Ring Wraith: abilities?

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Necrozius

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Context: D&D 5e / Adventures in Middle Earth.

In the next session of my campaign, the party will face one of the Ring Wraiths.

Not the Lord of the Nazgul, mind you, "just" one of the others. He's been causing mischief on his own, sabotaging the Dwarves of Erebor by keeping one of their former allies (a Giant) weak, tortured and imprisoned. Being pure fucking evil, he didn't just kill the giant, of course; the Nazgul love the taste of misery and pain. This one in particular drinks it in like a fine wine, bringing up his strength after his defeat by the White Council about 5 or 6 years ago. He's been feeding on the giant like a vampire for many, many years.

What sorts of abilities would you grant such a creature? I don't want to just use a typical wraith stat block from the D&D 5e monster manual... unless folks think that's decent enough?

They heroes own at least two magical weapons, so I'd think that they could "hurt" him. If they whack him enough he'll get banished, fleeing to the South.

Thanks!
 
Hmm so they can't be destroyed but they can be uncloaked (physical form destroyed). If I recall this doesn't take magical weapons but is difficult due to their shadow nature.

Struggling to remember how it works in 5e for wraiths but many of their abilities match up.

They'd have an aura of fear and possibly a method of supernatural poison from their weapons.

I'd be tempted to layer on a disorienting effect from their voices too.
 
I'm not up on 5e rules, but offhand my instinct would be to use a high-level Lich as a basis. Or a death knight like Lord Soth.
 
I'm not up on 5e rules, but offhand my instinct would be to use a high-level Lich as a basis. Or a death knight like Lord Soth.
It's a hard one, I'm thinking the Witch King of Angmar hits that level but the rest top out somewhere else.
 
It's a hard one, I'm thinking the Witch King of Angmar hits that level but the rest top out somewhere else.

Its hard to say. The Witch King is really the only one we saw in combat, with Eowyn, and I think overall that was more a "Dramatic Moment" than Tolkien's attempt to show how badass a fighter he was. Overall, Tolkien used them more as a threat than a physical danger, on Weathertop Aragorn managed to chase them away with a sword and a torch. I think there's a lot of leeway for personal interpretation.

"We are the Nazghul! Our chief weapon is Fear!...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and a fanatical devotion to Sauron!.... Our *three*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise a fanatical devotion to Sauron...and Morghul Blades...Damn, we'll come in again"
 
Its hard to say. The Witch King is really the only one we saw in combat, with Eowyn, and I think overall that was more a "Dramatic Moment" than Tolkien's attempt to show how badass a fighter he was. Overall, Tolkien used them more as a threat than a physical danger, on Weathertop Aragorn managed to chase them away with a sword and a torch. I think there's a lot of leeway for personal interpretation.

"We are the Nazghul! Our chief weapon is Fear!...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and a fanatical devotion to Sauron!.... Our *three*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise a fanatical devotion to Sauron...and Morghul Blades...Damn, we'll come in again"

Lol your not wrong :eek:
 
You will actually get stats for three of the Nazgul (The Lieutenant of Dol Guldur, The Ghost of the Forest, and The Messenger of Mordor) in one of the next books. They were statted up in The Darkening of Mirkwood for The One Ring, so this information is coming from that book. I think the 5e version is called The Mirkwood Campaign but I'm not 100% positive of that.

First things first, the Nazgul shortly after The Hobbit are a lot weaker than what they'll become later on when Sauron's power grows again. That said, they're still a lot stronger than nearly any other enemy. They aren't identical copies of one another and have different abilities, although many of their strengths are the same.

Ringwraiths actually have two forms. The first is their "unclad" form where they are completely invisible apart from their eyes. They're even more frightening than normal in this form, and while they can't attack or be attacked physically they still have access to other supernatural powers that don't require a physical body.

The second form is the physical body of robes or armor they take to deal with the living. They're extremely resistant to damage; regular weapons can drive them off, but not even normal magic weapons can kill them. You specifically need a bane weapon for Mordor to "kill" them, though whether or not this is permanent isn't made clear.

Then there's about a half dozen different powers and traits they all have. The highlights include being REALLY scary, causing Corruption and knocking out those near them in battle, breaking weapons that hit them, and of course being afraid of fire.
 
AD&D Spectres seem to do a pretty good job, although re: 2 levels of level drain, I might allow (for flavor purposes mind, within the context of an ME game using AD&D rules) a saving throw against that.
 
My general suggestion is this: the stats don't matter that much, what you want (to emulate Tolkien) is to have something that the players fear. A Ringwraith isnt something they defeat, its something the run away from. Their appearance in the game should cause an audible "oh fuck" reaction. Success is fending it off long enough to get the hell out of dodge. A Ringwraith is the Terminator (in the first film) meets the Grim Reaper.

Possible suggestions:
Have an NPC or two around the Wringwraith can easily kill to show the players that fighting is practically suicidal.
Have another big bad monster thats tough as nails quake with fear and flee in the presence of a Wringwraith.
Really amp up the description in the change of environment in anticipation of the Nazgul's reveal. The air suddenly becomes cold, the room darkens. The players feel the effects of Fear before they even see the threat, etc.
 
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Not sure if you have access to The One Ring but there are a few Nazgul statted up for it. I'm pretty sure I saw some AiME conversions onthe Cubicle 7 forums.
 
Great advice everyone, thanks: I appreciate it.
 
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