The Unnamed Siren's page

If the Siren was ever given a name at birth, she doesn’t remember it. There were things she was called as a child, each as temporary in her life as the people who granted it to her, and not a one of them was hers.

She was born to an undine couple, a pair of merchants traveling the Inner sea, well-liked and modest and happy for the coming birth of their first child. When she was born, however, it was immediately obvious that something about her was off. Rather than the gentle blues and greens expected of their race, Siren resembled something fished from the depths of the ocean - deep, near-black skin patterned with points of luminescent blue, needle-sharp teeth, and wide, strange eyes. As excited as they might have been, their daughter’s appearance unsettled the couple, thinking it was evidence of something evil about the girl. They tried, really, but the girl quickly displayed strange behavior on top of her worrying appearance, and the worry turned to fear turned to paranoia, staining every thought of their daughter until they couldn’t handle even the sight of her. Unable to take it, they left her a family who insisted they could find something to do with her.

This begins a long string of foster homes, each time ending the same way. No matter how well they thought they would be able to do, each caretaker ended the same way as the girl’s parents - unnerved by her appearance, scared by her abilities and behavior, and invariably convinced that they had let some evil into their home. Siren, true to what she would eventually come to be called, was supernaturally compelling. It couldn’t be called charm, the girl never showed much aptitude or interest in being personable, but when she spoke, the people around her couldn’t help but listen, and they wouldn’t think twice about agreeing until it was much later. That in itself was strange, but what truly scared her caretakers, time and again, was when she sang. She took to the arts like, pun fully intended, a fish to water, and was naturally gifted with singing in particular. This would not have been an issue if it were only people that her singing attracted, but strange creatures would appear from nowhere to act as her audience, and water near her would dance in time to her tune. This discovery was usually the last straw, and what prompted the next hasty move.

One can only tolerate that cycle for so long, however. Once she was old enough to think she could fend for herself, and her latest caretakers had begun to look for somewhere else for her to go, she gathered what she thought she would need and ran. In a port city, finding a ship to hide away on wasn’t particularly hard. She planned to stay only until the ship made port again, and make her own way from there, but was found barely two days into their journey. Rather than face whatever consequences the sailors had in mind for her, Siren ran. With only the ship and miles of sea around them, she dived overboard. She’d been told again and again that she looked like a creature of the depths, maybe that would be a more welcoming world than she found the surface.

It was, for a time. It could have been lonely, but that same quality that had gotten her in so much trouble on the surface now brought her company in the water in all forms of aquatic life - and, in the form of an odd pull that brought her to keep exploring ever deeper. While she didn’t know what it was she was looking for, she knew there was something waiting for her in the deep reaches of the ocean, some presence calling to her. She traveled deeper, along the ocean floor, until the pressure of the ocean became almost too much for her, until finally she knew she had found the place she was being called to - and found nothing. Disappointed and exhausted, she slept in that spot, dreaming of what that promise could have been.

When she woke, it was with a monstrous eel coiled around her, protective and comforting and strangely warm, despite the deep cold of the water around them. For years, this eel stayed with her in the oceans as she wandered, fending for themselves. Still endlessly curious, Siren learned what she could from whatever sources she could, whether it was from the occasional underwater civilization she passed through, or from creatures intelligent enough to speak with her, anyone and anything she met was a new teacher, a new source of knowledge. The rest of her childhood and into early adulthood was spent like this, until the day her mind returned to the thought of her childhood, of the homes she was forced to leave and the perceptions those on the surface seemed to have of her. She’d taken their judgements at face value before, simply accepted what they thought her nature was as the truth, isolated herself from all but her eidolon and her many temporary teachers. It didn’t have to be the truth, though, did it? Once the thought entered her mind, it wouldn’t leave, and she resolved to return to the surface, determined to prove the assumptions wrong, both to herself and to anyone who might remember what was thought of her as a child. She took the name Siren, a joke she’d heard made about her, and started towards the surface.

Almost as soon as she’d made this decision and reached dry land again, a map found its way into her possession. Though she couldn’t explain where the map had come from, she took it as a sign to follow, and began to make her way to Absalom, determined to make a change and give help wherever she could. For the sake of the people she encountered, and for herself.

Siren is tall, around 5’9”, very slim, and would almost look gangly and awkward if a lifetime spent in the ocean hadn’t made her movement so fluid. Her skin is a deep midnight blue, accentuated with much lighter luminescent dots and patterns, highlighting the odd, angular proportions of her. She has a long face with high, sharp cheekbones, wide grey eyes, thin lips, and long, finned ears. Her hair is stark white, and slicks back from her face to hang, thick and straight, down her back. Her clothes are simple, leather armor that leaves the fins on her forearms and calves exposed, under a light blue robe. She forgoes boots and gloves, leaving her webbed hands and feet free.

Hydrated Vitality: An undine with this racial trait gains fast healing 2 for 1 round anytime she submerges completely within a body of natural salt water, fresh water, or brackish water. Stagnant, poisoned, or trapped water (such as an artificial pit or a bag of holding) does not activate this ability. The undine can heal up to 2 hit points per level per day with this ability, after which it ceases to function. This racial trait replaces water affinity.
Deepsight: The eyes of some undines are especially adapted to the lightless depths of the oceans, but not to air-filled environments. An undine with this racial trait has darkvision 120 feet when underwater, but otherwise has no darkvision at all. This racial trait replaces darkvision.
Amphibious: Some undines are born with a permanent bond to water. Undines with this racial trait gain the aquatic subtype and amphibious special quality. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.

Countersong (Su): At 1st level, a bard learns to counter magic effects that depend on sound (but not spells that have verbal components.) Each round of the countersong he makes a Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing) skill check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) that is affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical attack may use the bard’s Perform check result in place of its saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. If a creature within range of the countersong is already under the effect of a non-instantaneous sonic or language-dependent magical attack, it gains another saving throw against the effect each round it hears the countersong, but it must use the bard’s Perform skill check result for the save. Countersong does not work on effects that don’t allow saves. Countersong relies on audible components.

Distraction (Su): At 1st level, a bard can use his performance to counter magic effects that depend on sight. Each round of the Distraction, he makes a Perform (act, comedy, dance, or oratory) skill check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) that is affected by an illusion (pattern) or illusion (figment) magical attack may use the bard’s Perform check result in place of its saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. If a creature within range of the Distraction is already under the effect of a non-instantaneous illusion (pattern) or illusion (figment) magical attack, it gains another saving throw against the effect each round it sees the Distraction, but it must use the bard’s Perform check result for the save. Distraction does not work on effects that don’t allow saves. Distraction relies on visual components.

Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.

Watersong (Su): At 1st level, a watersinger can use bardic performance to manipulate and control the shape of water within 30 feet. A successful Perform check allows the bard to animate and control a 5-foot-cube of water. The watersinger can command the water to take various forms, bend, rise, fall, or sustain a shape, and can make it support weight as if it were solid ice. For example, the watersinger could create a pillar of water (to provide cover), ladder, channel, bridge, stairs, slide, and so on. The manipulated water is as slippery as normal ice. This ability cannot create forms more fragile or complex than what could be carved in normal ice. While under the bard’s control, the water has hardness 0 and 3 hit points per inch of thickness. At level 3, the manipulated water gains hardness 1, and this increases by +1 for every 3 bard levels beyond that. At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, the volume affected increases by an additional 5-foot cube (these cubes must be adjacent to each other). The manipulated water retains its shape for 1 round after the bard stops spending bardic performance rounds to maintain it.

Eidolon: A summoner can summon his eidolon in a ritual that takes 1 minute to perform. When summoned in this way, the eidolon’s hit points are unchanged from the last time it was summoned. The only exception to this is if the eidolon was slain, in which case it returns with half its normal hit points. The eidolon does not heal naturally. The eidolon remains until dismissed by the summoner (a standard action). If the eidolon is sent back to its home plane due to death, it cannot be summoned again until the following day. The eidolon cannot be sent back to its home plane by means of dispel magic, but spells such as dismissal and banishment function normally. If the summoner is unconscious, asleep, or killed, his eidolon is immediately banished.

Life Link: At 1st level, a summoner forms a close bond with his eidolon. Whenever the eidolon takes enough damage to send it back to its home plane, as a reaction to the damage, the summoner can sacrifice any number of hit points he has without using an action. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage dealt to the eidolon. This can prevent the eidolon from being sent back to its home plane.
In addition, the eidolon and the summoner must remain within 100 feet of one another for the eidolon to remain at full strength. If the eidolon is beyond 100 feet but closer than 1,000 feet, its current and maximum hit point totals are reduced by 50%. If the eidolon is more than 1,000 feet away but closer than 10,000 feet, its current and maximum hit point totals are reduced by 75%. If the eidolon is more than 10,000 feet away, it is immediately returned to its home plane. Current hit points lost in this way are not restored when the eidolon gets closer to its summoner, but its maximum hit point total does climb to the levels indicated and eventually returns to normal.

Summon Monster: 13/day, as Summon Monster I, except as standard action, and lasts for a minute per level rather than round. Can not have active at the same time as Eidolon.

17 gp
Shortbow(40 arrows), Leather armor, Bard’s kit (includes backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, a flute, flint and steel, ink and inkpen, iron pot, journal, a mess kit, a mirror, rope, soap, 10 torches, 5 days rations, and a waterskin), spell component pouch