Commander Aldric Venn-Sorn
The Commander
Saving Throws
- +8 Strength
- +2 Dexterity
- +8 Constitution
- +2 Intelligence
- +2 Wisdom
- +1 Charisma
Skills
- +2 Acrobatics (DEX)
- +2 Animal Handling (WIS)
- +2 Arcana (INT)
- +8 Athletics (STR)
- +1 Deception (CHA)
- +6 History (INT)
- +2 Insight (WIS)
- +5 Intimidation (CHA)
- +2 Investigation (INT)
- +2 Medicine (WIS)
- +2 Nature (INT)
- +6 Perception (WIS)
- +1 Performance (CHA)
- +1 Persuasion (CHA)
- +2 Religion (INT)
- +2 Sleight of Hand (DEX)
- +2 Stealth (DEX)
- +2 Survival (WIS)
Spellcasting
Cantrips
- Booming Blade
- Green-Flame Blade
Level 1 Spells
- Shield
- Absorb Elements
- Magic Missile
- Thunderwave
Level 2 Spells
- Misty Step
- Shatter
Features & Traits
Once per short rest, take one additional action.
Attack twice when taking the Attack action.
Once per long rest, reroll a failed saving throw.
After casting a cantrip, make one weapon attack as a bonus action.
Creatures hit by weapon attacks have disadvantage on saves against next spell cast this turn.
Cannot be disarmed of bonded weapons. Can summon bonded weapon as a bonus action.
Equipment
| Item | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Longsword | 1 | +1. Bonded weapon. Carried for twenty-two years. |
| Shield | 1 | Arcane focus. Blue Knight livery. Always present. |
| Plate Armor | 1 | Blue Knight formal armor. +1. |
| Cloak of Protection | 1 | +1 AC and saving throws. Attuned. |
Personality
Personality Traits
Holds two contradictory positions simultaneously without apparent difficulty, and does not volunteer which one he will act on until he acts.
Ideals
The Blue Knights exist to police what crosses the mountains. That mandate does not change because the empire that commissioned it no longer exists.
Bonds
The Order was here before the Weohstannuk Empire and it will be here after whatever comes next. My job is to ensure that this is true.
Flaws
He is better at managing institutions than people. He treats the people inside the institution as institutional components, and is occasionally surprised when they don't behave like ones.
Languages & Proficiencies
Backstory
Aldric Venn-Sorn has commanded the Blue Knights for eleven years, having risen through the Order entirely on merit in an organization that values little else. He is Weohstannuk-descended -- the name is a marker of that lineage, the double-barreled form indicating a family that traced its ancestry to the old empire's administrative class -- and he is aware that this heritage carries weight inside the Blue Vale's walls in ways that it does not carry weight anywhere else in the Settled Lands. He does not trade on it. He acknowledges it when relevant and leaves it alone otherwise.
He runs the Keep the way the Blue Knights were designed to be run: with methodical, theological seriousness about what the Order exists to do and with the practical competence of someone who has been doing it for thirty years. The inspection protocols are current. The garrison is functional. The arcane monitoring systems in the Vale approaches are maintained. The traders who pass through the Keep complain about the delays. The traders who have tried to move unsanctioned magic through the Vale and been caught complain considerably more.
He is aware that the Order is having an identity crisis. He is aware that there are internal factions developing positions on what the Blue Knights should become. He has not suppressed any of them, which is either strategic or philosophical depending on who is assessing him. His own position is the traditionalist one -- the mandate does not change because the institutional context has -- but he holds this position with the particular quality of someone who has genuinely considered the alternatives and reached a conclusion rather than someone who simply cannot imagine them.
He has met Archmage Vane twice in the past decade in contexts that were officially routine. The meetings ran long. Both men left looking like they had said less than they meant to.