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Veshkaar

Beleghost Bestiary — Boss Dossier XII

Veshkaar, the Sepulchre‑Bound

A warded guardian construct, unsealing itself one broken rune at a time inside the tomb it was built to never leave.

Sepulchre Veshkaar · Tempest Peak Dungeon

Veshkaar

STR
26
+8
DEX
8
−1
CON
20
+5
INT
6
−2
WIS
13
+1
CHA
3
−4
Race / Class
Construct, Construct 7
Challenge Rating
7
Hit Points
89 (average-HD convention, 7d10 + Con)
Armor Class
21 (10 base, +12 natural, −1 Dex)
Feats
Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Toughness, Iron Will, Improved Knockdown, Knockdown
Skills
Listen +2
Save DC (base)
18  (10 + ½ HD + Con mod)

How the ratchet works

Every boss before this one in the compendium either replaced its opening move with something new at each threshold, or fired a single permanent change once and stayed there. Veshkaar does neither — it only adds. Nothing it gains is ever traded away, so the fight ends with it running everything it started with plus everything it unlocked along the way.

100% – 66% HP · always active

Grave Ward

Passive, and it never turns off once combat starts. Every time a melee hit lands on Veshkaar there's a flat 25% chance the blow is thrown straight back at whoever swung it, as negative energy equal to half the damage just dealt. It doesn't cost Veshkaar a turn — it's checked from the on-damaged event, not the combat round.

66% – 33% HP · unlocks once, permanent

First Seal Breaks → Wardfire Lance

Crossing 66% cracks one of the runes along its shoulder for good. From that moment on, every 3rd round it fires Wardfire Lance — a ranged bolt (3d8 fire) that also saps 2 Strength on a failed DC 19 Fortitude save. Grave Ward keeps running underneath it.

below 33% HP · unlocks once, permanent

Second Seal Breaks → Grave Pulse

The last seal shatters outright. Veshkaar gains permanent haste (+2 attack, +25% speed) and, from here on, an unavoidable negative-energy pulse (2d6) hits everything within 6 meters every 2 rounds on its own — on top of Wardfire Lance, on top of Grave Ward.

Why these numbers

Veshkaar is a pure Construct 7 with no spellcasting — CR7 comes entirely from a high natural AC (12), a real Strength score for its cleave-heavy feat line, and a Fortitude/reflect kit that punishes melee-heavy parties for standing and trading. HP (89) sits about 15% above the average-hit-die expectation, appropriate for a stationary guardian that's meant to be worn down rather than burst.

How it's wired

Veshkaar wasn't built from scratch — it was already a live, always-firing member of Sepulchre Veshkaar's guardian roster (spawn table case 89, group_vesh_06, spawning at waypoint boss_veshkaar alongside a Mohrg, a Demilich, and Quthmaren) but the blueprint behind the name was a stock, unedited "epic construct" stat-stick — CR 88, 30 across every ability score, and 14 skills maxed at rank 99. Same pattern the compendium has hit twice before (Lady Dire, Maggris): a wired-but-never-designed boss hook. The resref, tag, and spawn wiring were left untouched; only the blueprint's guts were rebuilt.

ResrefVeshkaar
Scriptsves_spawn · ves_round · ves_damaged · ves_death
Spawn tablecase 89 (unchanged) · Sepulchre Veshkaar / Tempest Peak Dungeon