Need help narrowing down a Lyrander char [Archive] - Wizards Community

Need help narrowing down a Lyrander char [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Muir
12-06-06, 06:28 PM Hello. I cross-posted this in the CharDev, CharOp and Eberron boards, because I can use help from people in all three areas.

Preamble: I have a character idea, but no game for him to play in, as yet. A lot of the following might change depending on what a DM allows (if I ever find one running an Eberron campaign) I also need a lot of help fitting character to concept.

Condensed Char backstory, because it is important for the character's direction:

Raised in Cyre, believing himself human, the eldest child of a pair of human nobles. Took an interest in swordplay while growing up, but muscles developed too slowly compared to surrounding peers, so he turned to scholarship instead. (I figure, even during the war, there would still be those studying non-military subjects) Married at age 26. At age 31, he was in Korranberg, pursuing some studies there. One night, he awoke in his lodgings to the tinkle of broken glass; by the light of the embers of his fire, he could see greenish fumes billowing up from a broken vial tossed through the window. Rushing to the door, he found it locked, preumably by magic, for his key would not open it. In terror, he turned to face the smoke, now filling almost the entire room, and tried fanning it away from his face, trying to keep it away from his mouth. He felt great relief when a great burst of wind came up, blowing the gas into the outside air. Then he felt an even greater shock when he noticed the Mark of Storm on his palm.

Next day he went (cautiously, and still with no idea why someone had tried to kill him) to visit a magewright acquaintance, a rather talented diviner, to try to uncover the mystery of how a the Mark of Storm could appear on a human.
He was told, after almost half a day of spells being cast, that he was indeed half-elven, and that a (OOC: permanent disguise self and variant Magic aura to disguise the disguise spell) were cast on him. After paying the magewright for the spellcasting and even more to ensure silence, he returned to his lodgings. On the way, he heard of the Mourning.

With his parents, siblings, wife, and child dead, and bearing a new dragonmark, he changed his life. For the first two years, he enlisted as a sailor on a human ship, keeping his mark under a wrap. Then he arranged for an accident where he seemingly drowned, and returned to the magewright to have the spells stripped of him. As a half-elf, under a new name, he approached House Lyrander. He still studies, but focuses now on dragonmarks, naval architecture, and storms.

So, that is out of the way. I would like this character to focus on developing his dragonmark, a bit of swashbuckling,and perhaps on spellcasting relating to weather. Archetype wise, he might fit best as a diplomat; primary spellcaster is out with the addition of DM Heir and Storm Sentinel.

For first level, if the DM allows, he would probably be Human Paragon. (Raised as human, plus I can't find another class I like, except maybe bard, but I don't really like the musical aspect of bard, otherwise, bard would be perfect.)
Second level, take half-elven paragon, so that the human paragon is legal. (Again, only if the DM allows)

Reason for taking paragon levels: This character will be very feat hungry, as seen in a bit.

Other core classes: I was looking at either sorcerer or druid for storm-related spells; after looking at the large number of spells, though, perhaps a better choice would be between wizard and druid. Swashbuckler or fighter would be nice too...

PrCs: DM Heir is a must have, and to a lesser extent, so is Storm Sentinel. I am unsure yet if I wish to go Windwright captain. (I would if it would stack with DM heir beyond five levels to increase DM caster level, but after Dragonmarked, I am unsure of that)

Feats: Here I run into trouble; there are so many I want for this character's theme...

Required:
Least DM, Favored in House.

Highly desired:
*DM Adept
DM Mastery
DM Prodigy
*DM Visionary
Mighty Dragonmark
DM Spellturning
Protective Mark

Also be nice, but not as must-have:
Storm Magic
Storm's Riposte
Stormrider
Quicken DM (Take this multiple times, or instead take DM Mastery)
Unlock DM (Especially if it allows access to other powers from feats such as DM Adept)
Mark of Recovery
Mark of the Dauntless (Good with celerity, if I can ever cast it)
Born of the 3 Thunders
Ship's Mage
Practiced Spellcaster
Storm Bolt
Hurricane Breath
Borne Aloft
Clap of Thunder

So, as you can see, I have a problem shoe-horning the character into the idea. Gestalt would fix a lot of problems, but again, that would depend on DM. If I take 2 levels human paragon and 1 1/2 elven paragon, I get two extra general feats; that leaves me with nine general feats by level 20, and two of those are taken by the prereqs for DM heir.

To reiterate:
Primary focus of the character is to develop the DM powers as far as possible. Also, diplomat(Not really a goal per-se, but I need a secondary focus no matter what classes I end up taking. Human paragon would allow Diplomacy, bluff, etc to always be class skills)
Secondary goals:
Swashbuckler (archetype, not class)
Spellcaster with storm spells
(Druid or wizard, probably; sorcerers don't know enough spells)

Thank you for your help.
Kitaki
12-07-06, 09:55 AM Ok, first off good backstory. Unfortunatly there is one big glaring hole in it, just how do you have the Mark of Storm? You have said that he is a half-elf born to human parents, which seems to me like your mother had an affair with an elf, that works. But that doesn't cover how you have a half-elf Mark. I could see you saying your character is a 3/4 human 1/4 elf with the Mark of Storm (human and half-elf parents) but I would just count you as a human for all intensive purposes.

If indeed it was your mother having an affair with an elf I would allow you to possess an elven Mark, but I can't see how you could get a half-elf Mark from a full blooded elf without getting unneccisarily complicated with the family tree.

You also didn't mention any motivation for your character to adventure, but you have 2 great plot hooks already, finding out why both your parents are human but you are a half-elf, and finding out why someone attempted to kill you.
Muir
12-07-06, 12:59 PM Whoops. had those in the original, I guess I left them out of the condensed.

First, and this is an idea that might change depending on the DM, is that his parents were half-elves, living under the same disguise spells he was. (Why is a question I would leave to the DM; my answer is that they carried the blood of two different houses (Lyrander and Phiarlan, most likely) and wanted to keep away from those concerned with purity of blood.)

As to why he adventures: After the Mourning, he needed some new activity to take his mind off of grief; his studies left him too open to reflection. At first it was the sailing, as it was one of the furthest removed activities he could think of fromm scholarly studies. There he found he actually enjoyed a more active life, but he has to a degree gone back to studies. More, I will leave until I actually find a group and tweak to the DM's campaign.
Kitaki
12-07-06, 01:16 PM Oh ok, so both parents are half-elves in disguise, little wierd, but at least I can stop trying to figure out just how that worked (really I did try to figure it out, hurt my brain). Now, most people don't take almost getting killed lightly and they sure as hell don't appreciate it. I would suggest talking to the DM about throwing in another assasination attempt or two as plothooks.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Muir 12-06-06, 06:28 PM	Hello. I cross-posted this in the CharDev, CharOp and Eberron boards, because I can use help from people in all three areas. Preamble: I have a character idea, but no game for him to play in, as yet. A lot of the following might change depending on what a DM allows (if I ever find one running an Eberron campaign) I also need a lot of help fitting character to concept. Condensed Char backstory, because it is important for the character's direction: Raised in Cyre, believing himself human, the eldest child of a pair of human nobles. Took an interest in swordplay while growing up, but muscles developed too slowly compared to surrounding peers, so he turned to scholarship instead. (I figure, even during the war, there would still be those studying non-military subjects) Married at age 26. At age 31, he was in Korranberg, pursuing some studies there. One night, he awoke in his lodgings to the tinkle of broken glass; by the light of the embers of his fire, he could see greenish fumes billowing up from a broken vial tossed through the window. Rushing to the door, he found it locked, preumably by magic, for his key would not open it. In terror, he turned to face the smoke, now filling almost the entire room, and tried fanning it away from his face, trying to keep it away from his mouth. He felt great relief when a great burst of wind came up, blowing the gas into the outside air. Then he felt an even greater shock when he noticed the Mark of Storm on his palm. Next day he went (cautiously, and still with no idea why someone had tried to kill him) to visit a magewright acquaintance, a rather talented diviner, to try to uncover the mystery of how a the Mark of Storm could appear on a human. He was told, after almost half a day of spells being cast, that he was indeed half-elven, and that a (OOC: permanent disguise self and variant Magic aura to disguise the disguise spell) were cast on him. After paying the magewright for the spellcasting and even more to ensure silence, he returned to his lodgings. On the way, he heard of the Mourning. With his parents, siblings, wife, and child dead, and bearing a new dragonmark, he changed his life. For the first two years, he enlisted as a sailor on a human ship, keeping his mark under a wrap. Then he arranged for an accident where he seemingly drowned, and returned to the magewright to have the spells stripped of him. As a half-elf, under a new name, he approached House Lyrander. He still studies, but focuses now on dragonmarks, naval architecture, and storms. So, that is out of the way. I would like this character to focus on developing his dragonmark, a bit of swashbuckling,and perhaps on spellcasting relating to weather. Archetype wise, he might fit best as a diplomat; primary spellcaster is out with the addition of DM Heir and Storm Sentinel. For first level, if the DM allows, he would probably be Human Paragon. (Raised as human, plus I can't find another class I like, except maybe bard, but I don't really like the musical aspect of bard, otherwise, bard would be perfect.) Second level, take half-elven paragon, so that the human paragon is legal. (Again, only if the DM allows) Reason for taking paragon levels: This character will be very feat hungry, as seen in a bit. Other core classes: I was looking at either sorcerer or druid for storm-related spells; after looking at the large number of spells, though, perhaps a better choice would be between wizard and druid. Swashbuckler or fighter would be nice too... PrCs: DM Heir is a must have, and to a lesser extent, so is Storm Sentinel. I am unsure yet if I wish to go Windwright captain. (I would if it would stack with DM heir beyond five levels to increase DM caster level, but after Dragonmarked, I am unsure of that) Feats: Here I run into trouble; there are so many I want for this character's theme... Required: Least DM, Favored in House. Highly desired: DM Adept DM Mastery DM Prodigy DM Visionary Mighty Dragonmark DM Spellturning Protective Mark Also be nice, but not as must-have: Storm Magic Storm's Riposte Stormrider Quicken DM (Take this multiple times, or instead take DM Mastery) Unlock DM (Especially if it allows access to other powers from feats such as DM Adept) Mark of Recovery Mark of the Dauntless (Good with celerity, if I can ever cast it) Born of the 3 Thunders Ship's Mage Practiced Spellcaster Storm Bolt Hurricane Breath Borne Aloft Clap of Thunder So, as you can see, I have a problem shoe-horning the character into the idea. Gestalt would fix a lot of problems, but again, that would depend on DM. If I take 2 levels human paragon and 1 1/2 elven paragon, I get two extra general feats; that leaves me with nine general feats by level 20, and two of those are taken by the prereqs for DM heir. To reiterate: Primary focus of the character is to develop the DM powers as far as possible. Also, diplomat(Not really a goal per-se, but I need a secondary focus no matter what classes I end up taking. Human paragon would allow Diplomacy, bluff, etc to always be class skills) Secondary goals: Swashbuckler (archetype, not class) Spellcaster with storm spells (Druid or wizard, probably; sorcerers don't know enough spells) Thank you for your help.
Kitaki 12-07-06, 09:55 AM	Ok, first off good backstory. Unfortunatly there is one big glaring hole in it, just how do you have the Mark of Storm? You have said that he is a half-elf born to human parents, which seems to me like your mother had an affair with an elf, that works. But that doesn't cover how you have a half-elf Mark. I could see you saying your character is a 3/4 human 1/4 elf with the Mark of Storm (human and half-elf parents) but I would just count you as a human for all intensive purposes. If indeed it was your mother having an affair with an elf I would allow you to possess an elven Mark, but I can't see how you could get a half-elf Mark from a full blooded elf without getting unneccisarily complicated with the family tree. You also didn't mention any motivation for your character to adventure, but you have 2 great plot hooks already, finding out why both your parents are human but you are a half-elf, and finding out why someone attempted to kill you.
Muir 12-07-06, 12:59 PM	Whoops. had those in the original, I guess I left them out of the condensed. First, and this is an idea that might change depending on the DM, is that his parents were half-elves, living under the same disguise spells he was. (Why is a question I would leave to the DM; my answer is that they carried the blood of two different houses (Lyrander and Phiarlan, most likely) and wanted to keep away from those concerned with purity of blood.) As to why he adventures: After the Mourning, he needed some new activity to take his mind off of grief; his studies left him too open to reflection. At first it was the sailing, as it was one of the furthest removed activities he could think of fromm scholarly studies. There he found he actually enjoyed a more active life, but he has to a degree gone back to studies. More, I will leave until I actually find a group and tweak to the DM's campaign.
Kitaki 12-07-06, 01:16 PM	Oh ok, so both parents are half-elves in disguise, little wierd, but at least I can stop trying to figure out just how that worked (really I did try to figure it out, hurt my brain). Now, most people don't take almost getting killed lightly and they sure as hell don't appreciate it. I would suggest talking to the DM about throwing in another assasination attempt or two as plothooks.