Deconstructed: Jagged Knife Lieutenant
Bandits, highwaymen, and criminals, oh my! Plus, a new Jagged Knife Boss, Environment, and Loot Table.
WHAT WOULD A FANTASY roleplaying game be without bandits? A group of unscrupulous foes looking to bully the weak and take their hard-earned possessions. These entry-level Adversaries tend to be rather one-dimensional, money-hungry ne’er-do-wells.
Leaders, in Daggerheart parlance, are not the top dogs on the walk. They are battlefield force multipliers. In terms of threat to the PCs, there is a reason they are lower BP than a Bruiser. Treat the Lieutenant (and most other Leaders) like a sub-boss on the way to the big threat. It would be rather anti-climactic if you put your PCs up against this Adversary at the end of your first arc and they put them down in three hits.
Stat-wise, the Lieutenant is fairly in-line with other Leaders in their tier. They do lower damage than some Leaders, but will likely result in Major damage when they hit. You’ll note that they can attack at range, and that should let them stay out of direct fire long enough to attempt a Coup de Grace or two.
Their lower HP and longer range tells me they need to stay back from the direct fight and, when looking at their Motives & Tactics, command and REINFORCE their allies. While they can mark Stress to spotlight allies, make attacks that generate Fear for use in spotlighting other allies, and bring fodder into the fray… ultimately, the Lieutenant is an opportunist.
Their Experience is notable. Several of the bandits have Thief as an Experience, but not the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant's Local Knowledge can be useful if they go on the run or use the Environment to their advantage, finding it easier to hide or attack because they know their surroundings.
As an opening salvo, and assuming you have enough Fear to spend early in a fight scene, you could spotlight a Kneebreaker using “Hold Them Down” to make an easily hittable Guardian Restrained and Vulnerable. You can then spend a Fear to spotlight the Lieutenant and another to make an attack (at advantage) against the Vulnerable PC. If successful, you’re doing 2d6+12 doubled (because of the Kneebreaker’s passive) which at Tier 1 is likely to be Severe damage. You also get another Fear from Momentum you can use to bank or spotlight a Bandit. The Bandit has the “From Above” feature which I would argue takes effect when the Kneebreaker is “Holding Them Down," even if they aren't lurking in the trees overhead.
You can see that there’s no way for the Lieutenant’s “Coup de Grace” to function without a way to make a PC Vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be a Kneebreaker. Perhaps the Lieutenant has a faithful Dire Wolf companion. Or you can have an Adversary make an improvised move, forcing a PC to succeed on a Strength Reaction Roll or they get pushed over—making them Vulnerable until their next spotlight. The Lieutenant is a Leader that thrives on having allies.
One might misinterpret the Lieutenant as the person in charge of the Jagged Knife bandits, but lieutenants are typically considered second-in-command. Yet there isn’t a Jagged Knife Captain stat block in the book. That's to encourage you to build your own version.
For our premium subscribers, I've added a stat block for a Jagged Knife Boss that builds on the conditions and weaknesses that the PCs might suffer while facing his minions, as well as a Hideout Environment to help you lead your PCs to their lair and soften them up before a final fight. And, if everyone survives—there's also a new Loot Table you can use.
