Character Creation Thread

Hey gang!

I'm super excited for this game. Glad you're here!

I wanted to outline character creation rules and just give a little in-world context too that might help you all in putting together a PC that, I hope, is gonna give you and everyone the best experience possible.

Books:
PHB, XGtE, TCoE, and with DM permission/prior clearance of the concept VGtM is on the table, too.

Ability Score Generation:
27 Point Buy Variant (PHB, p. 13)

Context:
So the setting for the campaign is Turmish. Turmish is a country in the Forgotten Realms that, as near as I can tell, is a lot like medieval Italy, from climate to culture. But aesthetically is more like the Ottoman empire... scarves, and sashes, and baggy clothing. Anyway, you can google around about Turmish all you'd like, if you want, to inform the flavor of your PC.

And specifically we're zooming in on western Turmish. Rural. Vineyards. Goats and chickens. Orchards. Relatively quiet and quaint. It's also one of the most culturally diverese areas of Turmish (Turmish is generally very human dominated). There is a small city nearby, Xorhun, that is probably the closest "google-able" city with canon on it that you'll be able to find. And there's A VERY large city, Hlondeth, but much further away than that. So a more metropolitan character isn't out of the question, and indeed Turmish is famous for it's mercenary bands and wizards and things. So, perhaps despite the quaint setting I think you have plenty of latitude to create a character that you want to play, while still observing the spirit of the game.

I would say the ideal character concepts that will really help craft the feel of the setting and tone of the campaign might be a little more, I don't want to say 'low-fantasy' cuz it will still be a high fantasy game, but just maybe more "down to earth", people who don't necessarily see themselves as the prototypical adventurer. That's not a hard and fast rule, but just some input as to what I see fitting the feel and themes best.

But at a minimum, as mentioned, your PC needs to have a good reason to care about the region that we're starting in - the Five Lions.

That One Special Thing...
So, I'm trying something new here... ideally, to help fuel the "Inspiration economy", i.e. to give you guys extra incentive to really come at the situations from your character's perspective and roleplay and to complicate your own PC's life with Flaws and things. So I had this idea where each character would have 'one special thing' about them, that no other character has, and that is unattached to (but could be influenced by) your race or class, etc. and to activate this one special thing requires spending your Inspiration. Your one special thing is kind of just a custom-tailored, little mini-superpower that gives your character a little extra flavor, a little extra special something, and yea will basically just be another "problem solving tool" to have in your character's tool box. Fueled by Inspiration. This will be the last element of character creation, and so we'll talk about it more, once everyone is getting to that point...

Alright, I know many of you have already brought up initial character concepts, but let's go ahead and hash out the final thoughts and mechanical bits as needed here. So we can kind of look at the group composition as an aggregate.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

My character is first and foremost a local kid. Adopted by loving parents, that she can return to after a day of missives adventures. Everybody knows her, as she is the only one of her kind for miles. This is also an issue. She feels alone and misplaced without her own culture.
My character is curious and perhaps a prankster.

With GM's permission, I would like to play a Tabaxi. The alternative is a Dragonborn.
Adopted by human parents. Dad an officer in the watch, mom an artisan in the village.
Background: Archaeologist but we can call it someone who digs around for culture, history, and lore. In a dungeon or the loft of an abandoned house.
Class: Artificer, aiming for the Battle Smith subclass. The first time I played the Artificer, I did it wrong, and have learned from my mistake.

Character concept:
Name: Rolen
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Wizard.

Backstory:
His parents died when he was about ten years old and lacking any next of kin he found shelter in an orphanage in The Five Lions. He was a troublesome kid in the orphanage because he wasn't really fond of following rules. He would often run away and explore the area around his hometown. During one of these ventures he was found by a local arcane adept named Longina. She took him in as she saw a lot of potential in the young half-elf.
The following years he was schooled by her. Living with her in a tower standing on a remote hill about an hour of walking away from The Five Lions.
Rolen was quite headstrong but Longina was a very patient teacher and with a good mixture of compassion and strictness she was able to raise him to be a formidable young man who was both well versed in the arts of the arcane and someone who understood the value of being a good person.
Although his stubborness never went away, Longina was one of the only persons whose advice and rules he honored. They both got along very well and so it was a big shock for Rolen when Longina came to him and said that he must leave the tower as there is a mission waiting. She got a message that the help of some capable people is needed and she plans to send him there.
Look someone needs help around here and to be honest, you already learned everything I could teach you. I'm old and frail and you are young and active. You can certainly contribute a lot to solving whatever problems they are having over there. I could only contribute back pain. So be so kind and lend the good people at the Five Lions a hand. Longina said to him and sent Rolen packing his things.
Reluctant but also a bit excited he began to pack his things...

Marabi, human, fighter.

Marabi is a girl who loves horses. Her father is an immigrant - he was exiled from horse barbarians tribes of the north (Nar). She roamed freely around Five Lions as a child and has little book learning. Her mother was a local Lioner, but she died of Featherlung when Marabi was young.

Her father makes tack for horses which Marabi takes to market in Xorhun, with her mule and cart. The mule is called Stumpy because he will urinate only on tree stumps.

She has a slightly older brother, Barraba, who lives in Xorhun. She enjoys visiting him - although she feels they're drifting apart since he got married.

She has a younger brother, Darraba. He's lame in one leg from stepping in a bear trap. She dreams about saving enough money to have his leg healed. This means she's very frugal with money.

As a local girl, Marabi would probably know any other locals. She's as down to earth as they come and very outdoorsy (she takes after her father's barbarian side). She has a knack for fighting - again from her father, but generally keeps her chainmail oiled in the back of her cart.

I think Marabi's special thing will be a connection to her Nar blood. Perhaps an occasional deeper spiritual connection with animals and their moods - something like that.

I have a general human language bonus. What is appropriate here in the Lions.

And is there a priest hood of Torm present?

I'll respond to you guys in notes, so it's easier to sort out each of your ideas and concerns.

Grant is coming closer to completion. I do have a picture for him now. He is a local and fairly well known.

Grant

Stats:
Race/Gender: Human/Male
Age: 35 Years Old
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 222#
Eyes: Brown Eyes
Hair: His brown hair is fairly well whited out
Skin: Slightly tanned.
Class/Level: Cleric (War)/1
Languages: Common, Elfish
Vision: Normal
Lifestyle: Comfortable
Marriage/Children: Widow/Gone
Movement: 30' Land

Description: Grant is a huge man towering over six foot. His brown hair has aged early and whitened to hide his age. He has brown eyes and with a beard. He looks like a man that been outdoors.

Appearance with Gear: Grant wears very bright and clean chain mail with a shield decorated with a white hand gripping a flaming sword. There is a light crossbow over his back and longsword at his side, but the huge oversized great axe always catches the eye. He is ready to travel with a backpack and pouch.



History: Thinking a big oof of a guy that is a lumber jack. Lost his wife years ago and and last year his precious daughter. He is much alone and very ready to put himself to something else.

The early morning silence is broken by the swoosh of a mighty pine meeting the forest floor. I rally my team to work through the storm knowing that this early delivery of Iron Wood will grant me all fortune and favor. The hard work of a Lumberjack is as varied as it is rewarding.

I'm a master of the axe and I sell wood for homes, furniture, and other things. Life is simple and life is good. The Simple Life of a Lumberjack and Wood Worker. There’s not much more to life than me, my axe, the trees I work with, and the occasional animals that reside in the place I work. I have just my crew as my wife and daughter have been taken away from me.

I'm intimidating force when my axe must be turned on something other than the bark I carve. Life has pulled him away from the work he has always loved.

It started with just a traveling minstrel that told tales of the history of five lions. Grant was totally taken in. Later when a traveling priest of Torm can, that was too much for Grant. He saw himself a Hero of five lions like history was. It was something he could be. He just couldn't resist and training came fast for him. He just soaked up everything.

But recently there have been... troubles. This season's crop is wilted and weak. And shortages of the region's famous wines and cheeses have plunged it's peoples into an economic, and societal, depression. And as a series of worrisome occurrences seem to reach a peak, it has become clear that the region is in need of heroes!

More later.

Stumpy knew the way to Grant's well enough. There was a rhythmic burr to the cart's progress, and Marabi's subconscious noted that an axle was running a little dry.

She glanced about to ensure she wasn't watched and retrieved the latest coin from her pouch - a gold lion. Gold lions came from Cormyr. What stories could this coin tell? Had this one come via The Pirate Isles, or perhaps by Amnian spice traders then east to her pouch? She looked about again to double-check she was alone, then sniffed it. It smelled of leather pouch.

Marabi put the coin back. She'd show it to Grant when she arrived - after she'd stacked the old man's timber on her wagon. "Horses - then feast", as her father would say, reminding her that chores came before chatter. She checked that she still had the list, even though it was easy enough to remember - half a cord for the inn, half for the smithy. They'd each give her a couple of copper pieces for her trouble, and she'd be able to scrounge a handful of axle grease from the smithy too.

Grant had recently started following the teachings of Torm, and Marabi liked to hear the stories. She especially liked that Torm was once a mortal - that sort of thing made you think anything was possible.

Was that just a story, or is anything possible? And is there such a thing as 'just' a story?

Some of you are pretty close, so I think now is a good time to bring up your PC's 'One Special Thing'...

Adam cake up with a great example that hits right about at the power-level I was envisioning for these things:We kind of have to walk a fine line between not stepping on the toes of special class abilities or spells, but also something that is "worth" doing over the other uses of Inspiration (have you guys seen the "Improved Inspiration" rules in the OOC Resource Thread?). More narrative oriented things are best, but certainly direct/straight-up mechanical things could work too.

Other examples might include, like, special senses - Tremorsense, Blindsight, seeing through the eyes of an animal, or Psychometry, special movement - a temporary Climb movement rate, or some sort of really good leap, or being able to produce an item of low gp value when you need to ('skinned' as being lucky or something), or just straight-up the meta-level ability to alter or determine a narrative detail about a scene (which we would 'skin' as being able to tell the future, or something). Mechanical examples might be to temporarily gain Proficiency in every sub-set of Skills under one Stat, or to automatically succeed at one Skill check with which you are Proficient, or automatically knocking down an opponent on a successful attack, or temporarily gaining immunity to some Condition, so on...

If, in play, we find something is too powerful OR too weak, we will tune them. So let's have fun with this element.

Grant was spending less time with his team now days and why he had to help younger Marabi with the load otherwise there would be many more hands. He was just spending more time otherwise. One could say training and such mostly by himself

Grant wasn't too old yet despite his very early white'ing of his hair. It was always a trait of of men in his family as well as early beards. His age still hadn't affected how fast his could take trees down with his mighty Betty. There wasn't another axe like it anywhere. It is just massive.

He always liked a lift to town as he never owned a horse, but always dreamed of one. His wife always said if gods wanted you on four legs they would have made you that way. And she was the boss till one day Grant came home and his young precious was in tears. Later that night Grant put his wife under in a family grave. It was a hard time. Many didn't see him for weeks.

Most still know how hard it was when his precious daughter passed last year. It had been hard for him to raise her alone and with her gone seem to be even harder on Grant. He isn't the smartest man around, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out his situation.

Everyone on his team knew it was bad. He wasn't keeping up, but none would question him leading. They had begun working around him. They knew that he just didn't have much left to give. He had become rather broken man.

Grant has been hearing story more often as he also has spend more time drinking than listening. Both seem to be going together. When he traveled with Marabi, he would tell her stories that he had heard. Wasn't hard to tell he wanted to fashion himself a cavalier upon a mighty white stallion. Horse was something that he had always wanted. He told her that he was going to become an knight. (Anyone hearing that would fall to the ground laughing. He was just too much of an off to be a knight.) He let her know that he had gotten an used suit of chain mail. It was hard, but he had saved and some owed him favors.

He would be like the mighty heroes before. This traveling priest told him about the Order of the Golden Lion and he was going to be one. He made her not tell anyone. Beside they would laugh at her too.

Grant beside being a lumberjack was also keen on working with wood. He had made many a table and chairs. Anything he made always sold for more if his name was attached. Grant never made anything lesser. And any wood he brought into town was never poor lumber.

Grant has made Marabi her very own flute. It wasn't a cheap looking thing either. It sounded much better when Grant would play it. It had carvings from one end to the other. It would gleam in the sun light. It was easily worth a fortune and she knew it had taken Grant a long time to make it. He would try to teach her to play it.

Long ago when Marabi was very much younger, there was a wooden & cloth doll she had. Grant had forbidden her parents to tell her that he made it for her. He had actually done this for many kids. You just couldn't get toys for kids around here short of traveling a long ways. He never made any to sell at the store, and there were many that knew he made them. Now that his precious was gone, he never felt like making any more.

I appreciate the flavor and insight to your characters, and I'll be working through mechanical approval today. If you haven't submitted your PC through the game page, let's start working toward that please.

In this thread, let's circle back around to completing the lasts steps of character creation, specifically I want to bring up your One Special Things again.

We kind of have to walk a fine line between not stepping on the toes of special class abilities or spells, but also something that is "worth" doing over the other uses of Inspiration (have you guys seen the "Improved Inspiration" rules in the OOC Resource Thread?). More narrative oriented things are best, but certainly direct/straight-up mechanical things could work too.

Other examples might include, like, special senses - Tremorsense, Blindsight, seeing through the eyes of an animal, or Psychometry, special movement - a temporary Climb movement rate, or some sort of really good leap, or being able to produce an item of low gp value when you need to ('skinned' as being lucky or something), or just straight-up the meta-level ability to alter or determine a narrative detail about a scene (which we would 'skin' as being able to tell the future, or something). Mechanical examples might be to temporarily gain Proficiency in every sub-set of Skills under one Stat, or to automatically succeed at one Skill check with which you are Proficient, or automatically knocking down an opponent on a successful attack, or temporarily gaining immunity to some Condition, so on...

If, in play, we find something is too powerful OR too weak, we will tune them. So let's have fun with this element.

This is something that I am happy to come up with suggestions for you based on what I know if your character. Or if you'd like to propose ideas for yourself we can start there too.

Just let me know which you prefer, and if it's coming up with your own, please come forward with an idea.

Yeah - sorry about that - just bored and filling dead air.

Marabi's not a druid or a ranger. There's nothing magical about her. She's a local girl, but part of her father's blood remembers that her ancestors are the legendary Nar horsepeople of the northern steppes.

How will Marabi's thing work mechanically? Dunno (and don't really care). It might need the DM to give me a nudge to use it. Perhaps she feels the land's mood in haiku (no pressure!) "Mountain snows' blanket, Humble rose hides well its thorns, Secrets lie beyond"?

I'm not a powergamer, and I would rather have a narrative effect than a well defined mechanical one. Basically - I'll use inspiration, you throw me a narrative bone, and I promise I won't complain how it tastes, yeah?

Anyway - what is inspiration? It's "Please DM, can I have some epic?". Advantage, re-rolls and all the rest of the gubbins are just implementation details. I trust my DM to decide what it means.

Not a problem, I legitimately do appreciate the insight into PCs, but also want to push through character creation as quick as practical.

And yea, I don't think we define the mechanics of Marabi's animal sense. Other than maybe, like you said it's a "connection" (as opposed to "being able to carry on a conversation" with the animal) that could manifest in different ways, sensing their mood as you initially described or them sensing your mood/need, maybe it could draw an animal to you when there is none or it would otherwise be avoidant, maybe it could calm a simple predatory instinct to attack, basically could be be a lot of things that are rewarding and flavorful in the moment.

And again, more mechanical things are fine too.

Meet Marié!

Her dad (human) an officer in the watch and her Mom (human) is a merchant in the village.

Before her father was in the watch, he was a mercenary, who did travel the world. Then he took an arrow to the knee and settled down. His comrade in arms was a Tabaxi, who visited while very pregnant. She died during childbirth and they adopted her as one of the family. She has a brother and a sister, and she loves her family dearly.
She is young and knows to be a bit of a prankster. In the day she helps maintain the wine distillery and in the evenings she can be found in the in. Here she tries her hand as a sing 'n songwriter. Usually very light-hearted and fun and any other amateur musician. But when she takes the time to actually play, and put her heart into it, she can make angels weep with her music.

Finished my character. Added a litte bit to the backstory that could but needn't be a plot hook (Parents are dead, cause unknown, the only thing left is a letter with a drawing of some magical device).

As for the special skill: Rolen has a duck shaped pendant. Once per day he can turn it into a duck. He can't communicate with the duck but it follows his commands. After an hour the duck turns back into a pendant.

Thanks Scrol, Rolen has been approved.

In fact everyone who has summited their PC I think have been approved now, while we work through the "Special Things".Are you talking about the "One Special Thing" here, with the duck?

I just wanted to reiterate, your One Special Thing is activated by Inspiration. So, no need/option for a "usable once per day" specification.

Other than that, I think the concept is fine. Again I think things like duration of the transmutation will remain undefined/determined by what you're doing with it in the moment. With the gameplay target being that the effect is balanced (when mechanical), and appropriately significant/satisfying when narrative.

Anyone else have any thoughts for their OST?

Apologies for the delay guys, work has been tiring.

Enise, Half-Elf Divine Soul Sorcerer

Enise's family had always tended to livestock near the town, alongside a few crops. The farm was passed down through the eldest of the family, till Enise's mother Ayla chose instead to pursue adventuring, leaving her young sister, Enise's aunt Melis to take other the farm.

Melis never quite forgave her sister for dumping the farm on her. 7 years later to her surprise Ayla turned up gaunt and batters carrying a bundle. She stayed only longer enough to pass on the name of her daughter Enise, before leaving again, claiming she had things she needed to finish.

It was only out of loyalty to family that Melis took the child in, especially after spying her ears and whoever her sister had been courting was clearly an elf.

Enise grew up feeling like the black sheep of the family, and learnt to hide her ears and keep to herself, especially after weird stuff started happening around her, sparks of magic that she tried to repress. She quickly found being out in the fields watching the sheep for days at a time to be alone to be the only time she could relax and feel unjudged. At the same time however it left her alone with her thoughts of her parents and what was causing the magic. A traveller through town once spoke riddles at her, claiming to see magic within her and gave her a crystal necklace saying it would help. She later experimented to find it could help her direct the energy felt within, but she was still to nervous to try and use it for anything.

Then the crops started to wilt, and it became harder to find feeding areas for the livestock. With news of others starting to look into the source, Enise for once began to imagine a life outside the hills, away from watching sheep. After all she owed her aunt for looking after her for all these years, and perhaps her magic could be useful. With the farm keeping the livestock close to home in order to keep an eye on those that remained, she found her days more free anyway, and decided to head out, and try and for once be proactive.

Good stuff thanks LoM. I'll take a look at the build tonight.

I do want to point out, regarding your background, that as mentioned the scope/range/"size" of this campaign is very focused. SO focused in fact that it will probably take place almost entirely within the Five Lions region :P

So if you see that requiring a tweaking of Enise's ambitions or her relationship with her aunt, so that she won't mind staying in the area and helping the people of the Five Lions, that would be the only thing that I can see needing to be changed potentially.

Thanks everyone for pulling your PCs together!

We have pretty solid ideas for Marabi and Rolen's One Special Thing, GeneC is pondering Grant's.

rune and LoM, have you had the opportunity to consider yours?

The one special thing is her music. Music that can touch the coldest hearts. It's very different from her class abilities, and it would show a softer side of her

I think music is a great idea for a One Special Thing, BUT we can't have two PCs with the same thing. Cuz then it wouldn't be particularly special, right?

I don't want to tell you two who gets what, so is there any other ideas that interest either of you, and one of you could choose go to something else?

Tons of possibilities, just add a reminder here are some examples:

Other examples might include, like, special senses - Tremorsense, Blindsight, seeing through the eyes of an animal, or Psychometry, special movement tastes/options - a temporary Climb movement rate, or some sort of really good leap, or meta things like being able to produce an item of low gp value when you need to ('skinned' as being lucky or something), or just a straight-up the meta-level ability to alter or determine a narrative detail about a scene (which we would 'skin' as being able to tell the future, or something). Mechanical examples might be to temporarily gain Proficiency in every sub-set of Skills under one Stat, or to automatically succeed at one Skill check with which you are Proficient, or automatically knocking down an opponent on a successful attack, or temporarily gaining immunity to some Condition, so on...

Grant will bow out of that what is needed .. not a problem.. have to think of something non-musical...

Thank you :)

Ah yes. I was thinking for the duck pendant to be the OST. So I'll rephrase it like this:
Rolen has a duck-shaped pendant. He can use his inspiration to turn it into a duck that is under his command. The duck will follow each command to the best of its capabilities. Other than that Rolen can't communicate with the duck

Do we know anything about Rolen (other than he has zero parents and one duck)?

Good stuff, thanks gang!

Well, all of the main mechanical aspects of all PCs have been approved - you guys don't start with Inspiration so we can just continue to work on the OSTs, and so I have officially opened the Story Thread, so... feel free to get IC at your leisure :D

Yay!!

XD Nice picture.

Well Rolen lived in the hills outside of the town but he visited it from time to time. I guess you'd know that he's the apprentice of a local wizard and a curious, borderline nosey guy

Trying to think on OST. One thought is heritage occasionally gives her brief flashes of someone emotional state - Another reason for her being somewhat solitary as she becomes aware of she's upset someone etc.
Or has an uncanny ability with animals, as if she can understand them in a way.

As for ambition etc that's fine. May see this campaign as her gaining confidence in herself and abilities so then later on she can travel/adventure.

I think this sounds fine for Grant. Potentially a little "under powered", as it's something that can often be achieved with a successful Still check, but if it's essentially an automatic success, and maybe there are some creative ways to expand it even, I think it works!
And I think this sounds good too.

When I first put together a list of redness, I had "spend Inspiration to tell if someone is lying" on the list, but later determined that was maybe too powerful. This falls short of that, but can still inform a social interaction in important ways.

Thanks gang, I think that's officially it!

Ok, and just to be clear, it's triggered with Inspiration. It's not an "Always active" thing. But yea, thanks.

found this (Forgotten Realms Wiki): All Turmishan warriors, regardless of their means or rank, kept their armor in excellent condition and adorned with embellishments. Armour was a status symbol in Turmish, and expensive gold inlays or gem adornments were not uncommon. Armour was valued as much as one's beard.

so, I'm thinking for my OST, my paladin can, when inspiration strikes him, merely pat himself down and when the dust settles his armour, weapons, clothing, even teeth, skin and hair will all be sparkling clean and gleaming even in low light conditions.

if the OST is meant to come with some kind of boon, maybe a CHA roll at advantage while still gleaming?
if it's just meant for flavour then that's cool too

That sounds fine to me, Skallagrim.

The OST is, I would say, best used when it has both narrative and mechanical effects, so you've got the idea.

bare bones character posted. I'll flesh him out today and tomorrow.

I'm thinking Dudley-do-Right meets Buster Scruggs

Build looks good Skallagrim, and so long as your Dudley Scruggs doesn't cause too much "Lawful Stupid" problems, the concept should be fun and fit well!

Please do note your class Features on your character sheet too (it helps me reference things in play).

Looks like you took your 2nd level already or at least the HP. Belaros does have the 330XP the others earned, and he can have 30 earned gp to spend as well (or one of the "bottled" options presented in the IC Story Thread). Just like the other PCs though, any unspent portion of the 30 gp cannot be kept as cash.

So do you have any questions regarding the setting, or story, thus far, etc.?

I like it, Skalla.

If he is a protector of Ravilar's Cloak though, why is he in Five Lions?

The natural connection that I could see would be that maybe he's caught wind of the unnaturally poor harvest here, and due to its proximity to Ravilar's Cloak, he's concerned it could spread? And so has come here to investigate the matter?

sure

or he could just be looking for a bit of adventure. I'll take any hook you have.

Right, I'd like for him to have a little more of a tie in to the situation than "just looking for a bit if adventure", so let's go with; he's heard whispers of a pestilence or blight or SOMETHING going on in the Five Lions Region that is devastating crops. And as a protector of nearby Ravilar's, that warrants looking into.

This land is mine

I am the ancient. I am the land.

Should we stick a stake in him now?

at the start of that video, I thought

THIS has seven million views?

but by the end, I thought, I need to watch that AGAIN.

Lol that's solid gold. History of the middle east in seven minutes