5e Curse of Xanathon

Game Master Helaman

Ear for Deceit: You develop a talent for picking out lies. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Insight) check to determine whether a creature is lying, treat a roll of 7 or lower on the d20 as an 8.

Eye for Detail: You can use a bonus action to make a Wisdom (Perception) check to spot a hidden creature or object or to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to uncover or decipher clues.

Insightful Fighting: You gain the ability to decipher an opponent's tactics and develop a counter to them. As a bonus action, you can make a Wisdom (Insight) check against a creature you can see that isn't incapacitated, contested by the target's Charisma (Deception) check. If you succeed, you can use your Sneak Attack against that target even if you don't have advantage on the attack roll, but not if you have disadvantage on it.

This benefit lasts for 1 minute or until you successfully use this feature against a different target.

Expertise: Double proficiency bonus – Perception, Investigation

Sneak Attack: 1d6 if attack with advantage. You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll.

Cunning Action: Your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.

Homeland: Republic of Darokin

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Investigate, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth

Tool Proficiencies: Thieves’ tools, Playing Card Set, Tinker’s Tools

Personality Trait: I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy

Ideal: Redemption. There's a spark of good in everyone.

Bond: I'm trying to pay off an old debt I owe to a generous benefactor.

Flaw: I have a 'tell' that reveals when I'm lying

Initiative; +2 Passive Perception 12
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 16
hp 21
Saving Throws
Strength 0, Dexterity +2, Constitution +2, Intelligence +1, Wisdom +4, Charisma +5.

--------------------
Offence
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.

Pact Magic
Spell Saving Throw - 13
Spell Attack Modifier - +5

Cantrips
Eldritch Blast - Inflict 1d10 points of force damage. At higher levels add additional blasts.
Prestidigitation - Create a number of small magical effects.
Sacred Flame - Strike a creature from above for 1d8 damage unless they make a reflex save.
Light - An object up to feet per side glows, shedding light up to 20ft away.
Guidance - One willing creature receives a 1d4 bonus to there next roll, up to 1 minute after casting.
Message - Send and receive messages.
Shillelagh - Turn a staff or club into a magic weapon that inflicts 1d8 damage and uses the spellcasting modifier in place of strength for to hit and damage.

Spells - 2 Per Short Rest - 2nd Level Spells
Cure Wounds - Heal 1d8 per spell level used plus Charisma modifier.
Guiding Bolt - Inflict 4d6 + 1d6 per spell level in Radiant Damage and the next attack on that target gets Advantage.
Lesser Restoration - Heal Blinded, Paralysis, Deafness and Poison.
Flaming Sphere - Create a sphere of fire that inflicts 2d6 fire damage, +1d6 for every additional level above 2, or half on a reflex save. This sphere last 1 minute and can be moved as a bonus action.
Comprehend Languages - Understand any non-ciphered written or spoken tongues.
Healing Elixir - Create a potion that lasts 24 hours, and healds 2d4+2 HP.
Armour of Agathys - Gain 5 temp hp per spell level. If your struck with a melee attack while you have these temp HP the attacker takes 5 cold damage per spell level

Suggestion - Magically compel a target to follow a certain course of action.

--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16,
Proficiency Bonus +2
Bonus Feat - Moderately Armoured - Add +1 to Dex and gain Proficiency with Medium Armour and Shields.

Racial Traits
Darkvision - See up to 60ft in total darkness.
Fey Ancestry - Gain resistance to mind control spells, immune to sleep spells.
Versatility - Gain two skills to be proficient in (Persuasion, Perception

Tool Proficiency Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit
Skills Acrobatics +2, Athletics +0, Animal Handling +2, Arcana +1, History +1, Insight +1, Investigation +1, Medicine +1, Nature +1, Performance +3, Stealth +2, Survival +2.
Proficient Skills Deception +5, Intimidation +5, Persuasion +5, Perception +3, Religion +3, Sleight of Hand +4
Languages Common, Elven, Celestial

Combat Gear Arcane Focus (Staff), Component Pouch, Healing Potion, Shield, Chain Shirt
Gear Scholar’s Pack, Fine Clothes, Signet Ring of Duke Falsimo, Disguise Kit
Cash 75gp

--------------------
Background
--------------------
Charlatan - Not all that is seen is true. Especially with this character..
- False Identity - The character has another identity, including disguises, paperwork and acquaintances.
- Favourite Scheme - I put on new identities like clothes.
- Personality Trait - Sarcasm and insults are my weapons of choice.
- Ideal - Determination to make something of myself.
- Bond - I have a child that doesn’t know me, and I must make the world better for them.

--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Patron - the Celestial - The Celestial grant the power to both heal and smite. It grants the Light and Sacred Flame cantrips.
- Healing Light - Gain a pool of dice, 1d6 per level, that can be used to heal a target within 30ft.
Pact of the Tome - Gain 3 additional cantrips (Guidance,Shillelagh and Message) in a Book of Shadows. These additional spells
Eldritch Invocations - A series of powers and abilities that enhance a warlock’s power.
- Agonizing Blast - Add Charisma to Eldritch Blast damage.
- Eldritch Sight - Cast Detect Magic at will without needing to use a spellslot.

Two things that do stand out about Kaldwell himself is his ears - clears sign of his partial elven heritage - with bronze piercings along there length, six in each ear. The second thing of note is his steel grey hair, cropped close, and neatly trimmed. His eyes are a sharp, rich brown with a ring of bronze around each iris, and his voice is a pleasant baritone.

One other point that most people will spot is the thick, heavy book chained to his belt. When Kaldwell uses spells he typically touches this book, and for many of his more impressive spells the book with float before him, flipping to the page the spell is on.

Still, the majority of people will never know just how ruthless Kaldwell can be. He is a witty, charming man with good people skills - skills he has practiced extensively. To most he simply comes across as a charming, if slightly bumbling man.

It should also be noted that Kaldwell works well with others so long as they have some goals in common, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice himself. He considers himself already damned for his past, regardless of what else he does, and simply wishes to make the world better before his torment begins - not to try and escape his fate, but to make the world better for his daughter.

Taking a sip of his drink, the man continued, ”Of course neither of their families were happy with the situation. Noble Elven blood, tainted by common Human scum? A powerful house scion fathering a halfbreed bastard? No no no. Neither could accept that. So the parents bowed to the pressure and wishes of there families and the little problem...went away. One of there old party was given custody of the child.”

A gesture of a hand suggested this wasn’t the worst thing, the signet ring flashing. ”She was a good mother, as mothers went, and the child grew up loved at least. Which is more than many. But he was regalled with how his parents had been together to fight great evil, defeat great monsters. In his childlike mind he thought ‘If I become a great monster, perhaps they will come to fight me together, and we could be together then.’ A silly plan from a child’s mind. But as he grew it stayed with him. And his blood - that blood that his family so reviled - positively sang with power.”

”But children grow, as children do, and a young man came from the child he had been. And for a while such desires faded as other…,emotions...took over. He found love with a pretty young girl, and perhaps it could have ended there. A simple life in a simple village, one day children of their own, potential never realised. But then, fate rarely enjoys such. It has a twisted sense of humour.”

The man laughed dryly. ”The girl was stolen away from the young man - so full of power, and without skill or knowledge to unleash it - and all he was left with was his broken hopes. His soul remembered that childish wish and screamed out in pain as he watched her dragged away, screamed that it would take the offer - any offer - for the power to take her back. And something answered. Something that longed for possession of such a soul as this. Dark powers crackled through his mind. Potential untapped. A monster walked as a man.”

”But the monster walked no faster than the man,” the man snorted, ”And certainly not faster than the horses his bride to be was dragged away on. He followed, as he could, but the trail grew cold, cold, oh so cold. If only he could get his hands on information...and oh, like all other commodities, information was for sale. Divination magic is a potent tool, and other sources could get him what he needed. But to do that, he needed coin. A lot of coin. And his powers, so newly awakened, was rather...destructive.”

A shrug of his finely clad shoulders. ”He joined with others, working on whatever task needed a certain level of destruction, using his arcane gifts to purge all resistance. He cared not for the cause, but only for the coin. That put rather a lot of...distance...between him and his allies. They didn’t understand. They didn’t comprehend what he needed to do. The distance grew greater, and that was fine. Power could command allies even if it didn’t make friends. And the jobs he took grew...dark.”
”Time passed, as time does, and the monster was not so young anymore. But coin saved meant his wish could come true, and he found his lady lost. A noble had seen her as he’d passed one day, wished for her, and had his soldiers take her a few days later. They had been ‘married’, although it was naturally a sham. One cannot wed when the bride screams for release. The monster walked once, with dreams in his head. He would arrive the mighty hero, take her back and they would take up where they had left up, with the burning wreckage of there foes behind them.”

”But once more, life is never so simple.” The man smiled. ”It had been a loveless marriage, and childless, but a single spellcaster against a noble house...it was with sheer hatred and destruction that he struck one lonely night, when the lord of the house and his troops were away. Even the best monster needed to wait for the right moment. And despite the devastation, the dead, and the burning he left behind...for a brief moment they were happy. They were free, free of their pasts and the things they had done and been done.”

A quick laugh again. ”They wed. They thought this the end. But as nobles went, this one was one of the worse. Powerful, narcissistic and utterly unable to understand a world that denied his wants, he went after his ‘bride’. They lovers ran even as the monsters inner demon scream to fight, to kill, to make them bleed and die and weep. But it always said that, and wished to...gloss over...what he had done for love. But soon running hit a problem - the woman was pregnant, and with it came certain health problems.”

Silver hair shook sadly. ”A cliche, no? The pregnant woman gets ill. But a cliche for a reason. So the man looked to those he had worked with over the years, looking for allies. But for the first time they saw not a hardened killer, in command of arcane destruction, but a scared man trying to save his loved ones. ‘Prey’, in short. He found no help there. He tried to defend them himself, tried to save them. The child was born, but the mother weakened. He could only save one. She chose for them.”

A long pause. ”He took the child to his mother, to care for as she had him, and he...gave in to the whispers in his mind. The things done then are still talked about today. Guards massacred, burned from the inside out. One by one, one each day. He wanted the lord to understand what it was to be hunted. He wanted him to understand fear. That there is always a bigger monster, somewhere. The lord died with that understanding, but it was not quiet. The monster crawled away, hurt. Dying. He had spent weeks with snatched moments of sleep, handfuls of food, ignoring injuries so he could keep going. Now, framed by the final fire, he was...done.”

”And as he lay there, all he could think of was the child he was leaving behind. The final proof he and the woman had been together, had loved. That he was leaving her alone in this world.”

”A world filled with people like him.”

”And he wept.” A small smile. ”He wept for what he had lost. Wept for what he had done. And wept for what he could not do. And then...the monster died. The pact ended. There was nothing left. But something else...watched. A new power filled him. The monster healed himself with the glowing light.”

The man scratched his beard. ”But that led to a conundrum. His powers were far weaker than they had once been. And now that the monster wished to be a man for the daughter he had barely met, he needed to change. Perhaps it was time to be...more. Perhaps it was time to try and make a difference. To make the world better. But that was easier said than done, and the monster remained. Could he learn to be something else? Or...just perhaps...could the world be saved by monstrous deeds? Who knows. For alas, the tale is not quite done. Not quite yet…”

The man rose, gathering his cloak with a short bow, and headed for the door.

Huiszui is all of these, and more.

He believes in looking out for himself but is far-sighted enough to know that will require help. He will earn it with a smile on his face.

1) Where were they born?

He was born to a pureblood family, in an undermountain nest in the Scaled Peak, inside the borders of the the Thyatian Empire.

2) Who are their parents?

His parents Uhsa and Thekih are relatively respected purebloods, both capable in arcane magic.

2a) Are they still alive? Are there any other guardians/close family members?

They are, though they have disowned him after his fall from grace. He has three brothers (Oshu, Shizsihu, Szaztu) and two sisters (Thetsi, Zhitshuthah) remaining. None will likely survive.

His second cousin Zsolia - damn her golden eyes - is very much alive. Hopefully not for much longer.

3) What were they doing before now?

Up until the disgrace - plotting and scheming in both the Scaled Peak and the cities of the Thyatian Empire. He learned magic and skills to deceive others and steal their secrets.

After the disgrace - Finding a new group that won't backstab him at the drop of a hat.

Recently - Keeping up spirits among the warmbloods. One never knows who will be needed to watch his back after all.

3a) Why leave it all?

The Scaled Peak - Zsolia. They had plotted together to rob the half-blood wizard Hiztlozill, with three others. Those three are no longer breathing, betrayed by Zsolia. Only a deal made at the last minute gave Huiszui a reprieve.

3b) What did they leave behind?

The Scaled Peak - family, allies, betrayal: the familiar things of home.

4) What does your character want?

Nestis wants to find a new start, away from the manipulations and subtle torments of the yuan-ti. Failing that, vengeance upon Zsolia. Above all, he wants power over his own life, perhaps for the first time.

Unarmoured 12 AC (10 +2 Dex)

AC: 14
HP: 9
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.

Melee
Dagger +4 1d4+2 piercing 1 lb. Finesse, light, thrown (range 20/60)

Ranged
Shortbow +4 1d6+2 piercing 2 lb. Ammunition (range 80/320), two-handed

Cantrips Known:
Animal Friendship (snakes only)
Poison Spray

Prestidigitation
Vicious Mockery

Spells Known:

Level 1 4/4
Comprehend Languages
Faerie Fire
Healing Word
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

Level 2 2/2
Phantasmal Force
Suggestion
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 10 (+0), Dex 14 (+2), Con 12 (+1), Int 12 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 16 (+3)
Proficiency Bonus +2
Saving Throws: Dexterity +4, Charisma +5
Proficencies: Light Armour, Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Dice set, Thieves’ tools, Drum, Dulcimer, Shawm

Skills: Acrobatics +2, Animal Handling +2, Arcana +1, Athletics +0, **Deception +7, History +1, **Insight +6, Intimidate +3, *Investigation +3, Medicine +2, Nature +1, **Perception +6, Performance +3, *Persuasion +5, Religion +1, Sleight of Hand +2, Stealth +2, Survival +2

Languages: Common, Abyssal, Draconic
Gear: Studded Leather armour
Shortbow
dagger

Diplomat's Pack

Drum, Dulcimer, Shawm,
crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood
1 healing potion

Coin: 0 PP, 22g GP, 0 EP, 0 SP, 0 CP
-----------------------------
RACIAL TRAITS
-----------------------------
Yuan-Ti Pureblood Traits

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age: Purebloods mature at the same rate as humans and have lifespans similar in length to theirs.
Size: Purebloods match humans in average size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Poison Spray cantrip. You can cast Animal Friendship an unlimited number of times with this trait, but you can target only snakes with it. Starting at 3rd level, you can also cast Suggestion with this trait. Once you cast it, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Magic Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Poison Immunity: You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common, Abyssal, and Draconic.

-----------------------------
CLASS FEATURES
-----------------------------
Cantrips

You know two cantrips of your choice from the bard spell list. You learn additional bard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, learning a 3rd cantrip at 4th level and a 4th at 10th level.
Spell Slots

The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your bard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know four 1st-level spells of your choice from the bard spell list. You learn an additional bard spell of your choice at each level except 12th, 16th, 19th, and 20th. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the bard spells you know and replace it with another spell from the bard spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your bard spells. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a bard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Spell Attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Ritual Casting

You can cast any bard spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.
Spellcasting Focus

You can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.
Bardic Inspiration

You can use a bonus action on your turn to choose one creature other than yourself within 60 feet of you who can hear you. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration die, a d6.

Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once the Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. A creature can have only one Bardic Inspiration die at a time.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest. Your Bardic Inspiration die changes when you reach certain levels in this class. The die becomes a d8 at 5th level, a d10 at 10th level, and a d12 at 15th level.

Jack of All Trades
Starting at 2nd level, you can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn't already include your proficiency bonus.

Song of Rest
Beginning at 2nd level, you can use soothing music or oration to help revitalize your wounded allies during a short rest. If you or any friendly creatures who can hear your performance spend one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points at the end of the short rest, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.

Expertise (Insight, Perception)
At 3rd level, choose two of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.

At 10th level, you can choose another two skill proficiencies to gain this benefit.

College of Glamour

Mantle of Inspiration
When you join the College of Glamour at 3rd level, you gain the ability to weave a song of fey magic that imbues your allies with vigor and speed.

As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to grant yourself a wondrous appearance. When you do so, choose a number of creatures you can see and who can see you within 60 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each of them gains 5 temporary hit points. When a creature gains these temporary hit points, it can immediately use its reaction to move up to its speed, without provoking opportunity attacks.

The number of temporary hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 8 at 5th level, 11 at 10th level, and 14 at 15th level.

Enthralling Performance
Starting at 3rd level, you can charge your performance with seductive, fey magic.

If you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you. While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, it speaks glowingly of you to anyone who speaks to it, and it hinders anyone who opposes you, avoiding violence unless it was already inclined to fight on your behalf. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour, if it takes any damage, if you attack it, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.

If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

-----------------------------
FEATS
-----------------------------
Silver-Tongued
You develop your conversational skill to better deceive others. You gain the following benefits:
•Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
•You gain proficiency in the Deception skill. If you are already proficient in the skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with it.
•When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one attack with an attempt to deceive one humanoid you can see within 30 feet of you that can see and hear you. Make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the target’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If your check succeeds, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from the target and your attack rolls against it have advantage; both benefits last until the end of your next turn or until you use this ability on a different target. If your check fails, the target can’t be deceived by you in this way for 1 hour

----------------------
BACKGROUND - Spy
----------------------
Overview

You are an experienced criminal with a history of breaking the law. You have spent a lot of time among other criminals and still have contacts within the criminal underworld. You’re far closer than most people to the world of murder, theft, and violence that pervades the underbelly of civilization, and you have survived up to this point by flouting the rules and regulations of society.

Although your capabilities are not much different from those of a burglar or smuggler, you learned and practiced them in a very different context: as an espionage agent. You might have been an officially sanctioned agent of the crown, or perhaps you sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Stealth Perception
Tool Proficiencies: One type of gaming set, thieves’ tools
Equipment: A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a belt pouch containing 15 GP.

Feature: By Popular Demand

You can always find a place to perform, usually in an inn or tavern but possibly with a circus, at a theater, or even in a noble’s court. At such a place, you receive free lodging and food of a modest or comfortable standard (depending on the quality of the establishment), as long as you perform each night. In addition, your performance makes you something of a local figure. When strangers recognize you in a town where you have performed, they typically take a liking to you.

Personality Trait 1: People are only as trustworthy as you are valuable to them. Always strive to be the most valuable person around.

Personality Trait 2: I am prepared for any eventuality; including the day my usefulness as a spy comes to an end.

Ideal: Suspicious: In my experience, everybody has something to hide, and what they hide can usually hurt me (Any).

Bond: I was framed for a crime I did not commit, and seek to bring the true culprit to justice.

Flaw: I think too highly of myself, and have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.