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Eber Waldner - AI-generated fantasy NPC

Eber Waldner

Verdant-Blooded (Humanoid), Stout-family · Commoner, custom craft-trained NPC · Level 0

Eber Waldner

Famous repair craftsman and informal researcher of Verdant-Blooded digestion
“That meal and I have agreed to disagree.”
AC11
HP9/9
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

At the table

Voice

His voice has a dry, slightly gravelly texture, shaped by years of workshop dust and the careful control he uses when swallowing. It carries plainly across a room without being loud. When he is tired, consonants catch in his throat; when absorbed in explaining a repair, his words come out in quick, measured bursts.

He speaks in compact, workmanlike sentences, often building an explanation from a physical example. His humor is dry rather than sharp. When discussing digestion, he becomes precise and checks whether listeners are comfortable before continuing.

Speech patterns

Explains difficult ideas through comparisons to joinery, grain, hinges, and stress points.
Asks permission before discussing another person's body, though he can forget to do so when excited by a useful observation.
Uses dry understatement when embarrassed: "That meal and I have agreed to disagree."
Repeats a question in plainer words if he thinks his first phrasing sounded too much like a diagnosis.

How to play them

Meet Eber through a repair job, a meal problem, or a request for help documenting an unusual transformation. He is welcoming when treated as a craftsperson and becomes guarded when treated as a curiosity. Ask before offering medical advice or examining his notes. He responds well to honest questions and practical collaboration.

Goal

Develop a safe, practical guide to eating and digestion for Verdant-Blooded people affected by High-Blood changes.

Motivation

A need to turn an isolating bodily change into useful knowledge, mixed with a craftsman's conviction that every stubborn problem deserves patient study.

Secret · GM only

Appearance

Eber has a broad, low center of gravity and moves with the measured, slightly rocking balance of someone used to carrying heavy work across uneven floors. His skin has the matte, weathered look of old bark, with pale green undertones and fine brown speckling across his forearms. His clothes are carefully patched but fit badly at the shoulders, as if each coat belonged to a different, larger craftsman. He keeps one small leather tool roll immaculate, its edges dark with oil. A stranger is likely to notice the faint, dry clicking in his throat when he swallows a polished pebble, followed by his thoughtful pause to record how it settles.

Clothing

A smoke-brown work coat with mismatched shoulder patches, a pale linen scarf to catch sawdust, a wide apron crowded with pockets, and boots resoled so often the layers resemble tree rings.

Body language

He stands squarely, hands held close to his apron as if protecting tools from an unseen crowd. When comfortable, he leans on a bench and watches people with steady curiosity. When embarrassed, he presses his lips together and rubs the seam of his tool roll. He never hides his swallowing stones, but pauses to see whether anyone reacts.

Height
4 feet 6 inches
Build
Short and powerfully built, with thick forearms and a craftsman's solid shoulders.
Eyes
Moss-brown
Hair
Dark brown threaded with grey, cropped short and permanently dusted with fine wood shavings.
Skin
Weathered umber with pale green undertones and fine brown speckling
Age
Fifty-three years
Gender
Man
Size
Small

Distinguishing features

His throat makes a soft, dry click when he swallows one of his smooth digestive stones.
Pale green undertones and fine brown speckles give his weathered skin a subtle bark-like pattern.
His over-cared-for tool roll is always cleaner and better mended than the rest of his clothes.
He carries a little notebook of digestion observations, full of precise diagrams and bluntly practical sketches.

Personality

12 traits and drives

Eber is careful and generous with practical help, yet can become almost clinical when a new question catches his interest. He dislikes being pitied, though he is quietly grateful when people make room for his needs without making a performance of it. In a busy workshop he is dryly funny and decisive; around a frightened patient he becomes deliberate, asks permission, and struggles not to over-explain.

Alignment
Neutral good

Quirks

Keeps a pebble in his cheekless mouth for several seconds before swallowing, as if listening to it.
Labels food jars with both their contents and how long they take him to digest.
Taps doorframes twice with one knuckle before entering a room, checking how solidly they were built.
When someone praises his work, he immediately points out one tiny flaw only he can see.

Habits

Tests a new tool by tapping it against his thumbnail and listening before he uses it.
When worried, sorts nearby objects into small groups by texture, then pretends he was tidying.
Offers practical help before emotional comfort, then circles back with a carefully chosen question.
Writes down symptoms immediately, even when the person describing them clearly wants reassurance first.

Traits · 3

He is proud of his craft but uneasy with fame, preferring a useful repair to a public compliment.
He approaches his own condition like a puzzle, yet dislikes when others discuss his body as if he were not present.
He is patient with beginners and impatient with people selling certainty.

Flaws · 3

His curiosity can outrun his tact, especially when someone describes a symptom he has never encountered.
He refuses help for himself until a problem becomes impossible to ignore.
He can be stubborn about evidence and slow to accept comfort that cannot be measured.

Fears · 3

That his notes will be mistaken for medical certainty and lead someone to harm themselves.
That a child with a similar transformation will be denied help because their family fears experimentation.
That his body will change further before he understands what is happening.

Wants and needs · 3

A trustworthy healer willing to review his observations without treating them as a cure.
A safe way to share his research without inviting dangerous self-experimentation.
A workshop assistant who can help with errands while he records his findings.

Combat

AC 11 · HP 9 · 25 ft.

Eber is a reluctant combatant. He puts furniture or a sturdy workbench between himself and attackers, shouts for others to get clear, and uses his hammer only to create an escape. If cornered, he targets hands and knees rather than trying to kill. He will surrender rather than risk serious injury to someone who is merely desperate.

Eber Waldner

Small humanoid (verdant-blooded (humanoid), stout-family), neutral good
Armor Class11
Hit Points9
Speed25 ft.
Level0
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsConstitution
SkillsInvestigationPerceptionCrafting and repairMedicine
SensesPassive Perception 11
Languages
Common,
Stout-family cant
Custom Verdant-Blooded trait. Stone Settling. Eber can swallow small smooth stones, which remain in a specialized crop-like pouch in his gut and help grind dense food. He cannot chew and gains no nourishment from stones.
Custom High-Blood alteration. Rooted Digestion. Eber can digest fibrous and mineral-rich foods unusually well, but must prepare food into soft strips or pulp.
Stout-family craft training. advantage on checks to identify flaws in worked wood, stone, and metalwork, at the GM's discretion.

Actions

Riveting Hammer. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 () bludgeoning damage. Eber uses a short-handled riveting hammer, but avoids fighting whenever possible.
Stone Flick. Eber hurls a smooth swallowing stone at a creature within 20 feet. Ranged Weapon Attack: to hit. Hit: 2 () bludgeoning damage. He has little practice throwing them and is more likely to use this as a distraction.

Reactions

Get Behind the Bench. When a creature within 5 feet of Eber is hit by an attack, Eber can use his reaction to pull them behind nearby cover or a sturdy object. The creature gains a bonus to AC against that triggering attack, potentially causing it to miss. Eber must be able to reach the creature.

Services they sell

Repairs ordinary tools, household fittings, and simple mechanisms.
Can advise on preparing soft, nourishing food for someone unable to chew.
Will help document unusual Verdant-Blooded changes, provided the subject gives informed permission.

Rewards they can give

A dependable repair of a mundane tool, harness, hinge, or small mechanism.
A copy of Eber's practical notes on preparing soft, filling meals for people who cannot chew.
His recommendation to local craftspeople, which can secure fair work or access to a workshop.

Equipment

  • Riveting hammer (tool and improvised weapon)A compact hammer with a broad, worn face, used primarily for riveting and repair.
  • Craftsman's tool roll (tools)A stitched leather roll containing awls, a folding rule, a small file, and several carefully wrapped chisels.
  • Digestive stones (personal item)A cloth pouch of smooth river stones, washed and selected for their rounded shape.
  • Field notebook (research notes)A pocket notebook containing observations on foods, symptoms, and the timing of his own digestion.

Possessions

A notebook of personal observations and sketched meal preparations
A leather tool roll inherited from his father
A pouch of smooth digestive stones
A cracked wooden keepsake box containing his father's pale river stone

Background

Eber was born into a Stout-family tradition of practical craft: his mother shaped braces and hinges, while his father taught him to judge a plank by its sound. He became famous not for grand commissions but for making stubborn household objects last, repairing bridges, mills, and tools that wealthier artisans dismissed as beneath them. In middle age, a High-Blood transformation altered his mouth and digestion. His jaw stiffened, his teeth became smooth and useless for chewing, and ordinary meals turned painful. During the first winter, he nearly starved in a locked workshop rather than admit he needed help. His apprentice Salla found him and taught him to soften food, while Eber discovered that smooth pebbles helped process it. The experience changed his pride into patient inquiry. He now keeps careful notes on his condition, hoping to make life easier for other Verdant-Blooded people whose transformations leave them with inconvenient bodies. His fame brings visitors, but also intrusive gawkers and merchants who want to sell miracle cures. He is currently trying to persuade a local healer to let him study a newly transformed child, while the child's anxious family distrusts his experiments.

Role in the story

A celebrated but unassuming craftsman whose careful self-study can aid people living through bodily transformation. He offers a grounded perspective on the cost of change, and his notes may reveal useful clues about a wider magical or biological mystery.

“In middle age, a High-Blood transformation altered his mouth and digestion.”
From their background
Faction
Respected by local Stout-family craftspeople, though not formally affiliated with any trade association.

Known connections

Salla, his former apprentice, now runs a small repair stall and is the person who first saved him from starvation after his transformation.
His mother, Vesa, still sends him oddly shaped offcuts and insists he has not yet mastered the family craft.
He is trying to earn the trust of a healer named Hesh, whose newly transformed young patient may benefit from his observations.
Major secret · GM only
Minor secrets · GM only

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