The Devil's in the Details: Slavicsek reveals the Pit Fiend in all its glory

[helium3]

I'm a little disconcerted at the lack of things for him to do as the combat progresses.

Ahh. That sums up what I was thinking quite nicely. Cool to read the preview and see a little more of 4E, but yeah, I guess I would've expected a Baron of Hell to be able to do a bit more than summon in a bunch of mooks and start flinging them around and making them explode.

 

[DandD]

a Baron of Hell to be able to do a bit more than summon in a bunch of mooks and start flinging them around and making them explode.

Isn't this what evil guys normally do anyway?

 

[frankthedm]

]
Per encounter abilities require action points to use?

He spends the action point for an extra action. he then uses the extra action to use his ability

 

[Intrope]

To me, it seems kind of arbitrary, since it doesn't take your saving throw into account. For instance, the flametouched mace sets you on fire and causes you to burn every round, without ever having to 'get past' your saving throw score. But I guess you did have to fail an 'AC save' in the first place in order to get hit. Yeah, ok, I guess I'm fine with it. As an alternative to fixed-length durations, it seems more interesting.

On a side note, does anyone else seem to think that 4E is going to fit very well with using index cards to keep track of things? Like, an index card saying "Flametouched. 5 fire damage per round. Save ends." or "Pit Fiend Poison. 15 poison damage per round. Weakened {here you would include a short description of Weakened}. Save ends." Just hand them to the affected PCs. Since there are no durations to mark down, they would be reusable. I dunno, maybe other people have been using index cards forever - just seems like somehow things in 4E are particularly suited to it. Maybe it's because there are lots more 'on/offs' than 'countdowns'.

Oh, definitely. I've got a big pack of printable business cards (10 to a sheet) that I'll probably use just like this!

And Irresistible Command is just awesome!

 

[D_E]

Well, it's certainly simpler, but if that's the whole entry I don't like it.

1. As has already been noted, after his big first round he has nothing new to pull out.

2. He has no depth. He really has only one viable course of action: Get into aura range (or at least Teleport range) and fling mooks around.

3. Apparently energy resistance is much harder to come by in 4th, but if his fire attacks get negated he's got no backup plan. Mace, Aura, and Command all do fire damage.

4. No ranged attack. Unless "slides" turns out to be a poor choice of words, he's got nothing that can deal damage to enemies with elevation on him.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I will agree that the damage output for melee seems low, but I suspect the creature is built around the damage output from the ongoing effects. Those can add up pretty quick.

I wonder if there are aspects to melee combat that we are just not seeing here that make his damage output more significant.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Anthtriel]

The language entry is interesting. It seems unlikely that he would be unable to communicate to normal mortals, so I suppose Supernal is compatible with all languages?

And I find it weird that the summoning ability is considered conjuration. Unless that label encompasses more than just summoning, I don't see why they didn't use the more common term.

Finally, I don't like the sketch. I always wondered why the 3E Pit Fiend, which was supposed to be more refined and cunning than the Balor, didn't have weapons, but now that he finally got a weapon, he looks way too primitive for my tastes.

The actual abilities all look great of course, but I think that is a given. Pit Fiends seem more like solo monsters than elite to me, especially with all those summoned minions, but I can kind of see where they are coming from.

 

[Zaukrie]

Nice preview, but I gotta agree, that damage output looks really low. How does he survive and kill his opponents? What if he is caught in a teleport blocked area?

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'm surprised by the lack of an ability that activates when he's Bloodied. Other than that, I like what I see.

 

[arscott]

I spy...

• That speaks... Supernal?

I imagine that speaking Supernatural is the evolution of the 100 ft. telepathy from 3e. I'll wager that a creature that speaks supernatural can speak to and understand any intelligent creature.