IVAN DRAGO
Medium humanoid, neutral evil
- Armor Class 14
- Hit Points 113 (15d8 + 45)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 20 (+5) 10 (+0) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 6 (-2)
- Saves and Skills STR +8, CON +7
- Damage Resistances bludgeoning
- Condition Immunities charmed
- Senses passive Perception 12
- Languages Common, Giant
- Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Everything He Hits, He Destroys. Drago deals an extra die of damage with his Unarmed Strike if it hits (included in the attack).
I Cannot Be Defeated (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). When Drago is reduced to 0 hit points, but not killed outright, he drops to 10 hit point instead.
Unarmored Defense. While Drago is not wearing any armor, his armor class includes his Constitution modifier.
Actions
Multiattack. Drago makes two unarmed strike attacks.
Unarmed Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10ft. one target. Hit 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. Misc: If Drago hits a creature with two unarmed strikes on his turn, the target must succeed a DC 16 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Down Again. If a creature stands up from prone within 10 feet of Drago, he can use his reaction to make an unarmed strike against the creature. If the attack hits, the target must succeed a DC 16 STR saving throw, or be knocked prone once more.
Villain Actions (Round Based Reactions)
I Must Break You (Round 1). Drago targets a creature within 10 feet of him with an intense stare. The creature must succeed a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
I Fight to Win, For Me! For Me! (Round 2). If Drago fails a saving throw, he can succeed it instead.
Until the End. (Round 3). Drago bolsters his resolve and gains 2d10 temporary hit points.
Art Credit
Rocky IV, MGM Studios
Drago, the Champion Killer
Ivan Drago the Soviet boxing powerhouse from Rocky 4. Drago is big. Drago is powerful. And Drago doesn’t worry about fancy footwork or stances. He just punches hard. He has the blood of a goliath and a fighting style that is a mixture between monk and barbarian.
He is imposing but is only powerful in a mundane sense. He does not have any magical powers, god given abilities, or super powerful attacks. He is just incredibly strong and tough compared to the average man. He is a bruiser tank.
Drago in your game
Drago can have two uses. The first is as a lieutenant to a bigger badder monster, with a group of player characters perhaps fighting Drago to get to that monster, or in the same combat as that other monster. but that is rather basic dnd.
The more preferred way to use Drago, would be the same as in the Rocky 4, as an antagonist for a specific player character. One of your player characters is Rocky and either needs to beat Drago to avenge someone special to them, like Creed in the film, or to show the organization or kingdom that Drago works for the error in their ways, also like in the film. This doesn’t need to be as simple as knocking down Drago leading to the organization crumpling. It can simply give a player character room to have a unique character moment speaking out against the organization or kingdom that wronged them in their backstory or earlier in the campaign. Or just give them the world heavy weight champion title after punching Drago to death. Either way, characters are progressing!
The last part of Drago to include is his entourage. His wife from the film speaks for Drago most of the time, leading to Drago having a bit of mystery to him, and make the few times he does speak have much more weight. A cocky insulting business man that totes how Drago can beat anyone will help spur the characters to fight Drago at some point. These can be relatively minor NPCs, or be discovered to be puppet masters of a kind, working Drago against his will to some end goal. An end goal the players are already on the road to trying to stop.
Justification
Ability Scores
For Drago, 20 strength is a must. This is his defining characteristic and "Whatever he hits, he destroys".
To foil that, he is going to have an average dexterity of 10. This is due to him never being the first to attack in the film and his overall limited use of speed and acrobatics.
His constitution is far above average, since he can take so many punches early in a fight a shrug them off. So 18.
His intelligence isn’t ever really remarked on in the movie, so that will be average at 10 as well.
For wisdom, this is somewhat difficult to figure out for Drago. With how limited his dialogue is, it doesn’t help distinguish this score. So, almost purely from his fights, he seems rather insightful. It is remarked in the film that before Creed "the Russian hasn't fought anybody". So Drago has never fought anyone, yet seems to instinctually know his reach advantage and when to strike, at least somewhat. So I am putting this at a 14, above average, but nothing too great.
For charisma, I am putting this very low for Drago at a 6. Simply because "The man's tongue didn't come through customs.""
Basics
Armor Class, Hit points, and speed Drago will have an armor class of 14, due to his Unarmored Defense.
He has 113 hit points on average, coming from 15d8 hit dice and a 45 HP boost from his constitution modifier. 15 hit dice were chosen, because Rocky and Drago fight for 15 rounds in the film.
His speed average at 30 feet.
Skill and Save Proficiencies
This is a portion of the stat block where I do not follow the 5e monster manual layout and process. 5e has you selecting individual skills and separately individual saves a monster is proficient in. Skill proficiencies works great for player characters to let them shine in their specializations while having weaknesses that other player characters can help with, but it is mostly moot for monsters. Monsters are very unlikely to need to make a skill check beyond perception during fights. On the other hand a monster’s saving throws become much more important due to their short life spans. If a monster is only going to be in a combat for one to maybe six rounds, being stunned, paralyzed, or what have you during that time is going to mean they do not get to show off the cool abilities and traits you gave them. This doesn’t mean a monster should never be affected by a condition, just that the player characters should take some time before or during the fight to learn what the monster’s strengths are and how to work around them. Almost like a simple puzzle during the combat for the players to complete. So instead of having skills and saves be different proficiencies for monsters, I have lumped them together.
Due to Drago's incredible strength and constitution, he has +8 to strength skills checks and saves, and +7 to constitution skills checks and saves.
Resistances and/or Immunities
Drago has very few. He is pretty mundane.
He does have resistance to bludgeoning damage from nonmagical attacks. He seems to take a lot of bludgeoning punishment before going done.
He is immune to being charmed. Creed has no effect on him during their press conference and when soviet officials try to force Drago into action, Drago choke holds them and chucks them into the crowd.
Languages
As stated earlier Drago is from a goliath bloodline, so he can speak Common and Giant.
Traits
Drago destroys everything he hits, so he needs powerful attacks. The martial adept in volo guides on page 216 only does 1d8 bludgeoning damage per strike and is CR 3. So, adding a die of damage to Drago when he is CR 5 seems reasonable.
Drago should survive a massive blow and keep going, if only for a little while. The goliath reaction Stone's Endurance would intefer with Drago using his normal and Villain reactions, so instead he has a slightly stronger version of Relentless Endurance from the half-orc race.
His final trait is straight from the barbarian class in the player’s handbook page 48. Unarmored defense makes his armor class 10 plus his dexterity modifier plus his constitution modifier for a total of 14, as we have noted previously.
Actions
Drago does almost nothing but punch and punch hard during a fight. So to stay true to the character he has a simple multiattack of unarmed strikes.
He has a high chance to hit at +8, and deals 2d8 + 5 bludgeoning damage. He has a bit of extra reach to reflect in the film how far he kept his opponents away most of the time. In addition, there is a special component to his multiattack, in that if he hits the same target twice on his turn, they have a chance of being knocked prone. This gives a bit of flavor to an otherwise dull punchy punchy turn. This also feeds into his reaction.
Reactions
Down Again allows Drago to attack someone trying to stand up from prone and knock them back down. This can make him very oppressive in a one on one combat. Rocky takes a similar punishment in the film, though he succeeds the saving throw and resists being knocked back down.
Villain Reactions
Currently Drago is a bruiser without any of the round to round changes he has in the final fight of Rock four. Adding a trick from Matt Colville helps spice Drago up a bit. Villain actions are just unique reactions that a monster can only take on a specific round of combat. Drago has three, one for each of the first three rounds of combat, though it might not go that long or may go longer.
Round 1, Drago is all about scare tactics. He is at full health, he is towering, and he is ready to destroy. Immediately this gives Drago character beyond being a bag of hit points and punches. He can speak and he is driven to win. So much so that it can strike fear in the heart of his opponent.
Round 2, Drago is probably getting a bit run down or beat up. This is his chance to show his resolve. Drago has a will to win and this round he will show it. Upon being stunned or paralyzed for the first time, Drago will remove such a condition. This is basically one free legendary resistance as seen in dragons and other powerful creature, but can only be used once (if at all) and only on this specific round.
Round 3, this fight should be nearing its end. Whether against a group of adventures, or against one high powered opponent, Drago is either about to succeed or be defeated. So one last time he rallies himself to win, just trying to barely edge out his opponent and defeat them.
Justification Conclusion
Comparing Drago to the DMG’s Quick Monster Stats table found on page 274, he has a higher chance to hit than his category with somewhat below average damage output per round. This is fine, since his attacks can cause someone to become prone, allow for other monsters to have advantage on attacks. Furthermore, he would have a little above average damage per round if he uses his reaction “Down Again”, but for a few rounds that is sacrificed for some utility effects. His 113 hit points is below average at first glance, but with his trait “I Cannot Be Defeated” keeping him in the fight after an attack that would knock him unconscious, round 2 legendary resistance, and round 3 temporary hit points, he falls back into the normal hit point range.
Enjoy!
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