Dark Trooper Phase III
DR 8Droid · Large·Recommended levels: 15-18
Abilities
Saves
- STR +12
- DEX +7
- WIS +7
- INT +6
Skills
- Athletics +12
- Intimidation +5
- Perception +6
Languages
- Binary
Equipment
Traits
The Phase III has Vulnerability to ion damage. However, its hardened circuits require TWO successful failed WIS saves (DC 18) on separate rounds before it becomes Disabled — the first ion shock is partially absorbed, the second triggers full shutdown. The Phase III also has Resistance to ion damage on the first round of any combat in which it takes ion damage.
The Phase III has Resistance to ALL damage types. Additionally, it is Immune to weapon attacks that deal less than 8 damage in a single hit (the strike rebounds without effect). Only lightsabers, beskar weapons, and high-tier weapons can damage it consistently. Damage that bypasses the immunity is still halved by Resistance.
After the Phase III fails a saving throw against an effect, it gains Advantage on all subsequent saving throws against the same effect for the remainder of the combat. Its tactical learning loop is unsettlingly fast.
The Phase III takes 3 attacks on each of its turns instead of 1. It may distribute these attacks between its Integrated Heavy Blaster and Plasma-Vibroblade Fists in any combination.
Once per round, the Phase III may use its Reaction to impose Disadvantage on one attack roll made against it. Its threat-analysis package precomputes incoming trajectories.
The Phase III cannot be moved against its will by any source whose DR is below 5. It ignores grapple, restraint, push, pull, and movement-impeding effects from anything weaker than itself.
Actions
The Phase III releases a saturating volley of micro-warheads from chest-mounted launchers in a 60-foot cone. Every creature in the cone makes a DC 17 DEX save, taking 34 (8d6+6) energy damage on a failed save or half on success. Counts as a single Action; the Phase III still has its Reaction and may move.
When the Phase III drops to 0 HP, its reactor core destabilizes catastrophically. Every creature within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 17 DEX save or take 35 (10d6) energy damage (half on success). The Phase III is destroyed regardless of save results.
Lore
Dark Trooper Phase III represents the apex of Imperial autonomous warfare doctrine. Where the Phase II was a heavy infantry unit, the Phase III is a war crime in mechanical form — a matte-black armored colossus whose combat record includes routing entire Rebel strike teams single-handedly and bringing even a fully-trained Jedi to a draw. Designed in the final years of the Empire and deployed only in classified operations, the Phase III is the answer to the question: what if the Empire built a single unit capable of replacing a full platoon?
Its most famous appearance — the moment a Phase III steps onto a hangar deck and the Mandalorian's beskar spear barely scratches it — communicated more about the threat than any briefing could. Beskar-alloy plating turns away weapons that would shred any other droid. Adaptive Combat Subroutines mean that a strategy that worked once will not work twice. Multi-Attack Protocol delivers damage at a rate that overwhelms standard defensive measures. And when one is finally destroyed, its reactor core ensures the kill is paid for in blood.
In SWURPG encounters, a Phase III is a campaign-defining moment. A single unit is a Lv 15+ party's hardest fight. Two units coordinated is the climactic encounter of a major arc. Players will need every tool — beskar weapons, ion specialists, lightsabers, force powers, focused tactics — to bring one down, and they will not forget the experience.
In Play
The Phase III fights with calm, escalating brutality. Round one, it walks forward through cover and opens fire from both gauntlets. Round two, having identified the highest-damage threat, it engages that target in melee. Round three, when the party has clustered for healing or repositioning, it uses Cluster Volley. By the time the party realizes the standard repertoire isn't working, it has been adapting to their tactics for several rounds.
At the table, the Phase III should feel mythic. Set up the encounter — let the party HEAR it before they see it. Footsteps that resonate through the floor. Distant blaster fire that doesn't seem to slow it down. When combat starts, narrate every glancing hit as 'rebounding off matte-black plating' and reserve damage descriptions for hits that do at least 8 damage (the immunity threshold). When Cluster Volley fires, telegraph it: 'The Phase III's chest panels split open. Launcher tubes deploy.' Give the party a chance to dive for cover. When the reactor overload triggers on death, treat it as a near-death moment for everyone in 20 feet — the encounter is a victory worth celebrating, and a near-death worth surviving.
Adventure Hooks
- Project Endgame — An Imperial black-site facility — long since fallen — is rediscovered. Inside, dozens of Phase III chassis in standby mode. Someone is restoring them. The party has a narrow window to find out who, and stop them, before a single one walks out into the galaxy.
- The Quarry — A Phase III has been deployed against the party specifically. The Imperial intelligence officer who issued the order has personal reasons. The unit will not stop, will not negotiate, and has been given complete tracking authority. The party has to choose: confront it, lose it, or destroy the officer who controls it.
- Beskar Heist — A small cache of beskar weapons has been located on a remote moon. The party arrives and discovers an Imperial team got there first — protected by a Phase III bodyguard. The fight is over the cache itself, with the Phase III as the final, devastating barrier.
- Late Awakening — Decades after the Empire's fall, a Phase III activates from cold storage in the ruins of a fortress, executing its final standing order: defend this position until relieved. No one is coming to relieve it. The locals are dying. The party is asked to do what no army has yet done — destroy it without sacrificing the village it has, in its way, been protecting.