Kharakhan Sage (Archetype for Talislanta 4E)

 

KHARAKHAN SAGE

“Eat something, you’re all skin and bones. Almost short as a Marukan...”

Your people are dying out. Your clan knows it, and they know you know it, but you can’t bring yourself to say it. Trade with the Orgovians is drying up as you empty the ruins of their secrets. The ogriphant herds are thinning. And the Araq have grown more aggressive of late- if such a thing is even possible. You’ve sent some of your clan to work among the smaller peoples for food, but what they bring back still isn’t enough. Others haven’t come back at all. Their fates weigh on you almost as heavily as the children, hungry and weak as they are. You can’t take it anymore. So you won’t. You are Sage of this clan, and that means they look to your wisdom and guidance in hard times. You’ve begun plumbing the secrets of the Drakken runes yourself, ponderously thumbing through ancient knowledge in search of something, anything that can bring your people back from the brink. It suits you, trusting to forgotten magic. You worship a Forgotten God, after all. At least, that’s what the smaller peoples call Kron the Mighty. Forgotten even as you speak his name, dead yet still walking. A slow grinding down into nothing, like the desert wind on rock. Your people will not go the same way. Either you will wrest a life out of these wastes—true life, loud and joyous and bold—or the whole world will know your passing.

Appearance:

10'-15', 1,000-1,200+ lbs. Dusky gray-black skin, once-massive physique turning lean with age, wizened features, graying hair hastily and distractedly tied back.

Attributes:

STR +5, DEX -4, PER +5, CHA +0, CON +6, SPD -2, WIL +6, INT +0, CR +1, HP 40, MR +2

Skills:

Natural Magic: < 3 Modes of choice > +2, Battle Maul +2, Brawling +2, Healer +3, Herb Lore +2, Cook +1, Etiquette +2, Oratory +2, Artificer +3, Salvager +4, Pilot (war wagon) +4, Survival +3, Low Talislan, native dialect, Drakken glyphs, fluent

Special Abilities:

Skin serves as one point of armor; fist inflicts DR 6 + STR; uses giant-sized weapons or uses two-handed weapons of normal size in one hand; detect scent of Men at range of 50 feet.

Equipment:

Loincloth; sandals; cloak; armor of boiled land lizard hide; battle maul; giant-sized tools; pouch with herbs; sack of food; bone, stone, and tooth jewelry; ogriphant steed; giants based in the Wastes may have access to a war wagon; 30 gold lumens in ancient Kharakhan artifacts.