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Where I read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Bat
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast Bats are tiny nocturnal mammals who feed on fruit and insects… but those aren’t the bats we’re talking about here. These bats are proper monsters.
The Lore
We get two different bat species here. Both are Medium, meaning they’re the size of an adult human and have enough wingspan to get that bulk airborne.
Fire bats are Elemental Beasts (fire), which are native to the Elemental Chaos but spread to the world through natural passages between the two planes and took root here. In much the same way cats migrated to Australia on ships and became a danger to the ecosystem, I guess.
Shadowunter bats are apparently native to the world. They’re descended from normal bats who happened to live in places where necromantic energies from the Shadowfell leaked through, and those energies mutated them.
Both types of monstrous bat have Int 2 and are Unaligned. They take well to domestication, and so might be found as pets and guard animals for people or intelligent monsters, particularly those that share origins with them. In fact, the Fire Bat lore entry specifically mentions azer, which gives credence to my theory that the azer used to be Heroic-tier opponents who got upgraded to Paragon at the last minute.
The Numbers
Organizing monsters alphabetically by name means Bats are actually the first real Heroic-tier creatures we’ve run across in the book. Angels had an Heroic-tier variant but it was kind of a footnote among a bunch of more powerful individuals.
Shadowunter Bats are Level 3 Lurkers that have 38 HP and fight as skirmishers. They’re quite clumsy on the ground, but fly with speed 8. It appears they attack with a wickedly barbed tail, which has a bonus to attack and does extra damage in dim light or darkness. They can use it in a Flyby Attack, moving their speed and making a tail attack at any point (and not provoking opportunity attacks when moving away).
Hm… if one or more of these attack the party, I’d expect them to do so in an area that’s entirely shrouded in dim light or darkness. You’d think that this would allow them to get the bonus damage all the time, but PCs are likely to be carrying their own bright light sources in these places. So they’re going after the rogue who’s scouting ahead without a light source. If domesticated, their owners should probably employ some trick to neutralize the party’s lights.
Fire Bats are Level 3 Skirmishers with 60 HP and 10 fire resistance. They fly as fast as shadowunters, and are as clumsy on the ground. Being bats that are on fire, their attack is a touch that does fire damage and ongoing fire damage. Their version of the flyby attack allows them to shift 4 squares and make an attack against anyone they touch on the way.
The sample encounter is level 3, a party of goblins and their two shadowhunter bat pets.
Final Impressions
Functional opposition for when your party ventures into bat country. I think the fire bats work a little better, since the shadowunter’s bonus damage is too fiddly. Changing it so that they only need to start their turn in dim light or darkness to get the bonus would make them work better.
Since they’re only level 3 regulars, the math bug doesn’t affect them all that much.
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Dungeon Fantasy RPG's Second Kickstarter
Steve Jackson has another kickstarter for DFRPG going! While the main goal for this one is the creation of a second monster book for the game, they’ve also bundled in the costs of reprinting the wonderful physical box set for the original game.
You see, they’re using this particular campaign as a way to gauge player interest in GURPS. If it funds successfully, they’ll commit to doing “big” books for the GURPS as a whole in the future. If it doesn’t, then support will continue only in the form of small PDF supplements, one or two a month.
By the look of things, the project will fund, but only just. So if like GURPS and haven’t thought about pledging to it yet, go to the campaign page and do it! For only US$10 you’ll get the PDF of the new book, and there are pricier options for people who want physical copies or other books as well.
Even if you don’t play DFRPG specifically, you’ll still get some mileage out of a bestiary, which is the sort of book people always complain is missing from GURPS. And if you do play it, then what you have is a win-win situation right there.
If you have no idea what GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is all about (unlikely, if you’re reading this blog), you can see this excellent post with no less than 31 reasons why it’s awesome.
The PDF of the game itself is available at Warehouse 23 for US$40 (you have to choose PDF in the format dropdown there). Forty American dollars might sound like a lot, especially if you’re reading this in Brazil, but this is actually less than the price of a single D&D core book. And it gives you a full fantasy game that’s better than D&D (yes, I went there)!
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Basilisk
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast Basilisks are another traditional D&D monster that’s been around since at least the days of Basic. Here they’re Large natural beasts, in the form of beefy grey eight-legged lizards with copious spines running down their backs. Basilisks appear in both the Monster Manual and the Monster Vault.
The Lore
The Monster Manual is surprisingly spare on basilisk lore. It says here they’re strangely evolved drakes that use their deadly gazes to hunt for food. The same gaze makes them highly feared. It is possible to tame and train them, though, like other members of the drake family.
The Monster Vault is a lot more poetic about it. Most people know very little about basilisks because most civilians who meet one don’t survive to tell the tale. The beast isn’t malicious and doesn’t actively seek out sapient prey, but it will literally kill you as soon as it looks at you. If a settlement begins to have trouble with people going into the woods and disappearing, it could be because a basilisk made its lair nearby.
Well, that’s nice and atmospheric and all, but this is D&D. “People have been going missing in the woods” doesn’t really narrow it down at all. There are dozens of monsters that could be responsible for it.
Anyway, there are several separate varieties of basilisk, each with a different (but still unpleasant) gaze. Some are solitary, some are pack hunters. They’re a rare case of a fantastic animal that originated in the world and managed to spread to the Feywild, so you can find them there as well.
People who manage to tame a basilisk usually employ it as a guard animal in an area where no other allies are present. Well, no allies that are not expendable or immune to the gaze. Common basilisk tamers include demons, who keep them as pets or use them as muscle in incursions to the world.
The Numbers
The signature trait of all basilisks is of course the gaze, which is an area attack whose effect varies by specific monster.
The Venom-Eye Basilisk is level 10 artillery and has 87 HP and Speed 6. It’s AC is surprisingly tough for a monster of its role and level (27 in the MM, 24 in the MV), and its Fortitude is only slightly less beefy. Its other defenses are average.
Its bite is relatively weak, and its gaze does poison damage plus ongoing 5 poison damage on a hit. Anyone taking ongoing damage from this gaze also causes 2 poison damage to anyone next to them. Hit or miss, the gaze attack also causes targets to take a -2 penalty to their attacks for a turn.
The MM version is completely immune to poison, while the MV version has poison resistance 5. I get the idea behind the immunity - they want the basilisk to be immune to its own gaze, which is vital if you want to make them pack hunters. I think that’s still supposed to be the case in the MV versions, but you could still hit it with different poisons and have those be effective if they’re strong enough.
The Stone-Eye Basilisk is the classic model, called only a Basilisk in the Monster Vault. The MM version is a level 12 soldier and the MV version a level 12 controller. Both have 126 HP and similar traits aside from that.
This basilisk is of course immune to petrification, and has a Baleful Gaze that slows for a turn anyone within 5 squares that attacks the basilisk. That’s automatic, no attack roll involved. Closing your eyes won’t prevent this either, since it happens when it sees you. The actual gaze attack is a close blast 3, and it sets off a chain reaction: Slowed -> Immobilized -> Petrified, with the condition worsening on each failed save. I believe this model of gradually worsening conditions was one of 4e’s big mechanical innovations. In previous edition, attacks like these would just be save-or-die; now you have time to panic.
The basilisk also has a strong bite, which the lore specifically notes makes it capable of eating creatures petrified by its gaze.
These first two are actually two versions of the basilisk legend! In some stories it would turn you to stone, in others it just kills you.
The Monster Vault has two additional basilisk varietals: the wilt-eye is a level 11 controller with 117 HP, with a gentler gaze that gives you a penalty to your attacks and knocks you out on the first failed save.
And then there’s the Abyssal Basilisk who is a Chaotic Evil elemental beast instead of natural and unaligned. This is the one demons raise in the Abyss. It’s level 13 artillery, and its gaze drives one mad with horror. The chain goes: 10 ongoing psychic damage -> make a basic attack against your closest ally -> 10 ongoing psychic damage and you’re dominated.
The suggested encounters in the MM are a level 11 against 2 venom-eyes and 2 mezzodemons, and a level 12 against 2 stone-eyes, a fey choker, and a dryad witch. The mezzodemons aren’t bothered by the poison gaze, but the fey duo are not immune to petrification, so they should watch their positioning.
Final Impressions
What can I say? It’s a classic for a reason, and even the MV didn’t see fit to change its workings other than fixing the damage). I did like the addition of the wilt-eye basilisk - that’s an encounter a commoner could actually survive! I mean, if basilisks behave like normal wild animals, then they’re rarely people-eaters. They’d be killing people either by accident (can’t stop the gaze) or in self-defense. A wilt-eye would just knock the commoner out and leave.
That goes for the natural versions, of course. The Abyssal one has been turned into a standard attack-on-sight-fight-to-the-death monster by the hard work of generations of demon breeders.
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Let's Read the Monster Manual/Vault: Banshrae
Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast This is another entry in my Let’s Read of the Monster Manual and Monster Vault for D&D Fourth Edition. You can see the rest of them here.
A Banshrae is a Medium fey humanoid that looks like the love child of an elf and a praying mantis. Tall and rail-thin, they have alabaster skin, long clawed fingers and triangular mouthless faces with insectile eyes. They’re originally from Third Edition’s Monster Manual V, and here they’re only on the Monster Manual.
The Lore
Banshraes are Unaligned, and the ones we see in this entry have an Int of 14 and a Charisma of 20. Nevertheless, the text repeatedly describes them as cold, sinister and egotistical, with a tendency to view other sapients as sources of amusement or loot rather than as people. The nicest among them are pranking tricksters, and the bad apples are sadistic serial killers. I guess you don’t need to officially swear allegiance to the cosmic principle of Evil to be an asshole.
Having no mouth, banshraes communicate via telepathy. I guess they either don’t need food at all or feed on someting like ambient magic. One interesting factoid is that banshraes love singing and the sound of wind instruments, despite having no way to sing or play themselves. Stories speak of people who managed to avoid being pranked/murdered by a banshrae by singing or playing tunes to it.
The Numbers
Banshraes have speed 8 and low-light vision. Their other signature trait is actually a piece of signature gear: a blowgun and darts, which they can use despite having no mouth. I picture them doing a fancy palm strike on one end of the blowgun to fire a dart out of the other.
The Banshrae Dartswarmer is level 11 artillery with 89 HP, who fights unarmed in melee but whose specialty is firing poisoned blowgun darts that do damage, daze and inflict a penalty to attacks. Every so often (recharge 3-6) then can go “full auto” and fire a dart flurry with the same effect at anyone in a close blast 5. That basically hits the entire PC party unless they’re very spread out.
The Banshrae Warrior is a level 12 skirmisher with 121 HP who can also use a blowgun but who focuses on its praying mantis kung-fu. It can shift 1 square as a minor action after hitting with a melee attack, and it has two of those: a basic slam, and the Staggering Palm. Staggering Palm does damage and stuns the target for a turn, but only recharges after the banshrae uses Mantid Dance.
Mantid Dance is a move action, and lasts a turn. While in effect, it gives the banshrae warrior +2 to all defenses (okay) and makes all ranged attacks automatically miss it (jeepers creepers!). Oh, and they do increased damage if they move far enough during their turn. Having good defenders and solid melee strikers is a must when fighting these fey.
The suggested encounter is level 12: 2 dartswarmers, 1 warrior, 1 ettin spirit-talker and 1 iron gorgon (of the bull-looking kind). I’m guessing these aren’t the “nice” banshraes.
Final Impressions
I don’t think I’m entirely sold on the “heartless serial killer” presentation, but the mechanics inspire me to do a Five Venoms kung-fu storyline with a banshrae dojo as the villains. You could also tone the serial killer thing down and present them as more cruel pranksters who aren’t necessarily out for blood.
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Kickstarter: The Citadel at Nordvorn
Doug Cole of Gaming Ballistic is at it again with a Kickstarter campaign for The Citadel at Nordvorn, a mini-setting for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. For reasons of my own I won’t be contributing to this one myself, but I will definitely buy it once it’s out.
So please go ahead and back this thing so that I can eventually buy it :)!
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