Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Angel
This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.
The first Monster Manual gave us plenty of lore on this edition’s angels, which you can see by reading my first post on them. The Monster Manual 2 brings us a few stronger angels.
The Lore
Check out my post on MM angels for the basics of angel lore.
The Numbers
Since the original post was one of the first ones I wrote on the Let’s Read, I hadn’t settled on the present structure yet, so I didn’t say much about the common traits of angels.
Angels are Immortal Humanoids with the Angel keyword, which means they don’t need to eat, breathe or sleep. Though they have no legs, they have a land speed of 8 and a fly speed of 12. They’re also immune to fear and have 5/tier Radiant resistance.
Their signature trait is Angelic Presence, a passive ability which inflicts a -2 penalty on any attacks against the angel while it remains un-bloodied.
The angels from the Monster Manual 2 start at where the ones from the first book stopped, in terms of power. This means they’re all epic level and mostly Large in size.
Angel of Authority
These are the heralds and mouthpieces of a deity, and tend to handle some of the most important tasks related to the protection and well-being of a deity’s dominion. Your Metatrons, basically.
They’re Level 22 Controllers with the Leader keyword and 203 HP. They fight with a quarterstaff doing a mix of physical and radiant damage, and shoot lightning bolts (ranged 10 vs. Fortitude) that do lightning damage and daze for a turn.
They can also use their powerful voices for a Majestic Rally (close burst 5 vs. Will). This does a mix of thunder and radiant damage to any enemies caught in the area and hit by the attack, and also weakens them (save ends). A miss does half damage with no riders. Any allied angels in the area instead gain +2 to attacks for a turn. This is why the keyword is important!
Angel of Retrieval
Expert trackers, these angels lead squads of divine servitors and agents tasked with recovering stolen relics or kidnapped creatures. In addition to the abilities described in their combat stat block (below), they’re also trained in rituals that allow it to find their quarry and quickly take the squad to it, like Observe Creature and Planar Portal. They’re Level 22 Artillery with 162 HP and all standard angel traits except Angelic Presence, plus a teleport speed of 5 and blindsight.
As soon as a fight starts, the Angel will use Hunt the Guilty on an enemy within 10 squares, likely the main kidnapper. This will make all the angels attacks deal extra damage against that enemy.
Then it’s going to use its flight and teleport speets to move within reach of the target of the extraction and use Isolating Displacement on it. The power can be either used on an enemy as an attack (reach 2 vs. Reflex) to deal radiant damage, or on an ally as a non-damaging support ability. In both cases, it teleports the target 5 squares, and teleports the angel to a space adjacen to the target. The idea is to teleport the target into the midst of the angel’s more melee-capable allies, who will either protect it and help it run away if friendly, or beat it unconscious and carry it off if hostile.
It will then largely stay away and fire its Angelic Bow (ranged 20/40 vs. AC), which does radiant damage to the target and a smaller amount to any other enemies adjacent to it. Perfect for disrupting tight formations.
Also perfect for disrupting formations is Clear the Way (area burst 3 within 10 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6), which deals radiant damage and slides the targets 3 squares. A miss deals half damage and slides 1 square. This could be used to clear a corridor for ther angel’s allies to escape, or to delay pursuers.
If forced into melee, the angel of retrieval will defend itself with a short sword that deals radiant damage, though this is clearly a sub-optimal situation.
Angel of Light
Angels of light are a little different from most of their relatives. They’re the embodiments of a deities subconscious toughts, who form spontaneously in the Astral Sea in their multitudes. Angels of light are driven to enact the thoughts that spawned them, but they’ll also readily work for more powerful angels whose dispositions match theirs. Once formed, an angel of light is an independent individual. There have cases where they end up acting contrary to their originating deity’s wishes because the god has changed their mind, or because the thought was intrusive in the first place.
Angels of Light are the only Medium angels in this entry. They’re Level 23 Minion Skirmishers with all common traits discussed above. They fight with angelic glaives that do radiant damage, and when killed explode in a death burst whose text is a bit confusing. I think the intent is that it’s a close burst 10 vs. Fortitude that does 10 damage to enemies in the area and heals non-minion angels for 10 HP.
Angel of Supremacy
These described simply as “the strongest angelic fighters”, they’re said to guard the homes of the gods and form the backbone of divine strike forces in serious cosmic conflicts. I can’t shake the feeling that Asmodeus was one of these before he rebelled.
Angels of Supremacy are Level 24 Soldiers with 226 HP and all common angel traits. They fight with Reach 3 spears that do a mix of physical and thunder damage, so here’s a surprise for PCs who loaded up on radiant resistance. They also have Threatening Reach, which makes them pretty good at restricting enemy movement.
They’ll likely start a fight by moving into a chokepoint and casting Astral Brilliance (close burst 3 vs. Reflex; encounter). This deals radiant damage and creates a zone that lasts until the end of the encounter. While inside the zone, the angel’s attacks all deal extra radiant damage. Then they’ll attack a particularly troublesome enemy with the Light of Justice (Ranged 10 vs. Fortitude), which deals radiant damage on a hit and marks the target for the whole encounter as an effect. From that point on they can use Summons to Justice (minor 1/round) to pull the marked target 1 square closer to themselves.
Judging by those power names, I think they might have been named Angels of Justice before an editing pass gave them this more sinister name.
Archangel
This isn’t a monster, but a template along the lines of those that first appeared in the DMG 1. It’s meant to represent a higher-ranked angel that might even be the greatest authority in a divine dominion aside from the actual god. The template can be applied to any angel.
Here’s how I would apply it: I’d take a “regular” angel, and add the elite save bonus (+2) and action point. If the angel was already elite, I’d upgrade it to a solo with the +5 save bonuses and a total of 2 action points. In either case I’d double its listed HP.
Then I’d add the template powers: Avenging Strike, which triggers when an allied angel hits 0 HP and allows the angel to shift 2 squares and make a basic melee attack against the slayer. And Overwhelming Presence (close burst 5 vs. Will; enemies only; encounter) which does radiant damage and stuns for a turn.
I would then probably tweak its basic attack so it can be done twice in the same turn, which is common in elite monsters.
So, to ammend my speculation, I’m pretty sure Asmodeus used to be an Archangel of Supremacy.
Sample Encounters and Final Impressions
I like the 4e concept of angels, and so having more of them is cool.
Sample encounters in the MM2 are organized a little differently, with one after each stat block instead of all of them being at the end of the entry. The ones we get here are most all-angel teams, made up of a mix from the MM1 and MM2.
The notable exception is again the Angel of Supremacy encounter, which has three of them along with a Tormenting Ghost (evil!) and a Deva Fallen Star (super-evil!). This is a reminder that not all angels serve good deities, and that creatures with “supremacy” in their names are creepy.