I've decided to expand the party of character's I've been using in my solo campaign, to give myself a bit more survivability in combat, but also because I feel it would be more true to my two existing characters. Although my original two characters were more or less just vehicles by which I could experiment in solo play, they were actually based on characters I had created in other games and media, and I brought over their personalities, biases and a little of their history too. In such a context neither would travel alone. Sergor, my male human Barbarian, actually has a family and children, and the world he lives in is harsh, lethal, and precarious to survive in so he wouldn't just leave them alone to go gallivanting around the continent with no end. Aldellah, being an elf, is more of a free spirit but even she has a tribe and it stands to reason that she wouldn't just join a human tribe for no reason, so even her people are tagging along.
And so I've incorporated Sergor's mate Ysolda and their two children, Sofie and Lucia into the party. They are non-combatants, "level 0" by 1e reckoning but "commoners" as described in 5e. They do not partake in battle nor delve into dungeons, and must be fed, clothed and taken care of as well, but they maintain the living conditions of the party, tend to the camp, bedrolls, shelter and equipment, and even provide minor support to the adventuring characters such as gathering material components and resources, administering minor medical aid, and fashioning useful trinkets.
Since Sergor never had any strong connection with his parents' tribe, his small family is the only clan he knows and he is fiercely protective of them, so it makes sense that he would never leave them for long and since they're all traveling barbarian nomads anyway, its only natural that they venture together. An easy hook into the adventure module is that they're all running away from the Giant attacks which are increasingly frequent in the North, and could easily result in the whole family being annihilated.
Joining Aldellah is her grandfather, a wise old Elf Druid (or Wizard or a Sorcerer, I haven't truly decided his class yet, I would have to read the spell lists to see which would be the most appropriate). Aldellah's Wood Elf tribe and Sergor's have been erstwhile rivals, but the Giant attacks decimated her tribe and she and her grandfather joined the humans for mutual survival.
The last character I want to add is based off my wife's character from another campaign. The fit is not seamless but the character's story hook is so good that I'm excited to use her regardless. She is a Cleric from the Barbarian tribe, but she is not a shaman like the Uthgardt shamans described in the appendix of Storm King's Thunder.
The 1e Dungeon Master's Guide (seriously it has everything) describes shamans of orc and uncivilized races as thus: "Shamans are tribal clerics of 7th level or under" while Unearthed Arcana makes provision for Barbarian Clerics but with the stipulation that "Barbarian clerics are always non-player characters."
My new character, on the other hand, is a full fledged Cleric, but comes from a barbarian background. What this means is that she has directly spoken to God, and has been granted the power to perform miracles. This is in contract to the superstitious nature of shamans, who use animism and communion with spirits for their powers, my Cleric has clear miracles directly from a deity. This makes her closer to the real world concept of a "prophet", who can speak to the divine. She is however a Barbarian by birth and by upbringing (and in my campaign, which is set in the Stone Age, there are no other kinds of men) and thus is restricted to Stone Age tools and weapons.
With this party of 4 (or 5) I expect to have a more dynamic and interesting game, but also a slower one as I juggle 3 new character sheets and take 3 more turns in battle and in dungeons, on top of all the monster turns, and with significantly more overhead.
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