Giovane Arrabbiato
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[edit] Description
Short, flat black hair, green eyes, no muscles, and a lot of attitude. Can take a lot of damage, has in the past, and it shows. Stereotypical Brooklyn "little guy" - "youse wana piece a' me?" - but without the muscles. Would be exotic/hansom, if it weren't for the attitude.
His clothing is a modified version of a Sharakim healing order's. The order's normal clothing is all black leather covering everything, including hands and head, with the exception of the eyes. His clothing retains the color, and covers all but his head and hands. There is a small sigil identifying this position with the order to those who know of it. It marks him as a warrior-of-the-order, not a healer, not a priest.
[edit] Informative Versus Definitive
The information provided on this page is informative only. The attached [PDF Character Sheet] file is definitive. It will be updated as necessary. All skills, stats, and combat related information is on the page, as is a list of currently known invocations and selected feats. The information on this page may lag behind the character sheet.
As of June 13th 2009, the PDF is out of date.
[edit] Invocations Known
| Eldrich Spear | Increase range to 250' with no range increment. [A] |
|---|---|
| Beguiling Influence | Diplomacy, Intimidation, Bluff are all +6 for 24 hours. [A] |
| Entropic Warding | As Entropic Shield plus no trail as Pass Without Trace plus you cannot be tracked by scent. [A] |
| See the Unseen | As See Invisibility plus Darkvision out to 60' for 24 hours. [A] |
| Baneful Blast(Undead) | Additional 2d6 damage to chosen creature type. [B] |
| Eldrich Chain | For every 5 levels of caster, a single shot can chain to another target. Chained target must be within 30' of prior target. A ToHit roll must succeed for chained target. Failure to hit terminates the chain. |
| Fell Flight | Good for 24 hours. Move at the same speed as your normal ground speed. You can 'run', and do other such maneuvers. |
| Voidsense | Gain Blindsense out to 30' for 24 hours. [A] |
| Repelling Blast | x |
| Aura of Courage | Immune to Fear, Allies in 10' range +4 vs Fear. |
| Aura of Menace | Hostile in 5' range @ -2 AC, attacks & saves 24hrs or until successful hit. Happens when fighting or angry. |
| Spirit Blast | +1 to undead & hit incorporeal no miss chance |
Note: These descriptions are my interpretation of the actual text. For full accuracy/description, see the manuals containing the various invocations.
[edit] Special Abilities
| Detect Psionics and Shadow | The psionics detection works pretty much as you would expect. The shadow detection is more of an aura detection. | |
|---|---|---|
| Eldrich Focus | Gain +1 caster level and +1 DC bonus to all Eldrich Essence invocations. | |
| Damage Resistance | 3/Cold Iron | From Warlock |
| Damage Resistance | 2/- | From Exceptional Leather Armor |
| Shadowy Resilience | 1 | Gain Fast Healing N for 2 minutes, once per day, as a free action. |
| E.Resistance vs Fire/Cold | 5 | From Warlock |
| Initiative Bonus | +1 | From Masterwork Starmetal Chain Cloak. |
[edit] Special Equipment
- Exceptional Leather Armor (Specialty)
- AC 4
- DR 2/-
- MD 6
- CP -1
- SF 10%
- Speed 30'
- Value 370gp
Pg 34 Ult. Equipment Guide - Stage Lantern - use for signal.
Brooch, Steward's Symbol, grants +6 diplomacy bonus.
[edit] Back Story
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Normal Type | Hard facts |
| Bold | To be decided |
| Italic | Unconfirmed, but believed by Giovani. |
He was born in Tharlan's Gap, in a 'house of ill-repute'. Tharlan's Gap is a small town located on the border of the Kingdom of Markand and Harakal that ostensibly owes allegiance to Markand, but it is effectively a free city and independent ruled. His mother was a noble woman who showed up both obviously pregnant and in dire need. No name was given and she left shortly after the birth. She came from Markand, and ended up in Tharlan's Gap. Where she went after that, no one knows.
Raised by the other women of the house, serving in whatever tasks needed as he grew, his was perhaps not the happiest of childhoods, but it was far from the worst: shelter, enough to eat, and mostly kind treatment. Due to his slight stature, he became quite adept at talking his way truthfully out of trouble (Diplomacy), and eventually became a very odd bouncer for the house. Odd, because he didn't roughhouse people out, he talked them out. There were brawnier folk available to handle the unremittingly violent, but he could frequently talk them into leaving quietly. (They might wonder later why they did, if they weren't too drunk to remember at all.)
Life might have gone on like this for quite some time, but for an unfortunate incident one night. The brawnier bouncers were all handling a brawl downstairs that had erupted. Giovani, not being all that strong, stayed on guard upstairs. No one was expecting any trouble, as all of the current upstairs clientèle were sober and quiet. So, the strangled scream from one room was a shock. There being no one else to handle it, Giovani went in alone to do what he could.
The scene was one of nightmare. A heavily muscled man obviously in the throes of some form of madness was strangling the woman. He was too wrought up to hear Giovani, and breaking a chair over him didn't do anything either; then something new happened. A bolt of energy blew the man out the window, also knocking Giovane out. (First manifestation of powers, although not recognized as such by Giovane at the time.) That much noise was finally noticed downstairs, and others arrived to help. Fortunately, the woman was not seriously injured, and the man had sustained relatively minor injuries - considering that he'd been blown through a glass window on the second floor. No one was really sure what happened to knock the man out the window, but the broken chair was taken as evidence that Giovane had hit him hard enough with the chair to do so.
Startling, given Giovane's lack of muscle, but not entirely unreasonable. People had been known to perform feats of unusual strength under sufficient provocation. Since Giovane had awoken with a headache, it was assumed that the man going out the window managed to hit Giovane hard enough to knock him over, and that he was unconscious from hitting his head on the floor. The easiest explanation was taken as truth.
The man was taken away by the watch, and eventually turned over to the Garden of Light for care. He remains in their care, and no explanation of his sudden change was ever found. As he was a stranger, with no identification, people pretty much forgot about him. Giovane went back to his normal duties, with a trifle more respect from the other employees. This situation continued until the hiring of a new bouncer. While effective and efficient, he didn't get along with Giovane. There was constant needling whenever the two of them were together, in which Giovane gave better than he got. (Diplomacy)
Eventually, there was a dispute in which the new bouncer blamed Giovane for something he had done. Giovane, having slowly built up a great deal of hatred for the fellow, finally blew his top. The multiple bolts of energy were blatantly obvious, and seen by many in the house. The manager of the house seeing him as a potential asset -- and a very present danger -- convinced Giovane that he had to be trained in the use of his powers. The healer called in to deal with the injured was a Sharakim priest, of the Garden of Light. He offered to take Giovane to the order for proper training in how to use and control his powers. They were convinced to take Giovane in for training. In his initial examinations, his tendency towards anger was identified, and the training included methods of self-control. The Head Steward of the Garden of Light had hopes that Giovane might become a warrior for good. Eventually, he completed training, and was sent out as a 'journeyman' to extend his experience, for reasons his superiors refused to explain.
As part of this, he was to escort a healer of the order, and assist in any way that he could. This included dealing with threats, negotiating with locals, and occasionally helping eliminate threats to the community. Eventually, the healer ran into an extreme case. In these situations, healers risk death because they must take on the illness/injury of the patient before they can dissipate it. He decided to take the risk, healed the patient, and lost his own life in the process.
In the following time, Giovane did help in a number of incidents, but never did quite get a grip on his temper. No one was seriously injured, but it was obvious to any of the locals that having Giovane around on a long term basis was rather like having a poor grip on a venomous creature. Sooner or later, you were going to get bit. Thus, Giovane was "encouraged" to move on as soon as possible. The level of encouragement varied as the population viewed him as either a dangerous savior, or a dangerous vagrant. Though he requested to return at each chapter house he encountered as he moved farther and farther east, he was refused every time, told only to continue east, still for unexplained reasons.
By the time Giovane meets up with the rest of the group, with the last Garden weeks behind him, he's had enough experience with people to know that it's best for him to just move on as soon as he can. He doesn't like it, but it's better than getting the *@#% knocked out of him, or blowing some fool through a wall. He still works on controlling his temper, and has reached a point where he can usually avoid using his powers on fools. He'll still lose his temper, but the reaction will usually be limited to words and/or physical assault. His attitude could still use improvement.
[edit] Where's He Going?
Honestly, I'm not sure right now. There's a number of hooks in the above text.
- Finding his mother.
- Figuring out who, or what, was his father.
- That nut case he blew out the window.
-
The religious order's real intent on sending him out.
Eventually, he will take Enlightened Spirit, so he's got to continue improving his temper control, which I choose to represent by an increasing diplomacy level. He is also restricted from taking certain Warlock abilities, as they require too close a relationship with Shadow. E.g. Baleful Utterance - which requires a knowledge of "dark-speak" that is not appropriate for an Enlightened Spirit.
[edit] Life Events
During the Hydra Gala, Lord Berthan addressed Giovane as Mani This means that Giovane is considered a merchant prince. Definitely a promotion, although also a possible source of trouble. It was quite clear that Lord Berthan was using Giovane as a pointed example to certain of his minor nobles. Ones who's appearance suggests they are far more interested in the trappings and benefits of nobility, and not in the responsibilities thereof.
Since that Gala, Giovane has continued his habit of "doing good works". Usually this takes the form of donations of money where it's most critically needed. As a result, Giovane has a reputation with the "little people" that has spread quite far. They are more likely to talk openly with him. This lead to the discovery of critical information during the investigation of "the curse".
The team has taken on more and more difficult missions, but has managed to complete them adequately, sometimes with style.
As a result of one of the adventures, Giovane has been awarded 4 acres of land outside the city. He intends to build it up as a retreat, along the lines of some of the 'Gardens of Light' that he has meditated in before. The discovery of the crystals, and the exclusive on their supply, gives Giovane a potential income sufficient to fund the building, but that will have to wait until after we return to Birthalis again. Giovane has made arrangements to have a wagon-load of the crystals brought back to Birthalis while the group is busy elsewhere. The carters have been instructed to pack the crystals carefully, and to prefer the larger sizes over the smaller where possible.
After initial development, Giovane intends to assist the other members of the team in building up their properties. (This includes the shipping interests, although the biggest contribution there may well be the lighting provided by the crystals. No more worries about a dropped lamp or a candle being knocked over aboard ship.)
[edit] The Religious Order's Real Intent
By way of a dream, Giovane learned that the real intent of the order both sending him out to journey, and refusing to allow him to return, is that they could not train him any further in the control of his temper. Apparently, only the school-of-hard-knocks could do that. In addition, they have noticed that Giovane is slowly purifying himself of shadow, and may well become an Enlightened Spirit.
While the church tries to claim knowledge of how this is done, in fact, they have no idea how it is done. The vast majority of individuals who have purified themselves in any manner are not members of the church. As a result, the church has sent a delegation to ask Giovane how he has done this. They are likely to be greatly disappointed, since Giovane has no idea how he's doing it. The best he can offer the delegation is the opportunity to observe him as he goes about his activities.
Giovane was initially minded to show them the road, but has somewhat mellowed over the time between the dream and their arrival. There will not (presently) be a chapel in the plans for the retreat that Giovane is building.
[edit] Giovane's Retreat
The retreat is finally planned out. Here's a PNG image of the retreat.
- Key:
- Light Green - original ground.
- Dark Green - may be modified for uses such as gardens (veg, herb, flower, etc.)
- White - Building area, some of which is labeled.
- Grey - Covered walkway.
- Construction:
- Outside Wall is Superior Masonry, all other construction is wood.
- Precise location of doors/windows are T.B.D.
- Orientation is T.B.D.
- Main door/gate should face roadway to this area, but site may be offset by some distance to place building on hill.
- Storage near Giovane's room is for the crystals.
- The other 'luxury' storage is the pantry.
- The Kitchen and Dining Room will be upgraded to 'luxury' as soon as Giovane has an additional 20K to sink into the building (10K with Landlord matching funds).
- Landlord taken and 10K gold provided from last adventure payment. K&DR therefore upgraded to luxury.
- Remaining unmarked rooms are all left as basic storage.
- The center area is -- for now -- the original site's trees etc. Eventually, it will become Giovane's meditation area. Initial plans are for Giovane to spend time in the center of the area releasing his positive energy into the area, in an attempt to purify the land. (Giovane found that his energy could purify the tainted crystals found earlier. Now he is going to try that on the land.) The hope is that this will become a peaceful place ideally suited for meditation. At some time, it may be mildly landscaped, but as much as possible will remain in it's natural state.
