About Marcus BaleMarcus Bale
Ferryman's Slug (Necromancy Implement: Coin):
Possessed by Champion: The Ferryman's Slug was the coin used to pay for the passage of a mighty champion into the afterlife who died in shame, unable to pass on to a glorious reward. It is possessed by the spirit of the Champion. Anyone who carries it gets a +2 bonus on non-spell damage rolls. Mind Fear (Sp): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to cause a living creature to succumb to fear. The target must be within 30 feet of you, and it can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. If the target fails the save and has a number of Hit Dice less than or equal to yours, it is frightened for 1d4 rounds. If the target fails the saving throw and has a number of Hit Dice greater than yours, it is instead shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. Wake (Su): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to inspire fits of grief in a single creature within 30 feet that can see and hear you. You fill the target with haunting visions of the deaths of loved ones and the brevity of life, and for 1 minute, the target's emotional vulnerability grants you a circumstance bonus equal to your occultist level on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks attempted against the target. If this implement is used in combat, these emotions instead distract your target, leaving it dazzled for 1 round per occultist level you have. Necromantic Servant (Sp): As a standard action, Marcus can expend one point of mental focus to raise a human skeleton or zombie from the dust beneath his feet, which serves him for 10 minutes. As an immediate action when the creature is destroyed, Marcus can re-animate it instantly, restoring it to full hit points at the cost of 1 point of mental focus. Transmutation Implement (Weapon):
Legacy Weapon (Su): Each morning when he chooses his implements for the day, Marcus can select a weapon special ability with an equivalent enhancement bonus less than or equal to +1 for every 3 points of mental focus invested in the implement (to a maximum of 1 + 1/4 his occultist level). As long as the implement qualifies for the ability, it gains that weapon special ability as long as it contains at least 3 points of mental focus per +1 equivalent of the special ability. Psychic Weapon (Sp): As a swift action, Marcus can expend 1 point of mental focus to imbue one weapon, unarmed strike, or one natural attack with psychic power. This grants the weapon a +1 enhancement bonus. This bonus stacks with any enhancement bonus the weapon might have, as long as it does not increase the total bonus to greater than +5. This effect does not stack with itself. This bonus lasts for 1 minute. Heart of the Sun Marcus has lived much of his life in the arid environments of Osirion's deserts, and has become accustomed to aggressive desert flies and to the unforgiving temperatures. As a result, he treats hot climates as one category less severe. He also gains a +2 racial bonus on Fortitude saving throws against the effects of a hot climate, as well as against the poison and distraction ability of swarms and vermin. Favored Class (Occultist): The ways of the Occultist come naturally to Marcus, giving him an additional +1 hit point per level. --------
Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +7)
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Familiar:
Soulbound Doll (Protector Archetype)
N Tiny construct Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +4 Speed 50 ft. Space 2-1/2 ft., Reach 0 ft. -------------------- DEFENSE -------------------- AC 16, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +2 Size, +1 Natural) hp 6 Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +1 -------------------- OFFENSE -------------------- Melee bite +7 (1d3–4) -------------------- STATISTICS -------------------- Str 3, Dex 16, Con —, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 5 Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 8 (12 vs. trip) Feats Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Weapon Focus (Bite) Skills Stealth +15 (+19 in snow); Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Stealth in snow Backstory:
"The Aucturn Enigma will never be solved."
If there was anything that drove Marcus on, it was an impossible challenge. Even as a child, he had been fascinated by the history-rich "Land of Pharaohs." His father, who made a comfortable living in the silk trade despite being a foreigner to Osirion, provided the means for the youth to pursue a formal career in Osirionology, financing several archaeological digs for the young scholar to make a name for himself discovering relics of the lost Pharaohs. It was on the fourth of these digs that Marcus stumbled upon a strange fragment of black stone, impossibly ancient and inscribed with a sigil that matched no known Osiriani texts. Enthralled by the artifact, he delved deeply into the web of mysteries surrounding ancient Osirion, discovering the controversial Calosian Manuscript and its theories linking the early Pharaohs in the Second Age of Osirion to the inscrutable influence of the distant planet Aucturn. In the forbidden texts he discovered, Marcus uncovered knowledge that transformed him. He gathered his books and disappeared in a single night, traveling across Garund in search of knowledge of astrology and the mysteries of the distant planets. He returned to his family three years later, his father having retired to a life of leisure in Sothis after an illness drove him out of active business. He was a changed man when he returned, carrying with him a collection of strange trinkets and relics, and having mastered strange magics picked up from his long research into hidden knowledge. Today, Marcus returns to the dig. No longer financed by his father's fortune, he paid the last of his coin for the opportunity to participate in the excavation of one of the treasured tombs of the Necropolis of Wati, an opportunity he does not intend to pass up. Joining with several other heavily-armed individuals to help overcome the dangers of an unsealed tomb, he intends to discover proof for his theories about Osirion's past by uncovering undamaged relics unseen by modern historians. |
