Ice Archon

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

But why?

And isn't slow + punishment for being slow dangerously close to a save-or-die effect?

No. Save or Die is an entirely different quality. You're slowed, you take a little more damage per round, but you can still continue fighting.

Save or Die means either you mostly ignore the effect or you're gone, stop fighting. Save or Die depends on a single roll to determine the outcome, you don't get a warning shot.
But this ability grants you still a few rounds to get out (depending on your HP, off course) - either you kill the Archon (possibly expending more valuable resources for it, like per day resources or an encounter power you had spared for a different target) or retreat ASAP.

 

[Mirtek]

what is this supposed to represent in the first place?

The fact that the opponent has already been hit by the chilling power and that this makes him more vulnerable to following chilling attacks.

Fire and Frost mages in World of Warcraft have such attacks. If they hit you with a frost/fire spell that leaves you with a clinging debuff effect that makes additional hits from frost/fire spells even more powerfull while the debuff is in effect.

 

[rkanodia]

The fact that the opponent has already been hit by the chilling power and that this makes him more vulnerable to following chilling attacks.

Fire and Frost mages in World of Warcraft have such attacks. If they hit you with a frost/fire spell that leaves you with a clinging debuff effect that makes additional hits from frost/fire spells even more powerfull while the debuff is in effect.

For the love of god, please do not reference World of Warcraft for precedent. It's like putting out a campfire by dumping the World's Biggest Can of Worms on it.

 

[pawsplay]

Clinging debuffs! Now that's evocative!

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Just jumping in quickly with a quick note on how I would view the attack bonus against characters slowed by the Ice Archon.

I would view this as the Ice Archon exploiting how the body reacting to being cold/frozen. I could just imagine a fighter charging towards the Ice Archon, it uses its attack. He slows, as the Ice Archon approaches the now slowing fighter it notices the fighters left hand fingers turning blue and iced over. With a single swipe it snaps off the frozen fingers causing excruciating pain to shoot through the fighter.

Or perhaps this slowing attack, it begins to make the person cold, so the attack of a Ice Archon being naturally cold amps up the coldness during the attack causing pain that way.

 

[AZRogue]

I don't know. I don't think the Ice Archon's bonus to attacks on slowed targets would even be mentioned at my table. The PCs would note it and move on. They usually don't ask why things happen, just what it does to them. They don't read the MM either (throwback to the 1E days) so wouldn't even realize he had such an attack, most of the time.

It's an interesting tactical ability. I'm sure anyone can find a way to justify it given a moment or two. We justify all kinds of things to ourselves every day. We're pretty practiced at as a species.