Auntie 'Brambles' Thistlecott — The Mercenary Matriarch

Ability Scores

STR

8

-1

DEX

14

+2

CON

16

+3

INT

20

+5

WIS

14

+2

CHA

12

+1

Combat

Armor Class: 15; Mage Armor + Dexterity
Hit Points: 79; Hit Dice: 11d6
Initiative: +2
Speed: 25 ft.
Proficiency: +4
Passive Perception: 12

Attacks

The Aegis Pin (Melee)+31d4-1 bludgeoning

Fire Bolt (Cantrip)+93d10 fire

Personality

She hums folk tunes while weaving high-level abjuration magic and habitually wipes 'smudges' off the armor of her companions. She addresses everyone—from street urchins to lich-lords—as 'dearie' or 'lamb,' using a tone of voice that implies she is only moderately impressed by their posturing.

Ideal

Hospitality. 'No one goes hungry, and no one dies on an empty stomach under my roof—even if that roof is a magical dome in a dragon's lair.'

Bond

The Iron Rose Mercenaries. She still carries their tattered company ribbon tied around her Aegis Pin.

Flaw

She treats high-stakes combat with such domestic casualty that she sometimes forgets her 'grand-adventurers' are actually in mortal peril.

Backstory

For forty winters, Brambles was the heartbeat of the Iron Rose Mercenaries. While the knights polished their plate and the scouts sharpened their daggers, she was the one who turned a stringy rabbit and a handful of wild onions into a feast that could make a dying man want to live another day. She didn't find her spellbook in a dusty library; she claimed it from a charred warmage in the aftermath of the Battle of Red Sunder, trading the dead man's family a proper burial and three weeks of rations for his 'book of recipes.' To Brambles, the complex geometry of a Wall of Force is no different from the structural integrity of a wedding cake, and she mastered the art of abjuration by thinking of it as 'keeping the drafts out.'

Her legendary status was sealed during the Siege of Blackiron, where she held a crumbling breach with nothing but a rolling pin and a series of perfectly timed Shield spells while the company's wounded were evacuated. She didn't flinch as the enemy’s iron golems hammered against her arcane barriers; she simply checked the internal temperature of her mutton roast and told the golems they were 'making a dreadful mess of the upholstery.' Now, she travels the world as a freelance 'auntie' to fledgling adventuring parties, convinced that most ancient evils just need a firm talking-to, a bowl of hot stew, and a very sturdy Counterspell.

Abilities & Actions

The Aegis Pin (Signature Item)

While holding this silver, rolling-pin-shaped arcane focus, Brambles can cast the Shield spell without consuming a spell slot a number of times equal to her Intelligence modifier (5) per long rest. When she casts Shield in this way, the AC bonus also applies to any creature within 5 feet of her.

Mind Your Manners (Improved Abjuration)

When Brambles casts an abjuration spell that requires her to make an ability check as a part of casting that spell (like Counterspell or Dispel Magic), she adds her proficiency bonus (+4) to that check. When she successfully counters a spell, she winks at the nearest ally, granting them 1d10 temporary hit points as she 'cleans up the mess.'

Stay Behind Me, Lambs (Projected Ward)

Brambles has an Arcane Ward with 27 hit points. When a creature she can see within 30 feet of her takes damage, she can use her reaction to cause her Arcane Ward to absorb that damage. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, the target creature takes any remaining damage.

A Dash of Salt (Arcane Ward)

Whenever Brambles casts an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, her Arcane Ward regains hit points equal to twice the level of the spell. She treats the shimmering energy of the ward as if it were a physical barrier she is constantly 'dusting' or 'polishing' with her hands.

DM Notes

Brambles should be played with the absolute confidence of a woman who has raised a hundred rowdy soldiers. She is never intimidated. Sample Dialogue: 'Now, now, Mr. Death-Knight, that's enough of that smoky business. You're getting soot all over the rogue's nice new cloak!' She reacts to massive explosions with a simple 'tsk-tsk' and a shake of her head. If a player rolls a Nat 20, she rewards them with a cookie she was keeping in her apron pocket. Her deal-breaker is anyone who wastes food or treats their 'family' (the party) with cruelty.