Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Drayakir 04-12-07, 04:17 AM	Please read this, and then the very bottom- I need some help and I have a question. This is my character for a campaign called Count Vik-Tor von Dhum: ----------------------------------------------------------- Baron Vik-Tor von Dhum was born on a faraway plane, where he was the son of a noble house, that was loyal to the World Empire. It was a marvelous plane, with large and beautiful cities, amazing tamed and untamed nature, lots of magic- a Prime Material Plane paradise. He was the direct descendant of the von Dhum family name, and thus enjoyed a high status in the Imperial Court. He was also a master of arcane items- not a wizard, but an artificer. When his father died, he ruled justly over his Barony, and used his money and wealth to not only expand his Barony- since the World Empire was a meritocracy, and land fiefs were granted based on the skills of the leader- but also to make his people happier by supplying them with magical lights, food dispensing devices, etc. He had a beautiful wife whom he loved more than the world itself, and in general, he expected his life to be long, happy, and bountiful. However, this paradise was soon to be lost. The World Empire was assaulted by a cabal of arcane casters, called the Obsidian Conclave. They laid waste to the Imperial City of Jhantor, and Vik-Tor was one of the few nobles to survive. The Conclave began a systematic world conquest, and the Dhum Barony became the center of opposition. Rallying the remaining free people to his banner, as well as the rest of the nobles and wizards, a war that spanned the plane raged for 20 years. His wife convinced him to fight, as Vik-Tor thought it would make more sense to create a stable planar portal, and lead refugees out of it. However, she rallied him, and his troops and served as a tremendous morale booster. Vik-Tor was a powerful arcanist at the time, and as such had several clones of himself, in the case he should die. And in several cases he did, but fortunately for him, death was never permanent. He was able to resist them for all that time. Then, in one of the famous battles, the Battle of the Fire-Iron mountain, he was captured by the Obsidian Conclave. He was taken to their Citadel and horribly tortured there. The final breaking point came when he was summoned before the Obsidian Oppidans- the leading circle of the Conclave. He was bound, and shown a scrying of his wife. She sensed the invisible 'eye' that watched her and looked up at it with her wide brown eyes. Then, the 12 Oppidans blasted him with some spell- it dealt no damage to Vik-Tor, but killed his wife in front of him. Vik-Tor passed out, when he felt their link severed. He was led to the Citadel cells and left there to die and rot. However, a desperate group managed to break him out. He swore revenge on the Obsidian Conclave, and began a vicious period of counter-attacks. At the same time, he built himself a hidden castle, in the caves of Met'nir'abet'or. The Covert Complex, he called it, and there he commenced work on several projects which would allow him to defeat the Conclave. He began a series of semi-sentient constructs, as well as Thaumic Disruption Device- a bomb that would unravel local existence when activated. Vik-Tor was getting desperate, and knew that the Conclave had a better chance of winning than the resistance. Thus, he was ready to end it fast. Alas, his plans did not come to be. Due to a betrayal by one of his generals, the Conclave was able to obtain a focus that allowed them to target him with a powerful necromantic spell. It nearly killed him, and in fact, his spirit was barely clinging to his ruined body. He was considered handsome before, but now he was disfigured in the most hideous way. Lacking a large part of his torso, all of his limbs, and a chunk of his head, he had his assistants keep him alive by magic. He reconfigured one of his constructs, and placed his shattered body inside of it. Creating a contained thaumic life-support system that only partially relied on the outside world, he fused himself with the construct. He left his face open, but when he saw the torn up thing that used to be his face, the tubes that fed him oxygen, the tubes that pierced his skin into the brain to keep the blood circulating, the tubes that kept his eyes moist, the crystals that lined his mouth to sound out his words- he was disgusted, enraged, and ashamed beyond belief. He quickly forged an iron mask and a helmet which he affixed to his face and head, to forever seal away the horridness that lurked beneath the metal. He took his Thaumic Disruption Device, and rallied his armies. It was their so-called Final Stand. They threw everything they had at the Conclave, and yet, their magics proved too strong. Thus, to deny them the victory, he was ready to activate his ultimate weapon- but he paused, and realized that destroying the world not to let it fall to the enemy was foolish- he should bide his time and then re-capture it, when the Obsidian Conclave grows complacent. Thus, he reconfigured his weapon to merely cause massive destruction, and activated it. The device functioned, but drained him almost to the point of death. He realized in the seconds that his creation needed to gather the energy that he reverted to a much weaker state- and then his final 'gift' to the Conclave was delivered- about a quarter of the world was devastated. Vik-Tor did not die in the explosion. Much like the Staff of the Magi or the Staff of Power, on which he partially based his design, a planar portal opened, and sent him hurtling through the space-time continuum. He felt growing even weaker as the otherworldly environment sapped him further. Then he felt a presence calling him to some sort of world, and he felt that he was falling, falling, falling towards the beacon that sang out in his mind. As Vik-Tor drew closer to it, he felt his memory shrinking and being... locked?! ------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, so I did get influenced a bit by Dr. Doom and Darth Vader, but this guy is LN and most importantly, I designed him as a hero, so it's not likely that he's going to do evil things. He's generall law-abiding, and tries to be a good guy, but he's got several obsessive things which he would use any means for 2nd and 3rd, and any reasonable means for the 1st and 4th. 1- Regain his full memory. This basically means that he should get back to his full class, since he's starts out as like a level 18-artificer, and then has to be bumped back down to level 1- and I figured that a restricting memory block would be perfect for this. 2- Bring his dead wife back to life. This is the first of his obsessive, no cost too great goals, and he intends to give her a normal human body, not his horrible amalgamation. 3- Get revenge on the Obsidian Conclave. Also, any means necessary, so if he has to make a deal with Asmodeus, and give him 1000 souls, he would. However, if he knows there's a better alternative, he'll take the better alternative. 4- Restore his body. He wants to look human again, and feel the touch of flesh on his flesh, the cool breeze, he wants to smell things wth his nose, etc. Okay, so finally my question- does this guy come off as a tragic character? Thanks in advance.
Prom 04-13-07, 11:55 PM	Hi Drayakir, Baron Vik-Tor von Dhum has had a tragic life alright. As for the Tragic Hero it is a bit grey, and here is why. The Tragic Hero has a flaw, which eventually leads to his or her demise or defeat. What is Baron Vik-Tor von Dhum flaw? Tragic Heros do not live, how do you play this character? Here are some of the traits he needs to have: (1) He must suffer more than he deserves. (2) He must be doomed from the start, but bear no responsibility for possessing his flaw. (3) He must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him. (4) He must bring about his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him. This is the problem right here, to much happens to him from the Obsidian Conclave. (5) Hero must see and understand his doom, as well as the fact that his fate is by his own actions. (6) His hero story should arouse fear and empathy. I think you have the empathy side covered, but it is no good if only the Obsidian Conclave fear him. Everyone has to fear him. (7) He must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death. Well he is messed up alright, but he is not dead. Bearing in mind that Tragic Heros can live they just never find redemtion, otherwise they are not Tragic Heros. The measure of a Tragic Hero is made over the whole life not just the first half. This will make this character trick to create and play. (8) Ideally, the hero should be a king or leader of men, so that his people experience his fall with him. You have that in your backstory. (9) The hero must be intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_hero#Characteristics Just break down each element I have given you and see what happens. Best of luck with such a sad character begining, kind of depressing if you ask me. Prom
Ensjak 04-14-07, 12:42 AM	Prom's list of characteristics is a composite of a few theories on tragedy. I'll be honest, I've forgotten which ones. Regardless, the rules on tragedy aren't strict. For instance, the Greeks (namely Aristotle), would disagree with #4 by saying that regardless of his actions, the tragic hero will be brought down (by the Gods or fate in most cases). But, it's very difficult, if not impossible for a player to make his character into a tragic hero. The reason being that the DM, not the player, controls what happens to the character. The player chooses the actions, but the DM has final say on the results. In other words, there is no way to ensure that the character has an irredeemable fall. You can't have a tragic hero due to backstory because the character will most likely rise as he gains wealth, experience, and fame during a campaign. The only way to ensure that the character is tragic is to talk with the DM outside of the game to find some way that the character's actions (or the actions of the gods/villain) result in the character's irredeemable fall from a privileged position. All in all, tragic heroes are better suited to stories (where the character's future can be decided ahead of time), not role playing games (where the DM and other PCs can have an affect on how your character turns out). Simply having a background that is filled with sorrow and pain does not make a character a tragic hero. Tragedy (and by default the tragic hero) is a specific literary form and not simply synonymous with "sad and unfortunate." This is kind of pessimistic and probably sucks to hear, but I'm far from the expert on tragedy. I'm pulling my knowledge from a course I had on Greek, Shakespearian, and Modern Tragedy during my freshman year of college. In other words, call him a tragic hero if you fancy him to be one. His background seems very well detailed and should make for a fun game.