Profile
IN-GAME LORE
Aberforth is a half-elf mage and the first person to have been recruited into Nimuel's adventuring party. He's fairly cautious and sometimes even downright skittish, a sharp contrast to Nimuel's brash go-getter demeanor. He is often the hand on her shoulder that prevents her from rushing into things that might otherwise harm her, but he is also often talked into following along with her plans anyway. That's what he's there for, after all! He tries not to be overly contrarian and avoids arguing just for the sake of arguing, but he won't stay quiet if he thinks that he can say something that'll be helpful or prevent harm.
Though he specializes in evocation, he'd begun studying transmutation under Micah. He was especially interested in the mastery over polymorphism that Micah possesses, but could never get to the same level himself, and the repeated failure only spurred him to keep trying. The two of them ended up bonding fairly closely, though Aberforth was far quicker to recognize it than Micah. He was quick to take Micah's side when Nimuel wanted to delve into the Lich-God's temple, but eventually ceded to her confidence in their ability to come out of it successfully.
In the campaign Circle of Beasts, where he originates from, he's the third beast that the players must subdue. He is a large, four-winged monster resembling a barn-owl, with a great crest of eye-spotted feathers and six wiry, taloned legs. He ambiently emits a wide radius of psychic energy which confuses the perception of anyone inside of it, forcing them to succeed a wisdom save or suffer a penalty to attack rolls and certain other skill checks. The player characters experience this as an intense vertigo, feeling as though they can't tell which way is up and the ground is moving beneath them. Removing his eye or dropping him to half-health ceases this effect immediately.
TRIVIA/MISC
- Despite being the penultimate encounter, he actually only has one more HP than Veloura. This is because he is a wizard and is not physically formidable at all.
- He can cast two spells while transformed: magic missile and fireball. If I end up writing a dnd 5E/5.5E version of CoB, I'll probably add a few more spells to his roster and give him actual spell slots. As it stands, he can cast magic missile an unlimited number of times, and fireball is a 'recharge' ability (on a 5 or a 6).
- CoB was originally written for dnd 4E, which had a mechanic called being 'bloodied', a condition reached at half-hp or less. a LOT of monsters in 4E had 'immediate interrupt' type actions upon reaching bloodied status, so I wrote Aberforth to have a 'phase two' at this point wherein he opened all of his previously tightly-closed wings up to reveal his limbs. His fireball spell would immediately recharge and he'd use it right then. The pyschic field also dropped at this time.
- Any player who investigates Micah's room before combatting Aberforth can find a 'spare' wizard's hat on his shelves, shorter than his 'usual' one and of a different colour. After returning Aberforth to his normal body, they'll find out that it is, in fact, his.
