Fiend Factory 5E. White Dwarf 43: The Vanith-Vadiren

Issue 43 The Vanith-Vadiren

With the Inhuman Gods series finally at an end, this month’s selection is loosely tied by creatures that are generally found mounted, and is called And Some Came Riding.

It’s only got three entries, mainly because each one is quite detailed. The Bug- Riders, by Jack Rick, are what it says on the tin – a race of insect-people that ride giant insects. The bug riders themselves are pretty much standard humanoid creatures, mechanically (with the ability to spit acid for 1d10 damage), and some have druidic abilities. There are also stats given for the various typical mounts – crane fly, wolf spider and red and black ants (giant versions thereof), and it’d be interesting to use these as different tribes at odds with one another.

 

The Lich-King, by Daniel Lucacinsky feels like another attempt at the Ringwraiths, after the “actual” Ringwraith stats and the “Night Riders”, and is also similar to the Four Horsemen.

In this case, only two (not nine) exist; tough critters with magical sickles that drain souls, as well as an arsenal of psionic and magical powers, regeneration, and a deadly death cry if anybody does manage to (temporarily) kill them. They would make a nice high-level boss encounter, and are far enough from Nazgul to not seem like a complete rip-off.

Both of these creatures are fine, but lack a certain something, and so I’ve had to go with my old pal Phil Masters yet again, as his Vanith-Vadiren (Heaven Elves) are the best of the bunch. Even though he’s just had four issues all to his greedy self.

 

These are a race of elves that live in the celestial realms (so a little bit like Tolkien’s elves who went to Valar and stayed there), riding pegasi, giant eagles and also having a nice line in flying ships (always fun). Phil goes into a lot of detail about the vadiren with clerical, wizardly, bardic and monkish levels, but I’m not going to go into those here, since it’d really just be an adjustment of the base vadiren. I am, however, going to give a few variants based on the general scaling of these guys. They’d be workable as a playable race as well.

These could be humanoid, but having them celestials makes more sense since they live in the Outer Planes, and this gives them a twist on regular elves. Most of the abilities speak for themselves, following Phil’s sequence for the innate spellcasting. Rather than the vadiren appearing to elves as Charisma 15, I just gave them a base score of Charisma 15; it’s easier. The Helm gets some additional powers that apply when it’s on its ship, and as for the psychic-warrior vangirru, some of its abilities are basically additional innate spellcasting powers (Body Control and Energy Control effectively amount to resistance to energy, so I gave it multiple uses of protection from energy. I also added the psychic strike action, just because. You could use the full Psychic Warrior fighter path, but I’ve found that for NPCs it’s generally a bit easier to add a few bits rather than make them like a full PC.

  

Vanith-Vadiren

Medium celestial (elf), lawful good

Armour Class 17 (chain shirt and shield) Hit Points 16 (3d8 + 3) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 15 (+2)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Skills Animal Handling +4, Arcana +6, Athletics +5, Perception +4 Tool Proficiencies flying vehicles Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Celestial, Common, Elven

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Elven Resistances. The vadiren has advantage on saving throws against effects that would leave it charmed, and against spells from the illusion school. Innate Spellcasting. The vadiren’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells.   1/day each: detect magic, feather fall, tongues   ACTIONS

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage. Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage. Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60/300 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

 

 

Vanith-Vadiren Veteran

Medium celestial (elf), lawful good

Armour Class 18 (+1 chain shirt and shield) Hit Points 22 (4d8 + 4) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 16 (+3)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Skills Animal Handling +5, Arcana +6, Athletics +5, Perception +4 Tool Proficiencies flying vehicles Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Celestial, Common, Elven

Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Elven Resistances. The vadiren has advantage on saving throws against effects that would leave it charmed, and against spells from the illusion school. Innate Spellcasting. The vadiren’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells.   1/day each: bless, detect magic, dispel magic, feather fall, speak with animals, tongues   ACTIONS

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage. Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage. Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60/300 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

 

 

Vanith-Vadiren Helm

Medium celestial (elf), lawful good

Armour Class 16 (+2 leather armour) Hit Points 33 (6d8 + 6) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 19 (+4) 14 (+2) 16 (+3)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Skills Animal Handling +5, Arcana +6, Athletics +5, Perception +4 Tool Proficiencies flying vehicles Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Celestial, Common, Elven

Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Elven Resistances. The vadiren has advantage on saving throws against effects that would leave it charmed, and against spells from the illusion school. Innate Spellcasting. The vadiren’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells.   At Will: predict weather 3/day each: control winds 1/day each: bless, detect magic, dispel magic, feather fall, speak with animals, tongues   ACTIONS

+2 Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage. Fireball (3/day): If the vadiren helm is on the deck of a flying ship, it can use its action to project a fireball from the prow, as per the spell. The fireball causes 21 (6d6) fire damage, or half that if the target makes a successful DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. Plane Shift (recharges after Short or Long Rest): If the vadiren helm is on the deck of a flying ship, it can use its action to  cause its flying ship to plane shift, as per the spell. Summon Elemental (1/day): If the vadiren helm is on the deck of a flying ship, it can use its action to summon an air elemental with 8 Hit Dice. The elemental obeys the vadiren helm and remains for one hour, until killed or dispelled, or until the helm becomes unconscious or uses a bonus action to dismiss it.

 

 

Vanith-Vadiren Vangirru

Medium celestial (elf), lawful good

Armour Class 18 (+1 chain shirt and shield) Hit Points 22 (4d8 + 4) Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 16 (+3)

Proficiency Bonus +2 Skills Animal Handling +5, Arcana +6, Athletics +5, Perception +4 Tool Proficiencies flying vehicles Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Celestial, Common, Elven

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Combat Precognition. The vadiren has advantage on initiative checks. Elven Resistances. The vadiren has advantage on saving throws against effects that would leave it charmed, and against spells from the illusion school. Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The vadiren’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells without using components:   1/day each: bless, detect magic, dispel magic, feather fall, mind bar, speak with animals, tongues 3/day each: protection from energy   ACTIONS

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage. Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage. Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60/300 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage. Psychic Strike (Recharge 5-6). The vadiren can add 4 (1d8) psychic damage to one of its weapon attacks if the attack hits.