About Hern GoffHern
Bluff +6, Climb +6, Craft +3, Profession +3, Ride +3, Swim +6.
The war hound is always considered combat trained and begins play with Light Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat. A hound master’s hound does not gain the share spells special ability. These hounds are not suitable for riding and cannot be trained to carry riders. A hound master’s bond is strong and if the war hound dies, the cavalier may find another hound to serve him after 1 week of mourning. This new hound does not gain the link, evasion, devotion, or improved evasion special abilities until the next time the cavalier gains a level. This ability replaces mount. Pack Tactics (Ex): At 3rd level, a hound master learns greater coordination with his war hound. When a hound master and his hound are flanking the same creature, the hound master’s flanking bonus on attack rolls increases to +4. This ability replaces cavalier’s charge. Dog Statistics (Duncan): Size Medium; Speed 50 ft.; AC +4 natural armor; Attack bite (1d6 plus trip); Ability Scores Str 14, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.
Challenge (Ex): Once per day, a cavalier can challenge a foe to combat. As a swift action, the cavalier chooses one target within sight to challenge. The cavalier's melee attacks deal extra damage whenever the attacks are made against the target of his challenge. This extra damage is equal to the cavalier's level. The cavalier can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level. Challenging a foe requires much of the cavalier's concentration. The cavalier takes a –2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge. The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious or until the combat ends. Each cavalier's challenge also includes another effect which is listed in the section describing the cavalier's order. Order (Ex): At 1st level, a cavalier must pledge himself to a specific order. The order grants the cavalier a number of bonuses, class skills, and special abilities. In addition, each order includes a number of edicts that the cavalier must follow. If he violates any of these edicts, he loses the benefits from his order's challenge ability for 24 hours. The violation of an edict is subject to GM interpretation. A cavalier cannot change his order without undertaking a lengthy process to dedicate himself to a new cause. When this choice is made, he immediately loses all of the benefits from his old order. He must then follow the edicts of his new order for one entire level without gaining any benefits from that order. Once accomplished, he gains all of the bonuses from his new order. Note that the names of these orders might vary depending upon the campaign setting or GM's preference. Order of the Dragon Cavaliers belonging to the order of the dragon dedicate themselves to a group of like-minded individuals, be it a mercenary company or a small band of adventurers. These cavaliers believe in loyalty and friendship, and are willing to lay down their lives to protect their allies. Edicts: The cavalier must remain loyal to his allies and must always work to further the aims of the group. He must protect his allies from harm and defend their honor when called into doubt. Challenge: Whenever an order of the dragon cavalier issues a challenge, his allies receive a +1 circumstance bonus on melee attack rolls against the target of his challenge whenever he is threatening the target. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the cavalier possesses. Skills: An order of the dragon cavalier adds Perception (Wis) and Survival (Wis) to his list of class skills. In addition, whenever an order of the dragon cavalier uses Survival to provide food and water for his allies or to protect his allies from harsh weather, he receives a bonus on the check equal to 1/2 his cavalier level (minimum +1). Order Abilities: A cavalier that belongs to the order of the dragon gains the following abilities as he increases in level. Aid Allies (Ex): At 2nd level, whenever an order of the dragon cavalier uses the aid another action to assist one of his allies, the ally receives a +3 bonus to his Armor Class, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. At 8th level, and every six levels thereafter, this bonus increases by an additional +1. Tactician (Ex): At 1st level, a cavalier receives a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. He must meet the prerequisites for this feat. As a standard action, the cavalier can grant this feat to all allies within 30 feet who can see and hear him. Allies retain the use of this bonus feat for 3 rounds plus 1 round for every two levels the cavalier possesses. Allies do not need to meet the prerequisites of these bonus feats. The cavalier can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day at 5th level and for every 5 levels thereafter. Background
Our family was granted special permission to hunt in the forest, and I was informally apprenticed to the local hound master, who ran the hounds in the official hunts of the local nobility. As a young noble, I was not of station low enough for my family to willingly give him to the man, but I was allowed to spend my days and nights with the hounds. This I took to with enthusiasm. I ran the hounds through the forest, taught them the scents of valuable prey, and brought their viciousness under my direction. Eventually I was given a hound of my own, a young pup of a wolfhound. He I named Tomas. We bonded quickly, and I became a formidable hunter and hound master in my own right. As time went on I grew to appreciate the bounties of nature in their own right, and not as a way to run with the hounds, gain favor in my town and family, or seek the thrill of the hunt. I still did all these things, but I found my own position in the circle of life in the forest. I observed the fey, who were more cautious of me in my new status as a young man and as a member of a merchant nation that was bound by its philosophies to pursue more and more wealth (except for the satyrs, who often joined me in my more peaceful wanderings). I was a predator of the forest, except that I had the luxury to stop and observe. When I was seventeen, reality came back to bring me into its suffocating embrace. While I had been coming into my own, my younger brothers had been growing as well. And they had grown out of acceptable youthful practices, whereas I had stayed and had now been found odd. They were now devout followers of the Prophecies of Kalistrade, and were exemplars of its virtues. My younger brother was to inherit the family fortune and business, and my youngest a kalistocrat. At this time my parents revealed my fate to me: I was to be a Blackjacket, of the Mercenary League. Protectors of the Prophecies and following the orders of the Bureaucracy, the Blackjackets are famed for their ruthlessness and willing to do whatever is asked of them. At the time, I had no concept of going my own way into the world. There was no world worth being in outside of Druma. So I acquiesced, and began training under the Blackjackets. This made them very happy, and for a while I was contented with that. The martial training was difficult but rewarding, and I enjoyed it. The worst part was the indoctrination of the recruits in the ways of the Prophecies. While I had made my peace with the Prophecies as a necessary aspect of life, this I was not prepared with. The wild inside me resisted, and my faith in the Green was not broken. After five years, I was made a full Blackjacket. It was awful, tiring, spirit-breaking work. No one could see beyond their beliefs, nor the progression of their own wealth. I had no problems with merchant life. It was how I was raised. My problem was with the all-consuming obsession. It was disturbing to witness the willful degradation of their own spirits in the name of gaining gold. I returned to my family's estate on one of the rare occasions where the Blackjackets got a break. My family greeted me warmly, and I talked at length with my brothers about their lives. I visited the new dogs at the houndmaster's place. I even purchased a companion for Tomas - a female named Anra. I ran the woods again, and saw some satyr friends of my youth. And then, on a whim, I fled Druma. I left to the west, to Molthune, and then south to Cheliax. I ended up in Absalom, where I now call home, making forays out into the wilds of Kortos. Here I remain, and I grow ever disquieted. Golarion is in flux, and Druma is only one facet of this. My seven years in Molthune, Cheliax, and Absalom have shown me great discomforts. Molthune is plagued by the untamed ambitions of humans, with war being their great mark on the world. Cheliax is a nation of devil-summoners, and they show no remorse in their evil. Absalom is marked for failure by its acceptance - everyone is allowed, and they make no exceptions for those whose path is one of self-destruction and the destruction of others. All these I have seen in my life and in my travels - the willingness of people to exemplify their greed, their violence, and their degradation of the world in favor of their benefit. The hunt is my calling, the hounds my companions. I always thought of the hunt as something that you did for gain - sell the pelts, eat the meats, kill for glory. But that reveals itself to me now to be only a facet of its necessity as a purifier of the world. I am a predator of the wilds, a hunter, a pack leader. It is my duty to show others the error of their ways and what befalls them on this dread path they walk. I will perform it to the best of my ability. Appearance
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