Avelina of House Galfrey's page

Acrobatics +1
Appraise +1
Climb +0
Disguise +8
Heal -2
Perception -4
Sense Motive -2
Stealth +1

Imperious Bloodline Abilities:
Student of Humanity (Ex): At 1st level, you gain Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility), and Linguistics as class skills. In addition, when using these skills to learn, study, or gather information about humans, you add an insight bonus equal to your Charisma bonus on such checks.

Heroic Echo (Su):
At 3rd level, when you receive a morale bonus from any spell, spell-like ability, or magic item, including those you cast on yourself, that bonus increases by +1. At 9th level, this ability also applies to competence bonuses. If you receive a morale effect (or a competence effect at 9th level) that affects an area or multiple targets, as an immediate action you can share your increased bonus with all other recipients. This increase to other participants lasts a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. You can use this ability once per day, plus one time per three levels after 3rd.

Avelina Theodosia Iomedae Rydell Cecilia Galfrey always just knew that she was special. Born into a branch of the Galfrey family based in the city of Kenabres. Avelina remembers little of the city of her birth, however. When she was only four, her great-great aunt, Queen Galfrey, rode up to her manor--still arrayed in bloodied battle regalia—to bear the news of her parents' passing in a great battle against the demons of the Worldwound. From thence forth, Avelina lived with her beloved “Auntie” in the capital, Nerosyan. The Queen, leading a perpetually losing campaign against demonkind while also trying to maintain order in the most dangerous and chaotic land in Golarion, had neither the desire, inclination, nor time to raise a child, and the care of Avelina passed to family retainers. As a willful child that desired nothing more than to rise to the legacy of her parents, Avelina took upon herself such audacious acts as policing the barracks's for contraband, sneaking off to give money away to the poor by herself, and demanding fairer prices for her country's soldiers from extortionist merchants at sword-point.

Then, in her thirteenth year, her magic manifested. Heartened that surely her prayers to Iomedae had finally been answered, Avelina turned towards the development of her magic, temporarily “withdrawing herself from public life,” as she would tell her retainers. No one in her household had the heart to tell her the truth: that her powers were arcane in nature, arising from the bloodline of forgotten kings of old. As she trained her abilities on her own, she crafted intricate—and often contradictory—excuses for how her powers differed from others and giving grand—and often pretentious—names to her spells. She knew no better, as she to this day refuses to give any time to studying arcana or spellcraft, seeing them as wastes of time; Faith is all she needs, of course.

Her temporary withdrawal lasted five years. Having turned eighteen, Avelina believes it is finally time to make her debut. The festival of Armasse in her once-home city of Kenabres should be a suitably spectacular event for such an occasion.

Growing up so close to Nerosyan, her family dying-off every year, Avelina did what any child would do and developed defense mechanisms:

The first is her idealized view of the world. If anyone could be called “militantly romantic,” it would be Avelina. She imposes narratives of knightly triumphs and fairy tale romance upon those around her at every opportunity, even in defiance of logic and reason.

The second is her absolute faith in Iomedae. Avelina's fanatical devotion has lead her to many beliefs outside of the Church's orthodoxy, practically assigning omnipotence to her. Aroden was the one true god, and she inherited his power, so that makes her the one true god, right? Avelina even goes so far as to claim that everything that happens is part of the providential plan of the Inheritor, invoking this “Providence” to justify herself. In fact, Avelina sees Iomedae not only as the patron and savior of Mendev—and thus the world—but also as her personal knight-in-shining-armor. Avelina dreams wistfully of her Beloved Inheritor sweeping her off her feet.

The third is her belief that she has been chosen as a “Favored Soul” of the Inheritor, one specially marked to do great deeds in her service. She uses this excuse to handwave away any accusations that her magic is not divine in nature, believing that she must be excused from the normal rules.

Despite all her self-delusions and her facade of self-satisfaction and supreme self-confidence, Avelina is still the frightened, lonely girl she was when she found out that her Lord Father and Mother would never return from their last expedition into the Worldwound. She still carries the same earnest desire to defend the world against evil and protect and heal its people. Truth-be-told, she has not one ounce of malice in her body. She wishes for nothing more than to be a “Beacon of Righteousness,” as she has convinced herself unquestioningly that her parents were, since they have been lionized into in her memory. If someone were to ever dispel her of her illusions, she could very well become that Hero of Justice she believes herself to already be.

My goal for Avelina is for her to grow from the self-righteous, prideful person she is into a full-on hero. I hope that the difficulties of the campaign in the Worldwound, as well as being confronted with people that are actual paragons of virtue, will force her to confront hard truths about herself and become a much more humble person that has actual friends, not just retainers. I would also like for her to grow past her childish, obsessive crush on Iomedae and find someone to settle down with, an honorable, chivalrous lady knight that would treat her well.

The following bit of Iomedaean theology is something that I made up 1. To give myself a device to remember all the Acts for RP purposes and 2. To allow Avelina to reference some specific theology. Since I use Catholicism as a base for Iomedae’s church, I tried to go for something in that vein. The imagined author of this theology, St. Septimine, is thus named in reference to St. Augustine. Each of the 11 Acts is meant as a specific lesson that could be distilled to one word, which I have listed along with the Acts.

Act One: Duty
Iomedae’s heroic rescue of the members of her circle, even after they had been swallowed by Nakorshor’mond demonstrates that duty must be upheld even when holding to it is seemingly hopeless.

Act Two: Justice
Though the people of Eleder had despaired of ever being freed from the witches that ruled them, they were slain, showing that even the mightiest of evil creatures will face just reckoning.

Act Three: Valor
Iomedae’s dynamic and wise risk-taking during the battle with the King of the Barrowood allowed her to triumph over him where others failed.

Act Four: Steadfastness
Steadfastness is the ability to stand when all the world pushes against you. By convincing the knights at the Second Battle of Encarthan to stand their ground, they were able to hold until reinforcement arrived.

Act Five: Persistence
Persistence is the ability to push forward when all the world stands against you. Though Tar-Baphon’s murder and desecration of Arazni brought the Shining Crusade to deep despair, Iomedae pressed forward at the Battle of Three Sorrows, allowing her to drive the Lord of Mohrgs back to Orv.

Act Six: Purity
The purity of Iomedae and her faith was so strong that it could reforge her sword, showing that a knight’s true weapon is their pure heart.

Act Seven: Glory
By successfully pleading with the Starstone to shine upon the ghouls attacking the city, Iomedae showed that the glory of a single individual can light a way out of the darkness for everyone.

Act Eight: Redemption
If the graveknight known as the Black Prince can be convinced to throw himself upon his sword in penance, then any evil can be redeemed, should the redeemer be wise and pure enough.

Act Nine: Honor
Though she suspected that the vampire-mage Basilov would betray them, Iomedae still treated with him honorably, allowing him to be undone by his own underhandedness.

Act Ten: Peace
Through spending a year ruling Kantaria, Iomedae showed that a knight may still find fulfilment and honor, even in matters not relating to war and direct combat against evil.

Act Eleven: Ascendance
The meaning of this lesson is constantly debated. St. Septimine says that her removing her cape and throwing it across the span to make a bridge to the Starstone represents her performing an act of humility even as she attempted to move towards godhood, showing the dichotomy that her followers must imitate. Others see the Act as saying that Ascendance requires divesting oneself of attachments and ornaments. Some mystics even believe that hidden in the details of the Act’s original text are clues that would lead the faithful to following Iomedae’s footsteps into godhood.

Initiative:
[dice=Initiative]1d20+8[/dice]

Saving Throws:
[Dice=Fortitude]1d20+6[/dice]
[Dice=Reflex]1d20+6[/dice]
[Dice=Will]1d20+5[/dice]
[dice=Will vs Charms and Compulsions]1d20+16[/dice]

Situational Save Bonuses:
+1 vs. spells and effects from outsiders with the evil subtype

Attacks:
[Dice=Primary Melee Attack]1d20+6[/dice] (19-20/x2 crit)
[Dice=Damage]1d8[/dice]
[Dice=Primary Ranged Attack]1d20+6[/dice] (19-20x2 crit)
[Dice=Damage]1d8[/dice]

Skills:
[Dice=Acrobatics]1d20+2[/dice]
[Dice=Appraise]1d20+1[/dice]
[Dice=Bluff]1d20+13[/dice]
[Dice=Climb]1d20+0[/dice]
[Dice=Diplomacy]1d20+24[/dice]
[dice=Diplomacy (gather information relating to humans)]1d20+32[/dice]
[Dice=Disguise]1d20+8[/dice]
[Dice=Escape Artist]1d20+5[/dice]
[Dice=Fly]1d20+1[/dice]
[Dice=Heal]1d20-2[/dice]
[Dice=Intimidate]1d20+20[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(History)]1d20+5[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge (History relating to Humans)]1d20+13[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(Local)]1d20+5[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(Local relating to Humans)]1d20+13[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(Nobility)]1d20+19[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(Nobility relating to Humans)]1d20+26[/dice]
[Dice=Knowledge(Religion)]1d20+16[/dice]
[Dice=Linguistics]1d20+5[/dice]
[Dice=Linguistics (concerning humans)]1d20+13[/dice]
[Dice=Perception]1d20-4[/dice]
[Dice=Perform]1d20+8[/dice]
[dice=Perform (oratory)]1d20+13[/dice]
[Dice=Profession]1d20-2[/dice]
[Dice=Ride]1d20+1[/dice]
[Dice=Sense Motive]1d20-2[/dice]
[Dice=Stealth]1d20+1[/dice]
[Dice=Survival]1d20-2[/dice]
[Dice=Swim]1d20+0[/dice]
[Dice=Use Magic Device]1d20+20[/dice]

Ability Checks:
[dice=Str]1d20+0[/dice]
[dice=Dex]1d20+1[/dice]
[dice=Con]1d20+2[/dice]
[dice=Int]1d20+1[/dice]
[dice=Wis]1d20-2[/dice]
[dice=Cha]1d20+8[/dice]

3rd Level
Inheritor's Cancellation = Dispel Magic
Double Time = Haste
The Spark of a Single Righteous Soul = Fireball

2nd Level
Radiant Dawn of the Inheritor = Burst of Radiance
A Trace of the Inheritor's Divine Presence = Eagle's Splendor
Immortal Blood of the Divine = False Life
Multiplicity of the Favored Soul = Mirror Image

1st Level
Bless Weapon = Bless Weapon
Roaring Red Hands of Victory = Burning Hands
Words Unhidden to Eyes and Ears = Comprehend Languages
Word of the Inheritor = Ear-Piercing Scream
Revealing Light of the Goddess = Faerie Fire
Liberating Command = Liberating Command
Volley of Holy Arrows = Magic Missile
Armor of Faith = Mage Armor
A Single Sublime Instant = Moment of Greatness
Movement Unfettered by Heights or Depths = Monkey Fish
Protection from Evil = Protection from Evil
A Light Morning Fog = Obscurring Mists
Icy Orb of Judgment = Snowball
Lightness of Faith = Feather Fall

Cantrips
Light = Light
Long Arm of Justice = Mage Hand
Craftswoman's Touch = Mending
Cleanliness of the Unblemished Soul = Prestidigitation (to clean)
A Spoonful of Sugar = Prestidigitation (to flavor)
Freezing Ray of Judgment = Ray of Frost
Intuition of the Mage = Read Magic