I want to restart/mirror the great Ravenloft NPCs thread from the WotC boards here. I'll also merge the equally excellent Ravenloft Darklords thread into it.
I´m starting with a revision of Hermos´ stats by the user Professor Pacali on the WotC boards.
Notes: I changed the feats and gave him a trait from Unearthed Arcana to better reflect Hermos´ gentle nature, his simple belief in Tidhare, the god of Freaks and his inspiring and calming demeanor. I fiddled a bit with the skills, lowered the attributes to what was published in Champions of the Mists and switched his Wis and Cha score. I figured in the bonuses for a size increase from the 3E rules, but left his physical scores as they were in 2E. (So essentially i assigned him the following base stats: 10,11,11,10,12,13). Here´s the final version:
Hermos, the Gentle Giant
Twisted Human Exp3; Large Humanoid (human); HD: 3d6+6; hp: 19; Init -1; Spd 40'; AC 10 (touch 10, flat-footed 10) [-1 size -1 dex +2 natural]; BAB/Grapple: +2/+10; Atk: Unarmed Strike +5 melee (1d4+4) or grapple +10 melee touch (1d4+4); SQ: Twisted(large size), easygoing[trait]; AL NG; SV: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +4; OR 3; Str 18, Dex 9, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 13; Skills and Feats: Craft (woodcarving) +4, Diplomacy +7 (-3 from OR), Gather Information +9, Intimidate +3 (+3 from OR, +4 vs. size M, +8 vs. size S), Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (religion) +3, Profession (carnival manager) +7, Sense Motive +6; Blessed[HoL], Hope[VRA], Spirit of Light[VRA];
Possessions: Hermos always wears a pendant engraved with the image of the Ear-Tied Hare.
Description: Hermos the man-giant serves as both foreman and spiritual leader for Carnival, a festival of the macabre that wanders the Demiplane of Dread. This huge man manages the band of outcasts for the mysterious master of the freakshow, Isolde. He also gathers information for her about the domains through which they travel. In his own quiet way, Hermos has transformed the term "freak" into a badge of honor for misfits throughout Ravenloft.
Appearance: Hermos stands almost ten feet tall, but his long, awkward limbs still manage to look out of proportion for his narrow body. He dresses in very plain clothing, marked only by the small silver pendant he wears on a chain around his neck. This pendant bears the imprint of a hare with long knotted ears - Tidhare, the Ear-Tied Hare. The man-giant always wears an expression of serene kindness. Even those frightened by his great size are usually calmed when they catch sight of his gentle face.
Personality: Hermos is an extremely quiet individual. He rarely speaks to anyone when not conveying Isolde's orders or preaching. He is never happier than when he is talking about Qin-sah, God of Horses, and Tidhare, God of Freaks. Instead of making him bitter and cynical, the atrocities he suffered in I'Morai have left him generous and thoughtful. Hermos is always willing to help others, and has inspired a great deal of devotion and cooperation in the members of Carnival.
Combat: Hermos is not much of a fighter, but he will defend himself if threatened. Most often, he depends on his great size and strength to intimidate people, preventing them from harassing him.
Equipment: Hermos rarely leaves Carnival, so his wagon is usually nearby. Thus, he does not carry much equipment with him. However, he always wears a pendant engraved with the image of the Ear-Tied Hare.
Ravenloft NPCs 3E (and/or Pathfinder) stats
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
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Ravenloft NPCs 3E (and/or Pathfinder) stats
Last edited by The Giamarga on Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:11 am, edited 7 times in total.
My revisions of Ebb, the Shadow Dragon in Azalin's former employ. Appears in From the Shadows and Gazetteer II.
Ebb, the Stalking Fury
Female Old Shadow Dragon, Dungeon-bred (Dungeonscape template: bestows +4 to Str and Con)
Size: Large (reduced one category from Huge, with following attributes: -8 to Str, +2 Dex, -4 Con, -3 Natural AC, +1 touch AC, +1 to Attacks)
Init: +4 (Improved Initiative feat)
Str: 23 (racial 27, -8 size decrease, +4 template)
Dex: 10 (racial 10, +2 size decrease ignored, see notes)
Con: 21 (racial 21, -4 size decrease, +4 template)
Int: 24 (racial)
Wis: 24 (racial)
Cha: 25 (racial)
HD: 25d12 + 125 = Hp: 287
Sp: 80' (16 sq.) or fly 150' (30 sq.) poor (template improvement to average ignored, see notes)
AC: 34 (t 9, f 34) (natural armor is -3, size mod is +1, hence -2 total)
BAB: 25 (racial) Grapple: 35 (25 +6 Str +4 Large)
Attacks: (see notes) Bite +30 10' 2d8+6, 2x Claw +25 5' 2d6+3, 2x Wing +25 10' 1d8+3, Tail +25 10' 2d6+9. Shock Wave feat allows full round attack using tail to create shock wave extending 125' and bull rushing any standing creature, dealing 1d6+6 damage to structures. Power Attack allows her to trade up to 25 points from attack roll to damage roll. Cleave allows tail attack one extra melee after dropping a target.
Saves: 19/14/21 (unaffected by size change) (+2 vs. poison, disease)
SR: 27
Skills: [use GazII listing, unchanged]
Feats: Improved Natural Attack (bite, claw, tail, wing) [free template], Endurance [free template]. Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Cleave (tail), Improved Sunder, Shock Wave (Draconomicon), Large and in Charge (Draconomicon), Clinging Breath (Draconomicon), Lingering Breath (Draconomicon), Tempest Breath (Draconomicon).
Breath Weapon: 50' cone deals 5 levels of energy drain, DC 29 for 2 levels, DC 29 to remove. Clinging Breath allows effects to linger for one round on those it already damages, for half damage again (2 levels drain or 1 level drain), +1 to Ebb's recharge rounds. Lingering Breath allows effects to linger for one round as a 50' cone cloud, for half damage again (2 levels drain or 1 level drain), +2 to Ebb's recharge rounds. Tempest Breath produces a "severe" wind effect, blowing away Tiny enemies, knocking down Small enemies, and checking Medium enemies (flying enemies "lose" one size category for effects), +1 to Ebb's recharge rounds.
Notes:
• The +2 Dex enhancement seems out of place. It's recommended by the appendix on increasing creature size, but dragons generally have a base 10 Dex anyway, regardless of age. I decided to preserve the 10 Dex rather than make Ebb unusually dexterous for a Shadow Dragon.
• The flight improvement seems out of place. The Dungeon-bred template specifically improves flight maneuverability, but that's in contravention of the norm for Large dragons, which is still poor. I envision Ebb as being a less proficient flyer than most dragons, given her long residence underground, so bestowing this benefit would be out of keeping with her character concept.
• For attacks, Ebb gets a +1 to her roll because of her size decrease. Her Str decrease gives a -2 modifier, so overall her attacks are at -1 effectiveness from her 3E stats. Damage wise, her damage dice are lowered because of her size reduction, but restored to their original because she gets Improved Natural Attack with all her natural weapons for free from her template. The damage dice are thus unchanged from 3E. The reach for her individual attacks are taken from the Draconomicon.
• For feats, it didn't seem to make sense that she would have Hover or Flyby Attack if she'd spent most of her time underground. In fact, a truly stingy DM might even say she has difficulty flying at all, if her wings have atrophied. I don't go that far, but I did remove all her flying feats, as well as Sunder, a feat that no longer exists in 3.5. The feat Large and in Charge allows her attacks of opportunity to knock enemies back 5', making it hard for them to close with her - a logical survival mechanism in the bowels of the earth. The breath weapon feats I chose with an eye to filling caverns with her breath weapon, also useful in close quarters combat. I left Improved Sunder instead of Sunder. Also, now that she's no longer a Huge creature, she is no longer eligible for Snatch. The Shock Wave feat seemed a logical inclusion too, given her experience fighting in tight tunnels. Shock waves travel around corners, unlike breath weapons, and could be useful in causing cave-ins to seal behind her own passage through.
• Depending on the DM, this build (which is slightly smaller than usual) could allow Ebb to travel around Castle Avernus during the events of From the Shadows. If the PCs taunt or otherwise antagonize Ebb in her tower lair, she may decide to come after them, following them through the castle, limited only by the rooms in which she knows Azalin would not appreciate breakages. This could also end the adventure fairly quickly.
It's probably also worth noting that these are based in part on my own creative writing piece "Cryptic Recesses" wherein I elaborate on Ebb's dead homeworld and the sort of creatures she was fighting against.
Ebb, the Stalking Fury
Female Old Shadow Dragon, Dungeon-bred (Dungeonscape template: bestows +4 to Str and Con)
Size: Large (reduced one category from Huge, with following attributes: -8 to Str, +2 Dex, -4 Con, -3 Natural AC, +1 touch AC, +1 to Attacks)
Init: +4 (Improved Initiative feat)
Str: 23 (racial 27, -8 size decrease, +4 template)
Dex: 10 (racial 10, +2 size decrease ignored, see notes)
Con: 21 (racial 21, -4 size decrease, +4 template)
Int: 24 (racial)
Wis: 24 (racial)
Cha: 25 (racial)
HD: 25d12 + 125 = Hp: 287
Sp: 80' (16 sq.) or fly 150' (30 sq.) poor (template improvement to average ignored, see notes)
AC: 34 (t 9, f 34) (natural armor is -3, size mod is +1, hence -2 total)
BAB: 25 (racial) Grapple: 35 (25 +6 Str +4 Large)
Attacks: (see notes) Bite +30 10' 2d8+6, 2x Claw +25 5' 2d6+3, 2x Wing +25 10' 1d8+3, Tail +25 10' 2d6+9. Shock Wave feat allows full round attack using tail to create shock wave extending 125' and bull rushing any standing creature, dealing 1d6+6 damage to structures. Power Attack allows her to trade up to 25 points from attack roll to damage roll. Cleave allows tail attack one extra melee after dropping a target.
Saves: 19/14/21 (unaffected by size change) (+2 vs. poison, disease)
SR: 27
Skills: [use GazII listing, unchanged]
Feats: Improved Natural Attack (bite, claw, tail, wing) [free template], Endurance [free template]. Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Cleave (tail), Improved Sunder, Shock Wave (Draconomicon), Large and in Charge (Draconomicon), Clinging Breath (Draconomicon), Lingering Breath (Draconomicon), Tempest Breath (Draconomicon).
Breath Weapon: 50' cone deals 5 levels of energy drain, DC 29 for 2 levels, DC 29 to remove. Clinging Breath allows effects to linger for one round on those it already damages, for half damage again (2 levels drain or 1 level drain), +1 to Ebb's recharge rounds. Lingering Breath allows effects to linger for one round as a 50' cone cloud, for half damage again (2 levels drain or 1 level drain), +2 to Ebb's recharge rounds. Tempest Breath produces a "severe" wind effect, blowing away Tiny enemies, knocking down Small enemies, and checking Medium enemies (flying enemies "lose" one size category for effects), +1 to Ebb's recharge rounds.
Notes:
• The +2 Dex enhancement seems out of place. It's recommended by the appendix on increasing creature size, but dragons generally have a base 10 Dex anyway, regardless of age. I decided to preserve the 10 Dex rather than make Ebb unusually dexterous for a Shadow Dragon.
• The flight improvement seems out of place. The Dungeon-bred template specifically improves flight maneuverability, but that's in contravention of the norm for Large dragons, which is still poor. I envision Ebb as being a less proficient flyer than most dragons, given her long residence underground, so bestowing this benefit would be out of keeping with her character concept.
• For attacks, Ebb gets a +1 to her roll because of her size decrease. Her Str decrease gives a -2 modifier, so overall her attacks are at -1 effectiveness from her 3E stats. Damage wise, her damage dice are lowered because of her size reduction, but restored to their original because she gets Improved Natural Attack with all her natural weapons for free from her template. The damage dice are thus unchanged from 3E. The reach for her individual attacks are taken from the Draconomicon.
• For feats, it didn't seem to make sense that she would have Hover or Flyby Attack if she'd spent most of her time underground. In fact, a truly stingy DM might even say she has difficulty flying at all, if her wings have atrophied. I don't go that far, but I did remove all her flying feats, as well as Sunder, a feat that no longer exists in 3.5. The feat Large and in Charge allows her attacks of opportunity to knock enemies back 5', making it hard for them to close with her - a logical survival mechanism in the bowels of the earth. The breath weapon feats I chose with an eye to filling caverns with her breath weapon, also useful in close quarters combat. I left Improved Sunder instead of Sunder. Also, now that she's no longer a Huge creature, she is no longer eligible for Snatch. The Shock Wave feat seemed a logical inclusion too, given her experience fighting in tight tunnels. Shock waves travel around corners, unlike breath weapons, and could be useful in causing cave-ins to seal behind her own passage through.
• Depending on the DM, this build (which is slightly smaller than usual) could allow Ebb to travel around Castle Avernus during the events of From the Shadows. If the PCs taunt or otherwise antagonize Ebb in her tower lair, she may decide to come after them, following them through the castle, limited only by the rooms in which she knows Azalin would not appreciate breakages. This could also end the adventure fairly quickly.
It's probably also worth noting that these are based in part on my own creative writing piece "Cryptic Recesses" wherein I elaborate on Ebb's dead homeworld and the sort of creatures she was fighting against.
Last edited by HuManBing on Tue May 20, 2008 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My update for Gloom, Ebb's mate. Appears in Gazetteer II. I specifically wanted to avoid making him a clone of Ebb.
Gloom, the Lethal Eclipse
Male Old Shadow Dragon
Size: Huge 38' +34' tail
Init: --
Str: 27
Dex: 10
Con: 21
Int: 24
Wis: 16 (specially reduced to reflect past conditioning)
Cha: 25
HD: 25d12 + 125 = Hp: 296
Sp: 80' (16 sq.) or fly 150' (30 sq.) poor
AC: 36 (t 8, f 36)
BAB: 25 (racial) Grapple: 41 (25 +8 Str +8 Huge)
Attacks: (see notes) Bite +31 15' 2d8+8, 2x Claw +26 10' 2d6+4, 2x Wing +26 15' 1d8+4, Tail +26 20' 2d6+12. Power Attack allows him to trade up to 25 points from attack roll to damage roll.
Saves: 19/14/17
SR: 27
Skills: [use GazII listing, unchanged]
Feats: Flyby Attack (MM), Hover, Power Attack, Snatch, Improved Sunder, Quicken Breath (Draconomicon) allows breath as free action but +4 to recovery time, Recover Breath (Draconomicon) allows -1 to all recovery for breath to minimum of 1 round, Multiattack, Improved Multiattack (Draconomicon) allows all six of his melee attacks to be used at no attack roll penalty.
Notes:
• This build is very much a combat build. It's reasonable to assume that Gloom's former master kept him around for defensive purposes only, and not for stealth or his conversational value. In melee attack his Multiattack and Improved Multiattack feats allow him six attacks per round, all at no penalty. Given his immense strength, Gloom can comfortably take up to 10 or 11 points off attack and add it to damage and be almost certain of hitting each time. Visually, this would be mayhem as he thrashes with practiced precision with each limb. If he were to target a single individual with this, they would pretty much end up as a diffuse red mist within a round or two.
• Gloom is a multipurpose potent defender. Taking to the sky, he can use Flyby Attack, which injures enemies while safely moving him out of their counterattack range afterwards. He can also Hover where necessary, which allows him to make full attacks while in midair against airborne enemies. If he does this while a few feet off of suitable terrain, Gloom can cause a massive dust cloud of debris that snuffs flames and reduces visibility nearby. Against landbound enemies, his Snatch ability allows him to automatically grapple foes that he successfully hits with a claw or bite attack. For size S and smaller foes, his Snatch ability means his normal attack will do automatic damage each round, or a breath weapon will get no saving throw. Combined with a Flyby Attack, Snatch could be lethal, allowing Gloom to pick up enemies and carry them far beyond any retaliation or rescue range.
• Gloom's breath weapon is extremely potent. Unlike Ebb, whose breath weapon feats are targeted at close quarters fighting in tunnels, Gloom has focused purely on speed and accessibility. His Quicken Breath allows him to immediately injure enemies the moment he becomes aware of them, even allowing him to immediately follow up with his six melee attacks at any point in combat. More generally, Recover Breath feat should be always active during a battle, allowing him much more efficient use of breath weapons.
• Gloom's long decades of service to a merciless wizard has given him the equivalent of a failed Horror check with the "rage" descriptor. This has not improved after Gloom heard of Azalin's fearsome reputation within Darkon. Gloom is convinced that Azalin is the same person as his former owner and refuses to go anywhere near him. This also translates into an irrational paranoid rage whenever he sees any human casting a spell that could be mistaken for arcane magic (so even an unarmored cleric casting a spell could trigger this). The result is always a blind rage as per Barbarian rage, which lowers his AC by -2 to 34/6/34, increases his Str by +4 (thus adding a further +2 to all of his melee attack and damage rolls), increases his Con by +4 (thereby adding +2 x25 hp or 50 in total). This lasts for 10 rounds and Gloom cannot snap out of it prematurely. Ebb has had serious problems with Gloom going on a rampage on the few occasions when he has seen a human spellcaster, owing in part to Gloom's considerable greater physical prowess.
• I reduced Gloom's Wis by a considerable amount, from 24 to 16, to reflect the previous history of mental and emotional distress that Gloom has suffered. Gloom's Will save is unusually poor for a creature of his power, and his low Wis score - though still pretty impressive by human standards - is a sign of his inability to think things through as thoroughly as Ebb can. Gloom is a weak willed dragon that does very well in reacting to immediate concerns, but which lacks the practice or the willpower to do anything affirmative for himself in the longterm. For the time being, his association with Ebb patches over this fault, as Ebb can guide him, but at the same time, his lack of opportunity to think for himself means that Ebb is a significant obstacle to him ever becoming autonomous.
Relationship with Ebb: Outside of a rampaging rage, however, Gloom is largely subservient to Ebb. He is unaware that Ravenloft is a separate Demiplane from his former master's magical keep. Ebb, who inherited some of Azalin's manipulative modus operandi, has intentionally left him in the dark as to several key facts about the Demiplane. Ebb knows his strong fear of reprisals by the evil wizard or the adventurers that attacked the keep is the strongest force keeping him beside her instead of striking out on his own. Ebb keeps her gathered knowledge of the Demiplane ready to use as an argumentative weapon whenever Gloom questions their situation, frequently concocting explanations and rationalizations that tend towards dismissing Gloom's ideas. Even though Gloom has demanded that Ebb sever her dealings with Azalin, Ebb continues to remain favorably disposed towards her former colleague and may even occasionally undertake some projects on Azalin's behalf, likely without Gloom's knowledge.
Both dragons are exceptionally insightful and intelligent compared to humans, but Ebb has enjoyed a much greater exposure to general knowledge, thanks to her conversations and collaboration with Azalin while at Avernus. Ebb is also somewhat older than Gloom, though their size difference has occasionally fooled viewers into thinking she is much younger.
Gloom is, in truth, far more potent a combat dragon than Ebb, and she knows if it ever came down to a test of arms, Gloom would very likely prevail. However, Gloom's spirit is far weaker, first broken by the wizard that kept him, then by the adventurers that nearly killed him when they assaulted the keep. His first thought is always survival and he has little inclination or ability to think in long term planning. What plans he does concoct usually have naive gaps in them, owing to Ravenloft's general circumstances. Ebb also keeps a faintly mothering, faintly imperious attitude towards him that makes it firmly clear that he cannot survive without her and that part of her job is to save him from himself.
Currently Gloom is entirely in awe of Ebb and mostly unquestioningly does whatever she tells him to. For the time being, the scraps of attention she gives him in return have held his own emotional damage and insecurities in check. But once the eggs start hatching and Ebb's focus shifts entirely to protecting her progeny, Gloom may find himself suddenly left with a large amount of time on his own to think things over more clearly.
Gloom, the Lethal Eclipse
Male Old Shadow Dragon
Size: Huge 38' +34' tail
Init: --
Str: 27
Dex: 10
Con: 21
Int: 24
Wis: 16 (specially reduced to reflect past conditioning)
Cha: 25
HD: 25d12 + 125 = Hp: 296
Sp: 80' (16 sq.) or fly 150' (30 sq.) poor
AC: 36 (t 8, f 36)
BAB: 25 (racial) Grapple: 41 (25 +8 Str +8 Huge)
Attacks: (see notes) Bite +31 15' 2d8+8, 2x Claw +26 10' 2d6+4, 2x Wing +26 15' 1d8+4, Tail +26 20' 2d6+12. Power Attack allows him to trade up to 25 points from attack roll to damage roll.
Saves: 19/14/17
SR: 27
Skills: [use GazII listing, unchanged]
Feats: Flyby Attack (MM), Hover, Power Attack, Snatch, Improved Sunder, Quicken Breath (Draconomicon) allows breath as free action but +4 to recovery time, Recover Breath (Draconomicon) allows -1 to all recovery for breath to minimum of 1 round, Multiattack, Improved Multiattack (Draconomicon) allows all six of his melee attacks to be used at no attack roll penalty.
Notes:
• This build is very much a combat build. It's reasonable to assume that Gloom's former master kept him around for defensive purposes only, and not for stealth or his conversational value. In melee attack his Multiattack and Improved Multiattack feats allow him six attacks per round, all at no penalty. Given his immense strength, Gloom can comfortably take up to 10 or 11 points off attack and add it to damage and be almost certain of hitting each time. Visually, this would be mayhem as he thrashes with practiced precision with each limb. If he were to target a single individual with this, they would pretty much end up as a diffuse red mist within a round or two.
• Gloom is a multipurpose potent defender. Taking to the sky, he can use Flyby Attack, which injures enemies while safely moving him out of their counterattack range afterwards. He can also Hover where necessary, which allows him to make full attacks while in midair against airborne enemies. If he does this while a few feet off of suitable terrain, Gloom can cause a massive dust cloud of debris that snuffs flames and reduces visibility nearby. Against landbound enemies, his Snatch ability allows him to automatically grapple foes that he successfully hits with a claw or bite attack. For size S and smaller foes, his Snatch ability means his normal attack will do automatic damage each round, or a breath weapon will get no saving throw. Combined with a Flyby Attack, Snatch could be lethal, allowing Gloom to pick up enemies and carry them far beyond any retaliation or rescue range.
• Gloom's breath weapon is extremely potent. Unlike Ebb, whose breath weapon feats are targeted at close quarters fighting in tunnels, Gloom has focused purely on speed and accessibility. His Quicken Breath allows him to immediately injure enemies the moment he becomes aware of them, even allowing him to immediately follow up with his six melee attacks at any point in combat. More generally, Recover Breath feat should be always active during a battle, allowing him much more efficient use of breath weapons.
• Gloom's long decades of service to a merciless wizard has given him the equivalent of a failed Horror check with the "rage" descriptor. This has not improved after Gloom heard of Azalin's fearsome reputation within Darkon. Gloom is convinced that Azalin is the same person as his former owner and refuses to go anywhere near him. This also translates into an irrational paranoid rage whenever he sees any human casting a spell that could be mistaken for arcane magic (so even an unarmored cleric casting a spell could trigger this). The result is always a blind rage as per Barbarian rage, which lowers his AC by -2 to 34/6/34, increases his Str by +4 (thus adding a further +2 to all of his melee attack and damage rolls), increases his Con by +4 (thereby adding +2 x25 hp or 50 in total). This lasts for 10 rounds and Gloom cannot snap out of it prematurely. Ebb has had serious problems with Gloom going on a rampage on the few occasions when he has seen a human spellcaster, owing in part to Gloom's considerable greater physical prowess.
• I reduced Gloom's Wis by a considerable amount, from 24 to 16, to reflect the previous history of mental and emotional distress that Gloom has suffered. Gloom's Will save is unusually poor for a creature of his power, and his low Wis score - though still pretty impressive by human standards - is a sign of his inability to think things through as thoroughly as Ebb can. Gloom is a weak willed dragon that does very well in reacting to immediate concerns, but which lacks the practice or the willpower to do anything affirmative for himself in the longterm. For the time being, his association with Ebb patches over this fault, as Ebb can guide him, but at the same time, his lack of opportunity to think for himself means that Ebb is a significant obstacle to him ever becoming autonomous.
Relationship with Ebb: Outside of a rampaging rage, however, Gloom is largely subservient to Ebb. He is unaware that Ravenloft is a separate Demiplane from his former master's magical keep. Ebb, who inherited some of Azalin's manipulative modus operandi, has intentionally left him in the dark as to several key facts about the Demiplane. Ebb knows his strong fear of reprisals by the evil wizard or the adventurers that attacked the keep is the strongest force keeping him beside her instead of striking out on his own. Ebb keeps her gathered knowledge of the Demiplane ready to use as an argumentative weapon whenever Gloom questions their situation, frequently concocting explanations and rationalizations that tend towards dismissing Gloom's ideas. Even though Gloom has demanded that Ebb sever her dealings with Azalin, Ebb continues to remain favorably disposed towards her former colleague and may even occasionally undertake some projects on Azalin's behalf, likely without Gloom's knowledge.
Both dragons are exceptionally insightful and intelligent compared to humans, but Ebb has enjoyed a much greater exposure to general knowledge, thanks to her conversations and collaboration with Azalin while at Avernus. Ebb is also somewhat older than Gloom, though their size difference has occasionally fooled viewers into thinking she is much younger.
Gloom is, in truth, far more potent a combat dragon than Ebb, and she knows if it ever came down to a test of arms, Gloom would very likely prevail. However, Gloom's spirit is far weaker, first broken by the wizard that kept him, then by the adventurers that nearly killed him when they assaulted the keep. His first thought is always survival and he has little inclination or ability to think in long term planning. What plans he does concoct usually have naive gaps in them, owing to Ravenloft's general circumstances. Ebb also keeps a faintly mothering, faintly imperious attitude towards him that makes it firmly clear that he cannot survive without her and that part of her job is to save him from himself.
Currently Gloom is entirely in awe of Ebb and mostly unquestioningly does whatever she tells him to. For the time being, the scraps of attention she gives him in return have held his own emotional damage and insecurities in check. But once the eggs start hatching and Ebb's focus shifts entirely to protecting her progeny, Gloom may find himself suddenly left with a large amount of time on his own to think things over more clearly.
Last edited by HuManBing on Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
My stats for Mazrikoth, a high level priest in Azalin's employ. Appears in the 1992 AD&D trading cards. (Admittedly not the most official of source material...)
Mazrikoth, Ancient Dead, Voice of the Eternal Order
Male human Risen Rank 4 (Ancient Dead) Bard 3, Cleric 15, Evangelist 3: CR 22; Size M undead (5’9” tall); HD 18d12; hp 112; Init -2; Spd 20’; AC 32 (+20 natural, +4 profane, -2 Dex), (touch 12, flatfooted 32); BAB: +13/+8/+3; Atk: +14/+9/+4 melee smash (1d8 +10 [Will save for half DC 29] negative energy and 2d6 Con, 2d6 Cha unless Fort save DC 29, counts as epic weapon) or +11 ranged touch (by spell); SA damaging touch, despair aura [Will save DC 29 or paralyzed for 4d4 rounds], cleric spells [DC 19 + spell level], bard spells [DC 19 + spell level]; SQ undead, damage reduction (16/–), immunities (cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, turning, cold), fast healing 20, turn resistance 14, damage reduction 16/–, energy resistance 10/acid and 10/electricity, vulnerable to fire (double damage), despair, rebuke undead at +2; AL LE; SV Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +23; Str 12, Dex 6, Con –, Int 17, Wis 28, Cha 31.
Skills [Skill name (ranks + ability mod + [synergy/racial/feat]) = final bonus]: Bluff (6 +10 Cha +2 Persuasive feat = +18), Climb (0 +1 Str +8 racial = 9), Concentrate (15 +10 Cha [not Con] = 25), Diplomacy (18 +10 Cha +2 Bluff synergy +2 Sense Motive synergy + 2 KnNobility synergy +2 Negotiator feat = 36), Disguise (6 +10 Cha +2 Bluff synergy = 18), Gather Info (6 +10 Cha = 16), Heal (3 +9 Wis = 12), Hide (0 –2 Dex +8 racial = 6), Intimidate (9 +10 Cha +2 Persuasive feat +2 Bluff synergy = 23), KnArcana (15 +3 Int = 18), KnNobility (6 +3 Int = 9), KnReligion (15 +3 Int = 18), Listen (6 +10 Wis +8 racial = 24), Move Silently (6 –2 Dex +8 racial = 12), Perform Oratory (11 +10 Cha = 21), Perform Sing (6 +10 Cha = 16), Sense Motive (15 +9 Wis +2 Negotiator = 26), Sleight of Hand (0 –2 Dex +2 Bluff synergy = 0), Spellcraft (15 +3 Int +2 KnArcana synergy = 20), Spot (0 +9 Wis +8 racial = 17).
Feats: Persuasive, Negotiator, Extra Turning (turn +4 times a day), Leadership (minions), Master Manipulator (can use Diplomacy skill vs. Will or opposed Dip check to give -4 to foe’s Listen/Spot/Sense Motive, affects up to 11 targets within 20’; also can use Dip check, after foe fails to lie using Bluff, for 1 minute to find out useful clue), Blessing of the Godless (EoE) (6 minute ceremony – Pact: gives pool of hp equal to 18 x # of participants, and all participants can draw on that pool; Anoint: gives +4 morale bonus to all against Intimidate and saves vs. fear; Shield: gives all +4 saves vs. divine spells, and when any one is targeted by divine spell, all participants in 60’ get +1 to hit and damage for 1 round), Mask of Gentility (EoE) (alignment scries as Neutral, Sense Motive checks must succeed against DC 30).
Risen Salient Powers (4): Touch of Death does 1d8 +10 damage (Will save DC 29 for half), Rejuvenation (can spend 1 full round action to heal 100 hp), Greater Rejuvenation (even if hp lowered to 0, reappears in 3 days), Mummy Rot (Incubation period 1 round, damage 2d6 Con and 2d6 Cha. DC 28 CL check in order to heal with any conjuration magic, also DC 28 CL check to break enchantment or remove cure before can be cured). Despair aura upon sight paralyzes foes 4d4 rounds (DC 29 Will).
Cleric Class Abilities: Rebuke undead (+2 KnReligion synergy +10 Cha = 12) (2d6 + 28 total HD undead) 14 times a day,
Bard Class Abilities: Countersong (Perform check, 10 rounds), Fascinate (90’ Perform check as DC Will save, -4 to foes’ skills 4 rounds), Inspire Courage (+1 to allies’ save vs. charm/fear, to allies’ attack/damage, duration of singing +5 rounds), Inspire Competence (+2 to allies’ skill check).
Evangelist Class Abilities: Inspire Dread (-4 to Will saves within 30’ while talking +3 rounds after), Fast Talk (can rush Diplomacy as full-round action with just a -5 penalty, for total modifier of 31), Inflame the Righteous (allies in 30’ get fire shield spell, while speaking +3 rounds after).
Languages: Darkonian, Draconic, Infernal, Outworlder.
Cleric Spells per Day: Base DC = 19 + spell level.
Bard Spells per Day: (6/6) Base DC = 20 + spell level. Often casts Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Hypnotism, Silent Image, Undetectable Alignment, and Ventriloquism.
Ability modifications:
All level ability boosts went into Cha
Became middle aged at L9, old age at L12, venerable at L18.
Str: 12 prime, -1 midage, -2 old, -3 venerable, +6 ancient dead = 12
Dex: 12 prime, -1 midage, -2 old, -3 venerable, +0 ancient dead = 6
Con: irrelevant, undead.
Int: 16 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, -2 ancient dead = 17
Wis: 17 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +8 ancient dead = 28
Cha: 18 prime, +4 levels, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +8 = 33
Skill points:
Bard L1 (6 +3 +1) x4 = 60
Bard L2 through L3 (6 +3 +1) x2 = 20
Cleric L4 through L11 (2 +3 +1) x8 = 48
Cleric L12 through L15 (2 +4 +1) x4 = 28 (Int bonus increased by +1)
Evangelist L16 through L18 (6 +4 +1) x3 = 33
Total skill points: 164
Total feats: 3 as bard (1 for L1, 1 for human, 1 for L3), 4 as cleric (L6, L9, L12, L15), 1 as evangelist (L18).
On a homeworld far from Ravenloft, religion was in its last throes. Shortly after this world mastered industrial applications of arcane magic, it lost the need for the power of divine magic. In an age of ever-increasing materialism and secularism, the truly faithful were a dying breed, as flocks turned away from the path of spiritual absolution to find solace in earthly relativism instead.
The Church of the Wardkeeper was one such faith. Watching its former glories dissipate in a wave of general indifference, the dwindling priesthood looked to ways of bringing its message of protection, safety, succor, and deliverance to the populace. The clergy, once hidebound to tenets and rituals (lawful neutral) slowly drifted away from the literalist reading and began several social experiments to draw people back to their faith. Some were undoubtedly good methods: Charity to the poor was one; education for the illiterate was another. However, some were less clearcut and raised eyebrows, such as colluding with the local lords to arrest criminals found out through confessions. The church had a policy of keeping such collusion secret, with the rationalization that the betrayal of a criminal's trust was still in the service of a greater law. Moreover, it brought in valuable coin from the lords so mollified.
One such man - typical for the criminals so prosecuted - was a young husband and father of a suckling baby. His crime was the theft of books from the lord's library, and the church turned away from his entreaties to argue on his behalf for leniency. It was not convenient to go against the interest of the lord. Standing on the windswept scaffold, waiting for the trap to fall beneath him, he sang a piercing, haunting melody of the child becoming teacher to the man, and the sins of the father coming back in the form of the son.
One aspect which proved popular was the church's choir. Little children love to sing, and the church discovered that literacy education was made easier by teaching them through the medium of music and the arts. One such chorister was a young boy named Reykoth, an orphan since his father - one of many - was secretly betrayed by the church to the lords and executed. Reykoth learned to sing and read and write with the church, and became a devout follower. After his voice broke, he travelled around restaurants and pubs and sang the word of the Church to revellers and carousers. They rarely heeded his message of redemption, but his voice and singing were uncommonly good. He had good looks, too, and many a dainty hand would slip coin into his hat following a sigh of regret that he was a churchman.
Meanwhile, the church had splintered into two factions and the strain was growing daily. The ageing High Priest, Moren, was fading fast, and his appointed successor was the staunch literalist, Archimandrite Corfin. He favored a withdrawal from public performances and showy displays of charity and pledges. He sneered at the contracts drawn up by the Church with industrialists to supply paintings and stained glass artworks to the rich patrons.
Both factions saw Corfin's purity of vision as a serious drawback. One faction urged greater engagement with the impoverished and needy, gathering strength in numbers and forcing the upper class to heed their station. The other faction - one that rarely let true morality dictate its goals - favored strengthening ties with the nobility and royalty, to win political influence.
Reykoth joined the order and wore the robes of a Wardkeep just as Corfin left the church on a hermitage forever. In the ensuing power vacuum, both sides vied for prime position inwardly. Outwardly, the Church now had two heads - the almsgiver Father Lantas, and the powerbroker Master Polane. Reykoth himself may have been instrumental in securing the powerbrokers' victory. He visited with a local lord and gave a vocal performance at a soiree with a song he had written to praise that noble house. The wealthier powerbroker side placed its own leader, Master Polane, as the new church leader, but did not name him High Priest nor another priest as Archimandrite. That position would never be filled again, as neither side was confident enough of its tenuous victory to presume to outright dominance.
Through the years, Reykoth wooed and wassailed with lords. He developed courtly manners and displayed an unfailingly sharp and witty tongue. At the same time, he understood the importance of balance of power - being a shrewd politician, he flattered his superiors at turns and plotted against them. Likewise, he was careful to keep up the appearances of charity and service in the poorhouse, thus making amends to the almsgiver faction of the church.
During this time, his hypocrisy had not yet extended into outright sinning, although he clearly had gone against the original intent of the church: to ward and to keep safe the poor and underprivileged as well as the rich. About a decade into his service with the church, political considerations forced a lord to ally with the poor in order to expand his power base. The shrewd dealings of the almsgiver faction secured the support of this lord, and they displaced Master Polane with Father Lantas. Most of the powerbrokers were purged from the church, leaving Reykoth as one of the few whose association with the almshouse was strong enough to protect him politically.
Reykoth worked hard but resented his lowly station. He took care of youths, boys and girls both, and saw that times had changed. They no longer held the same sense of duty and gratitude to the church that he had. They got better, they grew up, and then they left the church to go out into the world. To work. To earn. To consume. To fall in love, and to marry.
Reykoth sometimes looked out from the doors of the Church and saw the sights and heard the sighs of the city, and he began to know disquietude and dismay. He began to think that his life had been wasted with a dying faith.
Reykoth nurtured one such girl as his own daughter, teaching her to read and write and to sing hymns of purest praise, as he himself had done as a child. Like the others, however, she grew up, became a woman, and bade him farewell. Though she held him as a father and kissed him goodbye, she never came back to the church. When she married, she sent word but not an invitation.
Some of the wards of the church were women and girls who had come from husbands and fathers who beat them or worse. One night, drowning his sudden tears in a flagon of sacramental wine, Reykoth looked up and saw one of the girl-children at the tableside. She spoke to him and brought him words of comfort, like one might bring a treasured pet to an adult. They spoke for hours in the midnight quiet, and then, like many youths who have known violations of trust at a tender age, she offered him her body as her only means of solace.
Reykoth was a changed man after that. He rationalized what had happened between them as a sign of gentleness, of mutual understanding and trust. He persuaded himself to believe that to turn her away would have been a greater betrayal of her trust. He told nobody about this and did not pray for guidance nor confide in the confessionals (perhaps a sensible precaution, given the church's prior record of confidentiality).
The girl grew older and her visits became more frequent as she entered womanhood. When she became pregnant, she came to Reykoth for aid. He comforted her, and told her to remain quiet and he would arrange for her to be taken to a safehouse. He saw her off one night at the Temple gate, promising her in a low voice that he would follow her in a matter of days. The carriage took her to the local lord's mining pits, where she likely died of exposure long before the child was even born.
Reykoth took on the mantle of a preacher, leaving the everyday running of the almshouse to a loyal subordinate. He castigated the poor for their sins, and flattered the wealthy for their virtues. The journeys into the city both slaked his curiosity to see the sights, and also whetted his desire to experience them himself. On the occasions that he spoke with the ladies and dames of the noble houses, he found them appreciative of his fawning flattery and honeyed words, even as they seemed less interested in his ageing features. He remembered with a pang of regret the ready smiles of barmaids and noblewomen alike when he sang as an innocent chorister around the city.
Desire, and a sense of expiring time, led Reykoth fully into secret depravities. At the poorhouse, he visited with the women often, praying with them, then lecturing them on their sins, and then bending them to his will with his knowledge of their missteps. Outside, no fewer than three women servants in the noble houses fell beneath his spell and yielded to him, providing him also with informants in those houses.
His ingratiation with the noble houses, and his diplomatic tact, led to speedy promotion once Father Lantas died and Master Polane returned as the church's de facto leader. Polane removed Reykoth from the poorhouse and placed him in a prestigious position as an attache with the lords in the church's central office. Reykoth likewise made sure to keep his own poorhouse protege cleric satisfied with gifts of wealth and power. And he continued to exploit the poorhouse women to satisfy his own lusts.
Polane finally removed the poorhouse from the almsgiver faction's power base, leaving them with practically nothing. With the powerbroker faction's ascendancy complete, Polane began a relentless drive of politicking among the lords, finally bringing the church back to rude health and as the sole remaining church, in the sole remaining city where faith had not quite died.
Polane, for all his ruthlessness and contempt for the poor, was at least an honest man insofar as he had no other vices. His rule united the church, though a dissident faction still attended to the poor outside of Reykoth's influence. When Polane died, the church was as powerful as a noble house and as well funded. Reykoth, having wormed his way into the top ranks of the church, heard his bedside confession that gave him startling news: Polane was the priest who had turned Reykoth's father away from the church gates, and in so doing, condemned him to death by hanging.
Reykoth took this poorly. The church, which had become his foster parent, had been responsible for the death of his own father. He went from Polane's bedside and marshalled his allies. When Polane died, the election for Master was a foregone conclusion - Master Reykoth became the church's head... still foregoing the High Priest title out of respect for the dwindling numbers of the true almsgivers still around.
However, something broke in his spirit after that. Reykoth seemed to abandon the church in some small way. He continued to throw himself into making and breaking alliances and contracts with the noble houses, but the goals he pursued no longer seemed to be for the church itself. Rather, he seemed to be primarily interested in monuments and projects to his own glory. He commissioned a massive sculpture showing a man providing food for children at his side, simply named "The Wardkeep Father". Within the church, most thought of this as a cynical political move to regain the support of those who had followed Father Lantas. Few could have guessed that Master Reykoth was shriving his conscience of a criminal, hanged almost fifty years before, at the church's own order.
Furthermore, his own depravities increased. Beforehand, his inequities with the women had at least the appearance of consensual behavior. Now he discovered his voice had a power to compel terrified obedience, even as the servant's eyes gave away their dismay at him. Past a certain point, Master Reykoth ceased caring.
His underlings in the faith may have been shocked to learn of their superior's weakness, but Reykoth's knowledge of the canon was deep, and his excuses and rationalizations and half-justifications were persuasive. Soon he had those corruptible clergymen indulging themselves alongside him. Those who could not be corrupted found themselves nonetheless unable to find fault with his reasonings.
Reykoth's excesses became so great that the temple itself began to suffer, slowly turning into a byword for depravity and lewdness. Other priests tried to redirect him, but found his following too great to counteract. Many lower priests had committed similar sins under his tutelage, and feared for their dark master to be exposed, knowing that they too would stand to be cast away. His underlings used scandal and counter-accusations to keep themselves safe.
After a relatively short burst of regained virility, Reykoth's physical decline resumed in earnest. Toward the last decade of his life, he turned mostly to voyeuristic pursuits, slipping in and out of senescence and paranoia. He began to truly fear his own death, knowing that his god (if the Wardkeep still existed at all) would punish his soul terribly in the afterlife. He began drinking milk from nursing mothers and demanding blood transfusions from virgin girls in an attempt to ward off the inevitable. None of this could stop the venereal contagion surging through his blood and into his brain - the byproduct of his not-so-youthful indiscretions with harlots and prostitutes. Even as he lay dying, his corrupt clergy extolled his name in praise to the flock and they joined prayer that their god might favor him.
Reykoth spent the last months of his life alternately ranting unintelligibly and praying for a way out of his predicament. Surprisingly, the escape came to him, but far from the form he had hoped for. One night, a ragged female street thief with a terrible mission slipped past the guards and watchmen in the clerical apartments and gained entrance to his bedroom. Revealing herself to him as one of the countless young girls whom he had abused in the past, she produced a jar of blind, burrowing grubs and tipped them into his sickbed robes. Crippled by age and illness, he could barely even scream as they squirmed into his abdominal cavity, chewing through his innards.
The guards cut down his assassin before she even left his apartment, but the priests began jostling for power immediately. Unable to remove the vermin from him, they chose to embalm his body instead, then displayed it in public amidst a show of great mourning. The ceremony was grand beyond anything the order had seen - although they stopped short of deifying Reykoth, they hailed him as a saint and visionary leader who sits at the table with the Wardkeeper, holding the keys to heaven. This blasphemous canonization of a deeply unworthy man finally drew the attention of the Dark Powers.
As each clergyman came forward to give their silent blessing, not a single one spoke the name of their true god. Each one, thinking himself to be acting alone, muttered a virulent curse upon the body of their former leader as they stood before him in private prayer. Heaped with the combined load of their imprecations, Reykoth's soul lay trapped in his body, screaming with pain at the corrosive acids that still tormented and tortured his flesh, as the husks of the grubs in his gut stirred gently and fastened small but sharp teeth around his spine.
Reykoth was buried with full honors amidst the collected scripts and bulls of his leadership, as the powerbroker priests maneuvered against each other and even struck physically against each other with assassins. The order collapsed into chaos, and the Mists arose, drawing the temple grounds, all of the priesthood, and a considerable number of the flock into Ravenloft.
The church physically appeared in Eastern Darkon, and within a few short years the powerbrokers had attempted to contact several barons. Likewise, the almsgivers faction had attempted (with greater success) to convert the poor and the rural dwellers of eastern Darkon to the Wardkeeper's faith.
This attracted Azalin's personal attention, at a time when he had been coincidentally musing on founding a false religion to control society. After assessing the faith and its power struggles, Azalin saw that the powerbrokers had self-destructed to the point where the almsgivers were once again potentially ascendant. If they prevailed and somehow reversed the church's decline, the church could once again bring the Wardkeeper's word to humanity once again. The Wardkeeper god's slow death would be halted.
Azalin took a dim view of this and ordered his Kargat to strike at each almsgiver sect simultaneously, in a massive undercover operation that focused the resources of the entire Royal Treasury. In the course of one single evening, every last almsgiver priest was slaughtered or captured, leaving the flock utterly lost and without guidance.
And in some forgotten Outer Plane, the Wardkeeper breathed His dying breath, in a command to His final servant to kill Azalin. The servant duly came to Ravenloft and successfully killed Azalin, though he came back very angry and wreaked an unpleasant revenge. (See the Phirazaldea post in the Black Vault thread for more information on this.)
Meanwhile, Reykoth lay for decades, his mind turning and cursing and screaming silently, until one moonless night, grave robbers led by the youngest clergyman under his command dug up his grave in search of his high priest's ring and the treasures buried with him for use in their power struggles.
Killing them all with a flurry of darkest oaths, Reykoth looted their bodies at his leisure and escaped. Over the course of the next few years, he hunted down and slaughtered every last clergy and layman of the old church, cursing the void that now filled his god. His body still pulses and seethes with the undead shells of the loathsome parasites that the assassin delivered, and also with the teeming contagion of the most sordid diseases of the flesh.
Azalin, eager to put the entire Wardkeeper affair behind him, was drawn out of his seclusion at Avernus once again when he heard reports of a powerful Ancient Dead roaming the countryside. Villagers misheard its name "Master Reykoth" as "Mazrikoth", and tales abounded of its unearthly singing and its articulate nature.
Azalin found that the interloper had gone on a brief rampage of the old temple and destroyed the last few powerbroker priests left. Then, displaying an admirable grasp of strategy, the interloper had then hidden out in a village and conversed, hidden, with the children, slowly learning Darkonian that way. In an echo of his own meeting with Strahd von Zarovich, Azalin met the newcomer at a rustic mansion which Mazrikoth was using as a base of sorts, and Azalin managed to penetrate the illusions and spells Mazrikoth used to hide his true nature.
Being undead, Azalin was immune to most of the supernatural charm that Mazrikoth's practiced tongue could issue. However, he saw that Mazrikoth was naturally charismatic and still tolerated daily contact with living people - something that Azalin himself did not. He offered Mazrikoth a post as his minister, and gave him an ambitious project, backed by the coffers of Darkon: start up a false religion and keep tabs on the Darkonian populace to allow Azalin to police them more effectively.
Mazrikoth took to this new patron lord well, and proved extremely efficient at setting up a new religion. He proved so useful that Azalin even kept his existence a secret from the Kargat, and elevated him to a rank higher than most of his own secret police. Mazrikoth primarily influences the Eternal Order's priesthood by liaising with their living priests, who are not immune to his various charming effects. He cannot make contact with the Kargat in his role as Wardkeeper priest, owing to the importance of keeping his existence a secret from them. On occasion, Mazrikoth was even to act as a body double for Azalin, who disliked dealing with the general citizenry even more than he disliked having to meet with his Kargat police, and generally disliked both when he'd rather be conducting magical experiments. Mazrikoth occasionally oversteps his bounds by taunting the Kargat - especially living ones - sexually, as occurred with the werepanther Jadis, whose breast he infected with a vile rotting disease before sending her on a mission to kill an upstart lord. (See Tower of Doom.)
Current sketch: Mazrikoth carries some signs of what might be mistaken for decay. However, the embalming process immediately after his death made him resistant to decay. The symptoms are almost entirely the result of his lustful pursuits during life, especially the syphilitic deterioration of his nasal cavity, and the weeping chancres on his hands. He always keeps his vestments wrapped tightly around his torso, because his abdominal cavity is a horrifying mess of writhing death-vermin and contorted guts.
Mazrikoth believes himself to be the final cleric of the Wardkeeper, and is unaware that the god has been dead for quite some time. Azalin has not seen any reason to inform him of his new development, as he believes Mazrikoth can still be put to good use elsewhere. Mazrikoth travels about the domain on his own, dictating Eternal Order policy to the various clerics about the nation without ever revealing his true nature. His mastery of illusions is almost as great as Azalin's - he keeps his middle-aged living face, still handsome enough, before the syphilis set in.
There are two aspects of his living self that did not disappear with his own death, however. The first is his eloquent tongue. Though clearly mentally unstable, Mazrikoth is a persuasive speaker, alternately cajoling and threatening, and charming and flattering. This ability to influence others and even persuade them of the truth of outright lies was the main reason why Azalin views him as indispensable. Where Azalin himself and the Kargat must hide themselves generally from the public, Mazrikoth is the one servant with both the magical aptitude and the charismatic moxy to parade himself as a mortal among men.
His voice has no direct combat application, but he can easily defuse a difficult situation with mere words, even while remaining obscure or unseen, as from a pulpit or a confession booth. His feats selection make him a practically unbeatable Diplomat, and a stiff challenge for any Bluffer. He can use his Diplomacy skill to a variety of different new powers, and can do so even as a full round action, rather than taking 1 minute. Oftentimes, he uses his Godless Ceremony to bind allies to him and share his purpose.
In combat, he is not as fearsome as others of his kind. Being an old man before his transformation has robbed him of the dexterity and strength that many Ancient Dead enjoy. However, his immunities and rejuvenation ability make him extremely hard to kill in combat. And even those who successfully discorporate his mortal shell (such as Van Richten, Shauten, and their allies) cannot prevent him from coming back without a monumental effort.
If combat seems imminent, Mazrikoth usually speaks in a torrent of declamation first, lowering enemy Will saves by -4. Once combat begins, he drops all illusions and magics, which is an immediate cause for a standard Horror check and a very stiff Fear check (noted as part of his mummy powers) at DC 29 (further hampered by the Will penalty above). He usually charms enemies to corral and pursue their allies, and disposes of any bystanders and witnesses with his loathsome mummy rot touch.
This leads us to the other aspect that survived his transformation, for which we have the testimony of the deceased Kargat agent Jadis, and many, many others. Evidently Mazrikoth's ability to spread venereal diseases did not die with him.
Mazrikoth, Ancient Dead, Voice of the Eternal Order
Male human Risen Rank 4 (Ancient Dead) Bard 3, Cleric 15, Evangelist 3: CR 22; Size M undead (5’9” tall); HD 18d12; hp 112; Init -2; Spd 20’; AC 32 (+20 natural, +4 profane, -2 Dex), (touch 12, flatfooted 32); BAB: +13/+8/+3; Atk: +14/+9/+4 melee smash (1d8 +10 [Will save for half DC 29] negative energy and 2d6 Con, 2d6 Cha unless Fort save DC 29, counts as epic weapon) or +11 ranged touch (by spell); SA damaging touch, despair aura [Will save DC 29 or paralyzed for 4d4 rounds], cleric spells [DC 19 + spell level], bard spells [DC 19 + spell level]; SQ undead, damage reduction (16/–), immunities (cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, turning, cold), fast healing 20, turn resistance 14, damage reduction 16/–, energy resistance 10/acid and 10/electricity, vulnerable to fire (double damage), despair, rebuke undead at +2; AL LE; SV Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +23; Str 12, Dex 6, Con –, Int 17, Wis 28, Cha 31.
Skills [Skill name (ranks + ability mod + [synergy/racial/feat]) = final bonus]: Bluff (6 +10 Cha +2 Persuasive feat = +18), Climb (0 +1 Str +8 racial = 9), Concentrate (15 +10 Cha [not Con] = 25), Diplomacy (18 +10 Cha +2 Bluff synergy +2 Sense Motive synergy + 2 KnNobility synergy +2 Negotiator feat = 36), Disguise (6 +10 Cha +2 Bluff synergy = 18), Gather Info (6 +10 Cha = 16), Heal (3 +9 Wis = 12), Hide (0 –2 Dex +8 racial = 6), Intimidate (9 +10 Cha +2 Persuasive feat +2 Bluff synergy = 23), KnArcana (15 +3 Int = 18), KnNobility (6 +3 Int = 9), KnReligion (15 +3 Int = 18), Listen (6 +10 Wis +8 racial = 24), Move Silently (6 –2 Dex +8 racial = 12), Perform Oratory (11 +10 Cha = 21), Perform Sing (6 +10 Cha = 16), Sense Motive (15 +9 Wis +2 Negotiator = 26), Sleight of Hand (0 –2 Dex +2 Bluff synergy = 0), Spellcraft (15 +3 Int +2 KnArcana synergy = 20), Spot (0 +9 Wis +8 racial = 17).
Feats: Persuasive, Negotiator, Extra Turning (turn +4 times a day), Leadership (minions), Master Manipulator (can use Diplomacy skill vs. Will or opposed Dip check to give -4 to foe’s Listen/Spot/Sense Motive, affects up to 11 targets within 20’; also can use Dip check, after foe fails to lie using Bluff, for 1 minute to find out useful clue), Blessing of the Godless (EoE) (6 minute ceremony – Pact: gives pool of hp equal to 18 x # of participants, and all participants can draw on that pool; Anoint: gives +4 morale bonus to all against Intimidate and saves vs. fear; Shield: gives all +4 saves vs. divine spells, and when any one is targeted by divine spell, all participants in 60’ get +1 to hit and damage for 1 round), Mask of Gentility (EoE) (alignment scries as Neutral, Sense Motive checks must succeed against DC 30).
Risen Salient Powers (4): Touch of Death does 1d8 +10 damage (Will save DC 29 for half), Rejuvenation (can spend 1 full round action to heal 100 hp), Greater Rejuvenation (even if hp lowered to 0, reappears in 3 days), Mummy Rot (Incubation period 1 round, damage 2d6 Con and 2d6 Cha. DC 28 CL check in order to heal with any conjuration magic, also DC 28 CL check to break enchantment or remove cure before can be cured). Despair aura upon sight paralyzes foes 4d4 rounds (DC 29 Will).
Cleric Class Abilities: Rebuke undead (+2 KnReligion synergy +10 Cha = 12) (2d6 + 28 total HD undead) 14 times a day,
Bard Class Abilities: Countersong (Perform check, 10 rounds), Fascinate (90’ Perform check as DC Will save, -4 to foes’ skills 4 rounds), Inspire Courage (+1 to allies’ save vs. charm/fear, to allies’ attack/damage, duration of singing +5 rounds), Inspire Competence (+2 to allies’ skill check).
Evangelist Class Abilities: Inspire Dread (-4 to Will saves within 30’ while talking +3 rounds after), Fast Talk (can rush Diplomacy as full-round action with just a -5 penalty, for total modifier of 31), Inflame the Righteous (allies in 30’ get fire shield spell, while speaking +3 rounds after).
Languages: Darkonian, Draconic, Infernal, Outworlder.
Cleric Spells per Day: Base DC = 19 + spell level.
Bard Spells per Day: (6/6) Base DC = 20 + spell level. Often casts Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Hypnotism, Silent Image, Undetectable Alignment, and Ventriloquism.
Ability modifications:
All level ability boosts went into Cha
Became middle aged at L9, old age at L12, venerable at L18.
Str: 12 prime, -1 midage, -2 old, -3 venerable, +6 ancient dead = 12
Dex: 12 prime, -1 midage, -2 old, -3 venerable, +0 ancient dead = 6
Con: irrelevant, undead.
Int: 16 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, -2 ancient dead = 17
Wis: 17 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +8 ancient dead = 28
Cha: 18 prime, +4 levels, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +8 = 33
Skill points:
Bard L1 (6 +3 +1) x4 = 60
Bard L2 through L3 (6 +3 +1) x2 = 20
Cleric L4 through L11 (2 +3 +1) x8 = 48
Cleric L12 through L15 (2 +4 +1) x4 = 28 (Int bonus increased by +1)
Evangelist L16 through L18 (6 +4 +1) x3 = 33
Total skill points: 164
Total feats: 3 as bard (1 for L1, 1 for human, 1 for L3), 4 as cleric (L6, L9, L12, L15), 1 as evangelist (L18).
On a homeworld far from Ravenloft, religion was in its last throes. Shortly after this world mastered industrial applications of arcane magic, it lost the need for the power of divine magic. In an age of ever-increasing materialism and secularism, the truly faithful were a dying breed, as flocks turned away from the path of spiritual absolution to find solace in earthly relativism instead.
The Church of the Wardkeeper was one such faith. Watching its former glories dissipate in a wave of general indifference, the dwindling priesthood looked to ways of bringing its message of protection, safety, succor, and deliverance to the populace. The clergy, once hidebound to tenets and rituals (lawful neutral) slowly drifted away from the literalist reading and began several social experiments to draw people back to their faith. Some were undoubtedly good methods: Charity to the poor was one; education for the illiterate was another. However, some were less clearcut and raised eyebrows, such as colluding with the local lords to arrest criminals found out through confessions. The church had a policy of keeping such collusion secret, with the rationalization that the betrayal of a criminal's trust was still in the service of a greater law. Moreover, it brought in valuable coin from the lords so mollified.
One such man - typical for the criminals so prosecuted - was a young husband and father of a suckling baby. His crime was the theft of books from the lord's library, and the church turned away from his entreaties to argue on his behalf for leniency. It was not convenient to go against the interest of the lord. Standing on the windswept scaffold, waiting for the trap to fall beneath him, he sang a piercing, haunting melody of the child becoming teacher to the man, and the sins of the father coming back in the form of the son.
One aspect which proved popular was the church's choir. Little children love to sing, and the church discovered that literacy education was made easier by teaching them through the medium of music and the arts. One such chorister was a young boy named Reykoth, an orphan since his father - one of many - was secretly betrayed by the church to the lords and executed. Reykoth learned to sing and read and write with the church, and became a devout follower. After his voice broke, he travelled around restaurants and pubs and sang the word of the Church to revellers and carousers. They rarely heeded his message of redemption, but his voice and singing were uncommonly good. He had good looks, too, and many a dainty hand would slip coin into his hat following a sigh of regret that he was a churchman.
Meanwhile, the church had splintered into two factions and the strain was growing daily. The ageing High Priest, Moren, was fading fast, and his appointed successor was the staunch literalist, Archimandrite Corfin. He favored a withdrawal from public performances and showy displays of charity and pledges. He sneered at the contracts drawn up by the Church with industrialists to supply paintings and stained glass artworks to the rich patrons.
Both factions saw Corfin's purity of vision as a serious drawback. One faction urged greater engagement with the impoverished and needy, gathering strength in numbers and forcing the upper class to heed their station. The other faction - one that rarely let true morality dictate its goals - favored strengthening ties with the nobility and royalty, to win political influence.
Reykoth joined the order and wore the robes of a Wardkeep just as Corfin left the church on a hermitage forever. In the ensuing power vacuum, both sides vied for prime position inwardly. Outwardly, the Church now had two heads - the almsgiver Father Lantas, and the powerbroker Master Polane. Reykoth himself may have been instrumental in securing the powerbrokers' victory. He visited with a local lord and gave a vocal performance at a soiree with a song he had written to praise that noble house. The wealthier powerbroker side placed its own leader, Master Polane, as the new church leader, but did not name him High Priest nor another priest as Archimandrite. That position would never be filled again, as neither side was confident enough of its tenuous victory to presume to outright dominance.
Through the years, Reykoth wooed and wassailed with lords. He developed courtly manners and displayed an unfailingly sharp and witty tongue. At the same time, he understood the importance of balance of power - being a shrewd politician, he flattered his superiors at turns and plotted against them. Likewise, he was careful to keep up the appearances of charity and service in the poorhouse, thus making amends to the almsgiver faction of the church.
During this time, his hypocrisy had not yet extended into outright sinning, although he clearly had gone against the original intent of the church: to ward and to keep safe the poor and underprivileged as well as the rich. About a decade into his service with the church, political considerations forced a lord to ally with the poor in order to expand his power base. The shrewd dealings of the almsgiver faction secured the support of this lord, and they displaced Master Polane with Father Lantas. Most of the powerbrokers were purged from the church, leaving Reykoth as one of the few whose association with the almshouse was strong enough to protect him politically.
Reykoth worked hard but resented his lowly station. He took care of youths, boys and girls both, and saw that times had changed. They no longer held the same sense of duty and gratitude to the church that he had. They got better, they grew up, and then they left the church to go out into the world. To work. To earn. To consume. To fall in love, and to marry.
Reykoth sometimes looked out from the doors of the Church and saw the sights and heard the sighs of the city, and he began to know disquietude and dismay. He began to think that his life had been wasted with a dying faith.
Reykoth nurtured one such girl as his own daughter, teaching her to read and write and to sing hymns of purest praise, as he himself had done as a child. Like the others, however, she grew up, became a woman, and bade him farewell. Though she held him as a father and kissed him goodbye, she never came back to the church. When she married, she sent word but not an invitation.
Some of the wards of the church were women and girls who had come from husbands and fathers who beat them or worse. One night, drowning his sudden tears in a flagon of sacramental wine, Reykoth looked up and saw one of the girl-children at the tableside. She spoke to him and brought him words of comfort, like one might bring a treasured pet to an adult. They spoke for hours in the midnight quiet, and then, like many youths who have known violations of trust at a tender age, she offered him her body as her only means of solace.
Reykoth was a changed man after that. He rationalized what had happened between them as a sign of gentleness, of mutual understanding and trust. He persuaded himself to believe that to turn her away would have been a greater betrayal of her trust. He told nobody about this and did not pray for guidance nor confide in the confessionals (perhaps a sensible precaution, given the church's prior record of confidentiality).
The girl grew older and her visits became more frequent as she entered womanhood. When she became pregnant, she came to Reykoth for aid. He comforted her, and told her to remain quiet and he would arrange for her to be taken to a safehouse. He saw her off one night at the Temple gate, promising her in a low voice that he would follow her in a matter of days. The carriage took her to the local lord's mining pits, where she likely died of exposure long before the child was even born.
Reykoth took on the mantle of a preacher, leaving the everyday running of the almshouse to a loyal subordinate. He castigated the poor for their sins, and flattered the wealthy for their virtues. The journeys into the city both slaked his curiosity to see the sights, and also whetted his desire to experience them himself. On the occasions that he spoke with the ladies and dames of the noble houses, he found them appreciative of his fawning flattery and honeyed words, even as they seemed less interested in his ageing features. He remembered with a pang of regret the ready smiles of barmaids and noblewomen alike when he sang as an innocent chorister around the city.
Desire, and a sense of expiring time, led Reykoth fully into secret depravities. At the poorhouse, he visited with the women often, praying with them, then lecturing them on their sins, and then bending them to his will with his knowledge of their missteps. Outside, no fewer than three women servants in the noble houses fell beneath his spell and yielded to him, providing him also with informants in those houses.
His ingratiation with the noble houses, and his diplomatic tact, led to speedy promotion once Father Lantas died and Master Polane returned as the church's de facto leader. Polane removed Reykoth from the poorhouse and placed him in a prestigious position as an attache with the lords in the church's central office. Reykoth likewise made sure to keep his own poorhouse protege cleric satisfied with gifts of wealth and power. And he continued to exploit the poorhouse women to satisfy his own lusts.
Polane finally removed the poorhouse from the almsgiver faction's power base, leaving them with practically nothing. With the powerbroker faction's ascendancy complete, Polane began a relentless drive of politicking among the lords, finally bringing the church back to rude health and as the sole remaining church, in the sole remaining city where faith had not quite died.
Polane, for all his ruthlessness and contempt for the poor, was at least an honest man insofar as he had no other vices. His rule united the church, though a dissident faction still attended to the poor outside of Reykoth's influence. When Polane died, the church was as powerful as a noble house and as well funded. Reykoth, having wormed his way into the top ranks of the church, heard his bedside confession that gave him startling news: Polane was the priest who had turned Reykoth's father away from the church gates, and in so doing, condemned him to death by hanging.
Reykoth took this poorly. The church, which had become his foster parent, had been responsible for the death of his own father. He went from Polane's bedside and marshalled his allies. When Polane died, the election for Master was a foregone conclusion - Master Reykoth became the church's head... still foregoing the High Priest title out of respect for the dwindling numbers of the true almsgivers still around.
However, something broke in his spirit after that. Reykoth seemed to abandon the church in some small way. He continued to throw himself into making and breaking alliances and contracts with the noble houses, but the goals he pursued no longer seemed to be for the church itself. Rather, he seemed to be primarily interested in monuments and projects to his own glory. He commissioned a massive sculpture showing a man providing food for children at his side, simply named "The Wardkeep Father". Within the church, most thought of this as a cynical political move to regain the support of those who had followed Father Lantas. Few could have guessed that Master Reykoth was shriving his conscience of a criminal, hanged almost fifty years before, at the church's own order.
Furthermore, his own depravities increased. Beforehand, his inequities with the women had at least the appearance of consensual behavior. Now he discovered his voice had a power to compel terrified obedience, even as the servant's eyes gave away their dismay at him. Past a certain point, Master Reykoth ceased caring.
His underlings in the faith may have been shocked to learn of their superior's weakness, but Reykoth's knowledge of the canon was deep, and his excuses and rationalizations and half-justifications were persuasive. Soon he had those corruptible clergymen indulging themselves alongside him. Those who could not be corrupted found themselves nonetheless unable to find fault with his reasonings.
Reykoth's excesses became so great that the temple itself began to suffer, slowly turning into a byword for depravity and lewdness. Other priests tried to redirect him, but found his following too great to counteract. Many lower priests had committed similar sins under his tutelage, and feared for their dark master to be exposed, knowing that they too would stand to be cast away. His underlings used scandal and counter-accusations to keep themselves safe.
After a relatively short burst of regained virility, Reykoth's physical decline resumed in earnest. Toward the last decade of his life, he turned mostly to voyeuristic pursuits, slipping in and out of senescence and paranoia. He began to truly fear his own death, knowing that his god (if the Wardkeep still existed at all) would punish his soul terribly in the afterlife. He began drinking milk from nursing mothers and demanding blood transfusions from virgin girls in an attempt to ward off the inevitable. None of this could stop the venereal contagion surging through his blood and into his brain - the byproduct of his not-so-youthful indiscretions with harlots and prostitutes. Even as he lay dying, his corrupt clergy extolled his name in praise to the flock and they joined prayer that their god might favor him.
Reykoth spent the last months of his life alternately ranting unintelligibly and praying for a way out of his predicament. Surprisingly, the escape came to him, but far from the form he had hoped for. One night, a ragged female street thief with a terrible mission slipped past the guards and watchmen in the clerical apartments and gained entrance to his bedroom. Revealing herself to him as one of the countless young girls whom he had abused in the past, she produced a jar of blind, burrowing grubs and tipped them into his sickbed robes. Crippled by age and illness, he could barely even scream as they squirmed into his abdominal cavity, chewing through his innards.
The guards cut down his assassin before she even left his apartment, but the priests began jostling for power immediately. Unable to remove the vermin from him, they chose to embalm his body instead, then displayed it in public amidst a show of great mourning. The ceremony was grand beyond anything the order had seen - although they stopped short of deifying Reykoth, they hailed him as a saint and visionary leader who sits at the table with the Wardkeeper, holding the keys to heaven. This blasphemous canonization of a deeply unworthy man finally drew the attention of the Dark Powers.
As each clergyman came forward to give their silent blessing, not a single one spoke the name of their true god. Each one, thinking himself to be acting alone, muttered a virulent curse upon the body of their former leader as they stood before him in private prayer. Heaped with the combined load of their imprecations, Reykoth's soul lay trapped in his body, screaming with pain at the corrosive acids that still tormented and tortured his flesh, as the husks of the grubs in his gut stirred gently and fastened small but sharp teeth around his spine.
Reykoth was buried with full honors amidst the collected scripts and bulls of his leadership, as the powerbroker priests maneuvered against each other and even struck physically against each other with assassins. The order collapsed into chaos, and the Mists arose, drawing the temple grounds, all of the priesthood, and a considerable number of the flock into Ravenloft.
The church physically appeared in Eastern Darkon, and within a few short years the powerbrokers had attempted to contact several barons. Likewise, the almsgivers faction had attempted (with greater success) to convert the poor and the rural dwellers of eastern Darkon to the Wardkeeper's faith.
This attracted Azalin's personal attention, at a time when he had been coincidentally musing on founding a false religion to control society. After assessing the faith and its power struggles, Azalin saw that the powerbrokers had self-destructed to the point where the almsgivers were once again potentially ascendant. If they prevailed and somehow reversed the church's decline, the church could once again bring the Wardkeeper's word to humanity once again. The Wardkeeper god's slow death would be halted.
Azalin took a dim view of this and ordered his Kargat to strike at each almsgiver sect simultaneously, in a massive undercover operation that focused the resources of the entire Royal Treasury. In the course of one single evening, every last almsgiver priest was slaughtered or captured, leaving the flock utterly lost and without guidance.
And in some forgotten Outer Plane, the Wardkeeper breathed His dying breath, in a command to His final servant to kill Azalin. The servant duly came to Ravenloft and successfully killed Azalin, though he came back very angry and wreaked an unpleasant revenge. (See the Phirazaldea post in the Black Vault thread for more information on this.)
Meanwhile, Reykoth lay for decades, his mind turning and cursing and screaming silently, until one moonless night, grave robbers led by the youngest clergyman under his command dug up his grave in search of his high priest's ring and the treasures buried with him for use in their power struggles.
Killing them all with a flurry of darkest oaths, Reykoth looted their bodies at his leisure and escaped. Over the course of the next few years, he hunted down and slaughtered every last clergy and layman of the old church, cursing the void that now filled his god. His body still pulses and seethes with the undead shells of the loathsome parasites that the assassin delivered, and also with the teeming contagion of the most sordid diseases of the flesh.
Azalin, eager to put the entire Wardkeeper affair behind him, was drawn out of his seclusion at Avernus once again when he heard reports of a powerful Ancient Dead roaming the countryside. Villagers misheard its name "Master Reykoth" as "Mazrikoth", and tales abounded of its unearthly singing and its articulate nature.
Azalin found that the interloper had gone on a brief rampage of the old temple and destroyed the last few powerbroker priests left. Then, displaying an admirable grasp of strategy, the interloper had then hidden out in a village and conversed, hidden, with the children, slowly learning Darkonian that way. In an echo of his own meeting with Strahd von Zarovich, Azalin met the newcomer at a rustic mansion which Mazrikoth was using as a base of sorts, and Azalin managed to penetrate the illusions and spells Mazrikoth used to hide his true nature.
Being undead, Azalin was immune to most of the supernatural charm that Mazrikoth's practiced tongue could issue. However, he saw that Mazrikoth was naturally charismatic and still tolerated daily contact with living people - something that Azalin himself did not. He offered Mazrikoth a post as his minister, and gave him an ambitious project, backed by the coffers of Darkon: start up a false religion and keep tabs on the Darkonian populace to allow Azalin to police them more effectively.
Mazrikoth took to this new patron lord well, and proved extremely efficient at setting up a new religion. He proved so useful that Azalin even kept his existence a secret from the Kargat, and elevated him to a rank higher than most of his own secret police. Mazrikoth primarily influences the Eternal Order's priesthood by liaising with their living priests, who are not immune to his various charming effects. He cannot make contact with the Kargat in his role as Wardkeeper priest, owing to the importance of keeping his existence a secret from them. On occasion, Mazrikoth was even to act as a body double for Azalin, who disliked dealing with the general citizenry even more than he disliked having to meet with his Kargat police, and generally disliked both when he'd rather be conducting magical experiments. Mazrikoth occasionally oversteps his bounds by taunting the Kargat - especially living ones - sexually, as occurred with the werepanther Jadis, whose breast he infected with a vile rotting disease before sending her on a mission to kill an upstart lord. (See Tower of Doom.)
Current sketch: Mazrikoth carries some signs of what might be mistaken for decay. However, the embalming process immediately after his death made him resistant to decay. The symptoms are almost entirely the result of his lustful pursuits during life, especially the syphilitic deterioration of his nasal cavity, and the weeping chancres on his hands. He always keeps his vestments wrapped tightly around his torso, because his abdominal cavity is a horrifying mess of writhing death-vermin and contorted guts.
Mazrikoth believes himself to be the final cleric of the Wardkeeper, and is unaware that the god has been dead for quite some time. Azalin has not seen any reason to inform him of his new development, as he believes Mazrikoth can still be put to good use elsewhere. Mazrikoth travels about the domain on his own, dictating Eternal Order policy to the various clerics about the nation without ever revealing his true nature. His mastery of illusions is almost as great as Azalin's - he keeps his middle-aged living face, still handsome enough, before the syphilis set in.
There are two aspects of his living self that did not disappear with his own death, however. The first is his eloquent tongue. Though clearly mentally unstable, Mazrikoth is a persuasive speaker, alternately cajoling and threatening, and charming and flattering. This ability to influence others and even persuade them of the truth of outright lies was the main reason why Azalin views him as indispensable. Where Azalin himself and the Kargat must hide themselves generally from the public, Mazrikoth is the one servant with both the magical aptitude and the charismatic moxy to parade himself as a mortal among men.
His voice has no direct combat application, but he can easily defuse a difficult situation with mere words, even while remaining obscure or unseen, as from a pulpit or a confession booth. His feats selection make him a practically unbeatable Diplomat, and a stiff challenge for any Bluffer. He can use his Diplomacy skill to a variety of different new powers, and can do so even as a full round action, rather than taking 1 minute. Oftentimes, he uses his Godless Ceremony to bind allies to him and share his purpose.
In combat, he is not as fearsome as others of his kind. Being an old man before his transformation has robbed him of the dexterity and strength that many Ancient Dead enjoy. However, his immunities and rejuvenation ability make him extremely hard to kill in combat. And even those who successfully discorporate his mortal shell (such as Van Richten, Shauten, and their allies) cannot prevent him from coming back without a monumental effort.
If combat seems imminent, Mazrikoth usually speaks in a torrent of declamation first, lowering enemy Will saves by -4. Once combat begins, he drops all illusions and magics, which is an immediate cause for a standard Horror check and a very stiff Fear check (noted as part of his mummy powers) at DC 29 (further hampered by the Will penalty above). He usually charms enemies to corral and pursue their allies, and disposes of any bystanders and witnesses with his loathsome mummy rot touch.
This leads us to the other aspect that survived his transformation, for which we have the testimony of the deceased Kargat agent Jadis, and many, many others. Evidently Mazrikoth's ability to spread venereal diseases did not die with him.
Last edited by HuManBing on Fri May 23, 2008 8:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
This is my write up of Vigo Drakov, where I statted him as an Unholy Scion. Appears in Gazetteer II.
Vigo Drakov, Kerkerführer of Lekar Central Prison
Male Human Unholy Scion (evil, native outsider) Fighter12/RaptorKnight3; CR 18; Size M (6'6"); HD 15d10+41; hp 128; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 20' (armor) or 50' (mounted); AC 34 (touch 20, flat-footed 31); Base Atk 15/10/5; Grapple 19; Atk Longsword melee +23 (1d8/17-20)+9 or Hawkbows ranged +18 (1d10/19-20), or unarmed melee +19 (1d4)+4; melee and natural weapons are evil aligned, and do +2d6 dmg vs. good opponents; Face/Reach 5'/5'; AL CE; SV Fort 13, Ref 8, Will 7; Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 18.
Skills and Feats: Handle animal 21, Ride 17, Intimidate 21, Sense motive 13, Bluff 12, Climb 11, Swim 10, Jump 10, Listen 11, Spot 11, Survival 5, Move silently 12. Gains +2 to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to Falkovnians. Exotic weapon proficiency (Hawkbow), Weapon focus (Hawkbow), Weapon focus/spec (Longsword), Rapid reload (Hawkbow), Mounted combat, Trample, Leadership, Improved critical (Longsword), Mounted archery, Ride-by attack, Spirited charge, Animal affinity.
Special Attacks: All melee and natural weapon attacks are considered evil-aligned and do 2d6 extra dmg. vs. good creatures. Can rage as per barbarian twice per day: (+2 to melee hit and damage, +30 hp, +2 Will saves, -2 AC, lasts for 13 rounds). Ride by attack allows him to keep moving after a charge, and Spirited charge allows him double damage with melee weapons from horseback. Mounted combat allows him to roll a Ride check against a single attack that would have hit his mount, to see if he deflects it. From a distance, he can fire one Hawkbow (two bolts on one attack roll) per round and reload the same round as full action, and he only gets half-penalty for moving mount (-2 for double move, -4 for running).
Special Qualities: Already failed one powers check - allows him 90' low-light vision (in addition to his innate 60' darkvision), but he develops a craving for biting and chewing human flesh. (Not yet cannibalistic, but it's not far off.) Unholy Scion abilities: + Cha bonus to AC deflection; unarmed attacks function as 1d4 claw weapons, although hands do not visibly change; familial charm (useless, as mother is dead); Can cast 3/day Charm Person, Protection from Good, Major Image, Poison, True Seeing, Unholy Aura. Can cast 1/day Desecrate, Enervation, Dominate Person, Baleful Polymorph, Animate Dead (HD x 4), Unhallow, and Harm. DR: 10/good and magic. Fast healing 4. Darkvision 60'. Immune to poisons and mind-affecting spells and abilities. Resistance to acid/cold/electricity/fire 5. Spell Resistance 25.
Languages: Falkovnian, Mordentish.
Possessions: Full plate +2, Large steel shield +2 (usable mostly on foot, as he cannot use it along with the Hawkbows), Longsword +3, Hawk helm, Bloodhawk figurine.
Tactics: Vigo Drakov is a superb horseman and falconer, and prefers to keep his distance from his enemy at first, sending in his Bloodhawk magical item, while using Hawkbow attacks. If pressed, he will engage in long, strafing charges with his longsword, trying for a critical hit (which would threaten triple damage or even higher). On the ground, he uses his shield and will often Rage to mow down opponents.
Vigo Drakov doesn't appear in the original Black Box set, and it appears that he is intended in part to be a possible illegitimate child. There appear to be hints that he was actually sired by an outsider - perhaps the Gentleman Caller?
I decided to make Vigo Drakov the most dangerously violent and sadistic of all the Drakovs. Vlad Drakov and his legit sons all are cruel and merciless, but Vigo outshines them all insofar as he may actually be certifiably insane. He has entirely unpredictable mood swings and ranges from verbal taunting to out-and-out deadly assault in the blink of an eye. He initially impressed his father with his penchant for violence and sexual depravity, but as he aged and grew more physically powerful than his brothers, his father recognized a crisis in the making.
Things came to a head during a Falkmeet in Aerie with Vlad Drakov and his sons present. Incensed by a perceived snub from Mircea Drakov, another son of the Konigsfuhrer, Vigo drew his dagger and pinned Mircea's left hand to the table before assaulting him viciously about the face with his bare hands. Although the other Drakovs and retainers were able to pull Vigo off him, a simmering hatred brews between the legitimate Drakov sons and Vigo. The affair was hushed up as a drunken beerfest brawl.
Nobody spoke of the unnaturally deep gouges and wounds that Vigo somehow managed to cause in Mircea's face and neck with his bare hands.
Vigo Drakov was put away in the Lekar Prison, installed as its Falkfuhrer, and conveniently hidden from sight. There, he is able to indulge his sadistic tendencies without attracting too much attention. Every so often, he presents the most resilient slaves and captives to his father for entertainment, a move that still impresses his father enough to keep Vigo politically safe.
Vigo, when he's mentally lucid enough to think, is starting to have suspicions about his parentage. It is well documented that his mother died in childbirth. However, some close to the source have told him that his mother went insane before giving birth to him, indulging in various acts of torture and eventually grievously assaulting her previous children. Vigo inherently knows this to be true, as he has deep memories of holding children's heads underwater and tearing at their tongues and throats.
The truth is that Vigo is an Unholy Scion (as described in the Heroes of Horror book - a template that awards various unholy powers for being sired by a fiend and a mortal female). Vlad Drakov is not his father, and he suspects this. He is still too depraved to mount any concerted investigation into his roots, but the knowledge he does have is enough to torment him. He believes that if he only knew his father, he would find a fellow being of power that would view his natural tendencies as a benefit, instead of a social shame.
Vigo Drakov, Kerkerführer of Lekar Central Prison
Male Human Unholy Scion (evil, native outsider) Fighter12/RaptorKnight3; CR 18; Size M (6'6"); HD 15d10+41; hp 128; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 20' (armor) or 50' (mounted); AC 34 (touch 20, flat-footed 31); Base Atk 15/10/5; Grapple 19; Atk Longsword melee +23 (1d8/17-20)+9 or Hawkbows ranged +18 (1d10/19-20), or unarmed melee +19 (1d4)+4; melee and natural weapons are evil aligned, and do +2d6 dmg vs. good opponents; Face/Reach 5'/5'; AL CE; SV Fort 13, Ref 8, Will 7; Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 18.
Skills and Feats: Handle animal 21, Ride 17, Intimidate 21, Sense motive 13, Bluff 12, Climb 11, Swim 10, Jump 10, Listen 11, Spot 11, Survival 5, Move silently 12. Gains +2 to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to Falkovnians. Exotic weapon proficiency (Hawkbow), Weapon focus (Hawkbow), Weapon focus/spec (Longsword), Rapid reload (Hawkbow), Mounted combat, Trample, Leadership, Improved critical (Longsword), Mounted archery, Ride-by attack, Spirited charge, Animal affinity.
Special Attacks: All melee and natural weapon attacks are considered evil-aligned and do 2d6 extra dmg. vs. good creatures. Can rage as per barbarian twice per day: (+2 to melee hit and damage, +30 hp, +2 Will saves, -2 AC, lasts for 13 rounds). Ride by attack allows him to keep moving after a charge, and Spirited charge allows him double damage with melee weapons from horseback. Mounted combat allows him to roll a Ride check against a single attack that would have hit his mount, to see if he deflects it. From a distance, he can fire one Hawkbow (two bolts on one attack roll) per round and reload the same round as full action, and he only gets half-penalty for moving mount (-2 for double move, -4 for running).
Special Qualities: Already failed one powers check - allows him 90' low-light vision (in addition to his innate 60' darkvision), but he develops a craving for biting and chewing human flesh. (Not yet cannibalistic, but it's not far off.) Unholy Scion abilities: + Cha bonus to AC deflection; unarmed attacks function as 1d4 claw weapons, although hands do not visibly change; familial charm (useless, as mother is dead); Can cast 3/day Charm Person, Protection from Good, Major Image, Poison, True Seeing, Unholy Aura. Can cast 1/day Desecrate, Enervation, Dominate Person, Baleful Polymorph, Animate Dead (HD x 4), Unhallow, and Harm. DR: 10/good and magic. Fast healing 4. Darkvision 60'. Immune to poisons and mind-affecting spells and abilities. Resistance to acid/cold/electricity/fire 5. Spell Resistance 25.
Languages: Falkovnian, Mordentish.
Possessions: Full plate +2, Large steel shield +2 (usable mostly on foot, as he cannot use it along with the Hawkbows), Longsword +3, Hawk helm, Bloodhawk figurine.
Tactics: Vigo Drakov is a superb horseman and falconer, and prefers to keep his distance from his enemy at first, sending in his Bloodhawk magical item, while using Hawkbow attacks. If pressed, he will engage in long, strafing charges with his longsword, trying for a critical hit (which would threaten triple damage or even higher). On the ground, he uses his shield and will often Rage to mow down opponents.
Vigo Drakov doesn't appear in the original Black Box set, and it appears that he is intended in part to be a possible illegitimate child. There appear to be hints that he was actually sired by an outsider - perhaps the Gentleman Caller?
I decided to make Vigo Drakov the most dangerously violent and sadistic of all the Drakovs. Vlad Drakov and his legit sons all are cruel and merciless, but Vigo outshines them all insofar as he may actually be certifiably insane. He has entirely unpredictable mood swings and ranges from verbal taunting to out-and-out deadly assault in the blink of an eye. He initially impressed his father with his penchant for violence and sexual depravity, but as he aged and grew more physically powerful than his brothers, his father recognized a crisis in the making.
Things came to a head during a Falkmeet in Aerie with Vlad Drakov and his sons present. Incensed by a perceived snub from Mircea Drakov, another son of the Konigsfuhrer, Vigo drew his dagger and pinned Mircea's left hand to the table before assaulting him viciously about the face with his bare hands. Although the other Drakovs and retainers were able to pull Vigo off him, a simmering hatred brews between the legitimate Drakov sons and Vigo. The affair was hushed up as a drunken beerfest brawl.
Nobody spoke of the unnaturally deep gouges and wounds that Vigo somehow managed to cause in Mircea's face and neck with his bare hands.
Vigo Drakov was put away in the Lekar Prison, installed as its Falkfuhrer, and conveniently hidden from sight. There, he is able to indulge his sadistic tendencies without attracting too much attention. Every so often, he presents the most resilient slaves and captives to his father for entertainment, a move that still impresses his father enough to keep Vigo politically safe.
Vigo, when he's mentally lucid enough to think, is starting to have suspicions about his parentage. It is well documented that his mother died in childbirth. However, some close to the source have told him that his mother went insane before giving birth to him, indulging in various acts of torture and eventually grievously assaulting her previous children. Vigo inherently knows this to be true, as he has deep memories of holding children's heads underwater and tearing at their tongues and throats.
The truth is that Vigo is an Unholy Scion (as described in the Heroes of Horror book - a template that awards various unholy powers for being sired by a fiend and a mortal female). Vlad Drakov is not his father, and he suspects this. He is still too depraved to mount any concerted investigation into his roots, but the knowledge he does have is enough to torment him. He believes that if he only knew his father, he would find a fellow being of power that would view his natural tendencies as a benefit, instead of a social shame.
Last edited by HuManBing on Tue May 20, 2008 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This is my statting for Yuri Mitrovic, who appears as nothing more than a name in the Black Box bloodlines section.
Yuri Mitrovic, Spymaster of Falkovnia:
Male Human Aris4/Ftr4/Exp4; CR 12; Size M (5'8"); HD 4d8/4d10/4d6; hp 76; Init -1 (Dex); Spd 20' (breastplate); AC 18 (touch 9, flat-footed 18), up to +5 Combat Expertise; Base Atk +10/+5; Atk melee Falkfuhrer's Longsword +14 (1d8/19-20) no ranged; Face/Reach 5'/5'; SA Improved Feint; SQ none; AL LE; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +11; Str 13, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 16.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +18, Decipher Script +8, Diplomacy +19, Forgery +9, Gather Information +19, Handle Animal +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge Local +11, Know History +11, Know Nobility +11, Ride +9, Search +6, Sense Motive +16, Swim +6. Investigator, Leadership, Negotiator, Persuasive, Animal Affinity, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Weapon Focus Longsword.
Languages: Falkovnian, Darkonian, Balok, Lamordian, Mordentish.
Possessions: Falkfuhrer's Longsword +2, Light steel shield +1, Breastplate +2.
Yuri Mitrovic, the head of the Nachrichtendienst (Intelligence Ministry) and Spymaster of all Falkovnia. Mitrovic has a parallel plot to Vigo Drakov in that he is sitting on a very important secret regarding his wife (and by extension his mentally ill daughter). The campaign is likely to progress with Mitrovic hounding the PCs through his espionage attempts, until the PCs make a breakthrough in discovering some secrets of his.
The PCs can then force Yuri to the bargaining table by threatening to reveal his secrets, and through his defection they can secure a chance to lure Vigo Drakov (who tortured them and who runs the Kerkerministerium with an iron fist) into an ambush.
Yuri Mitrovic is a medium-height man with jowly features, placid-looking eyes, and thinning dark hair. He is cleanshaven, with a slightly protruding jaw, and a quiet, unassuming demeanor. He was born a minor noble in Falkovnian affairs, and his childhood and young adulthood were unremarkable. At the age of 19, he joined the Falkovnian army's noble corps, or Edelkorps, as a swordsman. Although he served with dutiful loyalty, Mitrovic left the Edelkorps at the end of his required service. He next surfaced in the Nachrichtendienst, or Ministry of Intelligence, where he put his language skills to use. Aided in part by his noble heritage and his quiet, unquestioning efficiency, Mitrovic rose in the ranks and eventually took over as the ministry's Falkfuhrer.
His current day-to-day operations consist mostly of managing domestic agents, in a campaign to root out the "Lost King" Gondegal. However, he also has sleeper cells passively reporting information from every domain that neighbors Falkovnia. He is particularly interested in Lamordia, as his daughter, Sonia Imlach, is interned there in a sanitarium.
Mitrovic is a calm man with an air of patience and politeness about him. The dark taint of Falkovnia has not touched him nearly as much as many other Falkfuhrers. However, this does not mean he is merciful or kind. He is concerned purely with efficiency, and will often devote many resources to win the favor of an informer. His favorite tactic is to flatter informers' egos by enrolling their children or other relatives in state-run boarding schools. This often offers the family some degree of respite from harassment from the army. Mitrovic then compels his informers to serve him by implicitly threatening their children. He is a master of mind games, often showing the parents how much academic improvement the children have made under his benevolence. He likes to turn children against their parents subtly, cultivating a sense that they are superior.
This paternalistic approach is yielding gains as the first generation of such children are reaching maturity, and the Nachrichtendienst gains a new crop of devoted and well-educated servants. However, it is reflective of a dark secret: Mitrovic's former wife, Ireena Imlach, bore him a daughter, Sonia, who showed early signs of mental retardation. As Sonia reached her third birthday and signs of her mental condition became clear, Mitrovic prepared to execute Falkovnian law, which rules that all sub-human individuals become property of the state and must be surrendered. However, before he did so, he made a discovery that stayed his hand.
One of Mitrovic's side-projects upon assuming leadership of the spy ministry was to investigate the heritage of his wife. He had known for some time that her mother, Nadia Ruzich, likely had an extramarital affair. Mitrovic was concerned that this could damage his reputation if it became common knowledge. He was not, however, prepared for what he did find out - for an entire year, Ruzich had been a secret concubine of the Konigfuhrer himself, Vlad Drakov.
This discovery meant that his wife, Ireena, was very likely the daughter of Vlad Drakov, and therefore his own daughter, Sonia, was Drakov's own granddaughter. This heritage meant that, regardless of Falkovnian state law, Mitrovic could stand guilty of treason if he allowed a Drakov to go to prison. This placed Yuri in an impossible situation: he was required by law to turn Sonia over to the state for incarceration, but if he did so, Drakov could try him for treason. Fearing what might happen if she were discovered, he had her spirited away to a sanitarium in Ludendorf in Lamordia.
She assumed the name and cover history of Dagmar Leboyik, daughter of a Darkonian nobleman formerly of Lamordia. This cover story was perfect, because the real Dagmar Leboyik is long dead and her mother, formerly known as Petra Leboyik, is now a Darkon resident who has lost all memories of her life in Lamordia.
Combat: Mitrovic dislikes fighting and will try to escape from a dangerous situation by commanding his underlings to fight while he retreats. In a last-ditch scenario, he does have a potion of haste which he will drink and try to escape on foot.
Optional plot hook: Vlad Drakov might not care about the welfare of one of his many illegitimate grandchildren, especially one who was a) female, and b) insane.
After some more thought, I changed Yuri Mitrovic's motivation away from pure self-preservation, and more towards a twisted sense of loyalty to little Sonia. Perhaps Yuri's only facet of pity or kindness is towards this helpless little child of his, and he doesn't want to see her fed into the grinder of Falkovnian law.
If the PCs are feeling merciful, they can allow him to go into exile in Lamordia to spend the rest of his life with Sonia, taking care of her. Concerning Vigo Drakov, if the full plot to draw him out into the open goes ahead, it is very unlikely that they will be able to do anything with him except fight him outright and try to kill him.
In my campaign, the PCs will side with Gondegal and also a homeworld villain, an aristocratic ogre mage named Bukcsa. In the end, they have a series of choices they can make:
* the Kargat really wants them to deliver Yuri to them. Azalin's secret police would definitely benefit from his help, and a Kargat leader is thinking of converting him into a Ghost and binding him to the Kargat HQ in Karg.
* the Kargat is less interested in Vigo, seeing his continued existence in Falkovnia as a useful destabilizing tool.
* Gondegal wants Vigo to stand a trial (before a kangaroo court, admittedly) which will find him guilty and hang him.
* Bukcsa (the ogre mage) suffered an acid burn that blinded his left eye thanks to Vigo. He is eager to repay the debt. If the PCs give Vigo to Bukcsa, the ogre mage will subject Vigo Drakov to a truly bloodcurdling display of bodily and mental torture for a period of several weeks before finally killing him.
(Bukcsa has a method of distilling his own blood into a weak potion of regeneration or potion of healing, which allows him to pull fingernails, yank people's arms out of their sockets, and tear genital organs out by the roots while still keeping the initial victim alive... after a fashion.)
Of course, with my PCs as largely neutral characters, this will raise serious doubts about whether anybody, even something so evil as Vigo Drakov, deserves such an end...
Truly evil PCs will give Vigo to Bukcsa, and will turn Yuri back to Vlad Drakov's men, ensuring a very painful and despairing end to both lives. This will almost certainly trigger a Dark Powers check.
Neutral PCs interested in realpolitik and balance of power might turn Yuri over to the Kargat to give Darkonian intelligence an added boost against Falkovnia.
For good PCs, delivering Yuri to Lamordia to be with his daughter isn't going to be enough to ensure his safety. Drakov will assuredly send assassins and spies against him. Without help from another source, Yuri may survive with his daughter for about five years or so before somebody eventually gets him.
Yuri Mitrovic, Spymaster of Falkovnia:
Male Human Aris4/Ftr4/Exp4; CR 12; Size M (5'8"); HD 4d8/4d10/4d6; hp 76; Init -1 (Dex); Spd 20' (breastplate); AC 18 (touch 9, flat-footed 18), up to +5 Combat Expertise; Base Atk +10/+5; Atk melee Falkfuhrer's Longsword +14 (1d8/19-20) no ranged; Face/Reach 5'/5'; SA Improved Feint; SQ none; AL LE; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +11; Str 13, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 16.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +18, Decipher Script +8, Diplomacy +19, Forgery +9, Gather Information +19, Handle Animal +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge Local +11, Know History +11, Know Nobility +11, Ride +9, Search +6, Sense Motive +16, Swim +6. Investigator, Leadership, Negotiator, Persuasive, Animal Affinity, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Weapon Focus Longsword.
Languages: Falkovnian, Darkonian, Balok, Lamordian, Mordentish.
Possessions: Falkfuhrer's Longsword +2, Light steel shield +1, Breastplate +2.
Yuri Mitrovic, the head of the Nachrichtendienst (Intelligence Ministry) and Spymaster of all Falkovnia. Mitrovic has a parallel plot to Vigo Drakov in that he is sitting on a very important secret regarding his wife (and by extension his mentally ill daughter). The campaign is likely to progress with Mitrovic hounding the PCs through his espionage attempts, until the PCs make a breakthrough in discovering some secrets of his.
The PCs can then force Yuri to the bargaining table by threatening to reveal his secrets, and through his defection they can secure a chance to lure Vigo Drakov (who tortured them and who runs the Kerkerministerium with an iron fist) into an ambush.
Yuri Mitrovic is a medium-height man with jowly features, placid-looking eyes, and thinning dark hair. He is cleanshaven, with a slightly protruding jaw, and a quiet, unassuming demeanor. He was born a minor noble in Falkovnian affairs, and his childhood and young adulthood were unremarkable. At the age of 19, he joined the Falkovnian army's noble corps, or Edelkorps, as a swordsman. Although he served with dutiful loyalty, Mitrovic left the Edelkorps at the end of his required service. He next surfaced in the Nachrichtendienst, or Ministry of Intelligence, where he put his language skills to use. Aided in part by his noble heritage and his quiet, unquestioning efficiency, Mitrovic rose in the ranks and eventually took over as the ministry's Falkfuhrer.
His current day-to-day operations consist mostly of managing domestic agents, in a campaign to root out the "Lost King" Gondegal. However, he also has sleeper cells passively reporting information from every domain that neighbors Falkovnia. He is particularly interested in Lamordia, as his daughter, Sonia Imlach, is interned there in a sanitarium.
Mitrovic is a calm man with an air of patience and politeness about him. The dark taint of Falkovnia has not touched him nearly as much as many other Falkfuhrers. However, this does not mean he is merciful or kind. He is concerned purely with efficiency, and will often devote many resources to win the favor of an informer. His favorite tactic is to flatter informers' egos by enrolling their children or other relatives in state-run boarding schools. This often offers the family some degree of respite from harassment from the army. Mitrovic then compels his informers to serve him by implicitly threatening their children. He is a master of mind games, often showing the parents how much academic improvement the children have made under his benevolence. He likes to turn children against their parents subtly, cultivating a sense that they are superior.
This paternalistic approach is yielding gains as the first generation of such children are reaching maturity, and the Nachrichtendienst gains a new crop of devoted and well-educated servants. However, it is reflective of a dark secret: Mitrovic's former wife, Ireena Imlach, bore him a daughter, Sonia, who showed early signs of mental retardation. As Sonia reached her third birthday and signs of her mental condition became clear, Mitrovic prepared to execute Falkovnian law, which rules that all sub-human individuals become property of the state and must be surrendered. However, before he did so, he made a discovery that stayed his hand.
One of Mitrovic's side-projects upon assuming leadership of the spy ministry was to investigate the heritage of his wife. He had known for some time that her mother, Nadia Ruzich, likely had an extramarital affair. Mitrovic was concerned that this could damage his reputation if it became common knowledge. He was not, however, prepared for what he did find out - for an entire year, Ruzich had been a secret concubine of the Konigfuhrer himself, Vlad Drakov.
This discovery meant that his wife, Ireena, was very likely the daughter of Vlad Drakov, and therefore his own daughter, Sonia, was Drakov's own granddaughter. This heritage meant that, regardless of Falkovnian state law, Mitrovic could stand guilty of treason if he allowed a Drakov to go to prison. This placed Yuri in an impossible situation: he was required by law to turn Sonia over to the state for incarceration, but if he did so, Drakov could try him for treason. Fearing what might happen if she were discovered, he had her spirited away to a sanitarium in Ludendorf in Lamordia.
She assumed the name and cover history of Dagmar Leboyik, daughter of a Darkonian nobleman formerly of Lamordia. This cover story was perfect, because the real Dagmar Leboyik is long dead and her mother, formerly known as Petra Leboyik, is now a Darkon resident who has lost all memories of her life in Lamordia.
Combat: Mitrovic dislikes fighting and will try to escape from a dangerous situation by commanding his underlings to fight while he retreats. In a last-ditch scenario, he does have a potion of haste which he will drink and try to escape on foot.
Optional plot hook: Vlad Drakov might not care about the welfare of one of his many illegitimate grandchildren, especially one who was a) female, and b) insane.
After some more thought, I changed Yuri Mitrovic's motivation away from pure self-preservation, and more towards a twisted sense of loyalty to little Sonia. Perhaps Yuri's only facet of pity or kindness is towards this helpless little child of his, and he doesn't want to see her fed into the grinder of Falkovnian law.
If the PCs are feeling merciful, they can allow him to go into exile in Lamordia to spend the rest of his life with Sonia, taking care of her. Concerning Vigo Drakov, if the full plot to draw him out into the open goes ahead, it is very unlikely that they will be able to do anything with him except fight him outright and try to kill him.
In my campaign, the PCs will side with Gondegal and also a homeworld villain, an aristocratic ogre mage named Bukcsa. In the end, they have a series of choices they can make:
* the Kargat really wants them to deliver Yuri to them. Azalin's secret police would definitely benefit from his help, and a Kargat leader is thinking of converting him into a Ghost and binding him to the Kargat HQ in Karg.
* the Kargat is less interested in Vigo, seeing his continued existence in Falkovnia as a useful destabilizing tool.
* Gondegal wants Vigo to stand a trial (before a kangaroo court, admittedly) which will find him guilty and hang him.
* Bukcsa (the ogre mage) suffered an acid burn that blinded his left eye thanks to Vigo. He is eager to repay the debt. If the PCs give Vigo to Bukcsa, the ogre mage will subject Vigo Drakov to a truly bloodcurdling display of bodily and mental torture for a period of several weeks before finally killing him.
(Bukcsa has a method of distilling his own blood into a weak potion of regeneration or potion of healing, which allows him to pull fingernails, yank people's arms out of their sockets, and tear genital organs out by the roots while still keeping the initial victim alive... after a fashion.)
Of course, with my PCs as largely neutral characters, this will raise serious doubts about whether anybody, even something so evil as Vigo Drakov, deserves such an end...
Truly evil PCs will give Vigo to Bukcsa, and will turn Yuri back to Vlad Drakov's men, ensuring a very painful and despairing end to both lives. This will almost certainly trigger a Dark Powers check.
Neutral PCs interested in realpolitik and balance of power might turn Yuri over to the Kargat to give Darkonian intelligence an added boost against Falkovnia.
For good PCs, delivering Yuri to Lamordia to be with his daughter isn't going to be enough to ensure his safety. Drakov will assuredly send assassins and spies against him. Without help from another source, Yuri may survive with his daughter for about five years or so before somebody eventually gets him.
Last edited by HuManBing on Wed May 21, 2008 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
And finally my restatting of Azalin, an NPC in Darkon who has appeared in a few canonical products.
Azalin, Lord of Darkon
Male human Lich Rank 2 (Alumnus) Wiz18 [Ranks from Dicefreaks.]
CR: 24 [CR slightly higher than canon, as per Dicefreaks template.]
Size: M undead (5’11” tall)
Weight: 45 lbs. [150 lbs. live weight, –70% water loss due to lichhood.]
HD: 18d12 +Cha
Hp: 182
Init: +0
Spd: 30’
AC: (10 standard, +5 natural armor as lich, +5 from Robes) 20 (10 touch, 20 flat footed)
Atk: +12/+7 (from BAB +9/+4) melee touch (2d8 +3 [Will save for half DC 29] and paralysis [Fort save negates DC 29], negative energy) or +9/+4 ranged touch (by spell). Also gaze does damage as touch, and triggers Fear, but no paralysis. To penetrate SR, Azalin’s total modifier is +20 (18 from levels, 2 from Robes). [Touch attack damage calculated differently, and requires two saves: Will save for half damage, Fort save to resist paralysis. Agonizing gaze attack is new.] Azalin’s supernatural attacks have DC 29, calculated from: 10 + ½ HD + Int.
SA: damaging touch, fear aura (DC 29 Will), spells [DC 20 + spell level, +1 if necromancy or evocation], paralyzing touch, agonizing gaze, modify memory [only if post-Requiem], undead dominion.
SQ: +2 to all caster checks to overcome SR (from Robes); undead, damage reduction (15/bludgeoning and magic), immunities (cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, turning resistance +6), lich sight, alternate form, imp familiar (“Squalimous”), Spell Resistance 18 (from Robes).
AL: LE [Consciously lawful, but not so much evil as generally amoral.]
SV: Fort 10, Ref 10, Will 17 (6/6/11 wizard base, 0/0/2 attributes, 4/4/4 with Robes) [Attributes are different and Iron Will feat was swapped out.]
Attributes: Str 17, Dex 10; Con –; Int 30; Wis 14; Cha 16 [Dicefreaks lich template attribute progression different; Int and Cha higher.]
Skills: (max ranks 21, total points 146)
[Skill name (ranks + ability mod + [synergy/racial/feat]) = final bonus] Bluff (10/2 +3) 8, Concentration (16 +3 [Cha, not Con]) 19, Diplomacy (10/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy] +2 [Sense Motive synergy]) 12, Disguise (0/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy]) 5, Gather Info (0/2, +3, +2 [Kn Local synergy]) 5, Hide (0/2 +8 [racial]) 8, Intimidate (12/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy]) 11, Kn Arcana (16 +10) 26, Kn History (9 +10) 19, Kn Local (9 +10) 19, Kn Religion (9 +10) 19, Kn Planes (10 +10) 20, Kn Ravenloft (20 +10) 30, Listen (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10, Move Silently (0/2 +0, +8 racial]) +8, Search (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10, Sense Motive (10/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 15, Spellcraft (15 +10, +2 [Kn Arcana synergy], +3 [Skill Focus feat]) 30, Spot (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10. [Skill points were completely revised. Skills not listed here are straight attribute checks.]
Feats: Brew Potion [less used for potions and more for potion tiles], Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Forge Ring, Heighten Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Spell Mastery (dimension door, scrying, sending, steal vitality, telekinesis). [Removed Iron Will and Improved Familiar in favor of a second Spell Focus and a Skill Focus in Spellcraft. Both are requirements for Archmage PrC.]
Lich Salient Powers (4): Agonizing Gaze (gaze does damage equal to touch), Fast Healing (10, doubled if 200’ near phylactery), Fear Aura (5 HD or less creatures in 60’ must make Will save DC 31 or run in fear. Successful save confers immunity for 24 hours), Paralyzing Touch (Fort DC 29). [Entirely new section from the Dicefreaks build, similar to the VRGttL powers.]
Languages: Darkonese, Balok, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Old Oeridian (Greyhawk), Infernal, Mordentish, Vaasi. [Added Old Oeridian.]
Wizard Spells per Day: 4/7*/7*/6*/6/6/6/4/4/3. Base DC = 20 + spell level (+1 for Necromantic or Evocation spells). *Azalin uses his Rings of Wizardry to double his daily allotment of spells for any two levels from One through Three (adding 4 per level).
Spellbook: A matter of DM’s prerogative. See below.
Signature Combat Possessions: Ring of Wizardry I, II, III; Wand of Ice Storm (CL 18); Wand of Emotion (CL 18); Black Robe of the Archmagi. New items: Bracer of Mage Hand [see below]; Quantarian Reader [see below]. Azalin carries a large number of scrolls with Heightened combat spells (as if they were all cast at 9th level, hence save DC of 29 (30 for Necromantic and Evocation spells) and other spells, usually to allow him to escape from combat.
Undead Control (by source material):
• Azalin can Animate Dead of 8 HD or lower in a 2-mile radius by thought. (Roots of Evil.)
• Azalin can use a free action to control any undead within 18,000 feet (Will DC 29) up to a maximum of 54 HD. (Lich power, Ravenloft campaign setting.)
• He also can animate any corpse in Darkon as a skeleton or zombie. (Dark Lord power.) These monsters respond to his orders as if he had cast Control Undead, with no limit to the number or HD thus controlled. All such undead have +6 turn resistance, and he can see, hear, and act through any of them as needed.
• These undead also have burning red eyes, like their master, and can use this as a gaze attack to force a Fear check at the start of combat. Will save DC 22 (VRGttL, using MM calculation for DC instead of Azalin’s own DC of 29).
Ability modifications:
Level ability boosts: +1 Wis, +3 Int
Became middle aged at L9, old age at L13, venerable at L17.
Str: 17 prime, Steal Vitality maintained constant = 17
Dex: 10 prime, Steal Vitality maintained constant = 10
Con: irrelevant, undead.
Int: 16 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +3 level, +6 lich = 28
Wis: 8 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +1 level, +2 lich = 14
Cha: 11 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +2 lich = 16
Skill points:
Wiz L1 (2 +3 +1) x4 = 24
Wiz L2 through L4 (2 +3 +1) x3 = 18
Wiz L5 through L7 (2 +3 +1) x3 = 18
L8 Int is 18
Wiz L8 through L11 (2 +4 +1) x4 = 28
L12 Int is 20
Wiz L12 through 16 (2 +5 +1) x5 = 40
L17 Int is 22
Wiz L17 through L18 (2 +6 +1) x2 = 18
Total skill points: 146
Feat selection record: 12 feats total: 3 at creation (Scribe Scroll, plus one for 1st level, plus one for being human), plus 3 wizard bonus feats, plus 6 levelling.
Removed: Iron Will and Improved Familiar. (Very few mind affecting spells will work on Azalin anyway, given his lich status, so his current Will save is good enough. Also, Azalin never seemed the type who particularly cared much about his familiar. He apparently never had one while he was alive.)
Added: Spell Focus (Evocation) and Skill Focus (Spellcraft). [build assumes that Azalin was considering becoming an Archmage PrC and those are prerequisites]
Azalin, Lord of Darkon
Male human Lich Rank 2 (Alumnus) Wiz18 [Ranks from Dicefreaks.]
CR: 24 [CR slightly higher than canon, as per Dicefreaks template.]
Size: M undead (5’11” tall)
Weight: 45 lbs. [150 lbs. live weight, –70% water loss due to lichhood.]
HD: 18d12 +Cha
Hp: 182
Init: +0
Spd: 30’
AC: (10 standard, +5 natural armor as lich, +5 from Robes) 20 (10 touch, 20 flat footed)
Atk: +12/+7 (from BAB +9/+4) melee touch (2d8 +3 [Will save for half DC 29] and paralysis [Fort save negates DC 29], negative energy) or +9/+4 ranged touch (by spell). Also gaze does damage as touch, and triggers Fear, but no paralysis. To penetrate SR, Azalin’s total modifier is +20 (18 from levels, 2 from Robes). [Touch attack damage calculated differently, and requires two saves: Will save for half damage, Fort save to resist paralysis. Agonizing gaze attack is new.] Azalin’s supernatural attacks have DC 29, calculated from: 10 + ½ HD + Int.
SA: damaging touch, fear aura (DC 29 Will), spells [DC 20 + spell level, +1 if necromancy or evocation], paralyzing touch, agonizing gaze, modify memory [only if post-Requiem], undead dominion.
SQ: +2 to all caster checks to overcome SR (from Robes); undead, damage reduction (15/bludgeoning and magic), immunities (cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, turning resistance +6), lich sight, alternate form, imp familiar (“Squalimous”), Spell Resistance 18 (from Robes).
AL: LE [Consciously lawful, but not so much evil as generally amoral.]
SV: Fort 10, Ref 10, Will 17 (6/6/11 wizard base, 0/0/2 attributes, 4/4/4 with Robes) [Attributes are different and Iron Will feat was swapped out.]
Attributes: Str 17, Dex 10; Con –; Int 30; Wis 14; Cha 16 [Dicefreaks lich template attribute progression different; Int and Cha higher.]
Skills: (max ranks 21, total points 146)
[Skill name (ranks + ability mod + [synergy/racial/feat]) = final bonus] Bluff (10/2 +3) 8, Concentration (16 +3 [Cha, not Con]) 19, Diplomacy (10/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy] +2 [Sense Motive synergy]) 12, Disguise (0/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy]) 5, Gather Info (0/2, +3, +2 [Kn Local synergy]) 5, Hide (0/2 +8 [racial]) 8, Intimidate (12/2 +3, +2 [Bluff synergy]) 11, Kn Arcana (16 +10) 26, Kn History (9 +10) 19, Kn Local (9 +10) 19, Kn Religion (9 +10) 19, Kn Planes (10 +10) 20, Kn Ravenloft (20 +10) 30, Listen (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10, Move Silently (0/2 +0, +8 racial]) +8, Search (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10, Sense Motive (10/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 15, Spellcraft (15 +10, +2 [Kn Arcana synergy], +3 [Skill Focus feat]) 30, Spot (0/2 +2, +8 [racial]) 10. [Skill points were completely revised. Skills not listed here are straight attribute checks.]
Feats: Brew Potion [less used for potions and more for potion tiles], Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Forge Ring, Heighten Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Spell Mastery (dimension door, scrying, sending, steal vitality, telekinesis). [Removed Iron Will and Improved Familiar in favor of a second Spell Focus and a Skill Focus in Spellcraft. Both are requirements for Archmage PrC.]
Lich Salient Powers (4): Agonizing Gaze (gaze does damage equal to touch), Fast Healing (10, doubled if 200’ near phylactery), Fear Aura (5 HD or less creatures in 60’ must make Will save DC 31 or run in fear. Successful save confers immunity for 24 hours), Paralyzing Touch (Fort DC 29). [Entirely new section from the Dicefreaks build, similar to the VRGttL powers.]
Languages: Darkonese, Balok, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Old Oeridian (Greyhawk), Infernal, Mordentish, Vaasi. [Added Old Oeridian.]
Wizard Spells per Day: 4/7*/7*/6*/6/6/6/4/4/3. Base DC = 20 + spell level (+1 for Necromantic or Evocation spells). *Azalin uses his Rings of Wizardry to double his daily allotment of spells for any two levels from One through Three (adding 4 per level).
Spellbook: A matter of DM’s prerogative. See below.
Signature Combat Possessions: Ring of Wizardry I, II, III; Wand of Ice Storm (CL 18); Wand of Emotion (CL 18); Black Robe of the Archmagi. New items: Bracer of Mage Hand [see below]; Quantarian Reader [see below]. Azalin carries a large number of scrolls with Heightened combat spells (as if they were all cast at 9th level, hence save DC of 29 (30 for Necromantic and Evocation spells) and other spells, usually to allow him to escape from combat.
Undead Control (by source material):
• Azalin can Animate Dead of 8 HD or lower in a 2-mile radius by thought. (Roots of Evil.)
• Azalin can use a free action to control any undead within 18,000 feet (Will DC 29) up to a maximum of 54 HD. (Lich power, Ravenloft campaign setting.)
• He also can animate any corpse in Darkon as a skeleton or zombie. (Dark Lord power.) These monsters respond to his orders as if he had cast Control Undead, with no limit to the number or HD thus controlled. All such undead have +6 turn resistance, and he can see, hear, and act through any of them as needed.
• These undead also have burning red eyes, like their master, and can use this as a gaze attack to force a Fear check at the start of combat. Will save DC 22 (VRGttL, using MM calculation for DC instead of Azalin’s own DC of 29).
Ability modifications:
Level ability boosts: +1 Wis, +3 Int
Became middle aged at L9, old age at L13, venerable at L17.
Str: 17 prime, Steal Vitality maintained constant = 17
Dex: 10 prime, Steal Vitality maintained constant = 10
Con: irrelevant, undead.
Int: 16 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +3 level, +6 lich = 28
Wis: 8 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +1 level, +2 lich = 14
Cha: 11 prime, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +2 lich = 16
Skill points:
Wiz L1 (2 +3 +1) x4 = 24
Wiz L2 through L4 (2 +3 +1) x3 = 18
Wiz L5 through L7 (2 +3 +1) x3 = 18
L8 Int is 18
Wiz L8 through L11 (2 +4 +1) x4 = 28
L12 Int is 20
Wiz L12 through 16 (2 +5 +1) x5 = 40
L17 Int is 22
Wiz L17 through L18 (2 +6 +1) x2 = 18
Total skill points: 146
Feat selection record: 12 feats total: 3 at creation (Scribe Scroll, plus one for 1st level, plus one for being human), plus 3 wizard bonus feats, plus 6 levelling.
Removed: Iron Will and Improved Familiar. (Very few mind affecting spells will work on Azalin anyway, given his lich status, so his current Will save is good enough. Also, Azalin never seemed the type who particularly cared much about his familiar. He apparently never had one while he was alive.)
Added: Spell Focus (Evocation) and Skill Focus (Spellcraft). [build assumes that Azalin was considering becoming an Archmage PrC and those are prerequisites]
Last edited by HuManBing on Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
What's Yuri's relationship to Minister of Intelligence Calons Weir?HuManBing wrote:This is my statting for Yuri Mitrovic, who appears as nothing more than a name in the Black Box bloodlines section.
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
Excellent question. In my campaign, Yuri is forced into the open at the end of the adventure arc. Whatever happens, he can't go back to Falkovnia, except for execution as a traitor (if the PCs are evil and turn him in).
Calons Weir is his replacement, and will doubtless be thoroughly vetted by Drakov to make sure he doesn't have any similar trouble to Yuri.
Another interesting thing that my players pointed out is that Drakov sounds like a very Hungarian name, but Mitrovic sounds like a more Russian name. They suggested a potential ethnic tension between two human racial groups in Falkovnia, which I may try in a later runthrough.
Calons Weir is his replacement, and will doubtless be thoroughly vetted by Drakov to make sure he doesn't have any similar trouble to Yuri.
Another interesting thing that my players pointed out is that Drakov sounds like a very Hungarian name, but Mitrovic sounds like a more Russian name. They suggested a potential ethnic tension between two human racial groups in Falkovnia, which I may try in a later runthrough.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2313
- Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm
- Location: wandering
Here's a 3.5 update of a Ravenloft NPC from one of the 1993 TSR Trading cards. That card just screamed Scholar to me and incidently it is the only PrC that I know of, that a CL3 character can already have one level in. He would make a very nice cohort for a low level PC. Let me know what you think...
Theodoric the Book, male Human CloisteredCleric2/Scholar1; CR 3; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 3d6 +3; hp 13; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 11 (touch 11, flat-footed 10); Base Atk +0; Grp. +0; Atk. +0 melee (-1 on damage rolls), +2 ranged; SA Turn undead 2/day; SQ Aura of good, Innocent, Lore +6; Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL NG(LG); SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +4; Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 9
Skills: Concentration +6, Decipher Script +8, Diplomacy +1, Forgery +3, Gather Information -1 (+1 in Barovia), Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (architecture & engineering) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (local: Barovia) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Knowledge (the planes) (cc) +5.5, Profession (scholar) +3, Search +6, Speak Language (Balok, Dementlieuse, Mordentish +1 extra: Darkonese), Survival +0 (+2 to avoid natural hazards or getting lost, +2 abovegrounds, +2 underground);
Feats: Eidetic Memory, Knowledgeable (B), Literacy, Library.
Special Qualities: Innocent [+3 divine bonus vs. any spell or supernatural ability that requires a power check or is used by evil creature, -2 competence penalty on Horror checks and Sense Motive. Evil clerics can turn him]; turn undead as 2nd level cleric (+2 to turn checks) 2/day.
Cleric Spells Prepared (5/3; base DC = 10 + spell level; DC 11 + spell level with good or knowledge spells; caster level 2nd). 0—detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic, purify food & drink; 1st—comprehend languages, erase, sanctuary*; *Domain spell. Deity: The Morninglord. Domains: Good (cast good spells at +1 caster level), Knowledge (cast knowledge spells at +1 caster level), Protection (protective ward 1/day).
Possessions: Several books at all times. Potion of cure moderate wounds (300gp), potion of remove paralysis (300gp), potion of eagle's splendor (300gp), scroll of silence (150gp), scroll of epiphany(VRA) (25gp) , scroll of protection from evil (25gp), scroll of status (150gp), strand of prayer beads [blessing 1/day] (600gp), monk’s outift (5gp), cerics vestments (5gp), cold weather outfit (8gp), travellers outift (2gp), backpack (2gp) 3 scroll cases (3gp), silver holy symbol (25gp), flask of holy water(25gp), 2 pearls (100gp each), 400gp worth of printed books (10gp x40), 50gp invested in furniture, chests & bookracks, inks & pens, paper, empty books, sealing wax, blankets, candles; 25gp cash.
Description: Theodoric is a member of a secluded order in the western forests of Barovia. His passion is the written word, and his gift is the ability to memorize passages, pages, even entire volumes, after reading them through just once. As a source of information he's unmatched, and sometimes as a nuisance as well.
Notes: Theodoric gains the following bonuses: +5 bonus on Will saves to resist memory alteration, +10 competence bonus to remember details of specific memories, +5 competence bonus on will save vs memory alteration, +4 competence bonus on search checks to find information in books, +2 competence bonus on two knowledge checks (history & ravenloft) if referenced from his personal library.
Advancement: Up to Scholar 5 then as a Cloistered Cleric again. (Later perhaps as Loremaster if he raises his Wis to 13 and meets the other requirements)
Sources: PHB (3E), Unearthed Arcana(3E), Heroes of Light (3E), Van Richten's Arsenal (3E), Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), and 1993 TSR Trading Card 101 of 495 (2E).
Theodoric the Book, male Human CloisteredCleric2/Scholar1; CR 3; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 3d6 +3; hp 13; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 11 (touch 11, flat-footed 10); Base Atk +0; Grp. +0; Atk. +0 melee (-1 on damage rolls), +2 ranged; SA Turn undead 2/day; SQ Aura of good, Innocent, Lore +6; Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL NG(LG); SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +4; Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 9
Skills: Concentration +6, Decipher Script +8, Diplomacy +1, Forgery +3, Gather Information -1 (+1 in Barovia), Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (architecture & engineering) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (local: Barovia) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Knowledge (the planes) (cc) +5.5, Profession (scholar) +3, Search +6, Speak Language (Balok, Dementlieuse, Mordentish +1 extra: Darkonese), Survival +0 (+2 to avoid natural hazards or getting lost, +2 abovegrounds, +2 underground);
Feats: Eidetic Memory, Knowledgeable (B), Literacy, Library.
Special Qualities: Innocent [+3 divine bonus vs. any spell or supernatural ability that requires a power check or is used by evil creature, -2 competence penalty on Horror checks and Sense Motive. Evil clerics can turn him]; turn undead as 2nd level cleric (+2 to turn checks) 2/day.
Cleric Spells Prepared (5/3; base DC = 10 + spell level; DC 11 + spell level with good or knowledge spells; caster level 2nd). 0—detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic, purify food & drink; 1st—comprehend languages, erase, sanctuary*; *Domain spell. Deity: The Morninglord. Domains: Good (cast good spells at +1 caster level), Knowledge (cast knowledge spells at +1 caster level), Protection (protective ward 1/day).
Possessions: Several books at all times. Potion of cure moderate wounds (300gp), potion of remove paralysis (300gp), potion of eagle's splendor (300gp), scroll of silence (150gp), scroll of epiphany(VRA) (25gp) , scroll of protection from evil (25gp), scroll of status (150gp), strand of prayer beads [blessing 1/day] (600gp), monk’s outift (5gp), cerics vestments (5gp), cold weather outfit (8gp), travellers outift (2gp), backpack (2gp) 3 scroll cases (3gp), silver holy symbol (25gp), flask of holy water(25gp), 2 pearls (100gp each), 400gp worth of printed books (10gp x40), 50gp invested in furniture, chests & bookracks, inks & pens, paper, empty books, sealing wax, blankets, candles; 25gp cash.
Description: Theodoric is a member of a secluded order in the western forests of Barovia. His passion is the written word, and his gift is the ability to memorize passages, pages, even entire volumes, after reading them through just once. As a source of information he's unmatched, and sometimes as a nuisance as well.
Notes: Theodoric gains the following bonuses: +5 bonus on Will saves to resist memory alteration, +10 competence bonus to remember details of specific memories, +5 competence bonus on will save vs memory alteration, +4 competence bonus on search checks to find information in books, +2 competence bonus on two knowledge checks (history & ravenloft) if referenced from his personal library.
Advancement: Up to Scholar 5 then as a Cloistered Cleric again. (Later perhaps as Loremaster if he raises his Wis to 13 and meets the other requirements)
Sources: PHB (3E), Unearthed Arcana(3E), Heroes of Light (3E), Van Richten's Arsenal (3E), Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), and 1993 TSR Trading Card 101 of 495 (2E).
Last edited by The Giamarga on Tue May 21, 2019 4:48 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2313
- Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm
- Location: wandering
Some resources for generic NPCs:
Here's the excellent Gypsy Swordmaster from the great d100 NPCs thread over on ENWorld.org. (Be sure to check out the whole thread ) This Gypsy Swordmaster is a human. If converting him to a Vistani, drop either Improved Trip or Improved Disarm and give him the Vistani traits.
Here's the excellent Gypsy Swordmaster from the great d100 NPCs thread over on ENWorld.org. (Be sure to check out the whole thread ) This Gypsy Swordmaster is a human. If converting him to a Vistani, drop either Improved Trip or Improved Disarm and give him the Vistani traits.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2313
- Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm
- Location: wandering
And my pet peeve: NPC classes.
IMO 1st level (N)PCs are children or adolescents. This is supported by the starting ages for PC classes. NPCs gain XP too! I think that the NPC classes were invented for exactly that. In 2E you had all those 0-lvl humans running around who would die if you so much as looked at them. 3e takes nice care of that. A commoner will advance to level 2 or 3 at least, perhaps level 6 when he dies of old age. Age modifiers will do their part to keep some of his abilities like hps and fighting ability stagnating (or even deteriorating) between levels 3 to 6 while his life experience increases his skills and abilities (feats). Check out the examples in the threads below. Level 1 commmoners have to be either very young or very inexperienced IMO.
See also SKR's Theory about peasants and the great Level advancement over a lifetime, and the Common Commoner discussions on ENWorld.
Here are some threads with interesting NPCs:
MavrickWeirdo's:
NPC Commoner over a lifetime
NPC guard over lifetime
Commoner 2: Elf Farmer, over a lifetime
NPC Expert Horseman over a lifetime
Commoner vs. Expert over a lifetime
Commoners 1: Runners
Ellie May, Farmer's daugher
Goblin-a-day
Blackdirge's:
The rise and fall of an Orc Chieftain (Orc warrior NPC throughout his life)
Myrgle, Adept of Yeenoghu (Gnoll NPC adept throughout his life and beyond)
Urg the Unlikely, Half-Ogre Wizard NPC throughout a lifetime.
Grummok Gargoyle Assassin throughout a lifetime
Nithrekel, Earth Mephit Fighter NPC through 50 years of servitude
Stats from Metamorphosis - From Dretch to Demon Lord.
Suped up Monsters
Turanil's
D100 NPC thread has lots of very interesting Everyday NPCs
, among them:
Very high level basic NPCs
Toothless Joe, high level commoner
... and many many others. Send him a mail or post in the thread to get the compiled document with all 100 NPCs.
Farmer Tobias, an Epic level Commoner
Check out the excellent Commoner Campaign: Meet Joe Wood thread on WotC boards (alt link) for an actual solo campaign log with a commoner PC. (including 3E statblocks)
IMO 1st level (N)PCs are children or adolescents. This is supported by the starting ages for PC classes. NPCs gain XP too! I think that the NPC classes were invented for exactly that. In 2E you had all those 0-lvl humans running around who would die if you so much as looked at them. 3e takes nice care of that. A commoner will advance to level 2 or 3 at least, perhaps level 6 when he dies of old age. Age modifiers will do their part to keep some of his abilities like hps and fighting ability stagnating (or even deteriorating) between levels 3 to 6 while his life experience increases his skills and abilities (feats). Check out the examples in the threads below. Level 1 commmoners have to be either very young or very inexperienced IMO.
See also SKR's Theory about peasants and the great Level advancement over a lifetime, and the Common Commoner discussions on ENWorld.
Here are some threads with interesting NPCs:
MavrickWeirdo's:
NPC Commoner over a lifetime
NPC guard over lifetime
Commoner 2: Elf Farmer, over a lifetime
NPC Expert Horseman over a lifetime
Commoner vs. Expert over a lifetime
Commoners 1: Runners
Ellie May, Farmer's daugher
Goblin-a-day
Blackdirge's:
The rise and fall of an Orc Chieftain (Orc warrior NPC throughout his life)
Myrgle, Adept of Yeenoghu (Gnoll NPC adept throughout his life and beyond)
Urg the Unlikely, Half-Ogre Wizard NPC throughout a lifetime.
Grummok Gargoyle Assassin throughout a lifetime
Nithrekel, Earth Mephit Fighter NPC through 50 years of servitude
Stats from Metamorphosis - From Dretch to Demon Lord.
Suped up Monsters
Turanil's
D100 NPC thread has lots of very interesting Everyday NPCs
, among them:
Very high level basic NPCs
Toothless Joe, high level commoner
... and many many others. Send him a mail or post in the thread to get the compiled document with all 100 NPCs.
Farmer Tobias, an Epic level Commoner
Check out the excellent Commoner Campaign: Meet Joe Wood thread on WotC boards (alt link) for an actual solo campaign log with a commoner PC. (including 3E statblocks)
Last edited by The Giamarga on Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:56 am, edited 6 times in total.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2313
- Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm
- Location: wandering
Here is the first of two versions of stats for Bluebeard.
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ebeard.jpg[/img]
Bluebeard, Darklord of Blaustein: Male Caliban Ari6; CR 6 or more; Medium Humanoid (Caliban); HD 6d8+6; hp 33; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13 (touch 13, flat-footed 10); Base Atk +4; Grp +9; Atk +9 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +12 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Full Atk +9 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +12 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4; Str 21, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +1, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Listen +3, Sense Motive +8; Power Attack, Improved Initiative, Death Blow.
Special Qualities: immune to energy drain (perhaps only vs. the spectres of his wifes?)
Spell-like abilities (as 6th level caster): At will charm person, discern lies (on anyone), modify memories (on the inhabitants of Blaustein only and only to make them forget). He can also send a dream 1/week with an implanted suggestion to a vain, greedy or foolish woman. Usually the suggestion is to seek him out and become his wife.
Possessions: +3 silver dagger, noble outfit, jewelry.
Description: Bluebeard's features are masculine, but not oversized and rough as in his former life. His beard is still blue, but it has become darker, attaining a shade of navy that some, unaccustomed to a man with a blue beard, might mistake for black. He is a man of heavy stature, pampered and fat. His feature are bulbous and dissipated and he has fleshy lips. Bluebeard is not discernable as a caliban anymore. The Dark Powers have granted him a much more human look, the beard remains the only unusual sign. (Outcast Rating: 1, the effects of his OR have not been included in the skills above)
Notes: Bluebeard relies on his devoted staff and the villagers in his domain for protection. By night the spectres of his wives can wander the castle freely, and try to shield him from harm. If forced to fight he will try to start a grapple and either pin and strangle the victim until unconcious or use his dagger while mainting the grapple. (Using a dagger while grappling incurs a -4 penalty) Bluebeard can also take a -4 penalty on his grapple check to deal lethal unarmed damage. Often his manservant will come to his help and assist in grappling/pinning a victim. Bluebeard is fond of brutal "poetic" torture (See Lord Henredon's story).
Sources: Darklords (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Complete Adventurer and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Death Blow
You waste no time in dealing with downed foes.
Prerequisites: Improved initiative, base attack bonus +2
Benefit: You can perform a coup de grace against a helpless defender as a standard action.
Here are my thoughts after rereading the short story "Sight & Sound" from the Tales of Ravenloft anthology.
Bluebeard is described as a brutal bully in there. He may be a coward inside but he also knows how to fight and enjoys torture. He is called an ill-bred monster, though his manners surprise the narrator. I think this does allow for a few Thug levels.
So here's an Ari/Thug version of Bluebeard:
Bluebeard, Darklord of Blaustein: Male Caliban Ari2/Thug4; CR 6 or more; Medium Humanoid (Caliban); HD 3d8+3d10+6; hp 36; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (touch 13, flat-footed 11); Base Atk +5; Grp +10; Atk +10 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +13 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Full Atk +10 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +13 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +3; Str 21, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +1, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Listen +3, Sense Motive +8; Death Blow, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack.
Special Qualities: immune to energy drain (perhaps only vs. the spectres of his wifes?)
Spell-like abilities (as 6th level caster): At will charm person, discern lies (on anyone), modify memories (on the inhabitants of Blaustein only and only to make them forget). He can also send a dream 1/week with an implanted suggestion to a vain, greedy or foolish woman. Usually the suggestion is to seek him out and become his wife.
Possessions: +3 silver dagger, padded armour, noble outfit, jewelry.
Description: Bluebeard's features are masculine, but not oversized and rough as in his former life. His beard is still blue, but it has become darker, attaining a shade of navy that some, unaccustomed to a man with a blue beard, might mistake for black. He is a man of heavy stature, pampered and fat. His feature are bulbous and dissipated and he has fleshy lips. Bluebeard is not discernable as a caliban anymore. The Dark Powers have granted him a much more human look, the beard remains the only unusual sign.
(Outcast Rating: 1, the effects of his OR have not been included in the skills)
Notes: Bluebeard relies on his devoted staff and the villagers in his domain for protection. By night the spectres of his wives can wander the castle freely, and try to shield him from harm. If forced to fight he will try to start a grapple and either pin and strangle the victim until unconcious or use his dagger while mainting the grapple. (Using a dagger while grappling incurs a -4 penalty) Bluebeard can also take a -4 penalty on his grapple check to deal lethal unarmed damage. Often his manservant will come to his help and assist in grappling/pinning a victim. Bluebeard is fond of brutal "poetic" torture (See Lord Henredon's story).
Sources: Darklords (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Complete Adventurer, Tales of Ravenloft (novel) and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Death Blow
You waste no time in dealing with downed foes.
Prerequisites: Improved initiative, base attack bonus +2
Benefit: You can perform a coup de grace against a helpless defender as a standard action.
As there is mention of his devoted staff in Darklords, I decided to give him a virtual Leadership feat. Here are the results.
Virtual Leadership score:
-Cohort: 6-1+4-1-2: 4th
-Followers:6-1+4+2: 6 x 1st level.
The Manservant (cohort)
male humanoid (human) Exp4
HD: 4d6-4 (10hp); AC 10 (touch 10, flatfooted 10); Base Atk +3; Grp +3; AL: LE; SV: Fort +0, Ref +1, Wil +5; Str 10 Dex 10 Con 8 Int 11 Wis 12 Cha 13
Skills & Feats: Diplomacy+10, Gather Info +6, Hide +5, Intimidate +4, Knowledge(local) +5, Listen +4, Move Silently +5, Profession(butler) +8, Sense Motive +6, Spot +4; Cold One, Jaded, Stealthy.
Spell-like abilities: 1/day cause fear
Possessions: Black suit.
Notes: The manservant once encountered one of Bluebeard's wifes and was drained. Since then he is cold and clammy to the touch and the spectres often completely ignore him. He also failed one power check and can cause fear by gaze. When using this power his eyes turn yellow with hatred. Though he serves Bluebeard faithfully he hates those who are better than himself.
Followers: 6 1st level commoners, experts and warriors (the devoted staff: servants, maids, cooks, stable hands, guards etc.)
Feats: most often Skill Focus(profession) or Alertness for guards.
Alignment: mostly LN
Bluebeard's Wifes
Spectres (11+ in Darklords)
Salient Abilities: Undying, Haunting Lament (from VRGttWD)
From the short story "Sight and Sound" in the Tales of Ravenloft Anthology, here are two NPCs who were prisoners in Castle Blaustein and perhaps have escaped the clutches of Bluebeard, but not after being horribly mutliated:
Lord Henredon, the Mute Scholar
Male Humanoid (Human) Ari3/Scholar2; HD 3d8+2d6 (20 hp); AC 11 (touch 11, flat footed 10); Base Atk +3; Grp +3; AL: LG; SV: Fort +1, Ref +2, Wil+8; Str: 8, Dex: 12, Con: 10, Int: 15, Wis: 14, Cha: 13.
Skills: 56 Appraise +2, Bluff+3, Decipher Script+4, Diplomacy+10, Gather Information +4, Handle Animal +2, Knowledge(arcana)+4, Knowledge(geopraphy)+6, Knowledge(history) +7, Knowledge(local) +7, Knowledge(lore skills)+7, Knowledge(nature) +4, Knowledge(religion)+5, Knowledge(nobility & royalty)+7, Listen+3, Profession[scholar]+7, Ride+3, Search+4, Sense Motive+7, Speak Language(1 additional point: Darkonese, Lamordian, Mordentish, Vaasi), Spot+3;
Feats: Courage, Iron Will, Knowledgable(B), Open Mind.
Class features: Labyrinth of Knowledge
Special Qualities: Mute (Bluebeard ripped out his tongue), suffers from a nightmares madness effect (for the next 2 weeks) due to seeing his mutilated sister and realizing Bluebeards sinister scheme.
Lovely Lorel, the Blind Maiden (Lord Henredon's sister)
Female Humanoid (Human) Ari2/Ex-True Innocent3; HD 2d8+3d6 (19hp); Base Atk +2; Grp +1; AL: LG; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Wil +3; Str: 8, Dex: 10, Con: 11, Int: 12, Wis: 9, Cha: 14;
Skills: Appraise +4, Climb+2, Diplomacy+9, Gather Information +4, Handle Animal+4, Knowledge(local) +6, Knowledge(royalty & nobility)+2, Listen+1, Perform(dance) +3, Perform(keyboard instruments) +3, Ride +4, Sense Motive +4, Spot +2, Swim +1.
Feats: Blessed, Hope, Sanctity.
Special Qualities: Blind (Bluebeard gouged out her eyes), suffers from a revulsion horror effect (the trigger is Bluebeard).
[She lost: Simple Faith, Inspire Courage, Protection from Evil, Divine Grace]
Notes: She lost her Innocence due to the Horror effect.
As an option you could have Lord Henredon and Lovely Lorel both dead and turned into ghosts.
Lord Henredon's Story
<TODO: Summarize Sight & Sound short story to illustrate Bluebeards twisted way of poetic justice/torture. In short when the young scholar comes to free his sister Bluebeard offers to bring let him return with her IF she can be persuaded to leave. As payment for this the scholar shall loose his tongue. He surprises the young scholar with his fast and strong grip and then proceeds to tear out the poor man's tongue. When Lord Henredon later finds his sister he sees that Bluebeard has gouged out her eyes. As she can't see him, she's terrified of him, thinking Bluebeard has returned. And as he can't talk he can't explain himself to her. >
Edit: Added Henredon's madness. Also note that Lorel can either be blessed and have those feats or be innocent and retain the True Innocent PrC. I havn't come up with a solution to that yet...
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ebeard.jpg[/img]
Bluebeard, Darklord of Blaustein: Male Caliban Ari6; CR 6 or more; Medium Humanoid (Caliban); HD 6d8+6; hp 33; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13 (touch 13, flat-footed 10); Base Atk +4; Grp +9; Atk +9 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +12 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Full Atk +9 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +12 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4; Str 21, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +1, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Listen +3, Sense Motive +8; Power Attack, Improved Initiative, Death Blow.
Special Qualities: immune to energy drain (perhaps only vs. the spectres of his wifes?)
Spell-like abilities (as 6th level caster): At will charm person, discern lies (on anyone), modify memories (on the inhabitants of Blaustein only and only to make them forget). He can also send a dream 1/week with an implanted suggestion to a vain, greedy or foolish woman. Usually the suggestion is to seek him out and become his wife.
Possessions: +3 silver dagger, noble outfit, jewelry.
Description: Bluebeard's features are masculine, but not oversized and rough as in his former life. His beard is still blue, but it has become darker, attaining a shade of navy that some, unaccustomed to a man with a blue beard, might mistake for black. He is a man of heavy stature, pampered and fat. His feature are bulbous and dissipated and he has fleshy lips. Bluebeard is not discernable as a caliban anymore. The Dark Powers have granted him a much more human look, the beard remains the only unusual sign. (Outcast Rating: 1, the effects of his OR have not been included in the skills above)
Notes: Bluebeard relies on his devoted staff and the villagers in his domain for protection. By night the spectres of his wives can wander the castle freely, and try to shield him from harm. If forced to fight he will try to start a grapple and either pin and strangle the victim until unconcious or use his dagger while mainting the grapple. (Using a dagger while grappling incurs a -4 penalty) Bluebeard can also take a -4 penalty on his grapple check to deal lethal unarmed damage. Often his manservant will come to his help and assist in grappling/pinning a victim. Bluebeard is fond of brutal "poetic" torture (See Lord Henredon's story).
Sources: Darklords (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Complete Adventurer and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Death Blow
You waste no time in dealing with downed foes.
Prerequisites: Improved initiative, base attack bonus +2
Benefit: You can perform a coup de grace against a helpless defender as a standard action.
Here are my thoughts after rereading the short story "Sight & Sound" from the Tales of Ravenloft anthology.
Bluebeard is described as a brutal bully in there. He may be a coward inside but he also knows how to fight and enjoys torture. He is called an ill-bred monster, though his manners surprise the narrator. I think this does allow for a few Thug levels.
So here's an Ari/Thug version of Bluebeard:
Bluebeard, Darklord of Blaustein: Male Caliban Ari2/Thug4; CR 6 or more; Medium Humanoid (Caliban); HD 3d8+3d10+6; hp 36; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (touch 13, flat-footed 11); Base Atk +5; Grp +10; Atk +10 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +13 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Full Atk +10 melee (touch attack to initiate grapple) (no damage or 1d3+5 nonlethal) or +13 melee (1d4+8, +3 silver dagger); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +3; Str 21, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +1, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Listen +3, Sense Motive +8; Death Blow, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack.
Special Qualities: immune to energy drain (perhaps only vs. the spectres of his wifes?)
Spell-like abilities (as 6th level caster): At will charm person, discern lies (on anyone), modify memories (on the inhabitants of Blaustein only and only to make them forget). He can also send a dream 1/week with an implanted suggestion to a vain, greedy or foolish woman. Usually the suggestion is to seek him out and become his wife.
Possessions: +3 silver dagger, padded armour, noble outfit, jewelry.
Description: Bluebeard's features are masculine, but not oversized and rough as in his former life. His beard is still blue, but it has become darker, attaining a shade of navy that some, unaccustomed to a man with a blue beard, might mistake for black. He is a man of heavy stature, pampered and fat. His feature are bulbous and dissipated and he has fleshy lips. Bluebeard is not discernable as a caliban anymore. The Dark Powers have granted him a much more human look, the beard remains the only unusual sign.
(Outcast Rating: 1, the effects of his OR have not been included in the skills)
Notes: Bluebeard relies on his devoted staff and the villagers in his domain for protection. By night the spectres of his wives can wander the castle freely, and try to shield him from harm. If forced to fight he will try to start a grapple and either pin and strangle the victim until unconcious or use his dagger while mainting the grapple. (Using a dagger while grappling incurs a -4 penalty) Bluebeard can also take a -4 penalty on his grapple check to deal lethal unarmed damage. Often his manservant will come to his help and assist in grappling/pinning a victim. Bluebeard is fond of brutal "poetic" torture (See Lord Henredon's story).
Sources: Darklords (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Complete Adventurer, Tales of Ravenloft (novel) and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Death Blow
You waste no time in dealing with downed foes.
Prerequisites: Improved initiative, base attack bonus +2
Benefit: You can perform a coup de grace against a helpless defender as a standard action.
As there is mention of his devoted staff in Darklords, I decided to give him a virtual Leadership feat. Here are the results.
Virtual Leadership score:
-Cohort: 6-1+4-1-2: 4th
-Followers:6-1+4+2: 6 x 1st level.
The Manservant (cohort)
male humanoid (human) Exp4
HD: 4d6-4 (10hp); AC 10 (touch 10, flatfooted 10); Base Atk +3; Grp +3; AL: LE; SV: Fort +0, Ref +1, Wil +5; Str 10 Dex 10 Con 8 Int 11 Wis 12 Cha 13
Skills & Feats: Diplomacy+10, Gather Info +6, Hide +5, Intimidate +4, Knowledge(local) +5, Listen +4, Move Silently +5, Profession(butler) +8, Sense Motive +6, Spot +4; Cold One, Jaded, Stealthy.
Spell-like abilities: 1/day cause fear
Possessions: Black suit.
Notes: The manservant once encountered one of Bluebeard's wifes and was drained. Since then he is cold and clammy to the touch and the spectres often completely ignore him. He also failed one power check and can cause fear by gaze. When using this power his eyes turn yellow with hatred. Though he serves Bluebeard faithfully he hates those who are better than himself.
Followers: 6 1st level commoners, experts and warriors (the devoted staff: servants, maids, cooks, stable hands, guards etc.)
Feats: most often Skill Focus(profession) or Alertness for guards.
Alignment: mostly LN
Bluebeard's Wifes
Spectres (11+ in Darklords)
Salient Abilities: Undying, Haunting Lament (from VRGttWD)
From the short story "Sight and Sound" in the Tales of Ravenloft Anthology, here are two NPCs who were prisoners in Castle Blaustein and perhaps have escaped the clutches of Bluebeard, but not after being horribly mutliated:
Lord Henredon, the Mute Scholar
Male Humanoid (Human) Ari3/Scholar2; HD 3d8+2d6 (20 hp); AC 11 (touch 11, flat footed 10); Base Atk +3; Grp +3; AL: LG; SV: Fort +1, Ref +2, Wil+8; Str: 8, Dex: 12, Con: 10, Int: 15, Wis: 14, Cha: 13.
Skills: 56 Appraise +2, Bluff+3, Decipher Script+4, Diplomacy+10, Gather Information +4, Handle Animal +2, Knowledge(arcana)+4, Knowledge(geopraphy)+6, Knowledge(history) +7, Knowledge(local) +7, Knowledge(lore skills)+7, Knowledge(nature) +4, Knowledge(religion)+5, Knowledge(nobility & royalty)+7, Listen+3, Profession[scholar]+7, Ride+3, Search+4, Sense Motive+7, Speak Language(1 additional point: Darkonese, Lamordian, Mordentish, Vaasi), Spot+3;
Feats: Courage, Iron Will, Knowledgable(B), Open Mind.
Class features: Labyrinth of Knowledge
Special Qualities: Mute (Bluebeard ripped out his tongue), suffers from a nightmares madness effect (for the next 2 weeks) due to seeing his mutilated sister and realizing Bluebeards sinister scheme.
Lovely Lorel, the Blind Maiden (Lord Henredon's sister)
Female Humanoid (Human) Ari2/Ex-True Innocent3; HD 2d8+3d6 (19hp); Base Atk +2; Grp +1; AL: LG; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Wil +3; Str: 8, Dex: 10, Con: 11, Int: 12, Wis: 9, Cha: 14;
Skills: Appraise +4, Climb+2, Diplomacy+9, Gather Information +4, Handle Animal+4, Knowledge(local) +6, Knowledge(royalty & nobility)+2, Listen+1, Perform(dance) +3, Perform(keyboard instruments) +3, Ride +4, Sense Motive +4, Spot +2, Swim +1.
Feats: Blessed, Hope, Sanctity.
Special Qualities: Blind (Bluebeard gouged out her eyes), suffers from a revulsion horror effect (the trigger is Bluebeard).
[She lost: Simple Faith, Inspire Courage, Protection from Evil, Divine Grace]
Notes: She lost her Innocence due to the Horror effect.
As an option you could have Lord Henredon and Lovely Lorel both dead and turned into ghosts.
Lord Henredon's Story
<TODO: Summarize Sight & Sound short story to illustrate Bluebeards twisted way of poetic justice/torture. In short when the young scholar comes to free his sister Bluebeard offers to bring let him return with her IF she can be persuaded to leave. As payment for this the scholar shall loose his tongue. He surprises the young scholar with his fast and strong grip and then proceeds to tear out the poor man's tongue. When Lord Henredon later finds his sister he sees that Bluebeard has gouged out her eyes. As she can't see him, she's terrified of him, thinking Bluebeard has returned. And as he can't talk he can't explain himself to her. >
Edit: Added Henredon's madness. Also note that Lorel can either be blessed and have those feats or be innocent and retain the True Innocent PrC. I havn't come up with a solution to that yet...
Last edited by The Giamarga on Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:36 pm, edited 10 times in total.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2313
- Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm
- Location: wandering
Verstecktministerium translates to Hide-ministry or Hiddenministry and sounds very corny. Plus "versteckt" is not the right grammatical form, it should be Verstecktes Ministerium (hidden ministry).HuManBing wrote:Yuri Mitrovic, the head of the Verstecktministerium (Covert Ministry)
I suggest:
Geheimministerium (secret ministry)
Ministerium für Verdeckte Operationen (ministry for covert operations)
Spionageministerium (espionage ministry)
Nachrichtendienst (intelligence service)
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DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
In Gaz 2, it's just called the Ministry of Intelligence.
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home