Panzer - Warforged background, suggestions welcome [Archive] - Wizards Community

Panzer - Warforged background, suggestions welcome [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
CasonSnow
04-13-05, 11:24 AM Preface : This is an initial draft of a character that I am running in the Eberron setting. Any suggestions would be welcome (I cannot believe how difficult it was to get this far, trying to make a character background with this bits available in the Eberron Campaign Setting). Also I just picked up Races of Eberron and it is good to see how his personallity coincides with the description in RoE.

Appearance: Panzer is a massive male persona warforged. Being one of the last out of the creation forges he embodies all of the most recent advancements in warforged technology. When he was reassigned to Rekkenmark Academy he was sent to a Cannith armory to be refitted with appropriate embellishments for ceremonial duty. Emblazoned on his breastplate is the double-headed eagle of Karrnath. On his left pauldron he bears a brass wreath surrounding an iron skull with the word “eternal” engraved on a plaque below it. His vambraces are massive plates of adamantine, with the right laquered red, and bares the symbol of the Karrnath military academy. For parade occasions a wine red brocade cloak is tied to his plating.

History: Panzer was built in the closing months of the Last War and completed his Tactical Dreadnaught training as the Treaty of Thronehold was being signed. His original assignment was to be part of an Arcane Assault Company, but was reassigned to ceremonial guard duty at the Rekkenmark Academy. There he suffered under the resentment of many of the students who saw the warforged as barely sapient. One student was not so arrogant and he began associating with the warforged serving at the academy. His main goal appeared to be collecting accounts of veteran warforged for some kind of project. Realizing quickly that Panzer was more intelligent than most warforged, Ulric d’Cannith, struck up a more personal relationship with Panzer.
Ulric introduced Panzer to reading and the idea of command and leadership as opposed to being simply a line soldier, and impressed upon him that the true flowering of a military man is his ability to command well. From then on Panzer read treatises on various military topics, supplied to him by Ulric, as warforged were banned from the libraries, and from there he found a cross reference to the “riddle of steel.” What the riddle itself was and its answer intrigued him and in further studying he uncovered rumors of warforged components stockpiled on Xen’drik.

When Ulric graduated he requested that Panzer be reassigned to his personal retinue. The Karrnathi military was reluctant to do so but the request was approved due to political pressure. Panzer was handed over to Ulric and was then promptly manumitted, under one condition, that Panzer never raise or aid any force against Karrnath. Panzer readily agreed to this and was given travel documents and identification papers.

During his travels south Panzer had to pass through Thrane. Here he encountered even worse prejudice than in Karrnath. The authorities constantly harassed him and the religious leaders berated him the entire duration of his journey. This encounter steered Panzer away from any abstract religious beliefs and reinforced the idea of him placing faith in himself and his arms.

He lives an ordered life, due to his military training. He also does not attempt to be anything else so as to put humans at ease. He was not involved in the Last War and has participated in none of its horrors, secretly he regrets not having been able to participate in it, and he finds it foolish to try and pass himself off as something that he is not. “Does one try to plow with a sword blade?”

He will not flinch from people who berate him for being a tool of war, as Panzer believes that is what he was made for and so he should strive to be the most effective warrior possible. To this end he has devoted himself to the pursuit of not only individual martial prowess but has also begun to study tactics and strategy as well. In pursuit of personal prowess he seeks to discover and utilize as many components as possible.

The pursuit of this goal has led Panzer to Sharn where he hopes to find a group willing to travel to other nations, namely Xen’drik, in order for him to find more information and more effective tools of war. Also he seeks to continue to expand his knowledge of the military sciences.

Personality: Panzer lacks the “human touch.” While not being social, Panzer is not a loner; he seeks the camaraderie that is present in military units. He feels that this sense of friendship can be found in a small group of companions.

He also holds to a very idealized, one could say even romanticized, idea of warfare. He feels that a well-fought battle is the pinnacle of achievement.

Goals: Panzer seeks to enhance his understanding of artificing so that he may better incorporate it into an overall military strategy. In his readings of military texts he has also discovered references to the Spellcarved, an elite group of warforged, and seeks to join them. He sees them as the living embodiment of his ideals.
Lobo13
04-14-05, 02:09 AM Characters that are this thought out i will never touch, simply because these are your guys. Sure, my writing style may lead me in a different direction than you, but ultimatelyt his guy is yours, for your enjoyment.

now, if you had a part of his history you wanted specific input on or a few alternate directions you want us to come up witht o explore, i'd be more than happy to brainstorm with you, but for general comments, if you've put thought into it, i'm just gonna say run with it! Have fun.-Lobo13
monkmania
04-14-05, 04:20 AM I'm impressed with the depth you've got here. Nicely done.
Harrow Blade
04-14-05, 05:07 AM I agree with Lobo13, you have a great, detailed background with plenty of depth. To me you have a very good idea how your character will play and I don't want to mess with that.
i like it. especially the visual imagry.
CasonSnow
04-14-05, 09:29 AM Characters that are this thought out i will never touch, simply because these are your guys. Sure, my writing style may lead me in a different direction than you, but ultimatelyt his guy is yours, for your enjoyment.

now, if you had a part of his history you wanted specific input on or a few alternate directions you want us to come up witht o explore, i'd be more than happy to brainstorm with you, but for general comments, if you've put thought into it, i'm just gonna say run with it! Have fun.-Lobo13

Thanks for the compliments. It has been years since I have written up a character history (due to it being years since I have actively gamed).

Actually I do have a bit of current events I could use help with. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to how to go about picking up levels in artificer. Right now Panzer is a hard charging melee tank (he needs to be as he is the only meleeist in the party). We do have an artificer in our group, should I just ask him to teach me? Or should I persue the Spellcarved andgle more actively and search them out to be taught by them? I think I'd go with the later as it is a bit less metagaming (I, the player, know what needs to be done to become a Spellcarved Soldier; but Panzer may not be so sure as to accuracy of the records he has read).

I could be just too concerned with metagaming, as I do want to play an effective melee character but I definately want to stay away from the optimized builds that take a smattering of 5 different prestige classes.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CasonSnow 04-13-05, 11:24 AM	Preface : This is an initial draft of a character that I am running in the Eberron setting. Any suggestions would be welcome (I cannot believe how difficult it was to get this far, trying to make a character background with this bits available in the Eberron Campaign Setting). Also I just picked up Races of Eberron and it is good to see how his personallity coincides with the description in RoE. Appearance: Panzer is a massive male persona warforged. Being one of the last out of the creation forges he embodies all of the most recent advancements in warforged technology. When he was reassigned to Rekkenmark Academy he was sent to a Cannith armory to be refitted with appropriate embellishments for ceremonial duty. Emblazoned on his breastplate is the double-headed eagle of Karrnath. On his left pauldron he bears a brass wreath surrounding an iron skull with the word “eternal” engraved on a plaque below it. His vambraces are massive plates of adamantine, with the right laquered red, and bares the symbol of the Karrnath military academy. For parade occasions a wine red brocade cloak is tied to his plating. History: Panzer was built in the closing months of the Last War and completed his Tactical Dreadnaught training as the Treaty of Thronehold was being signed. His original assignment was to be part of an Arcane Assault Company, but was reassigned to ceremonial guard duty at the Rekkenmark Academy. There he suffered under the resentment of many of the students who saw the warforged as barely sapient. One student was not so arrogant and he began associating with the warforged serving at the academy. His main goal appeared to be collecting accounts of veteran warforged for some kind of project. Realizing quickly that Panzer was more intelligent than most warforged, Ulric d’Cannith, struck up a more personal relationship with Panzer. Ulric introduced Panzer to reading and the idea of command and leadership as opposed to being simply a line soldier, and impressed upon him that the true flowering of a military man is his ability to command well. From then on Panzer read treatises on various military topics, supplied to him by Ulric, as warforged were banned from the libraries, and from there he found a cross reference to the “riddle of steel.” What the riddle itself was and its answer intrigued him and in further studying he uncovered rumors of warforged components stockpiled on Xen’drik. When Ulric graduated he requested that Panzer be reassigned to his personal retinue. The Karrnathi military was reluctant to do so but the request was approved due to political pressure. Panzer was handed over to Ulric and was then promptly manumitted, under one condition, that Panzer never raise or aid any force against Karrnath. Panzer readily agreed to this and was given travel documents and identification papers. During his travels south Panzer had to pass through Thrane. Here he encountered even worse prejudice than in Karrnath. The authorities constantly harassed him and the religious leaders berated him the entire duration of his journey. This encounter steered Panzer away from any abstract religious beliefs and reinforced the idea of him placing faith in himself and his arms. He lives an ordered life, due to his military training. He also does not attempt to be anything else so as to put humans at ease. He was not involved in the Last War and has participated in none of its horrors, secretly he regrets not having been able to participate in it, and he finds it foolish to try and pass himself off as something that he is not. “Does one try to plow with a sword blade?” He will not flinch from people who berate him for being a tool of war, as Panzer believes that is what he was made for and so he should strive to be the most effective warrior possible. To this end he has devoted himself to the pursuit of not only individual martial prowess but has also begun to study tactics and strategy as well. In pursuit of personal prowess he seeks to discover and utilize as many components as possible. The pursuit of this goal has led Panzer to Sharn where he hopes to find a group willing to travel to other nations, namely Xen’drik, in order for him to find more information and more effective tools of war. Also he seeks to continue to expand his knowledge of the military sciences. Personality: Panzer lacks the “human touch.” While not being social, Panzer is not a loner; he seeks the camaraderie that is present in military units. He feels that this sense of friendship can be found in a small group of companions. He also holds to a very idealized, one could say even romanticized, idea of warfare. He feels that a well-fought battle is the pinnacle of achievement. Goals: Panzer seeks to enhance his understanding of artificing so that he may better incorporate it into an overall military strategy. In his readings of military texts he has also discovered references to the Spellcarved, an elite group of warforged, and seeks to join them. He sees them as the living embodiment of his ideals.
Lobo13 04-14-05, 02:09 AM	Characters that are this thought out i will never touch, simply because these are your guys. Sure, my writing style may lead me in a different direction than you, but ultimatelyt his guy is yours, for your enjoyment. now, if you had a part of his history you wanted specific input on or a few alternate directions you want us to come up witht o explore, i'd be more than happy to brainstorm with you, but for general comments, if you've put thought into it, i'm just gonna say run with it! Have fun.-Lobo13
monkmania 04-14-05, 04:20 AM	I'm impressed with the depth you've got here. Nicely done.
Harrow Blade 04-14-05, 05:07 AM	I agree with Lobo13, you have a great, detailed background with plenty of depth. To me you have a very good idea how your character will play and I don't want to mess with that. i like it. especially the visual imagry.
CasonSnow 04-14-05, 09:29 AM	Characters that are this thought out i will never touch, simply because these are your guys. Sure, my writing style may lead me in a different direction than you, but ultimatelyt his guy is yours, for your enjoyment. now, if you had a part of his history you wanted specific input on or a few alternate directions you want us to come up witht o explore, i'd be more than happy to brainstorm with you, but for general comments, if you've put thought into it, i'm just gonna say run with it! Have fun.-Lobo13 Thanks for the compliments. It has been years since I have written up a character history (due to it being years since I have actively gamed). Actually I do have a bit of current events I could use help with. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to how to go about picking up levels in artificer. Right now Panzer is a hard charging melee tank (he needs to be as he is the only meleeist in the party). We do have an artificer in our group, should I just ask him to teach me? Or should I persue the Spellcarved andgle more actively and search them out to be taught by them? I think I'd go with the later as it is a bit less metagaming (I, the player, know what needs to be done to become a Spellcarved Soldier; but Panzer may not be so sure as to accuracy of the records he has read). I could be just too concerned with metagaming, as I do want to play an effective melee character but I definately want to stay away from the optimized builds that take a smattering of 5 different prestige classes.