We’re back in Britain for this week’s Mythological Figure although this time we’re going way, way back to just a few decades after Year 0 with Lady Boudica!
As a product of the American education system I had no idea who Queen Boudica was and wow was I missing out! When her husband (King Pasutagus) passed away he left the kingdom to both the Roman emperor and his daughters but the lands of the Iceni were annexed by the empire anyway. Roundabouts 60 AD Queen Boudica convinced neighboring peoples to revolt and was chosen as the leader of the rebels, kicking off the campaign by releasing a rabbit, praying to Andraste (a British goddess of victory), and interpreting the direction it ran away. Here’s a quote of hers that sums up how badass she was:
"It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters...This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves."
In short order her army destroyed three Roman settlements, killing between 70,000-80,000 people and taking no prisoners. Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus lets one of these cities be taken in order to work a larger stratagem that ultimately allows his 10,000-man army to beat her much larger force (upwards of 50,000 rebels with some estimates above 200,000). Superior tactics and discipline, better equipment, and the conditions of the battlefield (negating the revolt’s superior numbers) lead to a Roman victory. Queen Boudica poisons herself (or is poisoned, or her health quickly wanes; depends on source), ending the rebellion.
Queen Boudica is definitely a real historical figure and her mythology is perhaps more stilted towards archeological evidence than anything else—what happened seems fairly agreed upon but precise numbers on the size of her forces are wanting. That said she was definitely awesome and as the years go by has accrued proper myth, surely with more to come long after we’re gone: “There is a belief that she was buried between platforms 9 and 10 in King's Cross station in London, England. There is no evidence for this and it is probably a post-World War II invention.”
Design Notes: I bopped around various different builds for Boudica—did she merit a few levels of war cleric, or a tactical fighter archetype for maneuvers or moving about allies?—before finally landing on valorous bard/scout. She's solid in the wilderness, knows how to hold her own, and able to enable others but with a general focus on all of those things rather than a concentrated talent for just one of them. It’s worth pointing out that while obviously as a queen she ought to have the Noble background, since that was stripped away from her by the Romans (and she needed proficiency with land vehicles) folk hero fit like a glove.
Queen Boudica
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good bard 5 (battle)/fighter (skirmisher) 6
Armor Class 16 (studded leather, defensive fighting style)
Hit Points 66 (5d8+6d10+11)
Speed 30 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +7, Cha +7
Skills Animal Handling +5, Athletics +6, Medicine +5, Nature +4, Perception +5, Persuasion +11, Stealth +7, Survival +5
Tools artisan’s tools +4, vehicles (land) +8 (usually a chariot), three instruments
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages English, Gaelic, Latin, Welsh
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Background: Yeowoman. Boudica is always able to rely on the hospitality of commoners to help her hide or rest provided she poses no danger in doing so, going so far as to shield her from being discovered (though not at the cost of their lives).
Action Surge (1/Short Rest). On her turn, Boudica can take an additional action on top of her regular action and a possible bonus action.
Bardic Inspiration 1d8 (3/Short Rest). As a bonus action on her turn, Boudica can choose one other creature within 60 feet who can hear her. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration die, a d8. Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. In addition, they can add it to a weapon damage roll, or when they are hit by an attack they can use their reaction to add it to their AC (possibly causing an attack to miss). The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the GM says whether the roll succeeds or fails.
Combat Excellence (4d8/Short Rest). Boudica can expend an excellence dice to perform one of the following:
Feat: Inspiring. Boudica can inspire up to six creatures friendly to her (or up to five creatures and herself) that are within 30 feet of her and can see her, or hear her and understand her. Any that listen to Boudica speak inspirationally for 10 minutes gain 14 temporary hit points. Temporary hit points can only be gained from this feature once per short rest.
Feat: Master of the Spear. Boudica can increase her reach with a spear by 5 feet until the end of her turn by using a bonus action. In addition, she can prepare her spear to resist a charge by using a bonus action. Boudica chooses a creature within 20 feet that she can see and if on her next turn it moves within her reach, she can use her reaction to make a melee attack against it using her spear. On a hit she deals an extra damage die. A creature that used Disengage does not provoke an attack from Boudica.
Jack of All Trades. Boudica adds +2 to any ability check she makes that doesn’t already include her proficiency bonus.
Natural Explorer: Forest. When Boudica makes an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to the forest, her proficiency bonus (+4) is doubled if she is using a skill that she’s proficient in. While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, Boudica gains the following benefits:
Second Wind (1/Short Rest). On her turn, Boudica can use a bonus action to regain 1d10+6 hit points.
Song of Rest. After a short rest, Boudica or any friendly creatures who can hear her performance regain hit points by spending one or more Hit Dice, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.
Spellcasting. Boudica is a 5th-level spellcaster that uses Charisma as her spellcasting ability for spells (spell save DC 15; +7 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following spells prepared from the bard’s spell list:
ACTIONS
Extra Attack. Boudica attacks twice.
Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage or 7 (1d10+2) piercing damage if wielded in two hands.
Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) piercing damage.
As a product of the American education system I had no idea who Queen Boudica was and wow was I missing out! When her husband (King Pasutagus) passed away he left the kingdom to both the Roman emperor and his daughters but the lands of the Iceni were annexed by the empire anyway. Roundabouts 60 AD Queen Boudica convinced neighboring peoples to revolt and was chosen as the leader of the rebels, kicking off the campaign by releasing a rabbit, praying to Andraste (a British goddess of victory), and interpreting the direction it ran away. Here’s a quote of hers that sums up how badass she was:
"It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters...This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves."
In short order her army destroyed three Roman settlements, killing between 70,000-80,000 people and taking no prisoners. Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus lets one of these cities be taken in order to work a larger stratagem that ultimately allows his 10,000-man army to beat her much larger force (upwards of 50,000 rebels with some estimates above 200,000). Superior tactics and discipline, better equipment, and the conditions of the battlefield (negating the revolt’s superior numbers) lead to a Roman victory. Queen Boudica poisons herself (or is poisoned, or her health quickly wanes; depends on source), ending the rebellion.
Queen Boudica is definitely a real historical figure and her mythology is perhaps more stilted towards archeological evidence than anything else—what happened seems fairly agreed upon but precise numbers on the size of her forces are wanting. That said she was definitely awesome and as the years go by has accrued proper myth, surely with more to come long after we’re gone: “There is a belief that she was buried between platforms 9 and 10 in King's Cross station in London, England. There is no evidence for this and it is probably a post-World War II invention.”
Design Notes: I bopped around various different builds for Boudica—did she merit a few levels of war cleric, or a tactical fighter archetype for maneuvers or moving about allies?—before finally landing on valorous bard/scout. She's solid in the wilderness, knows how to hold her own, and able to enable others but with a general focus on all of those things rather than a concentrated talent for just one of them. It’s worth pointing out that while obviously as a queen she ought to have the Noble background, since that was stripped away from her by the Romans (and she needed proficiency with land vehicles) folk hero fit like a glove.
Queen Boudica
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good bard 5 (battle)/fighter (skirmisher) 6
Armor Class 16 (studded leather, defensive fighting style)
Hit Points 66 (5d8+6d10+11)
Speed 30 ft.
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
14 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 11 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 16 (+3) |
Saving Throws Dex +7, Cha +7
Skills Animal Handling +5, Athletics +6, Medicine +5, Nature +4, Perception +5, Persuasion +11, Stealth +7, Survival +5
Tools artisan’s tools +4, vehicles (land) +8 (usually a chariot), three instruments
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages English, Gaelic, Latin, Welsh
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Background: Yeowoman. Boudica is always able to rely on the hospitality of commoners to help her hide or rest provided she poses no danger in doing so, going so far as to shield her from being discovered (though not at the cost of their lives).
Action Surge (1/Short Rest). On her turn, Boudica can take an additional action on top of her regular action and a possible bonus action.
Bardic Inspiration 1d8 (3/Short Rest). As a bonus action on her turn, Boudica can choose one other creature within 60 feet who can hear her. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration die, a d8. Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. In addition, they can add it to a weapon damage roll, or when they are hit by an attack they can use their reaction to add it to their AC (possibly causing an attack to miss). The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the GM says whether the roll succeeds or fails.
Combat Excellence (4d8/Short Rest). Boudica can expend an excellence dice to perform one of the following:
- Boudica rolls the excellence die and adds half the result to an ability check that uses Athletics, Nature, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.
- Boudica adds the excellence die to a weapon attack roll.
- While wearing light or medium armor, Boudica uses her reaction to add the excellence die to her AC, either avoiding the attack or taking half damage from an attack that is still successful.
Feat: Inspiring. Boudica can inspire up to six creatures friendly to her (or up to five creatures and herself) that are within 30 feet of her and can see her, or hear her and understand her. Any that listen to Boudica speak inspirationally for 10 minutes gain 14 temporary hit points. Temporary hit points can only be gained from this feature once per short rest.
Feat: Master of the Spear. Boudica can increase her reach with a spear by 5 feet until the end of her turn by using a bonus action. In addition, she can prepare her spear to resist a charge by using a bonus action. Boudica chooses a creature within 20 feet that she can see and if on her next turn it moves within her reach, she can use her reaction to make a melee attack against it using her spear. On a hit she deals an extra damage die. A creature that used Disengage does not provoke an attack from Boudica.
Jack of All Trades. Boudica adds +2 to any ability check she makes that doesn’t already include her proficiency bonus.
Natural Explorer: Forest. When Boudica makes an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to the forest, her proficiency bonus (+4) is doubled if she is using a skill that she’s proficient in. While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, Boudica gains the following benefits:
- Difficult terrain doesn’t slow her group’s travel.
- Boudica’s group can’t become lost except by magical means.
- Even when she is engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), Boudica remains alert to danger.
- If Boudica is traveling alone, she can move stealthily at a normal pace.
- When she forages, Boudica finds twice as much food as she normally would.
- While tracking other creatures, Boudica also learns their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
Second Wind (1/Short Rest). On her turn, Boudica can use a bonus action to regain 1d10+6 hit points.
Song of Rest. After a short rest, Boudica or any friendly creatures who can hear her performance regain hit points by spending one or more Hit Dice, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.
Spellcasting. Boudica is a 5th-level spellcaster that uses Charisma as her spellcasting ability for spells (spell save DC 15; +7 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following spells prepared from the bard’s spell list:
Cantrips: dancing lights, mending, message
1st-level (4 slots): bane, charm person, cure wounds, longstrider
2nd-level (3 slots): enhance ability, suggestion
3rd-level (2 slots): clairvoyance, fear
1st-level (4 slots): bane, charm person, cure wounds, longstrider
2nd-level (3 slots): enhance ability, suggestion
3rd-level (2 slots): clairvoyance, fear
ACTIONS
Extra Attack. Boudica attacks twice.
Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage or 7 (1d10+2) piercing damage if wielded in two hands.
Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) piercing damage.
