Drow Consort
Drow Consort (CR 9)
Drow consorts are female Drow who have been tasked with a mission outside of their homes. Often these missions are secret and subversive, as the Drow councils manipulate events on the surface world to gain political advantage against their enemies (which are nearly always other Drow).
Female drow are extremely rare, and Drow culture places the female in a status somewhere between 'princess' and 'prophet'. They are pampered, obeyed without question, and nearly always insensitive to other beings' feelings, desires or needs. Worse, within their society, their word is law and no degree of depravity or cruelty is denied to them. Needless to say, this makes them churlish conversationalists.
By contrast, male Drow are property, often kept within a particular 'noble' family, but sometimes traded away for political advantage. Even exceptional talent among Drow males is seen as just an extension of his owning female's greatness.
Consorts are the adventurers and missionaries of Drow society. Clearly, you can't simply send men on adventures, as they would just stand around wondering what to do -- a female must lead them, either directly, by extension, by proxy, or by example. A consort is given extensive magical training and numerous Blademasters to ensure her mission is successful. All that said, a consort rarely gets assigned more than one mission in her life. If she succeeds, she returns home with increased political clout and is frequently promoted to the higher ranks of drow females. If she fails, she returns to disgrace (if she returns at all).
A consort will almost never be in the company of other consorts. There just aren't enough females to send two out on the same mission. Instead, she will be accompanied by several Blademasters who have been assigned to protect her. Consorts have also been known to have Driders and Dragloths assigned to them for particularly dangerous missions, and it is not uncommon for a Consort to be in unquestioned command of males MUCH more powerful than she is. It is a testament to the strictures of Drow society that their rule is unquestioned.
GENERAL
CR 9 Hit Dice 14
XP 6,400
LE Medium Fey (Drow)
Init +4; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (+5 armor, +4 dex, +5 natural, +0 deflection)
hp 125
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +12
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: ER 10/-
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: vulnerable to Cold Iron
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Darktouch Staff +11, melee touch attack, (2d8+8/19-20x2)
Full Melee Darktouch Staff +11, melee touch attack, (2d8+8/19-20x2)
Ranged Venom Orb +11 (5d6), range increment 20 feet, maximum range 100 feet, ranged touch, requires combat casting check (see below)
Special Attacks Blood's Grace, Fortune's Favor, Venom Orb
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 21, Cha 17
Base Atk +4; CMB +11; Maneuver Defense: 21
Feats Combat Casting (EFFECT: +4 Caster Checks to concentrate; included below), Precise Shot (EFFECT: No -4 penalty to fire into melee)
Skills Diplomacy +14, Bluff +14, Stealth +14, Spellcraft +14
Languages Common, Undercommon, Awnsheghlien
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Combat Casting (Ex)
Concentration check: d20 + 18 (includes Combat Casting). The Consort's Spell abilities are all level 4, thus the Concentration DC is always 23 for any of the consort's spells.
- Blood's Grace (Sp)
As a standard action, the consort may heal an adjacent ally 4d8+3 hit points. The consort must touch her target to cast the spell.
- Fortune's Favor (Sp)
As a standard action, the consort may cast Fortune's Favor. While active, the consort may use a swift action to either allow an ally within 50 feet of her space to end one status condition, or may force an enemy within 50 feet to make a Reflex save, DC 19, or fall prone. This spell lasts until the consort is unable to spend a swift action to gain one of the spell's benefits. On any round in which the consort fails to use the spell, the spell ends.
- Venom Orb (Sp)
As a standard action, the consort may launch a Venom Orb at an enemy within 100 feet. This is treated like a ray attack. She must succeed on a ranged touch attack, with a to-hit roll of +8. If she hits, the target takes 5d6 points of acid damage.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 4,000 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
The consort will lead her battles from behind her blademasters or other Drow or Driders that she is in command of. She will cast Fortune's Favor as soon as possible, and use it each round to keep it active. Her priority will be to clear conditions from her minions, but if none of them have status conditions, she'll use it to try to knock her enemies prone.
She will then use Venom Orb any time she isn't otherwise occupied in healing up one of her Blademasters.
Her ER 10/- will protect her from a lot of magic, and her blademasters will protect her from most single-target attacks. She is a capable combat caster, and as a result, will set up flanks for her blademasters rather than hide from melee. Of course, she'll never actually attack with her utterly deadly Darktouch Staff unless she has no alternative.
Her mission is more important to her than winning a random fight, so unless killing the players is her mission, she will run from the battle if it becomes obvious she will lose. Of course, she is supremely arrogant, so she might not realize she's losing as quickly as she should....
Many consorts are assigned to higher ranking Drow, such as Strategists, Matriarchs and even Regents. As a result, Consorts may be 'in charge' of extremely high level minions. In such cases, her ability to heal between combats becomes a huge boost to the drow armies, and she will not risk herself in combat unless forced to.