4th Level Lesser angel of Pestilence

[Lord Zardoz]

This is something I might want to use in my game. What do you think?

Lesser Angel of Pestilience Level 4 Controller (Leader)
Medium immortal humanoid XP 175
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +4

Sickening Aura aura 2; All mortal creatures not loyal to Morgion suffer a -2 penalty to Attack and Fort Def

HP 52; Bloodied 26
AC 18; Fortitude 17; Reflex 16; Will 16

Immune necrotic; disease; Resist 5 divine, 5 poison; Vulnerable 5 healing, 5 radiant
Speed 6 , Fly 8 (hover)

m Festering Spear (standard; at-will) • Disease, Weapon
+8 vs AC; 1d10 + 4 and the target grants Combat Advantage and suffers 5 ongoing damage

R Plague Orb (standard; at-will) • Disease
Ranged 10; the target takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends).; +8 vs Reflex; 1d6 + 4

R Withering Blast (standard; recharge 6) • Disease
Ranged 10; +8 vs Fortitude; 1d6 + 4 disease damage, and the target is weakened (save ends)

C Hemoraggic Contagion (move; at-will) • Aura, Disease
Close Aura 1; 2 All adjacent creatures take 2 damage from uncontrolable bleeding

C Word of Corruption (standard; encounter) • Divine
Close burst 2; targets enemies; +8 vs Will; 2d6 + 4 divine damage, and the target is slowed (save ends). Miss: Half damage.

Angelic Presence (while not bloodied)
Any attack against the angel of authority takes a -2 penalty to the attack roll.

Alignment Evil Languages Supernal
Skills Insight +9, Religion +9

Str 12 (+3) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 12 (+3) Int 15 (+4) Cha 12 (+3)

Equipment Spear, Chainmail

This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Concerns:
Is the damage output reasonable for a 4th level monster?
Does this fit the Controller / Leader role?

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[Mesh Hong]

Well it is very controller-y and leader-y, and is low damage combined with status effects. So as a standard creature leader it looks ok to me, I am assuming it will have plenty of support.

I do find your terminology strange though, but I assume that it makes sense to you:

Divine damage? isn't that meant to be radiant?
Vulnerable to healing? really not sure about that.
Disease as a damage keyword? shouldn't that be poison maybe?

I do like the concept of Hemoraggic Contagion, an aura that can be activated with a move action, but I think it needs phrasing a bit better. It especially needs a duration, I would assume it is until the start of Angel's next turn. It should also probably be written like an aura with "all creatures entering or starting their turn inside aura...."

Hemoraggic Contagion (move; at will)
Angel gains the following aura 2 until the start of its next turn; all
creatures entering or starting their turn inside the aura take 2 damage
(from uncontrolled bleeding)

Anyway these are my initial thoughts, I hope they help.

 

[Old_school_overlord]

Immunity to Necrotic seems odd, even for an Angel of Pestillence. how about instead if it takes Necrotic damage it can recharge a power?

Withering blast's damage could probably be a bit higher, say 1D10+4 and have the recharge expanded to 5,6.

Angelic pesence with sickening Aura is giving this creature a situational AC of 22
which is pretty crazy for a lvl 4 controller, might be worth picking which of these you like better.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Thanks for the feedback.

Necrotic might be a better fit for the damage, though I was specifically trying to set this up as a servent of a God of disease, death, etc. The monster builder software had both in the same drop list, so it seemed to fit.

Divine damage was added largely to set it apart from Devils, Demons, or Undead. 4e Cosomology does make an effort to support the notions of angels that serve evil gods. I wanted an attack that would fit that origin, but using Radiant damage seemed a poor fit, and again, it was in the drop down list.

I will probably move the -2 penalty out of the sickening Aura and the angelic presence, maybe adding a -2 penalty to saves instead. I will consider relabeling some of the damage types away from Divine if I cannot find any other exmples of Divine as a damage type. However, upon re-reading, I think that Word Of Corruption should either have a different name or a different damage type.

I like the suggested correction for the Hemoragic Contagion.

I like the idea of a damage type causing it to recharge a power, though I may do that with Divine. I might replace the immunity with a resistance to Necrotic.

I am hesitant to increase the damage on Withering blast considering that the weakening keyword is quite harsh. I might move it to 1d8 though.

The design goal of this monster is as follows:
- Create a monster that everyone wants to stay the hell away from. The Hemoraggic contagion and Sickening Aura adding a -2 penalty to Fort (and the creature having many Fort based attacks) and saves (given the ongoing damage from its attacks) should do it.

- Have some powers that suggest an angelic being and not just a demon or devil based creature. This is the part that I am finding tricky.

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[Old_school_overlord]

The design goal of this monster is as follows:
- Create a monster that everyone wants to stay the hell away from. The Hemoraggic contagion and Sickening Aura adding a -2 penalty to Fort (and the creature having many Fort based attacks) and saves (given the ongoing damage from its attacks) should do it.

- Have some powers that suggest an angelic being and not just a demon or devil based creature. This is the part that I am finding tricky.

On the first point, a 2 point damaging Aura isn't much of a deterrent, and it's melee doesn't hit fortitude so i'm not convinced the current power suite is fulfilling this aim. A good defender will suck all this up and come back for seconds. An alternative to consider that I think will genuinely scare players:


Lesser Angel of Pestilience Level 4 Controller (Leader)
Medium immortal humanoid XP 175
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +4

Sickening Aura aura 2; If a creature within Sickening Aura would regain Hit points, or gain Temporary hit points, it instead gains half that many.

HP 52; Bloodied 26
AC 18; Fortitude 17; Reflex 16; Will 17
If Lesser Angel of Pestilience takes Radiant or Necrotic damage, it's Sickening Aura increases to Aura 5 until the start of it's next turn.
Speed 6 , Fly 6 (hover)

The Merciful Spear (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+8 vs AC; 1d6 + 4 and the target is dazed until the end of it's next turn.

The Iron Bell Tolls (Free Action, At the beginning of the encounter; Encounter)
Ranged 20; +8 vs Will; 1D6+4 Psychic damage and target takes -2 penalty to Attack rolls and saves (save ends).

Shadow of the Dark Angel (standard; Encounter) • Disease
Blast 3; Enemies only; +6 vs Fortitude; 2d6 + 4 Necrotic damage, and the target is weakened (save ends)

The Sable Wings of Death (Minor; Recharge 4,5,6)
+8 vs Fortitude; Target loses a Death Saving throw.

Alignment Evil Languages Supernal
Skills Insight +9, Religion +9

Str 12 (+3) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 12 (+3) Int 15 (+4) Cha 12 (+3)

Equipment Spear, Chainmail


Religion DC 12
The Iron Bell is the Black Bell of Morgion, which is tolled whenever he sends his servants forth to claim the lives of the weak, the old, the young and the frail. It echoes through the planes to herald the arrival of his Angels.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Here are my modifications:

Lesser Angel of Pestilience Level 4 Controller (Leader)
Medium immortal humanoid XP 175
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +4
Sickening Aura aura 2; All mortal creatures not loyal to Morgion suffer a -2 penalty to Fort Def and Saving throws

HP 52; Bloodied 26
AC 18; Fortitude 17; Reflex 16; Will 16
Immune disease; Resist 5 necrotic, 5 poison; Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed 6 , Fly 8 (hover)

m Festering Spear (standard; at-will) • Necrotic, Weapon
+8 vs AC; 1d10 + 4 and the target grants Combat Advantage and suffers 5 ongoing Necrotic damage

M Putrid Grasp (standard; at-will) • Necrotic
The Angel of death grabs hold of his opponent
+8 vs Fortitude; 1d6 + 4 and the target is Immobilized and suffers 5 ongoing Necrotic damage until it escapes from the Grab.

r Plague Orb (standard; at-will) • Necrotic
Ranged 10; +8 vs Reflex; 1d6 + 4 and the target takes ongoing 5 Necrotic damage (save ends).

C Morgions Gift (standard; recharge 6) • Disease
Close Blast 5; +8 vs Fortitude; 2d8 + 4 Necrotic damage, and the target is Weakened (save ends)

C Hemoraggic Contagion (move; at-will) • Aura, Disease
Close Aura 1; 2 All creatures entering or starting their turn inside the aura take 2 damage (from uncontrolled bleeding), and gain Vulnerable 5 Necrotic. The Vulnerability affects all ongoing necrotic damage.

C The Iron Bell Tolls (free at the beginning of the the encounter; encounter) • Divine, Psychic
Close burst 20; targets enemies; +8 vs Will; 1d6 + 4 psychic damage, and the target suffers -2 to Attacks and Saves; Save Ends

Sympathetic Affliction (no action; at-will)
If hit by a power that does Necrotic damage, Morgions Gift will automatically recharge.

Alignment Evil Languages Supernal
Skills Insight +9, Religion +9
Str 12 (+3) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 12 (+3) Int 15 (+4) Cha 12 (+3)
Equipment Spear, Chainmail
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

The big change here is I added Putrid Grasp and modified Hemmoragic Contagion to also add a vulnerability 5 Necrotic.

If a player is already suffering ongoing damage from two attacks (total of ongoing 10) and gets grabbed, he will suffer 2 damage from the aura its self, and ongoing 30 from the ongong damage + the vulnerability.

I think that is almost certainly too much damage, but it really does emphasize the 'stay the hell away' aspect.

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[Mesh Hong]

The big change here is I added Putrid Grasp and modified Hemmoragic Contagion to also add a vulnerability 5 Necrotic.

An attack that gives vulnerability is very serious at level 4, this could get completely out of hand if the creature is teamed with any other creatures that deal ongoing necrotic damage. In your defence it is rare for low level creatures to deal ongoing damage so you should be ok.

If a player is already suffering ongoing damage from two attacks (total of ongoing 10) and gets grabbed, he will suffer 2 damage from the aura its self, and ongoing 30 from the ongong damage + the vulnerability.

Similar ongoing damage doesn't stack. If a target has 2 lots of ongoing 5 necrotic damage it will take 5 damage, not 10.

One thing that strikes me is that this is an angel of pestilence with a heavy disease theme and yet it has no disease attached to it. I think this is an opportunity wasted.

 

[Mesh Hong]

This creature is pretty nasty for a standard level 4 creature, so why not add a nasty disease?

Morgion’s Suffering (level 4 disease)
Each day or after an extended rest an infected target either makes an endurance check or an ally may instead make a heal check to combat the disease.

Endurance or Heal DC:
16 or less: worsen
17 to 20: maintain
21 or more: improve

-2 (Cured)
The target is free of the disease

-1 (Recovering)
The rash reduces in size but is still visible, the targets muscles recover and feel good as new.
The target takes a -1 penalty to social skills.

0 Initial (Infected)
The infected creature breaks out in a rash that itches in direct sunlight, the targets muscles also start ache hampering its movement.
The target takes a -1 penalty to all social skills and takes a -1 penalty to speed.

+1 (Deteriorating)
The rashes spread and black veins start to appear at their centre, meanwhile the targets muscles start to lose their strength making it difficult for the creature to exert itself.
The target takes a -3 penalty to all social skills and takes a -2 penalty to speed and cannot run or charge

+2 (Afflicted)
The spreading rash now covers all of the targets body which is also heavily laced with black veins, occasionally a watery black substance will seep from these veins releasing a pungent odour. The targets muscles are now seriously atrophied making it very difficult for the infected to operate.
The target takes a -5 penalty to social skills, is slowed, cannot run or charge and is weakened

+3 (Consumed)
The infected goes into a sudden convulsive fit, the black veins expand and then explode in a burst of necrotic energy as the disease runs it ultimate course.
The target dies as it is ripped apart by the veins exploding making the following attack;

Spread the Suffering (disease) necrotic
Burst 20; attack +8 vs. Fortitude; on hit target contracts Morgions Suffering disease.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Similar ongoing damage doesn't stack. If a target has 2 lots of ongoing 5 necrotic damage it will take 5 damage, not 10.

Interesting. I have been doing that wrong. Where is that written down?

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