Krootox-Type Brute

Saves: Toughness +7, Strength +8

Living Battering Beast. The krootox's melee attacks damage cover, barricades, and light structures at double effect.

Kroot Gunner. The rider fires independently: the krootox may make one Kroot Gun attack each round even on a turn it attacked with its fists or is engaged in melee.

Pack-Calmed. Placid while kroot are nearby. If the pack breaks, the krootox either follows or goes feral and rampages at the nearest target of any allegiance — GM's choice, party's problem.

Krootox Fists. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 2d10 + 5 bludgeoning damage, and the target makes a Strength Save DC 14 or is knocked Prone and pushed 5 feet.

Kroot Gun. Ranged Attack: +5 to hit, range 80/240 ft., one target. Hit: 2d8 + 2 ballistic damage.

Shoulder Through. The krootox charges up to its Movement through a barricade, wall of cover, or light structure, breaching it. Each creature behind the breach makes an Agility Save DC 14 or takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage and is knocked Prone.

Morale: Steady while the pack holds; when the kindred breaks, the brute either follows or goes feral on the spot.

Tactics: Keep the krootox behind the first ambush wave, then commit it at whatever the party is using as an anchor: the barricade, the heavy gunner, the doorway. Let the rider shoot on the way in. It is slow, so make the terrain do the herding.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: A crew-served kroot gun and a saddle-harness proving the kindred shape beasts as readily as themselves.

A krootox-type is what happens when the kroot eat something enormous and approve of the result: a hulking quadruped auxiliary with a gunner on its back and fists like grave markers. It is the pack's answer to armor, walls, and arguments.

Use this enemy to give a kroot ambush a hard center — the thing the party cannot simply hold a doorway against.

Threat Profile: High durability, heavy melee damage, mounted gun for mid-range pressure, slow by kroot standards, morale tied to the pack.

Living Battering Beast. Its melee attacks damage cover, barricades, and light structures at double effect.

Kroot Gunner. The rider fires independently, giving the brute both melee reach and covering fire.

Pack-Calmed. Placid while kroot are nearby; if the pack breaks, it may rampage at the nearest target of any allegiance.

Krootox Fists. Heavy melee attack; a hit target makes a Strength Save or is knocked prone and pushed.

Kroot Gun. Mounted mid-range attack, fired even while the beast is in melee.

Shoulder Through. Charges through cover or barricade, breaching it and threatening everyone behind it.

Morale: Steady while the pack holds; when the kindred breaks, the brute either follows or goes feral on the spot — GM's choice, party's problem.

Tactics: Keep the krootox behind the first ambush wave, then commit it at whatever the party is using as an anchor: the barricade, the heavy gunner, the doorway. Let the rider shoot on the way in. It is slow, so make the terrain do the herding.

Full Stat Block Priority: Medium