Herald of Judgement

Expected threat level: Extreme (TL 68)
Deliverers of divine will, Heralds are immensely powerful celestials charged with singular purpose and dispatched to the mortal realms. Heralds of Judgement are set loose upon those that have drawn the specific, personal ire of a god, and will doggedly track down their targets to deliver the exact amount of retribution that their patron has asked of them. Heralds of Judgement may pass death sentences upon powerful heretics, forcefully remove corruption from the ranks of the faithful, or proclaim their god's stance in the event of a destructive schism. 

As with many Celestials, the great power of the Heralds comes with significant restriction. Heralds are rare, and usually only hunt those who have directly interfered with their patron's domain, or are members of their own faith. To pass judgement, there must be jurisdiction - the gods have other tools with which to wage war.
Might 7
Precision 7
​​Cleverness 7
Knowledge 14
​Willpower 14
​Fortitude 12
Speed: 30ft. (walking) / 90ft. (flying)
Armor: 15
​​Size: Medium
Type: Celestial
Detection: 15 (+ Omniscience) 
VTT Tokens:
herald_of_judgement_tokens.zip
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Tags: celestial, herald, angel
Tendencies: Heralds are dispatched by their patrons on specific missions, and will pursue them with extreme diligence. Unlike other celestials, who may be swayed to intervene in other situations they encounter that fall within their domain, a Herald of Judgement will ignore almost anything that is not directly interfering with, or helping them achieve, their current purpose. Heralds rarely spend significant time on the mortal plane, completing their tasks as quickly as possible, but have been known to bide their time for ages or even build organizations of mortals to support an objective, if no more expedient path is available.
Tactics: Heralds are vicious warriors and masterful tacticians. If the object of their mission on the mortal plane is at hand, they will spare no quarter in completing their task--be that annihilation, punishment, or capture of the target. A Herald will sacrifice itself and any allies it needs to if it means ensuring that goal, but the Heralds of most deities will avoid needless ​slaughter. 
Senses: keen senses, blindsight 120ft.

Endurance

Health: 120
If Health is reduced to 0, this creature dies, regardless of how many Wounds it has.
Wound Threshold: 14
If creature takes this much damage in a single Turn, it suffers a Wound.
Number of Wounds: 8
If creature suffers this many Wounds, it dies instantly.

Grievous Wounds:
If this creature suffers a Wound as a result of the specified Damage Type below, it suffers the additional effect listed.
​Each effect can be suffered only once.
(   ) Infernal (1st): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility is disabled for 1 Round.
(   ) Infernal (2nd): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility is disabled for 2 Rounds. The damage dice for the Herald's Annihilation Pyre are reduced by one size.
(   ) Infernal (3rd): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility is disabled for 2d4+1 Rounds. 
(   ) Infernal (4th): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility is disabled for 24 Hours. The damage dice for the Herald's Annihilation Pyre are reduced by one size.
(   ) Infernal (5th): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility is destroyed permanently. This Wound cannot be healed.

(   ) Eldritch (1st): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility has no effect on the next attack it suffers.
(   ) Eldritch (2nd): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility has no effect on the next attack it suffers.
(   ) Eldritch (3rd): The Herald's Aura of Invincibility has no effect on the next attack it suffers. The damage dice for the Herald's Annihilation Pyre are reduced by one size.

(   ) Ether (1st): The Herald's current Mana is reduced to zero.
(   ) Ether (2nd): The Herald's current Mana and Stamina are reduced to zero.
(   ) Ether (3rd): The Herald's current Mana and Stamina are reduced to zero. The damage dice for the Herald's Annihilation Pyre are reduced by one size. 

Strengths & Weaknesses

Touch of Omniscience. The Herald can perceive all creatures within 30ft. of itself (even if hidden or invisible), can understand all speech and text, can make itself understood by any sentient creature, and can automatically detects any lies or untruths. 
​Ardent Immunity. The Herald cannot take Ardent Damage, and cannot become Blinded.
Legendary Metabolism. The Herald removes 1d4 Poison Counters from itself at the start of each of its turns, if it has any.
Apex Monster (4). Four times per day, when the Herald fails a check, it can choose to succeed. Alternatively, it may use this ability as an Action to remove all Conditions currently applied to it.

​Special Features

Aura of Invincibility. The Herald cannot take Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning Damage, and cannot suffer from the associated Conditions.
Annihilation Pyre. When the Herald is killed, all creatures within 10ft. of it must make a Precision Check (target = 10), taking 1d20 Ardent + 1d20 Burning + 1d20 Explosive Damage on a failure.

Actions

Sword of Judgement. (Melee attack, 5ft. range, 1 target, +7 bonus to hit). Deals 2d4 Slashing Damage + 1d4 Ardent Damage. If the target has ever killed a humanoid that was not hostile toward them, deal an additional 2d4 Ardent Damage.  

Reactions

Counterspell: (2d8). 

Advanced Actions

Combo Attack (Cost: 4 Stamina). The Herald makes two Sword of Judgement Attacks.
Denounce (Cost: 7 Mana).  One target the Herald can see must make a Willpower Check, target 14. If it fails, attacks against that target have a +2 bonus to hit, and deal an additional +1d4 Ardent Damage for the next 24 hours.
Declare Paragon (Cost: 3 Mana). One creature the Herald designates gains +1 Armor, +1 to Attacks and Checks, and deals +1d4 Ardent Damage. This effect lasts for 24 hours, or until the Herald declares a new Paragon.
Pillar of Condemnation (Cost: 10 Mana). The Herald passes the judgement of its god on one Creature it can see. The Creature must make a contested Willpower Check against the Herald, taking half damage if it wins and full damage if it loses. It suffers the following effects:
  • 1d20 Damage, split between Ardent and Burning.
  • +1d12 Damage if it has ever killed an innocent.
  • +1d10 Damage if it has ever harmed an innocent.
  • +1d8 Damage if it has ever stolen from an innocent.
Stamina Capacity: 9
​Stamina Regeneration: 3
Mana Capacity: 12
​Mana Regeneration: 4
Common Loot (GM's choice or Roll 1d6). Roll twice, re-rolling repeated results:
1. 1d4 Angel's Feathers | 2. Broken Halo  |  3. 1d20 strands of Angel's Hair  | 4. Silverthread (+) Cloak (Rare, value 2,000GP)  | 5. Heartweave (++) Tunic (Very Rare, value 4,125GP)  | 6. Consecrated (+++) Greatsword (Very Rare value 49,490GP).

Customization​

The Herald of Judgement statblock above assumes that the Herald is a divine servant of a "good-," or at least "justice-," focused deity. This creature can be re-flavored to represent different Powers That Be with relative ease.

Option 1: to simply represent a less justice-aligned god, but still keep the Celestial theme, change the list of conditions for the Pillar of Condemnation ability and the Sword of Judgement's conditional damage. For example, a Nature god may list sins related to disrupting the natural order, wasteful deaths, damaging wild places, and so on. 

Option 2: To create a being of similar power and purpose that doesn't follow "celestial" themes (perhaps a servant of a more narrowly focused deity like a god of fire or ice, or a different power like an archfey or greater devil), do the following:
  • Switch Ardent Immunity to another Damage type (for a more diabolical Herald, switch it to Infernal, and replace Blinded with Cursed). 
  • Switch out any Grievous Wounds types that don't makes sense (for our diabolical Herald, replace Infernal wounds with Ardent). 
  • Switch all instances of the Herald dealing Ardent Damage with your preferred thematic type (Infernal for our example). 
  • Update the Sword of Judgement and Pillar of Condemnation abilities as we did in Option 1.