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View Full Version : Zuabmar the Apostate (Stats & Flavor) + Epic Blood Magus Feats + Blood Related Spells



Witch
2007-12-29, 08:55 AM
Spill the Blood [Epic]
By inflicting significant wounds upon yourself, you can substitute blood for even more expensive material components.
Requirements: Heal 23 ranks, Spellcraft 27 ranks
Benefit: By slashing an artery, a blood magus can draw sufficient blood to supplace an expensive material component. For every 250 gp of the material component, the wound must deal 1d6 damage. Afterwards, the wound ceases bleeding. Slashing open an artery requires a slashing weapon, and counts as a swift action if using a light weapon, or a move action if using another type of weapon.

Smaller Scars [Epic]
Scarification takes less space on your body than normal.
Requirements: Heal 15 ranks, Spellcraft 24 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 24 ranks
Benefit: You may inscribe smaller magical scars upon your body. Your skin can hold an additional six scars.
Special: You may take this feat up to a maximum of four times. Its effects stack.

Greater Blood Draughts [Epic]
The magical energies in your blood have a greater potential than usual.
Requirements: Spellcraft 18 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 24 ranks
Benefit: You may store spells of up to 4th level in your own blood, by the rules of the Brew Potion feat except for the maximum level of spells.
Special: You may take this feat up to three times. Whenever you take it, you may store spells of one level higher in your blood, up to a maximum of 6th level.

Lasting Homunculus [Epic]
Your homunculus is difficult to slay permanently.
Requirements: Spellcraft 33 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 24 ranks, homunculus
Benefit: Whenever your homunculus is slain, it is reborn in your blood after 2d4 hours. If you have no open wounds, you take 4d6 points of damage as it opens a wound to escape from. This rebirth does not afflict you with any permanent hit point loss. Casting wish or miracle after defeating it can succesfully destroy your homunculus permanently.
Note: You still take 2d10 points of damage when your homunculus dies.

Reign Over Blood [Epic]
You may awaken the blood of other creatures to greater effect.
Requirements: Spellcraft 24 ranks, awaken blood
Benefit: Your awaken blood ability deals an additional number of dice of damage equal to your primary spellcasting modifier.

Sanguine Awakenings [Epic]
You may awaken the blood of other creatures more often.
Requirements: Spellcraft 24 ranks, awaken blood
Benefit: Your awaken blood ability can be used an additional two times per day.
Special: You may pick this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.

Bloodwalker [Epic]
Your bloodwalking takes almost no effort.
Requirements: Spellcraft 24 ranks, bloodwalk
Benefit: You may bloodwalk an additional three times per day.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Its effects stack.

Greater Bloodseeking [Epic]
By inflicting ever greater wounds upon yourself, you deal ever more damage.
Requirements: Heal 27 ranks, Spellcraft 30 ranks, bloodseeking spell
Benefits: For every three additional points of damage you deal to yourself, your damaging spell deals an additional 1d6 points of damage. You may add a maximum number of dice to your spell damage equal to half your caster level.




Vile though any soul may be, there is always a chance, however minute, at redemption. Many creatures have succesfully taken this opportunity, even though many more continue their depravities to this day. Contrary to popular belief, redemption is not the most difficult path, for there is a third path: one can walk the thin line in between. Rare is the individual that treads carefully enough to maintain such a way of life, as hazards litter its way.

Many decades ago, a young orc named Zuabmar apprenticed himself to his tribe's clergy: the priests of Gruumsh. Over the course of a few years, suspicions about his nature grew. Though the tribe's most recent adept eagerly participated into its bloody ceremonies, Gruumsh' other commands seemed to hold little if any authority over him. Eager with the knife, Zuabmar was far less willing to wield sword or axe. While his motives were initially unclear, through subtle differences in behavior and little details about his sacrificial practice, his superiors were able to discern them more clearly. Their apprentice did not seem to be entirely devoted to the One-Eyed God. While Zuabmar's practice was ritualistically entirely correct, going far enough even to have his eye cut out during his clerical annointment, his lack of sincerity grew ever more apparent. Only during monthly sacrificial rites were his actions truly sincere - even inspired.

Blood was what stirred the young orc's spirituality: its sight, its smell, its taste, even its anticipation. Zuabmar cared naught for Gruumsh' cult, except as a means to a goal: the spiritual handling of blood, the fluid that held the energies of life itself, the substance whose very presence stirred within him a deep feeling of ecstacy. After a few years, this became apparent to even the most oblivious of the One-Eyed God's clergy. Zuabmar's punishment came unexpectedly to him, as did its proportions: the mere charge of heresy sufficed in ensuring the lowly priest's gruesome end. While his former masters cut out his heart, blood poured all across his body, enveloping chest and filling his mouth and lungs. To anyone else, it would have been torture. To Zuabmar, it was pure ecstacy.

Nonetheless, the heretic's ritual sacrifice did not prove to be his final end. In an act of pure malice, the tribe's chief priest of Yurtrus raised the young blasphemer from his untimely end, believing one that takes such joy in slicing the hearts of living creatures to be a great instrument of death. Having had far less association with the former priest, Yurtrus' cultist did not see beyond what was apparent to any tribesmember. By resurrecting the slaughtered Zuabmar, he had thought to please his god and weaken that god's overlord, the reviled Gruumsh. Unfortunately, the priest was disappointed. While reports of how exactly the unwise cleric addressed the heretic are missing, there is no doubt about the results: when the sun rose anew the next day, Zuabmar had disappeared, and his “benefactor” lay dead in his tent, his heart carved out of his chest.

For years, the former priest of Gruumsh disappeared from history. Though this time played a great role in his personal development, its importance for the rest of reality lies only in the type of man that resulted from this period. Filling his time with study, meditation and shamanistic rituals, Zuabmar wandered the planes, carrying almost nothing with him but for a few memories and relics of his past days, among them a battered spellbook, written on the skins of his sacrificial victims, a few talismans and the blade used in Gruumsh' ceremonies. After roughly a decade of self-inforced exile, the orc once again established himself as a religious figure, now no longer as a priest of the One-Eyed God, but clearly assuming the name of Zuabmar the Apostate. Subtly investigating orc tribes across many worlds, the orc mage sought out figures unhappy with Orcish racial division, or with their brutality. To those who were willing to listen, he acted as a prophet, spreading a tendency of spiritualistic worship of life. Rather than denying religiosity, the Apostate denied the Orcish gods are worth being worshipped, given their tendency of promoting hatred within even the own group, and inflicting unjust punishment. Upon Zuabmar's advice, many orcish groups estabished fruitful relationships with others of their kind, and even different races altogether. Nonetheless, all of the prophet's subtlety did not suffice to keep his enterprises secret from the furious Orcish gods; whenever any group of the Apostate's grew significant enough to be noticed, it did not take long for a zealous worshipper of traditional gods to head a vicious crusade against his unorthodox brethren.

Nonetheless, the Reformer's teachings appealed to a great many orcs, half-orcs and even other races. Though those who shared his faith remained a minority in every sense of the word, it was, and still is, a vastly large minority, consisting of millions upon millions of believers, spread across over a hundred worlds, most of whom have never even seen the Apostate, and a significant minority of which has not even heard of him. Blood, from both sentient creatures and animals, takes a significant part in this spirituality, being the symbol of life itself. Unlike traditional sacrifices, Zuabmar's newfound spiritualism eschews the slaughter of innocent sentient creatures. Instead, it involves animal sacrifice (particularly rams and bulls), along with the ritual consumation of its blood, in hope of not only acquiring more of the beast's characteristics, but also of increasing one's vitality. Humanoid blood, or rather sentient blood in general, tends to be used in less extreme degrees. The Apostate preaches against all sentient sacrifice, but stimulates using blood as representation of one's kinship, maturity or development. For example, a common initiation rite for adolescents involves drinking the blood of one of the tribe's adults, symbolically infusing them with this maturity. One can find similarly sanguine rituals for purposes of marriage, adopted brotherhood, leadership, and many other phenomena as well.

Loathe to permanently establish himself among any of his tribes, fearing to endanger them in particular through his vicinity, Zuabmar has based his, and the majority of his direct associates in Sigil, where he has built the Hrash Vang Trohr, a large academy for study of the tradition of Orcish culture, both in past, present and future. Though study of the old gods is tolerated and even encouraged in this academy, their worship is not – even though worship of neutrally or good aligned gods is considered acceptable. Beyond seeking simple understanding of what is currently the case or can be expected to occur, the Hrash Vang Thror is concerned with seeking to establish a theory of how Orcs can act as accepted beings without abandoning all of their ancient traditions, and regularly attempts to spread these ideas towards their lesser learned kin. Beyond this, the academy desires to be the living disproof of common stereotyping orcs as mere malevolent, ignorant and stupid barbarians. Members of the academy, and Zuabmar's religion as a whole, attempt to combine what they consider morally and politically acceptable with their ancient traditions, placing them in a somewhat unique position among their kin: not radically changed, but, in the eyes of many other races, improved. It should be said, however, that many members of the Hrash Vang Trohr have adapted a less tribal culture than most members of their spiritualistic religion. Even the Apostate himself could be argued to have at least partially grown beyond the limitations of Orcish tradition, possibly having diverged far more strongly from traditional Orcish culture than his adherents or even he himself may believe.

From his position in Sigil, Zuabmar is easy to reach for most Orcish tribes with access to planar portals or magicks that can span beyond single worlds. Those tribes that lack this type of access are sent emissaries on a regular basis; how often this occurs generally depends on a tribe's specific situation, particularly on the amount of hazards it has to deal with and its size. For safety, the Apostate requests blood samples from any clan chief that converts to his faith, allowing him to monitor and locate a tribe easily should it be necessary. Though some tribal leaders have refused to donate their blood in this way, fearing for their independence, the great majority have fulfilled Zuabmar's request, and though some of them are more closely connected to the Reformer's commands than others, to such an extent that one could call him a chief of chiefs, others have largely maintained their independence, while still heeding their prophet's advice.

The Apostate's practices have angered almost the entirety of the Orcish pantheon, though Gruumsh above all. The One-Eyed God regularly instigates wars against those who have abandoned him, but sees many of his efforts twarted by his former subjects' newfound allies among more civilized peoples. Beyond that, he has demanded the permanent execution of Zuabmar himself, but none of his minions have so far managed to handle this task succesfully – some rumors state the Apostate has been killed before, but was resurrected by his associates or his own contingencies. To this day, the Reformer continues his efforts to drive his people away from hatred, eternal war and the old gods, and into the arms of unity and a reformed tradition. Sometimes, however, peace cannot be maintained, and war is forced upon even the most peaceful people. Zuabmar regularly aids those associated with him personally, particularly when opponents have supernatural support as well. His personal commitment to aiding his people has caused some of his peoples to view him in soteriological light: while some may view the orcish reformer as a blasphemer, others see him as a savior. Most known of all these interventions is his battle of wills with one of Gruumsh' champions, in order to buy his people sufficient time to escape elsewhere. Though those who associate themselves with the Reformer argue that it was an actual proxy of Gruumsh that was stopped temporarily, their enemies deny this; it remains uncertain to this day whether or not Gruumsh' power was directly involved in this battle.

Though one may get the impression Zuabmar's enemies are limited to the orcish pantheon, this is a faulty one. While it is true that other races are generally more tolerant of the Apostate's reformed orcs, there are still a number of exceptions that remain sceptical, or even refuse to acknowledge the possibility of orcs changing away from their depraved ways, and stubbornly cling to a racist ideology. This latter category is dominated by elves and dwarves, two species that harbor an ancient rivalry with orcs, and have often been taught to think of them only in terms of evil. While initially, the Apostate attempts to resolve issues diplomatically, he does not shun the use of reasonable amounts of violence in self-defence. Particularly when intolerance is stirred by supernatural sources, Zuabmar is eager to resort to force. The devil Rhalik is known for his ability to dominate through intolerance of differences; it is no wonder that his personal involvement with the orc tribes lead to a situation sufficiently desperate to call the Reformer's attentions. Though the origins of the sudden feelings of racial and religious animosity were initially unclear, the eventual discovery of the Bigot explained a lot. In combination with a number of elven high mages, dwarven thanes and a number of his own initiates, Zuabmar banished the vile devil back towards his prison.

Beyond intolerance, the Reformer's movement holds a focus on actively combating and defending against vampires, as well as pestilences. Due to the reformed orcs' rituals, the danger of pestilences is obvious: if one were to become ill, it would be easy to infect one another. As such, they take great care in avoiding such dangers, and in combating the servants of those who spread disease. Zuabmar's issues with vampires are less incidental, however, and closer to internal to his entire ideology. Given his reverence of blood as a symbol for life, vampirism stands as a clear perversion of all he considers pure. Though this may be true of all undeath, as its negation of all life, vampires raise it to an entirely different level through removing the blood of the living in order to fuel their state of unliving. As such, an entire department of the Hrash Vang Trohr investigates the location of specific vampires, details about their existence and identity, as well as new ways to combat them. Some of the Apostate's minions involve themselves in actively tracking down the weaker vampires, while the greater are left to Zuabmar himself. Generally, these consist of elder vampires; however, in a few rare cases, he has been required to deal with eminent vampires, and a single time, with an ancient vampire – though very little is known about the latter case, it is suspected he received help.


Zuabmar appears as a middle-aged orc, though he is older than he seems, having used vitalistic rituals that lengthen his lifespan. His skin is a dark green mottled with blotches of brown, while his hair is almost black, except for a few streaks of gray in it. Dressed elaborately in a colorful robe, decorated with intricate Orcish traditional symbols and vivid depictions of Orcish life, his arms are nonetheless left bare, revealing dozens of scars on both of them. To the top of them, near his elbows, the scarification fades, revealing that this area is filled with other mutilation: magical runes readable by those trained in doing so are tattood into his skin. Similar tattoos can be seen on his sandaled feet, as well as below his neck, around which a boney amulet is draped. At his side hangs a spellbook of dread origins, recognisable by a bare few for the humanoid skins it consists of, and a curved ritual dagger. The Apostate carries a stave in his hands at nearly all times, though he does not lean on it. Atop it stands the symbol for his religion, a heart held high by a half-open hand; its sides are, like his dagger and parts of his skin, covered with magical runes.


ZUABMAR THE APOSTATE (CR 28)
Wizard 10/Blood Magus 26
NN Medium Humanoid (Orc)
Init +0; Senses arcane sight*, darkvision 60 ft., see invisibility*, Listen +10, Spot +10
Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Orc, Undercommon
*: these spells have been rendered permanent by use of permanency.
__________________________________________________ ___________

AC 57, touch 17, flat-footed 57 (+40 armor°, +7 insight)
hp 515 (10d4 + 26d6 +399), fast heal 15; DR 15/bludgeoning
Immune death effects, energy drain, negative energy effects, mind-affecting effects, information gathering by divination spells or effects.
SR 22*
Weakness light sensitivity
Fort +37*, Ref +24*, Will + 40*
°: Every three days, Zuabmar prepares and cast greater epic mage armor.
*: Zuabmar has SR 10 + 1/3 caster levels because of a magic tatoo. Another tattoo provides him with a +2 resistance bonus to all saving throws.
__________________________________________________ ___________

Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee +29 tauroctonic kris (1d4 + 11)
Melee +23 touch
Ranged +18 touch
Base Atk +18; Grp +23
Special Actions maximized awaken blood (25d10) 3x/day, blood component, blood walk 4x/day, greater bloodseeking spell, regain spell
Combat Gear tauroctonic kris, staff of the orcish prophet
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Typical Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 38th)*
*: Zuabmar receives a +1 bonus to his caster level because of a magic tattoo.
Epic (3/day)— esoteric aegis°, superb dispelling, unlimited bloodwalk
9th (6/day)— dominate monster, effulgent epuration, mage's disjunction, maximized polar ray (x2), oceans of blood (x2), quickened limited wish (x2), time stop.
8th (6/day)— maximized delayed blast fireball, mind blank°, polar ray, quickened disintegrate (x2), quickened greater dispel magic, quickened mass suggestion, quickened true seeing, sunburst, superior invisibility.
7th (7/day)— greater arcane sight, forcecage, quickened chain lightning, quickened lucent lance (x2), quickened wall of force (x2).
6th (7/day)— greater dispel magic, imperious glare, incorporeal nova, mass bull's strength, quickened force missiles, quickened ray deflection, true seeing.
5th (7/day)— ball lightning, persistent disguise self, quickened dimension door (x2), quickened fly, sending, telepathic bond.
4th (7/day)— assay spell resistance, black tentacles, bloodstar, burning blood, forcewave, orb of force, quickened scorching ray.
3rd (8/day)— bands of steel, gentle repose, maximized scorcing ray, quickened magic missile (x2), suggestion, wind wall.
2nd (8/day)— create magic tattoo, fireburst, life bolt (x2), magic mouth, obscure object, phantasmal assailants, spawn screen.
1st (8/day)— backbiter, cause fear, light of Lunia, mount, serene visage, true strike (x2), wall of smoke.
0th (4/day)— arcane mark, light, prestidigitation (x2).
°: has been cast already.

Spell-like Abilities (CL 38th)
1/day—death knell (DC 21)
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Abilities Str 21, Dex 11, Con 32, Int 40, Wis 30, Cha 29
SQ durable casting, esoteric aegis, mind blank, stanch
Feats Brew Potion (Blood Draughts)*, Craft Contingent Spell, Cooperative Spell, Extend Spell, Great Fortitude, Maximize Spell, Persistent Spell, Practiced Spellcaster, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll*, Scribe Scroll (Scarification)*, Toughness
Epic Feats Epic Spellcasting, Greater Blood Draughts (x2), Greater Bloodseeking, Improved Metamagic (x2), Lasting Homunculus, Multispell, Reign over Blood, Smaller Scars, Spill the Blood
Skills Concentration +44, Diplomacy +20, Gather Information +20, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana) +47, Knowledge (geography) +25, Knowledge (history) +47, Knowledge (religion) +48, Knowledge (the planes) +47, Spellcraft +54, Perform (oratory) +28
Possessions combat gear, amulet of the ancestors, mark of the apostate, ring of arcane glory, the apostate's robe
Spellbook Zuabmar has immediate access to all sorcerer/wizard spells from the Player's Handbook and the Spell Compendium up until 7th level, excepting spells that go against his nature (such as those that create undead). He can acquire access to spells of higher level within a day, should he require them. Particularly rare spells may require more time. 7th – antimagic ray, arrow of bone, banishment, bite of the werebear, control weather, delayed blast fireball, ethereal jaunt, greater dispelling screen, energy immunity, energy transformation field, grasping hand, greater arcane sight, greater scrying, grasping hand, greater teleport, forcecage, hiss of sleep, instant summons, limited wish, mage's magnificent mansion, phase door, reverse gravity, sequester, symphonic nightmare, synostodweomer, transfix, vision, waves of exhaustion. 8th – antipathy, clenched fist, clone, dimensional lock, discern location, excavate, field of icy razors, ghostform, greater plane shift, greater prying eyes, greater shout, incendiary cloud, lightning ring, mind blank, polar ray, power word stun, protection from spells, screen, spell engine, sunburst, superior invisibility, sympathy. 9th – absorption, astral projection, blood calls its owner², blood finds more², crushing hand, dominate monster, effulgent epuration, etherealness, eye of power, freedom, foresight, gate, greater dragon ally, hindsight, instant refuge, mage's disjunction, mass hold monster, meteor swarm, obedient avalanche, oceans of blood², planar perinarch, power word kill, reality maelstrom, reaving dispel, refuge, shapechange, summon elemental monolith, summon monster IX, teleportation circle,time stop, unbinding, undermaster, wish.
²: see below.
Epic Spells Known esoteric aegis*; greater epic mage armor*; lesser sun°; purify blood°; revitalize°, superb dispelling; unlimited bloodwalk°.
*: Cfr. Gates of Hell, Chapter 2
°: Still to be written up. Short summaries below:
Lesser Sun: Creates an artificial sun, lighting an area as though by daylight, and inflicting the same penalties on creatures that are afraid of such. The sun deals no direct damage. Casting the spell takes 10 minutes, and inflicts 20d6 points of backlash damage.
Purify Blood: Vitalises a vampire's blood, infusing it with positive energy. Deals 40d12 points of positive energy damage to any vampire. Will half.
Revitalize: Extends one's lifespan by 20 years. The effect is a 10-day ritual that requires the aid of 10 other casters as well as the ritual sacrifice of a particularly young (though adult) and fertile animal.
Unlimited Bloodwalk: Functions as bloodwalk, except across planes.

__________________________________________________ ___________

Scars: Zuabmar's forearms are filled with scars, which he can use like ordinary mages can use scrolls. His arms can hold 12 such scars. At the moment, he has scars for the following spells: banishment, discern location, effulgent epuration, gate, instant refuge, mage's disjunction, shapechange, superior invisibility, time stop, vision, wish, wish. Each scar is scribed at caster level 38th.

Blood Draughts: Through Zuabmar's blood flow energies alike those in potions. His blood can hold 46 potions of up to 5th level spells. His blood currently contains the following potions: amorphous form, anticipate teleportation, arcane sight (x2), attune form, contingent energy resistance, deeper darkvision, detect scrying, displacement, dimension door (x2), dragonsight, duelward, familiar pocket, fly (x2), forceward, girallon's blessing, greater blink (x3), greater mage armor (x2), haste (x2), magic circle against evil (x2), mirror image, nondetection (x2), polymorph (x2), protection from acid, protection from cold, protection from electricity, protection from fire, ray deflection (x2), remove curse, reverse arrows (x2), see invisibility, shield, stoneskin (x2), tongues, tremorsense, xorn movement. Each draught is brewn at caster level 38th.

Contingent Spells:
Upon saying particular orcish phrases, mass heal. (5 different versions)
Upon blinking three times quickly in a row with only the left eye, dimension door 750 ft towards the direction being looked at.
Upon blinking three times quickly in a row with only the right eye, freedom on self.
Upon blinking three times quickly in a row with both eyes, mages disjunction centered on self.
Upon being reduced to 350 hit points, heal on self.
Upon being reduced to 250 hit points, mass heal on self as well as fortunate fate on self.
Upon death, superior invisibility as well as greater teleport 2d4 miles away in a random direction, followed by true resurrection.



The Apostate's Robe: Zuabmar's elaborate robe reflects his position as a spiritual advisor, as well as a wordly power. It provides him with a +8 enhancement bonus to Charisma, as well as a +10 bonus to social skill checks when dealing with Orcs, Half-Orcs or his spiritual adherents of other races. This latter bonus only applies when the robe is clearly visible; when this is the case, anyone that succesfully makes a Knowledge (religion) check DC 30 can recognize Zuabmar for whom he is. The DC for this check may vary in regions where Zuabmar is more widely known. Lastly, the robe increases the Apostate's damage reduction to DR 15/bludgeoning and a +8 insight bonus to all saves.

Amulet of the Ancestors: An amulet empowered with the spirits of long dead Orcs and the life energies of slain bulls and goats, the amulet of ancestors greatly increases Zuabmar's intelligence, wisdom and vitality. As long as he wears the amulet, he gains a +10 enhancement bonus to Intelligence and Wisdom, and a +8 enhancement bonus to Constitution.

Staff of the Orcish Prophet (Major Artifact): This staff, topped with the hand raising a heart up high, is the symbol of Zuabmar's authority as a prophet and religious reformer. Beyond this, it also forms a significant part of his power. Like any staff, the staff of the orcish prophet has 50 charges, and can use a number of spells. Unlike ordinary staffs, however, the spells can be accessed by whoever carries it, whether or not the spells are on the bearer's class list. The staff of the Orcish prophet contains the spells true resurrection (5 charges), mass heal (4 charges), resurrection (3 charges), mass cure serious wounds (3 charges), greater restoration (3 charges), heal (2 charges), raise dead (2 charges), restoration (2 charges) and cure serious wounds (1 charge). By performing a tauroctony, a ritual sacrifice of a bull, Zuabmar can replenish the charges of the staff. For every such ritual sacrifice performed, the staff regains 2d10 charges, up to a maximum of 50. However, tauroctonies require preparataion. In order to perform one, Zuabmar must abstain from eating, drinking and any other activity aside from sleeping for 2 days.
Aside from these abilities, the staff supplements the Apostate's spellbook through the intricate carvings in the wooden shaft, and provides him with a +7 insight bonus to AC.

Tauroctonic Kris: A curved dagger, the tauroctonic kris is Zuabmar's tool of choice during his ritual sacrifices. Like his staff, the kris supplements his spellbook, but beyond that, it functions as a +6 dagger with a permanent death ward effect (CL 38th) attached to it. Additionally, the kris allows Zuabmar to enhance his awaken blood ability: 3x/day, he may maximize it. While carrying the tauroctonic kris on his person, Zuabmar gains fast healing 15.


The following spells were developed by Zuabmar for his own purposes. Although others know them, these others are limited to his personal associates. Others that attempt to acquire these spells will need to develop them entirely on their own (upon which they are likely to mechanically differ somewhat) or, alternatively, steal or learn them from one of those who know them. It should be noted that blood finds more is particularly protected: Zuabmar has learned it only to his closest associates, and requires them to keep it deeply secret.

Mark of the Apostate: This ring serves as a signet ring for Zuabmar. Beyond that, it also functions as a ring of wizardry VIII and IX.

Ring of Arcane Glory : This ring allows Zuabmar to maximize or quicken any spell up to ninth level, each three times per day. It also increases Zuabmar's caster level by 1, and allows him to regain an expended 9th-level spell 3x/day, as per a pearl of power.

Designer's notes:
I've mostly ignored advised wealth levels in favor of flavorful items, rather than a mass of small buff items.
CR was determined by a formula, so it's not exactly certain. It may be lower.
Rhalik is a devil from Dicefreaks' Gates of Hell (http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gth669h/TGoH/), if you're unfamiliar with him.
The distinction between different ages of vampires can be located here (http://projectdf.phpbbnow.com/viewtopic.php?t=751).
Besides that, I've not finished writing up his epic spells yet, and don't know if I will due to the amount of calculation that requires.
His ability scores, except for Dexterity, have all been buffed with +5 inherent bonuses and were already pretty high to begin with.

Witch
2007-12-29, 09:03 AM
Okay, I'm mostly looking for criticism and advice on this guy.
If you're familiar with details of ancient fertility cults, I'd like suggestions on how to make his flavor include more of such inspiration. I'm mostly thinking of the cult of Mithras in this, but other, similar ones are fine as well.
Other inspiration or questions are welcome as well.
If you're good at gauging stats/CR, I'd like to hear your suggestions to make him a proper CR 28.
If someone feels like statting up one of his epic spells, I won't complain.
I'm open to general criticism. Don't be afraid to be harsh - I can take it. If you think it's written badly, say so - and preferably, tell me how to improve, otherwise it doesn't help me much. If you think there's any particular strong aspects, point them out, and I can see how to apply them more.

Duke Malagigi
2007-12-31, 05:33 PM
I don't really have any actual contributions or help for you at the moment. That said, I think you're doing a pretty good job this far.

Witch
2008-01-01, 06:45 AM
Thanks. I've made a couple adjustments to the statistics, though, making him more viable as a CR 28. I'll be adding them in soon.

Witch
2008-01-01, 06:49 AM
Oceans of Blood
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 9

This spell functions like tsunami (Spell Compendium), except all who come into contact with the wave must make an additional Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds. Creatures must make this save every round as long as they stay in contact with the wave. Unlike the normal tsunami spell, this spell has no greater effect on the open sea.

Material Component: a vial of blood enchanted with powders and alchemical materials worth at least 5,000 gp.

Blood Calls its Owner
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 9
Components: V,S, F
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Touch
Target: One vial of blood
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

By enchanting a vial of blood belonging to a certain creature, you can call that creature to you from anywhere in the multiverse. Creatures in another time stream, in the Void Beyond or in an area lacking astral links are not affected. When the spell first affects a creature, it receives a recognisable sensation of its own blood calling out to him. At this point, he may forego his save, should he so choose. If he foregoes or fails his save, he is instantly teleported, along with all his carried equipment, to the location of the caster of this spell.

Focus: a vial of blood of the creatured to be called.


Blood Finds More
Divination
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: One vial or puddle of blood
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: None

By analyzing an amount of not yet dried blood, you locate its owner exactly. You receive exact coördinates with respects to a number of established landmarks, such specifications of the house, street, city, province, nation, world or plane the target is residing in. Given that the spell seeks out blood, rather than an individual's mind, mind blank has no effect against this spell. However, effects such as nondetection do. Blood finds more has no effect if the creature to be located has perished.

Focus: the puddle or vial of blood.