Creative Characters – Grig Barr, Chieftain of the Stalking Tiger Tribe

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 week, we start a new series of characters, this time focusing on members of a barbarian tribe. These characters share a bond and, generally speaking, a common goal: The survival and continuation of their tribe. As such, while previous Creative Characters have normally been grouped in groups of 5, with alignments generally tending to be compatible within those groups, the members presented here are specifically NOT of the same alignments and will range from good to evil, lawful to chaotic. Today though, we present Grig Barr, the shaman, and leader of the Stalking Tiger Tribe.

Grig Barr CR 5

XP 3,200
Female human shaman 6 (speaker for the past)
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +3

DEFENSE

AC 21, touch 9, flat-footed 21 (+9 armor, +1 deflection, -1 Dexterity, +3 natural, -1 size)
hp 42 (8+5d8+6 (Constitution)+6 (favored class bonus)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +8

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.
Melee +2 spear +10 (2d6+9/x3)
Ranged +2 spear +6 (2d6+5/x3)
Shaman Spells (concentration +13)

3rdcure serious wounds (x2), magic vestment, heroism
2ndbarkskin, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, fog cloud, spiritual weapon
1stbless, cure light wounds, enlarge person, stone shield, unseen servant
0—bleed (DC 13), guidance, know direction, virtue

TACTICS

Before Combat: Grig will always attempt to cast spells before combat. These are barkskin, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, magic vestment, and enlarge person. If Grig is caught unprepared see “Unprepared Stats”.

During Combat Grig starts by using her Battle Cry feat and moving into close combat. Once there, she will use her blood of heroes ability to maximize her abilities in combat and to take out her opponents as quickly as possible. She uses her fury ability on whichever one of her allies appear to have inflicted the most damage in the first round of melee combat, and battle ward on whoever seems most at risk at the time.
She and her tribesmen use Ally Shield and Duck and Cover as much as needed to distribute damage evenly amongst them and keep even the weakest members alive.

STATISTICS

Str 20 Dex 8, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 17 (15 + 2 race), Cha 14 (+1 level)
Base Atk +4 CMB +9; CMD 19
Feats Ally Shield, Armor Proficiency Light, Armor Proficiency Medium, Armor Proficiency Heavy, Battle Cry, Duck and Cover, Simple Weapon Proficiency (all)
Skills Diplomacy +11, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (local) +10, Perform (oratory) +8,  Spellcraft +10, Survival +12
Languages Common, Sylvan
Gear headband of inspired wisdom (+2), ring of protection (+1), 5 doses of war paint of the terrible visage; Non-magical Gear backpack, bedroll, blanket, explorer’s outfits (2x), half-plate, masterwork spear, small tent, trail rations (7 days); Coin 571 gp, 3 sp (these remaining coins can be spent at the GM or player’s discretion before the start of the game session).

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Hexes

Battle Ward (Su) Grig touches a willing creature (including herself) and grants a battle ward. The next time a foe makes an attack roll against the target, the ward activates and grants a +3 deflection bonus to the warded creature’s AC. Each subsequent time she’s attacked, the defection bonus reduces by 1 (to +2 for the second time she’s attacked and +1 for the third). The ward fades when the bonus is reduced to +0 or after 24 hours, whichever comes first. A creature affected by this hex cannot be affected by it again for 24 hours.

Fury (Su) Grig incites a creature within 30 feet into a primal fury. The target receives a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls and a +2 resistance bonus on saving throws against fear for 3 rounds.

Mysteries of the Past Grig gains Linguistics, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Perception, and Use Magic Device as class skills. She also adds the spells from the ancestor and time oracle mysteries to her class spell list (as the cleric level for those spells). Grig must spend 1 hour each dawn in quiet contemplation to regain her daily allotment of spells.

Revelations

At 4th and 6th level Grig selected a revelation from the ancestor mysteries. She uses her shaman level as her oracle level for these revelations and uses her Wisdom modifier in place of her Charisma modifier for the purposes of the revelation.

The revelations she selected are:

Wisdom of the Ancestors (Su) Once per day, Grig can enter a trance in which she communes with the spirits of her ancestors. This trance lasts for 10 minutes, which must be uninterrupted and during which she can take no other actions. When she comes out of this trance, she has gained mystical insight into the future. The insight takes the form of a divination with 90% effectiveness. These effects do not require material components.

Blood of Heroes (Su) As a move action, Grig can call upon her ancestors to grant her extra bravery in battle. She gains a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and Will saves against fear for 3 rounds. Grig can use this ability twice per day.

 

Spirit (Su)

Grig has formed a mystical bond with the spirits of the world. She formed a lasting bond with a single spirit, which grants a number of abilities and defines many of her other class features.

Grig gains the spirit ability granted by her chosen spirit. She adds the spells granted by that spirit to the list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic. She also adds the hexes possessed by that spirit to the list of hexes that she can use with the hex and wandering hex class features.

Ancestor’s Council (Su) As a standard action Grigcan call upon her ancestors to provide advice and assistance to one ally within 30 feet. The ally gains a +2 bonus on any attack roll, saving throw, ability check, or skill check made before the beginning of the shaman’s next turn. The shaman can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma bonus (i.e. 4)

HISTORY

Grigg Barr is the shaman leader of the Stalking Tiger Tribe, and her word is both law and command within the tribe. She has selected a handful of the tribe most fearsome and competent warriors to help her ensure that her tribe survives and thrives in the future. To this end, she and her small band, have traveled out into the world, to broaden their horizons and bring back what they can.

They see the trappings of civilization as the toys of weaklings, though they give concessions to weapons and armor, as these are the trappings of true warriors, and true warriors use whatever means they can to stay alive and destroy the enemy.

She and her tribe worship their ancestors, and both her spear and her armor have been passed down through generations, and are valued relics of the tribe. She hopes to find traces of the heroes of her tribe’s past in the wider world, and bring back tales and trappings from their legendary deeds.

Unprepared Stats

DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+8 armor, +1 deflection)
hp 30 (8+5d8-6 (Constitution)+6 (favored class bonus)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +8

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.
Melee +2 spear +8 (1d8+5/x3)
Ranged +2 spear +6 (1d8+2/x3)

Str 14 Dex 10, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 17 (15 + 2 race), Cha 14 (+1 level)
Base Atk +4 CMB +6; CMD 16



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!

View all posts by Kim Frandsen →

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