Dahlver-Nar, The Tortured One
Once a human binder, Dahlver-Nar now grants powers just as other vestiges do. He gives his summoners tough skin, a frightening moan, protections against madness, and the ability to share injuries with allies.
Legend: Bards tell two stories of Dahlver-Nar, both linked to the magic items that carry his name—the teeth of Dahlver-Nar. Some say that because Dahlver-Nar was antiquity’s most powerful cleric, his followers treated his teeth as holy relics after his death and they somehow gained magical powers through this veneration. Others insist that Dahlver-Nar was a cleric of little consequence who discovered some magic dragon teeth in the ruins of a red dragon’s lair. In this version of the story, the teeth were named after Dahlver-Nar because he became a terror in the region where he acquired them. Binder scholars know a different story—that Dahlver-Nar was a powerful cleric who forsook his deity to pursue the power of pact magic. The fabled teeth of Dahlver-Nar, to which all the legends attribute miraculous powers, were neither his own nor those of the dragon he battled. They were the teeth of beings that became vestiges after death, and they could grant abilities similar to those that the vestiges themselves imparted. Pact magic treatises relate that Dahlver-Nar pulled out his own teeth and replaced them with those of the vestiges, but that using them all drove him mad. What happened thereafter is a matter of debate, but the texts maintain that Dahlver-Nar eventually died, and the teeth were lost, divided up among the squabbling followers he had managed to gain and then spread across the world. Today, Dahlver-Nar exists as a vestige in his own right—perhaps brought to that state through his close association with so many others.
Manifestation: Dahlver-Nar’s frightful apparition fl oats in the air above his seal, with arms and legs hanging limply. Teeth and fangs of all kinds stud his entire body, replacing even his eyes. What skin is visible between the teeth appears to be the moist, pink flesh of gums. Dahlver-Nar’s mouth is a bloody ruin that clearly lacks teeth, and when he opens it to speak, only a moan issues forth. Some binders believe that his vestige form is a punishment inflicted by the other vestiges, but others insist that he appears as he does because of his everlasting obsession with the teeth that bear his name.
Sign: Several teeth grow from your scalp. Though they are small enough to be hidden by a large quantity of hair or a hat, a touch reveals them immediately.
Influence: You shift quickly from distraction to extreme focus and back again. Sometimes you stare blankly off into space, and at other times you gaze intently at the person or task at hand. Since Dahlver-Nar dislikes any task that requires more than 1 round of concentration (such as some spellcasting, concentration on an effect, or any action that requires a Concentration check), he requires that you undertake no such activities while under his influence.
Granted Abilities: Dahlver-Nar armors you and blends his madness with your sanity, lending you some of his selfish powers.
Mad Soul: Binding to Dahlver-Nar grants you immunity to Wisdom damage, Wisdom drain, madness, insanity, and confusion effects.
Maddening Moan: You can emit a frightful moan as a standard action. Every creature within a 30-foot spread must succeed on a Will save or be dazed for 1 round. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds. Maddening moan is a mind-affecting sonic ability.
Natural Armor: You gain an enhancement bonus to your natural armor equal to one-half your Constitution bonus (if any).
Shield Self: At will as a standard action, you can designate one creature within 10 feet per effective binder level to share the damage you take. As long as the subject creature remains within range, you take only half damage from all effects that deal hit point damage, and it takes the rest. The effect ends immediately if you designate another creature or if either you or the subject dies. Any damage dealt to you after the effect ends is no longer split between you and the subject, but damage already split is not reassigned to you. You can affect one creature at a time with this ability. An unwilling target of this bility can attempt a Will save to negate the effect.