Overview
Neesa Lanstrider is a Lv5 Human Monk. She is a shorter than average woman, with thin but toned limbs and an unfathomably energetic aura. She is clad is well fitting robes and shorts so as not to encumber her or restrict her movement and has tied up auburn hair. The only daughter of a farming couple from the village of Eveningstar in Cormyr, she set out into the world to spread Justice, right wrongs and punish evildoers. Her unbridled spirit is her greatest asset and weakness in equal parts, leading her in many directions at once. After the destruction of her home town, she repressed memories of her return and continued her life as the "Champion of Justice" in Cormyr. However, a chance in counter with the Paladin Christoph Narle sent her in the direction of Neverwinter on urgent business in her zeal for spreading Justice.
She is currently traveling with with her devotee and friend Christoph Narle near Phandalin, on the Sword Coast, as they spread the ideas of Justice to the four corners of Faerun.
Physical Description
Neesa is a slightly shorter than average human woman. She is thin and has a slightly toned build due to years of training. She has soft white skin and a dark Auburn hair that would reach to her shoulders if she didn't tie it up into a loose bind at the back. She has deep blue eyes and tattoos of tribal marking of her own design on her left shoulder / arm and right hand, that denote he monastic heritage and devotion to the ideal of Justice.
Neesa wears a tight fitting sleeveless robe on her upper body and woven shorts that stop just above the knee. Her cloths are usually dirty or scuffed as her energetic approach to life often sees her actively moving about. She often wears a head scarf tied over her forehead to tie up her hair which is a little unkempt. Her clothing is adorned with monastic tribal pattern and her head scarf has a symbol of her own design woven on it.
A skilled weaver, she wears a self made woven bracelet on her right wrist with a small metal charm tied to it. She is known to make and gift identical ones to her closest friends. Christoph Narle wears one of these same bracelets, made by Neesa.
Stats
HP: 43 / 43 (Cur/Max), AC: 18, Proficiency Bonus: +3, Inspiration: 1.
Strength: 12 (+1) (No Bonus)
Dexterity: 20 (+5) (No Bonus)
Constitution: 15 (+2) (No Bonus)
Intelligence: 12 (+1) (No Bonus)
Wisdom: 17 (+3) (No Bonus)
Charisma: 13 (+1) (No Bonus)
Proficiency
Armor: None
Weapon: All Simple Weapons, Short swords
Tools: Weavers Tools
Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, Investigation, Perception and Performance
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Goblin
Spells
Neesa can not cast spells
Abilities and Feats
Racial Abilities / Feats
Human Ambition: As with all humans, Neesa is driven by an innate force to be more than just average. Pushing beyond natural limitations she has gained a +1 to all Stat Scores.
Monk Abilities / Feats
Martial Arts: Practiced in Martial Arts and mastery of various combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons (short swords and single handed, non heavy simple weapons). While unarmed or wielding only monk weapons (no armor and no shield either), Neesa gains the following benefits: 1) Dexterity can be used instead of Strength for attack and damage rolls. 2) Damage dice for unarmed attacks / weapons are at minimum a d6 (at Lv.5). 3) An extra unarmed strike can be made per Attack action as a bonus action.
Ki: Monk training has allowed Neesa to harness the age old energy of Ki (5 points at Lv.5). DC for all Ki checks are = 8 + Proficiency + Wis Mod (DC 14). Ki can be used to do any of the following: 1) After taking an attack action, Neesa can unleash a Flurry of Blows (1 Ki point) to perform two extra unarmed strikes as a bonus action. 2) Patient Defense (1 Ki point), Neesa can take the Dodge action as a bonus action on her turn. 3) Step of the Wind (1 Ki point), Neesa can use Disengage or Dash as a bonus action on her turn. On this turn jumping distance is double as well.
Unarmored Defense: Having incorporated defensive postures into her fighting stance, as long as she is unhindered by armor or a shield, Neesa can use her awareness of her surroundings and natural agility to avoid enemy attacks. Her AC in the state is = 10 + Dex Mod + Wis Mod (18)
Unarmored Movement: When not weighed down by armor or a shield, Neesa can move with extra speed, thus increasing her movement speed to 40ft.
Deflect Missile: Trained in quick reflexes and honed to a "T", Neesa can deflect (dodge) any incoming missile (arrow, bolt, stone, etc) with her Reaction thereby reducing the damage caused by 1d10 + Monk Level + Dex Mod (1d10 + 10). If damage is reduce to 0, Neesa can catch the projectile in her hand as long as it fits in one hand and she has one free hand to catch it with. Spending 1 Ki point, Neesa can throw the projectile at enemy as part of the same reaction, making an attack out of it. This attack has a range of 20/60ft, is always made with proficiency and is treated as a monk weapon.
Slow Fall: Having almost unheard of agility, Neesa can reduce any fall damage taken by 5x Monk Level (25) by using her reaction to hinder and break her fall.
Extra Attack: Having experienced enough combat, Neesa has streamlined her fighting style enough to enable an additional strike per Attack action taken.
Stunning Strike: Experienced enough in the flow of Ki and its effects, Neesa can interfere with enemy's Ki. When performing a melee attack successfully, Neesa can spend 1 Ki point to attempt to stun the creature. The target must succeed on a Constitution Saving Throw or be stunned until Neesa's next turn.
Monastic Tradition Abilities / Feats (Subclass)
Neesa's is a devotee of the martial monk tradition of the Way of the Open Hand. She is training to be the ultimate martial artist, both unarmed and armed.
Open Hand Technique: Using her control of Ki flow, both her own and her enemy's, Neesa can inflict a number of conditions upon her opponents when unleashing a Flurry of Blows. Theses effects include one of the following per use: 1) They must succeed at a Dexterity Saving Throw or be knocked prone. 2) They must make a succeed at a Strength Saving Throw or be knocked up to 15 feet away. 3) Be unable to take reactions until Neesa's next turn.
Backstory
Neesa grew up in the small farming town of Eveningstar, just north of the King's Forest in Cormyr. She was the only daughter of a farming couple and the youngest of her generation in the tightly knit community. Even as a young girl she was noisy, nosy and boisterous, inserting herself into all matters of the community even though she was more often than not a nuisance. In an attempt to curb her inability to sit still or focus, her parents encouraged a relationship between their family and the local shrine keeper, a monk in the service of the god Lathander, the God of Light.
Under the tutelage the monk, Neesa learned to channel her energy (in most part) into harnessing Ki flow and performing martial arts. Her natural exuberance enabled her to excel and soon she was set to become the successor to her mentor as protector of the town. She also learned to speak, read and write Dwarfen and Goblin from her monk teacher and spent the little leisure time she had between training, farming and playing practicing weaving. The most important thing the monk thought to her was to seek her own ideals as a monk. Childish at heart, the lofty and highly philosophical elements that come with worshiping Gods would go right over her head. She simply could not see the hands of the Gods at work from the small town of Eveningstar. Justice, however, she could understand. She could see it a glance and felt it to her core when injustice was rife. It was the only thing that would cause the perpetually happy girl to express anger or negativity and she would zealously stop at nothing until she could right all wrongs. At the encouragement of her mentor and against the wishes of her parents, Neesa set out at the age of 17 to see justice in action!
She traveled around many of the townships and cities in Cormyr for a number of months. Her expected return to Eveningstar was delayed indefinitely due to her single mindedness in pursuit of Justice. Seeing the world outside her small farmstead for the first time, it became clear that the ideal was just that. True justice in action just didn't exist. Distracted by every act of unfairness and by the sad stories of all the downtrodden she crossed paths with, Neesa lost all track of time and season, and her journey entered its 3rd year. By righting every wrong she came across, big or small, whispers of a "Champion of Justice" started to spread through Cormyr, a mantle that Neesa relished thinking it would strike fear into the enemies of balance and goodness. Her zealousness is both her power and her folly as she has no sense of impulse control, of scale of threats or of time management. "A threat to Justice is unforgivable, no matter the size!". Spending too much time away from her homeland meant when word reached her of the attack on Eveningstar, she was too far from home to do anything.
Neesa can never remember a time when she cried as much as she did when she returned home to Eveningstar. She had rushed back after hearing of the King's march on the town but arrived many Tensdays (10 day weeks) after the chaos ended. Much of the town was burned to the ground as a reprisal and a warning to those who would question the rule of the Crown of Cormyr, even though the town was not rebellious. The shrine to Lathander was destroyed and Neesa's mentor killed in defense of the town. She did not return to a hero's welcome one would expect for a "Champion of Justice". Resentful of her absence and still raw from the recent destruction of their home and livelihood, the once tightly knit and inclusive community shunned the girl, and her parents disowned her. The community collectively laid the blame on the girl for not being there to help defend them believing she was off chasing wild fantasies and imagination when truthful she would only have been killed along with the many others. Neesa left the town once more, repressing the memories of her return deep down, returning to her role as the "Champion of Justice", but this time she would not just stick to the lands of Cormyr. "I'll bring Justice to the four corners of Faerun!" she proclaimed aloud.
Her aimless and unbridled pursuit of ideals continued anew. After a few months back on the trail she ended up in the metropolitan port city of Masember in south Cormyr. A chance encounter here would change her life for good. While out searching for leads on criminal activity she came across a mugging of a young lady out on the streets on her first night in town. After beating down the would be thieves and securing the safety of the lady she turned her attention to a drunken bystander collapsed against the wall of a pub on the street. The bystander, clad in armor and baring a shield with the symbol of Tyr on it, was Christoph Narle, a soon-to-be-fallen Paladin who was undergoing a crisis of faith. Admonishing the Half-Orc for willfully disregarding his Paladin's Oath to protect those in need and the ideal of Justice, she enforced her own punishment on him as his penance. Initially, the duo did not get along but her zealous persistence won the day in the end. Neesa tagged along uninvited as Christoph journeyed northwest back to Neverwinter from whence he came and harassed him continuously into his penance, not wanting to let a fellow Justice warrior to lose his faith. In less that a single season, the two had formed a bond thanks to Neesa's force of personality. Christoph's faith being restored, not to Tyr, but to the new embodiment of Justice, Neesa.
Together the duo travel across Faerun, righting wrongs as they pass from town to town on their way to Neverwinter on the Sword Coast. Christoph, now the first Paladin of Lanstriderism, is trying to spread the word of the new God and Champion of Justice, Neesa Lanstrider. A new Oath to Justice has been sworn by the Half-Orc. While Neesa doesn't believe herself that Gods walk among the people, the good the pair have accomplished is undeniable. Together they have established a balance between them, Christoph's rational and levelheadedness keeps the pair relatively on track and focused while Neesa inspires all they come into contact with, especially Christoph, to uphold and spread Justice across the land.
History
The Lost Mine of Phandelver (Campaign)
Neesa, along with her close companion Christoph, approached the town of Phandalin early on the morning of the 3rd day of this campaign. Having traveled West along the Triboar Trail for many days the duo had planned to stop in the town and rest up before finishing the final leg of their Journey to Neverwinter. Neesa, wondering around excessively and exuberantly, traveled many lengths ahead of her follower along the path. Seeing the encampment of the party (Ellaria Nightwood, Ravaaga Laughshield, Yamcha and Wobbly Killa), Neesa approached the camp oblivious to any danger or to any trouble her trespassing would cause. Before Ellaria knew it she was face-to-face with Neesa who, with a wide smile on her face, asked why the party was sleeping in a camp outside of town rather than at an inn. When questioned on her identity, Nessa proclaimed she is the "Champion of Justice" which put the party on alert to potential danger, The situation grew more tense as Christoph caught up to Neesa, approaching the camp ready to draw his weapon in defense of his friend. After a few moments of uncertainty, the tension is broken when Neesa signals to "Crissy" to stay back. After hearing of the Red Brands, who had forced the party out of town, Neesa is excited to be able to help them restore Justice by beating back the thugs, though the party seem more inclined to use the girl to mete out vengeance. The duo and the party agree to meet at the town entrance once the tear down the camp and seek out some Red Brands.
After meeting up again at the entrance to town, Neesa, Chris and their new companions head straight for the first gang of Red Brands they see on patrol. Co-incidentally the Red Brands they meet were the same as the day before who kicked the party out of town and are currently hassling a local street stall. After battle ensues, Neesa knocks out two of the thugs with her marshal arts skills while Christoph pulls one apart with a critical hit from his war-pick. Before being KO'd, one of the thugs receives a blast of acid to the face thrown by Ellaria. Meanwhile Wobbly and Yamcha together corner the lookout thug but are unable to stop him from escaping after his companions are felled. Once combat ceases, Christoph loots a bag of 9gp from the corpse and passes it to Ellaria as "reparations" as Neesa takes a coin purse for 10gp from another thug laid out on the ground. The duo and the party decide to part ways so Chris can take care of business in town. This business includes bringing his teachings of Lanstriderism to the town and discussing converting the local Shrine of Luck to its causes. While Christoph carried out his work, Neesa trespasses on the local orchard in order to play in the trees to pass the time. While here she makes the acquaintance of Daran Edermath. Once the party reunites with Christoph and Neesa they decide to leave the Red Brands to the party as Chris has pressing business in Neverwinter to accomplish. Neesa and Chris head to the Stonehill Inn to take lodgings for the day before leaving for Neverwinter the next morning.
As the main party head out to carry out quests given by local townsfolk, Neesa and Chris enjoy a meal at the Inn. As night falls, the peace is shattered by an attack on the Inn by Red Brands reprising their lost patrol from earlier in the day. The roof of the inn, being made of thatch, was set a blaze while smoke and flames filled the interior. With quick reactions and thinking, they were able to escort the civilians within to safety before the smoke engulfed the whole building. As Red Brands poured in along with a Bugbear in tow, the duo faced them down together. While the pair suffered minor injuries, they took out all 11 Red Brands and the Bugbear before part of the roof collapsed due to fire damage, crushing the thugs beneath them. By dawn's break, the Red Brands had holed themselves off in their hideout to recuperate as the townsfolk celebrated their heroes. Chris, having sustained damage to his gear from the intense heat and Neesa, suffering from a minor muscle strain in the ankle, are forced to stay additional days in Phandalin to recover and get repairs done. On the day before they can ready themselves to leave town once more, the main party return from their outing.
Neesa met with the party once more after they returned to the Stonehill Inn. She relayed the rumours she heard from the townsfolk in the days since the attack, including the murder of Thel Dendrar and that the Red Brands seem to avoid the Miner's Exchange and it's owner. She also informs them that Christoph has been investigating the Red Brands and will be meeting her at nightfall to assault the remaining thugs' stronghold and drive them out. While the party drink away the afternoon at the Inn, Neesa spends the afternoon mediating on the public green, refocusing her Ki for the upcoming fight. As night falls Neesa, now reunited with Christoph outside Tresendar Manor is approached by the party, ready to lay waste to the Red Brands for good. Together the six head down to the basement of the manor. Immediately upon entering the basement cellar, Christoph speaks up at his unease as to the dimensions of the room. "The underground rooms don't match up with the above layout" he tells the group, having thoroughly searched the grounds before. As the party search the cellar, Neesa waits by the northern door impatiently, knowing enough not to go through it alone. While pressing an ear to the door, Neesa is surprised by the sudden outburst of noise from the other side of the room, where two Red Brands have gotten the jump on Ravaaga after entering the room to the West. In the ambush, Ravaaga was tripped to the ground by Wobbly as she pushed past him, which left her prone when the Red Brands attacked. Severely injured, Ravaaga lay dying in on the floor in the next room. Neesa sprung into action but was unable to help out due to a formation jam and the thugs holding position in the doorway. Eventually the party managed lure the ruffians out of the doorway into the cellar where Yamcha and Neesa could take them down. Once combat was concluded, Neesa dashed to Ravaaga's aid but it was too late, Ravaaga had died.
The party took a few moments of mourning after the loss of Ravaaga. After the party collects itself and ventures forth through the North door, Neesa decided to stay behind with Christoph to investigate his hunch. Together they search the walls and floor for signs of secret passages or magical wards. Soon after Christoph finds an anomaly with the Western walls, focusing his efforts there. Shortly into their search, sounds of combat came crashing through the Northern door, including sounds of swords clashing and fireballs flying through the air. With a nod from Christoph, Neesa runs for the door and soon catches up with the party, who where combating Skeletons in a Crypt-like room. After updating the party with their searches progress, the party continue to head North through a doorway. Before following them, Neesa picks up on the sound of movement in the next room, pressing her ear up to the Eastern door. Definitely hearing the hushed sound of voices behind the door, she calls back the party who have found a secret door of their own in the hallway through the North door. As soon as the party return to the crypt room, Neesa bursts into the adjacent room. Within, the room is set up to function as a slave pen, with two cells at either side of the room. Also waiting inside are two alert Red Brands who spring their ambush as Neesa comes through the doorway. Narrowly managing to avoid the attacks, Neesa rolls forward as the thugs swing their short swords at neck height in an attempt to decapitate the unlucky intruder. Together with the help of Yamcha and Wobbly, Neesa helps put down the Red Brands once more. Turning to the occupied cells, the group free a family of Humans who have been held as captives of the Red Brands. The eldest of them reveal herself as being the Mirna Dendrar, wife of the murdered woodworker Thel, and her children Nilsa and Nars. Being concerned for the family and their safety if more ruffians should show up, Neesa volunteers to take them back to town immediately. Also in the pens is a young Half-Elf woman but as the party begins to speak to her, Neesa leaves with the Dendrars to escort them safely back to town.
Once back in town, the commotion Neesa caused in bringing back the missing family made returning to the raid on the Red Brands difficult. Neesa was held by the town leaders such as Harbin Wester and Sister Garaele as they questioned her on what was going on under Tresendar Manor. As per her manner, Neesa got completely lost in the story she was telling that before anyone knew, the raid had completed. Ruckus from the nearby farmhouse down the street broke up the convention as Neesa jumped to her feet sprinted to the scene, closely followed by the leaders. Hearing fumbling from with the house Neesa burst in through the door and unleashed a number of unarmed strikes against the first silhouette she saw. The people inside the house turned out to be the party still dressed in Red Brand cloaks along with the new additions of Gwendoline Wood and Droop. The unfortunate recipient of Neesa's barrage was Ellaria who was KO'd immediately. Having been calmed by Wobbly after he revealed they were only wearing disguises Neesa left the party to fill in the rest of the story of the raid to the leaders outside while she reunited with Christoph who was laying injured outside the back of the house. Together with her companion she returned to the Stonehill Inn for the night.
The following afternoon, the party met with Nessa and Christoph again at the Inn, their business in town now concluded. Neesa approached Ellaria to apologize for assaulting her the night before, which Ellaria took no umbrage at. Disappointed to see the duo leave, the townsfolk watch as the pair pack up and head for the path leading back to the Triboar Trail, Christoph marching with marshal discipline while Neesa ran wild while zig-zaging every which way.