Posted in
Friends & Foes on November 4th, 2008
Tags:
4e Monsters,
Undead
Long ago, a tribe of humans mastered the arts of necromancy and used them to great effect. Zombies and skeletons served them at war and at home, as soldiers and servants. The gods punished the Skreed for their meddling in the dark arts by cursing them. The Skreed were banished to the Shadowfell and twisted into humanoid rats.
Skreed Boneblade
| Skreed Boneblade |
Level 4 Soldier |
| Small Shadow Humanoid |
XP 175 |
|
| Initiative +0 |
Senses Perception +9, darkvision |
|
| HP 58; Bloodied 29 |
| AC 20; Fortitude 17, Reflex 16, Will 16 |
| Resist necortic 5; Vulnerable radiant 5 |
| Speed 6 |
| Action Points 1 |
| M Boneblade (Standard; at-will) |
| +11 vs. AC; 2d8+3 damage and target is marked. |
| r Evil Eye (Minor; encounter) ♦ fear |
| Ranged 6; +9 vs. Will; target is dazed (save ends). |
| c Sap Soul (Immediate Reaction, when marked target makes an attack which doesn’t include the Skreed Boneblade as a target; recharge 6) ♦ necrotic |
| Close burst 5; triggering enemy only; +9 vs. Fortitude; 3d6+4 necrotic damage. |
| Alignment Evil |
Languages Common, Skreed |
|
| Skills Arcana +9, Stealth +8 |
| Str 17 (+5) |
Dex 13 (+3) |
Wis 15 (+4) |
| Con 18 (+6) |
Int 15 (+4) |
Cha 12 (+3) |
|
Tactics
The Boneblade engages what it deems to be the biggest threat, attempting to neutralize it by forcing it into one-on-one combat.
Skreed Filth-hurler
| Skreed Filth-hurler |
Level 4 Artillery |
| Small Shadow Humanoid |
XP 175 |
|
| Initiative +6 |
Senses Perception +8 |
|
| HP 45; Bloodied 22 |
| AC 16; Fortitude 16, Reflex 17, Will 16 |
| Resist necrotic 5; Vulnerable radiant 5 |
| Speed 6 |
| M Bone Spear (Standard; at-will) |
| +11 vs. AC; 1d6+4 damage. |
| R Throw Organs (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic |
| Ranged 10; +11 vs AC; 1d10+4 necrotic damage and target takes ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends). |
| r Evil Eye (Minor; encounter) ♦ fear |
| Ranged 6; +9 vs. Will; target is dazed (save ends). |
| a Bulging Spleen (Standard; encounter) ♦ necrotic |
| The skittering skreed makes a Throw Organs attack. If it hits, all enemies adjacent to the target also take 5 ongoing necrotic damage (save ends). |
| Alignment Evil |
Languages Common, Skreed |
|
| Skills Arcana +10, Stealth +11 |
| Str 12 (+3) |
Dex 18 (+6) |
Wis 13 (+3) |
| Con 15 (+4) |
Int 17 (+5) |
Cha 15 (+4) |
|
Tactics
The filth-hurler prefers ranged attacks and takes pains to ensure it keeps its range from enemies. It uses the bulging spleen at the earliest opportunity to catch at least two foes in its area of effect, and it saves its evil eye to aid escape in case cornered.
Skreed Herder
| Skreed Herder |
Level 5 Controller (Leader) |
| Small Shadow Humanoid |
XP 200 |
|
| Initiative +6 |
Senses Perception +4 |
|
| Necrotizing Aura aura 6; Undead allies who start their turn in the aura regain 1d6 hit points. |
| HP 61; Bloodied 30 |
| AC 19; Fortitude 16, Reflex 19, Will 17 |
| Resist necrotic 5; Vulnerable radiant 5 |
| Speed 6 |
| M Touch of the Grave (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic |
| +9 vs. Reflex; 1d6+4 damage and target is weakened (save ends). |
| R Necrotic Ray (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic |
| Ranged 10; +9 vs. Reflex; 1d6+4 necrotic damage and target is slowed (save ends) |
| r Evil Eye (Minor; encounter) ♦ fear |
| Ranged 6; +9 vs. Will; target is dazed (save ends). |
| c Goad (Standard; at-will) |
| Close burst 1; an undead ally in the burst may immediately take a charge action, moving up to an additional 2 squares and dealing 5 extra points of damage on a hit. |
| Alignment Evil |
Languages Common, Skreed |
|
| Skills Arcana +12, Religion +12, Stealth +11 |
| Str 11 (+2) |
Dex 18 (+6) |
Wis 15 (+4) |
| Con 13 (+3) |
Int 20 (+7) |
Cha 15 (+4) |
|
Tactics
The Skreed Herder is never encountered without several undead minions. It uses its goad ability to intercept enemies who approach too close, and uses necrotic ray when there are no more undead for it to goad. Its touch of the Grave ability is used only as a last defense, it prefers to stay out of melee.
Skreed Blacktotem
Description
The ultimate form of Skreed necromancy, the blacktotem is a towering column of bones held together by necrotic energy. It moves on dozens of spindly legs and clawed arms grasp out menacingly from all over the blacktotem.
| Skreed Blacktotem |
Level 8 Elite Brute |
| Large Shadow Animate (construct, undead) |
XP 700 |
|
| Initiative +7 |
Senses Perception +7 |
|
| Scrabbling Claws aura 1; The blacktotem may make a basic melee attack as a free action against enemies starting their turn in the aura. |
| HP 220; Bloodied 110 |
| AC 20; Fortitude 21, Reflex 20, Will 20 |
| Immune necrotic; Vulnerable radiant 5 |
| Saving Throws +2 |
| Speed 5 |
| Action Points 1 |
| M Claw Swipe (Standard; at-will) |
| +11 vs. AC; 2d6+5 damage |
| Subsume (Standard; at-will) ♦ healing |
| The blacktotem absorbs an adjacent corpse or unconscious creature into its mass, regaining 25 hit points. |
| Alignment Unaligned |
Languages – |
|
| Str 20 (+9) |
Dex 17 (+7) |
Wis 16 (+7) |
| Con 20 (+9) |
Int 2 (+0) |
Cha 15 (+6) |
|
Tactics
The Skreed Blacktotem wades into combat via the most direct route possible. Whenever any creature– friend or enemy– falls to 0 hit points, the blacktotem moves towards that enemy to subsume it.
Skittering Skreed
Description
When a skreed dies, the necromantic energy it wielded in life has so permeated its body and soul that it is a trivial matter to raise it as a resilient, if not very formidable, undead.
| Skittering Skreed |
Level 3 Minion |
| Small Shadow Humanoid (undead) |
XP 37 |
|
| Initiative +3 |
Senses Perception +3, darkvision |
|
| HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. |
| AC 17; Fortitude 16, Reflex 15, Will 15 |
| Vulnerable radiant (see necrovitality below) |
| Speed 6 |
| M Claw (Standard; at-will) |
| +8 vs. AC; 4 damage. |
| Necrovitality ♦ necrotic |
| After skittering skreed is reduced to 0 hit points, the next time its initiative comes up, it attempts a saving throw. If successful, the skittering skreed is restored to 1 hit point and may act normally. The skittering skreed automatically fails this save if it’s been dealt radiant damage during the encounter. |
| Alignment Unaligned |
Languages – |
|
| Skills Stealth +8 |
| Str 17 (+4) |
Dex 15 (+3) |
Wis 14 (+3) |
| Con 17 (+4) |
Int 2 (-3) |
Cha 3 (-3) |
|
Skreed Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Arcana check.
DC 15: The Skreed are a race of rat-like humanoids which hail from the Shadowfell.
DC 20: Skreed are known for their affinity for necromantic magic, and are often found with undead minions. Skreed are also capable of striking fear into the hearts of their enemies.
DC 25: The Skreed are resistant to necrotic damage, but vulnerable to radiant. They were once humans, but were cursed by the gods for their endemic usage of necromancy.
Long ago, a tribe of humans mastered the arts of necromancy and used them to great effect. Zombies and skeletons served them at war and at home, as soldiers and servants. The gods punished the Skreed for their meddling in the dark arts by cursing them. The Skreed were banished to the Shadowfell and twisted into humanoid rats.
I like the idea… nicely done.
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Thank you. I’m always a fan of anthropomorphic animal races, but I feel like it’s a bit of a cop out to just make straight rat-, cat- or bat-men. I think the necromancy angle fits well with rats, and adds another dimension to them…
[...] tal alguns ratos humanóides zumbis do plano das sombras? Ok, eles não são zumbis, mas tem a ver com o tema, dê uma [...]
RE: Blacktotem. Be careful with how much damage auras do. They’re relatively unavoidable for melee types.
The workups look wonderful though! Thank you!
On the other hand, elites should have ways of taking multiple actions per round.
Great stuff… I may hijack this for my campaign.
Keep it coming!
Sorry, I missed this comment before. Of course you can take them, that’s why I post ‘em!