Future Assassin

Medium humanoid (human), chaotic evil

Armor Class 20 (Intelligence)
Hit Points 270 (36d8+108)
Speed 40 ft. (50 ft. in combat)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
13 (+1) 18 (+4) 17 (+3) 22 (+6) 15 (+2) 16 (+3)

Saving Throws Dex +11, Int +13, Wis +9, Cha +10
Skills Acrobatics +18, Deception +17, Insight +9, Perception +9, Stealth +11
Damage Immunities psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 19
Languages Common, Undercommon
Challenge 23 (50,000 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The assassin attacks three times.
  • Whipknife. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d4+6) magical bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) energy damage. The assassin chooses the type of energy damage (fire, force, lightning, or psychic) when he makes the attack roll.
  • Technological Rifle (24 bullets). Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 200/800 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6+6) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) energy damage. The assassin chooses the type of energy damage (fire, force, lightning, or psychic) when he makes the attack roll.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

The assassin can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. He regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

  • Trigger Device. The assassin activates one technological spellcasting device of 3rd-level or lower.
  • Grenades (Costs 2 Actions). The assassin throws up to 3 grenades at points he can see within 60 feet, each of which explodes in a 20-foot radius. Creatures in the area make a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) energy damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The assassin chooses the type of energy damage a grenade deals (fire, force, lightning, or psychic) when he throws a grenade.
  • Summon Minions (Costs 2 Actions). The assassin pulls out a ball of machinery and throws it up to 20 feet. When the ball lands, it transforms into a creature determined by rolling a d8 (1-ankylosaurus, 2-basilisk, 3-giant scorpion, 4-hell hound, 5-manticore, 6-nightmare, 7-owlbear, 8-yeti). The creature is a construct with immunity to exhaustion, poison, and the charmed, frightened, and stunned conditions. The creature acts on the assassin’s turn. At the start of each of his turns he can command (no action required) how the creature moves and what action it takes, or to give it general orders, such as to attack his enemies. In the absence of such orders, the creature acts in a fashion appropriate to its nature.

ABOUT

Despite how impossible the endeavor may seem, throughout reality there are some killers able to slay even god-like beings-for the right price. The temporally gifted among them are known as future assassins and they are notoriously difficult to reliably contact and even harder to hire. The secrets behind doing so (where to leave the contract, what to offer, what language to chisel it in) are alone worth a kingdom’s fortune, and whatever their payment is, it must be truly unique and well-protected otherwise they’d just take it for themselves.

Future assassins nearly always come in pairs and only very rarely accept a contract alone, yet they never ally themselves with other creatures-instead two versions of the same killer are plucked from different points in time, ensuring that there can be no breach of loyalty and that their trust in each other is positively absolute as any act of betrayal would be treachery to oneself.

With the help of complex sensors these hired murderers wait for the right moment to strike and always do so from different directions, often with the second to attack positioned in enfilade to whatever cover is nearest their assault zone.

What sets future assassins apart and often allows them to succeed where more traditional killers fail is their access to advanced technology that is practically as powerful as the most potent archmagic. When combat begins they are always under the cover of greater invisibility, summoning minions to keep their targets busy or using grenades to force groups to scatter for cover. Collateral damage is not a concern for them either-a future assassin won’t hesitate to endanger bystanders if it means getting a killshot or keeping defenders too occupied to effectively respond.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 2. © 2020 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Celeste Conowitch, Darrin Drader, James Introcaso, Philip Larwood, Jeff Lee, Kelly Pawlik, Brian Suskind, Mike Welham.

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page