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This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

I’m sure xivorts appeared in a previous edition, but here they get some new 4e-specific lore.

The Lore

Xivorts are a tragic threat. They are descended from gnomes enslaved by fomorians and subjected to all sorts of tortures and experiments. Their long captivity in the Feydark caused them to mutate into their present cave-adapted state, which was further exacerbated when most of them were freed from their captors by a cabal of night hags and brought to the Shadowfell.

The hags were only interested in liberating the xivorts as a way to deal a blow to their fomorian masters, so they just left the former gnomes to their own devices in the Shadowfell. These newly freed xivorts had only known torment and suffering all their lives, so they set about dealing that to others.

As usual I’m not fond of painting a whole sapient species with such a broad negative brush, so I want to say xivorts are just people and you can find whole communities of non-evil individuals out there. The ones you end up fighting might still fit the description here, though.

For good or ill, xivorts tend to associate with dark ones and gnomes. They have a particular distrust of larger people, an echo of the hatred they hold for fomorians. Goliaths and half-orcs tend to be priority targets in combat encounters because of this.

The Numbers

Xivorts are Small Fey Humanoids with a Speed of 5 and Darkvison. Their signature ability is Shadow Step, which triggers whenever an adjacent enemy hits them. It allows the xivort to teleport 2 squares to another space adjacent to the enemy.

All of the entries here are level 1 or 2, which makes me think they’re meant to be novel kobold and goblin replacements.

Xivort Slasher

This is a “slasher” in the horror movie sense. It fights because it likes to inflict pain. As a Level 1 Skirmisher with 26 HP, it’s not a big threat to a trained adventurer, but from the point of view of a non-combatant it could look like an unstoppable killer.

The slasher fights with a short sword in melee and throws daggers at range. Besides the standard Shadow Step it has Cunning Step, which allows it to shift 1 square when an enemy adjacent to it is hit by an attack. This doesn’t have to be one of the slasher’s own attacks, it can be anything.

If several slashers gang up on a single enemy, that enemy will soon find themselves surrounded by them.

Xivort Darter

This one fights using concealable thrown darts, a tradition dating back to the xivort’s time as Fomorian captives. It’s Level 1 Artillery with 22 HP.

Both the xivort’s Dagger and its Darts are a bit weak, but it can use Dart Volley to make two ranged attacks in the same action. Once per encounter it can throw its special Dream Venom Dart, which does the same damage as a basic one and dazes (save ends).

All of the darter’s ranged attacks target Reflex, not AC, making it particularly effective against heavily armored defenders.

Instead of the usual Shadow Step, the darter has Darter’s Step, which works the same but doesn’t restrict its teleport destination. It’s meant to let them get away from melee.

Xivort Net Caster

This one is trained to bring larger foes down so they’re easier to kill. It’s a Level 1 Controller with 26 HP.

The net caster can use a non-damaging net as a ranged area attack to restrain everyone it hits (save ends). If someone escapes the net it can throw a pair of non-damaging bolas as a minor action to knock them prone and prevent them from getting up for a turn. Then it moves in with its short sword, which deals bonus damage against prone, immobilized, restrained or sloweed enemies.

All of the status effects the net caster inflict make the target grant combat advantage, so they go really well with monsters that can exploit that.

Xivort Shadow Caller

A spellcaster using the ‘mysteeeerious’ Shadow source, who apparently traded part of their soul to the Shadowfell itself in exchange for power. It’s Level 2 Artillery with the Leader keyword.

Shadow callers user daggers in melee, but like most artillery they want to stay further away and use their ranged spells. Shadow Phantoms is their basic ranged attack, dealing psychic damage and making the target grant combat advantage for a turn. This has an extra +1 to hit for every creature adjacent to the target, be it ally or enemy.

Deathmark Bolt (recharge 5+) deals necrotic damage and lets an ally of the caster make a free melee basic attack against the target. And Shadow Strangler (encounter) is a “pseudo-summon” that immobilizes and inflicts ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends).

Final Impressions

As far as low-level enemies go, they’re… okay I guess? Fighting these guys instead of kobolds is a nice change of pace, but I’ll confess I lose a bit of enthusiasm for them when I realize they’re another attempt to hype up the Shadow power source.