Dragon+ Celebrates 30 Years Of Drizzt

https://twitter.com/wizards_dnd/status/987072462948093952?s=21

 

[darjr]

He's a divisive figure -- some love him; others hate him. But everybody knows who he is. The Crystal Shard came out 30 years ago, introducing the conflicted drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden to the world. This issue of WotC's in-house e-magazine celebrates his 30th anniversary, along with some previews of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

View attachment 96608​

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Oh yippee. Drizzt. Yaaaay.

 

[Fandabidozi]

Cam you believe it

 

[darjr]

Congrats to [MENTION=9055]shawn[/MENTION]merwin for his new column!

 

[Demetrios1453]

Before this inevitably descends into a pro and con Drizzt thread, they have the full write up and stat block for Moloch from MoTF in this issue.

 

[darjr]

Ah! Cool! I got players to kill!

Uh I mean entertain.

 

[dave2008]

Before this inevitably descends into a pro and con Drizzt thread, they have the full write up and stat block for Moloch from MoTF in this issue.

Cool, now I will need to update my verion of Moloch!

 

[Lancelot]

Moloch's a nasty piece of business, if handled well by the DM.

Enter combat with fly already active. Drop the DC 21 fear breath on the primary fighters. Then start splitting the party. Teleport 120' away from any un-frightened PCs at the end of the first player's turn using a Legendary action to avoid attacks; teleport back in and start dragging away the party healer with whip attacks to separate him from the rest. Keep using a combo of whip attacks and teleports to bounce all over the battlefield; forever remain out of reach of the barbarians, paladins and melee fighters; use Legendary Resistance / Magic Resistance / High Save Bonuses to ignore the spellcasters. Any PC with low Con saves gets a DC 21 stinking cloud as a Legendary action, effectively stunning them. Ouch.

If all else fails, get a big round of attacks off... and then Moloch uses his next 3 Legendary actions to teleport 360' away. Out of range of any radiant attacks, he regenerates 20 HP per round until fully healed - then resumes the assault.

As long as the DM uses Moloch as a hit-and-run assailant, I could see him absolutely wrecking a typical 16th level party.

 

[dave2008]

Moloch's a nasty piece of business, if handled well by the DM.

Enter combat with fly already active. Drop the DC 21 fear breath on the primary fighters. Then start splitting the party. Teleport 120' away from any un-frightened PCs at the end of the first player's turn using a Legendary action to avoid attacks; teleport back in and start dragging away the party healer with whip attacks to separate him from the rest. Keep using a combo of whip attacks and teleports to bounce all over the battlefield; forever remain out of reach of the barbarians, paladins and melee fighters; use Legendary Resistance / Magic Resistance / High Save Bonuses to ignore the spellcasters. Any PC with low Con saves gets a DC 21 stinking cloud as a Legendary action, effectively stunning them. Ouch.

If all else fails, get a big round of attacks off... and then Moloch uses his next 3 Legendary actions to teleport 360' away. Out of range of any radiant attacks, he regenerates 20 HP per round until fully healed - then resumes the assault.

As long as the DM uses Moloch as a hit-and-run assailant, I could see him absolutely wrecking a typical 16th level party.

Nice analysis. My first thought was he is under powered (which he is in a way), but I did notice the 120' teleport legendary action. As long as he can avoid being locked down he does have the tools to be a pain in the behind. Could be a nice reoccurring villain:
1) PCs encounter him at 10-12 and have to retreat
2) PCs encounter him at 15-16 and are harassed, but ultimately he retreats
3) PCs encounter him at 17-20 and he has magic armor and/or shield (AC 24), beefed up magic whip (+18 to hit, 21 slashing + 22 lightning, 3 attacks: 126 DPR), add a parry reaction (a la marilith), increase burning hands to 9th-level, and max hit points (352). Throw in a few minions and you got yourself a stew!

 

[TrippyHippy]

Who is Drizzt?

 

[darjr]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drizzt_Do'Urden?wprov=sfti1

 

[Lancelot]

Nice analysis. My first thought was he is under powered (which he is in a way), but I did notice the 120' teleport legendary action.

Yeah, I did exactly the same. Took a look at his base numbers and thought: weaker than a pit fiend! But raw AC/HP/DPS only matters in white-room analysis. A mix of DC 21 stuns, 120' range teleports and 30' forced movement attacks on the player's turns is pretty scary.

He's a melee character's worst nightmare, and poses a very interesting tactical challenge on the battle map. If the party stays close together, they're grouped for a fear breath or stinking cloud - which are very nasty, as they knock the target out for at least one round. If they split up, then Moloch can cut them to pieces individually. Picture four PCs, all more than 30' from each other. Moloch teleports 30' away from the most attractive target, pulls him in with the whip (both legendary actions!), then pounds him with a full attack. The other characters are all a minimum 60' away; some will be further. Even if one of them manages to close and attack in that same round, Moloch uses another legendary teleport after the first responder to get another 120' distance. Even some spellcasters might not have the range. Once all sources of radiant damage are down, it becomes a massacre; good times.

I remember the only time my players encountered a storm giant quintessent (Volo's Guide to Monsters). They were pretty amused in the first round. CR 16 creature with AC 12? Sure, it always hits with wind javelins... but for only 38 damage per round. What a joke! Then, as a legendary action after the first player's turn, it used One with the Storm and dispersed (untargetable). It reformed at the start of its round, 600' away from the party. That's the maximum range of its wind javelins. It threw two more, for another 38 damage. The players' faces went white - none of them had a longbow, which is the only thing that could have hit it at that range. The party monk closed a phenomenal 200' in a single round... and the storm giant just dispersed and teleported another 200' away. Still at 600'; still taking 38 damage a round. The party fled.

Legendary action teleports are brutal. Really hoping some of the other Mordenkainen's creatures have similar abilities that change the nature of the battle, rather than being big ol' bags of AC and HP and DPS.

 

[gyor]

I'll talk about Moloch in the Moloch thread and Drizzt and novels in this thread.

Anyways I'm curious about the author gathering on world building that RA Salvatore took the lead on. If they had a gathering of authors that implies that there is more then one, hopefully a sign that we will get more writers and novels then just Bob's.

Also Drizzt's influence in 5e in very clear, it shaped one one, but two archetypes, Hunter is clearly taken from Drizzt's fighting style and alter ego, and Beastmaster is inspired by his relationship with his Panther companion. This is also the first edition to have Drow in the Corebook, the SCAG raised the Dark Eldarine from the mostly dead, and the Drow will get even more attention in MTOFs, and so we know that Salvatore's influence on 5e in the areas of Drow and Rangers is major and Bob is a huge part of that. Heck the Gloomstalker was in major part likely influenced by fighting the Drow, and I can see the Drow copying it for their own use in wars between Drow houses.

Also that Scimitars are light weapons and finesse is obviously to make them easier to duel weild.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Don't really think the Beastmaster is attached to Drizzt. The Panther is a magic item not a companion.

 

[DQDesign]

in order to join the celebrations, I discounted my DMsGuild product about Drizz't by 50% (it was 1 $ up to yesterday). enjoy

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/232545/Forgotten-Realms--Mielikki-Needle-martial-archetype

 

[TerraDave]

...
Also Drizzt's influence in 5e in very clear, it shaped one one, but two archetypes, Hunter is clearly taken from Drizzt's fighting style and alter ego, and Beastmaster is inspired by his relationship with his Panther companion.

So you are saying that the 5e ranger is Drizzt's fault?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Really great job this time around, good variety - well done!

 

[gyor]

Don't really think the Beastmaster is attached to Drizzt. The Panther is a magic item not a companion.

The method is different, but its no accident that one of example choices in the PHB is the Panther. I said inspired by not a perfect dupicate of.

 

[TerraDave]

There is another high level adversary: Vlaakith the Lich-Queen

Towards the bottom here:

http://www.dragonmag.com/5.0/#!/article/116396/103624352?loadFresh=true&title=19_14_Dragon Classic