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

[Anthtriel]

The skills are all 5 + Stat Mod + 1/2 level, which is exactly the Saga trained skill formula. He also has notably few skills. No Knowledge Arcana, no Diplomacy. Good for the length of the statblock, of course.

 

[HeinorNY]

I wonder where his defenses come from.
Fortitude 42, Reflex 38, Will 40
42 - 21(CON) = 21 - 10 = 11?
38 - 20(DEX) = 18 - 10 = 8?
40 - 18(WIS) = 22 - 10 = 11?

Does he get +11, +8, +11 monstruous bonuses to his defenses? I'm terrible in reverse engineering

 

[Greenfaun]

My thought was that it uses the Action Point to make its summons as a "freebie" on its first turn so it can do other things as well ... meaning that perhaps the Infernal Summons would normally be the 4e equivalent of a full-round action, so by spending the Action Point to use it, he can still do other stuff. Just my initial thought upon reading that.

My guess is, since it takes 2 standard actions and 2 minor actions in the suggested first turn, the action point gives it a bonus standard action or even a bonus standard and a bonus minor. Need more info to be sure though. Elite monsters might just get extra actions.

 

[Rechan]

Does he get +11, +8, +11 monstruous bonuses to his defenses? I'm terrible in reverse engineering

I'll bet dollars to donuts that it has to do with him being 1) a Soldier and 2) Elite.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I wonder where his defenses come from.
Fortitude 42, Reflex 38, Will 40
42 - 21(CON) = 21 - 10 = 11?
38 - 20(DEX) = 18 - 10 = 8?
40 - 18(WIS) = 22 - 10 = 11?

Does he get +11, +8, +11 monstruous bonuses to his defenses? I'm terrible in reverse engineering

21, 20, and 18 aren't ability score modifiers, they're skill check bonuses. Those should be 8, 7, and 5 respectively.

But, remember, there might not be anything to reverse engineer. Those numbers could be based from a table listing appropriate defense ranges.

 

[Anthtriel]

I wonder where his defenses come from.
Fortitude 42, Reflex 38, Will 40
42 - 21(CON) = 21 - 10 = 11?
38 - 20(DEX) = 18 - 10 = 8?
40 - 18(WIS) = 22 - 10 = 11?

Does he get +11, +8, +11 monstruous bonuses to his defenses? I'm terrible in reverse engineering

Fiat perhaps, or an error? It seems pretty obvious that stat mods would factor into the defenses, which leaves us with 34 for Fortitude, 33 for Reflex and 33 for Will.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that it has to do with him being 1) a Soldier and 2) Elite.

Soldier might add +x to Reflex and Will, and +x+1 to Fortitude I guess. Might work.

 

[Voss]

Yay! Mechanics!

Interesting. Disappointed by the complete and utter lack of noncombat abilities, but the combat abilities are tasty.
Damage output isn't that bad. 15+ 17.5+ 14.5 + 5 +15 = 67. It can kill something with similar hit points in about 5 rounds if all goes well.

As a note, can anyone get any of the numbers other than skills to add up in any in any way at all? There seem to be numbers that I can't account for.
Initiative doesn't jive for me, neither do the saves, attack bonuses, or anything else.
Perception and the other skills work just fine with 1/2 level + stat bonus +5.
But I've got about 6, 3 or 7 points outstanding for Fortitude, Reflex and Will respectively. And what makes the will based attack 1 point off the melee attacks?


Anyhoo.
This sucker is ridiculously fast. Double the speed of most PCs, flying and short teleports.

irresitable command- target slides: movement without opportunity attacks?
The damage for the exploding devil isn't much, however. Amusing and potentially nasty in aggregate, especially if the other devils have already acted that round.

From what I'm getting from the tactical tips-
the action point allows it to use the ability for free (I think that it isn't even a minor action)
standard action to teleport
minor action
and move action converted to minor action.

So, normally creatures have a standard, move and minor action in a round.

 

[Benimoto]

Yeah, his HP, damage, and of course how much he can do all seem sort of limited for a 26th level monster, but then again as some people mentioned, he is only an Elite, and will probably only be 2/5ths of an encounter. His lack of actions is probably how 4th edition tries to make things simpler and combats faster. And he does look pretty fun.

Things I noticed:
- No spell resistance, or damage resistance
- Teleport as a speed, low fly speed, high ground speed relative to 3rd ed.
- +22 to initiative!

Man, I am going to need a ton of miniatures in 4th edition. Assuming that an encounter is 5 creatures of equal level, and a Pit Fiend, as an Elite, counts for two, a Pit Fiend centered encounter would need 2 Pit Fiend Minis, 1 other Epic level devil mini, 4 War Devils, 16 legion devils, and whatever else the other devil might summon.

 

[Fifth Element]

Any idea what "Saving Throws +2" refers to? If saves are passive and not rolls, calling them saving throws makes little sense. And +2 to what?

Conjectures?

 

[Khaim]

Action Points 1

Unless there's a recharge mechanic for Action Points, this is kind of dumb.

On the other hand, now that I think about it there may well be a recharge mechanic for Action Points.

I doubt it. Actually, what's special is that he has action points. I'm 99% sure that your standard monster does not. It does seem like he's using it for a second standard action, which is really useful. Only elites/solos will probably have action points, and I doubt PCs will have all that many either.