Creative Characters – Layla Mortifaney

Greetings!

Welcome to Creative Characters. This is where I indulge myself a bit and create an unusual character, based on a concept, idea, theme, feat or whatever else catches my fancy. These characters are NOT supposed to be optimized, but they ARE supposed to be INTERESTING. For the sake of reference, and consistency, all characters here are created with the Elite stat array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) and all hit points are rolled as averages (and rounded down). They are also written so that they can be used as either NPCs or PCs as the reader chooses, and are written with all special abilities typed out, so as to ensure a minimum amount of book-flipping throughout your game.

This is a recurring series, and you should be seeing installments of it each week. Should you wish to see a particular build or idea featured here, then please don’t hesitate to comment

This time around, I cook up Layla Mortifaney, a conflicted soul, whose ancestors should have left well enough alone. Now, with fire and lightning, she’s out to right the wrongs of the world, using her innate abilities to further the cause of good.

Layla Mortifaney CR 7

XP 3,200
Female tiefling (pitborn) sorcerer (infernal bloodline) 8
NG Medium humanoid (tiefling)
Init +5; Sense darkvision 60 ft., Perception +4

DEFENSE
AC
 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +1 dex)
hp 54 (6 (class)+(7d6) +16 (Con)+8 (favored class bonus))
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +13
Resist cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5

OFFENSE
Speed
 30 ft.
Melee cold iron masterwork heavy mace +5 (1d8/x2)

Tiefling Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +11)
1/day— shatter (DC 18)

Sorcerer Spells Known (concentration +4)
4th (4/day)—black tentacle (DC 20)
3rd (6/day)—fireball (DC 20), suggestion (DC 19), vampiric touch (DC 19)
2nd (8/day)—burning gaze (DC 19), flaming sphere (DC 19), flurry of snowballs (DC 19), scorching ray
1st (8/day)—burning hands (DC 18), charm person (DC 19), chill touch (DC 18), infernal healing, mage armor, magic missile, protection from good
0bleed (DC 16), dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, read magic, resistance, virtue

STATISTICS
Str
10 (8 + 2 race), Dex 12, Con 14 (13+1 level), Int 10 (12-2 race), Wis 14, Cha 22 (15+1 level+2 race+4 magic)
Base Atk +4 CMB +4; CMD 19
Feats Defensive Combat Training, Eschew Materials, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Reach Spell, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Spell Focus (evocation)
Skills Spellcraft +11, and Use Magic Device +17
Languages Common, Infernal

Combat Gear cloak of resistance (+3), ring of protection (+1); Other Gear backpack, bedroll, blanket, explorer’s outfits (2x), hand of the mage, headband of alluring charisma (Charisma +4), lesser silent metamagic rod, ring of spell knowledge (I – magic missile), small tent, trail rations (7 days); Coin 262  gp, 2 sp, (these remaining coins can be spent at the GM or player’s discretion before the start of the game session).

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bloodline Arcana:
Whenever Layla casts a spell of the charm subschool, she increases the spell’s DC by +2.

Corrupting Touch (Sp):
Layla can cause a creature to become shaken as a melee touch attack. This effect persists for 4 rounds. Creatures shaken by this ability radiate an aura of evil, as if they were an evil outsider (see detect evil). Multiple touches do not stack, but they do add to the duration. You can use this ability 10 times per day.

Fiendish Resistance:
Layla has cold resistance 5, electricity resistance 5, and fire resistance 5.

Infernal Resistances (Ex):
Layla gains resist fire 5 (this does not stack with fiendish resistance) and a +2 bonus on saving throws made against poison.

Skilled:
Layla gains a +2 racial bonus on Disable Device and Perception checks.

Spell-like ability:
Layla can use shatter once per day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability equals her class level. (i.e. 8)

Fiendish Sorcery:
Layla has the Infernal bloodline and treats her Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer class abilities.

TACTICS
During combat
: Before combat, Layla takes the time to cast mage armor, raising her Armor Class by 4 (included above), but that is the only precaution she takes. Once combat starts, she will use her spells with extreme prejudice, trying to kill her opponent as quickly as possible. She does not engage in restraint and has been known to be held back by her fellow members of the Order of St. Gregor. Only when she is certain that her opponents must be taken alive will she use her charm person and suggestion.

HISTORY
Layla Mortifaney is a troubled young woman. She is a tiefling, and the rare result of 2 distinct tiefling bloodlines meeting, in that her mother carried the taint of the Nine Hells with her, while her father carried the taint of the Abyss.
In the eyes of both of these fiendish races, she is an abomination… And an opportunity. Both sides have tried to both kill her and recruit her for use as a spy against the other fiendish race. Eventually one of these attempts went extremely wrong, and her parents were captured, while Layla herself managed to escape.
At this time, Layla is unsure who actually captured her parents, but she has made it her business to find out. To this end she’s found herself in the company of the Order of St. Gregor, working with them to uncover ancient artifacts, while Morrivan Scrolls (covered last week) attempts to find out who captured her parents so that a rescue attempt can be made.
While Layla still yearns to free her parents from captivity, she cannot deny that with the Order, she has found a new purpose, and she’s come to the decision that once her parents are freed, she will stay with the order, using her talent for destruction towards good, to ward off evil and fight the many injustices of the world.



About Kim Frandsen

Kim is a freelance writer for various companies (including d20pfsrd.com Publishing, Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Purple Duck Games, Rusted Iron Games and Zenith Games) as well as an editor of the Pathfinder and D&D 5th Edition product lines for d20pfsrd.com Publishing. Hopes to one day rule the world!

View all posts by Kim Frandsen →

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