User:Quincy/Reaver

Reaver

Not all the wild peoples scratching out a life in the untamed parts of the world enjoy the bounty of more abundant climes. For every barbarian looking keenly across a great herd crossing the open plains; for every tribe casting their nets into the plentiful schools of fish along their coastal lands; for every able-bodied hunter bringing home a slain elk to her mountain abode, there yet exists a clan pushed to the very fringes of habitable land. Here, in these harsh, bitter climes devoid of the plenty available elsewhere, you were raised to withstand the cruelties fate saw fit to inflict upon you at birth, learning to cast them back with a savagery all your own.

What sorts of dangers did you face in the hard, unforgiving wastelands of your home? What kind of vicious creatures and foul abberations populated the landscape, threatening your people? What brutal rites and customs did your people employ to steel themselves against their environment, and how were you inducted into into this culture? What means did you and others of your clan use to eke out a living and survive day-to-day? Were there periods of mild bounty, as well as those of famine and scarcity? Did you ever come into contact with neighboring peoples, weather other reavers or more civilized folk? How did you come to leave your tribe and your home, and make your way to more populated areas? Has the adjustment to living in larger settlements, cities, and nations been troubling or arduous for you? Would you ever be driven to return to your tribe, perhaps by fate, circumstance, or revelation?

Skill Proficiencies: Intimidation, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Hunting Traps

Languages: Any one

Equipment: Hunting trap, climber's kit, 1 vial of antitoxin, 1 animal bone totem, a set of common clothes and belt pouch containing 5 gp

Feature: Savage Assault

Reavers are necessarily raised to strike out at the world around them with the same brutality of the region they inhabit. Behaving more like mindless predators than anything else once the fight is joined, a foes find themselves weathering attacks that leave them torn and bloodied even when they manage to deflect the brunt of a reaver's vicious attack. Once slain, corpses are torn into, trophies ripped away and the desecrated, shredded remains left to rot in the elements. Friends and allies of a reaver's victims are often left horrified at the sight of a comrade slain in such a debased manner, and the civilized among a reaver's own companions are left wondering as to the wisdom of their choice in travelling companion. Neither is this behavior limited to the battlefield alone - even prisoners and others subject to interrogation and simple questioning will find themselves bled with the quick flash of a blade, or the rake of a tooth-covered gauntlet. Though some reavers try to quell their almost-instinctive desire to blood-let, others take an almost perverse pleasure in giving over to the animalistic imprint left in them from their rearing.

Suggested Characteristics

d8	Personality Trait
1	Civilized folk couldn't hope to endure what I have, and I've no patience for the molly-coddled.
2	Whether you live behind stone walls or crawl into a yurt at night, you're just as weak as the other.
3	My blood boils with the desire to run wild and kill, and it takes all I have to keep it at bay.
4	I've let go of where I came from, and it is little more than a distant memory or a bad dream to me.
5	I revel in the fear upon the faces of others when I draw close, and use that to my advantage.
6	It isn't merely fear, but ferocity, that grants me my superior status in the world.
7	I'll never understand the value placed upon the dead by civilization - a corpse is just a corpse.
8	I interact with whom I choose, when I choose, such as it is safer for all involved.

d6	Ideal
1	Rehabilitation. I live a life of atonement, banishing the memory of my tribe with my deeds. (Lawful)
2	Hermeticism. It is enough that I lead a life apart, and enough that I do right by those I encounter. (Good)
3	Relentless. You've no stomach for the truth of my existence, doubly so once I've ripped out your innards. (Evil)
4	Abrasive. Even if you could fathom the freedom I've found, you'd never grasp what gives me my strength. (Chaotic)
5	Indifference. It is better that you keep to yourself, as I will likewise keep to mine own. (Neutral)
6	Driven. I alone have the means and experience to achieve my goals, and none will impede me. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	I will never forget the first time someone showed me true kindness, and the lesson was learned well.
2	Even here in this foreign land, my tribe means everything; our ways are everything.
3	I eschew the familiarity of settled peoples, their cowardice leaving me cut off and in tatters.
4	In the faith of others have I learned the true meaning of devotion.
5	From family do I draw my strength, and for family I will kill, and kill as often as demanded.
6	Only those who respect my skill and superiority earn time in my presence.

d6	Flaw
1	I'm a vain and prideful being; my disdain for the easier lives of other peoples leave me blind to my own shortcomings.
2	Despite my best efforts, I can never keep total control over my instincts, lashing out at the earliest chance.
3	I have few friends and too many enemies to count - my viciousness often running me afoul of former associates and militia alike.
4	I obsessively hoard and collect trophies from my kills, neither discarding nor taking pains to preserve them.
5	Sneak-thievery and skulduggery were the rule of my tribe, and I continue to steal and cheat others for what I need.
6	Instinct takes over at the moment of a kill, and I cannot help but rip the flesh from animals and monsters alike to sate my hunger.

---