Kaara Arradel, the Dusksinger

Kaara Arradel, the Dusksinger

Level 4 Wood Elf Bard/Ranger
One Unique Thing: The Diabolist stole my heart - literally!
When an agent of the Diabolist killed Kaara for helping herself to one of the Icon's artifacts, he was petty enough to cut her heart out as a present for his mistress. Luckily for her the Prince of Shadows was nice enough to replace it with a heart made of living shadow.

Str 08 [-1/+3]
Dex 18 [+4/+8]
Con 14 [+2/+6]
Int 08 [-1/+3]
Wis 14 [+2/+6]
Cha 18 [+4/+8]

• 28 point buy, +2 dex (wood elf), +2 cha (bard), +1 dex/cha/wis at 4th level

HP 54 [(7 base + 2 con) * (level + 2)] AC 20 [Light, 14 base + 2 con + 4 level] PD 17 [11 + 2 con + level] MD 17 [11 + 2 wis + level] Initiative +8 [4 dex + level] Recoveries 8 Recovery Dice 4d8+2

Backgrounds +4 The only crime is getting caught Having come out of the Queen's wood many years ago and taken up residence in Glitterhaegen, it wasn't long before Kaara's natural thrill seeking and predatory talents led her to Shadow Port and thievery. Within a few years she had become an expert treasure hunter, poaching artifacts along side (and often in competition with) the Prince's own agents but still a freelancer herself. This somewhat changed after the Prince gifted her with her new heart, creating a debt that haunts her to this day.

+4 Even dead, I'm the life of the party Despite her comfort in the wilderness, Kaara is also drawn to all of the opulence and decadence that civilization offers. Her musical talent is without question, and her songs and poems have made her a minor celebrity in Glitterhaegen and the surrounding area. Since she received her new heart, her demeanor has changed somewhat - she is a bit darker and more prone to wild mood swings - but if anything it has increased her charisma and popularity. She is a great lover of conversation, persuasion and gossip, always curious about the goings-on and movers and shakers in a given area.

+5 Only on the hunt am I whole The flip side of her seemingly conflicted dichotomy, Kaara is completely at home in the wild - so much so, in fact, that she seems to turn it into the epitome of style. As the glitter of the city hides the dark underbelly of society, so it is that the beauty of the wilderness hides the heart of a predator. Within her lives a great grey beast that only feels alive with the danger and adrenaline that comes from stalking the most dangerous of prey.

Icons Prince of Shadows (Conflicted 2) She made a number of enemies among the Prince's following by not only competing with them, but also when she caught his eye. Perhaps it was her involvement with the Diabolist and her audacious ambition rather than her raw talent that brought her to his attention, or maybe he saw an opportunity to user her in some game of his but whatever it was he seems to enjoy stringing Kaara along. Even now, she can't tell if she's in his good graces or not.

Diabolist (Negative 1) Kaara's upbringing in the Queen's Wood had already given her a distaste for the Diabolist's unnatural handiwork, but her time at the Bardic Colleges only intensified these feelings. There the Diabolist held a kind of mythical sway amongst the most powerful teachers and bards, and Kaara found herself on the outs due to her obvious resentment. In the years since then, she has made it a habit to hoodwink the Diabolist's agents whenever possible. Since the fiasco with the Crown of Hell and the loss of her own beating heart, however, that disgust has turned to pure hatred.

Features Elven Grace (Racial Power) At the start of each of your turns, roll a die to see if you get an extra standard action. If your roll is equal to or lower than the escalation die, you get an extra standard action that turn. At the start of battle, you roll a d6. Each time you successfully gain an extra action, the size of the die you roll increases by one step on the following progression: (d4), d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. If you get an extra action after rolling a d20, you can't get any more extra actions that battle. Adventurer feat: (Heritage of the Sword) Use d6 and d8 swords without penalties; or if already able to use such swords without penalties, +2 melee damage.

Bardic Songs (Bard feature) Bardic songs are magical moments that last for one or more rounds and end with a final verse that carries an even bigger payoff (unless the bard chooses to abandon the song in the middle). Although magical, bardic songs don't count as spells. Unlike spells, they don't force the bard to suffer opportunity attacks from engaged enemies, and they can't be canceled by effects that can cancel spells. For that matter, bards can even cast spells while in the middle of singing a bardic song.

Battle Cries (Bard feature) Bards use battle cries to encourage, inspire, warn, and magically aid their allies. Battle cries are triggered by flexible melee attacks. The bard makes a melee attack and is able to use a battle cry that corresponds to the attack's natural result, sometimes whether or not the attack hits. See page 167 for the full rules for flexible attacks. As a rule, the bonuses provided by battle cries can help a bard's allies but not the bard.

Spells (Bard feature) Bards use arcane spells that function like those of other spellcasting classes. Some spells are daily, some recharge, and others are at-will. Unlike most character classes, bards use two different ability scores for their attacks. Their melee and ranged weapon attacks use Strength or Dexterity, while their spells use Charisma.

Jack of Spells (Bard talent) Choose another spell-casting character class. You can choose one spell from the spell list (but not the talent list) of that class, of your own level or lower, as an extra spell you know how to cast. You can even take its feats up to your tier, if it has any. You may only choose from the spell list—not from talents. This spell is a bonus spell, not included in your bard class count. Adventurer feat: You can use your Charisma as the ability score that provides spell’s attack bonus and damage bonus (if any). Other ability score references remain unchanged. If the spell is a wizard spell, you also gain three cantrips of your choice from the wizard. You can cast them like a wizard who lacks the Cantrip Mastery talent.

Tracker (Ranger talent) You have the Tracker background (by any name that feels fun, engaging, and correct for your character's story) at its full possible bonus of +5, without having to spend your normal background points on it. You are an expert wilderness tracker, capable of reading clues from the environment that others can't perceive. Tracking doesn't work well, however, in heavily traveled urban environments. In addition, you have the terrain stunt power. Adventurer feat: Your grasp of the way the world is put together increases; you now can use terrain stunt in urban environments. Certainly there's enough options in urban environments to play off of. Now you get it.

Sorta Dead (Bard talent, borrowed from necromancer class) In some ways, you're dead already. You don't need to eat or sleep or breathe. You can't drown in normal water/liquid, though magical gas will probably still affect you. When a spell or effect targets or applies to undead, you can decide whether you want to count as undead for that specific effect. The first time you die each level, roll a normal save, adding your Charisma modifier. If you succeed, you heal using a free recovery instead of dying. If you were dying because of last gasp saves, consider yourself saved from the last gasp problem also. Adventurer feat: You gain resist poison 16+ and resist negative energy 16+.

Battle Cries Three Bard Battle Cries up to 3rd level

Songs/Spells One Bard Song or Spell up to 1st level Two Bard Songs or Spells up to 3rd level One Wizard Spell up to 3rd level

Cantrips Ghost Sound This spell creates false noises emanating from somewhere nearby. The effect is like an exceptionally good version of throwing your voice, if your voice could create a wide variety of sounds. Attempted distractions with the cantrip are DC 15 challenges in adventurer environments, higher as you move into champion and epic environments. If someone is using ghost sound against the PCs, a Wisdom-based skill check can identify the sound as a magical fake.

Mage Hand This cantrip creates a small telekinetic effect that lasts a round at most. At best it’s about half as strong as the wizard’s own strongest hand. At worst it’s half as strong as the wizard when they’re weak from a bad fever.

Prestidigitation This cantrip produces magic tricks and small illusions. One casting usually gives you a minute of fun. The magic has nowhere near as much real world force as mage hand.

Attacks Scimitar vs. AC; Basic melee; Atk 1d20+9; Dmg 4d8+6; Miss 4 Longbow vs. AC; Basic ranged; Atk 1d20+8; Dmg 4d8+4; Miss 4

Gear Lyre Harp Finger drums Moonmesh coat (Light armor) Elven scimitar inlaid with onyx Elven longbow 25gp

Description: Kaara is taller than average with the lean, lithe build of a hunter and a gaze at once penetrating and unsettling. Her golden eyes are set in a pale oval face, silky dark hair artfully windblown, narrow nose exquisitely placed to balance the hazy power of that too direct stare. A smile quirks lips the color of red grapes, likewise tinted with the silvery patina that fruit seems to hold. When she moves it is a captivating swaying of boughs, when she gestures it is spellbindingly expressive, when she sings it is with the voice of an angel.

There is about her both the wild and the civilized, existing side by side yet unblended, each running deep and pure. She wears simple leggings of silky black and a sleeveless tunic decorated with patterns of the intricate branchwork of great trees. The great cloak she wears is black as night, with trim and hooded of silvery fur and decorated with beautiful feathers. Upon her finger she wears a simple gold ring that sports a large ruby.

Personality: Kaara is surprisingly approachable and pleasant for someone who is not quite alive, chatting easily but rarely superficially. She prefers the juicy heart of a matter to the dry periphery, the truth beneath rather than the surface facade. Deep and spiritual, with an untamed streak and a drive to take risks and reap rewards where others might be timid. Her typical attitude is to seize all there is in life and not waste time worrying overmuch about consequences. Given her partially undead condition, it is possible that she seeks excess in order to bind her to this life.

Background: Kaara drifted into Glitterhaegen after the long, meandering sojourn that followed her departure from the bardic colleges. Though she could feel her mother's stern will upon her from far away Santa Cora, and likewise intuit her father's stony, disapproving gaze from his unmarked grave in the Queen's Wood, and though she kept them both close in her heart, nevertheless she felt no duty to return to either of them. Certainly there was unfinished business, but just as certainly she had never been one to let guilt stain her conscious too deeply.

Glitterhaegen was a world she had dreamed of, with its web of complicated politics, the neverending gossip, the glitz and glamour that came with abundant wealth and the boredom to spend it on frivolities. Not that she possessed such wealth herself, of course, but she insinuated herself through music quite nicely. The lords and ladies, through ancient custom, were more than happy to lavish fine things upon one of her musical talent and charming, exotic allure. In those early days, she wanted only to immerse herself in the constant bacchanalian party that was the playground of the upper echelon of the city. Given her talents, she might have been able to sustain herself on the patronage of others, but that had never been her way. She had other talents, learned in the wild, and she used those ruthlessly, with the cunning of an untamed predator.

For Glitterhaegen lay adjacent the dark haunt of Shadow Port, and there Kaara refined her natural talent with teachings from the best thieves in the business. She flaunted her skills, often working in competition with the Shadow Prince's agents - freelancing in a city where he held sway. Treasure hunting became her chief business, interspersed with stints back in Glitterhaegen to keep up her reputation. Most often she looked for minor artifacts precious to the Icons, knowing they fetched good prices but also for the fame they brought to her. Of particular satisifaction was tweaking the nose of the Diabolist, for her intrusion upon the purity of music, and for the memory of her dead father.

In another world, one might say she flew too close to the sun in that respect. For she had found clues that led her to the Crown of Hell, the Diabolist's most powerful artifact. The events surrounding this thing are hazy in her mind, and she cannot recall if she found it or where, or indeed what had become of it if indeed it was in her possession. What she does remember is her heart still beating heart as it was dissected from her chest, and the mocking laughter of the Diabolist. She remembers, too, that laughter dropping deeper in tone as light gave way to darkness, coalesced into hazy masked figure. His fingers laced, gathering the night, hands compressing tightly then opening, a gleaming ebony flower blossoming on those gloved palms until, teeth gleaming with a grin, he thrust that dark heart into her bosom and she knew no more.