Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast

This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

Witherlings feel like a new monster to me. They’re certainly new to 4e, making their debut in this book.

The Lore

Contrary to popular belief, those deranged cannibals who worship Yeenoghu don’t actually eat everyone they kill. Sometimes they raise their victims as undead abominations. This is a relatively new development, as the technique was only recently handed down from the demon lord to its cultists. They are both a new weapon in the war brewing between Yeenoghu and Orcus, and a way for the former to muscle in on the latter’s territory.

The process to create a witherling involves replacing the corpse’s head with that of a hyena, and summoning the essence of a demon into the resulting piece of “art”. Gnolls and other Yeenoghu cultists prefer to do this to the corpses of their slain foes, not those of their own side. The result tends to be a lot faster, smarter and more versatile than that of your typical zombie.

The Numbers

All witherlings are Natural Animates with the Undead keyword. They have no particular resistances or vulnerabilities. Their signature trait is a lesser form of the gnoll Pack Attack, giving them a +2 damage bonus when two or more of their allies are adjacent to the target.

Witherling

The basic model is usually made from the corpse of a Small humanoid like a goblin, kobold, or halfling. It’s a Level 4 Skirmisher with 56 HP and a Speed of 8 (Climb 6).

Witherling claws are a bit weak, but they slow on a hit (save ends) and the creature can make a Double Attack with them. It also deals extra damage when it has combat advantage. While bloodied, it can use Blood Dance to shift 2 squares instead of 1.

Its final ability is a Sudden Leap that allows it to jump 4 squares and gain a +5 to AC against opportunity attacks during the jump. If an enemy misses the witherling with an opportunity attack while it’s jumping, the witherling gains combat advantage against that enemy.

So these things will come at you en masse from the walls and the bottoms of pits, and use Sudden Leap to jump juuust a bit past the PCs and attack them from behind.

Witherling Death Shrieker

Made from the corpse of a Medium creature, the Death Shrieker is a Level 5 Controller with 65 HP and the Leader keyword. Its a bit slower with a ground speed of 6 and no climbing ability.

Its claws are just a typical basic attack, but it shrieks do damage over a wide area (close blast 5). The most common one is the Thunder Shriek, which targets only enemies, does thunder damage, and pushes 2 squares. There’s also the Death Shriek (recharge 5+), which also targets only enemies and does untyped damage. Any undead ally adjacent to an enemy hit by this recovers 5 HP. There’s a note saying allies can only benefit from this once per round, so if you have multiple shriekers they should coordinate and stagger their screams.

Witherling Horned Terror

This one is Large, and made from a minotaur. Since Yeenoghu is also locked in eternal battle against Baphomet, they’re more common than you think. Minotaurs of all alignments hate these things, which is perfectly understandable.

Horned Terrors are Level 8 Brutes with 107 HP and a ground speed of 7. They have a decent Claw attack, and can use their Horns to the same amount of damage and push the target 2 squares. They can also perform a Rampaging Charge (recharge 5+), which uses the horns to attack and allows them to make up to three additional attacks against different targets who happen to be in reach at the end point of the charge.

Witherling Rabble

This is a witherling whose creation process glitched out, producing an inferior specimen. I guess they’re stockpiled and sent out as a huge mob against enemies.

This defective undead has the exact same attacks as a standard witherling, but is a Level 9 Minion Skirmisher.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

Eh… I guess witherlings are okay mechanically, and they’re a nice addition to a campaign focused on battling Yeenoghu and evil gnolls, but they don’t do much for me personally.

The sample encounters are different groups of gnolls with witherling support. One of them also has a cambion.