Aura of Dread: Any creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the Bone Warlord must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the start of its next turn.
Undead Fortitude: If damage reduces the Bone Warlord to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, it drops to 1 hit point instead.
Heavy Weapon Mastery: The Bone Warlord wields its Ruin-Cannon (a cursed, soul-draining weapon). It counts as magical for overcoming resistance and immunity.
Multi-attack: The Bone Warlord makes two attacks with its Ruin-Cannon or Bone Cleaver.
Ruin-Cannon (Recharge 5–6): Ranged Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, range 100/300 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (6d8) necrotic damage. On a hit, the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or lose 10 ft. of movement speed until the end of its next turn as their vitality is drained.
Bone Cleaver: Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 6) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage.
Skull Lantern (Recharge 6): The Warlord raises its lantern of souls, unleashing a wail of the damned. Each creature of its choice within 30 feet must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. On a failure, the creature is also stunned until the end of its next turn.
Command the Fallen: The Bone Warlord chooses one undead within 30 feet. That undead can immediately move up to half its speed or make one weapon attack.
Lantern Surge (Recharge 4–6): The lantern flares with soul-light. Until the start of the Warlord’s next turn, attacks against it have disadvantage as the light disorients foes.
Ruinous Step: The Warlord moves up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.
Unholy Parry: When hit by a melee attack, the Warlord adds +4 to its AC against that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss.
Soul Rip: When a creature within 10 feet hits the Warlord with a melee attack, it can force that creature to make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 9 (2d8) necrotic damage and the Warlord regains the same number of hit points.
Aura of Command: When an undead ally within 30 feet would be reduced to 0 hit points, the Warlord can sacrifice 10 hit points to keep that ally at 1 hit point instead.
The Bone Warlord can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action may be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn.
Cannon Burst: Makes one Ruin-Cannon attack.
Terrifying Glare: One creature the Warlord can see within 30 ft. must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened until the end of its next turn.
Unholy Step (Costs 2 Actions): The Bone Warlord teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Mythic Action Name. Enter the description for how mythic actions work for your monster here.
Mythic Action Name (Costs # Actions). Enter the description for your mythic action.
Description
Based on Sleep Token’s The Summoning Creature
The Bone Warlord, Harbinger of Ruin, is a towering skeletal knight clad in jagged bone-plate and rusted iron. A mantle of matted fur drapes over his shoulders, once the trophy of a mighty beast, now a symbol of decay. His skull-like helm is crowned with blackened horns, and hollow sockets glow with a faint, baleful light.
In one hand he wields the Ruin-Cannon, a massive soul-forged weapon that roars with necrotic fire; in the other, he carries a lantern swirling with the anguished souls of the fallen. Each step he takes grinds the earth beneath him, and the air grows cold with the whispers of the dead.
The Bone Warlord is no mindless husk. He is a commander of undeath, a calculating strategist who revels in the collapse of armies and the despair of kingdoms. To him, mortals are nothing more than future soldiers waiting to join his ranks.
Lair and Lair Actions
The Ruined Cathedral of the Bone Warlord
The shattered remains of a once-holy cathedral rise against the bleak sky, its spires cracked and leaning like broken spears. Stained glass windows lie in shards across the floor, their colors faded and darkened by centuries of ash. The air is heavy with the stench of mildew and charred incense, and every step echoes through the hollow nave like a funeral drum.
The altar has been desecrated, replaced with a mound of skulls and shattered banners from a hundred fallen armies. Blackened chains hang from the rafters, swaying as if moved by unseen hands. The vaulted ceiling is cracked wide open, allowing pale moonlight to spill down in silver shafts that illuminate drifting motes of bone dust.
At the cathedral’s heart burns a sickly green glow — the Lantern of Souls, resting upon a cracked pedestal. Its light flickers across the shattered stone, casting monstrous shadows that twist and writhe like the damned themselves.
The silence is broken only by the whispers of the dead, seeping through the walls as if the cathedral itself remembers every battle, every prayer, every scream. When the Bone Warlord enters, his footsteps ring like war drums on the ruined floor, and the cathedral seems to bow to him, its ruinous glory a throne for the Harbinger of Ruin.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Bone Warlord can use one of the following lair actions:
Soul Chain: Skeletal arms erupt from the ground. Up to 3 creatures of the Warlord’s choice within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be restrained until the start of the next round.
Volley of Bone Shards: The lair itself hurls sharpened fragments of bone. All enemies within 60 feet must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half on a success.
Lantern of the Damned: The lantern glows with baleful light. One creature of the Warlord’s choice within 60 feet must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until initiative count 20 on the next round.
Regional Effects
The land around the Bone Warlord’s lair warps under its necrotic presence. The following effects occur within 6 miles of the lair:
Whispers of the Fallen: At night, faint whispers and ghostly screams echo across the land, unnerving travelers. Creatures that finish a long rest within the area must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or gain no benefit from the rest.
Withered Earth: Plants rot, soil cracks, and water turns brackish within the area. Survival checks made to forage or track food are made with disadvantage.
Gravitational Pull of Death: Within 1 mile of the lair, shadows stretch unnaturally long toward the lair itself. Undead are drawn instinctively toward it, and living creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against becoming frightened.
If the Bone Warlord is destroyed, these effects fade over 1d10 days, though the land may remain scarred.
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