SERA
"Where things break, she shows up."
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SERAPHINE VALE

"Where things break, she shows up."
Wood Elf Cleric · Life Domain
Level 7. Neutral Good
the bards haven't found them yet

The Character

Age 142
AC 18
HP 52
Speed 25 ft.
Ch. Div 3/rest
Prof +3
STR
0
-1
DEX
0
+2
CON
0
+2
INT
0
-1
WIS
0
+4
CHA
0
+1
Point Buy (27): STR 8 (0) + DEX 14 (7) + CON 14 (7) + INT 8 (0) + WIS 15 (9) + CHA 12 (4) = 27
WIS 18 = 15 base + 2 (Acolyte background) + 1 (ASI at level 4)
Armor Class
18
16 Chain Mail + 2 Shield. With Cloak: AC 19.
Primary Attack
Spiritual Weapon: +8 to hit (BA)
1d8+4 force
No concentration (2014 rules). Spirit Guardians (3d8 radiant, DC 16 WIS) running simultaneously.

Attacks & Actions

Mace
+2 to hit. 1d6-1 bludgeoning. She rarely needs it.
Sacred Flame
Cantrip. DC 16 DEX save or 2d8 radiant. No cover advantage. Ignores cover.
Spiritual Weapon
2nd level evocation. BA to attack: +8, 1d8+4 force. No concentration (2014 rules). Lasts 1 min.
Spirit Guardians
3rd level conjuration. 15ft radius. DC 16 WIS save or 3d8 radiant (half on save). Concentration, 10 min.

Spell Slots

1st 4
2nd 3
3rd 3
4th 1
Spell Save DC: 16 (8+3+4+1 Amulet) · Spell Attack: +8 (3+4+1 Amulet)

Key Spells

Cure Wounds
1st+ level abjuration. Touch. 2d8+4 (+3 Disciple of Life) = avg 16 HP per 1st-level slot. Scales with upcasting (2024).
Healing Word
1st+ level abjuration. BA, 60ft range. 2d4+4 (+3 Disciple). The combat revive. Gets allies up at range without losing your action (2024).
Bless
1st level enchantment. Concentration, 1 min. Up to 3 creatures add 1d4 to attacks and saves. The party multiplier.
Revivify
3rd level necromancy. Touch. Creature dead less than 1 min returns with 1 HP. 300gp diamond consumed. Domain spell, always prepared.
Beacon of Hope
3rd level abjuration. Concentration, 1 min. Chosen creatures have advantage on WIS and death saves. Healing spells restore maximum HP. Domain spell.
Death Ward
4th level abjuration. Touch, 8 hours, no concentration. First time target drops to 0 HP, drops to 1 HP instead. Domain spell, always prepared.
Shield of Faith
1st level abjuration. BA, 60ft. +2 AC for one creature. Concentration, 10 min.
Lesser Restoration
2nd level abjuration. Touch. Ends one disease or condition: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, poisoned. Domain spell.

Cantrips

Guidance
Touch. Target adds 1d4 to one ability check. Concentration, 1 min.
Sacred Flame
DC 16 DEX save or 2d8 radiant. 60ft range. No advantage from cover.
Spare the Dying
Touch. Stabilize a creature at 0 HP. No roll needed.
Light
Touch an object. It sheds bright light 20ft, dim light 20ft more. 1 hour.

Domain Spells (Always Prepared)

1st: Bless, Cure Wounds
The foundation. Buff the party, heal the wounded.
2nd: Lesser Restoration, Spiritual Weapon
Cleanse conditions. BA damage output without concentration.
3rd: Beacon of Hope, Revivify
Maximum healing. Death insurance.
4th: Death Ward, Guardian of Faith
Preemptive death prevention. Autonomous zone control.

Features & Traits

Disciple of Life
Healing spells restore extra HP: 2 + spell slot level. Cure Wounds at 1st level heals 2d8+4+3 = avg 16. At 3rd: 6d8+4+5 = avg 36 (2024).
Channel Divinity: Preserve Life
Action. Distribute 35 HP among creatures within 30ft. Each target can regain up to half their max HP. 3/rest (2024).
Blessed Healer
When she casts a healing spell on another creature, Sera regains 2 + spell level HP. Self-sustaining.
Blessed Strikes (Level 7)
Potent Spellcasting: add WIS modifier (+4) to damage dealt with Cleric cantrips. Sacred Flame becomes 2d8+4 (avg 13). 2024 PHB.
Darkvision (60ft)
Elf trait. Sees in dim light as bright, darkness as dim (greyscale). The shrine at dusk never troubled her.
Fey Ancestry
Advantage on saves vs. being charmed. Magic can't put her to sleep. Old forest blood.
Mask of the Wild
Can attempt to Hide when only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, or other natural phenomena. Wood Elf instinct.
Keen Senses
Proficiency in Perception. She notices the wound before the soldier mentions it.
Trance
4 hours of trance replaces 8 hours of sleep. Light meditation, not unconsciousness. Always half-listening.
Elven Lineage: Wood Elf
Druidcraft (cantrip). Longstrider (1/long rest, level 3+). Pass Without Trace (1/long rest, level 5+). Spellcasting ability: WIS. 2024 PHB.

Magic Items 7/7

Sera's hands clasped in prayer with holy amulet glowing
Amulet of the Devout +1 (Uncommon, 2pts, attune)
Holy symbol worn at her throat. +1 to spell attack rolls and spell save DC. Once per long rest, can use Channel Divinity without expending a use.
Periapt of Wound Closure (Uncommon, 2pts, attune)
A small stone pendant, warm to the touch. Stabilizes at 0 HP automatically. When rolling HD to regain HP, double the number restored. The healer's failsafe.
Cloak of Protection (Uncommon, 2pts, attune)
Forest-green traveling cloak, worn and well-mended. +1 AC, +1 all saving throws. The shrine elders gave it to her the day she left. Note: AC with cloak = 19.
Potion of Healing (Common, 1pt)
2d4+2 HP. Stoppered in a clay vial wrapped in linen. She keeps it for someone else.
Attunement: 3/3 (Amulet + Periapt + Cloak) · AC with Cloak: 19 (Chain Mail 16 + Shield 2 + Cloak 1)

Disadvantages

Mechanical

STR 8, INT 8
Cannot force doors, cannot grapple, no useful Arcana or Investigation. She solves problems with faith and presence, not muscle or books.
Concentration Fragile
Spirit Guardians, Bless, Shield of Faith: all concentration. One hit and she's rolling CON saves. Losing concentration at the wrong moment can collapse the party's defenses.
No Ranged Damage
Sacred Flame is a save-based cantrip. No attack roll cantrip, no ranged weapon proficiency worth using. High-DEX enemies shrug off her primary offense.
Slot Hungry
Healing, Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Revivify: they all cost slots. Four 1st, three 2nd, three 3rd, one 4th. In a long dungeon, the math gets tight.

Backstory-Driven

The List
She carries names of people she has saved. Not a trophy; an obligation. When someone on the list asks for help, she cannot refuse. Exploitable by anyone who learns about it.
The Cult
A fatalist cult sees her healing as interference with the natural order. They are hunting her. They will not negotiate. This is a recurring threat, not background flavor.
Triage Morality
She chooses who to save. This sounds practical until the party disagrees with her assessment. "I did not say I would save everyone. I said I would save who I could."
Quiet Suspicion
She wonders if some of the people she has saved should not have been saved. This doubt is private, corrosive, and will surface at the worst possible moment.

Origin

Sera kneeling beside a wounded traveler, hands glowing with golden healing light
Listen to narration by a beat poet

She was raised in a quiet forest shrine. Where healing was treated as both duty and art.

She never sought adventure. It kept finding injured people, and dragging them to her doorstep. Griselda with the broken leg. Tommin, the boy who swallowed river water and stopped breathing. A soldier whose name she never learned, carried to the shrine steps by two friends who left before dawn.

She healed them all. Wrote their names in a leather journal she keeps in her pack. She does not forget a single one.

Eventually, she realized the pattern. If she stayed still, the wounded would keep coming. If she moved, she might reach them first.

Now she travels. Not as a warrior. As a corrective force. Where things break, she shows up. Where people fall, she decides whether they get back up.

She carries a list. Names she owes survival to. Names of everyone she has healed, and a few she chose not to. The list is not for sentiment. It is for accounting.

There is a cult that watches her. They call themselves the Loom. They believe healing disrupts the natural order of fate. That every life she saves is a thread pulled from the weave. They have sent messages. They have sent people. She has healed some of them too. That made them angrier.

Hidden Connections

The Shrine
A small forest shrine to a minor god of mending. Stone altar, moss garden, wildflowers. The only home she has known. She left it intact, tended by no one. She does not know if the god noticed her departure or if it mattered.
The List
Folded parchment. Every name she has saved. Not gratitude; obligation. If someone on the list calls, she answers. The list is growing. She is not sure that is a good thing.
The Cult of the Final Thread
Fatalists who believe death is sacred and healing is blasphemy. They have been tracking Sera since she left the shrine. They send warnings first, then blades. Their theology is internally consistent, which makes them dangerous. They are not insane. They are sincere.
The Soldier
The first stranger who found her shrine. Two miles through undergrowth with an arrow in his lung. She saved him over three days. He never told her his name. Left a coin on the altar. The coin is still in her pack. She checks for it every morning.
The Thundertree Rift
Some of the wounded who found Sera's shrine were refugees from Thundertree, displaced by a wild magic surge that tore open a Shadowfell rift. They carried more than injuries. The Cult of the Final Thread is drawn to rift energy the same way Sera is drawn to the wounded. They are not following her. They are following the same signal.

Play Guide

Speech Patterns

Soft and measured
Never raises her voice. The quieter she speaks, the more serious the situation. If she whispers, someone is dying.
Clinical when healing
"Hold still. Breathe. Not like that. Slower." No bedside manner. Pure function.
Short declarative answers
"Yes." "No." "That will kill you." Does not elaborate unless asked twice.
Avoids absolutes
"I can try." Never "I will save you." She has learned what promises cost.
Names people formally
Full names, titles. "Master Thornwall." Not "hey, you." Respect as default, warmth as exception.

Physical Mannerisms

Checks hands often
Flexes fingers, examines them. Her hands are her instruments. She protects them.
Touches her amulet
When thinking, when anxious, when about to cast. The gesture is unconscious.
Stands near the wounded
In any room, gravitates toward whoever looks worst. Not hovering. Positioning.
Still under pressure
When combat starts, she goes very still for one breath. Then she moves with purpose. No wasted motion.
Eats alone, quickly
Not antisocial. Efficient. She was the only person at the shrine. Old habits.
When someone thanks her for saving them:
"Don't thank me. Stay alive."
When asked why she left the shrine:
"The wounded kept finding me. I decided to meet them halfway."
When someone says not everyone can be saved:
"I know. That is why I choose carefully."
After a party member nearly dies:
"Your name is on the list now."

The Healer Under the Armor

Triage instinct
Assesses the room before anyone else speaks. Worst wound first. Not cruel; efficient. If two people are dying, she picks the one she can actually save.
Does not explain herself
Acts, then waits for the result. If someone asks why she prioritized one person over another, she says nothing or changes the subject.
Protective of children
The only situation where she drops the clinical tone. If a child is hurt, the warmth surfaces. Briefly.
Uncomfortable with gratitude
Does not know what to do with thanks. Nods. Moves on. If pressed, deflects: "The prayer did the work."
Sleeps lightly
Trance, not sleep (elf). Four hours, and she spends part of it reviewing the list in her mind. Checking the math.

Situational Reactions

Someone is wounded
Already moving. Chain mail clinking. Hands out before she is asked. "How long ago."
Someone is dying
Calm. Unsettlingly calm. Voice drops. Hands glow. "Look at me. Breathe."
The cult appears
Shield up. Face neutral. She has expected them. "Not today."
In a temple
Respectful but unimpressed. Her faith is private, practical, and not performed for an audience.
Asked about the list
Touches her pack. Looks away. "It is a personal matter." Will not show it willingly.

Introductions

Standard
"Sera. I am a healer." Direct, warm, no embellishment. If someone is injured, the introduction happens while her hands are already working.
To authority
"Sera Vael, cleric of a minor healing shrine in the old growth. I am here because someone needed mending." Formal, precise, no deference beyond what is earned.
If asked about her god
"A small god. One that mends. You would not have heard the name." Touches her amulet. The conversation moves on.
Deep in the old growth. Where the canopy swallows the sky.
The Shrine
Stone altar, moss, wildflowers · A minor god of mending · The only home she has known
"Where things break, she shows up."
Raised in silence. Trained in mending. Named by a god no one remembers.
She carries a list of the living and adds to it daily.
When she kneels, the light comes. When she stands, someone breathes.
Sera standing at the edge of a forest at dawn

References

Player's Handbook (2024)
p.64-71: Cleric class, Life Domain
Player's Handbook (2024)
p.186: Wood Elf race
Player's Handbook (2024)
p.176: Acolyte background
Dungeon Master's Guide
p.151: Amulet of the Devout, Periapt of Wound Closure