After struggling to make a character, which I talked about in my post on the general forum, I made an entirely different character. When I attended session 0, it was evident that the group were really into magic this time around as they had all made squishy casters but were severely lacking in tankieness. They also had better overall concepts and characters than my caster, so I asked the DM if I could make a different character that better fit the group's needs. She said yes, and I spent about an hour making a paladin.
I wanted to keep the nature theme that my original character had, so I asked if I could have a deity from Greyhawk, and when she said yes, I chose Obad-Hai.
I came up with the concept and backstory for Misao Mei Ling in about an hour, during session 0. Although I had wanted to play Sifa, playing her would have left my group without a tank. Also, after learning about the other characters in the party and more about the world we will be playing in, I feel like Misao fits better into the group dynamic and overarching world themes.
The character concept, image and backstory for Misao Mei Ling fits onto a single A4 page. Length is something that I often struggle with, so having a single page for her entire concept, art, and backstory is something that I am rather pleased with this time around.
Anyway, here it is, everything that I know about Misao Mei Ling as a level one character.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Character Concept.
Misao Mei Ling is a paladin of vengeance, created for the express purpose of finding those responsible for cutting down her orders sacred tree and despoiling their home.Her mission is to find those responsible and make sure the heathens pay the price for their transgressions against her people, her order and nature.
She is a devout and fanatical worshiper of Obad-Hai, and before she was chosen as her orders instrument of vengeance, she was a cleric of the same god.
She is forbidden from returning home until she has completed her task.
As her orders chosen instrument and a paladin of vengeance, she was given armour and weapons not commonly used by her people. She wears heavy armour and carries a shield and a sword. Emblazoned upon her shield is a representative image of her sacred tree, the one cut down by outsiders, and this has become her holy symbol, with which she leads the charge.
Her battle cry is victory or death. Misao believes that life and death go hand in hand and that when it is her time to die, death will find her, but she will fight on until then.
She will either be victorious for her people, her god, and herself or her journey will end at the final curtain.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Concept Image and PDF File.
I didn’t have enough time to spend searching for stock images, or getting custom art made, so instead I searched google images for a picture that fit with how I envisioned Misao.
If you want to see the PDF you can get a copy from my iCloud Drive (opens a new window on iCloud.com). The PDF includes the concept, image and backstory, all in one readable document.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Backstory.
The parents and older brother of Misao Mei Ling are all clerics of Obad-Hai and she grew up learning to be just like them. She is a devout worshiper of her god and a mighty warrior whose faith is unwavering and unquestionable. When outsiders cut down a tree sacred to her order Misao was chosen to go forth and bring swift vengeance to those responsible.
However, outside of her order, Misao found that her knowledge of the world was lacking and that her ability, or lack thereof, to interact with outsiders limited her options to complete her mission. She also found that she needed more than faith to survive in the outside world. She needed gold, of which she had none.
In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, Misao became a travelling mercenary. The pay was good, and the work allowed her time to continue her search for the outsiders responsible for despoiling her home.
Eventually, after following several leads, she fell in with a band of adventurers and set forth on a journey that would take her to places she had never even imagined.
—————
Thats it guys, that’s the character that I have eventually ended up with. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
Thanks
XD
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Looks good! It's an interesting choice to have a character who worships a nature god, but not to use the Oath of the Ancients -- the one that has all the nature spells. Makes sense though.
The only edit I'd suggest is to find and replace "cleric" with "priest," because, as the PHB suggests, most priests aren't clerics. That's just splitting hairs though. I know what you meant.
Should be interesting to see how your character interacts with the common adventuring event of just coming across an evil shrine. My old party went out of our way to smash the altars and icons of any evil gods we found, insisting that if the gods were so great, they'd have kept these things better protected. I think your character might have something to say about that. ;)
Looks solid for a starting character, all the basics are covered and she's ready to go. We know where she's from, who her "people" are, how she got to where she is, and what her long term goal is. The DM has some stuff to work with for tailoring elements of their story to make the most her part in it when applicable and you have a starting point for her demeanor and outlook to start roleplaying her. Now you just play the game and see where that goes. Good luck and enjoy!
On the same nitpick note, I'd say she was training to be a cleric rather than she was one, then shifted her training to the more martial focus of a paladin upon being chosen for her mission. I'm guessing that's what you meant anyway, but I tend to be particular about the precise wording and meaning of things.
On the tangent of encountering an evil shrine, I would guess most good aligned holy warrior types would smash away with an general attitude of "Bring it on, infidels." I know my current cleric of Pelor is feeling that way while seeking out what appears to be a cult of an evil goddess of darkness (having seen some of said cult's handiwork already has her in smite mode at the drop of a hat of late). D&D is a game where moral absolutes are very real and often take tangible form (I'm fond of the quote, "That devil is made of evil. Substantively."), and the proper response to a diametrically opposed individual/ethos is often to kill or be killed. The red dragon isn't likely to sit down and have a neutrally arbitrated negotiation with you concerning terms for the safe return of the princess and compensation for the half of the capital city it burned, so sharpen your swords and get ready to sling some spells if you don't want to become a crispy critter. The evil cultists are probably going to be less amenable to peaceful coexistence than the dragon, because they've already sacrificed their captives to their dark god.
This sounds cool! Good idea to change for party composition and way to make it fun at the same time! This is a great character. Maybe you'll be able to play Sifa in a later campaign or with a different group.
Hi, everyone
After struggling to make a character, which I talked about in my post on the general forum, I made an entirely different character. When I attended session 0, it was evident that the group were really into magic this time around as they had all made squishy casters but were severely lacking in tankieness. They also had better overall concepts and characters than my caster, so I asked the DM if I could make a different character that better fit the group's needs. She said yes, and I spent about an hour making a paladin.
I wanted to keep the nature theme that my original character had, so I asked if I could have a deity from Greyhawk, and when she said yes, I chose Obad-Hai.
I came up with the concept and backstory for Misao Mei Ling in about an hour, during session 0. Although I had wanted to play Sifa, playing her would have left my group without a tank. Also, after learning about the other characters in the party and more about the world we will be playing in, I feel like Misao fits better into the group dynamic and overarching world themes.
The character concept, image and backstory for Misao Mei Ling fits onto a single A4 page. Length is something that I often struggle with, so having a single page for her entire concept, art, and backstory is something that I am rather pleased with this time around.
Anyway, here it is, everything that I know about Misao Mei Ling as a level one character.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Character Concept.
Misao Mei Ling is a paladin of vengeance, created for the express purpose of finding those responsible for cutting down her orders sacred tree and despoiling their home. Her mission is to find those responsible and make sure the heathens pay the price for their transgressions against her people, her order and nature.
She is a devout and fanatical worshiper of Obad-Hai, and before she was chosen as her orders instrument of vengeance, she was a cleric of the same god.
She is forbidden from returning home until she has completed her task.
As her orders chosen instrument and a paladin of vengeance, she was given armour and weapons not commonly used by her people. She wears heavy armour and carries a shield and a sword. Emblazoned upon her shield is a representative image of her sacred tree, the one cut down by outsiders, and this has become her holy symbol, with which she leads the charge.
Her battle cry is victory or death. Misao believes that life and death go hand in hand and that when it is her time to die, death will find her, but she will fight on until then.
She will either be victorious for her people, her god, and herself or her journey will end at the final curtain.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Concept Image and PDF File.
I didn’t have enough time to spend searching for stock images, or getting custom art made, so instead I searched google images for a picture that fit with how I envisioned Misao.
[img] Misao Mei Ling - https://imgur.com/f8XzFKN - (opens image on external site, imgur.com)
If you want to see the PDF you can get a copy from my iCloud Drive (opens a new window on iCloud.com). The PDF includes the concept, image and backstory, all in one readable document.
—————
Misao Mei Ling: Backstory.
The parents and older brother of Misao Mei Ling are all clerics of Obad-Hai and she grew up learning to be just like them. She is a devout worshiper of her god and a mighty warrior whose faith is unwavering and unquestionable. When outsiders cut down a tree sacred to her order Misao was chosen to go forth and bring swift vengeance to those responsible.
However, outside of her order, Misao found that her knowledge of the world was lacking and that her ability, or lack thereof, to interact with outsiders limited her options to complete her mission. She also found that she needed more than faith to survive in the outside world. She needed gold, of which she had none.
In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, Misao became a travelling mercenary. The pay was good, and the work allowed her time to continue her search for the outsiders responsible for despoiling her home.
Eventually, after following several leads, she fell in with a band of adventurers and set forth on a journey that would take her to places she had never even imagined.
—————
Thats it guys, that’s the character that I have eventually ended up with. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
Thanks
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Looks good! It's an interesting choice to have a character who worships a nature god, but not to use the Oath of the Ancients -- the one that has all the nature spells. Makes sense though.
The only edit I'd suggest is to find and replace "cleric" with "priest," because, as the PHB suggests, most priests aren't clerics. That's just splitting hairs though. I know what you meant.
Should be interesting to see how your character interacts with the common adventuring event of just coming across an evil shrine. My old party went out of our way to smash the altars and icons of any evil gods we found, insisting that if the gods were so great, they'd have kept these things better protected. I think your character might have something to say about that. ;)
Looks solid for a starting character, all the basics are covered and she's ready to go. We know where she's from, who her "people" are, how she got to where she is, and what her long term goal is. The DM has some stuff to work with for tailoring elements of their story to make the most her part in it when applicable and you have a starting point for her demeanor and outlook to start roleplaying her. Now you just play the game and see where that goes. Good luck and enjoy!
On the same nitpick note, I'd say she was training to be a cleric rather than she was one, then shifted her training to the more martial focus of a paladin upon being chosen for her mission. I'm guessing that's what you meant anyway, but I tend to be particular about the precise wording and meaning of things.
On the tangent of encountering an evil shrine, I would guess most good aligned holy warrior types would smash away with an general attitude of "Bring it on, infidels." I know my current cleric of Pelor is feeling that way while seeking out what appears to be a cult of an evil goddess of darkness (having seen some of said cult's handiwork already has her in smite mode at the drop of a hat of late). D&D is a game where moral absolutes are very real and often take tangible form (I'm fond of the quote, "That devil is made of evil. Substantively."), and the proper response to a diametrically opposed individual/ethos is often to kill or be killed. The red dragon isn't likely to sit down and have a neutrally arbitrated negotiation with you concerning terms for the safe return of the princess and compensation for the half of the capital city it burned, so sharpen your swords and get ready to sling some spells if you don't want to become a crispy critter. The evil cultists are probably going to be less amenable to peaceful coexistence than the dragon, because they've already sacrificed their captives to their dark god.
This sounds cool! Good idea to change for party composition and way to make it fun at the same time! This is a great character. Maybe you'll be able to play Sifa in a later campaign or with a different group.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I like using Hero Forge to create an image for my characters. Free and don't have to purchase anything.
https://www.heroforge.com/