About Estella ValeStats:
===Estella Vale===
Female NG Human Skald (Urban Skald) 6 Init +2; Perception +3 ===DEFENSE=== AC 21, Touch 13, Flat-footed 17, (+6 Armor, +2 Dex)
OFFENSE
STATISTICS Str 14 (+2 temp), Dex 14, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 19
Class Features:
Rage Songs Controlled Inspired Rage (Su): When the urban skald inspires rage, he does not grant the normal benefits. Instead, he can apply a +2 morale bonus to his allies’ Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. This bonus increases to +4 at 8th level and to +6 at 16th level. The urban skald can apply the full bonus to one ability score or split the bonus between several scores in increments of 2. The choice applies to all affected allies. The controlled inspired rage grants no bonus on Will saves, imposes no penalties to AC, and does not prevent affected allies from using Intelligence-, Dexterity-, or Charisma-based skills. This alters inspired rage. Infuriating Mockery (Su): At 3rd level, the urban skald can inspire reckless fury in one foe within 30 feet. If the foe fails a Will saving throw, it takes a –2 penalty to AC and on attack rolls, cannot use any Intelligence-, Dexterity-, or Charismabased skills, and must succeed at a concentration check to cast spells (DC = 15 + spell level) for as long as it remains in range of the skald and the performance is maintained. At 7th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the urban skald can target an additional foe with this ability. This replaces song of marching and damage reduction. Song of Strength (Su): At 6th level, a skald can use raging song to inspire his allies to superhuman feats of strength. Once each round while the skald uses this performance, allies within 60 feet who can hear the skald may add 1/2 the skald’s level to a Strength check or Strength-based skill check. Versatile Performances
Back of the Crowd
Chosen Performances
Lore Master
Rage Powers
Spirit Totem: While raging, the spirits that surround the recipients of the song make it difficult for her enemies to see them. The spirits grant the barbarian a 20% miss chance against ranged attacks and melee attacks made by creatures that are not adjacent to the recipient (typically due to reach). Spells:
Spells per Day 1 - 5 2 - 4 3 - 2 Cantrips
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Backstory:
Estella (Full name Estellania Dimiteri Alessia Vale) was born as the youngest daughter of House Vale, a minor player in the Korvosan nobility scene. Her father is family patriarch Balthazar Vale, a man with a love for comfort and a disdain for confrontation. Balthasar has struck the perfect balance for tranquil life: house Vale does just enough to remain relevant, but not too much as to draw attention. As a result, the Vale family has many friends, few enemies, and enjoys a rare sort of peace not usually granted to the cloak-and-dagger players in noble politics.
Estella, for her part, hated it. She'd grown up on tales of chivalry, of monster slaying, of adventure! Eventually, the low-stakes calm life of the Vale household became too much to bear. She needed to get out. She rushed up to her father and expressed her desire to go out into the world, make a name for herself! Much to her surprise, her father gave her his blessing. He didn't worry about her safety, as every Vale was still raised with a decent education in combat, courtesy of her mother Mina. Mostly, he simply expected his sheltered daughter to be back home within the week, defeated by a night of sleeping in the mud before she'd even seen a single goblin. He came to regret this a few days after her departure. By then, he realized that Estella had pilfered the family treasury and left the house with a whole slew of magical gear. This included, most painfully, the family's prized heirloom, the enchanted spear Aurondel. He regretted it even more when a week later, she still wasn't home. And even more when was still gone a month later. She never returned home. But in her stead, stories of her did reach the household. All this time, Estella had been traveling across Varisia, stopping at towns, helping the local peoples with their monster woes. Stories were spread about the woman who strode in, holding a glorious spear, attached to which was a glorious (though admittedly terribly drawn) flag billowing in the wind. Wherever she went, she left it better than she entered it. Personality:
Though still a noblewoman at heart, with the love for luxury that comes with it, Estella is overall humble and eager to help. That said, it's sometimes hard to tell whether she's helping from the goodness of her heart, or because she's eager for the thrill of battle.
She's very well aware that her talents are best used in support of other people, rather than doing everything herself. As such, she's very approachable and eager to make friends with any other adventurers, especially if they're working towards the same goal as she is. If you've worked with Estella even once, even if you part ways afterwards, you'll still have made a loyal companion for life. Call for her, and she'll answer if she can. Her idle and sheltered upbringing has left her somewhat dense, however. For instance, whenever she encourages her party through her rousing speeches (Rage Song), she and her party members seem to be protected and aided by mysterious spirits, obscuring them from their enemies and fighting along with them. Estella has not noticed this in the slightest. Estella always carries with her a painter's kit and some blank white banners she can tie to Aurondel. Whenever she finds a new cause to dedicate herself to, she likes to paint a new banner for the occasion. It's part of the adventuring ritual at this point. The fact that she possesses absolutely no painting talent has not stopped her. Goals:
If you were to ask Estella up-front, she would answer that of course she intends to go home eventually! It's just that there's still so much adventuring right around the corner!
The truth is a bit trickier, however. Now that she's had a good taste of the adventuring life, she finds it harder and harder to come back home. The idea of idling away her days in the calmest noble house in the world doesn't appeal to her at all. But she wishes it did. In that sense, what she's looking for is the Big One. The one quest that will leave her satisfied, after which she can go back home to her family with the knowledge that she's had an adventuring career to be proud of. She doesn't want to step foot back in Korvosa until she's found this. Relations:
===FAMILY=== Estella's family is the proud and noble House Vale, renowned for not being anything special. And that's just the way they like it. Estella loves them all, and occasionally sends letters to let them know what she's up to, but she tries to keep herself at a distance. No family until she's Done. Although there's a veritable web of extended families and branch families, not to mention a big body of servants, the core family consists of the household of Balthazar Vale: - Balthazar Vale: Head of the household, who has a single priority: peace. He wants his loved ones to want for nothing, and DEFINITELY doesn't want them endangered by some vain ambition for 'more power'. As such, he works hard and diligently, striking the perfect balance between accruing wealth and evading attention. In a competitive environment like the Korvosan court, this is a tough challenge. Ever since Estella's left, he's beset with worry, for both his beloved daughter and the thousands of gold's worth of artifacts she pinched when she left. Estella worries he might send trackers after her to take her back home, but so far there's been nothing to suggest that he has. - Mina Vale-Kortos: The loving mother of the household, a formerly proud member of the Korvosan guard who retired when she was pregnant with her first child. Despite embracing the life of luxury her hubby Balthazar has given her, she refused to dull her edge, and has been continuously training ever since. All her children have learned basic combat techniques, though she leaves it up to them how much they want to learn beyond that. Before she left, Estella was her most dedicated student. She couldn't be more proud of her youngest daughter's exploits. - Anastasia Ilystri Melody Vale: The perfect daughter. Graduated from the university of Korvosa with honors, heir apparent. Working as her father's right hand man so she can pick up the tools of the trade, and she takes this responsibility very seriously. She considers the peace granted to House Vale to be a rare blessing, and while she loves Estella, the idea that she would just toss that peace to the wind to go adventuring has somewhat irked her. - Balthazar Vale II. Called "Balt" and "Junior" interchangeably, and he hates both nicknames. Ever since he was born one year after Anastasia, he's been the 'second' in everything. Graduated with almost as high honors as his sister. Heir apparent... should something happen to his sister. Working as his sister's right hand man. Despite this, he takes it in stride and proudly works together with her, but sometimes wonders if he can ever step out of her shadow. In that sense he somewhat envies Estella for going off on her own, and secretly dreams of gathering the courage to do something like that himself. - Cherilise (Cheryl) Sophinia Lycress Vale. The middle child, and the one drawing the least attention to herself. She didn't go to university, and instead began to rub elbows with the Korvosan artist's scene where she became quite popular. She can often be found exploring Korvosa looking for the perfect scenes to immortalize in a painting. Estella's painter's kit was a gift from Cheryl. - Damon Vale. While House Vale is on paper an Abadar-worshipping family, no-one takes this as serious as Damon. From a young age, the Church of Abadar had fascinated him, and as soon as he could, he joined its ranks to become a cleric, eager to do good. He's a popular figure there now, though some of the less pleasant nobles sometimes whisper that he's spending a little too much time "engaging with the lower classes" than ought to be proper for a man of his upbringing. Ever since he left the house, contact between him and his family has diminished somewhat, as he's often 'too busy' to see them. No-one is entirely sure if this is truth or an excuse. - Estellania Dimiteri Alessia Vale, the youngest, who needs no introduction at this point. ===ADVENTURERS===
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