One-Eyed Sam
Stout Halfling Rogue Scout 6
Str 5 (-3)
Dex 14 (+2) [save +5]
Con 12 (+1)
Int 10 (0) [Save +3]
Wis 7 (-2)
Cha 7 (-2)
Size S
Speed M (with Cloak swim 60')
AC 14
Init +2
Hit Points: 39 (6d6)
Proficiency Bonus: +3
Proficiencies: Light Armor, Rogue weapons
Skills: Insight, Religion**, Acrobatics**, Athletics**, Stealth**, Investigation, Nature**, Survival**
Tools: Thieves' Tools
Languages: Common, Halfling, Dwarven, Goblin, Thieves' Cant
Attacks:
Shortsword: 1d20+5 to hit, damage 1d6+3 (sneak attack 3d6)
Background: Acolyte
Feature: Shelter of the Faithful
Rogue Abilities:
Expertise in 4 skills (marked **)
Sneak Attack 3d6
Cunning Action: use bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide
Uncanny Dodge: Use reaction to halve damage against me
Scout: Skirmisher: Use reaction to move up to half move if enemy ends turn w/in 5' (no opp. attack)
Scout: Survivalist (included in skills, **)
Halfling Abilities:
Lucky: reroll 1s on attack, save, or check
Brave: advantage on saves vs. frightened
Nimbleness: move through any space of M or larger creature
Stout Resistance: adv. vs. poison
Feat:
(4) Lucky. 3 luck points for a re-roll per long rest.
Skills:
+8 (dex) Acrobatics**
-2 (wis) Animal Handling
+0 (int) Arcana
+3 (str) Athletics**
-2 (cha) Deception
+0 (int) History
+1 (wis) Insight*
-2 (cha) Intimidation
+3 (int) Investigation*
-2 (wis) Medicine
+6 (int) Nature**
-2 (wis) Perception
-2 (cha) Performance
-2 (cha) Persuasion
+6 (int) Religion**
+2 (dex) Sleight of Hand
+8 (dex) Stealth**
+4 (wis) Survival**
Equipment:
Studded Leather (45 gp, 13#)
2 x Short Sword (20 gp, 4#)
Holy Symbol (5gp, 1#)
Thieves' Tools (25gp, 1#)
Cloak of the Manta Ray (swim speed 60', breath water; action to activate)
2 common magic items, 405 gp.
[sblock=Background]Sam was the best of those hoping to attain a priesthood, well beyond his years in theological insight. Yondalla be praised, his future was set, and his parents in the Golden Hills were proud of him, even if they didn't fully understand the degree of his devotion. And it was on the day of his Ordination, the very first day of Spring, that the Bugbears came with their leather bags.
Sam was one of the first ones captured (he could not run well in his vestments), but the sounds he heard, as his village was slaughtered and razed to the ground, haunt him to this day.
Of the twenty or so who were carried underground, four died of injuries (Mary, Lisl, Tom, and Fat Barry), six were eaten (Kar, Tami, the Hopeson twins, Tal, and Fran Fran), and one while trying to escape (his sister Farah). He did not die in that escape attempt. He had always been lucky, or at least that's what he told himself when the axe hit his face, taking his eye, and some of his sense, and much of his good humour. He was left for dead, his big sister's body covering him, no longer of interest to the goblinoids perhaps because he was so small to begin with. He never learned what happened to the others: Stump, McNee, Other Tom, Sandy, the Professor, and Wintergreen, but he is not hopeful.
Lying in the stagnant puddle, pain assaulting him in the darkness, it was days before he dared move, and by the time he had pulled himself to the surface, Yondalla's golden light finally shining on him again, Sam was no longer the same. His village was gone, his Temple destroyed. His face did not heal well, and the long scar across his ribcage continues to itch.
The next closest Temple was in Belle Reve. He worked there, a broken man, in penitent silence, hoping to again receive the favour from Yondalla that he once had enjoyed. No blessing came, and while he still wears her Shield around his neck, he had come to understand that no one who looked like him should channel the goddess's power, as once he had been ready to do.
So Sam went to the city, trusting that there were always big folk nearby who could use a small fella like him, even as he was. And sure enough there were. Sam could fit in drainpipes and actually was pretty good with a sword when he needed to be, and if this is what Yondalla wanted for him, then who was he to argue? Sam could climb trees and could be conscripted into the army where he didn't eat much, and how he looked didn't matter so much.
Sam had never thought of himself as a Deserter, but his Sergeant was a drunk and called him foul names, and one morning he decided to head for the mountains, far from the reach of his regiment. He stole his Sergeant's cloak (he was sure Yondalla would understand) to help hide in the darkness, and fled in the night.
He never made the mountains. The Sergeant's cloak, far too big for Sam's tiny frame, was almost thrown away. But Yondalla showed him that it was magical (Sam did not know this when he took it, but had been attracted only by its black leathery texture that reflected no light.) He is embarrassed by the story about how he learned of its enchantment, but the salient detail is that manta rays can swim downriver faster than a military wagon that has gone off a bridge.
And that's how he's here, in this tavern on the coast, his misshapen skull reflecting hollow shadows as the candle at his table flickers from the stump of wax that remains. He tries to be cheery, and he knows his life has been better than some. He's been here a few months, and he calls this table his chapel. He insists that if you want to be married, he can do it for you legal, but those who ask him are usually inebriated and not always polite when they get a close look at him. Still, it's the life he's been given, and that's more that was given to Farah and Other Tom and the Hopeson twins.[/sblock]
