This episode is sponsored by Dice Dungeons!
Hey everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Gather round and prepare your minds as we
discuss the Great Old Ones.
The Warlock Patrons that are so weird and
twisted it defies imagination.
The Great Old Ones are hidden away in the
D&D universe, some are sleeping, some are
imprisoned, some stay isolated in the Far
Realm.
But their energy seems to leak into the Prime
Material plane, allowing warlocks to tap into
this as a resource.
You might make a deal with one of these creatures,
but more often than not they are so out of
touch with your reality you simply find a
way to harness their power.
They might not even know you are doing this.
The great old ones cover a variety of beings.
Elder gods not really worshiped anymore, in
traditional ways.
Some stranger beings were recharacterized
as primordials in 4th edition and could be
considered for a great old one pact.
Finally creatures generally hailing from the
Far Realm.
So let’s talk about the Far Realm for a
minute.
I covered it a bit in an earlier video talking
about the D&D planes of existence.
The Far Realm is so “far” from the regular
planes that it isn’t seen in the standard
cosmology much.
It is outside the known multiverse and some
believe it to be its own separate universe
with unique physical and magical laws.
It may just be the space beyond the planes.
It is so alien even to study or heaven forbid
observe the Far Realm can lead to madness.
A normal mind can’t accept what it sees
without somehow becoming damaged.
It’s outside creation, existing in the theoretical
realm of timeless infinity.
Whenever the Far Realm touches our reality
weird geometry and transformations occur.
The power of the Far Realm influences the
Prime Material plane warping reality into
horrifying corruptions.
Sometimes even the birth of squiggling aberrant
monstrosities.
It is thought that certain creatures came
into being from the Far Realm touching the
Prime Material Plane, or that these creatures
came from the Far Realm itself.
Mind Flayers, Aboleths, and the Beholder are some examples.
The Far Realm consists of an infinite number
of layers.
These layers could be anywhere from an inch
thick to a mile separated from each other
by a ten foot thick viscous wall.
The layers are transparent and to be in the
Far Realm is to observe a blurry infinity.
The layers evaporate, divide, spawn, all at
the will of the Abominations that live there.
Moving through the Far Realm is to see, hear,
and think in a way that mortal brains were
never designed for.
You might grow tiny hands on top of your regular
hands.
Or extra eyes around your body, even tentacles.
Insanity will occur if one visits the Far
Realm.
Still, where there are beings of power there
are mortals trying to gain that power.
Pacts with these creatures are probably never
advised, but the resulting warlock will be
a strong one.
Some of the larger entities from the Far Realm
infected stars in the sky.
This confuses me a bit, and I think there
was a Dragon Talk where Chris Perkins even
admitted that 4th edition didn’t take into
consideration earlier editions before launching
this lore.
But certain stars are infected by Far Realm
creatures and their madness shines down on
Toril.
Powerful Entities like Caiphon, Acamar, Delban,
Gibbeth… the well known Hadar from Arms
of Hadar and Hunger of Hadar.
Unlike fixed stars these creatures moved around
occasionally, they didn’t have a stationary
place in the heavens.
Moving across Realmspace.
These creatures were, or are associated with
entities known as the Eldest.
They were aboleths of massive size, and were
some of the oldest in existence.
It goes without saying but a lot of the elder
gods, these stars, and weird creatures that
inflict madness just by looking at them are
all associated with HP Lovecraft’s fiction.
D&D is many things, many genres and the Far
Realm and the Great Old One Pact is directly
influenced by Lovecraft.
Here are some other beings that you might
choose to make as your patron.
Ghaunadar, known as That Which Lurks is actually
a drow deity, the deity of abominations and
slimes.
It is believed that he somehow was touched
by the Far Realm.
Being also the god of outcasts and rebels,
slimes and abominations might be an after
effect of his experience with the Far Realm.
I speak more about him in my Drow Pantheon
video, and a quick YouTube search will pop
up other videos about him as well.
Give them a watch.
Tharizdun the Chained god!
Tharizdun isn’t technically Forgotten Realms
Lore but in dealing with the Far Realm, ancient
deities, and the planes of existence I hope
we can make an exception.
He originated on Oerth and in his mythology
created the Abyss.
The Obyriths, which were ancient demons gave
him a shard of pure evil to poison and corrupt
the Astral Sea.
Although Obyriths are ancient demons they
have certain qualities with the Far Realm.
After Tharizdun interacted with them his mind
was touched with madness and he went insane.
He threw the Shard of Pure Evil into the elemental
chaos and it dug down like a hot nail in snow.
This grew into the Abyss and the act forced
his fellow gods to imprison him.
Cults of Tharizdun pop up every so often,
his callings to his followers in their sleep.
Currently Tharizdun is trapped in another
universe, left in tact with all his powers,
he is too mad to even plot escape.
Perhaps he works through his warlocks to bring
about his return to the Prime Material Plane.
I’ve got a few more I’d like to talk about
but first I want to thank Dice Dungeons for
sponsoring this video.
They’ve got a new kickstarter for their
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This is a great alternative to miniatures
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You can get a set of 12, one of each class,
or 12 of one particular class; which could
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They have loads of stretch goals including
monster coins as well, so check out their
kickstarter today, and let them know I sent
you.
Dendar the Night Serpent is an ancient power
that in 4th edition received the term primordial.
This was done to both him and Kezef the Chaos
Hound.
Feared by the gods these creatures were imprisoned
by them.
Dendar the Night Serpent supposedly slumbers
near Chult, and his awakening may bring about
the end of the world.
Kezef the Chaos Hound is an undead looking
mastiff with maggots in his fur.
He has since broke free by Cyric’s actions
and he roams the Outer Planes.
Your warlock could easily have come across
some ancient text about these two beings and
perform a ritual to create a pact with them.
I imagine having a warlock of Kezef, Tharizdun,
or Dendar and creating a new religion.
Perhaps your warlock misinterprets his power
he receives; and thinks of it like that of
a cleric.
Dendar doesn’t want to destroy he wants
to protect, and I’ll protect you with my
powers.
Kezef only hunts those unworthy of his power.
Become worthy and follow Kezef!
I hope you enjoyed this video on the Great
Old Ones, I really want to play all the different
kinds of warlocks.
They just seem so much fun.
Thanks again to Dice Dungeons for sponsoring
this video, be sure to check out their kickstarter
links in the doobly do.
I’ll see you all next week with another
episode of Forgotten Realms Explained.
