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Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6961577" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>Another day, another monster: this time we move onto the Beholderkin, with the <strong>Death Kiss</strong>. There are three new Beholderkin in Volo's (technically four, if you fancy including the Mindwitness) added to the Spectator and Beholder in the main Monster Manual. The Power Score chap has a blog post discussing all of the Beholderkin <a href="http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dungeons-dragons-guide-to-beholder.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/0/0d/Bloodkiss.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100410011921" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The art in Volo's is surprisingly... cute. It looks like the Death Kiss is a blushing bride-to-be. I fear for the safety of the groom, however!</p><p></p><p>These busters are pretty interesting. Their writeup makes it clear that they can either be encountered individually or as lackeys of Beholders. The latter makes sense - it is a way to have a tough pre-boss fight in a Beholder's Lair, or to accompany the Beholder itself to avoid <em>Banishment</em> ruining your boss fight. Meanwhile, encountering them individually seems like a solid 'on the road' kind of encounter, perhaps in a cavern that the Death Kiss has claimed as its own. Being a vampiric aberration, there is some really strong horror potential here, and you could probably creep your players out something fierce with it. </p><p></p><p>The Death Kiss also has a middling intelligence, and the ability to speak. That gives it some potential for a bad guy to chat to; the party might find the Death Kiss whispering gently about them as it stalks them (admittedly, with its nonexistent Stealth score...) through its cavern. Who knows. I don't get the impression that this guy is much of a schemer, but he is a cross between a Vampire and a Beholder, both top tier boss monsters. As ever, I'd be tempted to transpose this guy into a city, to see how it goes there - no Sunlight Sensitivity here. "Where are all the homeless people?", "Well, the Guard keep dragging them off to that warehouse there..." will let you totally surprise the party by giving them this lad instead of a common or garden variety Vampire, once they break into said warehouse. </p><p></p><p>As to its stats, the Death Kiss works like other 'grappling monsters', such as the Roper. It grabs people, then does unpleasant things to them. Unlike the Roper, you cannot cut the individual arms off, however. There is real potential for a TPK level fight with this guy, I think, if he happens to have a good first turn (grappling three important party members) and can start healing on his second turn while doing loads of damage. However, it really isn't that hard to escape the grapple checks, so you'll likely want to aim at the squishies first, and be prepared to answer questions like "How can my fighter help the wizard escape the grapple?" I've found with that sort of question - similar to "can I close my eyes against a Medusa?" - that it can be easier and quicker to just tell the players how the rules work for it upfront, as otherwise you'll have to explain them repeatedly during the combat. </p><p></p><p>The Death Kiss also has a melee damage return thing, <em>Lightning Blood</em>, which doesn't seem like a big deal. However, I nearly had a TPK when my party (who relied on a Monk and a melee Fighter to do damage) went up against some Fire Elementals, and the Monk was taking more damage than he was doing per hit. To this day, they despise all Fire Elementals! At CR 10, it is less likely that the Death Kiss will cause that problem, but it is still a funny one to consider.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6961577, member: 32659"] Another day, another monster: this time we move onto the Beholderkin, with the [b]Death Kiss[/b]. There are three new Beholderkin in Volo's (technically four, if you fancy including the Mindwitness) added to the Spectator and Beholder in the main Monster Manual. The Power Score chap has a blog post discussing all of the Beholderkin [url=http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dungeons-dragons-guide-to-beholder.html]here[/url]. [img]http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/0/0d/Bloodkiss.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100410011921[/img] The art in Volo's is surprisingly... cute. It looks like the Death Kiss is a blushing bride-to-be. I fear for the safety of the groom, however! These busters are pretty interesting. Their writeup makes it clear that they can either be encountered individually or as lackeys of Beholders. The latter makes sense - it is a way to have a tough pre-boss fight in a Beholder's Lair, or to accompany the Beholder itself to avoid [i]Banishment[/i] ruining your boss fight. Meanwhile, encountering them individually seems like a solid 'on the road' kind of encounter, perhaps in a cavern that the Death Kiss has claimed as its own. Being a vampiric aberration, there is some really strong horror potential here, and you could probably creep your players out something fierce with it. The Death Kiss also has a middling intelligence, and the ability to speak. That gives it some potential for a bad guy to chat to; the party might find the Death Kiss whispering gently about them as it stalks them (admittedly, with its nonexistent Stealth score...) through its cavern. Who knows. I don't get the impression that this guy is much of a schemer, but he is a cross between a Vampire and a Beholder, both top tier boss monsters. As ever, I'd be tempted to transpose this guy into a city, to see how it goes there - no Sunlight Sensitivity here. "Where are all the homeless people?", "Well, the Guard keep dragging them off to that warehouse there..." will let you totally surprise the party by giving them this lad instead of a common or garden variety Vampire, once they break into said warehouse. As to its stats, the Death Kiss works like other 'grappling monsters', such as the Roper. It grabs people, then does unpleasant things to them. Unlike the Roper, you cannot cut the individual arms off, however. There is real potential for a TPK level fight with this guy, I think, if he happens to have a good first turn (grappling three important party members) and can start healing on his second turn while doing loads of damage. However, it really isn't that hard to escape the grapple checks, so you'll likely want to aim at the squishies first, and be prepared to answer questions like "How can my fighter help the wizard escape the grapple?" I've found with that sort of question - similar to "can I close my eyes against a Medusa?" - that it can be easier and quicker to just tell the players how the rules work for it upfront, as otherwise you'll have to explain them repeatedly during the combat. The Death Kiss also has a melee damage return thing, [i]Lightning Blood[/i], which doesn't seem like a big deal. However, I nearly had a TPK when my party (who relied on a Monk and a melee Fighter to do damage) went up against some Fire Elementals, and the Monk was taking more damage than he was doing per hit. To this day, they despise all Fire Elementals! At CR 10, it is less likely that the Death Kiss will cause that problem, but it is still a funny one to consider. [/QUOTE]
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