Heya! I've never played cleric, and to test out the class before I went to teach beginners DnD tomorrow night I slapped together a (half martial, half healer) Tempest Cleric that ended up speaking to me. I want to play him! If this backstory seems like it would interest you as a DM, or might be a nice fit for your group, drop me a line please! I'm in EST/EDT timezone and available Saturdays most any hour, and after 5pm Tuesdays and Thursdays (though those two days are a little more shaky). 

Info:

My Name: Ket (She/Her, 26, Aro-Ace)

5e Experience: Several started campaigns, multiple 3-5 shots, and I spend a lot of time making various characters. I'm starting to DM a few beginners myself and I'm also taking part in a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. I enjoy interesting solutions to problems and good RP

Character: Baa'Mel, aka Mel (He/Him)

Baa'Mel, usually going by Mel, was raised as a powerful hero of his clan. He was trained in martial skills and in the ways of his clan's pantheon, balancing war and peace among his people and striding on the battlefield to clear swaths of heathens from his ancestral lands with the lightning and thunder granted to him by the gods. Wherever the clan leaders pointed he would go, returning to cheering crowds and exultation. 

Mel did not question any of this. The gods had granted him mighty gifts to serve his clan. It was not his place to question what orders the leaders received from those above. This tempered his curiosity until, after three years of relentlessly clearing settlement after settlement of humans and elves that had been appearing on the ancestral lands without question, the god of storms came to him in a dream.

And the god was not pleased. 

The mighty being accused Mel of perpetuating the slaughter of innocents, of wiping out man, woman and child at the words of mere greedy mortals. Through a series of visions, the neutral good deity revealed what Mel had really been raised to be: a weapon, not a hero. The settlements he had been destroying were refugees fleeing a forced conflict, and not even settled on ancestral land, but land that the clan hierarchy looked to claim.

The god rumbled that to regain his full favor, Mel would have to turn away from his entire life and seek retribution, or die without his god as a puppet of heretic leaders.

Shocked and disgusted at what his life had truly been, Mel fled the camp outside the most recently destroyed settlement. Enraged and blinded by hurt, he killed the patrol left to wipe out any straggling humans, saving a set of young brother and sister twins in the process. He scooped them up, one under each arm, and ran into the mountains to escape retaliation as the camp learned of his treachery.

Altan, the brother, and Solmi, the sister, were at first terrified of this massive bronze dragon man. Only six and reeling from the deaths of their parents and all they knew, they spent the first few days cowering from Mel. Over time, they began to warm to him, as his words were always kind and he never showed them any aggression. After several encounters where Mel saved their lives, they began to see him as their new father, a protector.

It took a year to travel to a temple of the storm god outside Mel's ancestral lands, far enough that Mel is sure his clan could never find them. He left the twins in the care of the monks and clerics there, promising to return frequently and visit, before setting out to redeem himself in the eyes of his god and, if he could, take down the corrupt leaders of his clan.

He still likes to go by the temple, no matter how far out of his way it is, to see Altan and Solmi. They give him drawings and baubles to carry with him on his travels, and he brings them small mementos of the towns and cities he has seen, books, and softened tales of his adventures. He sees them as his own, taking on all aspects of fatherhood he can, and fiercely protects them.

Personality: Mel is fairly quiet, having found that meditation is a useful way to calm his roiling memories of killing so many. He speaks softly when he does speak up, doing his best to calm frayed tempers and smooth ruffled feathers before violence breaks out. He will not attack an innocent, or one that he believes is innocent, and will attack only if he is attacked first, his friends/party are attacked without provocation, or if it is to protect someone else.

Mel tries his hardest to not let anyone know why he is now clanless, as not only does it bring him shame for exile and shame for his past misdeeds, but he believes it could put others in danger. His clan held him aloft as their mighty hero, and he turned and practically slapped them in the face with no explanation. He also tries to hide that he is hurting, doing his best to help others instead of focusing on himself, but at times only holding the drawings and trinkets his children gave him are the only things that soothe his pain.

Mel's god doesn't really have a name yet, but I see them as a Neutral/Neutral Good storm god. Lightning and Thunder bringing balance to the rain and sun, etc. If you have a god in your homebrew that would fit that, or are willing to make one, I'd be more than happy to work with/adapt to that as long as it doesn't completely rewrite the character.

NOTE: I'm not comfortable with my character(s){or myself for that matter} being targeted for romance and/or sexual themes. As long as that line is drawn, I'll give most campaigns a try! 

Hey there! Great backstory and well rounded character you have here. My campaign is focused on flexibility and freedom of choice, the universe I've built has a plethora of places and beings which inhabit it and I'm sure your character could find a nice place amongst the history and places. I know you've said you're mostly available on saturdays, but if I may ask if you're available on sundays as well. If you're not, I will talk to my players and see if we can change it to saturday. We usually play sunday from 11am-14pm est. Again, if the time or day doesn't suit you, I'll ask my players and maybe we can hold the session during saturdays.

Unfortunately I have a Rime of the Frostmaiden on Sundays starting at 2:30, but if you guys don't mind me dropping early I'd love to meet you all and see how it goes! How many players do you have? I'd prefer not to crowd a table.

For sure. There are two other players, they've committed so far to the campaign, as we're on session 3 this week. I'll talk to them and maybe we can do saturday this time, as I've mistaken the time, it's between 11am-15pm (my sessions tend to go a tad bit longer). I'm also inviting a few other players, so a heads up for that. If you want, we can talk in here or you can reach me on discord at M̶ͨ̐a͒̈̓ř͖̕kͤ̈͊#0685 or maybe some other platform you have in mind.

Awesome, sounds good! I'll shoot you a message on discord later tonight. 

RotFM is just starting out, and I'm going to see how far in it my little kobold gets. If Sundays are your main days and a Saturday session(s) would mess with your group's schedules, I'll make a decision. I'm in a group of only two other players at the moment for RotFM, so for now I may have to stick with them, but I definitely want to see what you all are about! Looking forward to it, whenever or however it works out!

Very well, I'll wait from you and I hope we can come to some agreeable terms.