Aithaloessa Cyana's page

5th-baleful polymorph, planar adaptation
4th-bloody arrows, confusion, energy hack, fire shield, homeward bound, locate creature, minor creation, named bullet, stoneskin, summon monster IV
3rd- arcane sight, clairaudience/clairvoyance, dispel magic, displacement, fireball, fly, haste, phase step, pugwampi's grace, secret coffer, secret page, sepia snake sigil, shrink item, voluminous vocabulary
2nd- aggressive thundercloud*, bestow weapon proficiency, communal ant haul, detect thoughts, flurry of snowballs, garden of peril, glitterdust, locate object, mirror image, reloading hands, pyrotechnics*, resist energy, ricochet shot, stone call, storm of blades, warding weapon
1st- arcane pocket, burning hands, burning sands, chill touch, colour spray, comprehend languages, corrosive touch, enlarge person, expeditious construction, expeditious excavation, expeditious retreat, fabricate bullets, feather fall, flare burst, floating disk, frostbite, gravity bow, grease, hydraulic push, identify, illusion of calm, jury-rig, keep watch, longshot, magic aura, magic missile*, magic weapon, obscuring mist, peace bond, protection from evil*, ray of enfeeblement, shield*, shocking grasp, snapdragon fireworks, stone fist, unerring weapon
0 -acid splash, arcane mark, bleed, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, flare, ghost sound, guidance, haunted fey aspect, light, mage hand, mending, message, oath of anonymity, open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, scrivener’s chant, sotto voce, spark, touch of fatigue
*=Mastered spell

Combat Gear Tempest, cloak of resistance +1, slippers of spider climbing, +2 darkleaf studded leather armour, masterwork pistol (5 bullets and doses of powder), +1 elven thornblade, composite longbow and 6 arrows, 5 cold iron arrows, 10 durable arrows, powder horn, chroma grenade, flask of acid, wand of scorching ray (14 charges), quarterstaff, dagger, spell component pouch; Other Gear headband of vast intelligence +2 (Diplomacy), hood's flair (black feather, brass leaf, silver chime, teal bead), runestone of power (1st), backpack, scholar's outfit, spellbook, gunsmith’s kit, healer's kit (10 uses), boline, bedroll, mess kit, 5 days' trail rations, flint and steel, hooded lantern and 2 pints oil, whetstone, sewing needle, soap, scroll case, potion vial, 1 oz. ink and pen, signet ring, wooden holy symbol of Calistria, 3 candles, 3 sheets parchment, waterskin, 4 952 gp, 9 sp, 8 cp
Treasure Arcane family workbook, boots of elvenkind, courtier's outfit (midnight blue silk), signet ring (silver and turquoise, 25 gp), sapphire drop earrings (25 gp), ioun stone (cracked scarlet and blue sphere [Spellcraft]), mnemonic vestment, spare spell component pouch, powder horn, garnet (400 gp), instructions for restorative ointment and marvellous pigments, small coffer (1 cubic foot) and tiny replica (foci for secret coffer), 2 doses of powdered amber (for sepia snake sigil), 3 doses of diamond dust (for stoneskin)

bag of holding (type I), expedition pavilion

At 1st level, a gunslinger gains one of the following firearms of her choice: blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. Her starting weapon is battered, and only she knows how to use it properly. All other creatures treat her gun as if it had the broken condition. If the weapon already has the broken condition, it does not work at all for anyone else trying to use it. This starting weapon can only be sold for scrap (it’s worth 4d10 gp when sold). The gunslinger also gains Gunsmithing as a bonus feat.

A gunslinger makes her mark upon the world with daring deeds. Some gunslingers claim they belong to a mystical way of the gun, but it’s more likely that the volatile nature of firearms simply prunes the unlucky and careless from their ranks. Whatever the reason, all gunslingers have grit. In game terms, grit is a fluctuating measure of a gunslinger’s ability to perform amazing actions in combat.
At the start of each day, a gunslinger gains a number of grit points equal to her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). Her grit goes up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum. A gunslinger spends grit to accomplish deeds (see below), and regains grit in the following ways.
Critical Hit with a Firearm: Each time the gunslinger confirms a critical hit with a firearm attack while in the heat of combat, she regains 1 grit point. Confirming a critical hit on a helpless or unaware creature or on a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the gunslinger’s
character level does not restore grit.
Killing Blow with a Firearm: When the gunslinger reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points with a firearm attack while in the heat of combat, she regains 1 grit point. Destroying an unattended object, reducing a helpless or unaware creature to 0 or fewer hit points, or reducing a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the gunslinger’s character level to 0 or fewer hit points does not restore any grit.
A mysterious stranger is a force to be reckoned with. Instead of using her Wisdom to determine the number of grit points she gains at the start of each day, she uses Charisma. This ability works in all other ways like the gunslinger’s grit class feature.

Gunslingers spend grit points to accomplish deeds. Most deeds grant the gunslinger some momentary bonus or effect, but there are some that provide longer lasting effects. Some deeds stay in effect as long as the gunslinger has at least 1 grit point. Unless otherwise noted, a deed can be performed multiple successive times, as long as the appropriate amount of grit is spent to perform the deed.
Deadeye (Ex): At 1st level, the gunslinger can resolve an attack against touch AC instead of normal AC when firing beyond her firearm’s first range increment. Performing this deed costs 1 grit point per range increment beyond the first. The gunslinger still takes the –2 penalty on attack rolls for each range increment beyond the first when she performs this deed.
Focused Aim (Ex): At 1st level, as a swift action, the mysterious stranger can spend 1 grit point to gain a bonus on all firearm damage rolls equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) with all firearm attacks she makes until the end of her turn.
Gunslinger’s Dodge (Ex): At 1st level, the gunslinger gains an uncanny knack for getting out of the way of ranged attacks. When a ranged attack is made against the gunslinger, she can spend 1 grit point to move 5 feet as an immediate action; doing so grants the gunslinger a +2 bonus to AC against the triggering attack. This movement is not a 5-foot step, and provokes attacks of opportunity. Alternatively, the gunslinger can drop prone to gain a +4 bonus to AC against the triggering attack. The gunslinger can only perform this deed while wearing medium or light armor, and while carrying no more than a light load.

Max 3 + the arcanist’s level + FCB in points. Each day, when preparing spells, gain a number of points equal to 3 + 1/2 arcanist level. Any points from the previous day are lost. Can also regain points through consume spells class feature. Can expend 1 point as a free action whenever she casts an arcanist spell to increase the caster level by 1 or increase the spell’s DC by 1, but no more than 1 point from her reservoir on a given spell.

Can expend available arcanist spell slot as a move action Cha mod times per day, adding a number of points to her arcane reservoir equal to the level of the spell slot consumed.

As cleric of her class level.

At each class level, a Magaambyan initiate chooses one druid or cleric [good] spell of a level that she can cast, that’s not on the arcanist spell list. She can cast it as if it were on her spell list and prepared by expending a number of points from her arcane reservoir equal to half the spell’s level (minimum 1) and expending a spell slot of the spell’s level. At 4th level and every 2 levels thereafter, a Magaambyan initiate can choose to lose a spell that she has chosen with this ability in exchange for a new spell of the same spell level that meets the same requirements. This ability replaces the arcanist exploits gained at 1st, 9th, and 17th levels.

Primal magic (Sp): Can expend 1 or more points from her arcane reservoir to create an uncontrolled primal effect. This creates an effect from the Sample Primal Magic Events table (Inner Sea Magic 13). CR of this effect is equal to her caster level, to a max CL of 5 per point spent. In this case, the effect is treated as a spell with a spell level equal to half its CR (max spell level 9).

Alternatively, can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir and a spell slot of at least 3rd level to create an effect as if she has used a rod of wonder. Any spell created by the rod of wonder effect uses the arcanist’s caster level, rather than the spell level set by the rod of wonder table (e.g., a fireball created by an 8th level arcanist rolling on the rod of wonder table would deal 8d6, rather than the listed 6d6). In this case, the effect is treated as a spell with a spell level equal to the spell slot expended.

Dimensional slide (Su): Can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to step through a dimensional crack to reach another location. Once per round, used as part of a move action or withdraw action, allowing move up to 10'/arcanist level to any location she can see. This counts as 5' of movement. She does not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving in this way, but any other movement she attempts as part of her move action provokes as normal.

Exile: Aithaloessa is a woman on several missions, including, most prominently, her return to Kyonin from exile as a babe in arms, carried by her mother in flight from a persistent persecutor whom she feared to name even to her own child. Since reaching young adulthood, Aithaloessa has only been able to piece together a few additional details: who or what her mother feared must have had a long and magical reach, since she fled all the way to Alkenstar’s desert of dead magic even when the heartbreak drove her to an early grave. From what she knows of Kyonin’s troubles, she suspects some connection with Tanglebriar.
Forlorn cynic: Having supported herself for a few years in Alkenstar as a guardswoman, Aithaloessa has a broad streak of cynicism (which she is pleased to call pragmatism) in her which was only reinforced by seeing the withering pace of the cycles of non-elven society. Having learned to mistrust the surface motivations of most everyone, and that to get through life she would have to rely upon her own resources above all, she sees a certain irony in her stubborn devotion to her own projects even under circumstances in which most people, she imagines, would just have moved on.
Magically ambitious: Despite only every having seen rare glimpses of stable magic Skyside in Alkenstar while she was growing up – and one other occasion that she doesn’t like to speak about, from her time as a guard – Aithaloessa was suitably enchanted even by those and the wild, dangerous beauty of the mana storms that blow up when damaged magic eddies around her home city. In this, she has been well-served by the arcane talent her partner was able to identify and encourage even in the depths of the Wastes, and Aithaloessa emerged with an insatiable interest in all forms of spellcraft and a thirst to prove herself.
Brisk do-gooder: Perhaps because she has grave doubts about how many people will do the right thing, and because of her previous training, Aithaloessa is often moved to intervene and set an example, almost out of personal pride. She is thus hardly a model of crusading zeal as such, and the narrow confines of her upbringing mean that she still has a rather inaccurate sense of how big the world actually is, and how dangerous its magic, so even as she tries to choose her battles and give them her all, she often risks biting off more than she can chew.
Subversively self-effacing: Pushing against a humble and partly military background, Aithaloessa tends a free spirit and an aspirational interest in the finer things in life, but it’s not that easy to get away from her guard training entirely. So, she tries to give everything a bit of a self-conscious twist: to keep everything neat but just on – or over – the edge of regulation smartness. Given the opportunity, she’ll pretty up something boring with finer fabric, move a badge, tilt a hat or rewrap a veil, try something new with her makeup, if that’s the sort of day it is… Interpersonally, too, while she might enjoy ceremony for the fun of it, she won’t stand on it for its own sake, especially if it leaves someone else out or makes them uncomfortable.

Goals:
(IC): Aithaloessa feels far more inadequate due to her magic-less upbringing than she would likely ever admit to any but her very nearest and dearest. Accordingly, on a level she herself isn’t entirely aware of, she is desperate to pull off what she would consider an undeniably impressive bit of magic: something of the order of stabilizing – however briefly – an area of primal magic (of course there’s a spell for that!), or that involves planar travel.
(OOC): Play with as much primal, planar, and fey magic as won’t drive other players completely bonkers. :) Something like the various planar conduit feats is tempting for later on (or maybe even one of the fussy achievement feats in the Players’ Guide for this AP), as is saving for something to make primal magic less terrifying for less chaotic folks.
Secrets:
1) Not quite a secret, but given that it’s either no longer relevant or not something she has much occasion to show off, Aithaloessa neither wears her commendations and insignia of rank from her time in the Alkenstar guard nor reveals quite how much she knows about the design and making of firearms. Of course, the latter is just as the Duchy would wish it.
2) Something that Aithaloessa doesn’t know is how much she’s put herself at risk by having at one point completed a transaction in Katapesh’s Nightstalls with her mother’s name, explicitly. As much as it’s a bigger world than she thinks, and the fact that an elf of such-and-such a name had a daughter in Garund is of little intrinsic interest, the enemy Aithaloessa inherited from her mother is indeed long-lived and patient enough to eventually remember said parent, start making inquiries, and target the child now that the mother is beyond their reach.
Important people:
Machaera: Aithaloessa’s girlfriend, with whom she maintains a committed long-distance relationship. The pair’s devoted correspondence is almost as full of arcane theory as romantic and general content, as their varying approaches often shed light on points of interest in their individual projects. They privately joke about wondering which of them will be the first to teleport to visit the other under her own power.
Kolga Eirafa: Aithaloessa’s superior and sometime mentor in the Alkenstar guard, the dwarven shieldmarshal isn’t really anywhere near the person she remembers the most fondly from her hometown, but she is the one Aithaloessa remembers most when she needs to polish her boots, straighten her back, and stiffen her upper lip. If she can also remember the shieldmarshal’s tacit, wry acceptance of the rebellious elf’s cheekily precise correctness, so much the better.
Osla Clarion: A wizardly close relative of the Katapeshi slaver Lord Clarion, he and Aithaloessa were involved in an altercation outside the College of Dimensional Studies – involving various aspersions of magical aptitude, other degrees of elf-ness, and overall moral fibre – that escalated drastically. They parted before it came to bloodshed, but if Aithaloessa ever returns to the city of Katapesh with the audacity and magic to navigate the College, it is doubtful that that will remain true for too long, which may complicate her other business in the City of Trade.

Wistful wanderer: Though her interests in the arcane are truly eclectic, Aithaloessa would blushingly concede that she has a special fondness for anything that reminds her of her partner: transmutations, spells that manipulate darkness and starlight, which remind her of the earliest days (well, nights) of their courtship, the flowers and other plants of her homeland that her lover encouraged her to dare to dream of.
Pride in a job well done: Aithaloessa, despite her early training, is not nearly as enthused by firearms and pyrotechnics as her partner, perhaps because they are simply familiar to her. (Conversely, her partner is a bit surprised by her zeal for botany.) That said, even if Aithaloessa doesn’t particularly like guns, aesthetically, she respects their efficiency and takes considerable care for her current weapon even as she is beginning to draw up plans for a new design. The fact that the pistol she still uses after very many years, adjustments, and gradual improvements, was originally a practical gift from her mother is entirely incidental. Relatedly, despite some of the stereotypes about elves, Aithaloessa has no particular affinity for animals, and her botany is as analytical as her alchemy and engineering.
Vocalist: Since Magaambyan arcane traditions are partly oral, Aithaloessa would have quite a nice voice, if she could be bothered to do something with it. As it is, her practice reciting magical lore has simply induced a fondness for poetry and song more generally, and she’ll often catch herself quietly singing something if she doesn’t need to be quiet or to devote all her mental energy to a task.

Aithaloessa stands only just taller and (a tiny bit fretfully) more solid than most other elf women. (6’, 114 lbs., in crude numbers.) She is also pale and high-cheekboned even by Avistani elf standards, deep blue eyes glowing dark while her features are framed overall by a mane of black hair, when she lets it down. Usually, though, she keeps her hair high in a tight and tidy bun that speaks of the same self-restraint that all of her personal style indicates. Her posture is generally mercilessly straight, and her clothes dark and severely (if elegantly) cut. That said, while that extends to a fondness for uniforms, Aithaloessa doesn’t much care for the overall symbolism, and tries to add a subtle personal touch to even the most unpromising, formal outfit.
Her overall demeanor is similar: though Aithaloessa’s normally subdued, and her infrequent smiles tight, her quiet, gentle laughter can bubble up unexpectedly when something delights her, especially a novel bit of magic.