Zix-Zax the Veil-Mender, a Kobold Ranger — D&D 5e NPC portrait
#0151

Zix-Zax the Veil-Mender

"The Frantic Professor of Flaws"

Kobold Ranger (Horizon Walker) CG Lvl 11 Planar Scavenger

Male (He/Him) · Middle-aged (28 years)

Ability Scores

STR
8
-1
DEX
18
+4
CON
14
+2
INT
14
+2
WIS
16
+3
CHA
10
+0

Combat

Armor Class
16
Studded Leather + Dex
Hit Points
92
Hit Dice: 11d10
Initiative
+4
Speed
30 ft.
Proficiency
+4
Passive Perception
17

Attacks

Planar Shortsword+81d6+4 piercing
Veil-Piercing Longbow+81d8+4 piercing

Personality

Personality

He speaks in rapid-fire bursts, often interrupting himself to check the 'local gravity' by dropping a small pebble. He treats every stranger like a beloved, if incredibly stupid, student.

Ideal

Cosmic Hospitality. No soul should be extinguished just because they didn't know which way was North on the Ethereal Plane.

Bond

His Firefly Jar; he believes the spirits inside are the only ones who truly know the way home.

Flaw

He is prone to 'Planar Panic'—if things get too quiet, he assumes the reality he's in is about to collapse.

Backstory

For years, Zix-Zax was the 'Shadow-Snatcher' for the Gloomwrought elite, a specialist who tracked fugitives across the jagged seams of the multiverse. He was peerless because he viewed the planes as a series of locks to be picked. That changed on the shores of the Astral Sea, when he pursued a young merchant who had accidentally tripped into a color pool. As the boy reached out for help, Zix-Zax hesitated, calculating the bounty versus the risk of the shifting tide. In that heartbeat of greed, the boy dissolved into shimmering planar dust. The silence that followed was louder than any scream.

Zix-Zax abandoned his contracts that day, trading his jagged manacles for a jar of glowing 'Chronos-Flies' and a tattered professor’s cloak. He realized that the multiverse isn't a playground for the powerful, but a labyrinth of 'invisible walls' that the unwary stumble through every day. He has since dedicated his life to teaching travelers how to walk the seams without falling. He is a frantic, stuttering guardian who believes that if he can just save enough tourists from the Far Realm’s edge, he might eventually stop seeing that merchant boy’s face in the starlight.

Abilities & Actions

The Mender's Reach (Reaction)

When a creature Zix-Zax can see within 30 feet of him is forced to move, teleports, or falls into a planar rift, he can use his reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of them. He then grants them a +5 bonus to any saving throw related to that displacement.

Chronos-Fly Guidance (Signature Item)

Zix-Zax holds his firefly jar aloft. For 1 minute, he and any allies within 20 feet of him cannot be surprised and have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened by celestials, elementals, fey, or fiends.

Distant Strikes (Action)

When Zix-Zax takes the Multiattack action, he can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space he can see. If he attacks at least two different creatures with this action, he can make a third attack against a separate creature.

Professor's Warning (Bonus Action)

Zix-Zax shouts a frantic bit of planar theory at a creature within 30 feet. That creature's next attack deals an extra 2d8 force damage as Zix-Zax highlights a 'soft spot' in the target's dimensional presence.

DM Notes

Zix-Zax should be played with high energy—think of a nervous but brilliant lecturer. He constantly adjusts his goggles and points at things the players can't see, shouting things like 'Watch the friction!' or 'Gravity is currently a suggestion, keep your knees bent!' He will never let a party enter a portal without giving them a five-minute safety briefing involving a piece of string and a half-eaten biscuit.