
Joseph Jolly |

The group I'm DM'ing just encountered Kelvos and his minions, and it was at about the mid-point of the battle that I discovered two vital errors.
First, under Kelvos' speed, it lists fly 150 ft (perfect). What it fails to mention anywhere in his description is that only applies when he is in globe form. In fact, nowhere in the description is there anything about alternate form or the light ray ability, so anyone not intimately familiar with ghaele eladrins would assume Kelvos can simply fly. In orb form, he cannot use his clerical spells, only spell-like abilities.
Second, Kelvos has the spells Blashphemy and Unholy Blight. In the Monster Manual, it states that if a creature has the Good sub-type, even if the creature is evil, it suffers the full effects of alignment-based spells. So, why would Kelvos have two spells that would affect both himself and his archon minions?
My solution for the first problem was to substitue Air Walk for Restoration as one of 4th level spells. I would also suggest using his Death domain ability at 4th level rather than his Evil one, and choosing another 7th level spell in place of Blasphemy.

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I'm at home right now (AKA: I don't have the text of the adventures handy), but...
Kelvos is a creature from the Monster Manual; therefore, we assume that the DM is familiar with the base creature. In the interests of saving space, we generally don't reprint all of a monster's special attacks and qualities if it's from the Monster Manual as a result.
If I remember correctly, Kelvos cannot assume his alternate form; he lost it when he went bad, so you don't have to worry about him not being able to cast spells. We should probably have cut his fly speed from the stat block as a result, but we didn't.
As for his evil spells, I recomend you keep them. Kelvos' transformation into one of the minions of Kyuss changed him in many ways; one of those is that he's now wholly a creature of evil and these spells won't affect him. I'm aware of the fact that this goes against what the rules as written imply about the Good subtype, but in this case, I think that tossing those rules out allows for a more interesting encounter.
So, with the execption of the fly speed, I'd say that Kelvos' stat block is doing just fine. Of course, if you want to adjust his stat block to be more in line with the core rules, by all means go ahead. It's your campaign, after all! :-)

Joseph Jolly |

I'm at home right now (AKA: I don't have the text of the adventures handy), but...
Kelvos is a creature from the Monster Manual; therefore, we assume that the DM is familiar with the base creature. In the interests of saving space, we generally don't reprint all of a monster's special attacks and qualities if it's from the Monster Manual as a result.
If I remember correctly, Kelvos cannot assume his alternate form; he lost it when he went bad, so you don't have to worry about him not being able to cast spells. We should probably have cut his fly speed from the stat block as a result, but we didn't.
As for his evil spells, I recomend you keep them. Kelvos' transformation into one of the minions of Kyuss changed him in many ways; one of those is that he's now wholly a creature of evil and these spells won't affect him. I'm aware of the fact that this goes against what the rules as written imply about the Good subtype, but in this case, I think that tossing those rules out allows for a more interesting encounter.
So, with the execption of the fly speed, I'd say that Kelvos' stat block is doing just fine. Of course, if you want to adjust his stat block to be more in line with the core rules, by all means go ahead. It's your campaign, after all! :-)
Where this became an issue was when Kelvos flew to hover above the pit in room 3. The dwarven mineral warrior of the party, imbued with wings via Celestial Aspect by the party cleric, closed to melee Kelvos, at which point Kelvos cast Greater Dispel Magic...sending our erstwhile dwarven hero plummeting 500 feet straight down...into room 6, where he landed prone in the midst of six worm swarms...oh...and one eviscerator beetle I had thrown in down there as well. So, when I discoverd Kelvos really COULDN'T fly, after that glorious tactic on his part, I had to do some quick thinking. Air Walk worked well. Now, if only the party doesn't decide to cast dispel magic on Kelvos...