Ghast Warlord

Medium undead, chaotic evil

Armor Class 18 (plate armor)
Hit Points 187 (26d8 + 104)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
20 (+5) 19 (+4) 19 (+4) 15 (+2) 17 (+3) 13 (+1)

Saving Throws Con +9, Int +7, Wis +8
Skills Insight +8, Perception +8, Persuasion +6
Damage Resistances necrotic
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Abyssal, Common
Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)

Special Traits

  • Keen Smell. The warlord has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the warlord fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
  • Stench. Any creature that starts its turn within 15 feet of the warlord must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the warlord’s Stench for 24 hours.
  • Turning Rage. If the warlord succeeds on a saving throw against an effect that turns undead, it falls into a frenzy until the end of its next turn. While frenzied, the warlord has advantage on attack rolls and saving throws against being charmed or frightened and effects that turn undead.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The warlord makes four attacks: one with its bite, one with its claws, and two with its longsword.
  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) piercing damage.
  • Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) slashing damage.
  • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 5) slashing damage. If the target is a creature other than an elf or undead, it must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Legendary Actions

The warlord 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. The warlord regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

  • Attack. The warlord makes a longsword attack.
  • Coordinated Assault. The warlord, or one of its ghoul or ghast allies within 60 feet that can see or hear it, moves up to its speed. The warlord can’t choose the same creature to move more than once between its turns.
  • Claw (Costs 2 Actions). The warlord makes a claw attack.

About

Particularly intelligent ghasts can amass quite a following of lesser ghouls, and often intentionally breed exotic strains. These warlords often hold delusions of grandeur, taking over castles, or complexes of ruins, as their lair.

Eternal life. It is a lofty goal, one sought by many. Few, however, possess the ability to achieve it, and fewer still are willing, desperate, or mad enough to pay the price. Those few who do may, through various roads, attain lichdom.

Liches hold an almost-legendary status in common myth, like dragons, as beings so far outside the average experience that they may as well not exist, so small are the chances of ever encountering one. While stories of eternal monarchs ruling as gods on earth may have their roots in the occasional lich who takes an interest in human affairs, they could just as likely be spun from the propaganda of some forgotten empire. Destroying a phylactery (or something resembling a phylactery in all but name) is a common quest for heroes of legend though, rather than the blood and ritual scrolls of reality, said item might contain the creature’s still-beating heart, or something similarly fanciful.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Ultimate Bestiary: The Dreaded Accursed, Copyright 2020, Chris Haskins, Nord Games LLC.

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