Building Better Monsters | Angels

Kyle: The bible isn't a monster manual! Me: You're right. It's a monster manual with a long list of ancient names that I can use for NPCs.

Nothing is likely to make me less calm or more afraid than a Kaiju-sized whirling dervish of wings and eyeballs looking directly at me and saying "Chill bro.."

As a preacher I can attest to the fact that the Biblical description of angels is much more monsterous than what people think. There is a reason they said "fear not" or "be not afraid". ;) ~ Adam

Dude I'm forever impressed by how you draw, how did a bunch of watercolor spots turned into THIS?! It's incredible and ominous I love it and im afraid of it <3

Ya know thinking about it, the Bible gives a very good method for DMing. If DND gods acted more like Big G things would be easier to explain. Why are the PC's all meeting in a tavern, because they all had dreams before hand telling them to go to this place. Why does this random NPC suddenly know so much plot relevant stuff for the PCs to learn? They're actually an angel guiding them. PCs going off the tracks? Put a sleeping Gold dragon, or an angel with a flaming sword, at the end of the road only the PCs can see. Why do they have to be the ones to stop the evil plot? Well the heavens don't like to directly interfere, but if the party fails, they will interfere and the party and the world will get a demonstration of the word 'biblical's other meaning...

If you haven’t already added them, it would be cool to see your takes on fey creatures like kelpies and such. Scary fairies, if you will

Absolutely loved the cosmic horror angle of an angel encounter. Really want to see you build a better lycanthrope. Obviously a werewolf would be the first choice cus duh werewolves, but aside from trying to reinvent the wheel and coming up with an original design that really makes it stand out, what about a twisted werejaguar or a werewolverine. Something savage and mean and absolutely ready to shred everything in it's path.

"Calamity". . . seems timely. This is outstanding, both in inspiration and as an art walkthrough (love the limited color palette!). Thank you for your great work!

Gorgeous. The landscape below really sets it apart from other depictions I've seen. I love the idea of the PCs choosing an NPC each to save in a city. I can only imagine the hand-wringing if this happened in the third or fourth campaign in the same world, with a full stable of well-established beloved NPCs. Oof.

I like how the advice mapcrow gives in this video can be applied to more than just angles. Imagine if a player picked up a magic ring they found in an ally and suddenly there was a deathly lich hovering over them. The player is the only one who can see the lich and they are immune to its powers, but the lich goes on to subtly destroy the city and its up to the player to try and convince everyone of the danger of this invisible threat. Yeah, I'm asking for a building better liches video.

Now what can I say except thank you, the eldritch angels are one of my favorite tropes, I already implemented some of them in my games, but I was lacking something to give them a different plot relation, and just as I need, you come and give it to me.

I love this series so much. I used your idea for better Owlbears to create a half decent one shot for a 1 on 1 session with my girlfriend, and it really got her hooked on DnD, thank you so much!

Angels answer to the god of light in my world, which is very tied to the visual. I think we would see my old prophet somehow go blind as they pass their unbearable burden onto a new seer - meaning that if the PC shuns the responsibility, they would go blind real quick too. But also I think I'd improve their/grant them darkvision permanently. Thanks for these videos, Kyle! They always give me a great jumping off point.

Omg it’s 2am and I just woke up from a nightmare this is perfect to comfort me and calm me down, ty for having such a great channel I love biblical angels, my real name is derived from one

Your designs and textures are amazing

Bayonetta, I think, has really nailed a good balance between the idea of the beautiful and the horrifying angels, in that they come armored in these magnificent shells, which crack or shift or break as combat continues and reveal what are basically lovecraftian horrors underneath (which, on point).

Thanks for bringing this back. It's always so creative. It'd be really cool if you could do one on gnolls (I think I've mentioned this before). They've really been done dirty by recent editions, despite there being a bunch of really cool things that could be done with them.

Don’t forget to tell them not to look upon its destruction or be a cursed. No instant Petrification (being turned to salt) but some fun things could happen.

One of my favorite depictions of angels comes from the web comic; Kill 6 Billion Demons, especially in the earlier issues. They’re like the biblically accurate angels but to walk mortal realms, they take on these shells that look like bodies but are made of stone and metal. When they get damaged the actual angel parts of them begin to seep out. It’s totally rad !

Biblically accurate angels are such a commonly mentioned topic and yet you managed to bring some really fresh and cool ideas into it. Also that piece is soo stunning.