Vote Up A Villain IX! (3.X) [Voting Closed, Villain Complete!]

[arguskos]

Which monsters are you counting as Horrifics, afro? Just curious.

[afroakuma]

Medusa and Nagatha.

[arguskos]

...yeah. Ok then. Did you hit up the Fiend Folio? Yurian's might fit your description (though they're more of a "wtf is that thing? A human crab?" thingy).

Wait... MM2, Kopru (in the appearance alone) and MMIV, Zern Blade Thralls (for the "Frankenstein's Monster" aspect [eg. they used to be human, and now they're... this]). Those surely count as fairly Horrific (though not on Nagatha-scale). Not trying to do your job, but I figured I'd give ya' a hand.

[LordZarth]

You don't say. Maybe the ridiculous alignment and motivation combination, coupled with one of the most difficult Unique types to successfully work with (there are all of two Horrifics that I've found in all of the Monster Manuals) is making things tough.

I'm getting there.

Now, if we had only voted Facade, and Revenge...

[afroakuma]

...yeah. Ok then. Did you hit up the Fiend Folio? Yurian's might fit your description (though they're more of a "wtf is that thing? A human crab?" thingy).

I did. I always dump that in with "the MMs" for simplicity. And a Yurian would be a Zoomorphic.

Wait... MM2, Kopru (in the appearance alone)

Really should be an aberration... I mean, if an athach is an aberration...

and MMIV, Zern Blade Thralls

Same.

On the bright side, I've got the concept solidified now. It's freaky, it's nasty and yet it's still not evil.

[Magnor Criol]

Really should be an aberration... I mean, if an athach is an aberration...

I've always disagreed with that particular type choice.

[afroakuma]

So have I. Did they ever justify it?

[arguskos]

Not that I know of. Anyways, fair enough. Just thought I'd toss them out there.

[Magnor Criol]

I've never seen justifications for any of the MM stuff...I'd love to see a "design notes" book sometime, that'd be really interesting to read design notes and philosophy thrown around by those guys.

This villain seems to be taking longer than usual.

I think this is magnified by the fact that afro's also not starting up another VUAV as he's crafting this one like usually does...so we don't have anything to distract us, so to speak.

[afroakuma]

Oh, trust me, I'm on top of it.

[Thane of Fife]

Medusa and Nagatha

What are hags and grimlocks and, to some degree, gargoyles and harpies and kuo-toa if not horrific (I could sort of see gargoyles as Facade and Kuo-toa as Zoomorphic, but I don't think those are their schticks, like how a Minotaur is a bull-man)?

[afroakuma]

What are hags and grimlocks and, to some degree, gargoyles and harpies and kuo-toa if not horrific (I could sort of see gargoyles as Facade and Kuo-toa as Zoomorphic, but I don't think those are their schticks, like how a Minotaur is a bull-man)?

Gargoyles are Zoomorphic.
Grimlocks are Degenerate.
Hags are Degenerate.
Harpies are Zoomorphic.
Kuo-Toa are somewhere between Degenerate and Zoomorphic, being basically fish-men/frog-men in their 3.X depiction.

[Thane of Fife]

Huh, I completely missed that degenerate category when I just looked (though I'm curious why you list them as degenerate; what are they degenerate of? In general, they're stronger and more powerful than humans, though I could perhaps see it for Kuo-toa).

And how are gargoyles zoomorphic? They're no animal-shaped at all!

[afroakuma]

Huh, I completely missed that degenerate category when I just looked (though I'm curious why you list them as degenerate; what are they degenerate of? In general, they're stronger and more powerful than humans, though I could perhaps see it for Kuo-toa).

Degenerate meaning debased, more inhuman. Derro would be Degenerate, for example.

And how are gargoyles zoomorphic? They're no animal-shaped at all!

They're kinda dragon-shaped... ish...

They're certainly not Horrific. They're a conglomeration of the features of two animals with a human and rocky skin. No special abilities, not particularly bright... Facade might be a very loose fit, if it were extended to mimicking things other than living humanoinds...

[Magnor Criol]

Oh, trust me, I'm on top of it.

Don't worry, I trust you. At least...I trust you that you're working on both at the moment, and simply delaying Round X for dramatic effect (and because you're looking for something related to lever #2)...not that I trust you not to mislead me for your own twisted amusement.
Because I know you will.
You trickster you.

[afroakuma]

Well, also because there's been some concern about burnout and I'd like the smoke to clear before such an important round.

[Magnor Criol]

Which makes perfect sense to me. I was really hoping you'd do that, honestly, even before this round started. Auspicious events need some white space before to punctuate them, ne?

[afroakuma]

I'd prefer they didn't, but I'll delay until the public says otherwise.

[arguskos]

VUAV X better be the best damn thing since AIR itself, and must cure at least 3 forms of cancer. If it doesn't, we will all give you a disapproving finger-shake.

Of course, I have no doubt that it will be suitably awe-inspiring.

[afroakuma]

It's going to start off on a hilarious note, to be sure.

[arguskos]

Type Vote
Option #1: Whatever.
Option #2: Animal.
Option #3: What, you thought this would be fair?

[LordZarth]

It's going to start off on a hilarious note, to be sure.

I seem to remember posting a hypothetical VUAV-X earlier...

[Thane of Fife]

Degenerate meaning debased, more inhuman. Derro would be Degenerate, for example.

I can see that with Grimlocks and Derro, I suppose, but Hags? They're hideous monsters of enormous strength that eat people.

They're more like ogres disguised as old ladies than anything debased.

They seem like a good fit with horrific to me.

They're kinda dragon-shaped... ish...

They're certainly not Horrific. They're a conglomeration of the features of two animals with a human and rocky skin. No special abilities, not particularly bright... Facade might be a very loose fit, if it were extended to mimicking things other than living humanoinds...

Eh, maybe... I don't know.

Perhaps a better question would be "How do you define Horrific?"

[afroakuma]

They're more like ogres disguised as old ladies than anything debased.

Sounds like a debasement of old ladies to me.

They're hideously ugly humanoids who crave sentient flesh. That's Degenerate.

Eh, maybe... I don't know.

Fine, then perhaps I needed another classification for Gargoyles; however, nothing springs to mind that they wouldn't be the sole representatives of.

Perhaps a better question would be "How do you define Horrific?"

A) You'll find out in the next 10 minutes.

[Lord_Gareth]

Weeeeeeeeeee!

I'm voting for an Aberration in VUAV-X, with the stipulation that we NOT go for the horrid cthulu-mind flayer bullsh*t. I've had enough of that...

[afroakuma]

Tsartajius
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Elf)
HD 15d8+90 (157 hp)
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Init: +5
AC 29; touch 15; flat-footed 24 (+10 natural, +5 Dex, +4 armor)
BAB +15; Grp +20
Attack Claw +20 melee (2d4+5 and numbing poison, 17-20/x2)
Full Attack 2 claws +20 melee (2d4+5 and numbing poison, 17-20/x2) and bite +18 melee (2d6+2, 19-20/x2)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Soul drain, poison, gaze of terror
Special Qualities Elf traits, thin breath, shattered soul, low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft., DR 10/good, SR 20
Saves Fort +11 Ref +17 Will +15
Abilities Str 20, Dex 21, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 16, Cha 19
Skills Climb +23, Hide +27, Intimidate +22, Jump +18, Listen +20, Move Silently +27, Search +6, Spot +20
Feats Ability Focus (poison), Alertness, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (claw), Multiattack, Power Attack
Challenge Rating 12
Alignment Lawful neutral

Tsartajius is a coldhearted monstrosity missing half of his soul.

Tsartajius is terrifying to behold; standing six feet tall on on the balls of his taloned feet. When not hooded by his cloak, Tsartajius wears only a draped kilt. His skin is chalk-white, with black swirls demarcating old scars. His musculature is slim, taut and wiry, and his fingers are tipped with sharp, finned claws. But it is his face that crafts nightmares: Unhooded, Tsartajius' face is elongated, his cranium flattened. His ears are long, swept back and pointed, each a deep black color. His eyes are shaped like stretched almonds, extending to near his temples at their outermost points, and dead white without hint of iris nor pupil. He has two narrow slits instead of a nose. His mouth is filled with three rows of razor-sharp teeth that protrude an inch outside of his lips.

Combat
Tsartajius fights to incapacitate as rapidly as possible, killing only stubborn targets or those who clearly pose a significant threat to his well-being. He may also kill if it would simply be the most efficient manner, but many enemies will back down long before this is the case. His numbing poison is usually ually sufficient deterrents when his gaze of terror is not enough.

Soul Drain (Su) Tsartajius can unleash a 30 ft. ray that taps into the victim's soul and weakens it as a standard action. Tsartajius must succeed on a ranged touch attack with this flickering gray beam. The ray bestows 2 negative levels on the victim, conferring 10 temporary hit points to Tsartajius. The Fortitude save DC to remove these negative levels is 20, and is Constitution-based.

Poison (Ex) Injury, Fortitude DC 25, initial and secondary damage 1d8 Dex. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Gaze of Terror (Su) As a spiritual descendant of a bodak, Tsartajius' bared gaze provokes a supernatural terror all its own. Those directly observing Tsartajius within 30 ft. must make a Will save (DC 21) each round or become panicked for 1 minute. When actively attacking with his gaze, Tsartajius lets out an unearthly screeching hiss and opens the false eye-slits on his face, letting his three tongues lash the air. Creatures observing the active gaze must make an additional Fortitude save (DC 21) or die.

Elf Traits (Ex) Tsartajius is immune to sleep spells and effects and receives a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells and effects. Tsartajius has a +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. If he so much as passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door, he is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if he were actively looking for it.

Thin Breath (Ex) Tsartajius does not require much air to survive, although he does breathe. The filtering slits covering his nostrils render him immune to inhaled poisons or the effects of foul stenches, including but not limited to stinking cloud.

Shattered Soul (Ex) Tsartajius does not have enough of a soul remaining to be affected by attack forms that would influence it. He is immune to energy drain, death effects and effects that specifically target the soul, such as magic jar, trap the soul etc. If slain, he cannot be ressurected.

Skills Tsartajius' thin breathing grants him a +4 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks.

Equipment Tsartajius wears a kilter of spectral cladding and usually conceals his appearance with a long, hooded cloak of resistance +3. Around his neck he wears his mother's amulet of health +6, and the thick black sash that supports the kilt is a belt of proof against detection and location. He carries an enchanted black opal that can open a gate to the Abyss, calling forth a bodak under his complete control for five minutes.

Tsartajius

Adventuring while pregnant is full of risks, and for none morseo than Kaela Amastatia, whose husband was lost during a raid on a dark temple's catacombs. Still in her first trimester, she felt sure of her capability leading a band to his rescue. During the course of the quest, they encountered one of the dark abyssal denizens occupying the catacombs - a bodak. Miraculously, Kaela survived the gaze of true, fatal evil, and her husband was saved from the dregs of the hidden cult. However, his escape came at a terrible price.

The elven midwife felt that something was amiss when she discerned a twin in Kaela's womb for the first time four months after conception. She consulted a doctor, who in turn consulted a cleric, who cast the auguries. Somehow, the encounter with the bodak had stirred Kaela's body to increase the life it held, to protect her unborn child.

Kaela insisted that she take her children to term, as elf pregnancies are rare and to be treasured. The midwife concurred, and the doctor and cleric were reluctantly forced to agree. Kaela gave birth to two children; the first was a silky albino with a long skull and large, milky eyes. Its twin was a beautiful little girl child. Though exceedingly rare, the clerics of Sehanine told the young mother, it had happened that she had brought to term a Deadened One.

The elf couple named their cursed son Tsartajius, and tried to build a life with him and his sister, but as the morose child waxed so too did they wane. The child was unresponsive to love and compassion, and shrank from all save its infant twin. Not three years had passed but that the elf village began to fear the tainted child. A zealous townsperson discovered the tainted infant and rallied a mob to kill the child, whose wretched, hideous screams only whipped the terrified crowd into a panicked frenzy. Though Kaela and her husband fled, the Deadened One's sibling was killed during a fall while they ran.

The Villainous Turn

The nature of the Deadened is that they must grow symbiotically with their twin and draw from the other's soul to complete their own. Tsartajius' own twin having died, his soul was half incomplete and could never fully live or experience joy.

At first, he merely tapped his parents for sustenance; however, they succumbed to the draining over time and died. Left alone, Tsartajius disguised himself and returned to elf society, a cloaked child by day and a feral predator by night. When he grew fearful of the elves' suspicions, he exiled himself to human lands.

Far from being a complete being, he suffered through centuries with a dark emptiness, as the fractured edges of his half-soul slowly leaked away. He became more and more monstrous in appearance and in power, needing to consume the souls of others to sustain his fragmented essence. The despairing emptiness led him to seek answers, acting always with a burning efficiency. Living in sewers, caverns and back alleys, Tsartajius played the role of urban monster reluctantly as he pillaged all available resources to discover his origins.

In the last century, Tsartajius learned the truth of his existence, and contracted a necromancer to create for him a bodak-conjuring gem. Now, he imprisons pregnant elf women, trying to find one who can survive the death gaze of the undead creature so that he may restore his soul using her children. In the meantime, he must live off the drained soul energy of other mortals. His studies indicate to him that the immature twin will certainly die in the soul-sharing, since his void is so great that it will consume entirely the infant's soul. He has neglected so far the fact that if he succeeds, he will inadvertently continue the pattern.

Encounters

Tsartajius is absolute in his devotion to his goal, and to the best of its ability avoids those who are not needed to achieve it. He does, however, need to tap into mortal souls to keep himself alive, and it is this feeding that often brings him into conflict with outsiders. Also, he may seek out those who have information or skills that he needs.

Though Tsartajius takes care to conceal his appearance, and tries to pass through mortal lands without causing a ripple, he has had to kill those who seriously impeded him. He is unconcerned with nobility or generosity, but does not see his plan as wrong. Rather, he sees it as the only way to right the wrong of his own existence, and fill the rift that should have been healed by his twin sister. Tsartajius attempts to fulfill bargains to the letter, preferring that no loose ends are left behind.

The other source of conflict with Tsartajius is his terrifying appearance; elves in particular fear him, and most do not know the tales of the Deadened. He is considered an abomination, who coldly murders life unborn and its bearers, and his passing has brought great tragedy to the elves. Though despairing of ever becoming fully alive, Tsartajius holds himself to certain standards. He restricts himself to taking only those discernably pregnant, and tries to limit his activities in any particular region.

Tsartajius is often forced to hide in inhospitable locales, where even the need for souls is outweighed by the need for food. The leaping, hissing, clawed nightmare has inspired adventuring parties, lynch mobs and more rural terror than most dragons. He keeps a nocturnal lifestyle, striking out from the shadows and letting his gaze herd prey and victims. Though capable of opening a rift to the Abyss, he never does so except to bring forth a bodak, and actively works to eliminate anything else that sneaks through. Tsartajius sees this method as the only possible course of action, and dislikes employing it except for his experiments.

Direct encounters with Tsartajius are terrifying; the chill sucking away of one's soul, the shrieking hiss as the three razor rows of teeth spread wide; the dead, maggoty eyes that stretch too far across his face; the cunning, predatory grace that seems to outline his movements. Tsartajius will try to extract information and goods as needed in as pragmatic a method as possible, and remove obstacles either by causing them to flee or killing them. He has varied in his feeding tactics, usually choosing either to selectively drain small amounts of soul energy from multiple victims or selecting one person, draining their soul entirely and consuming the remains to satiate his physical needs.

Recently, Tsartajius has realized the difficulty of procuring pregnant elves, and has decided to experiment with other humanoid races, in the hopes that the properties of the Deadened will repeat themselves in another race, giving him the soul he needs to feel complete and to stop his very essence from fading away. Though he does try to be selective and avoid races with diminishing or slow-growing populations, Tsartajius understands that his best chance lies among the elves, whose population he erodes only with great reluctance.

Plot Hooks

•An elf town has been plagued by a malevolent undead, so fearsome as to cause death upon mere sight, which has so far exclusively killed young women. The elves do not know how to counter a beast that they dare not see.

•An intimidating, heavily-robed traveler is passing through town, as is a deadly sickness that clerics seem unable to heal.

•A powerful elf paladin and her retinue are to lead the celebration of Corellon's great mass in one week's time. However, one by one, the members of her group are vanishing, seemingly pulled into the darkness by a hissing clawed mockery of elvenkind. The faithful grow fearful, and the leaders are worried that something is attempting to spoil the high mass.

•A new form of predator has made its way into the countryside, slaughtering livestock and leaving entire families dead without a mark.

•The dwarven trade delegation has returned fearing a grotesque act of war from unknown forces, detailing the grim spectacle of a dozen pregnant elfwomen left dead in the center of a once prosperous, and now abandoned, elf city.

•Recent attacks by savage humanoids against the civilized centers of the elven lands are becoming more precise and coordinated. They seem to expressly target women and children for kidnapping. Though the elves fear that the drow are involved, even the ancient enemies are uncertain of how to approach the new threat.

---

Belt of Proof against Detection and Location
This thick black sash protects the wearer from scrying and magical location just as a nondetection spell does. If a divination spell is attempted against the wearer, the caster of the divination must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 26 (as if the caster had cast nondetection on herself).

Moderate abjuration; CL 15th; Craft Wondrous Item, nondetection; Price 70,000 gp.

Kilter of Spectral Cladding
This broad kilt covers the thighs entirely and drapes lower between the legs. It surrounds the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him a +4 armor bonus, just as though he were wearing armor.

Moderate conjuration; CL 8th; Craft Wondrous Item, mage armor. Price 20,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

[Lord_Gareth]

...This is awesome.

It is also an Aberration. Yes, the typeline says monstrous humanoid, but this is quite distinctly an Aberration.

[Atelm]

Great work as always, Afro. But to me he feels more evil than neutral, even if he is attempting to refrain from killing unnecessarily.

[afroakuma]

Well that won't do. Erased.

[vegetalss4]

Well that won't do. Erased.

what
Why did you take away the awesome before we saw it why