"its not your typical 5e mentality" Zero Level Characters It’s common knowledge that “Adventurers” are paragons of excellence, with abilities far above those of normal men, whose destinies are written in the stars. They have rock hard abs, the insight of Dr. Phil, the grace of ballerinas, chiseled chins, and voices that woo women across the Dalelands. They were born to be heroes, have trained their whole lives for it, and basically can’t take a shit in public without it appearing “heroic.”
As with most ideas that are common knowledge, it’s utter shite. That’s right, codswallop, fiction, fabrication, nonsense, and propaganda, all designed to promote numerous schools, academe, and “Master” adventurers so that the uninitiated will fork over vast sums of money in the hope that they or their progeny will be trained to become the next Dragon Rider, Dragon Slayer, Blackstaff, or Avatar of Immortality.
The real truth, if you look at the pantheon of heroes past and present, is the vast majority started as some poor simple bastard who was unfortunate enough to be the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and through a combination of dumb luck, perseverance, and a heathy fear of death, managed to learn the skills needed to survive in this world.
We are not saying the various apprenticeship programs, tutelages, schools, and training camps don’t serve a purpose. Quite the contrary. Without them, armies, bureaucracies, leagues, and guilds throughout the realms would be seriously lacking in candidates for middle management positions. Lastly without the seventh sons of petty nobles paying top dollar to enter whichever Dungeoneering Survival Bootcamp is all the rage, not only would there be a shortage of hard coinage, but the wee little nasties located in the dark places would probably starve to death for lack of graduates to feed upon.
Today we are not talking about those “heroes.” Today we are talking about the survivors. The poor souls who were not faster than the wind but who happened to be faster than their late departed siblings. Swordsmen who’s first lessons were taught not by fencing instructors but by bruises and cuts. Rogues who learned to find traps not at the guidance of a guild but by being smart enough not to be the first one walking down a hallway. Archers for whom the day they learned not to close their eyes before release was a very good day. Sorcerers who were just as likely to… Aw for f%$k’s sake forget sorcerers. I don’t care how great and powerful they claim to be, they’re still just as likely to blow the shite out of their friends as their enemies.
"Sorcerers who were just as likely to… Aw for f%$k’s sake forget sorcerers. I don’t care how great and powerful they claim to be, they’re still just as likely to blow the shite out of their friends as their enemies."
The sorcerer I am currently playing is young and from an abusive/neglectful home. I should note that the uncontrolled powers/abuse thing was feedback loop. The abuse centered around this "cursed" child and the powers grew in response to the abuse. His powers manifested themselves uncontrollably for years as a means to avoid abuse. I wanted them to reflect what a young child might do in response to fear and give it kind of a poltergeist/firestarter feel. I did not want to go for direct damage dealing spells. Children are generally older when/if they start to fight back.
So I am thinking what scares a kid like that and what are their responses. Maybe unrelated to the abuse and possibly triggering the idea of the kid being cursed... I choose dancing lights, way cooler and more versatile than light. Keeps a kid from being alone in the dark. Can be used to distract or even simulate hauntings you can move them about (unconsciously) like torches or will-o-wisps.
After that I choose prestidgitation (all sorts of effects for all sorts of reasons), minor illusion (great for hiding, I create a 5' hay bale, bush, whatever and sit in the middle of it), and mage hand
So after that I talked to my DM about wild magic and we came up with some very cool ideas... Except when he is actively trying to suppress them, magical effects occur around him frequently (glowing arcane circles in his foot prints, lights bobbing around his head, strange smells that change in relation to his mood) 90% of the time these are just fluff with out major game effect (well the smell of snickerdoodles and a glowing halo effect he wasn't aware of while trying to seduce a bar maid we'll call that a minor game effect) Sometimes they are beneficial. Sometimes detrimental. (if you are trying to flee a crime scene, glowing arcane circles in place of foot prints doesn't help.) - Then turned complete control of these "subconscious" effect over to the DM to play up or ignore as much as he wants. Like I said I can actively suppress them at will though I have been asked to make an easy Wis save in stressful situations. I can also duplicate them at will (counts as casting the appropriate cantrip).
The next thing we did was say wild surges occur when casting cantrip at the normal rate and when casting leveled spells at a double normal rate...
Yes my sorcerer is a ticking time bomb... Sometimes literally... The ticking just seems to come from nowhere.
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"its not your typical 5e mentality"
Zero Level Characters
It’s common knowledge that “Adventurers” are paragons of excellence, with abilities far above those of normal men, whose destinies are written in the stars. They have rock hard abs, the insight of Dr. Phil, the grace of ballerinas, chiseled chins, and voices that woo women across the Dalelands. They were born to be heroes, have trained their whole lives for it, and basically can’t take a shit in public without it appearing “heroic.”
As with most ideas that are common knowledge, it’s utter shite. That’s right, codswallop, fiction, fabrication, nonsense, and propaganda, all designed to promote numerous schools, academe, and “Master” adventurers so that the uninitiated will fork over vast sums of money in the hope that they or their progeny will be trained to become the next Dragon Rider, Dragon Slayer, Blackstaff, or Avatar of Immortality.
The real truth, if you look at the pantheon of heroes past and present, is the vast majority started as some poor simple bastard who was unfortunate enough to be the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and through a combination of dumb luck, perseverance, and a heathy fear of death, managed to learn the skills needed to survive in this world.
We are not saying the various apprenticeship programs, tutelages, schools, and training camps don’t serve a purpose. Quite the contrary. Without them, armies, bureaucracies, leagues, and guilds throughout the realms would be seriously lacking in candidates for middle management positions. Lastly without the seventh sons of petty nobles paying top dollar to enter whichever Dungeoneering Survival Bootcamp is all the rage, not only would there be a shortage of hard coinage, but the wee little nasties located in the dark places would probably starve to death for lack of graduates to feed upon.
Today we are not talking about those “heroes.” Today we are talking about the survivors. The poor souls who were not faster than the wind but who happened to be faster than their late departed siblings. Swordsmen who’s first lessons were taught not by fencing instructors but by bruises and cuts. Rogues who learned to find traps not at the guidance of a guild but by being smart enough not to be the first one walking down a hallway. Archers for whom the day they learned not to close their eyes before release was a very good day. Sorcerers who were just as likely to… Aw for f%$k’s sake forget sorcerers. I don’t care how great and powerful they claim to be, they’re still just as likely to blow the shite out of their friends as their enemies.
The sorcerer I am currently playing is young and from an abusive/neglectful home. I should note that the uncontrolled powers/abuse thing was feedback loop. The abuse centered around this "cursed" child and the powers grew in response to the abuse. His powers manifested themselves uncontrollably for years as a means to avoid abuse. I wanted them to reflect what a young child might do in response to fear and give it kind of a poltergeist/firestarter feel. I did not want to go for direct damage dealing spells. Children are generally older when/if they start to fight back.
So I am thinking what scares a kid like that and what are their responses. Maybe unrelated to the abuse and possibly triggering the idea of the kid being cursed... I choose dancing lights, way cooler and more versatile than light. Keeps a kid from being alone in the dark. Can be used to distract or even simulate hauntings you can move them about (unconsciously) like torches or will-o-wisps.
After that I choose prestidgitation (all sorts of effects for all sorts of reasons), minor illusion (great for hiding, I create a 5' hay bale, bush, whatever and sit in the middle of it), and mage hand
So after that I talked to my DM about wild magic and we came up with some very cool ideas... Except when he is actively trying to suppress them, magical effects occur around him frequently (glowing arcane circles in his foot prints, lights bobbing around his head, strange smells that change in relation to his mood) 90% of the time these are just fluff with out major game effect (well the smell of snickerdoodles and a glowing halo effect he wasn't aware of while trying to seduce a bar maid we'll call that a minor game effect) Sometimes they are beneficial. Sometimes detrimental. (if you are trying to flee a crime scene, glowing arcane circles in place of foot prints doesn't help.) - Then turned complete control of these "subconscious" effect over to the DM to play up or ignore as much as he wants. Like I said I can actively suppress them at will though I have been asked to make an easy Wis save in stressful situations. I can also duplicate them at will (counts as casting the appropriate cantrip).
The next thing we did was say wild surges occur when casting cantrip at the normal rate and when casting leveled spells at a double normal rate...
Yes my sorcerer is a ticking time bomb... Sometimes literally... The ticking just seems to come from nowhere.