Merich

Player: John Full Name: Maracolara Race: Aasimar Appearance: 6'5", well-built, dark complexion, long brown hair, beard. Wings hidden. Eyes occasionally glow green when things get interesting.

Description

Merich is a six-and-a-half-foot celestial being of divine heritage who keeps his wings tucked away and his persuasion modifier very much on the table. He is, depending on the moment, either the most effective member of the party or a large man who has just fallen off a horse into horse manure. Both versions of Merich approach their situation with the same fundamental confidence, which is either inspiring or baffling depending on how you feel about outcomes.

His social approach can be summarized as: improvise something, commit fully, roll high. He convinced a grieving Vistani widow to adopt two orphaned children by suggesting they had survived an attack by halfling camel mercenaries. He rolled a 22. No one asked for clarification. He has a quest sword, Mercy's Bite, that he acquired by trading a magical stone and completing a side quest involving a haunted windmill, and he treats owning it as a personal milestone. He also has a pet direwolf named Sophie, who he summons to console crying children, which works.

In combat, Merich turns into a radiant space heater. His Celestial Form deals passive radiant damage to everything in a ten-foot radius, which is most of the room, which is most of the problem. He also fires Eldritch Blasts, uses Divine Smite for moments that need to be definitive, and occasionally kills things mid-air on the way down from leaping off their face. He has a clear preference for fighting things that burn.

His intimidation strategy has a known failure mode. On at least one occasion, his horse expressed its opinion of the plan before he could. Isaac called him a "funny, little man." Merich subsequently held a man in place with a spell and participated in killing him, which was proportionate.

Merich is the kind of person who gets down on one knee to talk to a scared altar boy, conjures a ball of light, and lets him hold it. He is also the kind of person who informs someone their brother is dead with the phrase "no longer a concern" and a wink that the room unanimously agreed was the worst they had ever seen. Both of these things are equally, authentically him.