New Combat Actions for the Creatures in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
The bugbear chief nurses a gushing wound in her side before issuing an order of retreat to her allies. A bright light forms around the angel’s dying body, blinding everyone near it as it passes on from the world of the living. With blood streaming down its torso, an enraged hill giant slams its fists into the ground and causes the earth around it to quake.
Bloodied & Bruised is a series providing new combat actions for the creatures in the 5e roster. When pushed to their limits in combat, these monsters, critters, fiends, and foes gain new abilities that aid them in battle, or perhaps spell their doom depending on the circumstances. Bloodied & Bruised takes inspiration from the "bloodied" condition from 4e, making entirely new combat actions that can completely change the nature of a fight.
In addition, Bloodied & Bruised also introduces several "death throes" to the game, marking the demise of certain creatures with a grand explosion, heavy fall, or other unique effect to make the slaying of a great monster a truly unique experience.
Examples of Bloodied Actions
Cogwork Archivist
When bloodied at 45 HP, the cogwork archivist has the following features.
- Frailty: Malfunction. While bloodied, the cogwork archivist doesn’t work as optimally. Its speed is lowered by 5 feet (to a minimum of 10 feet) and it cannot take reactions.
- New Ability: Librarian Enforcement. While bloodied, the cogwork archivist has advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have spoken louder than a whisper since the end of the cogwork archivist’s last turn. Examples include yelling for help or casting a spell with a verbal component.
- Death Throes: Arcane Boom. A small arcane explosion happens as the cogwork archivist falls to the ground. Each creature in a 10-foot radius of the cogwork archivist when it expires takes 12 (5d4) force damage.
Quandrix Professor of Theory
When bloodied at 48 HP, the Quandrix professor of theory has the following features.
- Ability Recharge: Overriding Theorem. When first bloodied, the professor’s Overriding Theorem ability is recharged.
- New Ability: Geometric Shift. As an action while bloodied, the professor can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see and make one attack with its Spatial Blade. If the attack hits, the professor can teleport an additional 30 feet to another unoccupied space it can see.
- New Ability: Tenure. While bloodied, if the professor is reduced to 0 hit points without being killed outright and at least one mage from the Quandrix College is within 15 feet of it, the professor drops to 1 hit point instead. This trait fails if the Quandrix College mage is incapacitated.
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