Mara Venn
Mara Venn
Sheet
AC 16 · HP 53 · 40 ft., climb 40 ft., swim 40 ft.Saving throws
Skills
- ArcanaINT
- HistoryINT
- InsightWIS
- PerceptionDEX
- StealthDEX
- SurvivalWIS
Armor
Weapons
Tools
Languages
Features
18 featuresAlways on
- Hunter's Mark
When When she identifies the most dangerous target.
She marks a quarry with lethal precision, then circles to exploit weak points while keeping allies clear of danger.
- Extra AttackLevel 5
When When she takes the Attack action.
She looses a second shot in the same heartbeat, cutting down one foe and threatening another in the same turn.
- Hunter's Lore
When While a creature is affected by her Hunter's Mark.
She reads the battlefield like a page of annotations, naming a monster’s known strengths and weaknesses once it is marked.
- SpellcastingLevel 1
You can cast ranger spells. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability. You prepare 6 ranger spells of level 1 or 2, and you always have Hunter’s Mark prepared. You also have 4 level 1 spell slots and 2 level 2 spell slots.
- Favored EnemyLevel 1
You always have Hunter’s Mark prepared. You can cast it twice without expending a spell slot, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
- Weapon MasteryLevel 1
You can use the mastery properties of two weapons you are proficient with. Your chosen weapon masteries are Longbow and Shortsword.
- Deft ExplorerLevel 2
Choose one of your skill proficiencies with which you lack Expertise. You gain Expertise in that skill. You also know two languages of your choice. Expertise chosen: Survival. Languages chosen: Elvish and Sylvan.
- Fighting StyleLevel 2
You gain a Fighting Style feat of your choice. Chosen feat: Archery. You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with Ranged weapons.
- HunterLevel 3
Choose a Ranger subclass. Hunter’s Lore lets you know a creature’s immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities while it is marked by your Hunter’s Mark.
- Hunter’s Prey, Colossus SlayerLevel 3
When you hit a creature with a weapon, that weapon deals an extra 1d8 damage if the target is missing any of its Hit Points. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.
- Ability Score ImprovementLevel 4
Increase one ability score by 2, or two ability scores by 1 each. Chosen increase: DEX +2.
- RovingLevel 6
Your Speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing Heavy armor. You also have a Climb Speed and a Swim Speed equal to your Speed.
- TraitHumanResourceful, gain Heroic Inspiration whenever you finish a Long Rest.
- TraitHumanSkillful, gain proficiency in one skill of your choice. Chosen skill: Insight.
- Versatile, gain an Origin feat of your choiceHumanChosen feat: Magic Initiate (Wizard).
- SizeHumanMedium or Small, chosen when you select this species. Chosen size: Medium.
- SpeedHuman30 feet.
- NoneSage
In the 2024 rules, this background grants no separate feature beyond its feat, proficiencies, ability score options, and equipment.
Spells
10 spellsSpellcasting. Mara Venn casts with Wisdom (spell save DC 14, to hit with spell attacks).
Cantrips (at will): ,
1st level (4 slots): , , , , , , ,
2nd level (2 slots): no spells
Gear
14 itemsWeapons
- ScimitarA versatile blade for close work.
- ShortswordA backup blade for cramped spaces.
- LongbowA long-range hunting bow.
- QuarterstaffA quarterstaff kept from her days of library service.
Armor
- Studded Leather ArmorLight armor providing good protection without slowing her down.
Tools
- Calligrapher's SuppliesHeritage of careful notes and copied citations.
Gear
- 20×ArrowsAmmunition for the longbow.
- QuiverContainer for arrows.
- Druidic FocusA sprig of mistletoe used as a spellcasting focus.
- Explorer's PackA pack for wilderness travel.
- Book (history)A history book filled with her own annotations and margin notes.
- 8×ParchmentLoose parchment for field notes and sketches.
- RobeA plain robe for study, travel, or disguising mud at a monastery door.
Purse
- 8×Gold PiecesCoin kept for emergencies and bribes for archivists.
Appearance
A lean human woman with weathered olive skin, alert hazel eyes, and dark hair usually bound in a practical braid threaded with bits of twine and leaf charms. She favors a well-kept studded leather jerkin beneath a sage-colored robe, with a longbow over one shoulder and a satchel crowded with notes, maps, quills, and pressed plant samples. Her hands are callused from both bowstring and bookbinding, and she carries herself like someone who has spent years moving quietly through libraries and forest paths alike.
Mannerisms
When thinking, she taps two fingers against the spine of a book or the shaft of her bow, as if checking the balance of an idea. Before entering a room, she instinctively scans exits, windows, and ceiling beams. She speaks softly when discussing animals, ruins, and old texts, but her voice sharpens immediately if someone mocks a village elder or dismisses a field note.
Personality
Patient, observant, and quietly brave. Mara prefers careful planning to reckless heroics, but once she sees someone being mistreated, her restraint vanishes. She is courteous in libraries, practical in the wild, and unexpectedly dry-witted when other people assume she is timid. She measures people by what they protect, not by what they claim to know.
Ideals
Stewardship. Knowledge should protect people, not merely flatter the clever. If truth is worth keeping, it is worth using in defense of the vulnerable.
Bonds
She carries the last annotated copy of her mentor’s unfinished atlas, and she will risk herself to keep its pages safe. She also feels responsible for the border hamlets that once fed her and sheltered her, and she answers their calls whenever she can.
Flaws
She trusts written records too easily, even when her instincts tell her the author was careless, biased, or lying. When she is excited by a mystery, she can become so focused on solving it that she forgets to ask whether the answer will hurt someone she cares about. She also has a habit of correcting people mid-sentence, especially when they misuse a name, date, or species fact.
Quirks
Background
Mara Venn was not born in a tower or temple, but she spent enough of her childhood in them to make the distinction feel academic. As a girl, she wandered from manor to monastery with her mother’s letters, sweeping floors, mending bindings, and carrying trays in exchange for hours in the stacks. Books were her first wilderness, full of hidden paths, dangerous names, and old powers waiting to be understood. She learned early that knowledge was not a trophy to admire, but a tool to preserve what would otherwise be lost. By the time she was old enough to shoot straight, she had already decided that scholarship meant little if it could not keep people alive. That conviction carried her out of the libraries and into the wild, where she found that the same patience needed to track a missing manuscript also served her well when tracking wolves, raiders, and things far stranger. Mara now travels as a ranger who treats every ruin like a riddle and every beast like a text that can be read if you are disciplined enough. She still returns to archives when she can, trading field notes for access to restricted shelves, and she has become known among nervous villagers as the woman who can identify a monster by its footprint and quote the relevant page from a forgotten bestiary. She believes the world deserves defenders who can think as well as they fight, and she is determined to be exactly that kind of guardian.
“Books were her first wilderness, full of hidden paths, dangerous names, and old powers waiting to be understood.”
- Background
- Sage
Connections
Species
Human
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