Tyrant Guard

Saves: Toughness +9, Strength +9

Senses: Eyeless; perceives entirely through the synapse web within 60 feet

Shieldwall Instinct. The guard exists to stand between its ward and the party's plan. While the guard is within 10 feet, its ward gains +2 Defense from its sheltering bulk. It never strays from the ward's side.

Bonded Blindness. Eyeless and synapse-steered, the guard cannot be Frightened, Blinded, distracted, baited, or lied to — there is nothing in there to fool.

Rampart of Chitin. The guard ignores any single hit that deals 5 or less damage.

Crushing Retort. Melee Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d10 + 5 bludgeoning damage. If the target damaged the guard's ward since the guard's last turn, this attack has Advantage. The guard keeps accounts.

Lock the Line. The guard braces. Until the start of its next turn, enemies cannot move through or within 5 feet past its space by any ground route, and its Defense increases by 1.

Bleed for the Tyrant. Once per round, when an attack hits the guard's ward while the ward is within 10 feet, the guard absorbs the entire attack instead, whatever the source.

Morale: Does not make Morale checks. If its ward dies it goes berserk at everything nearby, which the archive files under small mercies.

Tactics: Run the guards as arithmetic the party must solve before the real fight: every shot at the tyrant lands here first. They never chase, never spread, never leave the ward's side — discipline absolute because it is anatomical. Their berserk grief-state can be a final phase or a fuse to run from.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: Its shield-plates, cut whole, out-perform flak barricades; siege regiments salvage them off the line under fire.

The tyrant guard is a shield bred into the shape of a beast: an eyeless wall of chitin whose only instinct is standing between the hive tyrant and the party's plan. It does not hunt, it does not stray, and it does not move from the line.

Use this enemy exclusively as escort — the layer of living armor that makes killing a hive tyrant a two-stage problem.

Threat Profile: Extreme durability, damage interception for its ward, heavy retaliatory melee, no independent behavior, must be removed before the tyrant is targetable.

Shieldwall Instinct. While within 10 feet of its ward, hits against the ward strike the guard instead; that is the whole animal.

Bonded Blindness. Eyeless and synapse-steered; it cannot be feared, distracted, baited, or lied to, because there is nothing in there to fool.

Rampart of Chitin. Ignores any single hit below a damage threshold; its ward gains cover behind its bulk.

Crushing Retort. Heavy melee attack against whatever last damaged its ward; the guard keeps accounts.

Lock the Line. Braces; until its next turn, enemies cannot move through or past its space by any ground route.

Bleed for the Tyrant. Absorbs an entire attack meant for its ward, whatever the source, once per round.

Morale: No Morale; if its ward dies it goes berserk at everything nearby, which the archive files under small mercies.

Tactics: Run the guards as arithmetic the party must solve before the real fight: every shot at the tyrant lands here first. They never chase, never spread, never leave the ward's side — discipline absolute because it is anatomical. Their berserk grief-state after the tyrant dies can be a final phase or a fuse to run from.

Full Stat Block Priority: High