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Maretta
| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) |
Lady of the Counting-House |
| Home plane | 47th layer of the Abyss - Samora |
| Power level | Trusted Vassal of Graz'zt |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| Portfolio | Seduction, Temptation, Sexuality, Eroticism |
| Domains | Chaos, Evil, Temptation, Trickery |
| Superior | Graz'zt |
| Design details | |
| First appearance | Planes of Chaos - page 28 |
| Settings | Planescape |
| Mythological | Succubus |
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
Maretta is a succubus NPC character created by Lester Smith and Wolfgang Baur who appeared in the Planes of Chaos sourcebook for the Planescape setting of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. Her appearance in this module was only a short note with regards to her position in the Abyss and some very basic statistics. She also appeared, in a very limited way, in Fiendish Codex I where her history was detailed more fully, but again with very basic statistics.
She made a second appearance as a member of the Original Sins Cartel in another incarnation where more information was given about her including a detailed history and statistics. In this version of her history, she is a founding member of the Original Sins Cartel along with the Succubi Red Shroud and Chiryn.
Description
Maretta is a co-founder of the Original Sins Cartel and rules a city called Counting House on the 47th layer of the Abyss called Samora. She is generally referred to as The Succubus Lady of the Counting-House in Graz'zt's realm.The city itself is essentially one large casino and den of iniquity, think Las Vegas, only worse. She likes to corrupt mortals through vices - drugs, gambling, drinking, and so on. However, she prefers to maintain her city at its present size and wishes to keep it out of the Blood War.
Appearance
Maretta's natural appearance is that of a tan skinned woman with blond hair, normally worn up in a beehive. She appears to be physically in her late 20's and has blue eyes and her wings are gold. She favors sequined, gold lame evening gowns and lots of jewelry. Maretta has the skills of a 6th level thief.
History
One of Graz'zt's trusted servants, Maretta keeps track of her lords innumerable dealings with the greedy, power-hungry mortals of many worlds. The Lady of the Counting-House also presides over the deals and bargains that Graz'zt has struck with other Abyssal Lords and even fouler creatures over time. Both making and maintaining these deals requires a great deal of creativity.
Maretta protects her lord's interests as well, having the command of 13 Alu-Fiends that patrol the Counting-House, the dungeons beneath, and the city of Samora. These 13 are known as the Lady's Lancers for their preferred means of attack, which involves flying above a foe and then diving toward their target with the lances they carry for just such circumstances. The Lancers usually work alone, though a distress call from Maretta brings any of them in the area to her aid. Several of the Lancers are assigned to guard the currently mortal Waukeen.
At the time of Red Shroud's and Chiryn's betrayal, Maretta was still new to her position as one of Graz'zt's trusted vassals. Although being responsible for one of the layers of the Triple Realm is an incredible success for a lesser tanar'ri, Maretta found she missed the freedom of being able to travel as she wished to the Prime Material Plane and engage in the seduction of mortals. She was almost desperate to find some way to get some of her "glory days" back again. Fortunately for Maretta, her two traitorous sisters of Red Shroud and Chiryn were fleeing a pair of vengeful armies and seeking refuge. The two came to Maretta's holdings in hopes of pledging themselves to Graz'zt's cause, as well as gambling on the slim chance that Maretta would have some sympathy for them since they were all of the same breed. It was fortunate for Red Shroud and Chiryn that Maretta was not yet comfortable with her position. The Lady of the Counting House took them in, and made them pledge themselves to her, not informing Graz'zt about this. Maretta used the two traitors as a pair of personal hunters - she would send them to the Prime Material Plane to bring back mortals for her own use.
Over the course of several centuries the three succubi found this arrangement to be very profitable for all involved, especially when they managed to ignore their jealousy and paranoia long enough to actually work together. They eventually formalized their arrangement and began consistently harvesting more souls combined than if the three had worked individually. Although this group success granted an increase in status to the trio, Red Shroud still chafed at the idea of being beholden to any one, even a supposed equal. In addition to using the partnership to further perfect her skills as a poisoner and gatherer of information, Red Shroud took the opportunity to study Maretta to learn how to gain and maintain a position of importance. Finally, Red Shroud felt confident enough to take the next step on the path to power.
About four hundred years ago, Red Shroud physically distanced herself from her partners and assumed control of a small, for the Abyss, army on the Plain of Infinite Portals, thus breaking up the trio.
Statistics
| Name | Maretta |
| Title | Lady of the Counting-House |
| Type | Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Mazza im) |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| Hit Dice | 15d8 + 90 (187 hp) |
| Initiative | +5 |
| Speed | 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (average) |
| Armor Class | 34 (+6 armor, +4 deflection, +5 Dex, +9 natural), touch 19, flat-footed 29, combat 33 |
| Base Attack/Combat | +15/+18 |
| Attack | Claw +24 melee (1d6 + 9) or fire ray +24 ranged touch (1d6 + 5 fire) |
| Full Attack | 2 claws +24 melee (1d6 + 9) |
| Space/Reach | 5 ft. /5 ft. |
| Special Attacks | Elemental blast, energy drain, reserve magic, spell-like abilities, spells, summon demon |
| Special Qualities | Damage reduction 10/cold iron and good, darkvision, *Graz'zt's favor, immunity to electricity and poison, resistance to acid 10, cold 10 and fire 10, spell resistance 26, telepathy 100 ft. |
| Saves | Fort +19, Ref +18, Will +19 |
| Abilities | Str 16, Dex 20, Con 23, Int 24, Wis 22, Cha 29 |
| Skills | Bluff +27, Concentration +24, Diplomacy +33, Disguise +27 (+29 acting), Escape Artist +20, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (local) +25, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +25, Knowledge (religion) +15, Knowledge (the planes) +25, Linguistics +20, Perception +32, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +23 |
| Feats | Dark Speech, Empower Spell, Energy Substitution, Fiery Burst, Fly-by Attack, Practiced Spellcaster, Searing Flame, Violate Spell, Winter's Blast |
| Climate/Terrain | Azzagrat (The Abyss) |
| Organization | Solitary (unique) or with the Lady's Lancers (1-13) |
| Challenge Rating | 15 |
| Treasure | Possessions |
| Always Active | tongues, unholy aura (DC 27) |
| At Will | charm monster (DC 23), detect good, detect thoughts (DC 21), ethereal jaunt, polymorph, suggestion (DC 21), greater teleport |
| Level | Spells Known |
|---|---|
| 0 | acid orb, arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read magic |
| 1 | alarm, burning hands, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shield, unseen servant |
| 2 | blur, eagle's splendor, false life, misdirection, scorching ray |
| 3 | dispel magic, haste, lightning bolt, protection from energy |
| 4 | enervation, scrying, wall of fire |
| 5 | feeblemind, fire shield |
- Elemental Blast: Once per day, Maretta can unleash a 20 ft. radius burst dealing 14d6 points of fire damage. Reflex DC 23 half. Creatures that fail their save also gain vulnerability to fire for 1 round. The burst has a range of 60 ft.
- Energy Drain (Su): Maretta can drain energy by luring a living creature into an act of passion or planting a kiss on the victim. An unwilling target must be grappled in order to do so. The kiss or embrace bestows one negative level. The kiss also has the effect of a suggestion spell, asking the victim to accept another kiss. A Will save (DC 33) negates the suggestion. The DC to remove the negative level is 33.
- Reserve Magic (Su): Fiery Blast 3d6 to 5d6 fire damage, 5 ft. burst. Winter's Embrace 2d4-5d4 cold damage, 15 ft. cone. The damage die depends on the highest level spell slot Maretta has available. If her highest level spell available is lower than the minimum die damage, Maretta can not make use of the power.
- Summon Demon (Sp): Twice per day Maretta can summon 2d6 alu-fiends or 1d3 vrocks.
- Graz'zt's Favor (Ex): Maretta uses her Charisma modifier in place of her Strength or Dexterity modifier for attacks and damage.
- Skills: Maretta has a +8 racial bonus on Perception checks.
- Possessions: Wand of summon monster IV, staff of evocation, rod of maximize metamagic, pearl of power (4th-5th), ring of wizardry V, bracers of armor +6
References
- Smith, Lester and Wolfgang Baur, Planes of Chaos, TSR, 1994.