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• Jun 15, 2021

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Demogorgon (Part 3)

  This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

  This is the third and final post covering the huge Demogorgon entry in the Monster Manual 2. As you might have guessed from what was said back in part 1, it covers not one but two multiversal big shots: the titular Demogorgon and his buddy Dagon.

  Demogorgon

  

  Demogorgon has existed in D&D since at least the days of AD&D 1st Edition. As I might have mentioned his name got really popular due to the Stranger Things TV show, though I understand the monster there is a different creature from the two-headed mandrill found in the actual game.

  The Lore

  Demogorgon claims the title of Prince of Demons, which is quite the bold claim even among demon lords. His personality and motivations make him the demon lord’s demon lord. He’s not obsessed with a specific aspect of evil, like Orcus is with undeath. He’s not overly committed to a single modus operandi like Graz’zt is with his sexy manipulations. He doesn’t limit his influence to a single people like Yeenoghu does with gnolls or Baphomet with minotaurs.

  No, Demogorgon’s goals are to become the most powerful thing in the multiverse and destroy anyone who causes him anger or jealousy (i.e, almost everyone). His wordly cults, as we saw, are focused on wanton destruction and have this theme of outward madness that hides powerful mysteries. He and his agents are also quite capable of deception and will use that to achieve their goals just as readily. You can find servants of Demogorgon anywhere in the universe, and they can belong to any people. His domain in the Abyss is covered in tropical jungle but also includes seas and vast brine flats, and he is at home in all of these environments.

  Demogorgon’s main enemies are Orcus and Graz’zt, but though these other two are very powerful, Demogorgon is more. The books emphasize that he has never lost a fight - that duel with the god Amoth that nearly split him in two? He won that one, killed Amoth, killed Storralk right after it, and then got better. Though to Amoth’s credit, he was the only entity to ever scar the demon lord: he used to only have one head before the duel, and that remained split afterwards, healing into the current two heads.

  Each of Demogorgon’s heads has its own name, mind and personality: Aameul is the one that prefers deception, and Hethradiah is the one that prefers destruction. They detest each other and their plans are frequently at odds, which is probably the main obstacle preventing the demon lord from conquering the universe. Still, sometimes those competing plans end up synergizing into something that advances his goals.

  This split nature is reflected all the way down his cult hierarchies. The layout of his temples is split down the middle with each half dedicated to one of the heads. The most powerful cults are led by pairs of twins, each dedicated to a head. And as we already say even individual cultists have a “dual nature” thing going on, starting fights as cold and calculating combatants and devolving into frothing berserkers when they’re wounded.

  The most powerful among his cultists might know the ritual to summon an Aspect of Demogorgon, a living echo of his power. Like the Aspects of Orcus, they share the personality and a fraction of the power of their originator, but their existence is independent. An aspect doesn’t know what the original is thinking, and vice-versa. They’re a bit like avatars from previous editions.

  The Numbers

  Demogorgon himself is a Garguantuan Elemental Humanoid and a Level 34 Solo Controller with the Aquatic and Demon keywords. This is literally the highest-level monster we saw so far in the entire Let’s Read - Orcus, the former holder of the title, was level 33. His HP total is 1260.

  He has trained Perception and Darkvision, Variable Resistance 30 switchable 3x/encounter, ground and swim speeds of 8, and a teleport speed of 10. Remember, a teleport speed means he can teleport at will.

  He also has the two traits previously seen on ettins. Double Actions means he rolls initiative twice at the start of combat, once for each head, and takes two full turns each round. His immediate actions refresh before each action. You have to specify which turn belongs to which head, though - that head can’t use the other’s special power. Dual Brain allows him to automatically save against the Dazed and Stunned conditions and against any charm effects at the end of one of his turns.

  In combat, Demogorgon fights with his copious tentacles and with psychic powers: the basic attack is a Tentacle Strike (Reach 5 vs. AC), but he has many more interesting options.

  Tentacle Blast (Close Blast 5 vs. Fortitude) does almost the same damage and deals ongoing 15 damage (save ends). If it hits a target that was already taking ongoing damage, that damage is increased by 5. Forked Tail (Ranged 5 vs. Reflex) deals necrotic damage and weakens (save ends).

  Those are the physical attacks; now for the magic ones!

  Any enemy who starts their turn within 10 squares of Demogorgon is subject to the Gaze of Abyssal Might (vs. Will; free action), which dazes until the end of the target’s turn. He can let his enemies take a peek inside his minds with Dual Aspects of Demogorgon (close blast 10 vs. Will; recharge 6) which deals heavy psychic damage and knocks the targets unconscious (save ends) on a hit. That’s a potential TPK right there.

  As mentioned before, each head has a special power that can be used in its assigned turn. These are minor actions, so they’ll happen alongside one of the other attacks. They’re both Close Blast 5 vs. Will. Aameul’s Gaze does psychic damage and dazes (save ends). If the target was already dazed, for example by the Gaze of Abyssal Might, they are dominated instead (save ends). Hethradiah’s Gaze does a bit less psychic damage but forces the target to use an at-will attack power against a target of Demogorgon’s choice.

  Running away from all this is also quite hard: Inescapable Grasp is a Ranged 50 power that targets Will and teleports the target to a square within tentacle reach of Demogorgon.

  We also get a stat block for the Aspect of Demogorgon, which is very similar but smaller in all ways. It’s “only” Huge, and a Level 25 Elite Controller with 476 HP. It uses Forked Tail as its basic attack and replaces the named gazes with a Dominating Glare that deals psychic damage and dominates. It has all the other attacks, including the Double Actions and Dual Brain traits.

  Dagon

  

  Dagon is inspired by the Lovecraftian entity of the same name, but is not quite the same creature. He’s been in the game since the days of AD&D.

  The Lore

  The first primordials who entered the Abyss shortly after it had formed found Dagon already lurking in its depths. He is the first and most ancient Demon Lord. His presence poses a disturbing question: did Tharizdun create the Abyss, or merely open a passage to it?

  (I think this gets answered in the Demonomicon, but it’s still cool even if left as a mystery).

  Dagon is remarkably secretive for a demon lord, and he sits on an endless trove of blasphemous knowledge and terrible cosmic secrets. He allied himself with Demogorgon shortly after the latter became a demon lord, and the two have cooperated ever since. Their cults often work together, and though Dagon’s cultists are a minority in these joint efforts, access to their master’s knowledge makes them very effective leaders.

  Dagon shares some of his knowledge with Demogorgon to further both of their goals, but ever since the the “split” he has taken to whispering different bits of lore to each head, which ends up making Aameul and Hethradiah antagonize each other even more.

  The Numbers

  Dagon is a Gargantuan Elemental Magical Beast with the Aquatic and Demon keywords, and a Level 32 Solo Soldier with 1184 HP. He has the usual Darkvision and Variable Resistance (10, 3x/encounter). His ground speed is only 4, which doesn’t matter because you’re definitely fighting him underwater. He also has swim and teleport speeds of 8. Dagon also has an Eye of the Abyss aura (10) that pulls any enemies who start their turns inside 5 squares.

  Dagon might begin the fight at range, using his control over Abyssal Tides to attack the PCs. This is an Area Burst 3 within 20 vs. Reflex, doing force damage and immobilizing the targets on a hit (save ends). As an effect, Dagon can also teleport 5 squares.

  Once the PCs are in reach, it’s Tentacle Town. Dagon can uses his tentacles either for a basic Tentacle Strike (Reach 5 vs. AC) or a Tentacle Blast (Close Blast 5 vs. AC), both of which damage and slide the targets 2 squares on a hit. They also act on their own with Grasping Tentacles (Reach 5 vs. AC), an interrupt that triggers when an enemy in reach attacks Dagon. This does a little less damage than the basic attack and grabs the target. The escape DC is something like 44 or 46 depending on the skill you use, which will be tricky for a non-specialist even if they’re level 30. And of course these Reach 5 tentacles have Threatening Reach as well.

  It’s not all tentacles either! Dagon’s repertoire includes a hefty dose of pure madness. Doom Drone (close burst 10 vs. Will; minor action; recharge 5-6) targets enemies and does psychic damage. It also pulls them 5 squares and stuns them on a hit (save ends). Form of Madness is similar but slides and dazes instead of pulling and stunning. If several enemies manage to get in close Dagon can use Claws of the Abyss (close burst 1 vs. Reflex) to deal heavy physical damage with his non-tentacle appendages. Note he can use the claws and both mental attacks in a turn.

  The tactics paragraph makes a reference to a power named Wrath of the Deep, though that’s not in the stat block. One of them is wrong. In either case Dagon’s goal should be to keep all the PCs, particularly the squishies, well inside the tentacled killing zone surrounding him.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Of the big bosses, only Demogorgon features in a sample encounter here: Level 35, him and two balors.

  These two make nice final bosses for an epic campaign, though probably not at the same time. Demogorgon’s Dual Brain gives him a decent amount of control resistance. Dagon is a bit less strong in that area, but both of them can output an incredible amount of control themselves.

  I imagine that a campaign that ends with the defeat of Demogorgon is one where Dagon never shows up in person at all - he’d be too clever to stick around in that case. The reverse is harder to predict. Demogorgon values the alliance but is probably too selfish to try and help Dagon if a party of epic demigods knocks at his briny door. He might however, try to exact revenge on them later, so he could end up being the “final final” boss in a Dagon-focused campaign. Or perhaps he does things on a long enough timescale that he ends up being the boss of the next campaign.

• Jun 14, 2021

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Demogorgon (Part 2)

  This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

  Continuing from the previous post, this time we’ll be looking at Demogorgon’s Exarchs.

  “Exarch” is the term D&D 4 uses for the “lieutenants” of a god or equivalent entity. They might preside over a narrower slice of their master’s portfolio, or simply help run their operations in the world and other planes. Though subordinate to someone else, exarchs are in no way weak: in the god-ranking system used in previous editions, all of them would have ranked as anything from demigods to intermediate deities themselves.

  Orcus, which we looked at in the Monster Manual let’s Read, had one exarch: Dorensain, the King of Ghouls. Demogorgon has two, described below.

  Kazuul

  Kazuul used to be a human champion of Erathis a long time ago, and in her service he carved many a swath of order through savage lands. I guess that in the end something convinced him that this “carving a swath” business didn’t make him any different from the “savages” he claimed to oppose, and so he decided to embrace that and pledge himself to Demogorgon.

  The demon lord gave him a gift of size and strength, making him double in size and become deformed by his over-developed demonic musculature. Kazuul now fights in the name of Hethradiah, the “brutal but cunning” head, driving a horde of demons before him to raid places in the Abyss and elsewhere in the multiverse. I guess Kazuul is a big inspiration to those shrieking cultists we saw in the last post.

  Being a former human, Kazuul fights with weapons. Being a former adventurer, he’s always on the lookout for better weapons. If he notices one of his opponents is wielding something particularly sweet (say, a level 28+ magical weapon), he will engage that opponent and ignore everyone else until he’s taken the weapon for himself. Otherwise, he will just focus on killing whoever is closest and repeating that until there is no one else to kill.

  This obsession with magic weapons stems in part from the fact that Kazuul used to own a legendary sword named Gorgorin the Shatterer. He lost it in a battle against Hainard, one of Pelor’s exarchs. He’s still sore about that, and looking for a way to either get his sword back or to find a suitably awesome replacement.

  Kazuul’s current weapons are quite awesome already: there’s The Tooth of Grom, a sword forged from the tooth of a fire titan lord, and The World Splitter, an axe taken from Clangeddin Silverbeard, one of Moradin’s Exarchs.

  There’s an ancient prophecy which proclaims that when Kazuul recovers Gorgorin, he will use it to slay Demogorgon and then displace Yeenoghu as the lord of gnolls. This prophecy has caused lots of infighting amongst demons, and there have been several failed attempts by all factions involved to find the blade’s current hiding place.

  The Numbers

  Kazuul is a Large Elemental Humanoid with the Demon tag, making him an official demon. He’s a Level 28 Elite Soldier with 528 HP. He has Darkvision and demonic Variable Resistance 10, switchable 3x/encounter. He has ground and fly speeds of 5.

  He has two basic attacks with his sweet magic weapons: the Tooth of Grom (Reach 2 vs. AC) does physical damage and forces the target to make a melee basic attack against a target of Kazuul’s choice on a hit; the World Splitter (reach 2 vs. AC) also does physical damage and inflicts a -4 AC penalty (save ends). Wrath of Kazuul allows him to attack with both weapons in a single standard action. Oh, and Threatening Reach allows him to make opportunity attacks against any enemy he can reach.

  If his enemies are beyond the reach of his blades, Kazuul can attack with Abyssal Flames (area burst 3 within 20 vs. Reflex) at will, doing fire damage on a hit. He also has a couple of handy spells for use when he gets closer:

  Word of Doom (close burst 3 vs. Will; encounter) does heavy physical damage and allows Kazuul to crit against the targets on a natural roll of 15-20 (save ends). This is scarier than it might sound for someone used to 3.x! In Fourth Edition, criticals happen only on a natural 20. Only a handful of powers in the entire game increase that range. Word of Doom is the only one I can think of that widens it this much.

  Vortex of Blades (close burst 3 vs. Reflex; enemies only; encounter) does double the damage of a basic attack and stuns (save ends). Simple, but still scary: stun (save ends) is a pretty serious condition.

  Thrarak

  

  Thrarak’s origins are closely tied to the mythological origns for ettins that I wrote about during the first Monster Manual/Vault Let’s Read. It starts with Demogorgon fighting the god Amoth, who split his head in two. Before that wound had even healed, the earth primordial Storralk ambushed him and tried to take him down.

  As the linked post says, Demogorgon defeated the would-be usurper handily, and bound his broken but still-living form under his throne. It was Dagon who gave him the idea for a bit of extra cruel punishment: using a ritual provided by Dagon, Demogorgon caused the first Ettins to be born from Storralk’s spilled blood, and to scatter through the world. Each one contains a small fraction of Storralk’s essence, so whenever an ettin feels pain, Storralk’s body feels it as well.

  One of those first ettins chose to stay at Demogorgon’s side, and to seek his favor by alternatively healing and cutting Storralk’s flesh. This eventually got his attention and Demogorgon made her one of his exarchs: Thrarak, the Flayed Maiden.

  Thrarak is specifically the Exarch of Ameul, the cunning head. She acts as Demogorgon’s emissary of vengeance, going after mortals and other entities that have angered the Prince of Demons or those who have the potential to become threats in the future. An expert torturer, she fights using twin lashes and yelling streams of maddening lore that’s dangerous to hear. She prefers to focus on one opponent at a time, which will either be the target of her master’s ire or the closest available enemy. Once she chooses a target she will ignore any other enemies to focus on it.

  Legend has it that if Thrarak is slain and her heart burned upon Demogorgon’s throne, Storralk will finally break free of his prison. Freeing him could be an important step in defeating Demogorgon himself.

  The Numbers

  Thrarak is a Large Elemental Humanoid (giant) and a Level 26 Elite Brute with 596 HP. She has all the traits common to all Ettins: trained Perception, darkvision, ground speed 8, and the Dual Brain and Double Actions traits described in the original ettin post.

  Her basic melee attack is the Lash of Ruin (Reach 3 vs. AC) which does physical damage, knocks prone, and dazes for a turn on a hit. She can sometimes increase her rythm and perform a Lashing Flurry maneuver (close burst 3 vs. AC; recharge 5-6), dealing physical damage and dazing (save ends) all she hits.

  Once per encounter she can perform a Howl of Madness (Close Blast 5 vs. Will), which does psychic damage, slides the targets 3 squares, and forces them to make a melee basic attack against a target of Thrarak’s choice.

  Those ettin traits I linked to are quite important to all of this: Thrarak has two full turns per round and some resistance to restrictive conditions. She can do a lot, which makes her dangerous to those enemies she’s focusing on. She should be put in charge of a monster team who can keep the remaining PCs off her back.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  We have one encounter for each Exarch:

  • Level 25: Thrarak, 1 abyssal rotfiend, and 2 nycademons.

  • Level 27: Kazuul, 1 marilith, and 1 balor.

  It feels appropriate to add a whole bunch of minions to either encounter, if you think they’re not dangerous enough.

  I think I like these two as villains more than I like Dorensain, Orcus’ exarch. Mechanically, Thrarak is just an epic ettin, but she has an interesting backstory tied to her people’s mythological origins. Kazuul’s magic weapon obsession is also interesting, and the Gorgorin lore has a lot of potential as an adventure hook.

• Jun 12, 2021

  Popcorn Initiative in GURPS

  

  GURPS uses a fairly traditional initiative system to determine who goes first in combat. Like all such systems, it works well for “real-time” gaming, but it tends to get in the way of good “flow” for a Play-by-Post or other asynchronous game.

  In the past I tried to solve that by having players declare 3-5 turns’ worth of actions in advance and resolving those on my side, but that ended up being a lot of work and after a while I burned out on it.

  It was at about this time that I first read Lancer, and noticed it used an interesting initiative system. One of the PCs always acts first in a turn, followed by an enemy. We alternate that way until all people on one side have acted, and then the remaining combatants on the other side act one after the other. The players themselves decide who acts during each “player activation”, and the GM decides who acts during each enemy activation. The order in which characters act can therefore vary from turn to turn, but the order of activations always remains the same.

  I’d later find out this model was known as “Popcorn Initiative”. It worked well for me in the couple of sessions of real-time Lancer I ran, and I’d get a lot more experience with it when I joined a forum game of Zeitgeist using D&D 4th Edition rules.

  Popcorn Initiative works extremely well in that game. Post flow during combat is pretty much uninterrupted as long as there’s anyone available to post. We get through a whole combat round in a single day if everyone is on point, a formidable pace for an asynchronous game.

  It worked so well, it made me think I’d only run an async GURPS game if I could use popcorn initiative in it. And it turns out adding popcorn initiative to GURPS is not hard at all!

  The Rule

  Instead of using Basic Speed values to determine turn order, use the system described at the start of this post, and repeated here for ease of reference:

  • A PC always goes first, followed by an enemy.

  • The two sides then alternate taking their turns until all members of one side have finished.

  • The remaining combatants then take their turns one after the other.

  • Repeat the above procedure for each 1-second round in the combat.

  • Players decide which PC acts on each player turn. The GM decides who acts on each enemy turn. The order doesn’t have to remain constant from second to second.

  Traits and maneuvers that give extra actions or extra attacks all affect the character’s own turn, as normal. A character’s defenses “reset” at the start of their turn as usual. Surprise still works the same, and limits your actions in the same way. All this rule change is how to determine the order in which turns happen in a 1-second round.

  If the battle involves one or more characters with Enhanced Time Sense, then all of them get to go before the less enhanced combatants, using the rules above among themselves. It effectively splits the second into two “sub-rounds”.

  Having a high Speed here is still useful because it gives you more Dodge and more Move. Changes to Basic Speed cost the same as under the standard rules.

  Popcorn Examples

  Example 1: A party of four fantasy adventurers fights a group of 6 orcs. The heavily armored warrior PC goes first and positions himself to protect his squishier buddies. An orc goes next, then a PC, and so on until all PCs have acted. The final two orcs act one after the other.

  Example 2: Two of the orcs in the battle above attack the warrior, who blocks once and parries once. This leaves him with penalties for further defenses. If he is not the first to act next round, the penalties will stay with him until he does take his turn.

  Example 3: The same four adventurers meet a Giant Enemy Crab who has Extra Attack 1. Again one of the PCs goes first. The crab goes next, and he can make 2 attacks during his turn as in the normal rules. Then the remaining PCs act.

  Example 4: A group of 6 WW2 British Commandos ambushes a patrol squad of 8 Nazi soldiers. The Nazis are surprised and are considered Mentally Stunned as per the standard rules. Though the GM gets to choose the order in which the enemy soldiers act, all they can do on their turns is attempt to recover from the stun.

  Example 5: A 6-person squad of the Solar Patrol runs into a pack of three homicidal robots while exploring a ghost spaceship! All of the robots have Enhanced Time Sense, and so does one of the PCs who is a robot themselves. So the PC robot acts first, then the three enemy robots, and then the rest of the PCs.

  Conclusion

  This is definitely a system I want to try out when I next GM an async GURPS game. I tried to change the standard rules as little as possible. Lancer does a few more things, like giving certain powerful enemies multiple activations per round, but I want to experiment with this base version before I try doing that in GURPS.

• Jun 11, 2021

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual 2: Demogorgon (Part 1)

  

  This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

  We got to the Big Cheese of this book quite early, for his name starts with D: it’s Demogorgon! He’s been in the game since the days of AD&D 1st Edition. The name became quite famous when Stranger Things aired, though I don’t think it refers to the same creature.

  This entry is like the Orcus entry in the MM1: It includes not only the stats for the titular demon lord but also its associates, aspects, exarchs, and even cultists. I’m going to go through them in reverse order, starting with the cultists and moving up the levels.

  The Lore

  Demogorgon is a demon lord’s demon lord. His credo is quite simple: through strength, cruelty and slaughter the strong prosper and the weak die. Be strong, be cruel, and slaughter the weak. That doesn’t mean he’s stupid, though! Each head has its own personality and highly developed intellect: Aameul is cunning but brutal and Hethradiah brutal but cunning. They hate each other and argue a lot but generally end up working towards compatible goals.

  Demogorgon also has another business partner who is not himself, which makes him a bit unique among demon lords: Dagon, a Demon Lord inspired by the fishy entity of Lovecraftian fame. A keeper of secrets and cosmic mysteries, he shares these secrets with Demogorgon, but only whispers a given secret to one of the heads. This keeps their mutual hatred and jealousy going strong, and furthers Dagon’s own goals. Their servants and cults can be found cooperating some times.

  We’ll eventually discuss the big bosses in more detail, but for now let’s begin by looking at their cults.

  Cults of Demogorgon

  

  Demogorgon’s cults gain prominence when war or other wide-ranging disasters ravage the land, as people turn to him in a desperate attempt to survive and end up becoming murderous marauders themselves. I imagine this tends to prolong the problem that caused the cult to rise in the first place. These cultists wander around like berserking pirates, pillaging and destroying everything in their path. What makes them different from, say, gnolls? Well, they’re more interested in taking your stuff than in eating you, and unlike gnolls or orcs they’re a very diverse crowd.

  Members include individuals from any of the “civilized” species as well as troglodytes, kuo-toa and other aggressive humanoids. Note that none of them “naturally” worship Demogorgon: even troglodytes and kuo-toa typically venerate other deities. This means that every cultist of Demogorgon is a heretic to their own people. A lof of them were probably press-ganged into the cult during one of those raids I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

  There are also some cultists who go deeper into the demon lord’s mysticism, believing that like their boss they are of two minds: a civilized mind who acts as a shackle to a an instinctive, destructive second self. Some try to explore this duality, while others try to cast of these shackles entirely, worshipping only Hethradiah, the most aggressive of the two heads.

  Whatever their individual views, these cultists are all Chaotic Evil by any reasonable definition of the alignment.

  Cults of Dagon

  Dagon has his own cults too, and these are as Innsmouthy as you’d expect. His temples are undewater, though they include air-filled rooms to accommodate visiting terrestrial worshippers. These tend to congregate in coastal communities, and to sacrifice sapients to their master. Dagon’s demands grow with time, forcing his cultists to perform ever greater sacrifices in order to avoid being swallowed by tidal waves or other disasters sent by their overlord.

  His worshippers also frequently include wizards and sages willing to bargain with him for some of those cosmic secrets. These tend to rise to the position of cult leaders. The most powerful among them might be able to visit Dagon personally in his doubly-abyssal domains, and barter legendary artifacts for the lore they seek.

  Yeah, Vecna hates Dagon and their cults fight a lot. How did you guess?

  The Numbers

  We get quite a few cultist stat blocks here, all human. You can easily combine them with standard stat blocks from other humanoid species to get the diversity hinted at in the lore, or add the signature traits of those humanoids to the Demogorgon-flavored stat blocks from this entry.

  Abyssal Marauder

  Abyssal marauders roam the land in loose warbands, and the sea in rickety warships they barely know how to sail. When they see a village or ship, they attack, kill everyone, take what they can and burn what they can’t. In doing this they honor their demonic overlord.

  Some pirate captains or land-bound warlords manage to hire bands of abyssal marauders to bolster their ranks for big raids, paying them mostly with the promise of plentiful loot and chances to kill people. Unless they can keep providing that loot between battles, though, it’s very hard to keep the marauders in line.

  Marauders are Level 6 Skirmishers with 69 HP and a speed of 6. Their piecemeal protections are equivalent to leather armor, and they carry a long spear and a pair of throwing axes to battle.

  Both the spear (reach 2 vs. AC) and the throwing axes (Ranged 5/10 vs. AC) count as basic attacks, and both allow the marauder to shift 1 square on a hit. They’ll usually open the fight with a Howling Charge, which allows them to throw an axe at someone and immediately charge them with the spear.

  When bloodied, marauders are taken over by a Death Fury, which allows them to make two basic melee attacks per standard action at a -2 penalty to each. It also forbids them from using any of their other attacks!

  Reach weapons and plentiful shifting make marauders work well when paired with a “wall” of sturdier allies, like the shrieking cultists we’ll see below.

  Berserker Prelate of Demogorgon

  Prelates are priest-types, preaching the credo of Demogorgon to their fellow cultists as their leader or (in the book’s words) their “spiritual pet”. Unlike the cultist priests of other demon lords, berserker prelates lead from the front and join the fight alongside their flock.

  Prelates are Level 8 Controllers with the Leader keyword and 86 HP. Their speed is 5, they wear hide, and carry a big club into battle.

  The greatclub is their basic melee attack, and allows them to push the target 1 square on a hit. At range they fling Abyssal Bolts (ranged 10 vs. Will) that do physical damage and slide the target 2 squares on a hit.

  Their leadery skill is Bloodletter’s Call (Close Burst 3). Against enemies, this is an attack vs. Will that does psychic damage and dazes for a turn. On allies, it instead acts as a buff giving them +2 to attack for a turn.

  As the name might imply, berserker prelates are gripped by the same Death Fury as their marauder buddies when bloodied.

  Shrieking Cultist of Demogorgon

  These psychos have given up on any semblance of restraint and rationality, seeking to emulate Hethradiah, the most violent of Demogorgon’s heads. When a lot of them gather, people who are themselves on the path to madness might discern the demonic hymn hidden in their collective shrieking.

  These cultists are Level 7 Brutes with 94 HP. They wear mail, so their speed is 5. They wield a greataxe and carry a brace of javelins, which are basic attacks doing heavy damage as expected of a Brute. Once per encounter they can intensify their incoherent screaming into a Howl of Fury (close blast 3 vs. Will) that does psychic damage and immobilizes the targets for a turn on a hit.

  They can also make their fury solid with Death Wrath (close burst 1 vs. AC; encounter), which does physical damage and creates a zone of horrible noise that moves with the cultist, in effect working like an aura 1. Anyone caught inside takes 5 physical damage.

  Shrieking Cultists lack the Death Fury trait from their other two correligionists: for all practical purposes, they’re always in this state already.

  Doom Flayer

  Doom Flayers are wizards who worship Dagon to gain access to his secrets, offering sacrifices to him and helping further his plots. They will likely tell you they are perfectly rational and can stop the demon worship any time they want.

  They’re Level 8 Artillery with 65 HP, wielding a dagger for emergencies and otherwise using a large collection of Dagon-themed spells to fight:

  Force Lash (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex) does force damage and slows the target for a turn.

  Grasping Tentacles (Ranged 10 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6) does physical damage and immobilizes (save ends). Until the target saves, any enemy starting its turn adjacent to the target is slowed (save ends).

  Doom Foretold (Ranged 10; minor; encounter) auto-hits and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn.

  Churning Vortex (area burst 1 within 10 vs. Reflex; encounter) does physical damage, slides 1 square, and knocks the targets prone on a hit. It does half damage on a miss.

  The encounter powers work as a good fight-opener, and you should use them that way or you might miss the chance to do so if the party decides to focus fire on the flayer.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  This entry has a bunch of sample encounters but only two are cultist-themed:

  • Level 7: 1 abyssal marauder, 2 shrieking cultists, 1 berserker prelate, and 1 tiefling darkblade. Remember what I said about using other stat blocks as cultists?

  • Level 7: 1 doom flayer, 2 troglodyte thrashers, 2 abyssal marauders, 1 gnaw demon. And here’s that Dagon/Demogorgon partnership at work.

  D&D has a lot of hordes of murderous raiding cultists, and making them different from each other can be a tough job for a writer. I feel they succeeded here, though. Demogorgon’s cultists are the only ones with a diverse membership by the book, and the Death Fury trait makes them look properly “two-faced”, going from canny fighters to frothing nutjobs as the fight progresses.

• Jun 7, 2021

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

  

  This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

  Darkmantles feel like a very AD&D kind of monster, but I can’t find mention of them in the Monster Manuals for those editions. Either they appeared in a supplement, or they’re actually introduced in 3.x.

  The Lore

  The darkmantle is a creature native to the Shadowfell, which predictably means it likes hanging out in dark places such as caves and underground ruins. Being both pointy and membranous, they hunt by hanging from the ceiling disguised as stalactites and dropping on unsuspecting prey from above.

  Darkmantles have animal intellect, and are about as smart as dogs. As such, they’re often tamed by shadow- and underground-themed humanoids to act as guards and/or living traps.

  The Numbers

  There’s only one stat block here, so we’ll get right to it.

  Darkmantle Enveloper

  This is described as a Large Shadow Magical Beast, though I think it should be labeled a Beast instead. Beasts “look and behave like animals”, and magical beasts “look like animals and behave like people”. Well, the label is just descriptive, so it makes no difference in the stats.

  The Darkmantle Enveloper is a Level 8 Lurker with 76 HP. It has both Blindsight 8 from echolocation, and Darkvision. It emits a Shadowy Field aura (5) that reduces bright light to dim light, which I guess it only activates once its presence is known. It has ground and climb speeds of 2, and a fly speed of 6.

  Its basic attack is a Tentacle Lash that does regular physical damage, but the main event is Engulf (melee 1 vs. Reflex), which does the same damage and grabs the target. The target is considered blinded until the grab ends, and the creature can spend a minor action to sustain it and deal an automatic 5 damage to the target. Only one victim can be engulfed at once.

  If the victim’s buddies try to help them, the darkmantle can use a Shadowcry (close burst 3 vs. Fortitude; minor action; encounter) to keep them at bay. This does light thunder damage and dazes for a turn.

  When someone manages to damage the darkmantle, it can react with a Shadowjump (recharge 5-6), which allows it to teleport 6 squares to a space in darkness or dim light. The creature arrives invisible and with its aura turned off, both of which last for a turn.

  One small mechanical issue: since Engulf is not a basic attack, it can’t be used as part of a charge. This could be interpreted to say that the darkmantle can’t drop from the ceiling and use Engulf, but that’s clearly not the intention here. I’d say the attack can be used as part of a “drop charge”.

  Sample Encounter and Final Impressions

  The sample encounter is level 6, and feature a pair of darkmantles acting as guards for a trio of duergar.

  Eh… it’s another underground ambusher that disguises itself as a rock formation. The most a darkmantle has ever interested me is when it was part of a joke about gygaxian deathtrap dungeons (“the stalactites are darkmantles; the stalagmites ropers…”).

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