Hello and welcome to the start of a second campaign set in my homebrew setting. The general feel for the timing is the Renaissance style period where technology is being invented to help make the lives easier for the people in the region and magic is being incorporated in these designs to make them even more effective.
We will be working with a homebrew pantheon that my players in Campaign 1 and I have designed along the way. The gods have not been very active on the mortal plane for quite some time but there are devout followers that spread their word and teachings. Recent events have brought some religious conflicts into the light and that is one of the many things this Campaign 2 will deal with.
Character Creation
Races: I'm open to all races. If you have questions about using a certain race, let me know.
Attributes: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die. Do this 7 times taking whichever 6 of those you'd like. If the total for all dice is 70 or less, you may start over with a fresh reroll of all attributes. If the dice hate you, you may use the standard array. Do not reroll 1s.
Classes: I'm open to all officially published classes and subclasses.
Alignment: Characters should be Neutral or Good.
Starting level: We'll be starting at the dreaded level 3.
Backstory: This is very important for me as I like to bring people's backstories into the main plot through fun hooks and nods. Please have at least a few paragraphs talking about where your character is from and what their goals in life are. Since this is a custom setting, we can work together on this.
To aide in your backstory, here are some of the more prominent locations within the setting. Please base your character's backstory in the town of Thornwood or the towns lining the Glimmering Sea.
Thornwood - farming community that feeds the Highlands and large portions of the Lowlands. Most of the areas surrounding the town are fields used to grow food and flowers. There are also large ranches here that deal with providing meat, leather, and wool. There is also a nearby monastery that has been there for centuries if the stories are to be believed.
Towns lining the Glimmering Sea. There are many fishing villages that have popped up along the coasts of the Glimmering Sea. Many have grown in size as there has been a large amount of fishing opportunities with the advancement of sailing techniques. Also, several nobles have built large castles to the north east along the Glimmering Sea. Each castle is like its own town with the staff needed to maintain and operate them.
Lowlands - The region to the west of the Red Cliffs is home to most of the mining/smithing communities. Bordered on the West by the Sunridge Mountains and the Red cliffs to the east. There are some forests here but it is mostly swamp and desert when not in the mountains.
Highlands - The region to the east of the Red Cliffs is home to many of the scholarly institutions as well as the agricultural and textile communities. A large portion of the region to the east is covered by dense forest before the snowcapped mountains border the region along the eastern edge.
Sunforge is the dwarven city located in the western Lowlands near the Sunridge Mountains.
The Red Cliffs - Large cliffs that divide the Lowlands and the Highlands
Holden Heights - The primary crossroads town in the region that maintains a large platform that allows travel between the Lowlands and the Highlands. The city sits at the top of the Red Cliffs.
Pantheon Dieties
Shamara - Mother of the Innocent
Talos, Father of Knowledge
Aiden, Son of Creativity
Camiela, Daughter of Protection
Lugh. Protector of the Forest (a dieing religion that is mostly focused on preservation of nature)
Sorata, the goddess of advancement (a popular religion of those dealing with crafting)
Posting Requirements
Players should be available to post at least once a day Monday through Friday between 7am Eastern and 5pm Eastern. This window of time means that if you are unable to post during that time because it's when you sleep or when you're not able to get to the keyboard, this campaign probably isn't for you. It is okay if you're going on vacation or holiday. Just let me know in advance and we can work out what your character will do while you're away. Posting on weekends will not be required.
All dice rolls will be done here on the forums using the fancy dice roller they've made. Off Topic discussions will be held in a Private Message thread with all players. Player specific/secret things will be handled with direct PMs between the player and the DM.
I am hoping to find 5-8 players that are interested in the campaign. I am not accepting players that are currently in Campaign 1 for this game. Recruitment will end no later than 10/25 with the game starting no later than 10/28. This will give us plenty of time to work out your character.
How I will choose players.
I love when people really get into their characters and the setting. To "apply" to play in this PbP, please submit a response to the following question:
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Sounds really cool! I'd love to bring a character into this. :)
Ability scores: 141616151189
Edits as promised:
Valynciadoesn't truly know where she comes from. She knows she is not human, unlike the father that raised her. Indeed, she was simply left behind at the blacksmith's doorstep when she was still a baby. Growing up was challenging for her in this small town, in part due to her Shifter nature, and in part due to being much bigger and stronger then everyone else around her. She never truly felt like she belonged, and would spend much time - when she wasn't helping her father at the blacksmith - wandering away from town in the nearby woods. She always felt far more comfortable with the animals there then with most everyone in the village. Despite her struggles she did her best, helping out those around her whenever possible, though at times this proved difficult due to her somewhat intimidating stature.
In the years since she has sought to leave the town and explore the world in the hopes of finding out her true origins, or at the very least just finding herself.
What does Balance mean to her?
It means being true to who she is. Not being swayed too much in any direction by a cause or ideal that are not her own. She seeks to truly know who she is so she can find balance in her life.
Sass is a female dragonborn who made her way as a fighter - a bar room brawler. She would pick up odd jobs at the docks doing manual labor like moving barrels and crates, loading and unloading. After becoming a regular on the docks she would start to trade stories with the sailors and pirates. As she recapped the many stories she told to them -- she began to realize there was a market for this and she didn't have to take real beatings to entertain people. That's when she started having fake fights at bars to get attention, the patrons would tip and sometimes pay for drinks for the fighters. She began gathering more and more people and started her own fight club where people would pay admission to watch these fake fights. They were always spectacular and extravagant but still violent.
Balance: ToSass, it doesn't mean good and evil are at war. It doesn't mean both exist. Too much good is bad, too much bad is bad. Sass believes let good people have their vices. If a dwarf in the minds wants to pound ale the rest of the night to rest their tired muscles and sore bones, then let them do that. Crime is met with fair punishment. People live peacefully.
Balance is living a happy life without ruining others chances at happiness. Actions have consequences, and in order to maintain happiness for all we must take action to repair the balance when we break things. It is also taking steps to ease the consequences of others action if they cause harm in the greater good.
His official title of "Warren Castellan" covers a multiplicity of duties; central to them all is ensuring the flow of information between informants, influential merchants, lesser nobles and the ruling Lord of one of the larger Castle-cities along the Glimmering Sea. "Spy" might be considered an appropriate term for his occupation, but in his reptilian eyes he is a diligent engineer tending to the city's intricate cogs & wheels. The secret passages within and under the castle are his domain and nothing happens in the city without his knowledge. Indeed, his patron deity is Talos, the Father of Knowledge. Lately, his sphere of influence has started to exceed the city's boundary.
What does balance mean to your character?
Balance means making each faction of the population - be they the Lord of the Castle, the dockside merchant or the savvy innkeep - have enough information to keep them satisfied, yet wanting more. And prepared to offer more in order to get it. This is what keeps order within the city walls.
To Benak Halvin Rendolus Helbottom an eccentric deep gnomish Wizard Balance means piece and quietness. Balance is what makes the difference between magically igniting a campfire and setting your self a flame, moving towards your goals and catastrophic failure. If Balance is lost, then control is lost, that is why Benak wants to keep his surroundings and more importantly, his mind in a state balance.
Name: Callum K. Rose Class: Warlock 2 (Undying)/ Fighter 1 Race: Half-Elf Backstory:
Born the son of a father who died in the military, and a mother who died at childbirth, Callum was raised by a reluctant Uncle who managed a bookstore. His own childhood was strange, while he often went to play with the other children, he would also stay up long nights reading as many of the books in his Uncle's store as he could. He grew to appreciate the wonders of knowledge and was more so curious about the mentions of the depths of magic. However, at some point in his later years, he realized, that knowledge without wisdom, was worthless. So to gain more wisdom, he'd follow the path of many before and go join the military. He served for 4 years, gaining a low officer rank, but being pleased with what he saw and learned. Leaving there after, he took to the world and had a strange encounter where, he died.....then, by some stranger chance, he didn't?...Awakening from his death, he was in pain, and hovering over him was a strange pale woman who had taken an "mutual interest" in his search for knowledge and wisdom, and offered to help him, in exchange for his servitude. Enamored by both the woman's words, promise to further his own goals, and her supernatural beauty, he accepted. So, he once more set out into the world, seeking to gain new wonders, but now, with a brand in his blood.
What does Balance mean to him?(love this question)
All things are in a contstant struggle to maintain balance, even if we cannot see it. The fire destroys the forest, so that new life may grow. Chaos falls into line with Order, just as Order falls unto Chaos. Where ever light burns bright, the darkness lingers. Similarly so, where ever darkness dominates, the light pushes to shine. Therefore, balance, is round and infitinite. There is no escaping it, no embracing it. It simply is what it will be. What it was. What it is......however, that does not mean that one should surrender to it.
Balance is an arrow, perfectly made from feathers, sinew, and bone. Fletching straight and true, taken from the duck that was eaten. Arrowhead chipped from bone or tooth, hafted with the sinew of the same beast, also eaten. Balance is an arrow that that creates more arrows while turning living meat into dead meat. Balance is an arrow taken from death that was already otherwise necessary.
Backstory:
Svent had merely driven the [monster that might be harassing lizardfolk in a swamp] away. His arrow did not fly true and the beast was wounded, not killed. It was enough that his village was left alone and the hatchlings were not eaten. The village would survive, even if Svent would not bring back the beast’s meat. The scouts that looked for danger on the edge of the swamp said that the beast had fled to where the soft ones grew useless flowers in the dirt. Svent had done what was needed.
Later the scouts said that the soft ones could not drive the beast away. Their weak, clawless hands could not pierce the beasts hide. Their soft flesh could not turn the beasts teeth. Svent’s arrow was still in the beasts side, pain driving it to acts of useless violence, not even eating the meat it killed. Svent had not done what was needed. His failure had caused needless death among those weaker than himself.
When Svent killed the beast in a field of white flowers the the soft ones called him “hero.” They took the beast’s meat away and gave Svent other meat. When he refused their useless disks of soft yellow metal they gave Svent arrows with sharp, hard metal tips and strong knives that did not break.
They told him of other beasts that killed them but that they could not kill. The soft ones were like hatchlings, incapable of protecting themselves. Like hatchlings they needed to be protected so they might be useful. Svent’s people could protect themselves. These soft ones could not. Svent killed the beasts that the soft ones could not. Tracking them through field and forest, river and swamp. Always there was another soft one who’s sheep meat had been eaten by wolf or bear; who’s kin-meat had been eaten by crocodile or shark. Always Svent brought the beasts’ meat back to the soft ones, because they could not protect themselves.
Svent has learned that the disks of soft yellow metal are not useless. Svent knows that a disk now can be traded for meat later. Svent has learned that the soft ones do not think of themselves as meat, even though all are meat. Svent does not like to waste meat or see it put underground or burned up, but the soft ones ask it of him for their own meat, and they need his protection.
I don’t remember much about my younger life – the few things I do remember, I wish I could forget. My father was guardsman who trained me to follow in his footsteps. My mother worked at the local tavern to help make some extra coin to feed us. I also remember the color red – the red of flames as they licked up the side of my house. The red of the blood from the scimitar that punctured through my abdomen as the bandits laughed. The red of her hair, my sister I believe, as her hand reached out asking me what I would do for revenge and protection. I remember the warmth of her embrace pulling me close as she plunged the scimitar into my body. Then the warmth turned to cold, as the fire became darkness and rain. I remember waking up a mile from my house covered in blood – my body aching and burning all over. I was found by our neighbors who washed me off and kept me for a few days. After that no one in the town treated me the same – it was as if I was broken. When talking to my sister walking down the road people would cross. I’d even hear other children commenting how I was strange to talk to myself. I wasn’t though…I had sister with me. It wasn’t until a few months later that I began to understand.
A Tiefling came into Thornwood – he was a very interesting man entertaining people with his flute and telling the children stories of old. However, when he saw me just sitting on the corner alone he came over to chat. I would come to learn his name was Hex, a traveling adventurer who had long forgotten his homeland. He would come to learn my story from a mix of the locals and myself. Eventually, he asked me to join him on his adventures and that if I did he would explain everything about my sister. Over the years I came to understand that Hex and me were similar in a lot of ways. He told me about how I had, unintentionally, made a pact with something that had helped to save me – it was common for some beings to prey on those in situations like I found myself in. That all my family had died and that from the sounds of it whatever had saved me that night was enjoying the joke of being someone I cared about when it decided to talk to me.
As I traveled with Hex, he taught me the gifts of the pact I had made and how I could use it in some way to help people. We eventually found others to join us and so my first traveling party was formed. For a while, the being that haunted me stayed away but I could always feel it watching from somewhere behind the veil. During our time adventuring I began to feel a new life creep into me and my heart race whenever Jiao was around. The happiness wouldn’t last for long though as we came upon a town needing our help – haunted by a cult that worshipped an ancient and powerful evil. As began to descend we found the worshippers and the red dragon they had come to worship. During this fight I found the red flames licking at us again as it took the lives of my companions and sweet voice reach out from beyond the flames asking if I wanted to be saved. My instinct was to say yes and that is the last memory of the cave I had, all the town was able to tell me was that an explosion erupted from the cave and when they came to check I was the only one laying at the mouth of it. Now I find myself wandering – constantly on the move unsure of what this thing wants with me or what it is. This has led me to begin to search for a balance in the world as to the lives that have been lost, yet a monster like me may remain. Maybe my purpose is to be the monster that kills other monsters.
What does balance mean to your character?
A very interesting question friend - living the life I have I can't honestly say I know to much about balance. It seems that my life is only filled with a fate that goes one way. Though looking around I can say that balance is making sure that for just as much evil exists in the world their is someone doing something to ensure good has some grounds to stand on. That's where I come in, since bad things tend to find me I try to take them out so others won't have to deal with them - maybe balance some of the bad with something good.
Gurok is a proud Bugbear of the Kilnok Clan of the Red Cliffs, though he was orphaned from his Homeland at a young age. Found by a kindly Druid couple that raised him as their own, the Bugbear remembers little of his previous life. The forests and swamps of the Lowlands became Gurok's new home, and it suited him well. The couple did there best to temper Gurok's rage with wisdom, with moderate success.
Upon reaching adulthood, the Barbarian left the Lowlands to join the Blackfist Mercenary Band. A loose alliance of Monsters and Fiends that sell their skills to the highest bidder, the Brotherhood accepted Gurok as one of their own. He fought alongside the Blackfist for many years, making friends and brothers before the group was disband.
Gurok returned to his home in the Lowlands only to find the cottage plundered and his adoptive parents murdered. He now hunts those responsible for their deaths, doing his best to traverse the world of Men. He often wears his hood obscuring his face, fooling most that he's just a particularly large and ugly Half-Orc.
Meaning of Balance:
To Gurok, balance is being at peace with nature and bringing Justice to those that would disrupt the natural order.
In a remote town on the Glimmering Sea, Herald was born on a cursed night for his Tabaxi clan. The Distant Shores Clan leader advised Herald's parents, Swift Storm (Swift) and Spring Winds (Spring), to abandon their child. Not giving up on their child, Swift and Spring were then ostracized from the clan.
Herald grew up under the loving care of his parents. Nothing really seemed off or cursed with Herald, much to Swif and Spring's relief. Like a lot of kids, Herald had an imaginary friend he would always talk about. This friend didn't have a name, but Herald always mentioned how it was constantly staring at him, and sometimes beckon him. His parents didn't think much of it until Herald started having nightmares in the middle of the night, but Herald would never remember them. Scrounging up what little money they had, Swift and Spring managed to purchase a small book that would record Herald's dreams.
The dreams recorded in the book were something straight out of a horror novel, but only after a few nights of reading the book, Herald's nightmares seemed to stop. He was fine for years, as he tried to digest any information he could about his situation and the truth behind the cursed night's history. However, his peaceful life came to an abrupt halt, as one night, Herald was stopped from nearly drowning himself in his sleep by his parents. It was then that Herald realized he had to leave to find a solution. Herald slowly made his way to Thornwood, searching for peace and information.
What does balance mean to Herald?
There's always something higher holding control, whether it be a boss, a town master, a king, or even a deity. No equality exists there. But with a combination of information and power, a person can take back the reigns of their own life to truly live freely. Ever since he was born, Herald was cursed. He's always been under watch by something afar, beckoned at night. Having never been truly alone, balance means breaking this curse and having a good night's sleep.
Hello and welcome to the start of a second campaign set in my homebrew setting. The general feel for the timing is the Renaissance style period where technology is being invented to help make the lives easier for the people in the region and magic is being incorporated in these designs to make them even more effective.
We will be working with a homebrew pantheon that my players in Campaign 1 and I have designed along the way. The gods have not been very active on the mortal plane for quite some time but there are devout followers that spread their word and teachings. Recent events have brought some religious conflicts into the light and that is one of the many things this Campaign 2 will deal with.
Character Creation
To aide in your backstory, here are some of the more prominent locations within the setting. Please base your character's backstory in the town of Thornwood or the towns lining the Glimmering Sea.
Pantheon Dieties
Posting Requirements
Players should be available to post at least once a day Monday through Friday between 7am Eastern and 5pm Eastern. This window of time means that if you are unable to post during that time because it's when you sleep or when you're not able to get to the keyboard, this campaign probably isn't for you. It is okay if you're going on vacation or holiday. Just let me know in advance and we can work out what your character will do while you're away. Posting on weekends will not be required.
All dice rolls will be done here on the forums using the fancy dice roller they've made. Off Topic discussions will be held in a Private Message thread with all players. Player specific/secret things will be handled with direct PMs between the player and the DM.
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Recruitment information.
I am hoping to find 5-8 players that are interested in the campaign. I am not accepting players that are currently in Campaign 1 for this game. Recruitment will end no later than 10/25 with the game starting no later than 10/28. This will give us plenty of time to work out your character.
How I will choose players.
I love when people really get into their characters and the setting. To "apply" to play in this PbP, please submit a response to the following question:
What does balance mean to your character?
Sounds really cool! I'd love to bring a character into this. :)
Ability scores: 14 16 16 15 11 8 9
Edits as promised:
Valyncia doesn't truly know where she comes from. She knows she is not human, unlike the father that raised her. Indeed, she was simply left behind at the blacksmith's doorstep when she was still a baby. Growing up was challenging for her in this small town, in part due to her Shifter nature, and in part due to being much bigger and stronger then everyone else around her. She never truly felt like she belonged, and would spend much time - when she wasn't helping her father at the blacksmith - wandering away from town in the nearby woods. She always felt far more comfortable with the animals there then with most everyone in the village. Despite her struggles she did her best, helping out those around her whenever possible, though at times this proved difficult due to her somewhat intimidating stature.
In the years since she has sought to leave the town and explore the world in the hopes of finding out her true origins, or at the very least just finding herself.
What does Balance mean to her?
It means being true to who she is. Not being swayed too much in any direction by a cause or ideal that are not her own. She seeks to truly know who she is so she can find balance in her life.
Ability scores: 10 14 8 17 14 15 14
ouch. One more time:
Ability scores: 13 17 13 10 9 15 13
Back and ready to DM and chew bubblegum. And I'm alllll outta bubblegum.
Ability scores: 14 9 12 12 9 16 8Ability scores: 11 18 15 9 9 17 10
Name: Sass (Saskan Qyxpahrgh)
Class: Fighter 2 / Bard 1
Race: Dragonborn Bronze
Summary: wip
Link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/YoFizz/characters/17864478
Sass is a female dragonborn who made her way as a fighter - a bar room brawler. She would pick up odd jobs at the docks doing manual labor like moving barrels and crates, loading and unloading. After becoming a regular on the docks she would start to trade stories with the sailors and pirates. As she recapped the many stories she told to them -- she began to realize there was a market for this and she didn't have to take real beatings to entertain people. That's when she started having fake fights at bars to get attention, the patrons would tip and sometimes pay for drinks for the fighters. She began gathering more and more people and started her own fight club where people would pay admission to watch these fake fights. They were always spectacular and extravagant but still violent.
Balance: To Sass, it doesn't mean good and evil are at war. It doesn't mean both exist. Too much good is bad, too much bad is bad. Sass believes let good people have their vices. If a dwarf in the minds wants to pound ale the rest of the night to rest their tired muscles and sore bones, then let them do that. Crime is met with fair punishment. People live peacefully.
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Ability scores: 11 14 13 16 12 12 14
Balance is living a happy life without ruining others chances at happiness. Actions have consequences, and in order to maintain happiness for all we must take action to repair the balance when we break things. It is also taking steps to ease the consequences of others action if they cause harm in the greater good.
Liarin: Against the Cult of the Reptile God
Adewild: Shadows and Light 2
Brother Thaddeus: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Boo!
Good luck to the applicants, I'm having a lot of fun in the first campaign.
Lynn-Marie Verine-Wintercleaver, Human Bloodhunter - Adventures in Esyldien
Finan Caible, Human Bard - Joys of Balance
Yroc Grumbak, Orc Fighlock - Pizazz's ToA
Arell Peroan, Half-Elf Warlonk - Scattered Gods
ESC! | 10|33|5~
Haha. I think you'll find out why you can't play in both soon enough.
Agreed! I want 2 characters in this!
Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisys in Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne
Don't tell the others, but I'd gladly take the two of you if I could. You're great players.
Backstory:
His official title of "Warren Castellan" covers a multiplicity of duties; central to them all is ensuring the flow of information between informants, influential merchants, lesser nobles and the ruling Lord of one of the larger Castle-cities along the Glimmering Sea. "Spy" might be considered an appropriate term for his occupation, but in his reptilian eyes he is a diligent engineer tending to the city's intricate cogs & wheels. The secret passages within and under the castle are his domain and nothing happens in the city without his knowledge. Indeed, his patron deity is Talos, the Father of Knowledge. Lately, his sphere of influence has started to exceed the city's boundary.
What does balance mean to your character?
Balance means making each faction of the population - be they the Lord of the Castle, the dockside merchant or the savvy innkeep - have enough information to keep them satisfied, yet wanting more. And prepared to offer more in order to get it. This is what keeps order within the city walls.
Ability scores: 12 17 11 16 8 12 12
Oh wow you also scan for pbps!
To Benak Halvin Rendolus Helbottom an eccentric deep gnomish Wizard Balance means piece and quietness. Balance is what makes the difference between magically igniting a campfire and setting your self a flame, moving towards your goals and catastrophic failure. If Balance is lost, then control is lost, that is why Benak wants to keep his surroundings and more importantly, his mind in a state balance.
Ability scores: 11 13 6 8 14 10 15
Name: Callum K. Rose
Class: Warlock 2 (Undying)/ Fighter 1
Race: Half-Elf
Backstory:
Born the son of a father who died in the military, and a mother who died at childbirth, Callum was raised by a reluctant Uncle who managed a bookstore. His own childhood was strange, while he often went to play with the other children, he would also stay up long nights reading as many of the books in his Uncle's store as he could. He grew to appreciate the wonders of knowledge and was more so curious about the mentions of the depths of magic. However, at some point in his later years, he realized, that knowledge without wisdom, was worthless. So to gain more wisdom, he'd follow the path of many before and go join the military. He served for 4 years, gaining a low officer rank, but being pleased with what he saw and learned. Leaving there after, he took to the world and had a strange encounter where, he died.....then, by some stranger chance, he didn't?...Awakening from his death, he was in pain, and hovering over him was a strange pale woman who had taken an "mutual interest" in his search for knowledge and wisdom, and offered to help him, in exchange for his servitude. Enamored by both the woman's words, promise to further his own goals, and her supernatural beauty, he accepted. So, he once more set out into the world, seeking to gain new wonders, but now, with a brand in his blood.
Link: https://ddb.ac/characters/17869563/daxaZD
What does Balance mean to him? (love this question)
All things are in a contstant struggle to maintain balance, even if we cannot see it. The fire destroys the forest, so that new life may grow. Chaos falls into line with Order, just as Order falls unto Chaos. Where ever light burns bright, the darkness lingers. Similarly so, where ever darkness dominates, the light pushes to shine. Therefore, balance, is round and infitinite. There is no escaping it, no embracing it. It simply is what it will be. What it was. What it is......however, that does not mean that one should surrender to it.
Ability scores: 14 16 9 12 10 9 11
Name: Svent
Class: Fighter (Samurai)
Race: Lizardfolk
Balance:
Balance is an arrow, perfectly made from feathers, sinew, and bone. Fletching straight and true, taken from the duck that was eaten. Arrowhead chipped from bone or tooth, hafted with the sinew of the same beast, also eaten. Balance is an arrow that that creates more arrows while turning living meat into dead meat. Balance is an arrow taken from death that was already otherwise necessary.
Backstory:
Svent had merely driven the [monster that might be harassing lizardfolk in a swamp] away. His arrow did not fly true and the beast was wounded, not killed. It was enough that his village was left alone and the hatchlings were not eaten. The village would survive, even if Svent would not bring back the beast’s meat. The scouts that looked for danger on the edge of the swamp said that the beast had fled to where the soft ones grew useless flowers in the dirt. Svent had done what was needed.
Later the scouts said that the soft ones could not drive the beast away. Their weak, clawless hands could not pierce the beasts hide. Their soft flesh could not turn the beasts teeth. Svent’s arrow was still in the beasts side, pain driving it to acts of useless violence, not even eating the meat it killed. Svent had not done what was needed. His failure had caused needless death among those weaker than himself.
When Svent killed the beast in a field of white flowers the the soft ones called him “hero.” They took the beast’s meat away and gave Svent other meat. When he refused their useless disks of soft yellow metal they gave Svent arrows with sharp, hard metal tips and strong knives that did not break.
They told him of other beasts that killed them but that they could not kill. The soft ones were like hatchlings, incapable of protecting themselves. Like hatchlings they needed to be protected so they might be useful. Svent’s people could protect themselves. These soft ones could not. Svent killed the beasts that the soft ones could not. Tracking them through field and forest, river and swamp. Always there was another soft one who’s sheep meat had been eaten by wolf or bear; who’s kin-meat had been eaten by crocodile or shark. Always Svent brought the beasts’ meat back to the soft ones, because they could not protect themselves.
Svent has learned that the disks of soft yellow metal are not useless. Svent knows that a disk now can be traded for meat later. Svent has learned that the soft ones do not think of themselves as meat, even though all are meat. Svent does not like to waste meat or see it put underground or burned up, but the soft ones ask it of him for their own meat, and they need his protection.
Link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Burl/characters/17874534
Here goes nothing?
Ability scores: 12 12 12 17 14 12 8
Edit: This is the most lukewarm I've ever rolled, I think. Lol.
Stat Rolls:
Ability scores: 17 10 9 13 11 12 9
*sorry forgot to not reroll 1s, only effected two of the rolls the 13 should be 10 and the last 9 is significantly lower*
17 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 7
Name (Character Sheet Link): Azrael Morningstar
Race: Fallen Aasimar
Class: Warlock (Hexblade) 3
Backstory:
I don’t remember much about my younger life – the few things I do remember, I wish I could forget. My father was guardsman who trained me to follow in his footsteps. My mother worked at the local tavern to help make some extra coin to feed us. I also remember the color red – the red of flames as they licked up the side of my house. The red of the blood from the scimitar that punctured through my abdomen as the bandits laughed. The red of her hair, my sister I believe, as her hand reached out asking me what I would do for revenge and protection. I remember the warmth of her embrace pulling me close as she plunged the scimitar into my body. Then the warmth turned to cold, as the fire became darkness and rain. I remember waking up a mile from my house covered in blood – my body aching and burning all over. I was found by our neighbors who washed me off and kept me for a few days. After that no one in the town treated me the same – it was as if I was broken. When talking to my sister walking down the road people would cross. I’d even hear other children commenting how I was strange to talk to myself. I wasn’t though…I had sister with me. It wasn’t until a few months later that I began to understand.
A Tiefling came into Thornwood – he was a very interesting man entertaining people with his flute and telling the children stories of old. However, when he saw me just sitting on the corner alone he came over to chat. I would come to learn his name was Hex, a traveling adventurer who had long forgotten his homeland. He would come to learn my story from a mix of the locals and myself. Eventually, he asked me to join him on his adventures and that if I did he would explain everything about my sister. Over the years I came to understand that Hex and me were similar in a lot of ways. He told me about how I had, unintentionally, made a pact with something that had helped to save me – it was common for some beings to prey on those in situations like I found myself in. That all my family had died and that from the sounds of it whatever had saved me that night was enjoying the joke of being someone I cared about when it decided to talk to me.
As I traveled with Hex, he taught me the gifts of the pact I had made and how I could use it in some way to help people. We eventually found others to join us and so my first traveling party was formed. For a while, the being that haunted me stayed away but I could always feel it watching from somewhere behind the veil. During our time adventuring I began to feel a new life creep into me and my heart race whenever Jiao was around. The happiness wouldn’t last for long though as we came upon a town needing our help – haunted by a cult that worshipped an ancient and powerful evil. As began to descend we found the worshippers and the red dragon they had come to worship. During this fight I found the red flames licking at us again as it took the lives of my companions and sweet voice reach out from beyond the flames asking if I wanted to be saved. My instinct was to say yes and that is the last memory of the cave I had, all the town was able to tell me was that an explosion erupted from the cave and when they came to check I was the only one laying at the mouth of it. Now I find myself wandering – constantly on the move unsure of what this thing wants with me or what it is. This has led me to begin to search for a balance in the world as to the lives that have been lost, yet a monster like me may remain. Maybe my purpose is to be the monster that kills other monsters.
What does balance mean to your character?
A very interesting question friend - living the life I have I can't honestly say I know to much about balance. It seems that my life is only filled with a fate that goes one way. Though looking around I can say that balance is making sure that for just as much evil exists in the world their is someone doing something to ensure good has some grounds to stand on. That's where I come in, since bad things tend to find me I try to take them out so others won't have to deal with them - maybe balance some of the bad with something good.
Campaigns:
Wildemount: The Felderwin Irregulars (2020) - Balassar Silverstone - Dragonborn Fighter (Rune Knight) Lv. 5 | Rise of TIamat - Aiwin Aralana - Wood Elf Fighter/Ranger (Arcane Archer/Gloom Stalker) Lv. 9
Ability scores: 10 14 9 7 16 11 11
Backstory:
Gurok is a proud Bugbear of the Kilnok Clan of the Red Cliffs, though he was orphaned from his Homeland at a young age. Found by a kindly Druid couple that raised him as their own, the Bugbear remembers little of his previous life. The forests and swamps of the Lowlands became Gurok's new home, and it suited him well. The couple did there best to temper Gurok's rage with wisdom, with moderate success.
Upon reaching adulthood, the Barbarian left the Lowlands to join the Blackfist Mercenary Band. A loose alliance of Monsters and Fiends that sell their skills to the highest bidder, the Brotherhood accepted Gurok as one of their own. He fought alongside the Blackfist for many years, making friends and brothers before the group was disband.
Gurok returned to his home in the Lowlands only to find the cottage plundered and his adoptive parents murdered. He now hunts those responsible for their deaths, doing his best to traverse the world of Men. He often wears his hood obscuring his face, fooling most that he's just a particularly large and ugly Half-Orc.
Meaning of Balance:
To Gurok, balance is being at peace with nature and bringing Justice to those that would disrupt the natural order.
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien
withdrawn
Name: Herald
Race: Tabaxi
Class: Inquisitive Rogue
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Backstory:
In a remote town on the Glimmering Sea, Herald was born on a cursed night for his Tabaxi clan. The Distant Shores Clan leader advised Herald's parents, Swift Storm (Swift) and Spring Winds (Spring), to abandon their child. Not giving up on their child, Swift and Spring were then ostracized from the clan.
Herald grew up under the loving care of his parents. Nothing really seemed off or cursed with Herald, much to Swif and Spring's relief. Like a lot of kids, Herald had an imaginary friend he would always talk about. This friend didn't have a name, but Herald always mentioned how it was constantly staring at him, and sometimes beckon him. His parents didn't think much of it until Herald started having nightmares in the middle of the night, but Herald would never remember them. Scrounging up what little money they had, Swift and Spring managed to purchase a small book that would record Herald's dreams.
The dreams recorded in the book were something straight out of a horror novel, but only after a few nights of reading the book, Herald's nightmares seemed to stop. He was fine for years, as he tried to digest any information he could about his situation and the truth behind the cursed night's history. However, his peaceful life came to an abrupt halt, as one night, Herald was stopped from nearly drowning himself in his sleep by his parents. It was then that Herald realized he had to leave to find a solution. Herald slowly made his way to Thornwood, searching for peace and information.
What does balance mean to Herald?
There's always something higher holding control, whether it be a boss, a town master, a king, or even a deity. No equality exists there. But with a combination of information and power, a person can take back the reigns of their own life to truly live freely. Ever since he was born, Herald was cursed. He's always been under watch by something afar, beckoned at night. Having never been truly alone, balance means breaking this curse and having a good night's sleep.
Ability scores: 12 16 18 11 10 11 11