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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8583769" data-attributes="member: 53176"><h3>Cloud Giant Smiling One (VGtM)</h3>Cloud Giant Smiling Ones are the de facto bards of the Giants. Their particular brand of performance is trickery.  And let me tell you, there is almost no end to the amount of shenanigans this giant can pull off.  Firstly, Smiling ones are spellcasters, and unlike some other casters in this book, they retain a lot of non-combat spells, mostly illusions and communication spells. Major Illusion, in particular, allows for doing some crazy stuff like making an illusory bridge, helping one creature along it (by propping up their feet while flying from below) and then convincing someone else to walk over it, causing them to fall down like a Loony Toon.  Their big spell, however, is shared with the Bheur Hag. Control Weather can do so many petty things it is simply amazing. Being able to literally rain on someone’s parade is just so great when you want to make some mischief. Secondly, they have the Change Shape power, which unlike the terribly lackluster and insanely complex Change Shape of the Archdruid, is amazing for tricking people. All it does is change the Smiling One’s shape into a humanoid or animal it has seen before. Their stats (other than size) stay the same, meaning you can finally have a flying shark that blasts people with magic! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Archdruid! Or if combat isn’t what you want for them, imagine what you could pull off as a hyper intelligent Squirrel with 26 strength. Those are just two of the near limitless forms that the Smiling One can pull off, without the added baggage of having to swap stat blocks. In combat the Smiler will fly above everyone’s heads and start blasting things with their Telekinetic Strike from an absolutely extreme 240’ away. Combined with an impressive 40’ hover speed, it will keep them safely out of reach of all but the longest of ranged attack reprisals. Do not mistake this as an inability to participate in melee combat however. The Smiling One is still a Cloud Giant, and is actually more deadly when forced into melee combat. Sporting a STR boosted Slam attack with a mighty +12 to hit at CR 11.  However, Smiling Ones would never be forced into melee combat thanks to their Bonus Action Cloud Step power, which allows them to teleport on a 4-6 recharge. Furthermore, they have the Gaseous Form spell, letting them slip through the smallest of cracks and holes. And if that still isn’t enough, they have Invisibility and the Change Shape power to fall back on as a disguise, making it more than likely that they will be able to escape should the need arise.The Smiling One was heavily changed and heavily nerfed in this reprinting. Gone are classic staples like throwing a Rock for massive physical damage from afar (which was replaced with a less accurate and less damaging Telekinetic Slam). Their Morningstar was replaced with a less damaging Slam attack (though the Slam at least does psychic damage to bypass resistances). A significant chunk of their spells were lost in the transition as well. Good ones too like Feather Fall, (that would be aces for any flying creature honestly), Cure Wounds, Telekinesis, and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. In addition to all of that they lost a small bit of HP. On the upside, their Misty Step spell was replaced with Cloud Step, making it much easier for the Smiling One to combo it into other spells like Invisibility. Their Fly spell was also replaced by a Hover speed, making them far more mobile without being subject to concentration or dispels. In a neutral change their Heightened Senses was brought in line with the rest of the book by giving a bonus in Perception.Honestly, despite the nerfs they did manage to keep most of the core experience intact for this creature. Though I honestly wonder why they are so keen on removing healing powers from Bardic Monsters. Is it part of an overhaul for the class? Or is it just because Combat Healing generally sucks on the Action Economy unless you are playing Whack-a-mole? We may have to dig deeper to find out.</blockquote>

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