Character Submission Thread

Reviewing Siddharta

I made some minor edits as part of the pre-approval process:[sblock=Disclosure]Made it clear FC was in skill points and increased total points to 2; corrected Ride skill to 3 (DEX 5, -2 ACP); corrected weight carried to 92 pounds; clarified that longbow attack is using Deadly Aim; fixed tag in Adventures Page and moved to DWI[/sblock]Misc Items of Interest (no particular order):
- Background: Looks fine. The first sentence of the third paragraph looks like it's missing a clause or phrase there, as if what you were thinking didn't quite make it into the final version. You might want to take a look.
- Appearance: 'Perfect physical specimen' is rather an odd way of describing someone with such divergent physical statistics, particularly Str 20 and Con 8. Offhand, I'm not even sure how to reflect that, to be honest.
- Languages: I don't see a likely candidate language for someone from the civilized lands of the western continent. There is 'barbarian' tongue, Jira'shae, but that doesn't seem to fit the feel of Buloxi as laid out in the background. This leads to whether or not a new language can be contrived, or an existing language can be considered equivalent. Checking on that.
- Stats: The most literal description of Siddharta's stats is mini-maxed--either putting in lots of points or taking out lots of points. While I'm not going to hold up approval for such a thing by any stretch, I would recommend against that, particularly in context of a class with a weak will save and Wis 7.

STAMP! Siddharta is APPROVED. Enjoy! (If you end up having any post approval mechanical edits, just let me know I'll do a double-check.)

Question to the other judges: I assume there is still room to develop at least a couple major languages for people from the Western Continent? Or do they speak variants of already detailed languages? I looked at the languages thread and it didn't seem to get addressed.

Scott DeWar said:

aw come on. I just wanted have fun. harumph.

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No worries.

Aura said:

Question to the other judges: I assume there is still room to develop at least a couple major languages for people from the Western Continent? Or do they speak variants of already detailed languages? I looked at the languages thread and it didn't seem to get addressed.

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Might be worth breaking this out into a separate thread, but my two bits for now: I don't think there's a big issue with adding a new regional, but I think if we did, it should come with a full region proposal. Buloxi certainly sounds different enough from Jirago that it might have a different language, but it also seems possible that Jira'shae, as a language commonly used between so many tribes, may be the Western continent's version of "Common." Knowing Jira'shae doesn't automatically mean someone's Common/Venzan has to sound like Daylilly's (though most of the Jiragans we've seen thus far do), mind.

Since I'm here, though, and see them now, I'd also add a bit of a warning on those stats, [MENTION=6778347]FrancisJohn[/MENTION]. They're technically legal, but on top of mechanics, I would definitely expect several of the regular GM's here are going to hold your feet to the fire as you RP a person with 7's in every single mental stat.

Siddhartha isn't just a little slow or a little absent-minded or a little off-putting. He's going to be one of the (and, in most cases, the) dimmist, least insightful, most unlikeable characters in the room. At best, there might be someone else there who's down on his level in one of those categories, but even those characters are going to be noticeably better in the others. Heck, Daylily--LPF's poster child for grossness--is going to be more likable than Siddhartha.

If you aren't prepared for NPCs to respond to him that way, or for GMs to challenge more than the most basic insights or knowledge he expresses (possibly forcing extra skill rolls for more standard ideas / practices), I would strongly reconsider his current attribute spread.

If, on the other hand, you were wanting to and are prepared to play something along the lines of Thog with a glass jaw, I'll not stand in your way.

Perhaps I'll give a rethink.

Is it at 2nd level we can make a second character to rp in the tavern, or would I be free to do that now?

Thanks!

I need some input on some alternative Ability scores. The premise of the character is he was born into slavery and forced into gladiator games. No formal education, and low-self esteem except for his combat abilities. Original build had no wisdom either, but might want to add some. Going to choose dual talent human alternative racial ability. First round through was pretty extreme min/maxing, but might want to alter that a bit to make a more well-rounded character. No matter what, I want to make him awesome with a composite longbow.

jkason kind of scared me that RPing him would be rather simple, and simple might be boring. Less impressive stats might be more enjoyable to role play.

Here is a link to the original character.

Original numbers (extreme combat) 20 20 8 7 7 7

Alternate 1 (keen wisdom build) 18 18 8 7 16 7

Alternate 2 (strong but well rounded) 18 18 12 10 12 7 (maybe with CHA and INT switched)

Alternate 3 (moderation everywhere) 17 16 14 7 14 12 (maybe with CHA and INT switched)

Alternate 4 (boring symmetry) 16 16 14 10 14 10

What are your thoughts?

I am a bit curious about how you picture the man would make his mark in this world. If he ultimate lot in life is to become a tool for the powerful and wealthy (or lapdog to an infatuation), you've pretty much got the build right. He would basically be roaming like a pet without an owner, having extreme difficulty functioning socially in the world until someone one comes along and, for whatever motive, takes him under their wings. I see him as someone easily manipulated and swayed to do the owner's bidding. Having said that, there are people in the world who function that way, and it would be a strange but nonetheless interesting direction to take a PC.

Having said that, if you're looking for somebody who will strive (consciously or subconsciously) to make an impression on the world because of who he is, and not because of how someone else uses him, here is how I would approach it:

Say I'm looking for someone who will have something within himself that will drive the change and create an impression in this world. I'll take 18/20 to show the slight bias in how he developed physically, which gives me 7 points now to further add how he impresses upon the world. The con is a non-issue, I like that physical Achilles heel in an otherwise powerful specimen. Kind like bursting power, and very flavorful. Here are some possible directions I brainstormed:

INT - Ability to treat the world and all it's interactions as an extension of the fight. Every interaction is responded to in the sense of manuevers and the resultant advantages and disadvantages relative to achieving his personal desired outcome. How he decides what makes it a win for him, and how well that outcome serves the world is seldom a concern. Winning that outcome is what's important.

WIS - Combat honed understanding of the world. A subconscious sense of when something is going on, with an intuitive sense of trying to preserve self and purpose. Cannot always figure out the nuances, but act based on instinctive decision-making finely honed from years in combat.

CHA - Force of character from being such a fine tuned, focused specimen. Radiating power of attraction because of the aura of raw physical strength. People find power attractive, and easily become interested in you and willing to interact with you because of it.

So, take one of those to a...12 (that's 6 points). The last point is flavor. Mechanically it doesn't change things (assuming all your points are going to dex or str as you level). So, boost it to 13 to highlight this new trait, or take con to 9 to reflect it's only a slight flaw (again, no mechanical difference, just a flavor).

Just some ideas of the top of my head. My recommendation would be just to brainstorm how he will interact with the world, and how you see the world interact with him. Then conceptualize what that happens, and allocate the points accordingly.

Free thoughts, dumped in a flurry of mental attack. Probably worth as much as I spent on it, but hopefully will trigger something for you to work with. Looking forward to adventuring with you, as it looks like we are the two newcomers at the bar...

Anastrace said:

Is it at 2nd level we can make a second character to rp in the tavern, or would I be free to do that now?

Thanks!

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2nd level OR two months active in an adventure OR two months active as a GM. Any of those fit the bill. Essentially, we're looking to make sure folks are sticking around and aren't just trying to flood in with a bunch of character ideas and no follow through.

You're welcome to fiddle around with stats and whatnot in the meanwhile, and I don't know that it hurts anything to bring a character concept into the DWI and role play to keep busy, either; you're allowed to use the NPCs, anway. But you'll have to wait to play the character until enough time / xp has passed.

Siddhartha is sort of a jumping the gun approval, I just realized. I got so distracted by the stats, I didn't even realize the time. hehe.

FrancisJohn said:

I need some input on some alternative Ability scores. <snip>

Original numbers (extreme combat) 20 20 8 7 7 7

Alternate 1 (keen wisdom build) 18 18 8 7 16 7

Alternate 2 (strong but well rounded) 18 18 12 10 12 7 (maybe with CHA and INT switched)

Alternate 3 (moderation everywhere) 17 16 14 7 14 12 (maybe with CHA and INT switched)

Alternate 4 (boring symmetry) 16 16 14 10 14 10

What are your thoughts?

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Of the options above, I think Alt 2 probably gives you the most workable character, and makes the most sense given the background. 2 7's and an 8 in the first option still makes me a smidge nervous. Starting out with two 18s in the primary combat stats, he's above the curve.

That 12 in Con makes a LOT more sense given his background; as Aura mentioned, it's hard to understand someone who's super strong, super agile, but has the hardiness of an emaciated squirrel.

Having his highest mental stat be Wis also makes sense, since he seems to have learned everything by instinct rather than really training.

Whether you swap Int and Cha will depend entirely on how you see him interacting with the world: is he more cunning and cagey (keep the Int bump, and the caginess can account for his lack of likability). If he has more presence and personality (he WAS the favorite in the games, yes?), with a dependence on instinct over study, then make the Cha high and the Int low.

There's nothing wrong with building someone to be really good at certain things. I certainly try, and sometimes even succeed. It was mostly the extreme nature of his stats, which, as grtrtle points out, made him basically a human weapon waiting for someone to pick him up and aim him, that had me concerned.

jkason said:

2nd level OR two months active in an adventure OR two months active as a GM. Any of those fit the bill. Essentially, we're looking to make sure folks are sticking around and aren't just trying to flood in with a bunch of character ideas and no follow through.

You're welcome to fiddle around with stats and whatnot in the meanwhile, and I don't know that it hurts anything to bring a character concept into the DWI and role play to keep busy, either; you're allowed to use the NPCs, anway. But you'll have to wait to play the character until enough time / xp has passed.

Siddhartha is sort of a jumping the gun approval, I just realized. I got so distracted by the stats, I didn't even realize the time. hehe.

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Yay! We started in July so I'm good there. I'll start working on something new to have some fun in the downtime of the current pbp.