Taxmen were a group of prototype automatons built by the Golden Scythe guild under contract to the city of Avalir during the Age of Arcanum.
Description[]
Taxmen were brutish and hulking (standing about 12 feet tall) massive steel constructs. They bore sheathed 14-foot-long swords on their backs.[2][3]
Taxmen were not truly sentient but their perception, reflexes, instincts, and ability to follow complex orders was state of the art.[4] They were capable of speech.[5]
The Taxmen had been commissioned by Avalir in preparation for possible war with Aeor.[6]
History[]
The night before Avalir's final landing for the Replenishment, Nydas Okiro visited the headquarters of the Golden Scythe to requisition four prototype automata being built under contract for the city. The guild had been planning to use the month on the ground to perfect them, but they were already fully functional.[7] As requested by Laerryn Coramar-Seelie, he brought them to assist in her test of the Astral Leywright. However, Dweomer noticed that they did not bear the glyph of the Armorer Arcane,[8] and Nydas later realized those four had been tampered with by the K'nauthi.[9] Under Dweomer's direction, they aided in the experiment and were described as beginning to come apart when it succeeded.[10]
When chaos began in the streets of Avalir as the devils and K'nauthi of Asmodeus attacked the population, Nydas sent the taxmen remaining in the guildhall outside to defend the people in Excelsior Plaza.[11]
As Laerryn was frantically working to complete the modifications to the Astral Leywright before the city landed, Vespin Chloras Misty Stepped into the room, along with two of the four tampered-with taxmen. The other two were unable initially to enter the room[12] but eventually joined the battle as well.[13] One of them was destroyed when Tempus, Zerxus Ilerez's griffon, grasped it in his claw, teleported outside, and dropped it.[14]
As the city touched down and the Astral Leywright shifted a ley line into the astral planes, Asmodeus spoke through one of the surviving taxmen and they powered down before presumably being destroyed in the ensuing cataclysm.[15]
Abilities[]
When subjected to fire damage, taxmen take no damage and regain hit points. They are immune to any spell or effect that would alter their forms, and resistant against spells and other magical effects. Their swords deal not only physical damage, but also psychic damage proportional to the highest level spell slot a person is holding onto.[16] Their AC was equal to or less than 21.[17]
In addition, their abilities include:
- Reaving Dispel: Generates a 15-foot cone of dispelling that damages the opponent with any spells the cone removes from him.[18]
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 3:25:20.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 0:33:24.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 3:25:20.
- ↑ See "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 0:33:45.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 0:34:17.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 4:24:58.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 0:30:11.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 0:49:38.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 3:24:13.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 0:53:38.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 3:11:10.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 4:31:33.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 4:58:33.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:09:08.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:37:07.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 4:24:38. That the additional damage is psychic was established at 4:59:44 when Zerxus took 8 additional damage when his highest spell slot remaining was 2nd level.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:23:36.
- ↑ See "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 4:25:20. The size of the cone was established at 4:52:24.
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