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Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

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Originally posted by evil_boy

Nice article, as always...
The red sam: while on paper it works well against chraals and JAs, it would be worthwhile for new players to note that a 1-on-1 match up is actually rather equal, and thus the chraal and JAs may win since they are cheaper.

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It works better against Chraals than any other Chaotic Evil hitter. Its saving throws are high enough that it is much more likely to be able to resist the death burst and breath weapon than the other CE hitters (except the Ogre Ravager), it has a higher attack bonus than the other CE hitters (except for the Eye, but the Eye takes 5 damage every time he hits the Chraal), and thanks to its fire damage, its going to be hitting them for as much damage as the other CE hitters. In total, I think this makes it about as worthy of an opponent for the Chraal as you are going to find among the CE hitter array at this point in time.

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Your points are pertinent regarding the JA, however, the Red Samurai has the advantage in speed, thus allowing it to have a bit more of control over where the battle is going to take place and its breath weapon. Granted, with Couatl back-up the Justice Archon is likely to be able to avoid the breath weapon, but it is certainly possible to get multiple Justice Archons in the cone, especially if they are all bunched up around the Couatl for the energy protection. Also, this is where strategy comes in. If I am running Red Samurais, against a band with a Couatl, I am probably going to be using them to go after the Couatl rather than the Justice Archons. The benefit is too great not to.

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The orc skeleton is in the toolkit because it provides a 10 damage option for lich fodder creation. This can be huge when dealing with CG and CE low-AC hitter bands and against things like Justice Archons and Rikka who are almost immune to 5 damage guys. In many situations the difference between 15 and 5 hit points is negligible, in others it can be huge. This is why its important to keep both Orc Skeletons and Gnoll Skeletons in your toolkit, so you can properly adapt to whatever sort of situation you have at hand.

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The Hyena is there basically as a complement to the Orc Druid, which I still see included in quite a few bands. In situations where you are using the Orc Druid, I can see very few reasons not to include the Hyena (unless you have 5 points left, as you noted) due to the sheer utility that a speed 10, 4 point CE fodder provides.

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You are probably right about the Harpy. I expect he will disappear from the next toolkit, but he is being kept as a legacy piece for the time being.

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