human [variant], male, 5’8″, #142, deep set green eyes [squared sockets], dusky skin, short black hair with a soul patch + bushy eyebrows, left handed, heavily squared jaw, angular cheeks, large squared ears, age: 30
Mannerisms: because he has dealt with so many folk from diff places, his accent shifts and changes when he speaks
Rogue 1st / Monk (Shadow tradition) 4th
STR = 10
INT = 12 (+1)
WIS = 16 (+3)
DEX = 16 (+3)
CON = 10
CHA = 10
Skills: Nature (as human; INT), Stealth (DEX + Expertise), Acrobatics (DEX), Insight (WIS); Athletics (STR), Perception (WIS + Expertise)
Magic Initiate: (Studied at Monastery as Druid/Gaia) 2 cantrips + 1st x1: Druidcraft, Thorn Whip (2d6/30′ + draw 10′) / Animal Friendship (1/Long Rest) + 1 Monastery Power: Magic Stone (d6+WIS) ++ Minor Illusion (cantrip per monk)
Shadow Arts: Use ki to duplicate the effects of certain spells. As an action, you can spend 2 ki points to cast darkness, darkvision (can see in magical darkness), pass without trace, or silence, without providing material components. Additionally, you gain the minor illusion cantrip if you don’t already know it.
Fey Touched: +1 INT; 1/Long Rest Misty Step and Bless
MOVEMENT = 30’+10 (monk) = 40′
Tactics > Cast darkness on staff, try and end fights quickly, avoid fights through knowledge and awareness
Monk [Dedicated] Weapon: quarterstaff (2H – d8+3 Dex; 7/11/19; +2 initiative Zermai style) + [@Bonus] Unarmed (d4+3 Dex; 5/7/11)
– Ki-Fueled Attack (If you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action, make one attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon as a bonus action)
Hit Points = 8,5,5,5,5 = 28
AC = 16
(While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier. And you can add +10′ Movement.)
Sneak Attack: +d6
KI POINTS = 4/DC 13 (regain on short rest); You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield:
Deflect Missiles: Reaction to deflect/catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 12 (1d10/5 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level). If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack with a range of 20/60 using the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught as a Monk Weapon, as part of the same reaction.
KUNG-FU: Flurry of Blows (Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.) Patient Defense (You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.), Step of the Wind (You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.)
Pack: bedroll, 10 candles, incense, canvas bag (waterproof), flint + tinder, 2 robes/light clothes, writing kit (small, w/journal)
Satchel: Herbalist Kit (6 burn balm, 6 salve, 3 x 3pt poultice, 2 boosts – ignore exhaustion 1 day; healing potion 2d4+2 x2)
Clothes: shirt, sarong, underwear, socks, sandals, green/blue vest, holy symbol of gaia
Weapons: sling (bag with 5 stones), quarterstaff of Zermai (books/scrolls/animals engraved; grants Blindsight 60′ while held; +1 resilience (200sc to repair); Jump and Spider Climb spells 1/Short Rest = Follower of Gaia only!)
Background: Sailor (Merchant Cities navy)
Personality: My friends know they can rely on me, no matter what.
Ideals: Respect. The thing that keeps a ship together is mutual respect between captain and crew. (Good)
Bond: I’m loyal to my captain (leader) first, everything else second.
Flaw: I follow orders, even if I think they’re wrong.
Franklin grew up in territory disputed by Dunstrand and the Merchant Cities. He was was the son of a hunter. His mother and sister died of a fever when he was 12. His father was crushed. Although he taught him all he knew about the wild *including the basics of the language of elves), he drank himself to death by the time Franklin was 15. He moved away from his community, into the big city for new opportunities. He became a notable rogue of Karolak. He began his career with smugglers on the docks, eventually joining the navy of Karolak – the north Merchant City. He tried to leave his illicit trade of theft behind, and served for two years, then returned to working with smugglers. There he worked for 2 years, getting experience in the cities and with the gangs. He was young and daring, and was filled with his own ego after a lucky attempt to steal the Flame of Ikribu. This gem was paraded each year at the summer festival of the city of Karolak, from the reliquary of the god. He was part of a team, and the only one to live and get away.
He was then hired on his reputation (however ill-deserved) by a wizard of the Order of the Stone Hand. No other thief would take the job. Promised 5000 silvers to steal a book with a certain look (he was given a description only) from a place called the Monastery of Zermai in the north, he willingly went through a cold magic portal that transported him to a cold valley. Earthquakes rocked the valley as he was transported there. He lost his bearings and was confused about where he was at – clearly it was not a normal place. After several aborted attempts to sneak into the monastery, he was captured. Starving and dehydrated, he was questioned without end for three days. He was then fed and allowed to rest. During the several days he struck up conversations with the monk captors. Their order had collected otherworldly knowledge and was a place of pilgrimage for knowledge seekers. Zermai was the “first seeker” – a monk who accumulated knowledge and founded the monastery outside of normal time and space. Most were of a strange race of chiseled faced green-grey skinned humans and they claimed to be natives of the outer planes. Franklin felt relaxed for the first time since he was pressed into the service of the navy – no one was threatening him. Looking back, it was his left handedness that may have caused the monks to be open to him – as they were all of that race, left handed.
Days turned into weeks, turning into months. He eventually asked to be able to stay and assist them in their lofty goal. He learned some magic even, and became a follower of the enigmatic demiurge of Gaia – found in plant places and times. He gave up his ways of the thief, and learned the strange ways of the shadow monks of the order (though it seemed to compliment those skills). He delved into many mysterious rooms in the monastery, learning strange knowledge and powers including how to read and write. Over the years, his face was bound and molded to look more like the ancient monks. He defended the monastery against all manner of creatures that sought to penetrate its defenses and steal from them. His personality was tempered and he became a man of simple and helpful disposition. The years went by, he fought strange creatures from other planes of existence. He made several trips into the Faeywild, seeking ingredients for herbalist remedies and knowledge with his fellow monks. Meanwhile, the earthquakes continued and the order was forced to admit after thousands of years, the monastery was failing. Some outside force had finally found a way to destroy it, and the monks began to search for a new place to move their knowledge to. This was complicated by the fact that many of the keepers of knowledge had their own contained environments and atmospheres within the monastery, supported by magical function to allow them to live. He was part of a group sent out along an ancient Laey strand connected to an Aelfpath to find a suitable new place to build and move the contents of the monastery to. He picked up the habit of journalism, like his fellow monks. However, his literary skills were less verbose.
His lack of experience drew him to an odd beacon, and a Dew Gate that pulled him back into his own native world. He entered the area through the light and mist, and observed goblins and giants, and a land that had fallen under the influence of a strange warping. He found an old church, remote and with a deep cellar and caves nearby that might make a temporary place for his monastery. He was trapped in this world when the Dew Gate unexpectedly closed as he was exploring a strange area that the dreamlands had bled into. Several goblins and a few other odd creatures had managed to be cut off like him. He lived off the land modestly. He watched the territory gradually throw off the influence of the dreamlands. He rediscovered that he is content to sit under a tree or in a garden, reading, while laying out food and having tiny animals crawl over him and find refuge in his robes.
Lost and without any money to his name, he knew he would need to make allies quickly. The prolonged time in the monastery and Faeywyld has changed his appearance and his demeanor and he felt odd and out of place. Realizing he was not going home the way he came, he vowed to make the best of things. He would find someone or a group who needed his services, and in turn he believes that fate will provide him a way home to at the very least let the order know of his findings. The first group of travelers he saw was going in what he believed was north and out of the valley he originally found himself in. They walked with purpose and seemed strong and well equipped. He decided that they would not be threatened and decided to reveal himself to them. Shadowing at a distance, he realized they spoke the language he grew up with – he must be back in his home world! Nothing could have been more fortuitous. He sensed he had returned for a reason, and that his destiny lay with the strong folk he was observing.
a monk from the Monstery of Zermai (it would be off the far traveled Aelfpaths); He has studied in many rooms within the monastery. He came there to steal, and ended up joining the order. He was sent to find a way to get some of the monastery materials out as its dimension was becoming unstable and ended up trapped in the Steel Realms
“Thirst for knowledge is the understandable sin” – A saying of Zermai
“Zermai not the aesthetic for everyone” – on the plain clothes and odd looks
Franklin the Dark, monk of Zermai met up with Rabat, B’Hein at the ruins of Kindredale he is scouting to see if it suitable for his order to resettle there.