Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Fomorian
Fomorians first appeared in the first Monster Manual, and we covered them here. This entry gives us more fomorian stat blocks, and a few more bits of lore.
First, we have a bit of general lore, which is really a logical extension of the fact that Fomorians believe themselves the most important creatures in the universe. They hate all other fey, but that hate manifests as a desire to subjugate rather than exterminate them. Their perfect world is one where fomorians rule absolute over the Feywild and have all its other inhabitants forever toiling to please their masters.
Because of this obsession, fomorians are eternally at war with the other fey civilizations. It’s likely they’ll never succeed in conquering all of the Feywild, but they’ll never stop trying either. I suppose there must also be some level of internecine strife among them, because it seems to be they’re very likely to fight over who gets to be supreme ruler.
The remaining bits of lore concern the individual stat blocks here, and so will be covered in those stat blocks.
Numbers-wise, fomorians still retain their common traits from the first article: they’re Huge Fey Humanoids with the Giant keyword; they’re extremely perceptive (trained Perception, Truesight 6); and they have some sort of “evil eye” ability that varies per stat block.
Fomorian Ghost Shaman
Ghost shamans are necromancers who enslave the spirits of those they kill. They command these spirits as if they were puppets, enacting sadistic plays for their own amusement. They also use enslaved spirits as weapons in combat.
Ghost shamans are Level 16 Elite Controllers with 312 HP. They have darkvision in addition to the other fomorian traits. All of their attacks are magical in nature and, except for the Evil Eye, target Fortitude. Their basic melee attack is Death’s Touch, which deals necrotic damage and slows (save ends). Their Evil Eye is a minor-action ranged attack that inflicts ongoing necrotic damage (save ends).
At will, they can use Spirits of Possession (close blast 3), which targets people taking ongoing necrotic damage and dominates them on a hit (save ends). A bit less often they can use Darksoul Mist, which is like a necrotic fireball that leaves a zone of darkness in the affected area. This blocks line of sight for anyone without darkvision.
Fomorian Cackler
Cacklers are sly but unhinged assassins who get their name because they constantly laugh a disturbing laugh. They can be silent when they want to be, though, and are amazingly stealthy for someone the size of a house. They can also use magic to shrink down to Medium size, which helps a lot.
Cacklers are also excellent at disguising themselves, since their minds can easily construct entire fake personalities to aid in that. It’s possible for previously discarded personalities to momentarily come to the fore again, though, which is part of why they’re so unstable.
They fight with daggers bigger than the average human greatsword, which they can use in melee or throw out to range 10. The thrown dagger attack can target one or two enemies, and they return after it resolves.
Their Evil Eye makes them invisible to the affected enemy, and they get a big bonus to damage against targets that can’t see them. Size Alteration lets them switch between Huge and Medium as a minor action.
Fomorian Totemist
Totemists are fomorian spellcasters that collect the heads of those they kill and build chains out of them. Each head in the chain is imbued with necromantic power, and can channel a different curse. Most totemists have a preference for a particular type of head - one might favor eladrin heads, another dwarves, and so on. Some of them select prospective additions to their chains year in advance, following the lives of their future victims until the time is right for the “harvest”.
Totemists are Level 18 Elite Skirmishers with 352 HP. They fight with the afore-mentioned Chain of Heads, which is Reach 4, does physical damage and inflicts ongoing necrotic damage. They can also channel curses through the chain as a minor action, with an ability with the very unfortunate name of Voodoo. There are three possible effects: the Glorious Head blinds, the Wasting Head weakens, and the Bewildering Head forces the target to make a melee basic attack against an ally in reach. After attacking, the totemist can shift 1 square.
Their Evil Eye does light necrotic damage and inflicts a -2 penalty to saves, which helps that blindness or weakness last longer. And finally we have Fresh Rage, a passive trait that makes their first succesfful attack in their turn deal extra damage.
Fomorian Blinder
Blinders have more specialized and discerning tastes than totemists. They collect eyes instead of lugging whole heads around. Blinders are the scholars and sages of fomorian-kind, acting as repositories of their civilization’s lore. They’re also very good at eye-based magic - if anyone knows how to make a defense against the Evil Eye, it’s them.
Blinders are Level 20 Elite Artillery with 296 HP. They use quarterstaffs for melee combat but their forte is eye magic. Acid Eye is a ranged attack that deals acid and necrotic damage, and whose enervating properties prevent the use of encounter or daily powers for a turn. Shower of Ichor (encounter) deals the same damage over a wider area, and also inflicts ongoing acid and necrotic damage.
The blinder’s actual Evil Eye is quite powerful: it does no damage by itself, but someone cursed by it will take the same damage the fomorian inflicts on other enemies with their other attacks. It ends when the victim saves successfully, or when the fomorian uses this on someone else.
Ironically, blinders have no abilities that actually blind people.
Fomorian Butcher
Butchers are big fomorians with big blades who like to cut people up for fun. Such simplicity is a bit disappointing after we saw all those esoterically evil fomorian casters and assassins, but they’re still very dangerous and just as ambitious. In fact, they go to absurd lengths to fulfill their serial-killer urges, and will often trade their souls to devils and make other dangerous deals in exchange for more power.
Butchers are Level 22 Elite Brutes with 514 HP. They use titan-sized falchions, which are High-Crit weapons. They’re all about focusing on a single victim and hacking them apart with repeated strikes: when they score a critical, they can make another free attack with the falchion against the same victim, and their attacks deal a bunch of extra damage against a victim they already hit earlier in the same turn. Their Evil Eye restrains (save ends).
There are several ways they can get that extra damage from a “subsequent” hit: the bonus attack from a critical, spending an action point to attack again, and I’d say hitting with the Evil Eye also counts for this. So they’ll always try that before swinging their blades.
Sample Encounters and Final Impressions
Most of the sample encounters here are “Assorted Fomorians” from this book and the MM. One of them also involves drow and Lolthbound Goblins. Generally speaking you can also frequently find fomorians accompanied by cyclops slaves, or by other evil fey they’ve enslaved or allied with. Devils could also make an appearance, since it seems Fomorian diabolists are somewhat common.
This lot is quite a bit more flavorful than the fomorians in the MM, and the extra lore does justice to the basics laid down by the first book. “Voodoo” is a very unfortunate name for an ability, but it’s easy enough to change.