Vistani
The wanderers and the gypsies. The whisperers in the quiet dark. So many secrets among so few.
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5’2” – 6’0”
Average Weight: 110 – 185 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 Squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Patterna (Vistani)
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Religion
Static Burn: The Vistani are, by nature, wanderers and nomads. This is depicted largely by there culture and mannerisms, but also in a psychological defect known as static burn. If a Vistani remains within one mile of any single location for more than one week, they begin to contract a strange illness that dulls their senses and inhibits their motor skills. In gaming terms, this is represented by a cumulative -1 to a Vistani character’s initiative roll for every 24 hours past a week’s time spent in the same locale.
Evil Eye: The power to lay curses, and the related power of the evil eye, fall somewhere between common and salient Vistani abilities. Most curses uttered by the Vistani are not intended to kill or jeopardize another’s life, they are simply a cruel repayment for a perceived injustice, real or imaginary. Vistani obtain the following power:
Evil Eye Vistani Racial Power
You cast a glare at your opponent that causes them pause
out of doubt or fear. You don’t really care which.
Encounter, Minor Action, Range: 5, Target: One Creature
Effect: You may cancel a single opponent’s combat advantage or cause
an opponent -5 to any saving throws until the end of your next turn.
The Visatni are a race of human-like gypsies from the land of Barovia located in the Demiplane of Dread. Believed to have been thrust into Faerun at some point during the Spellplague, more and more of their caravans and camps can be seen across the land each year. The majority of the Vistani are unrecognizable from humans aside from their dress, customs, and behaviors. Their societies are often broken down into tribes or clans and then into families. Vistani are often very loyal to one another, but seldom give their trust fully to others. Scholars believe that the Vistani trace their emergence into Faerun back to the baronies of Erlkazar, which also lend to the rumors of dark dealings, sinister pacts, and questionable alliances among their kind.
Play a Vistani if you want…
• to be a sly character, alluring leader, or wise and mysterious.
• to play a hero who is filled with curiosity and wanderlust, or who is of an “old world” tradition.
• to be a member of a race that favors the warlock, cleric, and paladin classes.
Physical Qualities
Vistani are, more or less, humans. They often have slender builds, dark brown or black hair, and tan or olive colored skin. Their eye color is often some shade of brown, though certain females have been known to possess green or gray eyes. Hair is often covered with some sort of hat or tied back with a bandanna and Vistani men often wear a mustache, though beards are less common. Tribal and family structures are very important to the Vistani and this is reflected in their willingness to function as a community. It is not uncommon for families to share responsibilities and chores interchangeably, such as one mother caring for children that are not hers briefly, or the father of one child teaching a skill to someone else’s son or daughter. This is also displayed in what are known as Tralaks, or symbols and sigils that express a whole idea in a single character. Tralaks are often carved in wood or stone along trails and roads, just outside of towns or villages. These symbols express warnings of sorts such as “Vistani persecuted here”, “generous townsfolk”, or “lands haunted or cursed”. Vistani most always keep an eye out for these markings as it is an invaluable aid to those always on the move. Vistani reach maturity around 14 or 15 years of age and generally live to see roughly 75 – 80.
Playing a Vistani
Vistani are originally from the lands of Barovia located in a distant pocket dimension known as the Demiplane of Dread. Barovia and its surrounding areas are very “Old World” and are akin to places in the real world such as Eastern Europe and the Balkans of Europe's southeastern regions. The Vistani people are gypsies in a sense, but at the same time have an enigmatic bond with each other, nature, and even the realms of the fey. Things deemed frightening and strange by townsfolk and farmers are common place to Vistani. Vampires, undead, spirits, fey, and magic are assumed aspects of the world to them and they are often familiar with such presences wherever they may be. The Vistani are also vastly intrigued by the divine, regardless of what form or nature it may take. Several Vistani who strike out on their own often give themselves over to warlock pacts as this is the quickest connection to power and divinity of a sort. Others put forth more time and devotion and find the path of the cleric more inviting. Vistani have no favored deity as a whole, though each tribe and family has a tradition of reverence that is often carried on from generation to generation. Sune, Selune, Silvanus, Chauntea, Kelemvor, and even Cyric find faithful among the Vistani in Faerun, and a rare few even take up the mantle of paladin. These individuals are usually the sworn protectors of their tribe, though some leave their families with promises of return as they undergo pilgrimages in their strange new lands.
While not a native race of Faerun, the Vistani were transported here by a mixture of the Spellplague caused by Mystra’s death and the strange magical qualities of the Mists of Ravenloft. When the Weave collapsed following Mystra’s murder by Cyric, the Mists of Ravenloft briefly formed a sort of transdimensional vacuum in response to the shift of energies. A few hundred Vistani were displaced by this occurrence into the Baronies of Erlkazar around1386 DR. Since then, those Vistani have spread the length of the realms and branched out to start their own families and new tribes. Strangely, the Vistani were not disturbed by their displacement from Barovia and continued on as if nothing had really changed. Some demented members of the race even revere Cyric as a savior of sorts and pay him homage as reverence. All Vistani currently residing in Faerun arrive in the Baronies of Erlkazar, and a large number of them remain within the boundaries of that realm. Some even whisper that Erlkazarian Vistani are the eyes and ears of the Night Barony and many of these folk wind up as bandits, vampire spawn, or even full blooded vampires over time. More information on this realm and organization can be found on pages 126 and 127 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.
A character from the Baronies of Erlkazar can select the regional benefit listed below:
ERLKAZAR REGIONAL BENEFIT
You may add Intimidate to your class skill list, and you gain a +1 bonus to Intimidate checks. If you are a Vistani, you may select another language known in addition to Common and Patterna. If you are not a Vistani, add Patterna to your languages know.
Vistani Characteristics: Mysterious, exotic, aloof, free-spirited, independent, passionate, sly, handsome/beautiful.
Male Vistani Names: Andrei, Dimitri, Fyodor, Grigori, Mikhail, Oleg, Pavel, Sergei, Vadim, Vlad, Yuri
Female Vistani Names: Anastasiya, Anya, Ganya, Halka, Lidiya, Maiya, Nadeah, Nadia, Nakita, Petrova, Svetlana
Vistani Adventurers
Three sample Vistani adventurers are described below.
Mikhail is a paladin of Cyric and reveres his deity as brilliant and cunning. He and his family have paid reverence to Cyric ever since they were brought here generations ago when Cyric’s murder of Mystra granted the Vistani exodus from the wretched lands of Barovia. He acts as a protector of his tribe and family, using intimidation, lies, and violence as means to keep them safe and prosperous. He often clashes with the bandits and undead of Erlkazar’s Night Barony who view his faith and devotion as heresy, though he hopes to ally with the remaining Zhentarim in the region that are still loyal to Cyric. Though Mikhail does commit certain acts of atrocity, he is largely unaligned in his views.
Petrova is a cleric of the love goddess Sune and seeks to spread joy and beauty throughout the realms. Stunningly beautiful in her appearance, she obtains a certain exotic quality about her that most men, and even some women, find irresistible. Often travelling alone, Petrova finds sanctuary in the occasional temple of Sune or at the home of a lover or those she has found a mate for. Her intentions and motives are pure and many seek her out from miles around for advice on courtship, love making, or even in hopes of her playing match-maker for them. Her devotion and reverence of Sune are unshakable and others of the same faith refer to her as “Heartwarder”.
Maiya is a young female Vistani who was orphaned as a young girl. Agents of Erlkazar’s Night Barony took her in as their own and taught her the ways of their secret organization. In time, she made a pact with the fey spirits of the realm in exchange for personal power and caught the eyes of the ruling vampiric class. They took a liking to Maiya and granted her “The Kiss” instilling a bit of their own unholy essence into her being. Many of the Barony’s agents now fear Maiya and the means by which she obtained her rise to power. After all, they have good reason to.
Feats
The following feats are available to Vistani characters:
Night Barony’s Kiss [Vistani]
Prerequisite: Erlkazar Regional Benefit
Benefit: You gain the following power as a token of the Night Barony’s favor. It is effectively a bite attack.
Last Caress feat power
An unsuspecting victim is often the tastiest…
Encounter, Necrotic, and Healing
Standard Action, Melee: touch
Target: One living creature that is bloodied, Attack: Charisma + 2 vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 necrotic damage + Charisma modifier.
Effect: Gain half of the damage done (rounded down) back to your health. If you are at full health you only deal damage.
Special: If you take this feat you become susceptible to attacks that target undead. While you are not undead yourself, you will be considered as such in terms of certain attacks and damages such as Turn Undead and Kelemvor’s Judgment.
Enlarged Fangs [Vistani]
Prerequisite: Night Barony’s Kiss
Benefit: Increase the damage of your Last Caress power to 1d12.
Evil Stare [Vistani]
Benefit: The range of your Evil Eye power increases to 10.
Paragon Tier Feats
Night Barony’s Embrace [Vistani]
Prerequisite: Night Barony’s Kiss, Enlarged Fangs
Benefit: When you take this feat you apply the Vampire Lord Template from the Dungeon Master’s Guide to your character. Once this feat is taken you may not retrain it, nor may you retrain Night Barony’s Kiss or Enlarged Fangs.
Lustful Hunger [Vistani]
Prerequisite: Night Barony’s Kiss
Benefit: Your Last Caress power is treated as and At-Will instead of an Encounter.
First off, thank you for sharing this! I only made a couple forays into Ravenloft whey I played 2nd Edition D&D, but damn if they weren’t scary and short-lived due to frequent character death. We always seemed to get slaughtered by Werewolves that just would not die. ;)
Your write-up is extremely thorough. I appreciated the page references you listed for Erlkazar in particular.
I think it would be cool to borrow your work on the Vistani and adopt it to fit the nomadic gypsy-like drow and half-drow one of my player’s characters came from (the wild lands north of Dambrath and east of Lurien). It’d be cool to see her people become warped, stranger and even mysterious/dangerous than before, thanks to the Spellplague.
By the way, here is some vb code (the
:D
I will PM naex to add your write up to the 4e Running the Realms links thread at the top if this forum.
:D
added
Oh, here's some more of the 4E symbols for use in statblock stuff: ≠ ✦
Good stuff!
I tend to stay out of this paticular forum these days, but I'm glad I popped my head in for this.
I was planning on doing something 'Gypsy' concerning the Raumathari of the Taan (Hordelands), basing them around the Lake of Mists and moving them outward into the Realms from there. I wanted to connect them to FR's resident 'Eastern European' flavored culture, but your write-up is so good it makes me re-think what I was doing.
Either way, I will be borrowing heavily from it - bravo.
