Medium Humanoid (Warframe), unaligned
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 (+1) | 20 (+5) | 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) | 16 (+3) |
Ballistic Battery. When Mesa scores a critical hit, she can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit.
Crossbow Adept. Mesa ignores the loading quality of crossbows.
Frame of War. Mesa doesn’t need to breathe, drink, eat, or sleep and is immune to disease. She can move along vertical surfaces on her turn without falling and takes no damage from falling.
Villainous Resistance (3/Day). If Mesa fails a saving throw, she can delay her villain actions by 10 places in the initiative count to succeed instead. Mesa cannot use this feature if her villain actions occur on initiative count 0.
Multiattack. Mesa makes three hand crossbow attacks.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.
Ballistic Bullseye. Mesa focuses on one creature she can see within 120 feet. Until the end of her turn, attacking the target at long range doesn’t impose disadvantage on her ranged weapon attack rolls and if the target doesn’t have any cover, she has advantage on her attack rolls against that target.
Muzzle Flash. Mesa releases a 20-foot cone of flashing light from the tip of a weapon she is holding. Each hostile creature in the area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) radiant damage and being blinded until the start of Mesa’s Next turn on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Bullet Jump. When Mesa is hit by an attack that was made with advantage, she can jump to an unoccupied space within 15 feet or stand up from prone. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Deadeye. When Mesa hits a creature with a ranged weapon attack, she can turn the attack into a critical hit.
Once per round, starting at initiative count 20 (beating any ties), Mesa can take one villain action in order. Once the final villain action is used, Mesa can take one villain action of her choice but cannot take the same villain action twice in a row. Instead of taking a villain action, Mesa can advance her villain actions by 10 places in the initiative count.
Action 1: Shooting Gallery. Mesa enhances the attacks of one friendly creature she can see within 60 feet of her whilst disarming hostile creatures around that target. The target’s attacks deal an additional 4 (1d8) force damage until the end of its next turn and each hostile creature within 10 feet of the target must make a DC 17 Strength saving throw for each weapon or spellcasting focus they are holding. On a failed save, the object is harmlessly thrown up to 10 feet away in a random direction, stopping if it hits a solid surface. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. A target has advantage on the saving throw if they are holding the object with two hands.
Action 2: Stagger Shield. Mesa envelops herself in a barrier of energy that lasts for 1 minute or until she loses concentration (as if concentrating on a spell). Whilst this barrier is active, attacks that hit Mesa have part of their energy reflected at the attacker and she gains the following benefits: Mesa has resistance to damage from attacks, when a creature hits Mesa with a melee attack they must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet back, stopping if they hit a solid surface, and when a creature hits Mesa with a ranged attack, they must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Action 3: Peacemaker. Mesa’s hand crossbows become shrouded in yellow energy or hand crossbows made of yellow energy form in her hands if she is not holding a hand crossbow. She surveys the battlefield for a moment before unleashing a torrent of attacks at unfathomable speed. Each hostile creature she can see within a 120-foot cone must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 34 (4d6 + 20) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If a creature’s saving throw fails by 5 or more, they are also incapacitated until the end of their next turn, unable to comprehend the swiftness of what just happened.
There are a few of Mesa’s mechanics that rely on cover existing so be sure to include a variety of cover types on the map in an encounter with Mesa.
Crossbow Adept: Mesa’s biggest weakness is her reliance on ranged attack rolls. If a hostile creature is within 5 feet of her, she has disadvantage with her hand crossbows. She has multiple ways to negate this disadvantage however, so be sure to make players work hard to lock her down.
Ballistic Bullseye: Use this when there are no enemies in Muzzle Flash’s 20-foot cone such as a long-range engagement. Be sure to mention that because the character has no cover, Mesa has advantage on her attacks. This will make players start thinking about the cover in the battlefield.
Muzzle Flash: A blinded creature cannot make opportunity attacks. Muzzle Flash is one of Mesa’s tools to escape melee and has the added bonus of making her attacks have advantage against the newly blinded target. This is the bonus action you should be using most often as it also comes with a bit of damage.
Deadeye: Don’t be afraid about using this whenever. Mesa is unlikely to make a worthwhile opportunity attack since she has no melee weapons and thanks to Ballistic Battery, her critical hits are more impactful. Bullet jump can be favourable if you expect to be knocked prone, but Mesa has plenty of other ways to get out of a bad situation.
Shooting Gallery: Use on the ally that has gotten swarmed by the party the worst. The extra damage is a nice bonus so don’t worry if you forget to apply it.
Stagger Shield: This helps keep Mesa alive a lot. Don’t forget that a prone creature has disadvantage on their attack rolls.
Peacemaker: This is Mesa’s biggest potential burst damage so be sure to get Mesa into a good position before she uses it for the most impact. You should ideally be getting three targets.
Intelligence (History) DC 10: Warframes were the elite soldiers of the ancient Orokin empire that long ago crumbled to ruin. Today they remain as protectors and guardians of sacred sites or operate personal crusades, leaving nothing but devastation in their path.
Intelligence (History) DC 15: Indicative of the Warframes’ calibre, mundane weapons barely scratch their skin-grafted armour and further augmentations grant them immunity to blindness, deafness, and exhaustion. Their military conditioning and connection to an ‘operator’ make them immune to being charmed and frightened as well.
Intelligence (History) DC 20: You believe this particular faceless warrior to be ‘Mesa’. The stories say she is well versed in ranged combat, favouring twin hand crossbows for their speed, that she can identify and strike a weakness from 120 paces, punishing her enemies for standing out in the open, that she can release a blinding flash from her weapons to disorient her foes, and that she can protect herself from attacks with a reflective shield. finally, she has no qualms about fighting dirty by disarming her opponents before taking them out.
This creature is based on reference material found in the game Warframe. It’s a good game, go check it out.