transient aimless soldier [Archive] - Wizards Community

transient aimless soldier [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
aleph_woodenglenn
03-07-05, 05:21 PM I rolled up a human fighter character:
15 dex 13 Str 8 INt, 10 con, wis, char.

I have him imagined as a washed up soldier who decided to travel after his army days, but doesn't know how to do anything but fight. In his glory days I suspect he wielded a double sword, and is all about double weapon fighting (TWF, TWDef) now he carries just a quarter staff and a gnomish hooked hammer (weapon proficiency), and still sometimes wears the chain shirt and helmet from his army days, though when he does, it sits awkward under his traveller's cloak, wandering from town to town trying to make a living.

I really like the idea of this guy, I picture him like a hitchhiker of today, he is always prepared for anything he may face on the road, but he is poor. My problem is figuring out motivation. Does he have family? I've decided he can't read, and I think he should try to stick to his travelling ways (I think if he comes across a lot of treasure he's likely to use it to buy incredibly useful gadgets and magic that can fit in his sack...oooh a sack of holding would be great for this character) and image. besides a traveller makes for easier segues to new adventures.

Anyway, I want him to have befriended a Sorcerer (not rolled yet...I need two characters for this campaign) The sorcerer is taken by the mystery of the forlorn, once noble warrior, and the old soldier is drawn to the gleam of magic behind the sorcerers eyes. I can't decide if they should be travelling companions or meet at the beginning of the dungeon and the DM isn't helping...
Morka
03-07-05, 07:49 PM Are you starting at level 1? Because a veteran soldier is quite strange for a level 1 character... At worse, have him left his familly for military service (1 year), and when he return home, there is nothing but ashes... This character should be continually sad and disillusionned.

As for the sorcerer, he could have hired the fighter as a bodyguard. He could be a megalomaniacal who think he has the blood of a djinn, but not anykind of djinn, a noble djinn, so he might be able to grant wishes. Talk about this with your DM, it could be cool if he could really grant wishes from times to times...
aleph_woodenglenn
03-08-05, 10:44 PM The idea was he is a veteran, but not exactly a glorious veteran. That is to say, he was not very noted, just another foot soldier (in which case his family dying from a natural cause would suit(no vengeance for this character))...that or (lately I've been thinking) he's hardly trained at all and just learned what he knows while travelling from town to town (definitely ties into the dissilusionment...aimlessness). I figure the sorcerer will be descended from a copper dragon, and this sorcerer will seem maybe a touch impish(the djinn/wish Idea might be a bit much, but thanks for the thought). Human I think. yeah I was thinking of the whole bodyguard relationship, but I think it would be cool to have less of a boss/hireling and more of a simbiotic relationship...like "how'd you do that?" or "hm...maybe my fighter/sorcerer friend here is the one to taklk to about that" I anticipate they'll both share a tendency to dexterity (maybe I should make the wizard an elf...hmmm)...I think the old "just met on the way to (city in which adventure occurs)" might be cliche, but most workable.
Trydan
03-09-05, 03:35 AM Maybe his role in the army was a desk job. It was only at the end of the wars that he managed to actually get into the field, but by that stage the war was almost over, so his experience is limited. However, he managed to get enough taste of it to want to do it further, and not to much, that he was sickened by it. As a result, at the conflict's end, he sought to travel and adventure, to continue his own personal fight, where the major action had left off.
aleph_woodenglenn
03-09-05, 12:43 PM that's pretty good trydan.
TheMightyMcClaw
03-09-05, 10:02 PM Perhaps if he's a low level veteran, he's simply past his prime. His skills have gotten rusty.
Harrow Blade
03-09-05, 11:30 PM As to his motivation for the wandering lifestyle perhaps he had a wife to whom he sent most of his pay, wrote love letters each week and couldn't wait to get home to. Finally he gets home to find that his wife divorced him, sold his home and left with another man leaving him a shattered hollow man with nothing to his name but what he has on his back. He still has the memory of what he had with his wife before the army and now wanders the world in the vain hope of finding his ex-wife (though he never refers to her as his ex) and winning her back. Deep down he knows that even if he does find her that things will never be as they were but he blatently ignores it and plods on with his search for a lack of anything else to do.
aleph_woodenglenn
03-10-05, 02:13 PM harrow that is enough to bring tears to the eyes...that is a great Idea...not his wife though, maybe his betrothed who ran off with his friend while he fufilled his obligations, that would shatter a man...especially if everyone was always telling him that she was too good for him anyway (ouch).

I got a little distracted about him because I rolled up the sorcerer last night...pretty good roll on him
15 ch 12 int,dex,con 11 wis 10 str

the DM suggested having the soldier just be the sorcerer's lackey, but I REALLY didn't want to do that. Briefly I considered making the sorcerer a bard instead, but they'll be in a small party and as much as bards are a blast to play, unless they are well supported, I notice they tend to die...(which isn't to say sorcerers fair much better all the time) I think that maybe if the soldier (now maybe the poor poor pitiful soldier) saved the (precocious?)sorcerer's skin the sorcerer would be indebted to him... I want him to be a fair alchemist, so maybe he promised to make him some high level magic device in repayment, but by-golly, it might take him a while....where fighter Jackson "Jax" Smith is forlorn and withdrawn, the boisterous sorc. Killian L'Drake is just the opposite. Yes I think that will work nicely. Now kjust have to flesh them out a touch more by Saturday. Thanks for all your help. I'll keep you posted on how they fare.
Vharuck
03-10-05, 02:18 PM Maybe he never really cared for family, and joined the army at a very young age.

Or maybe he cared so much about his family, that he felt ashamed to return to them after what he did or maybe because his side lost the war.
Purpledragonfire
03-15-05, 10:13 PM Perhaps instead of leaving him the wife was captured by slavers in a raid on the village while many of the men were off fighting the war (Drafted?). He now seeks to find his lost love with no idea of how wandering the world searching for some hint of her......or he could be disagreeable with bad habbits like chewin' tobbaco who gets chased off ;)

personally i like option 1 :)
aleph_woodenglenn
03-18-05, 06:09 PM OOH I know. He left for the army, but never actually fought. Came back to find that his betrothed with his best friend. He killed them both in a fit of passion and fled. He changed his name and can never go home again. (his original name was Edmond Jaxter Smythe....) He is lost, and broken. In an attempt to redeem himself he saves the sorcerer, Killian from a few ruffians that were trying to rob the somewhat flamboyant sorcerer by the roadside. The sorcerer is intrigued by the mysterious savior, and is trying to find out what the aimless wanderer is hiding, but also wants to repay the debt.

The sorcerer comes from a long line of sorcerers and can likes to think he can trace his lineage directly to an ancient bronze dragon. He is mischevious and eccentric. He just left home to "See the World" (completely unprepared) and had been a little crestfallen at its lack of wonder. While he skipped to the next city, he was befallen by aforementioned highwaymen (not rogues, just brutes) and saved by this "mysterious stranger"

That'll have to work. I will flesh them out later, but they'll be in the game I'm playing this weekend (supposed to start last weekend...but you know).
Amigo De e
03-19-05, 12:30 AM I still like the idea of him being a washed up soldier. I imagine someone like Caramon, in the Dragonlance series. He's used to the military life-style, and being told what to do. He can't handle making his own decisions, and his life falls apart without some sort of a battle to fight, or mission to acheive. It is unusual to make a low-level veteran, so maybe you could hold off on using him, and just stick with the sorcerer, until your party is a higher level, and then introduce him.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
aleph_woodenglenn 03-07-05, 05:21 PM	I rolled up a human fighter character: 15 dex 13 Str 8 INt, 10 con, wis, char. I have him imagined as a washed up soldier who decided to travel after his army days, but doesn't know how to do anything but fight. In his glory days I suspect he wielded a double sword, and is all about double weapon fighting (TWF, TWDef) now he carries just a quarter staff and a gnomish hooked hammer (weapon proficiency), and still sometimes wears the chain shirt and helmet from his army days, though when he does, it sits awkward under his traveller's cloak, wandering from town to town trying to make a living. I really like the idea of this guy, I picture him like a hitchhiker of today, he is always prepared for anything he may face on the road, but he is poor. My problem is figuring out motivation. Does he have family? I've decided he can't read, and I think he should try to stick to his travelling ways (I think if he comes across a lot of treasure he's likely to use it to buy incredibly useful gadgets and magic that can fit in his sack...oooh a sack of holding would be great for this character) and image. besides a traveller makes for easier segues to new adventures. Anyway, I want him to have befriended a Sorcerer (not rolled yet...I need two characters for this campaign) The sorcerer is taken by the mystery of the forlorn, once noble warrior, and the old soldier is drawn to the gleam of magic behind the sorcerers eyes. I can't decide if they should be travelling companions or meet at the beginning of the dungeon and the DM isn't helping...
Morka 03-07-05, 07:49 PM	Are you starting at level 1? Because a veteran soldier is quite strange for a level 1 character... At worse, have him left his familly for military service (1 year), and when he return home, there is nothing but ashes... This character should be continually sad and disillusionned. As for the sorcerer, he could have hired the fighter as a bodyguard. He could be a megalomaniacal who think he has the blood of a djinn, but not anykind of djinn, a noble djinn, so he might be able to grant wishes. Talk about this with your DM, it could be cool if he could really grant wishes from times to times...
aleph_woodenglenn 03-08-05, 10:44 PM	The idea was he is a veteran, but not exactly a glorious veteran. That is to say, he was not very noted, just another foot soldier (in which case his family dying from a natural cause would suit(no vengeance for this character))...that or (lately I've been thinking) he's hardly trained at all and just learned what he knows while travelling from town to town (definitely ties into the dissilusionment...aimlessness). I figure the sorcerer will be descended from a copper dragon, and this sorcerer will seem maybe a touch impish(the djinn/wish Idea might be a bit much, but thanks for the thought). Human I think. yeah I was thinking of the whole bodyguard relationship, but I think it would be cool to have less of a boss/hireling and more of a simbiotic relationship...like "how'd you do that?" or "hm...maybe my fighter/sorcerer friend here is the one to taklk to about that" I anticipate they'll both share a tendency to dexterity (maybe I should make the wizard an elf...hmmm)...I think the old "just met on the way to (city in which adventure occurs)" might be cliche, but most workable.
Trydan 03-09-05, 03:35 AM	Maybe his role in the army was a desk job. It was only at the end of the wars that he managed to actually get into the field, but by that stage the war was almost over, so his experience is limited. However, he managed to get enough taste of it to want to do it further, and not to much, that he was sickened by it. As a result, at the conflict's end, he sought to travel and adventure, to continue his own personal fight, where the major action had left off.
aleph_woodenglenn 03-09-05, 12:43 PM	that's pretty good trydan.
TheMightyMcClaw 03-09-05, 10:02 PM	Perhaps if he's a low level veteran, he's simply past his prime. His skills have gotten rusty.
Harrow Blade 03-09-05, 11:30 PM	As to his motivation for the wandering lifestyle perhaps he had a wife to whom he sent most of his pay, wrote love letters each week and couldn't wait to get home to. Finally he gets home to find that his wife divorced him, sold his home and left with another man leaving him a shattered hollow man with nothing to his name but what he has on his back. He still has the memory of what he had with his wife before the army and now wanders the world in the vain hope of finding his ex-wife (though he never refers to her as his ex) and winning her back. Deep down he knows that even if he does find her that things will never be as they were but he blatently ignores it and plods on with his search for a lack of anything else to do.
aleph_woodenglenn 03-10-05, 02:13 PM	harrow that is enough to bring tears to the eyes...that is a great Idea...not his wife though, maybe his betrothed who ran off with his friend while he fufilled his obligations, that would shatter a man...especially if everyone was always telling him that she was too good for him anyway (ouch). I got a little distracted about him because I rolled up the sorcerer last night...pretty good roll on him 15 ch 12 int,dex,con 11 wis 10 str the DM suggested having the soldier just be the sorcerer's lackey, but I REALLY didn't want to do that. Briefly I considered making the sorcerer a bard instead, but they'll be in a small party and as much as bards are a blast to play, unless they are well supported, I notice they tend to die...(which isn't to say sorcerers fair much better all the time) I think that maybe if the soldier (now maybe the poor poor pitiful soldier) saved the (precocious?)sorcerer's skin the sorcerer would be indebted to him... I want him to be a fair alchemist, so maybe he promised to make him some high level magic device in repayment, but by-golly, it might take him a while....where fighter Jackson "Jax" Smith is forlorn and withdrawn, the boisterous sorc. Killian L'Drake is just the opposite. Yes I think that will work nicely. Now kjust have to flesh them out a touch more by Saturday. Thanks for all your help. I'll keep you posted on how they fare.
Vharuck 03-10-05, 02:18 PM	Maybe he never really cared for family, and joined the army at a very young age. Or maybe he cared so much about his family, that he felt ashamed to return to them after what he did or maybe because his side lost the war.
Purpledragonfire 03-15-05, 10:13 PM	Perhaps instead of leaving him the wife was captured by slavers in a raid on the village while many of the men were off fighting the war (Drafted?). He now seeks to find his lost love with no idea of how wandering the world searching for some hint of her......or he could be disagreeable with bad habbits like chewin' tobbaco who gets chased off ;) personally i like option 1 :)
aleph_woodenglenn 03-18-05, 06:09 PM	OOH I know. He left for the army, but never actually fought. Came back to find that his betrothed with his best friend. He killed them both in a fit of passion and fled. He changed his name and can never go home again. (his original name was Edmond Jaxter Smythe....) He is lost, and broken. In an attempt to redeem himself he saves the sorcerer, Killian from a few ruffians that were trying to rob the somewhat flamboyant sorcerer by the roadside. The sorcerer is intrigued by the mysterious savior, and is trying to find out what the aimless wanderer is hiding, but also wants to repay the debt. The sorcerer comes from a long line of sorcerers and can likes to think he can trace his lineage directly to an ancient bronze dragon. He is mischevious and eccentric. He just left home to "See the World" (completely unprepared) and had been a little crestfallen at its lack of wonder. While he skipped to the next city, he was befallen by aforementioned highwaymen (not rogues, just brutes) and saved by this "mysterious stranger" That'll have to work. I will flesh them out later, but they'll be in the game I'm playing this weekend (supposed to start last weekend...but you know).
Amigo De e 03-19-05, 12:30 AM	I still like the idea of him being a washed up soldier. I imagine someone like Caramon, in the Dragonlance series. He's used to the military life-style, and being told what to do. He can't handle making his own decisions, and his life falls apart without some sort of a battle to fight, or mission to acheive. It is unusual to make a low-level veteran, so maybe you could hold off on using him, and just stick with the sorcerer, until your party is a higher level, and then introduce him.