Pharos the Accursed is an NPC who has floated in and out of my campaigns for years now. He's a high level, very powerful elven bard. He's firmly Chaotic Evil, but his evil is of a (relatively) philosophical sort: he just really, really hates being bored. Boredom and bad taste -- he doesn't imagine he can eliminate those things, but he's going to fight them wherever he can. So, he's a manipulator who intervenes to make things interesting. Of course, his idea of "interesting' is often pretty horrible for people living through those interesting times: plots, murders, feuds, wars. His reply: so what? Life is short, art is long. Nobody's going to write epic poems about good roads, peaceful transfers of power, and sensible schemes of progressive taxation. Blood and tragedy make great art, and that's just how it is.
(And bad taste? Hey, there's no excuse for bad taste. Bad manners, ugly art, stupid jokes, poor personal grooming choices: these things make him sad and annoy him. Annoying Pharos can have consequences that range from the merely startling to the truly horrific, but you should have thought of that. Next time, be nicer, prettier, funnier or more talented.)
His manipulations have ruined kingdoms, but Pharos himself is relatively low-key and quite approachable. He wouldn't harm a group of low-level adventurers as long as they were reasonably polite. In fact, he might even help them along a bit, if it looked like they might provide some amusement or diversion down the line. He has nothing against most good-aligned characters; the great mosaic needs tiles of all colors. He's just going to help them towards a better life. Okay, it might be a shorter life, but it'll be more colorful, more interesting, and much more likely to end up in a fabulous song or epic. If you wanted a long peaceful life you wouldn't have been an adventurer in the first place!
Anyway: I'm thinking it's time to finally stat him out. Bard 18 or so, but with 3-5 Mythic levels -- I'm not a huge fan of the mythic rules for PCs, but they definitely let you do some creative stuff with NPCs. 25 point build. Not sure which archetype -- Court Bard is a great thematic fit but the Court Bard gives up so much good stuff. He's firmly not a melee fighter; he might fight if cornered, but with lip-curling disgust that things had reached that point. I'm thinking a specialist in manipulations, divinations, and enchantments, a super-Face, and also a knowledge monkey. Pharos can pretty much always give you some useful information, and it might not even come with a price... but it's still problematic, because he always has an agenda.
Not looking for a complete buildout here (though if anyone wants to, go for it). But suggestions and build ideas will be very welcome, particularly for spells and for ways to incorporate mythic ranks into the character concept.
Many thanks in advance,
Doug M.
