Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fool_Of_A_Took 12-05-06, 04:42 AM	Greetings, everyone. :) I'm a long time lurker of the Eberron boards and decided I'd finally come out of hiding to see of anyone could help me with a little enigma. Well, lets get down to brass tacks: I'm applying to join a play-by-post game and I've decided to try out the unsual combination Paladin/Bard. Thing is, one of the requirements is that I must have been born to a dragonmarked house (he's giving everyone the Least Dragonmark feat for free), the other being I must have some business in Sharn. Since I'm very mediocre at writing backgrounds, I have no idea how to combine these three seeming contradictory elements (that is, dragonmarked, Paladin, and Bard). I was thinking maybe he was born to a House Orien enclave in Thrane. He wondered for while, doing work for the house. Then, in a fit of patriotism, he joins the Thranish army. There, he finds his true calling and dedicates his life to serving the Silver Flame. I'll see what I can dig up when I finally get back home to my books. Please tell me any ideas you have about embellishing the idea I've set out, or suggest a new one altogether. Thanks in advance.
ieattrollsforbreakfast 12-05-06, 11:15 AM	The Bard class suits the houses Phiarlan and Thuranni pretty well, and works for Ghallanda reasonably too. The Paladin class works well with Deneith Sentinel Marshals, but the bard might be a little difficult to fit in there. House Jorasco might work out well for you, actually. The bard class might represent Talenta traditions, singing around a campfire etc., and the playful nature of the halflings, while the paladin class can represent the dedication to others that a Jorasco should have (and comes with healing abilities, too). Developing ideas for House Phiarlan a bit, perhaps your character could go the vigilante route: famous Phiarlan performer by day, masked harbinger of justice by night. The character would almost be an Eberronian version of Batman, replacing Gotham with Sharn. Remember that you needn't be a follower of a religion to be a paladin, dedication to good and justice are enough.
Melvin the Mediocre 12-05-06, 02:03 PM	Check out this very similar thread. The consensus was to play a paladin who worked with in the house with the plans to one day change it. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=746259
Kawnell 12-05-06, 03:28 PM	I'm actually playing a Bard/Paladin now. Born in Karrnath from a family within House Denieth. Frustrated with the war, and it's impact on the common man he dropped out of the Rekkenmark Acedemy after two years to join a travelling troupe of performers. After Kaius III lowers the standing Vol to cult status, He sees his chance to start making a difference and becomes a paladin for Boldrei. Currently He's trying (but not getting very far) in making the border between the Mror Holds and Karrnath friendly. (Our DM is having Karrnath stockpiling supplies for a push to take back 'their' territory.) Have Fun
Fool_Of_A_Took 12-05-06, 09:33 PM	After reading the thread you suggested, Melvin, and studying my new copy of Dragonmarked, I'm seriously considering having my prospective character originate from House Phiarlan. In particular, the one post about Luca Syara really interested me. Unfortunately, she's only been writing since the end of the war (if I remember correctly), which seems like a terribly short time to inspire someone (an elf in particular) to change their life in the way gaining a level of Paladin would require. To go out on a tangent, the time an elf takes to mature is a problem to me. Even if he just became an adult at the start of the campaign he was still born before the Last War even started (!). What could he have been doing the entire time? I suppose he could have been writing plays, poems, and songs about the tragic loss of life, using whatever fame he might have to speak out against the war, etc., but it just seems... wrong to simplify 98 years or so of existence like that.
icedrake 12-06-06, 12:53 PM	I think the hardest part about coming up with an Elvish or half-elvish character history in Eberron is dealing with the last war and its impact on your character. A war going on for that long must have affected your character in some manor and I can't help but see some elves going into a very deep manic depression due to the prolonged and escolated violence. What class do you plan on taking at the first level? This choice will color your character's background siginificantly as it deals with his inspiration, both as a bard and holy warrior. As a bard, you'll likely have high ranks in social skills and some stealthy ones, which permits you to be the perfect spy by hiding in plain sight as you sing and dance in noble houses, collecting information for your house. You've likely performed a number of stereotypical Alias or James Bond like missions where you've had to inflitrate parties as a performer or different person and steal information or plant something; this gives you a more active role than just being a performer. Even though elves are long lived, I can forsee a significant event like a personal tragedy or great success shape their personality rather rapidly. Given the house's neutrality during the war but high amount of activity during it, you must have had moments where your character felt conflicted, helping one nation win a series of battles one year only to turn against it a few years or even decades later (a rather short time to an elf). You had a view of the war that many people did not have, you konw a lot about the back room dealings that went on. You should thing about whether or not you were on the battlefield of the Last War. How often during the last war did you see people fihting, did you fight yourself at all or did your character refuse to pick up a weapon? Were you able to live out the whole war by traveling from one rich estate to another and remaining there until it was once again safe to travel again? The cool thing about paladins is that they are divinely inspired. Due to the nature of epiphanies, they can happen at any time in a person's life. Play this up. As a bard you see inspiration in many things but maybe not divinity. Depending on your actions during the last war, you might just use the cluge associated with the Day of Mourning, or perphase you're stuck on some crazy doomsday plot you helped squash but it ever saw the light of day in the newspapers. Maybe you recieved some kind of intellegence about the day of mourning by never acted on it or handed it off to someone before it was too late and feel guilty about it. Day of Mourning, big event, changed the world and you can use that as a turning point for your character. World's currently at peace but not really, there's so much rebuilding left to be done and people need help especially in the wake of the war's end. Governments suck and you're sick of sitting around doing nothing. You're a paladin, champian of the people. Super long post, but a lot to think about and I'm sure there's a few things int here that should help you. Good luck with the character, seems like a great concept.
Melvin the Mediocre 12-06-06, 01:52 PM	What could he have been doing the entire time? Maybe his parents sent him off to study in Arenal or some other continent. Even some of the fringe countries in Khorvaire might have been less impacted than the Five Nations, so he could have grown up in an unimportant principality in Lhazaar, on in Thronehold. And while I forget the details, there is also a settlement of people who fled the war and are trying to uphold the traditions of Galifar. As I recall they are in the jungles of Q'bara.
DarkWarriorKarg 12-07-06, 11:09 AM	I would think that the hardest part of being a Palladin/bard would be the fact that Palladins must be Lawful Good and bards can't be lawful.
Kawnell 12-07-06, 01:57 PM	The feat you're looking for is in Complete Adventurer pg. 107 With or without the feat, you start out as a bard, and then have an alignment shift to LG, and pick up Paladin. Bards keep their powers if they become Lawful. Paladins lose their powers if they stop being Lawful. Have Fun, Kawnell
Fool_Of_A_Took 12-08-06, 03:50 AM	What class do you plan on taking at the first level? I was going to start out as a Bard, then go to Paladin after [insert life altering event]. In any case, thanks a lot to all of you, you've certainly given me some very good points to incorporate into his background. I especially liked the suggestion concerning the Day of Mourning, something like that seems like the perfect thing to alter an espionage-centric character's outlook.
ChaoticGood 12-10-06, 02:58 AM	As a non-adult Thuranni or Phiarlan bard, it's likely that you spent most of the war actually training as a performer of some sort. Perhaps a large portion of that time was spent at a House-run musical conservatory. If you did any spy work at all, it was likely very simple pick-ups and drop-offs. "As you mingle with guests at the King's concert hall, have a seat on the green bench in the foyer. You will find a letter stuck under the cushion. After your shift at the dance hall tomorrow, take the letter upstairs and leave it by the door to Room 315. Do not show this letter to anyone, and do not be seen with it!" Basically, such missions might net you a handful of XP, but would not place you in any real danger, nor require the specialized skills of a character with a PC class level.
Huzzah! 12-11-06, 01:18 PM	While bending the alignments restrictions a bit, I can imagine your character as a paladin who chants Gregorian-style buffs while brandishing his longsword.