Xak the Imp

[GralphidBlackstrip]

Complete

Xak (Full name: Xakophanlaxius)

If you call me a "familiar" one more time, I'll make you familiar with a fireball up your ass.

Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral
Race: Imp

Age: old (>300 years, but he's lost track)
Classes: Incanter 9 // Symbiat (Champion Symbiat, Operative) 9

Combat Role: Blaster, anti-magic counter.

Concept: An imp who got bored of duping mages to hell and decided to set out on his own. Foul-mouthed and self-indulgent, but no longer evil.

 

Transcript of "Xak's" Interview with the Realmwardens

Realmwarden: So I understand you wish to join our organization.

Xak: No, I'm just here wasting everyone's time because I've got nothing better to do with life.

Realmwarden: ...

Xak: Yes, of course I want to join. It looks fun, profitable, and a good challenge.

RW: Ah, yes, I see. Well you do understand we don't have a lot of creatures that are literally incarnate sentient evil? We do have some minimal standards that we would expect you to follow.

X: Blah blah, yeah yeah. Look, I spent countless centuries doing the mustache twirling evil thing. It's boring, and frankly, I've moved past that. I haven't killed someone just because they annoyed me in, let me think, at least 23 years. Yeah, that's it. Since I ganked that Jon dude, and I'd have let him go to if he'd have just stopped petting me like I was a pet cat or something. Anyways, I promise I'll follow the standards and expectations of the Guild, and unlike your other candidates, I am actually bound by my very nature to follow my promises.

RW: Ok, well that's good to know. So uh, tell me about yourself.

X: So I formed out of the primordial evil of Hell centuries ago, and was immediately handed a miniature trident and sent to a mortal apprentice infernomancer. You'd think they'd give a fellow a few days to figure things out, like how these wings I have work or whatnot. But no, straight to work. I'll have you know I flew into five trees in the first day. It was frankly undignified, and easily avoided. If I ran Hell, things would be different, yessiree.

Anyways, I spent centuries acting as a familiar. I served mortal wizards, priests, warlocks, sorcerers, you name it. And I was good, and by that I mean excellent, not alignment, ah bah. Anyways, I seduced five neutral mortals to evil and helped guide three more to extensive conquests of the local material plane. Counting spillover effects from those mortals, I estimate I had a KPI of over 45% above the expectation value.

RW: Uh, KPI?

X: "Killed, Possessed, or Incinerated." a really important metric for us devils. "Incinerated" in this case means damned to hell. Don't know why they use that, some reference to a different prime plane I think. Anyways, not important.

So here I am a superlative performer, and it's promotion time. Some lucky Imp is going to get promoted to something important. I'm expecting to be a contract devil at least. Have a team under me, don't have to spend all my time bowing and scraping to some scrawny mortal who wants to have his pimples removed so the girl will like him. But what do my bosses do? They promote Viv. Viv??!! That moron was assigned Vurxon the Horrible, and managed to bungle it so badly that he became Saint Vurxon the Holy! How do you mess that up? And they promote him, and tell me that "I'm doing such a good job, they can't afford to lose me."

Would you just stand for that?

RW: Uh...

X: It was a rhetorical question. Of course you wouldn't. Bureaucracy. I mean, you expect it from Hell, but isn't the point of being evil to get what you want? Here I was, being evil, and anytime some mortal mage wanted to be "bad" and have an evil familiar, I got to spend the next two decades of my life being kicked around or ignored. What's the fun in that? And it's not like I could take pleasure in the value of my cause. I mean, our side is Evil. It says so right in the name, hard to argue that we're on the right side there.

My last wizard, Allomar, he was a decent guy. He just wanted to summon a bird, and we pulled some tricks and got me there instead, in raven form of course. I did my thing, convincing him to seek power and personal glory, but I felt kinda bad. He was just a kid who wanted to learn magic to help protect his dinky backwater town and marry his crush. I was the one who convinced him to learn bigger and flashier spells, all to "better protect his loved ones." Then when raiders attacked, his big flashy spells caused some "collateral damage." It should have been a jumping off point, convincing him to cast off morality in favor of power. But his crush was one of the dead, and I just felt so bad for him I didn't say anything.

[X paused here, strong emotions clear on his face.]

X: Maybe I should have. I don't know. The bloke hanged himself, and rather than returning to Hell like I was supposed to, I just left. Wandered around through the mortal plane. Got totally wasted - it turns out imps can get drunk by the way, and while we have a decent tolerance for our size, human-sized drinks are still way too much. Anyway, I indulged in any and every kind of vice I could, but it all got boring. I kept thinking of that poor kid.

RW: So what then?

X: So then I decided I needed to stop being a pathetic pansy, slapped myself a few times, got laid, and then looked for a job. I had already heard of you guys, and it sounded fun. See the worlds, solve mysteries, learn new magics, and fry obnoxious assholes, what's not to like? So here I am.

RW: So here you are.

Backstory - TL;dr version

Xak comes from a fairly standard high-fantasy world. Most the inhabitants have little idea of the multiverse, simply calling it "The world." Xak calls its "that mudball." In his world, Hell and Heaven compete for souls, and he was assigned by the lords of Hell to be a familiar to multiple wizards, with the goal of seducing them to evil and once they were evil, encouraging and assisting them in furthering Hell's plans. After years of doing this, he became disillusioned, partially because he felt that he was unappreciated, partially because he wanted to indulge in his own pleasures, and partially because he began to grow a somewhat meager, but still existent conscious. When his last wizard died, he left to become a free-lance mage for hire in the Realmwardens.

Appearance

Fiendish wings and a whipping scorpion-like tail lash behind this diminutive, red-skinned creature. He has devilish horns, and is dressed in a snappy, well-fitted modern style suit. He is rarely seen without his trademark cigars.

 

Personality

Sarcastic, obnoxious, and rude. He has little tolerance for bullshit or nonsense from others. He likes to smoke, eat good food, wear fancy clothes, and flirt with pretty mortals. Deep down, Xak has a good heart, but he does his best to cover it with bluster and wisecracks.

Statblock

Xak Imp (custom) Incanter // Symbiat (Champion, Operative) Neutral HP 90 / 90 Speed ft Init 3 AC 27 Fort 7 Ref 11 Will 9 CMB +7 BAB 6  Str 6 (-2) Dex 16 (3) Con 14 (2) Wis 12 (1) Int 27 (8) Cha 12 (1). Spell points: 44/44 

 

Edited January 31 by GralphidBlackstrip (see edit history)

[GralphidBlackstrip]

Race - Imp

Tiny (4 RP) (+2 dex, -2 str)

Greater Paragon (+4 intelligence, -2 str, wis) (2 RP)

Slow (-1 RP)

Outsider (3 RP)

Elemental Immunity (fire) (4 RP)

Flight (average, 50 feet) (8 RP)

 

stat	base	point buy cost	total
Strength	10	0	6
Dexterity	14	5	16
Constitution	14	5	14
Intelligence	17	13	27*
Wisdom	14	5	12
Charisma	12	2	12

*includes +2 from level, +4 from racial, and +4 from magic item.

 

Casting Tradition

Infernal Arcane Magic

Drawbacks:

Innate Curse – Legalistic

Mental Focus

Somatic Casting x2

consciousness linked

Boons:

+ 1/odd level (5 SPs/side)

Metamagic Expert

Class Abilities

Incanter Specialization points

Sphere Specialization (Destruction) (3 points)

Bonus feats (2 points)

Martial Tradition

Custom Tradition - Deadly Killer. Gains the Scout sphere, the Sniper sphere, and one talent each from Scout and Sniper.

Edited January 9 by GralphidBlackstrip (see edit history)

[GralphidBlackstrip]

Feats

Gain 9 feats from level, and two from incanter bonus feats.

Transformation - raven

Improved Transformation – gain ability to talk in raven form

Primal Blast

Spellshock admixture (admixture)

Favored Metamagic (empower spell)

Empower Spell

Additional Talent x2

Embraced by Kindred

Counterspell

Counterspell Mastery

 

Traits: clever-wordplay (Diplomacy), Practiced Aim

Combat Talents

Gain 4 from combat tradition, and I'm taking one of my flexible talents from Symbiat as Combat Talents, for 6 total.

Scout: Lurker (2)

Sniper: Perfect Shot (2)

Fencing (Drawback: Distracting): Expert Feint (1)

Magic Talents

Gain 2 base, 9 from incanter, 5 bonus from incanter, the remaining 8 symbiat talents as magical talents. I gain 9/6 of a talent from favored class bonus (currently rounds down to 1 talent).

Operative grants the illusion and war base spheres.

Incanter Specialization in Destruction grants the Destruction base sphere.

2 talents from additional talent feat.

and 3 Illusion talents from the Operative Logistics ability.

For a total of 33 talents.

 

Destruction: Blast Salvo (blast shape), Chain Blast (blast shape), Energy Cloud (blast shape), Searing Blast, Blinding Blast, Living Crystal Blast, Stone Blast, Disintegrate, Admixture, Extended Range (range) (11)

Nature (Drawback: Limited Nature: Tremor) (Earth), Additional Package (Fire) (1)

Mana (Drawbacks: Conservationist, Incongruent): Arcanodynamics (amp) Initiate's Training (amp) Intelligent Interactions (amp), Mark of Instability (Expunge), Ignition (expunge), Manathief (expunge), Transfer (manipulation), Overpowering Expunge, Explosive Expunge (8)

Illusion: Suppression, Illusionary Sound, Manipulate Aura, Complex Illusions (mass), Inspire Doubt, Mage Feint, Talented Trickster (8)

War (Alternate Rally, Battle Manipulation, Solo Combatant): Eternal Vigilance, Empower (Rally), Favorable Momentum (1)

Warp (personal warp): Quick Teleport (1)

Divination (Limited Penetration, limited divination: divine) Detect Spellcaster, Dowsing, Witness the City, Cartographer's Divination (divine) (3)

 

(#) denotes the total number of talents spent on that sphere, including the base sphere and showing net talents used after drawbacks are purchased.

Magic Items

46,000 GP available (standard WBL for 9th level character)

+2 Implement of Destruction (8000)

+1 implement of Mana (2000)

+1 implement of illusion (2000)

Cloak of Resistance +2 (4000)

Ring of Protection +1 (2000)

Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (2000)

Headband of Intelligence +4 (16000)

 

10,000 GP left to spend.

 

Edited January 14 by GralphidBlackstrip (see edit history)

[GralphidBlackstrip]

Request for rulings:

1. The Improved Transformation feat says:

Quote

Choose one trait for every 5 character levels you possess (minimum 1) from the Blank Transformation ability of the Alteration sphere, from the talent chosen for the Transformation feat, another Alteration sphere talent you possess, or another trait deemed appropriate to the form selected for your Transformation feat by the GM

I would like to take the Gift of Speech talent from Anthropomorphic Transformation, so that I can speak as a raven. This is mostly so that in my backstory my character could have emulated a raven familiar which can speak common.

2. Related, but the Transformation feat by default only allows one to transform into a small or medium creature. I would like to have my raven be Tiny. Normally that would require another talent because changing to a smaller than usual size is a significant bonus. However, I am already tiny by default, so it's not really a big difference.

3. Technically the race builder guide only has rules for outsiders with the [native] subtype. I would like to have the [extraplanar] and [devil] subtypes, to represent being an imp.

4. The Elemental Immunity ability is supposed to require an alignment to an elemental plane. I have alignment to hell, which is fire-aligned, but not an elemental plane. I selected it anyways to represent a devil's immunity to fire, and wanted to confirm that's ok.

[Saberfan]

I like the idea of a jaded, sarcastic imp who is fed up with the whole infernal pyramid scheme and has decided to go his own way. It gives off an old Planescape vibe that I can certainly appreciate.

I'm fine with Xak taking the Gift of Speech.

I normally don't allow bigger changes to rules, but will allow the smaller raven transformation since it conforms to Xak's existing size.

The race builder may only allow for Outsider (Native), but that's written with the assumption that they are "native" is Golarion since that is the basic Pathfinder setting. You may change the "Native" designation to match a more infernal ancestry.

Elemental Immunity is completely fine as an option for Xak.

[Laird Ichofox]

Could also take the Embraced By Kindred feat to become a full outsider?

[GralphidBlackstrip]

Saberfan: Thanks, glad you like the concept. It amused me, and equally important, I think it would be fun to play.

 

Hmm, embraced by kindred is intriguing. Saberfan already let me just take full outsider anyways, so the feat would just grant me not needing to eat and not aging, which would help mechanically match what I'm going for. Have to figure out what I'd drop for it though.