Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Salamanders have been a part of the game since AD&D 1st Edition at least, and also play a part in Mystara. In 4e, they’re present only on the Monster Manual.

The Lore

Salamanders are sapient fire elementals who live in the hotter regions of the Elemental Chaos. As a people they tend to be cruel, greedy and authoritarian. Their society is feudal, ruled by an European-style hierarchy of nobles: dukes and duchesses, kings and queens, and so on.

Salamanders will gladly serve more powerful masters such as efreets, giants and dragons if the pay is right, and they do so with unflinching loyalty. They also expect the same from their own underlings. Either in the service of these masters or for their own benefit, salamanders often raid the natural world through planar rifts in order to plunder it and take slaves.

These slaves from the world make up the bottom ranks of salamander society, and include not only mortals but also magma beasts and other “weaker” elementals.

The Numbers

Salamanders are Large Elemental Humanoids with the Fire and Reptile keywords. They have a land speed of 6 and 20 fire resistance, but no special senses and no special vulnerability to cold.

They use weapons to fight, but can also do something with their powerful snake tails and employ some sort of fire magic that varies with the specific salamander. Their weapons have ongoing fire damage riders, and they’re fast enought to attack twice per action.

More details below:

Salamander Lancer

This Level 14 Brute has 171 HP and fights with a Reach 3 Longspear that does physical damage and ongoing fire damage. It can spin the spear around to form a Whirlwind of Fire that does the same damage in a Close Burst 3 and recharges on a 6.

It can also attack with a Reach 2 Tail Lash that’s a little weaker than the spear and slides the target 1 square. I suppose it will mostly use that for the slide, since the spear is better in all other respects.

Salamander Firetail

A Level 14 Skirmisher with 138 HP, this one fights with a Reach 2 scimitar with an ongoing fire damage rider. It can make two such attacks per standard action, and has the same Tail Lash as the Lancer.

Its special attack is the Trail of Fire, which allows the salamander to move its speed and leave a brief trail of fire behind it. Anyone it passes adjacent to takes 10 fire damage, but the trail doesn’t persist on the map after that.

Salamander Archer

Another straightforward monster, it’s Level 15 Artillery with 114 HP. Its longbow has the usual ongoing fire damage rider and it can attack twice per standard action.

The archer uses its tail as an emergency melee weapon: it can use it either in a Tail Lash that does fire damage with no special effects or a minor-action Tail Thrust vs. Reflex that does no damage and pushes the target 1 square. That last one is actually the better bet, as it would allow the archer to immediately follow it up with two arrows to the offender’s face.

Salamander Noble

A level 15 controller with 152 HP, the noble is the first salamander whose primary weapon its its tail.

Tail Crush is its basic attack, doing fire damage and grabbing the target on a hit (escape DC 27). The grabbed victim automatically takes this attack’s damage at the start of its turn.

The noble will use its Longspear to attack the other PCs while it has a victim grabbed, which works pretty much like the Lancer’s spear above. No Double Attack here, though.

Finally, the noble can cause a Fire Cage (ranged 10 vs. Reflex) to sprout around a target. A hit immobilizes and deals ongoing fire damage (save ends) without blocking line of sight to the target so the archers can keep shooting it.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The sample encounters have salamanders working alongside fire archons, a beholder eye of flame, red dragons, and lots of azers. The latter are either giant envoys, or slaves of the salamanders themselves.

I think salamanders work well as fire elemental opposition that’s okay to beat up. An azer is probaly fighting you against its will, but a salamander isn’t.