They are indeed Uriel. It’s a strange thing that people have such narrow views on their own personal entertainment. No one is there to stop you, you know?
Got a new 5E campaign starting up next month, set in Neverwinter, which is going to be interesting because I've played several of the video games located there, but never actually had a tabletop character visit it. I'm trying to actually avoid making a character with roots in the city, so that they can encounter this location as a totally new place, and that the DM won't feel pressured to reflect the version of things that I've got built up in my head. If his version differs from what I've seen in other media, then that's the version that takes precedent.
I've pruned the massive character stack down to the following five frontrunners. Still waiting for the other players to figure out what they want to play, and only one has committed to anything, a Kobold Druid (Circle of the Land: Arctic). So right now I'm just posting these to get the ideas out of my head and in writing, beyond the stats on character sheets I've got right now. But if any of them seem especially compelling and you'd like to add your support for one option over the others, or ask for further details, please don't hesitate!
Hugo Clashcannon, Hobgoblin Artificer (Battle Smith)
Concept Origins: I played a Troll Weaponsmith in a short lived Earthdawn campaign many years ago, and liked the personality I developed for the character enough that I recycled him for a Charr Engineer in a Guild Wars 2 RP guild. Another one of my GW2 characters became my primary RP outlet, so I never felt like that version of Hugo got the full chance that he deserved.
Character Story: Hugo was a junior technician involved in weapons development for the Hobgoblin Legions. His research team made a major breakthrough, but Hugo intuited the full WMD-tier scope of their discovery earlier than his colleagues, found the ethical ramifications too horrifying to let the project continue, and sabotaged the shit out of it, faking his own death in the process. He has become an adventurer because that is one of the very few paths available for a goblinoid outside of their own territory to become well respected enough to actually communicate to other regional governments the extent of their peril, and have them believe him. He hopes mobilize a response to his people's aggression before his old research team is able to get the project back on track and arm the Hobgoblin Legions with a devastating weapon of conquest.
Personality: Deeply pessimistic, but in a "guess I'll have to fix everything myself" sort of way. Jokes a lot about "real" worst case scenarios, in which the Universe is usually destroyed, to make it seem like he's trying to maintain a positive attitude to his current circumstances. His highest compliment is recognizing someone else's area of expertise enough that he doesn't try to take over their job for them, or at least barge in and backseat drive. Favors extremely straightforward solutions as a practical matter, largely because he doesn't trust non-Hobgoblins to be clever enough to cope with anything more complex. When he's comfortable enough to relax a little, swings hard in the opposite direction, letting his designs run amok and turn into ludicrously complex Rube Goldberg inventions.
Look: Shaggy and unkempt, but clean. He understands hygiene, but doesn't own a hairbrush. Often looks like just the tip of a blue nose and pointed ears and a pair of welding goggles on an enormous frizzy hairball. Clothing and equipment have seen a lot of repairs, but expertly done. Nothing he owns is even close to new, but everything is maintained at the highest possible level of actual functionality.
Moth, Feral Tiefling Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan)
Character Origins: I made Moth originally as an Arcane Trickster Rogue for my brother's AcqInc game. That game fell apart due to scheduling, and I put Moth back in the file. Then the revised Blood Hunter came out, which had been changed from using Wisdom for spells and supernatural effects to using Intelligence for it, and I had an idea for a revised version of Moth that would work better.
Character Story: Abandoned as a baby on the steps of a temple of Oghma, God of Knowledge. Basically lived full time in the library for his entire youth, until he was able to convince the priests to let him work in the Reclamations Department, where agents are sent out to retrieve books and scrolls from across the world, so that he could visit some of the exotic locations he'd read so much about. He is currently in the midst of such an expedition, but having to pick up adventuring work to replenish his funds. The priests suspect, but haven't revealed to Moth, that he wasn't just part of an ordinary Tiefling bloodline, he was probably the child of some specific pact, perhaps with some Dark Purpose intended for him, and that's why his Demonic Heritage sometimes more fully asserts itself in a terrifying battle form, as reflected by Order of the Lycan subclass mechanics.
Personality: Optimistic and idealistic, he assumes the best about people and situations, because he has drawn his expectations from books with happy endings and is in deep denial about just how fucked the world actually is. A part of his naivety is a deliberate response to his heritage - by denying the devils without, he hopes to suppress the devil within. He loves to acquire new stories, both hearing them from others and living them himself, and maintains an extensive journal of his experiences, including detailed drawings of plants, animals, and architecture that would be of some legitimate interest to actual experts in those fields.
Look: A winged variant Tiefling, grey skin, white-blonde hair, and red eyes. Looks a little like a gargoyle, and likes perching on high places to watch what's going on below. One horn broken partially off. Short and with a wiry build, even a little on the malnourished side. He's young to start with, and looks even more youthful than that - the kind of baby face that has to show ID to get served alcohol until well into their 30s. When he assumes his Devil form, his limbs lengthen and skin grows taut and emaciated looking, fingernails growing into razor claws, eyes blazing with infernal flames.
Captain Siege Zabac, Human Fighter (Battlemaster)
Concept Origins: A Blades in the Dark character who was a big boisterous brawler and former crewman on a leviathan hunting ship, now unemployed because of his revolutionary politics, and fighting to transform his gang's territory into an anarcho-socialist commune. Wielded a massive whaling harpoon that was intended to be launched from a ballista, not swung by hand. When I started playing FFXIV, I reused the name and some of the personality for my Hyur Highlander Dragoon. Obviously, this would be a polearm mastery build.
Character Story: I think I'll stick with something simple for this incarnation. Served on a merchant vessel in northern waters, was involved in an unsuccessful mutiny in response to unfair profit distribution, and spent a lot of time in jail. I may throw in a mysterious benefactor who paid his bail, just to give the DM story hooks.
Personality: He is jovial, forthright, courageous, and unafraid to show emotion. He does not hesitate to help people, even when he knows they're probably taking advantage of him. Has inconvenient political views that will not endear him to conventional authority. "The Gods give us our strengths to test what we'll do with them, and so I have decided that my might belongs to the people." He is not ignorant of consequences, but sometimes seems in a bit of a rush to make a sacrifice play. Still stubbornly insists on calling himself Captain even though he was in command of the ship for less than a day before his mutiny was thwarted.
Look: Tall, broad shouldered, thick beard. Dark hair, stormcloud grey eyes, ruddy skin of a man who's worked at sea in cold latitudes his whole life. Scottish Highland Games physique - beef city, but a healthy layer of fat for insulation. Fantasy voice casting is Patrick Warburton. A dude whose wardrobe in the real world would include a lot of flannel and at least one hockey jersey. Missing an eye. Has the names of the crew members who supported his mutiny, but weren't captured alive, tattooed on him.
Character Origins: Probably half the members of the AcqInc: C-Team fan community have their own Beestinger characters, and I've had mine sitting in the character file for a couple years, waiting for a campaign to play her in. Kate Welch's character, Rosie Beestinger, is the matron of a sprawling clan of mostly halflings, but also a crapload non-halfling kids and grandkids that she's adopted. The Beestingers are also an extensive organized crime family.
Character Story: Greymalkin left Rosie's side to go live with her dad in another halfling clan when she was young, and was raised as a nomadic hunter. She still had the killer instinct that befit the scion of a legendary family of assassins though, and carried out a lot of unsavory tasks at the direction of her clan leaders that were kept hidden from the rest of the clan. I'm unsure of the details, but some of the stuff she was ordered to do didn't sit well with her, and she's taken an extended leave from the clan to roam the earth and figure out who she is, and who she wants to be.
Personality: Grim and intense. Deeply committed to the protection nature, she loves the wilderness and all the animals who live there, but it's a lonely way of life, and she's starting to crave companionship from creatures with Language. She suspects that it may already be too late for her to ever catch up with her attrophied social skills, but she can't stand to show weakness, and occludes her discomfort with a "too tough for your weakass civilization nonsense" persona.
Look: Covered from head to toe in furs and hides, with her face usually hidden behind a wooden ritual mask, she has been mistaken for a Goblin on more than one occasion. Dark hair, very pale, and with vivid green eyes that go slitted like a cat's when she uses certain Ranger magic. I'm still considering options for her animal companion. I feel like her name means it should be some kind of big cat, but the stats on dogs and wolves are too strategically useful to discard without giving it serious thought.
Character Origins: She was an NPC in a game I ran who I found entertaining enough to graduate her to the potential PC file. A super rich elf with blood ties to her people's royal family. She was a Hobbyist Adventurer - chasing monsters and scouring ancient ruins purely for fun, throwing around enough money to brute force "success" even when her expenses often massively outstripped the profits. Whereas the PCs were adventuring because they desperately needed to collect the bounty from driving off those Orc Bandits if they were going to be able to cover expenses, so failing a job because Cerridwyn and her rotating cast of hirelings sniped it out from under them was especially frustrating. The camper with the brand new, too fancy, vastly oversized tent that takes up three spots, full of unnecessary gadgets powered by their noisy and stinking diesel generator, who ruins the campground for everyone else.
Character Story: I would be playing her on her way down to rock bottom. Politics at court have disenfranchised her family, and her parents can no longer support her. Her "party" wasn't willing to stick around once she wasn't subsidizing them. Her coffers are empty and she's down to her last handful of silver, because she's never had to manage her own budget before. For the first time ever, she has to get a real job, and learn what a dangerous, unpleasant business adventuring is for many of the people desperate enough to make their living off of it. And also recognize that her accomplishments so far have been inflated vastly beyond her actual skill level, because she's been able to hire much more competent people to carry her.
Personality: She is not stupid by any means. Her education has genuinely been excellent, and she has seen a lot of the world. She's just been insulated from the worst of it, and is deeply naive about the trials that afflict everyone else. That said, she's always been generous to a fault, just super condescending about it, and doesn't really understand that she can't afford such grandiose gestures any more. I expect her experiences to shake her out of this mindset pretty quickly, but I'm not making concrete plans because I want to see what kind of person she develops into organically.
Look: Even without her personal team of stylists following her around, her appearance is flawless. She's still a goddamn Elf after all, and luminous, ethereal beauty is kind of effortless for their whole stupid asshole species. Impractically long silvery-white hair, violet eyes, voice like a songbird. Stylish wardrobe and top shelf equipment - same stats as the standard level 1 adventurer gear, but you can tell from looking at it that she paid five times as much for the Brand Name. Likely to become a target of thieves if she doesn't divest herself of some of that shit.
I've also got a Changeling Bard, but while that one's rock solid conceptually, I think they need a very specific party to thrive. And a Half-Elf Warlock who I played a little in another campaign but I put him back in the file because he wasn't quite working, because his personality didn't quite come out over voice chat, so he's waiting for an in-person group where gesture and facial expression will be able to be more of a factor. And a Verdan Sorcerer, but I'm unhappy with how Wild Mage works in this edition and haven't found house rules I'm happy with, and also his personality is pretty similar to Moth's, so no need to double up on that in this list. And a Firbolg Druid, but the only other declared party member is already a Druid. And I've got Barbarian, Paladin, Wizard, Cleric, and Monk ideas, but I've played or am currently playing all those classes in 5E already, and want to work my way through the list before I do repeats. Unless it's a reboot, like how Moth changing from Rogue to Blood Hunter frees me up to try Rogue again with Cerridwyn, or giving my Warlock a second try.
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Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
Got a new 5E campaign starting up next month, set in Neverwinter, which is going to be interesting because I've played several of the video games located there, but never actually had a tabletop character visit it. I'm trying to actually avoid making a character with roots in the city, so that they can encounter this location as a totally new place, and that the DM won't feel pressured to reflect the version of things that I've got built up in my head. If his version differs from what I've seen in other media, then that's the version that takes precedent.
I've pruned the massive character stack down to the following five frontrunners. Still waiting for the other players to figure out what they want to play, and only one has committed to anything, a Kobold Druid (Circle of the Land: Arctic). So right now I'm just posting these to get the ideas out of my head and in writing, beyond the stats on character sheets I've got right now. But if any of them seem especially compelling and you'd like to add your support for one option over the others, or ask for further details, please don't hesitate!
Hugo Clashcannon, Hobgoblin Artificer (Battle Smith)
Concept Origins: I played a Troll Weaponsmith in a short lived Earthdawn campaign many years ago, and liked the personality I developed for the character enough that I recycled him for a Charr Engineer in a Guild Wars 2 RP guild. Another one of my GW2 characters became my primary RP outlet, so I never felt like that version of Hugo got the full chance that he deserved.
Character Story: Hugo was a junior technician involved in weapons development for the Hobgoblin Legions. His research team made a major breakthrough, but Hugo intuited the full WMD-tier scope of their discovery earlier than his colleagues, found the ethical ramifications too horrifying to let the project continue, and sabotaged the shit out of it, faking his own death in the process. He has become an adventurer because that is one of the very few paths available for a goblinoid outside of their own territory to become well respected enough to actually communicate to other regional governments the extent of their peril, and have them believe him. He hopes mobilize a response to his people's aggression before his old research team is able to get the project back on track and arm the Hobgoblin Legions with a devastating weapon of conquest.
Personality: Deeply pessimistic, but in a "guess I'll have to fix everything myself" sort of way. Jokes a lot about "real" worst case scenarios, in which the Universe is usually destroyed, to make it seem like he's trying to maintain a positive attitude to his current circumstances. His highest compliment is recognizing someone else's area of expertise enough that he doesn't try to take over their job for them, or at least barge in and backseat drive. Favors extremely straightforward solutions as a practical matter, largely because he doesn't trust non-Hobgoblins to be clever enough to cope with anything more complex. When he's comfortable enough to relax a little, swings hard in the opposite direction, letting his designs run amok and turn into ludicrously complex Rube Goldberg inventions.
Look: Shaggy and unkempt, but clean. He understands hygiene, but doesn't own a hairbrush. Often looks like just the tip of a blue nose and pointed ears and a pair of welding goggles on an enormous frizzy hairball. Clothing and equipment have seen a lot of repairs, but expertly done. Nothing he owns is even close to new, but everything is maintained at the highest possible level of actual functionality.
Moth, Feral Tiefling Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan)
Character Origins: I made Moth originally as an Arcane Trickster Rogue for my brother's AcqInc game. That game fell apart due to scheduling, and I put Moth back in the file. Then the revised Blood Hunter came out, which had been changed from using Wisdom for spells and supernatural effects to using Intelligence for it, and I had an idea for a revised version of Moth that would work better.
Character Story: Abandoned as a baby on the steps of a temple of Oghma, God of Knowledge. Basically lived full time in the library for his entire youth, until he was able to convince the priests to let him work in the Reclamations Department, where agents are sent out to retrieve books and scrolls from across the world, so that he could visit some of the exotic locations he'd read so much about. He is currently in the midst of such an expedition, but having to pick up adventuring work to replenish his funds. The priests suspect, but haven't revealed to Moth, that he wasn't just part of an ordinary Tiefling bloodline, he was probably the child of some specific pact, perhaps with some Dark Purpose intended for him, and that's why his Demonic Heritage sometimes more fully asserts itself in a terrifying battle form, as reflected by Order of the Lycan subclass mechanics.
Personality: Optimistic and idealistic, he assumes the best about people and situations, because he has drawn his expectations from books with happy endings and is in deep denial about just how fucked the world actually is. A part of his naivety is a deliberate response to his heritage - by denying the devils without, he hopes to suppress the devil within. He loves to acquire new stories, both hearing them from others and living them himself, and maintains an extensive journal of his experiences, including detailed drawings of plants, animals, and architecture that would be of some legitimate interest to actual experts in those fields.
Look: A winged variant Tiefling, grey skin, white-blonde hair, and red eyes. Looks a little like a gargoyle, and likes perching on high places to watch what's going on below. One horn broken partially off. Short and with a wiry build, even a little on the malnourished side. He's young to start with, and looks even more youthful than that - the kind of baby face that has to show ID to get served alcohol until well into their 30s. When he assumes his Devil form, his limbs lengthen and skin grows taut and emaciated looking, fingernails growing into razor claws, eyes blazing with infernal flames.
Captain Siege Zabac, Human Fighter (Battlemaster)
Concept Origins: A Blades in the Dark character who was a big boisterous brawler and former crewman on a leviathan hunting ship, now unemployed because of his revolutionary politics, and fighting to transform his gang's territory into an anarcho-socialist commune. Wielded a massive whaling harpoon that was intended to be launched from a ballista, not swung by hand. When I started playing FFXIV, I reused the name and some of the personality for my Hyur Highlander Dragoon. Obviously, this would be a polearm mastery build.
Character Story: I think I'll stick with something simple for this incarnation. Served on a merchant vessel in northern waters, was involved in an unsuccessful mutiny in response to unfair profit distribution, and spent a lot of time in jail. I may throw in a mysterious benefactor who paid his bail, just to give the DM story hooks.
Personality: He is jovial, forthright, courageous, and unafraid to show emotion. He does not hesitate to help people, even when he knows they're probably taking advantage of him. Has inconvenient political views that will not endear him to conventional authority. "The Gods give us our strengths to test what we'll do with them, and so I have decided that my might belongs to the people." He is not ignorant of consequences, but sometimes seems in a bit of a rush to make a sacrifice play. Still stubbornly insists on calling himself Captain even though he was in command of the ship for less than a day before his mutiny was thwarted.
Look: Tall, broad shouldered, thick beard. Dark hair, stormcloud grey eyes, ruddy skin of a man who's worked at sea in cold latitudes his whole life. Scottish Highland Games physique - beef city, but a healthy layer of fat for insulation. Fantasy voice casting is Patrick Warburton. A dude whose wardrobe in the real world would include a lot of flannel and at least one hockey jersey. Missing an eye. Has the names of the crew members who supported his mutiny, but weren't captured alive, tattooed on him.
Character Origins: Probably half the members of the AcqInc: C-Team fan community have their own Beestinger characters, and I've had mine sitting in the character file for a couple years, waiting for a campaign to play her in. Kate Welch's character, Rosie Beestinger, is the matron of a sprawling clan of mostly halflings, but also a crapload non-halfling kids and grandkids that she's adopted. The Beestingers are also an extensive organized crime family.
Character Story: Greymalkin left Rosie's side to go live with her dad in another halfling clan when she was young, and was raised as a nomadic hunter. She still had the killer instinct that befit the scion of a legendary family of assassins though, and carried out a lot of unsavory tasks at the direction of her clan leaders that were kept hidden from the rest of the clan. I'm unsure of the details, but some of the stuff she was ordered to do didn't sit well with her, and she's taken an extended leave from the clan to roam the earth and figure out who she is, and who she wants to be.
Personality: Grim and intense. Deeply committed to the protection nature, she loves the wilderness and all the animals who live there, but it's a lonely way of life, and she's starting to crave companionship from creatures with Language. She suspects that it may already be too late for her to ever catch up with her attrophied social skills, but she can't stand to show weakness, and occludes her discomfort with a "too tough for your weakass civilization nonsense" persona.
Look: Covered from head to toe in furs and hides, with her face usually hidden behind a wooden ritual mask, she has been mistaken for a Goblin on more than one occasion. Dark hair, very pale, and with vivid green eyes that go slitted like a cat's when she uses certain Ranger magic. I'm still considering options for her animal companion. I feel like her name means it should be some kind of big cat, but the stats on dogs and wolves are too strategically useful to discard without giving it serious thought.
Character Origins: She was an NPC in a game I ran who I found entertaining enough to graduate her to the potential PC file. A super rich elf with blood ties to her people's royal family. She was a Hobbyist Adventurer - chasing monsters and scouring ancient ruins purely for fun, throwing around enough money to brute force "success" even when her expenses often massively outstripped the profits. Whereas the PCs were adventuring because they desperately needed to collect the bounty from driving off those Orc Bandits if they were going to be able to cover expenses, so failing a job because Cerridwyn and her rotating cast of hirelings sniped it out from under them was especially frustrating. The camper with the brand new, too fancy, vastly oversized tent that takes up three spots, full of unnecessary gadgets powered by their noisy and stinking diesel generator, who ruins the campground for everyone else.
Character Story: I would be playing her on her way down to rock bottom. Politics at court have disenfranchised her family, and her parents can no longer support her. Her "party" wasn't willing to stick around once she wasn't subsidizing them. Her coffers are empty and she's down to her last handful of silver, because she's never had to manage her own budget before. For the first time ever, she has to get a real job, and learn what a dangerous, unpleasant business adventuring is for many of the people desperate enough to make their living off of it. And also recognize that her accomplishments so far have been inflated vastly beyond her actual skill level, because she's been able to hire much more competent people to carry her.
Personality: She is not stupid by any means. Her education has genuinely been excellent, and she has seen a lot of the world. She's just been insulated from the worst of it, and is deeply naive about the trials that afflict everyone else. That said, she's always been generous to a fault, just super condescending about it, and doesn't really understand that she can't afford such grandiose gestures any more. I expect her experiences to shake her out of this mindset pretty quickly, but I'm not making concrete plans because I want to see what kind of person she develops into organically.
Look: Even without her personal team of stylists following her around, her appearance is flawless. She's still a goddamn Elf after all, and luminous, ethereal beauty is kind of effortless for their whole stupid asshole species. Impractically long silvery-white hair, violet eyes, voice like a songbird. Stylish wardrobe and top shelf equipment - same stats as the standard level 1 adventurer gear, but you can tell from looking at it that she paid five times as much for the Brand Name. Likely to become a target of thieves if she doesn't divest herself of some of that shit.
I've also got a Changeling Bard, but while that one's rock solid conceptually, I think they need a very specific party to thrive. And a Half-Elf Warlock who I played a little in another campaign but I put him back in the file because he wasn't quite working, because his personality didn't quite come out over voice chat, so he's waiting for an in-person group where gesture and facial expression will be able to be more of a factor. And a Verdan Sorcerer, but I'm unhappy with how Wild Mage works in this edition and haven't found house rules I'm happy with, and also his personality is pretty similar to Moth's, so no need to double up on that in this list. And a Firbolg Druid, but the only other declared party member is already a Druid. And I've got Barbarian, Paladin, Wizard, Cleric, and Monk ideas, but I've played or am currently playing all those classes in 5E already, and want to work my way through the list before I do repeats. Unless it's a reboot, like how Moth changing from Rogue to Blood Hunter frees me up to try Rogue again with Cerridwyn, or giving my Warlock a second try.
Cerridwyn Fallingstar sounds like an amazing concept.
Our paladin using Purify food and water to help preserve a corpse in tropical heat. So she spent a week, in a dinghy, behind the main boat constantly ritual casting this on the corpse.
I really couldnt argue against their argument that bodies are technically a form of food!
I've had to shrink it down to make it forum friendly, but there is some amazing detail work in this piece. The tartan patterning alone makes me giddy!
Art is by Savannah McGill
Here is her Fiverr page, in case anyone else would like to commission something, her rates are very competitive and she was awesome to work with, highly recommended:
So in my D&D campaign I've started one character is a Shadar-Kai Way of the Long Death Monk and the other is Hollow One Dragonborn Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer.
Neither player has a strong concept for their character's background and how they arrived in the Underdark, where the campaign is set (it's also in the world of Exandria from Critical Role, which only one of my players has extensive knowledge of). My BBEG makes extensive use of Modify Memory, Shadar-Kai are linked to the goddess of death, Way of the Long Death Monks study death, and Hollow Ones are a kind of quasi-undead associated with a place in Exandria called Blightshore, which is itself near the location of where a dragonborn city called Draconia was destroyed by a group of ancient chromatic dragon sabout twenty years ago. Plus I'd already been planning a later campaign to run someday where an organization is conducting arcane experiments involving Draconia's ruins and Blightshore, so I feel like I've been given free rein to establish two characters' backstories that would intertwine somehow and experiment with ideas for my next campaign.
Rolling up another character for a Theros campaign that's in the pipes. (After my ToA campaign, the other two DM's of my group have really bought in. CoS we're doing now. The other one has a Frostmaiden campaign he wants to run, and our newest member of the group, BiL to the quiet stoner dude who's been with us forever, is ready to run a Theros campaign....what a time to be alive!)
Can't decide between a satyr bard (because, of course) and a Minotaur death cleric (because, why not?)
Satyr death cleric that laments the fallen with song and is in love with a Fury from the underworld?
Minotaur bard, a headbanger that pushes people into acts of heroism to write about the aftermath?
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gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
Our paladin using Purify food and water to help preserve a corpse in tropical heat. So she spent a week, in a dinghy, behind the main boat constantly ritual casting this on the corpse.
I really couldnt argue against their argument that bodies are technically a form of food!
Not buying it. You think a decaying body's food? Eat your mate's arm, we'll talk.
Our paladin using Purify food and water to help preserve a corpse in tropical heat. So she spent a week, in a dinghy, behind the main boat constantly ritual casting this on the corpse.
I really couldnt argue against their argument that bodies are technically a form of food!
Not buying it. You think a decaying body's food? Eat your mate's arm, we'll talk.
My lizardfolk ranger wouldn't hesitate. She's already carrying around some troll, ogre, and human jerkies.
This is great, you can apply "purify food and water" to anything, you just need to find some creature that eats whatever it is you're trying to purify - and in a fantasy setting, this takes all of five minutes. Want to purify that sword? Find a rust monster. Want to purify a brain? Call up your neighborhood illithid.
I was going to object (bad memories from having a past Cleric's +2 flaming mace get eaten), but then I remembered Roy's main weapon is a wooden oar so I say go for it!
Then again, we already have Chester. How many pets does our party need?
Speaking of rust monsters, a 3.5 Ecology of the Rust Monster had an advanced one that was followed by the spirits of adventurers who died because the rust monster had destroyed their weapons. Then 4E had another Ecology of the Rust Monster article that included an epic tier solo version called the Rust Monster Nightmare that could destroy anything magical and had an aura that forbid teleportation.
I was going to object (bad memories from having a past Cleric's +2 flaming mace get eaten), but then I remembered Roy's main weapon is a wooden oar so I say go for it!
Then again, we already have Chester. How many pets does our party need?
This one'll be a pet just for Zardioz. Chester is more like the party mascot.
You know how one of the ideas explored in the expanded Aliens franchise is that the xenomorphs are a biological weapon developed and used by some older Forerunner civilization? Drop a bunch of xenomorph eggs onto a planet, step back, watch as the xenomorphs grow in number and overrun the population?
Now I'm thinking of rust monsters as biological weapons. Most D&D settings are high-tech enough that metal is ubiquitous and essential in both everyday life and military/defensive use. If you're running a game that involves political/military conflict, one of the sides might be developing an avenue of attack where they drop rust monsters on their enemy, either in a single shock-and-awe bombardment or by gradually and secretly introducing them into a capital city's vermin ecosystem. PCs can be involved at any stage and for either side, they can be tasked with capturing rust monsters to build out the attacker's arsenal, or hunting down rust monsters multiplying in the capital city's sewers, or helping the defenders prepare for the oncoming rust monster assault that the spy network learned about, etc.
(Dark Sun PCs, meanwhile, are like "Hahah, metal, what's that?" They'll skin a rust monster alive, drink the blood for fluids, and make some janky axe out of its bones.)
my barbarian I played longer was just supposed to be playing up how the other characters treated him like little more than an animal despite the fact that just because he comes from what they consider a less cultured society he's still just as smart and capable as anyone they know.
"Now, I'm just a barbarian. Your civilized world frightens and confuses me. When I see a soldier in armor, I think, 'Is this a man made of metal, a demon impervious to mortal weapons?' When I see the watchfires on the walls, I wonder, 'What god of fire has unleashed his wrath upon these people? Are they cursed to burn eternally?' It makes me want to grab my bone ax fly into a frothy-mouthed rage, striking out at what I don't understand.
"But what I really don't understand is how Lord Farthinghame's proposal for a 15% docking surcharge increase, phased in over 3 seasons, is supposed to offset the loss of revenue from the downturn in import duties from Hersheebian merchants. Even an unlettered barbarian knows that docking charges are merely passed along to the end consumer. Instead, I think you'll find ..."
You know how one of the ideas explored in the expanded Aliens franchise is that the xenomorphs are a biological weapon developed and used by some older Forerunner civilization? Drop a bunch of xenomorph eggs onto a planet, step back, watch as the xenomorphs grow in number and overrun the population?
Now I'm thinking of rust monsters as biological weapons. Most D&D settings are high-tech enough that metal is ubiquitous and essential in both everyday life and military/defensive use. If you're running a game that involves political/military conflict, one of the sides might be developing an avenue of attack where they drop rust monsters on their enemy, either in a single shock-and-awe bombardment or by gradually and secretly introducing them into a capital city's vermin ecosystem. PCs can be involved at any stage and for either side, they can be tasked with capturing rust monsters to build out the attacker's arsenal, or hunting down rust monsters multiplying in the capital city's sewers, or helping the defenders prepare for the oncoming rust monster assault that the spy network learned about, etc.
(Dark Sun PCs, meanwhile, are like "Hahah, metal, what's that?" They'll skin a rust monster alive, drink the blood for fluids, and make some janky axe out of its bones.)
You could always use the Kython from the Book of Vile Darkness:
When a group of powerful fiends were trapped on the Material Plane, they attempted to create more of their kind through magical means. The result was a swarm of little, eyeless, reptilian creatures that displayed some insectoid traits as well. As these creatures matured, they took on varied forms. None of them were loyal to the fiends that created them, but they were wholly evil nonetheless. Their creators called them kythons. Because of their origin, they have been called earth-bound demons as well.
Kythons have spread throughout the world, breeding rapidly. Their eggs look like wet, mucus-covered stones. They seem interested only in eating and propagating their species; they are entirely without mercy, pity, or compassion for any other creature. As they mature, each answers only to those more powerful than themselves, so slaughterkings are the highest kython authority—at least so far. Given time, the kythons may grow into new forms that are even more specialized and powerful.
Now I'm thinking of rust monsters as biological weapons. Most D&D settings are high-tech enough that metal is ubiquitous and essential in both everyday life and military/defensive use. If you're running a game that involves political/military conflict, one of the sides might be developing an avenue of attack where they drop rust monsters on their enemy, either in a single shock-and-awe bombardment or by gradually and secretly introducing them into a capital city's vermin ecosystem. PCs can be involved at any stage and for either side, they can be tasked with capturing rust monsters to build out the attacker's arsenal, or hunting down rust monsters multiplying in the capital city's sewers, or helping the defenders prepare for the oncoming rust monster assault that the spy network learned about, etc.
At least one of those two Ecology articles I mentioned claimed that rust monsters don't breed in captivity and that past attempts to use them in war have led to them escaping and ruining their captors' own equipment, which partially explains why rust monsters aren't used in warfare literally all the time.
I feel like rust monsters should actually be hangers on for some kind of digging monster. Metal might be fairly common in tools and weapons, but without people to mine it out of the earth and carry it around how did the rust monsters ever survive to start with?
Unless they naturally live in symbiosis with say, a big worm or dire mole. They protect the digger in return for following in its wake and picking up whatever ore it uncovers.
Alternatively maybe they were originally for the Mineral Plane, has that ever been a thing? So the ones you find in the world have fallen in through a portal, and are currently starving.
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gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
Our paladin using Purify food and water to help preserve a corpse in tropical heat. So she spent a week, in a dinghy, behind the main boat constantly ritual casting this on the corpse.
I really couldnt argue against their argument that bodies are technically a form of food!
Not buying it. You think a decaying body's food? Eat your mate's arm, we'll talk.
I mean, they needed to block the decay. That's a result of bacteria etc, it seemed reasonable to me that purify food and water would deal with the bacteria causing rot etc. Meats meat.
I suspect it got a little insect eaten, but the goal was to keep it intact in the tropical heat because it was evidence.
More seriously I'd rather reward my players for creative solutions than get bogged down
Again, I think I've been playing too much Mage, cause my first thought to purify drink and food being used that way was "yeah sure, good use of creative thaumaturgy."
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Just play Redd Sark, human fighter. Just lean into the generic-ness. Remarkably Unremarkable.
Unless I take a finally start my own game online and find players here maybe
It's a good time to be starting games online!
Especially with the social meta game stuff on top of it. Just a big, broad strokes kinda deal.
START 👏 A 👏 GAME
I've pruned the massive character stack down to the following five frontrunners. Still waiting for the other players to figure out what they want to play, and only one has committed to anything, a Kobold Druid (Circle of the Land: Arctic). So right now I'm just posting these to get the ideas out of my head and in writing, beyond the stats on character sheets I've got right now. But if any of them seem especially compelling and you'd like to add your support for one option over the others, or ask for further details, please don't hesitate!
Hugo Clashcannon, Hobgoblin Artificer (Battle Smith)
Character Story: Hugo was a junior technician involved in weapons development for the Hobgoblin Legions. His research team made a major breakthrough, but Hugo intuited the full WMD-tier scope of their discovery earlier than his colleagues, found the ethical ramifications too horrifying to let the project continue, and sabotaged the shit out of it, faking his own death in the process. He has become an adventurer because that is one of the very few paths available for a goblinoid outside of their own territory to become well respected enough to actually communicate to other regional governments the extent of their peril, and have them believe him. He hopes mobilize a response to his people's aggression before his old research team is able to get the project back on track and arm the Hobgoblin Legions with a devastating weapon of conquest.
Personality: Deeply pessimistic, but in a "guess I'll have to fix everything myself" sort of way. Jokes a lot about "real" worst case scenarios, in which the Universe is usually destroyed, to make it seem like he's trying to maintain a positive attitude to his current circumstances. His highest compliment is recognizing someone else's area of expertise enough that he doesn't try to take over their job for them, or at least barge in and backseat drive. Favors extremely straightforward solutions as a practical matter, largely because he doesn't trust non-Hobgoblins to be clever enough to cope with anything more complex. When he's comfortable enough to relax a little, swings hard in the opposite direction, letting his designs run amok and turn into ludicrously complex Rube Goldberg inventions.
Look: Shaggy and unkempt, but clean. He understands hygiene, but doesn't own a hairbrush. Often looks like just the tip of a blue nose and pointed ears and a pair of welding goggles on an enormous frizzy hairball. Clothing and equipment have seen a lot of repairs, but expertly done. Nothing he owns is even close to new, but everything is maintained at the highest possible level of actual functionality.
Moth, Feral Tiefling Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan)
Character Story: Abandoned as a baby on the steps of a temple of Oghma, God of Knowledge. Basically lived full time in the library for his entire youth, until he was able to convince the priests to let him work in the Reclamations Department, where agents are sent out to retrieve books and scrolls from across the world, so that he could visit some of the exotic locations he'd read so much about. He is currently in the midst of such an expedition, but having to pick up adventuring work to replenish his funds. The priests suspect, but haven't revealed to Moth, that he wasn't just part of an ordinary Tiefling bloodline, he was probably the child of some specific pact, perhaps with some Dark Purpose intended for him, and that's why his Demonic Heritage sometimes more fully asserts itself in a terrifying battle form, as reflected by Order of the Lycan subclass mechanics.
Personality: Optimistic and idealistic, he assumes the best about people and situations, because he has drawn his expectations from books with happy endings and is in deep denial about just how fucked the world actually is. A part of his naivety is a deliberate response to his heritage - by denying the devils without, he hopes to suppress the devil within. He loves to acquire new stories, both hearing them from others and living them himself, and maintains an extensive journal of his experiences, including detailed drawings of plants, animals, and architecture that would be of some legitimate interest to actual experts in those fields.
Look: A winged variant Tiefling, grey skin, white-blonde hair, and red eyes. Looks a little like a gargoyle, and likes perching on high places to watch what's going on below. One horn broken partially off. Short and with a wiry build, even a little on the malnourished side. He's young to start with, and looks even more youthful than that - the kind of baby face that has to show ID to get served alcohol until well into their 30s. When he assumes his Devil form, his limbs lengthen and skin grows taut and emaciated looking, fingernails growing into razor claws, eyes blazing with infernal flames.
Captain Siege Zabac, Human Fighter (Battlemaster)
Character Story: I think I'll stick with something simple for this incarnation. Served on a merchant vessel in northern waters, was involved in an unsuccessful mutiny in response to unfair profit distribution, and spent a lot of time in jail. I may throw in a mysterious benefactor who paid his bail, just to give the DM story hooks.
Personality: He is jovial, forthright, courageous, and unafraid to show emotion. He does not hesitate to help people, even when he knows they're probably taking advantage of him. Has inconvenient political views that will not endear him to conventional authority. "The Gods give us our strengths to test what we'll do with them, and so I have decided that my might belongs to the people." He is not ignorant of consequences, but sometimes seems in a bit of a rush to make a sacrifice play. Still stubbornly insists on calling himself Captain even though he was in command of the ship for less than a day before his mutiny was thwarted.
Look: Tall, broad shouldered, thick beard. Dark hair, stormcloud grey eyes, ruddy skin of a man who's worked at sea in cold latitudes his whole life. Scottish Highland Games physique - beef city, but a healthy layer of fat for insulation. Fantasy voice casting is Patrick Warburton. A dude whose wardrobe in the real world would include a lot of flannel and at least one hockey jersey. Missing an eye. Has the names of the crew members who supported his mutiny, but weren't captured alive, tattooed on him.
Greymalkin Beestinger, Ghostwise Halfling Ranger (Beast Conclave)
Character Story: Greymalkin left Rosie's side to go live with her dad in another halfling clan when she was young, and was raised as a nomadic hunter. She still had the killer instinct that befit the scion of a legendary family of assassins though, and carried out a lot of unsavory tasks at the direction of her clan leaders that were kept hidden from the rest of the clan. I'm unsure of the details, but some of the stuff she was ordered to do didn't sit well with her, and she's taken an extended leave from the clan to roam the earth and figure out who she is, and who she wants to be.
Personality: Grim and intense. Deeply committed to the protection nature, she loves the wilderness and all the animals who live there, but it's a lonely way of life, and she's starting to crave companionship from creatures with Language. She suspects that it may already be too late for her to ever catch up with her attrophied social skills, but she can't stand to show weakness, and occludes her discomfort with a "too tough for your weakass civilization nonsense" persona.
Look: Covered from head to toe in furs and hides, with her face usually hidden behind a wooden ritual mask, she has been mistaken for a Goblin on more than one occasion. Dark hair, very pale, and with vivid green eyes that go slitted like a cat's when she uses certain Ranger magic. I'm still considering options for her animal companion. I feel like her name means it should be some kind of big cat, but the stats on dogs and wolves are too strategically useful to discard without giving it serious thought.
Cerridwyn Fallingstar, High-Elf Rogue (Arcane Trickster)
Character Story: I would be playing her on her way down to rock bottom. Politics at court have disenfranchised her family, and her parents can no longer support her. Her "party" wasn't willing to stick around once she wasn't subsidizing them. Her coffers are empty and she's down to her last handful of silver, because she's never had to manage her own budget before. For the first time ever, she has to get a real job, and learn what a dangerous, unpleasant business adventuring is for many of the people desperate enough to make their living off of it. And also recognize that her accomplishments so far have been inflated vastly beyond her actual skill level, because she's been able to hire much more competent people to carry her.
Personality: She is not stupid by any means. Her education has genuinely been excellent, and she has seen a lot of the world. She's just been insulated from the worst of it, and is deeply naive about the trials that afflict everyone else. That said, she's always been generous to a fault, just super condescending about it, and doesn't really understand that she can't afford such grandiose gestures any more. I expect her experiences to shake her out of this mindset pretty quickly, but I'm not making concrete plans because I want to see what kind of person she develops into organically.
Look: Even without her personal team of stylists following her around, her appearance is flawless. She's still a goddamn Elf after all, and luminous, ethereal beauty is kind of effortless for their whole stupid asshole species. Impractically long silvery-white hair, violet eyes, voice like a songbird. Stylish wardrobe and top shelf equipment - same stats as the standard level 1 adventurer gear, but you can tell from looking at it that she paid five times as much for the Brand Name. Likely to become a target of thieves if she doesn't divest herself of some of that shit.
I've also got a Changeling Bard, but while that one's rock solid conceptually, I think they need a very specific party to thrive. And a Half-Elf Warlock who I played a little in another campaign but I put him back in the file because he wasn't quite working, because his personality didn't quite come out over voice chat, so he's waiting for an in-person group where gesture and facial expression will be able to be more of a factor. And a Verdan Sorcerer, but I'm unhappy with how Wild Mage works in this edition and haven't found house rules I'm happy with, and also his personality is pretty similar to Moth's, so no need to double up on that in this list. And a Firbolg Druid, but the only other declared party member is already a Druid. And I've got Barbarian, Paladin, Wizard, Cleric, and Monk ideas, but I've played or am currently playing all those classes in 5E already, and want to work my way through the list before I do repeats. Unless it's a reboot, like how Moth changing from Rogue to Blood Hunter frees me up to try Rogue again with Cerridwyn, or giving my Warlock a second try.
Cerridwyn Fallingstar sounds like an amazing concept.
Our paladin using Purify food and water to help preserve a corpse in tropical heat. So she spent a week, in a dinghy, behind the main boat constantly ritual casting this on the corpse.
I really couldnt argue against their argument that bodies are technically a form of food!
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Find you a GM who allows you to just play an actual, obstinate goat.
A water gensai that one of the characters knew staggering out of the alley and collapsing on them.
Missing an arm!
I am the nicest dm and do not ask my players to invent npcs so i can do terrible things to them.
Also @Romantic Undead Got fanart of their character made and can hopefully be coaxed to share it here, because it was fucking fantastic.
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Thiiiiiiis fanart?
Say hello to Roymund Cypressborne (and Chester)!
I've had to shrink it down to make it forum friendly, but there is some amazing detail work in this piece. The tartan patterning alone makes me giddy!
Art is by Savannah McGill
Here is her Fiverr page, in case anyone else would like to commission something, her rates are very competitive and she was awesome to work with, highly recommended:
https://www.fiverr.com/savannah_mcgill/draw-your-dungeons-and-dragons-character-or-party?source=order_page_summary_gig_link_title&funnel=0834e4ae-9875-4207-b632-0874a9ff8607
Neither player has a strong concept for their character's background and how they arrived in the Underdark, where the campaign is set (it's also in the world of Exandria from Critical Role, which only one of my players has extensive knowledge of). My BBEG makes extensive use of Modify Memory, Shadar-Kai are linked to the goddess of death, Way of the Long Death Monks study death, and Hollow Ones are a kind of quasi-undead associated with a place in Exandria called Blightshore, which is itself near the location of where a dragonborn city called Draconia was destroyed by a group of ancient chromatic dragon sabout twenty years ago. Plus I'd already been planning a later campaign to run someday where an organization is conducting arcane experiments involving Draconia's ruins and Blightshore, so I feel like I've been given free rein to establish two characters' backstories that would intertwine somehow and experiment with ideas for my next campaign.
Can't decide between a satyr bard (because, of course) and a Minotaur death cleric (because, why not?)
Minotaur bard, a headbanger that pushes people into acts of heroism to write about the aftermath?
Not buying it. You think a decaying body's food? Eat your mate's arm, we'll talk.
My lizardfolk ranger wouldn't hesitate. She's already carrying around some troll, ogre, and human jerkies.
There is literally an intellect devourer.
I was going to object (bad memories from having a past Cleric's +2 flaming mace get eaten), but then I remembered Roy's main weapon is a wooden oar so I say go for it!
Then again, we already have Chester. How many pets does our party need?
This one'll be a pet just for Zardioz. Chester is more like the party mascot.
Now I'm thinking of rust monsters as biological weapons. Most D&D settings are high-tech enough that metal is ubiquitous and essential in both everyday life and military/defensive use. If you're running a game that involves political/military conflict, one of the sides might be developing an avenue of attack where they drop rust monsters on their enemy, either in a single shock-and-awe bombardment or by gradually and secretly introducing them into a capital city's vermin ecosystem. PCs can be involved at any stage and for either side, they can be tasked with capturing rust monsters to build out the attacker's arsenal, or hunting down rust monsters multiplying in the capital city's sewers, or helping the defenders prepare for the oncoming rust monster assault that the spy network learned about, etc.
(Dark Sun PCs, meanwhile, are like "Hahah, metal, what's that?" They'll skin a rust monster alive, drink the blood for fluids, and make some janky axe out of its bones.)
"Now, I'm just a barbarian. Your civilized world frightens and confuses me. When I see a soldier in armor, I think, 'Is this a man made of metal, a demon impervious to mortal weapons?' When I see the watchfires on the walls, I wonder, 'What god of fire has unleashed his wrath upon these people? Are they cursed to burn eternally?' It makes me want to grab my bone ax fly into a frothy-mouthed rage, striking out at what I don't understand.
"But what I really don't understand is how Lord Farthinghame's proposal for a 15% docking surcharge increase, phased in over 3 seasons, is supposed to offset the loss of revenue from the downturn in import duties from Hersheebian merchants. Even an unlettered barbarian knows that docking charges are merely passed along to the end consumer. Instead, I think you'll find ..."
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
You could always use the Kython from the Book of Vile Darkness:
At least one of those two Ecology articles I mentioned claimed that rust monsters don't breed in captivity and that past attempts to use them in war have led to them escaping and ruining their captors' own equipment, which partially explains why rust monsters aren't used in warfare literally all the time.
Feel free to ignore that, though!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Unless they naturally live in symbiosis with say, a big worm or dire mole. They protect the digger in return for following in its wake and picking up whatever ore it uncovers.
Alternatively maybe they were originally for the Mineral Plane, has that ever been a thing? So the ones you find in the world have fallen in through a portal, and are currently starving.
Alrighty then. If we're destroying the setting with magic shenanigans:
Enemy spellcasters start casting Purify Food and Drink on you. Make a con save or you're dinner.
I mean, they needed to block the decay. That's a result of bacteria etc, it seemed reasonable to me that purify food and water would deal with the bacteria causing rot etc. Meats meat.
I suspect it got a little insect eaten, but the goal was to keep it intact in the tropical heat because it was evidence.
More seriously I'd rather reward my players for creative solutions than get bogged down
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