#ovinnik

[chanterelle-charlie]

A couple characters I've been doodling this week!

They're apprentices of an archmage who are more or less adopted siblings. (And their teacher's familiar who also serves as their chaperone, a (maybe evil?) cat-ghost-monster-thing.)

[brenna-ivy]

Last October I played the character Ovinnik at the Victorian fae gathering LARP A Harvest Dance. 

Ovinnik is a fiery cat demon from Slavic mythology. They were very vain, very food-motivated, easily offended, and they would burn anyone who looked at them the wrong way. A true cat! Their alliances changed by the minute, depending on what was most convenient for them. I usually don't go for the super physical characters, but I've had so much fun running around with this chaotic babe and burning my fellow fae. "It's nothing personal. Someone just paid me with sweets."

I’ve had a great time at the Larp and I’ve never felt more confident in a costume! The costume was completely designed by me and created by me and my mom. The inspiration was ash and smoldering embers.

A Harvest Dance is a LARP by Poltergeist LARP

The pictures were taken by It’s Tsesi 

My Harvest Dance character from last year

Original costume design under the cut:

[dailycharacteroption]

Butterfly Blade (Slayer Archetype)

 Normally when one thinks of slayers, they do not think of official business, except perhaps in the most evil places. However, the Butterfly Blades of Goka, a group of deadly enforcers under the employ of the city-state’s Empress, using them as a deadly form of justice and intimidation in the volatile and contentious political environment of the city.

The Butterfly Blades are named for the butterfly swords, short swords designed to fit together in a single scabbard for easy concealment, that they favor in their work. These swords have sharpened edges from the middle to the tip of the blade, but are dull between the middle and the crossguard, allowing a skilled wielder to choose when to deal lethal and nonlethal attacks by adjusting the reach of their swings by inches.

This versatility and concealability makes these weapons extremely useful to the Blades for not only executions, but also more nonlethal activities such as apprehending criminals or intimidating conniving nobles, not to mention infiltrating the clandestine conspiracies of said nobility.

While the bonus feats of the archetype point them towards politics, their abilities make this archetype quite useful outside of the setting as a slayer that dual-wields such a signature weapon.

 Less trackers than they are sneaks and hunters from the shadows, these slayers are much more adept as stealth and disguise from an earlier point in their training.

Furthermore, rather than pick various slayer talents, they can instead to learn various methods to enhance their ability to intimidate foes into compliance in social situations.

Exceptionally skilled with butterfly swords, these agents can effectively use their nonlethal edges of their blades without any reduction in skill, as well as improve their ability to strike and wound with the weapons. They even master the art of swiftly knocking out foes.

These agents may choose to appear supernaturally nondescript and unimportant when it suits them, allowing them to witness and creep up on their marks in public places with relative ease, even while their weapons are drawn.

The more powerful members of this order truly master their blades, moving their butterfly swords with inhuman speed and precision, striking more quickly and often, and confirming lethal blows.

This archetype may drop the sneak attack, but it remains a lethal combatant that can also excel in social situations, or at least the ones where you don’t have to act nice. I recommend a combination intimidation build with more direct combat feats and talents since you’re not going to be trying for sneak attacks all the time, not to mention following the two-weapon fighting path to its natural end.

 The Butterfly Blades work best in a volatile and brutal political environment, where various nobles and power players have their own agents and assassins, so having lethal agents is just fair game. Having an iconic weapon also makes them instantly recognizable, increasing their intimidation factor.

  Though they do not strike without reason, the King’s Blades are feared by all in the kingdom for their sinister reputation. All the more shocking then, when the shadowy assassins appear directly before the party with an invitation. The choice lies between accepting the mysterious invite or being shunned by the whole city who are afraid to associate with anyone who has the Blade’s attention.

 Pale as a ghost and knowing much more than she should, many believe that Ilsha, leader of the Bravad Enforcers, is some kind of supernatural being, and they are half-right, for she is a mutant human blessed with psychic power to complement her sword prowess, one of the munavri.

 A pair of bloodstained butterfly swords is found in a barn amid a pool of blood, leading to the mystery of why someone from the infamous order of assassins named for those blades was so far north. The only witness to the crime was an ovinnik, a cat-like house spirit, but getting the spirit to appear will take some doing.

[artmadebysana]

Day 1: Moon

Ovinnik is fire-setting creature that appears commonly as a black cat with angry eyes. They are often around barns and granaries, waiting to burn it, if offended. On New Year's Eve people would approach the Ovinnik to ask for their fortune in the next year.

[crazymiraclecat]

Slavic mythology aestheyic - Ovinnik cat God protector of corb

[lpbestiary]

In Slavic folklore, the Ovinnik is a malevolent spirit of the threshing house. It is typically depicted as a black cat which barks like a dog.

The Ovinnik is said to be fond of burning down threshing houses. It can be placated with offerings of chickens and blini. The touch of an Ovinnik on New Year's Eve is said to determine a person's fortune for the upcoming year, with a warm touch promising prosperity and a cold touch fortelling misfortune.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Suggest a spook.

[meurglyslll]

Ivan Bilibin, Ovinnik ()

Date: 1934

The Ovinnik is a malevolent spirit of the threshing house in Slavic folklore. He is prone to burning down the threshing houses by setting fire to the grain. To placate him, peasants would offer him roosters and bliny. On New Year's Eve, the touch of an Ovinnik would determine their fortune for the New Year. A warm touch meant good luck and fortune, while a cold touch meant unhappiness.

[dailycharacteroption]

Pact Wizard (Wizard Archetype; Haunted Heroes)

Sharing the same themes as its namesake yesterday, today’s version of the pact wizard does indeed also draw upon otherworldly influence to gain great power, but instead of being focuses on conjuration and specific species of outsider, today we’re looking at a wizard that instead invites powerful patrons, many of which are similar to those bonded with witches, not only for knowledge but even letting them manifest partially through them.

Such a drastically different pact takes a toll on their minds and bodies, but whether such power is worth it depends on the wizard.

With a powerful spirit manifesting through them, these wizards are truly never alone, calling upon them for aid, but also enjoying (or perhaps putting up with) their company, though how talkative their patron is may vary quite a lot.

Most, however, consider this path to power to be even more risky than others. After all, the caster must not only find a spirit willing to bond with them, but also trust (or be desperate enough) to let them in. When it is successful, however, it is a terrifyingly powerful combination.

 Thanks to the mental ally in their head, these mages can memorize their spells in record time.

Additionally, their patron grants them additional spell knowledge for their book similar to those granted to witches, and they can even spontaneously convert other prepared spells into these patron spells, with the exception of the spell slots granted by their school.

Over time, however, the presence of the patron spirit within and around their bodies begins to take its toll, but not without added benefits. They develop a harmful affliction that slowly begins to manifest natural or supernatural workarounds, similar to an oracle, though developing much slower. They also gain the ability to call upon their patron to bolster their spells and their bodies and minds, later blending their own intellect into the exchange. They also can add metamagical power to spells more efficiently, reducing the required power increase. The most powerful, however, are able to bolster themselves so much with their patron that particularly impressive demonstrations of guile automatically succeed.

A wizard archetype that prepares spells faster, can reroll various casting-related rolls, and even get more use out of metamagic by reducint spell slot level increase, all in exchange for taking an oracle curse that progresses much more slowly, never gaining the full benefits? This archetype is the very picture of dangerous pacts and rewards. You’ll be great at various wizarding things, but have difficulties due to the curse, which can range from limited mobility to difficulty speaking and any other oracle curse out there. Carefully consider how the choice of curse and patron will affect your build, and try to have fun with it!

 Given how the art for this archetype looks, and the nature of their abilities, the patron of these wizards seems more “present” than most witches, almost like the spirits of shamans. With that in mind, one could flavor the patron as being an invisible presence that often acts as the guiding hand and conduit for the wizard’s spells, such as manifesting a floating eye for a divination spell, aiding their gestures when gathering and casting a fireball, or perhaps reaching out and grabbing things as a conduit for a telekinetic spell, and so on. Such wizards might almost resemble spiritualists. That being said, others might be flavored as the patron merely being a voice in their head, whispering the secrets of magic.

As one might expect, knowledgeable folk often have mixed feelings about these practitioners, as those biased against witchcraft might view such magic as wicked, while others might merely be unnerved by the intimate relationship they have with a voice no one else can hear.

  Sacrificing most of her vision, Ekri Valenhorp sought sight of a different sort, making a pact with The Unlidded Eye, a cosmic being that promises power over prophecy and divination. Even when performing more mundane forms of divination, she proves to be an uncanny master of prognostication, but many religious groups suspect the truth behind her oracular power.

 As an Ajibachana dhampir, many suspect Gempern of being able to steal bodies like their vetala ancestors. While still cautious of zealous vampire hunters, they revel in that misconception, and claim that, with the help of their “soul” which they claim is too big to fit in their own body, they can bend even magically resistant targets to their will with their enchantments and possession. They don’t bother mentioning that this oversized soul is actually their patron.

 Sellin the farm boy was perfectly ordinary, though his intelligence was wasted on farm work. However, one day, the ovinnik house spirit that guarded the barn came before him, claiming that someone wanted to speak with him in the woods. Endlessly curious, the lad followed, and discovered something he will not speak of, returning with a book of magic and the skill to cast from it.