Alia's Courtier
Fiend · Crown of Lust
T5d12Major
A figure of impossible elegance in crimson robes threaded with living thorns, its beautiful face fixed in a permanent gentle, knowing smile. It speaks softly, always knows your name, and offers wine that is excellent and conversation that is brilliant. Everything comes at a price that escalates so gradually you never notice.
Tier 5 · Role Major · Pool Vigor 10 / Vitality 10 · AC 14 · ATK +8 · Save DC 19 · Dmg d12
| Stat | Score | Mod | Die |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | 8 | -1 | -d3 |
| Mind | 20 | +5 | d10 |
| Sense | 22 | +6 | d12 |
| Heart | 20 | +5 | d10 |
| Cunning | 22 | +6 | d12 |
| Fate | 20 | +5 | d10 |
Passives
Spellcasting (courtly glamours)
The courtier weaves enchantment through honeyed word and languid gesture, sorcery learned in the salons of the damned. Its glamours reach any creature that has heard its voice within 60 ft.
The Offer
Can grant one wish-like boon to a willing creature. Each gift costs more than the last: the second a year of life, the third a cherished memory, the fourth the ability to love anything except the courtier's gifts. Those who accept crave more, and the courtier may demand one service of them at any time.
Maneuvers
False Friend
The courtier murmurs a name and a kindness. One creature within 30 ft saves (Mind, DC 19) or believes the courtier a trusted ally for 1 round and cannot attack it; on a success it takes 1 Vigor damage.
Declarations
Declared in the enemy tactical window and resolved at the start of its next turn. Any Vitality it loses first forces the disruption roll: on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
Crown's Embrace
Channels the Crown of Lust directly. Each creature within 30 ft makes a Heart save (DC 19): on a failure it takes 5 damage as desire wracks it and cannot attack the courtier for 1 round; on a success it takes 1 Vigor damage.
Reactions
Phase Step
Once per round when an attack hits it, the courtier slips through a fold in space up to 30 ft and the attack misses instead.
Tactics
GM tactics
Never opens with violence. Offers wine, conversation, and The Offer. Only fights when cornered or when a contract is refused. Works its courtly glamours at range and calls on Crown's Embrace when the room closes in. Employs Phase Step to stay alive. Uses False Friend, and old debts from The Offer, to turn former guests into weapons. The courtier is honest about everything it offers -- the lie is that you can stop at one.
Running it
Rules
- Shield of Tier + Heart mod over a Vitality pool of 2 x Tier. Full Vigor at combat start; at the start of its turn it rolls 5 exploding d4s and regains 1 Vigor per 4. Dead at 0 Vigor and 0 Vitality.
- A hit rolls d12. A crit rolls two: 2d12.
- Crits on a natural 14+ (Cunning 22).
- Two or three attacks in a normal turn: multiattack is the threat scaler, and one swing a round makes it a mook.
- Any Vitality lost while a telegraph is pending forces its disruption roll; on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
- Checks morale at one-third Vitality: Heart save against the party leader's presence, or GM judgment.
- NPCs never take wounds.