Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Heahengel 03-09-05, 10:14 AM	I have been playing a new character for a few sessions, and I would like some help working on his background and motivations. The campaign I am playing in is a mid-level, low magic, low metal/wealth game in a homebrew world, whose defining characteristic is that there is a constant struggle between the forces of the ethereal and shadow (this doesn't translate into good and evil). When I made my character, we were bringing in two new PCs. My old character had died, and we were switching DMs, so our old DM was bringing in a new character. We the decided to connect our characters' backstory together to make it easier to integrate two new characters into the group. The other character was a samurai archer from a wealthy merchant family, who was going to join the group. Our new DM wanted me to be from another area in the campaign world that the party had not been to yet (Our campaign is set on a small chain of islands. We haven't been off the one where we started, which is the most primitive - there is basically one city which is a trade port between other islands. I am from another island to the south, which I believe is more densely populated, and has a lot of mining). I wanted my PC to have the Elocater PrC, and I decided this would work well with the rogue base class. My character is now a Rogue/Psion(Egoist)/Elocater/Assassin. My backstory, which I want to flesh out a bit more, is that I grew up in a trade prot on this new island, basically as a street urchin (rogue). At some point during my childhood, I met the other PC in the city and saved his life. We became friends, and his family decided to employ me as his servant. When he came of age and went to a war school, they arranged for me to be sent to an ashram in my home nation, to be trained as his bodyguard (psion, elocater). The other PC became a diplomat for his people, and I was his bodyguard/spy/assassin. My plan for character motivation was that I was disgusted by my early life as a street urchin, and grateful to my friend and his family for saving me from it. Rather than being motivated by an idealogy, I would be amoral, but very loyal to my friend. Basically, I would follow his orders/work towards his goals. To be a bit more specific about this, I thought that I would have a vague concept of good, but basically I trust my fellow to be working towards the good, and it is my job to do whatever is possible or necessary to help him, with little compunction about morals (thus being a spy and assassin). When thinking about my actions, I mostly care about efficiency (a very precise and controlled person) and while I have a vague and general concept of good, I don't apply it to specifics. At the same time, I was toying the idea that he wouldn't think of himself as a very good person, but a necessary one. (If anyone has read any David Drake, I realized that as I was thinking about my character, I was moving him towards the character of Joachim Steuben/Johann Vierziger, without the homosexuality). I was thinking about him as a LN character (I got permission from my DM to have a non-evil assassin). As an aside, I would be interested to debate whether this character should be LN, LE, or TN, but please also comment on my other problems/questions as well (coming to them). In general, I would like to flesh out my character a bit more (I'm not a great role-player, but I would like to get better), but a new complication has been thrown in. My connection to the group is that I work for the other PC, who joined the party as they are working towards a cause that was beneficial to his people (his civilization is generally neutral in the ethereal/shadow divide, but the ethereal has been gaining power recently, and the group is shadow aligned). I needed a new character a few sessions before the DM was to happen, to our DM brought in his new PC as a DMPC. However, said DMPC got killed during his third session, in a secondary combat. We have no way to rez (low magic world), so he is gone. I am trying to figure out what my character will do, and why he will stay with the group, when his major motivation was to follow the dead PC. I would like to transfer my loyalty to the party, or one of the other PCs, but my connection to them is flimsy, and I don't think I know/like any of them well enough. I am also trying to decide how he will react to this person's death. Is he despondant, depressed, veangeful (awkward, as the character was killed by magical protectors of a crypt of heroes of a god who one of the other PCs worships - we needed to move through it to get to a dragon's lair, in order to negotiate with the dragon (an ancient wyrn who could kill us all very easily)), and how does his worldview change? The DMPC has pretty much just died, and our characters are on a year long break between plot arcs, so this downtime is the time that my character will be dealing with this. At the same time, he is leaving the group for a bit to go to a city and apprentice for/acquire the Assassin PrC. For reference, the other PCs are: A NE rogue, who died and came back as a NG (I believe, though he may be CG) shade (I forgot where this came from, its not the incorporeal undead). As I was thinking that my PC hated his old self, the thief, I doubt he will get along with this character much. A LN (I think) cleric/paladin of the god of death (in a good way) and contracts. This is the new DMs old PC, so I'm not sure what is happening to him - we are just switching DMs now. He would have been the best candidate to pledge myself to. A ? (probably non-evil) fighter. This is the last of our characters who came from the small fishing village that we all started in, so I'm not sure how much my (comparitively) city-bred character would respect his intellect. Also he isn't really a group leader. A TN (again, I think) druid/wizard/mystic theurge. This character comes from a barbaric people (I think they are hunter gatherers), and is spiritually focused, which conflicts a bit with my character. The new PC of the old DM, who I believe will be some sort of OA variant monk, or a monk with an OA PrC. (I should mention that our group isn't too focused on alignment)
catharz 03-09-05, 02:26 PM	So basically your character's Jumminy Cricket just got squashed. Now he'll probably either have to transfer his loyalty, or come to terms with the fact that he has always been in control of his own actions, and deal with any guilt that might create. He may also come to realize that he was simply being manipulated by his 'friend' from the start. There are a lot of ways that could go: Atonement and Anger->The Dark Side are the two outliers. He really doesn't have anything better to do than stick with the pary, right? I mean, your character sounds like a loner with one good friend. So let them provide direction for now as your character gets over his feelings of grief and possibly betrayal. Even if that doesn't help, this might: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d Good luck.
Heahengel 03-10-05, 06:16 AM	Thanks for the quick reply, Catharz. I think you are right that my character should begin to take responsibility for his own actions. I am not sure how much he would feel guilt about what he had done, but he will probably feel very guilty about letting his friend die (I think he was unconscious at the time). Possibly I will stay with the group in order to finish what I started with my friend, but this doesn't exactly make sense, as we have just finished our last campaign goal, so we will be starting a new plot this week. The characters are taking a years downtime, so it feels almost like I would just disappear after the end of the campaign, and not come back. I would rather not have to make another character for rp reasons, so I have to come up with something attaching him to the group. I think I should start fleshing out my character's opinions about what is 'good' and have him start working towards that more directly than before (while still being amoral about his methods), however, I can't do that until I see what the next plot will be (as the group doesn't really have a lot of direction right now). Another possibility is that I visited with my friends family during the downtime, pledged myself to them again, and that they requested that I continue to work for the party. Any more ideas/comments are welcome. And thanks for pointing me to that PrC. I'm going to think about taking it.
b6 03-10-05, 08:11 AM	so, his motivation died, and now he is given a year to think it over? if that truly was his one and only good friend, i think the year is about right for grieving, though he would still grieve as he went. that he is also becoming an Assassin during that time could also be easily written off: he is just doing something he would have done anyway, though now it is also almost a diversion from what he cannot help but focus on. now, about how to tie him to this group... - was the (now dead) friend tied to the group for any reason? if so, you might consider having this character fulfill any requirements/debts/oaths or such that the other might have had. similarly, if the friend was with the group for friendship, then maybe the assassin hopes to find more friends. he would trust his friend's judgment, you know? - i hate to say it, but perhaps he feels like he has let his only obligation down, and as such now he must atone for it. he could travel with this group to prevent anyone else from dying, since it is obvious now he cannot revive his friend. or, make reviving his friend the goal after all. make it a plot point, and then put the NPC cap on him when he is brought back. (but seeing as how this is a low-magic world, etc. i do not see this happening...) - tie him to the rogue that has already been revived, either by rivalry or some glimmer of hope of resurrecting his friend. (see above.) - it could also be very simple. you could have one of the other members come find him after the year downtime to ask if he wants to travel with them again, and since he has nothing better to do, why should he decline the offer? these are all just suggestions that i came up with off the top of my head. if one helps you, im glad. if not, well, i tried :P hopefully, somehow, you will find a way to keep your guy with them. it really would be a shame to have to create a new character, especially since now this guy has so much UNINTENDED extra depth! just think about it. what is a man like when all of his previous motivations are gone? now that is a good character. :D