WotW Replacement Character (Inactive)

Game Master Merddyn

Florian Paran
Male Human Witch (Gravewalker) 3
LE Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +2
------------------------------
DEFENSE
------------------------------
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 19 (3d6+5)
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +3
------------------------------
OFFENSE
------------------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +0 (1d4-1/19-20)
Ranged light crossbow +2 (1d8/19-20)
------------------------------
STATISTICS
------------------------------
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 16
Base Atk +1; CMB +0 CMD 11
Feats Extra Hex (Cackle), Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Skills Bluff +10 , Craft (Alchemy) +9 , Intimidate +8 , Knowledge (Arcana) +11 , Knowledge (Engineering) +6 , Knowledge (History) +10 , Knowledge (Nature) +10 , Knowledge (Planes) +11 , Knowledge (Religion) +8 , Linguistics +7 , Perception +2 , Spellcraft +11 , Stealth +2 , Use Magic Device +8
Traits Fast-Talker, Grave Robbery
Drawbacks
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Dwarven, Elven, Halfling, Infernal, Necril
SQ aura of desecration, hexes (cackle, evil eye), witch's patron (plague), spell poppet
Gear light crossbow, crossbow bolts (20), dagger, witch’s kit, traveler's clothes, spell poppet, 140 gp

------------------------------
SPELLS
------------------------------
0th: all spells (DC 14)
1st: Charm Person, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Undead, Ear-Piercing Scream, Ill Omen, Inflict Light Wounds, Mage Armor, Sleep, Summon Monster I, Unseen Servant
2nd: Glitterdust, Web

------------------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
------------------------------

Spells: A gravewalker replaces some of her patron spells with the following: 4th—command undead, 6th—animate dead, 12th—create undead, 14th—control undead, 16th—create greater undead. These replace the patron spells.

Spell Poppet: Each gravewalker carries around a gristly, inanimate poppet stitched from human skin and stuffed with shards of bone, fingernails, and grave dirt. A gravewalker’s spells come from the will of evil spirits residing in the poppet, and its ability to hold spells functions in a manner identical to the way a witch’s spells are granted by her familiar. The gravewalker must commune with her poppet each day to prepare her spells and cannot prepare spells that are not stored in the poppet. This ability replaces familiar. The following familiar ability works differently for a gravewalker:

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): At 3rd level or higher, a gravewalker can use her poppet to deliver touch spells. After casting a touch spell, as a full-round action, the witch can designate a target and stab a pin into her poppet, delivering the spell as a ranged touch attack. The target must be within range of her aura of desecration ability (see below).

Aura of Desecration (Su): At first level, a gravewalker can create a 20-foot-radius aura of evil power. This aura increases the DC of channeled negative energy by +1 and the turn resistance of undead by +1. At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the radius of the aura increases by 5 feet, to a maximum of 70 feet at 20th level. This ability replaces the witch’s 1st-level hex.

Bonethrall (Su): At first level, a gravewalker can take control of an undead creature within her aura of desecration by forcing her will upon it (Will negates, using her hex DC). If it fails the save, the creature falls under her control as if she had used command undead (once control is established, the undead remain controlled even if outside the witch’s aura). Intelligent undead receive a new saving throw each day to resist her command. The witch can control up to 1 HD of undead creatures per caster level. If an undead creature is under the control of another creature, the witch must make an opposed Charisma check whenever her orders conflict with that creature’s. This replaces the witch’s hex gained at 4th level.

Possess Undead (Sp): A gravewalker may take direct control of one of her undead minions within her aura of desecration, as if using magic jar; the witch’s poppet acts as the soul receptacle for this ability. The minion gets no saving throw against this ability. This replaces the witch’s hex gained at 8th level.

Florian Paran wasn't supposed to be the sort of man who would do something worth being sent to Branderscar. Born to a large mercantile family, one of seven brothers and sisters, he was supposed to help run the family business, or perhaps attend a university somewhere. Of course, life doesn't always work out that way.

Growing up in Ghastenhall, Florian had an uneventful childhood for the most part. He was tutored. He got along well enough with his siblings. Some mischief here and there, maybe a fight or two, but nothing out of the ordinary for a young boy. That changed when a devastating illness swept through his neighborhood, and his family in particular was hit hard. In a short period of time his mother and all but his eldest brother had succumbed, leaving the Paran house severely damaged. Though they eventually recovered and prevented a financial disaster, dynamics in the family were never the same after that.

Florian grew to be a bored, indulgent young man, constantly seeking out new and increasingly hedonistic experiences. There was so much to experience in life, after all, and to "master" life meant to live it in a way that went against Mitran notions of propriety. At the same time, he began delving into obscure texts and spending time in and around graveyards, studying death and the dead. Mastery of life and mastery of death went hand in hand. It was in this way he first came across a young halfling woman, scrounging around in an open grave, who introduced him to a small, clandestine Urgathoan cell. While he never quite took to the totally unrestrained gluttony of some of his peers, he found himself strongly drawn to their embrace of undeath.

He regularly visited graveyards, attended debaucherous parties, joined in feasts, and participated in rituals. His father and brother were far too busy trying to maintain the family businesses to pay much attention to Florian, and Florian for his part did well to disguise his activities. He also forged a strong friendship of sorts with Celia, the halfling woman who had first brought him into the cult. It hovered somewhere between "just friends" and "something more" for quite some time, but never really got off the ground.

Late one night during one of these graveyard trips while picking through a relatively fresh grave, Florian heard something whispering to him, just at the edge of hearing. Though unable to make out what it was saying, he felt a strong urge, almost a compulsion, to act. Following this urge, he used skin, bone, and other material from the grave to craft a poppet, a crude facsimile of a human form. After completing it, he held it out, looking at it intently. The whispering became clearer to him, promising him the power he sought; then without warning it went silent. Florian hadn't even had to consider whether or not to accept. He knew immediately.

The priestess told him this was a gift from the Pallid Princess herself; Florian for his part accepted her explanation, but was more excited about the power itself than exactly where it came from.

Some time later, the cell decided to break into a crypt to perform a special ceremony, followed by a return to the temple for a grand feast. No one in the cell knew exactly where the idea for using that particular crypt had come from, but didn't see much of a problem with it. As it turns out the whole thing was a setup; the names of the members of the cell had been discovered, and the location of this "perfect" location had been intentionally leaked. Upon completing the ceremony and exiting the crypt, Florian and the others in his group found themselves surrounded by a force of Knights of the Alerion. The Knights fell upon them, hacking and slashing with their swords at any who resisted -- and they all resisted. Only Florian escaped in the midst of the chaos, fleeing into the night. Without the timely intervention of Asmodean agents, he too would have been caught; instead, he was spirited away before the Knights could find him.

I especially love how Heverly started off by introducing herself by a fake name. I wonder how long she would have been able to get away with that ruse if Tiadora had not wrecked it off the bat....