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• May 28, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Horse

  

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

  Horses are a real-world animal, so you likely have a good idea of what they’re like. They’ve been in the game since the very beginning, and here they have their own entry in the MM and are part of the animal appendix on the MV.

  The Lore

  They’re horses! Herbivore ungulates widely used as mounts and beasts of burden by any society that managed to develop animal domestication. You can still find wild herds running through the plains of the world and the Feywild, but most horses the PCs are likely to meet in their adventures will be acting as someone’s mount.

  Unlike in the real world, horses are far from the only choice of mount for your typical D&D society. There are plenty of other, more fantastic beasts that can do the job just as well. If that job is “war mount”, they can likely do it better. Yeah, warhorses are still a thing here, but the same amount of work that goes into training one can instead get you a dire boar, hippogriff, or some kind of drake. I think this is the first setting I see where a warhorse is the animal you ride into combat when nothing better is available.

  There’s a breed of horse that’s a potential exception to this: the celestial charger, which is infused with divine energy and typically used as mounts only by noble warriors and champions of justice. A Paladin PC might get one of these as a reward for service to their kingdom, for example. They’re much more powerful and intelligent than a typical horse, though they’re still animals.

  The Numbers

  Horses are Large Natural Beasts with the Mount keyword. They have low-light vision, trained Perception and high ground speeds. We get three different stat blocks.

  Riding Horse (MM)

  These are meant for transportation, not battle, and are as close to a non-combatant as you can be while still having a stat block. They’re here because they’re likely to be the first rides your PCs get in their adventuring careers.

  They’re Level 1 Brutes with 36 HP and can run at speed 10. Their usual strategy when in combat is to run away! Their only attack is a basic Kick they’ll only employ when trapped or startled. The only reason these aren’t minions it’s because have your horse one-shotted out from under you is no fun.

  Warhorse (MM)

  A larger, stronger horse trained to be ridden into combat and fight alongside its rider.

  It’s a Level 3 Brute with 58 HP and a ground speed of 8. Its basic attack is still a Kick, but it can also Trample. We saw this one before: it allows the warhorse to move its speed, go through enemy spaces (while drawing opportunity attacks) and make an attack against any enemy whose space it crosses. This attack is a bit stronger than the kick, and knocks prone on a hit.

  Warhorses also have a Charger passive trait, which gives their riders a +5 damage bonus on charges.

  Horse (MV)

  The “generic” horse in the MV animal appendix is actually an updated warhorse despite being a Level 1 Brute with 36 HP. The damage of its attacks has been fixed, so they’re actually stronger than the MM warhorse’s despite the lower level. The Charger trait is still here, though it only gives a +3 damage bonus in this version.

  Celestial Charger (MM)

  Celestial Chargers are Large Immortal Beasts with the Mount keyword, instead of being Natural like other horses. They’re Level 10 Soldiers with 111 HP, a +5 bonus to saves against fear, and Speed 8.

  Celestial chargers kick and trample like warhorses, though their damage could use a serious boost. They have two supernatural passive traits: Zephyr Footing allows them to ignore all difficult terrain and move across any solid or liquid surface; and Celestial Charge gives a +2d6 radiant damage bonus to their rider’s charges.

  I think these might be like the magic horses from Krull, or Gandalf’s Shadowfax.

  Final Impressions

  No sample encounters here, but as I said almost any sapient humanoid could be found riding horses.

  I would normally say you gotta have horses in your medieval-ish setting, but we’ve seen so many other awesome mounts already that I think they might actually be somewhat redundant. A setting with no horses but all sorts of other mounts might look a bit like Final Fantasy. A few other possibilities present themselves as well:

  • The setting has no horses and everyone uses other mounts, but then it gets invaded by an interdimensional army and the invaders use horses, which would make them the exotic and alien mount.

  • The setting has no mundane horses, but one or more gods send celestial chargers to their chosen champions as a sign of their favor. They’re seen as this powerful divine beast without an eartlhy equivalent, in another neat role inversion.

• May 27, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Hook Horror

  

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

  Hook horrors definitely look like something that’s been around since AD&D. My first contact with them was in Neverwinter Nights, which used a model for them that was nearly identical to that of vrock demons. The chunky fellow above is quite different from those and much easier to tell apart. They’re only on the MM.

  The Lore

  Hook horrors are yet another example of predatory Underdark wildlife, adapted to hunt in total darkness by clinging to a cave ceiling and dropping on its victims. Unlike a lot of other Underdark wildlife we’ve seen so far, they’re Natural, not Aberrant, which means they evolved down there on their own instead of immigrating from the Far Realm.

  Hook horrors are omnivorous, but prefer meat and are rumored to like drow meat more than other kinds. They live in total darkness and use echolocation to perceive their surroundings, though they have functional eyes to see in brighter environments. The clicking noises they make are also used for communication, and smart explorers can listen for those to see if hook horrors are nearby.

  A group of hook horrors is called a “clan”, and is led by its strongest egg-laying female. It ranges widely in the Underdark, with its members forming smaller packs to hunt. Drow tend to kill adult hook horrors on sight and steal their eggs to raise the hatchlings as attack animals.

  The Numbers

  There’s only one stat block, so we’ll get right on it. Hook Horrors are Large Natural Beasts, and Level 13 Soldiers with 137 HP. They have Blindsight 10 to represent their echolocation, and a relatively slow ground speed 4. They can also climb at speed 4.

  Their basic attack uses those hooked forelimbs, dealing damage and pulling the target 1 square on a hit. They can choose to attack twice at a -2 penalty to each attack, and if both hit they deal some extra damage and grab the target until escape. They can keep making hook attacks against grabbed victims, and can also bite them as a minor action (which does slightly less damage).

  They can also use their hooks to Fling a target. The book doesn’t say whether this only works on a grabbed target or on anyone. It’s an attack vs. Fortitude that rercharges on a 6, does more damage than the basic hook attack, slides the target 3 squares, and knocks them prone.

  I imagine you can make different hook horrors by giving them the same blindsight as this one and a few hook-based attacks that do different things.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  We have two:

  • Level 13, a balhannoth and 3 hook horrors. Looks like the ninja slug is opportunistically following the horrors around.

  • Level 13, a hook horror, 2 grimlock berserkers and 1 beholder eye of flame. A beholder and its retinue.

  I’m indifferent to hook horrors. I suppose a large variety of Underdark predators is good, but since they all fulfill more or less the same dramatic role they tend to leave me cold.

• May 22, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Homunculus

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

  I think Homunculi are derived from a medieval alchemy concept, and I’m pretty sure they’ve been in the game since AD&D. Here they appear only in the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  In my post on Helmed Horrors I compared construct creators to real-world programmers. Let’s stretch the analogy a bit further: if golems and greater helmed horrors are big packages of enterprise software, then homunculi are shell scripts.

  These minor constructs are built for the exact same purposes as their beefier relatives: to act as tireless guardians, servants, and muscle. Being low-level, I imagine they’re a lot easier to create, and their programming includes some “shortcuts” that make them particularly adept at a specific kind of guard job.

  Mentally, they’re pretty much like golems: they can understand even complex instructions from their masters perfectly, and execute them without much thought of self-preservation unless specifically ordered to avoid taking damage. Unlike golems, though, ownership of an homunculus can be transferred to someone else with a simple order (“this person is your master now”). This means they’ll often be found in the service of someone who isn’t their creator.

  So a low-level aspiring golem maker can have homunculi as servants, and higher-level casters who would use actual golems as personal guards can mass-produce homunculi and assign them to their underlings. The relative weakness of an homunculus is actually an asset here! If those pesky organic underlings start getting rebelious ideas, your personal guard-bot can easily squash them.

  The Numbers

  We get three quite diverse stat blocks here. They’re all Natural Animates with the Construct and Homunculus keywords, training in Perception, darkvision, and immunity to disease and poison. Everything else is variable.

  Different types of homunculus gain special bonuses when tasked to guard a person, object or area. For rules purposes, objects can weight up to 50 pounds and areas can be up to 5 squares on a side. We’ll see why in a minute.

  Clay Scout

  

  This Small homunculus is probably the one closest to the classic myth. It’s used for, well, scouting, or for guarding small objects. I imagine it makes an adequate menial lab assistant if well-managed.

  Clay scouts are Level 2 Lurkers with 31 HP and all common homunculus traits. They’re also trained in Stealth, and can run at speed 6 or fly at speed 3 (clumsy).

  Scouts attack with a weak venomous bite that allows a secondary attack against Fortitude, which slows on a hit (save ends). They can attack at range using a Mind Touch (Ranged 10 vs. Will) which does adequate psychic damage and dazes (save ends). Mind Touch is clearly their main attack, with the bite being more of an emergency measure.

  When targeted by a melee or ranged attack, they can use Redirect as an interrupt. This target’s the attackers Will, and on a success forces them to redirect their attack to an adjacent creature of the homunculus’ choice. Tricky!

  They cap things off with a couple of interesting passive traits: clay scouts are invisible to dazed creatures and, if tasked to guard an object, gain a +4 to attack anyone adjacent to or carrying that object.

  I think they’d mostly use their attacks to prevent pursuit in case they’re discovered spying on you. They’re big enough to carry most objects they could be set to guard, too. This is the construct you use when you want to carry something to the ends of the earth so it’s never found again.

  Iron Defender

  

  A metal guard dog, for when drakes aren’t enough but you don’t have the budget for a shield guardian. It’s a Level 3 Soldier with 47 HP and all common homunculus traits. It runs with speed 6.

  It attacks by biting, and if tasked to guard a creature it can bite anyone who attacks that creature as a reaction. It can also shift 1 square before or after making opportunity attacks.

  Iron Cobra

  

  An homunculus named for its shape, not its role. As far as homunculi go, this is a high-end model.

  It’s a Level 6 Skirmisher with 75 HP and all common homunculus traits. It slithers with speed 7, and can shift 3 squares as a move action.

  They attack with a venomous bite that also does 5 ongoing poison damage (save ends), and it can poison its enemies’ minds as well.

  Poison the Mind (Ranged 10 vs. Will; recharge 3-6) is an attack that can only target creatures suffering ongoing poison damage. The cobra’s bite is an obvious source of this, but if other venomous creatures are part of the same encounter their attacks also count. A hit dazes and slows the target (save ends).

  When set to guard an area, iron cobras can use Poison the Mind without restriction against any creature inside that area. This means the attack effectively becomes at-will, and can target anyone in the area even if they aren’t taking poison damage.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  The sample encounter is Level 9: 2 iron cobras, 2 snaketongue warriors, and 1 snaketongue assassin. As expected, iron cobras are a hit with snake fanatics everywhere!

  I think homunculi fulfill a necessary role for GMs who want to pit their PCs against constructs from an early point in the campaing. As we’ve seen already, golems and other similar constructs are usually too powerful to be fought by early-heroic tier characters.

  I also like that their existence allows for that “construct-making as a parody of the tech industry” setting element I’ve been thinking about.

• May 21, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Helmed Horror

  

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

  I first remember seeing Helmed Horrors in Neverwinter Nights, which used the 3e rule set. It’s quite possible they’ve been in the game since AD&D, though. Here, they’re only on the MM.

  The Lore

  Helmed Horrors are one of the many constructs-that-are-not-golems. They’re created by means of an ancient ritual just like golems, but have several practical differences.

  First, the ratio of matter to elemental energy is different. The physical body of a helmed horror is a suit of plate armor, not a solid statue. This suit is filled with a much greater amount of energy pulled from the Elemental Chaos, enough to give the horror a coruscating aura and to infuse its weapon attacks with elemental damage. This also gives them the ability to regenerate.

  Mentally, Helmed Horrors are smarter and have a bit more personality, though they’re still completely loyal to their creators. They can speak, and they have excellent senses (including both darkvision and truesight). They’re typically given greatswords as weapons, and are used for much the same purposes as a golem: guardians, bodyguards, or remorseless muscle.

  Given their greatly enhanced senses and their trained skills, I imagine it’s also possible for a helmed horror to be used as a bounty hunter or city guard, possibly accompanied by organics who handle the more delicate social tasks.

  The Numbers

  We get two helmed horror stat blocks here. Both are Medium Elemental Animates (constructs) with training in Perception and Insight, plus Darkvision and Truesight. They speak Common and Primordial, and have human-level intelligence (one has 10, the other 12).

  Helmed Horrors are immune to charm, disease, fear, poison and sleep, a greater suite of immunities than even some golems get. They also have varying levels of Regeneration and the ability to fly at the same speed they walk, though they do so clumsily.

  Helmed Horror

  The basic model is a Level 13 Soldier with 131 HP and all common traits above. Its regeneration is 5, and its speed is 6 both on the ground and in the air.

  The horror’s Elemental Greatsword does a mix of physical damage and one of cold, fire, lightning or thunder, chosen before each attack is rolled. Its damage is “naturalistic”, but the bonus elemental damage manages to get to just a couple of points less than its correct value.

  Once per encounter the horror can perform a Blade Sweep to attack two different targets, and it has a Tactical Step ability that allows it to shift 2 squares when it hits with an opportunity attack.

  Greater Helmed Horror

  This is a Level 18 Elite Soldier with 348 HP, which at first glance looks like it puts it on a roughly even footing with stone or iron golems. However, that’s not quite true.

  The Greater Helmed Horror is basically a leveled-up version of the basic model. Its Regeneration is 10, its speed 8 in all movement modes, its Tactical Step shifts it 3 squares instead of 2.

  It still gets only one greatsword attack, which due to “naturalistic” design only does 1 point of damage more than the basic model’s. It can also do a Blade Sweep, but still only once per encounter.

  It does get a new attack in the form of Elemental Burst (Close Burst 5 vs. Reflex; Recharge 5-6), which does a bit less damage than the sword and has the same damage type options.

  Greater Helmed Horrors require a bit more work to bring up to the standards of the new math - their damage needs a boost, and I’d also make their Blade Sweep an at-will action. That would put them in the same footing as a golem.

  Sample Encounter and Final Impressions

  We get one sample encounter here. Level 14, 2 helmed horrors, 1 mummy lord and 3 firelasher elementals. I’m guessing the mummy was the thing’s original creator, and summoned the elementals too.

  We’ve already seen at least three different “families” of constructs that are created via ancient rituals and end up getting used for roughly the same purposes: golems, guardians, and helmed horrors. That makes me think of a setting where construct-making spellcasters are a bit like programmers. Each follows a specific school of thought and employs a different “language”, and they bicker constantly about whose is best. And unlike real-world programmers, these people can have their creations beat each other up when their arguments get really heated.

• May 18, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Harpy

  

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

  D&D Harpies are inspired by the harpies from Greek mythology, with a bit of siren mixed in. They’ve been in the game since pretty much the beginning. Here, they are on the Monster Manual only.

  The Lore

  In ancient times there was an evil elf witch queen. She and her unscrupulous children often took the form of golden eagles to spy on their subjects. A mighty hero defeated them and drove them into exile, breaking the queen’s magic crown in the process. It was the crown that gave them the power to change shape, and when it broke the evil family became stuck as part-bird, part-elf beings. These were the first harpies.

  Modern harpies roost in dismal places where few others can live: swamps, badlands, ruins, coastal cliffs. They fly out to hunt or to attack travelers, pacifying their victims with their magic-imbued songs and tearing them apart with their claws.

  Both male and female harpies exist, but they usually only spend enough time together to produce a batch of eggs. Once the female lays her eggs, the male takes off. Because of this is quite rare for PCs to find a mixed-gender group of harpies.

  The Numbers

  Harpies are Medium Fey Humanoids and have human-level intelligence. This means there’s nothing stopping your setting from containing settlements of unaligned or friendly harpies, but the ones we get here are Evil bandit-types.

  Harpies walk with speed 6 and fly with speed 8 (clumsy), which means they mostly fight on the ground when using their claws, or from some high perch when using their ranged special powers. If you want them to be better fliers, removing the Clumsy keyword is a good start.

  Unlike the elves they used to be, harpies have no special ability to see in the dark.

  Harpy

  The classic model is a Level 6 Controller with 71 HP and the common traits listed above. It also has Resist 10 Thunder.

  Harpies fight in melee with their claws, and prefer to do so from the ground since they’re clumsy fliers.

  Their main special ability is the afore-mentioned Alluring Song (Close Burst 10 vs. Will), which can affect any non-deaf enemy in range. A hit pulls the target 3 squares and immobilizes them (save ends). The harpy can use a minor action in subsequent turns to sustain the power and pull anyone who hasn’t saved yet another 3 squares.

  Once their enemies are all nice and bunched up, the harpy can let loose a Deadly Screech (Close Burst 4 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6), which does thunder damage and dazes (save ends).

  Both of the harpy’s damaging attacks are in serious need of a damage boost. This, and removing the Clumsy keyword from their flight speed, should be enough to bring them up to MV standards. The Alluring Song is particularly dangerous in a battlefield full of cliffs or other hazards.

  Bloodfire Harpy

  This one doesn’t bother with nice songs, it just kills you with fire.

  A Bloodfire Harpy is a Level 9 Soldier with 100 HP. It has Resist 10 Fire and sings a Burning Song (aura 20) that slowly boils the blood of anyone in range who can hear it, dealing 5 fire damage at the start of their turns.

  This harpy also fights with claws, which are red-hot and do a mix of physical and fire damage. It can also disgorge a Cloud of Ash (Close Blast 3 vs. Fortitude; recharge 4-6) which does fire damage and blinds (save ends).

  These fiery things could use the same damage boost as the basic model, but they work fine otherwise.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Judging by the sample encounters in the book, harpies tend to keep some fine company:

  • Level 6: 3 harpies, 2 spined devils. They have a lot in common when you think about it.

  • Level 8: 1 bloodfire harpy, 3 gnoll marauders, 2 cacklefiend hyenas. Just a bunch of bros hanging out, doing some light pillaging and burning.

  • Level 8: 2 harpies, 1 sahuagin priest, 3 sahuagin raiders. Better plug your crew’s ears before you get too close to this reef.

  I like harpies! Mythological monsters are always fun, and these ones have some interesting song effects. It’s also not too hard to come up with new varieties, like a skirmisher harpy with better agility and Flyby Attack, or one that can put people to sleep with their song.

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