D&D 5E Sphinx

[Dausuul]

Huh. I had the exact opposite reaction. Something to the effect of, "Hey, sphinxes are actually as impressive as they should be!" now.

I think you can still use them in lower-level campaigns, just not as combat encounters. It means the PCs have to actually solve the riddle/challenge rather than stab their problems away.

Agreed, I really like the new sphinx. It's a properly fearsome guardian and I don't have come up with excuses for why the BBEG hasn't blown past it and taken whatever it's guarding. (Even if the BBEG is stronger than the sphinx, the sphinx can just dump the BBEG on another plane.) And I love the way it gets to screw with time and space--it adds just the right touch of mystery. It opens up all kinds of space for quests where you explore a possible future and have to figure out how to prevent it, or go back into the past to learn what brought about the present crisis. Have we ever before had something in the regular Monster Manual with the ability to travel in time?

The one thing I didn't like was the bit about "Even if you kill the sphinx, you can't get to what it was protecting." Enforcing that just makes the DM seem like a sore loser. The sphinx is tough enough now, especially with its lair actions, that it shouldn't need such caveats. If you can kill something with the ability to dump you in another plane or travel in time, you deserve the prize.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

If Sphinxes get a power boost, it makes me wonder if Nagas are going to get a similar sort of power boost. As they are commonly guardian type monsters.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I haven't time for the read of it, but I like the artwork and the text font and color. If someone else has mentioned this, then I echo them.

 

[steeldragons]

I have to agree with the "read your descriptions/someone didn't do their homework" comments. What we have there is not a humanoid face on a lion body. That is some grade-A Mufasa right there...with some face-paint and wings. Very cool looking! Don't get me wrong. Really nice image. But nothing "humanoid" about it. That's a winged lion.

GREAT image! I like it a lot. Great painting! Very talented artist. But it's a winged lion.

I AM very interested in seeing the gynosphinx image now, though. Hope she's, ya know, more human-faced.

[The Sphinx description itself, I'll just echo all of the well done comments. If this is what was meant from the rewriting-the-monsters-for-5e articles, then we must have read it wrong cuz I recall loads of people -myself included- reeeally not liking the fluff written there. Great guardian. Truly sounds/feels legendary. Kudos all around...Just need a rework on the art. (Yes, I know it's too late. ;P )]

 

[Savage Wombat]

I have to agree with the "read your descriptions/someone didn't do their homework" comments. What we have there is not a humanoid face on a lion body. That is some grade-A Mufasa right there...with some face-paint and wings. Very cool looking! Don't get me wrong. Really nice image. But nothing "humanoid" about it. That's a winged lion.)

Nah, go look at a photo of a lion. This guy has the high forehead and chin of a humanoid. Even has the phaoronic (sp?) beard. It's got a lion's nose, yes, and so he looks more like a wemic than a human, but it's a humanoid face.

I do see the comparison to Mufasa, though.

 

[Nebulous]

Until i read this, a Sphinx had always been something that tells a riddle before you kill it. 5th edition just elevated it to a whole new level of awesomeness. Thank you!

 

[Mouseferatu]

I think that would come across a lot better if the initiative option wasn't there. There's never a cool time to use that power. Potentially some useful times, sure, but never a cool time.

Oh, I think the initiative power serves a valid purpose, whether or not it's one the developers intended:

Foreshadowing.

If the PCs are shunted through time, they don't know it immediately. But if they've already seen a minor example of the sphinx playing with time, it adds a whole new flavor to the slow realization that "something's not right here..."

True, the aging power could do that, too, but this gives the DM an option that doesn't, in and of itself, cause long-term problems.

In fact, that could be a cool build-up. Round 1, initiative shift. Round 2, character ages. Round 3, "Uh, guys, why did nothing happen this time?" *big wicked grin from wounded sphinx*

Heck, it even fits thematically with the three-step roar build-up.

 

[TerraDave]

Huh. I had the exact opposite reaction. Something to the effect of, "Hey, sphinxes are actually as impressive as they should be!" now.

I think you can still use them in lower-level campaigns, just not as combat encounters. It means the PCs have to actually solve the riddle/challenge rather than stab their problems away.

The spellcasting and the escallating roar--plus the lair abilities and overall power--make this a great RP opportunity. Impressive example of how to do a non-evil creature in the MM.

 

[Boarstorm]

I AM very interested in seeing the gynosphinx image now, though. Hope she's, ya know, more human-faced.

This link: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/excerpt_sphinx

... has an image of the gynosphinx.

 

[Nebulous]

This link: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/excerpt_sphinx

... has an image of the gynosphinx.

Well, while i do like the picture on its own merits, it's just a lion with wings. I do wish it had a more humanoid female face.