About Shotaro KudoShotaro
Blinded Blade Style While you are using this style, you gain a number of benefits whenever you are blinded or unable to see (including when you wear a blindfold or close your eyes). Under such circumstances, you do not take any penalties on Strength– or Dexterity-based skill checks due to blindness. In addition, you gain a +4 bonus on hearing- and smell-based Perception checks and gain the scent special ability with a range of 10 feet; if you already have scent, the range of your scent ability increases by 10 feet instead. Having this feat counts as having 10 ranks in Perception for the purpose of satisfying the prerequisites of the Improved Blind-Fight feat, as well as any feat that lists Improved Blind-Fight as a prerequisite. Blinded Competence Prerequisite: Blinded Blade Style, Blind-Fight, Improved Blind-Fight[APG], Perception 10 ranks.
Improved Blind-Fight Melee attacks ignore the miss chance for less than total concealment. Invisible attackers within 30' you have pinpointed gain no advantages to hit you with ranged attacks. Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal. Lonely -2 saving throws vs. charms Blind Zeal (religion trait) You are blind but trained by followers of Vildeis to sense your surroundings by sound and touch. You need not attempt a skill check to move at full speed. You take a –4 penalty from blindness on only Acrobatics, Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks. You gain Blind-Fight as a bonus feat. You lose the benefits of this trait whenever you can see, but regain them if you once again become blind.
Two-thirds of the way through the path of Aganhei, the Caravan stumbled upon a remorhaze. Though they managed to slay it and continue their journey, too many of their guards died to their injuries or the resulting weather conditions after the battle. Only one guide remained, and she was injured. They would have to remain in one location for a week before they could even hope to continue. Shotaro was needed then, to stand lookout many days in a row. No one had warned him about snow blindness, and unknowing, he had not taken steps to protect himself. Each night, his eyes would burn as he rested. At first, he thought it would pass and he would recover. So he didn't want to worry his family and didn't say anything. Too many days, and by the time they had started moving again it was too late. His eyes never healed completely from the ordeal. Everything was a red and white haze. His family continued to try to care for him once they arrived in Kalsgard, but the cost to magically heal his vision was beyond them. Instead, they tried to make him comfortable and continued on their trade route down Varisia into Magnimar. That was when Shotaro was left behind. The last leg of the journey took them even further south, and so they left him with a small sum of coins and told him they'd get him on the return path. Shotaro managed to find cheap housing in the underbridge, where his lack of vision didn't really make much difference. He spent his days in front of temples, where he would try begging to save up the money to fix his eyes. He had hoped that some charity case or rich patron would fix him while his family was gone so he could make the return journey. That did not happen, neither did his family return. They had decided to settle down in Absalom, where their techniques were considered exotic and valued more highly than in their homeland. Their letters to him never survived the journey back north. Two years had passed, and Shotaro had started to despair. Until while he was begging one day, he was visited by a pair of worshipers to an angel empyreal lord, Vildeis. They had learned from their lord how to get around without needing their eyes, and offered him another way: Instead of trying to heal his eyes, learn from them how to live without them, and heal his soul. It was exactly what he needed. Learning from them taught him how to live his life without his eyes, and in time he was able to navigate the city without needing a guide to hold his hand. He even discovered that he could fight better than he had before, using his newfound senses. He began spending the money he had saved in combat training, after he donated half of it to the two traveling adherents of of Vildeis. Having learned new techniques, trained to fight for himself, he now needs to find a cause. He hadn't joined the two in their journey, and while he had learned from them, he wasn't beholden to their cause. He knew that alone, he was just a single person. He needed a cause, or at the least, people to work with. |
