Dark Sun previews

[Phaezen]

This month's Ampersand has some previews for Darksun:

Anakore, 2 variants shown - the Hunter, which is a lurker and the Render, a brute. Their burrowing abilities and special attacks should make for an interesting fight. The hunter in particular is nasty, being able to temporarily remove characters from the combat.

Then there is a short look at Nibenay, including the Statblock for Nibenay (29 Elite Controller) himself and the Shadow Brides, minor Templars of Nibenay.

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

Finally! I have been wanting an Ampersand with info for Dark Sun for so long now I had almost given up.

Is it just me or does Nibenay look REALLY beefy for an Elite?

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

also is it just me or do his shadow brides indicate they are the ones who don't produce offspring "barren beds" or merely he doesn't favour them as concubines?
if the former...are there many spawn of Nibenay, like his monstrous son we know of?

 

[Phaezen]

The Shadow Brides seem to be the low ranking Templars, which would seem to indicate they are not favoured by the Sorcerer King, or have not yet quite caught his attention.

 

[Mentat55]

I don't know much about Dark Sun, but I was admittedly surprised to see one of the sorcerer-kings as an elite, and not a solo. However, he is a pretty tough solo -- his at-will melee is 6d10+4 plus restrained, his at-will ranged is 4d12+11 plus dazed, he is constantly doling out defiling damage (necrotic) whenever he hits with one of his powers, and he creates a zone around him that blocks line of sight (except for him) and blinds enemies inside it. And I like this description of Nibenay in combat:

"Exceptionally cranky when forced to put aside his studies, Nibenay radiates his displeasure. An enemy that draws too near the Shadow King suffers a barrage of defiling power. Meanwhile, Nibenay verbally shreds an interloper too fearful to approach, psychically lashing it for its meek manner in battle. Then, he teleports to its side and stabs it. A little blood on the hands is good for the soul."

As an aside, I am still getting used to the new statblock, but I like it.

 

[TerraDave]

Were did all this flavourfull description come from? Paragraphs of it!


And were has it been?

 

[firesnakearies]

At first I was like, "What the heck, a sorcerer-king isn't a solo?"

But then I thought about it, and I guess it makes sense that only a FULL dragon, like "the Dragon", Borys, would be a solo, and the sorcerer-kings who are still trying to become dragons would only be elites. That works for me.

He definitely is very beefy for an elite. Which is cool, because it would make a fight with him suitably challenging, and with the lower XP value of an elite, he could have plenty of allies around to help him, too, without overstraining the XP budget for a reasonable encounter.

I'm so excited for Dark Sun. By FAR my favorite setting of all time.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Were did all this flavourfull description come from? Paragraphs of it!


And were has it been?

This is what they promised a few month ago. I hoping to see a similar increase in MM3. THere was even a survey about this very topic in January iirc.

 

[Rechan]

The burrowers make me scratch my head. First of all, they can charge while burrowing - but can they attack? Or do they have to pop out of the soil to attack? Can you even attack from under a target?

Next, the hunter's ability - you'd think that something that could pull you under the sand would proceed to savage you while you're down there. IT's called "Drag under", but it's more like "push you under while I abuse your friends".

Also, the shadow brides' stat block says they mark, but none of their powers mark.

 

[firesnakearies]

Also, the shadow brides' stat block says they mark, but none of their powers mark.

Minor Actions
Curse of the Shadow King At-Will
Effect: A creature adjacent to the bride is marked. The marked creature grants combat advantage until the end of the bride's next turn.