Arabic Legends, Themes & Phrases

[Riastlin]

For cuisine, I'll opt for tea instead- a lot easier to go into a tavern and ask for boiling hot water for steeping tea- and have him carry some exotic spices. Maybe some mint leaves, olives, almonds...

Honey! It's made from honey!

 

[Pour]

Here's a specific question: what about weapons & fighting style? We have the following ingredients:

1) as an Arabic-themed hybrid warrior/caster, he's going to be lightly armored

2) his class-based weapon choices are pretty broad

3) culturally, the Scimitar & Kris (dagger) would be iconic, and with the Sorcerer hybridization AND multiclassing into Starlock, a (esp. pact) dagger is a good fit, so he WILL have one in some form. A staff would also be appropriate, and I've seen examples of Arabic fighting/throwing axes that were nice. Meanwhile, the Khopesh could also work as a "superior" Scimitar, a kukri could do likewise for the Kris dagger and a Falchion could stand in as one of those oversized scimitars.

So: should this guy use a big, 2hand weapon, invest in 2 weapon style fighting, or opt for 1 single handed weapon at a time (alternating between a sword or axe and his Kris), leaving his other hand free for implement usage?

All have their advantages and disadvantages, most of which I get- like Paladins aren't set up for 2WF, and that a lightly armored Defender/Striker will have to be veeeeeeeery careful. But I've only played 1 PC (A Starlock with Psion multiclassing), so the nuances of 4Ed melee combat may have escaped me.

My advise is go with his personality, and incorporate a bit of shock value.

My starlock used a rod, both because of the significance to warlocks and because he'd just as likely bludgeon someone to death after sneaking up behind them. He was stronger than he looked, but he hid his strength under the collected tatters he called robes and his skulking, serpentine movements. I could see some potential (albeit less sinister) in your character.

Depending how he presents himself, light armor and a kriss could be an excellent rouse, implying he stays toward the back or generally avoids direct melee, but imagine the shock if this normally reserved dragonborn with the dagger in his belt draws the blade and goes screaming into battle at the top of his lungs, promising to feed a soul to the fires of his favorite star? Given the light, loose Arabic kind of armor covered in thobe, you could just as easily get away with a dagger obvious on his belt, but a falchion hidden alongside his thigh- now that would be surprising, especially if you kept it from the party until the first encounter.

As an aside, another quirk you might have for him is the idea of wasting food or, worse, water being abhorrent. I think that both harkens to a reptilian brain, but also speaks to any desert culture where both can be scarce for weeks at a time. You might not even cook half your food, accustomed to foraging and devouring whatever you encounter on the sands. You may have an aversion to scorpions and spiders, too, something of the quiet killers for desert nomads.

EDIT: Oh, another fun aspect of my starlock I think you can use for PC-PC interaction is the idea that mammalian races are quite hideous to dragonborn. There was a time early in the game when one of the characters sat down to explain how mammalian babies were made (which he already knew, of course, but he wanted the party to think him almost simple, or at least a stranger) and in the process of explaining he stopped her and politely reminded her that, while very flattering, mammals were quite hideous to him and he had no interest in mating with her. That got a look of utter shock and confusion from the PC, and laughs from everyone else, as my guy proceeded to calmly pat her head and leave the room. It was at the same time endearing to the party, but also a subtle jab at the PC, simultaneously making the starlock memorable in a good way, but also, somehow, sinister.

I'll try and refrain from just telling anecdote after anecdote, but a lot of them created great party moments and furthered the gap between reptilians and mammals, and starlock from just about every other class.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As an aside, another quirk you might have for him is the idea of wasting food or, worse, water being abhorrent. I think that both harkens to a reptilian brain, but also speaks to any desert culture where both can be scarce for weeks at a time. You might not even cook half your food, accustomed to foraging and devouring whatever you encounter on the sands. You may have an aversion to scorpions and spiders, too, something of the quiet killers for desert nomads.

OTOH, I could play up the reptilian side of being a Dragonborn- cooking almost nothing, and regarding anything I can get in my mouth as food.

Hell- most cultures around the world consume insects and other land Arthropoda- I know locusts and cicadas are on the menu in the Middle East. Maybe he views scorpions as spicy snacks...

 

[Pour]

OTOH, I could play up the reptilian side of being a Dragonborn- cooking almost nothing, and regarding anything I can get in my mouth as food.

Hell- most cultures around the world consume insects and other land Arthropoda- I know locusts and cicadas are on the menu in the Middle East. Maybe he views scorpions as spicy snacks...

I like it.

As I found with playing my character, you'll have to continually strike a balance between being reptilian, primal, 'savage' (I use that term very loosely, as it can really mean so much in the context of your race/class choice), brutal, but at the same time cunning and, depending on your setting and background, compassionate, devote and civilized by your cultural or personal standards, even if they don't meet with the other player's conceptions of compassionate (executed something weak and dying versus trying to nurse it back to health), devote (wearing skulls of enemies), and civilized.

Rigel can be as complex or simple as you like, but there is such potential for a rounded, dynamic, faceted character. It's exciting, and I hope you keep us abreast of his development.

 

[Rechan]

I don't know how far you want to emphasize the reptilian mindset.

The "reptilian brain" as it is known operates under a very simple hierarchy to everything:

1) Is it a threat to me? If yes: Fight or run. If no:
2) Can I mate with it? If yes: is it ready to mate? If no to either:
3) Can I eat it? If yes: do so. If no: ignore it.

Reptiles have no real mother/offspring bonds beyond the egg stage. I've never heard of studies to do psychological testing with reptiles (like conditioning, maze running, etc) that is done to mice/pigeons. Reptiles have no social structure that many animals have (even babies playing). I don't even think they're territorial outside of their immediate vicinity/burrow.

One way to use the above without say, making him a neanderthal, would be complete disregard for other dragonborn, even family. Two dwarves in a room have regard for one another, because they both share the Dwarven experience. Two dragonborn? Emotionally, it's like two cars in a garage. Or two psychopaths in the same room. "Can I get something I want from this person? No? Then they might as well not exist. Yes? Then I shall get them to provide for me what I need."

Another thing. I may be talking out of my butt here, but medieval Arabian society had two things that they held in high regard: scholars and warriors. After all, it was in this time when mathamatics flourished, the skies were charted, and so on.

Therefore the character could value education/knowledge/scholarly pursuits and prowess of battle. He could value lore as much as he does magical weapons. Or at least consider protecting lore a high value (i.e. ensuring that all books in a villain's library be taken and distributed somewhere; leaving them behind to rot, unread would be barbaric).

Think of the way Samurai practice poetry and arts as well as martial skill, but instead of the arts and etiquette, it's mastery of mental things. math, geography, history and so on.

 

[Ryujin]

The early Arabic peoples were avid astronomers and mathematicians. Many names of stars date back to their original discoveries, in Arabic astronomy. Have a look here. You may be very surprised at some of the names you find there

List of Arabic star names - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeah- that's what started me down the path: so, so many star names in use today are Arabic in origin. Sure, there are representatives from other languages- the Greeks, the Chinese, indeed all the great ancient cultures had their names for stars, after all- but the Arabic nomenclature dominates Western star naming like no other.

Another thing. I may be talking out of my butt here, but medieval Arabian society had two things that they held in high regard: scholars and warriors. After all, it was in this time when mathamatics flourished, the skies were charted, and so on.

Therefore the character could value education/knowledge/scholarly pursuits and prowess of battle. He could value lore as much as he does magical weapons. Or at least consider protecting lore a high value (i.e. ensuring that all books in a villain's library be taken and distributed somewhere; leaving them behind to rot, unread would be barbaric).

Yeah, the more I mull this guy over, the more "warrior-scholar" vibe I want to incorporate. So far, of his 3 trained skills, I have chosen Athletics & Diplomacy, and I'm leaning hard towards choosing Nature as his third (if his Wis is high) or History or Religion (if his Int is high). Given the realities of game mechanics, I'm thinking this lightly armored guy will need a high Dex or Int...so one of the latter skills is most likely.

Hey, does anyone recall offhand how Tomes work in 4Ed? As in, what classes benefit from their use?


Edit: allocated his scores: his low Dex will prevent him from being a 2WF, and his Int is higher than his Wis, so he's looking more like an Astronomer (Duh! ARCANA is a must have!) than a Natural scientist. And History will be the skill he picks up as a Starlock.

 

[Rechan]

Hey, does anyone recall offhand how Tomes work in 4Ed? As in, what classes benefit from their use?

Wizards, as far as I know. I mean most of the Tome powers involves "hey swap out a daily in your spellbook for this daily".

 

[GameDoc]

Hey, does anyone recall offhand how Tomes work in 4Ed? As in, what classes benefit from their use?

They are wizard implements. However, by taking the Arcane Implement Proficiency feat, any arcane class can use them. Both are covered in Arcane Power.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

They are wizard implements. However, by taking the Arcane Implement Proficiency feat, any arcane class can use them. Both are covered in Arcane Power.

OK- took a look at 'em. While I understand that AIP lets anyone use one, it looks like they all include Daily powers that have a phrase like "expend a wizard power" or properties that tie into wizard powers- sometimes, very specific Wizard powers, like Time Stop. Does AIP work around this language, or are those all cut off from non-Wizard tome users?