The Red Absence
Fiend · Crown of Wrath
T5d12Sovereign
Not a creature but a wound in reality -- a humanoid silhouette of absolute emptiness outlined in bleeding red light. Where it passes, stone cracks, metal warps, and air itself bruises. It is the shape hatred takes when the person who felt it has been entirely consumed and only the wrath survives.
Tier 5 · Role Sovereign · Pool Vigor 6 / Vitality 30 · AC 14 · ATK +9 · Save DC 19 · Dmg d12
| Stat | Score | Mod | Die |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | 20 | +5 | d10 |
| Mind | 5 | -3 | -d4 |
| Sense | 22 | +6 | d12 |
| Heart | 12 | +1 | d3 |
| Cunning | 18 | +4 | d8 |
| Fate | 20 | +5 | d10 |
Passives
Incorporeal Annihilation
Immune to non-magical damage; ordinary weapons and gear that touch it are destroyed on contact. It saves against spells with advantage.
Calm Vulnerability
Takes 1 additional damage from effects that bring calm, peace, or emotional stillness. If it takes no damage for 3 consecutive rounds it falls dormant until violence is done in its presence.
Maneuvers
Void Drift
Moves up to 50 ft in any direction, passing through solid objects, without provoking reactions.
Declarations
Declared in the enemy tactical window and resolved at the start of its next turn. Any Vitality it loses first forces the disruption roll: on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
Rage Singularity
It collapses into a howling vortex of red emptiness. Every creature within 60 ft is dragged 10 ft toward it and makes a Body save, taking 5 damage on a failure or 1 Vigor damage on a success. Anything it kills this way is annihilated beyond any resurrection.
Reactions
Reality Wound
When a spell strikes it, the caster makes a Fate save or the spell is swallowed whole: it deals no damage and the Red Absence regains 1 Vigor.
Tactics
GM tactics
Drifts toward the largest concentration of enemies and activates Rage Singularity to pull everyone in. Anything that gets close is annihilated on contact. It drags the party's most powerful member into the vortex first. Cannot be bargained with -- there is no intelligence remaining, only hatred given motion. Best countered with calm/peace magic and coordinated magical attacks.
Running it
Rules
- Shield of Tier + Heart mod over a Vitality pool of 10 + 4 x Tier. Full Vigor at combat start; at the start of its turn it rolls 5 exploding d4s and regains 1 Vigor per 4. Dead at 0 Vigor and 0 Vitality.
- A hit rolls d12. A crit rolls two: 2d12.
- Crits on a natural 16+ (Cunning 18).
- Two or three attacks in a normal turn: multiattack is the threat scaler, and one swing a round makes it a mook.
- Sovereign: 2 Sovereign Actions a round, spent after other combatants' turns, on top of its attacks.
- Any Vitality lost while a telegraph is pending forces its disruption roll; on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
- Never checks morale: it fights to 0 Vitality or to the exit written into its lowest phase.
- NPCs never take wounds.