Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bendrakar Thurnmoore 11-04-03, 04:26 PM	I was going to start a new campaign sometime soon, and I want to play a character that isn't the norm, like a half orc paladin, or a halfling barbarian, or a dwarven rogue. Here's what I need help on. I haven't ever really made an in depth character bio, and I need to know a few good ways to go about it with a character like a halfling barbarian. The character ideas in playing around with are those I have mentioned, plus a gnome fighter. Any help I can get is great.
Cozmo 11-04-03, 04:50 PM	Well, no offense to any Pygmies out there, but a look at any information on their society might give ideas for a Halfling Barbarian. Wnen I try to make a quirky combo PC, I look at what happened in the characters past to make them different. Was the Gnome thought of as the black sheep of his family and therefore didn't think he was good for anything but fighting? Maybe the Dwarven Rogue began as a locksmith, building security systems and then realized there was more money on the "other side". Forrest Whitaker's character in "Panic Room" might be a good example. He is the guy that played "Ghost Dog', another great character that breaks the mold. Maybe an orc or a half-orc was rescued from angry villagers by a compassionate Paladin as a baby. The paladin could be a Quixotic type adn have a hard time getting people to take him seriously. Finding it hard to entice any boys to become his squire, he could take the rc or half-orc under his wing.
TheMightyMcClaw 11-04-03, 06:28 PM	Here's a few from my own experience.... Darak, LE Dwarven Rogue: Darak is motivated by two things in life: money and survival; despite how often these goals seem to come into conflict. A skilled carpenter, engineer, and mason, Darak's true skills lie in manipulation. He is an adventurer; or rather, he works with adventurers. Marketing his skills with mechanical devices, traps, archicture (you have to know when a dungeon is about to collapse), Darak travels from one band to another delving into various pits of the earth. He does not typically fight (after all, he's not a fighter); he prefers to see the others being harmed, not himself. When he does enter combat, he prefers to fight with crossbows at a range, with at least one "human shield" between him and the enemy. Darak's greatest asset in his pursuit of wealth is his ability to assess material value. Where others may have only vague notions of the value of the treasure they accumulate, Darak's keen eyes lead him to the most valuable; and his silver tongue allow him to convince the rest of the party otherwise. Thus, they do not see that the silver amulet in his hand is actually platinum, or that the plain-looking dagger is actually highly magical. Through this sort of manipulation, Darak is able to profit far above other members of the party while appearing to only take a fair and modest share of the loot. Mechanics: Stats: High charisma, high intelligence. He must be able to constantly decieve other party members, and maintain a large number of skills. Skills: -Search (for finding loot) -Disable device -Appraise -Bluff -Diplomacy (people liking him are likely to make them better trust him) -Craft (engineering) -Spot (to see those little coins of great value, and to notice those braces that are right about to collapse). -Forgery (you never know ^_^) -Knowledge (various topics) The evil part might be non-conducive to your group, but I hope this gives you some ideas.
Bendrakar Thurnmoore 11-05-03, 12:03 AM	Nice ideas. I like the Forest Whitaker comparison. I was thinking of running the dwarven rogue idea, just because my DM never has us do anything in town, it's always dungeon this, cave that, so the darkvision would be helpful. Not to mention being able to move more silently than usual. Also, I have this problem with my DM not letting us go where we want, it's always you go here, and you don't feel like going anywhere else. So I want to play an off the wall character who has different motives for why he adventures than just wanting gold, and rescuing whoever my DM has planned for us to rescue. Good ideas though, I might use them.
eudas 11-05-03, 01:23 AM	Originally posted by Cozmo (snip) Maybe an orc or a half-orc was rescued from angry villagers by a compassionate Paladin as a baby. The paladin could be a Quixotic type adn have a hard time getting people to take him seriously. Finding it hard to entice any boys to become his squire, he could take the rc or half-orc under his wing. Funny, when we played through the Sunless Citadel, my CG rogue friend and my LG fighter (eventual Paladin) rescued a goblin girl from a bunch of kobolds who were going to roast her by "showing them how to really baste her" (it was with their own territory-marking excrement-blood paint).. since the CG rogue had marked her, they gave her to him (and me) and got really ****** at us... setting us on an eventual collision course with the kobolds of that area (we had previously been dealing with them). We locked her in a double-doored room, and left her some moldy bread and a rations in the hope that she'd still be alive after we came back from deeper in the Citadel... unfortunately, she had starved to death (bringing my NPC indirect-death toll in that module up to... 3, i think -- poor Meepo, who got iced by the white dragonling and then fell in a pit trap with me (crash!), poor Grickard (the gnome cleric), who died saving us from skeletons that we activated ourselves (he did more damage than we did, using cure light on the skellies), and of course, the poor goblin girl, who starved to death while trying to claw her way out of the dark room we had locked her in). If she had been alive when we came back up, I was going to make her my squire... it would've been cool; she could either become Ftr/Pal and overcome her evil nature, or eventually become a Blackguard enemy to fight against... great drama there. Ah well. eudas
Gingerbread Guy 11-05-03, 05:09 AM	Hiho, So, there's this elf maiden.. beautiful, even among elves, gracefull and talented. She's a prodigy among her people, and when a good druid called out to her people for help in defending her grove, the elf maiden obviously took up the call. The druid was indeed in distress, and the elf maiden came to his defense. She fought valliantly with her foe [whatever creature is appropriate], and saved the day - however, she was mortally wounded in the process. Darkness clouded the mid day sky, and the black wings of death curled around her. She thought she heard the songs of her elven ancestors calling her to the afterlife.... Gratefull and heart broken at the beautiful elf-maiden's sacrifice, the Druid appealed to his order and was granted one request - that the poor woman's life be restored to her, since it was cut so short in their service. The elf maiden was restored, her soul tugged back from the gates of the afterlife and housed lovingly in a new body provided by mother nature herself. However, mother nature isn't pick as to which bodies are supplied when one is called for.. and this particular elf maiden found herself waking up as a man. A short man. A stocky man. A Dwarven man, to be precise. There you have it. A Dwarven Ranger, or Fighter, or maybe even Fighter Mage.. uses a rapier, dresses in foppish clothes, is a master with the bow.. doesn't speak a word of Dwarven, but hasn't the slightest accent when he speaks Elven. Comes back from the latrine beat red in the face. Thinks the Cha 17 human paladin is, quote "dreamy". Is very interested in finding anyone who can cast a Polymorph spell. You wanted original? There's your original. Enjoy! ~Ginger
TheMightyMcClaw 11-05-03, 07:52 PM	Hmm.... the elf thing reminds me of a character idea I had.... basically, take a CE male human fighter/warlord type, and trick him into putting on a girlde of gender change (can't recall official name) and a Helm of Alignment Change. Now it's a LG female warrior. (Over a mug of ale) "I used to be such an evil man..." "You were WHAT?"
Mr. VanderMeer 11-06-03, 08:17 AM	I have an example too. This is the background on Shem Whistler (my level 2 halfling Barbarian, he fights with a small greatsword): Among the Whistler clan, Shem was always one of the wilder ones. Most of his siblings became hunters or warriors. But Shem’s chaotic, uncontrollable urges led him to become a fierce defender of their nomadic village. In battle he roared fierce battlecries and he fought like a madman. It was for this reason that he was singled out by the lders of the clan to go on a quest. Shem was to bring glory to the Whistler name. Such an honor had never before been bestowed upon any of the men. Or so the elders said. But Shem had his doubts. Maybe they just didn’t want him around anymore? He did break a lot of things in his animalistic rages. Well, what’s the point of thinking about such things? There’s a big world out there and Shem is going to take it by force! Well, one day he will! But for now he’s busy making ends meet. He has a little knowledge of crafting metal weapons, so he’s been able to earn a little gold and buy equipment. And now the time has come that Shem is ready. He is becoming an adventurer! Shem sometimes seems a little crazy. He is unpredictable and often illogical. But he has a good heart, and he will waste no opportunity to fight against evil. He thoroughly dislikes being told what to do, and he doesn’t like to see people’s freedom limited. Shem has a great love for nature, but he has recently found that the city has it’s appeal as well. Especially taverns with rowdy men and voluptuous women. Hah, those human women are nice and big! And the man can provide a good sport in an all out bar-brawl. Shem is extremely muscular for a halfling. He has wild black uncombed hair and doesn’t bother to wash himself to often. He acts quite anti-social at times, but deep down he means well. Religion- Shem is not very religious, although he does have a habit of using religious names very often, especially when he's mad. He can construct somequite colorful sentences using the names of Djea, Kord (lord of the mountain), Hecate the frozen one, the orc deity Gulag the giantsmasher, and Bantes the peacemaker. (Example; By Hecate's frozen arse, I will strike you down with the strength of Kord, and Djea's creatures will mock you!) Over time, Shem is learning many things. He has become a little more mellow and less destructive. He has found that making friends can be quite nice.
Kethrywin 11-06-03, 04:40 PM	Originally posted by Bendrakar Thurnmoore I was thinking of running the dwarven rogue idea, just because my DM never has us do anything in town, it's always dungeon this, cave that, so the darkvision would be helpful. Not to mention being able to move more silently than usual. Also, I have this problem with my DM not letting us go where we want, it's always you go here, and you don't feel like going anywhere else. Sounds like your DM could pretty much run the campaign without players, if he doesn't give you a choice in what you do/where you go... we're always messing up our DM by changing our plans. He usually keeps 2-3 adventures set up for us to choose from. If he's got something specific in mind he always has a good reason why we have to do it now. Not just telling us we don't feel like doing anything else. But I guess each DM is different. We play several campaigns at once - and have some pretty off the wall characters. Although the strangest I think, has to be "Filthy Ike" the Kobold Paladin. I've chronicled his story in another thread, but the short version is that he performed a service after the temple that he sought sanctuary in was raided and sacked. In return, his Goddess elevated him to Paladinhood - although he's still struggling to prove this to people. Even the priests and paladins of his Goddess have a tough time believing it.
Yen-Lo-Wang 11-07-03, 09:01 PM	I was going to start a new campaign sometime soon, and I want to play a character that isn't the norm, like a half orc paladin, or a halfling barbarian, or a dwarven rogue. I have a society of arboreal halfling barbarians living in the jungles of my homebrew campaign. One of my players decided to play one as a character. His barbarian laid waste to so many opponents because no ever, EVER, EVER considers halflings a big melee threat (Barfights were fun with this guy around;)). He would open combat by throwing axes (complete with halfling thrown weapon bonus) then charge in with his long sword and rage away. All in all a great character.