I’m debating whether to make one of my characters either a fighter, sorcerer, or college of swords bard. For more context, here’s the summary of her backstory:
Shes a kalashtar (race in the war of eberonn handbook) that is disguised as, and was raised as a high elf princess. At the age of ten (10), her dream spirit thing (something that kalashtars have) showed up and started talking to her. Until the age of 16, she dove into her studies, trying to find anything that told of her experiences. After a fight with her adopted parents (she had shut herself in her room, when she was supposed to be doing royal princess things), and ended up casting a burst of magic, injuring several people, then running away, taking money, adventuring gear, and a sword with. She now wanders the woods, staying away from people, trying her best to find out about who she actually is.
Sorcerer makes the most sense to me. “Oh crap, my magic lashed out and injured a bunch of people” comes across as incompetence or selfishness from any other class, but for a sorcerer, it’s a formative accident.
I would rule out fighter (or any other non-caster class) if magic is involved as a major element of her backstory. Sorcerer could work, but that would generally rule out the sword since even if you somehow get proficiency for it sorcerers generally don't belong in melee combat if they have a strong survival instinct. You could go multiclass fighter/sorcerer, but that seems to me an ineffective way of mixing "sword and sorcery" compared to just going the bard route. Mechanically, that's basically what a bard is: a sorcerer that gives up some magical potency (particularly straight up combat magic) for some competency at mundane fighting with abilities to blend the two.
She likes to study? Bards love knowledge and tend to collect it, albeit often in the form of poetry, stories, and songs. She accidentally lashed out with harmful magic during an argument? Sounds like the vicious mockery cantrip would work great there as it's literally an insult that causes real injury and it's something a first level character would be able to do. She grabbed a sword as her weapon of choice while bugging out? Bards can use swords, and you could probably justify her having at least some basic training with one, possibly from sport fencing as an athletic hobby or even a family tradition.
I would rule out fighter (or any other non-caster class) if magic is involved as a major element of her backstory.
You can make something like fighter work if the eventual idea is to add some casting later, either via multiclassing (sorcerer does make the most sense there), a subclass like Eldritch Knight or a feat like Magic Initiate or Fey Touched.
Basically she would spend her first few levels running away from and denying that side of herself, but finally the magic bursts out again for good. In that scenario I'd suggest not even using the kalashtar Mind Link telepathy except in moments of great stress, until she begins to reconcile with that aspect of herself.
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I would rule out fighter (or any other non-caster class) if magic is involved as a major element of her backstory.
You can make something like fighter work if the eventual idea is to add some casting later, either via multiclassing (sorcerer does make the most sense there), a subclass like Eldritch Knight or a feat like Magic Initiate or Fey Touched.
Basically she would spend her first few levels running away from and denying that side of herself, but finally the magic bursts out again for good. In that scenario I'd suggest not even using the kalashtar Mind Link telepathy except in moments of great stress, until she begins to reconcile with that aspect of herself.
That seems like a good idea, and I like the addition of denying the magic! I might end up going with a fighter/sorcerer multi class, as eldritch knight is more like a wizard than any other spellcasting class.
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I’m debating whether to make one of my characters either a fighter, sorcerer, or college of swords bard. For more context, here’s the summary of her backstory:
Shes a kalashtar (race in the war of eberonn handbook) that is disguised as, and was raised as a high elf princess. At the age of ten (10), her dream spirit thing (something that kalashtars have) showed up and started talking to her. Until the age of 16, she dove into her studies, trying to find anything that told of her experiences. After a fight with her adopted parents (she had shut herself in her room, when she was supposed to be doing royal princess things), and ended up casting a burst of magic, injuring several people, then running away, taking money, adventuring gear, and a sword with. She now wanders the woods, staying away from people, trying her best to find out about who she actually is.
Sorcerer makes the most sense to me. “Oh crap, my magic lashed out and injured a bunch of people” comes across as incompetence or selfishness from any other class, but for a sorcerer, it’s a formative accident.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I would rule out fighter (or any other non-caster class) if magic is involved as a major element of her backstory. Sorcerer could work, but that would generally rule out the sword since even if you somehow get proficiency for it sorcerers generally don't belong in melee combat if they have a strong survival instinct. You could go multiclass fighter/sorcerer, but that seems to me an ineffective way of mixing "sword and sorcery" compared to just going the bard route. Mechanically, that's basically what a bard is: a sorcerer that gives up some magical potency (particularly straight up combat magic) for some competency at mundane fighting with abilities to blend the two.
She likes to study? Bards love knowledge and tend to collect it, albeit often in the form of poetry, stories, and songs. She accidentally lashed out with harmful magic during an argument? Sounds like the vicious mockery cantrip would work great there as it's literally an insult that causes real injury and it's something a first level character would be able to do. She grabbed a sword as her weapon of choice while bugging out? Bards can use swords, and you could probably justify her having at least some basic training with one, possibly from sport fencing as an athletic hobby or even a family tradition.
You can make something like fighter work if the eventual idea is to add some casting later, either via multiclassing (sorcerer does make the most sense there), a subclass like Eldritch Knight or a feat like Magic Initiate or Fey Touched.
Basically she would spend her first few levels running away from and denying that side of herself, but finally the magic bursts out again for good. In that scenario I'd suggest not even using the kalashtar Mind Link telepathy except in moments of great stress, until she begins to reconcile with that aspect of herself.
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That seems like a good idea, and I like the addition of denying the magic! I might end up going with a fighter/sorcerer multi class, as eldritch knight is more like a wizard than any other spellcasting class.