Morley Hastings's page

1- Heightened Awareness: 10 min/lvl. +2 competence to Perception and all trained Knowledge. Can dismiss for +4 initiative.
1- Reduce Person: 1 min/lvl. +2 dex, -2str, +1 attack and AC. Small size.
1- Shield: 1 min/lvl. +4 shield AC, negates Magic Missile
1- Enlarge Person: 1 min/lvl. +2 str, -2 dex, -1 attack and AC. Large size.
1- Monkey Fish: 1 min/lvl. 10 climb/swim speed.
1- True Strike: +20 on next attack roll.

Extracts take 1 minute to prepare
1- Shield
1- Shield

Traits
Reactive: +2 to Initiative.
Pragmatic Activator: You may use your Intelligence modifier when making Use Magic Device checks instead of your Charisma modifier.
Firebug: You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls made with thrown splash weapons and alchemist bombs.
Drawback
Condescending: You take a –5 penalty on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to improve other creatures' attitudes toward you.
Feats
Point Blank Shot: You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.
Extra Discovery (Frost Bomb): You gain one additional discovery. You must meet all of the prerequisites for this discovery.
Throw Anything: You do not suffer any penalties for using an improvised ranged weapon. You receive a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls made with thrown splash weapons.
Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longbow)

Adventure Skills
Skills per level: 4 class + 4 int + 1 human = 9
Acrobatics: 3 (3 dex)
Bluff: -1 (-1 cha)
Diplomacy: -1 (-1 cha)
Disable Device: 7 (3 class, 3 dex, 1 rank)
Escape Artist: 3 (3 dex)
Fly: 3 (3 dex)
Knowledge (Arcana): 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)
Knowledge (Nature): 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)
Perception: 4 (3 class, 1 rank)
Ride: 3 (3 dex)
Sleight of hand: 7 (3 class, 3 dex, 1 rank)
Spellcraft: 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)
Stealth: 3 (3 dex)
Use Magic Device: 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)

Background Skills
Appraise: 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)
Craft (Alchemy): 8 (3 class, 4 int, 1 rank)
Linguistics: 4 (4 int)
Profession (Sailor) 4 (3 class, 1 rank)

ACP: -2

19g 9s
Formula book
Traveler's Outfit
Club
Boarding Pike (9g)
Longbow (75g)
40 arrows (2g)
Chain Shirt (100g)
2 flasks Acid (20g)
flask Alchemist's Fire (20g)
Alchemist's kit (alchemy crafting kit, a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, a flint and steel, ink, an inkpen, an iron pot, a mess kit, soap, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin) (40g)
Ink (8g)
Inkpen (1s)

Morley was born to a dockside whore in the port town of Duxchan. He doesn’t consider this the beginning of his life, though. His first ten years were nothing but scrabbling with the other dock rats for the bare essentials of life, and avoiding this mother’s fists and feet when she’d been drinking – which was all the time.

No, his life begins at about ten years old (he isn’t sure exactly) when he was caught hiding among the bags and barrels of foodstuffs aboard a trading ship bound for the Azure Sea. He had slipped aboard to see if anything was worth pilfering and was belowdecks when the rest of the crew came back aboard. Unable to sneak off with all the activity up top, he hid and hoped for a miracle. Soon the ship put out to sea, and he was found hiding in a corner of the hold gnawing on a piece of ship’s biscuit. His miracle came in the form of a sick cabin boy. When he was dragged before the captain, it was decided that rather than throw him overboard he would fill in for the boy, who had been bedridden for a week. When the former cabin boy died retching in his bed a few days later, Morley had what he’d never had before: a place where he belonged. Thus began the real life of Morley Hastings.

Nobody survives long on the streets unless they’re quick witted, so it didn’t take him long to learn the ways of the ship. Before long Morley was indispensable to the captain, doing all the little things that let him focus on the bigger picture of sailing the ship. The next few years were filled with excitement for the boy, and he grew into a young man while doing the rounds of the Azure Sea aboard a sailing vessel. As a commoner, he would never be able to become an officer on the ship, and by his mid twenties he had already climbed to the peak of his career, and the position of boatswain. As the man in charge of the maintenance and stores of the ship, he found a talent for tinkering and working with his hands.

He recently retired from sailing, after about 40 years at sea. He had enough savings to set himself up as an apothecary in a small town on the coast of Idee, where he fixes remedies for the local populace as well as the garrison of the nearby fort. All was going well until one of his medicines reacted badly for the commander of the garrison, and he was dragged in chains into the cells, ready to be tried and hanged for murder. By using a small vial of acid he had secreted in his clothes, he was able to dissolve his manacles as well as the lock on his door and escape while the guards were drunkenly snoring at their post. He’s been on the move ever since. He joined the Pathfinder Lodge in Magnimar because he decided that doing a few missions for them was the quickest and most exciting way to make a lot of money and powerful friends. He sailed with a few Pathfinders from that lodge years ago, so he decided to call in some favors to get him in the door.

Piercing blue eyes staring out of a ruddy, sunburned face, hidden behind a thick white beard. Average height, rather more than average girth. He has an ugly burn scar on the side of his neck, barely visible when he wears a collar, and another on his left arm from the back of his hand up to his elbow.

His hands, and often clothes, tend to be stained or burnt by the tools of his trade. He is often overly casual with strangers, letting his salty language loose in inappropriate situations unless making an effort not to. Morley can be condescending towards "landsfolk", thinking them soft and lazy. He tries to limit this however.

1) I'd like 5+ points that capture the concept and story of the character. More are welcome, but no less than five.
- Has a tendency to rough language (I can avoid this in game if it offends anyone, but the phrase "swear like a sailor" has some basis in fact and I find the occasional salty language does add colour to his speech).
- Hates to "dress up", which he considers wearing anything fancier than his stained and burnt work clothes.
- Considers most landsmen weak and tends to look down on them as soft.
- Can be inconsiderate of manners and other common social contracts, but due to ignorance rather than thoughtlessness or rudeness. He's working on it :)
- Is well aware of his lack of social graces and will happily let others take the lead in social situations, but sometimes can't help the occasional quip or smartass remark which might land him in trouble.
- Considers himself "alchemist by trade, sailor by calling"

2) Two goals that you'd like the character to accomplish in-game.
- Prove himself worthy of Saphron Kalmeralm (see below).
- Acquire his own ship and crew (this is more Morley the character's goal than mine as the player).

3) Two secrets, one the PC keeps to himself, and one kept from the PC. I'll come up with a third that both the character and player aren't aware of, in hopes of shocking surprises within the storytelling.
- (Morley knows) Most of his years spent on the sea weren't with a merchant vessel, but as a pirate. He went by many different names during those years and Morley may or may not be his real name.
- (Morley doesn't know) One of the ships he plundered was owned by Zakthal Mardu, who runs a major mercantile organization in Magnimar.

4) 3-5 people that are tied to your PC by blood, love, rivalry, honor, etc. I'd like at least one enemy in a set of three or four, with no more than two for a set of five. PLEASE consider the players reference guide for ideas.
- Zakthal Mardu is a leading figure in Magnimar commerce, and has ties to the Sczarni. He was a contact of Morley's in the city in the past, and doesn't know that Morley sacked one of his ships. However he has been investigating who did it and is getting close.
- Jaster Frallino, leader of a Sczarni gang. He and Morley have been enemies since a tavern brawl a few years back where Morley hit him with a bottle and gave him an ugly scar that runs down the left side of his face from temple to jawline. This was before he came to lead the Gallowed, his gang.
- Saphron Kalmeralm, daughter of Sabriyya Kalmeralm, who runs the Bazaar of Sails in Magnimar. They became very close over the course of many stopovers in the city and Morley once thought they might get married until Sabriyya put an end to the relationship. She wouldn't have her daughter married to a lowly sailor, after all.
- Black Jack Jensen, a friendly rival of Morley from his days as a pirate. Black Jack still plies the seas around Magnimar but rarely comes in to port there due to having a price on his head. There are many debts owed both ways and either would do anything for the other despite outward appearances.

5) Three key memories that define your character as the person they are at the time of submission.
- The smell of sea air is the first memory he has. He feels homesick any time he's too far from open water to smell the salt in the air.
- The first time he ever felt at home was when he was accepted as part of the crew of the Red Raven, the ship he had stowed aboard to run away from his mother at 10 years old. The sense of finally belonging is a powerful feeling.
- The heartbreak and humiliation after Saphron broke off their relationship on her mother's orders. The feeling that he wasn't good enough for her has pushed him to prove himself to the world.

6) Finally, I'd like you to include with your submission a fear or paranoia that causes your character to shiver, cower, or panic.
- Morley has spent his life on the open sea, and feels claustrophobic when in small enclosed spaces. The fact that he originally stowed away in a small storage hold with biting rats may add to that fear.