Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

This our first example of a “concrete” dragon, where they take the generic information from the Monster Manuals and use it to make a specific atypical individual.

The Lore

Once upon a time, a young white dragon came to the Nentir Vale. Making her lair inside the nothern Winterbole forest, she frequently flew out to hunt and to break things for fun, and eventually came to see the Vale as her own personal buffet and playground.

This lasted until the Tigerclaw barbarians who also lived in Winterbole decided to stand up to her. Their chief was the great hero Fangstrike, who dueled the dragon and manage to bury his war pick in her left eye. Wounded and humiliated, the dragon flew away and spent the next thirty years sulking.

The experience made her a cautious and vindictive. About nine months after Fangstrike died of old age, she came back to wreak havoc on the tribe, killing the chief’s surviving family and threatening the rest of the tribe with destruction unless they paid her an annual tribute of treasure and a high-status hostage. This how she came to be known by her current name of Bitterstrike.

Bitterstrike made the same ultimatum to every other group of sapients who made Winterbole their home: the Frost Witches, the Winterbole Treants, and the satyrs who made the evergreen forest their home. Pay tribute and send hostages, or die.

These days, Bitterstrike considers herself queen of Winterbole, and those annual hostages make up her court. She uses them as agents and servants, and has them keep an ear out for rumors and news from their original communities. If any of these news sounds like an insult or threat to her, Bitterstrike becomes obsessed with taking revenge on the offender.

Usually this takes the form of a direct strike by the dragon, but Bitterstrike is cautious enough to gather a posse of her vassals if she feels a solo attack doesn’t have good odds. Whether alone or at the head of a posse, Bitterstrike takes great pleasure in revenge and in the acquisition of more loot.

However, the dragon queen is nowhere near the genius she thinks she is, and her “vassals” view her more as a pawn than as a queen. Every single faction under her control manipulates her into advancing their own goals by telling her false information, and the Satyrs are in the habit of replacing the magic items in her hoard with cheap mundane copies.

PCs can come into conflict with Bitterstrike by trespassing into her hunting grounds or offending her directly. It might also happen that they piss off one of her “vassal” factions and they plant a few convenient rumors to sic her on the party. Depending on how powerful the party is, she might bring in a few elite vassals along for support.

The Numbers

We have stats for Bitterstrike herself and for the typical vassals or pets that might accompany her. A lot of these are based on other existing factions we’ll look at later, so you get a preview of what they can do right here.

All of the vassals have Resist Cold 5 and Ice Walk, both necessary for survival when hanging around Bitterstrike. All vassals and the dragon herself also have a custom encounter power named Bitter Vengeance, which triggers when an enemy within 5 squares hits them with an attack. As a free action, they deal 10 automatic cold damage to the enemy and push them 2 squares. Bitterstrike’s vengeance is more forceful and yeets the offender 7 squares instead. This makes them all perfect to fight on maps that include hazardous cold-based terrain like bodies of icy water or snow-covered pits.

Bitterstrike

The White Wyrm of Winterbole is a Level 10 Solo Brute with 520 HP, Resist Cold 10, a ground speed of 6 with Ice Walk, and a flight speed of 6. She’s actually the first MM3/MV-compatible adult white dragon we ran across in our readings, as the MV only contained Young and Elder examples. Though she only has one eye, that doesn’t affect her stats.

As a white dragon, she has an Action Recovery trait that automatically ends any dazing, stunning, or dominating effects on her when her turn ends, and Instinctive Rampage that gives her a free action at her initiative + 10 where she can move her speed, go through enemy spaces, and use a claw attack on any enemy whose space she moves through. She gains Resist 5 to all damage during this action, to better tank opportunity attacks. She also has a Savage Blood trait that makes her crit on a roll of 17-20 while bloodied.

Bitterstrike’s Reach 2 bite deals cold damage, half on a miss. Her Reach 2 claws can attack two different creatures with one action. Her Breath Weapon (recharge 5+) is a Close Blast 5 that deals cold damage and slows (save ends). On a miss it deals half damage and slows for a turn.

If a flanking enemy hits Bitterstrike she can react with a Tail Slap to damage and push them 5 squares. The first time she’s bloodied, Bloodied Breath allows her to recharge and immediately use her breath weapon.

Bitterstrike has Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 10. Every single one of her vassals listed below has higher mental stats than her.

Treant Vassal

A Winterbole treant, patterned after a coniferous tree, serving as one of Bitterstrike’s vassals. It’s a Large Fey Magical Beast (plant) and a Level 8 Elite Soldier with 182 HP and a speed of 8 with Forest and Ice walk. It has Threatening Reach 2, and a Wooden Body trait that makes it take ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends) whenever it takes fire damage.

The treant’s basic attack is a Slam and it can Double Attack. It can also use a Bitterwind Blast that’s like a smaller version of Bitterstrike’s breath weapon. It recharges when the creature is first bloodied.

As an Essentials-style soldier, the Treant doesn’t mess with marks and can instead use Pounding Branches to attack any enemy in reach that makes an attack that doesn’t target it.

Satyr Vassal

This satyr is a Medium Fey Humanoid and Level 8 Elite Artillery with 136 HP and a speed of 6 with Ice Walk. As a bard-type, it’s surrounded by an aura (5) of Cold Wind Song that gives it +5 to defenses against attacks originating from outside the aura.

The satyr wants to stay really far away from its enemies, so it uses a Range 20 North Wind Bow to attack. A hit deals cold damage and pushes the target 3 squares. Once per encounter it can pull a Hanzo and fire a Diving Dragon Shot that hits an Area Burst 2 within 20 squares. This deals cold damage, half on a miss, and creates a zone that deals cold damage to any who end their turn inside until the end of the encounter. If forced into melee, it can use its horns to Gore, damaging the target and knocking it prone, which should allow for a quick escape to safer ranges.

Tigerclaw Vassal

This barbarian from the Tigerclaw tribe is a shifter who’s pretty much always in “shifted” mode. He’s a Level 8 Elite Skirmisher with 178 HP and Speed 6. His Charging Pounce trait gives him a 1d6 damage bonus on charge attacks and allows him to use its normal actions after charging. Usually a character can only use free actions after charging on their turn.

The barbarian fights with a Light Pick and can use it to make Double Attacks. Once per encounter he can make a special attack named Bitterstrike’s Slash which deals heavy cold damage and ongoing cold damage (save ends) on a hit. On a miss it slows and still inflicts the ongoing damage (save ends). If an enemy ends their move flanking the vassal, he can use Wild Instinct to shift 1 square or move its speed.

Frost Witch Vassal

This elf sent by the Frost Witches is the smartest vassal in the bunch. She’s a Level 10 Elite Controller with 204 HP and Speed 6. She emits a Chill Aura (1) that slows enemies caught inside.

The witch fights in melee with a Frost Touch that deals cold damage and slides 2 squares, and at range with an Icicle Shard that deals cold damage and immobilizes for a turn.

Her big finisher is a Hailstone Hex that deals cold and psychic damage. It also forces the target to grant combat advantage and inflicts ongoing cold damage (save ends both). While this effect persists, enemies of the witch that start their turn adjacent to the victim suffer 5 cold damage. In other words, it’s a miniature hailstone cloud following the victim around! This recharges when the witch is bloodied.

Wild Coldscale Drake

This is more of a pet than a vassal, as it’s a Medium Natural Beast and not sapient. You can use these to fill out a vassal encounter. It’s a Level 8 Lurker with 70 HP and Speed 8.

Coldscale drakes have Snow Camouflage that gives them partial concealment in any icy terrain, and deal an extra 4d6 damage to any target that cannot see them.

They need that boost because their bite is a little weak without it. Fortunately they can use their Snow Stalker ability when on icy terrain or within 10 squares of a white dragon to become invisible until after they make their next attack.

Final Impressions

Bitterstrike is a dangerous solo boss fight for a level 6 or 7 party. When facing more powerful PCs she will bring enough elite vassals and coldscale drakes to keep that level advantage. Most encounters against her should happen in the Winterbole region, which will give her and her vassals a big terrain advantage. Anyone level 5 or lower is seriously risking their lives by going too deep into the Winterbole forest.

Lore-wise, I like the dynamic of a somewhat stupid “queen” constantly manipulated by her much smarter vassals.