Darien Blacksmith's page

(1st Level) Spell Focus (Conjuration)
(Human 1st Level Bonus) Self-Sufficient: +2 to Heal and Survival
(Sorcerer free feat) Eschew Materials

Magic Trait - Magical Talent: (Cleric) Create Water 1/day
Social Trait - Poverty-Stricken: +1 bonus on Survival checks, and Survival is always a class skill

Celestial (Heal is a class skill)
Bloodline Power: Heavenly Fire (Sp) - 30 ft ranged touch attack, 1D4 + 1 heal/neutral/damage, 3 + CHA times a day

1st level: 4 0th, 2 1st (one bonus 1st level spell per day from CHA)

0 (inf): Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Read Magic

1 (4/day): Mage Armor, Summon Monster I

2 + INT + Human + Favored Class = 2 + 1 + 1 = 5 per level
Craft: Blacksmith: +5
Heal: +2
Knowledge: Arcana +5
Perception: +0
Spellcraft: +5
Survival: +7
Swim: +1

In one of the smaller towns far from the war, the war still touched the citizenry. Darien was the third son of seven children by the town's blacksmith. His father's pride was the two older sons, both strong as oxen and handsome as angels; Darien, by comparison, was ordinary and weak. His mother did not care, because Darien's four younger sisters fulfilled her life. Bullied by his brothers, ignored by his sisters, Darien would much rather read a book (when he could find one) than roughhouse or spend back-breaking time in the smithy. So Darien grew up forgotten, pushed aside, when a more formal education would have let him show his true worth. At best the youth was a poor blacksmith, at worst he was a dreamer, and dreamers have no place in a struggling town on the edge of civilization. Darien could fish and trap rabbits and knew how to take care of himself, but that was about it in the woods. He always preferred the town to the wilderness. Darien wanted to scribe for a rich man, or to learn in a library, a university. But he could never afford that.

That changed when the war with Xilres reached their tiny town in Andril in the form of a mustering day. The local Baron had a lien by the Queen to provide more troops for the army, so each town was required to send a certain number of men. The blacksmith's family was selected by lot, and the parents were devastated. Lose one of their precious sons to the war that only the nobles cared about? When the barbarians coming out of the woods were a larger threat? Ah, but they had a son they would not miss, not as much. Darien had no idea why his father took him to the army's building in town that day, nor why his two brothers were not with them. But he was literally handed over to the sergeants to look disbelieving at his father's back as the man walked away.

The next few weeks went by in a blur to the young man. Told where to sleep. Where to eat, and when, and how much. Strength tests, archery tests, knowledge tests, riding tests, most of which Darien scored poorly if at all. Marching along a dusty road to the capital, where more tests awaited Darien. Didn't they need a scribe, a courier? No, he was told. The army needed bodies to haul equipment and arms, to fight.

Then came a day Darien would never forget. Instead of burly sergeants and aloof officers, other men came to the barracks. Darien didn't know the higher officers who were also visiting that day, to judge the worth of the newest troops - he hardly knew anyone. All but the sharpest-eyed people tended to ignore him. Not these new people. Men and women who tested the soldiers in a different way, using new words, new examples. When Darien was tested, the unexpected happened - a dog appeared out of nowhere! The dog ran around the courtyard and entered the officers' building, where several shouts of alarm were heard. Darien did it again, and chaos erupted as the sergeants had to deal with a horse appearing out of thin air, bucking and showing his hooves.

Darien, as when he was usually in trouble, ran. But the sergeants were having none of that. Darien's hands started spouting little balls of acid everywhere, even when he fled inside and outside the buildings, the angry soldiers following. People who got in Darien's way got knocked over, and it wasn't until Darien crashed into a stack of pots and pans in the kitchen that the chase ended.

Darien awoke to find himself in a lot of trouble. Nobody had any injures, but there were other problems. The first person the conjured dog had run into was the visiting Colonel. A Colonel Geoffrey. The base commander was ready to flog Darien and put him into the stockade, but the Colonel intervened, taking the youth to an unused room and setting him down. Colonel Geoffrey didn't interrogate the young man, but asked Darien what his life story was. It took a little pulling on the officer's part, but Darien eventually told him. Colonel Geoffrey responded with a heartfelt talk about his role in the war, what the invasion of Xilres was really about. How the army could use burly men but also needed spellcasters who did more. Darien's brothers would have been just foot soldiers, pikemen. So Colonel Geoffrey asked Darien if he wanted to skip the usual six months of soldier training and immediately come work for him.

Maybe the Colonel just wanted a spellcaster not dulled by rigorous army training. Darien leaped at the chance - he was told spellcasters read books - and Colonel Geoffrey handed him over to the testers for arcane training. It would be six weeks, not six months, but the new people Darien was given to knew words Darien had not heard before, words that made sense what he had done in the barracks courtyard. Words like conjuring and summoning and sorcery. But he had a goal now, to get ready for what Colonel Geoffrey wanted of him.

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Darien's lawful goodness is because he is so naive. Yes, being bullied and forgotten while he grew up, he could have fallen in with the wrong crowd. He could have been running around the woods, or pulling pranks on his sisters, or getting revenge on his brothers. It just never occurred to Darien.

Part of Darien's growing up is going to be that a lot of his assumptions on what happens in life "just because" will get torn apart in war. Darien's never seen a dead body, let alone undead. He's never had to lose something precious just because somebody truly evil took it away. He's never felt revenge, just the "flight" part of fight-or-flight.

So I expect Darien to go through quite a few "uh-oh" moments. I don't know if he'll stay Lawful Good. He might go Chaotic Good if the law is seen as oppressive and manipulative. He might go Neutral Good if he's forced to work with evil characters that don't act like storybook villains. Or Darien could stay Lawful Good, just knowing when the law applies...and when it does not.

It's up to the story.

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Darien is naive (avg. WIS), good-hearted, and thrust into a world he never thought he would be in. A bookworm, he spends his free money (not that he has any) on books and learning. He is not ready for the horrors of war. But he might change into something greater.