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• Dec 22, 2020

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

  

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

  I had never read of skull lords before reading about them here, but they have a very 3e vibe to them so likely originated there. They are only on the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  Despite the imposing name and the very Metal illustration, skull lords are made to be lieutenants. They’re created by powerful necromancers or liches to command their hordes of lesser undead, so they always answer to some higher power.

  The book doesn’t get into much more detail than that, but it seems to me like skull lords are created undead similar to skeletons. They were never alive and the bones are just raw materials for their creation. Unlike common skeletons, they’re sapient and quite intelligent.

  The first skull lords in recorded history emerged from the ruins of the Black Tower of Vumerion. Vumerion was a “legendary human necromancer” who apparently had his career cut short by a band of intrepid adventurers, and those skull lords might have been part of his contingency plans. They roam the land looking for a way to bring their dread master back to the world.

  The ritual for making skull lords eventually made its way out of those tower ruins, too, so you might find these monsters working for anyone with the stomach to make them.

  Each of those three skulls anchors a different set of magic powers, and all three must be destroyed to destroy the monster itself.

  The Numbers

  Skull Lords are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Undead keyword, and Level 10 Artillery with a paltry 40 HP. This is not a typo, and you’ll see why soon. They have darkvision, a speed of 6, and the standard undead resistances (immunity to disease and poison, necrotic resistance, radiant vulnerability).

  Skull lords project an aura (2) named Master of The Grave, which grants Regeneration 5 and a +2 bonus to saves to any undead allies inside. The aura is anchored to the Skull of Death’s Command, below, so if that’s destroyed it stops.

  The skull lord’s basic attack is a Bone Staff that does a mix of physical and necrotic damage, but the three skulls are the main event. Each has an attack power that can be used as a minor action once per round, meaning the skull lord can use all of them in its turn if it doesn’t move.

  The Skull of Bonechilling Fear (ranged 10 vs. Will) does a bit of cold damage and pushes 5 squares on a hit as it makes the target run away.

  The Skull of Whithering Flame (ranged 10 vs. Fortitude) does fire and necrotic damage.

  And the Skull of Death’s Command (Ranged 10) restores a destroyed undead minion within range. This an instance where I think the word “minion” isn’t being used as a game term, since the text also mentions the minion has “full normal hit points” when restored. So yeah, what this does is bring back an undead creature under the skull lord’s command as long as it’s level is at most the skull lord’s +2 (12 by default). The creature appears in the square where it was destroyed and stands up as a free action. It has full HP and can act normally when its next action rolls around. This is an at-will power, just like the others.

  One additional effect of these Triple Skulls is that when the lord hits 0 HP, a random skull is destroyed and it instantly heals back to full. It loses the powers associated with the destroyed skull but is otherwise able to keep acting normally. This is why it only has 40 HP - it’s a multi-stage monster whose HP total is 120.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  The sample encounters are nothing surprising:

  • Level 10: 2 skull lords and 3 skeletal tomb guardians.

  • Level 12: 1 skull lord, 1 vampire lord, 2 zombie hulks, 9 vampire spawn bloodhunters.

  Note that in both cases the skull lords could restore any of the other monsters in these encounters. If the PCs don’t learn to destroy the skull lords first, they’re gonna have a bad time.

  I like these things! They look badass and can be quite dangerous.

• Dec 13, 2020

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

  

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

  Skeletons have been in the game since the beginning, when they were the first step on the Undead Power Ladder. In this edition, they’re on both the Monster Manual and the Vault.

  The Lore

  Skeletons are the true iconic undead of the fantasy genre. Vampires and zombies get the spotlight in a lot of other media, but from Harryhausen movies to the Diablo franchise, if it’s a fantasy story about fighting monsters, it has to have skeletons in it somewhere. D&D took inspiration from the former and went on to inspire the latter, so it has plenty of skeletons as well.

  D&D skeletons are likely to be among the first undead faced by a party of adventurers. Unlike their more powerful and exotic relatives, they almost never arise naturally, and their existence as undead is completely disconnected from who they might have been in life. They’re just bones animated by necrotic energy.

  The Monster Vault goes all-in on the flowery gothic prose when describing them, discoursing about how even inanimate skeletons are viewed by the living as symbols of death. You might be able to read something of the person’s life in the scars of their bones, but that only serves as an even stronger reminder that they’re gone (“alas Yorick, I knew thee well…”).

  Skeletons behave much like stupider golems, going by the MV’s description. They’re just smart enough to understand their master’s orders, which they follow tirelessly and to the letter. Their animating force doesn’t possess much in the way of cunning, so even if it can fight well a skeleton might still fall for relatively simple ruses, or be unable to identify obvious signs of danger.

  It is much easier to animate a skeleton than to create a golem, which indicates that all that gothic prose actually has a point. If I’m allowed to speculate until the end of this paragraph, I’d say necromantic magic leans heavily on that association to give a skeleton its motion and its rudimentary mind. As a result, it is by its very nature somewhat transgressive, and the proper mindset to use it likely includes active disrespect for the boundaries between life and death, which isn’t something you need to create a construct.

  While the most common use for skeletons is as minions of some necromancer bent on conquest, they can also be ordered to perform simple physical tasks. A noble who wanted to appear particularly edgy could have his carriage pulled by skeletal horses. A society who wanted to look edgy could have all sorts of “automatic” gates, bridges and dungeon traps powered by skeletal labor.

  The Monster Manual mentions in passing that skeletons might arise naturally in an area heavily suffused with necrotic energy. That’s likely a rare exception, and even then it’s an event that has nothing to do with who the skeletons used to be or how they died. If a rift to Thanatos opened in a cemetery containing only good people who died happy and without any unfinished business, their bones would still rise. Such skeletons simply attack anything living they come across and stay still otherwise.

  The Numbers

  Skeletons are Medium Natural Animates with the Undead keyword. They have darkvision, immunity to disease and poison, 10 resistance to necrotic damage and vulnerable 5 to radiant damage. Their base land speed is 6. Despite being nearly mindless at Int 3, they usually fight with weapons.

  All skeletons we get in both books have levels in the Heroic tier, and are apparently assumed to be human skeletons. You could easily make more powerful skeletons with higher resistances if you wanted, of course, as well as skeletons originating from creatures of different sizes (like a Large giant skeleton or a swarm of Small goblin bones).

  Decrepit Skeleton (Both)

  A skeleton so old it’s begun to crumble, this is a Level 1 Minion Skirmisher. It fights with a longsword in melee and a shortbow at range and has no special attacks at all and no traits aside from the common ones listed above.

  They should appear in similar numbers and use similar tactics to all those fragile archer skeletons from Diablo.

  Skeleton (MM)

  The basic model is a Level 3 Soldier with 45 HP, wearing mail and wielding a sword and shield. Its longsword attacks mark for a turn, and it has a Speed of the Dead trait which gives it +2 to attack and +1d6 to damage when making opportunity attacks.

  A pretty straightforward soldier-type, like it probably was in life.

  Blazing Skeleton (Both)

  A skeleton that is on fire. It’s Level 5 Artillery with 53 HP. It has resist fire 10 on top of its other resistances, and projects a Fiery Aura (1) which does 5 damage to enemies caught inside. It fights in melee with its blazing claws, and throws flame orbs at range. The claws do physical damage and ongoing fire damage (save ends), while the orbs do both immediate and ongoing fire damage (save ends).

  Boneshard Skeleton (MM)

  A shattered skeleton held together by magic, it’s a Level 5 Brute with 77 HP. It wields a scimitar in combat, which is a high-crit weapon that does a mix of physical and necrotic damage. It can attack at range by flinging its shards, also doing those same types of damage. Once when it’s bloodied, and once when it’s destroyed, this skeleton detonates a Boneshard Burst (close burst 3 vs. Reflex) that does necrotic damage.

  Skeletal Legionary (MV)

  A minion version of the basic armored MM skeleton. A Level 7 Minion Soldier, it uses a sword in close combat and throws javelins at range, both of which mark the target for a turn on a hit. It has no other special abilities.

  These sound perfect for that undead Roman legion you never knew you wanted to use.

  Skeletal Tomb Guardian (Both)

  This four-armed monster isn’t a random corpse given motion, but something specifically constructed so it could be animated. It’s a Level 10 Brute with 126 HP, and wields a scimitar in each of its four hands.

  Each scimitar is kinda weak on its own, but the guardian’s basic twin scimitars attack allows it to use two of them, and its Cascade of Steel attack allows it to attack with all four. Sudden Strike allows to make a Twin Scimitars attack against an adjacent enemy that shifts, as an interrupt.

  All of the scimitars are high-crit weapons, so if the guardian rolls really well its damage output goes up considerably.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  We get two encounters in the MM:

  • Level 3: 1 hobgoblin warcaster, 2 hobgoblin guards, 2 skeletons.

  • Level 5: 1 tiefling darkblade, 2 blazing skeletons, 2 boneshard skeletons.

  As we can see, any enemy group that includes a spellcaster of some sort could very well include a complement of skeleton auxiliaries. We also have enough variety in their stat blocks to have plenty of all-skeleton encounters for all your ancient crypt needs.

  I like skeletons, and as I said I think the game wouldn’t feel like a proper fantasy RPG (let alone D&D) without them.

• Dec 3, 2020

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

  

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

  Shifters first appeared as a playable option in 3e’s Eberron Campaign Setting, and would return to that role when the 4e version of Eberron was released. Their first appearance in this edition was as an entry in the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  We already mentioned shifters while looking at lycanthropes: they are the children of a lycanthrope and a human parent. They usually look like humans with pointy ears and extra hair, but when threatened can “shift” into a more bestial mode, growing fangs, claws, and yet more hair. This is not as extensive as a lycanthrope’s transformation - a shifter in “beast mode” is still recognizable as the same person. The exact characteristics of that transformation depend on the type of lycanthrope whose lineage the shifter belongs to.

  In the 4e implied setting, shifters can be found living among humans or other humanoid creatures. Some are wild enough at heart that they prefer to hang out with lycanthropes and their attending animal packs. Shifters also breed true, so the child of two shifters will be themselves a shifter.

  Like most species who are playable character options, shifters have no species-wide disposition for good or evil. Some are heroes, some are villains, and it all depends on the individual.

  Shifters are sometimes called “weretouched”, and they tend to be drawn towards worship of nature gods or primal spirits.

  The Numbers

  Shifters are Medium Natural Humanoids, with the “shifter” keyword/subtype. They have low-light vision and a natural speed of 6, and their signature trait is Shifting.

  While bloodied, a shifter can use a minor action to shift, becoming more bestial in appearance and gaining a few bonuses. There are two different types of shifting in this book, giving different bonuses: Razorclaw shifters gain +2 speed and +1 to AC and Reflex; Longtooth shifters gain +2 to damage rolls and regeneration 2 while bloodied.

  All other abilities they might have come from training. You could take stat blocks for humans and other humanoids and make them into shifters by swapping their original signature traits with either form of Shifting.

  Both stat blocks below are Unaligned, and could be used either as foes or allies.

  Longtooth Hunter

  More of a bounty hunter, really. This Level 6 Soldier has 71 HP, wears mail, and fights with a longsword and shield. It has speed 5 due to the armor.

  Its basic longsword attacks also mark for a turn. Once per encounter, it can use a Hamstring maneuver, which allows it to make a basic attack and a secondary attack vs. Reflex on a hit: if that hits, the target is slowed (save ends).

  When an adjacent enemy shifts, the hunter can shift to follow it as a reaction. Note the small-s: this is the good old one-square move, not a transformation.

  When bloodied, the hunter Shifts with a capital S and gains the Longtooth bonuses.

  Razorclaw Stalker

  This Level 7 Skirmisher has 79 HP and Speed 6. It wears leather and wields a short sword.

  The sword is used for basic attacks and for ripostes, which allow the stalker to make a basic attack as a free action against anyone who hits it with an opportunity attack. The stalker also has the Skirmish trait, which gives it a damage bonus if it has moved at least 4 squares from its initial position before attacking.

  When bloodied, it can transform and gain the Razorclaw bonuses.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  There’s one sample encounter: Level 6, 2 longtooth hunters, 1 werewolf, and 2 dire wolves. A nice happy family.

  While the stat blocks in this entry are nothing spectacular, they work. Lore-wise I like shifters a lot, particularly on Eberron.

• Dec 2, 2020

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

  

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

  Shambling mounds are one of D&D’s most enduring plant monsters, being present in every edition since at least BECMI. Here, they are only on the Monster Manual, but they got an update in Dungeon 196.

  The Lore

  Animated piles of vegetable matter who roam the world’s swamps and marshes, shambling mounds are carnivores that draw prey into themselves using their ropelike tendrils. Then they feed by boring countless tiny roots into their trapped victim’s body.

  These creatures are nonsapient, but clever enough to pose as piles of mulch until suitable prey wanders by. They’re not primarily ambush predators, though - particularly hungry shambling mounds will go on the hunt.

  Shambling mounds are not only immune to electricity, but actually healed by lightning. I imagine this was a pretty big deal in editions past for those levels where Lightning Bolt was one of the wizard’s premier attack options. It’s a bit less of a problem now, except maybe for the party’s storm sorcerer. This also suggests the creatures like places where lightning storms are common, such as monsoon-blasted mangroves right next to those temples guarded by nagas. Sages speculate that the monsters are actually created when lightning hits a mass of plant matter in such places, though they don’t know what other factors might be involved in the process.

  Some shambling mound varieties have a further affinity to lightning and are able to store it in their bodies for use in combat.

  The Numbers

  Shambling mounds are Large Natural Animates with the Plant keyword. They have Darkvision and Swamp Walk, some level of Regeneration, and are immune to lightning damage. They also have a Lightning Affinity trait that heals them for 10 HP whenever they’re hit by a lightning attack.

  Aside from a damage update, the stat blocks from Dungeon are identical to the ones in the MM. We get two shambler stat blocks:

  Shambling Mound

  The classic model is a Level 9 Brute with 120 HP and the standard traits described above. Its land speed is a plodding 4, but due to Swamp Walk it won’t be hindered by difficult terrain in its native environment. They have Regeneration 5.

  It attacks with its tendrils, and can make an Enveloping Double Attack at will. This allows it to make two basic attacks, and if both hit the same Medium or smaller target, it makes a further attack against their Fortitude.

  A hit on that one pulls the target into the shambling mound! While in there, the victim is restrained and no other creature has line of sight or effect to it. At the start of the mound’s turns, those tiny boring roots drain the victim’s blood, dealing 10 damage and restoring 10 HP to the mound. Up to two such victims can be caught in this way. All of this is (save ends).

  A shambler with 2 victims inside heals 25 HP per turn! And since no one has line of effect to the victim, those cleric powers that allow free saves don’t work on them - they have to roll a natural save to escape, or have access to those save powers themselves. The Restrained condition would still allow them to attack at a penalty, but that same “no line of effect” clause means they can’t attack the shambler.

  Stormrage Shambler

  This is the one with batteries included. Stormrage Shamblers are Level 11 Elite Controllers with 238 HP and the standard traits listed above. Their land speed is a brisk 8, still with Swamp Walk. They have Regeneration 10.

  These shamblers project a Lightning Aura 2 that deal lighning damage to those enemies caught inside.

  Like the basic model, they also fight with their tendrils and can make Double Attacks, but don’t have the enveloping mechanics. Instead, the tendril attacks deal extra lightning damage when they’re bloodied. They can also fire a Lightning Blast once per encounter (Close Blast 3 vs. Reflex), which obviously do a bunch of lightning damage, half on a miss.

  They still have Lighning Affinity, with the added note that they can’t use it to heal themselves.

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  There’s one sample encounter: Level 9, 1 shambling mound, 3 assorted vine horrors, and 2 dryads. In Soviet Nerath, salad eats you.

  I like shambling mounds! Don’t think I ever used one, but I should really remedy that. The standard model is a bit more dangerous than its level implies, since there are few ways to grant extra saves to an enveloped victim and the extra healing they provide can make the fight last longer.

• Nov 23, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Shadar-Kai

  

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

  I believe shadar-kai originated in 3e, though they were completely different there. Here, they are only on the Monster Manual.

  The Lore

  Just as the Feywild contains fantastical reflections of wordly life forms, so does the Shadowfell present its own menagerie of dark reflections. The Shadar-kai seem to be the shadowy counterparts of humanity, being similar in shape and build but with ashen grey skin and black orbs for eyes. They live in the Shadowfell, venerate the Raven Queen and achieve a level of goth that can’t be found in the middle world.

  Shadar-kai culture and society are described as pitiless and meritocratic, and merit is measured by the great deeds you have to your name more than by wealth or personal connections. Note that great doesn’t necessarily mean good. Causing great chaos and suffering in the world is a great deed. So is murdering your rivals if they are themselves badass. Acting in the name of the Raven Queen counts, and isn’t a guarantee the service in question will be nice. Even a Good shadar-kai is likely to be a very gloomy and humorless individual. “Perky goth” is not really something they do.

  Another significant trait of shadar-kai culture is that they do not fear death, for they know the Raven Queen will see to their souls when they shuffle off this mortal coil. This might make them seem more extreme in all they do to someone from a more standard fantasy culture. Another monster entry ahead will hint that shadar-kai desire immortality despite not fearing death, so maybe this focus on great deeds has something to do with that. If you die anyway, at least people will remember how badass you were.

  Other sources would go on to make shadar-kai Dark Eldar-like, justifying the piercings and body art saying they pursue extreme sensation as a way to stave off the soul-draining malaise of the Shadowfell. I think this is going a bit overboard, personally. “They really like percings” should be reason enough for shadar-kay to have them!

  The Numbers

  Shadar-kai are typically Unaligned, which means the ones you meet might be evil, good, or doing something totally ortoghonal to your goals. Just like humans! I think they even got a playable writeup in Heroes of Shadow, though I don’t have that book so I can’t confirm.

  Their signature traits are low-light vision (a necessity in the Shadowfell) and Shadow Jaunt, an encounter power which allows them to teleport up to 3 squares and become insubstantial for a turn. All their other abilities derive from training and vary per stat block.

  Shadar-kai Chainfighter

  This is a Level 6 Skirmisher with 68 HP and speed 6. It wields a Reach 2 Spiked Chain in combat and its special attack is the Dance of Death (recharge 6). This allows it to shift 6 squares and make up to three basic chain attacks against different enemies along the move. These attacks deal a bit of bonus necrotic damage.

  This stat block might also be reskinned into a lower-level khyton devil. Despite the similar chain theme, khytons and shadar-kai aren’t actually related here.

  Shadar-kai Gloomblade

  A swordsman that uses shadow magic to supplement its techniques. It’s a Level 6 Lurker with 54 HP and Speed 5. It wears chain and wields a Greatsword.

  As a move action the gloomblade can use Veil of Shadows to become invisible until the end of its turn and move its speed. This can only be used while it’s unbloodied. This pairs with the Gloomstrike passive trait, which adds a “blinded for a turn” rider to attacks made against targets that can’t see the gloomblade.

  This makes them good at focus fire - use the Veil to get close to the chosen victim, and keep hitting them with Gloomstrike to keep them blind and vulnerable. If you miss, use the Veil or Shadow Jaunt to get away and try again.

  Shadar-kai Witch

  This Level 7 Controller has 77 HP and is all about shadow magic. It fights in melee with a Blackfire Touch (vs. Reflex) that does fire and necrotic damage. At range it uses Beshadowed Mind (ranged 10 vs. Will; recharge 4-6) to cause necrotic damage and limit the target’s sight range to 2 squares (save ends).

  Once per encounter it can cast a spell named Deep Shadow, animating the shadows around itself. This works as an aura 2 that provides concealment to allies, and deals 5 damage to enemies caught inside. It can be sustained with a minor action, but dissipates if the witch uses Shadow Jaunt or moves more than half its speed in a turn.

  Shadar-kai Warrior

  The warrior is a Level 8 Soldier with 86 HP. It wields paired katars and can make a double attack in its action. Its main special technique is Cage of Gloom (recharge 5-6), in which it makes a basic katar attack that causes shadowy tendrils to materialize and envelop the enemy. This is a secondary attack against Reflex, and a hit restrains the target (save ends).

  Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

  Two encounters:

  • Level 6: 2 chain fighters, 2 gloomblades, 1 mad wraith. These are likely not loyal servants of the Raven Queen, who dislikes undead.

  • Level 8: 1 witch, 1 warrior, 2 rot scarab swarms and 1 spectral panther. The panther is likely a pet, and the scarabs either opportunists or controlled by magic.

  I kinda like shadar-kai. Their extreme gothness is a very distinctive look, and I find it less annoyingly edgy than what Pathfinder did with Khytons. I also like that they’re unaligned, meaning it’s common to find them as either enemies or allies.

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