Name: Sir Marko Brightshield
History: Marko was born the third son of the Brightshield family of Mirabar, a new noble family raised into knighthood by through the heroic exploits of his father, famed paladin Ivan Brightshield. While inheriting his father's battle skills and strength, Marko inherited none of his father's wisdom, piety, or inclination for divine worship. So as his older brothers were taking up the honored mantle of paladin, Marko was still struggling with the most basic aspects of paladin training.
Between frequent bar brawls, shirking daily prayers to sneak off to the tavern, and bringing scantily-clad ladies into the temple's confession booth for special 'prayer sessions', Marko was eventually 'encouraged' to leave paladin training. In danger of being kicked out of the family entirely and having few other options, he joined one of the secular orders of knighthood in Mirabar as a squire.
After completing his squire training and graduating to knight, Sir Marko ventured forth from Mirabar with the intent on forming his very own adventuring company. Unfortunately, Sir Marko has all the leadership qualities of a fencepost. An obnoxious fencepost. Every adventuring party he tried to form under his leadership ended in less than a week with all party members leaving in the middle of the night while he was asleep (and in one case, taking turns peeing on Sir Marko's belongings before leaving).
Near broke and desperate, Sir Marko found himself in Daggerford when he saw a 'Help Wanted' poster at the town hall looking for a strong fighter for a new adventuring company. It turns out that ad was posted by none other than Nolan the rogue and Bayle the wizard, and a desperate need of funds drove Sir Marko to swallow his pride and join the group under Nolan's questionable leadership.
Arrogant and full of himself, Sir Marko tends to look down on common folk and those not of the nobility. That tends to include henchmen and underlings, which is only one of many traits that make him a terrible boss. For example his previous manservant, Bort, had his long career with the Brightshield family (as well as his life) end in the unfortunate "Grape-Jelly/Owlbear" incident... an incident that was in part Sir Marko's fault. His newest henchmen, Brentwick the Squire, has already in just one month been beaten, electrocuted, and clobbered by an 800 pound battering ram. As usual, Sir Marko's primary concern after each such incident was how it made Brentwick late in making Sir Marko's supper.
Level/Class: 8th level Fighter (Battlemaster)
Background: Noble (Knight)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Armor Class: 21
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft
Hit Points: 76
Proficiency Bonus: +3
Attributes:
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 12
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics: +8
History: +3
Intimidation: +4
Persuasion: +4
Other Proficiencies:
All Armor & Shields
Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons
Languages:
Common, Dwarvish, Giant
Feats:
Shield Master
Special Abilities:
Fighting Style - Defense
Second Wind
Action Surge
Superiority Dice - 5D8
Combat Superiority Maneuvers - Commander's Strike, Parry, Precision Attack, Riposte, Sweeping Attack
Student of War
Know Your Enemy
Equipment:
Plate Mail Armor, Shield
Longsword +1, Dagger, 2 Handaxes
Potion of Healing, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Water Breathing
Explorer's Pack