Parvan
Parvan was born into a farming family, and while he was very young there was very little unusual about him, apart from being unusually imaginative. He spent hours sitting on the floor of the town bard, listening to stories about heroes of old and legendary exploits. His parents hoped that he would be a farmer as well, or possibly a soldier, but Parvan wanted something more in his life.
Parvan’s life began to go off course when he was fourteen, when an eighteen year old boy named Taritan came into his small town. Parvan was instantly drawn towards the boy, who was charming, intelligent and subtle. Taritan saw that Parvan worshipped him, and he immediately began manipulating the younger boy. He pushed Parvan into stealing, vandalizing and even ritualistically killing a deer to scare the town’s inhabitants. After Taritan was sure he had Parvan committed, he revealed his dark past to the boy. Taritan was a minor necromancer who had his plans of raising an undead army to act as bandits and raiders ruined by a group of adventurers. Taritan escaped, but his undead and minions were lost. Taritan planned to use this small town to lie low and rebuild his army, and when he found the young child that held on to his every word he believed the boy would be of use to him.
When Taritan was ready, he told Parvan to prove his loyalty one last time; by killing his parents. Parvan hesitated only briefly before stabbing them to death in their own kitchen. Taritan then animated Parvan’s parents as zombies and made them the first of his new undead army. Over time, a series of “accidents” began arising in the town, arranged by Taritan and Parvan, until Taritan had enough undead to enslave the rest of the village. Fortunately, the same adventurers who foiled Taritan before came to save the surviving villagers. Taritan was killed, but the adventurers never saw Parvan. The boy ran to his master’s room, grabbed his spellbook and ran.
It took Parvan years to understand his master’s spellbook, but over time he managed to decrypt the writing and learned to cast spells. When he had learned enough magic to be a necromancer, Parvan began to emulate his dead master. He became a powerful necromancer over time, but after many years of attempting to ruin and rule, he became known for being mostly impotent. A great wizard, but with no knowledge of tactics or politics. After over half a century of being foiled and just barely escaping with his life, Parvan decided to retire.
Unfortunately, for Parvan “retire” did not mean to sit in a house and let old age take him. Parvan merely retired from his ambitions of power, and focused his attention on living out his life in comfort. Parvan now works as a con man, creating some powerful undead to terrorize a small community, then showing up to solve the problem himself, in exchange for a small fortune in gold, goods or property. Parvan has built up a fortune from these exploits, and finds that he is much better as a con man than he ever was as a villain. He has thus far never run into adventurers trying to stop him, and the few he has interacted with have seen him as a kindly old man who is just trying to help.
Parvan’s operations follow a fairly typical pattern. First he gets a body, typically from the town he is arriving in, and if the town has any local legends or stories that he can emulate, he will make his undead fit the description as closely as possible. Then he will allow his undead minion to attack the town, sometimes randomly, sometimes targeting specific victims, in accordance to the legend. After a week or two, Parvan will show up in a cart, filled with large trunks. He will claim that he is an expert in dark magic, and for a price he can remove the threat for good. Once he gets paid, he puts on a big show of killing the creature, destroys the remains and receives praise from the townspeople. Parvan might stay for a while, receiving free meals and attention from the townsfolk for removing the threat he created in the first place.
Parvan also keeps a few of his more powerful undead at the ready, in some of the trunks he carries with him. If threatened, Parvan will call his undead to protect him, possibly including the creature he created to terrorize the town.
Neutral Evil human (Medium humanoid)
Necromancer 15th
Hit Dice: 15d4+30 (69)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft
Armor Class: 24
Base Attack/Grapple: (+7/+2)/+8
Attack: Quarterstaff +11/+6
Damage: Quarterstaff (1d6+4)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +12
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 16
Skills: Spellcraft +23, Concentration +20, Bluff +12, Knowledge (arcane) +23, Knowledge (undead) +23, Decipher Script +23, Diplomacy +12
Feats: Greater Spell-Focus (necromancy), Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Still Spell, Maximize Spell, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes
Equipment: Amulet of Natural Armor +5, Bracers of Armor +8, Cloak of Displacement (major), +3 Defending Quarterstaff, Potion of Invisibility (x2), Potion of Cure Serious Wounds (x4), Black Onyx Gem Worth 50 GP (x8)
Spells Prepared: 0th-Touch of Fatigue (x5) 1st-Ray of Enfeeblement, Obscuring Mist, Unseen Servant, Burning Hands (x3), Magic Missile 2nd-Ghoul Touch (x4), Scare, Alter Self 3rd-Vamire Touch (x2), Ray of Exhaustion (x2), Fireball, Lightning Bolt 4th-Animate Dead (x3), Enervation, Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice 5th-Symbol of Pain, Waves of Fatigue, Cone of Cold, Wall of Force, Baleful Polymorph, Overland Flight 6th-Create Undead (x2), Chain Lightning, Symbol of Feat 7th-Finger of Death (x2), Symbol of Weakness 8th-Create Greater Undead, Clone
Spells Known: Parvan’s spellbook contains all spells in the player’s handbook, along with any others you feel he should have.
Prohibited Schools: Abjuration and Enchantment
Clone: Parvan has a clone (as per the spell) hidden in one of his many properties. Parvan does everything to avoid using it, however, for fear of being weakened.