D&D 5E Preview: Thri-Kreen

[drjones]

here ya go http://athas.org/articles/5e-Thri-Kreen

Pretty cool, suppose traditionalists will not like the 4e style pic. I'd assume the psionics teaser will not be how it ends up working but who knows.

 

[Morrus]

Exclusive!

 

[Tormyr]

Well, it could give an indication of how psionics could work, or something to work off of until the DMG comes out. Full spellcaster spell progression with slots. Use wisdom score as spellcasting modifier. Assemble an appropriate spell list from the PHB.

 

[Andor]

I really like the stepped poison effects we're seeing in 5e. Poisoned if you fail, paralyzed if you fail by 5 or more. Much better than all or nothing.

 

[GX.Sigma]

It really annoys me that the thri-kreen's natural claw+bite attack is so much more effective than the gythka. Why would they ever use this weapon? Even if the target is immune to poison, the claw+bite still deals the same damage as the gythka! Why didn't they invent a finesse weapon instead?

The only situations where the gythka is relevant:

• The target is immune to poison, and the thri-kreen is psionic, and it decides to cast magic weapon on the gythka (assuming that affects both ends of the gythka, but only one of the kreen's claws or bite).
• The kreen doesn't want to touch the target (mimic, gelatinous cube--not exactly ubiquitous desert dwellers)

It also bugs me that the first sentence of every paragraph starts with the word "thri-kreen." Even in the sidebar, all the paragraphs start with "some thri-kreen," "a thri-kreen," "a few thri-kreen," and "a psionic thri-kreen." Looks like someone played hooky in 5th grade English.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Cool! I wonder if there will be rules for thri-kreen PCs?

 

[jadrax]

It really annoys me that the thri-kreen's natural claw+bite attack is so much more effective than the gythka. Why would they ever use this weapon? Even if the target is immune to poison, the claw+bite still deals the same damage as the gythka! Why didn't they invent a finesse weapon instead?

I would probably use the Halberd stats instead. Change Reach to 10 ft and damage to 6 (1d10+1).

 

[GX.Sigma]

I would probably use the Halberd stats instead. Change Reach to 10 ft and damage to 6 (1d10+1).

That's one way. Another way would be to make the bite a recharge action. That way, it happens every once in a while no matter what weapon the Thri-kreen is using. It's justified in-world, too--it takes a while to secrete enough poison.

The root of the problem is that weapon-using and non-weapon-using Thri-kreen have the same CR. That's dumb. The whole point of using a weapon is that it makes you better. Thematically, weapon use makes the monster seem smarter (i.e., deadlier). It sucks that the version that seems smarter and deadlier is actually less difficult than the ones that just bite at you like idiots.

I think I'll create a separate stat block for thri-kreen warriors. They'll have the same claw+bite attacks, but more advanced attacks with the gythka (cleave, multiattack, TWD, +2 magic weapon precast, etc.), and have a higher CR.

 

[The Hitcher]

It really annoys me that the thri-kreen's natural claw+bite attack is so much more effective than the gythka. Why would they ever use this weapon? Even if the target is immune to poison, the claw+bite still deals the same damage as the gythka! Why didn't they invent a finesse weapon instead?

The only situations where the gythka is relevant:

• The target is immune to poison, and the thri-kreen is psionic, and it decides to cast magic weapon on the gythka (assuming that affects both ends of the gythka, but only one of the kreen's claws or bite).
• The kreen doesn't want to touch the target (mimic, gelatinous cube--not exactly ubiquitous desert dwellers)

It also bugs me that the first sentence of every paragraph starts with the word "thri-kreen." Even in the sidebar, all the paragraphs start with "some thri-kreen," "a thri-kreen," "a few thri-kreen," and "a psionic thri-kreen." Looks like someone played hooky in 5th grade English.

Came here to see who would be really annoyed by this. (Would have been me, once.)

How about inverting that bit of metagaming? PCs already had a rough day? The thri-kreen go for their weapons...

 

[jadrax]

That's one way.

To be honest, the fact that the gythka is kind of a bit rubbish bothers me anyway; weapons that look cool should be halfway decent.