Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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I made a big deal about how there were few “newer and weirder” monsters in this book, and now it turns out that the very first entry is one of those. Abyssal Plague Demons are a monster new to 4e.

The Lore

Despite devoting a lot of text to the lore for abyssal plague demons, the entry is irritatingly vague. That’s because these monsters are actually the main featured threats of a series of novels published between 2010 and 2012. MV:TNV was published in 2011, right in the middle of the event.

The Abyssal Plague novels were planned as a big multimedia, multi-world metaplot event. The novels would take place across multiple published settings, with the main action taking place in the implied one, and side stories taking place in Dark Sun and the Forgotten Realms.

The entry here is very vague and avoids naming names, probably out of a fear of spoiling the event’s plot. There’s a demon lord who escaped into our universe from another one he destroyed. He was stopped by “the heroes of the age” and imprisoned, but recently one of his exarchs managed to escape and it “found a vessel in the world”. This entity is responsible for spreading the Abyssal Plague, a disease that covers its victim’s bodies in growths of alien crystal and either kills them or transforms them into Abyssal Plague Demons.

With a decade of hindsight, I can give you those spoilers: the “demon lord” is actually Tharizdun and the thing that came from a another universe that was destroyed by demons is the Shard of Evil that he used to make the Abyss. In the novels, one of his worshipers manages to pierce the walls of Tharizdun’s prison with a shard of the Living Gate (an entity described in the Shardmind post for the MM3), freeing one of his exarchs. This exarch is an entity known as the Voidharrow and it is the thing responsible for spreading the Abyssal Plague.

The entry presents the Plague as a rising threat that only recently began to spread, but doesn’t make an effort to connect it to other plot hooks in MV:TNV or to the wider cosmic stuff at its root. I guess you’re supposed to read the novels to find out about that.

The Numbers

Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

Abyssal Plague Demons are creatures mutated by the plague. Some used to be animals, some used to be humanoids. Aside from a general “demonic” look, they have a common aesthetic element: red crystal, flecked with gold and silver. This is present as either visible veins of liquid crystal, or as solid plates of the stuff that might act as armor or weaponry.

Stat-wise, they’re demons: Elemental Beasts or Elemental Humanoids with the Demon keyword, Darkvision and Variable Resistance (5, switchable twice per encounter). All of them are also carriers of the Abyssal Plague, which they can spread via bites or via their natural crystal weaponry. They’re all mid-Heroic tier, making them appropriate for encounters in the middle world as your home grounds start to suffer from the Plague.

The Abyssal Plague is a Level 8 Disease that follows the standard rules for this. At the end of any fight where you’re exposed to it, you make a saving throw. If you fail, you contract the disease at Stage 1. At the end of every extended rest, you make an Endurance test. If you beat the disease’s Maintain DC of 12, you stay as you are. If you beat its Improve DC of 16 your stage decreases by 1 (Stage 0 means you’re cured). If you beat neither you progress to the next stage. Effects from each stage are cumulative. If you reach Stage 3, natural recovery is no longer possible and only a Remove Affliction ritual might save you.

Stage 1 is usually just a nuisance. In this case, 10% of your body is covered in alien growths and you lose a healing surge. Stage 2 is a major hindrance: here, it means a -2 to AC, Fortitude and Reflex plus a permanent Slowed condition as 50% of your body is taken over by growths.

Stage 3 is often incapacitating or fatal. Unlike most other diseases, Abyssal Plague still makes you roll Endurance daily when you’re here, but the roll is not for recovery. If your total roll fails to beat a DC of 12, you die. If you roll between 12 and 23, you live another day in incredible pain. If you roll a 24 or more, you turn into an Abyssal Plague Demon. So yeah, this plague kills the weak and turns the strong into demons. You need to apply Remove Affliction before either happens.

Thankfully, multiple exposures during a fight still mean you only roll the save once, and if you’ve already contracted the disease further exposures do nothing to worsen your condition. So if your PC is tough and your party is on a tight time-table, you can gamble that you’ll be able to recover naturally from Stage 1. Remove Affliction is a big resource drain if you don’t have time for a long rest.

Plague Demon Chaos Hound

A Medium Beast demon, this quadruped is a Level 5 Minion Skirmisher with Speed 8 and darkvision. Its Pack Attack trait gives it a small damage boost for each other plague demon that’s adjacent to their target.

Their sole attack is a bite that allows them to shift 1 square on a hit and exposes the target to Abyssal Plague. As a minion, it lacks Variable Resistance.

Plague Demon Chaos Footsoldier

A Medium Humanoid with Speed 6. It’s a Level 5 Minion Soldier without Variable Resistance. Its basic attack is a Grabbing Claw that does light damage and grabs on a hit. Once it has a grabbed victim, the footsoldier can bite for a bit more damage and exposure to the Plague.

Plague Demon Chaos Beast

The non-minion version of the Chaos Hound is a Level 6 Skirmisher with Speed 8 and 76 HP. Its Chaotic Growl acts as an aura (1) that inflicts a -2 attack penalty to enemies inside. Its basic bite damages and exposes to the Plague, while its Claws allow it to shift 1 square on a hit.

Plague Demon Chaos Bender

A Large Beast demon, this Level 6 Controller has 72 HP and some reality-warping powers. It projects a Chaotic Field as an aura (2) that allows the demon to shift 2 squares if any enemy ends their turn inside. Its basic attack is a plague-infected bite, and it can also use a Flurry of Claws that attacks a Close Burst 1, slows, and inflicts ongoing physical damage (save ends).

Plague Demon Chaos Knight

This sapient Medium Humanoid is a Level 6 Soldier with 78 HP. It projects an aura of Crimson Retribution (1) that automatically deals 5 damage to anyone inside who makes an attack that doesn’t target the chaos knight. Its slams damage and knock prone on a hit, and its extruded Crystal Blade (recharge 4+) deals heavy damage and exposes to the Plague. Since it’s a recharge power, I’m guessing the blade shatters when used as a weapon.

Plague Demon Chaos Vanguard

This sapient Large Humanoid is a Level 9 Soldier with speed 6 and 100 HP. It’s a powered-up version of the Knight, with nearly identical traits. Its aura is wider and deals 10 damage instead of 5; its slam pushes 2 squares instead of knocking prone; and its Sweeping Crystal Blade (recharge 4+) is a Close Burst 3 attack instead of a single-target melee power.

Final Impressions

Would you believe that I even forgot these things were here? The combination of epic-sounding but vague lore and mid-Heroic mechanics smells very metaplotty to me, particularly after I learned about these novels. This is the outer edge of the plot and you’re not allowed to dig deeper, that’s what the novel heroes do. I don’t know if they ever released a book that allowed the PCs to be more central in eliminating the Plague.

The mechanics are functional, but pretty simplistic since the demons’ main gimmick is being carriers for the Abyssal Plague. There’s tons of more interesting opposition in MV:TNV. So, overall, my inclination is to give these monsters a pass. The next entries are better, I promise!