|
Vansin: Lord of the Venom Signet |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vansin
Medium Outsider (Evil, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 26d8+286 (403 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 41 (+3 Dex, +5 deflection, +15 insight, +20 natural, touch 22, flat-footed 39
Attacks: +3 Vampiric Canesword (longsword) +44/+39/+34/+29 melee and claw +35 melee and bite +35 melee
Damage: +3 Vampiric Canesword (longsword) 1d8+25/ 19-20 plus 1d6 vampiric plus 1 vile, claw 1d6+7 plus poison, bite 1d6+7 plus poison
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./ 10 ft.
Special Attacks: Fear aura, poison, spell-like abilities, spells
Special qualities: Baatezu traits, DR 30/+4, fiendish alacrity, outsider traits, regeneration 7, SR 30, summon baatezu
Saves: Fort +26, Ref +18, Will +27
Abilities: Str 38, Dex 16, Con 30, Int 32, Wiz 27, Cha 30
Skills: Alchemy +21, Balance +23, Bluff +41, Concentration +40, Diplomacy +49, Forgery +21, Gather Information +22, Hide +36, Intimidate +45, Jump +22, Knowledge (arcana) +40, Knowledge (history) +21, Knowledge (the planes) +40, Listen +42, Move Silently +40, Search +40, Sense Motive +42, Spellcraft +40, Tumble +23
Feats: Craft Wonderous Item, Dark Speech, Empower Spell, Vile Martial Strike (Canesword), Malaign Spell Focus, Power Attack, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Penetration, Violate Spell
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 23
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: -
Vansin came to the material plane to gather capital and begin the roots of a ring of criminals that would eventually extend all the way into the underworld. His initial attempts to do this were foiled, mostly by a group of interfering mortals who slew a great deal of his minions in an attempt to cripple his organization and draw the fiend out himself. They were successful, and were all killed in the ensuing battle.
Since then, has sought to rebuild the Signet from the ground up. The mission remains the same, despite changes in member base. His current method of operation is to place spies in the spheres of the mighty and have them disable any attempts for power from the inside. With this advantage, he hopes to cripple rivals enough to absorb them into the Signet with minimal effort.
Otherwise, Vansin has been pursuing artifacts to amass power for himself. One in particular was of vital importance to him, and it rested in a dark depth called Edgehelm. It was Vansin's greatest desire to reclaim the artifact, which had taken a human form and controlled the demi-plane of Edgehelm. For some time, however, Vansin himself seemed hesitant to venture into the realm and recapture it for himself.
There has also been confusion of late as to who exactly Vansin is. The artifact in Edgehelm was rumored to be the real Vansin, rather than the surface devil, and wore a signet ring identical to Vansin's own. The signet itself seemed divided between them.
For a time, Vansin was content to let it wallow.
Eventually, however, he was forced to act on its existence. His trip to Edgehelm, however, took longer than planned, almost half of a year longer. In the time of his absence, the Signet was maintained solely by the mastery and will of Vansin's second in command, Viviana Merquise. And with the help of Merquise, the Lord of the Venom Signet was able to finally find and destroy the creation and absorb its power into himself.
After careful hours of study, Vansin discovered that the artifact from edgehelm gave him the ability to create simulacrums in his image, creatures he could shape to suits his needs. These servants were superior to his Signet followers as they could be programmed to be ignorant to their origins, and so were difficult to trace back to Vansin. He created numerous prototypes after discovering his new talent, though his studies were interrupted by the banishment of Viviana Merquise to the Abyss.
Following Viviana's disappearance, Vansin constructed his first Battery Crystal, an imperfect magical energy repository based on mythological sources of power used eons ago by elven wizards to power whole cities. His method created dark violet crystals which fed off of mortal suffering.
The next two months of Vansin's airship were miserable, though Vansin posited that the ends justified the means, for the combined suffering extracted from thousands of lashings and beatings and extra shifts of work powered the crystal to a point where Vansin was able to use it to create a magical Gate spell large enough to fly the Capita into the Abyss.
He then threw his hordes of mortal soldiers at the denizens of the chaotic, evil demonrealms. Thousands lost their lives, all so that Vansin could murder the single demon who captured his First Officer, freeing her from his control.
. . .
The Venom Signet is the clandestine organization which is managed, almost wholly, by the Fiend himself. In short, Vansin is the Venom Signet, in part due to its freelance nature. Criminals are given jobs by him, during which times they represent the organization. Once their specific mission is over they are let loose to pursue their own individual lives and are not expected to retain any sense of loyalty to the group as a whole. While there are members who serve in an official full-time capacity, they number in the few, and swear complete loyalty to the fiend.
This managing technique, along with Vansin's impressive habit of eluding those who seek to halt his efforts, allows the Fiend an amount of freedom in Gaia Commerce that is unprecedented in most criminal groups.
Members of the Signet can be identified by black rings they carry on them with the letters V and S overlaid upon each other. These rings are rumored to imbue the wearer with special powers derived from the devil himself.
Combat
Vansin prefers to use his spells and spell-like abilities rather than engage in melee. He often summons small groups of Venom Signet devotees to distract enemies while he augments his soldiers and blasts opponents from behind. If confronted with any real threat, Vansin spares no time teleporting somewhere safe.
Fear Aura (Su): As a free action, Vansin can create an aura of fear in a 20-foot radius. It is otherwise identical with the fear spell (caster level 16th; Will DC 31). If the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected by Vansin's fear aura for 24 hours. Other baatezu are immune to the aura.
Fiendish Alacrity (Su): By constantly storing his power, Vansin has developed the ability to release it in a burst of impossible speed and power. Vansin can, for a turn, make two turn's worth of actions. Once he uses this ability, his fiendish energy fluctuates wildly, and he must wait 1d4 rounds before he can use his Fiendish Alacrity again.
Poison (Ex): Vansin delivers his poison (Fort save DC 34) with each successful claw or bite attack. The initial damage is 1d6 points of Constitution damage, the second damage is death.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will-animate dead, blasphemy, charm monster, create greater undead, desecrate, detect good, detect magic, devils ego, fireball, fiendish quickening, geas/quest greater dispelling, hell fire, hellfire storm, magic circle against good, locate creature, locate object, major image, restoration, resurrection, scrying, suggestion, teleport without error, true seeing, unholy aura, unholy blight, unhallow, wall of fire, wall of ice: 1/ day-meteor swarm, mindrape, symbol (any), wish. Caster level 20th; save DC 20 + spell level
Spells: Vansin casts as a 15th-level wizard specialized in the Evocation school. His laboratories in his Airship have spellbooks with every arcane spell in them, so he can prepare whatever he likes, except those form his prohibited school (Illusion).
Spells Prepared (5/8/7/7/7/7/5/4/3; save DC 19 + spell level, or 21 + spell level for Evocation spells and evil spells, or a 23 + spell level for evil Evocation spells):
0--arcane mark, mage hand (2), no light, slash tongue; 1st--charm person, mage armor (2), magic missile (2), shield (2), sleep; 2nd--bull's strength, cat's grace, endurance, Masochism, Sadism, web (2); 3rd--violated darkbolt (2), haste (2), empowered magic missile (2), slow; 4th--arcane eye, damning darkness, detect scrying, empowered violated magic missile, empowered Melf's acid arrow, Otiluke's resilient sphere, charm monster; 5th-- cone of cold, forbidden speech, violated fire shield, violated ice storm, empowered lightning bolt, sending, wall of force; 6th--violated cone of cold, chain lightning, disintegrate, eyebite, empowered violated lightning bolt; 7th--empowered cone of cold, forcecage, gutwrench, whirlwind of teeth; 8th--violated delayed blast fireball, horrid wilting, prismatic wall.
Baatezu Traits: Vansin can communicate telepathically with any creature withing 100 feet that has a language. In addition, he can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell. Vansin is immune to fire and poison, and he has acid resistance 20 and cold resistance 20.
Outsider Traits: Vansin cannot be raised or resurrected.
Regeneration (Ex): Vansin takes normal damage from holy and blessed weapons of at least +3 enhancement.
Summon baatezu (Sp): Twice per day Vansin can automatically summon 3 lemures, osyluths, or barbezu, or 2 erinyes, cornugons, or gelugons.
Possessions: Vansin wields a +3 vampiric longsword and, occasionally a Rod of Lordly Might. He has on him the Ring of the Venom Signet, an artifact of great power: He also wears a Ring of Mind Shielding and a Ring of Spell Storing (Stores: absorb mind, absorb strength, consume likeness and evil weather)
Rod Of Lordly Might:
This rod has functions that are spell-like, and it can also be used as a magic weapon of various sorts. It also has several more mundane uses. The rod of lordly might is metal, thicker than other rods, with a flanged ball at one end and six studlike buttons along its length. (Pushing any of the rod’s buttons is equivalent to drawing a weapon.) It weighs 10 pounds.
The following spell-like functions of the rod can each be used once per day.
-Hold person upon touch, if the wielder so commands (Will DC 14 negates). The wielder must choose to use this power and then succeed on a melee touch attack to activate the power. If the attack fails, the effect is lost.
-Fear upon all enemies viewing it, if the wielder so desires (10-foot maximum range, Will DC 16 partial). Invoking this power is a standard action.
-Deal 2d4 hit points of damage to an opponent on a successful touch attack (Will DC 17 half) and cure the wielder of a like amount of damage. The wielder must choose to use this power before attacking, as with hold person.
The following weapon functions of the rod have no limit on the number of times they can be employed.
-In its normal form, the rod can be used as a +2 light mace.
-When button 1 is pushed, the rod becomes a +1 flaming longsword. A blade springs from the ball, with the ball itself becoming the sword’s hilt. The weapon lengthens to an overall length of 4 feet.
-When button 2 is pushed, the rod becomes a +4 battleaxe. A wide blade springs forth at the ball, and the whole lengthens to 4 feet.
-When button 3 is pushed, the rod becomes a +3 shortspear or +3 longspear. The spear blade springs forth, and the handle can be lengthened up to 12 feet (wielder’s choice), for an overall length of from 6 feet to 15 feet. At its 15-foot length, the rod is suitable for use as a lance.
The following other functions of the rod also have no limit on the number of times they can be employed.
-Climbing pole/ladder. When button 4 is pushed, a spike that can anchor in granite is extruded from the ball, while the other end sprouts three sharp hooks. The rod lengthens to anywhere between 5 and 50 feet in a single round, stopping when button 4 is pushed again. Horizontal bars three inches long fold out from the sides, 1 foot apart, in staggered progression. The rod is firmly held by the spike and hooks and can bear up to 4,000 pounds. The wielder can retract the pole by pushing button 5.
-The ladder function can be used to force open doors. The wielder plants the rod’s base 30 feet or less from the portal to be forced and in line with it, then pushes button 4. The force exerted has a Strength modifier of +12.
-When button 6 is pushed, the rod indicates magnetic north and gives the wielder a knowledge of his approximate depth beneath the surface or height above it.
Ring of the Venom Signet:
This ring, inspired by but surpassing the master and slave rings created by lesser devils, is attuned to Vansin, and can only be removed by him while he is alive. The ring allows Vansin to invade the thoughts of those who wear the keyed Lesser Rings of the Venom Signet, as well as cause them pain, impart spell-like abilities into them and communicate telepathically over and distance (While still on the same plane). The Lesser Ring's union with the Ring of the Venom Signet confers the bonuses of an arcane mark spell for the purposes of scrying and teleporting. If Vansin is ever unconcious, the Ring of the Venom Signet automatically initiates the following:
-It attempts to summon to Vansin's side any and all nearby creatures wearing a Lesser Ring of the Venom Signet.
-All Lesser Rings of the Venom Signet impart a mental warning to their wearers that Vansin is in danger, so long as they are on the same plane of existence.
-It emits a chain lightning spell at anyone not wearing a Lesser Ring of the Venom Signet who approaches within ten feet of Vansin. This power is made obvious before anyone approaches by means of small arcs of lightning which swirl around Vansin's figure.
 The Vansin · Fri Jan 30, 2009 @ 08:10am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
