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Ogrémoch is another of the Princes of Elemental Evil, and first appeared alongside Imix in the Fiend Folio for AD&D 1e. He is the second, but not the last, epic campaign end boss to make an appearance on the MM3.

The Lore

In the beginning there was substance without form, the roiling indistinct mass of the purest Elemental Chaos. From that mass the eldest primordials arose spontaneously, and they in turn used their powers to create others. Eventually this big family decided to get together and create the middle world.

Ogrémoch is one of these eldest Primordials. He witnessed the dawn of time, and the rise and fall of his children as they built the world and warred with the gods. Ogrémoch was among the primordials contacted by the Elder Elemental Eye, and like the other Princes he became convinced the Eye was the very first primordial. Concerned about the gods’ growing influence on the world, he decided to join the Dawn War in concert with the other Princes. Despite their atypical level of teamwork, they lost.

Unlike Imix, Ogrémoch did not escape the gods. He was captured and chained to his own realm by Moradin. Though he cannot leave, he can still influence the world through his many cults. His goals are to free both himself and the Elder Elemental Eye, and to finish what he started during the Dawn War.

His greater age and more stable element make Ogrémoch a more patient and wise Primordial than Imix. Where Imix is a cowardly hothead, Ogrémoch is a cryptic miser. As the Primordial of Earth, he rules over everything that is hidden underground, from metal and gem deposits to caves, ruins, and the treasures buried inside them. Ogrémoch knows many secrets that give one power over the earth and its hidden bounty, but he’s jealous of them and only gives them up reluctantly.

It takes a lot of time and patience for his cultists to earn enough favor to learn those secrets, so earth magic is rarer among them than you would expect. It’s no unusual for a cult leader to have to rely on hired muscle to reinforce the security of their hidden shrines.

There are many independent cults to Ogrémoch spread throughout the world, and though the details of their beliefs and practices may differ, they’re all structured like mystery cults. They thrive on the rustic fringes of “civilized” lands, tricking the innocent and ignorant into believing Ogrémoch is a benevolent power of the earth. By the time these unfortunates learn the truth, it’s too late to escape the cult’s grasp. More rarely, they attract more well-informed people who seek an alternative to the gods. While there are several deities who preside over the same concepts as the primordial, these recruits probably reason that, as the older being, Ogrémoch has more of a claim to these domains.

At the highest levels of initiation, the differences between the many cults fall away, and the existence of the Elder Elemental Eye is revealed. These high-ranking cultists serve Ogrémoch and the Eye in equal measure, and out of all of the elemental cults they’re the most willing to genuinely cooperate in freeing their masters

The Monsters

We’ll start by looking at the cultists, and finish with the stats for Ogrémoch himself.

The various cultist stat blocks represent people of various species that managed to gain power from their worship. As with Imix cultists, there aren’t enough of them to build encounter groups - they’re meant to be added to groups of other humanoids or monsters representing hired muscle or “unpowered” cultists.

Any earth-elemental creature might be associated with a cult of Ogrémoch, including hill and earth giants. Underground dwellers like grimlocks and troglodytes are also frequently drawn to his service, as are “giantish” people like ogres or ettins. And of course, any “generic” humanoid stat block can be lightly reskinned as a cultist as well.

Earth Cultist

These are common servitors, largely ignorant of the deeper mysteries, serving because they know nothing else. They’re Level 8 Minion Controllers wearing leather and wielding warhammers. The scrap of primordial power within then explodes in a Petrifying Font when they drop to 0 HP: it automatically hits every enemy adjacent to the cultist and slows them (save ends). After the first failed save, this worsens to petrified (save ends).

Yikes! These poor souls are unwitting time bombs, and quite dangerous for minions. Evil GMs would mix them in with standard Human minions and make it hard for players to tell them apart at first. Once the cultist’s capabilities have been identified, it’s best to take then out with ranged attacks.

Fist of the Stone Tyrant

Every dwarf culture remembers their period of enslavement to the giants as the Age of Chains. Most of them became resentful of the primordials after attaining their freedom, and turned to worship of the gods. One felt the opposite, turning away from the gods who did not help them and towards the primordials who had proven they would reward their worshippers well. The Fist of the Stone Tyrant is a champion from this culture.

This Fist is a Level 9 Soldier (Leader) with 98 HP and a Speed of 5 (Earth Walk). They have two simultaneous auras with a radius of 1: Rotting Earth slows enemies inside, and Stone Tyrant’s Boon grants allies inside a +2 bonus to AC and Fortitude. Like any other dwarf, the Fist reduces any forced movement inflicted upon it by 1. It also gets an immediate save to avoid being knocked prone.

The Fist’s war pick damages and marks for a turn on a hit, and if any marked enemy leaves its Rotting Earth aura the champion can shift 1 square and make a free attack against that enemy. The attack deals light physical damage, 5 ongoing necrotic damage (save ends) and immobilizes for a turn on a hit.

Stone Thrall

Ogres who live in hill giant territories might end up picking worship of Ogrémoch from them. Some of these ogres get drawn into the cult and infused with earth magic to act as guards and shock troops.

Stone Thralls are Level 15 Brutes with 184 HP. They fight with Mauls whose basic attacks damage and force the target to grant combat advantage for a turn. They can use a Crushing Smash against someone granting them CA to do heavier damage, knock the target prone, and make them both immobilized and unable to stand up (save ends).

They can also make Wild Swings, attacking up to 2 creatures with one action. A hit deals heavy damage and dazes (save ends). This is an encounter power that recharges when the ogre is first bloodied.

Earth Weird

Ogrémoch rarely deigns to notice individual mortals. Sometimes, though, a cultist comes along with such an aptitude for earth magic that the primordial ends up giving them a direct blessing. This turns them into earth weirds.

The one depicted here is an earthsoul genasi, and a Level 16 Controller with 148 HP. It fights with a Morningstar that damages and pushes the target 1 square. It also uses a bunch of different earth-themed spells:

  • Quake Bolt is a basic ranged attack that damages and knocks prone.

  • Bury targets a prone enemy and does no immediate damage, but it immobilizes the target, prevents them from standing up and inflicts ongoing 10 damage (save ends all). After passing the save, the target is slowed for a turn.

  • Stoneburst is a ranged area attack that damages and created a zone of difficult terraint for a turn.

  • And finally, Earthshock is a minor action encounter power that does no damage but knocks every enemy touching a solid surface in a Close Burst 1 prone.

The weird wants to knock you down and bury you. It pairs well with other enemies with knockdown abilities.

Chthonic Apostle

Most giants who serve Ogrémoch do so more out of fear than true devotion. This one is an exception, and has been rewarded for it.

The Apostle depicted here is a hill giant, and a Level 24 Soldier with 225 HP. It fights with a giant-sized, Reach 3 greatspear whose basic attacks damage and mark for a turn on a hit. It can also use the spear to impale a marked creature, which deals light physical damage to start with and slides the creature to the apostle’s space as they slide down the length of the weapon. The target is immobilized and takes 10 ongoing damage, automatically moving when the apostle moves. The apostle can keep attacking with the spear, and every time they do so the impaled victim takes another 10 damage and becomes dazed for a turn. When they successfully save against this, they slide to a space adjacent to the apostle as they free themselves.

When the apostle becomes bloodied, their Stone Curse begins to take effect. Their speed drops from the standard giant 8 to a 4, and they rain Resist 10 to all damage. When the apostle drops to 0 HP, they permanently become a stone statue, which counts as blocking terrain. If they have a victim impaled when that happens, the victim becomes restrained instead of immobilized. A save still frees them as above.

Chthonic Stoneshaper

Worship of Ogrémoch is almost as old as mortal life itself. There are profoundly ancient shrines and temples to the primordial in the depths of the Underdark. Those who undertake a prilgrimage to these sites and survive the journey are rewarded with potent magic, and by having much of their troublesome free will taken away.

The Stoneshaper depicted here is a human who has undergone this process. It’s basically a powered-up Earth Weird, with more damaging spells. It’s Level 24 Artillery with 175 HP. They fight with Warhammers, and have several spells. First there’s Stony Embrace (Ranged 10), a basic attack that damages, restrains and inflicts 10 ongoing damage on a hit (save ends). Then there’s Rending Earth (Ranged 20), which targets enemies restrained by Stony Embrace, deals slightly more damage, and stuns then (save ends). Finally there’s Unruly Earth, a close burst 2 that damages, pushes 3 squares, and knocks prone on a hit. This only targets enemies, too, so it can be used safely in a melee.

A “save ends” stun is extremely powerful, and though the targetting condition for Rending Earth is fairly restrictive a focused and lucky stoneshaper might be able to use it every other turn. When fighting an enemy group including a stoneshaper, follow the old Shadowrun adage and geek the mage first. The stoneshaper will make this hard because the ranges involved make it easy for the stoneshaper to stay far away and play hit-and-run.

Ogrémoch

After looking at the cultists, it’s time to look at the Big Rock himself. Ogrémoch’s domain is a flat-topped mountain in the depths of the Elemental Chaos. He’s bound there by chains forged by Moradin from the whipping winds that used to scoured that mountain. Though Ogrémoch is unable to leave his domain, his confinement does not prevent him from affecting the mortal world indirectly, and empowering his cultists.

Unlike the cowardly Imix, Ogrémoch prefers to fight alone. His preferred battlefields are vast rocky plains and enormous caverns where his powers can easily shape the terrain. PCs will mostly likely fight him as a campaign end boss, either in his own domain or in another similar battlefield after he escapes his prison.

Ogrémoch is a Gargantuan Elemental Humanoid with the Earth and Primordial keywords, and a Level 34 Solo Soldier with 1244 HP. He has a ground speed of 8 with Earth Walk, and can also burrow and climb at the same speed. His special senses include Darkvision and Tremorsense 20, and he is immune to poison, sleep and disease. He also has the best version of demon-style Variable Resistance, with a value of 20 switchable 3 times per encounter.

The primordial has three passive traits that explain why he likes stony or earthy battlefields. The first is Jagged Earth is an aura (5) that turns its area into difficult terrain. The first time a creature enters this aura on their turn, they must pass a DC 32 Athletics or Acrobatics check or take 20 damage. Creatures with Earth Walk ignore the aura.

The second trait is Earthbound, which allows Big O to ignore any forced movement or knockdown effects as long as he’s standing on a solid surface. And finally we have Earth Glide, allowing him to pass through earth and stone as if he had phasing.

His attacks of course include a lot of punches and their shockwaves, but before we get to that, let’s look at the parallel minigame he’s got going with his minor actions. Encasing Shards (recharge 5+) is a Close Blast 5 that targets the Fortitude of everyone caught inside. It does no immediate damage, but is one of those very fun gradual petrification effects. On a hit the victims are immobilized (save ends), and this worsens to stunned and finally to petrified as they fail their saves. They can still roll saves to end the petrification, but those have a -5 penalty. Once Ogrémoch is bloodied, he can detonate those stony cocoons with Earthshatter. This ends the petrification and makes a Close Burst 3 attack centered on and including the victim. It deals a good bit of physical damage for a minor action.

Ogrémoch’s basic attack is a Slam that does a big chunk of damage and automatically dazes all of the target’s adjacent targets for a turn. Ogrémoch’s Fury allows the primordial to make two slam attacks with the same action, or three if bloodied. If more than one of these hits the same target, it pushes that target 10 squares and worsens the Encasing Shards condition if they’re currently affected by it.

Earth Smash is a Close Blast 5 attack that does about half the damage of a direct slam hit, but causes targets to fall prone and become dazed (save ends). It does half damage on a miss. And then there’s Tremendous Quake, which is a Close Burst 10 and so is likely to affect every PC. It’s an attack vs. Fortitude that does a amazing damage, slides 4 squares, knocks prone, dazes and prevents the target from getting up (save ends for these last two). Even on a miss it does half damage, slides 1 square and knocks prone.

And he still has triggered actions! Jagged Eruption is a Close Blast 3 attack that happens as a reaction to Ogrémoch getting hit with a melee attack. Eternal Resilience is the similar to Lolth’s ability, allowing him to immediately roll a save when hit by an effect a save can end. This means such effects only have a 25% chance of happening at all.

In summary: good luck keeping your balance or even acting at all when fighting a living earthquake that’s also trying to petrify you. This much action denial on a single monster is usually a design no-no, but we’re talking about a solo endgame boss here, so I feel it’s more than justified.