Herok Crane's page

Herok Crane
CG male humanoid (half-orc) brawler 1
Init +2; Senses Perception +6; darkvision 60 ft
Favored Class: Brawler
FCB: +1/4 to Brawler level to determine effective unarmed damage
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DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 Armor, +2 Dex)
HP 12 (1d10 + 2 Con)
Saves Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2
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OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed +5 (1d6+4, x2)
Melee dagger +5 (1d4+4, 19-20/x2)
Ranged light crossbow +4 (1d8, 80 ft, 19-20/x2)
Ranged dagger +4 (1d4+4, 10 ft, 19-20/x2)
Special Attacks martial flexibility (4/day)
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STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +4 (+5 sunder); CMD 16 (17 vs bull rush and overrun)
Feats Power Attack
Traits Blood of Giants, Iron Control
Skills (ACP -2) Acrobatics +4, Climb +5, Handle Animal* +3, Intimidate +5, Perception +6, Profession (blacksmith)* +6, Swim +5
*-indicates Background Skill
Languages Common, Orc
SQ Brawler’s Cunning, Darkvision, Human-Raised, Intimidating, Martial Training, Orc Blood, Unarmed Strike
Gear: Light crossbow with 20 bolts, alchemical silver handaxe, cold iron dagger, leather lamellar armor, explorer’s outfit, Brawler’s Kit (backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, rope, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), waterskin), additional trail rations (5 days), artisan’s (blacksmith’s) tools, small tent, 14 gp, 5 sp

Half-Orc Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Half-orc characters gain a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature. (Strength)
Darkvision: Half-orcs can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Intimidating: Half-orcs receive a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate checks due to their fearsome nature.
Orc Blood: Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Human-Raised: Some half-orcs raised as humans lack their cousins' ferocity and training in orc weapons, but pick up a bit of their human parents' skills. They gain the human's skilled racial trait. This racial trait replaces orc ferocity and weapon familiarity.

Class Abilities
Brawler’s Cunning (Ex): If the brawler’s intelligence score is less than 13, it counts as 13 for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of combat feats.

Martial Flexibility (Ex): A brawler can take a move action to gain the benefit of a combat feat she doesn't possess. This effect lasts for 1 minute. The brawler must meet all the feat's prerequisites. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + 1/2 her brawler level (minimum 1).
The brawler can use this ability again before the duration expires in order to replace the previous combat feat with another choice.
If a combat feat has a daily use limitation (such as Stunning Fist), any uses of that combat feat while using this ability count toward that feat's daily limit.
At 6th level, a brawler can use this ability to gain the benefit of two combat feats at the same time. She may select one feat as a swift action or two feats as a move action. She may use one of these feats to meet a prerequisite of the second feat; doing so means that she cannot replace a feat currently fulfilling another's prerequisite without also replacing those feats that require it. Each individual feat selected counts toward her daily uses of this ability.
At 10th level, a brawler can use this ability to gain the benefit of three combat feats at the same time. She may select one feat as a free action, two feats as a swift action, or three feats as a move action. She may use one of the feats to meet a prerequisite of the second and third feats, and use the second feat to meet a prerequisite of the third feat. Each individual feat selected counts toward her daily uses of this ability.
At 12th level, a brawler can use this ability to gain the benefit of one combat feat as an immediate action or three combat feats as a swift action. Each individual feat selected counts toward her daily uses of this ability.
At 20th level, a brawler can use this ability to gain the benefit of any number of combat feats as a swift action. Each feat selected counts toward her daily uses of this ability.
Martial Training (Ex): At 1st level, a brawler counts her total brawler levels as both fighter levels and monk levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats. She also counts as both a fighter and a monk for feats and magic items that have different effects based on whether the character has levels in those classes (such as Stunning Fist and a monk's robe). This ability does not automatically grant feats normally granted to fighters and monks based on class level, namely Stunning Fist.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a brawler gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A brawler may attack with fists, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a brawler may make unarmed strikes with her hands full. A brawler applies her full Strength modifier (not half) on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.
Usually, a brawler's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.
A brawler's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that modify either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.
A brawler also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than others, as shown on Table: Brawler. The unarmed damage values listed on that table are for Medium brawlers. A Small brawler deals less damage than the amount given there with her unarmed attacks, while a Large brawler deals more damage; see the following table.

TRAITS
Blood of Giants (Campaign): You’re a big person, and people have always said you’ve got some giant blood in you. Even as a child, you towered over your friends, and as you grew older, you grew even taller and stronger. Maybe your hair has a tint of blue as well, or your skin is as pale as snow. Perhaps someday you’ll get the opportunity to travel to the North and meet some real giants, and see whether the rumors about you are true. You gain a +1 trait bonus on combat maneuver checks to sunder, and a +1 trait bonus to your CMD against bull rush and overrun combat maneuvers.

Iron Control (Race): Whenever you're confused and roll to determine behavior in a given round, subtract 10 from the result.

Five Points That Capture the Concept and Background of the Character
Son of his mother, who left Heldren for adventure, and an Orc warrior named Kankor Giantsblood
Raised by his mother in Heldren after his father’s death
Constantly fought with other children when he was growing up
Apprenticed to the local Blacksmith when he was 12, after the blacksmith broke up a fight between him and another boy
Blacksmith taught him how to fight and keep his anger in check.

Two Goals I Would Like Herok to Accomplish in-game
Discover who his father was and how he died.
Make some friends and be viewed as less of a beast by the people of Heldren.

Two Secrets
For all his hard work, Herok’s anger still simmers just below the surface, and could easily and violently erupt at anytime.
Herok’s father, Kankor Giantsblood, was killed in Irrisen attempting to free some of his kin from slavery. His mother knows that is where he went, but hasn’t told Herok because she’s afraid he’ll try to seek him out.

Three to Five People
Tara Crane - Herok’s mother, a former adventurer who returned to Heldren and took over the family farm just outside of town. She still works it, although she’s hired some help.
Kanen Roh - The village blacksmith who took Herok on as his apprentice.
Filius Hendelby - Son of a local merchant, Filius has been Herok’s worst tormentor for as long as Herok can remember. Even now, Filius always takes time to comment on Herok’s “sub-human” ancestry.

Three Key Memories
The first fight Herok got into at age 5. It was him verse three older boys, and despite being bigger and giving them all he had, he still lost. He was blamed for attacking the boys, despite not being the aggressor. Since that fight, he has mostly been the aggressor, since he figures if he’s going to be blamed for starting it, he might as well be the one to start it.
When he was first apprenticed to Kanen Roh. Though the tasks were menial at first - retrieving materials, sweeping the forge and such - it was the first time someone besides his mother treated him like a person worthy of respect.
The day Kanen began teaching him how to fight. Punching a bag gave Herok an outlet for anger that wasn’t a person, and made it easier for him to ignore the insults hurled his way by others.

Fear: Herok most fears losing control of himself and killing someone who doesn’t deserve it in a blind rage. Doing so would likely shatter his self-confidence and leave him broken.

Why are you in Heldren?
Kerak has lived in Heldren since he was 3, and is currently apprenticed to the local blacksmith, Kanen Roh. He lives with his mother on the family farm about a mile outside of town.

Herok’s mother, Tara, left the village of Heldren at the age of 15 in order to pursue a life of adventure. 9 years later, she returned, along with a 3-year old boy of clearly mixed heritage she called her son. She said little of what had transpired, just that the boy’s father had been a great warrior from one of the tribes in the Hold of Belkzen who had turned his back on the vicious ways of his people to better himself and to ensure her survival. She said only that he was slain, and Herok was son to both of them.

Taldor is not a tolerant nation, and the village where Herok grew up was no exception. Most adults would ignore him or pretend he wasn’t there, and the children would bully him for his more bestial features, and mock him for his abnormally tall body that he never seemed quite comfortable in. Herok, not being one to take the abuse, retaliated violently, giving into anger and often attacking his tormenters. Regardless of how much his mother punished him, regardless of what she said, he would often attack those who provoked him in fits of rage. With his strength, the other children would often be battered, along with the occasional broken bone. As he grew, his mother grew more and more troubled about how to deal with him, as the rest of the village found him to be too dangerous to interact with the other children.

That all changed when Kanen Roh took over the village smithy. Kanen had worked in a blacksmith’s shop in Oppara by day, and fought in an underground pugilist ring by night. Winning more than he lost, he saved up his coin and then left Oppara for a small village like Heldren. Upon arriving, he bought the shop from the former aging blacksmith and began serving the community. After he had been there a few months, he saw Herok and another boy begin to get into a fight. He separated the two quickly, lifting each by the scruff of the neck. The boy he sent home. Having heard of Herok’s reputation as a violent youth, he personally escorted him back to his mother. Kanen and Tara spoke for a while, and then Kanen suggested he take Herok as his apprentice blacksmith. Tara decided that the outlet would be good for Herok to have, and she agreed with Kanen. So, at age 12, Herok began assisting Kanen with the forge, and learning the trade of the blacksmith. Blacksmithing is more than just pounding a hammer on steel until you make the desired creation. It’s also knowing how to properly soothe a horse, oxen or donkey while you put horseshoes on it. Herok’s aggressive nature made learning this more difficult for him, but he was able to figure some of it out.

As Herok grew bigger and stronger, Kanen also began teaching him how to fight with his hands and feet. Not the wild, angry swings of Herok’s youth, but the controlled jabs and kicks of a professional fighter. Herok, through both the outlets of pounding hammer on steel and the boxing lessons, learned to control his anger and to not be controlled by it. Though he would still feel its heat build in him, he was able to control that fire, as the blacksmith controls the forge, and use it to hone his focus and skill.

Now, after 10 years of a hard apprenticeship, Kanen is grown into a man. He stands nearly 7 feet tall and looks to be built almost entirely of muscle. His more bestial features have softened somewhat, although there is no mistaking his Orcish heritage, and his ice blue eyes, which seem to freeze with a glance, still sometimes burn with the fire of his rage. Nevertheless, he is, if not liked, much more accepted in H3ldren than the boy he used to be.