Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Angelic_Demon 01-10-08, 02:13 AM	I recently made a character for a campaign, with generic setting. What do you, the experts, think of the backstory I thought up? Oh, and when I refer to her as a 'Witch', I mean the female gender version of 'Wizard', not the actual Witch class. Sokaru Rika, Cleric of Pelor Once upon a time, Sokaru was a powerful witch who worked as court mage and prophet for a powerful kingdom. Through her divinations and suggestions, the kingdom prospered for many years. However, it came one day that she began to notice another kingdom, much like hers, began to rise up to challenge her kingdom. Despite her pleads to her king to try and stop them, the force eventually invaded. Caught totally unawares, the kingdom would soon fall to the magical might of the opposing army. Sokaru met the enemy's general - a wizard to match her own powers - and fought a decisive battle to save her kingdom. She seemed to be winning, but the wizard made one final, desperate move. He unleashed all of his magical power in a massive blast, and though it killed him, it also wiped out both armies, and the witch's kingdom at the same time. But as Sokaru soon realized, her own powers had vanished - she could no longer manipulate the arcane forces. She wandered for several years, finally coming to a Church of Pelor in a small kingdom. A cleric at the church learned of her plight, and told her that becoming pious and devout towards Pelor might cause her powers to return. So for years, she studied the teachings of Pelor, all in hopes of returning to her original power. But even after ten years, she couldn't cast a simple magic missile. When she approached the cleric once more, he explained that she didn't want to believe in Pelor; she only wanted to be granted her powers that she once had. Pelor would never grant a wish such as that; not if his teachings were being followed for a selfish reason. And thus we come to present day, where she has been humbled by her meeting with the cleric. She has decided to stop pursuing her old powers altogether, and start a new life of worship towards Pelor, healing and protecting the innocent from harm. -------- Oddly enough, this idea just came to me out of the blue; I was playing World of Warcraft, and I somehow just thought of it. So...how does it sound?
I_roll_ones 01-10-08, 03:32 AM	Her first reaction to another kingdom that grows in power is to smoosh it? That seems rather evil. Fortifying or preparing for war seems more goodly, or neutral to me. Attacking because they are powerful to be a threat just smacks of a bit of evil. And while the like the idea of a very powerful character not only being stripped of her power but also being humbled and unable to regain her powers, wouldn't her knowledge arcana skill be insane? Maybe a sorcerer instead of wizard. If she has a decent CHA skill, it might work, since she would retain her base stats. Also, I would scale down the battle a tad. Maybe it took out the main forces(thus crippling them), but I don't think the entire army would be in one place. And what is the status of her old kingdom? And why Pelor of all people? What made her choose that one?
CrimsonDeath 01-10-08, 03:52 PM	Her first reaction to another kingdom that grows in power is to smoosh it? That seems rather evil. Fortifying or preparing for war seems more goodly, or neutral to me. Attacking because they are powerful to be a threat just smacks of a bit of evil. It looks to me like it was the up-and-coming kingdom that attacked the established one without provocation.
I_roll_ones 01-10-08, 05:37 PM	For me it wasn't clear, as all the other kingdom was doing was "challenging" them. That's doesn't necessarily mean actions that are violent, and they could just be strong enough to take on the first kingdom, or challenging them in trade, or maybe just challenging their honor. However, if the character got a growing suspicion or visions of an invasion, that's different, but what the kingdom did to make it attack-worthy seems vague to me.
Angelic_Demon 01-12-08, 12:43 AM	Her first reaction to another kingdom that grows in power is to smoosh it? That seems rather evil. Fortifying or preparing for war seems more goodly, or neutral to me. Attacking because they are powerful to be a threat just smacks of a bit of evil. It wasn't entirely clear on my part, I apologize. She had noticed hints of a coming invasion, but the king of her kingdom didn't believe that the other side could be a huge threat. The other kingdom made the first actual move by attacking Sokaru's kingdom. And while the like the idea of a very powerful character not only being stripped of her power but also being humbled and unable to regain her powers, wouldn't her knowledge arcana skill be insane? Maybe a sorcerer instead of wizard. If she has a decent CHA skill, it might work, since she would retain her base stats. I'm not entirely certain of the rules here, but why does this matter? The idea is that she's completely lost her ability to draw on the arcane powers. She knows how to do it, she simply can't. Also, I made her a Wizard because it seems more appropriate for a court mage/advisor. And yes, her CHA would be high if she was an advisor to a kingdom. Also, I would scale down the battle a tad. Maybe it took out the main forces(thus crippling them), but I don't think the entire army would be in one place. I suppose this one is another lack of description on my part. Think about this: the king, and all of his successors, would naturally live in the main part of their kingdom. Sokaru's kingdom was wiped out, with the exception of a few colonies that aren't really worth mentioning. As for the enemy kingdom, it's left to the reader to imagine its fate. It was crippled in the failed attack against Sokaru, and one of its top generals was defeated. But the castle keep was nowhere near Sokaru's kingdom when the blast went off. And why Pelor of all people? What made her choose that one? Player-wise, it was for the healing domain. I didn't, at first, think of a good idea for why Pelor, but this is my new explanation (After posting the original story): Sokaru wasn't wandering for years for no particular reason; she essentially spent these years living in the wilderness on her own, thinking about what had happened, and how to fix it. She finally decided to return to human civilization to try and find another wizard or academy of the same caliber of herself, and instead found the church.
MoltenDm 01-12-08, 02:32 AM	The story is interesting but a little far fetchedi can see why the other guys asked those questions, why would a mighty witch that lost her powers settle down after trying briefly (and by pelor's way cus a guy said so) start healing? Was she in any guilt?, Did she hurt anyone?, it would make more sense if she hit her head an lost her memory than that. Another thing, on Dnd a mighty wizard that wiped out alot with her last effort be epic at least, and from all that start at Cleric lvl 1? wth? My advice? Simplify things and try not to make them so epic it would make more sense. sincerely the racoon
I_roll_ones 01-12-08, 04:08 AM	She may have been a powerful witch, but she seems to have a strong tendacy to help out. And I think that I should apologize for not being clear, but why does she seek out THAT church? I am not criticizing your choices as a player, but what drives her there? I'm just curious. Is it a familiar faith from her childhood? Was the predominant faith in her kingdom? Was it simply the first one that she found, or the first one to take her in? Also, how many people recognize her? A few foreign emissaries might, but she sorta was a big wig for a while. And yeah...I would tone it down. These guys just blew up an entire country. Sure, a few builds on the CharOp forums can do it, but that's not supposed to happen all the time. Even if that country was crippled, even severely so, other countries would be scrambling to react. I would say that the first reaction would be to kiss up so you don't get exploded. The second would be to kill them so they never do it again. The third would be to steal their wizards. However, they are the biggest, baddest people around. Hey you. We don't like you...We might send a mage over. Oh hey gold, maybe we won't. But kiss your children and tell them you love them tonight, just in case. I think that's a bit much. But if the country Sokaru is from is a bunch of city-states, having a group of mages knock out a large part of that city is still a huge threat, but less...Uh, Pun-Pun got angry sorta level. It will be more moving and believable if toned down a bit, so the character is less..."I survived Doomsday!" and it makes a bit more sense. I wonder if people would be beating up mages like crazy or treating them reeeeaaaaal nice after that happened. Having a city suddenly be vaporized would probably affect the campaign by a great deal, and it might feel weird if no one remembers that country or starts acting strange around anyone with magical powers.
ObscureInfo 01-13-08, 01:36 PM	I like the story. I just have a problem with her keeping her skills. A level 1 Cleric with 15 ranks or more in Knowledge Arcana, Spellcraft, Concentration, and whatever Knowledge skills she had is very overpowering. And is she middle-aged? Complete with aging penalties? After all if she was a powerful wizard, it would have taken her a long time to get there. I might have a better way. Perhaps the spellfury that destroyed her kingdom and stole her powers also reverted her in age. She is now a little girl. She has her memories, but not her spells or skills. She in essence is starting over. A woman trapped in a girl's body. She remembers being able to do things but she lacks the information to remember how. So no skills besides what she would have as a level 1 Cleric. But her perspective would be much older. So it becomes a personality instead of a tactical advantage. As she grows in power, she may start to remember some of the things that she forgot, by putting skill ranks in those skills she had as a wizard.
MoltenDm 01-14-08, 03:59 PM	There you go..Maybe there is an artifact that can help, or a place or plane
ObscureInfo 01-16-08, 11:31 PM	A_D, what did you decide? Are you going for it or what?