The Swordbearer

Forest

Urban

Battleaxe

Dagger

Javelin

Longsword

 can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The 

 regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

The swordbearer is a corporeal spirit summoned by those who wish to get revenge on others who have committed horrible crimes. It manifests as a ten-foot-tall, troll-like creature with a hunched back, disproportionately long arms, and several dozen swords, axes, lances, and other bladed instruments impaled into its back. The wounds from these impalements never heal; blood oozes and drips ceaselessly from its flesh. The swordbearer wears an expressionless iron mask that has one eyehole covered. The other reveals a blood-shot eyeball that rotates wildly in its socket. 

“People of our village have been disappearing in the forest. Their dismembered bodies are later found strung up amongst the trees, impaled by swords left by an unknown hand. Surely a monster lurks among us. Those brave enough to hunt and kill such creature shall be rewarded with our finest diamonds, and should speak to the Alderman to know more.”   

The swordbearer seeks to deliver punishment to those who have thus far escaped justice. Its scope is variable and defined by its summoner — it may pursue a solitary farmer who strangled his wife in a drunken rage, or it may hunt the countless descendants who currently benefit from the institutional atrocities committed by their ancestors.  

A mild, ferrous scent persists along the path that the swordbearer travels for a period of three days and three nights. Drops of purplish blood from its open wounds drip onto the ground in its wake. The spirit leaves a rusted sword in any corpse it creates. 

What can be learned of or acquired to aid in defeating the monster. Use these elements to allow the party to prepare themselves. 

The swordbearer is afraid of children, for a child can never be truly guilty. Potions that make one's appearance seem younger will assist in combat, as the swordbearer will be hesitant to strike the young.  

Swordbearers must recover between their hunts, for their bodies are wracked by eternal pain. They prefer to do so where the dead lie, in places such as graveyards, battlefields, or other sites of mass death. It is here where they rest their pained bodies and sharpen the blades that they carry. 

Many of the weapons carried by the swordbearer are worthless. A few, however, are magical artefacts once belonging to  tyrant warlords and corrupt merchant kings. Those brave and skilled enough to slay the swordbearer are free to wield these weapons for themselves and reclaim their power. The following table provides specific mechanics for harvesting and reward. A PC can make a DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check, or other check the GM deems appropriate, to obtain loot from  the 

. On a successful check, the GM chooses one piece of loot, or has the PC roll a d4 to determine what they get. On a failed check, the PC gets 1d4 weapon shards. A PC can choose to have another make their skill check if they so choose.

This weapon was pulled from the back of the swordbearer. The weapon can be a dagger of venom, javelin of lightning or, a longsword that deals an extra 1d8 necrotic damage (GM's choice).

A creature that ingests 8 ounces of the swordbearer's blood must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw against disease or be poisoned until the disease is cured. Every 24 hours that elapse, the target must repeat the saving throw, reducing its hit point maximum by 5 (1d10) on a failure. The disease is cured on a success. The target dies if the disease reduces its hit point maximum to 0. This reduction to the target's hit point maximum lasts until the disease is cured. The blood can be delivered in food or a liquid.

A material when ground up can be combined with a vial by succeeding on a DC 13 Alchemist Supplies (Intelligence) check, creating a potion of minor regeneration. When you drink this potion, you regain 2 hit points at the start of each of your turns for 1 minute, except on the turns when you took radiant damage since the end of your last turn.

As an action you can crush this shard to cast the 

The Swordbearer

Actions

Bonus Actions

Legendary Actions