Zhastus Drastuul
Male NG Human (Ustalavan) Witch (Beastbonded), Level 1, Init +2, HP 8/8, Speed 30 ft.
AC 12, Touch 12, Flat-footed 10, Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2, Base Attack Bonus 0
Dagger +1 (1d4+1, 19-20 x2)
Sling (Bullets (20)) +2 (1d6+1, 20 x2)
(+2 Dex)
Abilities Str 13, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 10
Condition None
Spells:
Spells Prepared Cantrips; Save DC 13
*Detect Magic
*Spark
*Read Magic
*Dancing Lights
1st Level; Save DC 14
Mage Armor (CL 2) 0/1
Ear Piercing Scream 0/1
Spells Known Cantrips: All Witch Cantrips
1st Level: Sleep, Mage Armor, Mount, Identify, Command, Ear Piercing Scream
Traits:
On the Payroll
Gifed Adept (Mage Armor): Pick one spell when you choose this trait. Whenever you cast that spell, its effects manifest at +1 caster level.
Feats:
Human Bonus: Extra Hex(Healing Hex)
1: TBD
Special Abilities:
Witch's Familiar (Thrush): +3 to Diplomacy checks, see "Tsarigo" below
Transfer Feats: Whenever the beast-bonded witch is capable of learning a new feat, she may choose to instead have her familiar learn the feat as a bonus feat. The familiar must meet the prerequisites for any feats that it learns this way. If her familiar is lost or dies, the witch can reclaim the feat slots and select new feats for herself, or apply the slots toward her new familiar.
Hexes:
Feat: Healing Hex: A witch can soothe the wounds of those she touches. This acts as a cure light wounds spell, using the witch’s caster level. Once a creature has benefited from the healing hex, it cannot benefit from it again for 24 hours. At 5th level, this hex acts like cure moderate wounds.
1:Feral Speech: This hex grants the witch the ability to speak with and understand the response of any animal as if using speak with animals, though each time she uses the hex, she must decide to communicate with either amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, or reptiles, and can only speak to and understand animals of that type. The witch can make herself understood as far as her voice carries. This hex does not predispose any animal so addressed toward the witch in any way. At 12th level, the witch can use this hex to communicate with vermin.
Zhastus keeps his dark brown hair long, letting it fall freely about his shoulders. He has a well-trimmed goatee and light grey eyes. Despite the fact that he is outside most of the time, Zhastus’ skin is still fairly light, as he is often in the shade of the forest.
Zhastus is fairly “civilized-looking” for someone who spends the majority of his time in a forest. Currently, he is wearing a sturdy, albeit simple, robes of dark blue, tightened around the waist with a simple leather belt that has numerous pouches. He carries an oaken, iron-capped quarterstaff, and carries the rest of his equipment in a home-made leather knapsack.
Zhastus is rarely, if ever, seen without his familiar, Tsarigo. Tsarigo is a small, unremarkable looking bird with dark grey feathers covering him, with the exception of a white and black speckled pattern on his breast.
Personality:
Zhastus tries to be friendly with people, but often comes off as awkward and uncomfortable. He generally is more sociable if he is discussing one of his areas of interest—particularly healing and magical theory. He has a tendency to talk to Tsarigo fairly regularly, and will, if left to his own devices in a social setting, often seek out random animals to talk to rather than other people.
Despite his awkwardness, Zhastus is a naturally helpful person, always willing to assist with any tasks he sees as needing his assistance, and more than pleased to put his healing knowledge to use on those in need. Additionally, Zhastus has a strong sense of obligation. If he feels that there is a debt that he needs to pay, then he does everything he can to repay the debt as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Background:
Zhastus was born to Janos and Chava Drastuul in the Ustalavan town of Thrushmoor. Both of his parents followed the ancient Kellid tradition of witchcraft, working with the townsfolk as their unique talents allowed. Janos, a “weather witch” of sorts, worked as a fisherman, using his magic to his advantage when out on Lake Encarthan. Chava worked as a healer and midwife in the town, and focused the rest of her time on housework and raising Zhastus. They made a decent living, but downplayed their magical abilities due to fear of the town’s Old Cultists. On occasion, however, they would set their familiars to scouting about the town, trying to find signs of Old Cult activity and set the town’s guards to expunging it.
Unfortunately for them, their efforts in counteracting the Old Cult did not go unnoticed. One night, Janos and Chava’s familiars were both killed by cultists, and Janos and Chava themselves were attacked. Janos gave his life the cultists off while Chava fled with the five year old Zhastus, eventually hiding in a Kellid ritual site nearby until the morning came. With nothing but a few minor potions and the clothes on their backs, Chava and Zhastus eventually made their way to the town of Cesca, where Chava managed to establish herself once more as a healer and midwife. Much of Zhastus’ childhood in Cesca was spent either helping his mother or running amok in the nearby forests. He was closer to the animals there than to the suspicious townsfolk, and bonded his own familiar (a thrush named Tsarigo) by the time that he turned twelve. By sixteen, Zhastus had established himself as a guide and hunter in the forests around Cesca. By twenty, he had also established himself as an authority on Kellid pantheism by submitting several documents on the subject to the University of Lepidstadt in order to correct some common misunderstandings in the scholarly community there.
Dr. Lorrimor was drawn to Zhastus both for these submissions, and for his local reputation as an excellent guide, and would call on him when he made the occasional excursion to the forests near Cesca, and as a consultant on the Kellid religion. Over the years, they developed a cordial professional relationship, and it was out of respect for the doctor (and the survival that his funding ensured, especially compared to the irregular business from the locals) that Zhastus brought to Ravengro for Lorrimor’s last rites.
