That is, generals in the Fire Emblem sense, where they're just any kind of Big Tuff military figure, a miniboss one step above his own faceless grunts. Each of these guys are designed to fit into any role they need to - they can be minor villains, or allies, or quest givers, or guests at the queen's ball, or even just a flavorful capstone for that cadre on the other side of the hill. And since they're *kind of* nobility, they can be the PC's entryway into the political scene - they've all got an associated quest or two if the PCs latch on to them.
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| By algenpfleger |
1. Engrid Swann, The Powder Knight
If you took a paladin and a gunslinger and a national anthem and you put them in a centrifuge and knighted whatever came out, you'd get this lady. She looks anime as shit: pieces of plate armor over/under a leather duster, a helmet that only covers the lower half of her face, like a bandana, to make sure she can still pull her huge wide-brimmed hat down over her eyes. She's hyper-imperialist and super paranoid about spies in her ranks, and has appointed herself the army's very own mole removal expert. That is to say, she conducts witch hunts on the reg, and the party will stumble across the aftermath of firing squads as they go to meet her. She's got paladin levels, but her god is her country and her sword is her bayonet - bullets act as smites and she burns with a halo of red white and blue (or w/e). Her soldiers are fiercely loyal, well trained, and are living in constant terror of being shot in the back for not soldiering hard enough.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs wants to know why this one general is killing more of her own men that the enemy's.
Swann feels that the leadership isn't as patriotic as she thinks it could be, but worries that her usual methods would draw the nobility's ire.
Swann's soldiers are tired of watching their buddies get thrown in a quarry for doubleplusbad thoughts and want somebody to take her out.
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| By Sergio Abalo |
2. Kurvitz The Blood-Drinker
A big guy, got some barbarian levels, famous for his violence in combat. He began to bite the heads off of doves and shit before battles to rile his men up, he even famously tore out the throat of an opposing general with his teeth. It was all just for show, of course, but somewhere down the line, a demon mistook him for a real blood cultist and began throwing him scraps of power. Now Kurvitz is shooting up the ranks for his success in combat and is pretty strong, but he's tied to all these demons and they keep wanting him to do worse and worse things. It's getting out of hand, but if he stops now, he'll lose his men's affection and the demons will almost certainly tear him to bits. His soldiers can rage as barbarians, would gladly die for their leader, and are pretty much rabid dogs in human form - or maybe that's just part of the show too.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs wants to know why fruit keeps rotting so fast in Kurvitz's presence.
Kurvitz himself has decided he's had enough and wants the party to find a way to sever his demonic ties.
3. Ferro Taegan, Human General
A well-respected general who transferred all the way out here to the frontier to lead the men stationed there. On the way, he was, oops, killed and replaced by an alien/shapeshifter/sludge vampire who hadn't studied up on human behavior as well as it probably could have. It only meant to invade a lowly foot-solider, but conflated the Common words "general" (a military figure) and "general" (average, the norm) and now it's trying to be Taegan and in command of a hundred men while still figuring out how hands and legs work. Its soldiers are alternately confused and frustrated (army rule is VERY clear about what happens to soldiers who question their commander) or taking advantage of the weird goings-on to get some chill time in. You can find them relaxing on the sunny rocks or huddled in their tents, trying to devise tests to figure out what Taegan's deal is. Meanwhile, Taegan is wandering the camp, bumping into shit, bothering the sunbathers, asking people what their favorite nutrient source is.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs wants to bring Taegan back for questioning on an unrelated matter - do NOT kill him, or they'll send one of the other generals after you.
Taegan's soldiers have had it, and want the party to find proof of whatever is going on. Proof, or brass will throw them all in the gulags.
Taegan ('s body invader) doesn't really mean any harm, and it likes having men to lead. Teach it how to act human!
4. Raetz the Resourceful
Aphram Raetz was always famous for his ability to make things work for him, but he's been on the frontier for a long time now, far from the Empire, and he's had it with the shitty supply line, so he subjugated a local goblin tribe into becoming workers and troops for he and his men. Raetz getting kind of goblin-y, stunted and grey and greasey, and has taken to wearing less clothes because why bother? They've built real shanties instead of tents, stolen supplies from local settlements, and have dug in much better than any other regiment on the frontier. They're still loyal to the empire, of course, but as your party watches Raetz and his lieutenant bully their pet goblins into a makeshift pit fight, you can't help but feel like you're just watching a hobgoblin camp.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs wants to know how Raetz has lost so few men compared to the other camps.
Raetz and co are actually being physically transformed into hobgoblins. Why is that?
Despite the mess, this arrangement seems to be good for everyone involved. Raetz will be the party's liaison as they go negotiate peace with the other goblin tribes in the area.
5. "Tin" Thom, The Artificer
Always forgets to wear his armor because so much of him is metal already - that's what twenty years of trying to build rocket spears or w/e will do to you. A great success in his youth saw him promoted to general, now brass is trying to get rid of him, basically. He's been sent to the frontier to provide an outlet for his experimental weapons, all of which have crazy mechanics (6d8 take the average, 1d12 -30%, 1d4 * prof bonus - lowest class level) and look even crazier. Take all your favorite rulesy bullshit from 3.5 and put it on a sword/gun/shield monstrosity that can grapple. His men try to build regular weapons out of the blown apart pieces of the insane ones they're forced to use (peg leg frequency is up 300% in this dude's regiment), but Thom flies into a rage if he sees this. Thom himself exclusively uses his earlier invention: the repeating crossbow.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs has had enough of wasting iron and manpower shipping crates of hand hooks to Thom's camp. Make him stop experimenting, or you know what, just kill him. Who fucking cares.
Thom hires the party to come test some new weapons on a group of weak enemies. Watch your players decide to kill this guy immediately after taking one look at their pneumatic axspearsword's damage formula. Maybe they get a nonmagical +x weapon out of this in the end.
6. Discount Dannel's Arms and Armor
Somebody fast-tracked a born used car salesman through military school. Dannel knows the war is already won/lost, so why should he bother helping out? He's packed up camp and travels the countryside, maybe even the front lines, selling his men's arms and armor to the highest bidder. And it's turning a profit! His men hate him and are woefully underprepared for combat, but Dannel himself recently hired a mercenary guild to protect him.
Hooks:
Brass wants this dude in the dirt ASAP. Dannel tells the party he'll share some of his secret fortune if they let him live. His soldiers will kill him if you don't.
Dannel accidentally sells a bunch of shit to the enemy and doesn't feel too good about it. Go steal it back before his men find out and finally turn on him.
7. Silna Tassaire, The Guildmaster
Silna is an ex-adventurer who knows firsthand just how good adventuring parties can be at solving otherwise intractable problems. Silna herself is a total badass with an eyepatch and hundreds of pockets and belts, with a minor magic item for any and every situation. This is the DM's chance to have that "Oh, I've got just the thing!" moment that only players usually get. She's pulled together several adventuring groups and is having them teach her soldiers how to think like adventurers and giving them random class levels, then organizing them into strike teams.
Hooks:
Silna recruits the PCs as one of the teaching groups. Have fun explaining to a 17-year old farmhand who just got stuffed into a uniform a week ago why sometimes murderhoboing is just the way to go.
Brass is tearing itself apart over whether to crack down on her individuality or start doing this everywhere. Go assess their effectiveness.
8. Henq Burruh, The Lifegiver
Pale and gaunt when you catch him without makeup, he normally seems like a normal, if slender, man. But! He's secretly a necromancer in his spare time, and is publicly super invested in making necromancy accepted again in the modern world. He's angling to get as many of his men killed as possible (without being obvious, of course) so that he can raise them into zombie soldiers and saaaave the day. He's got this whole speech prepared about making death out of death, since that's all the enemy has given him, blah blah blah. And if the army doesn't like his methods, well. He's still got an undead regiment to tramp around with. His men are tragically happy with letters from wives and children pinned up all over their tents.
Hooks:
A well-known general (Burruh) lost a major battle very badly, one he should have won no problem. The enemy seemed to know more than they should've. Who told them?
Burruh's being court-martialled for raising a few hundred imperial soldiers. Whose side are the PCs on?
9. Kella Bojan, The Spider
A war magus trained to preserve the life of his men by any means became an expert on setting traps and ambushes. He hides his camp, he hides his men, he hides himself. Brass would think they lost him entirely if he didn't send impossibly regular reports back. He's a workaholic, and has been dosing himself and his men with magic caffeine for years - he's a master alchemist too. He's twitchy as hell, and hasn't experienced actual sleep in months, maybe years. He and his men don't stop marching at night, are never surprised, and are very scary people.
Hooks:
Somebody upstairs is pretty sure this guy is just gone and the messages are fake, being sent by the enemy. Go try and find him.
There's a new drug circulating the ranks - the soldiers aren't sleeping and they're marching for days at a time. Brass is a little worried that the source is this one general they're having a problem tracking down.
10. Rusalkanna
Rusalkanna is an illithid raised from birth by humans. She's a buff English dandy type, loves tea and sword-fighting, uniform perfectly pressed, all that. And she's good at it, too. She's kind and compassionate and she's also a purple squidface monsterperson who wears little turkey booties on her clipped tentacles. She refuses to use her psychic powers on moral grounds. Her troops all have stories similar to hers, vampires serving alongside bugbears and humans, she's got some cool tiefling lieutenants, there's all kinds of motherfuckers up in there. She seems very genuine, and her soldiers love her. A lot. Like, they're mind controlled a lot. But she swears they aren't, and nobody can detect anything illicit going down, so. It's probably fine.
Hooks:
Someone upstairs wants these goddamn monsters out of this man's army. Go find a reason for them to stay, or figure out a way to kick them out.
Some of the monsters start attacking the others or random people and nobody's sure why. Did she lose control? Or is she going to have to use her psychic powers to subdue them?
Help Rusalkanna convince some other army folks to let her talk to some local monsters, cause they'll fuckin wreck these dudes otherwise.
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