Lord Garmund Xathurst

Vampire
Medium sized Undead (6'2")
Class: Epic Wizard 24/ Warlord 10

Hit Dice: 34d12 (228 hit points)
Initiative: +9 (+5 Dex, +4 improved initiative)
Speed: 40 ft
AC: 32 (+11 Warlord's Breastplate, +5 Dex, +6 natural armor)
BAB/Epic Bonus/Grapple: +15/+7/+29
Attack: Slam +29 (1d6+7 and energy drain) melee or +5 Warsword of Unholy Power +34 (1d10+12 (+3d6 to good aligned opponents; or +6d6 vs good aligned on a critical hit)) melee
Full Attack: Slam +29/+24/+19 melee (1d6+7 and energy drain) or +5 Warsword of Unholy Power  +34/+29/+24 melee (1d10+12 (+3d6 to good aligned opponents; or +6d6 vs good aligned on a critical hit))
Space/Reach: 5 ft/ 5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells, Epic Spells, Domination, Energy Drain (even while gaseous!), Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn
Special Qualities: Familiar, Undead, Damage Reduction 10/silver and magic, cold and electricity resistance 10, gaseous form, spider climb, alternate form, fast healing 5, vampire weaknesses, age benefits, defiling, strategy +2, Light Armor Proficiency, Linked Spell, Braided Spell, Vile Defiling, Recurring Spell, Martial Weapon Proficiency (warsword), Caustic Blood
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +18, Will +22
Abilities: Str 24 (+7), Dex 20 (+5), Con -, Int 24 (+7), Wis 16 (+3), Cha 22 (+6)
Skills: Bluff +19, Concentration +37, Craft ( Alchemy) +40, Diplomacy +12, Hide +13, Intimidate +39, Knowledge (arcana) +44, Knowledge (history) +30, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +30, Knowledge (religion) +30, Listen +13, Move Silently +13, Scry +32, Search +15, Sense Motive +12, Spellcraft +44, Spot +13
Feats: Scribe spell, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Empower Spell, Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Mobility, Lightning Reflexes, Spell Penetration, Improved Spell Capacity, Maximize Spell, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Create Epic Wondrous Item,  Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Intensify Spell, Epic Spell Casting, Greater Spell Penetration, Epic Spell Penetration; Medium Armor Proficiency

Challenge Rating: 36
Treasure:  Rod of Nightmares, Ring of Major Elemental Resistance (30 damage resistance against fire, cold, electricity, and acid), Ring of Weapon Breaking, +3 Lycanthrope Bane silver dagger, Mirror of Mental Prowess, Scarab of the Living Death, +5 Warsword of Unholy Power.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Advancement: By character class.

Early in the morning, before sunrise, in the Great Duro Palace in Amallahin Laswir, the king of Amallahin, a province of Ingara, trembled on his throne.  Before him stood a Drychtnothian Warlord.  The Warlord, dressed in red, flowing robes, capes, and cloaks, with light-weight red metal shoulder and chest armor plates, stood tall and confident, radiating an aura of menace and power.  The Warlord had been introduced as Lord Xathurst of Xorgarmundat.  Attending the Warlord was six powerful warriors dressed in full-plate Drychtnothian battle armor.  The warriors were not dressed in ceremonial armor.  Their armor wore the scars of battle, and was a drab iron-gray in color.  They stood silent as death and they made the king nervous.  But they did not frighten the king?  No.  What frightened the king was Lord Xathurst himself.  ~Ingaran Adventures 09

A 559 year old Vampire (as of 6 VIII), Garmund is cautious as he doesn't want to be destroyed.  He has several vampire wives who do most of his public dirty work.  He hates psionicists, and the use of psionics enrages him.  Although he is evil, he is not stupid.  He diverts all suspicions onto others using his magic and wits.  He is apt to be very friendly toward adventuring parties, preferring to prey upon the weak commoners of the world.  His history is detailed below.  He is often encountered with his vampire wives or with his death knight general.

Combat
Xathurst usually has foreknowledge of attacks coming his way, and he always prepares by casting displacement and haste on himself.  With improved invisibility active, he will true strike his first opponent.  He does not like to fight summoned creatures, so he always has a few dismissal and banishment spells available.  He has a contingency cast upon him that activates false vision if he is scryed upon.

Undead: Immune to mind influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease.  Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, energy drains, or death from massive damage. He can withstand 6 turns of sunlight.  Immune to Garlic, Mirrors, and Holy Symbols.

Caustic Blood (Ex): His blood will cause 1d6 acid damage against bare skin.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su): Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.

Dominate (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save (DC 33) or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s energy drain rises as a vampire spawn (see the Vampire Spawn entry) 1d4 days after burial.

If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain two negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su): A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action. This ability is similar to a polymorph spell cast by a 12th-level character, except that the vampire does not regain hit points for changing form and must choose from among the forms mentioned here. While in its alternate form, the vampire loses its natural slam attack and dominate ability, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might allow other forms.)

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire has damage reduction 10/silver and magic. A vampire’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to nine miles in 2 hours.) Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect. Once at rest in its coffin, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Resistances (Ex): A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire has +4 turn resistance.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies:  A Warlord is proficient in any one martial weapon and light armor.    

War Magic Study: The Warlord gains this feat from Dragon 309 as a virtual feat.  The Warlord may now acquire and cast spells with the war descriptor.                      

Defiling (Su): By draining the life out of vegetation around, the Warlord can cast spells as if they had the quicken feat applied to them.

Strength Training (Ex): Strength is raised to 14 if it is not equal to that or higher.

Linked Spells: This ability is one of the most feared abilities of the Warlord, allowing them to unleash a rapid-fire stream of spells.  Warlords can intertwine the casting of their spells in such a way that the verbal and somatic components of one spell become part of the same components of the second and subsequent spells.  So long as the Warlord has spell levels available, he can continue unleashing spells at an accelerated rate.

When he begins casting a series of linked spells, the Warlord must declare which spells will be used in its construction.  For every two levels in the chain, the Warlord may unleash a third spell in the chain as a free action.  Thus, if a Warlord places six spells into a linked spell, it will require only four actions to release all six of the linked spells.

A series of linked spells requires precision in its execution and must start with a 1st level spell.  The second spell can be of 2nd or 1st level, at the caster's discretion.  Every spell after the second, however, can be of no level higher than the sum of the levels of all the spells that precede it in the chain.

All spells used in the creation of a linked series must have a casting time of a single action or less.  Spells with longer casting times are simply too involved to work into a linked series.

Bonus Feat: Warlords may choose a bonus feat from the following list: Martial Weapon Proficiency; Medium Armor Proficiency; Eldritch Knot

Strategy (Ex): By spending a time before an attack (at least ten minutes), the Warlord lays out a strategy of attack that grants all party members a +x to initiative and a +x to attack bonuses and damage.

Braided Spells: Where a linked spell series allows the Warlord to unleash a number of spells in rapid succession, the braided spell enables him to prepare a number of spells and then unleash them all at once.  When braiding spells together, the caster may only include spells that come from the same school (unless the Warlord is one of the few with the Eldritch Knot feat). 

To create a braided spell, the Warlord selects the spells that will go into the braid.  Creation of a braid takes a total time equal to the total casting time of all the spells to be braided together.  It also expends as many spell level slots as would be required to cast all the spell separately.  Once the braid is created, the caster may retain it, ready to be unleashed, for as long as he is able to concentrate.  For purposes of concentration checks, the braid counts as a spell of the highest level in the braid, plus one per additional spell braided in.  Because the braid is ready to launch at this point, any lapse in concentration does not cause the spells to fail - it unleashes them!  The caster may choose a target, unless the concentration check is 1, in which case the braid targets the caster.  It may be aimed and loosed as a standard action.

When spells are braided together, they are no longer considered to be separate and distinct spells.  They become a single, braided spell.  Thus if a braided spell is successfully countered, all of the spells that went into its creation are countered as well.  Counterspelling a braided spell works just like any other counterspell.  The required Spellcraft check to determine what spells are in the braid has a DC equal to 20+the level of the highest spell in the braid+ 1 for each spell in the braid after the first.  A braided spell can be countered by any of the spells it contains, or by a spell with an effect diametrically opposed to the effect of the braid.  If dispel magic is used to counter a braided spell, the dispel DC = 20 + the level of the highest level spell in the braid + 1 for each spell in the braid after the first.

If one spell requires an individual creature as its target, the entire braid must target that creature.  If a braid contains spells with both targets and areas of effects, all of the areas must be centered on the designated target.  Spells that affect a certain number or level of creatures (or objects) do not have to be capable of affecting the designated target of the spell.  Any braid that requires a ranged touch attack also requires the ranged touch attack to succeed.  However, if more than one ranged touch spell is included in braid, the braid is still resolved with a single ranged touch attack.

When determining the range of a braided spell, use the shortest of the spell ranges included within the braid.  By their very nature, most braids will consist of spells with the longest possible range, if only to keep the Warlord himself out of the braid's area of effect.

Saving throws permitted by individual spells within a braid are made by subjects separately, so a braided spell may cause may cause a target to make several saving throws if needed.  If more than one spell in a braid allows its target a saving throw, the highest level spell in the braid is used to determine the DC of each save.  

Spell resistance is treated as if the braid were any other spell - if the braid is resisted, none of its effects impact the creature.  The effects of each spell are kept separate from one another when resolving. This allows spells with metamagic feats that alter their effects to be used without disrupting the rest of the casting.  Each effect is resolved exactly as a standard, isolated spell.

Vile Defiling (Su): By draining the life energy out of a creature (one energy level per spell level) the Warlord gains Quicken spell and Spell Penetration on the spell cast.

Recurring Spells: This ability allows Warlords to cast a spell twice for a single expenditure of spell levels.  This ability can only be used on spells with a single target and only if the spell was not resisted or successfully saved against.  If all of the above are true, then the Warlord may make a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) to immediately cast the same spell again as a free action, with the same target and without the need to expend additional spell levels or material components.  This ability can be used three times per day and cannot be used in conjunction with linked or braided spells.  If any metamagic feats were used in the casting of the original spell, these same feats apply to the recurring spell, as well, at no additional cost to the battle mage.  A spell cannot be cast more than twice in this fashion.

Epic Spells: Lord Xathurst can cast three epic spells per day.  He knows Eclipse (Spellcraft DC 42), Mass Rat (Spellcraft 55), Crown of Vermin (Spellcraft DC 56) and Jack-O'Lantern (see below).  Save DC 27.

Spells Prepared (Lord Xathurst has a +6 bonus on caster level checks to beat a critter's spell resistance).  All save DC's are in parentheses behind the spell name.

0 level: Disrupt Undead (19), Arcane Mark, Read Magic, Detect Magic
1st level: Alarm, Cause Fear (20), Ray of Enfeeblement (20), True Strike (x3)
2nd level: Spectral Hand (delivers touch attacks), Shatter (21), Knock, Arcane Lock, Whispering Wind, Detect Thoughts (19)
3rd level: Fireball (10d6, 22), Hold Person (20), Dispel Magic, Displacement, Haste, Wind Wall
4th level: Evard's Black Tentacles (21), Contagion (23), Polymorph Other (21), Polymorph Self, Scrying 
5th level: Dismissal, Animate Dead, Cone of Cold (15d6, 24), Empowered Lightning Bolt (15d6 damage, 24),  Wall of Force
6th level: Chain Lightning (24d6 primary, 25), Disintegrate (23), Flesh to Stone (23), Control Weather, Mind Fog (23, wisdom -10, will saves...)
7th level: Finger of Death (26), Banishment (24), Prismatic Spray (26), Teleport without Error, Forcecage
8th level: Polymorph Any Object (25), Horrid Wilting (25d8, 27)(x3)
9th level: Maximized Circle of Death (kills 96 HD), Wail of the Banshee, Meteor Swarm, Weird
10th level: Intensified Lightning Bolt (120 points of damage, 29)

Sornath:  +5 Warsword of Unholy Power [16 int, 14 cha, 15 wis, speech & telepathy, Intuit Direction +10, Spider Climb, Locate Object, Haste for 10 rnds 1/day] 

Servants:  He has a 14th level warrior werewolf who keeps house for him.  She is now very old, but can still be deadly.

The Shadow Books of Sethotep Anhkmater (has volumes 1, 3, and 4)

Enchantment, Charming, and Seduction by Saren.

The Truth about the Tower of Magic by Killren

Mystic Arts of Location and Detection by Grindill

Magic of the Gypsies by Realion

Magic of the Red Robes by Garmund Xathurst I

The Shadow Mage by Garmund Xathurst I

Catalog of the Undead by Quarum the Light

The Other One, or Another by Vokan VI

HISTORY

In the year 1040, King Garmund of Corinthia destroyed the capital of Nyandar with his spells.  His Court Wizard (Tryn'k the wizard) attempted to talk King Garmund out of totally destroying Nyandar.  King Garmund, with Endrath's help, had the wizard enslaved and forced the former court advisor to become a lich.  Garmund then took the philactory and hid it.  Then he had the now-immortal former court wizard entombed beneath the palace.  King Garmund built a huge star shaped fortress for himself in the mountains to the southwest of the Corinthian capital, and he refortified the palace at the capital.  By the end of 1040, King Garmund had instituted laws which forced all Corinthian males of the age 14 to enlist in the military. 

Innan the Barbarian King of Drychtnoth died in battle against the Corinthians in 1042, victim of a deadly spell cast by King Garmund of Corinthia.  His eldest son, Yothan Malinnan, was recognized as the rightful heir and was coronated king of the Drychtnothian Empire.  The war against the Corinthians turned against the Drychtnothians immediately after the death of Innan.  But, after being made king, Yothan successfully began to reverse the tide once again.  Not as strong a warrior as his barbarian father, Yothan was still quite a capable warrior, especially on horseback.   He ended the war upon kidnapping Garmund's familiar.  Yothan returned the animal upon Garmund's signing of a peace treaty.  Both empires kept a sizable amount of armies near each other's borders, neither trusting the other.

The War for Nyandar was officially over in 1050 after the peace treaty between Corinthia and Ophyr was signed.  Corinthia lost to the Druids and had to restore Nyandarian lands and had to help the reconstruction of the devastated Border Kingdom.  King Garmund of Corinthia executed all of his war generals and his advisors for losing the war.  The Corinthian religious leaders began to garner power and began to strongly request reform.

The Thought Agents of Corinthia attempted to assassinate King Garmund of Corinthia in 1052.  He discovered the ploy and outlawed the use of psionic powers.  To be a known psionicist was to be killed.  King Garmund then started his own Order of Magic.  They were to wear red and be trained for war, but their main purpose was to hunt down and destroy the psionicists.This was the beginning of the Red Robed Order of magic. Grindill, outraged by the creation of another Order of Magic, ordered Garmund to disband the Order, or make it a Black Robed Order.  Garmund refused, but promised to remain loyal to the Black Robed Order he belonged to, despite leading the Red Robes.

By 1056, all public executions in Corinthia were done by demons the King of Corinthia, Garmund, summoned up form the nether planes. 

In 1060, a warrior called Gruth the Slayer attempted to kill the King of Corinthia after King Garmund tore Gruth's brother apart with his pet demons.  Gruth was caught and made to fight as a gladiator.  Gruth's family was sold into slavery.  This included his two sons, his mother, and his daughter.  Gruth's daughter, Salomay, was bought by a kindly old man who set her free once he left the borders of Corinthia.  Salomay was left to do as she would.  She opted to stay with the old man and learn the ways of magic so that she could free her family.  Gruth the Slayer became a popular gladiator who won hundreds of matches against other gadiators and wild animals. 

King Garmund of Corinthia wed yet again in early 1063.  This queen soon fell in love with Gruth the Slayer.

King Garmund abandoned his Black Robed Order and donned the red clothing of his own order. Grindill attempted to destroy the Red Order, but Garmund used his own magic to successfully defend himself and his order from the Archmage Sovereign.

In 1068 Gruth the Slayer escaped his prison with the help of the Ingarans and killed King Garmund the Wizard.  Gruth gave the throne of Corinthia to his daughter, Salomay.  Queen Salomay entered into a peaceful treaty with Ingara.  Garmund's star shaped castle was abandoned and neglected due to fear that his ghost would be haunting the castle.

Garmund rose then as a vampire.

Jack-o'Lantern
Transmutation
Spellcraft DC: 49
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 300 ft
Area: All enemy creatures within an 80 ft. radius hemisphere area
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes 
To Develop: 441,000 gp; 9 days; 17,640 XP. Seed: Transform (DC 21); Factors: Transform subject into something nonmagical and inanimate (+10 DC), Change from target to 20 ft. radius area (+10 DC) Increase area to 40 ft. area (+4 DC), increase area to 80 ft radius (+4 DC) 

You can turn your enemies into grinning jack-o-lanterns.  The final result cannot be more than one size larger than the largest affected enemy.  The transformed subjects gain the new form's physical characteristics, but retain their intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.  However, the affected are blind, deaf, and dumb... and can only sense things as other inanimate objects can sense.  If a transformed subject is cut down or destroyed, the creature returns to its original (albeit dead) form.  The spell does not affect the subjects' clothing, equipment, or magic items (other than cursed items determined to remain with the character), allowing you to collect such things for your own use or distribution.

   Go here to see the wives of Garmund.