About Garavaen DrususNG Medium Humanoid (Human, Elf)
History:
Garavaen was conceived in Korvosa. His mother, Ileosa was the youngest daughter of Trimean Drusus, a minor scion of one of the noble houses, having gained their title from fighting in the Cousin's War, now looking to improve their name, influence and fortune by marrying off their comely young daughter to one off the larger more powerful families of the Peerage Review. Ileosa was a sheltered, spoiled girl, given little contact with the outside world beyond the balls of nobles and the tutors teaching her history, embroidery and languages.
Unfortunately, even that was enough to ruin her family's plans. Ileosa was rather taken with her history and language teacher, hired from the Mierani ambassador's household... and her pregnancy began to show just after her seventeenth birthday, just a few weeks before the ball intended to present her into society. Ileosa was in love and offered to run off with her tutor... who simply laughed at the silly girl and returned to his enclave. Ileosa was removed from town to try to hide her shame, sent to visit and learn to manage some of her family's holdings in Magnamar. It was there that her son was born... and within weeks Ileosa hired a wet-nurse and returned to her soft life in Korvosa, eventually finding herself a husband, though one slightly less helpful to her family's fortunes than originally intended. Garavaen grew up in the house of one of the family's factors, raised by an elven woman named Oparal. The raising of the boy was largely decided by his grandparents back in Korvosa, with monthly letters -- edicts, really -- arriving, obviously torn between protecting the family name and ensuring that a noble son would be raised in the correct fashion. He was not to take up traditional elven weapons, like the bow, but rather, would be educated as his mother was. Garavaen was no better a student than his mother, looking forward to his one hour a week with the fencing master far more than any learning of old, boring history -- or worse, mercantile. When he was thirteen years old, Garavaen, annoyed with his tutor, dropped a globe of magical darkness in the room, making it impossible to read the texts. When word of the boy's magical abilities reached Korvosa, they thought the boy's birth was, finally, a blessing -- looking forward to having the power of a mage or a sorcerer in their house -- and ordered him sent to learn to control his magic. Garavaen suffered under these lessons, being taken away from Oparal and the only life he'd ever known -- away from boring, well-meaning tutors to a single master, Caladrel, an Elven Sorcerer... One far less forgiving, and who completely forbade anything so simple as fencing lessons. Garavaen was unable to duplicate his earlier, advanced magic, the lessons teaching him to draw upon his sorcerous bloodline simply not resonating within him... his master growing increasingly infuriated with the boy's inability to learn even the simplest tricks. Garavaen began to try find other ways to avoid being punished, using his natural agility and quick fingers to make objects vanish... avoiding immediate punishment, but resulting in even worse rages when he was caught. He began to find places to hide from his master, sneaking away from the tower to avoid these punishments -- starting to spend more and more time at the local guardhouse -- learning their games of dice and cards, but more importantly, finding people willing to let him learn weapons again... even if the blades were heavier than the rapier he was used to. It was there, also, he began to shoot targets for fun.... and one day, when he was seventeen, all of the lessons of discipline, or focus, of drawing on his inner will and strength that his master spent months beating into him somehow, finally, resonated... He could feel a mystic, or, at least, near-mystic resonance where the rest of the world fell away, and there was nothing but his will, his target and the crossbow in his hands. Pleased, he rushed back to his master with a crossbow in hands, thinking he could finally prove himself. His master, instead, destroyed the toy in his hands, burning it to cinders with his magic even as the boy held it, and belittled the boy once again. To protect himself, somehow, drawing on instinct, Garavaen conjured his sphere of darkness once again. His master's reaction was even more alarmed, and he spat only a single word. "Drow", before using his magic to knock the boy unconscious. When he awoke, Gravaen was told that he was being cast out of his master's house and would not be welcome amongst any elves -- his tainted blood marked him as a disgusting creature of darkness. Caladrel also promised that he would be sending a letter to his grandparents revealing him to be the evil thing he was... and that he wouldn't be welcome there either. Having no choice, Garavaen left, his head filled with the brave tales of adventurers that he'd learned over dice, cards and cups at the guardhouse, using the small amount of coin he'd been sent from his grandparents to buy some adventuring gear and won passage on a cargo ship heading south to Absalom in a game of dice. His plan was to find fame and fortune at the City at the Centre of the World. His days on the Wavehopper were some of the best of Garavaen's life. There was something about the water which just, somehow, resonated within him. He just took naturally to the salt air and the rock of the ship -- better than some of the ship's crew, in fact -- something that earned him enough regard that the sailors to let him join them at cards and dice. Unfortunately for Garavaen, the ship was attacked by pirates on the Arcadian Ocean, just outside the Arch of Aroden. He took up arms to defend the ship, but unfortunately the Wavehopper and her crew were outmatched by the larger, swifter, better-armed and better-trained pirates, and the ship's mate surrendered to the boarders when the Wavehopper's captain was killed. The pirates took the 'hopper as a prize, and gave the crew the option of swimming to shore or joining them. Most of the crew chose to swim... but some of his fellow gamblers chose to stay on... and were willing to vouch for the young half-elf as well. He was brought on as a pressed hand, given hard duties and limited freedoms... and yet... he found himself happy... happier than he'd ever been. And, while he wasn't a skilled sailor, his sharp eyes, swift hands, and -- especially -- his ability with the crossbow earned him the respect of his new companions -- enough to be accepted as a full member of the crew within six months of being captured. Enough that he was given a small pouch of coin and -- more importantly -- the ability to select his own destiny when they reached Port Peril. Finally, somehow, he knew deep done that he'd come home.... that he'd found a place where his name, his bloodline, the expectations and accident of his birth no longer mattered.... Here, all that mattered was what he could earn for himself. =================================================
Melee:
Ranged:
Special: +1/+1 within 30'; Base Atk: +4, CMB: +6
Failed Apprentice (Racial)
Normal:
Bonus:
Skill Name [Total] = Rnk + Stat + Misc (Description)
Elven Immunities (Ex)
Grit (Ex) (oo)
In game terms, grit is a fluctuating measure of a gunslinger's ability to perform amazing actions in combat. At the start of each day, a gunslinger gains 2 grit points. Her grit goes up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than 2, though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum. A gunslinger spends grit to accomplish deeds, and regains grit whenever they confirm a critical hit with a crossbow attack in the heat of combat, or reducing a creature (who has HD at least half the gunslinger's character level) to 0 or fewer hit points with a crossbow attack while in the heat of combat. Either of these acts regains 1 grit point. Deeds (Ex)
Nimble (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a gunslinger gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC while wearing light or no armour. Anything that causes the gunslinger to lose her Dexterity bonus to AC also causes the gunslinger to lose this dodge bonus. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd level (to a maximum of +5 at 20th level). =================================================
Carried/Equipped
Backpack, Masterwork [ Bedroll; Waterskin (Filled); Mess Kit; Grappling Bolt (x2); Rope (Silk/50'); Trail Ration (x3); Waterproof Hooded Lantern; 2 pints of oil ] Waterproof Pouch #1 [ Flint and Steel; ];
Coinpurse: 23sp Current Load: 65.0 lbs (Light) |
