Building a Pair [Archive] - Wizards Community

Building a Pair [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Fell
05-04-07, 08:49 AM My friend and I are putting together a couple of adventurers (2 of a 4 man group) and I thought I would bounce what we have so far off you guys here on the boards.

Both characters come from a NG clan of barbarians living in the demon wastes called "The Clan of Four Skulls". They have survived for generations in secrecy, living near the coast and using a magic item called the "Water Stone" to survive on meager hunting. Until recently when the clan leader began having the tribe raid nearby barbarian tribes. In the last 10 years the tribe has dwindled from nearly 200 members to a mere 60 through raiding and disease.

Fell is a "reluctant leader" archetype. He is a barbarian, 1st level. He was the son of a chief to a barbarian tribe in the Demon Wastes. When he didn't develop a dragon mark (the leader has an aberrant mark) his father married a sorceress who gave him a dragon marked heir. When Fell's father died, his step mother (called "The Crone") took over the clan, leading through her son (Fell's Half-brother). This means the clan would be taking more risky actions (raiding, ect.) so he lead those who wanted to leave to the "City of Chiefs" that he had heard about. 20 people followed him from their home to Bloody Crescent (he thinks anyone with a dragon mark is a chief, so this House Thrakkesh encampment is a magical place).

Fell went from a 1st level warrior to a 1st level Barbarian on this trip. He is Chaotic Good. He has a low constitution as a result of long term childhood poisoning (the crone). This is why he uses a reach weapon.

Vale is an "archivist" archetype. Which is convenient since she is an Archivist (heroes of horror). A Daelkyr Half-Breed, Vale was found by the Clan of Four Skulls as an infant. She would have been killed if not for the crying of the infant Fell. Spared this fate, she grew up as a member of the clan. When "The Crone" took over she knew her days would be few under the new leadership. Following her lifelong friend Fell, they went to Bloody Crescent where she discovered new gods and magics she had never imagined. She helped her clan find work as menial laborers and guides.

Vale went from 1st level adapt to 1st level Archivist during this period. She is Lawful Neutral. She has the Blood Leech symbiont and talks to it internally, occasionally finishing conversations out loud that the rest of the group was not privy too.

Knowing that "The Crone" would could magically track Fell, and that Vale was in danger because of her race (although easy to hide) the two of them booked passage to the City of Towers. Their hope is to find information or power someplace in the world to free the Demon Wastes and provide a place for their people. They will travel to the ends of the earth to find a way to make a place for their people in their homeland.
Westbound
05-05-07, 01:31 PM I'm not too familiar with Eberron (I've never liked that campaign setting), but if I understand you correctly, you're characters are trying to relocate their clan to a more peaceful place, right?

If so, then I have a couple of questions.

First, what does your DM think of all this? This is important because if he is not going to run his campaign based on your extensive and interesting background, you've just wasted your time. You can't force him to adopt your background, and he doesn't have to run it. As interesting as it is, he's not going to run a refugee campaign when he's got dungeons and castles and tombs and other places to run you through. Most DMs aren't like me and create a detailed campaign that's character driven. What I mean by that is that D&D is largely a site-driven game, meaning that the DM creates a location and directs your characters there, and you have to survive his labyrinth of monsters, traps, and treasures. A character-driven game is harder to manage because you can't entirely predict what your players are going to do; the best thing to do is to spend a good month of hard work creating and fashioning the world where the players exist, from townships to armies to dungeons - and then let the players do what they want, and respond accordingly. If your DM is not running a character-driven campaign, then your background means squat. And if he's partially running a character-driven campaign, giving a little attention to it here and there, you're going to be immensely dissatisfied with how it all turns out because your DM is not particularly interested in it with regard to his campaign. It's partly this reason that a lot of female players, seeking something of a romantic element in their games, end up looking for other games to play than D&D.

Secondly, what do you expect from this background? Your background is pending on things. You have given yourself a quest that you have no way of knowing if it'll be addressed by your DM until you ask him. A good background will give your characters a general goal to achieve (like, your character wants to be a king someday, or lift his family out of poverty, or get married and have kids, or become a knight, or vanquish great evil, or become a hero, etc.). The problem with your background is, if I've understood correctly, that you want to relocate your clan. Well, this has a lot of problems associated with it, but the biggest problem is your expectations.

If you seek to see a happy ending, where your clan ends up in a verdant fairy land of peace and farming, that's nice, but remember you're not the only one writing this story. Your DM may have other plans. What if your clan likes your step-mother and step-brother? What if they don't want to go to a land of milk and honey? What if they're killed off by enemies before your characters even meet up with them again? You see where I'm going with this?

Now, I like your background. It's great if you're thinking of making a story out of it. But this is a role-playing game we're talking about, a game where both you and the DM helps to fashion a story of sorts. And it's not entirely collaborative. After all, should your character die, it's not as though you expected that to happen, is it?

When you play this game, you shouldn't put too much expectation of an outcome. Instead, make a goal, and work to meet that end. Work that out with your DM, of course, and he may oblige you (but then again, he might not). Gauge your DM, find out what kind of games he's inclined to run, be they mainly site-driven or whatever.
boggler65
05-05-07, 03:24 PM I just have a question about Vale's class.
She was raised by barbarians right? Then she went with Fell on a journey. If she was raised by barbarians, who are illiterate, and therefore can't read or write, why would she become an archivist? Barbarians don't exactly have access to a lot of books and what not, and even after she left she was travelling, which means she still wouldn't have access to a lot of books. How then would she become an archivist? The archivist adds flavor, but it doesn't make any sense, starting out as an adept it would be far more logical that on the journey she progressed to a 1st level sorcerer. That would fit in with her background, because it would mean that she wouldn't have to be studious. Even if she does learn to read at some point.
Plus, again she was raised by barbarians, so a lawful alignment doesn't make a lot of sense. A neutral or chaotic one would seem to fit more.
As for the actual plot elements of their backgrounds those seem pretty sound.
Fell
05-06-07, 11:46 AM Well from what I gather our DM really wants to run a character driven game. I, however, have set this up to be more flexible in what we receive. Fell did not take the entire clan with him, just 1/3 (about 20 people) and he isn't looking for a new home for them. He is looking to return to the demon wastes some day with enough power to make it safe. It is his home and he doesn't want a new one permanently. At least not yet, the story might go that way.

The idea was to give him a reason to adventure (finding something strong enough to let him return to the demon lands). I have built in possible complications for my DM to throw during our adventuring (the crone tracking us down in the jungles of xendrik, ect) but I don't expect him to do so.

As for her archivist levels, she wanted to mark herself as different from the clan. Something they see as alien. Just as a civilized society looks upon Barbarians. Keep in mind that not all Barbarian tribes are illiterate, just members of the Barbarian class.

To that end, we are playing the Breed Leech up as a something that moves from host to host when the host breeds. The breed leech on her served as a tutor of sorts (allowing her to cast memorize Read Magic without a spellbook, a class feature explained). There are magic runes in hidden places in the Demon Wastes. She is writing up a more intricate background at the moment. I think it includes a year in Festering Boil (or whatever that towns name is) during her "Ritual of the Culling Moons" a time where a 12 year old is expected to go into the wilderness and eat only what he kills for a year.

As for the alignment... we are a little looser with how we interpret it. Being Lawful for Vale only means she thinks the universe is ordered in some fundamental way. It colors her actions because she expects a predictable response to the things she does. She is not "lawful" in the sense that she obeys the laws. She is lawful because she possesses the desire and the discipline to study the mysteries of the universe. She doesn't really worry about the outcome either way, she believes the universe will sort it out. She even took the Dragon Prophesier feat, she is always looking up at the Siberis Ring and trying to decipher its meaning. She doesn't know it's the dragon prophecy, she hasn't gotten there yet. She probably believes that a group of people should have a chief and be led.

This is very different from Fell's chaotic nature. He doesn't expect predictable responses and does not give them all the time either. He goes from "the gut", but genuinely cares about the outcome. He is chaotic in that he is not reactionary. He is willing to go against the social morays and do what he feels is "right" regardless of how much suffering is caused along the way. He believes that no one should bow before a ruler, that all people should be their own master.

Both of their idea's have been untested, and hopefully we can watch them grow as they adventure, maybe changing alignment slightly, maybe refining what they believe within their alignment.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fell 05-04-07, 08:49 AM	My friend and I are putting together a couple of adventurers (2 of a 4 man group) and I thought I would bounce what we have so far off you guys here on the boards. Both characters come from a NG clan of barbarians living in the demon wastes called "The Clan of Four Skulls". They have survived for generations in secrecy, living near the coast and using a magic item called the "Water Stone" to survive on meager hunting. Until recently when the clan leader began having the tribe raid nearby barbarian tribes. In the last 10 years the tribe has dwindled from nearly 200 members to a mere 60 through raiding and disease. Fell is a "reluctant leader" archetype. He is a barbarian, 1st level. He was the son of a chief to a barbarian tribe in the Demon Wastes. When he didn't develop a dragon mark (the leader has an aberrant mark) his father married a sorceress who gave him a dragon marked heir. When Fell's father died, his step mother (called "The Crone") took over the clan, leading through her son (Fell's Half-brother). This means the clan would be taking more risky actions (raiding, ect.) so he lead those who wanted to leave to the "City of Chiefs" that he had heard about. 20 people followed him from their home to Bloody Crescent (he thinks anyone with a dragon mark is a chief, so this House Thrakkesh encampment is a magical place). Fell went from a 1st level warrior to a 1st level Barbarian on this trip. He is Chaotic Good. He has a low constitution as a result of long term childhood poisoning (the crone). This is why he uses a reach weapon. Vale is an "archivist" archetype. Which is convenient since she is an Archivist (heroes of horror). A Daelkyr Half-Breed, Vale was found by the Clan of Four Skulls as an infant. She would have been killed if not for the crying of the infant Fell. Spared this fate, she grew up as a member of the clan. When "The Crone" took over she knew her days would be few under the new leadership. Following her lifelong friend Fell, they went to Bloody Crescent where she discovered new gods and magics she had never imagined. She helped her clan find work as menial laborers and guides. Vale went from 1st level adapt to 1st level Archivist during this period. She is Lawful Neutral. She has the Blood Leech symbiont and talks to it internally, occasionally finishing conversations out loud that the rest of the group was not privy too. Knowing that "The Crone" would could magically track Fell, and that Vale was in danger because of her race (although easy to hide) the two of them booked passage to the City of Towers. Their hope is to find information or power someplace in the world to free the Demon Wastes and provide a place for their people. They will travel to the ends of the earth to find a way to make a place for their people in their homeland.
Westbound 05-05-07, 01:31 PM	I'm not too familiar with Eberron (I've never liked that campaign setting), but if I understand you correctly, you're characters are trying to relocate their clan to a more peaceful place, right? If so, then I have a couple of questions. First, what does your DM think of all this? This is important because if he is not going to run his campaign based on your extensive and interesting background, you've just wasted your time. You can't force him to adopt your background, and he doesn't have to run it. As interesting as it is, he's not going to run a refugee campaign when he's got dungeons and castles and tombs and other places to run you through. Most DMs aren't like me and create a detailed campaign that's character driven. What I mean by that is that D&D is largely a site-driven game, meaning that the DM creates a location and directs your characters there, and you have to survive his labyrinth of monsters, traps, and treasures. A character-driven game is harder to manage because you can't entirely predict what your players are going to do; the best thing to do is to spend a good month of hard work creating and fashioning the world where the players exist, from townships to armies to dungeons - and then let the players do what they want, and respond accordingly. If your DM is not running a character-driven campaign, then your background means squat. And if he's partially running a character-driven campaign, giving a little attention to it here and there, you're going to be immensely dissatisfied with how it all turns out because your DM is not particularly interested in it with regard to his campaign. It's partly this reason that a lot of female players, seeking something of a romantic element in their games, end up looking for other games to play than D&D. Secondly, what do you expect from this background? Your background is pending on things. You have given yourself a quest that you have no way of knowing if it'll be addressed by your DM until you ask him. A good background will give your characters a general goal to achieve (like, your character wants to be a king someday, or lift his family out of poverty, or get married and have kids, or become a knight, or vanquish great evil, or become a hero, etc.). The problem with your background is, if I've understood correctly, that you want to relocate your clan. Well, this has a lot of problems associated with it, but the biggest problem is your expectations. If you seek to see a happy ending, where your clan ends up in a verdant fairy land of peace and farming, that's nice, but remember you're not the only one writing this story. Your DM may have other plans. What if your clan likes your step-mother and step-brother? What if they don't want to go to a land of milk and honey? What if they're killed off by enemies before your characters even meet up with them again? You see where I'm going with this? Now, I like your background. It's great if you're thinking of making a story out of it. But this is a role-playing game we're talking about, a game where both you and the DM helps to fashion a story of sorts. And it's not entirely collaborative. After all, should your character die, it's not as though you expected that to happen, is it? When you play this game, you shouldn't put too much expectation of an outcome. Instead, make a goal, and work to meet that end. Work that out with your DM, of course, and he may oblige you (but then again, he might not). Gauge your DM, find out what kind of games he's inclined to run, be they mainly site-driven or whatever.
boggler65 05-05-07, 03:24 PM	I just have a question about Vale's class. She was raised by barbarians right? Then she went with Fell on a journey. If she was raised by barbarians, who are illiterate, and therefore can't read or write, why would she become an archivist? Barbarians don't exactly have access to a lot of books and what not, and even after she left she was travelling, which means she still wouldn't have access to a lot of books. How then would she become an archivist? The archivist adds flavor, but it doesn't make any sense, starting out as an adept it would be far more logical that on the journey she progressed to a 1st level sorcerer. That would fit in with her background, because it would mean that she wouldn't have to be studious. Even if she does learn to read at some point. Plus, again she was raised by barbarians, so a lawful alignment doesn't make a lot of sense. A neutral or chaotic one would seem to fit more. As for the actual plot elements of their backgrounds those seem pretty sound.
Fell 05-06-07, 11:46 AM	Well from what I gather our DM really wants to run a character driven game. I, however, have set this up to be more flexible in what we receive. Fell did not take the entire clan with him, just 1/3 (about 20 people) and he isn't looking for a new home for them. He is looking to return to the demon wastes some day with enough power to make it safe. It is his home and he doesn't want a new one permanently. At least not yet, the story might go that way. The idea was to give him a reason to adventure (finding something strong enough to let him return to the demon lands). I have built in possible complications for my DM to throw during our adventuring (the crone tracking us down in the jungles of xendrik, ect) but I don't expect him to do so. As for her archivist levels, she wanted to mark herself as different from the clan. Something they see as alien. Just as a civilized society looks upon Barbarians. Keep in mind that not all Barbarian tribes are illiterate, just members of the Barbarian class. To that end, we are playing the Breed Leech up as a something that moves from host to host when the host breeds. The breed leech on her served as a tutor of sorts (allowing her to cast memorize Read Magic without a spellbook, a class feature explained). There are magic runes in hidden places in the Demon Wastes. She is writing up a more intricate background at the moment. I think it includes a year in Festering Boil (or whatever that towns name is) during her "Ritual of the Culling Moons" a time where a 12 year old is expected to go into the wilderness and eat only what he kills for a year. As for the alignment... we are a little looser with how we interpret it. Being Lawful for Vale only means she thinks the universe is ordered in some fundamental way. It colors her actions because she expects a predictable response to the things she does. She is not "lawful" in the sense that she obeys the laws. She is lawful because she possesses the desire and the discipline to study the mysteries of the universe. She doesn't really worry about the outcome either way, she believes the universe will sort it out. She even took the Dragon Prophesier feat, she is always looking up at the Siberis Ring and trying to decipher its meaning. She doesn't know it's the dragon prophecy, she hasn't gotten there yet. She probably believes that a group of people should have a chief and be led. This is very different from Fell's chaotic nature. He doesn't expect predictable responses and does not give them all the time either. He goes from "the gut", but genuinely cares about the outcome. He is chaotic in that he is not reactionary. He is willing to go against the social morays and do what he feels is "right" regardless of how much suffering is caused along the way. He believes that no one should bow before a ruler, that all people should be their own master. Both of their idea's have been untested, and hopefully we can watch them grow as they adventure, maybe changing alignment slightly, maybe refining what they believe within their alignment.