Character Bio: Zayde Alter

Here is a bio for a character I’m playing in another Pathfinder campaign. He’s an old dwarf wizard named Zayde Alter. References made to the world of Golarion will not be explained.

A Personal Greeting

“Hello, my young friends! I’m Zayde Alter! You can just call me Zayde if you want. It’s a lot easier, isn’t it? I have a terrible memory for names, myself. I once spent a whole month memorizing the name of this one gnome from Brastlewark who was trying to sell me alchemist’s equipment. As though I need any more flasks! Why, I have one of the old flasks the temple of Aroden used to sell healing potions in, back when he was still around. Ah, I miss that old temple. There was one priestess there who was really nice to me. She always told me… WHOA! Whoops! Tripped over my beard, hehehe! Ahem! Where was I…?”

Introduction

Zayde Alter is 391-and-a-half years old. Born in the Five Kings Mountains, he he left his home for Cheliax when he was old enough to set out on his own. (This was, of course, before the death of Aroden and the corruption of Cheliax by the infernal Thrune dynasty.) There he studied the arcane arts under an elven master, a retired adventurer. Zayde, enchanted by his teacher’s stories, decided that he too, would become an adventurer, fighting through the unexplored parts of Golarion to bring back riches and knowledge to the civilized world. As a young man, he did have a brief adventuring career. It was while gathering a team to explore a long-forgotten crypt that he met the love of his life, a

Item Bio: Tsurris

A little bit of lore from the Pathfinder campaign I’m a player in. My character is Cain Ahora, lawful servant of Asmodeus. I’ll probably post a bio of him later. But this post isn’t about him. It’s about his sword.

In the last years of his life, renowned halfling magus and adventurer Macher Kishef turned his talents towards the construction of magical weapons, projects that would contribute in a physical and long-lasting way to his legacy. One of his lesser known works was a certain greatsword made of pure adamantine. It was commissioned by a young man who, despite the loss of several fingers and a violent youth, had found the path of law and had recently been inducted into the Hellknights, an organization devoted to maintaining order and fighting chaos.

The young Hellknight wanted the sword to be enchanted with flame, and asked for it to be called Uris, which meant “My fire” in Thassilonian and “Scorch” in Azlanti (perhaps by coincidence). Macher forged the sword as requested, and inscribed the word Uris in ornate Thassilonian runes on one side, and in flowing Azlanti script on the other side, and studded the hilt with rubies.

Shortly before the sword was completed, however, the Hellknight in question was cursed by

Rogues Gallery: Chinami a.k.a. The Damsel of Deceit

Here’s the next member of my Rogues Gallery. It’s a succubus.

Chinami, a.k.a. The Damsel of Deceit a.k.a. “Melissa”

Chaotic Evil succubus bard/rogue

Chinami, a succubus demon, has dozens of disguises, hundreds of aliases, and only one goal: spreading corruption. Her favorite trick is to pose as a damsel in distress, tricking adventurers or other do-gooders into spreading mayhem as they try to “rescue” her. She has a particular hatred for wizards, or anyone who thinks they’re smart enough to control the uncontrollable energy that is magic. Although, as a demon and general sadist, she’s not too picky about her victims.

Appearance The Damsel of Deceit’s true form is rarely seen, for she is a shapeshifter of the greatest skill. Usually, she assumes the form of a cute young lady with a particularly innocent face, and of whichever race and ethnicity is most common in the area. When she cornered in her natural state, Chinami has wings and horns that clearly proclaim her demonic nature, not to mention hoofed feet, clawed hands and reddish skin. Like all other succubi, she’s breathtakingly beautiful if you overlook the whole demon thing. (This gives a good idea of what she looks like.)

Special Powers Chinami has the innate ability to sense particularly powerful souls, and enjoys twisting them to serve her own ends. As if her vast skill at mundane seduction were not enough, she can read thoughts, and implant

Rogues Gallery: Adamas the Diamond Djinn

Let’s say you’re Batman. You just captured the Joker, handed him over to the cops, and — hey, where’d you go? I just turned my back for a second… Oh, there you are. Stop doing that.

As I was saying. You’re Batman, and you just put the Joker behind bars. How long do you really think it will be before you’re facing him again? A few years? Few months? Next week? You know he’s not going to stay gone forever, right? He’s the goddamn Joker. He’s a great villain. Of course you’re gonna see him again. The writers love him too much to kill him off for good.

TVTropes calls this phenomenon Joker Immunity, and it’s a feature of a good comic book villain. Thanks to Joker Immunity, superheroes really only need a small number of villains to fight over and over again. Sometimes they’ll have a villain- or monster-of-the-week, but in the end, all you need to write a good superhero story is a list of usual suspects, villains to use over-and-over again. This is often called a Rogues Gallery.

Based on this concept, I’m putting together a Rogues Gallery of my own. The villains I have so far are designed for use with Pathfinder, but they’re not tied to that universe or game system. I think I’ll do one post per villain. Here is the first one.

Secrets of the Crowd

If I do another D&D or Pathfinder campaign in the world of Meier, it will almost certainly take place in Silverstream, and involve the vast criminal underground known as the Crowd. Almost none of this would by known by the characters, but it’s interesting enough to share here. (For more information about the Meier setting, click here.)

The Queendom of Lasant’s cities are considered some of the safest places in the world of Meier. The law is fair and strictly enforced, not just by the town guard, but by the elite Knight-Captains, a noble order sworn to a constant war against crime. They are beloved by the people, and considered competent, vigilant, and fair. While any city has its slums, the Knight-Captains maintain general order better than any other crime-fighting organization in the world.

Of course, along with an organized crime-fighting force must come organized crime. Silverstream, one of Lasant’s oldest and greatest cities, is home to what is perhaps the most secretive and dangerous of all criminal syndicates north of the Bocan Islands. It calls itself the Crowd.

According to Her Majesty’s government, the Crowd does not exist. There is no such group: any tales of their exploits are fantasies for misbehaving children, and anyone claiming to work in their name is a delusional maniac. All decent people are encouraged not to worry about such nonsense.

Unfortunately, the Queen’s firm insistence on the non-existence of the Crowd is often taken as proof that it really does exist. Rumors about the organization have even taken on legendary proportions, as almost any suspicious incident or behavior can be blamed, absent evidence to the contrary, on the influence of the Crowd at work. The fact that next to nothing is really known about the Crowd only helps circulate the stories.

As for the Crowd itself… it

Evil Campaign Ideas

Here are some ideas for RPG campaigns where the players are allowed to be evil. The hard thing about running such campaigns is that you need players to still be motivated towards some goal, and to avoid acting randomly (picking fights with NPCs who aren’t meant to be combatants). The first problem can be solved by giving them a well-defined mission, and the second problem can be solved by putting the fear of some higher power into them, either their own bosses or the long arm of the law. With that said, here are my Evil Campaign Ideas.

Kill The Batman In a city plagued by crime, one hero rises to protect the innocent and bring evildoers, like the players, to justice. The gang lords have gathered the party together for a simple mission: Kill the hero. Of course, it won’t really be quite so simple; he didn’t get to be the hero for no reason, you know. They’ll have to find out his one weakness and learn how to exploit it first, and possibly set up some kind of diversion so that when the confrontation finally comes, they can show that goody-two-shoes why evil always triumphs.

Heist! The Royal Vault is the home of the most valuable gems, gold, and works of art in the world. Its entrance is incredibly well protected. Breaking in is rumored to be impossible. But rumors speak of a secret

Gigas’ Tale: G.I.G.A.S.

“Muradin’s rusty blunt warhammer,” swore Gigas. “Sorry, that’s what Johnny says.”

He and Tiva were staring at a cloud of crackling black energy. It was as big as a horse and exactly where Gigas left it, all those years ago.

“No. Okay. No.” Gigas was practically foaming at the mouth. He’d entered that state of controlled rage usually reserved for mortal combat. “We’ve got to do something about this. We have to fix it NOW.” Without waiting for advice, he cast his most powerful Positive Energy spell at the cloud. The resulting reaction blew him 5 feet straight back, and did nothing to help get rid of the evil, cloying mass of Negative Energy.

The succubus helped him back to his feet. “That’s not going to work.”

“Okay, what? Antimagic field?” suggested Gigas, instantly going for his bag of holding and rummaging around for a scroll. Tiva grabbed his arm.

“No. This isn’t some spell that you can just undo.”

“Okay, what then?” shouted Gigas. He felt about to explode.

Tiva was maddeningly calm as she circled the cloud, looking at it from all angles. Some angles she looked at twice. Finally,

Gigas’ Tale: Burning Fury

Gigas stopped his story, and turned away. Tiva sighed.

“This is where the portal to the Negative Energy Plane opened, and the undead started to appear. Isn’t it,” she guessed.

Gigas didn’t say anything. He just looked at the opposite wall.

“I’m sorry,” said the succubus, with true compassion (an unusual feeling for a succubus, but then, she was an unusual succubus). “It really wasn’t your fault, you know. You couldn’t have known…”

“That’s not how it happened,” Gigas said. “I did let him weaken the barriers between worlds, and that is why the undead started appearing. But… it didn’t happen… like that.”

Confusion showed on the redeemed demon’s beautiful face.

---

The wind howled in the damaged air around the summoner. There was a low rumble. And then a voice, a horrible, sneering voice, full of malice, boomed into

Intermission: When Gigas Met Tiva

The exciting conclusion to Gigas’ Tale will be right back! But first, here is the never-before-seen transcript of the first, secret meeting between Gigas and the good succubus Tiva. Tiva has put a spell over Gigas, kidnapping him and making them both ethereal (able to see the real world, but not interact with it). This is the chat log between me and our campaign’s Game Master.

(9:48:30 PM) GM: So, you went off with a “beautiful woman.”
(9:48:39 PM) Gigas: Aye
(9:49:11 PM) GM: You and she talked for some time. It turns out she’s…
(9:49:19 PM) GM: …well, she doesn’t really hide it. She’s a bit evil.
(9:49:40 PM) GM: But she doesn’t quite strike you as quite as evil as she would be should she be a succubus.
(9:49:52 PM) Gigas: Intriguing.
(9:50:22 PM) GM: She tells you that she’s under the orders of a demon summoner called Perlmutter.
(9:50:31 PM) GM: He’s an ogre mage that hangs in the area.
(9:50:38 PM) GM: He’d really like to wipe this place out.
(9:50:48 PM) Gigas: This place, meaning the forest?
(9:51:14 PM) GM: No, more the general region.
(9:51:32 PM) Gigas: Ok;.
(9:51:55 PM) GM: ‘Cause he’s the evil.
(9:52:13 PM) GM: She was ordered to

Gigas’ Tale: So It Has Come To This

Tiva let out a sympathetic groan. “Overshrunk too? What were you, an eighthling?”

“…I got better,” Gigas shrugged.

“I can see that.”

“Plus,” he pointed out, “I got to ride my familiar into battle. I don’t think I ever had such a noble steed.”

“You were that small?”

Gigas nodded. Then he sighed. “I miss Hup sometimes,” he admitted. “Every now and then I see a lizard and I think, what could have been…”

“What happened to him, exactly?” inquired Tiva. “You never really explained properly.”

Gigas closed his eyes. “I