I am Lovecraft fan, and this game seem to have it's fair share of those entities beyond reality that'll turn people mad upon seeing them or maybe as they are being destroyed/ eaten alive. 1- My question here is what makes a "Great Old One" in this game? 2- I have seen creatures that look eldritch in shape and lore but there are demons? 3- Are Old ones simply ancient powerful creatures?
4- Who are the current known great old ones? I saw a list on forgotten realms wiki site are those all of them or there are more?
5- Somewhat off topic: After the release of Mordenkinen's tome of foes, the CR for archdevils and demon lords is around 20 and 25, does that mean any creature of that CR could potentially be a patron for warlocks? Can Ancient Dragons be patrons?
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Say what you will about 4E D&D mechanics, but the lore/flavor text was outstanding. If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend the 4E Demonomicon. In it, there was lore about obyriths. As a rough analogy, obyrith is to demon as illithid is to human. They also provide a list of possible obyriths.
As you might expect, anything can be an Old One as long as it's powerful, old and alien. But to give some notable examples:
The Far Realm, plane(s) of origin for the Aberration type monsters. Imagine a place where Lovecraft's deities not only exist, but are the most basic form of life. If you want to create a new Old One, you can say it's from the Far Realm if you want to make it truly eldritch.
The Elder Evils sourcebook for third edition is full of them (although some would probably qualify as other types of warlock patrons). My personal favorites are Father Llymic, a Far Realm denizen that can cause the sun to go out, because light pains it, and Atropus, the World Born Dead, essentially a semi-sentient undead planet.
The Obyriths, mentioned by Lord_Phobetor, qualify. They're a type of demon that originated in the universe before this one, where they won the war against Order. Then our universe happened, and they are not happy about it.
On a similar note, the Ancient Baatorians (or Malefircareim) are the original inhabitants of the Nine Hells, before Asmodeus came along. They're entities "that breathe in light and breathe out darkness. Some breathe life instead". If souls are left lying around in the Nine Hells for too long without being put to use as a lemure, they eventually morph into ancient baatorians, with Nupperibos being the first step.
Demon Lords and Archdevils are generally considered Fiends, and thus not Old Ones (they're powerful, but not incomprehensible). However, the demon lords Juiblex, Zuggtmoy and maybe Demogorgon definitely have something Old One-is about them.
This lovely chap is working on one called Y'gathok, the Ceaseless Hunger
Dread Tharizdun may technically be a god, but I think he qualifies. One of the first gods (this is canon), he was approached by the Obyriths in the aftermath of the Dawn War, who corrupted him and convinced him to plant a small sliver that was left over from their old universe in the Astral Sea. He complied, kinda, and planted it in the Elemental Chaos, where it grew into the Abyss we know today. It's still growing. The gods teamed up and threw him in Gay Baby Jail (aka out of the universe)
Those are definitely not all of them, but they are the ones I'm most familiar with. Tvtropes also has an entire page dedicated to Eldritch Abominations in D&D lore.
If you want to do something cool and original, try making something from the Positive or Negative energy planes. The Positive energy planes pumps living beings full of life energy until they explode, and if they're dead, it resurrects them and then pumps them full of energy, while the Negative energy plane does the opposite, draining them of life until they're dried husks. Anything living there would be truly anathema to mortals.
To answer question 2: If you meant "There are demons?", demons are Chaotic Evil fiends. While they're not Old Ones in themselves, some, like those mentioned above, have a very eldritch feel, and their origin as creations of the Obyriths is definitely very Lovecraftian in nature.
And finally, answer 5: It's more than CR. Most warlock patrons (Kraken being a notable exception) are Outsiders, beings from beyond the Prime Material, and they are inherently magical entities, unlike, say, dragons, which are mortal beings who happen to have innate magic (and a shitlong lifespan). But if you want to make a dragon patron, go for it.
SigrunOfTheBorderRealms, now that some rich lore right there. This'll keep me busy for couple of days of reading, writing notes and preparing for future PCs and campaign stuff. thank you so much for your share!
Also Lord_phobetor i am going to look for a pdf copy of the demonomicon and read it hopefully i'll get to see more lore. Thanks for the suggestion!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
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I am Lovecraft fan, and this game seem to have it's fair share of those entities beyond reality that'll turn people mad upon seeing them or maybe as they are being destroyed/ eaten alive. 1- My question here is what makes a "Great Old One" in this game? 2- I have seen creatures that look eldritch in shape and lore but there are demons? 3- Are Old ones simply ancient powerful creatures?
4- Who are the current known great old ones? I saw a list on forgotten realms wiki site are those all of them or there are more?
5- Somewhat off topic: After the release of Mordenkinen's tome of foes, the CR for archdevils and demon lords is around 20 and 25, does that mean any creature of that CR could potentially be a patron for warlocks? Can Ancient Dragons be patrons?
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Say what you will about 4E D&D mechanics, but the lore/flavor text was outstanding. If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend the 4E Demonomicon. In it, there was lore about obyriths. As a rough analogy, obyrith is to demon as illithid is to human. They also provide a list of possible obyriths.
As you might expect, anything can be an Old One as long as it's powerful, old and alien. But to give some notable examples:
To answer question 2: If you meant "There are demons?", demons are Chaotic Evil fiends. While they're not Old Ones in themselves, some, like those mentioned above, have a very eldritch feel, and their origin as creations of the Obyriths is definitely very Lovecraftian in nature.
And finally, answer 5: It's more than CR. Most warlock patrons (Kraken being a notable exception) are Outsiders, beings from beyond the Prime Material, and they are inherently magical entities, unlike, say, dragons, which are mortal beings who happen to have innate magic (and a shitlong lifespan). But if you want to make a dragon patron, go for it.
SigrunOfTheBorderRealms, now that some rich lore right there. This'll keep me busy for couple of days of reading, writing notes and preparing for future PCs and campaign stuff. thank you so much for your share!
Also Lord_phobetor i am going to look for a pdf copy of the demonomicon and read it hopefully i'll get to see more lore. Thanks for the suggestion!
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"