(no subject)

[force_and_style]

PLAYER INFO
Name: Dragon
Main Journal: dragonoflife
Contact Info: dragonslj@gmail.com; AIM: Dragon of Anger; Plurk: dragonoflife
Played Characters: None
AC Reminders: email: dragonslj@gmail.com

CHARACTER INFO
Name: Xykon
Age: 107
Species: Lich (formerly human)

Series: The Order of the Stick
OU/AU: OU
Canon Point: Comic 800 or thereabouts
History: This should be adequate, I hope!
Personality: Xykon is Evil with a capital E. Not 'troubled', not 'tragic', not in the least bit sympathetic. Xykon is evil in every possible way, small and large. He is absolutely cruel and willfully sadistic. All things being equal, he will inevitably choose to cause suffering and torment to any creature, including his own allies. In periods of adversity, his team spirit rises, but once he's back in control he ignores anything and anyone that doesn't entertain him -- and the only thing that really entertains him is suffering.

Born a sorcerer, Xykon has no patience for the intelligentsia of wizards, who look down on those who have magic come naturally to them instead of earning their power through study and dedication. Nor does he have patience for tactics, strategy, or planning. He knows this! He is well aware of his general impatience and willful ignorance of these things. In his living years this caused him a great deal of trouble, and led to him really accomplishing very little of substantial note, but after his transformation to undeath he came to realize that it was simply possibly to blast through anything if you're strong enough -- and Xykon most certainly is strong enough to overcome almost any opposition, no matter how well-planned.

The only other thing that truly matters to Xykon is style. It isn't enough to do horrible deeds and pursue ultimate goals -- you have to do them with pizzazz. If he can time the use of a spell to add perfect drama to a situation, he will. If he can showcase his power with some overwhelming display of force, he will. He cracks jokes, delivers one-liners, pauses battles to flaunt his greatness, and lectures the heroes on their flaws and weaknesses while casually ignoring their abilities. But when he's put on the ropes, Xykon tosses style out the window; winning is much more important than losing with style. In fact, Xykon believes the real key to power is simply how far you're willing to debase yourself to win. As he himself points out, he let himself be turned into a lich just to win a battle. Pride, standards, decency, refusing to take a winning action for any reason whatsoever -- these are weakness.

Outside of those moments, though, Xykon is rarely serious. He's on top of the world and he knows it, even with a minor setback here and there. He's got power, style, and everything on his side that matters. And eternity to enjoy it. Why shouldn't he have some fun?

As a side note, Xykon's world is explicitly governed by the 3.5 rules of Dungeons and Dragons, and its inhabitants know that. Consequently, Xykon (or anyone else from his world) has absolutely no problem referencing the exact mechanics of abilities (such as referring to an enchanted sword as +5, or noting that he has a +8 racial bonus to Listen and Spot checks in so many words).

Powers: Xykon is a Epic lich sorcerer under D&D 3.5 rules. The links contain all the details necessary, but some expansion:

As a lich, Xykon is undead and immortal. He is able to endure a massive level of punishment (d12 Hit Dice), can see in the dark, cannot be affected by powers which affect the mind, is immune to poison, paralysis, sleep, stunning, disease, and death effects; cannot be beaten up (nonlethal damage) or weakened (ability damage), and doesn't get tired. Positive energy harms him; negative energy heals him. Any effect that would attack his vitality or health (transformation or petrification, for example) he automatically ignores unless it could also affect an inanimate object. He does not breath, eat, or sleep. He is immune to cold and electricity damage and hostile shapechanging effects. He takes substantially less damage from any physical attack which is not both magical and bludgeoning.

Under normal circumstances, if destroyed, Xykon would regenerate from his phylactery. Because he does not have his phylactery in-game, normal death rules would apply.

Xykon does not seem to have a fear aura in canon, despite that being a lich ability. He very much does have the ability to paralyze with a touch (although it does not appear to be permanent), as well as harm with pure negative energy.

As a sorcerer, Xykon knows a list of spells and may cast any of them he desires, until he has expended all the spell slots he has available for spells of that level. Canonically, his spell list is as follows (taken from either a provided list, or spells he has been observed casting or showing the results of):

0th level: Ray of Frost, 8x unknown
1st level: Magic Missle, Burning Hands, 3x unknown
2nd level: Shatter, 4x unknown
3rd level: Lightning Bolt, Protection from Energy, 2x unknown
4th level: Animate Dead, Greater Invisibility, Resilient Sphere, Stoneskin
5th level: Cloudkill, Overland Flight, Symbol of Pain, Xykon's Moderately Escapable Forcecage (Estimated spell level. The spell creates bars of force around one humanoid creature which anchor themselves in the ground.)
6th level: Contingency, Unknown x2
7th level: Finger of Death, Mass Hold Person, Greater Teleport
8th level: Symbol of Insanity, Ghostform (no link available, but basically does exactly what it sounds like), Unknown
9th level: Energy Drain, Meteor Swarm, Soul Bind
Epic level: Superb Dispelling (ludicrously high chance to dispel magic effects and suppress magic items), Epic Mage Armor (shields the caster with invisible force, making them near-impossible to hit), Cloister (he can't cast Cloister, he doesn't have the focus he needs for it).

Known Feats: Craft Wonderous Item, Maximize Spell, Still Spell, Craft Ring, Craft Ring (Epic)

He has a magic ring that makes him immune to fire damage.


Weaknesses: Xykon is susceptible to all effects that target undead creatures (unless immune to them due to traits, items, or spells). Most of his weaknesses, however, lie in his personality. As noted, Xykon is no deep thinker. Unless he's being very serious (which is rare), he does things to amuse himself before anything. That means he will cheerfully slaughter his own minions and anger his own allies just for a laugh. He is virtually incapable of making friends; his allies are essentially chained to him by his manipulation, which means they have no qualms about manipulating him in turn if they believe they can get away with it.

Going along with his desire for amusement, he also plays the role of evil villain incredibly straight, including deliberately invoking classic tropes and flaws in that personality. Though by all means a massive threat when he has his act together, he generally prefers to screw around and have fun -- which has massively bitten him on the butt a couple of times, causing him to lose his body because he turned his back on one of the heroes, and much later to lose his phylactery because he'd been toying around with and torturing a paladin. He once conducted a job interview in the middle of battle just because he could, then bragged about it by sending the new hire down to his ally with a note specifically for that purpose.

Interestingly, for all his power, Xykon is absolute terrible at finding anything to do with it without help. During his entire lifetime he accomplished absolutely nothing of note, despite amassing a massive amount of sorcerous power. Only when an evil scheme of sufficient power was dropped in his lap did he actually manage to become the menace that he is.


Possessions: Robes, spell components (in effectively unlimited supply, thanks to the mechanics of D&D which does not require them to be tracked), a Ring of Energy Immunity (fire), and a crown that has no magical power but radiates purest evil from long association with Xykon.
Marking Location: Back of the skull.
Miscellaneous: ...Who knew an epic-level lich sorcerer would have such a large powers selection?

First Person:

Oh hey. Headless ghosts. I'm sure that template gives a nice boost to Intelligence. With scythes. Congratulations, whoever created you guys has officially demonstrated the ability to go down a checklist of stereotypes.

I'm gonna assume whoever sent you to stop me is listening. I would be if it were me. Because there's a lesson to be learned here, and I'd like to talk about it. It's a thing I do. Lightning bolt. [A tongue of lightning lances out from his extended finger to cut through the Patrol-mode ghosts.]

Don't get me wrong. Sending the mindless undead after a foe? I'm all for that. Nothing's funnier than watching some poor first-level crumple up as shambling mockeries of light and life feast on his brains like mind flayers at Cerebellumcon. Fun for the whole family. The problem is... Magic Missile. [Five orbs of force burst from his fingers, each of them targeting a different ghost.]

You're trying to kill someone still alive -- or existent, ignore the terminology -- with someone that wasn't GOOD ENOUGH to stay alive!

But hey. I'm enjoying the laugh. On the inside. Sure. Let's go with that. I think I owe you one in return. Would you care to come accept your +4 Flaming Giggles to the gut, or do I have to kick focus over to the heroes long enough for me to find you off-panel?

Third Person:

Under the effects of Overland Flight, Xykon zipped through the air at reasonable pace, looking over the city below darkly. "Apparently I've stumbled into some other world entirely," he said to himself as he passed over a 7-11. "1d5 plus 6? Seriously, a d5? Who even uses that? No castles. No fortresses. No dungeons."

The lich came to an abrupt halt in midair, sweeping its gaze slowly over all the buildings he could see. "Some of those taller buildings might work... but without existing denizens to slaughter or subjugate it seems like such a waste. Someone needs a lesson in placing appropriate challenges and treasure in the adventure. It doesn't even look like a diplomatic adventure. Not that those ever stay diplomatic the first time you kill the King's entire guard, raise their corpses, and have them dangle the King over the castle parapet till he agrees to your every demand. Good times."

Minions. He needed minions. He imagined Redcloak was probably off trying to undergo the character arc where he redeems himself and earns a happy ending in redemptive death (seriously, who didn't see that coming), so it'd be great if he could find some minions who he could take back when he finally found his way out of this dump. Maybe something with a few obscure templates. But he'd settle right now for something that he could boss around. Yelling "ATTACK!" just lost its edge when no one was actually obeying the order.

Changing his pattern, Xykon dove lower in the air, scanning the city for any signs of life. (Constructs would also be acceptable. Oozes, less so.)