Strange Aeons Player Characters Ideas

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Introduction

These were the characters that my players used. As always, be prepared for players leaving, characters dying, or other unexpected changes to the party roster.

BLUNDER (Witch)

The Child of Yog-Sothoth (see Module 5 and Zaphira Lowls on New NPCs page) who lived in the Iris Hill attic with his grandmother (Namira Lowls). Because he is the result of his failed ritual (and sister’s death), Count Lowls named him Blunder. There he remained until he was taken by his uncle and sacrificed to the Mad Poet. As part of his inhuman nature, he has accelerated growth. At the start of the campaign he is only 3 years old, but looks 11 years old. He ages at 1 year/level until level 10, after which is ages at 1 year/2 levels. Thus at level 10, he will physically be 20 years old and at level 18 he will physically be 24 years old. After this period, his aging slows and he has great longevity.

He gains benefits and penalties due to his nature according to the table below. Blunder is unaware of his true nature. The player should initially have no idea why they age quickly or have special characteristics. Play on the fear that they are not quite human and they have no idea what they are changing into.

Blunder cannot read.

Blunder has low-light vision.

Level	AC	Resistance (Cold/Fire)	Resistance (Spell)	Saving Throws	Ability Score (cumulative)	Other
1	+0	1	4	-
2	+1	2	5	-	+1 CON, -1 CHA	1/day: detect thoughts
3	+1	2	6	-		Loathed by animals
4	+2	3	7	+1 vs mind, disease, poison		1/day: comprehend lang.
5	+2	4	8		+1 STR, -1 DEX
6	+3	4	9			Tentacle & blood drain
7	+3	5	10			1/day: hypnotism
8	+3	6	11	+2 vs mind, disease, poison	+1 CON, -1 CHA
9	+4	6	12			Stench
10	+4	7	13			2/day: each spell
11	+4	8	14		+1 STR, -1 DEX	Physiology change
12	+4	8	15	+3 vs mind, disease, poison
13	+5	9	16			3/day: each spell
14	+5	10	17		+1 CON, -1 CHA
15	+5	10	18
16	+5	10	19	+4 vs mind, disease, poison
17	+6	10	20		+1 STR, -1 DEX
18	+6	10	21

Having a player not knowing exactly what they are, and becomes less and less human as the campaign progresses is great fun.

William Bennett (Lore Warden)

William is the escaped son of Arthur Bennett. Having discovered his father’s experiments, he slew the unfortunate children who he found locked in cages that William was unable to open. These wretches had been tortured and brought to the brink of death, or beyond, in his father’s insane attempts to unlock the secrets of life and death.

William should continually be threatened by the shadow of his father who seeks to steal his body. Arthur’s body is decomposing, and each new host rots quicker than the last. Until William regains his memories, he will have no idea who the sinister figure is and why he has “out of body” experiences.

After this experience, he was sought out by The Veil of Heavens, agents of the archangel Vildeis and recruited by them to fight the ancient evils that threaten the world. Recently he was sent to investigate Briarstone Asylum, but his mission was discovered and he was captured.

Geoffrey Blackmore (Oracle)

The youngest son of a farmer, Geoffrey witnessed his family being slaughtered by Weiralai and Klyn. He was taken prison and transported to Arthur Bennett’s secret laboratory, where he was tortured and experimented upon for months, continually taken to the edge of death and brought back.

One day William appeared and, unable to free the captives, put them out of their misery (much to his anguish). However, Geoffrey did not die. The experiments had given some limited ability to cheat death. The cage was opened by unseen hands and he wandered the forests for days in a daze, his mind broken and traumatised. He was eventually found and raised by a kindly family.

Geoffrey’s ability to peer beyond the veil allows home some degree of prophecy, and strange things happen around him (voices distantly heard, objects move when not observed). Unknown even to him, he is haunted by the children who were his fellow captives. They watch over him and protect him as best they can (this is particularly effective with haunts).

Percifel Von Vundamar (Sleuth)

Percifel is Geoffrey’s older brother, though they will not know this until they regain their memories. He was away from home working as an apprentice when Weiralai and Klyn attacked his family home. After this, Percifel dedicated his life to searching for his family’s murderers.

Years later, Percifel tracked down Klyn near Thrushmoor and exacted justice on him before burying him in a shallow grave (see Module 2). Before he died, Klyn boasted that he worked for powerful people, that Weiralai was also present on that fateful day and far more cruel than he, but even she was directed by another.

Following this trail led to Iris Hill in Thrushmoor, but Weiralai defeated Percifel easily and was about to dispatch him when Count Lowls stopped her, recognising Percifel’s obsession with revenge as being potentially interesting to the Mad Poet.

Estra (Magus)

Aeons ago, the world was ruled by the Serpent People, known as the Valosian Empire (I have borrow from the excellent Freeport Trilogy here). The Valosians worshipped Yig, until a faction arose who worshipped Hastur the Unspeakable. A civil war broke out and destroyed the Valosian Empire forever. But Serpent People survived (both Yig and Hastur worshippers) and still exist, hidden in the shadows of the human world.

Serpent People make excellent spies and assassins because of their ability to shapeshift. This is not a magical ability (e.g. polymorph), but a physical one, not unlike a chameleon changing colour. The Valosian mesmerises their victim (using their snake-like gaze) and slowly adopts their form. This process takes 1-3 hours. Furthermore, while doing this, the Valosian also performs a surface-level psychic copy of the victim’s mind, absorbing their memories, habits, behaviours and speech patterns.

Thus, a Valosian assassin who has adopted the persona of another will have their memories and their mannerisms. True Sight will reveal nothing, as the disguise is not magical. Even more, the Valosian can bury their consciousness beneath the “copy” of the victim’s mind, meaning that the person may not even be aware of their true nature and can answer questions truthfully without exposing themselves. They may only be aware of blank periods in their memories.

This is what happened to Estra. The real Estra is long dead, and the player is in fact a Valosian (Hastur worshipper), though they are unaware of it. The player has the following abilities (though they are unaware of them).

· Speak/read Valosian (serpent person)

· Cold vulnerability

· Endure elements (heat)

· Hold breath (x3 duration)

· Immune poison (serpent poison only)

But for Estra, the story did not stop there. After being replaced by a Valosian, she was then the victim of a mind-swap by the Great Race of Yith. This mind-swap lasted for 3 years, after which the Yithian then returned to her own body to record her findings. Her next host would be Kaklatath (see Module 4). For Estra, the effects of this experience were twofold. Firstly, she suffered the nightmares common to subjects of Yithian mind-swaps. Secondly, it severed the link between the conscious copy of Estra’s mind and the Valosian host. In summary, Estra thinks that she is Estra, and the Valosian personality has been trapped in her subconscious, raging impotently to regain control of their body (the film Get Out is a good reference here).

Seeking treatment for her 3 year amnesia and nightmares, Estra travelled to Briarstone Asylum. Losandro spoke of her to Count Lowls, who recognised her as a good candidate for the Mad Poet’s fee.

Estra offers plenty of opportunities for building paranoia; being able to read Valosian without any previous knowledge, not having to make saving throws against serpent poison, seeing glimpses of an inhuman, scaly form in a mirror seen from the corner of the eye, etc. Kaklatath will recognise her former host body and quickly deduce what has happened to Estra, though she will be amazed (in an academic way) at the unlikelihood of it happening.

Pyesen (Scholar/Vigilante)

Pyesen and his older brother Galdros lived in Quadira. Galdros was brave and rough, whereas Pyesen was meek and studious. While out away from town one day, the brothers were set upon by Gnolls. Pyesen and Galdros were 14 and 15 respectively.

Galdros fought bravely, but Pyesen fled. Galdros called for his brother to aid him, but Pyesen fled from the huge hairy creatures with sharp fangs and clubs. He vividly remembers seeing the blood drops arcing in the sunlight as Galdros fell beneath the brutal blows.

Wracked by guilt, Pyesen’s mind cracked and he became schizophrenic. He gave over half of his consciousness to Galdros. While Pyesen studied hard and gained a position at the Mysterium (see Module 4), whenever he was threatened, the alter-personality that his subconscious had created from his memories of Galdros would emerge. Both personalities know of the other, and Galdros despises Pyesen’s weakness.

Think of it like triggering the Hulk, but instead he becomes Batman.

Thus, Pyesen has two character sheets; one being a cowardly scholar, the other a fighter (or vigilante, brawler, etc.) The rules for changing character are described here.

Unknown to Pyesen, Galdros did not die but was taken as a slave to Okeno. There he lived a brutal and harsh life, firstly as a slave, then as a gladiator, and now as a bodyguard to Princess Njano (see Module 4). I have replaced the NPC Kisetz with Galdros.

How the player’s split personality deals with the revelation that Galdros is actually still alive is up to the GM and player.