Last week I resurrected some salamander gaming material for D&D 3.5, and this week I want to see what can be converted to 4E. The beauty of D&D is that most of the material translates across editions with just a little tweaking. The more diversity we have to draw from, the better our games can be.
Salamander Sweat
Alchemist’s fire is still in 4E, and the Alchemist’s Fire Ritual allows you to make it, but the salamander’s sweat gland makes a good reagent that duplicates the effects of the flame rose reagent. I think the imagery of a wizard carrying a pouch of squishy glands is more evocative than that same wizard with a bouquet of roses sticking out of his backpack (unless, of course, you’re going for a specific visual aesthetic). Instead of buying the glands in a store, we want our heroes to slay salamanders and harvest them, so we still need rules for doing so.
Salamanders are at the high end of the heroic tier and span all the way into the epic tier, so we can keep the DC 25 Arcana check to harvest each gland, and make the glands usable in the Alchemist’s Fire ritual as the component. Since the ritual makes different strengths of alchemist’s fire, glands from a salamander of the appropriate tier are necessary to make the appropriate level. Now there’s a reason to hunt salamanders, and a reward for doing so.
Feats
Feats do monsters no good in 4E, but they’re still important for characters, so we’ll see how we can adapt them. A number of player character races use fire or have it as an innate feature, so we’ll make that a prerequisite for the fire-based feats. Nothing can translate whole hog, so we’ll tweak the feat effects as we go.
Aura Wake
Prerequisite: dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: If your fire resistance prevents you from taking damage or you make a save against fire ongoing damage, the fire instead fills the space you occupy until the end of your next turn. It deals 5 fire damage per tier to any creature (except you) entering or starting its turn in the space.
Sustain Minor: The fire persists until the end of your next turn.
Suppress Flames
Prerequisite: dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: Spend a healing surge as a minor action and extinguish an adjacent square of flames or automatically save against fire ongoing damage.
Transmute Flames
Prerequisite: any divine class; dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: Any power you use that deals fire damage now deals fire and radiant damage.
Tieflings are the only player character race with tails, and they already have three feats that take advantage of that – Clever Tail, Tail Slide, and Tail Trip. Clever Tail stops just shy of what Prehensile Tail does in 3.5, so we’ll make a new feat that builds on it.
Handy Tail
Prerequisite: Clever Tail feat
Benefit: You can make attacks with your tail, and you can wield a light weapon with your tail.
New Weapons
In truth, the articulated whip is not necessary for 4E. The 4E whip does regular damage (as opposed to nonlethal damage in 3.5E), and the spiked chain basically duplicates everything else. However, for aesthetic purposes, we can create the following stats:
Articulated Whip
Superior one-handed melee weapon
Cost: 15 gp
Damage: 1d6
Proficient: +3
Range: --
Weight: 6 lbs
Properties: Reach
Group: Whip
The articulated whip is just as hard to use as a regular whip, weighs slightly more because it’s made of metal, does slightly more damage than a leather whip, and costs more to compensate for the improvements. Best of all, it doesn’t step on the spiked chain’s benefits (namely, more damage).
In the same vein as the articulated whip, the netball is somewhat superfluous. You can duplicate nearly all the effects with a tanglefoot bag or tethercord, but the visual doesn’t hold as well, so we’ll try a conversion.
Netball Level 8+ Rare
You throw the metal sphere at the target, and filaments expand and contract in the blink of an eye.
Lvl 8 125 gp Lvl 18 3,400 gp Lvl 28 85,000 gp
Lvl 13 650 gp Lvl 23 17,000 gp
Standard Actions
Hurl * Consumable
Attack: Ranged 5/10 (one creature); +11 vs. Reflex
Level 13: +17 vs. Reflex
Level 18: +21 vs. Reflex
Level 23: +26 vs. Reflex
Level 28: +31 vs. Reflex
Hit: The target is immobilized (save ends). On a critical hit, the target starts suffocating and must make Endurance checks each round until he or she successfully saves (see Suffocation rules).
Aftereffect: The target is slowed (save ends).
This repeating trident is exotic enough that it would make a good piece of treasure after a party defeats a cluster of salamanders. Combining the qualities of a short-ranged crossbow and a spear, a generous DM could make it usable by anyone able to use both those weapons, and create a feat to allow proficiency for those who don’t. However, for 4E, I’d make it look like this:
Repeating Trident
Superior one-handed melee weapon
Cost: 100 gp
Damage: 1d8
Proficient: +2
Range: 3/6
Weight: 8 lbs
Properties: Load Free, Versatile
Group: Spear
This 4E version has the proficiency bonus and damage of a normal trident, but trades its ability to be thrown for the ability to fire its tines. It keeps the Versatile property for when it’s used to stab, and has the Load Free property for cranking the lever to reload tines, just like the repeating crossbow. However, just as with the repeating crossbow, we should notate that a standard action is necessary to load another set of 9 darts into the mechanism.
Monster Theme
While feats are no longer of benefit to monsters, there’s nothing that says we can’t take the feats and turn them into nifty monster powers. Consider customizing your next salamander (or other fire-wielding monster) with one or more of the following powers, treating them according to the rules for monster themes in the 4E Dungeon Master’s Guide 2.
Worshipers of the Eternal Flame
It should not be surprising that salamanders are religious creatures, given the relationship between themselves and their native environment. In a realm of fire everlasting where they themselves evolve through a process not unlike the refinement of metal ore by fire, one can see how a connection to the divine could develop. The worship of fire as both a creative and destructive force is not a concept unique to salamanders, but they have the unusual perspective of being creatures of fire and threrefore divine in their own right.
Salamanders, however, do not practice religion in the same fashion as other races. Their god is with them always, flowing through their veins, generating the heat within their bodies and sustaining them without the need for additional fuel. Each salamander is a shrine unto itself, a living embodiment of the Eternal Flame. They have no need for temples, altars, or other religious accoutrements that accompany the worship of so many other gods. Wherever fire burns, there stands their god. It is that simple.
Skill Modification: +2 bonus to Intimidate checks.
Attack Powers
Aura Wake (fire)
Any square the salamander exits is filled with fire until the end of its next turn. Any creature entering the fire or beginning its turn there takes 5 fire damage.
Level 13: 10 fire damage.
Level 23: 15 fire damage.
a Suppress Flames * Recharge 5, 6
Attack (Minor Action): Burst 1 within 10; level +5 vs. Will
Hit: All fire within the burst is extinguished. In addition, all creatures within the burst gain vulnerable 5 fire (save ends).
Level 13: Vulnerable 10 fire.
Level 23: Vulnerable 15 fire.
Miss: All fire within the burst is extinguished.
Utility Powers
Prehensile Tail * At-Will (1/round)
Effect (Free Action): Once per round, the salamander can draw or stow an object weighing up to 10 lbs with its tail. It can also manipulate objects such as thieves’ tools.
Transmute Flames (fire, radiant) * At-Will
Effect (Free Action): All fire damage dealt by the salamander is radiant damage. A free action returns the damage to fire damage.
Salamander Sweat
Alchemist’s fire is still in 4E, and the Alchemist’s Fire Ritual allows you to make it, but the salamander’s sweat gland makes a good reagent that duplicates the effects of the flame rose reagent. I think the imagery of a wizard carrying a pouch of squishy glands is more evocative than that same wizard with a bouquet of roses sticking out of his backpack (unless, of course, you’re going for a specific visual aesthetic). Instead of buying the glands in a store, we want our heroes to slay salamanders and harvest them, so we still need rules for doing so.
Salamanders are at the high end of the heroic tier and span all the way into the epic tier, so we can keep the DC 25 Arcana check to harvest each gland, and make the glands usable in the Alchemist’s Fire ritual as the component. Since the ritual makes different strengths of alchemist’s fire, glands from a salamander of the appropriate tier are necessary to make the appropriate level. Now there’s a reason to hunt salamanders, and a reward for doing so.
Feats
Feats do monsters no good in 4E, but they’re still important for characters, so we’ll see how we can adapt them. A number of player character races use fire or have it as an innate feature, so we’ll make that a prerequisite for the fire-based feats. Nothing can translate whole hog, so we’ll tweak the feat effects as we go.
Aura Wake
Prerequisite: dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: If your fire resistance prevents you from taking damage or you make a save against fire ongoing damage, the fire instead fills the space you occupy until the end of your next turn. It deals 5 fire damage per tier to any creature (except you) entering or starting its turn in the space.
Sustain Minor: The fire persists until the end of your next turn.
Suppress Flames
Prerequisite: dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: Spend a healing surge as a minor action and extinguish an adjacent square of flames or automatically save against fire ongoing damage.
Transmute Flames
Prerequisite: any divine class; dragonborn with the fire dragon breath power, genasi (cindersoul, embersoul, firesoul, magmasoul, or sunsoul), or tiefling
Benefit: Any power you use that deals fire damage now deals fire and radiant damage.
Tieflings are the only player character race with tails, and they already have three feats that take advantage of that – Clever Tail, Tail Slide, and Tail Trip. Clever Tail stops just shy of what Prehensile Tail does in 3.5, so we’ll make a new feat that builds on it.
Handy Tail
Prerequisite: Clever Tail feat
Benefit: You can make attacks with your tail, and you can wield a light weapon with your tail.
New Weapons
In truth, the articulated whip is not necessary for 4E. The 4E whip does regular damage (as opposed to nonlethal damage in 3.5E), and the spiked chain basically duplicates everything else. However, for aesthetic purposes, we can create the following stats:
Articulated Whip
Superior one-handed melee weapon
Cost: 15 gp
Damage: 1d6
Proficient: +3
Range: --
Weight: 6 lbs
Properties: Reach
Group: Whip
The articulated whip is just as hard to use as a regular whip, weighs slightly more because it’s made of metal, does slightly more damage than a leather whip, and costs more to compensate for the improvements. Best of all, it doesn’t step on the spiked chain’s benefits (namely, more damage).
In the same vein as the articulated whip, the netball is somewhat superfluous. You can duplicate nearly all the effects with a tanglefoot bag or tethercord, but the visual doesn’t hold as well, so we’ll try a conversion.
Netball Level 8+ Rare
You throw the metal sphere at the target, and filaments expand and contract in the blink of an eye.
Lvl 8 125 gp Lvl 18 3,400 gp Lvl 28 85,000 gp
Lvl 13 650 gp Lvl 23 17,000 gp
Standard Actions
Hurl * Consumable
Attack: Ranged 5/10 (one creature); +11 vs. Reflex
Level 13: +17 vs. Reflex
Level 18: +21 vs. Reflex
Level 23: +26 vs. Reflex
Level 28: +31 vs. Reflex
Hit: The target is immobilized (save ends). On a critical hit, the target starts suffocating and must make Endurance checks each round until he or she successfully saves (see Suffocation rules).
Aftereffect: The target is slowed (save ends).
This repeating trident is exotic enough that it would make a good piece of treasure after a party defeats a cluster of salamanders. Combining the qualities of a short-ranged crossbow and a spear, a generous DM could make it usable by anyone able to use both those weapons, and create a feat to allow proficiency for those who don’t. However, for 4E, I’d make it look like this:
Repeating Trident
Superior one-handed melee weapon
Cost: 100 gp
Damage: 1d8
Proficient: +2
Range: 3/6
Weight: 8 lbs
Properties: Load Free, Versatile
Group: Spear
This 4E version has the proficiency bonus and damage of a normal trident, but trades its ability to be thrown for the ability to fire its tines. It keeps the Versatile property for when it’s used to stab, and has the Load Free property for cranking the lever to reload tines, just like the repeating crossbow. However, just as with the repeating crossbow, we should notate that a standard action is necessary to load another set of 9 darts into the mechanism.
Monster Theme
While feats are no longer of benefit to monsters, there’s nothing that says we can’t take the feats and turn them into nifty monster powers. Consider customizing your next salamander (or other fire-wielding monster) with one or more of the following powers, treating them according to the rules for monster themes in the 4E Dungeon Master’s Guide 2.
Worshipers of the Eternal Flame
It should not be surprising that salamanders are religious creatures, given the relationship between themselves and their native environment. In a realm of fire everlasting where they themselves evolve through a process not unlike the refinement of metal ore by fire, one can see how a connection to the divine could develop. The worship of fire as both a creative and destructive force is not a concept unique to salamanders, but they have the unusual perspective of being creatures of fire and threrefore divine in their own right.
Salamanders, however, do not practice religion in the same fashion as other races. Their god is with them always, flowing through their veins, generating the heat within their bodies and sustaining them without the need for additional fuel. Each salamander is a shrine unto itself, a living embodiment of the Eternal Flame. They have no need for temples, altars, or other religious accoutrements that accompany the worship of so many other gods. Wherever fire burns, there stands their god. It is that simple.
Skill Modification: +2 bonus to Intimidate checks.
Attack Powers
Aura Wake (fire)
Any square the salamander exits is filled with fire until the end of its next turn. Any creature entering the fire or beginning its turn there takes 5 fire damage.
Level 13: 10 fire damage.
Level 23: 15 fire damage.
a Suppress Flames * Recharge 5, 6
Attack (Minor Action): Burst 1 within 10; level +5 vs. Will
Hit: All fire within the burst is extinguished. In addition, all creatures within the burst gain vulnerable 5 fire (save ends).
Level 13: Vulnerable 10 fire.
Level 23: Vulnerable 15 fire.
Miss: All fire within the burst is extinguished.
Utility Powers
Prehensile Tail * At-Will (1/round)
Effect (Free Action): Once per round, the salamander can draw or stow an object weighing up to 10 lbs with its tail. It can also manipulate objects such as thieves’ tools.
Transmute Flames (fire, radiant) * At-Will
Effect (Free Action): All fire damage dealt by the salamander is radiant damage. A free action returns the damage to fire damage.
