Into the Past: Furkas Xoud, Nano Mage

Previous entries in this series “Into the Past“:

• Gearsmen Mk. I – “Knight” 
• Gearsmen Mk. II – “Destroyer” 
• Gearsmen Mk. I – “Thunder Priest” 
• Gearsmen Mk. I – “Boneclaw” 
• Guardian-Skull
• Hunter-Killer – “Bastion Class”
• Prototype Robot Apprentice
• Smoke Archon

Finally, the man himself, Furkas Xoud – before he was killed and turned into a ghost.  My players decided to negotiate with him instead of fighting and so I never got to play this version in combat.  A shame, he looks pretty dangerous.   A nearby hologram projector produces a hardlight hologram, this creatures stat-block follows Xoud.

FURKAS XOUD
Nano Mage
Medium paragon humanoid (human), chaotic neutral

Armour Class 18 (smoke armour, mage armour, warm shield +3 (2d6) fire)
Hit Points 145/145 (18d8+18 plus smoke armour)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40ft.

STR 10 (+0) DEX 13 (+1) CON 10 (+0)
INT 13 (+1)  WIS 12 (+1) CHA 17 (+3)

Saving Throws lnt +9, Wis +6
Damage Resistance nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage (stoneskin)
Skills Arcana +13, History +13, Cybertheurgy +13
Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Aklo, Gothic, Auran, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Hallit, Ignan, Orc
Challenge Paragon 12 (8,400 XP), 2 creatures

Arcane Shield.   Enemies that end their turn next to Xoud are pushed back 5 feet.  The aura dissipates when Xoud losses a paragon hit point pool.

Magic Resistance. Furkas Xoud advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Paragon Hit Points. Furkas Xoud has multiple pools of hit points, each of which is tracked separately. All damage and healing must be completely applied only to one pool of hit points. One pool of hit points must be completely reduced to zero hit points before any damage is applied to another pool. When a pool of hit points is reduced to zero, all on-going conditions and effects affecting the creature end immediately. After a pool of hit points has been reduced to zero, it cannot receive any healing until after a long rest. If all pools of hit points have been reduced to zero hit points, the creature is killed.

Paragon Actions. Furkas Xoud gains one complete turn in each combat round, including one reaction between each turn, for each pool of hit points it has above zero. When a pool of hit points has been reduced to zero, the creature loses one turn each round thereafter.

Preparation. Xoud casts these spells on himself before combat – mage armour, stoneskin and fire shield.

Smoke Armour. The coils of smoke that surround Furkas Xoud are partially solid.  They grant him a +4 armour bonus and 40 bonus hit points.

ACTIONS 
Dazzling Touch.  Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 17 (4d6 +3) radiant damage and the target is dazed (attacks have advantage, you lose reactions, you cannot flank).  A DC 17 Wisdom save ends the effect.

Irradiate.  Ranged Magic Attack: +9 to hit, range 100 ft., one target +1.
Hit: 11 (1d10 +6) fire and poison damage, and one other enemy within 2 squares of the target takes the same damage.

Nuclear Winter.  All creatures within a 20-foot cone of Xoud must make a DC 17 Constitution save or take 11 (1d10 +6) cold damage, and ongoing 5 cold damage and the target is slowed (save ends both).

Bionanite Cloud (Recharge 6).  Ranged Magic Attack: +9 to hit, range 100 ft., one target.  Hit: 14 (2d8+6) necrotic damage, and Xoud heals 10 hit points.

Flash Bang (Recharges when first bloodied).  All creatures within a 20-foot sphere of a point Xoud chooses within 50 feet must make a DC 17 Dexterity save or take 21 (3d10 +6) thunder and radiant damage, the target is pushed back 10 feet and is blinded (save ends).

Prismatic Beams (1/day).  All creatures within a 25-foot of Xoud must make a DC 17 Constitution, Dexterity and Wisdom save or take (save ends each effect).

• Hit (CON): 13 (2d6 +7) poison damage, and ongoing 5 poison damage
• Hit (DEX): 13 (2d6 +7) fire damage, and ongoing 5 fire damage.
• Hit (WIS): The target is dazed.

Temporal Warp (Recharges when first bloodied). Xoud warps time, allowing him to act faster than those around him. For the rest of this round, Xoud gains a +2 bonus to all defenses. In the next round, Xoud acts three times, at initiative count 30, 20, and 10.  At each of these counts, he gets to perform an attack action, a move action, and a bonus action.  At the end of this round, Xoud takes 5 damage.  In the round after that, he acts normally at his original count in the initiative order.

REACTIONS 
Gravity Crutch (1/day).  If Xoud is pushed, flung or otherwise moved he takes no damage from the fall, regardless of the distance, and does not fall prone at the end of the fall.

Ward. As a reaction Xoud can raise a digital shield cancelling any magic missile attack and adding +4 to his AC for that attack and until the end of his next turn.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Xoud can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below.  Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn.  Xoud regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Summon Hologram (2 actions).  Xoud summons a hardlight hologram.  The servant appears in one of the holographic generators (magic circles).  Xoud can summon up to a total of 5 hardlight hologram at any one time.  When a hardlight hologram is destroyed, Xoud takes 2 force damage and gains +4 (1d8) force damage on his next damage roll.  The hardlight holograms will continue to spawn unless the two holographic machines are deactivated (cybertheurgy DC 15 or 2x Intelligence DC 25) or smash it to smithereens (spend 1 round attacking each machine).

Spellbender.  Xoud can use any available magic related action (all actions except dazzling touch).

GEAR
A glassy slate that acts as Xoud’s spell book, anti-grav belt and 1d4+1 cyphers.

DESCRIPTION
This wizard wears a black hooded robe and is bedecked with all manner of technological devices.  Xoud has not quite become evil yet but he is well on his way. I f the characters kill him a contingency will activate teleporting him to safety. Having said that, he is open to negotiation as any group that can get this far is a real threat. If talked out of combat (8 successes before 3 failures, using any Charisma based skill and History) he will gladly trade 1 technological item for knowledge about the future or Silver Mount.

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HARDLIGHT HOLOGRAM
Medium construct (hologram), unaligned

Armour Class 12
Hit Points 1 (minion)
Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
1 (-5)	14 (+2)	11 (+0)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)	11 (+0)

Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison and psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralysed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Gothic
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Insubstantial.  The hardlight hologram can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain.  It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

ACTIONS 
Spectral Weapon. Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature.
Hit: 10 (3d6) force damage.  The target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken via a nanite infection.  This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest.  The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

REACTIONS 
Spectral Dance.  When an attack misses the hardlight hologram it may move up to 15 feet without provoking and make a spectral weapon attack at any point during that movement.  It gains a damage threshold of 5 until the start of its next turn.

DESCRIPTION 
Appearing as a man made of hard blue smoke it doesn’t seem all there.