Help me Flesh out an NPC

[Delgar]

Hi Everybody!

I was hoping that the beautiful minds of ENworld could help me flesh out an NPC for my game on Friday.

Right now my players are slaves in an arena in an underdark merchant city (which just happens to be an ancient dwarven city). For more information please check out these thread here: (feel free to help out on these as well)

Hot Dark Elven Action
Underdark Encounters

In this weekends game one of the characters is going to meet a persona that they know as the "Doctor". All they know about him is that he performs strange experiments, tortures slaves, and creates many of the abominations that they have fought in the arena. (Last time they fought a gelatinous Bear and a couple of Gelatinous wolves, as well as a Flesh golem that was stitched together from the pieces of the gladiators that had died in their first fight).

O.K. I don't really need stats/Classes/Levels, although feel free to post if appropriate, but what I'm looking for is what can this Doctor be?

He's clearly the mad scientist type, but this is the underdark so I want him to be very strange indeed and I'm drawing a blank.

What kind of personality? Race? Quirks?

Help me ENworld, you're my only hope!

Delgar

 

[Myrkveth]

For weird, I'd suggest either a Beholder from the Dominion of Enigma (Goodman Games, Complete Guide to Beholders) or a Mind Flayer. Both of these experiment with slaves for their nefarious purposes. I have the Complete Guide to Beholders so I am more familiar with them. Interesting variants with mutated humans with "eyestalks" warped by the "god" of the Beholders.

Both of these races are "alien" enough from a human perspective that it could be considered truely 'weird', not to mention the physical appearance of the creatures. I'd make either one have a few levels in Wizard, although Beholders generally don't use arcane "magic" they just have magical (spell-like) abilities. The other possibility would be to make them a demented psion of sorts - both races would fit the bill. If you don't have access to the Psionics Handbook (or new and improved, Expanded Psi Handbook) check out the System Reference Document (SRD) for general info.

In general, I don't think the NPC even needs to have a defined Class. Unless you are planning on having the "Doctor" fight the PCs, but in any case you could just pick and choose a few 'interesting' spells or powers for flavor and leave the rest for the PCs to guess at (if they survive the current situation).

My 2 coppers

 

[ml3]

Hmm..

How about an albino half elf(not drow) half dwarf. Blind in one eye. Hairless. Pronounced limp. Bites his nails constantly, sings loudly to himself while disecting victims and calls everyone 'beautiful child'?

 

[janta]

Instead of a full-on Mind Flayer, have you considered the half-illithid template (in the Fiend Folio, I think)? I slapped this template on a couple of doppelgangers in my last adventure, and it confused the heck out of my players. Of course, I think this was because none of them realized that such a template existed....

As for quirks....how about a pathological need to describe the things happening in an encounter in clinical, scientific terms? He could have a magic book and quill that transcribe his dictation, and keep referring to the PCs as "subjects" and making comments on their behavior.

For general flavor and creepiness, make sure there are weird "examining tables" in his lair, and maybe some sort of giant "petri dish" with random body parts flailing about. And of course, that old reliable, a copy of the Necronomicon....

ETA: What if he has a brain fetish? Not in the usual illithid style, but a more....lascivious one. He's got a very shapely brain golem that lurks in his private quarters or some such.

Hope this helps!

--Janta

 

[Delgar]

So far some good ideas!

Come on more is always good!


Delgar

 

[Ashrum the Black]

How about this?

The "Doctor":

When the characters are ushered into his "office", they will first be
assailed by the smell of old blood, offal, and the pungent smell of
chemicals. Those with alchemy may get a roll to identify some of the
more exotic chemical smells. An odd, rhythmic, rasping noise can be heard, as though something is breathing its last gurgling breath.

The work room is shadowed, with torches burning in wall sconces casting
just enough light to ruin dark vision, but not enough to truly see well. The walls are arched and carved. Strange faces of races none recognize leer from random portions of the walls. Cylinders filled with strange brews line the walls, some gurgling as they are boil, others splashing, as something living moves within.

Workbenches line the spaces between the cylinders, strange mechanical devices, some half constructed, dot the tables. One has what is obviously a replacement hand on it, the fingers ending in tentacles. As the characters observe it the can see the fingers writhe and twitch from time to time.

Four tables take center stage to this strange room. Blood stains mar the floor around each table, testament to the grisly work done here. The tables themselves are each of blood stained black marble. Upon closer inspection, they notice the groves carved into the table to allow the blood to drain away.

At this point a jet of steam shoots from a vent in the ceiling and they now notice the myriad assortment of gears, wires, valves and bellows that encase the ceiling. The bellows are the source of the odd sound as they rhythmically pump air in and out.

A metal iris in the center of this amalgamation of metal opens with another jet of steam, and the doctor lowers down from his abode. The body of this creature is four feet tall if it were to stand upon the floor, but that is impossible as it has no legs. A metal cap with strange tubes sticking from it resides where the creatures waist and legs would be. Its arms are long, thin metal constructs, with wire pulleys attached to allow them movement. His metal fingers end in thin surgical instruments that glint in the torch light, and click as he moves his fingers. Its torso is encased in a metal bracing that at the back attaches to a long metal arm that extends back into the opened iris.

This arm twist and extends the body towards the group and they get their first look at the Doctors face. It is a mask of scars and burns, both of his eyes are replaced by metallic ones that glow green in this dim light. The top of his head and the right side of his face are both covered in a metal mask. The mask is stylized to look like a perfect greek male, a small tear drop is carved just below his right metal eye. (Think Michagelos David here) His former race is unknown, and at this point, unknowable.

As the armature clanks and whirs he is propelled closer to the party and they are assaulted by a charnel smell of burnt meat, blood, and strangely, cinnamon. They can now see tubes the jut out of his chest and then back into his body carry blue fluids. The skin around this tubes is red and oozes a small amount of blood from time to time.

“Come in, come in my children. The Doctor will see you now.” He says with a beautifully melodious voice.

If this isn't what you want then let me know and I can try another.

-Ashrum

 

[Delgar]

Ashrum,

That was great, I just wish I had read it before I ran the game. Thanks for the idea though, I'll definately file that away for use later!

Delgar