Dragon Magazine #361

Authors
Logan Bonner, Andy Collins,

Jason Haley, Rob Heinsoo, Brian
James, Shelly Mazzanoble,
Stephen Radney-MacFarland,
Peter Schaefer, Robert Schwalb,
Matthew Sernett, James Wyatt
Cover Artist Features

Contents
Marc Sasso 8. A Fractured Family
13. Shadow of Shothragot
Interior Artists 18. The Allure of Evil
Diem, Randy Gallegos, Ralph 29. Infernal Aristocracy
Horsley, Todd Lockwood, Marc
40. Ecology of the Fire Archon
Sasso, William O’Conner, Efrem
Palacios
49. Realmslore: Ironfang Keep
Columns
Editing 3. Editorial
Miranda Horner, Chris 5. Ampersand
Thomasson Confessions of a Full Time Wizard
52. The Fine Art of Monogamy
Typesetting 54. Conception of a Full-Time Wizard
Andrew White Design and Development
57. Critical Hits
Design Manager 58. Feats
Christopher Perkins
59. Paladin Smites
Managing Editor
61. Quests
Kim Mohan 62. The Importance of Terrain
64. Traps
Art Director 66. Magic Item Levels
Stacy Longstreet 67. Elite Bulette
Graphic Design
68. Designer’s Notes: Inn-Fighting
Toshiko Okumura
Director of RPG R&D

Bill Slavicsek
D UNGEONS & D RAGONS , D&D, d20, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, all other
Web Production Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trade-
Bart Carrol, Chris Thomasson, marks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries.
Steve Winter This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States
of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork
contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission
Web Development of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Mark A. Jindra -
tions, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Based on the original Dungeons Printed in the U.S.A. ©2007 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
& Dragons© game by E. Gary This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content.
Gygax and Dave Arneson and on No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written
permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20
the new edition of the Dungeons System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20.
& Dragons game designed by For more D UNGEONS & D RAGONS articles, adventures, and information,
Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, visit www.wizards.com/dnd
Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and

Peter Adkison.
Editorial
by Chris Thomasson
Where’s the Beef?
Back when I was a kid and this Wendy’s campaign launched, I Well, here’s what happened. Back in the late spring, when we
thought it was about the funniest thing ever. I remember seeing were putting together a content plan for the magazines from
that little old lady peering down at her burger myopically, and October through the launch of 4th Edition, we talked about
musing aloud on one of life’s most intriguing questions. Where’s what sort of content we should feature. We felt we had two op-
the beef, indeed? tions: The first was that we could continue with the exact same
pattern and type of content in the current incarnations of the
Few commercials attained the same magnitude of impact as that magazines. The second option was that we could take a step back
Wendy’s ad, so it’s no surprise that it stuck in my brain. At some and re-evaluate what we were trying to accomplish with this
point in my previous tenure on Dragon, it rose to the surface content. We opted to explore the latter option, and here are the
in some meeting or another, when I burst out with “Where’s conclusions we reached.
the beef?” when asking why a particular article lacked the cool
crunch to back up its otherwise fluffy content. • Giving new rules that won’t have relevance in a few months
wasn’t good for the game, and wasn’t a good use of staff resourc-
Since then, the phrase has retained that association for me, and es. It felt a lot like giving Bob, the valued 50-year employee, a
in the past few weeks, I know some variation of the phrase has computer upgrade the day before his retirement party. Any new
likely been circling in your heads in regards to the balance of 3rd Edition rules bit we give you now just isn’t even likely to see
rules content to non-rules content in Dragon, compared to is- play at most tables. If we were to print a new 3.5 prestige class to-
sues of the past.
Dragon 361 December 2007 3

morrow. Will having this class improve your D&D experience? setters to get it to you without expecting any compensation) in
More importantly, will it even make it into your game? the next few months. However, next year, as soon as the pow-
ers-that-be will allow, I’ll be posting a copy of our Table of Con-
We talked about these questions and more, and felt the answers tents for the first 4th Edition issue. It will reveal a lot about the
were “No” and “Extremely unlikely.” And the same was true as magazines come 4th Edition. Plus, we have a group of talented
we went down the list of all the rules elements in the game. graphic designers and art directors working to make the new
Monsters? Same situation. Feats? Even less likely to find a place look of the magazines as comfortable as possible with the digital
at the table. Magic items? Maybe most likely to see play, but still environment, as well as synch them up with the new look of
only minimally. This wasn’t a decision we arrived at easily, but our printed products. We’re also exploring as many options as
we knew that the only thing we stood to gain from continuing we can to make our editorial content work hand-in-hand with
with the status quo was the goodwill of the readers, especially the Insider toolset and community resources, and continuing to
following the migration of the magazines to a digital medium. explore new ways to bring you innovative ideas we never could
Don’t get me wrong for a moment: We value your good will. But have done with the print magazines (our D&D cartoons are one
with finite resources, and most importantly, a new edition com- fine example -- the next one is already in the works).
ing out, we felt that the second half of this equation needed to
be balanced, which was: Finally, I know some of us … okay, mostly just me … haven’t
been around as much in the community since #360 was rolling
• Preparing you for 4th Edition was of the utmost importance. out. But we are (I am) still here. We just recognized that the com-
This preparation, even at the expense of more 3rd Edition con- ing months were going to be crazy. Yes, it’s also hella fun, but I’ve
tent, just makes more sense. It’s a new edition. It will take some also never been so busy in my entire life. Hell, I’ve never seen
acclimation. It won’t happen overnight. We want our content, this company so busy, from top to bottom ... or so energized.
as much as possible, to give you a running start—to catapult
you, even—into the new edition. That’s our mission, our goal, The closer we come to launch, the more we’ll be sharing, the
our grail. We knew, even back in the spring and before, that more of the curtain we’ll be able to pull back (heck, check out
the push toward the 4th Edition launch was our first priority. Bill’s Ampersand column if you want to see a pretty good peek
Plus, we wanted to start bringing disenfranchised former play- at 4th Edition). We know it will be a long five months to wait,
ers back into the fold. We didn’t want you to feel overwhelmed but you know what they say about the good things. In the mean
by the new edition—if possible, we wanted you to feel like you time, keep playing. In the next several months, we’re going to
already knew how to play when you picked the Player’s Hand- keep bringing you more ways to experience and learn 4th Edi-
book up off the shelf. tion before the new game launches, along with all the great 3.5
adventures in Dungeon.
Fourth edition is coming, we’re having a blast with it, and we
want you to be comfortable with the game come June. We’re not
ignoring D&D 3.5; we’re devoting precious writing and devel-
opment time to it. Our 3.5 focus, though, is on adventures -- to
keep you playing, and because we feel they’re the most useful at
this point in the game’s life cycle.
What does this mean? Well, for now, not much. You won’t see
much of a change in the free content (yes, I felt compelled to
point out that we’re dropping a hefty dime to get this content
contracted, commission art, and pay freelance editors and type-
4 Dragon 361 December 2007

Ampersand
• The nature and first look at the as-yet-unrevealed new
player character race.
by Bill Slavicsek • A timeline of the design and development of 4th Edition,
including notes from the design team.
• The top-secret 4th Edition design tenets.
• An overview of Player Handbook classes and power
sources.
• A preview of classes slated for future development after the
launch of the Player’s Handbook.
• All kinds of background information, in-world stories, and
Why I’m Thankful anecdotes about what it takes to create a new edition.
Check out Races and Classes (and its companion volume, Worlds
and Monsters) for amazing artwork, intriguing spoilers, and a ton
of information on what’s coming in the new edition -- from the
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I’ve been thinking first set of core books to future products later in the line. I know
about what makes me thankful in regards to my work here at all this stuff, and I couldn’t stop reading. Not only is it fascinating
Wizards of the Coast. Not only do I have the coolest, most fun job material, but it got my mind racing about characters I want to
in the world (at least as far as I’m concerned), but I get to interact play and campaigns I want to run using the new edition. I think
with an amazing collection of talented individuals on an hour- you’ll have the same reaction.
to-hour basis. From the R&D teams to the Brand Teams, Sales Desert of Desolation
to Finance, Creative and Production Services, and our various
support teams, Wizards is all about creativity and imagination, The newest set of D&D miniatures, Desert of Desolation,
and I’m thankful that I get to work in this environment every provides a different kind of look at 4th Edition. First off, every
day. creature in the set exists in 4th Edition D&D and almost all of
them will appear in the first Monster Manual. (One monster
I’m also thankful, as far as work is concerned, that we’re getting receives special treatment and will get its first updated statistics
closer and closer to putting the finishing touches on the first 4th on D&D Insider.)
Edition Dungeons & Dragons products, and I’m thrilled at how
those products are coming together. Our playtests have been Second, this set showcases the first of our updates to the look
running very well, with a good mix of reactions ranging from and feel of D&D monsters. Now, when a monster looks just
“that’s cool,” to “that works fine,” and even some “that needs great, we’ve left it alone. But in cases where we felt we could
work.” Just the kind of reactions we hope to see, reactions that improve the look of a monster, we’ve taken this opportunity to
help us refine and improve the game one rules mechanic at a do so. Our new look for angels, for example, debuts in this set
time. To everyone who’s participated and provided feedback, with the Angel of Vengeance. It’s otherworldly, looks powerful,
you have my heartfelt thanks. You’re helping us make the best and has just the right mix of awe-inspiring and creepy to better
product possible, and I appreciate the effort. define these servants of the gods. Another update can be seen in
the Feral Troll, which continues the artistic evolution of one of
And speaking of getting close, this is the time when we begin to the terrors of D&D that has been updated with each new edition
share more detailed information with D&D players everywhere. of the game.
I’m thankful that we can finally start to open up a little more
and let you see what we’re working on, so to speak. Some of this Third, this set reveals some monsters making their debut in 4th
takes the form of a couple of preview products that are about to Edition. The Cyclops appears for the first time since 2nd Edition
release, as well as the newest set of D&D miniatures, Desert of and looks fantastic, and the Fire Archon unleashes the first of a
Desolation, which debuted two weeks ago. new elemental force on unsuspecting adventurers everywhere.
Preview Products Finally, after thirteen sets, I’ve got my Gelatinous Cube at long
last. I’ve been asking for this figure since the very beginning, and
Wizards Presents: Races and Classes hits the store shelves in a couple those early conversations got us to experiment with clear plastic
of weeks. This is the first of two 4th Edition preview products and eventually led to the inclusion of the actual monster in this
designed to provide you with a behind-the-curtain glimpse set. It’s a great miniature, and it alone makes this set something
of the making of the 4th Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons special. Add those other elements I’ve talked about, and you
Roleplaying Game. (The second is Wizards Presents: Worlds and begin to see why we’re so excited about Desert of Desolation.
Monsters, on sale in January.) Full of concept art, designer essays,
and insights into R&D’s thinking, Races and Classes previews Of course, most of that focused on roleplaying. For skirmish
the new version of the game from a player’s perspective. players, this set marks the first time you’ll be able to play the
new edition of the D&D Miniatures Game. In January, we’re
Races and Classes provides a bunch of great information and putting the new rules online for everyone to use, and we’re also
reveals a number of secrets, including: providing updated stat cards for all of the figures in this set.
Consider it our after-the-holidays gift to everyone who wants to

start test-driving the new minis rules before the April launch.
That’s all I’ve got time to talk about right now. Have a happy Elf
Thanksgiving and remember … Quick, wary archers who freely roam
the forests and wilds.
Keep playing!
Racial Traits
Average Height: 5’ 7”-6’ 0”

Bill’s Holliday Present Average Weight: 100-130 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2

Wisdom
I’ve been trying to decide what glimpse into the D&D 4th
Edition process I could share with you this month. I wanted Size: Medium
something cool, something big, something that said “Happy Speed: 7 squares
holidays” to everyone in the D&D community. Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Elven
So I looked around at what the team and I are working on during Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2
these last few days of the work year. James Wyatt, Mike Mearls, Perception
and I are reviewing every playtest comment, every monster Elven Accuracy
entry, and every rules element, but nothing in that process Elf Racial Power
seems exactly right for what I’m imagining.
With an instant of focus, you take
I’m busy putting the finishing touches on the skills chapter, careful aim at your foe and strike
paragon paths, epic destinies, and magic items, but that stuff with the legendary accuracy of the
still needs to go through the editors before it’s ready for prime elves.
time viewing. Encounter
Free Action
Michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford, and Kim Mohan -- excellent Personal
editors all -- are neck-deep in the Player’s Handbook, scrubbing Effect: Reroll an attack roll. Use the
classes and powers so that they really shine and making sure that second roll, even if it’s lower.
everything synchs up from one chapter to the next. One place
where they feel pretty much done (at least until James, Mike, Elven Weapon Training: You gain
and I come back with an adjustment based on the feedback proficiency with the longbow and
we’re reviewing) is the races chapter. Maybe something in there the shortbow.
will satisfy my holiday spirit … Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift (even if
you have a power that allows you to shift multiple squares).
I just stepped over to talk to Andy Collins, my mechanical Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares a
design and development manager (he oversees all of the +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.
mechanical game designers and developers that work on my Elven Accuracy: You can use elven accuracy as an encounter
team) to see what he thinks would make a good present. After a power.
brief conversation, and a courtesy call to Scott Rouse to get his
buy off, we’re all in agreement. I’m going to share with you the Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using stealth and
first look at a D&D 4th Edition race entry. And, since it is the deadly arrows from the trees. They build their homes in close
holiday season, arious characters and their place in the world. harmony with the forest, so perfectly joined that travelers often
Finally, we looked at the flavor and back story to make sure that fail to notice that they have entered an elven community until
each race had a unique role that didn’t impinge on any of the it is too late.
other races in the game.
Play an elf if you want …
OK, enough with the chit-chat. Let’s unwrap your present!
• to be quick, quiet, and wild;
• to lead your companions through the deep woods and
pepper your enemies with arrows;
• to play a ranger, a rogue, or a cleric.
Physical Qualities
Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. They
have the same range of complexions as humans, tending more
toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf ’s hair color is dark brown,
autumn orange, mossy green, or deep gold. Elves’ ears are long

and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elf Adventurers
Elves have little body hair, but males often grow long sideburns.
They favor a wild look to their hair, which is often a shaggy mass Three sample elf adventurers are described below.
of braids.
Varis is an elf ranger and a devout worshiper of Melora, the god
Elves mature at about the same rate as humans but show few of the wilds. When a goblin army forced his people from their
effects of age past adulthood. The first sign of an elf ’s advancing woodland village, the elves took refuge in the nearest human
age is typically a change in hair color -- sometimes graying but town, walled and guarded by soldiers. Varis now leads other
usually darkening or taking on more autumnal hues. Most elves elves and some human townsfolk in raids against the goblins.
live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to Although he maintains a cheerful disposition, he frequently
the end. stares into the distance, listening, expecting at any moment to
hear signs of approaching foes.
Playing an Elf
Lia is an elf rogue whose ancestral forest burned to the ground
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions. They are decades ago. Lia grew up on the wasteland’s fringes in a large
easily moved to delighted laughter, blinding wrath, or mournful human city, unable to quite fit in. Her dreams called her to the
tears. They are inclined to impulsive behavior, and members of forests, while her waking hours were spent in the dirtiest parts
other races sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but of civilization. She joined a group of adventurers after trying to
elves do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments. Thanks cut a warlock’s purse, and she fell in love with the wide world
in part to their long life span, elves sometimes have difficulty beyond the city.
taking certain matters as seriously as other races do, but when
genuine threats arise, elves are fierce and reliable allies. Heian is an elf cleric of Sehanine, the god of the moon. The
elven settlement where he was born still thrives in a forest
Elves revere the natural world. Their connection to their untouched by the darkness spreading through the world, but he
surroundings enables them to perceive much. They never cut left home years ago, in search of new horizons and adventures.
living trees, and when they create permanent communities, they His travels lately have brought rumors to his ears that danger
do so by carefully growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and might be brewing in the ancient forest, and he is torn between
catwalks from living branches. They prefer the primal power a desire to seek his own way in the world and a sense of duty to
of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin cousins his homeland.
employ. Elves love to explore new forests and new lands, and it’s
not unusual for individuals or small bands to wander hundreds Well, there you have it. The first unveiling of a full race entry
of miles from their homelands. from the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook. Oh, what the heck. I’m
feeling generous this morning. It must be the season. Here’s a
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple pleasures racial feat you can peek at, too.
-- dancing, singing, footraces, and contests of balance and skill
-- and rarely see a reason to tie themselves down to dull or Elven Precision [Elf]
disagreeable tasks. Despite how unpleasant war can be, a threat
to their homes, families, or friends can make elves grimly serious Prerequisites: Elf, elven accuracy racial power, heroic tier
and prompt them to take up arms. Benefit: When you use the elven accuracy power, you gain a +2
bonus to the new attack roll.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a single race
dwelling both in the Feywild and in the world, and passing OK, I better stop here or I’ll be tempted to show you the entire
freely between the two. When the drow rebelled against their class chapter. Hmmm … maybe next time? Anyway, have a great
kin, under the leadership of the god Lolth, the resulting battles holiday season and remember to …
tore the fey kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the
Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually the elves Keep playing!
and eladrin grew into two distinct races. Elves are descended
from those who lived primarily in the world, and they no longer --Bill Slavicsek
dream of the Feywild. They love the forests and wilds of the
world that they have made their home.
Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive,

quick, tempestuous, wild.
Male Names: Adran, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal, Heian,

Lucan, Peren, Rollen, Soveliss, Therren, Varis.
Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Ennia, Farall, Harrel,

Iriann, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valenae.

A Fractured Family
Elvish Strife, Separation, and Rebirth
by James Wyatt
Once they were a single race: The elves say they were elves, the As the race of elves spread and built their first cities, Lolth
eladrin say they were eladrin. The drow say they were debased, marked her favorites -- those elves who delighted in murder and
unfinished, and fatally flawed, and would have stayed that way destruction -- by matching their coloration to hers. Even before
but for the help of Lolth. Lolth’s rebellion, these dark-skinned elves began to claim the
name of drow, an ugly Elven word that refers to the things that
In the younger days of creation, a fey race walked the borders haunt the night.
between the world and the Feywild. Corellon and the two sisters,
Sehanine and Lolth, delighted in this race, for all three gods saw Up to this point, the legends and histories of the three races
in them the qualities they most valued. Corellon prized them for mostly agree. Some details may differ -- most notably the name
their artistry, their innate sense for the ebb and flow of magic, by which the unified race was known -- but the broad outline
their song, and their fierce anger in battle. Sehanine loved their is the same. With the rebellion of Lolth, however, the histories
stealth, their gentle footsteps in the shadows of the forest, and diverge. They agree on the fact of Lolth’s revolt: She turned
their curiosity and wonder at the newborn world. And Lolth against her sister and Corellon and led her chosen ones in battle
particularly enjoyed those who sought power and seized it, who against the other elves. The reason for her revolt is less clear.
spied and schemed to achieve their goals, The most common legends include the
who showed no mercy to their enemies or following:
their rivals.
• Lolth grew tired of sharing her
For this young race, like most of the fey, had power and authority with Sehanine and
a very different sense of morality from that tried to kill her sister, to claim the shadows
of other races. Moradin, Pelor, and Bahamut and the moon as her exclusive domain.
taught their followers the noble path of law • Lolth was jealous of the affection
and good, encouraged them to shun evil, between Corellon and her sister and tried
value life, and build societies that protected to kill one or the other of them.
their weaker citizens. The elves, though, • Lolth descended into the Elemental
were as changing as the seasons and the Chaos and even plumbed the Abyss in a
moon, mercurial in their passions. Corellon search for knowledge or power, and she
taught them to love beauty and savor life made alliances with demons -- and then
but to kill in an ecstatic fury of blasting Corellon and Sehanine sought to punish
magic and whirling blade when they faced her blasphemy.
their enemies in battle. Sehanine taught • Or Lolth believed that her chosen
them to find their own paths without any people should rule the elf race and led them
particular ethical code. And Lolth extended to seize power, which only then resulted in
Sehanine’s doctrine to its extreme, teaching conflict among the gods.
the elves to place their own goals above all other cares and to
stop at nothing to achieve them. Whatever the reason for the revolt of Lolth and the drow, the
consequences were devastating. War tore through the shining
The elves as a race were neither good nor evil -- they didn’t think fey cities and consumed the woodlands of the world with fire.
in those terms. They enjoyed beauty and pleasure, and many of Some say that the world and the Feywild grew more distant
them found pleasure in kindness and beauty in every facet of from each other, making passage between them more difficult
life, and so acted in good ways. Still, they might inflict pain or and driving a wedge between the elves who favored one over
even death, not out of cruelty, but purely out of curiosity. Others the other. Ultimately, the drow were cut off and banished from
found pleasure in causing pain, and turned their path to evil. elf and eladrin communities, driven into the dark places of the
world, the Feywild, and the Shadowfell. Lolth made her home
Sehanine, god of the full moon, was fair-skinned and dark- in the Abyss, taking the title of the Demon Queen of Spiders.
haired, while Lolth, god of the new moon, was the opposite.

By the end of the rebellion, the elves, the eladrin, and the drow
were three distinct races. Each was shaped by the nature of their
home and the favor of their gods.
Elves: A Closer Look

Whatever the history and legend of their origin, the elves of the
present day are very much creatures of the world. Though still
fey in their nature, they are attuned to the world and its primal
power, at home in the woodlands, and they live in harmony
with the beasts and trees that share their home.
Since the revolt of the drow, the elves have walked quietly over
the earth, leaving little trace. As kingdoms and empires grew
and collapsed -- the human realm of Nerath, the dragonborn
Arkhosia, the tiefling Bael Turath, and countless nations before
them -- the elves remained in their woodland homes, mostly
unaffected by the rise and fall of nations. On a few occasions,
the eladrin built kingdoms in the world. Sometimes these
kingdoms sought cordial relations with their elf neighbors, and
elves and eladrin lived as close as they ever had since Lolth’s
rebellion. At other times, the eladrin tried to force the elves into
a reunion of the races and met bitter resistance. There can be no
doubt, now, that the two races will never again be one.
Shunning kingdoms of their own, the elves no longer build

cities as their ancestors did, but make their homes among the
trees. They live in family or clan units, sleeping in tents or under
the stars as they range through the forests and gather what they
need to survive. At other times, they in temporary villages
built on platforms in the branches, linked by vines and ropes --
almost a natural part of the trees themselves. They roam with the
seasons, following animals on their migrations or journeying to
where fruits and nuts grow in greatest abundance. At least twice
a year -- at midsummer and midwinter -- elf families and clans
gather together to observe the turning of the seasons, share
stories and news of the recent months, and celebrate marriages, Elves share a passionate and emotional nature with many of
births, and deaths. their fey cousins. They experience feelings deeply and intensely,
and their emotions are often mercurial. An elf can swing from
In the darkness that has been growing since the fall of Nerath, wailing grief to heartfelt laughter in a moment, and as quickly
the elves find it more and more difficult to maintain their to burning rage. They make bitter enemies, sometimes clinging
traditional ways. Many of their forests are no longer safe even to grudges through long generations, but they are reliable and
for their keen-eyed archers and hardy warriors. Some forests compassionate friends who remember gratitude longer than
have burned to their roots, driving the elves to find safe refuge wrongs.
in the better-defended settlements of other races. Where, in
the past, it was unusual to find elves in human towns except Many elves still revere Corellon and (particularly) Sehanine, but
as traders, now many elf families have taken up permanent many others worship Melora, god of the wilds where they make
residence among humans, halflings, and even dwarves, joining their homes. Even those elves who drift toward evil rarely turn
with these other races for protection against the darkness. to Lolth. The legend of her rebellion stings too much. Instead,
they worship the Raven Queen, Zehir, or occasionally savage
As a race, elves are fleet of foot and agile. Though they are by no Gruumsh.
means stupid, they do not place the same value on learning and
intellect that their eladrin cousins do. Rather, they value the For many elves, the gods are not much different from the clan
wisdom of years and the truth of intuition and insight. Their elders who have moved on from this life to another. They
more comic legends are full of eladrin who are puffed up with remember the gods in thanks and might pray for insight, but
their own knowledge but lack even a modicum of common not many elves become champions of any god’s ideals as a cleric
sense, and cunning elf heroes who trick their foolish cousins. or paladin. They are not as fascinated with arcane magic as their
eladrin cousins, often growing impatient with its intricacies and

precision. They are drawn more to mastery of primal power, them against fomorians and other dangers of the fey darkness.
which keeps them attuned to the natural world with its spirits Unlike human rulers, these noble eladrin wield tremendous
and forces. Elf rangers, rogues, druids, and barbarians are the power derived from a close connection to the magic of the
most common adventurers. Feywild, so their tiny city-states do remain as lights, however
dim and flickering, standing against the encroaching darkness.
Eladrin: A Race Apart Eladrin share the grace and agility of their elf cousins but place
more value on the developed intellect than on intuition and
emotion. All eladrin are scholars to some degree, versed in the
The eladrin claim to be the original race from which both elves history of their race and the theories of magic and more inclined
and drow split, with the (usually) unspoken implication that to calculate possible solutions than to run with a gut feeling.
both other races fell away from the state of near-perfection that
the eladrin embody. Certainly, the eladrin are still the most fey The eladrin can seem cold and emotionless to outsiders, if
of the three elf races, still steeped in the magic of the Feywild sometimes capricious, and they are certainly less passionate than
and still the favored children of Corellon. Arcane magic suffuses the elves. Their grief manifests as a wistful melancholy, their
their bodies and souls, sometimes emanating from them in a pleasure as a soft smile, and their anger as a simmering glare.
soft nimbus of fey light. Much like the elves, they have long memories
for both gifts and grudges.
Many races of the world can look back in
history to a shining example of their ancestors’ Most eladrin worship Corellon and Sehanine.
accomplishments: the dragonborn empire Some temples in the Feywild are still arranged
of Arkhosia or the human realm of Nerath, as they were before Lolth’s rebellion -- built as
for example. When the eladrin reflect back three interlocking circles, each with its altar
on their days of glory, they think first and to one of the three elf gods. In most of these
foremost of the time before Lolth’s rebellion, temples, Lolth’s altar has been destroyed or
when the whole Feywild shined with the light defaced. Sometimes it is draped with black
of the eladrin cities. Those cities now lie in cloth to hide it from view, and sometimes it is
ruins, still hauntingly beautiful among the visible but simply unadorned. There are eladrin
fey forests with moonlight shining on their who believe that the three gods will one day be
shattered spires and ivory walls, but haunting reconciled, just as the three races will again be
in their testimony to the violence of the one.
rebellion.
Some say that Corellon’s dominion of Arborea
Eladrin still build towers of graceful beauty lies in the Feywild, while others claim it floats
in the grandest places of the Feywild -- in the Astral Sea. It’s possible that it drifts
breathtaking gorges and verdant glens -- and between the worlds or somehow exists in both
sometimes even among the ruins of their places at once. To the eladrin mind, Arborea is
ancient cities. But no eladrin city of the perhaps not so different from the court of any
present day, or of the past hundred centuries, noble eladrin -- larger and more magnificent,
can compare to the heights of the eladrin race perhaps, but a place where any eladrin would
in that mythic time before. Eladrin cities of feel at home, even in the presence of so great
the present day are usually little more than a a lord as the noble Corellon. Sehanine, it’s
single ivory spire rising above a scattering of said, wanders freely in and out of Corelllon’s
smaller homes, all built in perfect harmony home but spends much of her time in the
with their surroundings as if carved from the earth by wind and Feywild, where travelers might stumble across her path. Some
rain. who attend one of Sehanine’s moonlit feasts are said to become
lost for centuries, while others awaken after a single night to
There have been times in the history of the world when eladrin find themselves blessed with gifts and powers beyond their
tried to rebuild the ancient glory of a united race, extending imagining.
their city-states into the natural world and making overtures to
nearby elf communities. These dreams of kingdoms that would More so than the elves, eladrin sometimes become champions
bridge the worlds have always crumbled to dust with the passing of a god in much the same way that one might become a fey
of years, usually within the span of a single generation. knight in service to a noble eladrin. Divine magic is not alien
to the eladrin, but arcane magic is their love and part of their
Eladrin society has more in common with the human structures nature. Eladrin wizards are far more common than warlocks,
of nobility and rulership than it does with the family-based sorcerers, or bards, but any form of arcane magic is a source of
society of the elves. Noble houses ruled by eladrin with titles endless fascination for the race.
such as Bralani of Autumn Winds or Ghaele of Winter govern
tiny princedoms scattered across the Feywild. The eladrin swear
loyalty to their noble protectors, who promise to help defend

Noble Eladrin
The lords and ladies that rule the eladrin are powerful fey who
embody the character of the race. Their magic is tied to seasons
Drow: Lolth’s Chosen
The drow are creatures of evil and darkness, exiles banished to
and emotions. A ghaele might lash out with a blast of wintry the subterranean realms beneath the Feywild, the world, and the
cold, while a coure sows strife among her enemies. They are Shadowfell. Their ties to the forests and valleys of nature are cut,
enigmatic and aloof and can be very capricious, especially when and they live by cruelty and domination, no longer in harmony
mortals venture into their domains. The tale of Ferrin Toth, a with the beasts of the wild.
human wizard who ventured into the Feywild seeking arcane
secrets, illustrates the nature of the noble eladrin. The drow build their cities deep underground, their slender
spires and feylit towers echoing or mocking the graceful eladrin
Proud of his knowledge and confident in his arcane power, cities of the Feywild. Their society is a study in paradox. Within a
Ferrin Toth used a ritual to transport himself into the Feywild. drow city, various families or houses hold power. A drow without
After parting the veil between worlds, he found himself in a a connection to one of these houses is an outcast, and members
lovely valley with a crystalline spire rising beside a sparkling of other races are rarely anything but slaves to these houses. The
waterfall at the valley’s head. He presented himself at the palace drow are inclined to empire, unlike their cousins,
gate in the late afternoon, asking for an audience and the well-ordered houses would perhaps
with the ruler of the place. conquer both the Underdark and the surface
world were it not for Lolth and her priests. Lolth
Two women escorted him into the presence of is a god of treachery and chaos, and at her urging,
their lord Immeral, Firre of Passion. Warm braziers her priests lead the house matrons in constant
lit the audience hall against the approaching battles for dominance. Even when a single house
twilight and fire seemed to dance in the opalescent manages to cling to power for an extended time,
eyes of the eladrin lord. He welcomed the human it must be constantly vigilant against the threat
wizard graciously, descending from his throne to of a lesser house trying to claim its position, and
escort the traveler on a tour through the palace. struggles among the lesser houses prevent the city
Ferrin lingered by the doorway to the eladrin’s from acting in anything like a concerted effort
magnificent library, but Immeral told him he toward conquest.
could explore the library in the morning. Ferrin
tried to protest -- there was still enough daylight Drow share the agility of their cousins, which they
for him to read -- but the eladrin wouldn’t hear often put to use in stealth and trickery. Although
him. He hurried Ferrin to a luxurious guest room, they are no taller than eladrins, they have a
warned him not to leave the room until dawn’s presence that often makes members of other races
light burned on the horizon, and left him alone. feel smaller and on edge -- a fury seems to be at
constant boil behind their blank white eyes, ready
Ferrin couldn’t sleep. His glimpse of the lord’s to explode at the slightest provocation. Like the
great library tormented him, and desire to plumb elves, their moods can change in an instant, most
its secrets consumed him. When the palace was often transforming into blind, murderous rage.
silent and the full moon glittered in its spires,
Ferrin crept from his room and tried to retrace his The drow remain Lolth’s own, and they tolerate
steps to the library. As he walked, the corridors the worship of no other god. The names of
seemed to twist in on themselves, and soon the Corellon and Sehanine are blasphemy to a drow’s
gleaming crystal walls melted into thickets of ears, and even a euphemistic reference to either
briars. He wandered through what had become a god is accompanied by spitting on the ground. The drow revere
labyrinth until dawn began to brighten the sky. Then the two spiders because Lolth chose them as her symbol, and they
women who had brought him to the lord’s audience hall stepped traffic with demons because Lolth has made some demons her
out of the thickets. Their lovely faces and forms vanished in a servants. The priests of Lolth hold political as well as spiritual
flash, revealing monstrous creatures of wood and vine, swinging power, serving as advisers to the house matrons if not actually
arms like mighty cudgels at him. filling that position themselves. Drow society revolves around
Lolth, though it means a constant state of civil upheaval.
With a word of refuge, Ferrin returned to the sanctum of his own
tower. But the vision of the Firre of Passion’s library haunted him. While elves and eladrin are inclined to view the gods as simply
Every night he tossed and turned on his bed, thinking of the a greater form of their own lords and elders, the drow give
library and the wonders he had glimpsed through its doorway. Lolth their unquestioning devotion. Far more drow follow
Every morning, when dawn’s light burned on the horizon, he divine paths to become clerics or paladins than either elves or
thought he stood again in that doorway, and hope surged in eladrin do -- perhaps in part because of the temporal authority
his chest -- but as soon as the sun rose above the distant hills, that comes with service to Lolth but also for the opportunity
his vision cleared and he was still in his tower. Many times he to commune more closely with their god and savor her power
returned to the Feywild, but he was never able to find Immeral’s flowing through them. They have not forgotten their heritage of
palace again.

arcane study, however, and produce many mighty wizards and
warlocks. While religion and politics are primarily the arena Play a drow if you …
of women among the drow, the arcane masters of the race are
mostly men. • want to be good at skulking about, striking quick, and
employing a variety of dirty tactics;
The more high-minded elves and eladrin sometimes take a • ?enjoy playing a hero in search of redemption and who
compassionate view of the drow, perhaps believing that the struggles to rise above the wickedness of his people;
three races might one day be reunited. The drow, on the other • ?are considering a ranger, rogue, warlock.
hand, permit no such weakness of thought, as they see it.
Whatever their short-term plans of conquest or rebellion, the
drow long for the day when they will exterminate their kindred,
obliterating the stain of elves and eladrin from the world and
the Feywild. Only occasionally do these dreams manifest in
any kind of action, but drow have been seen fighting alongside
fomorians in the Feywild.
Without a doubt, the aspirations of the drow echo the dreams

and schemes of Lolth, the Spider Queen. In her Abyssal domain
of the Demonweb Pits, she sits and waits, plotting the day when
she can snare her sister and Corellon in her webs and finish the
work she started at the dawn of time.
And then the three races will be only one.
Drow As Player Characters

With the release of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in
the summer of of ‘08, drow will be presented as a fully playable
character race. Although drow as a race are a singularly wicked
people, cruel and treacherous in their dealings with others, a
smattering in every generation learn cooperation and the value
of alliance. While some of these are merely cunning in their
decision to gain the trust of others, a few truly come to value the
positive aspects of camaraderie and friendship, sometimes even
with those not of their own race.

Shadow of Shothragot
by Robert J. Schwalb
art by Efrem Palacios The Price of Survival
The Green Horn Adventuring Troupe challenged the Crater Ridge He drew his short sword, thumbing the edge of the blade as he fought for
Mines and were found wanting. After their priest fell, the kuo-toans control over himself. He was about to stand -- to make his final desper-
swarmed them, ruthless in their tactics and filled with religious fervor ate attempt to kill his foes -- when something wet and black and awful
and unreasoning hatred. One by one, the heroes fell, the flesh of their curled around his ankle. It jerked him into the cloying darkness of the
bodies flung up in the orgy of violence, trailing ropes of dark blood to the mine’s endless shadows before he even had a chance to scream.
sounds of their screams. It was too much for the ranger named Giorge,
and he set aside his courage and fled into the black tunnels. While each book can stand on its own, Exemplars of Evil and
Elder Evils are in fact companion products -- two sourcebooks
Cursing with every step, begging his feet to turn around so he might constructed to provide Dungeon Masters with a foul assortment
save his friends, his body denied him for the fear had a grip on his heart of dreadful villains to use against their player characters. By us-
and there was no turning back. So he ran. He ran for what might have ing the cast of unsavory characters presented in Exemplars of
been minutes but felt like days and in his panic, he lost track of where Evil, you can foreshadow the campaign-ending horrors of Elder
he was, losing himself in the bleak corridors and the rusting rails of the Evils. This web enhancement, then, provides an interesting ad-
accursed mines. When his breath came in hitches and the pain in his versary and his minion, but it also foreshadows the coming of
side forced him to stop, he collapsed, tears pouring from his eyes, little Shothragot, the Herald of Tharizdun, a powerful elder evil bent
sobs escaping from his dry and cracked lips. He knew he would die. The on releasing his own vile master.
sounds of his pursuers were close. Too close.

Giorge Forsworn visions of apocalypse and planted instructions that grew and
thrived in the haunted corridors of his thoughts. Now when
he draws close to an individual Shothragot deems a threat -- no
matter how minor -- Giorge sees a fiery glyph burning on her
“I’m so sorry ... sorry ... it hurts, doesn’t it. I’m trying brow. This sigil marks those Giorge must kill even though each
murder pained him, reducing him to tears for he knew in his
to make this quick. S ... s ... so sorry!” heart that what he did was wrong. But Giorge serves because
-- Giorge Forsworn
nothing else is permitted to him -- nothing beyond furthering
his master’s ambitions, and no doubt -- no hesitation -- will ever
Formerly a bold adventurer and member of the Green Horn
stop him from fulfilling his profane duty.
Adventuring Troupe, Giorge Forsworn fell from grace and is
now a corrupted and insane villain, bent on spreading death and
destruction in the blasphemous name of his despicable master. Using Giorge Forsworn
Forged anew by the filthy touch of the elder evil named Sho- Giorge Forsworn is insane. He is a villain in his own right, but
thragot, violent images contaminate his mind and drive him to he is also a servant of an elder evil. Shothragot has a penchant
commit unspeakable acts of grisly murder. A disturbing villain, for remaking mortals into useful servants, bending their bod-
he prowls the lands in search of those he deems as marked for ies and minds to become fitting tools for use in its own agenda
death and puts them to the sword. of freeing Tharizdun. Giorge, then, is an extension of the elder
evil’s will. He travels endlessly, moving through the lands, al-
ways watching and searching for those marked for death. He is a
Background reluctant servant, haunted by the memories of his life before the
When the Green Hand Adventuring Troupe learned that the
touch of evil, and he despairs about his fate. Even the company
cult of the Elder Elemental Eye was once more active in the area,
of a beautiful nymph is not enough to drag him from his melan-
they stormed the Crater Ridge Mines, searching for a way to
cholic thoughts, though she uses every trick she can to distract
breach the crater’s interior and besiege the temple itself. In spite
him from his suffering.
of early successes, they move too swiftly and eventually found
themselves overrun and slaughtered by kuo-toan cultists. One
Regardless of his detestation for his work, he cannot stop him-
among them survived, though: a ranger named Giorge.
self. He must do as his master commands and he has no con-
cept of sparing his victims. Therefore, in spite of his reluctance,
Fleeing through the tunnels, he eventually became lost and
Giorge is a foul adversary that strikes seemingly at random. In
stumbled into a chamber containing a great abomination, a frag-
one village, he might slaughter an entire family of peasants, and
ment of Tharizdun’s personality severed at the time of his im-
in the next, he may burn down a temple of St. Cuthbert. Even
prisonment. Giorge’s sudden arrival and the approach of more
he has no idea why his targets are selected. He only knows that
fishfolk hunters caused the great horror to awaken and snatch
they are.
Giorge, plunging the mortal into the thickened waters contami-
nated by its rot. Beneath the churning surface, the entity known
as Shothragot infested Giorge’s mind, rent his spirit, and seized Forsworn in Faerûn
his body, transforming it into something else entirely. Shothragot fled into the Plane of Shadow after Tharizdun’s im-
prisonment and crawled through inky depths until it slipped
The elder evil awakened a trace of fiendish blood that lay dor- free to emerge into the Material Plane of the Forgotten Realms
mant in the broken ranger, causing him to become a tiefling. only to become imprisoned in Undermountain by Halaster.
The severe agony of transformation shattered Giorge’s mind, Giorge Forsworn discovered the entity while exploring the im-
and when he was spit out upon the shores, he gibbered like an mense dungeon in the aftermath the Mad Mage’s death (see
idiot, shrieking and laughing by turns for days on end. But the Expedition to Undermountain). Knowing the seals confining
thing in the pool was not through with his first disciple. Tharizdun are too great in the Material Plane in which he is im-
prisoned, Shothragot intends to burrow a hole through reality
Shothragot swelled out from the pool’s depths and instructed so his master can tear free into Faerûn’s cosmology.
Giorge to go forth to spread the news of its coming, and also to
find and destroy its enemies. The new champion had no choice Forsworn in Eberron
but to agree since Shothragot possessed his soul. And so he went The Green Horn Adventuring Party was destroyed in the Khy-
out into the world, scouring the lands through which he trav- ber beneath Sharn, and Giorge stumbled into an ancient temple
eled for those he perceived as threats and for those marked by that contained the essence of a powerful daelkyr. Releasing the
his god as being chosen to die. When he finds them, he does as abomination in a botched attempt to hide from his pursuers,
he has been commanded. He kills. Giorge saw the entity tear free and then was remade by it into a
brutal killing machine. As the entity builds its power in the dark
Goals tunnels, it sends Giorge to Sharn to retrieve victims for sacrifice
The experience in the Crater Ridge Mines left Giorge Forsworn or for remaking -- as the entity capriciously decides.
changed in body and mind. The physical changes, while pro-
found, compared little to the evil filling the vessel of his soul. Description
The entity in the shadowy cave filled his mind with disturbing Giorge stands just under 6 feet tall. He has a muscular frame

and chiseled features, and from afar, he might even pass for hu- Spell-Like Abilities (CL 25th):
man. Anything more than a glance reveals the truth of his blood, At will -- detect good (CL 4th)
for his skin is deep blue mottled with purple spots and strange 1/day -- darkness
whorls of scarred flesh. In the palm of each hand snarls a wet
and dripping mouth, while a nest of writhing tentacles ending Abilities Str 18, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 18
in pink tongues lashes out from his navel. SQ divine grace, divine health, overwhelming aura of evil,
spurn mortal magic, wild empathy +6 (+2 magical
He conceals his monstrous appearance beneath a suit of purple beasts)
full plate emblazoned with the same symbols decorating his Feats Alertness[B], Boost Spell-Like Ability[B, BV], Deformity
body. His helmet is a terrifying thing, wrought to resemble the (Madness)[ElE], Endurance[B], Improved Initiative,
fusion of countless faces twisted with agony, the flesh of one Insane Defiance[ElE], Mortalbane[BV], Track[B], Two-
spilling into another. So lifelike are the visages, they seem to Weapon Fighting[B], Vile Martial Strike (longsword)[B,
move, crying out for mercy, even as Giorge sets to complete his BV], Weapon Focus (longsword), Willing Deformity[B,
grisly task. BV]
Skills Bluff +10, Climb +4, Diplomacy +8, Heal +5, Hide
Giorge Forsworn CR 13 +7, Intimidate +12, Jump -2, Knowledge (nature) +3,
hp 120 (13 HD) Knowledge (religion) +2, Listen +10, Move Silently +7,
Search +7, Sense Motive +8, Spot +10, Survival +8 (+10
Male tiefling ranger 3/paladin of slaughter 4[UA]/mortal when following tracks), Tumble +0
hunter 6[BV] Possessions combat gear plus +1 blurring full plate,
CE Medium outsider (native) +1 bashing heavy steel shield, +1 unholy surge
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +10, Spot +10 longsword, +1 composite longbow (Strength +4) with
Aura debilitating (10 ft.) 20 arrows, ring of protection +1, cloak of Charisma +2,
Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal gauntlets of ogre power, vest of resistance +1, finely
wrought and polished silver mirror (1,000 gp focus for
AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 23; (+1 Dex, +9 armor, +3 shield, mirror sending and scrying), three pinches of diamond
+1 deflection) dust (50 gp each for nondetection)
Immune disease, mind-affecting effects
Resist cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5 Debilitating Aura (Su) All enemies within 10 feet of Giorge
Fort +21, Ref +12, Will +11; +2 against spells and spell-like take a -1 penalty to Armor Class.
effects used by mortals Deadly Touch (Su) Giorge can cause wounds with a
successful touch. Each day, he can deal 16 points
Speed 20 ft. in full plate (4 squares), base speed 30 ft. of damage. An opponent subjected to this attack
Melee +1 unholy surge longsword[MIC] +19/+14/+9 (1d8+5 halves this damage with a successful DC 16 Will save.
plus 1 vile/19-20) or Alternatively, Giorge can use any or all of this power
Melee +1 unholy surge longsword[MIC] +15/+10/+5 (1d8+5 to cure damage to undead creatures, just as an inflict
plus 1 vile/19-20) and wounds spell does. This ability otherwise functions
Melee +1 bashing heavy steel shield +12 (1d6+2) identically to the paladin’s lay on hands ability.
Ranged +1 composite longbow (Str +4) +15/+10/+5 (1d8+5 Mortal Hunting (Ex) This ability functions like the ranger’s
[ts]3) favored class ability except that it applies to all creatures
Base Atk +13; Grp +17 other than constructs, fey, outsiders, and undead. The
Atk Options deadly touch 16 points, favored enemy bonuses from this ability stack with Giorge’s favored
(humans) +2, mortal hunting +3, smite good 1/day (+4 enemy bonus.
attack, +4 damage), smite mortal 1/day (+2 attack, +12 Smite Mortal (Su) Once per day, Giorge may make a special
damage) melee attack as a standard action. Against a mortal (see
Special Actions detect mortals, mortal skin (any nondragon), mortal hunting, above), he gains a +2 bonus on the
rebuke undead 7/day (+4, 2d6+5, 1st) attack roll and +12 points of damage on the weapon
Combat Gear least crystal of lifedrinking[MIC], potion of damage roll. If Giorge accidentally uses this ability
cure moderate wounds against a nonmortal, the smite had no effect but is still
Mortal Hunter Spells Known (CL 6th): used up for the day.
3rd (2/day) -- flesh ripper[BV], mirror sending[BV], Detect Mortals (Su) As the detect undead spell, except it
nondetection, scrying (DC 17), suggestion (DC 17), vile detects mortals (see mortal hunting), at will, caster level
lance[BV], wrack (DC 17)[SC] 15th.
2nd (2/day) -- detect thoughts (DC 16), evil eye (DC 16) Mortal Skin (Su) As the polymorph spell except Giorge may
[BV], hold person (DC 16), magic circle against good, see affect only himself and cannot assume the form of a
ivisibility, web (DC 16), wither limb (DC 16)[SC] mortal of the dragon type.
1st (2/day) -- cause fear (DC 15), charm person (DC 15),
detect good, heartache (DC 15)[BV], protection from Hook Weeps and wails in combat.
good, sleep (DC 15), unnerving gaze (DC 15) [BV]

Mask suited for information gathering, and thus she spends much of
her time watching for her lover.
Description
“She is my rock, my foundation, and I cling to her The transformation left Mask’s physical beauty largely intact,
as I travel the bleak roads of my destiny.” but destroyed her soul. She possesses a sleek body, alluring and
-- Giorge Forsworn athletic, and black hair tumbles down from her head. Beneath
a queer mask, one can see brilliant blue eyes that flash with in-
Mask is a corrupted nymph, a fey warped by the filthy embrace of credible power. A long, black cloak hangs from her shoulders
Shothragot and given to Giorge as a helper, lover, and slave. She providing some covering for her scantily clad body. The only
aids the Forsworn by locating his victims, but more importantly, unsettling thing about her physical form is that she has bundles
she goads him to more and more acts of appalling violence. Her of animated twigs, twisting and clawing, where her hands ought
intoxicating beauty and her hold over his heart threaten to kill to be. Although monstrous in appearance, these claws retain the
the last vestiges of his humanity. flexibility and use of normal hands.
Background Mask CR 11
Upon remaking Giorge Forsworn, Shothragot spread its malign hp 52 (9 HD); fast healing 4; DR 10/cold iron and magic
influence through the land, sliding down the rocky slopes of the
Crater Ridge and infesting the forests, corrupting the waters, Female corrupted nymph binder 3[ToM]
and warping the sylvan denizens in the surrounding environs. CE Medium fey
One of the first creatures bent to its will was a young nymph. Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Listen +12, Spot +12
When it found her, Shothragot filled her with unspeakable es- Aura blinding beauty (30 ft., DC 25)
sence of its filth until she too became a creature of wickedness, Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Common, Draconic,
joining the others who were in the thing’s thrall. Infernal, Sylvan
The elder evil then gave the nymph to Giorge Forsworn as a tool AC 29, touch 21, flat-footed 25; Dodge (+4 Dex, +7
and gift to reward his mortal hunter for his constant service. deflection, +1 insight, +4 natural)
Secretly, though, Shothragot suspected a part of his champion Fort +18, Ref +21, Will +22
clung to his mortality and so it used Mask to ensure Giorge
would not abandon Shothragot’s purpose. Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +9 (1d6+2 plus 4 vile)
Base Atk +5; Grp +7
Goals Atk Options disruptive attack (4 vile), sudden strike +1d6
Outrage fills Mask. Her contamination leaves her a wretched
Special Actions bird’s eye viewing, invisibility, soul binding
thing and she expresses her wickedness with incomparable
(Malphas), stunning glance
cruelty. Her principal objective is to ensure Giorge remains true
Combat Gear brooch of avoidance[MIC], pearl of brain
to Shothragot and continues his work to murder anyone who
lock[MIC], rod of grievous wounds[MIC]
would rise against Shothragot as the evil struggles to reunite
Druid Spells Prepared (CL 7th):
with his divine form. However, while attending to Giorge, she
4th -- scrying (DC 17)
takes every opportunity to kill and maim, adding to the horror
3rd -- cure moderate wounds, hypothermia (DC 16)[SC],
Giorge creates as he goes about his bloody business. Though
infestation of maggots (melee touch +7, DC 16)[SC]
she cannot conceive of turning her hatred against the Forsworn
2nd -- bear’s endurance, heat metal (DC 15), owl’s wisdom,
or some other minion of the elder evil, the rage still holds her
tree shape
heart. Thus, she unleashes her anger on innocents, delighting as
1st -- babau slime[SC], claws of the bear[SC], entangle (DC
her woody claws rend their flesh, savoring the delicate morsels
14), snake’s swiftness[SC], thunderhead (DC 14)[SC]
as she dissects them alive, while they writhe in the exquisite ec-
0 -- detect magic, flare (DC 13), guidance, know direction,
stasy of her uncanny beauty.
light, resistance
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th):
Using Mask 1/day -- dimension door
Mask is a horrific minion -- a monstrous villain every bit as
twisted and evil as Giorge Forsworn. She is obedient to the tief- Abilities Str 14, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 24
ling, but bends his instructions to give her the greatest freedom SQ pact augmentation (+1 insight to AC), poison use,
to harm and torment those she encounters. She accompanies suppress sign, wild empathy +20 (+16 magical beasts)
Giorge on his missions, supporting him with her blinding beau- Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Extend Supernatural
ty and stunning glance, as well as with spells and the supernatu- Ability[TM], Weapon Finesse
ral abilities she acquires from her filthy pacts with vile vestiges. Skills Bluff +18, Concentration +14 (+18 cast on the
defensive), Decipher Script +8, Diplomacy +11, Disguise
Although Mask has a wide range of combat capabilities, her true +7 (+9 acting), Escape Artist +13, Handle Animal +16,
strengths rest on her ability as a spy. Many of her capabilities are Heal +12, Hide +13, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (arcana)

+8, Listen +12, Move Silently +13, Ride +6, Sense Motive About the Author
+15, Spot +12, Use Rope +4 (+6 bindings)
Possessions combat gear plus cloak of Charisma +2, gloves Robert J. Schwalb is a contract designer for Wizards of the
of Dexterity +2, implements of binding +2[ToM], mask Coast and has contributed to numerous sourcebooks includ-
of lies[MIC] ing Tome of Magic, Players Handbook 2, Fiendish Codex 2, Complete
Scoundrel, Drow of the Underdark, Monster Manual V, Exemplars of
Blinding Beauty (Su) At the start of each of Mask’s turns, Evil, and Elder Evils. Robert rarely emerges from his Tennessee
all humanoids within 30 feet that are looking directly office these days, except when dragged away from his keyboard
at her must succeed on DC 25 Will saves or be blinded by his incredibly patient wife Stacee and his pride of fiendish
permanently as though by the blindness/deafness werecats.
spell. Mask can suppress or resume this ability as a free
action. The save DC Is Charisma-based and includes a +4
bonus from the enhanced power ability.
Disruptive Attack (Su) Mask deals 4 points of vile damage
whenever she touches an uncorrupted, living, corporeal
outsider.
Sudden Strike (Su) Mask deals an extra 1d6 points of
damage on a successful melee attack made against a
creature denied its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. This
extra damage also applies on ranged attacks against
targets within 30 feet.
Bird’s Eye Viewing (Su) At will, Mask can cause a raven to
appear on her shoulder. She has complete control over
the raven and can see what it sees and hear what it hears.
She uses the bird’s skill checks to determine the results of
its actions and observations, but her own skill bonuses to
derive information from its observation. The bird remains
until she summons another, mentally dismisses it (a
standard action), or stops binding with Malphas.
Invisibility (Su) As a full-round action, Mask can make
herself invisible (as with the invisibility spell). The effect
lasts until she attack or 3 rounds. Once she becomes
visible, she must wait 5 rounds before she can use this
ability again.
Stunning Glance (Su) As a standard action, Mask can stun
a creature within 30 feet for 2d4 rounds. A DC 25 Will
save negates this effect.
Suppress Sign (Ex) If Mask makes a good pact, she can
suppress or reveal the vestige’s sign at will as a swift
action.
Hook She looses a horrific keening noise in combat.

by Jason H. Haley
The Allure of Evil
Art by Ralph Horsley Dark Churches
Five dark churches are briefly outlined in the Complete Champion, and now you can learn more about the structure, duties,
and benefits of each one. Because these affiliations explore the neutral and lawful/chaotic axis of the churches, player charac-
ters who aren’t evil-aligned may want to consider gaining access to one of these churches.
Erythnul: The Temple of Carnage otic evil and engage in slaughter for the sake of slaughter. They
believe the blood of their victims fuels the strength of Eryth-
nul and drives their god to greater heights of slaughter and vio-
Seasoned veterans often speak of the chaos inherent with battle. lence.
To followers of Erythnul, this chaos is their sacred charge. The
battlefield is their temple; the screams of the dying are their However, in civilized lands, the presence of these battle-mad
hymns and the blood of their victims is the sacrament. Minor murderers and sadists are often less overt. They have scraped
sects and cults form from time to time, but few are long-lived. At out corners in the back alleys and slums of many major cities.
the heart of the fear and chaos spread by the followers of Eryth- At the heart, this nebulous organization is referred to as “The
nul, you may sense a dark and gory unity. Erythnul is called “the Temple of Carnage.” The followers of this organization are pre-
many” for good reason. dominantly chaotic evil, but not exclusively so. Chaotic neutral
individuals, while rare, are not without precedent.
True to the nature of Erythnul, multiple sects and factions exist.
They form alliances almost as often as they oppose each other. What drives these followers is a clarity derived from a sense
In uncivilized lands, the followers of Erythnul are typically cha- of purpose. The ideology of testing and proving their strength

through battle -- by living and dying by the sword -- is only part Criterion Affiliation
of it. What separates civilized followers of Erythnul from the Score Modifier
rest is their view on slaughter: Killing the weak proves noth- One-Time
ing and nothing is gained from it. They seek out those who are Character level +1/2 levels
worthy of being sacrificed to Erythnul. Slaughter for the sake of Barbarian or rogue +1
slaughter is meaningless; the deaths derived from such a prac-
Knowledge (religion) 5 or more ranks +1
tice bring no power to Erythnul. In fact, these followers believe
that unworthy sacrifices anger Erythnul and invite his wrath.
Base attack bonus +5 or higher +1
In the minds of the more civilized followers of Erythnul, a wor- Proficient with two or more exotic weapons +1
thy individual is usually (but not always) a powerful and skilled
warrior of one sort or another. Good or evil is irrelevant in the Multiple Use
eyes of the Temple of Carnage. Spilling their blood is what lends
Abandons an inferior ally +1
the strength of their foes to Erythnul. Noncombatants and less-
er foes are often beneath their notice -- such individuals do not Survives a battle against difficult odds (at least
+2
three to one)
deserve a warrior’s death and are often ignored so long as they
do not interfere. This view causes both evil and non-evil mem- Converts a new member +2
bers of the Temple of Carnage to seek out greater challenges. Kills more than one opponent in melee +1/4 creature’s CR
Powerful beings and organizations draw these followers like combat in a single round (after the first)
moths to a flame.
Single-handedly kills a superior opponent (1 +1/2 opponent’s
Prospective members are recruited from all lots of life. Typically or more levels higher than the follower) CR
those most sought out are warriors, berserkers, rogues, assassins, Destroys a powerful holy or magic item +1/1,000 gp in
and adventurers. Initiation varies from sect to sect, but one of value
the most common practices is to take the prospective initiate Survives a battle against impossible odds (at +4
into battle and abandon her at a critical moment. Those who sur- least five to one)
vive are welcomed into the ranks and encouraged to seek out
Destroys a lawful aligned temple/fellowship +8
those worthy of death. Alternatively, an individual who kills an
existing member of the Temple of Carnage and displays all the Fails in combat -2
desirable traits may be recruited. Performs overtly good act -4
Fails to kill a wounded opponent (50% or less
-4
Enemies and Allies: Any lawful-aligned organization is likely health)
to oppose the followers of Erythnul. Outside of that, anyone Associates with known lawful creatures (such
or anything that stands in the path of the Temple of Carnage -4
as monks or paladins)
is something to be killed or destroyed. Allies are rare -- factions Flees from battle -10
ally themselves with others for the sake of convenience. Ulti-
mately, everyone is expendable in the eyes of these followers. Titles, Benefits, and Duties: To gain a new rank and its
associated benefit, you must designate a target that is your
Members: Members of the Temple of Carnage can be found in equal in combat and kill it within 24 hours. This target must
almost any lands, civilized or otherwise. The vast majority of the be a combatant with an Intelligence score of at least 3 and be a
followers tend to be humanoids (goblinoids, ogres, trolls, and sacrifice worthy of Erythnul.
the like), with little diversity within a particular group. Strength
and ruthlessness are the only real prerequisites.
Rank Affiliation
Title: Benefits and Duties
Scale: 12 (multiregional). Score
0 3 or lower None
Affiliation Score Criteria: Any skilled combatant who sur- 1 4-12 Raider: Gain a +1 bonus on damage
vives initiation can gain favor within the Temple of Carnage. rolls when in combat.
However, an individual must be chaotically aligned in order to
gain favor. Lawful individuals cannot fully embrace the ideol- 2 13-18 Marauder: Once per day, when
ogy of the Temple of Carnage. fighting multiple opponents, re-roll
an attack that misses.

Rank Affiliation Favored Oaths: Most followers of Erythnul are incoherent in
Title: Benefits and Duties the height of their battle lust. However, those with a little more
Score
self control often shout taunts or epithets at their opponents:
3 19-29 Reaver: Once per day when killing “Rush to your death, and glory!” or “Cowards bring no glory!” are
an opponent of equal or greater common oaths. “You were hardly worth killing!” is a common
level, all opponents within 20 feet taunt, as is: “Is this your best?”
who witness the killing are shaken
for a number of rounds equal to
your Strength modifier. Will save to
negate this effect: 10 +1/2 base attack
bonus + Str modifier.
Gruumsh: The Fury of the Eye
4 30 or higher Incarnate: If hit points are reduced Crush the weak. Break their bones, rend their flesh, and let
to 0 or less from a physical attack, their blood pour across the land. Strength lies in victory. Burn
make a Fortitude save equal to 10 + the forests and let the stone halls of the mountains echo with
damage received. If successful, you the screams of the dying. The orc warlords lay claim to all that
do not suffer the effects of damage falls under the watchful eye of He-Who-Never-Sleeps as is their
and can continue fighting for a right and destiny. All others are born only to be slaughtered or
number of rounds equal to your enslaved. The weak will be destroyed; all others serve only to test
Constitution modifier (minimum their mettle so that they may find glory under the One-Eye.
of 1 round). You continue to take
damage normally, and at the end The most devout followers of Gruumsh form a cabal known as
of that duration, you die if your hit the Fury of the Eye. This is the most zealous and ruthless (and
points are still at -10 or below. consequently the largest) religious movement within the orc
tribes. They are the driving force behind the hordes and contin-
ually seek out ways to reclaim their rightful glory. In most cases
this means the utter annihilation of those who oppose them.
Roleyplaying Applications However, neutral-aligned groups within this sect take a more
Favored Feats: Followers of Erythnul prefer feats that enhance utilitarian approach: The weak exist to be oppressed and serve
their ability to slaughter their foes. Power Attack is a common the strong. Life under orc rule is harsh, and slavery is usually
one, as is any feat that enhances their skill with weapons. War- only a brief reprieve from death.
riors and berserkers that worship the Temple of Carnage par-
ticularly favor Cleave and Great Cleave, which allows them to Non-evil members are a bit more tolerant than their brethren.
strike down more souls in the name of their bloodthirsty lord. They do not actively seek to kill or subjugate non-orcs, and even
dwarves or elves may be viewed neutrally so long as they are not
Favored Combat Tactics: The Temple of Carnage draws the automatically hostile toward the followers of Gruumsh. They
most ruthless and battle-driven combatants into its fold. Odds are however, exceedingly competitive and go to great lengths
and numbers are utterly meaningless to them. Only victory mat- to prove orc superiority at every turn. This can vary widely from
ters: conquer, kill, maim, and plunder. They favor large weap- simple contests of strength and skill to proficiency at arms and
ons capable of inflicting terrible wounds. Many followers have in combat. All members of this fellowship take great pride in
several levels of barbarian, fighter, or rogue, depending on how demonstrating their superiority, and they count kills and cap-
they prefer to carry out their own methods of slaughter. tures in battles so that they can boast of their prowess.
Their own lives are brief and violent, and the only glory gained In their own lands, the Fury of the Eye holds sway over the tribal
is by how many precede them into death. The followers of this leaders of the orc clans. They actively push the warlords toward
bloody god usually prefer to overrun their enemy, using the greater conquest, while at the same time encouraging promis-
sheer brutality of their assault to scatter their victims. Leaders ing champions to carve out their own bloody paths in the name
and commanders on the battlefield are their favored targets of the One-Eye. This not-so-subtle manipulation culls the weak
since their deaths often create dissension. Many seize the head from their ranks, which ultimately serves both the intent and
of a freshly slain enemy and hold it aloft while fighting in order purpose of their god.
to further rattle their opponents.
Outside orc tribal lands, half-orcs and other humanoids are of-
Favored Adventure Types: Wherever there is conflict, you ten used to carry out the will of Gruumsh. They have the distinct
will find followers of this faith. Members of the Temple of Car- advantage of being able to move more freely within civilized
nage are drawn to places of battle. They actively seek out violent lands and act as the eyes and ears of the Fury of the Eye beyond
battles and conflicts where they can. They continually seek out orc borders. Given time, they may view their fellow adventurers
those who prove themselves to be worthy adversaries (skilled in as a sort of surrogate tribe and show the same fierce loyalty to
combat) and try to destroy them. Powerful champions may be their comrades as they would their own blood.
humiliated and harassed long before they are killed, while lesser
ones are often slaughtered in a particularly gruesome fashion in Initiation into the Fury of the Eye varies by tribe. Common initi-
order to create fear and dissension in the ranks. ations include acts of sacrifice to the One-Eye or the capture and

enslavement of particularly hated enemies. One extreme ritual Affiliation Score
involves the voluntary self impalement with a spear symbolic Criterion
Modifier
of Gruumsh’s suffering at the hands of his enemies. If the sup-
plicant survives the ordeal (typically a day or more) without aid, Destroys an elven enclave/dwarven
+4
he is tentatively accepted into the fold. Members are continually stronghold
called upon to demonstrate their devotion to the One-Eyed god Destroys a temple dedicated to Corellon
+8
in various manners. Larethian or Moradin
Fails in combat -2
Enemies and Allies: The relentless orc hordes rarely count
Fails to kill a wounded opponent (50% or
other races among their allies. They swear to crush the follow- -4
less health)
ers of Moradin and Corellon Larethian, whom they hate above
all else. Any alliances made outside the orc clans and tribes are Associates with known enemies (such as
-4
usually a means to an end. dwarves or elves)
Flees from battle -10
Members: Members of the Fury of the Eye are typically orcs
and their kin, but half-orcs are tolerated in the neutral-aligned
sects. Non-orc affiliates are rare, but not entirely unheard of. Titles, Benefits, and Duties: To gain a new rank and its asso-
Half-orcs and especially non-orcs are typically not held in high ciated benefit, a member of the Fury of the Eye must contend
regard as full-blooded kin. However, regardless of race, first and with his peers, dueling one after the other without aid or rest
foremost is the will of Gruumsh. until they are unable to continue. To be considered for the next
rank, they must defeat 1 + the number of peers equal to the next
Scale: 12 (multiregional). highest rank. Example: A rank 1 member (fodder) of the Fury
of the Eye must defeat at least two of his peers in order to be
Affiliation Score Criteria: Orcs and half-orcs are preferred by considered for the next rank (foe bane).
the members of the Fury of the Eye. However, non-orc individu-
als can distinguish themselves through individual acts of devo- Rank Affiliation Title: Benefits and Duties
tion. Score
0 3 or lower None
Affiliation Score
Criterion 1 4-12 Fodder: Gains +2 bonus on damage
Modifier
rolls when fighting adjacent to two or
One-Time more allies.
Character level +1/2 levels 2 13-18 Foe Bane: Gains +5 bonus on dam-
Barbarian or fighter +1 age rolls on attacks of opportunity
Full-blooded orc +1 against dwarves and elves.
Non-orc or half-orc -1 3 19-29 First Spear: Once per day, gain the
ability to rage as a barbarian of half
Chaotic alignment +1
your character level.
Knowledge (religion) 5 or more ranks +1
4 30 or higher Warlord: All allies within 30 feet
Strength 18+ +1 gain a +4 morale bonus on saves
Kill an enemy with a single blow (within against fear effects, and a +1 morale
+1 bonus on attack rolls.
3 levels of yours)
Base attack bonus +5 or higher +1
Multiple Use
Roleplaying Applications
Favored Feats: To the blood-crazed warriors of Gruumsh, brute
Kills more than one opponent in melee +1/4 creature’s CR force rules the battlefield. As a result, the ability to move swiftly
combat in a single round (after the first) and strike decisively in combat is extremely prized. Mobility
Subdues/captures more than one oppo- +1 per opponent and Combat Reflexes are common choices, allowing them to
nent in a battle (after the first) pick and choose their targets and strike at a moments notice.
Single-handedly kills a superior oppo- Most warriors favor heavy weapons and prefer Weapon Focus
+1/2 opponent’s and Power Attack to crush their opponents.
nent (1 or more levels higher than the
CR
follower)
Favored Combat Tactics: Orcs are canny fighters, and while
Kills the most enemies in a battle with the brutish warriors may seek glory in battle, the warlords make
+1
an EL equal to your current level +2 their plans. They fight with the relentless fury of a mob. Each
1 + 1/2 opponent’s one knows that even if they fall, a dozen others will swarm to
Defeating a higher-level elf or dwarf
CR take their place. However, this is tempered by the fierce desire
to bring as much glory and honor to themselves as well as to

their god, so while zealously fearless, they are not foolish.
Non-evil followers embrace the security and order provided by
Followers of Gruumsh consider it a high mark of honor to cap- the Fist of Tyranny. They thrive under the social, military, and
ture particularly powerful opponents. Lesser captives invariably religious hierarchy provided by the order where everyone has
become slaves (though even this is often brief ), while power- a place and purpose. They are pragmatic enough to understand
ful foes are sacrificed to Gruumsh in dark and bloody rituals. that others may disagree with their methods, but have convic-
Dismemberment and decapitation are the most common and tion that the ends justify the means. For them education is pre-
favored methods. ferred over subjugation. They use reason where reason rules,
and force when all reasonable methods have failed. However,
Favored Adventure Types: Smaller clans and younger war- they are no less thorough in their use of force when they decide
riors frequently venture out on skirmishes and raids to harass they have no other alternative.
outlying villages. Any incursion into orc lands (or those the orcs
believe is rightfully theirs) is a likely target. Elf and dwarf out- This pragmatic view is the foundation for their beliefs under the
posts are always favored targets, but any non-orc is fair game. Fist of Tyranny and extends to matters that most non-evil races
Particularly powerful monstrous humanoids sometimes are ap- find distasteful -- particularly slavery. Non-evil followers view
proached on neutral terms for a mutual objective. Ultimately, slavery as a necessary evil and the cornerstone of civilization.
however, they are used as little more than fodder in battle and Those who have been subjugated were in need of purpose and
are targeted just as viciously if they do not agree to ally with the guidance. Typically, non-evil members do not actively seek out
bloodthirsty orcs. to enslave individuals, but they do see slaves as property, much
the same way a horse is: They provide a service and must be
Favored Oaths: “Gruumsh sees only victory!” and “Blood for cared for accordingly. However, they are still subordinate and
the One-Eye!” are common oaths. “By his bloody spear!” is an- must obey the will of their master.
other frequently shouted epithet.
Hextor: The Fist of Tyranny

Strength of law is meaningless without the will to enforce it.
Slaves do not question their master. They do not contemplate
the meaning of their existence or the will of their master. They
simply execute their master’s will. Hesitation invariably leads to
disaster. Insubordination is tantamount to anarchy. Such weak-
ness is not tolerated.
The Fist of Tyranny is an elitist cabal among the ranks of the fol-
lowers of Hextor. They maintain a rigid military hierarchy that
tolerates no form of dissent or insubordination. Lesser members
are subservient to their superiors. While treachery is discour-
aged, incompetence or failure of leadership is rarely tolerated.
Punishment is always meted with swift and decisive finality. It is
quite common for individuals to move up in the ranks through
the demise of a superior.
Churches dedicated to Hextor exist throughout civilized lands.

Many double as military fortresses and bastions. They tend to
operate openly, working within the laws of the land to their
advantage. Cities and villages occupied by followers of Hextor
tend to be very lawful; insurrection, corruption, and insurgency
are not tolerated. Any occurrence or presence of criminal activ-
ity is dealt with publicly in a swift and decisive manner.
This rule of law is what many find particularly appealing. While

oppressive at times, everyone is equal under the law. There are True to the will of Hextor, these militant sects seek to instill or-
no exceptions in this -- the law is absolute. Everyone is assured der upon whatever populace they dominate. When not ruling
justice regardless of wealth, influence, and affiliation. The same over a subjugated populace, the order actively looks for conflicts
iron hand that enforces the rule of law protects the citizenry abroad to hone their military might. While any scale of engage-
from harm and corruption. Those who put aside their bias and ment will suit them, the followers of Hextor search for ways and
fully embrace and endorse order flourish under the mantle of means to oppose those devoted to Heironeous. They view the
the Fist of Tyranny. benevolence of Heironeous and his followers as folly; the weak-

ness of Heironeous’s followers allows dissent and corruption to Affiliation Score
take root. This leads to the breakdown of civilization and is tan- Criterion
Modifier
tamount to chaos.
Multiple Use
Conscripts are frequently selected from among the ranks of ex- Converts a new member +1
isting militias dedicated to Hextor. The indoctrination process Instrumental in gaining control of a small
is typically a brutal military regime that lasts up to a year. Out +2
community (thorpe through small town)
of the dozens who go through this training, only a few are ac-
Instrumental in gaining control of a
tually prospective conscripts. The rest are fodder. Those among
median community (large town to large +4
the fodder who survive form the cohort that the prospective
city)
conscript first leads in Hextor’s name. Alternatively, individuals
of particular skill at arms or leadership ability may be recruited Instrumental in gaining control of a ma-
+8
into the fold. These champions are selected not only for their jor community (metropolis)
martial abilities and mastery of tactics, but their unquestioning Defeat a larger force in combat +1
loyalty to Hextor and their dedication to instilling, preserving, Kills a high-ranking follower of Heirone- +1/4 opponent’s
and enforcing order and discipline also help decide whether the ous in honorable combat CR
champions are selected.
Captures/destroys a relic or sacred object
+2
Enemies and Allies: While many oppose the tyrannical and of Heironeous
ruthless ideology of Hextor and his followers, the forces they Destroys/conquers a site dedicated to
+4
command are recognized for their competence and discipline. Heironeous
Many kingdoms have called upon the legions of Hextor in the Commands a unit within an army during
past, usually out of desperation. The price of their service is of- +2
a major war
ten high: Usually it comes in the form of land grants and per-
Commands an army during a major war +6
mission to operate freely within a kingdom. Heironeous and his
followers represent the only complete opposition to Hextor and Surrenders in combat -2
the Fist of Tyranny. Fails to obey a superior officer -4
Fails in combat against a follower of Heir-
Members: Followers of Hextor are found primarily in civilized -8
oneous
lands where organized warfare is prevalent. Bastions and smaller
fortifications exist in savage lands, where they attempt to instill Flees from battle -10
order on the indigenous population. Race is irrelevant to the
Fist of Tyranny as long as all obey without question.
Titles, Benefits, and Duties: To gain a new rank and its associ-
Scale: 15 (continental). ated benefits, a member of the Fist of Tyranny must have been
victorious in at least one engagement against followers of Heiro-
Affiliation Score Criteria: Members of the Fist of Tyranny neous who possessed equal or greater numbers.
find themselves constantly called upon to demonstrate their
loyalty to the cause. They are expected to answer the call to arms Rank Affiliation Title: Benefits and Duties
at a moment’s notice and obey orders received without question. Score
Additionally, members are encouraged to seek out and recruit 0 3 or lower None
warriors to enlist in fighting under Hextor’s banner. All mem-
1 4-12 Conscript: Gains a +1 dodge bonus
bers of this order must be lawfully aligned.
to AC when adjacent to at least one
ally.
Affiliation Score
Criterion 2 13-18 Praetorian: Gains +2 bonus on saves
Modifier
to resist charm or compulsion effects.
One-Time
3 19-29 Crusader: Once per day, when you
Character level +1/2 levels successfully drop a chaotic opponent
Knowledge (religion) 5 or more ranks +1 to 0 hit points or below, you may
Ex-paladin +1 make an additional attack at your
highest attack bonus at the end of the
Ex-paladin of Heironeous +2 round.
Base attack bonus +5 to +9 +1 4 30 or higher Justicar: Once per day, smite chaos
Base attack bonus +10 or higher +2 (see paladin’s smite evil class feature,
Proficient with all martial weapons +1 Player’s Handbook 44) as a paladin of
equal level.
Base attack bonus +4 or lower -3

Roleplaying Applications
Favored Feats: Skill at arms is highly prized, but the ability to
lead effectively is sought out. It is common for higher-ranking
members of this order to have the Leadership feat. Combat
Expertise and the associated feats are common, since they are
effective in destroying the combat effectiveness of other mili-
tary units. Given the rigorousness of the training involved, feats
such as Toughness or Iron Will are also appropriate.
Favored Combat Tactics: The followers of the Fist of Tyranny

adhere to the tenets of strict military doctrine. Several smaller
units (typically 50-100 combatants, usually referred to as a co-
hort) make up a legion, moving in concert with one another.
Smaller units are uncommon but not unheard of. Typically
members of the Fist of Tyranny are in a leadership position and
even those who hold the rank of conscript are responsible for at
least five to ten capable warriors.
In any engagement, large or small, the followers of Hextor are

shrewd and canny combatants. Combatant commanders control
the ebb and flow of battle through communication and will;
their orders are obeyed unquestioningly and without hesita-
tion. Fighting as a single unit, they excel through discipline and
purpose. Their training and experience makes them extremely
adaptable in combat. When committed to a cause, they fight
tenaciously. However, they avoid throwing away the lives of
competent warriors and rarely commit to endeavors that do not
serve to further their aims.
ter and decimation. Death in all of its forms serves to bring
Favored Adventure Types: Bordering on the mercenary, mem- greater power to Nerull. And those who excel at it curry greater
bers of the Fist of Tyranny actively seek out military conflicts. favor. Non-evil members are a bit more discerning. They believe
Once they enter into a contract or commitment, they fulfill it to that death comes to all things in time; it need not be hastened.
the letter. No treachery is tolerated, and any breach in contract
is likely to result in immediate and direct retaliation. However, It is this point in which the followers are divided: The evil-
once the contract is concluded, there are no guarantees. When aligned orders seek to spread death and undeath. Those more
not actively campaigning, they seek to bring order to lawless neutrally aligned, however, see undeath as a gift: It is something
lands and people. Above all else, the followers of Hextor seek to that should be used sparingly. Both factions are consummate
oppose Heironeous and his ilk at every opportunity. students and academicians, and they pursue any opportunity to
study death or educate the unenlightened about the various in-
Favored Oaths: Battle oaths are typically a mark of distinction tricacies of death and undeath.
within the ranks of the armies of Hextor and vary from cohort
to cohort and legion to legion. They usually have something to The study of death includes the exploration of undeath. Both
do with conquest such as “Strength in victory,” or “Mercy is for are seen as alternative forms of existence. While death is natu-
the weak.” “Death to the unworthy” is another common oath ral and the right of all living things, non-evil followers believe
and a not-so-subtle reference to Heironeous and his followers. undeath is something that very few are truly worthy of earn-
ing. Mindless undead in particular are viewed in a mixed light,
controlled undead serve a purpose, and uncontrolled undead
Nerull: The Fane of the Skull are not viewed positively. More often than not, uncontrolled
undead are corralled, studied, and, in many cases, destroyed.
All things have a purpose, even if it is not immediately obvious. The non-evil members of the Fane, who believe that where liv-
Through knowledge and understanding, we master the world ing things are concerned, life ends naturally, rarely feel the need
around us. Without this understanding, efforts are unfocused to hasten this process. They feel that mindless undead, however,
and time is wasted. Your life serves as an example of such wasted are far too random and disruptive. They may seek out infesta-
effort. Perhaps in death we can find the purpose that eluded tions of undead from which to learn and then they eventually
you. eliminate them. They keep their true motives secret, though,
and allow others to see their actions in whatever light they so
The Fane of the Skull exists to study death. To this end, they have choose. It makes no difference to the Fane of the Skull as long as
perfected their art in all of its forms: everything from natural they are allowed to operate unmolested.
death and carefully planned assassinations, to wholesale slaugh-

One thing all the sects have in common is patience. The Fane Affiliation
of the Skull takes the long view, and it attempts to predict how Criterion
Score Modifier
specific actions will achieve the maximum effect. Death is inevi-
table, so it is always best to wait for the right place and time. It Can cast 3rd-level or higher necromancy
+1
is not unheard of for members of this dark cult to wait years (in spells
some cases decades or even centuries) to see the culmination of +1/4 LA
a carefully laid plain. The few individuals who are aware of this Has an undead template rounded up
group attribute their patience to the fact that many of the fol- (minimum +1)
lowers of Nerull are undead, but even the living members tend +1/2 LA
to have the implacable patience of their un-living brethren. Gains an undead template rounded up
(minimum +1)
While warriors and assassins sometimes find their way into the
+1/4 CR of
ranks, spellcasters (both arcane and divine) join the Fane of the
Currently controls an undead retinue highest undead
Skull far more frequently. More prominent members are often
controlled
necromancers of one sort or another. Most members often style
themselves as “students of death.” Many lead innocuous lives, Has an undead ally/familiar +1
hidden in plain sight while waiting for the right opportunity Abandons necromancy school of magic -2
or circumstances to arrive. Less common are those who seek to
eradicate or control the various plagues of mindless undead.
Multiple Use
Enemies and Allies: Followers of Nerull tend to be self-reliant Kills 10 or more living creatures in 1 day +1
and extremely suspicious of others, even their own peers. Many +1/4 the CR of
count the undead followers subject to their will as the only allies Gains control of undead (unintelligent) and the highest un-
they can rely on. Most intelligent beings fear Nerull and his fol- maintains control for at least one month dead controlled
lowers (rightly so) and actively shun a follower’s presence if they in this attempt
are aware of her true affiliation. Most members of the Fane of
+1/2 the CR of
the Skull are content to let the masses remain ignorant of their
Gains control of undead (intelligent) and the highest un-
affiliation, especially if it gives them the opportunity to learn or
maintains control for at least one month dead controlled
teach about death. In lands where other religions have less influ-
in this attempt
ence, non-evil Nerullites often have a hand in rituals involving
the care and handling of the deceased. Instrumental in the death of a small com-
+2
munity (thorpe through small town)
Members: Only the lower and mid-ranked individuals are still Instrumental in the death of a median
+4
likely to be counted among the living. Living followers often community (large town to large city)
serve as spies who infiltrate various organizations and relay Instrumental in the death of a major com-
information back to their masters, both living and otherwise. +8
munity (metropolis)
Higher-ranked individuals often surround themselves with var-
ious forms of undead minions who are usually more resilient, +1/4 the highest
Creates intelligent undead
reliable, and, most importantly, easily replicable. creature’s HD
-1/4 the crea-
Prevents a creature from dying
Scale: 12 (multiregional). ture’s HD
Prevents an intelligent humanoid from dy- -1/2 the human-
Affiliation Score Criteria: While not all members of this orga- ing oid’s HD
nization are evil, most are at least partially neutral.
Loses an undead template -1 per LA lost

Is willing to be brought back to life -4
Affiliation
Criterion Brings a dead humanoid or intelligent be-
Score Modifier
ing back to life (includes wish and miracle -10
One-Time
spells)
Character level +1/2 levels
Evil alignment +1 Titles, Benefits, and Duties: The rank of reaper is reserved
Knowledge (religion) 5-9 ranks +1 only for those who have demonstrated the highest dedication
to the will and intent of their master: They must either possess
Knowledge (religion) 10 or more ranks +2 an undead template or levels in a necromantic class or prestige
Specialized in the necromancy school of class to attain this rank.
+1
magic
Has knowledge of one of the following do-
+1
mains: Death, Evil, Trickery

Rank Affiliation Title: Benefits and Duties
Score
Vecna: The Halls of Secrets
0 3 or lower None Trust is a weakness, easily gained and exploited. Nothing can
1 4-12 Scribe: Gain a +4 bonus on be taken for granted. Only by questioning will you find the real
Knowledge (religion) checks made truth of the matter. In seeking the truth, you can trust no one.
regarding undead. No one is your friend; confidants can betray you, willingly or
otherwise. Be confident in your knowledge, but not prideful.
2 13-18 Printer: Gains a +2 bonus on saves
to resist the special attacks of undead
The Halls of Secrets is often dismissed as a myth or rumor.
creatures.
Many speak of it only in whispers, though some openly mock it
3 19-29 Binder: Once per day, create undead as a “children’s story.” The true members would have it no other
as per the animate dead spell (PHB way. Discovery means destruction -- all followers of Vecna learn
198) with a caster level equal to half this mantra. This goes double for those who have attained the
your character level. No material knowledge of the Halls of Secrets. More enlightened followers
component required. Undead created believe that the Halls of Secrets refer to the individual’s own
in this manner last only 8 hours before mind, since it is the one place that is truly secure (or so they
falling inert. believe).
4 30 or Reaper: Once per day, call upon a
higher dread wraith (MM 258) to serve you While true followers are not impressed with speculation about
for up to an hour. At the end of the the Halls of Secrets, they actively encourage guesswork to keep
service (or if it is destroyed) the dread those they view as “weak-willed” properly occupied. The truth is
wraith dissipates. This dread wraith far less insidious: Knowledge is the truest form of power. Such
cannot create spawn. power is often wasted on the unenlightened, who squander it
because they do not understand it. Only those who take the time
to delve into the mysteries of the world to discover the truth are
Roleplaying Applications worthy of such power.
Favored Feats: Skill at arms is rare within this order; subtlety
over force is always the most desired method. Among divine Neutral followers are less bent on pushing Vecna’s agenda as
casters, Improved Turning and Extra Turning are common feats, they are their own. Everything is a means to an end. They fol-
allowing greater control over undead. Feats that augment spell- low the philosophy of Vecna, seeing his existence as proof that
casting are also commonly desired by either divine or arcane knowledge is the path to power. They accept that through dedi-
casters: Silent Spell and Still Spell are useful in avoiding detec- cation and study it is possible to achieve not only immortality,
tion, as is Eschew Materials. Those who are more oriented to- but divinity. This is not to say that all members of this organiza-
ward offense find Heighten Spell and Spell Penetration useful. tion have aspirations of godhood, but many believe it’s a good
place to start.
Favored Combat Tactics: The Fane of the Skull always prefers
treachery and misdirection, and they avoid direct combat if pos- Kas’s betrayal of his master is an oft-cited example of why trust
sible. Fortunately, most followers of Nerull tend to surround is a weakness: the pursuit of power can be derailed pretty easily
themselves with various types of undead. Common tactics rely sometimes. To this end, most members of the Halls of Secrets
on the use of undead as a diversion to draw unwanted attention keep the truth of their affiliation and study to themselves. Every
elsewhere. This usually involves a large number of expendable, piece of knowledge is evaluated and weighed. It is rarely shared,
mindless undead such as zombies or skeletons. If the foes are even with close companions and confidants. Neutral-aligned
more powerful, undead of greater power are used. An especially followers more freely share their information if the benefit out-
favored tactic is to isolate individuals from larger groups, killing weighs the risk, but they still parcel out their knowledge in bits,
them and sending them to their former compatriots as undead giving allies only what they need to know.
minions to instill fear and panic.
Prospective seekers are culled from the countless individuals
Favored Adventure Types: Worshipers of Nerull are constant- lost in the deception woven by Vecna and his followers. Those
ly looking for new ways to spread death in his name both di- who discern the fragments of truth find themselves quickly
rectly and indirectly. To this end, any knowledge or necromantic caught up in a web of intrigue, knowledge, and power. The low-
lore is extremely tantalizing. The discovery of a new type of un- est ranks are mockingly referred to as “Trusted” in reference to
dead would prove of interest to Nerull’s followers, as would any both their lack of knowledge and understanding. In other words,
knowledge pertaining to the refinement of lichdom. they don’t know enough to know they don’t know anything and
are therefore not a threat -- they are trusted because they are ulti-
Favored Oaths: “Life passes, only death is eternal,” and “Death mately predictable and cannot compromise the fellowship.
is the first step to true power,” are the most common oaths, along
with, “All things end in time.” Enemies and Allies: Vecna is typically seen as a bane to almost
all civilized folk. His followers are viewed as corruptors and de-
ceivers of the worst sort. However, many individuals and organi-

zations are constantly working to further the goals of the former
Affiliation Score
lich who has achieved godhood, whether they know it or not. Criterion
Modifier
Members: Members of the Halls of Secrets are a covert lot at
best. They draw their numbers mostly from academicians and Multiple Use
scholars. Mages and priests are the most common, seeking
+1/4 CR of the
greater power to further their own ends. Avoids discovery (as a follower of
most powerful
Vecna) by deceiving a foe
creature
Scale: 12 (multiregional).
Creates a new spell or magic item +1
Affiliation Score Criteria: Members of the Hall of Secrets Recovers an ancient, previously lost
+2
must be at least partially neutral. Good and evil, law and chaos piece of knowledge
are simply differing points of view. Given that the followers of Recovers an ancient, previously
this sect are usually self-serving, they are typically neutral evil, lost piece of knowledge pertaining +4
but they lean more toward neutrality than any other extreme. specifically to Vecna
Neutral and lawful neutral followers are rare, but not unlikely.
Steals secret knowledge from an
The latter, while less common, tend to be more successful with- +4
organization and powerful entity
in the ranks.
Deceives someone into recovering a +1/1,000 gp in
valuable item value
Affiliation Score
Criterion Discovers a powerful unholy or magic +1/1,000 gp in
Modifier
item value
One-Time
Is caught in a deception -4
Character level +1/2 levels
Is discovered as a worshiper of Vecna -8
Knowledge (any) 5 ranks +1
Loses or destroys secret knowledge
Knowledge (religion, history, or -10
+1 pertaining to the church or Vecna
arcana) 5-9 ranks

Knowledge (religion, history, or Titles, Benefits, and Duties: Above all else, members of the
+2
arcana) 10 or more ranks Halls of Secrets hold to the philosophy “Discovery is death.” In
Can cast 3rd-level or higher divination most cases, when a member is discovered for whom they really
+1
spell are by individuals outside of the church, they are killed in the
Has knowledge of one of the following conflict that ensues. Those few who survive discovery are dis-
+1 avowed and cast from the order, losing all rank and associated
domains: Evil, Knowledge, or Magic
benefits. It is unknown if any have ever rejoined the ranks after
Has at least one level in the loremaster
+1 being discovered.
class
Rank Affiliation Title: Benefits and Duties

Score
0 3 or lower None
1 4-12 Seeker: Once per day, gain a +5 bonus on any one Knowledge check.
2 13-18 Deceiver: Shift your alignment by 1 axis from your actual alignment (lawful/chaotic, evil/neutral)
once per day. This can be done as an immediate action, and the shift is not detectable unless you are
already under the effect of an ability that detects alignment. This is a constant effect lasting as long
as you are conscious.
3 19-29 Scryer: Once per day, re-roll any single attack, save, or check.
4 30 or higher Watcher: Designate an item to be attuned. This item does not need to be magical. If the item is not
a magic item, it radiates a faint, nonspecific magic aura. Once per day, you can focus on the attuned
object, and observe and hear the area in the object’s immediate vicinity. This ability functions as the
spell clairaudience/clairvoyance centered on the focus with a caster level equal to your character
level. Performing this action requires your full and undivided attention. Any action breaks the link.
This link can be maintained for your Wisdom modifier in hours (minimum 1).

Roleplaying Applications to popular belief, those affiliated with the Hall of Secrets have
Favored Feats: With such a devotion to knowledge and power, little interest in the Hand and Eye of Vecna. The power of these
it is rare to find a ranking member of the Halls of Secrets with- artifacts is well known to them and pursuing them is often seen
out Skill Focus in a particular field of knowledge. The acquisi- as a waste of time and resources. They are more than content to
tion of power is a very close second, however, and any feat that allow lesser followers of Vecna seek out these items. A common
augments spellcasting is a likely candidate. True power howev- practice among followers is to employ a foolhardy party of ad-
er, lies in how you can apply your knowledge. To this end, the venturers to engage in such pursuits, which allows the Halls of
item creation feats are commonly chosen since they allow for Secrets to pursue more useful endeavors unmolested.
the creation of items for specific purposes as opposed to rely-
ing on luck to discover something or expending resources on Favored Oaths: Followers of Vecna rarely invoke his name di-
acquiring an existing item that may not be powerful enough or rectly. Common oaths include “By his hand!” or “By the hand
be suitable for a specific task. and eye!” in reference to the infamous relics of Vecna. These are
commonly uttered out of frustration as much as anything. “Ig-
Favored Combat Tactics: Followers of Vecna rarely become norance is death” is another common saying.
directly involved in conflicts. They consider such endeavors far
beneath them. Most use various types of proxies and minions About the Author
to accomplish such goals. However, any time they are forced to
engage in combat they do so with terrifying commitment and Jason H. Haley is a freelance writer who has contributed to sev-
overwhelming power. If there is even the suspicion that their eral articles in the past, including contributing material to Com-
knowledge might be compromised, they go to excessive lengths plete Mage and Races of the Dragon.
to make sure nothing and no one remains.
Favored Adventure Types: Followers of Vecna often venture

to remote regions, where they seek out lost sites of knowledge
and power. Far removed from prying eyes, they operate more
openly, with little fear of reprisal. In civilized lands, however,
they work under such a veil of secrecy and deception that their
activities are often kept secret even from one another. Contrary

Infernal Aristocracy The Dukes of Hell, Part II
by Robert J. Schwalb
art by Marc Sasso
Fiendish Codex II describes in detail the path of infernal advance- them appropriate adversaries. Simply use the guidelines laid out
ment, highlighting the various castes making up the twisted so- in Chapter 4: Improving Monsters in the Monster Manual and
cietal norms of the baatezu. While much is written about the dif- modify the stats according to the desired CR.
ferences between the greater, lesser, and least devils, there is yet Other Sources
one more classification that bears -- no, demands mentioning.
These beings are the dukes of Hell, fiends that are more than This article references several other sourcebooks. Where a ref-
the greater devils but less than the archdevils, lacking demesnes erence is given in the text, it uses a parenthetical abbreviation.
of their own and forced into positions of service. In many cases, Referenced sourcebooks and their abbreviations are here.
these dukes are pit fiends, powerful and named versions of the
greatest of the greater devils. Others, however, are unique, baat- Abbreviation Reference
ezu that have their own capabilities, powers, and motives that
CAr Complete Arcane
place them above even the mightiest pit fiends. It is these few,
CW Complete Warrior
these rare and powerful dukes, that this article explores.
FC1 Fiendish Codex I
Back in October, we gave you a look inside the aristocracy of FC2 Fiendish Codex II
Hell with the first “Dukes of Hell” article. Now, we’re back with PH2 Players Handbook II
more of these diabolical courtiers. Each hungers to rule one of MI Magic Item Compendium
Hell’s nine layers, and strains—openly or with unmatched sub- MM3 Monster Manual III
tlety—to climb the ladder of power. As rigid as the hierarchy of
ToM Tome of Magic
Hell seems to the outsider, opportunities for advancement are
frequent, and this endless competition allows only the cream of
evil to rise to the top. Common Attack Options
What the Hell?

The Dukes of Hell have one or both of the following attack
options.
Aligned Strike: Attacks made by a creature that has this

After flipping through the pages of this article, you’re probably ability are treated as aligned for the purpose of
noticing the dukes described here are as powerful or more pow- overcoming damage reduction.
erful than the archdevils presented in the Fiendish Codex II. This
is intentional. The archdukes in the Fiendish Codex II are aspects, Epic Strike: Attacks made by a creature that has this ability
manifestations having but a fragment of the archdevil’s power. are treated as epic for the purpose of overcoming
The dukes described here are the real deal. They lack the ability damage reduction.
to create aspects and thus when encountered, they are nearly
always in their true form.
This said, the Challenge Ratings for these characters, while

Agares
This being stands some eight feet tall. Ancient, frail and brittle, his body
high, are not much higher than those of pit fiends and many are
is gnarled and grotesque, and he leans heavily on an iron-shod staff.
less are than some of the other tough monsters out there -- spe-
When he speaks, he does so in a quavering voice. Perched on his left
cifically the abominations described in the Epic Level Handbook.
wrist is a vicious eagle, with iron feathers and hate-filled eyes. Emerging
You should consider the statistics presented in this article to be
from beneath his long robes are scaly gray reptilian feet. Bloody red eyes
the baseline. If your campaign features creatures with CRs in
glare out from his ruddy features. Small stubby gray horns emerge from
the 30s, 40s, or higher, you should advance these devils to make
his head, and tufts of a gray beard sprout from his wrinkled chin. His

nails are long, red, and hooked, perfect for rending flesh from the bone. followed by unholy aura, blade barrier, or even repulsion. If
his spells have little effect, he takes the time to cast summon
Agares is an opportunistic duke who has managed to keep his monster IX to conjure a barbed devil to cover his retreat.
place and status despite the upheaval troubling Stygia.
Servants, Enemies, and Goals
Strategies and Tactics Agares achieved his place of power as a reward for constant
Agares is not one to enter a combat lightly. He uses subterfuge service to the archdevils. A loyal servant of Geryon, Agares
and diplomacy to resolve disputes. Once the matter has been served his master well, but at every turn, Amon, his ancient rival
settled, he scurries away to plot his revenge and destroy his foes and enemy, frustrated him. That Geryon could not see Amon’s
from afar. duplicity fueled Agares anger, leading the duke little other
recourse than to smear his rival’s name. He fed lies about Amon
Failing this, Agares unleashes a terrible barrage of spells, using and Geryon to agents of Asmodeus in the hopes of attaining the
his offensive spells first to put a little distance between himself Lord of Nessus’ intercession on his behalf. His plan worked, to
and his opponents. Energy drain and implosion are usually an extent, but not they way he hoped.

Agares CR 22 teleport (self plus 50 lb. of objects only), hold monster
hp 367 (35 HD); regeneration 10; DR 15/epic and good (DC 21), greater dispel magic, ice storm, limited wish
(fulfill another’s wish only), see invisibility, slow (DC 19),
LE Large Outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful) wall of ice
Init +3; Senses see in darkness; Listen +7, Spot +7 1/day -- symbol of pain (DC 21)
Aura fear (100 ft., DC 33)
Languages tongues; telepathy 100 ft. Abilities Str 26, Dex 17, Con 22, Int 29, Wis 24, Cha 23
SQ animal companion, link with companion, share spells
AC 43, touch 17, flat-footed 40; Dodge, Mobility, Two- Feats Brand of the Nine Hells (Levistus) (FC2), Combat
Weapon Defense (-1 size, +3 Dex, +5 deflection, +26 Expertise, Dodge, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Iron
natural) Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mark of Stygia (FC2), Mobility,
Immune fire, poison, mind-affecting effects Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon
Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 33 Fighting, Vengeful Surge (FC2)
Fort +25, Ref +24, Will +28 Skills Appraise +47, Bluff +44, Decipher Script +47,
Diplomacy +48, Disguise +6 (+8 acting), Forgery +47,
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares); Spring Attack Intimidate +46, Knowledge (arcana) +47, Knowledge
Melee iron-shod staff +47/+42/+37/+32 (1d8+17) or (architecture) +47, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +47,
Melee iron-shod staff (double weapon) +45/+40/+35/+30 Knowledge (geography) +47, Knowledge (history) +47,
and +45/+40 (1d8+17) or Knowledge (nobility) +47, Knowledge (religion) +47,
Melee 2 claws +42 (1d6+8) Knowledge (the planes) +47, Search +47 (+49 secret
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. doors), Sense Motive +45, Spellcraft +49, Survival +7 (+9
Base Atk +35; Grp +47 on other planes, +9 following tracks, +9 underground,
Atk Options Brand of the Nine Hells (Levistus), Combat +9 avoiding getting lost and hazards)
Expertise, Mark of Stygia, Vengeful Surge, aligned strike Possessions combat gear plus iron-shod staff, ring of
(evil, lawful), epic strike protection +5, crystal ball with true seeing, ring of
Special Actions summon baatezu freedom of movement
Combat Gear metamagic rod of reach spell
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 20th, 1d20+20 to overcome SR): Aura of Fear (Su) At the end of each of Agares’s turns,
9th -- energy drain (ranged touch +37), implosion (DC 26), creatures within 100 feet of him must make DC 33 Will
investiture of the pit fiend (DC 26, FC2 105)D, soul bind saves or be panicked for 10 rounds. A creature that
(DC 26), summon monster IX successfully saves cannot be affected again by Agares’s
8th -- antimagic field, demand (DC 25)D, dimensional lock, aura for 24 hours. Baatezu are immune to the aura. The
greater spell immunity, unholy aura (DC 25) save DC is Charisma-based.
7th -- blasphemy (DC 24), destruction (DC 24), dictum (CL Tongues (Su) As the tongues spell, always active, caster level
21st, DC 24), greater scrying (DC 24), hellfire storm (BV) 20th.
D, repulsion (DC 24) Regeneration (Ex) Epic and good-aligned weapons and spells
6th -- banishment (DC 23), blade barrier (DC 23, PH 205), and spell-like effects with the good descriptor deal
geas/quest, harm (melee touch +42, DC 23), hold normal damage to Agares. If Agares loses a limb or body
monster (DC 23)D, symbol of persuasion (DC 23) part, the lost portion regrows in 1 minute. Agares can
5th -- dispel chaos (CL 21st, DC 22)D, flame strike (DC 22), reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to
greater command (DC 22), dispel good (DC 22), plane the stump.
shift (melee touch +42, DC 22), slay living (melee touch Iron-Shod Staff Agares’s iron-shod staff counts as a +5 good
+42, DC 22), true seeing outsider bane unholy cold iron quarterstaff.
4th -- air walk, cure critical wounds, discern lies (DC 21), Summon Baatezu (Sp) 65% chance to summon 1d6+2
divine power, freedom of movement, hellfire (BV)D, bone devils 1/day; caster level 20th. This ability is the
sending equivalent of a 9th-level spell.
3rd -- bestow curse (melee touch +42, DC 20), blindness/
deafness (DC 20), contagion (melee touch +42, DC 20), Asmodeus, on the heels of the Reckoning, destroyed Geryon
deeper darkness (2), dispel magic, invisibility purge, and cast out Amon, driving him into exile. Agares held to the
magic circle against chaosD hope that he might succeed his master, but instead of advancing
2nd -- calm emotions (DC 19)D, desecrate, hold person (DC his own status, treacherous Levistus was promoted in his stead,
19), resist energy, silence, undetectable alignment (2), awakened in the glacier that held him prisoner after the murder
zone of truth (DC 19) of Asmodeus’s consort and mother of Glasya.
1st -- bane (DC 18), command (DC 18), divine favor, doom
(DC 18), obscuring mist, protection from goodD, With Levistus the Lord of Stygia, Agares was one of two of the
sanctuary (DC 18), shield of faith old guard who stayed—the other was a minor duke named
0 -- detect magic (3), resistance (2), read magic Machalas. Levistus warily named Agares general of 31 legions of
D: Domain spell. Domains: Diabolic, Law. devils and gave him control over the eastern extent of the layer.
At will -- crushing despair (DC 20), earthquake, greater

Not content with this expanded power, and having learned
the lesson of what it meant to treat with Asmodeus, Agares has
turned to Set, spending an inordinate amount of time in the
evil god’s court. Some speculate Agares intends to enlist Set’s
Tartach
This towering giant of a man wears long black robes of the finest silk.
assistance in starting a coup to oust and destroy Levistus in He has fiery orange skin and a black beard and moustache, with stubby,
exchange for aiding Set in expanding his domain into Malbolge. hooked horns sprouting from his forehead. Emerging from beneath the
Whether true or not, his cunning and plotting has bought the hem of his robes are two lion’s feet.
attention of many powerful infernal lords and many suspect
that Agares’s days are numbered. Tartach is one of the only dukes left in Malbolge and he enjoys
the affection of his mistress Glasya. He is noted as being cruel
Mortal cultists often mistake Agares as a mild infernal duke, and takes pleasure from torturing weaker creatures, scrutiniz-
for his ways are not as destructive or as sinister as are his peers. ing their expressions and savoring their screams as he slowly
Agares delights in driving mortals to speak immoral expressions pulls them apart.
that gradually grow worse and worse until the things said are so
foul that hearing them can stain a mortal’s very soul.
Strategies and Tactics
Tartach is one of the most dangerous spellcasters in the Nine
Harbinger Hells and he is certainly without peer on Malbolge -- except
for possibly Glasya in her true form. Furthermore, his time and
Agares is rarely without his companion, Harbinger, a fiendish experience with intrigue has given him uncanny insight into
legendary eagle of unspeakable cruelty and violence. The eagle strategic spellcasting. Unless he’s caught unawares, he takes the
has crimson feathers and black eyes that weep ochre pus. It time to prepare himself before being drawn into combat, usually
perches on Agares’s wrist, burrowing its claws into his arm. by casting superior invisibility and protection from spells before
using greater teleport to slip into the midst of his enemies. Once
Harbinger CR 12 there, he hammers his opponents with quickened fireballs and
hp 204 (24 HD); DR 10/magic acidballs.
Fiendish Advanced Legendary Eagle Servants, Enemies, and Goals

NE Small Magical Beast (augmented animal, extraplanar) Tartach has come a long way since his days as a celestial servant,
Init +14; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +18, and while Geryon never fully appreciated his talents, Glasya
Spot +30 does, showering him with gifts and affection as she consoli-
dates her hold over her new realm. One might think attaining
AC 40, touch 24, flat-footed 27; Dodge (+1 size, +13 Dex, +16 the coveted place of Glasya’s favored servant would be enough
natural) for one such as Tartach, but the duke has never known content-
Resist cold 10, fire 10; improved evasion; SR 25 ment. He always craves more status, more influence, more ev-
Fort +18, Ref +27, Will +11 (+15 against enchantments) erything until one day Asmodeus himself would recognize his
greatness. He sees his current position as yet another stepping
Speed 10 ft. (2 squares), fly 100 ft. (average); Hover, Flyby stone and by ingratiating himself with the newest archdevil, she
Attack might pass along her satisfaction with his work and perhaps rec-
Melee 2 claws +32 (1d8+6/19–20) and bite +30 (1d8+3) ommend him to replace another problematic archdevil, perhaps
Base Atk +18; Grp +20 even Baalzebul himself.
Atk Options smite good 1/day (+20 damage)
Of course, Tartach is no fool and sees little chance Glasya will
Abilities Str 22, Dex 36, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 17, Cha 13 reward him as he hopes and so he spends his time plotting ways
SQ link with master, devotion (included above) to create the circumstances he needs to advance. His part in
Feats Alertness, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Geryon’s and Moloch’s falls achieved much (see sidebar), and
Critical (claws), Improved Initiative, Improved Natural so he’s looking for a way to ingratiate himself in the court of
Attack (claws), Multiattack, Skill Focus (Spot) another archdevil, where he can sabotage the ruler and create
Skills Listen +18, Spot +30 weaknesses enough for another to come in and destroy the lord.
Currently, Tartach has his eyes set on his old master, Baalzebul,
whom he detests and finds foolish and weak, though he would
never say so in the open.
Even as well-positioned as he his, he is not comfortable with his

newfound power. Baalzebul has not concealed his hatred for his
former servant and there have been many attempts against Tart-
ach already. To make matters worse, he’s learned that Moloch is
stirring in Avernus, quietly drawing power to himself. Only a
naïve idiot would think that Moloch doesn’t crave his former

Tartach CR 24 Like Ability (fireball), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (greater
hp 580 (40 HD); regeneration 10; DR 15/epic and good dispel magic), Supernatural Instincts (FC2), Vengeful
Surge (FC2)
LE Large Outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Skills Balance +9, Bluff +56, Concentration +53, Diplomacy
Init +7; Senses see in darkness; Listen +50, Spot +50 +60, Disguise +13 (+15 acting), Gather Information
Languages tongues; telepathy 150 ft. +56, Hide +46, Intimidate +60, Jump +19, Knowledge
(religion) +50, Knowledge (the planes) +50, Listen +50,
AC 42, touch 16, flat-footed 35; Dodge, Mobility (–1 size, +7 Move Silently +50, Search +50, Sense Motive +50,
Dex, +8 armor, +18 natural) Spellcraft +50, Spot +50, Survival +7 (+9 on other planes,
Immune fire and poison +9 following tracks), Tumble +50
Resist acid 10 and cold 10; SR 34 Possessions combat gear plus +4 axiomatic flaming burst
Fort +32, Ref +29, Will +31 longsword, bracers of armor +8, cloak of Charisma
+6, darkskull, 2 diamonds (500 gp for protection from
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares) spells), diamond (1,000 gp focus for protection from
Melee+4 axiomatic flaming burst longsword spells), 3 small replicas of Tartach (5 gp each for project
+56/+51/+46/+41 (2d6+23/17-20 plus 1d6 fire [1d10 on image), 3 pinches of powdered jade (100 gp each for
crit] plus 2d6 against chaotic) permanent image), spell component pouch
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Base Atk +40; Grp +57 Tongues (Su) As the tongues spell, always active, caster level
Atk Options Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Quicken 20th.
Spell-Like Ability (fireball), Supernatural Instincts, Regeneration (Ex) Epic and good-aligned weapons and spells
Vengeful Surge, aligned strike (evil, lawful), epic strike and spell-like effects with the good descriptor deal
Special Actions Dark Speech, Mark of Malbolge, paralyzing normal damage to Tartach. If Tartach loses a limb or
gaze, summon baatezu body part, the lost portion regrows in 1 minute. Tartach
Combat Gearrod of enemy detection, rope of entanglement can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 20th): to the stump.
9th (8/day) -- hellish horde (SC), Mordenkainen’s disjunction Paralyzing Gaze (Su) Fear, range 90 ft. A creature meeting
(DC 32), time stop Tartach’s gaze must succeed on a DC 43 Will save or
8th (8/day) -- dimensional lock, protection from spells, be paralyzed with fear for 10 rounds. Whether or not
superior invisibility (SC) the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected
7th (8/day) -- banishment, project image, stun ray (ranged again by Tartach’s gaze for 24 hours. This is a mind-
touch +46) (SC) affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
6th (8/day) -- fleshshiver (DC 29) (SC), globe of Summon Baatezu (Sp) 70% chance to summon 1d3
invulnerability, permanent image malebranche 1/day; caster level 20th. This ability is the
5th (9/day) -- dominate person (DC 28), fabricate, spiritwall equivalent of a 9th-level spell.
(SC), telekinesis (DC 28)
4th (9/day) -- charm monster (DC 27), greater rebuke (DC power and so Tartach believes it’s just a matter of time before the
27), orb of force (ranged touch +46) (SC), scrying (DC 27) exiled lord gains enough allies to make a serious attempt on his
3rd (9/day) -- bands of steel (DC 26)SC, blink, haste, lightning former layer.
bolt (DC 26)
2nd (9/day) -- baleful transposition (DC 25) (SC), daze Tartach’s Machinations
monster (DC 25), mirror image, swift fly (SC), whispering
wind Long had Tartach served two masters. When he descended into the Nine
1st (10/day) -- lesser orb of fire (ranged touch +46) (SC), Hells, he bound his fate to Baalzebul, but the lord of Maladomini wast-
magic missile, ray of enfeeblement (ranged touch +46), ed no time dispatching Tartach to serve as legate to Moloch, who, then,
swift expeditious retreat (SC), true strike ruled Malbolge. Although Tartach always maintained an appearance of
0 (6/day) -- arcane mark, detect magic, ghost sound (DC 23), loyalty to the Lord of Lies, he chafed at his assignment, believing he had
light, mage hand, mending, open/close, prestidigitation, been relegated to an inconsequential position, forgotten and removed to
read magic be less of a threat to his master.
At will -- fireball (DC 26), greater dispel magic, greater Through the ages Tartach languished in Malbolge, he sought a way
teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), limited wish, to escape his position and claim something of greater significance. The
pyrotechnics (DC 25), see invisibility, wall of fire easiest path, in his mind, was to see Moloch cast down and thus open the
1/day -- feeblemind (DC 28), symbol of stunning (DC 30) path for his own ascent. So it was he entered the conspiracy with Geryon
and Malagarde to manipulate events that would culminate in Moloch’s
Abilities Str 36, Dex 25, Con 30, Int 25, Wis 24, Cha 37 fall, all the while plotting to double-cross the ambitious night hag and
Feats Brand of the Nine Hells (Glasya) (FC2), Combat her archdevil ally.
Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Energy Substitution
(Acid), Improved Critical (longsword), Iron Will, Mark of As has been already discussed at great length, Moloch did indeed fall,
Malbolge (FC2), Mobility, Quick Draw, Quicken Spell-

but instead of Geryon extending his influence or Tartach claiming Mal- Special Actions change shape, summon baatezu
bolge for himself, Malagard neatly snatched the layer for herself. When Combat Geartongue stud of hell breath (BV), vile weapon
she came to power, those dukes loyal to Moloch were exiled or destroyed, ring (BV)
leaving Tartach to return to the court of Baalzebul where he was con- Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th):
demned to serve the abominable slug prince. At will -- charm monster (DC 29), create greater undead,
deeper darkness, dominate monster (DC 34), fear
It was at the court of his old master that Tartach met and was seduced (DC 29), fireball (DC 28), greater dispel magic, greater
by Glasya. The daughter of Asmodeus had a reputation for caprice and teleport (self plus 50 lb. of objects only), lightning bolt
working against the wishes of her father by consorting with his enemies (DC 28), suggestion (DC 28)
and rivals. She had been Mammon’s lover and had been teasing Baalze- 2/day -- finger of death (DC 32)
bul, all in the hopes of supplanting the Lord of the Seventh and claiming
the layer for herself. She saw in Tartach a kindred spirit and convinced Abilities Str 26, Dex 35, Con 26, Int 25, Wis 24, Cha 41
him to throw in his lot with hers. SQ hide in plain sight
Feats Ability Focus (aura of desire), Brand of the Nine Hells
Before her plots would bear fruit, Malagarde’s aborted effort to ascend (Baalzebul) (FC2), Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved
to godhood created a vacuum in the hierarchy of the Nine Hells, one Critical (scimitar), Improved Trip, Mobility, Weapon
Asmodeus was quick to fill by elevating his own daughter to become Finesse, Weapon Focus (whip)
the new Lord of the Sixth. She left Maladomini, but before she did, she Skills Balance +14, Bluff +43, Concentration +36, Diplomacy
invited Tartach to accompany her and serve as her chamberlain. +47, Disguise +43 (+45 acting), Escape Artist +44, Hide
-- The Book of Fire +36, Intimidate +45, Jump +46, Listen +35, Move Silently
+40, Search +35, Sense Motive +35, Sleight of Hand +42,
Lilith Spot +35, Survival +7 (+9 following tracks), Tumble +42,

Use Rope +12 (+14 bindings)
Possessions combat gear plus Lilith’s caress, +5 blurstrike
scimitar, bracers of armor +7, gloves of Dexterity +6
A striking woman of giant size emerges from the shadows, their dark
substance clinging to her nubile form. Her skin is crimson and you can Aura of Desire (Su) At the start of each of Lilith’s turns, all
see curving horns emerging from her head. A suggestion of a tail whips living creatures within 120 feet must succeed on DC
behind her. 39 Will saves or become overwhelmed with desire for
her. Affected creatures have their attitudes changed
Lilith CR 25 to fanatic and willing give their lives for her and do
hp 312 (25 HD); regeneration 10; DR 15/epic and good whatever she instructs (ELH 40) for 1 round. Baatezu are
immune to this ability.
LE Large Outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Tongues (Ex) As the tongues spell, always active, caster level
Init +12; Senses in darkness; Listen +35, Spot +35 20th.
Aura desire (120 ft., DC 39) Cloak of Shadows (Su) Shadows blanket Lilith’s body,
Languages tongues; telepathy 300 ft. granting her concealment (20% miss chance). As an
immediate action, up to three times per day, Lilith can
AC 38, touch 21, flat-footed 26; Dodge, Mobility, uncanny intensify the darkness to grant herself total concealment
dodge; 20% miss chance (–1 size, +12 Dex, +7 armor, (50% miss chance) for 5 rounds.
+10 natural) Regeneration (Ex) Epic and good-aligned weapons and spells
Immune fire and poison and spell-like effects with the good descriptor deal
Resist acid 10 and cold 10; SR 36 normal damage to Lilith. If Lilith loses a limb or body
Fort +22, Ref +26, Will +21; slippery mind (second Will save part, the lost portion regrows in 1 minute. Lilith can
against enchantments) reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to
the stump.
Speed 50 ft. (10 squares) Lilith’s Caress (Su) Lilith wields a unique magical weapon
Melee Lilith’s caress +40/+35/+30/+25 (1d4+8 plus 2d6 that functions as +3 strength-sapping unholy barbed
against good plus 1 vile plus exhaustion) and tail +31 whip. The strength-sapping quality forces any target
(1d8+4 plus 1d6 acid plus 1 vile) or struck to succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or become
Melee+5 blurstrike scimitar (MIC) +37/+32/+27/+22 exhausted. This weapon deals lethal damage instead of
(1d8+8/18–20 plus 1 vile) and tail +31 (1d8+4 plus 1d6 nonlethal damage.
acid plus 1 vile) or Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, Lilith must hit an
Melee 2 claws +36 (1d6+8 plus 1d6 acid plus 1 vile) and tail opponent of up to Medium size with her tail attack.
+31 (1d8+4 plus 1d6 acid plus 1 vile) She can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. without provoking an attack of opportunity. If she
Base Atk +25; Grp +41 wins the grapple check, she establishes a hold and can
Atk Options Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, aligned strike constrict.
(evil, lawful), constrict, epic strike, improved grab, sneak Constrict (Ex) Lilith deals 1d8+12 points of damage with
attack +9d6 a successful grapple check, in addition to the damage

from her tail attack. her followers, she might rise even further in the esteem of her
Change Shape (Su) Lilith can assume the form of any Small peers. Surely she would lure many mortals to the Nine Hells
or Medium humanoid. Lilith remains in one form until by dint of how she is perceived on the Material Plane. It is her
she chooses to assume a new one. Lilith reverts to her disinterest in such matters that stands as her only barrier, and if
natural form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals her she ever overcomes her detachment she could be a force to be
natural form. reckoned with in the Hells.
Summon Baatezu (Sp) 75% chance to summon 1d4+1
malebranches or 1d8+4 pleasure devils 1/day; caster Cultists of Lilith gain access to the Charm, Evil, and Law
level 20th. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level domains and can cast divine spells up to 5th level. Her favored
spell weapon is the whip.
Lilith is the second consort to Baalzebul. She is often regarded as
the patron of black witches on the Material Plane.
Strategies and Tactics

Lilith has little to fear from mortal enemies, for her aura of de-
Hutijin
Wreathed in crackling lightning and born aloft on great leathery wings
sire can make slaves of even the most courageous of paladins. is this a dreadful fiend, a great monster with a savage head capped with
She likes to toy with her prey, assuming the form of loved ones curling sharp horns. Its rust red skin flashes with the electricity that
she plucks from her victim’s mind with telepathy. She uses her caresses its flesh, bursting forth and seeking ground as the horror skims
whip to leech her foes’ strength until nothing but a heap of quiv- the ground, sweeping its path with a writhing trident filled with un-
ering flesh remains. Once helpless, she demands they renounce holy might.
their faith and embrace her as their mistress, at which point she
murders them, cackling as their souls reform as larvae before
her smoldering eyes. Strategies and Tactics
Hutijin is ruthless in combat, especially so when confronting
mortals. Although he relishes melee combat, he quickly
Servants, Enemies, and Goals establishes the tenor of the fight by taking to the air and
Lilith is a well-known figure in Hell, one occasionally painted unleashing a barrage of spell-like effects beginning with
as a romantic figure, a spurned lover or a wronged woman. On mass hold person and then power word kill to eliminate any
the Material Plane, witches, warlocks, evil druids, and other dab- spellcasters who managed to resist the first effect. He casts
blers in the occult hold her in high regard. As well, she’s quite unholy aura followed by symbol of persuasion and then uses
beautiful and talented in the arts of passion, a fact she uses to Flyby Attack to carve up those enemies still standing.
ensure she survives the occasional upheaval that plagues her na-
tive plane.
Servants, Enemies, and Goals
Lilith has been near power for as long as Asmodeus has ruled Hutijin is one the greatest of Hell’s dukes for he has the loyalty
the Nine Hells. The earliest records of Lilith recounts when of two full companies of pit fiends. These pit fiends make up
Baalzebul gave her to Moloch as a gift in a transparent attempt to Cania’s aristocracy and through their support with Hutijin’s
curry favor with the Lord of the Sixth. Lilith was easily the most guidance, Cania is safe from all but the most concerted attacks.
alluring of fiends in the Hells and she has a way of distracting
those who encounter her, keeping their attention diverted from Outside of the Nine Hells, Hutijin is an obscure figure, shrouded
what is truly important. in secrecy and unknown to all but the most learned of infernal
scholars. The secrecy around this figure largely stems from
While serving Moloch in all things, a service she came to re- Hutijin’s hatred of mortals. Even before his descent, he despised
sent, she fought for her place against Malagarde, the treacherous the denizens of the Material Plane and viciously hunted them,
night hag. If Lilith had been a little more eager in her duties, capturing and torturing them for months before he finally
she might have exposed Malagarde’s villainy and the Nine Hells crushed the life out of them. It is this monstrous tendency and
would be a vastly different place than it is today. lack of interest in mortal affairs that has relegated this duke
of Cania to such obscurity, even if his status and power do not
After Moloch’s fall, Lilith returned to Maladomini, relegated to a match his virtual anonymity.
position of second consort in Baalzebul’s court. Her resentment
has grown, for she feels powerless and despises the archdevil’s Within the hierarchy of the Nine Hells, Hutijin is regarded as
disgusting touch. For a time, she worked closely with Glasya the quintessential duke and many archdevils have tried to lure
and Tartach, but she opted not to go to Glasya’s court, partly be- him away from Mephistopheles. Hutijin is famously loyal and
cause of her resentment of Glasya’s sudden rise, but also to stay has always stood by his master, whom he regards as a near god
close to Baalzebul’s court and find some weakness. When she and clearly the rightful ruler of the Nine Hells. With such a
does, there’s no doubt that she will make the bid for his position willing servant, many have wondered why Mephistopheles has
and replace the bloated slug as Maladomini’s new master. never abused this trust, but one merely has to look to the pit
fiends to explain why doing so could spell a sudden and final
Lilith has a strong mortal following. If she would only cultivate end to the Lord of the Eighth.

Hutijin CR 26 True Seeing (Su) As the true seeing spell, always active,
hp 486 (36 HD); regeneration 10; DR 15/epic and good caster level 20th.
Aura of Despair (Su) All creatures within 30 feet take a –4
LE Huge Outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful) penalty to all saving throws. Baatezu are immune to this
Init +4; Senses see in darkness, true seeing; Listen +48, Spot ability.
+48 Tongues (Ex) As the tongues spell, always active, caster level
Aura despair (30 ft.) 20th.
Languages telepathy 100 ft., tongues Regeneration (Ex) Epic and good-aligned weapons and spells
and spell-like effects with the good descriptor deal
AC 46, touch 17, flat-footed 42 (–2 size, +4 Dex, +7 armor, +5 normal damage to Hutijen. If Hutijen loses a limb or
deflection, +22 natural) body part, the lost portion regrows in 1 minute. Hutijen
Immune electricity, fire, poison can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it
Resist acid 10 and cold 10; SR 39 to the stump.
Fort +29, Ref +24, Will +29 Electricity Attack (Ex) Hutijen’s natural attacks deal an extra
2d6 points of electricity damage.
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 60 ft. (good); Flyby Attack Change Shape (Su) Hutijen can assume the form of any
Melee+3 bloodfeeding (MI) fleshgrinding (MI) keen trident Small or Medium humanoid. He remains in one form
+50/+45/+40/+35 (3d6+15/19-20) or until he chooses to assume a new one. Hutijen reverts
Melee 2 claws +46 (1d8+12 plus 2d6 electricity) and bite +41 to his natural form when killed. A true seeing spell
(2d6+6 plus 2d6 electricity) or reveals his natural form.
Melee+3 bloodfeeding (MI) fleshgrinding (MI) keen trident Summon Baatezu (Sp) 75% chance to summon 1d2 pit
+48/+43/+38/+33 (3d6+15/19–20) and fiends 1/day; caster level 20th. This ability is the
Ranged+5 binding (MI) net +41 (special) equivalent of a 9th-level spell.
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Base Atk +36; Grp +56
Atk Options Brand of the Nine Hells (Mephistopheles) (FC2),
Combat Brute (CW), Improved Bull Rush, Improved
Sunder, Mark of Cania (FC2), Net and Trident (CW),
Adramalech
Power Attack, Power Critical (trident), Shock Trooper What at first appears to be a balding aged man with a gray beard reveals
(CW), electricity attack, aligned strike (evil, lawful), epic its infernal nature by the small crimson horns on his brow and the
strike matching forked tail peeking out from beneath his flowing multicolored
Special Actions change shape, summon baatezu robes. A smile stretches across its wrinkled features and its cold wet eyes
Combat Gearrod of rulership, scarab of invulnerability (MI) flare with some inner flame.
At will -- blasphemy (DC 25), create undead, greater dispel
magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), Strategies and Tactics
invisibility, limited wish (fulfill another’s wish only), Adramalech is a formidable opponent, being talented with the
magic circle against good, mass hold monster (DC 27), use of truename magic and capable of bringing to bear a potent
power word kill, ray of enfeeblement (ranged touch array of utterances. The Chancellor always manipulates the
+38), suggestion (DC 21), unholy aura (DC 26), wall of terrain to his advantage using transform the landscape to crack
fire (DC 18) and buckle the earth within 20 feet of himself, followed with
2/day -- heal (self only) a reversed seek the sky to eliminate flying foes. Thereafter, he
1/day -- symbol of persuasion (DC 24) protects himself with a symbol of insanity and hammers at his
opponents with meteor swarm and fireball. Those that close
Abilities Str 34, Dex 19, Con 28, Int 21, Wis 28, Cha 26 with Adramalech must contend with his deadly quarterstaff,
Feats Brand of the Nine Hells (Mephistopheles) (FC2), which he uses to great effect, slaying the first creature he hits.
Combat Brute (CW), Flyby Attack, Improved Critical If reduced to 200 hit points or less, he summons a few pit fiends
(trident), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Mark to even the odds and then beats a hasty retreat using greater
of Cania (FC2), Net and Trident (CW), Power Attack, teleport.
Power Critical (trident) (CW), Shock Trooper (CW), Two-
Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (trident) Servants, Enemies, and Goals
Skills Appraise +44, Balance +45, Bluff +47, Concentration Adramalech descended into the Nine Hells with the rest of
+48, Diplomacy +51, Disguise +8 (+10 acting), Intimidate the devils, and though powerful in his own right, natural
+49, Jump +57, Knowledge (the planes) +44, Listen +48, untrustworthiness and naked self-interest prompted the Lord
Sense Motive +48, Spellcraft +44, Spot +48, Survival +9 of Nessus to keep this fiend lord close. Adamalech’s story might
(+11 on other planes), Tumble +45 have ended here, but this devil developed a flair for truenames
Possessions combat gear plus +3 bloodfeeding, fleshgrinding and made every effort to learn the personal truenames of every
keen trident, +5 binding net, ring of protection +5, rival, every enemy, and every ally in the Nine Hells, collecting
bracers of armor +7 them in a great tome known as The Book of Fire. He quickly

outstripped those in better standing and convinced Asmodeus State, summon baatezu
to raise him up to the position of Chancellor where he remains Combat Gearring of telekinesis
to this day. Utterances Known (CL 20th)*:
Lexicon of the Evolving Mind
Adramelech has many enemies in the Nine Hells, but his 6th -- greater knight’s puissance, mystic rampart, singular
uncanny knowledge and position keep most of his foes at bay. mind
Instead, his enemies besmirch his name, spreading rumors of 5th -- eldritch attraction, greater energy negation,
how the Chancellor attends Asmodeus by being master of his preternatural clarity, sensory focus
wardrobe, though no one would dare insult the Chancellor to 4th -- confounding resistance, potent word of nurturing,
his face. spell rebirth, word of bolstering
3rd -- accelerated attack, energy negation, seek the sky,
Adramelech makes a great show of being loyal to Asmodeus, temporal spiral
but he regularly operates outside of his responsibilities, spying, 2nd -- perceive the unseen, speed of the zephyr, strike of
issuing orders, and hiding things from the Overlord. As might
Adramalech seems to have no ambition to rise above his station, 1st -- inertia surge, universal aptitude
it’s not clear why he betrays his master as readily as he does, Lexicon of the Crafted Tool
nor is it clear why Asmodeus doesn’t just school the Chancellor 5th -- seize item
and bring him to heel. Whatever the reasons, Adramalech is a 4th -- suppress item
dangerous element in Nessus’s court and one that visitors do 3rd -- suppress weapon
well to avoid. 2nd -- agitate metal
1st -- keen weapon
Adramalech has several small cults of mortal followers. In all Lexicon of the Perfected Map
cases, they are crude and bestial, giving all and everything to 4th -- conjunctive gate
their uncaring master. Their most profane acts are the offerings 3rd -- thwart the traveler
of their young to the infernal duke, sacrificing them on great 2nd -- transform the landscape
bloody altars that vomit clouds of ochre smoke when in contact 1st -- shockwave
with mortal flesh. Mortal cultists gain access to the Evil, *Tome of Magic
Knowledge, and Law domains. Spell-Like Abilities (CL 19th):
At will -- antimagic field, create greater undead, detect
In the Nine Hells, Adramalech delights in torturing and thoughts (DC 19), discern lies (DC 21), fireball (DC 20),
mutilating humans and elves, and pays well to acquire new greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lb.
victims. Adramalech maintains extensive dungeons beneath objects only), sending (Asmodeus only), wall of fire
Asmodeus’s palace, where his personal minions devise new 3/day -- command (DC 18, swift action)
ways to excite their master with the screams of their victims. 1/day -- meteor swarm (DC 26), symbol of insanity (DC 25)
Adramalech CR 27 Abilities Str 25, Dex 26, Con 27, Int 36, Wis 29, Cha 24
hp 400 (32 HD); regeneration 10; DR 15/epic and good Feats Brand of the Nine Hells (Asmodeus) (FC2), Improved
Two-Weapon Fighting, Mark of Nessus (FC2), Obscure
LE Medium Outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Personal Truename (ToM), Personal Truename Backlash
Init +8; Senses see in darkness; Listen +44, Spot +44 (ToM), Quicken Utterance (ToM), Recitation of the
Aura despair (30 ft.) Meditative State (ToM) (B), Skill Focus (Truespeak),
Aura fear (180 ft., DC 33) Truename Rebuttal (ToM), Two-Weapon Defense, Two-
Languagestongues; telepathy 100 ft. Weapon Fighting
Skills Appraise +48, Bluff +42, Concentration +43, Decipher
AC 40, touch 18, flat-footed 32; Two-Weapon Defense (+8 Script +48, Diplomacy +48, Disguise +7 (+9 acting),
Dex, +7 armor, +15 natural) Forgery +48, Gather Information +42, Intimidate +44,
Immune fire and poison Knowledge (arcana) +48, Knowledge (dungeoneering)
Resist acid 10 and cold 10; SR 37 +48, Knowledge (geography) +48, Knowledge (nobility)
Fort +38, Ref +38, Will +39 +48, Knowledge (religion) +48, Knowledge (the
planes) +48, Listen +44, Search +48, Sense Motive
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares) +44, Spellcraft +50 (+52 deciphering scrolls), Spot
MeleeAdramalech’s staff +42/+387+32/+27 (1d6+13 plus +44, Survival +9 (+11 on other planes, +11 following
see text) or tracks, +11 underground, +11 avoiding getting lost and
MeleeAdramalech’s staff +40/+35/+30/+25 (1d6+10 plus see hazards), Truespeak +61 (ToM), Use Magic Device +42
text) and Adramalech’s staff +40/+35 (1d6+6 plus see (+44 scrolls)
text) Possessions combat gear plus Adramalech’s staff, book of
Base Atk +32; Grp +39 true binds, bracers of armor +7, cloak of resistance +5,
Atk Options aligned strike (evil, lawful), epic strike, speak greater amulet of the silver tongue (ToM)
unto the masses
Special Actions Mark of Nessus, Recitation of the Meditative Aura of Fear (Su) At the end of each of Adramalech’s turns,

all creatures within 180 feet of him must make DC 33 About the Author
Will saves or be panicked for 10 rounds. A creature
that successfully saves cannot be affected again by Robert J. Schwalb is a contract designer for Wizards of
Adramalech’s aura for 24 hours. Baatezu are immune to the Coast and has contributed to numerous sourcebooks
the aura. The save DC is Charisma-based. including Tome of Magic, Players Handbook 2, Fiendish Codex
Tongues (Ex) As the tongues spell, always active, caster level 2, Complete Scoundrel, Drow of the Underdark, Monster Manual
20th. V, Exemplars of Evil, and Elder Evils. Robert rarely emerges
Regeneration (Ex) Epic and good-aligned weapons and spells from his Tennessee office these days, except when dragged
and spell-like effects with the good descriptor deal away from his keyboard by his incredibly patient wife
normal damage to Adramalech. If Adramalech loses a Stacee and his pride of fiendish werecats.
limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 1 minute.
Adramalech can reattach the severed member instantly
by holding it to the stump.
Dark Blessing (Su) Adramalech adds his Charisma modifier
as a profane bonus to all saving throws.
Adramalech’s Staff This item functions as a +3/+3
quarterstaff. In addition, as an immediate action,
Adramalech can force a creature struck by the staff to
succeed on a DC 34 Fortitude save or die. Even on a
successful save, the victim takes 5d6 points of damage.
Baatezu struck by the staff are disintegrated, as the
disintegrate spell, if they fail the save. Adramalech may
only use this ability once per hour and the item only
functions this way when in Adramelech’s hands. The
save DC is Constitution-based.
Speak Unto the Masses (Su) Adramalech can affect multiple
creatures of the same type with a single utterance. No
two creatures to be affected can be more than 30 feet
apart and the base DC for his Truespeak check is equal
to the most powerful (highest CR or most Hit Dice,
if affecting PCs) creature in the group. Each creature
affected with the utterance beyond the first increases
the Truespeak check DC by 2.
Summon Baatezu (Sp) 55% chance to summon 1d3 pit
fiends or 50% chance to summon 1d6+2 malebranche;
1/day; caster level 20th. This ability is the equivalent of
a 9th-level spell.
Adramalech is the Chancellor of the Nine Hells and closest

advisor to Asmodeus.

Ecology of the Fire Archon
by Matthew Sernett
Art by Randy Gallegos
“Souls made of fire, and children of the sun,

With whom revenge is virtue.”
--The Revenge, Edward Young

Living flames forged by blazing magic, fire archons exist to first archons.
destroy. Overrun and consume, take all and leave nothing but
ashes -- these are the desires that burn within fire archons’ in- Fire archons believe that the honor of being the primordials’
candescent souls from their first moments. Always hungry for first soldiers belongs to them, but that is a secret only the gods
conquest, these elemental mercenaries work for anyone with and primordials remember. Regardless of which type was first,
power and the promise of many victories. the presence of the archons turned the tide of battle in the pri-
History mordials’ favor. Given life, the archons could reproduce them-
selves, building armies faster than giants could be born or angels
ordained. Their uncontrolled creation pleased the primordials
and worried the gods.
In an ancient time, when the world had hardly been formed,
primordial beings battled the gods for control of creation. In Thus it was that one deity devised the plan that would starve
this cataclysmic conflict, the deific host marshaled armies of the archon armies of troops. Rather than combat the archons
angels and cadres of exarchs, and though the primordials could directly, the gods’ forces attacked the creatures and energies that
call forth titanic beasts and their giant children, they could not served as the archons’ source. To create an archon, one needs an-
muster a true military to face their enemies. To match their foes, other elemental being. Virtually any kind will do. That creature
the consummate creators gave being to a means by which el- is then remade into an archon in a magic foundry built upon a
emental creatures could be recreated -- reshaped and hammered well of elemental power. The angels, exarchs, and gods set about
into soldiers. The warriors formed through this process were the destroying any elementals they encountered and diverting or

ruining the largest sources of elemental energy in the Elemen- this is due to the obscuring effect of the flames or a true joining
tal Chaos. of fiery flesh is unclear, but no fire archon has ever been seen
to be missing a finger or limb. If such a member is severed, the
Some reshaped the elemental spirits rather than destroy them. fire archon instantly grows another while the severed part burns
Medusas are said by some to be earth spirits reformed by Ze- away in a swirl of fire and smoke. The only exceptions seem to
hir. Others blame doppelgangers upon Sehanine’s reshaping of be the head and the torso. Severing these parts from the body is
water elementals. Yet the vast majority of elementals were slain. damage sufficient to kill a fire archon instantly.
Whole races were snuffed out or driven so far to the brink that
none have seen one of them to this day. Efreeti remember this A fire archon’s head has a defined front and back, but it typi-
time as the Desolation in their legends, and they believe that the cally lacks facial features. Brighter eyelike points can appear on
Elemental Chaos still hasn’t recovered. their faces when they become agitated or angry, and they see
as well as most humanoids. Their bodies typically provide light
The gods might have done more damage, but their defeat of the equivalent to a bonfire, and thus they illuminate any darkened
primordials made continued conflict wasteful. Without the gods’ area they enter, obviating the need for darkvision. Fire archons
forces to fight, and with no clear direction, the archons began to seem incapable of diminishing the light their bodies emit, and
clash with one another. Some fell into ranks behind powerful thus they would find hiding from foes difficult in most situa-
archon leaders. Others aligned with powerful children of the tions. However, fire archons aren’t inclined toward stealth even
primordials who tried to fill the power void left by their creators. when it would benefit them, preferring instead to alert their
The once innumerable archons ground down their number and foes to their presence by sending up columns of smoke from
might have disappeared altogether had not some races, such as things and creatures they burn. The lower body of a fire archon
the efreeti, preserved the means for their renewal. is one large flame rather than legs. As with other archons, fire ar-
chons glide about on a column of their constituent element. The
Today, archons are just one type of creature among the countless exact method of this locomotion is poorly understood, but it is
beings that inhabit the Elemental Chaos. Their numbers wax assumed to resemble a slug’s movement, with the fire archon
and wane as different armies of archons go through cycles of somehow gliding over a thin layer of super-heated air.
creation and conflict, flaring up and burning themselves out as
they prepare for war and engage in it. Although made of transparent and flickering flames, and appar-
Physiology ently empty of organs, a fire archon has a solid form. Those brave
enough to have touched a fire archon’s body describe it as be-
ing like holding a boiling bag of writhing snakes. A fire archon
held in this way is certainly very hot, but it does not truly burn.
Fire archons exist as creatures of living flame, but their bodies The archon can set things ablaze with its body, but this seems
aren’t so mutable as a flickering fire. Every fire archon has two to require some concentration -- something that a fire archon is
arms, a torso, and a head. Their lower bodies take the form of incapable of while wrestling or in combat. This solidity gives the
single conflagrations rather than separate legs. archon a weight roughly equivalent to an elf of similar stature,
but since they tend to stand close to 7 feet tall, they often weigh
Despite lacking a skeletal structure, their upper bodies conform close to 200 pounds.
in motion to human norms. Their arms are equivalent to a hu-
man’s, with clearly positioned shoulders, elbows, and hands. Fire Fire archons must “breathe” in the sense that a fire needs air.
archon fingers seem to blend together into a mittenlike form Without it, they dwindle and die, suffocated by the lack of fuel.
or separate into true digits depending on their need. Whether Similarly, fire archons must “eat.” Periodically, they must con-
Knowledge of the Fire Archon . The following table shows the results of a Knowledge (the planes) check as it relates to
fire archons. A result provides the information at the given DC and the information from all lower DCs.
DC Result
12 Fire archons are a warlike race of fiery elemental beings. Roughly humanoid in shape, they wield weapons and wear armor.
There are other archons consisting of other elemental forces. They seem similar in many respects besides the elemental mate-
15
rial encased in their armor.
Unlike aimless elementals, fire archons have a militaristic culture based on continual conquest. This seems to be true of all
20 fire archons from the moment of their creation. Other archons are militaristic, but none are as rampantly destructive as the
fire archons.
Fire archons can be created through a difficult ritual involving the use of a special forge built upon a concentration of el-
25 emental fire. Once created, a fire archon owes no fealty to its creator, but a person with the power to subdue the fire archon
can control it through intimidation.
Fire archons were created by the primordials in their war against the gods. The secret of creating fire archons was stolen by
the efreeti and it disseminated from them to others. Most fire archons are now either created by other fire archons or the
30
efreeti. When archons created by the efreeti build upon and alter the lands they conquer, they try to recreate the greatest of
the efreeti cities, the City of Brass.

centrate on burning an object completely to ash. A fire archon acknowledge superior power and intellect in another fire crea-
might accomplish this by holding the item, standing over it, or ture, so competitions tend to be few and brief unless there are
even placing it within the fire archon’s face and “swallowing” it. several contestants of very similar power. Despite their warlike
Yet like other elementals, fire archons shall never know the joy natures, fire archons aren’t inclined toward fractiousness and
of dreams or the terror of nightmares for they do not sleep. infighting. Fire archons on the opposite sides of a conflict will
Psychology happily slaughter one another, but within a force, fire archons
prefer to focus their aggression outward.
The number of “ranks” in a fire archon society depends upon

The primordials created fire ar- how many fire archons there are.
chons to be their soldiers, and A leader has five followers, who
they come into being with a sol- each in turn have five followers.
dier’s mindset. From their first This structure flows downward
conscious thought, fire archons to the lowest rank. Each mem-
expect battle and are ready to ber in a group of five takes its or-
serve in war. Fire archons seem ders from any of the members of
to recognize the authority of a group of five individuals of the
other fiery creatures automati- next highest rank. Uneven num-
cally and fall into ranks for them. bers of groups are placed in the
Yet others who summon or cre- lowest rank. Any odd number
ate them must first cow them in a rank filters in as extra mem-
by some show of superior force. bers of one of the other groups
Once they know their place, fire rather than forming a group of
archons serve willingly so long less than five. Similarly, attrition
as their needs are met, particu- results in eventual redistribu-
larly the need for conquest. tion into groups of five. Thus
a hundred fire archons would
Fire archons think of everything typically have one leader, five
in terms of conflict. They remain subcommanders, twenty-five
ever aware of what side they are captains, and sixty-nine mem-
on, their subordinates and com- bers in its lowest rank.
manders, what creatures are cur-
rent foes, and which enemies are Scholars can’t be certain of the
ones they must face in some later significance of the number five,
fight. This extreme perspective and fire archons themselves
might make them appear brut- simply see it as “natural” and “ef-
ish, but they possess astonishing ficient.” In numbers less than
cunning and a general’s grasp of five, fire archons see themselves
tactics. Underestimating a fire as individuals rather than breth-
archon is a sure way to see it gain ren, and they become less effi-
the upper hand. cient and less willing to work as
a team. Those who seek to sub-
Just as a fire archon must breathe jugate fire archons should keep
and eat, so must they conquer this in mind. Similarly, the rank
and destroy. Such activity nour- structure of fire archons doesn’t
ishes and energizes them. With- allow an outsider to elevate a fa-
out it, they grow restless at first vored archon above its personal
and then careless and sluggish. merits. Doing so can result in the
This need for new ventures keeps fire archons on the move and archons flouting commands while they follow the old structure,
on the offensive. Defeats, the need to build and train forces, and or the favored member might be ostracized from the ranks, re-
planning can cause them to stop for long periods, but unless a sulting in a reorganization and poor cooperation with the fa-
foe can destroy them utterly, it’s often best to attempt to redirect vored member. Material goods, particularly weapons and armor
their fury toward easier targets. that can make a favored archon more powerful, presents a much
Society better way to reward service.
All fire archon societies inevitably strike outward, and the leader
determines the direction and target. When they do, the archons
Left to their own devices, fire archons adopt a society based on a seek to lay waste to nearly everything they encounter. Archons
rough military structure. Physical and strategic contests, usually tend to avoid building or creating anything, but they will make
not lethal, are used to determine rank. Fire archons are quick to fortifications when fighting a long-term conflict or to protect a

valuable resource, such as a fire font and foundry. Fire archons tal fire. That kind of upwelling of fiery energy can be found in
prefer not to do such work themselves, and when possible, they the Elemental Chaos as rivers of fire hurtling through space,
enslave conquered people and use them for forced labor. Such lakes of molten air flickering in glowing caverns, or great crys-
slaves face a bleak existence held by captors that have no em- tals brilliant with internal infernos. Fire fonts can be found on
pathy and no use for them once the job is done. Slaves with an other planes as well. They are most common in places such as
interest in their future therefore find ways to remain useful, volcanoes or tunnels where magma flows, but fire fonts aren’t
playing upon the fire archon’s sense of superiority and concern beholden to other sources of heat. A fire font might act as a gate-
about foes. way to the Elemental Chaos or from it to another plane. Or a fire
font can be a concentration of elemental energy native to the
Many fire archons owe their existence to the efreeti, and these plane on which it is found. One might be a holdover from the
archons seek to emulate their creators, even long after being days of creation, a seam in the plane that was never sown shut.
freed from their control. They are far more inclined to take and Another might be a weakness in danger of widening or perhaps
keep slaves, build structures, and secure territory. They often at- a vent to let power escape so that it is does not build. In all cases,
tempt to create an environment similar to that which surrounds fire fonts are miraculous places of fantastic appearance.
the City of Brass -- a task aided by the effect the presence of fire
archons can have on the environment. Fire archon foundries vary in appearance, but all have two ele-
ments in common: a summoning crucible and a forge. The sum-
When fire archons gather in numbers, they set fire to things and moning crucible serves as the transformation space for the sum-
their bodies produce heat, but these factors cannot explain the moned elemental creature. It must be large enough to hold the
drought that presages the army’s march or the eruption of long- elemental and have the power of the fire font coursing through
dormant volcanoes. It seems that simply having fire archons in it. The summoning crucible must have elements designed to fo-
an area creates a sympathetic link to the qualities of heat and cus the fire energy and use it as a binding force. Held in place
flame. Created by elemental flame and composed of it, fire ar- and infused with this energy, the summoned creature can then
chons seem to form a peculiar gateway for the power of fire in be destroyed and reincarnated by the ritual. It must then be en-
the Elemental Chaos. It’s said that within a mile of even a single cased in armor from the forge.
fire archon, a candle flame burns an inch higher and a single
spark can kindle a coal. Although a fire archon can remove its armor and wear different
Creating a Fire Archon armor during its life, the encasement of its energies in armor
from the foundry’s forge is a crucial element of the ritual. With-
out that final step, the fire archon might expire or lack the intel-
ligence and soldier’s mindset at best, and at worst, it might grow
Fire archons cannot reproduce by any typical means. Instead, into something powerful and uncontrollable that seeks revenge
they are created from another elemental’s body and spirit. To ac- for its torturous transformation.
complish this, a ritual must be performed in a magic foundry
infused with elemental fire. The nature of the elemental sum- The forge itself rarely appears like a common forge. Using the
moned by the ritual is not important. It might be a dumb earth fire font as a source of heat and flame and elemental energies as
beast or a highly intelligent elemental with ties to water. The hammers and forms, the forge can be an unrecognizable con-
ritual taps into the creative and recreative power of the primor- traption of magic and arcane elements.
dials, wholly transforming that creature’s form and soul. Need-
less to say, most consider the creation of a fire archon a wholly A working foundry can produce fire archons as often as the rit-
evil act. ual can be performed and for as long as the foundry’s resources
are maintained. The power of the fire font the foundry is built
A foundry must be constructed upon a powerful font of elemen- upon determines the type of fire archon created. As the fire en-

ergy fluctuates in strength, so too do the results of the ritual. A
fire font at ebb generates basic fire archons, while at high flow it Fire Fonts as Adventure Locations
produces the more powerful fire archons, such as blazesteels or
ash disciples. Creatures without fiery souls should beware creat- A fire font presents a great opportunity for a cool adventure
ing fire archons beyond their ability to quell. location. Let your imagination run wild. Put it anywhere
you like, and use it as an excuse to make a truly magical
Fire Archon Weapons and Armor location. Flame throwers in the walls and floor, flying
bonfires, jets of fire that leap from place to place, buildings
of flickering crystal, inferno tornadoes that carry creatures
The fury of a fire archon’s form is contained by its armor, and its about, stairs of smoke, blazes that act as teleport pads --
first suit of armor is integral to its being inasmuch as a human or whatever you want.
elf must have skin and bones. After time however, a fire archon
can change its original armor for new should it choose to do so. The location might be a landmark in your campaign known
Many never see the need, but fire archons that evolve or gain half the world around for its miraculous powers. Or maybe
levels often perceive the value of a different armor strategy. it’s a hidden resource jealously guarded beneath the zig-
gurat of some mortal ruler. It could be an ancient and lost
Fire archons choose a new armor for the armor’s capabilities or mystery like the Fountain of Youth or it might have thrust
they may pick a piece to replace a sundered piece. Armor gener- itself up from the earth with cataclysmic suddenness.
ally takes the form of a breastplate and pauldrons, but other ele-
ments such as bracers, girdles, vambraces, and helms are not un- Of course, it doesn’t have to be all about fire damage. Some
common. Breastplate, full plate, chain mail, and chain shirts are of the fires might not harm anything and instead act more
most common. Nonmagic organic materials such as leather are like continual flame spells. Other fires might deal another
destroyed over time because a fire archon unconsciously burns type of damage, such as cold or acid. Use color to indicate
the material when it eats. what the fires do, but allow the players to experiment and
learn. A blue flame might be cold and a black one negative
Fire archons craft weapons and armor of amazing quality and energy. An upside-down fire might indicate a teleporter,
stunning appearance. Using instinctual knowledge of metal- while a fire that doesn’t flicker might be solid as a rock.
lurgy, fire archons craft only items of masterwork quality. Their
work is on par with that of dwarves, but of course, the two are A fire font gives you a dramatic backdrop and an excuse to
easy to tell apart. A flame motif decorates nearly everything a plan some very dynamic encounters. Use the environment
fire archon crafts, and its work looks seamless because it is. like monster in the fight. Allow it to become a character in
the story of the adventure. You won’t regret it.
Fire archons can use many different weapons, but they prefer
those that remind them of the flickering tongues of fire. Thus
they avoid heavy or bludgeoning weapons, and enjoy scimitars, interlopers? What do they care about? In 3rd Edition, we have
falchions, and even lighter weapons such as rapiers. Metal weap- only vague ideas that they fight each other. If they were dumb
ons are a must, since most fire archons can transfer the heat of beasts, they would make more sense. If they had a culture and
their bodies through weapons to burn foes -- an impractical at- did interesting things like invade the Material Plane, they would
tack if the medium for that transference turns to ash. be better. But the elementals of 3rd Edition don’t do either. Most
creatures of the elemental type follow suit, and you have to look
Behind the Scenes: Monster Evolution at outsiders such as salamanders and genies for interesting crea-
The fire archon derives its origin from two places: the desire for tures with elemental themes.
more interesting elemental monsters and Dreamblade. When
we sat down to discuss which creatures would carry forward to Add to this the fact that the elementals’ mechanics are either
the new edition, what would be in the first Monster Manual, boring or complex. Most of them simply walk up to a PC and
and what would inhabit the various planes in the new cosmol- hit the character with a fist. Fire elementals at least do fire dam-
ogy, the need for more interesting elemental foes came up again age, but it hardly screams cool to face an elemental and have it
and again. This problem first reared its head in the bland nature act like an ogre without Power Attack. It doesn’t even whisper
and conflicting natures of elementals of 3rd Edition. it. The flip side of this includes mechanics such as the air ele-
Out with the Old mental’s whirlwind. Any mechanic that makes a person look up
weather conditions in the Dungeon Master’s Guide is just beg-
ging to be “forgotten” by the DM.
The elementals of 3rd Edition have no needs, no clear desires or We tried to rectify this in the late stages of 3rd Edition. You can
motivations, and no culture, yet they attain human Intelligence, see various attempts in Monster Manuals III, IV, and V, the most
speak, and can manipulate objects. They exist in limitless num- successful probably being the avatars of elemental evil of Mon-
bers on the elemental planes, but they build nothing and make ster Manual IV. Yet such inventions were a band-aid on a scar
no lasting impression upon the game. Mechanically, they exist over thirty years old. The new edition offered a chance to shuffle
as neat creatures to summon or put in a dungeon and nothing thing up a bit, give elementals a new hand, and deal in some
more. What do they do on the elemental planes besides attack new players.

In With the New a somewhat mercenary force. The name was an easy choice, if a
bit controversial to some.
Early on in the process of designing 4th Edition, we had many

Of course, elementals -- those beings of the four elements that
discussions of the elements of 3rd Edition that we could carry
exist so people can summon them and put them in dungeons
forward. We took a long look at which cows really were sacred
-- still exist in 4th Edition. We’ve given them a new story and
and which would make fine rump roast. The animal-headed
some clean but cool mechanics, but this article isn’t about them.
archons weren’t high on anyone’s list. They exist to fill out an
It’s about how else we filled the void for interesting elementally
alignment wheel of outsiders -- a dubious purpose -- and they’re
based creatures. The upcoming edition uses an altered list of
an inherently strange concept. In D&D’s universe, why do some
creature types and uses type quite differently when it comes to
angelic beings have horse heads? What population besides wer-
mechanics. Thus creatures that seemed like they should be ele-
ebears and normal bears do bear angels serve? Add to their in-
mentals (efreeti, salamanders, and so on) bear that type now. Yet
nate weirdness the fact that alignment and the planes work dif-
even after reshuffling things, the game still cried out for more
ferently in 4th Edition, and there simply wasn’t reason enough
elemental baddies.
to preserve them.
That’s where Dreamblade comes in. The Flame Harrower caught
Yet the word “archon” is powerful, and we knew we wanted 4th
the eye of several folks in R&D when it came out, and Bill Slav-
Edition to use it in a cooler way that would be more likely to
icsek mentioned that he wanted something like that in 4th Edi-
see play than the angelic furries. Giving it to the new elemental
tion. On a purely aesthetic level, the combination of a largely
beings we wanted in the game seemed a perfect fit. There could
transparent miniature with some metallic parts is pleasing to
be no confusing them with the old archons, and using a cool
the eye. It’s like looking at jewelry or candy. However, we all
word that would be familiar to many players would raise their
agreed that the “metal underpants” were not a positive feature.
profile.
To fix that, we decided that the future monster would have a
lower body of solid elemental material.
So we had a hole to fill and a visual cool concept to fill it. All that
remained were the name, flavor, and mechanics. The mechanics
evolved over time. In fact, as I write this, we are playtesting, and
I can’t be sure that the current 4th Edition mechanics will re-
main. The flavor evolved somewhat, but we knew that we want-
ed them to see a lot of use, so we always planned on them being

Sample Fire Archons Fire Archon Blazesteel
hp 105 (10 HD); wounded burst
Often CE Medium elemental (extraplanar, fire)

CR 7
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +12, Spot +12

The following statistics present three fire archons using 3rd Edi- Languages Common, Ignan, Terran
tion rules. The first fire archon has statistics similar to the Fire
Archon miniature from the Desert of Desolation set. The second AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +4 armor, +2 shield)
and third fire archons use 3rd Edition mechanics to mimic the Immune critical hits, fire, flanking, paralysis, poison, sleep,
fire archon’s 4th Edition rules. stunning
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +8
Weakness vulnerability to cold
Fire Archon CR 6
hp 68 (8 HD); death throes
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Melee mwk scimitar +16/+11 (1d6+7 plus 1d6 fire/18-20)
Often CE Medium elemental (extraplanar, fire)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +8, Spot +9
Combat Options flanking fire
Languages Common, Ignan
Special Actions wounded burst
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 armor)
Abilities Str 25, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 15
Immune critical hits, fire, flanking, paralysis, poison, sleep,
SQ darkvision 60 ft., immunities, vulnerability to cold
stunning
Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Iron Will,
Weapon Focus (scimitar)
Skills Balance +5, Intimidate +15, Jump +21, Listen +12, Spot
+12, Tumble +15
Speed 30 ft. in breastplate (6 squares), base speed 40 ft.
Possessions masterwork scimitar, masterwork chain shirt,
Melee mwk scimitar +14/+9 (1d6+6 plus 1d6 fire/18-20) or
masterwork heavy steel shield
mwk scimitar +10/+5 (1d6+6 plus 1d6 fire/18-20) and
mwk scimitar +10 (1d6+3 plus 1d6 fire/18-20)
Wounded Burst (Su) If a fire archon blazesteel is reduced to
half its hit points or reduced to 0 hit points, it unleashes
Special Actions death throes, fire burst
a 10-foot radius burst of fire centered on itself. The fire
causes 5d8 points of fire damage to creatures in the
area (Reflex DC 21 for half).
SQ darkvision 60 ft., immunities, vulnerability to cold
Feats Iron Will, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus
Flanking Fire (Ex) When a fire archon blazesteel flanks a
(scimitar)
foe, it may make an extra basic attack against that
Skills Intimidate +14, Jump +14, Listen +8, Spot +9
foe whenever it attacks. In addition, the fire archon
Possessions 2 masterwork scimitars, masterwork
blazesteel’s attacks against the flanked foe cause
breastplate
+1d6 points of fire damage for every other fire archon
adjacent to the flanked target.
Fire Burst (Su) Three times per day as a standard action, a
fire archon can unleash a 10-foot radius burst of fire
Vulnerability to Cold (Ex) A fire archon takes half again as
centered on itself. The fire causes 3d8 points of fire
much (+50%) damage as normal from cold attacks.
damage to creatures in the area (Reflex DC 18 for half).
Death Throes (Su) When a fire archon is reduced to 0 hit

points, it explodes. Treat this effect as a fire burst attack
that causes 5d8 points of damage.


Fire Archon Ash Disciple CR 8 About the Author
hp 119 (14 HD); death throes
Matthew Sernett has been a designer of 4th Edition, the Editor-
Often CE Medium elemental (extraplanar, fire) in-chief of Dragon Magazine, a pizza cook, an onion packer, and
Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +12, Spot +12 an assembly line worker in a spring factory. In 1999, while
Languages Common, Ignan, Terran working for Men’s Health Magazine, he narrowly avoided be-
ing a wardrobe tracker in the male fashion industry. He feels
AC 21, touch 16, flat-footed 15 very fortunate to now be employed as a creative designer for
(+6 Dex, +5 armor) Gleemax.
Immune critical hits, fire, flanking, paralysis, poison, sleep,
stunning
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares); flame step

Melee slam +16 (1d6+5 plus 1d6 fire and target catches fire)
Ranged fire bolt +16 (50-ft. range; 8d6+5 fire and foe catches
fire; creatures adjacent to target take 1d6 fire)
Atk Options Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Special Actions cinder burst, death throes, flame step, flame
wave
SQ darkvision 60 ft., flame step, immunities, vulnerability to
cold
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Precise
Shot, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Balance +8, Intimidate +18, Jump +26, Knowledge (the
planes) +7, Listen +12, Spot +12, Survival +3 (+5 on other
planes), Tumble +23
Possessions +1 mithral shirt
Cinder Burst (Su) Once per encounter as a standard action,

a fire archon ash disciple can unleash a 10-foot radius
burst of fire centered on itself. The fire causes 8d8
points of fire damage to creatures in the area and blinds
them for 1 round (Reflex DC 21 for half and to avoid
blindness).
Death Throes (Su) When a fire archon ash disciple is reduced

to 0 hit points, it explodes. Treat this effect as a cinder
burst attack that causes 10d8 points of damage.
Flame Step (Su) As a move action, a fire archon ash disciple

can teleport to within 15 feet of any fire creature within
100 feet.
Flame Wave (Su) Once per encounter, a fire archon can

unleash a wave of flames in a 30-ft. cone. Creatures in
the area take 8d8 points of fire damage (Reflex DC 21 for
half) and are pushed back two squares (no save).


Realmslore
by Brian James
art by Diem
Ironfang Keep
For generations untold, a shadowy basalt fortress has loomed of Ostoria, leaving the fire giant realm of Helligheim terribly
over the mouth of the White River along the eastern shore of weakened and isolated. Centuries earlier, the fire giants had
the Moonsea. Long reputed to be the home of practitioners of constructed twelve mighty fortresses across the breadth of Hel-
dark power, the structure is also held responsible for centuries ligheim’s southern frontier along the shore of the Dragons’ Sea.
of abductions and strange abominations unleashed to roam the Though impressive fortifications of earth and magic, one by one
countryside. Whether any of these rumors are true remains un- the citadels were overrun and shattered by the Dragon King’s
known as no credible accounts of the keep’s mysterious inhabit- armies. By the time the merciful King-Killer star appeared in the
ants exist. heavens to drive the wyrms into madness, only one remote keep
Sentinel of Lost Helligheim remained standing.
Helligheim endured for another century or two but the Colossal

Kingdom has been shattered and soon the defeated jotunbrud
Scholars today know little of the keep’s founding though dra- began retreating further into the remote wilds of the north.
conic legends do speak of mighty fortress of similar description Sealed and protected by powerful runecasters, the lone basalt
around the close of the Dawn Ages, about twenty-five thousand sentinel stood silently for several millennia, abandoned and for-
years before man and elf raised the Standing Stone. gotten.
In that distant time, a terrible war spanning a thousand years

had been raging between the mighty giant and dragon civiliza-
tions. Throughout the long war, the merciless dragon armies
led by terrible Garyx had driven a wedge through the heart

stunned to discover two grim looking humans sitting noncha-
The Keep lantly upon his giant-crafted throne. Before Haask could react, a
third assassin appeared behind the priest-king, driving a simple
Seemingly hewn from the cliff face upon which it rests, the iron blade through his back and into his heart. As his life en-
imposing edifice thrusts upwards from the bedrock of the ergy pumped into the enchanted dagger, Haask’s form began to
White River, which surrounds the structure on all sides, save shift revealing his true nature as a batrachi-doppelganger. The
the east where the river cascades into the Moonsea in the mysterious trio later exited the keep heading upriver toward the
scream of a deadly falls. Crafted in the likeness of two op- Glacier of the White Wyrm and beyond. Grong-Haap soon col-
posing fangs or massive pincers, the Keep’s great pinnacle lapsed, and for a time Ironfang Keep again fell out of memory.
reaches upward over 100 feet to snatch at the sky. A second
Whispers and Legends

spire stretches outward perpendicular from the cliff face like
a claw to loom over the raging falls below. The keep’s strange,
eerie look is further heightened by the fact that it has no
windows or battlements, only a single massive iron doorway
at ground level. The fortress is seemingly impervious to all In is rumored that in the years following the fall of Netheril,
divinations and teleportation effects, and in the days since an archwizard of that land came to Ironfang to claim the keep
the Avatar Crisis has been surrounded by a defensive ring of as his own. Legend claims he actually penetrated the keep, but
wild and dead magic zones. was later found wandering across the wild lands of Thar. He was
completely mad, and all he could mutter was the word “green”.
Ages after its construction, human settlers would name the
imposing fortification Ironfang Keep due to the rich depos- Orc folklore from the period tells a similarly disturbing tale. Ev-
its of iron to be found in the surrounding Giantspike Moun- ery decade or so entire tribes of the great Vastar Empire would
tains. None of these deposits have been mined, however, go missing; the few witnesses describing shadowy abductors ap-
since no one dares go near the place—let alone set up a per- pearing totally without warning to capture unsuspecting clans-
manent mining settlement in its very shadow. men in the night.
The gray tuskers were not the only peoples to go missing in the
Last Days of Grong-Haap region. For generations, elves, ogres, giants, and even dragons
would go missing under mysterious circumstances. Whispers
began to surface that the Ironfang Keep was now inhabited by
vile “beast experimenters”. Rumors that were seemingly con-
firmed when strange hybrid monstrosities would occasionally
Ironfang Keep was again occupied in -981 DR when Haask, a be spotted in the vicinity of the keep.
monstrous greathorn minotaur (Monster Manual IV), declared
himself priest-king and claimed the basalt fortress as the capitol
of his burgeoning new kingdom, Grong-Haap. Over the next
six-hundred years Grong-Haap slowly expanded to cover the
modern-day wastes of Thar, the eastern Moonsea, and northern
Sanctum of the Eviscerated
highlands of the Vast. With only an occasional clash with the Suspected by some for decades, the present inhabitants of Iron-
elves of Cormanthyr or the orcs of Vastar, the minotaur king- fang Keep are priests of a beast cult whose members venerate
dom enjoyed a level of civilization not common among their obscure elder powers and experiment on creatures whom they
kind. Then in the late winter months of the Year of Craven abduct from the nearby mountains. The disturbed cultists be-
Words (-350 DR), a goblinoid horde one-hundred-thousand lieve in a dogma in which one can achieve physical perfection
strong marched against Grong-Haap from the Tortured Lands only through the use of grafts (Fiend Folio), a grisy ritual in
in the icy north. which the cult member willingly allows a monstrous limb or
Issuing an utterance in a tongue not spoken on Toril since the Haask, Voice of Hargut
Days of Thunder, Haask summoned forth an elder manifesta-
tion of absolute evil and sick malevolence. Hargut of the Gray Hargut was an antediluvian horror from the Far Realm that
Pestilence surveyed the battlefield before turning his undying manifested on the Toril as a colossal worm-like creature with
gaze upon the priest-king. Speaking a powerful recitation of a giant-sized mouth filled with layer upon layer of razor
command, Haask then ordered the Gray Pestilence to scatter the sharp teeth. Hargut’s skin is sickly green and semi-transpar-
invaders and defend the keep. Tens of thousands died that day ent with red sores visible beneath the surface. Haask, once an
before the walls of Ironfang Keep, their flesh fed into Hargut’s elder doppelganger, is now a symbiont (Fiend Folio) fused to
voracious maw and their souls consigned to an eternity in the the outer flesh of the undying Hargut. Through their sym-
Barrens of Doom and Despair. biotic relationship the former priest-king grants a degree of
lucidity and intelligence to the otherwise mindless Hargut.
By dusk the battle was all but won and Haask returned trium- It is unclear if the two would survive if they were separated
phantly to the keep to feast and rest. Inside, the priest-king was for a period of time, if possible at all.

other flesh to be magically attached to their bodies. the artifact first at Hargut then to Haask while speaking three
arcane syllables. Great was roar of the Gray Pestilence as he was
With grim purpose these surgeries are performed in the bowels forcibly dragged down toward the fallen doppelganger. When at
of Ironfang Keep in a chamber known as the Sanctum of the last they met, the two became one, and Haask, Voice of Hargut
Eviscerated. But grafts are not the only bizarre rite performed was reborn. The purpose of the union is yet unclear as the three
in these halls. The adjoining chambers collectively known as humans quickly imprisoned the abomination beneath Ironfang
the Managerie, contain the cells of the many beasts captured by Keep and never returned.
the beast cult. Over the centuries several hundred ghastly ab-
errations have been released into the wild, the result of bizarre Adventurers penetrating the keep today risk freeing the Lost
breeding or other failed experimentation. The goat-like ibixians God, an event which is sure to ignite fear across the length and
(Monster Manual III), first seen in the Year of the Shambling breadth of Faerûn. If released, Haask will quickly seek out and
Ice (703 DR), is just one creature of hundreds to have been born receive the protection of both Malar and Ghaunadaur (Faiths
of this cult. and Pantheons), then turn his malevolent thoughts to the con-
quest of the Moonsea and destruction of the Church of Bane
Prisoner of the Keep and its followers. Already struggling under the tyrannical rule
of Zhentil Keep, the cities of the Moonsea are ill prepared for
the blody conflict which would surely follow.
The true power within Ironfang Keep comes not from the beast
cult but from the entity trapped within that they worship with-
About the Author
out question, Haask, Voice of Hargut. Imprisoned in the keep
for nearly seven centuries, Haask did not perish that day long
A software engineer by day and Forgotten Realms aficionado by
ago on the field outside Ironfang Keep. The dark three—a
night, Brian R. James is the author of the recently released Grand
shadowy assassin, the brooding necromancer, and the dour
History of the Realms. Brian lives in Montana with his high school
warlord—presented an offer to the dying priest-king, vowing to
sweetheart Toni and their four children, Jesse, Cameron, Elea-
spare his life in exchange for his undying fealty and command
nor, and Bridget. In his spare time he enjoys playing a shadowk-
of the Gray Pestilence. His life blood trickling away and not
night in Everquest 2 and cheering for the Denver Broncos.
fully appreciating the ramifications of his decision, Haask read-
ily agreed. The three then dragged Haask outside the keep to
lay prone before Hargut the Grey Pestilence. Producing a gem-
encrusted scepter from lost Imaskar, the necromancer pointed

The Fine Art of D&D Monogamy game. When they saw how much fun we were having, we’d no
doubt be asked to star in our own pilot. I could hardly wait!
Monday rolled around and we sat in our usual spots around the
table in our finest threads. Our hands -- perched on the table
by Shelly Mazzanoble in front of us -- made us look more like kids in Sunday school
rather than coworkers about to embark on a journey through
Does your Dungeon Master call you by another wizard’s name? the wilds of Khorvaire. This, coupled with our demure attitudes
Does your cleric always seem to heal you last? Is your rogue’s and softly articulated commands, such as “I’d like to take out my
chainmail extra shiny? The signs are all there. longsword and stab the offending party in the gut,” gave Teddy
pause.
Your D&D party is cheating on you.
“What’s wrong with you guys?” he asked.
Seventy-five percent of Dungeons & Dragons players have mul-
tiple groups they play in. Okay that number is entirely made “We don’t want to look bad on TV,” Adam answered.
up but I didn’t have time to do a formal market research study.
What I did do was ask around the office and came up with a re- “Yeah,” Linae answered. “We’re practicing.”
ally high percentage of D&D players who have multiple D&D
partners. A really high percentage! Have these people no respect “Where is the crew anyway?” Scott asked.
for the sanctity of the party?
“And where’s craft services?” I asked. “I’m starving.”
I’m not totally naïve. I know members of my party have been
two-timing me or (gasp!) still playing in other groups. (This is Teddy’s laugh was vociferous -- the kind that made cartoon char-
what the rest of Duran Duran must have felt like when Andy acters look windblown. We half expected tumbleweeds and
and John ran off with the Power Station.) Adam has played with cows to whiz by our heads. He was practically doubled over and
friends outside of work for years so if anything, they’re the ones had trouble catching his breath.
who should feel slighted by the new, younger, fresher group he
moonlights with. Scott was coerced into another group, but that Scott rushed to help him.
was playtesting so I don’t count that … not to mention we were
on a break when it happened. And Marty -- that commitment- “If you want to be on TV,” he said between hiccups, “You’ll need
phobe! He’s the epitome of a player player, subscribing to the to be here on Wednesday.”
“open gaming relationship” theory. And he’s a bi-player -- DM’ing
and PC’ing depending on the group. He’s got two games going Scott returned to his seat.
at work (including ours) and two others outside of work. That’s
four D&D groups, in case you’re counting. FOUR. I have no Oh ha ha. Funny, Teddy! Be here Wednesday? Like we’re under-
idea how he has time for all of this, let alone how he keeps us studies? Why not just come home late one night reeking like
all straight. The first time he calls me by another wizard’s name, The Wednesday Group and tell us how bad we would look in
it’s over. high definition. Why not just turn us all into NPCs and let your
other group off us one by one? What did they have that we didn’t
I knew Teddy, our old DM, was doing double duty. In addition have, Teddy?
to our group, he DM’ed another group at work. We referred to
them as The Wednesday Group. Undeniably, my trust had been compromised, but now that I
have a new DM I’m looking for a fresh start. Fortunately, my
According to Teddy, those overachieving sewer rats were a level fellow party members don’t flaunt their D&D discretions. Scott
ahead of us because they had less table talk, made quicker de- never talks about it because he signed an NDA. Adam hardly
cisions, and got through more than one encounter per session talks about his other friends, and when he does it’s usually in
because they didn’t treat their characters like tiny, newborn regards to some peripheral event that happened while he was
bluebirds perched on dainty tree branches. Man, what a snoozef- playing. Marty, surprisingly, has become so adept at polygamous
est they must have been. What Teddy was really saying was The play, I’ve never heard him mention his other 43 groups unless
Wednesday Group was bor-ing, but he was too much of a gentle- provoked. Once, I caught him sneaking back to his desk on a
man to come out with it. Friday afternoon, probably assuming everyone had left for the
day. When I asked him what he was still doing there he an-
I tried to be mature about Teddy’s fling and give him his space, swered sheepishly, “I need to get more minis,” which is really
figuring he’d have his fun and be over it. The real kicker came not a weird response for just about any question asked at Wiz-
when a television crew wanted to come by and film a D&D ards.

“Look at the muscles on Tara,” Scott says. “Has she been drink-
“What are you doing in the supply cabinet?” ing?”
I need to get more minis. “Maybe she thought this was a general admission Bon Jovi con-
cert,” Marty says, which sets half the group off in laughter and
“Do you want to go to lunch?” the rest of us -- okay me -- into a wobbly rendition of Living on a
Prayer. How apropos.
Sure. I need to get more minis.
“Roll for initiative,” New DM says.
“Did you have a good weekend?”
“My other DM likes to say, ‘roll for initiative, please,’” I say.
Nope. I need to get more minis.
“That’s nice,” New DM says. “What’d you roll?”
It wasn’t until I saw the telltale blue and green dry-erase smudges
on his fingers that I realized where he was taking those minis. Really now -- could these people be that thick? Maybe I actually
should be cheating on them. Finally Scott takes the bait.
“Right here in the building, Marty?”
“Are you talking about Teddy?” he asks. “Man, get over it. He’s
“Yep. Same room even.” not coming back.”
Ouch! The nerve, bringing them into our room. I wonder who’s …prone to lashing out? …Playing the victim…?
sitting in my chair? Who’s throwing a magic missile at those
minis of his? Is she higher level than me? Does she know how “Not Teddy,” I shout. “Murray.”
to use a crossbow and a longsword? Oh Marty, what you do to a
girl’s elf esteem! “You don’t have another DM,” Adam says. “I rolled a 12.”
It occurred to me that maybe I’m the one the missing out here. “Uh huh,” I say, taking a nice big bite of pita. “I rolled a 15.”
Aren’t we all after experience points anyway? Playing in several
games would allow you to try out many different characters. “Liar,” Scott says. “16.”
And you’d probably be a savvier player if you were facing three
times as many encounters. You might even say polygamous play …easily provoked…making false accusations…?
is an asset to every party. As long as you didn’t take rations from
one group to feed the other, maybe having multiple partners “Name them,” Marty commands in the same tone Vera, his cler-
isn’t such a no-no. ic, demands we heal ourselves.
I didn’t have time to form a new side group before my next game, Do you ever kill time between your turns by stacking all your
so I just eliminated that step. I invented the ultimate D&D su- dice on top of one another? Just when you’re about to top it off
per group. My side dish is so bad ass, they’re … unbelievable. By with a d4 cherry, the whole thing caves in on itself? Well, that’s
the time Tuesday rolled around, my imaginary super group and me under pressure. I wasn’t expecting the interrogation and I
I had been storming castles for years. kind of crumbled.
At our next session, New DM was writing notes on the white- “Umm … there’s Jemaine. He’s the ranger. And … Eugene …
board. He brought homemade hummus and pita today, which our rogue.”
my first loves were happily digging into.
“Don’t forget Dave and Mel, your familiars,” New DM says with
“Bret, my other cleric, makes the best hummus,” I said, testing a laugh, but his no-show dimples can’t belie the hurt of my be-
the waters. No response. trayal. Well too bad! I’m a woman scorned so I hit him where it
hurts.
…partners acting distant…
“Murray smells like papaya and chocolate,” I blurt out. “Best.
“He makes his own pitas too,” I added. Still nothing. Smell. Ever.” He tries to hide it, but I see him flinch.
…indifference…disengaged… “Are you sure he doesn’t smell like kiwi and chocolate?” he fires
back apparently knowing how to hit me where it hurts.
I let it slide as New DM picked up where we left off. The whole
party was bottlenecked in some hallway leading into what looks All right. D&D is about fantasy but maybe playing with your
like the hobgoblin prom and we were about to crash it. Some- imaginary celebrity friends isn’t the right idea. Besides, my heart
how Tara, my wizard, was at the helm. can’t take obsessing over the safety of more than one character.
I managed to get Tara out of the bottleneck relatively unscathed.

My pride, on the other hand, needed some healing. Just as I was and they needed me, I wouldn’t be able to hear their pleas for
about to accept the fact that committing to just one party simply help. So I followed, but lingered halfway in the long hallway.
wasn’t in our nature, I ran into Madeline from the Wednesday If they were to be chased out by goblins, I’d be leading the pack
Group. down the stairs. If they found something cool like an all-you-
can-eat dessert buffet, I’d be third in line. They jogged back sec-
“You guys are so lucky to be playing D&D again,” she said. onds later right past my post in the hallway.
I agreed. Have I mentioned how much fun 4th Edition is? Sorry, “Nothing to see,” Adam said.
Madeline.
Relieved, and somewhat disappointed, I raced them down the
“Why don’t you ask our New DM to run a game for you guys?” I stairs to continue our workout.
suggested. If you can’t fix them, might as well fix them up.
The exact same scenario used to happen almost every time I
“We did,” she sighed, “but he declined. Said he was already com- played D&D. The rogue, the fighter and, well, just about every-
mitted and didn’t want to take the focus off your group.” one and their familiars, went racing into foreign territory while
Astrid, my sorceress, hung back. Yeah, I know it was her job—
Oh wow. New DM has had offers to spread his hummus around? but there have been times she was so far removed that she had
From the soon-to-be Emmy-nominated Wednesday Group, no to use her turn just to get within throwing distance of a magic
less. And he declined? missile.
Experience may be the best teacher, but it doesn’t make you the If there’s a column, she’s behind it. A door? She’ll shut it. A mas-
best player. Polygamy might work for some, but apparently New terwork panic room, she’s in it. Fantasy seeps into my reality all
DM and I had something in common. We were both saving our- the time. (Perhaps a little more than it should.) But I hadn’t real-
selves for “the one.” ized how much of my reality plays D&D. Kind of defeats the
purpose. I mean it is a game of fantasy, right?
About the Author
Astrid was my portal into D&D and I wrote Confessions about
When not playing D&D with her new super-group, Shelly her adventures. I couldn’t help but feel protective of her. My
Mazzanoble picks up litter, rescues kittens from trees, recycles, group often went out of their way to defend her, sometimes re-
candy-stripes, flosses, conserves energy, saves baby seals, and sulting in their demise. Astrid—ok, I—took it hard, carrying the
donates to every charity that sends her pre-addressed address dust of their remains in her backpack in case we encountered a
labels. She hasn’t cheated on anything since an 8th grade chem- druid willing to reincarnate them. It never mattered though, be-
istry test and this bio. cause at our next session, their newly created character showed
up at some tavern, joined our pack, and we resumed our travels.
It’s that easy, I thought? Losing Astrid would have crushed me.
Maybe I was missing out on one of D&D’s biggest draws. Next
Conception of a Full-Time Wizard

by Shelly Mazzanoble
time, I told myself, things will be different.
Next time was a 4th Edition playtest where I found myself car-
ing for an eladrin wizard named Eztara. I had nothing to do with
I had a very D&D moment the other day. A few of us around the Eztara’s conception—she was merely a robot wizard generated
office like to run the stairs for exercise. I’m talking four flights. to test some new rules. Yet there I was, telling the group to call
We’re not exactly firefighters in training able to run the Empire her Tara and retelling stories of her glory days at Wizard School.
State building with 135 pounds of dead weight on our backs. I Stop! I reminded myself. Tara isn’t real. She’s a summer fling, sin-
can’t even handle my iPod strapped to my arm. gle-use gadget. Good for a few adventures before you both move
on. It worked too. Tara ended up in all sorts of situations Astrid
So Bart, Adam and I get to the fourth floor landing and instead wouldn’t have dreamed of. She entered into strange rooms first.
of his usual “Save yourselves. Let me lay here and die”, Adam Strayed from the group. Got hit by some well-directed arrows
huffed out a “Cool!” courtesy of three hobgoblins she angered with a fireblast.
The doorway leading to the roof was propped open and without “Tara takes 5 points of damage,” New DM practically cheered.
missing a beat, Adam and Bart trotted right through. Not even a
Listen check! I, on the other-hand, paused at the threshold, con- Big deal.
vinced this was a trap. Surely there was a wasp queen who lived
on the roof wanting to turn my friends into bisque. Maybe the “Another 7 points.”
rooftop is being repaired because it’s unstable. Or worse: Maybe
we’ll get in trouble! Whoopie.
But then again, if one of the aforementioned things did happen “That hits Tara for 6 points.”

Bring it. of my character sheet with adjectives like “disdainful,” “vora-
cious,” and “elitist.” Tabitha’s not here to win friends.
I had a pile of eraser shards next to my character sheet at the
end of every session from deducting hit points. So this is what We’re not in 3rd Edition anymore, and that quickly becomes
it’s like to really play D&D. Forget the doors and columns. This obvious. First, the prototype character sheets look like The Con-
I can get behind. tainer Store designed them. The new sheets are laid out like a
well-maintained drawer. There’s an easy-to-find compartment
For someone who can’t bear to say goodbye to a character, I love for your weapons, defenses, ability modifiers -- even your cash.
the character building part. When the time came to create my And they’re editable on your computer, so no more deciphering
own, I brought my new “love ’em and lose ’em” attitude. if that was a 6 or a –8 you wrote under hit points.
“It’s better to have lost at D&D, then never to have played at all,” Previously, the dice controlled your character’s fate when it
I tell New DM. came to ability scores, and you often you wound up with a rogue
who looked like he dove into a shallow gene pool and chipped
“You sound like an 8th grader who just found out her crush his two front teeth. 4th Edition is like creating a “designer baby,”
asked her best friend to the dance.” minus the controversy. Move over bad dice rolls, now there’s
something meatier: point buy! You start with six base numbers
(Weird. That actually happened in 8th grade. 9th grade too.) and get to improve them with points you can distribute where
you like. I dumped a bunch into Intelligence and Wisdom, and
“I’d like to stick with sorcerer for the block,” I tell New DM in then bumped up Charisma because someone has to sweet talk
my best game show contestant voice. the minions. If you’re the gambling type and don’t want to mess
with science, you can still leave it to the dice -- just start saving
“Oooh, sorry,” he counters, sounding alarmingly close to Wink your gold now for braces and SAT prep classes.
Martindale. “Sorcerers aren’t part of 4th Edition yet.”
Time to hit J.C. Wizards to do some spell shopping. Here’s the
Say what? Who’s behind this madness, eliminating my class of part I always associate with the old-school way winners used to
people! I immediately brought my concerns to R&D. pick their prizes on Wheel of Fortune. “I’ll take magic missile
and fireblast for my at-will powers. Oh! Burning hands for an
“What about all those little girls who read about Astrid and want encounter power, and, let’s see, sleep for my daily.” (Sorry—no
to grow up and be just like her?” I argued. Service Merchandise gift certificates here. I asked.)
They did their best not to laugh, but Chris Perkins cracked, “All Moving on to skills I encouraged Tabitha to study up on Ar-
those little girls?” cana, Insight, History and Diplomacy. Dungeoneering was en-
ticing but sounded too much like something people who burst
“Ok. Me.” through open rooftop doors would learn, so I balked. Baby steps,
people!
“You,” Chris answered, soothing and sage-like, as he waved his
hand Obi-Wan Kenobi style in front of me, “will be a wizard.” No You don’t want to cut a tiefling off in traffic because it doesn’t
wonder people love playing in his games. He might as well have take much to get the internal furnace lit. I can relate after taking
boinked me on the forehead and handed me my robes. an accidental foot to the head in kickboxing class by Mr. Bart
Carroll. Had I been a tiefling, I would have gotten an attack bo-
“I’m a wizard,” I repeated all the way back to New DM. “I’m a nus when I retaliated by sucker punching him in the kidney
wizard.” while he was waiting in line for coffee. Hellfire blood is also a
racial freebie (anger management anyone?) and if that weren’t
I was determined to create the “anti-Astrid” -- someone whose badass enough, I got to choose one more feat at 1st level. Per-
shoes probably involve Velcro and shock pads, and who carries haps Ferocious Rebuke, which pushes your enemy back one
bug spray and emergency ponchos in her rucksack. Someone I square after taking a hit? Couple that bad boy with my infernal
could never get attached to. wrath and Bart would still be picking biscotti crumbs out of his
pores. Tempting, but after fretting over Astrid all those times, I
“A tiefling,” I answer when New DM asks what race I’m think- choose Toughness.
ing of.
Maybe it’s because I’ve gone through this process before, but
“I see,” he smirks, flipping to the proper section of the Player’s Tabitha was born remarkably quick. In a 2-hour private coach-
Handbook. “You know about tieflings, right?” ing session with New DM, my disdainful, elitist character was
playmat ready. I know what you’re thinking—2 hours is an im-
“Duh.” provement? Sure, you could have written an entire campaign
and ran through it twice in that time, but for me, this is super
Of course I do, and I love them. The whole overcoming a dark warp speed. I remember spending what seemed like days (Okay,
side, avenging their past, demons in the closet -- very As the Pla- it was. Three to be exact.) with Teddy hunched over the Player’s
nescape Turns. I immediately filled out the personality section Handbook asking every 23 seconds “What are you doing now?”

“What’s this number?” “Can I roll that again? She’s so weak she heard voices, which made me remember I don’t actually know
couldn’t lift a finger.” I subscribe to the crock-pot school of char- how to cast fireblast, so I beat it the hell out of there. Now that I
acter building, preferring to stew over every skill, feat, spell and think about it, Tabitha would have done the same thing. Why?
even my alignment. My fellow party members are of the convec- Because it’s not her job to lead the troops into battle and she’s
tion oven variety, taking only about 20 minutes, by themselves, okay with that. More importantly: I’m her mother and I said so.
to conceive their characters. When I’m all done, I’m chock full of
hellish, ferocious, infernal wrath. Yep, no way can I get attached So much for baby steps.
to Tabitha. She’d probably turn her rage on me if I dared.
About the Author
At our first session with the new characters, it’s odd, looking
around the table at the familiar faces of my friends with their Shelly Mazzanoble’s mother claims her daughter has been over-
fresh-faced new characters. It’s like the first day of preschool protecting inanimate objects and imaginary friends for most of
where all the parents smile and drink coffee while their kids her life. Once, she alleges, Shelly was inconsolable when her
pull each other’s hair and write swear words in pink chalk on the mother threw away her old bathrobe (Terry) and even gave her-
blackboard. (You did it too. Admit it.) I’m used to Scott playing a self a 7 hour bout with hiccups after crying over the thought of
ranger so I keep asking him things like “what kind of footprints Monster with the Glasses having to eat peas and carrots (which
are those?” he hates!). Shelly would like to remind everyone her mother is
the same woman who wants to make a bumper sticker that says,
“How the heck should I know,” his eladrin rogue answers. “Back off or my granddaughter will magic missile your honor
student.”
And now Adam, who could kill off more maladroit rogues in
one campaign than Jack Bauer could in an entire season of 24,
is playing a short-in-stature, tall-in-brawn halfling warlock. It’s
weird.
“I think we should wear Hello, my name is tags,” I suggest.
“I think you should have homework,” New DM says.
In exchange for bonus experience points, we were tasked with

writing our characters’ backstories, complete with promises
made and broken and how we ended up adventuring with at
least one member of the group. This I can do, as I can gleefully
give a rich history to any object—animate or otherwise.
Tabitha, a self-taught wizard, learned her craft just to spite

her slothful mother and villainous, underhanded, fur-trading
(sometimes that of Tabitha’s pets!) father. And she’s darn near
the most well-adjusted of this bunch. Her party includes a rogue
who vowed never to steal after getting busted swiping weapons
at school, an avenging elf determined to reclaim his family’s
woods from the orcs who drove them out, and an ex-carnival
kid who was lured away as a youth by a mysterious human teen-
age girl. Right. Like that ever happens. Odd that Astrid never
knew much about her old gang—maybe because they died off
so quickly trying to save her.
New DM won’t let Tabitha have a familiar yet (just like my mom
wouldn’t let me have a dog) so I gave her a failed “show bear”
named Oso de la Fez (just like I gave myself an imaginary Ger-
man Shepard named Woofie). She and Teemu, the honest rogue,
sprung Oso from a burlesque troop. New DM said it’s fine be-
cause none of the other players can actually see Oso. Again real-
ity merges with fantasy. Or would that be fantasy merging with
reality? Or fantasy merging with fantasy? Whatever.
The other day I was running stairs alone, and lo and behold, the
roof door was open. Thinking about Tabitha, I walked through
it, figuring that’s what she’d do. So I may fall off or through or
get clubbed and hogtied by a witch—big whoop! And then I

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Crit-Mas
by Logan Bonner
Critical Hits
To score a critical hit in 4th Edition D&D, do the following: Beefing Up Your Crits
Roll 20. PCs also have some extra tricks up their sleeves to make their
criticals better. Magic weapons (and implements for magical at-
Simple enough, right? Just one number to remember. And more tacks) add extra damage on crits. So your +1 frost warhammer
importantly, just one roll. deals an extra 1d6 damage on a critical hit (so your crit’s now
up to 14+1d6 damage in the example above). Monsters don’t get
Yes, the confirmation roll is gone. So why did we get rid of it? this benefit, so PC crits outclass monster crits most of the time.
Because we, like so many players, had rolled crits only to have
the confirmation roll miss. And we didn’t like it. We don’t think Crits can be improved in a couple of other ways. Weapons can
that many people did. (I look forward to reading the posts of have the high crit property, giving extra dice on a crit (see the
people who disagree.) Having one roll is faster, and it’s more fun. table). In addition, some powers and magic items have extra ef-
It keeps the excitement of the 20, and ditches the disappoint- fects on a hit. So crits are doing just fine without all those dice.
ment of the failure to confirm.
Crits in Play
Critical Damage
In playtest, it does seem like critical hits come up more often.
Here’s the part that’s going to take some getting used to: Critical The subtitle of this article is stolen from Chris Tulach, who sings
hits don’t deal double damage. This changed because doubling a bit of, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Crit-mas” whenever
everything 5% of the time led to some pretty crazy spikes that the natural 20s come out to play. Fortunately, hit points are high-
were very unpredictable. er, especially at low levels, so there’s a bigger buffer to keep those
crits from killing people too quickly. It still feels great to roll
Let’s say you roll a crit with a power that deals 1d10+4 normally. one, but the fight goes on.
So the crit deals 2d10+8. The next turn, the monster attacks you
using a power that deals 3d6+4 damage. He crits, dealing 6d6+8. We’ve tried to corral the numbers but keep the feel that a critical
Between the extra dice and the doubled ability modifier, that’s a hit is a special event. So grab your d20 and your big, nasty magic
pretty huge difference! (And a pretty painful one.) axe, and get ready to crit for the fences!
Instead, when you roll a critical hit, all the dice are maximized. About the Author
So your 1d10+4 power deals 14 damage and the monster’s 3d6+4
deals 22. Generally speaking, randomness is more of an advan- Logan Bonner joined Wizards of the Coast as in 2006 as an edi-
tage to monsters than PCs. More predictable critical damage tor on Dungeons & Dragons. He had no experience in the in-
keeps monsters from insta-killing your character. dustry prior to joining WotC, and marvels that his clever ruse
has lasted this long. After doing some class design work for 4th
Having maximized dice also helps out when you have multitar- Edition on the side, he joined the mechanical design team. His
get attacks. You’ll roll an attack roll against each target, so maxi- previous editing products include Magic Item Compendium and
mized dice keep you from needing to roll a bunch of dice over Monster Manual V, and he wrote about half of Eberron Survival
and over -- you can just write your crit damage on your character Guide, which releases in March ‘08.
sheet for quick reference.
Weapon Prof. Damage Range Cost Weight Category Properties

War pick 2 d8 -- 15 gp 6 lb. Pick High crit, versatile

by Andy Collins
One of the most useful and popular additions to Dungeons &
Feats
Here are four examples of feats taken from the latest draft of the
Dragons that appeared in 3rd Edition was the concept of feats: 4th Edition Player’s Handbook. The first two demonstrate the
special bonuses, benefits, or actions that characters could ac- minor evolution of familiar favorites from 3rd Edition, while
quire outside their normal class features. the other two show off some new tricks. As always, nothing’s
final until you read it in the printed book, so take these with a
Throughout the lifespan of the edition (and even between the grain of salt.
covers of the Player’s Handbook), the potency, utility, effect, and
coolness of feats have varied widely. Toughness
Tier: Heroic
Some feats offer utilitarian but unexciting benefits, while oth- Benefit: When you take this feat, you gain additional hit points
ers grant characters entire new options in combat. It’s hard to equal to your level + 3. You also gain 1 additional hit point
argue with the utility of Alertness, Improved Initiative, Weapon every time you gain a level.
Focus, or even (for 1st-level wizards and sorcerers) Toughness,
but that same feat slot could purchase Power Attack, Rapid Shot,
Spring Attack, or Empower Spell. Alertness
Tier: Heroic
When we started talking about feats for 4th Edition, we already Benefit: You don’t grant enemies combat advantage in surprise
knew that we wanted the bulk of a character’s powers—the ex- rounds.
citing actions he performs in combat—to come from his class. You also gain a +2 feat bonus to Perception checks.
Even character classes that hadn’t traditionally offered class-
based power options (that is, non-spellcasters) would now ac- First Reaction
quire these special attacks, defenses, maneuvers, and so on di- Tier: Paragon
rectly from their class’s list of such abilities. Benefit: If you are surprised, you may spend an action point to
act during the surprise round.
Once that decision was made, a lot of the most exciting feats
suddenly looked more like class-based powers. Spring Attack,
for example, now looked an awful lot like a power for the rogue Golden Wyvern Adept
or melee-based ranger, rather than a feat that just anybody could Tier: Paragon
pick up. Manyshot, Whirlwind Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Benefit: You can omit a number of squares from the effects
Shot on the Run—these were specialized powers appropriate of any of your area or close wizard powers. This number can’t
for particular character archetypes. exceed your Wisdom modifier.
So what design space did that leave for feats? After some dis- About the Author
cussion, we came to see feats as the “fine-tuning” that your
character performed after defining his role (via your choice of Andy Collins works as the system design and development man-
class) and his build (via your power selections). Feats would let ager for D&D at Wizards of the Coast. His development credits
characters further specialize in their roles and builds, as well as include the Player’s Handbook v.3.5, Races of Eberron, and Dungeon
to differentiate themselves from other characters with similar Master’s Guide II. He is also one of the lead designers for 4th Edi-
power selections. tion D&D, along with Rob Heinsoo and James Wyatt.
They would accomplish these goals with simple, basic function-

ality, rather than complicated conditional benefits or entirely
new powers that you’d have to track alongside those of your
class.

by Andy Collins
Paladin Smites
Smite -- since before 900 CE this word or some very simi- In 4th Edition, D&D smites really come into their own. Now
lar Old or Middle English ancestor has meant, “That’s going to a subset of the paladin’s renewable (read, encounter-recharge)
leave a mark.” In the first two editions of Dungeons & Dragons, powers, smites allow a paladin to deliver a powerful blow with
smite was merely an interesting word used by folks laying down the character’s weapon of choice, while layering on some divine
the smack. In my formative gaming years, a player of mine effect (and I mean that in both meanings of the word) on allies
named Erol used to call his halfling paladin’s reversed cure light or enemies. A divine defender, much of the paladin’s smites are
wounds, smites. (Actually he was just a post-Unearthed Arcana all about kicking the crap out of those they find anathema while
fighter/cleric, but he called the character a paladin -- I was not ensuring that foes who want to hurt enemies have a harder time
farsighted enough just to let him play a paladin.) I think he just at it. Take, as exhibit one, safeguard smite:
liked yelling “I smite the foul beast!” in that annoying high-
pitched kid voice he used to play Sir Lore. (Yes, that’s Erol’s own
name spelled backward in true high-Gygaxian fashion). Safeguard Smite
Paladin 1
Encounter • Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. AC
Hit: 2x[W] + Cha.
Hit or Miss: An ally within 5 squares gains a bonus to AC equal
to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.
This basic, entry-level smite has all the things a growing pala-
din needs to fulfill its role and lay down some hurt. A Charisma
attack against the target’s Armor Class, safeguard smite deals
double her base weapon’s damage plus her Charisma modifier in
damage (paladins are a force of personality, after all), and grants
a quick boost to an ally in trouble (including, in a pinch, the pal-
adin herself ). And there you have it. Your first smite -- simple,
serviceable, and fun.
As your paladin progresses as a defender of the faith, smites, like

all of your abilities, grow in power and utility. But unlike its de-
fender cousin, the fighter, a paladin is more than just the guy
who kicks butt and makes sure enemies focus (or want to fo-
cus) on him. Paladins have always been able to heal in some way
and the 4th Edition variety is no different. Though this splash
of leader flavor into the paladin’s defender role comes in many
forms, one of the more active and interesting ways that your
With the release of 3rd Edition, Erol’s wildest dreams came true. paladin can come to the aid of a companion while fighting is our
Not only were halflings allowed to be true paladins, smite offi- second example of a smite:
cially entered the paladin’s toolbox. Sure, it was once a day. Sure,
it wasn’t nearly as good as you wanted it to be sometimes, but Renewing Smite
smites were promoted from verb to mechanic. Paladin 13
Encounter • Healing, Weapon

Standard Action over the years, I hope that come this summer, somewhere out
Melee weapon there, Sir Lore will return – a halfling with a high-pitched voice,
Target: One creature yelling, “I smite thee, foul miscreant.” I imagine his DM will just
Attack: Charisma vs. AC wince and sigh, just like I did all those years ago.
Hit: 2x[W] + Cha damage and ally within 5 heals 10 + your
Wisdom modifier damage. About the Author
You’ll no doubt see the pattern between these two smites. They Born on a stormy Christmas day, in our nation’s capital, during
mix a fair portion of damage (scaled up by level, but not neces- the Nixon administration, the stars were definitely wrong
sarily the amount of dice) while giving an ally a much needed when Stephen Radney-MacFarland came screaming into the
boost of hit points at the most opportune moments. Selfish pala- world. Spending most of his impressionable years as a vaga-
dins (typically those who serve more self-centered gods or just bond and ne’re-do-well, Stephen eventually settled in the
the occasional egoist who venerates Pelor) can even heal them- Northwest to waste his life on roleplaying games.
selves with the strike, as you’re considered your own ally unless
the effect of a power states otherwise. Once that RPGA guy, Stephen is now a developer in RPG R&D
where he doesn’t create the traps … he just makes them dead-
Let’s move on to smites that inhabit the levels over 20. Binding lier. He also teaches a class on roleplaying design for the Art
smite is another flavor of defender smite -- and as its high level Institute of Seattle, molding the minds of young and upcoming
demands, does the defender job more effectively, and thus more designers. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
powerfully than the simple safeguard smite does.
Binding Smite
Paladin 27
Encounter • Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: 2x[W] + Wis damage and target cannot gain line of effect
to anyone but you until the end of your next turn.
In binding smite you can see an example of how the effect of

a smite goes up with level, while the numbers in their base
form seem similar when not taking into account the accuracy
and damage boosts that merely gaining levels (and having bet-
ter weapons) affords. It just gets … well, better. Heck, it’s epic,
after all, so it has to be good, and you don’t have to have 4th Edi-
tion books in front of you to realize line of effect denial is good.
When you’re fighting balor, ancient blue dragons, and sorrows-
worn, it had better be good -- those critters don’t fool around!
There you have it; just a small taste of what your paladin smites
will look like in 4th Edition. While I have lost touch with Erol

by James Wyatt
In D&D, the words “adventure” and “quest” are virtually syn-
Quests
When the players have cards or some other visual representa-
onymous. They both mean a journey, fraught with danger that tion of their quests, it’s easy for them to remember what they’re
you undertake for a specific purpose. We sometimes joke that supposed to be doing -- and to sort out goals that might be con-
the game is all about killing monsters and taking their stuff, but tradictory. That’s a really interesting ramification of the quest
the reality is that the game is about adventures. You go into the system: It’s okay to give the players quests they don’t complete,
dungeon and kill monsters with a larger purpose in mind: to quests that conflict with each other, or quests that conflict with
stop their raids on caravans, to rescue the townsfolk they’ve cap- the characters’ alignments and values.
tured, to retrieve the lost Scepter of the Adamantine Kings for
the rightful descendant of those kings. For example, the mentor of the group’s paladin might ask him to
find and destroy the Ruby Tome of Savrith the Undying. At the
Quests are the story glue that binds encounters together into ad- same time, a shady character is offering the rogue a sizable sum
ventures. They turn what would otherwise be a disjointed series in exchange for the same tome, and the wizard’s research turns
of combats and interactions into a narrative -- a story with a be- up a reference to a ritual contained in the Ruby Tome that the
ginning, a middle, and a climactic ending. They give characters characters will need to use in order to complete another quest.
a reason for doing what they do, and a feeling of accomplish- Three quests stand at odds, and it’s up to the players to decide
ment when they achieve their goals. what they want to do.
Quests can be major or minor, they can involve the whole group There’s a story that’s a lot richer and more interesting than sim-
or just a single character’s personal goals, and they have levels ply going into the dungeon to see what treasure is there.
just like encounters do. Completing a quest always brings a re-
ward in experience points (equal to an encounter of its level for About the Author
a major quest, or a monster of its level for a minor quest), and it
often brings monetary rewards as well (on par with its XP re- James Wyatt is the Lead Story Designer for D&D and one of the
ward, balanced with the rest of the treasure in the adventure). lead designers of D&D 4th Edition. In over seven years at Wiz-
They can also bring other rewards, of course -- grants of land or ards of the Coast, he has authored or co-authored award-winning
title, the promise of a future favor, and so on. adventures and settings including the Eberron Campaign Setting,
City of the Spider Queen, and Oriental Adventures. His more recent
The idea of quest rewards is nothing new to D&D. Second Edi- works include Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Cormyr: The Tearing of
tion, in particular, promoted the idea of giving story rewards the Weave, and The Forge of War. His second Eberron novel, Storm
of experience points when players completed adventures. The Dragon, is in stores now.
quest rules in 4th Edition are directly descended from that idea,
integrated into the economy of rewards in the game. They’re a
rules wrapper around the story of the game, a way to keep play-
ers mindful of the purposes behind all their adventuring.
One of the suggestions in the 4th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide

is to give players a visual, tactile representation of a quest as soon
as they begin it. At the start of the adventure, after the baron has
briefed the characters on their mission and been bullied into
paying them more than he intended, you can hand the players
an index card spelling out the details of the quest -- including
the agreed-upon reward. In the middle of the adventure, when
the characters find a key with a ruby set in its bow, you can hand
them a card, telling them that finding the matching lock is a
quest.

The Importance of Terrain
by Stephen Radney-MacFarland
A proper command of terrain wins battles -- generals from First and foremost, not only does the standard 4th Edition
Sun Tzu to Norman Schrwarzkopf have known this to be true. encounter tend to have more combatants than in 3rd Edition,
There’s a similar relationship between encounter design and both PCs and monsters are more maneuverable as well. This
terrain -- a canny use of terrain can transform good encounters means that the 10-foot by 10-foot rooms of yore have gone the
into great ones. One of the goals of the 4th Edition Dungeon way of the dinosaur (actually that happened in 3E, but that’s
Master’s Guide is to help the Dungeon Master perform just not relevant to this discussion). Likewise have the 20 by 20
such transformations, which includes providing a bunch of room and even the 30 by 30 room as the sole encounter areas.
evocative terrain types and advice on their placement and In fact, the minimum amount of space you typically want to
use. Since the book doesn’t come out for a while, let’s illumi- have for a standard encounter is one of those large 10-square
nate some of the basics of terrain in 4th Edition Dungeons & by 8-square dungeon tiles! That’s 50-feet by 40-feet for all you
Dragons. still counting in feet. Just hold on before you start chucking all
those 2-by-2 square dungeon tiles in the garbage -- you’ll still
While it might seem elementary, let’s first examine what we need them!
mean by terrain. Terrain is not just what litters the field in an
encounter; terrain also forms the dimensions and tactile expe- Any DM worth her salt knows that dynamic and interactive
rience of the encounter itself. Knowing that, there are some stories are more satisfying than railroading narratives. The
things about 4th Edition D&D design that you should keep in same is true for battle areas. Larger spaces with interesting
mind when building encounters. terrain that both the PCs and their enemies can take advantage

of -- or be foiled by -- is infinitely more fun than a small and
relatively empty room that constrains combatant choice to a
What the Heck is Doomspore?
small set of dreary moves.
Isn’t it annoying when those know-it-all designers and
developers drop an Easter egg in a preview article and don’t
But here’s the rub -- large areas of interconnecting chambers,
back it up with any description? Yeah, I hate that too -- un-
complete with alcoves, galleries, and antechambers, are far
less I am the one doing it. That said, I empathize a little, so
more exciting than just plopping down a 10 by 8 tile and sprin-
here’s the doomspore (or at least a recent version of it).
kling it with rubble. Creating a network of interconnected
areas creates numerous avenues of conflict and creates the
Doomspore (Any)
possibilities for a series of evolving fronts that metamorpho-
Usually found in large, natural caverns, this fungus takes
ses same-old encounters into tactical puzzles that’ll sing like
the form of a clump of toadstools, some of which reach a
legend to a gaming group. See, you’re going to need all those
height of about 3 feet tall. A square of doomspore is difficult
smaller pieces!
terrain and provides cover to anyone standing within.
Then, once you have the main layout done, populate it with
If any creature enters a doomspore’s square (or uses a stan-
furniture, shrines, rubble, pillars, or maybe even the occasional
dard action to kick or poke at it, if within reach), a doom-
lightning column or patch of doomspore where needed (and
spore releases a cloud of spores that provides concealment
where appropriate), and you’ve got yourself a pretty vibrant
to all creatures within its own and adjacent squares. Fur-
encounter area for your combatants to interact with.
thermore, a bloodied creature in the area of a cloud when
created, who moves into the cloud, or begins its turn in the
Oh, here’s a bit of sound advice that’ll keep you out of trouble.
cloud, is subject to a Fortitude attack (+10) that deals 1d10
Be careful with pits and other steep inclines, and leave 100-foot
points of poison damage on a hit. In addition, a target hit by
(or endless) chasms for paragon- or epic-level play. Some of that
a doomspore is weakened and takes ongoing poison 5 (save
increased maneuverability of the combatants in 4th Edition
ends both conditions; creatures with immunity to or resist
comes from attacks that can move foes against their will --
poison 5 are immune to the weakened condition also).
which is all fun and games until someone loses a character!
This cloud (and its effects on a bloodied character) persists
That aside, D&D is more than just a tactical skirmish game; it’s
for the remainder of the encounter (or for 5 minutes). Once
also a game of storytelling and heroic adventure. When design-
the cloud settles, the doomspore can’t produce another for
ing adventures, you’re doing more than just placing interesting
24 hours.
terrain pieces for the battle that (let’s admit it) will most likely
occur; you are also setting the stage of your story. A canny eye
Placement Advice: More than one doomspore in a room
toward terrain set up can also help you communicate story
may give an advantage to creatures immune or resistant to
elements to your players quickly and without the need to say
poison. Intelligent undead tend to cultivate doomspore,
a single word. Just put down some sarcophagi, and the players
and this debilitating fungus can often be found in caverns
will know it’s a crypt. Put down an altar, and you’ve just com-
infested with zombies. It absolutely inundates areas of the
municated that it’s a temple. Put down piles and piles of bones
Shadowfell as its growth thrives in the presence of undead
in front of a yawning cavern, and the players will know their
flesh that has been shed from its host.
characters are likely in a world of trouble … or you’ve seen
Monty Python and the Holy Grail one too many times.
As for the lightning column -- well, you’ll just have to wait
for that one. I would say I am sorry … but you know I’m
not.
About the Author
Born on a stormy Christmas day, in our nation’s capital, during

the Nixon administration, the stars were definitely wrong
when Stephen Radney-MacFarland came screaming into the
world. Spending most of his impressionable years as a vaga-
bond and ne’re-do-well, Stephen eventually settled in the
Northwest to waste his life on roleplaying games.
Once that RPGA guy, Stephen is now a developer in RPG R&D

where he doesn’t create the traps … he just makes them dead-
lier. He also teaches a class on roleplaying design for the Art
Institute of Seattle, molding the minds of young and upcoming
designers. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

by Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Art by Steven Belledin
Traps
consists of some of the PCs battling monsters while some PCs
Traps have been a part of the Dungeons & Dragons game since deal with a trap or similar hazard. Meanwhile, everyone on both
its earliest days, fiendish perils that stood right alongside mon- sides of the battle must contend with some sort of interesting
sters as primary hazards to adventurer life and limb. Some ad- terrain element (although the advantage probably lies with the
ventures, like the classic Tomb of Horrors, featured traps as the monsters there -- after all, this is their home). In this way, traps
chief threat to life and appendage. Unfortunately, they’ve rarely become an integral component of an encounter, rather than an
had a positive effect on the game. In the early days, DMs all too afterthought or something a bored DM springs on unsuspect-
often felt compelled to demonstrate their cleverness and punish ing PCs between fights.
players for making “wrong” choices -- even a choice as simple
and random as which passage to explore. Old-school players in
the hands of such a DM responded by changing their characters’
approach to dungeon exploration. The “right” way to play the
game was to slowly and laboriously search each 10-foot square
of dungeon before you set foot on it, or to use magic that made
traps completely pointless. Neither option was much fun.
By the time 3rd Edition rolled around, traps had become a much
smaller part of the game, something you might run across once
or twice in an adventure -- and rarely very satisfying when you
did. Who wants to roll an endless series of mostly pointless
Search checks? If the players decided to simply explore the dun-
geon and search for the “fun” and got whacked by a trap instead,
they felt like they’d been sandbagged by the DM.
Consequently, we thought about simply “disappearing” traps

from the game, but then we decided to take a shot at fixing them
first. Making traps work right certainly offered some significant
upside. Traps are a good way to showcase skills. They’re a good
way to introduce puzzle-solving into the occasional encounter.
They’re an excellent way to complicate an otherwise bland com-
bat encounter and add a highly interesting hazard that players
can exploit -- or must avoid. And sometimes it simply makes
sense in the context of the story that the builders of a dungeon
might have built a trap to guard something.
The first thing we did was spend more time and attention on
traps as components of existing combat encounters, or as multi-
component encounters in and of themselves. The Encounter
Trap system described in the Eberron sourcebook Secrets of
Xen’drik offered a great starting point. By treating a trap like a
group of monsters with different components operating on dif-
ferent initiative scores, a trap became a real encounter rather
than random damage. Most traps work best when they “replace”
a monster in a combat encounter, or serve as a hazard equally
threatening to both sides. We think that our ideal encounter

The second significant change to traps in the game is changing quickly and well. The goal was to make traps something that
the way we look at searching and exploring. Rather than requir- could be countered when a party lacks a rogue or the rogue is
ing the players to announce when and where they were search- down for the count, not to mention make traps more dynamic
ing, we decided to assume that all characters are searching ev- and fun. In doing this, we quickly came to the realization that
erything all the time. In other words, players don’t need to say canny players, in a flash of inspiration, can come up with inter-
“I’m searching for secret doors,” or “I’m searching for traps.” In- esting solutions to counter even the most detailed traps. Instead
stead, characters have a passive Perception score that represents of trying to anticipate these flashes though design, we give you,
their Take-10 result for searching. When something hidden is in the DM, the ability to react to player insight with a host of tools
the area, the DM compares the passive Perception scores of the and general DCs that allow you to say “Yes, you can do that, and
PCs with the DCs of the various hidden things in the area. In here’s how.” We think this is a better approach than shutting
the case of hidden creatures, the DC is the result of their Stealth down good ideas from the players for interesting story and chal-
check. For things like hidden traps, hazards, or secret doors, the lenge resolution, simply because you lack the tools to interpret
DC is usually static. their actions. After all, you should have the ability to make the
changes on the fly that reward interesting ideas and good play.
While Perception is usually the most important skill when it This is one of the components of every Dungeons & Dragons
comes to sussing out a trap, it’s not the only skill useful in de- game that allow each session to be a fun and unique experience.
termining the danger of traps. Based on the nature of the trap, Traps, like all things in the game, should embrace that design
skills such as Arcana, Dungeoneering, or even Nature can give philosophy.
a PC the ability to learn of the existence of a trap, figure out its
workings, or even find a way to counter it. About the Author
Lastly, we wanted to expand the ways in which you could coun- Born on a stormy Christmas day, in our nation’s capital, during
ter a trap. Much like figuring out that sometimes you wanted the Nixon administration, the stars were definitely wrong when
other skills to allow a character to recognize a trap’s threat, we Stephen Radney-MacFarland came screaming into the world.
made an effort to design traps that could be countered with an Spending most of his impressionable years as a vagabond and
interesting skill uses. Sometimes we’re pointing out what should ne’re-do-well, Stephen eventually settled in the Northwest to
be obvious, such as that an Acrobatics check can be used to jump waste his life on roleplaying games.
over a pit; other times we’re going to expand the uses of some
skills with opportunistic exceptions, like granting a skill check Once that RPGA guy, Stephen is now a developer in RPG R&D
that gives the characters insight on how a trap acts and ascertain where he doesn’t create the traps … he just makes them dead-
something about its attack pattern. lier. He also teaches a class on roleplaying design for the Art In-
stitute of Seattle, molding the minds of young and upcoming
Don’t fret, rogue fans. That class and other characters trained designers. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
in Thievery are still the party’s best hope to shut down traps

by Andy Collins
Art by William O’Conner
Magic Item Levels
The Magic Item Compendium introduced the concept of levels for it’s unlikely that a character has to decide between those two
magic items. This primarily served to help DMs determine what items -- they serve fundamentally different purposes.
magic items to place in a treasure hoard (or to give to his NPCs).
Since we built that level system around the existing magic item It’s much more likely that a character interested in a rope of
prices, it was an imperfect solution (for instance, a few non-epic climbing will compare its price to other items that let him over-
magic items exceeded the pricing scheme for level 1-20 items). come similar obstacles (such as the 7th-level slippers of spider
climbing or the 13th-level boots of levitation).
Fourth Edition D&D improves that useful tool by explicitly
linking a magic item’s level to its price. For example, all 9th-level Alternatively, if he’s in the market for a new weapon, he would
magic items now cost the same number of gp to craft or to pur- compare the value of that +2 flaming sword with the more ex-
chase. This makes it even easier to gauge a magic item’s appropri- pensive +3 vicious sword (12th level), or the slightly cheaper +2
ateness for your game at a glance. Don’t know if it’s lightning sword (9th level).
OK to drop a flying carpet into the hands of your
9th-level PCs? Well, the fact that the carpet’s listed What the designer is saying, rather, is that
as an 18th-level item should clue you in that it’d he imagines that the effect of both the rope
have an enormous impact on your 9th-level game. of climbing and the +2 flaming sword are ap-
propriate for characters around 10th level. A
Does that mean that all magic items of the same few levels before that, either item would have
level will be equal in power? Well, yes and no. a much more significant impact on gameplay
(possibly by making certain spells or powers
It’s true that the designer of two different 9th-level of the characters obsolete). More than a few
magic items imagines that they’d have a roughly levels after that, either item will have lost a lot
equivalent impact on gameplay. A +2 thundering of its luster -- maybe because more characters
mace and a +2 staff of the war mage, if designed have easy access to levitation, flight, or even
and developed properly, should be equally use- short-range teleportation effects, in the case
ful in combat. That comparison generally isn’t too of the rope of climbing, or because they’re all
hard, since the basic functions and utility of com- toting around +3 or better weapons, making
bat-based effects remain relative regardless of the the flaming sword seem underpowered.
weapon or implement. How much extra damage
does the mace deal compared to the staff? If dam- Ultimately, assigning levels to magic items
age isn’t involved, how useful and potent are the items’ effects sends a message to players and DMs: Here’s when this item is
against foes? And so on. most appropriate for your game. Once that information is in
your hands, of course, it’s up to you to use it as best befits your
However, that comparison quickly becomes more art than sci- game!
ence when comparing magic items of different purposes. (This,
by the way, is why relying on hard-and-fast pricing rules for About the Author
magic items is troublesome at best, and actively bad for your
game at worst.) After all, most magic items only “compete” with Andy Collins works as the system design and development man-
other items in a narrow category for a character’s attention, so ager for D&D at Wizards of the Coast. His development credits
comparing their values can be quite tricky. include the Player’s Handbook v.3.5, Races of Eberron, and Dungeon
Master’s Guide II. He is also one of the lead designers for 4th Edi-
For example, if a rope of climbing and a +2 flaming longsword tion D&D, along with Rob Heinsoo and James Wyatt.
are both 10th-level magic items (and thus both cost the same
number of gold pieces), that’s not quite the same thing as saying
that a rope of climbing is as powerful as that weapon. After all,

by Peter Schaefer
art by Todd Lockwood
Elite Bulette
The earth quivers. The ground furrows. Turning earth knocks * This gives the wizard the chance to stand and cover the bu-
heroes from their feet, and a mated pair of mighty bulettes lette’s space with crackling lightning -- the monster’s bulk means
bursts into their midst. it doesn’t have much chance to evade the blast and it doesn’t. The
fighter follows with a good, old-fashioned heavy sword swing
All granite-hard hide, characteristic fins, and below-ground tac- and gets lucky: a critical hit. The bulette isn’t looking good (it’s
tics, the bulette has been a staple of D&D since the early days. bloodied), but now it gets to act.
Fourth Edition continues to do it honor by making it an elite * Bulette number one dives into the earth so rapidly that the
monster. heroes around it don’t get opportunity attacks. Safely in the
ground, it heals some damage and then burrows under the he-
roes, who are now clustered close enough that the bulette can
Elite Monsters affect them all. Bulette number two follows by burrowing back
into the action and bursting from the ground to rain more rocks
Elite monsters represent a greater challenge: They count as two down on the party, reminding them all that it’s time for some
monsters of their level for encounter building and rewards. Elite healing.
monsters have the word “elite” preceding their level and role.
The battle goes on. Even though there are four heroes, it only
Here’s how a fight against a pair of such beasts might go: takes two bulettes to give them a run for their money. Fourth
Edition has such elite monsters because you don’t always want a
* The bulettes are underground using their burrowing move- straight one-on-one fight -- sometimes a monster should just be
ment. Even though the PCs can hear the creatures (a bulette isn’t bigger, tougher, and scarier than the norm.
exactly stealthy), they can’t attack until the bulettes rise to the
surface. About the Author
* When the bulettes go, they go mean. The first burrows
shallowly through the earth under the fighter and rogue – the By night, Peter Schaefer drives his armor-plated, solar wind-
fighter keep his feet, but the rogue falls down and makes a good powered tank through the ranks of the evil yak-men who fight
target. The bulette leaves the ground to take advantage of this to crush all that right-thinking humans hold dear. His only ally
and bites the poor fellow, doing some serious damage. and secret sponsor in this vigilantism is Griselda, the Heiro-
* Bulette number two uses the same opening gambit but phant Mercurial who supports Peter with high-tech toys and
knocks over both the cleric and the wizard, who were next to subtle magics from her position within the secret world govern-
each other. It opts to burst from the ground in a spray of packed ment in Taipei. Decipher his rebellious code here and join the
dirt and stone. The prone heroes are easier to hit and take more fight!
damage from the wave of rocks. The fighter is also in range of
the burst, but he brushes the soil aside with his shield.
* The party gets to act. The rogue rises. He’s not in a position
to flank, but he can still try to do some damage. He doesn’t like
the look of the bulette’s heavy armor, so he tries to slip his short
sword between two stony plates before the bulette can react and
he draws blood.
* The wizard’s in a bad spot. He probably can’t lay down an
attack without provoking an opportunity attack or burning his
allies, so he delays. Good thing, because the cleric places fear in
the bulette’s tiny mind, which doesn’t offer much resistance. The
bulette burrows away, taking an opportunity attack from the
cleric before he gets underground (avoiding like attacks from
the fighter and the rogue.

Designer’s Notes
by Rob Heinsoo
First Punch
Inn-Fighting
hand/gambit, and how those approaches will set you up for suc-
cess in future hands.
I wanted to design a tavern brawl game ever since I was a wee
lad. I usually pictured the results as something like a miniatures Inn-Fighting isn’t like that. Long term strategizing usually isn’t
game—maybe something like an early minigame I read about in the cards, and it’s definitely not in the dice. If you keep track
but never played from White Dwarf magazine, or something like of all the possibilities offered by your action cards, you’ll have a
Yaquinto’s Swashbuckler, in which pirates and musketeers circle better chance of avoiding silly mistakes… but I wouldn’t exactly
each other while throwing mugs and flipping tables. call that ‘stragety,’ as we like to say in the Wizards office. Inn-
Fighting delivers beer’n’pretzels whacki-
But when Mat Smith mentioned that he ness, with one face on the die actually
wanted to design a tavern brawl game a showing a mug of ale!
couple years ago, I started thinking about
something on a different track. After all, Inn-Fighting Strategy
D&D already handles round-by-round
character-vs.-character action. Any game True, I just said that long-term strategiz-
that was too close to D&D’s level of play ing isn’t what Inn-Fighting is about, but
would have to account for a lot of the that was in comparison to Three-Dragon
same character and world elements that Ante. There are a couple of related strate-
D&D handles. gies that I do try to keep track of.
So I decided on a more abstract game. All It’s About the Lead: When you take
the good parts of a tavern brawl show up the lead in the game, you become target
in character abilities (hiding under tables, #1. Special powers target you, and Ale
backstabbing, surprise attacks from hand actions drink away your victory points.
crossbows) or attack actions (hit ‘em with
a chair, punch ‘em in the kisser, zap ‘em Occasionally, if I have two options for
with an eldritch blast) or special actions scoring victory points, I choose the op-
(prove you’re tough by taking a drink in tion that looks good but doesn’t look
the middle of the brawl). You win by do- likely to put me in the lead. The vari-
ing a lot of damage to the other characters, ability of scoring from low or high dam-
not by surviving longest—if your Adventurer gets knocked out, age attacks means that I often as not get it wrong, but there are
you’ll lose a few victory points but still get to throw another Ad- some games when I’ve been able to float just under the danger
venturer into the mix, so no one ever gets completely knocked ceiling until I have the chance to win.
out of the game.
Staying Alive May Not be the Answer: If you’re about to be
Inn-Fighting Ain’t Three-Dragon Ante knocked out by a player who won’t win the game by knocking
you out, and everyone else will win the game by knocking you
Despite appearances, Inn-Fighting is not a sequel to Three-Dragon out, you might end up better off not spending a precious defen-
Ante. The two games are packaged the same, cost the same, and sive action card to stay alive. Take the embarrassment of getting
have the same designer’s name on the cover. But thematically, knocked out by someone else who isn’t winning yet, lose the vic-
they’re not much alike. tory points for having your Adventurer knocked out, and hope
that your next Adventurer has better luck.
Three-Dragon Ante rewards long-term strategy. Yeah, there’s a lot
of luck in the game, but if you’re inclined, you can increase your Similarly, even early in the game, you may look at the situation
prospects by weighing the multiple possible approaches to each on the table and realize that your Adventurer is singularly un-

suited to compete with the bruisers the opposition is throwing er at the start of their next turn if they still have 20 or more vic-
at you. You never get to turn your nose up at successful defense tory points. This gives every opponent a chance to knock out the
rolls that keep you from getting knocked out; however, if you Adventurer who’ about to win.
judge that your current Adventurer doesn’t have the firepower
to keep up with the rest of the table, you might avoid playing The Design Your Own Adventurer Option
defensive action cards altogether, in order to save them for an
Adventurer who does have a chance to do some real damage. If you’ve picked up the game, you’ve probably noticed the card
that promises you can come to our website and find out how to
Tactics add your D&D PC to the game as an Adventurer. That feature
isn’t up and running yet, and it’s my fault. My original idea of
These tricks don’t qualify as strategies, but they might help. how to handle the conversion was stupid and wasn’t going to
work. Luckily, Logan Bonner had a better idea a week ago and is
Special Actions May Not Be the Answer Either: Don’t be too putting together the basics of his approach, so we’ll have some-
quick to snatch up the dice when it’s your turn and you’ve got 3 thing tinkered together for you soon!
Luck or 3 Ale showing. Every once in a while, there’s a particular
attack you really need to score a lot of points or to win the game, About the Author
and that attack is showing next to the Luck or Ale. You may not
get the same attack when you reroll the Brawl Dice after taking Rob Heinsoo was born in the Year of the Dragon. He started
your Special Action, so it can be worth considering whether you playing D&D in 1974 with the original brown box. More re-
value the chance to make the right attack more than drawing a cently, he designed Three-Dragon Ante, Inn-Fighting, and a couple
card or drinking victory points. incarnations of the D&D Miniatures skirmish system. He’s the
lead designer of 4th Edition and captains the D&D mechanical
Drink Your Own Health: If you’re in the lead when it’s your design team.
turn and there are 3 or more Ale showing, you’re often better off
drinking away your own victory points to prevent the next op-
ponent from doing the drinking. Most people keep track of that
when they are down hit points and can actually use the heal-
ing, but sometimes you’ll want to drink your own victory points
away just to prevent the next opponent from healing using your
VP.
Regrets, I Have a Couple

Most everyone asks me whether the damage that your Bystand-
ers inflict with their defense dice goes into your victory points.
Yes it does, and I’m sorry the rules aren’t clear about that. All
damage that your characters do to other characters goes into
your victory points. Damage inflicted by your Bystanders isn’t
going to be enough to win you the game, because even if that
damage got you above 20 victory points, you’d still have to dam-
age an Adventurer on your turn. I can’t tell you how many times
I’ve had 23 or 25 victory points and still managed to lose the
game because I haven’t been able to damage an Adventurer on
my turn.
My other regret is that the action card Second Swing has a typo.
It shouldn’t be talking about rerolling the Brawl Dice you used
for the attack; it should say “Reroll the d20 you used to make
the attack.” In other words, you play Second Swing when you’ve
rolled a 1 on your attack roll, or rolled low damage when what
you need is to roll high.
The Iron Dwarf Variant

This variant can result in a much longer game. If you’d rather
play one long game instead of two or three short games, try this
out: Instead of awarding victory immediately to the player who’
scored at least 20 victory points and has damaged an opposing
Adventurer on their turn, wait and award victory to such a play-

Summer 2008
Let the Games Begin
The Olympics won’t be the only games

you’ll be talking about

Dragon Magazine #361

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Authors

Logan Bonner, Andy Collins,

Cover Artist Features

Director of RPG R&D

Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and

Dragon 361 December 2007 3

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Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2

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Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive,

Male Names: Adran, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal, Heian,

Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Ennia, Farall, Harrel,

Dragon 361 December 2007 7

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Elves: A Closer Look

Shunning kingdoms of their own, the elves no longer build

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Without a doubt, the aspirations of the drow echo the dreams

And then the three races will be only one.

Drow As Player Characters

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16 Dragon 361 December 2007

Hook She looses a horrific keening noise in combat.

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Hextor: The Fist of Tyranny

Churches dedicated to Hextor exist throughout civilized lands.

This rule of law is what many find particularly appealing. While

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Favored Combat Tactics: The followers of the Fist of Tyranny

In any engagement, large or small, the followers of Hextor are

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Rank Affiliation Title: Benefits and Duties

Dragon 361 December 2007 27

Favored Adventure Types: Followers of Vecna often venture

28 Dragon 361 December 2007

What the Hell?

Aligned Strike: Attacks made by a creature that has this

This said, the Challenge Ratings for these characters, while

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Fiendish Advanced Legendary Eagle Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Even as well-positioned as he his, he is not comfortable with his

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Lilith Spot +35, Survival +7 (+9 following tracks), Tumble +42,

34 Dragon 361 December 2007