Bo Barrendale's page

When asked about his past, Bo simply says that the past is a distraction keeping you from achieving your goals.

If pressed for more information, he might sigh and reveal that he was born along the icy shores of Icewind Dale. The lives of common tradesmen, such as fishermen or lumberjacks, ‘unfortunately did not appeal much to a brash and muscular youth’, and a lust for wealth, women and fame in the fastest time possible led him to an early life of piracy.

For years, he raided nearby coasts, moving further and further away from his home, ever growing in experience and infamy until he himself was wealthy and hardened enough to start his own crew. Unfortunately, his track record of crime had placed a bounty on his head, and eventually his ship was hunted down by corsairs in the service of Cormyr.

With his ship utterly destroyed and most of his inexperienced crew dead in the fight, a man onboard the Cormyran ship offered him one unexpected alternative to death. He would willingly subject himself to a geas spell and aid in the war against Netheril under the command of ‘Lord Prio’, or be hanged from the mast. Years of earlier hostilities between the nations, as well as participation in bloody conflicts of allies – between the paladins of Elturel and the neighboring spellplagued wasteland, the weavepasha of Calimport and the Djinn empire of Memnon, and the elves of Myth Drannor against the many dangers surrounding them, to name a few – had drained Cormyr’s vast armies and navy, and desperate measures had to be taken.

(At this point, those schooled in history or with very worldly backgrounds realize he is talking about the period of time from before the second sundering – a hundred or so years ago, which seems odd when Bo himself appears an ordinary human of early middle-age.)

Not having a choice, Bo accepted, and with that a redemption of sorts began. Starting his way from the very bottom, he worked his way back up the navy in skirmish after skirmish, even being involved in particularly violent conflicts on land when the situation called for it, such as when the Zhentarim attempted to corrupt a powerful relic of Amaunator.

Along the way, he gained a respect for his new ‘allies’, the craftiness of Lord Prio (who he eventually learned was a Lady), and the valor of the purple dragon knights and elves even against the most dire circumstanced. He even fell in love once, with a cleric of Sune named Tyris. And, with that, came a sense of remorse and regret – a genuine desire to atone separate from his forced servitude.

Unfortunately, the war that ended this era proved to be very cataclysmic indeed. Huge airborn city-necropoli of the Netherese clashed with Djinn-empowered airships of the Cormyran navy just as vast armies of Myth Drannor, Cormyr, Zhentil Keep and the Netherese themselves clashed below around Cormanthor Forest. In the end, the main necropolis crashed into the the elven city’s energy field, and the resulting explosion of the Mithal wiped out the entire capital, along with the entirety of the Netherese and most of the other forces in the region. As a sky-captain, he was one of the very lucky few to escape alive.

However, having lost all of the friends he’d made in service, his love interest, his employer and seeing large parts of the world in ruins, Bo withdrew. Even when the last vestigies of the spellplague disappeared soon afterwards and the reality of the word started shaping itself back to how it had been prior to the spellplague, he had no desire to come back to this new version of it. He’d seen and endured too much.

Eventually, he found a monastery in a remote region that was willing to accept him, and over the following decades he slowly found tranquility. He came to realize his mistakes, and that the base desires that lived in men were what had ultimate lead to the near-destruction of the world. He learned to feel joy again, finding it in studying and teaching philosophy, in mastering the many disciplines of the monks and being in balance with the nature surrounding them. The occasional foray into other worlds could also be quite enlightening.

He was content to stay, and would have stayed if not for a party of adventurers coming along one day, warning him of the threat of the abyss taking over the prime material plane by way of lodestones. Because if that happened, everyone’s sacrifices would have been for nothing…

Of course, he might not tell you anything instead, simply state that a curious mind is to be treasured, and send you off with a wink.

As described to the party earlier! (Unsure of the level of detail, haha)

Normally, Bo is a serene type of monk who likes to teach and learn esoteric matters on fields such as philosophy. He has a laconic sense of humor which he attemps to suppress when formal matters are concerned, such as when receiving visitors to the monastery. He has sworn off excessive mortal delights in favor of a scholarly focus, since in his mind, the root of all evil springs from excessive desire and lack of discipline.

However, this is his outer shell, and it is rumored that when pressed really hard, vesitiges of the pirate he used to be rise to the surface...

Bo is a teamwork-oriented melee character, flavored after the warlord class from 4e D&D and roleplayed like a monk with a martial past. Mechanically, he is a fighter/mystic gestalt. Since he has mind tricks and telepathy as cantrips I imagine him to be a bit like a d&d version of a jedi guardian. Most of his abilities help his allies in some way or another. His main focusses are on damage prevention to the party and granting them additional attacks, advantage on attacks and, perhaps unique to the mystic, extra actions. He also has some spontaneous healing ability for emergency healing, decent condition removal and can resurrect the dead within 1 minute of it happening, so long as he has psi points.

How this works in practice: He has the inspiring leader feat which grants everyone 8 temporary hit points going into fights (if a short rest was had) and his ardent mystic specialization grants everyone a +2 bonus to initiave, making them act faster and more often. His main ardent concentration ‘spell’ is the aura of victory (under mantle of courage, see below). While active, each time an enemy is killed, allies within 30 feet of him gain between 2 and 14 temporary hit points, depending on how many psy points were spent activating it (at level 6, the max temp hp is 10). So long as the party keeps killing things, they passively keep getting new temporary hit points shields as a form of pseudo healing.

Bo himself is a High AC battlemaster fighter with the shield master feat and will attempt to use the shield’s bonus actions or trip attack to knock targets prone, or could use the commander’s strike maneuver to allow more damage focused characters to gain an extra attack bonus damage. He could also knock things prone and then use the Command to Strike discipline to make someone else use the attack action on it directly afterwards. Additionally, Bo can protect temp HP shields on himself or his allies with his interception combat style, allowing him to reduce damage from an incoming attack by 1d10+3(proficiency) once per round on a target within 5 feet of him.

On level 7 and 9, he gains more powerful mystic abilities in this style. One of them grants everyone an additional action on their turns (limitation: is concentration for bo, can only take 1 weapon attack, dash or disengage as chosen action). The most powerful one is probably at level 9 when he can spend 7 points to allow everyone to make a full attack action during his own turn, though it costs everyone their reaction for the round (this one isn’t concentration and can be used alongside aura of victory, for instance).

Out of combat, he is a calm pacifist type character who attempts to use his telepathy skill and reasoning to avoid unneccesary bloodshed. He has a decent variety of skills, and he could take a new discipline at 7 which allows him to gain two extra skills on the fly. He could also pick other mystic disciplines as well to fill out utility roles the party needs. Mystics have some disciplines that allow party teleportation, creating walls and such.

The weakness of the mystic class is that its abilities do not scale past level 10, nor does his maximum pool of psi points, but I believe his array of buffs and utility spells will be good enough on its own. It seems a fun class to play!

Bo Barrendale

Human male Battlemaster Fighter I Avatar Mystic (gestalt), level 7.

Stat array: base human (+1 to all base stats)
16 str, 10 dex, 14 con, 9 (>19*) int, 14 wis, 15 cha.
*Includes headband of intellect.

Proficiencies: All armor, shields, simple and martial weapons.
Saving throw proficiencies: Str, Con, Wis, Int.
Skills: From fighter: athletics, perception.
From mystic: insight, religion.
From background (Cloistered Scholar): history, arcana.
+1: human: persuasion.

Saving throws at level 7*: Str + 7, dex +1 (+shield bonus (3) vs damage effects including me), con +6, int +8 , wis + 6, Cha +3.
-Numbers include cloak of protection +1.

AC: 17 + 3 (shield) + 1 (cloak) = 21, +1 usually from psychic focus on iron durability = 22.

Gear: Equipped: +1 shield, cloak of protection (attunement), headband of intellect (attunement), +2 battleaxe ('Memory', custom Item. No attunement, grants 40 ft swim speed when held). Mundane equipped gear: Longsword, splint.

Mundane other gear:

ASI: 3 x feat: Inspiring leader, shield master, warcaster.

HP: 12 + 8x6 + 7x1 = 67.
AC: Depends on gear, if nonmagical fullplate and shield then 21. (1 from iron durability discipline).

Class abilities: Battlemaster Fighter

Fighter abilities:
1: Second wind, bonus action heal 1d10+6, short rest. Fighting style: interception.
2: action surge: takes extra action, short rest.
3: Battlemaster features (see below)
4: ASI.
5: Extra attack
6: ASI.

• Dueling Fighting Style (UA)
+2 on damage rolls while wielding a one-handed weapon.

Martial archetype: Battlemaster
-Has five d8 superiority dice and five maneuvers.
-Dice increase to d10 at level 10. At level 18, they become d12. You gain a fifth die at level 7 and a sixth at level 15. Recharge on short rest.

Student of War
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools of your choice. (brewer's supplies)

Maneuvers: menacing attack, precise strike, commander’s strike.

Menacing Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to frighten the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Precision Attack
When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.

Commander's Strike
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your attacks and use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend one superiority die. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Ambush
When you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check or an initiative roll, you can expend one superiority die and add the die to the roll, provided you aren't incapacitated.

Riposte
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Class features (Mystic)

-Uses a select number of psionic disciplines with Psi points to create various effects. These are not spells but often do require concentration to maintain. Psi points regenerate on a long rest.

-Has a 'Psionic focus', which is one passive benefit he can switch around as a bonus action, depending on selected disciplines. If ever lost (some abilities expend it), is is regained after a short or long rest.

Class abilities (mystic, Immoral archetype)
Level 7: 6 total disciplines (2 must be Immortal mystic disciplines), 32 psi points, max psi point per discipline use = 6.

Immortal Mystics add an extra 1 hp per level to their total hp.

From level 3, they gain temporary hit points equal to their intelligence modifyer at the start of each turn, so long as they have at least 1 hp.

At level 6, they can expend their psychic focus as a reaction to halve the damage against them from 1 attack. They must then finish a short or long rest to regain their psychic focus.

Telepathy
At 2nd level, your mind awakens to the ability to communicate via telepathy. You can telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 120 feet of you in this manner. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic messages, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language or be telepathic itself.

-Mind Melt Talent: Telepathy works on any creature with int 2 or higher, and even if it doesn't speak any language, it understands you.

Level 3: Avatar mystic benefits: All allies within gain + 2 initiative while conscious.

Level 4: ASI. Also, at the end of a short or long rest, can exchange saving throw proficiency in wisdom for one other saving throw proficiency, lasts until long rest is taken.

Chosen psychic disciplines in detail:

Mantle of Command : Avatar Discipline
You exert an aura of trust and authority, enhancing the coordination among your allies.

Psychic Focus. While focused on this discipline, when you end your turn and didn’t move during it, you can use your reaction to allow one ally you can see within 30 feet of you to move up to half their speed, following a path of your choice. To move in this way, the ally mustn’t be incapacitated.

Coordinated Movement (2 psi). As a bonus action, choose up to five allies you can see within 60 feet of you. Each of those allies can use their reaction to move up to half their speed, following a path of your choice.

Commander’s Sight (2 psi; conc., 1 rnd.). As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Until the start of your next turn, your allies have advantage on attack rolls against that target.

Command to Strike (3 psi). As an action, choose one ally you can see within 60 feet of you. That ally can use their reaction to immediately take the Attack action. You choose the targets.

Strategic Mind (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As an action, you exert an aura of trust and command that unites your allies into a cohesive unit. Until your concentration ends, any ally within 60 feet of you on their turn can, as a bonus action, take the Dash or Disengage action or roll a d4 and add the number rolled to each attack roll they make that turn.

Overwhelming Attack (7 psi). As an action, choose up to five allies you can see within 60 feet of you. Each of those allies can use their reaction to take the Attack action. You choose the targets of the attacks.

Mantle of Courage : Avatar Discipline
You focus your mind on courage, radiating confidence and bravado to your allies. Psychic Focus. While focused on this discipline, you and allies within 10 feet of you who can see you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Incite Courage (2 psi). As a bonus action, choose up to six creatures you can see within 60 feet of you. If any of those creatures is frightened, that condition ends on that creature.

Aura of Victory (1–7 psi; conc., 10 min.). As a bonus action, you project psionic energy until your concentration ends. The energy fortifies you and your allies when your enemies are felled; whenever an enemy you can see is reduced to 0 hit points, you and each of your allies within 30 feet of you gain temporary hit points equal to double the psi points spent to activate this effect.

Pillar of Confidence (6 psi; conc., 1 rnd.). As an action, you and up to five creatures you can see within 60 feet of you each gain one extra action to use on your individual turns. The action goes away if not used before the end of your next turn. the action can be used only to make one weapon attack or to take the Dash or Disengage action.

Psionic Restoration : Immortal Discipline
You wield psionic energy to cure wounds and restore health to yourself and others.

Psychic Focus. While focused on this discipline, you can use a bonus action to touch a creature that has 0 hit points and stabilize it.

Mend Wounds (1–7 psi). As an action, you can spend psi points to restore hit points to one creature you touch. The creature regains 1d8 hit points per psi point spent.

Restore Health (3 psi). As an action, you touch one creature and remove one of the following conditions from it: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. Alternatively, you remove one disease from the creature.

Restore Life (5 psi). As an action, you touch one creature that has died within the last minute. The creature returns to life with 1 hit point. This ability can’t return to life a creature.

Mastery of (the) Force

Wu Jen Discipline
As a student of psionic power, you perceive the potential energy that flows through all things. You reach out with your mind, transforming the potential into the actual. Objects and creatures move at your command.

Psychic Focus. While focused on this discipline, you have advantage on Strength checks.

Push (1-7 psi). As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 1d8 force damage per psi point spent and is pushed up to 5 feet per point spent in a straight line away from you. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage.

Move (2-7 psi). Choose one object you can see within 60 feet of you that isn't being worn or carried by another creature and that isn't secured in place. It can't be larger than 20 feet on a side, and its maximum weight depends on the psi points spent on this ability, as shown below.

As an action, you move the object up to 60 feet, and you must keep the object within sight during this movement. If the object ends this movement in the air, it falls. If the object would fall on a creature, the creature must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or take damage as listed on the table below.

Psi Spent Maximum Weight Bludgeoning Damage
2 25 lbs. 2d6
3 50 lbs. 4d6
5 250 lbs. 6d6
6 500 lbs. 7d6
7 1,000 lbs. 8d6
Inertial Armor (2 psi). As an action, you sheathe yourself in an intangible field of magical force. For 8 hours, your base AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier, and you gain resistance to force damage. This effect ends if you are wearing or don armor.

Telekinetic Barrier (3 psi; conc., 10 min.). As an action, you create a transparent wall of telekinetic energy, at least one portion of which must be within 60 feet of you. The wall is 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 1 inch thick. The wall lasts until your concentration ends. Each 10-foot section of the wall has an AC of 10 and 10 hit points.

Grasp (3 psi; conc., 1 min.). You attempt to grasp a creature in telekinetic energy and hold it captive. As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be grappled by you until your concentration ends or until the target leaves your reach, which is 60 feet for this grapple.

The grappled target can escape by succeeding on a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by your psionic ability plus your proficiency bonus. When a target attempts to escape in this way, you can spend psi points to boost your check, abiding by your psi limit. You gain a +1 bonus per psi point spent.

While a target is grappled in this manner, you create one of the following effects as an action:

Crush (1-7 psi). The target takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage per psi point spent.

Move (1-7 psi). You move the target up to 5 feet per psi point spent. You can move it in the air and hold it there. It falls if the grapple ends.

Iron Durability: Immortal Discipline

You transform your body to become a living metal, allowing you to shrug off attacks that would cripple weaker creatures.

Psychic Focus: While focused on this discipline, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Iron Hide (1–7 psi). As a reaction when you are hit by an attack, you gain a +1 bonus to AC for each psi point you spend on this ability. The bonus lasts until the end of your next turn. This bonus applies against the triggering attack.
Steel Hide (2 psi). As a bonus action, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage until the end of your next turn.
Iron Resistance (7 psi; conc., 1 hr.). As an action, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (your choice), which lasts until your concentration ends.

Bestial Form
Immortal Discipline

You transform your body, gaining traits of different beasts.

Psychic Focus. While focused on this discipline, you have advantage on Wisdom(Animal Handling) checks.

Bestial Claws (1–7 psi). You manifest long claws for an instant and make a melee weapon attack against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, this attack deals 1d10 slashing damage per psi point spent.

Bestial Transformation. As a bonus action, you alter your physical form to gain different characteristics. When you use this ability, you can choose one or more of the following effects. Each effect has its own psi point cost. Add them together to determine the total cost. This transformation lasts for 1 hour, until you die, or until you end it as a bonus action.

Amphibious (2 psi). You gain gills; you can breathe air and water.
Climbing (2 psi). You grow tiny hooked claws that give you gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Flight (5 psi). Wings sprout from your back. You gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed.

Keen Senses (2 psi).Your eyes and ears become more sensitive. You gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Perfect Senses (3 psi). You gain a keen sense of smell and an instinct to detect prey. You can see invisible creatures and objects within 10 feet of you, even if you are blinded.

Swimming (2 psi). You gain fins and webbing between your fingers and toes; you gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Tough Hide (2 psi). Your skin becomes as tough as leather; you gain a +2 bonus to AC.

Cantrip: Force Hammer

As an action, you try to grasp one creature you can see within 120 feet of you, with a hand crafted from telekinetic energy. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take 1d6 force damage. If it takes any of this damage and is Large or smaller, you can move it up to 10 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice. You can't lift the target off the ground unless it is already airborne or underwater.

The talent's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).