Well, it’s National Nude Day again, so it’s the perfect time to bring Jaybird’s Guide back from hiatus!
As with the previous fiend entry, this one is a little spookier, edgier, and kinkier. In particular this post features various themes of corruption, questionably voluntary nudity, hypnosis/mind control, overpowering libido, erotic humiliation, bondage, orgasm denial, involuntary transformation, and also discussion of sexism and slavery in character backstories. Also, a few of these are very thin on official lore (only a couple paragraphs or less in some cases) but had pretty distinct potential. And what are RPG character backstories for if not filling in the gaps with something fun and interesting?
Duskur
Duskur, the Dark Lady, is an archdevil who was exiled from the Nine Hells and now lives in Avernus. She is incredibly beautiful and lusted after by a number of other archdevils (such as Geryon and Belial), but she has refused each and every one. Her cults, though few, focus on teachings of inciting desires in others and denying their fulfillment to manipulate or control the covetous target. She is rarely seen due to the massive ranks of her army of mindless undead, which makes her beauty even more enticing to those who desire a glimpse. Sometimes people are even mesmerized by her incredible singing voice and desire her despite being denied even the sight of her beauty.
Excellent Classes: Bard (especially Eloquence), Cleric (Trickery, Order, or Death), Monk (Shadow or Long Death), Paladin (Conquest or Oathbreaker), Sorcerer (Divine Soul or Shadow Magic), Warlock (Fiend, Undead, or Undying), Wizard (Enchantment, Illusion, or Necromancy)
Excellent Backgrounds: Cloistered Scholar, Entertainer, Haunted One, Hermit, Noble, Sage, Spy
Excellent Locations: Anywhere close enough to population centers to get the attention of strangers while being inconvenient for them to interact, such as cities with many inaccessible balconies or a hermitage rising out of a swamp next to a trade route.
Character Hooks:
- A warlock whose pack was bound with a clear, crystalline, indestructible chastity belt and a curse preventing mundane clothing from being worn, ensuring the warlock as well as those who see them are forever tempted by that which they cannot access.
- Due to a pact an ancestor made, this Devil’s Tongue tiefling finds that a rotating cast of kobold commoners (or other CR 0 to CR 1/8 creatures, as with the variant background feature for Noble or Knight) tend to instantly become infatuated with them if they see the character nude, with a few always following along to assist in what ways they are able (including ensuring the subject of their attention is comfortable and able to remain nude as much as possible). They will quietly sabotage the character’s clothing if they wear any, but are totally overawed and unable to act upon their desire for the character even if invited to.
Pregenerated Character: Marbas Ronwe, Reborn Wizard
Mastiphal
Mastiphal the Hunting Sovereign is the current favored consort of Malcanthet and master of the guards protecting her layer of the Abyss. He is a handsome demon with bright red skin, four arms, and ibex horns, who wears nothing but trophies of successful and impressive hunts. His cults are dedicated to the pursuit of prey and establishing a hunting predator’s mindset, regardless of if their prey is beast, monstrosity, or folk. His blessings usually take the form of animal traits or instincts, and his loyal followers often strive to do their hunts with nothing but a blade to prove the victory was their own and not the result of their equipment. Mastiphal lusts endlessly after his lover, but Malcanthet does not offer herself easily, so he is continually pursuing game throughout the planes to impress her and win her continued favor.
Excellent Classes: Barbarian (especially Beast, Berserker, Totem, or Zealot), Bard (Swords, Valor, or Whispers), Cleric (Nature, Trickery, or War), Druid (especially Moon), Ranger, Rogue (Assassin or Scout), Warlock (Fiend), Blood Hunter
Excellent Backgrounds: Athlete, City Watch, City Watch Investigator, Folk Hero, Haunted One, Investigator, Outlander, Pirate, Urban Bounty Hunter, Uthgardt Tribe Member
Excellent Locations: Sundabar, Bryn Shander, Beorunna’s Well, Port Nyanzaru, Zhentil Keep, Westgate, Mulmaster, Harrowdale, Chult, Icewind Dale, Thay, Cormanthyr, Any settlements that rely on hunting; places with impressive or dangerous creatures to hunt; or relatively lawless cities where an assassin, bounty hunter, or dogged pursuer of criminals might thrive.
Character Hooks:
- A group of demon cultists tried to sacrifice this character, but to the surprise of everyone involved, instead of dying, they were transformed into a form more pleasing to Mastiphal—a Shifter.
- A simple hunter who became a path of the beast barbarian after they had a run of terrible luck and sought out supernatural aid. Their clothing gets shredded every time they rage, so they have taken to going without, initially to save money and then later because their animal instincts find it more natural.
Pregenerated Character: Morgen Rhastin, Simic Hybrid Rogue
Lilith
The incredibly beautiful and seductive Lilith was once the consort of Moloch, until Moloch was deposed by Glasya. In order to retain some degree of power, Lilith became the consort of Baalzebul even though she despises him and chafes under his control. She has much more widespread cults than most consorts to archdevils, and is a patroness of scorned women, dark witches, evil druids, warlocks, and those seeking brutal vengeance for injustices against themselves. She never wears clothing under any circumstances, using her attractiveness as a weapon just as much as the barbed whip she nearly always carries.
Excellent Classes: Artificer (Alchemist), Bard, Cleric (Knowledge or Trickery), Druid, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock (Fiend), Wizard
Excellent Backgrounds: Acolyte, Charlatan, Cloistered Scholar, Courtier, Entertainer, Faceless, Noble, Sage
Excellent Locations: Melvaunt, Nimpeth, Mulmaster, Hillsfar (if human), Proskur, Unthalass, Calimport Chessenta (especially if elf or half-elf), Free Cities of the Vilhon Reach, Unther, Moonshae Isles, Calimshan, anywhere that leadership roles are exclusively given to men or where slavery is practiced
Character Hooks:
- This hexblood druid is the secret daughter of a noblewoman. The noblewoman channeled all her frustrations from being in an arranged marriage to a cold and unwilling husband and the chafing regulations of living in a highly patriarchal kingdom into forming a druid cult dedicated to Lilith which strove to become or breed maenads. The character has tried wearing clothing or fighting with weapons but was overcome with loathing and disgust at such tools of oppressive civilization each time.
- A dancing girl slave of a terrible nobleman who took glee in giving his servants humiliating and permanent orders to keep them afraid to disobey him. After he ordered the dancer to never again wear clothing, she had a dream of Lilith, promising her the power to slay him and free herself and the other slaves, as well as enough ability to live freely as she saw fit…but at the cost of obeying that order forever to remind her of the oppression which unlocked her will to ambition and freedom.
Pregenerated Character: Livia Tarquinia, Human Bard
Tirumala
Tirumala is a rakshasa maharaja who rules over the city-state of the same name, between the regions of Veldorn and Estagund in Southeastern Faerûn. The citizens of the kingdom are rakshasas, but the population includes countless many species of slaves and servants, including giants, ogres, humans, orcs, halflings, goblinoids, kenku, and cyclopes, who do virtually all labor for their fiendish masters. Due to the hot, humid climate and the difficult jobs—as well as so the paranoid rakshasa ruling class could see at a glance if workers were carrying weapons or suspicious tools—laborers are typically nude save for a very wide-brimmed hat to shield them from the sun, which is usually worn on the back when not in use. The hierarchy of rakshasas within the city is always shifting as they fight for rank, but all serve the ruler of the city, who is nearly as powerful as a demon lord and tolerates the presence of none who could truly pose a challenge.
Excellent Classes: Barbarian, Cleric (Arcana or Order), Fighter, Monk, Rogue, Warlock (Fiend or Undying)
Excellent Backgrounds: Athlete, Criminal, Far Traveler, Fisher, Folk Hero, Gladiator, Guild Artisan, Haunted One, Soldier, Spy, Urban Bounty Hunter, Urchin
Excellent Locations: Tirumala
Character Hooks:
- A warlock with a pact with Tirumala (or one of the other rakshasas under his rule) who being a servant of that power must comply with Tirumalan laws, including those for manner of dress.
- A former Tirumalan slave who escaped from a rakshasa’s retinue while traveling far across Faerûn. Despite their escape they still retain some mental enchantments their former master implanted in their mind which make them feel extremely uncomfortable should they wear anything that could conceal even small objects or if they overtly disobey instructions they are given (however, covert subterfuge is entirely unaffected by this).
Pregenerated Character: Amlodd, Firbolg Cleric
Shami-Amourae
Also known as the Lady of Delights, Shami-Amourae is an incredibly powerful succubus who is continually struggling with good deities of erotic love, in hopes of taking enough control over the divine portfolio to use that power to take her sister Malcanthet’s throne as queen of the succubi. Shami-Amourae’s special interest is in debased sexuality and she takes great satisfaction in overwhelming mortals with unquenchable lust until they give in to their most perverse sexual desires…especially those of proud, powerful people who are secretly aroused by humiliation and sexual servitude. Shami-Amourae is currently an underdog among her sisters, having been nearly destroyed in a previous conflict and is barely more than a vestige—a remnant of a divine or infernal being which has been “killed” but is still sustained by either worship or vast wells of power and which can still revive under the proper conditions (The most famous case being Tenebrous, the “ghost” of Orcus, the demon lord of the undead). She is only able to consciously interact on a limited basis but retains a great deal of her residual power, which can be channeled not only through fiendish pacts but also by stranger, more occult means. While she has less conscious influence on those who draw power from her in other ways, the power still retains her innate nature and will influence its users accordingly in both obvious and subtle ways.
Excellent Classes: Bard (Eloquence or Whispers), Cleric (Arcana, Knowledge, Order, Trickery, or Twilight), Monk (Drunken Master, Shadow, or Astral Self), Paladin (Conquest or Oathbreaker), Ranger (Gloom Stalker or Swarmkeeper), Rogue, Sorcerer (Aberrant Mind, Divine Soul [Chaos or Evil], or Shadow Magic), Warlock (Fiend, Great Old One, Hexblade, or Undying), Wizard (Conjuration, Enchantment, Illusion, or Scribe)
Excellent Backgrounds: Archaeologist, Charlatan, Cloistered Scholar, Courtier, Entertainer, Faceless, Folk Hero, Knight, Noble, Sage, Smuggler, Waterdhavian Noble
Excellent Locations: Any cities where debauchery is accepted or has a significant underground presence, settlements with significant libraries of mysterious lore, settlements with significant import or export of ancient relics, locations where demon worship is common, locations where sex work is outlawed but still practiced
Character Hooks:
- This warlock was once renowned for their amazing and yet modest fashion sense, but to save their town from a tyrannical mayor installed by a distant queen, they made a pact for power—the cost of which was they could never again wear clothing or cover their nakedness in other ways—even attempts to cover themselves with their hands resulted in the interposing hand being rendered semi-transparent so long as they tried to cover up.
- A trans masculine cleric who found a curious shrine to an unknown entity of pleasure, and after masturbating at it, he found he could channel magic—but each spell makes him so aroused that he is constantly wet and any clothing he wore became embarrassingly soaked, so he (possibly influenced by his unknown supernatural benefactor) chose to simply skip the clothing altogether. That much less of a barrier to having spontaneous sex with those he seduces, after all.
Pregenerated Character: Ophiona Dezlentyr, Half-Elf Warlock
