Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lycanthromancer 11-27-06, 04:02 AM	I'm creating a new character for a campaign that is already underway. His name is Basil, and he is a 6th-level telepath (psion) xeph who is about to broaden his horizons into thrallherd (both because the DM wants the PrC for story-reasons, and because I want to play a manipulative bastard and have always wanted thralls of my very own). He grew up in an illithid slave/food camp, and was originally human. Illithids, of course, keep their slaves in excellent health (you have to keep your cattle alive and in good condition, of course), and Basil was an excellent specimen. He was intelligent, very sturdy, and quite strong. Which was why, shortly after puberty, he was conscripted into the illithid 'experimentation program'. Numerous, very painful things were done to his body and his mind. It left his physiology altered forevermore (went from human to xeph - the only one present in this virtually non-psionic world), and left his body and mind irrevocably broken. Had he not been so strong, he would have died, but instead, it left him a wrecked shell of his former self. Being no longer suitable for slave, experiment, or food, he was simply ejected from the slave-camp, several portions of his memory erased. He was found, bones shattered and bleeding heavily, by one of the most influential people of the regional empire - and thus, one of the most influential people in the known world - a NG man named Haar (general of the empire's army, and personal friend of the emperor), who slowly nursed him back to health. He has no real sense of empathy or sympathy, and in fact is quite sadistic, and has...rather perverse fetishes. He never feels bad for hurting others, but is disturbed by the fact that he doesn't feel bad. Intellectually, he knows that he is broken, and that the things he likes are wrong, so he refrains from indulging himself - usually. That restraint is the only thing that keeps him from going completely psychotic in full-blown CE fashion. He tries to be a good person, to the best of his ability, because he respects Haar, the man who has been like a father to him since he was found, but he finds it very difficult, since his moral compass is busted. Haar, in turn, views Basil as his 'broken little friend,' almost like a son, and has done his best to ensure that Basil knows the difference between right and wrong, even if he can't otherwise tell the difference. Basil, also, is very much homosexual, and frequently makes amorous advances on pretty much any man he finds attractive - which will likely cause problems for him in the party, though none of the players (nor the DM) have any problems with it. Given that his specialty is telepathy, and that his moral compass is broken, and that he knows, vaguely, that taking away someone's free will is wrong, this is going to pose some interesting dilemmas for him. Just recently, he acquired a nightmare-mount that he has named Rast. It is psychically connected to him, and will tolerate no rider but him. How this happened, Basil does not know, but he is glad for the fiend's company. He has also gained some sort of wandering consciousness, that has introduced itself simply as 'The Watcher'. It has apparently decided to travel with him inside his head, as it bounces from mind-to-mind. He's not sure if this is a new form of psychosis or not, but thus far, it seems fairly harmless, and helps keep him entertained with intellectual conversations. In addition, since he is about to start progressing into thrallherd soon, he is about to spark the vivation of psionic power in this world. Whatever power that awakens within him is going to start a cascade of psionic ability within the people he comes near. All of his thralls are going to be psionic in nature, and most of the towns he enters are going to see psionic abilities start manifesting themselves. As he gains in power, the effect will become more widespread, and more powerful, as more and more people start developing psychic ability (whether they want to or not). Some people will start developing physical deformities, while others will start developing psychoses as their minds snap from the strain. It won't exactly be the end of civilization as everyone knows it (at least, not on the scale of an apocalypse), but it might come close. (And this is according to what the DM told me. She was looking for a way to introduce a widespread 'plague' of psionics in the world, as she just recently discovered the XPHB, and this is what she came up with.) Whether the illithids did this on purpose or not remains to be seen. So, what do you think?
Kitaki 11-27-06, 07:56 AM	I like the idea, you have obviously put alot of though into this character. I like the idea of psionics randomly popping up when you character has been around like a plague, makes me think of the explanation in the PHB about when Sorcerors start getting their powers.
Fithero 11-27-06, 09:57 AM	I agree with Kitaki, i recon its a solid, well thought out character. He sounds like something of a sociopath, someone who has been trained to know whats right or wrong, without feeling it. As far as thats concerned.... lets just hope no one manages to wipe that training from his mind... other wise it just *might* be the apocalypse.... one super powered telepath wandering around with no one to counter him... sounds like a blast:D have fun Peace