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• Apr 20, 2020

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

  

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

  Gnolls have been in the game since the beginning or close to it, when they fit in the Humanoid Power Ladder right above hobgoblins and before bugbears. In 4e, they are present in both books.

  The Lore

  Once the Humanoid Power Ladder got dismantled, just being “the 2 HD humanoid” no longer cut it as the gnoll identity. And in Fourth Edition, they are now widely known as the Least Reasonable Humanoids.

  You see, the vast majority of these hyena-faced people your group ends up fighting will be worshippers of the demon lord Yeenoghu, whose teachings can be summed up as “kill and eat everything you see”. Gnoll bands are nomadic and roam around fulfilling that mandate. They never build permanent structures, and even their gear is mostly taken from those they killed. Sometimes they take slaves, but those slaves never last long. Mostly they just kill and eat people. In short, they’re the closest you can get to a demon while still having the natural origin. You can frequently find actual demons in their midst, either summoned by their priests or sent by Yeenoghu to boss them around. Their warriors carry all sorts of demonic boons into battle as well.

  No one else cooperates with gnolls. If you try they’ll eat you, and if you’re strong enough to prevent them from eating you, you don’t need their help in the first place.

  There was a Dragon article with presented playable gnolls who were members of a dissident faction that rejected demon worship. They are fierce and honorable hunters, most often Good or Unaligned, and a lot more likely to cooperate with others. I liked them a lot and I’m sad they never showed up again after that one article.

  The gnolls we’ll be looking at there are the usual “fanatical demon worshipper” variety.

  The Numbers

  Gnolls are Medium Natural Humanoids and typically Chaotic Evil. The gnoll mechanical schtick is that they punch above their weight class. They get a +2 bonus to damage when bloodied, and their signature trait is Pack Attack, which gives a further +5 damage bonus if their target has two or more of the attacker’s allies next to it. Their land speed is 8, making it very hard for innocent civilians to escape from them. And they have low-light vision, to better chase you in the dark.

  Unfortunately their MM incarnations suffer from the same “naturalistic design” variant of the damage bug we saw with foulspawn. It’s less egregious due to their lower level, but it does mean that a bloodied gnoll benefiting from Pack Attack juuust manages to hit the average damage expected by the new math.

  The Monster Vault variants behave like they’re supposed to, with their basic damage hitting the expected average and the add-ons applying on top of that. Don’t let them surround you!

  There’s little overlap between the stat blocks in both books, which leaves us with a lot of gnolls to look at. Fortunately most of them are fairly simple. Let’s mix them all and look at them by level.

  Gnoll Huntmaster (Both)

  Huntmasters are level 5 artillery with 50 HP and all common gnoll traits. They fight in melee with a handaxe, and at range with a longbow. Other than their damage numbers, the two statblocks are identical.

  The common traits are the entirety of huntmaster’s special tricks, which are actually respectable since Pack Attack works with the longbow. The gnoll itself doesn’t have to be adjacent to the target, only its allies!

  Deathpledged Gnoll (MV)

  This Level 5 Brute has 75 HP and all common gnoll traits. It fights with a spear, and generally wants to engage someone and stand its ground to both do damage and give its buddies the benefit of Pack Attack.

  This gnoll is “deathpledged” because when it first hits 0 HP, it goes berserk! It regains 5 HP, gains Resist 15 All, and 1 action point! At the end of its next turn, though, it drops dead. This means it’s going to use that last turn to attack twice if you don’t manage to kill it first. This power is named Claws of Yeenoghu.

  Gnoll Claw Fighter (MM)

  This Level 6 Skirmisher has 70 HP and likes to tear people apart with its bare hands.

  Its basic melee attack is a single claw strike, and it can make two of those when it charges. It can also perform a Mobile Melee Attack that allows it to make a claw strike and move a total of 4 squares at any point in the action, without provoking opportunity attacks when moving away from the target of the attack.

  This gives us a pretty obvious routine: charge one turn, attack and move away on the next. Fix the damage of the gnoll’s claws if you plan on using it, though, it’s really low as printed.

  Gnoll Marauder (MM)

  This Level 6 Brute has 84 HP and all common gnoll traits. It fights with a spear, which makes me think it was an earlier version of the Deathpledged Gnoll above.

  Instead of the Claws of Yeenoghu power, the marauder has Quick Bite, which allows it to make a free-action bite attack against a bloodied enemy it just hit with the spear. This does a bit less damage than the spear, but it’s pretty good for a bonus attack.

  Gnoll Blood Caller (MV)

  Our first spellcaster is a Level 6 Soldier with 70 HP and all common gnoll traits.

  The blood caller fights with its claws, which mark for a turn as an effect. It can follow that up with Blood Call (Close Burst 5 vs. Will), which targets every enemy marked by the gnoll. A hit does psychic damage and pulls the target up to 3 squares. The gnoll itself can shift 3 squares as an effect, too.

  Once the gnoll is bloodied it can use Blood Frenzy as a 1/round minor action. This automatically deals a bit of damage to every enemy in a Close Burst 1 and marks them for a turn. And now you know why Blood Call is an area effect.

  This is another monster that will make up the frontline in a gnoll encounter to provide Pack Attack bonuses, and it has a few tricks to pull the PCs into more favorable positions for that.

  Fang of Yeenoghu (MV)

  This Level 7 Skirmisher (Leader) has 77 HP and all common gnoll traits. It’s another one of those caster-types.

  The Fang of Yeenoghu wields a Cudgel of Bloody Teeth in combat, whose blows also deal ongoing damage (save ends). Its other melee attack is a Relentless Push: the gnoll can shift 2 squares before the attack, which does a bit less damage than the basic cudgel blow and pushes the target 1 square. After this, one of the gnoll’s allies within 5 squares can shift 1 square as a free action. I think this is the most complicated gnoll power I’ve seen so far.

  Its final technique is Howl of the Demon (Close Burst 5; Recharge 6), which allows every ally in the burst to make a free melee basic attack.

  It looks like the Fang’s main concern in a fight will be to position the PCs and its allies so that all of them benefit from Pack Attack, and then let loose the Howl.

  Gnoll Gorger (MV)

  This most psychotic of gnolls is a Level 7 Brute with 96 HP and all common gnoll traits. Its only attack is a bite that does Brute-tier damage, and as a minor action it can Gorge, which means it takes a bite out of an ally. This deals 5 damage to the ally and heals the gorger for 5 HP.

  That’s some real horrific imagery right there.

  Demon-Eye Gnoll (MV)

  This level 7 Lurker has 62 HP and all common traits. Plus, the Abyss leaks out of its eyes.

  This gnoll fights with a Reach 2 glaive, which does extra damage if the target can’t see it. It has a Stare into the Abyss power (Close Burst 3 vs. Will) that dazes and makes the gnoll invisible to the targets for a turn.

  Once bloodied, the Abyss starts leaking through the gnoll’s wounds too, functioning as an Aura 3 that deals psychic damage to those enemies caught within and forces them to make a melee basic attack against an ally if they’re dazed.

  Gnoll Demonic Scourge (MM)

  This Level 8 Brute (Leader) has 106 HP and all common traits. It projects an aura of command that gives a +1 attack bonus to allies within 5 squares, or +2 if the demonic scourge is bloodied.

  It wields a heavy flail in combat, which can knock its targets prone if they’re bloodied. And when it bloodies someone with the flail, an ally can make a free melee basic attack against the target. Once per encounter, the gnoll can grant this free attack to 2 allies instead of 1.

  Gnoll Far Fang (MV)

  This Level 8 Artillery menace has 68 HP and is mostly an up-leveled version of the huntmaster. It has one extra trick: a volley of Hungry Arrows (Area Burst 2 Within 10 vs. AC; Encounter) which does longbow damage plus ongoing damage (save ends).

  Gnoll Pack Lord (MV)

  A Level 8 Controller (Leader) with 90 HP, this seems like a more complex version of the demonic scourge above. It’s also pretty much a lazy warlord.

  Its basic flail attack is nothing special, but it can cast a Demonic Frenzy charm (Ranged 10 vs. Will) that does no damage, but dazes for a turn as an effect. On a hit, it also inflicts a -2 attack penalty and forces the target to make 2 basic attacks against targets of the gnoll’s choice.

  It can also use a power called Feed on the Weak (Area Burst 1 within 5 vs. Will), which does no damage but causes the target to grant combat advantage for a turn and allows an ally in the burst to make an attack as a free action.

  As a minor action, it can use a Pack Cackle (Close Burst 5; recharge 5-6) to allow its allies to shift 2 squares as a free action.

  Gnoll Demon Spawn (MV)

  Our final gnoll is a Level 9 Brute with 120 HP, who is Large but still a Natural Humanoid despite that demonic ancestry. An upgraded version of the Gorger, it fights with its claws and can take a bite out of its enemies to heal itself. This is a minor action, and requires an attack roll since no PC is just going to stand there and let it happen.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  I’m not going to detail the MM encounters here, as this post is already too long. You can guess what they look like: groups of assorted gnolls, with the occasional pack of hyenas and evistro demons thrown in. As I said above, no one else can work with these maniacs.

  When it comes to humanoids and other “sapient, natural” opposition, I don’t mind if the specific group the PCs are fighting is villainous. However it does bother me a bit when the game seems to say every single member of the species is similarly evil. That solitary Dragon article could have opened the way for a setting where your typical gnoll is a person and not necessarily hostile, with the ones you fight being those individuals who chose an evil path (much like the game treats humans). Instead, it was never officially built upon and in fact 5e went in the other direction and made gnolls into basically another type of demon.

  Anyway, these stat blocks make for mechanically interesting enemies and we have enough of them to build entire dungeons with nothing but gnolls as the opposition. Do grab that Dragon article if you can, I remember the playable version was also quite good.

• Apr 19, 2020

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

  

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

  Githzerai were introduced into the game right alongside githyanki. They’re the other side of the gith coin, the ninjas opposing the pirates. In the books we’re covering, they only appear in the Monster Manual, but would also feature as a playable character option in the Player’s Handbook 3.

  The Lore

  Githzerai are an austere and contemplative people who follow a philosophy that espouses discipline and mastery of the self. It might seem weird that they chose to make their home in the Elemental Chaos, but they see withstanding the turbulent nature of that plane as an important step on the road to enlightenment.

  Githzerai live in monasteries spread through the Elemental Chaos, where they dedicate themselves to studying a martial arts style with a strong psionic component. They use these arts to both defend themselves and to hunt down their enemies - mainly mind flayers, which they understandably still hate.

  Unlike the githyanki, the githzerai aren’t out to conquer the multiverse. They’ll usually keep to themselves unless someone makes an effort to rile them up. Like any other people they can produce their share of villains and heroes, though.

  The largest known githzerai settlement is Zerthladun, a large city with many open fields and markets. It’s one of the few famous spots of order and tranquility in the Elemental Chaos and probably one of the nicest given that the list includes the City of Brass.

  The Numbers

  As far as 4e is concerned, githzerai were monks before it was cool. Speculation about what the Monk class was going to be like started almost as soon as the first PHB hit the shelves. A lot of players speculated about a “Ki” power source, and IIRC the designers themselves began thinking in those terms, but they soon realized writing up Orientalism as a power source was a bad move.

  In the end, monks became psionic strikers and were published in the PHB 3 alongside playable githzerai. I imagine the stat blocks we’re about to see might have inspired that decision to some degree.

  As far as common traits go, githzerai are Medium Natural Humanoids, and are faster on their feet than githyanki at Speed 7. They have a power named Iron Mind, which allows them to gain +2 defense against an attack as an interrupt once per encounter. This will be used to turn an attack that hit by 2 or less into a miss.

  Githzerai Cenobite

  Cenobites are Level 11 Soldiers with 108 HP, representing the typical martial artists PCs might meet. Rather than the mobile skirmishers you’d expect monks to be, they’re the kind of fighter who stands their ground and chases the foe down.

  They fight unarmed, and their fists are supposed to cause level-appropriate damage. Instead of a basic strike they can use an at-will Stunning Fist, which does a little less damage than the strike but stuns for a turn.

  When an enemy shifts away using a movement mode the cenobite also has (i.e, feet), the cenobite can shift to remain adjacent to them. That means a flying or teleporting enemy is safe from this.

  Their final technique is Trace Chance (Ranged 5; Recharge 6), which hits automatically and causes the next melee attack made against the target to get a +5 to-hit bonus and be turned into a critical if it connects. Note that this attack doesn’t have to be from the cenobite!

  Githzerai Zerth

  The counterparth to the githyanki gish, this represents an individual who balances martial and psychic training. It’s a Level 13 Elite Controller with 248 HP.

  Like the cenobite above, the zerth fights unarmed, with the same basic strike and Trace Chance abilities. Its main ranged attack is Inner Spark (Ranged 5 vs. Reflex), which does lignthning damage and teleports the target 5 squares to an unnocupied space of the zerth’s choosing.

  Further teleport shenanigans are possible with Reorder Chaos (Ranged sight vs. Fortitude), which targets up to 4 creatures and swaps their positions as the zerth sees fit.

  Once per encounter the zerth can let loose with Psychic Fists (Close Burst 5 vs. Will; enemies only) for some psychic damage. And in addition to Iron Mind, it also has a technique named Avenging Wind that triggers as an interrupt when the zerth is targeted with a ranged attack. This redirects the attack to another creature of its choice within 5 squares, and allows the zerth to teleport up to 10 squares to become adjacent to the attacker.

  In addition to fixing the zerth’s damage, I’d probably also give it the ability to punch twice in an action, since it’s an elite.

  Githzerai Mindmage

  Mindmages put more emphasis on their mental training, though they can still punch hard. They’re level 14 Artillery with 105 HP.

  As mentioned above, their basic melee attack is an unarmed strike. Their main ranged attack is the Mindstrike (Ranged 20 vs. Reflex), which does psychic damage and dazes (save ends). Its other options include a Concussion Orb (Area Burst 2 within 10 vs. Fortitude) that does physical damage and knocks prone, and a series of Elemental Bolts (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex). Those allow up to 3 attacks against different targets each of which can do one of fire, lightning, cold or acid damage at the mindmage’s choice.

  Concussion Orb is an encounter power and Elemental Bolts is daily. I don’t think that makes much difference for a monster, honestly.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  We have two:

  • Level 12: 3 cenobites, a guardian naga, and a firelasher elemental. I’m sure there’s an interesting story about this one.

  • Level 14: 1 mindmage, 1 zerth, and 4 cenobites. Ninja death squad!

  I really like these guys. They contrast with githyanki in an interesting way, being approachable in a way their estranged siblings aren’t. I think it would also be really cool for them to be the originators of the monk’s mystical traditions in the setting.

  5e would make them more morally ambiguous, saying they don’t mind let innocents come to harm if it allows them to strike at the mind flayers or githyanki, but I like them best as an Unaligned people that can produce heroic PCs or dastardly villains in the same vein as the humans or elves. “Neutral” shouldn’t mean you do equal amounts of good and evil.

• Apr 16, 2020

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

  

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

  Githyanki are another one of those D&D monsters who surpass the “classic” and hit the “iconic”. They originally appeared in the AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio, and were the creation of Charles Stross, who today is an award-winning science fiction author. Here, they’re present in both books.

  Judging by the other RPG.net Let’s Reads that are running at the same time as this one, it seems like 3.x would spill a lot of ink creating other weird extraplanar people in an attempt to make the “next githyanki”, mostly without success. 5e would instead attempt to add new lore to them, with what I feel are mixed results.

  The Lore

  A very long time ago, or possibly a very long time in the future, the mind flayers had a huge empire. This empire was built on the back of slaves. More specifically, it was built on the back of the gith, a species broadly similar to humanity.

  The gith eventually rose up and gained their freedom by using the tools of their tentacly oppressors: psychic powers! Once they didn’t have a common enemy to unite against, the internal tensions of the gith began building up and eventually exploded. The resulting conflict divided the gith into two people with radically different philosophies: the xenophobic and militaristic githyanki, and the contemplative and isolationist githzerai. We’ll focus on the first here.

  The githyanki migrated en masse to the Astral Sea and built their capital city of Tu’narath on the corpse of a dead god. From there their astral ships sail on piratical voyages, to juicy targets in the Astral Sea, the world, and perhaps beyond.

  Each ship captain has full discretion on which targets to pick and on how to run their ship, but all ultimately answer to their lich queen Vlaakith, the supreme ruler of the githyanki. A githyanki attack might be a simple raid, but it might also be part of a more complex plan of their queen.

  Aside from piracy, those astral ships also seek to find more of those gigantic astral entity corpses and other such debris on which to build more cities and expand their empire.

  The preferred combat style of the githyanki mixes swordplay and psychic powers. They wield psionically enchanted silver blades and use telekinesis to perform impossible leaps and to attack at range with energy blasts. Their initial publication back in the 1st Edition days probably did a lot to popularize this “sword & spell warrior” archetype, which is often nicknamed “gish” in reference to them and is represented by the swordmage class in 4e.

  Githyanki sometimes associate with red dragons, likely because both respect martial prowess and have a hankerin’ for plundered treasure.

  The Numbers

  Despite living in the Astral Sea, githyanki are Medium Natural Humanoids since they originated in the world. Their usual speed is 6 but armor may reduce that, as for PCs.

  All githyanki combatants wield a silver sword of some sort, which usually does psychic damage. They can also perform a Telekinetic Leap as a move action once per encounter, allowing themselves or an ally within 10 squares to fly 5 squares.

  Their other psychic powers vary with each individual stat block. The MM versions also have a +2 to saves against charm effects (meaning “powers with the Charm keyword”), which is absent from the MV version.

  Githyanki Warrior (Both)

  The basic model is a Level 12 Soldier with 118 HP, who wears plate and wields a silver greatsword. Warriors likely make up the bulk of the crew on those pirate ships, which would explain why they’re such a terror. The MV version is the best of the two, so we’ĺl start with that and note the differences later.

  That silver greatsword does psychic damage on a hit, and does bonus damage against immobilized targets. As an effect, these basic attacks apply a double-strenght mark against the target for a turn. This means the target gets a -4 penalty to attack enemies other than the marking warrior instead of the usual -2. I believe these are the only monsters to do so.

  Warriors can also use a Telekinetic Grasp (Ranged 5 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6) against Medium or smaller targets, doing no damage but immobilizing them (save ends). Multiple warriors will know to split the tasks of immobilizing the PCs and hitting them with the sword for that damage bonus.

  The MV version is similar, but doesn’t mark with its attacks and the sword does physical damage (the bonus damage is still psychic).

  Githyanki Mindslicer (Both)

  This one focuses more on its powers than on its sword. It’s level 13 Artillery with 98 HP. Again we start with the better MV version and note the differences later.

  The mindslicer’s weapon of choice is a silver longsword, which does psychic damage as usual. It has two ranged options. Mindslice (Ranged 10 vs. Will) does psychic damage at range. The Psychic Barrage (Area Burst 1 within 20 vs. Will; Recharge 6) spreads that over a wider area and adds a couple of nasty riders: ongoing psychic damage and an inability to use daily or encounter powers (save ends both).

  Githyanki Raider (MV)

  This lightly-armored combatant is a Level 13 Skirmisher with 126 HP. Its silver longsword deals psychic damage as usual, and it can shift 2 squares as an effect when it attacks with the blade.

  Once per encounter the raider can Slash and Dash, making an attack against one creature, shifting up to its speed, and attacking another target. Each of those does double the damage of a basic attack, half on a miss. As a move action, it can shift up to 2 squares.

  Githyanki Legionnaire (MV)

  A Level 13 Minion Soldier which makes me thing I was wrong when I said the Warrior above made up the bulk of their crews. This is basically a Minion version of the warrior, down to its power selection and bonus damage against immobilized targets.

  Githyanki Gish (MM)

  This amusingly named fellow is a Level 15 Elite Skirmisher that might represent a ship captain or officer. It has 226 HP, wears mail and wields a silver longsword.

  The basic attack is nothing special, dealing psychic damage with no riders. The gish can make two of those per action. It can also shoot Force Bolts (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex; recharge 6) for a bit of ranged force damage. Once per encounter it can fire off a Storm of Stars, performing four attacks (Ranged 5 vs. AC) and dealing fire damage on those it hits.

  The usual Telekinetic Leap is replaced by Astral Stride, an at-will move action that allows the gish to teleport 6 squares and gain both insubstantial and phasing for a turn. Yikes, I can see why this one didn’t make it into the MV. It’s a bit too annoyingly hard to pin down.

  Sample Encounters

  The MM gives us three:

  • Level 12: 3 githyanki warriors and 2 redspawn firebelchers. Add them to the list of people who do dragonspawn ranching.

  • Level 13: 4 warriors and 2 mindslicers. Your standard pirate squad.

  • Level 15: 3 warriors, 1 mindslicer, 1 gish and 1 nightmare. A captain and their bodyguards plus a mount.

  Replacing the nightmare in that third one with an adult red dragon turns it into a level 19 encounter. Using a reskinned chimera instead makes it level 17. Y’know, just in case you want to have some fun with your players.

  Final Impressions

  Githyanki are pirates who fight like Jedi, which makes them awesome in my book! A campaign centered on planar travel is well-served by their addition. Even if that’s not a major theme, a sudden githyanki raid can make a nice random encounter, or an unwelcome complication for an otherwise unrelated crisis.

• Apr 13, 2020

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

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

  Gibbering beasts used to be several different monster entries that originally appeared throughout AD&D and 3.x in different places. Here they were quite sensibly collected together. They appear only on the Monster Manual, but received an MV-style update in Dungeon #192, so we’ll look at them there too.

  The Lore

  A gibbering beast is a slimy, amorphous, oozelike creature covered in eyes and mouths. And eyes with mouths. And mouths with eyes. And eyes inside mouths. And is that a bunch of teeth just kinda sprouting from that quivering protuberance?

  They crawl or float around, looking every which way with their eyes and constantly spouting nonsense from their mouths, which they also use to attack and eat other creatures. The nonsense can be just as dangerous as the bites, as it warps the minds of those who hear it and makes them easy prey for the beast.

  The lesser varieties of gibbering beast spontaneously generate when something dies in places touched by the influence of the Far Realm, which causes the corpse’s face to detach and become a newborn beast. Over time they can grow and become both smarter and more powerful. Sometimes the strongest varieties travel directly from the Far Realm to the world, bent on enacting some insane scheme of their own.

  The Numbers

  Gibbering beasts are Aberrant Magical Beasts, and they all have All-Around Vision and Darkvision. Creatures with All-Around Vision can’t be flanked, which makes it a lot harder to get combat advantage against them.

  Their other signature trait is their incessant Gibbering, a free action that happens at the start of their turns: Close Burst 5 vs. Will, a hit dazes the targets for a turn. Deafened creatures are immune to this.

  All Gibbering Beasts are Unaligned, which is very appropriate for truly alien aberrant entities.

  Gibbering Mouther

  

  The weakest and most classic among these entries, the gibbering mouther is Medium and a Level 10 Controller with 110 HP. It moves at speed 5 on land, and can swim at the same speed. Its mere presence warps the space around it, which works as an Aura 3 that acts as difficult terrain against enemies.

  The mouther’s basic attack is a bite that deals physical damage and ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends). Its Gibbering works as described above, and opens the way for Gibbering Feast (Close Burst 5), a power which causes unnatural mouths to appear on any dazed creatures in the area and perform a basic bite attack against them. Now that’s an aberrant creature! “Your left hand grows a mouth and tries to eat your face” is top-notch horror imagery.

  Gibbering mouthers have Int 4, and are sapient enough to work with other aberrant or even non-aberrant creatures if they see advantage in doing so. The Dungeon update is identical aside from the fixed damage numbers and the lack of the Gibbering Feast’s colorful description.

  Gibbering Abomination

  

  A bigger mouther. It’s still Medium, but it’s a Level 18 Controller with 168 HP. It’s faster and trades some buoyancy for flight, with a land speed of 6 and a flight speed of 4 (hover, maximum altitude 1).

  Its Unnatural Utterances work as an Aura 5 that inflicts a -2 attack penalty on any enemies caught within. They periodically increase in intensity to perform the standard Gibbering attack.

  The abomination’s basic attack is a Reach 2 Tentacle that does immediate physical and ongoing psychic damage (save ends). It can also stare at you really hard with the Eye of Despair (Ranged 10 vs. Will; Recharge 3-6), which does psychic damage and immobilizes (save ends).

  The gibbering abomination does extra “sneak attack” damage against creatures it has combat advantage against, but it sadly lacks an extra-creepy ability like Gibbering Feast. It does have Int 11, meaning it will make more complex (though no less insane) plans than the mouther. The Dungeon update simply fixes its damage totals.

  Gibbering Orb

  

  This Huge Level 27 Solo Controller has 1230 HP and has arrived directly from the Far Realm to do Cthulhu-knows-what. With its Int 17, it’s capable of hatching elaborate schemes. Given that it has a whole suite of eye rays, it might give you an idea of what beholders were like before migrating to the world and being mutated by the trip. It flies at speed 8 (hover).

  The orb’s Merciless Eyes work like an Aura 5; anyone who starts their turn inside and visible gets targetted by a random eye ray.

  The orb’s basic bite attack does damage and causes the mouth that made it to detach and automatically attack the target again at the start of the orb’s subsequent turns! This lasts until the mouth misses with an attack, at which point it falls off and rots.

  The Gibbering works as for the other monsters, but is a Close Burst 10.

  The orb can also spend its standard action to make two different eye ray attacks in addition to any automatic ones from Merciless Eyes. The orb can choose which rays it uses when it does this, from the following selection:

  1. Mindcarving: Ranged 10 vs. Will; psychic damage and daze (save ends).
  2. Fleshtearing: Ranged 10 vs. Fort; necrotic damage and ongoing necrotic damage (save ends).
  3. Bonewarping: Ranged 10 vs. Fort; physical damage and weakness (save ends).
  4. Bloodfeasting: Ranged 10 vs. Reflex; physical damage and ongoing physical damave (save ends).
  5. Farsending: Ranged 10 vs. Reflex; transported to the Far Realm for a turn; on return, takes psychic damage and suffers a -5 penalty to attacks until the end of the encounter.
  6. Souleating: Ranged 10 vs. Will; slows (save ends); worsens to immobilization on first failed save; target dies on second failed save.

  That’s a pretty fearsome selection, and the names do a lot to evoke that body horror feeling. It’s less varied than the rays available to a Beholder Eye Tyrant, but every ray does damage, there’s two different ongoing damage effects that can stack with each other and a daze to catch people the Gibbering misses.

  The farsending ray is also pretty brutal, since it instantly removes a character from play for the whole next turn and saddles then with a long-lasting attack penalty. Not quite as bad as death, but worse than a stun effect. And of course there’s a gradual death effect.

  Gibbering Orbs are boss battle material for a level 23 or 24 party, and with a bit of leveling could be promoted to the “campaign end boss” role as one of those Outer Gods that orbit Azathoth or the equivalent.

  The Dungeon update reduces their HP to 984, and the radius of its Gibbering to the standard 5 squares. It also fixes its damage, increasing it considerably.

  Sample Encounters

  Gibbering beasts go well with any other aberrant or aberrant-adjacent creature (like cultists and such). Even the gibbering mouther knows the value of cooperation, and they certainly might be bullied into service by more powerful monsters.

  Unlike the other, lesser beasts, gibbering orbs prefer to work alone and don’t seek out alliances. However, their presence generates spontaneous phenomena and attracts creatures that end up effectively acting as its heralds and harbingers.

  The sample encounters in the book are:

  • Level 10: 2 gibbering mouthers, 1 foulspawn seer, 2 foulspawn berserkers, and 1 chuul.

  • Level 18: 1 gibbering abomination, 2 nabassu gargoyles, 1 aboleth lasher and 2 kuo-toa guards.

  Final Impressions

  One constant theme in the comments I’ve been getting in these entries are that few of the aberrant monsters seen so far seem worthy of that origin, being far less alien than what someone would expect from the Far Realm.

  I feel that if there’s one family of monsters worthy of the “Aberrant” title, it’s the gibbering beasts. The Gibbering Orb is awesome in that role, and the “basic” Gibbering Mouther is actually better at evoking horror than the abomination, with its “your body grows mouths and tries to eat itself” attack.

• Apr 10, 2020

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

  

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

  Storm giants are another classic giant type, present since at least the days of AD&D. In Fourth Edition they seem to have been merged with cloud giants, which used to be quite close in power to them and differed mostly on alignment. Both seem to have been inspired by the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk. They’re present only in the MM.

  The Lore

  Back at the dawn of time, storm titans and giants were the favored servants of the primordials, and were given command over the rest of their kind. In the present day there’s no unified giant society for them to rule, but storm giants are still closer to what they were at the height of their power than the other giants. They’re as much at home underwater or flying through the sky as they are on land.

  I imagine that, unlike the other classic giants, these don’t usually raid or invade nearby mortal settlements. The domains of a storm giant would already be well-established and be located very far away from any “mundane” locations. That’s not to say they’re pleasant places for anyone but the giants themselves, at least not necessarily.

  Storm giants build (or command their servants to build) marvelous castles in places mortals can’t usually reach, like the bottom of the sea or islands floating above the clouds. They might settle for the top of a tall mountain if they want to slum it. In these lordly palaces they keep all sorts of fantastical treasures.

  When storm giants feel a need to make war, they summon enormous storms upon which their armies ride to battle. These are known as Harbinger Storms, and are likely one of the most sure omens that whoever they rain upon is fucked.

  The Numbers

  Storm giants and titans are Large and Huge Elemental Humanoids, respectively. They have the Aquatic and Giant keywords. They have resistance to lightning and thunder, along with both swim and fly speeds. They also have command of lightning and storms, being surrounded by mini-storms in combat.

  These giants are quite sophisticated and intelligent, having a typical Int of 14. The ones presented here are Evil as befits the beanstalk giant, though you could certainly make a case for less nasty individuals in your stories.

  Storm Giant

  This is a Level 24 Controller with 228 HP. Its elemental resistances are set to 15; it runs and swims at speed 8, and flies at speed 10. In combat it surrounds itself with a small storm that acts as an Aura 2, inflicting 10 lightning and thunder damage to anyone caught inside, and preventing them from flying unless they’re other storm giants/titans.

  The storm giant wields a Crackling Greatsword in combat (Reach 2 vs. AC) which does a mix of physical and lightning damage. The giant can sweep the sword in a wide arc (Close Burst 2 vs. AC; Recharge 6), damaging everyone it hits. It can also hurl thunderbolts (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex) for lightning and thunder damage. In addition to doing damage, they also push the target 3 squares and daze them (save ends) on a hit.

  Finally, it can temporarily intensify its storm aura into a burst of Howling Winds (Close Burst 4 vs. Fortidude; Recharge 5-6) which does thunder damage, pushes 4 squares, and knocks prone on a hit. On a miss, this still does half damage and pushes 1 square.

  Storm Titan

  The Storm Titan is a Level 27 Elite Controller with 506 HP, and is basically a beefed-up storm giant in all respects. Its Huge in size, with the same movement speeds and modes. Its resistances are doubled to 30 as is the radius of its storm aura.

  The titan has exact the same attacks as the giant, with melee Reach 3 where appropriate and increased accuracy and damage based on level. As an elite monster it can also perform two greatsword attacks per action.

  Sample Encounter and Final Impressions

  The MM gives us one sample encounter: Level 27, 1 storm titan, 1 thunderblast cyclone elemental, 2 storm gorgons. You can likely expect similarly themed elementals and blue dragons to make up the retinues of other storm giants and titans.

  I like them, particularly due to the Jack and the Beanstalk associations. I don’t mind losing cloud giants in the conversion to 4e. It seems fitting that the giant you find atop the cloud is the one that wants to grind your bones for seasoning, not invite you to dinner. And if you really want to you could bring the good sky giants back using these same stats.

  I also don’t mind that the storm giant and titan share similar abilities - conceptually, their set is fairly solid. The main problem here is that both suffer from the fairly severe form of the damage bug that afflicts epic-level creatures. You should definitely fix that before using them in your adventures.

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