow than to give a skeleton a new ability.

[@Mandraw2012]

@@mrbananahead2005 I always tought zombies were too stupid to reload, but rvrn if they could I don't think the ability is enough to make them interesting for me, skeletons are already a logistic hassle to bring around, I couldn't imagine what it would be with slow moving, foul smelling shamblers... But I think at this point it's maybe a playstyle difference more than an opinion difference ^^"

[@johnathanralls3647]

But skeletons have a vulnerability, to me that's a big consideration choosing between it and a zombie.

[@Mr.Man2214]

The flameskull gives me ptsd. My group was clearing out a mine full of monsters and we came upon a room full of corpses and a single floating skull. We had no idea what it was so we thought it was going to be easy. As soon as we walked into the room it resurrected zombie dwarves me being the fighter I charge into the zombies because why not. Then the skull shot a fireball at the entire group so I was left fighting all the zombies and got shot by a fire ball. The others were trying to hit he skull bet kept missing because we can’t role over a 13 on an attack role.

[@DarkDagas84]

um... what about the Death Tyrant? why was it not included?

[@ijemand5672]

Not canon

[@gavinlopez6258]

And where is Ogre Zombie?

[@animatednerd2747]

Or the bone naga

[@EnigmaEnginseer]

José Vargas it’s in the official Monster Manuel, I’m pretty sure it’s canon

[@Necrow_Productions]

Wow! I mean just wow! This was such a fun video to watch and I was wondering why I had not seen it and I see now that this is a recent video and you are growing! You really need to keep this up! I dont know if you can beat this video personally because I love the undead but I hope you make great content! I will most certainly follow you! :D

[@kozmo7]

Wow! What an incredible video and channel that I just randomly came across. Thank you for all the work and love you put into these videos as well as your other projects. I am an instant fan!

[@esperthebard]

Thank you and welcome!

[@kozmo7]

Esper the Bard Very happy to join you my friend!

[@DrZalmat]

Yes, actually I had lots of campaigns where there were no undead... In my opinion the most campaigns are quite self sufficient without them and they just get shoehorned in because "every campaign needs them". Why did the enemies flee into the undead-filled crypt to die and not into the village directly besides the crypt where they have food, shelter and hostages as leverage? "welllllll... because.... because the cleric player complained he wanted to be of more use than just being a walking medkit. That is why..."

[@Giles29]

Vampires are also often known for their ability in political maneuvering, both among their own kind and to gain power and influence in the mortal world as well. Even a solitary one probably has minions and spies in the areas around their castles. And given as they must consume the life force of the living they can't be *that* solitary. They do solidly belong in the A tier.

[@purplehaze2358]

Undead are a living reminder of our mortality. The reason they’re so effective at getting under one’s skin is because they remind us that everyone and everything dies, and more so that there are fates worse than death.

[@StephenGillie]

Nice to see Jack of the Lantern is holding a turnip. The Irish originally used turnips - when the New World was discovered again, Irish migrants came across pumpkins and said "these things were made to be Jack's lantern" and broadened the tradition to all of America. Turnips are really difficult to carve into a face. And this was before the Irish were considered white.

[@nathanmitchell9752]

I'm playing a Dhampir in my groups current campaign. He requires blood plasma to survive, but will only feed on willing creatures or a creature that has died in the past few hours. He seeks two powerful magical artefacts; the Fanged Insignia and the Sword of Dracula, in order to become a creature with all of the strengths of a vampire with none of the weaknesses. He then wishes to use this power to commit genocide against vampires across all planes, finishing the job by ending his own life. His stat boosts are +2 Con and +1 Cha, he has Superior Darkvision and Sunlight Sensitivity, resistance to both poison and necrotic damage, advantage on death saving throws and a natural bite attack that deals 1d4+Str damage and once per long rest he can heal as much as he deals damage with this ability.

[@gavinfloyd1516]

This videos are awesome, I just started running an undead campaign with the players stuck in a war between a lich, vampire, mummy, and a lingering spirit, all trying to find the book of vile darkness

[@ForestFairy]

I'd honestly say that the Demi lich Flexibility should be a lot higher in my opinion. Think about it as a being that in theory brings the most impotent aspect of a lich to the table, it's spell casting and on top of that it's not shackled by it's phylactery meaning it can go where ever he pleases in the multiverse... Think a lich on the go rather that a lesser lich which is a lot more interesting of a character in my opinion because what they trade for that is some power and the ability to come back without other means and let's be real...they most likely found a way to come back despite abandoning their phylactery.

[@JondarKorric]

a Demi Lich still has its phylactery where are you getting that they don't need it anymore? directly from the monster manual: Enduring Existence. Even after a lich is reduced to a demilich state, it's phylactery survives. As long as its phylactery is intact, the demilich can't be permanently destroyed. Its skull reforms after 1D10 days, restoring the creature to its wretched state. If it has the presence of mind to do so, a demilich can reclaim its former power by feeding just one soul to its phylactery. Doing so restores the demilich to lich form, reconstituting its undead body.

[@FranCedriCo]

Regarding Wraith, since they can move through solid objects, I always thought that players are able to block a wraith's attack its because in order for the Wraith to physically harm, it has to concentrate and give solid form to the part that it's attacking with be it their hand/claws or if the Wraith has a weapon.

[@zorag7946]

"Have you ever seen a campaign that doesnt touch on undead? It's unheard of." Challenge accepted

[@dragoon3219]

Gotta point out that Demi-lich's can actually mean two different creatures: Either the "weakened" lich you mention OR a lich so mind mindbogglingly old that it decayed down to a single body part stuffed with magic gems that contain slowly digesting souls. The ancient demilich version is what Acererak was and they're so powerful they might as well count as a demigod. Hell, Acererak was pretty close to becoming an *actual god* supposedly. Generally you can tell the difference because the weaken ones are called "Demi-Lich" while the overpowered ancient ones are called "Demilich".

[@aceflashheart]

Amazing channel man! Those Mummy variants especially are such fantastic idea for my game. Keep up excellent work!

[@connorsmith5725]

Dude you did an awesome job with this video, you’ve been so helpful and informative. Keep up the great work!!

[@jaakkotoivonen5356]

Very cool video. Really enjoyed the format. I hope to see many more videos like this.

[@InquisitorThomas]

What about the Undead that features in Volo’s and Mordenkainen’s?

[@eldersun5110]

I think your aesthetic rating is kinda biased. Sure, is obvious when some designs are better than other but not everything has to be badass or gritty, sometimes you just want something simple, recognizable and appealing. I think a good design just needs to tie into the central themes of the creature, be clearly readable and convey character without saying a single word, but that is just my opinion.

[@itsthatdepressedbleach4889]

Ok.. well that's how he believes it should be, dosen't mean biased.

[@ricardodeleon3041]

@@itsthatdepressedbleach4889 ....... Thats exactly the definition of biased

[@itsthatdepressedbleach4889]

@@ricardodeleon3041 Oof my bad

[@vinifalleroliveira]

The problem is: aesthetics are purely opinion. There's no better or worse at all.

[@ricardodeleon3041]

@@vinifalleroliveira Well there are objectively bad asthethics but this was not the case on the video

[@jacobnorris1487]

Love the rankings and info. Keep it up man.

[@shelllesssnails5179]

I really like how you work history, myth, and mechanics into each ranking (I'm glad to see the tier genre embracing 5e). Nice voice too - the character voices aren't really my thing, you've got a fine analytical voice as is

[@zanebryant1882]

I actually have some memories of a campaign that one of my friends were DMing and one encounter involved a lich that didn’t want to be evil but he only wanted to be famous so he turned to dark magic which turned him into a lich

[@Mich199999]

God, this series is like the best thing i found in 2019 so far.

[@UniteForgetLeftRight]

I always thought the Demilich was a Lich that didn't care to exist on the prime material plane anymore and simply left it's remains behind.

[@Nutjob1230]

pretty sure you could run an aberrant demilich like that, D&D's pretty neat like that; feel free to correct me if i'm wrong

[@razelostein9558]

AttentionJunkie it was like that in third edition

[@Agreus-WolfsbaneYT]

AttentionJunkie think if it as the flameskull but withered and smoldered out as just an ashy skull seeking to gather souks and knowledge

[@UniteForgetLeftRight]

Yes that is the one I am familiar with, I haven't played in decades.

[@yawnos]

Lord Wolfsbane actually what happened is that somewhere between d&d 3.5 and d&d 5. Wizards of the coast nerfed the Demi-Lich because the new versions of dnd tend not to go above lvl 20 I think. Problem was that the 3.5 version Demi-Lich is a cr 29 monster with a ton of super powerful abilities. It would be was to OP for d&d 5 so I think that is why it was nerfed but it's a real shame they did that.l as I think the 3.5 version was much better. This is what it's stat were. www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/demilich.htm

[@venkelos6996]

This was fun; liches are far and away my favorite D&D monsters. I love Wizards, and seeing one forgo mortality, and sanity, to procure a body that gets away from almost all the wizard's classic weaknesses, and is immortal, is cool. Even after spending decades honing their arcane skills, they can gain a form that may let them enjoy it for centuries, if they can simply justify the nightmare process required to achieve it. I also like Baelnorns; elven liches created by Correlon Larethian Himself, in order to allow the extra time needed to achieve some great deed; something so crucial even the God of All Elves allows one of His to become undead.

[@jgr7487]

I still want to play a handless Revenant Warlock who uses a form of prosthetic Mage Hand for pretty much everything, but keeps his cut off hand as a Crawling Claw pet. a goofy, stupid, terrifying pet.

[@MarekDohojda]

I had one of the best times with a Revenant. The party had this NPC that they liked, but due to some unlucky rolls he fell into a river where they were escaping.. they assumed he drowned. Well one day they heard: ""I didn't drowned, you didn't come, they tortured me, you didn't come"" From that point on it became a thing, a whole ark, and it became almost like a bogyman. It was awesome! Especially when they destroyed his body, but they forgot that they killed a giant not long before, which was closest body to it... So few days later they herd from the giant mouth: ""I didn't drowned, you didn't come, they tortured me, you didn't come"

[@kenneth6989]

I just got started looking into the video but will you just said I was fascinated by the undead especially the Grim Reaper as a child

[@destonnight5444]

A few suggestions I'd add to the list would be the nightwalker and he deathlock and their variants, they have more or less as much story possibilities as the ghost. Great video, I could possibly change some of these monsters' functionality if I ever make a campaign out of them to meet up with the downsides you mentioned

[@lordmars2387]

Mummy lords tying into dark gods elevate them way above the others IMHO.

[@stevie_ily]

I have a blood hunter with a backstory that involves quite a bit of homebrew because it sort of breaks a few rules. He's a Ghostslayer, which has a lot of very ghost like abilities. And I explained it narratively by saying his backstory involved him being initiated into the order by allowing a benevolent spirit into his body to share its powers. And so he is "possessed" by the soul of a Revenant that, rather than taking a corpse to seek it's own vengeance, chose to join with him to live vicariously through him and deliver justice for the sake of others. And it's a sort of Talion / Celebrimbor thing where the revenant can appear next to him and talk to him, but he's the only one in the party that can see or hear it.

[@leosabat4636]

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. even if i dont play d&d i started reading the books in oblivion, i jump to lord of the rings from there i play old isometric rpgs and now only d&d lore is last tnks to larian studios for marking the path like a good ranger trought the internet forest.

[@JamesSmith-fx3oq]

For me, when running a Dracolich, I follow the lore of it essentially being a dragon who becomes a Lich, so give it a slab of spells and rituals from the necromancy spells, as well as any of the dragon breathes (depending on what sort of dragon it was in life). It also had a small cult following it to give it more reach.

[@Stratplayer05]

Another great one, and seemingly another very popular one that gets people talking as well. Good list too, although I can't help but feel like if it were me making it, I'd be tempted to put a lot of them higher up, since F tier for a skeleton really doesn't do it justice. By themselves they are kind of bland, but they're also so universal in their application that they really transcend the limited nature of lots of undead since they're just so easy to use in any story for any reason, and the idea of them as an army just screams to be made into a whole campaign arc. I guess it could also be said though that this is what makes a Skull Lord so great and the skeletons just go along with it. Still though, I feel like most of the low tier undead have an innate malleability in a story sense that actually transcends their mechanically limited scope. There's definitely a reason why I've never run a banshee, but actively have to try to look for alternatives to stop myself from being "the skeleton DM." Maybe a "Usefulness to GMs" stat is in order? Undead are definitely one that can merit a part 2, especially if you explore some stuff from older editions. In particular I remember 3.5 having some cool stuff like variant mummies (bog mummies for example) and something called a Dry Lich, which was basically a mummy lord with a phylactery, but the really cool thematic thing was that instead of one phylactery it actually had several (traditionally four) in the form of the canopic jars that physically contained the organs extracted during mummification, and metaphysically, the parts of the Dry Lich's soul. Also now that there are two more monster books for 5e, there are a couple of interesting old ones that got reintroduced, like Skull Lords, Allips, etc.

[@esperthebard]

For sure, just because a monster is lower-tier or very basic doesn't mean it isn't cool or useful to a DM.

[@Stratplayer05]

Definitely, although I do feel like if I made a similar list, that usefulness would definitely be a factor. I suppose in the undead ecosystem meta though, skeletons are pretty bottom-tier. They'll be getting bodied by higher tier undead players, and even mammal carnivore players like wolves left and right, just to get at that tasty marrow xp.

[@epichamster96]

"A mockery of us, the living", I'm gonna quote that in my next adventure

[@Reddotzebra]

"There's just no end of these things, who knew crawling claws could form SWARMS?" "Where do you think he got all those murderers hands?" "The nine hells, turns out they have a discount sale."

[@ramshackleretreat7807]

I’m currently creating a campaign off undead and this is so helpful

[@ruirui7764]

Crawling claw best monster no question just clear overwelming superiority

[@shayulghul]

I used the crawling claw when my players entered a tomb that had 12 bodies sitting in thrones (6 on each side of a hallway, bodies entombed and on display). Long story short, the heads and hands animated and detached themselves, producing a very macabre scene in which my players tried to fight off a swarm of 36 minor undead (24 hands, 12 heads).

[@ruirui7764]

shayulghul thats awsome im having my players chasing a shity necromancer that can barely make a zombie but is great with crawling claws and the puns are horrible

[@JaelinBezel]

It’s like a Zelda Floormaster?

[@gilessaint-loup2426]

I tabbed out to look at my email and you started to talk about DKs come back and the DEFINITIVE Death Knight was on screen mother trucking Soth!

[@neuroinsect1944]

I'm working in a campaign featuring the headless horseman, using the basic stats of a deathknight but with some other abilities to make it a genuine boss. I didnt know about their ability to return but I did include a factor that if you manage to beat it without undergoing all the steps it would return.

[@revshad4226]

Favorite way to use dracolich. The dragon long ago found the soul gem of a dracolich and keeps it in its hoard unknowingly. Party kills said dragon and than immediately after it raises again as a dracolich that they are unprepared for.

[@MegaBadKnight]

I added two abilities to my Dracolich from the necromancer subclass to give it a little bit of lichness. I gave it Grim Harvest to be used once per turn, and undead thralls to be recharged on a 5 or 6. We were doing mini campaigns based on our main characters backstories. I was surprised they wanted me to do mine, because his whole clan was murder by a Dracolich when he was a small child. The ancient black Dracolich destroyed them. As 6 level 7 characters with a small amount of magic items. Looking back I probably could have leveled them up a little bit more to even out the playing field. But it was awesome to watch the raised barbarian slaughter his sorcerer brother. While the Fighter watched making sure the sorcerer couldn't get away.

[@1.wagner841]

The wraiths touch is pretty easy to explain, as long as it is not on a material level it can't do damage,or harm to living creatures. So if it wants to touch something it has to solidify and is therefore blocked by shields.

[@JaelinBezel]

Here because I just got Destroy Undead but I don’t know what it would work on.

[@firedrake110]

AD&D also had some pretty good undead, with higher-tier undead, like mummies and ghouls/ghasts' upgraded forms, and a vampire variant for the most common player-races, like dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, and kender (whoo boy most people aren't going to know what a kender is). Most of this was from the Ravenloft or Dark Sun monster manuals, which I still have lying around.

[@Naxthural]

I have an undead creature unique to my own setting, and I call it the Skinthief. The Skinthief is a ghost, Banshee, Specter or Wraith who cannot return to the physical world, but desperately tries to, and does so by skinning alive, it's victims and using dark magics to keep the flesh alive, and the souls inside of their stolen skin, still screaming and in agony as the Skinthief uses their torn hide as a coat, and a new face, constantly trying to grow itself, and constantly trying to build itself a new, working body to return to life, but never quite getting there. They are incredibly hard to kill, and are far more recommended to flee from than to actually engage, because they fight in groups, have a stun ability, and are fairly strong if they have a few skins attached to them, and of course they have necrotic damage, life drains as one may expect, on top of them returning to life if not properly disposed of with holy water for the remains of the spirit and fire to put the skins to rest. Their desire to drain life essence is simply because they want to be alive again.

[@RokuroCarisu]

Did the Necron Flayed Ones play a part in inspiring this?

[@Naxthural]

@@RokuroCarisu Noooooooooooooooo c:

[@n0etic_f0x]

I had a really fun Revenant Monk, he was a Paladin killed by his order simply for questioning his Deity after they killed Orcs who had abandoned the Orc ways and tried and even succeeded in partnering with other towns, but being Orcs they all had to die in the eyes of this Order, he was very fun and re-rose and has had a few titeles as the GM just did not want him dead to the point he is now loremaster and protecter of his largest city.

[@jasoncook7003]

You know, what's funny is the Crawling Hand is what inspired me to buy the books. I immediately thought of a necromancer's tower with the hand hiding on a shelf and waiting until it could leap at an adventurer, wrapping its ice cold fingers around their throat, the other adventurers struggling to pry it away before their friend is choked to death as swinging their weapons at it would be too dangerous for their incapacitated ally.

[@ARC--5973]

3:00 *doot intensifies*

[@WarDogMadness]

were was the vampire dragon and zombie werecow

[@Kid_illithid]

I had a really cool idea for the backstory of way of long death monks in 5e. Throughout the years they train until eventually they commit shokushonbutsu and actually become a form of undead. For funsies I thought it would be cool if they only ever had 1 apprentice at a time, like the Sith. I should homebrew a prestige class for becoming an undead monk or something

[@VioletDeliriums]

8:35 I like this part where you talk about the literary origins. Considering Gygax's fantasy bibliography given in the AD&D (aka, "first edition") Dungeon Master's Guide, I bet he got the wight from the Tolkein lore you mentioned. Another favorite of Gygax -- HP Lovecraft -- made distinctions between ghouls and ghasts in "The Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath." It's fun to trace it back like that! :D 18:28 That same Lovecraft story has a mummified reptilian race in it!!!! I disagree that the Demi-Lich is somehow less than Lich in the rating. It's the same creature in a different state (like a star that has evolved). I was absolutely filled with wonder and stress when I played a character investigating The Tomb of Horrors (in AD&D) when I was a very young teenager. Acererak has an enormous amount of pseudo-lore (i.e., organic to D&D, not from an outside source that I know of) and it is more inspiring than the Lich to me!!!! I liked the "Tomb of Blacktongue" too! I miss the old story media you used to portray your stories -- the minis on the maps. I think doing it that way made it seem more like D&D than some of the other stories you do with the artwork -- with the exception of "Eldritch Castle" which reminds me of retro AD&D art, for which I will always have some nostalgia.

[@derrabbit7289]

Von Carstien! The vampire blood line of the warhammer world

[@redfaux74]

It's SO nice to see someone with a brain put zombies on a higher tier than skeletons. I love your candor and wit. I do think Vampire and Vampire Lord should've been 2 categories. Strahd is no average vampire. Anything that is summoned and commanded will complete chores. All zombies "have" skeletons and thus SHOULD be more formidable. They should never be weaker. The Dragon Magazine back around 1993 or so put out a Halloween issue with the assassin skeleton, Bloody Bones, and the flesh eating zombie, Hungry Dead. Imagine a high level campaign where there's a rumor that .... "The assassins guild has been killed. Every last one of them..." Of course a death worshipping cult has made them a deal "they simply could not resist".

[@Gwedyr77]

The wraith passes through objects and creatures without harm. It makes sense then that in a melee attack that it must solidify it's attacking appendage in order to do damage. Thus armor class helps with that attack

[@alienstar2088]

OMG the Lich is hands down my favorite monster next to Dragons! Depending on what you want in a Lich they could raise an army of Undead, learn high tier magic and could be either the hero or villain of a campaign!

[@cameronf5893]

Hey Esper! Can we get that ghost video? This is the 2nd time I've watched this video. I learn more each time :)