I love having characters with interesting names. But usually, in my line of work, I end up getting tapped dry on particularly appealing names.
I would appreciate some ideas for names or even titles for the character. Suggestions are extremely welcome.
In this instance I have a character I made to join in a Wrath of the Righteous campaign (I'm so excited) starting at the beginning of the second book. So I'm already level 6 and Mythic Tier 1.
This character is a Hungerspawn (Oni-born) Tiefling Inquisitor of Sarenrae, who took the Banishment inquisition. I've built him using a Large size Scimitar, and is built to deal damage and debuff the bad guys in annoyingly dirty ways.
Some things about him... He has a thing for tattoos; has a copy of the Sarenrae's holy text tattooed *all* over his body in celestial and her Holy symbol on his forehead between his horns (He has a pair of short spike horns on his fore head just above the outer tips of his eyebrows. He had the holy symbol tattooed on his forehead done in Permanent Flame Ink (an Ifrit thing, but since he has fire resistance it's fine for him too.) and wears a dawnflower sash to cover it when he needs to dull the light.
He personality-wise is steadfastly focused on wiping out demons and stray members of the flock who deal with them, but otherwise is not as concerned with other types of sins to his faith. (I.E. he doesn't seek those out to rectify, unless it's brought directly to his attention.)
His father was the victim of an Oni attack, and he only escaped with his life weeks later. When he returned home, he refused to talk about what happened. Months and months later, a tiefling baby was left in the newly broken in remains of the man's house. His father left him on the door of a temple and took his own life shortly thereafter. He was left without parents in the temple of Sarenrae, many of the clergy saw this as a chance for the child to prove to others that though he had a demon's blood in him, his soul was just as deserving of redemption as any other.
* * * *
So... I like the feeling of the character, the traits he has, and the history I've built up for him (Though it may be a bit stereotypical I tried to be somewhat original.)
I like the idea of the Oni's influence on his personality, specifically his form of self-expression by tattooing his body with scripture. I feel it has a Japanese mythical kind of feeling to it, and makes for an interesting talking point... I really need to get character art for this guy.
Anywho! I would appreciate some suggestions for a name and/or titles or nicknames he may have earned in his role as inquisitor.
There is phrase "Oni no Nembutsu" (an Oni praying or an Oni's prayers) which would make an interesting name.
That's an interesting take! Any more suggestions?
Oh that's a cool idea!
Hmm... naming conventions.
I second the translating words into different languages. It's my go to method of naming characters, and it's always worked well for me. My current witch is named Fate/Doom in Romanian. My different MMO characters have over time been named in Welsh, Swahili, Latin, and Bengali. The best part is there are so many language out there that you can end up with wonderfully unique names.
Another method is to delve into the myths and legends of other cultures and steal names frm there! My Garuda-blooded Aasamar is named Aruna, which in legend was the brother of Garuda! Have a Nagagi? Why not research the names of Naga from Hindu epics? A druid? Who were famous Nymphs or Satyrs from ancient Greek legend? An Oni-spawn Tiefling? Google yourself some Japanese folklore and read until you find something you like!
And one more naming assistance method is commonality. I have a dungeon ranger named after a particular mine in Mexico. You could name a druid after a forest, or a fighter after a battlefield, or barbarian after a mountain. Find something that has something in common with your character and name them after that. An inquisitor of Sarenrae? How about a desert? There are lots of them!
What I have started doing lately is take a couple of words central to the theme of the character and translate them into a language appropriate for where in Golarion they are from. If your character is from the Tian-Xa area, try an Adian language. If he's from Varisia, use Italian. Galt would be French.
Very interesting !!! and THANKS !!
I use translate.google.com for things like Dwarven, Terran, Goblin, etc that the NPCs use in my play by post, but just never thought of using this for names. Dang, that is a good idea!
-- david
ps. I am creating a human warpriest of Irori (sacred fist archetype) and using Italian between "Reign of Winter" and "Sacred Fist" it can be combine into "Sacro D'Inverno"
I find that randomly garbled together "Fantasy-ish" names work best, or old timey real world names. My only advice as to what doesn't work is to avoid cliche': No paladins named Lightheart or rangers named Hunter Wildscar. Also, I would avoid outright stealing names from LoTR or GOT type stories although corrupting them is fun.
Some names I've used:
Gorrus
Mortimer Krull
Krode Gallows
Tardo (The king's personal savant)
Taurokus Rogzul
Leonard Hosk
You should call him Jeff. I don't know why, but he sounds like a Jeff to me.
Jeff? Really? That definitely sounds more like a Steve to me. Steve "The Banisher" Jackson.