Geonosian Picador
TR 2Humanoid · Medium·Recommended levels: 2-4
Abilities
Saves
- DEX +5
Skills
- Survival +4
- Perception +4
Languages
- Geonosian
Equipment
Traits
The Geonosian's hard chitin exoskeleton grants a +2 bonus to AC (already included above) and, like all Geonosians, advantage on saving throws against radiation and irradiated environments — it never suffers radiation sickness.
The picador has a flying speed of 30 feet, used to stay above the beasts it drives and out of their reach.
While a Beast ally is within 30 feet, the picador and that beast each have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that is within 5 feet of the other. When the picador hits a creature with a melee attack, one Beast ally within 30 feet can use its reaction to make one attack against that same creature.
The picador has the Weapon Specialization ASI-alternative with its static pike: +1 to attack and damage rolls (already included in the Static Pike action).
Actions
(Bonus Action) The picador cracks its whip toward a Beast ally within 30 feet. That beast immediately moves up to its speed toward a creature of the picador's choice and can make one attack against it.
Lore
In the Petranaki arena, the picadors are the beast-handlers — winged Geonosians who drive acklays, reeks, orrays, and worse into the killing ground and keep them pointed at the condemned. Armed with electrified static pikes and long shock-whips, they don't fight to kill so much as to steer: goading a monster into a charge, pulling a target into its path, and pulling back into the air before the beast turns on them. A picador alone is a modest threat; a picador with a rampaging arena beast on the end of its whip is a genuine crisis.
Beyond the arena, the same handlers manage the war-beasts and pack animals a hive fields in the open, making them the connective tissue between a Geonosian force and the monsters it brings to the fight.
In Play
The Picador is only as dangerous as the beast it's paired with — build the encounter around that pairing. Its Beast Master and Goad turn any creature stat block (an Acklay, a Reek, a Massiff pack) into a coordinated threat, granting the beast extra attacks and advantage while the picador stays airborne and safe. The counter is obvious and fun: kill or drive off the beast and the picador is suddenly a weak flyer with a stun-pike. Don't run one without a beast on the field.
Adventure Hooks
- Into the arena — The party is thrown onto the Petranaki sand, and the picadors on the walls begin loosing beasts. Surviving means dealing with the handlers as much as the monsters — cut the whip and the beast is just an animal, not a guided weapon.
- The thing on the leash — A Geonosian raiding party is driving a captured war-beast toward a settlement, a picador steering it the whole way. Stopping the raid means separating handler from beast before it reaches the walls.