Editing Darklord (section)

==Leederik the Phantom Lover==
Darklord of Leederik's Tower. Leederik breaks all the rules for Darklords in that we know fucking ''nothing'' about the prick. We don't know who he was, we don't know what curse he has, we don't know how to kill him (permanently, at least), we don't even know if he's really a Darklord at all as opposed to being some kind of evil emanation of the [[Demiplane of Dread]]!

The Phantom Lover's basic deal is that he shows up to haunt women who are consumed by grief  and loneliness, wearing the visage of whatever lost lover they are mourning - save for the telltale flaw that his left foot is a black-scaled, taloned paw, similar to a [[dragon]] foot. He leeches their vitality (draining Strength, in AD&D) until there is very little left, then seduces them to follow him to the nearest graveyard, where an empty grave has become a portal by which he can spirit them away to his domain. He doesn't seem to ''want'' to kill his abducted brides, but his domain is so inhospitable that none survive unless they are quickly rescued. 

Leederik can freely move between the [[Demiplane of Dread]] and the rest of the [[multiverse]]; he is known to have visited the [[Forgotten Realms]], where an an ancient Cormyran folktale exists about his visit; this is the earliest known sighting of the Phantom Lover. However, he can only materialize in either a graveyard or a woman's bedroom, and it ''must'' be an actual room - in fact, the easiest way to stop him from carrying off a victim is by forcing her to sleep in the open air for three consecutive nights. When he visits a woman's room, which is marked by the room filling with a thin, sweet-scented mist, he can magically seal their door, requiring magic or brute force to open it, as well as being able to animate its door to attack would-be rescuers or put them into an enchanted slumber, whereupon his bewitched victim will murder them without a second's thought. In a graveyard, he can telekinetically bash would-be assailants against the nearby crypts, animate [[zombie]]s to defend himself, and summon swarms of venomous black snakes - he also usually has a bodyguard of 2d8 draconic-featured [[gargoyle]]s stationed there to defend him. He also as the ability to transform into a cloud of mist, a black snake, or a [[gargoyle]] designed with features reminiscent a [[Chromatic Dragon#Black Dragon|Black Dragon]].

In the ''Darklords'' [[splatbook]], he is compared most explicitly to a [[vampire]]; he can only be harmed by Blessed +1 or stronger weapons, halted for 1 round with a splash of holy water, and compelled to flee back to the [[Demiplane of Dread]] with a Dispel Evil or Sunray spell. Also, the women he seduces are effectively placed under a powerful Charm Person spell. [[Van Richten]], however, suggests he may be a "Fifth Magnitude" [[Ghost]] in the revised version of his Guide to Ghosts in the Monster Hunter's Compendium II.

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phantom lover RR1.jpg|You know what they say about big feet.
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