Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence (Original SWD)
Balitrox was once a man dedicated to his path. His duty was to track down users of magic that strayed from the path of righteousness and slay those who could not be redeemed. He carried out his duty with great abandon, however; once he received orders he carried them out with no regard to whether they were right or wrong.
As the years passed, his abilities grew and his hunger for the blood of mages became insatiable. Balitrox began to kill mages indiscriminately. He was too powerful to be slain, so a cabbal of mages set forth a plan to contain him. His soul was stripped from his body and embedded into a great axe.
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence now carries the sentience of the once-man Balitrox. In the presence of Magic, it glows with a red luminescence, but Balitrox's captors "cursed" him to only be able to slay those who would use magic for evil. If not regularly bathed in the blood of wielders of arcane power who harbor evil intent, Balitrox becomes dormant and is only as useful as the Great Axe his soul is contained within.
As the years passed, his abilities grew and his hunger for the blood of mages became insatiable. Balitrox began to kill mages indiscriminately. He was too powerful to be slain, so a cabbal of mages set forth a plan to contain him. His soul was stripped from his body and embedded into a great axe.
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence now carries the sentience of the once-man Balitrox. In the presence of Magic, it glows with a red luminescence, but Balitrox's captors "cursed" him to only be able to slay those who would use magic for evil. If not regularly bathed in the blood of wielders of arcane power who harbor evil intent, Balitrox becomes dormant and is only as useful as the Great Axe his soul is contained within.
- Balitrox-ConvertImage.png (28.04 KiB) Viewed 13463 times
- Str+d10+4 Mega Damage, AP 6, -1 Parry, 2 Hands, 15 lbs
- Danger Sense (Evil Arcana Detection) - Balitrox softly glows blood red when supernatural evil is around, providing just enough time to react before its too late.
- Berserk (Balitrox Hungers) - Per the Berserk Edge, you can flip the switch and give partial control over your actions to the Reaver of Essence. This comes at a cost - ending Balitrox's berserking rage is not an option until its hunger has been sated by the blood of a wielder of arcane power.
- Dispel (Balitrox's Denial)
- P.P.E.: 10
- Trait: Fighting
- Trappings: Dispel activates on a Fighting roll and looses its ability to Dispel at range. In exchange, it never suffers a -2 penalty vs varying arcane sources.
- Vow (Major)Balitrox hungers for the blood of the wielders of arcane forces. Any who wield the Reaver of Essence must swear to Balitrox to pursue and slay all arcane users of evil intent.
- Minor Transgression: Allowing an evil arcane wielder to escape with his life results in Fighting suffering a -1 penalty to use until atoned, as Balitrox is constantly reminding the wielder of his vow.
- Major Transgression: Failing to engage in combat with an evil arcane wielder results in Balitrox's Damage bonuses no longer applying, -2 to activate Dispel, PPE pool cannot be tapped (so the bearer must provide the PPE, or not use Dispel at all), and Danger Sense not working. The hectoring of Balitrox grows louder, now, and if the character is not on a quest to atone, he must make fatigue rolls to deal with not being able to sleep because of the constant haranguing.
- Mortal Transgression: Willingly entreating with an evil arcane user will break the Vow between the wielder and Balitrox. Balitrox will first try to take control, plunging the user - willingly or unwillingly - into an arcane blood bath not seen since the Sorcerer's Revenge. Barring that the Axe falls silent and will not work as anything other than a mundane medieval Battle Axe (per SWD) until a major quest is performed to atone. Burying it in the heart of one of Dunscon's inner circle, for instance.
- Loose control: Make a Spirit roll at -2 or Balitrox takes control for a time, leaving a trail of arcane bodies possibly good or evil in its wake.