Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Arkonth 10-23-05, 09:11 PM	I have a great character idea, but right now it's all disconnected things I need to bring some order to. Any help would be great. I'm going to go in bullet points to create some sort of organization. I should mention he's a "Mage Blade" it's basically an arcane warrior with ties to a specific weapon. It can be found here: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=385238 1. Beginning as an average halberd-toting guard. (Lawful Good) 2. Wife murdered...somehow. 3. Sudden appearance of necromantic power a. Maybe is his dead wife b. Maybe a result of her murderer's methods c. Maybe completely unrelated 4. Halberd shows signs of intelligence a. Modelled by Item Familiar rules b. Has anti-incorporeal, strength draining and ridiculously sharp style powers c. Calls itself Atropos (3rd Fate, cut the threads of life) 5. Maybe becomes a sort of vigilante a. Perhaps against corrupt guards (see title) 6. Weird sympathy with undead 7. Misc. a. He gained power very suddenly and very quickly (Jumps to 14th level in days) b. Maybe a guard for a corrupt city of thieves (officer Gordon from Batman Begins sort of thing) So can anyone help me pulls together from the soup of ideas it is right now?
AA_Metatron 10-24-05, 12:07 AM	Hey Arkonth, your story makes an interesting background... Here is my attempt to spice it up: Joe had it all in life. He had a decent paying job, great friends and a loving wife which he married not too long ago. He was settled and content at that time. Things got better when they found out that she was expecting a baby which was due not too soon. One day, he finds his wife murdered in cold blood while he was away working. He found her lying in a pool of blood with her head and their unborn child missing. There was an investigation, but no one could find who the assailants were or where her wife’s missing head was. He was broken and his world caved in on him. Two days after her funeral he started to have dreams of his wife. Things in the house started moving around on their own. He dismissed them as figments of his imagination. Joe went back to work desperately hoping to push out that dark chapter in his life. One day, while on guard duty, he was beset by a group of thugs who outnumbered and out skilled his party. Watching his party die one by one, he was the last man standing against five of them. The next thing that he knew was that there was an unknown energy surging thru him and in less than the time it took for the thugs to scream, they were slain as dark energies cut thru their lifeless bodies. After that episode, he started to have lucid dreams of his wife, who was trying to speak to him but no words came out from her. Trying desperately to move on from his painful memories of finding his wife murdered, he started to clear her things from the house. It became more mysterious as he found a spellbook and in it, writings of dark rituals and black magics were written in blood. It was then he saw the spirit of her wife and she spoke to him. She has vowed to remain faithful to him as he was her one true love and with him she shall remain to protect him from the evils. She told him that she made a deal with a powerful demon. In exchange for protecting his loving husband as long as he lives, she will give the demon her eternal soul. With that she spoke no more. This left Joe with more questions than answers and a greater desire to avenge her AND to release her soul from the demon. Also, the demon has indicated to the wife that the baby is still alive... Further thoughts: You can opt to change the alignment from here depending on what type of character you want to play (optional) There are now a few hooks that you can start you character off with... a. Avenge b. Baby c. Eternal soul Backgrounder: Joe’s wife was an evil necromancer when she was alive, but gave it up when she found the love of her life. Basically, his wife’s spirit now resides in the halberd with all the abilities that is stated in the mage blade. Alternatively, you can also add in the ancestral relic feat from BoED (for flavor) Joe’s wife made a deal with a demon for her eternal soul, gaining the Atropos powers. Joe does not know that his wife plans to bend the deal she made with the demon by attempting to turn Joe into a lich, thereby being with him forever (as long as he still lives) As for the murderers, both of them does not know who they are That’s all that I can do at lunchtime at the moment…
erbmjw 10-24-05, 07:53 AM	If you do not want the wife to be an evil necromancer who bargined with a demon to keep her husband safe. Then have her working for/assisting a group of good clerics/etc - thus her death was ordered and arranged so that she would not be able to; 1) pass along some important information and/or 2) complete some important task [^1] The demon who was summoned to kill her also stole the unborn baby. As for the weapon a few two things 1) I like the idea of an ancesteral weapon - dad, granddad, and greatdad on the fathers side were all honest low level guardsman but this latest event in the family history has finally boosted the weapon into a different level. 2) the weapon intelligence comes from a collection ( or merged collection ) of deceased family members & ancestors - not from the wife, as her soul is in a demon prison. The wife was able with her last breath ( because it was a 'true love' relationship ) able to unlock a part of her husbands arcane talents that he has been in denial of since his late youth. [ ^2 ] Then later on when the wife's soul does a mini-escape from the demon for a short period and she hints at a few things that can help her husband and baby ( as well she could provide further aid to him). Though the demon was sloppy enough to leave her room to roam and the abiltiy to act in some minor ways - the wife is not able to give the husband direct information as to why she was killed or where the baby is now. After noticing that she has streched the roaming area considerably- the demon puts her soul into a more binding prison. The husband gets to watch his wife's soul suffer as she is sucked back into the demon prison. This gives the GM a few more hooks 1) One or more people for the character to hunt down because his wife was murdered. 2) A possible source of allies - though the husband may initialy( or always) hate them because his wife was killed because of her work with them. 3) A demon to hunt down ( and possibly destroy ) 3.1) A baby to save and possibly raise 3.2) A wife's soul to bargin/fight out of some prison the demon has made for her 4) Trying to find out exactly what important information his wife had and why people would order her killed for it. ^1 Note: like give birth to your child - but the demon was not aware of that because the summoner did not trust him with that information :) ^2 Note: these talents came from his mothers side of the family - though they skipped a generation in her case and she did not want her son to grow up with the knowledge of them so she suppressed his use and knowledge of them.
Arkonth 10-24-05, 06:05 PM	Thanks! I really like the demon and evil necromancer wife ideas. The idea of an unscrupulous (and dead) "protector" reminds me of Laura from Neil Gaiman's American Gods. And it also gives me an image of a stereotypical fifties hous wife, quickly hiding the corpse she was halfway through resurrecting, washing the blood from her hands and greeitng her husband with a big kiss. That one is creepier. The weapon, I'm still torn, I like the idea of the wife being involved in it gaining power, but I also like the ancestral relic. Her actually being in the weapon and/or it having her personality is a little too much I think. I'm leaning towards the idea of his wife somehow infusing him with necromantic power. Perhaps her final blessing or curse, or something. Okay, this is a little seperate, but in my DM's homebrew, everyone eventually manifests something called Magic of Mar. Mar is the moon and the source of all magic. Eventually one absorbs enough energy and develops some sort of magical ability. For example, our mage is a member of an elven clan known at one point to include lycanthrope members. He occasionally turns into a weretiger. Our pirate hunting seafearing elf fighter, breaths water and can function normally within it. Our cleric was captured, stripped naked and left at a blizzard. A man in a bar ried to extort him and the cleric waved a fist him. The fist became a warhammer. So I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what sort of Magic of Mar ability would be appropriate for this character. Because Magic of Mar is a little beyond players control, and changes with time, it's best not to be too crunchy about it and instead jsut do general things, as opposed to statting specal abilities. I think this is my longest ever post. Thanks for bearing with me.
Fithero 10-24-05, 07:35 PM	Maybe people he kills (sometimes) raise as undead under his control? That would kinda suit the whole necromancer deal youve got going. Probably just give him a random low level necro spell that takes effect every once in a while. Heck perhaps he becomes immune to subdual damage, but doesnt actually physically heal (still heals damage, but his body still keeps the wounds) That sounds really nasty. So many choices......... he could talk to dead people or have a constant death sight ability to see ghosts. So many choices.... Later
Harrow Blade 10-24-05, 11:45 PM	There are some great ides here, but here is one that just came to me. The Halberd is like some ancestral relic with awsome powers possibly related to the powers that now in fuse your character. Atropos, to look upon it when it rests againts the wall it would not seem to be any different to any other well made and well used weapon. Yet when it is taken up by it's true owner(insert character name here) a change comes over it that is truly frightening to behold. The wooden haft becomes like a spine of a strange creature, polished smooth by use, the head of the weapon appears to be cold iron coated with dried blood that won't scrape off while the blade is jagged like the teeth of a vicious predator. In the hands of this man it bcomes an animal of its own accord whipping to and fro hacking, biting his enemies and reveling in the blood. As for the Mar power that infuses him perhaps he is able to take on the traits of the undead for a time, eg a incorporal state of a ghost, the paralysing touch of the ghoul etc, but also takes on the apearances of the unded he takes the traits of. i like Fithero's idea about keeping the wounds. P.S. great avatar choice
Arkonth 10-25-05, 12:54 AM	I love my avvy. :D I like the undead traits Mar thing. That's just awesome, and it makes sense and it leaves a ton of room for my DM, I'm definately gonna suggest it to him. I also like the idea of Atropos Changing in his hands, maybe no always but just in combat. Though I think the changes would be a little different. Atropos seems less brutal and more the cold and calculating type. She looks at your measured strands of life, and cuts them at the marked place with close precision. You guys are awesome thanks so much for the ideas.
dog45 10-26-05, 08:37 AM	It may not be the exact kind of character you're looking for, but when i hear the phrases "paladin/vigilante" and "who guards the guards?" I think of the Watchmen. Written by Alan Moore, it's a comic loosely about a group of vigilantes. One of the characters is called Rorshach (sp?), and he errs on the lawful side of justice. Yeah, he's psychotic and guts dogs, but his sense of duty to fight crime is unmatched in the book.
Arkonth 11-03-05, 07:33 PM	Shameless bump.....