Name: Baton Tap (more accurately, the sound of a tacktstock tapping a 4/4 beat against a wooden notestand, but that is unpronounceable to most)
Gender: Male
Race: Kenku (corvid-like humanoids thrice-cursed with
lack of flight,
lack of speech and
lack of creativity.)
Class: Bard of the College of Glamour (+2 Cha)
Personality: Tricksy and thirsty for applause and adventure, but fearful of adventurers. He doesn't consider himself an adventurer, even if it would be a very apt description for what he does. When speaking, his voice changes with almost every sentence, but most often he speaks with a male low-toned, scheming voice or a bold and brave female; perhaps friends and mentors from his past? When singing, however, his voice becomes awesome, fearsome, otherworldly, magical; unquestionably fey.
Backstory: Baton Tap was born to a large flock lurking in the slums of the city of Waterdeep (in the Forgotten Realms). He stole, mugged and cheated, little more than a petty crook, until one day, while robbing an opera, he realized he truly loved the music, the applause, the charm in the audience's eyes. So impressed with the show, it's where he took his name from. However, the aftermath was less in his favour: a group of murderers calling themselves "adventurers" had come to "clean up the streets." As Baton Tap's flock was being killed, the adventurer party's wizard cast a spell to throw him...elsewhere. He doesn't remember a lot about his time in the Feywild, but he knows that from his perspective, he was there for about a year. However, when he returned, no less than thirty years had passed, and his feathers had turned white, a clear sign of the supernatural. Homeless, friendless and aimless, he wandered but a few weeks before finding a group of "travelers" going out to investigate the Death Curse. Sadly, he remembers little of his time with them, his next memory being being stuck in an ancient tomb with all of them dead and a new party of "adventurers", as they self-identified, that he warmed up to after a while, even if he still watched his back. Together, they ended the Death Curse and saved the world. After that, the party had a dinosaur race, and the last that was seen of Baton Tap was him leaving the city on a "borrowed" trained Tyrannosaurus rex. His party suspects he took a portal to the Feywild to get revenge and/or to thank for the powers he gained from his time there, but where this charming traveler of space and time is today is a mystery.
Starting Weapons: Tambourine, Rapier, Dagger +1
Starting Items:Starting Abilities: - Bardic Inspiration: Baton Tap sings a an otherwordly, beautiful song to inspire his allies. Within the next 10 minutes, the target may choose to add +2 to an action they perform, ending this effect. Only one target may have this effect active at once, and he can't inspire himself.
- Glamour Magic: Baton Tap knows a repertoire of fey songs with a variety of magical effects. This ability allows the casting of minor magical effects ranging from healing to illusions to charms to production of light and sound, the exact effects to be determined at the moment of casting.
- Summon Aodhan: Once a day, this ability summons Baton Tap's loyal fey spirit Aodhan, in the form of a pegasus mount. While Aodhan is in the material world, Baton Tap has a telepathic link to it, allowing them to coordinate perfectly. While the spell theoretically has an indefinite duration, some twist of fate always kills Aodhan shortly (within a few turns in combat, within an hour or two out of it), causing it to disappear. Luckily, the fey spirit is immortal and can be resummoned next day.
- Vicious Mockery: A basic attack, an insult laden with magic, that strikes the target straight in the heart. This raises the target's blood pressure, causing minor damage, and hurts their self-esteem, giving them a -1 penalty to their first roll on this turn. If the GM determines the insult to be especially vicious and hurtful, the effects are increased, and may cause unpredictable effects, such as immediately sending the target to the burn ward of the nearest hospital. In the worst cases, this spell can even kill a target
Ultimate Ability: Mantle of Unbreakable MajestyBy bringing out the full extent of the fey touch Baton Tap has upon him, he can temporarily become as lovely and fierce as a true fey. This magical cloak subconsciously charms those who see it, making attackers falter and the weak-willed willing to serve his commands.
For [BALANCED_NUMBER] turns, enemies who target (i.e. specifically name as a target, an area attack isn't affected) Baton Tap must succeed at an additional roll or be forced to exclude him from their attack, and may select a new target. Furthermore, as his action while this effect is active, Baton Tap may issue a single-word command (e.g. "flee", "drop", "halt") to a non-boss, non-player character. If this action succeeds, the character must spend its next turn following the command as best it can, though it will not commit an obvious suicide. On the turn following that, it is completely aware of what happened, and may act normally.