Creative Characters – Styrabjorn Neergard

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

Today, we’re continuing what we started several weeks ago, aiming to show off some of the different interesting things you can find, once you go beyond the “official” material. So, this time around, please welcome the “Third Party Characters”. These will all be level 2 but will be created with a 3rd Party Publisher race, and a 3rd Party Publisher archetype for the character (though still sticking with the official published spells and classes, otherwise it might be too much information at once).

Styrabjorn Neergard CR 1 (XP 400)

Male svirfneblin cleric 2 (steel valkyrie)
LN Small humanoid (svirfneblin)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 21 (+7 armor, +1 Dex, +2 dodge, +3 shield, +1 size)
hp 18 (8+1d8+4 (Constitution) +2 (favored class bonus))
Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +6
SR 13

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee masterwork longsword +2 (1d6/18-20×2)
Cleric Spells Prepared (concentration +5)

1stbless, divine favor, magic weapon
0detect magic, detect poison, guidance, stabilize

Domain War

TACTICS

Before Combat Styrabjorn’s tactics are simple. Get into combat, stay in combat, and kill the opponent as quickly as possible.

Styrabjorn casts bless, divine favor and magic weapon. These buffs are not included in the stats presented here.

STATISTICS

Str 11 (+0), Dex 12 (+1), Con 14 (+2), Int 8 (-1), Wis 17 (+3), Cha 8 (-1)
Base Atk +0 CMB ++1; CMD 11
Feats Armor Proficiency (light, medium, & heavy), Martial Weapon Proficiency (all), Shield Focus, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency (all)
Skills Heal + 8, Knowledge (religion) +5
Languages Common, Svirfneblin
Gear backpack, banded mail, bedroll, blanket, explorer’s outfits (2x), heavy steel shield, masterwork longsword, small tent, trail rations (7 days); Coin 377 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

Aura (Ex)

Styrabjorn has a moderate lawful aura.

Aura of Resolve (Su)

Styrabjorn emits a protective aura that grants him a +2 sacred bonus to Will saves. All allies within 20 ft. of him gain a +1 sacred bonus to Will saves.

Battle Rage (Sp)

Six times per day, as a standard action, Styrabjorn can touch a creature to give it a +1 bonus on melee damage rolls for 1 round.

Channel Energy (Su)

Styrabjorn channels positive energy to heal living creatures. Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all living creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on Styrabjorn. The amount of damage healed is 1d6. Creatures healed by channel energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point total—all excess healing is lost. Styrabjorn may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. (minimum 1) This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Styrabjorn can choose whether or not to include himself in this effect.

He must be able to present his holy symbol to use this ability.

Defensive Training

Svirfneblin gain a +2 dodge bonus to armor class.

Diminished Spellcasting

A steel valkyrie may cast one fewer spell of each level than normal. If this reduces the number to 0, he may cast spells of that level only if his Wisdom allows bonus spells of that level.

Skilled

Styrabjorn gains a +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks while underground and a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks and Perception checks at all times.

Spell Resistance

Styrabjorn has SR 13.

Spontaneous Casting

Styrabjorn can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that he did not prepare ahead of time. He 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).

Svirfneblin Magic

The DC vs. any illusion spell Styrabjorn casts is increased by +1. Additionally, Styrabjorn has the following spell-like abilities (CL 2):

War Domain

A steel valkyrie must select the war domain. The cleric must worship a deity with the war domain. The cleric may access any of the war domain‘s related subdomains but cannot select any other domains related to the subdomains other than the war domain. A steel valkyrie does not select any additional domains beyond that of the war domain.

Styrabjorn treats his cleric level for all domain spells and abilities granted by the war domain or any of its subdomains as his steel valkyrie level +2. This does not grant him early access to powers nor spells.

HISTORY

Styrabjorn was a typical svirfneblin, spending his time underground, mining and training almost incessantly. He had an uneventful life, until one day where he was swept up in a drow raid. They attacked and sacked his city, and Styrabjorn himself was knocked unconscious and dragged to the surface, where the drow raid had originally been headed.

He was still stuck in the slave train, when the drow made their way to the surface, heading towards a small village, intent upon catching surface-dwellers to be their slaves.

Seeing the flames spread among the thatched roofs of the village, he called out to the gods, and one amongst their numbers answered, by breaking his bonds, and allowing him to wreak havoc among the drow, so that the villagers could escape.

Now, a Steel Valkyrie, he travels the world righting the wrongs of the world, always on the side of order, usually on the side of good, hunting down those who upset the world order, but reserving a special hatred for those who resort to slavery.



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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