#0306

Captain Barnaby Star-Sighter

"Beak-Eye, Sentinel of the Thinning Veil"

Owlin Paladin (Oath of the Watchers) LN Lvl 9 Sailor (Pirate)

Male, he/him · Elderly, approximately 67 years

Ability Scores

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Combat

Armor Class: 18; Plate armor
Hit Points: 81; Hit Dice: 9d10
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
Proficiency: +4
Passive Perception: 18

Attacks

Longsword +1 (Wavebreaker)+81d8+4 slashing (or 1d10+4 versatile) + 2d8 radiant (Barnacle Smite)

Javelin+71d6+3 piercing

Personality

Clicks his beak when thinking, a rapid *tik-tik-tik* like a ship's rigging in wind. Speaks in nautical metaphors even when describing planar mechanics ('The Abyss is running a lee shore through the Ethereal, aye'). Never raises his voice—his warnings come in the same flat, weathered tone whether he's discussing breakfast or an imminent demonic incursion. Smells perpetually of sea salt, old parchment, and the faint ozone tang of disturbed magic. When he's truly worried, he goes utterly still, golden eyes unblinking for minutes at a time.

Ideal

Vigilance. The world is a ship, and every soul aboard depends on someone watching the horizon. I will not look away. (Lawful)

Bond

The iron sextant he used to measure the Far Realm's approach—the only object that survived the *Gull's Folly*. It now points not to stars but to planar instabilities, and he would burn down a city to retrieve it if lost.

Flaw

Treats people like hull planks—necessary, replaceable, and only valuable if they don't crack under pressure. He will sacrifice allies without hesitation if it means 'plugging a leak,' and his pragmatism has left him with more ghosts than friends.

Backstory

Most pirates chase coin. Barnaby chased cracks in the world. He learned young that the ocean's horizon wasn't just distance—it was a seam, a place where the Material Plane grew gossamer-thin and treasures from stranger shores tumbled through like driftwood. For forty years, he captained the *Gull's Folly*, not plundering merchant vessels but harvesting the flotsam of the Feywild and Shadowfell—silken ropes that hummed lullabies, compasses that pointed to yesterday, coins minted in cities that hadn't been built yet. His crew thought him eccentric but profitable. Then came the night the Far Realm 'leaked.'

It wasn't a portal. It was a yawn. Reality unzipped like old sailcloth, and something that had too many angles and not enough dimensions swallowed the *Gull's Folly* whole. Barnaby survived only because he'd been in the crow's nest with his sextant, measuring the wrongness, and the thing hadn't noticed him—or had decided he was too small to digest. He clung to a plank of un-wood that tasted of colors for three days before washing ashore. His crew, his ship, forty years of collected wonders—gone. He doesn't speak of what he saw in those three days. His feathers went grey overnight.

Now Barnaby views the entire world as a ship taking on water from a thousand unseen leaks. He swore his Oath to the Watchers not in a temple but on a beach, kneeling in the surf, his sextant clutched like a holy symbol. He patrols coastlines, investigates planar disturbances, and 'plugs the leaks' with the same grim efficiency he once used to patch hull breaches. He treats extraplanar incursions like barnacles—scrape them off before they spread. His devotion is absolute. His methods are terrifying. And he has never, not once, failed to notice when reality starts to fray.

Abilities & Actions

Horizon Watcher's Sight (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest)

As an action, Barnaby flips down his brass lens apparatus and peers through his iron sextant, which he holds toward a point he can see within 120 feet. For 1 minute, he can see invisible creatures and objects within that range, automatically detect illusions (learning they are illusions), and perceive shimmers indicating portals, planar rifts, or extraplanar creatures as if under the effects of *detect magic* (no concentration required). While using this ability, he has advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed by aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends. The lens apparatus clicks softly as it adjusts, tracking movement with unnerving precision.

Seal the Breach (3/Day)

When Barnaby hits a creature from another plane of existence (aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend) with a melee weapon attack, he can expend one use of this ability to channel his oath's power. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be banished to its home plane (as the *banishment* spell, no concentration required) for 1 minute. If the creature is native to a plane other than the Material Plane and fails the save, it cannot return by any means short of a *wish* spell for 24 hours after the effect ends. Barnaby's weapon glows with cold silver light during the strike, and the air smells briefly of deep ocean and ozone.

Tide of Iron Resolve (Recharges on a Long Rest)

When Barnaby or an ally within 30 feet he can see fails a saving throw against being charmed, frightened, or possessed, he can use his reaction to let out a sharp, echoing *click* that sounds like a ship's hull settling. The triggering creature can immediately reroll the saving throw with advantage, adding Barnaby's Charisma modifier (+2) to the result. If the save succeeds, the creature is immune to that specific effect for 24 hours. Barnaby's eyes flash gold as he delivers this boon, and for a moment, those nearby feel anchored, as if gravity itself has steadied them.

Barnacle Smite (At Will, Part of Attack)

When Barnaby hits a creature with a melee weapon attack, he can cause the strike to erupt with spectral barnacles—crusty, salt-white growths that cling and scrape. The attack deals an extra 2d8 radiant damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn as the barnacles weigh it down and dig into its form. Against aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends, the speed reduction increases to 20 feet. The barnacles dissolve into sea-foam mist after the effect ends.

Navigator's Instinct (Passive)

Barnaby cannot be surprised while conscious. He has advantage on initiative rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks to notice planar disturbances, invisible creatures, or illusions. Additionally, he can always accurately determine true north and the current hour by glancing at the sky, even through cloud cover or magical darkness, as long as he is on the Material Plane.

DM Notes

Barnaby's voice is a dry rasp, like wind through old rope. Sample dialogue: *'Aye, I've seen that shimmer before. Feywild's pressing through, like bilge rising through the deck. We've got maybe an hour before something slips into our hold. Best get to work.'* // *'You want to negotiate with it? Lad, you don't negotiate with a hole in the hull. You patch it, or you drown.'* // When pleased (rare): *'Good work. Ship's still afloat. Tik-tik-tik.'*

Signature gesture: Holds his sextant up to one eye, peers through it at people as if measuring their 'dimensional integrity,' then clicks his beak thoughtfully. When he does this to a PC, they should feel assessed and vaguely unsettled.

Reaction patterns: If someone questions his methods, he doesn't argue—he just waits for reality to prove him right, then continues without gloating. If a planar incursion occurs, his entire demeanor shifts to grim, mechanical efficiency; he becomes a figure of absolute, unyielding purpose. If someone mentions the *Gull's Folly* or asks about his crew, he goes silent, unblinking, for exactly ten seconds, then changes the subject with brutal finality.

Deal-breaker: If a PC knowingly opens a portal or summons an extraplanar entity without his explicit approval, Barnaby will view them as a 'leak' to be plugged. He won't attack immediately, but trust is irrevocably broken, and he will work to neutralize the threat they represent—coldly, methodically, and without hesitation.

His ship-maintenance metaphors are endless and somehow always apt. Use them liberally.