NeoExodus Enemies of NeoExodus - Folding Circle Brothers-in-Arms.pdf - NeoExodus - sororita

enemies of NeoExodus:

LPJXX13

Folding Circle

brothers-in-arms

Written By Neal Bailey

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Third Edition, published by

Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product utilizes updated material from the v.3.5 revision.

enemies of NeoExodus: folding circle brother-in-arms

The following two NPCs are designed to act in close

accord with the Folding Circle, but in a junior member

capacity. Both have CRs tied to their character

level, but really can be placed up to 2 CRs higher

than that depending on the capabilities of the party

they’re facing. This is thanks to their wide variety of

powerful abilities. Like all members of the Folding

Circle, these two have full character wealth, extensive

resources, and should be used as planned encounters.

Their particular weaknesses are intended to provide

them with a supervillain vibe, whereby they are very

powerful until a party understands how to exploit

them.

The two groups, fire and ice, each have a single

Seeker who is imbued with powerful shamanic magics

and tasked to hunt those who have fled from their fate.

A single individual is chosen to perform each role for

all Dalrean patches – this is really the only form of

cohesive organization that the Dalreans enforce across

more than one patch. Both Seekers must be firm

believers in justice and the rule of tradition. Seeker-

in-Flame more than exemplifies these qualities.

Seeker-in-Flame became known to Makesh through

tribal channels and old legends that were circulating

around Sametia. Makesh believed Seeker to be a

kindred spirit as well as a potential ally, and sought

to find him via the Star Fountain for many years

with little initial success. Makesh struck on the idea

of capturing several rogue Dalreans in an attempt to

lure Seeker to him - sure enough, it worked. Makesh

offered the Dalreans as a gift and explained his posi-

tion and his goals.

Seeker-in-Flame

The torch you’re holding sputters suddenly, releasing

a great belch of smoke and sparks. With a flash, a

humanoid figure ripples from the blazing cloud, trailing

streamers of flame. The being lands sprawled on the

ground then rises into a predatory crouch as it surveys

you. It has skin as black as charred wood, riddled with

rents and cracks. It’s slender and inhuman. And the

face, the face. The thing has no face, merely a smooth

black plane with a jagged circle carved into it, glowing

like molten embers. This is the Seeker-in-Flame, and

he has found you.

Seeker in Flame was at first hesitant about joining

Makesh on his crusade – Dalreans tend not to become

involved in the affairs of outsiders, after all. But

Makesh was very persuasive, and offered joint coop-

eration, which would be a boon for Seeker given the

enormity of his task. Seeker soon came to see the

virtues of a universally imposed justice, and agreed to

assist the Folding Circle when he was needed, while

not joining the organization as a full member.

History

Although it’s well-known that the Dalreans have two

primary ‘ethnic groups’ within their race – those who

resist fire versus those who resist ice - the exact rela-

tions and purposes of these groups are a mystery to

outsiders. In truth, each group reveres a different

extreme of the forces of nature (the power of the

wildfires of summer, versus the power of the long

and chilling winter), and has appropriate funerary and

ceremonial rites. The two subspecies hold primacy of

the ‘patch’ during their appropriate season and act as a

form of government during that time.

Personality -

Lawful Neutral

Seeker is quite different from most other NPCs. Like

all Dalreans, his motives are strange – he wants no

wealth, no resources, no pleasure. Instead, Seeker

desires only to do his duty to the Dalrean people and

pursues goals in line with his concept of justice; it just

so happens that those goals intersect with Makesh’s.

When acting in the service of the Folding circle, he

carves the group’s symbol across his face as a sign of

fealty.

There are points during each summer and winter

when the older Dalreans are expected to sacrifice

themselves so that they may become loam for the new

generation. This is considered a great honor amongst

their people, but there are always those individuals

who turn against this tradition out of a desire to live a

longer life. The Dalreans, ever pragmatic, think this

a selfish and even sacrilegious act, and invest great

power and energy in hunting the mavericks down to

return them to the patch for absorption - here is where

Seeker-in-Flame and his counterpart enter the picture.

Seeker cannot speak and prefers not to interact with

other people directly. He has a strong empathic

bond with Triboras, who will generally do most of

the talking while Seeker watches mutely. If forced

to communicate via his empathic abilities, he only

provides the absolute minimum of interaction neces-

sary to get his point across, never clarifies, and only

goes over a point once. He often gives no sign that he

has even heard people that are talking to him.

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enemies of NeoExodus: folding circle brother-in-arms

Likes

• Getting straight to the point ( +2 diplomacy )

Racial Abilities

Plant Qualities: Dalreans have some of the qualities

of a plant creature. They are not subject to attacks or

effects that can only target humanoids. Additionally,

they are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning,

critical hits, and precision-based damage.

Dislikes

• Talkative people ( -4 diplomacy )

• People who repeat themselves ( -2 diplomacy per

instance )

Cold Weakness: Seeker-in-Flame takes double

damage from cold-based energy attacks.

Seeker-in-Flame

Ranger 11

Size/Type: Medium plant ( Dalrean )

Hit Dice ( max ): 11D8+66 ( 154 )

Initiative: +9

Speed: 50 ft. ( 10 squares )

Armor Class: 26 ( +11 natural, +5 Dex ), 15 touch, 21

flat-footed

Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+11

Attack: Bow +18 ranged ( 2d6+6 fire ), or Bow +14

ranged ( 2d6+6 fire, 2d6+6 fire ), or Bow +12 ranged

( 2d6+6 fire, 2d6+6 fire, 2d6+6 fire )

Full Attack: Bow +18/+13/+8 ranged ( 2d6+6 fire )

Space/Reach: 5 ft / 5 ft

Special Attacks: Firewalk, Seeking Flame

Special Qualities: Animal Companion, Combat Style,

Evasion, Eye of Fire, Favored Enemies, Flame absorp-

tion, Flamanifest, Plant Qualities, Smoketracking,

Swift Tracker, Woodland Stride, Wild Empathy

Saves: Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +7

Abilities ( 52 point buy ): Str 10 ( -4 racial ), Dex 20 ( -2

racial, +2 level, +4 item ), Con 22 ( +4 item ), Int 12,

Wis 18, Cha 8

Skills ( 98 ): Climb +2, Concentration +14, Handle

Animal +4, Hide +19, Jump +2, Knowledge ( geog-

raphy ) +9, Listen +13, Move Silently +19, Search

+15, Spot +12, Survival +18 ( +20 following tracks,

+20 navigation ), Swim +0

Feats: Blindfighting, Climate Adaptation ( Fire )

( Dalrean feat, superceded by Flame Absorption ),

Endurance, Improved Initiative, Improved Precise

Shot, Manyshot, Rapid shot, Track, Weapon Focus

( longbow )

Environment: NA

Organization: Tracker in the Folding Circle

Challenge Rating: 11

Equipment ( 66,000 gp ): Burning Arc ( Unique

Flaming Longbow +1, 30,375 ), Amulet of health +4

( 16,000 ), Gloves of Dexterity +4 ( 16,000 ), Potion of

Barkskin +5 ( 1,200 ), Potion of Cure Serious Wounds

(750), Potion of Haste ( 750 ), Potion of Fly ( 750 )

Mouthless: Dalreans do not have a mouth, and cannot

speak. Instead, they communicate through a type of

empathy derived from released spore-pheromones.

Spells cast that require verbal components are consid-

ered silent spells. Those that have a verbal component

as part of their effect cannot be cast. Dalrean commu-

nication functions as telepathy with a 60 foot range.

Spells ( 2/2/1 ): 3rd – Plant Growth; 2nd – Owl’s

Wisdom, Spike Growth; 1st – Entangle, Pass without

trace

Special Attacks

Burning Arc: This is Seeker-in-Flame’s unique

weapon. It has no physical form. Seeker merely

sweeps his hand through the air, trailing an arc of

flame, which he grabs and wields like a bow. The

Burning Arc fires bolts of flame which deal 2d6+6

fire damage; this becomes 6d6+18 on a critical. The

weapon cannot be sundered and doesn’t use ammu-

nition. A character coming into contact with the

Burning Arc takes 1d6 fire damage, but Seeker’s fire

absorption ability causes the Arc to heal him while

he touches it. The Burning Arc itself sheds light as a

hooded lantern.

Firewalk ( Su ): As a move action, the Seeker-in-

Flame may choose to teleport to any open flame, of

any size, within 500 feet of his position. He appears

at a location of his choice within 10 feet of the fire.

The Seeker may opt to burst out of the flame itself,

causing a small fireball that deals 6D6 damage to

anyone within a 10 foot burst of the source of fire.

There is a reflex save ( DC 19 ) for half damage.

The save DC is wisdom-based. Firewalk is consid-

ered an extradimensional effect and is affected by

Dimensional lock.

Seeking Flame ( Su ): Once per round as a swift

action, the Seeker may unleash a Seeking Flame. This

automatically strikes a single target within 120 feet,

and deals 4d4+5 Fire-based damage. Additionally,

a character struck by the Seeking flame is ‘marked’,

and more easily attacked with the Burning Arc – all

attacks on a marked character made with the Arc gain

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enemies of NeoExodus: folding circle brother-in-arms

a +2 insight bonus to attack rolls, and func-

tion as if the target was a favored enemy.

This stacks with any regular favored

enemy bonuses against the target.

Special Qualities

Combat Style ( Ex ): Treated as having rapid

shot, many shot, and improved precise shot.

Evasion ( Ex ): Takes no damage on a successful

reflex save for half damage.

Eye of Fire (Ex): This is the Seeker-

in-Flame’s special vision ability.

Seeker is actually blind, but he has

a strange power that allows him to

perceive any area touched by the

light of a fire. In any area that

is subject to fire-based illumina-

tion ( whether bright or shadowy ),

the Seeker-in-Flame is treated as

having Blindsight. This ability func-

tions on any fire out to 1,000 feet,

and Seeker doesn’t need to be within

the light himself to sense objects within

it. For example, if the Seeker hides in

the shadows 500 feet away from a

group at a campground, he would be

perfectly aware of everything that is

illuminated by that campfire, even

though he’s nowhere near it. When

using the Eye of Fire ability, the Seeker gains a +8

circumstance bonus to all search and ‘spot’ checks

made on illuminated areas he is observing, and suffers

no penalties for lighting conditions. In open daylight,

Eye of fire functions only to a 60 foot radius around a

fire of any size.

Flame Absorption

( Ex ): The Seeker-in-Flame is more than just resistant

or immune to fire-based energy damage, he is actu-

ally healed by it. Contact with flames of any sort

causes the Seeker to be healed as much as he would

be damaged under normal conditions. He may volun-

tarily waive any reflex saves versus fire-based effects.

Note 1: The seeker is simultaneously aware of all illu-

minated areas within the 1,000 foot radius of the Eye

of Fire range.

Note 2: the Seeker’s arrows, being flaming projectiles

themselves, can be used as kind of ‘vision darts’.

Favored Enemy ( Ex ): +4 bluff, listen, sense motive,

spot, survival and weapon damage against humans,

monstrous humanoids; +2 against reptilian humanoids.

Sightless ( Ex ): He has no eyes to speak of, and he

sacrificed his regular vision for the Eye of Fire. As

such, the Seeker-in-Flame is blind under normal

conditions, and is not affected by vision-based effects,

illusions, and patterns.

Flamanifest ( Su ): Flamanifest functions exactly like

Firewalk but with a few important differences. First,

it may only be used on any fire within 100 feet of a

target who is subject to Smoketracking. Second, the

Seeker may peer ( as per Eye of Fire ) from any such

fire for as long as Smoketracking is in operation. Use

of Flamanifest is a swift action.

Smoketracking ( Su ): The Seeker-in-Flame may use

Smoketracking in one of two ways. The first, and

more potent method requires an object that was either

owned or touched ( for a minimum of 10 minutes

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enemies of NeoExodus: folding circle brother-in-arms

continual contact ) by the intended tracking target.

This object may be of any size, but must be in a

largely complete condition ( i.e. Seeker may not cut up

a shirt to be used for Smoketracking multiple times,

but minor damage is okay ). The Seeker immolates

the object in his hand, which creates a coil of magical

smoke that leads to the quarry. The effective range

of this ability is 1,100 miles. The smoke, visible only

to the Seeker, traces an unerring path to the target

and remains for 1 day. During this time the Seeker

can follow the smoke to close on his quarry, gaining

a +16 insight bonus on all track checks to do so. The

second use of Smoketracking simply requires a piece

of parchment with the target’s name written on it.

The parchment is immolated and the coil of smoke

appears, but only lasts for 1 hour and has a range of

only 11 miles. Since Seeker is effectively blind, he

usually has Triboras write the name out. Each form of

Smoketracking may be used once per day.

Hit Dice (max): 3D8+1d6+8 ( 38 )

Initiative: +2

Speed: 30 ft. ( 6 squares ), Fly 50 feet ( 10 squares,

average )

Armor Class: 19 ( +1 size, +2 dex, +5 natural, +1

deflection ), 14 touch, 17 flat-footed

Base Attack/Grapple: +3/-1

Attack: Claw +4 melee ( 1d3+1d4 fire )

Full Attack: 2 claws +4 melee ( 1d3+1d4 fire )

Space/Reach: 5 ft / 5 ft

Special Attacks: Breath weapon, Sneak attack +1d6,

spell-like abilities

Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/magic,

Darkvision 60 feet, Immunity to fire, fast healing 2,

Trapfinding, vulnerable to cold

Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +4

Abilities ( base racial +12 points ): Str 10, Dex 14,

Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 16 ( +1 for hit dice )

Skills ( 63 ): Bluff +10, Diplomacy +16, Disguise

+10 ( +12 in character, +20 with hat ), Escape Artist

+9, Gather Information +14, Knowledge ( local ) +8,

Search +10, Sense Motive +10, Sleight of Hand +11

Feats: Investigator, Negotiator

Environment: NA

Organization: Seeker-in-Flame’s follower

Challenge Rating: 4

Equipment ( 5,400 gp ): Hat of Disguise ( 1,800 gp ),

Ring of protection +1 ( 2,000 gp ), Elixir of truth ( 500

gp ), Potion of Cure Serious wounds ( 750 gp ), Potion

of eagle’s splendor ( 300 gp )

Note: Smoketracking is considered a 9th level divina-

tion spell as cast by a 20th level caster.

Swift Tracker ( Ex ): Move at normal speed when

tracking with no penalty. Takes a -10 penalty for

moving at double speed.

Wild Empathy ( Ex ): May use diplomacy checks to

influence animals. Magical beasts are at a -4 penalty.

Add charisma modifier and ranger level to attempt

( +12 total due to synergies ).

Woodland Stride ( Ex ): Move through undergrowth

and bramble at full movement speed.

In Combat

The Seeker-in-Flame is a hit and run combatant. His

sensory abilities combined with his powerful ranged

attacks and teleportation make him very difficult to

deal with. If he really wants his quarry dead, he isn’t

above razing an entire area and burning them to death.

When dealing with his scrying and teleportation

ability, consider that enemy tracking and divination

often boils down to fiat; the mechanisms presented

here are designed to provide flavor as well as credible

methods by which the party can thwart the tracking.

Special Attacks

Breath Weapon ( Su ): 15 foot cone, 1d8 fire, reflex

half DC 15. The save DC is constitution based and

includes a +1 racial adjustment.

Spell-like abilities ( Sp ): 1/hour: Scorching Ray,

ranged touch 4d6 fire. 1/day heat metal as a 7th level

caster, DC 15.

Special Qualities

Fast Healing ( Ex ): The fast healing only functions if

Triboras is in contact with an open flame.

Animal Companion

The Seeker-in-Flame’s companion is not an animal, in

the strictest sense. In fact, it’s actually a fire mephit

who Seeker uses as a go-between when he needs to

gather information.

Modus Operandi

Triboras is Seeker-in-Flame’s face – he travels into

cities to snoop around for information. He is likable

and pleasant enough, with a crafty streak that makes

him an excellent liar. Since Seeker is more or less

useless in social situations, Triboras is forced to speak

for him when the need arises.

triboras

Size/Type: Small Outsider ( Fire Mephit ) Rogue 1

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NeoExodus Enemies of NeoExodus - Folding Circle Brothers-in-Arms.pdf

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