I ran the Angel of Empyreus from Lairs of Etharis for the first time in combat a few days ago. Without reservation, I can say that this creature exceeds the power a creature should have at CR22. This thing is a certified player killer. It’s significantly more dangerous than the tarrasque. I’m going to have to update my list of the strongest monster now…
I was so shocked by how overpowered it was. To be clear, I like throwing challenging combat encounters at players. As a result I usually ratchet up the difficulty quite a bit. The problem is, with a CR that doesn’t correctly reflect the power of the creature, it’s easy to overdo it. And I did. Luckily for my players, a TPK is grounds for a mulligan in the DungeonSports Coliseum.
After a quick pass at the ol’ CR Calculator. It looks like the Angel of Empyreus should fall in the range of 28-30, my sense is that it’s on the higher end. It can average more than 300 damage per turn, and has a +24 bonus to its attack rolls. That’s not taking into account the area-of-effect abilities that it has. That easily puts it at an offensive CR of 30. It can also cause creature to take 1 level of exhaustion per round on a DC 24 Charisma save. Guess your barbarian is dead in six turns or so, even if they can tank this thing’s damage.
Angel of Empyreus: The Silver Lining
So the bad news is, the Angel of Empyreus is way to nasty to throw at players of the appropriate level. The good news is, I’ve always wanted a CR 30 angel. It just makes me wonder though. If an angel weight in at level 30, where do the gods land? When I write monsters, I don’t exceed CR 30, but this has me wondering if maybe I should start writing some rules so I can…
Lairs of Etharis also created the mechanic of salvage. For more on that, check out my Monster Chop Shop.
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