The Vault Breaker- A Servant of Abadar

"I'm telling you, Torvald, this place is impenetrable," Jareth said.

"That's what they all say," Torvald said as he slid the set of keys into the final vault.

He and Jareth counted down, and turned them simultaneously, each speaking the command word at the same time. They pressed their hands to the arcane marks, and they changed colors from red to green. The locks clicked, and the door slowly slid open. In the center of the vault, sitting on a low, stone pillar, was a stuffed bear. It had a single eye, and its head was canted to one side. In its stuffed paws, it held a note.

"What does it say?" Torvald said.

Jareth walked into the vault, and picked up the note. He read the note, his forehead furrowed. "You didn't ward the air exchanges, or the sewer system. You can reclaim the prize at the Falling Star. The first round is on you."

The Vault Breaker

Abadar is the god of civilization. He is formed of rules and vows, of laws and civilities. He builds great walls, and maintains the safety of those within them. His temples often double as fortifications and banks, keeping the wealth of a town, a city, and sometimes a nation, safe from those who would attempt to steal them. However, just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so a vault is only as enduring as its weakest lock.

And it is the sacred duty of the Vault Breaker to test those locks in order to ensure that no one (not even them) can gain access to the treasures under Abadar's care without permission.

Perhaps the ideal Vault Breaker candidate is an inquisitor, who is capable of combining their domain powers, spells, and skills into a single whole for breaking into vaults that should be impenetrable. The Travel domain, in particular, can be quite useful for this endeavor, as it grants limited teleportation. Aside from inquisitors, rogues and investigators who are true believers in Abadar's goals (and whose alignments are close to his thematically, even if it's not mechanically required) can also make for ideal vault breakers, using their trapfinding and device disabling abilities, along with their unique talents, to bypass the security measures meant to keep them out. While clerics of Abadar can also fit this role, so can wizards, sorcerers, and even oracles with the Intrigue mystery.

Other than the skills and religious devotion to testing Abadar's fortresses and defenders to ensure they are the best they can be, the next question one must ask about their Vault Breaker is how they acquired their skills. Did they suffer a misspent youth, and they hoped to turn their skills toward a noble cause once they decided to turn their life around? Were they trained by the church, set to the task of finding any gap in Abadar's security that might be exploited by an enemy intent on doing harm? Was this individual trained by another faith entirely, and they left that church for Abadar for one reason or another?

Or, perhaps most interestingly, were they trained to break into dungeons, castles, and even museums, to acquire dangerous relics that needed to be kept out of the hands of those who would use them to do harm? If that's the case, then surely they'd find a place in all sorts of missions to lock down, transport, or recover the equivalent of magical weapons of mass destruction, ranging from ancient grimoires and forbidden rituals, to devastating arcane engines and terrifying artifacts that allow one to summon and control the deadliest of creatures.

Whatever the reason for your Vault Breaker's calling, there is likely to always be a need for them in any party... especially since everyone should be able to trust that they'll distribute any loot found fairly, and equitably, keeping it as safe as, well, a bank!

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That's all for this week's Unusual Character Concepts post!

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