About Lady Faustinia XerysisCharacter Sheet:
Faustinia Xerysis
Female human conjurer 5 LN Medium humanoid (human) Init +4; Senses Perception +6 ==================== DEFENSE ==================== AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10 hp 27 (5d6+5) Fort +5, Ref +2 Will +7 (+1 vs mind-affecting from devils) ==================== OFFENSE ==================== Speed 30 ft. Melee dagger +0 (1d4-2/19-20) Ranged crossbow +2 (1d8/19-20) Special Attacks Acid dart +2 (1d6+2, 30ft., 7/day) Conjurer spells prepared (CL 5th; concentration +11) 3rd: haste, stinking cloud (DC 18 Fort), summon monster III (school spell) 2nd: glitterdust (DC 17 Will), summon monster II, summon monster II (school spell), -- 1st: grease (DC 16 Ref), liberating command, 0th: detect magic, light, read magic, prestidigitation Opposition Schools enchantment, necromancy Spellbook
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A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in her spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities. The bonded object cannot be used to cast spells from the wizard's opposition schools (see arcane school). A wizard can add additional magic abilities to her bonded object as if she has the required item creation feats and if she meets the level prerequisites of the feat. For example, a wizard with a bonded dagger must be at least 5th level to add magic abilities to the dagger (see the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat in Feats). If the bonded object is a wand, it loses its wand abilities when its last charge is consumed, but it is not destroyed and it retains all of its bonded object properties and can be used to craft a new wand. The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the wizard who owns it. If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type. If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the wizard prepares her spells. If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level plus the cost of the masterwork item. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A wizard can designate an existing magic item as her bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item. Arcane School: A wizard can choose to specialize in one school of magic, gaining additional spells and powers based on that school. This choice must be made at 1st level, and once made, it cannot be changed. A wizard that does not select a school receives the universalist school instead. A wizard that chooses to specialize in one school of magic must select two other schools as her opposition schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area of arcane lore to gain mastery in another. A wizard who prepares spells from her opposition schools must use two spell slots of that level to prepare the spell. For example, a wizard with evocation as an opposition school must expend two of her available 3rd-level spell slots to prepare a fireball. In addition, a specialist takes a –4 penalty on any skill checks made when crafting a magic item that has a spell from one of her opposition schools as a prerequisite. A universalist wizard can prepare spells from any school without restriction. Each arcane school gives the wizard a number of school powers. In addition, specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level she can cast, from 1st on up. Each day, a wizard can prepare a spell from her specialty school in that slot. This spell must be in the wizard's spellbook. A wizard can select a spell modified by a metamagic feat to prepare in her school slot, but it uses up a higher-level spell slot. Wizards with the universalist school do not receive a school slot. Summoner's Charm: Whenever you cast a conjuration (summoning) spell, increase the duration by a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1). This increase is not doubled by Extend Spell. At 20th level, you can change the duration of all summon monster spells to permanent. You can have no more than one summon monster spell made permanent in this way at one time. If you designate another summon monster spell as permanent, the previous spell immediately ends. Acid Dart: As a standard action you can unleash an acid dart targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The acid dart deals 1d6 points of acid damage + 1 for every two wizard levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier. This attack ignores spell resistance. Spellbooks: A wizard must study her spellbook each day to prepare her spells. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook, except for read magic, which all wizards can prepare from memory. A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells (except those from her prohibited schools, if any; see Arcane Schools) plus three 1st-level spells of her choice. The wizard also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to her Intelligence modifier to add to the spellbook. At each new wizard level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new wizard level) for her spellbook. At any time, a wizard can also add spells found in other wizards' spellbooks to her own (see Magic). Background:
Lady Faustinia Xerysis was born shortly after the end of the civil war, a conflict that her family survived with their lives and noble status intact - but without much else. The once prestigious House Xerysis enjoyed little of the wealth, status, and power that defined their legacy before the war and before the Thrune ascendancy. A mere shadow of its former glory, House Xerysis struggled to maintain their traditions, beholden to the still impressive House Drovenge like a pack of purebred dogs clamoring for table scraps. Despite her family's hardships, Faustinia grew into a sharp young dilettante with an interest in history and local gossip. She managed to stay clear of the Order of the Rack, never delving too deep into forbidden or likely to be redacted materials, and her knowledge of local politics and goings on surpassed even her natural charm. In her studies, she sought out everything she could about her own family's history. Even among the heavily edited archives she could find, she found that the Xerysis name was well respected and instrumental in the day to day affairs of Westcrown before the war. It had been a splendid city, poised to become the jewel of a divine empire - but then Aroden’s death plunged Cheliax into a mere shadow of its former glory. Knowledge alone didn't prove enough to stop the continual decay of the Xerysis estate, though. Their once great manor home in the Crown Sector of the Parego Regicona, sharing the island of Impriax with the Drovenge family, fell into disrepair as her family lost most of their servants when they simply couldn't afford to keep them anymore. The Drovenge family offered their “gracious” help by offering to purchase the majority of their halfling slaves - at a nearly insulting price. But they were beholden as vassals to the still powerful family, and the money was enough to at least slow their descent into oblivion. With the Xerysis family whittled down to Faustinia, her parents, a few tenuously connected cousins, and a tiny staff of human servants and enslaved halflings, it seemed inevitable that their legacy would dwindle to nothing. Faustinia looked for power where she could find it. Surely a house that had once been as glorious as hers could rise again, to take control of Westcrown and restore it to the shining example of Chelish virtue it used to be. Not a city in twilight after Egorian’s diabolists seized the capital. She researched tomes of noble bloodlines for connections to other families who might have retained their wealth and glory after Thrune seized the Crown. She put her keen mind to the household’s economy, helping to keep it financially afloat despite her family's expensive tastes. She even briefly considered joining the church of Asmodeus. An answer came in an unexpected form: Florio Lepidus. A young man from an old Taldan merchant family, Florio met Faustinia at a gala and pestered her with romantic advances. Faustinia dismissed him at first, scoffing at his new money and attempts to rise socially by virtue of his wealth instead of his blood. He was charming and quick-witted enough to keep up with Faustinia, though, and she begrudgingly called this would be noble a friend. When he proposed to her, she weighed the options: stoop to marry one beneath her, or let her family's legacy die penniless in a deteriorating estate. She swallowed her pride and did what she had to: she married him. So Florio joined his money to Faustinia’s noble name, and the Xerysis family looked poised to rise again. It would never be the same, having gone so low as to join with a mere merchant family for survival, but they would survive, even improve - for a time. Things changed when the shadows fell on Westcrown. People started to disappear, and the streets weren't safe at night. Faustinia was pregnant for the first and only time, and she feared bringing up a child in such dangerous times. When the child came, she knew something was wrong before she saw it. A little girl, but with solid black eyes, a long barb-tipped tail, and cloven hooves with black fur for feet. The first tiefling born to the Xerysis family, as far as Faustinia knew. In her fear and shame, she sobbed and shouted, refused to touch the infant, and insisted it be removed from her sight. Florio paid the midwives to keep this mistake secret, took the baby into the night, and never returned. With Florio and the new child gone without a trace, Faustinia fell apart - and so did the estate. Her aging parents were no help, and cousins and servants alike fled the broken house. Faustinia grieved for years. The time came, however, when she had to force herself to get back to a semblance of her old self. At least enough to stop her house from crumbling to nothing. She hardened her heart, retreated into her books, and managed the nearly empty estate so that the Xerysis family name would live on. Over the years, her father Auloxus died and her mother Sabina lost touch with much of the outside world, left to the care of her daughter and an old halfling servant named Orra. The family survived, but with no heir save the aging Faustinia and no particular influence or importance. Though Faustinia was well into her middle age, she still hungered for her family's past greatness. She had never existed in a Cheliax not ruled by Thrune. Her family was prominent before, but lagged and floundered after the war. If Faustinia were going to win back her family’s and her city's honor from the upstarts in Egorian, she would snatch it from the pits of Hell if she had to - and she had to. She saved money so that she could hire a tutor from Egorian, collected books on magic and fiends, and began the path toward wizardry even at her advanced age. Her tutor, a man named Nicklod Starweather, was skeptical about teaching someone already in her forties, but she proved a capable student with an adaptable mind. Nicklod proved to be a capable teacher as well as a kindred soul. He, too, was from an old family that fell into ruin after the war, and his crumbling estate lie inaccessible among the ruins to the north. She offered Nicklod a place to stay in the Xerysis manor in exchange for lessons, so that together they might learn to exploit the magic that let Thrune rise instead of them. In her studies, Faustinia unlocked the power of an old family heirloom: a cameo necklace featuring an ivory carving of her grandmother set in silver. She has taken her heirloom’s awakening as an auspicious sign: her legacy would soon reveal its potential as well. Just recently having turned fifty, Faustinia is confident in her abilities, and already quite capable of calling on fiends to do her bidding. Mostly she has tested out her newfound power in maintaining her estate, but she plans to make a return to the upper echelons of power in Westcrown to restore her family, city, and country to glory untainted by corruption and shadowy death. She just needs an opportunity, and she knows she'll find one if she seeks it out; soon Xerysis will rise again. Recent History:
Lorenzo Mancini. The name sounded familiar. The young man said he was an apprentice stonemason, although Faustinia saw something more. Despite his rough hands and shabby clothes, the boy had a certain bearing about him. Inviting him in, Faustinia led him through the barren halls of the Xerysis manor to her meticulously organized library. Picking through the shelves, loading stacks of books into the young man's arms, she called for a pot of coffee and began her research. Eventually she found mention of the Mancini family, and a promising connection to Lorenzo. Much of the family had been followers of Iomedae, knights and worshippers when she was still Aroden's herald. Her hunch was confirmed: Lorenzo was more than a simple laborer; there was nobility in his veins. Among the tomes she pulled down, Faustinia also found a humble book bound in black leather. Not recognizing it, she skimmed the inside and discovered a forgotten history of her family: a relic from before Thrune, unedited by the redactors, and very illegal. In a rush of excitement and terror, she shoved a stack of books into Lorenzo’s arms - histories, family bloodline records, and an ancient copy of The Acts of Iomedae - before shooing him from her library and locking herself in for a night of study. This was too important and too dangerous to simply lock up or make copies of. She would simply have to keep it with her at all times.
Personality:
Faustinia has always been bookish, with a love of history and a knack for quick study. However, she can easily converse with scholar and noble alike, having a comfortable ease in nearly all social situations. She never says more than she means to, however, and carefully constructs a witty but controlled persona. The overall effect when speaking to her is that she conveys an air of guarded confidence, even superiority, that she is pleasant but untouchable. Older folks who knew her when she was young say that she was always sharp minded and amiable in public, but her guarded and aloof tendencies followed her Unpleasantness in the ‘70s. Those who are closer to Faustinia know there is an ambitious hunger in her. She respects her family's history, Cheliax’s history, and the propriety of the time, but something burns in her eyes that shows that she'll do what it takes to get what she wants. Of course, this group of people includes mostly family that have died or gone missing, but she has a few friends - or at least temporary allies - who she opens up to. Her most recent studies into magic have opened her eyes to the power that Thrune wields. Of course diabolism had always had its place as long as Faustinia had been alive. But she now understands the feeling of control, the rush of power at commanding Hell's own minions to do her bidding. She has just started - imagine what she could do with real mastery: restore Westcrown and her family to the glory they are due. Aside from that, Faustinia’s joys are traditionally Chelish. She loves to learn about Chelish history and gossip (and what's the difference between the two except time?), walking the city to admire the historic architecture, lively canals and markets, and of course the opera. If it demonstrates Chelish cultural superiority and power, Faustinia likely enjoys it. Appearance:
A human woman of mixed Chelish and Taldan ethnicity, Faustinia maintains a noble mien into her middle age. Her silver hair, maintained in an appropriately stylish manner for her age and station, frames her dignified face. Her height is average and her body slight, but her posture impeccable. Her scholarly robes can't match the elegant dresses of her youth for splendor, but she wears them neatly with not a stray thread out of place. A polished silver necklace with an ivory cameo pendant competes the ensemble. Her carefully crafted and meticulously maintained presentation paint an image of control and dignity. However, she can't completely erase the story her face tells. Her mouth usually rests in a polite and confident smile, her gray eyes attentive and sharp. There burns a desire there, though, which threatens to consume her if she relinquishes control to it. The wrinkles around her eyes and mouth are products of age, but within them lies a guarded sadness, a history of tragedy and survival kept locked away from prying eyes. |
