Welcome to Mythological Figures! This week we’ve got another hero from Britain’s ancient past, the star of the oldest epic in Olde English: Beowulf!
If you somehow missed the 2007 CGI film or forget learning about this fellow in English class, here’s the breakdown. Hrothgar makes the great hall Heorot for his warriors to drink and revel in, but then the monstrous Grendel (a descendant of Cain) overhears their joy and is pained by it so goes to wreck the place as the revelers sleep. In response Hrothgar beseeches the aid of Beowulf who lures Grendel the same way and proceeds to beat the monster to death with his bare hands, ripping off one of the monster’s arms (along with a shoulder).
Grendel’s mother is infuriated that her son was killed in such a way and she comes the next night, killing Hrothgar’s favorite warrior (Æschere) while Beowulf is elsewhere. Upon his return they track her to a lake so (after accepting a possibly magical sword called Hrunting) he jumps in after her, discovering her cave lair at the bottom. Unfortunately the weapon proves ineffective so he throws it away until after the fight, taking up a giant’s sword and hacking the monster to death with that instead. Hrunting is used to decapitate Grendel but dissolves in the creature’s toxic blood, and the hero returns to gain many gifts from Hrothgar--including another dope sword, this one called Nægling.
Half a century later and Beowulf is king of his own lands where a dragon starts causing trouble when somebody steals a golden cup from its hoard. Like you do, he goes out to meet it in single combat but Nægling shatters in his hands and is only saved from defeat by the bravery of his ally Wiglaf. Unfortunately in the fight Beowulf suffers mortal wounds and passes soon after, his remains burned away on a pyre.
Design Notes: Oh, Beowulf, you are so difficult to pin down. A large part of me feels that he’s a fighter but his strength is referenced again and again. He rips off a monster’s arm and breaks magic swords with his hands--not on the dragon he’s fighting but because he is so freaking strong. With that so prominent I really felt to do Beowulf justice we need to hit that beat as hard as we possibly can and that landed me on full barbarian, falling back onto berserker because I wanted to make sure he can relentlessly pummel something to death. I’d like to have gotten him a proper brawling feat but he’s wailing away with 8 damage anyway, and if raging he’s doing 12 damage probably 4 times in a round so does he need it? Checking the CR on both the DMG table and the Blog of Holding breakdown results in the same cushy CR 17--a terrifying prospect I’m liable to drop on a high-level party soon.
Beowulf
Medium humanoid (human), lawful good barbarian (berserker) 20
Armor Class 18 (Constitution or scalemail, shield)
Hit Points 250 (20d12+120)
Speed 40 ft.
Saving Throws Str +13, Con +12
Skills Athletics +13, Insight +7, Perception +7, Survival +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing (while raging)
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened (while raging)
Senses passive Perception 17
Languages Common
Challenge 17 (18,000 XP)
Brutal Critical. Beowulf can roll three additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.
Danger Sense. Beowulf has advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that he can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, he can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
Feat: Power Attack. When Beowulf makes his first melee weapon attack in a turn using a heavy weapon, he can choose to take a -5 penalty to his melee weapon attack rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In addition, Beowulf can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack after he uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit with it. Beowulf can only use this feature on his turn.
Feral Instinct. Beowulf has advantage on initiative rolls. Additionally, if he is surprised at the beginning of combat and isn’t incapacitated, he can act normally on his first turn, but only if he enters his rage before doing anything else on that turn.
Indomitable Might. If Beowulf’s total for a Strength check is less than 20, he can use 24 in place of the total.
Intimidating Presence. Beowulf can use his action to frighten someone with his menacing presence. When he does so, he chooses one creature within 30 feet that he can see. If the creature can see or hear Beowulf, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of Beowulf until the end of his next turn. On subsequent turns, Beowulf can use his action to extend the duration of this effect on the frightened creature until the end of his next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from Beowulf. If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, Beowulf can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.
Mindless Rage. Beowulf can’t be charmed or frightened while raging. If he is charmed or frightened when he enters his rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.
Rage. On his turn, Beowulf can enter a rage as a bonus action. While raging, he gains the following benefits if he isn’t wearing heavy armor:
Reckless Attack. When Beowulf makes his first attack on his turn, he can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives him advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until his next turn.
Relentless Rage. If Beowulf drops to 0 hit points while he’s raging and doesn’t die outright, he can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If he succeeds, he drops to 1 hit point instead. Each time he uses this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When he finishes a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.
ACTIONS
Extra Attack. Beowulf attacks twice (and can use a bonus action to attack once if both raging and frenzied).
Unarmed. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 bludgeoning damage.
Hrunting. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d8+8) magical slashing damage or 13 (1d10+8) magical slashing damage if wielded in two hands.
Giant’s Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6+7) slashing damage.
REACTIONS
Retaliation. When Beowulf takes damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of him, he can use his reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.
If you somehow missed the 2007 CGI film or forget learning about this fellow in English class, here’s the breakdown. Hrothgar makes the great hall Heorot for his warriors to drink and revel in, but then the monstrous Grendel (a descendant of Cain) overhears their joy and is pained by it so goes to wreck the place as the revelers sleep. In response Hrothgar beseeches the aid of Beowulf who lures Grendel the same way and proceeds to beat the monster to death with his bare hands, ripping off one of the monster’s arms (along with a shoulder).
Grendel’s mother is infuriated that her son was killed in such a way and she comes the next night, killing Hrothgar’s favorite warrior (Æschere) while Beowulf is elsewhere. Upon his return they track her to a lake so (after accepting a possibly magical sword called Hrunting) he jumps in after her, discovering her cave lair at the bottom. Unfortunately the weapon proves ineffective so he throws it away until after the fight, taking up a giant’s sword and hacking the monster to death with that instead. Hrunting is used to decapitate Grendel but dissolves in the creature’s toxic blood, and the hero returns to gain many gifts from Hrothgar--including another dope sword, this one called Nægling.
Half a century later and Beowulf is king of his own lands where a dragon starts causing trouble when somebody steals a golden cup from its hoard. Like you do, he goes out to meet it in single combat but Nægling shatters in his hands and is only saved from defeat by the bravery of his ally Wiglaf. Unfortunately in the fight Beowulf suffers mortal wounds and passes soon after, his remains burned away on a pyre.
Design Notes: Oh, Beowulf, you are so difficult to pin down. A large part of me feels that he’s a fighter but his strength is referenced again and again. He rips off a monster’s arm and breaks magic swords with his hands--not on the dragon he’s fighting but because he is so freaking strong. With that so prominent I really felt to do Beowulf justice we need to hit that beat as hard as we possibly can and that landed me on full barbarian, falling back onto berserker because I wanted to make sure he can relentlessly pummel something to death. I’d like to have gotten him a proper brawling feat but he’s wailing away with 8 damage anyway, and if raging he’s doing 12 damage probably 4 times in a round so does he need it? Checking the CR on both the DMG table and the Blog of Holding breakdown results in the same cushy CR 17--a terrifying prospect I’m liable to drop on a high-level party soon.
Beowulf
Medium humanoid (human), lawful good barbarian (berserker) 20
Armor Class 18 (Constitution or scalemail, shield)
Hit Points 250 (20d12+120)
Speed 40 ft.
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
24 (+7) | 14 (+2) | 22 (+6) | 11 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) |
Saving Throws Str +13, Con +12
Skills Athletics +13, Insight +7, Perception +7, Survival +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing (while raging)
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened (while raging)
Senses passive Perception 17
Languages Common
Challenge 17 (18,000 XP)
Brutal Critical. Beowulf can roll three additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.
Danger Sense. Beowulf has advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that he can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, he can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
Feat: Power Attack. When Beowulf makes his first melee weapon attack in a turn using a heavy weapon, he can choose to take a -5 penalty to his melee weapon attack rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In addition, Beowulf can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack after he uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit with it. Beowulf can only use this feature on his turn.
Feral Instinct. Beowulf has advantage on initiative rolls. Additionally, if he is surprised at the beginning of combat and isn’t incapacitated, he can act normally on his first turn, but only if he enters his rage before doing anything else on that turn.
Indomitable Might. If Beowulf’s total for a Strength check is less than 20, he can use 24 in place of the total.
Intimidating Presence. Beowulf can use his action to frighten someone with his menacing presence. When he does so, he chooses one creature within 30 feet that he can see. If the creature can see or hear Beowulf, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of Beowulf until the end of his next turn. On subsequent turns, Beowulf can use his action to extend the duration of this effect on the frightened creature until the end of his next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from Beowulf. If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, Beowulf can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.
Mindless Rage. Beowulf can’t be charmed or frightened while raging. If he is charmed or frightened when he enters his rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.
Rage. On his turn, Beowulf can enter a rage as a bonus action. While raging, he gains the following benefits if he isn’t wearing heavy armor:
- advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws,
- when he makes a melee weapon attack using Strength he gains a +4 bonus to the damage roll,
- and he has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Reckless Attack. When Beowulf makes his first attack on his turn, he can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives him advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until his next turn.
Relentless Rage. If Beowulf drops to 0 hit points while he’s raging and doesn’t die outright, he can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If he succeeds, he drops to 1 hit point instead. Each time he uses this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When he finishes a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.
ACTIONS
Extra Attack. Beowulf attacks twice (and can use a bonus action to attack once if both raging and frenzied).
Unarmed. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 bludgeoning damage.
Hrunting. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d8+8) magical slashing damage or 13 (1d10+8) magical slashing damage if wielded in two hands.
Giant’s Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6+7) slashing damage.
REACTIONS
Retaliation. When Beowulf takes damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of him, he can use his reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.
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