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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Abyssal Plague Demon
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
I made a big deal about how there were few “newer and weirder” monsters in this book, and now it turns out that the very first entry is one of those. Abyssal Plague Demons are a monster new to 4e.
The Lore
Despite devoting a lot of text to the lore for abyssal plague demons, the entry is irritatingly vague. That’s because these monsters are actually the main featured threats of a series of novels published between 2010 and 2012. MV:TNV was published in 2011, right in the middle of the event.
The Abyssal Plague novels were planned as a big multimedia, multi-world metaplot event. The novels would take place across multiple published settings, with the main action taking place in the implied one, and side stories taking place in Dark Sun and the Forgotten Realms.
The entry here is very vague and avoids naming names, probably out of a fear of spoiling the event’s plot. There’s a demon lord who escaped into our universe from another one he destroyed. He was stopped by “the heroes of the age” and imprisoned, but recently one of his exarchs managed to escape and it “found a vessel in the world”. This entity is responsible for spreading the Abyssal Plague, a disease that covers its victim’s bodies in growths of alien crystal and either kills them or transforms them into Abyssal Plague Demons.
With a decade of hindsight, I can give you those spoilers: the “demon lord” is actually Tharizdun and the thing that came from a another universe that was destroyed by demons is the Shard of Evil that he used to make the Abyss. In the novels, one of his worshipers manages to pierce the walls of Tharizdun’s prison with a shard of the Living Gate (an entity described in the Shardmind post for the MM3), freeing one of his exarchs. This exarch is an entity known as the Voidharrow and it is the thing responsible for spreading the Abyssal Plague.
The entry presents the Plague as a rising threat that only recently began to spread, but doesn’t make an effort to connect it to other plot hooks in MV:TNV or to the wider cosmic stuff at its root. I guess you’re supposed to read the novels to find out about that.
The Numbers
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. Abyssal Plague Demons are creatures mutated by the plague. Some used to be animals, some used to be humanoids. Aside from a general “demonic” look, they have a common aesthetic element: red crystal, flecked with gold and silver. This is present as either visible veins of liquid crystal, or as solid plates of the stuff that might act as armor or weaponry.
Stat-wise, they’re demons: Elemental Beasts or Elemental Humanoids with the Demon keyword, Darkvision and Variable Resistance (5, switchable twice per encounter). All of them are also carriers of the Abyssal Plague, which they can spread via bites or via their natural crystal weaponry. They’re all mid-Heroic tier, making them appropriate for encounters in the middle world as your home grounds start to suffer from the Plague.
The Abyssal Plague is a Level 8 Disease that follows the standard rules for this. At the end of any fight where you’re exposed to it, you make a saving throw. If you fail, you contract the disease at Stage 1. At the end of every extended rest, you make an Endurance test. If you beat the disease’s Maintain DC of 12, you stay as you are. If you beat its Improve DC of 16 your stage decreases by 1 (Stage 0 means you’re cured). If you beat neither you progress to the next stage. Effects from each stage are cumulative. If you reach Stage 3, natural recovery is no longer possible and only a Remove Affliction ritual might save you.
Stage 1 is usually just a nuisance. In this case, 10% of your body is covered in alien growths and you lose a healing surge. Stage 2 is a major hindrance: here, it means a -2 to AC, Fortitude and Reflex plus a permanent Slowed condition as 50% of your body is taken over by growths.
Stage 3 is often incapacitating or fatal. Unlike most other diseases, Abyssal Plague still makes you roll Endurance daily when you’re here, but the roll is not for recovery. If your total roll fails to beat a DC of 12, you die. If you roll between 12 and 23, you live another day in incredible pain. If you roll a 24 or more, you turn into an Abyssal Plague Demon. So yeah, this plague kills the weak and turns the strong into demons. You need to apply Remove Affliction before either happens.
Thankfully, multiple exposures during a fight still mean you only roll the save once, and if you’ve already contracted the disease further exposures do nothing to worsen your condition. So if your PC is tough and your party is on a tight time-table, you can gamble that you’ll be able to recover naturally from Stage 1. Remove Affliction is a big resource drain if you don’t have time for a long rest.
Plague Demon Chaos Hound
A Medium Beast demon, this quadruped is a Level 5 Minion Skirmisher with Speed 8 and darkvision. Its Pack Attack trait gives it a small damage boost for each other plague demon that’s adjacent to their target.
Their sole attack is a bite that allows them to shift 1 square on a hit and exposes the target to Abyssal Plague. As a minion, it lacks Variable Resistance.
Plague Demon Chaos Footsoldier
A Medium Humanoid with Speed 6. It’s a Level 5 Minion Soldier without Variable Resistance. Its basic attack is a Grabbing Claw that does light damage and grabs on a hit. Once it has a grabbed victim, the footsoldier can bite for a bit more damage and exposure to the Plague.
Plague Demon Chaos Beast
The non-minion version of the Chaos Hound is a Level 6 Skirmisher with Speed 8 and 76 HP. Its Chaotic Growl acts as an aura (1) that inflicts a -2 attack penalty to enemies inside. Its basic bite damages and exposes to the Plague, while its Claws allow it to shift 1 square on a hit.
Plague Demon Chaos Bender
A Large Beast demon, this Level 6 Controller has 72 HP and some reality-warping powers. It projects a Chaotic Field as an aura (2) that allows the demon to shift 2 squares if any enemy ends their turn inside. Its basic attack is a plague-infected bite, and it can also use a Flurry of Claws that attacks a Close Burst 1, slows, and inflicts ongoing physical damage (save ends).
Plague Demon Chaos Knight
This sapient Medium Humanoid is a Level 6 Soldier with 78 HP. It projects an aura of Crimson Retribution (1) that automatically deals 5 damage to anyone inside who makes an attack that doesn’t target the chaos knight. Its slams damage and knock prone on a hit, and its extruded Crystal Blade (recharge 4+) deals heavy damage and exposes to the Plague. Since it’s a recharge power, I’m guessing the blade shatters when used as a weapon.
Plague Demon Chaos Vanguard
This sapient Large Humanoid is a Level 9 Soldier with speed 6 and 100 HP. It’s a powered-up version of the Knight, with nearly identical traits. Its aura is wider and deals 10 damage instead of 5; its slam pushes 2 squares instead of knocking prone; and its Sweeping Crystal Blade (recharge 4+) is a Close Burst 3 attack instead of a single-target melee power.
Final Impressions
Would you believe that I even forgot these things were here? The combination of epic-sounding but vague lore and mid-Heroic mechanics smells very metaplotty to me, particularly after I learned about these novels. This is the outer edge of the plot and you’re not allowed to dig deeper, that’s what the novel heroes do. I don’t know if they ever released a book that allowed the PCs to be more central in eliminating the Plague.
The mechanics are functional, but pretty simplistic since the demons’ main gimmick is being carriers for the Abyssal Plague. There’s tons of more interesting opposition in MV:TNV. So, overall, my inclination is to give these monsters a pass. The next entries are better, I promise!
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Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Introduction
Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
The full name of this book is Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. It was published in 2011 for Dungeons & Dragons 4e, and as far as I know it’s the last “proper” monster book for that edition. It would still get a few more player-focused books over the rest of 2011 and 2012, but after that Wizards of the Coast would begin focusing all of its efforts on 5th Edition.
I really love Threats to the Nentir Vale, and I’ve been looking forward to “Let’s Read”-ing it since I started writing the first Monster Manual/Monster Vault post, in the far-off past of 2019, before the Plague Years. It’s as much a setting book as a list of creatures.
Threats to the Nentir Vale sits at a point in the “generic to specific” scale I hadn’t seen before. Monster Manuals are the most generic, presenting monsters for any setting and campaign. Adventures with custom enemies are the most specific, presenting creatures built to support a single scenario. This Monster Vault is just a step more general than that, with monsters built to fit a single region. You can run multiple campaigns there, and this book will make sure the opposition you face always has that cool regional flavor. It does include a few more general entries, but even then it tries to tie them to the Vale in some way.
A Brief History of the Nentir Vale
Before we get into the monsters, we get another summary of the Vale at the start of the book. This is a bit more detailed than the one in the DMG and it focuses on what threats live in many of its sub regions.
Interestingly enough, the Nentir Vale bears some resemblance to Skyrim in its physical characteristics. It’s a roughly rectangular region delimited by mountain ranges and containing plains, forests, hills and marshes within its borders. Its northernmost areas are frosty, and most of the rest is in the colder end of temperate with well-defined seasons. Unlike Skyrim it does not border the sea, and at 150km x 225km it’s also smaller than Skyrim’s “real” size1. The Vale is crisscrossed by a small network of rivers that join together to form the Nentir River, which flows southwest and out of the map.
Like the rest of 4e’s implied setting, the Vale is a layer cake of ruins from ancient fallen empires. The most recent one was the majority human empire of Nerath, whose settlers arrived here from the south 300 years before our narrative present. The Nerathi settled the valley and lived in relative peace for 200 years. Right about then, an enormous orcish army led by Clan Bloodspear invaded from the neighboring region Stonemarch, crossing over the mountains. The local military was unable to stand up to them, and Nerath was too busy dealing with its own multiple crises to send reinforcements. The Bloodspear wrecked the valley’s infrastructure and razed many of its settlements until internal conflicts caused them to retreat back home.
The largest communities of the time managed to survive in an extremely diminished state, and it’s been only a few years since they managed to re-establish contact with each other. Travel between them is extremely dangerous, and not just because of hostile fauna. The ruins of Nerath and at least three other ancient empires still cast their shadows over the Vale. No less than three dragons count parts of it as their territory, sharing space with hostile sapient communities that filled the void left by the Nerathi. Foreign conquerors are starting to set their sights here as well, including the Bloodspear Clan.. Even within our nominal points of light, internal threats are rising in power.
Heroes of the Vale have their work cut out for them!
Introduction to the Monsters
As a late-edition book, the monster math here is entirely in sync with the latest advances from the Monster Manual 3 and the Monster Vault. The Nentir Vale started out as a setting meant for Heroic-tier characters, which would be expected to leave it behind when they hit the Paragon levels. However, this book includes monsters ranging up to the late Paragon tier, doubling the region’s potential “lifespan” as a campaign setting. Of course GMs could have done this on their own already, but it’s neat to see it done in a book.
It also helps that the monsters are set up in such a way as to allow a sandbox campaign in the Vale, which makes this a setting very in keeping with the spirit of old D&D. If your players arrive at one of the locations described here, you’ll know who lives there and how powerful they are. Carefree players might run into things they can’t handle.
There are few weird new monsters here - most of them are specific groups or individuals belonging to fairly “basic” species covered in the first Monster Vault, but with added twists that make them unique denizens of the Nentir Vale. Each monster gets more room for lore than was possible in the MM3 and on the MV, and that extra space is used to detail their unique circumstances and to tie them to specific regions within the Vale.
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What's Next for Octopus Carnival
Oh hey, turns out I’ve posted the last entry in my Monster Manual 3 Let’s Read! It’s officially finished! Yay!
I’m not done reading monster books yet, though. Next up on my list is Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale, the last “proper” monster book for D&D 4th Edition. I really like it, and I hope you do to!
This one’s going to be a bit different from the other projects. Entries for those were posted first to the RPG.net forum, and then here after a delay. Since I was, er, less than optimally organized in updating this blog, some times that delay was considerable.
I’ve gotten better about updating both the forum and the blog, though, and now that the MM3 reading is finished, the Threats one will be posted in sync between the two starting a couple of days from now.
I’ll also keep posting about other subjects, though those posts might be a little more spaced out since I don’t have a buffer of them. I’ll write as the muse strikes, as always.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Yuan-ti
This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
In a situation that’s familiar to us by now, Yuan-ti would get a revamp and a lore infusion in the upcoming Monster Vault (and you can see how that looks like here), and this entry presents stat blocks that complement the ones that would come out in the MV.
The Lore
The lore section of this page lacks the nifty creation myth from the MV entry, sticking to a more generic “perfidious infiltrators” profile for the yuan-ti. It does add a new bit, however: the snake god Zehir doesn’t just want to see his favorite people thrive in the world. His true goal is to become the supreme authority in the cosmos. Zehir is convinced that the universe can only withstand the return of the primordials if it’s led by the strong hand of a single absolute ruler.
So this means we have at least two authoritarian assholes in our current pantheon: Asmodeus and Zehir. Big Z’s goals are not widely known in the world - only his most powerful and trusted servants are privy to this mystery. There are other gods who are aware of this but they’re content to merely keep an eye on the snake god as long as his machinations continue to hurt their enemies. Things might get more heated should Zehir explicitly turn against his fellow deities.
The Numbers
Yuan-ti are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Reptile keyword. They have a ground speed of 7, and 5/tier poison resistance.
While the MM1 and Monster Vault gave us heroic and paragon stat blocks for snaketongue cultists and yuan-ti, the MM3 gives a bunch of high-epic stat blocks that apparently represent those individuals who are closest to Zehir and actively working towards his goal of complete world domination.
There’s plenty here for all sorts of all-yuan-ti encounters, but they also employ various sapient humanoid cultists, and make pets or allies of any creature who is even remotely similar to a snake.
The individual stat blocks are relatively simple, making me think PCs are supposed to face them in large numbers. It would certainly be possible to downscale them to lower levels without changing much else about their stat blocks.
Coil of Zehir
A Large yuan-ti who’s almost completely snaky, its arms almost vestigial. It’s a Level 26 Controller with 235 HP.
The Coil’s basic attack is a Reach 3 Slam that does light physical damage, pulls the target 2 squares, and grabs it on a hit. The Coil can only have one victim grabbed at a time, and it can hit them with Crushing Coils for an automatic 40 damage that also dazes them for a turn. As a minor action, it can use a Close Burst 3 Tail Sweep that does no damage and knocks targets prone.
The Coil wants to grab hold of someone and squeeze them to death, using tail sweeps to keep would-be rescuers away. Dazed victims can still try to get away (Athletics DC 38 or Acrobatics DC 39), but their other options are sharply limited.
Yuan-ti Abomination Berserker
Abominations are those ‘snakier’ yuan-ti with humanoid torsos but the lower body of a giant snake. Another Large variant, Berserkers know how to fight and know they shouldn’t attack other yuan-ti or cultists. That’s about it. The others treat them nicely to avoid accidents, and then point them at whoever they want dead. Berserkers are Level 27 Brutes with 293 HP.
These creatures fight with Reach 2 Slams that do heavy physical damage. Every so often they’ll spin and do a Roundhouse Slam (recharge 4+), making a basic attack against every adjacent enemy. If you hit them while they’re bloodied, they can make a free slam against you as a reaction. Simple but effective.
Yuan-ti Malison Guard
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. Malisons are the more humanoid yuan-ti, still covered in scales and with snake heads, but otherwise humanoid. This is an elite front-line fighter who serves Zehir proudly despite the shame of having legs. It’s a Level 27 Soldier (Leader) with 242 HP. It knows how to fight in formation and its Overlapping Scales aura (1) gives a +2 bonus to AC to all allies inside.
Guards fight with scimitars and longbows, both of which deal decent damage and inflict ongoing poison damage (save ends). The scimitar marks for a turn on a hit.
These creatures want to be in a tight formation with either other melee allies, or with an artillery detachment.
Yuan-ti Abomination Spitter
An abomination with well-developed venom glands that produce a “blessed” venom far deadlier than that of a mundane snake. It’s Level 27 Artillery with 186 HP. It can Spit Venom out to Range 20, dealing immediate and ongoing poison damage on a hit. It can also Spray Venom (recharge 4+) on a close burst 5, dealing poison damage and dazing (save ends). If someone closes to melee, it can bite to deal physical damage and inflict ongoing poison damage.
If an attack hits the spitter, it can flare its Cobra Hood as a reaction to gain +4 to AC for a turn.
Yuan-ti Malison Blessed
An epic priest of Zehir, receiving blessings directly from the deity. It’s a Level 28 Controller (Leader) with 250 HP.
Most of the blessed’s controllery effects are passive and always on. It projects an aura (3) of Zehir’s Favor that allows allies inside to reroll failed recharge rolls. It also projects an aura (5) of Zehir’s Agony that deals 15 poison damage to any enemy starting their turn inside. While bloodied, the blessed can Slither Away, gaining a +2 bonus to speed and a +5 to all defenses.
The blessed’s active actions are few, but powerful. It fights with a scimitar whose strikes damage, strip poison resistance, and inflict a -2 penalty to saves vs. poison effects (save ends both). And yes, about 90% of all attacks described in this MM3 entry are poison effects. Including this one.
The blessed can also use Zehir’s Command as a minor action, allowing two allies within 5 squares to either make a basic attack or shift their speed as a free action. If an enemy within 5 squares shifts, the blessed can use Shifting Feet as a reaction to slide them 2 squares.
While these creatures are technically regulars, they have the action efficiency you’d expect from an elite.
Yuan-ti Malison Assassin
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This one has a sword and it very much wants to stab you with it so you can sample the many substances it put on the blade. It’s sent after people who anger Zehir directly. It’s a Level 28 Lurker with 194 HP.
The assassin’s basic Longsword deals very light damage and blinds for a turn on a hit. A victim who cannot see the assassin for any reason is subject to a Death Strike that deals standard physical damage, inflicts ongoing 15 poison damage, and imposes a -2 penalty to saves (save ends both). After the first failed save, the damage worsens by 5 and the save penalty by 1. Someone also targetted by the Blessed could be looking at a total -5 save penalty here!
If a ranged or melee attack hits the assassin it can use Shield of Zehir to make sure a blind victim adjacent to it also suffers the attack’s damage.
Yuan-ti Malison Stalker
A relentless pursuer sent after victims who steal from Zehir’s temples or commit other crimes against the yuan-ti people. They’re Level 28 Skirmishers wtih 254 HP. They’re more or less equivalen to PC avengers.
Stalkers use greataxes and have 5e advantage on their attacks if the target is the only creature adjacent to them. They can also teleport 3 squares as a minor action, which means they can move up to 13 squares a turn without spending their standard action, and they can charge someone from 20 squares away. It’s impossible to outrun a stalker.
Molt of Zehir
Literally a person-shaped bag of snakes, made from the cast-off skin of a yuan-ti. This apparently just happens when an epic yuan-ti molts, it’s not a conscious ritual or anything. The snakes just appear from somewhere and crawl inside the skin.
Molts are Level 26 Minion Skirmishers. They have a basic bite attack and when they die the dispersing Horde of Snakes acts as a Close Burst 1 attack that damages and inflicts ongoing poison damage (save ends).
Final Impressions
I’m not overly fond of classic yuan-ti lore these days, because it has too strong a whiff of “yellow peril” about it. I’d probably come up with something different for them if I had to.
Mechanically, these creatures are kind of interesting, though each one is very simple. Mechanically, I think you can knock 10 or even 20 levels off them if you don’t want your PCs to wait until the campaign’s endgame to fight the snek people.
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Shadowrun: Goncharov
I’ve recently read about a fun Tumblr meme. It’s about Goncharov, a 1973 Martin Scorcese movie that never existed.
It began when someone posted a picture of these bootleg boots they bought somewhere. The brand label had one of those word salads copied from somewhere and edited by someone not too familiar with the target language. In this case, it was copied from a poster for Gomorrah, a real movie. And it read “Martin Scorcese presents Goncharov”.
Tumblr kinda ran with it, so now you have a lot of people making things up about the movie and fabricating screenshots, posters, bits of soundtrack, talking about all of this as if it was a real cinematic masterpiece.
Someone in a Discord server I frequent suggested Goncharov should become a standard name for someone who doesn’t exist, the opposite of John Doe. And this got me thinking about Shadowrun again. Here are two uses for the name Goncharov in a Shadowrun-like setting.
The Mundane
In Shadowrun, “Mr. Johnson” is shadowrunner slang for a person who hires shadowrunners. The stereotypical Mr. Johnson is a shady fuck in a suit who talks in vague businesslike terms1, but it can be anyone who is willing to be the “client” for a runner group. That’s an established part of the game already.
So how about we say Goncharov is the “reverse” term? Goncharov is Johnson code for shadowrunners! Sure “shadowrunners” is canon and also works well, but you can’t really write “shadowrunner payoff” in your official corporate ledger, can you? So instead you write “payment to Goncharov for services rendered”.
And just like no self-respecting mysterious client calls themselves Mr. Johnson, no self-respecting runner calls themselves Goncharov. Someone who takes that as their handle or even as an alias is telling the whole world they’re a clueless poser.
This little bit of culture works well in the Shadowrun setting itself, and on any other setting that has stylish urban mercenaries as characters, including a lot of GURPS Action or GURPS Cyberpunk campaigns.
The Numinous
Let’s go a bit further, shall we? Here’s a mystical explanation that’s a bit more mystical than even Shadowrun’s default setting allows for2, and is a bit closer to Exalted’s take on spirits and magic.
Goncharov is the Small God of Shadowrunners. He started out as an abstraction, as above, but at some point became a real part of shadowrunning culture. Either an existing spirit took on the mantle, or folk belief made him real.
Real runners, those who are more than amoral assholes doing horrible things for money, they have an understanding with Goncharov. They never forget the corps and the big syndicates are the enemy even when circumstances force them to work for these groups. They never sell out. They know who their community and friends are, and they look out for them. And after every successful job, they give Goncharov his cut.
Goncharov looks like a fit but somewhat scuffed up man in a nice but somewhat scuffed up suit. The details vary, but he never looks overly fancy or arrogant. In other words, he might look like John Wick after a fight or three, but never like the Continental Hotel guy - that’s the god of Mr. Johnsons.
Magicians can take Goncharov as a mentor spirit. He provides bonuses to combat spells and Spirits of Man, whatever form those bonuses take in your edition of choice. Non-magicians can also have “an understanding” with him for a slightly cheaper price. This gives them access to the Goncharov’s Cut rule.
Goncharov’s Cut
Those who have an understanding with the god of Shadowrunners, and keep to his code, can gain extra Karma for giving him his cut. This includes magicians who take him as a mentor spirit, or any character who spends points to buy a slightly cheaper Edge representing the covenant.
If you’re using the Karma for Cash rule in your game, such characters gain an extra point of Karma when using the rule, if they would already gain at least one point normally.
If that’s not a general campaign rule, such characters still gain access to it, becoming able to exchange money for a single point of Karma after every run.
In both cases the money goes to support and improve the runner’s community, or to help out fellow shadowrunners in need.
In GURPS
In a GURPS Action or Cyberpunk campaign with supernatural elements, The Understanding is a -10-point Code of Honor, since it’s informal but applies to interactions with people who are not your peers. Give Goncharov his cut and use it to support your community and fellow runners; hunt down and punish any who betray them3; never sell out; even if you need to do a job for a corp or a crime syndicate, never forget they’re the enemy.
This code can work as a “pact” limitation for supernatural or cinematic traits related to being stealthy, discreet, or good at combat (yes, even Gunslinger or a talent like Smooth Operator). It would provide a 10% discount on their price, as normal, and would make these abilities unavailable until atonement if the PC breaks the attached code.
The monetary value of Goncharov’s cut is 10% of any earnings from “shadowrun”-like missions. GMs and players who don’t want to bother with accounting can just remove it from the PC when it’s given, and assume it gets spent properly. In games where more detailed tracking is important, the PC doesn’t need to spend the money immediately, just set it aside for use when necessary. Using it for personal benefit after it’s been set aside is a violation of the Code, though. If the protected community has its own organization stats, the player might want to consider transferring this money from the PC to the organization.
Following the code might also lead to acquiring traits such as positive reputation among your community or fellow runners, or Enemies in the form of traitorous villains and amoral mercenaries who think you’re weak for having a conscience.
Atonement from breaking the code usually takes the form of a dangerous mission to aid an oppressed community or fellow runner in trouble.
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