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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual and Monster Vault: Black Dragon
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.
Black dragons are the sneakiest, and gothiest, of the chromatics. Their favorite environment is a dismal dark swamp beneath whose fetid waters they can hide to ambush their victims. Gloomy forests, acidic lakes under dank mountain dungeons and places that touch the Shadowfell are also good lair material.
Every chromatic dragon seems to have some signature personality trait in addition to greed. For black dragons, that trait is cruelty. These sadistic creatures will hunt even when they’re not hungry just for the pleasure of torturing and killing a victim. For minions, they typically enlist tribes of lizardfolk and other swamp-dwellers. They’re also the first dragons in the chromatic power ladder that might engage in complex plots to acquire more treasure and power over their surroundings.
Black dragons breathe sprays of acid, and can envelop themselves in a shroud of darkness. So even if a black dragon’s lair isn’t naturally gloomy and caustic, they’ll make it so. They’re also amphibious, which is particularly annoying to adventurers since it means their hoards will often be hidden underwater.
Like all dragons, they’re Natural Magical Beasts with the Dragon keyword. Unlike other dragons, they also have the Aquatic keyword, which allows them to breathe underwater and enjoy a +2 attack bonus against non-aquatic opponents while in there.
All black dragon age categories in each book represent increasingly powerful versions of the same monster, with the main differences being between the MM and MV representations, so we’ll discuss the stats by book and not by age category.
Black Dragon (Monster Manual)
The MM black dragon has trained Perception, Nature and Stealth, along with Darkvision and Acid Resistance that varies with age. It can move equally fast on land, water and in the air, with a further increased overland flight speed.
In every age category it has two basic attacks: a bite that does physical damage and ongoing acid damage (save ends), and a weak claw. Its Double Attack ability allows it to make 2 claw attacks as a standard action. The breath weapon is the usual Reflex-targeting Close Blast 5 that recharges on a 5-6. It does acid damage, ongoing acid damage, and gives a -4 penalty to AC (save ends both). Its final standard-action abilities are our familiar Frightful Presence and Cloud of Darkness.
The Cloud of Darkness ability creates a zone of darkness on a Close Burst 2, which blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon. Anyone fully inside it (except the dragon!) is also blinded, so darkvision won’t save you here. The zone lasts a turn but can be sustained with a minor action, and the power recharges on a 3-6. I’m guessing this is more of an inky chemical smoke thing than simple darkness.
For triggered abilities, it can count on the traditional Bloodied Breath, and on a Tail Slash that triggers as a reaction when someone misses the dragon with a melee attack. This is attack does a bit more damage than a claw and pushes the target 1 square.
Young black dragons are Large Level 4 Solo Lurkers with 208 HP, Acid Resistance 15, speed 7, and Reach 2 on their melee attacks. They’re clumsy fliers, but have an overland flight speed of 10.
Adult black dragons are Large Level 11 Solo Lurkers with 560 HP, Acid Resistance 20, speed 8, overland flight 10, and Reach 2 on their melee attacks. Their flight is no longer clumsy and gains the “hover” keyword.
Elder black dragons are Huge Level 18 Solo Lurkers with 860 HP, Acid Resistance 25, Speed 9, overland flight 12, and Reach 3 on their melee attacks. They also gain a new ability: Vitriolic Spray, an encounter power that’s basically a new breath weapon. It does a bit less damage than the standard breath, but blinds on a hit (save ends). Obviously, the dragon retains its normal breath weapon attack as well.
Ancient black dragons are Gargantuan Level 26 Solo Lurkers with 1190 HP, Acid Resistance 30, Speed 10, Overland Flight 15, and Reach 4 on their melee attacks. They replace the standard Cloud of Darkness with Acid Gloom, which works the same but also deals acid damage to any creature that enters or starts its turn within. While the dragon itself would technically take this damage, its resistance makes it immune to it.
Black Dragon (Monster Vault)
The MV black dragons have the same senses, trained skills and movement modes as the MM versions. Their acid resistance is a bit smaller, and it seems their speed is a bit lower at the higher ages. Oh, and they gain Swamp Walk, allowing them to ignore swampy difficult terrain. I only now realize the MM dragons didn’t have this, which is a glaring oversight.
At all age categories, their basic attack is a bite that does physical damage plus ongoing acid damage on a hit, and a little bit of acid damage on a miss. They can instead make two slightly weaker claw attacks, which end up stronger than the bite if both hit the same target. The breath weapon does acid damage and ongoing acid damage, without the AC penalty from the MM version.
Cloud of Darkness is replaced with Shroud of Gloom, a Close Burst 5 that automatically gives everyone caught in it acid vulnerability and a -2 penalty to attacks until the end of the encounter. A PC can spend a standard action to make a Heal check and clear this condition from an ally. The DC of this test is age-based, but not very hard - clearly the cost here is wasting a standard action on it. Think of it as a thin layer of caustic gunk that must be scraped off. I suppose a generous GM might allow a healing power to be used instead, but this is purely a personal decision. This power is Recharge 6, too, so it’s going to be a problem more than once per battle.
For passive traits, they have the already-familiar Aquatic and Action Recovery, plus Acid Blood and Instinctive Devouring. Acid Blood deals acid damage to everyone adjacent to the dragon every time it takes damage while bloodied. Instinctive Devouring allows the dragon to bite or charge someone as its 10+rolled initiative action, or to end any stunning or dominating effect that would prevent it from doing so.
Its triggered actions are Bloodied Breath and Tail Sweep. That last one is triggers when someone misses the dragon with a melee attack. It has a Reach 1 greater than standard for the age category, and targets Reflex. On a hit the target takes damage, falls prone, and everyone adjacent to it takes some automatic physical damage.
Young Black Dragons in the MV are Large Level 4 Solo Lurkers with 208 HP. Their acid resistance is 10, their speed 7, their melee Reach 2 (3 for the tail), and their ongoing/incidental damage for the acid powers and the tail is 5.
Elder Black Dragons are Huge Level 18 Solo Lurkers with 676 HP. Their acid resistance is 15, their speed 8, their melee reach 3 (4 for the tail) and their ongoing/incidental damage 10. They also gain a new ability, Acid Gob, a Ranged 10 attack that targets Reflex. On a hit, the target is blinded and takes 30 ongoing acid damage (save ends both).
You should be able to easily interpolate the other age categories based on this.
Sample Encounters
The two sample encounters in the MM are:
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Level 5, a young black dragon and 2 dark creepers. This is that Shadowfell flavor at work.
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Level 13, an adult black dragon, 2 trolls and a bog hag. Swamp dwellers unite!
Final Impressions
In my experience, black dragons are the second most popular variant, being the go-to choice for when you think a white is too weak and a red too strong. I note that both versions of black dragons lack powers that would do increased damage when it attacks from hiding, though I think that’s actually OK here. This is a solo lurker, so it needs to be able to do something effective every turn or the fight will take twice as long. Still, this is a dragon that benefits even more from being a part of an encounter group than the others.
The second sample encounter above is the more effective of the two, since the trolls would be good at occupying the party’s attention while the dragon strikes from ambush. For added Fun(TM), you can say the dragon or the hag have used a ritual to give them acid resistance and/or eliminate their weakness against acid. If Pathfinder: Kingmaker can do it, so can you!
Elder black dragons sound like they could hang out with aboleths, since their lairs could conceivably reach into the depths of the Underdark. The question then becomes, who is using who? Clever GMs can find a way to make the answer be “Both”.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Monster Vault: Dragons
“Of all the monsters in the world, dragons are the most feared”. That’s the opening sentence for this large multi-entry. One could also say that of all the D&D monsters in the real world, dragons are the most hyped.
They’re in the game’s title, of course, and have been a part of its bestiary since the very beginning. And while dragons have indeed always been dangerous, their stat blocks underwent a period of massive inflation starting with AD&D 2nd Edition, when Ed Greenwood’s extra-powerful Forgotten Realms dragons became the standard.
In my experience, all of this seems to have had the opposite effect to what previous designers intended. Dragons became so awesome in the minds of Game Masters everywhere that most never really felt their groups were up to the challenge. Though all campaigns had plenty of dungeons, many ended before a single dragon appeared. I know mine did.
I have a whole lot more to write about that mindset, but this is not the article for it. It suffices to say that the designers of Fourth Edition seemed to be quite aware of this problem, and so took some steps to address it.
This article will talk about the lore and mechanics for 4e Dragons in generic terms, and subsequent ones will look at each of the dragon varieties statted out in the first Monster Manual and Monster Vault.
The Lore
Like demons and devils, dragons also get a mythology sidebar in the Monster Manual about their creation myth:
Way back at the dawn of time, there used to be a god named Io. Io was a badass, and his arrogance was proportional to his badassitude. When the gods set about creating mortal peoples in their image, Io created the dragons. He meant them to be the pinnacle of mortal form (or at least that’s what dragons say). The power of the Elemental Chaos ran through their veins and surged from their breath, and yet they possessed keen minds and refined spirits that tied them to the Astral and the gods.
When the gods went to war agains the primordials, Io joined the effort but scoffed at the idea of teaming up with his fellow deities. He challenged the primordial Erek-Hus, called the King of Terror, to a duel. And the King of Terror split Io clean in half with a titanic adamantine axe.
As soon as the two halves of the split god hit the floor, they each became a new deity: the left half became Bahamut, and the right half Tiamat. The two new gods teamed up and killed Erek-Hus. When the dust settled, they took a good look at each other… and started fighting right then and there. For you see, each of them had inherited half of Io’s personality. Bahamut inherited his sense of justice and desire to protect creation; Tiamat his arrogance, selfishness and covetous nature.
The two fought so bitterly they ignored the pressing threat of the primordials until Tiamat ran away from the duel. And even after that, they still weren’t great team players. I’m guessing Bahamut is a little better about that these days.
Dragons come in a wide variety of types. Aside from the classic Chromatic and Metallic varieties, the MM also mentions Catastrophic, Planar and Scourge dragons (AKA Linnorms). We only get entries for the Chromatics in the first Monster Manual and in the Vault. The other types are covered in other books or in Dragon Magazine articles.
It makes sense for Chromatics to be first. Strongly associated with Tiamat, they’re common as dragons go and usually have the sort of foul disposition that makes them highly likely to get into fights with PCs. There are five types of chromatic dragon: white, black, green, blue and red, in order of power. Chromatic dragons have few allies but lots of servants, from kobold to dragonborn to fanatic cultists or other creatures that happen to share an habitat with them.
While the stereotypical chromatic dragon is still evil, it’s important to note that this is no longer universally true. It’s perfectly possible for an unaligned or good chromatic dragon to exist, and for dragons of any aligment to worship a non-draconic god (or none at all).
The Numbers
Gone is the notion that dragons are “extra special” monsters whom only the most elite of high-level adventurers can hope to fight. 4e dragons are still quite powerful, being the edition’s quintessential solo monsters, but now they span the entire level range. If you want your party of early-Heroic PCs to fight a dragon, they dang well should be able to fight a dragon. In fact, the PHB text describing what PCs at the three tiers of play look like also has a description of what the dragons they face look like at that tier.
Aside from color, dragons are also divided by age, with a smaller list of age categories than in previous editions: Young -> Adult -> Elder -> Ancient. The books contain a stat block for every combination of color and age category, which all in all have you covered from early Heroic to mid-Epic levels.
The Monster Vault is even more spare here, containing stat blocks for Young and Elder dragons of each color (with one exception). This makes sense if you consider an Adult to be an up-leveled Young dragon, and an Ancient to be an up-leveled Elder, though you’ll have to do the leveling yourself.
As it happens with most solo monsters, if you want to use them to build a good “boss battle” you’ll want to use a dragon that’s about 2 or 3 levels higher than the party, or give a weaker dragon some lieutenants that bring the encounter up to that level. Being MM1 monsters, our chromatic dragons lack much in the way of multiple actions and are somewhat vulnerable to conditions that further limit them, like dazing or domination. To counter these factors, the Monster Vault versions of these dragons would gain Instinctive Actions, which happened automatically at an initiative count 10 higher than what you rolled for the dragon. They also gain an Action Recovery that allows them to automatically recover from dazes, stuns, and domination at the end of their turns.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Dragonborn
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.
Dragonborn are a 4e original! The name appears in 3.x, but it was used for a different concept there. They’re introduced as a PC race in the Player’s Handbook, and in this entry we get stats for them as possible opposition for a range of levels. They’re present on both the Monster Manual and the Monster Vault.
The introduction of dragonborn was one of the many things that fueled the edition wars, as traditionalist fans complained about how these newfangled dragon-people had replaced gnomes in the PHB lineup. They dropped this particular complaint from their repertoire pretty quickly, though! It turns out the ability to play a dragon person from level 1 was really, really popular among the majority of the player base, far more than the ability to play a gnome. It helps that dragonborn are really interesting on their own, too!
The Lore
Dragonborn have a special creation myth. While most other races were pretty much all the direct creation of a deity or another, they were created from the blood of Io when he was split in half by the King of Terror. Whether this is true or not depends on the GM, as with all creation myths.
Whatever the truth might be, you can’t deny they share a lot in common with dragons. There is of course their appearance - tall and muscular with draconic-looking heads, scale-covered skin. There’s also the elemental breath weapon possessed by each individual. Dragonborn scale colors vary, but they don’t stick to the usual dragon pallete or have any relation to the element of their breath weapon.
Their culture was heavily influenced by this draconic connection. In ancient times they used to run the world-spanning empire of Arkhosia, which eventually fell due to a cataclysmic war with the human empire of Bael Turath. Today they don’t have a nation to call their own, and live both in small communities and intermingled in more diverse societies. The value Arkhosia placed on personal honor and martial excellence still remains a strong trait of the surviving dragonborn communities.
Many dragonborn adventurers are paladins or other champions of justice - their emphasis on honor makes this a popular path for them. However, “honorable” doesn’t always mean “good”, so they’re just as likely to appear as opposition for a group of Good adventurers as members of any other sapient race.
The Numbers
All dragonborn are Medium Natural Humanoids, and despite their draconic connection they do not have the Dragon keyword. This doesn’t mean much, but I thought I should note it. Their signature abilities are the same as those of PC dragonborn - an elemental breath weapon usable once per encounter, and an ability that grants them +1 to all attacks while bloodied. The MV entries are both unaligned, but all the ones in the MM have an alignment of “Any”, which is really something that should appear more in D&D monster entries.
Going in order of level, our first entry is the MV-only Dragonborn Mercenary, a Level 2 Skirmisher with 38 HP. It wears hide armor and fights with a battleaxe, whose attacks allow it to shift 2 squares on a hit in addition to their damage. Once per encounter it can use an Overwhelming Strike that does roughly double damage and causes the target to grant combat advantage (save ends) on a hit. On a miss, it still does half damage. The mercenary also breathes lightning.
For passive traits, the mercenary has Skirmish, which is shared by some other skirmisher monsters: if he ends a move on his turn at least 4 squares from his starting position, he gains +1d6 damage with all attacks until the start of his next turn. This incentivizes him to keep moving around and charge whenever possible. He also gains +1 to all attacks while bloodied.
Next we have the Dragonborn Soldier, present in both books. This is a Level 5 Soldier with 63 HP. It wears scale, wields a light shield and a longsword, and breathes cold. It has a couple of triggered abilities to go with its basic longsword attack: Impetuous Spirit is at-will and allows it to make a free basic attack against an enemy that leaves its reach, even when that enemy does so by shifting; Martial Recovery allows it to essentially reroll a missed basic attack, and recharges when the soldier uses Impetuous Spirit. A few of these in formation would be pretty awesome!
All other entries from here on are MM-only.
The Dragonborn Gladiator is a Level 10 Soldier with 106 HP. It wears scale, wields a bastard sword, and breathes fire. The gladiator has a distinctive fighting style expressed in a couple of passive traits: Lone Fighter grants it a +2 attack bonus when adjacent to only one enemy; Gladiator’s Strike makes its opportunity attacks knock the target prone on a hit. Against a bloodied target, the Gladiator can use a Finishing Blow, which does extra damage and gives its allies +2 to hit the target for a turn. This is an at-will power!
The gladiator really wants to isolate a weak PC from the rest of the group and sword it to death. You should pair it with some different soldier monsters to make it harder for the PCs to help their buddy and with some artillery to take advantage of Finishing Blow.
The Dragonborn Raider is a Level 13 Skirmisher with 129 HP. It wears leather, wields paired katars, and breathes acid. Katars are a High Crit weapon, so the raider’s basic attack has that property as well. If it doesn’t perform move actions in a turn, it can shift 1 square and attack twice with the katars, in any order. If it has combat advantage, it deals +1d6 damage on its attacks.
Finally, it has an Infiltrating Stride ability that allows it to shift 3 squares. This recharges after it uses the twin katar strike, and it’s a move ability (so it can’t use both abilities on the same turn).
To close this entry, we have the epic Dragonborn Champion, a Level 26 Soldier with 239 HP. It wears plate, wields a heavy shield and a bastard sword, and breathes lightning. It also has 30 resistance to every chromatic dragon element (acid, cold, fire, lightning and poison)!
Its basic bastard sword attack allows a secondary attack against Fortitude on a hit, which stuns the target for a turn and knocks it prone. The champion also does extra damage against prone targets. When first bloodied, it can attack everyone in a Close Burst 1 with the sword (though that doesn’t have the secondary attack). Its final ability is Shake it Off, a free action that allows it to immediately succeed on a saving throw against a (save ends) effect. This recharges on a 2-6, so it’s almost always ready but wouldn’t allow it to shake multiple effects off.
Amazingly, the champion good at both fighting and helping chromatic dragons, since they would have little to fear from their breath weapons either way. Dragons also tend to have powers that knock people prone, and an at-will stun is an excellent thing to use against a dragon.
Sample Encounters
The MM has two sample encounters for this whole lot:
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Level 6: 1 dragonborn soldier, 2 tiefling darkblades, 1 rage drake and 5 human lackeys. Some sort of bandit gang, probably.
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Level 13: 3 dragonborn raiders, 1 firebelcher dragonspawn and 1 ogre warhulk. The dragonspawn there clearly indicates this is a task force of Tiamat cultists.
Final Impressions
I like dragoborn! I pretty much enumerated the reasons for this back at the start. They make an excellent addition to the roster of playable character races, and WotC obviously agrees with me since they kept them around mostly unchanged for 5th edition.
The specific stat blocks here work well enough, and I particularly like the soldier and the champion (if its damage is fixed).
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Dracolich
This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.
A Dracolich is what you get when a dragon decides to perform the unspeakable rites of lichdom. Due to the vagaries of alphabetical ordering, we get to look at them before we dive into the huge “Dragon” entry. They’re present on both the Monster Manual and the Vault, though they’re mixed in with the living dragons in the later.
The Lore
I simply must start this section by making a direct quote from the MM: “Dracoliches are selfish, greedy, and interested only in amassing more power and treasure.” So, pretty much like standard dragons? Both books have a lot more about them, I just thought that sentence in particular was funny.
Dragons are long-lived but not immortal, so a dragon might choose to become a lich to escape death much like a human wizard would. It’s also possible for a dragon to be made into a dracolich against its will, usually by some sinister cults looking to bag themselves a powerful servant.
Needless to say, dracoliches are pretty evil. The voluntary version of the ritual requires the same sort of livelie awfulnesse that only true villains would be willing to perform - if you weren’t officially Evil before performing it, you certainly are afterwards. The involuntary version leaves the dragon under the control of the (also inevitably evil) group who performed it.
I suppose a dracolich who was turned involuntarily and manages to break free of its controllers could be unaligned or even good depending on how it was in life. Of course, if it was your typical evil chromatic then freedom won’t do much to improve its disposition.
Dracoliches aren’t reliant on phylacteries at all. The involuntary ritual produces one as the key to controlling the dracolich, so you actually have a situation where the lich wants to destroy its own phylactery here. In either case, destroying the dracolich’s body slays it for good, with the control phylactery shattering if it still exists when the monster dies.
The Monster Vault adds that lichdom makes dragons more scheming and manipulative than they were in life. They’ll develop intricate plans and conspiracies to increase their own power, and establish large networks of minions and servants to accomplish these goals. If your dragons already do that, then I guess dracolichs are even more meddlesome. Or maybe they go after living dragons with much less regard for diplomacy than usual, since it’s likely they see themselves as superior to their living brethren.
Dungeons and Dragons has never been a game to provide just one stat block for a given type of dragon, and here this extends to the dracolich as well. The Monster Manual has no less than three variants, and the Monster Vault has two more. I’ll cover each book in its own section.
The Numbers (Monster Manual)
The “basic” MM Dracolich is a Huge Natural Magical Beast (dragon, undead). This is a perfect example of how the undead keyword is different from the shadow origin! This dracolich is a Level 18 Solo Controller with 885 HP, equivalent to an elder dragon. It has darkvision and trained Perception. It’s immune to disease, fear, and poison, has 30 necrotic resistance and 10 radiant vulnerability. It runs at Speed 8 and flies at Speed 10 (but clumsily). Like all solo monsters, it has +5 to all saves and 2 Action Points. Being a high-level MM monster, its attacks suffer pretty heavily from the damage bug, so you’d need to fix that before using it.
Its basic attack is a Reach 3 bite that does physical damage, and extra necrotic damage to stunned targets. It can also attack with a Recharge 5-6 breath weapon, a Close Blast 9 that targets Reflex. A hit does necrotic damage and stuns for a turn. A miss still does half damage but doesn’t stun. And either way the targets lose any necrotic resistance they had (save ends).
You know I actually don’t mind this breath having low damage so much. That’s a huge area and some pretty heavy riders. You might as well say every PC is affected every time unless one of them is a ranger who likes to snipe from off the map or something. Measuring the exact area of effect of the dracolich’s necrotic breath becomes more important if it has allies. This isn’t a party-friendly attack and even undead will be negatively affected by it.
This cloud of death isn’t the only source of stuns for the dracolich. It also has Frightening Presence, that draconic staple. This is an encounter power that affects a Close Burst 10 (i.e, every PC) and targets Will. Targets hit by the attack are stunned for a turn, and take a -2 penalty to attacks until the end of the encounter.
If that isn’t enough, it still has a couple of triggered actions. As an interrupt when someone makes a melee attack against it, it can deploy a Mesmerizing Glare. This attack against Will stuns for a turn on a hit, and inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks for a turn on a miss. Since it’s an interrupt, either effect can preempt the attack that triggered it. Oh, and it’s a Close Blast 3, so it can end up stunning more people than just the attacker. And then we have the other draconic staple, Bloodied Breath, which allows the dracolich to recharge and use its breath immediately upon being bloodied.
The written tactics for it are to use the breath first, then enter melee and spend an action point to use Frightful Presence. The last action point should be saved for a tactical retreat - this guy is a mastermind, not a “fight to the death” type.
Following this we have the Blackfire Dracolich, a bigger and badder version. It’s Gargantuan (the largest size category in 4e), and a Level 23 Solo Controller with 1095 HP. It has all of the basic model’s traits with numbers increased due to level. Its necrotic resistance is 35, but its radiant weakness is still at 10. The reach of its melee attacks is 4.
The Blackfire Dracolich has one extra attack on top of all the things from the basic model: the titular Blackfire, a secondary breath weapon that affects a Close Blast 5, hits automatically, does necrotic and ongoing fire damage, and recharges on a 4-6.
To finish it off we have the Runescribed Dracolich, a yet more powerful version. This one is a Level 29 Solo Controller with 1335 HP. It has everything the Blackfire Dracolich has, and a few things more. Its necrotic resistance is 40, which I think is the highest resistance I’ve seen anywhere so far (not counting complete immunities). It’s “final boss” material for a campaign that reaches the mid-epics, and could be an exarch or lieutenant for an undeath-focused final boss like Orcus.
This top-end variation has all of the Blackfire Dracolich’s attacks, plus Runescribed Retaliation. This is an interrupt that triggers when the dracolich is targeted by a ranged attack. It allows the monster to make a very accurate attack against the attacker’s Will, and on a hit the monster can redirect the incoming attack to any other target within 5 squares of it. The attacker still has to roll to hit the new target, but they can’t miss on purpose.
It appears that MM dracoliches in general are less focused on performing multiple actions and more focused on denying the PC’s actions, with this liberal use of at-will stunning.
The sample encounter here is Level 20: a basic dracolich and a party of high-powered yuan-ti. You can stop wondering about which sort of cult would want their own dracolich lackey.
The Numbers (Monster Vault)
The Monster Vault starts us off at a more humble place with the Deathbringer Dracolich. It’s Large, and a Level 12 Solo Controller with 492 HP, equivalent to an adult dragon. Like the MM variants, it has trained Perception and Darkvision. It’s immune to disease and poison, but not fear. It’s necrotic resistance is 10, as is its radiant vulnerability. It runs at speed 6 and flies clumsily at speed 8.
Like a living dragon, this dracolich has Action Recovery, which automatically ends any dazing, stunning or dominating effects on the monster when it ends its turn. It also can use its Mesmerizing Gaze (below) automatically on an initiative of 10+its initiative result for the fight.
Its basic attack is a Reach 2 bite that does physical damage and ongoing necrotic damage. It can instead make two Reach 2 Claw attacks, which slide the target 2 squares even if they don’t hit. Its breath weapon is a Close Blast 5 that targets Reflex, does necrotic damage and weakens (save ends). On a miss it still does half damage and weakens for a turn.
The afore-mentioned Mesmerizing Gaze is a minor action Ranged 10 attack, targetting Will and dominating (save ends) on a hit. On a miss it does 15 psychic damage if the target willingly moves closer to the dracolich before the end of the target’s next turn. Either way it slides the target 2 squares. Make sure to keep these effects in mind, because this attack is going to happen a lot.
Then we have the Dracolich Doomlord, a Huge Level 22 Solo Controller with 840 HP whose power level is on par with the living elder dragons from this book. Its necrotic resistance increases to 15, and is speed to “8, fly 10”. Everything else is comparable to the basic model aside from level-based number increases.
The doomlord gains a new passive trait: the Aura of Doom has a radius of 3 and prevents any enemies inside from regaining HP or gaining temporary HP. Yikes! Its breath weapon regains the ability to remove necrotic resistance (save ends) as an effect, but its mesmerizing gaze loses the “take damage if you come closer” curse on a miss. Here’s someone who will try to keep the whole party within the aura of doom at all times, and likely go for the healers first. It has enough HP to eat a few opportunity attacks from defenders in order to do that.
Final Impressions
Dracoliches feel somehow scarier than the Tarrasque, even though they’re lower level. Fighting the MM variants in particular seems like it would be pure agony for the players, with the stuns flowing freely. I can see why they switched to a more multi-action solo stat block for the MV. I can also see why the MV lumped them in with the other dragons. As we’re about to see, they’re really very similar, and fill the Controller niche that was missing from lineup of living chromatics.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Doppelganger
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.
Doppelgangers have been in D&D forever, in one form or another. As is common with 4e, they’re a little different here than they were in older editions. This time, however, it’s 3.5’s fault. They’re in both the Monster Manual and the Vault.
The Lore
4e Doppelgangers are essentially Eberron’s Changelings given a more generic treatment. In earlier editions changelings were people who descended from a “real” doppelganger, but here the two words mean the same thing. I don’t think anything of value has been lost with the change - the defining trait of a doppelganger in any edition is its ability to change shape, and that has been retained.
Much like humans, doppelgangers are people who can have any disposition and alignment imaginable. They don’t have any kingdoms or settlements of their own, and tend to live in those of other races, usually in disguise. I suspect most of them really do want to live peaceful lives, and maybe have a private space where they can drop the disguises and relax a bit.
When they turn to riskier pursuits, though, their abilities make excellent at infiltration, spying, and all sorts of other underhanded activities. That’s great when they’re on your side, and terrible when they’re on the enemy’s.
About 90% of the lore entry for the Monster Vault then goes on to describe the terrible things an infiltrated doppelganger cell can do. They can live undercover for years if necessary! They can disable a city’s defenses from the inside! Kill and impersonate anyone! Your whole family could have been replaced by doppelgangers and you’d have no way to tell! Fear! Uncertainty! Doubt! Despite the assertion that doppelgangers can be of any alignment the tone here assumes none of them are ever up to any good.
I’m guessing the peaceful folks have a really hard time with prejudice from “righteous citizens” who think they’re all evil infiltrators.
As you’d expect, the Eberron setting treats them a lot better, and makes them valid PC choices.
The Numbers
Doppelgangers are Medium Natural Humanoids (shapechangers). They have a base speed of 6, and their signature ability is Change Shape. This minor action lets them take the form of any Medium humanoid. It can be used at will, and they can hold any given form indefinitely, though the disguise drops automatically if they hit 0 HP.
It’s possible to copy specific individuals. Discovering the ruse requires an Insight check on the part of the observer. According to the MM, this is opposed by the doppelganger’s Bluff with a +20 bonus; the MV gives fixed DCs for each stat block that are somewhat lower than that, though still quite hard.
Any additional abilities doppelgangers have aside from changing shape are the product of training, same as with humans. Technically this means they could be paladins and wizards and so on, but all the stat blocks we get here are for the stereotypical rogue-types.
The Doppelganger Sneak is a Level 3 Skirmisher with 45 HP, present in both books. It attacks with a short sword for level-appropriate damage, has a rogue-like sneak attack ability, and can use a Shapeshifter Feint as an at-will minor action that targets Will to gain combat advantage against someone for a turn if they don’t have it from other sources. It’s Unaligned, and the Insight DC for its Change Shape is 30 in the Vault.
The Doppelganger Assassin is a Level 8 Lurker with 69 HP, present only in the MM. It uses a dagger as a weapon, deals more sneak attack damage than the sneak, and can use Shapeshifter Feint. It has one additional ability in Cloud Mind. This encounter power targets the will of everyone in a Close Burst 5. The assassin becomes invisible to anyone it hits with this attack. It lasts for as long as the assassin sustains it (which requires a minor action on its turn), and drops if it either attacks or is hit by an attack. This one is Evil because it’s an assassin, not because it’s a doppelganger. Since it shares a lot of abilities with the sneak and Cloud Mind is more of an escape hatch than an attack power, it should really be a skirmisher.
The Doppelganger Infiltrator is a Level 11 Lurker with 90 HP present only in the MV. In addition to the Change Shape ability shared by all doppelgangers, it also has an improved version called Perfect Replica. This is a standard action that targets an adjacent Medium creature and hits automatically. The doppelganger copies the target’s appearance (including gear!) and immobilizes it for a turn. If the infiltrator attacks the target with its dagger while it’s so immobilized, it deals an extra 6d8 damage, which is considerable given its basic dagger damage is 2d4+6.
If someone attacks the doppelganger whie it’s affecting someone with Perfect Replica, it can use an opportunity action to automatically swap places with the victim so that the attack targets them instead. It’s the classic “who is the real one?” scenario, but no matter who you choose, you’ll choose wrong. The Insight DC for its Change Shape ability is 32.
Finally we have the Doppelganger Master Assassin, a Level 19 Lurker with 142 HP present only in the MV. This seems to be a properly lurker-ish version of the Assassin we already saw. It also uses a dagger to fight, and has a special Assassin’s Strike that does a whole pile of necrotic damage on top of the usual dagger damage, recharging when the master assassin uses Vanish. Vanish, in turn, is a standard action that makes the doppelganger invisible for a turn and allows it to shift its speed.
As a passive trait, the master assassin has Blend In: it can make Stealth checks to become hidden as long as it’s adjacent to at least one other creature. It remains hidden even if it doesn’t have cover or concealment, which is significant since stealth rules had become a lot more strict by the time the MV came out. This is perfect for disappearing in the midst of a crowd, or again for re-enacting the “who’s the real one?” scenario when the adjacent creature is a PC. Only this time you can choose the right one if you have enough Insight. I guess the assassin spent more time training to stab people than honing their shapeshifting like the infiltrator. This assassin is Unaligned, and their Insight DC is 38.
The sample encounter in the MM is level 3: a sneak, 3 human guards, and a human mage. Looks like this sneak just wants to live out a regular life as a member of the city watch. It’s likely its buddies don’t even know it’s a doppelganger.
Final Impressions
I like Eberron changelings so much I wrote them up for GURPS. They work well as a PC race! As possible opposition these stat blocks work well. If some villain is going to hire assassins to go after a late-paragon party, those assassins are probably going to be doppelgangers or the equivalent.
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