Sly, of the Family Stone [SPOILERS]

[Shimrath]

Sylvester “Sly” Fomazelli has an illusion-based trait called Disappear in a Crowd. It says. . .

As you aim for the leader, his features shift, his clothes change, and you suddenly can’t tell him apart from anyone around him. It’s a crap-shoot whether you’ll hit the right guy.

Whenever a creature attacks Sylvester, if he is adjacent to any creatures other than the attacker, randomly determine who out of those possible creatures the attacker actually targets.

This power bothered me from the first read, and even more so now that the battle with Sly is upon my group. I'm not sure that i feel like it's overpowered, but more that it strikes into mechanical territory that i'm not sure i've seen in 4E before.

I decided to compare it to the 4th Edition Doppelganger Infiltrator, and i'm left with the feeling that it might be a little too broad in it's effect:

http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/monster.aspx?id=5566

Granted, the encounter isn't a difficult one for the Constables at this level, and this isn't the first time that Zeitgeist has gone well outside the norm for 4E mechanics, but something about it rubs me the wrong way.

Anyone have feelings on this? Anyone played it? How did the players react to it in action?

 

[gideonpepys]

In my campaign he never even got to use it. He was up against only one character, and the encounter was over in two rounds. Three at most.

EDIT: I should add, in answer to your question, that I don't have any problem with the power. NPC powers are so fleeting, they barely scratch the surface of my consciousness (unless I can't understand them).

 

[Shimrath]

I ended up using the doppelganger abilities for Sly. . .but his screen-time was indeed fleeting.

The Constables (shown in the image under their cover identities) made very short work of Sylvester "Sly" Fomazelli. Lord Glenscrisp Puddingsworth shot Sly in the neck with his rifled musket (NATURAL 20), and as he was reeling from the shot, Eliza Schuyler stabbed him through the lung with her rapier (NATURAL 20 with an additional 12 points of damage from Damata Griento's orc-blooded warlord-ing).

Needless to say, Sly didn't get a chance to imitate anyone!