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Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
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<blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8709807" data-attributes="member: 53176"><p><h3>War Priest (VGtM)</h3><p></p><p>The War Priest is a Cleric (this time with a proper tag) who worships a god of war. Naturally, they are found in great battles leading armies or serving as high ranking officers. The book has a table for random holy symbols, should you not be running in one of the premade settings. Though to be honest, most of them are more like holy relics, rather than the typical kinds of symbols found in the PHB. </p><p></p><p>Seeing as how we have already talked about how healer NPCs function significantly worse as healers under the new spellcaster rules (see the Bard entry for more), I will instead comment on the removal of the (Any Race) tag from NPCs. In the MM, the tag is used to denote creatures that can have racial traits added to them for the purposes of customizing them to fit your adventures. MotM does not have this tag. Nor, presumably, will future books use it. Granted, a DM doesn’t need explicit permission to change the stats of monsters, but reminders are a nice thing for DMs to have. It does make me wonder if there is going to be some quick and easy templating for NPCs in either the new MM or the new DMG. The reason I am mentioning this now (other than not trying to be a broken record) is that the art of the War Priest features an Elf or a Half Elf, but the stats are those of a human. Featuring no Darkvision or enhanced saving throws. The Cleric also worships Selûne as a War Priest, but that’s besides the point. (and maybe also a feature of Clerics in the revised edition: Pick your god and worship as you will sounds like it might be an interesting angle to work with).</p><p></p><p>In Combat, the War Priest is a competent CR 9 Frontliner, with some short range coverage attacks, and some significant control options. Holy Fire, their default ranged attack which can be used as part of a multiattack, offers Blindness. While they cannot swap out an attack for a spell, they can cast a few worthwhile ones.<em> Hold Person</em> provides paralysis. <em>Banishment</em> totally removes an enemy from the field for a short time. <em>Dispel Magic</em> is handy for enemy casters. <em>Guardian of Faith </em>punishes foes who try to press checkpoints. <em>Flame Strike </em>is OK when fighting enemy formations. <em>Lesser Restoration</em> and <em>Revivify</em> are more for after combat. And the rest of their spells are kind of just around for flavor purposes. </p><p></p><p>As a Bonus Action, the War Priest can heal a target for 12ish HP. Which is basically nothing at CR 9. Even their own multiattack deals over 4 times that much damage in a single turn. I have no idea what WotC is going to do for healers moving forward, but I hope it isn’t more of this. Full disclaimer, I hate combat healing, but I can’t even call this healing. I am fully aware that if the PCs are able to do it, they will, and it will force encounter design to go out of whack. But NPCs aren’t PCs. They are tools for the DM to use. If a DM wants there to be a combat healer to direct a narrative in combat like “You need to disrupt the cultists giving the Demon vigor!” or “This monster is massively powerful, but my prayers will help protect you” It should be an option. </p><p></p><p>The War Priest was totally overhauled for this new printing. Losing a ton of spells, the entire spell slot mechanic (which is, imo, necessary for NPC healers if you aren’t going to give them beefy powers to compensate), and the Guided Strike reaction (which was mimicking the signature Channel Divinity of PC War Clerics). In return, their Maul strike deals extra radiant damage, and can be used in a three part multiattack in conjunction with their new Holy Fire attack.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Leatherhead, post: 8709807, member: 53176"] [HEADING=2]War Priest (VGtM)[/HEADING] The War Priest is a Cleric (this time with a proper tag) who worships a god of war. Naturally, they are found in great battles leading armies or serving as high ranking officers. The book has a table for random holy symbols, should you not be running in one of the premade settings. Though to be honest, most of them are more like holy relics, rather than the typical kinds of symbols found in the PHB. Seeing as how we have already talked about how healer NPCs function significantly worse as healers under the new spellcaster rules (see the Bard entry for more), I will instead comment on the removal of the (Any Race) tag from NPCs. In the MM, the tag is used to denote creatures that can have racial traits added to them for the purposes of customizing them to fit your adventures. MotM does not have this tag. Nor, presumably, will future books use it. Granted, a DM doesn’t need explicit permission to change the stats of monsters, but reminders are a nice thing for DMs to have. It does make me wonder if there is going to be some quick and easy templating for NPCs in either the new MM or the new DMG. The reason I am mentioning this now (other than not trying to be a broken record) is that the art of the War Priest features an Elf or a Half Elf, but the stats are those of a human. Featuring no Darkvision or enhanced saving throws. The Cleric also worships Selûne as a War Priest, but that’s besides the point. (and maybe also a feature of Clerics in the revised edition: Pick your god and worship as you will sounds like it might be an interesting angle to work with). In Combat, the War Priest is a competent CR 9 Frontliner, with some short range coverage attacks, and some significant control options. Holy Fire, their default ranged attack which can be used as part of a multiattack, offers Blindness. While they cannot swap out an attack for a spell, they can cast a few worthwhile ones.[I] Hold Person[/I] provides paralysis. [I]Banishment[/I] totally removes an enemy from the field for a short time. [I]Dispel Magic[/I] is handy for enemy casters. [I]Guardian of Faith [/I]punishes foes who try to press checkpoints. [I]Flame Strike [/I]is OK when fighting enemy formations. [I]Lesser Restoration[/I] and [I]Revivify[/I] are more for after combat. And the rest of their spells are kind of just around for flavor purposes. As a Bonus Action, the War Priest can heal a target for 12ish HP. Which is basically nothing at CR 9. Even their own multiattack deals over 4 times that much damage in a single turn. I have no idea what WotC is going to do for healers moving forward, but I hope it isn’t more of this. Full disclaimer, I hate combat healing, but I can’t even call this healing. I am fully aware that if the PCs are able to do it, they will, and it will force encounter design to go out of whack. But NPCs aren’t PCs. They are tools for the DM to use. If a DM wants there to be a combat healer to direct a narrative in combat like “You need to disrupt the cultists giving the Demon vigor!” or “This monster is massively powerful, but my prayers will help protect you” It should be an option. The War Priest was totally overhauled for this new printing. Losing a ton of spells, the entire spell slot mechanic (which is, imo, necessary for NPC healers if you aren’t going to give them beefy powers to compensate), and the Guided Strike reaction (which was mimicking the signature Channel Divinity of PC War Clerics). In return, their Maul strike deals extra radiant damage, and can be used in a three part multiattack in conjunction with their new Holy Fire attack. [/QUOTE]
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