Post/Author/DateTime	Post
club2bash 11-08-06, 06:26 PM	Okay, for an upcoming adventure (the savage tides adventure from Dungeon magazine, for any familair with it) i'm playing a half-aquatic-elf, but there aren't any aquatic-elf civilizations for 1000 miles so, the big dilema is, where did I get my elf heritage. Also, if at all possible, put som background in the military. The class will be scout. His name is Shark Killum.
Fithero 11-08-06, 10:37 PM	Perhaps you were in the navy due to your heritage (could swim better) and you were a advanced scout or something... something along the lines of a navy SEAL or something. As for why your half aquatic elf... one of your parents was a plane jumper, or a powerful mage and just wound up near your area. Looking to start a new colony, fleeing the law, or just traveling. Hope this helps some. Peace
Trydan 11-09-06, 08:39 AM	Possibly and escaped slave or circus freak. Like a dolphin in a Swiss zoo.
PiedmonSama 11-09-06, 01:01 PM	Well, I'll just go ahead and assume the other half of your character is human.... The first thing to think about is your parents. What would bring an Aquatic Elf and a human together in the first place? According to the PHB, humans are attracted to Elves' grace and longevity, and Elves are impressed by humans' energy and determination. Since you're beginning a vast distance from Aquatic Elf civilization, the likelihood is that as a couple your parents lived in human society. I'm not trying to be chauvanistic, but going off historical precedent that probably means your father was the human, and your mother was a sea elf. Perhaps wedding a human was taboo in her society, and she was exiled for loving him? As to how they met in the first place.... humans don't generally venture too far out into the sea unless they're looking for something valuable. Perhaps your father was an explorer, a treasure-hunter of some renown who had his own ship. Or maybe he was a crewman on such a vessel, working for some famed explorer as a diver and scout. The second thing to ask is how your character learned his skills. And that begs the question, are his parents still alive, and if not what happened to them? In most cases, an adventurer is someone with "nothing to lose," meaning they've lost all ties to family and kin. Humans are fairly easy to kill off, and you could attribute any number of disasters to terminate your father. Elves have an annoying tendency to live several centuries though. But perhaps if some misfortune claimed your father's life, your mother died of grief afterwards? Elves are known to do that. Perhaps for bringing one of those "demon-worshipping, debauched elves" into his community, your father got lynched or killed by a mob? Maybe he continued his career as an explorer well past his prime, took one dangerous job too many and was lost out at sea? Or maybe something more mundane claimed him--he was onboard a ship that suffered an accident, or took ill with some fast-killing disease. In anycase, with your parents out of the way, your character was probably left in a vulnerable position. His half-elven nature would forever set him apart, isolating him in his human community. When his mother died, Shark Killum (like the name btw, it gets the point across) had no one. So maybe he did what a thousand and one uprooted, disconnected young men have done before him. He joined the military. Assuming you've got ability scores up to par with the typical adventurer, Shark's 1337 abilities would set him apart almost immediately from basic training. Any instructor with eyes would see how better he fared in all athletic competition, and would recommend him for "advanced training" as one of the military's scout corps. Perhaps Shark spent an extra year or two learning the additional skills of wilderness survival, stealthy movement and tracking, after having mastered his weapons. Of course, it could get pretty annoying if you keep your character beholden to the military (although on the other hand, it can be a ready source for adventure hooks.) If you don't want to have to "yes sir!" any NPC with a sergeant's stripes, I'd suggest you just have Shark's tour of duty end fairly uneventfully. Maybe he signed up during a peaceful lull, and avoided having to ever see actual combat. Honorably discharged but still full of wanderlust and spunk, and now with elite skills to back him up, he decides to hire himself out as an adventurer and becomes a treasure-hunter like his old man. Anyway, all of these are just ideas. Feel free to pick and choose what you like or don't. Hope all this was helpful, and good gaming. :D
club2bash 11-09-06, 01:56 PM	Nice work, apparently, my DM would like my character to have a extended lifespan, about onehundred years. also this city i'm in has a pirate heavy history, about one hudred years ago, a group of pirates called the Sea princes came in with some hostile takeover. Extra points to Piedmon Sama.