Paimon, The Dancer
Paimon whirls into reality with grace and style. He gives his summoners the ability to see combat as a dance and makes them masters of its steps and hidden meter.
Legend: Most binders know the Dancer’s tragic story, although none can be certain of its origin. An infamous lothario, Paimon delighted in seducing noblewomen with his dancing and besting their suitors with his swordplay. He eventually crossed paths and swords with a particularly jealous and cruel fellow, sometimes identifi ed as a human and other times as an elf. After Paimon had humiliated this nobleman in front of his peers on several occasions, the fellow enlisted some other aggrieved suitors to capture Paimon and cut off his sword hand. Paimon was not so easily defeated. When he recovered, he returned to court wearing a bejeweled golden hand that he could replace with a rapier blade. Exhibiting tremendous aplomb, Paimon again set his rivals on their heels, and he even fought and defeated the man who had wronged him. Paimon spared his adversary’s life only because he was interrupted by a request to dance by the object of both their affections. In response to this further humiliation, Paimon’s foe again had him captured, but this time the man’s thirst for revenge was insatiable. He and his cohorts cut off all of Paimon’s limbs and replaced them with sword blades, jeering at him all the while and daring him to return to court again. Then they left Paimon to die while they celebrated their victory.
At the next royal ball, Paimon’s foe and his coconspirators smirked at every mention of their enemy’s name and winked at one another when others wondered aloud where the charming rake might be. Then a dark fi gure appeared among the dancers. Impossibly tall and shrouded head to foot in dark, diaphanous cloth, the wraithlike fi gure began to spin. Disturbed by its appearance, the other dancers moved away. When one of them spotted naked steel beneath the whirling cloth, the nobles began to fl ee the hall. Enraged that his party had been interrupted, Paimon’s enemy went up to the fi gure and tore away the cloth. For a moment, the tortured fi gure of Paimon stood before them with bloody blades for legs and arms. Someone screamed at the sight, and Paimon faded to nothing. Thinking they had seen the ghost of Paimon, the men immediately went to find their foe’s body and give it a proper burial, but it was gone. Instead, they found a trail of blood and the marks of sword thrusts in the ground. Apparently Paimon was alive but gone—banished by the scream of a woman.
Manifestation: Paimon appears in a whirl, his form spinning like a top on an arm that ends in a metal blade instead of a forearm and hand. He turns counterclockwise so rapidly that his summoner can make little sense of what he sees. Paimon quickly switches the arm on which he spins with a hop, and then he switches to a leg, which also ends in a blade rather than an ankle and foot. With each switch, Paimon slows, until at last he stands on one leg before his summoner, balancing within the seal on its daggerlike point. Paimon’s almost featureless gray body has a dancer’s physique. His face is stretched to disfi gurement around the right side of his head, and no ears are visible. Paimon speaks in a garbled voice from his twisted mouth while hopping from appendage to appendage, making small turns as though he is impatient to be whirling again.
Sign: One side of your mouth becomes wider than the other, as though it were being stretched or pulled. That side of your mouth has a tendency to remain slightly open, causing you to drool.
Influence: Paimon’s influence makes you lascivious and bold. In addition, Paimon requires that you dance (moving at half speed) whenever you hear music.
Granted Abilities: Paimon gives you the ability to dance in and out of combat, and to make whirling attacks against multiple foes.
Dance of Death: When you use this ability, you can move up to your speed and make a single attack against any creature you move past, provoking attacks of opportunity normally. When you use your dance of death, you forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats or abilities (such as the Cleave feat or the haste spell), and you cannot attack any single creature more than once. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Paimon’s Blades: You gain proficiency with the rapier and short sword, and the benefit of the Weapon Finesse feat when you wield such weapons.
Paimon’s Dexterity: You gain a +4 bonus to Dexterity.
Paimon’s Skills: You can use the Tumble skill untrained. You gain a +4 bonus on Tumble checks and Perform (dance) checks.
Uncanny Dodge: You retain your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if caught fl at-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. If you have uncanny dodge from another source, you gain improved uncanny dodge instead. See the rogue class features on page 50 of the Player’s Handbook.
Whirlwind Attack: You gain the benefit of the Whirlwind Attack feat.
