Death Watch Warlord
TR 8Humanoid · Medium·Recommended levels: 14-18
Abilities
Saves
- STR +10
- DEX +9
- CON +10
- WIS +8
- CHA +9
Skills
- Athletics +9
- Acrobatics +8
- Intimidation +9
- Knowledge: Tactics +7
- Perception +8
Languages
- Galactic Basic
- Mando'a
Equipment
Traits
Trained from childhood to fight on the wing. As a Bonus Action the warlord spends 1 Thrust Charge to gain a flying speed of 50 feet (it can hover) until the end of its next turn; its jetpack holds 6 Thrust Charges, restored after a short or long rest. See Jetpacks & Personal Flight in the Equipment Rules.
(Power Attack) When it hits with a Beskad attack, the warlord can choose to add +6 damage (included in the Beskad line when it presses the attack).
Allied Death Watch within 60 feet gain a +3 bonus to attack rolls, and while the warlord lives, it and every Death Watch ally within 60 feet are immune to being Frightened.
(Second Wind) Once per Long Rest, the warlord can regain 1d10 + 16 hit points.
(Aerial Ace) The warlord doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of a creature's reach, and it has Advantage on attack rolls made while flying against a target on the ground.
The warlord has Advantage on saving throws against being Frightened, Charmed, or Stunned. It has led from the front too long to be rattled by any of them.
(Evasive Maneuvers) While flying with its jetpack, attack rolls against it have Disadvantage until the start of its next turn — the pack lets it juke a shot no ground fighter could.
(Sweeping Strike) As an Action, the warlord makes one Beskad attack against each creature within its reach. The first target takes full damage; each subsequent target takes −2 cumulative damage (second −2, third −4, and so on).
(Battle Cry) Twice per fight, as a Bonus Action, the warlord looses a battle cry. Allied Death Watch within 30 feet gain Advantage on attack rolls and +2 damage on their next hit until the start of the warlord's next turn; enemies within 30 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 18) or suffer Disadvantage on their next attack and be Frightened until the end of the warlord's next turn.
(Taunt) As a Bonus Action, the warlord challenges up to three creatures within 30 feet that can see or hear it. Each must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 18) or be Taunted for three rounds — a Taunted creature has Disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone other than the warlord.
Actions
The warlord makes three attacks: two with its Beskad and one with a WESTAR-35 pistol (or three pistol attacks if it stays airborne).
(Recharge 5-6) A storm of homing micro-missiles pours from the vambrace. Up to six creatures within 40 feet each take 7 (3d4) kinetic damage (no attack roll; total cover blocks it).
(Recharge 5-6) The warlord issues a battle cry over the comm. Each enemy within 30 feet makes a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or is Frightened until the end of the warlord's next turn; and each allied Death Watch within 30 feet may immediately move up to its speed and make one weapon attack as a reaction.
Reactions
When the warlord is hit by a melee attack — including a lightsaber — it can raise its beskad to catch the blow, adding 4 to its AC against that attack. The beskar takes the strike unharmed; a lightsaber cannot cut it.
When the warlord is hit by a ranged weapon attack, it angles its beskar plate to shed the bolt, reducing the damage by 7 (2d6).
Lore
A Death Watch Warlord is what the movement was built to produce: a Mandalorian who would not just fight for the old ways but rule by them. The archetype is Pre Vizsla — Governor of Concordia, founder of the modern Death Watch, and bearer of the Darksaber, the black-bladed lightsaber that has crowned Mandalore's leaders since the first Mandalorian Jedi forged it a thousand years ago. Vizsla wielded that mythic blade against Kenobi and Maul alike, and his defeat in single combat is what handed the Death Watch to a Sith.
The Darksaber is one weapon and one only, so a generic Warlord does not carry it — but everything else about the figure holds. The Warlord fights in masterwork beskar that lightsabers cannot cut, swings a beskad forged of the same iron, drops from the sky on a jetpack, and commands with a voice the whole wing obeys. To face one is to face the Death Watch entire, distilled into a single body: unbreakable, airborne, and utterly certain that Mandalore belongs to the warrior who can take it.
In Play
The Warlord is a proper boss — build the encounter around it. Its action economy is the threat: a Beskad Multiattack (with Power Attack) up close, three pistols in the air, whistling birds to sweep the party, and Warlord's Call to Frighten the front line while its own troops surge. Its beskar war-plate and two beskar reactions (blocking even lightsabers), plus Second Wind, make it a genuine attrition sink, and its Command Aura makes every other Death Watch present far deadlier — so the party is fighting the whole wing, not just the boss. Give it a squad of Warriors and a Super Commando, an arena with vertical room, and a way to threaten the party's fliers-killers first. Counter it with ion (armor, jetpack, comms), spreading to blunt Warlord's Call and whistling birds, and the grim math of out-damaging its reduction and healing.
Adventure Hooks
- Trial by Combat — By Mandalorian law, leadership can be settled in single combat. The Warlord will happily make that the terms — for the party's ship, their prisoner, or their lives — and a duel with a jetpack ace who cannot be cut by a lightsaber is a very different fight than a brawl.
- The Siege of the Keep — The Warlord's cell has seized a fortress the party needs — a comms relay, a shipyard, an heirloom vault. Taking it back means beating the whole wing with the Warlord at its heart, in the air and on the walls.