Fell really sick the last couple weeks but feeling way better, finally got a chance to update that backstory. Let me know if something still seems off!
Statblock:
Fane Nvshanti
Human (Varisian) magus (card caster, kensai) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: The Harrow Handbook, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 55, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9)
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 9 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2
Defensive Abilities canny defense +1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee bladed scarf +1 (1d6+1) or
chakram +1 (1d8+1)
Ranged cards +3 (1d4+1) or
harrow deck +4 (1d4+1) or
Chakram +4 (1d8 +1)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+1, 3 points), spell combat
Magus (Card Caster, Kensai) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +3)
1st—shocking grasp
0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Deadly Dealer, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (chakram)
Traits charming, Varisian Tattoo, Spirit-touched
Skills Bluff +4 (+5 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Diplomacy +3 (+4 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (local) +3, Profession (fortune-teller) +4, Sleight of Hand +4, Spellcraft +6
Languages Common, Goblin, Shoanti, Varisian
SQ chosen weapon, deadly dealer, silver tongued[ARG]
Other Gear bladed scarf[ISWG], chakram[APG], dart (54), mwk dart (54), backpack, belt pouch, blanket[APG], cards[UE], harrow deck[UE], hemp rope (50 ft.), magus starting spellbook, soap, spell component pouch, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 13 gp, 9 sp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Pool +1 (3/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Canny Defense +1 (Ex) +INT bonus to AC (max Kensai level).
Chosen Weapon (Chakram) Kensai abilities only function when wielding a weapon of this type.
Deadly Dealer Arcane Strike: throw cards as if they were darts. Card destroyed when thrown.
Deadly Dealer (Su) May deal lethal damage as long as you have 1 point in Arc. Pool.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Silver Tongued You can shift a creature's attitude by three steps with Diplomacy.
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Background:
Fane Nulvshanti began his life typical of many Varisians, part of a caravan. He spent most of his early years traveling the hinterlands and plains of the Varisian wilds alongside his parents Artur and Kathryn.
Artur’s position as head of security in the caravan was mostly a formal position, the most senior guard having lost the use of his left leg long ago, he provided the young men of the caravan the training they needed to protect the caravan; including a young Fane. His mother, Kathryn, was the caravan’s Harrow reader and healer. She taught Fane what she could about the Harrow but, for whatever reason the young Varisian had difficulties tapping in to the divine energies permeating the cards.
Most of Fane’s life was uneventful, as uneventful as life on the road can be; that is until the incident. It was a rather uneventful stop, a small town in the middle of nowhere. The sort of place that Kathryn would let Fane run the Harrow Reading; small town folks never needed an actual Harrow Reading and it was far easier to convince them something mystical was happening.
As the people lied up, Fane “read” there fate one by one, until a young girl came up. While the caravan had visited this small town before he did not recognize the young girl, still he went through the motions of the Harrow. When he finished his reading, the young girl’s eye turned pitch black, her skin turned a translucent color, he hair whipping in a wind that had not been there moment ago. The now ghostly looking apparition declared that Fane was a charlatan, a trickster that must be punished.
Fane’s eyes turned as black as the girl’s and clouded for a moment. When his vision returned, his caravan and the townsfolk were no longer standing in front of him. In their place was a horde of decay and undeath. He reached for the only thing present at that moment, his mother’s deck of Harrow Cards. Something happened in that moment and Fane connected to the deck in a way that he never did before, the cards lit up as he instinctually began tossing them like darts at what he believed were undead.
There were too many though and Fane was quickly overrun. To his surprise he woke up in a cell in what Fane assumed was the town jail. As he lay in the bed here, the guard outside informed him he had a visitor, his mother. Kathryn informed Fane that he had suddenly gone berserk throwing glowing playing cards at townsfolk and Varisians alike. He was taken down and thrown here. She asked him what happened and Fane was surprised to see that no one, including his mother, remembered the young girl and that to everyone else nobody looked undead. Kathryn begged her only son to be patient, his family was working with the town to see if there was a way to get him free.
As Fane waited all day he began to doubt his family could do anything. The day incarcerated forced Fane to realize that he prized living itself over all, and so late in night, when there wasn’t a guard outside his door, Fane picked the lock with a hidden lock pick and left the small town. It’s important to establish that while leaving the caravan to explore of your own volition is encouraged, the most shameful and embarrassing punishment for traveling Varisians to be expelled from the community and forced to travel; never to return. So it was with a saddened heart that Fane left his family forever.
He only travelled the plains for a few weeks when he came to Rodric’s Cove. This was new, a place where no one knew what he had done. He could make a name for himself here and prove to his parents that he could make them proud.
Appearance and Personality:
Age: 21
Standing 5' 9" tall, Fane has tan skin and a powerful feel about him.
Fane has a lean face with a angular jaw, a pointed nose, and angled lips. His brown eyes are deep set and he has thin eyebrows.
His black hair is mid-back length and straight, and is worn tied up in the back by a scarf that he keeps around his neck when he lets his hair down, and he has a full beard.
He has many traditional Varisian piercings but the most noticeable one is the piercing in his nasal septum, he thinks it makes him look more like a Harrow Reader.
He has toned arms, a stocky torso, a non-existent waist, narrow hips, and long legs. He has a large stylish tattoo across his entire body, in the shape of stylized harrow card with an open eye in the middle.
He usually wears matching clothes that are mostly light-coloured and slightly baggy.
An easy-going personality, Fane makes quick friends, but often has ulterior motives to making such relationships. A firm believer that having people who believe in you is better than pushing people away, Fane seeks out friends and the pleasures that the world has to offer.
Thats a good point, and I really appreaciate you doing this a GM going over backstories and making sure they make sense! Thanks!
I’m definitely envionsing a very small town in Varisia, the type that doesn’t really have a place on the map, its just a few dozen people and the caravan only stopped their on the way to a larger city.
As to your other question, its a good one and not one I had considered. I’m thinking it could one of two ways, either the caravan convinced the town that since some caravan members where killed as well it was their responsibility to punish Fane.
The explanation that I am leaning toward however is that he escaped during the night (there are only so many guards in a tiny frontier town). What I like about this more is that, family and belonging are such vital components for the Varisian culture and for Fane to realize that he enjoys living more is interesting. I know that if he escapes he’ll never be able to see his family again and that they will always think ill of him. I think this would lead Fane to having not only a desire to make a name of himself (prove to his parents that he can do something) but may even force him to engage in some of the seedier Varisian stereotypes without going fully evil. He’s engaged in too much needless killing for a lifetime.
Thanks for the feedback! Yes that stat allocation does make more sense! I added the favored class bonus to the alias statblock but I took the +1/4 Arcane Pool Point.
In terms of the backstory, its an interesting question. I think its still confusing to Fane as well, the way I was envisioning was less that he “temporarily killed them” and more that he thought they had turned undead, in order to defend himself he killed what he thought were undead but were actually the townsfolk. The spirit tricked him into seeing undead when in reality he was just killing defenseless townsfolk.
Just missed the hour mark, in the full profile will be the traits but I did take the Spirit Touched campaign trail.
Spirited Touched: You gain a +2 trait bonus on all saving throws made against supernatural attacks, spells, or spell-like abilities from undead creatures. Once per adventure, you may automatically succeed at a Constitution check to stabilize or a saving throw to remove a negative level.
Fane Nvshanti
Human (Varisian) magus (card caster, kensai) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: The Harrow Handbook, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 55, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9)
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +0
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 9 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2
Defensive Abilities canny defense +1
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bladed scarf +1 (1d6+1) or
chakram +1 (1d8+1)
Ranged cards +3 (1d4+1) or
harrow deck +4 (1d4+1) or
Chakram +4 (1d8 +1)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+1, 3 points), spell combat
Magus (Card Caster, Kensai) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +3)
1st—shocking grasp
0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Deadly Dealer, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (chakram)
Traits charming, Varisian Tattoo,
Skills Bluff +4 (+5 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Diplomacy +3 (+4 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (local) +3, Profession (fortune-teller) +4, Sleight of Hand +4, Spellcraft +6
Languages Common, Goblin, Shoanti, Varisian
SQ chosen weapon, deadly dealer, silver tongued[ARG]
Other Gear bladed scarf[ISWG], chakram[APG], dart (54), mwk dart (54), backpack, belt pouch, blanket[APG], cards[UE], harrow deck[UE], hemp rope (50 ft.), magus starting spellbook, soap, spell component pouch, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 13 gp, 9 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Pool +1 (3/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Canny Defense +1 (Ex) +INT bonus to AC (max Kensai level).
Chosen Weapon (Chakram) Kensai abilities only function when wielding a weapon of this type.
Deadly Dealer Arcane Strike: throw cards as if they were darts. Card destroyed when thrown.
Deadly Dealer (Su) May deal lethal damage as long as you have 1 point in Arc. Pool.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Silver Tongued You can shift a creature's attitude by three steps with Diplomacy.
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Background:
Fane Nulvshanti began his life typical of many Varisians, part of a caravan. He spent most of his early years traveling the hinterlands and plains of the Varisian wilds alongside his parents Artur and Kathryn.
Artur’s position as head of security in the caravan was mostly a formal position, the most senior guard having lost the use of his left leg long ago, he provided the young men of the caravan the training they needed to protect the caravan; including a young Fane. His mother, Kathryn, was the caravan’s Harrow reader and healer. She taught Fane what she could about the Harrow but, for whatever reason the young Varisian had difficulties tapping in to the divine energies permeating the cards.
Most of Fane’s life was uneventful, as uneventful as life on the road can be; that is until the incident. It was a rather uneventful stop, a small town in the middle of nowhere. The sort of place that Kathryn would let Fane run the Harrow Reading; small town folks never needed an actual Harrow Reading and it was far easier to convince them something mystical was happening.
As the people lied up, Fane “read” there fate one by one, until a young girl came up. While the caravan had visited this small town before he did not recognize the young girl, still he went through the motions of the Harrow. When he finished his reading, the young girl’s eye turned pitch black, her skin turned a translucent color, he hair whipping in a wind that had not been there moment ago. The now ghostly looking apparition declared that Fane was a charlatan, a trickster that must be punished.
Fane’s eyes turned as black as the girl’s and clouded for a moment. When his vision returned, his caravan and the townsfolk were no longer standing in front of him. In their place was a horde of decay and undeath. He reached for the only thing present at that moment, his mother’s deck of Harrow Cards. Something happened in that moment and Fane connected to the deck in a way that he never did before, the cards lit up as he instinctually began tossing them like darts at what he believed were undead.
There were too many though and Fane was quickly overrun. To his surprise he woke up the next day, the sun shining, the birds chirping as though nothing had happened. As he went to sit up he realized that he was tied down to a cot. His parents informed him that he had gone insane and temporarily killed numerous townsfolk and a few members of the caravan before someone knocked him unconscious. Fane had no recollection of these events and when he asked his mother, she did not remember any little girl asking for a Harrow Reading.
Fane laid on the cot and waited for his sentencing. It’s important to establish that while leaving the caravan to explore of your own volition is encouraged, the most shameful and embarrassing punishment for traveling Varisians to be expelled from the community and forced to travel; never to return. So it was with a saddened heart at Fane had to accept this punishment.
He only travelled the plains for a few weeks when he came to Rodric’s Cove. This was new, a place where no one knew what he had done. He could make a name for himself here and prove to his parents that he could make them proud.
Appearance:
Age: 21
Standing 5' 9" tall, Fane has tan skin and a powerful feel about him.
Fane has a lean face with a angular jaw, a pointed nose, and angled lips. His brown eyes are deep set and he has thin eyebrows.
His black hair is mid-back length and straight, and is worn tied up in the back by a scarf that he keeps around his neck when he lets his hair down, and he has a full beard.
He has many traditional Varisian piercings but the most noticeable one is the piercing in his nasal septum, he thinks it makes him look more like a Harrow Reader.
He has toned arms, a stocky torso, a non-existent waist, narrow hips, and long legs. He has a large stylish tattoo across his entire body, in the shape of stylized harrow card with an open eye in the middle.
He usually wears matching clothes that are mostly light-coloured and slightly baggy.
An easy-going personality, Fane makes quick friends, but often has ulterior motives to making such relationships. A firm believer that having people who believe in you is better than pushing people away, Fane seeks out friends and the pleasures that the world has to offer.
Sihedron Hero:
I think I’ll choose Amiri as my Sihedron Hero.
Time Zone:
EST -0500
GM:
@GM Phntm888 I know that the Card Caster archetype changes Spellstrike to be useable with ranged attacks but does not change Spell Combat to be used with Ranged attacks either.
Would you be willing to think about this and potentially change it so that I could use Spell Combat with ranged attacks? If not that is totally fine, I picked up some melee weapons and such, but thought I would ask all the same.
Dotting. I created this character (Card caster Magus) for a home brew Sandpoint campaign that never took off. Will need to change the backstory a tad and take a campaign trait but I’ll get on that and let you know!
| HP 9/9 | AC 13 T 13 FF 10 | CMB +1 CMD 15 | F +3, R +3, W+2 | Int +3 | Perc +1 | | Speed 30 ft. | Arcane Pool Points 3/3 | Active Conditions: none | Spells Prepared 0th: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Daze 1st: Shocking Grasp, Shield
Depending on Red-Handed’s answer, I’m fine with Fane and Teminkar just missing each other, as he probably would have stayed in sandpoint the last time it came through. Although you’d definitely have met my parents who are a part of the caravan, Dmitri and Petra.
@DM Red-handed. If it’s alright with you I was thinking Dimitri could be like and older guard/advisor to the Sandra and caravan while Petra I see as being like Harrow Reader to make the caravan money but sort of doing the odd end jobs like seaming and cleaning, stuff like that.
His mother is where Fane learned how to do a Harrow reading, or at the very least go through the motions of harrow reading.
| HP 9/9 | AC 13 T 13 FF 10 | CMB +1 CMD 15 | F +3, R +3, W+2 | Int +3 | Perc +1 | | Speed 30 ft. | Arcane Pool Points 3/3 | Active Conditions: none | Spells Prepared 0th: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Daze 1st: Shocking Grasp, Shield
Fane recently left the caravan, at the behest of his parents, to help take care and spend time with Koya Mvshati. I would say that this has been like a month or two. While he made a promise to family to look out for his family friend, he’s itching for some adventure.
@Ciprian I think then Fane and Ciprian have certainly had a lot more interactions in the last month or so, and by association @Igmutanka, the later who’s upbringing as a Shoanti certainly intrigues him.
@Teminkar, not sure you when you were thinking that Teminkar joined Sandru’s caravan but it’s possible that we just missed each other, although I would definitely know @Brom Arrano from the caravan before I left.
@Lydia, the brewery may have been one of the first places that Fane visited when he came to town. I could see him for sake of gaining knowledge interested in the brewing process and occasionally showing up to have a share stories and drink some fine local alcohol with the brewers.
| HP 9/9 | AC 13 T 13 FF 10 | CMB +1 CMD 15 | F +3, R +3, W+2 | Int +3 | Perc +1 | | Speed 30 ft. | Arcane Pool Points 3/3 | Active Conditions: none | Spells Prepared 0th: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Daze 1st: Shocking Grasp, Shield
Hi everyone! Thanks for the invite @DM Red-Handed. Excited to play!
Fane is a wandering Varisian, part of a Varisian caravan. I did have the connections to Koya Mvshanti because of that. I wasn’t planning on it being Sandru’s caravan but that could make a lot of sense in which case I would know @Teminkar
Here is Fane Nulvshanti (samuranitta’s submission). If you rule in favor of RAW with spell combat and ranged weapons I’ll take the Kendal archetype as well and replace Precise Shot with Weapon Fineese.
Background:
"Whats that mon ami? You want to have a nice chat while we play this card game? Alright I'll bite.
The name is Fane Nulvshanti, harrow-reader and fortune teller extraordinaire. Seeing as to the rumors I've heard about you, lets be honest with another oui?
I was born to the best people in the world, have you ever come across a traveling caravan of Varisian? Oh, mon ami, you will never find a more loving and expecting group of strangers. And it is to those people that I was born, to Dimitri and Petra Nulvshanti.
Oh the party we had, we were just the happiest family, traveling the world together with the entire caravan. All good things must come to an end though. Why are you looking at me like that. Oh, mon ami, they aren’t dead! They are very much alive and very much just as happy as they always were.
No mon ami, I got bored. To be honest I just wanted to get out, see the world, maybe make a little bit more coin on the side. I still keep in touch with my parents, in fact that’s what I’m doing here in Sandpoint. You see, an old friend of the caravan died recently, Madame Mvashti, you know her? Eh that’s fine. Either way, I promised my parents that I’d watch out for her daughter Koya.
Now it helps that I’ve been hearing a lot about this Bunyip Gang, here in town. You must have heard of them, oui? Heard they been giving Varisians a bad name if you know what I mean.
What’s that in my pocket? Nothing to worry about mon ami, just my harrow deck; I told you I’m a fortune teller. Will I tell your fortune right now? Well would you look at that, I won again, better luck next time mon ami; see you around."
Appearance and Personality:
Fane has a sharp face and long brown hair that he keeps tied up in a scarf around his head, tradition Varisian headwear. He has intense brown eyes that seem to scan a person up and down, reading them.
While he may not look like much in combat, Fane can quickly show his enemies that a razor sharp card thrown at just the right angle and power can be just as deadly as the starknife strapped to his belt.
An easy-going personality, Fane makes quick friends, but often has ulterior motives to making such relationships. A firm believer that having people who believe in you is better than pushing people away, Fane seeks out friends and the pleasures that the world has to offer.
Fane learned how to perform harrow readings from his mother and father, but never could quite tap into the divine power needed to make a reading of his own. But he studied people enough to learn to tell them what he wants, all of his readings are fake but he knows enough arcane magic to make it look real, to those tha aren’t looking too hard that is.
