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Name: Sul
Stats: not determined yet (will be shoving most of it into Cha, none into Str/Con)
Overview/Key Abilities
- possess people/monsters/animals/even constructs (DM allowed)
- can manipulate the bodies I possess with changeling/warshaper abilities (however, my physical abilities are more or less limited by my host body)
- read thoughts at will (instant speed, 4 people at a time)
- telepathy 100’ + Mindsight means I can communicate and “see” everything
- can potentially be primary face, but probably serve better as secondary as I play my mind tricks, whisper thoughts into people’s heads, read their desires and relay them to the primary face, etc.
- ability to mentally daze/disrupt/confuse/stun at will (reasonable DC)
- changeling rogue social skills
- hexblade dark companion to lower enemy saves and AC
- marshall aura to boost everyone’s Cha skills (unless someone would prefer I pick a different aura)
- telekinesis
Combat
- possess the juiciest meatbag I can find
- or use mind tricks to stun the greatest threat
- or pretend to be the opposing cleric’s god and mess with him
- all of the above
- nearly full BAB, very good saves, undead immunities (sort of... it’s complicated)
Personality
- generally quiet when not in a host body, somewhat shy
- becomes more brash when in a host; takes on some of their qualities
- very inquisitive, yet mildly paranoid
- dislikes the military, war, and conflict in general
go to Vic
SulFactionStuff
SulEquipment
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History/Background/Fluff
Level 1 (When Your Luck Runs Out) - Rogue//Hexblade
- comes from a major city, heavily developed
- merchant/thief/fence, not necessarily evil, just trying to make ends meet
- has a wife and young daughter; his wife doesn’t approve of his shadier dealings, but it puts food on the table so she tolerates it
- thinks himself lucky, when really he makes his competitors unlucky (hex curse) and has a strong knack for deciphering people’s intents (changeling rogue sub level)
- gets drafted into the military, serves under Valeas, dies (exact reasons unknown? or perhaps Valeas can’t tell)
- his body is never found, becomes ghost, goes “crazy”, haunts battleground
faction: -1 (leaves his family behind, forgets about them, they never find out what happened to him), faction: -1 (circumstances of his death never revealed, future plot hook, DM can do whatever the heck he wants here)
Level 2-3 (Decent into the Madness) - Ghost/Fey//Hexblade
- unsure why he is still a ghost, becomes erratic/insane, hears “voices” (the lament of good spirits being tormented for whatever nefarious purposes)
- convinces himself that he needs to “die” because he’s already dead
- begins taking over bodies (not necessarily aware that he is doing so) and committing suicide over and over (for a couple decades) - unaware that each host body takes on some semblance of him, even in death
- eventually drifts from the battlefield back to civilization, but continues his suicides
- suspicion of changelings/dopplegangers in the region dramatically increases as such large scale tragedies demand scapegoats - faction: - 4 (prejudice for changelings as a race increases greatly over these decades)
- the Cabinet of Faces takes interest in this bizarre series of “suicides” (which the public theorizes to be murders at this point) as anything that increases suspicion/hostility for their kind is bad for business overall. They send an agent to investigate, but the agent is coincidentally possessed and commits suicide like the rest. The Cabinet retrieves the body and discovers a psychic imprint of Sul. The hunt is on. faction: -1 (Cabinet of Faces)
Level 4 (A Friend in the Darkness?) - Ghost//Hexblade4
- feature of note: Hexblade 4 - Dark Companion
- a dark shadowy creature seems to be following and watching him, and he doesn’t know why; it never communicates, but also shows up when he’s about to kill himself
- concept: the dark companion is a manifestation of Sul’s subconscious trying to heal itself (manifestation in part due to DavidWL’s (Tanner’s) efforts) faction: +1 (Tanner, although unknown at the time except for a “feeling”)
- One day the companion reappears after he’s slit his wrists and indicates to follow. He follows until he arrives at a large mirror in which he sees a distorted vision of himself. In shock, he shatters the mirror and his image reverts back to that of his host body. He stares at the new face and realizes that he hasn’t been killing himself, but that he’s been claiming innocent lives. Too weak to do anything else, he watches himself die once again through another man’s eyes.
- an upstart young detective who starts trying to piece together all the suicide/murders, she thinks the cause might be something otherwordly, but is laughed at and dismissed by the other officers who don’t believe in such things faction: - 1 (detective)
- possible plot hook: the detective is Sul’s daughter, who feels an inexplicable personal connection (almost obsessive) to the case and can’t let it go
Level 5-6 (A New Life Not His Own) - Ghost/Fey//Warshaper
- he reawakens as a ghost again, but with newfound (though still shaky) resolve and sanity
- drifts away from the heart of the metropolis to a border town
- wants to experience life again, possesses bodies (sometimes passively) to try and feel life
- sometimes momentarily takes active control to “nudge” a person into doing something riskier, more exhilarating
- for a while picks a “favourite” host (a human teenage boy names Vic who aspires to be an adventurer) that he possesses exclusively, and acts like a subconscious voice to nudge him into doing things and even communicate in a very limited sense, to offer subconscious advice etc.
- when the boy sleeps, he takes over the body, adopts a new face, and plays vigilante himself (partially for the excitement, and partially to try to right the wrongs he committed in the past); when the boy wakes up he thinks it was a dream, which only makes him want to become an adventurer even more faction: +/- 2 (Vigilante)
- one day Vic sees a woman being robbed, tries to play hero but only gets himself stuck at knifepoint
- desperate to save the boy, Sul briefly takes over his body and in a surprising show of strength tosses the robber clear across the street
- he realizes that not only does he have the ability to alter appearances, he can affect their strength as well (Vic assumes he just had a rush of adrenaline)
- feature of note: warshaper 2 - morphic body
- Vic becomes a local hero faction: +1 (Vic)
- starts “seeing things” (ie: other spirits) but can never catch them
Level 7-8 (The Plot Thickens) - Ghost//Cabinet Trickster
- the Cabinet of Faces has discovered him after tracing the story of the heroic boy and his amazing feat of strength; they’ve detected Sul’s psychic imprint, but still do not realize he is a ghost as they only notice when he’s in possession of Vic and do not notice the dual spirits
- they do not approach the boy directly, but realize that Vic’s double life as a hero at night is someone else’s doing; the Cabinet suspects outside influence/mind control
- they notice that the human boy displays Changeling-like abilities at night
- the Cabinet of Faces does not know what they are dealing with, but investigate further in hopes of learning how to control whatever it is they are dealing with faction: - 1 (Cabinet of Faces; they’re suspicious)
- through a series of controlled encounters and situations at night while Sul plays vigilante, they nurture his inherent doppleganger traits and abilities
- ie: training to become a Cabinet Trickster
- the dark companion returns, always trying to point out the Cabinet members spying on him, but he never really catches them
Level 9 (I Spy With My Little Eye) - Mindbender//Cabinet Trickster
- features of note: telepathy, mindsight
- while running around in Vic’s body one night, the dark companion points Sul towards a particular building; Sul suddenly discovers that he can sense someone inside that is spying on him, trying to peek into his mind (concept: he’s gaining the ability to sense creatures using mindsight, the dark companion merely manifests this by pointing out their location)
- without realizing that he’s now “thinking out loud”, he mentally calls out to the Cabinet member with a telepathic “who are you?”
- surprised, the Cabinet spy drops his guard and suddenly Sul can read his mind, realizing that they’ve been spying on him all this time
- terrified, he chases the spy down and in the struggle kills him faction: - 2 (Cabinet of Faces), faction: - 1 (Githyanki, see link below)
- SulEquipment (this is what happens when I start writing...)
- realizing that he’s putting Vic in danger (who is now a young adult), he reveals himself and explains everything
- they create a story about the Cabinet spy being another thief that Vic stopped; the region already distrusts changelings from all those murder/suicides years ago (they’ve become easy scapegoats for all crimes since then), and Vic’s reputation as town hero solidifies faction: +2 (Vic)
- trying to find a way out of town as quickly as possible, Sul discovers that he can possess animals, melds into a horse and runs away
- the detective, having been demoted years ago for her rediculous notions about spirits etc is now working a less glamorous beat in the same small town and learn of Vic. She notices similarities in the cases and renews her search reputation: - 1 (detective)
Level 10-11 (The Clone Wars... no wait, I mean “A New Beginning”) - Mindspy//Cabinet Trickster
- having been distracted enough by the vigilante life (although it was fun), Sul sets back out to his original goal to discover why he is still a ghost, and to try to find his purpose for still being “alive”
- he continues with self training of his abilities, furthering his ability to read minds and to change the forms of his hosts
- the dark companion returns and seems to be leading him somewhere; it hasn’t steered him wrong yet, so he follows (ie: leading him towards Tanner)
- the further he gets from the city, the more frequent his sightings of spirits, and they seem hostile; he runs from them, not knowing what to do faction: - 1 (spirit world, he has the taint of evil to him)
- realized that the spirits only seem to notice him when he’s outside of a host body
- the horse has reached the limit of its endurance and expires
- not wanting to be left exposed, he searches desperately for another body out in the wild, finds nothing but a derelict warforged shell. To his surprise he is able to possess the shell; notices that the spirits are either more afraid or more hostile while in the shell
- he is attacked by a group of powerful spirits and the body is destroyed, but is rescued by... insert party member here
Things left unaccounted for (ie: DM can do whatever he wants)
- maybe his initial revenge wasn’t what he thought it was
- he is currently unaware of the Fey bloodline; does it have anything to do with his “immortality”?
- Where is Vic now? (good setup to come in an a PC, NPC, or even as a cohort
- What do the Cabinet of Faces want with him? (revenge is just too simple)
- what about the detective?
Potential Character Hooks
- not satisfied with the frailty of typical corporeal hosts, Sul wants to build a body for himself (probably a flesh-type golem that he can use his changeling abilities on)
- still a bit of a thrillseeker, enjoyed the vigilante life and might go back to it
- searching for a way to finally lay to rest
- confront the Cabinet of Faces
- the detective is his daughter
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SulFactionStuff
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Comments (1)
Anonymous said
at 9:08 pm on Jan 10, 2007
Surreal~Does a ghost accrue age bonuses/penalties?
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