oddtrails Character Discussions

This thread is for discussing oddtrails' character please do not post anything here that is not related to oddtrails' character and yes collaborating with oddtrails is consider fair postings.

Please make your rolls in here and outline what your are doing so that I can give you feedback on the world. Do note though this game borrows heavily from the Forgotten Realms so you can use information from that setting to outline your background.

I’ll be diving into this right away. Before I begin though, is there any role for which the party is in desperate need? I think most parties work best if each player chooses a character that seems fun, but there are always practical concerns.

Well as I stated we have a Hin (halfling) Bard and a Wood Elf Druid and it the other player finishes their character a Nuzemi (ratfolk) Artificer but I am waiting to see if that moves forward right now, based on past experience, I am bit skeptical -- love the character concept and all and I hope they fully join in. So....

Bard (rogue type)
Druid (priest type)
You (??? type)
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Artificer (ranged type) I hope

But keep in mind the players can get NPCs to join them -- they already have one Forest Gnome Barbarian has recently joined the group.

Now if you want a challenge and play a leader type you could be a local Garrison Guard and then getting extra fighter types would be easier to do -- but then you would have to control those NPCs in combat

But all in all -- this game is meant for you to play what you have always wanted to play but never could -- shoot me an idea and we can see what can be done

Character rolls.

Currently deliberating between Eldritch Knight and a Wizard, with a possibility of a druid.

Starting with: 13, 18, 17, 13, 14, 14

I'm leaning toward Yrok Eldritch or Echo Knight. I like the idea of a character who is from a violent area, but has been drawn to learn some of the arcane arts, perhaps in secret. His studies have been difficult and needed to be done in secret. Although he has learned some very useful abilities, his prowess with the blade has earned him a reputation that has made it nearly impossible to continue his studies.

He reaches an inflection point, and decides that he no longer wishes to have his life dictated for him. He sets out on his own.

Okay look forward to what you put together of course if your character needed secretiveness he, if a local, would have had to leave the Village as it is far to small to have done anything secretive like that over time. So what about .....

Born in Southbridge but never feeling like truly part of the place, he left as a caravan guard, bumped around a bit in the Realms, stumbled upon some way to learn those arcane arts and then finally feeling he solid about himself, returns home to see if he can help and strikes up a friendship with a couple others and decides to join them on adventures. However, upon goes to visit his family first to see how they are fairing and then simply renews his Oath to the village still knowing the basics of how the place works even though it has changed some.

If that sounds good, then run with it and fill in all those details I did not cover ;-)

Wow that sounds great thanks. I’m not sure how an Yrok would fit in society. Would they generally be reviled? Ignored? Accepted? Feared? I’ll have the character sheet submitted soon!

Yrocs have a reputation of being brutal and barbaric but think of them as Klingons shortly after their joining the Federation -- or anything along those lines.

So if a race is perceived as being brutal and barbaric and these are the stories that most folks have heard and/or worse experienced, how do you think they would be viewed? Yes there would be those that fear them, those who would not trust them, those that would revile them, those that would ignore them, and those that would welcome them (mostly those of the darker side of life). So yeah bumping around the Realms would have probably been mostly done out of necessity rather than desire as the Yrocs as a whole have not fully integrated with society and many of them are still waging war on these societies.

I am sure the phrase, "The only good Orc is a dead Orc." can be heard voiced by some folk almost everywhere within the Realms.

Got it, thanks!

Rolling for HP (+4 from CON):

Lvl 1: 10+4
Lvl 2: 6+3+4
Lvl 3: 6+3+4

Total 40HP

Ok, I've submitted Almthu the Eldritch Knight Yroc. I'll fill in the back story asap, but wanted to get the core sheet submitted right away.

Okay to make things easier and simpler what I will do is say when the caravan reached the valley plateau you borrowed a horse and rode on ahead. That would give you a partial day with family and such before hooking up with the group at the garrison. Sound okay to you? Also once I get that back-story I will look it over and let you know the status of things in the Village.

Sounds good to me. I’m excited to jump in.

As a caster, Almthu would have the ability to read and write (orcish, common), correct?

Is there a limited number of uses for the Savage Fury ability?

Yes as a spell-caster you have literacy in one language

No the Savage Fury thing from my understanding is a constant thing

Ok great. My Yroc is going to be pretty brutal in melee. I like it.

It just occurred to me that I technically increased my Strength score above 20 using an Ability Score Increase. (Rolled an 18, +3 to Strength for Yroc = 21) How would you like me to handle that? I'm happy to shuffle my scores around to conform to the rule, and I didn't see anything in the home brew rules.

Races with modifiers can exceed the 20 limit but most do not and really a 20 versus a 21 has very little difference, you are however sort-of at your racial maximum so keep that in mind later on.

Also keep in mind your Strength does affect your height

Racial maximum, meaning that future ability score increases can't be applied to Strength? Any other consequences?

Not really and I said sort-of Yrocs are a unique species they actually evolve by de-evolving sort-of so yeah you can keep increasing your strength ;) but you might not like it being that you use magic now

Btw your character is classified as a Big-Un by other Yrocs that does carry prestige amongst your kind, it also means you might get challenged just to see how good you are.

Are you going to post your background story here ?

Almthu grew up in Southbridge. While he was capable in his duties, he felt a calling to a different purpose. Eventually Almthu joined up as a caravan guard as a means to travel and explore the larger world. While violence wasn't as interesting to him as some of his kin, he was quite good at it. Favoring a flail he developed a reputation that he was never quite comfortable with. Eventually, during one of his travels he made an acquaintance that opened the door to the arcane world. He studied as much as he could until he had achieved some notable skill with magic.

Feeling he was finally on a path that seemed right to him, he decided to return to Southbridge for a short visit to see how the village was fairing. He realized that while he had felt out of place, this place would always be important to him. So he renewed his promise to do all he could to protect this village, even while continuing his journeys.

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Size is 72" + STR or STR mod? If straight STR, he's approaching 8', that's pretty impressive!

No if I was going to say Strength Modifier I would have so yes he is a Big-Un and any bigger and he'd be as big as an Ogre ;) -- oh and that is not common (nor do the Yrocs share that) knowledge and takes a special ritual to progress up (or down) that evolutionary path

And you are using a Uriak picture btw aka a half-orc

Here are what Yrocs look like in this world
http://www.svein3d.com/uploads/2/7/6/7/27671999/ork_picture1.png

Most of the Warhammer Orcs work nicely and some of them might even fit your character nicely

If you do a google search on "warhammer orc pic" they got quite a few but there are other non-warhammer pics that do the race justice as well

Ah ok, I'll change out the pic. Also, I'm finalizing my equipment. I may have overlooked the extra 750GP in gear. Working on that now.

Almthu will want to find a familiar at some point. Spell components are 10GP worth of charcoal, incense and herbs. Almthu is a frugal fellow, and would likely try to make charcoal or forage for herbs rather than purchasing unless it would take an extraordinarily long time to gather what he needs. Would it be possible to incorporate some way for him to make/find these materials?

Yes that can be done I will work on the recipe for you but the question then becomes does he want the basic recipe or is he striving for a higher end recipe.

Oh do note you also need a special brass brazier that does not get consumed by the spell which you can have made or if you have the Blacksmith Tool proficiency make it yourself.

Ok, great! I had missed the part about the brass brazier, so thanks for the reminder.

There's a higher end recipe?

In my world there is always a higher end recipe but not everyone pursues such as it is hard to obtain then there are recipes not yet devised that might work as well. Basically it all depends on you and what you want to do with it. If you just want the basics the basics is what you get. However, if you want to be creative then we will see what is possible. Of course having Proficiency in Herbalist Tools, Alchemist Tools, and/or Apothecary Tools would all be helpful.

Basically in a nutshell I try to make all the Tool Proficiencies relevant and useful beyond their basic functionality.

Very neat. I'm enjoying the possibilities you've created in this world!

As a fighter most of my proficiencies involve hitting things or carrying heavy things, but I like the idea of character growth over time. Perhaps he could study or otherwise learn some additional tools?

I think Almthu is just fascinated at knowing any magic, and has been itching to summon a "pet", so he would probably go for the basic recipe for now. But as he becomes more skilled, he may wish to try something more elaborate if it fits in with the story and idea of character growth.

Well good to know -- however -- if you would have wanted to go back and tweak one or two things about your character with this information -- just let me know what you are changing is all

Oh and yeah all my worlds cater to allowing players to do stuff beyond the basics -- as some players enjoy that and some players do not and the game is about having fun and that varies greatly from player to player.

I'll give it some thought and run any ideas past you if I'd like to change anything. I find that sometimes my initial ideas don't work well once they get to actual play, so it's nice to have the flexibility to tweak a few things.

So, at the risk of asking a question I should know the answer to but don't ... Did Almthu take the oath and is able perform the same greeting as the others?

Yes Almthu has taken the oath and retook the oath upon his return -- since he fully understand why it is in place -- I believe that was stated somewhere in-game maybe or at least was stated so that its understood that he did.

Ok, I do recall retaking the oath, I thought it was a symbolic thing; I didn't understand the extent of its effects until now. Thanks!

Now if you would like to better understand its significance I can share that with you as well since that is something Almthu could know depending upon how aware you feel he might have been of the politics of the village when he was growing up.

Yes! I would love to. Almthu plays the role of a dolt, but is smarter than most would assume. He'd likely have caught on to some of the complexity of local politics.

Okay the Village was stabilized by the seven paladins but it had existed prior to that as sort of weigh station for the mines further to the north and prior to the paladins there were various rivalries and in-fighting. After the paladins took over things settled down a bit but then a group of Yrocs that had come to raid the village had their chief lose the challenge of one-on-one combat to Shahadur and that clan/tribe's new leadership chose to make the village their home in respect to the power that the Paladins represented.

Of course the contingency of Dwarves within town did not take this well and the issue of rivalries and in-fighting resurfaced. In an effort to quell this and prove to the Dwarves that the Yrocs had good intentions the aspect of the Sigil was put into place. Once it was understood that the stronger ones desire was to protect the village and ALL its inhabitants the brighter and deeper the blue was and that many of the Yrocs sigils out shown those of the Dwarves the Dwarves took this as a case of pride to out shine the Yrocs but to do this they had to set aside their grievances with their fellow citizens and truly want to protect ALL citizens.

Note this does not cover all the details of the story behind the Sigils but it does cover that which Almthu would be aware of. Further this same acceptance that the Dwarves developed for the Yrocs extends to all races accepting Uriak (half-Human/Yroc) and the fFolk (half-Human/Elf) as normal and equal citizens which is not the case in many places outside the village where Uriak are called half-orc or half-human and fFolk are called half-elf or half-human all derogatory terms btw.