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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Imix, Part 1
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Sit down dear readers, for there’s a lot of lore coming your way. Imix himself first appeared in the Fiend Folio for AD&D 1e, along with the other Elemental Princes. His writeup here also melds two classic stories from the 1e era.
The Lore
So, as it’s been mentioned a few times before, the god Tharizdun is probably the biggest asshole in all of 4e’s implied setting. Before even the Dawn War, he came across a shard of cosmic evil, and decided to use that in a bid to conquer the universe. He planted this shard in the Elemental Chaos as if it was a seed, and from this seed sprouted the Abyss. Tharizdun used the Abyss to generate an innumerable host of demons. Some of these were created through corruption (of elementals, of his own servants, and others). Others were formed directly from abyssal energies under Tharizdun’s direction.
A lot of things happened after that but it suffices to say that Tharizdun’s attempt at conquest ultimately failed and the god was imprisoned by his peers in the most secure prison they could conceive. His name was erased from all records of the gods, some say from reality itself. We only know it because we’re the readers and we’re outside the setting.
Fast-forward to the time of the Dawn War. The gods are slowly winning, for they are capable of teamwork and their proud enemies are not. Except, that is, for a group of 5 Primordials who were contacted by a mysterious entity that introduced itself as the Elder Elemental Eye. The contacted Primordials believed they had just lucked into a direct line to the first Primordial, and so they readily accepted its offer of power in exchange for loyalty. They called themselves the Elemental Princes from that point onward.
The alliance between the Elemental Princes was far from ironclad, but it was enough to allow them to get through the War with both their lives and their freedom. They’re still out there, in the Elemental Chaos, plotting to overthrow the gods and free their master.
Spoiler alert: The Elder Elemental Eye is a pseudonym for Tharizdun. Serving and worshiping the Eye funnels power to the Chained God so that he might one day break free of his prison.
This entry concerns Imix, the Evil Elemental Prince of Fire. As the name implies, he represents all the bad things one usually associates with fire. Uncontrolled passions, rage, indiscriminate destruction. Though he is technically free, Imix lives in a state of self-imposed house arrest. He has a stronghold built into the caldera of an active volcano, and he never leaves it. His attempts to influence the world and advance his plan all go through his agents and cultists.
Imix’s cult in the middle world is unusually large and active for a primordial’s. It accepts misanthropes, murderers, and those who are angry at the world and willing to swear any oath for the power to take revenge. Whatever their individual reasons might be, they eventually cease to matter, as advancing in the cult means having pieces of your free will burned away until your only wish is to do Imix’s bidding and help free the Eye.
They usually hide out among sapient communities and sow division and discord, encouraging its inhabitants to rebel and fight among themselves. Their temples tend to be built inside ruins and other scary places. The cultists protect them vigilantly and burn to death anyone who gets too close.
More important temples are usually dedicated to the Elder Elemental Eye and protected by two or more Elemental Prince cults, who spend as much time sabotaging and upstaging one another as they do actually advancing the Eye’s cause. The cult’s greatest seat of power in the middle world is the legendary Temple of Elemental Evil, protected and operated by all the Elemental Prince cults and any mercenaries and servants they manage to recruit.
The Numbers
This entry concerns Imix himself. We’ll take a look at his cultists in the next one.
Imix is a Huge Elemental Humanoid with the Fire and Primordial keywords. I think he’s the first monster to carry that last one, but he won’t be the last. He’s a Level 32 Solo Controller with 1140 HP. He has darkvision, a ground speed of 10, and a flight speed of 8 with Hover. He is immune to disease and fire.
The heat from Imix’s Withering Flames acts as an aura (5) that strips all fire resistance from any enemies inside. His basic attack is a Reach 3 Blazing Blade that deals immediate and ongoing fire damage, and the Blazing Arc maneuver allows him to attack every enemy in reach with a single action.
Imix can call up Servants of Elemental Fire, summoning four Fire Grues, or six if he’s bloodied. Fire Grues are minions with the same defenses as Imix. Grues don’t attack, but any enemy that ends their turn adjacent to one or more grues takes 15 fire damage. Imix can move all of them up to 6 squares with a single minor action, and the summoning power recharges if there are no grues in the field.
He can also use Volcanic Circle to detonate a grue, dealing heavy fire damage in a Close Burst 1 around the minion. This creates a zone that lasts until the end of the encounter and deals 20 fire damage to enemies that enter it or end their turns there. Yes, this is at-will. Once the battle against Imix starts, the entire battlefield will very soon be on fire.
Blinding Flare is a minor action that attacks all enemies adjacent to grues in a Close Burst 10, dealing fire damage and blinding (save ends). A miss deals half damage and imposes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for a turn. This recharges when Imix is first bloodied.
Hungry Flames is another minor action that targets every enemy taking ongoing fire damage within 10 squares. It weakens them (save ends) and deals 10 fire damage to any creature adjacent to them.
If an enemy tries to move away from a grue, Imix can use Demand Focus to attack their Will and daze them for a turn. If an enemy misses him with a melee attack, Formed of Fire deals 10 damage to that enemy and any ally adjacent to them. And if Imix is affected by a save-ends effect, Eternal Resilience allows him to roll a save against that effect immediately in addition to the normal saves everyone gets.
I guess Imix will use grues to surround the party, and the grue-based attacks to blind the PCs and prevent them from getting away. He will detonate enough grues to light the battlefield on fire, and will strive to keep the PCs within his aura as he attacks them with his blazing sword. Once enough PCs are taking ongoing damage, he will use Hungry Flames and keep attacking.
For extra pain, you can set the battle in a Font of Power aligned to Fire. This is a special terrain type listed in the DMG that gives damage bonus to attacks with the appropriate damage type. An epic one gives +15 damage, and it certainly makes sense for Imix’s own seat of power to qualify as a Font.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Howler
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Howlers totally feel like a 3e monster, probably because of the art. I suppose they might have shown up in AD&D too, it’s not like the game was ever shy about adding one more dog monster to the pile.
The Lore
Howlers are spiky, sapient quadrupedal predators that feed on fear. They’ve evolved to hunt in a way that’s as terrifying as possible. Younger howlers are quick to kill because they enjoy the spike of fear the victim feels when it dies, but older specimens are sophisticated enough to hold whole villages hostage with the threat of death-by-howler and feed off the ambient terror.
The most legendary howler of all is known as Terror Incarnate. This creature managed to devour the fear felt by an entire army as it died, and this excess power turned it into something like a demigod of terror. Its eventual progeny inherited its powers.
There’s some fuzzy edges in their lore. It mentions howlers attacking people in the middle world and in the Underdark, mentions associations with shadar-kai, but gives the creature an Elemental origin. I think they might fit better as either Natural or Shadow. Fortunately origin doesn’t influence stats. Alternatively you might go the other way and make them a type of demon.
The Numbers
As mentioned above, Howlers are Elemental Magical Beasts. They have Darkvision and a Speed of 8. They understand Abyssal but can’t speak.
Howler Dread Hound
One of those young specimens that kills too quickly. They gather in huge packs to massacre whole villages at once. They are Medium Level 9 Minion Controllers with a speed of 8. At Int 5, they’re sapient but dim.
As with all “dog monsters”, their basic attack is a bite. This one does a bit of damage and slides the target 1 square on a hit. They also have a Piercing Spines trait that deals the same damage as the bite to anyone who misses them with a melee attack. The ability that gives them their name is the Dread Howl encounter power, a fear attack that catches every enemy in a Close Blast 5 and targets Will. A hit does a bit of psychic damage and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn.
These are minions, so there will always be a lot of them when they appear. A bit of orchestration could ensure PCs grant combat advantage for most of the fight.
Howler Doom Mastiff
An older, fully developed howler who has learned the value of prolonged psychological torture. They roam ruins and tunnels in small packs, looking for victims to terrify. They are Large Level 13 Skirmishers with 129 HP and a speed of 8.
Doom Mastiffs are large enough to ride, and they have the Mount keyword. As they have Int 9, I think this is more of an equal partnership thing than the rider “keeping” the howler as a mount or pet. The Guarding Spines trait gives the mastiff’s rider a +2 bonus to AC. Its Piercing Spines does 10 damage to anyone who misses the howler or its rider with a melee attack.
Their basic Bites are a little weak but can be used as part of a Loping Bite attack that allows the mastiff to shift half its speed and bite. Their Terrifying Howl is a lot stronger than the dread hound’s: it deals 10 ongoing psychic damage to those it hits, and makes them grant combat advantage (save ends). Targets adjacent to the mastiff can’t save agains this. Finally, this is a (recharge 6+) power instead of an encounter power. So it might happen more than once!
Being all about that delicious fear, the mastiff will open with a howl and then will do its best to stick to one of the affected PCs, using move actions and Loping Bites to do so. It’s smart enough to prefer a squishy victim over a defender, too.
Howler Terror Incarnate
The one that devoured an army’s collective fear and became a demigod of terror. It’s a Large Level 22 Lurker with 155 HP.
The terror’s Shadow Spines work a lot like that of its lesser relatives, but deal necrotic damage. It also has a Terror Incarnate aura (3) that deals 10 psychic damage per turn to any enemies inside.
Their basic bite deals the same damage as that of the level 13 doom mastiff, which I’m almost sure is a typo. It can also possess people with the Shadow of Terror power. This is a melee attack that can only be used against people who can’t see the howler, and who haven’t been possessed during the fight yet. On a hit, the howler is removed from play and the target is dominated (save ends). The target’s at-will attacks deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage and target Will instead of their original defenses. The posession ends when the target passes a save or takes radiant damage - when this happens, the howler reappears adjacen to them. The target is then dazed (save ends).
Their final attack is the Death Howl, another blast attack. This one does immediate psychic damage and dazes (save ends) on a hit.
Shadow Lope (recharge 4+) provides the ability to set up for a Shadow of Terror attack: it allows the howler to become invisible for a turn and move its speed.
Final Impression
Howlers are far from the first dog monsters to show up in D&D. They’re not even the first dog monsters with fear powers. Still, you can use them in your campaign in place of wargs and other similarly-leveled canine menaces for added variety. The Doom Mastiff’s ability to act as a mount also makes it an possible replacement for a Nightmare. Anyone who would ride an Evil Fire Horse would also certainly ride an Evil Fear Dog.
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Merging Shield Skills in GURPS
This is kind of an addendum to my earlier post on Merging Weapon Skills in GURPS, which occurred to me after reading this other post in After the Ogre. I realized I hadn’t mentioned Shield skills, but I had been merging them for so long I had forgotten that wasn’t the standard.
In my GURPS games, there is only one shield skill:
Shield (DX/E)
This skill merges Shield, Shield (Buckler) and Force Shield. There is still a mechanical difference between a shield that’s held in the hand and one that’s strapped to the arm, but both of them use the same skill and there is no familiarity penalty from switching between them.
If you’re using the optional rules for Familiarity Penalties in the previous post, such a penalty would definitely apply when someone used to traditional shields wields a weightless force shield, and vice-versa. As a reminder, that’s a -2 penalty to Shield that goes away after a few hours of practice during downtime, at no point cost.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Hag
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
As I mentioned way back in the MM/MV post about Hags, they’re a species of fey that resemble fairytale witches in appearance and behavior. They tend to have great knowledge of magic, but also tend use it to further selfish and greedy schemes.
Their basic lore remains the same in the MM3, which also adds that hags are keepers of secrets. They’re always after new treasure and new secrets, generally of the type that increases their power. They use divination magic, pacts with mortals, and a network of portals that weaves through the Feywild and the middle world, which they also use to keep connected to each other.
Hags are of course loathe to part with any of their secrets for free. Adventurers seeking information from a hag must usually agree to do them a favor, which commonly means doing something nasty to one of the hag’s many enemies. These enemies might include archfey, demons, devils, other hags…
Hags are Medium Fey Humanoids and have Low-Light Vision. Everything else varies with stat blocks, which are usually split along the lines of which type of magic a hag uses in combat. I don’t think they’re supposed to be different sub-species or anything of the sort.
Pact Hag
This is your typical “sinister village witch”, living in a hut out of sight of the village itself. This location is far enough away to deter curious casuals, but still close enough that someone who really wants to make a deal with the hag can easily reach it.
A pact hag is much more willing to negotiate with these visitors than most of her relatives, though she’s still just as prone to seeking deals that benefit her more than they do the petitioner. She usually keep ogres, trolls, and dangerous fey fauna as bodyguards. They’re initially out of sight, but can arrive quickly if a fight breaks out.
Pact hags are Level 11 Controllers with the Leader tag and 115 HP. In a fight, they use all sorts of fun mind control magic, starting with a Pact of Obedience aura (5) that allows allies inside to spend 5 HP to reroll a missed attack roll with a +2 bonus to the reroll.
Her basic melee attack is a Compelling Staff that deals light damage but forces the target to make a melee basic attack against a target of the hag’s choice.
Her basic ranged attack is named Pact of Compelled Obedience and does no damage at all, but it dominates the target for a turn instead. Fun (TM) for the whole party.
Her special attacks follow along the same lines. Pact of Choked Aggression also doesn’t do immediate damage and inflicts a nasty curse on the target: they take 10 psychic damage the first time they hit a creature during one of their turns. This lasts until the end of the encounter, or until one of the target’s allies attacks the target. And it recharges when no enemy is affected by the curse!
The other special attack is Pact of Shared Agony, which the hag can only use while bloodied. It’s another curse: until the end of the encounter, if the target is within 10 squares of the hag, they take 10 psychic damage whenever the hag takes any amount of damage. This power recharges whenever the hag misses with it, so she can keep using it until she hits.
This big emphasis on indirect damage means pact hags work best when surrounded by those beefy bodyguards, and will probably try to flee the fight once they become bloodied. Pact of Shared Agony is good for discouraging pursuit by melee strikers. Their “Pact” theme makes them a good patron for a heroic-tier fey warlock! This patron hag might either level up as the PC does, or you can have a story where the PC “trades up” to a better teacher Sith-style once the hag’s demands become untenable.
Dream Hag
These hags, as you might imagine, focus on dream magic. They can send dream visions to people, a power they use to lure their (or their paying customer’s) enemies to traps. However, the constraints of dream magic mean the hag doesn’t have full control over the content of the visions, so genuinely useful information tends to slip through.
Dream Hags are Level 19 Controllers with 179 HP. They project a Nightmare Weaver aura (3) that causes unconscious enemies inside to become dominated for a turn. They stand up and perform one action of the hag’s choice while still remaining unconscious. The wording here makes it clear that this puppetry continues while the enemies remain inside the aura.
Their basic attack is a Staff of Mindless Reverie, which damages and dazes for a turn on a hit. Their at-will ranged attack are weaponized Nightmare Visions that deal psychic damage and slide the target 5 squares.
And then we have the powers that make people unconscious so the hag can exploit her aura. Both affect a Close Blast 5! Dust of Dreams (recharge 5+) dazes on a hit (save ends), and this worsens to unconsciousness after the first failed save. Sleep’s Undeniable Grasp (Encounter) makes its targets unconscious right away. It’s a (save ends) effect and it also ends if the target is attacked.
Yes, it’s possible for the hag to put the whole party to sleep at once if she’s really lucky. This shouldn’t be an automatic total party kill if you run the abilities as written, though - sleeping PCs can still roll saves to end the effect, and in the case of the encounter power they also wake up if attacked. Of course, this attack will probably be an auto-crit if it comes from an enemy, so it’s still a problem.
I also think it’s acceptable to fudge things a little if Team Monster’s goal is something other than killing the PCs. If the goal is capturing them, or taking them somewhere else, then you can fade to black if the whole party falls asleep and have them wake up at that place.
Mist Hag
These are among the most powerful of hags. They’ve been accumulating secrets, artifacts and power for ages, and they dwell in the deepest forests of the Feywild. Their dwellings are surrounded by a thick mist that they have full control over. If the Death Hag from the MM1 was a “Baba Yaga wannabe”, this one is closest to the real deal. She’s pretty much an arch-fey herself. The Mist Hag does not deal with devils - devils deal with her. A few of them probably have been pressed into service as her bodyguards. Other possible allies include epic undead, fomorians, and so on.
A Mist Hag is a Level 27 Controller with the Leader tag and 247 HP. She has a zippy ground speed of 8, instead of the standard 6 for a medium humanoid. Her aura is a Mist Shroud that makes allies within 1 square insubstantial.
The hag’s Mist Staff damages and pushes targets 5 squares. During the push, targets act as if they had the Phasing trait, which means the hag can push them through walls and other creatures. The final destination square must still be empty, but the hag doesn’t need to have a line of effect to it or the other squares of the push. If you want to get cute with this ability, include a piece of hazardous terrain surrounded by walls in your battle map.
Her basic attack is Mist on the Wind, which damages and removes the target from play for a turn! The target returns to play in a square of the hag’s choice within 4 squares of its original position.
Finally, Choking Mist (recharge 5+) is a ranged attack serves as a reminder that the PCs are breathing the same mist the hag can control. It deals heavy physical damage and ongoing 20 damage (save ends). Every time the target fails a save, the hag can slide them 3 squares.
When an enemy gets to within 2 squares of the hag, the hag can use Maze of Mist to mess with them. This is a triggered effect that doesn’t require an action, so it can happen every time the trigger happens. When it does, the hag can roll a d20. On a 10 or higher, she slides the triggering enemy 1 square. This makes closing to melee reach a lot harder than usual.
Final Impressions
As I said back in the original article, I like hags when they are portrayed as their own species of fey being that don’t necessarily need to obey natural laws. They’re fairytale witches, with a penchant for doing the things fairytale witches do.
That said, I think treating each hag stat block as an entirely different species is going a bit too far. I prefer to treat those as differences of skill and training.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Gremlin
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Just look at this pointy boy. They’re not even trying to hide the inspiration for him.
Anyway, D&D has had monsters named “gremlin” since almost its beginning, but the lore for them its new to this edition.
The Lore
A long time ago, the fomorians under King Thrumbolg took a large group of goblin captives, transformed them into bioweapons, and released them into the cities of their eladrin enemies. The new creatures had a great aptitude for deception and sabotage, and an engineered predilection for it. These were the first gremlins.
They did their job wonderfully, disrupting the alliance of eladrin city states arrayed against Thrumbolg by altering the correspondence between them, murdering key officials, and other such deeds. However, they also ended up doing the same sort of thing to Thumbolg’s own court, causing great damage to it. Gremlins gotta gremlin.
The little rascals were cast out, and over the ages spread through the Feywild and the middle world. Though they sometimes live openly in the communities of other sapients, many gremlins follow their engineered calling and hide out among their chosen victims, taming vermin to do their bidding and engaging in the same ghastly shenanigans their ancestors did back in the day, basically for the lulz. The worst among them find natural allies in demons, who have the same appetite for chaos.
Examples of things gremlins do, taken from the stat block descriptions: stealing documents and heirlooms from a royal court and stashing them to be found in the quarters of visiting nobles; intercepting and altering important correspondence so that a call for peace becomes a declaration of war; and plain old serial murder.
The Numbers
Gremlins are Small Fey Humanoids with low-light vision and a speed of 6. They have two signature abilities present in almost all stat blocks. The first is Sabotaging Presence, an large aura (size 5) that gives enemies inside a -5 penalty to skill checks. The second is Gremlin Tactics, a reaction that allows them to swap spaces with an enemy that misses them with a melee attack.
Skill-wise, training in Stealth and Thievery is nearly universal, and they occasionally know other “thiefy” skills like Bluff as well.
Gremlin Deceiver
Deceivers are Level 5 Controllers with 63 HP, which makes them the earliest gremlin the PCs are likely to find. Like other gremlins, their presence is going to be hidden at first, and they only fight when found out.
Deceivers fight with their claws, but their magic is a lot more interesting. They can cast a fireball-sized Befuddling Burst that targets Will and, on a hit, deals psychic damage and prevents targets from shifting or standing up (save ends). The burst itself doesn’t knock them prone - that’s what the Slip Up minor-action attack does. This is a ranged attack that targets Will and does no damage.
For added lulz, pair them with other monsters that can knock people prone, such as other gremlins, or wolves reskinned as dire rats.
Gremlin Skulker
Skulkers are Level 7 Lurkers with 64 HP, and they’re surprisingly sticky. Aside from the standard gremlin traits, they have a Shadow Sneak passive that makes them invisible while adjacent to an enemy, and Opportunistic Advantage that gives them extra damage in opportunity attacks.
Their claw attacks do okay damage and “curse” the target: if the target moves away from the gremlin, they fall prone at the end of their movement. And when an enemy adjacent to the skulker moves, the Shadow Skulk encounter power allows them to shift up to 6 squares simultaneously, following the enemy as it moves so it stays adjacent.
You want this one right in the middle of the PCs, preferrably starting the fight already there with some of those strong opportunity attcks after sneaking in undetected.
Gremlin Conniver
Connivers are Level 17 Controllers with 162 HP. That’s quite a jump in power! They’re probably similar to the OG gremlins that destroyed the eladrin alliance.
Their basic claw attack also teleports the target 5 squares on a hit. Their Connive spell is a non-damaging, at-will ranged attack that dominates on a hit (save ends!). Fortunately only one creature can be dominated at a time.
As a minor action it can also create a Beguiling Fog (recharge 6+), a fireball-sized area attack against Will that does no damage. It always dazes the enemy - a hit means it’s a (save ends) effect, a miss means it only lasts a turn.
While connivers have little direct damage potential, they can dole out some of the game’s most annoying status effects at-will. The teleport effect on their basic claw attack is also particularly wonderful in battlefields with dangerous terrain or other hazards.
Gremlin Prankster
Pranksters are Level 17 Minion Controllers, perfect for when you want to re-enact a certain 80s movie. They’re not particularly hardy, but they like to run around in huge crowds and try to cause as much chaos as possible before vanishing. They have a basic claw attack and a Slip Up ranged attack that’s similar to the Deceiver’s, but also slides the target 3 squares before knocking them prone.
Final Impressions
The teme for the Gremlins 2 movie was playing through my head the entire time I was writing this. I love these critters.
They’re also very interesting mechanically and can end up making your PCs pull their own hair out in frustration. That can lead to memorable sessions if you do it properly, but can also be frustrating for the players, so consider the examples below cautiously.
If you really want the PCs to have a bad time, make sure your gremlin encounter takes place in a site full of traps and other hazards that require skill checks to disable. Or even have the PCs deal with a gremlin battle and a skill challenge at the same time. The skill penalty from Sabotaging Presence is untyped, meaning it technically stacks, but if you’re feeling merciful you can say it caps out at the -5 a single gremlin would provide.
That skill penalty also aids grappling-centered monsters! The roll to escape a grapple is a skill check, after all.
Since a lot of gremlins can knock PCs prone, they also go really well with monsters that can do ugly things to prone PCs. Especially evil GMs might want to keep in mind that 2 Gremlin Deceivers and 2 Needlefang Drake Swarms make up a valid Level 3 encounter.
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