Half-Orc

Cain...'s page

1,048 posts. Alias of Eben al'Jol.


About Cain...

Beast forms

Cain
Male half-orc natural werewolf inquisitor of Asmodeus 1
LE Medium humanoid (human, orc, shapechanger)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +7
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex)
hp 9 (1d8+1)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +7
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks curse of lycanthropy, judgment 1/day
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st (2/day)—divine favor, litany of sloth[UC]
. . 0 (at will)—brand[APG] (DC 13), detect magic, detect poison, stabilize
. . Domain Conversion inquisition
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 17, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 16

Feats Catch Off-guard, Diehard, Endurance
Traits fate's favored, trap finder, attempted murder

Skills
Bluff +7 (1 rks)
Climb +7 (1 rks)
Diplomacy +7 (1 rks)
—> +11 to change attitude vs. animals related to lycanthropic form
Disable Device +8 (1 rks, +1 trait)
Intimidate +10 (1 rks, +2 trait, +1 Stern Gaze)
Knowledge: Local +3 (0 rks, +2 racial)
Knowledge (religion) +5 (1 rks)
—> +8 to ID creature ability/weaknesses
Perception +7 (1 rks)
Sense Motive +8 (1 rks, +1 Stern Gaze)
Stealth +7 (1 rks)
Survival +7 (1 rks)

Languages Common, Infernal, Orc
SQ change forms, lycanthropic empathy, monster lore +3, orc blood, stern gaze +1
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Catch Off-Guard Proficient with improvised melee weapons. Unarmed foe is flat-footed against your improvised weapons.
Change Forms (Su) Change into Hybrid or Animal forms.
Curse of Lycanthropy (DC 15) (Su) Bitten humanoid enemy within 1 size category contractd lycanthropy (Fort neg).
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Diehard You are stable and can choose how to act when at negative Hp.
Endurance +4 to a variety of fort saves, skill and ability checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Fate's Favored Increase luck bonuses by 1.
Inquisitor Domain (Conversion Inquisition) Deities: Any deity. Granted Powers: You are a powerful persuader. A honeyed tongue empowered by divine argumentation sways the indifferent and adversarial to your side.
Judgment (1/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Lycanthropic Empathy +4 (Ex) Improve the attitude of your type of animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Monster Lore +3 (Ex) +3 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Trap Finder Use Disable Device to disarm magic traps, like a rogue.

Description:
Cain is a tall, lean half-orc with ropey muscles on a rangy build, and he looks every bit the thug. He moves with the easy graceful athleticism and confidence of a predator, a wolf in his range. His grayish skin is covered with intricate tattoos that wrap around his body … from his calves to the side of his neck. On his chest, woven subtly into the tattooing, is Asmodeus’s symbol. Complimenting the intricate, stylized tattooing are a lifetime of scars. Two piercing black eyes peer out from a blunt, scarred, ugly, dumb-looking face with thick orc features.

Looks can be deceiving, though, and Cain is more than he appears in a few ways. While he is capable of every bit of the brutal viciousness that his thuggish appearance suggests, he’s got a surprisingly sharp mind and the patient mentality of a predator. Further still, despite a natural inclination towards blunt straight-talk and loud, black, sarcastic humor, he’s far more capable at deception, coercion, and persuasion than most would suspect. And in addition to be a half-breed slum-rat, in Cain’s veins runs the blood of nature’s paramount hunters … werewolves.

Altogether, Cain is supremely confident to the point of arrogance … both in himself and his heritage. He is resourceful and resilient. Patient and pragmatic. He is a creature capable of powerful, brutal physical violence, but has been tempered by life and his new Asmodean family to be cautious and careful in his approach to problems. His loyalty is to his pack, and he is as implacable in combat as he is on the trail of quarry.

And while his quarry is often enough any human unlucky enough to be marked as his next meal, nothing heats the blood in his veins like the scent of those of the Crown of Talingard of the Church of Mitra. Cain is committed to tasting their lifeblood for what they’ve done to him and his kind.

Story:
The Beginning
Cain was marked for greatness from birth. Unfortunately for Mitra and Talingard, these were not the markings of a hero, but of Asmodeus (Sacred Tattoos & Trait: Fate’s Favored). The half-orc child was born with the five-sided star of the Prince of Hells marking the gray flesh of his chest. And proving that Asmodeus’s willingness to create the greatest tools from the most meager resources, Cain was born into the half-orc slums of Talingard to a family that was feared, hated, and actively hunted by both the Church and State.

Cain’s family—in addition to being poor, half-orc, slum-trash—were a pack of werewolves … hiding and scrapping out a living on the edge of metropolitan Talingard (City-Raised). Creatures created to be some of nature’s paramount hunters were themselves hunted by the expansive powers of Mitra and the Crown … reduced to hiding in the shadows of society’s castoffs. It was a tough childhood, one that most of his bothers and sisters didn’t survive. But it taught a growing Cain important lessons. About the importance of loyalty to family and pack. About the importance of discretion and caution. About hiding one’s true self in the face of superior opposing power. It also taught him to hate his persecutors, whether they answered to the King or the hypocritical Mitra … who espoused love, freedom, and acceptance while systematically eradicating an entire people. Cain’s people.

So Cain grew up learning to do what his people did to survive (Endurance & Diehard). His trade skills were thuggery, theft, and murder. To use whatever tools you could find (Catch Off-guard, Trait: Trap Finder) to do whatever it took to maintain their small range of power in the slum streets … always with an eye towards staying one step ahead of Mitra’s own thugs.

It was enough to keep their heads down and their fur intact, but against enemies the size and scope of the Church and Crown, it was only a matter of time.

A New Family
Cain remembers when the last of his family were killed. His brother murdered in broad daylight by a paladin. His mother taken, tried, and hanged in the square to the cheering of Talingard’s citizens. All of them dead, murdered by those who feared his kind.

It was in the weeks and months that followed that his other birthright re-exerted itself. His family had never made much of his mark … it was just another thing to keep hidden from Talingard. Asmodeus, however, had different plans. Cain, on the run and alone, was found and approached by a stranger speaking of his ‘proper place’ and ‘fate’. A stranger bearing markings that mirrored the birthmark on his chest. With few other options, and no little bit of suspicion, Cain followed the stranger. In the years to come, his relationship with his new family grew … the family of the Prince of Darkness.

It was no easy path, but Cain knew how to survive. And for once, his heritage wasn’t a death-mark, but an asset. This was a time of amazing growth and new experiences for Cain. In time, his skills learned in the streets and slums were built upon. he was no longer just a thug and thief, but a favored tool for Asmodeus, and was taught the skills to do his part. He was no longer a blunt instrument, but one just as capable of subtly and precision. And in time he was given the responsibilities to see the Prince’s vision for Talingard realized. The fact that that vision included the destruction of the current ruler as well as the Mitran church only made Cain more committed.

This was a purpose worth having. This was a pack worth protecting. And Cain was good at it.

Getting Caught, Imprisoned, and Today
After a lifetime of brutality and crime, the ridiculousness of his situation isn’t lost on Cain. To be tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t actually commit. Attempted Murder (the trait crime) … horse-sh!t is what it is … his objective had been to abduct a child and send a message to his patron’s enemies. It should have been a simple job. A job he’d done many times over the years. But somewhere in Asmodeus’s circles was a turncoat. There must be. Someone must have warned Mitra’s followers because their paladins were waiting in ambush. Cain was good—it wasn’t pride if it was true—but he hadn’t caught their scent until it was too late, and they were too many. Cain takes a dark pride in known that he’d bled a few of them before they overpowered him.

Then it was business as usual for the Crown’s machine of “justice”. A trumped up charge of Attempted Murder on one of the Crown’s blood was treason. A short stay in Branderscar followed by death by beheading. Talingard and that whore Mitra thinks the hunt is over … that the last of his pack is taken care of.

Well, the hunt’s not over until it’s over. And Cain hasn’t given up just yet. Now, if only he could figure a way through these chains…

Worldview, Goals & Motivation:
Cain lives to tear down the current king’s rule as well as the church of Mitra. To destroy the hypocritical beast that’s taken so much from him. He is willing to do whatever is necessary to see this happen.

Cain sees the world in a unique way. His family, a pack of half-orc were-wolves, were denied their rightful place in nature as dominant hunters … hunted to extinction by a hypocritical King and Deity who spoke of peace and love while murdering his people. Within Asmodeus’s plans, Cain seeks to restore his rightful place in the world. To reclaim his right to hunt openly in his own range. To kill and eat the sheep (humanity) as nature intended. When Talingard is reshaped under the Prince of Darkness’s dominion, he will see this vision come true and will reestablish his own pack in a place of legal, recognized authority.

Personally, he would also see who betrayed him to the Mitrans and kill them.

Role within the Crew & Planned Leveling Advancement:
At level 2 and beyond, I’m planning to level him up as an Inquisitor and Slayer (Bounty Hunter archetype). Power Attack is likely his level 3 feat, but from there, I’m going to play it by ear.

Despite a sharp mind, a hunter's instincts, a prideful streak as wide as Talingard, a considerably diversified set of skills, and the physical capabilities to back it all up, Cain doesn't see himself as the Alpha. Asmodeus has built on Cain's natural pack mentality to meticulously cultivate him to be the perfect right-hand man. Loyal, reliable, determined, resourceful, deadly, resilient, and absolutely dedicated to a very specific worldview. He's 'man with a certain set of skills' ... with those skills including those to act as an infiltrator, scout, thief, thug, enforcer, hitman, and tracker/bounty hunter.

Mechanically, Cain's built to bring a flexible skillset to the crew. He's an an excellent scout, whether in a dungeon, outdoors, or urban environment ... complete with Darkvision, Scent, Low-light vision, tracking, trap/lock-breaking, and the ability to collect all the useable Knowledge skills to keep the crew one step ahead. His Conversion Inquisition makes him a reliable social-skill asset ... able to convince, deceive, or threaten effectively as the situation demands. And the combination of consistently-strong physical attributes and the Slayer and Inquisitor class abilities (uniquely outfitted to bring the unusual suite of weapons provided by Catch Off-Guard, Bounty Hunter archetype, and City-Raised ... improvised weapons, whip, bolas, and nets) makes him capable of playing an extremely versatile role in combat. Floating from martial controller to ranged & melee damage-dealer, keyed to our opponents' weaknesses fairly quickly, means he can always contribute meaningfully in a number of ways. And finally, some light healing spells means he can help support the group's healer in a pinch.