Eric Thursley
Contents
Eric Thursley
Demonologist-for-hire
N Male Human Conjurer 3/ Master Specialist 2/ Malconvoker 2
The title of one the most (in)famous books on the subject is Mallificarum Sumpta Diabolicite Occularis Singularum, the Book of Ultimate Control. It is relatively well known among practitioners of the arcane, although wizards rarely bother with it.
This might seem odd, because if there is one thing a wizard would trade his grandmother for, it is power. But it isn't all that strange, as any wizard bright enough to breathe unassisted for five minutes is also bright enough to realize that if there is any power in demonology, than it lies with the demons. Attempting to use it for your own purposes would be like trying to beat mice to death with an aggravated rattlesnake.
- Archchancellor Marificious - (three days before his mysterious disappearance from his private office, leaving soot-covered walls and a lingering trace of brimstone.)
First impression
An air of preoccupation is what most people notice first about Mr. Eric Thursley. He looks harmless enough alright, a slightly built man in his late twenties with disheveled hair and a scruffy beard. A typical bookworm, some might say, one of nature’s banking clerks or assistant librarians. However, if one happened to ask Mr. Thursley about the subject of his research, his normally wandering eyes would likely fix into a stare of unexpected intensity. A driven man this Eric would turn out to be, obsessed even, with what he calls ‘the study of extra-dimensional, or inter-planar, entities’. It might take a moment to realize that he is, in all seriousness, holding forth about the lore of demons. This with a passion and fervor commonly associated with the more radical of religious zealots. If one were to actually pay attention to his ramblings, which would already be more than most are like to do, one would notice his habitual references to his great-grandfather, supposedly the renowned Dr. Faustus himself. Eric seems determined to prove his ancestors’ theories and hypothesis, which seem to revolve around the belief that the school of Conjuration is the purest and thus most deserving to be recognized as the highest of Magics.
In spite of, or more correctly, because of this very same motivation, Mr. Thursley has his uses in the private sector. He does seem to have an natural aptitude in dealing with these so-called inter-planar entities, walking a fine line between brilliance and madness. His tendency to barely distinguish between employers and willingness to work for- and with virtually anyone in order to further his own studies, makes him an interesting associate for any number of organizations.
Journal
Preface
A firm hypothesis is emerging. For the past eighteen months or so I have tracked down and consulted a great number of libraries' and similar institutions' collected works, both public and private, regarding the wide variety of inter-planar entities. If one considers the whole scope of documented sightings and encounters, a number of clear trends can be identified. I have started incorporating these trends in an integrated system of classification. Using a typology that distinguishes between Magical beasts, Elementals and Outsiders as a starting point, I have begun design of a definite set of protocols for the calling and directing of said entities. It is my belief that, as once my pressed-toad collection was the envy of my peers during childhood, this system will set the standard for future developments within this most exciting field of Conjuration.
Session I - A break in routine. [16/07/08]
I found myself to have been teleported somehow to a location unknown. Truly dreadfully inconvenient this was as it happened while en route to the university city of Baralthof where I had hoped to peruse their chronology of spontaneous apparitions, or more commonly known as demonic visitations. My new location turned out to be a 10-by10ft room with some basic furnishings. A distinctly short and slight-statured individual, who I can only presume to have been the previous occupant, was in the process of being evicted by an ogre-sized beast sheathed in full plate armor. Something about this feller struck a sense of recognition, possibly in relation to something I'd read about in my research, which suggested I might no longer be on the primary Material plane. After a momentarily flash of disquiet about this development, I realized the worth of this opportunity to gather first-hand data on the local inhabitants. On a side note, I seemed to have misplaced my satchel with travel necessities. I'll make sure to tell my host to have someone look for it, as my notes and modest selection of spells are of vital importance for the continuation of my work. Speaking of which, before ending up here, I was considering some possible improvements with regard to the use of inward facing magic circles in conjunction with a dimensional anchor as an aid in directing the stronger kinds of entities. Luckily the floor in this room is flat and even enough for some preliminary sketches, with only the clamor and shouting in the distance proving somewhat of a distraction. That ogre-feller interrupted me at a most critical moment of design, babbling something about an audience with his master or similar. At this point I firmly told him to come back later, having agreed to no such appointment with anyone. Unbelievable, how downright rude some people can get when they’re only concerned with their own interests. Some minutes later, I did remember having received a letter some weeks ago from someone requesting a meeting. The message seemed to be quite urgent and was clearly of great importance to the writer. Alas, I was unable to pay any attention to it at the time, as I was in the middle of a breakthrough on extending the duration of called entities. I considered looking for my host and finding out his intentions, only to find out that the door seemed to have no latch on the inside. To make matters more complicated, a quick cantrip seemed to confirm that magic is somehow suppressed in this room, and maybe the rest of this environment. As I went back to refining the magic circle design, I once more found myself distracted by the noise. It almost sounded like a number of animals fighting, quite inappropriate to the contemplative mindset I required. If this were to keep up any longer I felt I might be forced to make some complaint.
Statistics
Str 10 (+0)
Dex 14 (+2) [base 13, +1 item]
Con 16 (+3) [base 15, +1 item]
Int 18 (+4) [base 15, +1 level 4, +2 item]
Wis 12 (+1)
Cha 14 (+2) [base 13, +1 item]
Hit Points: 45 [24 base, +21 Con]
Subdual Damage: 0
Init: +6 [+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative]
BAB: +3 [+1 Conjurer, +1 Master Specialist, +1 Malconvoker]
Grapple: +3 [+3 class, +0 Str]
Armor Class: 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 [+2 Dex, +4 Mage armor]
Fort: +6 [+1 class, +3 Con, +2 vest of resistance]
Ref: +5 [+1 class, +2 Dex, +2 vest of resistance]
Will: +12 [+9 class, +1 Wis, +2 vest of resistance]
Speed: 30 ft. [30 ft. base; Light load, No armor]
Attacks
+4 melee, MW club, 1d6+0, x2.
+3 melee, melee touch, by spell.
+5 ranged, ranged touch, by spell.
Skills
Bluff +12 [10 ranks, +2 Cha]
Concentration +13 [10 ranks, +3 Con]
Decipher Script +5 [1 rank, +4 Int]
Diplomacy +4 [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2, +2 synergy]
Knowledge (arcana) +14/+19^ [10 ranks, +4 Int]
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5/+10^ [1 rank, +4 Int]
Knowledge (nature) +7/+13^ [3 ranks, +4 Int]
Knowledge (religion) +6/+11^ [2 ranks, +4 Int]
Knowledge (the planes) +14/+19^ [10 ranks, +4 Int]
Speak Language +5 [5 ranks]
Spellcraft +19/+21* [10 ranks, +4 Int, +3 Skill Focus, +2 synergy]
[* Indicates +2 bonus to learn spells of chosen school, Conjurer 1]
[^ Indicates +5 bonus to identify a creature or to learn its special powers or vulnerabilities]
Languages
Speaks Common, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, Abyssal, Celestial, Auran, Aquan, Ignan, Terran
Skill Tricks
Collector of Stories [2 pts]
Total 64 skill points
(36 pts Conjurer, 14 pts Master Specialist, 14 pts Malconvoker)
Spells Prepared (3+3/3+3/3+3/2+3; CL 6th/7th*; DC 14/15^ + spell level
0 – Acid Splash (2), Caltrops, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Read Magic.
1st - Benign Transposition, Grease, Feather Fall, Mage Armor, Summon Monster I (2).
2nd - Fog Cloud, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Summon Monster II (2), Web.
3rd - Dimension Step, Dispel Magic, Mass Mage Armor, Mass Snake's Swiftness, Summon Monster III (2).
[* Indicates CL when summoning Demons]
[^ Indicates DC for Conjuration spells]
Spellbook (61/100 pgs used)
0 - All except those of Enchantment, Evocation and Necromancy schools.
1st - Benign Transposition, Feather Fall*, Grease*, Identify, Mage Armor*, Obscuring Mist*, Protection from Evil, Silent Image, Summon Monster I.
2nd – Chain of Eyes, Eagle’s Splendor*, Fog Cloud*, Glitterdust*, Snake's Swiftness, Spider Climb, Summon Monster II, Summon Swarm, Web.
3rd - Dimension Step, Dispel Magic*, Mage Armor, Mass, Magic Circle against Evil*, Mass Snake's Swiftness, Summon Monster III, Tongues*.
[* Indicates spell purchased and copied]
Class Features
Conjurer 3
Contruction kit [houserules]
Class skills: added Bluff and Speak Language - dropped Knowledge (geography) and Knowledge (history)
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wizards are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a wizard’s movements, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail.
Spells: A wizard casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/ wizard spell list. A wizard must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time (see below).
To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a wizard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the wizard’s Intelligence modifier. Like other spellcasters, a wizard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Wizard. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score. Unlike a bard or sorcerer, a wizard may know any number of spells. She must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying her spellbook. While studying, the wizard decides which spells to prepare.
Bonus Languages: A wizard may substitute Draconic for one of the bonus languages available to the character because of her race.
Spellbooks: A wizard must study her spellbook each day to prepare her spells. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook, except for read magic, which all wizards can prepare from memory.
A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells (except those from her prohibited school or schools, if any; see School Specialization, below) plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the wizard has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new wizard level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new wizard level) for her spellbook. At any time, a wizard can also add spells found in other wizards’ spellbooks to her own.
School Specialization A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a wizard may specialize in one school of magic (see below). Specialization allows a wizard to cast extra spells from her chosen school, but she then never learns to cast spells from some other schools.
A specialist wizard can prepare one additional spell of her specialty school per spell level each day. She also gains a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks to learn the spells of her chosen school. The wizard must choose whether to specialize and, if she does so, choose her specialty at 1st level. At this time, she must also give up two other schools of magic (unless she chooses to specialize in divination; see below), which become her prohibited schools. A wizard can never give up divination to fulfill this requirement. Spells of the prohibited school or schools are not available to the wizard, and she can’t even cast such spells from scrolls or fire them from wands. She may not change either her specialization or her prohibited schools later.
Master Specialist 2
Spellcasting: At each level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in the wizard class. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.
Skill Focus (Spellcraft): At 1st level, you gain Skill Focus (Spellcraft) as a bonus feat.
Expanded Spellbook: When you reach 2nd level, you can add one spell of your chosen school to your spellbook. The spell can be of any level that you can cast, and it is in addition to the normal spells gained when increasing your level.
Malconvoker 2
Spellcasting: At each level beyond 1st, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a malconvoker, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.
Deceptive Summons (Su): At 1st level, you can attempt to trick evil creatures you conjure into serving you for longer than they normally would. When casting a summon monster spell to summon an evil-aligned creature, you can attempt a Bluff check as a free action, opposed by the creature’s Sense Motive check, If your check succeeds, the duration of the effect is doubled (as if by the Extend Spell feat), and the summoned creature might be subject to additional effects as described below, If it fails, the duration remains as normal and no additional effects can be applied. If you fail the check by 5 or more, the creature breaks free of your control and is hostile toward you (though it still disappears as normal when the spell’s duration ends).
If you use this ability when summoning multiple creatures, you must attempt an opposed skill check separately against each creature you wish to affect.
Beginning at 4th level, you can whip the deceived creatures into an infernal fury, If your Bluff check to extend the duration of summoning succeeds, the creatures get a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls and 2 extra hit points per Hit Die (in addition to the bonuses conferred by Augment Summoning).
Beginning at 7th level, you can instill the deceived creatures with exceptional resistance to your enemies’ attempts to control or dismiss them, If your Bluff check to extend the duration of summoning succeeds, the creatures get a +2 bonus on Will saves, and your effective caster level is increased by 2 for the purpose of resisting dispel magic and similar effects against those creatures.
Unrestricted Conjuration: For the purpose only of casting conjuration spells, you can ignore any restrictions that forbid you from casting spells of certain alignments. In addition, regular use of conjuration spells with the evil descriptor does not threaten to change your alignment. For example, a good cleric who becomes a malconvoker could cast summon monster I to summon a fiendish raven (whose alignment gives the spell the evil descriptor). The cleric could not cast death knell, though, which has the evil descriptor but is not of the conjuration school.
Planar Binding: Beginning at 2nd level, you can add the following spells to your class spell list and your list of known spells (or your spellbook) at the indicated levels, If you already have one or more of these spells on your class list at a different level, treat it as being of the lower level.
5th lesser planar binding.
6th: planar binding.
8th: greater planar binding.
Feats
Improved Initiative
[Level 1]
Benefit: You get a +4 bonus on initiative checks.
Special: A fighter may select Improved Initiative as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Spell Focus (Conjuration)
[Human Bonus]
Benefit: Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against spells from the school of magic you select.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new school of magic.
Augment Summoning
[Conjurer 1]
Prerequisite: Spell Focus (conjuration).
Benefit: Each creature you conjure with any summon spell gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution for the duration of the spell that summoned it.
Cloudy Conjuration
[Level 3]
Your conjured creations and summoned beings appear in a puff of sickening black smoke, and you vanish in a cloud of the same when you teleport.
Prerequisite: Spell Focus (conjuration) or conjurer level 1st.
Benefit: When you cast a conjuration spell, you can choose to have a 5-foot-radius cloud of sickening smoke manifest. The cloud can appear in your space, adjacent to you, or in the space of or adjacent to your target (if any).
The cloud lasts for 1 round. Any living creature is sickened while inside it (but not after exiting). The cloud in all other ways acts like a small area of the fog cloud spell. Creatures immune to poison are immune to the sickening effect. The cloud appears in conjunction with the spell taking effect (not before or after). Any creature you call or summon with the spell is immune to the sickening effect of the cloud. Special: A conjurer can select this feat as a wizard bonus feat.
Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
[Master Specialist 1]
Benefit: You get a +3 bonus on all checks involving that skill.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new skill.
Demon Mastery
[Level 6]
You are particularly skilled at summoning demons and convincing them to serve you. Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Charisma checks made to resolve the effects of planar binding and similar spells. Additionally, whenever you use a spell to summon a demon, your effective caster level increases by 1 tor the purpose of resolving its effects.
Equipment
- [Head] Headband of intellect +2 [4.000gp]
- [Face]
- [Throat] Neckerchief of Charisma +1 [1.000gp]
- [Shoulders] Cloak of resistance +2 [4.000gp]
- A cloak of resistance offers magical protection in the form of a +1 to +5 resistance bonus on saving throws.
- [Body]
- [Torso] Vestment of Health +1 [1.000gp]
- [Waist] Healing belt 3/3 [750gp]
- While wearing a healing belt, you gain a +2 competence bonus on Heal checks. This is a continuous effect and requires no activation, In addition, the belt has 3 charges, which are renewed each day at dawn. Spending 1 or more charges allows you to channel positive energy :and heal damage with a touch. (You can also use this ability to harm undead, dealing them an equivalent amount of damage instead.)
- 1 charge: Heals 2d8 points of damage.
- 2 charges; Heals 3d8 points of damage.
- 3 charges: Heals 4d8 points of damage.
- [Arms]
- [Hands] Gloves of Dexterity +1 [1.000gp]
- [Ring 1]
- [Ring 2]
- [Feet] Anklet of Translocation [1.400gp]
- Activation; Swift (command)
- An anklet of translocation allows you to make short dimensional hops. When it is activated, you can instantly teleport (with no chance of error) up to 10 feet. The new space must be within line of sight and line of effect.
- "You can't use the anklet to move into a space occupied by another creature, nor can you teleport into a solid object; if you attempt to do so, the anklet's activation is wasted. You can bring along objects weighing up to your maximum load, but you can't bring another creature with you,
- An anklet of Translocation functions two times per day.
- Walking stick (Masterwork club) [300gp]
- Beltpouch
- Money remaining 1.439,70 gp
- Antitoxin (1 vial) [50 gp]
- Satchel
- Bedroll
- Waterskin
- Map case
- Spellbook [15gp]
- Scrolls Dim.Door, Black Tentacles, SM IV [2.100]
- Inkpen + Ink (8-oz. vial) [8 gp]
- Journal
