Tell Me
About:
Sects Index
What's a Sect?
In Brief
Sectual Humour
Anarchs
Archonites
Children
of the Vine
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Converts
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Eaters
Expansionists
Guardians
Guild
of Shadows
Illuminated
Incantifiers
The Legislate
Mathematicians
Merkhants
Opposers
Planes-Militant
Planarists
Plane
Tenders
Primals
Prolongers
Ragers
Revivalists
Ring-Givers
Society
of Pain
Symmetrists
Verdant
Guild
Vile
Hunt
Xaoticians
Tell me
about
the
Factions
Consult
the
Mimir
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The
Barbed, the Bleeders, the Martyrs
Copyright 1998 by Spencer
Thayer, Greg Jensen and Jon Winter
NB: The Society of
Pain are a new sect not covered in TSR's Planescape
books.
No
Relation to the Lady, or so they say...
The
Society of Pain ain't, as many Primes first think,
anything to do with worshipping Our Serene Lady of Pain.
Berks who try that end up flayed faster than they can
finish a prayer to the Fiercely Calm One. No, the Society
of Pain may have been inspired by Her Graceful Gifts of
Agony, but the members of this sect take great pains (ha
ha!) to emphasise they ain't religious freaks. Well,
maybe they're telling the truth. Just maybe.
In
any case, the Barbed don't have a faction headquarters in
Sigil; they're more commonly associated with Gehenna. Why
anyone'd want to hail from the Fourfold Furnaces is
beyond most cutters' imaginations, but then you've not
heard the sect's philosophy yet, have you? I'd better
stop rattling and let the mimir tell you more,
then...
Be
wary. Be very wary.
Sect Philosophy
"Life
is filled with pain berk, so why not embrace it?" ask the
Martyrs.
This
sect believes the answer to the Multiverse is Pain, be it
physical, mental or emotional. Pain's the only proof of
existence; without heartache, without pain, a berk can't
tell if he is getting burnt by a fire, bitten by a
baatezu, or if he's about to get put in the Dead
Book.
Look,
it ain't that hard to understand. Pain's the almighty
teacher and the almighty ruler. For example, if you went
in a room and got hit by a lightning bolt would you go
back in the room? Only a barmy'd go back in the room,
because it hurt. A king can't keep a country without
cutting a few berks and by doing that he tells every one
he's the rightful ruler.
Some
berk'll say "What's this got to do with multiversal
truth?" Well it ain't that simple. The multiverse ain't
filled with pain in all places. In most of the Upper
planes there ain't enough and in the Lower planes there's
way to much. If you spread pain evenly through
Multiverse, then it'd come to an end and we would all
learn the multiversal truth.
That
seems an impossible task, but there might be a way to bob
the problem -- to cheat the multiverse. Its easy: all you
have to do is your part, cutting people along your way
and sooner or later the Multiverse will end. That doesn't
mean that the Barbed go around cutting everyone or
getting cut. If that were the the case every Bleeder'd
wind up in the Dead Book.
You've
got to be careful who you cut, 'cos if you cut the wrong
person then you'll disrupt the delicate balance of pain.
The only way to tell who the right berk to cut is by
getting to know them. If they're too happy then cut 'em,
if they're full of pain then leave 'em alone, 'cos
they've found enough pain already.
Here's
the chant berk: if you manage to put pain in the hearts
of the ones that you love, and relieve pain from the ones
you hate, you're one step further towards finding the
truth than the next barmy sod.
Primary
Plane of Influence
Not
surprisingly, this sect is strongest in Gehenna, where
pain and suffering are rampant. It's also popular
throughout the Lower Planes -- where some of the nastier
creatures believe that nobody's suffering nearly
enough pain. While they've got no formal headquarters in
Sigil, members of the Barbed often gather in the
underground fighting pits of the Hive Ward.
Allies
and Enemies
The
Sensates share a little of the philosophy of the Barbed,
though there are many bones of contention about the
details. It's rare to see them working together, but it's
happened. The Fated are possibly the closest allies of
the Bleeders, because of their might-makes-right
heartless attitude. The Mercykillers similarly appreciate
a few of the nuances of the sect, and it's been known for
Bleeders to become employed in Sigil's prison doling out
pain to criminals when the Red Death feel it's
necessary.
The
Harmonium don't like the views of the Barbed at all, and
try to oppose them whenever they rear their heads in the
Cage.
Eligibility
The
Society of Pain's open to all races and classes. While
any alignment can join, it's mostly evil and neutral
types who chose to do so; the neutrals due to the
Bleeders' views that there is a balance that is needed to
be maintained, and the evil cutters 'cos they enjoy
inflicting pain, especially if there's a good excuse to
do so. The few good members see themselves as martyrs,
taking on the pain of others and helping those with
terrible lives.
"He who
fights
with monsters
should be
careful
lest he
thereby becomes a monster
himself"
- Factol
Jalar
of the Barbed
Benefits
Abilities
learned by the Bleeder depend on the kinds of pain she
specialises in. Bleeders might elect to specialise in one
type of pain for their whole careers, or they might
choose to learn additional techniques until they have
mastered all types of pain. At fifth level, the character
can learn a second pain speciality and at tenth, a third
can be gained (both benefit and restriction are
applied).
Physical
-- In combat, the Barbed can inflict an extra 50% damage
with each attack. This is temporary pain damage, which
goes away 1 turn after the wound was inflicted. These
Cutters often use barbed or spiked weapons, and know just
how to hook the spikes in the flesh of their
enemies.
Mental
-- The psionic ability double pain can be used to double
or halve pain, and that of inflict pain can be used also
to remove pain.
Emotional
-- These cutters are taught the ability of manipulation.
They can manipulate a sod's emotions verbally and by
gestures: the Bleeder knows how to taunt effectively and
at 5th level can create emotion in allies or
enemies.
Restrictions
Because
of their love for pain and martyrdom the Barbed have
restrictions depending again on their
specialisation:
Physical
-- Can't use armour, magical items, or any other type of
equipment that lowers AC. The Martyr's AC must be a
natural AC with dexterity adjustment added.
Mental
-- Bleeders aren't able to sleep well as they're plagued
by terrible dreams of pain and torture. Spellcasters
require ten hours of sleep per night, and psionicists
gain only one tenth of their PSP total back per hour. The
characters must also pass a constitution (fitness) check
each morning or suffer a &endash;1 penalty on all rolls
that day due to mental exhaustion.
Emotional
-- These cutters can't sustain a healthy relationship
with other people, as they're always trying to
manipulating others around them. It seems everything they
say or do is calculated to cause misery or joy...they're
creepy in the extreme.
Factol
Jalar
Male Tiefling Planar
14th level Psionicist, Society of Pain (factol)
Lawful Evil
Str: 11
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Int: 18
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HP: 64
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MAC: 5
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Dex: 15
|
Wis: 16
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AC: 9
|
MTHAC0:
5
|
Con: 18
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Chr: 15
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THAC0:
14
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PSP: 96
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Equipment:
Jalar carries few items, magical or otherwise, preferring
to rely on his own psionic abilities. He does
occasionally carry a short sword of sharpness,
however.
Psionics
Summary:
Level
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Dis/Sci/
Dev
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Attack/
Defence
|
Score
|
PSPs
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14
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5/7/19
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All/All
|
16
|
96
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Jalar's
primary discipline is Psychometabolism. In addition to
all attack and defence modes, he has the following
psionic powers:
- Clairsentient
- Devotion: martial trance
- Psychometabolism
- Sciences: complete healing, death field, energy
containment, life draining. Devotions: adrenaline
control, ageing, biofeedback, body control, body
weaponry, cannibalise, cause decay, chemical simulation,
double pain, flesh armour, mind over body.
- Psychoportation
- Devotion: dimensional door
- Telepathy
- Sciences: mindlink, mindwipe, ultrablast.
Devotions: aversion, awe, contact, empathy, ESP,
inflict pain, invincible foes.
Special:
Jalar has standard tiefling and psionicist abilities. As
factol of the bleeders, he has mastered the special
benefits and hindrances of physical, mental, and
emotional pain.
The
burning red eyes and forked tongue on Jalar's unassuming
form mark him as one of the plane-touched. His earliest
memories are of the orphanage at Sigil's Gatehouse, where
he was raised. He has no clue who his parents were, nor
why he was abandoned. He was raised instead by Headmaster
Trablan, the man who ran the orphanage. Trablan was an
exceptionally cruel and deviant man, who enjoyed
inflicting suffering on the children in his care. Jalar's
earliest memories are of the severe beatings and abuses
he suffered at the hands of Trablan. Eventually,
Trablan's crimes became known to those outside of the
orphanage. A new, kinder Headmaster was assigned to the
orphanage, and Jalar watched as the Mercykillers fed
Trablan to the wyrm. This increased Jalar's appreciation
for the Red Death, but there was yet another more event
that took place on that same day that had an even greater
impact on Jalar.
That
was the first day Jalar personally saw the Lady of
Pain.
Jalar
quickly became obsessed with this enigmatic ruler. He was
an intelligent lad, and had heard about the doomed cult
worshipping the Lady as a power, and he did not choose to
share their fate. However, everyone who knew Jalar
thought he came to close to revering her in his hero
worship for their own comfort. He wanted to be as much
like the Lady as possible. He spent his time practising
and honing his natural psionic talents to become a force
to be reckoned with, just like the Lady. The closest
Jalar has ever come to love in his life is through his
feelings for the Lady.
Jalar's
rather formidable mental abilities brought him to the
attention of some fellow Bleaker adventurers. Being
raised in the Gatehouse, Jalar accepted the nihilistic
philosophies of the Bleak Cabal. Some of his fellow
faction members wished to make use of his talents. They
had heard chant of a secret Yugoloth treasure cache on
Gehenna. Offering Jalar an equal share of the findings,
they set off for the furnaces.
The
campaign was a disaster. None of the adventurers came
adequately prepared for the terrain and conditions of
Gehenna. Over the course of several months, all of them
had slowly perished after lingering in agony. All of
them, that is, except for Jalar. The treasure he had
gained was meagre, but he had found something much more
valuable, something he had been taught did not even
exist: a purpose, a meaning for his existence. The reason
for Jalar's survival was the pain he endured. The pain
had purified him. He had finally come to the realisation
that pain isn't proof that the universe lacks any
meaning, pain is the meaning of the multiverse. Pain
purifies and purges the soul. Pain shows you what is
real, and what has meaning. The only reason that people
hadn't lanned to this dark was because most of them have
never had enough pain, or had too much, or had just never
learned to realise the purity in their pain.
Using
what treasure he had, Jalar constructed Ecstatic
Agony, a small fortress on Gehenna, to serve as his
sect's headquarters. From this base of operations, he
continues to preach the purity of pain and try to convert
new sect members. His sect has grown more than he
expected it to, much to his pleasure. He is unsure what
to do about Sigil, his home town. He would like to
re-enter the cage, but does not wish to incur the Lady's
wrath. He patiently waits for a chance to make his move
on Sigil, when rival factions have been eliminated
(perhaps by a faction war). Until then, he is content to
stay on Gehenna, purifying himself and others through
pain.
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