“Gemma” Aka Giselle Fatebound

Companion Villain and NPC

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 Drop In Villains
and Factions
An Antagonist Supplement
Designed for 5th Edition of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game

Joshua Jenne and Jason Gehringer

Authors

www.leopardprintpress.com
“Gemma” Aka Giselle Fatebound
“Chaos creates opportunities for new futures to reveal themselves. Once the future you desire is possible, destroy any
variables that will prevent it.”

Description Giselle will introduce herself as “Gemma” until she

fully trusts the party with her real name. She wants to
Trapped inside of a magical artifact for centuries, this
keep her true name and the actions of her past cabal a
tagalong villain helps the party with her telepathy,
secret from the party, for if the party finds out that
magic, fortunetelling, and knowledge. Persuasive, fun,
she was responsible for the failed Ascension Ritual
and charming, Giselle Fatebound pushes the party to
and its aftermath, her relationship with the party
create chaos. In the ensuing madness, she then
could go sour. She is extremely confident in her
manipulates and influences outcomes with her
visions and ability to tell the future. Should the party
magical abilities. There is a method to her madness -
try to betray her, she is completely fine with replacing
chaos creates opportunities that she will exploit to
them with a new party.
her advantage. Giselle, aka “Gemma” as she will first
introduce herself, longs to escape from her Gem
Prison. She will lie, deceive, and charm her way into Backstory
fulfilling that goal, no matter the cost. Centuries ago, a cabal of wizards worked together to
rewrite the rules of reality. The cabal hated how gods
Under the guise of friendship, prophecy, or treated mortals as pawns and playthings. They saw
otherwise, Giselle will send the party on a quest to themselves as slaves to the god’s foolish whims and
collect her grimoires, which will free her from her despised how they were forced into afterlives based
prison. What she will do with that freedom may be on belief. Thus, the cabal crafted the Ascension
catastrophic for all... Ritual, a spell that would rewrite reality and remove
the gods from power. Giselle belonged to this cabal
How to Use Gemma and helped the them perfect the Ascension Ritual.
However, the spell was far too ambitious. Should any
Giselle Fatebound, aka “Gemma” is a companion
calculations be incorrect, the results would be
NPC and can be the DM’s opportunity to have fun
disastrous. And they were. Giselle foresaw that the
with their party, push them towards plot, and
spell would fail, and despite her warnings, the cabal
convince them to be chaotic. Giselle has been trapped
pushed forward with their attempt anyway. Giselle
in this gem for centuries and needs the
was able to protect herself from the spell’s effects by
entertainment!
binding herself within a protective gem, now called
the Gem Prison. Unfortunately, due to time
Bound by her own ancient magic, the Gem Prison
constraints, the prison was flawed, and she cannot
that contains Giselle Fatebound can only be opened
free herself without her Grimoires. Normal magic
by a spell she crafted centuries ago. The components
does not work on the prison, including the Wish spell
for this spell are found within her three grimoires,
and especially Divine Intervention.
which must be gathered from an old acquaintance,
who is now a lich, Giselle’s wizard tower located in
Giselle has spent the last few centuries trapped in the
her private demiplane, and Giselle’s old apprentice,
gem. Due to the nature of the gem, its magic has fused
who is now a powerful wizard in his own right. These
with Giselle and has given her the ability to cast spells
quests on their own can be their own campaign or
innately. This, combined with her understanding of
part of a larger campaign that you are running.
magic through her training as a wizard, has made her
an even more powerful spellcaster than before.

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Giselle has learned how to cast a limited number of Warlock Patron
spells outside of her prison and can now The player character has been communicating with
telepathically communicate with people on the Gemma in some way shape or form for a while now.
outside. Through the use of her Dreamwalking spell, She has granted the player character warlock powers
Giselle has been able to keep up with current events as per the Archfey patron. You can adjust the nature of
and manipulate events around her. the warlock pact depending on your player or
campaign setting as you see fit.
Player Backstory Tie Ins
When choosing this option, expand Gemma’s
“My esteemed pupil… you can have everything you want,
mechanics to be able to offer warlock powers and
and more. ‘Yes sir, no sir’ you say, as if these people were
flavor her as you wish.
your betters. They’re beneath you. Unleash the power
within, and reshape your destiny.”
Rise, My Apprentice
There are many ways to tie Giselle into your player’s Through fate, fortune, or manipulation, a wizard or
backstories for stronger investment. Below are a few sorcerer has attained the Gem Prison. She promises
suggestions. this character the power to learn great magic and
achieve their goals through her tutelage. Giselle sees
Dreamer’s Destiny the player character as her beloved apprentice, and
The player character has had multiple prophetic will help them become a powerful spellcaster… as
dreams, but they do not know they are from Gemma. long as they help her retrieve her Grimoires.
She has appeared as an ancestor, a patron, a family
member, or maybe even the dreamer’s chosen deity. Mechanics
Regardless, she has been manipulating the player
“The universe is bound by fundamental laws. Through
character from the beginning, stating that it is their
magic, we can rewrite them.”
destiny to find her artifact and gather her grimoires.
Since the mechanics of Giselle shapes her roleplay, we
A Debt Owed have included those first to give you a better
The player character ended up with the Gem Prison understanding of how she can operate.
through chance, theft, or otherwise. Gemma helped the
player character out of a bad situation and gave them a
string of good fortune. Perhaps the character escaped debt Spell Limitations
by winning a risky hand in a card game, or Gemma helped For balance reasons, it is important to keep Giselle’s
them escape imprisonment. Maybe Gemma saved their spell range outside of the Gem Prison to only 30 feet.
life! No matter the cause, Gemma’s help has been The exception to this rule is her Dreamwalking spell.
significant to the player character, and they do her bidding Outside of Manipulating the Future, Dreamwalking,
out of newfound loyalty, obligation, or debt. and Telepathy, she should not use other spells until
she has been released from her prison. However, you
Family Heirloom (Inheritor) may alter her to be able to use any spell she knows
The Gem Prison has been in the character’s family’s outside of the prison as you see fit. The key is to stay
possession for generations. It has acted as a Pendant of consistent and avoid using her as a Deus Ex Machina
Protection, with the story that the “family’s guardian” is or having the party become overly reliant on her
inside. The character’s parents could never abilities. As time goes on, you can also have her learn
understand why, but they have always felt more how to cast other spells outside of the prison.
protected when wearing the pendant. Through fate or
circumstance, the pendant is now in the player
character’s hands. And its inhabitant has begun
speaking to them…
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Telepathy Historian
After many years of attempts, Giselle finally discovered how Despite being trapped in her gem for centuries, Gemma has
to cast spells outside of her prison. The most important one been able to keep up with current events around the world
being the ability to telepathically connect with creatures on and knows much about history from both before her
the outside. Through telepathy, Giselle has been able to imprisonment. She may know bits of history or lore that
manipulate adventuring parties to further her goals. escape the party’s notice, but she will withhold information
and feign ignorance should she be asked to reveal something
Giselle can communicate telepathically with any she does not wish to share.
creature within 30 feet of the Gem Prison. She also
has access to the spell Telepathic Bond an unlimited When the party attempts or fails a history check,
amount of times per day. She will cast it on all party Gemma may fill the party in on what she knows. She
members and herself, linking the party telepathically. can also lie and give them false information. Should
Unwilling recipients of the spell may make a wisdom she lie, the party can make an insight check of DC20
saving throw of DC 17 to resist. This can be raised or to tell if she is not being completely truthful. You can
lowered depending on your party’s strength. raise or lower this depending on your party.
However, if one does not wish to be a recipient of the
spell, Gemma will remove them from the effects as Arcana Savant
she does not want to annoy the party member. Gemma was one of the most powerful wizards of her
time, and entrapment within her prison has only
Manipulating the Future given her time to further her studies. She may impart
Despite Giselle’s mastery of arcane magic, she is first and her magical knowledge when the party attempts or
foremost a student of Divination. It was her talent in this fails an Arcana check. However, she will keep
field that allowed her to survive her cabal’s failed attempt at information to herself if she deems it necessary.
their reality-altering spell. While chaotic in nature, Gemma
has always had a safety net of knowing just how far she can Dreamwalking
push variables but still achieve the outcomes she desires. Gemma’s Dreamwalking spell is a more powerful
version of the Dream spell. This spell has a 100-mile
As a gift for parties that help her in her quest, Giselle radius, and she has been using it to manipulate people
can give out 1 to 3 portent dice per day (as described in and push rulers to make decisions that have helped
the Divination Wizard Subclass). To do so, roll a the party discover her. Gemma may use this spell to
1d20, and give the result to a party member of manipulate party members, give them “glimpses” of
Gemma’s choosing. Until your next long rest, the the future, plant false ideas, or to push them towards
recipient can replace any attack roll, saving throw, certain decisions.
skill check, or ability check made by themselves or a
creature that they can see with one of these foretelling While using Dreamwalking, Gemma enters the
rolls. You may choose to do this after seeing the result target’s dream and can converse with the target as
of a roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only long as they remain asleep. Gemma can shape the
once per turn. environment of the dream, creating landscapes,
objects, and other images. Gemma can appear to the
DM NOTE: You can also reward party members with target dreamer in any shape or form she desires. The
a portent dice for good roleplay, for doing anything target recalls the dream perfectly upon waking.
Gemma finds amusing, or for furthering Gemma’s
goals. You may also hold onto Gemma’s portent dice Unwilling recipients of Dreamwalking must make a
for yourself, which she can use to assist the party with DC20 wisdom saving throw to resist the intrusion.
certain outcomes.

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Roleplay Strengths
“After all… why shouldn’t you?” “I am all knowing.”

This section details how you can roleplay Gemma Charm

based on her personality, history, motivations, and Even before her imprisonment, Giselle Fatebound
goals within the context of interacting with the player was a known charmer who could influence others
characters. into her way of thinking. She knows which buttons to
push and will do so to further her goals.
Gemma’s voice is alluring, seductive, and fun when
she is telepathically communicating with party
Intelligence
members. She loves a good joke and gets along well
As an archmage, Giselle is highly intelligent and can
with witty party members. She keeps her real name a
make strong deductions based on logic.
secret due to not wanting to be revealed as part of the
cabal that failed the catastrophic Ascension Ritual.
She introduces herself as “Gemma” and finds the
Magical Knowledge
Gemma’s magical knowledge can help parties with
name hilarious. She will use her charm as much as
Arcana checks, and she will explain the fundamentals
possible with all party members in order to push the
of magic to others. She will also take on an apprentice
party towards finding her grimoires so that she can
in the party if desired. Gemma has access to all
escape the gem prison. She is excited to be talking to
Wizard, Sorcerer, and Bard spells. However, she can
people again after years of solitude within the gem.
only cast a few of them outside of the gem as per the
mechanics section.
Gemma despises the gods and the afterlives that they
have planned for mortals. This can lead to her giving
backhanded comments about the gods or their clergy. Weaknesses
As much as she enjoys making snide remarks on the “I don’t have any of those.”
subject of religion, she will not overdo it and
jeopardize her mission. You may have her pose as a
Vanity
player character’s deity in order to get them to do her
Like most mages, Gemma is overly confident in her
bidding, which she will find hilarious.
abilities. Her vanity and pride can be a weak spot, and
anyone attacking those will quickly earn her ire.
Gemma is also a proponent of chaos. Her entrapment
in the gem has been frightfully boring, and she loves
stirring the pot. Should a party member have Overly Trusting in Her Visions
intrusive thoughts about stealing or causing mayhem, Gemma has survived for centuries due to her ability
she will encourage it, going so far as to lend her to see and manipulate the future. However, she is
Manipulating the Future ability to the cause. overly confident in her abilities, and may push the
However, she will not endanger the party too heavily chaos too far. She may be a little insane due to her
as she knows that they are her best chance at escaping imprisonment, and will grouchy when others doubt
imprisonment. her visions or disagree with her entering their minds.

DM NOTE: You can use Gemma’s intrusiveness at

key moments to push players towards certain plot
points you desire, such as interacting with an NPC,
character plot, or investigating a McGuffin the party
may have missed.

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Secrecy and “Needing” the Party However, should the spell fail, the results will be
Gemma knows that she will need to convince the disastrous and cataclysmic. A magical dark age will
party to help her out, and will offer her abilities to the envelop the world, and there will be no barriers
party. Wise parties will know that all of these are between any of the worlds or planes. The spell will
extremely helpful, but for more gold-oriented parties, fail regardless of what Gemma and the party do.
she will offer the riches held alongside her grimoires
as motivation. If Betrayed by the Party
“Fools. Do you think you are the only ones capable of
Giselle knows that keeping her identity a secret is accomplishing these tasks? Another group, another party,
important as well - the Ascension Ritual caused a another warlord will come by, and they will finish what we
near apocalypse centuries ago, and anyone who have started. You could have been there with me, but fate
knows about Giselle or her Cabal will know she was has foretold my ascendancy. See you soon.”
responsible. You can alter what effects the Ascension
Ritual had in your own campaign or world to fit any Should the party betray Gemma and get rid of her
existing narratives you have. Gem Prison, Gemma will reach out to another NPC
and continue her quest. This can be a local warlord, a
Motivation and Goals greedy king, an ambitious noble, a deep sea sahuagin
ruler - the possibilities are endless. The party ditching
Giselle is first and foremost an architect of fate, which the Gem Prison presents an opportunity to introduce
has led her to despise the gods and their power over another villain that will work against the party and
mortals. Below are her primary and secondary goals try to free Giselle. Since her Gem Prison cannot be
to better shape her interactions with the world. destroyed, it will be found.

Short Term Goal: Escape the Gem Prison

Gemma’s primary motivation is freedom from her
Plot Hooks
prison, no matter the cost. She has lived for centuries Any of the Player Backstory Tie Ins will work to
within the gem and has foreseen that her escape will introduce Giselle. Otherwise, use the hooks below.
happen under certain conditions - conditions she will
manipulate the party into performing for her. A Vision of the Future
A player receives a vision of a great treasure at the
Long Term Goal: The Ascension Ritual bottom of a dungeon. After an arduous dungeon
However, Giselle’s freedom comes with a darker crawl, they discover that the treasure is the Gem
secret. The centuries she has spent trapped in her Prison.
prison has only given her time to ruminate and obsess
over the Ascension Ritual her cabal failed to cast. The Dream Visitor
With her freedom attained, she will once again Gemma visits the players in a dream and asks for
attempt the spell to free mortals from the gods by help, setting off a quest to find her Gem Prison. The
completely severing the divine thread between Gem Prison is found either in a dungeon, within a
mortals and gods. Prayers will go unanswered, divine king or noble’s treasury, or in the possession of a
magic will cease to work, and the afterlife will cease monster.
to exist unless Gemma creates one.
A Mysterious Merchant
The Gem Prison is purchased from a magic shop. The
seller may or may not know about its inhabitant.

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Example Campaign Once Seardath is defeated, the party collects the first
grimoire and the treasures Seardath has accumulated.
“I have shaped your futures as I see fit. Fight it, or don’t -
This grimoire will unlock Gemma’s ability to send the
the result is the same.”
party to her old demiplane, which contains the
second grimoire.
Below is an example campaign we have written in
order to send your players on a five-part quest
Act 2 - The Quest to The Demiplane
involving Giselle. This adventure has you first finding
With the first grimoire in hand, Giselle is able to send
her Gem Prison, adventuring to three different
the party to her old Demiplane, which holds her
locales to find her grimoires (while finding out some
wizard tower and the second grimoire. However, the
of the more unsavory pieces of her backstory along
demiplane is highly dangerous as its defenses were
the way), and ending in a finale where you go to the
never deactivated. Giselle will do her best to
original location of the Ascension Ritual and defeat
remember which ones are in effect...
her before she can cast the spell.
Once in the demiplane, the party must defeat the
Prologue wizard tower’s defenses both inside and out.
The party receives the gem prison containing
Gemma/Giselle. Use previous plot hooks and/or The wizard tower provides environmental
player backstory tie ins. storytelling through clues and hints about Gemma’s
life before becoming imprisoned, including the fact
Act 1: The First Grimoire that she and her cabal nearly caused an apocalypse
Gemma sends the party on a quest to retrieve her first through casting the Ascension Ritual. These hints also
Grimoire, which is being held by a Lich, Seardath. reveal that Giselle may be more villainous than she
The party finds out later that the Lich is a former appears. If it hasn’t been exposed yet, Gemma’s true
member of Giselle’s cabal and is one of the few name as Giselle Fatebound can be revealed.
survivors of the original Ascension Ritual.
At the top of the tower, the second grimoire is
Optional Hook: The party can find out about defended by Giselle’s magical golem butler. He will
Seardath when they are assaulted by undead that are not hand over the grimoire willingly, as after years of
searching for the Gem Prison. It is revealed that they neglect and resentment, he now wants to destroy
were sent by Seardath, who wants to destroy Gemma Gemma.
and the Gem Prison. Should the party give Gemma to
the Lich, she will overpower him and find a new party Once defeated, the second grimoire is attained along
to gather her grimoires. with a treasure trove of magical artifacts and gold for
the party. The third grimoire’s location is revealed
The party goes into a dungeon to confront Seardath through Giselle’s scrying mirror. The grimoire is with
and retrieve the grimoire. Seardath exposes some Giselle’s former apprentice, who is somehow still
backstory about Gemma that she may not yet want alive, now an archmagus, and lives in a volcano lair.
revealed.
Sensing the disturbance, the apprentice looks into the
The party discovers that the Lich is a former member scrying orb, denotes that only Giselle could activate it
of Gemma’s cabal that somehow survived their and that he will make sure she doesn’t succeed in her
reality-shattering spell, the Ascension Ritual. The quest. The apprentice then destroys the scrying orb,
Lich warns the party that she will try it again, and that cutting off communication.
it will not work. Gemma of course claims these are
the musings of an old, withered brain out of touch
with reality.
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Act 3 - The Party Finds the Lost Apprentice Act 4 - Stopping the Ascension Ritual
and Third Grimoire Either through Ignan’s help or via notes in Ignan’s
Aware that Giselle Fatebound has returned, her laboratory, the party learns that the Ascension Ritual
former apprentice strengthens the defenses of his must be cast where it was originally attempted - in a
volcano lair. powerful magical nexus located at the bottom of a
crater that was caused by the first attempt.
Giselle warns the party that her former apprentice,
named Ignan, is a powerful evocation wizard who The dungeon is wild-magic themed. Feel free to add
specializes in fire magic, so dress accordingly. gravity puzzles and add effects that hamper or
increase the potency of magic.
Should the party be wary of Giselle, she will use all of
her charm to persuade the party to continue the quest Once the party reaches the end, they will fight Giselle
for her last grimoire. She may also lie to them and say and stop the Ascension Ritual.
that she only wants her freedom and will not attempt
the spell. The Ascension Ritual requires 8 components, which
Giselle has laid out in a magic circle. She will use all
The party must locate the volcano lair and then fight of her tricks, magic, and summons to stop the party.
their way through fire-themed traps, environmental
effects, and fire elementals. Should the Ascension Ritual Be Attempted
If the party decides to help Giselle with the Ascension
Once they reach Ignan, he will echo what the lich ritual, or fail to stop her from completing the spell,
Seardath said - that Giselle is not all she seems, and there will be catastrophic consequences. These
that she will once again attempt the Ascension Ritual, consequences can set up another campaign to fix or
which will destroy life as we know it. Giselle will undo the effects, or to help survivors establish new
either deny that she will cast the spell, or argue that lives. Below are some ideas of what can happen
the spell will succeed. should the spell be attempted, but feel free to add
your own:
Should the party side with Ignan and try to destroy
Giselle, she will temporarily exit the gem and teleport Divine magic stops working.
away with the third grimoire, unlocking act 4. The The gods are furious with mortals and take their
party will have Ignan as an ally to help locate her and vengeance out on them.
stop the ritual. Mortals are unable to enter the afterlife.
The boundaries between planes fail, and the
If the party defeats Ignan, Giselle will come out of her planes begin merging.
gem prison and offer the party a choice - help her Millions of people mutate into monsters, as the
complete the Ascension Ritual, or go on with their Ascension Ritual could not separate them from
lives. Due to their help, she will not destroy the party the deities and transformed them.
at this time; however, she warns them that if they try
to stop her, she will kill them.

Should the party decide to help her with the

Ascension Ritual, it will fail. The catastrophic events
can set up another adventure as you see fit. See
“Should the Ascension Ritual Be Attempted” section
for more information.

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