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FRCS: Character Concepts. Help!
- Thread starter Tetsuwan
- Start date
How about this:
The distant realm of Halruua is a fantastical one, a magical place where everyone is purported to be a thaumaturgist capable of arcane prowess unseen anywhere else in Faerun. You are a wizard of no small might and have spent your life studying the Weave, pondering magic theory and discussing the larger world beyond. However, for all its knowledge, Halruua is an isolated realm. The world has changed much since the days of Netheril and you are beginning to stagnate in your homeland. It doesn't challenge you anymore. Tales filter from the North, rumors of a lost Netheril city appearing above the desert, cities where magic has died, and vast libraries holding secrets that have not seen the light of day in ages. The call to adventure is too great for you to resist. Unlike your peers, you have a desire to explore, to travel. With that, you made your preparations and stepped through one of the many portals that exist in Halruua. However, something went wrong; the magic failed to transport you to your destination and you find yourself lost in a world that is all but unknown to you...
This concept lets you play the wizard you suggested while allowing you to be unfamiliar with the Realms. Halruua is a far land that doesn't interact much with the more standard FR settings. The malfunctioning portal lets you conveniently end up wherever it is that your DM is planning on running. A 10th level Halruuan wizard would kickass. If I were you, I'd be working towards that archmage prestige class, so choose feats accordingly. Much fun.
The distant realm of Halruua is a fantastical one, a magical place where everyone is purported to be a thaumaturgist capable of arcane prowess unseen anywhere else in Faerun. You are a wizard of no small might and have spent your life studying the Weave, pondering magic theory and discussing the larger world beyond. However, for all its knowledge, Halruua is an isolated realm. The world has changed much since the days of Netheril and you are beginning to stagnate in your homeland. It doesn't challenge you anymore. Tales filter from the North, rumors of a lost Netheril city appearing above the desert, cities where magic has died, and vast libraries holding secrets that have not seen the light of day in ages. The call to adventure is too great for you to resist. Unlike your peers, you have a desire to explore, to travel. With that, you made your preparations and stepped through one of the many portals that exist in Halruua. However, something went wrong; the magic failed to transport you to your destination and you find yourself lost in a world that is all but unknown to you...
This concept lets you play the wizard you suggested while allowing you to be unfamiliar with the Realms. Halruua is a far land that doesn't interact much with the more standard FR settings. The malfunctioning portal lets you conveniently end up wherever it is that your DM is planning on running. A 10th level Halruuan wizard would kickass. If I were you, I'd be working towards that archmage prestige class, so choose feats accordingly. Much fun.
RogueJK
It's not "Rouge"... That's makeup.
Gaius said:
That is an excellent idea. This got me thinking of other ways to make the character as unfamiliar with the Realms as you are...
1. Play an elf from Evermeet. This island is far from the mainland of Faerun, and it would allow you to use knowledge that you already have (regarding elves, elven society, and elven culture) while letting you gradually gain knowledge about the Realms.
2. Play a visitor from Kara-Tur. Kara-Tur is the Oriental portion of Toril, so this would give another good excuse for an unfamiliarity of the area. For reference, Kara-Tur is far to the East. It's not even pictured on the main FR map.
3. Play a colonist from Maztica. Maztica is the "New World' part fo the Realms, and it closely resembles the Aztec/Central American area. It is located far to the west, across the sea. Colonists from Faerun have recently sailed over and established colonies. Maybe you were born in one of the colonies, then decided to move back to the mainland in order to seek your fortune as an adventurer.
4. Play a traveler from Zakhara. Zakhara is the Arabian section fo the Realms. In 2e, it was the setting for Al-Qadim. It is located to the south of Chult. It isn't pictured on the main map, either.
5. Play a native from the Great Glacier. The culture there is very similar to the Inuit/Eskimos.
6. Play a barbarian from Icewind Dale or the North. The barbarian tribes roam the icy wastes far to the north, near the Sea of Moving Ice, and usually have little to do with the outside world. Some tribes of Uthgardt barbarians live in the region near Silverymoon, though, which is slightly south of the Spine of the World Mountains.
There are many ways of getting around a lack of knowledge about the Realms. Make a character which knows only as much about the world around him as you do.
What area is the campaign to be set in? This might help to nail down your character's background, because you could look at nearby regions.
Aside from that, and working from your archer idea, at one point I was going to run a mounted archer from one of the Uthgardt barbarian tribes (detailed in the North area.) I can't remember if he was a Rgr/Brb or Rgr/Ftr, but the backstory was that he was a part of a recon party that was slaughtered by a group of orcs (his favored enemy). Just before death he was rescued by an elf rogue (another PC) that was traveling from Waterdeep to Neverwinter. The new FRCS provides a list of different tribes and their patron deity aspects (they all follow variations of Uthgardt.)
Off the top of my head, other areas that would make sense for an archer would include the Dalelands, Cormyr, the East (for a more Mongolian approach) or any of the elven nations. Any of the elven deities would be appropriate if you wanted to try an archer cleric type. A Dalelands archer would tend more towards the hunter/woodsman type, while a Cormyrian archer could easily be an army sniper type--since you will be 10th level, he could even be a part of the royal guard, or with a few levels of rogue and Guild Thief, you could have an assassin type. If you have access to PrCs from Masters of the wild, an elf from the Grey Hills or Cormanthor would make an excellant Deepwood Sniper.
Hope that helps!
tribeof1
Aside from that, and working from your archer idea, at one point I was going to run a mounted archer from one of the Uthgardt barbarian tribes (detailed in the North area.) I can't remember if he was a Rgr/Brb or Rgr/Ftr, but the backstory was that he was a part of a recon party that was slaughtered by a group of orcs (his favored enemy). Just before death he was rescued by an elf rogue (another PC) that was traveling from Waterdeep to Neverwinter. The new FRCS provides a list of different tribes and their patron deity aspects (they all follow variations of Uthgardt.)
Off the top of my head, other areas that would make sense for an archer would include the Dalelands, Cormyr, the East (for a more Mongolian approach) or any of the elven nations. Any of the elven deities would be appropriate if you wanted to try an archer cleric type. A Dalelands archer would tend more towards the hunter/woodsman type, while a Cormyrian archer could easily be an army sniper type--since you will be 10th level, he could even be a part of the royal guard, or with a few levels of rogue and Guild Thief, you could have an assassin type. If you have access to PrCs from Masters of the wild, an elf from the Grey Hills or Cormanthor would make an excellant Deepwood Sniper.
Hope that helps!
tribeof1
Oni
First Post
Tetsuwan said:
Well if you look up Shade and shades in the index of the FRCS you should come up with an decent amount of information. If you have access to it the Lords of Darkness supplement has more information on the shades and the city of Shade itself. Anyway it would give you that stranger in a strange land thing so you wouldn't have to know all that much about the realms, though maybe some knowledge of ancient Netheril might be in line.
ruleslawyer
Registered User
The above ideas are excellent. I highly support playing a character either from Halruaa or Nimbral if you want to play an arcane spellcaster. Both countries are centers of magical learning, but more to the point, both are relatively unknown to the rest of the Realms, and vice versa. This would allow you to play up your inexperience with the Realms, and also to provide your own details as to your native country, since official details of these countries (especially Nimbral) are quite spotty.
Another option would be to play a wizard from Calimshan. Calimshan is a roughly Arabian Nights-themed region (although the full-on AN experience belongs to Zakhara, further south) similar to medieval North Africa/the Middle East with a serious fantasy/magical edge. The Calis-h-i-t-es are known for being haughty and scornful of culture in the rest of the Realms, so your character would have a good excuse for not knowing much about the rest of the Realms. Read the section on Calimshan in the FRCS and download and peruse the Calimport accessory from WotC's website at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDdownloads_classics.asp
for more details on the setting.
Another option would be to play a wizard from Calimshan. Calimshan is a roughly Arabian Nights-themed region (although the full-on AN experience belongs to Zakhara, further south) similar to medieval North Africa/the Middle East with a serious fantasy/magical edge. The Calis-h-i-t-es are known for being haughty and scornful of culture in the rest of the Realms, so your character would have a good excuse for not knowing much about the rest of the Realms. Read the section on Calimshan in the FRCS and download and peruse the Calimport accessory from WotC's website at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDdownloads_classics.asp
for more details on the setting.
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My last Realms character was a LN Diviner specialist from Mulmaster, a member of his cities 'Cloaks.' (Basically portrayed as sinister 'thought police' like the Psi-Cops of Babylon 5.)
He honestly believed that he came from the best, fairest, safest city in the Realms, where order was maintained, the innocent and just were free to live in peace and the guilty lived in dread that the 'police' of the city could pluck evidence from any crime scene (or suspect) magically.
Everyone else assumed that what they had read in various supplements written by people from RIVAL areas was unbiased and true, thinking that Mulmaster was an oppressive dictatorship where mind-reading mages would come by night, trump up phony charges and drag you out of your home (or execute you on the spot).
But he didn't come from that mythical place. The Mulmaster he came from was harsh, even cruel, but ruthlessly fair.
Someday I'll play a Red Wizard merchant / artificer who is out gathering components and amassing funds (and experience) for his research and item creation. Just to annoy the purists who assume that all Red Wizards combine the machiavellian schemes of the Brain with the mental agility of Pinky, my Red Wizard will be loyal to the homeland (if not particularly interested in living there and being dragged into deadly political strife!) and proud of his heritage and culture, but be a genius. As a genius, he will be Neutral Evil, but other than being obviously selfish and callous and (perhaps even being a Necromancer!), he won't be at all interested in lording it over people (why would be want to bother with dominating the living? They ask too many questions. Easier to stick with dead minions that can't rebel) or betraying allies (he isn't suicidal, why piss off a group of people powerful enough to be worth travelling with? The whole is always stronger than the sum of its parts, and an ally with curative magic or a strong sword-arm is always good to have around).
It would be quite the hoot to play an Evil Red Wizard who is more able to function in a good aligned party cooperatively and reliably than the average Paladin player... I think a *reasonable* and intelligent evil character, able to play well with others and juggle cooperation with optimizing his own personal benefit from any given encounter, could be challenging to play. Then again, in 15 odd years of gaming, it's always the *good* characters that screw up a party and cause strife, so evil must be better.
For an archer, the Dales and the North of Waterdeep / Silvery Marches area have a lot of hunter sorts who might go for that. Most other areas in the Realms are a tad over-developed to have Rangers or hunters (Sembia doesn't even have a forest left...), or hate 'adventurers' and charge them a few hundred gp a year just to exist, although they might have more militant yeomen that are at liberty and can find time to 'adventure,' assuming their mercenary company / unit isn't at war or otherwise actively engaged and needing their services.
He honestly believed that he came from the best, fairest, safest city in the Realms, where order was maintained, the innocent and just were free to live in peace and the guilty lived in dread that the 'police' of the city could pluck evidence from any crime scene (or suspect) magically.
Everyone else assumed that what they had read in various supplements written by people from RIVAL areas was unbiased and true, thinking that Mulmaster was an oppressive dictatorship where mind-reading mages would come by night, trump up phony charges and drag you out of your home (or execute you on the spot).
But he didn't come from that mythical place. The Mulmaster he came from was harsh, even cruel, but ruthlessly fair.
Someday I'll play a Red Wizard merchant / artificer who is out gathering components and amassing funds (and experience) for his research and item creation. Just to annoy the purists who assume that all Red Wizards combine the machiavellian schemes of the Brain with the mental agility of Pinky, my Red Wizard will be loyal to the homeland (if not particularly interested in living there and being dragged into deadly political strife!) and proud of his heritage and culture, but be a genius. As a genius, he will be Neutral Evil, but other than being obviously selfish and callous and (perhaps even being a Necromancer!), he won't be at all interested in lording it over people (why would be want to bother with dominating the living? They ask too many questions. Easier to stick with dead minions that can't rebel) or betraying allies (he isn't suicidal, why piss off a group of people powerful enough to be worth travelling with? The whole is always stronger than the sum of its parts, and an ally with curative magic or a strong sword-arm is always good to have around).
It would be quite the hoot to play an Evil Red Wizard who is more able to function in a good aligned party cooperatively and reliably than the average Paladin player... I think a *reasonable* and intelligent evil character, able to play well with others and juggle cooperation with optimizing his own personal benefit from any given encounter, could be challenging to play. Then again, in 15 odd years of gaming, it's always the *good* characters that screw up a party and cause strife, so evil must be better.
For an archer, the Dales and the North of Waterdeep / Silvery Marches area have a lot of hunter sorts who might go for that. Most other areas in the Realms are a tad over-developed to have Rangers or hunters (Sembia doesn't even have a forest left...), or hate 'adventurers' and charge them a few hundred gp a year just to exist, although they might have more militant yeomen that are at liberty and can find time to 'adventure,' assuming their mercenary company / unit isn't at war or otherwise actively engaged and needing their services.
Henry
Autoexreginated
I say go with Hong's idea. A Dalelands archer is an excellent way to go; you might also want to play up the idea that he knows very little outside of the dales, as you've been fighting there all your life against the Zhentarim forces and outlying abominations that occasionally craw out of the forest. Then, read up on all the Dalelands like your life depended on it. That is a large area, but manageable to get familiar with in a short time.
P.S. Take blooded as one of your first level feats. It grants a +2 to initiative and spot, two excellent abilities for an archer.
P.S. Take blooded as one of your first level feats. It grants a +2 to initiative and spot, two excellent abilities for an archer.
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