About Elrys ValrassedinBackground:
Elrys had never been a normal Mendevian girl. Most would ogle the brave crusaders, with their shining white teeth, gravity-defying hair and perpetually flowing cloaks even on wind-free days. They’d swoon when these brave knight rode off into the sunset on their mounts, ready to put their oversized lances to use. Not Elrys. For her, it took more than that. What got her excited was nothing less than siege weaponry . The big, HUGE ballista’s! The way the linseed oil gave its wood a MAJESTIC golden glow in the sun that no pretty boy could match. The way their crews toiled to span the strong ropes, rotated the carefully oiled piston-wheel further and further, building up ever more pressure to a satisfying release that tuned the next babau demon into absolute paste! There was no other option - she had to learn it herself. Every day, after basic church choirs, she would sneak off to the foundry and watch the engineers, making notes. Until, finally, she got an invitation to study under master crafter Thom. Her father didn’t approve, of course. It was very unbecoming of a lady. But then he couldn’t stop her. If he sent a guard, she could Tell him to go away, and he would. And when he came back later, she could Tell him again and he’d leave, again. Always, without fail. If her father tried locking her in the room, Telling the butler to open it was always an option. Thus, it was with great trepidation that he brought her to The Visit. The one everyone in Mendevian high society was talking about, at least, in between the fights with the demons from the Worldwound, where Ulthun the Second would travel from Lastwall to Mendev to strengthen relationships between the crusader nations. Every family wanted the connections and prestige he brought, and every woman in attendance would have just one chance to impress him. She hadn’t been interested, but that was before she met him. He was that pretty boy among pretty boys, too perfect to exist in anything but a story. But there he was. In the end, she found herself surrounded by a sea of other women, many of whom prettier, more refined, richer and more powerful. One by one, each of them put on their best attempt during the pleasantries. Some would tell him a poem, others would sing. Yet others tried the excessively forward notion of asking him to dance, right there. But when it was her turn, with everyone watching her, met with unfairly handsome features and outside her comfortable working uniform… she faltered. Telling him to like her was out of the question, if it even had any chance of success. ”M-My s-sweet lord, my skill is with t-the medicine k-kit, and I have been ever pious to lady Iomedae and her teachings…” It wasn’t working – he had been told similar things by too many others, only entertaining her out of his duty and politeness. There too were many smug looks by competitors from the side. So she took a gamble. ”…Is what I would have said, b-but that’s not my passion. My real skill is with the s-saw. I-I mean, with oil. Um… I mean, I can build a trebuchet by myself. W-Would you like to make one together?” Everyone froze. He blinked. And then he laughed. ”Haha, such a surprising proposition. Unfortunately, I cannot spare the time for such a venture. Still, please keep doing whatever it is you do. We need more of your sort.” And that was it. Nothing had come of it, of course. Deep down, she knew her house was a relatively minor one and that the chances had been non-existent to begin with. But she’d made him laugh. And it finally convinced her father that engineering was a worthwhile persuit for a young lady. It was enough. From there, she finished her training as a cleric as was expected of her as a citizen of Mendev. Along the way, she noticed that her knowledge of engineering could help her study the workings of the body. Everything had a mechanical purpose. The bones were all formed specifically for their tasks, and hasty settings would mend them improperly - the way a carpenter couldn’t rush a broken swingarm. Comparatively, the joint fluid was the body’s oil. Focusing on that while casting a disease removing spell tended to help the elderly with their movement pains. It all made perfect sense. Of course, there was always the next step. What was better than a glorious construct? A sentient, glorious construct! No, not golems, nor walking balliasta’s (though that was a funny thought!) The construct with actual sentient intelligence – allegedly. Living relics not even from this world. If someone could truly uncover the secrets behind them from Numeria, if someone could harness ‘the Robots’, think about how it could help Mendev’s plight, or lastwalls. Or just improve the lives of the common people everywhere, even? …And maybe it would make her more noticeable. So she set out on a journey of discovery, accompanied by only a single servant and guard, and, now that she’d commited to a dangerous course, her familial bow. She soon found out reality wasn’t as pretty as imagined. What could be found of this technology was under the command of the Technic league, who made little to no effort concealing their cruelty against the local Kellid Population. It was a culture shock, since no writings on the Numerian government made any notion of this. Was it a cover-up in Mendev itself, to maintain good relations with their neighbor, who supplied them with admamantium and the odd artefact for the right price? Was a righteous crusader nation willing to overlook enslaving the Kellids if it meant they had better weapons? Not her. So she stepped up to defense of a slave, and got stepped on. Her guard was now dead, her servant missing, and she herself had probably avoided worse only because killing her might have caused a diplomatic incident. Or maybe she had subconsciously Told him to stop. But it got noticed, and that was another beginning – one where she realized she had one final talent, for inspiring others and employing tactics to destroy whatever the Technic League threw at the resitance. For teaching them how to make siegecraft to use against the robots, and scavenging what technology they could from the remains. It went well for a time, where she worked herself to be something of a resitance leader. …Until there was a message about a particularly powerful construct going amok. Now, she was strapped naked on a table, waiting for whatever this insane construct was going to do to her. It definitely wasn’t as exciting of a prospect as she once might have thought. It was hard not to feel regret, and second-guess her decision to get involved in this. And she never got to start on that trebuchet… Personality and Roleplaying:
I wrote her background as a humoristic take on the crusader tactican trait. The elements of being good in Heal and Knowledge: engineering are included prominently. Since she is an evangelist cleric, she does not get spontaneous spell > heals conversion but rather can exchange those prepared spells for mind-altering spells of comparable level, such as command and enthrall. The references to Telling people what to do and having them comply is a reference to this ability. I will play her as a slightly rebellious, cheerful young woman who gets really excited about the awesome technology on display around her. However, she does have her serious side in really wanting to help out the Kellid people in their struggle with the Technic League. She will do what she can to save any potential other survivors from the attack of the wayward Robot that may or may not have completely wiped the Kellid unit she was with when she was captured. Since she supposedly is a really good medic, and as a physician myself, I could roleplay write out her heal-skill examinations to be accurate to real life situations, as much as that is possible in fantasy world with fantasy elements. I could come up with a number of potential related NPC’s for plot hooks (such as her father: what’s keeping my daughter so long? What is she doing?), the Technic slaver she had a conflict with in the past, other contacts with the Kellid or the church of Iomedae, etc. However, I’d like to wait with fleshing these out more to find out if I’d be selected first. Also, I’d need to know a bit more about the current state of the story and whether or not this is desirable to still include at this point of the campaign. Mechanically, It wasn’t entirely easy to make this concept and build work within the constraints of low skill points, but I’m very happy with the end result. She should be a great party buffer, has good-technology related skills, is a good healer and decent archer. She also has decent social and utility skills. However, she is fragile and probably shouldn't ever be on the front line. I hope you like the result! Party Role:
Elrys shines as a party buffer, bringing both the major unique bard buffs (inspire courage and good hope), and a mix of good cleric utility, buffing and healing spells. She has access to two breath of life and Heal (level 6 cleric) spells per day for in-combat healing, along with a wand of cure light wounds and 4 channels to help on the out-of-combat healing. After putting up the buffs, (and only with active buffs), she should be able to do decent damage as an archer since she has most of the important archery feats. She can also use the tactics domain feature to temprarily get 1 more combat feat for whatever the situation requires. Out of combat, she has high skill values in Heal, Peception, Sense motive and knowledge engineering along with a decent diplomacy and survival. Her trait allows her to to count as if having technologist for knowledge: engineering. The UMD build has UMD instead of survival and a slightly different list of higher level spells, but has the ability to use arcane scrolls if the party gives her the resources to acquire them. Character sheet:
Female Human (Mendev), Evangelist cleric 13
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+1 adaptive construct bane composite longbow (small size polymorph):
Possible buffs:
If everything is somehow active at once (it never should be!), including rapid shot:
Construct bane: adds +2hit/damage and +2d6 vs constructs. Note: can use the Tactics domain to get temporary access to one extra combat feat as a swift action for a max of 12 rounds per day. She could pick clustered shots to get through a particularly damage resistant enemy or deadly draw for more damage at the cost of accuracy. Deadly draw would give all attack rolls -3 accuracy but +6 damage. Prepared Spells (cleric) Level/list of spells: 0: Light, mending, create water, detect magic.
*=Domain spells.
Spells used since last long rest: tongues, communal delay poison, greater command, divine power, aid, communal resist energy. Skills:
Skills breakdown:
*=background skills. Feats:
Traits:
Equipment (starting gear:)
Gear bought later with gold:
Gear found:
Spring loaded wrist sheet x2: one with scroll of breath of life, one with haste scroll (1510 g) In backpack: Potion sponge x 2 with touch of the sea/air bubble (104g). 2 Scroll cases with 1 x haste scroll 375 gold, 1 x displacement scroll 375 g, comprehend languages x2 (50g), 1 x wand of moment of greatness (750 g), 1 x wand of hightened awareness (750 g). 1 x pearl of power level 1 (normally used to recharge divine favor once). Ammunition:
Sack of flour, essentials kit, 7 days travel rations. Special Abilities:
Tactics domain: Seize the Initiative (Su): Whenever you and your allies roll for initiative, you can grant one ally within 30 feet the ability to roll twice and take either result. This decision is made before results are revealed. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. Weapon Master (Su): At 8th level, as a swift action, you gain the use of one combat feat for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive and you can change the feat chosen each time you use this ability. You must meet the prerequisites to use this feat. Evangelist clerics cannot spontaneously convert prepared spells to heals if the same level. Instead, they convert them to the following spells by level: Spell Level Spontaneous Spell
2nd enthrall 3rd tongues 4th suggestion 5th greater command 6th geas/quest 7th mass suggestion 8th sympathy 9th demand Channel energy:
Bardic Performance
Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A bardic performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time. At 7th level, a bard can start a bardic performance as a move action instead of a standard action. At 13th level, a bard can start a bardic performance as a swift action. Each bardic performance has audible components, visual components, or both. If a bardic performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the bard for the performance to have any effect, and many such performances are language dependent (as noted in the description). A deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to bardic performances with audible components. If a bardic performance has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to the bard for the performance to have any effect. A blind bard has a 50% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with a visual component. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Blind creatures are immune to bardic performances with visual components. Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance. Countersong (Su): At 1st level, a bard learns to counter magic effects that depend on sound (but not spells that have verbal components.) Each round of the countersong he makes a Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing) skill check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) that is affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical attack may use the bard’s Perform check result in place of its saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. If a creature within range of the countersong is already under the effect of a non-instantaneous sonic or language-dependent magical attack, it gains another saving throw against the effect each round it hears the countersong, but it must use the bard’s Perform skill check result for the save. Countersong does not work on effects that don’t allow saves. Countersong relies on audible components. Fascinate (Su): At 1st level, a bard can use his performance to cause one or more creatures to become fascinated with him. Each creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet, able to see and hear the bard, and capable of paying attention to him. The bard must also be able to see the creatures affected. The Distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working. For every three levels a bard has attained beyond 1st, he can target one additional creature with this ability. Inspire Greatness (Su): A bard of 9th level or higher can use his performance to inspire greatness in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet, granting extra fighting capability. For every three levels a bard attains beyond 9th, he can target one additional ally while using this performance (up to a maximum of four at 18th level). To inspire greatness, all of the targets must be able to see and hear the bard. A creature inspired with greatness gains 2 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target’s Constitution modifier, if any, to these bonus Hit Dice), a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls, and a +1 competence bonus on Fortitude saves. The bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining the effect of spells that are Hit Dice dependent. Inspire greatness is a mind-affecting ability and it relies on audible and visual components. |
