Aatrox, the Darkin Blade (5e Creature)
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Aatrox, the Darkin Blade
Large aberration, chaotic evil Armor Class 22 (Natural Armor)
Saving Throws Str +14, Dex +10, Con +13, Cha +12 Ancient Ascended. Aatrox has advantage on saving throws made to resist spells and other magical effects. His attacks are magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity. Immutable Form. Due to his shifting nature, Aatrox's and his sword are immune to any spell or effect that would alter their form. One with the Blade. Aatrox cannot be disarmed of his greatsword. Life-drinker. Aatrox regains 7 (2d6) hit points for each creature he damages in the Critical Zone of his abilities and 1d6 for each creature damaged by the lesser areas. Deathbringer Stance. Aatrox's first Greatsword attack each round deals an additional 3d6 piercing damage. Any hit points the target would recover from any source until the start of Aatrox's next turn is reduced by an amount equal to this bonus damage. A creature cannot be subject to this bonus damage on consecutive rounds. ACTIONSMultiattack. Aatrox can make three Greatsword attacks, three consecutive Darkin Blade actions, and up to two Umbral Dash actions in between those options. He cannot make consecutive Umbral Dashes on his turn; at least two Greatsword attacks or one Darkin Blade action must come between them.
Darkin Blade. Aatrox slings his weapon in a crescendo of concussive force.
Aatrox can break up these actions with movement like they were standard attacks. Umbral Dash. Aatrox shoves himself 10 feet. forward. His next Greatsword or Darkin Blade action he can reroll all 1's and 2's for damage. He must use the new rolls, even if they are 1's or 2's. World Ender (1/day). Aatrox pulls from his reserve blood well within his weapon and unleashes devastating might. Creatures that can see Aatrox within 60 feet of him must make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of Aatrox for one minute. Aatrox gains the following traits:
World Ender ends when a full round passes the point when Aatrox activated the ability, either on his turn or whenever he used Turn the Tables or the Legendary action, or when he reaches 0 hit points and drains his Blood Well. If World Ender ends without Aatrox reaching 0 hit points beforehand, he does not regain any hit points from the Blood Well. It is wasted.
LEGENDARY ACTIONSThe Darkin Blade can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Darkin Blade regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. Attack Aatrox can make one Greatsword attack at a creature within range. Move Aatrox can move up to his speed. Umbral Dash (2 actions) Can make one Umbral Dash in any direction. On his next turn, Aatrox cannot make an Umbral Dash as his first action. World Ender (3 actions) Aatrox can activate World Ender. |
Whether mistaken for a demon or god, many tales have been told of the Darkin Blade... but few know his real name, or the story of his fall. In ancient times, long before desert sands swallowed the empire, a mighty champion of Shurima was brought before the Sun Disc to become the avatar for a now forgotten celestial ideal. Remade as one of the Ascended, his wings were the golden light of dawn, and his armor sparkled like a constellation of hope from beyond the great veil. Aatrox was his name. He was at the vanguard of every noble conflict. So true and just was his conduct that other god-warriors would always gather at his side, and ten thousand mortals of Shurima marched behind him. When Setaka, the Ascended warrior-queen, called for his help against the rebellion of Icathia, Aatrox answered without hesitation. But no one predicted the extent of the horrors that the rebels would unleash—the Void quickly overwhelmed its Icathian masters, and began the grinding annihilation of all life it encountered. After many years of desperate battle, Aatrox and his brethren finally halted the Void’s perverse advance, and seared the largest rifts shut. But the surviving Ascended, the self-described Sunborn, had been forever changed by what they had encountered. Though Shurima had triumphed, they all had lost something in their victory... even noble Aatrox. And in time, Shurima fell, as all empires must. Without any monarch to defend, or the existential threat of the Void to test them, Aatrox and the Sunborn began to clash with one another, and eventually this became a war for the ruins of their world. Mortals fleeing the conflict came to know them instead by a new and scornful name: the darkin. Fearing that these fallen Ascended were as dangerous to Runeterra’s survival as the Void incursions had been, the Targonians intervened. It is said that the Aspect of Twilight gave mortals the knowledge to trap the darkin, and the newly reborn Aspect of War united many in fighting back against them. Never fearing any foe, Aatrox and his armies were ready, and he realized only too late that they had been deceived. A force greater than a thousand dead suns pulled him inside the sword he had carried into battle countless times, and forever bound his immortal essence to it. The weapon was a prison, sealing his consciousness in suffocating, eternal darkness, robbing him even of the ability to die. For centuries, he strained against this hellish confinement... until some nameless mortal was foolish enough to try and wield the blade once more. Aatrox seized upon this opportunity, forcing his will and an imitation of his original form onto his bearer, though the process quickly drained all life from the new body. In the years that followed, Aatrox groomed many more hosts—men and women of exceptional vitality or fortitude. Though his grasp of such magics had been limited in life, he learned to take control of a mortal in the span of single breath, and in battle he discovered he could feast on his victims to build himself ever larger and stronger. Aatrox traveled the land, searching desperately, endlessly, for a way return to his previous Ascended form… but the riddle of the blade proved unsolvable, and in time he realized he would never be free of it. The flesh he stole and crudely shaped began to feel like a mockery of his former glory—a cage only slightly larger than the sword. Despair and loathing grew in his heart. The heavenly powers that Aatrox had once embodied had been wiped from the world, and all memory. Raging against this injustice, he arrived at a solution that could only be born of a prisoner’s desperation. If he could not destroy the blade or free himself, then he would embrace oblivion instead. Now, Aatrox marches toward this merciless goal, bringing war and death wherever he goes. He clings to a blind hope: if he can drive all of creation into a final, apocalyptic battle—where everything, everything else is destroyed—then maybe he and the blade will also cease to exist. |
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