Chalrytharendir Character Discussions

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

Please make all rolls in here and outline what you are 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'd like to play a (half) human sorcerer with a bloodline related to a magical fae-like creature. I only have the basic rules, so I will need your help to customize the sorcerers 'bloodline' abilities to make this work. I'm imagining that I'm the son of a Xana that inhabits the woods and caves around a magical hotspring. A Xana, from Asturias mythology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xana), is much like a nymph from Greek mythology. There are many variants, but I'm imagining one who steal from the immoral or weak of soul (judged by the Xana). She determines this by playing tricks on travelers, partially for her own entertainment, but mostly to test them. If she deems them unworthy, then she steals their possessions to add to her treasure and their life energy for sustainance. The amount she takes depends on how she judges them. On the otherhand, if she decides the traveler is worthy, then she rewards the hero with her treasure (or part of it). I think powers/spells along the lines of fire, water, forest-nature, enchantments/illusions, would all fit reasonable well. If not, I'll just use the draconic (red dragon) bloodline that comes with the basic rules and make do by reworking the flavor a bit if that's okay. For race abilities, I'm thinking just to go with the regular human ones since he's unnoticably different except for his magic, but I'm open to suggestions or modifications.

Below I've written a more detailed concept for the backstory. Let me know what you think and if you like it then I'll start putting together a character sheet. Also, what level should I make it?


Name: Xanin Aqualiente (previously known as Davard Arkwright)

Backstory:
An adventurer returning from a treasure hunt with a small fortune was seduced by a Xana who lives near a magical hotspring in an enchanted forest. After putting him through many tricks and test, mostly for her own amusement, she decided he was worthy of her treasure. In fact, the Xana was particularly intrigued by the hero and rewarded him with more than just the treasure ... when the half-human baby was born, the Xana was not equipped to nourish the infant, so instead snuck into a nearby village at night and switched her baby with another, leaving a spell on it so the parents would not notice for months or even years.

As the spell gradually wore off, the parents slowly suspected that the child, who they had named Davard, was not their own. They had no explanation, so they loved it and raised it as their own despite their hunch. At least until Davard's magic began to express itself ... as the village disliked any type of magic.

Around the time Davard became a teenager, his fae-blood started to manifest. Strange happenings started around town. Initially, the townfolk thought they were coincidences, or unfortunate acts of nature, but eventually the events became too frequent and the effects too dramatic to be luck or a few folks' exaggerations. The town was suspicious that magic or witchcraft was at play, so they began to investigate. Davard's life in the village ended in tragedy. His uncontrolled magic was blamed for the accidental death of a villager. In the ensuing chaoes, he even had to kill his adopted father in self-defence before he was able to flee into the wilderness with his adopted mother's curses forever echoing in his head.

For a long time he was left wandering through the world on his own, a depressed beggar moving from town to town, barely doing enough to survive. Left abandoned his previous name. A new one that he gave himself, Xanin Aqualiente, was born out of fever dreams of his biological mother and the hotsprings in which he was born. He could not control his magic, but it would usually kick in to his benefit when he was at his most desparate. One day, perhaps had his lowest, he met a kind woman, a fellow sorcerer, who recognized his potential and took him under her wing as an apprentice. With her care, support and teachings, he began to grow towards his potential. Soon he was off pursuing adventures in the world on his own. His goal is to prove the village wrong. He is a good moral being and not the evil demon that they assumed and labelled him. He wants to be a hero by helping those in need. He hopes one day he'll meet his biological mother and be judged a worthy hero.


Questions I'm interested to find out as we play if it turns out to be a longer campaign:
How does he know his full backstory? I'm not sure he does fully, but I think he's pieced together hints from dreams, like those that caused him to pick his name, Xanin Aqualiente. Or perhaps there were rumors over the years, spread by the Xana herself and he gradually put two and two together.

Who is his biological father? Is he alive somewhere? Can he find him?

Can he find his biological mother (the Xana)? Will she recognize him and will she judge him a worthy hero or punish him?

Did the baby that he replaced survive somehow? If so, I suspect it has had a very tough life and perhaps wants revenge against Xanin or his mother, the Xana.

Are there any village folk who are searching for him to bring him to justice for the death of the villager and his adopted father?

Can he ever find a way to reach out to his adopted mother to discuss what really happened on that tragic day?

Okay to facilitate your request here are some of the things I have crafted. Note your character will look like a half-elf (fFolk) and I will work at creating an adjustment for your back story to accommodate that. However while your character appears to be half elf they are in fact half Fae

Racial Features
.... Ability Score Increase : Charisma +2, Dexterity +1
.... Dark Vision 60 ft
.... Keen Senses : Proficient in Perception
.... Fae Ancestry : Advantage on Saves vs Enchantments and Not affected by Magic Sleep
.... Fae Glamor : Gain Advantage on all friendly oriented Charisma checks
.... Amphibious : Can breath in water or air
.... Languages : Common, Sylvan

Sorcerous Origins (Fae Bloodline)
.... Expanded Spell List
.... Water Fae Ancestry
.... Fae Resilience
.... Misty Escape (6th Level)
.... Beguiling Defense (14th Level)
.... Fae Presence (18th Level)

I will give full descriptions of the above assuming this appears to be to your liking

Feel free to make my concept public. I'm happy to discuss and get input or feedback from the other players. If we decide any of the backstory should be "secret" we can label it later as secret meaning other characters don't know and should act accordingly, but I'm happy for the other players to know.

Yep, I think all those ideas for racial and bloodline features look good. I'm hoping to emphasize "hot" water springs in some way, but I think I can do that with my spell choices (I'm thinking themes like steam, earth-generated heat, fire or magma, maybe seismic activity, etc) and role playing - maybe warm baths are a huge favourite of mine, but we'll see as the character develops.

Sorcerous Origins (Fae Bloodline)

Looks good. I especially like flavour and mechanic of "Misty Escape." That's perfect!

The only one I wasn't sure about was Water Fae Ancestry. I'm imagining the character's mother to inhabit small/shallow hot spring pools in a forest. Sort of like this:I'm not sure much aquatic life would inhabit them, maybe some slimes and molds and thermophilic bacteria, so being able to converse with aquatic beings, although quite useful, doesn't feel quite right. Same with the ability to turn my lower body into a tail fin. That seems better suited for beings in large bodies of water. Again, could be extremely useful in game, but not sure it fits. Also, it feels a little too close to the ninja-mermaid I'm playing in our other game. I'd prefer to try something a little different. Let me know what you think.

To clarify the Fae Resilience, I get +1 HP at Level 3, then another +1 HP each time I gain a sorcery level. Is that right?

I've read through the char gen rules, so I'll start rolling my stats.

Stats Rolls:
3d6 > choose 2 + 6

Results : 16, 14, 14, 10, 17, 17

Not a bad set of numbers.

I think that might be the best stats I've ever rolled for a dnd game! I'm sure your house rule helps a lot, but that's pretty awesome. Also, I really like the way you do hp progression. I've not seen that variant before.

I haven't read through the house rules yet, so I'll do that before I fill out my char sheet. I have gone through the world dynamics. Looks great, I think I've got a good feel for the setting. Looking forward to joining the game once I've got my character figured out.

Just understand most of the character creation adjustments are in the Character Creation Parameters thread while some of the gear stuff is found under the House Rules --- I tried to keep the stuff that you only need during character creation within the first thread and things you may need for game play within the second thread.

Oh nevermind, Sorcery Origins begin at 1st. The last character I played was a Rogue, whose archetype started at Lvl 3. That's why I thought Fae Resilience started at level 3, so my question probably sounds weird. So just to clarify, it just gives me +1 hp each level of sorcery starting right at level 1, is that correct?

Okay, thanks for the heads up. In that case I'll browse them quick before building and then read in detail by the time I join the game.

That is correct.

Name: Xanin Aqualiente
Race: Half-Fae
Class: Sorcerer (Origin: Fae Bloodline)
Background: Haunted/Hermit

Stats:
STR 10
DEX 18 (17 roll +1 racial bonus)
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 14
CHR 19 (17 roll +2 racial bonus)

HP:
Lvl 1: 6 (lvl 1 base) + 3 (CON) + 1 (Fae Silience)
Lvl 2: 1d4+2 (lvl 2 base) + 3 (CON) + 1 (Fae Silience)
Lvl 3: 1d4+2 (lvl 2 base) + 3 (CON) + 1 (Fae Silience)

Total = 10 + 1d4+6 + 1d4+6 = 2d4+22
(Rolling below)

Proficiency:
Proficiency Bonus = +2
Languages:
Common (Race)
Sylvan (Race)
Skills:
Perception (Race)
Insight (Sorcery)
Persuasion (Sorcery)
Two of:
Investigation (Haunted Background)
Nature (Backstory)
Survival (Haunted Background)
Tools:
Carpenter's Tools (Backstory - Adopted Family were Arkwrights)
Herbalism Kit (Hermit Background)
Weapons:
Daggers (Sorcerer)
Darts (Sorcerer)
Slings (Sorcerer)
Quarterstaffs (Sorcerer)
Light crossbows (Sorcerer)
Armor:
None

Equipment:
To be decided


Special Abilities:

Dark Vision 60 ft (Race)

Fae Ancestry (Race):
Advantage on Saves vs Enchantments
Not affected by Magic Sleep

Fae Glamor (Race):
Gain Advantage on all friendly oriented Charisma checks

Amphibious (Race):
Can breath in water or air

Spellcasting (Sorcerer Lvl 1):
Spellcasting focus = arcane focus
Spell save DC = 14 (8 base + 2 proficiency bonus + 4 CHR mod)
Spell Attack Modifier = 6 (+2 prof + 4 CHR mod)

Cantrips:
4 To be decided

Spells:
4 (from Lvl 1 + 2) To be decided

Sorcerous Origins - Fae Bloodline (Sorcerer Lvl 1):
Expanded Spell List
Water Fae Ancestry
Fae Resilience

Font of Magic (Sorcerer Lvl 2):
Sorcery Points = 3

Metamagic (Sorcerer Lvl 3):
To be decided

Okay I have not finished working on your character I have read your concerns and I am bouncing some thoughts around to figure out what to replace the Water Fae Ancestry with that adheres to the basic theme.

As for the backstory I am thinking perhaps playing with that a little bit but you will of course have final say and such on anything I suggest.

Would like to get you included soon though if at all possible

As for Backgrounds you get both features outlined for the Background you choose. Also I am not seeing Haunted One -- the character is more Hermit due to Exile which is an aspect of that background however I will look over the Hermit a bit more along with some of the other backgrounds that I have not yet addressed to see if a better pair of Features could be formed for what you have outlined for your characters background.

Yeah, I'm not sure Haunted fits in the "horror" sense, but I really like the description of the 'Haunted' feature in that background and thought it might be an appropriate outcome of his experience when the lynch mob tried to get him and/or the memory of killing his father. I think perhaps it's more like Severe Mental Trauma, than Haunted, now that I think about it. Maybe we can adapt that mechanic into my background. I really like the Discovery feature in the hermit background and I think it fits well. I like the idea that the thing he discovered is what brought him to Far Reach, you can give me some ideas about what that might be. I'm less keen on the In-Depth Studies because I think his time as a hermit was non-consensual so probably less studious and more stressful. But I'm open to it if we need to get my character into the game soon. I'd probably take Expertise in Nature or Survival in that case.

I'll try to get my spells and equipment sorted tonight, so I can join in asap. We can workout the background details as we go. I'm fine leaving those features and the Water Fae Ancestry ability off my sheet until we solidify them.

As I was picking my spells, I remember that you said it would be good if the group had an arcane magic user. Is there something in particular I should be including in my spells, i.e. Attack/Buff/Control/Utility Spells?

I'm leaning towards these spells:
Cantrips: Fire Bolt, Mage Hand, Shillelagh, Vicious Mockery
Lvl 1: Shield, Speak with Animals
Lvl 2: Suggestion, Web

But I was also considering these ones: (Feather Fall/Sleep/Magic Missile/Create Destroy Water)

If there's some hole I should make sure I fill, let me know.

Well the Create/Destroy Water would be useful in this campaign as would anything that helps the group with surviving in the wild. Remember surviving in the wild is actually one of the challenges that the group will eventually face and depending on how well they deal with it determines how well they survive as a whole. That being said, Prestidigitation can come in very handy at times and is even more versatile than previously and can be used to help with survival versus the elements if used creatively in that manner.

In that vein Protection from Poison can be useful in situations as well.

Still the spells you chose can also be highly effective if used in the right situations.

So some of the other spells that might prove useful might be -- Burning Hands, Chromatic Orb, Detect Thoughts, Disguise Self, Enhance Ability, Expeditious Move (was Expeditious Retreat), Friends, Illusion (was Silent Image), Knock, Mending, Speak with Plants, and Weapon Ward (was Blade Ward)

Keep in mind some of these spells have been tweaked a little so be sure to look at the list of spells outlined in the House Rules

In a basic nutshell having a couple attack spells and then a bunch of versatile spells that can be used creatively can give you more latitude.

Oh and a big note you might not have seen yet -- Illusions in this world work -- they are not altered in any way if someone chooses to disbelieve them as they are simply false sensory data -- if you create an illusionary wall and someone walks through it -- it still looks to be a solid wall to them even though they know it is not a solid wall -- which means they might miss it if they were in a hurry. On the flip-side Illusion do not cause direct damage of any kind and the Phantasm spells have been moved to the Enchantment category where they belong, they being mind-affecting magic not Illusions