Baal-Pteor

Baal-Pteor, a Strangler of Yota-Pong
(circa "Shadows in Zamboula")

Medium Human Male
14th level Mesmerist Strangler of Yota Pong

Hit Dice: 14D8 + 42 (105 hit points)
Inititiative: +2 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft
Armor Class:
Attacks: Unarmed Strike +16/+11
Damage: Unarmed Strike 1d4+12
Face/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Psionic Combat; Improved Grapple
Saves: Fort: +12, Ref: +6, Will: +4
Attributes: Str 20, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 15
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) +5, Autohypnosis +19, Balance +19, Use Psionic Device +9, Concentration +10
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Psionic Fist, Power Touch, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Weapon Specialization (Unarmed Strike), Sunder, Eagle Claw Attack, Fists of Iron, Power Lunge, Improved Critical (Unarmed Strike)

Climate/Terrain: Zamboula
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: None
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: By Character Class

Baal Pteor (Copyright Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.)

Related Links: Conan | Zabibi | Totrasmek

Baal-Pteor had another name prior to taking up with Totrasmek; the wizard gave the strangler his current name. He was chosen by the priests of Yajur in his infancy and he was trained in the art of slaying with the naked hands. He strangled infants as a child, girls as a boy, women, old men, and young boys as a youth, and finally given a strong man to strangle when he reached manhood. He strangled hundreds of victims. He was stronger than any other strangler of Yota-pong, an Eastern land, where men are, on average, a bit weaker than in the West, as Conan proved to him.

Baal-Pteor is a master mesmerist, a psion illusionist. He manifests illusion spells as psionic effects. The associated ability for the Illusion discipline is Charisma. He has 69 Power Points per day and has discovered powers of up to the 5th level.

He has a large adamantine table that is magnatized. He tricks warriors into attacking something on this table so that their weapons are stuck fast. The DC to lift a metal object off of this table is 25.

Combat
Baal-Pteor mostly uses his mesmerisms to toy with his victims. To actually kill them he strangles them with his bare hands.

Improved Grapple: If Baal-Pteor hits with both melee attacks, the victim is grappled and either crushed or strangled. Once a victim is grappled by Baal-Pteor, it is as though his strength is +6. A victim grappled by Baal-Pteor is considered to be suffocated, so the rules governing suffocation takes effect.

Psionic Combat: Baal-Pteor has the following psionic combat modes: ego whip, id insinuation, mind thrust, psychic crush, empty mind, intellect fortress, mental barrier, and thought shield. He has discovered these psionic powers:

0 level: Dancing Lights,
1st level: Chromatic Orb, Hypnotism, Silent Image, Spook
2nd level: Fog Cloud, Minor Image, Obscure Object
3rd level: Hallucinatory Terrain, Major Image, Suggestion
4th Level: Persistent Image, Phantasmal Killer, Shadow Conjuration
5th level: Mirage Arcana

"Shadows in Zamboula," first published in Weird Tales in November of 1935, weaves together two plots. First, an evil inn-keeper making a tidy profit handing over unsuspecting patrons to a bunch of local cannibals tries to make a profit off of Conan, he finds he's picked the wrong sucker. Then, at the same time, we have Conan helping Zabibi, a lovely Zamboulan dancer (naked throughout, no less), to find the antidote to a madness drug given to her sweetheart by an evil wizard, Totrasmek. To enlist the Cimmerian's aid, the dancer offers him nothing less than her supple self -- to which Conan readily agrees.

This is one of the sexier Conan tales, most notable for the scene in which Zabibi must literally dance for her life between the darting heads of four cobras.

The story be found in the Ace/Lancer "Conan the Wanderer"; SKULL-FACE AND OTHERS, Arkham House, 1946; SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville-Spearman, 1974
SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville-Spearman, 1975; SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Volume 3, Panther, 1976 ; THE DEVIL IN IRON, Grant, 1976; RED NAILS, Berkley/Putnam, 1977 (restored text); THE DEVIL IN IRON, Grossett & Dunlap, 1978; THE ESSENTIAL CONAN, SFBC Fantasy, 1998; THE SPELL OF SEVEN, Pyramid, 1969; SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #14, Marvel THE CONAN CHRONICLES 2, Orbit, date unknown; ROSTRO DE CALAVERA, ST (Spanish), 1987and the Gnome Press "Conan the Barbarian" as well as the more recent THE CONAN CHRONICLES, Volume 1, Millenium, August 2000

This Conversion was by Vincent N. Darlage.

The cover, again by Margaret Brundage, features a nude Zabibi dancing between the four snakes in a scene from "Shadows in Zamboula" from the November 1935 issue.

Below is the Original Weird Tales illustration by Vincent Napoli

"It blotted out furniture, walls, and the smiling countenance of Ball-pteor."

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