War Drums Preview 7

D&D Miniatures
War Drums Preview 7
Good In Class
by Stephen Schubert

This week we'll look at a pair of uncommon Lawful Good minis that highlight two prestige classes. I mean, did you expect a minotaur?

Combat Medic

Combat Medic Back in early 2004, I was enlisted to help write Heroes of Battle, and I eagerly jumped on the assignment. Each of the involved writers was responsible for many of the great concepts within the book, and each of us provided prestige classes that fit the war theme. At the time, I was running a group through the excellent City of the Spider Queen adventure. One of the PCs was a pacifist cleric of Lliira who made somewhere between five and ten offensive actions during the entire adventure. When the player was searching for a prestige class, I decided to do double-duty and create a healing-centric class that could serve as a healer in the middle of a large-scale war. Thus the Combat Medic was born. When the book was close to production, War Drums lead designer Rob Heinsoo picked up the class for inclusion in this set. This miniature looks exactly like the art on page 100 of Heroes of Battle, down to the wand in hand and the scarcely-used mace at her belt.

The Combat Medic is healing tech for Lawful Good and a significant upgrade over the Healer from Archfiends, though her cost is over twice that of the Healer. For those extra points, you get nearly twice the Healer's 20 hp, the solid AC that comes from a magic breastplate and shield, and a pair of cure critical wounds spells, which can be life-savers (not the fruity kind). Her wand of cure light wounds gives her more uses of that spell than you could possibly exhaust in a skirmish, and her Sacred Healing ability gives an effective 10 points of healing to all living creatures within short range. Unlike the PC in my game, this Combat Medic packs at least a small punch with a searing light spell usable at range. Between her spells and Turn Undead 7, the Combat Medic makes for a great anti-undead piece.

Warpriest of Moradin

Complete Divine offers up the Warpriest, a battle-oriented cleric (as if clerics weren't battle-oriented enough). War Drums provides one interpretation of the class: the Warpriest of Moradin. This dwarf priest, with massive maul ready to strike, makes a perfect mini for a dwarf fighter or cleric or even a Hammer of Moradin (from the Player's Guide to Faerun).

Another of the seven uncommon commanders in War Drums, the Warpriest of Moradin is a solid choice to lead a warband. His hammer hits for 15 magic damage, and he can throw it a short distance. He offers solid spells, dealing damage at range with deific vengeance and helping out the entire warband with divine protection. He can even counter poison.

But two things about this Warpriest make me want to play him, even if he is one-quarter of my warband's cost: close wounds and his commander effect. Close wounds is used as an immediate action to prevent an ally within range from dying. I can think of a number of occasions where that would have been a game-saver! Moradin's War Cry (his commander effect) forces morale saves any time an out-of-command enemy is damaged. Despite some rules changes in War Drums, commanders will still be a significant part of warband construction, and this commander can be a significant part of any LG warband.

I'd give you a hint for next week, but the labyrinthine paths of my mind always seem to lead you inadvertently astray. I'll type the puppy up once I stop sniggering about all the speculation, and you'll have something to read next week.

About the Author

Stephen Schubert is a Developer with RPG/Minis R&D and is the lead developer for D&D Miniatures starting with next July's War of the Dragon Queen. He's also helped develop many exciting upcoming D&D products, including Player's Handbook II, Monster Manual IV, Tome of Magic, and Tome of Battle!