Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lord of the Ninth 03-09-05, 10:49 PM	My next D&D character is a half-minotaur/wildern (from dragon 313 and the Planar Handbook, for those of you who don't want to look it up wildern are upper planar badger-dwarves) exoticist (fighter varient from Dragon 310). I created this monstrocity to fit a general look, specifically I wanted a character who would look intimidating and evil, especially when wearing spiked full-plate, but would have fairly low LA and still be a nice guy (we're starting at ECL 6). So he's 9 feet tall and has an impressive pair of horns and clawed hands that grasp a very large two handed mace and he is never without his face concealing helmet. He's neutral good, has high physical stats and 12s for all his mental stats. I'm thinking about making him a philosopher of some sort, but his over all personality will be very accepting and easy going. Now here's my problem: why would something like this guy ever exist? On the one hand, my character occuring organically is absurd for any number of reasons, most of which are fairly obvious. So my other option is the interferance of a powerful wizard, but that always felt like the easy way out ("ok, so how does a gargantuan elder-daemon mate with a halfling?" "uh... A WIZARD DID IT!"). I have some ideas for happened after this. After he originated he was a social outcast (naturally), but because of the good nature of his wildern side he simply decided to not make these people's mistakes and be more accepting than wildern normally are (they're about as bad as dwarves). Because of his natural strength and endurance he took up the arms as a mercenary (primarily doing bodyguard work and trying to work for good people). Now he mostly disguises his actual identity (but not as something else, there isn't really any normal creature he looks like in armor), and tells people "he had a complicated childhood". He also has no name, not because I'm too lazy to give him one, but because I sort of feel he doesn't feel the need to name himself
Trydan 03-10-05, 04:44 AM	Perhaps the character is a lesser avatar. By that I mean, some god decides to walk amongst the mortals, and creates several beings to walk with him. These beings (your character being one of them) perform their assigned tasks and the god returns to the immortal realms, leaving you there. Thus, you have gained plenty of experience (hence starting at a higher level), but you are now free to do whatever you wish. Of course, your fury and might can be terrible indeed, after all, you are god-spawned, but you bear no malice and a disposed to be kind.
b6 03-10-05, 08:27 AM	Just because a wizard did it, that doesn't mean it didn't need to be done! That aside, i really liked Trydan's idea, and i think it offers a very viable explanation for something that otherwise (by all rights and sanities) should not exist. Your character concept is pretty interesting, for sure. Just don't rule out one of the most useful "truths" of D&D: when in doubt, a wizard did it! It isn't their faults that wizards do nearly everything, and heck, you could even try to blame it on a socerer... but honestly, you'd likely get laughed at. So, final thoughts: either a wizard or a god did it. yay. :P
aleph_woodenglenn 03-10-05, 02:28 PM	tells people "he had a complicated childhood". thats great. there is no getting around a supernatural or supernatural happening somewhere in his past. I think most characters are a bit abnormal. I think it would be great if his self- conciousness frequently gets in the way. "Oh I dunno if I should go into town...maybe I'll just sleep under this nice tree" or if npcs say rude things about his form, he's more likely to blush and say "no no, they're right. How did the gods allow such a monstrocity to live?" and then run out of the room (in tears sometimes?). On the otherhand, If anyone sees him smite the foes of good, they are likely to admire and respect him. You might not want to go that far over the top with the bashful beast thing, but I think you'll have a lot of fun with this one anyway.
Lord of the Ninth 03-10-05, 05:44 PM	Thanks everyone, I don't know about the lesser avatar thing, I sorta feel that would imply paladin or cleric levels, or some template. On the otherhand, a god like Obod-Hai, or some other god of animals might create such a being. But I talked to my DM and she came up with the idea of the wizard creating him to fend off ogres that habitually attacked him. And then my character, who is about 60 years old, outlived the wizard and left to go adventure. I'm not sure how far I want to take his shame about his identity, I'm trying to decide between a paranoid sort of "you cannot be trusted to know" or a more shame based motivation. I am incorporating some shame into him because normally wildern have a "fetid odor" about them, and minotaurs probably aren't any better, so he has incorporated an incense burner into his full plate to disguise the smell. I don't think I'll have him go so far as to ask why the gods allowed such a thing as him to live, because he was raised to have better self-esteem than that. But the tree-sitting will happen.
Rickiel 03-10-05, 06:12 PM	Well, since Wildern do come from the Beastlands.... I have a possible solution. A wildern was walking about, so was a minotaur, there was some ale involved, a large dose of Gehenna spice (a rather powerful narcotic) delivered into drinks without knowing courtesy of a fun-loving kender. A few months later presto yer born. And you serve as a lesson for many a species not to go drinking too close to each other.