Karisuma Heru
| ||
| name (rp world) |
Karisuma Lambë Heru (Gaera Main) | |
| birthdate (birthplace) |
11th of Ashura, 1300 Persia, Nekonia | |
| current residence | Doma City, Doma Technically Riva, Rivaran | |
| occupation | Negotiator | |
| family | Lambë Heru (uncle), Baram Heru (father), Sylvia Heru (mother), Christine Heru (older sister) | |
| race | Quarter-elf | |
| physical description | 5' 8", 135 lbs. Short to medium-length dark brown hair and eyes, slightly pointed ears, slightly angular chin. | |
| typical clothing | Often wears a dark blue or white tailcoat, black boots, gray or khaki slacks, and a cotton collared button-up dress shirt in whatever color seems appropriate (but never clashing with his tailcoat, if he's wearing it). He sports a silver fur ("Russian" style) hat except in summer weather. When performing diplomatic functions, he often wears a white tailcoat with gold thread in the hems and adds a white cravat to his outfit. Karis is actually very fashion-conscientious and has a large wardrobe. | |
| personality | Karis is idealistic and an optimist, and it is his belief that all people, regardless of outward appearances, are really striving to do their best to achieve their own personal version of "peace." He is patient and thoughtful, but his youth occasionally causes him to be more "firey" in his attempts to persuade people than is prudent. Despite his general opinion that all people are trying to work to achieve positive change, time spent with politicians has given Karis the impression that sometimes people must be misled for their own good; beneath his idealistic exterior is an occasionally cynical mind that is harshly critical of actions that masquerade as progressive or just without actually being so. He firmly believes that democracy is the best form of government, no matter the size of a population, and that all people should work together, instead of competing, to achieve optimal results. He is not a pacifist, but he is strongly opposed to killing sentient life without an extremely good reason, and even then will only resort to lethal violence as a last resort after all attempts at communication have failed. As such, he typically attempts to disable hostile enemies without killing. | |
| fighting style | Self-developed; focuses on subduing sentient foes without killing. | |
| religious beliefs | Karis is a follower of Tunare, goddess of nature, with a brief nod to both Shelby, god of love, and Kazeros, god of freedom. Most of his religious knowledge is in the form of stories picked up from his extensive love of reading as opposed to any serious scholarship. | |
| drunk type | Horny, affectionate. | |
| other | Karis is bisexual; he is currently involved in a close emotional (though not intimate) relationsip with Sara Gentz. He is an enthusiastic and avid reader, preferring fiction and drama above other types of written work, and also has a deep appreciation for music, but does not play any instrument himself. His artistic appreciation also extends to theater, and he would love to be an actor in his spare time, but has not yet found a suitable means to express this aspect of himself. Karis is the apprentice of Hakaril Silvar. | |
Background
Karis Heru is the nephew of the great elvish translator and linguist, Lambë Heru, from whom he takes his middle name. He grew up with his half-elvish father Baram, human mother Sylvia, and older sister Christine in Persia, a trade city in northern Nekonia. At the age of 14, Karis left home to study with his uncle and learn linguistics, and by the age of 17, he had studied diplomacy, law, language, and government. He then took his knowledge and attempted to find a job in the service of Nekonia's royal court, offering to serve as a diplomat. They refused him, however, as Nekonia only hires nekojin diplomats. The disappointed Karis took his uncle's advice and travelled north, to troubled Riva, which at the time was just beginning to restabilize and reform a central government under the leadership of the Emperor Redwyn. The youthful Karis was there employed as a translator and ambassador and sent to the Doman government as an emissary representing the new Rivan Empire. Negotiations, fortunately, went well, and a peace agreement was forged between Doma and the new Rivan government.
Meanwhile, Karis attracted the attention of the Doman General, Hakaril Silvar, who sensed magical potential within the boy. He took him as an apprentice, and while Karis's level of magical aptitude was only just above the threshold necessary for true magery, he managed to adapt to his limitations and developed his powers within a few appropriate elements. In time, he came to utilize water magic, very much a reflection of Karis's gentle nature, and telepathy, a means to resolve problems and communicate regardless of barriers. Karis stayed with Hakaril at the castle for a while, continuing to develop his natural talents while simultaneously practicing the art of "aggressive negotiations" in the event that no other options presented themselves.
When a dimensional distortion brought Sara, a girl wronged by Valthi scientists, to Gaera, Karis immediately latched onto her as in need of his protection and friendship. He quickly developed feelings for her, but their relationship has not moved beyond a close emotional connection.
At present, Karis lives in a modest home in Doma's trade quarter that is paid for by a small allowance from General Silvar combined with wages earned by Karis' duties as a scribe for a Doman library. He also translates poetry into Common both as a hobby and to earn a little extra money on the side. Karis has an appreciation for fine literature, particularly the classics, but he also enjoys more modern stories and tales of adventure. Some of his favorites include King of the Pendants, The Final Fantasy Chronicles, Chocobo Farm, 1384, and The Catcher in the Wheat. His love of language comes from his uncle, and as a result, he spends a fair bit of time studying or at the very least familiarizing himself with new languages whenever possible. With the help of Sara, his latest efforts have been devoted to learning English, despite its uselessness in Gaera.
Board RPs
- Deep Blue (Unfinished)
Other Events
Non-board RPs and media featuring Karis as a character, not necessarily in chronological order:
- Unnamed RP (GMed by Squintz)
- The Heart of Kzentil (GMed by Jak Snide)
Philsys Data
| Philsys Block
Karis Heru (Archmage)
Level 4; 1350/2500 XP | ||
| Attributes
Courage: +5 |
Base AT/PA - 12/12 Modified for armor - 12/11 |
Skills
Weapon (Firearms) - 9 (Dex/Dex/Int) |
Spells and Techs
- [Item]Summon Cabbit - By expending one charge, this wand summons a vicious dire cabbit. It has the following stats: 50 HP, AT/PA of 14/12, Init 7+2d6, Missile Evade 18, MBlock 15. It attacks by biting, dealing 14+1d6 damage on a successful hit.
- [Item, Book=1]Battle Dictionary - This book, bearing the title "The Philosophy of Combat," is apparently a scholarly text on strategy written by a Longese sage, Soong Tzu. However, by focusing his will, Karis can use the book as a ranged weapon, projecting telekinetic strikes to damage enemies. Treat this as a magic attack for the purposes of resistance. It costs 2 TP to use the book.
- [Telepathy=6, Talk=4]Empathic Diplomacy (3 TP) - Adds Karis' current effective CHA score as a bonus to a Telepathy spell. Include bonuses from successful Talk skill attempts, such as Negotiate or Intimidate.
- [Firearms=1]Called Shot (2 TP) - Karis spend one or more turns aiming to put a bullet in just the right spot. Adds +5 to Karis' next attack roll with a firearm, but only if he aims to hit an extremity.
- [Firearms=4]Quickdraw - (4 TP) - Even if Karis does not have a firearm ready when combat begins, and he is aware of enemy's presence before the first round of combat, he can quickly draw a firearm and take a single shot. This attack takes place during a "surprise round"; after it is resolved, combat begins normally according to initiative.
- [Firearms=6]Fanning Technique (4 TP) - Karis may fire one extra shot this round.
- [Firearms=8]Trick Shot (5 TP) - Attempts to disarm an enemy by shooting a held weapon out of the target's hand. Use of this technique eliminates target location to-hit penalties. If Karis' shot hits, the enemy drops one held weapon. Depending on the weight of the weapon, it may simply fall to the floor; lighter weapons might be flung several feet away from the wielder.
- [Book=2]Define This! (2 TP) - This tech is used in conjunction with a standard book attack, adding its cost to the normal cost for using a book. A successful book attack this round deals 1.5x normal damage.
- [Book=4]Dyslexia (4 TP) - Allows Karis to reroll a missed book attack.
- [Talk=1]Mr. Negotiator (2 TP) - Attempt to make a target listen to words by use of persuasive speech. Roll Talk skill opposed by the target's CHA. If successful, the target will react to further negotiations at +rank. This and all other Talk skills are language-dependent; if the target cannot understand Karis' speech, they are not effective.
- [Talk=2]Intimidate (3 TP) - Attempts to use threatening actions or words to influence a target. Roll Talk skill opposed by the target's COU. This may have several potential effects:
- Fail: The target is not impressed. Hostile targets will get a +1 bonus on future attacks against Karis. Non-hostile targets may become angry or upset.
- Succeed by at least 1: Hostile targets will be unsettled and take a -2 penalty on all rolls while Karis is present and still appears threatening. Non-hostile targets will react to further negotiations at +rank.
- Succeed by at least 5: Hostile targets will be scared and take a -3 penalty on all rolls while Karis is present and still appears threatening. Non-hostile targets may concede to simple demands without further argument; future COU checks regarding Karis are at -4.
- Succeed by at least 10: Hostile targets will become terrified and take a -4 penalty on all rolls while Karis is present and still appears threatening. If the situation seems hopeless, hostile targets may flee or surrender. Non-hostile targets will usually panic or run away in fear.
- [Talk=3]Soothe (2 TP) - Attempts to convince a panicked target to relax by use of calming rhetoric. Eliminates any "fear" effects on a target.
- [Talk=4]Enrage (3 TP) - Taunts a person, attempting to cause the target to act on impulse instead of logic by manipulating emotions. Roll Talk skill opposed by WIS. If successful, the target will become angry and act impulsively; this may involve attacking Karis or be a response to some other challenge or command ("I bet you couldn't open this door to save your life," for example)
- [Talk=5]Discourage (5 TP) - Plays off an enemy's insecurities to decrease the probability that they will succeed on future attempts. After a target has failed to do something (missed with an attack, for example), Karis can use this ability to reduce their morale; make an opposed COU check. If the target loses, apply a -3 penalty to further actions of the same type as triggered this ability (e.g., a missed weapon attack would penalize further weapon attacks). This penalty worsens by -1 for every subsequent failure (up to a maximum penalty of -6) until the affected target succeeds in the trigger action, which eliminates all penalties.
- [Talk=6]Praise (4 TP) - Increases an ally's confidence after a successful action, granting that ally a +3 bonus to subsequent actions of the same type. This bonus increases by +1 (up to a maximum bonus of +6) for each subsequent success, but the bonuses are eliminated when the ally attempts the specified action and fails.
- [Water=1]Aqua (8 MP) - Deals 8+2*rank+1d6 points of Water elemental damage to a target.
- [Water=1]Dousing (2 MP) - This spell senses the location, quality, physical state, and purity of water within a large radius from the caster. Effective in survival situations.
- [Water=2]Create Water (4 MP) - This spell creates pure water out of thin air, either by condensing moisture in the air itself, or from nothingness. This water may take the form of dense mist or regular liquid water. No more than 2*rank gallons may be created in this way at one time. For some reason, it tastes much more refreshing than "regular" water.
- [Water=2]Water Meld (8 MP) - Shapes water into semi-permanent forms, or manipulates bodies of water. No more than 2*rank+1 gallons of water may be manipulated via this method at one time.
- [Water=4]Aqua 2 (14 MP) = Deals 12+4*rank+2d6 points of Water elemental damage to a target.
- [Water=5]Drown (14 MP) - Conjures a fluid sphere around a target's head and or breathing organs. This sphere exists for rank rounds, and deals suffocation/breath holding damage as applicable. It does not affect creatures which have no need to breathe or creaures that can breathe underwater.
- [Water=6]Rainstorm (15 MP) - Creates a rainstorm around the caster for about 500 yards. There must already be sufficient clouds (about 20% coverage) in the sky for this spell to work.
- [Water=7]Evaporate (26 MP) - This attack evaporates the water in a target's cells, dealing 16+rank*5+2d6 points of damage to organic creatures, and twice that to creatures with largely liquid bodies. Humanoid and animal targets affected will suffer from nausea and illness, resulting in a -3 general penalty.
- [Water=8]Minor Tsunami (52 MP) - Creates a 5 hex wide wall of moving water that blasts foes. Deals 18+rank*4+3d6 damage to all enemies within the area of effect.
- [Telepathy=1]Telepathy - Communicate telepathcially. This may be used instead of talking, and is a free action.
- [Telepathy=2]Polyglot (6 MP) - Allows the caster to understand, but not speak, one language being spoken by a target person. This spell does not prompt a resist roll.
- [Telepathy=2]Language Barrier (8 MP) - Prevents a target from understanding a specific language for up to rank*2 minutes. The target will still be able to hear words spoken in that language, but he will derive no meaning from them whatsoever and will not be able to remember them later.
- [Telepathy=3]Suggest (10 MP) - Forces a target to perform a simple command (no more than a sentence). Affected targets will not take any action that would be obviously self-harming, and any attempt to convince a target to do harm to an ally is at -6. The spell's duration is at most one minute; any commands that would take longer than one minute to complete are aborted when the spell expires.
- Karis rarely resorts to direct mind control to convince people of his position in a given conflict; he knows that when the spell wears off, people he has enchanted will inevitably be angry as soon as they learn they have been decieved or return to their "old ways" of thinking. Nevertheless, he finds it occasionally useful when there simply isn't time for old-fashioned talking.
- [Telepathy=4]Pain (10 MP) - Telepaths and transmits the emotion of pain or injury. May be used to subdue, coerce, torture, interrogate, or the like, in addition to distracting or stunning opponents, imposing a -2 general penalty for up to rank rounds.
- [Telepathy=5]Share Linguistics (6 MP) - Allows up to rank targets to understand any language that the caster also understands for up to rank*10 minutes.
- [Telepathy=6]Mental Probe (12 MP) - Elementary mind-reading. Allows Karis to detect a target's surface thoughts for up to rank minutes, but nothing deeper. Targets with no ranks in Telepathy skill get no resist roll, and may not even realize that they are being "read."
- [Telepathy=7]Opening the Third Eye (20 MP) - Allows Karis to utilize empathic energies to try to ascertain "the will of the universe," essentially predicting the very near future. When faced with multiple choices, Karis can use this ability to see the immediate outcome of each option (the events that are likely to occur within rank/2 minutes of the choice). This spell has a 3-minute casting time, during which Karis' eyes must be closed; as such, it is not practical for combat.
- [Telepathy=8]Lesser Amnesia (18 MP) - Causes the subject to forget one fact, skill, or spell temporarily. The target skill cannot be used for rank/2 hours.
