Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Clan Bloodspear
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This is an original entry about a specific group of antagonists.
The Lore
Clan Bloodspear is a large clan of orcs who make their home in the Stonemarch, a desolate region to the northwest of the Nentir Vale, separated from it by the Cairngorm Peaks. From what I understand, they’re pretty well adapted to it and don’t really need to raid their neighbors for resources. However, Gruumsh still exerts his divine influence to make sure they form a huge horde and ravage the surrounding lands about once every century.
The clan was founded by the eponymous King Bloodspear, who in the distant past slew the elder dragon Kulkozsar in single combat and made a throne of his skull. The glory from his deed attracted many followers, and they made the dragon’s former lair into an entire underground city that kept being expanded and improved over time. In our narrative present it includes multiple forges, arenas, and slave pens. Their technology and production base is significantly higher than that of other orc clans, though they still rely on slave labor to power a lot of it.
The last time the Bloodspear marched forth was ninety years ago, when they attacked Nentir Vale and practically erased the civilizations within it. The land and its inhabitants have yet to fully recover from that attack, and yet it seems they’re getting ready to do it again. Gruumsh has selected a new champion among the Bloodspear, and that champion is hard at work in forging them into an invading army.
In an uncharacteristic move for the patriarchal Bloodspear, this new champion is a woman: Queen Msuga. She’s an extremely formidable warrior and general, and has defeated enough challengers to her legitimacy that all of them now accept her rule. Msuga is always accompanied by her sister Rohka, who is also known as the Blood Witch. As a high priest of Gruumsh, she commands vast mystical powers despite her withered body. Some rumors say Rohka is the true power behind the throne and Msuga is just a puppet. Whatever the truth is, it’s clear the two sisters are united in purpose.
And this purpose is an ambitious one: the sisters are preparing not to simply raid the Nentir Vale, but to conquer and annex it as part of their nascent Bloodspear Empire.
In addition to their powerful leaders and their large numbers of combat-ready orcs, Clan Bloodspear also contains a small but significant percentage of individuals of mixed orc and troll or ogre descent. The book described this as a “breeding program” overseen by Rohka and calls the results “vile half-breeds”, but I don’t like this language at all and would probably explain it as a natural consequence of them sharing space with ogres and trolls over on the Stonemarch.
The Numbers
Clan Bloodspear would mostly be made up of orcs fitting the standard profiles listed on the Monster Vault, but they also have some combat traditions that are unique to them. We also get stat blocks for the half-troll and half-ogre (ogrillon) members of the clan. You could conceivably add full-blooded ogres and trolls to their numbers as well.
As a reminder, orcs are Medium Natural Humanoids with a speed of 6 and Low-light vision. Their signature trait is Savage Demise, which lets them take a standard action for free when they hit 0 HP. Some of the stat blocks here play with that standard template a bit, and I’ll point out when they do so.
Bloodspear Grenadier
The Bloodspear like their explosives! Grenadiers are Level 4 Artillery with 44 HP. They carry 2 handaxes to fight in melee or to throw, and 4 fire bombs that act as area burst 1 attacks and deal fire damage. Once per encounter when an enemy ends their movement adjacent to the grenadier, they can shift 2 squares and drop a load of caltrops in a close blast 3 pattern. This creates a zone that damages anyone who enters it or ends its turn inside.
Grenadiers replace Savage Demise with Blazing Fury, which deals 5 fire damage to all adjacent creatures and lets them throw a fire bomb for free.
I guess if these grenadiers manage to use up all of their ammo, they’ll probably retreat from the fight, since the Bloodspear are supposed to be a well-coordinated and more disciplined force than your standard orc band. You might want to add a feature like a supply cart to the battlefield that would allow them to reload, and would also be very flammable.
Bloodspear Krull
Krulls are named after a famous 80s fantasy movie that featured a weapon called a Glaive, because they are Bloodspear martial artists who specialize in glaives. That’s it. That’s the joke.
The “glaive” from the movie was a cool throwing star thing, but the weapon Bloodspear Krulls use is the equally cool real glaive, a polearm with a single-edged sword blade at the end. They’re Level 5 Brutes with 78 HP.
The glaive can be used to make strong Reach 2 basic attacks, and it can also be used in a Charging Sweep (recharge 6+) maneuver. This is a Close Burst 2 attack that deals the same damage as a basic attack, pushes targets it hits 1 square, and knocks them prone. As the name implies, it can be used as part of a charge.
When the krull bloodies an enemy, its Frenzied Strike ability allows it to make a free extra attack against that enemy. And when they drop to 0 HP, their Charging Demise ability lets them recharge and immediately use Charging Sweep one last time.
Bloodspear Ogrillon
Orgillons are half-orc/half-ogres. They’re smaller and smarter than a full ogre, and almost as strong. These are Level 5 Elite Brutes with 156 HP.
Orgillons fight bare-handed. Their slams do strong physical damage, and do bonus damage against prone targets. On a critical hit, they knock the target prone as well. As elites they can make Double Attacks. They lack a Demise ability, but their Brutish Retaliation allows them to use a slam against an enemy in reach that hits them with a ranged or area attack as a reaction. This sounds a bit redundant when these attacks already provoke opportunity attacks, but it at least lets the ogrillon save their opportunity action to attack someone else. Or to hit the offender again when they try to move away after landing that attack.
Bloodspear Shiv
Skilled knife-fighters, shivs are Level 6 Skirmishers with 75 HP. They carry no less than 12 daggers, which can be used in melee or thrown. Their Shifting Shank ability lets them shift their speed and make a dagger attack at any point during the movement. If this attack bloodies the target, they can make a second free attack against that target.
They have the standard Savage Demise ability as well.
Bloodspear Half-Troll
Like ogrillons, half-trolls are smaller and smarter than their troll parent, and almost as strong. They also retain the infamous trollish regeneration abilities. They are Level 8 Soldiers with 92 HP.
Half trolls have Regeneration 5 and Troll Healing, which lets them rise again with 11 HP a turn after they drop. Acid or fire damage can prevent them from healing for a turn, and can prevent them from rising.
The half-troll’s claws damage and grab on a hit (escape DC 16), and it can grab up to two creatures at once. If a grabbed creature attacks the half-troll or escapes the grab, the half-troll can bite them as a reaction, an attack that deals light physical damage. It also has the standard version of Savage Demise, which could potentially trigger several times during the battle if the PCs are too slow with their acid and fire.
Bloodspear Savage Throng
A large unit of orcs with an unfortunate name, for use during the late Heroic tier. It’s a Huge Swarm of Medium Natural Humanoids, and a Level 9 Brute with 117 HP. It follows all the standard swarm rules: half damage from single-target attacks, 10 extra damage from area attacks, can occupy the same space as other characters, and can move through any opening big enough for a single Medium creature.
The throng’s swarm attack aura (1) is relatively weak, inflicting only 4 damage on anyone caught inside. As it also occupies the swarm’s own spaces, though, it covers plenty of squares. Its basic attack is a Mob of Swinging Axes, and once per encounter it can pull off a Savage Frenzy that attacks every enemy in a Clost Burst 1, doing half damage on a miss. As with the aura, the burst should also catch anyone who is inside the swarm.
Once at the start and once when first bloodied, the throng can make a Trample maneuver, which works as usual: move their speed and make an attack against any enemy whose space they move through. The attack deals physical damage and knocks prone.
Queen Msuga
Msuga is a Level 10 Elite Soldier with the Leader keyword and 212 HP. Her usual speed of 6 becomes 8 when she charges. If the PCs fight her, she will surely be alongside her sister Rohka and a sizable honor guard.
Msuga’s greataxe marks the target for a turn on a hit, and she can perform a Sweeping Blade (recharge 5+) maneuver that attacks every enemy in a Close Burst 1 for more damage than a basic attack, and even more against bloodied enemies. This also marks everyone it hits for a turn.
As a minor action, she can use Furious Onslaught to order an ally within 10 squares to charge or make a basic attack as a free action. If a marked enemy within 5 squares makes an attack that doesn’t target her, she can shift 5 squares to make a greataxe attack aggainst the offender as a reaction.
When Msuga drops to 0 HP, Queen’s Demise allows her or an ally within 10 squares to use a standard action for free.
Rohka the Blood Witch
As mentioned above, Rohka is most likely to be found alongside her sister Msuga, and accompanied by a sizable honor guard besides. She is a Level 10 Elite Controller with 216 HP. She has the usual ground speed of 6 and an effective teleport speed of 10.
Rohka fights in melee with her claws, but she prefers to stay at range and fling spells. Her go-to is Chaos Displacement, an area burst attack that targets Fortitude, deals psychic damage, and slides targets 3 squares. Every so often she can use the Baleful Eye of Gruumsh (recharge 5+), which targets 1 or 2 creatures and attacks Will. A hit deals psychic damage and slows (save ends). After the first failed save this worsens to immobilization, and after the second failure the target is dominated instead.
If someone hits Rohka with a melee or ranged attack and an ally is nearby, she can use I Need a Volunteer (encounter) to teleport and swap places with the ally as an interrupt, making the attack target the ally instead of her. This does mean the attack could miss the ally if their defenses are higher. She also has the standard version of Savage Demise.
Final Impressions
Overall I like this portrayal of Clan Bloodspear. They make a solid choice for opposition because they’re ambitious and highly militarized imperialists with a penchant for enslaving others. In fact, they make me think of Rome’s mythical founding, since they’re led by two divinely-chosen siblings who are setting out to build an empire where before there was “nothing” (i.e, a bunch of civilizations who were minding their own business and were made targets for invasion).
Combining the stat blocks from this entry with the standard orc stats in the MV gives you enough opposition to last you the whole Heroic tier. The book still uses the word “savage” a little too often for my tastes, and there’s the “vile half-breeds” thing, but I intend to change this if I ever use them in a game.