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• Jan 5, 2021

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Spider

  

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

  Spiders have been in the game since the beginning. Here, they’re present in both the Monster Manual and in the Monster Vault’s animal appendix.

  The Lore

  While some real-world spiders can have a pretty dangerous bite, they’re not really suitable as a combat encounter. The books concern themselves with monstrous giant spiders instead.

  There are many species of monstrous spider in D&D and they’re everywhere. Deserts, forests, caverns (“surface” or Underdark), ruins, anywhere a tiny spider would like can be home to a monstrous variety as well. The vast majority of them are simply natural creatures, but some are the blessed of Lolth and enjoy her divine gifts.

  Predictably, drow love spiders and frequently train them or control them through magic to serve in all the same capacities someone on the surface would use a dog, horse, or drake for. Kobolds and goblins might also employ them if they’re part of the locally available fauna.

  The Numbers

  All spiders shown here, with one exception, are Natural Beasts with the Spider keyword. That keyword is important because, among other things, drow tend to have lots of powers that buff spider allies.

  The individual stat blocks vary a lot, but all have some level of Tremorsense, and a climb speed equal to their ground speed with the Spider Climb tag (obviously). Their basic attack is always a bite and almost always has some sort of venom effect associated with it.

  All of the Monster Vault spiders have Web Walk, which allows them to ignore web-based difficult terrain. While this isn’t explicitly listed in the Monster Manual entries it would be fair to assume all of them have it too.

  Spider Swarm (MV)

  The least monstrous of the bunch, this is a lot of normal-sized aggressive spiders acting as a swarm monster. The swarm is a Level 3 Soldier with 44 HP, tremorsense 5 and a speed of 6, along with the usual swarm resistances and vulnerabilities.

  Its Swarm Attack aura (1) slows enemies caught inside instead of granting extra attacks. They attack with a Swarm of Fangs that targets Reflex because they get inside your armor. It has an ongoing poison damage rider (save ends).

  Deathjump Spider (Both)

  These Medium spiders are Level 4 Skirmishers with 55 HP. They have tremorsense 5, resist poison 5, and a speed of 6. Though they have Web Walk, they’re not big spinners themselves, and hunt by jumping on their prey.

  The stats for the spider’s bite are a bit wonky in the MM version: compared to what the updated math says, their attacks are woefully inaccurate and abnormally strong. The MV version fixes this. In both cases, the rider is ongoing poison damage (save ends).

  The deathjump spider’s special attack is Death From Above, in which the spider shifts up to 6 squares by jumping and makes a bite attack at the end. If that hits, the target is also knocked prone. The MM version also does increased base damage.

  It can also make a Prodigious Leap as a move-action encounter power, which allows it to shift 10 squares. So this spider could initiate combat by jumping at the party’s wizard from a full 16 squares away!

  The MM gives it another trait, Soft Fall, allowing it to ignore the first 30 feet of height of any fall. This is absent from the MV version, probably because they thought it was a bit too finicky.

  Bloodweb Spider Swarm

  A more powerful version of the MV swarm, these spiders have been brought together and are controlled by magic. Without orders, they’ll default to attacking the nearest living creature until it dies before moving on to the next victim.

  This swarm counts as a Level 7 Soldier with 80 HP. It otherwise works just like the level 3 swarm, except that it’s slower at speed 4 and its aura does grant free basic attacks.

  Doomspinner Spider (MV)

  This chunky Large spider does spin elaborate webs to catch prey with. It’s a Level 7 Controller with 82 HP, Tremorsense 10, Resist Poison 5, and speed 6.

  Their bite also has an ongoing poison damage rider, which increases if the target of the bite is restrained, immobilized, stunned, or unconscious. Its special attack is Web Casting (area burst 1 within 5 vs. Reflex), which does no damage but restrains everyone it hits. The area of the burst becomes difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.

  As a minor action the doomspinner can also shoot a strand of webbing at someone, in an attack named Drawn to Doom (Ranged 5 vs. Fortitude), which does no damage but pulls the target 4 squares.

  Though doomspinners can restrain enemies by themselves, they also pair really well with other monsters that can inflict the conditions that increase the effectiveness of their venom. “Multiple doomspinners” is the obvious setup, but there are plenty of other options.

  Blade Spider (MM)

  These Large spiders have two blade-like front legs, and attack with them instead of biting. They live in the Underdark and are popular drow pets, having the Mount keyword.

  Blade spiders are Level 10 Brutes with 130 HP, tremorsense 10, and speed 6. Unlike most of their relatives, they have no resistance to poison. Their basic attack is a Claw with a rider that does ongoing poison damage and weakens (save ends both). They can make double attacks with that.

  When used as mounts, they can make combined attacks, which means they attack with a claw as a free action when their rider makes an attack.

  Cave Spider (MV)

  These Medium spiders likely behave as a scaled-up swarm, with their size and numbers being such that you can track them individually. They’re level 12 Minion Skirmishers with tremorsense 5, resist poison 10 and speed 6.

  Their bite does the usual fixed minion damage, with additional poison damage on top if the target is immobilized, restrained, stunned or unconscious. They can also use a Tethering Web (ranged 10 vs. Reflex) as a minor action to immobilize someone for a turn.

  Combine a small horde of these with a leveled-up doomspinner or three, and your PCs are going to have a bad time.

  Demonweb Terror (MM)

  Native to the Demonweb Pits, these are the true blessed of Lolth. They’re Huge Elemental Beasts with the Spider keyword. All the other spiders in this entry are simple Unaligned animals with Int 1, but terrors have Int 8 and are Chaotic Evil. You can try to talk to them if you know Abyssal, but that will do you no good.

  Demonweb Terrors are Level 14 Elite Controllers with 296 HP, tremorsense 10, and a speed of 6. Interestingly, they have no poison resistance, though perhaps they should.

  Their bite carries a venom that does ongoing poison damage and slows (save ends). As a 1/round minor action they can shoot a web (ranged 10 vs. Reflex) that does no damage and immobilizes (save ends). After they’re first bloodied, they can use the Poison Spray encounter power (close blast 5 vs. Fortitude) that has the same effects as the bite’s rider over the whole area.

  These feel a tiny bit underpowered - they were likely only made Elite to pad out their HP. However, they likely work well when accompanied by other monsters who can capitalize on the immobilization and slowness they inflict.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  The MM gives us 2 sample encounters:

  • Level 11: 2 blade spiders, 2 bloodweb spider swarms, 1 drow blademaster.

  • Level 15: 1 demonweb terror, 1 drow arachnomancer, 2 drider fanglords and 3 drow warriors.

  As you can see, the book goes all-in on the whole Lolth connection. Any encounter with drow is likely to involve spiders. And while the lower-level spiders will likely be found as dungeon wildlife, the more powerful ones will very often be accompanied by drow as well.

  I think giant spiders are a classic dungeon denizen, and work well when used in moderation. Of course, drow are known for despising the concept of moderation when it comes to arachnids.

• Jan 1, 2021

  Are Mecha Silly?

  Recently I saw someone start a thread on the RPG.net forum, with the title “Why are mecha silly?”. The person in question was of the opinion that not only were mecha not silly, they were plausible, and went on to list reasons they thought so.

  Of course, all of those were swiftly debunked by posters, but I think the thread kinda got away from the main point after a while. So I thought I’d write a bit about this subject here.

  The thread’s title had a bit of an unfortunate framing, because it started from the premise that mecha are silly even though its opening poster didn’t think so. A better question to ask might be “Are Mecha Silly?”

  My answer is somewhat nuanced, but it can still be summed up as “No”. Giant robots are definitely cinematic, but they’re not inherently sillier than any other cinematic trope. It’s all about the context.

  I’m using “mech” and “mecha” here to mean a humanoid (or at least legged) piloted machine that’s used in about the same role as an armored fighting vehicle or tank. Non-combat versions are usually used as heavy construction equipment.

  These are some of the traditional excuses for mecha: Legs make them able to handle any terrain type better than wheels or threads. A humanoid form makes them more agile and versatile than traditional vehicles. Something about the specific technology used to build them makes them better weapons than traditional vehicles (this last one varies per setting).

  None of these would hold up under scrutiny under a strictly realistic setting. While some people are building smaller autonomous robots and experimenting with load-bearing skeletons, building a giant mech is still far beyond us and the general consensus on that seems to be that it’s not worth the effort. Better to work at improving the specialized vehicles we know than worrying about leg movement and the ground pressure exerted by two giant metal feet.

  As you get more cinematic mecha become a better fit. An “action movie setting” that makes you accept some people do the impossible because they’re just that badass shouldn’t have a lot of trouble selling the idea that sometimes tanks have legs. Full Metal Panic in its more serious moments is a good example of this. The show itself is silly most of the time, but the robot fights are trated in a more serious cinematic manner.

  Science fictional settings have more leeway than contemporary ones, because the same classical excuses are still valid and it’s easier to assume that the practical engineering concerns have been solved in the future. A lot of the Gundam shows are in this territory, as are many other similar franchises.

  And that’s just the shows that even bother to offer up excuses! You see, there are two main “sub-genres” of mecha shows. The ones that bother to think about excuses and to insert their mecha into a wider military context are called “Real Robot” shows. The original Mobile Suit Gundam back in 1979 was the first of these.

  The other side of the coin are “Super Robot” shows, who don’t even bother with that. Sometimes a 12-year old kid just inherits a fifteen story tall robot from his dad, and flies that robot out of the secret hangar at the bottom of his swimming pool to fight space monsters. Super Robot shows date from the early seventies, and their overall aesthetic is closer to that of a gold or silver age supers story than “proper” science fiction. They require the same kind of suspension of disbelief. If you can accept Superman, you can accept Mazinger Z.

  Whether Real or Super, no type of mecha is inherently silly as long as you place it in the type of story it was meant to go in. Just like any other cinematic trope.

• Dec 28, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Stirge

  

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

  Stirges have been in the game at least since the days of Basic. Here, they are both in the Monster Manual and in the Vault.

  The Lore

  Stirges are another example of dangerous fantasy wildlife in the implied Fourth Edition setting. Looking like a cross between a large bat and a mosquito, these things feed on blood and will attack any nearby creature in search of it when hungry. While a mosquito can be dangerous because it transmits diseases, a stirge is large enough for the blood loss it causes to be worrying. A flock of them could exsanguinate an adult human in minutes.

  Like bats, they nest in dark places and tend to hunt at night. They’re a common enough threat that anti-stirge measures are a part of every culture. Ship crews, for example, spread unpleasant-smelling unguents in their cargo holds to prevent stirges from nesting there. Sheperds and ranchers absolutely hate them and have their own set of measures.

  Any dark dungeon might be home to a flock of stirges, making them one of the many dangers adventurers must always be wary of. A large enough flock can threaten even seasoned veterans!

  Since they’re considered vermin by the people of the world, they also have all the same sinister associations worms and rats and such get. Particularly gross necromancers love filling the body cavities of a large, bloated zombie with a flock of stirges, which burst out when their carrier is slain. Optionally the stirges might be zombies as well.

  The Numbers

  Stirges are Small Natural Beasts, which does mean they might get as big as three feet across (halfling-sized!). They have darkvision, a flight speed of 6 with Hover, and a pathetic ground speed of 2. Their main attack is always a “bite” with their blood-sucking proboscis-beak thing, but the exact mechanics of that vary per stat block.

  Stirge (Both)

  The basic model is a Level 1 Lurker with 22 HP and the common traits above. The bite is its only attack. It does damage and grabs the target (escape DC 12). While the target is grabbed, it takes 5 ongoing damage from the blood-sucking. While the stirge is grabeed, it gains +5 to AC and Reflex.

  The MM version has an extremely weak bite even for a level 1 monster (1d4 damage), but the MV updates that to be in line with the new math (1d4+5).

  While a single stirge is not a big threat to a full party, it’s terrifying to a civilian! Non-combatants are likely minions, and if not they’re unlikely to have much more than 10 or 15 HP. A stirge like the above could be nesting in any given dark hole near the poor schmuck’s farm, and could kill them in one bite and maybe a round or two of blood-sucking. The civilian is also more likely to meet the stirge than a goblin or the like, and of course it will never be just one stirge.

  Stirge Suckerling (MV)

  A young stirge that’s already quite hungry. It’s a Level 5 Minion Lurker, which means it comes in hordes.

  Their only attack is the usual bite, which does a bit of damage and initiates a grab (escape DC 15). While the grab persists, the suckerling can only make bite attacks against the grabbed target, but those hit automatically. The target also takes ongoing damage equal to the number of suckerlings attached to it, so be sure to make them gang up on the squishies. Now there’s a nice mental image for you.

  Death Husk Stirge (MV)

  An undead stirge used as filling for a Bloated Zombie Surprise. It’s a Small Natural Animate (undead), and a Level 6 Skirmisher with 71 HP. It has darkvision, an immunity to poison, and 10 resistance to necrotic damage. It has the usual stirge ground speed of 2 and flight speed of 6, but if it’s hit by radiant damage it loses the ability to fly for a turn (and falls if it was in the air).

  Death husk stirges won’t stick to you, but they’ll still suck your blood. The Rotted Blood attack (close blast 3 vs. Fortitude) allows them to spit the blood stored inside their purulent intestines, dealing necrotic damage and blinding those it hits for a turn. Undead in the blast can shift 2 squares as a free action. This is an encounter power, but hitting someone with the basic bite attack allows the stirge to recharge it.

  As a move action, they can use Nimble Wing to fly 4 squares without provoking opportunity attacks. When they hit 0 HP, they burst and those purulent intestines produce a cloud of Necrotic Miasma (close burst 2 vs. Fortitude), which deals a bit of necrotic damage and weakens for a turn.

  Dire Stirge (Both)

  Indeed, like every bit of natural fauna in the setting, stirges have a dire version. They’re larger, but not quite large enough to go up a size category. They are however a lot meaner, being level 7 Lurkers with 60 HP.

  Aside from the usual increased numbers due to being higher level, dire stirges do 10 ongoing damage while attached and have an escape DC of 16. They are otherwise mechanically identical to the level 1 variety.

  Stirge Suckerling Swarm (MV)

  For when you have so many suckerlings in play it becomes impractical to track them individually. This swarm is a Level 10 Brute with 128 HP, and counts as a Medium Natural Beast. It has a ground speed of 2 and a flight speed of 6.

  This has the usual swarm traits. Its aura (1) makes anyone caught inside begin taking 5 ongoing damage (save ends). If the victim is already taking untyped ongoing damage, that damage increases by 5, with no stated limit. It’s a nice way to model an incresing number of tiny stirges attaching themselves to the victim.

  Its Swarm of Suckerlings basic attack deals good damage and ongoing 5 damage (save ends), so it can step up the aura’s timetable a bit.

  When an adjacent enemy moves away from the swarm, it can use Hungry Flight as an immediate reaction, flying up to its speed so it’s adjacent to the target again. This does not provoke opportunity attacks!

  Stirge Swarm (Monster Manual)

  What you get when those suckerlings grow up. This swarm is a Medium, Level 12 Brute with 141 HP. Being a MM monster, it’s a bit simpler. Aside from the usual swarm traits, it has a basic attack that deals ongoing damage (save ends), and an aura that allows it to make basic attacks against anyone caught inside as free actions.

  You’re probably better off leveling up the suckerling swarm.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  You can’t really tame stirges, since they’ll attack anything that has blood, but sometimes kobolds and goblins use captured stirges as traps. Trigger the trap, release the swarm! They can also be encountered as indiscriminate opportunists, or in coincidental cooperation with things they won’t feed on.

  The sample encounters provide two such examples of this: the first is 2 dire stirges and 3 bloodweb spider swarms, the second 3 stirge swarms and a flesh golem.

  The “Large zombie minion full of undead stirges” setup has been hinted at above, as well. For Maximum Carnage you could add the undead traits to a stirge swarm stat block to get a swarm of death husk stirges.

  I usually wouldn’t be very enthusiastic about stirges, but now I kinda want to use the Zombie Surprise at least once.

• Dec 27, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Sphinx

  

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

  Sphinxes are inspired by Greek and Egyptian mythology and have been in the game at least since BECMI. Here, they are only on the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  A sphinx is a holy guardian created in antiquity to protect a sacred place like a tomb, temple, or shrine. In this task they can be found alone or in pairs, and sometimes they also command other, lesser guardians. The ritual that creates them is rare and powerful, binding an angelic spirit to the body of a celestial lion.

  Why would someone create a sphinx instead of a golem? There’s the matter of style, of course. Golems would be preferred by a certain type of arcane caster, while sphinxes feel like something a deity would allow its greatest servants to make. There are also practical advantages: sphinxes are both sapient and quite smart, so they can follow the intended spirit of their orders, and better distinguish between people who are allowed to be there and people they should eat.

  One way they do this is through the sphinx’s challenge, where they try to ascertain if someone has a right to be at the guarded location or not. Riddles are a classic, but a sphinx can also ask for proof of ancestry, the solution to an ethical or theological puzzle, or even just a specific password. The sphinx is bound to let someone who passes the test proceed unmolested, though it’s still going to attack if the visitors try to damage or rob the guarded location.

  That’s all the book has to say about sphinxes, but I think we can speculate a bit as well. Unlike most of other “guardian creatures” we saw so far, sphinxes are neither constructs nor undead, yet the text implies they’re just as capable of guarding their designed site for eternity. So I think it’s fair to say that they are immune to age, hunger, thirst and possibly even sleep, at least when performing their mission.

  While the books emphasize the role of sphinxes as the guardians of “ancient” and “forgotten” places, I think it’s also quite possible for them guard places that are neither. Maybe the Pelorite cathedral or the big Temple-Library of Ioun have a pair of sphinxes posted at their front entrance, even though they’re built right in the middle of major population centers. Sphinxes are perfect for this because they’re intelligent, and so they’re not going to attack innocent visitors by mistake like a golem would.

  A good sphinx might be hamstrung by overly specific or ethically questionable bindings, though, so you could also have a scenario where a party carefully helps the creature to free itself from its duties without triggering a fight.

  The Numbers

  There’s only one stat block, so we’ll get right on it. Sphinxes are Large Immortal Magical Beasts, and Level 16 Elite Soldiers with 304 HP. They have trained Perception, Darkvision, plus a ground speed of 6, a flight speed of 8 (clumsy) and Overland Flight 10.

  Their signature trait is the Sphinx’s Challenge, which gives us mechanics for the concept described in the lore section: the sphinx will pose an out of combat challenge to any potential intruders, and it can take whatever form the GM thinks is appropriate. If the challenged party refuses to answer, or gets the answer wrong, the sphinx will gain 1 extra action point and a +2 to attack, damage, and defenses in the ensuing combat. Note that attacking the sphinx before it can make its challenge counts as a refusal to answer! I think the only case where the party can fight a sphinx without these bonuses is if they pass the challenge and are later caught robbing the guarded place.

  In combat, this sphinx is a straightforward physical threat. It attacks with claws, it can pounce to make a charge and knock the target prone on a hit, and it has a frightful roar (close burst 10 vs. will) which gives victims a -2 penalty to defense (save ends). It can also use a Second Wind once per encounter, which works like the PC version: the sphinx heals 75 HP and gains +2 to all defenses for a turn.

  It’s of course possible for the sphinx to know all sorts of rituals, and for the GM to create custom sphinxes with the common traits above and a more magical selection of combat abilities.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  The sample encounter is level 15: 1 sphinx, 1 battle guardian, and 2 helmed horrors. Indeed, a sphinx is smart enough that it could be given command of those guardian constructs and employ them in interesting ways.

  I like the concept of sphinxes, and I kinda want to run an adventure where the sphinxes at the Temple-Library of Ioun are upstanding members of their community and know everyone in the city by name.

• Dec 27, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Specter

  

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

  Specters have been in the game since the beginning, and here they’re only on the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  When I talked about ghosts, I mentioned that every single synonym for that word used to be its own entirely separate type of incorporeal undead, and that 4e consolidated that a bit but not entirely. Specters are one of the undead that retained their own entry.

  Specters are incorporeal undead that can form “naturally” when an evil murderer or other equally depraved villain dies. Unlike a ghost, they don’t retain any memory of their life, and aren’t bound to a particular location. However, they’re just as evil as they always were, and their new hatred of the living ensures they keep looking for people to kill.

  Specters tend to cling to other equally malevolent undead, and will sometimes ally with evil living beings if that would ensure a steady supply of victims.

  The Numbers

  Specters are Medium Shadow Humanoid with the Undead keyword. They have darkvision as well as both the insubstantial and phasing traits. If you’re using Monster Vault-era rules this means they take half damage from everything but force attacks, but when specters were published they took half damage from all sources. Their HP is a bit lower than their level would indicate, so being insubstantial doesn’t make fights last that much longer.

  As undead, they’re immune to disease and poison and have some degree of necrotic resistance and radiant vulnerability. They have no ground speed, but they fly, and it’s not like you can force a specter to land.

  Specter

  The basic model is a Level 4 Lurker with 30 HP and all the traits mentioned above. It flies at speed 6, has 10 necrotic resistance, and 5 radiant vulnerability.

  The specter has a Spectral Chill aura (1), which inflicts a -2 penalty to all enemy defenses. It attacks with a Spectral Touch that targets Reflex and does necrotic damage. It can also unleash a Spectral Barrage (close burst 2 vs. Will) which does psychic damage and knocks prone. This is likely some sort of scary illusion.

  As a standard action, the specter can become invisible until it attacks or is hit by an attack. It will likely alternate between attacking from invisibility, and retreating while invisible.

  Voidsoul Specter

  This is either the specter of someone really evil, or a basic model that has grown bloated through years of post-mortem murder. It’s a Level 23 Lurker with 115 HP. Its necrotic resistance increases to 30, and its radiant vulnerability to 10.

  Spectral Touch works the same with bigger numbers. The Spectral Chill aura is stronger, dealing 10 cold damage to enemies caught inside in addition to inflicting the same -2 defense penalty. Its special attack is Life Siphon (Close Blast 5 vs. Fortitude; encounter) which deals necrotic damage and makes the specter heal 5 HP for every target damaged by it. Finally, its invisibility works the same but becomes a 1/round minor action instead of a standard one.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  The sample encounter has a basic specter, a deathlock wight, and a bunch of zombies and skeletons.

  Specters feel to me like one of those monsters that should have been rolled into the “Ghost” entry. They don’t have much to distinguish them from ghosts or from wraiths (the other surviving synomym). I’d guess that’s why they didn’t make the Monster Vault.

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