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Cadfan 05-07-05, 02:01 AM

This character was created for the same reason as the one in the Part 1 thread. Part of the goal here was to create a character who actually reacted to pain realistically. Most of us have seen this happen in a game: the barbarian looks down from the top of the keep at the escaping bad guy. He judges the distance to the ground... about 100 feet.... he looks at his hit points, 120 hp... 10d6 maxes out at 60 damage.... he steps off. Most people wouldn't do that. :) Falling hurts. This is a character who can be played to fight as if he is actually trying to avoid injury. His typical tactics are repeated feints, full combat expertises, and arterial strikes. ------- Siecle Malthus is a well known attorney in the Juno District of Cardan, Capital City of Vargas. The son of a shoemaker, Siecle was able to attend a young men's finishing school due to the hard work and sacrifices of his parents. Siecle took to school well, both academically and socially. Though he was of course not one of the noble classes, and never completely fit in with the more wealthy students, his amiable attitude made him "one of the guys" when it came to sports and general camraderie. Even to this day Siecle has a number of friends amongst the idle nobility, who call upon him for the occasional legal work. Siecle lived something of a double life during his school days, attending school during the day in his only good suit of clothes, and then returning home to study deep into the night in his parents attic. His favorite area of study was law, to the delight of his parents ("Inside work and no heavy lifting!"). As Siecle read of the law, he was amazed. It was a system by which disputes, so often bloody in his own neighborhood, could be decided peaceably by an impartial decision maker. Siecle genuinedly believed in the law, perhaps more than was entirely rational, and his faith was unshaken by the fact that the real world often failed to live up to the ideals in the lawbooks. When confronted with the petty corruption of real life judges, Siecle simply noted that the corruption itself was usually illegal. It became his dream to enter that system, and change it to meet its own ideals. Siecle had a secret of his own, however. He had always had an intuitive understanding of other people's minds, and perhaps of something more. Not only did this understanding grant him exceptional social skills, he could sometimes almost read the contents of another's thoughts. Magical talent is not uncommon in *capital*, and when close to certain people, Siecle could almost see spells inside their mind, buzzing with an odd energy. It was during a schoolyard scuffle with a fellow student who had cheated at a game of sport, Siecle discovered his unique talent. The student was an obnoxious, brash individual, a student of magic, of no particular talent or repute, and Siecle, obtaining a lucky blow during the fight, landed a strike to the head. At his fist's impact, the cantrips fizzing within the duplicitous student's head shook at the rattling impact, and Siecle can describe it no other way- one came loose. So he took it. He was so amazed at the time that he basically stopped fighting, and received quite a beating. But as he nursed his bruises later, he barely noticed. The discovery of this new talent opened whole worlds for him. He could literally steal spells straight out of someone's head. Siecle, in all of his studies, had never heard of such an ability, and has since kept this secret. Siecle, today, lives in a new apartment, having sold the shop to another shoemaker when both of his parents eventually passed away of old age. He works as an attorney, in a wide array of practices: everything from criminal defense of the city's lowest, to the arrangement of duels for the city's highest. He has met all sorts during his career, and has a wide network of aquaintances. His career has been an eventful one, especially given the shady nature of some of the clientelle he has both prosecuted and defended. None of the city's organized crime mobs view Siecle as either a threat or an ally. His uncorruptable conviction in the application of the law makes him more of a known element than an enemy or potential ally. Siecle's neighborhood is not an overly wealthy one, and many people turn to him for assistance when legal trouble threatens. His most typical cases involve landlords, aggressive loan collectors, and doing his best to bail his neighbor's children out of the trouble it is so easy to get into as a teenager in Cardan. Siecle is not an eager one to fight, and will almost never strike first, as the law only permits combat in defense of oneself or an innocent. Still, he carries a gentleman's dagger for self defense, as befits his station as a working intellectual. He remembers the skills he learned in school, and in a fight, has a trick. First inflicting a nasty, bleeding injury with the tip of his dagger, he then suggests to the wounded combatant that a visit to the doctor is in order. The flowing blood makes most foes think twice about continuing battle. DM NOTES- I had to make a few small changes... so he requires DM permission. -Siecle may attempt to recall a fact about the law with a successful check of diplomacy + int mod. -Siecle's Lawful Good alignment is best described as follows: he believes that the law itself really is in fact good. The laws of *capital* are complex and arcane enough that a decent case can be made for most basic Good positions, and Siecle optomistically tends to believe that these interpretations are the best, even when they are not seen as so by the majority. -Diplomacy, Know Nobility, and Sense Motive have been added as class skills. Disable Device, Escape Artist, Open Lock, and Use Magic Device have been removed. Siecle Malthus, Esquire- Attorney at Law Spellthief 12 Lawful Good AC 18 Init +4 Base Attack +9/+4 MW Dagger +14/+9, 1d4+1, 19+/2x Fort 4 +1 * +5* Ref 4 +4 * +8* Will 8 * +8* Str 12 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 17 Feats Weapon Finesse Combat Expertise Improved Feint Arterial Strike Skill Focus Bluff Arcane Strike Abilities Sneak Attack +3d6 Steal Spell (6th) Trapfinding Detect Magic 4/day Spellgrace +2 Steal Spell Effect Steal Energy Resistance 20 Steal Spell-like Ability Absorb Spell Arcane Sight 4/day Spells Known L1 Shield: V,S True Strike: V,F:replica archery target Charm Person: V,S Disguise Self: V,S L2 Touch of Idiocy: V,S Invisibility: V,S,M:Eyelash in Gum Arabic Darkvision: V,S,M:pinch of dried carrot Mirror Image: V,S L3 Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: V,S,F:small horn or glass eye Heroism: V,S Fly: V,S,F: wing feather Spells per Day L1 2 L2 2 L3 2 Skills Balance - +4 +2 +6 Bluff 15 +3 +3 +21 Concentration 5 +1 +6 Diplomacy 15 +3 +6 +24 Gather Info 5 +3 +2 +10 Hide 5 +4 +8 Intimidate - +3 +2 +5 Jump 5 +1 +2 +8 Know Local 5 +2 +7 Know Noble 5 +2 +7 Listen 5 +5 Move Silently 5 +4 +9 Search 5 +2 +7 Sense Motive 15 +15 Spot 5 +5 Swim 5 +1 +6 Tumble 5 +4 +2 +11 Gear Mithril Vest (+4 AC, -0 skill checks, 10% spell failure) Masterwork Dagger Signet Ring