Patty O'Flaherty
Name: Patty O'Flaherty
Height: 3'3"
Weight: 54lbs
Age: 76
Race/Species: Forest Gnome
Gnomes are a race of miniature Fey humanoids especially gifted in magic and exceptionally talented with working using their hands. Forest Gnomes are a subspecies of this group particularly attuned to the natural world around them.
Tier/Influence: 2 (Local)
Group(s): Unaffiliated
Style
Patty O'Flaherty, being a Gnome, is quite tiny and short in stature. She stands at a minuscule 3'3" and weighs a meager 54lbs sopping wet, childlike in appearance from her infectious smile to the casual way she swings her feet when she walks like a bored march. Her skin is a soft peach color and doused in freckles, her face naturally blush. She wears her long, ginger hair in downward pigtails that trail to her hips kept under a sloping bandanna she covers one eye with when stepping indoors out of habit. Her emerald eyes are quite lively, either eyeing the most entertaining thing present or the shiniest.
She dresses like a sailor at most times out of habit as well. Her easily-identified coat is rarely without her and underneath she sports a sleeveless black and white horizontally striped shirt. Canvas cargos are tucked into leather buckled boots for utility and a sash winds its way about her waist. Depending on if she's out and about or relaxing in the inn, she'll often be covered in all manners of belts holding curious like blinding sand or heaps of daggers.
In a few words Patty O'Flaherty can be described as impish, ambitious, and stubborn. The Gnomish blood within her is evident through her love of humor, jokes, schemes, and shenanigans, and although her thick skin might make her take things too far it's all in jest and good fun. Patty is a free spirit that speaks her mind, welcomed or not, and can be standoffish when she finds herself being constrained or put down. She's very active, always seeking to busy her hands with something which can land her in hot water more often than not. Even if her judgement may be lacking after spending any quantity of time with her it's obvious she has a sharp wit if her unique ribbing and penchant for planning give any indicator.
Patty is someone who gives one hundred percent or nothing at all. She works hard, plays hard, and if it could be believed, relaxes hard when she has the chance. She either fully commits to something in mind and spirit or slacks it off as unimportant and not worth the trouble. What she most desires is to be challenged in a way she can creatively succeed, which she prefers to express through thievery although games and contests can suitably distract her from much more dangerous behavior. Patty can be a bit cocky as this want for challenge leads to bragging rights and stories, the gaining of experiences and trophies opposed to the wealth most Rogues seek. Patty would rather sneak into the King's keep and take his favorite teacup than filch a garnet from a beggar. Her composure around friends can be a little aggressive toward those who aren't used to insulting the people you like, but she means well by it as a sign of closeness.
Patty is someone who gives one hundred percent or nothing at all. She works hard, plays hard, and if it could be believed, relaxes hard when she has the chance. She either fully commits to something in mind and spirit or slacks it off as unimportant and not worth the trouble. What she most desires is to be challenged in a way she can creatively succeed, which she prefers to express through thievery although games and contests can suitably distract her from much more dangerous behavior. Patty can be a bit cocky as this want for challenge leads to bragging rights and stories, the gaining of experiences and trophies opposed to the wealth most Rogues seek. Patty would rather sneak into the King's keep and take his favorite teacup than filch a garnet from a beggar. Her composure around friends can be a little aggressive toward those who aren't used to insulting the people you like, but she means well by it as a sign of closeness.
- Gnomish Cunning (2): Gnomes, being innately magical, become accustomed to spells of all sorts. As they grow they're nearly constantly surrounded by magic and all have befallen a vicious sorcerous prank at some point or another. Gnomes as a whole and Patty included are resistant to mind-affecting magic that compels, deceives, or stupefies. That's not to say she's immune by far, but an evil Wizard will need to bring his A-game if he wants to brainwash the feisty redhead. While this ability may confer extra magical resistance to mind-affecting spells, it's not magical or fantastical in nature and more represents a keen-mind predisposed unique to Gnomes in staying alert, individualistic, and being familiar with the illusions they can all cast.
- Speak With Small Beasts (2): As a Forest Gnome Patty holds the inborne talent to speak a simple language shared by tiny creatures. Forest Gnomes are attuned to nature in a very intimate way and these small beasts can communicate with her simple desires such as giving directions and general ideas and her to them. Patty mostly uses this to talk to her dog Fisher.
- Sneak Attack: While self-taught, Patty is no slouch in a fight, using a unique style of Gnomish fighting to get by in a scrap: stab them in the fleshy bits. Her form of combat is mostly deftly dodging incoming attacks with acrobatic acumen while going for the joints, tendons, and vital organs in a flurry of swift strikes too quick to counter or block all of them. That's not to say she knows how to fight, she'd straight-up lose to anyone who was formally trained and isn't anywhere close to the disciplined forms of a well-trained soldier. Unless she got the drop on them or pulled out the dirty tricks, that is. The one thing this style of combat specializes in is capitalizing on an opponent's weaknesses to gain an advantage in battle.
- Cunning Action (2): Rogues need to be skilled to survive. They're not Fighters and magic isn't going to save them any time soon. One clean hit and they're down. That's why Patty has become practiced in her movements, able to multitask in combat and fluidly hide during a chase. She possesses incredible hand-eye coordination as a result of years of practicing and balance and tumbling skill from the same, making her quicker to act, more precise, and more easily able to traverse her environment without being physically faster than others.
- Life of a Sailor (1): Patty has spent most of her life on a ship, giving her a specialized skillset. She is an agile swimmer and most comfortable near the water with navigational, logistical, and practical skills that comes with a career on the open seas. She can tie knots with the best of them, read maps with ease, and can handle the coordination of allotting different amounts of manpower and resources over an extended period of time.
- Tinkerer (1): While a simple proficiency, Patty is familiar with the workings of mechanical devices. Most specifically locks and doors, but this knowledge extends to other areas of usefulness. She's no gadgeteer or artificer, but Patty can set up a snare or a trip wire with little difficulty.
- Spellcasting (2): Patty, being an Arcane Trickster and a Gnome to boot, is knowledgeable enough about magic to be competent with it. Gnomes are innately magical themselves and can cast spells from a very young age with no formal training and the Arcane Trickster takes this even further. While Warlocks sling spells gained from a patron, Sorcerers manifest through sheer force of will, and Wizards study their nerdy butts off to learn how to bend reality, Arcane Tricksters steal magical secrets from the universe. The Weave, the mystical aura that binds all planes, can be manipulated through rigorous mental exercise and deft incantations and hand signals. Unlike the Wizard who has to learn this, the Arcane Trickster just experiments and finds what works before refining it to be useful. Gnomes, already knowing how to cast spells, are well-suited to this style of learning. Particularly she skews toward Illusion magic as her race prefers this.
Known Cantrips
Mage Hand: Arcane Tricksters are the culmination of a Rogue's fantasy: they can steal things just by thinking about them. When Patty casts Mage Hand it's invisible, unlike when a normal Wizard or Sorcerer casts it, and she's skilled enough with it to command it while doing other things with enough precision and control to pick locks while bladelocked in a fight to the death. Of course Mage Hand is limited to thirty feet away and paltry amounts of weight, five pounds or under, limiting its ability to be directly useful in a fight.
Minor Illusion: The user makes either a small static image or visual effect or sound, which can be nearly anything in both categories. A limit of 60 feet of range however the user must concentrate to maintain the illusion. The illusion can't be too complex, mostly just an illusionary picture or sound, and the spellcaster can't do both at once and only one at a time.
Prestidigitation: Colloquially known as "Minor Wish", this spell does it all. It can heat or chill a cubic foot of matter, enough to make soup hot or stop that gellato from melting. It can create small handheld objects for nearly 10 seconds. It can clean your clothes or make someone else's dirty! Generate smells, tastes, and minor effects, you can't really go wrong with this spell!
Dancing Lights: Summons a quartet of hovering ghostly lights that move at the command of the summoner. Illuminates a small area much like a lantern but can't be put out in the rain. Also looks like ghostly auras. Rather good fun around Halloween. The lights can't be 30 feet away from each other and 90 feet away from Patty at any time or she loses her focus of the spell.
Flare: This incantation releases a flash of bright light from the user's palm, blinding and stunning opponents that rely on their eyes to fight. Not directly harmful, but it makes for a great escape tool in a bad situation and can even be used to signal allies. The range and effectiveness of this cantrip is severely limited by distance since it emanates from Patty's hand, anyone too far away won't even blink.
- Seafarer's Coat (1): This special coat was custom-made for Patty, sewn for comfort, protection, and stealth. Dark brown in color the leather is treated to be highly water resistant, great for taking an impromptu dip in the ocean or standing out on the deck all night in the rain wishing someone else could navigate a storm. Not only that, it's warm in the winter and breathes in the summer, dark enough to fade into the wood or shadows, and comes with many secret little pockets and zippers to hide things for... reasons. Non-reflective buckles can tighten up the sleeves and close the coat for when the wind picks up and the back is branded with a flag in the breeze superimposed over crossed anchors.
But why this coat was special ordered was to act like armor without looking like armor. The leather is thick and tough around the chest and back with rivets and metal strips like splint mail sewn between the inner and outer layers but without making the annoying clinking noises. The high collar is even reinforced with bronze to offer neck protection, but the entire thing is light-weight. At least comparably so, it weighs about four pounds. At a glance and even on closer inspection it doesn't look like armor at all, most people couldn't even tell unless they attempted to punch her in the back and hit a rivet. Functionally it offers the same protection as studded leather with a lot more style to it. - Daggers. Looooootsa Daggers (1): Like, at least a dozen daggers. Probably a baker's dozen. These can be found throughout her person. A knife in her boot, a few dangling off her belt, one up each sleeve, some in her coat pockets, more still on a bandolier across her chest. The girl's pretty much covered in sharp pointy objects. If you picked her up and shook her fairly hard she'd probably drop a few from places you wouldn't even think to check. Good for stabbing things, throwing them at things, cutting things, peeling fruit, and opening bottles of mead.
- Dual "Longswords" (2): Not so long Longswords. Short Longswords, if you will. Medium swords. These two actuallyShortswords are about 2 feet in length from blade to hilt, give or take an inch. Around as long as parrying daggers, just about. Neither are very special aside from sentimental value and well-loved at that. Despite bearing no chips the sheen has been long lost to tarnish and there are scratches along the blades though they remain as sharp as the day they were forged.
The blade Patty prefers to weild in her left hand is hung at her right hip in a mere leather blade sheath, appearing more like a cutlass with a slight curve to the metal and a knuckle guard covering the grip. This is the stabbing-iron she started learning with, and she knows it like the back of her hand. The sword she takes in her right hand rests slanted along her back in a wooden sheath and is much more straight and Celtic in design. Patty had taken this blade from a collector and took a liking to its look and feel. - Goody Bag (2): Patty's self-proclaimed "Bag of Tricks" is filled with all manner of nasty surprises thieves make use of. Caltrops, ball bearings, vials of oil, smoke bombs, rocks, wind-up clocks, if it can be used to annoy or escape it's in there. Though she's limited in supply of what she carries she has a few of each item on her at most times and restocks as soon as she's able. This item is more of a nebulous concept of what Patty could reasonably have on her in the means of gadgets and isn't a hard list.
- Alchemist's Fire (2): For when it absolutely positively needs to die. These volatile bombs pack a punch and burn at white-hot temperatures, being reserved for only the toughest of bastards that don't know when to hit the dirt after a good kidney shanking. The recipe is based around Greek Fire and sticks to surfaces, burning for quite a while with the intensity to melt skin from bone. Don't use indoors. She has a total of three of these when believably stockedand they're hard to get ahold of, so each one needs to count. They're safely stored within a small wooden box with an Arcane Lock packed with sheep's wool to make sure they don't go off prematurely and fry her to a crisp. The makeup is actually a combination of black powder, oil, and sticky sap and isn't magical in anyway despite what the name suggests.
- Lockpick Set (2): What's a Rogue without their toolkit? This set has gained some nifty little tools over Patty's storied career. The basic files and implements, a mirror on a handle, some twine, sawdust, clamps, screwdrivers, wedge, chisel, grappling hook, and small diamond used for glass-cutting make up this kit and she's adding to it all the time.
- Adventurer's Pack (1): This nifty little backpack carries the basic amenities for four days of travel, but can be stretched longer with necessity. It includes everything a reasonable person would take camping such as a bed roll, pots and pans, a water skin, clothing items, trail rations, and other basic survival equipment. As an Adventurer's Pack it also holds a few more useful things people might not ordinarily carry with them, such as bottles of beer, lengths of rope, a whetstone, a few torches, a lantern, chalk, climbing stakes, and other useful items.
- Fisher (1): Fisher is Patty's best friend and decade-old Saint Bernard hound. He's a faithful, lovable dog if a bit lazy and content to lounge around all day. Needy too. Fisher was the old ship dog from Patty's last schooner, Charlemain, and nobody really wanted the layabout except for Patty and thus she took him with her nearly four years back. He got his name for being exceptionally dumb, if you threw a chicken bone off the deck of the ship no matter how quick it was moving he'd always jump overboard to nab it and the crew would have to fish him up. He's not bred or trained for combat nor can he track and his sense aren't the keenest, but he makes for a good travelling companion and mount when the Gnome gets tired of walking.
Patty O'Flaherty... is not a real person. Technically. Her birth name was Garnet Pumperknickel, the daughter of a jewelsmith and a baker in the Greenwilds. Garnet was the eldest of four daughters and spent her youth watching over them as a big sister should, though this was a source of conflict. Not her actual caregiver skills, of course. Garnet took good care of her younger siblings. But she was never recognized for it, it was something she was expected to do. On top of that she wasn't good at either of her parents' professions either. Garnet couldn't follow the recipes for baking nor did she have the patience for jewel cutting. Instead she took to something where she could keep her hands busy at all times and re-do her mistakes: knot tying. Garnet made all sorts of things, from lanyards to dream catchers and even belts a few times but it still wasn't enough for her parents. No matter how much harder she worked she was considered "equal", no matter that she was the eldest or that she did more than her sisters who enjoyed goofing off all day as Gnomes were wont to do.
After a particularly venomous spat with her mother over how the dishes should be dried which evolved into "I'm never good enough for you!" Garnet hitched a ride on a human merchant caravan leaving after a trade visit sometime in her 30's, still a child by Gnomish standards. Though she never returned home since, her community branded her an outcast and her family a disappointment to the name for leaving so abruptly. She stowed away expertly and wasn't discovered up until she'd made it onto a merchant ship bound for a foreign port where she was discovered. Not content to be treated like the child she thought she was, Garnet used her knot tying talents and diligent worker's attitude to man with the crew. Even though she wasn't nearly as strong as the others she was quick of wit and found ways that she could assist without getting in the way. When they reached port, rather than waste a voyage sending her back or release her to the streets, Cap'n Fulbright took her under his wing and became her mentor for some time.
Garnet Pumperknickel would eventually take the human name of Patty O'Flaherty to separate herself from her old family as she matured into a competent deck hand. Patty would spend another decade aboard Cap'n Fulbright's Night Mistress before she earned her black pearl. The Night Mistress was besieged by Dwarvish pirates one night when the lookout fell asleep on watch and slaughtered the crew. Believing Patty to be a child, they tied her to a plank of wood and set her adrift rather than slit her throat there and then to leave themselves a cleaner conscience. It would be another two days before Patty would wash ashore near Ashmore.
Penniless and hungry, Patty turned to theivery when she couldn't find work. No one was about to hire on a tiny Gnomish girl as their deck hand no matter how hard she worked or how good she was. She started by nicking a purse and enjoyed it a little to much. It was thrilling, mentally engaging, and good old-fashioned fun. She approached every mark as if she were scoring points in a game, undertook every heist as a contest of her wit and skill. Patty began teaching herself how to fight and take advantage of her magical ability to raise the stakes, taking riskier endeavors each and every time. Eventually she earned enough money from burglary to buy passage aboard a new ship, Radiant Orchid, where she worked her fingers to the bone despite not needing to. Her plan to get the captain to notice her aptitude worked and Patty found employment again under Cap'n Whistlecaw.
She would spend much of the rest of her life alternating between the honest work of sailing as a quarter master, deck hand, or navigator and the shady dealings of a low-down dirty thief when that wasn't available, making a small name for herself in both communities as both a hard worker, quick thinker, and card cheat.
After a particularly venomous spat with her mother over how the dishes should be dried which evolved into "I'm never good enough for you!" Garnet hitched a ride on a human merchant caravan leaving after a trade visit sometime in her 30's, still a child by Gnomish standards. Though she never returned home since, her community branded her an outcast and her family a disappointment to the name for leaving so abruptly. She stowed away expertly and wasn't discovered up until she'd made it onto a merchant ship bound for a foreign port where she was discovered. Not content to be treated like the child she thought she was, Garnet used her knot tying talents and diligent worker's attitude to man with the crew. Even though she wasn't nearly as strong as the others she was quick of wit and found ways that she could assist without getting in the way. When they reached port, rather than waste a voyage sending her back or release her to the streets, Cap'n Fulbright took her under his wing and became her mentor for some time.
Garnet Pumperknickel would eventually take the human name of Patty O'Flaherty to separate herself from her old family as she matured into a competent deck hand. Patty would spend another decade aboard Cap'n Fulbright's Night Mistress before she earned her black pearl. The Night Mistress was besieged by Dwarvish pirates one night when the lookout fell asleep on watch and slaughtered the crew. Believing Patty to be a child, they tied her to a plank of wood and set her adrift rather than slit her throat there and then to leave themselves a cleaner conscience. It would be another two days before Patty would wash ashore near Ashmore.
Penniless and hungry, Patty turned to theivery when she couldn't find work. No one was about to hire on a tiny Gnomish girl as their deck hand no matter how hard she worked or how good she was. She started by nicking a purse and enjoyed it a little to much. It was thrilling, mentally engaging, and good old-fashioned fun. She approached every mark as if she were scoring points in a game, undertook every heist as a contest of her wit and skill. Patty began teaching herself how to fight and take advantage of her magical ability to raise the stakes, taking riskier endeavors each and every time. Eventually she earned enough money from burglary to buy passage aboard a new ship, Radiant Orchid, where she worked her fingers to the bone despite not needing to. Her plan to get the captain to notice her aptitude worked and Patty found employment again under Cap'n Whistlecaw.
She would spend much of the rest of her life alternating between the honest work of sailing as a quarter master, deck hand, or navigator and the shady dealings of a low-down dirty thief when that wasn't available, making a small name for herself in both communities as both a hard worker, quick thinker, and card cheat.
