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Wizard of the Coat · March 21, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

Mags_token_200.png.d3596c7994956f551d31c29deaf69122.png

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

A second bite of the deliciously gooey, cheesy, flakey pastry in his mouth, he watched the cloaked figure cautiously enter the mall. That was quick. The hood fell back to reveal... her. The little violin maker from the caravan. Or so he had thought of her. She had intrigued him. He'd felt attracted to her--as if the force driving him toward Baromenes was suddenly offering a detour in the form of this little violin maker. But no: he had not dared to approach her.

Instead, he stole brief glimpses of her, snatching them while she wasn't looking. He wasn't proud of the fact, but arcane trickery was in his blood. She had been guarded, watchful. And clearly the girl was perceptive. But with his invisible mage hand, he could easily create subtle distractions to draw her attention elsewhere within the crowded caravan camp. And through Clair's eyes he could watch from places she'd not anticipate.

He'd told himself it was just a game. The spy game. One of the first the Master had taught him. But on his second day in the caravan with the little violin maker, he'd had another memory: of that day long ago. A memory from his first vision. A brief flash of future. Of her.

And now, here she was, the sun catching her auburn hair, her haunting green eyes upon him, standing in an empty Halaean city. His vision.

And there was no place to hide.

"Well, you can't have followed me... since you got here first. But, don't I remember you, from the caravan?"

His mouth hung open, revealing a small bit of yet-to-be-swallowed pastry. She was talking to him. Her voice felt familiar, as if he'd heard it before, many times. A pleasant voice, deeper than he'd expected, but comforting. He wanted her to keep talking. He wondered what it would be like to hear her sing.

He forced his thoughts back into the moment.

His mouth had gone dry. He tried to swallow the remaining bit of pastry in his mouth so as to speak a reply. The effort brought painful realization that he'd left the orifice hanging open--likely revealing the food in his mouth! His throat made an audible gulp as he finally swallowed what now tasted like wood ash. He had just enough presence of mind to nod an answer.

Her eyes were so...

"I thought, it will sound strange, I suppose, but I thought there would be something here..."

He looked away from those soulful green eyes, that earthy face framed in auburn lit by the sun. He took a deep breath, his eyes casting about the empty mall, the rich Halaean architecture surrounding them, the lazy black cat on the distant balcony. The effort helped restore some small portion of his intelligence.

His words were quiet--pitched low and soft as if she were standing much closer--and uncertain: part question, part observation. "You were drawn here... too?"

To be continued...?Billie's arrival sounds like a good interrupt to the Mags and Dae intro. But just in case ariel is interested in extending their initial interaction, I've put a line in my text to indicate that more might happen between them before Billie's arrival.

The mastiff burst into the mall, scattering the birds, jumping after them with delight. The large dog seem more playful than aggressive--even if it was the play of a predator. Still, a playful dog is a dog well loved, or so the Master used to say. The old hedge wizard had often judged people based on the behaviors of their dogs--judging the owners of aggressive dogs most harshly.

The dog was still chasing after birds when the silver-haired elven warrior woman burst into the mall with laughter and palpable anticipation. Were her eyes painted? Ignoring the two humans, the elf used the fountain basin to cool herself down. It looked like a good idea, he was feeling the heat of the day, but he didn't dare join her. That would be too...

The warrior elf turned from her impromptu bird bath and fixed him with black-painted eyes of turquoise. "Are you magic?" She spoke as if those were fighting words.

The words triggered a connection. His face broadened into a smile of warm recognition. The girl who fought in the streets! The smile burst into laughter at the memory of his first vision of her: a towheaded girl challenging a boy much bigger. "Fight me," she'd said. And she'd nearly beat the boy.

He'd never seen her looking so... old. She was an adult! Likely older than he was. And strikingly exotic with her black-painted eyes and mussed platinum hair. She'd grown up into just what he would have expected: fierce, passionate, resolute. An irresistible force in search of an immovable object.

And he had laughed at her.

He scrambled for words of apology--he could almost hear the Master whispering a sharp "Manners! Respect!"--but found it difficult to think with her eyes upon him. Before he could find the words, her dog was upon him.

Begging for scraps?

He knew mastiffs could be trained for war, and guessed that hers would attack on command if she willed it. Better to feed the dog. He tore off a piece of the pastry pie and offered it to the mastiff, along with some soothing words--looking and sounding like someone who knew his way around large canines.

Focusing on the dog, turning from the intensity of her eyes, had allowed him time to gather his thoughts and remember his training. Now he looked back to those challenging black eyes and answered her question with a genuine smile--thinking of the towheaded girl rather than the exotic warrior woman before him. "Well, actually, my name is an archaic form of an old Halaean word that means magic. So yes, I suppose I am Magic. Call me Mags. But I'm not here to fight you, Blackeye."

He emphasized the final word, making it sound like a proper name or title, rather than an insult--as if he already knew her name. Mags' voice conveyed some boyish nervousness as he met those piercing eyes. And yet, his nervousness did not seem to stem from fear of physical confrontation with the warrior elf.

Mechanics

Main Hand: spanakopita

Off Hand: more spanakopita

Action 1:

Note 1: the cat on the balcony is his familiar

Note 2: Given the weird tingly pull, Mags would have cast Mage Armor on himself before arriving at the this final destination.

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Celestial, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Wizard of the Coat · March 21, 2023