Arathos Denheim
Appearance
Human form - Pale skinned with average build and height. Unkempt medium-length black hair and dark brown eyes with a slight yellowish glint when in total darkness.
Monstrous Form - Antlered head, which greatly resembles the skull of a bovine creature, though its face ending in incredibly sharp teeth. Near-skeletal body, like an emaciated man, an appearance that belies the true power of this form. Long, bony fingers, and bestial hind legs - both ending in four-inch long claws.
Monstrous Form - Antlered head, which greatly resembles the skull of a bovine creature, though its face ending in incredibly sharp teeth. Near-skeletal body, like an emaciated man, an appearance that belies the true power of this form. Long, bony fingers, and bestial hind legs - both ending in four-inch long claws.
Skills and Abilities
Arathos is a highly proficient assassin, with an expert proficiency when handling daggers and short swords. Though he prefers not to use the long sword - or large weapons in general - he does possess a novice proficiency at a variety of weapons such as the spear, the mace, or the long sword. His vampiric physique grants him inhuman physical abilities that allow him to move faster and lift heavier than any person ever could without magical enchantments. Drinking blood also heals wounds he might receive during battle; the more blood he drinks, the faster his wounds heal. He can also see perfectly in pitch darkness.
As a vampire, Arathos is capable of transforming his body into a cloud of bats (requires vitae) and enthrall weakminded NPCs (requires vitae). His greatest and most powerful ability, however, is the power to transform into a monstrous form, which greatly bolsters his already powerful body - an ability granted to him by his incredibly rare strain of vampirism.
In his 'Wendigo' form, Arathos moves much faster than the human eye can follow and has the ability to climb any surface, leap incredibly long distances to pounce on unwary prey, rip apart steel armor and weapons with ease using his incredibly sharp claws and fangs. He can also use an ability called 'shadow meld', which allows him to become invisible for an entire minute, and another ability called 'blood clone', which allows him to summon an illusory copy of himself for five seconds - the clone itself is incapable of harming anything and would become a puddle of blood should anyone attack it. Both abilities cost him vitae, which he must then recover by drinking more.
However, Arathos must revert back to his human form within ten minutes lest he loses himself in the bloodlust and becomes a raging monster that devours both the flesh and blood of every living thing he sees. Only when both his hunger and thirst are sated - or when he's killed - does Arathos revert back to his human form.
His strain of vampirism allows him to survive the sunlight if - and only if - he eats a pound of flesh. Eating a pound of mortal flesh means he gets to stay under the sun for a minute, and another pound for another minute and so on.
As a vampire, Arathos is capable of transforming his body into a cloud of bats (requires vitae) and enthrall weakminded NPCs (requires vitae). His greatest and most powerful ability, however, is the power to transform into a monstrous form, which greatly bolsters his already powerful body - an ability granted to him by his incredibly rare strain of vampirism.
In his 'Wendigo' form, Arathos moves much faster than the human eye can follow and has the ability to climb any surface, leap incredibly long distances to pounce on unwary prey, rip apart steel armor and weapons with ease using his incredibly sharp claws and fangs. He can also use an ability called 'shadow meld', which allows him to become invisible for an entire minute, and another ability called 'blood clone', which allows him to summon an illusory copy of himself for five seconds - the clone itself is incapable of harming anything and would become a puddle of blood should anyone attack it. Both abilities cost him vitae, which he must then recover by drinking more.
However, Arathos must revert back to his human form within ten minutes lest he loses himself in the bloodlust and becomes a raging monster that devours both the flesh and blood of every living thing he sees. Only when both his hunger and thirst are sated - or when he's killed - does Arathos revert back to his human form.
His strain of vampirism allows him to survive the sunlight if - and only if - he eats a pound of flesh. Eating a pound of mortal flesh means he gets to stay under the sun for a minute, and another pound for another minute and so on.
Personality
Despite his incurable thirst for mortal vitae, Arathos is actually quite the easygoing fellow when he's sated. He enjoys attending feasts and festivals, watching and listening to the bards as they perform in town squares, and even reading in his spare time. Not a vampire by choice, Arathos prefers to feed without killing as a means to preserve whatever humanity is left in him, but also to cover his tracks as he knows from prior experience that killing one's prey all the time led to mobs of peasants with torches and pitchforks. He generally avoids combat whenever possible, especially when outside the bounds of a contract, and prefers to settle conflicts by diplomacy.
