Baron MolikrothNine feet tall, with hell-red skin, bat wings, white eyes, horns jutting from his forehead, and straight, black hair, the man before you is the very image of diabolic nobility.To those who even know of his existence, Molikroth was simply a disguise of Mephistopheles, the Lord of Cania. Which of course was the point entirely.
When Mephistopheles initially concocted his scheme to falsify his own overthrow, he realized that simply transforming himself with magic or casting an illusion would be insufficient. While he was fully confident in his ability to fool his own minions, it was possible that his peers and rivals would detect the ruse, and even use their knowledge of it to further weaken Mephistopheles' tenuous regency; Beelzebub and his Order of the Fly in particular would be difficult to fool. Nor could he simply let one of his Dukes in on the scheme, for to do so would risk giving Asmodeus the opportunity to officially replace Mephistopheles and strip him of his power as Lord of the Nine.
Instead, Mephistopheles produced Molikroth as an aspect of himself, pouring in him his cunning, ambition, and rage, but with none of the cold stoicism that so defined Mephistopheles. The result was a being very much the opposite of the Lord of Loss; a fiery and bombastic devil with a flair for the dramatic; charming and personable, but with an explosive temper. Mephistopheles found his aspect distasteful and loathesome, but the significant departure was necessary to divert suspicion. To further prevent any premature discovery of the plot, Mephistopheles was forced to give Molikroth a measure of free will, though not to the point where the aspect could disobey any of his master's commands.
Just as he was ordered, Molikroth faded into the meaningless mass of common devils, disguising himself as a pit fiend for the next century while using his superior power and mind to overcome his rivals; presenting a plausible excuse to be promoted by Mephistopheles to the rank of Duke. From there, Molikroth quickly became a favorite among the pit fiends and minor aristocracy of Cania. His grandoise plots and willingness to share the glory of their success with his inferiors appealed to their vanity, quickly winning their loyalty. In time, even other Dukes, both within and without Cania, tied their fortunes to that of Molikroth. In turn, Molikroth told them of his most ambitious plot yet; a popular uprising against ancient Mephistopheles, wherein the fiery baron would claim the cold regent's throne for his own, with splendid rewards for those who participated of course.
Molikroth succeeded in winning the support of the other devils where so many before him had failed, for he was completely sincere. Molikroth had every intention of seeing this plot to fruition and giving his fellow rebels a proper reward. What they could never think to consider, however, is that Molikroth knew the plot would fail. Just as Mephistopheles and Molikroth had planned, Molikroth launched his attack during what would otherwise had been a routine gathering of the Lord and his Dukes in Cania's capital. Just as they had planned, Mephistopheles and those loyal to him would put up a fight, but would quickly be overwhelmed by Molikroth's superior numbers and sheer destructive power. As anticiapted, Mephistopheles fled, with his loyalists quickly behind him, and Molikroth claimed the regent's throne as his own.
Molikroth made a show of remaking Cania in his own image, melting away the cores of several prominent glaciers and having cities of warmth and light built within. Even Mephistar itself was dramatically reshaped, reminding familiar devils more of Dis and Phlegathos than of the brutal chill so characteristic of Cania. It wouldn't last. Just as intended, while celebrating his victory and announcing his impending visit to Malsheem to be officially granted the title of Lord of Cania, Molikroth suddenly smiled, vanished, and Mephistophles took his place. The rest is history.
To all who witnessed it, the obvious conclusion was that Molikroth was none other than Mephistopheles himself, and those bold enough to seek further information through divination confirmed this belief; Molikroth shares in Mephistopheles' essence, and only the most potent magic can reveal the distinction between the two. To this day, few suspect anything differently, and fewer still know the truth: that Molikroth still lives. To his endless frustration, Mephistopheles found that when the time came, he was unable to simply will his aspect into non-existence as he could to a more faithful reproduction of himself. Nor was he able to destroy him, for though Mephistopheles nearly succeeded in doing so, Molikroth was able to flee Hell entirely before the finishing blow. Though Mephistopheles has since tracked his wayward aspect to the Reality of Fire, he is unable to attack him, bound to Hell as he is.
Molikroth, for his part, remains busy. Though he is no longer compelled to obey Mephistopheles, his last encounter with his erstwhile master confirmed that he is still unable intentionally harm him. He is therefore forced to plot against Mephistopheles in less direct fashions. He has collected a smattering of followers among the rebellious devils, disenfranchised efreeti, and evil fire elementals of the plane. His greatest servant is Testeron, an old red dragon, though the hoards of treasure needed to keep the dragon satisfied are becoming bothersome for Molikroth to maintain. He has made overtures of alliance with some of the stronger powers of the Reality of Fire to little effect, but has thus far avoided contacting Eblis, being quite reasonably afraid of the fallen angel. Molikroth has received numerous missives from Levistus, but remembers his fellow aspect all too clearly to take his offers of partnership seriously.
MOLIKROTH CR 32
XP ???LE Large outsider (cosmic, devil, evil, lawful)
Init +11;
Senses see in darkness;
Perception +51
Aura flames of hell (10 ft., 5d6 fire)
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DEFENSE_____________________________________________________
AC 63, touch 43, flat-footed 42 (+11 Dex, +13 deflection, +10 insight, +20 natural, -1 size)
hp 760 (38d10+380);
regeneration 20 (epic good-aligned silver weapons or good spells)
Fort +31,
Ref +22,
Will +31
DR 30/epic, good, silver;
Immune cold, fire, poison;
Resist acid 20; SR 44
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OFFENSE_____________________________________________________
Speed 50 ft., fly 150 ft. (good)
Melee flaring ambition +54/+49/+44/+39 (2d6 + 22 plus 1d6 cold plus 1d6 fire) /19-20/x3 and 1d6 + 2d10 cold plus 1d6 + 2d10 fire) or +48 melee touch
Ranged +48 ranged touch
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with ranseur)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 30th)
Always active -
detect chaos, detect good, detect magic, see invisibility, unholy aura (DC 33); at will –
animate dead, baleful polymorph (DC 28),
bestow greater curse (DC 33),
blasphemy (DC 32),
create greater undead, deeper darkness, delayed blast iceball (DC 30),
desecrate, dominate monster (DC 32),
flame strike (DC 28),
geas/quest (DC 29),
greater dispel magic, greater invisibility, greater scrying (DC 30),
greater teleport, hellfire storm, locate creature, locate object, magic circle against good, mass hold monster (DC 32),
persistent image (DC 28),
polymorph, power word stun, restoration, resurrection, suggestion (DC 26),
symbol of death (DC 31),
symbol of pain (DC 30),
symbol of stunning (DC 30),
true seeing, unhallow, unholy blight (DC 29),
wall of fire; 3/day –
investiture of the pit fiend (DC 32),
meteor swarm (DC 32), summon (1 max hit point pit fiend 100%),
wish (DC 32).
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 35th (37th evocation); concentration +50 [+62 evocation])
12th-2 + 4 evocation
11th-3 + 4 evocation
10th-3 + 4 evocation
9th—6 + 4 evocation
8th—6 + 4 evocation
7th—7 + 4 evocation
6th—7 + 4 evocation
5th—7 + 4 evocation
4th—7 + 4 evocation
3rd—8 + 4 evocation
2nd—8 + 4 evocation
1st—8 + 4 evocation
0 (at will)—4 + 4 evocation
Prohibited Schools enchantment, illusion
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STATISTICS_____________________________________________________
Str 33,
Dex 33,
Con 31,
Int 40,
Wis 30,
Cha 36
Base Atk +38;
CMB +50;
CMD 71
Feats Dark Speech, Empower Spell, Enlarge Spell, Eschew Materials, Greater Spell Penetration, Heighten Spell, Improved Counterspell, Improved Spell Focus (evocation), Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (spellcraft), Spell Focus (evocation), Spell Penetration, Twin Spell, Violate Spell, Widen Spell
Epic Feats Automatic Quicken Spell (x3), Epic Spell Focus (evocation), Epic Spell Penetration, Ignore Material Components, Improved Metamagic (x3), Improved Spell Capacity (x3), Intensify Spell
Skills Acrobatics +32, Athletics +32, Appraise +37, Bluff +54, Craft (alchemy) +37, Diplomacy +54, Fly +37, Intimidate +54, Knowledge (arcana) +56, Knowledge (history) +37, Knowledge (nobility) +37, Knowledge (religion) +37, Knowledge (the planes) +56, Knowledge (4 others) +37, Linguistics +56, Perception +51, Sense Motive +51, Stealth +52, Spellcraft +62
Languages All; telepathy
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ECOLOGY_____________________________________________________
Environment The Reality of Fire
Organization solitary (unique)
Treasure triple
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SPECIAL ABILITIES_____________________________________________________
Flames of Hell (Su) Molikroth's touch attacks and any natural weapon he may use also deal his aura's damage.
Infernal Evoker Molikroth can prepare an additional four evocation spells per spell level. His evocation spells deal an additional 18 points of damage. At will, as an attack action, he can unleash a force missile, as per magic missle, dealing 1d4+18 force damage. Each additional force missile used in the same round suffers a cumulative -5 penalty to damage, to a maximum of four force missiles. Any creature that fails its save against one of Molikroth's evocation spells takes damage again 1 round later equal to half the damage it took when he cast the spell.
Molikroth can also alter a spell or spell-like ability with the fire descriptor so that it deals hellfire damage, allowing it to ignore all resistance and immunity to fire damage. Doing so grants the spell the lawful and evil descriptors, and deals lethal damage to Molikroth equal to 3 x the spell level. This damage can only be healed via rest.
Flaring Ambition is a +6 keen ranseur of cold and fiery bursting. It heightens his
hellfire storm spell like ability, causing it to be automatically maximized.