This is a character I made for a late 20-session short Halloween campaign. She will not be used again once the campaign is over. What do you think of her concept?
Mildew Brooke
Race: Changeling
Class: Druid, circle of the land
Age: 56 (looks 20)
Mildew Brooke is the quiet, unassuming daughter of Cullen and Mavis Brooke; she has an immense passion for gardening and an affinity with the natural world. She is methodical, sagacious, scrupulously honest and frequently underestimated by her foes. Her knowledge of plants, herbs and potions is unmatched far and wide, and she once turned down the position of apothecary because she wanted to become a mother instead.
She goes by the name Mildred and sometimes Millicent Darkside. She has also used Dorabella Bunch, Damien Moore, and Casper Fudge.
Although she has taken the male form before, she prefers the female form and considers her gender female.
She spends much effort to maintain her youthful appearance.
Reason For Adventuring
Mildew has a daughter called Ailidh Brooke. Cultists of Bhaal kidnapped Ailidh and planned to use her as a vessel to get around the rules preventing Gods from directly manipulating the material plane by forcing Ailidh to give birth to a mortal avatar of Bhaal. Mildew tried to free her daughter, but Ailidh, having been brainwashed by the cult, cursed her mother to wander the world for the rest of her days.
Mildew can no longer sleep in the same place for more than a few nights. The curse will turn Mildew to stone if she spends more than a few nights in one place.
So, she has become a wanderer.
However, she has not given up on her daughter and hopes that somewhere, she will find a way to break her curse and free her daughter from Bhaal’s control.
What do you all think of the concept?
This character is solely for the late Halloween short campaign. I will soon be starting my proper long-term campaign, in which I am going to be play Urk the White.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Well, we don't really know anything about the campaign so it's impossible to tell if the character fits the campaign. That said, it's a bit hard to figure out the concept and there's quote a few things that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Have you cleared it with your GM that the daughter is kidnapped by cultists? Are there even cultists and a Bhaal in the setting? Trying to find a way to free her daughter is a good reason for adventuring, but does it fit the setting? Why even did they kidnap that particular child and why didn't they just kill he PC?
Also, what level are you starting at? A level 1 character who is "frequently underestimated by her foes" and whose "knowledge of plants, herbs and potions is unmatched far and wide" will look rather silly when an NPC with better stats rolls around and outdoes them. How do you justify those claims? And who are her foes? Why do they underestimate her?
The weirdest part of all though is why she wouldn't be able to be an apothecary just because she's had a child. Are there laws in the world that prevents people who has had babies from becoming apothecaries?
Yes, Bhaal exists in this campaign. It was meant to be a Halloween one, but it got postponed due to the person running it having a family situation. I asked if I could make cultists of Bhaal and was told yes.
The other questions.
Why did they take the characters daughter?
To be honest, that's just a bit of meta. They took her because they needed to in order to give the character a reason to try and rescue her and to look for a way to free her. A less meta reason might be, that I have ideas of the daughter being a very proficient magic user and her changeling nature makes her more maluble. However, in general, I left it up to the DM to decide if they want to make a reason or just hand wave it.
Why did the cultists not kill the character when she tried to rescue her daughter?
They wanted to, but instead her daughter cursed her to be a wanderer and let her go. Why? Again, I just left that up to the DM, if they want to bring it up they can, otherwise its just a bit of hand waving meta that needed to occur for the character to exist.
Maybe the brainwashing wasn't as complete as the cult thought, and part of her daughter still exists - enough that she was able to not outright kill her mother.
What level are we starting at?
Level 10. We were told that we will gain one level in the first session and then one level every two sessions (milestones essentially) which will allow us to have a level 20 battle at the end of the campaign with Bhaal and his cultists. We were supposed to have that battle on Halloween night, but like I said, it had to be postponed.
Why couldn't she be an apothecary and have a kid?
Essentially, the DM said she couldn't have a child and be member of the alchemists guild (of which the apothecaries are part). There is a whole "you can't create something from nothing" thing, and so to join, you have to go through an initiation in which you sacrifice your ability to create life in return for secret knowledge and power.
Other Notes:
I went with the circle of the land because of her affinity with plants and stuff. I also wanted most of her druid spells be mainly support spells but with one or two heavy hitters that she can bust out when she needs to.
People see a small nature-loving girl wandering barefoot in home-made clothes, who seems to specialise in healing and support and underestimates her, thinking that she is weak, when in fact, she has some spells that hit hard. Her knowledge of herbs and planets and potions makes her quite dangerous if she wants to be.
She isn't afraid to hurt people in defence of the places and people she cares about, but she doesn't believe in violence for violence's sake.
She also doesn't want to kill anyone unless there is no other way.
So if you have any suggestions for the spells I should pick for her, feel free to offer them if you want.
Hope that helps
I hope that has helped you get a better handle on the character and the campaign she will be part of (its only 20 sessions, and then I will be moving over to my actual proper character for a long term campaign, I will be using Urk the White for that one.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Just be careful of relying on creating plot points that drive the events, instead of letting the events drive more dynamic and organic plot points. This ruins roughly 80% of Books, movies, and TV shows. However, it is easy and lazy so can be popular for a lot of story tellers, She-Hulk or Ms. Marvel would be a good example of this.
Games are unique in a way that the player is the audience. The sign of a great story is getting the reader to relate to the characters, but if you created the character you will be more likely to relate to the character. There is always a chance for your to lose interest or relatability to your character which that is the point of coming up with something you believe in, and ultimately fulfills the niche your created them for.
As for spells, I try to harness them to the creation of my character. What would they approve of? What would they consider taboo? What would their interests or motivations push them into learning? What spells are more commonly found in their current setting? I usually start with damage types. What would my character be opposed to, and what would my character consider palatable. Most of my good characters avoid any kind of dark or necrotic damage, while they might have defenses against it. If they are natural and lawful characters I am more likely to chose summoning spells, and group spells. If they are Chaotic, I value stealth magic and control magic. And my evil characters will have less taboos, but their magic is more often Target:Self, divination, and/or damage based. I probably put too much thought into making my character believable in my own mind, but that is just what I value.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
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HI,
This is a character I made for a late 20-session short Halloween campaign. She will not be used again once the campaign is over. What do you think of her concept?
Mildew Brooke
Race: Changeling
Class: Druid, circle of the land
Age: 56 (looks 20)
Mildew Brooke is the quiet, unassuming daughter of Cullen and Mavis Brooke; she has an immense passion for gardening and an affinity with the natural world. She is methodical, sagacious, scrupulously honest and frequently underestimated by her foes. Her knowledge of plants, herbs and potions is unmatched far and wide, and she once turned down the position of apothecary because she wanted to become a mother instead.
She goes by the name Mildred and sometimes Millicent Darkside. She has also used Dorabella Bunch, Damien Moore, and Casper Fudge.
Although she has taken the male form before, she prefers the female form and considers her gender female.
She spends much effort to maintain her youthful appearance.
Reason For Adventuring
Mildew has a daughter called Ailidh Brooke. Cultists of Bhaal kidnapped Ailidh and planned to use her as a vessel to get around the rules preventing Gods from directly manipulating the material plane by forcing Ailidh to give birth to a mortal avatar of Bhaal. Mildew tried to free her daughter, but Ailidh, having been brainwashed by the cult, cursed her mother to wander the world for the rest of her days.
Mildew can no longer sleep in the same place for more than a few nights. The curse will turn Mildew to stone if she spends more than a few nights in one place.
So, she has become a wanderer.
However, she has not given up on her daughter and hopes that somewhere, she will find a way to break her curse and free her daughter from Bhaal’s control.
What do you all think of the concept?
This character is solely for the late Halloween short campaign. I will soon be starting my proper long-term campaign, in which I am going to be play Urk the White.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Well, we don't really know anything about the campaign so it's impossible to tell if the character fits the campaign. That said, it's a bit hard to figure out the concept and there's quote a few things that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Have you cleared it with your GM that the daughter is kidnapped by cultists? Are there even cultists and a Bhaal in the setting? Trying to find a way to free her daughter is a good reason for adventuring, but does it fit the setting? Why even did they kidnap that particular child and why didn't they just kill he PC?
Also, what level are you starting at? A level 1 character who is "frequently underestimated by her foes" and whose "knowledge of plants, herbs and potions is unmatched far and wide" will look rather silly when an NPC with better stats rolls around and outdoes them. How do you justify those claims? And who are her foes? Why do they underestimate her?
The weirdest part of all though is why she wouldn't be able to be an apothecary just because she's had a child. Are there laws in the world that prevents people who has had babies from becoming apothecaries?
Those are all very good questions.
Yes, Bhaal exists in this campaign. It was meant to be a Halloween one, but it got postponed due to the person running it having a family situation. I asked if I could make cultists of Bhaal and was told yes.
The other questions.
Why did they take the characters daughter?
To be honest, that's just a bit of meta. They took her because they needed to in order to give the character a reason to try and rescue her and to look for a way to free her. A less meta reason might be, that I have ideas of the daughter being a very proficient magic user and her changeling nature makes her more maluble. However, in general, I left it up to the DM to decide if they want to make a reason or just hand wave it.
Why did the cultists not kill the character when she tried to rescue her daughter?
They wanted to, but instead her daughter cursed her to be a wanderer and let her go. Why? Again, I just left that up to the DM, if they want to bring it up they can, otherwise its just a bit of hand waving meta that needed to occur for the character to exist.
Maybe the brainwashing wasn't as complete as the cult thought, and part of her daughter still exists - enough that she was able to not outright kill her mother.
What level are we starting at?
Level 10. We were told that we will gain one level in the first session and then one level every two sessions (milestones essentially) which will allow us to have a level 20 battle at the end of the campaign with Bhaal and his cultists. We were supposed to have that battle on Halloween night, but like I said, it had to be postponed.
Why couldn't she be an apothecary and have a kid?
Essentially, the DM said she couldn't have a child and be member of the alchemists guild (of which the apothecaries are part). There is a whole "you can't create something from nothing" thing, and so to join, you have to go through an initiation in which you sacrifice your ability to create life in return for secret knowledge and power.
Other Notes:
I went with the circle of the land because of her affinity with plants and stuff. I also wanted most of her druid spells be mainly support spells but with one or two heavy hitters that she can bust out when she needs to.
People see a small nature-loving girl wandering barefoot in home-made clothes, who seems to specialise in healing and support and underestimates her, thinking that she is weak, when in fact, she has some spells that hit hard. Her knowledge of herbs and planets and potions makes her quite dangerous if she wants to be.
She isn't afraid to hurt people in defence of the places and people she cares about, but she doesn't believe in violence for violence's sake.
She also doesn't want to kill anyone unless there is no other way.
So if you have any suggestions for the spells I should pick for her, feel free to offer them if you want.
Hope that helps
I hope that has helped you get a better handle on the character and the campaign she will be part of (its only 20 sessions, and then I will be moving over to my actual proper character for a long term campaign, I will be using Urk the White for that one.)
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Just be careful of relying on creating plot points that drive the events, instead of letting the events drive more dynamic and organic plot points. This ruins roughly 80% of Books, movies, and TV shows. However, it is easy and lazy so can be popular for a lot of story tellers, She-Hulk or Ms. Marvel would be a good example of this.
Games are unique in a way that the player is the audience. The sign of a great story is getting the reader to relate to the characters, but if you created the character you will be more likely to relate to the character. There is always a chance for your to lose interest or relatability to your character which that is the point of coming up with something you believe in, and ultimately fulfills the niche your created them for.
As for spells, I try to harness them to the creation of my character. What would they approve of? What would they consider taboo? What would their interests or motivations push them into learning? What spells are more commonly found in their current setting? I usually start with damage types. What would my character be opposed to, and what would my character consider palatable. Most of my good characters avoid any kind of dark or necrotic damage, while they might have defenses against it. If they are natural and lawful characters I am more likely to chose summoning spells, and group spells. If they are Chaotic, I value stealth magic and control magic. And my evil characters will have less taboos, but their magic is more often Target:Self, divination, and/or damage based. I probably put too much thought into making my character believable in my own mind, but that is just what I value.
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!