Like the heavens/haunted one
Like the heavens/haunted oneYeah, very lovecraftian. I tried to keep a dark, disturbing feel to them all, but especially the huanted ones and the deaf/bones one.
did you mean Bones/deaf instead of Bones/Death?
Lore/Deaf: You're not actually deaf...in fact, you hear perfectly well. Unfortunately, the sounds of the world around you are completely drown out by voices which scream random pieces of information into your ears. The voices never stop, not even allowing you a decent night's sleep. However, should you ever be called upon to describe the effect that the invention of the trebuchet had on the sale of muffins, you will have an answer ready.
I have a gestalt oracle/fighter I hope to be playing when my group returns to our Rise of the Runelords campaign, he's a Shaonti with the battle mystery and clouded vision curse. One day he woke up, seeing constant visions of blood and gold that obscured his vision.
Battle/Haunted - The Warspeaker.
The Warspeaker goes back for centuries, maybe millennia. It's not necessarily the same person, there's not always one around, but there's never more than one. They're drawn to great conflicts and violence - some to bear witness, some to help, and some to just join the fray. Indeed, some are warmongers.
Things aren't exactly right around the Warspeaker: You hear whispers, or the sound of distant battle - war cries, screams of anguish, the lamentation of the widows. Sometimes you think you can understand the whispers, and it's never comforting, as they urge you to maim, kill, destroy and harm.
If the Warspeaker himself deigns to talk about himself, he might tell you how the voices of those who came before him endlessly talk to him - give him advice in the battle or just tell him to initiate hostilities.
The Warspeaker wars a long, white robe over his armour. His face is hidden under the heavy cowl, you can never exactly tell if he's thin, muscled or fat. But the robe is always white. Even if the Warspeaker wades through enemies, two-handed sword cutting off limbs here, cleaving enemies in twain there, opening throats in front, you just have to look away for a moment and it's pristine again.
Heavens/Haunted: At first you thought you were haunted by ghosts and called in experts to do an exorism, to no aviale. Then you started to catch glimpses of your tormenters out of the corner of your eyes. These spirits were no ghosts, but after seeing them, you wish they were. Anything but the mind twisting horrors from between the stars that they are, the things that seemed to enter this world through your dreams. In time, as you felt you sanity slipping away, you asked them why they were doing this to you. It was only then that they started whispering they're secrets to you.
That's very close to the idea I had for my Oracle/Sorc.
Sam is someone who is haunted by creatures from the beyond, whose daily existence is filled with beings that vie to slip through the cracks in reality and impose their alien will upon an unsuspecting world. They silently watch as the mortal races spend their petty lives in a flash. There, sitting on that wall, sit two of the creatures she has named The Faceless for their feature-devoid craniums. A few, a very few, offer her help...silently offering clues and chasing away the small troublesome creatures that make her life miserable. But the very visions that gives her warning are considered by others to be the hallucinations of a broken mind. Her warnings are ignored by even her closest compatriots as something that must be endured; a price of companionship. Perhaps they are right, she thinks. What is reality, anyway?
The other idea I am working with is an Bard/Oracle(Tongues/Lore). The intersection of his music, the Mystery of Lore and curse of Tongues can create an interesting take on a bard whose music sings of both the past and the future. I'm still working out the details, but here is my first take on the backstory:
He doesn't know why it happened, and in fact he doesn't remember it. But one fine spring day Lankiel's song was transformed into a beautiful flow of otherworldly sounds. He sang for an hour and the clan sat enraptured at the sound of it. As it ended, he collapsed upon the ground as the women wiped the tears from their eyes and the men cleared their throats.
He was awakened hours later by the Clan Elder. A learned man who had traveled alone early in his life. The Elder told him this story, and then explained that he had sung in Celestial and that it had been beautiful. He told Lankiel that in his song he had recounted the story of the Clan for hundreds of years...histories that had been forgotten until he had re-sung them. But he had also sang of the Clan's future, and it had been a sad and tragic tale. The Elder said that while he was the only one who had understood the song, all had felt its meaning somewhere deep down inside. The women had wept, first at the beauty of their past, and then for their future.
After telling the tale, the Elder had given Lankiel a carefully wrapped package and bade him deliver it immediately to another Clan who was traveling a few days away. At his insistent demand, Lankiel left that very hour on the journey. His Clan was destroyed by those seeking a hidden item, he later learned. He alone survived.
Now, Lankiel travels from town to town and plies his musical trade. And while he has learned to accept the gift and the curse, he still runs...racing to move on before the trance takes him again and his song is turned into a prophecy. Trying, vainly, to outrun tomorrow.
Battle/Deaf - You constantly hear the clangor of war: the clash of weapons, the screams of the wounded, warcries and shouted orders, etc. When actually in combat yourself, these sounds give you flashes of advice as to the best tactics and actions to take.
Battle/Lame - You've always been at home on the battlefield. Even after suffering what would have been a crippling wound to many, you continued to hone your abilities. In fact, your extreme dedication has allowed you to tap into the supernatural essence of war.
Bones/Tongues - The spirits of the dead are more than allies, servants, teachers, etc. At times, they literally speak through you.
Heavens/Blind - During your investigations of the night sky and/or the entities who live/travel within the void, you saw something that damaged your sight (a star going nova, a powerful entity, etc.). However, the experience granted additional abilities/understanding.
Life/Haunted - For years, no one could explain the strange happenings that followed you around. One day, your father/mother/sibling/friend/etc. had an accident that left them nearly dead. Suddenly compelled to act by the mysterious forces around you, you healed them. Further investigation determined that you are haunted not by the spirits of the dead, but rather the spirits of the unborn and granted the ability to channel that potential.
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In my DM's campaign world, only gods of death can resurrect people and the other churches must purchase scrolls of raise dead and such from the neutral or good gods of death to be able to raise someone (sorta contract like). Anyway the Deaf/Oracle of Life I'm hoping to play is supposed to be a sort of 'gift' from one of these gods of death to one of the gods of life as a sort of "Mortal Bride" shindig. The reason for the deafness is so she can only ever hear the voice of the god she is promised to so that no one could turn her away from him with words.
