(Animated DM) Kuo Toa D&D

[@DrakeAurum]

I liked some of the lore about Kuo-Toa that was mentioned in Out of the Abyss. Like the fact that, since they have no eyelids, Kuo-Toa look basically the same whether they're awake or asleep, and all Kuo-Toa sleepwalk. So there's a roughly one-in-three chance that any individual Kou-Toa you encounter wandering around in their home town is actually asleep.

[@kylestanley7843]

I'm fucking using that.

[@ryang6865]

Yes

[@eric_moore-6126]

My DM didn't touch on that.

[@philswiftdestroyerofworlds1988]

@Brixton Joe You're not fooling anyone dumbass. The account that replied to yours was literally made a day before your own. For a scammer you're pretty pathetic, A child could scam better than you.

[@Zavakar]

I don't think that's how odds work, but I like your idea

[@angrydoggo7160]

"If they believe something strong enough...." WAAAAAAA- "They can make their own deities." -GHH?

[@DemonicEngineer]

Da red ships gos fastah, becoz ah say so.

[@soupcake3092]

GORKA MORKA GORKA MORKA GORKA MORKA

[@DemonicEngineer]

@@soupcake3092 Gork is brutal but kunnin' and Mork is kunnin' but brutal. What more is there to say? Look at them wrong and they'll kick yer teef in. Whilst Gork smashes you over the head with his huge spiked club, Mork will give you a staggering low blow, demonstrating the kunnin-ness and brutality of the Orkish Gods.

[@dok3304]

Nah, nah, Gork wuz cunnin’ly brutal an’ Mork wuz brutally cunnin’, get it roight ya flashgitz.

[@soupcake3092]

@@dok3304 DATZ DA SAME THIN' YA GIT!

[@TsunKnight]

Zee, you nearly killed us last night. My DM saw this and decided to use it. Our fighter accidentally attacked it while it was still in its larval stage and the Kuo-Toa decided to start a mass suicide in order to increase it's power in order to help it defend itself from us. We had to burn a wish (which the fighter worded kinda poorly) and summoned the Tarrasque to fight it. Our session ended with us running in the Underdark in a mad dash to escape the wrath of the Tarrasque

[@zeebashew]

that sounds nuts!

[@elbruces]

Sounds more like your fighter nearly killed you last night.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Never let the fighter live that down. You can't summon a stronger evil monster to mitigate the evil monster that's currently giving you trouble and not be ridiculed for all eternity

[@HunterDrone]

so... basically you reenacted a Godzilla movie.

[@Giganfan2k1]

@@HunterDrone that is the plot to at least 5 Godzilla movies off the top of my head.

[@ChrisKnowles1170]

The spell is "Create God" and can only be cast by Kua Toa. It's a ritual casting and the material component is the Kua Toa performing the ritual (of dying). Bam, Animated Spellbok Status: Reinstated.

[@beanslinger2]

nice

[@Ozhar1]

Sounds like a spell-like ability

[@crowsenpai5625]

If it’s a spell, could I flawlessly cast it with [Wish]? What level is [Create God]

[@tigercors3308]

@@crowsenpai5625 considering how powerful it was, and considering that its casting ressembles that of an epic spell I would say anywhere in the range of 9-11 could be second lvl for all i know though

[@ZylowHF]

13th level it already exists in lore second sundering anyone no just me

[@Pyre001]

Do not forget the greatest Kua Toa god of them all: Blibdoolpoolp

[@royvf1s]

Ah yes, the titty lobster named after the onomatopoeia of bubble bath.

[@chriscunningham6401]

Ah, good ol' Lobster Tits

[@TheridMegu]

What is this in reference to? Sounds really fun.

[@Pyre001]

@@TheridMegu Oh this is from WAY back in the day, Blipdoolpoolp was actually a Kuo-Toa god from like AD&D or something.

[@royvf1s]

"Blippy" as my players call her was and still is the Kuo-toa main creator goddess, but the nickname comes from the AD&D artwork of her avatar - a several meters tall human woman from the neck down, but replace her head and neck with a lobster's head, and her forearms with lobster claws.

[@mcmosfet2856]

I love this, I've always avoided using "goofy" monsters like the Kuo-Toa, but this has inspired me to lovingly craft them into something more horrific. Maybe that each god larva they create is twisted, fishy, and covered in tentacles or other fishy bits, through their twisted perspective. Maybe even make the Kuo-Toa the origin of creatures like the Illithid? I like the idea of my players realizing their violence and wrath birthed a new evil entity, one that wears a twisted mockery of their visage. Zee, you da best.

[@barrybend7189]

Or they could be the only non forest spirit creature that can see a nymf with no ill effects and worship one. Have a hilarious side effect being that all humanoid villagers and townspeople have unusually high female birthrates due to a god of woman being born from them.

[@sylph8005]

"Lovingly craft" Nice. Also, unless my DM was mistaken, the Kuo Toa were, like many in the Forgotten Realms, enslaved by the Mindflayers, and it is due to their experimentation they have their racial madness and psionic abilities. It's possible the Mindflayers are to blame for their god-making powers. So it's not likely the Kuo Toa made the Mindflayers. Unless the Kuo Toa's god-making powers came before the Mindflayers and the Mindflayers turned on their creators, which is actually extremely likely. Besides that, I really like your adventure idea!

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

"through their twisted perspective"... What if the god-larvae that they create is horrendeously swollen, shrunken and distorted in bizarre proportions, since the Kua Toa's piscine eyes can't see things in proper focus while out of water and so the gods they create are what they actually see?

[@SanjayMerchant]

@@Zombiewithabowtie The party Wizard loses his glasses and suddenly the eldritch, maddening horror just looks like Steve.

[@Cerebrum123]

@cak01vej Capital punishment for puns? That's sheer madness! You're making mountains out of molehills. Although if you are particularly sadistic I suppose you could make a homebrew spell that reduces a players H.P. to 0 after a certain amount of puns are used.

[@mikegould6590]

Having used Kuo Toa in a similar manner, I had them start worshiping one of the PCs to hilarious effect.

[@thomasmueller618]

omg.... wow

[@sinnerthesinful552]

Funny enought i have a pdf(homebrew probably) called gods and deities, with rules for how to make and play with divine beings

[@avocato1180]

Pedro Henrique Leite felix Send link man

[@sinnerthesinful552]

@@avocato1180 2 problems: 1 It's not in english 2 the link that i had was from a site that got taken down

[@LordBrittish]

I could see the PC being turned into a god... but I could also see a God-version of the player (a separate entity) coming to life and soon deciding that he was better than the player and that he had outgrown him. Then the new god-player-clone disappears or flies away, perhaps appearing later in the campaign to help somehow. (like Superman in the Flash Point movie. 😜)

[@TheTrueLeafless]

How about an extremely vain person, who heard about the powers of the Kua Toas and starts slaughtering them, to create a god in his own image, but with each result he is dissatisfied. Could be an interesting adventure hook to actually protect the Kua Toa, so that no more warped gods of the villains image emerge.

[@drakogamer1611]

I may use this. That is amazing thank you!

[@kylestanley7843]

This... is fucking marvelous.

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

Question: How long to the gods of the Kua Toa "live"? Because I can really see the final fight of the BBEG being that they're *really* pissed off that you blocked their attempts at god-making, but as they lack any real powers beyond their own narcissism, they instead opt to release their Failed Gods in an attempt to destroy your party.

[@blucky7798]

A neat if somewhat cliche finale to a plot like this is that after the fight is all wrapped up the villain finally gets what he sees as his "Perfect God" and then it kills him before either fighting the players for the real climactic battle or leaving silently.

[@Ithtorukk]

I could see it happening with a Kua Toa to start. One kills another, unknowingly starting the godmaker process. They all recognize the new large Kua as a god, but haven't connected the idea to death yet. They kill the murderer, who adds to God Kua's power. This growth feels good, and God Kua now knows it happens when a Kua Toa dies... so begins slaughtering them all. After this initial power grab, its calmed down, and now takes egg tributes from the surviving tribe.

[@samuelcosta985]

Just tried this with my players. They inadvertently created a giant bird-god-thing named Sohcahtöah. I've never been more proud.

[@conorb.1901]

I can see it now: Sohcahtöah, god of trigonometry

[@TheRealDayzohn]

@@conorb.1901 *I order you to stop*

[@catherinevo6060]

Conor B. I can see it as well

[@kylestanley7843]

*OMFG* You know, a while ago my mother suggested we make an educational DnD module aimed toward a younger audience. When I first heard the term "SohCahToa" my mind immediately went to Kuo-Toa.

[@dualinfinities5549]

*transformation intensifies*

[@KallKar83]

Long story, but one of the most hilarious 'rolling with it' situations I've ever done as a DM involved these monsters in a 'high seas adventure" D&D game earlier this year I was running. The party had to sail to an island to find out why shipping and supplies had stopped from there recently, a quest they had gotten from an alchemist in exchange they would get powerful potions from as some of rarer supplies came from there. Anyway, once there they soon found out the island had been overrun by the Kua Toa. There were several battles, saving random survivors, etc. Eventually they come to the final village on the island where they last of them and captives where. And they Kua Toa were in the middle of a 'summoning spell' per say, the party didn't actually know they were doing this though. They were using the well in the middle of the island village to call forth a god they had created I named Kruspa. And the druid in the party decided he wanted to start the fight by summoning his own giant frogs to help with the battle, and he centered their arrival in the middle of the well. I had one of my DM pause and think moments as I on the spot just warped the situation. Saying that the summoning of the druid interviewed with the summoning of the demon fish monster god being brought forth, and that they somehow combined and merged, creating a giant demon fish with a frog head and tongue. I basically on the spot just combined all the stats and stuff, but to off set things I made the monster bigger, and in doing so was half stuck in the well. But its long tongue helped it grab targets at range so its not like it was totally shut down from melee so they could just range it to death. Since the monster was also much more powerful then I planned, I made the sudden transformation drive it insane, it started by killing some of the Kua Toa near it, which were some of their clerics. The other fish men saw this as some divine judgement of their new god and jumped in on the other clerics, clearly having falling from favor. Since it was a mix of a giant toad and Kruspa, they party named it To-Kruspa, and its been a running joke and source of enjoyment since.

[@claudiopoueriet17]

For some reason i though this was a wierd bionicle D&D build....

[@valritz1489]

"In the time before time, some freaky-ass fish people imagined a god named Mata Nui, and he was a giant robot universe who also had a brother who was a much smaller robot and also evil probably."

[@axazilharper5571]

Woh guys don’t go revealing Wizard’s next adventure book

[@Jpteryx]

D&D adventure where the Kuo Toa worship Mata Nui enough to make the Bionicle world a reality

[@Primordial_Radiance]

OMG I want a Bionicle D&D so bad!

[@burlyfoil1022]

@@Jpteryx wayfinders guide to ebberon introduce warforged who imo are the most bionicle thing in dnd

[@hasturking9635]

So you can kill one and before it dies it sees a puppy and... BEHOLD! The god puppers! It yips and barks and demands petting! Its influence spreads to both land and sea.

[@9seed.]

FEAR ITS ADORABLE WRATH!!!

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Cat and dog simultaneously kill the Kuo Toa during a thunderstorm, now it's literally raining cats and dogs. In other news, local wizards refuse to leave towers for fear of what they claim is a blight the most terrifying monsters they've ever seen...

[@Dargoni]

One of the players in the game I'm in just moved overseas after a year of playing, and for their farewell game our DM took him on a quest to the Kua toa to create the great god of processed dairy: Cheesus

[@Rohanperemperm]

@Batman Wayne "Cheesus crust!" is a joke my group like to throw around occasionally. Alternatively we say "Cheese-is Crust!".

[@Mirageknight2133]

In the name of the Feta, the Sbronzo, and the holy Swiss

[@the24thcolossusjustchillin39]

Oh brie that sounds hilarious

[@bluephoniex6356]

The Paladin who calls a Crusade of this fake Heretical Religion, "Lactious The intolerant, Defier of The Dairy Gods"

[@KaiserAfini]

Fondue his will, brie loyal to attain eternal life in his lunar realm of cheese, mozzarellish his blessings, hone thine weapons to the edge of sharp cheddar and your legacy shall be grate.

[@Virgil37]

I was expecting a Stay Puff Marshmellow Man reference.

[@albinobigfoot1]

I like how the Kuo Toa are on the same level as orks in warhammer, to where things function the way they do because that is what they believe.

[@FrostedSapling]

Red ships go faster

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

Blue iz lucky Purple iz sneaky

[@sushikazuki1005]

BREAD FOR THE BREAD GOD!

[@ThunderblargZ]

SCONES FOR THE SCONE THRONE!

[@Abdega]

ThunderblargZ *MILK FOR THE KHORNE CAKES*

[@generalbacon7476]

Abdega COCONUTS FOR THE HORSES!

[@bjornsteelside]

@@generalbacon7476 no

[@rayanderson5797]

@@generalbacon7476 Yes

[@zadinal]

I literally cannot believe you animated that ending! Who animates a mistake

[@CompletelyNewguy]

Pixar.

[@professornope4792]

Wambu.

[@130nu]

Our great god zee would of course

[@BeegtymeRawkstah]

Hanna-Barbera for decades, that's who

[@charge2025]

@@CompletelyNewguy Yeah, those outtakes they did were pretty good

[@mophia339]

Set up Plato's cave with Kua Toa to manufacture your own personal Gods

[@wolfsden6479]

Oh God no, insert lich trying to become a God using the Kua Toa but repeatedly failing.

[@chameon378]

@@wolfsden6479 Goblin: "So, we set up a picture of you with shadows in a cave and chained a bunch of baby kua toa up so all they could see was a candle and you in the cave sir." Lich: "Yes, yet I'm not a god. What happened?" Goblin: "They started worshipping the chains as gods." Lich: "...You're kidding me right?" Goblin: "No. There's now chain gods. They're scary, they want words."

[@wolfsden6479]

@@chameon378 the great restricting ones, protect us from losing our knowledge, the great restricting ones, won't let them take us away, the great restricting ones, won't let them take our knowledge away, the great restricting ones won't let us become, that guy that they took and he lost his knowledge. HALL HAIL THE GREAT RESTRICTING ONES!

[@andresmarrero8666]

@@wolfsden6479 want to add the candle flame to the chains to form a deity of restraint, level headiness, connection, and being down to earth?

[@Pokemon4WoT]

*drastically tries to hide video from his PCs so he can use it in a future campaign*

[@KubinWielki]

Why do I get a tingling sensation that the term "drastically hiding (something)" is derived from a D&D session? Your barbarian has "drastically hidden" some evidence by slaughtering all witnesses, eh?

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@KubinWielki Goliath 'rogue' drastically hides by intimidating everyone nearby.

[@alexreese614]

Haha me

[@chameon378]

@@theapexsurvivor9538 Dark Heresy: Death Cult Assassin/Moritat Assassin: 'Drastically' hides things by just murdering everyone who was in the area previously. In theory they're supposed to be stealthy. In practice, blood for the blood god, skulls for the skull throne.

[@em__1]

HA! None of my friends even speak english, i've got unlimited content stealing capabilities!

[@hunterotte4085]

Me: Don't let Jocat use fireball!!! WE DON'T NEED TO FIGHT A FULL FLEDGED GOD! Jocat: "FIREBALL FIXES EVERYTHING!" (kills 20 of them, and 40 eggs and then there is a CR 24 encounter) New Demigod is a giant fireball, Jocat bows down and pledges his life to his newfound god.

[@Bluecho4]

Just as planned.

[@saulquintana9835]

"now you know ho to create gods you're welcome".

[@KuariThunderclaw]

And thus... the Warriors of Sunlight are born. \[T]/

[@commanderblackheart5856]

it's a GIANT, FIREBALL, MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!

[@Theroha]

@@commanderblackheart5856 Friendly fireball. Giant fiery friend.

[@Micolino9878]

CAMPAIGN IDEA: All Kuo Toa party, on a mission to get their God recognized, and most likely change it half a dozen times whenever someone tells them about their gods.

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

I love these guys. They literally have such crummy lives they create deities out of nothing just so they can worship them.

[@CompletelyNewguy]

Great my players would be doing everything to make their lives easier (cause that's what my players are. ) and the Kua Toa would end up worshiping them. Seriously I can make the Kua Toa eat babies by boiling them alive with no intention of changing their ways and my players would STILL be trying to find an alternative for them to eat instead (if they weren't trying to keep them as pets. Seriously why do my players have an obsession with keeping pets!?)

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

@@CompletelyNewguy live with it. Better than them trying to make friends with anything abyssal.

[@CompletelyNewguy]

@@HumbleMemeFarmer That's what I'm afraid of!

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@HumbleMemeFarmer even then it could be worse, at least there aren't (many) Fey in the abyss. Seriously, I'd rather deal with Asmodeus himself than deal with another Fey (or Elf).

[@axazilharper5571]

Man, you gotta love scary fish-boiz

[@generalbacon7476]

Axazil Harper do you mean....... Murlocks!

[@axazilharper5571]

GeneralBacon 74 ah yes they are pretty good to. But remember, Murlocks can’t create evil shoe gods intend on crushing the PCs because they didn’t shine their shoes enough. Speaking from personal experience

[@azada83]

I can’t express how unbelievably helpful these vids are to new DMs like myself. Your awesome dude.

[@typicaldungeonmaster2771]

Yeah like thanks to your vids I realized I could of ran a million other better campaign ideas than the one I picked.......

[@Babbleplay]

More like this : The Animated Beastiary, perhaps. Spotlight an underused, or poorly used creature, and suggest some tactics for use.

[@generalbacon7476]

What about The Animated DnDecks (like the pokédecks)

[@Babbleplay]

@@generalbacon7476 I am unfamiliar, and curious.

[@johnormike811]

Babbleplay I love this idea.

[@Babbleplay]

I get good ideas , sometimes. Like a new Arkham game that opens with Batman dropping in on Riddler BEFORE he can scatter those damn stupid trophies all over the place, and leaves his well-punched, tied up, unconscious body atop the pointy, uncomfortable pile of undistributed green trinkets, to await the police.

[@recon441]

I love this idea!

[@allanroberts7129]

My mind is racing. That one proud character refuses to kill his godlike alternate self. The new demigod is a vital of poison. Such strange and fantastic concepts!

[@CompletelyNewguy]

I can see the Kua Toa worshiping a player (or seeing that player as a benevolent god) if they helped the Kua Toa immensely and making an image of them combined with some everyday object or weapon or even a familar that follows them. Okay this is actually giving me ideas, thanks for the video!

[@SanjayMerchant]

In my own headcanon, I'm putting The Bread God in the same continuity as Runesmith's Beholder who's afraid of toast. Because the crazy paranoid lunatic being right in the end is always fun.

[@adamjchafe]

The demi god could start as an infant version of a player, then a toddler, child, teen, and adult as it grows. It could be half Kuo toa half player. Let the player it is copying make checks to realize just why the thing looks so familiar...

[@DGsynchroman]

In a custom game I participated in... it was a Ferris wheel and it unlodged itself from the metal shackles holding it aloft and it grabbed one of the PC on its way into the ocean. Afterwards we all joked about what to name it... the world(from the tarot) or ouroboros(the tail eating serpent)

[@YahyaFalcon]

How about "Wheel of Fortune"

[@Ice-wp1be]

Step 1: Cast major image in front of gullible fish people Step 2: Make them believe it is a God that grants the players unlimited power Step 3: ??? Step 4: Profit as the illusion has become an actual god

[@sylph8005]

Fun Fact (Which I'm sure you know since you've referenced it briefly in a previous video): While the Kuo Toa look like the Deep Ones, they're actually nothing like them in how hey act or their background. The ones who do, the Sea Spawn, more closely resemble the Creature From The Black Lagoon. However, they function like deep ones. In the Torillian equivalent of Innsomoth, Purple Rocks, the new born children are thrown into the ocean, where they are gathered by the kraken Slarkrethel, where they are transformed not just into Sea Spawn, but into his fanatic worshippers. At a young age, a Sea Spawn looks identical to a human, so after their transformation is done, they're returned to the surface where they stay, disguised as just humans, until they reach old age and take on their more fish-like form, when they return to the sea and to their master. This is identical to how the Deep Ones function.

[@TheManWithTheFlan]

NGL "Kuo Toa cult" could be a really cool concept for a Warlock patron. Some shlub stumbles into a Kuo-Toa den, unwittingly impresses them and accidentally ends up becoming kinda sorta a mini demigod by dint of Kuo Toa magic

[@zerowolf0006]

Da red ones go fasta!!!

[@angry_android]

Praise be the Lobster Mom

[@commanderblackheart5856]

and may good tidings be yours, friend!

[@mrknarf4438]

What makes them goofy instead of scary are the pupils. Give them black, translucid, unblinking eyes and ta-da!

[@tntradernox3654]

Thank you for expanding what you can do with D&D beyond just spells and items. every time you upload a new video I get so many more ideas on what to implement in a new campaign!

[@bastionunitb7388]

Definately gonna make a campaign where there are 5 groups of kuo toa that are trying to summon 2 god arms 2 god legs and a god head and if they succeed... the world gets OBLITERATED

[@ShawnPattonC]

EXODIA'D!

[@kadesorensen7697]

"It's the stay puffed marshmallow man isn't it."

[@hauntedxxshadow]

it sounds goofy until you see one running at you from a dark alley in full realism

[@Deverosfear]

I used them in a game I did last year. The group had been Hunting down the cult of the forgotten king now that their benefactor had found a lead. lord Greyscale a half dragon potential Big Bad Evil Guy himself didn’t want an ancient evil as competition he had found that the town of glass ridge had gone quite he normally wouldn’t care but two of his emergency assets were hidden in that town if it was the forgotten king it would be very bad. When the group got to the town they found it desolate with the magical barrier was still in place although oddly visible over the ocean, the walls were almost undamaged and the canal had been locked shut. Searching the ruins they found many odd creatures scattered about attacking each other but ignoring the group. Eventually they found the kua Toa the birthing ritual was well known but normally happens in a different part of the content and not for another year at least, some of the Kua Toa were still slick in their greenish scales but others were bathed in the familiar blue of the forgotten king. Along their way the oracle unintentionally created a small creature that looked like a fire ball but the flames were actually fur it became attached to the group and each time they killed another creature the fire would absorb them and grow. After killing a monstrous house they all realised what the discolouration in the shield was outside hidden by the shimmering barrier was a massive symbol the one of the forgotten king but made flesh. They discovered that the cult had created this beast in order to empower their master by catching the Kua Toa and forcing to look at the symbol then killing them with the blue blades to make minions of their corpses. A number of the Kua Toa had escaped to this town to start the birthing ritual but the symbol had followed them. The group ended up using the secret assets of Lord grayscale a mechanical wonder from an ancient past and a powder designed specifically to mess with the blue metal which the symbol seemed to be made of. The dwarf used the mech to grapple the symbol while the halfling used a want of flying to air drop the poweder down its throat and while the creature was suffering the oracle in tandem with her now large sized fire ball friend did a twin divine meta magic fireball to finish it off. Afterwards the fireball grew to be even larger than the symbol had been and took the Kua Toa back into the sea with the group each discreetly taking parts of the town back to base to benefit from. For background the BBEG was the forgotten king an ancient evil magus so powerful and dominating that in the end he was only defeated by sabotaging a ritual that would elevate him up a divine grade into Demi god and later a true god. Because they swapped out the gods blood for pigs blood he was erased from existence itself undoing his whole life with only a few of those who stopped him remembering. However he was so arrogant and self assured that he refused to stop existing and over time became an ethereal being who devours the existence of others and turns their husk into his slave.

[@axios4702]

I just came up with an Idea for a character for DM's out there to use: Imagine a warlock who carries around the offspring of a god or some god larvae and has to protect it. This character would become increasingly powerfull as the god does and has to get it to some place or just guard it and find ways to make it stronger. It needs some polish but it could make for an interesting NPC or even PC if you have good role-players (I personally imagine the god larvae similar to the one on bloodborne's third ending)

[@davidmingle1650]

Noice 👍

[@GreyAcumen]

There was a reddit post just a few weeks ago about a stolen Lighthouse. The players basically wander around following false leads and hearing about fishlike monster people that are scaring the dock workers, until the Lighthouse itself walks right past them while they're exploring along the coast (preferably at night)

[@Koroistro]

Wellllllllllllll My Wizard and our Bard, using a combination of Prestidigitation, Dancing lights and Message kind of *accidentaly* a God. Who knew that could happen :)

[@inigmianstudios2771]

My dm sent our party to a town called Saltmist. A dingy little fishing town where some of these Kuo Toa were the main inhabitants. My Warforged Barbarian Monk had decided to stand outside on a rooftop as his fellow party members took their long rest. But then the town was attacked by 10 monster hunters all wielding crossbows and longswords. I was level 12 around this time and i thought i could handle it myself, so I beat some of them up and started to get the favor of the strange fish people. As the fight continued on some of the fish people started to die, and I started to gain a level of my choice every time 10 or so fish people bit the dust. But as that happened i saw a smaller version of my barbarian monk start to emerge from the ground, taking out the monster hunters as well. Eventually morning comes around and the monster hunters were all dead, and i was a Barbarian 6 Monk 12, and my weird clone had become as strong as i was. Turns out that they worshiped me as i faught for their safety, and my DM was using that to pump more monk levels into me, but also made a version of me that they imagined when they thought of me or something? Anywho the party wakes up and shit themselves when they find out that i boosted to god levels of power, and has this gross rusted mucky clone of my mechanical self following us around town We eventually left and my character level slowly returned to normal (at my request) to balance out the party, a year later when we faught the BBEG we had brought up multiple armies with us, and who else showed up but the Kuo Toa and my godlike clone, who had gained the power i lost over that period of time. With their help I was boosted to level 30 and with the help of my clone, cleared out a path through the enemy armies to get my party members and armies to the fortress Even with all that power I got killed, but god it felt good to bash an army with my bare hands. My clone got the remaning power and focused on the army we left behind, when the other pcs hit the fortress. It was a good campaign

[@mamneo2]

I did not know that Murlocs could create divinities. Oh, well. I guess that's the justification behind all those Murloc Paladins...

[@l3l723]

I think in wow they can't create gods, they just worship whatever.

[@inkblotCrisis]

I once dropped a torch that I lit with Continual Flame to stop a tribe of Kua Toa from chasing my party as a level 3 cleric before we booked it to another part of our campaign. Some levels and plot points later our DM informed me that my Sun Deity was concerned about an upstart Fire Deity worshiped by the very same Kua Toa tribe that was now worshiping the torch. Edit: Since I never mentioned dispelling the darn thing my DM took it as an opportunity. Glad he did, that was a fun romp.

[@Starfloofle]

oh my god that's brilliant I love it lol

[@arandomzoomer4837]

I love these things. My favorite D&D monster.

[@omarhaggag1422]

I absolutely adored this!! Please keep making these monster centred ones as they’re really inspiring!

[@Elitevultures]

Kuo toas imagination is quite amazing indeed!

[@christophershell7564]

They are like weaker versions of the most powerful God creating race..... the DMs.

[@carlpult5235]

your description of Kua Toa reception history really reminded me of the ancient Frog-Giants in the setting we're playing. The DM keeps insisting they are magnificent, Powerfull, eldritch Livathans but all I can think of is "Quaaaaaaaaaaaak"

[@mynar_lenahan]

Those rules seem so neat, especially the idea that they don't necessarily have to be against the players. They can just be a new God that suddenly exists.

[@ymeynot0405]

Thank you for the Animated God-Book.

[@monkeykingw]

The fact that Kuo-Toa are going to be in Baldur's Gate 3 has gotten me pretty excited, mostly because of me having seen this previously. I just hope they're even a fraction of as interesting.

[@MinecrafterPiano]

2:44 Is that a reference to Katamari Damacy? Geez... It's been a while...

[@MrDanChandler]

It came out on steam, finally. Maybe the game's fresh in the animator's mind.

[@99Imonster]

This video inspired my new homebrew story arc! The players are loving it and I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me.

[@tobybug779]

Darnit, I just finished a shortened version of Out of the Abyss (an official WotC campaign with kuo-toa in it) and I'm not my group's DM anymore, so I can't include this. It'll have to wait until my next campaign...

[@MaxYoung-Maxinfet]

I hadn't read shadows over innsmouth before watching this so did not realize how much of this was from the book. Really awesome reference to it and your animation definitely does them justice.

[@variedreasoning6416]

To think of what the Kua Toa will make up simply mix their names and autocorrect. Kuala Toast

[@janhutchens2593]

Noooooo

[@scouttyra]

ukotoahhhhh

[@tanith117]

Mus toa

[@tanith117]

Auto correct you had one job and you failedme

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Koala toast? Sounds taste, if a little meaty, but that slight eucalyptus flavour makes it all worthwhile. Goes great with Vegemite...

[@TheCutethulhu]

I LITERALLY learned of these guys like, two days ago and I was trying to come up with a way to work them into a homebrew world I'm making. This just makes the idea even more fun. Thank you.

[@GoblinHero]

How about a ship as a god? A fishing trawler runs over a clutch of eggs and kills a brood mother, inspiring the image of a horrific demonic ship with a face that swallows all that sits in front of it. You could have a pirate captain who wants to harness this legendary ship and claim his place as the king of the ocean.

[@zane4218]

I am not far into learning D&D lore, but Kuo Toa have struck me as the best thing yet to allow DMs a huge unique/creative outlet into their game that can drastically alter the world and create a unique campaign without deviating from canon lore/adventures! A great boon to any storytelling game which relies on both home-brew and shared settings!

[@raptorjesues1445]

holy shit that is amazing, i found my next campaign main plot

[@thesuhr]

I always ran them as clueless beings that didn't realize Blidoolploop was always around. That her revealing herself, and their wanting a god, just happened to coincide with each other. They really don't have the power to create, just they have such strength in their delusions that they take the nearest thing to their want and raise it up in their society as fulfillment. But I love the god creator idea rules you have here and will find a way to incorporate that in. Very fun! Love the videos, thank you for making them.

[@Fezboyz]

This is gonna be about how they can create gods right

[@KoreInWonderland.]

no

[@jesterssketchbook]

you actually did predict it :D

[@spiderhaz_]

no ;)

[@LordDragox412]

Uk'otoaaa~

[@Fox7-h8r]

We got the Kuo Toa, next will be *Uk'Otoaaa*

[@PCveteran117]

You make it sound like something that could be added into a Deathwatch campaign.

[@erinlane1769]

In an all monster campaign I run, I have a character who plays a mad kuo-toa cleric that comes up with random gods he claims he derives his power from. He believes in the deities so strongly he ends up punishing himself sometimes when he thinks he has failed them, thus manifesting their disappointment in weird ways.

[@NotTheWheel]

You wanna see some cool Kuo Toa usage look no further than the *Tales From My D&D Campaign* series by Demonac here on youtube.

[@jackielinde7568]

Yay! We get an animated Monster Manual episode! Also, I blame The Slayers for how the Kuo Toa are currently portrayed.

[@bensagnella757]

Players: Finally a campaign with no eldritch horrors, just these fish people Me the DM: (Smiles in malicious intent)

[@Greywander87]

Honestly at that point they're just being heavily genre-blind. They'd almost have to have never heard of Lovecraft to achieve that level of ignorance. Also, fun fact, but I believe in Mesopotamian mythology, the ocean is associated with Chaos. So the connection between watery things and unknowable eldritch horrors apparently goes quite far back.

[@barrybend7189]

Smiles in WAYS NO HUMAN HAS EVER SEEN.

[@magiv4205]

@@barrybend7189 uNLIKE ANY SEEN ON EARTH

[@magiv4205]

@@Greywander87 Not only that, but Mesopotamian creation myths actually START with the two primordials of water: Abzû, the god of fresh water and bringer of life, and Tiamat, the goddess of salt water, the ocean and primal chaos. They gave birth to the other gods, who then tried and eventually succeeded in killing them. After her husband was slain first, Tiamat transformed into a giant Leviathan, and wreaked havoc on the world, and gave birth to all monsters, including the dragons, before being killed aswell. This is why the godess of chaos and all evil dragons in D&D is named after her.

[@partydean17]

Orks Roll the Windows down on their spacecraft's to feel a breeze.

[@thatdudeinthehoodie]

So using them in my campaign for the port city.

[@generalbacon7476]

Better yet make them be in a land locked town and they control the sewers and all water going in and out of the town.

[@veridliley9722]

I’m in a campaign where my did some things and started getting worshipped by the Kuo Toas. It ended when my character’s best friend burnt down their kitchen, which they were using to bake my friends, with a fireball.

[@ESloytan]

“How to kill players without trying” Why is this not the title

[@thedocblock6421]

Okay so this is actually completely perfect for a game I'm about to start running, because the entire theme of it is the idea that dreams and illusions can, through specific avenues, become real. So fish men that spawn gods from believing in gods before they die are perfect.

[@ashb712]

They look more like Murlocs than anything lovecraft.

[@Cowcow211]

Murlocs are from the same inspiration.

[@bluephoniex6356]

Jesus, I have to say; even though these monsters ( in my experience) are hardly ever used, this guide is extremely helpful and hopefully helps them to be used more because damn I didn't know any of that about the Kua Tao. Like most online resources never speak about any of this lore, just that the were simple and ugly fish people. So hopefully for more inventive Dm's they get used more and more.

[@David_Apollonius]

It's Kuo-Toa, not Kua Toa... That's the Mandela effect for you.

[@nexus1g]

It's Steve, not Mandela. That's the Mandela effect for you.

[@LordDragox412]

Uk'otoa!

[@scrubjectzero6592]

Such a cool idea for a plot arc! I didnt know they were Lovecraft inspired. Great video as always!

[@wilhelmeniabilliedoherty5917]

I seriously love the idea that kuo-toa are responsible for *all* gods, and might have to work that into my worldbuilding...

[@r0flgal0re]

YESYESYES!!! I was looking for a grand finale for my campaign in ancient greece and this is it! An enemy sea tribe faction leader ascends to power and uses the power of ancient Atlantis (Kuo Toa City) to be able to create a god and take over the pantheon.

[@tatefranklin4761]

I ran a similar encounter to this one in a western themed setting. A congregation of Kua Toa who had lived in a now dried up lake were huddled around a broken idol, praying for their now dead god to return to them. The party came by, and one player thought it would be a good idea to put the carcass of a crab, and a broken revolver onto the altar. The idea took root, and a tiny god was born, which the congregation took to worshipping. The party didn't see the harm, and wound up leaving. About a dozen sessions later, they came across a town being burned and raided by Kua Toa looking for sacrifices to their god, which was now a monstrously huge crustacean with bun barrel claws, smoldering bullet eyes, and limbs and joints of burnished steel. To this day, Kei'raab, the god of crustaceans and gunpowder is feared across the world.

[@DisAnimated]

I've been working on a campaign settings where there is a secret organisation that is trying to make a new god. And I think I just found out one of the ways they will try and be successful

[@bonedance]

I love this guys animations, but more importantly, his great stories.

[@carlosfred8673]

When I found these fellas in my BG3 playthrough I remembered this video immediately. They were just as goofy in that game too.

[@brycevo]

These are such weird little fish dudes

[@reeceandben4876]

I love this. I never pictured them as shadow over innesmouth creatures hahaha yes! As soon as you mentioned the whiteish gold crown it clicked. I can't believe i never made this connection

[@ShoggothLord]

I immediately recognized the passage from "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." I appreciate this opening.

[@crgrier]

I used this in an adventure a couple weeks ago. It went super well. The characters couldn't stop killing Koa-Toa and eggs. They did manage to kill a couple of tiny proto-gods, but the rest either ran off or combined. The final encounter was in a makeshift temple in the sewers where the Koa-Toa were sacrificing the last captured humans to bring their god to life. The party tried to kill the proto-god but every round the sacrifices and the Koa-Toa deaths kept making it stronger until it broke out of the sewers and floated out to sea. The final form was a one legged boot monster with a flame hand and an axe hand with the head of a Lizardfolk (one of our fighters). Picture a capital T with a head and an attitude.

[@kevingriffith6011]

The best thing about this take is the potential impact on future campaigns in your setting. A new adventuring party several years removed from the original campaign could come across a grassroots religion springing up around the smaller hamlets around the area that the original party fought the Kuo Toa. The new PCs wouldn't have any connection to this new god, but the players who were in the previous campaign should (hopefully) absolutely recognize it, particularly if it has the likeness of one of the previous PCs.

[@Erikreaver]

That psychic creation sounds vaguely ork-like. Boyz! We'z gettin' looted!

[@masterloard]

A slighlty different version of the Kuo Toa are one of the main plot devices behind my favorite D&D KZbin series "Tales from my D&D Campaign" (TDDC) The video/audio quality is not the greatest, but he did an AMAZING job building his world, and the story he tells is worth watching!

[@one_pang]

Was just binging the series yesterday, great time for a new one.

[@Kardfogu]

Finally someone running these guys properly!

[@AllenQuid]

These remain my favorite video to see in my feed.

[@SeekerPsycho1]

Okay, that is a fantastic creature. Definitely going to use them in the future.

[@cognisant307]

My shortcut to existential horror is to give the players something awesome that when used permanently alters a random part of their character's body with a random mutation from a roll table the players aren't allowed to see. A third of the results are tentacles, statistically players are more likely to get something other than tentacles with any single mutation however tentacles are the most likely kind of result so attempting to use the item to get something/anything other than tentacles will most likely result in more tentacles. You don't know what you've got until it's tentacles.

[@sirforcer]

In a recent campaign I was in, the party came across a group of Kuo Toa, but after one-shot killing one and using some magic to move its body, the remaining Kuo Toa bowed down to us, declaring us their new god. We ended up having to communicate to them via hand signals and relaying messages through local fish, but it ended up with us getting a handful of devout retainers to guard our ship while we explored inland.

[@maartengoutier2085]

Your posts always make me smile!