Creative Characters – Cheriss, the Sister of Merciful Song

Greetings!

Welcome to Creative Characters. This is where I indulge myself a bit and create an unusual character, based on a concept, idea, theme, feat or whatever else catches my fancy. These characters are NOT supposed to be optimized, but they ARE supposed to be INTERESTING. For the sake of reference, and consistency, all characters here are created with the Elite stat array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) and all hit points are rolled as averages (and rounded down). They are also written so that they can be used as either NPCs or PCs as the reader chooses, and are written with all special abilities typed out, so as to ensure a minimum amount of book-flipping throughout your game.

This is a recurring series, and you should be seeing installments of it each week. Should you wish to see a particular build or idea featured here, then please don’t hesitate to comment

This time around, I provide you with the “sister” of Doruk, in an attempt to provide an interesting take on the Healer character. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Cheriss the Sister of Merciful Song.

Cheriss, the Sister of Merciful Song (CR 4)

XP 1,200
Female human cleric 5 (devout pilgrim)
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Sense — ; Perception +3

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+5 armor, +1 deflection)
hp 36 (8 (from class) +4d8+5 (Constitution) +5 (favored class bonus))
Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +7

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee morningstar +2 (1d8-1)
Ranged light crossbow +3 (1d8-19-20/x2)
Cleric Spells Prepared (concentration +8)
3rdblindness/deafness (DC 16), prayer, remove curse
2ndhold person (DC 15), remove paralysis, sound burst (DC 15) spiritual weapon
1stbless, command (DC 14), sanctuary (DC 14), remove fear, summon monster I
0create water, detect magic, mending, stabilize
Domains: healing, liberation

TACTICS

During Combat Cheriss attempts to immobilize or incapacitate opponents with blindness/deafness, hold person or similar spells, though if it becomes clear that the group is outmatched, she will (reluctantly) turn to her damaging spells like spiritual weapon and summon monster as well as her morningstar and light crossbow. She generally does NOT pray for healing spells, preferring instead to cast these spontaneously when the need arises, though she knows that the best defense is an effective offense, so unless her comrades are dying, she’ll normally prefer to remove the enemy first. Further, she prefers to expend her channeling ability LAST, as she believes that direct healing at the source is more effective.

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +3 CMB +2; CMD 19
Feats Improved Initiative, Light Armor Proficiency, Selective Channeling, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Quick Channel, Reactive Healing
Skills Diplomacy +11, Knowledge (religion) +9, Perform (sing) +8, Sense Motive +11
Languages Common, Goblin
Combat Gear morningstar, light crossbow, +1 chain shirt, 20 crossbow bolts, ring of protection +1; Other Gear bedroll, explorer’s outfits (2x), everburning torch, handy haversack, pearl of power (2nd level spell), silk rope (100 ft.), small tent, trail rations (7 days), wand of cure light wounds (50 charges remaining), 296 gp, 4 sp, 9 cp (these remaining coins can be spent at the GM or player’s discretion before the start of the game session).

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Aura (Ex)

Cheriss has a moderate chaotic and good aura for spells that have effects, based on alignment, such as detect good.

Caravan Bond (Su)

Cheriss can, by leading a group prayer for 1 minute, select a number of traveling companions equal to her cleric level + her Wisdom bonus. She may use her domain-granted powers on any of these traveling companions as if they were her. She can use these abilities on her traveling companions at a range of up to 30 feet, even if the ability normally requires her touch.

Channel Energy (Su)

Cheriss channels positive energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures. Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on Cheriss. The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 3d6 points of damage. Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is 15. Cheriss may channel energy 6 times per day.

Rebuke Death (Sp)

Cheriss can touch a living creature as a standard action, healing it for 1d4+2 points of damage. She can only use this ability on a creature that is below 0 hit points. She can use this ability 6 times per day. Spontaneous Casting Cheriss can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison or domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name).

HISTORY

Cheriss is the adopted sister of Doruk, who I covered last week, lost when they escaped from a village together. What Doruk doesn’t know, however, is that his sister was in fact captured by those villagers, but instead of thinking that she was a monster, they thought that she had been captured by the monster. So, they took her and treated her wound, as she’d broken a leg during the flight from the village. While there, she started talking with the local cleric, and one night, having heard his sermon, she was sat outside the temple, when she heard a voice calling out to her. A voice that stirred her spirit and aroused her passions. It spoke with fire and told her of liberating the oppressed, helping the poor and overthrowing the wicked. In that moment, Cheriss swore herself to Milani, and raised her voice in song, praising the goddess. However, she knew that it would not be possible for her to overcome all these problems alone, so she set out to find Doruk once more, to help her “brother” against those who’d harm him, and with his help, make the world a better place. She now finds that she’s following him, behind by only a few days, but she seems incapable of catching up to him. Secretly now hopes he finds trouble that’ll slow him down so she can catch up, and that they, together, can change the world.



About Kim Frandsen

Kim is a freelance writer for various companies (including d20pfsrd.com Publishing, Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Purple Duck Games, Rusted Iron Games and Zenith Games) as well as an editor of the Pathfinder and D&D 5th Edition product lines for d20pfsrd.com Publishing. Hopes to one day rule the world!

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