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• Aug 2, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Gargoyle

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Gargoyles made their 4e debut in the first Monster Manual. I wrote about them here. Though that article includes a whole bunch of gargoyles, most of them are from the Monster Vault. When the MM3 was published, we still only had the two originals from the MM1.

  This entry adds a lot more variety, and it doesn’t actually overlap with the later MV gargoyles, so we’re going to be looking at all of them.

  The Lore

  Gargoyle lore remains basically the same, and you can read it here. We get two new bits in this entry:

  The first is that efreets love to train packs of gargoyles to hunt sapients for sport. The elemental lords are endlessly amused by their pets’ penchant for sadism when hunting. In the world, cultists of the Elder Elemental Eye frequently recruit and train gargoyles to guard their temples.

  The second is that while gargoyles have a fearsome reputation in the world, they tend to be viewed as weak in their native Elemental Chaos. There, they are more often the prey than the hunter. Gargoyle packs skulk in caves and other secluded locations, and only attack when they greatly outnumber their target.

  The Numbers

  All gargoyles in this entry are Medium Elemental Humanoids with the Earth keyword. They have Darkvision, a ground speed of 6, and a flight speed of 8. They’re immune to petrification, and all but one of them have a passive trait called Lurking Presence, which gives them a +10 bonus to Stealth against enemies’ passive Perception.

  It’s also interesting to note that none of the gargoyles in this entry have the Lurker role - with these and the ones from the MV, you can build varied all-gargoyle encounters.

  Ironstone Gargoyle

  Identified by the rust-red streaks covering their bodies, Ironstone Gargoyles behave like their “default” cousins, hanging out in mountain passes and ruins waiting to raid unsuspecting passers-by. They wait in ambush but fight in a more aggressive and mobile way than usual once combat starts.

  Ironstone Gargoyles are Level 7 Skirmishers with 80 HP and the traits outlined above. They use claws to fight, and have a special attack named Crashing Stride (recharge 5+). This allows them to shift 4 squares and make claw attacks against two targets at any point along the shift. If they hit, they also slide the target 1 square and knock it prone.

  When surrounded, a Leaping Glide (at-will move action) allows them to fly 4 squares without provoking opportunity attacks.

  Hornstone Gargoyle

  This robust specimen is distinguished by its large horns, which it uses to gore, impale and drag victims in combat. It’s a Level 8 Brute with 107 HP and all standard traits.

  Those horns can be used in an Impaling Charge, an attack which must be used as part of a charge. It does heavy damage and grabs the target by impaling them in the gargoyle’s horns. The target takes 5 ongoing damage while the grab lasts. Escaping uses the standard rules (Athletics DC 22 or Acrobatics DC 19).

  The gargoyle can use Skewering Drag as a move action to move half its speed and automatically pull the grabbed victim along with it. Neither provokes opportunity attacks from the other during this movement.

  I left the basic Claw attack for last because it interacts with the above abilities: aside from doing the usual heavy damage of a Brute, it allows the monster to use Skewering Drag as a free action. Attacking the grabbed victim is a perfectly valid choice, mind you.

  In combat they’ll do their best to impale and drag an enemy away. If the charge fails they prefer to fly away and try again rather than stand and fight with basic attacks.

  Obsidian Gargoyle

  Obsidian gargoyles are kinda brittle, but also covered in sharp edges. Massive flocks of these things darken the skies of the Elemental Chaos, and they’re the preferred variant of Elemental Eye cultists. They’re Level 8 Minion Soldiers.

  Their claw attacks are nothing special, but they also have a Cruel Claws passive that deals 4 damage to an enemy who leaves a square adjacent to the gargoyle. That’s not a lot, but it triggers on a shift and stacks. Surround a PC with these beasts. Leave only one way out. Dare them to take it.

  Runic Gargoyle

  This is an artificial gargoyle variant, originally created to serve the Elder Elemental Eye. Their skin looks like white marble covered in arcane runes, and they are a lot smarter than your average gargoyle. Some of them have since broken out of their servitude and found jobs with different groups.

  Runic Gargoyles are Level 8 Soldiers with 87 HP and all standard traits except for Lurking Presence, since they don’t really have natural camouflage. They were made to be bodyguards, and their runes can be configured to bind them to a designated “master”. I guess “client” might be a better word for free runic gargoyles.

  Their claw attack marks the target for a turn. They can also use an Avenging Claws maneuver that dazes instead of marking. This recharges when they’re first bloodied.

  As a move action, they can teleport To the Master, appearing in a space within 2 squares of the client. There is no range limit on this, and it allows you to have a cool scene where the boss snaps his fingers and a gang of gargoyle guards teleports in.

  If the gargoyle is adjacent to its client and the client takes damage, it can use Shielding Wings as an interrupt to take the damage instead.

  Encounters

  The same encounter building tips for MM1/MV gargoyles also apply here. The efreet and Elder Eye angles are new and just as valid.

  Inter-gargoyle synergy is highest between the gargoyles from this entry. You have a couple of variants who are excellent at inflicting forced movement, and a minion who deals damage to enemies who move away from it. And since all of them fly, they also pair well with pits and other floor-based hazards.

  Final Impressions

  The stat blocks in this entry don’t really change my general opinion of gargoyles. They might be too iconic, as the exceptional case in a D&D adventure is meeting an inanimate gargoyle statue who won’t come to life and try to kill you. For this reason, you don’t want to use them too much in your actual game. Still, by combining the MM3 and the MV you have enough variants to make that one gargoyle encounter truly memorable.

• Aug 1, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Frog

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Every individual roleplayer has a set of D&D monsters they consider “iconic”, regardless of what the publisher has to say about it. Years ago, I remember one such player saying that to him “giant fucking frogs” were the most iconic D&D monster. It’s not D&D if you don’t fight a huge-ass frog at some point.

  By that criterion we can shut the grognards up for good now. Here is the moment when 4e finally becomes D&D.

  The Lore

  Real-world frogs are usually quite useful creatures. Most species are harmless to humans and eat disease-spreading insects. Some consider them cute and, if nothing else, they can be tasty when properly prepared.

  In typical D&D fashion, this book calls such creatures “pests” because they’re not fuzzy wabbits. And then it moves on to focus on monstrous frogs, who are big and aggressive enough to eat people. They live in surface swamps and on underground lakes in “natural” caves or in the shallow Underdark. There are several different species, and the book implies they’re atavistic survivors from the world’s prehistory, like sharks and crocodiles in the real world.

  A monstrous frog won’t usually leave its home territory to hunt people, but it will eat anyone foolish enough to wander through that territory. “Beware of Frog” signs are a common sight in villages close to the borders of their habitat. Frog attacks are a potential hazard for PCs traveling through marshy terrain, and the book suggests they could be hired by a wealthy family to retrieve some heirloom from the belly of a frog who ate its former bearer.

  The Monsters

  All frogs shown here are Medium Natural Beasts, though you could probably home-brew larger specimens if you want. They’re Aquatic, which lets them breathe underwater and gives them bonuses against non-aquatic enemies in underwater combat. They also have good Swim speeds and low-light vision.

  Thornskin Frog

  These frogs have brown skin covered in thick spines. The spines are not effective in combat but give them a distinctive look.

  Thornskins are Level 1 Brutes with 35 HP. They have a ground speed of 4 and a swim speed of 6. Their basic attack is a bite and they can also pounce (recharge 5+). This lets them shift their speed, deald more damage than a bite and knocks the target prone. As a minor action they can use a Reach 3 Tongue Grab that pulls a target 2 squares on a hit.

  In short, these critters do everything you could expect from a classic giant frog.

  Sporeback Frog

  

  Sporebacks are the laziest hunters imaginable. They pick a spot and wait there for prey to wander into the reach of their barbed tongues. They move so little that mushrooms often grow on their backs.

  Most creatures smart enough to pose a threat to these monsters have long since learned to avoid them. As a result, sporebacks never expect their chosen prey to put up a fight, and don’t usually run away unless they’re very close to death.

  Sporebacks are Level 2 Controllers with 42 HP. Their ground speed is a pitiful 3, and their swim speed is 5. Their basic attack is a bite that damages and slows, and their Reach 3 Barbed Tongues damage, pull the target 2 squares, and knock it prone.

  When they die, the mushrooms on their back burst and perform a Spore Release, a close burst 2 attack that deals poison damage and inflicts a -2 attack penalty (save ends).

  For extra nastiness, have the sporebacks in your encounter group stay underwater and use their tongues to drag PCs there. This works even better if all of Team Monster has the Aquatic keyword.

  Murklord Frog

  Murklords are entirely black, and have two parallel bio-luminescent stripes running down their backs. These flare up when the frog is startled or feels threatened.

  These beautiful creatures are the opposite of sporebacks when it comes to attacking prey. They perform darting strikes from the muddy margins of their watery homes, and grow even more frantic and ferocious when wounded.

  Murklords are Level 2 Skirmishers with 39 HP. They have ground and swim speeds of 6. Their basic melee attack is a bite and they can also perform a Leapfrog attack (recharge 4+) that deals more damage and allows them to shift 3 squares both before and after making the attack. Perfect for leaping out of the water, taking a bite, and returning before the PCs can react.

  As a minor action, it can also perform a Reach 2 Tongue Lash that does no damage but slides the target 1 square on a hit.

  The murklord’s attacks use d6s as their damage dice: 1d6+4 for the bite, 2d6+4 for the limited-use Leapfrog. After the frog is first bloodied, though, those d6s become d12s, significantly increasing its damage potential.

  Encounters

  Goblins, kobolds and bullywugs commonly employ trained monstrous frogs as mounts and war beasts. Only the bullywugs have succeeded in domesticating them, though - the others must capture wild frogs and train those. When bullywugs make alliances or trade agreements, they commonly make a gift of trained war frogs to their new partners.

  People with no access to trained frogs can still use them by keeping them captive and releasing a bunch of angry half-starved frogs in the general direction of the enemy.

  Final Impressions

  I’m not sure if I’d go as far as calling huge-ass frogs “iconic D&D monsters”, but they are cool. These ones are properly froggy in their mechanics, and you can probably extend their usefulness by giving them additional levels, increasing their size, and giving them a Swallow attack.

• Jul 28, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Foulspawn

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Foulspawn had their 4e debut in the first Monster Manual. If you read the post I wrote about them, you’ll see that MM1 Foulspawn were plagued by some design flaws, but you could speculate from their lore that they were the end state of mortal Far Realm cultists.

  The Lore

  The lore in this entry is mostly a re-statement of the original foulspawn lore. They’re more actively inimical to the natural world than most other Far Realm denizens, and cross over where the barrier between dimensions is thin to attack mortal settlements. They drag some of their victims back with them, and those unfortunates eventually become foulspawn themselves after having their bodies and minds warped by the Far Realm.

  There’s still plenty of room for you to portray foulspawn as the “end state” for a lot of mortal cultists who worship cthulhoid entities - they’re the ones who step into the portal willingly. If all you had to go with were the MM1 entries, this was kind of an ironic fate, as the foulspawn there were kinda weak. Let’s see if this is still true.

  The Monsters

  Foulspawn are Aberrant Humanoids with a ground speed of 6 and a teleport speed of 3. They mix physical attacks with powers that warp space and damage enemy minds.

  Foulspawn Wretch

  Most unwilling victims probably turn into these. Wretches are Small Level 7 Minion Skirmishers with low-light vision and the standard traits listed above.

  They have a Ceaseless Murmurs passive trait that inflicts a -2 penalty to the Will of any PC adjacent to two or more wretches. Their basic Claw attack deals a bit of damage and allows another wretch within 6 squares to teleport adjacent to the target. And when they die, their Screaming Echo ability teleports a non-minion ally within 6 squares to the position previously occupied by the dead wretch!

  Wretches are made to use standard “monster wave” tactics - use a lot of them and have them crowd around the PCs. Try to get them adjacent to the PC’s squishies on the back line, so that when they die they teleport your front-line bruisers there.

  Foulspawn Mockery

  A spellcaster with a raven skull for a head. Mockeries use mind-bending magic to force the PCs close together and then hit them with area attacks. They’re Medium Level 10 Controllers with 104 HP, low-light vision, and the standard traits outlined above.

  Their basic attack is a bite which is actually stronger than almost any attack from a MM1 fouslpawn simply because it uses the correct math. They attack at range with a Mind Harrier spell that deals psychic damage and imposes one of those interesting custom effects. If a target hit by Mind Harrier is not adjacent to any of its allies by the end of its next turn, it takes an extra 10 psychic damage and 10 ongoing psychic damage (save ends).

  Once the mockery has used Mind Harrier to push the PCs together, it can hit them all with a Maddening Burst (recharge 5+), which deals psychic damage and dazes (save ends).

  Foulspawn Warpcaller

  These are like aberrant bards, or those things that keep dancing around Azatoth playing flutes and pipes. They’re Medium Level 12 Controllers (Leaders) with 126 HP, Darkvision, and the standard traits outlined above.

  Their Droning Pipes act as an aura (3) that makes enemies inside Vulnerable 5 to Psychic damage. This is important because Psychic is pretty much the signature damage type for foulspawn and other aberrants.

  Warpcallers can bite in melee for good damage, but their magic is the star of the show here. Warped Sending is an at-will ranged attack that deals psychic damage and teleports a foulspawn ally within 5 squares of the target to a space adjacent to the target. Twisted Dismissal does the same damage, immobilizes the target (save ends) and teleports it 2 squares.

  Finally, Warpmind Field (encounter) is a fireball-sized area attack that deals psychic damage and creates a zone that lasts for a turn and can be sustained with a minor action. Enemies who enter the zone or end their turns there take 10 psychic damage. An enemy inside the zone can’t target anyone further than 5 squares away. And the warpcaller can spend its move action to move the zone up to 4 squares.

  Warpmind Field is an excellent fight opener if you drop it on the party’s archers. If they move outside the zone to fire on their turn, Twisted Dismissal can push them back inside and keep them there, possibly combined with a move action spent moving the zone closer. And Warped Sending is another handy way to teleport your brutes past the PC’s defenders.

  Friends and Final Impressions

  Foulspawn usually only work with other foulspawn, though if you’re using the ones from the MM1 you really, really need to fix their math. Other appropriate company includes gibbering mouthers and other aberrant creatures that deal psychic damage. And according to the book they also sometimes work with cultists of Tharizdun and Demogorgon - the kind of person who wants to wreck the world but doesn’t care how it happens.

  The lore remains the same, but the mechanics on these foulspawn are quite a bit better. I’m not just talking raw numbers either - the MM1 foulspawn rarely did more than spam basic melee attacks. These have a lot more variety.

• Jul 25, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Forsaken

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Later monster books in a D&D edition are usually where you find those monsters from previous editions who weren’t “iconic” enough to appear earlier, but sometimes they’re also where you can find some truly ambitious entries. After all, the authors have pages to fill and most of the classics have already been done. The Forsaken are one of the most ambitious new monsters presented by the MM3. Or at least they feel new. If a monster by this name existed earlier it was likely completely different.

  The Lore

  The Dawn War saw the death of many gods. In most such occasions, the dead god’s essence dispersed across the Astral Sea. However, a few gods were slain while physically present in the world, and their essence could not escape. Instead, it deposited itself in some of the mortal sapients that inhabited the world even back then.

  Though the gods in question were dead and gone, these new vessels of their power acquired a memory of what it felt like to be immortal. This memory became a source of torment, for their owners were themselves mortal. They remembered and missed something they never had, and could never have. Overwhelmed by these feelings, these people ritually removed their own eyes so they would never have to gaze upon the mortal world again, and vowed to destroy and absorb the essences of the remaining gods so that they could steal their divinity for themselves. They called themselves the Forsaken, and they are still known by that name.

  In our narrative present there are several different Forsaken tribes, each with their own approach to their grand design. They travel through all the universe in search of mystical secrets that will increase their power and allow them to become gods. They tangle and skirmish with Vecna worshippers, inflitrate astral dominions, and even journey the Hells. Some set up elaborate networks of followers and co-conspirators in the mortal realms. Some make plans to trap and devour a god.

  The Monsters

  Forsaken are epic-level threats. They’re Medium Natural Humanoids with the Blind keyword and Blindsight 20. This means they can’t be affected by the “blinded” status and they’re immune to gaze attacks and most vision-based impairments.

  Their signature ability is Fragment of Immortality, which triggers when they hit 0 HP. It clears all effects from them, removes them from play and returns them a turn later with about 25% of their HP restored, in a space within 5 squares of their last location. The fragment allows them to cling to life.

  All of their other abilities come from training and vary per stat block. They tend to have some vague similarities to PC divine classes, but any divine power would come from the Forsaken themselves rather than from a deity.

  Forsaken Fearwrack

  

  Fearwracks are spellcasters who delve deep into the mysteries of fear and death, confronting that which most scares the forsaken and inflicting it on others. There’s an enclave of them in the outer shores of Celestia, and though the inhabitants of that dominion very much want to see them gone, they fear meeting their final death at the hands of the Forsaken.

  Fearwracks are Level 26 Artillery with 150 HP. They Inspire Fear, which acts as an aura (1) that inflicts a -2 penalty to all enemy defenses against fear attacks. Almost all of their attacks have the Fear keyword, of course.

  They wield rods as implements, which I guess makes them a bit similar to PC invokers in look and feel. Their basic melee attack is a Fear Strike that targets Will, deals psychic damage, and forces the target to move its speed away from the invoker. The invoker chooses the path, but each square must be further away than the previous one. Why is this different from a push? Because the victim can provoke opportunity attacks during this movement!

  At range they fire Terror Bolts which do the same amount of psychic damage and allow an ally adjacent to the target to make a melee basic attack against it.

  Less often they can also employ a Curse of Mortality (recharge 4+), which targets Fortitude and inflicts 20 ongoing damage (save ends). The target has a -2 penalty to save against this, and each failed save increases the ongoing damage by 5 to a maximum of 30. I guess the damage looks like rapid aging, and since there’s no exception in the text it works even on beings who do not normally age.

  Aside from Fragment of Immortality, fearwracks have another reaction power in the form of Cleansing Wounds, which clears all enemy effects from them when they first become bloodied.

  An all-fearwrack group has a surprising amount of synergy. If the PCs close to melee with one of them, others can target the PC with Terror Bolt to open them up to a free Fear Strike. This causes the PC to run away and potentially get hit with more Fear Strikes. The fearwrack choses the victim’s path and there’s nothing forbidding them from walking them into traps or pits either.

  There are occasions where the fearwrack wants the PC to stay close, though - their aura makes the Curse of Mortality even harder to resist with a total -4 save penalty.

  Forkaken Infiltrators

  Infiltrators have an amazing talent for long-term impersonation. Some believe they inherited it from the deity whose essence initially infused them. They join up with churches and cults of all types of deity, from Pelor to Vecna, with the goal of reaching a high post in their hierarchy. From that lofty perch they gain access to all sorts of restricted divine secrets, and can abuse their authority to sabotage the cult from within.

  Infiltrators are Level 27 Skirmishers with 200 HP. They wield a kophesh in one hand and a hand crossbow in the other, and they use the classic strategy of moving around to gain combat advantage while discouraging the PCs from making opportunity attacks.

  If they have Combat Advantage against a target, any attack they hit also immobilized the target and allows the infiltrator to shift 2 squares. Punishing Response is a mighty discouragement indeed: when an enemy hits the infiltrator with an opportunity attack, the enemy takes the same damage dealt to the infiltrator plus 5!

  The Khopesh and Hand Crossbow are accurate and do solid damage, but have no built-in riders. They can also make a Careful Attack with the sword that deals about 25% less damage but gives the infiltrator a +2 bonus to defenses for a turn.

  No combat-time shapeshifting powers here, so I guess any transformations either take more time, or are just the fruit of epic-level tradecraft rather than shape-shifting magic. Infiltrators do get training in all the social skills plus Stealth, and their high level means they’re better at those than most mortals.

  Forsaken Loreseeker

  Loreseekers are the rank and file of the Forsaken spying operation, tasked with actively breaking into libraries, vaults, and minds to steal the knowledge contained within. I guess a big part of the big-I Infiltrator’s mission is to open the way for loreseekers. Some believe they can steal all the memories of a creature they kill.

  Loreseekers are Level 27 Minion Soldiers, which tells me they’re not really meant to engage in combat most of the time and/or that they work in large teams. When forced to fight, they use weapons similar to those of the Infiltrator.

  Their Hand Crossbow attack marks for a turn, and their melee attack also performs a Theft of Memory. During the target next turn, all enemies except the attacking Loreseeker are invisible to the victim. Memory erasure in real time! The loreseeker loses this ability after it uses Fragment of Immortality. Yes, despite being a minion they also have this ability, so you need to hit them twice to defeat them for good.

  Forsaken Slaughterer

  

  Some Forsaken find the memory of immortality a weight too great to bear. It eats at their sanity until their mind snaps, and they’re consumed by rage and grief. The other forsaken keep these unfortunate individuals in reserve for use as living weapons. They’re more sensitive to divine power, you see, and tend to fly into a murderous frenzy when they sense some. It wouldn’t do to waste that kind of god-killing potential.

  Slaugheterers are Level 28 Brutes, which means they can indeed challenge demigods and other things of that nature when backed up by a team of similar level. They have 253 HP, and the other standard Forsaken traits.

  Slaughterers have a couple of interesting passive traits: Relentless Slaughter is an aura (1) that halves the benefits of healing for any enemy inside; and Proximal Resistance gives them Resist 10 against all ranged and area attacks if no enemies are adjacent to them. This makes them very capable of charging through an open field to engage PCs in melee.

  They fight with paired khopesh swords, and their basic Khopesh attack does a nice chunk of damage - almost as much as a Balor’s sword, with the main difference being the lack of the High-Crit property. They can also use an Unstoppable Cut that splits that damage between two adjacent targets. This isn’t a multi-attack - if the first target gets hit, the second takes damage automatically.

  Like all Forsaken, slaughterers have Fragment of Immortality as a triggered action. They also have another very interesting one called Blood for Blood. It triggers when they’re first bloodied, and consists of a Close Burst 1 attack against all enemies that does damage equal to each target’s healing surge value. That’s 25% of their HP, and it’s likely to bloody them since it will go off a ways into the fight.

  Slaughterers are offensive brutes - you want them to charge past the defenders and attack your squishies. They’ll be particularly eager to target divine characters like clerics and invokers, so having a paladin with you is probably the best way to make them stop and fight your defenders. Otherwise they’ll definitely risk opportunity attacks and mark punishments to break through, with Blood for Blood working as a nasty surprise for those PCs who prove adept at hurting them.

  Forsaken Mastermind

  Forsaken Masterminds are strategists. They run operations whose scope encompasses an entire region, sitting at the center of a web of different cells and agents that include several other Forsaken as well as their mortal pawns. Their goals tend to involve heavy stuff like interfering with the designs of the gods themselves, or those of their direct servants. A mastermind should only enter combat directly if all of their other plans have been thwarted by meddlesome adventurers, but they’re far from defenseless if it comes to that.

  Masterminds are Level 29 Controllers with 213 HP and the Leader keyword. They’re masterful warriors, and also employ some magic focused on disrupting divine powers. They’re surrounded by an Inspire Resilience aura (5), which grants an extra 40 temporary HP to any forsaken ally who uses Fragment of Immortality within it.

  Their basic khopesh attack makes the target marked by one of the mastermind’s allies within 5 squares! So it forces the PC to target that ally instead of the mastermind itself, and allows the ally to use any mark-related abilities it may have.

  They also use a hand crossbow that can make a solid ranged basic attack.

  Their main spell is Tainted Wave, an at-will Close Blast 3 attack that targets enemies, deals untyped damage, and makes those it hits lose all temporary HP and become unable to regain HP for a turn. It targets Fortitude, so most defenders might have a good shot at resisting it, but if it hits they’re in trouble.

  Less often (recharge 5+), they can use Delayed Retribution, an area spell that targets enemies’ Reflex. Those it hits take some damage and, more importantly, will become stunned for a turn if they attack the mastermind during their next action.

  If someone uses a divine power within 10 squares of the mastermind, it can use Wrath of the Forsaken as a reaction. This ends all negative effects on an ally within 10 squares, and allows them to make an immediate recharge roll to recover an expended power.

  Final Impressions

  I quite like these guys. Their lore feels epic and horrific at the same time, and their mechanics are cool.

  I do wonder how the Forsaken perpetuate themselves, as they’ve been around since the Dawn War and are very explicitly not immortal. Perhaps they’re still unaging, or maybe there is a procedure for exposing a mortal victim to the fragment of immortality that belonged to a deceased Forsaken, bringing them back in a new form Go’auld style.

• Jul 23, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Elemental

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Elementals are a pretty iconic part of D&D, since they’ve shown up on every book we’ve covered so far. The MM1 and MM2 elementals were built to showcase the mixed nature of the Elemental Chaos, so they were always a different combination of two or more elements.

  This was pretty cool, but it also caused some edition warriors complain that they missed the traditional single-element quartet from editions past.

  The Monster Manual 3 brings the “singlementals” back, with heroic, paragon and epic variants of all four classic types. The Lesser (heroic) variants would be reprinted in the Monster Vault, and we already covered them here. We’ll look at the standards and greaters now.

  Air Elemental

  Air Elementals are Lurkers. They have a ground speed of 0, but very high air speeds with Hover. They also have some degree of vulnerability to Fire.

  The Lesser Air Elemental is Level 1 and covered here.

  Air Elemental

  This Level 10 Lurker has 81 HP and a flight speed of 8. It has the same Phantom on the Wind trait as the lesser version, which makes it become invisible when it starts the turn not adjacent to any enemies. This lasts until the end of its next turn or until it attacks, so it will remain invisible until it does close in to attack.

  Its basic attack is a slam with no riders, and it can use a Rampant Storm that does more damage over a Close Burst 3 area and dazes targets that couldn’t see the elemental before it attacked.

  Classic lurker tactics: start invisible, Rampant Storm, move away to become invisible again.

  Greater Air Elemental

  This one is Large and Level 20 with 143 HP and a speed of 10. It has most of the same traits of the standard air elemental with bigger numbers, and it replaces Rampant Storm with Engulfing Winds. This melee attack pulls and grabs the target. The elemental can move freely with a grabbed victim, which takes 20 ongoing damage until they escape.

  This one wants to grab someone and play keep-away.

  Earth Elementals

  Earth Elementals are Soldiers. They have a burrow speed equal to their walking speed. Earth Glide allows them to pass through earth and stone as if it had phasing, and their Brittle Skin means they take a -2 penalty to all defenses for a turn when hit with thunder damage. They attack with slams.

  As usual, the Lesser Air Elemental is covered in the MM/MV article.

  The standard Earth Elemental is level 11 with 119 HP and Speed 7. It gains a Quake Stomp attack that covers a selective Close Burst 2 and targets Fortitude, damaging those it hits, sliding them 2 squares, and knocking them prone.

  The Greater Earth Elemental is Large, Level 22 with 212 HP, and replaces Quake Stomp with Flattening Stomp, which targets a single creature for heavy physical damage and automatically knocks all enemies within 2 squares of the target prone.

  Fire Elementals

  Fire Elementals are skirmishers. They run very fast and can fly, though not as well as an air elemental. Their slams deal only ongoing fire damage, and Flickering Flame allows them to shift a number of squares as a minor action. If they’re hit with cold damage, though, they’re Frozen in Place and can’t shift for a turn.

  All elementals have a reaction ability that deals some sort of fire damage around them when they’re hit by an attack. This gets more powerful as the elemental gets bigger. Lessers are level 1, standards Level 11, and Greaters level 21.

  Water Elementals

  Water elementals are controllers. They have a swim speed equal to their ground speed, and are Aquatic. This gives them attack bonuses against non-aquatic enemies when fighting underwater. They’re Sensitive to Cold, and after taking cold damage they gain Vulnerable 5 against the next attack to hit them before the end of their next turn.

  Their slams do some physical damage and inflict ongoing physical damage from the water that gets into people’s lungs. Drowning Essence allows them to slide victims taking this ongoing damage as a minor action.

  Their special attack seems to be surging like a wave, dealing damage and pushing or sliding people around. It gets more damaging, more frequent, and pushier the bigger the elemental gets. It has different names for each elemental: Whelm for Lessers, Whirlpool for standards, and Surging Waves for Greaters.

  Final Impressions

  I guess you can notice me getting gradually more bored with classic elementals as I wrote the above post. These ones are better than they used to be in earlier editions, but I can understand why the Monster Vault only reprinted the lessers. The more powerful versions are pretty much the kind of thing you can write yourself using the standard monster leveling rules.

  Like all other elementals, they fit easily into any adventure or encounter that also features someone who could conceivably summon and bind them. They also work well as “widlife” in the Elemental Chaos.

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