About Jennet HalfgaitDescription:
Jennet is a young woman with ancient eyes colored a faint blue beneath a milky film. Nearly faded burn scars crisscross her face. She is rangy and hard-limbed, with unruly black hair escaping a warrior’s braid. She seems vigorous and athletic, particularly when sitting confidently in the saddle, but her walk is an awkward hobble, as if her knees can’t quite bear her weight. She dresses like a courier, in sweat-stained riding leathers and a rainproof cloak over armor. Her cut-down mail, shield and spear look older than she does, worn from hard use and repaired over generations. She smells of horse, always, but on her the scent seems only natural. She is often lost in her own thoughts, smiling and frowning unselfconsciously as she woolgathers. Background:
Jennet was a surprise to her middle-aged Rostlander parents; they had raised four children and were taken aback to discover they were expecting another, sixteen years behind their last. She continued to bewilder them as she grew from a nearly tearless baby to a dreamy, self-sufficient child. Too weary to keep up with her youthful energy, they let her run free through the grassy hills of her home village, picking up oddiments of education from her older siblings and the village priest. Her favorite destination was the stable her older brother kept, where the market road entered town. Besides the riding horses of the wealthy tradesmen of the village, the stable sometimes sheltered the steeds of travellers from many miles away. She saw couriers’ coursers and tinkers’ drays, hunters’ thoroughbreds and nobles’ palfreys. One time she’d even seen a pair of the queer, goatish horses of distant Katapesh, and another time an elf-lord’s stag. Though her brother offered to let her help, she was afraid to approach the huge animals: Not frightened of any danger, but deathly shy of them. Rostland’s deceptively gentle landscape is fraught with many perils: floods, storm winds, and blizzards, but nothing is as feared by farmers as the all-too-frequent droughts. Jennet’s thirteenth year had a dry spring season followed by a blistering summer, until the withered grass and crops were just so much tinder lying limply on the baked earth, and even the most devout followers of Erastil made offerings to Gozreh to bring the rain. The stormclouds came, but before a drop fell, lightning set the plains ablaze. Villagers raced to the safety of the well square, and prayed that the wind would keep the fire from their homes. It did not; soon half the town was aflame. While the villagers lined up to carry water from the well to save the Temple of Erastil from burning, Jennet thought of the horses trapped in the stables, including a beautiful mare, great with child. They found Jennet after in the wreckage of the stable, face marred by burning timbers, legs crushed by the stampede of horses she’d freed. The prayers of the village priest saved her life, but to his confusion and dismay, her injuries would never entirely heal. The mare was delivered of a perfect foal, an adventurous chestnut colt with liquid ruby glints in his enormous brown eyes. Strange signs haunted the village; a boar and a stag walked down the street together in broad daylight, and at night a group of terrified children claimed that a walking tree had circled the stable three times. The next morning, the burnt fields were bursting with golden meadow flowers. Finally, a trio of hooded wanderers who quickened the pulse of all near them came to view the rollicking colt. In otherworldly voices they declared his name was Heptamegistos; that he was of the blood of Arangin, Erastil’s companion, and thus prince of horses; and that he would grow to be the steed of one of the mightiest kings the world had ever seen. Then they vanished. All this had rather less effect on the village than one might expect. The rains and droughts still came; the crops did well enough to cover rent and taxes and a little more. The colt claimed the stables as his home, which he graciously shared with travelers' mounts, though he seldom socialized with them. His care fell to Jennet, now called Jennet Halfgait to distinguish her from the half-dozen non-crippled Jennets around the village. Of all the villagers, only she seemed profoundly affected by the birth of the Courser of the Coming King. Heptamegistos seemed to accept her as a sort of squire or courtier, expecting her to not only care for him, but to train--well, educate--him as well. Five years passed, until no one thought of Jennet as anything other than the half-blind, half-crippled horsegirl. Half-mad, too, as she would beg to borrow her brother’s mail and stumble through the village militia’s drills as best she could, a waif in steel coif. She grew quickly, though, and grew strong from hard work and hard riding. Heptamegistos grew stronger still, into an equine colossus, rivaling the destriers of legend. One day a farmer smashed his foot beneath a plow and Heptamegistos--with Jennet’s help--bore him from the field to Erastil’s priest. By the time they arrived the farmer’s foot was already healed. The stallion’s divine nature was beyond question. Soon after, Jennet bid her family goodbye. Heptamegistos had spoken to her, she explained; his destiny awaited in the south, where he would help reclaim the Stolen Lands. Her parents, though bewildered as ever, did not doubt her in the least. They gave her what money and food they could spare for the road, and prayed for Erastil to bless their journey. Jennet smiled. She felt blessed, always.
Basic Stats:
STR 14 (+2) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 16 (+3) AL: NG
Defenses:
AC: 17, Touch: 12, Flat-footed: 15 CMD: 14 Fort: +3, Ref: +2, Will: +2 Offense & Weapons:
Shortspear (whetted) +2/20 x2/1d6+3 Dagger (whetted) +2/19-20 x2/1d4+3 Racial Abilities:
Skills: Humans gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level. Eye for Talent: Humans have great intuition for hidden potential. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive checks. In addition, when they acquire an animal companion, bonded mount, cohort, or familiar, that creature gains a +2 bonus to one ability score of the character's choice. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait. Feats:
Huntsmaster: You gain a +2 bonus on Handle Animal and Knowledge (nature) checks with horses. Furthermore, you are treated as one level higher when determining the abilities of your animal companion, as long as it is a horse. Traits:
Militia Veteran: Your first job was serving in a civilian militia in your home town. Skills learned while daily drilling and protecting your fellow townsfolk gave you special insight into military life. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Ride, and it is always a class skill for you. Rostlander: You were raised in the south of Brevoy, a land of dense forests and rolling plains, of crystalline rivers and endless sapphire skies. You come from hearty stock and were raised with simple sensibilities of hard work winning well-deserved gains, the importance of charity and compassion, and the value of personal and familial honor. Yours is the country of the Aldori swordlords and the heroes who refused to bend before the armies of a violent conqueror. You care little for matters of politics and nobles or of deception and schemes. As you are thoroughly Brevic, the call for champions willing to expand your land’s influence into the Stolen Lands has inflamed your sense of patriotism and honor, and so you have joined an expedition to quest southward. Your hardy nature grants you a +1 trait bonus on all Fortitude saves. Class Features:
Oracle’s Curse: Clouded Vision Your eyes are obscured, making it difficult for you to see. You cannot see anything beyond 30 feet, but you can see as if you had darkvision. Oracle’s Curse: Lame One of your legs is permanently wounded, reducing your base land speed by 10 feet if your base speed is 30 feet or more. Your speed is never reduced due to encumbrance. This curse will never change due to levels (see Dual-Cursed Oracle). Mystery--Nature Can gain Revelations and choose some bonus spells from the Nature mystery. Revelation--Bonded Mount (Su): You gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal mount, the horse Heptamegistos. Heptamegistos functions as a druid’s animal companion, using your oracle level as your effective druid level. Bonded mounts have an Intelligence score of at least 6. Skills:
[4 (oracle) + 1 (human)] x 1 (lvl) = 5 Diplomacy +7
Gear:
Worn/Carried Scale Mail (50g) Heavy Wooden Shield (7g) Shortspear (1g) Dagger (2g) Explorer's outfit Holy symbol of Erastil, wooden (1 gp) Spell component pouch (5 gp) On Heptamegistos
7 gold
Spells:
Spell DC: 13 + spell level Per day:
Known Orisons:
Level 1:
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