In my novel, the beloved of Virdena the elf and the spiritual leader of the heroes is Karo the cleric. Gallant, wise and beautiful, he is the incarnation of all that is good and of my childhood romantic dreams.
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Karo Meldur
Elf cleric
(Faithful Shepherd) 1
NG Medium humanoid
(elf)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision, Perception +3
Aura aura of good
Defense
AC +12, touch 11, flat-footed 11 (+1 armor, +1 Dex)
hp 8 (1d8)
Fort +2; Ref +1; Will +5
Defensive
Abilities adoration 6/day; Immune blindness and dazzle
effects
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +1 (1d8+1, 19-20)
Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8+1, 19-20)
Special Attacks channel positive energy 6/day (1d6 damage, DC 15), divine works (give
heart)
Spell-Like Abilities
(CL 1st; concentration +3)
At Will- light
Magic
Caster Level 1 (2 with Protection); MSB +1; MSD 12; Concentration +4
Tradition Inherent Divinity (Drawbacks: Verbal Casting, Emotional Casting, Aligned
Protection [Protection], Luminous [Protection]; Boons: Easy Focus); CAM Wis
Spell Points 4
Fate Sphere - DC 13; Duration Concentration or 1 min/level; Range Consecration
(20 ft.), Word (25 ft.); Talents None; Drawbacks None
- Consecration (Serendipity)
- Word (Hallow)
Life Sphere - DC 14; Duration None; Range Touch; Talents None; Drawbacks
None
- Cure
- Invigorate
- Restore
Mind Sphere - DC 13; Duration None; Range Close (25 ft); Talents
None; Drawbacks None
- Suggestion
(Lesser, Greater)
Protection Sphere
- DC 14; Duration Aegis (2 hours), Ward
(Concentration; 2 rounds); Range Aegis (touch), Ward (up to 20 ft); Talents
Peacebound, Repel Evil; Drawbacks Aligned Protection (evil), Luminous
- Aegis (Deflection, Peacebound)
- Ward (Barrier, Peacebound, Repel Evil)
Statistics
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 12
Traits Flair for Fate, Warrior of Old
Feats Imbued Strike, Run
Skills Heal +7, Knowledge (planes) +5, Sense Motive +7
Languages Celestial, Common, Elven
SQ domains (Charm/Love, Glory/Heroism), fleet-footed, lightbringer, touch of
glory 6/day (+1)
Gear cleric’s kit (16 gp), light crossbow (35 gp) with 20 bolts (2 gp),
longsword (15 gp), potion of common cure (50 gp), silken ceremonial
armor (30 gp), 12 gp
Special Abilities
Channel Energy
(Su) Regardless of alignment, any cleric can release a wave
of energy by channeling the power of her faith through her holy (or unholy)
symbol. This energy can be used to cause or heal damage, depending on the type
of energy channeled and the creatures targeted.
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) channels positive
energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living
creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity)
channels negative energy and can choose to deal damage to living creatures or
to heal undead creatures. A neutral cleric of a neutral deity (or one who is
not devoted to a particular deity) must choose whether she channels positive or
negative energy. Once this choice is made, it cannot be reversed. This decision
also determines whether the cleric can cast spontaneous cure or inflict spells
(see spontaneous casting).
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either
undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of
damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of
damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so
on). Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to
halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the cleric’s level +
the cleric’s Charisma modifier. Creatures healed by channel energy cannot
exceed their maximum hit point total—all excess healing is lost. A cleric may
channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier.
This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A
cleric can choose whether or not to include herself in this effect.
A cleric must be able to present her holy symbol to use this ability.
Divine Works The faithful shepherd has been gifted by his deity with minor miracles he
can use to protect and heal his allies - and to spread the good word. The
faithful shepherd gains 1 divine work at 1st level, and an additional divine
work every odd level after the 1st, for a total of 10 at 19th level. Each
divine work may be chosen once only.
Divine Works: Give
Heart (Su) Whenever the faithful shepherd creates a ward, he may
invigorate every ally within the area of the ward as a free action. This is
considered only one use of the invigorate ability, regardless of the number of
allies affected.
Domains:
Charm/Love
Adoration (Su): As an immediate action, you can attempt to thwart a melee or ranged attack
that targets you. This ability functions as sanctuary, but only against one
individual attack. You must use the ability after the attack is declared but
before the roll is made. The creature attacking you receives a Will save to
negate this effect. If a creature has more than one attack, this ability only
affects one of the attacks. You can use the ability a number of times per day
equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. This is a mind-affecting effect.
Domains:
Glory/Heroism
You are infused
with the glory of the divine, and are a true foe of the undead. In addition,
when you channel positive energy to harm undead creatures, the save DC to halve
the damage is increased by 2.
Touch of Glory (Sp): You can cause your hand to shimmer with divine
radiance, allowing you to touch a creature as a standard action and give it a
bonus equal to your cleric level on a single Charisma-based skill check or
Charisma ability check. This ability lasts for 1 hour or until the creature
touched elects to apply the bonus to a roll. You can use this ability to grant
the bonus a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Easy Focus When maintaining a sphere ability through concentration, you only need to
spend a move action to maintain concentration instead of a standard action.
This does not decrease the sphere ability’s casting time, only the action used
to maintain concentration.
Emotional Casting Your magic requires heightened emotional states of mind to use. When
subject to a non-harmless magical effect that invokes an emotion (such as fear
effects, spells with the (emotion) descriptor, or charms such as Fear or
Hostility) you are unable to use magic.
Fate Sphere You command cosmic forces including luck, destiny, and alignment.
Fate: Word As a standard action, you may invoke a word of power, affecting a single
creature within Close range.
Some (word)
talents (especially Align Object and Subvert Weapon, allow you to target
objects. These, and any other (word) effects affecting objects, have the same
range as any other words and Echoing Word allows you to affect multiple objects
with them, up to the same number as the number of creatures you could affect
with other words.
When you gain the
Fate sphere, you gain the following word:
Fate: Hallow
(Word) You may spend a spell point to hallow a target for 1
minute per caster level. Choose an end of the alignment spectrum (good, evil,
lawful, chaotic); you must choose an alignment that you possess. The target of
this word gains a +1 sacred bonus (profane bonus if you are evil; if you are
neither good nor evil you must choose whether you grant sacred or profane
bonuses with this sphere) to attack rolls, AC, and saving throws made against
targets of your opposed alignment (evil for good, lawful for chaotic, etc.).
This bonus increases by 1 for every 10 caster levels possessed.
The target also
gains immunity to any spell or sphere effect that possesses or exercises mental
control over them (including enchantment [charm] effects and enchantment
[compulsion] effects), so long as that effect originates from a creature who
possesses your opposed alignment. If the target is already under the influence
of such an effect, the target is allowed to make a new saving throw against the
controlling effect. Success means the effect is suppressed for the duration of
this word, but resumes when this word expires. This does not expel a
controlling life force (such as a ghost or projected spirit), but it does
prevent them from controlling the target.
Some Fate talents
are marked (word). These talents grant you additional words.
Fate: Consecration
As a standard action, you may affect a 20 ft radius
centered on you with a consecration. This aura moves as you do. When you gain
the Fate sphere, you gain the following consecration:
Fate: Serendipity
(Consecration) You may bestow luck upon your
allies. All allies within range gain a +1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill
checks, ability checks, and saving throws. This bonus lasts as long as you
concentrate. You may spend a spell point as a free action to allow this effect
to continue for 1 round per caster level without concentration.
Fate talents
marked (consecration) grant you additional consecrations.
Fate: Divine Force
(consecration) You may fill an area with the
influence of an alignment type you are connected to (good, evil, lawful, or
chaotic). You must possess this alignment type. Creatures of that alignment’s
opposite (good for evil, lawful for chaotic, etc.) within this area suffer one
of the following detriments, chosen at random (Fortitude negates):
- blind 1 round
- deaf 2d4 rounds
- staggered 1d4 round
- sickened 1d4 round
- dazed 1 round
- shaken 1d4 round
As this power is
cosmic in origin, it can affect undead, even though undead are usually immune
to some of these conditions. If you are True Neutral, you may choose neutrality
with this consecration, in which case all creatures at the extremes of the alignment
spectrum (Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, and Chaotic Evil) suffer the
ill effects. This is an instantaneous effect.
Keep the Flock The faithful shepherd gains the Life and Protection spheres as bonus magic
talents, and uses his class level as his caster level with these spheres. This
stacks with other sources of caster levels normally.
This replaces
domain bonus spells.
Life Sphere You wield the powers of life.
Life: Cure As a standard action, you may spend a spell point to touch a target and
heal it an amount of damage equal to 1d8 + your caster level. This is a
positive energy effect, and as such may be used to harm undead (Will half).
Life: Invigorate As a standard action, you may invigorate a touched creature, granting them
temporary hit points equal to your caster level (minimum: 1). Unlike normal
temporary hit points, this ability can only be used on an injured target and
cannot raise a target’s current hit points plus their temporary hit points to
be higher than their total hit points. This benefit lasts for 1 hour. Temporary
hit points, even from different sources, do not stack; only the highest bonus
applies.
Life: Restore As a standard action, you may touch a target and spend a spell point to
restore their physical and mental health.
This accomplishes
all of the following:
- Heals
1d4 points of ability damage to one ability score of your choice.
- Removes
the fatigued condition or lessens exhaustion to fatigued.
- Removes
the sickened condition or lessens nauseated to sickened.
- Removes
the shaken condition or lessens frightened to shaken, or panicked to
frightened.
- Removes the staggered condition.
- Removes the dazzled condition.
- Removes the battered condition. (When using
Spheres of Might.)
If the condition
targeted is part of an on-going effect, this suppresses the effect for a number
of round equal to your caster level. This cannot be used to remove curses or
instantaneous effects.
Mind Sphere You gain the ability to alter the minds of others, causing them to act as
you see fit. All mind sphere abilities are Enchantment (compulsion)
mind-affecting abilities.
Mind: Charm You may place charms on creatures. Charms require a standard action to use
and have a range of Close. You may only use charms on targets that possess your
own creature type (humanoid for humanoids, etc.) although the Expanded Mind
talent changes this. Each charm has three strengths; lesser, greater, and
powerful. Lesser charms are at-will abilities, but you may not target an
individual creature more than once in a day with any individual lesser charm.
Greater charms cost a spell point to use and powerful charms cost 2 points to
use. You must possess the Powerful Charm talent before you may use any powerful
charms.
When you gain the
Mind sphere, you gain the following charm:
Mind: Charm:
Suggestion You may plant thoughts into a
target’s mind.
Lesser Charm: You may plant a suggestion in a target’s mind, which they obey as if the
thought had been their own (Will negates). The suggested course of activity
must be limited to a sentence or two and must be a very simple request. The
creature performs the suggested action until it finishes, or for 1 hour per
caster level, whichever comes first. If you choose, you can instead specify
conditions the creature should look for, (i.e., “you should search the next
person who enters this room, looking for weapons.”) If the condition is not met
before this duration expires, the activity is not performed.
Greater Charm: This is the same as the Suggestion lesser charm, but may be up to a basic
request. Very simple requests cause the save to be made with a -2 penalty. The
target cannot be asked to do anything it would not normally do.
Positive
Channeling A faithful shepherd must
choose positive energy as the energy he channels with his channel energy class
feature. The faithful shepherd uses his casting ability in place of Charisma to
determine uses per day, saving throw DC, and all other effects when channeling
energy.
This modifies channel energy.
Protection Sphere You are a user of the magics of preservation.
Aligned Protection
Choose an end of the alignment spectrum that you
possess (good, evil, lawful, or chaotic). Your wards and aegis only provide
protection against creatures of the opposite alignment (evil for good, lawful
for chaotic, etc.). Creatures who possess your selected alignment or are
neutral (those who possess neither your selected alignment nor its opposite)
are not stopped by your barriers, hindered by your wards, and your aegis
provides no protection against attacks that originate from those creatures.
Luminous Your Protection sphere abilities take on the form of an aura or field of
light. The light is not powerful enough to be used as a light source, but makes
the presence of the protection ability obvious to anyone within 30 feet.
Creatures wearing an aegis you created can not benefit from stealth, invisibility,
or concealment. Effects that dispel light (such as Dark effects) dispel your
Protection sphere abilities as well.
Protection: Ward As a standard action, you may create an ward centered
on yourself with a radius of up to 10 ft + 5 ft per caster level, but can also
be made so small as to only cover yourself. Wards remain as long as you
concentrate, but you may spend a spell point to allow them to remain for 1
round per caster level without concentration. Wards remain in the location they
were created, even if you move. When you gain the Protection sphere, you gain
the following ward:
Protection:
Barrier (ward) You may create a ward that
creates a mostly-transparent wall at its perimeter, stopping attacks, movement,
breath weapons, and any spells or sphere effects that must travel to their
destination (such as destructive blasts, ghost strikes, or spells that require
ranged touch attacks).
Other spells or sphere effects, however, such as teleportation effects,
mind-altering magic, and gaze attacks may all bypass this ward. Ethereal
creatures are technically stopped by the barrier, but can usually find a way
around it (as the barrier does not cut through objects, and so usually stops at
ground level).
A barrier has hit points equal to 4 + your caster level and a Break DC of 15 +
½ your caster level. If an attack is directed at a target through the barrier,
the attack first deals its damage to the barrier itself. If this damage is
enough to destroy the barrier, the attack continues on to its intended target,
although damage dealt to the barrier is subtracted from any damage done to the
target or targets. Burst-effect attacks such as splash weapons, fireball
spells, or others attempting to travel through the barrier explode at the
barrier’s edge and also must overcome the barrier’s hp to damage targets on the
other side. If you maintain your barrier through concentration, its HP is
renewed each round on your turn.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, barriers created with the Protection sphere
are transparent force effects and block line of effect, but do not block line
of sight or teleportation. Barriers can grant cover, but not concealment
(unless explicitly stated otherwise).
Protection: Aegis As a standard action, you may touch a creature and spend a spell point,
granting them an aegis for 1 hour per caster level. Unwilling targets are
allowed a Will save to resist gaining an aegis.
Multiple aegises of the same talent can be placed on a single creature, and the
creature can benefit from them when they are providing different effects. This
means Armored Magic can give a target both armor and shield, and Energy
Resistance can grant resistance to multiple energy types to the same target.
You gain the following aegis when you gain the Protection sphere:
Protection: Deflection (aegis) You grant the target a +1 Deflection
bonus to AC, +1 per 5 caster levels.
Protection:
Peacebound (ward, aegis) You may create a
ward that renders all creatures within incapable of causing violence. Any
violent action or targeted offensive magical effect created within the ward
fails and the target’s action is wasted (Will negates). If any target succeeds
at this Will save, the ward’s effect immediately ends for all. When a
peacebound ward is broken in this fashion, all creatures within become immune
to that caster’s peacebound ward for 24 hours. You may also create an aegis
that makes the target immune to violent actions or magic. Any such action made
against the target requires the attacker to pass a Will save or lose that action.
If a creature succeeds at this Will save (or the bearer of the peacebound aegis
takes an offensive action against any creature) the aegis immediately ends.
Protection: Repel
Evil/Good/Law/Chaos (ward) You may create a
ward that repels creatures of one end of the alignment spectrum (good, evil,
lawful, chaotic), chosen by you when this ward is created. All creatures of
that alignment cannot cross the edge of this ward unless they succeed at a Will
save. Once a creature has succeeded at this Will save, they may cross the
barrier without trouble and are immune to your repel ward for 24 hours. If a
creature is already within this warded area when it is created, or if the ward
is moved into their space, they instantly become immune to the ward, as if they
had succeeded at their saving throw. You cannot repel an alignment that you
yourself possess.
Verbal Casting You must speak in a loud, clear voice to cast spells. Using magic alerts
all nearby hearing creatures to your presence and location, effectively breaking
stealth. You cannot cast in an area of magical silence, or in any other
situation where you are unable to speak clearly.
Build
Karo is built with a 20-point buy and 140 gp starting
wealth. Favored Class Bonus is +⅓ use of a 1st-level domain power. If using a
lower point buy, you can lower Strength and Constitution. If using a higher
point buy (or rolling really well), your most important attribute is Wisdom.
Wisdom is your casting statistic and affects the save DCs of all your magic and
martial talents and your spell pool, in addition to increasing your Will save,
your channel energy and domain powers save DCs, and many useful skill bonuses.
A high Charisma is desirable too, to be more persuasive in social situations.
How to Play Karo
You are a servant
of the Supreme God, and fostering goodness in the world is the most important
thing to you. Even if you are an accomplished combatant yourself, you feel that
your role is mostly of support to well-intentioned heroes chosen by your deity,
either by inspiring, strengthening, or healing them. Peace between all beings
is your highest purpose, but you know that it can be achieved only by fighting
evil- even if this fight has not necessarily to be a violent one.
Future Abilities
Magic Talents Atonement, Beacon of Hope, Bless, Break Enchantment, Diagnose, Divination
sphere, Divine Force, Glory, Inspiration, Light sphere, Perfect, Restore
Health, Restore Mind, Restore Soul, Resurrection, Resuscitate
Divine Works ask for a sign, divine guidance, divine inspiration, grant protection, holy
presence, instill virtue, omniscience, serve life, show mercy
Feats Champion’s Strike, Change of Heart, Channel Alignment, Channel
Smite, Disciple of the Sword, Endless Possibilities, Extra Magic Talent, Sunlight Strike, Weapon Focus (longsword)
