OOC - Fiend's Embrace - D&D One-Shot Adventure

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whoops, double post

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Harval Barleybeard

"Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Aventus and its gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Dawn, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. Hither came Harval the Dwarf, red-haired, green-eyed, axe in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the world under his booted feet."

The scion of a farflung clan of dwarven brewmeisters, Harval Barleybeard is adventuring to raise the wergild to pay for the death of another dwarf he killed in his dwarfhold in a drunken rage and unable to return home until he does.

His time on the road has not been kind to Harval: Already not what anyone would consider a pretty dwarf, his nose has been badly broken, a chunk has been bitten out of his right ear and the thick golden red hair that once covered his right forearm has been burned off by acid, replaced with a livid red scar. But his green eyes are still bright, his braided beard and mustache are still thick and lustrous, his bald pate shiny and surprisingly unscarred and his limbs strong. At some point after a hard night of drinking, he thought it was a good idea to get the holy symbol of his god, the mug of Hanseath the Bearded One, tattooed on his left bicep, which he shows off proudly.

Much to the frustration of his clan elders, Harval never showed any interest in the clan's business, whether it was buying grain from human farmers, brewing the beer or selling it to dwarfholds. He couldn't even focus enough to learn how to read and write properly, relying on his brothers and many cousins for that, who mostly brought him along as a bodyguard on trading expeditions.

Despite his bluster, the dwarf is very insecure about not "being lettered" and his lack of education, as well as feeling a profound sense of shame about what led to his exile. Unfortunately, all of these are hidden behind a great deal of bravado and his hidden resentments and insecurities typically manifest as bouts of great rage, punctuated by vivid obscenities. He always suspects non-dwarves of talking down to him and of being an embarassment to other dwarves, and he reacts to both sorts of perceived slights by pushing away others and, eventually, rage.

His primary goal is to acquire enough gold to return home as quickly as possible, with a secondary goal of becoming a better dwarf, including, eventually, learning how to read and learning enough about beer to become useful to his clan as something other than a reliable pair of fists. So far, his primary method of research has been drinking until he falls down.

Those who have encountered Harval typically recall him as a drunken lout, but those who have fought beside (or against him) remember him instead as a spitting, cursing, snarling whirlwind of violence, which he seeks to call upon for the right reasons, with increasing success.

In his dreams, he follows a bear with fur the color of his beard northwards, ever northwards. What the bear is leading him towards, he does not know, but he has now found himself in this misbegotten northern swamp town, at the behest of a rich fool of a merchant. Anything to help raise the weregild Harval need to one day go home to his people, he thinks ...

"Harval, what is best in life?"

"Fightin', eatin', drinkin', screwin', crappin'. Not necessarily in that order."

Harval Barleybeard
Chaotic Good dwarf barbarian 4

Strength 17 (+3)
Dexterity 10
Constitution 18 (+4)
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 8 (-1)

Hit Points: 46
Armor Class: 17 (+5 breastplate, +2 heavy darkwood shield)

Base Attack: +4
Masterwork Greataxe: +8 melee (1d12 +4, x3)
Masterwork Dwarven waraxe: +8 melee (1d10 + 3, x3)
Masterwork Spiked gauntlet: +8 melee (1d4 + 3, x2)
Masterwork Dagger: +8 melee (1d4 + 3, 19-20)
Throwing axe: +4 ranged (1d6, x2)

Saving Throws: Fortitude +8, Reflex +1, Will +1

Feats: Cleave, Power Attack
Skills: Climb 7 (4 + 3), Intimidate 3 (4 - 1), Jump 7 (4 + 3), Listen 4 (4 + 0), Search 2 (2 + 0), Spot 2 (2 + 0), Survival 4 (4 + 0)

Languages: Dwarven, Common (illiterate)

Fast Movement (Ex): A barbarian's land speed is faster than the norm for his race by +10 feet. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor and not carrying a heavy load.

Rage (Ex): Harval can fly into a rage a certain number twice a day. In a rage, a barbarian temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class. At the end of the rage, the barbarian loses the rage modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (-2 penalty to Strength, -2 penalty to Dexterity, can't charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter. Harval can fly into a rage only once per encounter.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Harval retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

Trap Sense (Ex): Harval gains a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps.

Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).

Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn't stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.

Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.

Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison and against spells and spell-like effects.

+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.

+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it's caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.

+2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items, +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.

Equipment: backpack, bedroll, brooch of shielding (101 charges), chalk, cloak of resistance +1, 50' of hemp rope, explorer's outfit, flint and steel, waterskin, 5 torches, 10 days of trail rations, dice, playing cards with pornographic illustrations

Weapons and armor: Masterwork silvered greataxe, masterwork cold iron dwarven waraxe, masterwork breastplate, masterwork heavy darkwood shield (spiked), masterwork spiked gauntlet, throwing axe, masterwork dagger

Wealth: 30 gold pieces, plus 700 gold pieces worth of gems sewn into the lining of his belt

 

[Malvoisin]

Sounds like fun!

*Gnro dons the dark woolen cape and puts up her hood, carefully keeping her tail inside the cape. "Me gnome"*

Outstanding!

 

[Malvoisin]

Everyone's progress is looking good so far. I haven't had a great deal of time to look over the specifics yet, but by Monday I should be able to digest those character sheets that are complete to this point.

 

[Malvoisin]

@Phyrrus:

I'm looking over Ortak now.

I did have one question about his skill points. I calculated that he should have 42 ranks to assign, and it looks like you used several more than this number.

Can you double check it for me?

BTW, Ortak's hit point total will be 16.

 

[Malvoisin]

Phyrrus,

I also noticed a discrepancy where Ortak's weapon is listed as either a Darkwood or a Duskwood quarterstaff. I am assuming that Darkwood is correct....

 

[Malvoisin]

Rayex:

I've been looking over Gnro's sheet, and everything looks pretty good to me.

You might add a combat line for her natural claw attacks, if you want.

Starting hp is 28.

 

[Malvoisin]

Whizbang:

Harval's stats are too high. His numbers currently add up to more than a 28 point buy.

Can you please take a look at them and revise?

Thanks!

 

[Malvoisin]

Land Outcast and Voadam:

Since your characters are still in progress, I'm not going to go over them carefully yet.

Please let me know when they are finished, and I will go over them at that time.

Thanks!
Malvoisin

 

[Voadam]

I've got all the mechanics done except spending 1,200 gp (might do another wand and some scrolls) if you want to check that over. I need to write out all the descriptive stuff though (name, background, description).