Dana

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This fictional player character or player organization / possesion is part of Aaron's Shackled City Dungeons & Dragons role playing game.

This information is intended for players in a specific campaign, and might contian spoilers for players in other instances of the Adventure Path.

Dana Sungarden is a human wizard, or sorcerer, or something like that -- she casts some spells, and knows lots of obscure arcane stuff, even if she doesn't have a pointy hat with stars. She studies a spellbook, but she always seems to have the right spell prepared, so who knows what she really is. Aaaaaanyway.

(The truth is that she has psionic powers. You've all been let in on this secret at some point, and asked to be careful to help her maintain her wizardly camouflage. The general public feels more comfortable with wizardry than with a relatively ill-known power rumored to pierce its victims' minds, and Dana feels more comfortable with a non-lynching general public. Furthermore, she's concerned about more-powerful potential enemies learning her strengths and weaknesses -- to your minds, probably irrationally concerned.)

(Dana's psionic existence apparently lets her draw energy from nothingness. She doesn't sleep at all, meditating for a few hours a night and garnering great rest from it. This means she's almost always on watch. She also requires no food or drink, though she can eat just like any other human. This too is knowledge she would prefer to remain hidden, for whatever paranoid reasons she has. One of the main benefits of psionics over magic, for the purposes of an adventuring party, is the ability to cast spells without a spellbook or even a gesture or word -- great for stealth or if captured.)

Dana is a slight but toughened youngish human woman, slim and small enough to pass for a boy in his young teens. Her shoulder-length hair is streaked the colors of wet bundled hay, and is usually pulled back in a tail. Her typical fashion is a baggy but clean saffron tunic with lots of standard hiking and adventuring gear. Dana's really pretty attractive, but there's something funny about her ... stance, gaze ... hard to put your finger on it. Maybe it's the fact that she talks to objects.

Dana has shared that her mother was an adventurer, and her father a boring, mild cleric of Pelor. Not that she's biased toward thrill-seeking, or anything. The two got to know each other over some cure wounds spells. Mom disappeared in a dungeon crawl when Dana was four, presumed dead. Dana learned scribing as a youth, but was talked into adventuring instead en route to her first job as an adult. The same beautiful young man who seduced her dumped her to pursue another gullible wench, but by then, Dana's path was set.

Dana's last name comes from her father's role in her hometown's temple to Pelor. He maintains the beautiful garden of mountain flowers in addition to his normal clerical duties.

The very stereotype of an uninterested True Neutral human, Dana doesn't work toward any moral or ethical goals. She thinks people should be good, but likes revenging herself on people who have hurt her, and she doesn't go out of her way to find ways to help folks. She adventures for the excitement, and very secondarily for the money. She's leery of romance, but more randy than she likes, and not comfortable with sleeping around. Dana's views on the gods' representatives are particularly interesting: she finds 'good' religions boring but respectable, and 'dark' religions fascinating but disgusting. Nevertheless, she wears Ehlonna's holy symbol as a necklace ... can't hurt, right?

Dana seems emotionally closest to Bevan, with whom she's been adventuring for some time, having a gay old time slaying hideous orcs and rescuing beautiful princesses and whatnot. She seems to treat Simon more like a playmate, a friend to joke with; she also tries to be useful to him, and to make use of him. Dana is more withdrawn from Phineas. She finds his pontification both inspiring and guilt-provoking, and doesn't see him as someone she can just be herself around; nevertheless, she appreciates his presence, and probably trusts him a bit more than her other companions, as he's proven stable and noblehearted.

Aside from her vast store of knowledge of Things Weird and Magical, Dana's main talents seem to lie in dealing with people, especially fooling them. She has successfully passed herself off as a teenage boy before -- a half-orc teenage boy, no small feat of makeup. She's pretty good at getting people to fall for her characterizations and agree with her point of view. Dana's social skills and aptitude for disguise are complemented by the variety of clothes she carries around, suitable for social classes from peon to patrician. She also knows just enough about mechanical devices to help others pick them apart.

Dana seems to have a sixth sense about trouble; she can avoid spell effects, traps and odd abilities surprisingly well, and sometimes even seems to avoid the worst of weapon blows. That natural luck is enhanced by ensorcelments she buys when in town, to cast beneficial spells on her when ill fortune comes her way.

Her spells include magic detection and dispelling, a long-lasting invisible magic trap, some sort of silver-tongue effect, brain disruption spells to confuse or harm foes, a spell to feel the shape of her surroundings, and spells to make warriors and shelters out of thin air. She can manipulate the elements somewhat, too, lighting fires and making elemental blasts that knock foes senseless. Finally, she can temporarily provide herself with vaporous wings or fins to bypass a physical obstacle. Unfortunately, her combat spells don't function at a far distance, so the young woman must stay close to the action.

Dana has a massive bodyguard who looks like a brawny wearbear woman and wields a magic warhammer that comes up to Dana's abdomen. Ursula isn't actually a living being, though it's hard to tell from her appearance; her lack of either expression or vocalization has shown you the truth in the time that you've known Dana. She has a spell to heal the damage that Ursula takes, since cure wounds spells don't do the trick. The spell-slinger is also attended by a small hunk of crystal that walks on wispy legs and talks in your head; Crystal, or just 'Crys', responds politely in any language you care to think at her. Dana's less animate equipment includes a ball of goo that spreads over her skin like plate armor, hardening to deflect weapon blows; a large wooden shield; a cudgel topped with a magical flame; and lots of useful adventuring gear that the mighty Ursula carries around in a sturdy backpack.

Fortitude 4, Reflex 2, Will 5
may boost all by +4, until her next action, as an immediate action
+4 against mindreading effects while conceal thoughts is running

AC 20, flatfooted 20, touch 10

Spot 0, +2 if Crystal is nearby, +2 while elfsight is running
Listen 0, +2 if Crystal is nearby
Sense Motive 0
Kn(Psionics) 9
Kn(Arcana) 12
Kn(Planes) 8
Kn(Dungeoneering) 6
Spellcraft 7
Psicraft 10, +2 within metacreativity discipline

No items or other spells in Dana's repetoire alter these statistics, but Crystal might 'aid
another' to boost Dana's AC by +2.