Game: D&D Group preferred: Online Experience: Experienced but haven't played for a long time. Just getting back into it. Location/Timezone: PST Availability: After 5pm PST, and after 10pm PST Preferred role: Player Game style: I would like a solid mix of Role Playing with other elements. As anyone can see by my character ideas and backstories, I like interesting characters that shine in an environment with more role playing. I don't have much interest in creating a fighter that just hacks their way through battles gaining exp and acquiring loot. I can do that in a video game. I'm here for the kind of experience you don't get from a video game, and that is the role playing.
This character is a junky bard that has an enchanted Lute that is an NPC, although he doesn't know that. It speaks directly into its owner's mind, but the character can only hear it when they are sober or at least starting sober up. That's the general idea. I have a detailed backstory with mechanics that relate to these ideas outline below.
Thelonious Gruvspinner backstory with custom mechanics and enchanted Lute NPC description:
Thelonious is an addict. (He prefers the name Gruv by the way, but nobody ever calls him that, but he thinks of himself in that name.)
He could be a great musician. It’s in his blood, or so he’s been told by his grandad that left him his enchanted Lute. The problem is that Thelonious is a hardcore addict of not just one but many vices. Booze, smoke, things you eat that do things to you besides nourish you, and of course women.
These vices tend to get in his way a lot when it comes to getting ahead in life, and especially when it comes to that whole “become a world famous bard” endeavor he’s always prattling on about when he gets on one... or two…. Ok let’s be honest it’s normally at least 3 or 4. The hold up there is Thelonious… sorry Gruv has a temper.
It's hard to commit to an instrument when you're constantly breaking it, and this is the general blight of Gruv’s existence. He's always breaking shit. Usually his, but not always, which of course is a problem as well. You see, it's very hard to learn the lute. Even if you have grandpa's magical lute that was past down(probably stolen) to you. Even more so if that lute was just smashed into the face of someone who insulted your performance. This is, in fact, what Thelonious has just done.
The real problem with splintering your treasured family heirloom to pieces across the face of a half orc is that.... well first. You now have no more lute. Much less one that was handed down to you by your pappy. Repairable?... Yeah probably not. Part of it is embedded into the face of the half orc(good luck retrieving those bits), he swallowed a good portion of the rest(yeah you don’t want that back) of it just to spite you and show you how little it actually hurt him, and at this point you hold in your hand a piece of wood with a few strings and splinters hanging from it. More likely to hinder your ability to attack or defend rather than help it. You should probably drop it and run now…
Thelonious burst out the door of the tavern! The remnants of his pappy’s lute jangle from his hand and tangle around his ankles, causing him to trip and fall face first into the dirt. The Lute(well what's left of the Lute) almost seems to try to consciously roll away from Gruv but doesn’t get far. It is a tangle of strings and wood at this point, so it doesn’t really possess the physical attributes of something that can roll.
Gruv immediately forgets about this though, as he has just realized that he left his bag in the tavern, and that bag has… well not much in it, but it does have his gold, and he needs a fix. Bad. He quickly rolls over and assesses the situation. He can see the Orc, well Half Orc(yeah right Gruv thinks that guy is huge) from the waist down walking casually towards the batwing doors of the tavern. They swing open a few times in the wake of Gruv’s exit and with each swing open he can see the Orcs expression gradually turn, in cut frame animation style, from a frown into a smile as he sees Gruv lying prone on the ground, appearing to be just waiting for the inevitable beating he is going to receive.
Gruv mainly has his attention focused on retrieving his gold though. He’s trying to get his orientation so he can figure out where he is now in relation to his bag. Let’s see, it wasn’t by the stage where he had just performed. A quite good performance if he did say so himself. He’s not generally good at taking negative feedback, and he does admit this, but right now was not the day to be laughing at his rendition of “insert appropriate lore for campaign”. He was jonesing hard, and that made him…. Well let’s just say cranky. THE TABLE! That’s right he had left his bag on the table with his drink(did he finish it?..)
He sees his move. It’s risky, and it’s going to hurt, but he should survive. The table is to his right just on the other side of the tavern window. He had picked that one so he could watch the whores across the street without being harrassed for gawking at them without payment. He had been beaten up for that before. Several times. By the whores. Sometimes the Pimps, but usually just the whores. Hey, the whores of “INSERT STARTING CITY” were used to fending off much more dangerous foes than Gruv, and could generally handle themselves in a fight. He was honestly more scared of them than this Half Orc when it came down to it.
He waits for the batwing doors to swing shut one last time and rolls to the right as they do. He’s hoping the effect will be that the Orcs' view will be obstructed enough that he won’t be able to see which way he has rolled, and hopefully this will buy him a few extra seconds. He gets up and looks at the window of the tavern he is now standing in front of. He knew already it was not a window that opened, and so had already determined he was going to have to dive through it. With a grimace, he dives through the window; which he just now realizes he’s probably going to have to pay for, crashes over the table, spilling his drink(goddamnit), and falling with a painful crunch(was this his flute.. Goddamnit) onto the tavern floor. He did manage to grab his bag in the tumbling mess that was supposed to be his slick retrieval of his loot, followed by a triumphant wink and smile to the Orc, as he finished his drink and jumped back out the window. Yeah, it didn’t quite go down like that. The smell of piss, blood, vomit, booze, and whatever else gets tracked onto the floor in a place like this on the boots of its patrons, is so strong in his nostrils that it makes him dizzy, and he actually stumbles a bit from it when he gets up. After staggering for a moment, he bumps into a wall and braces himself… Wait, that’s not a wall. It’s the half orc, and now he’s really smiling. Clearly not fooled by what Gruv thought was a pretty slick move, the Orc had just watched in amusement as Gruv threw himself through a window back into the tavern, and then incoherently staggered right back up to him.
Goddamnit.
A moment later Gruv is tossed back out the window(a different one that he will also have to pay for) by the Orc and back into the street. Landing conveniently enough right next to the remains of his precious Lute.
“If it’s so precious why did you use it as an ill conceived weapon?”, Jones says to him.
“Shut up Jones”, he yells back out loud.
This causes several people to turn and look at him, as seeing someone tossed out of this bar isn’t necessarily something that is worthy of even turning your head to look at, if the victim starts acting crazy, like say starts having an argument with themselves, then maybe it’s worth taking a gander. At the very least to see if you need to move further away from what is about to be probably a pretty entertaining shit show.
No, Gruv isn’t crazy, he’s a junky. When he’s really jonesing, that means he’s not currently high, drunk, or between the thighs of some other distraction, he tends to start to question himself and his decisions a lot more than he normally does. This manifests itself in what he swears to god is a voice in his head. He knows it’s not real, but it really does sound that way sometimes to the point he snaps at it out loud. Yet another thing that tends to get him into trouble or at they very least create awkward moments.
He looks over at the Lute, which he can swear just moved of its own accord away from him, and hastily gathers up what’s left of it and stuffs it haphazardly into his bag. Getting up, he looks back at the saloon style batwing doors of the tavern, expecting to see the half orc(has to be a full orc) sauntering out to end the life of Gruv with as much pain as possible.
Nobody comes out. Huh? Not sure what the hold up is there, but he’s not waiting around to find out. The dizziness from the tavern floor has passed, and it was momentarily replaced by the dizziness of being tossed back out the window, but now his head is clear enough to get up and actually make a run for it. He does just that, and manages to get around a corner before the half orc comes out and sees him. At least, he hopes he didn’t see him. Calling what he just did a mad dash would be being far too generous regarding the coherency with which he did it, so he’s just pretty sure the half orc didn’t see him.
He quickly rounds several other corners and then comes to rest against the wall of an alley, once he’s sure that he’s not being followed by the brute. Now he’s really jonesing, and when that happens Jones starts to get really annoying.
“That went well I think?”, Jones says into his head in an obvious sarcastic tone.
“I told you to shut up.”, he manages to keep this dialogue internal this time.
“Why bother shutting up. You're just going to drown me out with the inevitable inebriation that you constantly seek as soon as possible. May as well get in my digs while I can you know.”, he says jovially.
“Fair enough, but could you give me a minute here to collect myself?”, he pleads to Jones.
“Uhmm. No. I will not do that. I’m quite annoyed with you actually. Do you know what it feels like to have part of oneself digested while the rest of you is still conscious and aware of the parts being digested?”, he inquires in what seems like a not sarcastic tone at all.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about or care. Please shut up Jones?”, he pleads again.
Jones tends to do this as he gets even more sober. He starts going on and on about things that just don’t make any sense to Gruv, and honestly he just doesn’t care about. This is just a manifestation of his addictions that could be the indication of a potential serious mental problem after all, so giving it too much thought is probably not too healthy in his opinion.
Gruv get’s up, brushes himself off, takes a little time to re-arrange his bag, and takes a little more care in arranging the tangled mess of the lute into something that he can at least carry without damaging further.
“Thank you.” Jones says into his head.
“Shut up Jones!” he yells out loud again.(God Damnit)
Thankfully, Jones does shut up at this point, so Gruv gets himself together the rest of the way and gets ready to head back out into the traffic of the day. He really needed a drink at this point, having spilled the one back at the bar in his clumsy retrieval of his bag. Oh crap!
This is when he remembers the crunch on the floor. If he broke his flute he was so screwed, because that was his last functional instrument. It normally survived his various misadventures because it was actually made of metal. A pretty strong metal actually as it had withstood some things he honestly thinks it shouldn’t have. Knowing his luck though, this might finally have been the end of it. He quickly rifles through his bag and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees the Flute still intact. One of these days he should get it looked at by someone who knows metal and can tell him what it’s made of. He’s avoided doing this though, because he’s afraid it’s actually something quite valuable, and if he is aware of that he will likely pawn it off first chance he gets to buy something to get him drunk or high. He’s smart enough to realize this and so has decided to set himself up for success in this regard by keeping himself naive as to the material content of the instrument.
Satisfied that the crunch he heard most likely came from inside him, he closes the bag back up and starts looking for another tavern(or anywhere serving booz really). This was going to prove somewhat difficult because finding one that he had not already been kicked out of, or owed a tab that he was not ready to pay was getting to be harder and harder in this city. It may be time to move on, but that generally required more gold than Gruv had, so he was somewhat stuck it would seem.
He still had the flute(thank the gods), and he could play it well enough to generally earn himself enough coin to get by. Worst case scenario, he could fight. If you could fight, there was generally always some work for you. The thing is that Gruv didn’t like to fight. Well, he did like to fight, but just not the serious kind of fighting. Bar brawls were fun. Generally nobody lost a limb in a bar brawl. Yes, it could happen, but it was much less likely to happen then in actual fight on a battleground with swords and axes and such. Gruv didn’t like that kind of fighting at all. He was very fond of his limbs. One in particular actually, and that one seemed to get targeted a lot on battlefields. At least he seemed to notice a lot of warriors on the ground with arrows sticking out from between their legs, an axe embedded in what was probably not an inner thigh, or just missing their bottom half entirely. The point was that people tended to aim for the nether regions a lot in combat, and that Gruv was just ok with. I mean seriously, what is wrong with people? There was this Rogue that he knew named Shivs that was always stabbing people in the balls or their nether region equivalent. The guy would have the perfect chance to stab them in the back and be done with it, but would wait for them to turn around so he could look them in the eye and stab them right in their family jewels! Who does that?!
He put those thoughts aside as he continued his main quest. Finding a drink. He didn’t have much coin left and this was usually the most affordable form of intoxication available in any given town. What he was willing to drink to get knackered usually didn’t much matter to him, and had ingested some pretty foul things in order to achieve his desired state of mind at times. He would never drink Orc piss again though. Allowing himself to be convinced that the piss of a full blooded orc, allowed to age through the full moon while sealed in a clay pot with gnomish brewing enchantments, would get him drunk was a real low point. Not just in the self respect department, but in the pocket book. That “enchanted” gnomish brewing pot had set him back 20 GP. He was gonna have words with that little bastard if he ever found him again. I mean, it most definitely did not work. He tried it… Twice just to be sure. It definitely doesn’t work. Although it didn’t taste as bad as he had expected and he was able to hold it down. That is why he was sure it didn't work.
Yeah, he wasn’t falling for that again. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice… wait was trying it a second time to be sure being fooled twice?
“Yes.”, Jones said blandly.
“Shut up Jones”, he managed to say internally this time. (Thank the gods)
End of back story below is explanation of the addiction mechanic, and the enchanted Lute NPC.
Addiction Mechanics- Gruv is an addict of intoxication of all kind and of course sex, but generally is craving just one of them on any given day to extent that it affects his decisions. He usually doesn’t have enough money to plan ahead and stock everything he could potentially crave, so he usually has to go out and somehow earn the money to purchase the intoxicant he is craving, and thus is always motivated to take part in whatever the activity/quest the group is involved in. As long as it pays, or will potentially put him in a room with the thing he is craving that day.
Start of day or after rest - The addiction mechanic happens at the beginning of each day with the following roll of the DM(open to modification as DM sees fit as make sense if Gruv develops more addictions)
A roll of a D6 determines the craving of the day.
Wants to get drunk. Is willing to drink pretty much anything to do this.
Wants to get stoned. Smoking mostly, but whatever gets him the “stoned” effect will do.
Wants to hallucinate. Form of intoxicant doesn’t matter. He wants to trip balls.
Wants pain killers. Even if he’s not in pain. No healing magic won’t do.
Wants to get laid. He likes brothels and prefers females, but if it’s a good party(and he’s been to many good parties) he’s generally down for whatever. If someone is willing to pay him, there is very little he won’t do depending on how bad he is jonesing.
Actually feels good and isn’t craving anything today.
Whenever Gruv is in an area around the things he’s addicted to - Same roll as above to determine what gets his attention. If the roll matches one of the things in the area, then his addiction is triggered and you proceed to the modifier roll. If the roll doesn’t match a thing in the area then nothing happens.
Addiction Modifier - After it is determine what if anything Gruv needs a fix for, there is then a roll determine how bad he needs it, and how much that is going to hinder or perhaps even help him.
Not so bad. Wants it, and is willing to join the group to make money to get it, but isn’t affected by the desire to the point there are any modifiers.
Is slightly distracted by the need for it. Modifier suggestions are to Int, Cha, and Wis. Minor penalties should be applied to these stats for the day.
Wants it pretty damn bad. Same as above with increased modifiers to Int, Cha, and Wis stats.
Needs it, and is willing to stab someone to get it. Further increase to negative modifiers to Int, Cha and Wis stats, but now has a bonus to Str, Dex, and Con because he pretty much don’t give sh!* about anything and starts to ignore the limits of his body. Ever see a crackhead run when they need some crack. This is real.
Needs it so bad that he doesn’t want to join the group at all. Modifiers for level 4 are present, but he is now willing to go out and just outright rob someone to get the coin he needs. The other players will have to restrain/convince him to not do this, which should be able to accomplished through intimidation/coercion of the players without too much difficulty. It’s not meant to hijack the session or anything like that.
Is sick with withdrawals. He will be unable to get out of bed without some kind of healing magic being performed on him. Doesn’t need to be powerful at all. Anything will do. Once this is performed he move to the status of a level 5 roll.
The Lute “Jones”
Jones in his back story is actually the Lute talking to him. It is a conscious NPC that speaks into the mind of its owner. Gruv doesn’t hear it most of the time because he’s usually intoxicated, and this prevents the Lute from being heard. When he starts to Sober up, he is able to hear it, but attributes it to his need for one of his various vices, so he is not aware that the Lute is in fact conscious.
Jones doesn’t really like Gruv, but has grown fond of him over time. It was not in fact handed down through the generations of Gruv’s family and was stolen by his grandfather(a Rogue/Bard) at some point. It is a quite valuable enchanted Lute that was created in “insert bard lore”. It was meant for greatness, and is now reduced to being played in seedy(and smelly) establishments for the entertainment of brutes, miscreants, and other individuals below the noble status it was meant to entertain.
Gruv is not aware of this, but may become aware at some point. Up to GM. The player can’t just decide that they figured it out.
The Jones Mechanic - This just determines if Gruv responds outloud to something Jones says or if he manages to internalize it. This mostly only occurs when Gruv is starting to sober up because that is generally the only time he hears Jones’s voice, but in the end is always up to DM discretion. At the start, this is D4 roll. Gruv has a 25% chance to respond out loud to something Jone’s says. Which number triggers this doesn’t matter.
Repairing Jones - Yes, Jones can potentially be repaired, but if this happiness and how is mostly up to the GM. The outline of the idea for how this could take place is as follows:
Repairing jones would require the assistance of the original maker(determined by GM), if Gruv is able to find this individual, then he will find out that they are not so happy with his grandfather, and by proxy not so happy with him. The Lute was created for use by a great bard “insert bard lore”, and the fact that it has fallen into the hands of Gruv is insulting to them. The thing is that the use of the Lute requires that it has a connection with the musician, and at this point that is Gruv. The maker considers the Lute a friend(because it is conscious), so is willing to help repair it. For a price. The details beyond this, and honestly those details are up to GM. If they want Jones to remain broken and just an annoying voice in Gruv’s head, then that’s the way it goes.
Stats of Jones - First of all, Jones is not it’s real name, and if repaired Gruv will learn this. Name up to Gm. Stats and effects of a repaired “Jones” are up to the GM. Repairing Jones should also open up(potentially) quests that pertain to Gruv trying to become an actual musician of note, and maybe even getting sober.
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Game: D&D
Group preferred: Online
Experience: Experienced but haven't played for a long time. Just getting back into it.
Location/Timezone: PST
Availability: After 5pm PST, and after 10pm PST
Preferred role: Player
Game style: I would like a solid mix of Role Playing with other elements. As anyone can see by my character ideas and backstories, I like interesting characters that shine in an environment with more role playing. I don't have much interest in creating a fighter that just hacks their way through battles gaining exp and acquiring loot. I can do that in a video game. I'm here for the kind of experience you don't get from a video game, and that is the role playing.
This character is a junky bard that has an enchanted Lute that is an NPC, although he doesn't know that. It speaks directly into its owner's mind, but the character can only hear it when they are sober or at least starting sober up. That's the general idea. I have a detailed backstory with mechanics that relate to these ideas outline below.
Thelonious Gruvspinner backstory with custom mechanics and enchanted Lute NPC description:
Thelonious is an addict. (He prefers the name Gruv by the way, but nobody ever calls him that, but he thinks of himself in that name.)
He could be a great musician. It’s in his blood, or so he’s been told by his grandad that left him his enchanted Lute. The problem is that Thelonious is a hardcore addict of not just one but many vices. Booze, smoke, things you eat that do things to you besides nourish you, and of course women.
These vices tend to get in his way a lot when it comes to getting ahead in life, and especially when it comes to that whole “become a world famous bard” endeavor he’s always prattling on about when he gets on one... or two…. Ok let’s be honest it’s normally at least 3 or 4. The hold up there is Thelonious… sorry Gruv has a temper.
It's hard to commit to an instrument when you're constantly breaking it, and this is the general blight of Gruv’s existence. He's always breaking shit. Usually his, but not always, which of course is a problem as well. You see, it's very hard to learn the lute. Even if you have grandpa's magical lute that was past down(probably stolen) to you. Even more so if that lute was just smashed into the face of someone who insulted your performance. This is, in fact, what Thelonious has just done.
The real problem with splintering your treasured family heirloom to pieces across the face of a half orc is that.... well first. You now have no more lute. Much less one that was handed down to you by your pappy. Repairable?... Yeah probably not. Part of it is embedded into the face of the half orc(good luck retrieving those bits), he swallowed a good portion of the rest(yeah you don’t want that back) of it just to spite you and show you how little it actually hurt him, and at this point you hold in your hand a piece of wood with a few strings and splinters hanging from it. More likely to hinder your ability to attack or defend rather than help it. You should probably drop it and run now…
Thelonious burst out the door of the tavern! The remnants of his pappy’s lute jangle from his hand and tangle around his ankles, causing him to trip and fall face first into the dirt. The Lute(well what's left of the Lute) almost seems to try to consciously roll away from Gruv but doesn’t get far. It is a tangle of strings and wood at this point, so it doesn’t really possess the physical attributes of something that can roll.
Gruv immediately forgets about this though, as he has just realized that he left his bag in the tavern, and that bag has… well not much in it, but it does have his gold, and he needs a fix. Bad. He quickly rolls over and assesses the situation. He can see the Orc, well Half Orc(yeah right Gruv thinks that guy is huge) from the waist down walking casually towards the batwing doors of the tavern. They swing open a few times in the wake of Gruv’s exit and with each swing open he can see the Orcs expression gradually turn, in cut frame animation style, from a frown into a smile as he sees Gruv lying prone on the ground, appearing to be just waiting for the inevitable beating he is going to receive.
Gruv mainly has his attention focused on retrieving his gold though. He’s trying to get his orientation so he can figure out where he is now in relation to his bag. Let’s see, it wasn’t by the stage where he had just performed. A quite good performance if he did say so himself. He’s not generally good at taking negative feedback, and he does admit this, but right now was not the day to be laughing at his rendition of “insert appropriate lore for campaign”. He was jonesing hard, and that made him…. Well let’s just say cranky. THE TABLE! That’s right he had left his bag on the table with his drink(did he finish it?..)
He sees his move. It’s risky, and it’s going to hurt, but he should survive. The table is to his right just on the other side of the tavern window. He had picked that one so he could watch the whores across the street without being harrassed for gawking at them without payment. He had been beaten up for that before. Several times. By the whores. Sometimes the Pimps, but usually just the whores. Hey, the whores of “INSERT STARTING CITY” were used to fending off much more dangerous foes than Gruv, and could generally handle themselves in a fight. He was honestly more scared of them than this Half Orc when it came down to it.
He waits for the batwing doors to swing shut one last time and rolls to the right as they do. He’s hoping the effect will be that the Orcs' view will be obstructed enough that he won’t be able to see which way he has rolled, and hopefully this will buy him a few extra seconds. He gets up and looks at the window of the tavern he is now standing in front of. He knew already it was not a window that opened, and so had already determined he was going to have to dive through it. With a grimace, he dives through the window; which he just now realizes he’s probably going to have to pay for, crashes over the table, spilling his drink(goddamnit), and falling with a painful crunch(was this his flute.. Goddamnit) onto the tavern floor. He did manage to grab his bag in the tumbling mess that was supposed to be his slick retrieval of his loot, followed by a triumphant wink and smile to the Orc, as he finished his drink and jumped back out the window. Yeah, it didn’t quite go down like that. The smell of piss, blood, vomit, booze, and whatever else gets tracked onto the floor in a place like this on the boots of its patrons, is so strong in his nostrils that it makes him dizzy, and he actually stumbles a bit from it when he gets up. After staggering for a moment, he bumps into a wall and braces himself… Wait, that’s not a wall. It’s the half orc, and now he’s really smiling. Clearly not fooled by what Gruv thought was a pretty slick move, the Orc had just watched in amusement as Gruv threw himself through a window back into the tavern, and then incoherently staggered right back up to him.
Goddamnit.
A moment later Gruv is tossed back out the window(a different one that he will also have to pay for) by the Orc and back into the street. Landing conveniently enough right next to the remains of his precious Lute.
“If it’s so precious why did you use it as an ill conceived weapon?”, Jones says to him.
“Shut up Jones”, he yells back out loud.
This causes several people to turn and look at him, as seeing someone tossed out of this bar isn’t necessarily something that is worthy of even turning your head to look at, if the victim starts acting crazy, like say starts having an argument with themselves, then maybe it’s worth taking a gander. At the very least to see if you need to move further away from what is about to be probably a pretty entertaining shit show.
No, Gruv isn’t crazy, he’s a junky. When he’s really jonesing, that means he’s not currently high, drunk, or between the thighs of some other distraction, he tends to start to question himself and his decisions a lot more than he normally does. This manifests itself in what he swears to god is a voice in his head. He knows it’s not real, but it really does sound that way sometimes to the point he snaps at it out loud. Yet another thing that tends to get him into trouble or at they very least create awkward moments.
He looks over at the Lute, which he can swear just moved of its own accord away from him, and hastily gathers up what’s left of it and stuffs it haphazardly into his bag. Getting up, he looks back at the saloon style batwing doors of the tavern, expecting to see the half orc(has to be a full orc) sauntering out to end the life of Gruv with as much pain as possible.
Nobody comes out. Huh? Not sure what the hold up is there, but he’s not waiting around to find out. The dizziness from the tavern floor has passed, and it was momentarily replaced by the dizziness of being tossed back out the window, but now his head is clear enough to get up and actually make a run for it. He does just that, and manages to get around a corner before the half orc comes out and sees him. At least, he hopes he didn’t see him. Calling what he just did a mad dash would be being far too generous regarding the coherency with which he did it, so he’s just pretty sure the half orc didn’t see him.
He quickly rounds several other corners and then comes to rest against the wall of an alley, once he’s sure that he’s not being followed by the brute. Now he’s really jonesing, and when that happens Jones starts to get really annoying.
“That went well I think?”, Jones says into his head in an obvious sarcastic tone.
“I told you to shut up.”, he manages to keep this dialogue internal this time.
“Why bother shutting up. You're just going to drown me out with the inevitable inebriation that you constantly seek as soon as possible. May as well get in my digs while I can you know.”, he says jovially.
“Fair enough, but could you give me a minute here to collect myself?”, he pleads to Jones.
“Uhmm. No. I will not do that. I’m quite annoyed with you actually. Do you know what it feels like to have part of oneself digested while the rest of you is still conscious and aware of the parts being digested?”, he inquires in what seems like a not sarcastic tone at all.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about or care. Please shut up Jones?”, he pleads again.
Jones tends to do this as he gets even more sober. He starts going on and on about things that just don’t make any sense to Gruv, and honestly he just doesn’t care about. This is just a manifestation of his addictions that could be the indication of a potential serious mental problem after all, so giving it too much thought is probably not too healthy in his opinion.
Gruv get’s up, brushes himself off, takes a little time to re-arrange his bag, and takes a little more care in arranging the tangled mess of the lute into something that he can at least carry without damaging further.
“Thank you.” Jones says into his head.
“Shut up Jones!” he yells out loud again.(God Damnit)
Thankfully, Jones does shut up at this point, so Gruv gets himself together the rest of the way and gets ready to head back out into the traffic of the day. He really needed a drink at this point, having spilled the one back at the bar in his clumsy retrieval of his bag. Oh crap!
This is when he remembers the crunch on the floor. If he broke his flute he was so screwed, because that was his last functional instrument. It normally survived his various misadventures because it was actually made of metal. A pretty strong metal actually as it had withstood some things he honestly thinks it shouldn’t have. Knowing his luck though, this might finally have been the end of it. He quickly rifles through his bag and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees the Flute still intact. One of these days he should get it looked at by someone who knows metal and can tell him what it’s made of. He’s avoided doing this though, because he’s afraid it’s actually something quite valuable, and if he is aware of that he will likely pawn it off first chance he gets to buy something to get him drunk or high. He’s smart enough to realize this and so has decided to set himself up for success in this regard by keeping himself naive as to the material content of the instrument.
Satisfied that the crunch he heard most likely came from inside him, he closes the bag back up and starts looking for another tavern(or anywhere serving booz really). This was going to prove somewhat difficult because finding one that he had not already been kicked out of, or owed a tab that he was not ready to pay was getting to be harder and harder in this city. It may be time to move on, but that generally required more gold than Gruv had, so he was somewhat stuck it would seem.
He still had the flute(thank the gods), and he could play it well enough to generally earn himself enough coin to get by. Worst case scenario, he could fight. If you could fight, there was generally always some work for you. The thing is that Gruv didn’t like to fight. Well, he did like to fight, but just not the serious kind of fighting. Bar brawls were fun. Generally nobody lost a limb in a bar brawl. Yes, it could happen, but it was much less likely to happen then in actual fight on a battleground with swords and axes and such. Gruv didn’t like that kind of fighting at all. He was very fond of his limbs. One in particular actually, and that one seemed to get targeted a lot on battlefields. At least he seemed to notice a lot of warriors on the ground with arrows sticking out from between their legs, an axe embedded in what was probably not an inner thigh, or just missing their bottom half entirely. The point was that people tended to aim for the nether regions a lot in combat, and that Gruv was just ok with. I mean seriously, what is wrong with people? There was this Rogue that he knew named Shivs that was always stabbing people in the balls or their nether region equivalent. The guy would have the perfect chance to stab them in the back and be done with it, but would wait for them to turn around so he could look them in the eye and stab them right in their family jewels! Who does that?!
He put those thoughts aside as he continued his main quest. Finding a drink. He didn’t have much coin left and this was usually the most affordable form of intoxication available in any given town. What he was willing to drink to get knackered usually didn’t much matter to him, and had ingested some pretty foul things in order to achieve his desired state of mind at times. He would never drink Orc piss again though. Allowing himself to be convinced that the piss of a full blooded orc, allowed to age through the full moon while sealed in a clay pot with gnomish brewing enchantments, would get him drunk was a real low point. Not just in the self respect department, but in the pocket book. That “enchanted” gnomish brewing pot had set him back 20 GP. He was gonna have words with that little bastard if he ever found him again. I mean, it most definitely did not work. He tried it… Twice just to be sure. It definitely doesn’t work. Although it didn’t taste as bad as he had expected and he was able to hold it down. That is why he was sure it didn't work.
Yeah, he wasn’t falling for that again. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice… wait was trying it a second time to be sure being fooled twice?
“Yes.”, Jones said blandly.
“Shut up Jones”, he managed to say internally this time. (Thank the gods)
End of back story below is explanation of the addiction mechanic, and the enchanted Lute NPC.
Addiction Mechanics- Gruv is an addict of intoxication of all kind and of course sex, but generally is craving just one of them on any given day to extent that it affects his decisions. He usually doesn’t have enough money to plan ahead and stock everything he could potentially crave, so he usually has to go out and somehow earn the money to purchase the intoxicant he is craving, and thus is always motivated to take part in whatever the activity/quest the group is involved in. As long as it pays, or will potentially put him in a room with the thing he is craving that day.
Start of day or after rest - The addiction mechanic happens at the beginning of each day with the following roll of the DM(open to modification as DM sees fit as make sense if Gruv develops more addictions)
A roll of a D6 determines the craving of the day.
Whenever Gruv is in an area around the things he’s addicted to - Same roll as above to determine what gets his attention. If the roll matches one of the things in the area, then his addiction is triggered and you proceed to the modifier roll. If the roll doesn’t match a thing in the area then nothing happens.
Addiction Modifier - After it is determine what if anything Gruv needs a fix for, there is then a roll determine how bad he needs it, and how much that is going to hinder or perhaps even help him.
The Lute “Jones”
Jones in his back story is actually the Lute talking to him. It is a conscious NPC that speaks into the mind of its owner. Gruv doesn’t hear it most of the time because he’s usually intoxicated, and this prevents the Lute from being heard. When he starts to Sober up, he is able to hear it, but attributes it to his need for one of his various vices, so he is not aware that the Lute is in fact conscious.
Jones doesn’t really like Gruv, but has grown fond of him over time. It was not in fact handed down through the generations of Gruv’s family and was stolen by his grandfather(a Rogue/Bard) at some point. It is a quite valuable enchanted Lute that was created in “insert bard lore”. It was meant for greatness, and is now reduced to being played in seedy(and smelly) establishments for the entertainment of brutes, miscreants, and other individuals below the noble status it was meant to entertain.
Gruv is not aware of this, but may become aware at some point. Up to GM. The player can’t just decide that they figured it out.
The Jones Mechanic - This just determines if Gruv responds outloud to something Jones says or if he manages to internalize it. This mostly only occurs when Gruv is starting to sober up because that is generally the only time he hears Jones’s voice, but in the end is always up to DM discretion. At the start, this is D4 roll. Gruv has a 25% chance to respond out loud to something Jone’s says. Which number triggers this doesn’t matter.
Repairing Jones - Yes, Jones can potentially be repaired, but if this happiness and how is mostly up to the GM. The outline of the idea for how this could take place is as follows:
Repairing jones would require the assistance of the original maker(determined by GM), if Gruv is able to find this individual, then he will find out that they are not so happy with his grandfather, and by proxy not so happy with him. The Lute was created for use by a great bard “insert bard lore”, and the fact that it has fallen into the hands of Gruv is insulting to them. The thing is that the use of the Lute requires that it has a connection with the musician, and at this point that is Gruv. The maker considers the Lute a friend(because it is conscious), so is willing to help repair it. For a price. The details beyond this, and honestly those details are up to GM. If they want Jones to remain broken and just an annoying voice in Gruv’s head, then that’s the way it goes.
Stats of Jones - First of all, Jones is not it’s real name, and if repaired Gruv will learn this. Name up to Gm. Stats and effects of a repaired “Jones” are up to the GM. Repairing Jones should also open up(potentially) quests that pertain to Gruv trying to become an actual musician of note, and maybe even getting sober.