Knight-Type War Engine

Saves: Toughness +15, Willpower +11

Senses: Auspex crown: sees all creatures and vehicles within 300 feet regardless of darkness or smoke

Ion Shielding. A directional shield arc absorbs all damage from one facing, chosen by the pilot at the start of each of its turns. Attacks from other facings resolve normally; observers can track the shield's facing with an Awareness check DC 14. This is not a fight to win by attrition: sabotage, objectives, or superheavy support are the intended answers.

Titan-Lite Plate. Any single attack that deals 20 or less damage is shrugged off entirely. Melta, superheavy weapons, breaching charges placed by boarders, and the reactor count as real damage.

Noble Pilot. The Knight has morale after all: pride, honor debts, and rage. A pilot who is shamed, baited, or bound by an oath makes exploitable decisions, closing to melee when it should stand off, accepting duels, sparing the unworthy.

Reactor Heart. Boarders who reach the carapace (a mission in itself: climbing checks under point-defense fire) can breach the reactor with a Tech check DC 17 and charges. A breached reactor kills the Knight in 1d4 rounds, and standing within 60 feet of the death is its own hazard: Agility Save DC 18 or 6d10 energy damage.

Thermal Lance. Ranged Attack: +12 to hit, range 200/600 ft., one vehicle, emplacement, or building-section. Hit: 6d10 + 12 fire damage, ignoring armor plating traits. One such target per activation stops existing; infantry near the impact make an Agility Save DC 18 or take half the damage.

Reaper Sweep. Melee arc, reach 20 ft.: every creature and structure at one elevation in the arc makes an Agility Save DC 18, taking 4d10 + 9 slashing damage on a failure, or half on a success. Survivors are Suppressed by the wind of it until the start of the Knight's next turn.

Stomp Judgment. Each creature underfoot in a 15-foot zone makes an Agility Save DC 18. On a failure the target takes 5d10 + 9 bludgeoning damage and is Pinned in the crater; on a success it takes half damage, moves to the zone's edge, and reconsiders its position.

Point Honor. When an enemy vehicle or war engine attacks the Knight, it may pivot its ion shield to face the attacker and make one Thermal Lance attack against it at -2 to hit.

Morale: Machine unbreakable, pilot human: a shamed, baited, or honor-bound pilot makes exploitable decisions, and a doomed Knight may charge something worthy of its death.

Tactics: Never run this as a normal fight. Structure objectives: kill its escort so allied armor can work, climb it for the pilot's hatch, sabotage the reactor at a maintenance yard, or hold until an allied Knight answers. Give the party clear intel on the shield arc, the stride path, and the pilot's temperament; those three facts are the whole battle.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: A fallen Knight is a political event: house heraldry, a throne interface wired to a bloodline, and salvage rights three factions will kill over.

A Knight-Type War Engine is a towering war machine with a noble pilot, a reactor, and weapons that end buildings — a walking escalation the party cannot meet head-on. Against infantry it is not a fight; it is weather with a heraldry.

Use this threat as an objective encounter: sabotage its reactor, guide allied heavy assets, exploit a downed shield arc, or survive its transit — never as a standard stat-trade.

Threat Profile: Boss-grade war engine — titan-lite armor and void shielding, building-killing firepower, crushing stride, pilot morale and honor codes as the only human weakness, defeated by objectives, sabotage, or superheavy support.

Ion Shielding. A directional shield arc absorbs incoming fire; the pilot must choose where it faces, and observers can track the choice.

Titanic Stride. Moves through buildings and cover; its path is a new map.

Noble Pilot. The Knight has morale after all — pride, honor debts, and rage that a clever party can provoke into mistakes.

Reactor Heart. Breaching the reactor is a mission in itself, and standing near success is its own hazard.

Battle Cannon / Thermal Lance. Ends one vehicle, emplacement, or building-section per activation.

Reaper Sweep. Melee arc that clears everything at one elevation; survivors are Suppressed by the wind of it.

Stomp Judgment. Targets infantry underfoot; failed Agility Saves are catastrophic, and the survivors reconsider their position.

Morale: Machine unbreakable, pilot human: a shamed, baited, or honor-bound pilot makes exploitable decisions — and a doomed Knight may charge something worthy of its death.

Tactics: Never run this as a normal fight. Structure objectives: kill its escort so allied armor can work, climb it for the pilot's hatch, sabotage the reactor at a maintenance yard, or hold until an allied Knight answers. Encounter notes: give the party clear intel on the shield arc, the stride path, and the pilot's temperament — those three facts are the whole battle.

Full Stat Block Priority: Boss