D&D 5E (2014) Let's Read: Volo's Monsters

[Chaosmancer]

The Red Fang can cast darkness on some bauble, put it around the neck of a giant bat, and become an amazing unit that not even the hobgoblins have an answer for: A stealth multi-role fighter. (A type of military aircraft, for those who want to google it) Presumably, the only thing keeping orcs from overrunning the place seems to be their culture of melee-centric brute force, which is fortunate for everyone else in the setting and helps with the status-quo. But dang, I want to see an orc go all Genghis Khan. The amount of synergy they have between their leaders and extensive range of coverage that their support units provide is crazy compared to any of the other tribes we have seen up till now.

I don't get how you can impress me like this every day [MENTION=53176]Leatherhead[/MENTION] this is scary and gorgeous.

Looking over the Red Fang, it is appropriate to talk a little bit about their bats.

CR1/4, fly spd 60ft, 22hp and not a lot else. They have blindsight 60 ft, which seems odd to me. As a bat the size of a horse (they are Large) they've got to have incredibly good hearing and ears the size of plates, so I think 60ft is just their "perfect pinpoint clarity" range.

Which, leads me to wanting an additional orc, a variant of the Red Fang that is a little more Ranger. Give them beast bond, and let them listen through the bat. Now, on top of providing stealth fighters, you've got incredibly good spies. Capable of swooping in with darkness, landing a good distance away, and listening to the war meetings and other interesting tidbits of your enemy.

Honestly, this gives us all we need for a truly terrifying orc army sweeping the lands, and would offer a very complex challenge for the players to unravel even as high as 11th level I would guess.

 

[Leatherhead]

I don't get how you can impress me like this every day [MENTION=53176]Leatherhead[/MENTION] this is scary and gorgeous.

Other people did the harder work of actually creating the thing, I'm just trying to figure out how to use them.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Giant Bats don't get flyby sadly, so they don't let the Red Fangs auto-disengage. They're basically horses with a fly speed, and not very exciting with it, so there doesn't seem a lot to say about them.


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[Leatherhead]

Giant Bats don't get flyby sadly, so they don't let the Red Fangs auto-disengage. They're basically horses with a fly speed, and not very exciting with it, so there doesn't seem a lot to say about them.

The giant bat's don't get flyby, but if they are operating under a shroud of Darkness, they don't need it: You can only take an OA against a target that you can see.

However, if you are looking for an orcish cavalry with more beef to them, the Auroch riders that worship Bahgtru should fit the bill.

 

[Charles Rampant]

When Orcs turn away from their gods, and start worshipping the Demon Lords of the Abyss, Baphomet is likely to show favour by bestowing the Taranukk upon the tribe. This is a... mixed blessing, especially given how domineering the Tanarukk is.

The image in the book is of a Tanarukk standing still, waving its sword around, and screaming. It's nicely detailed and coloured, but not hugely exciting.

There are a few different ways in which a Tanarukk might arise. As mentioned above, the tribe turning away from Gruumsh and the rest of the pantheon is one; this is apparently most likely when it is on the verge of defeat, and desperate. Alternatively, a non-Orc that gains control over the tribe - such as a local human warlord, or a Giant, such as the Frost Giant Brunvild in the Frozen Castle adventure - might do the beseeching of Baphomet, but they must be careful, lest the Tanarukk prove too much for them. The Tanarukk is also capable of breeding, and it's genetic descendants will randomly emerge as other Tanarukks, which means that it is possible for one to just emerge in an otherwise normal and pious tribe.

The Tanarukk is, to be honest, completely nuts. The combination of Chaotic Evil Orcs and Chaotic Evil Demons is not one that produces a very balanced individual, and low mental stats across the board don't help either. It emerges as a CR 5 fiend, which looks mostly like an up-scaled Orc rather than a down-scaled Demon, and it is extremely simple to run. You get some Demonic resistances - Fire, Poison - and the Magic Resistance trait, as well as Orcish Aggressive. The combat routine here is a pair of attacks, which do fairly underwhelming damage to be honest; however, the Tanarukk gets a reaction to strike back at an attacker that has hit it, so it will effectively get 3 attacks a round if in melee. With a low AC of 14 and no resistances to weapon damage, the Tanarukk is relying on a decent stock of HP to keep it in the fight. Overall, this is a creature who is notable by being much simpler than the other new Orc types, and should probably be treated as a shock trooper that you can toss at the players whenever you want. They have the 'Orc' keyword under type, and so should synergize fine with other Orcs, making them excellent recipients of Clerical buffs and leadership effects.

The Tanarukk is, well, fine. It's a stronger Orc with some mild Demon flavour, who does less damage than I'd hope for - even if it gets the reaction attack, it still does only barely more than the Red Fang - and yet is probably going to attract a lot of attention when it arrives. Use one if you fancy a big bruiser for your players to fight, but don't expect it to replace a Warchief or Blade as an interesting leader.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I love the Tanarukk, but looking back at it I can see what you're saying about them not being terribly impressive on the battlefield (I thought they got 2 greatsword attacks), but that reaction is bonkers. And, a great terrifying moment for the players when they get struck for hitting this guy, and the ruling on this I think is clear, it reacts when you hit it, not when it takes the damage. So even on the blow that will kill it, the Tanarukk can get a last swing in.

There are two ways I would run Tanarukks.

1) Get a lot of them. The normal stories for Tanarukks make them a singular entity within an orc tribe, but perhaps an isolated tribe is infused with Demonic power, either Baphomet having a plan and unleashing his horde of Orc Demons from the mountains or a leaking portal near their home which the players are sent to deal with. Putting 6 to 8 Tanarukks on the battlefield is going to make a party take a step back and rethink their life choices I think.

2) They are a singular leader, with the support of the tribe. Tanarukk's are not smart, but they are smart enough to see the value of wearing armor, and orcs have been shown to have a wide variety of armor available. Give them plate from the Orogs, and a magic weapon blessed by the tribe which increases their damage output. Perhaps a former Claw of Luthic is the things mother, and supports her child in combat, her abilities restored by Baphomet or perhaps as a sign that Luthic will not abandon her children as long as they continue as orcs should. That should make the Tanarukk scary enough with their higher hp and retaliation.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Interesting thoughts on having several of them. It also occurs to me that Tanarukks are solid entries into an Abyssal Wandering Monsters table; them plus some Goristos as a raiding band in the service of Baphomet will make a lot of sense, plus of course whatever other Demons suit the flavour of the encounter.

 

[Leatherhead]

The Orcish theme can be summed up with the phrase "It takes a tribe to raise an orc." Kobolds are combatants of desperation, hobgoblins are strict regiments perfect for wargaming, and Gnolls are something akin to a plague of locusts. Orcs are a clearly a Horde, with leaders upon leaders acting as stacking force multipliers.

However, the Taranukk exists outside of the proper orc tribe. Aside from what has already been suggested, while on a leash they would make a good bodyguard for a Warlock of the Fiend, or perhaps as a leader to some Minotaurs.

Anyway, the tight CR spread on the Orc Tribe places them squarely in tier 1 of play. That might not be too keen of an idea for people who want to use more of them, and here are some options to extend their functional range:

Firstly, their inherent force multiplication ramps up the danger they present, mixed squads are going to have more impact than a squad consisting of one or two units.

Secondly, they are humanoids (mostly) and that allows them to tap into the awesome power of NPC templates. Orc Lore opens up quite a bit more options than the typical fodder race, and you can always use a Half-Orc to fill in any gaps you have, like say if you really want to have a mage or warlock in the ranks.

CR 12
Warlord, functions as a legendary Blade of Ilneval, or Warchief.

CR 9
Warpriest, a bit generic, but given the proper weapon can act as a chosen one of the orcish pantheon. Functions as an Eye, or Claw easily. Even has stacking leader goodness for you.
Champion, a super beefy orc, orgrillon, half-orc, or orog.

CR 8
Blackguard, the evil paladin could serve as a higher powered Hand, it's a very effective anti-caster.
Assassin, a higher level follower of Shargaas.

CR 5
Gladiator or Master Thief depending on which part of the tribe the orc comes from.

 

[Charles Rampant]

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The Quickling is one of the smallest creatures in the game, and gets some really fun abilities, as well as fitting into the theme that Fey Queens are not very nice.

The best thing about the art in Volo's is the fact that the Quickling is standing on a water lilly, a detail that I didn't notice until coming back to write this entry. It's a fun way of showing both the size and speed of the Quickling, while its body features both an alien looking head, an improbably thin waist, and well-developed calf muscles, all of which seem eminently appropriate.

The Quicklings were originally a race of lazy Fey, who managed to offend the Queen of Air and Darkness by repeated tardiness. I'm wondering just how many of them she summoned at once, for them to turn into an entire race of Fey thereafter. Anyway, they turned from lazy into Quicklings, but got the lifespan to match. They seem to have been not very nice before this transformation, but afterwards are definitely Up To No Good, with a Chaotic Evil alignment and a fluff description that feels the need to say 'they don't actually murder people' in bold letters.

A lot of space here is devoted to explaining how slow everything looks to the Quickling, which is probably more news to anyone who has not seen The Flash or Age of Ultron. Here we learn that the Quicklings are more consistent than comic book speedsters though, preferring to remain always at superspeed. They make use of this power by annoying and pranking people, rather than cornering the market on miniature goods manufacture which would have been the logical thing to do. On the plus side, "Adventurers raid the evil and very small clockmaking factory" is probably not the most exciting module ever.

As a side effect of spending all that space on speed, the fluff description doesn't really give a good idea of what you're meant to do with the Quicklings. We don't hear anything about their society or family networks, how they interact with other Fey, or what Quicklings actually want out of life. You're on your own there, apparently; and these guys seem a lot harder to use than other Fey like Darklings or Korreds.

However, their statblock is pretty great, so let's look at that. With CR 1, the Quicklings are surprisingly low level, but look really dangerous opponents despite that. AC of 16, disadvantage for enemy attack rolls against it, due to its great speed, and the Evasion ability of a Rogue combine to make the Quickling's 10 HP tough to actually get at. This is on top of a rather grotesque 120ft of movement a turn, and huge bonuses to Stealth and Sleight of Hand, mean that we should probably be happy that they didn't give this creature Disengage as a bonus action; opportunity attacks are likely to be desperately needed by your players. Like the Nilbog, a low level group that is unlucky on the dice is likely to get ground into paste by one of these. On top of that, the Quickling does an impressive three attacks a turn, which is great for the imagery of it rapidly stabbing people, but also means that it is going to have a consistent damage output, especially with 1d4+6 damage on each hit, which gives a narrow 7-10 range of results.

The Quicklings are a race that I'd be tempted to hold off on until the characters are level 3-4, and then use in small swarms to enrage and pinprick them. They should also work well with other Fey, especially since they are well placed to pounce on anyone that gets Restrained by a Korred or Hag. However, we don't really get a lot of explanation of what story these guys go with, which is a shame.

 

[Chaosmancer]

With their incedibly fast movement, Quickling can make good messengers and delivery fey, as long as they are in the employ of someone who they fear enough not to mess with the packages.

I can also imagine Quicklings caught by a mad wizard for experimentation. Trapped in an iron cage, whirring around at high speeds. Perhaps the wizard hopes to learn the secrets of the high-speed world and is casting Haste on the poor things.

Also, hasted Quicklings... probably terrifying.


Here's an interesting thought, what does a quickling city or village look like? Supposedly they are fast enough to be only a blur, so you walk up to a small village, seeing only wavering blue lines of light filling the streets. Or maybe they are fast enough to be effectively invisible, and you only feel a constant breeze. The place seems abandoned, until you lay down for the night only to find all your supplies stolen by the creatures.

Also, they only live fifteen years, which means at least some Fey are actually mortal instead of spirits. I might personally change that, tie them with Slyphs, perhaps they seem to be nomads, wandering the Feywild on an inifinte series of jobs, they are fast enough that even when they are lazy (and nothing says they are not still lazy) they can get all of it done and still have time for other pursuits.

I'd definitely use them more comedically, but once combat happens, I think players will find them really aggravating to deal with.