Ritual Butcher

Saves: Agility +5, Willpower +5

Proficiencies: Stealth +5, Lore +4

The Tally. Each creature the butcher personally kills advances the scene's ritual clock by one step. Cult allies it executes count.

Consecrated Edges. Against psykers and sanctified characters, the butcher's blades deal one additional damage die.

Reader of Entrails. Once per scene, the butcher predicts one declared party action and imposes Disadvantage on it.

Sacrificial Stroke. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d10 + 3 slashing damage. Against a Pinned, Grappled, or helpless target this attack hits automatically.

Mark for the Altar. The butcher designates one visible enemy. Cult allies gain +1 to hit that target until it falls.

Blood Sigil. The butcher spends a fresh kill's blood to inscribe a sigil in a 5-foot space. The first enemy to cross it makes a Willpower Save DC 13 or is Frightened and suffers minor Corruption exposure.

Morale: Utterly calm; withdraws only if the ritual is complete or unsalvageable, and never in panic.

Tactics: Give the butcher victims and a schedule. It forces the party to split attention between fighting and interrupting, and it happily kills its own to keep the tally moving. It duels well but murders better.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: A matched set of consecrated flensing blades and a tally-ledger of victims in careful, patient script; the ledger names the ritual's next site.

The Ritual Butcher is a blade-cult executioner whose murders are liturgy: every kill made with the right knife, in the right order, feeds a working already in motion. It fights like a duelist and counts like an accountant.

Use this enemy when combat and ritual should share a clock — every casualty the party fails to prevent advances something worse.

Moderate durability, high single-target melee damage, fear pressure, objective threat — its kills progress a ritual whether or not the party engages it.

The Tally. Each creature the butcher personally kills advances the scene's ritual clock by one step.

Consecrated Edges. Its blades wound psykers and the sanctified with unnatural ease (+1 damage die against them).

Reader of Entrails. Once per scene, predicts one party action and imposes Disadvantage on it.

Sacrificial Stroke. Heavy melee attack; against a Pinned, grappled, or helpless target it hits automatically.

Mark for the Altar. Designates one enemy; cult allies gain +1 to hit that target until it falls.

Blood Sigil. Spends a kill's blood to inscribe a sigil that frightens or corrupts those who cross it.

Morale: Utterly calm; withdraws only if the ritual is complete or unsalvageable, and never in panic.

Tactics: Give the butcher victims — captives, cultist volunteers, downed party allies — and a schedule. It should force the party to split attention between fighting and interrupting, and it happily kills its own to keep the tally moving. It duels well but murders better.

Full Stat Block Priority: High