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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7010859" data-attributes="member: 20323">I remember being impressed by this piece of art...<img src="https://davelenton.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/immolith.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Surely an amazing story had to be behind this demon! Right?In the 4e Monster Manual the immolith is described as an undead demon resulting from the deaths of many demons at the same time and their spirits unpredictably fusing together. They despise the living and hang with undead. That's pretty much it. Miserable lore.But the mechanics, even if a bit clunky and disconnected from the narrative, are interesting. And darn that image has really spoken to me and my current campaign involving the Brotherhood of True Flame (from Al-Qadim)![SBLOCK=4e Immolith stats & analysis]<img src="http://i.imgur.com/xVR2Hix.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />It can attack with a claw that sets you on fire. And only during its turn (not on opportunity attacks) it can claw you, grab you, pull you next to it, and deprive your fire resistance. The need to differentiate this basic melee attack from a non-basic melee attack was because of 4e's "infinite opportunity attacks" rule. Then it gets a choice each round between two minor actions (or in 4e it could take both minor actions by forgoing its move IIRC): Deathfire Curse or Vigor of the Grave. Hmm. Deathfire Curse slows you and then lights you on fire – what the heck is happening narratively here? Fire slows you down? You're smoking then you catch on fire? Who knows! And Vigor of the Grave applies to undead...but again narratively what is going on? Is the immolith healing "with fire"? If that's the case why couldn't a fire elemental be healed?[/SBLOCK]Reimagine this Monster! Ok, I need to reimagine the immolith's lore first...probably starting with the name's similarity to "immolate" which means "to kill or offer as a sacrifice, especially by burning."[SECTION]An immolith is created when multiple fiends are destroyed and their essence is sent to the Plane of Fire instead of to the Lower Planes. Cults devoted to the demon lord Alzrius, the Archduke Belial and Archducess Fierna, Kossuth, and Imix; efreeti warlocks; the Red Wizards of Thay; and the Brotherhood of True Flame will undertake the ritual required to create such a deadly servitor. Bound by its creator’s magic, the immolith brings sacrificial offerings to the cult even as it seeks a way to escape the magic binding its torturous existence. An immolith speaks with the voices of each of the fiends comprising its nature simultaneously, though only rarely can an immolith remember its former identities.[/SECTION]Idea Brainstorm! That's a pretty decent backstory, and it divorces the immolith from being a collection of demon essences. Really there was nothing especially demonic about the immolith to begin with. This allows for the essences of demons, devils, yugoloths, and other fiends to be smashed together into an unwilling melded consciousness. It certainly gives immoliths a context. Unlike the shadow demon (which also is created when a demon's essence can't return to the Abyss), the immolith provides greater detail – it doesn't just happen, it's brought into being by diabolists/demonologists/flame mages!I'm picturing a paladin and his party having slaughtered scores of fiends at the climax of an adventure seeking a way to prevent the fiends from returning to the Lower Planes and reforming. Luckily the rogue has a lamp holding an efreeti who is only too happy to help... Little do they realize that the fiends are molded into an immolith by the efreet!Or a fiend the PCs need information from has been merged into the melded consciousness of an immolith by Red Wizards, and they need to devise a way to speak with (or free) just that one fiend.Or they encounter an immolith guarding giant black gates into a secret lair, and the immolith follows the letter of its creator's command, but only the letter. Players who've paid attention to the lore can use this to outfox the creator's commands, much to the immolith's delight. It will gleefully remind them not to seek out its creator on the fourth story bedchamber behind the second door on the right, and certainly not to harm him using powerful magic to penetrate his globe of invulnerability.Design Notes. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stronger than a vrock (CR 6), weaker than a marilith (CR 16). Probably around CR 8 to 12.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Its flaming aura is practically the same as the 5e balor's Fire Aura. How to differentiate?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It looks kinda like a fire elemental, but I want to differentiate it from the fire elemental's Fire Form trait.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Feeling like emphasizing "dark unearthly fire" as a theme might fit the art and concept better. Thinking on how to incorporate that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vigor of the Dead feels too limited for my conception of the immolith. Need to expand that so it can benefit cultists and fire elementals. Also does it really need to be an action? It could just be a trait that kicks in when the immolith kills a creature...very "sacrifical offering" vibe.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How to handle a lot of minor actions? What if it has multiattack (4 claw attacks), and can sacrifice claw attacks to gain bonus actions (possibly breaking normal rule of 1/turn)? Then I could give it a list of bonus actions like deathfire gaze, fiery grab, grasping spectral claws...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ooo, what if an immolith works sort of like a living portal to the fiery places (like the Plane of Fire, Phlegethos, Gehenna, Carnaxius, etc.) ? That could be very interesting and makes sense with my immolith lore...the constituent fiends are constantly trying to pull the immolith apart in different directions...sort of like how ghosts reenact their death by returning to the scene...</li> </ul></blockquote>

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