Gavin Forgrave's page

Str 11, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 12

Human 1st: Technologist
1st: Weapon Finesse

Acrobatics +5 = Ranks 1+ Dex 2+ Trained 3 -1 Armor check
Craft (Mechanical) +9 = 1+3+3+ 2 Artisan trait
Disable Device +5 =1+2+3 -1
Escape Artist +5 =1+2+3 -1
Heal +6 =1+2+3
Knowledge (Engineering) +10= 1+3+3+3 Local Ties Trait
Knowledge (Arcana) +7= 1+3+3
Perception +6= 1+2+3
Spellcraft +7= 1+3+3
Stealth +5= 1+2+3-1
Use Magic Device 6= +1+1+3+1 Dangerously Curious

Artisan (Social): +2 on Craft (Mechanical)
Dangerously Curious (Magic): +1 on UMD checks
Local Ties (Campaign): A friend and apprentice of Khomnir Baine. Grants +3 to Knowledge (Engineering) because of synergy with Technologist trait.

Drawback: Paranoid; outside of the obvious disadvantage of always looking over his shoulder, Gavin also requires a DC15 check to aid another do to his inability to trust others.

1st Level:
Cure Light Wounds ()
Adhesive Spittle (x1)(From Advanced Class Guide)
Shield (x1)
Endure Elements ()

You are probably sitting there wondering how some Taldan peasant boy came to become a field agent for the Grand Duchy. Now I can't just let you skip ahead in the story. We have to go back about twenty years... Twenty years, two decades... That sure was a long time ago. Barely 'emember now. I was a thatcher's boy back then. No taller than my waistcoat is long. Some traveler came into town looking to talk to the local miners about some metal they discovered. T'was a man by the name of Donovan Gulsvig, rest his soul. Donovan came in with some special issue brass gear. My father pegged him for a knight with all that gear. The man's eyes were starting to turn milky about those days. Knew he couldn't take care of me in that state with my mother and sister killed by the plague the winter 'fore. Anyhow, he runs up to Donovan and he says right there in the square, "my boy t'would make an able squire for a traveling man like you, sir. Please, he's smart and tough, and it'll make up for his size in few years." Donnie always was a soft man when it came to children. He scooped me up on his wagon and that was the last time I saw my real father. Truth be told, I can't remember his name or my sister's or mother's for that fact. Might be the ale here...

Anyways, turns out Donnie wasn't anything like a knight. He was a field agent for the Duchy back then before he made Marshal. I used to try to take apart the things he had hidden in the back of his wagon. He would always tell me not to mess with those things. "They're dangerous, kid. Not for the likes of Taldan farm boys." or "One day, you are gonna lose a hand or worse." Came close to losing a finger to a wrist-sheath one day, but that's about the sum of that. Ol' Gulsvig saw my curio for gear tech and when we got done traveling back to his home in Alkenstar, he traded me off to the Temple of Brigh as an apprentice. Those inventors knew the reality of magic. I learned so much there. How to create solvents and solutions, both alchemical and metaphorical. Load bearing stresses, gravitational forces, the dichotomy of matter and energy... Things Taldan scholars would have never considered, let alone some poor thatcher's boy. The way of Brigh was clear, but I never quite felt like worship was the answer. Learning and inventing, that made sense, but a spiritual connection to the machine? Wasn't quite for me. Donnie would come and visit me during my learning there. When I hit about age 'leven, Donovan came back and gave me a formal invitation to join the Grand Duchy as a gun squire. That is where this already wild tale takes a twist!

I joined up right quick, thinking I would be serving alongside Donnie, the man who saved me from the dark with the light o' tech. Never could've been further from the truth. I got stuck in a training class with boys who had been raised to be there. Each had a mastery of firearms and weaponry. I was seeing a pistol for the very first time there. I had read about them, seen the schematics, and I knew what they were capable of. I was real shy about them too, let alone the boys around me. I failed the first twenty martial tests. Got sent straight back the Clergy of Brigh. Turns out one of the aspiring boys got killed that night. Some rumor got around that I was the culprit out of jealousy and spite. I set out fast to correct this before the Marshals hunted me down. Found one clue at the scene of the crime, a single casing with silver inlays. Now that's the thing that cued me off. Silver inlays... No Brigh craftsman would inlay silver. The metal is weak and has too low of a melting point. Had to have been some vainglorious engineer that cast this cartridge. Only two up-and-coming engies were casting cartridges in that district. In no time flat, I had the boy responsible by backtracking the sale records to his family. This is why I never buy anything but alcohol on a tab. Too messy anyways and just flat disrespectful to a true shopkeeper. Hard coin first, ya know?

Well, soon enough the Marshals caught up with me. I told them what was what. They cuffed me about the head, and drug me straight down to the jail. I couldn't understand why. It was an injustice. Turns out they hit me for being so bull headed and when I started yelling they figured I wouldn't listen to reason. Hell, back then, that was about the truth of it. Anyways, they set a group of papers in front of me. It was an invitation to join the Duchy as an investigator, not some grunt manning a bombard. I completed my training and my first field mission a year ago. Donnie himself took me out into the Wastes for that. We were to track down a group of mutants that had grafted some hard steel tech to their bodies. They went about mutilating the caravans calling themselves Ironclad. When we found them, some beast had already done the job for us. That creature was crunching on their metal-clad carcasses; could hear it from three hundred feet. As if we needed to hear it; you could see the blood trail from their last hit lead all the way to this cavern. We moved in to be sure they were all dead. Shouldn't done that. Told Donnie so 'fore we got in there, but it was no good. Gulsvig knew we had to be thorough or I wouldn't get my badge. So in we go... Donnie gunned it down in two blasts of his double matchlock. Never knew why he favored that out-dated piece, but now I know. It was designed for fighting just such beasties, and those runes glow bright when it has slain one.

When we returned, we gave a full report. Never was told what that creature was, but frankly, I don't care. I have my badge and here I am now, far away from the Duchy, here to help out Khonnir with some schematics and basic salvage here. I'll say this much though. This tech is a real find. Nothing quite like it back in Alkenstar, but we are not going to make much more progress if that fire doesn't come back. Too hard to get into some of these lockboxes we found... Oof. Looks like the whiskey is talking too much again. Best leave the rest for when I return, kids. But if you remember anything, remember this: this tech is the future. Without it and the people who believe in it, I would be some thatcher off in Taldor, dyin' of the cough so look to the stars and learn all you can.

*and with that, Gavin puts his hat back on, gets out of the chair and sets off away from the inn.*

Inspiration (ex): Gavin has the ability to augment skill checks and ability checks through his brilliant inspiration. As a free action, he can expend one use of inspiration from his pool to add 1d6 to the result of that check, including any on which he takes 10 or 20. This choice is made after the check is rolled and before the results are revealed. Gavin can only use inspiration once per check or roll. Gavin can use inspiration on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he’s trained in the skill.
Inspiration can also be used on attack rolls and saving throws, at the cost of expending two uses of inspiration each time from the investigator’s pool. In the case of saving throws, using inspiration is an immediate action rather than a free action.

Alchemy (Su): See Alchemist ability of the same name.

Trapfinding: Gavin adds 1/2 his level (1) to
Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable
Device checks (minimum 1). Investigator Forgrave can use Disable
Device to disarm magical traps.

Gavin is proficient with simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, short sword, and sword cane.
Gavin is proficient in light armors, but not shields.

Sword Cane 4 lbs.
Studded Leather Armor 20 lbs.

Explorer's Outfit 8 lbs.
Backpack 2 lbs.
Things in Backpack
Crowbar 5 lbs.
Alchemy Kit 8 lbs.
Fire Carrier 1 lbs.
1 Sunrod 1 lbs.

Money: Gold 6
Silver 3

Total Carried Weight: 35.2 lbs. with weapons and armor.
Carrying Capacity Lt: 38 lbs.
Med: 77 lbs.

If there are a lot of us in the party with Local Ties, I am for trading it for Numerian Archaeologist or Against the Technic League. Being from Alkenstar's temple of Brigh lets Gavin be pretty versatile in that factor. I would prefer for him to still be an associate of Khonnir though if possible.
I would prefer for Gavin to be a filler character as far as party composition. UMD and Extracts should be able to fill a pretty good healer and buff spot. Either at level 2 or 4, I would like to pick up a martial class level to get a small boost in HP, BAB, fort saves, and proficiency.