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Thajocoth
2009-03-12, 11:35 PM
In the campaign I'm running, the city of Quilthrin has powerful portalmancers who trained under Mulvera, the creator of a huge dome that acts as a giant protective portal-bubble over the region (about 1/4 the size of Ohio). Mulvera is dead, but his son Mulvera Jr. is now the High Portalmancer of Quilthrin. So... I figured Portalmancers (and Mulvera Jr., as he's the primary villain) needed stats.

For this, remember, every 2 squares of fall damage is 1d10, and this can be reduced via acrobatics... And when opening a portal "within 3 spaces", those spaces can be diagonally upward, to force fall damage.

The portalmancers hold something they call a "Key", as it's used by them to open pathways. It's essentially a magic orb with a hole drilled straight through, slipped over a staff to it's halfway point, affixed there, and a wand is drilled into the front of the orb. Most portalmancer's ranged attacks involve holding the key by the orb, aiming with the wand, and spinning the staff. It's mostly a thumb & ring finger motion, almost like snapping one's fingers, but while holding a ball made of glass that has sticks sticking out of it.



Portalmancer lvl 8 Elite Controller
Medium Fey Humanoid (Eladrin) 700 XP

Initiative +5
HP 168, Bloodied 84, Surge 42, Surges 2
Action Points 1
Saving Throws +2; Saving throws vs charm +7
Speed 6, Teleport 6


Melee Basic - Portalmancer's Key Strike (Standard/At-Will)
+8 vs AC; 1d8-1 damage
- Threatening Reach 2
[When utilizing that reach, the tip of the Key, as they call it, seems to disappear as they jab forward, and reappear 1 square away from them, as if moving through a tiny portal]

Ranged Basic - Open Hole: Range 10 (Standard/At-Will)
+12 vs Ref: Target falls through the floor and out a ceiling within 3 spaces of their starting point taking fall damage

Big Gap - Range 5 Burst 1 (Standard/Encounter)
+10 vs Ref: Target falls through a hole in the floor and out a ceiling of a same sized hole Range 3 Burst 1 from this hole of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: +5 to hit targets in the center of the burst
- Effect: The area is a hole that leads to the other hole until the start of the Portalmancer's next turn
- Miss: Target falls prone in the nearest space adjacent to the burst

Bloodied Recharge [Big Gap] (Free, when first bloodied/encounter)
- Portalmancer recharges Big Gap

Port Ally (Move/At-Will) Range 10
- Teleport an ally in range up to 5 squares to another space in range

Reactive Teleportation (Immediate Reaction when hit by a melee attack)
- Portalmancer teleports up to 3 squares

Str 8, Con 12, Int 20, Dex 12, Wis 18, Cha 10
21 AC, 15 Fort, 21 Ref, 23 Will


-----


Mulvera Jr. (Portalmancer) lvl 12 Solo Controller (Leader)
Medium Fey Humanoid (Eladrin) 3,500 XP

Initiative +7
HP 575, Bloodied 287, Surge 143, Surges 3
Action Points 2
Saving Throws +5; Saving throws vs charm +10
Speed 6, Teleport 6


Melee Basic - Portalmancer's Key Strike (Standard/At-Will)
+12 vs AC; 1d8+5 damage
- Threatening Reach 3

Ranged Basic - Open Hole: Range 20 (Standard/At-Will)
+16 vs Ref: Target falls through the floor and out a ceiling within 5 spaces of their starting point taking fall damage

Big Gap - Range 5 Burst 1 (Standard/Recharge 5, 6)
+14 vs Ref: Target falls through a hole in the floor and out a ceiling of a same sized hole Range 5 Burst 1 from this hole of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: +5 to hit targets in the center of the burst
- Effect: The area is a hole that leads to the other hole until the start of Mulvera Jr.'s next turn
- Miss: Target falls prone in the nearest space adjacent to the burst

Internal Blender: Range 10 (Minor/Recharge 5, 6)
+14 vs Fort; 3d8+5 damage; Ongoing 5 and Dazed (save ends both)
[For this, the tip of the staff seems to disappear, and the target feels something against their internal organs... Not fun.]

Protective Portal (Free, when first bloodied/encounter)
- For the rest of the encounter, all damage taken by Mulvera Jr.is divided between Mulvera Jr. and all allies within 20 squares
[He's a story character who's death triggers things, and I want the players to fight his 3 goons too. The 3 goons follow rules for PC creation, not monster creation. 2 are horribly Spellscarred, the other is a Gelatinous Humanoid.]

Port Ally (Move/At-Will) Range 20
- Teleport an ally in range up to 5 squares to another space in range

Healing Word (Minor/2xEncounter)
- Heal self or an ally within 20 for surge + 3d6

Reactive Teleportation (Immediate Reaction when hit by a melee attack)
- Mulvera Jr. teleports up to 3 squares

+21 Arcana, +21 History, +19 Religion, +15 Nature, +13 Diplomacy, +13 Bluff
Str 10, Con 11, Int 22, Dex 13, Wis 18, Cha 14
26 AC, 20 Fort, 24 Ref, 27 Will

Izmir Stinger
2009-03-13, 10:57 AM
I would specify an amount of (ML appropriate) damage the target of those portal attacks take. If the ceiling is too low for that amount of falling damage, just explain it away with the portal being a short tunnel. This is better than forcing the DM to constantly recalculate, or even specify the ceiling height - how often does a DM do that if it doesn't effect a mechanic. Also, they can fight outdoors without modification if you do this.

Just put an note in the "Special:" entry for the power that damage taken from this power represents damage from a fall and that skills (acrobatics) and abilities (slow fall, etc.) that can normally be used to mitigate/eliminate the damage from a fall can be used on this damage as well.

Thajocoth
2009-03-16, 09:18 AM
I don't see how fighting outside would be an issue... This is actually where the party I'm running this for will first encounter them. The exit portal doesn't have to be against a ceiling, so it'd just hover 3 squares up & over. I hadn't thought of ceilings being lower than 15 feet, though, so that is certainly something to consider. Though, 5 foot ceilings might already be squeezing, and 15 rounds down to 10 for fall damage... So I don't think it's that big a deal. Though, I should specify that the exit hole cannot be directly over the target:

"Note: The exit hole cannot be directly over, under or on the target's space."

And for Big Gap, overlapping, but slightly offsetting the two holes could potentially cause 3x the fall, which is 9 squares, which is 4d10, which is far too powerful for that level, so perhaps for Big Gap, it should be forced over a bit further:

"Note: The exit gap's center must be at least 3 spaces away from the targeted space."

Fall damage for 2-3 squares is 1d10. If they do a Big Gap, then their friend, in the same round, does Open Hole over the big gap, then, at 3 squares each, it's a total of 3d10 damage, situationally scaling the damage up. For a 10-foot high ceiling, this would max out at 2d10 with this chain. Then, any cliffs or pits or terrain height differences can be used by the Portalmancers as well making them more tactical. Perhaps I should add a note for a 1d10 minimum if hit:

"Note: If this hits, but does not drop the target far enough to roll fall damage, there is a minimum of 1d10 fall damage."

Thajocoth
2009-03-28, 11:28 AM
I just had a group face a couple Portalmancers.

Group: Lvl 3
Deva Wizard
Dhampyr Longtooth Shifter Cleric with Quarry (melee)
Longtooth Shifter Ranger (2-weapon - melee)
Half-Elf Rogue (melee)
Fire Genasi Swordmage (melee)
Warforged Fighter (melee)

vs

2 Portalmancers (lvl 8)

It sucked... For me & them...

A - They could barely hit the group, and when they do it's for next to nothing.
B - Thanks to teleporting, they always not only get out of being flanked, but are far enough to make it difficult to re-flank, so damaging them is a very slow process too.

Within the first round, I had even dropped their teleportation reaction to being hit with melee, "Big Gap" no longer knocks prone on a miss and they can't teleport one another without using "Open Hole".

Fighting them is just a matter of rolling for lots and lots of turns. Granted... The party put all their eggs in the "Hit enemy AC with melee" basket...

So, I'm thinking of the following:

Portalmancer lvl 8 Elite Controller
Medium Fey Humanoid (Eladrin) 700 XP

Initiative +5
HP 168, Bloodied 84, Surge 42, Surges 2
Action Points 1
Saving Throws +2; Saving throws vs charm +7
Speed 6, Teleport 4


Melee Basic - Portalmancer's Key Strike (Standard/At-Will)
+8 vs AC; 1d8-1 damage
- Threatening Reach 2

Ranged Basic - Magic Missle: Range 20 (Standard/At-Will)
+12 vs Ref: 2d4+5

Ranged - Open Hole: Range 10 (Standard/Recharge: 5, 6)
+12 vs Ref: Target falls through the floor and out a ceiling within 3 spaces of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: The fall damage taken counts as damage from this attack for all intents and purposes

Ranged - Internal Blender: Range 5 (Standard/Recharge: 6)
+12 vs Fort: 2d8+5 and Ongoing 5 (save ends)

Big Gap - Range 5 Burst 1 (Standard/Encounter)
+10 vs Ref: Target falls through a hole in the floor and out a ceiling of a same sized hole Range 3 Burst 1 from this hole of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: +5 to hit targets in the center of the burst
- Effect: The area is a hole that leads to the other hole until the start of the Portalmancer's next turn
- Miss: Target shifts to the nearest space adjacent to the burst
- Special: The fall damage taken counts as damage from this attack for all intents and purposes

Bloodied Recharge [Big Gap] (Free, when first bloodied/encounter)
- Portalmancer recharges Big Gap

Str 8, Con 12, Int 20, Dex 12, Wis 18, Cha 10
21 AC, 15 Fort, 21 Ref, 23 Will



This way, they can deal more damage, teleport less, and make decisions on what abilities to use...

Similarly, I'll adjust the High Portalmancer as well:



Mulvera Jr. (Portalmancer) lvl 12 Solo Controller (Leader)
Medium Fey Humanoid (Eladrin) 3,500 XP

Initiative +7
HP 575, Bloodied 287, Surge 143, Surges 3
Action Points 2
Saving Throws +5; Saving throws vs charm +10
Speed 7, Teleport 5


Melee Basic - Portalmancer's Key Strike (Standard/At-Will)
+12 vs AC; 1d8+5 damage
- Threatening Reach 2

Ranged Basic - Magic Missle: Range 20 (Standard/At-Will)
+16 vs Ref: 2d4+6

Ranged - Higher Magic (Standard/At-Will)
Make 2 Magic Missle Attacks

Ranged - Open Hole: Range 15 (Standard/Recharge 5, 6)
+16 vs Ref: Target falls through the floor and out a ceiling within 5 spaces of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: The fall damage taken counts as damage from this attack for all intents and purposes

Big Gap - Range 5 Burst 1 (Standard/Recharge 5, 6)
+14 vs Ref: Target falls through a hole in the floor and out a ceiling of a same sized hole Range 5 Burst 1 from this hole of their starting point taking fall damage
- Special: +5 to hit targets in the center of the burst
- Effect: The area is a hole that leads to the other hole until the start of Mulvera Jr.'s next turn
- Miss: Target shifts to the nearest space adjacent to the burst
- Special: The fall damage taken counts as damage from this attack for all intents and purposes

Internal Blender: Range 10 (Minor/Recharge 5, 6)
+14 vs Fort; 3d8+5 damage; Ongoing 5 and Dazed (save ends both)

Protective Portal (Free, once per round while bloodied/At-Will)
- An attack that hits Mulvera Jr. hits one of Mulvera Jr.'s allies within 20 spaces instead. [He opens a portal between him and the blade or arrow or whatnot headed at him]

Portal Shield (Immediate Reaction, when hit by a melee attack/Recharge: 6)
- Roll a saving throw. If successful, Mulvera Jr. redirects the attack to an adjacent enemy
- Special: The damage taken from this attack counts as having come from Mulvera Jr. for all intents and purposes

Spell Grab (Immediate Reaction, when hit by a ranged attack/Recharge: 6)
- Roll a saving throw. If successful, Mulvera Jr. catches the attack between two portals. The attack disappears if not used by the end of Mulvera Jr.'s next turn.

Release Grabbed Spell (Standard, must have cast Spell Grab within the past round)
- The grabbed spell is cast on someone else

Healing Word (Minor/2xEncounter)
- Heal self or an ally within 20 for surge + 3d6

+21 Arcana, +21 History, +19 Religion, +15 Nature, +13 Diplomacy, +13 Bluff
Str 10, Con 11, Int 22, Dex 13, Wis 18, Cha 14
26 AC, 20 Fort, 24 Ref, 27 Will

Thajocoth
2009-04-06, 02:27 PM
I've had players face the new, improved version of Portalmancers, and my little tweaks to it made a ton of difference. They're far more interesting to fight, fight as, and they don't wipe the party. I suppose that sometimes giving a monster more powers is better for everyone.

As for Portalmancer Tactics:
A Portalmancer will use Big Gap when it sees it's enemies grouped together close enough to the portalmancer to cast it. Then they might spend an action point to use Open Hole to try to drop another enemy into the Big Gap, for 6 squares of fall damage (unless they make a save to catch the edge halfway down). The Portalmancer will otherwise cast Internal Blender if possible, defaulting to Magic Missle when they're too far away or out of tricks.