Duke Rocco Corinni's page

About Duke Rocco Corinni

ULFEN GUARD RIVAL: Duke Rocco Corinni
XP 1600
Human aristocrat 1 / fighter 5
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 25, touch 15, flat-footed 20; (+3 Dex, +7 mithral breastplate, +2 darkwood buckler, +1 taldorian duelist, +1 dodge, +1 deflection); up to +2 if using Combat Expertise
hp 38 (5d10+5 +1d8+1)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2; +1 vs. fear
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mw falcata +9 (1d8+2, 19-20/x3), pwr attack +7 (1d8+6)
Ranged mw (+2) comp longbow +7 (1d8+2)
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 12,
Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 20
Feats Exotic Weapon Proficiency (falcata, B), Weapon Focus (falcata) (B), Combat Reflexes (B), Bleeding Strike* (B), Taldorian Duelist, Combat Expertise, Dodge
Skills Appraise 3 (+7), Bluff 6 (+10), Climb 0 (+0), Diplomacy 6 (+10), Handle Animal 0 (+1), Intimidate 3 (+7), Knowledge (history) 3 (+7), Knowledge (nobility) 3 (+7), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+5), Linguistics 0 (-), Perception 3 (+5), Ride 3 (+6), Sense Motive 0 (-1), Swim 0 (+0), Survival 0 (-1); Armor Check Penalty -2
Languages Common (Taldan)
SQ Armor training (-1 ACP), weapon training (+1 to hit and damage w/heavy blades)
Combat Gear mw falcata, mw comp longbow (+3 Str), 20 durable cold iron arrows, +1 ring of protection, +1 mithral breastplate, +1 darkwood buckler, potions of cure light wounds (2) and lesser restoration (1), oil of magic weapon (2) Other gear heavy warhorse, mw saddle (+2 circumstance bonus to Ride checks)

[The Duke’s CR is adjusted by his increased value of equipment, due to his personal wealth. He has equipment as a PC of his level.]

Bleeding Strike (Combat)
Your precise strikes can open bleeding wounds.
Prerequisites Weapon Focus (any slashing or piercing weapon), BAB+5
Benefit As a standard action you can make an attack with a slashing or piercing weapon with which you have Weapon Focus that inflicts half damage, but causes the target to also take 1 point of bleed damage each round. Bleed damage can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal skill check or through any magical healing. The effects of this feat stack.

Rocco grew up immersed in the glory of Taldan culture and history, and has taken great umbrage at the perceived necessity for uncouth barbarians to safeguard the Grand Prince. Taldor’s reliance on foreign mercenaries for such a vital task is an outrage, and ill suits a nation returning to its prior pre-eminence on the world stage. What sort of message does it send that the ruler of Taldor cannot even trust his own people to guard him from treachery?

The young Duke spent as much time serving as an officer as was required to secure a commission, not for the money, but for the status and the valuable training in the arts of war, indeed spending more time on the so-called ‘front lines’ than his family deemed strictly necessary for appearances. He trained in the finest fighting schools, mastering the regional style of falcata and buckler, which he found to be quite superior to the crude and clumsy weapons preferred by the northern savages, and has studied an art derived from more subtle combatants, to open a bleeding wound in a target, believing that the northerners are too impatient to be able to outlast a steady opponent, who weaves a barrier of steel and allows their wounds to sap the energy from them. His extensive defensive training, combined with the somewhat embarrassing gifts of defensive items from his concerned mother, makes him surprisingly difficult to strike, particularly when he is fighting defensively, as is his preferred style.

His star is on the rise, as an associate of the Ulfen Guard (a liedrieg, whatever that means) answered a taunt with violence, and his preferred tactic did indeed fell the brute, who charged screaming, and minutes later had bled out, having landed only a pair of blows (which Rocco admits to himself were thunderously bruising, and nearly sufficient to end the battle on their own!). He has taken to carrying a few healing elixirs as well, after this encounter, but his quiet commentary that the warriors of Taldor are every bit the equal of the ice-brained lackeys from the north have gained weight from the gossip that followed his victory over this barbarian.

He is gathering a small entourage of overconfident youth, far too few of which, in his opinion, have the swordsmanship to back up their bluster, and he now has his hands full attempting to keep them from openly provoking members of the Ulfen Guard in the street, which, if anything, only seems to encourage them to ‘prove themselves’ to him. He already feels the reins slipping out of his hands, and it’s inevitable that someone is going to get killed…

Boons Duke Corrini’s primary goal is to see the Ulfen Guard replaced by local Taldan warriors, sworn to the protection of the Grand Prince, but he is more concerned at the moment with the survival of the more hotheaded noble scions who have flocked to his hasty words, and are all-too-ready to pick fights and get themselves killed by the battle-hardened brutes that the Ulfen Guard tends to recruit.

Anyone who can help him to undermine the reputation of the Ulfen Guard, or to save one of his noble-minded but overly enthusiastic supporters from a fatal misstep will earn his favor. His family is quite wealthy and well-connected, and he can provide access to an array of services and family contacts. He has not yet found anyone with the patient and studious nature to master the Bleeding Strike fighting style he has perfected, but would be delighted to find a Taldan-born student who shares his goals, and appreciates the subtly of the style, or even one who wishes to master the intricacies of the falcata, or the Rondelero school style.