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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Derro
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
Derro have been in the game since AD&D 1st Edition, where they appeared in the Monster Manual II. They’re based on the writings of an American author named Richard Sharpe Shaver, who wrote a lot about a civilization of psychic and torture-obsessed underground humanoids he named the dero (from “Detrimental Robots”).
The Lore
D&D Derro have a different origin from Shaver’s dero, though the flavor is quite similar in 4e. When the world was still young, it gave rise to an advanced and power-hungry civilization. Its people, the derro, craved power like that of the primordials, but they wanted to bow to no master. So derro scholars came up with an alternate solution: open a portal to this unoccupied magic-rich dimension they found. There would be no one to contest their claim! Free unlimited power!
They succeeded in opening their portals, but found out this new dimension was far from unoccupied. It was the place known today as the Far Realm. After the derro beheld what came through to greet them, they suddenly realized they had finally found a master worth worshiping. In other words, their sanity was blasted to dust.
Derro civilization became so horrifying in its depravity that the World Serpent, one of the most powerful primal spirits, coiled around it and dragged the entire thing underground. This stopped their grand machinations but did not destroy them. Many centuries later, a drow expedition found the ruins of the derro empire, and what the derro became in the dark. Only one of their number made it home… mostly. Her report convinced the drow these maniacs must be eradicated, but this is harder than it looks.
In our narrative present, derro live in small groups that crawl around the ruins of their old cities, and worship the energies and beings of the Far Realm. They’re enthusiastic slavers, going on frequent raids to the surface or to other Underdark communities to find new captives. They treat these slaves badly, torturing them for fun and killing them for the smallest of offenses. The slaves, in turn, will turn on their captors as soon as the smallest chance to escape presents itself.
Derro are only capable of making true alliances with beings from the Far Realm, suck as grells, mind flayers, and aboleths (whom they sometimes worship). They despise everyone else, and everyone else hates them right back.
The Monsters
Derro are statted up as mid-Paragon threats, suitable for inclusion in encounter groups that feature their preferred allies listed above. The entry also gives enough Derro stat blocks to make decent all-Derro encounters.
Derro are Small Aberrant Humanoids. They have Darkvision, and their signature ability is named Strength of Madness. It’s an encounter power that lets them roll a d6 and add the result to all of their attack rolls until the end of their next turn, but also makes them grant combat advantage during this time.
Derro Warrior
Combatants like these typically make up the patrols that keep derro territory “secure” by engaging in preemptive attacks against its neighbors. Gotta keep them guessing, y’know.
Warriors are Level 13 Artillery with 101 HP and all standard Derro traits. Their speed is 5, and they have a +2 to saves against fear effects. They carry daggers and a repeating hand crossbows with several magazines.
The dagger is their default melee attack, and they can fire the Repeating Hand Crossbow as a minor action, or use a standard action to let loose a Bolt Spray (recharge 5+) that hits a Close Blast 5 for heavy damage and pushes 1 square on a hit. Any of these will deal extra damage against targets granting combat advantage.
Bolt Spray is not selective, and most derro warriors don’t particularly care if their allies are caught in its area of effect. They’ll use it whenever possible.
Derro Thug
This can be a less capable warrior, or just your average civilian psychopath. Derro thugs are Level 14 Minion Brutes and they fight with clubs. Their only special ability is Mad Sacrifice: when the thug misses an attack, it can sacrifice itself to turn the miss into a hit.
Using them in combat is simple: get a whole bunch of them to charge the PCs and hit whoever’s closest, using Mad Sacrifice liberally.
Derro Fanatic
Warriors that display notable skill and potential are invited by Derro savants to peer directly into the Far Realm. Those who remain functional after the experience use this stat block.
Fanatics are Level 14 Skirmishers with 140 HP. They carry battleaxes into combat. Their basic axe attack has an attached effect that allows them to end any mark on themselves and shift 2 squares before making the attack roll.
If they bloody an enemy, their Insane Bloodlust allows them to immediately make another attack against that same enemy. And while a fanatic is themselves bloodied, Unleashed Madness gives them a -2 attack penalty and 2d6 bonus damage.
That effect on their basic attack allows them to slip right past the party’s front line and go for the squishies, and by the time they get there they might even have turned into mini-brutes. Fanatics always fight to the death.
Derro Harvester
This derro is specialized in capturing slaves, a very important function in derro society. They always need more people to do the labor derro consider beneath themselves, and to act as experimental subjects.
Harvesters are Level 15 Lurkers with 116 HP. They wield war picks and carry a set of shackles. Their attacks do bonus damage if the target is granting them combat advantage.
Their basic attack is a strike with the pick and has no special effects, but they have a frightening power named Harvest. To use it, the derro must have started its turn hidden from the target. It’s an attack against Fortitude, which does no damage but knocks the target unconscious (save ends).
The harvester can them use its shackles to bind the helpless victim, which from that point on is restrained and falls prone whenever it’s hit with a melee attack. The victim can try to escape by succeeding in an escape action against the harvester (Athletics vs. Fort 27, or Acrobatics vs. Ref 28).
If Harvest fails or a victim gets loose, the derro can use Flee to the Shadows, which allows it to move its full speed and make a Stealth test to hide if it has concealment at the end of the movement.
The shackles can only be used once per encounter, but Harvest is at-will. So a harvester could knock someone out, shackle them, and have its buddies drag the victim to their base, keeping them unconscious with multiple applications of Harvest. I guess that once they’re no longer using combat turns, the victim just stays down until they wake up in a cell.
Derro Ironguard
Ironguards are more disciplined than your typical derro warrior, which admittedly is not a high bar to clear. They are proficient in the use of hooked spears, and are often employed to catch runaway slaves or guard them so they don’t run away in the first place. Paranoid derro bigwigs (i.e, all of them) also hire ironguards to watch their stuff.
Ironguards are Level 15 Soldiers with 150 HP. Their hooked spears deal extra damage against prone targets, so they love stabbing people when they’re down. The weapons are also used in hooking jabs attacks, which deal damage and grab on a hit, and on non-damaging unbalancing thrusts (minor actions) which target a grabbed creature and knock them prone on a hit.
Their tactics are obvious from the ability descriptions: Hooking Jab; Unbalancing Thrust; stabstabstabstab. Send your beefy defenders to fight them, because Unbalancing Thrust targets Fortitude.
Derro Savant
Our spellcasters, or more precisely psions. They preserve the old lore that gave the original derro access to the Far Realm, and spend their time deep inside the ruins of their empire trying to find ways to reopen the old portals. They wield scourges in combat, and use orbs as their implements.
Savants are Level 16 Controllers with 154 HP. They have a ground speed of 5 and a teleport speed of 3. Their scourges damage and inflict a -2 attack penalty for a turn. Their basic ranged attack is Mind Scourge, which deals psychic damage and forces the target to choose between taking 10 ongoing psychic damage or being dazed. The chosen condition is (save ends) either way.
The savant can also open a mini-portal to the Far Realm with the Window to Madness power. This creates a small zone (area burst 1) centered on an ally within 10 squares. The zone lasts until the end of the encounter, and any non-derro that enter the zone or ends their turn there take 10 psychic damage. The savant can end the zone early with a minor action, in which case the power recharges. It can also slide every creature inside the zone 2 squares as a minor action.
Warped Slave
This is not a derro, but a slave that was subject to their experiments and warped into a tentacled abomination. The stats could also be used for a generic Thing From Beyond summoned from a derro portal or other Far Realm opening.
These unfortunates are Large Aberrant Humanoids and Level 16 Brutes with 193 HP. They have Speed 6 but can’t shift, and they have Darkvision.
The warped slave’s Disintegrating Mind works as an aura (1), which deals psychic damage to enemies caught inside. If a derro inside the aura uses its Strength of Madness ability, the slave gets to make a free tentacle attack.
This thing can Bite or use Tentacles to fight. The tentacles grab and pull the target 1 square in addition to dealing damage. When bloodied, it gets desperate and gains a Flailing Tentacles attack that affects all enemies in a Close Burst 2, damaging and pulling them 1 square on a hit.
Warped Slaves follow the orders of their derro masters, or rampage about the battlefield trying to attack the nearest enemies. It often amounts to the same thing.
Final Impressions
The whole “Shaver Mysteries” horrific underground humanoid vibe is quite evocative, and judged on that merit alone I’d rate the derro very highly as RPG monsters. However, in the context of D&D they end up being just one more species of evil Underdark dwellers who like slavery and torture, this time in size Small. If I include derro in a game, I’m probably removing at least one of the others, and maybe more.
Mechanically they’re okay, and you have enough here to make a whole derro-themed dungeon. For spice, you could add aboleth leaders and mind flayer allies.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Demon, Ultrodemon
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
This creature first appeared as an “Ultrodaemon” in AD&D, as part of the effort to give every alignment its own brand of outsider. In 4e, daemons lost an “a” and became demons. We already saw some of them in the readings of earlier books.
The Lore
Ultrodemons are somewhat atypical among demons because they’re more about greed than about cruelty for cruelty’s sake. They enjoy carnage and torture as much as the next demon, but their real passion is material wealth. They command armies of mezzodemons and nycademons, sell their mercenary services for ruinous prices, and loot as much as they can during these operations.
Ultrodemons and their underlings can be found in a wide variety of places, either under contract to some other villain, or working independently. They’re very rarely loyal to their employers, though, and will turn on them as soon it looks more profitable than fulfilling the contract.
The Numbers
This entry only has a single stat block, for an Ultrodemon Schemer. This is a manipulative villain who will likely only fight the PCs in a battlefield of its own choosing and backed up by a large number of demon allies.
It’s a Medium Elemental Humanoid with the Demon tag, and a Level 22 Controller (Leader) with 205 HP. It has a ground speed of 7 with Phasing, which allows it to walk through walls. It also has Blindsight with range 5.
The schemer wields a longsword whose attacks deal physical damage and daze for a turn on a hit. It can also use magic to shoot Fiery Rays that deal fire damage. Its command ability is represented by the Demonic Authority power, which allows each ally adjacent to the schemer to make a melee basic attack with combat advantage as a free action. This recharges when the demon is first bloodied.
To complement its sword, combat magic, and command ability, the schemer also has a few nasty mind tricks it can use as minor actions. The first is Hypnotic Gaze (recharge 4+) immobilizes on a hit, and has an effect that prohibits the target from attacking the schemer for a turn. “Effects” in 4e parlance are things that happen even on a miss.
The other trick is Treacherous Gaze (recharge 6+), which dominates for a turn.
As its triggered actions, the schemer has a middling version of Variable Resistance, which gives Resistance 20 but only works once per encounter. It also has Self-Preservation, which triggers when an enemy bloodies it. It causes the schemer to teleport and swap places with an ally within 10 squares, and gives the ally a chance to make a free basic attack against the triggering enemy.
All of this points to a demon who wants to be close to Team Monster’s skirmishers and assassins, and who will accompany them to try to get around the party’s front line. It things become too hot, it will bring in a soldier or brute from its own front line to spice things up while it flees to safety.
Final Impressions
I remain a big fan of folding daemons into demons! Mechanically, ultros work well as “sneaky leaders”, which isn’t a combination you see very often.
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Star Wars RPGs and The Force: A Thought
Image source. This isn’t part of a series or anything, but it’s a random though I’ve been having and I feel it’s worth turning into a post.
The Thought
If I ever to a Star Wars adaptation, it’s going to be one where everybody is Force-sensitive. Let’s do away with the absolutist “magic/no-magic” divide inspired by D&D that all the official RPGs so far have used. If the Force is described in the source material as being in everyone, then it should be in in everyone.
Players would not be forced to play Jedi - rather, the badassitude of their PCs would be explained by their connection to the Force. No more of that nonsense about how “you can still be cool even though you’re blind to the Force”. No, you’re cool because you opened yourself to it. It’s everywhere, and getting past a certain threshold of skill at any endeavor means becoming attuned to the Force. By definition, any character who is PC material in the sort of heroic story Star Wars favors is past that threshold.
Like, yeah, you can still be a Jedi who throws stuff around telekinetically and parries blaster bolts with a lightsaber, but you can also be an amazing gunfighter from the slums of Coruscant who can dodge blasters, react to stuff before it happens, and make shots that ricochet from five different surfaces before hitting some impossibly small target. And maybe both of you can jump really high because that’s always useful.
There’s a set of Force-based mechanics that all PCs gets access to, even if they have the least mystical background possible. They can use it to perform impossible feats of skill and luck. They can have intuitions and premonitions. Maybe they can study a mystical tradition to do more overtly supernatural stuff, but that’s not required.
And maybe one of the reasons the Dark Side and the Empire are evil is that they’re the ones who believe that only a select few elites should be given access to the Force.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Demon, Quasit
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
I believe quasits have been around since AD&D 1st Edition, and they’ve re-appeared in every edition since. This is where they enter 4e.
The Lore
Back when they first appeared, quasits were simply the demon equivalent of Imps: tiny, winged, and tricksy. The only reason they were a different creature at all is was because of the game’s insistence that demons and devils are completely different creature types.
In Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, quasits are… the demon equivalent of Imps. Still tiny, still tricksy, they’re extremely easy to summon as familiars and live to tempt their masters into committing ever more horrible acts of destruction. When one of these masters die, the quasit captures their soul and takes it to its true master, usually a demon lord. Demons don’t need souls, but I guess they’re tasty.
Quasits are usually encountered with whatever dupes they’ve managed to tempt this time or with other, bigger, demons. Minions might include people of any sapient species, with or without a spellcaster. They also like arcanians. Quasits tend to remain invisible for as long as possible and let the others do most of the work for them.
The Numbers
Quasits are Tiny Elemental Humanoids with the Demon tag. They’re a bit stronger than imps by default, being Level 7 Controllers with 75 HP. They have darkvision and a fantastic ground speed of 8, though they’re not winged and can’t fly in this edition.
They’re unusual among demons in that most of their attacks have a trickery and temptation theme, to an even greater extend than an imp. This starts with their Tempter’s Influence aura (2), which inflicts a -2 penalty to saves on enemies caught inside. They can also become Invisible at will with a minor action (1/round), and stay in this state until they make an attack roll.
Their basic attack is a Reach 0 venomous bite, which does physical damage and forces the target to grant combat advantage (save ends). Reach 0 means they need to enter the target’s square, which they can do because they’re Tiny.
Their other attack is Evil Temptation, a mind-affecting spell that targets Will and affects enemies in a Close Blast 3. This is another at-will minor action (1/round), and though it does no damage it dazes (save ends). The “temptation” here is that victims can choose to end the effect early by making an attack against one of their allies!
Final Impressions
So I guess quasits aren’t just demonic imps in 4e. They’re also doing some of the succubus’ job now that she left to become a devil. PCs affected by Evil Temptation are likely to try to shrug it off with saves at first, but if they have a streak of unlucky rolls that friendly fire incident is going to start feeling mighty attractive. Daze is such a serious condition after all…
It’s a genuine temptation mechanic! I think I only saw one other instance of this, for the MM2’s Misfortune Devils. Not even succubi themselves have temptation mechanics, since their powers and “lore baggage” end up making them better for making PCs run away. This is an at-will Blast attack, so you’ll likely have multiple PCs affected by the power at any one time.
Quasits should fight by alternating Evil Temptation and Invisibility, and should hang around close to “tempted” PCs while invisible to make their saves harder. While this is happening, the quasit’s larger allies are going to have a field day with all those dazed heroes. Brutes and artillery work well here.
PC tactics when fighting a group containing a quasit are very clear: crush it as soon as possible. Have your party’s scouts use their high Perception to find the invisible little bugger and smite him with close or area attacks.
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Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 3: Demon, Nafelshnee
Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.
I remember seeing these things in 3e, and they probably date from earlier. My memory of them is not very detailed because I had no patience for reading page-long lists of spell-like abilities, which were the style of the time for epic demons.
The Lore
Nafelshnees are something of a rarity in the Abyss: demons with a civilization.
These demons hail from the 400th layer of the Abyss, known as the Woeful Escarand. In the distant past, this layer was ruled by a demon lord named Tantagaras, a corpulent beast who sired many lesser demons made in his image. These were known as his Waddling Legions.
Tantagaras took part in Tharizdun’s uprising against the gods, during which he entered a duel with Kord. Kord killed him, and the Waddling Legions brought his corpse back to the Woeful Escarand. They paid their respects by devouring the corpse, which causes fragments of Tantagaras’ essence to transfer to them and make them a lot smarter and more ambitious.
This of course resulted in a long and bloody demon civil war, which in turn ended when six of the most powerful nafelshnees got together and named themselves the rulers of the 400th layer. Known as the Lords of Woe, they carved the layer into a sprawling feudal realm, each of them sitting at the top of a large hierarchy of vassals that rule their own fiefs as they see fit.
Eventually, these lords and ladies exhausted all the resources of their abyssal layer, because demons might be able to build a society but they can’t make it sustainable. So now they make deals with “foreign” demon lords, offering their services in exchange for slaves, materials, food, and treasure.
Your typical nafelshnee divides people into three groups: “food”, “tools” and “masters”. The first group includes almost everyone weaker than themselves, from animals to humanoids to lesser demons. They never negotiate with food.
The second group includes those who aren’t tasty enough to eat, like insects, spiders, immortals, powerful elementals and, amusingly enough, gnomes. They’ll try to bully the weaker “tools” into servitude, and might try to manipulate the stronger ones, but I guess they might just try to kill them without eating if talks break down.
The last group is very small and consists of the mightiest demons, demon lords, and efreets. With these, their usually arrogant behavior melts into a wheedling servitude worthy of Starscream.
The Monsters
Nafelshnees are Huge Elemental Humanoids with the Demon tag, Darkvision, and a ground speed of 6. They can also fly with a speed of 4 (clumsy). They have very good Variable Resistance (20). We get two stat blocks for them.
Nafelshnee Swine Guard
Most nafelshnees fit this profile, and have a role roughly equivalent to that of a landless knight in their society. They serve more powerful lords and hire themselves out as mercenaries, and have actually managed to get a good reputation for being both resilient and obedient.
Swine Guards are Level 20 Brutes with 237 HP. They wield giant Reach 3 halberds that do solid physical damage and push the target 2 squares on a hit. If someone manages to get closer they can try to take a Noisome Bite out of the enemy, which does slightly less damage but inflicts ongoing 10 poison damage (swine guards never brush their teeth).
Their variable resistance can change twice per encounter, and when they’re first bloodied they immediately use a power called Shattered Minds. This is a Close Burst 3 that targets enemies’ Will. On a hit it does psychic damage and dazes (save ends). If the first save fails, the demon can slide the victim 3 squares, and the daze worsens to a stun!
This makes swine guards the kind of brute who wants the PCs to surround them and beat them up a bit. The halberd’s push rider means they can also herd the PCs towards other monsters as this happens.
Nafelshnee Tyrant
These are the lords and ladies of the Woeful Escarand. They’re powerful magicians with great knowledge of rituals and access to libraries of forbidden lore. They are willing to part with ritual scrolls and bits of relevant information in exchange for suitable tribute, which usually consists of food (the book mentions “a brace of plump halflings” as an example). In a fight, they like to fling destructive magic while sitting on their thrones, though they can move at standard nafelshnee speeds if forced to.
Tyrants are Level 23 Controllers with 215 HP. Their reach 3 claws slide the target 3 squares on a hit, and their basic ranged attack is a Black Lightning spell that does necrotic damage and makes the victim vulnerable 15 to psychic damage for a turn.
Their psychic attack is Unholy Whispers (recharge 5+), a fireball sized area burst that does psychic damage and dazes (save ends). A miss still does half damage.
As a minor action, they can curse enemies with a Vile Glare, a non-damaging attack that targets Will and makes it so the target is only able to use basic attacks (save ends). It recharges every time a target fails a save against the effect.
Final Impressions
I know I say this all the time, but I really love these more focused fiend stat blocks. Earlier editions just had long lists of spell-like abilities and memorized spells for each demon, so I tended to just skip over their descriptions.
Tyrants obviously pair really well with other monsters that can deal psychic damage. A simple but flavorful and effective encounter might be a pair of happily married nafelshnee tyrants and their swine guard retinue. Two tyrants means you can assemble the Black Lightning + Unholy Whispers combo much quicker.
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