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Krom
09-12-13, 09:28 PM
Krom


Age: 56
Race: Tiefling
Hair: None
Eye: Yellow
Height: 7’6”
Weight: 350 lbs

Personality

Laconic, composed, and arrogant. Krom is intelligent and curious, but inwardly disdains the lesser creatures of northern Althanas. He sees himself not as a savior, but as a disciplinarian of stubborn, wayward children.

He is economical in all things: he walks silently despite his hulking frame, and he speaks tersely and concisely, every rumbling word carefully considered. Where he is stoic, however, he is also calm and level-headed, and where he is unyielding he is also without cruelty.

Appearance

There is no doubt that Krom comes from the blood of demons. His skin is rusty red and devoid of hair, mottled across the shoulders and glistening always with a thin sheen of sweat. His eyes are a wolfish yellow and catch the light as if full of fire. His ears are large and pointed, both sets of cuspids inhumanly long and sharp and starkly white as they frame a long black tongue. Most striking are the horns, swooping out and back from the sides of his skull, rising dramatically upward just before they terminate. They are black and shiny, more stone than bone.

Krom’s race is as giants beside the common races of northern Althanas, both tall and inhumanly broad. Being of the militaristic caste, Krom is deep and prodigiously heavy with muscle, and devoid of any hint of body fat. He cannot be mistaken for man or elf or direling, even from a distance, and he invariably causes shock and uncertainty upon first appearance.

Facially and in basic structure, however, he is essentially humanoid. His jaw is cut from a heroic cast, broad and strong, and his countenance otherwise evokes a sense of rugged, ageless nobility – he is not the sharp-featured, beady-eyed, shifty devil one might expect.

Skills

Linguistics. Krom’s position requires him to quickly and accurately learn the common tongues of the peoples he expects to conquer. In addition to the dozens of languages he learned long before his arrival in northern Althanas, Krom is fluent in Trade, Fallieni, Aleraran, Raiaeran, and basic Salvic.

Combat. Krom is a leader in the vanguard of the Kri, and thus he is a master of armed and unarmed combat. Overwhelming size and weight are valuable tools to a conqueror.

Survival. Krom did not start as Krom. He worked his way up through the ranks and earned his name. In the days when he was called by another name, a lesser name, he learned to live off the land in many harsh environments.

Intellectualism. Brute strength is only one tool in a conqueror’s arsenal, second always to the shrewd gathering and clever application of knowledge.

Abilities

Advantages

Giant’s Strength. Krom is 2x stronger than a normal human man.

Demon’s Hide. Krom’s flesh is tough as thin leather.

Taptek Shield. A valuable piece of technology Krom has at his disposal. When he is wearing the tool, he is capable of conjuring a barrier of energy which intercepts and converts the component energies of any type of magic into a physical force, which can then be resisted with an equal application of physical force. Minor hexes are as pebbles battering his defenses, but significant spells from advanced magicians translate into ever-increasing levels of force. A fireball may become as a sword blow, but an apocalyptic meteor will crush Krom as surely as any other manmade thing. (Only effective at or below Krom's level).

Note that the shield defends against magical and metaphysical energies only. Physical projectiles will pass through the field, even if magically conjured.

Disadvantages

Limited Range of Motion. Krom is of hulking size and shape, and it is not easy to move his bulk in deft or unconventional ways, or to dodge or parry. He is 2.5x less agile than a normal human.

Iron Allergy. Krom’s race suffers from a minor allergy to steel and iron, which prohibits the use of common armors and weapons.

Equipment

Taptek Shield. The physical component to Krom’s anti-magic tool. It is a brace composed of extremely thin metal straps worn on the left forearm, with no discernable switches, buttons, or other means of activation. How he summons the shield is a mystery.

Club. When Krom achieved his title, he was presented with an heirloom: a tremendous club expertly carved from petrified wood. It is a cumbersome and heavy weapon but Krom swings it with practiced, expert, effortless precision. It is not uncommon to see him fling aside four broken bodies at a time with a single crushing swing.

History

A foreign army has arrived in Fallien, carrying technology that harnesses the power of the Tap with no need for wizards. They are an empire of conquered peoples, led by a race of tieflings, guided by a philosophy-religion called the Kri: the Way. Krom is among their leaders, a lieutenant-diplomat sent to gauge the strength of the Jya’s forces and to offer her a chance to submit peacefully.

Max Dirks
09-13-13, 12:33 PM
Cool character.

Just to put things in Althanas terms here, you're saying that the shield can repel magic that is equal to your own character's level, correct? Or would it be a conversion that equates to your character's strength (which can greater than your level)?

Krom
09-13-13, 06:41 PM
Yeah, I was having trouble figuring out exactly how to describe it.

My thought is that it can absorb magic from a caster equal to my character's level. If I go up against a caster above my character's level, the shield will still absorb the spell, but it will also knock Krom flying with a level of force depending on how far above Krom's level the caster is. Basically it makes spells no different from physical strength. So if Sei cast Would? and it's supposed to catch Krom on fire, instead it'll punch him through a brick wall and break a bunch of his bones, or something.

Max Dirks
09-16-13, 08:57 AM
I can let it absorb magic and convert it to a physical attack up to your character's level, but after that it shouldn't be able to alter the magic of the caster.

Krom
09-22-13, 04:07 PM
Sorry for the wait, Dirks. I updated the profile to specify that the Taptek ability only works on spells cast by a character at or below Krom's level.

Max Dirks
09-23-13, 08:45 AM
Sounds good.

I know you've been around awhile and trust you not to powergame the ability. Once you've used it a few times we can adjust it at a future update. It's a cool ability, but uses strength in a way that's somewhat hard to monitor. I hope you'll understand if something changes.

Approved.