NG Female Human Fighter (Brawler) 5
Init +4; Senses Perception +8
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DEFENSE
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AC 25, Touch 14, Flat-Footed 20 (+7 armor, +3 Shield, +4 Dex, +1 Dodge)
HP 63
Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +8 (+1 vs Fear, +2 vs Divination)
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OFFENSE
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +10
Ranged +9
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STATISTICS
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Str 20, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 15
Base Atk +5; CMB +10; CMD +24
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TRAITS:
Affable:
You have a genial personality and make it a point to befriend and help people wherever you go. In your travels, you stop to aid others, tell interesting stories, and often buy rounds of drinks for patrons at the local taverns. You bring good cheer to those you encounter, and for this reason, you often find yourself attending important events or fruitful gatherings, and have even become an honorary member of many families. People find you trustworthy, and they are willing to share information with you. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks to gather information, and can do so in half the normal time. In addition, Diplomacy and Knowledge (local) are always class skills for you.
Vexing Defender:
You’re trained in fighting opponents that are larger than you, and you are skilled at keeping them on their toes, pestering them from all directions. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks, and Acrobatics becomes a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +4 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks to move through an enemy’s space without provoking an attack of opportunity, provided that enemy is larger than you.
Shield Trained:
You were trained to use shields as weapons. Heavy and light shields are considered simple weapons rather than martial weapons for you. Heavy shields are considered light weapons for you.
Carefully Hidden:
You gain a +1 trait bonus to Will saves and a +2 trait bonus to saving throws versus divination effects.
Overprotective(Drawback):
In your youth, you saw a younger friend or loved one suffer a grievous injury or die, and you blamed yourself for not having been there to help, even if there was nothing you could have done. If one of your allies should fall unconscious from hit point damage, you take a –2 penalty on attack rolls and skill checks as long as you are farther than 10 feet away from your fallen ally.
FEATS:
Fast Learner (Human Bonus):
You possess extra versatility.
Prerequisites: Int 13, human.
Benefit: When you gain a level in a favored class, you gain both +1 hit point and +1 skill rank instead of choosing either one or the other benefit or you can choose an alternate class reward.
Shield Focus (1st):
You are skilled at deflecting blows with your shield.
Prerequisites: Shield Proficiency, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: Increase the AC bonus granted by any shield you are using by 1.
Two-Weapon Fighting (FB):
You can fight with a weapon wielded in each of your hands. You can make one extra attack each round with the secondary weapon.
Prerequisite: Dex 15.
Benefit: Your penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons are reduced. The penalty for your primary hand lessens by 2 and the one for your off hand lessens by 6. See Two-Weapon Fighting.
Normal: If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. When fighting in this way you suffer a –6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a –10 penalty to the attack with your off hand. If your off-hand weapon is light, the penalties are reduced by 2 each. An unarmed strike is always considered light.
Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades) (CB):
Choose one type of weapon. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple (or ray, if you are a spellcaster) as your weapon for the purposes of this feat.
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon.
Iron Will (2nd):
You are more resistant to mental effects.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Will saving throws.
Bludgeoner (FB):
You can knock foes out cold with just about any blunt instrument.
Benefit: You take no penalty on attack rolls for using a lethal bludgeoning weapon to deal nonlethal damage.
Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls when using a lethal weapon to deal nonlethal damage. You cannot use a lethal weapon to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack.
Improved Shield Bash (3rd):
You can protect yourself with your shield, even if you use it to attack.
Prerequisite: Shield Proficiency
Benefit: When you perform a shield bash, you may still apply the shield’s shield bonus to your AC.
Normal: Without this feat, a character that performs a shield bash loses the shield’s shield bonus to AC until his next turn.
Combat Reflexes (4th):
You can make additional attacks of opportunity.
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity per round equal to your Dexterity bonus. With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Normal: A character without this feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can’t make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Enforcer (FB):
You are skilled at causing fear in those you brutalize.
Prerequisite: Intimidate 1 rank.
Benefit: Whenever you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, you can make an Intimidate check to demoralize your target as a free action. If you are successful, the target is shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt. If your attack was a critical hit, your target is frightened for 1 round with a successful Intimidate check, as well as being shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt.
Barroom Brawler (5th):
You have learned how to mimic the combat tricks and forms of others.
Prerequisite(s): Base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: Once per day as a move action, you can gain the benefit of a combat feat that you do not possess for 1 minute. You must otherwise meet the feat’s requirements.
SKILLS: (45 points; 20 class, 5 INT, 5 Skilled, 5 FCB, 10 Background)
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Acrobatics* +13 = DEX 4+5+3+1 (+1 Trait)
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Appraise +4 = INT 1+3+0 (+3 Background)
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Bluff +2 = CHA 2+0+0
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Climb +9 = STR 5+1+3
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Craft +1 = INT 1+0+0
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Diplomacy +10 = CHA 2+5+3 (+2 Gather Information - Trait)
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Disable Device*† +4 = DEX 4+0+0
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Disguise +2 = CHA 2+0+0
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Escape Artist* +4 = DEX 4+0+0
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Fly* +4 = DEX 4+0+0
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Handle Animal† +7 = CHA 2+2+3 (+2 Background)
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Heal +3 = WIS 3+0+0
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Intimidate +10 = CHA 2+5+3
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K (Arcana)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Dungeoneering)† +9 = INT 1+5+3
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K (Engineering)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Geography)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (History)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Local)† +9 = INT 1+5+3
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K (Nature)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Nobility)† +9 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Planes)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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K (Religion)† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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Linguistics +3 = INT 1+2+0 (+2 Background)
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Perception +8 = WIS 3+5+0
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Perform (Oratory) +5 = CHA 2+3+0 (+3 Background)
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Profession† +3 = WIS 3+0+0
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Ride +8 = DEX 4+1+3
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Sense Motive +3 = WIS 3+0+0
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Sleight of Hand*† +4 = DEX 4+0+0
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Spellcraft† +1 = INT 1+0+0
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Stealth* +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Survival +7 = WIS 3+2+3
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Swim +9 = STR 5+2+3
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Use Magic Device† +2 = CHA 2+0+0
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ACP -1
*ACP applies to these skills
Non-Standard Skill Bonuses
Languages Taldane
Special Abilities:
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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HUMAN:
+2 to One Ability Score: Human characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Humans are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.
Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
Skilled: Humans gain 1 additional skill rank at 1st level and 1 additional rank whenever they gain a level.
Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common and their ethnic language. Humans whose ethnic language is Common (or Taldane, in the case of Chelaxians or Taldans) do not receive an additional ethnic language. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
FIGHTER:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and shields (including tower shields).
Bonus Feats:
At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, a fighter gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the fighter gains a feat at every level). These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as combat feats, sometimes also called “fighter bonus feats.”
Upon reaching 4th level, and every four levels thereafter (8th, 12th, and so on), a fighter can choose to learn a new bonus feat in place of a bonus feat he has already learned. In effect, the fighter loses the bonus feat in exchange for the new one. The old feat cannot be one that was used as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability. A fighter can only change one feat at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the feat at the time he gains a new bonus feat for the level.
Bravery (Ex):
Starting at 2nd level, a fighter gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against fear. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.
Armor Training (Ex):
Starting at 3rd level, a fighter learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed.
In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.
Weapon Training (Ex):
Starting at 5th level, a fighter can select one group of weapons, as noted below. Whenever he attacks with a weapon from this group, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), a fighter becomes further trained in another group of weapons. He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using a weapon from this group. In addition, the bonuses granted by previous weapon groups increase by +1 each. For example, when a fighter reaches 9th level, he receives a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with one weapon group and a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls with the weapon group selected at 5th level. Bonuses granted from overlapping groups do not stack. Take the highest bonus granted for a weapon if it resides in two or more groups.
A fighter also adds this bonus to any combat maneuver checks made with weapons from this group. This bonus also applies to the fighter's Combat Maneuver Defense when defending against disarm and sunder attempts made against weapons from this group.
5th Level: Heavy Blades
Close Control (Ex):
At 2nd level, a brawler becomes skilled at forcefully moving his opponent around the battlefield. The brawler gains a +1 bonus on bull rush, drag, and reposition combat maneuver checks. The brawler also gains a +1 bonus to CMD when attacked with the bull rush, drag, and reposition maneuvers. These bonuses increase by +1 for every four levels after 2nd (to a maximum of +5 at 18th level). This ability replaces armor training 1.
Close Combatant (Ex):
At 3rd level, a brawler gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +3 bonus on damage rolls with weapons in the close weapon group. Both of these bonuses increase by +1 for every four levels beyond 3rd (to a maximum of +5 on attack rolls and +7 on damage rolls at 19th level). This ability replaces weapon training 1 and 2.
+1 Bastard Sword
+1 Agile Breastplate
+1 Heavy Darkwood Shield
+1 Cloak of Resistance
Handy Haversack
Taveler's Any-Tool
Bead of Newt Prevention
Snapleaf
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Mundane:
MWK Composite Longbow (+5 Str)
Heavy Morning Star (Alch Silver)
MWK Falcata
Dagger (Cold Iron)
MWK Comp Longbow +5 STR
Arrows (10 Standard, 5 Cold Iron, 5 Alch Silver)
Quiver
Weapon Cord
Explorer's Outfit
Waterskin
Whetstone
Rope 50'
Bedroll
Belt Pouch
Notebook
Pen & Ink
Flint & Steel
Iron Pot
Mess Kit
Grooming Kit
Soap
Torches (10)
Rations (5 Days)
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Carrying Capacity Light 0-133 lb. Medium 134-266 lb. Heavy 267-400 lb.
Current Load Carried 0 lb.
Money 400 GP 9 SP 6 CP
Appearance and Personality:
Height: 5'10 | Weight: 165 | Hair: Dark Brown | Eyes: Brown
Appearance
Joska is tall and sturdy with thick, well-muscled limbs. Unlike many others with her type of frame, there is nothing slow or awkward about her movements. She is quick on her feet, and able to move with unusual deftness.
Joska’s hair is straight and less than shoulder length. She wears it down and free unless she expects to be wearing her helmet. If she will be wearing her helmet, Joska braids her hair and wears it up.
She prefers functional, durable clothing for daily wear. Trousers and shirts with boots are the usual. If some occasion comes along that requires a little more, she keeps a nicer set of the same type of clothing with the addition of an embroidered jacket around.
Joska’s typical demeanor is relaxed and a bit reserved. She’s pleasant enough, and has a decent, if dry sense of humor. But, she she listens more than she talks, and tends to avoid drawing attention to herself.
Personality
Considering her past and all harshness she’s seen, Joska is a reasonably well-adjusted person. Mostly this is because she’s come to terms with things, albeit sometimes in depressing ways. The four most important points that dominate how Joska thinks and acts are:
1. Joska’s determination to remain free from the Zhentarim. Joska doesn’t know at this point whether the Black Network ever realized she was actually alive or not. She also has no idea whether the Black Network would bother trying to reclaim her. In the absence of any real knowledge on the subject, Joska assumes the worst because it’s the safest assumption. She doesn’t talk about her past, or do anything to draw attention to herself. She doesn’t stay in one place for very long, and avoids forming close connections to others when living somewhere.
2. Joska’s desire for revenge. Her hatred of the Black Network runs deep, and she would take any opportunity to harm it if it wouldn’t be a suicidal act. Joska doesn’t imagine in her wildest dreams she would ever be able to destroy the Black Network. Instead she wants satisfaction for the injuries done to her.
3. Joska’s need to alter her behavior to help the people of the Dalelands, an other nearby areas instead of harming them. Joska doesn’t believe atonement, or balancing the ledger is possible. What she has done in the past is done and cannot be changed. She can’t be forgiven, and the burden of guilt she has is one she will always carry. Instead, she must act on behalf of the people she’s harmed as a way to repay them, if she can figure out how. But ultimately, whether she was voluntarily fighting and raiding for the Zhentarim doesn’t matter, she will have to carry the consequences of it forever.
4. Joska’s need to belong to something. The one thing she misses about her life before is the sense of belonging she had as a member of the Daughters. She lived her entire life at the Citadel of the Raven in close quarters with the other members of her company all the time, practically no privacy or solitude existed. Some of the other women were friends, some were not, but she was with them around the clock every day. Joska wants to find a new group she can devote herself to.
Some of these points create a certain amount of irony or contradiction for Joska. She wants to belong somewhere, but keeps herself isolated for the sake of security. She hates the Zhentarim, but separates the leadership from the rank and file. After all, there must surely be many others who were taken, essentially slaves, like she was. Joska would be more apt to try to get Zhentarim troops to defect or flee before fighting them compared to almost any other foe.
To some extent Joska’s fatalism about some things makes her better at what she does, which is fighting. She doesn’t feel like she has anything to prove to anyone, and she doesn’t want attention on her, so she is hard to bait into petty fights, and certainly won’t start them. She doesn’t get wrapped up in emotions during combat. She’s an experienced soldier who fought for impersonal reasons. There’s no anger or excitement, and not much fear involved for her. She stays cool, clear-headed, and gets down to the business at hand.
Background:
Joska was born in the the environs around the Citadel of the Raven, which makes her a citizen of Zhentarim lands, if she can be said to have any citizenship at all. She was raised nearly from birth in the citadel among the Daughters of the Raven, a militant sisterhood where the most talented girls were trained to serve the Zhentarim. Joska has no memory of parents or family, and the subject was never discussed with her. It was the same with all the other girls as well. They all might as well have popped into existence out thin air, existing solely for service to the Zhentarim.
Life for Joska and all the other girls was the same, they communally occupied their own building, living a strictly regimented life of training under a group of matrons and other instructors. The sisterhood taught lessons on the divine right of the strong to rule the weak, that order prevents chaos, of each girl's duty to The Sisterhood and its parent organization the Zhentarim. She was taught of the petty weakness of many of the other nations: the Dalelands were filled with brigands, cultists, and thieves, Sembian were deceitful merchants, and Cormyr was an incestuous kingdom of hedonistic nobles.
As the girls grew older and their particular proclivities and talents began to emerge, they were sorted accordingly into one of four groups for specialized training and education. These came from Tara, and may not be applicable to other games.
Swordsworn - mighty warriors and tactical commanders
Darkstalkers - skilled hunters and trackers
Whisperwalks - highly adept infiltrators and deceivers
Weavebreakers - brutal arcane practitioners
Joska went to the Swordsworn. While she was a good student generally, she was truly outstanding in athletics and martial training. After years of training, in her mid-teenage years she and several ‘sisters’ began being deployed in actions, though always accompanied by matrons and other forces.
In late 1368, during a major conflict, in the midst of battle, a grizzled man (perhaps in his late 40s or early 50s), sword in hand was running past and stopped dead in his tracks just as Joska defeated her present foe. He looked shocked/confused/overcome by emotion, and said one word, a name - “Inara”. A moment later an explosion cast them both to the ground, and when the dust cleared he was gone.
The battle was ended and she found her matron had died. In shock from the loss of one of her mentors, and the interaction with the strange man, she ventured back to the citadel with the unit she had traveled with. Strangely, she went through her matron’s belongings and found a book, a journal. Though she had little time to examine it, when they reached the Citadel, she did not turn it in with the rest of her matron’s recovered possessions.
Studying the text in moments she could find privacy, she found writings chronicling the capture or abduction of young girls, and training them into a cult-like order of loyal servants of the Black Network. In one recent excerpt, it even spoke of concerns of deploying them into areas where they might hold some familiarity. And she realized she remembered the name, Inara, and the look of that man’s face.
The possibility that she may have been taken from some family somewhere caused Joska to re-evaluate other doubts she had previously shoved aside. The hamlets and villages her company raided didn’t seem to match the descriptions of the Dalelands’ brigandry and wickedness she had been taught. The infighting between Bane’s and Cyric’s factions within the Zhentarim’s upper ranks were terrifying, one could never know when one might be somehow fatally dragged into a fair in the conflict. The Black Network hardly seemed the model of law and order she was meant to believe it was.
She felt betrayed, robbed of a life she had never known. And she wanted to tell others, but who would believe her? So she bided her time, but on a future deployment in the hear battle she faked her death, and escaped into the wilderness in the chaos. It wasn’t difficult to do. Joska simply played dead until it was dark and found a corpse on the field to match her, female, of the same height and hair color. She switched clothes and gear with the dead woman, then Joska pulverized the woman’s face with her mace. Joska then slipped away and headed south.
This was the extent of Joska’s plan. She didn’t know enough about the world outside the Citadel of the Raven for anything more long-term. What Joska does know is the lands outside the Zhentarim’s direct control are seeded with its spies and informants. In the three years since she fled, Joska has been very careful to avoid revealing anything about her past. She rarely stays in one place very long, and gets by working odd jobs, whatever she can find. As she’s learned more about the rest of the world, Joska’s attitude toward the Zhentarim has shifted from distrust to hatred. She would like to strike back at the Black Network, but she knows that doing so alone is essentially suicidal.
Party Roles and Advancement:
As a Fighter, Joska is very combat focused. Aside from the necessary two-weapon fighting feats, the Brawler archetype will give her abilities that make it very difficult for her targets to escape her. Once she latches on, the Step-Up feat chain, and later on Flickering Step, will let her follow adversaries if they try to retreat, or stop them from retreating at all. She will be very good as an anti-caster mage killer. Other feats to support this, like Disruptive and Spell Sunder are potential pickups as well.
A second combat specialty with be some degree of battlefield control with Bull Rush, which will be built into the shield bashing feats Joska has.
Since Joska will have more feats than even the usual Fighter, I'm also looking at debuffing with Intimidate as a third combat speciality. If I can't make it effective with a fairly minimal feat investment, I will retrain to switch those feats out later.
Overall Joska's fighting style will be very aggressive and tenacious.
Joska won't have great utility outside combat, but she has enough skills points to help out some in social encounters through aid if needed, and she at least won't be a liability. If it's a party need, with some minor changes she could drop Intimidation and replace it with non-magical healing. She has sufficient WIS and INT to be good in that role.
