Forgotten Songs Reflections -- The Player Characters Part 1
Katja's first entry tells of the meeting of the PC's, so I thought I'd write a little more about them and what I remember about their origins.
I can't remember if we all sat down together to roll up the PC's or not. I am thinking not, given how they all turned out. Most folks had a clear concept that drove character creation, which made for some memorable PC's but also led to some problems down the road, especially in terms of PC tactical viability.
Katja I won't discuss too much, since we'll see her arc through the journal entries. I'll admit I was a bit concerned that Risus Monkey would make a purposefully sub-optimal character, stats-wise. There was lots of grist for the role-playing mill, but I was coming to realize the 3rd Edition had a fairly low tolerance for characters that weren't "well-built" (less of a tolerance, anyway, that earlier editions, IMHO) and I didn't want Katja to, well, suck. But I new RM well and knew what he was after, so Katja was a Ranger with an 8 strength.
Bix was a bard. In many ways, the consummate bard. Cthulhu's Librarian played him very much AS a bard -- a charismatic rogue who dabbled in everything. Again, I was a bit concerned with tactical effectiveness here. But a bard was a supporting character who could help everyone out in some way, so making a "well-built" bard wasn't terribly important.
Sunny was actually Ruyen Sunfinder, a half-drow. Like most of you, I wanted nothing to do with Drizzit-clone drow PC's. But Sunny's player had a very interesting concept and was interested in exploring the idea of race and prejudice in the game. Since the player was an anthropology Ph.D. student, I figured she could do it better than R.A. Salvatore, so I said sure. We came up with some minor half-drow abilities to go along with her character. Strangely, I don't even remember what Sunny's class was; I think she was fighter/rogue multi-classing, with the eventual goal of doing an Upright Guide prestige class. The Upright Guides were an organization who worked to free slaves or people in trouble and get them to safety, a combination of the Underground Railroad and the Harpers from the Forgotten Realms.
I'll get to the other three PC's in the next entry.
I can't remember if we all sat down together to roll up the PC's or not. I am thinking not, given how they all turned out. Most folks had a clear concept that drove character creation, which made for some memorable PC's but also led to some problems down the road, especially in terms of PC tactical viability.
Katja I won't discuss too much, since we'll see her arc through the journal entries. I'll admit I was a bit concerned that Risus Monkey would make a purposefully sub-optimal character, stats-wise. There was lots of grist for the role-playing mill, but I was coming to realize the 3rd Edition had a fairly low tolerance for characters that weren't "well-built" (less of a tolerance, anyway, that earlier editions, IMHO) and I didn't want Katja to, well, suck. But I new RM well and knew what he was after, so Katja was a Ranger with an 8 strength.
Bix was a bard. In many ways, the consummate bard. Cthulhu's Librarian played him very much AS a bard -- a charismatic rogue who dabbled in everything. Again, I was a bit concerned with tactical effectiveness here. But a bard was a supporting character who could help everyone out in some way, so making a "well-built" bard wasn't terribly important.
Sunny was actually Ruyen Sunfinder, a half-drow. Like most of you, I wanted nothing to do with Drizzit-clone drow PC's. But Sunny's player had a very interesting concept and was interested in exploring the idea of race and prejudice in the game. Since the player was an anthropology Ph.D. student, I figured she could do it better than R.A. Salvatore, so I said sure. We came up with some minor half-drow abilities to go along with her character. Strangely, I don't even remember what Sunny's class was; I think she was fighter/rogue multi-classing, with the eventual goal of doing an Upright Guide prestige class. The Upright Guides were an organization who worked to free slaves or people in trouble and get them to safety, a combination of the Underground Railroad and the Harpers from the Forgotten Realms.
I'll get to the other three PC's in the next entry.
IIRC, Sunny was a Ranger/Rogue. And Bix was not just a Bard, but a Bard/Sorcerer. Two classes that don't mix very well, as both were pretty hobbled at lower levels, so slowing down the leveling by multi-classing right from the start led to a rather sub-optimal character, stat wise, which I would proceed to drive into the ground with later feat and skill selections, not to mention non-proficient weapon use. But that is a story to reveal later, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteDid Bix start out that way, or was he a bard first, then took sorcerer levels? Ranger/Rogue sounds about right for Sunny.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't spoil the future entries! :)
I don't remember, exactly. I think he may have just been a bard, but the character concept definitely included taking sorcerer levels ASAP. And sorry about the spoiler.
ReplyDelete