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abilities.
ADRIAN 🫀
STR
-1
DEX
+1
CON
+0
INT
+2
WIS
+1
CHA
+4
The area around him for 5 feet is desecreated ground (see the 'other' section below). Adrian can't touch people (skin-to-skin contact) without potentially poisoning them and will go out of his way to avoid physical contact because of that.
positive
kind . generous . composed
neutral
intelligent . observant . curious
negative
stubborn . reckless . selfless
Adrian is aasimar; though he has human parents, he's not human, but closer to an angel-type being or nephilim — though nowhere near that powerful. (I'm not saying someone in his family line rawed an angel but. That is probably what happened.)
He can still mostly pass as human to casual inspection, save for his eyes and the dusting of golden freckles. He tends to keep himself pretty carefully guarded because his heritage becomes much more obvious when he loses control of his emotions. His freckles glow brightly when he's angry or embarrassed, and if he's particularly agitated the ghostly outline of his halo and/or wings might also become visible. Various traits will also appear briefly when he's using specific spells, but otherwise he looks the way he does in the portrait above.
I tossed up some visual reference to his familiars (the raven and the little leggy eyeball) as well as his Book of Shadows, which is inked into his skin.
He can still mostly pass as human to casual inspection, save for his eyes and the dusting of golden freckles. He tends to keep himself pretty carefully guarded because his heritage becomes much more obvious when he loses control of his emotions. His freckles glow brightly when he's angry or embarrassed, and if he's particularly agitated the ghostly outline of his halo and/or wings might also become visible. Various traits will also appear briefly when he's using specific spells, but otherwise he looks the way he does in the portrait above.
I tossed up some visual reference to his familiars (the raven and the little leggy eyeball) as well as his Book of Shadows, which is inked into his skin.
SPELLS;
As a level 10 Pact of Tome warlock, Adrian has access to most spell lists as well as any d&d 5e spells ONLY IF they can be cast as a ritual. In order to obtain new spells, he must first find a scroll or spellbook, then spend 2 hours transcribing it onto his skin using rare and expensive inks. If the markings are damaged in any way (such as an injury) he can't cast any effected spells until the markings are restored through a 1 hour ritual.Adrian can cast any spell marked cantrip or ritual at will, so long as he has the (uninterrupted) time required by the ritual and any material components. Additionally, he can cast 2 spells of any level before he must rest for 1 hour in order to restore his magical abilities (spell slots). In dire circumstances, or when he believes he'll need to call on more of his abilities, he can preform a ritual and consume the heart of a sufficiently powerful creature (so at least as strong as a human) in order to gain additional spell slots (one for each heart consumed) that will last until his next long rest. He can only typically do this once or twice because there's only so much raw gore a guy can eat.
Lastly, all spells have a specific range (within line of sight), duration (typically 1 minute), and might require Verbal, Somatic (gesture), and/or Material components. (Material components are usually circumvented by a spell focus, but I will not be bringing his spell focus to Diadem.) If he's unable to provide any of the components a given spell might require (such as having his hands tied or being unable to speak), he's unable to cast it.
OTHER ABILITIES;
Healing Light - This healing ability is a part of his pact bond with Raphael and is the only healing ability he has that does not carry the risk of causing harm instead. While it is potent, he can only use so much of it in a day, and when he's used all of it he has to rest 8 hours before it can be used again.Tomb of Levistus - As a reaction when he takes damage, he can wrap himself in Raphael's wings for 6 seconds. He gains 10 temporary hit points per warlock level (so 100, which is a pretty hefty blow in non-d&d terms), which take as much of the triggering damage as possible. Immediately after he takes the damage, he gains vulnerability to fire damage, he can't move from the spot, and is incapacitated while wrapped in the wings. These effects, including any remaining temporary hit points, end after 6 seconds. This invocation can't be used again until he rests for at least 1 hour.
On the non-magical side of things, Adrian is actually trained in non-magical medicine, and it's primarily what he practiced before he took his first pact. His expertise is broad but somewhat shallow — he can dress a wound with whatever items he finds on-hand in the moment, or amputate a limb, but wouldn't be able to preform heart surgery or anything very specialized/advanced beyond what an ordinary field medic might do.
In addition, he's resistant to necrotic, poison, and radiant damage (it still hurts him but less bad) and can speak common and celestial. He also has darkvision, meaning that he can see in shades of gray in the darkness.
Lastly, Adrian can magical girl transform into an angel with wings and the ability to fly for exactly 1 minute. This buffs his attacks, but doesn't do a whole lot otherwise. Since he can only use it once per day, I'm guessing his 1 minute of flight is probably fine for diadem?
DRAWBACKS;
In terms of magic, Adrian's abilities have some significant drawbacks. Upon entering Barovia, unbeknownst to Adrian, Strahd took control of his warlock pact with the angel Raphael. Because of this, Adrian has been unable to contact his true patron, and his magic began causing him pain every time he used it. It will likely continue to do so until Strahd is killed.His right eye is the Eye of Dendallen — a curse in the form of an eye. Adrian fell under its spell and gouged out his own eyeball against his will, allowing this eye to replace it. Adrian can and does command the eye now, so it can crawl out of his head and skitter around and allows him to see through it. He tends to avoid using it unless he has to.
As a part of a deal with some hags to save a group of children, Adrian gave up his speed, which means he often enters combat at a disadvantage and acts last.
Though he would insist otherwise, there was only one pact that Adrian made that was truly of his own free will, and that would be his ill-fated pact with Laneth, a god of the dead. Laneth's boons of insight, necromancy, and additional magical reserves came at a steep cost: Adrian's skin darkened at the extremities and he can no longer touch other creatures (any kind of skin-to-skin contact) without potentially causing them to be poisoned. The ground around him for 5 feet is desecrated ground. At the end of every long rest, there's a chance that using any of his stronger healing magic will result in damage being done instead of healing. Even if he passes the save for that, there's always a 1:10 chance that his healing will do damage regardless (Nat 1/20) unless Cure Wounds is being preformed on himself.
Even the ritual through which he gains further magical ability is a 'boon' from Laneth, requiring that he tear open a creature (living or recently dead) and consume its still warm heart.
Fun fact! Aasimar can actually "fall" if their alignment changes to evil, so he really has to be careful not to do that...