Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Arcade 01-30-07, 01:28 PM	I am an elven bard living the grand life with my family, one of the priveleged noble houses of the region. Some may say I'm lacking focus or motivation, but I'm rich and I've got another 600 or 700 years years to do whatever I want. There's plenty of time later on to get serious. And I'm not exactly idle- I've been learning swordplay, archery, magic, arts, and various fields of higher education. All of the great elven fields of study are at my command, even if I only dabble in any of them. Not to mention the days in court and the royal balls. But now, I'm not only leaving home, but going adventuring. And I'm looking for a real good reason why. :) ------------------------------------------ Sums it up. A level 5 elven bard in a dungeon crawl campaign. I have a magic mithral chain shirt which I've decided is my family's ancestral suit of armor. My thinking is that something happened to force me to leave and take up a life of adventuring. It could possibly involve exile or banishment. The best I can come up with now is that my family may have been ambassadors and my younger sister was being forced to marry a corrupt human baron after he used some criminal charges (fake or real) and some heavy bribes to force the marriage or else my family would face serious prosecution. In order to save her, I step up and take the fall. The sentence is being banished from the country for the lifetime of the local baron (since he is the accusor). It's only another 70 years or so, so it's not the end of the world. The family gives me the armor and a few other goodies as I head out on my own. But then I'm stuck on why to go adventuring. I'm completely open to revamping that whole thing and changing it. Hopefully, you can give me some insight. Thanks. Arcade
Doomed_Penguin 01-30-07, 03:33 PM	Elves often go adventuring simply out of wanderlust. Maybe he's just bored. Also, you might want to go with Elven Chain for your ancestral armor. It's chainmail, but it's mithral and therefore counts as light armor (so you're still proficient in it). Not only does the name make more sense, but the fact that it's actually a "suit" of armor, rather than just a shirt, makes it a little more heirloom-ish.
Thangor 01-30-07, 05:31 PM	Maybe he wants to have something to sing about when he gets back. or maybe he wants to travel the world talking (and singing) smack about that nasty human baron. That's a good way to have revenge. Hope that helps.:D
BlackZed 01-30-07, 06:28 PM	First thing I’d like to know is how many other characters and what type of characters are also going to be in this game. It could help out with determining not only why go adventuring, but why to adventure with the rest of the group. Another thing is the adventure hook for the dungeon crawl. Is it “oh hey, there’s monsters there, let’s kill them and loot” or is there a deeper purpose to the dungeon? And what kind of alignment are we talking about here? If I were to put myself into the position of playing a similar character, I’d probably go along the lines of trying to outshine the shadow of exile. You’re barred from the country, yes, but that doesn’t mean you want your reputation to suffer because of that banishment. You’re willing to shoulder the burden, but it’s also an opportunity and you see it as such. Plus you’re a bard. You can spread word through performance about your family’s plight, without ever having to mention names. Collaborate with your DM about it, and it might not be too long before the other countries are thinking “hey, isn’t the baron of that one place married to an elf?” Subtlety is your greatest tool, and you wield it as expertly as your kin might wield their bows. Granted, that doesn’t do much in a dungeon crawl setting, but it might work out all right just to stick in there somewhere. Oh, and a side note on the performance.. if you decide to go that route, bawdy songs are often the best remembered (or at least the most often sung at the top of the lungs on the way home from the tavern ;))
Milotus 01-30-07, 06:33 PM	Search more knowledge about everything else, what he may not learn at home.
Arcade 01-30-07, 10:05 PM	Thanks for the input everyone. That was exactly what I was looking for. As for the armor, I agree that elven chain would have been nicer, but I have a 3000 gold piece limit on equipment, so magic mithral chain is as good as I can get. Thanks again for all your help.