Jason, Prince of Ioclus

Captain of Argo and leader of the Argonauts that quested for the Golden Fleece son of Aeson and Alcimede

• Gender – Male
• Race – Human
• Occupation – Noble
• Religion – Hellenic Pantheon 
• Allies – Hera, Chiron (Teacher)
• Enemies – 
• Abode/ Base of operations – Iolcus
• Nationality –
• Languages – Greek
• Alignment – 
• Affiliation (s) – The Argonauts
• Significant others – Medea (Lover)

Pelias (Aeson’s half-brother) was power-hungry, and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Pelias was the product of a union between their shared mother Tyro daughter of Salmoneus, and the sea god Poseidon. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Alcimede (wife of Aeson) already had an infant son named Jason who she saved from being killed by Pelias, by having women cluster around the newborn and cry like he was still-born. Alcimede sent her son to the centaur Chiron for education, for fear that Pelias would kill him – she claimed that he had been born lifeless. Pelias, still paranoid that he would one day be overthrown, consulted an oracle which warned him to beware of a man coming forth from the people with only one sandal.

Many years later, Pelias was holding games in honour of his father, Poseidon, when Jason arrived in Iolcus and lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros, while helping an old woman (Hera in disguise) cross. him. When Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Paranoid, Pelias asked him what he would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the Golden Fleece. Pelias took that advice and sent Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece as he thought it an impossible mission for this young lad that stood before him.

The quest for the Golden Fleece

Jason assembled a great group of heroes and a huge ship called the Argo. Together, the heroes were known as the Argonauts. They included the Boreads, Heracles, Philoctetes, Peleus, Telamon, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta and Euphemus.

The Isle of Lemnos

The isle of Lemnos is situated off the Western coast of Asia Minor. The island was inhabited by a race of women, who had killed their husbands. The women had neglected their worship of Aphrodite,and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands couldn’t bear to be near them. The men then took concubines from the Thracian mainland opposite, and the spurned women, naturally angry, killed every male inhabitant. The king, Thoas, was saved by Hypsipyle, his daughter, who put him out to sea sealed in a chest from which he was later rescued. The women of Lemnos lived for a while without men, with Hypsipyle as their queen.

The Argonauts stopped off on the isle, and the women welcomed them with open arms. Jason fathered twins with the queen, and many other Argonauts fathered children with the other women, thereby reintroducing a male population to the island (the offspring were male). Heracles pressured them to leave as he was disgusted by the antics of the Argonauts. He hadn’t taken part, which is truly unusual considering the numerous affairs he had with other women. The Argonauts resumed their hunt for the Golden Fleece after spending a considerable amount of time on the island.

Kyzicos

After Lemnos the Argonauts landed among the Doliones, whose king Kyzicos treats them graciously. Argonauts depart, lose their bearings and land again at the same spot at night. In the darkness the Doliones take them for enemies and they start fighting each other. The Argonauts kill many of the Doliones, among them the king Kyzicos. Kyzicos’ wife kills herself. The Argonauts realize their horrible mistake when dawn comes.

Mysia

When the Argonauts reached Mysia, they sent some men to find food and water. Among these men were Heracles’ servant, Hylas. The nymphs of the stream where Hylas was collecting were taken by his good looks, and pulled him into the stream. Heracles returned to his Labors, but Hylas was lost forever.

Phineus and the harpies

Soon Jason reached the court of Phineus of Salmydessus in Thrace. Phineus had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but was later blinded for revealing to men the deliberations of the gods. Also, Zeus sent Harpies, creatures with the body of a bird and the head of a woman, to prevent Phineus from eating any more than what was necessary to live. Jason took pity on the emaciated king, and killed the Harpies when they returned (In other versions two of the Argonauts chase them away.). In return for this favor, Phineus revealed to Jason the location of Colchis and how to cross the Symplegades, or The Clashing Islands, and then they parted.

The Symplegades

The only way to reach Colchis was to sail through the Symplegades (Clashing Islands), huge rock cliffs that came together and crushed anything that travels between them. Phineus told Jason to release a dove when they approached these islands, and if the dove made it through, to row with all their might. If the dove was crushed, he was doomed to fail. Jason released the dove as advised, which made it through, losing only a few tail feathers. Seeing this, they rowed hard and made it through with minor damage at the extreme stern of the ship. Since the Argo, the first ship to pass through the Symplegades, the cliffs stand still.

The Arrival in Colchis

Jason arrived in Colchis to claim the fleece as his own. King Aeetes of Colchis promised to give it to him only if he could perform certain tasks.
Presented with the tasks, Jason became discouraged and fell into depression. However, Hera had persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to strike Aeetes’s daughter, Medea, with love for Jason. As a result, Medea aided Jason in his tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Medea provided an ointment that protected him from the oxen’s flames. Then, Jason sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Medea had previously warned Jason of this and told him how to defeat this foe. Before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to decipher where the rock had come from, the soldiers attacked and defeated one another. Although Jason had completed these tasks, Aeetes’s was not willing to give up the fleece. He began to plan the destruction of the Argonauts. Medea, aware of her father’s plans, brought Jason to the fleece that night before the king could act. When they approached the sleepless dragon that guarded the fleece, Medea used her magic to put the dragon to sleep. Jason then took the fleece and sailed away with Medea, who had fallen in love with him and helped him win the fleece. Medea distracted her father as they fled by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea, which Aeetes had to stop for and gather. In the fight, Atalanta was seriously wounded but healed by Medea.

The Return Journey

On the way back to Iolcus, Medea prophesised to Euphemus, the Argo’s helmsman, that one day he would rule Libya. This came true through Battus, a descendant of Euphemus. Zeus, as punishment for the slaughter of Medea’s own brother, sent a series of storms at the Argo and blew it off course. The Argo then spoke and said that they should seek purification with Circe, living on the island called Aeaea. After being cleansed, they continued their journey home.

Sirens

Chiron had told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens – the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ship into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their music.

Talos

The Argo then came to the island of Crete, guarded by the bronze man, Talos. As the ship approached, Talos hurled huge stones at the ship, keeping it at bay. Talos had one blood vessel which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. Medea cast a spell on Talos to calm him; she removed the bronze nail and Talos bled to death. The Argo was then able to sail on.

Jason returns

Medea, using her sorcery, claimed to Pelias’ daughters that she could make their father younger by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs. She demonstrated this remarkable feat with a sheep, which leapt out of the cauldron as a lamb. The girls, rather naively, sliced and diced their father and put him in the cauldron. Medea did not add the magical herbs, and Pelias was dead.

Pelias’ son, Acastus, drove Jason and Medea into exile for the murder, and the couple settled in Corinth. There Jason married Creusa (sometimes referred to as Glauce), a daughter of the King of Corinth, to strengthen his political ties. Medea, angry at Jason for breaking his vow that he would be hers forever, got her revenge by presenting Creusa a cursed dress, as a wedding gift, that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on. Creusa’s father, Creon, burnt to death with his daughter as he tried to save her. Medea killed the children that she bore to Jason, fearing that they would be murdered, or enslaved as a result of their mother’s actions, and fled to Athens.

Later Jason and Peleus, father of the hero Achilles, would attack and defeat Acastus, reclaiming the throne of Iolcus for himself once more. Jason’s son, Thessalus, then became king.

Because he broke his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He was asleep under the stern of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly. The manner of his death was due to the gods cursing him for breaking his promise to Medea.

Name Jason, Prince of Ioclus
Human CR 11
XP 12800
Any Medium Humanoid Aristocrat level 4 (skill points 24) Adventurer Fighter level 10 (skill points 40) Marine (Fighter )
Init +3; Senses ; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 18, Touch 14, flat footed 14 (masterwork Leather, +1 Shield, light wooden) (+3 Dex, +2 armour, +2 shield, +1 feats) 
hp 75 (0d8+4d6+10d10+4);
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +6 

OFFENSE

Speed 30
Melee Single Attack(+1/+1) Sword, short +21 (1d6+8/19-20) or Javelin +17 (1d6+3) 
Full Attack (+1/+1) Sword, short +21/16/11 (1d6+8/19-20) or Javelin +17/12/7 (1d6+3) range 30 
Space 5ft.; Reach 5 
Special Attacks
Weapon Training become proficient in a weapon group 2

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 14 + 2 = 16, Con 11, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 14 + 2 = 16
Base Attack 13 CMB 16 ; CMD 30 
Feats
Cleave: Get extra attack if hit monster to adjacent foe, -2 AC until your next turn ,
Combat Reflexes: DEX mod additional attacks of opportunity,
Dodge: Add 1 to AC ,
Exotic Weapon Prof,
Greater Weapon Focus: +1 to attack rolls,
Mobility: +4 AC to attacks of opportunity,
Armour Prof Heavy,
Armour Prof Light,
Armour Prof Medium,
Combat Expertise: You can choose to take a -1 penalty on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. Every +4 base attack penalty increase by -1 and dodge by +1 ,
Improved Bull Rush: +2 to Bull rush CM and CMD ; no attack of opportunity,
Martial Weap Prof,
Mounted Archery: Ranged attacks are at -2 instead of -4,
Mounted Combat: Negate hit on mount with ride check DC opponents attack roll,
Power Attack: You can choose to take a -1 penalty on all melee attacks and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. Every +4 base atack penalty increases by -1 and damage by +2,
Shield Proficiency: Can use shields,
Simple Weapon Proficiency,
Tower Shield Proficiency: Can use the tower shield and suffer only normal shield skill penalties,
Weapon Focus: +1 to attack rolls,
Weapon Focus(Ranged): +1 attack rolls,
Weapon Specialization: +2 to damage rolls
Skills Appraise 5, Bluff 7, Climb 13, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 3, Handle Animal 3, Intimidate 13, Know Arcana 5, Know Arch & Eng 11, Know Geography 5, Know Nobility 1, Linguistics 1, Perception 5, Perform Oratory 3, Profession Sailor 9, Ride 20, Sense Motive -1, Survival 7, Swim 12
Languages Common

ECOLOGY

Environment Any
Organization Company 10-20, Band 30-100, Squad 4-8
Treasure Standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Armour Training Reduced armour check penalty and increases dex bonus by 2
Bravery Save vs fear + 3
MAGIC ITEMS (max value 16350)

Masterwork Leather (150gp) 
Elysian Bronze Light Armor DR 1/- against natural weapons or unarmed strikes of magical beasts and monstrous humanoids (1000gp) 
Belt of incredible dexterity (+2) +2 DEX (4000gp) 
Bracers of armour (+1) +1AC (1000gp) 
Cloak of charisma (+2) +2 CHR (4000gp) 
Elixir of love DC14 Charm (150gp) 
Potion of Aid – (300gp) 
Potion of Jump – (50gp) 
Potion of Resist energy (30) – (1100gp) 
Potion of Bulls strength – (300gp) 
+1 Shield, light wooden (1000gp) 
+1 Sword, short (2300gp) 
Elysian Bronze Weapon : adds a +1 bonus on weapon damage rolls against magical beasts and monstrous humanoids; this damage is multiplied on a critical hit. After a creature uses an Elysian bronze weapon to deal damage to a magical beast or monstrous humanoid, the wielder gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls against that specific creature type (for example, against chimeras, not all magical beasts) for the next 24 hours, or u (1000gp) 

Total Value = 16350

See Also Jason and the the Argonauts