This champion demonstrates a shift in healing introduced in 4th Edition. While it's still possible to heal an ally directly, the Cleric of Pelor's healing abilities occur as additional benefits of actions. For the D&D Miniatures Game, this Champion grants healing to allies who make high attack rolls. It has a champion ability that can heal an allied creature that ends its turn in a victory area.

The Cleric of Pelor also includes a Radiant energy damage boost for close allies. There are no general rules for Radiant energy like those for Positive energy in the older ruleset. It is typically just as destructive to creatures as Lightning, Fire, or other energies. Individual monster abilities can alter this -- both creatures to be featured in next week's preview will have Vulnerable 10 Radiant.

The original D&D Miniatures Game rules contained morale rules that gave you a potential advantage when you reduced an enemy creature to half its starting hit points. Morale rules have been removed in the updated rules, so we need to replace them with something that fills the same niche in the game -- the bloodied state. A target becomes bloodied when it is reduced to one-half of its total hit points, rounded down. For example, the Human Fighter has 55 hit points; when it is reduced to 25 hit points or less, it becomes bloodied.

The Human Fighter has an advantage against Bloodied opponents -- the Death Blow ability can be used only against Bloodied targets. When it works, it deals 30 points of damage. Unlike the Human Sellsword's Killing Blow ability, this guy has the potential to use Death Blow multiple times – whenever the Human Fighter causes a figure to become Bloodied, he recharges his Death Blow.

Not every ranger is at home in the forest. Dungeons of Dread includes a ranger dressed for a much colder environment. I can easily see a few Everfrost Rangers being led by Wulfgar in a great winter-themed encounter.

At Speed 8, he'll often get in the first strike. If he doesn't, he has one use of a counterattack to teach a lesson. If he's surrounded, his big attack is a whirlwind of steel attacking all adjacent enemies. The icing (snow?) on the cake with this guy is that it's even easier for him to get a lucky critical hit to finish off an enemy -- against bloodied opponents, he crits on a natural 18 or higher.