Character Creation

Yeah. I don't want Vormier to be like a full-on D&D paladin, but it is like a more dialed-down paladin, like maybe the OSR classes. I am thinking that the different saints have different miracles based on their sacrifices or deeds. Since Katherine is a saint who tried to help plague-ridden people, the miracles are more like healing, purifying and cleansing types, with maybe the truly powerful ones able to create blessed food and water or able to cure someone from almost uncurable disease/infection. But, I don't think he will have like a magic sword unless maybe it's blessed by another saint or Llana herself (like his thrice blessed platemail). From a story perspective, I am guessing he has to keep his sword in front of an altar and pray for a week by completely fasting to make it a blessed weapon.

And I don't want to push you towards being a paladin, or anything from D&D. I want him to be uniquely himself, and the themes and tags framework allows that. And I am trying to work off of your guys' input as much as possible, so now there's probably going to be a plague of some kind. :D

Hmmmm, so based on the descriptions I've read so far I think I want to try to lean into this island setting.

Very much a work in progress....

Themes
Fisherman/woman (Trade or Skill)
An archipelago setting? Gotta have a boat and be good in the water, right? Thinking it's nets or spear-fishing if this is a primitive setting
- Small Sailboat
- Deft with a Spear
- Superb Balance or Knot-work or Nose for the Weather
- Navigate True in Any Weather
* Salty Language
Quest: Legends tell of a mysterious, mist shrouded island somewhere to the East with a golden temple. One day I will see it for myself. (Now who or what really lives there.....)


Fae-touched (Trait)
We're in a land with Fae? What if they occasionally bred with the Human population? Maybe in the past and sometimes that heritage becomes especially prominent or possibly even now.
- Unnaturally Quick
- Cat's Eyes
-
-
* Expectations
Quest: I only know my Human heritage. Until I know what it means to be Fae I will never be complete.


Athletic (Trait)
- Strong Swimmer
- Hardened Physique
- Climbing
- Endure Through the Pain
* This Is Gonna Hurt Later
Quest: The Trails of the Threefold Path are held every third year when the three moons are in alignment. The three who finish first earn great respect. I shall be one of that trio.


Brook No $#%! (Personality)
Not everyone is pleasant but surly doesn't mean bad.
- I Will CUT You
- Razor Wit
- Won't Give in to Fear
- Aggressively Helpful
* Ruffle Some Feathers
Quest: If I had a larger boat and a well disciplined crew that followed orders, we could sail to distant lands.

Hi. Welcome
I like how your character is shaping up

Is there any benefit from the theme outside of the specific traits we select?

How's my idea's looking so far?

The whole benefit of the theme is in the tags and the quests. Remember that the name of the theme is also a tag. Remind me, do you know the way the mechanics work? This may be a good time to go over it, except I'm pressed for time, so I won't.

The idea is shaping up very nicely! It is now established that the fae occasionally have children with mortals. Which I heartily endorse. Is there any folklore where they don't?

The one thing is, each theme should have a quest. They don't have to be capital Q Quests (like the one you have) but can be things like a personal code (Llana's Law), an ideal aspired to (be as great a juggler as Joe), a question to answer (what happened to that guy with the nose?), an ongoing task (feed my family) etc.

As far as the quest you have, I think it works perfectly. You just need to pick which theme it applies to.

Ah yes, I thought that was how quests worked but when I looked back at the demo characters I didn't see any and thought I might be mistaken. Cool I'll fix that later today

Okay I think my themes are set, let me know how they look. Just need to figure out name.

I think I need to put all my themes in one place. So, here are my themes:

Themes

Questing Knight of Saint Katherine
Thrice Blessed Platemail
Claymore of House Tenli
Llana's Law
Quest(wish): I hope to see Saint Katherine bless me.

Benevolent Stoic
Miracles of Saint Katherine
Defender of the Weak
Conflicting Ideologies
Quest (truth): Everyone deserves a second chance for redemption.

Knights of Prowling Panther Training
Disrupting Footwork
A Panther Surrounded is a Dangerous Foe!
Unproven Valor
Quest (wish): I wish to bring honor to House Tenli.

Uncle Jude taught me Forging
Fire and Water forge Tempered Steel
My Own forged Iron Broadsword
I only wanted your acceptance!
Quest (question): Is Far Isles really a cursed place?

I can see that others have another pair of tags for each theme. Do I need to create like 4 tags for each theme?

Three moons!

Both characters look great! And thanks for this format, whoever came up with it. It's super helpful.

@db, can you help me with "expectations" as your weakness? Just a couple of situations where it may come into play? I'm not getting it, which is probably not at all your fault. My brain likes to miss the blatantly obvious.

Themes
Dino Rancher (Trade or Skill)
- Animal Handling
- Good with tools
-
-
Animals I get. Humans, not so much
Quest:For the good of the ranch


Faithful to the Spirits(Trait)
- Ancestral Knowledge
- The Blessings of the spirits
-
-
Narrow-Minded
Quest: To serve and to honor the spirits of the island


Protector (Personality)
- Good in a fight
- Get Behind Me
-
-
* Lookin for a fight?
Quest: You're under my care? I'm responsible for you.


Provider (Personality)
- I can get a better price for that
- I can fix it
-
-
* A little Shady
Quest: Just gotta find that one Golden Opportunity

Name: Balam

A question was asked about how many tags per theme.

The name of the theme is a tag. (Bold.)

Plus two power tags. (Blue)

Plus one weakness tag (red)

Also, a quest. (Green)

Some players have added additional power tags, in anticipation of improving the theme. These are in black, not folded, and have not in-game impact at this point.

How do you improve a theme? By using the weakness tag 3x. Either by (you, the player) tagging it on a roll, or by the GM tagging it to cause trouble for you. I will ONLY tag your weakness to cause trouble with your permission.

Yeah I think I was trying to decide myself. I was thinking that those who have prominent Fae traits might be held to a higher standard by the people. Or....or maybe the Fae take special notice of those who bear their traits. Maybe they're known to test them from time to time and it's not even necessarily clear why.

So we could change Expectations to be Held to a Higher Standard or Challenges of the Fae.

Hehe I do kind of like the idea of a random Fae just showing up at ANY time with an odd task, simple or complicated but rarely understood. But that could be annoying so good with Held to Higher Standard too.

The Dastardly Skald
Mighty
Enduring
Lusty

Seeks above all things Notoriety

My ideas so far for my character:

Street Kid, as a girl had to be sneaky and wary to avoid all kinds of abuse, and she is distrusting of the wealthy. She wants to enjoy luxuries that she could only dream of.

While breaking into a creepy mansion, her mind was Touched by Something, and since then she can slice the mind of people and peek into the future. She is desperate to learn about what touched her mind. However, the otherworldly whispers she can only hear, can be be very disturbing, both emotionally and in practice.

Friendship Matters for her, and she is trying to find Kialla, who disappeared a couple of months ago. She has the back of people who she eventually gets to trust.

She is a Literate Urchin, who read a thing or two about curses, and can blurt out bits of obscure history.

Man, this is going to be an interesting party. We have a Paladin/Knight (Vormier Tenli/my character) who is out of place, a dino-rancher with fae magic (Balam/TrustyJustin), a fisher/sailer with fae magic (dbcowboy), a skald (Jomsviking), an urchin with a possible magical patron (offbeat.lemur) and a hedge alchemist (sonofirony).

My inspiration for this character was the 5e warlock with a Great Old One patron, indeed.

But this time it's not a patron, and there is no pact. Dianne didn't agree to anything, the entity that touched her mind is trying to intrude into this world through her psyche. She sometimes uses the power that seeps through her, and holds her ground to keep the entity at bay. No mechanics behind it, though, this is only the narration.

Tell me about slicing minds. I've said elsewhere I'm trying not to do d&d with this game, and your character is obviously very inspired by d&d. Which isn't the end of the world or anything, but since you've gone for what looks like a pretty overtly magical, direct attack, and are introducing GoO into our world, I kind of want to put the brakes on.

Also, hello! Nice meeting you!

Elsewhere we've talked about fae/fey, and saints/gods being different cultural descriptions of the same spiritual/animistic "reality." The GoO can be yet another form of same, perhaps yours is older and stranger than the gods/fey we've touched on thus far.

I will want you to understand that the consequences of using such power and assaulting other's minds will not be inconsequential. You will be flying without a net.

When you say that this is just narration, I fear that you do not expect there to be any price to pay for this power.

I feel bad for you guys having to come up with a fellowship theme...

I already know there will be no cohesion. My job as the skald is to survive and let the world know who was the most wrong.

"So wait you joined a group of anarchists knowing full well they would die? And your idea was to profit on their misery?"

Yes I am a dastardly skald, that is what I do. But I didn't get into this for money. I am only interested in showcasing how awesome I am for living through it. The magnitude of my genius is truly frightening.