Dr. Frantisek Markov

Frantisek Markov was born to Barovian farmers. As he grew up he assumed responsibility for slaughtering the family's pigs, thoroughly enjoying the work. He became a butcher which led him to lengthy reflections on the anatomy and functioning of the living body. Hideous vivisections on animals soon followed. He wife discoved these, was horrified, and threatened to both leave him and expose him. Before either could happen she became his next experimental subject, dying three torturous days later. Impudently, he did not ultimately butcher her for meat as he had done with his previous experimental subjects and her extraordinary managled corpse was soon discovered lying out side of town. Her fate was quickly connected to him and he was driven into the Misty Border, only to welcomed with the darklordship of freshly minted Markovia, where his work could resume and gather pace. But of course he was not only rewarded, but also punished.

Dr. Frantisek Markov can transform into any animal shape he chooses (although his face remains the same), but he can never assume human form, only those of beasts. Normally, he stays in the shape of a gorilla.

His residence is known as the House of Diosamblet.

Errata

• Pg. 40 To be coherent with the description of Markov, Markov's bite attack should be stricken from the stat block (Errata)
• Pg. 41 In Frantisek Markov's stats, it is written: "He is a talented painter..." Yet in his stats, he doesn't have such skills. That does appear to be a slight oversight. Azalin suggested a quick fix: take 1 rank from his Sense Motive skill and 1 rank from his Wilderness Lore skill, and give him 2 ranks in Perform (painting). That all works out as Perform +1, Sense Motive +9, Wilderness Lore +9. (precision given by Azalin)

Statistics

Male Unique Shapechanger Expert 7, Lawful Evil, CR 10

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Secrets of the Dread Realms Domains of Dread Neither Man Nor Beast
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - p41 Domains of Dread - p76 Neither Man Nor Beast -p27, 34, 36, 42 Realm of Terror - p104
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp40-41 Domains of Dread - p76 Neither Man Nor Beast - p26-27 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p73 Realm of Terror - pp103-104
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,40-41 Domains of Dread - p76 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp23-24,73-74 Realm of Terror - pp103-104 Neither Man Nor Beast Various
		Diosamblet Dr. Fran The Master of Pain