[4e] Elemental Wolves

[Mr_Dave]

Original

Statistics

Elemental Wolf (Template for editing) Level 2 Skirmisher
Medium Elemental Beast XP 125

Initiative +5 Senses Perception +7; lowlight vision
Hp 38; Bloodied 19
AC 16; Fortitude 14 Reflex 14 Will 13
Resist 5 (energy type)
Speed 8

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+7 vs AC 1d8+2 (energy type) damage and 5 ongoing (energy type) damage (save ends)

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.


Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 13(+2) Dex14(+3) Wis13(+2)
Con14(+3) Int2(-3) Cha10(+1)




Slime Wolf

Slime Wolf Level 3 Controller
Medium Natural Beast XP 150

Initiative +4 Senses Perception +8; lowlight vision
Hp 46; Bloodied 23
AC 17; Fortitude 15 Reflex 15 Will 14
Resist 5 acid
Speed 7

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+5 vs AC 1d4 damage and 3 ongoing acid damage (save ends)

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.

Spit (Standard; at will)
Range 5; automatic hit
The slime wolf spits acid at a square. That terrain becomes difficult and any creature that ends their turn in the square takes 5 acid damage

Corrosion (Standard; encounter)
+8 vs Reflex 4 points of acid damage and target takes a -2 AC penalty until the end of the encounter.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 13(+2) Dex14(+3) Wis13(+2)
Con15(+4) Int4(-2) Cha7(-1)

The Slime Wolf was created by a forbidden guild of dark magicans to terrorize the local people. They turned on their masters and escaped. In the wild they live near swamps and marshes. They ally with other wolves.


A character knows the following information with a succesful Nature check.
DC20: The Slime Wolf can corrode armor with a lethal acid.
DC25: The Plague Wolf is resistant against acid.

Tactics:
Slime wolves hide behind brutes and soldiers. It spits acid at foes. If a foe is next to it, it uses corrosion and the circle to flee. If it has already used corrosion it will shift and then spit in the square it just occupied.


Ice Wolf

Ice Wolf Level 3 Artillery
Medium Elemental Beast XP 150

Initiative +4 Senses Perception +7; lowlight vision
Hp 36; Bloodied 18
AC 15; Fortitude 14 Reflex 15 Will 15
Resist 5 Cold
Speed 6

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+6 vs AC 1d4+2 damage and 2 ongoing cold damage (save ends)

Ice Shard (Standard; at-will)
+10 vs AC 1d6+3 cold damage and the target is slowed (save ends)

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.


Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 11(+1) Dex15(+4) Wis13(+2)
Con13(+3) Int3(-3) Cha10(+1)



Ice wolves are not related to winterwolves and are far less dangerous. They were accidentaly forged when a wolf strayed to near a rift to the Elemental Chaos, where it was infused with ice energy. It is often found in the service of archons and other ice elementals or in icy conditions.

A character knows the following information with a succesful Arcana check.
DC20: The Ice wolf creates a shard of ice in its mouth which it blasts at foes. This ice quickly chills the body, slowing it down.
DC25: It lives in ice cold conditions, causing it to be slightly resistant to cold.



Flame Wolf

Flame Wolf Level 2 Brute
Medium Elemental Beast (fire) XP 125

Blazing Fur (Fire) Aura 1; any non fire creature that begins its turn in the aura takes 2 fire damage
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +5; lowlight vision
Hp 48; Bloodied 29
AC 14; Fortitude 14 Reflex 14 Will 13
Resist 5 Fire
Speed 6

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+5 vs AC 1d0+3 damage and 4 ongoing fire damage (save ends)

Circle (Move; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.



Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 13(+2) Dex14(+3) Wis13(+2)
Con15(+3) Int2(-3) Cha9(+0)

Flame wolves were born when wolves strayed to near, or even into a rift to the Elemental Chaos. They fused with the elements creating new speices.
Archons and other humanoid elementals can tame these beasts. They are often found as defenses in the Elemental Chaos or living near volcanoes.

A character knows the following information with a succesful Arcana check.
DC20: The flame wolf can burn close enemies.
DC25: The flame wolf is resistant to fire.

Tactics:
They stay put most of the battle, often in a line. They will go after ranged opponents if no one engages them. If there are several flame wolves, they will swarm a foe that reaches their lines, hoping that their flaming fur will kill it.



Storm Wolf

Storm Wolf Level 5 Skirmisher
Medium Elemental Beast XP 200

Initiative +7 Senses Perception +9; lowlight vision
Hp 66; Bloodied 33
AC 19; Fortitude 16 Reflex 17 Will 17
Resist 5 lightning
Speed 8

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+10 vs AC 1d6+3 damage and storm wolf teleports adjacent to an enemy within 10 squares. It can then make a secondary attack
+8 vs AC 1d4+2 damage and 1 point of ongoing lightning damage (save ends)

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.


Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 13(+2) Dex19(+6) Wis19(+6)
Con14(+3) Int5(-1) Cha10(+1)


Storm wolves are the result of a wolf delving into the Elemental Chaos, and finding itself inside a storm. The electricity courses through its veins, and it often sparks. It finds itself at near death if placed near a highly magnetic field. They co-operate with other creatures electrical, communicating through sparks. They can be found most frequently in high open grounds.

A character knows the following information with a succesful Arcana check.
DC20: This predator can turn into a bolt of electricity, letting it jump around the battlefield with ease.
DC25: The current running through its body helps it resist electric shocks.



Death Wolf

Death Wolf Level 4 Lurker
Medium Shadow Beast XP 175

Initiative +7 Senses Perception +7; darkvision
Hp 31; Bloodied 15
AC 18; Fortitude 15 Reflex 16 Will 16
Resist 5 necrotic
Speed 8

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+9 vs AC 1d10+4 damage and 5 ongoing necrotic damage (save ends). The death wolf becomes invisble to enemies taking ongoing damage.

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The wolf can shift 1 square. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.


Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 11(+1) Dex15(+4) Wis12(+2)
Con10(+1) Int6(-1) Cha12(+2)

Death wolves were created when wolves wandered into a Shadowfell rift. Apon entering Orcus's followers mutated the wolves, infusing them with evil energies. The wolf lives in pain, as it is slowly being eaten by the dark energy. This energy encourages them to work with evil creatures. They can be found anywhere with evil creatures.

A character knows the following information with a succesful Religion check.
DC20: These wolves bites can cause them to turn invisble to the infected victim.
DC25: They are resistan to necrotic damage.

Tactics:
The wolf will move towards and enemy, then shift next to it. It inflicts a bite attack, before circling away. It trys to become invisble to all enemies before picking them off one at a time.


Plague Wolf

Plague Wolf Level 2 Skirmisher
Medium Natural Beast XP 125

Initiative +5 Senses Perception +7; lowlight vision
Hp 38; Bloodied 19
AC 16; Fortitude 14 Reflex 14 Will 13
Resist 5 poison
Speed 8

Bite (Standard; at-will)
+7 vs AC 1d8+2 damage and 5 ongoing poison damage (save ends)

Circle (Minor; at-will)
The plague wolf can shift 2 squares. It can swap places with an adjacent ally using this shift.

Infection (Standard; encounter)
+8 vs Fortitude
Target gets biten and takes 10 points of poison damage and becomes weakened (save ends)

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 13(+2) Dex14(+3) Wis13(+2)
Con15(+4) Int2(-3) Cha8(+0)


The Plague Wolf is created when a wolf drinks from tainted water. It then contracts an unkown disease which horrificly mutates it. It is often found in sewers or swamps. They are mainly found in packs with other wolves.


A character knows the following information with a succesful Nature check.
DC20: The Plague Wolf can weaken enemies with a deadly poison.
DC25: The Plague Wolf is resistant against poison.

Tactics:
Plague wolves charge the enemy, and use infection. They then circle away. They charge, bite and circle the other enemies.





Psy Wolf


Light Wolf


Screech Wolf




Energy types:
Acid (Slime Wolf)
Cold (Ice Wolf)
Fire (Flame Wolf)
Lightning (Storm Wolf)
Necrotic (Death Wolf)
Poison (Plague Wolf)
Psychic (Psy Wolf)
Radiant (Light Wolf)
Thunder (Screech Wolf)


This is my first homebrew, so excuse me if its not very good.
Comments? Suggestions? All welcome :D


Edit: 1.1
Added amount of ongoing damage
Added circle power
Added desciption , knowledge checks and tactics

2.0
Added seperate stats for each monster
Changed each monsters stats and powers
Added tactics

[Rigon]

the amount of the ongoing damage is missing (i suppose it's 5)

i think it could use a minor action or immediate interrupt power which would allow it to keep distance (and avoid attacks).

otherwise it looks promising, but it could use some fluff text. when / how / why did they come to existance? are they artifical animal companions? what is their natural habitat?

[KIDS]

Yes, it's not really a Skirmisher without abilities that let it move, shift, or do something similar. Right now, it fits the way the Worg was built (a brute), not that it hurts it or anything.

It's a nice idea but it also needs some flavor text.

[Mr_Dave]

Rigon, it was ment to be 2, but I've put 5.

I guess taking the wolves prone power did stop it being skirmisher,


I did realise today I needed to add information and Knowledge checks...

Thanks for the help so far, it will be changed asap :D

[AgentPaper]

Looks good, but I would recommend making the different types of wolves different in more aspects than just the damage type they do, because otherwise they're kinda boring and repetitive to fight.

For example, the Storm Wolf might have an attack like Thunder Rush, on a recharge or 1/encounter, which allows it to move 5 squares and deal damage to all creatures it passes during that movement. Just a couple interesting differences that makes fighting a pack of Storm Wolves at least somewhat different from fighting a pack of Plague Wolves.

[Yakk]

I'd have them do normal damage (the bite), then elemental ongoing damage by default.

The idea of giving each wolf it's own per-encounter power (or other quirk) based on damage type sounds good.

Thoughts:
Acid (Slime Wolf)
--- An AC debuff?

Cold (Ice Wolf)
--- Slows, naturally.

Fire (Flame Wolf)
--- Deals damage to anyone who ends their turn adjacent to the wolf.

Lightning (Storm Wolf)
--- When it hits on a bite, it teleports adjacent to a different target, and deals lightning damage to the other target.

Necrotic (Death Wolf)
--- Heals from the ongoing damage.
--- Has superior concealment from anyone taking ongoing damage.

Poison (Plague Wolf)
--- Weakens.

Psychic (Psy Wolf)
--- Higher level. Can make a Mind Bite on targets taking ongoing Psychic damage to dominate for one turn.

Radiant (Light Wolf)
--- ???

Thunder (Screech Wolf)
--- Charge attack thing
--- Bite pushes target 1d6 squares.

[Mr_Dave]

Thanks for the suggestions,

thats alot of feedback, thankyou, I will use as much as I can

I am going to make each wolf a different monster I think, with different levels and roles. This will hopefully make them more exciting and different.

[Mr_Dave]

Been on holiday, so havn't edited in a while.
I added the Death Wolf yesterday.
I'm really not sure about that one, so any comments would be useful.

[Mercenary Pen]

Previous editions of D&D certainly had the Winter Wolf, which would fill in your cold damage elemental niche, whilst allowing you to say "look, I'm drawing upon rich traditions from previous editions of D&D".

Beyond that, I'd emphasize the suggestions of other posters that each of these monsters should have their own, mechanically-different abilities, based upon their element, for example, the plague wolf should not only have abilities that do poison damage, but based upon its name, could possess abilities that inflict diseases (maybe use the Dire Rat's Filth Fever from MM1 if you don't want to develop your own).

On the other hand, the slime wolf might be able to dissolve into a puddle of acidic goo in the same way that a gargoyle can change back into a statue- and with similar results.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Hmm, I may need to recheck power levels, but some of them seem off here.

Individual reviews...

Plague Wolf: I'd say dock the damage for this one, if you're going to slap on ongoing damage. It just feels too powerful for a Level 2. Otherwise, pretty good, although a disease would be a good idea.

Slime Wolf: I think you mean "difficult terrain", not hindering terrain. That power, Spit, is the biggest issue. An auto-hit for 5 poison? I assume it should be worded "Any creature that ends their turn in the square takes 5 poison damage" or something like that. Corrosion should also not impose a permanent AC penalty. Save ends, I'd say.

Flame Wolf: Seems pretty good.

Death Wolf: The invisibility belongs outside of the attacks, as a property of the wolf. Maybe "Cloak of Death". I think it's too big, but I like the concept. Maybe combat advantage against all enemies in that state?

[Mr_Dave]

Death Wolf: The invisibility belongs outside of the attacks, as a property of the wolf. Maybe "Cloak of Death". I think it's too big, but I like the concept. Maybe combat advantage against all enemies in that state?

The Specter (DMG Page 244) is also a level 4 lurker.
It is insubstantial, flies (hover), phases, and can turn invisble as an standard at will action, along with immunity to disease and poison...
It can also knock people prone with a rechargable attack.

I believe this is much better powers then my deathwolf, although my wolf has more damage.

And to your other things.. I'll look at them and possibly change it.

[Mr_Dave]

And Mercanary Pen, those are some good suggestions,
I'll finish up with making all the wolves before looking at those.
Thanks alot to everyone so far for the advice.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The Specter (DMG Page 244) is also a level 4 lurker.
It is insubstantial, flies (hover), phases, and can turn invisble as an standard at will action, along with immunity to disease and poison...
It can also knock people prone with a rechargable attack.

I believe this is much better powers then my deathwolf, although my wolf has more damage.

And to your other things.. I'll look at them and possibly change it.
Yeah, that's exactly what I meant when I said I didn't have a good grasp on the power levels. Monsters seem to obey different rules than PCs, which is good, as they're supposed to challenge them.

[FoE]

I'll just note that the Winter Wolf is already in the MM2. It's a Paragon tier monster, however, so if you're designing a Heroic tier monster, go ahead by all means.

I don't like the Elemental Wolf or the Death Wolf, but I do like the Slime Wolf and Plague Wolf. The latter sounds cool.

"Ach! Hans, run! Ze plague wolves are coming!"

[Mr_Dave]

"Ach! Hans, run! Ze plague wolves are coming!"


XD
Brilliant.

Also, I don't have MM2, so I didn't know, thanks for that.
No one sells it around where I live! Or the PHB2!

And carpe, I know, some creatures seem really strong compared to the PCs, but they are aparntly balanced, so its all good.

Thanks for posting twice btw! It makes me feel loved =D

[Urist Ironblood]

In order to use these in a nice big 4th Ed. style combat, you'll want to pair them up with element-appropriate creatures (e.g. a green slime leading slime wolves) or re-skin a handful of them as minions. Depending on your players a wolf-pack could be a thrilling encounter... not knowing which ones are minions until they start to notice one or two in particular are hitting harder and still standing after AoE attacks. I propose naming the minions as follows, with some controller-like encounter powers to add synergy to a wolfpack of these elemental beasties. You may need to level them all up to lvl 3 if the synergies are too vicious but I tried to keep things simple.

Acid (Slime Wolf / Ooze Wolf) - a Slime Wolf can absorb an Ooze wolf's corpse as a minor action and regain 1/4 of its hp.

Cold (Ice Wolf / Frost Wolf) - when a Frost Wolf dies, the terrain square it's in becomes Icy Terrain (as with the spell) until the end of the encounter (end of the killing player's next turn?)

Fire (Flame Wolf / Ember Wolf) - when an Ember Wolf is subjected to fire damage it voluntarily fails its saving throw and gains hit points; include the Flame Wolf's aura as a source of fire damage and these minions stop being one-shot enemies pretty quickly.

Lightning (Storm Wolf / Spark Wolf) - when a Spark Wolf hits with a melee attack, a Storm Wolf within 10 squares can teleport up to 5 squares and make an attack that deals lightning damage.

Necrotic (Death Wolf / Crypt Wolf) - when a Crypt Wolf dies, the Death Wolf gets a +1 to all defenses for the next turn (if two die in the same turn, the DW gets +2, etc)

Poison (Plague Wolf / Filth Wolf) - the Filth Wolf can't spread Filth Fever, but players hit by both a Plague Wolf and a Filth Wolf take a -2 penalty to rolls against the disease because the two strains of disease intermingle.

Psychic (Psy Wolf / Mind Wolf) - As an encounter power, a Mind Wolf can use an at-will power from the full list of powers available to a player it began its turn adjacent to (e.g. if it started next to a wizard it could use Thunderwave but only if the wizard knew Thunderwave, too); the Wolf's teeth count as a melee weapon for purposes of "WEAPON" powers.

Radiant (Light Wolf / Glow Wolf) - when a Glow Wolf dies, as an immediate reaction, its corpse glows, radiates, and then bursts (radiant attack at +4 vs. Reflex) blinding adjacent enemies until the end of their next turn.

Thunder (Screech Wolf / Howlin' Wolf) - a Howlin' Wolf gets a free melee basic opportunity attack against any creature that would otherwise be pushed into its space; if this attack hits the creature is knocked prone.

[Mr_Dave]

I was thinking about making minions, so thanks for all your suggestions.
I need to finish the rest of the wolves before I start all of these.

Also, as an actual spoiler for future wolves...


Force energy wolf
(Elite) Dire elemental wolves