A_True_Believer Character Discussions

This is mainly for A_True_Believer to discuss their character in detail. Please restrict posts to this thread to only things related to A_True_Believer's character. Yes this can include specific collaboration posts but general posts should be made to the Discussion thread.

My preference in characters would be the Barbarian but the Fighter would work as well

Barbarian would be great. Still getting my bearings with 5e. I have the PHB and the Tal'Dorei Supplement. Goliath/Barbarian?

Not using that book -- PHB and SCAG -- however if you want something unusual what about a Yroc (aka Orc) Barbarian ... nuttin like been green ta make ya mean ;) in my world they are no more evil than any other barbarian clan they just have a bad rep cuz they are one of the more successful barbarian clans

but half-orc or human works too

I'll go with a Half-Orc Barbarian. :)

Okay the rules for character creation are there just make your rolls in here

10-4

If you can get your character submitted quickly enough I can slip them into the group before the group goes on their first adventure take too long and they may have to wait til the group gets back

I've got to put a bit of thought into it for sure. Not sure when your deadline is for the first adventure. But, no worries either way. I plan to stick around on GP. You can count on it. I'm already writing a few ideas down on this Half-Orc. I'll get it to you asap.

Well it might be useful to roll your Attributes and your HP and get those out of the way -- do you want any help on the character I am pretty good at bouncing ideas off of

Do I use the 27 point buy option and build up to level 5 from there?

...and roll for HP?

Please read the Character Creation Parameters for this Game?

Ok. Kroog is a Level 5 Half-Orc Barbarian. Here are the Attributes I have so far.

Strength = 17 [+3]
Dexterity = 14 [+2]
Constitution = 14 [+2]
Intelligence = 12 [+1]
Wisdom = 10 [+0]
Charisma = 8 [-1]

HP Rolls (1d12-4 = 8, so each level will be 1d4+8+2. . .or 1d4+10)

---

Kroog at 5th level has 66 hit points.

Also - for my 4th level Attribute increase I would like to increase my Dexterity to a 15 [+2].

I've worked on Kroog here on the Character creator as well. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly beneficial! In general I went with the Outlander background. . .perhaps he was a warrior of a clan/tribe and they were destroyed or defeated? Maybe he is the only (or one of a few) survivors of the clan/tribe.

@A_True_Believer You may want to increase your Strength to 18 to adjusting your Dexterity, as that would increase your hit and damage bonuses to +4. A Dexterity of 15 only helps game-wise if you plan to increase it again to 16 eventually.

Also, you get maximum hit points at first level, so I would use that number instead of your unneeded fifth roll.

Thanks! As per your suggestion I will instead increase my Strength to an 18 [+3].

In order to take advantage of the Max hit points at first level I will make the following adjustment if permissible:

It would be first level at 14 (1d12 + 2) + my first four rolls from above = for a total HP of 69.

Working Background & Story

Kroog has the Outlander background. He was indeed raised among Orcs. Within his Orc tribe, he grew and became a tribal warrior at the age of 14. His tribe was known for its fierceness and swiftness at village raiding and pillaging. Although he was fierce in the heat of battle, Kroog was not without some sense of compassion. This created the slightest of hesitation in the execution or enslaving of "enemy" children, which certainly did not jive well with the fierceness associated with his tribe. At the age of 22, Kroog was exiled from the tribe for showing a special sense of compassion toward children. Kroog objected to his exile and thus was attacked by multiple soldiers and his beaten and battered body was thrown into a nearby river. Kroog was not dead. A child found him, a human child. He was taken in and shown compassion and the family allowed his wounds to mend. Kroog is in debt to the family and has taken an oath unto himself to not harm an innocent child or family. Freedom is his driving force. No longer bound by the dictates of his "tribe," Kroog now searches to gain his own purpose in life and stifle the stigma of his often mistrusted and disliked race. [WORK IN PROGRESS, PLEASE HELP!]

I just thought of this: we are using the Feat option, so you can choose a Feat instead of the attribute adjustment if you prefer one of those.

True. Heck, I think I'll stick with that Strength bonus!

FYI your back story so far is fine. If you haven't picked traits, an ideal, a flaw, and a bond yet, I found that going through them from all the character classes, not just the one for my character, helpful. Sometimes the examples for the selected class don't match my character conception. Also, they can help provide ideas for character back story and development.

I always look for a portrait to my charterers (Pinterest is my go to) and look for the image that fit my idea. I often find that portrait tells me more about my character than I originally thought of myself

Okay having been raised by Yrocs (it sounds like Orc when pronounced properly because you sort of swallow it as you say it), you would be aware that they are as you outlined fierce and proud valuing Strength and Power greatly but they are not inherently evil although many of them do tend to drift in that direction as a tribe but they have sprinkling of alignments within the even a more evil appearing tribe due to their traditions but in-fighting for dominance is not uncommon. Still most Yrocs have not had good experiences with stumpies (Dwarves) or tree-huggers (Elves) because the dwarves hold long grudges and the elves cannot identify with their might makes right attitudes. Humans is a mixed bag sometimes they get along with them and sometimes they do not.

If you want to kind of see what my Yrocs look like check out Warhammer Orcs as I like their rendition the most but other than that think primitive Klingons ;) as the women are just as bad-arsed warriors (think Klingon or Celtic) as the men are. They just tend to be a wee bit smaller.

I can give Kroog a side mission if you like -- that family has son that they had not heard from in a long while that had left for Far Reach -- they are hoping to find out what happened to him. Are you interested?

Awesome. Possibly. How would a side mission work? I like the concept.

I will take a look asap.

Quite true. I'll look over some of those options.

Updated Background

Raised among a Yroc tribe, Kroog knows well the fierceness of his half-kin, valuing strength and power above all. By the age of 14, he joined the ranks of the tribal warriors. Although he was fierce in the heat of battle, Kroog was not without some sense of compassion. This created a personal hesitation in the execution or enslaving of "enemy" children, which certainly did not bode well with the tribe's fierce identity. Kroog made attempts to keep his hesitation and disagreements concealed. However, at the age of 24, Kroog was exiled from the tribe for compassionate hesitations. Kroog objected to his exile and thus was attacked by multiple soldiers. The defeat was something he was not familiar with. His beaten and battered body was thrown into a nearby river. However, Kroog was not dead. A young child found him, a human child. He was taken in by the family and shown compassion.
The family cared for him and allowed his wounds to mend. Kroog is in debt to the family and has taken an oath unto himself. An oath to not harm an innocent child or family and to show compassion to those that are innocent. No longer bound by the dictates of his "tribe," Kroog now searches to gain his own purpose in life and stifle the stigma of his often mistrusted and disliked race

A few other details: Kroog stands about 6'7" tall and weighs in at about 250 lbs. He has that greyish/green toned skin with several scars from previous battles (including the one that almost claimed his life from his former tribesmen), black hair and light almost hazel eyes.

Personality Traits: Kroog is strong and has self-confidence in his strength. He relies on it and has worked to maintain that strength. However, Kroog is not the best at keeping in line with ideas that he disagrees with. Although not as outspoken as some of his kin or half-kin, Kroog tends to bottle up aggression that can lead to outbursts and a short-temper.

Ideals: Kroog believes in freedom and that innocence should be spared of brutality and cruelty.

Bonds: Kroog has a soft spot for children, even more so now for human children. If one is in danger, he is compelled to act in their defense.

Flaws: Kroog cannot bear the shame of his defeat during his forced exile. This causes tremendous social angst with an orc or half-orc in social situations. He feels that his scars tell a tale that would be obvious to his kinfolk.

I would change this to the following:
Why because this would be Yroc way -- if you were exiled the chief is the one that would have exiled you -- if you objected you were bringing into question the chief's judgement and right to rule -- aka you were challenging the chief -- and direct or indirect a challenge is always met by the challenged

Awesome! Thanks.

Basically you have a description of the young man, you have his name, and that he traveled to Far Reach --- it is not an easy mission, since you have no photo to work with or all the much to go on. So I would suppose you would have to start asking questions of folks that he might have met when he arrived.

Is this something I would use (kind of like Inspiration) as I'm introduced to the group or is this something we're going to do prior to me joining up with everyone?

Think of it this way -- this was/is your main purpose for coming to Far Reach -- the catalyst so to speak. However it is kind of like searching for that proverbial needle in a haystack (with the haystack being the entirety of Far Reach) ;) you might find it, you might not, heck you might sit on it who knows. However yes you may actually complete the mission at some point but this will greatly depend upon how you go about pursuing it but considering what little you have to go on it is not going to be all that easy. Then again maybe you will just accidentally sit on it and find it in the most painful way.

Now granted you have agreed to hook up with these others as there is safety in numbers and adventuring while you search for the young man will hopefully get you enough to live on and besides that is kind of what the young man came here to do so you might stumble across him that way who knows.

Ahh! Yes! :)

I have not given him a description nor a name -- as I thought you might want to do that but I doubt your character would have met him so you would be going off the description the parents gave -- maybe he has some special thing he wears that might help indicate who he is in case the worst has happened. Preferably something made of metal or stone ;)

Maybe I would have his name, a description and the idea that he keeps something important to the family? A gem or something like that..? An heirloom?

Perhaps his name is John...John Wiseheart. His brother Jared is the one that found me. Perhaps his father is a blacksmith in a nearby village/town and sends John to sale some wares and has not returned. For protection, maybe his father sent him with...something???

Okay John son of Jacob (or whatever is father's name is) or John from Wiseheart (if that was the village he was from) but giving him a surname means he comes from a noble family. But just John would work as well.

However one does not just casually travel to Far Reach -- so he had to purposefully go there, perhaps his father did send something with him but this would put a twist to the whole plot -- which I am perfectly fine with doing -- but I am guessing if he sent something secretively with John he would not tell your character that.

Ok. Lets stick with John (son of Jacob). Ok, so John has something...although Kroog has no idea what it is. Perhaps Jacob only gave Kroog a physical description and the young man's age, etc....? Whatever John has is left up to you and the plot, etc..? I'm guessing Jacob not only wants to know the whereabouts of his son, but also about this object?

Yes on one side he might not have been able to express what the object is -- his hope is that you will find John alive and there will be no need to go into further details of course he has no method of contacting you that far away either -- so let me think on this a bit -- perhaps Jacob might outline it as a family heirloom but this kind of depends on what I settle upon this object being... of course I also have to decide on the current state of John and how to weave that into the current story in a way that makes it an interesting puzzle to solve

In this vein outline what you think might be fun for you to play out about this -- what you think would be fun when it came to finding John (dead or alive) (situation he is in if alive) -- how would this object play in to the mix (and what might it be or represent). Basically take a stab at outlining a potential adventure that you think would be fun to play out -- then I will take that and morph it, add elements, tweak your elements and weave it into the main story line. Note the object can stay a mulligan I am fine with that just drop in as much detail as you want as the more I have to work with the more I can do with it ;-)

Ok, so Kroog is looking for John and that is the reason he is where he is...meeting up with the rest of the people. The debt he owes has at least given him a purpose to go to the region, well that and the fact that he is kind of searching for a new purpose and to explore freely for the first time, to see the world so to speak -- I'm not sure how or why he would have run into the other players, something to work out... If I found John alive, maybe he is changed? For good or bad... Either way could be fun. Maybe the "mulligan" that he has is some sort of relic that means something beyond Kroog's understanding? Something magical would be cool, especially since I'm not a spellcaster? Or, maybe some type of enchanting device...thing that is useful to a "weaponsmith" of sorts? Maybe John gave it away or traded it for being spared..? But, the trade was for his life...yet, he is changed (Vampire, Lycanthrope, whatever...). Just a rough stab to get things going.

Sounds like a quality stab....

To answer the "I'm not sure how or why he would have run into the other players,"

Simple that caravan that just arrived with the other players in it -- is the same method your character used to get there -- he has fought along side these other characters and agreed to join up as an adventuring unit upon arriving. Kroog might have been sleeping when the caravan arrived having done the night shift kind of thing so got delayed a bit. However a quick question as to where they all went would point him in the direction of the Garrison so no big deal there.

So if you are ready we can get you and hopefully the other player moving in that direction.

Sounds good. I'll reread over the first episode today. Just let me know where to go from here. Thanks for your help and continued patience with me! I'm excited to give this a go!

your in episode 1b and your comrade is waiting for you ;)

Okay I realize you might have some of this written into your backstory which is fine but I need these outlined as follows Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws -- see Backgrounds if you do not understand what I am asking. Also when I do these I go threw all the Backgrounds to see if there any within one of the others that might fit my character concept either straight up or by tweaking the verbiage some.

Look forward to seeing what you outline. Oh and add that to your character sheet -- and here if you want to as well

Traits
-I'm oblivious to etiquette and social expectations.
-Thinking is for other people. I prefer action.

Ideals
-Freedom. Tyrants must not be allowed to oppress the people.
-Change. The low are lifted up, and the high and mighty are brought down. Change is the nature of things.

Bonds
-I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
-I owe my life to the family who took me in when I was left for dead.
-I've done horrible things in the past, I have much to pay for.

Flaws
-Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.
-I am suspicious of strangers and suspect the worst of them.

Raised among a Yroc tribe, Kroog knows well the fierceness of his half-kin, valuing strength and power above all. By the age of 14, he joined the ranks of the tribal warriors. Although he was fierce in the heat of battle, Kroog was not without some sense of compassion. This created a personal hesitation in the execution or enslaving of "enemy" children, which certainly did not bode well with the tribe's fierce identity. Kroog made attempts to keep his hesitation and disagreements concealed. However, at the age of 24, Kroog was exiled from the tribe for compassionate hesitations. Kroog objected to his exile and thus was attacked by the chief. The horrible defeat he suffered was something he was not familiar with. His beaten and battered body was thrown into a nearby river. However, Kroog was not dead. A young child found him, a human child. He was taken in by the family and shown compassion. The family cared for him and allowed his wounds to mend. Kroog is in debt to the family and has agreed to assist them in finding their other son that is missing somewhere in the Far Reach.

No longer bound by the dictates of his "tribe," Kroog now searches to pay a debt and live free of Yroc tribal traditions. He is nomadic in his ways but yearns for the stability of "family". Loyal to a fault, he won't go back on what he says he will do.

Kroog stands about 6'7" tall and weighs in at about 255 lbs. He is solidly built from his tribal lifestyle. He has greyish/green skin and hazel colored eyes. He has several scars on his torso and throughout that tell a history of battles fought...and one lost.

Traits
-I'm oblivious to etiquette and social expectations.
-Thinking is for other people. I prefer action.

Ideals
-Freedom. Tyrants must not be allowed to oppress the people.
-Change. The low are lifted up, and the high and mighty are brought down. Change is the nature of things.

Bonds
-I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
-I owe my life to the family who took me in when I was left for dead.
-I've done horrible things in the past, I have much to pay for.

Flaws
-Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.
-I am suspicious of strangers and suspect the worst of them.

Thank you very much