Reckonings: Peregrine Wayfarer

[Nathan of the FoS]

His Righteous Zeal Peregrine Wayfarer, Grand Inquisitor of the Church of Ezra, Shepherd of the Faithful

Race: Human
Classes: Fighter 6, Scourge 4, Cleric ?, Church Inquisitor ?
HD: 6d10 + 21d8 + (27*Con bonus)
Initiative:
Speed: 60 ft
AC:
BAB/Grapple: +21
Attack: +33
Full Attack: +33/+28/+23/+18
Space/Reach: 5x5
Special Attacks: detect thoughts, pinpoint agony, spells,
Special Qualities: Mask of the torturer
Saves: Will +33
Scores: Str ?, Dex 22, Con ?, Wis ?, Int ?, Cha ?
Skills: Climb +32, Concentrate +27, Diplomacy +27, Heal +?, Hide +36, Intimidate +52*, Knowledge (religion) +?, Knowledge (arcana)+?, Jump +33, Move Silently +36, Sense Motive +34, Spot +19
Feats: Ethereal Empathy*, Ancestral Legacy, Endurance, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Jaded
Scourge spells known (3/2): 1st: ? 2nd: detect thoughts, ?
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Possessions: sword of Ezra, shield of Ezra, two rings, soul searcher medallion, Borrowed Time, mantle of great stealth, boots of swiftness, bracers, quiver of Ehlonna, haversack, eye of awful sight, mighty composite longbow, belt of strength
Languages: Darkonese, Mordentish, Balok

Domains: Inquisition, Mists, ?

Sword of Ezra qualities: ghost touch, ?

Sword of Ezra abilities: wielder need not sleep, bull's strength, wall of force, sunburst, ?

Shield of Ezra abilities: Shield of Ezra (any of four types), heal, ?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Howdy, all. While we were conducting this campaign on MadStepDad's board we generated threads on each of the epic-level characters where we could put down what we had deduced about the other PCs. This is where Peregrine's sheet stood when we made the switch.

Background information to follow.

[Nathan of the FoS]

The following parts of Peregrine's background have been revealed:

Peregrine was born in the Burning Peaks; he doesn't know who his parents are, and until very recently the only clue to his parentage was a weird tattoo on his right shoulder. Very recently (during this game-day, actually) he has learned that he is almost certainly some kind of clone of Vecna.

(Yes, you read that correctly; Peregrine may be Vecna.)

Peregrine became a cavalry captain in the army of Kas and was involved in a disastrous assault on Citadel Cavitius; the rest of his time in the Burning Peaks hasn't yet been talked about.

Roughly 20 years ago Peregrine left the Burning Peaks (for reasons not yet explained on the board) and entered the Mists, emerging in Mordent. Here he became a priest of Ezra and was befriended by George Weathermay, with whom he adventured for some time. Eventually his growing reputation in the Church led to his being given more important assignments which carried him across the Core; after he discovered and destroyed a band of vampyres who had infiltrated the Ezran Church in Falkovnia he was instructed to organize the Ezran Inquisition, receiving the title Grand Inquisitor as the head of the Inquisition.

As Grand Inquisitor he was involved in the destruction of the demon Marasmos (CotN: D), the looting of the crypt of the lich known as Phantom's Bane, and many other adventures. Rumors persist that he single-handedly destroyed at least two villages with all their inhabitants; he is said to have killed two dozen Sons of Bane (Banite inquisitors), either by divine fire or by summoning a fiend of Hell to devour them (accounts vary depending on whether the speaker is Ezran or Banite). His name is used to terrify Nova Vaasan and Hazlani children into good behavior; he may be the most notorious person in all the Land of Mists, as his name has reached places where even Azalin Rex and Strahd von Zarovich are little-known.

He was drawn into the Nightmare Lands, which he escaped only after many horrifying experiences (including the final slaying of Davion the Mad). After his return from the Nightmare Lands he fell into a deep melancholy, disturbed by continuing nightmares of a man seated on a throne of bone, backed by a canopy of spiderweb. Roughly one year ago in game time he set out into the Shadow Rift, hoping to find the source of these visions.

Three months later he was found comatose on the steps of the Great Cathedral in Levkarest; even the pleas of Ezra's most faithful servants could not heal him of whatever malady or injury gripped him. At last the Praesidius instructed that he be left in the chapel of the Cathedral overnight while prayers were offered for Ezra's intervention. The next morning the anchorites entered to find Peregrine in a deep but natural sleep, with the Sword and Shield which had been in the hands of the ikon of Ezra now lying on his breast and the hands of the ikon stretched out over him in benediction.

Peregrine had been healed in spectacular fashion, and word of the miracle Ezra had done for him spread quickly throughout the Core and even beyond; but his healing was not complete. He is still in the grip of an intermittent but terrifying madness--a madness Ezra Herself seems unable or unwilling to cure.

Now Peregrine is a pawn--or, perhaps, a rook, or maybe even a king--in a game which spans the Demiplane of Dread. Ezra, Vecna, the Nightmare Court, and Gwydion Witch-King--and perhaps others--vie for control of his destiny. Every Vistani reading involving him shows him as the Marionette--but who is directing his actions?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Yes, that's pretty heady stuff; but hey, it's epic level in Ravenloft! Why the heck not?

That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Yeah, I've found Peregrine to be an interesting contrast to the other PC's. I didn't want to rework canon RL, but that challenged some of my assumptions about epics in RL--namely that they should be allowed to leave epic footprints. Nathan came up with the solution of keeping most such "footprints" in places that were out of the way--the Nightmare Lands and the Shadow Rift.

Of course, Peregrine also allows me to take a few more liberties with backstory, because the player has deliberately left so much unresolved. Not just the amnesia, either: Peregrine's madness resists healing magic, making this an unprecedented type of madness (well, almost ).

The magnitude of this kind of exception, combined with the magnitude of the character at epic-level, begs some equally magnitudinous explanation, of which this hinting about Vecna is only the beginning.

[Nathan of the FoS]

The magnitude of this kind of exception, combined with the magnitude of the character at epic-level, begs some equally magnitudinous explanation, of which this hinting about Vecna is only the beginning.

...

You don't say.

...

[The Giamarga]

So what exactly does "training as a Dagger operative, class III, novice"translate to mechanically? Probably the fourth class in the build. Rogue perhaps? Or a torturer-esque PrC? Assassin?

And does his "re-classification as Combat Type Two-Beta" hint at game stats like his Fighter level? (2 beta = Ftr level 12 perhaps?)

I love that military slang/lingo.

[Nathan of the FoS]

So what exactly does "training as a Dagger operative, class III, novice" translate to mechanically? Probably the fourth class in the build. Rogue perhaps? Or a torturer-esque PrC? Assassin?

The answer to your question is right there at the bottom of the post. He became a torturer (Scourge prestige class, Champions of Darkness). That is the fourth class, and that's all the classes! I've put in the feats this implies, too.

And does his "re-classification as Combat Type Two-Beta" hint at game stats like his Fighter level? (2 beta = Ftr level 12 perhaps?)

Actually, it refers to his physical status. These two conversations happen on either side of the battle in which he lost his eye. (The intervening events were hinted at on MSD's board, but haven't yet been fully described.) Combat Types One are battle-ready, Types 2 can take adminstrative jobs and serve in combat in an emergency, and Types 3 are liquidated to prevent their consumption of the resources of the State.

This is almost entirely my invention, BTW; I don't have any canon info on the Burning Peaks except what appears in Domains of Dread.

[The Giamarga]

Way cool, Nathan. This is brilliant stuff. I was in fact thinking of the scourge PrC unknowingly. (I.e. that one torturer-like PrC from that book, ...CoD right?) I'll have to read up on that when I'm home.

Edit: I read up on the Scourge. So that's where he got his detect thoughts from... So at least Scourge 2 or 3, so he's got Pinpoint Agony, Detect Thoughts class abilities at least. I bet he also got Mask of the Torturer, for the bonus on intimidate. Now do you use the CoD version or the Frat updated 3.5 10-level version? Or an amalgam?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Way cool, Nathan. This is brilliant stuff. I was in fact thinking of the scourge PrC unknowingly. (I.e. that one torturer-like PrC from that book, ...CoD right?) I'll have to read up on that when I'm home.

Edit: I read up on the Scourge. So that's where he got his detect thoughts from... So at least Scourge 2 or 3, so he's got Pinpoint Agony, Detect Thoughts class abilities at least. I bet he also got Mask of the Torturer, for the bonus on intimidate. Now do you use the CoD version or the Frat updated 3.5 10-level version? Or an amalgam?

Yep, that's where he got the detect thoughts from. (You remember that?...Wow.) I'm using the CoD version; I don't think the Pickled Punk had done his yet (it was he who did it, wasn't it?) when I made the character. Also, DS is a stickler for officiality, at least for purposes of this game.

At this point you know he has 10 fighter/scourge levels and 17 cleric/inquisitor levels; the cleric/inquisitor division may yet become apparent, but I'll give you the fighter/scourge split, 'cause I'm not sure that anything I do will ever make that one apparent. It's fighter 6/scourge 4.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Peregrine's madness resists healing magic, making this an unprecedented type of madness (well, almost ).

Y'know, I think I finally got this.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Well, we've established that Peregrine's illness may be similar to Marta's on the surface, but his shows up in a soul searcher while hers does not. So while there may be precedents out there somewhere, Marta is not one of them....

[Nathan of the FoS]

Well, we've established that Peregrine's illness may be similar to Marta's on the surface, but his shows up in a soul searcher while hers does not. So while there may be precedents out there somewhere, Marta is not one of them....

Oh, I was actually thinking of what we've since discussed in the Overlook thread--that Peregrine probably has "two souls in one breast", as was said of Faust. I think Marta's deal is that her recovered memories prompted a post-heal Madness check, which she failed; she probably got a minor amnesia effect, which would explain her confusion about what happened to her children, and she's recovering her memories as the minor Madness effect wears off.