Halfdan (artificer character)

Halfdan – Character

Artificier of Armorer archetype; 3rd
Halfdan the Shield > (a.k.a. “Half Man”; “Lothar of the Hill People”; Invir = tribal name) Human (variant; str/int), male, 6’5″, #245, blonde hair (shorter, thin beard), blue eyes, right handed), Code: Chaotic Good (was more evil in past)
> tattoo of a shield on left forearm w/dwarf rune for “shield”; jotun sigil on right forearm with “maker” and “slave”
> 5 std. words/saying = “Every avalanche starts with pebbles.” (=Giant Foundling Personality Traits)
Dex 8 ( -1 )
Cha 9 ( -1 ) – his talk is plain, his walk is plain, his personality is boring.
Wis 10
San 11
Con 14 ( +2 )
Str 16 ( +3 )
Int 18 ( +4 )
INSPIRATION = (up to 4) 0

Proficiency Bonus +2 @ 3rd

Saves: intelligence, constitution

Weapon: simple

Armor: light+medium+heavy, shields

Communication: jotun (literate), common (literate), draconic (knows a little writing); speaks in dwarven when smithing…

Skills: intimidation (cha or str), survival (wis), history (int), investigation (int), nature (int)

Tools: thieves, tinkerers, smiths

FEATS: Magic Initiate (wizard; hero chronicle); Shield Master (human)

Magic

Magical Tinkering: You’ve learned how to invest a spark of magic into mundane objects. To use this ability, you must have thieves’ tools or artisan’s tools in hand. The maximum number of objects you can affect with this feature at one time is equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one object=4). You touch a Tiny nonmagical object as an action and give it one of the following magical properties of your choice (light, finding sound, non verbal sound/odor, static visual effect).

Spellcasting: You’ve studied the workings of magic and how to cast spells, channeling the magic through objects. To observers, you don’t appear to be casting spells in a conventional way; you appear to produce wonders from mundane items and outlandish inventions. You produce your artificer spell effects through your tools. You must have a spellcasting focus – specifically thieves’ tools or some kind of artisan’s tools.

Spell Powers: Prepared: INT adj+ 1/2 Lvl = 5; Save = 8+PB+INT = 14 / +6 Spell Attack; LONG REST RECOVERY
Ritual: spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared
Cantrips: guidance (a), mending (a), frostbite, prestidigitation
1st (3 slots): catapult, faerie fire, grease, cure wounds, tasha’s caustic brew
> Magic Missile*, Thunderwave*
> + Ice Knife (1/Long Rest from Magic Initiate)

Infuse Item

Infusions: (4 known; 2 items) Armor of Tools (smiths; add INT bonus), Enhanced Defense (+1 AC on armor or shield), Enhanced Weapon, Homunculus Servant

Faith

Deity: Auril

Combat

HP 8,5,5 +6 (con) = 24 (+lvl for armor defensive field # = PB/Long Rest)
AC = chain (16), shield (2+1) = 19

TACTICS: Prefers to wait until the end of the cycle and attack where it will make the most impact.

Arcane Armor: It lacks any strength requirement for you. It is a spellcasting focus for your artificer spells. The armor attaches to you and can’t be removed against your will. It also expands to cover your entire body, although you can retract or deploy the helmet as a bonus action. The armor replaces any missing limbs, functioning identically to a body part it is replacing. You can doff or don the armor as an action. Each model includes a special weapon. When you attack with that weapon, you can add your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, to the attack and damage rolls.
> ARMOR MODEL: Guardian (default unless specified; can change 1/Long Rest)

• Thunder Gauntlets. Each of the armor’s gauntlets counts as a simple melee weapon while you aren’t holding anything in it, and it deals 1d8 thunder damage on a hit. A creature hit by the gauntlet has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you until the start of your next turn, as the armor magically emits a distracting pulse when the creature attacks someone else.
• Defensive Field. As a bonus action, you can gain temporary hit points equal to your level in this class, replacing any temporary hit points you already have. You lose these temporary hit points if you doff the armor. You can use this bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Armor = shield +2 ac {+1 artificer def}, 1 res; SHIELD MASTER} = AC

• If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.
• If you aren’t incapacitated, you can add your shield’s AC bonus to any Dexterity saving throw you make against a spell or other harmful effect that targets only you.
• If you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you can use your reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.

Weapon = ARMOR (d8 bludgeon> 8/12/20; +6 attack), quarter staff (versatile; d6> 6/9/15; +5 attack), spear (6/9/15; range 20/60; +5 attack); sling (d4> 5/9/11; +1 attack)

Strike of the Giants: FROST = Once per turn, when you hit a target with a melee weapon attack or a ranged weapon attack using a thrown weapon the target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 8+PB+Str = 13), or its speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn. Use # = PB/Long Rest.

Equipment

(combat = armor and weapons stats)
Money (5d4x10 starting gold) = 160 (hidden in a compartment in his shield)
Toolkits: Thieves Tools, Tinkerers Tools, Smiths Tools (all hauled on travois)
Book with 12 Dwarven runes and meaning for smithing
Armor Device = 2 headed white dragon for affixing on armor and empowering
Weapons: quarter staff, spear, sling
Armor: chainmail

The Right Tool for the Job: You’ve learned how to produce exactly the tool you need: with thieves’ tools or artisan’s tools in hand, you can magically create one set of artisan’s tools in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. This creation requires 1 hour of uninterrupted work, which can coincide with a short or long rest. Though the product of magic, the tools are nonmagical, and they vanish when you use this feature again.

Holy Symbol – proudly displayed (of Auril; spell casting focus too) + prayer book in a leather waterproofed cover

Origins

Created: May 2024 by Kelly Berger for campaign GM: Ben Persinger – Neverwinter Quests!
World: Faerun/Forgotten Realms – begin in Neverwinter and greater area
Campaign Changes: Sanity; Int+ = skills or language; item resilience; Use the rule of averages; full action = full healing potion; (average/full/crit) from Incarna

Background: giant foundling & Heroic Chronicle (of the Sword Coast)
Homelands: Independent Realms / Settlement = Ten Towns/Icewind Dale (Wilderness; Alliance of Towns)
Social Status Relationships: 1 Rival
Personality: “Every avalanche begins as a single pebble.”
Mysterious Secret: “I was inducted into the Harpers when I was young, and I’ve been spying on the corrupt leaders in my hometown for years.”
> REPLACED = I tried to get inducted into a sacred elite warrior group. I failed, and was disgraced along with my family.”
Family Size: 2 parents, 4 siblings (human) / 3 parents, 2 siblings (giant)
Powerful Family Relationships: d3 = 2

1. Cousin Small-Bear of the Tribes – You uncovered a secret about this family member, whether a tiny embarrassment or a life-changing scandal. They now seek to unveil your darkest secret. You gain one rival.
   > You broke a promise to this person, and it caused them to suffer greatly. Now they conspire to make someone else break a valuable promise to you.
2. Grandfather Jotnar of the Frost Giants – This family member loves you, but you were never that close. They’ll do anything to help you – as long as they won’t be at risk of injury or death. You gain one ally. (DEAD)

Childhood: The tribes of the north made for a tough childhood. His father was a hunter, and his uncle a senior advisor to the chief of tribe. His cousin and he were sent at age 7 to fare for themselves a double night in the dead cold winter to try to enter the the bear brotherhood – an elite group. His cousin could not catch enough to eat, and Invir had to hunt for both of them and lost his left pinky to frostbite. He promised to not tell the elders of his failure, but when asked by his father he could not hide the truth from him. His cousin Small-Bear lost the chance to join the brotherhood, as did Invar for lying. His cousin swore to avenge himself upon him eventually. He accepted that his life would be a hunter’s life like his father, not noble and glorious.

Foundling: At the age of 8, he was taken by frost giants in a retaliatory raid against the humans of his tribe of Icewind dale. He was large for his size, and was taken to replace a killed giant child. He grew up among them. He was forced to live with the dwarven slaves initially, and learned the ways of the forge from an early age. He befriended and adopted the faith of the dwarves and learned their ways and secrets, becoming a master shield-maker. The faith of his people and the dwarves failed to inspire him after several were sacrificed and their faith failed to save them. He observed the faith workings of his ‘owner’ Thrimsur and asked if he could pay homage to his captors gods – who seemed to him to be stronger. He was ostracized from the other slaves for this, and gradually adopted more habits and outlook of his captors.

Giant-Kin: His adopted grandfather Jotnar was a shaman of Tiamat the White, and embraced his dedicated grandson who pursued a path of the white dragon aspect in the cold. It was he who gave himn is name – Halfdan the half-man. He was to be sacrificed, but his responses to the intonations of Jotnar caused him to spare him. Under his protection, the giants came to consider him half giant, half man as he grew and embraced living with the clan. He participated in several sacred rituals, and became jotun in his outlook. He was taught that the humans of the north were the enemy. He learned draconic speech through his grandfather, and helped him with cold forging wondrous items, tools, helms, and shields for the clan. His grandfather could not show his favoritism, but kept him close and his smaller size made making the shield emblems easier. It became what he was known for, and his grandfather blessed each that he made to keep an eye on him and keep him safe as he grew up.

Fateful Moment: {A horde of terrible monsters [humans] attacked your home, either destroying it (village/town) or doing massive damage before being repulsed (city/fortress). You will never forget the images of wanton slaughter that you saw. You have the Alert feat from the Player’s Handbook.} REPLACED: You vowed to use your skills to follow in your grandfathers clan/adopted family traditions. (Magic Initiate feat).

Leaving: After his clan was decimated, he went with his grandfather in search of sacred Frost Flowers to regain strength to rebuild the frost giant clan. Together they were ambushed by adventurers near Kelvin’s Cairn. In the clash, his grandfather called down the ‘white squall’ with his last breath. Halfdan was lost in an avalanche (though his shield he had made was crushed, it ultimately saved him) that killed the adventurers and rescued by the adventurers’ servants. After being nursed back to health for a week, he decided to help the servants escape the cold and return to their home in The Ten Towns. He guided them with his survival skills, but it nearly killed him. He was forced to spend a month recovering in Caer-Konig.

Change of Heart: There he mingled with humans begrudgingly and was amazed at how civilized they were and broke from his jotun teachings. He found that his faith in the white dragon queen was not a welcome sight, and even once fled from a cult trying to recruit him. He never lost his devotion to the cold though – his emblem he changed from a pure white version of the dragon queen to a 2 headed white-blue dragon when he could, and the 6 pointed snowflake of Auril incorporated on his shield designs. He took up the faith of Auril openly. He learned to make shields for the humans and developed some renown in the north that allowed him to leave to explore a world he frequently wondered about more and more.

A New Journey: He traveled South having lost most of his gear. He kept enough tools to work as a blacksmith or a blacksmith assistant trying to find a sign that would point him in the direction of his destiny. He hopes to find a community like his giant clan but with humans that he will fit into and feel safe in. While on the road, he was waylaid by an orc warband. The Leonine rescued me as I was being hauled off with the near dead. In the encampment, he is recovering till fully healed and paying off his debt to the Leonine by assisting their blacksmiths. The party from Neverwinter Quests is back at the Leonine encampment and Halfdan offers to travel with them if they will have him – he will pay them back with cash or deeds in exchange for a safe place to observe the world and improve himself.

• Lucas – Arthur human (outdoor rogue) “king of the britons”
  > Party leader!
• Arabus – Veindor; human (warlock – displays as paladin) – devout of Tyr) “vindaloo”
• Corey – Haushren; Leonin (fighter) “ole” *snap snap*
• Earl – Blist; kobold (sorcerer) “master blaster”
• Rocky’s new amnesia character

Barlet, barghest,

Inspiration Goals (not prophecy)

1. Temper the Sword Coast to the veneration of Auril
2. Craft the greatest shield ever made.

The Blessings of the Cold

The cold is the comforting stillness of the north. With it comes freshness, briskness, a desire to move and within it is the unending preservation of things we find beautiful. The jotuns may have been cruel and slavers, but their veneration of the cold was right and good.

• Cold kills germs, bacteria and disease.
• Cold keeps most poisonous critters south of an invisible line that would kill them if crossed.
• Cold turns rain into one-of-a-kind snow crystals to ski and toboggan on.
• Cold turns creeks, ponds and lakes into skateable ice.
• Cold is too cold for black flies and mosquitos.
• Cold turns lakes and mountain streams into healing, cold water swim spots.
• Cold is loaded with healing. It is my healthiest time of year.

Character Inception

Created 5-19-2024 by Kelly Berger for Neverwinter Quests; campaign GM = Ben Persinger Method: Rolled stats, total =72 w/o SAN

Inspiration: Viking + the add of intelligence is something Arabus has wanted to see for a long time, so i thought i would see how it works out.

The character is starting with next to nothing for a 3rd level character – he is a bit lost and making his way as best he can as an armorer. Im hoping that is a good hook into the group.

Proposed Rebalancing Changes

One cantrip MUST always be Mending.
Magical Tinkering requires 25sc and a Short Rest before another can be done. Each ‘tinkering’ is a ritual that takes a Long Rest to learn. It is assumed that the character begins play with all 4 of the basic ones.

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