Dragon 366 - The Bloodghost Syndicate

[Shroomy]

I didn't see a thread about this article, which was released on Friday. Its another very cool organization (this time a mafia-like criminal syndicate headed by civilized bugbears) something that the 4e Dragon seems to excel at, with the Ashen Covenant and the Wolves of Maldeen. This group would make a very interesting heroic tier opponent, nice new monsters, and some cool ideas:

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080829

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It looked pretty nice and useable in any campaign, asit doesn't come with too much baggage attached. The syndicate could be used for back-plot or as the big bad organization the party might want to bring down over the course of the heroic tier...

 

[Rechan]

I was wondering when a thread about this was going to pop up. I just hadn't searched to see if one existed yet.

Love the elite controller. He is brutal. In addition, I find it interesting that he's a controller meant for Melee. It's intriguing.

While I love the thieves door and mistweave curtains, I do think the thieves door is really, really dangerous. It can seriously come across as DM Fiat if the bugbears isolate a player several hundred miles away and proceed to do the backroom scene from Pulp Fiction on the character.

 

[Jhaelen]

Love the elite controller. He is brutal. In addition, I find it interesting that he's a controller meant for Melee. It's intriguing.

Keep in mind that the monster role 'controller' is different from the pc role 'controller'. E.g. a wizard npc has the monster role 'artillery'. According to the DMG monster controllers are supposed to have pretty good melee abilities (cmp. the mind flayer).

 

[Semah G Noj]

Great stuff. I'm going to mine the hell out of it for Keep of the Shadowfell and beyond. I can see Irontooth being a member of the organization.

 

[Vael]

What's nice about this is it's not just DM fun ... I think all those players salivating at trying a Bugbear Rogue just found their backstory. Ex-mafia on the run? That's fun.

 

[Scribble]

I like the homage to another "classic" painting the cover painting is...

 

[darkbard]

Along with "Wish upon a Star," one of the best WotC/4E articles yet! Packed with flavor and interesting ideas. I can't wait to implement this in my 4E Ptolus game (after I move on from the KotS arc).

 

[Rechan]

What's also great is that this meshes well with my interpretation of Bugbears as the Yautja (monsters from the Predator movie). Yeah, the fluff gets tossed out, but that elite controller, and the others, are of particular mechanical nastiness.

Although I did notice an error. According to the MM, bugbears use weapons that have one die category larger. Ergo their daggers should be doing d6, instead of d4.

 

[Shroomy]

What's also great is that this meshes well with my interpretation of Bugbears as the Yautja (monsters from the Predator movie). Yeah, the fluff gets tossed out, but that elite controller, and the others, are of particular mechanical nastiness.

Although I did notice an error. According to the MM, bugbears use weapons that have one die category larger. Ergo their daggers should be doing d6, instead of d4.

Well, they can use larger sized weapons, but they don't have to (and the rest of the bugbears do seem to use the larger weapons). However, I'm not sure if Rathos's dagger damage is an error, since he gets to make two dagger attacks as part of his basic melee attack. Normally, in this type of situation, you would use a lower damage expression.