Sword wraiths are undead warriors haunting battlefields where they died without the honor they craved.
Description[]
Sword wraith warriors are typically the result of soldiers being surrounded and slain mercilessly. Sword wraith commanders typically treat people according to how much honor they are shown.[1]
Sword wraiths have been illustrated with somewhat ghostly blue forms, but with a red glow emanating from the eyes and chest.[3]
Abilities[]
All of the following is taken from Call of the Netherdeep, p. 211. Sword wraith commanders and warriors share several traits in common:
- Damage resistances: Necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
- Damage immunities: Poison
- Condition immunities: Exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, unconscious
- Unusual Nature: Doesn't need air, food, drink, or sleep
- Both carry and make attacks with a longbow, and both carry shields.
- Martial Fury: Makes one weapon attack, and attacks against the sword wraith have advantage until the end of its next turn.
Where the sword wraith warrior wears a chain shirt and carries a battleaxe, the commander wears a breastplate and carries a longsword. The commander has additional traits:
- Skill proficiency: Perception
- Turning Defiance: The commander and all sword wraiths within 30 feet have advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead.
- Actions
- Multiattack: Makes two longsword or longbow attacks.
- Call to Honor (1/day): If the commander has taken damage during this combat, it gains advantage on all attack rolls until the end of its next turn, and multiple sword wraith warriors appear nearby; they take their turns immediately after the commander's.
- The commander's version of Martial Fury deals extra necrotic damage on a hit.
History[]
Official art of sword wraiths, by Andrew Mar from Call of the Netherdeep, p. 153.[art 2]
Several defenders of Cael Morrow who fell during the Ruiner's ruthless attack on that city rose as sword wraiths who couldn't leave the drowned city even if they wanted to; the leader of this group is Beltreath. As of 836 PD, they follow and protect the ghost of Hadarai, a determinedly pacifist orc priest of the Arch Heart, at a watchtower overlooking the rest of the city. Beltreath and Hadarai both welcome adventurers who come to aid Alyxian. If Beltreath is sufficiently injured in combat, he will surrender and beg for mercy so that he can continue to protect Hadarai.[2]
Those who enter the Netherdeep may encounter sword wraiths as they enter visions and experience events from Alyxian's life. The sword wraiths take the place of warriors who fought in the Calamity.
- In one vision, recounting the Battle of the Barbed Fields, sword wraiths with blurry faces and indistinct forms stand in for grim knights who served the Crawling King, sometimes alongside moorbounders. One sword wraith commander represents the horde's commander, atop a horizonback tortoise.[4]
- Another group, led by a human named Kalagothe, that fought alongside Alyxian against the Crawling King's horde but turned to pillaging some villagers they'd saved, is represented by sword wraiths: Kalagothe as a sword wraith commander, with four warriors.[5]
Trivia[]
Sword wraith commanders and warriors appeared in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes in 2018[6] before being incorporated into Call of the Netherdeep in March 2022.[1] The sword wraiths appeared again in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse in May 2022.[7]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 211.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 136.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 This is based only on illustrations. See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 153. See also p. 211.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 152–154.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 148–149.
- ↑ See D&D: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, 5th ed., p. 241.
- ↑ See D&D: Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, 5th ed., p. 239.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of a sword wraith warrior, by Eric Belisle from Call of the Netherdeep, p. 211.. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
- ↑ Official art of sword wraiths, by Andrew Mar from Call of the Netherdeep, p. 153. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.