George Weathermay: Male Human Rgr6/Ftr6; CR 12; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 6d8+6 plus 6d10+6; hp 81; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (touch 13, flat-footed 11); Base Atk +12; Grp +15; Atk +18 melee (1d8+5/19-20, Gossamer) or +16 melee (1d6+3/19-20, masterwork short sword) or +16 melee (1d4+2/19-20, masterwork alchemical silver dagger); Full Atk +16/+11/+6 melee (1d8+5/19-20, Gossamer) and +14/+9 melee (1d6+1/19-20, masterwork short sword) or +16/+11/+6 melee (1d4+2/19-20, masterwork alchemical silver dagger); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Favored enemy (humanoid [shapechanger], undead); SQ Wild empathy +7, animal companion (Shadowchaser); AL N; SV Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +10; Str 17, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 9
Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Concentration +6, Handle Animal +4, Heal +9, Hide +11, Intimidate +5, Jump +10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7, Knowledge (geography) +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +11, Move Silently +11, Ride (horse) +12, Search +7, Speak Language (mordentish, falkovnian, vaasi), Spot +11, Survival +12 (+14 to underground, avoid getting lost, aboveground, and follow tracks), Swim +10; Alertness, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Endurance{B}, Improved Iniative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting{B}, Mobility, Mounted Combat, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Track{B}, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting{B}, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Special Qualities: Wild empathy +7, favored enemy (humanoid [shapechanger] +4, undead +2), animal companion (Shadowchaser [heavy warhorse]).
Ranger Spells Prepared (2; base DC = 14 + spell level; caster level 3rd): 1st-longstrider, speak with animals.
Possessions: Gossamer (+2 ghost touch longsword), masterwork short sword, 2 masterwork alchemical silver daggers, cloak of resistance +2, silver holy symbol (Ezra), flask of holy water. 2 hunting hounds (Artemis and Cerberus).
Height: Unknown, Weight: Unknown, Hair: Dark brown streaked with gray, Eyes: Dark
Note: George Weathermay has the penalties and benefits associated with middle age.
Sources: Champions of the Mist (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Larissa Snowmane: Female Human Drd6; CR 6; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 5d8+10; hp 38; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (touch 14, flat-footed 10); Base Atk +4; Grp +5; Atk +6 melee (1d3+1 plus poison; +1 viper whip); Full Atk +6 melee (1d3+1 plus poison; +1 viper whip); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SQ Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, Ravenloft substitution level (5th-level druid); AL NG; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +9; Str 12, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 18
Skills and Feats: Concentration +8 (+12 when casting defensively), Diplomacy +9, Heal +9, Knowledge (nature) +13, Listen +6, Perform (dance) +12, Speak Language (souragnien, sylvan), Spellcraft +7, Spot +6, Survival +12 (+14 abovground), Swim +7; Combat Casting, Endurance, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip), Skill Focus (Perform [dance])
Special Qualities: Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy +10, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, Ravenloft substitution level (5th-level druid).
Druid Spells Prepared (5/4/4/3; base DC = 14 + spell level; caster level 5th): 0-detect magic, guidance, mending, purify food and drink, read magic; 1st-cure light wounds, faerie fire, obscuring mist, produce flame; 2nd-cat’s grace, fire trap, heat metal, wood shape; 3rd-cure moderate wounds, quench.
Possessions: +1 viper whip, eye of invisibility, the River Dancer paddleboat.
Height: Unknown, Weight: Unknown, Hair: Pale white, Eyes: Ice-blue
Sources: Champions of the Mist (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Planar Handbook (3.5E), Serpent Kingdoms (3.5E), and Arms and Equipment Guide (3E).
Eye of Invisibility: This silver, emerald and jet pendant that looks very much like an eye provides the user invisibility so long as the eye is enclosed in the user’s fist.
Faint illusion; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, invisibility; Price 20,000 gp
The River Dancer: Paddleboat; Colossal vehicle; Profession (sailor) +0; Spd paddle 15 ft. (nautical average); Overall AC –3; Section hp 50 (hardness 5); Section AC 3; Ram -; Face 200 ft. by 50 ft.; Height 10 ft. (draft 10 ft.); Crew 15; Cargo 100 tons (paddle 10 ft. if 50 tons or more); Cost 75,000 gp
Equipment: Launch vehicle, masterwork controls, 10 passenger spaces, 5 fancy passenger spaces, 5 luxury passenger spaces. All four decks function under the effects of chamber of comfort wondrous architecture (see Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook for chamber of comfort and wondrous architecture).
Druid
The forces of nature in the Lands of Mists seem to be out of balance, tainted, or consumed by evil. Some of the druids are able to tap into such corruption to increase their power or somehow attempt to take that power into themselves to remove it from the lands. Each land provides different power and abilities to druids who tie themselves to it. Below is an example from such a druid who has received training in the lands of Souragne.
Requirements
To take a druid Ravenloft substitution level, a character must be about to take his 5th level of druid.
Class Skills
Druid Ravenloft substitution levels have the class skills of the standard druid class plus Knowledge (geography) (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4+Int modifier
Class Features
All of the following are features of the druid’s Ravenloft substitution levels.
Dance of the Dead (Su): At 5th-level druid who selects this Ravenloft substitution benefit has been trained by Anton Misroi, Lord of the Dead in blood and bone magic, and gains the ability to halt or even command undead once a day. A druid must perform the Dance of the Dead which requires a Perform (dance) check. This is a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The Dance can be maintained a number of rounds equal to the druid’s Constitution score. After that period of time, the druid must make a DC 10 Consitution check every round to continue dancing. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If the druid fails the Constitution check, the Dance stops and the druid is fatigued. The Endurance feat can be used to help in the Constitution check.
The Perform (dance) check sets the Will save DC number that undead must make or else be affected as if by a halt undead spell as long as the dance is maintained. An unaffected undead must make a saving throw each round it remains in the area of effect. This affects any undead within 30 ft. of the dancer. Conversely any living humanoid who watches the Dance of the Dead within the area must make the same Will save or die and then be animated as a zombie under the control of the dancer. This effect is a necromantic, death attack. A living humanoid can avert his gaze and only has 50% chance of needing to make a saving throw. The dancer can never control more than ½ his druid class level in HD worth of undead. The druid also gains Perform (dance) as a class skill.
This benefit replaces the wild shape class feature gained by a standard druid at 5th-level. In fact the druid no longer gains the ability to wild shape but his Dance of the Dead ability does increase with his levels. Each time he would gain another use of his wild shape, it instead increases the number of times he can use his Dance of the Dead ability (ie Dance of the Dead 2/day at 6th-level, 3/day at 7th-level, etc.). At 8th-level, when a druid normally gets to wild shape (Large), he instead can perform a Dance of the Dead as a standard action. At 11th-level, he no longers draws attacks of opportunity when performing the Dance of the Dead, this replaces the wild shape (Tiny) ability. At 12th-level, once per round, the druid can command undead as the spell to any undead who was affected by the Dance of the Dead. The undead makes a new saving throw at the same DC as the Perform (dance) check to determine whether it follows the commands. This replaces the wild shape (plant) ability. At 15th-level, the druid is no longer fatigued after the Dance of the Dead, this replaces the wild shape (Huge) ability. The druid still gains the ability to wild shape (elemental, 1/day) at 16th, 18th, and 20th-levels.
Bonespur: Male Half-Vistani Human Rog4/Rgr3/Bloodhound 10; CR 17; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 4d6+4 plus 3d8+3 plus 10d10+10; hp 102; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 18 (touch 14, flat-footed 14); Base Atk +16; Grp +20; Atk +24 melee (1d4+8/19-20, Shaper); Full Atk +24/+19/+14/+9 melee (1d4+8/19-20, Shaper); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Sneak attack +2d6, favored enemy (humanoid [human]); SQ Half-Vistani traits, trapfinding, evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge, wild empathy +1, determination +10, mark (up to 5), no subdual penalty, dead or alive, fast tracking, ready and waiting, pacekeeping, restlessness, improved subdual +1, move like the wind, trackless track, shatter, ignore scrying (SR 20 vs. divination spells), locate creature 1/day, fracture, see invisibility (constant), subdual resistance, ignore magical barriers (SR 25 vs. magical barriers), find the path 3/day; AL NE; SV Fort +8, Ref +18, Will +5; Str 19, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 7
Skills and Feats: Bluff +6, Climb +10, Disable Device +6, Disguise +3 (+5 acting), Gather Information +15, Hide +13, Intimidate +8, Jump +12, Knowledge (local) +6, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +6, Knowledge (geography) +6, Listen +5, Move Silently +13, Open Lock +11, Ride (horse) +9, Search +9, Sense Motive +10, Sleight of Hand +10, Speak Language (balok, patterna), Spot +5, Survival +17 (+19 underground, avoid getting lost and follow tracks), Swim +9, Tumble +10; Dodge, Endurance{B}, Mobility, Run, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Track{B}, Two-Weapon Fighting{B}, Urban Tracking
Special Qualities: Half-Vistani traits: +2 racial bonus to Survival checks; moon madness; Corvara tribal heritage (+2 racial bonus on Open Lock and Sense Motive checks). Sneak attack +2d6, trapfinding, evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge. Wild empathy +1, favored enemy (humanoid [human] +2). Determination +10, mark (up to 5), no subdual penalty, dead or alive, fast tracking, ready and waiting, pacekeeping, restlessness, improved subdual +1, move like the wind, trackless track, shatter, ignore scrying (SR 20 vs. divination spells), locate creature 1/day, fracture, see invisibility (constant), subdual resistance, ignore magical barriers (SR 25 vs. magical barriers), find the path 3/day.
Possessions: Mastework chain shirt, Shaper, ring of spell turning.
Height: 6’4”, Weight: Unknown, Hair: None, Eyes: Grey
Note: Bonespur is the recipient of a Craft Contingent Spell x2. If he is ever reduced to 0 or less hit points he is automatically subject to a greater teleport spell which transports him to a safe place and a limited wish spell that heals 4d8+15 points of his damage.
Sources: Thoughts of Darkness (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Masters of the Wild (3E), Expanded Psionics Handbook (3.5E), Underdark (3.5E), Complete Arcane (3.5E), and Eberron Campaign Setting (3.5E).
Shaper: +4 morphing dagger; AL CN; Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 10; Empathy, 60 ft. vision and hearing; Ego Score 9.
Lesser Powers: 10 ranks in Listen (total modifier +11) and Spot (total modifier +11)
Strong metacreativity; CL 15th; Craft Psionic Arms and Armor, matter manipulation; Price 62,302 gp
Who he is and what would he do at Arbora in Novaa Vaasa at such distance of mordent??
He is pretty much one of the great heros of the land, he is to the common man what VanRichten is to scholars. And currently he is hunting and destroying evil, particularly a cunning and evil werewolf.
Could someone say to me who is geaorge Weathermay? Im currently running a game that revolve around Arbora. In the note about Arbora, we see that he is a ranger9/Avr4 (what is an AVR?).
Who he is and what would he do at Arbora in Novaa Vaasa at such distance of mordent??
AVR would be the Avenger PrC. He's fully statted out in van Richten's Arsenal. He currently lives (in a manner of speaking - he doesn't spend much time there) in Nova Vaasa because it is so far from Mordent and his nieces, the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins. There's a pretty neat framing fiction in the Book of Sorrows regarding this, but you should really get VRA if you want to use George in your game.
Edit: It seems the Jester beat me to it.
Just wanted to say that I was very impressed with the characters that have been posted here by Green Giant, great stuff and well done!
Ray is a Rog5/Detective5 right? Are there anywhere any stats on Segdwick? Is he a dwarf?
And yes Van Richten is in QtR2, he's an Exp5/Rog5/Scholar5 at the end of his career..
Malbus: Male Warmonger Genie Marshal 7; CR 12(?); Medium Outsider (Extraplanar); HD 14d8+42; hp 108; Init +6; Spd 20 ft.; AC 23 (touch 12, flat-footed 21); Base Atk +12; Grp +16; Atk +18 melee (1d6+6/15-20, +2 keen scimitar); Full Atk +18/+13/+8 melee (1d6+6/15-20, +2 keen scimitar); Face/Reach 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Spell-like abilities; SQ Commanding aura, darkvision 60 ft., outsider traits, plane shift, telepathy 100 ft., minor aura +5, major aura +2; AL LE; SV Fort +13, Ref +9, Will +12; Str 19, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 21
Skills and Feats: Bluff +18, Concentration +10, Craft (armorsmithing) +7, Craft (weaponsmithing) +7, Diplomacy +22, Disguise +10 (+12 acting), Handle Animal +10, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +12, Knowledge (history) +12, Listen +10, Perform (oratory) +15, Ride (horse) +14, Sense Motive +15, Speak Language (common, infernal, ignan, terran), Spellcraft +9, Spot +10; Combat Reflexes, Daunting Presence, Dodge, Expert Tactician, Improved Iniative{B}, Mobility, Skill Focus (Diplomacy){B}
Special Qualities: Commanding aura (allies within 30 ft. gain +5 morale bonus to saves vs. charm and fear effects, +5d10 temporary hit points, and +5 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls), darkvision 60 ft., outsider traits, plane shift, telepathy 100 ft. Minor aura +5 (demand fortitude, force of will, over the top, watchful eye), major aura +2 (hardy soldiers, motivate urgency), grant move action 1/day.
Spell-like abilities: At will-fear (DC 19), remove fear; 2/day-invisibility purge, magic weapon, suggestion (DC 18). Caster level 14th.
Possessions: +2 lamellar, +2 keen scimitar, cloak of charisma +2, potion of cure moderate wounds x2.
Height: 5’, Weight: 200 lbs., Hair: Unknown, Eyes: Unknown
Note: The warmonger genie can be found here.
Sources: Tales of Ravenloft novel, Al-Qadim Monstrous Compendium (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Miniature’s Handbook (3.5E), Complete Adventurer (3.5E), and Complete Warrior (3.5E).
Senmet: Male Human Greater Mummy [Ancient Dead Rank 4] Clr20 of Set; CR 24; Medium Undead; HD 20d12 plus 3; hp 138; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 22 (touch 10, flat-footed 22); Base Atk +15; Grp +23; Atk +23 melee (1d6+8 plus mummy rot, slam); Full Atk +23 melee (1d6+8 plus mummy rot, slam); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Despair, improved grab, mummy rot, rebuke undead 10/day; SQ Aura of evil, DR 15/-, fire vulnerability, greater mummy immunities, immune to electricity and sonic, rejuvenation, resistance to positive energy 20, salient powers, turn resistance +6, undead traits; AL LE; SV Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +24; Str 26, Dex 11, Con -, Int 22, Wis 34, Cha 24
Skills and Feats: Concentration +30 (+34 when casting defensively), Craft (alchemy) +16, Diplomacy +25, Heal +28, Hide +8, Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (history-Har’Akir) +16, Knowledge (religion) +29, Knowledge (the planes) +16, Listen +22, Move Silently +8, Search +14, Sense Motive +25, Speak Language (akiri, aquan, auran, celestial, ignan, infernal, terran), Spellcraft +31, Spot +22; Alertness{B}, Combat Casting, Corrupt Spell, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Power Attack, Profane Boost, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (necromancy), Toughness{B}
Special Qualities: Despair (DC 27), greater mummy immunities (immunity to cold, polymorph [though he can use polymorph effects on himself], and mind-affecting attacks), mummy rot (DC 24), salient powers x3 (animal command [snakes], command undead, mummify). Aura of evil (aura equals cleric level), rebuke undead as 24th level cleric (+2 to rebuke checks) 10/day.
Cleric Spells Prepared (6/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/7+1/6+1/6+1/6+1/5+1; base DC = 22 + spell level; DC 23 + spell level with necromancy spells; caster level 20th).
*Domain spell. Deity: Set. Domains: Death (1/day, melee touch attack kills living creature if 20d6 roll equals or exceeds its current hit points), Evil (cast evil spells at +1 caster level).
Possessions: Unholy symbol.
Height: 6’3”, Weight: Unknown, Hair: None, Eyes: Unknown.
Note: Senmet has the benefits of being venerable age.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), Touch of Death (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Deities and Demigods (3E), and Complete Divine (3.5E).
Are there anywhere any stats on Segdwick? Is he a dwarf?
Arthur Sedgewick is evidently human, as his occasional comments about his associate's brushes with racial (anti-elf) prejudice never hint that Arthur is, himself, a target of discrimination. Arthur Sedgewick is most likely an expert, with skills appropriate to a practicing physician; depending on how closely his background parallels Dr. Watson's, he might have picked up a level or two of warrior back in his military days.
Too bad he isn't a dwarf. But perhaps that would have been too cheesy. :-)
If it's okay to post these from Ravenloft publications, would you mind posting Strahd's stats?
Inajira: Male Arcanaloth; CR 17; Medium Outsider (Evil); HD 12d8; hp 54; Init +7; Spd 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (poor).; AC 28 (touch 13, flat-footed 25); Base Atk +12; Grp +12; Atk +12 melee (1d4 plus poison, claw); Full Atk +12 melee (1d4 plus poison, 2 claws) and +7 melee (1d6, bite); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Poison, spell-like abilities, spells; SQ DR 15/good, darkvision 60 ft., outsider traits, partial immunity to spells, SR 24, yugoloth traits; AL NE; SV Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +14; Str 11, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 17
Skills and Feats: Bluff +18, Concentration +15 (+19 when casting defensively), Diplomacy +22, Gather Information +18, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana) +20, Knowledge (the planes) +20, Profession (scribe) +19, Search +20, Sense Motive +19, Speak Language (any language), Spellcraft +22, Spot +19; Combat Casting, Empower Spell, Improved Iniative, Iron Will, Spell Focus (abjuration)
Special Qualities: Partial immunity to spells (immune to mind-affecting spells), poison (Fort DC 16, initial and secondary 1 Str dmg), summon yugoloth (40% of 1 arcanaloth) 1/day, yugoloth traits (immune to poison and acid, resistance to cold, fire, and electricity 10, communicate telepathically 100 ft.)
Spell-like abilities (as 12th level caster): at will – darkness, fly, heat metal (DC 15), invisibility (self only), magic missile, shapechange, telekinesis (DC 18), warp wood (DC 15); 1/day – fear (DC 17), major image (DC 16).
Sorcerer Spells Known (9/5/5/4/3/2/1; base DC = 13 + spell level; DC 14 + spell level with abjuration spells; caster level 12th): 0–acid splash, daze, detect magic, disrupt undead, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read magic, resistance; 1st–chill touch, hypnotism, protection from good, shield, shocking grasp; 2nd–detect thoughts, gust of wind, levitate, mirror image, Tasha’s hideous laughter; 3rd–dispel magic, lightning bolt, slow, vampiric touch; 4th–enervation, shout, wall of fire; 5th–dismissal, passwall; 6th–globe of invulnerability.
Height: Unknown, Weight: Unknown, Hair: Unknown, Eyes: Unknown
Possessions: Book of Keeping
Sources: Roots of Evil (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Monster Manual II (3E), Complete Arcane (3.5E), and D&D Update Booklet.
Book of Keeping (minor artifact): This book contains all the contracts that Inajira has made with mortals in exchange for favors. Each one functions as a contract of Nepthas.
Strong enchantment; CL 20th; Weight 3 lb.
If i am not blind, in what book are they?
This could serve to people that dosn't have Gaz 1. And a little question fort the yugoloth traits, i am blind or they are no yugoloth in the MM 3.5?
If i am not blind, in what book are they?
No - not blind. MM 2 - p202-3
This could serve to people that dosn't have Gaz 1.
True, though I thought you might get in trouble for doing versions of already-published characters (IANAL so someone else will have to confirm or deny if this is a problem).
Besides, there's some pretty neat 2nd edition characters just begging to be redone whom I haven't heard much about yet. How about some of the characters from Monstrous Compendium Appendix II, the Children of the Night series (a 3e version of Emil Bollenbach, anyone?) or even some of the netbooks? (The Forgotten Children has some good 'uns.)
ESD Policy
But apparently the source for the ESD has to be WotC. It has not been revised in a long, long time.
The High Master Illithid: Male Mind Flayer (Ulitharid) Psi7; CR 19; Large Aberration (Psionic); HD 12d8+36 plus 7d4+21; hp 128; Init +6; Spd 30 ft.; AC 20 (touch 11, flat-footed 18); Base Atk +12; Grp +19; Atk +14 melee (1d8+3, long tentacle); Full Atk +14 melee (1d8+3, 2 long tentacles) and +14 melee (1d8+3, 4 short tentacles); Face/Reach 10 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with 2 long tentacles); SA Extract, improved grab, mind blast, psionic powers; SQ Darkvision 60 ft., inertial armor, PR 27, telepathy 200 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +18; Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 22, Wis 17, Cha 21
Skills and Feats: Autohypnosis +13, Bluff +15, Concentration +25 (+29 when manifesting defensively), Diplomacy +14, Disguise +5 (+7 acting), Hide +8, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (local-Bluetspur) +12, Knowledge (psionics) +21, Knowledge (the planes) +12, Listen +8, Move Silently +12, Psicraft +18, Sense Motive +8, Speak Language (undercommon, qualith), Spot +18; Combat Manifestation, Craft Universal Item, Improved Iniative, Improved Natural Attack, Iron Will, Power Penetration, Psionic Endowment, Psionic Meditation, Quicken Power
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., inertial armor (constant), mind blast (DC 21), power resistance 27, telepathy 200 ft.
Psionic Powers Known (power points 403; save DC 16 + power level; manifester (telepath) level 20th): 1st–control light, defensive precognition, detect psionics, mind thrust (DC 17), psionic charm (DC 17), vigor; 2nd–body equilibrium, ego whip (DC 18), id insinuation (DC 18), psionic levitate, psionic suggestion (DC 18), read thoughts (DC 18); 3rd–body adjustment, dispel psionics, mental barrier, telekinetic force; 4th–intellect fortress, mindwipe (DC 20), personality parasite (DC 20), psionic dimension door, psionic dominate (DC 20); 5th–mind probe (DC 21), psionic plane shift, shatter mind blank (DC 21); 6th–mass cloud mind (DC 22), fuse flesh (DC 22); 7th–decerebrate (DC 23), insanity (DC 23), psionic sequester (DC 23), ultrablast (DC 23); 8th–mind seed (DC 24), psionic mind blank, psionic greater teleport (DC 24); 9th–microcosm, psychic chirurgery (DC 25), reality revision (DC 25).
Possessions: Rod of Houtras.
Description: Unknown.
Note: I've placed personality parasite and shatter mind blank into their original power levels since I believe it might have been a mistake in the way the psionic stats were written in Lords of Madness.
Sources: Thoughts of Darkness (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Expanded Psionics Handbook (3.5E), and Lords of Madness (3.5E).
Rod of Houtras (minor artifact): This two-foot-long clear crystal rod protects the user from scrying and mental effects as though under the effects of a personal mind blank. When within a 20-foot presence of a lawful good creature the crystal rod emits a glow. The crystal can be used to activate the machine known as the Apparatus.
Strong (all schools) and telepathy; CL 20th and ML 20th; Weight 3 lb.
Speaking of which, why on earth would the Dance of the Dead be a substitution level? How many druids would Misroi train to use the Dance? I don't feel that training from a darklord as a substitution level is very much in line with the setting.
Althea: Female Medusa; CR 7; Medium Monstrous Humanoid; HD 6d8+6; hp 33; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (touch 12, flat-footed 13); Base Atk +6; Grp +6; Atk +9 ranged (1d6/x3, masterwork short bow) or +7 melee (1d6/19-20, masterwork short sword) or +6 melee (1d4 plus poison, snakes); Full Atk +9/+4 ranged (1d6/x3, masterwork short bow) or +7/+2 melee (1d6/19-20, masterwork short sword) and +1 melee (1d4 plus poison, snakes); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Petrifying gaze, poison; SQ Darkvision 60 ft.; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +6; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 15
Skills and Feats: Bluff +9, Diplomacy +4, Disguise +9 (+11 acting), Intimidate +4, Move Silently +8, Speak Language (lamordian), Spot +8; Martial Weapon Proficiency (short sword), Point Blank Shot, Spit Venom
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., petrifying gaze (Fort DC 15), poison (injury or ranged contact, Fort DC 14, 1d6 Str damage, 2d6 Str secondary damage).
Possessions: Masterwork ornate short sword (worth 500 gp), masterwork short bow, 10 arrows.
Description: Althea sports tresses of deadly vipers instead of hair atop her head. She stands 6’ tall and has a slender, shapely human female body. She has a human face that possesses the scales and texture of a reptile. Her eyes are black beads and her mouth a lipless slit through which her forked tongue slips in and out to taste the air for odors.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), and Serpent Kingdoms (3.5E).
Styrix: Female Night Hag; CR 9; Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar); HD 8d8+32; hp 68; Init +1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 22 (touch 11, flat-footed 21); Base Atk +8; Grp +12; Atk +12 melee (2d6+6 plus disease, bite); Full Atk +12 melee (2d6+6, bite); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Spell-like abilities, dream haunting; SQ DR 10/cold iron and magic, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to fire, cold, charm, sleep, and fear, outsider traits, SR 25; AL NE; SV Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +10; Str 19, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 12
Skills and Feats: Bluff +12, Concentration +15 (+19 when casting defensively), Diplomacy +14, Disguise +5 (+7 acting), Intimidate +14, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (the planes) +5, Listen +15, Ride +12, Sense Motive +13, Speak Language (abyssal, celestial, common, infernal), Spellcraft +14, Spot +15; Alertness, Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item
Special Qualities: Disease – demon fever (bite, Fort DC 18, incubation 1 day, damage 1d6 Con, on a failed save, after the first day the afflicted creature must make a Fort DC 18 or take 1 point of Con drain) dream haunting.
Spell-like abilities (as 8th level caster): at will – detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, magic missile, polymorph (self only), ray of enfeeblement (DC 12), sleep (DC 12). She can use etherealness at will (caster level 16th) as long as she possesses her charm of blackness or cob (heartstone).
Description: Styrix stands 5 feet tall and appears as a withered old crone with skin the color of fresh bruise, tangled black hair, and eyes that burn bright red in the darkness. Her lips are puffy and blistered, giving her a sickly look. Her teeth and nails are sharp and pointed, though the former look crooked and uneven while the latter are cracked and broken.
Possessions: Charm of Blackness or Cob (heartstone), Rift Spanner.
Note: Styrix is under the effects of a permanent tongues spell.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Athaekeetha: Male Mind Flayer Vampire; CR 9; Medium Undead (Psionic); HD 8d12; hp 55; Init +10; Spd 30 ft., climb 20 ft.; AC 23 (touch 16, flat-footed 17); Base Atk +4; Grp +8; Atk +10 melee (1d4+4 and energy drain, tentacle) or +10 melee (1d6+6 and energy drain, slam); Full Atk +10 melee (1d4+4 and energy drain, tentacle) and +10 melee (1d4+4, 3 tentacles) and +8 melee (1d6+2, slam); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Blood drain, energy drain, extract, improved grab, mind blast; SQ DR 10/magic and silver, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 5, resistance to cold and electricity 10, PR 25, telepathy 100 ft., turn resistance +4, undead traits; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +9; Str 18, Dex 22, Con -, Int 7, Wis 17, Cha 15
Skills and Feats: Bluff +21, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +5 (+7 acting), Hide +21, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (psionics) +14, Listen +20, Move Silently +22, Search +8, Sense Motive +16, Speak Language (undercommon, qualith), Spot +22; Alertness, Improved Iniative, Multiattack, Weapon Finesse{B}
Special Qualities: Blood drain (a tentacle attached to a victim drains blood, dealing 1d4 Con dmg and gaining 5 temporary hp per point drained), energy drain (creatures hit by tentacles or slam attack gain 2 negative levels and bestows 5 temporary hp per level drained), extract (as mind flayer), mind blast (Will DC 16).
Possessions: None.
Description: Athaekeetha looks similar to a mind flayer standing at 6’4” but wears no clothing and moves about like a wild beast. His cranium seems shrunken and his tentacles look longer and thicker than normal.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium (2E), Thoughts of Darkness (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), and Lords of Madness (3.5E).
Andres Duvall: Male Half-Elf Lich Brd9; CR 11; Medium Undead; HD 9d12; hp 64; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17 (touch 12, flat-footed 15); Base Atk +6; Grp +7; Atk +8 melee (1d8+5 negative energy plus paralysis, touch); Full Atk +8 melee (1d8+5 negative energy plus paralysis, touch); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Fear aura, magical absorption, paralyzing touch, touch attack; SQ Bardic knowledge +13, bardic music 9/day (countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +2, inspire competence, suggestion, inspire greatness), DR 15/bludgeoning and magic, half-elf traits, lich immunities, turn resistance +4, undead traits; AL NG; SV Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +8; Str 12, Dex 15, Con -, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 20
Skills and Feats: Balance +9, Bluff +10, Climb +6, Concentration +12, Decipher Script +9, Diplomacy +16, Gather Information +12, Hide +15, Jump +8, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Listen +16, Move Silently +15, Perform (sing) +17, Perform (string instruments) +14, Search +13, Sense Motive +15, Sleight of Hand +9, Speak Language (elven, darkonese), Spellcraft +14, Spot +11, Tumble +9; Disguise Spell, Dodge, Requiem, Weapon Finesse
Special Qualities: Half-Elf traits: +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks; low-light vision; immune to sleep; +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information, elven blood. Bardic knowledge +13, bardic music 9/day (countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +2, inspire competence, suggestion, inspire greatness). Touch attack (DC 19), paralyzing touch (DC 19), fear aura (DC 19), lich immunities (immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph [though he can use polymorph effects on himself], and mind-affecting attacks), magical absorption (Duvall can absorb any targeted spell directed at him and heal himself equal to the level of the spell absorbed; he can also make a touch attack against any spellcaster and steal the highest level spell memorized or slot available and absorb the spell to heal himself. He can continue to absorb magic even if at full hit points; any extra magic absorbed is wasted).
Bard Spells Known (3/5/4/3; base DC = 15 + spell level; caster level 9th): 0-detect magic, ghost sound, know direction, read magic, resistance, summon instrument; 1st-disguise self, hypnotism, silent image, sleep; 2nd-glitterdust, minor image, pyrotechnics, sound burst; 3rd-confusion, dispel magic, gaseous form.
Possessions: Masterwork lute, circlet of persuasion.
Description: Andres Duvall stands at 6 feet tall.
Note: Andres Duvall’s transformation into a lich was accidental and as such does not have the minimum levels to make the requirements of a lich nor does he have a phylactery like a true lich does. Andres must consume the equivalent of one spell level a day to satisfy his hunger. Competence bonus from circlet of persuasion is not factored into skills.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Libris Mortis (3.5E).
Jezra Wagner the Ice Queen: Female Human Spectre Ari7; CR 9; Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid, Incorporeal); HD 7d12; hp 51; Init +3; Spd fly 80 ft. (perfect); AC 18 (touch 18, flat-footed 15); Base Atk +5; Grp -; Atk +8 melee (1d8 plus 2d6 cold, incorporeal touch); Full Atk +8 melee (1d8 plus 2d6 cold, incorporeal touch); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Heat drain; SQ Darkvision 60 ft., cold turning, fire lover, incorporeal traits, turn resistance +2, undead traits, unnatural aura, sunlight powerlessness; AL LE; SV Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +8; Str -, Dex 16, Con -, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 20
Skills and Feats: Climb +6, Diplomacy +10, Handle Animal +10, Hide +11, Jump +4, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (nature) +11, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Listen +15, Perform (sing) +9, Ride (horse) +10, Search +14, Speak Language (balok), Spot +15, Survival +10 (+12 to avoid getting lost and aboveground), Swim +5; Altitude Adaptation, Mountaineer, Track, Weapon Finesse
Special Qualities: Heat drain (Jezra Wagner inflicts cold damage with her touch instead of draining energy), cold turning (Jezra is immune to cold but any attack that utilizes this energy forces her away as though a successful turn had been enacted by a cleric), fire lover (Any fire attack heals Jezra 1 point of damage for each 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. Any excess healing is treated as temporary hit points that last for up to 1 hour. She receives no saving throw against fire effects).
Possessions: None.
Description: Jezra Wagner appears as she did in life, save that light passes through her as if she were some manner of projection or image. Although short, just over five feet in height, Jezra is incredibly beautiful. She has fair skin, silver hair, and pale blue eyes that glint lik frozen pools. Jezra’s clothes are of the finest manufacture, making it clear to all that she was one of Barovia’s most wealthy nobles.
Note: Jezra cannot create any spawn. Any creature killed by Jezra’s touch is turned into a statue of ice requiring the ice to flesh spell before any spell can be used to revive him.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Savage Species (3E), Libris Mortis (3.5E), and Frostburn (3.5E).
Blackroot: Male Advanced Treant; CR 11; Huge Plant; HD 12d8+72; hp 126; Init –1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 20 (touch 7, flat-footed 20); Base Atk +9; Grp +27; Atk +17 melee (2d6+10, slam); Full Atk +17 melee (2d6+10, 2 slams); Face/Reach 15 ft./15 ft.; SA Animate trees, double damage aginst objects, spell-like abilities, trample 2d6+15; SQ DR 10/slashing, low-light vision, plant traits, vulnerability to fire; AL CE; SV Fort +14, Ref +3, Will +8; Str 30, Dex 8, Con 22, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills and Feats: Hide –9, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +7, Sense Motive +7, Speak Language (tepestani), Spot +7, Survival +7 (+9 aboveground); Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack
Special Qualities: Trample (Ref DC 26 half), +16 racial bonus on Hide checks made in forested areas.
Spell-like abilities (as 12th level caster): 1/day – animal growth, antilife shell, antiplant shell, charm animal, command plants, create water, detect animals or plants, entangle, hold animal, plant growth, repel vermin, snare, speak with animals, speak with plants, spike growth, summon nature’s ally I, summon nature’s ally II, summon nature’s ally III, summon swarm, tongues, wall of thorns, warp wood.
Possessions: None.
Description: Blackroot stands just over 18 feet tall and looks like an ancient oak. His bark is grooved and rough, providing excellent protection from physical attacks. His branches are long and gnarled, never sprouting leaves or showing even the faintest hints of bud or blossom. When he wishes to be seen for what he is, a gnarled face appears to form from the fissures and grooves of his bark. A great and terrible maw, shaped like an inverted “V,” opens up beneath two knotty eyes.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Mayónaka: Male Kozakuran Human Oriental Mature Vampire Sam13; CR 15; Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid); HD 13d12; hp 90; Init +9; Spd 30 ft.; AC 24 (touch 14, flat-footed 20); Base Atk +13; Grp +21; Atk +25 melee (1d10+14/17-20, Tasogare) or +21 melee (1d6+12 plus energy drain, slam); Full Atk +25/+20/+15 melee (1d10+14/17-20, Tasogare) or +21 melee (1d6+12 plus energy drain, slam); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Blood drain, create spawn, energy drain; SQ DR 10/silver and magic, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 5, gaseous form, invisibility, jump, resistance to cold and electricity 10, spider climb, turn resistance +4, undead traits, oriental vampire weakness; AL LE; SV Fort +10, Ref +12, Will +12; Str 27, Dex 20, Con -, Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 19
Skills and Feats: Bluff +12, Climb +19, Craft (calligraphy) +10, Diplomacy +18, Hide +11, Iaijutsu Focus +23, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +10, Jump +19, Listen +14, Move Silently +11, Ride (horse) +18, Search +13, Sense Motive +22, Speak Language (shou, kozakuran), Spot +14, Swim +21; Alertness{B}, Cleave, Combat Reflexes{B}, Dodge{B}, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana), Gifted General, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (katana), Improved Iniative{B}, Improved Sunder, Improved Unarmed Strike, Lightning Reflexes{B}, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Weapon Focus (katana)
Special Qualities: Energy drain (Fort DC 18 to remove negative level), gaseous form, invisibility at will, jump at will, spider climb at will, oriental vampire weakness (holy symbol, ginger root, holy water, ginger water, sunlight). Ancestral daisho.
Possessions: Masterwork partial armor, Tasogare, masterwork wakizashi.
Description: Mayónaka dresses himself in common robes that effectively conceal his oriental arms, armor, and features from the people that he encounters in his travels. Beneath his robes, he wears the armor of a samurai and carries an assortment of unusual weapons. Mayónaka stands just under seven feet tall and has the smooth build of a graceful athlete. His hair is short and dark, matching perfectly the endless night reflected in his midnight black eyes.
Note: Mayónaka has all the mental benefits but none of the physical penalties of venerable age.
Sources: Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Oriental Adventures (3E), and Dragon Magazine #315.
Tasogare: This +3 keen silver katana has been in Mayónaka’s family for generations. Oriental runes run down the side of the blade, naming it Tasogare or “twilight” in Kozakuran. Once per day it can cast darkness as a 6th-level caster, with the blade acting as the focus. Anyone holding the sword can see normally in the area of darkness and does not suffer the concealment miss chance other creatures gain within the area.
Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, darkness, keen edge; Price 39,715 gp
I have a writeup of Jezra Wagner as an arayashka (having converted the monster from 3.0's Denizens of Darkness into a template). If anyone's interested I could link it back up from my website or copy the relevant parts to post here.
Put it up if you can. I'm always interested in others' conversions. I used the Spectral Creature template from Savage Species for Jezra Wagner with some abilities from the Bleakborn monster in Libris Mortis.
If you're so inclined, visit my page and let me know what you think of my minis work. ;)
Hermos Twisted Human Exp3; Large Humanoid (human); HD: 3d6+6; hp: 19; Init -1; Spd 40'; AC 8 (touch 8, flat-footed 8); BAB/Grapple: +2/+14; Atk: Unarmed Strike +5 melee (1d4+4); SQ:Twisted; AL NG; SV: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +4; OR 3
STR 18, DEX 9, CON 15, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 15;
Skills and Feats: Craft (woodcarving) +6, Diplomacy +9, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (religion) +6, Profession (Carnival manager) +7, Sense Motive +7; Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack;
Professor Pacali Twisted Human Wiz9; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 9d4+18; hp 38; Init -1; Spd 30'; AC 10 (touch 9, flat-footed 10) BAB/Grapple +4/+4; Attack +1 dagger +5 melee (1d4+1), or masterwork pistol +4 ranged (1d10); SA spells; SQ Familiar (Pickled Punk), Twisted; AL NE; SV: Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +7;
STR 11, DEX 9, CON 14, INT 21, WIS 10, CHA 15;
Skills and Feats: Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (arcana, the planes) +18, Perform (oratory) +8; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms), Improved Familiar, Persuasive, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Conjuration);
Gear: + 1 dagger, +1 ring of protection, +1 robe of resistance, +2 headband of intellect, masterwork pistol
Spells per day: 4/6/5/4/3/2
Spellbook: cantrips: all in PHB; 1st: Protection from Evil, Obscuring Mist, Summon Monster I, Hypnotism, Magic Missle, Disguise Self, Cause Fear; 2nd: Resist Energy, Summon Monster II, Web, Scorching Ray, Command Undead, Ghoul Touch, Bear's Endurance; 3rd: Disple Magic, Stinking Cloud, Summon Monster III, Tongues, Vampiric Touch, Haste; 4th: Summon Monster IV, Evard's Black Tentacles, Confusion, Wall of Ice, Animate Dead; 5th Cloudkill, Summon Monster V, Contact Other Plane, Cone of Cold;
Familiar: Pickled Punk: Tiny Abberation; HD 9; HP 19; Init +4; AC 15 (touch 15, flatfooted 11); BAB/Grapple +4/-3; Atk: Bite +8 melee (1d4-2); SA gnaw, improved grab, insidious stare; SQ fire vulnerability; SV: Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +7; AL CE;
STR 6; DEX 19, CON 11, INT 8, WIS 12, CHA 14
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (arcana, the planes) +11, Listen +4, Perform (oratory) +8, Spot +4; Alertness, Weapon Finesse (B);
Gnaw (Ex): If a Pickled Punk grapples a foe, it automatically gnaws for 1d4-2 damage on the following rounds if it maintains the grapple.
Improved Grab (Ex): A Pickled Punk can grapple a creature up to two sizes larger than itself. Otherwise this functions as described in the Monster Manual.
Insidious Stare (Su): A Pickled Punk can unleash the inner desires of a victim through a gaze attack. If the victim fails a Will save (DC 13) then their deepest repressed thoughts come to the surface. The victim must act on these desires for 1d8+2 hours.
That's it for now, more Carnival goodies to come!
Auden Beck: Male Human Old Vampire Ftr2/Rog5/Dread Pirate 3; CR 13; Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid); HD 10d12; hp 70; Init +11; Spd 40 ft.; AC 23 (touch 17, flat-footed 16); Base Atk +8; Grp +15; Atk +15 melee (1d6+10 plus energy drain, slam) or +17 melee (1d6+7/18-20, +1 rapier); Full Atk +20 melee (1d6+10 plus energy drain, slam) or +17/+12 melee (1d6+7/18-20, +1 rapier); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Blood drain, children of the night, create spawn, dominate, energy drain, sneak attack +4d6; SQ Alternate form, DR 10/silver and magic, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, fast healing 6, fearsome reputation +2, gaseous form, resistance to cold and electricity 10, salient ability, seamanship +3, spider climb, trap sense +1, trapfinding, turn resistance +5, uncanny dodge, undead traits, vampire weakness; AL NE; SV Fort +5, Ref +16, Will +7; Str 25, Dex 24, Con -, Int 24, Wis 20, Cha 25
Skills and Feats: Appraise +15, Balance +17, Bluff +20, Climb +16 (+18 with rope), Hide +20, Intimidate +16, Jump +18, Listen +23, Move Silently +20, Profession (sailor) +19, Search +20, Sense Motive +18, Sleight of Hand +14, Speak Language (mordentish), Spot +23, Swim +16, Tumble +20, Use Rope +12; Alertness{B}, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes{B}, Dodge{B}, Endurance, Improved Disarm, Improved Iniative{B}, Lightning Reflexes{B}, Quick Draw, Shipborn, Two-Weapon Fighting{B}, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier)
Special Qualities: Alternate form (octopus), dominate (Will DC 22), energy drain (Fort DC 22 to remove negative level), salient ability (extra form [octopus]), vampire weakness (as normal). Sneak attack +4d6, trapfinding, evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge. Seamanship +3, fearsome reputation +2.
Possessions: +1 rapier.
Description: Unknown.
Note: Auden Beck has all the mental benefits of venerable age. He has the physical penalties of middle age. Seamanship and fearsome reputation bonus already added to skills, only Shipborn feat bonus is not added to skills.
Sources: Children of the Night: Vampires (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E), Complete Adventurer (3.5E), and Dragon Magazine #323.
Dr. Dominiani (Daclaud Heinfroth): Male Human Mature Vampire Exp9; CR 10; Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid); HD 9d12; hp 64; Init +8; Spd 40 ft.; AC 20 (touch 14, flat-footed 16); Base Atk +6; Grp +10; Atk +10 melee (1d6+6 plus energy drain, slam); Full Atk +10/+5 melee (1d6+6 plus energy drain, slam); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Cerebral fluid drain, children of the night, create spawn, dominate, energy drain; SQ Alternate form, DR 10/silver and magic, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 5, gaseous form, resistance to cold and electricity 10, salient ability, spider climb, turn resistance +4, undead traits, vampire weakness; AL NE; SV Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +15; Str 19, Dex 18, Con -, Int 25, Wis 24, Cha 16
Skills and Feats: Bluff +22, Concentration +8, Diplomacy +18, Gather Information +14, Heal +19, Hide +12, Hypnosis +18, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +12, Knowledge (geography) +12, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (local) +16, Knowledge (nature) +12, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +16, Knowledge (religion) +12, Knowledge (the planes) +12, Listen +17, Move Silently +12, Profession (physician) +16, Search +15, Sense Motive +24, Speak Language (balok, darkonese, luktar, mordentish, vaasi), Spot +17; Alertness{B}, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes{B}, Dodge{B}, Improved Feint, Improved Iniative{B}, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes{B}, Persuasive, Skill Focus (hypnosis)
Special Qualities: Cerebral fluid drain (Int drain), dominate (Will DC 17), energy drain (Fort DC 17 to remove negative level), vampire weakness (as normal except unaffected by garlic and withstand 1 round of sunlight).
Possessions: Masterwork healer’s kit.
Description: Dr. Dominiani looks very much like one would expect a werewolf to look in human form. He has long, bushy sideburns with heavy eyebrows and a thick, wiry beard. He actually plays up this image in order to confuse those few enemies who might try to kill him and, in fact, he does harbor a strong affinity for wolves.
Sources: Feast of Goblyns (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
The Whistling Fiend: Male Babau Demon; CR 6; Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar, Evil, Tanar’ri); HD 7d8+35; hp 66; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 19 (touch 11, flat-footed 18); Base Atk +7; Grp +11; Atk +11 melee (1d6+4, claw); Full Atk +11 melee (1d6+4, 2 claws) and +9 (1d6+2, bite); Face/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Sneak attack +2d6, spell-like abilities, summon tanar’ri; SQ DR 10/cold iron or good, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity and poison, land-based powers, protective slime, reality wrinkle, resistance to acid, cold, and fire 10, SR 14, telepathy 100 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +6; Str 19, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 16
Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Climb +14, Disable Device +14, Disguise +13 (+15 acting), Escape Artist +11, Hide +19, Listen +19, Move Silently +19, Open Lock +11, Search +22, Sleight of Hand +13, Speak Language (abyssal), Spot +5; Cleave, Multiattack, Power Attack
Special Qualities: Protective slime (1d8 acid damage to any weapon, unarmed attack, touch attack, or natural weapon that hits slime), summon tanar’ri (1/day, 40% chance to summon babau), +8 racial bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Search checks. Land-based powers (enfeeblement gaze 20’, obscuring mist, poison touch [Fort DC 16] 1/day), reality wrinkle 14,000 ft. radius.
Spell-like abilities (as 7th level caster): at will – darkness, dispel magic, see invisibility, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only).
Possessions: Unknown
Description: Unknown.
Sources: PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Malistroi: Male Nalfeshnee Demon; CR 14; Huge Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar, Evil, Tanar’ri); HD 14d8+112; hp 175; Init +1; Spd 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (poor); AC 27 (touch 9, flat-footed 26); Base Atk +14; Grp +29; Atk +20 melee (2d8+7, bite); Full Atk +20 melee (2d8+7, bite) and +17 (1d8+3, bite); Face/Reach 15 ft./15 ft.; SA Smite, spell-like abilities, summon tanar’ri; SQ DR 10/good, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity and poison, land-based powers, reality wrinkle, resistance to acid, cold, and fire 10, SR 22, telepathy 100 ft., true seeing; AL CE; SV Fort +17, Ref +10, Will +15; Str 25, Dex 13, Con 27, Int 22, Wis 22, Cha 20
Skills and Feats: Bluff +22, Concentration +25, Diplomacy +26, Hide +10, Intimidate +22, Knowledge (arcana) +23, Listen +31, Move Silently +18, Search +23, Sense Motive +23, Speak Language (abyssal), Spellcraft +25, Spot +31, Use Magic Device +22 (+24 with scrolls); Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Multiattack, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Special Qualities: Smite (3/day, unholy light 60’ radius, Will DC 22 or be dazed for 1d10 rounds, demons immune to light), summon tanar’ri (2/day, 50% chance to summon 1d4 vrocks, 1d4 hezrous, or one glabrezu; 20% chance to summon nalfeshnee). Land-based powers (cause hunger [Will DC 22] 1/day, disease touch except demon fever [Fort DC 22]), reality wrinkle 28,000 ft. radius.
Spell-like abilities (as 12th level caster): at will – call lightning (DC 29), feeblemind (DC 20), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), slow (DC 18), unholy aura (DC 23).
Possessions: Unknown
Description: Unknown.
Sources: Circle of Darkness (2E), PHB 3.5, DMG 3.5, MM 3.5, and Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3E).
Isolde: female Ghaele Eladrin; medium outsider (Chaotic, Eladrin, Extraplanar, Good); CR 12; HD 10d8+40; hp 100; Init +8; Spd 50'; AC 28 (touch 14, flat-footed 24); BAB/Grapple +10/+17; Atk +4 holy longsword +21 melee (1d8+7/19-20); full atk +4 holy longsword +21/+16 melee (1d8+7/19-20); SA: gaze, smite evil 3x/day, spell-like abilities, turn undead; SQ: darkvision 60', detect law, disruption, divine grace, divine health, DR 10/cold iron and evil, lay on hands, lowlight vision, phylactery, reality wrinkle, remove disease 2x/week, SR 28, tongues; SV: Fort +15, Ref +15, Will +14; CG;
STR 25, DEX 18, CON 19, INT 20, WIS 16, CHA 18;
Skills and Feats:Concentration +16, Diplomacy +20, Handle Animal +16, Hide +16, Knowledge (nobility and royalty, and the planes) +17, Listen +15, Move Silently +16, Ride +18, Sense Motive +18, Spot +15, Use Rope +16; Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip;
Gear: +4 holy longsword (doubles as phylactery).
Disruption: Darklords may make a DC 10 Sense Motive check to sense the presence of Isolde's reality wrinkle.
Gaze (Su): Will save (DC 19) negates. See MM p.95.
Reality Wrinkle: Isolde's reality Wrinkle is 300'.
All paladin abilities as 10th level paladin.
Spell-like Abilities: at will: [i]cure light wounds, detect thoughts, dispel magic, see invisibility. CL 12th. Saves are Charisma-based.
Tongues (Su): See MM p. 95.
The Blade Brothers: Male Vistani Ftr5/Master Thrower3; medium humanoid (human); CR 8; HD 5d10+10+8d8+6; hp 56; Init +6; Spd 30'; AC 17 (touch 17, flat-footed 11); BAB/Grapple: +8/+9; Atk +1 returning dagger +11 melee (1d4+4) or +1 returning dagger +16 ranged (1d4+4); Full Atk +1 returning dagger +11/+6 melee (1d4+4), or +1 returning dagger +16 ranged (1d4+4) and masterwork dagger +11 ranged (1d4+3); SA: deadeye shot, doubletoss, evil eye; SQ: Skurra-vera mask, Vistani Traits; SV Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +5; CG;
STR 12, DEX 22, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 17, CHA 13;
Skills and Feats: Bluff +7, Craft (weaponsmith) +13, Perform (juggling) +8, Sleight of Hand +13, Tumble +13; Combat Expertise, Dodge, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (dagger), Weapon Specialization (dagger);
Gear:+1 returning dagger, +2 gloves of dexterity, +1 ring of protection, 4 masterwork daggers
Skurra-vera mask (Su): This protects a Vistani or half-vistani from the effects of the twisting.
I wonder what effect the Twisting would have on a Warforged?
Special Attacks: Entrancing Appearance (if seen, DC 15 will save in order to take actions), Manifestation, Rejuvination
Special Qualities: Turn Resistance (+4); Incorporeal
Skills: Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Perform (sing) +7, Ride +7, Sense Motive +7, Spot +7
Feats: Iron Will, Dodge
Gilan Ap’Blanc (human male rank two ghost Ari1); CR 2; Small Undead (Incorporeal); HD 1d12; HP 7; Init +3; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 18, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +4 Deflection, +1 size); BAB +0; Grap -1; Atk none; Full Atk none; Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Chaotic Good; SV Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +2; Abilities: Str 8, Dex 17, Con -, Int 13, Wis 6, Cha 18
Special Attacks: Group Charm (DC 14, as Charm Person cast by 12th level sorcerer, multiple targets), Manifestation Special Qualities: Turn Resistance (+4); Incorporeal, Telekinesis (as a 12 level Sorc, free action usable every round), Wolf Phobia, Rejuvination
Skills: Bluff +8, Handle Animal +8, Hide +12, Listen +0, Move Silently +5, Sense Motive +2, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Skill Focus (hide)
Morholt Ap’Blanc (human male rank two ghost Ftr3); CR 5; Medium Undead (Incorporeal); HD 3d12; HP 20; Init +3; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 17, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +4 Deflection); BAB +3; Grap +6; Atk +8 melee (1d10+4, 19-20 masterwork bastard sword); Full Atk +8 melee (1d10+4, 19-20 masterwork bastard sword); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Lawful Evil; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +1; Abilities: Str 16, Dex 16, Con -, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 18
Special Attacks: Semi-corporeal (Bastard Sword acts as Ghost Touch weapon); Inflict Moderate Wounds (When he strikes, Ref Save DC 16 or take 2d8+4 damage in addition); Aura of Despair (any within 50ft must make a will save, DC 16, or get –2 to attacks, skill checks, and saves, any who pass are immune for 24 hrs)
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation; Turn Resistance +4; Incorporeal; If the Sword that killed him is found, it can be used by a warrior of good alignment to kill him (warrior means that user must have at least one level in a class with base attack = level or have the Weapon Focus feat appropriate to the sword)
Skills: Bluff +8, Handle Animal +8, Hide +12, Listen +0, Move Silently +5, Sense Motive +2, Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Focus (bastard sword); Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword); Power Attack; Cleave; Sunder;
Isolt Ap’Blanc (human female Clr3); CR 3; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 3d8+9; HP 23; Init +1; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, light mace); Full Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, light mace); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Neutral Good; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +6; Abilities: Str 12, Dex 13, Con 17, Int: 12, Wis 16, Cha: 16
Special Attacks: Turn Undead
Special Qualities: Domains (Heal, Good)
Skills: Heal +11; Knowledge (religion) +7; Knowledge (undead) +3; Knowledge (arcane) +3; Diplomacy +9
Feats: Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (heal)
Spells(4/3+1/2+1): Cure Minor Wounds; Detect Magic; Detect Poison; Purify Food and Drink; 1st-Deathwatch; Protection From Evil; Bless Water; (Cure Light Wounds); 2nd- Delay Poison; Lesser Restoration (Cure Moderate Wounds)
Isolt Ap’Blanc (human female rank 3 ghost Clr3); CR 3; Medium Undead (incorporeal); HD 3d12; HP 20; Init +1; Spd: fly 30ft (perfect); Armor Class 17, touch 17, flat-footed 16 (+1 Dex, +6 Deflection); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk none; Full Atk none; Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Neutral Evil; SV Fort +9, Ref +2, Will +6; Abilities: Str 12, Dex 13, Con -, Int: 12, Wis 16, Cha: 22
Special Attacks: Turn Undead, Malevolence (Magic Jar 10th Sorc, no receptacle); Aura of Despair (any within 75 feet must make a will save, DC 16, or get –3 to attacks, skill checks, and saves, any who pass are immune for 24 hrs)
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation; Turn Resistance +4; Incorporeal; Domains (Death (3d6) and Evil)
Skills: Heal +11; Knowledge (religion) +7; Knowledge (undead) +3; Knowledge (arcane) +3; Diplomacy +11
Feats: Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (heal)
Spells(4/3+1/2+1): 0th- Inflict Minor Wounds (x2); Detect Magic; Putrefy Food and Drink; 1st-Deathwatch; Protection From Good; Curse Water; (Cause Fear); 2nd- Desecrate; Hold Person (Death Knell)
Rual (human female rank 4 ghost Drd7); CR 11; Medium Undead (Incorporeal); HD 7d12; HP 46; Init +1; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 16, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +5 Deflection); BAB +5; Grap +5; Atk none; Full Atk none; Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Neutral Evil; SV Fort +10, Ref +3, Will +7; Abilities: Str 10, Dex 12, Con -, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 20
Special Attacks: Lure Victims (Will Save DC 19 or follow her); Charm Animals (as the spell, does not work on people, DC 19); Hallucinatory Terrain (as spell, save is DC 19, Sacred Grove only, with her “corpse” in it), Manifestation, Rejuvination
Special Qualities: Nature sense, wild empathy, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, wildshape (3/day), Turn Resistance +4; Incorporeal
Skills: Concentration +15, Handle Animal +15, Heal +15, Knowledge (nature) +13, Listen +12, Spellcraft +13, Spot +12, Survival +12
Feats: Craft Wonderous Item, Brew Potion, Redheaded, Skill Focus (heal)
Spells(6/5/4/2/1): 0th-Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Flare, Light, Mending, Resistance, 1st-Entangle, Faerie Fire, Magic Stone, Obscuring Mist, Produce Flame, 2nd-Flaming Sphere, Heat Metal, Summon Swarm, Warp Wood, 3rd-Contagion, Plant Growth, 4th-Giant Vermin
Castle B-Andrew ApFittle (human male Pal8); CR 8; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 8d10+16; HP 60(20); Init +3; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex); BAB +8; Grap +11; Atk +11 melee (1d3+3, unarmed); Full +11/+6 (1d3+3, unamred); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Lawful Good; SV Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +8; Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con 14, Int: 15, Wis 14, Cha: 18
Special Qualities: Aura of Good, Smite Evil 2/day, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands (32 hit points), Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Turn Undead, Remove Disease (1/week)
Skills: Concentration +10, Diplomacy +12, Heal +10, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Knowledge (religions-Forfarian) +10, Ride +11, Sense Motive +10
Feats: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Spells(2/1): 1st-Lesser Restoration, Resistance, 2nd-Bull’s Strength
Castle C-Andrew ApFittle (human male Haunt Pal8); CR 10; Medium Undead (Incorporeal); HD 8d12; HP 52; Init +3; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 19, touch 19, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +6 deflection); BAB +8; Grap +11; Atk +11 melee (1d4 Dex Drain); Full +11/+6 (1d4 Dex Drain); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Lawful Good; SV Fort +15, Ref +9, Will +8; Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con -, Int: 15, Wis 14, Cha: 22
Special Attacks: Draining Touch, Magic Jar (DC 20)
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation, Aura of Good, Smite Evil 2/day, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands (32 hit points), Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Turn Undead, Remove Disease (1/week)
Skills: Concentration +10, Diplomacy +12, Heal +10, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Knowledge (religions-Forfarian) +10, Ride +11, Sense Motive +10
Feats: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Spells(2/1): 1st-Lesser Restoration, Resistance, 2nd-Bull’s Strength
Castle B Lucy ApMortan (human female Wiz(Nec)12); CR 12; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 12d4+12; HP 30; Init +2; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex); BAB +6; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (1d4+3, 19-20 dagger); Full Atk +9 /+4 melee (1d4+3, 19-20 dagger); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Lawful Evil; SV Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +13; Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con 12, Int: 17, Wis 16, Cha: 10
Skills: Concentration +16, Craft (Alchemy) +16, Decipher Script +18, Knowledge (Arcane Lore) +18, Knowledge (historty) +7, Spellcraft +18
Feats: Brew Potion, Craft Wonderous Item, Craft Wand, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Necromancy), Spell Mastery (x3)
Spells(4/5/5/5/3/3/2 +Necromancy): 0th-Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mending, 1st-Chill Touch, Detect Undead, Spider Climb, Protection From Good, Spider Climb, Ray of Enfeeblement 2nd-Alter Self, Darkness, See Invisibility, Spectral Hand, Scare, False Life, 3rd-Displ Magic, Gaseous Form, Gentle Repose, Halt Undead, Vampiric Touch, Fireball, 4th-Contagion, Enervation, Animate Dead, Evard’s Black Tentacles, 5th-Baleful Polymorph, Animal Growth, Cloudkill, Magic Jar, 6th-Circle of Death, Create Undead, Disintegrate
Spellbook: all cantrips, 1st-chill touch, detect undead, protection from good, spider climb, ray of enfeeblement, cause fear, 2nd-alter self, darkness, see invisibility, spectral hand, scare, false life, 3rd-dispel magic, gaseous form, fireball, gentle repose, halt undead, vampiric touch, 4th-contagion, enervation, Evard’s black tentacles, polymorph, animate dead, 5th-baleful polymorph, animal growth, cloudkill, magic jar, 6th-circle of death, create undead, disintegrate
Castle C Lucy ApMortan (human female haunt Wiz(Nec)12); CR 12; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 12d12; HP 78; Init +2; Spd:30ft; Armor Class 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 Deflection); BAB +6; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (1d4 Dex drain); Full Atk +9 /+4 melee (1d4 Dex drain); Face 5ft; Reach 5ft; AL Neutral Evil; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +13; Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con -, Int: 17, Wis 16, Cha: 14
Special Attacks: Draining Touch, Magic Jar (DC 20)
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation
Skills: Concentration +16, Craft (Alchemy) +16, Decipher Script +18, Knowledge (Arcane Lore) +18, Knowledge (historty) +7, Spellcraft +18
Feats: Brew Potion, Craft Wonderous Item, Craft Wand, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Necromancy), Spell Mastery (x3)
Spells(4/5/5/5/3/3/2 +Necromancy): 0th-Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mending, 1st-Chill Touch, Detect Undead, Spider Climb, Protection From Good, Spider Climb, Ray of Enfeeblement 2nd-Alter Self, Darkness, See Invisibility, Spectral Hand, Scare, False Life, 3rd-Displ Magic, Gaseous Form, Gentle Repose, Halt Undead, Vampiric Touch, Fireball, 4th-Contagion, Enervation, Animate Dead, Evard’s Black Tentacles, 5th-Baleful Polymorph, Animal Growth, Cloudkill, Magic Jar, 6th-Circle of Death, Create Undead, Disintegrate
Any chance of us seeing an alternative take on Victor Mordenheim, Green Giant? (he's probably my favorite non-Darklord NPC) Gazetteer II's take on him is good, but I think a couple levels of Alchemical Philosopher would be very appropriate for him, too.
Strahd is of course a darklord and thusly any revised stats should go into the Ravenloft Darklords thread
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).
2 words: Thank you.--now, could you add some Vistani NPCs...(say MID Level perhaps)?
Exelcior!
Exelcior!
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.
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 pretty much every 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.
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 born, -1 midage, -2 old, -3 venerable, +0 ancient dead = 6
Con: irrelevant, undead.
Int: 16 born, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, -2 ancient dead = 17
Wis: 17 born, +1 midage, +1 old, +1 venerable, +8 ancient dead = 28
Cha: 18 born, +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.
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.
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 Service) 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.
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
Hp: 126
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).
Design Notes:
Ability score generation record:
Back deducing from GazII information, we strip Azalin’s WotC lich template and find his final mortal abilities at transformation to be Str 17, Dex 10, Con ??, Int 22, Wis 12, Cha 14. We know that before he became a lich, he had already grown quite old.
This implies his stats without aging were: Str 23 (!), Dex 16, Con ?? (+6), Int 19, Wis 9, Cha 11. (It is not possible to back deduce his Con, though his 2nd ed. stats had it at 18, which is rather impressive.)
He also had 4 discretionary ability points to assign, at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16 respectively. Arbitrarily we assign those thus: 3 to Int, 1 to Wis.
At his prime, without aging or leveling modifiers, Firan Zal’honan’s stats were: Str 23, Dex 16, Con ?? (+6), Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.
This is entirely in keeping with a man who had a keen mind but acted rashly on occasion. His Strength score is inhumanly high and one wonders why he didn’t become a soldier. Mangrum suggests it was a gift from the Dark Powers. (Also his Str was 17 in 2nd ed. and also in 1st ed., in House on Gryphon Hill.)
Applying the Dicefreaks Lich Template to rank 2 (Alumnus), Azalin now has Int/Wis/Cha bonuses of +6/+2/+2. His stats are: Str 17, Dex 16, Con –, Int 28, Wis 14, Cha 16.
We also have a few wishes available. A wizard can prepare up to five Wishes to be cast simultaneously (or in quick succession) to enhance an attribute by +1 each. This build assumes arbitrarily that after Azalin became a venerable human (and quite possibly after he became a lich) he cast two Wishes to boost his Int score. (+2 to Int)
DMs who want to min/max him can apply the full five-Wish +5 bonus to Int, giving him 33, which will affect his spells per day, his skill points, and the DC of his touch attack at least. (And if you really want to be brutal about it, give him a permanent Fox’s Cunning to add another +4, for 37 Int.)
His Strength score is strangely high, but can be explained away by using Wishes to raise his Strength by +5 to score 17. (This would still require that his Strength be 12 when he was a very old man, which then implies it was 18 when he was in his prime… still outstripping his Int somewhat, but at least it’s in the realms of possibility.)
His final scores after levelling up, growing old, and transforming into a lich, are: Str 17, Dex 16, Con –, Int 30, Wis 14, Cha 16. I use these stats in my campaign.
Skill points generation record:
We back deduce from GazII and aging modifiers that Firan Zal’honan’s Int was 16 when he was born. Furthermore, we arbitrarily assume that he reached 8th level before he turned 35 years old, 12th before he turned 53 years old, and 15th before he turned 70 (total +3 age bonus to Int, to 19). Then we assume that of the 4 discretionary ability points bonuses he gets, he spends 3 on Int at levels 4, 8, and 12 respectively, and spends the last point on Wisdom. His final mortal Int is 22 (two points below the Gaz II’s ability rank).
The skill points breakdown per level is:
• Starts L1 at 24.
• Plus 6 for each L2 – L4 (+18).
• He spends a discretionary point to boost his Int to 17, but doesn’t change the skill points calculation.
• He gets another 6 for each L5 – L7 (+18), then at L8 he spends another point to boost Int to 18.
• L8 brings in 7 skill points instead of 6. (+7)
• At the end of this level he becomes middle aged, adding another Int point to 19 (which doesn’t change the skill points calculation).
• From L9 – L11 he gets 7 per level (+21)
• At L12 he spends his discretionary point in Int, ending with 20 and increasing his skill points. Thus, he gets 8 skill points instead of 7. (+8)
• From L13 – L16 he is old, increasing his Int by one to 21, which does not alter the skill points. He gets 8 points per level. (+32) [At L16, he chooses to spend his discretionary point on something else, likely Wisdom.]
• From L17 – L18 he is venerable, increasing his Int by one to 22, which increases his skill points. He gets 9 points per level. (+18)
His transformation to undeath does not alter his skill points in any way, though it does boost his Int somewhat. For this character stat, we assume he gained no levels while a lich.
The skill points total is 146, and I used this number when assigning his skills. The skills listed in GazII are extremely opaque and there is no visible methodology as to how they were generated. (A trait that practically all other official stat blocks in all other official products also share.) It is quite possible that the designers used the shortcut of calculating all Azalin’s skill points based on an Int score of 24 for each level. This would result in skill ratings quite considerably better than what I have here. This calculation is organic, assuming that he had non-optimal scores at L1, and gradually increasing them as he gained in Int.
This calculation is not meant to be a min/max exercise. It is assumed throughout that Azalin had to deal with the same obstacles and sacrifices in levelling up that all PC-type heroic characters would, and that he overcame then, rather than maxing out his hp. While smoking a pipe. And dating the Simbul.
Feat selection record:
Azalin has 12 feats total: 3 at creation (Scribe Scroll, plus one for 1st level, plus one for being human), plus 3 wizard bonus feats at L5/10/15, plus 6 levelling feats at L3/6/9/12/15/18.
His feats were somewhat of a mishmash. I have changed a few feats from the GazII, specifically throwing out 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.)
I added in Spell Focus (Evocation), and Skill Focus (Spellcraft). My build assumes that Azalin was considering becoming an Archmage PrC and those are prerequisites. This becomes more important later when I run Roots of Evil in my own campaign, wherein Azalin escapes Ravenloft and gains a few levels in Archmage before the adventure closes.
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
And finally my restatting of Azalin, a minor NPC in Darkon who has appeared in a few canonical products...
...Minor NPC...lol...
Magnificent work, It will be seriously considered for playtesting in a SPECIAL Project that we are working on called Expedition to Castle Avernus (!). Just a Fan-Fic Adventure in in 4rtEd/and 3rd Ed versions.
-nuff said...