Cora Kaluuya, Seafolk Storyteller

[TheFred]

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Cora Kaluuya

Octopus Bard

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Name: Cora Kaluuya Race: OctogirlAventi Tauric Giant Octopus Classes: Bard/Lyric Thaumaturge Alignment: Chaotic Good Party Role: Melee/Battlefield Control, Secondary Arcane Caster, Party Face, Party Legs, Underwater Exploration Suggested Officer Position: Second Mate, Ship's Chronicler

https://www.deviantart.com/bokuman/art/Commission-Thedarkstrider-004-154455162

If there is one thing that Cora has always loved, it's tales of adventure and the high seas.

There wasn't an awful lot to do in Cora's village and her one diversion was Uncle Thaddeus' stories of the world beyond. He told her of brave merfolk adventurers who scoured the depths of the ocean hunting mythical beasts or searching hidden treasure, and gallant human pioneers who sailed the seas in search of new lands. And, of course, pirates! Pirates like Steel-Eyed Jake, who once killed a kraken, and Long Jim Gold, with a peg hand and a hook for a foot... not to mention, the most fearsome of them all, old Bill Spatch - the dreaded Brownbeard!

Sometimes, Uncle Thaddeus would take Cora to the human village on the nearby shore to trade. Her folk usually kept clear of the land-dwellers, but here humans, merfolk, elves, dwarves, and octopeople all gathered and mingled - at least, cautiously, and often at a distance. In the evenings, though, Cora would sometimes sneak close to the fire (marvelling at its light and heat) and listen to the humans reciting ballads and sharing stories.

And always, Cora wished that she could leave her tiny life behind and, like these heroes and villains of legend, set out in search of adventure. She wanted to explore, to discover - and most of all, to sail the high seas! Why, her family asked, would you want to sail when you can swim? But they didn't understand. To stand amidst the stern, with the wind in your hair, gazing across the horizon and into the sunset - she could think of nothing more splendid!

 

Appearance

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With a shock of bright blue hair spilling messily from her head, framing a quirky, inquisitive face, Cora can't help draw attention. She's pretty - but in a homely, tomboyish, mer-girl-next-door kind of way, seeming only to take the minimum amount of care over her appearance but still managing to avoid looking scruffy. She doesn't much like fancy clothes but does have her own style, particularly favouring things she considers to be suitably "pirate-y", like bicorne hats, fancy belt-buckles, and other assorted accoutrements. Beneath all this, she does have quite an athletic build, with a wiry upper-body strength and very long legs.

Some landlubbers have never seen a merfolk before and, for them, Cora's people are even stranger. Like their underwater kin, they have a humanoid appearance from the waist up, looking rather like aquatic elves - but instead of dolphin tails in place of humanoid legs, they have tentacles like those of an octopus. This makes it far easier to get around on land - even if the roiling motion is a little strange to the eyes of the land-dwellers - and has the advantage that the prehensile limbs can be used to grab and manipulate things.

 

Personality

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Cora's attitude is an idealistic, happy-go-lucky one that borders on the quixotic; she has an unflappably romantic view of life on the high seas and what it means to be a pirate.

 

Edited March 24 by TheFred (see edit history)

[TheFred]

Mechanics

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Character Sheet (work in progress)

Cora is a Tauric Giant Octopus; this is not the best-written template and it's not entirely clear what the LA is meant to be, but the 3.5 Update Booklet for the MM2 puts it at +3 LA which is what I've gone with (Savage Species appears to be saying +2 which has always seemed OK to me - it's more on a par with Lycanthrope - but I'm assuming +3). This gives her, in addition to some pretty chunky physical stats, a whopping eight tentacles each with 20ft reach and improved grab. On the other hand, it's not cheap - as well as the +3 LA I've got to take 9 monstrous humanoid HD which aren't the worst HD, but they're still taking up one of my gestalt class options for all nine levels.

Combat-wise, this means a lot of attacks and so a lot of raw damage, but also pretty potent lockdown (Combat Reflexes + 20ft reach with grapple) and grappling power (using Multigrab, she can grapple and constrict eight people at once!). A lack of ranged options is a bit of a weakness, but with 20ft reach (and Swift Fly), who needs range anyway?

Being a Bard probably isn't the mechanically-strongest way to capitalise on being a Tauric Giant Octopus, but it seemed more fun. It does give her Inspire Courage (but she won't be focusing on that) and a couple of worthwhile spells (Fearsome Grapple, via Lyric Thaumaturge, for example, and of course Haste). Mostly though this is more a diversification than anything, with options like Charm Person and Glibness offering some social utility.

Tauric Octopus brings with it a couple of weird rules questions, but nothing that's critical to the character.

Edited March 10 by TheFred (see edit history)

[TheFred]

Spare/questions

[TheFred]

Eh, not really, I could get it but it's not that big a deal. Blood Wind gives you a 20ft range increment which is great and all, but I already have 20ft reach. Some kind of swift-action movement would help a lot but worst case I can just cast a spell, then move.

Edited March 9 by TheFred (see edit history)

[Steel Warrior]

Yeah, but all your tentacle attacks would have 40' range now for 1min/level. At least underwater, nothing would be able to get close to you ;)

[TheFred]

They'd have 100ft range, but at range increment penalties. It's not half bad, but I could also just cast Glitterdust or something and position for next turn. Might be one for a wand, though.