Caralaria

Art by shinsokuken

Caralaria is a human barbarian/monk in the Dissolution campaign, played by Scott.

Personality

Though trying hard to follow the path of the monk, Caralaria is often frustrated by those around her and prone to petulant temper tantrums and violent rages. She is also eager to do well.

Appearance

While living in the wilderness as a girl, she ran into some form of chaos magic, which altered her appearance, giving her violet eyes and long pink hair. She dresses in the robes typical of her monastery, which seems to constantly adjust themselves to inadvertently show off her cleavage.

History

Born in a barbarian tribe, she fought as a warrior even when very young. Her whole family and most of her clan was wiped out in a raid, and she was severely wounded and left for dead. She was found by a traveling monk, who took her back to the monastery. Once healed, she decided to become a monk herself, in order to quell her violent rages.

Affiliations

Part of a monastic order called the Path of Iron, Caralaria and the other monks look to iron and other metals for inspiration, trying to emulate its attributes in their fighting style. The order reveres The Iron God, and contains a number of blacksmiths and other metal workers. The order owns and operates a monastery in the Guildsman District, near the borders of Midtown and the Warrens.

Caralaria is a guildsman in the Delver's Guild, giving her access to guild information, library, map room and way stations. She also gains a 10% discount at Ebbert's Outfitters.

Associations

Some of the people Caralaria knows are:

• Ernat Trillneus, a male gnome, visits the Path of Iron monastery fairly regularly in is capacity as a low-ranking officer in the powerful Ironworker's Guild. Though he has never been introduced to Caralaria, he is clearly smitten with her, and finds excuses to stare at her while she trains.
• Rentata Lug, female stonelost dwarf, cleric of the Iron God. Lives in Crispin Street in the Longbottom section of Midtown. One of the priests at the Foundry in the the Guildsman District. She found Caralaria when she had been left for dead, and brought here to the monastery.
• Marina Parian, a human worker at the Herbalists Guildhall just down the street from the Path of Iron monastery, occasionally visits the monks to tend to minor injuries and advise on food and herbal use in the monks' training. Though outwardly gentle and quiet, Caralaria knows she has a wild vicious streak, somewhat like her own.
• Brother Traeis Qin, male human, monk of the Path of Iron. Lives in the Iron Monastery, where he is one of the more advanced (and strict) teachers. He is continually disappointed in Caralaria's attitude and lack of focus, but is dedicated to her training.
• Myraeth Tuneweaver, a male shoal elf runs Myraeth's Oddities Delver Square, the place to buy and sell second hand magic items in Ptolus (although not weapons and armor, nor any newly created items). He is extremely popular with adventurers and knows most of them by name. His inventory changes constantly.

Rumors

• Many in the city speak in guarded tones about the Iron Mage, a mysterious figure who appears as a walking suit of armor. No one is sure about his goals, but he is thought to work plans on a very long time scale, taking actions that don't have obvious benefits until years later.
• A number of monks in the monastery speak of the Iron Angels, supposedly extra-dimensional beings that serve the Iron God, though no one has claimed to have seen any themselves.
• Caralaria has overheard some of the higher ranking monks talking about a possible conflict approaching between he Ironworkers' Guild and the Masons' Guilds. Since the Ironworkers' Guild controls all of the other metalworking guilds, if it came to open conflict, it would be large and bloody.
• The monks are constantly talking about the Shuul, a pro-technology group that appeared not long ago, but seems to have tied itself to both the Ironworkers' Guild and the Temple of the Iron God. Caralaria doesn't know of any Shuul visiting the Path of Iron, but some of the lower-ranking monks claim they must have.

Future Advancement

Current: Monk 12
Most Recent Level: Monk

Next will be character level 12. Some possibilities:

• Monk 13: d8 hit points, 8 skill points. Diamond Soul.

All characters gain a feat every two levels. Her next such feat will come at CL 13. Some of the feats you have the prerequisites for are (there are, of course, others):

• Spring Attack: Move in, strike, and move away, all in one round and without provoking an attack or opportunity.
• Step Up: If someone five-steps away from you, you can automatically close the distance right away (at the cost of a bit less movement next round).
• Lunge: Take a -2 penalty to AC to increase your reach by 5 feet. What this means is that in addition to threatening the squares immediately around you, you threaten the squares immediately around them as well. (This is similar to some large creatures.)
• Cleave: Changed from 3.5, this now works any time you hit a target, allowing you to strike a target adjacent to the one struck. Can only be used once per round.
• Extra ki: Adds two points to your ki pool.

In spending the skill points gained on her next level, teachers in her monastery have encouraged her to learn Craft (Blacksmith), Craft (Weaponsmithing) or Craft (Armorsmithing) as a way to become more in tune with the properties of iron. The monastery has tools and facilities for metalworking of all kinds.

Caralaria will now have a bit of wealth. Monks don't particularly care for hoarding wealth for its own sake, so would encourage spending it to improve others or herself. The monastery does not require donations from monks, but most monks contribute to the running of the monastery when they can, either with cash, food, raw materials, etc. Sacrifices to the Iron God are also appreciated. As for spending it on herself, monks don't need much compared to other classes. In addition to the aforementioned weapons, you might be able to find some useful magic items for sale. Some possibilities:

• A Belt of physical perfection: Adds to all physical attributes.
• Pay a high level druid to cast greater magic fang on you, then pay a high level wizard to cast permanency on it. If you do this, change your amulet of mighty fists for one that uses the bonuses to buy weapon effects instead of enhancements to hit and damage (since these are enhancement bonuses, so don't stack with magic fang).
• Potions or other random magical items

Data

• Character sheet
• Character sheet under effects of enlarge person