Kwesi Akerele's page

If it'd been anywhere else, they'd've probably chucked me the minute they found out. Good thing Hyrantam'll keep anyone willing to pull their weight, huh?

I mean, it probably didn't hurt having been here forever. Literally, I was born into this mess - lucky me, right? Me, Kufuo, Akwete and Akwokwo, Dofi, Kesse, Mawusi, Najla...lucky, lucky, lucky. So much luck, all in the same tiny flotsam. Gods, it seemed like the water was the only place I could get away from the noise - or at least, the breaking waves were a lot more soothing than Naj crying. And hey, feeding that many mouths was more than a full-time job...someone had to pitch in. I'm a saint, really.

And...I don't know what it was, but I just felt...at home in the water, you know? The only time I felt right was when I was swimming, no matter how much Maame fretted - she says that even as a baby the only way she could get me to sleep was putting me in the bath. So it made sense - going out with Akwete to gather sea vegetables around the towers' bases, watching the lines trailing out the window, even diving for oysters once Mama pulled herself together enough to let me go out so deep. And it got even easier once the elders showed me how to train Ohini and Adofo. Ohini was as good as a second pair of hands when it came to gathering, and having Adofo standing guard was about the only way Maame didn't worry herself to death.

Guess she wasn't entirely wrong to worry, though. I...still don't remember much about it. Dofi just said he saw me floating outside the window, and his crying got Papa's attention, to go out and pull me up into the house. Papa says they thought I'd died, there was so much blood trailing behind me. They said Adofo had done a genius job of pushing me, for me to end up so close by, or else I'd managed to stay awake long enough to swim back most of the way. But I never told anyone...I'd been a good half-mile away at the time. As the tide was going out. I should have been in the middle of the Eye, not making a beeline for home...and Adofo's smart, but not that smart...

That wasn't the only weird thing that followed, either. I sloshed half a cup of water over my bed trying to hold it with the thrashed hand...next thing I knew, the blanket was bone-dry and the cup was full, before I could do so much as say a word. Mawusi was running around being a pain, and suddenly a puddle appeared on the dry floor just in time for him to slip and fall straight on his ass. And smells and sounds were all so intense...it was all I could do to wait for Maame to cook the fish for dinner, they smelled so good. And changing my bandages, for some reason, made me nearly delirious with hunger...

Then the strangest thing of all happened. I'd healed enough that Maame let me sit outside by the lines for an hour or two, dangle my feet in the water and watch the full moon rise through the Eye's haze. And as feet hit the ocean...I can't explain it, but I could feel everything! I felt a tigerfish mincing around one of the hooks, pondering whether or not to go for the tasty morsel. I could feel a ray on the ground below, settling down to lie in wait for a meal on what had once been a side street of Hyrantam. And I felt movements I somehow recognized, deep inside...as distress. The struggle of an injured creature. The sharp tang of blood wafted upward...

...and I awoke covered in muck on one of the islands to see the sun rising. Maame and Papa, Kufuo and Kesse were calling my name in the distance. What had been fresh cuts last I remembered were now scarred like I'd had them for months. And the blood...the tiny carcass next to me...I recognized the harness, tattered and tangled around one of my feet. I'd marked it myself. It was Ohini's.

Maame and Papa almost couldn't look at me, when I finally stumbled back.

The elders said the thing that attacked me must have been a were-shark. That it had transferred its curse to me. That unless they acted quickly, I'd spend every full moon for the rest of my days as that...monster that had swum off the night before. All I'd known was hunger, and the hunt. What if it'd been Naj hurt in the water, and not Ohini? I...I don't think it would have made any difference, to that monster.

But then there was a bit of luck, I guess. They said there was something else, too, that had happened. Some kind of power that had surfaced, a strange control over water, that explained all the funny things that had happened around me. It was like magic, they said, except not. (Clear as mud, am I right?) It wasn't drawing off my will, or nature's energy flow. It wasn't a divine blessing, and it certainly wasn't wizardry - it drew off me and my body's strength, somehow. And if the two had come about together, chance was they were connected - if I could control that, they said, they could try to foster that connection, turn the curse into something I could control, even use with time.

I know - cool, right? And anything was better than becoming that mindless monster every month. So I threw myself into working with the priests, trying to make all those weird things happen on purpose. Soon I could draw up bursts of water and throw them hard enough to leave bruises, or even shape it into a swirling staff that stayed in hand for a few moments before falling away. And with weeks of practice with a druid, I finally managed it - a pair of gills on the side of my neck one time, fingers and toes morphing to webbed flippers the next time. I could never quite get the full shark shape - but that didn't matter. I had control of the changes, which meant they weren't going to control me.

I've been working with them ever since - be kind of a jerk move not to, after all that, right? I mean, I wouldn't've even blamed them for sending me off, not with what I was. It took balls for them to stick up for me. And hey - no reason to be scared in the water anymore, right? Water bolts, shark teeth - even next to the Eye, I'm one of the freakiest things here already. I might as well put it to use, right?

Kwesi is generally good-natured, and eager to help - it just doesn't always come across. Her unusual appearance has left her somewhat reserved, and when you do engage her in conversation she tends toward sarcasm, bluntness, and a realism bordering on pessimism. Temper is an issue with her, too - and she's visibly fearful of being angry, forcing herself into a meditative stance whenever her ire is raised.

Her most frequent companions are the animals she's trained. Particular favorites are a narwhal she's called Adofo, trained to stand guard over here while she dives, and Manu, a sea otter trained for delicate retrieval and harvesting work.

Portrait (The sexy dancing doesn't really fit, but the body type and general appearance do.)

Kwesi is a tall woman, standing at almost six feet. Her skin is a rich chocolate brown, and her dark eyes are large and expressive. Her hair is cropped short on the sides and left long on the top, one of her few concessions to vanity that she favors because of its resemblance to an ocean wave. When not in her shifted form, there's little to hint at her more peculiar traits - except to those who knew her well before the attack. Scars on both hands, left arm, shoulder, and back are the most distinctive clue, though she does what she can to avoid drawing attention to them. Her figure is given over to solid, wiry muscle instead of its former softness, and her hands and feet are noticeably wide, although not unnaturally so.

When she shapeshifts, however, the oddity of her blood becomes readily apparent. The effect changes depending on which aspect of the shark she seeks to embody, but the usual features are a wider mouth with slightly pointed teeth, eyes that are nearly all pupil, gill openings at the neck, greyish skin, and slightly webbed hands and feet. The visual manifestation of her hydrokineticism shows most prominently in the scars on her hands and arm; these undulate with a faint bluish light when she calls on her power. When she's pushed herself too far, any water she passes seems magnetically drawn to her, flowing over her skin in a fluid embrace.

Because of these oddities and the amount of time she spends in the water, she favors wearing a close-fitting suit of natural brown wool beneath her clothing, since it maintains its structure well when wet (avoiding excessive clinging) and dries quickly. Over this suit, she favors supple robes of blue, green, and white, the preferred colors of the Gozren priesthood and evocative of sky, sea, and foam.

At 1st level, a kineticist can overexert herself to channel more power than normal, pushing past the limit of what is safe for her body by accepting burn. Some of her wild talents allow her to accept burn in exchange for a greater effect, while others require her to accept a certain amount of burn to use that talent at all. For each point of burn she accepts, a kineticist takes 1 point of nonlethal damage per character level. This damage can’t be healed by any means other than getting a full night’s rest, which removes all burn and associated nonlethal damage. Nonlethal damage from burn can’t be reduced or redirected, and a kineticist incapable of taking nonlethal damage can’t accept burn. A kineticist can accept only 1 point of burn per round. This limit rises to 2 points of burn at 6th level, and rises by 1 additional point every 3 levels thereafter. A kineticist can’t choose to accept burn if it would put her total number of points of burn higher than 3 + her Constitution modifier (though she can be forced to accept more burn from a source outside her control). A kineticist who has accepted burn never benefits from abilities that allow her to ignore or alter the effects she receives from nonlethal damage.

If she has both hands free (or all of her prehensile appendages free, for unusual kineticists), a kineticist can gather energy or elemental matter as a move action. Gathering power creates an extremely loud, visible display in a 20-foot radius centered on the kineticist, as the energy or matter swirls around her. Gathering power in this way allows the kineticist to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent she uses in the same round by 1 point. The kineticist can instead gather power for 1 full round in order to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent used on her next turn by 2 points (to a minimum of 0 points). If she does so, she can also gather power as a move action during her next turn to reduce the burn cost by a total of 3 points. If the kineticist takes damage during or after gathering power and before using the kinetic blast that releases it, she must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + damage taken + effective spell level of her kinetic blast) or lose the energy in a wild surge that forces her to accept a number of points of burn equal to the number of points by which her gathered power would have reduced the burn cost. This ability can never reduce the burn cost of a wild talent below 0 points.

At 3rd level, a kineticist’s body surges with energy from her chosen element whenever she accepts burn, causing her to glow with a nimbus of fire, weep water from her pores, or experience some other thematic effect. In addition, she receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has, to a maximum bonus of +1 for every 3 kineticist levels she possesses. She also receives a bonus on damage rolls with her kinetic blast equal to double the bonus on attack rolls. The kineticist can suppress the visual effects of elemental overflow by concentrating for 1 full round, but doing so suppresses all of this ability’s other benefits, as well. The next time the kineticist uses any wild talent, the visual effects and benefits return instantly.
As a kineticist’s body becomes more and more suffused with her element, she begins to gain more powerful benefits. Starting at 6th level, whenever she has at least 3 points of burn, the kineticist gains a +2 size bonus to two physical ability scores of her choice. She also gains a chance to ignore the effects of a critical hit or sneak attack equal to 5% × her current number of points of burn. At 11th level, whenever the kineticist has at least 5 points of burn, these bonuses increase to a +4 size bonus to one physical ability score of her choice and a +2 size bonus to each of her other two physical ability scores. At 16th level, whenever the kineticist has at least 7 points of burn, these bonuses increase to a +6 size bonus to one physical ability score of her choice, a +4 size bonus to a second physical ability score of her choice, and a +2 size bonus to the remaining physical ability score.

At 5th level, whenever a kineticist uses one or more infusions with a blast, she reduces the combined burn cost of the infusions by 1. This can’t reduce the total cost of the infusions used below 0. She reduces the burn cost by 1 additional point at 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th levels.

At 5th level, a kineticist gains the ability to alter her kinetic blasts as if with metamagic feats by accepting burn. By accepting 1 point of burn, she can empower her kinetic blast (as if using Empower Spell). At 9th level, by accepting 2 points of burn, she can maximize her kinetic blast as if using Maximize Spell. At 13th level, by accepting 3 points of burn, she can quicken her kinetic blast as if using Quicken Spell. At 17th level, by accepting 4 points of burn, the kineticist can use her kinetic blast twice with the same standard action, or swift action if she also uses metakinesis to quicken the blast. When she uses a double kinetic blast, all modifications, such as metakinesis and infusions, apply to both of the blasts, but the kineticist needs to pay the burn cost only once.

At 6th level, a kineticist’s study of her body and the elemental forces that course through it allow her to form an internal buffer to store extra energy. The buffer starts empty and doesn’t replenish each day, but the kineticist can accept 1 point of burn to add 1 point to the buffer as a full-round action, to a maximum of 1 point total. This maximum increases to 2 points at 11th level and to 3 points at 16th level. Once the kineticist adds points to her buffer, they remain indefinitely until she spends them. When she would otherwise accept burn, a kineticist can spend 1 point from her buffer to avoid accepting 1 point of burn. She cannot spend more than 1 point from her buffer in this way for a single wild talent. Points spent from the internal buffer don’t activate elemental overflow or add to its effects. Similarly, this buffer can be used to exceed the limit on the number of points of burn the kineticist can accept in a single turn.

Blast Type physical; Damage bludgeoning
You slam a single foe with a stream of water.

You surround yourself with a shroud of water, ice, or both that protects you from harm. The shroud can either cover your body, functioning as armor, or float around you and block attacks, functioning as a shield. It grants either a +4 armor bonus to AC or a +2 shield bonus to AC, and you can change the type of bonus as a standard action. This bonus increases by 1 for every 4 kineticist levels you possess beyond 2nd. By accepting 1 point of burn, you can increase the bonus by 1 until the next time your burn is removed. You can increase the bonus multiple times in this way, but it can’t be increased by more than 50% of its starting value. When you change the shroud to grant a shield bonus, any bonus in excess of this limit doesn’t apply, but it remains if you change the shroud’s bonus type again. Whenever you accept burn while using a water wild talent, the water coalescing around you allows your shroud to grant both the armor bonus and the shield bonus for 1 round. You can dismiss or restore this effect as an immediate action.

You can create water as the cantrip create water, purify water as if using purify food and drink, and dry wet creatures and objects as if using prestidigitation. While you cannot lift water into the air using this ability, you can create mild currents in a body of water by concentrating. These currents are strong enough to run a water mill as if the mill were being turned manually by a creature with a Strength score equal to your Constitution score.

You call up elemental matter to defend yourself and your allies from attacks. As a standard action, you can select one face of a square within 30 feet of you and move elemental matter to block that face, providing total cover from that direction. The face you select must be supported by the ground, and the kinetic cover cannot support more than 5 pounds of weight. Water, ice, and telekinetic force are translucent, but earth, metal, mud, and the like are opaque and block line of sight. A creature who strikes the cover can easily destroy it. Regardless of its composition, the cover has hardness 0, AC 5, and 2 hit points per kineticist level you possess. You can have a number of kinetic covers in existence equal to your Constitution modifier + 1/2 your kineticist level.

As a standard action, you call forth slippery water or ice, creating any of the effects of the grease spell for 1 round. You can accept 1 point of burn at the start of your next turn to extend the duration to 1 minute per kineticist level you possess.

You call forth a current of water to increase your speed and allow you to swim with ease, as if under the effects of slipstream with unlimited duration.

You form a weapon using your kinetic abilities. You create a non-reach, light or one-handed weapon in your hand formed of pure energy or elemental matter. (If you’re a telekineticist, you instead transfer the power of your kinetic blast to any object held in one hand.) The kinetic blade’s shape is purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect the damage dice, critical threat range, or critical multiplier of the kinetic blade, nor does it grant the kinetic blade any weapon special features. The object held by a telekineticist for this form infusion doesn’t prevent her from using gather power.

You can use this form infusion once as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action in order to make melee attacks with your kinetic blade. Since it’s part of another action (and isn’t an action itself), using this wild talent doesn’t provoke any additional attacks of opportunity. The kinetic blade deals your kinetic blast damage on each hit (applying any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage as normal, but not your Strength modifier). The blade disappears at the end of your turn. The weapon deals the same damage type that your kinetic blast deals, and it interacts with Armor Class and spell resistance as normal for a blast of its type. Even if a telekineticist uses this power on a magic weapon or another unusual object, the attack doesn’t use any of the magic weapon’s bonuses or effects and simply deals the telekineticist’s blast damage. The kinetic blade doesn’t add the damage bonus from elemental overflow.

Your kinetic blast can strike any target within 120 feet.

You have fine control over your kinetic blast, allowing you to alter its path to avoid obstacles. You can trace out any path no more than 120 feet long for your blast, potentially allowing you to avoid cover (even total cover). You can choose a path that leads into squares you cannot see.