The Devil's in the Details: Slavicsek reveals the Pit Fiend in all its glory

[kodyboy]

This guy seems pathetic in comparison to a 26th level fighter/wizard/warlock. Unless the damage capabilities of characters is massively toned down from 3e to 4e, this pit fiend is a joke! 1-12 + 11 dmg + 5 fire (or all fire?) is just pathetic in the extreme. A decent fighter of 10th level can exceed this easily. Imagine a warlock with hideous blow, lots of strength a moderate 26th level weapon (+6 big mace perhaps) and you are looking at MUCH more damage from one hit, and the warlock probably gets more than one hit! Of course this is all speculation as we do not know the mechanics yet and are really just guessing

 

[nightspaladin]

I think the number in the parenthesis, next to the attributes is just the skill check modifier for any related skills not listed implicitly on the skill list. If you look at his strength bonus it should be +11 be 3e standards and his damage output seems to say that. The +24 next to str is telling you he is +24 to all str skill rolls that are spelled out.

I tried this way of writing out npcs for my last 3.5 game it is is really fast and effective. PC's never cease to amaze as to what skills they force a monster to roll, that you would have never bothered to point out normally.

 

[FireLance]

This guy seems pathetic in comparison to a 26th level fighter/wizard/warlock. Unless the damage capabilities of characters is massively toned down from 3e to 4e, this pit fiend is a joke! 1-12 + 11 dmg + 5 fire (or all fire?) is just pathetic in the extreme. A decent fighter of 10th level can exceed this easily. Imagine a warlock with hideous blow, lots of strength a moderate 26th level weapon (+6 big mace perhaps) and you are looking at MUCH more damage from one hit, and the warlock probably gets more than one hit! Of course this is all speculation as we do not know the mechanics yet and are really just guessing

As mentioned, don't forget to add in the damage from the pit fiend's summoned allies. Yes, it's been mentioned that the warlock will have some summoning ability also, but we don't know how it will stack up.

 

[kodyboy]

Didn't they mention somewhere that a 20th level warlock summoned a pit fiend? If so the "levels" seem odd. In addition summoned buddies or not, unless they are FAR tougher than the pit fiend, they will be smacked down like bugs by 26th level characters!

 

[Voss]

I'm guessing the [W] is weapon, not wis. We still don't know how weapon damage progresses (?d6 war pick and all), so it could be a bit more than that. No idea how much, of course.

No need to guess, the paladin article mentions (in the comments at the end) that the [W] is normal weapon damage, with all normal modifiers.

@Grog. At 26th level? I kinda expect a 26th level fighter to have 30 +26*Con mod (say, 3 or 4) + 25d10 (137.5), so around 240-260. Maybe a bit higher CON if PCs increase 2 stats every 4 levels, like saga.

 

[Bishmon]

(And why do people think suicide bomber devils are so cool? To me, it makes everything seem painfully gamey...the summoned devils aren't "really" devils, they're a special effect for an explosion power. I find it almost unbearably cheesy. Can they explode normally? If not, how does he "command" them to explode? The power isn't "Irresistible command" it's "Make Devil Go Boom", which makes one wonder why he can't make the PCs go boom instead...it's an odd sort of power that lets you make a summoned ally explode.)

Yeah, that seemed odd to me.

 

[FireLance]

Compared with the 3e version, the pit fiend has lost:

1. Immunity to fire and poision (has resistance instead)
2. Resistance to cold and acid
3. Spell resistance
4. Damage reduction
5. Regeneration
6. Spell-like abilities such as blasphemy, create undead, fireball, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, invisibility, magic circle against good, mass hold monster, persistent image, power word stun, unholy aura, meteor swarm (making allies explode recalls fireball/meteor swarm, though)
7. Diseased bite
8. Improved grab and constrict

In addition, the fear aura inflicts a penalty on attacks instead of making the opponent run. This is possibly another change in line with the philosophy of keeping the player in the game as much as possible.

 

[FireLance]

Didn't they mention somewhere that a 20th level warlock summoned a pit fiend? If so the "levels" seem odd. In addition summoned buddies or not, unless they are FAR tougher than the pit fiend, they will be smacked down like bugs by 26th level characters!

If the "summoned creatures cannot summon other creatures" rule is still in force, a pit fiend without its allies just might still be an okay summon for a 20th level warlock.

It also isn't clear to me what the damage dealing capacities of 26th-level characters are like. The summoned devils might be able to last for a few rounds against them.

 

[Voss]

Huh. Total control over lesser devils (even to the point of 'sploding them) seems appropriate to me. The summoned devils are still devils, they just don't matter. Its what minions are for, and since, being a more powerful devil (who is probably conjuring his personal minions), he has a tie and hold on them that he doesn't have on the PCs. Or enemy devils, for that matter.

 

[rkanodia]

Something I just thought of regarding 'speed of play': it's true that a save every round for the firetouched mace effect takes a die roll - but then, it does a fixed amount of damage, so you don't have to roll for damage. Combine that with the lack of a duration to keep track of, and I think it's a net win over 'Xd6 each round for Y rounds' type effects.