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Here are my problems – and my issue is not that the content is "wrong" somehow, but that it's insubstantial:
- items one and six are redundant
- items three and four are traits common to most all undead; if you're taking an approach that relies on the DM bringing outside knowledge or preconceptions, then what you bring to the descriptions you provide had better qualify those preconceptions
- item five makes the existence of the phylactery pretty pointless
- leaving item two which tells you a little, I guess; and knowing it's made from several dragons tells you a bit.
Points 1 and 6 as redundant I'll give you, although I possibly worded point 6 badly. I intended that it is obviously a patchwork of dragon remains.
Point 3, is very debateable, but most likely a common trait of most unwilling intellegent undead. It does reinforce point 2 that the soul driving this dracolich is an unwilling participant.
Point 4, I would actually say is uncommon amongst the intellegent undead. Specifically for Dracolichs, as the 4e Monster Manual specifically points out that most dracolichs will attempt to flee if they are overpowered. To the point of saving an action point to help them get away.
Point 5, As I have pointed out a dracolich's phylactery is only similar to a lich's phylactery in that it houses the soul of the creature. A dracolich's phylatery is used by the cult that created a dracolich to control said dracolich. Most willing dracolichs do not have phylacteries and those unwilling ones who get the chance destroy the phylactery to gain thier freedom. Houseing the phylactery in the Mongrels own body helps prevent the dracolich destroying the phylactery as it is bound by its ritual not to harm itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Imp
Like I said I have read much longer monster descriptions that were just as empty so I don't think the solution is "more fluff" – it's just that the sum total of this monster is "undead dragon grunt" and I suspect you could get as much out of the monster entry if the descriptive text were excised and all you had to go on was the statblock and the picture.
Very little of the stablock actualy gives the impression of the unwilling nature of the Mongrel, just undead dragon grunt. The fluff actualy gives quite a nice background to the stats. It is possible that I have read alot into the fluff due to the fact that this is something I was looking for in my campaign and with a little amout of effort will fit nicely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Imp
Munkeywrench has written up a nice story but it works the same with any other powerful-but-not-uber undead slotted in for the dracolich mongrel.
True, but what necromancer does not want a dracolich under his control?
It's this perception of "EVERYTHING IS THE 4e FORUMS, NO FINDING FLAWS" that's damaging this website the most, and I've seen a lot of good posters give up and leave because of it.
Oh wait, it's an unwilling lich, which alone boggles the mind.
Dracoliches have been made from unwilling dragons for decades. It's a long-established practice of the Cult of the Dragon in the Forgotten Realms, for instance, to trick or force dragons into becoming dracoliches controlled by the cult.
__________________ Christopher Adams - Sydney, Australia
Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
I could see this as a final "screw you" to dragons unwilling to become dracoliches int he first place.
Dragon says no, and defends itself against the cult members... Dragon is killed, and cult members get their way anyway. As an added insult instead of just a normal dracolich they gather all the disenters and make one of these things. Tormenting the dragons for their original decision.
Added ammo for future "negotiations." You can see we have a special place reserved for those that do not comply...
Dracoliches have been made from unwilling dragons for decades. It's a long-established practice of the Cult of the Dragon in the Forgotten Realms, for instance, to trick or force dragons into becoming dracoliches controlled by the cult.
Source please...
The Cult I know spends a fortune on tributes to finally convince a fragon to be turned into a dracolich.
__________________ Everything about RPGs is subjective, so everything I say about them is I my opinion and not hard facts
Having a backstory is good. Using this backstory in game is better. And for that you need background skills.
4E, the game where you play HSMFOS
Heroic
Only good, or at least unaligned adventurers are supported and no monster you can fight is good aligned.
Super-
The PCs become masters in any skill automatically and it is impossible for them to be bad at a mundane task
Mutants
Compared to NPCs of the same strength, PCs poses a ungodly amount of HP and can withstand huge mountains of punishment. That or they can spontaneously regenerate wounds.
From Outer Space
Yet despite no matter how powerful the PCs become, they can never do anything special what the "natives" (=NPCs) can do like animating a skeleton.
The Cult I know spends a fortune on tributes to finally convince a fragon to be turned into a dracolich.
Quote:
The difficulty, for the cultists, has traditionally been in getting dragons to agree to under- take the process. In the early days of the cult, this was usually solved by forcing a dragon into it, an activity that took its toll in both warriors and mages. This tactic is now frowned upon.
From "The Cult of the Dragon," by Ed Greenwood, Dragon #110.
__________________ Ari Marmell
aka
Mouseferatu
--Rodent of the Dark
From "The Cult of the Dragon," by Ed Greenwood, Dragon #110.
Also, the 4e version of the cult is back to their old tricks again. See the "Fettered Dracolich" entry in the FRCG.
__________________ Veronica: Where's your brother?
Dick: I think he took Ghost World up to his room. They're probably up there making love. Or playing Dungeons and Dragons. Or both, at the same time. They're both, like, 12th-level dorks. I'm just sayin'
__________________ Christopher Adams - Sydney, Australia
Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
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