Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-05-07, 01:35 PM	Serena "Man-Eater" Swiftblades: Chaotic Good Human Lv5 Beguiler/ Lv5 Invisible Blade/ Lv10 Daggerspell Mage (full) http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc285/ViruZ_X/Serena.jpg http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc285/ViruZ_X/Serena-1.jpg This was actually a hypothetical I came up with on the forums trying to assist someone else on the optimization boards. It sort of took off and I find myself with an idea of what she would look and act like but I want to make a background for her so I can keep her in storage until a suitable game comes up ideally it would be lvl6 so she can have 1lvl in Invisible Blade so she can have unfettered defense and Two-Weapon fighting. Then from there she would work towards joining the daggerspell gaurdians and becoming a Daggerspell Mage. The concept was an unarmored dagger fighter who used deception and diversion in concert with illusions and enchantments to throw her opponents off guard. I determined she was female when I looked at the style. She specializes in distraction and deception and doesn't wear armor which opens up the possibility of a female character to use her comeliness and appeal instead of blowing spell for everything. Why should I blow a charm person on the guard when he's already tripping over his tongue? As for personality I'm thinking kind of bubbly, spirited, and full of energy. She acts kind of absent-minded and ditzy but her friends know while she comes off that way shes actually quite brilliant and simply uses that as a front. She tends to give a new name in every town but all her friends know her as Serena Swiftblades or Serena "The Man-eater" Swiftblades but not even they know if that's actually her real name or another elaborate illusion. She's a good person with a strong heart and want's the best for everyone using her powers of persuasion to end conflict and sow peace but when necessary can defeat those who can't be convinced. Unless the situation is dire or the villian exceptionally vile she will use her magic to softly end the conflict (Whelm, and inevitable defeat) as she feels guilty for ending the life of anyone (I was watching the anime " grenadier" when I made her so look at that for reference). Due to complications and some diplomatic attempts gone sour she continues to travel often, never staying anywhere too long and constantly changing her identity. As for looks stunningly beautiful, sky blue eyes, long black hair, very well endowed (again see "grenadier") usually dressed in revealing clothing and wearing a simple cloak carrying a pair of ornate daggers sheathed on the swell of her back underneath it. The issue is how did she become who she is even if the other PCs never know I should. That and as a man this would be my first female character so also any suggestions as to what I should avoid and common mistakes I should be aware of would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Operation_Shoestring 11-05-07, 05:40 PM	Unless you Houserule it, Unfettered defense is limited by class level in IB, so you'd get a meager +1 to AC. You may want Kung Fu Genious or Carmadine Monk. If you're going to lose a caster level for knife-fighting, I'd say go with Daggerspell Mage. Though, seriously, you're a Beguiler. Use a save or suck Illusion/enchantment spell and then slash away at your leisure.
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-05-07, 05:56 PM	I plan on liberal use of mage armor until I get bracers and after 5 levels of progression in IB I'll go Daggerspell Mage. I want to focus more on daggers with spell-support take 10 on fient as a free action and follow up with Dagger Spellflurry sounds pretty sweet but I digress this was more looking for help with a background to support the character than to optimize her stats but thank you anyways.
Dipteran_Legacy 11-05-07, 07:34 PM	ahh! wall of text! put in some indentation and I'll be happy to read it! :)
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-06-07, 11:15 AM	Done and done :)
Dipteran_Legacy 11-06-07, 06:33 PM	hmm...I cant help you with the "guy playing a girl" thing, but you should definitely put some though into how she became who she is. -though her bubbly front is just that, did she used to be that sort of person, and some terrible personal trauma made her harden up on the inside, or was she the opposite? more shy & quiet, until she realized she could manipulate men by appearing to be someone easy to trust & underestimate... with how mysterious you want her to be, there should be some sort of concrete point in her life where she severed herself from her old ties. if you decide to go this route, does she regret it? is she glad she did it, or was it simply a situation she could not help? also, in reality, everyone opens up to someone, and keeping everything in often leads to a lot of...dysfunctions... even if it's just a book, or the barkeep of a random pub in town that she slips off away from the party to go to, she should have something she confides her true self to. maybe even the church of olidammarra, depending on what sort of feel you're going for- it'd be sorta cool if she had "confessionals" in which both she and the priest were wearing masks, but because of the mask shielding her physical identity, she feels more at ease letting her true self show through.... I dunno, just throwing ideas out. I've seen some people who practically write out backgrounds for others who need help with it. I'm more fond of trying to fan other's creative spark, so that it's really their character. if none of this seems appealing, maybe throw out a few ideas of your own, and I'd be happy to give you feedback on them. more random thoughts, that may or may not be of importance- what sort of family did she have? does she have any relatives, or was she adopted and/or raised in an orphanage? even if this is the case, it can make her real family even more important to come up with, even if the character herself has never met them. also, how did she get her training? a beguiler/ invisible blade would imply some pretty elite spy training, but that's just mho
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-06-07, 11:24 PM	I was thinking she was forced to leave her family for their saftey perhaps going so far as to fake her own death so no one would harm them. Maybe she was a spy for her country and she left to gather information before an invasion only to find the people of that country mean no harm to her homeland and the king was simply greedy and power hungry. So she helped the nieghboring country under her assumed name Serena Swiftblades knowing full well she could never return and is now a wanted criminal. From that day on she took to the roads helping where her skills were needed and gained a certain respect for falarghn (probably mispelled). As far as somthing to open up in I'm thinking a diary but as precaution she periodicaly offers the pages to falarghn burning them at roadside shrines. As for the carefree attitude I'm thinking she tries to be that way because she was like that before things turned sour and she truly wants her innocence back so she tries to hide her jaded nature although it may come out at certain dramatic points. Despite her precautions and her attepts to cover her tracks the daggerspell gaurdians have been keeping an eye on her from a distance watching her develop and hone her skills and observing her actions to gauge if she is truly worthy of joining their ranks. What do people think? any ideas for refinement?
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-07-07, 10:18 AM	I was looking at my drawing of the character and it begged the question where does she keep her gear so I came up with this just for fluff. I want to try to convince my gm to give me a Type 1 bag of holding and give it sizing and make it 3000 GP instead of the standard 2500 so that it could be the size of a small coin purse but the mouth could expand to accomodate things like tents and bed rolls. This way she can just tuck the bag neatly in her cleavage pulling it out when she need these massive items that should be physically impossible to keep there. Does that seem too over the top? Also I posted the sketch of the character up top for anyone who wants a look.
Dipteran_Legacy 11-07-07, 01:03 PM	lol, it's like a seductive mary poppins! nice picture, btw
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-08-07, 11:03 AM	lol I never thought of it like that. Thanks for the assist though I appreciate the input.
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-09-07, 10:05 AM	Another thought for the sake of game mechanics and fluff. Being a beguiler invocation of the knife doesn't get tapped as much as it should. However beguilers get Use Magic Device as a class skill so I was thinking I could have a wand chamber in my daggers so I can cast a couple Evocation spells out of them if the situation calls for lethal force against undead and constructs and the like. It'll essentially seem as if I'm casting spells from my daggers which makes sense for the sake of style. My question is would it take away from the character concept to use such violent spells?
Dipteran_Legacy 11-09-07, 03:43 PM	mmm....I think it would take away from the concept to use blasting spells. if you get creative enough and dig through enough books, there might be other spells that can effectively disable a construct or undead w/o using pure, blasty force(which wouldn't be too useful against golems anyways)
Dead_Weasel 11-09-07, 10:19 PM	specializes in distraction and deception and doesn't wear armor which opens up the possibility of a female character to use her comeliness and appeal instead of blowing spell for everythingThis line makes me think of Cloaked Dancer, from Complete Scoundrel. I am away from my books atm, but there might be something about it you find attractive enough to consider. EDIT: Scratch that; having looked at it again, I now remember why I completely disregard the class every time I see it.
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-09-07, 10:33 PM	Maybe I'll just use them for crowd control get Ice daggers and burning hands instead chances are 5d4 wont kill a mob at lvl 6 in most cases. Not to mention it'll look cool make burning hands look like a arcing blade of flame that spouts forth as she cuts the air with her knife and ice dagger pretty much explains itself. I'm gonna make a character that appeases both development and optimization boards yet lol.
Vitarri_Whitemane 11-10-07, 09:16 AM	Quick thought would I be able to find a dagger with a 6' handle and a 12' blade or are we getting into short sword territory. Trying to figure out if the wand chamber is legal.
Dead_Weasel 11-11-07, 05:08 PM	Wand chambers are priced on p30 of Dungeonscape.