Istas Wraithscar's page

Divine Spells Prepared (CL 6th):
3rd - dispel magic, invisibility purge, searing light, speak with dead (d)
2nd - align weapon, bull's strength, defending bone, detect thoughts (DC 16) (d), false life
1st - cause fear (DC 15) (d), deathwatch, divine favor, inflict light wounds (DC 15), shield of faith
0 (at will) - guidance, light, resistance, stabilize
Domain Powers (Death, Knowledge)
- Bleeding Touch (Sp) - May cause a living creature to suffer 1d6 points of bleed damage for 1 round per 2 cleric levels as a melee touch attack. This ability may be used 3 + Wisdom modifier times per day.
- Lore Keeper (Sp) - All Knowledge skills are class skills. May also touch a creature to learn about its abilities and weaknesses as a melee touch attack. If successful, information is gained as if making the appropriate Knowledge skill check with a DC 24 (i.e., result equals 15 + caster level + Intelligence modifier).
- Remote Viewing (Sp) - May use clairaudience/clairvoyance as a spell-like ability using her cleric level as the caster level. She can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to her cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

New Spell: defending bone - Lasts 1 hour/level or until discharged. Animates a single bone with necromantic energy that makes it float near the caster's body, interposing itself against physical attacks and granting DR 5/bludgeoning. Once the bone prevents a total of 5 points of damage per caster level, it is destroyed and the spell is discharged.

Diehard
Endurance
Extra Channeling
Selective Channeling
Totem Spirit (Skoan-Quah: +2 weapon damage vs. undead, +2 on Heal checks)

Poverty-Stricken - Istas' childhood was tough, and her Shoanti tribe had to make every bit of food count. Hunger was her constant companion, and she often had to live off the land or sleep in the wild. As a result, she gains a +1 bonus to Survival checks, and Survival is always a class skill for her.

Acrobatics +3 (1 rank, +2 Dex)
Climb +4 (2 ranks, +2 Str)
Craft (alchemy) +8 (1 rank, +3 class, +1 background, +3 Int)
Diplomacy +9 (3 ranks, +3 class, +3 Cha)
Heal +14 (6 ranks, +3 class, +3 Wis, +2 feat)
Intimdate +9 (5 ranks, +1 background, +3 Cha)
Knowledge (history) +8 (1 rank, +3 class, +1 background, +3 Int)
Knowledge (nature) +8 (1 rank, +3 class, +1 background, +3 Int)
Knowledge (planes) +8 (1 rank, +3 class, +1 background, +3 Int)
Knowledge (religion) +13 (6 ranks, +3 class, +1 background, +3 Int)
Perception +4 (1 rank, +3 Wis)
Sense Motive +10 (4 ranks, +3 class, +3 Wis)
Spellcraft +8 (2 ranks, +3 class, +3 Int)
Survival +8 (1 rank, +3 class, +3 Wis, +1 trait bonus)
Swim +4 (2 ranks, +2 Str)

Background Skill Points Spent: +1 Craft (alchemy), +1 Intimidate, +1 Knowledge (history), +1 Knowledge (nature), +1 Knowledge (planes), +1 Knowledge (religion)

Few have died and returned from the grave...much less twice. Yet fate delivered Istas from an early death exactly that many times. The first occurence happened after orcs from the Hold of Belkzen raided her Shoanti tribe in the Cinderlands. Only 11 years old, she took an arrow in the back while attempting to warn her family of the attack. The men of the Skoan-Quah eventually fended off the orcs, but not before they cut down a number of Shoanti -- Istas among them.

Her family mourned her passing and interred her in a burial mound on the Storval Plateau, but Istas later awakened and dug her way out to rejoin them. She emerged carrying a human skull, caked in mud, and still delirious from the orc poison infecting her wound. This caused great fear and concern among the Skoan-Quah. Some among the tribe believed she had become one of the walking dead and sought to kill her again. But thankfully, her grandfather, the tribe's shaman, saw through her suffering. He declared that Istas had completed a rite of passage into the realm of death itself and had emerged still fully alive. She would take her totem from the skull of their ancestors and perform great deeds for their people.

Since that time, and despite fully recovering from her wounds, Istas' reputation continued to suffer. Her friends called her a ptokh-shau or deadwalker, someone especially attuned to the afterlife in Shoanti lore and only half-alive. This ostracized her from her fellow tribemates. As a result, she soon developed more of a relationship with her grandfather than anyone else. He served the tribe for years as an adept, studying and commanding divine powers beyond the understanding of most Shoanti. She learned much of her philosophy and wisdom while assisting him. And his teachings eventually served as the foundation for her faith in Pharasma.

While learning at her grandfather's feet, Istas developed an unusual gift. At night, her dreams would warn of future events. And during the day, visions of the past would impart timely knowledge. One particularly vivid dream of a shining city by the sea continued to call to her...both in her waking hours and her nightly slumber. After describing it to her grandfather, he recognized it as the city of Korvosa in the southlands...a place lost to Chelish invaders after many wars with the Shoanti. Istas wished to know more, but he refused to elaborate on the significance of the place.

Sensing her destiny somehow depended on Korvosa, Istas used some of her grandfather's medicine to expand her mind and enhance her dreams, hoping to delve deeper into the mystery. This enabled her to receive a clear message that she should go to the city. Unknown to her at the time, the message emanated directly from Pharasma, the goddess of fate. When she awakened, Istas willingly left behind the Skoan-Quah to journey into the southlands. Before leaving, she borrowed several of her grandfather's scrolls, a potion, and one of his spears to protect her during the trip.

After arriving in Korvosa, Istas had a difficult time adapting to the culture until she met Father Corvin, a priest from the church of Pharasma. The acolyte told her that the goddess led him to her...and that fate somehow had great things in store for her. She fully believed him, already trusting her dreams. So she accompanied him back to his temple, joined Pharasma's clergy, and waited for the goddess to reveal her purpose. But nothing happened. The dreams continued unabated and Istas grew desperate to decipher their meaning.

While traveling with the rest of Pharasma's clergy to tend to the sick and injured throughout Korvosa, Istas eventually discovered a popular street drug called shiver. Made from the distilled essence of dream spiders, Istas took the drug as a sign that it would reveal Pharasma's message once and for all. After parting with most of the alms she had collected for the temple, she sampled the drug several times, but eventually took too large a dose. And so Istas died for a second time...

When her heart stopped, however briefly, Istas finally did gain clarity in her purpose. Pharasma brought her back from the brink of death once again, instructing her to prepare herself for a great danger that would threaten Korvosa. To what end, she doesn't know. But Istas senses it will somehow lead to the first steps of whatever destiny awaits her.

Like all Shoanti women, Istas stands quite tall, looking most men eye-to-eye at 5-feet, 10-inches. Years of hard living among the Skoan-Quah barbarians have made her into a lean, athletic runner. She weighs 145 pounds with hardly an ounce of fat even after living among the "excesses" of Korvosa for a couple of years now. Traditional Shoanti tattooes circle her upper arms and ankles as both decoration and to ward off evil spirits. Because of her mystic status as a ptohk-shau, she doesn't shave her head like most Shoanti, wearing her dark brown hair quite long instead. She has deep brown expressive eyes and a darker complexion due to her Shoanti heritage and so much time spent under the harsh sun in the Cinderlands. A gruesome scar marks her back just below the right shoulder blade from the orc arrow that nearly killed her as a girl. She also bears a pale white birthmark close to her heart, earning her the surname of Wraithscar...even though she has yet to encounter such an undead creature.

While in Korvosa, Istas has adopted much of the garb and mannerisms of the native Chelaxians. She wears the robes of a priestess of Pharasma and a hand-me-down traveler's outfit inherited from another acolyte who recently passed away. A silver chain about her neck holds a medallion depicting Pharasma's comet, whose tail spirals into infinity. Her traditional Shoanti armor is kept in good repair and Istas often wears it under her robes when journeying into the less-safe areas of the city. For protection, she usually carries only a club and her ceremonial dagger, but can always return to her room at the local temple to retrieve her grandfather's spear and shield, if necessary.

Istas has two sides to her nature. When celebrating life, she enjoys interacting with other people and engaging them in conversation. She always speaks her mind and means what she says. It almost never occurs to her to lie about anything, because she views it as a waste of time which only defers the fate in store for one's true actions. Istas only maintains relationships with people she respects, almost automatically sensing the dangerous destiny lying in store for those who abuse their authority or position in life. Pharasma has a way of twisting the fates of such people and Istas strives to stay on her goddess' good side at all times.

When contemplating death, however, Istas becomes much more withdrawn as a means of communing with her goddess and her Shoanti ancestors in the afterlife. After a particularly vivid dream or vision, she may not speak for a day or more as she seeks to understand it and more fully embrace Pharasma's message. Then, once Istas has made that information a part of her, she returns to her normal outgoing demeanor so she can share Pharasma's message with the rest of the world. She just wishes people would take the warnings and prophecies of her goddess more seriously.

Istas grew up among the Shoanti with an almost inborn distrust of the Chelish "invaders" from the southlands. But after spending a year or more in Korvosa, she's come to accept more of their culture than her family and tribe would approve. She shrugs off any guilt she feels about such concessions, viewing them as a necessary part of the fate Pharasma has in store for her. Indeed, Istas views much of life (and the lives of those surrounding her) through the eyes of her goddess, striving to exercise patience and wisdom in all things.

Istas also believes fate is well-organized and, although it's mostly determined by Pharasma ahead of time, there are still limited opportunites to make significant choices that steer people down one path or another. Istas structures her life accordingly. Law and chaos come and go, but life is basically good. Evil should be opposed lest it upset the balance between order and free will. Istas usually strives to do good unto other people, viewing her healing skills as a necessary part of changing the fate of those close to death, but also to ease the passing of anyone whose time has come. She views those who willingly commit evil acts as treading a dangerous path, knowing that Pharasma's fate will eventually find them and exact some form of justice -- whether delivered by her hand or someone else.

Father Arbus Corvin - The first of the Pharasmen to take an interest in Istas. She met him on her second day in Korvosa. He claims their goddess led him to her...and through him, Corvin led Istas to Pharasma. Father Corvin has also taken it upon himself to educate Istas far more than the average Shoanti. With access to the libraries and collected works donated to the Pharasmen upon the passing of educated people over hundreds of years, she is slowly expanding her knowledge. It has opened up a whole new aspect of Pharasma's faith for Istas -- namely, that of learning from the past to live more fully in the present -- but also preparing for the future to better receive the rewards which await the faithful in the afterlife.
Kaddok "Thunder" Dharanok - Another former-Shoanti and one of Istas' childhood friends from the Cinderlands. While completing his rite of passage, he left the Shundar-Quah to spend three years among Istas' people. That exposure to another culture left him with an even greater desire to see the world. This led him to depart his tribe, explore the southern lands, and eventually settle in Korvosa...where he now studies at one of the many fighting schools.
Tauni Voe - A young Varisian widower and mother of three from the Shingles. Istas befriended her when the girl lost her husband to a fever. Now, she occasionally visits Tauni and helps care for her family. Tauni is sometimes a source of information about local happenings in Korvosa.
Opar Bestin - A street contact Istas occasionally uses to purchase small doses of shiver for her spirit-guiding dreams. Aside from the man's criminal vocation, she knows very little about him. And Istas feels that's probably a good thing.

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