Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Madmarrik Apr 09, 2015 20:37:56	With Elemtental Evil coming out and all the new elemental themed spells, I really wanted to play and Eldritch Knight in the forthcoming adventure. He would either be human or some form of Genasi, mechanics-wise. But I'm having a hard time thinking up an interesting character/backstory. What kind of person becomes an Eldritch Knight? It would be great if he was tied to the elements in some way. What would upset someone about the plot of Prince of The Apocolypse to make it personal?   Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone played this type of fighter before? What did you create?
#2 Tempest_Stormwind Apr 09, 2015 21:17:56	It helps if you detach the name 'eldritch knight' from your character. The title was deliberately generic to handle a basic fighter/mage archetype - it has no anchors to the world, no institutions to belong to, and so on.   Fluffwise, you've got free reign once you break the label to your purposes. Any mystic knight or arcane warrior or spellguard or cultist of Elemental Evil theme could apply to the eldritch knight. Find some potential tie and run with it. (I've yet to read Princes of the Apocalypse, so I can't make specific suggestions apart from basic anti-cultist narratives.)   I admit I haven't any personal experience with the eldritch knight, but it's not for not wanting to - I'm just very uninterested in the kind of magic available to EKs (especially evocation). Sadly that's probably exactly the kind of magic that'd be perfect for your concept, so I can't really help much with the mechanics.
#3 SterlingRat Apr 10, 2015 4:22:39	When I mix themes... and by that, I mean like an Eldrich knight is a mix of Fighter & Wizard... I generally go with one theme being what the character wants to be and another being what the character is expected or forced to be;   Start with either a brainy kid fascinated by magic who has to become a fighter for some reason... Maybe his family were famous in some organized military or some youthful hijinks got him the cliche "Jail or War" choice. -or- Start with a natural athlete who grew up knowing he would be a fighter... maybe his father died "in the war" and he wanted to follow his father's footsteps, or maybe he was just lost and you want to find him. Either way, your character wants to be a fighter but someone sees magical potential; could be a wizard associated with the army, could be his CO, could be the island hermit he was shipwrecked with. Anyway... someone sees his arcane potential and sparks an interest that your character will pursue in a few years (or three levels, whichever comes first)   Once you get the ball rolling, you should be fine.
#4 Marandahir Apr 10, 2015 9:44:42	Eldritch Knights cast with Intelligence, but Genasi cast with Constitution (weird, I know). What this could mean, if you go the Genasi route, is that your elemental power was something that arose within you at some point in life, but then you decided to study and hone it. You could have even started on the road to Knighthood (or any other warrior/soldier/whatnot background) but only later discovered your true heritage as a Genasi; there's nothing saying you can't LOOK like a Human when playing as a Genasi: they're deemed Half-Genies, but if you remember the details for other Half-races (Half-elf, Half-orc, Tiefling, Aasimar), a bunch of these are actually descendents with a magical enetity in their bloodline sometime in the relatively recent geneology. You could look mostly human but maybe a little off-coloured skin. So you're picked on for being even a little bit different, so you decide to tough up and become a fighter to survive in a cruel world. But that's when you discover your true heritage, and why you're different. And that's when you start studying to be better at it. Remember, Fighter's don't choose their Martial Archetype until 3rd level. Of course, you need to justify the Intelligence bumps earlier on, so perhaps you were a studious kid earlier when you picked on, but that's why you decided to switch over and toughen up – but you never fully let go of your studies. That's why it came so naturally to you to become an Elemental Knight, a caster and warrior, by the time you hit 3rd level in your adventures. Just a suggestion – feel free to use it or modify it, or maybe the line of thinking I presented there could run differently for you but inspire a similar line of thinking for you to figure out a different character arc.  The point was, focus in on what your abilities are at the point of Eldritch Knight – race, subrace, class, subclass, ability scores you'll need to use, and then finally background, which can arise from you thinking about those other points. I just pulled apart elements of the Genasi and an elemental-evocation-themed Eldritch Knight to get you that backstory. But you could cut the hairs all sorts of ways and tell all sorts of different stories with this Human or Genasi Eldritch Knight using elemental-themed evocation spells.
#5 MacEochaid Apr 10, 2015 10:01:24	There was a paragon path called Malikith Jannisary I believe in 4th edition. Story wise they were the elite servant guards of the genies, both privileged because of respect for skill, but low on the social hierarchy of the city of brass (iirc) based off the Jannisary of history. You could be an elite student who escaped an Efretti prison-barrack hiding on the prime material, honing the skills you were taught so that the genie tyrants would be undone by the very weapon they created.
#6 pupoochi Apr 10, 2015 11:22:13	Here man... i posted this a few days ago, need a bit of work, but this might help you... http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4198291
#7 Madmarrik Apr 11, 2015 9:29:17	Thanks for all your help guys. This is great material. The more I think about it, the more I think he'll have to be human. I should also mention that combat mechanics-wise he'll be designed as a long-range attack fighter who uses crossbows and eventually projectile magic spells, if that helps.   I like the idea that he dreams of becoming a knight but also feels he needs to learn magic to achieve happiness. Maybe he's some kind of amatuer marksmen who can't ge accepted because he only fights long-range? As for the magic I'm saving the "training for revenge" troupe for another character I'm working on.