Drum roll please...
Here is the PC created pursuant to our discussions:
Syran Erstaff, level 5 wizard / level 3 fleshwarper.
Race: human HP (based upon 3.5 HD, not Pathfinder): 55
Str: 13
Dex: 16
Con: 16
Int: 18
Wis: 14
Cha: 14
Saves -- Fort: 7, Ref: 5, Will: 7
Wizard Specialty School: Conjuration
Prohibited Schools: Enchantment, Necromancy
Languages: common, draconic, undercommon, infernal, celestial
Speed: 30 / climb 30
Grapple mod: 4
Init. Mod: 7*
Skill ranks (only listing actual ranks purchased with skill points per 3.5 system, no modifiers are listed or applied).
Bluff: 2, Climb:1, Concentration:11, Disguise:4,Heal:8, Knowledge (Arcana): 9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering): 9, Knowledge (Nature):6, Knowledge (Religion): 6, Profession(Herbalist):2, Search:2, Spellcraft:6, Use Magic Device:4
Feats: Combat Casting, Spell focus: conjuration, Scribe scroll, Augment Summoning, Imbued Summoning (PHB2), Graft Flesh: Silthilar**
* Initiative is modified based upon hummingbird familiar’s special effect, (see Dragon #323, p. 98)
** 10 point healing skill prerequisite was house-ruled down to 8
Class Features/Special Traits:
Caretaker trait (+1 to heal checks, heal = class skill), secret of ettercap (climb speed = base land speed, +8 to climb, can always take 10 on climb checks), chitin plating +2 graft (+2 to natural armor)
Familiar Stats and Info:
Scree, Type: Hummingbird (aberration), gender: male, size: diminuitive
Str: 1 Dex: 15 Con: 10 Int: 9 Wis: 14 Cha: 6
Initiative: 2 Speed: 10/ 40 fly (avg.)
HP: 27 AC: 26
BAB: 5, dmg=0
Grapple: -17
Saves -- Fort: 6, Ref: 4, Will: 7
Listen: 8, Spot: 8, Hide: 12, Concentration: 11, Disguise: 2, Search: 1, Climb: -4
Feats: Alertness, Improved Evasion
Special: Share spells, empathetic link, deliver touch spells, speak w/ master, speak w/ birds
Fleshwarper taint (Aberrant familiar): scales (Nat arm. +4, +2 to fort), darkvision 60'
Background
Syran Erstaff was raised in the Village of Waymead, two days ride northeast of Whistledown. Located on the coast of Lake Syrantula, for which Syran was named, the village focused on its two primary sources of livelihood, fish from the lake and livestock raised in the plains.
Syran’s father, Melwin, was a fisherman by trade, and her mother Ganelle, an herbalist and healer. Her brothers, Tully and Henrin, reveled in their positions as village rectors (guardsmen). Not was Syran the youngest in her family, but she was also the first female born to the Erstaff line in three generations. For both these reasons she was pampered as a child (to the extent that simple folk could pamper a child), and spent her youth swimming in the lake and chasing livestock.
The simple innocence of Syran’s youth was challenged abruptly when a tribe of lizardfolk, known as the Bloodhook Clan, began incursions into the area from the mushfen. These lizardfolk had been emboldened by someone or some unknown philosophy, and believed that it was their birthright to expel all non-lizardfolk from the banks of the Yondabakari River (which runs all the way from the Fenwall Mountains to Magnimar). The human and halfling villages along the plains banded together to fight off the reptilian usurpers. Syran was twelve at the time.
The skirmishes eventually turned into battles, which became an all-out war, referred to, unimaginatively, as the Bloodhook War. Melwin and his sons went off to battle, while Ganelle set up a makeshift field hospital on the outskirts of Waymead. Wanting to help, and in an effort to gain access to those who had seen battle (and therefore possessed stories to tell), Syran volunteered to help her mother apprenticing as an herbalist and healer during the war.
The Bloodhook Clan was defeated after 4 years of frequent fighting. Syran’s father fell at the Battle of Aslerin Pass, but her brothers managed to return home. They were stronger and had grown in their time away; moreover, their newly acquired dark vitriol marked them as brutes best avoided. After the war, Syran’s mother left Waymead to work with a gnome herbalist in Whistledown. Ganelle encouraged Syran to go on to Magnimar to continue her studies under one of the many herbalist trainers there. She hoped her daughter would take refuge safely within the walls of a city, and leave the wilderness to the wild.
Syran had heard stories from the injured soldiers during the war, and she had even interacted with captive lizardfolk. She picked up a smattering of draconic that way (or more precisely, she secretly tended to the needs of some of the most severely mistreated captives in exchange for language lessons). Syran was fascinated by the lizardfolks’ physiology. Despite her anger, and her distrust of those foreign warriors, Syran couldn’t help but sense a kinship with them. Their wounds, their bodies, their lifeforce – so eerily similar to those of men.
Instead of heading straight to Magnimar after the war, Syran wandered for a while, visiting some of the families she came to know through her work at the hospital. She spent two years in Illsurian, working as a healer there. A hunter named Raynor in that town held a captive choker that he'd captured in the Fenwall Mountains. Syran traded tinctures and balms for opportunities to observe the creature, and she managed to pick up a smattering of undercommon that way.
After her time observing the choker, Syran knew that she was far too curious about the way of things to remain in Illsurian. She wanted to get her hands on books, and to learn about the traits and anatomies of various creatures (ones that she'd never even heard of), and so she made her way to Magnimar.
If you want to study in Magnimar, the mages possess the most complete compendium of knowledge. Syran appealed to the wizards for access to their libraries, but was repeatedly rebuffed, as the collections were for arcanists only. After considerable frustration, Syran struck a bargain with the Academy, she would pay for instruction in the arcane arts by acting as a healer and herbalist for the wizards...who have a tendency to get injured during their experiments. In time her persistence paid off, and she was accepted as a student, and given access to the libraries.
Syran had been studying in Magnimar for some years, learning to be a conjurer, and researching various beasts and aberrations, as time permitted. She also went on an expedition into the Fenwall Mountains with some of the mages, where she assisted in the collection of rare spell components. That expedition took several months, and in that time, Syran learned how to defend herself and defeat foes using her magic. You’d be amazed at the things that call the mountains, and the caves and tunnels under them, home.
When Hanahst (the now deceased character mentioned in my initial thread post) approached Syran, she'd been back to her studies for a year since the trip into the mountains. Finding someone else with an interest in the compatibility of diverse anatomies was unexpected and invigorating. When the strange elf shared his theory (again, described in the first post) with Syran, her head started reeling. Could her interest, and her studies be a divine calling? Didn’t it all make sense? She could not wait to attack her studies from a new approach. And having someone offer to pay her, well that seemed like heaven! Besides, the elf paid for musicians to come and play for her while she worked . . . he was definitely classy, and truly a godsend.
Syran thrust herself into research, and in the time since first meeting Hanahst, she managed to fashion for herself a chitin bodice, which she attached to her flesh just as she predicted. Her hummingbird familiar, Scree, also began to change. He had taken on a scaly appearance, no doubt inspired by his master.
Syran’s dark brown hair, dark brown eyes (with flecks of gold) and pale skin demonstrate her fairly remote but real Chelaxian heritage. Her size makes her stand out at 6’2” and 153 pounds. Her brothers are brutes, but Syran is merely extraordinarily tall for a woman. She has pleasant features, and is certainly above average in appearance and manner.
Description:
Syran wears purple and grey courtier’s garb (you can’t live in a place like Magnimar, seeing things that you want on a daily basis, without paying the price for them eventually). Her beetle chitin bodice-like flesh is a deep maroon that actually looks purple (picking up the hues from her fancy dress).
Syran has attached a birdhouse to the bottom of her backpack, to enable Scree to hide or rest as he sees fit. Her quarterstaff is adorned with brightly colored ribbons and feathers (no point in being dour when out and about).
I look forward to your feedback and comments!!
