Rayne had a destiny.
Because of it, she was not slain by her fellows for her inability for physical combat. Instead, she was cast out by the tribe, and was taken up by a passing clergy of Silvanis.
She was taken into the order, and her wrathful tendancies were seen as a fitting match for the darker half of the god's portfolio. She grew quickly, as Gnolls are wont to do, and by her fourth summer, she had taken paladin vows and set off to smite the agents of civilization and unnatural order, with the blessings of both her patrons.
One solution would be to put some temporal space between events, and allow my alignment to have shifted. Another is to have the killing done as an actual posession.
As I said, suggestions are welcome. I have a kewl character picture that I want to use as a portrait.
I admit, that is twisting things a bit, but hey, it's fun.
On the other hand, I hear non-strikers are fairly rare, so I should be able to play off being both a tank and a healer, with the promice that I will help my "Pack" of adventurers.
My backup is a more conventional Gnoll Swordmage.
And the rollplay people will object simply due to the guidelines violation.
So, with the above caveats, how would people suggest I modify my backstory to be Unaligned friendly and closer to LFR legal?
Well, I am kind of afraid of getting into another rules argument, but here are the relevant rules:
Select a deity for your character, if applicable. See the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide or Player’s Guide for a list of deities available in the Realms. If you’ve chosen a deity from the Player’s Handbook, listed below is an equivalency chart so that you can convert your character’s choice to the appropriate campaign-specific deity. You may need to alter your character’s alignment slightly to align more properly with the Realms deity. If you have a Channel Divinity feat from the Player’s Handbook, it is a valid character option for the Realms-equivalent deity. The Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide will have Channel Divinity feats for all the Realms deities listed on the chart.
Character alignments must be unaligned, good, or lawful good. In addition, characters may not worship a deity with an alignment of evil or chaotic evil.
Paladins and Deities: As fervent crusaders in their chosen cause, paladins must choose a deity. Paladins choose a specific faith to serve, as well as an alignment. You must choose an alignment identical to the alignment of your patron deity; a paladin of a good deity must be good, a paladin of a lawful good deity must be lawful good, and a paladin of an unaligned deity must be unaligned.
My interpretation of those rules (just my interpretation mind you...) is that it will be impossible to be a Paladin of Yeenoghu in LFR.
"Silvanus is wild and unpredictable, given to tender acts of mercy and wild bouts of savagery."
This would give an interesting dynamic, if Rayne was rescured by the church of Silvanus as an act of mercy, killed a controversal choice of paladin, (political appointment?) and Silvanus allowed her to become a paladin in the dead's place.
A redeemed charascter, that migth work.
And a creature that becomes a paladin because he murders another one? That wouldn't fly in my game.
Gomez
That whole backstory would need to be toned down by quite a bit. Reading that backstory as a DM, I can't see you in any non-evil alignment. The fact that you're doing it because you're on a vision quest or whatever doesn't change that - the acts are evil in and of themselves. It's entirely possible to be edgy and dark without being homicidal, and killing a paladin because the voices in your head said so... I dunno.
I think that once you've got that figured out, you can reverse engineer who did it to you. Could be a lot of different things. Silvanus is a decent idea, or Kelemvor... Personally, I wouldn't have too much trouble with you coming up with your own exarch of a major deity, as long as the exarch was reasonably within that deity's pantheon and mechanically you're worshipping that major deity. (For example, my paladin worships Janakil, which is actually a 3.5 character of mine that went epic and completed the Demigod epic destiny in 3.5. Janakil worships Torm, and so in our game became an exarch of Torm. In mechanical terms - for Channel Divinity feats, for instance - my paladin worships Torm, and I'm fully prepared to play it as such if any DM I come across objects.) It's likely that not every DM would be OK with that. YMMV.
Silvanus might indeed be a good fit. Also, Tempus is worth looking into. Tempus seems to fit conceptually, and the CD Feat for Tempus is probably the second most useful CD Feat out there.
Tempus would be... interesting.
"Respect and enforce the law, and honor your traditions."
Considering the "traditions" of gnolls... that might be pushing Lawful good to the limits.
I'm basically tying to keep the flavor of a wild gnoll- Savage and brutal, but loyal to his pack- and still be a playable character.
A gnoll paladin of Silvanus, with a destiny granted by Yeenoghu, would fit with how I want to play my character. The question, then, is to build the backround to support it.
So, with the above caveats, how would people suggest I modify my backstory to be Unaligned friendly and closer to LFR legal?
Another option is that your character originally thought that she was a Paladin of Yeenoghu, but it turned out that some exarch of Silvanus interceded.
And before your character started play in LFR, this was made clear to her.
Tempus would be... interesting.
"Respect and enforce the law, and honor your traditions."
Tempus is the unaligned god of War. You are thinking of Torm, I guess.
Gomez
Tempus is a possibility, but the question remains- how did a gnoll cub become a paladin?
Silvanus, at least, has the tender mercy aspect, which could have lead to her being adopted, and eventually ordained under her own merits. Not quite as showy as "stealing" paladinhood, but then, that was before I learned about the alignment restrictions.
One thing you migth wish to consider: many gnolls in FR (at least those in the Dalelands and environs) worship Malar insteadof Yeenoghu. Malar is an exarch to Silvanus, so it is not a very big leap for an unaligned gnoll to turn his worship there.
I would just forget about Yeenoghu. Worship Silvanus, and consider it your destiny to save the gnoll race by bringing them to worship him before they are destroyed by their own destructive rampage.
- Tempus-ites find an orphan and "adopt" it to train it for battle, knowing how valuable a fully-grown gnoll could be to whatever they're doing.
- If you've read the Drizzt books, the story of how Wulfgar fell in with the dwarves springs to mind. The child is essentially a spoil of war, someone takes pity on it in battle and raises it as something between an indentured servant and a son.
Tempus is the unaligned god of Max Damage. You are thinking of Torm, I guess.
Gomez
Fixed that typo for you Gomez. :D
A cub wouldn;t become a paladin, but an adult could as slomng as he was pious and managed to prove himself to the church.
One thing you migth wish to consider: many gnolls in FR (at least those in the Dalelands and environs) worship Malar insteadof Yeenoghu. Malar is an exarch to Silvanus, so it is not a very big leap for an unaligned gnoll to turn his worship there.
I would just forget about Yeenoghu. Worship Silvanus, and consider it your destiny to save the gnoll race by bringing them to worship him before they are destroyed by their own destructive rampage.
Considering "adult" is 3 years old, she'd be found as a cub and be an adult by the time her novitiate is over.
And one of the points of the character, is that there arn't really many conflicts between the doctrine of Silvanus and the commands of Yeenoghu. I see it as roughly on par with a Dwarf worshiping Tenpus or Torm- even as a paladin, they'll still offer some prayers to Moradin, because of what they are.
Malar is an exarch of Silvanus now? I thought they were arch-enemies. Where did you get that info?
FRCG page 63, The Deep Wilds
FRCG page 115, Dambrath Lore
FRCG page 63, The Deep Wilds
FRCG page 115, Dambrath Lore
Thanks, I just read it. I missed that completely.
I've revised the OP with the newer version of the backstory.
Yup, Pally of Silvanus is perfectly legal, and as long as she's not too antisocial or "evil-ish" in play, you should get a long fine with most groups you play with. Have fun.
I've revised the OP with the newer version of the backstory.
Looks good to me. Enjoy!Yup, Pally of Silvanus is perfectly legal, and as long as she's not too antisocial or "evil-ish" in play, you should get a long fine with most groups you play with. Have fun.
Antisocial, no. I am aiming for a "Dark and gleeful" rather than "Dark and brooding."
As for evilish... well, she will naturally tend to be cruel, but the "pack" is off limits. (taunting the LG characters nonwithstanding)
Fixed that typo for you Gomez. :D
That wasn't a typo. It is just secret lore not intended for Infidels.
Gomez
Hope you enjoy playing the game, thought remember that a back story doesn't really apply to any sort of game mechanics and wouldn't be common knowledge to people.
Just use it as a basis for determining how your character would react to things and don't volunteer anything more then your character would ICly.
(I've revised the stats to a STR Paladin with a MP fighter multiclass.)
And... 3 years old? The Dragon article mentions that gnolls mature quickly, but I'm not sure it's that quickly. (I would like to see if there are other sources for the gnoll life span.)
And... 3 years old? The Dragon article mentions that gnolls mature quickly, but I'm not sure it's that quickly. (I would like to see if there are other sources for the gnoll life span.)
That's 21 in dog years...
I dunno, that's not exactly something set in stone.
EDIT: Trained Skills of Intimidate, Heal, Religion, Athletics, Insight. With racial intimidate and training, I have +7 without anything in CHA. Is there a backround to enhance that furthur?
I see some Scales of War backrounds that look nice (wandering Duelist, in particular) but are they usable in LFR?