Codex Sentinel

Tier 2 Bruiser

Codex Sentinel

Tier 2 Bruiser

*"The Sentinel turned its eye toward me. I felt the warrant read me. It found no exception. The grinding began."*

Motives & Tactics: ## Description A Codex Sentinel stands seven feet tall, plinth-built from inscribed marble with brass-and-iron articulation at the joints. Its torso is a cylindrical stack of revisable plates, each plate one provision of the warrant it currently enforces. Its head is a smooth ovoid with one inscribed eye, the iris a slow spiral of resonance-coded text. It walks with a soft grinding sound as the plates rotate to expose the relevant clause for its current target. ## Motives Enforce the active clause. Do not exceed the warrant. Return to plinth-stance when the operation concludes. ## Tactics The Sentinel positions itself in a doorway or chokepoint and stops anyone whose face does not match the warrant's exception list from passing. It does not pursue. It does not negotiate. It can, however, be argued with on procedural grounds — Lexharrow's foundational principle that truth is provisional applies to the Sentinel's instructions too.

Difficulty: 14 | Thresholds: 10/18 | HP: 8 | Stress: 4

ATK: 3 | Inscribed Fist: Melee | 2d8+3 phy

Features

Read the Clause - Passive: At the start of each round, the Sentinel rotates its torso to expose a different clause. The GM rolls 1d4 to determine the active clause: 1 — Cordon (the Sentinel may make an attack as a reaction against any creature attempting to leave Close range); 2 — Seize (the Sentinel's attacks instead grapple on a hit, holding the target in place); 3 — Disperse (the Sentinel's attacks knock targets back to Close range on a hit); 4 — Detain (the Sentinel's attacks deal half damage but on a hit the target must succeed on a Strength roll (DC 14) or be Restrained until the start of the Sentinel's next turn).

Procedural Objection - Reaction: When a PC within Close range succeeds on a Knowledge roll (DC 14) and states a procedural objection to the Sentinel's current clause (e.g., 'this warrant lapses at sunset' or 'my Concord standing exempts me'), the Sentinel must spend its next action consulting its warrant plates and may not attack on that turn. A PC may attempt this once per scene.

Resonance-Coded Plates - Passive: The Sentinel takes only half damage from physical attacks unless the attacker has succeeded on a Knowledge roll (DC 14) earlier in the scene to identify the resonance pitch of its current warrant. Magic damage is unaffected by this reduction.

Return to Plinth - Reaction: When the Sentinel takes Severe damage, if a Quill-Sergeant or Captain is not present within Far range, the Sentinel locks into plinth-stance and ceases combat. It is no longer a threat but blocks the area it occupies. A PC must succeed on a Strength roll (DC 16) or a Knowledge roll (DC 18 — to issue a counter-warrant) to move it.