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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Nyrissa

Nyrissa has not always been a power in the First World, but when she fell in love with Count Ranalc, one of the realm's Eldest, she challenged her place in the plane's hierarchy. The lovers inspired each other to increasing acts of audacity, and it wasn't long before Nyrissa began to think of herself as the newest of the Eldest and proclaimed this to any who would listen, beginning to build her own nation in the First World. Another of the Eldest, the Lantern King, saw opportunity for mayhem here. He spread his influence among his fellow demigods, and before long, several among the Eldest opposed Nyrissa's claim and took steps to challenge her. First, they sent a jabberwock to destroy her, but Nyrissa defeated it and used its blood to create lesser jabberwocks under her own control. Then they attempted to rally a thousand powerful fey against her, but Nyrissa convinced those fey to serve her instead in return for a place in her domain. Finally, the Eldest exiled Count Ranalc to the Shadow Plane for helping to cause the problem in the first place. Suddenly, Nyrissa found herself without an ally among the Eldest. Having expended much of her energy and resources to defeat the jabberwock and recruit the thousand, she knew that she had lost the war and surrendered, apologizing for her acts.

The Lantern King decided that Nyrissa's apology would suffice only for the jabberwock's death; for her other deeds, he demanded a further punishment— Nyrissa's capacity to love. Without love, the Lantern King argued to the other Eldest, Nyrissa would not be able to sway another of them to her side. However, if she could replace the “thousand fey breaths” she stole from the First World with a thousand stolen nations, they would accept her apology for her other actions and restore her capacity to love. Faced with no real option, Nyrissa agreed. She was allowed to keep her domain, now known as Thousandbreaths, but it was carved off to form its own demiplane to serve as a sort of prison. Her love was taken from her and transformed into the sword Briar, which was then entrusted to the Lantern King for safekeeping. He gifted Nyrissa with a chalice he called the Apology, an artifact capable of transforming Material Plane kingdoms she conquered into motes of sand. Once the Apology held a thousand motes of sand, those lands would be absorbed into the First World, Nyrissa would be forgiven, and love would be restored to her.

The matter settled, the Eldest quickly moved on with their own inscrutable agendas. Yet while they eventually forget about what they'd done to Nyrissa, the nymph herself did not. She grew more and more obsessed with her loss of love—or perhaps it was the loss of love that caused her to grow more violent and obsessed. In her early attempts to discover the location of Briar, she received the visions that would come to haunt her—that Briar would be returned to her, but only as an instrument of her own death.

Now she has but one kingdom left to claim: the new kingdom risen in the Stolen Lands. With the War of the River Kings over and one kingdom a victor, the time is right for the final grain to be added to the Apology. That this will destroy a significant region on Golarion is irrelevant to the loveless nymph; in her obsession, she fails to see that this act may be the very thing that drives her enemies from to slay her as in the vision.

Recall Knowledge - Fey (Nature): DC 56
Unspecific Lore: DC 54
Specific Lore: DC 51

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

NyrissaCreature 23

Legacy Content

Unique CE Medium Fey Nymph 
Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 602
Female variant nymph queen
Perception +18; darkvision
Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnomish, Hallit
Skills Acrobatics +20, Arcana +20, Athletics +14, Deception +21, Diplomacy +21, First World Lore +20, Intimidation +21, Nature +22, Religion +18, Stealth +13
Str +4, Dex +8, Con +8, Int +6, Wis +8, Cha +11
Shame Nyrissa is focused on her goal to conquer the final kingdom she promised the Lantern King, but she still suffers from shame (page 459) when she attacks anyone who wields Briar or any character who rules a kingdom (particularly, any PC who serves as Ruler). Forgive Foe can be attempted against Nyrissa with a DC 51 Diplomacy check or Performance check. If Nyrissa is affected by a critical success from Forgive Foe, she calls for a truce to speak to the PCs as detailed on page 460.
Wild Empathy Nyrissa can use Diplomacy to Make an Impression on and make very simple Requests of animals and plant creatures.
Items major ring of fire resistance, ring of spell turning, anklets of alacrity
AC 26; Fort +16, Ref +20, Will +18; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 495; Immunities controlled; Weaknesses cold iron 20
Blinding Beauty (aura, emotion, enchantment, mental, primal, visual) 30 feet. Creatures that start their turn in the aura must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or be permanently blinded (plus stunned 3 on a critical failure).Evasion When Nyrissa rolls a success on a Reflex save, she gets a critical success instead.Protection from Decapitation The first time Nyrissa is decapitated by any effect (including a vorpal weapon like Briar), the effect is negated. She takes no damage from the attack and is not decapitated, but she then loses her protection from decapitation for 24 hours.
Speed 30 feet, climb 20 feet, fly 30 feet
Melee [one-action] thorny lash +18 [+14/+10] (agile, finesse, magical), Damage 4d6+14 slashing plus 4d10 poisonRanged [one-action] hurled thorn +18 [+13/+8] (range increment 60 feet), Damage 2d6+14 piercing plus 2d10 poisonArcane Spontaneous Spells DC 23, attack +19; 10th wish (1 slot); 9th contingency, disintegrate, disjunction, dominate, teleport (4 slots; 1 already used to cast contingency); 8th chain lightning, discern location, maze, uncontrollable dance (4 slots); 7th dispel magic, plane shift, prismatic spray, project image (4 slots); 6th baleful polymorph, flesh to stone, mislead, true seeing (4 slots); 5th false vision, mind probe, sending, tongues (4 slots); 4th freedom of movement, outcast's curse, private sanctum, shape stone (4 slots); 3rd hypnotic pattern, meld into stone, mind reading, shrink item (4 slots); 2nd glitterdust, mirror image, telekinetic maneuver, touch of idiocy (4 slots); 1st color spray, fear, ray of enfeeblement, true strike (4 slots); Cantrips (10th) detect magic, electric arc, mage hand, message, shield
Bloodline Spells DC 23, 3 Focus Points; 10th faerie dust, fey disappearance, fey glamour
Primal Innate Spells DC 23, attack +19; 9th nature's enmity, regenerate, tree stride; 8th heal (×3), horrid wilting, wall of thorns; 7th charm (×3); 6th restore senses (at will), tree shape; Constant (10th) speak with animals, speak with plants
Rituals; 8th control weather, create demiplane; 6th awaken animal, commune with nature, primal call; 3rd geas; 2nd inveigle
Change Shape [one-action] (polymorph, primal, transmutation) Nymph queens can transform between their original form, which looks much like a typical nymph of their kind, and any Small or Medium humanoid form, typically choosing a more humanoid-looking version of their natural form..Contingency [reaction] Trigger Nyrissa is damaged by a melee strike; Effect Mislead activates on Nyrissa.Focus Beauty [one-action] (emotion, enchantment, mental, primal, visual) Nyrissa focuses her beauty upon a target within her blinding beauty aura. The creature takes 6d12 mental damage (DC 23 basic Will save) and is blinded until the end of their next turn (12d12 mental damage and permanent blindness on a critical failure). Nyrissa can Focus Beauty on a given creature only once per turn.Inspiration [three-actions] (emotion, enchantment, mental, primal) Nyrissa can inspire an intelligent, willing creature by scratching that creature with a thorn from her body. This reduces that creature's Hit Points by 1 permanently, but grants the creature several abilities: darkvision, the ability to see invisible creatures, and an ability boost to an ability of Nyrissa's choice. A bard granted this inspiration gains a +2 status bonus to Performance when determining the effect of compositions. Only one creature at a time can benefit from this inspiration. For the bulk of this Adventure Path, King Irovetti carries this inspiration, but once he is slain or defeated, who Nyrissa grants the bonus to instead (if anyone) is left to the GM to determine.Quickened Casting [free-action] Frequency three times per day; Requirement Nyrissa hasn't used Quickened Casting since the start of her previous turn; Effect If Nyrissa's next action is to cast an arcane spontaneous spell that is 8th level or lower, reduce the number of actions to cast it by 1 (minimum 1 action).Switch Fables [one-action] (conjuration, move, primal, teleportation) Requirement Nyrissa is located in the twenty-foot diameter central area of one of the four Fables (areas M7a– M7d of the House at the Edge of Time); Frequency once per minute; Effect Nyrissa Strides a minimum distance of ten feet, after which the reality of the demiplane folds around her in a tangle of vines and flowers. She then teleports from her current Fable to one of the other three of her choice, appearing in a square of her choosing within the central twenty feet of the chosen Fable.