Entry in the Unique NPC Contest.
History: Iliss was born in the jungles of Khitai on Aarth in a small village of his people, the yuan-ti. These vile snake-like humanoids raised him in the traditions of blood sacrifice to their dark Serpent god. As he came of age, Iliss realized that his proud people had been scattered and isolated for too long, and that it was time for his people to enter the realms of the humans. He went into the world to bring back knowledge of the outside. As luck would have it, he encountered the Army of the Black Sorceror of Jelai on its way to the civilized cities in the North. While the army was defeated, Iliss fled with the Black Sorceror, a human disciple of the Serpent god himself. From the Black Sorceror, Iliss learned of magic, and quickly gained skill. After several years, when the city of Seduram fell under the sway of the Serpent Cult, he traveled to Seduram and made his case to the High Priests of the Serpent. The yuan-ti would become the shock troopers of Serpent Empire, able to defeat any enemy. Thus began the decades long Serpent Wars. During this time, Iliss led some of the most daring missions for the Empire, although he was too often foiled by the mercenary adventurers the Allied Cities had hired (read: PCs). One of his successful missions was the recovery of a Stasis Box from the ruins of the Ancients. In this box, he found a magical item of great power: a Major Helm. When the Serpent Empire was finally crushed, Iliss fled along with a team of yuan-ti marines and members of the Ikida ninja clan who were allied with the Empire. He took to the stars, hoping to avoid the meddlesome adventurers who had so often ruined his plans. Unfortunately for Iliss, the adventurers followed him into the stars when a sargasso began to form around Aarth. Iliss is obsessed with finding a way to destroy the sargasso or to otherwise bring his people to wildspace. The yuan-ti are a powerful race, and in his mind could crush the rest of the races. Iliss 15th-level yuan-ti (half-breed) mage S:15 D:16 C:15 I:18 W:10 Ch:14 Com: 12 (16 to yuan-ti or lizard men) (Comliness is added for those who use it in their campains) HP: 50 AC -2 (0 w/o Dexterity bonuses) Thac0: 13 (as yuan-ti) dmg: d4/d4 AL: Lawful Evil age: 43 Racial/class abilities: +10% XP for Intelligence, scaled skin (natural AC0), flexible torso (+1 bonus to all Dex saves), melee attks 2/r, 20% Magic Resistance, yuan-ti spells, mage spells Yuan-ti spells (1/day each): cause fear, darkness 15'r, snake charm, sticks to snakes, neutralize poison, suggestion, polymorf other Mage spells: 5/5/5/5/5/2/1 Weapon Proficiencies: bo staff, dagger, unarmed combat I (most campains I know have some form of martial arts, Iliss should have one WP spent on karate or a similar form) Non-weapon Proficiencies: Khitain (or Shou, etc, w/ reading), Common (w/reading), herbalism, swimming, horse riding, navigation (sailing), navigation (wildspace), engineering, spellcraft, spelljamming, Illithid, Neogi Equipment: black robes, holy symbol of the Serpent Cult, Iron Staff of Night (see below), 3 Teleport Spheres (see below), various scrolls and potions, dagger Iron Staff of Night +2: This magic bostaff is constructed of blackened iron. When any creature is struck with this staff, he must save vs spell or be blinded for d4 turns. The staff also has the ability to cast a darkness 15'r spell 1/day, and to summon d4+1 shadows 1/week. Teleport Spheres: These small glass beads contain a swirling blue mist. When they are shattered at the users feet, he and up to 250lbs of additional material are teleported w/o error (as the spell) to a location envisioned by the user. They cannot be used as a thrown weapon. Appearance: Iliss is 6' tall and weighs 180lbs. He is broadly built, and appears to be a human from a distance, as his face is usually obscured by a heavy cowl or leather mask. His skin is made of thick dark green scales from head to toe. His hair is long, black, and has the feel of metal wires. Iliss has hypnotic yellow snake eyes and a forked black tongue. Personality: Iliss is convinced of the superiority of the yuan-ti over their human ancestors. He is fanatically religous, and his entire life has been devoted to the spread of his religion. While he is incredibly intelligent, his lower wisdom means he genuinely cannot understand why anyone would not want to be a disciple of the Serpent, given the power it has afforded him. So long as a non-believer is willing to be properly deferential to him, Iliss is willing to wax philosophical for hours on the subject of his god. Non-believers are warned that he is insulted at the slightest suggestion he is misguided. Beyond spreading the belief in his god, his goal is to contact the other yuan-ti colonies scattered throughout the known spheres and bring them together into a space-borne Serpent Empire. He despises lizard men, but often finds himself forced to travel among them, as he does not currently own a ship. Plot Possibilities: -- The PCs are approached by an unusual lizard man, who resembles a snake more than a lizard. This yuan-ti make a point of differentiating himself from the lizard men, but the PCs are unlikely to have heard of the yuan-ti. The dark-robed yuan-ti warrior wishes to negotiate passage to a world in the next sphere for his master and a team of bodyguards. The PCs will have to decide whether the high price is worth the trouble of having the hot-tempered Iliss aboard. If the PCs don't like his offer, he may decide to simply take the ship himself. -- The PCs have a Series Helm for sale which they've captured from the Illithids. The yuan-ti may be interested in purchasing it, but the PCs will have to find them first. -- Iliss makes an excellent recurring villian, as his power makes him difficult to defeat, but not a cake-walk. He is intelligent enough to always have an escape route, and if his plots are defeated and he escapes, both sides involved will hold a grudge.
