Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Gray Render
Here we see something of a rarity in this series: a monster whose 4e incarnation I find strictly worse than its previous ones.
The Lore
Gray Renders first appeared in 3e, where they were these big, clawed, carnivorous brutes with an oddly endearing trait: they would sometimes imprint on another creature and basically dedicate their lives to protect it and take care of it. This creature could be a sapient, or even a PC if the GM was feeling cute.
Fourth Edition gray renders lose the imprinting, and replace it with a constant urge to destroy and feed. Some sages theorize they’re somehow tied to the metaphysical concept of entropy despite being natural beasts, since they seem particularly fond of targetting sapient settlements.
I don’t like this change because, as you might have surmised by now, I’m not fond of always-hostile, attacks-on-sight-and-fights-to-the-death monsters. I literally never saw anyone mention grey renders online without also mentioning and praising the imprinting. Remove that and you’re left with something that’s virtually indistinguishable from, say, a goristro demon.
The Numbers
Gray Renders are Large Natural Humanoids with a Chaotic Evil alignment and Int 2. They’re Level 19 Elite Brutes with 452 HP and blindsight, who fight using claws, bites, and sheer brutality. In other words, almost like slightly smaller, slightly dumber goristros with blindsight. They have Speed 8.
Their basic attack is a Reach 2 Claw that also grabs on a hit. They can make two claw attacks per action, and if both hit the same target they also inflict ongoing damage on account of the rending. They can use a grabbed victim as a club, inflicting more damage than the claw, pushing the target of the attack 4 squares from the impact, and dealing half the rolled damage to the “weapon”. Or they can bite the grabbed victim for massive damage, with a Daze rider.
While bloodied, their claw attack also knocks a target prone on a hit.
Sample Encounters and Final Impressions
Gray renders are said to be too destructive to cooperate with anyone, but some predators and scavengers have taken to following them from safe distance to exploit their rampages. So we get these encounter groups:
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Level 18: 1 gray render, 1 bodak skulk, 2 guulvorgs. Opportunistic followers can be sapient too.
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Level 20: 1 dire bullette, 1 gray render, 3 nabassu gargoyles. The gargoyles are watching the kaiju battle and waiting to feast on the loser’s remains.
The stat block is cool, but the lore is “meh” at best. Reskin this into a demon and/or add the imprinting back to make it more interesting.