Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

OOC: This biography serves as a justification for any discrepancy one might find according to a traditional ruleset by some of the classes Ezekiel employs. It also is intended to serve as a basic aid in the creation of an intricate plotline that could be used in potential DM events. It is important to note, while OOCly Ezekiel possesses minimal levels in cleric, Ezekiel relies on developed psionic(ki) abilities, as opposed to divine prowess. If there are any lore/timeline problems, please bring them to my attention through PM so that I may alter the story accordingly.

-Ezekiel uses Psionic (ki) abilities, but has weak cleric powers?

Ezekiel's father, Tyrus, was a semi-powerful Cleric committed to the pursuit of reason and worship of Savras. While not a higher-ranking member of any church of Savras (he viewed many churches as corrupt or deviating from the intended teaching of the All-Seeing), he trained and worshipped Savras in isolation. Over time, the diety noticed the devout man, and felt he had earned the right to be gifted with visions typical to higher-ranking followers of Savras. In these visions, Tyrus managed to see The All-Seeing imprisoned following a duel with Azuth, a vision atypical to most mortals. When Ezekiel's father attempted to pass this information onto the Church of Savras, he was sent away and not taken seriously by any means. The members of the Church of Savras were not convinced that Azuth, a younger and in their eyes lesser mage, would be able to stand a chance to the All-Seeing. Dismayed at the lack of faith the church had in what Tyrus believed to be the disaster to come, he prepared to challenge every follower of Azuth he came into contact with; only by diminishing the followers of Azuth could he weaken the mage, therefore giving Savras the upper hand (This is when Tyrus experienced an alignment change from lawful good to lawful neutral).

When he felt his training was complete, for measure of precaution Tyrus bound a part of his soul to his dragon-headed quarterstaff. If anything was to happen, he believed that as long as a fragment of his soul remained upon the mortal world there would be a chance of his return.

As time progressed, Tyrus slew many of the lesser and medium ranking members of the Church of Azuth scattered across Faerun. His journeys brought him to the city of Candlekeep, where he befriended an elven wizard who was at one point a close personal friend of Alaundo the prophet. This man told Tyrus of Alaundo's death, and informed him that the missing skull of Alaundo could potentially be of great assistance to the quest which Tyrus had begun. From there on, Tyrus searched Candlekeep and the surrounding area attempting to acquire any information regarding the whereabouts of this skull.

Eventually, Azuth became aware of this man (not of his intentions, but of his slaughter of members of the church) and decided it was time he intervened. While not approaching Tyrus directly, he imbued a powerful Red Wizard with slightly more ability in exchange for an oath of loyalty. It was revealed to this man that he was to slay Tyrus, for he posed an immediate threat to the members of the church. Eventually, this Wizard found Tyrus, and ended his life. Azuth witnessed Tyrus turned into a pile of ash, and was pleased. The only thing that remained of Tyrus was his quarterstaff.

Ezekiel:

As Ezekiel was birthed later in the life of Tyrus, he never had a true connection with his father because of his travels. The distant family he lived with despised arcane power, believing it to have caused insanity in Tyrus and eventually led to his death. Ezekiel, while a prodigal child with potential divine-abilities, internalized these philosophies and rejected the study of magic. In his early youth, he viewed those who had to rely on lip-service of the gods as weak, and powerless without the divine aid of others. He began to focus on martial training, and his weapon of choice became a Duskwood quarterstaff. His fighting style sacrificed agility in favor of overpowering the opponent, and delivering powerful blows.

One day, a cloaked figure visited the residence of Ezekiel and his family, and presented him with a dragon-headed quarterstaff. The man spoke of the potent abilities of any blood of Tyrus, and how Ezekiel had to fulfill his destiny as it was revealed to the man. While at first Ezekiel's family outright refused him to accept the staff, Ezekiel noticed that the craftmanship was far superior of the duskwood staff which he primarily used. As he trained with this staff (which was heavier in nature), he built more muscle and developed a tripping technique with the curved dragon head. Being ignorant to the likes of divine/arcane magic, he was unable to unlock the full potential that remained dormant within the staff.

While his martial prowess grew, his ego multiplied alongside with it. Overconfident in his abilities, Ezekiel would challenge various members of different monastic orders to test his abilities. These challenges were nothing more than sparring sessions at best, which allowed Ezekiel to further his combat prowess by studying techniques employed by various monks from various orders. After leaving the household he was raised, Ezekiel's travels to Thay led to an encounter with a rather powerful monk who belonged to the Order of the Long Death. After making quick work of the novice, the monk was disgusted at Ezekiel. He viewed him as not even being a worthy sacrifice to Myrkul, and with his bare hands broke Ezekiel's staff in two. When the staff was broken, a white radiant light emerged and entered Ezekiel's body through every orifice.

Second installment:

Ezekiel does not possess the full abilities of a cleric; nor does he profess to. After he first accidentally acquired part of his father's portfolio (which he was unconscious for and still isn't fully aware), there was no initial effect. As Ezekiel learned his style of fighting through his various encounters/duels with monks, and not directly from a monastary, he does not yet have the full ability of a monk who has undergone vigorous training from an order.

Earth/Luck Domain: The Justification

Earth:

Toughness: After Ezekiel's loss to the monk from the Order of the Long Death, Ezekiel became somewhat of an alcoholic. In addition to heavy drinking, he decided to advance his training through vigorous means. One of his encounters, a monk from the Old Order, boasted about how members of his monastery were forced to take beatings from an ogre while not defending themselves in order to build up their constitutions. Ezekiel, wishing to emulate this method of training, would venture out into the wilds with his close friend Phyl'larias and first started training similar to the training of the Old Order. Many times, instead of ending at near death, Ezekiel would lie a bloodied and mangled corpse; his friend Phyl'larias had to carry plentiful scrolls of resurrection and have him reanimated by a priest many times. Over time, Ezekiel could take more and more punishment, and slowly increased the amount of ogres he would receive blows from. Ogres then became captured orcs, and orcs then became giants.

Stoneskin(At the time of writing, Ezekiel does not have this ability): Ezekiel does not actually cast stoneskin; through the training mentioned above, Ezekiel learned discipline and slowly acquired the ability to will away pain. In addition to such, Ezekiel developed a technique in where he uses his ki to create a layer of armor around his body. During this technique he employs, he gains damage resistance at the cost of focused ki attacks (such as stunnning fist or quivering palm).

Energy Immunity(At the time of writing, Ezekiel does not have this ability): Not satisfied with strictly taking abuse from creatures with blunted weapons, Ezekiel began to turn to his friend Frigand Weaver, a mage of Candlekeep. Frigand was studying in the town (his studies also brought him to Beregost on occasion), and Ezekiel volunteered to act as a test dummy for many of Frigand's new abilities. After being incinerated, frozen, electrocuted, and partially dissolved (acid) on countless occasions, Ezekiel began work on a new ki technique that acts as his stoneskin does, but in regards to elemental damage as opposed to physical damage. While Ezekiel's ki ability does partially function, his abilities (not being divine) lack the ability to protect him from all forms of elemental energy at once. He must first prepare this ki defense, and it is only applicable to one form of energy at a time.

Luck Domain:

(LoH):Deep within the subconscious of Ezekiel, a portion of Tyrus's consciousness remains. Tyrus, while unable to bypass Ezekiel's subconscious, has access to a portion of Ezekiel's perception. Because of this, there have often been occasions where Ezekiel has unexplainably (to him) anticipated an oncoming attack, and is able to move out of the way milliseconds before it lands.

Freedom of Movement (Ezekiel does not yet have this ability): Because of this heightened perception, Ezekiel is rarely caught off-guard and slowing him down is quite a feat. Ezekiel possesses the ability to easily slip through any entanglement effect, and through will training/discipline is able to overcome the effects of most slows/paralysis.

How does Ezekiel heal/why doesn't he still use staves?

-After his bout with the monk of the Long Death, Ezekiel viewed pursuits of raw strength as futile. With his old staff now unusable, and with his defeat at the hands of an unarmed monk, Ezekiel began to view using a weapon as a dependency as opposed to a perk. His philosophy:

While the strength of the wielder is relevant in armed combat, so is the strength of the blade or blunted weapon. Only through relying strictly on my own physical prowess may I truly begin to overcome such a dependency.

Ezekiel stopped pursuit of quarterstaff training, and instead chose to take-up unarmed combat. To help condition him, he contacted Frigand Weaver and had 15-20 pound iron bracelets/anklets bound to him magically. Ezekiel is currently unable to remove these weights, but does not worry about it; he utilizes them for defensive abilities when needed at the cost of raw speed and power.

-Ezekiel's healing:

Through his encounters with other monks, Ezekiel once befriended a monk of the Shining Hand (unbeknown to Ezekiel at the time, the followers of the Shining Hand look to Azuth for inspiration). Instead of a single sparring session, they trained together for months on end. Eventually, the monk passed his knowledge of an ability the monastery called "Wholeness of Body". Ezekiel, acquiring the ability after only two months of intense training in regards to it, began to utilize his prodigal spell casting talent but did not apply it to divine magic; instead he was apply to utilize it and apply it to his ki abilities. Over a period of almost ten seasons, and while undergoing his conditioning training, Ezekiel worked on developing and extending his regenerative abilities to the extent where he could then transfer portions of his ki into the bodies of others, offering them healing when needed. (It is important to note that Ezekiel's ki healing is by no means as effective as a cleric's divine healing. Unlike arcane or divine spellcasting, psionic/ki abilities are quite limited).

-Ezekiel has relatively a relatively low int score, but yet he employs a great reason?

Ezekiel, while not particular versed in any arcane/divine magic, and while not very knowledgeable concerning other gods or magical items, employs his wisdom and intuition. While not particularly resourceful concerning analyzing material data, Ezekiel is well-versed in philosophy and his intuition/insight in this regard allows him to compensate for his lacking of vigorous study.

Ezekiel: A mission statement (Why Ezekiel initially came to Baldur's Gate)

Remembering the words of the cloaked man who had given Ezekiel the dragon-headed quarterstaff, Ezekiel become more and more determined to pick up where his father left off. While not an individual of faith, Ezekiel actively employs reason and views reason as almost a spiritual entity. Naturally, Ezekiel views Savras as the pinnacle of reason, and Azuth as the pinnacle of corruption and megalomania. After learning of the duel between Azuth/Savras (which very few mortals have knowledge, Ezekiel's dad and the son of the elder mage who befriended Tyrus and was a personal friend of Alaundo (secretly the cloaked man)), Ezekiel became disgusted at what he viewed as a lust for power, and began to view those faithful to Azuth as worshipping a delusioned madman. His opinion of the church of Azuth is also that it is very archaic in nature; while Ezekiel's philosophies are very skeptic/nihilistic in nature, he views the church as being very bound to tradition and lacking adaptability. He also views those who follow Azuth as indifferent to the world, and only concerned with petty arcane debate.

In regards to the duel, Ezekiel believes that Savras intentionally lost the duel, due to his fatalistic visions. Savras, the master of reason in the eyes of Ezekiel, would by no means lose to a mere mortal in regards to ability; he must have seen that his loss an eventual imprisonment was a necessity in the grand order of things ((through roleplay and developement of plot, a potential reasoning could be that it was foreseen that Sylune needed to temporarily use part of the portfolio, and could have been able to assist her had he been freed. Sylune, loyal to Azuth and viewing him as the new master of reason, merely viewed it as a bid to escape)).

Ezekiel has come to Baldur's Gate and the surrounding area in pursuit of the Skull of Alaundo; he believes acquiring this is the first step in freeing the imprisoned Savras. In addition, he is also training and developing his own abilities, in pursuit of creating a new monastic order to train others for an eventual confrontation with the church of Azuth, and perhaps Azuth himself.