Galsariad Ardyth

Galsariad Ardyth
Depiction of Galsariad Ardyth, by Nikki Dawes from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, p. 12.
Type	NPC
Character Information
Pronouns	he/him
Creature type	Humanoid
Race	Elf (Drow)
Class	Wizard
Age	200 (around 836 PD)
Alignment	Neutral
Languages	Common, Draconic, Undercommon
Place	Rosohna
Connections	Member of Ayo Jabe's adventuring party
Profession	Adventurer
Stats
HP	90
AC	17
DC	16
Str	8
Dex	14
Con	10
Int	20
Wis	15
Cha	11
Reference(s)	Assuming he reaches Tier 3
Appearances
Other work	Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep

Galsariad Ardyth is a drow wizard and member of the rival adventuring party in Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, set around 836 PD.

Description

Appearance

Depiction of Galsariad, with scars and ruidium-infused equipment, by Nikki Dawes from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, p. 192.

Galsariad is described as beautiful and ethereally elegant, with a sarcastic demeanor when his adventures begin. He is depicted as slender, with long platinum hair, gray skin, and violet eyes. He is first seen in wizard robes, he tends to dress in deep reds and black, and he adorns himself with fine silvery chain.

Personality

The mysterious Galsariad, at least partly due to getting a late start on learning about arcane matters, has insecurities that he covers with excessive snark and talkativeness. He craves respect, even from those who aren't interested in magic, but he particularly enjoys the company of people with whom he shares common interests, like in lore about the Age of Arcanum and other ancient times. He is cunning and ruthless, and only respects those who share those qualities—though those who keep secrets from him earn his animosity. He aims to match wits with intelligent opponents, and as the adventure begins, one of his goals is to do so against an archmage. He also hopes to discover an arcane secret nobody else knows and to be respected by someone he respects. He is initially haughty, and he looks down on the "backwater" of Jigow and its residents.

Biography

Background

Galsariad was born around 636 PD, and he hails from Rosohna, the capital of the Kryn Dynasty. As of around 836 PD, when the adventure begins, he is still fairly new in his study of magic—specializing in dunamancy—and he's struck out as an adventurer to build his reputation in the Dynasty. About three weeks before the adventure begins, he is the last to join the adventuring party led by Ayo Jabe, which also includes her longtime friend Dermot Wurder and the recent additions of mercenary Maggie Keeneyes and nomad Irvan Wastewalker. At the time the adventure begins, the party has been doing odd jobs around Jigow for a few weeks.

Call of the Netherdeep

When Galsariad is first encountered at Jigow's Festival of Merit, he has just covertly offered his companion Ayo Jabe an unfair advantage in a race, which she tersely rebuffs; if he suspects that anyone else has broken the rules, he quietly signals regard for their guile. In the final challenge, if he's present when the characters reach the prayer site of Sehanine, he is unsure about being the first to touch the Jewel of Three Prayers.

If the player characters' (PCs') party claimed the Jewel, and relations between the parties are friendly, he is inquisitive about any secrets they may have uncovered. If relations are hostile and he understands the Jewel is magical, he may try to steal it himself.

Later, if the parties meet while Galsariad is on watch on the road to the Emerald Loop Caravan Stop and relations are hostile, Galsariad's reaction depends on whether he is personally hostile to every member of the PCs' party; if not, he'll quietly talk things out, but otherwise he'll wake his party for combat.

Upon arrival in Bazzoxan, his party helps defend against an attack by gibbering mouthers attack, following Ayo's orders. If the PCs retreat, Ayo may fight to the point of being gravely wounded, which leaves Galsariad worried about the party's future. Whether she is wounded or not, the battle with the aberrations is traumatic for the party, and Galsariad is the most affected, making it harder to mask his insecurities. This pushes his sarcasm almost to cruelty, directed even at his companions. When the trauma is compounded by the party's experiences in the Betrayers' Rise, they are further shaken, and Galsariad begins to feel underqualified, but instead of seeking support, he cuts himself off emotionally from everyone and pushes himself to prove his worth. Still, after they continue on to Ank'Harel, and join either the Consortium of the Vermilion Dream or the Allegiance of Allsight, if relations between the parties are friendly, it's Galsariad who reaches out to the PCs with a spell scroll of Sending.

Depiction of Galsariad (center) and his party arriving in the Netherdeep, by Robson Michel.

Joining either of the above factions in Ank'Harel leads the party to explore Cael Morrow and the Netherdeep, and Galsariad pushes through further horrors along the way in pursuit of arcane power. He doubles down on his defense mechanism by retreating even further emotionally, burying his terror and self-loathing along with all his other feelings.

When the parties have both entered the Netherdeep, the bitter and tormented Alyxian tries to spoil any friendly relations between Ayo's party and the PCs, including by whispering to Galsariad that the PCs are keeping secrets about the Netherdeep from him; this may even lead him to persuade his party to try to capture and interrogate one of the PCs. If relations are hostile, Galsariad may telekinetically collapse a tunnel to slow down the PCs. If relations are neither friendly nor hostile, Galsariad and Irvan are the least cooperative with the PCs as they approach the final encounter in the Heart of Despair.

Relationships

Within weeks of meeting the elegant Galsariad, both Ayo and Irvan have developed something of a crush for him, and this helps to keep Irvan tied to the party. Nevertheless, Ayo tersely rejects Galsariad's offer to cast a spell to help her win a competition in which that's against the rules.

Depiction of Galsariad (left, ground level) and his adventuring party camping while traveling in Xhorhas, by Robson Michel from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, p. 42.

On the road in the wastes of Xhorhas, even if his party is generally hostile to the PCs, Galsariad is apparently willing to use his own judgment about the PCs if they approach while his party is sleeping. Like other members of his party, if he personally feels friendly toward any of the PCs despite most of his party feeling otherwise, he may privately maintain contact. Still, he generally follows Ayo's lead, and if she is badly injured in Bazzoxan, he lingers outside the infirmary.

As mentioned above, when his insecurities are stirred up, he can become insulting even to his own party, and his response to troubling experiences is to retreat emotionally from the people around him as he pushes himself even harder.

If Galsariad's party dies in the Netherdeep, he may appear in the PCs' dreams for weeks to follow. One such dream may involve Galsariad trying in vain to go back in time to change his party's fate.

Character information

The following is all taken from Galsariad's Tier 3 statblock, assuming he reaches that level.

Notable items

• Ruidium dagger: Deals an extra 2d6 psychic damage on a hit, may cause Galsariad ruidium corruption if he rolls a 1 on an attack roll
  • Turns into a +2 weapon if Alyxian is redeemed or killed
• Ring of Swimming

Galsariad is also depicted holding a staff topped with ruidium, but it doesn't appear in his statblock.

Abilities

Drow abilities

• Superior Darkvision, reaching 120 ft.
• Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that would cause him to become charmed, and magic can't put him to sleep.

For reasons that are unexplained in Call of the Netherdeep, Galsariad does not have all the traits typical of a drow. He does not have Sunlight Sensitivity, he does not have proficiency in Perception, the spells granted by the Drow Magic trait do not appear in his statblocks. Nor does he have the Trance trait, but if the PCs come across his party in the middle of the night, it's he who is on watch, which is consistent with him needing less sleep than his non-elf companions.

Wizard abilities

Galsariad is a wizard who studies dunamancy, but he does not have any of the features of the Graviturgy Magic or Chronurgy Magic subclasses; instead, he has a limited mix of spells and other features that share a theme of manipulating gravity, time, and potential.

• Saving throw proficiencies: Intelligence, Wisdom
• Skill proficiencies: Arcana, Investigation
• Spells
  • At will: Mage Hand
  • (1/day each): Longstrider, Scrying (as an action), Slow, Telekinesis, Water Breathing

Special abilities

• Deflection: While wearing no armor and not incapacitated, Galsariad warps gravity around himself, adding his Intelligence modifier to his AC.
  • At lower tiers, he instead could cast Mage Armor at will.
• Drain Potential: Either a melee or long-range attack that, on a hit, deals necrotic damage and gives Galsariad temporary hit points.
• Multiattack: As an action, can make one Drain Potential attack and one dagger attack.
• Gravity Rend: (Recharges on 5 or 6) As an action, at a point he can see within 100 feet, he creates a 60-foot-wide sphere of rippling gravity that deals force damage, and those who fail a Strength saving throw are restrained; they can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns.
  • At lower tiers, the sphere was smaller and had different effects on a failed saving throw: pulling creatures toward the center of the sphere (Tier 1) and then also knocking them prone (Tier 2).
• Distort Gravity: As a reaction, Galsariad can distort gravity around himself, causing any other creature within 5 feet to take force damage, and he can float upward up to 20 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. Rather than target himself, he can target a willing creature he can see within 60 feet, and that creature can their reaction if they want to float as described. At the end of Galsariad's next turn, the effect ends and the target gently floats down up to 20 feet.

Also, Galsariad has proficiency in the Nature skill, from an unknown source.

Appearances and mentions

• Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep

Quotations

The following is all sample battle chatter:

• "You have much to learn."
• "And here I thought you possessed some talent."
• "With this next incantation, I shall pluck any hope of victory from your mind."

References

Art: