Harlen Vilnus's page

Harlen was born and raised in Ustalav - in a small town north of Lepidstadt in Vieland county. He had a positive childhood, raised by widowed father - the town's record keeper, bookmaker, and agent(tax collector)for the citizen's council of Vieland. His mother died while he was still a babe - of birth sickness it was said.

As a teenager, Harlen found he had that magical spark that lives in all sorcerers, and while slightly alarming to his father and other townsfolk - it was common enough in those parts to not be surprising.
He doubly lucky that the famed Professor Lorrimor came to visit his father soon after to do some research on the town's history. He provided the young man with some basic learning on the nature of his powers. Harlen took the man's lessons to heart and devoted himself to mastering his abilities. (Trait:Inspired by Greatness)

All seemed well for Harlen - growing to be a young man with his eye turned to courting a young lady of the village. It was in a quiet moment with her that the rest of his magical lineage emerged. While in a tender moment, his touch suddenly struck her as if a bolt of lighting had fallen from the sky. The young lady was suddenly engulfed with a nervous fear. As he tried to comfort her, a second touch turned this into unbridled terror! She fled him, and within the next few days everyone knew of the incident.

When she described the sensation as the "touch of the grave," all the townsfolk suddenly grew fearful of the young man. Whispers of his being a creature of the dead only grew; his father's reassuring presence being the only thing keeping things calm.

A tragedy struck then - when his father (astride a horse) returned from an errand. As Harlen went to help him by grabbing the animal's bridle, his touch reached it and caused it to panic. The horse threw the elder Vilnus and struck him severely. Within days - Harlen at his side - he passed away from the injuries. Within a few more, the shock of the event drove the townspeople to clamor for his head - to kill the "blight" before it spread.

With no guidance; spit upon by his neighbors; and questioning the nature of what he had become, Harlen fled with what family money and possessions he could. It was only once he had a moment to hide in refuge, that he remembered old Professor Lorrimor and his scholarly reputation. Perhaps (as he did before) the famed man could give him guidance to master this "curse."

So, he began his journey to find the man - using only the bits of knowledge he knows about Ustalav's other counties. As he wandered towards Ravengro, he:
a) Learned a little more about his "Grave Touch" - hoping that he could control it.
b) Something in his father journal implied that his mother's pregnancy and death had something to do with his gifts.
c) He wonders if the Church of Pharasma may be able to cure his condition, but he's afraid that it will cost him his life.

He doesn't know, as he arrives in Ravengro, that his one possible savior is dead and buried.

The taint of the grave runs through your family.
Class Skill Bonus: Knowledge (religion).
Bonus Spells: chill touch (3rd), false life (5th), vampiric touch (7th), animate dead (9th), waves of fatigue (11th), undeath to death (13th), finger of death (15th), horrid wilting (17th), energy drain (19th).
Bonus Feats: Combat Casting, Diehard, Endurance, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Knowledge [religion]), Spell Focus (Evocation), Still Spell, Toughness.
Bloodline Arcana: Some undead are susceptible to your mind-affecting spells. Corporeal undead that were once humanoids are treated as humanoids for the purposes of determining which spells affect them.
Bloodline Powers: You can call upon the foul powers of the afterlife.
Grave Touch (Sp): Starting at 1st level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that causes a living creature to become shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). If you touch a shaken creature with this ability, it becomes frightened for 1 round if it has fewer Hit Dice than your sorcerer level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.