The goblin artificer reached out of her mechanized armor to run her fingers along the surface of the Eldritch Machine, admiring the elegant craftsmanship. It resembled a large metallic sarcophagus, covered in arcane runes written in an ancient language.
"It was unearthed during one of our recent expeditions to Xen'Drik," the surly envoy of House Cannith responded. "Our analysis has confirmed that this device was constructed by the Cul'sir Dominion approximately forty thousand years ago."
"Incredible. THEY WERE SO SMART! I've only seen a handful of other machines they've created. There was the one down in the Cogs but it was broken, and then there was the last one your employers brought..." Lazaapz trailed off as she wandered around the machine, inspecting it from every angle.
"House Cannith trusts that you will keep the results of your testing discrete as per our previous arrangement."
"Did you see this?"
"I'm not sure what you're pointing at." The envoy shifted to get a better view of what Lazaapz was gesturing towards.
"These are symbols associated with Dal Quor. Do you see them? WHOA! If this machine is from over forty thousand years ago, that could mean it has something to do with the Quori. Weren't the Quori corporeal on our plane back then? OH BOY! Do you know what this could mean!?"
"...I'll leave you to it," said the envoy, turning to leave the workshop. Lazaapz didn't notice. She rarely noticed people when her mind was fixated on a mechanical puzzle. AND WHAT A PUZZLE! This will be fun...
I. Goblin Armorer Artificer
- Born in The Cogs beneath Sharn's Lower City, Lazaapz's remarkable intellect elevated her to the Tradefair district, where her mechanical genius became highly sought after by the Dragonmarked Houses. Lazaapz's first invention was a functional mechanical arm to replace the one she was born without; now she leads an elite team of engineers in cutting edge research and development.
Following the discovery of a mysterious Eldritch Machine, Lazaapz was brought in by House Cannith to ascertain the purpose of the device. Shortly after, both Lazaapz and the machine disappeared, never to be seen again.
Lazaapz is a Tank and Support Champion who buffs other small-sized Champions with her Fury of the Small ability. She wears a suit of custom mechanized Power Armor that powers up her abilities and attacks, granting improved bonuses and additional attacks that debilitate enemies while she is under attack. When you want to add Lazaapz to your formation, you can swap her with Makos (Slot 9).
II. Lazaapz's Stats
| Race: Goblin | Alignment: Neutral Evil |
| Class: Artificer (Armorer) | Gender: Female |
| Age: 19 | Affiliation: none |
| STR: 8 | DEX: 16 | CON: 16 |
| INT: 18 | WIS: 10 | CHA: 8 |
Role: Tanking/Support
Eligible for Patrons: Mirt the Moneylender, Vajra Safahr, Strahd von Zarovich
III. Lazaapz's Design
The story of Lazaapz began with Rizz Dupree.We receive a lot of feedback and suggestions when it comes to Champions players would like to see, and among the most popular and frequent requests is for us to introduce a Goblin Champion and to introduce some kind of Artificer now that they have been officially introduced to 5E through Eberron: Rising from the Last War.
Other feedback that came to mind:
- A tank that uses a tower shield.
- More short/small Champions.
- More monstrous Champions.
- More evil Champions.
Side note: 'Rizz Dupree' was just a name that sounds kind of like 'Chris Dupuis' to start, and it was just part of the initial Champion design pitch. This name quickly became 'Renton' (named after Renton, Washington, where Wizards of the Coast is located) as the design came together before eventually settling on 'Lazaapz' while the design was finalized.
At this point we knew that we wanted this goblin to be an inventor, a mechanical prodigy able to build their own prosthetic arm replacement as a young child. Using their ingenuity, they worked their way up from the lowest depths of Sharn, the Cogs beneath the Lower City, making their way all the way up to the Tradefair District. The equipment cards for Lazaapz speak to this history, as she built and tested her own suit of power armor.
We knew that we wanted to base the design around a suit of Power Armor that charged up and stored power while not in combat, and that used that power to boost abilities and dish out some punishment to enemies while under attack. This suit would build up to a high power threshold while you cleared areas quickly, and once things got tough the suit would kick in and buff the small members of the party and help Lazaapz damage enemies with her Thunder Fist.
Of course, since Lazaapz has an Arcane Propulsion Arm as a prosthetic, we thought that it would be fun if it was also a kind of long range grappling fist in addition to a thunder fist. She could reach across the screen, grab an enemy, and drag them to the front of the formation for a beating. Another Champion that can manipulate enemy placement!
...and isn't it about time we had a Champion that buffed our kobolds, gnomes, halflings, and dwarves? #IshiMeta
We're still really excited about Lazaapz. We hope you are, too!
IV. Lazaapz's Abilities
Basic Attacks
Lazaapz has two basic attacks. She attacks four times with Thunder Gauntlet and then attacks with Grappling Fist, then repeats.- Thunder Gauntlet — Lazaapz leaps out and attacks the nearest enemies with her Thunder Gauntlet, damaging them and stunning them for 0.5 seconds.
- Grappling Fist — Lazaapz fires her Grappling Fist at a random enemy and quickly yanks it to the front of the formation. This attack deals no damage and cannot move static enemies or blockers.
Formation Abilities
- Fury of the Small — Increase the damage of all small races (dwarves, goblin, halfling, gnome, or kobold) by 100% for each qualifying Champion in the formation. Stacks multiplicatively.
- Power Armor — Lazaapz has a set of Artificer Power Armor. It gains one stack for every 1 second that Lazaapz is not under attack. This caps at 100 stacks. Lazaapz gains 1% max health for each stack of Power Armor, stacking additively.
- Tiny Bulwark — When Lazaapz is under attack, she consumes 10 stacks of Power Armor and increases the effect of Fury of the Small by 400% for 10 seconds.
- Lightning Launcher — When Lazaapz is under attack by at least 5 enemies, she consumes 15 stacks of Power Armor and activates her Lightning Launcher (fired from a large gem located in the middle of her chest plate), targeting one of the enemies attacking her and striking all enemies in a line, causing them to take 200% more damage for 7.5 seconds
- Shield of Sharn — Lazaapz increases the max health of all other Champions by 25% of her base max health.
Specializations
- Stolen Power — Increase the max stacks of Power Armor by 100.
- Team Player — Abilities that require Lazaapz to be under attack (Tiny Bulwark and Lightning Launcher) will now trigger if any Champion in the formation is attacked.
- The Zapper — Lightning Launcher will now trigger with only one enemy attacking Lazaapz and its damage buff is increased by 100%.
Ultimate Ability
The ultimate changes based on the number of Power Armor stacks Lazaapz has available. If she has 20 or fewer stacks, her ultimate ability is Recharge. If she has 21 or more stacks, her ultimate ability is Overcharge.- Recharge — Lazaapz immediately regains all of her Power Armor stacks and, for the next 30 seconds, does not expend any stacks when triggering Tiny Bulwark or Lightning Launcher.
- Overcharge — Lazaapz overcharges her Power Armor, preventing it from gaining any more stacks but increasing the effect of Tiny Bulwark and Lightning Launcher by 400% for 30 seconds.
V. Lazaapz's Equipment
| Slot 1: Global DPS |
Slot 2: Global DPS |
Slot 3: Fury of the Small |
| Slot 4: Power Armor |
Slot 5: Tiny Bulwark |
Slot 6: Lightning Launcher |