Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Tales From My D&D Campaign

Go To

    open/close all folders 

The Party (Season 1)

     Little One 
The half-dragon son of Lady Vasarus of the Bronze, Little One is one of probably less than a dozen living (non-trout) people to have grown up inside the Peacebond. His mother taught him secrets of battle such as very few now know, and since the evil Kua-Toa slew her he has used those talents for vengeance against them.

  • Armor of Invincibility: Acquired some scales from his mother to use in crafting this.
  • Big "YES!": When an aspect of the Albtraum takes on a physical form to directly fight the party, Little One, rather than being intimidated, is estatic at the prospect of finally physically beating down the obnoxious, formerly untouchable foe.
  • Breath Weapon: He now has two of these: A powerful 1/day lightning-bolt from his mother, and a weak but repeatable cone of flame from his Dragonfire Adept splash.
  • Cool Sword: His +2 Cold Iron Shocking Longsword.
  • Disappeared Dad: Has no clue who his father was, and doesn't really care. The only thing we know is that his name was probably Darius, and Little One's mother wasn't his only draconic partner.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Half human, half bronze dragon.
  • In Love with Your Carnage: The most likely explanation for his decision to begin courting Lady Chrysanthemum Von Christoff (who despite her flowery name is every bit as badass as her father).
  • I Shall Taunt You: Seems to have put a few skill ranks into Knowledge(Insulting Kua-Toa). From decorating his shield with Kua teeth to getting Angel to write insults in Kuar on that same shield to sticking a fishing line in water that he strongly suspects to be occupied by Kua, Little One wastes no opportunities to rub his disrespect for the Kua in their scaly faces. Perhaps the best example yet came when, upon slaughtering a Kua-Toa patrol, he cut their heads off, impaled the bodies on stakes upside-down, and then stuck the head back on top of the whole mess. In other words, the Kua have their heads up their behinds.
  • Master Swordsman: As a Warblade, Little One's martial skills are without peer.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Little One is about six and a half feet tall, and built to match. On the other hand, it was his mother who gave him the name, and she's a dragon.
  • Red Baron: After defeating an orc in single combat, Little One becomes known far and wide as "Orcslayer".
  • See the Invisible: Splashed Dragonfire Adept to gain 24/7 access to this ability, making him one of the few who can see through the omnipresent Kua-Toa cloaks.
  • Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: All the party despise slavery, and especially the omnipresent slavery that the Kua-Toa civilization runs on. Little One, however, is especially passionate about it. This extends even to beings whose living status is questionable, as we discover when his objection to Draven's plan to use an incorporeal undead in a bid to potentially cure their astral plague is mainly that they're enslaving the undead for their own means.
  • You Killed My Mother: His initial motivation for hating the Kua-Toa.
  • Values Dissonance: Little One finds Warforged!Daggerface disgusting because it fights for pay, against people who are not his enemies. In Little One's mind, you should only fight to protect or for vengeance or at least to conquer and test your skills. In addition, Little One finds Daggerface's decision to spare Little One's life after Little One refused to surrender deeply humiliating. As a result, Little One has sworn to get vengeance on Daggerface if he ever encounters him again.

     Angel Bloodright 
A Whisper Gnome assassin, Angel is a member of The Organization, a secret society dedicated to fighting the evil Kua-Toa invaders. Fast, lethal, and more than a bit mercenary, Angel has become one of the deadlier thorns in the Empire's side.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: One of her main rogue assets is her ability to strike the vital points of distracted or unbalanced targets, provided that they have vital points at all.
  • Ceiling Cling: Her Slippers Of Spiderclimbing let her walk on walls (or the ceiling).
  • Chainsaw Good: Favors spiked chains in combat.
  • Eye of Newt: Got a poison recipe with Kua-Toa spleens as one of the main ingredients as a present from another Organization member.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Not that she is evil, but she often notes she has no morals and has even attacked a hostage of her opponents just to give them fewer options in the fight.

     Draven Rowe 
The rightful Marquis of Rowan, Draven is one of the wealthier and higher-ranking nobles of Verandi. Or rather, he would be if Rowan and all the rest of Verandi hadn't been conquered by the trouts decades ago, driving Draven's ancestors north to take refuge in Vistria. Draven still enjoys a better life than most of his countrymen, as his marriage to the daughter of the wealthy Baron Silverlode has provided the starting capital for him to fully leverage his talent for artificing. He is also an agent of the Hand Of Sirius, a semi-secret order dedicated to the protection of humanity throughout all the world.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: He's an artificer.
  • Glass Cannon: He's always been fragile, but as the party reached higher levels his potential damage output reached this point; his wide variety of wands give him the highest damage of anyone in the party (when its worth spending the charges to dish out maximized force damage).
    Draven: If I am taking damage, you know the fight isn't going well...
  • Happily Married: Tolerably so. He and Ivana aren't the most passionate of couples, but they do appear to care for each other and get along quite well.
  • Immortality: Is granted this by the Oluanna Spring in Episode 56. Per Oluanna's expository song, this includes agelessness, immunity to mundane disease and a bonus against magical disease, a minor Healing Factor, and immunity to instant-death spells.
  • Impoverished Patrician: The Kua-Toa are currently squatting on his ancestral lands, though his artificing skills earn him a comfortable existence in Vistria.
  • Kill Steal: In their early adventures, the party noticed an unusual trend where, despite his low attack damage, he would end getting the final blow on many of their enemies. It's since become a Running Gag that both the player and character do this on purpose (they don't - it's merely a consequence of them spending their early turns buffing before making an attack, by which point the enemy is often rather worn down).
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: He's incorporated a number of his favorite wands into a kind of rotating mount in the stock of his magitech crossbow.
  • Weapon Specialization: His primary weapon is his convoluted Magitek crossbow.

     Reginald Black 
Like Draven, Black is a member of the Hand Of Sirius, and is in fact a priest of Sirius himself. In battle, Black is slow but unrelenting, his massive mace crushing any monster that tries to stand before him.
  • Armor of Invincibility: His Ytarran Power Armor.
  • Church Militant: Kind of comes with the territory when you worship the God Of Justice and Protection.
  • Counter-Attack: Black's concept involved the idea of dealing "backlash damage" to any opponent that hits him, using various spells and magic items to do so. While this idea has proved to be useful at times - with arguably its crowning moment being in episode 33 when a counter attack did so much damage that the target died from hitting Black (the episode even being named after that moment - Blacklash) - it has a few caveats.
    • A). It requires the opponent to actually hit Black in the first place, which B). is often hard to do so because Black has incredibly high AC due to wearing full plate and other AC boosting items, and C). the enemy may focus on Black's allies instead, especially if they're smart enough to figure out his trick or have learned about it beforehand, rendering the gimmick somewhat pointless.
    • The backlash effect also doesn't seem to trigger on AOE attacks like Fireball, which are often Black's Achilles' Heel due to his comparatively low reflexes.
  • Faster Than They Look: He commonly makes use of the spell Knight's Move to pull this off a few times a day by teleporting right into a flanking position with an ally. Otherwise, see Mighty Glacier below.
  • The Medic: In addition to his other powers, Black is also the party's main healer.
  • Mighty Glacier: Black is cripplingly slow in his full-plate (made worse by Black having the Slow flaw that reduces his base speed), but he hits like a truck, is practically impregnable, and if someone does hit him his backlash spells will punish them for attempting it.
    • Most notably shown during Episode 43 when Black pretty much single-handedly destroyed a Monitor.
  • Power Armor: Gets a suit of highly advanced Ytarran Power Armor during the Ginaron arc.
  • Stealth Pun: A priest of Sirius named Black.
  • Straight Man: In-character, very much. The player himself seems to be more of a Deadpan Snarker.

     Zaheer 
Possibly the last surviving inhabitant of the village of Kuraj, Zaheer is a cleric of Ankou, the Shepherd of the Dead. He and his guardian Mahar temporarily join ranks with the party after meeting during the Woodbridge zombie outbreak, before he disappeared again during the Feywild mission.

     Mahar 
This mysterious monk serves as Zaheer's guardian and companion, always at his master's side. Under his hood and robes (and his Hat of Disguise), he is in fact an undead skeleton. Why the cleric of an undead-hating demigod has an undead bodyguard is something of a mystery, but hopefully one that will be resolved eventually.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Classical example.
  • Dead to Begin With: A skeleton.
  • Dem Bones: He's a skeleton.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: As Zaheer's leadership cohort, Mahar joined and left when he did.
  • Hat of Power: His Hat of Disguise causes him to look like a flesh-and-blood human under his robes.
  • No-Sell: Apparently immune to Control Undead, attempted by a lieutenant of a vampire king. Said lieutenant's response suggests something of his nature is responsible for it.
  • Revive Kills Zombie: Like his master, Mahar is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy.

     Krillidin 
A Half-Elven soldier in the elven military in the Feywild, he was unlucky enough to cross through a natural portal into the Shadowfel, where he was chased by wolves and other horrors until he ran into and joined the party while they were fleeing from Swayne. A talented Arcane Archer with a Bow of Splitting that literally doubled each shot, he was a welcome addition to the group.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: Joined the party during a time when they were trapped in the Shadowfel and needed the help. Bonus points for actually being a ranger!
  • Expy: His appearance takes a lot of inspiration from Robin Hood and Green Arrow. His name also seems to be inspired by Krillin.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Like Zaheer, he joined the party late into the campaign, except he stuck around longer up to the end of the original campaign.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Due to living in the Feywild for most of his life, Krillidin is rather unaware of the state of affairs in the Fadelands (a.k.a the Material Plane), including the existence of the Deluvians and that orcs are still causing problems (believing them to have been taken care of during the Shatterwar).
  • Mage Marksman: Krillidin's class is Arcane Archer, a bowman that can imbue magic into his arrows (though we don't actually see him cast many spells or use magic in this way, with Krillidan mostly relying on his allies for buffs).
  • Master Archer: Unlike most of the party (with the exception of Dravin), Krillidin prefers to fight from a distance with a bow and arrow, and can be quite effective at it.
  • Rain of Arrows: Between his Bow of Splitting and various buffs he can receive, he can output a crazy amount of attacks in a single turn. He also has an ability literally called "Rain of Arrows", which lets him make an area-of-effect attack.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Krillidan has an understandable aversion to wolves after he was chased by a pack of them after accidentally crossing into the Shadowfel, so he isn't pleased when some of them return during the boss battle at the end of the first season.

Sea of Secrets Party

The protagonists of the second season, they are a band of mercenaries that were hired as part of a treasure hunt.

     Uhamicho 
A large Shifter dressed in furs, Uhamicho is Barbarian/Totemist multi-class that specializes in dealing vicious unarmed attacks, shifting his hands into claws that can tear into even metal. Played by quill18 (Draven's player from the previous campaign).
  • Bilingual Bonus: His name is actually a Kenyan word for "exile."
  • The Big Guy: Is the most physically imposing member of the party, and probably the biggest damage dealer (that we've seen so far anyway).
  • Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Draven (as the two characters share the same player). While Draven is a Book Smart articifer who prefers to buff his allies and fights at range with his crossbow, prefering to stay out of direct combat as much as he can, Uhamicho is a front-line fighter that prefers to leap into the fray with his enhanced natural weapons (including his bite and claws) that is more Book Dumb due to living in the wild for most of his life (though by no means is he stupid, just not as formally educated).
  • Our Werebeasts Are Different: Uhamicho's race is a Shifter, a descendant of a human and a natural lycanthrope (a werebeast that was born as one instead of being cursed with it), who can change their body to emulate that of a beast, though to a lesser degree than that of a true lycanthrope. This usually comes in the form of natural weapons like claws or a bite attack, which Uhamicho can enhance further with his Totemist abilities.

     Jinx 
A Changeling Spellthief (a type of Rogue that can steal spells from their targets instead of dealing Sneak Attack damage). Can technically take any humanoid form they like, but their preferred form is a young human woman, with the only hint to her true identity (to the audience) being her black eyes with green sclera.
  • All the Other Reindeer: Growing up as a child, Jinx did her best to blend in with others (somewhat literally, given her abilities) but was always aware of her true nature, and grew to be uncomfortable with how people only really saw her "disguises", made worse by feeling that neither those shapes or her "true form" are really her, so to speak (the human appearance she prefers to have is the closest she can get).
  • Lonely Together: Starts to form a bond with Blue over their shared sense of isolation from others (with Jinx being a Changling who's not comfortable with her "true form" and has some identity issues about it, and Blue not being certain if there's anyone else like himself out there).
  • Secret-Keeper: For Blue's attempted murder of a bigoted innkeeper, though she only does so because a). the attempt failed, and b). Blue showed genuine regret in his actions in a private conversation between the two of them.
  • Twinkle Smile: The eye version of this, as her eyes sometimes sparkle in episode 4 whenever she's in particular awe of Captain Sana. For bonus points, the colours of the sparkles reflect the ace flag colours, which Demonac admitted was a deliberate touch in the comments for that episode.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a Changeling, Jinx can essentially transform into any humanoid race she likes, and can even copy the appearance of other specific people (though this requires at least some study to be accurate), but she can't copy racial abilities, such as a Kua-Toa's amphibious nature or skin secretions.

     Blue 
A blue "goblin" (even Blue doesn't know what they actually are), possessing psionic abilities and a short temper. Played by Little One's player.
  • All the Other Reindeer: As a "goblin", Blue often faces a certain degree of racism in humanoid settlements. In one instance, this got Blue angry enough to try to kill an innkeeper who had treated him more like an animal in regards to rooming, though the attempt failed and he later felt regret for giving in to his temper.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Blue has little patience when dealing with idiocy, or bigotry, and in a moment of impulsive anger, attempted to murder a racist innkeeper using his psionic powers while everyone in the place was distracted. The attempt failed, but Jinx sensed the psionic energy, putting two and two together. When she approached him in a private conversation, he admitted that he regretted what almost happened and bemoaned his lack of self-control.
  • Identity Amnesia: Blue remembers very little about his personal history, knowing only that he was involved in some sort of lab experiment, which he later escaped from, that may have been responsible for his unusual appearance and powers. He's not even sure if there even is a history for him before that point.
  • Lonely Together: Starts to form a bond with Jinx over their shared sense of isolation from others (with Jinx being a Changling who's not comfortable with her "true form" and has some identity issues about it, and Blue not being certain if there's anyone else like himself out there).
  • My God, What Have I Done?: His attempted murder of a man merely because he was racist towards Blue. The attempt failed, and no one beside Jinx even noticed what had happened, but he's shown in a later conversation to regret that he let his temper have that much control over him.
  • Telepath: As a Psion whose primary discipline is Telepathy, he's capable of reading minds, as well as Charm Person. He does have some attack powers though.

     Adria 
An Eladrin Beguiler (a type of spellcaster that specializes in enchantments and illusions). Played by Angel's player.
  • Draft Dodging: Played with. In episode 3, the party learn that he Formians are invading Eldrin territory, and in response the royalty have issued a decree to all Eladrins to return to fight, including those in the Fadelands. Adria, after hearing about this for the first time, merely says that she has promises she has to keep before she can go (referring to the treasure hunt the party was hired to assist with), but later begins to have doubts about her own intentions and wondering if she would have actually gone if she didn't have an excuse.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Actually 200 years old at the start of the campaign (which is not that surprising considering that Eladrin, in this setting at least, are essentially elves that moved to the Feywild).

     Pelor 
A human Fighter specializing in polearms (and dancing). Has a bit of an ego. No relation to the god of the same name.
  • Bisexual: Pelor is noted as being interested in both men and women and has slept with both, usually as one night stands.
  • Dance Battler: Fighting for him is practically the same as dancing. He even has his own special animation for it, as seen here.
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: One of the reasons Pelor took up dancing was to hide his identity after the Yellow Cloaks were all arrested, with himself narrowly escaping. After all, who would suspect that a dancing entertainer would be a wanted man?
  • Hired Guns: Was formerly a member of a group of mercenaries known as the Yellow Cloaks that operated in the country of Laric, whose motto was "We're free lads, but we don't work for free". Shortly after their leader was killed in battle, the group was later arrested, with Pelor just managing to slip away. See Metaphorically True below for just how mercenary this group could be.
  • Metaphorically True: When Pelor first talks about his background with the Yellow Cloaks in the cold open of episode 4, he describes two jobs the Cloaks had pulled off. The first was rescuing the kidnapped children of a governor from some "evil rebels" and the second to take down a corrupt politician after being paid to do so by "concerned citizens". After hearing the stories (including the name of the politician and that the first story took place in the southern province) and making some knowledge checks, the party realizes that the governor and the politician were the same person, highlighting that the Cloaks wouldn't bat an eye trading sides if the money was right, though apparently Pelor himself never connected the dots until it was pointed out to him. He later reflects that the Cloaks' leader might have simply been very good at spinning stories to justify the Cloaks being in the right, at least to themselves.
  • Twinkle Smile: The eye version of this, as his eyes sometimes sparkle in episode 4 whenever he's in particular awe of Captain Sana (and usually when he's most attracted to her). For bonus points, the colours of the sparkles reflect the bisexual flag colours, which Demonac admitted was a deliberate touch in the comments for that episode.
  • Weapon Specialization: He fights primarily using a polearm, using it to trip his foes to make them more vulnerable, and even getting additional attacks out of it.

Tarq

     Tarq as a nation 
The dwarven nation of Tarq comprises a large chunk of what used to be the territory of the Ytarrans, before all the Ytarrans died off. These days it is principally inhabited by the dwarves, who spread south from the three ancient dwarfholds in the wake of the Ytarran's disappearance, glutting themselves on the empty space.The dwarves of Tarq are divided into several clans, each ruled by a "Don". It should also be noted that Tarq is the only major nation to border both the Illud and the Deluvian factions of the Kua-Toa, putting it in a unique position with regard to their Enemy Civil War.

     Don Di Corso 
The ruler of the mining town of Corso's Chasm and a close ally of the humans, Don Di Corso serves as the mastermind behind the Spoons Of Plenty quest arc.

     Supervisor Huevo/"Daggerface" 
Supervisor Huevo was once a mild-mannered and friendly overseer in the Corso's Chasm mining operations, but that was before he was taken prisoner by drow raiders. Horrifically disfigured by their poisoned knives, he was then dumped right next to a tree that radiates overpowering magical terror, and then left there, tied up, for hours. After he was rescued by the party, he adopted the name "Daggerface" after his horrific facial scars, and joined the party to hunt monsters. Was left behind when the party teleported to Vistria, but rejoined them after the first adventures in Polaron.

     GE- 7 
Back when the Ytarrans still lived, GE-7 was simply a menial worker in the laboratory/temple of Ginaron. But after the death of the Ytarrans in the Astral Plague, GE-7 devoted himself to studying the mysteries of artificing and to the worship of Ytaru, God of artifice, innovation, and discovery. While most other Warforged either put themselves in stasis or broke down from lack of repairs, GE-7 learned enough to sustain his Warforged body indefinitely, and was still functional nearly a thousand years later when the party stumbled across him within the depths of Ginaron.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Averted. While the DM's script called for him to sacrifice himself to destroy the malfunctioning teleport gate, the party Took a Third Option and discovered how to save him.
  • Last of His Kind: GE-7 is one of the handful of "Ancients" who survived all the way from Ytarran times to the modern day.
  • Powered Armor: Thanks to several centuries of cumulative tinkering, his Ytarran Power armor is an incredibly advanced bit of Magitek. He gives it to the party in preparation for a Heroic Sacrifice, and is happy to let them keep it when they figure out how to actually save him.
  • Put on a Bus: Last seen heading off to speak with the elves, perhaps the only people who remember as much as he does.
    • The Bus Came Back: He returns at the end of the Polaron arc, rejoining the party to see a still fully-functional Ytarran facility.

Vistria

     Vistria as a nation 
The last of the Three Brother Nations, Vistria is a kingdom on the edge of catastrophe. Locked in a perpetual war against the evil Kua-Toa on three sides, and the vicious Orcish warbands on the fourth, Vistria still carries the legacy of the Smith.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Heavily inspired by Western European culture and government, though with far more ethnic diversity due to the number of refugees they've taken in over the years.
  • Fantastic Racism: A major issue in Vistria. Since Vistria's own population is almost exclusively human, and the only non-humans they have regular contact with are the Kua-Toa, the aquatic slave armies that serve the Kua-Toa, and the vicious Orcs, a fair amount of pro-human racism has accumulated.

The Feywild

     The Feywild in general 
A bright, wild reflection of the Fadelands.
  • Bizarro World: Things in the Feywild don't necessarily make much, or any, sense to the standard mortal experience. It's to the point that the second episode set primarily in the Fey is called Stop Breaking Draven because of how many times he in particular is repeatedly flabbergasted by the plane's strange logic.
  • The Fair Folk: This is where you'll find them. The Seelie and Unseelie courts are specifically mentioned, as well.
  • Steampunk: As revealed in side materials, once you get to the higher levels of the Fey Sky, things start looking more and more like this. Notably, the second level of sky and above are the only places in the setting where gunpowder works.
     The Rahj 
A group of Rakshasa who have abandoned Hell's goals in order to focus on seeking knowledge for its own sake, and perhaps gaining ultimate, unchallenged power so they can continue to do so for eternity without anyone bothering them. Highly uncharacteristically for a group of devils, they are generally extremely fair and honest in their bargains. Usually reside in the Feywild, but a particular bargain going wrong resulted in the party encountering one of them below the ancient city of Eloyah.

Lord Kintemazu

The first Rahj the party encounters, while investigating the strange goings-on at Hengal. Seems at first to be responsible for those events, but it isn't quite that simple.
  • Benevolent Genie: Like all Rahjs. For him specifically, though, it goes rather wrong. He gets stuck having to fulfill his end of a bargain with a Neogi even though he doesn't wish to, and draws the party's ire because of it.
  • Non-Action Guy: He's a researcher, not a fighter. He spends his entire "boss fight" making token attacks and stalling while continuing to try to negotiate with the party.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: That being said, despite his lack of combat capability, the few combat powers he does happen to know as well as his natural Rakshasa resistances are more than enough to slow the party down for several rounds, and his access to Decerebrate would have in all likelihood allowed him to take one or two members of the party out with him before dying, if not win outright, had the situation not resolved peacefully.

Lord Kinnekoro

Lord Kintemazu's brother. The most overtly emotional of the Rahjs, and their combat specialist.
  • Badass Boast:
    "If you kill my brother now. If you are willing to pay fourteen thousand gold, and suffer the plague, just to kill him, even though his task has failed and ended, then I will make a significant expenditure of Karma. I will alter your very reality, and your fate will become your doom."
  • Combat Clairvoyance: According to side materials, he is attuned to the combat aspect of the Fate Matrix, and as such has the full +7 bonus to almost all rolls essentially permanently.
  • Hot-Blooded: Quite overtly emotional and sentimental, in contrast to the other Rahjs. They're not above teasing him about it.

Lady Hazemura

The party's main contact among the Rahjs, and the closest thing they seem to have to a leader. Unflinchingly calm and logical, even by Rahj standards.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Appears in person in episode 26 to disable Morduval's Mind Hunter runes, drastically evening the odds and giving the party a chance to actually hurt him.
  • The Face: Does most of the talking for the Rahjs.
  • The Stoic: Whether she's making a deal, predicting the demise of one of her compatriots, or facing down a lieutenant of a Vampire King, she will always remain calm and composed. The most emotion she has ever visibly displayed has been a tinge of melancholy to her voice when describing the plight of the citizens of Hengal, and a slight smirk along with the other three Rahjs when Lord Kinnekoro asked to purchase a plaque from Draven for sentimental reasons.

Lord Manxaze

The final member of the Rahjs. Seems to have a role similar to an accountant. Hasn't had as much focus as the rest.

The Shadowfel

     The Shadowfel in general 
A dark reflection of the Fadelands.
  • Crapsack World: Oh so much. The continent is split between five horrific vampire kings, the ocean is filled with eldritch horrors, and under the surface the Drow rule supreme.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The aptly named Fell Ocean is filled with them.
  • Spell My Name With An S: Spelled "shadowfel", with one "l", as opposed to the traditional "shadowfell", with two.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: The undead just seem to pop out of the ground there. And in the backstory, a major invasion from The Shadowfel led to the creation of the Warforged by the Ytarrans.
     The Vampire Kings 
The five vampires that rule over the continent.
  • Cannot Cross Running Water: One of their few weaknesses. For all their incredible power, both Swayne and Cornello are stopped dead be even simple streams.
  • Captured Super-Entity: The Vampire Kings derive the bulk of their power from "spirit shackles", arcane rituals that bind the spirits of the Shadowfel to their control and force them to grant various supernatural powers. The five Kings keep the best of these powers for themselves, while bestowing those which are redundant, incompatible with vampirism, or otherwise undesirable onto various lieutenants.

Swayne

The Vampire King that rules over the Shadowfel equivalent of Western Vistria
  • Dissonant Serenity: He pretty much always looks bored, regardless of the situation.
  • The Dreaded: Described as the most fearsome Vampire King, despite his limited territory. When he shows up in person in episode 50, he has the party running scared.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Wears nothing from the waist up but an unbuttoned leather jacket and a necklace.

Alyssa

The Vampire King that rules over the Shadowfel equivalent of Verandi and Laric
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Not fond of the vampire who turned her. Considering it's Swayne, a fellow Vampire King, which are constantly at war, this really takes it beyond the pale.
  • She Is the King: Still called "King" despite being a women.
  • Undead Child: Alyssa has the body of a nine-year old girl. Creepy.

Cornello

The Vampire King that rules over the Shadowfel equivalent of eastern Vistria, Northern Urruk, and Korstraad.
  • I Love You, Vampire Son: Was the lover of the Vampire King Vladimir, who turned him in order to preserve him for eternity.
  • Malicious Misnaming: In a stinger, the party dubs him Cornholio. Yep.
  • Man Behind the Man: The party fights a lot of his minions. Including a cult leader in Castle and a necromancer in Goodplace, but haven't encountered him directly.

Lockhart

The Vampire King The rules of the equivalent of Urruk and the Elven lands.
  • Hufflepuff House: The party hasn't traveled in his lands or their corresponding lands in the Fadelands much, so they haven't dealt with his forces at all.
  • Space-Filling Empire: While he controls a huge amount of territory, his lands are relatively poor in spirits suitable for shackling, making him less powerful than his territory would indicate.

Hastings

The Vampire King which rules over the equivalent of Tarq.

     Lieutenants of the Kings 
While the vampire kings naturally bestow the best of the powers granted by the Spirit Shackles on themselves, many of these powers are redundant with other powers, incompatible with vampirism, or otherwise undesirable for the Kings. These powers are instead bestowed onto various lieutenants.

Baron Deathmoor

A lieutenant-archetype in Cornello's service, consisting of several Cast from Lifespan powers. A previous Baron Deathmoor was killed by Rygax, and the current holder of the title is hampered by his lack of an Immortality power.
  • Cast from Lifespan: The abilities that make up the "Baron Deathmoor" archetype are powerful, but consume the wielder's life force to use. This is why Cornello (who as an undead has no life-force to spend), cannot keep these powers for himself.
    • One of the party's main goals during the "Week of Hell" arc was to prevent the current Baron Deathmoor from drinking from the Oluanna spring and gaining immortality, which would have let him use his abilities without limit.
  • Legacy Character: Like many lieutenants, Baron Deathmoor is less a specific individual and more an archetype created by a combination of shackles. Thus, when one Baron Deathmoor is killed another can soon be appointed.

"Wormy"

The leader of a cult of Verandian refugees in lower Castle, whose human disguise impossibly conceals a massive worm-like monster. Claims to be in the service of Cornello, but may actually be working for Swayne
  • Blood Magic: The cult he was leading used special incense to unleash blood-draining scarabs on their victims, harvesting the blood for some unknown purpose.
  • False Flag Operation: Wormy publicly claims to be in the service of Cornello. However, according to the Rajs his Spirit Shackle is traditionally held by Swayne.
  • Hammerspace: Somehow manages to conceal his true form (a worm about fifteen feet around and hundreds of feet long) inside the body of a pudgy human.
  • Revive Kills Zombie: Can regenerate from any damage other than that inflicted by positive energy.

Tod, the Hollow Swarm

A lieutenant of Swayne, with the power to summon large numbers of shadow minions at extreme range and speed.
  • Glass Cannon: His minion-summoning is one of the most potent offensive abilities in the series, but he has a mere eight hit points.
  • Mook Maker: His primary power. He can spawn shadow-minions at a rate of 3 a round, each of which has fairly good attacks and a decent defense due to the 50% miss-chance from incorporeality. Better yet, he can summon shadows from nearly a mile off so long as he has line of sight.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Tod" is Elvish for "extremely unpleasant death".
  • Resurrective Immortality: One of his shackles allows Swayne to instantly resurrect him if he's killed.

Morduval

A lieutenant of Swayne, with the power to turn into a giant tentacle monster.
  • Magic Pants: Subverted. His clothing in his human form does regenerate when torn to shreds by his transformation, but it takes about 20 seconds to fully repair and he transforms far more often than that in battle.
  • One-Winged Angel: An interesting variant. Per Word of God, his tentacle monster form costs a massive amount of energy to maintain, but shifting into or out of the form is almost instantaneous and costs little energy. So whenever he needs to strike or tank a blow, he will flash into the tentacle monster form for a fraction of a second, then back into his wrinkled-old-man form.
  • Protective Charm: In addition to the powers granted by his spirit shackle, the mind hunters granted him a set of powerful defensive wards that made him almost indestructible.

     Spirits 
Spirits native to the Shadowfel

Balvan, The Millstone

A mountain spirit that the party encounters, but doesn't fight. Has a much more in depth, and tragic, backstory than his brief appearance would suggest.
  • Deal with the Devil: Made a deal with Swayne to vampirize his daughter Alice. It doesn't really work out for either of them, as Alice becomes the Vampire King Alyssa.
  • Hero of Another Story: His life has been detailed in the four-part Sage of Balvan here.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Heavily implied to be one in the series, well before the party actually encountered him (referred to as a "Guardian" beforehand by the Rajs and their predictions). While the party manages to avoid fighting Balvan by (unintentionally) bringing him a ring that belonged to his daughter and returning it to him, letting them pass by unopposed by him for at least a day. the closing credits of the episode where they met him showed a possible scenario where they did try to fight Balvan (Little One uses a maneuver to toss him off the mountain top... and the moment he hits the ground he immediately jumps back to the mountain top, unharmed, and the party starts to flee into the maze with Balvan in pursuit.
  • One-Man Army: Fights hordes of Drow, and wins.
  • Red Baron: The Millstone. Says it all, really.

Oluana

A spring spirit than can grant immortality... once every hundred years or so.
  • The Ageless: What Oluona grants to those who drink of her first waters.
  • Immortality Inducer: A living one. But she can only do so once every one-hundred and ten years.
  • Only the Pure of Heart: Implied. Dialogue from Cornello suggests that Oluana can sense people's hearts and minds. However, she can't hold back her waters forever, she just prefers not to grant agelessness on those who would abuse it.

The Darktrees

A species of spirit resembling an inverted tree (with the roots on the surface and the branches growing ever downwards) that feed off the corrupted spiritual energies of the Shadowfel. Secretly the custodians of the spiritual energy that will be used to usher in the True Dawn.
  • No Place for Me There: The Darktrees feed off of the corrupted energies of the Shadowfel. When the True Dawn comes and the plane is healed, they will inevitably wither and die. Despite that, they are so tired of feeling the suffering of the plane that they work to bring about the True Dawn anyway.
  • Psychic Powers: Are powerful telepaths and empaths.
  • Supernatural Fear Inducer: One of their primary defenses.

     Other Shadowfel Denizens 

Rygax

A legendary hero, servant of Ankou, and sage of the Shadowfel. Appears after years of foreshadowing to aid the party during the Week of Hell. Though his power and wisdom are great, his social skills have been blunted by long years spent fighting alone.

The Albtraum

A lieutenant of Asmodeus, the Lord of Hell, who holds control of a small demesne within the Shadowfel as a result of some unknown divine pact. Has the physical appearance of a vaguely humanoid shape made of solid green lightning bolts.
  • Bond One-Liner: Delivers one of these to a gigantic monster (resembling a colossol scorpion/snake hybrid) under the command of one of the Vampire Kings, initially intending the beast to deliver a message to its master before the Albraum decides he'll "do it [[himself]]" as he utterly obliterates it in one blast. The Stinger for the episode reveals that he actually delivered multiple one liners, but kept casually rewinding time so he could deliver a better one before giving up and saying he'll come up with one later.
  • Fusion Dance: During the climatic fight in episode 66, an aspect of the Albtraum that the demigod had smuggled into the Material Plane merges with a phantasm of the Headless Horseman to become the Nightmare Knight, replacing the steed's flames with green lightning (though the video keeps them as flames for the sake of making animation easier), the Horseman's spiked-chain whips with two heavy balls on chains (as in, two literal balls of lightning joined by a chain of electricity) and his head on top of the Horseman's armored body, creating one of the party's most fearsome opponents (at least in theory; some of the party, especially Little One, were overjoyed at having a physical target to smash).
  • Final Boss: Becomes this in the finale of the first season/campaign, first conjuring phantasms of the party's past enemies to battle them before stepping into the fray himself after fusing with the Headless Horseman phantasm.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: Something that works in the party's favor when he confronts them. Had they entered his realm of their own free will, they would be utterly in his power and he could have reshaped or erased them at will. But since he extended his realm beyond its proper borders to entrap them, divine law requires that he at least give them a fighting chance to survive and escape.
  • Meaningful Name: Albtraum is a German word for nightmare, a term he loves to live up to should you be unfortunate enough to be caught in his realm. It becomes even more meaningful when he becomes the Nightmare Knight in the final battle against the party in the season finale.
  • Reality Warper: Within his own borders, he is essentially omnipotent, able to reshape anyone and anything to his will.
    • This even applies in a meta-sense: when making one of his Elite Mooks, he gave them the third edition version of the haste spell (for reference, the campaign uses the 3.5 version of the D&D rules, with some homebrew added in). Goes even further in his boss fight with the party in episode 66, where he has access to Legendary Actions, a fifth edition mechanic, which he uses to deadly effect.
  • Talking to Themself: Does a variation of this where one of his creations (a copy of an old but powerful Monitor) starts to backtalk his master/creator, being self-aware enough to point out that the Albtraum could take direct control of him but it would weaken the duplicate's fighting ability as the Albtraum can't directly copy a Monitor's fighting style himself (relying on implanting copied memories into a compatible soul in the first place). Even the Albtraum is weirded out by this conversation.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: During the party's time in the Albtraum's domain, it takes control of the parting words of each episode (proclaiming that these are the tales of his D&D campaign) away from Demonac, leaving the original host trapped in a pocket dimension until the party finally escapes, releasing Demonac as well.
  • You Have Failed Me: Is on the receiving end of this at the hands of his god Asmodeus after the events of episode 66, as the dark god was not amused at the Albtraum's failure to kill Rygax or the party (twice in the latter case), nor at the Albtraum's rather unimpressive attempts to spin the failure into a success at planting seeds of fear in the mortals. It's unclear if the Albtraum is actually dead or not, but he was clearly suffering.

The Dark Ancients

A group of evil war-forged that found a way to cheat death by becoming ghosts. They seek the complete destruction of all organic life.
  • Body Surf: The primary method for their immortality is to hop to new bodies when their current one gets too damaged or worn out to last. They can even use this to temporarily hop between different bodies for various purposes, usuallly when a construct body might have better utility for a specific task such as with Delta and the "Digger" he brought for ambush purposes.
  • Immortality Immorality: Dark Ancients survive the slow degeneration of Warforged bodies by stealing the bodies of other Warforged.
  • Mortality Phobia: One of the prerequisites for becoming a Dark Ancient is a fear of death so all-consuming that you are willing to do anything, including killing innocents and stealing their bodies, to survive.
  • Possession Burnout: A Warforged body host a Dark Ancient ages at roughly triple speed due to the alien mental energies. True constructs are an even worse match, burning out in a few months.

    Temple1/"Alpha"/Epsilon 
The very first Dark Ancient the party meets. While at Ginaron, he pretends to be a cleaner named Temple1. However, after the party decides to bring him along, he possesses the core of the facility, which causes a chain of events that gives the party "space aids."
  • Dirty Coward: Even as he was pretending to be Temple1, he hates being damaged. This gets used against him as a taunt during the Polaron Arc.
  • Final Boss: Of the Polaron Arc, taking possession of the "Strategic Withdraw Unit" in an attempt to radiate half of the continent. He's finally Killed Off for Real at the end of the battle, even trying a fruitless Taking You with Me self-destruct.
  • No Name Given: Because of hearing Greek Letters as names from Beta, Delta, and Gamma, the party gives him the name "Alpha." In actuality, his name is Epsilon, with Alpha being the first of them, and he didn't make it.
  • Taking You with Me: Dying, he tries to blow up his Strategic Withdraw Unit to take them down with him, but it fails thanks to the Force Wall erected by Draven.
    Beta 
A golem that ambushes the party on their way to Castle.
    Del/Delta 
A Dark Ancient that takes the form of an Orc and acts as the right hand of the Orc leader, having manipulated others bellow him into gathering artifacts.
    Gamma 
A massive Mechanical Abomination created from countless Warforged bodies that attacks the party in front of Polaron.
  • The Brute: Serves as this in comparison to the Dark Ancients seen. While those like "Alpha" and Beta mostly rely on their psionic abilities and their current body's abilities, Gamma relies mostly on their sheer size and brute force, though he does have a few other tricks up his sleeve (like tossing off bodies to becomes zombie minions, emitting a sonic scream from his numerous mouths, or firing off Eye Beams).

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top