Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8681006" data-attributes="member: 53176"><p><h3>Shadar-kai (MToF)</h3><p></p><p>Sharar-kai are elves from the Shadowfell, and are infamous for being macabre servants of the Raven Queen. As such, they love to collect tragedies, either in the form of objects that have a tragic history tied to them, or by influencing events to cause new ones in an attempt to entertain their Queen.</p><p></p><p>The book goes on to describe the Fortress of Memories, the place where the Raven Queen stores these sorrowful keepsakes, and even a few souls that fit the bill. PCs could be tasked to retrieve some memento from the place, if you are looking for a reason for them to go there.</p><p></p><p>The Shadar-kai in this book all come with a custom weapon. Given the nature of the Raven Queen, it is up to the DM if these weapons are lootable, and what form they would take in the hands of a player.</p><p></p><p>Gloom Weaver</p><p></p><p>Gloom Weavers are shadow-magic warriors, or in a word, Hexblades. Though they lack the Warlock tag for some reason.</p><p></p><p>In combat, the Gloom Weaver should come pre-buffed.<em> Mage Armor</em> and <em>Truesight</em> will enable them to last longer and perform more tricks for their fight. Their main attack is a three-piece multiattack with their Shadow Spear, which can be used in melee or at range. One of these attacks can be swapped out to cast a spell. Heavy consideration should be given as to which spell should be picked. <em>Darkness</em> is always good, sending out spears at advantage, while making reprisal harder from within the bubble is a classic Warlock trick. <em>Confusion</em> is a way to eat up actions. <em>Arcane Gate</em> can relocate an entire combat force quickly, making it good for escape or ambush. And there can be an argument for <em>Bane</em> if you have two Gloom Weavers in the same combat. The rest aren’t particularly great options.</p><p></p><p>What is great is their Burden of Time aura, which inflicts disadvantage on saving throws for just standing next to the Gloom Weaver, something every caster can exploit. And their Misty Escape reaction power, which allows them to teleport and turn invisible when they are hurt.</p><p></p><p>In the changeover, the Gloom Weaver lost a bunch of its spells, its warlock casting mechanic, and for some reason became “Typically Neutral Evil” instead of just “Neutral”. In return, their Multiattack gained a third Shadow Spear Attack.</p><p></p><p>Shadow Dancer</p><p></p><p>Shadow Dancers are a type of melee skirmishing controller who uses a spiked chain, and teleports from shadow to shadow. Mapping them directly to a PC class is basically impossible due to their collection of themed powers.</p><p></p><p>In combat, the Shadow Dancer can lash out with their chain three times with their multiattack, which can attack with reach and has three different riders to pick from: Prone, Grapple, or extra damage. They can also teleport between shadows as a bonus action, and the stat block goes out of the way to point out they can do so in between their attacks. Despite being fairly simple, they hit all the marks required to be a competent melee unit, and do well in any encounter so long as there is dynamic lighting.</p><p></p><p>The Shadow Dancer was not significantly changed for this printing.</p><p></p><p>Soul Monger</p><p></p><p>I will start off with this disclaimer: Soul Mongers are significantly deadlier than their CR implies, use extra consideration when sending them against your PCs, especially if you send a group of them.</p><p></p><p>Soul Mongers are basically emotional vampires, and are another NPC that doesn’t map directly to any class. Which is great because they possess attacks that bypass HP.</p><p></p><p>In combat, the Soul Monger multiattacks with their Shadow Dagger on the first turn, and then casts a spell or uses its Wave of Weariness on the subsequent turn. The Shadow Dagger inflicts the target with disadvantage on saving throws, meaning that even CON saves have a good chance of landing. Even though the Shadow Dagger is a ranged attack, it is still best used in melee, where the Soul Monger can use their AoE speed reduction Aura to keep foes from escaping.</p><p></p><p>Important note: Wave of Weariness causes Exhaustion in an AoE, which means even PCs that survive the fight are going to need extra time to recover. Should there be multiple Soul Mongers in a fight, it can even lead to death, as Exhaustion quickly accrues stacking penalties on basically everything.</p><p></p><p>While waiting on Wave of Weariness to recharge, the Soul Monger can toss out a<em> Bestow Curse</em> to further hamper their opponents, or a <em>Finger of Death </em>to finish one off.</p><p></p><p>Another Important Note: when a Soul Monger brings an enemy to 0 hps, they gain a bunch of temp HP, and Advantage on all attack rolls while they have this HP, which can cause the encounter to quickly spiral out of control.</p><p></p><p>In the changeover, the Soul Monger lost a bunch of spells, but they are still extremely deadly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Leatherhead, post: 8681006, member: 53176"] [HEADING=2]Shadar-kai (MToF)[/HEADING] Sharar-kai are elves from the Shadowfell, and are infamous for being macabre servants of the Raven Queen. As such, they love to collect tragedies, either in the form of objects that have a tragic history tied to them, or by influencing events to cause new ones in an attempt to entertain their Queen. The book goes on to describe the Fortress of Memories, the place where the Raven Queen stores these sorrowful keepsakes, and even a few souls that fit the bill. PCs could be tasked to retrieve some memento from the place, if you are looking for a reason for them to go there. The Shadar-kai in this book all come with a custom weapon. Given the nature of the Raven Queen, it is up to the DM if these weapons are lootable, and what form they would take in the hands of a player. Gloom Weaver Gloom Weavers are shadow-magic warriors, or in a word, Hexblades. Though they lack the Warlock tag for some reason. In combat, the Gloom Weaver should come pre-buffed.[I] Mage Armor[/I] and [I]Truesight[/I] will enable them to last longer and perform more tricks for their fight. Their main attack is a three-piece multiattack with their Shadow Spear, which can be used in melee or at range. One of these attacks can be swapped out to cast a spell. Heavy consideration should be given as to which spell should be picked. [I]Darkness[/I] is always good, sending out spears at advantage, while making reprisal harder from within the bubble is a classic Warlock trick. [I]Confusion[/I] is a way to eat up actions. [I]Arcane Gate[/I] can relocate an entire combat force quickly, making it good for escape or ambush. And there can be an argument for [I]Bane[/I] if you have two Gloom Weavers in the same combat. The rest aren’t particularly great options. What is great is their Burden of Time aura, which inflicts disadvantage on saving throws for just standing next to the Gloom Weaver, something every caster can exploit. And their Misty Escape reaction power, which allows them to teleport and turn invisible when they are hurt. In the changeover, the Gloom Weaver lost a bunch of its spells, its warlock casting mechanic, and for some reason became “Typically Neutral Evil” instead of just “Neutral”. In return, their Multiattack gained a third Shadow Spear Attack. Shadow Dancer Shadow Dancers are a type of melee skirmishing controller who uses a spiked chain, and teleports from shadow to shadow. Mapping them directly to a PC class is basically impossible due to their collection of themed powers. In combat, the Shadow Dancer can lash out with their chain three times with their multiattack, which can attack with reach and has three different riders to pick from: Prone, Grapple, or extra damage. They can also teleport between shadows as a bonus action, and the stat block goes out of the way to point out they can do so in between their attacks. Despite being fairly simple, they hit all the marks required to be a competent melee unit, and do well in any encounter so long as there is dynamic lighting. The Shadow Dancer was not significantly changed for this printing. Soul Monger I will start off with this disclaimer: Soul Mongers are significantly deadlier than their CR implies, use extra consideration when sending them against your PCs, especially if you send a group of them. Soul Mongers are basically emotional vampires, and are another NPC that doesn’t map directly to any class. Which is great because they possess attacks that bypass HP. In combat, the Soul Monger multiattacks with their Shadow Dagger on the first turn, and then casts a spell or uses its Wave of Weariness on the subsequent turn. The Shadow Dagger inflicts the target with disadvantage on saving throws, meaning that even CON saves have a good chance of landing. Even though the Shadow Dagger is a ranged attack, it is still best used in melee, where the Soul Monger can use their AoE speed reduction Aura to keep foes from escaping. Important note: Wave of Weariness causes Exhaustion in an AoE, which means even PCs that survive the fight are going to need extra time to recover. Should there be multiple Soul Mongers in a fight, it can even lead to death, as Exhaustion quickly accrues stacking penalties on basically everything. While waiting on Wave of Weariness to recharge, the Soul Monger can toss out a[I] Bestow Curse[/I] to further hamper their opponents, or a [I]Finger of Death [/I]to finish one off. Another Important Note: when a Soul Monger brings an enemy to 0 hps, they gain a bunch of temp HP, and Advantage on all attack rolls while they have this HP, which can cause the encounter to quickly spiral out of control. In the changeover, the Soul Monger lost a bunch of spells, but they are still extremely deadly. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
Top