Nephre, Sekhmet's Wrath's page

Background

Nephre was always a precocious child. She showed great curiosity and a disdain for authority from a young age… a dangerous combination when your tribe lives in ancient ruins with forbidden areas full of still-active magic and traps. For the most part her family and tribe were able to corral her before she got anywhere dangerous… but once they did not.

How exactly she slipped away and past all of her tribe no one knew, but they discovered Nephre was missing soon enough. Panicked searching revealed only their worst fears--a pair of small footprints leading into the most forbidden part of the ruins they lived in, the large central temple with its weathered lioness statues. The elders were summoned and a debate began about whether or not to risk a rescue attempt or to give her up as almost certainly already killed.

Within, Nephre had brazenly walked past the still-waking guardians of the temple, and by luck stepped past the traps, until she found the sanctum in the center--a forgotten altar to the ancient warrior goddess Sekhmet. Bound within the altar was a fragment of the goddess herself, a trapped avatar long separated from Sekhmet’s full power, though a connection remained. This fragment was angry at first that such a weak thing had stumbled upon the temple… but then realized the courage in the young eyes, and saw an opportunity. It spoke to the young child, told her of its longing for freedom… and said there was a way she could help...

The elders were still arguing when the young child ambled back out of the temple, looking none the worse for wear save for a small red mark on her forehead. She smiled at their disbelief… and there was something changed, something cruel about that smile.

Nephre was different from that day on. She’d always been wild, but now she was uncontrollable, refusing to participate in some of the maftets’ sacred ceremonies, abandoning scimitar practice to fight with her fists and her feet, and disrespecting the elders. Instead she roamed around, exploring forbidden places and punching anyone and anything that made her angry. She grew taller and stronger than any of her tribe, which only made her rebelliousness worse.

She almost didn’t receive her tattoos when she came of age, but managed to put on a convincing enough show of feeling sorry that the elders relented. Her repentance was proven insincere when the very next night she again entered the forbidden temple.

There the fragment of Sekhmet was glad to see what Nephre had become--a perfect vessel. Again speaking of how great they could be together, it encouraged Nephre to enter into a pact, whereby it became bound to her, and she to it, so that it could finally leave its imprisonment within the temple.

The elders were waiting when she emerged, again changed--her tattoos now included a large, complex set of red-ochre markings all over her face, as well as similarly-colored patterns on her hands, elbows, and even, somehow, on her furred legs and feet. Before the elders could speak Nephre coldly told them they didn’t need to banish her, she was already leaving and they’d never see her again.

She spent the next few years traveling, mostly exploring ancient ruins and dungeons, taking their treasures, and kicking anything that got in her way in the face. She’s been starting to get bored with this, though, because while she’s had some fun fights and the treasure is nice, a lot of the time it ends up not really being worth her time. So she’s on the lookout for something more exciting...

A literal fragment of a goddess’s power and rage, the WRATH OF SEKHMET takes the physical form of a complex set of red-ochre tattoos on Nephre’s face, hands, and feet. The tattoos on her face look vaguely like a lioness’s face when viewed head-on. These tattoos occupy the face and eye magic item slots, the divine energies of the tattoos interfering with any items placed in these slots.

The WRATH OF SEKHMET draws power from bloodshed and its host’s anger. It can hold a maximum number of charges equal to Nephre’s level. It gains one charge whenever any of these things happen:
* Nephre takes damage from an enemy
* Nephre drops an enemy below 0 HP
* Nephre suffers a critical hit
She can gain no more than two points a round from any one source, and no more than four points a round total. She loses half of her remaining charges after one minute without combat, and the remaining charges after two hours without combat.

Nephre gains an untyped bonus to strength equal to the number of charges held in the WRATH OF SEKHMET. However, every two charges reduce her AC by one as she grows more reckless and angry.

She can also spend charges on these abilities:
Avatar of Sekhmet (6 charges): As a full-round action Nephre can draw on the WRATH OF SEKHMET to become an avatar of the lioness goddess. Her size increases to Huge, giving a +8 size bonus to Strength, with an additional bonus equal to the number of charges spent on this ability, a +4 size bonus to Con, a +4 size bonus to natural armor, and a -4 size penalty to Dex. This transformation also grants DR 10/Lawful, Fast Healing 10, a bite attack, and two claw attacks. Her natural weapons count as Chaotic, Magic, Adamantine, and Epic while under this transformation. As long as she is under the effects of this transformation Nephre is completely berserk, attacking the nearest creature every round (if no creatures are in reach, she will attack objects, or even structures if no objects are within reach). This transformation lasts for one minute, but every time the WRATH OF SEKHMET would gain a charge while this transformation is active the duration instead extends by one minute. Nephre can end this transformation prematurely by making a DC 10+level+Strength modifier Will save. She can attempt this save only once per minute.
Breath of the Desert (3 charges): Nephre can call upon Sekhmet’s mastery over the desert’s heat to exhale a withering blast of burning light. This is a 90’ cone of heat and light, causing 1d6 points of fire damage per level, and dazzling and sickening those within its area of effect for one minute. A successful Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ level + Str modifier) halves the damage and negates the dazzling and sickening. Creatures who take no fire damage from this breath cannot be sickened but are still dazzled if they fail their saves.

If the WRATH OF SEKHMET would gain a charge while already at maximum charges, it automatically triggers the Avatar of Sekhmet ability as a free action that can happen when it is not her turn. When triggered this way, the DR granted by the Avatar of Sekhmet form increases to DR 20/Lawful and Epic and the fast healing increases to Regeneration 20/Lawful, and she gains the benefits of a cleanse spell.

Additionally, the bloodlust imparted by the shard of Sekhmet causes Nephre to treat any result from a confusion effect as if she had rolled “Attack nearest creature”. While confused Nephre threatens as normal and takes Attacks of Opportunity against all possible targets, friendly or enemy.

Step 1: Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind. 5 is just a minimum...more elements are encouraged!

In a word, Nephre is passionate. She does nothing by half measures, throwing herself totally into her actions.
Nephre is brash, abrasive, and arrogant, but she appreciates people who actually stand up to her... As long as they don’t get in her way.
Nephre loves to loot ancient ruins, tombs, dragon lairs… anywhere dangerous and lucrative, she’s there.
Nephre also loves a good fight. Slaughter bores her. She wants an actual challenge.
She recognizes no authority and bows to no one, only grudgingly recognizes that there are beings stronger than her.
She loves good food and especially good drinks. She’s generally a happy drunk… though her temper becomes even more unpredictable after the twenty or thirty beers it takes to get her inebriated.
Nephre is a herald/avatar/vessel (the exact nature of their relationship is unclear) of Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian lioness goddess of war.
Nephre is a rebel maftet, self-exiled from her tribe.

Step 2: List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.

Nephre wants to push her limits, grow stronger, and then push her limits further. She wants to find a challenge she can’t surmount and then train until she can.
I’d like to play around with her connection with Sekhmet. Is she a herald of Sekhmet, working her will by bringing war to strong enemies? Is she an avatar of Sekhmet, her own will somehow merged with that of the goddess? Is Sekhmet just using her to escape some kind of imprisonment?
One possibility here… what if Sekhmet recognizes that something is wrong with her? That her bloodthirst is a problem? What if Nephre is an attempt to learn to become a bit more of a warrior poet than a berserker? Maftets are, after all, associated with sphinxes, which in Pathfinder tend to be more wise and intelligent than ferocious… but can still be fearsome when they want to be.

Step 3: List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!

Nephre is aware of her connection to Sekhmet and keeps it secret.
What she isn’t aware of is what the fragment of Sekhmet she carries in her *is* and how badly it has affected her. On her own, Nephre would likely have grown up to be a headstrong thrillseeker, but not a bloodthirsty warrior. Sekhmet’s power has twisted her natural thrill-seeking and rebellion into a lust for battle… and may be aiming to do worse.
The primary myth we still have associated with Sekhmet is how she was basically let loose to punish humanity, but was so bloodthirsty that the gods had to trick her into getting drunk before she wiped everyone out. Afterwards she was possibly transformed into the much more mellow Hathor. So I was thinking, for this version… perhaps Sekhmet’s wrath was literally torn from her, broken up, and hidden away? And now a piece of that wrath is in Nephre.

Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.

Nephre… doesn’t really have friends. She moves around too much (until recently) and is too arrogant towards people she sees as weaker.

Step 5: Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.

Nephre likes to threaten people with physical violence when they annoy her. If they push her she’ll follow through on the threats.
If you actually manage to get on her good side, she’s physical with her friendship, too--lots of back-slapping, elbow nudges, and the like.
She eats like an animal, with no table manners at all.