Vote Up a Monster 4e Edition #1 Critter Accomplished

[afroakuma]

His show, his rules.

QFT indeed.

[Vadin]

I suppose it's a bit late now, but it's rather pretentious of you to force everyone to ignore the rules of 4e, just because you don't like them. If you want to use it in your game, where you, as the DM, have absolute power, you could easily adjust it for that, but still give the forums a true 4e monster.

I'm going to go with Chaotic Evil.

Because monster alignment totally has anything at all to do with the way you, as the DM, use the monster.

And my vote? Chaotic good!

[AgentPaper]

I vote Unaligned. Are you counting unaligned separate from true neutral? At any rate, I don't really care about this one much, since I never use alignment in my games anymore anyways.

[Shadow_Elf]

I vote Unaligned. Are you counting unaligned separate from true neutral? At any rate, I don't really care about this one much, since I never use alignment in my games anymore anyways.

Unaligned and TN are different. I had a discussion with some friends about this today. The difference is that Unaligned doesn't really care about alignment, such as a common farmer, whereas True Neutral is someone who actively strives to be neutral, or who dips into two ends of an axis (lawful chaotic and evil good characters).

Therefore, Unaligned shall be added to the list as UA. Thanks for reminding me. If anyone wants to change their vote, you can do so.

[Vadin]

Schwoops! That sounds much better for an animate: my vote is for unaligned.

[Alteran]

I suppose it's a bit late now, but it's rather pretentious of you to force everyone to ignore the rules of 4e, just because you don't like them. If you want to use it in your game, where you, as the DM, have absolute power, you could easily adjust it for that, but still give the forums a true 4e monster.

I'm going to go with Chaotic Evil.

If your disagreement is that 3.5e alignment system doesn't fit into 4e, it's pretty trivial to change it yourself.

[Pronounceable]

CN for the win.

[Zeta Kai]

Therefore, Unaligned shall be added to the list as UA. Thanks for reminding me. If anyone wants to change their vote, you can do so.

Thank you for the clarification. I stand by my vote.

[Alteran]

I'll change mine to unaligned.

[Shadow_Elf]

Argh. I hate doing this...

Once again, I invoke the Next Vote Wins Clause. The next vote is between Unaligned and Chaotic Neutral.

[paddyfool]

I vote for: Unaligned

[Shadow_Elf]

I vote for: Unaligned

Thank you voting.

Thank you all for voting, actually, since Vote Up a Monster 4e Edition #1 is OVER.
So, to sum things up, this creature is going to be a level 24 Gargantuan Immortal Animate (shapechanger, mount) that serves as an Elite Artillery ("Glass Canon") in combat. Among its powers will be the keywords polymorph and teleport. It will be Unaligned, which is to say it does not care about or acknowledge alignment.
The monster should be up some time this weekend, homework permitting, but failing that, it will be up before Wednesday, October 29th 2008, just in time for any Halloween campaigns .

[Shadow_Elf]

Here it is Playgrounders. I am proud to announce that the result of the first Vote Up a Monster 4e Edition is:
The Songbird Spirit!

Stats

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Songbird Spirit-TAB--TAB--TAB-Level 24 Elite Artillery (Leader)
Gargantuan Immortal Animate (shapechanger, mount) -TAB-TAB--TAB-TAB-XP 12,100
Initiative +20-TAB-Senses Perception +20
HP: 444; Bloodied: 222
AC 40 Fortitude 36, Reflex 38, Will 36
Resist 10 Radiant, 10 Thunder
Saving Throws: +2
Action Points: 1
Speed 4 (clumsy), Fly 12 (hover)
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(BR) Shining Cry (Standard Action, at-will) ♦ Radiant
Ranged 25; deafened creatures are immune; +29 vs. Fortitude; 3d6 +8 radiant damage and the target is dazed (save ends)
(M) Inspiring Song (Minor Action, Sustain Minor*; at-will)
Close Burst 10; deafened creatures are immune; the Songbird Spirit sings one of the following melodies:
Driving Assault (Teleportation): Allies within the burst may spend a move action to teleport 5 squares. This includes the Songbird Spirit’s riders. Allies in the burst also gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls when flanking.
Disarming Melody (Charm): Targets enemies; +24 vs. Will; The target is dazed (save ends). A new attack roll is made each time the song is renewed.
Tangible Tune: Every square in the burst is treated as difficult terrain (again, deafened creatures are immune) for allies and enemies. This does not apply to the Songbird Spirit or its riders.
Note*: The Songbird Spirit cannot take attack actions while singing its Inspiring Songs
Unleashed Spirit (Immediate Reaction, when first bloodied) ♦ Polymorph
When bloodied, a Songbird Spirit enters a different form, becoming black as night, until the end of the encounter, or until it is knocked unconscious. It gains the following Aura:
Aura of Terror (Fear) Aura 10: Enemies within the aura take a -2 penalty to attack rolls and a -4 penalty to damage rolls.
Its Shining Cry does 1d6 + 6 additional Radiant damage, and it gains the following bonuses to its Songs
All: +5 to the range of the Close Burst
Driving Assault: Allies within the burst can now teleport up to 10 squares as a move action
Disarming Melody: Targets of this attack are stunned, rather than dazed
Tangible Tune: Rather than making the burst difficult terrain, Tangible Tune instead slows all enemies within the burst radius.
Astral Storm ♦ Mount
The Songbird Spirit can have 4 Medium or smaller riders, 2 Large riders or one Huge rider. Only the primary (chosen at time of mounting) rider must share its actions with the Songbird. The other riders can use their actions independently. All of the Songbird’s riders of level 24 or higher gain a +5 bonus to the range of their ranged attacks.
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Alignment Unaligned-TAB--TAB-Languages Supernal
Str 16 (+15)-TAB- Dex 26 (+20)-TAB-Wis 16 (+15)
Con 24 (+19)-TAB-Int 12 (+13)-TAB- Cha 28 (+21)
Skills: +25 Acrobatics, +20 Perception, +20 Insight, +25 Diplomacy

Fluff

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Songbird Spirit
A Songbird Spirit is a collection of lost spirits from around the Astral Sea. It is used in combat as a mount either for mobile archery units or for larger units such as Aspects and Godforged Colossi. It sings from its soul in combat, wounding enemies with its pure notes. It is employed by every one of the Astral domains, including the Pit Fiends of the Nine Hells, and as such tends not to look to alignment much.

Songbird Spirit Tactics:
The Songbird Spirit attack from afar with its Shining Cry attack, allowing its mounted allies to gain access to its mount feature for additional range. When enemies close, it uses its songs to give bonuses to allies or to give penalties to its opponents. If threatened with death, the Spirit will activate its Driving Assault melody and encourage its passengers to teleport away. When bloodied, the Songbird Spirit turns into a fearsome creature made of nightmares and discordant melodies. Its Inspiring Melodies become much more potent, and its Shining Cry deals additional damage.

Songbird Spirit Lore (what you know)

DC 15 Arcana: The Songbird Spirit is a fearsome foe used by Astral Warriors as mounts
DC 20 Arcana: The Songbird Spirit uses powerful ranged attacks at distant foes, and activates battle-field control powers when enemies close.
DC 25 Arcana: The Songbird Spirit transforms into a fearsome Unleashed Spirit when it is grievously injured.

Image I found

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Songbird Spirit in Flight

[Alteran]

I like it, a lot. It turned out very well, especially considering it had such ridiculous requirements.

One thing I noticed is that with unleashed spirit, Disarming Melody and Tangible Tune become extremely debilitating, and (I think) more useful than Driving Assault.

[Shadow_Elf]

I like it, a lot. It turned out very well, especially considering it had such ridiculous requirements.

One thing I noticed is that with unleashed spirit, Disarming Melody and Tangible Tune become extremely debilitating, and (I think) more useful than Driving Assault.

All allies within 15 squares can teleport 10 squares at-will? and they gain +2 damage from flanking? I agree that Stunned is very powerful, but the attack has to hit (thinking of reducing the attack bonus on that). And reducing enemy mobility is arguably only as useful as drastically increasing that of your own troops. However, I may make it so that Tangible Tune just slows enemies, no difficult terrain. Otherwise, enemies have an effective speed of 1.

[Tuataralad]

Sweet, this is pretty awesome. It actually turned out way better than i expected, what with all the crazyness.

[Shadow_Elf]

I'm changing some things in its songs to reduce the power a bit. I'm noticing that I leaned more in the way of Controller, using the Leader sub-role as an excuse. However! You guys didn't give me any attack keywords other than Radiant to work with, so I think that justifies it. I also skimped on the whole shapechanging thing, I guess. It only shapechanges when bloodied... I hope it counts

[Alteran]

All allies within 15 squares can teleport 10 squares at-will? and they gain +2 damage from flanking? I agree that Stunned is very powerful, but the attack has to hit (thinking of reducing the attack bonus on that). And reducing enemy mobility is arguably only as useful as drastically increasing that of your own troops. However, I may make it so that Tangible Tune just slows enemies, no difficult terrain. Otherwise, enemies have an effective speed of 1.

They're all powerful, I just said I would usually lean towards those two, probably disarming melody. Reducing the attack bonus would make it a bit fairer, otherwise you could incapacitate the entire party for a round.

I thought that Tangible Tune was difficult terrain as well as slowed. Just slowed makes more sense.

I don't think we can blame you for using some keywords less than others, we didn't give you an easy time. =p

[Zeta Kai]

Nice monster, Shadow_Elf. This is a great conclusion to a nicely-run contest. I don't play 4E, & after reading the 4E Monster Manual, I doubt I ever will, but I really like the fluff. I think that there should be more high-level mounts. Great job, I hope to see more such contests in the future.

[Shadow_Elf]

Thanks for the feedback! I might run another starting Saturday, once I'm done with my custom races. This was a really great idea of yours, and I think that the VUAM will only spread (VUAV, in the most recent case...)