A shadow forged in fear...

[Naathez]

I'd like to start with a statement. I HATE the term "build" applied to an RPG character. I also hate rating a character by EFFECTIVENESS of their feats, spells, skills, class levels.

This was said so as to explain what I am NOT looking for.

Now.

For some time, the idea of writing a character based on the Marvel superhero "Cloak" has been on my mind. (He mostly had the power to control darkness and draw criminals in this dark dimension, practically almost feeding on their energy.)
Then I went and saw Batman Begins.

I want to make a character stemming from these two inspirations.

What I know :

It's a him. (It's a character for me to play, and I only play males. I'm not believable as a female.)
He's a sorcerer. (Mostly for story reasons. I want him to be somehow infected, cursed, or something similar, by a "force of darkness". And I want his powers not to derive from study; he has this... this THING in him, and it grows in power, and he simply struggles to find ways to control it.)
He only has spells relating to darkness and fear. (NO blasting, NO buffing. How will he fight? I don't know, I don't care. In-story, he won't be choosing his spells - they'll be new ways he MANAGES to use darkness. I see him truly acting as Batman does in the latest movie - or videogame. Scaring the hell out of opponents. And devoured by a fear and loathing of himself even deeper...)

All right. Now's your turn.

I'm curious about your ideas. What does this brief outline make you think of? Any spells you think would be cool in portraying his kind of power? Any ideas that come to your mind from reading this, on how he could be played?

Make yourself heard, fellow gamers.

 

[Dakkareth]

This is wrong!, Sithla'rath screamed. Possession and soul-shackling is my speciality. No one answered, only the chains binding the shadow fiend tightened. Normal chains would not have held Sithla'rath, but these were not made of iron. No, they were ephemeral bindings of pure light and in this place and for a being like it they sufficed. Oh, it may rage and even lash out beyond the walls of its pathetic prison, but even that was only as He, its captor allowed it.

How had it come to this? How was it even possible? The shadow fiend has asked that question so many times it had become something of a mantra. Repeat the impossibility long enough, believe in it falseness and maybe it would be set free. But He believed too, and that belief could make the outrageously insane true - His mind belonged to himself. In all its dealings with the Night Hags, in all the directions and advice they'd given it - to better manage it as a resource, no doubt - they'd never mentioned that such a thing was possible, had happened before.

It was Sithla'rath, a shadow fiend, a trader and possessor of souls. His powers had stripped life and consciousness from the powerful and powerless alike, his insubstantial claws had gathered the jewels alife with stolen souls and sold them in Town-at-the-Center on the Grey Waste. His eventual rise had seemed assured. But then ... one unassuming Clueless on a Prime it had prowled proved its better. The powerless, ignorant Prime dweller hadn't simply resisted its powers. It had turned it against the fiend. Impossible. Nonetheless true. Outrageous. But still he, the captor of a million souls, was held prisoner here within the mind of a mere human.

 

[cmanos]

someone else who remembers Cloak! Like the ideas. I prefer to craft characters int eh way you did, not twinking out by what stat would be most effective, but by character.

I had several RPG ideas after seeing Batman.

 

[Naathez]

Cmanos - there's plenty little I don't remember about Marvel Comics. And why don't you post some of these ideas you got after seeing Batman?

And Dakkareth - Dakkareth, that is truly beautiful. It's not what i had in mind for the character's origin, in that his shackling of Sithla'Rath sounds very voluntary in your piece of prose, while I have in mind a character with a totally unwanted power- but sincerely, brief as it is, it was a pleasure to read. I sincerely thank you.


Keep ideas coming!

 

[der_kluge]

I'd like to start with a statement. I HATE the term "build" applied to an RPG character.

For some time, the idea of building a character based on the Marvel superhero "Cloak" has been on my mind.

(emphasis mine)

Sorry, I just had to point out the irony here....


I'm not familiar with this "Cloak" individual of which you speak, but it sounds like darkness, and all shadow-based illusion spells will be essential. You'd also want some kind of spell that would allow you to see in magical darkness. I'm sure there's something out there for that, maybe even a magic item for that. If you could empower your darkness spells to increase their range, that would be fairly effective, since you could still see and move around in the darkness. Some levels of rogue would give you some sneak attack, and maybe even go with the shadowdancer PrC.

 

[Naathez]

der_kluge - You are absolutely right. There IS irony in that. I will now go and edit the sentence to "writing a character". Actually, what I hate in the term "build" is its usage in sentences like "Is this a good build for a character?" or "I want a sword and board build fighter" - I believe these two sentences place a different meaning on the verb, and reflect an effort to, exactly, BUILD, as in, take the strongest building blocks and glue them together - but extreme self-consistency is the greatest virtue of all. Sincerely thank you for pointing that out.

On the matter of the character, I wasn't thinking about rogue levels - I don't care to sneak attack with him - or shadowdancer levels either. I see your point in suggesting some way to see through the darkness he'd create, though - it wouldn't strike much fear in enemies to hear him blundering and stumbling as he tries to locate them :\ .

What do you all see him doing? Imagine an encounter - he against a group of enemies. Let's assume it's night. How do you think he'd fight them? Remember, no blasts, no buffs. This might give an insight to the ways he'd use his shadow powers (including fear - I feel fear is important for this character)...

And though I thought, for a second, about having him wear a "Cloak of the Bat"... that MIGHT be a tad too much of a copyright infringement .

 

[Empress]

In the FRCS, there's a "Shade" template. You should take a look. Look at Shadow Weave Magic and its related feats and prestige classes as well, while you're at it.

 

[Naathez]

Empress - wise suggestion. I'll call on my FR-equipped friends and have a look into that.

 

[Dakkareth]

It's not what i had in mind for the character's origin, in that his shackling of Sithla'Rath sounds very voluntary in your piece of prose, while I have in mind a character with a totally unwanted power

Well, as I see it, the fiend tried to add 'His' soul to its collection but somehow lost itself within the depths of his victims mind. The possessed shackling the possessor, with props to Peter F. Hamilting .

 

[Naathez]

I hadn't seen things from THAT point of view, Dakkareth... that makes it a LOT more .. intriguing...

So let's see. We have a normal human... who somehow (still to be determined) has involuntarily trapped inside his soul a shadow fiend who wanted to take his soul. I still don't think he'd realize he's MASTER, though.... he'd think this thing inside him wants OUT and that he is just restraining it.... letting it out briefly and under control.

Keep it coming people... I like how this is working...