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  • Oct 19, 2019

    Dungeon Fantasy Character: Broken Jar, Catfolk Martial Artist

    Illustration by Bulat Iraliev (source)

    Broken Jar was abandoned at the gates of a far-off monastery when he was a baby, and was raised by monks his whole life. This particular monastery sends its initiates out as mendicants once their basic training is completed, with the intent that they return humbler and wiser after a while.

    So it was with Broken Jar, who gladly started his journey. He met many of his fellow monks who were on their way back, having judged they saw enough of the world. He himself never quite got to that point. He always looked to the next hill and longed to see what lay beyond it. New places to see, new people to meet, new villains to punch. And so Broken Jar kept wandering.

    Truth be told, he’s not quite sure how he got here. This place is so different from the lands of his childhood that he doesn’t think he could have gotten here with just a few weeks of hiking. Is he even in the same continent? The same world? Finding the answer to that is sure to be fun, and in the meantime there’s so much more to see around here! This wanderer is in absolutely no rush to go back home.

    Broken Jar’s specialty is fighting unarmed, or with a staff. As he is now, his damage falls short of what a Weapon Master Knight can manage, but he does have plenty of interesting tricks to use and can do cutting damage with while unarmed thanks to his claws. Earned points should likely go towards increased combat skills and power-ups that add to his unarmed damage.

    The catfolk racial template I used for him is more similar to the one I wrote up for Elder Scrolls Khajit than the one in DF: Adventurers, which is really quite “busy” and burnened by typical “cat” psychological disadvantages that don’t really fit this particular character.

    Broken Jar, 250-Point Catfolk Martial Artist

    ST 11 {10}; DX 16 {120}; IQ 10 {0}; HT 12 {20}

    Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 12.1kg; HP 11; Will 11 {5}; Per 10; FP 12; Basic Speed 7.00; Basic Move 8 {5}.

    Advantages

    • Catfall {10}
    • Combat Reflexes {15}
    • Chi Talent 2 {30}
    • Night Vision 8 {8}
    • Sharp Claws {5}
    • Sharp Teeth {1}
    • Temperature Tolerance 1 (Cold) {1}
    • Trained by a Master {30}

    Disadvantages

    • Disciplines of Faith (Chi Rituals) {-10}
    • Wealth (Poor) {-15}
    • Social Stigma (Minority Group) {-10}
    • Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
    • Curious (12) {-5}
    • Selfless (12) {-5}

    Quirks

    • Foreign accent from no known region {-1}
    • Quirk-level Gluttony {-1}
    • Big-boned, not obese {-1}
    • Shouts like Bruce Lee when fighting {-1}
    • Moves in a very relaxed way out of combat {-1}

    Skills

    • Acrobatics (H) DX-1 {2} - 15
    • Climbing (A) DX-1 {1} - 15
    • First Aid (E) IQ {1} - 10
    • Judo (H) DX {4} - 16
    • Jumping (E) DX {1} - 16
    • Karate (H) DX {8} - 17
    • Meditation (H) Will-1 {2} - 10
    • Observation (A) Per-1 {1} - 9
    • Panhandling (E) IQ {1} - 10
    • Sling (H) DX-2 {1} - 14
    • Staff (H) DX {4} - 16
    • Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 15
    • Tactics (H) IQ {4} - 10

    Special Skills

    All include +2 from Chi Talent

    • Breath Control (A) HT+2 {2} - 13
    • Immovable Stance (H) DX+1 {2} - 17
    • Light Walk (H) DX+1 {2} - 17
    • Mental Strength (E) Will+3 {2} - 14
    • Parry Missile Weapons (H) DX+1 {2} - 17
    • Push (H) DX+1 {2} - 17
    • Throwing Art (H) DX+1 {2} - 17

    Loadout

    • Ordinary Clothing [Torso, Limbs]: Free, 1kg.
    • Quarterstaff: Damage sw+2 or thr+2 cr, Reach 1,2. $10, 2kg.
    • Heavy leather hand wraps [Hands]: Claw-adapted. DR 2. $15, 0.6kg.
    • Heavy leather boots [Feet]: Claw-adapted. DR 2. $52, 2.1kg.
    • Padded Robes [Body]: DR 1. $53, 3.1kg.
    • Pouch: Holds 1.5kg of small items. $10, 0.1kg.
      • Personal basics: $5, 0.5kg.
      • $35 in coin (1 silver, 15 copper).
    • Boomerang: Damage sw cr; Acc 2; Range x6/x10. $20, 0.5kg.

    Combat

    No Encumbrance!

    • Defenses

      • Dodge: 11
      • Parry:
        • Karate: 12F
        • Judo: 12F
        • Staff: 14
      • DR:
        • Hands/Feet: 2
        • Body: 1
      • Control:
        • 1: -2
        • 5: -4
        • 11: -6
        • 16: -8
        • 22: -12

    • Attacks

      • Judo Grapple (16): 1d-1 cr; Reach C.
      • Karate Strike (17): Reach C.
        • Punch: 1d+1 cr.
        • Claw: 1d cut.
      • Karate Kick (15): Reach C, 1. Roll DX to avoid falling on a miss.
        • Boots: 1d+2 cr.
        • Claws: 1d+1 cut.
      • Staff (16): 1d+3 cr (swing) or 1d+1 cr (thrust). Reach 1,2.
      • Thrown Boomerang (17): 1d+3 cr; Acc 2; Range 78/130.
  • Oct 16, 2019

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

    Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

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

    Every time you kill a demon, its soul is sent screaming back to the Abyss, where it will eventually reincarnate as a new demon. However, sometimes the process goes wrong, and a bunch of demon souls bump into each other on the way to the Abyss and fuse into a big clump. This katamari of evil can’t reincarnate properly, and instead rises as an undead demon. And this is how immoliths are made!

    Immoliths look like pillars of fire topped by a demonic skull. Many different skeletal limbs emerge from their flames, likely belonging to the original demons that make it up. As undead demons, their hate of the living is double-plus-big, and they’re as likely to be found alongside powerful undead like liches and vampires as they are with other demons. They’re only statted up in the Monster Manual.

    Immoliths are Large Elemental Magical Beasts (demon, fire, undead), and Level 15 Controllers with 153 HP and defenses a point or two lower than what you’d expect. Interestingly, they lack darkvision, but I imagine that’s not needed when you’re walking bonfire.

    Immoliths are immune to fire, disease and poison. They have Variable Resistance 15 (switchable once per encounter), and Radiant Vulnerability 10. The intense heat emanating from their bodies works as an Aura 1 that deals 10 fire damage to anyone starting their turns within it.

    Their basic attack is a Reach 4 claw that does both immediate and ongoing fire damage. Instead of that they can use a Fiery Grab against Large or smaller targets. This combines the claw attack with a grab that pulls the victim adjacent to the immolith (and into its aura). The demon can grab up to five creatures this way, and while they’re grabbed they lose any resistance they have to fire. Did you think you were safe just because you were a tiefling, fire genasi or fire sorcerer?

    As a minor action, the immolith can inflict a Deathfire Curse on someone as a Ranged 10 attack that targets Will. On a hit the target is slowed (save ends), and after they save from that they’ll take ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).

    Also as a minor action, though only once per round, it can restore 5 HP to all undead in a Close Burst 5, including itself.

    It’s not inconceivable that one of these could have the entire party grabbed and taking ongoing fire damage from their aura. People who try to run would be slowed by the Deathfire Curse, and likely by the immolith’s buddies.

    The sample encounter is level 14: one immolith, 2 vrocks, 4 mezzodemons, and 6 horde ghouls. Since it appears both mezzodemons and vrocks have means to limit a character’s mobility, my analysis above checks out.

  • Oct 14, 2019

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

    Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

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

    Hezrou a relative rarity among demons in that they like to serve. Whether their master is a stronger demon or a mortal summoner, they will happily obey orders as long as they’re given opportunities to kill things.

    Hezrou are Large Elemental Humanoids (demons). Their muscular frames are all hunched over, they have the heads of toads, and their skins are eternally covered in putrescent slime. In fact, judging from the illustration in the books the very flesh of the hezrou is eternally rotting, exposing bone in places, even though they’re not undead.

    Hezrou exist in both books. We’ll take a look at them separately.

    Hezrou (Monster Manual)

    Monster Manual Hezrou are Level 22 Brutes with 225 HP, darkvision, and variable resistance 20 that can be switched twice per encounter. Their noxious stench manifests as an Aura 2 that gives all enemies inside it a -2 penalty to attacks. If the demon is bloodied, enemies in the aura are also weakened (ruptured internal pus pockets!). They run with Speed 6.

    Their basic attack is a Reach 2 slam, but they also have a slightly less damaging Reach 2 bite and the ability to use both as a standard action, which brings their damage in line with the expected for their level like we’ve seen with other multi-attacking regular brutes. These demons also ignore difficult terrain, seeming to phase through it despite being otherwise solid.

    They’re trained in Stealth and quite agile, so they could end up being quite sneaky… if you can’t smell them coming first.

    The proposed encounter is level 22, two hezrou, a deathpriest hierophant, and 5 abyssal ghoul myrmidons. Servants of Orcus, basicaly, with the hierophant calling the shots.

    Hezrou (Monster Vault)

    The MV Hezrou shares many of the traits of its MM cousin, with a few important differences. It’s slightly tougher at 254 HP, and a lot stinkier. Its stench does 10 poison damage to enemies caught in the area instead of merely inflicting a penalty, and this rises to 20 damage when the thing is bloodied.

    Its basic attack is still a slam, which is entirely responsible for its baseline damage now. The bite is still there as a Recharge 4-6 attack that does about 50% more damage than the slam.

    The MV Hezrou also loses its Stealth training.

    Final Impressions

    Hezrou might not be the most badass demons around, but they sure have a lot of character. “Stinky toad demon who is happy with its lot in life as a goon” is enough to make it memorable in a whole plane of creatures that smoulder with generic rage.

  • Oct 14, 2019

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

    Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

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

    A Goristro is basically a bigger, furrier, and spikier version of the Bull Demon from classic Doom. They’re described in the Monster Manual as “living siege engines”, and as Baphomet’s favorite demon type. They’re not on the Monster Vault.

    Goristros are Huge Elemental Humanoids (demons), which means they have huge guts. “Humanoid” is even kinda applicable if you ignore the digitigrade legs ending in hooves. They have darkvision and variable resistance 20 switchable two times per encounter. With Int 6, they behave pretty much in the stereotypical demon fashion, being all about charging things until they’re paste.

    A typical Goristro is a Level 19 Elite Brute with 450 HP. Its basic attack is a Reach 3 Slam, of which it can make two per standard action. Its Goring Charges do increased damage when compared to the basic slam, also pushing the target and knocking them prone on a hit.

    It other powers are immediate reactions. Goristro Stomp triggers whenever a non-adjacent enemy moves adjacent to the demon and recharges on a 4-6. The name at first made me think it was an area effect shockwave, but it’s actually a single-target attack that does about 1.5 times as much damage as a basic slam!

    When bloodied, the demon gains access to Raging Frenzy, its other reaction power. Whenever someone attacks it in melee, it makes a basic attack against that enemy.

    So goristros charge anything they want to destroy, and keep distributing slams and stomps while ignoring their own safety. Since they want to destroy everything and everyone, they’re never not charging and slamming. Rip and tear!

    The sample encounter is level 18 and has one goristro, two savage minotaurs and 3 abyssal ghouls. The ghouls are kind of Orcus’ thing, but the presence of the minotaurs as the possible summoners would indicate this is a Baphomet operation.

    Final Impressions

    A goristro is a demon’s demon, which is to say it’s a near-mindless rage machine. By themselves they’re kinda boring. You should place them alongside whoemever summoned them, or alongside more interesting demons if the party is taking the fight to the Abyss for some reason.

  • Oct 11, 2019

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

    Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

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

    Fourth Edition demons are not at all fond of subtlety or complicated schemes, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid. I mean, it very often does, but not always. Take the glabrezu, for example: it has Int 24, making it by far the smartest demon we’ve yet seen. It’s present only on the Monster Manual.

    Glabrezus are Huge Elemental Humanoids (demons), which might be yet another example of mistyping because they’re less humanoid than evistros, and those are magical beasts. They have digitigrade chicken legs, fanged goat heads with no lips, hides that menace with spikes, and four arms: two humanoid and human-sized ones growing out of their ribs, and two huge crab claws growing out of the usual shoulder positions.

    These physical features make it seem like they’d be pretty powerful physical combatants, and well, they are. But they’re also some of demonkind’s premier spellcasters. Their combat tactics aren’t what you’re expect of a wizard, since they charge right into the fray instead of staying behind a line of guards.

    Being smarter than the average demon, a glabrezu is partial to slightly more complex strategies for spreading chaos and destruction. The book says it sows discord among its own allies, and goads them to ever-greater acts of depravity and violence. That doesn’t sound very different from what other demons do, so I’m guessing the noteworthy thing here is that it will do this to whatever group summons it.

    Other demons would just resentfully growl at their binders and strain to break free, but a glabrezu will act like he’s enjoying the opportunity to work with such distinguished masters while spreading ugly rumors among their underlings and posting fake news on Facebook. As long as it all ends in flames and tears, they’ll have fun.

    Mechanically, Glabrezus are Level 23 Elite Brutes with 520 HP. They’re trained in Perception, Arcana, Bluff and Intimidate, and probably know quite a few rituals for use out of combat. They have variable resistance 20, and can switch it up 3 times per encounter. Their land and fly speed are both 8.

    Being an epic-level MM1 monster, all of their attacks suffer heavily from the damage bug and require fixing. The basic attack is a pincer claw that has Reach 3 (standard for a Huge monster). The demon can make two such attacks per turn, and if both hit the same target they automatically grab it. No other powers specifically target a grabbed victim, but the grab does ensure they’re always in the area of effect for the demon’s spells. There’s three of them and they’re all minor actions:

    Abyssal Bolt is an at-will ranged attack with range 10, targeting Reflex and doing untyped damage. It’s Plan B, basically: when the glabrezu is bloodied it will retreat behind its minions and rain abyssal bolts down on the party.

    Blasphemous Word is an encounter power that targets enemies in a close burst 5. It attacks Will, does psychic damage, and dazes for a turn.

    Word of Chaos is another selective Close Burst 5, but it recharges on a 6. It targets Fortitude and does untyped damage that bypasses all resistances. That last bit is unlikely to come up since very few things give characters resistance to untyped damage, but it will be useful if the PCs do have access to those things. And hey, it’s minor-action area damage!

    When the Glabrezu is first bloodied, it will use Arcane Fury: this triggered free action allows it to teleport up to 8 squares, recharge Blasphemous Word and Word of Chaos, and use either one of them or an Abyssal Bolt immediately.

    The suggested encounter is level 23: one glabrezu, 1 earthwind ravager elemental and two blood fiends. So blood fiends do associate with demons! That’s another strong argument for making them demon vampires again instead of abominations.

    Final Impressions

    I’m going to be honest, I have trouble telling glabrezus, evistros and goristros apart just from the names, but these demons are actually kinda cool. You don’t always see a Brute spellcaster.

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