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• Mar 8, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Winter Wolf

  

  This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  The Monster Manual already gave us wolves normal and dire, and it also gave us worgs. Now the Monster Manual 2 continues to climb the wolf power ladder. I first remember seeing Winter Wolves in the 3e monster books, but I’m pretty sure they’ve been around longer than that.

  The Lore

  If I tried to explain how all of these monsters fit together I suppose I’d say it all starts with the Sons of the Spirit Wolf. The Great Spirit Wolf is a godlike primal spirit, and his progeny wander the world forever trying to satisfy their endless hunger. I guess they’re more or less equivalent to the various wolf spirits worshipped by the Uratha from Werewolf: The Forsaken, only not nearly as nice.

  These primal spirits probably had descendants themselves, which would be your “standard” winter wolves. These fit above worgs in the Wolf Power Ladder. They’re a bit smaller than worgs, but are much deadlier, much smarter, and just as evil. They also have ice powers.

  At some point a primordial entity of ice and cold might have taken a look at the Sons of the Spirit Wolf and thought hey, I want me some of that. So it developed a process where it takes the living heart of an elemental blizzard and fashions a Rime Hound out of it. Unlike the creatures they are modeled after, Rime Hounds are entirely made of ice. Their creators give them as gifts to loyal servants and worshippers.

  The Numbers

  All the creatures in this entry are Magical Beasts. Winter wolves are Natural, and the others are Elemental. They all have low-light vision and a ground speed of 8 with Ice Walk, which means they ignore cold-themed difficult terrain. Sons of the Spirit Wolf have Resist Cold 30, all the others have Resist Cold 20.

  Their powers are a combination of the usual wolfy bites and takedowns with a suite of frost breath weapons and the like, but the specifics vary with each stat block. Their Int scores are in the average human range. We’ll look at them by order of level.

  Winter Wolf

  Winter Wolves are Medium, and are Level 14 Skirmishers with 141 HP. They attack with bites that deal bonus cold damage, and deal about double damage to prone targets. They can get people prone with a Takedown, a charge attack that’s stronger than the basic bite and knocks the target prone on a hit.

  If a winter wolf is adjacent to a prone target it can use Drag, an at-will minor action that allows the wolf to shift 1 square and pull the prone victim along with it. It’s more than smart enough to use this to put the victim in a position to be surrounded by its wolf buddies.

  Finally, winter wolves can use a Freezing Breath (recharge 5+), a Close Blast 5 that targets Reflex and deals cold damage (half on a miss). This attack’s damage is smaller than the wolf’s cold resistance, so a pack of winter wolves is going to try to get the party all bunched up and then hit them with multiple blasts.

  Winter Wolf Snowfang

  Snowfangs are Level 16 Lurkers with 124 HP, representing the sort of wily wolf that keeps out of sight and nips at your heels until you’re too weak to fight back. Rather than relying on takedowns, it tries to freeze its victims.

  Their bites do bonus cold damage, and are stronger against victims who are taking ongoing cold damage. Their Frigid Breath works like that of the standard winter wolf with an added ongoing cold damage rider.

  The snowfang’s lurker-y ability is Snow Zephyr, a reaction that triggers when it gets damaged and turns it into a whirlwind of snow. This causes the snowfang to become insubstantial, and to gain the ability to shift its speed as a move action. In this form it can only attack with Frigid Breath, which also causes it to revert to wolf form. It can also revert voluntarily as a minor action.

  These powers allow snowfangs to act as very effective harriers: they charge in, use Freezing Breath, and fight until damaged. Then they shift away in Snow Zephyr form, and vanish for a while. Then they come back, perhaps even still in zephyr form, use Freezing Breath again, and repeat the process. You could use them like this as persistent foes who refuse to have a stand-up fight to the last, and who pop up to make opportunistic attacks in the middle of other encounters.

  Rime Hounds

  These knockoff winter wolves are quite well-made! They’re Huge in size, and are Level 17 Elite Skirmishers with 332 HP. They have the Earth, Cold, and Mount keywords, so they’re appropriate mounts for ice giants!

  They have Reach 2 Bite and Takedown attacks identical to those of a winter wolf, with bigger numbers. They have the same Drag ability as well. Instead of a Freezing Breath, they have Frost Storm, a Close Burst 3 that targets Fortitude and deals cold damage (half on a miss). This creates a zone of frozen difficult terrain that lasts for a turn.

  Finally, their “elite multi-attack” power is actually a reaction: Ice Spikes which extend whenever the hound or its rider are missed by an enemy melee attack. This acts as a free attack on the triggering enemy.

  Son of the Spirit Wolf

  These Large wolfy demigods are Level 26 Elite Skirmishers with 486 HP. Their surrounded by an aura (1) named Everfrost Coat, which deals 10 cold damage to enemies who enter it. Enemies damaged by the aura can’t make opportunity attacks for a turn, which allows this wolf to freely disengage from most PCs.

  Their Reach 2 bites do the usual physical/cold damage mix and grab the target on a hit. They can then use Drag Away to either shift 1 square or move their speed while pulling the victim along. They can also use Rending Jaws (recharge 5+) against the grabbed victim, a much stronger attack than the basic bite that also pushes the target 5 squares and knocks them prone as the wolf ends the grab and flings the victim away.

  There’s nothing in the text forbidding the wolf from using normal bites on other enemies while it has a victim grabbed. You are of course free to forbid it since it only has one mouth… but what if it doesn’t? What if this is a vaguely wolf-shaped ball of dark spirit stuff instead of being just a big wolf? What if it can grow extra mouths to bite people with? Maybe it’s not canon, but it’s metal as fuck.

  Anyway, the thing’s last attack is a Black Ice Breath which is kind of a hybrid between the breaths of the other two varieties: big cold damage in a Close Blast 5, and it leaves a zone of frozen difficult terrain that lasts for the whole encounter. This is an encounter power that recharges when the wolf is first bloodied, just like dragon breath.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  All the links between the different monsters here are purely my invention. Judging from the descriptions of the book alone, they don’t have anything in common other than being generally wintery and wolfy. The individual stat blocks have good mechanics, though.

  The sample encounter is level 14: a Chillfire Destroyer elemental and a pair of winter wolves being bossed around by a Beholder Eye of Frost.

• Mar 8, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Witherling

  

  This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  Witherlings feel like a new monster to me. They’re certainly new to 4e, making their debut in this book.

  The Lore

  Contrary to popular belief, those deranged cannibals who worship Yeenoghu don’t actually eat everyone they kill. Sometimes they raise their victims as undead abominations. This is a relatively new development, as the technique was only recently handed down from the demon lord to its cultists. They are both a new weapon in the war brewing between Yeenoghu and Orcus, and a way for the former to muscle in on the latter’s territory.

  The process to create a witherling involves replacing the corpse’s head with that of a hyena, and summoning the essence of a demon into the resulting piece of “art”. Gnolls and other Yeenoghu cultists prefer to do this to the corpses of their slain foes, not those of their own side. The result tends to be a lot faster, smarter and more versatile than that of your typical zombie.

  The Numbers

  All witherlings are Natural Animates with the Undead keyword. They have no particular resistances or vulnerabilities. Their signature trait is a lesser form of the gnoll Pack Attack, giving them a +2 damage bonus when two or more of their allies are adjacent to the target.

  Witherling

  The basic model is usually made from the corpse of a Small humanoid like a goblin, kobold, or halfling. It’s a Level 4 Skirmisher with 56 HP and a Speed of 8 (Climb 6).

  Witherling claws are a bit weak, but they slow on a hit (save ends) and the creature can make a Double Attack with them. It also deals extra damage when it has combat advantage. While bloodied, it can use Blood Dance to shift 2 squares instead of 1.

  Its final ability is a Sudden Leap that allows it to jump 4 squares and gain a +5 to AC against opportunity attacks during the jump. If an enemy misses the witherling with an opportunity attack while it’s jumping, the witherling gains combat advantage against that enemy.

  So these things will come at you en masse from the walls and the bottoms of pits, and use Sudden Leap to jump juuust a bit past the PCs and attack them from behind.

  Witherling Death Shrieker

  Made from the corpse of a Medium creature, the Death Shrieker is a Level 5 Controller with 65 HP and the Leader keyword. Its a bit slower with a ground speed of 6 and no climbing ability.

  Its claws are just a typical basic attack, but it shrieks do damage over a wide area (close blast 5). The most common one is the Thunder Shriek, which targets only enemies, does thunder damage, and pushes 2 squares. There’s also the Death Shriek (recharge 5+), which also targets only enemies and does untyped damage. Any undead ally adjacent to an enemy hit by this recovers 5 HP. There’s a note saying allies can only benefit from this once per round, so if you have multiple shriekers they should coordinate and stagger their screams.

  Witherling Horned Terror

  This one is Large, and made from a minotaur. Since Yeenoghu is also locked in eternal battle against Baphomet, they’re more common than you think. Minotaurs of all alignments hate these things, which is perfectly understandable.

  Horned Terrors are Level 8 Brutes with 107 HP and a ground speed of 7. They have a decent Claw attack, and can use their Horns to the same amount of damage and push the target 2 squares. They can also perform a Rampaging Charge (recharge 5+), which uses the horns to attack and allows them to make up to three additional attacks against different targets who happen to be in reach at the end point of the charge.

  Witherling Rabble

  This is a witherling whose creation process glitched out, producing an inferior specimen. I guess they’re stockpiled and sent out as a huge mob against enemies.

  This defective undead has the exact same attacks as a standard witherling, but is a Level 9 Minion Skirmisher.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Eh… I guess witherlings are okay mechanically, and they’re a nice addition to a campaign focused on battling Yeenoghu and evil gnolls, but they don’t do much for me personally.

  The sample encounters are different groups of gnolls with witherling support. One of them also has a cambion.

• Mar 8, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Will-O'-Wisp

  

  This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  Will-O’-Wisps in D&D are inspired by folklore, and their legend is in turn inspired by the natural phenomena that make swamp gas glow at night. I think they’ve been in the game since AD&D, though their exact lore might have changed a bit over the years.

  The Lore

  Will-o’-wisps are cruel fey spirits who feed on the fear and despair of other sapients. They like to hang out in swamps and marshes, whose natural mists and swamp lights provide them with hiding places. Their bodies are orbs of gauzy material, and they glow with an otherwordly light that has the power to lure unwary victims. It can also burn their flesh and drain their spirit.

  Their tactics are pretty much iconic - lure victims to an isolated place full of hindering terrain and kill them in a way that produces maximum horror.

  These creatures can communicate in Elven, and when they speak they have that cool effect where they brighten and dim in compass with their speech. They can also douse their light for better stealth, but this also prevents them from using it as a weapon.

  The Numbers

  Will-o’-Wisps are Small Fey Magical Beasts, and Level 10 Lurkers with 57 HP. They count as Insubstantial, taking only half damage from non-force attacks. They have low-light vision and a flight speed of 6 with Hover, and an altitude limit of 2 squares.

  As mentioned above, wisps can turn their light on or off using the Fey Light ability (minor action 1/round). A darkened wisp has concealment and can make Stealth checks to become hidden, but it cannot attack. If a wisp is missed by an attack, it can Blink Out as a reaction. When this happens, the wisp darkens and teleports 5 squares. I guess it can make that Stealth check as part of this action too.

  The wisp’s attacks are all light-based. The most classic one is of course Luring Glow. This is a Close Burst 20 that targets one non-blinded creature, which is another way to say it’s a ranged attack that doesn’t draw opportunity attacks. It targets Will, does no damage, pulls the victim 3 squares, and dazes it (save ends).

  Once the victim is in range and vulnerable, the wisp is going to hit it with its basic Glimmer Wisp attack, which is Reach 2, targets Reflex, and does radiant damage. Once per encounter it can also use Spirit Drain on a bloodied target. This is a Reach 3 attack that targets Fortitude, deals psychic damage, weakens (save ends) and heals the wisp for 14 HP.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Wisps are lurkers and have a couple of good stealth powers, but they don’t seem to have a lot of ability to take advantage of this stealth. Their best power is the very controller-y Luring Glow. When building wisp fights, you should pair them with other opportunistic monsters that can bring the hurt to those dazed characters.

  Our sample encounter is level 9: two wisps and a quartet of spriggans (two powries, 2 thorns). Evil fairies all around.

• Mar 8, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Warforged

  

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

  Warforged were originally introduced with the Eberron setting in 3e, as a playable option. They made their 4e debut in the first Monster Manual, which a couple of “monster” stat blocks for warforged and some abbreviated rules for using them as PCs.

  Full support for playable warforged in 4e would arrive with the Eberron Player’s Guide, published in June 2009. However, just before that happened we’d get a few more NPC stat blocks here in the MM2, which was published in May 2009.

  The basic lore for warforged remains the same as in the Monster Manual. The Eberron-specific info would only appear on the Eberron Player’s Guide, but I guess the two books were developed in parallel because the extra stat blocks we get here seem like a particularly good fit for that setting.

  Their signature traits remain the same: the Living Construct keyword, a +2 to saves against ongoing damage and the Warforged Resolve encounter power (see the link above to read about what this does).

  Warforged Resounder

  These are warforged spellcasters whose power derives from a retained echo of the ringing sound of their creation forges. Their spells tend to have themes of sound and impact, dealing a mix of thunder and force damage. They wear robes and wield staffs, so I guess they’re meant to come across as “arcane”, but you could easily use their lore for a more priestly type since it’s so close to that of the Anvilpriest (below).

  Resounders are Level 6 Artillery with 57 HP and the common traits described above. Their quarterstaves are weak melee attacks, so they prefer to stay away and cast thunder orbs (ranged 10 vs. Fortitude) that do good thunder damage and push 2 squares.

  They also have a couple of encounter spells: Resounding Sphere is an area version of Thunder Orb that knocks prone instead of pushing, making it a good fight opener; and Rumble Staff is a “keep-away” melee power that does thunder damage, pushes 1 square, and knocks prone.

  Their final encounter spell is the amusing Collision Bolt, a ranged attack that targets two enemies and slams them together. It works by dealing force damage to both targets, and sliding the second one 3 squares towards the first. If the slide ends with both targets adjacent to each other, they’re both knocked prone.

  Warforged Savage

  With an unfortunate name and a somewhat unfortunate illustration, this is a warforged who feels emotions more intensely than most of its kin, and channels all of that extra intensity into anger. It was likely produced in a forge belonging to the Lord of Blades, since the Cannith smiths tend to go for cool-headed discipline instead. It’s a Level 7 Brute with 98 HP.

  This warforged has the Battlefield Tactics trait that was common in the MM1 entries, gaining a +1 to melee attacks when an ally is adjacent to their target. It also gains 4 temporary HP whenever it hits with an attack.

  The warforged savage uses a scimitar to fight. This is a High-Crit weapon, and when it hits it deals a bit of automatic damage to another enemy adjacent to its target. It can use the weapon to attack in a Close Burst 1 (recharge 5+), and to perform a Wild Charge that deals heavy damage, and gives it a +3 AC bonus during the movement part of the charge. This recharges whenever the warforged hits two or more enemies with the burst attack. All of these maneuvers benefit from the scimitar’s High-Crit property.

  Warforged Anvilpriest

  Like the resounder, this spellcaster retains a bit of the power of its creation forge and uses that as a source of magic. The main difference is that the anvilpriest focuses on the searing heat of forge-fire. Despite the name, many anvilpriests aren’t all that religious. Some are real clerics, though, and a small number of them actually worship the creation forges themselves. I guess the latter are mostly found amid the Lord of Blades’ forces.

  Anvilpriests are Level 8 Controllers with the Leader keyword and 89 HP. They wield a fiery warhammer that does bonus fire damage and inflicts a -2 AC penalty for a turn. They can use that to perform a Heat of Battle maneuver (recharge 4+), which is like a basic attack but replaces the AC penalty with ongoing fire damage.

  In addition to this they have two encounter spells.

  The first is Blunted Mind, an area burst that targets Will and inflicts psychic damage. It also inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks and a -4 penalty to damage on a hit - the first save improves this to a -2 damage penalty, and only the second removes it entirely. This only targets enemies, so it’s safe to cast into a messy melee.

  The other is Mending Flash Fire, a close burst that deals fire damage to all enemies inside (vs. Reflex) and gives both the caster and any allies in the burst 5 temporary HP. If those allies are Warforged, they can also use their Warforged Resolve power as an immediate reaction to this power.

  Warforged Titan

  

  Titans were some of the earliest models of warforged developed by Cannith engineers. They’re as big and as powerful as their name implies, but they’re also only barely sapient. In a battle, they fulfill the same role as tanks or siege engines, but they need to be accompanied by smarter infantry or at least by a minder who can direct them. They’re loyal to whoever holds or displays a symbol of the titan’s creator, regardless of whom it may be or how long it’s been since their creation.

  Warforged Titans are Huge Natural Humanoids with the Living Construct Keyword. They’re also Level 19 Elite Soldiers with 362 HP, which makes them plausible counters to Slaughterstone Constructs and other near-epic giant monsters.

  These towering creatures fight with their built-in weapons. Their basic attack is a Reach 3 Axe with the same “splash damage” effect as the Savage’ scimitar above, and that also marks on a hit. As a minor action they can also use a Reach 3 Hammer that does more or less the same damage, slides the target 2 squares, and knocks it prone. It does a bit of damage even on a miss, likely from the shockwave. Both of these weapons enjoy the benefits of Threatening Reach.

  Finally, the titan’s Unstoppable Charger trait makes it so a charge attack doesn’t end its turn. It can perform any actions it still has after charging, such as using a Move to shift or reposition, or a Minor action to perform a hammer follow-up.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Warforged are people. You can find them fighting for any cause people tend to fight for. Good, evil, or just plain selfish. They’re relatively recent creations in Eberron, but other settings might have then as ancient survivors/relics of a fallen empire. Titans work well as McGuffins in that role, since they’ll obey anyone who displays the mark of their creator.

  We have two sample encounters:

  • Level 7: A resounder, an anvilpriest, and 3 savages. Lord of Blades patrol?

  • Level 19: A cambion hellfire magus, a steel predator, and a warforged titan. Someone found themselves a few control amulets.

• Mar 8, 2022

  Let's Read the 4e Moster Manual 2: Vine, Predatory

  

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

  That’s the actual title of the entry, so we have another case of Old School Titling here. Dangerous plants have been a part of the game since its beginnings, and I bet a lot of the individual monsters collected in this entry appeared before in some form or another.

  Lore-wise, there isn’t much on these other than “they exist”. They don’t have strange magical origins like some of the other plant creatures we saw before, they’re just ambulatory carnivorous plants with enough strength and mobility to hunt people. D&D worlds are already filled with impossibly lethal predators, so it’s not such a stretch to say some of those are plants.

  All of the monsters in this entry are Beasts, which in rules terms means they behave like “animals” rather than like people. They also have the Plant keyword (obviously). Their Int score is 2, so their behaviors are all instinctive. Everything else varies per stat block.

  Ambush Vine

  The apex predator of the plant kingdom, ambush vines can hunt anywhere: on the surface, underground, and even in water. Wherever they are, they’re always hunting, and using the tasty nutrients of their victims to fuel their explosive growth rate. Ambush vines can form blights so vast they threaten civilization, and its rumored that this contributed to the fall of the old eladrin empire of Cendriane.

  As their name implies, ambush vines are a lot more cunning than your average plant. They can burrow just under the surface or blend into the surrounding normal vegetation to wait for victims, and then launch surprise attacks against them.

  Ambush Vines are Large Fey plants, and Level 16 Elite Controllers with 308 HP. They have tremorsense 20, and nothing in their stat block says they’re blind so I guess they can see as well even without eyes. Their speed is 6 in almost any mode of movement other than flight. They can move over the ground with Forest Walk, climb, burrow and swim.

  A vine’s most basic attack is a Reach 2 Poison Lash that targets Reflex, deals physical damage, and inflicts ongoing poison damage. It can also attack with Lashing Vines in a Close Burst 4 pattern, which does more damage than the basic attack. It’s also super-effective against immobilized targets, dealing extra damage and healing the vine for 5 HP. As a minor action, the vine can use a Reach 4 Foot Snare to deal the same damage as the basic attack and knock a target prone.

  Though ambush vines deal extra damage to immobilized foes, they can’t do the immobilizing themselves, so they must be paired with other monsters capable of it. Fortunately, they can make their own!

  When the vine is first bloodied, it undergoes Rapid Growth as an emergency response, producing two Ambush Vine Shoot minions (see below). It can also make a minion voluntarily using Sprout Vine, a minor action which costs 10 of its own HP and produces a single minion.

  Ambush Vine Shoot

  This is the juvenile form of the ambush vine. It’s a Medium Fey plant, and a Level 15 Minion Controller. Their senses are the same as those of an adult specimen, though their only special movement mode is burrowing.

  These minions have a single attack, Wrapping Vines, which deals minion-tier damage and restrains (save ends). “Restrained” is one step worse than “immobilized”: it roots the victim in place and inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks. A restrained target also counts as immobilized, so the shoot’s “parent” vine can deal extra damage against them.

  The shoot also has a passive trait named Enwrap, which affects adjacent enemies and inflicts a -2 penalty to their saves against being immobilized or restrained.

  Bloodthorn Vine

  This is a vine with pale leaves and one single large thorn. It feeds by impaling victims on that thorn, which is hollow and capable of draining blood. As it does so, the vine’s leaves take on a reddish coloration.

  Bloodthorn vines are Medium Natural plants, and Level 2 Soldiers with 41 HP. By the logic I’ve been using, them being low-level means they might occur near the archetypical Starting Village. This means they’re one more threat common civilians must be wary of in their daily lives, along with stirges, anhkegs, and giant ants. Bloodthorns are much less lively than Ambush Vines, having only a ground speed of 5 with Forest Walk and no special movement modes. They have Blindsight 10 but again are not blind themselves.

  Their basic attack is a Striking Vine with no riders on its physical damage. The real danger here is the Impaling Thorn, which does the same damage and grabs the target. The vine can sustain the grab with a standard action to deal heavy automatic damage to the victim and heal 5 HP. It can use Pulling Vines as a minor action to shift 1 square and pull a grabbed victim along with it.

  Fortunately, the bloodthorn vine can only impale a single victim at a time… but you can have multiple bloodtorn vines on the same encounter group.

  Greenvise Vine

  

  So named because “Piranha Plant” is already taken. This is a Large Natural plant, and a Level 7 Soldier with 83 HP. Its speed is only 4, so it relies on grabbing targets to prevent them from running away.

  The greenvise’s basic attack is a Striking Vine, and they can also use an Ensnaring Vine vs. Reflex to do the same damage and grab the target. That’s when the big chomper comes into play: Vise Bite targets a grabbed victim’s Fortitude, deals a bit of initial damage, restrains, and inflicts ongoing physical damage. A save ends both the restrained condition and the ongoing damage but does not end the grab. You have to escape from that using the default rules.

  The Greenvise also has the same Pulling Vines trait as the Bloodthorn.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  I actually have an easier time distinguishing between killer plants when I see them all together than when I see them in separate entries over multiple books.

  We have three encounters here:

  • Level 2: 3 bloodthorn vines and 3 stirges. Probably competing to see who can drain the party dry first.

  • Level 9: 2 greenvise vines, 1 spectral panther, 3 quickling runners. The quicklings and the panther can be used to herd the party towards the slow-moving plants.

  • Level 17: 1 ambush vine, 1 lingerer fell incanter, 1 lingerer fell knight. Sinister vestiges of lost Cendriane.

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