Classic Villany said:
Speaking of which, could someone provide some details on the Slaad in 4E?
There is a Slaad Tadpole, a lvl 5 Lurker. Slaad implant things with embryos which hatch into Tadpoles that burrow out their host's skulls, maturing into a random Slaad in several days.
Most adult slaad can inflict anyone they hit with chaos phage, a disease that inflicts madness in bloodied victims, causing them to attack the nearest creature be it friend or foe. Eventually the disease nurtures the growth of a slaad tadpole which bursts out and kills the victim.
Also, most Slaad have a teleport speed of anywhere from 2 to 6.
Gray Slaad (Rift Slaad) are lvl 13 Skirmishers that, when hit with a negative condition, can in turn inflict the condition on another nearby target instead! They can also shift enemies away from them while damaging them at the same time, and teleport and become insubstantial when bloodied.
Red Slaad (Blood Slaad) are lvl 15 Soldiers. They have a Leaping Pounce that allows them to shift several squares and makes two claw attacks, marking the target. It can also croak, immobilizing everyone within a close burst.
Blue Slaad (Talon Slaad) are lvl 17 Brutes that can fling their enemies, sliding them away and knocking them prone. Also, once bloodied they rake everything in reach while gaining temporary HP. Thankfully they can only do this 1/encounter!
The Green Slaad (Curse Slaad) is a lvl 18 Controller. It can launch a Chaos Bolt at-will that does 1d20 + 4 dmg (how's that for Chaos?), can Transpose a target to deal damage and teleport them somewhere nearby, and can use a Croak of Chaos which damages everyone nearby and slides them away.
The last one is the Black Slaad (Void Slaad). The art is re-used from the 3.0 ELH, but I do love that pic. The good old boy is a lvl 20 Skirmisher, and MUCH weaker than its ELH counterpart. It doesn't inflict Chaos Phage with its claws, but it does cause ongoing damage (save ends) - and there's a catch! If the save vs. ongoing damage fails the target loses a healing surge! The Void Slaad can use a Ray of Entropy at-will that deals damage and surrounds the target in a crackling field - any time the target is damaged they take an extra 1d10 from the shroud (save ends). Once the Slaad is killed it explodes into a Zone of Oblivion that deals damage to anyone inside while blocking line of sight. The Zone lasts until the end of the encounter!
Are they, and can they be, as open-ended as some players have said, or how Mearls described in his blog? Does the system allow for everything between "the players must succeed at these two skill checks" to "players can offer the use of any skill, which the DM adjudicates," or something in between?
