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Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6972512" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>There are very few extra-planar monsters in the book, which itself notes that they kept them back for a future effort. So perhaps in a year or two we’ll be back here, talking about <em>Volo’s Guide to Ways to Make High Level Characters Cry</em>. Until that time however, we have a few Demons here to use. They appear to have been selected primarily for their adjacency to the themes of the book; so we get one that combines well with the Bodak, a couple that go well with Gnolls, and one that… well, I’m not sure why the <strong>Babau</strong> made the cut, to be honest, but it did. Maybe because the Xvart entry also mentions Graz’zt? Tenuous!</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.d20pfsrd.com/_/rsrc/1474175136516/images/demonbabau-jr.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The art in Volo’s is basically the same as the above image, only he’s twisting a little to the left. These guys remind me mostly of DOOM, which I recently played; they have a fairly generic ‘demon’ look to them. Technically the image is fairly strong, though the thighs look distinctly undeveloped for a guy with 40ft move. I like the pile of rubble as backdrop, it gives a nice sense of desolation to the image. Overall though, the above image is the better of the two.</p><p></p><p>These guys arose when Glasya (of <em>Brimstone Angels</em> fame, to me at least) and Graz’zt (of ‘not appearing in <em>Out of the Abyss</em>’ fame) were trading blows. When Glasya slashed Graz’zt with her devilish sword, his demonic blood splattered the ground and rose up again as these guys; presumably why they have blood oozing from various pores in the image. They then helped turn the tide, rout Glasya, and establish Graz’zt as a preeminent Demon Lord. It does occur to me that their weapon attacks are non-magical, so it seems somewhat unlikely that they could have done real damage to an Arch-Devil, but plot trumps mechanics, so nevermind. They could have done lots of Grapple-Push Prone attempts, I guess? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>They combine the “cunning of a devil and the bloodthirstiness of a demon”, but we are given little clue as to how that should work in practice, and they don’t have any of a Devil’s manipulation powers that I can see. In use, these guys primarily seem suited to spice up a wider Demon fight. I’m a firm believer in the use of Fiends as high level mooks; you can safely put a half-dozen different Fiends down against level 16 players and know that you’ll have a fun, challenging fight that won’t last all evening, unlike using fifty Gnolls or whatever. Though you could use one by itself for a low level party, I’m not sure that these guys have the personality and powers to suit being a solo bad guy - especially when the Cambion is available. Perhaps one could do as a surprise attack, following the players around and then getting the drop on them when they try and take a rest; that also seems like a viable option. </p><p></p><p>The combat stats on these guys are reasonably interesting. They’re tough, they move fast, they have stealth abilities; they have standard Demon resistances, and they can innately cast some useful spells - <em>Heat Metal</em> is a particularly good one that doesn’t allow a save, so great for hurting a Paladin, Cleric or Fighter of any level. The Babau does little damage with its main attacks, (16 average if both hit), but it does have a rather odd <em>Weakening Gaze</em> that can half the strength-based damage of a character, albeit it is based on a DC 13 Con save. I don’t see that being failed very often by people you’d want to affect, but the Babau can do it for free every time it makes an attack action, so I think that it is designed to be a minor rider to the damage of their attack, one that highlights their tankiness, rather than being a big deal by itself. </p><p></p><p>Overall, these guys seem good for adding into a combat to complicate matters for the players when they are trying to take down a more powerful Demon, or perhaps for stealthly hunting the players in packs. Their low damage, outside of <em>Heat Metal</em> means that you’ll not really put much hurt on a party with them alone, I think, but they are tanky enough to be annoying to get rid of, and they bring a lot of intriguing abilities to the table. Since my homebrew campaign will be visiting the Abyss soon, I’ll make sure to use these guys to victimise the characters!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6972512, member: 32659"] There are very few extra-planar monsters in the book, which itself notes that they kept them back for a future effort. So perhaps in a year or two we’ll be back here, talking about [i]Volo’s Guide to Ways to Make High Level Characters Cry[/i]. Until that time however, we have a few Demons here to use. They appear to have been selected primarily for their adjacency to the themes of the book; so we get one that combines well with the Bodak, a couple that go well with Gnolls, and one that… well, I’m not sure why the [b]Babau[/b] made the cut, to be honest, but it did. Maybe because the Xvart entry also mentions Graz’zt? Tenuous! [img]http://www.d20pfsrd.com/_/rsrc/1474175136516/images/demonbabau-jr.png[/img] The art in Volo’s is basically the same as the above image, only he’s twisting a little to the left. These guys remind me mostly of DOOM, which I recently played; they have a fairly generic ‘demon’ look to them. Technically the image is fairly strong, though the thighs look distinctly undeveloped for a guy with 40ft move. I like the pile of rubble as backdrop, it gives a nice sense of desolation to the image. Overall though, the above image is the better of the two. These guys arose when Glasya (of [i]Brimstone Angels[/i] fame, to me at least) and Graz’zt (of ‘not appearing in [i]Out of the Abyss[/i]’ fame) were trading blows. When Glasya slashed Graz’zt with her devilish sword, his demonic blood splattered the ground and rose up again as these guys; presumably why they have blood oozing from various pores in the image. They then helped turn the tide, rout Glasya, and establish Graz’zt as a preeminent Demon Lord. It does occur to me that their weapon attacks are non-magical, so it seems somewhat unlikely that they could have done real damage to an Arch-Devil, but plot trumps mechanics, so nevermind. They could have done lots of Grapple-Push Prone attempts, I guess? :D They combine the “cunning of a devil and the bloodthirstiness of a demon”, but we are given little clue as to how that should work in practice, and they don’t have any of a Devil’s manipulation powers that I can see. In use, these guys primarily seem suited to spice up a wider Demon fight. I’m a firm believer in the use of Fiends as high level mooks; you can safely put a half-dozen different Fiends down against level 16 players and know that you’ll have a fun, challenging fight that won’t last all evening, unlike using fifty Gnolls or whatever. Though you could use one by itself for a low level party, I’m not sure that these guys have the personality and powers to suit being a solo bad guy - especially when the Cambion is available. Perhaps one could do as a surprise attack, following the players around and then getting the drop on them when they try and take a rest; that also seems like a viable option. The combat stats on these guys are reasonably interesting. They’re tough, they move fast, they have stealth abilities; they have standard Demon resistances, and they can innately cast some useful spells - [i]Heat Metal[/i] is a particularly good one that doesn’t allow a save, so great for hurting a Paladin, Cleric or Fighter of any level. The Babau does little damage with its main attacks, (16 average if both hit), but it does have a rather odd [i]Weakening Gaze[/i] that can half the strength-based damage of a character, albeit it is based on a DC 13 Con save. I don’t see that being failed very often by people you’d want to affect, but the Babau can do it for free every time it makes an attack action, so I think that it is designed to be a minor rider to the damage of their attack, one that highlights their tankiness, rather than being a big deal by itself. Overall, these guys seem good for adding into a combat to complicate matters for the players when they are trying to take down a more powerful Demon, or perhaps for stealthly hunting the players in packs. Their low damage, outside of [i]Heat Metal[/i] means that you’ll not really put much hurt on a party with them alone, I think, but they are tanky enough to be annoying to get rid of, and they bring a lot of intriguing abilities to the table. Since my homebrew campaign will be visiting the Abyss soon, I’ll make sure to use these guys to victimise the characters! [/QUOTE]
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