NPCs: Ghoran Karzin Zorthak

“If all I was interested in was killing, I would have stayed in the academy as a boy. What motivates me isn’t killing, it’s killing with style.”

— Ghoran Karzin Zorthak to a young hobgoblin boy

Using Ghoran

Above all else, Ghoran is a showman. Everything he does is done with panache and style. He regularly takes insults, verbal jabs, and such with a returning volley of quips intended to mock in such a way that the target is unsure if they have been insulted.

Ghoran Karzin Zorthak       CR 13

Hobgoblin Swashbuckler     XP 25,600

NE Medium humanoid (goblinoid)

Init +10; Senses darkvision, Perception +2

Defense

AC 31, 22 touch, 21 flat-footed (+6 Dexterity, +2 natural armor, +2 deflection, +4 dodge, +4 armor, +3 shield)

hp 136 (14d10+28)

Fort +11, Ref +20, Will +10

Defensive Abilities

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee karzin-lith +37 (1d6+7/15-20)

Tactics

During Combat Ghoran targets a single opponent, disarming them of their weapon before dropping them with a thrust to the heart. When faced with multiple opponents he will place one between him and the rest, rapier snapping to strike any that come too close.

Statistics

Str 10, Dex 22, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 23

Base Attack +14; CMB +14; CMD 30

Feats Weapon Focus (rapier), Combat Expertise, Weapon Specialization (rapier), Dodge, Mobility, Improved Disarm, Spring Attack, Skill Focus (Perform (combat)), Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative

Skills Acrobatics +23, Diplomacy +23, Escape Artist +23, Knowledge (nobility) +23, Perform (combat) +29, Perform (oratory) +23, Sense Motive +19

Languages Goblin, Common, Nai de Monta, Marr Enorro

SQ Panache (6), Deeds (Derring-Do, Dodging Panache, Opportune Parry and Riposte, Kip-Up, Menacing Swordplay, Precise Strike, Swashbuckler Initiative, Swashbuckler’s Grace, Superior Feint, Targeted Strike, Evasive, Subtle Blade), Swashbuckler Finesse, Charmed Life, Nimble +3, Swashbuckler Weapon Training +3

Gear karzin-lith (masterwork rapier), masterwork buckler, masterwork chainshirt

*Ghoran is stated with the Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained, thus he doesn’t carry much in the way of magic items.

Backstory

Ghoran was born nearly ten years before the rise of the empire. When his time came to begin training to join the legions, he refused. He always was considered odd, delivering each strike with a flourish and aplomb, thus no one that knew him was surprised when he left. Instead of the traditional, expected path for a young male he made his way to the capital, where an arena unlike any other was being constructed. There he volunteered to fight as a gladiator, regardless of the fact that at the time all gladiators were slaves.

     A deal was soon brokered: until construction was finished he would train new slaves in basic fighting skills and showmanship, and when construction was finished he’d be allowed to fight in the arena. Thus, he threw himself into his teaching, surprising the arena managers with his fervor and passion. He made the slaves start before the sun rose, and trained them until the sun went down.

     For seventeen years, he fought in the arena, racking up the largest winning streak out of all the gladiators. To his surprise, he was then approached by the emperor himself for a secret mission. He was to travel with a goblin spellcaster to a far-off land supplying the dwarves of Glastig with a new weapon.

     The exact details of what occurred are known only to Ghoran and the emperor, but what is known to the upper echelons of hobgoblin society is that he returned without the goblin, and with crates filled with eggs. Eggs that hatched into draconic mutants later named Blood Silvers. The most that Ghoran would say on the matter was this, “I don’t know how, but chromatic and metallic hybrids are possible.”

     Ghoran’s reward was the position of Arena Announcer, a position that he took to with the same pomp and panache he took to everything. He has said in private, that he is happier than he ever imagined possible.

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