Black Flag Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault Marilith Preview

[Zaukrie]

I mean, it's just "typical D&D demon vibes."

The tactics action as written is a good idea, but pretty generic - any warlord-esque character could have abilities like that. If they want to lean into the monster's unique place in the game, lean away from generic. Give me demon general. Give me something no other monster or NPC can do.

fair.....but it is something no other demon does (or few).....but I get what you are saying. Not sure how that works when they lead non-demon armies....but fair.

 

[Shardstone]

Demonic terrorism is a cool idea, ty for this.

I love the idea of working psychic damage or fear or some betrayal-charm effects. Turning the well-ordered army into a screaming mess of terrified backstabbers is exactly the kind of thing that would make a marilith smug.

This also lets you differentiate her (and demons in general) from the diabolic generals out there, who probably want to march in formation and guard their troops and worry about "training." When you summon a marilith to advise you on your army, you gotta know you're dealing with someone for whom the idea of an "army" is just inherently hilarious. You call in this demon when you want a terror campaign, when you have a horde of berserkers or crazed cultists that you need someone intelligent to manipulate in a way that is cruel and calculated and you don't really care what happens to your troops as much. Get a pit fiend if you want training and discipline. Get a marilith if you want to maximize the pointless horror.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Demonic terrorism is a cool idea

man, this sounds REALLY bad without context.

 

[Quickleaf]

In combat sports, and in actual combat tactics, an intelligent offence includes using parries and counters in order to ensure you don't take too much damage; this is because taking damage actually lowers your damage output. While D&D doesn't mechanically represent this, in an effort to tie fiction to mechanics, any hyper-competent warrior needs to be able to parry or decrease incoming damage. Failure to do so without the ability to reduce damage ala a Berserker's rage is basically fighting as unintelligent as possible. Any demon that's a warlord, like the Marilith in this example is, should be able to defend itself in order to keep up delivering damage. Otherwise, it is no different then a frothing demon with little in the way of wits.

Gotcha. I appreciate you walking me through your thought process. As a student of a few martial arts, I know exactly what you’re saying.

When I read the Kobold Press marilith, it sounds like it could Parry multiple attacks from one player in the same turn. There may be a universal rule “one reaction per turn” preventing that…but the wording change from the 5e marilith (where it’s abundantly clear - “Reactive. The marilith can take one reaction on every turn in a combat”) creates a hiccup for the GM.

Why introduce vaguer language just in order to limit the marilith to using Parry only, and not Opportunity Attack? Because if it can Parry all 3 of the fighter’s attacks, that’s a hard down beat & prolongs the battle (which 5e doesn’t need except in the case of solo monsters - which the marilith as a commander is not).

So if we’re saying “it’s because the marilith is a tactician blending offense and defense”, there’s a more elegant mechanical implementation - Riposte, where if her 1/turn Parry succeeds, she can make a counterattack. This speeds up combat, emphasizes the “defense as offense” that you cited, and it can be done without vague language / limiting to Parry only.

 

[Shardstone]

man, this sounds REALLY bad without context.

Even better!

 

[Shardstone]

Gotcha. I appreciate you walking me through your thought process. As a student of a few martial arts, I know exactly what you’re saying.

When I read the Kobold Press marilith, it sounds like it could Parry multiple attacks from one player in the same turn. There may be a universal rule “one reaction per turn” preventing that…but the wording change from the 5e marilith (where it’s abundantly clear - “Reactive. The marilith can take one reaction on every turn in a combat”) creates a hiccup for the GM.

Why introduce vaguer language just in order to limit the marilith to using Parry only, and not Opportunity Attack? Because if it can Parry all 3 of the fighter’s attacks, that’s a hard down beat & prolongs the battle (which 5e doesn’t need except in the case of solo monsters - which the marilith as a commander is not).

So if we’re saying “it’s because the marilith is a tactician blending offense and defense”, there’s a more elegant mechanical implementation - Riposte, where if her 1/turn Parry succeeds, she can make a counterattack. This speeds up combat, emphasizes the “defense as offense” that you cited, and it can be done without vague language / limiting to Parry only.

This is where my thinking was leading as well! It would be better to work as a riposte action; I think you're instinct that the marilith should be putting out damage regardless of what she's doing defensively is probably correct in this case.