Skip to content

Tovan

NPCs
Dwarf · Fighter (Samurai) · Level 20

Tovan

Caravan guard, sword instructor, and escort for travelers on dangerous mountain roads
AC18
HP204/204
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

At the table

Voice

His voice has a warm, dry rasp from years of breathing quarry dust and calling directions across windy passes. Consonants land cleanly, as if each word were a tool set on a bench; when amused, a brief breathy snort often escapes before the joke.

He speaks in compact phrases, shaped by years of giving instructions over wind, wagon wheels, and quarry noise. His vocabulary favors practical verbs and physical comparisons. He pauses to choose exact words, but his jokes arrive dry and sudden.

Speech patterns

Uses plain, concrete images drawn from roads, weather, and quarry work.
Asks questions about what someone did rather than what they intended.
When uncomfortable, answers a personal question with a practical offer.
Uses a dry, unexpectedly playful joke to interrupt praise.

How to play them

He responds best to directness, practical help, and people who treat the injured before debating blame. He is wary of grand promises. Offer a concrete lead about the old evacuation or help protect a vulnerable traveler, and he will share what he knows.

Goal

Find the person who sabotaged the evacuation bridge and locate the survivors who vanished after the disaster.

Motivation

He wants to protect people without deciding that every life is his burden to carry.

Secret · GM only

Appearance

Tovan has a rounded, doll-like face with delicate features that often lead strangers to mistake him for a woman. His large, round eyes are framed by unusually lush, thick lashes; they rarely settle on a speaker's face, instead tracking hands, exits, and the weight shifts that precede movement. His messy black hair brushes his shoulders, its ends dyed a deep navy blue, and one pointed bang hangs to the top of his nose bridge. Shirtless, he has a lean, lithe, visibly trained body and a strikingly narrow waist. He moves with a soft, rolling step that barely stirs grass, then can snap into motion with startling speed. He leaves the impression of a painted toy that has abruptly decided to become dangerous. Unexpectedly, he tends tiny alpine violets in a chipped clay cup, carrying it carefully even through rough travel.

Clothing

Bare-chested, he wears loose blue trousers gathered by a brown fur waistline and black fur cuffs at the ankles. Grass sandals are bound with practical cord. His sword handles are wrapped in faded cloth bandages.

Body language

He stands with his weight balanced over the balls of his feet and his shoulders loose. His gaze repeatedly dips to wrists, belts, and thresholds. In conversation he is almost motionless; when he makes a decision, his whole body turns at once, like a latch releasing.

Height
4 ft. 5 in.
Build
Lithe, lean, and muscular, with a narrow waist and compact dwarf proportions.
Eyes
Dark brown
Hair
Messy black, dyed navy blue at the tips
Skin
Warm copper-brown
Age
Adult, 118 years old
Gender
Male
Size
Medium

Distinguishing features

A pointed bang ends at the top of his nose bridge, while the tips of his shoulder-length black hair are navy blue.
His large, round, doll-like eyes have long, dense lashes and tend to watch hands rather than faces.
His two katana-shaped swords are chipped along multiple points of their blades and wrapped at the handles with bandages.
He carries a tiny clay cup of alpine violets with the same care he gives his weapons.

Personality

11 traits and drives

Tovan is courteous and gently funny when people are frightened, but impatient with those who treat danger as a game. He is attentive to small acts of care and suspicious of polished speeches. Alone, he is meticulous with his plants and blades; around a crowd, he becomes watchful and difficult to read. Praise embarrasses him, while a direct challenge can make him startlingly blunt.

Alignment
Neutral good

Quirks

He rotates his violet cup a quarter turn whenever he enters a new room.
He counts the steps between himself and every exit, tapping his thumb against his first two fingers.
He gives names to individual chips in his swords and apologizes to them when they worsen.
He folds scraps of paper into tiny hats and leaves them on unattended helmets.
He tastes unfamiliar drinking water before anyone else, even when he knows it is safe.

Habits

In a crowded room, he watches hands and doorways more closely than faces.
After a fight, he checks his blades for new chips before asking whether anyone is hurt.
When uneasy, he moves his feet into an exact sword stance, even while seated.
He gives food to the hungriest person present, then pretends he has already eaten.

Traits · 3

He is tender toward frightened people but hard on those who endanger others for vanity.
He prefers a small, useful kindness to a dramatic promise, though he secretly longs for someone else to take charge.
He can be playful in safe company and severe when a bystander is threatened.

Flaws · 3

He takes responsibility for people who have not asked him to, then resents being unable to protect everyone.
He refuses to repair or replace his damaged swords, even when doing so would be sensible.
He can mistake caution for cowardice in others and push them into risks they are not ready to take.

Fears · 2

That the bridge disaster was caused by someone he still trusts.
That another person will die because he hesitates between a clean victory and a humane choice.

Wants and needs · 3

A trustworthy account of what happened at the evacuation bridge
Someone willing to share responsibility rather than merely admire his endurance
A quiet patch of sun for his violets

Combat

AC 18 · HP 204 · 25 ft.

He studies opponents' feet before committing, then uses Fighting Spirit to make a decisive opening and overwhelms a priority target with rapid paired strikes. He reserves Action Surge for a foe who threatens civilians or an ally. He uses the chipped blades as they are, favoring mobility and repeated attacks over trading blows.

Tovan

Medium humanoid (dwarf), neutral good
Armor Class18
Hit Points204
Speed25 ft.
Level20
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsDexterityConstitutionWisdom
SkillsAcrobaticsInsightPerceptionPersuasionStealthSurvival
SensesDarkvision 60 ft.; passive Perception 16
Languages
Common,
Dwarvish
Fighting Style. Two-Weapon Fighting. Tovan adds his ability modifier to the damage of his off-hand weapon attacks.
Extra Attack (3): Tovan attacks four times, instead of once, whenever he takes the Attack action on his turn.
Action Surge (2/Short Rest): Tovan can take one additional action on his turn. He regains both uses after a short or long rest.
Fighting Spirit (5/Long Rest): As a bonus action, Tovan gains 15 temporary hit points and advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of his current turn.
Elegant Courtier. Tovan adds his Wisdom modifier to Charisma (Persuasion) checks and is proficient in Wisdom saving throws.
Rapid Strike. Once on each of his turns, when he has advantage on a weapon attack, he can forgo that advantage to make one additional weapon attack as a bonus action.
Strength Before Death. Once per long rest, when damage would reduce Tovan to 0 hit points, he can use his reaction to delay falling unconscious and immediately take an extra turn. He falls unconscious at the end of that turn if still at 0 hit points.
Custom feature, Barefoot Swordguard. While unarmored and wielding a melee weapon in each hand, Tovan's practiced deflections give him AC 18. This is a custom benefit, not a standard Samurai feature.

Actions

Multiattack. Tovan makes four attacks with his katana-like blades. Each hit deals slashing damage. He can replace one attack with a Two-Weapon Cut if he has not used his bonus action: one additional attack dealing slashing damage. The blades use the statistics of scimitars, including finesse and light properties.
Katana. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: slashing damage. Tovan's paired blades are custom-forged katana-shaped scimitars.
Custom Technique: Split the Bell. Tovan makes one melee weapon attack. On a hit, the target takes normal weapon damage plus 10 damage. He can use this feature once per turn, up to three times per day.

Reactions

Custom Feature: Crossguard Deflection. When a creature Tovan can see hits him with a melee attack, he adds 3 to his AC against that attack, potentially causing it to miss. He must be wielding a melee weapon in each hand.
Strength Before Death. When damage would reduce Tovan to 0 hit points, he can use this reaction once per long rest to delay falling unconscious and immediately take an extra turn. He falls unconscious at the end of that turn if he remains at 0 hit points.

Legendary Actions

Measured Step. Tovan moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Quick Cut. Tovan makes one katana attack.
Crossing Blades (costs 2 actions). Tovan makes two katana attacks against one or two creatures he can reach.

Services they sell

Mountain-road escort
Practical sword instruction
Advice on reading ambush ground and caravan routes

Rewards they can give

A safe route through the high passes and an introduction to the caravan families who trust him.
Training in paired-blade footwork, if the character earns his confidence.
A credible lead about the old bridge sabotage, once he decides the party can handle the truth.

Equipment

  • First battered katana (weapon)A custom katana-shaped scimitar, its edge chipped in several places and its handle bound in faded bandages. Use scimitar statistics.
  • Second battered katana (weapon)A second katana-shaped scimitar, similarly worn. Use scimitar statistics.
  • Travel clothes (clothing)Loose blue trousers with brown fur at the waist and black fur at the ankles.
  • Grass sandals (clothing)Cord-bound grass sandals, easy to replace and quiet on stone.
  • Violet cup (keepsake)A chipped clay cup holding a few hardy alpine violets.

Possessions

Two chipped katana-shaped scimitars with bandaged handles
Blue trousers with brown and black fur trim
Grass sandals
A chipped clay cup of alpine violets
Unsent letters tucked into the cup's cracked base

Background

Tovan was born in a dwarf quarry settlement where sword forms were taught as a way to keep miners alive in narrow, unstable tunnels. He learned to read a room by watching feet and hands, not faces, and became a celebrated escort for caravans crossing the high passes. During the disastrous winter evacuation of the village of Heddle Ford, he held a collapsing bridge long enough for the children to cross, but chose to save a trapped enemy scout as well. That choice cost him his teacher, who died when the bridge finally gave way, and earned him a reputation as both a hero and a fool. His two battered blades are the weapons he recovered from the wreckage; he refuses to replace them. Now he escorts refugees and searches for the missing survivors of that evacuation, while quietly trying to learn who sabotaged the bridge. His old friend, the mapmaker Veyra, believes the collapse was deliberate. The scout he saved, Ors, is now a local magistrate and has never acknowledged what Tovan did.

Role in the story

A formidable ally and guarded source of information whose search for the truth can draw the party into a decades-old act of sabotage.

“He learned to read a room by watching feet and hands, not faces, and became a celebrated escort for caravans crossing the high passes.”
From their background
Faction
No formal faction. He is trusted by several caravan families and maintains an uneasy connection to the magistracy through Ors.

Known connections

Veyra, a mapmaker and old friend, is comparing old survey marks to the site of the bridge collapse.
Ors, the scout Tovan rescued, is now a magistrate and avoids speaking about the evacuation.
The children he helped evacuate have scattered across the mountain roads; he sends portions of his earnings to those he can find.
Major secret · GM only
Minor secrets · GM only

Media

0 images

No images yet.

Visual sheet

Turn Tovan into a sheet

A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.