Paragons of Fey Virtue

The last time I ran Erui one of the highlights was when the characters defeated some Winter Court agents and jacked their magic shit, which resulted in Beth’s character gaining a figurine of wondrous power that was an ice unicorn. Immediately after using it the game devolved into a bunch of Charlie the Unicorn jokes, which was fine because I can do the voice alright and they started it.

This time around I had initially intended to try and shoehorn in another unicorn for her, partially because it is a Feywild game, and partially because it is generally a safe bet that a female gamer–and to be fair some male ones–will want one.

Unfortunately Beth threw a curve at me by not only playing a male character, but a pixie of all things, which is why I find this article of fey-themed paragon paths deliciously ironic.

White Horn Knight
This would actually have worked out if you did not need to be able to wear heavy armor. Most of the features and powers have a decidedly leader-like quality, allowing you to dole out temp hps to adjacent allies when burning a healing surge, or allowing a nearby ally to heal when using the attack powers. There is some passive stuff, like a bonus against diseases and poison, as well as being able to ignore difficult terrain when charging due to rapid teleporting.

Really though the point of this path is being able to summon a unicorn at level 12 that you can ride around on, which gives you a bonus when charging, has its own kick attack, and can teleport and dole out a saving throw once per encounter.

Moon Hunter
Despite its focus on shapechangers I really dig this paragon path, which is basically a individual empowered by the Maiden of the Moon–or otherwise attuned to it–to help remove lycanthropes from the world. With the exception of the level 12 utility all of its abilities work on anything, but gain a bonus against shapechangers or creatures affected by a polymorph effect. It is alright, but will definitely work better if the DM makes it clear that the campaign will include were-critters or if the party has someone who can dole out polymorph effects ahead of time (witch, anyone?).

Soaring Rake
This paragon path demands that you either be fey or at least have a fey-pact going on, and be trained in Acrobatics. In exchange you get the ability to fly by doing basically anything part of it: spend an action point? Fly. Use the level 11 attack? Fly. Use the level 20? Everyone. FLIES. Hell, at level 12 you gain a once-per-round at-will that lets you fly. Whether or not the lack of faerie wings is a benefit depends entirely on your taste and/or orientation.

I like this article but while my players are not too far ahead to benefit from it, two are channeling concepts more at home in Kara-Tur, and the third is too small for a unicorn and can already fly. Oh well, maybe I can kill ’em off and start over.

Demons & Devils

Hordelings
Hordelings were first featured in Book of Vile Darkness, presented as a Gargantuan swarm that could spawn 1-4 minion brutes once per round when it got hit. This article adds the greater hordeling, which is more in line with what I remember from Planescape–and possibly 3rd Edition, I honestly don’t remember–as you choose from any monster role except soldier, and then roll on a bunch of tables to generate the rest of its capabilities; size, speed, sight, special attacks, and even appearance  9which has 17 tables to go through). It is a nice throwback to their roots, and I highly endorse it.

Infernal Prince
It is really too bad that Blackdirge cannot be a full-time member of the staff as I really dig his stuff, and the infernal prince theme is no exception. A character with this theme is directly related to an infernal lord, most often Asmodeus and Mephistopheles, which sends a tutor to them to basically school them in the ways of horribleness.

The starting features give you a power bonus on fire attacks (I am sooo going to make another tiefling pyromancer), in addition to hellfire heart, an encounter kicker that can be used on any attack you make, dealing scaling fire damage and imposing an attack penalty for a turn. 5th-level gives you a bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy, in addition to a reroll against natural humanoids if you roll too low, and at level 10 you recharge hellfire heart when bloodied (and it does more damage if you use it against that target).

• Devil’s Due (level 2 daily): When you grant an ally a power bonus or let them burn a surge, you gain a defense bonus for the rest of the encounter and temp hps. On the downside your ally’s surge value is halved for the encounter. So, good for leaders?
• Liar’s Lure (level 6 encounter): A friendly-fire AoE that lets you make a Bluff check to gain combat advantage against each target for a turn.
• Infernal Inheritor (level 10 daily): A polymorph effect that imposes an automatic attack penalty for a turn, and then gives you darkvision, fire resistance, and a bonus on Fort and Will for the rest of the encounter. Unfortunately, the fire resistance doesn’t stack or boost existing resistances.

Making Race Count, Part 2

Despite starting up a campaign with its roots firmly entrenched in the Feywild, none of my players are playing races that benefit from an article that gives drow, eladrin, and elves the option of taking racially thematic powers.

Drow

• Glimmering Forms: A level 2 at-will that seems reminiscent of dancing lights from previous editions, functioning as a souped up version of light; you can move it, and you can also alter what it appears like in an attempt to trick people.
• Vanish From View: A level 6 encounter interrupt that lets you make a Stealth check when hit and you have concealment or cover. If you beat the attack roll, it not only misses but you gain combat advantage for a turn.
• Quell Magic: This level 10 daily lets you drop an area-effect attack on all conjurations and zones, destroying them if you hit. 
• Dark Doorway: While hidden this level 16 daily lets you teleport, but you must be able to hide in the destination. 

Eladrin

• Sense Magic: This level 2 encounter lets you auto-detect all magic within range and then roll to identify each source at the cost of one minor action.
• Eladrin Escape: A level 6 utility that lets you teleport for free after being missed with a melee attack.
• Recursive Thought: When you save against a daze or stun, this level 10 daily lets you stun or daze them for a turn.
• Spiral Dance Assault: Once per round when you hit an enemy in melee, this level 16 at-will lets you teleport to any square adjacent to them.

Elf

• Long View: This level 2 encounter lets you gain combat advantage for a turn against an enemy that you attack with a long- or shortbow.
• Leave No Trace: A level 6 daily stance that lasts until your roll initiative, end it (for some reason), or until eight hours have passed. While it is up, creatures have a much harder time tracking you, and you and all adjacent allies gain a bonus to Stealth.
• Determined Accuracy: A level 10 daily that lets you reroll a spent elven accuracy again, with a bonus.
• Communion: This level 16 encounter lets you burn a healing surge to gain temporary hit points and heal an adjacent ally (so you need to have at least one left).

Heroic Tier Rituals

So…rituals. Well, also ritual feats. Rituals have been a tricky thing in my games, despite my including them–both in book and scroll form–with the specific intent to give my players an edge, components to use them, and reducing the casting time on a lot of them.

Who knows, maybe new Ritual Feats will give them the last bit of incentive they need? You need Ritual Caster as well as some rituals to pick them up, but they let you use your skills in flexible ways and eliminate the cost of using a ritual once per day. For example, Binding Mastery lets you use Arcana or Religion in place of Diplomacy and Intimidate against unnatural creatures, as well as a bonus. I like the flavor behind this, using your knowledge of binding magic to threaten or bargain with the fey or a devil. Warding Mastery is also pretty nice, giving you a bonus on Perception to find traps and hazards and checks to disable them (as well as casting warding rituals).

The new rituals include classics like Alarm, Hold Portal, and Explosive Runes. Most have castings times of only 1 minute, though Hold Portal clocks in at an outstanding one standard action. Frankly I wish more rituals had shorter casting times, if only to give them more utility when time is a factor. I mean, in a lot of cases the players did not use one simply because they did not have the time, but to me charging them each time is punishment enough. Speaking of casting costs, a lot require healing surges in lieu of cash, or a small amount of cash in addition to your surges.

I also like this, as it represents a caster exhausting herself from using magic (as well as giving the wizard a way to use healing surges). A pretty good article. I am going to reduce more rituals to a minute or less casting time and see what happens. I might also let them burn healing surges more often (perhaps at an exchange rate).

Ecology of the Hengeyokai

My first brush with hengeyokai was in 3rd Edition’s Oriental Adventures, and I am happy to see them make a healthy comeback in this whopping ten page article. Aside from paragraph upon paragraph devoted to their appearance, personality, culture, and place within Forgotten Realms (and a side bar for the Nentir Vale and Eberron), there is also a section on example monster stat blocks, advice for making your own hengeyokai monsters, and a full racial write up on par with what you got out of Heroes of the Fallen Lands/Forgotten Kingdoms.

For previous fans, they still get to choose a Tiny animal form, can turn into it whenever they want, and gain a benefit in your animal form, such as a burrow, climb or even fly speed. If you though the pixie having an altitude limit of 1 and being able to fly at-will was overpowered, crane and sparrow hengeyokai have a fly speed of 6 and no altitude cap. Granted you cannot do anything in your animal form, but I am sure that fact won’t stop people from complaining about how it already ruined their game.

This is the kind of stuff that I like to see. While intended by default for Forgotten Realms (specifically Kara-tur), it is actually great for any campaign with Feywild elements (certainly better than, say, the wilden). My only gripe is that there is zilch feat support, which I won’t hold my breath on.

Gond’s Way: Artificers of the Realms

Outside of Arcane Power I cannot remember the last time artificers saw some decent support. At this point despite my fondness for Neverwinter I would still not say that I am an overall fan, but almost all of the flavor content can serve as a foundation for other campaigns despite all the Realm’s references; for example instead of Gond you could substitute Moradin or Ioun, and the Lantan Scholar background can just be renamed to whatever lost civilization you want. I do like the idea of tying the artificer to a divine organization, if for no other reason than I have been playing Space Marine and it makes me think of techpriests.

There is also seven spells and two feats for the crunch fans:

• Ice Shard Traps (level 1 encounter): You create two invisible traps on the ground that deal cold damage and both cold vulnerability and combat advantage for a turn after an enemy steps on one. The downside is that they only last for a turn, so they would work best for groups that have forced movement (or you could combo it up with thundering armor or unbalancing force). Depending on your DM, you could use these with as part of a surprise attack against patrolling monsters.
• Shadowy Figurine (level 2 daily): You create a sustainable figurine that grants partial concealment and a Stealth bonus to nearby allies. 
• Smokepowder Detonation (level 5): A ranged attack that deals fire damage and ongoing fire damage. As an effect, an ally can make a basic attack (with an attack bonus from your Con or Wis if the initial attack hit).
• Arc Infusion (level 7): Lightning damage, grants an ally a save with a bonus from your Wisdom, and deals more damage plus a daze if the ally’s save actually worked.
• Siphon Fate (level 17): Targets one or two creatures, deals psychic damage and imposes an attack and defense penalty (save ends). As an effect, an ally gains a bonus to attack and defense bonuses based on the number of targets you hit.
• Synchronized Weaponry (level 25): A sustainable effect that allows you and an ally to attack a monster after the other has hit it as an immediate reaction, but both attacks need the weapon keyword.
• Coiled Spring Traps (level 27): Similar to ice shard traps, this gives you three, and they deal force damage, slide and prone, and impose a penalty to AC and Fort based on your Con or Wis for a turn.
• Arcane Trapsmith: Gotta be trained in Thievery, but it lets an artificer use her Intelligence mod to disable traps and open locks. Even better, you gain an Arcana bonus when dealing with traps or hazards.
• Hammer of Gond: You have to worship Gond (but any good DM will handwaive this), and it lets you use a warhammer as an implement (which you can treat as a heavy thrown with a range of 6/12).

Making Race Count

The first in hopefully many articles brings power support for dwarves, half-elves, halflings, and humans. In 4th Edition race became a much more meaningful choice due to the feat support and race-specific paragon paths, and adding powers to the mix (especially in light of the vryloka and shade) is a natural progression. Each race gets a utility from levels 2-16, and there is no “cost” to take them except that if you have a spellbook and take a racial utility, you do not get an extra wizard one.

Dwarf

• Avalanche Rush (level 2 encounter): When you bull rush a target, you can push them farther based on your Con modifier.
• Dwarven Pride (level 6 encounter): When you are subjected to most forms of forced movement, you gain a damage bonus for a turn based on the number of squares you were moved.
• Stone Stubborn (level 10 encounter): When you are dominated or stunned, you are instead dazed until the effect ends.
• Mountainborn Tenacity (level 16 daily): When you are dropped, you can spend a healing surge and gain damage resistance for a turn based on your Con modifier.

Half-Elf

• Help Is Here (level 2 encounter): You automatically use aid another on an adjacent ally.
• Sudden Switch (level 6 encounter): You swap spaces with a creature and gain combat advantage for a turn against all adjacent enemies.
• Lockstep (level 10 encounter): You and an adjacent ally shift 6 squares, and must end the movement next to each other.
• Persuasive Words (level 16 daily): You gain a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, and Intimidate for the rest of the encounter.

Halfling

• Happy Feed (level 2 encounter): When a creature starts its turn, you can shift.
• Minor Threat (level 6 encounter): A stance that you can trigger while bloodied, granting you a bonus to defenses and Stealth.
• Pay Your Debts (level 10 at-will): If a flanked enemy moves, an ally flanking it still has combat advantage for a turn.
• Underfoot Hustle (level 16 encounter): You shift your speed with a bonus, can move through enemy squares, and they grant combat advantage to you for a turn.

Human

• Extra Effort (level 2 encounter): You can reroll a save with a bonus, but the next save takes a penalty.
• Rapid Move (level 6 daily): As a minor action you can take a move action.
• Flush With Success (level 10 encounter): If you hit with an attack, you gain scaling temp hps and can shift a short distance.
• Courageous Determination (level 16 daily): If a en enemy bloodies you, or hits you while you are bloodied, you can burn a healing surge, shift your speed, and gain a defense bonus for a turn.

Holy crap a lot of these are really awesome. Sure, avalanche rush is best suited for characters built around forced movement and charging, but I could see a lot of halflings taking minor threat (which is also very thematic for them). The human spread is really nice all around. I am really impressed by how much I like this article despite playing almost none of the featured races. Now to wait and see when/if tieflings get any power love.

Monster Updates And Evard’s Shadow

Aside from monster updates for the chuul, grell, and gibbering beast the only other interesting thing this week was the follow up adventure for Dark Legacy of Evard, Evard’s Shadow. Yeah, they did an update for the warlock but most of that was to include the new zone rules and make some of the star pact spells affected by either Charisma or Constitution, something that players have been bitching about for years (even after the warlock article that included a bunch of new spells for Charisma or Constitution, I forget which).


Monster Updates
Starting with the monsters–because I do like monsters so, especially aberrants–I am going to do a side-by-side comparison for mechanics to see what has changed, aside from the stat block layout.

• Chuul: AC gets dropped by one point, Fort by 3. Attack bonus on claw is dropped by two points, but damage goes up by a d6. Double attack gets a one-point attack reduction. Basic damage boosting.
• Chuul Juggernaut: Reflex and Will are increased by two points. Claw has its attack bonus knocked down a few pegs, but gains a d8 damage boost (or +7 bonus damage boost against immobilized targets). This is not nearly as brutal as psychic lure, which in exchange for a reduced attack bonus has its damage bonus increased by 17 points. Seventeen. Holy shit. Oh, and it can now affect one or two creatures. Oh, and the secondary attack on double attack gets a three point attack reduction, but oh well.
• Gibbering Mouther: Defenses have gone up by 1-4 points, attack bonus on gibbering  was improved by one, damage all around was increased by a d6, but the ongoing damage was halved. So it is harder to hit and hits harder initially. The ongoing damage reduction makes me think that the overall damage is reduced (average of a d6 is 3.5 and the ongoing damage was dropped by 5), but since I am not sure how many powers allow immediate saves or saves out of turn, this could actually be in the gibbering mouther’s favor.
• Gibbering Abomination: The aura is subtly altered to impose an attack penalty while you are in it, as opposed to if you start in it. Otherwise attack bonuses and damage dice are increased by one across the board, though attacks also benefit by an increase in bonus damage from 5-6 points (so, kind of like having another 1-2 dice lumped on).
• Gibbering Orb: Hit points see a major reduction of around the 250 mark, though Fort gains a hefty boost of 5 points. Bite is increased by 2d6, and while each eye ray loses one point of bonus damage, they all either get an extra d8 lumped on or (in the case of souleating ray) deal damage in addition to the previous effect. Oh, and gibbering gains an extra point on its attack bonus. Definitely keeping with the theme of reducing hit points while ramping up the damage. 
• Grell: The grell’s tentacle rake loses a d8, but gains a +2 bonus. On top of that it now has double attack, allowing it to grab and slap someone using one action (a staple for Elites and Solos alike). Tentacle grab’s attack bonus loses two points (putting it where it should be) and also gains a +2 damage bonus.
• Grell Philosopher: AC gets dropped a few points, and tentacle rake and venomous mind lose a point of attack bonus. The damage on lightning lance is reduced, and thank fucking god that psychic storm now only dazes for a turn instead of requiring a save to end. I have dealt with an encounter using a few of these fuckers, and the never-ending field of auto-dazing was the bane of fun.

Other than that, each monster also gets about a page of much-desired flavor content in line with what we got in Monster Manual III and Monster Vault. Also, a fucking awesome Wayne Reynolds pick for the chuul.

Evard’s Legacy Review
Evard’s Legacy involves a band of characters delving into Evard’s bi-planar, monster-infested mansion for…whatever reason they want. Though intended as a sequel to Dark Legacy of Evard, the only thing that is really used in this adventure is the town Duponde in name (which gets a small paragraph glossing over it), and one of the NPCs, but just as part of one adventure hook. Really, if you played through Dark Legacy then it should be easy to segue characters into it, but otherwise you can get away without the module.

The start of the adventure has the characters plowing through a skill challenge and horde of zombies in order to reach the material version of the mansion, which looks like it would be a lot of fun. There is the usual undead, corrupt fey in the undead-infested garden, and some bandits obviously waiting to betray you, but the parts that excite me is the wraith–which could easily be a recurring element of every fight, given that it can phase through walls–but the social role-playing opportunities that the human element provides.

Once you shift into the Shadowfell version of the mansion, you get to draw a card from the Despair Deck (which you really should have), in addition to having to deal with dark ones (one of which is a butler), shadow traps, more undead, and denizens of shadow (which are separate from undead in that they lack the keyword) that include Evard’s own shade. He is a level 9 artillery. Good luck, and hopefully you have overcome your Despair card by then.

There are not a lot of maps in this adventure, as most of the encounters are encapsulated on the two that detail Evard’s mansion in both worlds. Yeah there will be some flipping around, but it saves a lot of space in the end. Some of the encounters look like they could be insanely hard depending on the level of your party. It is intended for a party in the 3-5 range, but the last encounter looks like it would be overkill. Definitely consider removing monsters unless the party is 5th.

In the end it could have used better art to help emphasize the theme and tone, but otherwise looks very well done. I would also recommend checking out the related Design & Development article, as it explains a few things about the new format.

Playtest: Wizard

Wizard playtest is up. Most of the changes entail giving encounter attacks miss effects of one kind or another, changing zone effects so that the damage occurs at the end of their turn instead of the start (and only happens once), and adding spell school keywords to spells to help mesh with mages and their school specialization class feature.

Some stuff got nerfed, in particular the blood mage paragon path, which I guess puts it at the level of “compelling choice” as opposed to “has easily abused spells”. Overall I think the changes are comparatively neutral; yeah, zones get shafted a bit, but I think they needed it. Some people are bitching that magic missile did not get reverted, and of course there is the familiar chorus that this or that did not need nerfing, and they have the numbers to prove it.

Since it is a playtest article I think I am going to actually, you know, play it and submit some feedback based on my experiences. I have a suspicion that it will be enjoyable and functional.

Class Acts: Assassin

It has been awhile since the assassin got any support, and this article provides about two pages each of flavor and crunch content. While the black flame zealot was a prestige class in 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms, this article thankfully provides setting-neutral story information, in addition for some tips on incorporating them into Eberron and ironically into Forgotten Realms (which gets its own sidebar). Much of the information paints them as “sith” assassins, channeling their hatred and fury, which fits the theme of the shadow power source.

The real highlight is being able to swap out shade form with black flame form, which gives you damage resistance, a damage bonus, and you can use your shrouds for free. Like shade form you can sustain it. There is also a handful of feats that increase shroud damage (I thought we already had a feat that increased shrouds to a d8), keep shrouds after critting, move them to other targets after killing them, gain combat advantage against shrouded creatures, and a damage bonus with ki focus powers.

A pair of magic items thematic to assassins helps round things out: one is a level 16 arm slot that increases your crit range on targets with three or more shrouds, while the other is a level 10 rare ki focus that adds necrotic damage to fire attacks (and vice versa), with an encounter attack kicker that deals scaling ongoing necrotic and fire damage, in addition to stopping the target from regaining hit points. To top it off, the crit damage is both d10s and adds on necrotic and fire damage, making it very hard to resist.

I think a better assassin article would expand upon this theme more and provide additional power options to help differentiate them, like the blackguard. Eh, baby steps I guess.