Maddened Mage

Maddened Mage (CR 14)

True Chaotic - Medium - Humanoid (Outsider)

Lore:	Know (Local)
28		43
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

23

Perception:
33	+23
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Lifesense 50 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 30 ft.

Defense

AC

35

Man Def

35

Monster Health
342	171	27
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+11
Refl:	+11
Will:	+16

Strong Against:

Weak Against:

• Vulnerable: Interstice damage

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		5 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+21

Man Off

+23

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Reaving Dagger +21 (3d8+9/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 3x Reaving Dagger +21 (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 1x Chaos Orbs +25 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die) (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as interstice (physical, rare)
  (Increment: 50 ft.; Max Range: 500 ft.)

Full Attack (Ranged):

• 3x Chaos Orbs +25 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die) (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as interstice (physical, rare)
  (Increment: 50 ft.; Max Range: 500 ft.)

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

10

STR

18

DEX

18

CON

24

INT

10

WIS

16

CHA

Skills:

• Bailiwick (Spellcraft): 25
• Diplomacy: 25
• Perception: 23
• All other skills: 18 (no ranks)

Languages: Common, Gurahn'lloig (Low Aberrant)

Feats:

Special Abilities

Fanatical Vengeance (Ex) Immediate Action 1/Enc, after ally is killed

Once per encounter, whenever any Maddened creature is killed by enemy actions, any Maddened Mage who has line of sight and line of effect to the attacker who made the killing blow may choose to make an immediate action attack of opportunity against that creature. They must have an attack of opportunity available. They may make this attack with either their Reaving Dagger or their Chaos Orbs, and they must take all normal modifiers for such attacks as normal.

Oration of Madness (Sp) Standard Action

Concentration: 1d20 + 16 vs. a DC of 29 (13 needed on the die) As a standard action, the Maddened Mage may stand tall and proclaim the magesties of their Dark Beliefs. This is a spell-like ability and is subject to disruption if attempted while threatened, but if they complete their declamation, they may choose one square within 100 feet to which they have line of sight and line of effect. All enemies in that square, and within 3 squares, (a 7x7x7 space) suffer 3d6+8 of interstice (physical, rare) damage. There is no saving throw against this terrible ability.

Crackling Slivers (Sp) Standard Action

Concentration: 1d20 + 16 vs. a DC of 29 (13 needed on the die) The Maddened Mage chooses one, two, or three enemy creatures to whom they have line of effect within 100 feet of their space. They do not need to have line of sight, and can use this ability against invisible or even faded foes without penalty. As a standard action that provokes, they use their connection to the Deep Dark to shatter space within those creatures. Affected targets are surrounded by crackling fractures in reality that seem to emanate from deep within their forms, that surround those creatures in a noisy nimbus of distortion. Each of these enemies suffers 3d8+13 as interstice (physical, rare) damage, and are considered to be making deliberate noise. This negates the effects of invisibility on each target creature, and removes the ability to make Stealth rolls, until the effect ends at the beginning of the Maddened Mage's next turn. This ability always hits and does not allow a saving throw. If the Mage cannot legally target their maximum number of creatures, any extra effect is lost. They may NOT target a single creature multiple times.

Shattered Space (Sp) Standard Action

Concentration: 1d20 + 16 vs. a DC of 29 (13 needed on the die) As a standard action, the Maddened Mage may choose up to seven unoccupied, unblocked, squares within 50 feet of their space and fill all those spaces with eerie reflecting jumbled planes of cleaved space, looking rather like luminescent masses of cracked, cleaved ice. These squares may be separate or contiguous at their whim. Each square is filled to a height of ten feet, and the Mage may arrange these squares any way the GM see's fit. These shattered jumbles of broken space block line of sight and line of effect against all creatures, and persist until the beginning of the Mages next turn. These fractures in reality do not impede movement at all, but any creature (friend or foe) who enters them suffers 3d10+21 as rugosic (physical, uncommon) damage as the disrupted space tears at their ability to perceive reality, a maximum of once per round, no matter how many squares of the effect they traverse, or from what source. Shattered Space allows a Fortitude save versus a target of 24 to take half damage.

Maddened Mage

It is widely accepted among most intelligent creatures, at a very general level, that the world we all live in is balanced upon the surface of a much larger, darker, and far more terrible reality called the Outer Madness. Most people have little understanding of Planes, and in the minds of most people, Demons, Devils, Aberrations, and most 'weird' monsters are part of this terrifying background reality.

However, there are always those who think that 'larger and more terrible' means, 'a convenient way to get power'. As a result, all over the world, in every race, creed, and culture, civilized or not, there are those with far too much greed and far too little wisdom who seek out this Deep Darkness and pledge themselves to it. The Creeping Madness is easy to access, easy to draw upon...and insanely dangerous. A fair number of those who attempt this foolish act are consumed utterly by their very first sup of that dark well, their lives, essence, souls, and flesh consumed entire.

Many of those luckless fools do not quietly disappear, however.

Maddened Mages are those creatures, with the Spark or without, who have reached out to the Madness, and not only survived, they have thrived. Maddened Mages often use their magical abilities to try and mitigate their deformities, although it is a rare Maddened Mage that can seem normal enough to forgo a mask, cowl, or heavy, enveloping cloak. Some Maddened Mages are likely to be Maddened Speakers who have survived and grown and been granted greater gifts by the Deep Dark. Some Maddened Mages have fallen into their might as a Dark Gift. Whatever their provenance, Maddened Mages are usually drawn from the Civilized Races, people who should have known better. It is possible that the occasional monstrous creature will also be subsumed by the Outer Madness, and thus become Maddened Mages, but amongst those without the Spark, this terrible transformation is readily apparent, and their native 'cultures' tend to exterminate such fools quickly. Such non-civilized Mages tend to migrate to the fold of their civilized brethren, where they are given a place...until their use comes to an end.

Maddened Mages, like all of the Maddened, are united in their allegiance to the Devouring Madness, the True Depths that lie Outside. They are more organized and better thinkers than most Maddened, and serve as 'senior' council for their brethren. Mages also have powerful and deadly ranged attack abilities, along with wicked bedevilments, and are often seen directing from the back ranks of attacking Reavers or Assassins, or serving alongside the eerie Maddened Reverends, or supporting the terrible Maddened Fanatics. Like all Maddened, Mages lurk and plot, they poison, murder, and ruin, they steal and burn, everything. Madness Mages will attack babes in arms just as readily as they will battle undead, and for the same reason: All things must fall to the Dark, sooner or later.

Unlike lesser breeds of the Maddened, Mages are extremely good at what they do. Madness Mages are a terrible force in the world, although they are thankfully rare. When Mages are discovered, they must be confronted and rooted out with terrible urgency.

When more than one Maddened Mage meet each other, they naturally band together, as every hand in the Prime Plane is raised against them as their enemies, and you must take your allies where you can find them. Bands of Madness Mages seem almost like cults, except that there is no Deity involved, simply the utter alien void that has subsumed these maniacs, and invests their every action.

Combat Tactics

Maddened Mages are flexible, murderous enemies. They do not possess massively damaging powers, but their ability to shatter space to impede their enemies is potent, indeed. Once battle begins, they will never break away, fighting to the last maddened breath, utterly convinced they are winning. They usually try to make pack attacks, jumping their victims from ambush if they can manage it and always from a ranged position, using either their deadly touch attack Orbs or their even worse Oration of Madness attack to begin, although they are also likely to Shatter Space to block escape routes early in a battle.

If their foes are clever, sneaking or invisible, they will use Crackling Slivers to disrupt that tactic, and if they are pressed hard with heavy ranged attacks or closing melee fighters, they will Shatter Space to break line of sight and line of effect and hold actions to attack foes crossing the Shattered Space. Like all the Maddened, Mages want to destroy as much of the structure of the world as they can before they are destroyed, and so they sneak and creep, attacking under cover of darkness..and they are very good at it.

Their connection to the Outside gives them the ability to detect the living, their hated foes, within a short distance. This does work through their Shattered Space ability, but even the Mages cannot attack through their own Shatters, and so they must place these effects carefully. They will frequently try to knock out lanterns and other light sources, or place Shattered Space to cover light sources, and fight in the dark.

For killing, they prefer to use their Orb attacks, unless they are having trouble hitting with them or three or more enemies bunch up enough for an Oration to affect them all at once. They will also resort to Crackling Slivers if their enemies are well dispersed and also very hard to hit. They will stay at range as well as they can, moving back and using Orbs, Orations, and Shattered Space as they flee. Their Fanatical Vengeance power is a terrible, terrible surprise to whoever manages to drop one of their Dark Brothers, and they will typically use this ability without hesitation as soon as they are able to do so...waiting to use it rarely works out well. Sadly, their Shattered Space can make this Vengeance difficult to use, and they must use caution, keeping an eye out on their Bloodied Brethren, to maximize their Vengeance. With luck, the barrage of ranged attacks will kill or cripple one of their enemies outright, and allow them to turn the tide of a battle.

Out of Combat

Maddened Mages do not try to blend in with civilization...but they can hide and lurk while their more skilled brethren work out deeds to perform. Maddened Mages seek out their more robust brethren, even if they are weaker, as the company of some Reavers, Assassins, Reverends or even Fanatics make their lives much better. It is very rare to see a whole pack of Mages without at least one or two other sorts, but it is possible. Maddened Mages venture out as confusing, confounding foes of all things that oppose the True Dark, and then go to lair again, secure in the invisibility of no witnesses. Maddened Mages often wind up living in lairs and dungeons of other monsters, or hidden in sewers and abandoned, ruined places in cities, acting as merciless exterminating raiders. Maddened Mages, to be fair, can and will attack monstrous neighbors just as readily as they will attack the civilized, and an infestation of madness can actually drive away local clades of monsters, as the maddened fiends kill everything they can catch.

Surprisingly, Maddened Mages seem to tolerate Vampire Thralls quite well, and it is not unheard of for the two types of wild-eyed beasts to work...not together, but toward similar goals. Maddened Mages will cheerfully destroy any actual Vampires, though, which makes such alliances of convenience fragile, at best. While they last, such alliances are dark days indeed for all other creatures, and must be rooted out immediately.

Rewards

XP: 38,400

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 23,625 gp.

Weight: 140 lbs.     Volume: 5.6 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)