Darlingverse/Grut

Grut Statblock

Grut is the Embodiment of Raw, Unfiltered Will, representing Darling's primal aggression, sheer physical strength, and refusal to surrender.

Core Stats & Proficiencies

• Gender: Male (He/Him)
• Race/Class: Half-Orc / Barbarian (Totem/Bear)
• Armor Class (AC): 16 (Unarmored Defense: 10 + DEX + CON)
• Hit Points (HP): 110 (10 hit dice)
• Speed: 40 ft.
• STR 20 (+5), DEX 14 (+2), CON 18 (+4), INT 9 (-1), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 10 (+0)
• Proficiency Bonus (PB): +4
• Racial Traits: Darkvision, Relentless Endurance (1/Long Rest: Drop to 1 HP instead of 0), Savage Attacks (extra damage die on critical hit).
• Saving Throws: Strength +9, Constitution +8
• Skills: Athletics +9, Intimidation +4, Survival +5, Perception +5

Combat & Tactical

• Weapon: Greataxe +1 (Melee Attack)
  • Attack: +10 to hit, Reach 5 ft., one target.
  • Damage: 1d12 + 6 Slashing damage. (extra die on crit = 3d12)
• Extra Attack: Grut can attack twice whenever he takes the Attack action on his turn.
• Reckless Attack (At Will)
  • Effect: When making an attack on his turn, Grut can choose to gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until his next turn.
• Indomitable Might (At Will)
  • Effect: If a Strength check (dice + bonus) is less than his Strength score (20), Grut can use the score instead of the check result.

Rage (5/Long Rest)

• Effect: Grut can enter a rage as a Bonus Action. It lasts for 1 minute or until he is knocked unconscious or chooses to end it.
• While Raging:
  • Grants advantage on Strength checks and Saving Throws.
  • Adds +3 bonus damage to melee weapon attacks (1d12 + 9 total damage with Greataxe).
  • Grants Resistance to all damage types except Psychic damage.
• Power Roar: Use a bonus action to let out reverberant a guttural roar, hurting Grut but granting him extra prowess. Take 2d12 unpreventable damage to deal 1d12 extra damage on attacks until the your next turn.

Darlingverse Stabilization

These abilities focus on restoring physical power, clearing emotional blocks, and using raw force to suppress threats.

1. Minor Stabilization: Brute Force Reset (Bonus Action or Reaction)

• Requirement: Grut must be Raging or have taken damage since his last turn.
• Effect: Grut channels raw aggression to break through mental interference. He uses a Bonus Action to grant an ally within 30 ft. Advantage on their next Attack Roll that relies on Strength or Dexterity. Alternatively, he can use a Reaction when an ally within 30 ft. fails a saving throw against an Aberration's ability, granting that ally Advantage on their next saving throw against the same type of effect.

2. Major Stabilization: Primal Grounding (Action & 1 Minute Focus)

• Requirement: Grut must expend a Rage use and continue stomping/roaring within the area for the duration.
• Effect: Grut forcibly grounds the chaotic reality into physical stability. This ability requires a state of Primal Will rather than mental Concentration, but otherwise functions as Concentration. When initiating, and at the start of Grut's consecutive turns, all Aberrations within a 30-foot radius must succeed on a DC 17 Strength Saving Throw or be slowed (speed halved, only one action/reaction) until Grut's next turn. If Grut maintains this state of Primal Will for a full minute, the ritual cleanses any debuffs that his allies suffer from Aberrations in the area, and all physical structures gains structural cohesion, making the area difficult terrain for Aberrations making take 1d6 damage at the start of each of their turns for the next 24 hours. If the ritual is interrupted before the full minute, Grut's current Rage also ends.

Other

Grut: The Primal Protector

Before Darling: Grut was a raw, powerful half-orc boy of perhaps ten, growing up on the fringes of Waterdeep's Field Ward. Life had been hard, and he had learned early that strength and loyalty were the only currencies that truly mattered. He communicated more with grunts and actions than words, possessing an immense, almost primal strength for his age. He was fiercely protective of the few smaller children he considered his own, often standing between them and the harsh realities of the streets.

Captured by Papa: One frigid evening, while scavenging for scraps in a back alley, Grut felt a sudden, inexplicable weakness. A heavy, sweet-smelling sack was thrown over him, and despite his prodigious strength, a strange paralysis seized him. He remembered the muffled sounds of unfamiliar voices and the terrifying sensation of being dragged into a suffocating darkness, utterly powerless for the first time.

Papa's Basement and the Void: His next fragmented memory was of a biting cold against his skin in a stone basement, the air thick with the metallic tang of fear and something acrid. He saw other children, small and whimpering in rough cages, their fear a palpable thing. He recalled a looming, shadowy figure—Papa—moving with chilling purpose towards a nearby cage. Then, a blinding surge of raw, unspeakable fury and visceral horror erupted, and the memory violently tore itself away, leaving a cold, empty void where the full, agonizing truth should be.

Life in the Darlingscape: The Guardian of Strength: When Grut awoke within "The Golem's Canvas," his primal instinct to protect and dominate found a new purpose. He views this strange purgatory as a battleground, constantly threatened by unseen forces. His role is to be the unyielding wall, the raw strength that pushes back against the encroaching chaos and the insidious aberrations from the Shadow-Haunted Wilds. He often patrols the Crucible of Wills, endlessly honing Darling's physical resolve and aggressive impulses.

   Closer To: Grut recognizes Roric's efficiency and directness in combat, often sparring with him in the Crucible of Wills to keep their physical prowess sharp. He respects Kael's grounded toughness and unwavering sense of protection, seeing him as a reliable comrade in the ongoing fight against the encroaching darkness.

   Antagonistic Towards: Grut has little patience for Lyra's academic slowness or Elara's theoretical musings, viewing their focus on books and abstract magic as ineffective against brute threats. He finds Lysander's dramatic speeches and refined manners to be utterly useless and even offensive in the face of real danger. He also struggles immensely with Pip's and Jinx's chaotic antics, viewing them as dangerously distracting and a sign of weakness in their collective defense.