Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Spider Monsters for 4e Part 3 - Narleth

Probably my favorite monster from the old 3e Creature Collection is the narleth. Something about the look of it just grabbed me the first time I saw it. This "horrible blending of human and spider" should be relatively painless to port to 4e - it has two fairly simple powers and four hands full of weapons.
Narleth
The narleth are a horrible blending of human and spider. The narleth is larger than a man, with four arms ending in large, clawed hands. They delight in causing misery to any creature that stumbles into their clutches, immobilizing them and slowly dissolving them with their venom.

Level 6 Elite Brute
Narleth Webspitter
XP 500
Large natural humanoid (spider)
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +9; darkvision
HP 176; Bloodied 88
AC 20; Fortitude 21, Reflex 20, Will 17
Saving Throws +2
Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Action Points 1
mFalchion (standard; at-will) * Weapon
Reach 2; +9 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
MDouble Attack (standard; at-will) * Weapon
The narleth makes two falchion attacks.
CBlade Frenzy (standard; encounter) * Weapon
Close burst 2; targets enemies; +9 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
CBloodied Frenzy (free, when first bloodied; encounter)
The narleth recharges and uses blade frenzy.
MQuick Bite (minor 1/round; at-will) * Poison
Immobilized target only; +8 vs. AC; 1d6 + 2 damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends).
RSpit Web (minor; recharge 5 6)
Ranged 10; +11 vs. Reflex; the target is restrained (save ends).
Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages -
Skills Athletics +10, Perception +10, Stealth +11
Str 15 (+5) Dex 17 (+6) Wis 14 (+5)
Con 18 (+7) Int 6 (+1) Cha 3 (-1)

Narleth Webspitter Tactics
A narleth webspitter prefers to attack from ambush, concealing itself, then springing and covering a victim with a spray of webbing. Once the victim is trapped, the narleth closes in to use its bite. It uses its weapons to fend off the victim's allies.

Narleth Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 15: Narleth, which in Elvish means "silken death", are a plague upon elvenkind, terrorizing their forests and preying upon their children.

Encounter Groups
Narleth usually hunt alone, but are sometimes encountered with spiders.
Level 6 Encounter (XP 1250)
* 1 narleth webspitter (level 6 elite brute)
* 2 giant webby spiders (level 5 controller)
* 2 deathjump spiders (level 4 skirmisher)
Oh yeah, I'm pretty pleased with how this guy came out. He focuses on one poor webbed fool while using all those weapon attacks with push effects to keep the victim's buddies at bay. He's also almost an appropriate encounter for my 4-girl 4th level party by himself. Tack on one spider and he's ready to take them on.

4 comments:

rev said...

Well, done...I think I might send my adventurers off on a quest, hinting that they're going to meet Spiderman...but then they end up with this...

Anonymous said...

Nice. One change I'd recommend: make Quick Bite a (minor 1/round; at will) power to prevent the Narleth from making 4-6 attacks a round on one restrained victim. The Medusa Shroud of Zehir (MM 187) and Nightwalker (MM 197) have a similar restriction for their damage-dealing minor actions.

Gregor LeBlaque said...

@Rev Mike: Spiderman... *snicker*

@mikeulem: Is there really some way he could get 4-6 attacks per round? I could see 3 if he used his standard, move and minor all for quick bites, but that would almost certainly be a suboptimal tactic since multiple applications of the same ongoing damage don't stack and hammering the victim with its falchions would surely kill the poor PC faster.

I've changed it anyway since it fits the spirit of the ability, though I thought the "immobilized target only" was enough of a restriction. The narleth's quick bite ability is more like the drider fanglord's quick bite (MM 93), which has a "combat advantage" restriction instead of the 1/round.

Anonymous said...

Lovin' these. The perfect blend of old school and obscure :D