Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Archons, Earth
This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.
Archons in the 4e sense were introduced in the Monster Manual as soldiers created by the primordials to face the angelic legions of the gods in battle. Though some still serve the primordials, others sell their services as mercenaries to other elemental clients.
The first MM had stats for fire and ice archons, and this one brings us three new types: earth, storm, and water. Earth and water archons already made an appearance in our Let’s Read because they’re in the Monster Vault, but chronologically this is their first appearance in the edition. There are enough stat blocks in here that I feel I can give each type its own post. We start with Earth Archons.
The Lore
The basic lore for archons remains the same, as outlined in my post about their first Monster Manual entry. Earth archons have some extra bits specific to them in this book.
Earth archons look like faceless stone humanoids, following the general archon theme. Their armor and weapons are made of copper-colored metal with crystal and obsidian accents. Their military strategy follows the “patient earth” theme: they attack with slow and inexorable advances, and take the time to occupy and fortify any positions they take as they do so.
The greatest earth archon fortress is Thrak-Harda in the Elemental Chaos, which is ruled by the stone titan King Brakkamul and was built to guard the Diamond of Despair. Legend has it that the fortress is meant to protect the outside world from the Diamond, and not the other way around. No one seems to know why it’s so dangerous, but the Dao (cousins of the djinns and efreets) have been obsessed with it for a very long time.
The Numbers
Earth archons are Medium Elemental Humanoids with the Earth keyword. They have Tremorsense 20 and are immune to disease, poison, and petrification. Their ground speed is 6 with Earth Walk, which means they ignore “geological” difficult terrain.
Earth Archon Ground Rager
This archon is a Level 14 Controller with 143 HP and a bunch of earth-bending powers. These start with Ground Liquefaction, an aura (5) that slows any creature without the Earth keyword that starts its turn inside and doesn’t move during it. I guess this is meant to simulate then slowly sinking into shallow quicksand, but as written it also affects fliers. Maybe tendrils of mud reach out to grasp them.
In melee, ragers use slams and shoves to fight. The former are basic attacks, and the later are a bit weaker but push the target 4 squares and knock them prone. Two words: stone sumotori.
At range they can attack with a spell called Raging Earth (ranged 20 vs. Reflex) which counts as a basic attack, does a little damage and immobilizes (save ends). Less often they can cause Ground Eruptions (area burst 1 within 10 vs. Reflex; recharge 5-6) which do a bit more damage and knock prone. On a miss, they do half damage and still knock prone.
The book says ground ragers are drawn to geologically active areas, so you can expect additional earth-based hazards when fighting them. Good luck staying on your feet.
Earth Archon Seismic Striker
The rank and file of earth archon armies is made up of Level 16 Soldiers with 160 HP. They wear plate and wield heavy shields and war picks. They also carry javelins for throwing.
Those picks are high-crit weapons that do a mix of physical and thunder damage. The javelins have range 10/20 and mark the target for a turn on a hit.
They can also use a Seismic Stomp (close burst 3 vs. Fortitude) to deal area damage. A miss does half damage. In either case, the targets are knocked prone. This is a good thing for seismic strikers because the Ground Striker trait makes their attacks stronger against prone targets.
Seismic Strikers have a version of the fighter’s Combat Superiority trait, gaining a +5 bonus to opportunity attack rolls and stopping the movement of any target they hit with such an attack.
As written, the Stomp is not a “friendly” attack, but I’d definitely make at least other earth archons immune to it. This would allow strikers to stay closer together while still keeping enough distance from each other to lure foolish enemies into the “gaps” in their formation, where they’ll be stopped cold by opportunity attacks and knocked prone by overlapping stomps.
Earth Archon Rumbler
Rumblers are shock troops at the spearhead of any attack, which I imagine makes them look like a living avalanche from afar. They are Level 17 Brutes with 204 HP, wearing plate and wielding warhammers.
They can use the warhammers either for basic attacks or for Avalanche Strikes (vs. Reflex), which do less damage but knock prone on a hit. Their Thundering Might trait gives them bonus damage when adjacent to more than one enemy, so they really like to be where the fighting is fiercest.
Sample Encounters and Final Impressions
We get a couple of sample encounters here. A level 14 one with a mix of earth, fire and ice archons; and a level 18 one with a troop of assorted earth archons in the employ of a cambion hellfire magus.
Earth archons seem to have a stronger theme than the MM archons, and better supported by their mechanics. Their damage is still low due to the math bug, but other than that they’re generally well-built and should be OK to use after a damage update.