Certs for Sam

Rick Brill and his daughter Samantha

A few of Rick’s friends who gathered to remember him the day before the funeral.

Rick’s gaming friends gathered in the north woods to send him off with a Viking funeral following the traditional service.

So with the help of the Adventurers League (Wizards of the Coast), Pathfinder Society (Paizo Publishing), and Legends of Arcanis (Paradigm Concepts), his friends have gathered a number of items that will be auctioned at Dan’s Con of the Vale 16th (sponsored by Cold Iron Conventions), October 30-November 1 in Brookfield WI. All of the above OP campaigns have donated unique certs that will be auctioned off to attendees as part of what is being called Certs for Sam. You can find out more the specific items being auctioned on Cold Iron Conventions Facebook page as they list them in the days leading up to their convention, but the story and text of one of the unique certificates from the DnDAL will be previewed here first.

One of Rick’s best known LC characters was the elven bladesinger Jean-Dorial Encarthan. Author Jean Rabe, then one of the staff behind the convention Milwaukee Summer Revel and a TSR employee, sponsored a charity auction for animal shelters that auctioned unique certed animals for player characters to adopt. Rick’s character was so well known that one of the animals, a parrot, was named Jean-Dorial. The lucky winner of this cert? Paizo’s very own Jason Bulmahn; though he may have needed some help from WOTC’s Chris Tulach to afford it! In honor of this storied animal, Jean-Dorial has returned to D&D as one of the offerings of from the D&D Adventurers League.

Jean-Dorial: You have bonded with the fiercely loyal and overtly brash Jean-Dorial, a talkative bright red parrot. Jean-Dorial uses the same statistics as a raven (Player’s Handbook) with the following modifications: increase JD’s base AC to 15, JD’s hit points are equal to three times your character’s level, JD has evasion (as a rogue) and as a reaction may move his speed and cast spare the dying. JD must complete a long rest before being able to cast spare the dying again. If you choose, you may bond JD as a familiar or animal companion but should he die, he cannot be re-summoned without a raise dead or similar magic. If you bond JD as an animal companion, the rules regarding his AC and hp supersede the rules above when/if you are of sufficient level for your class benefits to exceed that above. If you bond JD as a familiar, he may not be dismissed like a normal familiar. He simply won’t stand for it. When you acquire JD he knows the following phrases in common that he uses frequently with a surprisingly deep voice: “Jean-Dorial is a pretty bird!”, “You gotta be &%[email protected] me!”, “Ha!”, “Go Packers!”