1) Geargod is an orphan, and was raised by a young eladrin on the Moonshae Isles.
2) He was raised as a pet, and taught songs and stories to entertain his young master, by the lord of the estate (a previous adventurer).
3) When his master realized the true nature of Geargod (when he was no longer a pup or a novelty) he attempted to put "him to sleep" before his savage nature became too apparent.
4) In a twist of fate Geargod saved his master's life from the creature the lord had summoned to kill him. Afterward, the lord returned his favor by nearly killing the young Geargod. He spared his life, so long as the Gnoll promised never to return to the Isle of his childhood.
5) Geargod swore revenge and has decided to adventure and help/entertain as many folk until he is ready to be reunited with his younger master.
GOALS
1) To grow strong enough as a champion of good to either prove his worth to the eladrin lord, or to grow strong enough to force the issue.
2) To "record" or cover as many songs of the Realms as possible through his "Ghost Sound" Racial power.
CONTACTS
1) The Leonin family of the Moonshae Isles
2) A female gnome bard who he travels and performs with.
SECRETS
1) Geargod's songs actually come from across the planes and include works from our dimension. Hits from the 50's through the 90's frequently slip into his song choice and surprise other bards, used to singing more contemporary works.
2) Geargod was originally named Spot. His favorite game was to fetch his young master's javelin and return it. He became so attached to the spear he wields it to this day.
3) He stole his name from a sermon he heard on the god Erathis. He knows little about religion.
1. Nimal is a creature of the wild. She has dreadlocked hair, filled with feathers and beads made from bone and wood. She wears cloths made from animal skins and simply woven plant fibres. Her long pointy ears have numerous bone piecings. A line of ritual scarification marks underlines her solid black eyes. Her teeth are filed down like sharks teeth, as is the way of her tribe. Despite the ritual disfigurements, she possesses an eerie and savage beauty, like a big cat.
2. Nimal is outcast from her people as a Kinslayer after having killed her cousin in a brawl over spoils from a raid on a human settlement.
3. Nimal makes her living as a subsistence hunter and guide to human travellers who wish to enter the Lashar forest and the ancient ruined cities found within.
4. Since leaving her community, lashar has developed both a drinking and gambling habit. This combined with a complete naivety about the way money functions lead to her wasting nearly all the money she earns.
5. Nimal is hated by her own people because of her involvement with the humans of the lands beyond the sacred forest of Lashar. Nimal ofcause hates them just as much because they attack her on sight now. None of this means that Nimal like the humans whom she works for. She hates them every bit as much, but without the support structure of her tribe, she cannot replace things she cannot make for her self. Since she is still young, there are many things she can't make.
Step 2: Goals
1. Become 'rich' and live in luxury with many slaves and many concubines.
2. It would be cool to have Nimal discover the truth about the ancient cities of her home land.
Step 3: Secrets
1. Nimal occationally leads those she guides to their death at the hands of her own people, hoping that both sides will suffer and that she can pick the corpses clean of goods later.
2. Nimal is in truth the direct decendant of the last queen of the lashar elves and the rightful heir to the fallen kingdom that surrounds once existed within the forest before the fall of magic.
Step 4: Friends and Enemies
1. Rallman the gambler is perhapes Nimal's best friend. As a consummate card shark Rallman finds Nimal to be an easy mark. This combined with the fact she is pleasing on the eye(in a slightly odd way, if you can ignore the teeth and the slight smell) and willing to kill any who would accuse him of cheating before they even finish speaking means that he is willing to let her play at his table most nights. He also has been known to pay for her bed, food and even equipment while she is in town, realising that while she lives, he will have a constant easy revenue stream.
2. Madam Silvia Lightfinger is the owner of the bleakriver bordello. She considers Nimal to be 'one of her girls' after a short stint the elf did in the immediate aftermath of her joining human society. Silvia does what she can to keep the dangerous and temperamental elf out of trouble, though again it is out of self interest as she wish to have the elf return to working in the bordello. The profits to be made from a eerily beautiful savage princess on staff are hard to imagain and Silvia Lightfinger has a very active imagination.
3. Paradoxially Nimal's greatest enemy may be her greatest friend in the long run. She has repeatedly clashed with the town marshell of bleakriver, who knows full well that she is bad news, but believes Nimal may be able to turn away from her life of petty crime and become a valued scout for the Alastia army.
Step 5: memories
1. Nimal's earliest memory is watching her families' pet cockatrices hunting giant centipeds in amongst the roots of the tree in which their hut was built.
2. Nimal's last good memory of home was her initation into adulthood by the cult of kaln the huntress. Her first taste of human flesh and pomegranates, both of which were taboo for any but hunters to eat.
3.Entering exile after murdering her cousin, his blood on her mouth still from where she had bitten of his ear during their fight and her knife still in her bloody hands.
Wow, Zombieneighbours. Hopefully you don't take this as a bad thing, but your Nimal's history is very close to that of my warden Necal'li. Great minds think alike, I guess.
That said, I really like what you've done here. Breaking stereotypes is always good (in my opinion, anyway), and you have blown the idea of peace-loving, dainty, high-minded elves out of the water. If it were me, I probably would have talked more about how Nimal felt about being exiled (if she thought it was fair, if she still feels any type of attachment to her people, etc...), but by not doing that you really cemented Nimal's hard-hearted indifference for me (hopefully that's what you were going for). Very interesting.
And by the way MatthewSwift: I think your character concept is awesome - though raising a gnoll as a pet definitely doesn't seem like the smartest move on the eladrin's part. I can see a lot of cool role-playing resulting from Geargod's backstory.
This is my original 4E character. I tend to go a little bit overboard with details, and here I did so especially in the "Five Facts" section. As someone earlier suggested, I filled out the TMB backwards, so it might be easier to read it that way. Alright, here you go...
Kiah Suntalon Female Fighter Level 4 (specializing in heavy flail)
1.) Her home village of Sandsview is in the mountains bordering an expansive desert, built into rocky cliffs where rocs commonly live. The town is a mix of humans, halflings, and half-orcs as well as smaller numbers of goliaths and dwarves from the larger mountains slightly farther away from the desert. The people of Sandsview must cross the desert to trade, and thus are very familiar with the desert, and have also tamed some of the rocs in order to make transport across the desert easier. These rocs are a large part of the culture of Sandsview, and many of the people there venerate an almost unheard-of god of rocs and flight. Her father was one of the many traders who employed rocs as mounts to cross the desert, while her mother was the captain of the town guard.
2.) Sandsview was raided by orcs when she was twenty-three. The first raid took half the town and both her parents. She assumed the position of guard captain in her mother’s absence, and – though horrendously inexperienced in leadership – managed to keep the orcs at bay for another month and a half. However, the town was eventually overrun. The fortunate escaped on the backs of their rocs while the rest, Kiah included, were captured as slaves.
3.) Kiah did not take easily to slavery and eventually tried to kill her orc master, who had forced her to fight in the gladiatorial fighting pits common in the orc outposts. Enraged, he sold her to a friend in a mountain settlement renowned for its harsh work. However, with the help of an abolitionist organization, Kiah managed to escape and has since moved northwards, adventuring to support herself.
4.) Kiah is short – 5’2” – a fact that leads many to underestimate her. She is stocky and muscular, with skin so dark that it is almost black and close-cropped black hair. When her first master bought her, he branded his seal into her upper left arm. As soon as she escaped, she took a hot iron and burned over the mark until it was completely unintelligible, leaving a square patch of shiny lighter skin.
5.) Kiah is impulsive, though she tries not to be, and impatient. She is resilient and generally stubborn – but will back down and give in if a long argument is getting nowhere or is making matters worse – a tactic learned from her days as a slave. She is uneducated in a formal sense. Her brief time as a guard captain gave her the ability to take control of a situation if need be, but she tries to avoid taking on a leadership role when possible. She isn’t a chatterbox, but what she ends up saying is sometimes (often) better left unsaid, as she has no idea what tact is. She has no respect for cowards or traitors. She is not “lawful” (she doesn’t like lots of organization or discipline) but she does believe that all individuals should adhere to the basics of fair play and justice. She doesn’t like or trust the wealthy, and instead has a strong connection to the natural world and greatly respects those with primal powers. She has little faith in the gods because they seemed to abandon her when she was a slave, except for Kord, who she believes allowed her to survive the fighting pits. She is exceptionally proud.
1.) Kiah knows that her father is dead, having seen his body after the first serious orc raid. However, her mother was not among the dead, and Kiah would like to determine her ultimate fate.
2.) On a large scale, Kiah would like to do whatever she can to put a stop to slavery. Currently she sends money to Merric and Vela (see acquaintances) to help the Broken Chain, but it may not be long before she joins the organization herself. She really enjoys adventuring, so a very active involvement in the society may not be possible, but as she goes up in levels, her ability to contribute significantly financially will increase.
Step Three: Secrets (known and unknown) Spoiler:Show
1.) Very soon after she started fighting in the pits, Kiah was forced to fight her brother. He had always been a very free spirit, but his time in slavery had broken him completely. Had he won, he would have killed her. As it was, Kiah eventually disarmed and subdued him, but refused to finish him off. He was executed right there on the field in front of her eyes, and Kiah was badly beaten for her disobedience. She still blames herself for his death.
2.) Kiah’s mother – Anari – like Kiah herself, was a talented warrior. After the first raid on Sandsview, she was captured by orcs and sold as a slave to a powerful tiefling warlock as a bodyguard. This evil warlock forced Anari to swear fealty to herself and to the powerful devil with which she had formed her infernal pact. She also extracted the names of all of those whom Anari cared for, promising that if Anari ever tried to rebel against either her or her master, those whom Anari had named would suffer. This warlock is in possession of a powerful magic item with which she can spy on whomever she pleases (stolen from the palantir of Tolkien), and recently has become interested in her slave’s daughter…
1.) Halflings Merric Roundbarrel and wife Vela. Members of a small but widespread society – the Broken Chain – dedicated to the freeing of slaves and the destruction of slavery wherever it is found. Responsible for Kiah’s escape from her orc masters. She is very grateful to them and remained nearby to try to help in their mission for a while, until her presence became a liability after one too many orcs recognized her. She regards them almost as family and often writes them and sends them some of the money earned from her exploits. There is no one else she is so tender with.
2.) Kadrick Steeleye, dwarven ex-adventurer who settled in the town of Sandsview. Gave Kiah all the formal weapons training she has, and taught her how to use the heavy flail. She found his pale skin and northern accent strange and interesting, but was enamored by his dedication to his craft and dwarven sense of justice. He taught her to revere the gods (a belief that changed drastically after her time in slavery). He had trained many of the adolescents of Sandsview that came before her, but none that came after – he said that after instructing her, any other student would be boring, and followed the mountains back north after a generous farewell dinner given by the town.
3.) Malgroth Yurzik, Kiah’s “master” for more than three years. Part of an orc caravan that traveled around the desert, raiding small towns and selling their loot at various orc outposts. Gladiatorial contests were held at some of these outposts, and it was Malgroth that forced Kiah into them after recognizing how fierce a fighter she was. He reserves a special space in his heart for his hatred of Kiah; her defiance and indomitable nature led to frequent clashes between them, and as a result he made sure she was beaten often and harshly. Despite her many shows of disrespect, he didn’t sell her because of the money she was making him in the fighting pits – until she made an attempt on his life. He has learned of her escape from the orc he sold her to, and is outraged, convinced that if she’d been under his firm hand, she never would have gotten away.
1.) Riding on the back of a roc across the desert with her father after begging him to let her travel with him.
2.) The winged badge she received as she joined the town guard at age 18, over-confident and eager to help against rumored orc raiders.
3.) The roar of a hundred orc spectators as she was thrown into the fighting pit for the first time.
So...do you think she's too cliched? Does she draw too much attention to herself? I know I kind of rattled on (okay, really rattled on) - would it have been much better to sketch out only the basics and let her grow more organically?
Kiah's my original fourth edition character. Any comments would be appreciated.
This is my original 4E character. I tend to go a little bit overboard with details, and here I did so especially in the "Five Facts" section. As someone earlier suggested, I filled out the TMB backwards, so it might be easier to read it that way. Alright, here you go...
So...do you think she's too cliched? Does she draw too much attention to herself? I know I kind of rattled on (okay, really rattled on) - would it have been much better to sketch out only the basics and let her grow more organically?
Kiah's my original fourth edition character. Any comments would be appreciated.
The point of the TMB is to get a background that a DM can read in an organized form. The Five Facts list can be five sentences or five paragraphs, as long as they move from topic to topic. Some people (such as myself) get involved in the writing process for fun, and would ramble on for pages merrily telling stories about our characters if we had the interest and the inspiration.
Your character will grow organically no matter how much work you put in to a background. As you let your character grow, you might find her not fitting as well into the background as you previously expected--this is only natural. It seem you have a very clear grasp of the character as she is when you start playing, her, which is helpful to know where you eventually want to end up.
I know it's been a while since I've written one of these, but I figured I'd start up again. This time, I'm making a series of NPCs for the campaign I've started. The campaign centers around a party of characters who get conscripted into a bizzare collection of planes called the Mazes, in which resides the "blood sport" known only as the Games. The Games are run by ten massively powerful beings known as the Masters. Each of the Masters is in charge of one Maze, which is shaped and modeled after the Master's personality and interests. The players have to survive the challenges the Masters lay for them and figure out the secrets of the Games if they ever wish to escape.
1. Master Irann stands at 5' 4'' and weighs about 130 lb. She is dressed in flowing robes of brown and green. The robes also have many decorations from natural sources, such as animal pelts, horns, teeth and feathers. On her shoulders however, are a pair of small trees seem to grow. She also wears an exquisitely carved darkwood mask in the shape of a bird's head. She speaks in a gentle and motherly tone, but that tone can quickly shift to protective anger if she is crossed.
2. Master Irann's Maze appears to be like a small version of the Feywild. Here the natural world dominates all, with forests of massive trees the size of real-world sequoias and larger, pristine and glistening oceans and rivers, mountains of purple stone and white snow, and deserts and plains that seem to roll on forever. There appear to be no permanent player settlements throughout the whole thing, merely camps that never packed up and moved on. Players can find refuge in places like these, or they might find other players lying in wait to ambush them.
3. Master Irann's challenges all have something to do with nature or the wild. Players in her domain may be asked to hunt for unique and powerful beasts, or they may be the prey forced to run and hide from relentless and cunning fey hunters. They may be asked to tend to and heal sacred groves that have been damaged, or animals that have been injured, or prevent such incidents from happening.
4. Rangers and characters who use the primal power source have a special place in Master Irann's heart. They are often the best equipped to survive her challenges, and she often leaves rewards for such characters to find in the form of beneficial magic items or a little extra help in a particularly difficult challenge.
5. Master Irann, like many of the other Masters, has difficulty remembering her time before she became a Master. She knows that she's an elf, though like all Masters she hides everything about herself beneath her robes and mask, and she knows that she had some connection with nature, since that's what her Maze came to represent. She knows that she was kidnapped and conscripted into the Games a long time ago, and that she became a Master when one of the other Masters stepped down. The only other memory she has of her past is that she had a sister, and she loved her very much before she joined the Games.
1. Master Irann's main goal is to challenge players that enter her Maze. She provides extra help to players who respect or revere the power of nature, and she punishes overly destructive players.
2. A goal that Master Irann has been working on for a while has been recovering the lost memories of her past. She feels that without them, she is without an identity, and thus she probes elf and eladrin players for potential connections or to trigger buried memories.
1. Master Irann's sister, Hana, has been searching for her sister ever since she dissapeared, and is now a shaman. Hana has just been swept away into the Games, and is now a player. If Hana and Irann recognize each other, then it may bring some of Irann's buried memories back.
2. Like all Masters, Master Irann is not invincible, and there are certain circumstances, she may be injured or even killed. If she is lured into the realm of Master Blackmoor or Master Antum, whose Mazes have strong focuses on death and destruction, her powers would weaken, and her immortality would be lost. However, she has an ace in the hole that other Masters don't. She can give up her Masterhood, just like her predecessor did, becoming a normal person once again.
3. It's said that somewhere in Master Irann's Maze, there is a great cave that contains inscriptions revealing clues as to the origins of the Games and the Masters. The carvings depict that the Mazes have changed many times in the past, with the last change being the growth and creation of the trees that represend Master Irann's rule.
1. Master Irann has a strong dislike of her nearest neighbor, Master Antum. She believes that his obsessive love of war, destruction and fire is inherently wicked, and that if left unchecked, he would burn all the Mazes and kill all the other Masters just because he could. Master Antum, for his part, regards Master Irann as a weak-willed treehugger sitting on a pile of firewood that she's selfishly keeping for herself.
2. A Master that Master Irann has a friendship with is Master Rangrim. Like Master Irann, Master Rangrim was a player who ascended to Masterhood, though he achieved his power by killing his predecessor in his own Maze. Master Rangrim is still trying to decide what kind of Master he wants to be, so he often turns to Master Irann for advice, since she is one of the most accepting Masters.
3. One of Master Irann's most bitter enemies is Master Blackmoor, the ruler of the oldest Maze. The sadistic challenges he sets for players in his domain and the fact that he keeps company with devils and undead renders him an antithesis to everything Master Irann stands for. Master Blackmoor thinks that Master Irann is a foolish and weak girl. He covets her realm, like he covets all the other realms, but is afraid to make a move on anyone, since upsetting the balance of power between the Masters would cause great risks to him.
1. Master Irann's oldest memories are of her childhood, living in the forest with her mother and sister. Her mother instilled both girls with a deep appreciation of nature, and that has stuck with Master Irann, though many other details of this time have been forgotten.
2. A fond memory of Master Irann is the day she obtained Masterhood. She had been surprised when the Master of the Maze she'd been travelling in appeared before her, and explained that he wanted to die. She was confused as to why he was telling her all of this, but then he showed her, removing his mask and placing it on her face. Immediately the mask shifted and warped into the form it is today, and her clothes became the robes of a Master. As the old Master, now revealed to be an eladrin wizard of extremely advanced age, breathed his last, a smile came to his face, and nature suddenly ran rampant in Master Irann's new domain.
3. Master Irann's introduction to the other Masters was an interestingly awkward affair. She was already familiar with most of them since she had been a player in their Mazes. Some of them welcomed her with open arms, while others, particularly Masters Blackmoor and Antum, objected that a young elf girl who had no knowledge of true power be given such a gift. But they were in the minority, so Master Irann was recognized as a true Master.
Each of the Masters has rivalries and alliances with other Masters, and while all of them are technically antagonists to the PCs, some are better or worse than others. Irann is meant to be one of the most approachable, especially since one of the PCs (Hana) has a connection with her.
Step 1 Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind. 5 is just a minimum...more elements are encouraged!
Dislikes the Silver Flame because of personal history with it's followers and their involvement in making him an orphan. Raised in Monastery in Breland by Warrior Monks of Dol Dorn. Overtly Pious Loose Cannon Named Ash because when the Monks found him in front of their monastery, he was still covered in the ashes of his village.
Step 2 List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.
Character: Find the remainders of his family Player: Stumble upon a silver flame purge, and possibly interfere or help with one.
Step 3 List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!
Member of the 6 and 8 heresy that believes that 6 and 8 orginally refered to the gods of civilzation (8) and the wilderness (6) and that the gods used to peacfully coexisted. He believes that some event/decision in the past forced the gods to turn on each other forming the current Soverign host and dark six. He beilves if the source of the diffrence could be found that the pantheon could be reunited. As part of this he has a much softer view on the dark six than most followers of Dol Dorn.
Ash belives his parents were innocent victoms killed as part of a silverflame crusade targeting Lycanthropes in Draom. This is not entirely true, His parents were helping the Lycanthrope underground in Droam. their involvment was uncovered, and they were eliminated by the silver flame specifically rather than being casulties of a larger purge. His parents fled into Breland after sending Ash's three older brothers into hiding. They left Ash at the monastery hoping to be able to return to claim him, they never returned
Step 4 Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.
Father Benjamin Bradley, A mentor to Ash, and another member of the 6 and 8 heresy. He occasionally provides Ash with Tips and missions for the church, and has been a spiritual guide to ash whenever he is in need.
Moonspeaker Shea, A survivor of the village Ash's family was from. She knew Ash's family and has tried to help Ash discover his shifter roots and his surviving relatives, neitheir of which have been succesful to this point.
Sir Eld Paladin of the silver flame, Ash and Eld met up when they were both investigating a series of undead attacks near fort Light on border between thrane and breland. They decided to work together towards a common goal, but the differences in their styles quickly put them at odds. Their strained partnership ended in a fight between them as Ash caught Eld toutureing a Vampire spawn they had captured. Before the battle between paladins could be decided the undead escaped and ash and eld gave chase. In the end the Vampire eluded them and warned the Karnathi necromancer responsible for the attacks. The necromancer escaped and is still at large.
There's been a lot of activity and cool concepts since I posted last, but all I can bring myself to comment on is the Stray's awesome character portrait of Jack.
Was it a commission from somewhere, did a friend do it, or what? Simply put, I love the art style.
There's been a lot of activity and cool concepts since I posted last, but all I can bring myself to comment on is the Stray's awesome character portrait of Jack.
Was it a commission from somewhere, did a friend do it, or what? Simply put, I love the art style.
The Jester pic was a commission, for a Mutants & Masterminds character with the same look and concept. The artist, Darren Calvert, has a whole thread of art he's done on the M&M Forum. He also did work for the books and several of the PDF supplements, and I'm really pleased at how he turned out. I love this picture so much that I use it as my avatar on other sites.
Short term goal (character): Learn how to be able to fend off attacks in spite of his tough yet weak body
Long term goal (character): To be able to master not just the four elements but magic itself as a whole
Player goal: Aside from eventually him reaching Archmage status, I'd like to see him facing off -- and eventually coming to terms with -- his great grandmother
His great grandmother is one of the grand high priestesses of Lolth, and one of the reasons he randomly encounters drow from time to time
Even though it seemed like she was angry with him because he ran away, Lolth herself has plans for the young dwarven mage, which is why she allowed him to live for so long
Tarvfan -- an eldarin singing fighter (so he sometimes gets mistaken for a bard) who, for all his manliness, sometimes goes gaga for... the muscle-bound fighter across the bar room. He's been a reliable friend and travel companion otherwise, so let's keep it at that for now
Dgwendolyn and Djwendolyn -- a curious female pair who keep an eye on Ling; Djwen appears to be an angel, while Dgwen seems like a succubus, yet they look exactly alike, as if they were twins. They followed him in secret as he left the grove so many years ago...
Kordin Marvolen -- a drow spellsword (who uses techniques that are similar to those that were employed by the eldarin swordmages), he used to head the raids on both Ling's village and the druid alcove where the dwarf first took refuge in, who was exiled on penalty of death for failing to kill the intended target. He now tries to kill Ling in the hopes of regaining the favor of his matriarch and ending his exile.
He still remembers the time he was visited by Oghma in a dream, who told him to see if it was possible for one to be able to perfect himself in both arcana and close combat in a way that, as Oghma himself said, "most people would consider downright outrageous if not impossible". How he'd do that well, that's the question that's been on Ling's mind even after he learned how to fight using his toughness rather than his strength
Ling recalls those times he endured the humiliations of being a half-drow -- and a half-dwarf to boot -- and when he wakes up sweating cold from those nightmares, he sometimes still has to shake off the pain and numbness from his many scars from barbed whips and daggers of long ago
Ling remembers the smell of dusty old tomes and the ancient library he was supposed to become head librarian of... and he finds himself craving to return to those books, only for him to shake off the thoughts and telling himself "Not yet."
You are both rational and emotional. You value creation and discovery, and feel strongly about what you create. At best, you're innovative and intuitive. At worst, you're scattered and unpredictable.
[quote author=57047238 post=349310669] If you're crossing the street and see a city bus barreling straight toward you with 'GIVE ME YOUR WALLET!' painted across its windshield, you probably won't be reaching for your wallet. [/quote]
