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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Demon, Klurichir
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
The Abyss is home to several powerful demon lords, each of whom has their own ruinous designs on the rest of the universe and is building an army to enact those designs. Yet these armies rarely seem to leave the Abyss to start their invasions. One of the reasons for this is that the demon lords hate each other as much as they hate everything else, and spend much of their time locked in eternal bloody warfare. Another one is that you have huge hordes of “unclaimed demons” who prefer to pursue their own personal goals instead of organizing into a large force.
Well, it looks like the seed of cosmic evil at the bottom of the Abyss has had enough of this lack of focus, so it started producing a special brand of demon from pure elemental evil energy and sending them to the upper layers to clean house. These are the klurichirs.
Every klurichir is a contender for the rank of demon lord, and has a real shot at it given enough time. They differ from the existing demon lords in that they were never primordials, but were instead born as demons.
These demons are quick to take control of those unclaimed hordes, and use them to shake things up in the Abyss. They do this by throwing them against the forces of the incumbent demon lords as they fight each other. They surround themselves with other epic-tier officers like balors and nafelshnees, and spend the lives of their lesser underlings freely because there are always more where those came from.
The Numbers
We only get a single stat block for klurichirs. They’re Huge Elemental Humanoids with the Demon tag, and Level 28 Soldiers with 258 HP. They have Blindsight 5, and are immune to fear. Their ground speed is 8, and they fly at speed 12 with clumsy maneuverability, meaning they fight on the ground.
Klurichirs project a Malign Influence aura (2) that prevents enemies inside from regaining HP by any means. They fight with gigantic Reach 3 axes that do more damage when the demon is bloodied and mark for a turn. They can make occasional Savage Hew attacks (recharge 5+) that hit everyone in a Close Burst 3 for the same damage and effects.
When a marked enemy moves, the klurichir can try to grab then with its Reach 2 pincers a reaction. This does some initial damage on a hit, and from that point on the demon can spend minor actions to sustain the grab and deal the same amount of damage automatically. Only one victim can be grabbed at a time.
When the klurichir is first bloodied, it speaks a Blasphemous Utterance that deals necrotic damage and dazes (save ends) in a Close Blast 5.
Final Impressions
Huh, it turns out klurichirs are actually a bit weaker than Balors, who are Level 27 Elite Brutes. So I have a bit of a hard time believing the text that says they’re “on the cusp of becoming demon lords”.
Maybe that also applies to balors, and you can reskin klurichirs into “baby balors” wielding axes instead of the classic sword and whip combo. It’s also relatively easy to make klurichirs into elites via the usual rules.
Mechanically, I like the “no healz” aura and the pincers, which combine to put grabbed PCs in a very unfortunate situation. Damaging a grabbed PC is a minor action and the demon can still attack them with that high-damage axe.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Dark One
This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Dark Ones appeared in the first 4e Monster Manual, and you can read my take on that book’s entry here. This entry adds a few more stat blocks and tries to fill in the lore gaps.
The Lore
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast If you read the post linked above, you’ll see that the MM1 contained little in the way of Dark One Lore. I speculated that most of them would be peaceful civilians like halflings are, but it seems that the Monster Manual 3 is moving in the opposite direction by saying they’re all thieving murderers. I guess this is a prelude for some of the even more egregious stuff you could find on the Monster Vault and on some early 5e supplements.
This book says Dark Ones are “incapable” of crafting beautiful or useful objects. This is described more like a divine curse than some sort of neurological limitation. Everything they make is destined to be ugly, fragile, and useless. Their armor crumples, their weapons shatter. So instead of making their own stuff, they steal other people’s.
As the MM1 said, most Dark Ones live in the Shadowfell. This one says that they tend to see the middle world as a, well, “loot pinãta”, full of stuff just waiting to be taken. They tend to go for “loot caches” that are relatively hidden from the larger societies of the middle world, and target groups that are isolated from those same societies.
In other worlds, your typical team of Dark One acquisition experts is in direct competition with adventuring parties for the XP and treasure contained in dungeons, bandit lairs, and cultist strongholds. The PCs could arrive at one of these places only to discover a group of Dark Ones got there first and took all the stuff.
Some of them prefer to work as mercenaries instead of thieves, and they’ll join forces with anyone who pays them. Often their clients end up being cults of Vecna and other appreciators of the sneaky-stabby arts.
And of course, if you want to tone down the speciesism here, you can just remove the divine curse bit. If you still want a Dark One community to be dependent on goods from outside, you can say they rely on trade more than on theft and mercenary work.
The Monsters
Most of the basic Dark One information remains identical to what it was on the MM1. They’re Small Shadow Humanoids with Darkvision, a Speed of 6, and two signature abilities.
The first is Dark Step, an at-will move action that lets them move 4 squares with a +4 AC bonus against opportunity attacks, and gain combat advantage against any enemies it ends up adjacent to.
The second is Killing Dark, which causes them to explode in a cloud of inky darkness when reduced to 0 HP, blinding any enemies adjacent to them for a turn.
Hex Knight
Hex Knights are the closest thing Dark Ones have to noble warriors, though their codes of conduct apply only to members of their own society. Their gear is very similar to that of a common sneaky-stabby Dark One: leather or hide armor, short sword, hand crossbow. Their fighting style, however is much more direct.
Hex Knights are Level 4 Soldiers with 54 HP. They mark enemies using the Shadow Hex minor action, which lasts until the fight ends or the knight uses it on someone else. Enemies who ignore the mark grant combat advantage to all enemies for a turn.
The hand crossbow is a basic ranged attack and it’s merely okay. Knights are better in melee, where their basic short sword can attack twice with one action, and each hit slows the target. Knights can also use their swords in a Vicious Flurry (recharge 5+), which targets 1 or 2 enemies with a sword attack that also does ongoing damage.
Shadow Bolters
These spellcasters are usually on some secret mission to acquire a treasure or a valuable bit of information, and will prioritize that mission over whatever else might be going on. They might pose as mercenaries or allies to some other faction as a cover. Once they have what they seek, they’ll abscond, leaving enemies and allies alike behind.
Bolters are Level 5 Artillery with 50 HP. They fight with daggers in melee and with black bolt spells at range, and they’re all about gaining combat advantage. The Deadly Precision trait gives them combat advantage against any enemy flanked by two allies, even if the bolter themselves are far away. When they hit someone with combat advantage, they deal 5 extra necrotic damage to the target and to any of the target’s allies adjacent to it.
The black bolts also make a hit target take 5 necrotic damage whenever they provoke an opportunity attack (save ends), which is very situational but might be useful to punish mobile PCs.
Shadow Speakers
Shadow Speakers are the Dark Ones that know the necessary rituals for crossing between the middle world and the Shadowfell. They lead “acquisition” expeditions into the middle world, and are responsible for bringing them back home. They carry little clay jugs filled with soil from the Shadowfell as a focus for their powers.
Shadow speakers are Level 6 Controllers with 70 HP. They fight with short swords and shadow magic.
Their basic ranged attack is a Shadow Curse that deals necrotic damage, makes the target grant combat advantage, and inflicts 5 necrotic damage when the target provokes an opportunity attack (save ends both).
Less often, they can cast a Choking Shadow spell (recharge 5+), which deals heavy necrotic damage and immobilizes for a turn.
Even one of these is an excellent force multiplier for a Dark One party, or really for any encounter group whose members deal extra damage with combat advantage. Just have then stay at the range limit for Shadow Curse and spam it on the PCs to make them all grant combat advantage.
On the other hand, Shadow Speakers tend to be “load-bearing monsters” for Dark One encounter groups, since they’re the group’s only way home. If the Shadow Speaker is in too much danger, the entire group might try to make a run for it.
Final Impressions
I like the greater encounter variety, but I dislike the extra emphasis on a species-wide negative stereotype (“they’re all thieves, every last one of them”). I’ll stick to my initial assumptions that these stat blocks represent the Dark One equivalent of adventurers and other combatants rather than typical members of the culture.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Craud
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
I think crauds are a new monster. At the very least they’re one I haven’t met before.
The Lore
Crauds are giant crawdads! These crustaceans are about the same height as a halfling, but bulkier. They tend to show up in large numbers in maritime and coastal areas that have suffered extensive environmental damage such as from pollution or overfishing.
In these circumstances they’re very aggressive and voracious man-eaters, raiding ships and villages with terrifying frequency. If a craud “army” shows up at your village or town, they’ll keep showing up every few days until either all of them or all of you are dead.
This causes some scholars to speculate that crauds are the vengeance of Melora made manifest and sent against those who despoil her coasts. Others defend the more mundane explanation that crauds attack sapients because their usual food sources have been driven to extiction by the environmental damage. In a world where the goddess of nature is real, though, is there any difference?
I guess non-distressed crauds normally stay mostly underwater and feed on fish and such. They’re non-sapient but have good teamwork instincts and a somewhat “hive-like” social organization where certain individuals known as Kings can direct other crauds via patterns of flashing colors and lights in their carapaces.
Sometimes an unscrupulous sea-borne villain like a pirate captain will manage to catch a craud king, torturing it in specific ways to direct its “subjects” to attack interesting targets. Coastal druids and clerics of Melora know gentler ways to secure the cooperation of these crustaceans.
The Monsters
Crauds are Medium Natural Beasts with the Aquatic keyword. They have darkvision, and move at speed 6 on land or in water. The effects of the Aquatic keyword haven’t changed, but in this book they’re written down on all the stat blocks as a trait: aquatic creatures can breathe underwater, and when fighting underwater gain a +2 attack bonus against non-aquatic opponents.
Craud Impaler
Impalers are lithe and quick on their feet, usually arriving at the head of a craud “army”. Their job is to tie up the opposition until their stronger cousins can arrive. They’re cautious, and become more so after being bloodied, preferring to focus on already weakened opponents.
Impalers are Level 3 Skirmishers with 51 HP. They fight using claws and some sort of pointy appendage that allows them to make an Impale attack. It has Reach 2, deals light physical damage, and inflicts ongoing 5 damage (save ends).
Impale is an encounter power, and the claws are a bit underpowered too. But the Scissor Claws at-will ability allows the impaler to make two claw attacks, and if both hit the creature immediately recharges Impale and uses it as a free action. That’s a lot of damage if everything hits.
And when the impaler misses with an attack, Scuttle allows it to shift 2 squares as a free action. So if that any component of that claw/claw/impale combo fails to hit, the beast can try to get away safely.
Craud Crusher
These are the “stronger cousins” the impalers are waiting for. Their claws are so huge they can crush a human torso, or bludgeon that human with enough force to send them flying. When they arrive, they engage the impalers’ opponents and free the impalers up to scuttle around and be skirmishers.
Crushers are Level 4 Brutes with 70 HP. Their claws do surprisingly little basic damage, but a hit with them also grabs the target. Crushers can grab one victim at a time, and can inflict automatic damage to them with a minor action. Once per encounter they can also use Hammerclaw to backhand a fool, dealing heavy damage, pushing 1 square, and knocking them prone.
If the crusher reduces anyone to 0 HP by any means, Red Tide gives them a +5 bonus to their next damage roll. This is an incentive for them to target enemies previously softened by impalers.
Craud King
Craud Kings are imposing specimens whose shells are covered in bio-luminescent organs. Signals from these organs direct other crauds and boost their morale in a fight. There might be some magic involved here, as some of their light patterns have an effect on humanoids too. The creature is also a pretty good fighter itself, so its ideal location is at the forefront of the melee surrounded by loyal subjects. The best way to influence a craud force is to influence its king, as discussed in the Lore section.
Kings are Level 5 Soldiers with the Leader tag and 67 HP. Their lights project an aura (3) named Blood in the Water, giving allies a +2 bonus to attack bloodied targets.
Their claws do good damage and slide the target 1 square. Claw Flurry (recharge 5+) allows them to attack twice, and if a slid enemy ends up adjacent to one of the king’s allies, the ally gets to make a free attack too.
By changing the pattern of its lights, the King can use the Angler’s Lure ability as a minor action. This is a charm attack that does no damage, pulls the victim 3 squares, and marks it for a turn.
Finally, when the king is bloodied it prompts all of its allies to act For The King. All allies within 5 squares of the wounded sovereign immediately shifts 4 squares closer to the king and make free attacks against any enemy they end up next to.
Final Impressions
If this had been a 3e-style entry, I’d probably have glossed over it entirely. Giant crawdads, yawn. The varied stat blocks to make them more interesting, as does the “nature’s vengeance” aspect of their lore. That’s a handy adventure hook built right into the monster entry.
I’m sure you could complete the lineup seen here with custom-made artillery crauds that fire high-pressure water jets. Or maybe you could use the “controlled by pirates” angle to pair them up with pirate musketeers.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Cloaker
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Cloakers are an old D&D standby, originating back in the days of AD&D 1st Edition where they belonged to a category of monsters that looked like furniture.
The Lore
The lore introduction for cloakers in this book actually references their “gygaxian gotcha” origins! It tells the story of a thief who had the bad habit of looting the room while his buddies were still fighting the monsters, and who died when the “fine leather cloak” he found in Tsojcanth turned out to be a cloaker.
Aside from that easter egg, though, the “disguised cloak” thing is gone. Cloakers are still sneaky, but they prever to fly silently and swoop on from above. They’re sapient but profoundly anti-social, and their preferred “team-up” method is to follow group of other monsters unnoticed, from a safe distance. When those other monsters find tasty prey, the cloaker swoops in to grab some of it.
Cloakers tend to avoid each other except in rare “conclaves”, where a whole bunch of them huddle up in a big sphere and exchange news and gossip. Outside of that you’ll only find cloakers cooperating if their lives are in imminent risk.
Whether hunting or defending themselves, cloakers fight by slapping with their barbed tails and by enveloping victims with their flexible wings that can choke and crush someone to death. They also emit a strange moaning sound that causes unnatural fear in those who hear it.
The Monsters
Cloakers are Large Aberrant Magical Beasts with Darkvision. Their ground speed is a pitiful 2 (clumsy), but their flight speed is 8. Despite being aberrant there’s nothing in their lore linking them to the Far Realm. If you wanted, you could make them Natural or give them another any other origin without changing anything about their stats.
Cloaker Ambusher
These are your common specimens. They’re Level 12 Lurkers with 95 HP. Those Unnerving Moans count as an aura (2) with the Fear keyword, inflicting a -2 attack penalty on non-deafened enemies caught inside.
The afore-mentioned Tail Slap is a basic attack doing standard physical damage, but the Envelop ability gets lots of text. It’s an attack that targets Reflex and does no immediate damage. On a hit the target is grabbed, pulled to the cloaker’s space, and becomes blinded, dazed, restrained and takes 10 ongoing damage. While enveloping a victim, any attacks that hit the cloaker do half damage to the monster and half to the victim.
Since this is a grab, escaping requires an Athletic test against the cloaker’s Fortitude (24) or Acrobatics against its Reflex (23). I guess explicit escape DCs are a Monster Vault innovation.
As a minor action, the cloaker ambusher can use Shadow Shift to gain concealment for a turn. If it was already concealed by the environment, it gains total concealment instead.
Cloaker Lord
This is a cloaker that managed to live to a more advanced age than most of its peers, and has mastered the natural magic that powers its moan. It’s a Level 18 Controller with 172 HP and all the same abilities as a basic cloaker plus a few more moaning-related ones.
The first one is Terrifying Moan (recharge 4+), a Close Burst 2 targetting Will. It does psychic damage and forces the target to move its speed away from the monster. This isn’t a push, it’s a move, so the victim could trigger opportunity attacks from other monsters during it.
The second one is Hypnotic Moan. It affects the same area but instead of doing damage it stuns for a turn on a hit and dazes for a turn on a miss. Thankfully it’s an encounter power, so this will only happen once.
Both the cloaker’s Unnerving Moan aura and the area covered by its attacks increase from 2 to 5 when the creature is bloodied.
Final Impressions
The Envelop ability is kinda frightening, but I guess my impression of cloakers remains the same it’s always been: meh.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Chitine
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Chitines feel like a late-3e addition to the game, and likely had slightly different lore back then.
The Lore
Chitines are an artificially engineered people. The first of their kind were produced in drow laboratories in an attempt to create the perfect slaves. The techniques and materials used were a mixture of arcane magic, prayers to Lolth and both souls and genetic material from elves, spiders, and demons.
It did not work out. Soon after the first batch of chitines was created, Lolth herself intervened to grant them freedom and allow them to strike back at their would-be enslavers. This makes a lot more sense once you remember Lolth doesn’t really like or trust her worshippers, as we discussed in the Yochlol entry.
Lolth’s intervention caused a special priestly caste of chitines, known as Choldriths, to emerge from the vats and lead their people to freedom. In our narrative present, chitines inhabit the upper Underdark and believe themselves to be the true chosen of Lolth. The relationship between their two peoples can be summed up as “kill on sight”, though chitines are more willing to negotiate with non-drow peoples and trade their service as mercenaries in exchange for money, weapons and magic.
Most chitines are devout Lolth worshippers to the same extent drow are, though each people considers the other’s faith heretical. Chitines believe they, and not the drow, are Lolth’s favorites, and that her true form is that of a spider rather than that of a drow.
The creation of the chitines is a relatively recent event, so they lack much experience with surface. They know it exists, but haven’t really explored it and tend to see it as a source of baffling mysteries. The book mentions a story about a shifter illusionist that managed to convince a chitine settlement that she was an aspect of Lolth, and used them to attack a nearby drow settlement and assassinate a rival.
There’s an interesting side box here about how chitines build their lairs. The basic structure here is a suspended fortress, a tear-shaped web sack hanging from the ceiling that’s large enough to contain two or three floors of chambers. Larger settlements have several of these linked by walkways. You can use this style to build chitine-themed dungeons.
The Monsters
Chitines are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Spider keyword. They have Darkvision, and a Spider Climb speed equal to their ground speed (usually 6). Most of them prefer daggers for combat, with specialists using other weapons.
Their signature power is a Web Line (move action, encounter), which can be used when they’re climbing and allows them to fly 5 squares. Everything else comes from training.
Chitine Grunt
Chitines don’t really have the concept of a “non-combatant”. When their lairs are attacked, every individual inside grabs a knife or four and rushes to its defense. The vast majority of them are going to use this stat block.
Grunts are Level 5 Minion Brutes. They wield four daggers which can be used for melee or ranged basic attacks. When killed they emit a Dying Shriek that inflicts a -2 penalty to the defenses of all adjacent enemies for a turn. This is an untyped penalty, so I think it might stack. I’m not sure, though.
Chitine Warrior
These chitines have a combination of extra training and experience that makes them a much greater threat in combat. They’re Level 5 Brutes with 72 HP. They carry eight daggers, four in hand and four ready to replace any thrown blades. Like their minion counterparts, they can use daggers for melee and ranged basic attacks, and they can also make a Four Blade Strike that consists of four slightly weaker dagger attacks.
They’re pretty much a non-minion version of the Grunt, and they never step on the actual floor of the map unless they can’t help it, attacking instead from the ceiling and walls.
Chitine Scounts
Scouts patrol and defend the approaches to a chitine cave, using rapid-firing hand crossbows to attack from unexpected angles. They’re Level 5 Artillery with 48 HP.
Their melee basic attack is still a dagger, but those hand crossbows have a lot more range than a thrown knife. Using the Furious Volley ability, they can make up to two dagger and two crossbow attacks with a single action. Once per encounter they can fire a Poisoned Bolt that targets Fortitude, does the same damage as a regular attack and inflicts 10 ongoing poison damage. That’s a lot for level 5!
Chitine Marauders
Chitine custom says that any offspring beyond the first eight in a clutch must be cast out to fend for themselves in the Underdark. If these outcasts manage to survive a year out there, they’re welcomed back. Most who survive don’t bother trying to return, and instead form their own outcast communities. They set up ambush spots by building camouflaged web doors over niches in narrow tunnels, from which they emerge to surround victims.
Marauders are Level 6 Skirmishers with 72 HP. They’re armed with paired short swords, and the Quick Jabs ability allows them to make two attacks per action with them, shifting 2 squares after each one. They deal extra damage if they have combat advantage.
The same stat block can of course be used for non-marauder chitine skirmishers if you need some.
Chitine Web Crafter
Web crafters are those chitines specialized in producing webs and building stuff with them. They’re responsible for architecting and building those suspended fortresses, as well as the traps and mechanisms that go into them. The web crafter’s guild is usually the second most influential organization in a chitine society - if you anger them, your home might come crashing down with you inside.
The choldrith priests are the only group above them, and one way they keep the web crafters in check is to demand they participate in combat. Chitine patrols or raiding parties probably include a web crafter or two, who might act as the officer in charge. If the crafters had time to prepare before the fight, the battle map certain to include web-based hazards and traps.
Web crafters are Level 6 Controllers with 72 HP. They fight in melee with lightly-poisoned speads that do physical damage and slow for a turn. They can throw poisoned web orbs that do poison damage and also slow for a turn, or web balls (recharge 4+) that do physical damage and restrain (save ends).
They can also create a Web Wall once per encounter. The wall is 6 squares long and counts as destructible blocking terrain. Each square as the same defenses as the crafter and 10 HP. They’re vulnerable to fire, but attacking them in melee causes immobilization (save ends) as the webs stick to the PC.
Clever crafters might use walls to separate defenders from squishies, and then bombard the squishies with poison and the defenders with web balls while their melee buddies move freely between the two groups.
Choldrith
Choldriths are the special priestly caste created by Lolth’s intervention in the original chitine production process. They’re visibly different from common chitines, resembling pale driders. They’re invariably at the top of chitine social hierarchies, and their flocks are so devoted to them that there are stories of chitines who collapsed their whole colonies while resisting a troglodyte raid, killing themselves so their choldrith leaders might survive.
Choldriths are Large Natural Humanoids with the Spider keyword, and Level 8 Controllers (Leaders) with 90 HP. In combat they use a mix of natural weapons and Lolth-themed magic.
Their basic melee attack is a Claw that does poison damage and immobilizes for a turn. Their basic ranged attack is a Web that does physical damage and restrains for a turn. They can also use a Shadow Spider Curse that deals poison damage and makes the target grant combat advantage to spiders (save ends). “Spiders” here means anything with the Spider keyword: actual spiders, chitines, driders, ettercaps…
Once per encounter choldriths can summon a cloud of Choking Vapors, which deal immediate and ongoing poison damage over an area. They remain as a zone that deals 5 poison damage to anyone who enters or ends their turn there.
The choldriths “leaderly” skills are both triggered actions. Spider Queen’s Enforcer is an interrupt that triggers when an ally within 5 squares misses an attack. It deals 5 damage to the ally and makes them reroll the attack. For the Spider Queen is an interrupt that triggers when the choldrith is hit with a melee or ranged attack, and redirects the damage to an adjacent ally.
Final Impressions
I think I actually remember seeing that chitine illustration in a book for a previous edition, and pretty much glancing right past the entry. The 4e strategy of including several variant stat blocks for each monster certainly paid off here. With this entry plus a few spiders from the other books you have enough monsters for a whole themed dungeon, covering all roles.
Still, I can understand why they waited until the MM3 to do a chitine writeup. They have a lot of thematic overlap with drow, and there would be little reason to include both in a campaign that wasn’t entirely about Lolth. In such a campaign they would make good heroic tier opponents for GMs who dislike manually adjusting monster levels, since drow are by default paragon tier.
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