This is Cuts. He is a work in progress. I don't level up ahead of time. I just pick things as I go.
Cuts was designed to be a killing machine for war. With no great war to fight, no legacy to claim, and no culture, Cuts integrated into society. For a while he was utilized by people who had use of his focus on work. Over the time of peace he has been laying relatively dormant. However, when he met the Goliath named Nithaulk, he began developing selfawareness at an exponential rate. When he developed the ability to discern a desire to want more from life, nobody really could argue with him.Trying to detain a sentient being like him didn’t really seem like a great idea to his employer. He doesn’t need to sleep. So guarding one’s self from him would be very difficult. Not to mention he is always armed with two longswords and a shield which he often carries on his back.He joined Nithaulk to continue his personal growth. They soon headed east across the Vast.
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When Cuts was made, his current body was fused with the soul of a long past warrior. Cuts has no memory of his past life, or the existence of it. He does have emotions now in his awakened state. This is something that not everyone knows. He doesn’t want to reveal his true self. He hides it behind the steel facade.
The warrior he used to be had a fair living as a knight a millennium before. He had a family, and was a human. His duties for the old kingdom earned him a nice lot of land, and several serfs to work it. His name was Martin Dormeax. His wife was named Anna. His father was a blacksmith, and his mother did not have a job. She did plenty of work to raise six kids, and keep everyone clothed.
At a young age Martin served as a squire, and over the years he grew into a fine soldier. He attained knighthood through his valor. It was easy for someone in his station to find a wife, and socially encouraged. There was a short courtship with a woman from another land. They soon married, and had a few offspring of their own.Eventually Martin was fatally wounded in battle as often happens in the profession of being a Knight. His soul was fused into a construct to carry on his legacy. Once he became the metal man though, his former self perished.
Cuts was the name given to the metal hulk that utilized Martin’s soul. Whether Cuts was a different person became a subject of debate among philosophers and politicians. Cuts actions didn’t seem to be determined by the upbringing that Martin had. For many years Cuts was a very simple machine. When the production of Warforged was booming Cuts was given a number. It was etched into some of his components. Many people used to refer to him with that number.
A combination of factors reduced the production of Warforged. Over the course a couple hundreds years the Warforged became rare. More people referred to him as Cuts, since the numbers weren’t as simple. The number was lost as parts were swapped out or upgraded on Cuts. The etched components were replaced one by one. A particular upgrade to Cuts came when one of his owners came across a great deal on mithril parts. This owner had collected Cuts as a piece of history. Sometimes the man would have Cuts perform tasks to show off a bit. Cuts stayed in that family’s ownership for a few generations.
The most recent head of that household had decided to utilize Cuts considerably more. In that man’s employ was a giant named Nithaulk who also had an interest in historical artifacts. Over the time that Cuts worked with Nithaulk, he became more self aware due to his new friends inquisitive nature. Cuts acted as if he slowly became conscious from a coma with an irreversible case of amnesia. Now his life essence has been revitalized, but only in the sense he was aware of his own existence.
Martin’s soul accepts his identity as Cuts to be his only identity. Unless some other force interferes he will never know the difference either. It might be tragic for someone who knew the whole story of his soul. For him it is just how his life is. He might reflect on what it would be like to not be a construct. Though he doesn’t think of being one as a disadvantage.
Logs:
www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/darkest-...Mechanically:
Cuts, level 9
Warforged, Fighter
Build: Guardian Fighter
Fighter: Combat Agility
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
Background: Akanûl (Akanûl Benefit)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 21, Dex 11, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 17, Dex 11, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
AC: 25 Fort: 23 Reflex: 18 Will: 17
HP: 84 Surges: 14 Surge Value: 21
TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate +10, Endurance +14, Athletics +12
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Arcana +4, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering +4, Heal +4, History +4, Insight +4, Nature +4, Perception +4, Religion +4, Stealth +2, Streetwise +3, Thievery +2
FEATS
Level 1: Armor Proficiency: Plate
Level 2: Warforged Tactics
Level 4: Improved Defenses
Level 6: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
Level 8: Mark of Warding
POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Shield Feint
Fighter at-will 1: Weapon Master's Strike
Fighter encounter 1: Shield Riposte
Fighter daily 1: Villain's Menace
Fighter utility 2: Inspiring Fortitude
Fighter encounter 3: Sweeping Blow
Fighter daily 5: Rain of Steel
Fighter utility 6: Mighty Sprint
Fighter encounter 7: Come and Get It
Fighter daily 9: Thicket of Blades
ITEMS
Mithral Plating Plate Armor +1, Shield of the Guardian Heavy Shield (heroic tier), Quick Longsword +1, Breach Bracers (heroic tier), Sash of Ensnarement (heroic tier), Giant Gloves (paragon tier), Bag of Holding (heroic tier), Command Circlet (heroic tier), Battle Standard of Healing (heroic tier), Jade Sea Snake (heroic tier), Javelin (7), Greater Storm Shield Heavy Shield (heroic tier), Disk of Energy Resistance +1
RITUALS
Scroll of Fantastic Recuperation (2), Explosive Runes, Knock
Tactically:
He dealt over 400 damage one round a few weeks back before I got Thicket of Blades as a daily. Usually has one round a combat where he spikes Come and Get It with Thicket of Blades while Rain of Steel is active. An ally uses Hellsworn Blessing on him all the time. He regularly does between 200 and 800 damage now.
There was eratta to only enable Hellsworn Blessing on melee attacks which is debatable if it can't be used by Rain of Steel. Mechanically there is no attack for rain of steel. Roleplaying though, the enemy is being hit by a warforged engulfed in flames. So the dm allows me to attach the Hellsworn Blessing in this campaign. He might not in another.
I am not sure what I will do as he levels. Probably keep most his current powers, maybe try to add Bedeviling Assault. I laid the groundwork for him to get a nice warforged storyline for the paragon and epic tiers. He is purchasing other warforged. He just got one that was designed sort of like a warforged medic, one that would perform repairs in and out of battle.
Since the character is a thousand years old, I am going to be putting some feats into history as he is able to review things in his past during the hours when the party sleeps and he watches.
Edit: Maybe this should go in CharOp. I went with development to avoid talking numbers, but ended up talking numbers. Though I am still developing Cuts and playing him. I did not mean to bring CharOp discussion here.
Arcane, Polymorph