Omcyclovores
It is said that in some universe where food was scarce and science powerful, these odd little creatures were created by a group of scientists to make use of what little biological matter was available. Dubbed Omcyclovores, they were designed to consume useless biowaste and convert it into tasty, at least somewhat nutritious, food. Once an Omcyclovore had eaten its fill, someone would come along to smash it, and retrieve from its stomach a delicious sandwich.
After the Big Mistake, a small population of these creatures was released into the wilds of Gamma Terra. With no people around to harvest them, and enough self-preservation instincts programmed into their heads to avoid predators, the Omcyclovores simply continued to eat, growing as they did so. And as they did, the little beasts became larger, more vicious beasts, which would even turn on each other when other food was not easily available.
There are rumors that some brave people once attempted to tame these creatures for use in providing for their communities. No one knows if they were successful, or if they have become the sandwiches they hoped to eat.
Lesser Gamma Portal
A swirling vortex of crackling purple energy, the wind whips around this strange hole in reality.
Throughout the wastes of Gamma Terra are many concentrations of Alpha Flux radiation. In some places, these concentrations become so powerful that they create dangerous portals between the myriad of universes in existence. These portals sometimes attract nearby feral creatures, which are often strengthened by the constant exposure, whereas others draw creatures from other universes to defend them.
These strange anomalies are not intelligent, per se- they have no minds, yet seem to act in such a way as to preserve themselves. There are rumors that they even reproduce, larger portals spinning off numerous smaller portals as they travel the land.
The Impelling Gamma Portal focuses mainly on slowing the enemy down, and plays best with creatures that can take advantage of this. If in danger of being boxed in, the Portal can use Portal Form and Shimmering blur to reach a more advantageous position. The Impelling Gamma Portal tends to attract the more intelligent animals or unintelligent humanoids, who use it as a tool to help them hunt and kill prey- how they keep it from attacking them is unknown.
The Conveyant Gamma Portal fights by slowing enemies down and pushing them around, while simultaneously buffing allies and helping them to move to more tactical positions. These Gamma Portals tend to act as a one way gate to bring creatures to it, which are either devoured or added to its growing collection of followers.
The Divergent Gamma Portal’s goal in combat is draw enemies into range of its powerful close burst attacks. While its own powers are aimed towards this goal, so are the powers of the Minute Gamma Portals it spawns, which can be teleported after any shy enemies using conveyance, then explode using Unstable Existence to draw them closer to the Solo. The Divergent Gamma Portal may seem impossible to close, but once it uses Resurgence of the Singularity the party will find that, despite its momentarily increased stability, it becomes weak to force-typed attacks, allowing them to wrench it shut once and for all.
Constructive criticism on these monsters is encouraged- I’m still learning the ropes of DMing and monster making, so I need all the help I can get! Thanks, everyone!
-LtR
A Challenger Has Appeared!
Greetings all!
Linktoreality here, a player from the group cynicaloctopus is in. Now that the DM’s chair has gone around the table, I’ve decided to take my turn to run D&D 4E Gamma World. While I’m at it, I’d like to share some of the more entertaining bits my brain cooks up.
Since cynicaloctopus is playing in my game, and hasn’t been posting anything he does in the other game he runs, Tarrasqueous here will probably serve as my own personal area for awhile… unless he’d like to contest that with a bit of content… 
Anywho, look forward to my first real post, coming soon!
-LtR
Quick update
I’m still alive! Of course, you probably know that if you’ve been following my Twitter feed. I just updated the blog to WordPress 3, cleaned out a bunch of spam from the last few days, and set up Akismet (a spam filter). I don’t know if many of you are reading this. Hopefully a few of you have Tarrasqueous on your RSS reader by now. At any rate, I’m going to try to post something next week. Expect it!
Original Content: The Waking Nightmare
Gibbs pushed through the panicked crowd, fighting against the flow of traffic as he made his way to the source of the commotion. Even the city’s black-armored doomguards ran away from the adventurers’ target. The dwarven cleric was not an imposing figure, and stood a head shorter than most of the members of the frightened mob. He was grateful, then, when his more barbaric companion parted the crowd with a roar. “Everybody move!” Bellowed the dragonborn, a small jet of flame from his draconic maw emphasizing his urgency.
Gibbs moved forward through the scattered crowd. “Thane, they’re frightened enough as it is,” he chastised. “You’re lucky this scene scared away the guards or you’d have us arrested.” The center of the cold infirmary was now empty except for a tiny human child convulsing on the floor. “Let’s get this over with.”
“With those fools in the way, we might not have gotten here in time,” noted the psion. The eladrin moved to lift up the child by the arms. “The nightmare would have claimed the child and escaped us again. Hurry up.”
Gibbs frowned briefly at Allan’s condescension. He took his holy symbol in one hand, and the implement glowed with radiant light. He held it to the child’s dirty face, and the boy stopped shaking, wide eyes glossed over with a pitch-black film. “Demon! Come out from this vessel and face us!” The cleric compelled the monster that possessed the young human, focusing his will into the exorcism. His challenge was answered by a psychic grumble.
“Mortals! I am no foolish demon. You cannot stop me, but I will humor you by devouring your wills. Cower before me.” A burst of psychic energy knocked Gibbs and Allan back, as a dreadful shadow creature erupted from the boy. The apparition was the most horrible thing Gibbs had ever seen, an eight-legged monstrosity that towered over him with clicking mandibles. Thane growled lowly, scales bristling at the sight of a shadowy illithid. Allan’s vision was not so concrete, but it filled him with an primal fear. If this thing could appear in this human town, could his own home be safe for his family?
The heroes tried to push the fears out of their minds, and prepared for battle.
The Waking Nightmare is a shadowy predator that lurks in societies that are ruled by fear. The monster takes root in the hearts of the weak willed, slowly devouring their spirit until they fade away in a frightful seizure. While the waking nightmare prefers to subtly work its evil from inside the hearts of its prey, it is a deadly opponent to confront head-to-head. Even out in the open, it will overtly emanate waves of terror, and feeds off of those too weak to control their fear.
Waking NightmareLevel 12 Solo Controller
Large shadow humanoid (fear, shapechanger)XP 3,500
Initiative +8
Senses Perception +9; darkvision
HP 468; Bloodied 234
AC 26; Fortitude 23; Reflex 24; Will 20
Resist 15 necrotic; Vulnerable 10 psychic, 5 radiant
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6 , Fly 8 , Teleport 4
Action Points 2
Traits
Nightmare Murmurs • Aura 1
Enemies in the aura take a -2 penalty to Will defense.
Standard Actions
Grim Lash (fear, psychic) • At-Will
Reach 2; +17 vs AC; 2d6 + 5 psychic damage, and the target is slid 1 square
Paralyzing Fear (fear, psychic) • At-Will
Ranged 20; +16 vs Will; 2d6 + 5 psychic damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends).
Nightmare’s Flurry (fear, psychic) • At-Will
The Waking Nightmare makes any combination of two Grim Lash or Paralyzing Fear attacks. If the Nightmare is bloodied, it instead makes three attacks.
Frightful Presence (fear) • Encounter
Close burst 10; targets enemies; +16 vs Will; the target is stunned until the end of the nightmare’s next turn. Aftereffect: The target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends)
Minor Actions
Personal Demons (fear) • Recharge 5 6, Recharge 3 4 5 6 when bloodied
Close burst 10; targets enemies; +14 vs Will; a Spectral Nightmare appears in a square adjacent to the target. The Spectral Nightmare acts after the Waking Nightmare.
Triggered Actions
Dreadful Form (fear, polymorph) • Immediate Interrupt
The Nightmare assumes the form of one of its prey’s deepest fears.
Trigger: The Nightmare is hit by an attack
Attack: Close burst 10; targets one enemy; +16 vs Will; the target takes a -4 penalty to attack rolls against the nightmare (save ends). Only one creature can be affected by this power at a time.
The Waking Nightmare spawns these minions:
Spectral NightmareLevel 12 Minion Soldier
Medium shadow humanoid
Initiative – (acts after Waking Nightmare)
Senses Perception +9
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 28; Fortitude 24; Reflex 24; Will 20
Speed 6
Standard Actions
Haunting (fear, psychic) • At-Will
+17 vs Will; 5 psychic damage and the target is marked until the Spectral Nightmare dies.
I built this monster a while ago because I wanted to play with a few ideas. I’ve always liked the idea of a minion-spawning solo (or even elites). Characters chew through minions fast enough that throwing all of them at the players at once will sometimes make them completely useless. The Waking Nightmare on his own doesn’t have a lot of damage output, but he’s built to keep himself alive while his babies swarm the players, who in turn make it hard to focus on the big bad with their marks. Controllers and artillery monsters love soldiers, just like the players’ squishy controllers and strikers love their defenders. I also reduced the monster’s will defense and gave it psychic vulnerability to add a bit of flavor- its real weakness is a strong-willed opponent, and it’s easy to picture a fearless bard curbstomping the Waking Nightmare with Vicious Mockery.
Worldbreakers: The Ragnarök Tarrasque
Parchar the Unquenchable stood before the enormous, dying tree. His gestures and words completed the ritual, as streams of necrotic energies flowed into the impossibly large ash. He held up his chalice to collect the crimson sap bleeding from the tree’s bark, and turned to face the heroes as they flew in. As he brought the cup to his dessicated lips, the earth shook, and the world tree behind him began to collapse beneath its own weight. Casting aside the empty chalice, the lich rasped, “You’re too late, fools! I drink the blood of Yggdrasil, and my apotheosis begins!”
Gravos drew his fullblade, holding it at the ready, as his companions prepared for battle. The shaking of the earth reached a crescendo, and the Parchar’s vile laughter was cut short. The dirt of the crater which once cradled the roots of the world tree shifted and flowed, and an enormous, reptilian head erupted beneath Parchar’s feet. With a snapping of its jaws, the creature rent the villain’s body in half, and brought itself fully out of the earth. The tarrasque had come, but its body was sheathed in plates of solid rock, and studded with crystalline geodes.
“Kent, what is that thing?” The goliath warden called back over to his wizard companion, over the bone-shattering roar of the Tarrasque. Kent seemingly knew everything, and this time was no different. He replied calmly. “The Tarrasque is the fruit of the world tree. While once every few ages this abomination surfaces for trivial reasons, the fruit truly flowers on the tree’s death. This is the seed of the new world tree, and we need to crack its shell open and replant it.” A shadow behind the gargantuan monster twirled a dagger too small to possibly harm the beast. “Let’s make it bleed, then.” Said the rogue, as the defender charged into melee.
The Ragnarök Tarrasque is an even more devastating incarnation of the abomination we all know and love. It surfaces when the World Tree is in grave danger, reaching its full intensity with the tree’s death, reflecting the truly brutal circle of life.
Ragnarök TarrasqueLevel 31 Solo Brute
Gargantuan elemental magical beast XP 115,000
Initiative +23
Senses Perception +19; blindsight
HP 1,291; Bloodied 645
AC 44; Fortitude 50; Reflex 39; Will 33
Immune charm; fear; Resist 15 to all damage
Saving Throws +5
Speed 8 , Burrow 8 , Climb 8
Action Points 2
Traits
Earthbinding • Aura 40
Any flying creature in the aura has its fly speed reduced to 1 and maximum altitude reduced to 20 feet (putting it within the tarrasque’s reach). Any creature above this altitude at the end of its turn falls to an altitude of 20 feet automatically.
Elder of Annihilation
The tarrasque’s attacks ignore all resistances.
Eternal Slumber
When the tarrasque is reduced to 0 hit points, it sinks back into the world’s core and slumbers once again.
Standard Actions
Bite • At-Will
Reach 3; +35 vs AC; 1d12 + 16 damage, and ongoing 15 damage (save ends)
Rending Bite • At-Will
Reach 3; +34 vs AC; 3d12 + 16 damage, and the target takes a -5 penalty to AC (save ends).
Tail Slap • At-Will
Reach 3; Cannot be used against a target attacked with a bite this turn.; +34 vs AC; 3d12 + 16 damage, and the target is pushed 4 squares and knocked prone.
Fury of the Tarrasque • At-Will
The tarrasque makes a bite attack and a Rending Bite or Tail Slap attack.
Tectonic Apocalypse • Worldbreaker 3
The earth of the battlefield shakes and ruptures, creating five tectonic sinkholes, each occupying 5×5 zones on the battlefield. A huge or smaller creature that starts its turn in a tectonic sinkhole is pulled 1 square towards the center, and a creature that is knocked prone in a tectonic sinkhole takes 2d12 damage. This effect lasts for 2 rounds.
Trample (Tectonic Apocalypse) • At-Will
The tarrasque can move up to its speed and enter enemies’ spaces. This movement provokes opportunity attacks, and the tarrasque must end its move in an unoccupied space. When it enters an enemy’s space, the tarrasque makes a trample attack; +32 vs Reflex; 1d12 + 16 damage, and the target is slid 2 squares and knocked prone
Tectonic Annihilation (Tectonic Apocalypse) • At-Will
Melee 1; +32 vs Fortitude; 5d12 + 16 damage, and the target is entombed (save ends). While entombed, the target takes ongoing 15 damage, is stunned, and is buried underground. It doesn’t have line of sight or line of effect to anything.
Triggered Actions
Reflective Hide • Recharge 4 5 6
Trigger: The tarrasque is hit by a ranged attack.
Effect (Immediate Interrupt):The attacker misses the tarrasque and instead makes the triggering attack against itself.
Non-Actions
Brutal Shakeoff (Tectonic Apocalypse) • At-Will
The tarrasque takes 31 damage and removes one effect from itself. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.
Obviously, this monster is built on the chassis of the original Tarrasque, with modifications. I changed things up enough without (hopefully) losing the Tarrasque’s original flavor, and fortunately, the upgrades for Worldbreaker mechanics speak directly to the theme originally intended for this abomination. I started by simplifying the ‘phase’ mechanic already built into the Tarrasque, and let it use all of its melee attacks regardless of its bloodied condition. I left in its traits, and added an important power that gives it a chance to strike back against ranged attackers. Many of you will recognize Reflective Hide as a nod to the original 3.5 Tarrasque‘s ability to reflect certain spells back on the caster. I picture this new ability as an effect of the geodes that stud the rocky carapace of the Ragnarök Tarrasque.
The rest of the powers I added are all built around the Worldbreaker design philosophy. The enraged tarrasque rends the earth with primordial earthquakes, creating zones of churning rock. These tectonic meat grinders obliterate anything unfortunate enough to lose its footing there. The tarrasque is happy to help this process along by knocking its foes into those zones, prone, with Tail Slap and Trample. Tectonic Annihilation is one of those powers designed to make the players weep tears of blood, when the Ragnarök Tarrasque brings its full focused might to bear on a single enemy. I also tacked on Brutal Shakeoff, which I suspect should be standard operating procedure with all worldbreaker solos.
I increased the level by one, but I didn’t want to bring it up too high. I think the level 33-35 solo battle should be reserved for the campaign’s BBEG, and I can’t picture many campaigns having the tarrasque fight as the final showdown. In the example encounter I wrote, I’d imagine Parchar the Unquenchable taking the time to recover from his hilarious brutalization during this battle, then truly confronting the characters with some minions after they’ve been roughed up a bit by the tarrasque.
4e Monster Statblock Stylesheet
Since I plan to use this blog to publish custom monsters alongside other things, I thought it would make sense to make a stylesheet so the beasties show up properly. It supports the MM3 format, and this Tiefling will show you how the stylesheet looks. This stylesheet, and the 8 small images associated with it, have a creative commons license detailed at the CSS file’s header. Please use it if you think it will be useful for you!
The CSS itself is a bit tedious to apply to a stat block, but I tried to make it logical and standards-compliant. If and when the MM3 update applies to the Monster Builder, I am going to build a Python script that will automatically convert the plaintext output to styled HTML. Please give me feedback!
Samson, Tiefling ForcemageLevel 13 Elite Controller
Medium natural humanoidXP 1,600
Initiative +9
Senses Perception +10
HP 256; Bloodied 128
AC 27; Fortitude 24; Reflex 26; Will 25
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points 1
Traits
Static Field • Aura 2
Squares in the aura cost enemies one additional square of movement to enter.
Standard Actions
Quarterstaff • At-Will
+18 vs AC; 1d10 + 6 damage.
Magic Missile Barrage (arcane, force) • At-Will
+17 vs Reflex; 2d8 + 6 force damage and the target is pushed 1 square.
Entangling Force (arcane, force) • Recharge 3 4 5 6
Area burst 1; +17 vs Reflex; 3d10 + 6 force damage, and the target is slowed and cannot shift or teleport until the end of Samson’s next turn.
Minor Actions
Quickened Repelling Sphere (arcane, force) • Recharge 5 6
Close burst 3; +17 vs Fortitude; 1d10 + 6 force damage, and the target is pushed to a space outside the burst.
Triggered Actions
Infernal Wrath (fire) • Encounter
Trigger: Samson is hit by an enemy within 10 squares
Effect: The attacker takes 2d6 + 6 fire damage.
When my group first started 4th edition, a few of my players liked to complain about the ‘lack of options’ compared to their old 3.5 characters. While everyone liked that a fighter could now do more than charge and full attack, the other classes felt less versatile. 4th edition’s spellcasters now carry the restriction of having no more attack powers than you can count on your fingers, and this irked my players who were used to playing batman wizards or CoDzillas. I decided to meet them halfway with a houserule called ‘Versatility Points’. Like many good inventions, though, the real point of this article is in a side effect from the experiment. I’ll get to that later.
Versatility points behave on the same mechanic as action points. A character starts the day fresh with one versatility point, gains one at each milestone, and can spend one per encounter. Each character was allowed to select ‘secondary’ encounter powers at each level, and they can spend a versatility point as a free action to use the alternate power in place of the regular one. While it isn’t so overpowered as to make obsolete class features like the Wizard’s Tome of Readiness, it is enough of a compromise to make my players happy. On the other hand, a few of my players were happy with the simpler 4e power selection, and didn’t want the trouble of picking an extra array of encounter powers. I made an alternate use for versatility points, and this turned out to be really golden.
The rule is simple: A character can spend a versatility point to ‘bend the rules’ slightly, subject to DM approval. I rarely veto these requests since the characters each only get 1 per two encounters. Here’s a short list of creative uses of versatility points, some of which my players have used to great effect:
- Jump on an enemy from a great height, and split falling damage
- Use a magic item in a way slightly different from rules-as-written
- Use a fire attack power to ignite flammable (but otherwise incidental) objects on the battlemap
- Use a cold attack power to immobilize a wet or submerged creature until the end of your next turn, or gain a bonus to hit with a lightning power on that creature.
- Drop part of the terrain environment (like a shelf full of acids) on an enemy to do some page 42 damage.
Generally, these stunts are something that is terrain or scene-based, so a character can’t repeat the same ‘stunt’ over and over later in the adventure. Furthermore, I restrict the power level of a stunt to the level of a good encounter power. This keeps combat interesting without letting this new option make the characters overpowered. I like these mechanics way more than my original versatility point mechanics, and I might keep the ‘better half’ of these houserules in the next game I run.
Postscript: In a way, this houserule addresses another important difference between earlier editions of D&D and 4e. Compare any two powers from 3.5 and 4e, and you’ll notice that the 3.5 power tends to be more exception-based, and the 4e power is modular. The 3.5 version of fireball is relatively full of notes, qualifiers, and rules for line of sight, melting objects, etc. The 4e version of fireball, on the other hand, is a simple power that achieves a similar effect in 90% of cases. A character could spend a versatility point to bring back from of that 3.5 ‘flavor’ and let their powers affect the game world in more elemental ways.
Let me know what you think, or give suggestions for other versatile stunts in the comments!
This is a continuation of Worldbreakers Playtest: The Fernia’s Throat Bebilith, Setup.
The Rediron Avengers rested near the Scab after defeating the mind flayer, whose lair laid between them and Fernia’s Throat. In the night, Korrak the warforged warlock had set to the task of picking through the scab while the party slept. A short while before the party had planned to rise, they were abruptly awoken by a loud, arcane noise. They hurried out of camp in time to see Korrak standing upon the Scab, in which an unmistakable glowing mark of the Prophecy had been carved. With a crack, the Scab collapsed into Fernia’s Throat, casting Korrak down towards the pinprick of molten light at the bottom of the shaft.
Without a second thought, Tima, the winged halfling avenger, dove in after him as the rest of the party shrugged and assumed they’d find their way back up. When a five minute wait failed to return their two companions, they decided they’d better follow them down. Tima’s dump stats are strength and constitution, nor was she trained in athletics or endurance, so there was no way the little halfling would fly, carrying the 200 lb warforged, any real distance back up the shaft. She could only slow his descent as the rest of the party pooled all of their late paragon resources to figure out a way down.
Descending a 15 mile shaft which gently slopes in increasing diameter, whose walls become molten, is no easy feat. Without access to any flight rituals, the adventurers rigged together two tents, a bunch of rope, and a dose of sovereign glue for good measure. A few nature, thievery, and arcana checks built a pretty badass, fire resistant parachute. (Resistant is the operative word here). With crossed fingers, a collective prayer, and the guidance of the party’s druid in raven form, they began their descent. Hours later, after a few acrobatics checks to barely avoid volcanic thermals casting the parachute into the molten walls, the party found their two castaways hiding from the Bebilith on an earthmote.
As soon as the rest of the party floated out of the shaft, the Bebilith turned on them, mandibles clicking madly. The heat was on, and initiative was rolled as they touched down on an earthmote.
AH FUCK THEY'RE CURBSTOMPING ALL OVER MY HEAD I CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING. Photo courtesy of @linktoreality.
That’s when the tables turned. On the Bebilith’s turn, the players looked onward with shit-eating grins, which turned into wide-eyed surprise as I turned the figure upright. “The Bebilith spends a standard action (ignoring the stun) to clear all effects on it. It also shook off your hunter’s quarry, oath of enmity, warlock’s curse, and mark of warding.” I expected a clusterfuck of rage as it shook off two dailies, but the players took it really well. I think it helped that I warned them I’d be playtesting a new mechanic. It spent an action point and snapped at that pesky flying halfling with its Devour power. She burned some item daily to avoid the attack. Smart move, Tima.
The Bebilith unleashes Fiery Death Webs, clearing all effects and covering the map with hazardous terrain. Photo courtesy of @linktoreality.
On the druid’s next turn, he used Baleful Polymorph.
He actually turned it into a praying mantis, but we didn't have that figure. Photo courtesy of @linktoreality.
That ate up two of the Bebilith’s worldbreaker turns as it rolled a 2(+5) on its first saving throw. When it finally recovered, it spent its standard action to summon its minions into flanking positions, then spend its last action point and tried to land another Devour attack on Tima. Sheldara the swordmage interrupted it with Dimensional Vortex, redirecting its hungry wrath towards one of its little minion spiders. See what I mean about ‘more control than one solo can deal with’? The Bebilith gobbled up one of its broodlings, and became very sad.
The last two turns (remember, the Bebilith gets two turns per round) of the Worldbreaker timer consisted of the Bebilith whiffing with one Devour attack, then finally landing one on Tima. That pissed the party off enough for them to defeat the demon with one last barrage.
What’s the verdict? Worldbreaker is awesome, and exciting, and not overpowering. However, its ability to mitigate the party curbstomp was still limited. I’d suggest giving every Worldbreaker Sly Flourish’s Brutal Shakeoff power while the Worldbreaker state is active, so they can keep going without the players feeling cheated. My players and I agreed that the map changeup when Worldbreaker hit made the combat more exciting and dynamic. A few notes on the timing and specific effects of Worldbreaker could stand to be clarified, and I think gamefiend plans to address this in his next post on the subject.
On Friday, I read a great article from gamefiend on At-Will on how to make our solo monsters more epic. If you haven’t already read it, it’s here. I fell in love right away with the new mechanic, and promised to playtest it at my next game. Here’s the results of that playtest.
First, a little background (or skip ahead to the stat block if you don’t want to sit through my storytelling.) The adventuring company, the Rediron Avengers, is descending into Khyber (the elemental chaos) to retrieve a powerful Khyber dragonshard they’ll need to seal the campaign’s BBEG. Specifically, it’s in the molten fortress of Fernia. To get there, they passed through “The Scab” beneath the Obsidian City, deep in Xen’drik, where the elemental plane of fire is closest to the skin of Eberron. After picking away the volcanic crust on the surface, the adventurers opened up Fernia’s Throat, a 15 mile straight shot down into the fiery abyss. I trusted my paragon-level adventurers to figure out a way to handle the descent.
The shaft is solid volcanic rock near the surface, but becomes a tube of ever-molten lava as a traveler approaches Fernia, and the worldly laws of physics give way to the rule of cool. The bottom of the throat opens into a vast sea of lava, with molten rock flowing with no regard for gravity all along the chamber’s ceiling, walls, and floor. Between the throat and the sea, though, lurked the star of this playtest: the Fernia’s Throat Bebilith.
Fernia’s Throat Bebilith
Huge elemental magical beast (demon)
Level 18 Solo Brute XP 10000Initiative +16 (see dangersense) Senses Perception +14; darkvision, tremorsense 20
Spectral Death Web aura 3; each enemy within the aura that is hit by an attack loses all resistances until the end of its next turn.
HP 696; Bloodied 348
AC 30; Fortitude 30, Reflex 31, Will 29
Resist 20 fire, 20 variable (2/encounter)
Saving Throws +5
Speed 12, climb 12 (spider climb)
Action Points 2Reaving Claw (standard, at-will)
Reach 3; +21 vs AC; 2d10+6 damage, and the target takes a cumulative -1 penalty to AC each time it is hit until the end of the encounter.
Flashing Claws (standard, at-will)
The bebilith makes two reaving claw attacks against two different targets.
Venomous Bite (standard; usable only while bloodied, recharge ) Poison
+21 vs AC; 2d8+6 damage, and ongoing 10 poison damage (save ends).
Dangersense
The bebilith acts two times in a round, on initiative counts 20 and 10. It cannot delay or ready actions. On each turn, it has a standard action instead of its normal allotment of actions.
Hellfire Webs (standard; worldbreaker) Worldbreaker 3, Zone
The fiery death web covering the battlefield moves in two squares to cover the edges of the earthmotes, affecting characters in those squares as if they had entered the fiery death web. After two rounds, the Hellfire Webs effect ends at the end of the Bebilith’s turn.
Arachnid Brood (standard; at-will) Hellfire Webs
Can only be used during Hellfire Webs. The bebilith summons 5 Bebilith Broodlings anywhere on the web.
Devour (standard; at-will) Hellfire Webs
Can only be used during Hellfire Webs. The bebilith singles out its prey, subduing it with webbing before descending with its gnashing mandibles.
+19 vs Fortitude, 4d10+6 damage, the Bebilith regains 50 hit points and the target is petrified (save ends).
This beastie was paired with two smaller stat blocks, the hellfire webs and the Bebilith Broodlings:
Fiery Death Web
Level 16 Hazard
When a character enters a square of the Fiery Death Web or ends its turn there, the target becomes slowed and takes ongoing 10 fire damage (save ends).
First Failed Save: The target becomes restrained (until escape) and takes ongoing 15 fire damage (save ends).
A square of Fiery Death Web can be targeted with attacks:
HP 25
Immune Fire, Resist 10 all,
AC 28; Fortitude 28, Reflex 20
If a square is reduced to 0 hit points, it and each square adjacent to it are destroyed.
Bebilith Broodling
Medium elemental magical beast (demon)
Level 18 Minion XP 0Initiative +16
Senses Perception +14; darkvision, tremorsense 20
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 30; Fortitude 19, Reflex 31, Will 29
Resist 20 fire,Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Om nom nom (standard, at-will)
+21 vs AC; 10 damage.
Hunter’s Reflexes (immediate reaction, when an enemy moves into an adjacent space; encounter)
The bebilith broodling shifts 1 square.
Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Abyssal
Str 22 (+15) Dex 25 (+16) Wis 20 (+14)
Con 22 (+15) Int 5 (+6) Cha 19 (+13)
The Rediron Avengers face off against the Fernia's Throat Bebilith. Photo courtesy of @linktoreality
The map consisted of three earthmotes suspended in the web, with the rest of the grid covered in Fiery Death Web. Two earthmotes were 5×5 squares, one was 6×6, which just left 1-4 squares in the middle when the Worldbreaker power triggered. I also changed a few parts of Worldbreaker’s mechanics- instead of rolling for the duration, I set it to a static 2 rounds to help reduce bookkeeping and reduce the chance of overpowering/ineffectual Worldbreaker phases. As far as the countdown timer, I only used the Bebilith’s first action to count down and activate the Worldbreaker timers. Finally, I removed the Flaming Web and Hunter’s Reflexes powers of the ordinary Bebilith to make room for the Worldbreaker powers.
It’s been a long day, so I’ll post the play-by-play of the fight tomorrow. Spoilers: It was awesome.