Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +9 (+2 vs Charm & Compulsion)
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OFFENSE
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee +8 (+10 Bastard Sword)
Ranged +8
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STATISTICS
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Str 18, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 13
Base Atk +4; CMB +8; CMD 24
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TRAITS
Armor Expert (Combat):
You have worn armor as long as you can remember, either as part of your training to become a knight’s squire or simply because you were seeking to emulate a hero. Your childhood armor wasn’t the real thing as far as protection, but it did encumber you as much as real armor would have, and you’ve grown used to moving in such suits with relative grace. When you wear armor of any sort, reduce that suit’s armor check penalty by 1, to a minimum check penalty of 0.
Focused Disciple (Faith):
When weaker wills falter, you keep a clear mind. You gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against charm and compulsion effects.
Pragmatic Activator (Magic):
While some figure out how to use magical devices with stubborn resolve, your approach is more pragmatic. You may use your Intelligence modifier when making Use Magic Device checks instead of your Charisma modifier.
Cunning Liar (Regional):
You were forced into hiding or willingly went on the run at a young age, and learned to reading others’ interests to inform your lies. You can use your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier in place of your Charisma modifier on Bluff checks.
Bitter (Drawback):
You have been hurt repeatedly by those you trusted, and it has become difficult for you to accept help. When you receive healing from an ally’s class feature, spell, or spell-like ability, reduce the amount of that healing by 1 hit point.
FEATS
Toughness (L1):
You have enhanced physical stamina.
Benefit: You gain +3 hit points. For every Hit Die you possess beyond 3, you gain an additional +1 hit point. If you have more than 3 Hit Dice, you gain +1 hit points whenever you gain a Hit Die (such as when you gain a level).
Iron Will (Shadowhunter):
You are more resistant to mental effects.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Will saving throws.
Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades) (FB):
Choose one type of weapon. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple (or ray, if you are a spellcaster) as your weapon for the purposes of this feat.
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.
Combat Reflexes (L2):
You can make additional attacks of opportunity.
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity per round equal to your Dexterity bonus. With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Normal: A character without this feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can’t make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Special: The Combat Reflexes feat does not allow a rogue to use her opportunist ability more than once per round.
Dodge (L3):
Your training and reflexes allow you to react swiftly to avoid an opponents’ attacks.
Prerequisite: Dex 13.
Benefit: You gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. A condition that makes you lose your Dex bonus to AC also makes you lose the benefits of this feat.
Extra Investigator Talent Effortless Aid (L4):
You learn a new way to use your training and inspiration.
Prerequisite(s): Investigator talent class feature.
Benefit: You gain one additional investigator talent. You must meet the prerequisites for this investigator talent.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you gain another investigator talent.
Great Fortitude (L5):
You are resistant to poisons, diseases, and other maladies.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saving throws.
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Acrobatics* +9 = DEX 4+2+3
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Appraise +8 = INT 4+1+3 (+1 Background)
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Bluff +11 = INT 4+4+3 (INT to Bluff - Trait)
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Climb* +8 = STR +4+1+3
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Craft (Alchemy) +9 = INT 4+2+3 (+2 Background)
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Diplomacy +7 = CHA 1+3+3
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Disable Device*† +16 = DEX 4+5+3+2+2 (+2 MWK Thieves Tools, +2 Trapfinding))
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Disguise +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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Escape Artist* +8 = DEX 4+1+3
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Fly* +4 = DEX 4+0+0
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Handle Animal† +5 = CHA 1+1+3 (+1 Background)
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Heal +2 = WIS 2+0+0
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Intimidate +6 = CHA 1+2+3
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K (Arcana)† +9 = INT 4+2+3
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K (Dungeoneering)† +8 = INT 4+1+3
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K (Engineering)† +8 = INT 4+1+3 (+1 Background)
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K (Geography)† +8 = INT 4+1+3 (+1 Background)
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K (History)† +8 = INT 4+1+3 (+1 Background)
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K (Local)† +10 = INT 4+3+3
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K (Nature)† +9 = INT 4+2+3
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K (Nobility)† +4 = INT 4+0+0
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K (Planes)† +10 = INT 4+3+3
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K (Religion)† +9 = INT 4+2+3
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Linguistics† +9 = INT 4+2+3
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Perception +10 = WIS 2+5+3 (+2 Locate Traps)
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Perform +1 = CHA 1+0+0
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Profession† +2 = WIS 2+0+0
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Ride +8 = DEX 4+1+3
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Sense Motive +9 = WIS 2+4+3
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Sleight of Hand*† +9 = DEX 4+2+3 (+2 Background)
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Spellcraft† +7 = INT 3+1+3
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Stealth* +12 = DEX 4+5+3
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Survival +6 = WIS 2+1+3
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Swim* +8 = STR +4+1+3
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Use Magic Device† +11 = INT 4+4+3 (INT to UMD - Trait)
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* Armor Check Penalty 0
† Trained Only
*ACP applies to these skills
Non-Standard Skill Bonuses
+1 Acrobatics & Skill in Class (Trait)
Languages Dwarven, Taldane, Orc, Shoanti, Giant
Special Abilities:
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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HUMAN
Shadowhunter:
Those who understand the connection between shadows and the Negative Energy Plane know how to fight the spirits of darkness. Characters with this trait deal 50% weapon damage to incorporeal creatures when using nonmagical weapons (including natural and unarmed attacks), as if using magic weapons. They also gain a +2 bonus on saving throws to remove negative levels, and recover physical ability damage from attacks by undead creatures at a rate of 2 points per ability score per day (rather than the normal 1 point per ability score per day). Humans can take this trait in place of their bonus feat, also gaining Iron Will as a bonus feat.
FIGHTER:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and shields (including tower shields).
Bonus Feats:
At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, a fighter gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the fighter gains a feat at every level). These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as combat feats, sometimes also called “fighter bonus feats.”
Upon reaching 4th level, and every four levels thereafter (8th, 12th, and so on), a fighter can choose to learn a new bonus feat in place of a bonus feat he has already learned. In effect, the fighter loses the bonus feat in exchange for the new one. The old feat cannot be one that was used as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability. A fighter can only change one feat at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the feat at the time he gains a new bonus feat for the level.
INVESTIGATOR (Lamplighter)
Alchemy (Su):
When using Craft (alchemy) to create an alchemical item, an investigator gains a competence bonus equal to his class level on the skill check. In addition, an investigator can use Craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using detect magic. He must hold the potion for 1 round to attempt such a check.
Like an alchemist, an investigator prepares his spells by mixing ingredients and a tiny fraction of his own magical power into a number of extracts, and then effectively casts the spell by drinking the extract. These extracts have powerful effects, but they are also bound to their creator. Extracts behave like spells in potion form, and as such their effects can be dispelled by dispel magic and similar effects, using the investigator’s level as the caster level.
An investigator can create only a certain number of extracts of each level per day. His base daily allotment of extracts per day is given on Table 1–8: Investigator. 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 investigator mixes an extract, he infuses the chemicals and reagents in the extract with magic siphoned from his own magical aura. An extract immediately become inert if it leaves the investigator’s possession, reactivating as soon as it returns to his keeping—an investigator cannot normally pass out his extracts for allies to use. An extract, once created, remains potent for 1 day before losing its magic, so an investigator must reprepare his extracts every day. Mixing an extract takes 1 minute of work.
Creating extracts consumes raw material, but the cost of those 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; extracts that duplicate divine spells never have a divine focus requirement.
An investigator uses the alchemist formula list to determine the extracts he can know. An investigator can prepare an extract of any formula he knows. To learn or use an extract, an investigator must have at least an Intelligence score equal to 10 + the extract’s level. The saving throw DC for an investigator’s extract is equal to 10 + the extract’s level + the investigator’s Intelligence modifier.
An investigator 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. At 1st level, an investigator starts with two 1stlevel formulae of his choice, plus a number of additional formulae equal to his Intelligence modifier. At each new investigator level, he gains one new formula for any level that he can create. An investigator can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs, pages, and time requirements. A formula book costs as much as a spellbook. An investigator 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 investigator can also learn formulae from another investigator’s or an alchemist’s formula book (and vice versa). An investigator does not need to decipher arcane writing before copying that formulae.
Inspiration (Ex):
An investigator has the ability to augment skill checks and ability checks through his brilliant inspiration. The investigator has an inspiration pool equal to 1/2 his investigator level + his Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). An investigator’s inspiration pool refreshes each day, typically after he gets a restful night’s sleep. As a free action, he can expend one use of inspiration from his pool to add 1d6 to the result of that check, including any on which he takes 10 or 20. This choice is made after the check is rolled and before the results are revealed. An investigator can only use inspiration once per check or roll. The investigator can use inspiration on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he’s trained in the skill.
Inspiration can also be used on attack rolls and saving throws, at the cost of expending two uses of inspiration each time from the investigator’s pool. In the case of saving throws, using inspiration is an immediate action rather than a free action.
Studied Combat (Ex):
With a keen eye and calculating mind, an investigator can assess the mettle of his opponent to take advantage of gaps in talent and training. At 4th level, an investigator can use a move action to study a single enemy that he can see. Upon doing so, he adds 1/2 his investigator level as an insight bonus on melee attack rolls and as a bonus on damage rolls against the creature. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) or until he deals damage with a studied strike, whichever comes first. The bonus on damage rolls is precision damage, and is not multiplied on a critical hit.
An investigator can only have one target of studied combat at a time, and once a creature has become the target of an investigator’s studied combat, he cannot become the target of the same investigator’s studied combat again for 24 hours unless the investigator expends one use of inspiration when taking the move action to use this ability.
Studied Strike (Ex):
At 4th level, an investigator can choose to make a studied strike against the target of his studied combat as a free action, upon successfully hitting his studied target with a melee attack, to deal additional damage. The damage is 1d6 at 4th level, and increases by 1d6 for every 2 levels thereafter (to a maximum of 9d6 at 20th level). The damage of studied strike is precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit; creatures that are immune to sneak attacks are also immune to studied strike.
If the investigator’s attack used a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), he may choose to have the additional damage from studied strike be nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. If the investigator chose to make an attack with a lethal weapon instead deal nonlethal damage (with the usual –4 penalty), the studied strike damage may also deal nonlethal damage.
The investigator must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. An investigator cannot use studied strike against a creature with concealment.
Trapfinding:
An investigator adds 1/2 his level to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device checks (minimum 1). An investigator can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
Poison Lore (Ex):
An investigator has a deep understanding and appreciation for poisons. At 2nd level, he cannot accidentally poison himself when applying poison to a weapon. If the investigator spends 1 minute physically examining the poison, he can attempt a Knowledge (nature) check to identify any natural poison or Knowledge (arcana) check to identify any magical poison (DC = the poison’s saving throw DC). Lastly, once a poison is identified, he can spend 1 minute and attempt a Craft (alchemy) check (DC = the poison’s saving throw DC) to neutralize 1 dose of the poison. Success renders the dose harmless. The investigator has no chance of accidentally poisoning himself when examining or attempting to neutralize a poison.
Poison Resistance (Ex):
At 2nd level, an investigator gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws against poison. This bonus increases to +4 at 5th level, and to +6 at 8th level. At 11th level, the investigator becomes completely immune to poison.
Keen Recollection:
At 3rd level, an investigator can attempt all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Trap Sense (Ex):
At 3rd level, an investigator gains an intuitive sense that alerts him to danger from traps, granting him a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. At 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter, these bonuses increase by 1 (to a maximum of +6 at 18th level).
Swift Alchemy (Ex):
At 4th level, an investigator can create alchemical items with astounding speed. It takes an investigator half the normal amount of time to create alchemical items. He can also apply poison to a weapon as a move action instead of a standard action.
LAMPLIGHTER:
Skills:
Perform and Profession are not class skills for a lamplighter. This ability alters the investigator’s class skills.
Lamplighter (Su):
At 1st level, a lamplighter can take a move action to create a small flame that immediately ignites a lamp, torch, or similar flammable item he’s holding.
Alchemical Illumination (Sp):
At 2nd level, as a standard action, a lamplighter can cast certain light spells by burning a magic extract, infusion, or potion of a spell of the same or greater level than the light spell in a lit lantern or torch. If the spell has a range of touch, the lantern or torch counts as the object touched. The spell’s DC, if any, equals 10 + spell level + the lamplighter’s Intelligence modifier. At 2nd level, the lamplighter can cast light and continual flame (24 hour duration). At 5th level, the lamplighter can cast daylight and discovery torchUC. At 8th level, the lamplighter can cast searing light. At 11th level, the lamplighter can cast judgment lightUC. The lamplighter need not have an active judgment to cast this spell, can choose what color of judgment light is created, can use his alignment for golden light, and can select any element for copper light. This ability replaces poison lore, poison resistance, and poison immunity.
Ready for the Revelation (Ex):
At 3rd level, a lamplighter can use inspiration on initiative checks without spending a use of inspiration. He can use his Intelligence modifier in place of his Dexterity modifier on initiative checks. At 6th level, if the lamplighter has Quick Draw, he can draw a weapon as part of his initiative check. At 9th level, the lamplighter isn’t flat-footed before he acts in the first round of combat. At 12th level, the lamplighter adds his Intelligence bonus as well as his Dexterity bonus to initiative checks. At 15th level, the lamplighter can act last during the surprise round even if he is otherwise unaware combat has started. At 18th level, the lamplighter is not limited to just a move or standard action during the surprise round—he can act normally. This ability replaces keen recollection and trap sense.
TALENTS:
Infusion:
When the alchemist creates an extract, he can infuse it with an extra bit of his own magical power. The extract created now persists even after the alchemist sets it down. As long as the extract exists, it continues to occupy one of the alchemist's daily extract slots. An infused extract can be imbibed by a non-alchemist to gain its effects.
Coin Shot
Comprehend Languages
Cure Light Wounds
Endure Elements
Enlarge Person
Expeditious Retreat
Heightened Awareness
Monkey Fish
Polypurpose Panacea
Shield
Tears to Wine
Waterproof
2nd: 2+1/day | DC: 15
Alchemical Allocation
Cure Moderate Wounds
Darkvision
Focused Scrutiny Invisibility
Resist Energy
Restoration, Lesser
See Invisibility
Carrying Capacity Light 0-33 lb. Medium 34-67 lb. Heavy 68-100 lb.
Current Load Carried 0 lb.
Money 216 GP 6 SP 7 CP
Background:
Vilma was born in the the environs around the Citadel of the Raven, which makes her a citizen of Zhentarim lands, if she can be said to have any citizenship at all. She was raised nearly from birth in the citadel among the Daughters of the Raven, a militant sisterhood where the most talented girls were trained to serve the Zhentarim. Vilma has no memory of parents or family, and the subject was never discussed with her. It was the same with all the other girls as well. They all might as well have popped into existence out thin air, existing solely for service to the Zhentarim.
Life for Vilma and all the other girls was the same, they communally occupied their own building, living a strictly regimented life of training under a group of matrons and other instructors. The sisterhood taught lessons on the divine right of the strong to rule the weak, that order prevents chaos, of each girl's duty to The Sisterhood and its parent organization the Zhentarim. She was taught of the petty weakness of many of the other nations: the Dalelands were filled with brigands, cultists, and thieves, Sembian were deceitful merchants, and Cormyr was an incestuous kingdom of hedonistic nobles.
As the girls grew older and their particular proclivities and talents began to emerge, they were sorted accordingly into one of four groups for specialized training and education. These came from Tara, and may not be applicable to other games.
Swordsworn - mighty warriors and tactical commanders
Darkstalkers - skilled hunters and trackers
Whisperwalks - highly adept infiltrators and deceivers
Weavebreakers - brutal arcane practitioners
Vilma went to the Swordsworn. While she was an excellent student all-around, she was truly outstanding in athletics and martial training. After years of training, in her mid-teenage years she and several ‘sisters’ began being deployed in actions, though always accompanied by matrons and other forces.
In late 1368, during a major conflict, in the midst of battle, a grizzled man (perhaps in his late 40s or early 50s), sword in hand was running past and stopped dead in his tracks just as Vilma defeated her present foe. He looked shocked/confused/overcome by emotion, and said one word, a name - “Inara”. A moment later an explosion cast them both to the ground, and when the dust cleared he was gone.
The battle was ended and Vilma found her matron had died. In shock from the loss of one of her mentors, and the interaction with the strange man, she ventured back to the citadel with the unit she had traveled with. Strangely, she went through her matron’s belongings and found a book, a journal. Though she had little time to examine it, when they reached the Citadel, she did not turn it in with the rest of her matron’s recovered possessions.
Studying the text in moments she could find privacy, Vilma found writings chronicling the capture or abduction of young girls, and training them into a cult-like order of loyal servants of the Black Network. In one recent excerpt, it even spoke of concerns of deploying them into areas where they might hold some familiarity. And she realized she remembered the name, Inara, and the look of that man’s face.
The possibility that she may have been taken from some family somewhere caused Vilma to re-evaluate other doubts she had previously shoved aside. The hamlets and villages her company raided didn’t seem to match the descriptions of the Dalelands’ brigandry and wickedness she had been taught. The infighting between Bane’s and Cyric’s factions within the Zhentarim’s upper ranks were terrifying, one could never know when one might be somehow fatally dragged into a fair in the conflict. The Black Network hardly seemed the model of law and order she was meant to believe it was.
Vilma felt betrayed, robbed of a life she had never known. And she wanted to tell others, but who would believe her? So she bided her time, but on a future deployment in the hear battle she faked her death, and escaped into the wilderness in the chaos. It wasn’t difficult to do. Vilma simply played dead until it was dark and found a corpse on the field to match her, female, of the same height and hair color. She switched clothes and gear with the dead woman, then Vilma pulverized the woman’s face with her mace. Vilma then slipped away and headed south.
This was the extent of Vilma’s plan. She didn’t know enough about the world outside the Citadel of the Raven for anything more long-term. What Vilma does know is the lands outside the Zhentarim’s direct control are seeded with its spies and informants. For a while, Vilma was careful to move from place to place, never staying anywhere for too long and taking whatever work she could find.
Vilma’s circumstances changed in the town of Essembra. Vilma was living in the smallest, cheapest room she could find at an inn while working collections for a bookmaker. The very gray relationship of her occupation collecting on debts in relation to the local law meant she came to the attention of Sunyer, Essembra’s constable. Strictly speaking, the mere collection of a debt wasn’t against the law, however quite a few of the means by which a debtor might be encouraged to pay up on time were. Sunyer wanted to make it clear to Vilma that he had his eye on her.
As they brushed up against each other over time, Sunyer formed a good impression of Vilma. She seemed to him to be fundamentally decent, very intelligent, and having learned some street smarts wasn’t a bad thing. They were even both avid readers. The constable eventually offered her a job with him if she quit her old one, and Vilma took it. Sunyer really did need some help. Aside from him, there were only a scant handful of barely competent night watchmen he could call upon.
Vilma became Sunyer’s deputy, and he mentored her. She turned out to have a strong talent for the work, and Sunyer wasn’t the typical small town constable. He was originally from Cormyr, born to a prosperous family, and very well-educated. As Sunyer told it, he came up to the Dalelands because he was an idealist who wanted to do more good than a career in business would allow.
Within a year, Vilma was more a partner of Sunyer’s than his trainee; she even learned alchemy from him. Within a couple of years their relationship became romantic, then intimate. Vilma became comfortable, and then careless. For a while, she was always careful that Solyer only saw her undressed in the dark. But, then she forgot and he saw her tattoo. Every daughter in the in the Daughters of the Raven bore a tattoo on her left shoulder blade in accordance to their assigned position (the Whisperwalks were the exception since a tattoo would too easily lead to their being discovered as spies given the nature of their work). As a Swordsworn, Vilma’s was the Zhentarim’s signature flying snake, except with a dagger just beyond its open mouth instead of a circle.
Sunyer believed, or at least wanted to believe, Vilma’s explanation. But, he fired her because he could not risk the possibility she was still a Zhentarim spy. He broke off their personal relationship because she has kept it from him. He could not abide either thing. Vilma left Essembra immediately after putting her affairs there in order.
Vilma’s experience in Essembra left her both saddened and more cynical about the idea of redemption. She saw enough to know that for a person’s past to be considered “behind them” by others, good works or contributions to a community aren’t sufficient. Money is what actually matters. Her involuntary sins won’t be forgotten, and never really forgiven. But in any town or city there are some number of absolutely the worst bastards who will be respected because they can buy it.
This is Vilma’s new plan. She doesn’t intend to be awful going forward, no interest in that. But she will be rich so she can settle down somewhere eventually in peace and without worry about her past being known. To make this happen, Vilma is looking for an opportunity to put together an adventuring group. She believes she has the knowledge to find rich targets for exploration, with time and some risk they’ll finish their careers wealthy.
Vilma is on the taller side and average height, with a compact, athletic body. Her skin tone is light, which along with her hair and eye colors makes her seem quite pale.
Vilma's’s hair has a bit of waviness to it, and falls a few inches past her shoulders. She wears it down and free unless she expects to be wearing her helmet. If she will be wearing her helmet, Vilma braids her hair and wears it up.
She prefers functional, durable clothing for daily wear. Trousers and shirts with boots are the usual. But Vilma likes to keep of appearances tending to mix in an item like a brightly colored jacket, or an expensive accessory or two so she makes an impression.
Vilma's’s typical demeanor is outgoing and quite friendly in social or public situations. She is aware that showing off too much intelligence all the time can put some people off and make it seem like she's putting on airs. However, when there is a need for it, Vilma can be quite eloquent and persuasive, she knows how to sell things when she needs to.
That said, Vilma has her pursuits like reading, research, and alchemy that requires time alone when she doesn't like to be disturbed. When she is bothered she can be grouchy with people. She's by nature an introvert, but she's good at masking it.
Personality
For a long while after she escaped from the Black Network, Vilma had a rough time of it. She was transitioning from a past in which everything she did was controlled by superiors who had absolute power over every aspect of her life, to a future in which she had to make all of her own decisions without knowing much at all about the new world she was inhabiting. Vilma was also concerned she might be found by the Zhentarim and be killed or abducted back to what would surely be a worse fate.
She moved around often and got by as best she could while avoiding letting anyone know much about her. The one glorious thing that kept her on a fairly even keel during that time was reading. It helped her to get out of her own head, and it taught her about the world outside the Black Network faster than experience alone would have. For all her physical gifts, Vilma also has a brilliant mind. She had been sorted into the Swordsworn not because the matrons failed to recognize it, but because they saw great potential in her. She could be an officer, tough enough to survive and thrive as well as smart and ambitious enough to lead. Vilma has a memory that is nearly photographic, and being able to read whatever she wanted rather than only what was given to her expanded her horizons in intoxicating ways.
A second turn for Vilma came when she met the constable Sunyer in Essembra. While things did noted well for Vilma and Sunyer, the experience was transformative for Vilma. Not only did she learn a lot from Sunyer, she also found confidence in herself. She knows that she can decide what she wants and she has the smarts and talent to make it happen. Things ended with Sunyer and Essembra in a way that hurt her, but given some time Vilma came to see all of it positively. She thinks it was better, a change that had to happen for her to fully realize her potential. Maybe she loved Sunyer, but maybe she didn’t. It was her first experience with such a thing, an experiment, and how often do those really the first time around?
Maybe Vilma is feeling a little less altruistic now that she did for a while, but she still feels guilty for the things she did serving the Zhentarim, and she doesn’t intend to return to those ways for self-serving motives. But, she can be practical about doing some good. Done the right way, there’s money to be made in it. There are all manner of nasty nooks and crannies to explore and clean out. Vilma has the book knowledge to figure out the richer ones to choose, and the practical field experience to take a team in to clean clean out the dangers to society and carry away the loots. All she needs is partners, extra hands for the work.
Vilma isn’t terribly concerned about hiding who she used to be anymore, not that she intends to advertise it instead. But she’s seen enough to the cynical enough to believe that wealth buys good will and dulls memories of one’s past. Perhaps hubris is a danger for Vilma. But if so, her chances of surviving to learn her lesson are much better than average, and she’s nothing if not adaptable.
Party Roles and Advancement:
Vilma is meant to fill the skills role, including handling traps, that a Rogue would, while adding some extra features for more flexibility. She is more durable in combat than the usual Investigator, but simple on offense since she will rely on improved weapons and armor, high strength, and studied combat / studied strike for damage. She will also be able to efficiently use aid another in combat. Lamplighter will eventually put her at the top of the initiative order most of the time.
I don't plan to invest many feats in combat, just the basics for accuracy and damage. The rest will be going to bolster all around utility and support.
She will be great at knowledge checks so can handle the party's needs in research and information gathering. She will also be able to hand off alchemical buffs. Since she has high stats, Vilma may not need to self-buff quite as much as Investigators typically do.
Also, if healing is an issue for the party, it would be very easy for Vilma to pick up the non-magical healing feats to cover that need. Only a couple of minor tweaks to the current character would need to be made to get it started.
