| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 17 | +3 | +6 |
| DEX | 8 | −1 | −1 |
| CON | 15 | +2 | +2 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 16 | +3 | +3 |
| WIS | 14 | +2 | +2 |
| CHA | 19 | +4 | +7 |
Dread Banner. At the start of each of the bannerwight's turns, its banner erodes the will of its opponents. Charisma Saving Throw: DC 15, all creatures Hostile to the bannerwight and within 30 feet. Failure: The creature must subtract 1d6 from any D20 Test it rolls until the start of the wight's next turn. If the wight dies, this effect ends early.
Postmortem Revenge. The bannerwight's animating magic curses its killers after it dies. Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 15, all creatures Hostile to the wight and within 30 feet. Failure: The creature is Marked for 1 hour. While a creature is Marked, it can't benefit from the Invisible condition, and any Attack Roll made against it is a Critical Hit on a roll of 15-20 on the die. Any effect that can remove the Frightened condition from a creature can also remove the Marked condition.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the bannerwight has Disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack Rolls.
Banner Strike. Melee Attack Roll: +6 to hit, reach 10 feet. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 3) Bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) Psychic damage. If the attack hits a creature and deals damage, the wight can choose one of the following effects, or two on a Critical Hit:
- Concuss. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 15, the target of the attack. Failure: The target is Stunned until the end of the wight's next turn.
- Mark. Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 15, the target of the attack. Creatures Immune to being Frightened automatically succeed. Failure: The target is Marked for 2 (1d4) rounds.
- Slam. Strength Saving Throw: DC 15, the target of the attack. Huge creatures have Advantage on the roll, and Gargantuan creatures automatically succeed. Failure: If the target creature is Large or smaller, it is Prone and pushed 10 feet in a straight line away from the wight.
Spellcasting. The bannerwight casts one of the following spells, requiring no Material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks):
At will: Command, Ray of Sickness (Level 2 Version)
2/day each: Bestow Curse, Crown of Madness, Hold Person
1/day each: Confusion, Fear
Wicked Surge. All Undead of the bannerwight's choice within 30 feet (possibly including itself) gain 10 Temporary Hit Points. These Hit Points last only for 1 minute; while a creature has these Hit Points, it also has one of the following benefits, chosen by the bannerwight when it uses this ability:
- Inspiration. The creature has Advantage on the next D20 Test it rolls, and its speed increases by 10 feet. It is also Immune to the Charmed and Frightened conditions.
- Protection. The creature gain a +2 bonus to its Armour Class. Whenever it takes damage, the creature can reduce the damage taken by 1d6.
- Strength. Whenever the creature makes an Attack Roll or a Damage Roll, it can roll 1d6 and add the result to the roll.
If the wight uses this ability on an Undead already affected by it, the target can choose to replace its current benefit with the new one. If the bannerwight dies, all creatures affected by this ability immediately lose any Temporary Hit Points it granted them.
Fight Me! The bannerwight casts Compelled Duel, using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting (spell save DC 15).
Intimidate. Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 15, one creature the bannerwight can see within 120 feet. Failure: 10 (3d6) Psychic damage, and the creature is Marked for 2 (1d4) rounds. Success: Half damage only.
Raise Steed (1/Hour). The bannerwight conjures a Warhorse Skeleton under its control, then mounts it as part of the same action. The skeleton and wight act on the same turn in Initiative; the wight can intersperse its movement, attacks, and other abilities with those of the skeleton.
Unholy Rally. The bannerwight resurrects one corpse within 30 feet of it and that has been dead for less than 1 hour. The corpse rises as a Neutral Evil Undead under the wight's control, which acts on its own turn in Initiative. The wight can choose to create a Skeleton or Zombie, or attempt to create a higher tier of Undead. After it creates a higher-tier Undead, the wight must recharge this ability (Recharge 5-6) before it can raise another corpse.
When creating a higher-tier Undead, roll 1d4 to determine what category of Undead is created:
1. Shadow or Spectre
2. Ghoul or Lacedon Ghoul
3. Ghast, Poltergeist, or Will-o'-Wisp
4. Flaming Skeleton, Mummy, or Wight
Undead created using this ability only persist for 1 minute; afterwards, the energy animating the creature disperses, and it dies. After a corpse is animated in this way, the bannerwight can't animate the same corpse again for the next hour.
If the bannerwight attempts to animate a corpse under the effect of a Gentle Repose spell or similar effect, it takes 20 Radiant damage.
End Him! Trigger: An Allied creature within 30 feet reduces another creature to 0 Hit Points. Response: The triggering creature can use its Reaction to make another attack against the same target. If this attack is a Critical Hit, the Allied creature and the bannerwight immediately regain their Reaction.
Revenge! Trigger: A Hostile creature within 30 feet reduces an Allied creature to 0 Hit Points. Response: A different Allied creature can use its Reaction to make an attack against the Hostile creature. If this attack is a Critical Hit, the Allied creature and the bannerwight immediately regain their Reaction.
Success at All Costs! Trigger: A creature within 30 feet fails a D20 Test. Response: The creature rolls 1d10 and adds the result to the roll.
Description
Vile Generals. Wights are formed from the bodies of cruel warriors whose desire for evil deeds returned their withered bodies to a semblance of life. Wraiths are formed from the spirits of cold and callous tyrants whose cruel commands brought terror and death to others in life, and continue to do so in death. Bannerwights are something in-between; generals who fought alongside their soldiers, raising dread banners to inspire dread in their enemies and courage in their troops.
These cruel commanders persist, some mockery of life returned to their bodies either by the ritual workings of a powerful Necromancer or by their own stubborn wills, persistent malice infesting their corpses and returning them to life. In turn, bannerwights are capable of performing rituals of their own to raise the dead; they wage brutal wars of conquest, transforming the bodies of slain foes into even more troops to bolster the combat effort.
Breathless Commanders. Bannerwights ride into battle alongside their troops, marking priority targets to be exterminated first and inspiring their troops to wage forth with greater vigour. Their instruction enables even the weakest of Undead to become potent and reactive threats, mere Skeletons and Zombies made capable of turning the tables on much more powerful and experienced foes.
Should one or two members of a bannerwight's legion fall, the wight worries not. In times of peace, these wights are capable of long, elabourate rituals that grant rise to more permanent Undead troops; but if required, a bannerwight can with only a flick of will and a dab of Necromantic energy grant rise to the fallen body, readying it to fight on renewed (albeit temporarily).
Ambitious Lieutenants. Bannerwights raised or defeated by more powerful Undead such as Death Knights, Mummy Lords, or Liches can often be found battling in their employ. Some such bannerwights are content, at least so long as their lust for bloodshed and pillaging can be slaked, but many serve their masters begrudgingly. These wights hold secret ambitions for freedom or even usurpation, setting into motion long-scale plans to topple their deathless monarchs and oftentimes seize the throne for themselves.
Bannerwights retain all the intellect, planning ability, and tactical knowledge that they held in life, but with the added benefit of a much, much longer timescale to work with. These wights can build up their forces slowly, making careful deals where prying eyes can't see and ears can't hear, and waiting centuries — even millennia, in some cases — for an opportunity to strike.
Paranoid and Controlling. For all their ambitions, bannerwights fear most what they plan for their masters; mutiny. As a result, most bannerwights won't raise or command more potent Undead unless they absolutely must; instead, they amass large hordes of weaker Undead, ready to pile on and tear apart any of their more capable allies or servants who might threaten to develop... ideas.
This wariness is heightened into outright hostility when it comes to Undead of a similar caste. Bannerwights detest Gravecallers, Revenants, and Wraiths, and they hate other bannerwights most of all. It is said that when two bannerwights enter the same room, only one will ever leave; to mitigate this belligerence, higher Undead in control of multiple bannerwights will typically attempt to station the wights as far from each other as possible. Even still, this isn't guaranteed to stop the wights' attempts at removing their competition by force; only to render them far less frequent, and much more subtle in nature.
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