Rifts Mercenaries/Theodore Berryman

Name: Theodore Berryman

O.C.C.: Ley Line Walker

Alignment: Scrupulous

Description: When Theo was five years old, his farming family was traveling towards Hale Rearing, a newly founded town in the wilds in the hopes of building a better life for themselves there. Along the way, they needed to cross a ley line running along a dried-out riverbed - a somewhat unnerving prospect, but nothing that is not routinely done by anyone traveling any longer distance. The family drove their wagons across the magical stream - and when they were in the middle of it, it flared a blinding blue and... something happened.

Another group of settlers found Theo wandering by the river bank a few days later. The tracks of the wagons, horses and people going down into the riverbed were still visible, right up to the point where they suddenly stopped. Of the family itself and their possessions, there was no trace.

Theo was adopted by the settlers, who took him with them to Hale Rearing. However, over the next couple of years, he began exhibiting strange habits and uncontrollable bursts of magic. His adoptive family, realising that he had somehow been changed by whatever had happened, managed to contact an order of Ley Line Walkers and convince them to take the boy on as an apprentice.

At first, Theo was more afraid of his guardians' strange abilities, and his own, than anyone. However, over time the Ley Line Walkers taught him to control his wild-grown gifts and to recognise magic as an unpredictable and not fully understood, but perfectly natural phenomenon. Theo learned to find security in comprehension and a calm mindset, and to see ignorance as the true source of fear.

When he had grown to adulthood and his apprenticeship was over, he devoted himself to traveling the world, both to explore the strange and mystical parts of it and to take any opportunity to teach others about them. In his heart, he still hopes that somewhere, somehow, he might learn just what happened that day on the ley line, and if his family is still alive somewhere.

Theo is a tall, sinewy man with dark skin and a short, bristly beard. He doesn't talk much, and when he does, his voice is low and quiet and his words carefully considered. He dresses in sweeping capes over rough armour and traveler's garb, and generally wears the traditional hood and gas mask of a Ley Line Walker, leaving only the upper part of his face exposed.

Attributes

Intelligence Quotient 14

Mental Endurance 13

Mental Affinity 10

Physical Strength 13

Physical Prowess 11

Physical Endurance 13

Physical Beauty 9

Speed 8

Standard Damage Capacity 27

Hit Points 14

Potential Psychic Energy 120

Actions per round: 4

Bonuses

+4 to save vs Horror Factor

+2 to save vs possession and mind control

+3 to save vs curses

+2 to pull punch

+2 to roll with punch, fall or impact

Skills

Animal Husbandry 35%

Botany 35%

Climbing 45%/35%

Cook 45%

Fasting 45%

Hand to Hand: Basic

Horsemanship: General 40%/20%

Identify Plants & Fruit 30%

Land Navigation 40%

Language: American 98%

Language: Spanish 70%

Language: Faerie Speak 70%

Literacy: American 40%

Lore: Cattle & Animals 40%

Lore: D-Bees 35%

Lore: Demons & Monsters 45%

Lore: Faeries & Creatures of Magic 35%

Lore: Magic 40%

Mathematics: Basic 55%

Mythology 35%

Outdoorsmanship

Pilot: Motorcycles & Snowmobiles 65%

Preserve Food 30%

Swimming 50%

Wilderness Survival 45%

Xenology 40%

Zoology 40%

Spells

Globe of Daylight

See Aura

Sense Evil

Levitation

Manipulate Objects

Turn Dead

Armor of Ithan

Invisibility: Simple

Light Healing

Charismatic Aura

Fire Bolt

Multiple Image

Equipment

Cape

Set of clothing

Set of traveling clothes

Bushman Trooper-type body armour (90 MDC main body, 50 MDC helmet, 30 MDC each arm, 55 MDC each leg)

Knapsack

Backpack

Small sack

Large sack

6 wooden stakes

Mallet

Canteen

Binoculars

Tinted goggles

Air filter and gas mask

Flashlight

100 feet of lightweight cord and grappling hook

Pencils

Notepad

Survival knife (damage 1d6 SDC)

Hand axe (damage 2d6 SDC)

Automatic pistol (damage 3d6 SDC, range 140 feet, 12 shots per clip)

Wilk's 447 Laser Rifle (damage 3d6 MD, range 2000 feet, 20 shots per clip, +1 to strike on an Aimed Shot)

3 clips of pistol ammo

3 clips of laser rifle ammo

4,000 credits

7,000 credits' worth of Black Market goods