Posts
-
Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Hejkin
A hejkin. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
Hejkin are abominations created by the “rampant use of arcane magic” according to the book, though it doesn’t specify whether they the product of accident or deliberate experimentation.
These small and twisted humanoids can see beyond the world and into a “heaving, squirming space filled with nightmares”. Their powers are tied to this place, and to the nastier primal spirits of Athas. The easy answer here would be that they have a direct mental connection to the Far Realm, but maybe this is another nightmare dimension more appropriate to your game.
Anyway, hejkin venerate the spirits of earth and stone as cold and callous masters that nevertheless provide life. Their culture forbids shaping or carving into the earth. This means that people who do strike the earth are seen as horrible heretics to be eliminated. They also reserve the same hatred for those who “misuse” arcane magic, which probably means those who use it at all.
Hejkin live in natural caves that contain natural water sources. They don’t shape these in any way, but they do use magic to lay various sigil-based traps on the walls. They venture out to find food, or they might be driven to a frenzy by some astrological event or another that holds special meaning in that Other Place.
Hejkin tend to target spellcasters, miners, and anyone working on other similar occupations that they can reach by traveling from their homes. They gleefully steal food and supplies from their victims and then finally murder them, turning them into yet more food. No one is safe from their cookpots, not even other hejkins. This makes them our fifth humanoid cannibals.
The Numbers
Hejkins are Small Aberrant Humanoids with ground and burrow speeds of 6, plus Darkvision, Earth Walk and Resist Lightning 5. They often have access to some sort of lightning magic, though the specifics vary per stat block.
Hejkin Sparker
This one’s particularly infused with lightning. It’s a Level 1 Soldier with 31 HP. Its Arcing Defense gives it +2 to AC and Will while adjacent to another hejkin.
The sparker’s Claws do physical damage and mark for a turn. If the target is bloodied, they mark even on a miss. Their Grounded Current power (recharge 5+) attacks enemies in a Close Burst 2, deals lightning damage, and pulls 2 squares.
When a marked enemy decides to move away or ignore the mark, the hejkin can use a Telluric Arc as an interrupt. This attacks the triggering enemy’s Reflex and deals 10 lightning damage on a hit.
Hejkin Chanter
The chanter’s song is mostly unintelligible, but sometimes you can discern a horrible phrase or two. The song gives it power over earth and lightning, and I guess shaping the earth doesn’t count as heresy if a chanter does it. They’re Level 2 Controllers with 37 HP.
Their claws to physical damage and slow for a turn. If the target is bloodied or already slowed, it’s immobilized for a turn instead. Earth’s Voice (recharge when first bloodied) is a close blast 5 that targets enemies, deals thunder damage, pushes 3 squares and knocks prone. Static Song (encounter) is a close burst 3 that deals lightning damage and dazes (save ends). On a miss it deals half damage and dazes for a turn.
Finally we get a little trick: Twisted Earth is a minor action melee attack against Fortitude that teleports the target on a hit, making it swap places either with the chanter or with one of the chanter’s allies that’s within 5 squares. Say, why does Team Monster have a brute in the back line?
Hejkin Raver
This one’s even more feral than usual, and has no thoughts in their head other than a craving for blood. It’s a Level 2 Brute with 45 HP. Its Claws do physical damage and heal it for 3 HP if the target is bloodied.
Blood Marker lets the raver use Claw against an adjacent enemy as a reaction when it is first bloodied. Blood Shakes is a minor action that targets an adjacent bloodied enemy and knocks it prone on a hit.
This seems like the brute that would be stationed at the back row waiting for a sparker to teleport it into the PCs’ backline.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Hejkin being right next to halflings and sharing some common traits (like their size and ground speed) makes me think that they might be corrupted halflings. Mechanically, they appear to be what you use instead of goblins and kobolds to challenge beginning adventurers.
Hejkin don’t collaborate with other humanoids, but they do train and keep all sorts of insectoid beasts, with a preference for those who can burrow. Kruthiks and Ankhegs are favorites.
-
Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Halfling
A halfling wielding a spear and wearing bone armor, sneaking through a forest. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
Athasian halflings are physically identical to their standard 4e counterparts, but their culture is very different. If you have ever heard of Dark Sun in any detail, you’ll likely also have heard that it has cannibal halflings.
This is true, but I feel it’s lost a bit of its impact here, halfway down the critter list for the book. Halflings are the fourth cannibal humanoids we met so far, after belgois, braxats, and gith. I’m not even counting all the magical beasts that eat sapients, or we’d be here all day reciting names.
They still have the disctinction of being our first playable cannibals. Most Dark Sun halflings belong to the tribal cultures that inhabit the Forest Ridge, one of the last remaining green regions of Athas. They’re very territorial and distrustful of other species, violently defending their homes from any invasion. Their cannibalism is mostly ritualistic, though the book also says they eat captured intruders.
Individuals or small groups often leave the Forest Ridge to explore the Seven Cities and the deserts between them. Some stick around and find employment as guides, scouts and trackers. The worst among them might become slavers or raiders.
Halfling tribes will deal honorably with those that are honorable to them in turn, but anyone who breaks an oath to a halfling tribe will be declared their eternal enemy.
The other distinction halflings have is that they’re some of the oldest sapient peoples of Athas.
The Numbers
Athasian halflings have the exact same stats as standard ones. They’re Small Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 6 and the Nimble Reaction trait that gives them +2 to AC against opportunity attacks.
All of the stat blocks here are enthusiastic users of poison, which is a good survival strategy in a world where everyone is larger than you.
Halfling Forest Runner
Your typical sneaky halfling scout-type, this is a Level 2 Skirmisher with 37 HP. They fight with a poisoned spear that does a mix of physical and poison damage, and have a special technique named Strike and Slip Away (recharge 4+) that lets them make a stronger spear attack that deals ongoing poison damage (save ends). As an effect they can then shift 5 squares and make a Stealth test to hide if they have any cover or concealment at the end of this shift.
Halfling Wilder
A halfling psion trained in their ancient traditions. This one is Level 3 Artillery with 38 HP. Their main ranged attack is a Mind Thrust (ranged 10) that deals psychic damage and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn. They have a simple club for melee emergencies. All of their attacks dels extra damage when the target grants combat advantage, making them good at focused fire tactics.
Halfling Forest Keeper
This is a pretty traditional druid of the sort that loves summoning and controlling vines and plants… which makes it a very exotic and mysterious spellcaster by Athasian standards, where everyone else has sand and sun powers. Forest Keepers are respected leaders of their people, responsible for preserving their oral traditions and lore.
Our stat block here is for a Level 6 Controller with the Leader tag and 72 HP. Its melee basic attack is a Distracting Staff that does standard damage on a hit and lets an ally of the keeper within 5 squares shift 1 square. At range if fires Thorn Darts that deal poison damage and make the target vulnerable 5 to poison for a turn.
Spirit Creepers (recharge 5+) is our “vines” spell, an Area Burst 2 within 10 that affects only enemies, targets Reflex, deals physical damage, and restrains on a hit (save ends). Allies caught in the burst recover 5 HP instead.
Constricting Creepers (encounter) is a stronger version that deals physical damage in a Close Burst 3 around the keeper, and knocks prone on a hit.
Halfling Headhunter
An elite champion whose mission is to stalk and eliminate the tribe’s worst enemies… and to bring their heads as proof. It’s a Level 11 Skirmisher with 114 HP.
The headhunter’s attacks all do extra damage when it has combat advantage. Its main weapon is a kukri that does a blend of physical and poison damage, and it can also throw equally poisoned Javelins that also slow on a hit. Harrying Attack (recharge 5+) lets the headhunter make a dagger attack, shift 3 squares, and then make another dagger attack all as part of the same action.
They use these tools to stay at the edges of a fight and harry the squishies. Add some leveled-up wilders to make them even stronger by making the PCs vulnerable to poison.
Encounters and Final Impressions
In their Forest Ridge homes, halflings are very unlikely to be accompanied by humanoids of other species, but they do domesticate a lot of the local wildlife for use in battle. In another twist that seems extremely exotic to Athasians and very familiar to us, most of this wildlife consists of mammals and birds, instead of reptiles and insects. Panthers, kirres (which we’ll see soon), griffons, and so on.
When met in the general Seven Cities area, they join the pool of species you can draw from to assemble Mixed Parties of People.
Halflings are very skirmisher-y here, and it looks like all stat blocks are simple enough that you can adjust their level directly without having to make big changes to their abilities. Monster Manual halfling stats work well in conjunction with these, though I’d replace any slings with poison darts or the equivalent to keep the flavor.
-
Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Goliath
Dark Sun always had “half-giants” ever since its 2e days. They were very large, very strong, and had this funky random alignment rule. Here in Fourth Edition, they’ve been syncretized with goliaths.
The Lore
Athasian goliaths are also known as half-giants. They’re not a natural species, but a product of sorcerer-king experimentation blending human and giant DNA. Nowadays, most goliaths live in the city-states, but there are communities of them out in the mountains of the Tyr Region.
I think it’s official: The Dark Sun Creature Catalog has nothing nice to say about anyone. Here, it says city-dwelling goliaths are brutal enforcers for the templars and the Sorcerer-Kings, and that mountain-dwelling ones are “barbaric raiders” who have little use for companions who are not “pets or slaves”. Some of them dwell among the giants of the Sea of Silt, where they are treated as menial servants but also permitted to take part in raiding.
2e lore about half-giants said they were so lolrandom that you actually rolled on a table every day to see what half your alignment would be. This is gone from their 4e incarnation.
The Number
As usual, goliaths are Natural Humanoids and occupy the very high end of Medium size. Their speed is 6, and their signature power is Stone’s Endurance, a minor action encounter power that gives them some amount of damage resistance for a turn. Here, the specifics vary per stat block.
Goliath Enforcer
Representing your typical goliath thug, raider, or mercenary, this is a Level 8 Brute with 105 HP. It’s armed with a Greatclub, and if surrounded by PCs it can Push Through as a minor action. This is an attack vs. Fortitude that deals no damage, pushes 1 square, knocks prone, and lets the goliath shift into the vacated square. It recharges once it’s first bloodied.
Stone’s Endurance here gives Resist All 5 for a turn.
When the enforcer is reduced to 0 HP, Vengeful Clout lets it make one last attack with Vengeful Clout, targetting Fortitude, dealing greatclub damage, and knocking prone on a hit. Despite the name, the enforcer doesn’t have to target the person who defeated it.
Goliath Enforcer Legbreaker
This is the same Goliath Enforcer from before as seen by PCs in the mid-Paragon tier, who have far surpassed it in skill. It’s a Level 16 Minion Brute. It has the same Greatclub and Vengeful Clout attacks as the regular level 8 version, but dealing appropriate damage for its level and minion-ness. Its Stone’s Endurance makes it take no damage from the next attack that hits it before the end of its next turn, which sounds powerful but is the only version of the ability that would make any difference on a minion.
It’s interesting to note that both the Enforcer and the Legbreaker are worth 350 XP, so XP total ends up being an interesting guideline for when to upgrade or downgrade a monster’s quality as it goes down or up in level.
Goliath Gladiator
A better-trained goliath fighter usually met in the arena, with a big bone greataxe and an arsenal of fancy tricks. It’s a Level 11 Soldier with 114 HP and the Leader tag.
The attacks of the Bone Greataxe deal standard damage and immediately end the target’s marks on the gladiator. It can also use the weapon in a Leg Strike that targets Fortitude, deals the same amount of damage, slows and prevents the target from shifting for a turn. And finally, it can be used in a Skull Cleaver maneuver that also targets Fortitude, deals heavy damage, daze, and impose a -2 penalty to saves (save ends both). This recharges when the goliath misses with the power, so it will keep trying until it hits.
It looks to me like the gladiator really wants to get past the party’s defenders with the help of its basic attacks, and then use the special maneuvers on the party’s squishies that are likely to have a worse Fortitide defense.
The goliath’s leaderly abilities are all Minor Actions: Get Up! (recharge 5+) lets an adjacent ally either stand up as a free action, or make a save against a dazing, immobilizing or restraining effect. Offensive Form lets it mark every adjacent enemy for a turn. Its Stone’s Endurance gives Resist 10 All for a turn.
Goliath King’s Guard
When you finally go meet that crime boss or petty warlord who has an army of goliath legbreakers at his service, these are the dudes who will be standing next to him as his elite bodyguards. They’re Level 16 Soldiers with 154 HP, wielding halberds and wearing scale armor. Their weapons give them Threatening Reach 2.
They might also have metal blades, because their basic attack is described as a Halberd without any material qualifiers as “bone” or “obsidian”. They do standard damage, slide the target one square and mark it for a turn. The Mighty Clout technique (recharge 5+) deals heavy damage, slides 1 square, and knocks prone. Their Stone’s Endurance gives them Resist 10 All for a turn.
A relatively simple stat block, but it’s good at its job of preventing PCs from getting close to the boss. As mentioned above, it goes well with a small army of legbreaker minions in addition to the boss.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Despite the vitriol heaped upon them by the book, ultimately Goliaths also fit the category of People, so you might find them in the usual Mixed People Encounters as well. They can be allies or enemies, free or not.
The stat blocks are pretty simple. Big fighters with big weapons. I thought the gladiator was the standout here, lots of interesting martial tricks on that one.
-
Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Golem
That’s the title of the entry, but I’ll try to not to use it outside of the monster names since it’s a bit appropriative.
The Lore
As as far as D&D goes, these are our “top-tier” constructs, usually placed in guardian roles but sometimes found following their creator around and responding to direct commands from them. They’re made by binding an elemental into a physical shell made out of some material, as we saw in the Monster Manual/Vault reading.
Bone, clay, flesh and stone constructs are as common here as they are in other settings, but not even the wealthiest and most wasteful of Sorcerer Kings would make a construct out of iron, let alone other metals. Instead, Athasian wizards have developed other models made of more commonly available materials. This doesn’t mean the constructs themselves are common, as most of the rituals to make them are jealously guarded secrets, and even those who still know them don’t necessarily know the theory behind the recipe.
Mind you, metal constructs might still be found in the depths of some Green Age or Red Age ruins, and they remain exceedingly dangerous.
The Numbers
All of our specimens here are Large Natural Animates with the Construct tag. They’re immune to disease, poison, and sleep. Everything else varies per stat block.
Salt Golem
This is a construct made out of rock salt, which has some different properties from common stone. The most relevant here is that it’s surrounded by a haze of salt particles shed from its main body, which it can control. Salt is highly toxic at these concentrations and the creature can send it right into your bloodstream if you have any open wounds.
Salt constructs are Level 11 Elite Brutes with 278 HP, a ground speed of 5 (cannot shift), and Darkvision. They’re surrounded by a haze of Toxic Salt that acts as an aura (2), which inflicts -2 to the defenses of any enemy inside. If the enemy is bloodied, it also takes 5 poison damage when it starts its turn in the aura.
The creature attacks with the now-traditional Slam, which deals heavy damage and on a hit inflicts 5 ongoing poison damage and -2 to attacks (save ends both). Double Attack lets it slam twice in one action. Its special attack controls that salt cloud to cause Horrid Dehydration (close burst 3, enemies only, recharge 4+), which damages then weakens and slows for a turn. If the target is bloodied it the conditions become (save ends both) instead.
Dune Golem
This is a construct made out of loose sand bound together by air magic. It can hold a humanoid shape, but it’s diffuse instead of solid, making it particularly resistant to conventional attacks.
A dune construct is a Level 13 Elite Soldier with 184 HP. It has a ground speed of 5, and a burrow speed of 5 on loose earth. In addition to the standard immunities to disease, sleep, and poison, it also takes half damage from melee and ranged attacks. Unlike its solid cousins from this entry, it can shift.
The creature is surrounded by an aura (2) of Gusting Sands, which counts as difficult terrain for enemies inside. Whenever such an enemy tries to stand up from prone inside the aura, they must roll a save. If they fail, they stay prone and waste the action they spent trying to get up. We also see the Unhindered trait here, which lets the construct pull grabbed victims along when it moves.
The construct’s Slams deal the usual damage, and grab on a hit. It can have up to two grabbed victims, and can sustain the grabs for free. It has Double Attack, so it could grab two victims in the same action if it hits with both slams.
Grabbed victims are susceptible to Engulf, a minor action attack that deals light damage but starts inflicting ongoing 15 damage until the grab ends! And then you have Shifting Sands a move action power that lets the construct either shift its speed, or to shift half its speed and gain phasing during this movement. While shifting, it ignores difficult terrain and can move through enemy spaces, so this is a good escape hatch in addition to being a way to play keep-away with the suffocating grabbed victims and their allies. One special condition with the phasing here is that it only works if the surface in question has a hole wide enough to let a grain of sand through, which shouldn’t be a problem in most cases.
Obsidian Golem
Another construct made from a type of stone with specific properties. In this case, obsidian is more or less natural volcanic glass. Like the stone they’re made from, these constructs are very very sharp. They’re also deceptively fast.
They are Level 19 Elite Soldiers with 358 HP. Their speed is merely 4 and they cannot shift, but they’re Razor Sharp. This property is modeled as an aura (1). Any enemy inside the aura that moves to another square inside the aura takes 10 damage.
Instead of Double Attack, obsidian constructs have Inexorable Action, which lets them roll initiative twice and take two whole turns per round at those counts.
The construct’s Slams deal the usual brute-tier damage, push 1 square, knock prone, and inflict ongoing 5 damage (save ends) from the bits of obsidian that break off and get stuck in the wound. It can also use a Stunning Handclap (recharge 6+) which attacks all enemies in a Close Burst 5. On a hit it deals thunder damage and stuns for a turn!
A rechargeable multi-target stun is a terrifying prospect. A lucky recharge roll might let the creature use this twice in a round, which is a very bad thing for the PCs.
Encounters and Final Impressions
You’re gonna run into some of these things eventually in any D&D campaign that goes on for long enough, and these ones are reasonably interesting.
If guarding a site, they’ll either be accompanied by more constructs or by other long-lasting guardians such as undead, devils, or demons. If found as bodyguards, they’ll be accompanied by their masters and any other goons you care to add to the group.
-
Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Gith
A gith warrior with a spear. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
One of the things we learned about the cosmology of Athas early in the Campaign Setting reading is that its Shadowfell is locally known as the Gray, and it’s suspected to block access to the Astral Sea and any other worlds beyond.
This becomes relevant here, because the people known as the Gith are said to have arrived on Athas long ago, sailing from beyond the Gray in silvery ships. Once here, however, they found out they couldn’t go back. To make matters worse, these alien visitors found out that they were particularly susceptible to the corruptive influences of Athasian arcane magic, which turned them Darker and Sunnier over the generations.
Present-day gith are more monstrous in appearance than the ones you’re used to. Their mindset is also more monstrous, which is saying something considering these were probably githyanki invaders to start with. Despite the mutations they’ve undergone, they retain their psychic abilities.
Gith organize in nomadic hunter communities, wandering through the moutains and the Tablelands region. They make no particular distinction between standard animals and sapient outsiders when it comes to chosing their prey, and think both make fine eating. Some Gith groups are dedicated to gathering the scattered parts of their original ships, hoping to reassemble them so they can get off this rock.
The Numbers
Gith are Medium Natural Humanoids with Speed 6. Their signature power is the same as that of standard githyanki: Telekinetic Leap, an encounter power that lets them fly 5 squares as a move action. Other attacks and abilities vary with training.
Gith Savage
The rank-and-file of any large gith raiding force, the book describes their lives as nasty, brutish, and short. These Level 4 Minion Skirmishers fight with obsidian-tipped spears.
The gith’s basic Spear attack damages and lets it shift 1 square. Once per encounter they can enhance one attack into a Telekinetic Pierce, which targets Fortitude, deals the same damage and pushes the target 1 square. I think this above might be the first psychic power I’ve seen that doesn’t target Will. There are a few others in this entry.
Gith Hobbler
These hunters are level 4 Artillery with 46 HP. They prefer to stay far away throwing Range 20 Javelins. Once per encounter they can throw a particularly well-aimed Pinning Javelin, that does a bit more damage and immobilizes (save ends).
If someone gets too close, they’re subject to the hobbler’s aura (1) of Brain Fog, which inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks and damage to enemies inside. I wonder if there’s one of these near me these days. Someone who insists on attacking them in melee might force the hobbler to use its bone dagger, which does light damage and lets them shift 1 square on a hit.
Gith Spearhead
A front-line fighter wielding a barbed obsidian-headed spear. It’s a Level 5 Brute with 76 HP. The Vicious Spear is pretty strong, as expected of a brute, and can be used in a Focused Stab (recharge 4+) that deals more damage and knocks prone. If the target is bloodied, the attack deals even more damage and dazes (save ends).
If the spearhead is reduced to 0 HP, it lets out an Ancestor’s Appeal, a Close Burst 1 that targets Fortitude and deals psychic damage. In addition to the damage, a hit also inflicts ongoing 5 psychic damage, and a further 5 psychic damage whenever the target uses a daily or encounter power (save ends both).
Git Drone
Drones are gith that show increased psychic aptitude as children, and are subject to a torturous training regimen to further develop their powers. They’re Level 5 Controllers with 62 HP.
Drones emit a Brain Fog aura that works like the hobbler’s, but is much wider in radius (3). They fight with Bone Daggers in melee and with Telekinetic Thrusts at up to range 5. These deal force damage, and slide 2 squares.
Every so often they can use a Psychic Nova (recharge 5+). This is an Area Burst 1 Within 5 that targets Reflex, deals untyped damage, and makes the target suffer 5 psychic damage whenever they use a daily or encounter power (save ends). If the target is bloodied, it instead deals ongoing 5 damage (save ends).
Encounters and Final Impressions
The one time I briefly played a Dark Sun game, one of the PCs was a “standard” gith fighter, so I had thought the gith of Athas were both unchanged from their astral relatives and playable. Turns out I was wrong! Mechanically they’re still similar to githyanki, but their look and feel is pretty different than what I expected, and there are no rules for gith PCs in the Campaign Setting.
Gith are commonly found in all-gith hunting parties, perhaps accompanied by domesticated baazrags or other trained beasties. They can also be found in mixed parties of People, whether as willing members or as slaves commanded to fight.
subscribe via RSS