The Lord of Anger
Nabarus / Bakahul, Emperor of Farland
Pit fiend devil Bbn2: CR 23; ECL 20; Size L; HD 18d8+162 + 2d12+18; hp 279; Init +12; Spd 50 ft (base 40 ft), fly 60 ft. (average); AC 45, touch 19, FF 37; BAB +18/+13/+8/+3; Epic Attack Bonus: +2; Grapple +37; Atk: +32/+32 melee (2d8 + 13, claws), +30/+30 melee (2d6 + 6, wings), +30 melee (4d6 + 6 plus poison plus disease, bite), +30 melee (2d8 + 6, tail slap), +36/+31/+26/+21 melee (3d6 + 23 + 1d6 electricity/crit x3, Large Greataxe +4 (Shocking burst)); SA Constrict 2d8+26, fear aura, improved grab, spell-like abilities, summon devil SQ Damage reduction 15/good and silver, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to fire and poison, resistance to acid 10 and cold 10, regeneration 5, see in darkness, spell resistance 32, telepathy 100 ft.; SR 32; AL LE as Nabarus/CE as Bakahul; SV Fort +22, Ref +21, Will +23; Str 37, Dex 27, Con 28, Int 26, Wis 26, Cha 25.
Languages spoken: Infernal, Blackspeech (Orc), and Farlandish.
Skills and Feats: Balance +10, Bluff +28, Climb +34, Concentration +30, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +28, Hide +25, Intimidate +30, Jump +40, Knowledge (Arcana) +29, Knowledge (Geography) +10, Knowledge (History) +10, Knowledge (Local) +10, Knowledge (Nature) +10, Knowledge (Nobility) +9, Knowledge (Other) +29, Knowledge (Planes) +11, Knowledge (Religion) +29, Knowledge [War] +10, Listen +29, Move Silently +29, Search +29, Spellcraft +31, Spot +29, Tumble +31; Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency.
Special Abilities: Damage Reduction, Darkvision, Fast Movement, Induce Mindless Rage, Rage, Regeneration, Spell Resistance, Uncanny Dodge.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will-blasphemy (DC 25), create undead, dominate monster (DC 27)*, fireball (DC 21), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), invisibility, magic circle against good, mass hold monster (DC 27), persistent image (DC 23), power word stun, telekinesis (DC 23)*, unholy aura (DC 26); 1/day-meteor swarm (DC 27) or implosion (DC 27)*. Caster level 18th. The save DCs are Charisma-based. The spells marked with an asterisk can only be used when the Lord of Anger's Bakahul personality is in control. Bakahul cannot use meteor swarm or wish.
Once per year a pit fiend can use wish as the spell (caster level 20th).
Induce Mindless Rage (Su): The Lord of Anger can cause another creature within 30 feet who fails a DC 21 WILL save to enter into an involuntary rage as if the creature were a second level barbarian. The rage cannot be ended by the afflicted creature. While in the rage, the creature gains all the regular benefits, but its intelligence score drops to 2 and the creature has difficulty determing friend from foe. The creature must succeed at an intelligence check DC 10 (with its new intelligence) in order to continue viewing previous allies as allies, and must pass this check for each ally on the field. Each creature not considered an ally is regarded by the raging character as an enemy. The raging victim will attack all creatures it deems enemies to the best of its abilities, beginning with the closest enemy. The victim is fatigued just as a barbarian when the rage ends. This ability can be used once per day.
Signature Possessions: Ring of protection +2, Potion of cure serious wounds, Bracers of armor +3, Brooch of shielding, Large greataxe +4 (shocking burst). As Emperor of Farland, Nabarus' resources are vast, and given enough time, he can acquire most items.
The story of the Lord of Wrath begins in the depths of the lower planes, paradoxically in Hell and the Abyss at the same time. In an echo of the Dark God Vornoth's betrayal of the other evil gods when he created the Book of Seven, the origin of the Captain of the Deadly Lord began when evil turned on itself, seeking its own advantage. Two warlords, the Pit Fiend Nabarus and the Balor Bakahul, clashed in the astral plane, pitting their devilish and demonic armies against one another. The fiendish armies were able to take advantage of the less restrictive boundaries between the lower planes set by Vornoth, who was known as the Walker-in-Darkness because of his habit of traversing the planes of evil at will. Both creatures hoped that the destruction of such a powerful adversary would win them prestige in the eyes of the demons and devils above them. So evenly matched were the two fiends, however, that neither was able to gain the upper hand and, their armies decimated, each returned to their infernal fortresses to nurse their egos, Nabarus stewing and Bakahul raging at the stalemate.
There, in his black-spired, lava-moated castle, the wily devil Nabarus hatched a plot to rise in the ranks of the strict hierarchies of Hell. He begin slowly researching a demonic ritual that would allow him to absorb the powers of his enemy Bakahul, thereby increasing his own personal power and prestige at the same time. After several years, Nabarus was unable to make much progress on his rite, and it seemed that such a thing might be impossible. Then, in his search for knowledge, he encountered a powerful evil being from another plane: he contacted the Dweller in the Wintervale herself. After soliciting a promise of service from Nabarus, the Dweller supplied the Pit Fiend with the magical phrases, drawn from the Book of Seven, that were the key to unlocking the ritual. Luring the Balor to the astral plane under flag of truce, Nabarus uttered the magical words and begin, in a blinding flash, to absorb the power of the Balor. Taken by surprise at the betrayal, Bakahul, in a fit of anger, called for aid upon the darkest power of the lower planes: the god Vornoth himself. Normally, the Walker-in-Darkness would not have batted an eye at the plight of a single demon, even a demon lord, but in this instance, the cunning Lord of Evil saw a valuable tool. He answered Bakahul's call, permitting his consciousness to continue existing inside Nabarus, even though the body of the Balor was destroyed once and for all. Nabarus and Bakahul were forever merged. The Pit Fiend thus found himself with a problem that he did not anticipate; he discovered that in times of stress, the personality of his enemy Bakahul, ever fighting to come to the surface, would gain control of his body and would seek to undue the desires of Nabarus.
Anger at this unexpected development filling him, Nabarus put his ambitions of rising in the hellish hierarchies on hold and begin trying to research ways to remove the personality of Bakahul from his body. But these efforts too were thwarted, for at that moment the Dweller in the Wintervale called in her favor. She summoned the Pit Fiend to Núrion to serve as the Captain of the Lords of Sin. Using the Book of Seven, the Dweller imbued Nabarus with the Dark Will, and, due to his intrinsically lawful nature that bound him to his promise, the devil angrily agreed to become the Lord of Wrath, his dreams of becoming an Overlord of Hell slipping away forever.
But here the Lord Vornoth's plan came to fruition. The dark god knew that the Dweller had long chafed at his control and sought to escape her sentence of doom. He knew that the fallen elf would betray him, somehow, if she only felt she could get away with it. Thus Vornoth communicated with the personality of Bakahul, making it known to the raging, nearly-insane demon that it owed its continued existence to Vornoth, and that its plight was the fault of the Dweller in the Vale. Vornoth charged Bakahul with noting all the movements and machinations of the Dweller and reporting them back to Vornoth. This was a necessity for the Walker-in-Darkness, since any direct presence or intervention on Núrion by a deity had been forbidden by the Council of the Gods. Because of this interdiction, Vornoth's awareness of what exactly transpired on Núrion was occluded, and the Dweller had grown especially adept at hiding from his sight when she wanted to. Bakahul agreed to spy for Vornoth on his master the Dweller in the Vale.
In terms of personality, both Nabarus and Bakahul are colored through and through by anger. Nabarus' wrath is cold and calculating. Bound by his lawful essence to serve the will of the Dweller, wrath at being unable to achieve his personal ambition of becoming the Overlord of Hell still pierces his heart like an icicle. Bakahul's anger, however, is fiery and chaotic. He is burns with rage because of his defeat at the hands of Nabarus and by the loss of his own form. His fury is primarily directed at the Dweller in the Vale and at his captor, though he hates every creature in existence besides the Walker-in-Darkness, whom he views as his salvation. Nonetheless, when he is in control of Nabarus' body, Bakahul is able to martial his anger long enough to use mighty magics to report to Vornoth on the doings of the Dweller.
In combat, Nabarus behaves like most pit fiends, employing their common tactics. He is cold, calculating, dangerous, and strategic. If possible he will induce mindless rage on an enemy fighter early. He will hesitate to engage in melee combat, leaving his greataxe strapped in a hanger beneath his wings, preferring to rely on mobility and spell-like abilities. He is constantly guarded by legions of hobgoblin troops, as well as the crack force called the Crimson Lion Guard, and he is glad to let these minions do his fighting for him. However, if he is injured, Bakahul will try to gain control of his form, and it will become more and more difficult to resist as he grows more angry. Once Bakahul does manage to gain control, the Lord of Anger will tend to be more reckless and less tactical. Bakahul is still vastly intelligent and will use spell-like abilities, but he will usually give himself over to his anger eventually, entering a barbarian rage, and wading into combat with his fearsome magical greataxe.