Captain Zephyr Aetherlock's page

==========Description==========
Picture of Zephyr
Height: 5'9" | Weight: 180 lbs | Hair: Reddish Brown | Eyes: Blue | Age: 34
Zephyr Aetherlock is a human man in his early middle ages. He is of average height with a fit, athletic build, piercing blue eyes, short brown hair, and an imperial handlebar moustache, meticulously groomed. He is always dressed in sharp, formal, well-fitting attire, including a deep brown officer's coat, vests, and ties, all with brass buttons and buckles. Most of his clothing lacks right sleeves, Zephyr instead choosing not to cover his prosthetic right arm which replaced the one that was lost in battle and is a fine show of mechanical engineering. He carries himself with military bearing, rather stiff and reserved.

Zephyr has an innovative and analytical mind. He is not one for half measures, preferring to bring overwhelming force to bear against whatever obstacle he may face. As a former officer, he expects orders to be followed and a tidy ship to be kept. As a former soldier, his eyes never stop scanning for threats, but that does not mean he lives in fear. He has the usual noble officer confidence, bordering on arrogance - 'Risurian officers don't duck', as they say. Even if he's frustrated with how slow Risur has adapted to new technological innovations - the reason he left the navy - he is loyal to the last and subscribes to Risurian supremacy.

==========Story==========
Zephyr Aetherlock is the youngest son of house Aetherlock, a minor noble family of Risur clinging to relevance through old shipping contracts and ceremonial duties. Zephyr was never expected to inherit titles or land, but he was clever — brilliant, even — and had a sharp mind for everything mechanical. While his elder siblings were groomed for courtly life or managing the dwindling family estates, Zephyr’s fascination lay with the intricate workings of clockwork and steam engines.

As a young man, he initially enrolled in Pardwight University to study civil engineering and economic law, but Pardwight was only a stopping point until he was old enough to enroll in the Battalion School of War. Bridges and railways were all well and good, but he wanted to test innovative ideas under pressure. Real pressure. He studied naval strategy, gunnery, and ship design, swiftly distinguishing himself as a gifted, if somewhat uncompromising, trainee.

Commissioned into the Risuri Navy, Zephyr served with distinction on several cruisers and battleships, his keen eye for tactical advantage and mechanical efficiency earning him respect - if not always popularity - among his peers and superiors. He was known for pushing for unorthodox modifications and aggressive engagement doctrines. The Fourth Yerasol War provided crucible in which to forge his career and test his unusual ideas. A pivotal moment in his career came when the RNS Vanguard, a newly refitted battleship boasting experimental long range cannon, was captured by Danoran forces during a lopsided engagement in an awkward strait. The Admiralty knew the Vanguard's advanced weapons could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands or be turned against Risur. The mission was clear: retake or destroy.

Zephyr, then a Lieutenant Commander, volunteered to lead the daring raid, one which went against his usual tactics of shock and awe. 'Borrowing' a merchants ketch, Zephyr and a small crew, including his lifelong friend and fellow officer, Elara Vance, sailed into the small Danoran harbor that sheltered the captured vessel. Feigning a broken rudder and lost anchor, the ketch was allowed to moor to the Vanguard. Zephyr, the first to board the Vanguard - ironically, a ship his father had once commanded - and the last to leave, led a party which overpowered the small Danoran guard force left on the ship. Demolition charges were set below the waterline of the hull as well as on the experimental guns and the munition stores, set to detonate in sequence from bow to stern. As they were returning to the ketch, Vance asked Zephyr if there was enough time for the ketch to get clear of the blast radius. Zephyr started to say that he had set the timer on the charges himself and they would be well clear of the harbor when the explosives went off, but was interrupted when the explosives went off. Zephyr was thrown into the ketch by the blast wave, maiming him and costing him his right arm, but arms aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. Luckily the Danoran ketch was made of firmer stuff, aided by the fact that the charges on the munitions did not detonate until the Vanguard was mostly under water, and they team managed to make their escape.

For his extraordinary bravery and the successful denial of advanced technology to the enemy, Zephyr was hailed as a hero. He was promoted to Captain - at twenty-seven he was one of the youngest captains in Risuri history - and Elara, for her valor and critical role in coordinating their exfiltration under fire, received a meritorious promotion to Commander, serving as Zephyr's Executive Officer in the years that followed. He was given command of the RNS Retribution, a new type of fast, heavily armed destroyer with a shallow draft to allow her to operate closer to shore and even navigate large rivers.

He favored rapid, decisive strikes, overwhelming the enemy with focused heavy bombardment from range as the ship closed in - indeed, as he was granted captaincy more than one newspaper semi-jokingly noted that the munitions factories would have to up their manufacturing. Versus land targets, the Retribution would close as much as she could, landing heavy steamsuits supported by heavy infantry and the ships guns to rapidly push through the enemy line in a concentrated area.

His fascination with steam technology never waivered. He petitioned naval command to allow him to fit a boiler of hitherto unseen output to power propellers and free the Retribution from the tyrannical rule of the wind, but was only granted permission to install a small prototype, which only served to shuttle the ship about in port and heat bathwater. He saw the potential for further technological leaps – more efficient engines, superior aetheric weaponry, advanced prosthetics – but found his proposals mired in bureaucratic inertia and the conservatism of the Admiralty even as Risuri lost island after island.

Loyal to the core but unwilling to watch the nation stagnate and fall behind, Zephyr tendered his resignation as soon as the Fourth Yerasol War was ended, a move that shocked many in the naval establishment.

The months following his resignation were restless. He tinkered and dabbled, started an engineering firm, but quickly came to realize that becoming an industrial magnate would not be particularly fulfilling, and a need to protect Risur from genuine threats gnawed at him. He was rescued from this conundrum by inspector Davies of the Royal Homeland Constabulary. He laid out the RHC's mandate: protecting Risur from threats the regular constabulary couldn't handle, foreign plots seeking to destabilize the kingdom, arms smuggling, industrial espionage aiming to steal Risur's technological edge, and the increasingly prevalent magically-equipped criminals or even supernatural incursions that scoffed at mundane law enforcement.

For Zephyr, the offer was a lifeline, though not a particularly unusual one: military to law enforcement was hardly and unusual career tract. The RHC wasn't the Navy, but its mission resonated. Here was an organization that, by its very nature, had to be adaptable, that confronted the new threats, the ones born from the changing technological and magical landscape. It was a chance to apply his skills unburdened by the admiralty's stifling traditions. And so Captain Zephyr Aetherlock traded away the quarterdeck of a warship for the operations of the Royal Homeland Constabulary. And he still had time for his engineering firm on the side.

Gentleman's Outfit 30GP
Goggles 05GP
Pocket Watch 25GP

Spell Points: 10
Casting (CL 5, MSB +14, MSD 25, Concentration +19, DC 17) You can cast sphere effects.
[FCB (Half-elf:[/b] +5/6 Arsenal Trick.
Bound Equipment (+3, 2 Items): +2 Glamered Chainsaw, +2 Glamered Agile Breastplate
Summon Equipment (5 minutes) (+1 bonus) (Su) You can conjure a weapon, shield, or suit of armor.
Arsenal Tricks (2):
. . Hide Equipment: The armorist’s bound and summoned gear gain the glamered special ability.
. . Imbued Arsenal: The armorist can add her casting ability modifier instead of her Strength or Dexterity modifier to attack rolls when she is wielding a bound or summoned weapon.
Armor Training (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, an armorist learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever she is wearing armor, she reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (minimum 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by her armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th) these bonuses increase by +1, to a maximum –5 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +5 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed. In addition, an armorist can also move at her normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, an armorist can move at her normal speed while wearing heavy armor.

Combat Training: Intelligence.
FCB (Human): +5/6 Combat Talent.
Martial Flexibility (Ex) (2 points): Starting at 2nd level, the conscript can take a move action to gain the benefit of a combat feat he doesn’t possess. This effect lasts for 1 minute. The conscript must meet all the feat’s prerequisites. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + 1/2 his conscript level (minimum 4 times per day). The conscript can use this ability again before the duration expires to replace the previous combat feat with another choice. If a combat feat has a daily use limitation (such as with Stunning Fist), any uses of that combat feat while using this ability count toward that feat’s daily limit.
Sphere Specialization (Tinker) (Ex) (3 points):
. . Power Storage (Ex): At 3rd level, the conscript can maintain an additional number of battery gizmos equal to 3 + their practitioner modifier; batteries maintained this way do not count against the conscript's gizmo limit.

Quality Guarantee (Ex): At 8th level, whenever one of the conscript’s gizmos would be destroyed (such as from taking enough damage), the conscript may expend martial focus as an immediate action. If the conscript does, the gizmo is not destroyed and is instead deactivated and is reduced to 1 hit point.

In addition, all of the conscript’s gizmos gain the following battery use that may only be used by the conscript:

Battery Use: The user may deplete 1 battery as a swift action to increase the gizmo’s effective gizmo level by +2 for 1 round per 2 gizmo levels. At the end of this effect, the gizmo is deactivated. This increased gizmo level affects the gizmo’s gizmo abilities, such as any bonuses it would grant or how many dice of damage it may deal, but does not increase the gizmo’s “permanent” statistics (such as hit points, or Hit Dice for a mechanoid, etc.).
This effective gizmo level increase improves by +1 at level 12 and every 4 levels thereafter.

Magnum Opus (Ex): At 20th level, the conscript may craft a magnum opus. The conscript may only ever have a single magnum opus, and crafting a new magnum opus immediately causes the previous magnum opus to become abandoned and destroyed.

A magnum opus is any gizmo the conscript could craft, except the conscript may have the magnum opus’s effective gizmo level be equal to the conscript’s ranks in their Tinker sphere associated skill + the conscript’s practitioner modifier. A magnum opus’s gizmo level cannot exceed twice the conscript’s ranks in the associated skill.

Fearless Mien (Ex) A monument of war and all allies within 30 feet gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear.
Instant Boot Camp (Su) Once per day per class level, a monument of war can instill in her allies the basics of combat training and cooperation. As a standard action, she can allow herself and all allies within 30 feet to either immediately stand up or fall prone. For the next minute, she and her allies become proficient with all simple and martial weapons and gain a +5 competence bonus on Acrobatics, Climb, and Swim checks.
Shell Shock (Su) Three times per day, a monument of war can call upon a powerful memory of being caught in an artillery barrage to conjure psychic manifestations of a cannon strike in her immediate vicinity. This manifestation must be centered on a space no more than 10 feet away, and strikes in a 15-foot-radius burst. Thus the monument must be caught in her own remembered blast, though perhaps cover might shield her. Targets hit by the attack take 3d10+10 points of damage, and are pushed 5 feet and knocked prone. A successful Reflex save halves the damage and prevents a creature from falling prone. The save DC is equal to 10 + half character level + highest ability modifier. In addition, The area of the blast is filled with dust and smoke, providing concealment until the end of the monument’s next turn.

Advanced Magic Training Your non-casting classes add to your caster level
Barroom Brawler (1/day) As mv act, gain combat feat that you meet prereqs for for 1 min.
Barroom Brawler [Combat Trick] Spend 5 Stamina points to use Barroom Brawler as a swift action or reduce time to activate martial flexibility.
Combat Expertise +/-2 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Expertise [Combat Trick] Ignore penalty from Combat Expertise for stamina spent.
Cunning: +1 Skill/level
Deadly Aim -2/+4 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Deadly Aim [Combat Trick] 4 stamina points reduce penalty from Deadly Aim by 1.
Display of Heroism: Once per combat you may assist an ally who is imperiled. As a move action, you may move your speed to an ally. This movement doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. You can lift the ally to his feet if he is prone. If he was dying, your presence stabilizes him and allows him to become disabled instead of unconscious. You and that ally gain a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and saves until the end of your next turn. If you choose Yerasol Veteran as your character’s theme, the party’s Prestige with Risur starts at 2 instead of 1. See “Prestige,” page 17.
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Furious Focus [Combat Trick] 5 stamina points to reduce penalty from Power Attack by 1 for each successful two-handed attack.
Improved Initiative [Combat Trick] 10 stamina points to use 20 as the rolled result.
Iron Will +2 Will saves.
Point-Blank Shot [Combat Trick] Up to 6 stamina points to increase Point-Blank range by 5 ft per stamina spent.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Power Attack [Combat Trick] 2 stamina points to use Power Attack only until end of turn, instead of the start of the next turn.
Spell Attack Strike talents count as standard attack action

Valashmai Yerasol Veteran: +1 Survival and Perception, Perception as Class Skill.
Yerasol Archipelago Seafarer: +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Knowledge (geography) checks while on the ocean. You also gain a +1 trait bonus on Swim checks, and Swim is always a class skill for you.
World Traveler: +1 Know Local, Know Local as Class Skill.

Bluff +13
Climb +6
Craft Mechanics +16
Diplomacy +13
Disable Device +12
Intimidate +11
K Dungeoneering +13
K Engineering +16
K Geography +16
K History +15
K Local +14
K Nature +12
K Religion +12
Linguistics +13
Perception +13
Sense Motive +16
Survival +11
Swim +7

Destruction: Destructive Blast 3d6 Ranged or melee touch attack deals 3d6 damage
Destruction: Energy Strike Add your destructive blast to a weapon attack
Destructive Sphere (Free): 3d6 Damage. 1 Spell Point for Damage=Caster Level.
Energy Strike (blast shape) {strike} (Free): Attack and Destructive blast as a standard action. Does not provoke.

Martial Tradition: Heavy Steamsuit Pilot
Armor Training (Heavy Armor)
Custom Training (2/5): Chainsaw, TBD
Guardian Sphere
Defiant Boar Stance (Guardian Sphere)

====Berserker Sphere (1 Talent)====
Berserker: Berserking Take -2 penalty to AC to gain 8 temporary HP (both end at start of your next turn)
Berserker: Brutal Strike +10 (Battered 1 rd) Melee attack that inflicts Battered condition on enemies damaged, can benefit from a single (exertion) talent, gains [BAB x2] bonus damage if you expend martial focus
Executioner (adrenaline) (1 Talent): You must expend martial focus each round you start berserking to use this talent. Once per round, you may choose to roll an attack roll twice, taking the better result. You must decide to use this before the roll is made. You may use this talent an additional time each round for every 10 base attack bonus you possess.
Savage (1 Talent): Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points or less with a melee or thrown weapon attack, you may spend an immediate action to regain martial focus. The creature must have a CR of at least half your character level (rounded down, minimum 1/2).

====Equipment Sphere====
Armor Training (Heavy Armor)
Custom Training

====Guardian Sphere (Free)====
Delayed Damage (15) You gain a delayed damage pool equal to your 3 x your base attack bonus. When you receive damage, as part of taking the damage you may redirect all or part of it to your delayed damage pool. Apply damage reduction and resistance before redirecting the damage. You may not redirect damage that would exceed the maximum capacity of the damage pool. Your delayed damage pool empties at the end of your turn each round, inflicting any damage stored in the pool on you, bypassing any damage reduction or resistance you possess and resetting to 0. Any additional effects of the attack, such as poison, are still incurred immediately even if the entire damage of the attack is redirected to the delayed damage pool. Any healing you receive in excess of your maximum hp automatically reduces the amount of damage in your delayed damage pool.

Challenge (Free): As a move action, you may issue a challenge to a creature you can see. You may expend martial focus to reduce this to a swift action. A creature must be able to perceive your challenge to be affected by it. The creature takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls that do not include you as a target and a +2 bonus on attack rolls targeting only you. Creatures receiving this effect are aware of it, though do not gain insight to its duration. This penalty (but not bonus) increases by 1 for every 4 points of base attack bonus you possess. The challenge lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + 1/2 your base attack bonus. When you issue a new challenge, any previous challenge you have active ends. Multiple challenges do not stack; if a creature is affected by challenges from more than one creature, they suffer no penalty against the source of any challenge against them and likewise gain the bonus against the sources of all of the challenges. Creatures with no Intelligence score (Intelligence score of (-)) cannot be targeted by your challenge.
Defiant Boar (stance) (Free): While in this stance, whenever you damage a creature with an attack action, you may remove an amount of damage from your delayed damage pool equal to the damage dealt by your attack, up to a maximum of your base attack bonus.

====Tinker Sphere====
Tinker Tradition: Steampowered
Drawbacks: Environmental Vulnerability (cold), Particular Workspace (a source of water), Slow Craft.
Boons: +1 Tinker talent. +1 gizmo limit per odd rank in the associated skill.
Associated Skill: Craft (mechanical).
Suggested Package Bans: (computation) package, (transmission) package.

====Packages====
Augmentation (Free)

Modification (Expanded Tinkering)

Transportation (Expanded Tinkering)

====Talents====

Advanced Transportation (gizmo, transportation) (1 Talent)

Arsenal Set (gizmo) (1 Talent)

Cognitive Set (1 Talent)

Expanded Tinkering (Free Tinker Boon)

Full Integration (gizmo, transportation) (1 Talent)

Hammerspace (gizmo) (1 Talent)

Multifunctional Gizmos (1 Talent)

Primal Augmentations (augmentation, gizmo) (1 Talent)

Redundant Systems (1 Talent)

Sensory Set (gizmo) {utility} (1 Talent)

Tinker Savvy (1 Talent)

Transportation Mastery (gizmo, transportation) (1 Talent)

Mechanoid (Project): Upgrades 8/8 | Cost: 450 GP
Gizmo Level: 5; Size: Medium; Speed 30 ft.; 56 HP, AC 24/08/24; Str 28, Dex 12, Con –, Int –, Wis –, Cha –; Saves: +7/+7/+9;
Attacks: +2 Glammered Chainsaw +15 3d6+15 S 18-20x2
Steampowered: +2 STR, +2 per size category above Medium, needs water, takes 150% damage from Cold.
1 Upgrade | Alternate Size
. . Is lorge
2 Upgrade | Prosthetics (Innate): 2x Arms, Head
. . Gives Mechanoid 2x Arms, 1x Head
1 Upgrade | Focused Design (+4 STR)
. . +4 Enhancement Bonus to Strength
1 Upgrade | Sensory Gizmo
. . Eyeballs and such
1 Upgrade | Immersive Cockpit
. . Allows the pilot and mechanoid to act as a single creature, using the mechanoid’s physical statistics and the pilot’s mental statistics. Share all effects, magic item slots.
1 Upgrade | Armor Slot (Full Plate) +9 AC, +1 Dex, -6 ACP, 20'
. . Grants the Mechanoid proficiency with a single armor type, craft that armor type.
1 Upgrade | Transforming Parts. 1 minute to switch, spend battery to switch as Swift Action
. . Arachnoid Prosthetic (Legs): +30' Move/Climb Speed, +8 Climb checks
. . Aquatic Prosthetic (Legs): +40' Swim Speed, +8 Swim checks

0x Prosthetic Arm (Innate) (Zephyr Right Arm)
. . Secondary Function: Storage Capacity (Small)
. . . . Hammerspace: Increase storage size by 1, +1 per 5 ranks Craft Mechanical (Large)
3x Cognitive Enhancement +3 (Cha, Wis, Int)
. . 3x Battery
8x Battery (Conscript) (Misc)
. . 1x Battery (Chainsaw)
. . 2x Battery Transforming Parts

Burglar You gain Climb, Disable Device, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth as class skills. You require only one hand free to climb.
Philosopher You gain Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), and Sense Motive as class skills. You can use the better of your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier when attempting Sense Motive checks.
Orator You gain Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Knowledge (history) as class skills. When you modify a character’s attitude with the Diplomacy or Intimidate skill, the attitude change lasts 5 times longer than it otherwise would.
Engineer You gain Appraise, Disable Device, Knowledge (dungeoneering), and Knowledge (engineering) as class skills. You may use the better of your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier for Disable Device checks.

Investigation Sphere