Thunderin' John was originally from the real world, in the United States in the late 19th century. But he got involved in some magic stuff that was way over his head, which sucked him through a vortex onto
Galon" title="
Galon" class="wiki wiki_page">Galon. Specifically, he appeared on
Galon about a century before the
Twilight Times. In his effort to return home, John began to study magic and realized he had a natural knack for wizardly magic.
John used his newly learned magical ability to help a group of fledgling heroes clear out the <a href="http://libraryofhighmoon.com/tiki-index.php?page=matt%20-%20keep%20on%20shadowfell">Keep on the Shadowfell</a>. In so doing, John earned a magical marking of
Ceridwah's gratitude and a debt to
Omella.
Following the events of the Shadowfell Keep, John participated in the fight against the plague doctors in the
2008 Halloween session. At the end of this session, he had the option to either return home to America or to chase after the escaping plague doctor, and chose to follow his quarry. In doing so, he found himself in
Highmoon. Now he is involved with
Club Doom and helping them fight the plague.
Shortly after arriving in "modern" day Highmoon,
Corrigan beat John in a drinking contest, and so the pair performed the normally 24 "Find Familiar" ritual in about 45 minutes. But it seemed to work, and so John acquired his armadillo familiar,
Quincy Gravedigger.
Thunderin' John's story
[+]
John never wanted any violence. A smart young kid, he wanted to be a clerk or an engineer or something. But John’s life has a way of getting to a point where violence is necessary.
1845: John is born under a different name in
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
1859: At the age of fourteen, John watched in terror as abolitionist
John Brown was hung for treason for trying to free the slaves. This scene stuck with John, and so when the Civil War came he decided to join the Northern Army.
1861-1865: John saw many terrible things during the war, including both sides successively destroying his hometown.
1866: After the war, he traveled westward, because he was disillusioned with American society. He decided to travel to Colorado, to see about making a fortune in that Gold Rush people kept talking about (but was dying off by that time).
1870: Finds a Chinese woman on the run from some thugs. He helps her escape. She’s actually a prostitute (as are most Chinese women circa 1870… no really, in
1870 census 61% of Chinese women have prostitution listed as their occuptation.) but she wants to escape the slavelike life that entails. John helps her, remembering the war that was just fought to end slavery.
1874: Settles down somewhere, obtains a ranch via the
Homsetead Act. John keeps his wife away from town, as the folks there wouldn’t quite understand.
1879: Racist bandits kidnap her to try to intimidate John. He forms up a posse of folks to save her, but he finds her dead. (She’s the “one you couldn’t quite save” that John heard in the Shadowfell Keep.)
1880-89: Travels the West getting revenge on each member of the band of bandits. Kills every one and earns his vigilante nickname "Thunderin' John Gravestone". John likes the nickname.
1890: After much searching, John eventually finds the mysterious boss of the bad guys, goes to kill him. Then the bad guy starts doing strange things. Magic things. Bad guy opens up a portal from the United States to the campaign world (a few years before the
Shadowfell game started). John gets thrown through the portal, though he doesn’t know which side the other guy is on. Or if the other guy can travel freely between worlds.
Maybe the bad guy is really
Omella? Or someone else? I don’t know. With the time travelling weirdness John has been mixed up in, it could be the shadowy man is in fact John himself, from the future or an alternate timeline or something.
John starts studying everything he can about planar travel, to try to get home. And so that he’ll be prepared when he finds the bad guy again. So he acquires lots of knowledge in arcane matters, and learns a couple spells, too. Eventually, he gets his old six shooter enchanted, though he ran out of bullets for the thing years ago.
John was interested in the prophecy and such, because he’s always looking for extraplanar breaches and other weird phenomena that might get him home somehow. And that’s how John finds himself in the position he’s in today, fighting weird monsters and weird cults and stuff he’d never heard of just three or four years ago.
Thunderin' John Gravestone's character sheet
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Human Wizard 6
Initiative +5
STR: 11 +0/+3
CON: 14 +2/+5
DEX: 14 +2/+5
INT: 19 +4/+7
WIS: 12 +1/+4
CHA: 10 +0/+3
AC: 20 (
Deathcut Leather +1)
Fort: 18 (
Amulet of Prot. +2)
Ref: 20
Will: 19
HP: 44 Bloody: 22
Surge: 14 8/day
Resist 5 poison, Resist 5 necrotic
Move: 6 squares, Normal Vision
Languages: Common, Draconic, English, Chinese, Gnome
Alignment: Good
Background: time travelling cowboy (adds Endurance to class skill list)
Feats:
H: Action Surge (
+3 to hit with APs)
1: Arcane Familiar
2: Shadow Initiate (
Assassin MC, Mark of Omella)
4: Leather Armor Prof.
6: Deva Heritage (
Mark of Ceridwah)
Skills:
Arcana +12
Dungeoneering + 9
History +12
Nature + 9
Endurance +12 (background and familiar)
Intimidate +8
Class Features:
Wand Implement Mastery
Spellbook
Ritual Caster
Cantrips
Items:
Colt Army Model 1860 enchanted as a
Master’s Wand of Scorching Burst+1
Deathcut Leather +1
Amulet of Protection +2
Wildrunners
Rituals:
Make Whole
Hand of Fate
Comprehend Languages
Seek Rumor
110 GP of Residuum
At-Will:
Base Melee: Quarterstaff
(
Standard; Melee; Weapon)
+5 vs AC;
Hit: 1d8 damage
Illusory Ambush
(
Standard; Ranged 10 squares; Illusion)
+8 vs. Will;
Hit: 1d6 + 5 psychic damage and -2 to hit until end of your next turn.
Crit: 11+1d8 psychic
Storm Pillar
(
Standard; Ranged 10; Conjuration; Lightning)
Create a storm pillar in an unoccupied space. Enemies moving into adjacent squares take 1d6+5 lightning damage.
Thunderwave
(
Standard; Close blast 3; Thunder)
+8 vs. Fortitude Hit: 1d6 + 5 thunder damage, and you push the target 1 square.
Crit: 11+1d8 thunder
Cantrips:
Ghost Sound
Light
Mage Hand
Prestidigitation
Encounter:
Wand of Accuracy
(
Free; Personal) +2 to hit with one attack roll.
Grasping Shadows
(
Standard; Area Burst 1 within 10; Illusion; Psychic)
+8 vs. Will;
Hit: 1d8+5 psychic and slowed until end of your next turn.
Effect: Leaves behind a zone until end of your next turn. Any creature that enters the zone takes 4 psychic damage and is slowed until end of its next turn.
Crit: 13 + 1d8 psychic
3: Radiant Pillar
(
Standard; Area burst 1 in 10; Zone, Radiant)
The burst creates a zone of bright light until the end of your next turn. Creatures are blinded while within the zone. If a creature vulnerable to radiant damage starts its turn within the zone, it takes damage equal to double its vulnerability.
Wand: Scorching Burst
(
Standard; Area burst 1 within 10 squares; Fire)
+8 vs. Reflex; Hit: 1d6 + 5 fire damage.
Crit: 11+1d8 fire
Armadillo Familiar Active Ability
(
Free action; Close Burst 1)
Trigger: An adjacent ally spends a healing surge.
Effect: That ally heals +1d8 HPs.
Bravo MC ability
(
Free action)
Designate one enemy in sight as your prey. You gain +1 to hit and damage against that enemy until end of your next turn. Enemy stays your prey for encounter, or until dead.
Utility
(
pick one of each level after each extended rest)
2: Shield
(
Encounter; Immediate Interrupt; Personal; Force)
Trigger: You are hit by an attack.
Effect: You gain a +4 power bonus to AC and Reflex defense until the end of your next turn.
2: Memory to Mist
(
Daily; Minor; Ranged 2) One creature (
who must be lvl 5 or lower and not involved in combat) forgets everything in the past ten minutes and for the next 1 minute.
6: Invisibility
(
Std; Ranged 5; Daily)
You or one creature is invisible until the end of your next turn. If the target attacks, the effect ends. Sustain Standard.
6: Spectral Image
(
Minor; Ranged 10; Encounter; Illusion)
The illusion of a Medium or smaller object or creature appears in an unoccupied square within range. It can make sounds, and it can move within its square but cannot leave it. Each of its defenses is 10. The illusion lasts until the end of the encounter, or until an attack hits it or a creature touches it.
An Insight or Perception check (
DC 22) also allows a creature to determine the illusion is a fake.
Daily:
(
pick one of each level after each extended rest)
1: Sleep
(
Standard; Area burst 2 within 20 squares; Sleep)
+7 vs. Will;
Hit: The target is slowed (
save ends). If the target fails its first saving throw against this power, the target becomes unconscious (
save ends).
Miss: The target is slowed (
save ends).
Crit: normal effect
1: Flaming Sphere
(
Standard; Ranged 10; Fire)
Target: One creature adjacent to the flaming sphere
+7 vs. Reflex; 2d6 +5 fire damage.
Effect: You conjure a Medium flaming sphere that occupies a square within range, and the sphere attacks. Any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the sphere takes 1d4 + 5 fire damage. As a move action, you can move the sphere 6 squares.
Sustain Minor: You can sustain this power until the end of the encounter. As a standard action, you can make another attack with the sphere.
Crit: 17+1d8 fire
5: Phantasmal Assailant
(
Standard; Ranged 20; Psychic)
+7 vs. Will; 2d10 +5 psychic damage.
Effect: The target takes ongoing 5 psychic damage and grants combat advantage to all your allies (save ends both).
Crit: 15+1d8 psychic
5: Grasp of the Grave
(
Standard; Area burst 2 within 20 squares; Necrotic, Zone)
Targets enemies.
+7 vs. Reflex; 1d10 + 5 necrotic damage and dazed until end of your next turn.
Miss: 1d10+5 necrotic damage.
Effect: The burst creates a zone of skeletal hands until the end of the encounter. Enemies that enter the zone or start their turns there take 5 necrotic damage and are dazed until the end of your next turn.
Crit: 15+1d8 necrotic
Deva Heritage
(
Minor; Stance; Daily)
Requirement: You must not be bloodied.
Effect: Until the stance ends, enemies take a -2 penalty to attack rolls against you, and you shed bright light. The stance ends if you become bloodied.
Item: Deathcut Armor
(
Immediate Reaction; Melee; Necrotic)
Trigger: An enemy hits you with a melee attack.
Effect: Deal 1d10 necrotic damage to that enemy.
Item: Wildrunners
(
Free; Personal) Use this power when you run. Enemies do not gain combat advantage against you.