Veda Northanger's page

Female Human Alchemist (Vivisectionist / Chirurgeon) 1
LE Medium Humanoid (Changeling)
Init +3; Senses Perception +4
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DEFENSE
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AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 Armor, +3 Dex, +1 Natural)
hp 10
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +0
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OFFENSE
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Speed 30 ft.

Melee +4 (Claws), +3 (Dagger)

Ranged +3 (Crossbow)
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STATISTICS
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Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD +13
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Traits

Local Tough:
You were born and raised in the town of Longacre on the southwestern fringes of the Whisperwood, or at least have lived there long enough that you’re considered a native. You’ve never been one for the quiet life, and have been considered a miscreant and reprobate since you were a child. As an adult, you’ve made something of a name for yourself as a thug, enforcer, and petty thief in town, hiring yourself out to anybody who needs muscle in exchange for a few coins. In the course of such employment, you’ve worked with another local troublemaker named Cimri Staelish and have become friends. Cimri has recently gotten involved with some shadowy, though powerful, characters, and as Hell’s Vengeance begins, you and a group of other ne’erdo-wells have agreed to help Cimri burgle a tannery just outside town. With luck, this could be the start of bigger and better things than just working as hired muscle.
Benefits: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on weapon damage rolls when you are flanking a foe with an ally.

Bruising Intellect:
Your sharp intellect and rapier-like wit bruise egos.
Benefits: Intimidate is always a class skill for you, and you may use your Intelligence modifier when making Intimidate checks instead of your Charisma modifier.

Feats

Mother's Gift
You inherit a special boon from your hag parent.
Prerequisites: Changeling.
Benefit: Your dark legacy manifests in one of the following ways. You choose the manifestation when you choose the feat, and once selected it cannot be changed.
Hag Claws (Ex): You gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with your claws.

Brew Potion:
Benefit: You can create a potion of any 3rd-level or lower spell that you know and that targets one or more creatures or objects. Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. When you create a potion, you set the caster level, which must be sufficient to cast the spell in question and no higher than your own level. To brew a potion, you must use up raw materials costing one half this base price. See the magic item creation rules in Magic Items for more information.
When you create a potion, you make any choices that you would normally make when casting the spell. Whoever drinks the potion is the target of the spell.

Throw Anything:
You are used to throwing things you have on hand.
Benefit: 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.
Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with an improvised weapon.

Skills (9 points; 4 class, 3 INT, 2 Background)
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Acrobatics* +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Appraise +3 = INT 3+0+0
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Bluff +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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Climb* +0 = STR 0+0+0
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Craft (Alchemy) +7 = INT 3+1+3 (+1 Background)
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Diplomacy +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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Disable Device*† +7 = DEX 3+1+3
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Disguise 0 = CHA 0+0+0
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Escape Artist* +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Fly* +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Handle Animal† 0 = CHA 0+0+0
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Heal +4 = WIS 0+1+3
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Intimidate +4 = INT 3+0+0+1 (Trait)
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K (Arcana)† +7 = INT 3+1+3
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K (Dungeoneering)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (Engineering)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (Geography)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (History)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (Local)† +4 = INT 3+1+0
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K (Nature)† +7 = INT 3+1+3
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K (Nobility)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (Planes)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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K (Religion)† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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Linguistics† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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Perception +4 = WIS 0+1+3
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Perform +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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Profession (Undertaker)† +4 = WIS 0+1+3 (Background)
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Profession† +0 = WIS 0+0+0
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Profession† +0 = WIS 0+0+0
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Ride +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Sense Motive +0 = WIS 0+0+0
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Sleight of Hand*† +3 = DEX 3+0+0
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Spellcraft† +3 = INT 3+0+0
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Stealth* +4 = DEX 3+1+0
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Survival +4 = WIS 0+1+3
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Swim* +0 = STR 0+0+0
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Use Magic Device† +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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ACP -2

*ACP applies to these skills
Non-Standard Skill Bonuses

Languages Taldane, Halfling, Infernal

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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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CHANGELING:

Witchborn:
+2 INT, +2 CHA, -2 CON

Hulking Changeling (Annis Hag):
The changeling gains a +1 racial bonus on melee damage rolls.

Claws:
Changelings’ fingernails are hard and sharp, granting them two claw attacks (1d4 points of damage each).

Natural Armor:
Changelings have a +1 natural armor bonus.

Darkvision:
Changelings can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

ALCHEMIST (Vivisectionist / Chirurgeon):

Alchemy (Su)
Alchemists are not only masters of creating mundane alchemical substances such as alchemist's fire and smokesticks, but also of fashioning magical potion-like extracts in which they can store spell effects. In effect, an alchemist prepares his spells by mixing ingredients into a number of extracts, and then “casts” his spells by drinking the extract. When an alchemist creates an extract or bomb, he infuses the concoction with a tiny fraction of his own magical power—this enables the creation of powerful effects, but also binds the effects to the creator. When using Craft (alchemy) to create an alchemical item, an alchemist gains a competence bonus equal to his class level on the Craft (alchemy) check. In addition, an alchemist can use Craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using detect magic. He must hold the potion for 1 round to make such a check.

An alchemist can create three special types of magical items—extracts, bombs, and mutagens are transformative elixirs that the alchemist drinks to enhance his physical abilities—both of these are detailed in their own sections below.

Extracts are the most varied of the three. In many ways, they behave like spells in potion form, and as such their effects can be dispelled by effects like dispel magic using the alchemist's level as the caster level. Unlike potions, though, extracts can have powerful effects and duplicate spells that a potion normally could not.

An alchemist can create only a certain number of extracts of each level per day. His base daily allotment of extracts is given on Table: Alchemist. In addition, he receives bonus extracts per day if he has a high Intelligence score, in the same way a wizard receives bonus spells per day. When an alchemist mixes an extract, he infuses the chemicals and reagents in the extract with magic siphoned from his own magical aura. An extract immediately becomes inert if it leaves the alchemist's possession, reactivating as soon as it returns to his keeping—an alchemist cannot normally pass out his extracts for allies to use (but see the “infusion” discovery below). An extract, once created, remains potent for 1 day before becoming inert, so an alchemist must re-prepare his extracts every day. Mixing an extract takes 1 minute of work—most alchemists prepare many extracts at the start of the day or just before going on an adventure, but it's not uncommon for an alchemist to keep some (or even all) of his daily extract slots open so that he can prepare extracts in the field as needed.

Although the alchemist doesn't actually cast spells, he does have a formulae list that determines what extracts he can create. An alchemist can utilize spell-trigger items if the spell appears on his formulae list, but not spell-completion items (unless he uses Use Magic Device to do so). An extract is “cast” by drinking it, as if imbibing a potion—the effects of an extract exactly duplicate the spell upon which its formula is based, save that the spell always affects only the drinking alchemist. The alchemist uses his level as the caster level to determine any effect based on caster level. Creating extracts consumes raw materials, but the cost of these materials is insignificant—comparable to the valueless material components of most spells. If a spell normally has a costly material component, that component is expended during the consumption of that particular extract. Extracts cannot be made from spells that have focus requirements (alchemist extracts that duplicate divine spells never have a divine focus requirement). An alchemist can prepare an extract of any formula he knows. To learn or use an extract, an alchemist must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the extract's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an alchemist's extract is 10 + the extract level + the alchemist's Intelligence modifier. An alchemist may know any number of formulae. He stores his formulae in a special tome called a formula book. He must refer to this book whenever he prepares an extract but not when he consumes it. An alchemist begins play with two 1st level formulae of his choice, plus a number of additional forumlae equal to his Intelligence modifier. At each new alchemist level, he gains one new formula of any level that he can create. An alchemist can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements. An alchemist can study a wizard's spellbook to learn any formula that is equivalent to a spell the spellbook contains. A wizard, however, cannot learn spells from a formula book. An alchemist does not need to decipher arcane writings before copying them.

Sneak Attack:
At 1st level, a vivisectionist gains the sneak attack ability as a rogue of the same level. If a character already has sneak attack from another class, the levels from the classes that grant sneak attack stack to determine the effective rogue level for the sneak attack’s extra damage dice (so an alchemist 1/rogue 1 has a +1d6 sneak attack like a 2nd-level rogue, an alchemist 2/rogue 1 has a +2d6 sneak attack like a 3rd-level rogue, and so on). This ability replaces bomb.

Mutagen (Su):
At 1st level, an alchemist discovers how to create a mutagen that he can imbibe in order to heighten his physical prowess at the cost of his personality. It takes 1 hour to brew a dose of mutagen, and once brewed, it remains potent until used. An alchemist can only maintain one dose of mutagen at a time—if he brews a second dose, any existing mutagen becomes inert. As with an extract or bomb, a mutagen that is not in an alchemist's possession becomes inert until an alchemist picks it up again.

When an alchemist brews a mutagen, he selects one physical ability score—either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. It's a standard action to drink a mutagen. Upon being imbibed, the mutagen causes the alchemist to grow bulkier and more bestial, granting him a +2 natural armor bonus and a +4 alchemical bonus to the selected ability score for 10 minutes per alchemist level. In addition, while the mutagen is in effect, the alchemist takes a –2 penalty to one of his mental ability scores. If the mutagen enhances his Strength, it applies a penalty to his Intelligence. If it enhances his Dexterity, it applies a penalty to his Wisdom. If it enhances his Constitution, it applies a penalty to his Charisma.

A non-alchemist who drinks a mutagen must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the alchemist's level + the alchemist's Intelligence modifier) or become nauseated for 1 hour—a non-alchemist can never gain the benefit of a mutagen, but an alchemist can gain the effects of another alchemist's mutagen if he drinks it. (Although if the other alchemist creates a different mutagen, the effects of the “stolen” mutagen immediately cease.) The effects of a mutagen do not stack. Whenever an alchemist drinks a mutagen, the effects of any previous mutagen immediately end.

[spoiler=Discoveries]

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Formula List
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1st (1+1/day)

Adhesive Spittle
Cure Light Wounds
Expeditious Retreat
Heightened Awareness
Shield

2nd

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GEAR/POSSESSIONS

Consumables
Crossbow Bolts (20)
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Studded Leather Armor
Dagger x2
Light Crossbow
Alchemy Crafting Kit
Backpack
Waterskin
Whetstone
Bedroll
Belt Pouch
Bandolier
Notebook
Pen & Ink
Flint & Steel
Iron Pot
Mess Kit
Soap
Torches (x5)
Rations (5 Days)
Basic Dress
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Carrying Capacity
Light 0-33 lb. Medium 34-67 lb. Heavy 68-100 lb.
Current Load Carried 0 lb.

Money 1 GP 5 SP 0 CP

Height: 5'10" | Weight: 130 | Hair: Black | Eyes: Blue / Violet (Dichromatic)

The two things that stand out most about Veda’s appearance are her height and her eyes. Veda is quite tall for a woman. Not much shy of six feet, she is taller even than most of the men in Longacre. Veda’s eyes are dichromatic. Her right eye is light blue, while her left eye is a dark violet. Despite her slender build Veda gives the impression of being solid rather than willowy. Her complexion is pale and her black hair is long, falling past her shoulders.

Veda is meticulous in caring for her claw-like fingernails. She does not want them to seem abnormal or bestial in any way so she keeps them very carefully manicured and polished using a rotating array of colors. She also favors gloves if wearing them wouldn’t seem odd.

Given where she lives and her line of work, Veda tends to dress practically in plain trousers and shirts. Besides, Veda and her father are very modestly comfortable. They have never lacked for food on the table, but there’s never been any extra money for fancy things anyway.

Veda is intelligent and good-looking in her distinctive way. Despite and in part because of this she has some difficulty relating to other people. Veda doesn’t have much capacity for empathy or compassion. When combined with her intelligence, her deficit of feeling for others can make her a hard pill to swallow. She does not suffer fools and prefers to communicate informationally rather than reciprocally or supportively. She will talk at length about her interests and views whether other people want to hear about it or not. She tends to offer blunt advice to those around her rather than sympathy, which makes it difficult for other people to confide in her.

On the other hand, if the subject is one Veda has little interest in, she can be quite malleable. Often, she will agree with others simply to preserve good will or to put an uncomfortable discussion to rest. Veda tends to be a follower rather than a leader. As long as she believes she’s listened to on topics that matter to her, she’s content to follow another’s lead.

Veda’s dampened empathy does not mean she is cruel or sadistic. She is very practical about the use of violence. Violence is not her favored solution to problems; it is one tool among several. If she believes it is the best tool for the moment, she won’t hesitate to use it. She doesn’t enjoy using violence, nor does she feel guilt or sorrow when she does. She uses or doesn’t use it in the detached way she might choose a fork or spoon to eat her meal. Whichever works best with the food she’s about to eat is fine.

While it is true Veda can be a difficult person at times and doesn’t bond easily with people, she’s generally not unpleasant to be around unless one happens to be one of those people who picks up on that… whatever it is about her that seems off. She is entirely capable of enjoying herself with other people and has a good, if dark, sense of humor. Her need to be around and engaged with people so The Call remains muted means she does try to smooth the rough edges of her personality as best she can. She’s just not always successful.

*On Being a Changeling*
Certain things about Veda are best understood through the lens of how Veda views herself as a changeling. From a fairly young age Veda felt she wasn’t really like the people around her. In part her fascination with the corpses she worked on with her father comes from those feelings. She has always wanted to understand what people are so she can try to find how she connects to them. It was later through reading about fantastical creatures that she came upon information about changelings and recognized the similarities to herself. This alone didn’t convince her that she was one, but it did give her a theory to test. She was never able to learn very much about changelings given the limited resources in Longacre, but over time she came to unconsciously accept she was one, even if she did not consciously accept the reality of things until later.

When she began to receive The Call from her mother, its source wasn’t a mystery to her. Instead it forced her to admit something she’d implicitly known for a few years. Veda had also educated herself on hags as best she could. If there was one thing she was certain of it was that she did not want to be one. Aside from succumbing to The call, Veda worries about the possibility her transformation might progress on its own, without her mother’s input. The best analogy she has formulated is that she may be something like a hag larva.

Just as some insects like certain wasps deposit their eggs inside a host, she was deposited with Dennet Northanger to act as a host for her. Larvae do not need direct contact with an adult insect for transformations to occur. Veda wonders if the same might be true for her. Veda’s goal is to arrest her transformation at the larval stage, and the best tools she has found at her disposal to attempt it are anatomical knowledge and chemistry.

While these subjects are interesting to her on their own, her concrete objective is to use them if necessary to stop any changes she finds and preserve herself in her current body. She checks herself regularly and suspects the calloused grey patch on her thigh might be the place where any changes first occur.

Veda also feels anxious and uneasy about forests. The Call beckons from the Whisperwood and she has no desire to accidentally run across her mother, or any other hag for that matter, while wandering around in the wilderness. Veda intends to move to the city, probably Westcrown, to put more distance between herself and the forest, but that will take more money than she has right now.

Veda does not advertise the fact she's a changeling, but won't deny it if asked directly. She does not know whether her adoptive father knows what she is or not. It seems incredible to her that Dennet wouldn't have noticed anything after so much time in close contact with her. But neither of them has ever brought the subject up with the other.

**What Dennet Knows**
There IS an answer: Yeah, he knows. Dennet isn't as ignorant as he may seem to others. He's known Veda is a changeling much longer than she has. It breaks his heart because he is certain he will lose her to her mother in the near future. While it is true Dennet is allergic to confrontations and arguments, much of the reason he is so permissive with Veda is because she's a changeling. He sees her the way one might see a person with a terminal illness. She doesn't have much time left so she should enjoy it doing what she wants. Soon it won't matter what she's done anyway. He doesn't believe she's involved with anything destructive or criminal though. He also doesn't know Veda is already receiving The Call and is resisting it.

Dennet Northanger was the one who found Veda on his doorstep. His particular doorstep was an odd place for her to be, even for an abandoned infant. Dennet, Longacre’s undertaker and gravedigger, was a lifelong bachelor not known for a wide circle of close friends. He was well enough liked and considered a good man, but he was also very quiet and unassertive. Not the outgoing type, Dennet was not the first person to come to mind for anything except when his particular services were needed.

Dennet kept the infant, partly due to pity, partly due to loneliness. A good portion of the decision was also due to his belief in fate. If the infant was there on his doorstep, it wasn’t his to reason why he believed. One accepted what life handed out, and carried on as best one could. He has been a good provider to Veda over the years, but not so good at guiding her.

Some would attribute Dennet’s failure to curb Veda’s eventual wayward behavior to overindulgence. The truth is it has more to do with his passivity. For example, Dennet began to introduce Veda to his work at a young age, before she was quite yet a teen. He figured she should learn so she would have some way to make a living. Veda didn’t show a typical aversion to dead bodies. Instead she found them very interesting, always asking Dennet to show her exactly how they died and why. She was anxious to learn her way around their anatomy and understand how they functioned. Most would call Veda’s preoccupation morbid. Dennet decided she must just be a natural. Later, when he showed Veda how to embalm bodies, something that was only rarely done, she quickly proved to be better than him at the task. Dennet wasn’t wrong about her talent, but he used it as an excuse to avoid uncomfortable conversations about respect for the dead.

This pattern held in all areas. Later, when Veda was a teen who stayed out overnight, or even a couple of days, Dennet would welcome her back, make her something to eat, and ask no questions. At times Veda was relieved by Dennet’s non-reactions. But she came to see his lack of concern about what she did as a lack of concern about her.

Early on there were no major problems. Veda was content to occupy herself with reading and learning from Dennet. But by her mid-teens, Veda began to feel stifled and to grow restless. Her relationship to Dennet was growing more distant, and she had few people she could call friends, especially close friends. There had always been something about Veda that other people couldn’t quite put their finger on. To some she seemed to be off somehow. To a much smaller group of mostly men she seemed bizarrely attractive for reasons they couldn’t quite explain. Those who got to know her some found her interests creepy, and those who got past her interests found her to never be particularly open with them.

Veda found most acceptance among others in her age group who were socially marginalized. They were also usually the ones who were behaving badly when they could get away with it. At first there wasn’t much to it, a little vandalism, or drinking to excess, or pilfering. Most among those Veda spent time with went no further. There were moral, family, or legal boundaries they would not cross. But for Veda a new, opposite incentive came into play. Veda began to hear The Call from her mother. By the time it happened Veda knew what she was, so it was not mysterious to her. She also knew what the result of obeying The Call would be. Becoming a hag was not something that appealed to her in the least.

Veda turned to socializing more, along with more extreme behavior to occupy her mind, trying to drown out The Call. Cimri, a previous acquaintance, became much more important to Veda during this time. Cimri was at the deep dark end among the unsavory people Veda hung around with. She was actually a criminal rather than just bored or a troublemaker. At first Veda ingratiated herself to Cimri and her circle by taking care of injuries if the person couldn’t afford to, or couldn’t risk going to a real healer. The sketchiness and riskiness were thrilling jolts to Veda, just the sort of thing she needed to keep The Call at bay. Although the sums were nothing like a professional would make, Veda also found the pay enticing. She’d never had real spending money before.

As they grew closer, Veda began to take on an active role in Cimri’s capers. That’s where the real adrenaline rushes and payouts could be had.