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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: River Rats
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
A very specific group that makes the city of Fallcrest its home.
The Lore
Before we talk about the River Rats, I figure it’s useful to talk a bit about Fallcrest itself. This is information from both the DMG and this book.
Fallcrest grew around a small fort (Moonstone Keep) originally built to guard a portage site around a big waterfall in the Nentir River. The entire rest of the river is perfectly navigable, but trade boats arriving at this point need to unload their cargo so that it can be hauled up or down the limestone cliffs around the waterfall that would eventually give the city its name. The loading points are known as the Upper and Lower Quays.
Fallcrest was a prosperous trade hub for many years, but it was hit hard by the Bloodspear invasion. It hasn’t recovered completely even after all these years, since the volume of foreign trade coming into the Vale was severely reduced by the fall of Nerath.
The cliffs split Fallcrest into two districts, Hightown and Lowtown. Hightown is located at the more defensible top of the cliff. It suffered relatively little during the sack of the city and was the first area to be rebuilt and resettled, making it the wealthier half of the city in our narrative present.
Lowtown is the poorer half, located at the foot of the cliff. It was almost completely razed back during the invasion, and only began to see new construction much later, as the city began growing again. There are still significant stretches of it that are abandoned or ruined, which make good hideouts for the city’s criminal element.
That finally brings us to the River Rats, which are a significant faction in that criminal element. This gang had a Dickensian start, with a band of orphans who got together for protection and were turned to crime by an unscrupulous adult. Most of its members are grownups in our narrative present, but they still recruit new members by taking in street urchins. These new recruits are provided with food, shelter, training, and a sense of camaraderie they have likely never experienced before, which makes the River Rats extremely loyal to each other. They also have something of a “us against the world” mentality, since the world never gave them any of the things the Rats did.
The gang’s current leader is Kelson, the halfling who owns the Lucky Gnome Taphouse and who despite rising from the ranks neatly fills the archetype of the exploitative leader. The Taphouse is the cheapest and rowdiest of Fallcrest’s taverns, catering to dockworkers and porters. Despite the unsavory reputations of the Taphouse and its owner, Kelson has not yet been linked to the activities of the River Rats.
The gang has a wide repertoire, but the most profitable of their activities consists of burglarizing the warehouses near the Lower Quays. Kelson chooses targets based on the information he overhears in the Taphouse, and his gang is very enthusiastic about following through. Merchants who make use of these warehouses must carefully weigh the risk of losing their merchandise against the abusive monopoly prices charged by the Porter’s Guild to haul the cargo to safer storage spaces in the Upper Quays. The Porter’s Guild is not in collusion with the Rats, but the overall picture still adds up to quite a damper on Fallcrest’s economy.
Kelson dreams of expanding the River Rats into a true criminal syndicate with chapters on every city in the Vale, but before he focuses on that he wants to eliminate all his rivals in Fallcrest. If his plans succeed, Fallcrest could be the site of a bloody gang war, likely between the Rats and the Shadow Court plus whatever other groups the GM wants to add into the mix.
The Numbers
As a hostile faction that resides in Fallcrest itself, the River Rats are early to mid-Heroic threats. They’re from a variety of “playable” species, and as mentioned in he Lore section are mostly Unaligned, since their loyalty to each other is their main motivation.
You can easily switch their races around for more variety through the usual tactic of changing and reassigning the relevant stats and abilities.
The gang’s signature trait is River Rat Tactics, which lets its owner gain combat advantage against any enemy who has one of the owner’s allies adjacent to them.
Lowtown Urchin
These halflings are actually around the age of a typical starting adventurer, but they disguise themselves as human children to avoid suspicion as they pick pockets and spy on people.
Our urchin is a Level 1 Skirmisher with 28 HP. As a halfling they have a Speed of 6 and a +5 bonus to saves vs. Fear effects. They fight with a dagger, and will use the Cloak of Filth that covers them to make themselves harder to hit. This is a move action that allows them to shift 3 squares and gain partial concealment for a turn. As a halfling, they can use the Second Chance power once per encounter to force an enemy who hit them to reroll the attack and use the new result.
When bloodied, the Urchin will resort to the River Rat’s Gambit special attack. This encounter power lets them make a basic attack and cause 2d6 bonus damage if that attack hits. If it misses, the urchin takes 1d6 damage instead.
Market Green Grifter
Grifters usually pick pockets or run rigged gambling scams in Fallcrest’s Market Green area, but might be called in to do other work. They’re not very good at direct confrontations, but they can play dead like no one else. This one’s a half-elf.
The grifter fights with a Short Sword whose basic attack profile is nothing special. They’ll make a half-assed attempt at fighting until they first take damage, and then they’ll Play Dead. This causes the grifter to fall prone. Until the start of the grifter’s next turn, they have a +5 to all defenses against close and area attacks, and enemies must spend a minor action to roll and pass a DC 20 Insight check to target them with melee or ranged attacks (otherwise, the enemy will believe the grifter is dead).
On their next turn, the grifter can come Back From the Dead, which lets them stand up, shift 3 squares, and make 3 shortsword attacks against an enemy. The attacks use the basic profile, but also do half-damage on a miss.
Once the grifter hits 0 HP, they can use The Jig is Up as an interrupt. They retain their last hit point and can shift 3 squares, likely as a prelude to running away at full speed.
Lower Quays Guttersnipe
Guttersnipes usually act as lookouts and spies, but are not adverse to a spot of murder if needed. They’re Level 2 Artillery with 30 HP. This one’s a halfling.
It’s important to remember that the guttersnipe doesn’t need to be adjacent to an enemy to benefit from River Rat tactics! As long as at least one ally is adjacent to that enemy, the guttersnipe can shoot them with combat advantage.
They also have the Sniper trait, which lets them stay hidden if they miss with a ranged attack from hiding.
Those ranged attacks will be made with Slings. If enemies get too close for comfort, the guttersnipe can toss a Hooked Net, which acts as a Close Blast 2 that restrains and deals 5 ongoing damage to those it hits (save ends). They only have one of these, though, and after it’s spent they’ll need to resort to weak-sauce Gut Punches to discourage melee attackers.
They also have the halfling Second Chance power.
Razorclaw Jack
Jacks are part of the Rat’s beefier contingent, and specialize in burglary and kidnapping. This one’s a Razorclaw shifter, and a Level 3 Skirmisher with 43 HP. When they’re bloodied, Razorclaw Shifting gives them a +2 bonus to Speed, taking it from 6 to 8.
The jack fights with their claws, which deal extra damage if they have combat advantage. They can also use the River Rat’s Gambit technique. If conditions are right (recharge 4+) they can use Skulduggery to shift half its speed as a move action and gain combat advantage against enemies adjacent to them at the end of the movement. This combat advantage lasts until the end of the current turn, so the movement must come before an attack.
Lowtown Kneebreaker
Kneebreakers are pure muscle, sent to rough people up or kill them when the time for subtlety is past. This one’s a human, and a Level 3 Brute with 56 HP.
They fight with Clubs, can use River Rat’s Gambit, and can do what their name says as part of a Crippling Strike (recharge 6+), which deals extra damage and slows (save ends). It still does half damage on a miss.
Kelson
The leader of the River Rats has the only stat block in this entry with an Evil alignment. Everyone else is Unaligned. I take this to mean that the River Rats are motivated primarily by loyalty to each other, but that Kelson is exploiting that loyalty for his own profit. He’s a Level 5 Elite Skirmisher with the Leader tag and 120 HP.
Kelson’s skills as a Gang Leader act as an aura (3) that gives allies inside a +2 bonus to saves. He fights with a Short Sword and throws poisoned Daggers that deal damage and inflict 5 ongoing poison damage on a hit (save ends). The Flickering Blades at-will maneuver lets him make a shortsword attack, shift 3 squares, and throw a dagger at someone else, all within the same standard action.
He can also use River Rat’s Gambit and Second Chance.
Final Impressions
The River Rats are mostly a pretty standard thieves’ guild and are a good tool for GMs who want to add a bit of urban adventuring to 4e’s standard points-of-light setup. They’re more straightforward and less problematic than the Fell Court, and also a bit more morally ambiguous. Most of the River Rats are in this business simply to make a living and take care of their found family. This means it’s possible for diplomatic PCs to dismantle the gang using mostly non-violent means!
They’d need to befriend its rank-and-file members, make them turn against Kelson, and give them the material conditions to leaver their criminal careers behind for good. More complex than the usual “kill’em all” approach, but potentially much more satisfying. Of course, less scrupulous but still diplomatic PCs might end up just replacing Kelson as the boss instead of ending the Rats’ criminal activities.
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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Raven Roost Bandits
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
This is a new Vale-specific faction.
The Lore
Raven Roost is an old manor located about 10 miles to the southeast of Thunderspire. It used to be the home of a local lord back in Nerathi times, and got this name because the lord had a gallows assembled at a nearby hilltop and was in the habit of keeping the bodies of executed criminals on display there. This attracted a lot of ravens, and gave the property its name.
The lord and his household are long gone, and today Raven Roost is home to a fairly sophisticated bandit gang. Their proximity to the Trade Road allows them to regularly attack travelers and traders moving between Fallcrest, Thunderspire and Hammerfast. They’re helped in this enterprise by Barton, the cheerful owner of the Fiveleague House inn near Hammerfast, who sends them advance warning of juicy targets coming from that direction.
The book also mentions the bandits also attack the King’s Road to the south, but that’s pretty far from their home base and requires them to cut through a bit of Harken forest to reach it. Harken’s Heart or the Hunter Spiders might have something to say about that if they exist in your campaign.
Banditry was always common along that stretch of road, as the nearby Harken Forest seems to offer a nice source of shelter and concealment to the deserters, cutthroats and outlaws who tend to make up these gangs. None of them ever lasted for very long, though, eventually falling prey to infighting or incurring the displeasure of the forest’s inhabitants. This changed when the three shadar-kai, disgraced former servants of the Raven Queen, arrived on the scene.
Of the three, Samminel was a warlord, Erzoun his court witch, and Geriesh his chief spy. Erzoun once predicted that Samminel would never advance in prestige and station if he remained on his Shadowfell domain, so the trio crossed into the world. Their spectacular displays of violence unburdened by compassion earned the fear and respect of all the little bands that hid in the Forest, who decided to swear loyalty to them and beg for training and leadership. Thus were the Raven Roost bandits formed.
The three leaders don’t actually work together very well, since they have a tendency to undermine each other’s authority. They know this, however, and have arranged things so that each of them commands a separate force with little direct interaction.
Raven Roost itself is an excellent home base for them. It occupies a little hidden valley in the Old Hills that’s supremely defensible and cannot be seen from the road. It’s also out of Harken Forest proper, which makes the bandits much less vulnerable to attacks by angry druids. They hide in the edges of the forest while waiting in ambush, but Raven Roost is where they rest their heads.
The bandits’ initial attacks were shockingly violent, but they’ve toned it down after their reputation began to spread. They frequently spare the lives of their victims and accept surrenders, since they know that people fight back harder when their lives are at stake. Sometimes their reputation allows them to avoid a fight entirely. Eventually, they plan to capitalize on that reputation to move from banditry to warlordism, and try to conquer and rule their own stretch of the Vale.
The Numbers
We get stats for the three shadar-kai leaders, and for the rank-and-file bandits they lead. Bandits are usually human, though you could certainly mix things a bit and add other ancestries here.
The three leaders have the Shadar-kai Shadow Jaunt encounter power, which lets them teleport 3 squares and become insubstantial for a turn as a move action. The others have no common traits.
As usual, we’ll look at them in ascending order of level, with the leaders at the end.
Raven Roost Harrier
Trained by Geriesh, harriers are Level 4 Skirmishers with 53 HP. Their short swords deal physical damage and prevent the target from making opportunity attacks for a turn on a hit. Their Crossbows have no raiders, but are decent basic ranged attacks. They can make Moving Attacks that let them move their speed, attack with the sword at any point, and move away without provoking opportunity attacks from their target.
Raven Roost Cutthroat
Also trained by Geriesh, cutthroats are Level 5 Lurkers with 49 HP. They fight with daggers and garrotes. Garrotes target Reflex and grab the target on a hit. The escape DC is a surprising 22! While the grab lasts, the cutthroat has superior cover and both it and the victim are immune to forced movement. The bandit can use an Aterial Cut on its grabbed victim, an attack that deals both immediate and ongoing physical damage (save ends), and ends the grab on a hit.
If the victim escapes the cutthroat’s grab, it can use Quick Cut to make a free dagger attack against them.
Raven Roost Grenadier
Trained by Erzoun, grenadiers are Level 5 Controllers with 61 HP. They’re armed with a Shortsword and with a large assortment of grenades. They carry 8 Fire Bombs that deal fire damage in an Area Burst 1 and knock the targets prone on a hit. They deal half damage on a miss.
They also carry a single Smoke Bomb laced with poison, which attacks an Area Burst 1 and causes the targets to become dazed and to take ongoing poison damage (save ends). This creates a zone that lightly obscures its space until the end of the encounter.
Finally, they carry a bomb that can produce an Oil Slick, which can knock everyone in an Area Burst 1 prone and as an effect make them vulnerable to fire for a turn.
Once per encounter they can also use Grenadier’s Rush to move their speed with a minor action.
Raven Roost Sharpshooter
Another Erzoun special, sharpshooters are Level 6 Artillery with 55 HP. They fight with short swords and crossbows, and as expected of artillery the latter are more accurate and damaging.
Sharpshooters can spend their move action to perform a Careful Aim maneuver. This lets them pick an enemy they can see. If they can still see that enemy at the start of their next turn, their crossbow attack will attack the target’s Reflex instead of their AC, and will deal 5 extra damage. So not only will the attack be more accurate than usual, it will also target a lower defense (often much lower for heavily armored characters).
Sharpshooters can also deploy an Archer’s Decoy as a free action, which grants them a +2 bonus to AC and Reflex for a turn. This recharges when they’re first bloodied.
Since Careful Aim is a move action, sharpshooters are quite powerful when they can remain stationary. You can help them with that by deploying them behind good cover.
Raven Roost Outlaw Veteran
Led by Samminel, veterans are Level 6 Brutes with 86 HP. They fight with bastard swordS and can do a fair few things with them.
Aside from their basic attacks, they can use Mighty Blows, which do the same damage, push the target 1 square, and let the veteran shift 1 square to follow. Their Swath of Death maneuver lets them attack twice and keeps recharging as long as at least one of the attacks misses.
They can also use a Forceful Shove as a minor action to attack a target’s Fortitude and push then 1 square on a hit.
Raven Roost Highwayman
Led by Samminel, highwaymen are Level 7 Soldiers with 77 HP. They wield the classy bandit’s choice, a rapier and a hand crossbow.
Their basic rapier attack marks for a turn, and despite carrying 10 bolts for the crossbow they have no ranged basic attack! Instead, they have a special encounter power named Bolt to the Gut. It’s a ranged attack but does not provoke opportunity attacks. It deals heavy physical damage, immobilizes, and inflicts ongoing physical damage (save ends). Even on a miss, it immobilizes for a turn.
What do highwaymen do with the other 9 bolts once they use this? They wait for a marked enemy to make an attack that doesn’t include them as a target. That lets them use Stand, You Coward as a reaction, which lets them immediately recharge and use Bolt to the Gut on the offending enemy!
Geriesh
Geriesh is a Level 6 Elite Skirmisher (Leader) with 136 HP. His sneaky leadership takes the form of a Swiftshadow Master aura (5), which gives all enemies inside a +4 to Initiative and to Stealth. Willing Prey makes any enemy marking him grant combat advantage.
The spymaster fights with katars, which deal extra damage against targets granting him combat advantage. If the attack does more than 20 damage, the target falls unconscious (save ends). This is possible if he attacks with combat advantage, since his damage is 3d6+7 in that case. That’s about a 40% chance of unconsciousness, which of course also happens if he crits because that causes max damage. His version of Double Attack allows him to perform two attacks and move up to his full speed between them.
Geriesh replaces the standard Shadow Jaunt power with Shadow Leap, which doesn’t grant insubstantial but lets him teleport his full speed of 6. Once per encounter, he can also use Dagger Flick as a minor action, which deals physical damage, immobilizes, and inflicts ongoing poison damage. Even on a miss, this grazes the target and immobilizes them for a turn.
Erzoun
Erzoun is a Level 7 Elite Controller (Leader) with 152 HP. Her witchy leadership manifests as a Quickshadow Aura (5). Any ally who shifts while inside the aura can shift 1 extra square. While the bandits under her are fairly martial sorts, she’s a proper witch and fights exclusively with magic.
Erzoun’s basic attack is a Blackfire Touch that does fire and necrotic damage on a hit, and slides 1 square as an effect. She can attack at range with a spell named Beshadowed Mind that deals necrotic and psychic damage, and makes the target unable to see anything further than 2 squares away (save ends).
She also has a host of limited spells, starting with a fun one. Witch’s Prophecy is an attack against Will that does no damage, but has a very interesting effect. If Erzoun hits, she can choose an ally within 10 squares. The target of the spell is weakened when attacking anyone other than the chosen ally. This lasts until the end of the encounter, and recharges whenever she misses with it! She’s going to use this to set up the worst match possible between a PC striker and a beefy ally who can resist their attacks.
Erzoun can also create a zone of Deep Shadow in an area burst 1. This is difficult terrain to enemies inside, and deals 10 damage to those enemies when they enter the zone or end their turn in it. It lasts for a turn but can be sustained and moved 4 squares with a minor action. It recharges when bloodied, so Erzoun might have two of these zones in play at once.
Erzoun gets the standard Shadow Jaunt power, but she also gets a Shadow Augury reaction that triggers when she’s hit in melee while bloodied. It recharges Shadow Jaunt and lets her use it immediately!
Erzoun is hard to pin down and will wreak havoc on the PC’s formations with a Deep Shadow zone and a prophecy right at the start. Once bloodied, she stays mostly stationary to sustain her two zones, relying on Shadow Augury to avoid being surrounded.
Samminel
The overall boss of the Raven Roost bandits is a Level 8 Elite Soldier (Leader) with 172 HP. He’s the more direct and martial of the trio, wielding a halberd in combat. His leadership instills his underlings with a Deathshadow Fervor (aura 5) that lets them daze any target against whom they score a critical hit (save ends).
The halberd marks for a turn, and he can also use it in a Double Attack or in a Sundering Sweep, which doesn’t mark but hits a Close Burst 2 and inflicts a -2 AC penalty (save ends).
If a marked enemy tries to ignore Samminel, he can make a basic attack against them as an interrupt, scoring a critical on a 17-20. He also gets the standard Shadow Jaunt power.
Samminel is less gimmicky than Erzoun, but is a good enabler for the sort of direct henchman he prefers to lead.
Final Impressions
It’s easy to see the word “bandits” and immediately think of the sort of generic opponent that tends to grace each edition’s first Monster Manual. Fortunately the ones we get here have fairly interesting mechanics that elevate them beyond the generic.
They all work very well together, but the structure described in the Lore encourages a story where you face each “sub-gang” in order, defeat its boss, and move up the ladder. The likely order is Geriesh, Erzoun, and Samminel. Depending on how tightly you couple the bandit stat blocks with the leaders who train them, you might need to insert some generics in here to pad out your encounters.
We don’t get an exact headcount of the Raven Roost bandits. There’s enough to give the Hunter Spiders pause and make them avoid “hunting” the same routes, which means you can use however many you need for your own story. Unlike the drow, these guys can get new recruits from the constant influx of assholes who arrive at their territory looking to join.
A final stand should definitely involve the three leaders at the same time. If anything would force them to work together again it’s a bunch of heroes who have systematically dismantled the rest of their gang.
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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Ragewind
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Ragewinds first appeared in Third Edition, and make their Fourth Edition debut here. They’re mostly generic, with some added hooks for the Vale.
The Lore
Also known as sword spirits, ragewinds are undead monsters that can form in battlefields. They’re made up of the spirits of despondent soldiers who believe they died for nothing. These shades are individually weak, but they have the ability to move the weapons they wielded in life. A ragewind arises when many of these indignant ghosts join to form a single composite entity.
Ragewinds can lie dormant to appear as a random pile of old weapons. When active, they assume the whirlwind form you can see in the illustration. They can understand Common and modulate their wind to speak it, but they’re true monsters and are only interested in killing living people who stray too close to them. When destroyed, they release the pent-up anger and hatred inside them, which might cause their enemies to turn against each other. These creatures carry no treasure save the weapons that make up their form. They might also be hanging around something worth digging up, acting as accidental guardians.
The Nentir Vale region doesn’t just contain the ruins of a number of old civilizations - it was also the site of many of their battles. Bloodspear Orcs against Nerathi, Nerathi against the Hill Folk or the dragons of the Dawnforges, Arkhosia against Bael Turath, elves vs. drow, and perhaps others that have been lost to time. Any of these places might house a number of very old ragewinds.
The Numbers
A ragewind is a Large Natural Animate with the Undead tag, and a Level 18 Skirmisher with 112 HP. It has an amazing ground speed of 10 and a flight speed of 5, and perceives the world through Blindsight 20.
As a literal weapon whirlwinds, a ragewind projects a Slashing Aura (1) that inflicts 10 damage on enemies caught inside, or 15 when it’s bloodied. Its All-Around Defense means it doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when moving, and it’s under a permanent Freedom of Movement effect that ends any slowing or immobilizing effects on the creature at the start of its turn.
Its basic attack is named Weapon Fury, which does physical damage and also gives the ragewind 10 temporary HP if it’s bloodied. It can also use a Rush of Blades maneuver to shift 5 squares and use Weapon Fury at any point during the movement.
By expanding itself a bit the ragewind can make a Steel Whirlwind attack (recharge 5+), which attacks a Close Burst 1 and does more damage than a basic attack, half on a miss. If the creature is bloodied the area is a Close Burst 2 instead.
When it dies, the ragewind triggers its Death’s Rage ability, which attacks the Will of every enemy in a Close Burst 5 and, if it hits, forces the target to make a basic attack against its nearest ally.
Final Impression
These are dangerous physical combatants who are hard to pin down and can really punish PC groups who like close formations.
If the location of any of the Vale’s ragewinds was known, they’d probably be the stuff of legends told all over. It’s quite likely that they’re unknown because no one who met one has lived to tell the tale. With a speed of 10, they’re almost impossible to outrun even on horseback.
A lot of the NPC factions we saw so far have a relatively high chance of running into these things, because they spend their time digging up old ruins and battlefields: Dythan’s Legion, the Gray Company, the Hunter Spiders. Y’know, our usual suspects. I imagine this would happen as the climax of their story arcs, as they’re just about to find what they’re looking for.
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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Phantom Brigade
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
A new group, and a surprise lesson on Nerath’s history!
The Lore
So far we’ve only got the bare minimum of information on the history and geography of Nerath as a whole. We mostly know that the Vale was part of its northern frontier, that it did a number on the Vale’s native peoples when it moved in, and that it fell about a hundred years ago. This entry gives lots of new information because the history of the Phantom Brigade is intimately tied to that of the empire of Nerath.
The Empire of Nerath was founded in the distant south around six hundred years ago, with the establishment its capital city of Nera. It quickly spread in all directions and became a world power. Its long history starts with an early period of rapid expansion, goes through the troubled and despotic rule of Emperor Magroth, and then through a long period of hegemonic peace and stability. This peace lasted until the empire’s abrupt fall about 100 years ago.
No one knows exactly how the fall of Nerath happened (or, if they do, they’re keeping it a secret). What is known is that a combination of traumatic events that might have included both monster attacks and natural disasters left the entire imperial family unaccounted for. Nerath’s armies were left leaderless and without direction, and all the simmering conflicts between its noble houses blew up with no one to keep them in line. Soon the complex infrastructure that united all regions of the empire stopped being maintained and crumbled, turning its cities and provinces into the scattered points of light we know today.
Nerath had several knightly orders at the time of its fall, and none where more prestigious than the Knights of the Empire. Imperial Knights were paladins and rangers selected for their skill, loyalty, and nobility of character. They answered directly to the Emperor, acting as his personal bodyguards and extensions of his will. When everything went to ruin, they were one of the few groups who remained committed to defending the empire and keeping it whole. Nearly all of them died in the decade between the initial catastrophe and the day everyone finally acknowledged Nerath was no more.
This did not stop the Knights, however. The oaths that bound them to the order were more than just pretty words. They included a mysterious magical effect or curse that eventually made the dead Knights return as ghosts. This started happening decades after the fall. Though the Knights know their empire has fallen, they are still compelled to seek the honor they could not gain in life, and fulfill their oaths as best they can. They are now known as the Phantom Brigade.
The first recorded appearance of the ghost knights was right here on the Vale, when three of them were spotted racing through the Gardbury Downs. In our narrative present they can be seen anywhere the hand of Nera used to reach.
Knights look much as they did in life, though ghostly and translucent. This means you have a very important decision to make. Is the Nazgul-looking fellow in the illustration a typical Knight, or is he Sir Georg Edgelord, who is an outlier and should not be counted? Your answer will say very interesting things about Nerath either way.
Their weapons bear the emblem of the Threefold Crown of Nerath, unmistakably marking their bearers as Knights of the Empire. Those weapons and also serve as the receptacle for their souls.
Though we saw in previous entries that Nerath did some pretty horrible shit in the past, the Knights seem genuinely concerned about upholding its highest ideals and their original oaths, even though they’re ghosts. They will not attack random travelers unprovoked and will probably be enthusiastic allies in the fight against threats to the Vale if they can be convinced of the need for this alliance.
However, they can still come into conflict with the PCs if they try to trespass upon the areas the Knights still protect (which are full of juicy treasure-filled Nerathi ruins). In these cases a fight might be avoided if the PCs can present the Knights with a genuine writ of passage or Nerathi signet ring.
The Numbers
Phantom Brigade members are Medium Shadow Humanoids with the Undead tag. Most of them are former humans. They have Darkvision and immunity to disease and poison, but lack the usual resistances and vulnerabilities. They have ground speeds of 6.
As ghosts, our knights have both Insubstantial and Phasing. Only force damage will deal full damage to them, and since they don’t have additional vulnerabilities the trait can’t be temporarily shut down. They do tend to have less HP than a typical monster of their level, which somewhat compensates for it.
Their unique signature trait is Unrelenting Brigade. Whenever an ally who also has this trait drops to 0 HP within 5 squares of the knight, they gain a +2 to-hit bonus until the end of their next turn.
Every single stat block in this entry has Lawful Good as its Alignment, a rarity in monster and NPC stat blocks.
Level-wise, the Phantom Brigade can be a threat from the mid-Heroic to the mid Paragon-tier, putting them on the same bracket as, say, the Gray Company.
Phantom Brigade Squire
Squires are Level 6 Minion Soldiers. They can attack with their Soulbound Short Swords and their Spectral Crossbows, both of which deal psychic damage. If an enemy hits an ally adjacent to the squire with a melee attack, they can use Shielding Martyr to become the target of that attack instead.
Phantom Brigade Armiger
Armigers are Level 7 Brutes with 71 HP. They fight with Soulbound Bardiches that deal psychic damage, and their charges use the Charging Rebuke special attack that deals the same amount of damage, push the target 1 square, and knock it prone. They can also make Furious Sweeps to attack everyone in a Close Blast 2 for slightly less damage.
Phantom Brigade Justiciar
These Level 7 Skirmishers have 54 HP and project an aura (1) of Blind Justice that inflicts a -2 to-hit penalty on enemies caught inside. They fight with Soulbound Hammers that can be used in melee or thrown, and they can Evade and Strike at will. This ends any marks on them, lets them shift 4 squares, and then make a basic melee attack.
Phantom Brigade Banneret
Bannerets are likely minor officers, since their name means “one who carries a banner”. They’re Level 8 Soldiers with the Leader tag and 60 HP. Their phantom banner projects a Gift of Grace aura (3) that grants a +5 bonus to saves to allies inside.
The banneret fights with a Soulbound Tulwar, which does psychic and radiant damage. As an effect, it also marks and slows the target for a turn. If a marked enemy within 5 squares tries to make an attack that doesn’t target the banneret, they can use Stalwart Restraint as a reaction. This always hits! It immobilizes the target and inflicts 10 ongoing psychic damage on them (save ends
Bannerets are quite danregous. Their attacks always do something and they’re a lot more dangerous to ignore than your typical soldier monster.
Phantom Brigade Templar
These imposing undead paladins bring the Brigade into the paragon tier. They’re Level 12 Controllers with 85 HP. They fight with Soulbound Morningstars that deal psychic damage and slide 2 squares on a hit. They can attack at range with Righteous Strikes that deal cold and radiant damage, and also slow on a hit (save ends). And they can use their Frightful Majesty to attack enemies in a Close Burst 1 and daze them for a turn on a hit. This recharges when they’re first bloodied.
Phantom Brigade Knight-Commander
Knight-Commanders are high-ranking officers, likely responsible for leading all Imperial Knights in a given region. They’re Level 14 Soldiers with the Leader tag and 96 HP.
Their weapon of choice is a Keening Soulbound Backsword, which deals psychic and thunder damage and which marks the target for a turn as an effect. The sword can be used in a Soul Strike maneuver (recharge 5+) that deals more damage and gives the knight-commander 10 temporary HP. The commander can also attack enemies in a Close Burst 1 by repeating the Oath of Nerath, which targets Fortitude and deals psychic damage.
If an enemy within 2 squares that’s marked by the commander chooses to ignore the mark, the commander can use Call to Arms to allow an ally within 5 squares to shift 3 spaces and make a free basic attack against the triggering enemy.
If my assumption back in the first paragraph is correct, there’s a Knight-Commander in the Vale. The book doesn’t give any information about that individual, so you’re free to come up with their backstory and description yourself.
Final Impressions
Turns out undead in 4e don’t have to be evil! The magic binding these knights to the world could still be quite bad, but it has not affected their souls or personalities. Still, as mentioned, they might end up fighting PCs who insist on exploring former Nerathi sites the knights consider to be under their protection.
I’m very interested in what might happen if the Gray Company or one of their Nerathi revivalist rivals runs into the Phantom Brigade. I imagine that anyone who meets with the knights’ approval will have the legitimacy of their claims greatly bolstered… but I also imagine that Halvath Cormarrin would not have their approval. On the other hand, the Knight-Commander’s sword is likely the weapon Cormarrin is after, because that’s an easy and fun connection to make.
Things will turn out very differently it Cormarrin does in fact have a way to compel the Phantom Brigade to be loyal to him. This could be the thing that catapults the Gray Company into a paragon-tier threat. In that case, making the Knights turn against him would be a key step in defeating their imperialist aims.
If you want the Phantom Brigade to be evil after all, you can use their stats exactly as they are presented and only change their alignment and behavior. You can also add some Death Knights to their number, since they are also evil undead knights with their souls bound to their weapons. You might say those are members of the order who managed to retain their physical bodies after all this time.
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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Peryton
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
It’s possible perytons appeared in previous editions, but this is the first time I remember seeing them. I think they might be based in real-world folklore?
The Lore
Perytons are large predators that resemble big raptor birds with antlered, sharp-fanged stag heads. The feathers on the bird part are typically dark green, and the stag’s fur is blue-black. Both males and females have antlers, but males also have distinctive light blue feathers on their chests. Their shadows, interestingly enough, don’t correspond to their physical shapes and are instead humanoid. Perytons like to nest in tall mountain ridges, which in the Vale means the Cairngorm peaks and Stonemarch to the northwest, or the Dawnforge range to the east.
Some sages speculate that the first perytons were elves changed by some horrible curse, and there are enough sinister details about their behavior and lifecycle to lend credence to this even if you ignore the “humanoid shadow” thing.
Travelers are advised to keep their eyes on the sky when going through these mountainous regions, because perytons are a fairly common hazard there. Not only are they unafraid to attack people, they specifically go after humanoid prey due to a very suspicious quirk of their reproductive cycle: peryton females need to consume the fresh heart of a humanoid in order to reproduce. This will cause their shadows to reflect their true forms for a number of hours, during which they are fertile.
Perytons are classed as beasts because they look and behave like animals, but they’re also clever enough to keep victims alive in their nests until it’s time to eat, to ensure the freshness of their hearts. They can carry off victims as big as themselves and won’t generally stick around to keep fighting if they can make a clean getaway with a victim. However, they’re extremely stubborn and obsessive - once a peryton chooses someone as their prey, they will pursue and hunt that victim until they manage to kill it or carry it away, heedless of the danger and ignoring easier prey.
Peryton nests usually have an area for “storing” its captured victims, who have a hard time leaving because the surrounding terrain isn’t easy for a non-flier to traverse. These areas tend to be full of treasure in the form of former victims’ belongings, and some captives can end up finding a way to escape by using these things.
The Numbers
Perytons are Natural Beasts. Their signature traits are Peryton’s Prey, which allows them to designate a creature they can see at the start of their turn as their prey, and Unhindered, which allows it to pull any creature it has grabbed along with it when moving.
A peryton’s choice of prey lasts a turn - they must make the choice again at the start of each of their turns. It’s totally possible to keep choosing the same creature, and most perytons will do that, but if the PCs contrive to make that creature too hard to reach, they can and will make a different choice. This has no inherent effects, but several of the creature’s powers work best on its chosen prey.
Peryton
The basic model is Medium in size, and is a Level 4 Skirmisher with 54 HP. Its ground speed is a laughable 2, but its flight speed is 8. The peryton’s basic attack is an Antler Bash that knocks prone on a hit and deals extra damage to the peryton’s chosen prey. It can use it to make Flyby Attacks, flying its speed, attacking a target along the path, and not provoking opportunity attacks when it moves away.
Its other special attack is Claw Snatch, which can only target the peryton’s chosen prey, which must be Medium or smaller. The creature can fly half its speed before and after the attack. A hit deals damage and grabs the victim (escape DC 14). The grab automatically ends at the end of the peryton’s next turn, but that’s enough time for the beast to gain plenty of altitude or to fly over a convenient cliff drop. This recharges when the peryton is first bloodied.
Finally, the creature can use an encounter ability named Feast against a dying humanoid to automatically kill it and heal 15 HP. I imagine this involves eating the target’s heart. Never let these things take you to negative HP!
Peryton Elder
A larger, older, and stronger specimen, of the sort who ends up generating stories and legends about itself. It’s a Level 6 Elite Soldier with 144 HP.
The elder has upgraded versions of Claw Snatch and Feast. The first has a grab that doesn’t end after a turn, allowing the monster to carry its victim clear out of the fight if they’re unlucky in their DC 15 escape rolls. The second heals 20 HP instead of 15. It also has Antler Bash, but that’s more or less the same.
The elder also has a couple of new powers to better perform its soldierly duties. Cursed Bite is a minor action that deals physical damage and inflicts another 5 points if the target attacks a creature other than the elder on its next turn. Once per encounter, it can use Stealth Dive to charge its chosen prey if that prey makes an attack that doesn’t include the elder as a target.
Final Impressions
Despite their “natural” origin, these monsters are creepy and evocative. They’re much more threatening than their level indicates too, being one of the few creatures who will explicitly target and kill PCs who are down and out. Being carried off by an elder peryton sucks, too, but it could lead to a fun scene a captured PCs trying to improvise an escape route using the items found on the nest.
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