okay an annoying help request [Archive] - Wizards Community

okay an annoying help request [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
grasharm
03-17-07, 04:17 AM The reason why this is so annoying. I don't know what help I need.

For the last three weeks I have been playing this charecter:

a Half-celestial draconic human
With a level progression of hu. paragon/wizard/hu. paragon/crusader/Jade Phoenix mage.
Rolled stats that are fairly insane after modifiers are Str 22 / dex 16 / con 20 / wis 16 / int 23 / cha 16
and skills too numerous to list at 14 per level starting at first level.

My dm keeps asking me for more about my charecter to help him and after three weeks of trying I'm dry. I can't get him to elaborate any more. I've tried so I submit this VERYlong history and everything else and throw myself on the mercy of some kind soul to help me out.

Description:

Liam is a tall man standing just under 6 feet tall. He has a naturally of dark gold skin color (#C79810) with a slight matlic sheen. His fingernails are long, black and come almost to a point and he has large white feathered wings

He wears an indigo tunic with silver embroiderery at the edges. Held closed with white sash also with silver embroidery along the edges and leather breeches. He usually also wears thin leather gloves with holes at the tip from where his nails punch through fastened snugly to his hands at the wrist by a buckle. The gloves are thin a supple enough to not hinder spell casting but have a slightly textured interior for better gripping of his weapon a greatsword he carries whenever he can hungered onto his back. The sword is of superb quality and design. The metal is has a slightly white sheen having been forged in Celestia. (+1 greatsword)

While not in a town or city he often substitutes the Tunic for simple homespun shirt with a leather vest for extra protection. (no stat mod).

Background:

Liam grew up in a small secluded city named Shambala. The Citizens of Shambala worshiped a Deified Sand Dragon(Rank 4) as guardian and protector. When the city was attacked by posessed waste walker and his Marilith partner. The people prayed to their guardian deity Lord Eingana. Lord Eingana sent his emissary Rightousschlag an Asura who had distinguished himself enough to be granted a name from Lord Eingana. After the battle there was a celebration over the Shambala's victory during witch the asura was honored and treated lavishly and the priest suggested that a loosening of certain moral values wouldn't be looked down upon if they were properly directed. The next morning the asura departed but Laim had been conceived.

His mother was quickly raised in status and enjoyed the luxury. As time went on she became attached to her baby and when he was born she declared that she would be the one to raise him. After building her up in the role of holy mother the clergy couldn't refuse though they tried to talk her out of it. This resulted in a rift forming between Liam's mother and the clergy.

Liam's mother was afraid the clergy would take him away she took him off to the countryside where the clergy were less powerful. She even went so far as to take shelter in a wizard community hoping their study of magic as a science and not a divine force would help shield Liam and keep him with her. She raised Liam to be as "human" as possible.

While living in the community Liam was tasked with many different jobs at the behest of his mother. She wanted to make sure he got the full breadth of human experience. This changed though when he turned 12 and he started to develop. In his case this development included white feathered wings. As his celestial origins became more and more apparent the wizards in the community that had previously only haphazardly instructed and regarded him as he was too young for serious study took great notice and his mixed heritage came out. He became the center of allot of mages attention but one mage in patellar stood out because instead of wanting to study him, he did his best to keep him from becoming a research subject. Drawing on old laws put down when the community was first formed he took Liam as an apprentice and used that status for Liam as reason to deny everyone else access to him.

He took in Liam and his mother in his dwelling though it became cramped and for the next two years instructed Liam in the art of magic. Liam seemed to have a flair for magic and in fact discovered that he could produce certain spells without even using magic. After teaching Liam enough magic to gain the title of mage and full standing in the community on his own the kind old mage let Laim go from his studies and while Laim resumed his life. Even after leaving the care of the old mage Liam continued his study of magic along with his various duties from the odd jobs his mother had him doing.

Then one day a serious illness struck the community. It required the aid of the clergy and so a small band of hospitalers came to the commune. When they saw Liam they were instantly awestruck and incorrectly assumed he was an angel. When Liam explained his mixed parentage the hospitalers understood but insisted that Liam be a part of their work anyway. His presence alerted his father to his existence. His father made his presence known in a big way just by showing up. His father demanded that he join the hosts of Celestia as was only proper for and child of an Asura a harbinger of wrathful justice.

Liam was somewhat shocked at what his celestial father was like and disillusioned. He had pictured his father more as an angel than the Asura he was. Despite his dismay he did agree to train with the celestial war masters in an attempt to learn more about this other part of his existence.

He had spent some months in Celestia learning how to fight and being generally ignored. While not elitist in anyway the celestial forces dealt with beings on a scale that made Liam seem insignificant. He did manage to distinguish himself using the magic he learned from his mentor witch is fairly uncommon in Celestia where divine magic is the rule in general.

Finding the restrictions of the armies of Celestia too confining and coming really no closer to understanding his father he was readying himself to return home when something unexpected happened. A supplicant called him off to the side. The supplicant said he had been a reborn hero in his life. Part of an order of such heroes called the Jade Phoenix Mages and he recognized the aspect of a JPM in him and if he was willing he could awaken those powers in him through his past lives. After some discussion Liam decide to join the order. This resulted in Liam staying longer. Time enough to be given a task by Lord Eingana.

One of Lord Eingana's neighbors wanted access to the cage. Within Lord Eingana's realm there is a semi-stable gate that appears once every 8 months. Lord Eingana has a great many servants but most of them are actually Asura and the entity in question was sending a solar. The friction between the two races while never acted upon was considered unacceptable in this case for some reason. Lord Eingana quickly surveyed his domain for a suitable member of his court when Liam caught his attention. He summoned Liam and had him accompany the solar on the mission. While preparing for the mission Lord Eingana contacted him telepathically and asked him to find out what his neighbor wanted in Sigil.

When they arrive in Sigil the first thing the solar did was head strait for a bar walk up to a Gelugon and state, "The person you killed was the high priest of my lords clergy. In the name of justice you must die." He proceeded to kill the Gelugon in a very efficient manner. This of course brought the attention of several factions who "keep the peace" in Sigil and Liam being .. not an angel figures that the better option here is discretion. The solar unwilling to leave Liam, a comrade, alone in sigil follows but firmly chastises Liam.

Thing had seemed to have blown over and Liam was only a couple of months before he could return to Celestia when a woman beckoned him over. He cautiously approached and the woman. She said she had some information on the murdered priest that she needed to share with the solar. Liam instantly cast detect evil but the woman did not register so he reluctantly told his comrade at the time about the woman and where she said to meet her. He typically did not wait past what she said and that she didn't detect as evil.

At this point Liam made a big mustache in his eyes. He followed the solar. When they reached the meeting spot they waited for the woman. A few minutes later she showed up. When the solar asked about the priest the woman just smiled and gestured to the wall witch started to spark and glow then suddenly blossomed into a full fledged Gate and two Balor stepped out. In the issuing battle Liam realized suddenly how badly he was outclassed. The fight between the solar and two Balor was going badly for the solar and the woman grabbed him and threw him into the gate laughing and saying I'm free now that I have paid my coin for release as she shifted into another daemon the Liam recognized with dismay and astonishment was a succubus but before Liam could return back through the gate the solar blocked it. He told Liam to run. That his only chance was on the other side of the gate otherwise he would not be able to get far enough away. Liam kept trying to pass through the gate though because he knew wherever he was it wasn't a good place to be. Less than a minute later the portal closed but Liam had no doubt what happened to the solar given the odds or what his chances were if he were to try to return through this portal while they were waiting even if he knew how to activate it.

Laim flew around the plane, witch turned out to be stygia, for days thankful he had laid in a good stock of food and drink when he came across a large city. Doing his best to hide and for the first time in a long time very thankful of his human blood that made him less detectable he stole into the city. Following the currents of strong conjuration magic using detect magic he came across a group of drow sending a pair of Barbazu through a gate. Waiting until the gate was closing he quickly rushed the gate and went through before most had a chance to even try to stop him.

On the other side he managed to cross unnoticed as the Barbazu had already started forward. Thinking of taking revenge for his fallen comrade and feeling guilty over the whole thing because the solar may have been able to at least escape if he had not been there to tie him down he swore vengeance on these smaller foes that he thought he may be able to best in battle he followed them. Watching them as they met up with some other drow and the continued on. The Barbazu traveled north most of the day with Liam watch from high up in the clouds wanting to waiting for the best moment to strike. That moment never came as before he attacked they encountered a sand dragon and two others (the other PCs) who proceeded to kill the devils and their summoned support.

That end the history at the initial encounter.

Personality traits: Liam is somewhat distrustful of authority. Having had several controlling figures in his life he often feels the need to rebel when confronted with another authority figure. He is currently trying to integrate past lives into his life and tends to misquote figures from previous times and old sayings.

well that's what I've got so far. please help me. Thanks for at least taking the time to read this and even more if you can provide help. :)
CrimsonDeath
03-17-07, 04:52 AM Maybe you should ask what sort of additional information he wants? I've had DMs request specific information, like three powerful enemies and three powerful allies that my character had encountered, or one thing my character is afraid of, one thing he'd never do, and one thing he's willing to die for.

One thing though... Liam made a big mustache in his eyes?
grasharm
03-17-07, 11:19 AM If it were that easy I wouldn't have posted but as I said. I've tried asking him to elaborate many times at this point. it isn't working. All I can say history isn't the problem oviously. Perhaps more personality quirks. Or something I haven't even thought of yet.

and yeah spellcheck heh gotta love it.
CrimsonDeath
03-17-07, 01:45 PM You said the DM asks for more information "to help him". I assume you've tried asking "To help you do what?"
grasharm
03-18-07, 02:50 AM yes, I keep asking in differnt ways in hopes of getting a responce I can use but I"m out of ways to ask now. As I said it's been THREE WEEKS of me trying on my own at this point. The closest I've gotten is two answers. He wanted me to give him a better feel for my charecter. and more on the mark what is his personality like. The second one is when I pointed out the quirks but to no avail. Can you make more sense of that than I did?

or maybe you can help me get the right question here is an example of stuff I tend to ask. I wish I could rember every question I've asked over the last weeks but well that would be insane.

What is it that you feel I'm missing?
Should I work on my history/quirks/description?
Which of the five "w"s do you think I need to work on most?
Can you give me a couple of ideas on what you would do?
Ensjak
03-18-07, 07:29 PM If you DM is trying to get a feel for your character, maybe he's looking to see how it might be played so he can come up with some interesting situations to put the PCs in. Generally, the background usually serves to give the DM a good enough idea of a character's motivations and behaviors, but maybe your would like it spelled out even clearer. From your background you character seems disillusioned with the concept of "good" but with a strong sense of honor, obligation, and loyalty. He seems contemplative and methodical. Your background tells a lot about what your character is thinking, but not so much as to what he might actually do.
Try giving him your DM some blatant hypothetical situations and what your character might do when he actually has some choice. Being forced by more powerful beings to flee doesn't really tell your DM how Liam might act as a component of a group of equals, whether he'd spare a bandit after defeating him. What would he do if given the choice between saving a victim or bringing the aggressor to justice. That's all I can think might be it.
Is your DM holding off playing until you satisfy him? Maybe ask the other PCs if they have satisfied his requirements and seek their help. Good luck. Hopefully your DM is as thorough with his campaign as he is with this.
Frugal
03-18-07, 09:05 PM I'll admit I've only quickly skimmed the backstory. Off the top of my head, it seems like you've explained the half-celestial part but I don't really see anything that explains the draconic part. Or maybe the DM wants some more justification about the paragon levels? Or the whole build in general.
grasharm
03-19-07, 04:34 AM Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it a shot on making up some situations and giving my char. reaction. If you have any suggstions as to what some of those situations may be or know of a good thread adressing that please feel free to drop me a line either in this tread or a pm.

As for the draconic I explained it to my DM not in my history but as an aside. I feel that as the child of a servant of a draconic god and one of his worshipers that it's entirely possible that in my ancestory there is a dragon and that this latest infusion of, for lack of a better term, magical blood simply awakend some dormant very difuse dragon blood.

Sorry I didn't include that in my inital post.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
grasharm 03-17-07, 04:17 AM	The reason why this is so annoying. I don't know what help I need. For the last three weeks I have been playing this charecter: a Half-celestial draconic human With a level progression of hu. paragon/wizard/hu. paragon/crusader/Jade Phoenix mage. Rolled stats that are fairly insane after modifiers are Str 22 / dex 16 / con 20 / wis 16 / int 23 / cha 16 and skills too numerous to list at 14 per level starting at first level. My dm keeps asking me for more about my charecter to help him and after three weeks of trying I'm dry. I can't get him to elaborate any more. I've tried so I submit this VERYlong history and everything else and throw myself on the mercy of some kind soul to help me out. Description: Liam is a tall man standing just under 6 feet tall. He has a naturally of dark gold skin color (#C79810) with a slight matlic sheen. His fingernails are long, black and come almost to a point and he has large white feathered wings He wears an indigo tunic with silver embroiderery at the edges. Held closed with white sash also with silver embroidery along the edges and leather breeches. He usually also wears thin leather gloves with holes at the tip from where his nails punch through fastened snugly to his hands at the wrist by a buckle. The gloves are thin a supple enough to not hinder spell casting but have a slightly textured interior for better gripping of his weapon a greatsword he carries whenever he can hungered onto his back. The sword is of superb quality and design. The metal is has a slightly white sheen having been forged in Celestia. (+1 greatsword) While not in a town or city he often substitutes the Tunic for simple homespun shirt with a leather vest for extra protection. (no stat mod). Background: Liam grew up in a small secluded city named Shambala. The Citizens of Shambala worshiped a Deified Sand Dragon(Rank 4) as guardian and protector. When the city was attacked by posessed waste walker and his Marilith partner. The people prayed to their guardian deity Lord Eingana. Lord Eingana sent his emissary Rightousschlag an Asura who had distinguished himself enough to be granted a name from Lord Eingana. After the battle there was a celebration over the Shambala's victory during witch the asura was honored and treated lavishly and the priest suggested that a loosening of certain moral values wouldn't be looked down upon if they were properly directed. The next morning the asura departed but Laim had been conceived. His mother was quickly raised in status and enjoyed the luxury. As time went on she became attached to her baby and when he was born she declared that she would be the one to raise him. After building her up in the role of holy mother the clergy couldn't refuse though they tried to talk her out of it. This resulted in a rift forming between Liam's mother and the clergy. Liam's mother was afraid the clergy would take him away she took him off to the countryside where the clergy were less powerful. She even went so far as to take shelter in a wizard community hoping their study of magic as a science and not a divine force would help shield Liam and keep him with her. She raised Liam to be as "human" as possible. While living in the community Liam was tasked with many different jobs at the behest of his mother. She wanted to make sure he got the full breadth of human experience. This changed though when he turned 12 and he started to develop. In his case this development included white feathered wings. As his celestial origins became more and more apparent the wizards in the community that had previously only haphazardly instructed and regarded him as he was too young for serious study took great notice and his mixed heritage came out. He became the center of allot of mages attention but one mage in patellar stood out because instead of wanting to study him, he did his best to keep him from becoming a research subject. Drawing on old laws put down when the community was first formed he took Liam as an apprentice and used that status for Liam as reason to deny everyone else access to him. He took in Liam and his mother in his dwelling though it became cramped and for the next two years instructed Liam in the art of magic. Liam seemed to have a flair for magic and in fact discovered that he could produce certain spells without even using magic. After teaching Liam enough magic to gain the title of mage and full standing in the community on his own the kind old mage let Laim go from his studies and while Laim resumed his life. Even after leaving the care of the old mage Liam continued his study of magic along with his various duties from the odd jobs his mother had him doing. Then one day a serious illness struck the community. It required the aid of the clergy and so a small band of hospitalers came to the commune. When they saw Liam they were instantly awestruck and incorrectly assumed he was an angel. When Liam explained his mixed parentage the hospitalers understood but insisted that Liam be a part of their work anyway. His presence alerted his father to his existence. His father made his presence known in a big way just by showing up. His father demanded that he join the hosts of Celestia as was only proper for and child of an Asura a harbinger of wrathful justice. Liam was somewhat shocked at what his celestial father was like and disillusioned. He had pictured his father more as an angel than the Asura he was. Despite his dismay he did agree to train with the celestial war masters in an attempt to learn more about this other part of his existence. He had spent some months in Celestia learning how to fight and being generally ignored. While not elitist in anyway the celestial forces dealt with beings on a scale that made Liam seem insignificant. He did manage to distinguish himself using the magic he learned from his mentor witch is fairly uncommon in Celestia where divine magic is the rule in general. Finding the restrictions of the armies of Celestia too confining and coming really no closer to understanding his father he was readying himself to return home when something unexpected happened. A supplicant called him off to the side. The supplicant said he had been a reborn hero in his life. Part of an order of such heroes called the Jade Phoenix Mages and he recognized the aspect of a JPM in him and if he was willing he could awaken those powers in him through his past lives. After some discussion Liam decide to join the order. This resulted in Liam staying longer. Time enough to be given a task by Lord Eingana. One of Lord Eingana's neighbors wanted access to the cage. Within Lord Eingana's realm there is a semi-stable gate that appears once every 8 months. Lord Eingana has a great many servants but most of them are actually Asura and the entity in question was sending a solar. The friction between the two races while never acted upon was considered unacceptable in this case for some reason. Lord Eingana quickly surveyed his domain for a suitable member of his court when Liam caught his attention. He summoned Liam and had him accompany the solar on the mission. While preparing for the mission Lord Eingana contacted him telepathically and asked him to find out what his neighbor wanted in Sigil. When they arrive in Sigil the first thing the solar did was head strait for a bar walk up to a Gelugon and state, "The person you killed was the high priest of my lords clergy. In the name of justice you must die." He proceeded to kill the Gelugon in a very efficient manner. This of course brought the attention of several factions who "keep the peace" in Sigil and Liam being .. not an angel figures that the better option here is discretion. The solar unwilling to leave Liam, a comrade, alone in sigil follows but firmly chastises Liam. Thing had seemed to have blown over and Liam was only a couple of months before he could return to Celestia when a woman beckoned him over. He cautiously approached and the woman. She said she had some information on the murdered priest that she needed to share with the solar. Liam instantly cast detect evil but the woman did not register so he reluctantly told his comrade at the time about the woman and where she said to meet her. He typically did not wait past what she said and that she didn't detect as evil. At this point Liam made a big mustache in his eyes. He followed the solar. When they reached the meeting spot they waited for the woman. A few minutes later she showed up. When the solar asked about the priest the woman just smiled and gestured to the wall witch started to spark and glow then suddenly blossomed into a full fledged Gate and two Balor stepped out. In the issuing battle Liam realized suddenly how badly he was outclassed. The fight between the solar and two Balor was going badly for the solar and the woman grabbed him and threw him into the gate laughing and saying I'm free now that I have paid my coin for release as she shifted into another daemon the Liam recognized with dismay and astonishment was a succubus but before Liam could return back through the gate the solar blocked it. He told Liam to run. That his only chance was on the other side of the gate otherwise he would not be able to get far enough away. Liam kept trying to pass through the gate though because he knew wherever he was it wasn't a good place to be. Less than a minute later the portal closed but Liam had no doubt what happened to the solar given the odds or what his chances were if he were to try to return through this portal while they were waiting even if he knew how to activate it. Laim flew around the plane, witch turned out to be stygia, for days thankful he had laid in a good stock of food and drink when he came across a large city. Doing his best to hide and for the first time in a long time very thankful of his human blood that made him less detectable he stole into the city. Following the currents of strong conjuration magic using detect magic he came across a group of drow sending a pair of Barbazu through a gate. Waiting until the gate was closing he quickly rushed the gate and went through before most had a chance to even try to stop him. On the other side he managed to cross unnoticed as the Barbazu had already started forward. Thinking of taking revenge for his fallen comrade and feeling guilty over the whole thing because the solar may have been able to at least escape if he had not been there to tie him down he swore vengeance on these smaller foes that he thought he may be able to best in battle he followed them. Watching them as they met up with some other drow and the continued on. The Barbazu traveled north most of the day with Liam watch from high up in the clouds wanting to waiting for the best moment to strike. That moment never came as before he attacked they encountered a sand dragon and two others (the other PCs) who proceeded to kill the devils and their summoned support. That end the history at the initial encounter. Personality traits: Liam is somewhat distrustful of authority. Having had several controlling figures in his life he often feels the need to rebel when confronted with another authority figure. He is currently trying to integrate past lives into his life and tends to misquote figures from previous times and old sayings. well that's what I've got so far. please help me. Thanks for at least taking the time to read this and even more if you can provide help. :)
CrimsonDeath 03-17-07, 04:52 AM	Maybe you should ask what sort of additional information he wants? I've had DMs request specific information, like three powerful enemies and three powerful allies that my character had encountered, or one thing my character is afraid of, one thing he'd never do, and one thing he's willing to die for. One thing though... Liam made a big mustache in his eyes?
grasharm 03-17-07, 11:19 AM	If it were that easy I wouldn't have posted but as I said. I've tried asking him to elaborate many times at this point. it isn't working. All I can say history isn't the problem oviously. Perhaps more personality quirks. Or something I haven't even thought of yet. and yeah spellcheck heh gotta love it.
CrimsonDeath 03-17-07, 01:45 PM	You said the DM asks for more information "to help him". I assume you've tried asking "To help you do what?"
grasharm 03-18-07, 02:50 AM	yes, I keep asking in differnt ways in hopes of getting a responce I can use but I"m out of ways to ask now. As I said it's been THREE WEEKS of me trying on my own at this point. The closest I've gotten is two answers. He wanted me to give him a better feel for my charecter. and more on the mark what is his personality like. The second one is when I pointed out the quirks but to no avail. Can you make more sense of that than I did? or maybe you can help me get the right question here is an example of stuff I tend to ask. I wish I could rember every question I've asked over the last weeks but well that would be insane. What is it that you feel I'm missing? Should I work on my history/quirks/description? Which of the five "w"s do you think I need to work on most? Can you give me a couple of ideas on what you would do?
Ensjak 03-18-07, 07:29 PM	If you DM is trying to get a feel for your character, maybe he's looking to see how it might be played so he can come up with some interesting situations to put the PCs in. Generally, the background usually serves to give the DM a good enough idea of a character's motivations and behaviors, but maybe your would like it spelled out even clearer. From your background you character seems disillusioned with the concept of "good" but with a strong sense of honor, obligation, and loyalty. He seems contemplative and methodical. Your background tells a lot about what your character is thinking, but not so much as to what he might actually do. Try giving him your DM some blatant hypothetical situations and what your character might do when he actually has some choice. Being forced by more powerful beings to flee doesn't really tell your DM how Liam might act as a component of a group of equals, whether he'd spare a bandit after defeating him. What would he do if given the choice between saving a victim or bringing the aggressor to justice. That's all I can think might be it. Is your DM holding off playing until you satisfy him? Maybe ask the other PCs if they have satisfied his requirements and seek their help. Good luck. Hopefully your DM is as thorough with his campaign as he is with this.
Frugal 03-18-07, 09:05 PM	I'll admit I've only quickly skimmed the backstory. Off the top of my head, it seems like you've explained the half-celestial part but I don't really see anything that explains the draconic part. Or maybe the DM wants some more justification about the paragon levels? Or the whole build in general.
grasharm 03-19-07, 04:34 AM	Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it a shot on making up some situations and giving my char. reaction. If you have any suggstions as to what some of those situations may be or know of a good thread adressing that please feel free to drop me a line either in this tread or a pm. As for the draconic I explained it to my DM not in my history but as an aside. I feel that as the child of a servant of a draconic god and one of his worshipers that it's entirely possible that in my ancestory there is a dragon and that this latest infusion of, for lack of a better term, magical blood simply awakend some dormant very difuse dragon blood. Sorry I didn't include that in my inital post.