Creative Characters – Sweka Shinnah – Stalking Tiger Witch

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 bring you Sweko Shinnah, the witch of the tribe. She is as feared as she is respected, and she has a terrible temper leading to many conflicts within the tribe. However, she is also the wise woman of the Stalking Tiger tribe and one of the only sources of healing within the tribe (the other being Grig Barr).

Sweko Shinnah CR 5

XP 1,600
Female human witch 6 (hedge witch)
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Sense Perception +9

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+1 armor, +1 deflection. +2 Dexterity)
hp 41 (6 (class) +5d6+6 (favored class bonus)+12 Constitution)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +8

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk spear +3 (1d6-1×3)
Witch Spells Prepared (concentration +11)

3rdearth tremor (DC 18), hostile levitation (DC 18), prayer, suggestion (DC 18)
2ndaid, death candle (DC 17), disfiguring touch (DC 17), see invisibility, web (DC 17)
1stbless, bungle (DC 16), ear-piercing scream (DC 16), enlarge person, snowball (DC 16)
0detect magic, guidance, message, read magic

TACTICS

During Combat Sweka mostly stays out of the way, using her hexes and her spontaneous healing ability to keep her allies alive. She uses spells like aid, enlarge person and prayer to bolster her allies, and bungle, web and hostile levitation to hinder her allies. Only if the situation is truly dire does she resort to her direct attack spells.

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14 (12+2 magic), Int 20 (+1 level, +2 race + 2 magic), Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Accursed Hex, Ally Shield, Duck and Cover, Simple Weapon Proficiency (all), Split Hex
Skills Heal +10, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (history) +14, Knowledge (planes) +14, Perception +7, Spellcraft +14, Use Magic Device +9
Languages Common, Draconic, Goblin, Infernal, Terran, Sylvan (from headband)
Gear belt of mighty constitution (+2), bracers of armor (+1), cloak of resistance (+2), headband of vast intelligence (+2, grants Sylvan language and Perception skill), ring of protection (+1); Other Gear backpack, bedroll, explorer’s outfits (2x), masterwork spear, small tent, Soaring (hawk), trail rations (7 days), Coins 661 gp, 5 sp, (these remaining coins can be spent at the GM or player’s discretion before the start of the game session).

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Hex

Sweko has learned a number of magic tricks, called hexes, that grants her powers or weaken foes. Unless otherwise noted, using a hex is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The save to resist a hex is equal to 10 + 1/2 the witch’s level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier. (i.e. 18 for Sweka).

Witch Hexes

Healing (Su) Sweko can soothe the wounds of those she touches. This acts as a cure moderate wounds spell, using the Sweko’s caster level (6th). Once a creature has benefited from the healing hex, it cannot benefit from it again for 24 hours.

Misfortune (Su) Sweko can cause a creature within 30 feet to suffer grave misfortune for 1 round. Anytime the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A Will save negates this hex. This hex affects all rolls the target must make while it lasts. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Tongues (Su) Sweko can understand any spoken language for a number of minutes per day equal to her level (6), as tongues. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute increments.

Spontaneous Healing (Su)

Sweko can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. She can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower, even if she doesn’t know that cure spell.

Witch’s Familiar (Ex)

Sweko has formed a close bond with her familiar, a hawk named Soaring that teaches her magic and helps to guide her along her path.  Sweko must commune with her familiar each day to prepare her spells. Sweko stores all of the spells that Sweko, and she cannot prepare a spell that is not stored by Soaring.

Witch Patron

When Sweko gained her familiar Soaring, she also gained a patron in the form of the ancestors of the tribe. These ancestors give her access to these extra spells: bless, aid, prayer

ABOUT

Sweka is the most feared member of the Stalking Tiger tribe, generally believed to be both insane and in direct communion with the ancestors of the tribe, both of which are correct. Sweka has been hearing voices ever since she was a child, telling her what to do, in both bad and good. She has been doing it for so long that she sometimes has to remind herself that not all the voices she hears belong to the ether, but that some of them belong to the people around her.
She believes utterly in the sanctity of the tribe, and the ancestors have told her that Grig is the rightful leader of the tribe. Grig may not always be right, but to Sweka she is the leader and as such she must be OBEYED. And she’s more than willing to make others see that point of view too regardless of how she has to do it.



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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