MandibleBones
2006-09-21, 07:19 AM
Part 1: The Pirate
Mandible Bones, the Worst Pirate Ev-arr
A kobold, tall for his race with scales as black as night, approaches you. It wears a jaunty cap, has an eyepatch slung over one eye and walks with a swagger. Ridges at its eyes and tail suggest more draconic ancestry than most, and the twin rapiers slung at its hips betray intelligence and combat prowress.
In a flash, it leaps on the table of the bar, and as its blue eyes flash like the sea before a storm, it says in a voice like crashing waves the following.
“I leave at dawn in sssearch of treasssure: gold and gemsss beyond your wildessst imagination! I require but a ssship and a crew – who be with me!?”
You find yourself oddly drawn to this kobold scoundrel, and from the ragged cheers and raised glasses echoing around the bar, you are not the only one.
Mandible Bones is the worst pirate ever. This is not to badmouth his combat skills: he is a duelist par excellance. Nor is he incompetant in the ways of the sea: he is a better sailor than most, and as at home on a sailing ship as most kobolds are at home in the mountain mines.
No, Mandible Bones is simply a terrible pirate. His ego gets in the way, you see. It's Mandible's belief that he is the foremost pirate in the seas, deprived of his beloved ship and the Perfect Treasure through some cruel twist of fate. None of that is true, of course. Mandible simply makes a steady stream of poor choices. He knows the right course and deliberately chooses to ignore it, because he believes that he is better than “all those other fools who did it that way.”
Bones, as his crews sometimes call him, was born fifty years ago to an ordinary kobold mother and an ancient black dragon named Jamarakrag in a swamp that ran out into the sea. His mother died giving birth to the difficult child, and his father abandoned him as soon as he could walk, according to the custom of black dragons.
Jamarakrag taught the young kobold only one thing: take care of yourself. Nobody else really matters. Mandible took it to heart, except in one case: he became a pirate to prove his worth to his father (who he has never seen since and who, unknown to Bones, died on the end of a paladin's lance three days after abandoning the young kobold).
Mandible is bombastic, overly dramatic and full of pomp and flare. He prefers to speak common, with a pronounced draconic accent, so that all will know and understand his words and his heritage.
To date, Mandible has lost almost a thousand ships (all belonging to other people, and all officially christened “The Black Dragon” once he convinced the crews that he should be captain) in pursuit of a single goal: The Dragon at the Heart of the Ocean. You see, Mandible isn't content being the best pirate the world has ever known. He's got a grander goal:
Mandible Bones wants to be a god of the sea. And the gods help anyone who gets in the way.
Mandible Bones
Small Dragon (Augmented Humanoid)
Hit Dice: 6d8 + 72 + 42 (162 hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 90
Armor Class: 48 (10+5natural+12insight+12luck+9dex)
BAB/Grapple: +6/+1, +31
Attack: Kinslayer +41 melee (1d4+33 damage, crits 16-20) or Claw +36 melee (1d3+29 damage)
Full Attack: Kinslayer and Godslayer +39/+38/+34/+33 melee (1d4+33 and 1d4+32 damage, crits 16-20) or 2 claws +36 melee (1d3+29 damage) and bite +36 melee (1d4+29 damage)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon: 60 ft. line of Acid, 6d8 damage (DC 17 for half)
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Lowlight vision, Light sensitivity, Fire and cold resistance 10, Acid immunity, immune to sleep and paralysis effects, DR 10/epic, SR 31, Fast Healing 20, Spell-like abilities
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +24, Will +21
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 28, Con 25, Int 27, Wis 25, Cha 27 (Base stats all 10s)
Skills: Climb +28, Heal +26, Hide +28, Jump +28, Knowledge (Geography) +27, Knowledge (Nature) +27, Listen +28, Move Silently +28, Profession (Sailor) +26, Search +29, Spot +28, Survival +26, Swim +28, Use Rope +28.
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Critical (Rapier), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Iron Will, Track, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Rapier)
Environment: The open sea, and pubs in port towns.
Organization: Not very
CR: 20
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Light Sensitivity (Ex): Kobolds are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): 3/day: greater dispel magic, haste, and see invisibility, CL 15th.
Favored Enemy (Ex): Mandible Bones gains a +2 bonus on bluff, listen, sense motive, spot and survival checks when using these skills against humans. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. This bonus increases to +4 against dragons.
Wild Empathy (Ex): Mandible Bones can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly. To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time. Mandible Bones can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a -4 penalty on the check.
Animal Companion (Ex): At 4th level, a ranger gains an animal companion. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the ranger on his adventures as appropriate for its kind. This ability functions like the druid ability of the same name, except that the ranger's effective druid level is one-half his ranger level. A ranger may select from the alternative lists of animal companions just as a druid can, though again his effective druid level is half his ranger level. Like a druid, a ranger cannot select an alternative animal if the choice would reduce his effective druid level below 1st.
Languages: Draconic, Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Giant, Infernal, Terran
Ranger Spells: Mandible Bones can prepare and cast 3 level 1 ranger spells per day.
--
Equipment:
Kinslayer and Godslayer are Mandible's weapons of choice. Kinslayer is a small +4 brilliant energy dragonbane rapier, and Godslayer is a small +3 anarchic vorpal bane of good outsiders rapier. Both weapons are made from adamantine, and rather than glow, they seem to suck light into them. Parting gifts from Mandible's dragon father before he was abandoned, Mandible has carried these with him since long before he was able to wield them to their full power. Kinslayer is acid-etched with a scene of a kobold driving a sword through the heart of a metallic dragon. Godslayer is etched with a single draconic eye, the iris of which reflects the world. Both weapons exude strongly evil auras, as well as magic auras of the evocation school. Godslayer's aura is also strongly chaotic.
Eyepatch of Greater Darkvision: This magical eyepatch is an example of the treasure Mandible has picked up during his time as a pirate. It is translucent black, hiding the wearer's eye but not completely stifling the wearer's vision. During the day it has no effect other than imposing a -1 penalty to ranged attack rolls, but in the dark, it grants a 30-foot extention to existing darkvision (or grants a wearer without darkvision the darkvision ability out to 30 ft.). The Eyepatch of Greater Darkvision exudes a faint magical aura of transmutation.
Resplendant Cap of Shade: A giant black hat with a huge blue feather that Mandible wears at all times while outside to avoid being dazzled. While the shade-providing properties are non-magical, the cap has been enchanted to stay on Mandible's head unless he wants to remove it, to stay clean and dry, and to be undamaged by acid (note: the hat does not provide the wearer with acid immunity). The Resplendant Cap of Shade exudes a faint magical aura of transmutation.
--
Designer's Notes: Mandible Bones uses the Paragon Creature template and the Half-Dragon template, applied to a 6th-level kobold ranger. Everything used to build him can be found in the SRD.
Mandible Bones, the Worst Pirate Ev-arr
A kobold, tall for his race with scales as black as night, approaches you. It wears a jaunty cap, has an eyepatch slung over one eye and walks with a swagger. Ridges at its eyes and tail suggest more draconic ancestry than most, and the twin rapiers slung at its hips betray intelligence and combat prowress.
In a flash, it leaps on the table of the bar, and as its blue eyes flash like the sea before a storm, it says in a voice like crashing waves the following.
“I leave at dawn in sssearch of treasssure: gold and gemsss beyond your wildessst imagination! I require but a ssship and a crew – who be with me!?”
You find yourself oddly drawn to this kobold scoundrel, and from the ragged cheers and raised glasses echoing around the bar, you are not the only one.
Mandible Bones is the worst pirate ever. This is not to badmouth his combat skills: he is a duelist par excellance. Nor is he incompetant in the ways of the sea: he is a better sailor than most, and as at home on a sailing ship as most kobolds are at home in the mountain mines.
No, Mandible Bones is simply a terrible pirate. His ego gets in the way, you see. It's Mandible's belief that he is the foremost pirate in the seas, deprived of his beloved ship and the Perfect Treasure through some cruel twist of fate. None of that is true, of course. Mandible simply makes a steady stream of poor choices. He knows the right course and deliberately chooses to ignore it, because he believes that he is better than “all those other fools who did it that way.”
Bones, as his crews sometimes call him, was born fifty years ago to an ordinary kobold mother and an ancient black dragon named Jamarakrag in a swamp that ran out into the sea. His mother died giving birth to the difficult child, and his father abandoned him as soon as he could walk, according to the custom of black dragons.
Jamarakrag taught the young kobold only one thing: take care of yourself. Nobody else really matters. Mandible took it to heart, except in one case: he became a pirate to prove his worth to his father (who he has never seen since and who, unknown to Bones, died on the end of a paladin's lance three days after abandoning the young kobold).
Mandible is bombastic, overly dramatic and full of pomp and flare. He prefers to speak common, with a pronounced draconic accent, so that all will know and understand his words and his heritage.
To date, Mandible has lost almost a thousand ships (all belonging to other people, and all officially christened “The Black Dragon” once he convinced the crews that he should be captain) in pursuit of a single goal: The Dragon at the Heart of the Ocean. You see, Mandible isn't content being the best pirate the world has ever known. He's got a grander goal:
Mandible Bones wants to be a god of the sea. And the gods help anyone who gets in the way.
Mandible Bones
Small Dragon (Augmented Humanoid)
Hit Dice: 6d8 + 72 + 42 (162 hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 90
Armor Class: 48 (10+5natural+12insight+12luck+9dex)
BAB/Grapple: +6/+1, +31
Attack: Kinslayer +41 melee (1d4+33 damage, crits 16-20) or Claw +36 melee (1d3+29 damage)
Full Attack: Kinslayer and Godslayer +39/+38/+34/+33 melee (1d4+33 and 1d4+32 damage, crits 16-20) or 2 claws +36 melee (1d3+29 damage) and bite +36 melee (1d4+29 damage)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon: 60 ft. line of Acid, 6d8 damage (DC 17 for half)
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Lowlight vision, Light sensitivity, Fire and cold resistance 10, Acid immunity, immune to sleep and paralysis effects, DR 10/epic, SR 31, Fast Healing 20, Spell-like abilities
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +24, Will +21
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 28, Con 25, Int 27, Wis 25, Cha 27 (Base stats all 10s)
Skills: Climb +28, Heal +26, Hide +28, Jump +28, Knowledge (Geography) +27, Knowledge (Nature) +27, Listen +28, Move Silently +28, Profession (Sailor) +26, Search +29, Spot +28, Survival +26, Swim +28, Use Rope +28.
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Critical (Rapier), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Iron Will, Track, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Rapier)
Environment: The open sea, and pubs in port towns.
Organization: Not very
CR: 20
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Light Sensitivity (Ex): Kobolds are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): 3/day: greater dispel magic, haste, and see invisibility, CL 15th.
Favored Enemy (Ex): Mandible Bones gains a +2 bonus on bluff, listen, sense motive, spot and survival checks when using these skills against humans. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. This bonus increases to +4 against dragons.
Wild Empathy (Ex): Mandible Bones can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly. To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time. Mandible Bones can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a -4 penalty on the check.
Animal Companion (Ex): At 4th level, a ranger gains an animal companion. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the ranger on his adventures as appropriate for its kind. This ability functions like the druid ability of the same name, except that the ranger's effective druid level is one-half his ranger level. A ranger may select from the alternative lists of animal companions just as a druid can, though again his effective druid level is half his ranger level. Like a druid, a ranger cannot select an alternative animal if the choice would reduce his effective druid level below 1st.
Languages: Draconic, Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Giant, Infernal, Terran
Ranger Spells: Mandible Bones can prepare and cast 3 level 1 ranger spells per day.
--
Equipment:
Kinslayer and Godslayer are Mandible's weapons of choice. Kinslayer is a small +4 brilliant energy dragonbane rapier, and Godslayer is a small +3 anarchic vorpal bane of good outsiders rapier. Both weapons are made from adamantine, and rather than glow, they seem to suck light into them. Parting gifts from Mandible's dragon father before he was abandoned, Mandible has carried these with him since long before he was able to wield them to their full power. Kinslayer is acid-etched with a scene of a kobold driving a sword through the heart of a metallic dragon. Godslayer is etched with a single draconic eye, the iris of which reflects the world. Both weapons exude strongly evil auras, as well as magic auras of the evocation school. Godslayer's aura is also strongly chaotic.
Eyepatch of Greater Darkvision: This magical eyepatch is an example of the treasure Mandible has picked up during his time as a pirate. It is translucent black, hiding the wearer's eye but not completely stifling the wearer's vision. During the day it has no effect other than imposing a -1 penalty to ranged attack rolls, but in the dark, it grants a 30-foot extention to existing darkvision (or grants a wearer without darkvision the darkvision ability out to 30 ft.). The Eyepatch of Greater Darkvision exudes a faint magical aura of transmutation.
Resplendant Cap of Shade: A giant black hat with a huge blue feather that Mandible wears at all times while outside to avoid being dazzled. While the shade-providing properties are non-magical, the cap has been enchanted to stay on Mandible's head unless he wants to remove it, to stay clean and dry, and to be undamaged by acid (note: the hat does not provide the wearer with acid immunity). The Resplendant Cap of Shade exudes a faint magical aura of transmutation.
--
Designer's Notes: Mandible Bones uses the Paragon Creature template and the Half-Dragon template, applied to a 6th-level kobold ranger. Everything used to build him can be found in the SRD.