Copyright 1992 by Brandon Cope Here is an intresting character that was a PC for one adventure, then a couple years later, I used to good effect as a villain NPC. He can fit in just about any setting, though a post-holocaust or cyberpunk seems most appropriate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mad Abel 150 points Strength 10 Dexterity 13 Intelligence 13 Health 11 basic damage: thrust 1d-2, swing 1d basic speed: 6 active defenses: dodge 6, parry 8 (staff) or 5 (knife) advantages: double jointed night vision high-pain threshold telepathy power (8) disadvantages: arrogance (-10) flamboyance (-10) poverty, struggling quirks: always wear black likes to eat dogs engages in tatooing and ritual scarification smoker prefers to stay 'behind the scenes' Skills: staff-13 blowpipe-13 knife-13 dart pistol-13 fast talk-12 disguise-13 acting-13 ventriloquism-13 hypnotism-13 stealth-14 chemistry/drugs-18 (optional specialization) Psychic Skills: Telesend-15 Telerecieve-15 Mindwipe-13 Telecontrol-13 Mental Shield-13 possessions: staff blowpipe knives (2) dart pistol turban w/veil fur cape robe beltpouch loincloth necklace (bone and jade) sandles pharmacy tools waterskin rations (2-3 days) appearance: think of an Eastern mystic crossed with a Native American shaman, then add some ritual scarification and large tatoos of various mystic sysmbols notes: despite the low-tech appearance Mad Abel projects, he should not be treated as some back-water peasant. He uses his ability in chemistry to produces various drugs that he coats on his blowgun needles or the darts to his dartgun. He prefers compounds which induce sleep or hallucinations; he dislikes the use of lethal compounds. He uses his psionic ability to manipulate people like puppets, though he chooses his targets carefully (in the adventure he was an npc in, he took control of two different PCs on different occassions -- the first was to release someone he wanted, the second was to get the PC fire-mage to start frying his own party members with fireballs). He prefers to keep a low profile, since he isn't much of a warrior ( he will not wear armor).