Step 1: Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character.
1) Imagine a large river making its way across the sprawling dunes of an immense desert. Its banks a vivid green bursting with life. At the river mouth is a large city with buildings of alabaster and red granite. On a small elevation, just outside the city sits a large building adorned with bronze statues. In front of it a mob hurls insults and brandishes torches at the middle aged plump woman blocking the doorway. She is the last one standing between the mobs and the books they wish to deface and burn. In the background, the other employees are fleing towards the safety of the city.
Hypatia, unarmed, stands her ground and the mobs hesitate until someone sends a stone that strike her forehead, drawing blood for the first time. Then with a roaring sound, the mob rushes forward, arms, legs, clubs and torches striking her until she falls to the ground lifeless.
2) The building is still smoking with piles of books smoldering here and there, Hypatia's body tossed aside by the entrance. Out of it walk four people equipped and armed to the teeth, carrying large bags full of still intact books. "A good thing they didn't find the false wall and the repository behind.", says one of them. "We would have been too late otherwise. But best not tarry, our mission is nearly completed and every one will believe those books were burned with the rest. Just one last hop and we'll be home."
A second one takes a step and kneels by Hypatia's body, closing the eyes of the dead woman. "She was brave, this one. Foolish but brave. Had she survived, she would have made a good recruit."
He pauses and looks into his bag, drawing out a scroll. "You say we are done and just going back home? Can you bring five back?, he asks. Receiving a positive answer, he starts to chant as he anoints the corpse with three different oils and ointments. As he does so, the body slowly changes, the bruises disappear, the ears slowly elongate and the eyes change. "An elf," snorts the spell-caster as the body takes its new form; "The Lady has smiled on her today, she will live a very long life." Hypatia eyes suddenly open and she takes a panicked breath...
3) A long time later. Tia is sitting at a desk in a small office. In front of her is a huge ledger. Taking out items and art-pieces out of a bag, she expertly records and describes all the new entries with a beautiful cursive penmanship. When she is finished, she lays the exquisite golden inkpen engraved with stylish dragon images on her desk and relaxes for a moment, waiting for the ink to dry.
Taking this opportunity, a sleek light grey Felindro lands on the desk, folds its wings and ambles forwards, pushing the pen aside, visibly looking for a good rubbing. The golden pen rolls and suddenly shimmers, turning into a 7 inches long golden scaled dragon its tiny claws stained with ink. The Calligraphy Wyrm unfolds its own wings and hisses, its ink stained tongue darting in and out. "This is my desk and my witch! Your kind are not allowed there ! I’ve had too erase too many ink-stains because of you! Now get out!"
The Felindro hisses back a the small creature before jumping back with a startled meow when a cone of dark ink covers its fur and blinds him for a moment. When the now dark, wet and dripping Felindro jumps from the desk and runs away, the victorious Wyrm roars, hurling insults one after another in all the tongues he knows.
"We all know it’s your desk, Melani,", says Tia in a soothing voice "Could you stop frightening every Felindro that’s just looking to be petted." She finished with a sterner voice: "And because it’s your ink, you’re on cleaning duty. Right now and until it’s all clean!"
She points to a wall. Behind the dragon, on that wall is a massive five foot wide ink stain with a cat shaped white spot right in the middle.
4) It's late. Deep into the Archive, Hypatia closes the ledger she is working on and switches the light of her office off as she exits the door, carrying the rest of her evening meal with her. Melani is curled around her neck like a large golden necklace. She walks the fifteen minutes she need to reach her apartment and enters. The single room is sparse, with just a pull-out couch, a small table, a desk and two large bookcases that each cover one of the wall. The first one contains hundreds of identical thin leather-bound books, labeled with digits, while the second one contains a multitude of ill assorted books, in different formats, colors and languages. Half of them are history books from the different planes and places she's been. The other half are Crime and cheap Romance novels that she reads before going to bed. Pulling the chair by the desk, she takes from a pocket of her dress another leather bond book and opens it. Setting Melani on the table where she transforms, Tia mumbles as she starts writing in her current journal. There is an occasional light flash of multicolored energy as she refreshes her spell knowledge before getting ready for bed.
5) A strange word of whirling mists, in a remote location a the side of a mountain. A large portcullis protects the entrance to a subterrane repository. Two horned humanoid creatures guard the entrance. They challenge the group of newcomers as Tia calls them out. "Dear sirs, we would like to gain entry to this place without violence or damage to you and your kind. Please be aware that we have the power to flatten this structure should it be necessary. We have been tasked to retrieve a single item and let the rest of your collection alone. could we come to an arrangement?" As an answer, the beings call for reinforcement and one of them starts to charge the witch. Tia deflates and turn to her companions: "Ok, you're right, we're going to have to do that the hard way. Can we at least try not to kill anyone, this time ?"
Step 2: List at least two goals for the character.
1) Tia felt quite happy with her life, her books, the Archive and the missions. She has gone into a kind of routine for the last hundred years or so. But she is realizing that everything is drifting from her and that she's been living more and more in a kind of hazy dream with just the occasional wake up calls when a new mission arise. After a long discussion with Melani and some hard thinking, she has decided to use her missions to find and recruit a coterie of apprentices to pass her knowledge on.
2)As a player, I would like to delve into the reason why the Lady collects all this knowledge, why she is ready to sacrifice Collector after collector and what her end-goal is.
Step 3: List at least two secrets about your character.
1) Hypatia was not born an elf. None of the team that brought her back mentioned the ritual because she was not fully recovered when they brought her back which was against the rules of operation. Hypatia herself never said anything about that.
Her lack of familiarity with her body has eased oven the 2000+ years she has lived here. However, she stills miss the cultural knowledge of an elven society with their long lives and limited fertility. Here, on the Lady's Demiplane, it has never been an issue but it could become one if she had to interact with a real elven society on one of her mission.
2) Hypatia's patron is a powerful, intelligent and massive Vortex Spider from the Demiplane of Time that goes by the name of Inica. This spider is deeply intrigued by the slowing-down-time properties of the Lady and wishes to master this ability to be able to escape her own Demiplane by counteracting its time binding properties. Thus she wants to use Hypatia to learn as much as she can on this subject by spying on her through different means, hoping to learn what she needs.
3)
Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile.
1)Master Oliandro, a high ranked custodian of the Archive, charged with overseeing classification and proper archiving of all entries. Tia has worked countless hours with him when she was not on the field to improve and refine classifications systems for the Archive.
2)Telani Rii, a book shop owner where Hypatia spend some of her sparse spare time. She sometimes exchanges some of the book she finds on her mission with him. Telani looks like a large Saurian biped but hypatia suspects he is more than he looks.
3)Pravin Lorn (Cleric of Abadar), team leader of the Beta Two team. Two centuries ago, both of them were in the same beta team. During one mission, as one of their companions was down and a fight was turning ugly, Tia decided against the will of Pravin to teleport the team to safety, aborting the mission. Pravin was left on the field as he refused to be teleported away and had to planeshift back home while Tia brought the 2 other members home by herself. The event broke the team and while Tia was retrograded to a gamma team for abandoning the mission, it also put a stop on Pravin's record and has up to know contributed to him still being in a beta team today. Tia has leaned that he still holds a grudge and has tried a few times to engineer her downfall.
Step 5: Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has.
1) Hypatia is a mamma bear for her team of collectors. She constantly inquires about their well-being. She will use her abilities to protect them as best as she can and will not leave people behind, even at the risk of her safety (see her Overprotective Drawback)
2) Hypatia is technophobe and has not adapted well to the technology present in the Lady's Demiplane. She does not refuses to use technological items outright but avoids them as much as possible, using her magics instead. During a mission, she takes a step back if technology is involved and will happily let the rest of the team deal with it.
3) Hypatia always wears glasses. Not that they are useful for her vision, she has very good eyes, thank you. But she found long ago that they were worn by many in the archive and used it at first as a way to fit in. Now it's been so long that she puts them on automatically. She even had them enchanted to provide an even better eyesight.
Character Sheet Madam Tia:
Madam Tia
Female elf witch 16 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 65)
NG Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +28 (+26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
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Defense
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AC 34, touch 23, flat-footed 27 (+4 armor, +3 deflection, +7 Dex, +3 enhancement, +3 natural, +4 shield)
hp 192 (16d6+96)
Fort +18, Ref +19, Will +18; +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune sleep; contant pass without trace (subtle slippers)
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee quarterstaff of entwined serpents +13/+8 (1d6+5) or
Range quarterstaff of entwined serpents magic missile (2d4+2, 260 ft)
Special Attacks hexes (cackle[APG], evil eye[APG], flight[APG], fortune[APG], hag's eye[APG], ice tomb[UM], major healing[APG], misfortune[APG], murksight[POW], protective luck [3 rounds], retribution[APG], tongues[APG]) DC 27
Witch Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +25; CL +20 vs SR)
. . At will—feather fall (self only), fly (self only)
. . 1/day—levitate (self only) Witch Spells Prepared (CL 16th; concentration +25, CL +20 vs SR)
. . 8th—maze, mind blank (c), power word stun
. . 7th—heal, plane shift (DC 26) (c), power word blind, spell scourge (DC 26)
. . 6th—disintegrate (DC 25), disintegrate (DC 25), greater heroism, undeath ward (DC 25)
. . 5th—baleful polymorph (DC 24), break enchantment, feeblemind (DC 24), hold monster (DC 24), telepatic bond (c), teleport
. . 4th—black tentacles, confusion (DC 23), confusion (DC 23), death ward, dimension door (c), enervation
. . 3rd—bestow curse (DC 22), dispel magic, haste (c), haste, heroism, serren's armor lock (DC 22)
. . 2nd—false life, glitterdust (DC 21), hold person (DC 21), see invisibility, silence (DC 21), vomit swarm[APG]
. . 1st— ray of enfeeblement (DC 20), ill omen[APG] (2), mage armor*2 (c,c), unbreakable heart[ISWG], unseen servant
. . 0 (at will)—dancing lights, detect magic, mending, read magic
. . Patron Time
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 24, Con 22, Int 28, Wis 13, Cha 12
Base Atk +8; CMB +15; CMD 29
Feats Accursed Hex[UM], Agile Maneuvers, Alertness, Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Extra Hex[APG], Extra Hex[APG], Improved Familiar, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Reach Spell[APG], Spell Penetration, Split Hex[UM]
Traits Clever wordplay, Fate’s favored
Skills
Acrobatics +7 (Untrained, +5 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Appraise +17 (8R, +10 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Bluff +1 (Untrained, -1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Climb +1 (Untrained, -1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Craft (calligraphy) +18 (6R, +20 using Melani, +16 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Diplomacy +25 (16R, +23 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Disguise +1 (Untrained, -1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Escape Artist +23 (16R, +21 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Fly +20 (10R, +18 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Heal +10 (6R, +8 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Intimidate +1 (Untrained, -1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Knowledge (arcana) +28 (16R, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Knowledge (history) +28 (16R, +23 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Knowledge (nature) +20 (8R, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Knowledge (planes) +28 (16R, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
Linguistics +11 (2R, +9 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Perception +28 (16R, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Profession (librarian) +14 (10R, +12 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Ride +7 (Untrained, +5 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Sense Motive +21 (16R, +19 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Spellcraft +28 (16R, +30 to identify magic item properties, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Stealth +28 (16R, +26 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Survival +1 (Untrained, -1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Swim +5 (Untrained, +3 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally),
Use Magic Device +20 (16R, +18 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally);
Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Combat Gear lesser extend metamagic rod,
pearl of power (1st level),
ring of counterspells (Feeblemind),
scroll of mirror image (x2, CL3),
scroll of raise dead + 5000 GP diamond,
unfettered shirt[UE],
wand of cure light wounds *2,
wand of obscuring mist (50 charges),
acid (2), alchemist's fire (2), alkali flask[APG] (2), tanglefoot bag (2);
Other Gear
mwk mithral buckler,
quarterstaff of entwined serpents,
eyes of the eagle,
glove of storing,
handy haversack,
headband of fortune's favor[UE], (+1 luck bonus all saves, +1 round for Fortune hex on self)
ring of evasion,
rod of grasping hexes[ACG],
subtle slippers [AvG] (1/day +5 stealth for 4 allies within 30’ for 1h, constant pass without trace)
swarmbane clasp[UE],
traveler's any-tool[UE],
bedroll, belt pouch, candle (5), chalk (5), familiar satchel[UE], flint and steel, ink, inkpen, leather-bound journal, mess kit[UE], pot, silk rope (100 ft.), soap, spell component pouch, torch (5), trail rations (5), waterskin, wrist sheath, spring loaded, wrist sheath, spring loaded,
Gold 206 gp
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Tracked Resources
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Acid - 0/2
Alchemist's fire - 0/2
Alkali flask - 0/2
Armor Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
Extend metamagic rod (lesser, 3/day) - 0/3
Feather Fall (self only, At will) - 0/0
Fly (self only, 16 minutes/day) - 0/16
Freedom of Movement (10 min, 1/day) - 0/1
Hag's Eye (16 minutes/day) (Ex) - 0/16
Levitate (self only, 1/day) - 0/1
Pearl of power (1st level, 1/day) - 0/1
Rod of grasping hexes (3/day) - 0/3
Scry on Familiar (1/day) (Sp) - 0/1
Tanglefoot bag - 0/2
Tongues (16 minutes/day) (Su) - 0/16
Torch - 0/5
Trail rations - 0/5
Wand of cure light wounds - 0/50
Wand of cure light wounds - 0/50
Wand of obscuring mist (50 charges) - 0/50
Weapon Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Accursed Hex Target a creature with a hex a second time that day if it made its save the first time
Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Cackle (Su) As a move action, extend the duration of other hexes by 1 rd.
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Evil Eye -4 (12 rounds, DC 27) (Su) Foe in 30 ft takes penalty to your choice of AC, attacks, saves, ability or skill checks (Will part).
Familiar Bonus: You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Dexterity on attack rolls.
Fortune (3 rounds) (Su) Ally in 30 ft can roll 2d20 for an attack, save, ability, or skill check (and take higher) once/rd.
Hag's Eye (16 minutes/day) (Ex) Create an invisible sensor, as arcane eye, which nearby coven mates can also see through.
Ice Tomb (DC 27) (Su) A storm of ice and freezing wind envelops the creature, which takes 3d8 points of cold damage (Fortitude half). If the target fails its save, it is paralyzed and unconscious but does not need to eat or breathe while the ice lasts. The ice has 20 hit
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Major Healing (4d8+16) (Su) Use cure critical wounds once per day/person.
Misfortune (3 rounds, DC 27) (Su) Foe in 30 ft must take the lower of 2d20 for rolls (Will neg).
Overprotective -2 to attacks and skill checks when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Protective Luck (3 rounds) (Su) Attacks against target creature in 30 ft. must roll twice and take worse result.
Reach Spell You can cast a spell with a range of touch, close, or medium as one range category higher.
Retribution (9 rounds, DC 27) (Su) Foe in 60 ft suffers half the melee damage it deals, ignoring resist, for duration (Will neg).
Scry on Familiar (1/day) (Sp) You can scry on your familiar, as the spell.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak with Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Split Hex A targeted hex can affect two creatures
Tongues (16 minutes/day) (Su) Understand spoken and speak any language, as tongues.
Witch's Familiar (Ex) Gain the services of a special familiar that stores spells.
Melani, Calligraphy Wyrm Familiar:
Melani CR –
Female calligraphy wyrm (Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of Dragons 26)
N Diminutive dragon
Init +7; Senses blindsight 60 ft, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +20
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Defense
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AC 25, touch 17, flat-footed 22 (+3 Dex, +8 natural, +4 size)
hp 96 (3d12)
Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +12
Defensive Abilities improved evasion; Immune paralysis, sleep; SR 21
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Offense
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Speed 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee gore +15 (1d2-3)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks deliver touch spells, ink spray, sneak attack +2d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +4)
. . At will—arcane mark, read magic
. . 3/day—erase
. . 1/day—secret page
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Statistics
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Str 4, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 13
Base Atk +8; CMB +7; CMD 14 (18 vs. trip)
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Skills Acrobatics +3 (-5 to jump), Appraise +14, Bluff +7, Craft (calligraphy) +12, Diplomacy +20, Escape Artist +19, Fly +22, Heal +10, Knowledge (arcana) +22, Knowledge (history) +22, Knowledge (nature) +14, Knowledge (planes) +22, Linguistics +9, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +22, Stealth +34, Survival +7, Use Magic Device +20
Languages Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Ignan, Infernal, Terran; speak with animal (same kind only), speak with master
SQ change shape (golden pen), empathic link, finesse weapon attack attribute
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Tracked Resources
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Arcane Mark (At will) - 0/0
Erase (3/day) - 0/3
Ink Spray (1/2d4 rounds, DC 19) (Ex) - 0/1
Read Magic (At will) - 0/0
Secret Page (1/day) - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Change Shape (golden pen) (Su) You can change your form.
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su) Deliever master's touch spells.
Empathic Link (Su) You have an empathic link with your master.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Dexterity on attack rolls.
Fly (80 feet, Average) You can fly!
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Improved Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save; half on failed save.
Ink Spray (1/2d4 rounds, DC 19) (Ex) As a standard action, 10 ft cone of ink affects foes as glitterdust (Ref neg) except can end blind with standard act and no stealth pen.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Scry on Familiar (Sp) Master can scry on you once per day.
Share Spells Spells with a target of "You" can be delivered by a familiar with a range of touch.
Sneak Attack +2d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Speak with Animals of its Kind (Ex) You can communicate verbally with animals similar to yourself.
Speak with Master (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your master.
Spell Resistance (21) You have Spell Resistance.
