SWURPG
Beastwarden

Beastwarden

TR 5

Humanoid · Medium·Recommended levels: 8-14

AC
15(Hide wraps and beast-bond instincts)
HP
95(10d10+40)
Speed
30 ft
Initiative
+2

Abilities

STR
17
+3
DEX
14
+2
CON
18
+4
INT
10
+0
WIS
16
+3
CHA
13
+1

Saves

  • STR +6
  • CON +7
  • WIS +6

Skills

  • Survival +6
  • Athletics +6
  • Use the Force +6
  • Perception +6

Languages

  • Paecian
  • Galactic Basic

Equipment

Ichor goad (reach staff)Bone talismanRancor-tooth necklaceBolas

Traits

Beast Bond

The Beastwarden has bonded a Dathomirian beast (such as a Rancor). While the Beastwarden is conscious, a beast she has bonded within 60 ft obeys her commands and has Advantage on its attack rolls.

Ride the Beast

The Beastwarden can mount and direct a bonded beast as part of her movement. While mounted on a bonded beast, she has half cover.

Ichor-Touched Fury (1/encounter)

As a Bonus Action, the Beastwarden floods herself or her bonded beast with ichor: its speed increases by 10 ft and its next hit this turn deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage.

Actions

Multiattack

The Beastwarden makes two Ichor Goad attacks.

Ichor GoadMelee Weapon Attack
To hit
+6
Range
10 ft
Target
one target
Hit
10 (2d6+3) energy damage
Goad the Beast (Recharge 5-6)

The Beastwarden drives her bonded beast into a frenzy. A beast she has bonded within 60 ft immediately makes one melee attack as a reaction.

BolasRanged Weapon Attack
To hit
+5
Range
30 ft
Target
one Large or smaller target
Hit
the target is caught and must make a DC 14 Strength save or be Restrained

Lore

The Beastwarden is the Nightsisters' tamer of monsters — a witch who bonds the great predators of Dathomir to her will. The Witches were famed rancor-riders, charging into battle on beasts the rest of the galaxy fled from, and the Beastwarden is the sister who makes that possible: she gentles the rancor, drives the gutkurr, and turns Dathomir's lethal wildlife into a weapon of the coven.

A Beastwarden is rarely the deadliest thing in her own encounter — that honor belongs to whatever she has on a leash. She fights at the side of a bonded beast (the existing Rancor stat block is the classic pairing), buffing it, freeing herself to control the battlefield with bolas, and goading the creature into extra attacks. Kill the beast and you face a dangerous skirmisher; kill the Beastwarden and the beast may turn feral and attack the nearest living thing — friend or foe.

In Play

Always field the Beastwarden with a beast — a Rancor is the iconic choice, but a pack of lesser creatures works too. She mounts the beast, uses Beast Bond to give it Advantage, and opens with Ichor-Touched Fury for a brutal first hit. She spends her own actions on bolas to lock down whoever is trying to flank, and triggers Goad the Beast to punish anyone who closes. The table tension is the leash: warn the party (through lore or an Insight check) that if the Beastwarden dies, the beast goes wild — sometimes the smarter play is to drop the rider last.

Adventure Hooks

  1. The Rancor in the Hold — A Beastwarden has smuggled a bonded rancor aboard a freighter the party is also traveling on, intending to loose it on a rival at the next port. When the plan goes wrong mid-flight, the party is trapped in a hull with a rancor and the only person who can control it.
  2. Beasts at the Gate — A frontier settlement is besieged nightly by Dathomirian predators that fight with eerie coordination. The cause is a Beastwarden in the hills, driving the beasts as punishment for a broken bargain. The party must reach her — past her menagerie — and settle the debt or end her.
  3. The Feral Inheritance — A Beastwarden has died, and her bonded rancor now rampages, masterless, across a moon. A frontier governor wants it killed; a rival Nightsister wants it re-bonded and delivered. The party is hired by one — and courted by the other.