Characters

**yukonhorror** · 03-25-2009, 02:02 PM

zephyr fireblood, half-elf barbarian (multiclassed with sorcerer)

**Umiushi** · 03-26-2009, 06:55 AM

Looks good! I'll go over the details of your character sheet more carefully, tomorrow. I don't have the character builder, but I don't think I need it: the information provided should be enough for me to figure out secondary stats with.

In terms of your character's background, I'm fine with most of what you presented. I particularly liked your addition of how Artico usurped your place. However, if you were thrown off a cliff as an infant, you wouldn't know who your parents are, or why you were tossed off a cliff. Therefore, it might be that your origins are different from what is presented. Your story would start with you being found by the sept's jarl. Of course, maybe there were clues. Perhaps the swaddling clothes provided a hint to your origins. Perhaps your mother went so far as to include a scroll with a written testimonial (maybe as a prayer of sorts) explaining why she felt the need to sacrifice you. In that case, you would certainly know your origins, at least if the evidence was to be believed.

If it's okay with you, I'd like to skip the part about the ritual adversely affecting your mind.

Concerning your birthmark: when you were born, the Cult of the Emperor was on excellent terms with the Church of Avandra, so that wouldn't have become a point of contention. The Cog of Erathis could get you into trouble in one of two ways: it could be interpreted as being the Cog of the Royal Sect; or its placement on your body could be taken as sacrilegious.

Other birthmark symbols that would get you into trouble:
The Hammer of Moradin
The Ruby of Asmodeus
The Eye of Gruumsh
The Serpent of Zehir
Symbology associated with demons or rebellious primordials

Whatever you decide, I do hope you're not planning for your character to drop his drawers in order to prove anything.

By the way, if you want to submit your character to public scrutiny, that's fine with me, but you always have the option of sending me your character's details through private message. All that the other players need to know is you're a half-elf barbarian.

**yukonhorror** · 03-26-2009, 10:56 AM

deleted for sake of mystery

**JohnChrist** · 03-30-2009, 03:47 PM

As it looks like people are trying to get their bearings on the roles of the party I thought I'd create a thread for profiles to be posted and start it off with what I have finalized of mine.

He's Morgran a Half-Elf Paladin.

Character background

Morgran is a 27 year old half-elf paladin with very little evidence in his features of his elven ancestry. His grandfather on his mother Vatrian’s side of the family was an elven scout and ranger, Morgoand, who accompanied a diplomatic party from the Deep Woods into the Empire and repatriated to the area for some time. Morgoand eventually left with his wife, angered by the ever increasing taxes and repressive life within the Empire, when Vatrian had reached adulthood. Vatrian stayed and married into a wealthy family.

Morgran’s parents kept his and his mother’s heritage a secret from everyone, including Morgran until his 20th birthday, to better fit in with human society. As a result, Morgran feels disconnected from his elven heritage and strives to learn all he can about elves and elf customs.

Morgran joined the Raven Brotherhood at age 16 and worked his way through the ranks to become a decorated warrior. However, he longed to travel the Empire to learn all he could about elves. He left to learn all he could about elves at age 22.

In his five years of travel his heart has changed greatly in his view of the world. During those years he traveled the length and breadth of the Deep Woods soaking in elven culture. During this time he began to agree more and more with the elves lifestyle of living in tune with nature. He’s come to think that, “Little, of any good, can be accomplished by vast armies. People are always better served by small groups of driven people.”

Originally Posted by Umiushi

(The Raven Brotherhood is) actually not a military order. It's more like a society of duelists. Your ranks are the number of people you've slain. Your decorations are the trophies you've taken from their bodies. Raven Brothers rarely work together in groups larger than two or three because, even if you're in good standing, or maybe even more so if you're in good standing, another Raven Brother is as likely to want to fight you as he is to want to help you. Therefore, Raven Brothers who join parties of adventurers, as you have done, often lead longer lives. Sometimes groups of Raven Brothers gather for a specific purpose, but usually disband soon after.

Recently, a fellow Brotherhood member named Galandral tracked Morgran down looking for a duel; a young brash fellow looking to make a name for himself within the Brotherhood. Before the fight the two talked for some time with Galandral telling Morgran of the state of the Empire and Morgran telling of why he had been gone from the Empire so long.

Morgran has been brought back to the heart of the Empire by the recent toppling of the Church of Avandra. While he doesn’t necessarily agree with the tenets of the church, he feels that if he doesn’t support them in some way that there is every possibility that one day the Empire may come after the followers of the Raven Queen. Also, the shadowy government, especially the unnamed Emporer, has, of late, come to trouble him. Along the way Morgran met up with Myn’s band of wanderers/migrants and decided to accompany them.

He also has an extreme distaste for the undead which “are unnatural abominations which should be destroyed at all cost…AT ALL COSTS!”

And because the character sheets turned out not to be as legible as I had hoped:

Character Sheet (in text form)

**ulgrath** · 03-30-2009, 08:18 PM

well I dont have mine rolled yet will get to it on the first but will be a cleric of dont know race yet

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Galin Goldgut, level 1
Dwarf, Cleric
Background: Geography - Mountains

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 15, Dex 8, Int 11, Wis 18, Cha 16.

Starting Ability Scores
Str 10, Con 13, Dex 8, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 16.

AC: 16 Fort: 12 Reflex: 10 Will: 16
HP: 27 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 6

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion, Insight, Heal, Dungeoneering.

FEATS
1: Ritual Caster
1: Implement Expertise (holy symbol)

POWERS
1, At-Will: Lance of Faith
1, At-Will: Sacred Flame
1, Encounter: Healing Strike
1, Daily: Beacon of Hope

ITEMS
Ritual Book, Adventurer's Kit, Chainmail, Warhammer, Throwing hammer (4), Holy Symbol

RITUALS
Gentle Repose, Tenser's Floating Disk
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
and i am old school sorry rolled for me means created :-P

**yukonhorror** · 03-30-2009, 09:13 PM

rolled?

what are you rolling for character creation?

**Umiushi** · 03-31-2009, 06:13 AM

Zephyr Fireblood Thread Moved Into Characters Thread
Now that we have a Characters thread, I decided to incorporate the Zephyr Fireblood thread into it. I'm re-posting this here, since the Announcements are not visible to people who only view the Social Group. (Just as the calendar is not visible to people who only view the Forum.)

Current Roster (Player: Character - Race Class)
Cocoa: [name unreported] - [Eladrin?] [Warlord, or Defender or Striker, as Ulgrath is planning a Cleric]
JohnChrist: Morgran - Half-elven Paladin
Myn: Myn - Elven Druid
TheGreenLabrador: Tanglar - Half-orcish Ranger
Ulgrath: [name unreported] - [race unreported] Cleric
Yukonhorror: Zephyr Fireblood - Half-elven Barbarian

Party Formation
For the rest of this week, as you get your characters finalized (and some of them seem to be finalized already), determine what foundations this party rests on. They can be simple or complex, but they have to work, and they have to work for more than one adventure. Some of you are already at work determining your characters' relationships to each other, and that's very good. I would like to offer some further guidance now.

First of all, a little more information on where you are is in order. While it would be advantageous to make the local area completely freeform, so that you could create convenient facts, the truth of the matter is that some aspects of the Beil Valley are fairly strictly defined, and the player characters simply do not yet know what those aspects are.

I have settled for making as much as possible freeform, but I will have to reserve a certain amount of veto power in this case. Basically, if your definitions of the Beil Valley veer too far from my "truth," I'll step in and alert you. However, it is possible that your character could simply be operating under false assumptions, and will be alerted to the true state of affairs after his or her arrival.

Everyone left Byswell Town two days ago. Though individual motivations may vary somewhat, the party as a whole is heading towards a specific destination in the Beil Valley. This is probably Beilston, a major trading hub and the largest community along the Yu River. If you're trying to find knowledge or opportunity concerning some facet of the southern Empire, Beilston is where you wish to be. Unless you specifically include it in your character background, you have never been to Beilston before. The Yu Valley on the map is simply to show what's further down the river; nobody is heading there.

There is one other well-known location in the Beil: the large Temple of Lightning's Spear, dedicated to the Great Master Kord, stands in the northeastern portion of the valley. However, this may not be of interest to anyone other than devotees of the Great Master.

It's better to have ties with as many or all of the other characters as possible. For one thing, this will help you get used to communicating with each other as players. Also, this avoids the situation where the one character who's the sole reason you're here leaves or gets killed, and suddenly your character has no reason to be with the party anymore.

Don't be afraid of using simple reasons. While it's perfectly acceptable, and often rewarding, to forge complex motives, something as straightforward as "we happen to get along," is a fine justification. Just be prepared to back it up: if you get along with another character, make an effort to get along with that character. At least, approach it from the standpoint of professional cooperation and be forgiving of the faults of others.

I don't really need to say it, but just for the record, don't let some Feywild clique form. TheGreenLabrador's Tanglar, and Ulgrath's character, whatever race he decides on, both need to be fully integrated into the party. I've seen lots of inspiring and creative ideas pour forth just in the few days that I've been communicating with all of you, so I expect that there won't be any problems in this regard.

Since the D&D stereotype is a mutual enmity between elves and orcs, I'll set the record straight as to how things really are in the Empire and the surrounding lands. Historically, there were no Great Wars between elves and orcs in this part of the world. It is the dwarves and orcs that are generally in conflict, over land in the Orange Peaks. While nations often have one racial majority, such as humans in the Empire of Aucothia, or goblins in the Five Kingdoms, conflicts are usually perceived as ethnic rather than racial. Thus, to take the previous example, a dwarven community may find itself employing an orcish mercenary band from the Empire to defend against raids from an Orange Peaks orcish tribe, which may in turn be relying upon a renegade party of dwarven sappers.

I hope this makes it easier to perceive a situation where a party can contain elves and half-orcs without too much head-scratching.

**yukonhorror** · 03-31-2009, 10:36 AM

i guess this is where you would like the party integration.

Unsure of himself and a bit afraid of what's to come, Zephyr sat in the ferry on its way to Beilston. He grabbed the end of his sash, studying the elaborate embroidery. Under his breath he let his thoughts slip out, "I wonder what these symbols mean. Maybe I can find a tailor in town, hopefully he can give me an idea what this is all about." With that, he let out a rather loud *sigh*.

**Myn** · 03-31-2009, 02:52 PM

Would we need to RP the reasons that we're sticking together? It seems like it would be easier to work out OoC.

On that note, the background that I've worked out with Umiushi concerning my character is that he is part of a community of elves that are fleeing the deep woods in favor of someplace a safer. The community has been picking up a number of other bands of refugees as we've moved north, and now we have a pretty diverse group.

Morgran, Umi PM'd me that you and I are both from the Deep Woods, do you think it would be plausible that your character is part of this group?

Myn (the character, perhaps I should change his name) is good-aligned, and generally very amiable, so I'm certain I can work out a "we became friends over the course of a conversation on the barge" story to bind myself and any of the other characters if there are no other reasons for us to stick together.

**yukonhorror** · 03-31-2009, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Myn

Myn (the character, perhaps I should change his name) is good-aligned, and generally very amiable, so I'm certain I can work out a "we became friends over the course of a conversation on the barge" story to bind myself and any of the other characters if there are no other reasons for us to stick together.

That's sort of what I was thinking. Hence the large sigh.

**Cocoa** · 03-31-2009, 04:18 PM

I dont have mine rolled yet will get to it on the first but will be a cleric of dont know race yet

That will be fun! We'll have a fair amount of healing abilities in our party. That should come in handy.

TheGreenLabrador: Tanglar - Half-orcish Ranger

Will you be a ranged or a melee fighter?

I could switch to a Defender role, possibly a fighter. But I'll probably stick with the Eladrin Warlord, simply because I haven't played one before. My final choices will emphasize the defender/striker sub-role more than the healing. I can choose better if I knew who else would be doing melee attacks, and who would mostly be doing ranged attacks.

My character will get along with everyone if at all possible. Race and alignment differences won't be an issue.

**TheGreenLabrador** · 03-31-2009, 04:24 PM

Tanglar would be in the area firstly, to visit the temple of the master. Beyond that though...

He enjoys teaching people the benefits and pleasures of throwing things, drinking, and other basic pleasures in life. Recruiting him into a mission is fairly easy especially when it can lead to a temple of Kord, so most likely, I think he would have joined the group to aid them in their travels into Beil Valley.

Tanglar is a throwing/melee combatant. So, both. As he gets higher levels, he will be mostly a ranged combatant to offset the high number of melee combatants we have in the group.

**yukonhorror** · 03-31-2009, 04:49 PM

because of the multiclassing, I will have a mix of range and melee too, but will focus more on melee.

**Umiushi** · 03-31-2009, 06:23 PM

Party Formation Etiquette
You don't need to role-play the reasons for getting together, but you may if you wish. When the adventure starts, we'll break role-playing and game talk into two separate threads, but for this week, I'll let people use hybrid methods.

Party Destination
Looking at the recent posts, we have one character clearly interested in Beilston and another aiming for the Temple of Lightning's Spear. You're going to have to pick one, but here's some information to make it easier: anyone who is a devotee of the Great Master, or anyone who's talked to one recently, would know that there's a small branch temple in Beilston, the Garden of Preparation. Traditionally, petitioners to the main temple spend some time in contemplation at the Garden, first. Also, Beilston is upriver from the landing that leads to the Temple.

**yukonhorror** · 03-31-2009, 07:14 PM

with that in mind. I figure I talk to someone, and decide to go with them. Although I am curious to investigate my sash, I have lost my sense of purpose to a point, and would like my life to have meaning again. If that means helping someone out, or providing company on a pilgrimage, I'm all for it.

So I can forgoe Beilston (sp?).

In short, Zephyr is sort of handing over his next stage in life, and letting the "spirits" decide where he should go. Hopefully, they'll guide him to the information/purpose he seeks. Also, understanding, they work in mysterious ways, and to not turn down an opportunity.

Even shorter, will follow any of you if you have a purpose set in stone.