Kavress the Unbound — Mercenary Champion
Medium humanoid (drow), Neutral • Renowned arena mercenary who refuses all magical contracts — fights only for gold and favors.
Currently hired by a rival faction in Arynthea’s quest. Can be swayed if the party helps her dodge a fixed duel.
Ability Scores
Core Stats
Proficiencies
Lore Description
Chains once bound Kavress; now she wears them as trophies. Her skin is mapped with sigils carved off by her own hand, scars that refuse to take ink or brand again. Promoters call her a barbarian—she calls herself a professional. She signs nothing enchanted, refuses geasa and blood oaths, and keeps score only in coin and favors owed. Her reputation is clean: she’ll take the ring for anyone who pays, but she never throws a fight and never breaks consent. That integrity makes her dangerous to fixers… and valuable to anyone who can outbid them or outmaneuver their schemes.
Features
- Drow Traits. Superior Darkvision (120 ft), Fey Ancestry, Sunlight Sensitivity. Drow Magic: Dancing Lights (at will), Faerie Fire 1/day, Darkness 1/day.
- Unbound Will. Advantage on saving throws vs. charmed, frightened, paralyzed, and effects that would compel service (e.g., geas, suggestion). When she succeeds a save against such an effect, she is immune to that caster’s attempts for 24 hours.
- Chain‑Fighter. Mastery with spiked chains and improvised chain weapons. Standing up from prone or escaping a grapple costs her no extra movement.
- Relentless Athlete. When she reduces a creature to 0 HP or wins a grapple, she gains 10 temporary HP (1/turn).
- No Magical Contracts. Kavress will not willingly accept a geas/oath. Forcing one incurs her enmity; once per long rest she may end one ongoing compulsion on herself as a bonus action, taking 4d6 psychic damage to do so.
Combat Actions
- Multiattack. Kavress makes three attacks with her Spiked Chain or two and a Grapple.
- Spiked Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8 + 5 slashing. If the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength save or be pulled 5 ft. toward her.
- Raking Elbow. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit; Hit: 1d6 + 5 bludgeoning; the target makes a DC 16 Con save or is stunned until the start of its next turn (1/short rest).
- Grapple & Choke. Athletics +10 vs. target’s Acrobatics/Athletics. While grappling, bonus action to deal 1d6 bludgeoning and impose restrained until the grapple ends (escape DC 16).
- Reaction — Break the Hold. When she would be restrained, paralyzed, or knocked prone, she can make a Con save (DC equal to effect DC) to ignore it.
GM Tools — Swaying Kavress
| Leverage | Check / Cost | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Expose the Fix | Investigation 15 to find the bribed steward or doctored lot; or 300 gp to bribe a minor official | Kavress cancels the duel on grounds of contract breach; agrees to a neutral fight later and owes the party a favor. |
| Honor the Purse | Pay her current fee (1,500 gp) or an equal-value favor | She switches sides for one bout and will not throw it; expects protection from reprisal. |
| Second in the Ring | Best‑of‑three contests (Athletics/Acrobatics DC 16) | Win with respect: she joins the party’s cause for the event; lose with grit: gain advantage on next Persuasion vs. her. |
| Legal Loophole | Persuasion 15 with proof of enchanted contract terms | Her No Magical Contracts clause voids the bout; she turns on the fixer who tried to bind her. |
If the party helps her avoid the fixed duel without endangering spectators, she will refuse jobs against them for 30 days and share insider schedules and gate routes.
Roleplaying Notes
- Speaks curtly; counts links on her chain when thinking.
- Accepts half‑payment in favors; keeps a mental ledger, never forgets a debt.
- Detests collars, brands, and coercion; respects clean contracts and clear boundaries.
- Won’t harm freed slaves or children; everything else is business.