lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (09/17/84)
Since several people have asked me for Part I of Taira, the evil Illusionist-etc. that I posted, it apparantly got eaten somewhere (by a news daemon, no doubt :-) ). So I'm reposting it, along with apologies to anyone who's already seen Part I (flame away if you want - it'll just tell me where it got to). This posting has been corrected where necessary. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This is the first of two articles describing a powerful evil character for AD&D. This article gives the AD&D stats, and the next one gives the character's history and followers. I was going to post The Avatar With No Name, but after checking I saw she had far more than 3 Mep, and I didn't want to convert her from my streamlined D&D variant into AD&D. So I just created an evil character from scratch. If you play rigid AD&D you might question the alignment, but the justification is in the background. I'm assuming every alignment extreme has Paladins otherwise why haven't the LGs conquered the world? If you can't handle that idea, just delete the offending classes, and add the extra experience to Illusionist. I also switched a point of Constitution to Strength. If it bothers you, tear out my heart and feed it to a demon. Taira would. TAIRA OF THE THOUSAND NAMES Lawful Evil Human Female 14th Level Illusionist, formerly 13th Level Thief 12th Level Druid 11th Level Mage 9th Level Monk 8th Level Anti-Paladin (Exp in order is 1100K, 660K, 300K, 375K, 350K, 175K = 2960K) Hit Points = 8d10 + 1d8 + 3d4 + 5 = 72 Needs a 14 to hit AC 0 not including bonuses. 3 strikes/2 rounds with weapons. Armor Class -10 (3 for Monk, -2 for Dex, -6 for Ring, -5 for Cloak). Strength 15 Intelligence 18 Wisdom 15 Constitution 12 Dexterity 16 Charisma 17 Knows 9-18 spells at each level, 85% of knowing each. (with Ioun Sphere, knows 10-All spells at each level, 95%) +1 on Reaction/Attacking Rolls, -2 Defensive Max 10 Henchmen, +30% on Loyalty/Reaction Rolls SAVING THROWS Needed Vs. 4 Paralysis, Poison, Death 7 Petrify, Polymorph, *Non-magical Missiles* 5 Rod, Staff, or Wand 9 Breath Weapon 6 Spell Her +2 for being a paladin is already added in, but the +6 for her Ring and Cloak are not. She takes no damage if she makes her ST, and takes only half damage even if she misses it. As a monk, she can dodge or deflect non-magical missiles with a ST vs. Petrification. As a Druid she gets +2 ST vs. Fire and Lightning, and her Wisdom gives her a +1 ST vs. Magical attacks affecting the mind or will. She knows the following languages: Common, LE, Thieves Cant, Druidic, Centaur, Dryad, Elvish, Fire Giant, Gnome, Green Dragon, Hill Giant, Lizardman, Manticore, Mindflayer, Orcish, Sprite, Treantish, Auld Wyrmish (Dragon High Speech), the language of the current major civilization, the sign language of the nomadic barbarians, and the dead language of the empire she was born in. She can speak to Animals and Plants. ABILITIES (to save you the trouble of looking them up): Druid: Identify Plant, Animal, Pure Water. Pass through undergrowth without trace. Immune to charm from woodlands beings. Change form 3x/day to any animal. Monk: +4.5 damage with weapons. Armor Class 3. Open hand damage is 2 strikes/round for 1d10+2 each (with Ioun Prism active, damage is 2d6+1), Move 23" (24" with prism). If her open hand to hit roll exceeds the number needed by 5 or more, the target is stunned for 1-6 rounds, and has a (AC+2)% chance of being killed outright (with Prism, add 3 instead of 2). Note that Strength bonuses do not add to openhanded damage. Chance of being surprised is only 18% (17% with prism). Fall up to 30' without damage if wall within 4'. ESP only has a 20% chance to affect her. Beguiling, Charm, Hypnosis, and Suggestion have only a 50% chance to affect her. Unaffected by Haste or Slow. Can feign Death for up to 3 hours. Can heal 1d4+3 on self per day. Paladin: (Note: I'm assuming Evil Paladins get everything Good Paladins do, but reversed. Some GMs allow them both regular abilities or reversed, the same advantage Anti-clerics get. Some give Evil Paladins the same abilities as Good Paladins. Adjust accordingly.) Detect Good 60' range. Lay hands to inflict 16 points/damage 1x/day, and 2 diseases/week. Immune to Disease. Continual Protection from Good 1" radius. Affects undead as a 6th Level Evil Cleric. Paladin's mount and ability with (un)Holy Sword covered below. Thief: +4 to hit and Quintuple damage on a backstab. The following skills already include Dexterity bonuses: Pickpocket 105% Hide in Shadows 85% Open Locks 87% Hear 40% Find/Rem Traps 80% Climb 99.3% Move Silently 99% Read Languages 65% SPELLS: Spells Level Uses Conditions Druid 12 5-5-4-4-3-2-1 13 6-5-5-5-4-3-2 with Ioun Prism Illus. 14 5-5-4-3-2-2-1 15 5-5-4-4-2-2-2 with Ioun Prism Mage 10 4-4-3-2-2 w/o Imp or Prism 11 4-4-4-3-3 w/o Imp but w/ Prism 12 4-4-4-4-4-1 w/ Imp but w/o Prism 13 5-5-5-4-4-2 w/ Imp and Prism Her Raven (Imp) familiar is usually with her, but she only uses the Ioun stones when absolutely necessary. SPELLS KNOWN: She knows all 1st-5th Level Magic spells except as noted. If she is not using the Ioun Sphere to boost her Intelligence, only 18 spells from each level are available. Level 1: requires Sphere: Burning Hands, Mending, Magic Aura unknowable: Charm Person, Ventriloquism Level 3: requires Sphere: Dispel Magic unknowable: Protection from Evil 10'r Level 4: requires Sphere: Dig, Fear, Monster Summon II Level 5: requires Sphere: Animate Dead, Teleport, Rock to Mud, Wall of Stone She knows all 6th Level Magic spells except as noted, but requires either her familiar or the Ioun Prism to use them. Level 6: requires Sphere: Freezing Sphere unknowable: Glassee She knows all 1st-7th Level Illusionist Spells except as noted: Level 1: unknowable: Change Self Level 4: unknowable: Massmorph Level 7: requires Sphere: Vision She is capable of using any druidic spell of the 1st-7th level. Her actual choice will depend on who she's working for (see background). Note that she can always get 1st-2nd, and can usually renew 3rd-5th, but is generally only granted 6th-7th when actually working or in payment for favors done. PSIONICS Psionic Attack and Defense Strength is 125. Psionic Ability is 250. Has all attacks except Ego Whip. Has all 5 Defenses. Has 4 Minor Disciplines: Object Reading, Precognition, Hypnosis (to 105 levels/hit dice), Invisibility (to 105 levels/hit dice). has 2 Major Disciplines: Shape Alteration and Dimension Walk. Note that the table given in the PHB for DW only goes to 10th level of mastery, Taira has hundreds of levels. Her level of mastery for the other 5 disciplines is 14th. Note that she can take her mount and familiar with her when she dimension walks, but will sometimes go without them. Since a dimension walker can travel 1000 leagues in 24 hours, she can appear anywhere. And with her Shape alteration, she can take on any form. These combined with her Precognition make her immensely useful to the deities she serves. === POSSESSIONS === I mean belongings. For demons, see background. Magical belongings: First and foremost "Kesteilian Demonbane," Sword +5 Holy Avenger Lawful alignment, Intelligence 17, Ego 22. Speaks Common, Elvish, and the two languages most widely used for demonaic writings (to destroy the enemy you must know them). Reads languages and magic, and is telepathic. Was given the purpose to Destroy Demons, and in this pursuit can Disentegrate opponents (upon any hit, ST allowed, for purposes of Magic Resistance consider Kes to be the same level as his wielder - 14th in Taira's case). Primary Abilities: Detect Magic in a 1" radius, allows wielder to see Invisible, and will teleport to the hand of the user (and back into sheath). Extraordinary Ability: Heal 1x/day. In the hands of a Lawful Paladin, Kes provides 50% Magic Resistance in a 5' radius, Dispels Magic at the Paladin's level in a 5' radius, and scores +10 Damage vs. CE opponents. "Gialnar," Ring of Spell Storing Stores five spells: C4: Exorcise, C5: Raise Dead, M7: Cacodemon, M8: Trap the Soul, M9: Maze. Note that Taira will use this ring only as a last resort because of the difficulty in replacing its spells. It's most useful when dealing with Demons. Alchemy Jug Cap of Teleportation (as Helm) Cloak of Protection +5 Dust of Disappearance Figurines of Wondrous Power: Ebony Fly, Obsidian Steed, Serpentine Owl Gauntlets of Ogre Power Girdle of Storm Giant Strength Ioun Stones (2): a pale green prism (+1 level), and a red and blue sphere (+1 Intelligence - power has been enhanced to allow it to raise 18 Int to 19) Necklace of Strangulation Ring of Protection +6 on AC, +1 on ST Ring of Vampiric Regeneration Ring of Warmth Scarab of Death (kept in a small bone box) Talisman of the Sphere Wand of Dark Wand of Light Taira wears the Cloak of Protection and Cap of Teleportation. Both are grey. She sometimes wears a raven feather in the cap. She wears the Holy Sword on her back under the cape in a sheath made from demon hide, and has a belt with several compartments to keep her small magics - rings, the Talisman, the Figurines, the Scarab in its airtight box (made from the bones of its last victim, if she had time to pick them up), a few packets of dust, and various spell components, including at least one gem worth 11,000 gold pieces that can be enchanted into a soul prison. She has a money pouch worn on her belt. Also attached to the belt are a pair of Light and Dark wands. One has Continual Light cast on the tip, the other has Continual Dark. Each is in a lightproof sheath. Kse and 'Lyn each have a pair too, since they're easily made. She wears a belt knife for general utility purposes and has a hidden dagger (balanced for throwing) in her boot. If she's expecting trouble she will have at least one knife up her sleeve, and may have other weapons and useful items hidden about her. She wears the Ring of Protection on her left hand. On the other she wears the Ring of Warmth if it's cold and she's not expecting trouble, otherwise the Ring of Regeneration. She only wears the Ring Gialnar while using it. Her Gauntlets are usually tucked in her belt, and the Girdle of Giant Strength is generally packed in the saddlebag unless it's needed. Remember that she has Precognition so if trouble's coming she'll prepare for it well ahead of time. She just doesn't believe in swaggering around with a packful of magic. Her Paladin's Mount is jet black, including the eyes. It has dark leather tack, well made but not fancy. One of the saddlebags has been sealed with various protective spells, and contains her bulkier items when she doesn't have imminent use for them. This includes the Jug, all but a few packets of the Dust, the Ioun Stones, spare or bulky magical components including mistletoe and the special ink and vellum sheets required for Spiritwrack. The other bag contains rations, a change of clothes, and minor camping gear and utensils. She generally creates whatever she needs with magic, but if she is expecting trouble she will carry rations and other gear in order to save her magic for more important matters. COST OF ITEMS 4000 Sword +5 Holy Avenger 1000 Gauntlets of Ogre Power 200 Girdle of Storm Giant Strength! 600 2 Ioun Stones 100 Talisman of the Sphere 4000 Ring of Protection +6/+1 5000 Ring of Vampiric Regeneration 2500 Ring of Spell Storing 1000 Ring of Warmth 3000 Alchemy Jug 5000 Cloak of Protection +5 100 Serpentine Owl 400 Ebony Fly 600 Obsidian Steed 2500 Cap of Teleportation - Dust of Disappearance - Necklace of Strangulation - Scarab of Death ------ 30,000 TOTAL