Harrower

Costin Vasile's page

156 posts. Alias of Celestial Healer.


Full Name

Costin Vasile

Race

Human

Classes/Levels

Witch (Cartomancer) 5 [HP 39/39 | AC 12 (16 with mage armor), t 12, ff 10 (14) | CMD 13 | Init +2, Perception +1 | Fort +3 Ref +3 Will +3]

Gender

Male

Size

M

Age

22

Alignment

CG

Deity

Desna

Languages

Common, Varisian, Orc, Elvish, Shoanti, Sylvan

Occupation

Harrower

Strength 10
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 18
Wisdom 11
Charisma 12

About Costin Vasile

Dressed in a stylish but well-worn tunic and trousers, this young Varisian traveler regards those around him with sharp green eyes and a clever smile. A mop of tousled brown hair tops his head, and small loops adorn his earlobes.

Costin Vasile
Human Witch (Cartomancer) 4
Chaotic Good

AC 12 (Flat Footed 10, Touch 12)
CMB +2, CMD 14
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +4 (+1 vs Enchantment effects)

Speed 30 ft, Initiative +2

HP 39 (Max 39)

Hero Points: 2

BAB +2

Dagger +2 1d4 (19-20/x2)
Sickle +2 1d6
Harrow Card +5 vs touch 1d4+1 (range increment 20') (+1 attack and damage within 30')

Hexes:

Save DC 16

Evil Eye: The target takes a –2 penalty on one of the following (witch’s choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This hex lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the witch’s Intelligence modifier. A Will save reduces this to just 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect. At 8th level the penalty increases to –4.

Misfortune: The witch can cause a creature within 30 feet to suffer grave misfortune for 1 round. Anytime the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A Will save negates this hex. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. This hex affects all rolls the target must make while it lasts. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Cackle: A witch can cackle madly as a move action. Any creature that is within 30 feet that is under the effects of an agony hex, charm hex, evil eye hex, fortune hex, or misfortune hex caused by the witch has the duration of that hex extended by 1 round.

(at 6th: Soothsayer, Fly, or other)

Feats and Traits:

Feats:
Extra Hex
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Harrowed

(Future feats: Harrowed, Far Shot)

Bonus:
Deadly Dealer: You can throw a card as though it were a dart, with the same damage, range, and other features. You must use the Arcane Strike feat when throwing a card in this way, or else the card lacks the magical force and precision to deal lethal damage. A card is destroyed when thrown in this way. Harrow cards are treated as masterwork weapons when thrown using this feat, but are still destroyed after they are thrown. A harrow deck can no longer be used as a fortune-telling device after even a single card is thrown. A spellcaster with this feat can enhance a deck of cards as though it were a ranged weapon with 54 pieces of ammunition. This enhancement functions only when used in tandem with this feat, and has no affect on any other way the cards might be used. Only a character who possesses this feat can use an enhanced deck of cards; she must still use the Arcane Strike feat to activate the cards’ enhancement.
Arcane Strike (Harrow Deck only): As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

Traits:
Drawback - Doubt: Whenever you fail a skill or ability check, you take a –4 penalty on that type of skill or ability check for the next hour.
Harrow Chosen: You begin play with your family’s heirloom harrow deck. If you use this specific harrow deck as an additional focus component when you cast a divination spell, your caster level is treated as being 2 levels higher. Additionally, twice per week, you can spend 10 minutes consulting this harrow deck on a particular action to gain the effects of the spell augury as a spellcaster of your character level. No one other than you gains these benefits from this harrow deck. If your harrow deck is destroyed, it cannot be replaced. However, by returning to your family, paying 300 gp on materials, and spending 1 week immersed in the songs and stories of your people, you can create a new harrow deck that grants half the benefits of the lost heirloom.
Fast Talker: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff checks, and Bluff is always a class skill for you.
Wisp-er: You have come to Lastwall in order to study the phenomena of the Will-o’-wisps of the Ghostlight Marsh, in the land which is now part of the Hold of Belkzen. Unlike most, these wisps were not always part of the marsh, rather, they are believed to be the results of a great sacrifice made while the Orcs overtook the land.You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Spellcraft checks, one of which automatically becomes a class skill for you. Because of your intense study of wisps and their weaknesses, if you are an arcane caster, you may add Magic Missile to your spell list (although you must still learn the spell as normal for your class), and when you cast it, or any other spell with the force descriptor, you do so at +1 caster level.

Class abilities:

Each cartomancer carries a special harrow deck that allows her to communicate with her patron. Its ability to hold spells functions identically to the way a witch’s spells are granted by her familiar. The cartomancer must consult her harrow deck each day to prepare her spells and cannot prepare spells that are not stored in the deck. The spell deck cannot be used for this purpose if any cards are missing.

This ability replaces the witch’s familiar.

The following familiar ability works differently for a cartomancer.

Deliver Touch Spells (Su)

At 3rd level, when the cartomancer uses the Deadly Dealer feat with a card from her spell deck, the card is not destroyed and gains the returning weapon special ability.

In addition, the cartomancer can deliver a touch spell with a thrown card. This uses the Deadly Dealer feat (see below), except the attack is resolved as a ranged touch attack and the card deals no damage of its own. This ability can be used with any card (not just one from the cartomancer’s spell deck).

Skills:

Acrobatics +2
Appraise +3
Bluff +9 [4 ranks, trait]
Climb +0
Craft (Illuminated calligraphy) +7 [1 rank]
Diplomacy +1
Disguise +1
Escape Artist +2
Fly +7 [2 rank]
Heal +1
Intimidate +6 [2 rank]
Knowledge (Arcana) +12 [5 ranks]
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +13 [5 ranks, trait]
Knowledge (Nature) +11 [4 ranks]
Knowledge (Planes) +12 [5 ranks]
Linguistics +6 [2 rank]
Perception +1
Profession (Herbalist) +6 [2 rank]
Ride +2
Sense Motive +1
Spellcraft +13 [5 ranks, trait]
Stealth +2
Survival +0
Swim +0
Use Magic Device +1
Lore (Cartomancy) +11 [4 ranks]

Spells:

Patron: Trickery

Spells known: all 0-level spells
1st: Animate rope, charm person, chill touch, bungle, cure light wounds, comprehend languages, magic missile (+1 CL), touch of blindness, mage armor, infernal healing, reduce person, touch of combustion
2nd: Raven’s flight, touch of idiocy, false life, glide, see invisibility, mirror image, glitterdust, cure moderate wounds, steal breath
3rd: tongues, delay poison (communal), babble

Spells prepared (0 – 4; 1st – 4; 2nd – 3; 3rd - 2)
0 (DC 14): daze, detect magic, message, light
1 (DC 15): cure light wounds-X, touch of blindness, magic missile-X, charm person
2 (DC 16): raven’s flight-X, glitterdust, steal breath
3 (DC 17): babble, delay poison communal

Gear:

Dagger
Harrow Deck
Traveler’s outfit
Witch's Kit: a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, candles (10), chalk (10), a flint and steel, ink, an inkpen, an iron pot, a mess kit, soap, a spell component pouch, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin.
Scrivener’s Kit: This soft leather case contains a vial for holding ink, an ink pen, spare pen nibs, a small container of pigment for making ink, a tiny knife for cutting quills into pens, a blotter, and a small ruler.
Journal

Pearl of Power (1)
Wand of mage armor (21 charges)
Wand of magic missile (31 charges)
Wand of cure light wounds (24 charges)
Potion of cure light wounds

2 vials acid
1 vial alchemist's fire

Residuum 500 gp

137 gp

Background
Costin grew in up Varisia among a caravan that traveled that land widely. His was a culture of freedom and mystery. The wise elders taught him many of their arts - herbalism, harrowing, arcana, and even the more mundane arts of swindling and theft. From an early age, Costin had a keen eye for reading the Harrow cards, and drew power from the deck handed down by his ancestors.

Costin had barely entered adulthood when his caravan was beset by catastrophe. The caravan had traveled to close to Varisia's eastern border, and were beset by orc raiders. The Varisians fought valiantly to defend themselves, but few were left alive. Costin barely escaped with his life, and is burdened by the guilt unique to survivors of terrible events, along with crippling doubt about his abilities to overcome future challenges.

He lived by his wits, traveling the roads of Varisia until a portent from his cards told him to make his way to Lastwall. Despite his misgivings, he followed the portents East. He yearns for answers: Why was he spared when so many of his kin were slain? Why do the portents tell of strange wisps in Lastwall? Does his mysterious fey patron have plans for him there, and does that bode good fortune or ill?