April 23, 2010

Sleeper- 4E Monster

Sleeper
When mighty empires have the will and resources to create their own monsters of war, what they create can break the laws of decency and common sense. One such empire, now lost in the sands of time, did just that. They sought to fuse the cunning and ingenuity of a man with the relentless force of a golem. They gathered their smartest artificers and ordered them to augment their finest soldiers with the magic and metal of a construct.

In one respect they created what they sought, a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. The only problem was they lost self-will and with that self-will they lost the thing that made them creative in combat. They needed to be controlled at all times. They could follow easy instructions but any deviation from a command was beyond them. They required constant control, which on the battlefield is difficult at best. Their enemies soon learned to ignore the constructs and focus their attacks on their handlers, who were alot easier to kill. The constructs lost their effectiveness and many were mothballed.
Many years passed since they were first created but several of them still exist. When first rediscovered they were given the label "The Sleepers" for lack of a better name. Smart thinkers have found ways to control them and, while they require constant commands to be effective, they are a force to be reckoned with again.

No one knows how many Sleepers still exist hidden away in lost archives, but to find one and learn how to control one gives a person great power. Woe betide the person who finds a Sleeper still following a previous command, such as "protect this area from all intruders", as they will find themselves in a battle they may not be able to win.

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Sleeper Lore
Arcana DC 23
Sleepers are fusions of man and golem, created long ago. They attack using the lgihtning they were created from.

Arcana DC 25
Unless active, a sleeper will most likely not attack, unless it is waiting for a trigger. Sleepers will attach a lightning tendril to its target and then cause the mark to explode in a wide area. Since it is possible to avoid an inactive sleeper that is the recommended course of action.

Arcana DC  27
Sleepers can be given commands. These commands must be simple and any deviation from that previous command requires a completely new command to be given.

























Tactics
A sleeper attempts to mark as many opponents as possible and then unleashes its Lightning Burst whenever it can. If Lightning Burst is unavailable it will use Conduct Lightning against an adjacent opponent.

Notes
The mark the sleeper can do appears as a blue nimbus around its target.

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