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Ceres (Tav?)
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Age: 28
Race: Half-Drow
Class: Bard (College of Lore)
Origin: Charlatan

Shipping Prefs: m/m
Gen Prefs: ota
Tav Prefs: when tagging with other Tavs I generally prefer for Ceres to be a companion! He's not good at leading parties, no one should ever let him.

Playstyle:
→ Self Interest: Will take the money and run. Won't stick his neck out for strangers.
→ True Neutral: Plays both sides in the game. Double crosses. Backs the winning horse.
→ Risk Averse: Picks the path of least resistance. Doesn't like to get involved. Sometimes this ends in people dying.
→ Deception: Talks his way out of everything, preferably by getting rid of targets.
→ Curiosity: Wants to poke at things. Wants to explore things. Often bites off more than he can chew.
→ Performance: Happy to be the center of attention and play the distraction for a scheme.
→ Street Smarts: Great for surviving in the streets, not well educated in strategy or tactics.
→ Once I'm Yours: Doesn't have many friends. Would die for all of them.

History:
→ Alone: Raised by his human father, Ceres' heritage left him an outcast and outsider. Early on, he decided that if no one would trust him, he wouldn't give anyone a reason to. When his father died, he left town forever and moved to a nearby city, where he joined a local gang, running fast cons and dazzling marks for easy heists.
→ Bloodlines: Rejects his drow heritage. Flaunts his human side by keeping his hair cut short and squishing all the spiders he sees.

Companions:
as a note, I'm happy to play out any kind of assumed companion CR, even if it goes against what I have listed here - this is just a jumping off/reference point if companion players want to play into these more preestablished relationships
→ Karlach: Big lady. Fun to hang out with. Good for hiding behind.
→ Shadowheart: Makes fun of her a little too much. Not really close, but a fine working relationship for the most part.
→ Lae'zel: Ceres drinks respect women juice. Lets her do her thing. Does not give her the best advice. She is generally not a fan of him.
→ Wyll: Bro, Ceres is a walking bad decision and even he can see that you're not okay. Supportive but also like, bruh.
→ Gale: Gets into magic dick measuring contests. Makes fun of him relentlessly. Still actually really likes him.
→ Astarion: Great minds think alike. Enablers enabling each other, much to everyone else's annoyance.
→ Halsin: Big. Too 'good guy' for his tastes but that whole gentle fondness thing kind of works for him.
→ Jaheira: Please don't stab me. You're wonderful. Please stop asking me to do things.
→ Minsc: Not a fan. Not really close. Ditto on the no stabbing thing.
→ Minthara: Does Not Like. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.
→ → Ceres will never recruit Minthara but if interacting as two companions under a Tav who does, he will be cold to her. This isn't because she's 'evil' - it's because she's a drow who said his blood is impure and he's very sensitive about that. Pls don't take this to mean that I don't want Minthara threads (I do!). It would just most likely be negative and snarky (which is fun).

As a Companion to a Tav:
Approval:
→ Deception checks (/letting him be the face for said checks)
→ Persuading your way out of a fight
→ Going undercover
→ → Stabbing someone in the back once you have a better offer
→ Tipping other bards
→ Asking for more money/rewards in exchange for services
→ Getting someone else (trolls / flesh monster / etc) to do the fighting for you
→ Being aggressive or antagonistic toward drow, especially (but not exclusively) Lolth-sworn
→ Letting him behead Nere, if Nere is killed
→ → He fails the strength check btw

Disapproval:
→ Saying we'll do something for free
→ Jumping immediately into a fight
→ → Even if this means saving someone's life
→ Refusing to explore strange sounds / new dungeons / investigate local legends
→ Recruiting Minthara (no disapproval for siding with Goblins - specifically dislikes Minthara)
→ Literally having anything to do with Kar'niss
→ Letting the Goblins go once you've been told to kill them

Camp Habits/Romance:
→ Plays the lyre at night
→ → Uses a violin on day to day marches since it's lighter to carry
→ Drinks too much
→ → Makes terrible drunk decisions and ropes others in
→ Generally doesn't fuck within the party
→ → Prefers one night stands with randoms
→ → → Could get into a no strings attached relationship
→ → → → Could catch feelings afterward...

Companion Quest:
→ Ceres wants to find his mother, a former Lolth-sworn drow who tried to break her pact and settled down with his father for a year before abandoning them.
→ He believes she is either dead or a drider but wants to track her down regardless. During Act 1 and 2, party can find clues to her whereabouts and learn a bit more about drow culture.
→ Unfortunately she has recommitted herself to Lolth, and when the party encounters her in Act 3, she bears no love for him and tries to kill them all.
→ → It's easy to get through this interaction without either her or Ceres ever realizing who she is until her body is looted
→ → If they both are made aware, she will still attack them.
→ → After she's brought down, Tav gets the option to kill her, allow Ceres to kill her, or let her go. Ceres wants to kill her himself, citing that her devotion to Lolth means that they are not family. He will be angry if Tav lets her go and will step in to kill her anyway if Tav fails a persuasion check.

→ The outcome of this is that Ceres can close that loop and stop wondering about her. He is resigned, but ultimately satisfied with the outcome if she is dead.
→ → If she is let go, he leaves the party without a goodbye at the end of the game to hunt her down.

Spells:
→ Friends
→ Vicious Mockery
→ Speak with Animals
→ Sleep
→ Longstrider
→ Healing Word
→ Cloud Of Daggers
→ Shatter
→ Hypnotic Pattern
→ Polymorph
→ Magical Secrets:
→ → Haste
→ → Counterspell

Combat:
Ceres is not good at combat. He typically uses one hand crossbow with nothing in his offhand. He doesn't have a sword. In combat situations, Ceres' number one priority is to hide behind the tank and get as far away from the action is possible in order to spellcast without interruption. He prefers buffing, debuffing, and ofc, throwing cloud of daggers in any and all chokepoints.

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