Genestealer

Saves: Agility +8

Proficiencies: Stealth +8, Athletics +7

Senses: Sees normally in total darkness

Ambush Predator. If the genestealer attacks a target that has not yet acted this scene or cannot see it, the attack has Advantage and deals +1d6 damage.

Wall-Runner. The genestealer climbs walls, ceilings, and ventwork at full speed without checks and can attack while climbing.

Rending Claws. Melee Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 + 4 slashing damage. On a critical hit, the claws punch through armor: the attack ignores armor-based Defense bonuses and deals +1d10 damage.

Flurry. The genestealer makes two Rending Claw attacks against one target. If both hit, the target makes a Strength Save DC 14 or is knocked prone.

Serpentine Recoil. When a ranged attack misses the genestealer, it may move up to 10 feet without provoking Reactive Fire.

Morale: Does not make Morale checks while brood or patriarch influence holds it. Alone and bloodied, it withdraws into the dark to preserve the brood — doctrine, not fear.

Tactics: Stalk from vents and ceilings, hit whoever wanders from the group, vanish before the flashlights converge.

The genestealer is the hive fleet's perfect ambush organism: a wall-running knot of muscle and rending claws that kills from vents, ceilings, and the dark between flashlight beams. The archive's advice is brief — do not be alone, do not be quiet, do not assume the room is empty.

Use this enemy for horror-pattern encounters in ships, hives, and tunnels, where isolation and darkness do half its work before the claws start.

Threat Profile: Medium-high durability, extreme speed and climb mobility, devastating ambush melee, armor-shredding criticals, withdraws to preserve the brood rather than trading fair.

Ambush Predator. Attacks from concealment or against targets who have not acted gain Advantage and bonus damage.

Wall-Runner. Climbs walls, ceilings, and ventwork at full speed and attacks from them; the map has more directions than the party's.

Rending Claws. Its criticals punch through armor, ignoring armor-based Defense bonuses; plate is a delay, not an answer.

Rending Strike. Elite melee attack; on a critical, armor stops mattering and the damage doubles down.

Flurry. Two rending attacks on one target; if both land, the target saves or is knocked prone under it.

Fade Into the Dark. Withdraws through vent, shadow, or ceiling without provoking Reactive Fire, and resets the ambush.

Morale: No Morale under brood or patriarch influence; alone and bloodied it withdraws into the dark to preserve the brood — doctrine, not fear.

Tactics: Never fight the party; hunt them. Take the straggler, the rearguard, the one who checked the noise, then vanish before the flashlights converge. Each kill should teach the party to bunch up, and bunching up is how the brood's second genestealer gets its flank. In open field battles, hold them for the moment the party's line has a back.

Full Stat Block Priority: High