Dietrich Storyteller's page

Darnietalathal Taralon
Elf Archivist Bard 1
G medium humanoid
Init +1; Senses: Darkvision 60ft, Perception +8

DEFENSE
AC 13
HP 8

Saving Throws
Fortitude: +0 (Level) +0 (Con) = +0
Reflex: +2 (Level) +1 (Dex) -4 (Poor Reflexes Flaw) = -1
Will: +2 (Level) + 2 (Wisdom) = +4

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.

Melee
Ranged

STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +0
CMB -1; CMD 10

FEATS:
Breadth of Experience - Gain a +2 on all Knowledge and Profession skill checks
Voice of the Sibyl - Gain a +1 on Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform (Oratory) (10 ranks or more, bonus goes to +3)
Persuasive - Gain a +2 on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks (10 ranks, bonus goes to +4)
Antagonize - Cause an enemy to want to harm you
Magical Aptitude - Gain a +2 on UMD and Spellcraft Checks (10 ranks, bonus goes to +4)

TRAITS:
Savior of the Dwarves - You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (Geography) and +1 Survival. One of those becomes a class skill - Survival.
Savant - Chose a performance type - Oratory. You gain a +2 trait bonus on all Perform checks made using that performance type. Perform is always a class skill for you.

SKILLS
Ranks: (+6 class + 3 Int + 1 Favored Class) = 10 ranks

Acrobatics: (+1 Dex)
Appraise: (+3 Int)
Bluff: (+3 Cha, +1 rank, +3 class, +1 VoS feat) +8
Craft (): (+3 Int)
Climb: (-1 Str)
Diplomacy: (+3 Cha, +1 rank, +3 class, +1 VoS feat, +2 Persuasive feat) +10
Disguise: (+3 Cha)
Disable Device: (+1 Dex)
Escape Artist: (+1 Dex)
Intimidate: (+3 Cha, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 Persuasive feat) +9
Knowledge (arcana): (+3 Int, +2 BoE Feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +6
Knowledge (dungeoneering): (+3 Int, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +10
Knowledge (engineering): (+3 Int, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +6
Knowledge (geography): (+3 Int, +1 trait, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +7
Knowledge (history): (+3 Int, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +10
Knowledge (local): (+3 Int, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +10
Knowledge (nature): (+3 Int, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +10
Knowledge (nobility): (+3 Int, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +6
Knowledge (planes): (+3 Int, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +6
Knowledge (religion): (+3 Int, +2 BoE feat, +1 bardic knowledge) +6
Linguistics: (+3 Int)
Perception: (+2 Wis, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 racial) +8
Perform (oratory): (+3 Cha, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 trait, +1 VoS feat) +10
Perform (percussion): (+3 Cha)
Perform (string): (+3 Cha)
Profession: (+2 Wis, +2 BoE feat) +4
Sense Motive: (+2 Wis)
Sleight of Hand: (+1 Dex)
Spellcraft: (+3 Int, +2 Mag. Apt. feat) +5
Stealth: (+1 Dex)
Survival: (+2 Wis, +1 trait) +3
Use Magic Device: (+3 Cha, +1 rank, +3 class, +2 Mag. Apt. feat) +9

SPELLS
Spells per day:
- Cantrips - unlimited
- Level 1 spells - 2 per day
Spells known:
Level 0:
- Prestidigitation
- Mage Hand
- Spark
- Message
Level 1:
- Grease
- Sleep
Spell-Like Abilities (use once per day):
- Comprehend Languages
- Detect Magic
- Detect Poison
- Read Magic:

LANGUAGES Common, Elven, Dwarven, Undercommon, Sylvan

GEAR
- Combat: Quarterstaff, Leather Armor, Shortbow, 20 arrows

- Mundane: Donkey, Explorer's Outfit, Djembe (hand drum), Mandolin (String instrument), Trail Rations - 6 days, Elven Rations - 6 days

MONEY: 31 gold

CARRYING CAPACITY
Light Load: up to 19 lbs
Medium Load: 20lbs - 39lbs
Heavy Load: 40lbs - 60lbs
*Wizened Flaw Penalty factored in*

FLAWS:
Nemesis - One selected kind of monster (DM's choice) treats you as a Favoured Enemy. If rerolled, the DM can pick another.
Noncombatant - You take a -2 penalty on all melee attack rolls.
Poor Reflexes - You take a -4 penalty on Reflex saves.
Wizened - In terms of carrying, endurance and lifting, the character is assumed to be one size level smaller than he or she actually is. So a Dwarf or a Human would be considered Small, a Halfling or Gnome would be considered Tiny and so on. They can still do damage and use weapons, armour and equipment equal to their size, however.

SPECIAL ABILITIES :
Bardic Knowledge - Add 1/2 bard level to any knowledge check, all knowledge checks can be made untrained.
Bardic Performance - Use performance skills to create magical effects.
- Countersong
- Distraction
- Fascinate
- Naturalist - he archivist and any allies within 30 feet gain a +1 insight bonus to AC and on attack rolls and saving throws against extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities used by creatures of that specific kind of monster

Darnietalathal is old, but as all elves do, he wears that age with grace unlike every other race. His hair is pure white and is beginning to show signs of thinning and receding. He wears his hair oddly for an elf. He wears two dwarvish style braids, one on each side of his head, and then pulls the rest back into a ponytail of sorts. He wears a simple leather strap around the crown of his head to ensure that the hair stays out of his eyes, an accessory he adopted from the nomadic humans who live near Janderhoff. His eyes, once the color of an autumn sun, have darkened into a dull gold. Around his eyes and the edges of his mouth, the once flawless elven skin contain minute permanent wrinkles. When standing straight up, Darnietalathal is well over 6 ft, but most of the time, Dietrich the storyteller is seen bent at the waist slightly leaning on his walking staff.

Born in Kyonin, Darnietalathal enjoyed his childhood, it was an idyllic existence, in which he relished in getting to experience his existence. But as all creatures do, Darnietalathal grew, and as he did, it became apparent that he had a strong intelligence. However, his social prowess and skill made it clear that he would never be a scholar consumed only with books or study or mechanics. His parents, and many of his teachers all pushed him to use his gifts, his ability to speak with eloquence, his intelligence, and his ability to connect to others. He was insatiably curious and he seemed to find the perfect use of all of his skills and all of his strengths when he begin to work for the crown. No one was sure though, how he would do when he got posted to Dammerhill and to work with the dwarves. Most assumed he would stay for a time, and then return home to pursue other interests as so many other elves tended to do. However, Darnietalathal's path did flow quite as straight and direct as many hoped.

He arrived in Dammerhall, and made his way to the office of the ambassador of Kyonin whom he would be assisting, Caladon Sercada. His first meeting had him enthralled, and over the course of his posting in Dammerhill, that feeling never left. His posting lasted for 45 years, the entire time, Darnietalathal served as the assistant to the Caladon in Dammerhall. His duties consisted first of routine things, scribing notes, dictations, and reports. Often, he found himself coordinating with couriers, carrying official Kyonin correspondence, and handling the schedule of the Ambassador. As time passed though, and Darnietalathal excelled, in Caladon's mind, the plan and the idea became clear, Darnietalathal would take over for him when he retired and returned home. To prepare him for such a task, Darnietalathal was sent on numerous diplomatic missions in which he visited Dwarven city-states around Avistan. During these missions, he became quiet accustomed to traveling in the Nar-Voth, the underground network of caverns that spanned the entire continent. The dwarves had built highways to and from their city-states under the ground and Darniethalathal didn't waste the opportunity to learn as much as he could about living underground. He learned minerals, cave formations, how to dig a mine shaft, and how to build a bridge over an underground spring. He was enthralled by this entirely new world that had always been just under his feet. When he arrived at each city-state, he would listen to disputes that dwarves had with elves, with the elvish nation, and would visit the elves who were expatriates living abroad with the dwarves. He learned much and excelled in his duties.

During one of these trips to Janderhoff, 45 years into his service, he received that news that no one could explain or understand. Dammerhill was destroyed and Elven Ambassador was presumed dead along with the entire residence of the capital. He went to Dammerhill immediately, but like others who journeyed to see the destruction themselves, could find no way to gain access. The cause was undetermined, and even the most skilled of the underground travelers could find no way to gain access to solve the mystery about what happened to Dammerhill. After numerous attempts, Darnietalathal, had no other alternative but to return home with the terrible news.

But much to Darnietalathal's surprise, the news was received with solemn acceptance. It was as if someone described the passing of one season into the next, instead of the entire destruction of thousands of individual lives. Darnietalathal was disappointed to say the least with his people's lack of emotion surrounding Dammerhall's destruction and Caladon's death, but when requested to continue to serve Kyonin as the new ambassador to the dwarven city-states, he accepted and went back to those who mourned as he did. He spent the next century of his life traveling to and from the dwarven city-states and he couldn't help but find himself grieving, now no longer just a cataclysmic event to a nation, but the complete destruction of an entire race. First it was the civil wars that erupted over claims to the dwarven throne. Then it was the loss of territories and fields in the Nar-Voth. The dwarves just weren't strong enough to keep at bay the denizens of the deep any longer, and soon, safest way to reach the city states was to travel above ground. Abandoning the underground highways dealt a cultural blow to the dwarves that was difficult even for his long-lived elven eyes to see. Darnietalathal saw it before many others, and he begin to ignore his duties as ambassador and traveled farther and farther in pursuit of legend, lore, and story of dwarven origin. He listened to great epics told around campfires, he memorized dwarven nursery rhymes and lullabies from nursing mothers, and he listened to dwarven ghost stories meant to scare youth. Soon, he became the authority on much of the forgotten dwarven culture. He saw what a pity it would be for this culture to disappear, and he knew that for other races, they needed the dwarves to be the dwarves. So he resigned his post, frustrated that his continued appeal for help with the dwarven problem went unheeded, and begin pursuing other avenues of advocacy.

Darnietalathal begin making appearances in the courts of the humans. It was to human cities that most dwarven refugees had fled since Dammerhall had been lost, and after a few generations, their dwarven identity was being lost as well. Humans were slowly assimilating dwarves into their society and into their culture. Many already though of dwarves as simply "small humans, with no difference whatsoever aside from size." The humans were taking advantage of a race without a home and they were profiting in the process. So Darnietalathal, the long time diplomat and ambassador, used all of his skill and training speaking to powers about this subtle mistreatment of the dwarves. He became an advocate for the Dwarven nation in the human courts. For fifty years, he battled in the political realms trying to gain some sort of support to restore the dwarven nations, but he never had much success. In fact, he became somewhat of a laughing stock in the courtly scene, an elven advocate for dwarven rights. He was a preposterous sight to behold, and whenever he paid a visit to the authorities, he was received more as a court jester or entertainer then he was as a diplomat. So in frustration and in grief, Darnietalathal disappeared.

He didn't appear for 20 more years, but when he did resurface, it was in disguise. No longer was he Darnietalathal, the elven ambassador, but instead, he was known as Dietrich the Storyteller. The name came from a dwarven friend he had made during his time in Dammerhill. The dwarf was named Clefter Horginson, and he was Darnietalathal's neighbor, living close to the ambassador's quarters. During the first few years Darnietalathal spent a lot of time with the older dwarf, as Clefter willingly served as a guide to Dammerhill for the new elvish emissary. The first time that he and Darnietalathal spoke, the elf introduced himself and was greeted with laughter from the dwarf. Slightly offended, the young elf didn't know how to respond, until Clefter spoke and said, "How in the world do you remember a name that long. I think I like you, but I can't say your name to save my own life. I had a nephew named Dietrich that I liked, how about I call you Dietrich." Darnietalathal couldn't help but laugh and said, "Master Clefter, I would be honored." No one else knew about the name, so when he reappeared with a new identity, it was the perfect name to go by.

For the past 30 years, he was known to the world of dwarves as a peculiar elvish bard who spoke of dwarvish legends. He traveled in and amongst the three remaining dwarven city states, he visited dwarven communities in human lands, as well as visiting individual dwarven homes where their heritage had all been but forgotten. Wherever he went, he came carrying stories, legends, and the lore of the dwarves that he had learned in his lifetime. Those stories had long been forgotten by the dwindling race. In his mind, he decided, If he couldn't influence some the powers that were corrupting the dwarves from the outside, maybe he could become like salt on the inside, preserving some of the noble and necessary traits and portions of the culture for this race from the corruption that was racing through their corporate species like poison.