Zed Allenstar's page

About Zed Allenstar

Appearance Zed is a strikingly handsome young man with long and wavy blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, a clean-shaven face, and a toothy yet warm smile. He has a hearty laugh, a resonant baritone voice, a rapier wit, and a tendency to make himself the center of attention in a crowd.

Stat Block
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Zed Allenstar
Bard 1
LE male Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +5

DEFENSE
AC 12; touch 12; flat-footed 10
(2 Dexterity)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +2; Reflex +4; Will +1

OFFENSE
Speed 30 feet
Melee unarmed strike +2 (1d3+2 nonlethal)
Ranged thrown improvised weapon -2 (1d3+2)
Spells (CL 1st; Concentration +5)
1st-level (2/day): cause fear (DC 15), charm person (DC16)
cantrips (at will): daze (DC 15), ghost sound (DC 14), prestidigitation, summon instrument
Special Abilities bardic performance

STATISTICS
Str 14; Dex 14; Con 12; Int 14; Wis 8; Cha 18
BAB +0; CMB +2; CMD 14
Trait Charming
Crime Murder
Feats Alertness, Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Skills (12 ranks/level) Acrobatics +5*; Bluff +7; Diplomacy +7; Escape Artist +7*; Knowledge (local) +6; Linguistics +5; Perception +5; Perform (string instruments) +7; Perform (singing) +7; Sense Motive +5; Slight of Hand +6*; Use Magic Device +7
*Armor check penalty of -2 applies
Languages Common, Elvish, Infernal, Sylvan
Favored Class bard (+1 hp; +0 skill ranks)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bardic Knowledge (Ex) +1 on all Knowledge checks, and may make Knowledge checks untrained (at +3)
Bardic Performance May create any of the effects below as a standard action for a total of 8 rounds/day.
Countersong (Su) Allies within 30 feet can use Zed's Perform check in place of their own saving throws against opponents' sound-based effects.
Distraction (Su) Allies within 30 feet can use Zed's Perform check in place of their own saving throws against opponents' illusion (pattern or figment) effects.
Fascinate (Su) Creatures within 90 feet must make a DC 14 Will save or be fascinated.
Inspire Courage (Su) Allies gan a +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls, and a +1 morale bonus on saves vs fear or charm effects.
Charming (Ex) Zed gets a +1 trait bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks and a +1 on the save DC of language-dependent spell effects vs. opponents that could be sexually attracted to him.
Murderer (Ex) +1 trait bonus on damage when flanking a foe.

GEAR
prisoners uniform

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Background Zed Allenstar was an up-and-coming musician who had attracted a regional following. His skill at music, coupled with his stunningly good looks, charm, and magnetism, both on and offstage, made him extremely popular with young ladies. Unfortunately for them.

For beneath his charming personna, Zed is a remorseless psychopath whose greatest pleasure is in seducing young women, binding them, playing cruel psychological games with them, and ultimately killing them. Zed does not feel truly alive unless he is snuffing out a life.

As a child, Zed was fascinated with death. His parents caught him killing rats, cats, and dogs in an abandoned building near their house, and they sent him to the Church of Mitra for counselling. While there, he learned to put on the charm and deflect blame to others. The Mitrans encouraged Zed to take up music to replace the urge to kill-- which Zed seemingly took to. However, his dark desires never left him. After returning home, Zed managed to keep his urges to himself, until one day at the age of 15, he lured a young girl into his old haunt and killed her. Zed had never felt such a rush, yet he felt deeply guilty, and stashed the girl's corpse in a bad part of town.

Seeking guidance, he sought books on ths subject of his troubled soul, and came across a forbidden text: an old Asmodean tome which included a chapter on how the Church of Asmodeus would sacrifice unwilling victims to the Prince of Hell, and how that could benefit the believer. The images from this tome seared into his head, and his thoughts became clear: there was no reason to feel guilt for what he wanted to do.

Zed honed his skills as a musician, truly enjoying being the center of attention where people would adore him. He also loved the power this gave him, for people would trust him... and young women wanted to be alone with him. The bard felt nothing but contempt for the women he could so easily lure into bed... and to their deaths. Over the next few years, Zed lost count of the number of pretty young corpses he'd left in his wake.

Yet, three weeks ago, he got sloppy, taking his latest victim into his own room at the inn. She hadn't struggled much, but she managed to remove her gag and screamed loudly enough to attract the attention of a scullery maid, who tried to open the door to investigate. Zed quickly killed his victim, and the scullery maid, but didn't have enough time to clean up after himself. The town guards were alerted, and Zed was captured a few hours later in possession of the murder weapon.

The trial was swift, and justice served harshly: Zed is to be beheadded within the week. With a rune branded into his flesh marking him a condemned man, Zed now waits in his cell in the Branderscar Prison for the day he will be marched to the executioner's block.

Smiling to himself in his cell, he muses, If they only knew how many others there'd been...