Most obvious, however, was their dull gray skin and hair, often matched with an equally stolid expression.Because many duergar found on the surface world were crimin… If an opponent is casting a spell you don’t know, you recognize it if you succeed on an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC equal to 8 + twice the spell’s base level (that is, since. It’s the threat of an attack, which the opponents do not want to be dealt. The stone guard need this advantage, because their King’s Knives do less damage than the regular duergar’s war pick. All told, we’re looking at 18 expected damage over five attacks, plus another 7 from hunter’s mark, for a total of 25. < index > < info > < name >Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes < description >This tome is built on the writings of the renowned wizard from the world of Greyhawk, gathered over a lifetime of research and scholarship. Invoke Duplicity, the Channel Divinity option I mentioned, is the example used. Discover the truth about the great conflicts of the D&D multiverse in this supplement for the world's greatest roleplaying game. In fact, only four of the seven duergar variants in Mordenkainen’s have these two features, and one of them has Invisibility on a 4–6 recharge, resulting in a big increase in the breadth of its usefulness. This trait merely gives the duergar despot an incentive to stay in melee reach of as many enemies as possible. (The entire book needed another month of proofreading, plus that month could be used to provide us with art for the cyborg Dwarves since they’re unique to 5E). This book will enrich your game immeasurably!”—Matthew Lillard, “This book almost instantly made me a better Dungeon Master. Focus: Extraplanar conflict, higher levels of play Lore: Reproduction of Mordenkainen’s notes obtained by Sigil-based Arcanaloth Shemeshka the Marauder Release Date: May 29, 2018 Length: 256 pages Price: $49.95 Cover Art (incl. Finally, it takes its chances on spells that call for Constitution or Wisdom saving throws, because its save modifiers for these are very good. Salvatore, Bookshop Amazon Barnes & Noble TargetIndigo Kobo Google Play iBooks. Well, that settles that! In the other direction, however, the wording of Invisibility explicitly states that casting a spell breaks it. When it’s seriously wounded (reduced to 47 hp or fewer), it withdraws, using Iron Fist attacks to knock pursuers back 30 feet if there are any within melee reach and Dodge if there aren’t. Examining combat roles, class features, party composition, positioning, debilitating conditions, attacking combinations, action economy, and the ever-important consideration of the best ways to run away, Live to Tell the Tale will help you get the most out of your character’s abilities. The duergar warlord, like the common duergar, is a brute, but a much tougher brute. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. If it succeeds, it gets to force an opponent to sucker-punch one of their own allies—or, depending on the local terrain, walk directly into a chasm or a river of lava or something. So forget treating it as a spellcaster; we’ll pretend that its Intelligence is nothing special after all and it’s just another shock trooper, using Dexterity for offense as well as defense. As for the duergar despot’s other spells—well, they’re less clear-cut than misty step. Some of these cousins of this hardy avian species keep to remote locales, while others share their forebears’ predilection for the easy grub to be found in city streets. Print (hardcover) Pages. Since we’ve established that Mind Mastery is awful, it’s going to stick to the two melee attacks. If the Mind Master is teamed up with something that can hit harder than it, that creature could choose to fail it’s save and then use it’s reaction to attack one of the PCs. Next: the duergar mind master, warlord, despot and constructs. “I’ve always said, the Dungeon Master is the whole world except for his players, and as a result, I spend countless hours prepping for my home group. His stare was penetrating. Enlarge for more damage, and suddenly you’re dealing two attacks with an Enlarged King’s Knife every round with advantage–which can really help these Duergar punch up. While monstrosities seek food and territory, giants compete for status, dragons pursue power and treasure, and aberrations are after who knows what, conflicts with humanoid antagonists typically revolve around the things we don’t discuss at the dinner table: religion and politics. Or even art from previous editions if they have appeared before. And it’s not limited to targets it can hose down from its current position. Discover the truth about the great conflicts of the D&D multiverse in this supplements for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. With Intelligence 15, a mind master is smart enough to know not to bother using this feature in open combat. It’s just a feature that consumes an action. If you’re running games, it is a must-have enhancement. Mordenkainen might be the most interesting narrator thus far, if more portentous than his predece A hybrid of character resource and monster book, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes tries to balance the two aspects, rather like the iconic D&D character the book is named for. Media type. Basically a rolling thunderwave spell with a melee attack attached, it rolls directly toward clustered enemies and tries to blast its way through them. The duergar soulblade, like most dwarves, moves only 25 feet per turn. It’s elegant and awesome-looking, albeit slow. Kavalrachni have a double War Pick Multiattack, no doubt to make up for their inability to Enlarge. The Oath of Deliverance is an attestation that there are laws greater than the laws of governors and judges, kings and emperors—laws of freedom, justice, benevolence, and dignity. You’d think so, but no. Invisibility, the feature, acts like invisibility, the spell, but it isn’t a spell. Duergar may be accompanied into battle by one or both of two types of constructs. Controlled steeder mounts stay in the fight as long as their riders need them to. The duergar soulblade, hiding out 40 feet away from where the action is going to occur, casts jump on itself. In contrast, what if it just stood there and dully swung its Soulblade for five rounds, neither seeking nor obtaining any source of attack roll advantage? Unless I missed something, the sequence would have to lose Hunter’s Mark altogether for the Soulblade to maintain its advantage on attacks in this scenario. Phalanx Formation works similarly to Pack Tactics, granting advantage on attack rolls while adjacent to “a duergar ally wielding a shield” (i.e., another stone guard, a duergar warlord or a regular duergar—duergar kavalrachni carry shields as well, but they’re mobile); it also … Favor the hammer, unless the warlord can’t actually reach an enemy to hit them with it. That’s lawful evil for you.) I’m getting a little ahead of myself in sharing this conclusion, because I haven’t talked about two of the duergar soulblade’s other “spells” (really psionic abilities), jump and hunter’s mark. That would be redundant: gaining advantage from more than one source doesn’t grant you more advantage. If opponents aren’t clustered, it rolls toward one at random. This book offers eight new tiefling subraces, as we’ve previously seen in UA’s That Old Black Magic and Fiendish Options. (The xarrorn isn’t smart enough to read a PC’s Armor Class off their character sheet, so it would rephrase that as “a target wearing light armor or none, or hide armor or a chain shirt without a shield.”) If those two criteria are met, it always favors the Fire Lance. And what mechanism does the duergar soulblade have for getting out of a fight? With Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, races and subraces like gith, duergar, and more become playable as characters for the first time in fifth edition D&D. nah. Which means that duergar soulblades don’t necessarily want to start combat already invisible. True in the case of true strike and hunter’s mark, but Invisibility gets by on a technicality: Per PH 203, “You lose concentration on a spell if you cast another spell that requires concentration” (emphasis mine). Your email address will not be published. So the real expected damage total we should be looking at is 11 over three attacks, plus the 7 from hunter’s mark, or 18 damage. (Unless it’s also Enlarged—then it’s dishing out 4d6 + 3 damage! The Duergar Invisibility feature is no different, though they can be Enlarged and Invisible if they Enlarge first. Note the phrasing: Since Multiattack says “two melee attacks,” not “two Mind-Poison Dagger attacks,” other melee attacks can be substituted, including unarmed attacks, attacks with improvised or seized weapons, grappling, and shoving. Bookshop Amazon Barnes & Noble TargetIndigo Kobo Google Play iBooks Libro.fm Audible. While enlarged, the Duergar is Large, doubles its damage dice on Strength-based weapon attacks (included in the attacks), and makes Strength Checks and Strength Saving Throws with advantage. ISBN. The attack simply occurs sooner. Since it’s immune to being charmed, exhausted, frightened, paralyzed or poisoned, it doesn’t bother countering spells that inflict any of these conditions. The duergar hammerer is an unlucky duergar imprisoned inside a device whose function is to destroy objects and structures, and that’s what it does, without subtlety or complexity. Your email address will not be published. Let’s suppose that out of five attacks, the duergar soulblade gets to apply hunter’s mark damage on two hits but loses its third use to broken concentration. ), Round 3. However, … This quirk is that Shared Invisibility allows a steeder mount to make an attack without disrupting the invisibility of the duergar riding it. On a hit, the attack deals an extra 11 (2d10) damage to the screamer, and the screamer can respond by using its Multiattack with its reaction. A searchable D&D 5e creature list. Of course, having said that, now I’m going to bring up an exception. The Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is full of rich knowledge, enabling you to enrich your character with rich knowledge in classic races such as elves and dwarves. Enlarge (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest): For 1 minute, the Duergar magically increases in size, along with anything it is wearing or carrying. Just as eruptions of magical energies and careless experimentation by incautious wizards have resulted in the creation of monstrosities such as the owlbear, the shambling mound, and the banderhobb, they’ve also produced fearsome mutations in the common pigeon. This whole sequence doesn’t work either—see Jacob L and JP’s comments below. They can join the fight immediately, alongside their comrades, and julienne away. Jump increases these distances to 33 feet, 16 feet, 9 feet and 4 feet. Use the stat blocks of these foul fowl with the Pigeon Tactics on this blog! As for the warlord itself, it retreats when it’s seriously wounded (reduced to 30 hp or fewer), using the Dodge action if it’s engaged in melee with only one opponent and the Dash action if engaged with more than one. Grey Dwarf (Duergar) Once a proud race of dwarves, years of slavery to mind flayers chiseled any honor or warmth from them, as the years in the Underdark greyed their skin. If the statblock says DC 12, and the DM thinks its weak (and it most certainly is), the DM can make it DC 15, or DC 25, or whatever. You can certainly end a turn in midair—flying creatures do it all the time. The Soulblade runs into the same logjam as with true strike. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Over two turns, two Multiattacks can be expected to deal 35 damage, while Invisibility followed by one Multiattack can be expected to deal only 22—not nearly good enough. Get rules for demons and devils, several varieties of elves and duergar, and a vast array of creatures from throughout the planes of existence. Would it be fair to say that Soul Blades would best used in an encounter with other types of Duergar? True strike and hunter’s mark are either-or. It takes 2 hours and 50gp per spell level to copy a spell from another wizard's book. The duergar has advantage on saving throws against poison, spells, and illusions, as well as to resist being charmed or paralyzed. While in midair, it casts true strike as an action and uses Create Soulblade as a bonus action. It’s enough, without asking him to speculate about house-rules (he’s addressed this a few times). When half or more of a line of stone guard are seriously wounded (reduced to 15 hp or fewer), they Disengage and fall back in formation, always keeping the shield wall intact. Two Iron Fists and two Stomping Feet are a huge combo, dealing an expected 50 damage against AC 19 (if you’re tanking against a duergar despot, you probably don’t have AC 15 anymore). Its Wisdom is high enough that it would rather live to tyrannize another day. It gains advantage from true strike, and having advantage also gives it an extra 1d6 force damage on a hit. The implications are staggering. This tome is built on the writings of the renowned wizard from the world of Greyhawk, gathered over a lifetime of research and scholarship. I would prefer if you did these excellent writeups from the view of making suggestions to things inexperienced DM could alter to improve the challenges to something more reasonable. Moar duergar! If the xarrorn needs to reposition in order to strike two or more, it does so. Sometimes he creates wholly new monsters for us. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is built from the writings of the renowned wizard from the world of Greyhawk, in which he gathered over a lifetime of research and scholarship. Thus, those intermediate steps aren’t necessary—even jump isn’t necessary, really, because they don’t have to start at a distance to avoid engagement long enough to cast true strike. No, that’s not how it works. Sometimes those rules cause encounters to be far more interesting anyhow! Shock troops get in, wreck face and get out. While imprisoned in Barovia, his hair and beard were both long, black and peppered with grey streaks. (Disengaging is pointless—duergar are too slow to avoid being chased down. Throw in yet another 1d6 from hunter’s mark, and the duergar soulblade is dishing out 3d6 + 3 force damage. ), Round 4. I looked for one and found nothing. Dwarves and Duergar. (If it doesn’t need to pass through any opponent’s zone of control, the mount Dodges.). save. But unless all its duergar allies have pre-Enlarged themselves as well, I wouldn’t assume that the soulblade has time to do so. 5E's version of the Star Spawn are slightly similar, being heralds and minions of Elder Evils that are unable (or are unwilling to) enter the Material Plane. Is there a monster you’d like me to analyze that I haven’t looked at yet? The duergar warlord, like the common duergar, is a brute, but a much tougher brute. Mage hand and minor illusion are limited in their usefulness during combat. 1 comment. It might also give it incentive to fight to the death, but . (Duergar constructs are immune to the poison, however, so if there are any of those on hand, they can attack targets in the cloud, no problem.). This involves sacrificing two whole rounds though, so it’s not likely to be worth it unless the duergar have successfully concocted an ambush. It’s better armored and has nearly three times as many hit points, but more important, it gets to both Enlarge and attack as part of its Multiattack. But that’s only if none of their foes has darkvision. Jump, alas, does not have a Disengage action built into its effects, and the duergar soulblade is already using Invisibility to gain advantage on a second attack roll; it’s not available for evacuation. The Psychic-Attuned Hammer is a significantly better weapon than the javelin. Then it completes its movement, lands next to an opponent and uses its action to attack with its Soulblade. Many were also thinner than their dwarven brethren. 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