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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Gnoll
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Oh boy, more gnolls. They’ve been in every Monster Manual for this edition. I skipped the MM2 entry because it turned out to fully overlap the Monster Vault, but the one in this book is specifically meant to complement the MV instead of overlapping with it. We don’t get much in the way of new lore, but we get a few new stat blocks.
The Monsters
As usual, gnolls are Medium Natural Humanoids. They have low-light vision and their ground speed is 7. Their signature ability remains Pack Attack, giving them a +5 damage bonus on melee and ranged attacks against an enemy that has two or more gnoll allies adjacent to it.
Gnoll Skulker
Our first gnoll, however, is a bit of an exception. These runty buggers are too cowardly to employ the usual brutish gnoll tactics, so they usually keep to the edges of the fight and wait for opportunities to strike isolated enemies from surprise. They’re good at this, but it’s not a fighting style that’s valued in “mainstream” demon-worshipping gnoll society.
Skulkers are Level 5 Lurkers with 51 HP. Their Peerless Camouflage allows them to make Stealth checks to hide even when they only have partial cover or concealment, and to stay hidden for an additional turn after leaving cover. They lack Pack Attack but have Something to Prove, gaining a +5 damage bonus against enemies that have no allies adjacent to them.
They fight with a dagger and a shortbow, and have a Hit and Run maneuver that allows them to shift 2 squares after hitting with the bow if they attack from hiding.
A band of gnolls with some skulkers in it is a lot harder to fight. If you spread out a bit to make it harder for the standard gnolls to use Pack Attack, the skulkers get you with Something to Prove, and vice-versa.
Gnoll War Fang
War Fangs are heavily armored commander-types that also make use of demonic powers. They’re anti-paladins of Yeenoghu, basically. War Fangs are Level 6 Soldiers with 72 HP and the Leader tag.
Their War Fang Defense aura (1) grants allies a +2 bonus to AC, and they fight with a Longsword that deals extra damage when they’re bloodied (this stacks with Pack Attack).
Once per round as a minor action, they can issue a Demonic Challenge that works a lot like the paladin version - it marks an enemy within 3 squares, and whenever the marked enemy makes an attack that doesn’t target the war fang they suffer 10 fire damage.
If any enemy misses the war fang with a melee attack, the No Mercy ability allows an ally adjacent to that enemy to make a melee basic attack against them.
War Fangs work very well when positioned in the second row of the enemy front line, because they’ll improve the front-liners’ defenses and mark the PCs from a place where they can’t be easily attacked. They also do very well on the front line when surrounded by their allies.
Chosen of Yeenoghu
This is a gnoll necromancer, a Level 7 Elite Controller with 156 HP. It fights with a staff in melee and fires bolts of ruination that deal necrotic damage at range, but its main schtick is filling the battlefield with ghostly hyenas.
The Chosen can summon a single Hyena Spirit as a minor action, or four of them at once with the Call Beyond the Grave encounter power. Spirit Strike is a 1/round minor action that allows a spirit to make a free basic attack with a +2 bonus. Finally, To the Front is a power that teleports every adjacent ally 10 squares.
This is a monster, not a PC, so it doesn’t use PC summoning rules. Hyena Spirits are Level 7 Minion Soldiers and each one has their own full set of actions in the initiative order. They have a Spectral Jaws aura (1) that slows enemies caught inside, and a standard basic bite attack. When one of them dies, the Chosen takes 5 damage. Depending on how the Chosen is positioned, killing the hyenas might be the only way the PCs can damage it.
The spirits are worth 0 XP if they’re summoned by a Chosen, but you can include them in a fight by themselves and have them work as normal minions.
Final Impressions
I continue to mourn the fact that they never expanded playable non-evil gnolls beyond that single Dragon article, while remarking that the mechanics for these gnolls are pretty interesting.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Girallon
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Remember how, way back in the “Ape” entry, I commented that I wasn’t fond of the “pulp fiction carnivorous gorilla” cliches some of them were leaning on? Then you might imagine how I feel about this particular monster. I first saw them in the 3e Monster Manual, but they might have appeared in a supplement for an earlier edition.
A girallon is what happens when you take every single one of those cliches, lump them together, and double the result. It’s an evil carnivorous gorilla that has twice the size, twice the appetite for human flesh, and twice the number of arms as the standard version of the trope. To complete the cliche bingo card, girallons have white fur and are frequently worshipped as gods by “savage jungle-dwelling tribes”. So yeah, not a great look so far.
Girallons are voracious carnivores and messy eaters that have the habit of leaving viscera and entrails lying around their territories. They can climb and move through the treetops with practiced ease, but their large size means they need to sleep on the ground. Their lairs are usually in caves or ruins. Though not sapient, some of them learn to make trails in their territory’s vegetation that lead to prime ambush spots, which can act as an effective lure for sapient prey.
Girallons are usually the most badass predators in their region. They’re either solitary or organized in small bands, and do not willingly seek out allies of other species. Still, they’re sometimes “tamed” by giants, trolls, fomorians and other such sapients. Prospective girallon keepers must be either big and strong enough to physically beat the creatures into submission, or have the knowledge of magic necessary to keep them dominated.
The Monsters
Girallon
The basic model and the template used for the others. This is a Large Natural Beast and a Level 12 Brute with 145 HP. It has a ground speed of 8 and a climb speed of 6. Its four arms act as a Threatening Claws aura (1) that makes all enemies inside grant combat advantage, and a Combat Climber trait that make it not provoke opportunity attacks when climbing.
The basic claw attack is Reach 2 and does the heavy damage expected of a brute, and the Claw Flurry special (recharge 5+) allows it to make four half-damage claw attacks.
Girallon Alpha
This specimen is much bigger and stronger than a typical girallon. It has all the same traits as the basic model but is level 17 with 195 HP. It has two new abilities as well.
The first is a positioning thing: Whirling Claws is a free action triggered when an enemy starts its turn within 2 squares of the alpha. The alpha slides that enemy 1 square, which is perfect for breaking flanking maneuvers.
The other is a special attack: Rend and Tear targets enemies in a Close Blast 3, does heavy damage, and slides the targets 3 squares on a hit.
Infernal Girallon
A long time ago some devils decided infusing packs of girallons with the power of Hell for use as bioweapons in the Blood War would be a swell idea. Now there are packs of Infernal Girallons roaming and hunting through both the Elemental Chaos and the Nine Hells.
These have all the same traits as a basic girallon but are Immortal instead of Natural. They have the Devil keyword and Darkvision. They’re Level 22 Brutes with 249 HP and all the same abilities as a basic girallon.
Their first new power is a trait named Burning Soul. This aura (2) causes 10 fire damage to enemies caught inside, or 20 if the girallon is bloodied. Better give your defenders some protection from fire.
Their other new power is an attack named Burning Ichor, a Close Blast 3 that does immediate and ongoing fire damage (save ends).
So yeah, an even bigger girallon that is on fire.
Final Impressions
You already know my opinion of their lore. I’m tempted to reskin these things into demons or some other type of monster. I guess the exception is the lore for Infernal Girallons. “Devils tried to do science, it did not go as planned” is a good hook.
Mechanically, the Girallon is a basic paragon-tier brute, serviceable but not spectacular. The enhanced versions add more interesting special attacks, so depending on your needs you might want to down-level an alpha instead of using the basic version.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Giant, Hill
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Another entry that that adds extra stat blocks to complement the existing MM1 and upcoming Monster Vault monsters. This one is for hill giants.
The new lore here is minimal or restates things we saw elsewhere. Hill Giant bands are usually small and consist of a single family group - they’re too anti-social to form more complex organizations. Every once in a while a larger group will manage to hold together for an extented period of time. Their leaders style themselves kings, and the log fortresses they build are known as steadings. You might have heard about a famous adventure with the words “Steading”, “Hill Giant” and “King” in its title, wink wink.
The Numbers
As usual, Hill Giants are Large Natural Humanoids (Giants), with a basic speed of 8. All of the ones here look like the iconic club-swinging D&D giant, with the big difference being in how they fight.
Hill Giant Smashers
A Smasher is pretty much a “Hill Giant Lite”. It’s slightly weaker than a standard MV giant, and doesn’t throw rocks. To compensate, it’s more mobile and has a few more tricks in melee. This is the stat block you use for those lone mercenary giants that get hired as living tanks by smaller evil humanoids like hobgoblins, bugbears, or gnolls.
Smashers are Level 11 Brutes with 137 HP. They have a passive Mobility trait which allows them to roll saves against being slowed, immobilized, or restrained at the start of their turns instead of at the end. This also works for any save-ends effect that includes these conditions, like “ongoing 5 damage and slowed (save ends both)”.
Like all giants in this entry they wield Reach 2 Greatclubs, and their basic attack deals a bit of automatic splash damage to a secondary target on a hit. Once per encounter they can perform a Whirling Crush to attack everyone in a close burst 2, and they can also perform a Brutal Smash that deals double damage and recharges on a miss. So they’ll keep trying that one until they hit.
Hill Giant Rockthrower
The MM1 and MV give us an artillery giant that uses big javelins. But if you want your giants to throw rocks and nothing but rocks, the Rockthrower is for you.
Rockthrowers are Level 12 Artillery with 97 HP. As artillery monsters, their Greatclub attacks are kinda weak, but their basic ranged attack is a Knockdown Throw that does a bit more damage, pushes the target 2 squares, and knocks them prone. They can also throw with a bit more force for a Shattering Rockburst (recharge 5+), which deals damage in an area and dazes on a hit.
They use the same tactics as a catapult: seek high ground, rain death from above. I imagine hiring a bunch of rockthrowers is quite a bit cheaper than maintaining your own siege engines.
Hill Giant Avalancher
Avalanchers are the heroic prodigies of their people. They’re much smarter than your typical hill giant, and often end up as leaders or kings. They get their name from their clever rock-throwing tricks and from their brutal charges.
An Avalancher is a Level 14 Skirmisher with 139 HP. They can make basic Greatclub attacks and perform Crushing Charges that do the same amount of damage and knock targets prone. From a distance they can throw Rolling Rocks, which in addition to doing damage on a hit slide the target 4 squares, knock them prone, and gather no moss.
After they knocked a bunch of PCs prone, Avalanchers will move using Stomping Shifts, which allow them to shift 4 squares and pass through prone enemies’ spaces. They deal an automatic 8 damage to a prone enemy when they pass through their spaces.
Avalanchers will always try to use their Crushing Charge if possible, and will make use of Stomping Shift to position themselves for a new charge and to deal additional damage to prone enemies. They use Rolling Rocks to break up tricky PC formations and to return fire against ranged attackers they can’t charge.
Final Impression
It’s more hill giants, which it’s okay because I like hill giants. I like that the Smasher is explicitly meant to be included as the “surprise bruiser” in a lower-leveled humanoid group. A smasher and its humanoid employers work well as a boss battle for a group of level 8-10 PCs, depending on how many other monsters you add.
The Avalancher gives you an interesting option for a leader type who is not a titan.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Giant, Frost
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
You know the drill by now - Frost Giants appeared in the MM1 and were about to get rewritten with new math on the Monster Vault. The MM3 brings in an assortment of them that can complement the “basic” entries in the MV. You can look at those basic entries here.
The Lore
Frost giant lore remains the same. They’re plus-sized asshole vikings who like to live in cold regions, fight with a variety of axes, and use lots of ice magic. Some think this behavior is in service of a greater plan laid down by their primordial masters, but that might be reaching a bit.
The Monsters
Frost Giants are Large Elemental Humanoids with the Cold and Giant keywords. Their signature trait remains Icebound Footing, which reduces any forced movement imposed on them by 2 squares and can reduce it to 0. They can also roll a save to avoid being knocked prone. They have Resist 15 Cold, and their ground speed is 8 with Ice Walk, which allows them to ignore ice or snow-based difficult terrain.
Frost Giant Berserker
You’d expect someone with “Berserker” in its name to be a Brute, but these are Level 16 Skirmishers with 157 HP. The book describes them as those hot-headed youngsters who are too undisciplined to fight like proper brutes and instead keep running around the battlefield.
They fight with Freezing Greataxes, which do a mix of physical and cold damage. They can also make a Storm Charge that doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from its movement and deals heavy physical damage. Once per encounter, the berserker can use its Primordial Rage to shift its speed and make three basic attacks along the way, each against a different target. A bit more often (recharge 4+) they can take a Giant Stride to shift 6 squares and move through enemy spaces while doing so.
These giants are perfect for running right past the party’s defenders and harassing their squishies. For extra annoyance, stage the fight in a map full of ice-based difficult terrain, which doesn’t affect frost giants but makes it harder for those defenders to reposition.
Frost Giant Shield Bearer
Shield bearers are the opposite of berserkers. They’re the hardened veterans who get the best gear and the best training. This makes them suitable to form the core of a raiding party, or a lord’s honor guard. They’re huscarls.
Shield bearers are Level 18 Soldiers with 174 HP. They’re heavily armored and, as the name implies, are just about the only frost giants who carry shields. They still wield axes, though.
Their Coordinated Attack ability gives them combat advantage against any enemy that has another shield bearer adjacent to them, no flanking required. Their Icy Battleaxes do cold damage and mark for a turn. Once per encounter they can enhance an attack and turn it into a Protective Strike, which deals 10 extra cold damage and grants 25 temporary HP to an ally within 10 squares.
Finally, Defensive Stand allows them spend a minor action to choose an enemy within 10 squares. If that enemy moves within reach before the end of the shield bearer’s next turn, the shield bearer gets a free attack against that enemy. It’s not an opportunity attack, so it should work with shifts or other forms of movement too.
They’re all set up to fight in tight formations and hold ground, which means they go well with artillery and ranged controllers.
Frost Giant Chieftain
Any frost giant community not led by a titan will likely be led by one of these. This chieftain is a Level 20 Controller with 190 HP. He has an Emanating Cold aura (2) that makes enemies inside grant combat advantage to cold creatures (i.e, frost giants and any monsters that are likely to tag along with them).
The chieftain fights with an Icy Greataxe that does cold damage, and can attack at range with a Eye of the Storm spell that does immediate and ongoing cold damage in addition to slowing the target.
As a minor action, the chieftan can create a Medium or Large Pillar of Ice within ten squares. The pillar lasts for a turn and “occupies” its space, meaning no one can move through. It blocks line of sight and slows anyone who starts their turn next to it.
The chieftain can also cast a spell named Grip of Winter that creates a zone that slows and deals cold damage to those inside. The zone lasts for the whole encounter and the power recharges once the chieftain is first bloodied.
Here’s your ranged controller to go with the shield bearers. Chieftains should stay behind a line of their bodyguards, making the already difficult terrain of the icy battlefield even worse with ice pillars and slowing attacks. Then you release the berserkers to step over all that and hit the PC’s back ranks.
Final Impressions
I like giants in general, so I like these MM3 giant entries even though they don’t include much new lore. The trio presented here has nice mechanical synergy and should also be fun to use with the frost giants from the MV.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Giant, Fire
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Like the ghouls we just covered, fire giants are classic monsters that appeared both in the original Monster Manual, and who would appear again in the upcoming Monster Vault. The MM3 gives a selection of fire giant stat blocks that complements that of the MV.
The Lore
The lore for fire giants remains pretty much the same as it was in the MM/MV. The new bits here add that the ancient fire giant empire had close contact with the efreets of the Elemental chaos, and that their many volcano fortresses were linked to each other and to the City of Brass via teleportation circles and portals. Most of these portals are deactivated in the present day, though the giants labor to reignite them wherever they find one.
As usual, fire giants love to team up with other fire creatures, preferrably ones they can dominate and command. Some of them end up in the service of more powerful masters like efreets or the older red dragons, but since fire giants always think they should be the ones in charge they make for untrustworthy subordinates.
The Monsters
Fire Giants are Large Elemental Humanoids with the Giant keyword. They have a ground speed of 8 and Resist 15 Fire.
Fire Giant Lavamaster
Here’s a name that looks like it came from the writer’s 8-year-old child. Lavamasters are… masters of lava! Their magic allows them to control magma and use it both as a weapon, and to heal their allies. Lavamasters are Level 17 Controllers with 164 HP and the Leader tag.
They project an aura (2) of Hearthflames that hurts enemies and bolsters allies. Enemies caught inside take 10 fire damage; bloodied allies recover 10 HP when they start their turns inside the aura. This is not any kind of “drain” effect. Allies recover HP regardless of whether there are enemies to damage or not.
The lavamaster attacks with a Molten Sword that deals fire damage, and can also use several spells. Magma Lash is a ranged attack that deals a bit more fire damage than the sword, and pulls the target 4 squares. If the target ends up adjacent to the lavamaster, the giant grabs them. The spell recharges when the giant has no target grabbed. Magma Burst is like an at-will mini-fireball that leaves a fiery zone in its affected area. The zone lasts for a turn, counts as difficult terrain, and deals fire damage to enemies inside.
If the lavamaster has an enemy grabbed, Fiery Vendetta allows the lavamaster itself or one of its allies to make a free attack against that enemy whenever the enemy attacks the lavamaster.
A good tactic here is to keep away and repeatedly fireball the enemy, grabbing anyone who gets too close. Keep a Brute or two nearby as bodyguards so they can make free attacks against the grabbed victim and benefit from that healing aura.
Fire Giant Flamedancer
This martial artist is trained in an ancient style developed by the efreets. It combines mobile spear fighting with fire-based teleportation magic. Flamedancers are Level 18 Skirmishers with 174 HP.
Their Nimble Reaction trait gives them +4 to AC vs. Opportunity Attacks, and their Whirling Spear basic attack deals fire damage and allows them to shift 2 squares on a hit. They can also make at-will double attacks, which must be against different targets.
Once per encounter they can make a Flameburst Leap as a move action, teleporting 8 squares and dealing automatic fire damage to any enemies adjacent to them at the starting point.
You wouldn’t expect a giant to be this agile! The same stat block can be used for a slightly lower-level efreet without much issue.
Fire Giant Smokecaller
Smokecallers are what passes for a “subtle” fire giant spellcaster. They surround themselves in clouds of volcanic smoke, and attack by turning that smoke into a pyroclastic cloud aimed at their enemies. It’s “subtle” without necessarily being “stealthy”, unless you’re already in an environment naturally choked with sulphurous smoke. Which is… actually a common situation when you’re fighting fire giants.
Smokecallers are Level 19 Lurkers with 140 HP and a nice speed of 10. They fight with a Smoldering Whip that has a fantastic reach of 5. It targets Reflex, does fire damage, and pulls up to 3 squares on a hit.
Its main tactic consists of two abilities: Smokecloud creates a zone of smoke in a Close Burst 3 that lasts for a turn. It blocks line of sight for all creatures except the smokecaller. While inside this zone, the smokecaller can use Cindersmoke to attack all enemies in a Close Blast 5. This deals fire damage on a hit, and it ends the smokecloud immediately.
Both are standard actions, which means the lurkery routine here is Smokecloud followed by Cindersmoke on the next turn. Cindersmoke does the same damage as a whip attack to each target. This means the whip is only worth it if its forced movement component would synergize with something. An example is when you have multiple smokecallers and one of them wants to pull a PC into its buddy’s upcoming Cindersmoke area.
Final Impressions
Like the ghoul entry, this one feels like it was designed to fit together with the (upcoming, at the time) Monster Vault. The giants here all use the same improved math as the ones that would appear on the MV, and they fill roles which the more “classic” MV lineup does not. Combining the two gives you enough ready-made stat blocks to make a dungeon inhabited solely by fire giants, though you might also want to sprinkle in some hell hounds, elementals, and enslaved azer that just need that final push to revolt.
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