The characters for the sixth adventure path, Kingmaker.
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The Stag Lord
The Stag Lord
Race: Human
Class: Ranger/rogue
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Chief of the bandits of the Green Belt, the Stag Lord is a bitter, self-loathing alcoholic man shaped by years of abuse at the hands of his brutal father. Clad at all times in his fanged stag skull helmet, he aims to take over the Stolen Lands and become a king. Only then, he believes, will the "goddess" who saved him from his father return to his side.
- Abusive Dad: His father made it his life's goal to destroy his son in every meaningful way, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
- The Alcoholic: Has slipped more and more into alcoholism as the years have gone by, and is slowly losing what remains of his mind.
- Aloof Archer: He's got the icy, analytical loner part down, although his alcoholism and terrible rages depart from the trope in some ways.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: Carries both a composite longbow and a masterwork longsword. He prefers the former, but will draw his blade if cornered.
- Cool Helmet: Made from the skull of an elk, and decorated with fangs, it is as strong as steel, and enhances his sight, hearing, and archery.
- Cool Mask: Before he gained his helmet, he wore a leather mask.
- Covered with Scars: The result of his father's abuse. His face in particular is so damaged that he won't reveal it to anyone.
- The Dog Bites Back: After years of abuse, he finally snapped and beat his father half to death, then threw him in a cage.
- Elder Abuse: Does it to his father, in revenge for everything that happened to him as a child.
- Evil Is Petty: A petty sadist with delusions of grandeur. He also has his bandits steal Svetlana's wedding ring seemingly just to be a dick.
- The Family That Slays Together: He and his father are both twisted, abusive monsters.
- Freudian Excuse: Good Lord, where to start? His absolute bastard of a father abused and tortured him for years, burning his face with acid, abandoning him in the winter, beating him near to death, and otherwise taking out all his rage on him. Then he became the pawn of an evil nature spirit, who drove him to take his revenge on his father, before leaving him an alcoholic ruin.
- Kick the Dog: Holy shit. The first encounter the PCs have with his forces occurs when some bandits try to extort a tribute from some inn owners, with the implication they've been doing this quite often (though hopefully the PCs will help them), later on, we learn that he killed a bridge keeper for refusing to let him and his men cross without paying, causing said bridge keeper to rise as a vengeful undead. Additionally, according to his own men he once crushed a prisoner's hand to mush and punched a horse for spitting in the yard. and he drinks way too much as well.
- King of Thieves: He's the undisputed overlord of the Green Belt, serving as both the chieftain of its notorious bandit gangs and the closest thing the Stolen Lands have to a political head.
- The Leader: Of the Green Belt outlaws, ruling through fear.
- Love Makes You Evil: His deluded love for Nyrissa is what drives his need to control the Stolen Lands.
- The Mentally Disturbed: A self-loathing alcoholic whose grip on sanity is slipping away with every drink and every passing day.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Hates everybody and everything, including himself, and is only too glad to use this as an excuse for murder.
- Never Given a Name: His father never gave him a name. He was "the boy" and then "the man" before donning his helmet and becoming the Stag Lord.
- Outlaw: In the classic sense of the term. There's a bounty on his head and the heads of every man in his band, and there's no community that will lend them shelter.
- Patricide: Averted. The Stag Lord decided not to murder his father, because his father had let him live. He now keeps his father as a prisoner.
- Puppet King: Zigzagged. Some of the bandits in the camp, misreading the relationship between Nugrah and the Stag Lord, believe that the former is somehow controlling the latter. He's not. However, the Stag Lord is, to a large degree, influenced and dominated by Nyrissa—though she's hands off enough that the majority of his immediate decisions are his own.
- Revenge: The Stag Lord's abuse of his father, Nugrah, is revenge for his father's abuse of him. In a larger sense, he's also out for revenge on the world that allowed this to happen to him.
- Sadist: Revels in hurting people.
- Sanity Slippage: The Stag Lord's grip on reality is slipping to the bottom of his whiskey cask, a fact that even some of his thugs are starting to notice.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Wears a suit of animal hide and bones in addition to his elk skull helmet.
- Starter Villain: He's the main antagonist of "Stolen Lands", the first adventure in the adventure path, and serves as a taste of what is to come.
- Unwitting Pawn: Of Nyrissa, who is using him for her own ends.
- You Are What You Hate: The Stag Lord has become his father in more ways than one.
Akiros
Akiros Ismort
Race: Human
Class: Ex-paladin/barbarian
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
A former Paladin of Erastil, Akiros' life collapsed when his lover's husband discovered their affair. Desperate to avoid a divorce, she told her husband that Akiros had raped her; when the two confronted Akiros at the temple of Erastil, the young paladin flew into a rage and killed them both. He's since been on the run, living as a bandit, and joining up with any group that will take him. At the start of Kingmaker he is acting as the second-in-command of The Stag Lords' band, a position and life that he is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with.
- Accidental Murder: Akiros didn't intend to kill his lover, but when she accused him of raping her, he snapped and struck her, killing her instantly.
- The Berserker: Akiros rages the moment he enters combat, throwing himself at the players, The Stag Lord, or anybody else he might be fighting.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: Like his boss, The Stag Lord, he carries both a longsword and a bow and arrow. This would actually be fairly standard equipment for a Paladin, or ex-Paladin, of Erastil, who favours the bow as his weapon, but also expects his Paladins to be able to fight up close.
- Crime After Crime: Killed his lover by accident when he hit her, then had to deliberately kill her husband to cover it up, then wound up hiding out as a bandit in order to get away from the police, etc, etc.
- Death Seeker: In combat Akiros takes no care to protect himself, looking to die.
- The Dragon: To The Stag Lord, though he doesn't especially want the job. Given the Stag Lord's alcoholism and lack of interest in actually running the band, he could graduate to Dragon-in-Chief if he wanted to, but would much rather find a way out of the life he's stumbled into.
- Fallen Hero: Was once a promising Paladin of Erastil, and defender of his hometown.
- False Rape Accusation: Was on the receiving end of one from his lover.
- Heel–Face Turn: By the time the players raid the bandit camp, Akiros has had enough of the life of an outlaw. Given the opportunity he switches sides and fights alongside them against The Stag Lord.
- Murder Makes You Crazy: Killing his lover, and then her husband in order to hide the evidence, pushed Akiros over the edge.
- Noble Top Enforcer: The Stag Lord is an alcoholic monster who'll murder anyone he can get his hands on. Auchs, Dovan, and Nugrah are all just as twisted. Among the leadership of the bandits this makes Akiros, who is Neutral rather than Evil, and still possesses something of a conscience, a definite oddity.
- Outlaw: Akiros has lost any connection he might have had to civilization and is a deadman walking if he returns to his home community. That said, unlike the Stag Lord and the rest of the band, he has an actual chance to escape this status and earn redemption.
- Redemption Earns Life: It can if he joins forces with the players and then survives the final confrontation with the Stag Lord.
Auchs
Auchs
Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Brutish and stupid, simple-minded Auchs combines the petty cruelty of a child with the physical bulk of a grown man. A hulking thug who likes making smaller people scream, Auchs is The Stag Lord's muscle, and can usually be found trailing after Dovan.
- Berserk Button: Anybody touching his collection of knight and dragon toys.
- Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Dovan's brains.
- The Brute: Fills this role in The Stag Lord's band.
- The Bully: Has the temperament of a school-yard thug.
- Carry a Big Stick: The only weapon Auchs is smart enough to use is a club.
- Dumb Muscle: Auchs has the mind of a mean-spirited five year old, but the bulk of a weight-lifter.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sort-of. If Auchs is bested in combat but spared, he immediately becomes the loyal follower of the person who spared his life. His morality, however, doesn't change, and this, coupled with his limited intellect, could be a serious issue further on down the line.
- Outlaw: There's a price on Auchs' head, same as there is for the Stag Lord and Dovan.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A classic example who does whatever his "friends" tell him to do, enjoys hurting anybody weaker than him, and flies into a rage if his collection of toys is touched.
- Sadist: Of the petty variety.
- Undying Loyalty: To Dovan, fighting to the death if the latter is in view.
Dovan
Dovan from Nisroch
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Despite his name, Dovan isn't actually from Nisroch. Born in an Ustalavi whorehouse, Dovan ran away from home after discovering that he was going to be raped and tortured at request of a client. Cutting a swathe of murder and thievery across the continent, Dovan eventually wound up in The Stolen Lands, where he joined forces with The Stag Lord, becoming the de facto leader of the band prior to Akiros' arrival.
- Brains and Brawn: With Auchs, whom he "saved" from a brawl (that Dovan had engineered in the first place). Dovan comes up with the schemes, while Auchs bashes anybody who proves to be a problem.
- Dirty Coward: Dovan would rather run than fight. If cornered though, he fights to the death, which given what happened to him last time someone had power over him, makes sense.
- Evil Genius: Serves as the organizing mind of the band, partly because he's well-suited to it, and partly because no one else in the leadership is interested in doing it.
- Freudian Excuse: Grew up in a depraved Ustalav whorehouse that catered to sexual sadists.
- Know When to Fold 'Em/Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Dovan is a pragmatist and has no particular desire to be killed in The Stag Lord's service. If he's reduced to less than four HP and there's a clear way out, he takes it.
- Outlaw: Dovan's been left with no place to go after his status as a serial killer was exposed.
- Rape as Backstory: Maybe. We know that he was going to be raped and killed as part of a nobleman's entertainment; we don't know if he was ever raped beforehand.
- Sadist: Perhaps the most sadistic member of the band, with a penchant for torture.
- Serial Killer: Enjoys targeting blondes for kidnapping, torture, and murder.
- Son of a Whore: Was born in a particularly depraved whorehouse.
- Torture Technician: Is in charge of torturing those the band captures and has a particular fondness for it.
Nugrah
Nugrah the Decrepit
Race: Human
Class: Druid
Alignment: Neutral Evil
The father of The Stag Lord, and the one responsible for making him what he is, Nugrah was a druid of the Green Faith, before he turned to necromancy to try and resurrect his wife by sacrificing the life of another woman. Driven from the order, Nugrah turned to the worship of Gozreh, and became a violent, sadistic misanthrope who took out all his anger on the son whose birth slew his wife.
- Abusive Dad: To a staggering degree. He beat, burned, scarred, and tried to murder his son.
- Asshole Victim: Based on what he did to his son, it's unlikely players will feel any sympathy for him.
- Death Seeker: Nugrah wants to die but lacks the will to take his own life. Instead he tries to force the players to end his misery.
- The Dreaded: Among The Stag Lord's bandits. All of them are terrified of him, and go out of their way to avoid him, even refusing his healing if they are injured.
- Elder Abuse: On the receiving end of it from his son, who physically abuses him and keeps him locked in a basement.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Nugrah's love for his late wife is what underwrites all of his evil.
- Evil Cripple: Constant beatings from his son have left Nugrah impaired even by the standards of a man of his age.
- Evil Old Folks: Now an old, crippled man, but just as vile as before.
- Evil Sorcerer: Evil Druid anyway, which thematically plays out about the same.
- The Family That Slays Together: He and his son are both twisted, abusive monsters.
- Handicapped Badass: As stated above, Nugrah is old and physically impaired, but after the Stag Lord himself is the most dangerous member of the bandit gang.
- Love Makes You Evil: His love for his wife transformed him into the monster he became, and ruined his son's life in the process.
- The Medic: Forced to act as one for the bandits, though most would just as soon die of infection as interact with him.
- Necromantic: Nugrah sacrificed a woman to try and resurrect his wife, damning himself and their son in the process.
- Offing the Offspring: Tried to kill his son several times.
- Outlaw: Nugrah's misanthropy and cruelty saw him driven from civilized communities and into the wild by the time his son could walk. Now he's an unwilling member of his son's band of thieves and murderers.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: He was on the receiving end of this from his son, who has payed him back for every blow.
- Sadist: His increasingly inventive tortures of his son nicely demonstrate this.
- Shadow Dictator: Invoked but averted. A number of the Stag Lord's men, misreading the nature of the bizarre relationship between the two, believe Nugrah is in some way controlling his son while pretending to be a victim.
- Shapeshifter: Turns into a wolverine during combat.
Chief Sootscale
Chief Sootscale
Race: Kobold
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Lawful Evil
The worried chieftain of the Sootscale kobolds who bear his name, Chief Sootscale has seen most of his power lost to the treacherous shaman, Tartuk. If the players help him kill Tartuk and remove the shaman's negative influence from the tribe, Sootscale becomes a reliable, if unusual ally, willing to assist the players in constructing their kingdom.
- Combat Pragmatist: As a kobold and a rogue both, Sootscale does not understand the meaning of a fair fight. This applies to his army as well; when they show up to aid the players during the war against Pitax, the tactic they know is "Dirty Tricks".
- Gondor Calls for Aid: If the players help Sootscale get rid of Tartuk, the kobold chieftain does not forget it and, during Pitax's invasion in "War of the River Kings", shows up at the head of a Gargantuan army of kobolds, recruited from his own tribe and those of his allies.
- I Owe You My Life: Tartuk would have destroyed the tribe and Sootscale with it. This is why the chief is so willing to pay the players back for saving he and his people.
- The Man in Front of the Man: Despite being the nominal leader of the Sootscale's he is actually subordinate to Tartuk, a kobold sorcerer who invented a Scam Religion to trick the other kobolds into following him.
- Token Evil Teammate: Sootscale and his kobolds are of Lawful Evil alignment yet, despite this, can become dependable allies for the players.
Tartuk
Tartuk
Race: Kobold
Class: Sorcerer
'Alignment: Chaotic Evil
A kobold sorcerer who pretends to be a shaman to rule over the Sootscales.- Hated by All: Pretty much all the other kobolds hate him and only follow him out of fear.
- Manipulative Bastard: Pretty much his whole schtick
- Purple Is Powerful: He has purple scales, mainly due to having purple hair in his previous life (see below)
- Scam Religion: He has created one in order to fool the other kobolds: in addition to claiming to be a shaman of "Old Sharptooth" (a fictitious god), he made a "magic idol" (which is really just a mundane statue) which he claims he can use to put a curse on the rest of the tribe. If the PCs destroy it, the other kobolds join them in attacking Tartuk.
- Was Once a Man: He was once a gnome who died in a seeming Heroic Sacrifice. As such, the village he lived in used the only scroll of reincarnate they had and, in a cruel twist of fate, became a kobold.
Hargulka
Hargulka
Race: Troll
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
A brutish troll warlord, Hargulka has been promised control of the Stolen Lands by Nyrissa. His trolls serve as the penultimate challenge of "Rivers Run Red", with the protagonists besting them just before the owlbear attack.
- The Brute: While he considers himself a Big Bad in his own right, in Nyrissa's plans he's nothing more than this.
- Carry a Big Stick: Armed with a darkwood morningstar.
- Dumb Muscle: Hargulka is hardly what you'd call smart.
- Evil Is Petty: Like the Stag Lord, Hargulka's ambitions don't extend far beyond being ruler of a postage stamp kingdom.
- Playing with Fire: His necklace of fireballs allows him to target anyone who hangs back.
- Unwitting Pawn: Like the Stag Lord before him, Hargulka is little more than a victim of Nyrissa's manipulations.
Sepoko
Sepoko
Race: Boggard
Class: Cleric of Gogunta
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
The deeply troubled priest-king of the M'botuu boggards, Sepoko despairs of preventing human settlers from intruding on his tribe's territory. Having failed to rouse the other boggards against the intruders, Sepoko approached a spirit naga for help, only to fall under her control, and lose much of his faith in patroness, the demon lord Gogunta. While initially an enemy, if the players can break the spell and kill the naga, Ngara, Sepoko is willing to enter into an alliance with them.
- Church Militant: As the leader of the local cult of Gogunta, Sepoko is expected to act as the tribe's spiritual and military leader, alongside any other clerics the tribe has to offer.
- Cowardly Lion: Sepoko is described as somewhat cowardly and would rather not fight the players. If forced into battle, however, he's still a CR 11 threat (just three levels below the Arc Villain Armag the Twice-Born), and a capable warrior so long as his faith in Gogunta holds.
- Elite Mooks: Sepoko is protected by his boggard wardens, elite warriors who act as bodyguards and tribal deputies. During "War of the River Kings" he and his tribe can act as Elite Mooks for the players, providing the best trained of all the armies they can recruit.
- Enemy Mine: If the players break the spell that Ngara has on him, Sepoko hires them to kill the spirit naga. In exchange he pays them with a chest of Taldan gold coins and promises to keep his boggards from meddling with river trade.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Surprisingly, yes. If the players ally with Sepoko in "Blood for Blood", the boggard chieftain not only holds to his promise to protect the rivers but, during "War of the River Kings", will answer the players' call for aid, arriving in their kingdom with a Gargantuan army of boggards recruited from among his own tribe, and his neighbours. It's worth noting that this is one of the largest armies the players can hope to recruit, and easily the best trained, and can prove invaluable in repelling Pitax.
- I Gave My Word: Seems to be the case. If the players help him, Sepoko not only pays them well, but honours his promise to keep the river free of boggard predations, both his own and those of his neighbours.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Sepoko is a
Chaotic Evil cleric of a demon lord, but he's also remarkably reasonable for all that. If the players demonstrate their prowess to him, and aid him in removing Ngara's influence, he actually becomes a reliable ally.
Nyrissa
Nyrissa
Race: Nymph
Class: Sorcerer/mystic theurge
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
A crazed nymph, Nyrissa hails from the First World, where she committed the cardinal sin of first falling in love with one of the Eldest—the rulers of that world—and then believing that this tryst made she herself one of the Eldest. As punishment she was stripped of her ability to feel love, and driven into exile. She currently plans to use a spell to trap The Stolen Lands in a bottle, and present it to the Eldest as a bribe, believing that in doing so she can buy her way back into their good graces.
- Alpha Bitch: Has a throng of tormented nymphs (see below) following her, along with a ton of other fey creatures, and ruthlessly manipulates and dominates everyone around her.
- Ax-Crazy: Completely, violently insane.
- Big Bad: Of the whole of the Kingmaker adventure path. Every major antagonist is either spurred by her to attack the player characters, or influenced by her in someway.
- Genre Savvy: She knows the PCs are likely to be armed with Brair, which she knows full well is a vorpal sword and as such has made a wish to make her head instantly grow back if she is decapitated. This Only Works Once, however, if she gets hit with another critical from Briar she loses her head and is Killed Off for Real.
- Lack of Empathy: All fey are capricious at best, but Nyrissa has actively lost her ability to feel.
- The Man Behind the Man: The Stag Lord and his bandits, Hargulka and his trolls, Vordakai, Armag and his barbarians, and the King of Pitax, all of them are ultimately pawns of Nyrissa.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ruthlessly manipulates the emotions of everyone she encounters.
- The Mentally Disturbed: Nyrissa is under the impression that by bottling The Stolen Lands she can buy back her life. That this plan is completely insane evades her totally.
- The Vamp: Seduces a number of men in order to get them to help her with their schemes, usually promising that they will rule The Stolen Lands together as king and queen.
- Villainous Breakdown: If The PCs successfully uproot all the glades of Thousandbreaths, all the denizens within are so traumatized they are permanently staggered. Nyrissa has it even worse, being both permanently shaken and fatigued and going crazy every 1d4 rounds
- We Can Rule Together: Makes this offer to most of her male minions, but never means it.
Vordakai
Vordakai
Race: Cyclops lich
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Neutral Evil
A cyclops emperor who went into "hibernation" long ago but has recently been awakened
- Badass Cape: Judging from the picture. Stat wise it's just a +3 cloak of resistance
- Disproportionate Retribution: He kidnapped the entire town of Varnhold and put them into Soul Jars because someone from there stole a trinket from his lair. He also paralyzes and tortures the centaur Xamanthe for days just for daring to enter his lair.
- Evil Sorcerer: technically a wizard but whatever.
- Eye Scream: At some point when he was alive he ripped his one eye out and put an artifact called the Oculus of Abaddon (A red crystaline orb which grants the "user" special powers as well as allowing them to see through it like a real eye) in the socket.
- False Flag Operation: Tries to pin the whole Varnhold disappearance on the Nomen Centaur tribe living near by.
- Feathered Fiend: Has a raven familiar which, thanks to the Occulus, he can see through it's eyes to spy on the PCs
- Soul Jar: Has some items with this exact name which he uses to hold the souls of all the Varnhold citizens hostage. Curiously, his phylactery (which is also technically a Soul Jar) doesn't work for reasons listed below
- Worf Had the Flu: It's stated that at the height of his power he was a 20th level wizard. Due to remaining dormant so long he's atrophied to level 9 (mainly so it's possible for the players to win), among other things, this makes it so until he gets back to level 11 ( The usual level required to become a lich) his phylactery doesn't work and if he is destroyed he is Killed Off for Real
