Shriek Emissary – Dragon Age Conversion (by jaythegreenling)

## Shriek Emissary

(Dragon Age II – Emissary Apprentice)

These gaunt and animalistic darkspawn are sometimes known as sharlocks, but most call them “shrieks” due to their loud, wailing cries.

Shriek emissaries seem to originate from shriek alphas, and are some of the most dangerous spellcasters a group of adventurers can encounter. Rarely encountered alone, they usually lead medium to large groups of darkspawn. They are fiercely intelligent and capable of wielding magic with a potency rare even for other darkspawn emissaries.

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Emissary Apprentice: While not called a shriek in the game, this emissary very much looks like one with its tall, gaunt body and pointy ears. So i decided to make life a little harder for my players.

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### Strategy

Just like any other type of shriek, shriek emissaries are quite skilled at sneaking up on their adversaries unnoticed, though considering they have no significant melee capabilities, they prefer to keep their enemies at a distance.

They like to open combat by launching fiery attacks at their targets, which includes their Arcane Bolt and Arcane Lance. Some shriek emissaries will immediately try to render their targets useless by casting Mind Blast, especially when they are standing close together. This gives the other shrieks an opportunity for deadly follow up attacks.

Should an enemy get uncomfortably close, shriek emissaries usually put some distance between themselves and their attacker using their Displacement ability. They like to follow this up with an Arcane Shield or Fade Shield.

When somehow cornered or outnumbered significantly (2:1 is already too dicey for shrieks), shriek alphas will call out to their own and make a quick escape, even going so far as to leave possible stragglers behind.

Spellpower: 15 (17 for Flame and Mastery Arcana)

Mana: 70

Favoured Stunts: Fast Casting (3 SP for Flame and Mastery Arcana), Imposing Spell, Mighty Spell (1 SP)

Arcane Fire: The shriek emissary’s Arcane Blast and Arcane Bolt deal fire damage and get a +2 bonus to damage.

Displacement: When a shriek emissary takes a move action, it can float up into the air at rapid speed and land in any location in 20 yards that it can see.

Fire Resistance: Shriek emissaries are immune to fire damage. Magical damage of this type can still harm them, but it does half damage.

Low-Light Vision: Shrieks have incredible eyesight. They suffer no penalty in bad light conditions.

Masterful Casting: When shriek emissaries cast spells from the Mastery and Telekinesis Arcana, their cost in Magic Points is reduced by 1, to a minimum of 1.

Powers: Arcane Blast (Level 1 mage power but no staff is required), Spell Blast (Level 6 mage power), Big Blast (Level 8 mage power), Power Blast (Level 10 mage power)

Shriek: The shriek emissary’s distinctive shriek requires a minor action, and forces anyone who hears it to make a TN 14 Willpower (Courage) test or suffer a –1 penalty to attack tests and Defence until the end of the encounter. These effects are not cumulative.

Spells: Arcane Bolt, Arcane Shield, Arcane Torch, Fade Shield, Fireball, Flame Blast, Force Field, Inferno, Mind Blast, Sense Mood

Talents: Flame Arcana (Master), Mastery Arcana (Master), Telekinesis Arcana (Novice)

Tough Hide: Thanks to their thick skin and coarse leathers, shriek emissaries have an Armour Rating of 4.

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Optionally, you can give shriek emissaries (or other darkspawn) the following stunt: Infect (4 SP) from the Dragon AGE Core Rulebook p. 261. This allows a darkspawn to try and spread the Taint, which, depending on how you handle the Taint in your game, can lead to PC death rather quickly, so use this rule with caution.

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### PDF Download

The link leads to a pdf hosted on mega.nz and contains all the same information as this page, as well as a Dragon AGE stat block.