Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 25 STR 15 14- Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH Damage [2] 23 DEX 39 14- OCV: 8/DCV: 8 25 CON 30 14- 16 BODY 12 12- 20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13- 20 EGO 20 13- ECV: 7 25 PRE 15 14- PRE Attack: 5d6 6 COM -2 10- 12 PD 7 Total: 12 PD (6 rPD) 12 ED 7 Total: 12 ED (6 rED) 4 SPD 7 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 10 REC 0 50 END 0 42 STUN 0 Total Characteristics Cost: 160 Movement: Running: 9"/18" Leaping: 5"/10" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills 22 "Sickle-Like Talons": HKA 1d6 (2d6 w/STR), Armor Piercing (+1/2), END 2 90 "Blue Flame As Chill As Ice": EB 6d6, Damage Shield (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Continuous (+1) 6 "Torso Covered In Snaky Scales": Damage Resistance (6 PD/6 ED) 6 Heavy: Knockback Resistance -3" 6 "Long Crane-Like Legs": Running +3" (9" total) 1 5 "Eyes As Red As Living Fire": Nightvision 23 "Fire-Based Outlines": Sight Group Images 1" radius, +4 to PER Rolls, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Only To Create Light (-1), No Range (-1/2) plus +4 with DCV; Linked (Images; -1/2), Only Versus Ranged Attacks (-1/2) 23 "I Called In His Voice": Hearing Group Images 1" radius, -4 to PER Rolls, LOS (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Set Effect (human voices; -1/2) 50 "From A Far Realm": LS (Eating: Character does not eat; Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Longevity: Immortal; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character does not sleep) 3 "His Thoughts Are My Thoughts": Mind Link , One Specific Mind, Psychic Bond; Feedback STUN and BODY (-2) 4 Long Arms: Stretching 1", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Always Direct (-1/4), No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4) Skills 10 "Lashing Arms": +2 with HTH Combat 3 Shadowing 13- 3 Stealth 14- 3 Tracking 13- 257 Total Powers & Skills Cost 417 Total Character Cost 75+ Disadvantages 5 Physical Limitation: Large, up to twice human size (roughly 8-9 feet tall) (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing) 15 Physical Limitation: Subject To Summoner's Commands (Infrequently, Fully Impairing) 20 Psychological Limitation: Overconfidence (Very Common, Strong) 302 Experience 417 Total Disadvantage Points OPTIONS Cost Powers 10 "He Had Not Seen It Move": Teleport 9"; No Noncombat Movement (-1/4), Only To Places The Character Can Normally Reach (-1/2), END 2
Ecology: Pictish swamp devils are beings summoned from the Misty Lands, which lay on a plane separate from Earth's. They are brought to this world "with incantations and sorcery and [the sorcerer's] own blood" where they are "materialized... in the flesh of [this] planet." These beings are then sent out to hunt down and slay the enemies of the sorcerer who summoned them.
Personality/Motivation: A Pictish swamp demon can apparently only kill those who they are told to kill. To quote one demon: "My brother had not painted a skull black for you and hurled it into the fire that burns for ever on Gullah's black altar. He had not whispered your name to the black ghosts that haunt the uplands of the Dark Land. But a bat has flown over the Mountains of the Dead and drawn your image in blood on the white tiger's hide that hangs before the long hut where sleep the Four Brothers of the Night. The great serpents coil about their feet and the stars burn like fireflies in their hair."
However, once given the task to kill a target, a swamp devil will waste no time in getting the job done. It will usually use its ability to mimic voices to lure the target into an ambush, at which point the swamp devil isn't above toying with its prey. Swamp devils tend to be supremely confident in their ability to eliminate a given target, and may engage a foe in conversation, explaining in exact detail what the person did to be marked for death at the hands of the devil.
Powers/Tactics: Swamp devils combine great strength, speed, and agility, with powerful claws (capable of ripping right through mail), an uncanny ability to mimic any voice, and the power to create unnatural magical fire, in order to hunt down and kill their foes. Interestingly, they don't seem to be particularly resilient to damage, and can be killed with normal weapons.
Because a swamp devil is a summoned being, they maintain a direct connection with their summoner. The devil and the sorcerer are one in many ways. As one devil puts it: "We are one, tied together by invisible threads. His thoughts are my thoughts; if he is struck, I am bruised. If I am cut, he bleeds." Thus, killing the devil will almost certainly kill the sorcerer, and vice versa. This damage is shared via the Mind Link.
Appearance: Normally, a swamp devil maintains a brilliant aura of flame about its body. While this makes the devil easy to spot in the dark woods, it also makes the devil hard to see, and thus hard to target directly. If they drop the flames, a roughly humanoid form is revealed. Swamp Devils are between eight and nine feet tall, with a humanoid face marked by oblique eyes, pointed ears, and thin lips. The arms are long and end in razor-sharp talons, while the legs are akin to a crane's and have three-toed birdlike feet. The body itself is covered in scales akin to a snake's.
Designer's Notes: The Pictish Swamp Devil appears in the Conan story Beyond The Black River, which in many ways is a settlers and Indians story given a coating of swords and sorcery. Conan mentions swamp and forest devils in several stories dealing with the Picts, although I doubt all such creatures are as dangerous as this one. You can easily make this Devil more powerful by giving it the Infernal package from the HERO System Bestiary, replacing or adding to the already existing powers as needed. You may also want to give the Devil Mental and Power Defense. To pay for all this, give the Devil the appropriate Disadvantages common to all Demon and Devils listed in the HERO System Bestiary.
(Pictish Swamp Devil created by Robert E Howard, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)
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