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: Volo's Monsters
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="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6992158" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>One complaint that you might hear from your Cleric players is that there are not enough Celestials for them to summon. The <strong>Ki-Rin</strong> is sadly way too powerful to really help in that regard, but it is an interesting addition to the game anyway.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/9/97/Ki-rin3e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161207202619" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The art in Volo’s for the Ki-Rin is pretty odd. It’s very eye-catching, and dominates the page that it is on (thanks to lots of white space and the shiny colours) but it doesn’t impress all that much. It’s okay, don’t get me wrong, but just not my favourite by a long shot.</p><p></p><p>The Ki-Rin gets one of the longest entries in the book, at two pages, and it fills a lot of that space with a description of how they fit into the world. I know that other things in the game - Kenku, Oni, etc - are Asian themed monsters, but the Ki-Rin feels the least well integrated of any of them. Perhaps because the name is the most obviously foreign of the three? Either way, I’m not that big a fan of it. They operate as something like a cross between a Unicorn (horned horse protector of a place with magical powers) and an Angel (flying messenger spirit of a god). I’m a big fan of the Unicorn, having used them from time to time and found them a really useful NPC to be able to draw up, and the Ki-Rin being a bigger flying version isn’t really justifying itself to me. I suppose that you could have some fun stuff with the players interacting with the ‘forces of heaven’ in their plane, so Unicorns, Angels <em>and</em> Ki-Rin, and then probably it will stand out nicely from the other two, but when needing a symbol of Good's involvement in the fight, I think that I’d find myself reaching for a Deva every time. </p><p></p><p>They have a tendency to gather followers and use their lairs as shrines and monastic retreats. That is probably a nice place for a Hermit to have discovered his Secret, or for an Acolyte to have learned his religion, letting you use this as an in-built NPC that the players can seek out at their own pace. </p><p></p><p>This is one of the things that you’re not really meant to fight. Regardless, it has a boss profile, with <em>Legendary Resistance</em>, 18th-level Cleric spellcasting that focuses on healing not harming, three attacks a turn for decent if underwhelming damage, and Legendary Actions. I think that this profile is designed to fight <em>alongside</em> the players, healing them and not overshadowing them in the damage department. If you wanted to hurt players, then having it just fly overhead and cast <em>Sacred Flame</em> from maximum range is probably about as good as it’ll get.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6992158, member: 32659"] One complaint that you might hear from your Cleric players is that there are not enough Celestials for them to summon. The [b]Ki-Rin[/b] is sadly way too powerful to really help in that regard, but it is an interesting addition to the game anyway. [img]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/9/97/Ki-rin3e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161207202619[/img] The art in Volo’s for the Ki-Rin is pretty odd. It’s very eye-catching, and dominates the page that it is on (thanks to lots of white space and the shiny colours) but it doesn’t impress all that much. It’s okay, don’t get me wrong, but just not my favourite by a long shot. The Ki-Rin gets one of the longest entries in the book, at two pages, and it fills a lot of that space with a description of how they fit into the world. I know that other things in the game - Kenku, Oni, etc - are Asian themed monsters, but the Ki-Rin feels the least well integrated of any of them. Perhaps because the name is the most obviously foreign of the three? Either way, I’m not that big a fan of it. They operate as something like a cross between a Unicorn (horned horse protector of a place with magical powers) and an Angel (flying messenger spirit of a god). I’m a big fan of the Unicorn, having used them from time to time and found them a really useful NPC to be able to draw up, and the Ki-Rin being a bigger flying version isn’t really justifying itself to me. I suppose that you could have some fun stuff with the players interacting with the ‘forces of heaven’ in their plane, so Unicorns, Angels [i]and[/i] Ki-Rin, and then probably it will stand out nicely from the other two, but when needing a symbol of Good's involvement in the fight, I think that I’d find myself reaching for a Deva every time. They have a tendency to gather followers and use their lairs as shrines and monastic retreats. That is probably a nice place for a Hermit to have discovered his Secret, or for an Acolyte to have learned his religion, letting you use this as an in-built NPC that the players can seek out at their own pace. This is one of the things that you’re not really meant to fight. Regardless, it has a boss profile, with [i]Legendary Resistance[/i], 18th-level Cleric spellcasting that focuses on healing not harming, three attacks a turn for decent if underwhelming damage, and Legendary Actions. I think that this profile is designed to fight [i]alongside[/i] the players, healing them and not overshadowing them in the damage department. If you wanted to hurt players, then having it just fly overhead and cast [i]Sacred Flame[/i] from maximum range is probably about as good as it’ll get. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
Top