Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Devils, Part 2
This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.
Continuing our slog through the Devils entry, let’s look at the next batch.
Infernal Armor Animus
We’ve talked a lot about devils always trying to acquire souls by hook or by crook, but what do they use them for? Here we have a concrete example of one of the many products in Hell’s catalogs.
These monsters are made by binding the soul of a mortal within a suit of infernal armor, which is animated by the process. The animated armor has its own mind - the soul is just the power source. The animus understands Common and Supernal, and at Int 8 it’s smart enough to understand the orders of its infernal masters. When it’s destroyed in combat, it releases the trapped soul, which will usually be consumed by a nearby devil for a quick performance boost.
The Numbers
Animi are Medium Elemental Animates with the Devil and Undead keywords - the only non-humanoid devils in the MM2. They’re also Level 3 Minion Soldiers, which means they appear in the “bargain bin” section of the catalog and will be found fairly early in a zero-to-hero campaign with devils as the main antagonists. They have darkvision, Resist Fire 5, and a ground speed of 6.
These things project a Bloodlust aura (2) that gives nonminion devils within a +1 to damage rolls. Multiple auras are cumulative, so I imagine animi keep a tight formation around their boss.
They wield shields and shortswords in combat, and the sword attack is nothing special. When they’re destroyed, Essence Transference triggers and heals the nearest non-minion devil within 15 squares for 15 HP.
Sample Encounter and Impressions
The sample encounter is Level 5: 8 animi, 2 spined devils, 1 tiefling heretic.
Look at that healing value for Essence Transference! This tells me infernal animi aren’t used as dumb muscle - that’s the job of legion devils. Instead they’re ambulatory snacks just waiting for the PCs to unwrap them and feed them to their master. They might be able to get a hit or two in before that happens, but that’s just a bonus. Kill them before damaging their masters.
Misfortune Devil
Valued members of the acquisitions department, misfortune devils collect souls by tempting mortals into taking ever-larger risks, which ultimately culminate in the mortal dying and the devil owning their soul. It helps that they know a lot of probability-warping magic to speed the process along.
I imagine that there are many strategically-placed tomes out in the world that teach a ritual to summon one of these and describe it as a “wise advisor” who will always have the summoner’s best interest at heart. Satisfaction guaranteed (and never mind the fine print)!
Misfortune devils can also choose prospective victims on their own inititive. If the victim in question is someone who knows better than to listen to a devil, they can use innocuous-looking underlings to make contact, or disguise themselves with magic rituals. And finally, they can also be attached as support spellcasters to a unit of devils out on some mission of a more military nature.
The Numbers
These Medium devils are Level 15 Artillery with 115 HP. They have darkvision and truesight 10, ground and fly speeds of 6, and interestingly enough no elemental resistances.
They attack at range with a Ray of Distortion (ranged 20 vs. Reflex), which does high physical damage - unusual for an at-will attack. The catch is that the target of this attack can choose to take only 5 damage instead, and have the original damage re-rolled and applied to their ally with the most HP. How close-knit is your party, really?
If an enemy manages to get close, they can fight back with a Lucky Maneuver (melee 1 vs. Will; basic) that does light psychic damage and allows the misfortune devil to teleport 4 squares. If someone does manage to hit them with a melee or ranged attack, they ran react with Roll the Bones (interrupt; encounter) to have the attack target another creature of their choice that’s within 5 squares.
Sample Encounter and Impressions
The sample encounter is one of those “attached to a unit” situations: Level 13, 2 erinyes, 5 legion devils, and 2 misfortune devils. Almost identical to the one listed for erinyes, only it’s misfortune instead of chain devils following along.
These creatures are surprisingly fun, and might cause some intra-party friction among the PCs. With the interrupt ability it’s clear that it’s the misfortune devil causing a friendly fire incident, but the Ray of Distortion requires a conscious decision by the first target to work its special magic. Do you want to betray your beefy friend in order to avoid pain? C’mon, do it! What’s the worst thing that could happen?
Shocktroop Devil
For when a phalanx of bearded devils just isn’t shock-troop enough for the job. These Large winged devils perform a function a lot like that of mortal cavalry: units of them charge into enemy lines to break up tough formations, cause havoc, and slay as many as they can.
Shocktroop devils fly really fast and can’t be dismounted since they don’t have mounts, but much like mortal cavalry they can end up losing momentum if they stay mired in the melee for too long. If that happens they’ll attempt to retreat, and will be back to fight once they’ve recovered.
The Numbers
These are Level 16 Soldiers with 155 HP. They have darkvision, a ground speed of 6, and a fly speed of 8. They lack any elemental resistances, which I think must be an error of some sort. I’d expect them to have 15 or 20 fire resistance. They wear plate and wield a sword and shield.
In any case, they’re protected by Asmodeus’s Shield, a passive trait that gives them +2 to all defenses against divine powers while they’re unbloodied, and a -2 penalty to the same while bloodied. “Divine powers” means anything that’s not a basic weapon attack from any of the classes with the divine power source: clerics, paladins, avengers, invokers… I’d say it also covers any attacks by angels and the like.
Their basic attack is a sword and shield combination which, as a basic attack, can be used in a charge. It deals physical damage and triggers a secondary attack vs. Fortitude. A hit on that one pushes the target 2 squares and dazes them for a turn.
Once in the fray, they can increase their rythm and perform a Shocktroop Attack, which allows them to make three Sword and Shield attacks in a single action, each against a different target. This encounter power recharges whenever the shocktroop devil has full HP, which means they can use this every turn until they’re damaged.
Sample Encounter and Impressions
The sample encounter is level 16: 1 bone devil, 1 misfortune devil, and 3 shocktroop devils. A command squad of sorts.
I’ll admit, the basic concept behind shocktroop devils seemed so bland when I first read through this book that I never took a good look at its stat block until now. It turns out they can be a lot of fun, and the designers managed to really capture that “cavalry” feeling with them.
The recharge condition on Shocktroop Attack means these monsters are more dangerous when deployed in groups as part of an encounter. The natural instinct of 4e players to focus-fire on a single monster at a time will work against them here, because it might keep the shocktroops they ignore at full HP for longer, allowing them to attack lots and lots and lots of times.
For extra Fun(TM), add a unit of leveled-up Infernal Armor Animi to your shock-troop devil vanguard.
Withering Devil
Like Misfortune Devils, Withering Devils are soul collectors and members of the acquisitions department. However, they use a different strategy: their powers bend mortal minds towards apathy and depression, eroding their ability to care for their fellow sapients or for much of anything else.
In combat this translates into spells that slow enemies down and make them less effective, but these fiends are much more dangerous on a narrative scale. They can cause entire societies to succumb to plague, famine, and strife by targetting the people whose job was to prevent this and turning them into lazy shadows of their former selves. “Just open the economy up already, fighting this plague is too hard, I’m sure everything will work out”.
Though their natural appearance is horrible, they are adept at disguising themselves as mortals, either with magic or with heavy cloaks in dark rooms.
The Numbers
These Medium devils are Level 14 Controllers with 138 HP. They have Darkvision, Resist Fire 15, and a ground speed of 6. The illustration gives them wings but they don’t fly, presumably because it’s too much of a bother.
Withering devils project an Aura of Weariness (3) that weakens all enemies inside. Their basic melee attack is with the Staff of Weariness, which has no funky riders despite the awesome name. At range they shoot Draining Rays (ranged 20 vs. Reflex) that do psychic damage and immobilize for a turn. As a minor action they can use a Gaze of Apathy (ranged 10 vs. Will; recharge 5-6) which does no damage but slows (save ends).
Sample Encounters and Impressions
Wow, I bet these things are really annoying to fight if positioned just behind a line of beefy front-liners so that their weakness aura affects the PCs.
The sample encounters do just that, either using bearded and legion devils as the front-line, or attaching the devil to a mixed-party of yuan-ti.
Conclusion
That’s it for the devils in this book, but we’re not out of the D’s yet.