Hurl ideas for details about my new character at me!

[Dr Midnight]

I'm starting tonight's game with a new character. All I know about him so far is that he's going to be a half-orc bard... I know, the old joke... but he's going to be highly charismatic and very skilled at what he does. He's a consummate gentleman and masterful musician.

Anything else, like name, background, instrument, etc- I haven't a clue just yet. Hit me with some suggestions.

Examples of what I'm looking for:
-"always keeps a rose pinned to his left sleeve, in memory of the girl he won't talk about with his partymates"
-"He sloppily eats meals, not unlike any orc, but then dabs at his mouth daintily with a napkin"
-"His birthname is Gorthat, but insists that 'it's pronounced 'Geurthae'... the 'T' is silent'"

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

He uses Pick Pocket to place a rose, unnoticed, in the hair of the women he meets.

He believes no one can be happy unless they are in love- so he is constantly attempting to find love for the rest of the party. Perhaps to the point where he will pull a Cyrano, and write prose to someone and signing it in the name of the party member.

Whenever returning from a particularly dangerous adventure, he becomes melancholy- drifting to an inn.. sitting at a table by himself. He slowly sips expensive wine while holding his beloved rose in hand.

He believes the second greatest moral crime (after not being in love) is a story untold. The exploits of his party is often repeated to a crowd.

Good luck!
FD

 

[Wicht]

He thinks drums are for barbarians and insists on playing a harp.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Furn- using Pick Pocket to place a rose in a lady's hair is GOLD. Genius.

The idea of acting as cupid for everyone is terrific as well, but I think my game group might get a little weirded out. I'll have to give it some thought.

Great stuff!

 

[Darraketh]

He plays the blues on a lute named Lucille. Being a half anything, you're going to know about the blues.

Perhaps he can reduce a monster to crying like a baby when he pulls out all the stops and makes that lute wail.

 

[Leopold]

You could just make him a Her and roleplay a half-orc female, show them what curves can do to ANY man..

 

[Undead Pete]

You could just make him a Her and roleplay a half-orc female, show them what curves can do to ANY man..

NOOOOO!!!! For the LOVE of GAWD!!!!

There's nothing more evil and annoying than a male gamer trying to prance about playing a female.

And I'm not talking about sexual preference here.....I'm just talking about the frightening tendency for such a character to degenerate into cartoonishness (is that a word?? anyway....).

Frankly, it's an insult to any female gamer out there. It's no wonder the male-to-female gamer ratio is something like 20 to 1.

Now back to the question at hand....

Originally posted by Wicht
He thinks drums are for barbarians and insists on playing a harp.

I disagree.

He should embrace his half-orcishness and use an appropriate instrument:

• drums are good
• rattles
• the skull of a foe turned into a horn
• one of those funky aborigine pipes (the name escapes me)
• a gong

Something like that. Also bards need not focus mainly on music. He could be a tribal storyteller, using sound effect to emphasize the tales he weaves.

Don't go for the comedy copout....that just smacks of a lack of creativity.

 

[Wicht]

He should embrace his half-orcishness and use an appropriate instrument:

• drums are good
• rattles
• the skull of a foe turned into a horn
• one of those funky aborigine pipes (the name escapes me)
• a gong

So you would avoid comedy by going for cliche?

It seemed Midnight wanted him to be more debonair than the average half-orc, thus the disdain for things that are barbaric.

 

[Torillan]

Perhaps he has a tendency to start humming at inopportune moments, such as when the party rogue is listening at the door beyond which live several large and hungry ogres (or something along those lines).

 

[rounser]

Look, you can play the gentleman and milk that "He's a gentleman....but he's half an orc! How novel is that? Reverse stereotype is teh comedy gold, roffle!" thing for all you like...

It's still more fun for a half-orc bard to stock up on lutes and do a "The Who" on monsters. "Have you heard my music?" *BASH* *twanggggg*

Then again, knowing how expensive lutes are, maybe you should save it for finishing numbers, or just stick with the gentleman schtick...