Dr. Alistair Kaelen, a Half-Elf Warlock — D&D 5e NPC portrait
#0261

Dr. Alistair Kaelen

"The Archivist of Echoes"

Half-Elf Warlock (The Great Old One) NG Lvl 20 Sage (Librarian)

Masculine (He/Him) · 62 years, late middle-age for a half-elf

Ability Scores

STR
10
+0
DEX
14
+2
CON
14
+2
INT
18
+4
WIS
16
+3
CHA
20
+5

Combat

Armor Class
15
Armor of Shadows (Mage Armor)
Hit Points
143
Hit Dice: 20d8
Initiative
+2
Speed
30 ft.
Proficiency
+6
Passive Perception
19

Attacks

Eldritch Blast (Empathy Beam)+111d10+5 force
Dagger of the Archivist+81d4+2 piercing

Personality

Personality

Soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, Alistair often speaks to thin air as if responding to a quiet friend. He habitually polishes his copper locket when thinking and offers tea to even the most hostile adversaries.

Ideal

Preservation. No soul is truly gone until the last memory of them fades into the void.

Bond

The Copper Locket, which contains the 'Last Breath' of a forgotten civilization.

Flaw

He is often more concerned with the history of a ruin than the monsters currently trying to kill him inside it.

Backstory

Alistair was once a simple cataloger at the Great Library of Silverymoon, specialized in 'lost and untranslatable' texts. His life changed during the Great Cataloging of the Sunless Vault, where he discovered a manuscript written in a script that bled off the page. Upon touching it, Alistair didn't go mad; instead, he felt an overwhelming, crushing sense of loneliness emanating from a consciousness floating in the lightless spaces between stars. He realized that the Far Realm wasn't just a place of horror, but a graveyard of forgotten realities. He made a pact not for power, but for the capability to listen to the stories that time had discarded.

For thirty years, he has wandered the most dangerous corners of the Multiverse, not to slay monsters, but to document them. He once sat for three days in the path of a world-eating Beholder, not to fight it, but to ask it about its mother. He believes that every consciousness, no matter how alien or terrifying, deserves a witness. His copper locket doesn't hold the picture of a lost love, but the distilled essence of a sun that went dark a billion years before the first elf was born—a silent promise that as long as he breathes, that light still exists.

He is currently following the 'thread of a whisper' through ancient ruins, seeking the name of a gardener who died in a city buried by the sands of time. To Alistair, that gardener's favorite flower is as important as the fall of a kingdom, for both are threads in the grand tapestry of existence that he is sworn to preserve.

Abilities & Actions

Chronicle of the Forgotten (Signature Item)

While holding his copper locket, Alistair can use an action to cast 'Legend Lore' or 'Speak with Dead' without expending a spell slot or material components. When he uses 'Speak with Dead' this way, the corpse can answer any number of questions, and it must answer truthfully if it was Neutral or Good in life.

Radical Empathy (Reaction, 5/Day)

When a creature Alistair can see within 60 feet makes an attack roll or casts a spell that deals damage, Alistair can force the creature to make a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature is overwhelmed by the collective memories of those it has harmed; the attack or spell automatically fails, and the creature is Charmed by Alistair until the end of its next turn.

Librarian's Reach (Action)

Alistair summons 1d4+1 translucent, starlit tentacles from the Far Realm. These tentacles last for 1 minute and can be used to perform the Help action, use an object, or Grapple a creature (DC 19). They have a reach of 30 feet and can move objects weighing up to 500 lbs with delicate precision.

The Second Death’s Delay (1/Long Rest)

If a creature Alistair can see within 30 feet drops to 0 hit points, Alistair can use his reaction to weave a cocoon of starlight around them. The creature is stabilized and cannot take damage for 1 minute, as Alistair temporarily 'archives' their physical form into the Far Realm's safety.

DM Notes

Alistair speaks with the gentle cadence of a grandfather reading a bedtime story. He will never initiate combat. If attacked, he looks disappointed rather than angry, sighing, 'Oh dear, let's not make a memory we'll both regret.' He carries a small tin of 'Eldritch Earl Grey' and will offer a cup to players. He reacts to cosmic horrors with 'How fascinating! Do you find the void chilly this time of eon?'