Excerpt: Archons (merged)

[Fallen Seraph]

Isn't a shift a move action? If so, I'm not sure what the ability to shift does when you're slowed.

According to KoTS you can't shift anyways, unless you have a power to do so. I imagine you be able to shift normal with a power to do so.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

And does anyone know if "ice walk" in their movement rate is just about negating the penalties of walking on ice or is it some kind of quasi-teleport a la shadow-walking?

I'm betting simply negating the penalties of walking on ice. If it was something like teleport I would expect it described, so I think it is a keyword. So if you pick up boots with ice spikes you gain Ice Walk.

 

[Rechan]

Isn't a shift a move action? If so, I'm not sure what the ability to shift does when you're slowed.

A shift is the 4e equivalent of a 5' step.

If you do NOT shift when you move, you incur an opportunity attack.

 

[Stalker0]

So the big question is how does slow interact with difficult terrain?

Is it only when you ENTER difficult terrain that you have to pay the 2 square movement cost, or is it moving through?

If its the later the icy ground gets pretty nasty. Your slowed, dropping your speed down to 2. You can't shift, meaning if you move away from the archon you would take an AOO. And because of the terrain, you can only move 1 square. Your not going anywhere

 

[Torchlyte]

This makes me unhappy (emphasis mine):

We give you three fire archons (at levels 12, 19, and 20) and three ice archons (at levels 16, 19, and 20). But the Elemental Chaos is vast, and fire and ice are only two of the many forms it takes. Now that we’ve (thankfully!) separated the word “elemental” in the D&D sense from the classical Greek elements of earth, fire, air, and water, there’s plenty of room for archons of your own design. (And I imagine you’ll see more archons from us, too.)

It sounds like "Want more Archons? Get ready to pay $25 in a month for our expanded Book of Archons (tm) for access to even more monster archetypes that we should have included in the Monster Manual!"

...and I'm a 4e fan...

I agree with you, this concerns me.

Uh-huh, because immortal warriors made from earth or smoke are not only so completely different from immortal warriors made from ice or fire that you can't amke your own, but so "Archtypical" that they're complete lack from earlier editions was a complete kick in the teeth for roleplayers everywhere.

Will the ones you have to pay for be better designed? Sure. But you'll see me complaining about multiples of themes (like having both Gricks and Grells), not about the fact the elemental bingo board hasn't been completely filled out.

That's not the point at all - we I'm not complaining about the lack of Archons, I'm worried that WotC is deliberately gimping this Monster Manual to make space for the next ones. To me the first Monster Manual should be generalized, including every monster spectrum, rather than being fit to a single or several themes.

It's not just this reveal, either. A lot of things seem to point to WotC using this (bad, imo) philosophy. Reusing Orcus's art on a full page AND the cover, for instance.

 

[Rechan]

Hmm... Group of Archons lead them into a valley where a Ice Titan resides, each swing of his massive arms send them flying into the Archons or the spikes of ice scattered across the valley. With the floor being ice as well (which Archons and the Titan be able to walk fine thanks to Ice Walk).

Ice Titans would have to create walls of ice. It's just a necessity.

Another (nasty) trick is to have the ice on a frozen glacier over water. So as the party fights, the Ice titan (or the wizard's fire spells) break the ice, and people have a real threat of falling into the water and taking ongoing cold damage. Meanwhile, the Titan (and archons) can walk over the water, it freezing underneath their feet. (Or if you want to go nice on them, the archon could fall in and get trapped as the water freezes around it).

 

[humble minion]

This makes me unhappy (emphasis mine):

We give you three fire archons (at levels 12, 19, and 20) and three ice archons (at levels 16, 19, and 20). But the Elemental Chaos is vast, and fire and ice are only two of the many forms it takes. Now that we’ve (thankfully!) separated the word “elemental” in the D&D sense from the classical Greek elements of earth, fire, air, and water, there’s plenty of room for archons of your own design. (And I imagine you’ll see more archons from us, too.)

It sounds like "Want more Archons? Get ready to pay $25 in a month for our expanded Book of Archons (tm) for access to even more monster archetypes that we should have included in the Monster Manual!"

...and I'm a 4e fan...

Well, there was ALWAYS going to be a MM2 (and 3, and 4, and...) so I don't really think that's going to be a problem to be honest.

Love that they're finally stepping beyond the four classical elements though. About time. There might be some limitations based on available damage types, but there's some nifty possibilities there. Blood archons. Iron archons. Vomit archons. Vicious feather archons in the service of Pazuzu. Book archons. Thought archons. Fungus archons. Probably a really nifty way to make the minions of a demon lord seem unique - give him/her a variety of archons all of their very own...

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Ice Titans would have to create walls of ice. It's just a necessity.

Another (nasty) trick is to have the ice on a frozen glacier over water. So as the party fights, the Ice titan (or the wizard's fire spells) break the ice, and people have a real threat of falling into the water and taking ongoing cold damage. Meanwhile, the Titan (and archons) can walk over the water, it freezing underneath their feet. (Or if you want to go nice on them, the archon could fall in and get trapped as the water freezes around it).

I am soooo glad they implemented traps and hazards into combat encounters.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

According to KoTS you can't, unless you have a power to do so. It also takes 1 more movement to enter Difficult Terrain.

Where did you see all that in KotS? I'm assuming not on that page of conditions 'cause I'm looking at it now and it only says that your speed becomes 2 and then goes on to explain that, yes, they really mean 2.


As far as the Archons go: I'm gonna love making more. Quite the small selection, but that's okay, they've got lots more monsters to get in that book.

Fitz

 

[Sojorn]

So the big question is how does slow interact with difficult terrain?

Is it only when you ENTER difficult terrain that you have to pay the 2 square movement cost, or is it moving through?

If its the later the icy ground gets pretty nasty. Your slowed, dropping your speed down to 2. You can't shift, meaning if you move away from the archon you would take an AOO. And because of the terrain, you can only move 1 square. Your not going anywhere

Being slowed doesn't stop you from shifting as a move action, it's only moving INTO a difficult terrain square that costs two speed and you can shift out of difficult terrain as well.

So, basically, if you're standing on a lone difficult terrain square while slowed, you could shift out of it or move two squares away from it just fine