Shasta Lux is the only child of a group of humans from a region known as Crypra (pronounced SIGH pra). The people were known as Cyprats or Cyprati. Their country was connected to the copper dragons of their age. It is said the Cyrprati got their red hair from their worship of the copper dragon. They mined copper and crafted fine artwork with the ore. To this day, the Cyrprati tend to have red hair, green eyes, and wear copper jewelry.
The wars that engulfed the human kingdoms forced the Cyprati to become refugees. They crafted wagons pulled by draft horses and took all they could and set out to find a new home. Because of the wars, they found they were not welcome in other countries who still had ariable land and livestock to support them. So the wagons passed through one country after another.
Since they could not settle, they developed a culture that emphasized crafters of useful tools and weapons. The culture had always valued storytelling, music, song, dance, and acting. They woul ride into a new area, set up their wagons in a temporary encampment, and set out to earn coin with which to buy necessities they could not produce. They sold their crafted items as well, developing a reputation for fine work.
As entertainers, they found that people loved their plays, music, dance, but the older people of a community often viewed the morality of their stories, plays, and songs, as too hedonistic, too sensual, and to sexually permissive.
Further distrust developed as some in the tribe, the more attractive men and women, worked as prostitutes. Some in the caravans were not above nicking items from those who treated them harshly and so developed the stereotype of Cyprati as tramps and thieves. When the Cyprati wagons rolled into town, many locked their doors and kept their teenagers indoors if they could.
After fifty years, the economies of most of the human nations had stabilized, but there was no place the Cyprati were encouraged or allowed to settle. So their culture became mobile. Caravans tended to be composed of no more than a hundred Cyprati, although over time, people of other races joined and interbreeded, leading to sometimes exotic combinations of racial features. Non-humans could also find a home in the wagon train.
Childhood:
Shasts Lux was born into such a traveling caravan. She is the only daughter of two musicians. She learned violin, flute, and drums and soon proved herself a prodigy. She was also an extrovert, completely comfortable meeting new people and maintaining a small army of friends.
She acquired the nickname Lucky early in her life, when she wandered into harms way and survived what could have been terrible accidents, always benefitting from a fortuitous coincidence. If she fell from a tree she was climbing, she'd land on a bushy shrub and receive only a few scratches. If a predator was stalking her, a hunter would happen on the scene and shoot the beast just before it pounced. And she was so good at card and dice games that she often found it hard to find others willing to play with her.
As a teenager, she matured from an athletic tomboy into a beautiful young woman, always the center of attention. Her parents insisted that she protect herself, so they taught her to handle a sword and dagger, got her a suit of lightweight armor to wear under her clothes, and taught her a few cantrips that she could use in self defense.
Eventually, the time came for her to begin earning money for the troop. Her musical talents made this an easy choice: she performed her music, composing much of it herself, and entertained the crowd by dancing as she played and sprinking the set with humorous or dramatic stories.
Adult Career so far:
Eventually, she became so good that she was able to put together the funds for her own wagon and team of draft horses. She was drawn to the larger cities with many more people interested in being entertained. The large cities were not places where the caravans like to go, however, because they had more competition and often were put at a disadvantage by restrictive laws and intimdation by local gangs and miltary groups.
So Shasta decided to separate from the caravan and make her own way, traveling from city to city, playing the more popular pubs, taverns, and music halls, getting involved with locals, purchasing luxuries, and generally having a good time. When she started to get bored, she would hit the road again.
She soon learned, however, that she needed more than a rapier and some leather armor to keep herself safe when an audience had too much to drink and some of the men grew rowdy, randy, and aggressive. She sometimes hired bravos to be bodyguards, but that was expensive. Then she met an old man who intervened when several men began to surround her on stage at a small place. Most of the audience had gone home and she was wrapping up her performance and having something to eat and drink. True to her nickname, a man stepped in to defend her, the man proved himself to be an excellent fighter, tossing the men around like they were firewood and giving them painful buises with blows from his open hand or elbow or knee.
After the defeated men left in shame, the man offered to travel with her as a bodyguard and to teach her what he had learned. He had once been an adept in a religious order that taught its priests how to fight without weapons. Over the next few months, he trained Shasta in martial arts. She learned to throw opponents or to knock them off their feet, and defend herself with nothing but her unarmed attacks. He got her to give up her leather armor and instead use her reflexes and intuition to avoid attacks.
She had to part company with the man, whose name was Renfro Velare, but what he taught her gave her more confidence when she performed. She eventually learned more about fighting from another rogue, Tenzhat Wolfram, who gave her lessons on using objects at hand as weapons and combining unexpected attacks with grapples to control the fight. As a result she is a confident fighter and willing to go on an adventure or two.
These adventures won her a few valuable additions to her arsenal, a magic cloat that protected her like armor and made her even luckier dealing with threats of various kinds. She also got an enchanted rapier, although she rarerly used it when dealing with local punks.
She is just beginning to make a name for herself as an entertainer, with people remembering her from her last visit to a large city, local entertainment bookers seeking her out, with increased earnings to go with it all. The fates, however, decreed that she have another adventure.
Appearance:
TBD
Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.
Languages Common, Draconic
Maneuver DC 16
Dual-Wielding This weapon is designed to be wielded in concert with another weapon. When wielding another weapon in your main hand that does not have the heavy property, you can use your bonus action to make an attack with this weapon. You do not add your ability modifier to the damage roll of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
Parrying: When you are wielding this weapon and you are not using a shield, once before your next turn you can gain an expertise die to your AC against a single melee attack made against you by a creature you can see.
Martial Arts When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or an adept weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Streetfighter You may expend your bonus action to attempt the Grapple maneuver on an enemy you’ve hit with an unarmed or improvised weapon attack.
Combat Maneuvers
Exertion Pool: 6
Knockdown (1 exertion point)
When you activate this maneuver, you take the Attack action and make a melee weapon attack, as well as any additional attacks granted by Extra Attack. Until the start of your next turn, when you hit with a melee weapon attack against a creature and deal 8 or more damage it makes a Dexterity saving throw or is knocked prone.
Leading Throw (1 exertion point)
When a creature within your reach misses you with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to try to throw it. The creature makes a Dexterity saving throw or moves 15 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice.
Weapon Proficiencies Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords, adept weapons (unarmed strike, quarterstaff, punching dagger, shortsword, any simple weapon that does not have the two-handed or heavy property: club, dagger, sickle, handaxe, mace)
SPELLCASTING Spell Save DC 15; Spell Attack Bonus +8
NOTES (SEE FEATURES FOR MORE DETAILS) Art specialty When using percussion as a spell focus, you double the ranges of bard spells from the sound school. A sound spell that has a range of touch increases its range to 30 feet. ???
Jack-of-All-Trades Whenever you make an ability check with a skill or tool you are not proficient with, you add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) [1].
Resident Expert When you make a check with either Thieves’ Tools or Dice Set tool and the d20 shows a natural result of less than 10, you can count the d20 result as being 10.
Proficiency Bonus (+3)
PROFICIENCIES
SKILLS
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Athletics
Culture (linguistics*, streetwise*)
Deception (lying*)
History (legends*)
Intimidation
Nature
Perception
Performance** (Comedy*, Singing*)
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival
* Add expertise die 1d4.
** Add expertise die 1d6. ???
Tools
Dice Set [See resident expert ability]
Playing Cards
Drum
Flute
Violin
Thieves’ Tools * [See resident expert ability]
Land Vehicles
* Add expertise die.
Resident Expert Human Ability: When you make a check with the associated tool and the d20 shows a natural result of less than 10, you can count the d20 result as being 10.
Saving Throws
Dexterity
Wisdom
Charisma
Heritage Features (Human)
Fast Learner. You gain proficiency in one additional skill of your choice [Perception]. In addition, you require half as much time as normal to train yourself in the use of a suit of armor, tool, or weapon during downtime.
Intrepid. When you make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can choose to gain an expertise die on that roll. Once you use this trait, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Ingenious Focus
You have the following traits:
Inexorable Concentration. When you fail a constitution saving throw to maintain concentration, you can immediately reroll it, taking the new result. You may use this trait a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier [3], and regain all expended uses after a long rest.
Resident Expert When you make a check with either Thieves’ Tools or Dice Set tool and the d20 shows a natural result of less than 10, you can count the d20 result as being 10.
Culture Features (Caravanner)
Caravanner Proficiency with the Animal Handling skill and with land vehicles
Long Hauler Proficiency Survival Skill, advantage on checks made to avoid fatigue from a forced march.
Mobile Living You can create a ramshackle version of a cart or wagon with 30 minutes of work if you have access to raw or reclaimed materials. Ramshackle vehicles created in this way function identically to their normal counterparts, except their gold piece value is always 0, they have half as many hit points as their normal counterparts, and they break and become useless if they are hit by any attack roll with a result of natural 20.
Trampling Charge When you or a mount you’re riding uses the Dash action or a vehicle you’re driving uses the Ahead Full action, you can move through spaces occupied by creatures with a size category smaller than you, or your mount, or the vehicle. Creatures moved through in this way must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus)[DC 15]. On a failed save, creatures are knocked prone and take an amount of bludgeoning damage equal to your level [5]. Creatures cannot be damaged twice from the same trampling charge. Once you use this trait, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Languages speak, read, sign, and write Common and one other language [Draconian].
Background Features (Entertainer)
Ability Score Increases: +1 to Charisma and Dexterity.
Skill Proficiencies: Performance and Persuasion.
Tool Proficiencies: Gaming set [Playing Cards], musical instrument [Violin].
Feature Pay the Piper. In any settlement in which you haven’t made yourself unpopular, your performances can earn enough money to support yourself and your companions: the bigger the settlement, the higher your standard of living, up to a moderate lifestyle in a city.
Adventures and Advancement. Some of your admirers will pay you to plead a cause or smear an enemy. If you succeed at several such quests, your fame will grow. You will be welcome at royal courts, which will support you at a rich lifestyle.
Entertainer Connections: A noble who wants vengeance for the song you wrote about him.
Entertainer Mementos: Fine clothing suitable for a noble and some reasonably convincing costume jewelry.
Level 1: Gain two specialties: [Performance singing, Deception lying]
Bonus Knowledge: 3 [History: Legends, Nature skill, Religion Skill]
Class Features Bard Level 3
ART SPECIALITY Choose an art specialty whenever you finish a short or long rest.
Current Specialty: Percussion
Details:
Percussion: you double the ranges of bard spells from the sound school. A sound spell that has a range of touch increases its range to 30 feet.
Strings: whenever you cast a bard spell from the movement or teleportation school you can target an additional creature within 15 feet of you.
Visual: whenever you cast a bard spell you may choose to make an ally able to see you the point of origin of that spell. You must be able to see any targets of the spell.
Voice: you have advantage on checks made to maintain concentration on a bard spell.
Winds: whenever you cast a bard spell you can make a Deception or Performance check. Any observers with a passive Insight score equal to or less than the result of your check do not see or hear you cast the spell. Once you have used this feature three times, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Bardic Inspiration (5/day) Use a bonus action to choose one creature other than yourself within 60 feet of you who can hear or see you. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration Die, a d6. Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the Narrator says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once the Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. A creature can have only one Bardic Inspiration die at a time.
Bardic Inspiration points can also be used to activate a Battle Hymn and Luck Stealer.
Points are regained after a long rest.
Battle Hymn (Overbearing Rhythm)
Once at the start of your turn, you can activate a battle hymn by expending a use of Bardic Inspiration (no action is required). Performing a battle hymn requires your concentration, as though you were casting a spell. Once activated, a battle hymn continues until you lose concentration or the start of your next turn.
Audience: Unless stated otherwise a battle hymn does not have a target until you choose one, and each targets a single creature within 30 feet. You may choose to target a creature at any point, but after targeting a battle hymn its target cannot be changed.
• Overbearing Rhythm. An attacker targeting any in the audience has disadvantage on its attack roll.
Adventuring Tricks
• Profitable
You gain proficiency with Performance. If you are already proficient with Performance, you instead gain an expertise die. Whenever you make a Performance check to earn coins, you gain twice as much as normal.
Jack-of-All-Trades Whenever you make an ability check with a skill or tool you are not proficient with, you add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) [1].
Varied Experience Choose one tool or skill you are proficient with [Thieves’ Tools]. You gain an expertise die on checks made using the chosen skill or tool.
Minstrel Archetype (level 3)
Bonus Proficiencies and Specialties: you gain proficiency with Culture and Performance. If you are already proficient with either skill, you instead gain an expertise die. [Gain Culture Proficiency and Performance Expertise Die].
Gain 3 specialties from performance or Culture [Performance singing, Culture linguistics, Streetwise].
Better Bardic Inspiration your ability to inspire can help an ally overcome deleterious effects. When you have granted a creature Bardic Inspiration, if the creature would make a saving throw at the end of its turn to end an effect on it, it can use the Bardic Inspiration to attempt a saving throw at the start of its turn instead.
In addition, you use Bardic Inspiration on yourself, but only to make Performance checks.
Bardic College (5E Subclass) College of Entropy
Bonus Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Athletics, plus a gaming set [Dice]
Luck Stealer
Also at 3rd level, you learn to borrow a little bit of other people’s luck for yourself. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet is about to make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw with advantage, you can use a reaction and expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration. If you do so, that creature takes a penalty to its die roll equal to the number you roll on your Bardic Inspiration die. [d6]
After the creature’s attack roll, ability check, or saving throw is resolved, you gain the benefit of that Bardic Inspiration die, which is usable only on yourself and lasts only for a number of rounds equal to the roll of the Bardic Inspiration die. If you do not use the benefit before that time, it is lost.
Stealing luck, regardless of whether you use the Bardic Inspiration benefit, causes a chance of a chaos magic surge. When a chaos magic surge has a chance of occurring, the caster rolls a d20. On a 1, roll percentile dice and consult the Chaos Magic Surge table to determine the result.
Class Features Adept Level 2
Hit Dice: 1d8 per adept level
PROFICIENCIES
Armor: None
Weapons: Simple weapons, shortswords, Adept weapons
ADROIT DEFENSE Agile Defense
While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
MARTIAL ARTS
At 1st level, your trail to perfection gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and adept weapons, which are quarterstaffs, punching daggers, shortswords, and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property.
You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only adept weapons and you aren’t wielding a shield:
• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and adept weapons.
• You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or adept weapon. This die changes as you gain adept levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Adept table.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or an adept weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn.
COMBAT MANEUVERS
Starting at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use combat maneuvers. You gain proficiency in two combat traditions from the following list: Mirror’s Glint, Rapid Current, Razor’s Edge, Unending Wheel. You learn two maneuvers of your choice from traditions you are proficient with.
Traditions
Mirror’s Glint
Rapid Current
Combat Maneuvers Knockdown assault (1 point)
1st degree Mirror’s Glint action
Leading Throw (1 point)
1st degree Mirror’s Glint reaction
You gain an exertion pool equal to twice your proficiency bonus [6], regaining any spent exertion at the end of a short or long rest. You use your maneuvers by spending points from your exertion pool. The Maneuvers Known column of the Adept table shows when you learn more maneuvers from a tradition you are proficient with, while the Maneuver Degree column shows the highest degree you can select maneuvers from at a given level.
As an adept, you gain +1 to your maneuver DC.
Techniques Adept Speed
Your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. You can choose this technique more than once. Its effects stack.
Destiny (Excellence)
Motivation Expression: Your craft is the ultimate projection of your inner self.
Source of Inspiration: Failure. You gain inspiration whenever the Narrator calls for you to make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the final result of the d20 roll is a natural 1.
Once obtained, inspiration can be used to grant advantage to yourself or an ally you can see who makes an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. Or use it as described in the Inspiration Feature.
Inspiration Feature: Practiced Edge. After you roll an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw but before you know the outcome, you may spend your inspiration to add a +5 bonus to that roll.
FULFILLING YOUR DESTINY
You fulfill your destiny of Excellence when you perform a crowning achievement in your field. Create a masterpiece or become renowned as the best in your field.
Fulfillment Feature: A Technique Perfected: You have achieved the apex in at least some small area of mortal ability. Choose an ability score. When you make an ability check using the chosen ability score and can add your proficiency bonus, you gain an expertise die. [Charisma]
Feats
Level 1 Skillful
Learn three skills, languages, or tool proficiencies in any combination [History, Sleight of Hand, Stealth].
Level 2: Rallying Speaker
Requires Charisma 13
You may deliver a rousing oratory that bolsters your allies. After speaking for ten minutes, you may grant temporary hit points equal to your level + your charisma modifier [10] to up to 6 friendly creatures (including yourself) that hear and understand you within 30 feet. A creature can only gain the benefits of this feat once per long rest.
Level 3 Fortunate
Fate seems to smile on you when you need it most.
You gain 3 fate points.
You may choose to invoke your luck to do the following:
• Before determining the result of an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, roll a second d20 and select which die to use. If you have disadvantage, you may instead spend a fate point to choose one of the d20 rolls and reroll it.
• Before determining the result of an attack made against you, roll a second d20 and select which die to use.
You regain all expended fate points when you finish a long rest.
Level 4 Street Fighter
You’ve left a trail of broken opponents in the back alleys and barrooms of your home.
• Raise your Strength or Constitution attribute by 1, up to the attribute cap of 20.
• You can roll 1d4 in place of your normal damage for unarmed strikes.
• Learn the improvised weapons proficiency.
• You may expend your bonus action to attempt the Grapple maneuver on an enemy you’ve hit with an unarmed or improvised weapon attack.
Level 5 Tenacious
Choose an attribute and raise it by 1, up to the attribute cap of 20, and become proficient with saving throws using the selected attribute [Wisdom].
Header Use Record
hp 65/55 Fatigue 0/7 Strife 0/7 Spells Slots: 1 (4/4), 2 (2/2) Art Specialty Percussion Intrepid 1/1 (s) Inexorable Concentration 3/3 (l) Trampling Charge 1/1 (s) Bardic Inspiration 5/5 (s) Rallying Speaker 0/1 (l) Fate Points (3/3) (l) Hand Crossbow Bolts (40/40) Inspiration 0/1
Gear (Worn gear weight 35.5 lb + 10 supply), Encumbered >210 lb
Total Cost 683.8
Coin 16.2 gp
Wagon (Size Huge, AC 12, HP 40, Speed Drawn, Crew 1, Cost 0, Supply 80, weight 1300 lb, Special Drawn) (See Mobile Living feature of Caravanner culture)
2 Draft horses to draw the wagon
Can pull total weight of 5,400 lb, Speed 40, Strength 18
Weapons 13 lb., 15.2 gp
+1 rapier
shortsword (1d6) finesse, P
Dagger (1d4) DW, finesse, P
Quarterstaff (1d6), parrying, two-handed
Hand Crossbow (1d6), DW, loading, range (30/120)
Quiver with 20 bolts
Additional 20 bolts
Backpack 22.5 lb, 63.6 gp
Castanets (percussion musical instrument)
Flute (Wind musical instrument)
Violin (string musical instrument)
Dice Set (gaming tool)
Playing Card set (gaming tool)
Thieves’ Tools
Clothes (Traveling)
Clothes (Performance Costume)
Clothes (Fine) [free: Entertainer Memento]
Set of reasonably convincing costume jewelry [free: Entertainer Memento]
Rations (Supply) 20 lb, 5 gp
10
Magic 0 lb, 500 gp
Cloak of Protection
While wearing this cloak, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class and saving throws.
+1 Rapier (free)
