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Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Arena Bred Monster
What’s a Monster Theme? The concept was first introduced in Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, and it’s a way to give a set of monsters a shared look and feel. This involves changes to their mechanics and lore, but unlike monster templates from the DMG 1, it doesn’t change their “quality”. Regulars remain regulars, elites remain elites, and so on.
Monster themes end up being more flexible than templates, since the monster creation rules are good enough to handle any level or quality changes by themselves.
Anatomy of a Monster Theme
Each theme has a fairly involved presentation. You get some explanation for the lore attached to that theme and how it might modify a monster. Then a line about skill changes that might apply, and finally a big list of powers.
Those powers are divided between Attack Powers and Utility Powers - you pick one of each category to add to the monster’s stat block. Nothing else about its basic stats changes, unlike with a template. If you want those to change, you can use the standard monster creation and “editing” rules to change the monster’s level or quality.
Our First Theme: Arena Bred Monster
Blood sport arenas are the most popular entertainment in all city states, and monster fighting is one of its most popular modalities. It’s common to throw recently captured wild animals into the ring, but a monster that was specifically prepared for the spectacle is a much bigger draw. Animals are specifically bred for the role; people receive special training. And both might be further modified by magic or psionics, all in the service of providing a more brutal and spectacular fight.
Monsters with this theme get a +2 to Intimidate and a +2 to either Athletics or Acrobatics.
Attack Powers
Despite the name of this category, the powers here tend to avoid having specific attack or damage figures, to better enable them to apply to monsters of any level.
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Berserk Passage (recharge 5+) lets a monster make two basic attacks and shift half its speed at any moment in this sequence, passing through enemy spaces. It usually goes on monsters that have been made mad with hunger and pain before being dropped into the arena, though I supposed it could also be used to represent an agile duelist humanoid.
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Bleeding Attack is a triggered power that inficst 5/tier ongoing damage (save ends) when the monster bloodies a target. It might represent serrated weapons or claws. The book recommends making it (recharge 5+) for elites or solos; by default, it’s at-will.
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Brutal Flourish lets the monster make a free melee basic attack whenever it bloodies or defeats an enemy.
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Death Burst means the monster has been rigged to explode! This is visible to the PCs and should be described appropriately. This power is common for monsters that have received some sort of combat implant, but could be applied even without that. By default this happens when the monster hits 0 HP, but for elites and solos it could also happen when the monster is first bloodied, where it might be combined with some other change in its stats as those implanted bits fall off. The explosion is a Close Burst 2 with attack and damage figures appropriate to the monster’s level.
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Retaliating Stride (recharge 5+) is a move action that lets the monster move its speed and deal damage to any creature that hits it with an opportunity attack during this move. It can represent showy counterstrikes, or maybe something like implanted spikes.
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Attached Weapons are not written up like a power, but discussed in general terms inside a text box. Many arena monster handlers like to implant extra weapons on their charges through magic. This is an excuse for your to add extra attack powers that monsters of that type don’t normally have. For example, an artillery monster could receive implanted melee weapons that give it a stronger than usual melee attack, or a brute could get an unusually accurate ranged weapon. It’s common for these weapons to break or fall off when the monster is bloodied - and this can also be combined with Death Burst variants.
Utility Powers
These are generally the fruit of long experience in the arena, representing cunning, resilience, and luck.
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Intervening Armor represents an ability to leverage the normally useless piecemeal armor that covers gladiators by shifting so enemy attacks hit the tiny plates. It’s an Interrupt that gives +2 to AC or Reflex when the monster is hit by an attack targetting one of these defenses.
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Necessary Betrayal is for treacherous gits who developed the habit of abusing their teammates’ trust. If the monster is hit by a melee or ranged attack while adjacent to an ally, it can swap places with the ally as an interrupt, and have the ally take damage from the attack instead. You don’t compare the attack roll against the ally’s defenses - just apply the damage directly. This power cannot be nice even by accident.
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Shake it Off represents the ability to quickly recover one’s wits in a bout. Whenever subject to an effect that a save could possibly end, the monster can roll a save to end it as a reaction, even if this specific application cannot be ended with a save. (So it works against “dazed until the end of the next turn”, but not against “dead”).
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Turn the Tables is a defense against forced movement. If pushed, pulled, slid, or knocked prone, the creature can trigger this reaction to stand up (if prone) and shift 2 squares.
Final Impressions
I think it’s interesting how many of the powers here can be either applied to a berserk beast of a flashy humanoid fighter that uses finesse and agility, with the final mechanical result being the same.
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Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Customizing Monsters
We’re past the monster lists, but there’s still a fair amount of book to cover. Its final third is dedicated to Encounter Options, and the first subsection of that is a small lesson on Customizing Monsters.
The gist of it is that when you want to bring a “generic” D&D monster to Athas, you should change them a little to make them fit the more brutal and desperate tone of the setting. In other words, you should make them Darker and Sunnier.
The next page has a few tips on how to do that. First, you should keep the monster recognizable, since it both keeps things a little familiar and makes the differences stand out that much more. And then you can apply one or more of the customization guidelines they suggest, each with an example:
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No change: Some monsters already fit the aesthetic and could just be dropped in where you need them. Gnolls and bullettes, for example.
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Altered Appearance: Some monsters need a little extra make-up to fit the visual style of Athas. You’ll rarely find traditional mammals here for example, but you could have equivalent creatures that have carapaces, scales, and bony plates instead of soft fur. Hill giants might look more rocky, with skin matching the colors of the surrounding terrain.
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Altered Environment: Creatures that live in frozen or aquatic biomes in their original forms could be changed to live in the desert wastelands of Athas instead. Sure, the aquatic ones could live in oases, but turning them into sand-burrowers can be a “nice” surprise for the players.
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Alternative Lore: This most important for creatures whose lore has extensive ties to the Astral Sea and divine magic, both of which are mostly inaccessible in Athas. Eidolons are one example, and they’d need to be changed to be tied to arcane or primal magic instead unless they’re relics from when the gods were still around. Angels and the like should also be reskinned unless your entire game revolves around the mystery of why they appeared.
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New Powers: New mechanical abilities might be just the thing to make a given creature Darker and Sunnier. This should mostly be handled through Monster Themes, which are discussed in the next page.
Sample Converted Monsters
These two are given as examples, and in some cases are also stealth updates to the originals, using the new Monster Manual 3 math.
Silt Shark
Based on the Fleshtearer Shark from the Monster Manual 2, this creature occupies a similar niche to the bullette, with slightly different abilities. Its water-based traits were replaced with sand-themed equivalents, and it’s been given training in Athletics to make higher jumps. It “swims” through sand and loose soil.
The Silt Shark is a Large Natural Beast and a Level 10 Brute with 128 HP. It has a ground speed of 5, and a burrow speed of 8, with low-light vision and Tremorsense 10.
The original shark’s Aquatic trait has been replaced with Silt Swimmer, which lets the shark shift and charge while burrowing, and gives it a +2 damage bonus while burrowing against any creature without a burrow speed. It cannot burrow through solid stone, however.
The shark has a basic Bite, and a Lockjaw Charge maneuver that deals the same damage and grabs on a hit. While the shark has a grabbed victim, it can automatically deal damage to them with Shredding Teeth. And once the grab ends, the victim takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends).
If the shark starts its turn within 5 squares of a bloodied creature, it enters a Feeding Frenzy, and makes a free attack against a creature adjacent to it. If it was grabbing someone, it releases them first.
Ssurran Dune Mystic
This is a Greenscale Marsh Mystic from the Monster Manual, modified into a Ssurran version. The swamp theme of the original’s abilities has been switched to a sand and desert theme, its Constitution was increased a little, and its basic attack has been given a push rider to match the Ssurran Shaman from that entry.
We end up with a Level 6 Controller (Leader) with 72 HP and a ground speed of 6 with Earth Walk. It has a Sun Blessing aura (5) that heals 3 HP to any ally that stats their turn inside, and fights with a spear that damages and pushes 2 squares on a hit.
The mystic also has a couple of fireball-style combat spells: Salt Cloud (recharge 5+) deals poison damage and dazes for a turn; Sand’s Grasp (encounter) is non-damaging, but it immobilizes (save ends) and creates a zone of difficult terrain that lasts for the rest of the encounter.
Impressions
It’s quite likely that anyone who still actively plays D&D 4th Edition is experienced enough at reskinning monsters that they don’t really need this advice. Nevertheless, it’s still good to see it printed, and with worked examples to boot.
Next up: Monster Themes!
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Let's Read the 4e Creature Catalog: Zeburon, the Iron Rider
Zeburon The Lore
Zeburon is the leader of the Black Sands Raiders, a brutal and feared bandit gang that hides out in the Black Sands. According to rumor they always number a hundred, and ride war-trained kanks to assault caravans and settlements around the Black Sands.
The Iron Rider got this title because of his signature metal helmet, which has a pair of prominent horns and completely conceals his face. Not even most of the Raiders have ever seen it - only his most trusted lieutenants (such as the defiler Fevik) know what he looks like.
And this is because Zeburon’s big secret is that he’s a tiefling. The book lists reasons why no one has figured it out yet, and they’re actually a little funny. He lacks a tail because he cut it off himself years ago. People tend to mistake the reddish tone of his skin for sunburns instead of natural pigmentation. And they think the horns are part of the helmet, when in fact they’re poking through a pair of holes in it.
Zeburon hides his true nature from the rank and file of his gang because he’s afraid of how they’d react if they found out. Given bigotry is never in short supply around Athas, I’m guessing the answer is “not well”. And being a fearsome individual warrior is not very helpful if about ninety guys on war kanks decide they want you dead and charge you all at once.
The Numbers
Zeburon is a Level 12 Elite Soldier with 246 HP. He has a ground speed of 6, low-light vision, and Resist Fire 10.
All of his attacks deal bonus damage against bloodied targets due to his Bloody Violence trait. He fights with a Bastard Sword that can make standard basic attacks and be used in a Wild Bloodletting maneuver, attacking a Close Burst 1. A hit deals damage, slows the target, and inflicts ongoing 10 damage (save ends both). This recharges when he’s first bloodied.
As a minor action he can use his Iron Fist (metal gauntlet!) to make another attack, which does the same damage as the sword, and immobilizes for a turn.
Finally, he has the tiefling Infernal Wrath power which, when used, gives him a bonus to attacks and damage against any enemy that hit him since the end of his last turn. This lasts for a turn or until he hits an enemy.
Encounters and Final Impressions
A fight against Zeburon will also include a sizable contingent of Black Sands Raiders, as well as his best buddy and top lieutenant Fevik the Defiler. Plus any amount of kank mounts you deem necessary. It will likely come after the PCs have fought multiple encounters against the raiders, too.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen someone a lot like Zeburon in one of the many Brom illustrations for DS: muscles, leather straps, face-concealing horned helmet, menacing pose. I haven’t read any older DS material to know whether he’s someone from the old days, or if he’s new and just likes following local fashions.
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Let's Play Hell's Rebels: Origin Corrections
“Wait,” you might ask, “are you still doing this?”. Yes, I am! I have been doing it since shortly after the last time I talked about it, off and on, but I haven’t posted anything else here in the blog for entirely personal reasons that I should overcome any day now.
And we’re going to start with a little correction here, because over the course of my play, I’ve looked at the timelines a bit closer and the details for the Knight of the Deep origin don’t make sense as written.
The PC arrives at Kintargo at the start of Adventure 01, which is supposed to last at least eight weeks or so given the pace at which the “strategic” rebellion turns move.
However, the aquatic elves that origin is concerned with rescuing are only captured in the final stretch of Adventure 02. Here’s the timeline as written in the adventure:
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The elves arrive in town maybe a week or two before the day of their capture. This would be in the middle of Adventure 02.
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They are seeking Shensen’s help with their problems back home. When they fail to find her, they spend some time exploring the waters around Kintargo before being captured by the aboleth’s minions.
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The day of their capture is “fuzzy” - it’s the day before the PCs first enter the adventure’s final dungeon. Once they do, the GM is supposed to track their condition over time.
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The elves might starve before being rescued, and if they’re still alive after two weeks they’re taken back home to be dominated by the aboleth.
If we take the Knight’s current background as written, it would mean the elves have been captured before Adventure 01. If we want the PC to have any chance at all to rescue the elven scouts, we either have to make the Lucky Bones delve the very first thing the PCs do after the riot, or we have to change the background.
Doing the former is actually no trouble in Dungeon Fantasy. Starting delvers are already strong enough to tackle the place, you just might need to put some magic weapons within easy reach in the first level. If that’s what you want, just have Laria Longroad point them to the place directly instead of the Wasp Nest.
Since I have already played through the Wasp Nest storyline on my own and I don’t want to restart the game all the way from the beginning, though, I’m going to change the background.
Instead of being sent to rescue the scouts, the Knight will be sent in to seek Shensen’s aid. This gives them a stronger reason to stick with the rebellion, and a better clue of which path to follow in pursuit of their goals.
The scouts still go to Kintargo in Adventure 02, but this time they do so to find the Knight, who has been taking much longer than anticipated to return with Shensen.
Rules-wise, the only thing that changes is that the optional Obsession to find Aava becomes an Obsession to find Shensen, worth the same number of points.
I’ve also changed the description of the theme in the original post.
PC Origin: Knight of the Deep
You come from one of the subaquatic communities off the coast of Ravounel, where you enjoy an heroic reputation. You recently went to visit your friend Aava in the coastal village of Acisazi, only to find the village suffering under a strange malaise. The village’s elder told you this was caused by a curse that was beyond her power to break, and begged you to seek the aid of Shensen, a powerful bard and priest of Sarenrae who lived in the city of Kintargo. You accepted.
You arrive at this land-lubber town to find it embroiled in a lot more trouble than you thought possible. Shensen is nowhere to be found. You suspect she vanished into the prisons of the despotic Barzilai Thrune, and your queries have led you to the Aria Park protest. You suspect you might need to bloody this human despot’s nose to fulfill your mission, and that’s just fine with you.
Prerequisites: You must belong to a species capable of breathing underwater! Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level contains two possible choices here: the Sea Elf and the Water-Infused. From this blog, you might also pick the [Argonian][2] or perhaps a Warforged who has been modified to be hydrodynamic and Amphibious. And of course we also have a whole article about the [Denizens of the Sea][5] that also contains a few usable ancestries.
This theme is open to any profession, but martial types should probably keep in mind the rules for [underwater combat for fish-people][3].
Benefits: The people of Acisazi know and trust you, and Aava is your good friend (or even a relative if you’re also a sea elf).
You can add Swimming, Aquabatics and Survival (Undersea) to your template as optional skills, and should probably put some points in them during character creation.
Drawbacks: Add Obsession (find Shensen) (12) {-5} to your template as an optional disadvantage. It’s what you already want to do anyway, but like the Last Archivist’s Obsession it might drive you to unwise actions.
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Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Ulruun The Repugnant
Ulruun, a bald and beardless dwarf in a fancy tunic. He's smiling repugnantly. We’re fresh out of Sorcerer-Kings, but there are still a couple of randos to read through.
The Lore
Ulruun used to be a skilled gladiator who managed to survive the arenas of Nibenay for many years, a rarity. He eventually won his freedom, not for his victories, but as a reward for murdering someone for his patron.
The dwarf then proceeded to become a living example of the cycle of abuse as he went on to become a slave auctioneer for House Shom, and to run his own slave trading operation on the side. The money he earned from both activities made him wealthy, and finally allowed to achieve the luxurious life of debauchery he so envied in the people who had forced him to risk his life for entertainment.
His epithet, “the Repugnant”, is not someone people call him to his face, but it still describes his demeanor very well. He always travels with plenty of bodyguards in case a competitor or the “merchandise” decides to take a swipe at him, and has been known to take shelter behind lines of chained prisoners and other innocents when attacked. If pressed, he can still rely on his arena skills - that walking stick is mostly for show.
The Numbers
Ulruun is a Level 8 Soldier with 89 HP. As a dwarf, he has a ground speed of 5, +5 to saves against poison, low-light vision, and the same Stand the Ground and Steady-Footed traits PCs get. These reduced forced movement inflicted on him by 1 and allow him to roll a save to avoid falling prone.
Ulruun’s main weapon is a Dagger whose basic attacks damage and mark for a turn, and which can be used in a Hamstring maneuver that deals the same damage and causes the target to fall prone if they move more than half their speed before the end of their next turn. If a marked enemy tries to shift away from him, he can use Hamstring on them as an interrupt.
If his pursuers are too insistent he can surprise them with a Hurled Cane (minor, ranged 5), which targets Reflex and on a hit knocks prone and immobilizes for a turn. This is an encounter power, as he only has one cane on him.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Ulruun prefers his obvious bodyguards to be very large and intimidating, so he tends to recruit goliaths and muls to the role. He also has more discreet humans and halfling guards hidden in nearby crowds when walking through the city. And if there are any innocents on the map when a fight breaks out, he’ll use them as cover as well.
Ulruun is, well, repugnant, though other than being a dwarf there’s probably not much that’s unique about him. I think he’s meant to be a typical example of a sleazy slave trader.
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