(sigh)
Search Posts
For myself, I've been playing D&D since the blue and red books, and I've been on these boards for years, with some PBP participation (games attrit away, but I don't think I was driving anyone out of them...)
Please feel free to critique Valerie .
Bringing up Valerie Victrix, an exile from Hermea, an island not too far from Magnimar (originally created for a Rise of the Runelords game, but she fits here too with minimal background tweaks). Background:
Hermea, island of mysteries. Home of the new and improved humanity, the perfect society. Under the protection of a golden dragon who wishes to guide humanity into a new age of enlightenment and perfection. But no one inherits a place there. Even the children must be tested when they reach adulthood, to see if they are fit to enter the new world. Valerie failed the tests. It was the worst day of her life, and she doesn't know why. (No one is ever told why; it keeps outsiders from trying to game the tests.) She had to leave in the spring. The Council gave her gear and clothing and weapons from the common treasury, and a voucher for passage across the Steaming Sea. Her mother wished her well. Her father, born in Magnimar, told her that some Hermean children in the past had gone out into the world and come back home as heroes, having earned a place. The first night on the ship, she vowed that she would be a hero, and return one day to the Golden Isle and the beaches where she grew up. She would join her parents as a disciple of Mengkare. When the ship docked in Varisia, she disembarked, got down on shore, and stood there wondering what to do. Everything in Hermea had been planned and organized; this city was chaos. "It's not so bad," said a bird perched on the dock railing beside her. "There's always a need for heroes." "I didn't think birds usually talked," Valerie said dubiously. They certainly hadn't at home. "Well, most of us don't", the bird said, "but there was a nice lady somewhere who thinks you could be beautiful, Silverhair. Really beautiful, soul as well as body. Follow me, and see!" It fluttered off. And Valerie followed. She found a (temporary) job exhibiting feats of arms and a certain amount of (non-lethal) combat at Magnimar's hippodrome, but sees the Pathfinder lodge as perhaps a more useful and heroic thing to do.
[spoiler=Five points that capture the concept]
Two goals:
1 - Find a romantic relationship 2 - Earn an invitation to return to Hermea (by end of campaign) Two secrets:
1 - Valerie saw a mermaid on the coast of Hermea and fell in love 2 - (unknown to Valerie) She has a silver dragon bloodline, not a gold (which is common on Hermea, because Mengkare the gold dragon is in charge) People tied to your PC:
Valerie just doesn't know a lot of people around here; there are more she knows on Hermea but they're unlikely to show up, so 3: 1 - Sashi, a mermaid last seen on a Hermean beach (they never got to last names). Valerie's in love. Do mermaids have hearts? 2 - Rufus Norric, an elven swordsman at Magnimar's Hippodrome, who is a serious rival of Valerie's for the crowd's affection (and apparently wants to defeat her and bed her, not necessarily in that order) 3 - Liran Tillerman, a sailor on the ship that brought Valerie to Magnimar, who gave her some basic lessons on how most of the world isn't like Hermea. She sees him as a friend and owes him a considerable debt for (among other things) explaining the whole concept of "money". Three key memories:
1 - "You have failed the citizenship tests for Hermea. You are not fit to be part of the perfect society we are creating." 2 - Her first sight of Magnimar and its buildings rising from the sea, backlit by dawn. This, too, is beautiful... 3 - Night at a tavern on the docks in Magnimar, her third day in town. Um.... WHAT???? Dance outside a festival? Drink WHAT??? He's wearing THAT???? (The rest of the night's memory is a confused blur but Rufus was probably involved somehow. She doesn't want to think about her first time getting drunk.) One fear:
1 - Storms at sea. (Sure, Hermea has storms. Scheduled ones. Mengkare controls the weather to make sure it's ideal. Running into a really nasty bit of high seas with lightning, waves crashing over the decks, and a natural 1 on the Fort save against seasickness - well, it left an impression.) Still working on equipment and so forth
Have fun, everyone! Valerie will continue looking for somewhere to be a hero...
Valerie's traits have been updated.
I agree that the dynamic would be interesting. Valerie has been chosen by Shelyn but really knows nothing about her save the basics (beauty, art, etc.), because that was what was emphasized in Hermea -- the focus was less on the struggle against evil and more on the aesthetic side. What it means to be a paladin of Shelyn -- that's something a disciple of the dragon Mengkare will have to learn.
Found my copy of the Familiar Folio... Valerie will be chosen by Shelyn after all.
I'm going to have to check; a lot of my game stuff is packed away right now. I can go ahead and just make her a more standard paladin if that works better for you.
Valerie is an exile from Hermea, newly expelled from her perfect society and with very little knowledge of the wider world... she's determined to be a hero and so prove herself worthy of re-admittance to Mengkare's glorious future. (Eventuallly planning on paladin/sorceror/dragon disciple.) (I've read ROTR and been in one game of it that got partway into book 4, but I'm pretty good at not metagaming.)
Tests for Hermea probably include physical, mental, and moral tests -- I see Hermea as, in some ways, going for the idea of the complete person needing to be developed, not one aspect hypertrophied at the expense of others (like, say, the flying brains of the Red Planet). So everyone coming in needs to be tested in all those ways. Probably the first test is actually getting to Promise by themselves ;)
Valerie still wants to be a hero ... maybe someday. Congratulations to those chosen!
I'm GMT +6, and I've read Runelords and played parts of it up to the beginning of book 4, but I suspect it will be hard to find people totally unaware of the basic plotline by now. I think we're all adults and can avoid metagaming.
I've played parts of RotR before, but never all the way through. Valerie's an exile from Hermea, trying to be a hero to earn her way back home. Paladin, with some sorcery in her bloodline, and headed for dragon disciple. Background:
Hermea, island of mysteries. Home of the new and improved humanity, the perfect society. Under the protection of a golden dragon who wishes to guide humanity into a new age of enlightenment and perfection. But no one inherits a place there. Even the children must be tested when they reach adulthood, to see if they are fit to enter the new world. Valerie failed the tests. It was the worst day of her life, and she doesn't know why. (No one is ever told why; it keeps outsiders from trying to game the tests.) She had to leave in the spring. The Council gave her gear and clothing and weapons from the common treasury, and a voucher for passage across the Steaming Sea. Her mother wished her well. Her father, born in Magnimar, told her that some Hermean children in the past had gone out into the world and come back home as heroes, having earned a place. The first night on the ship, she vowed that she would be a hero, and return one day to the Golden Isle and the beaches where she grew up. She would join her parents as a disciple of Mengkare. When the ship docked at Sandpoint, she disembarked, got down on shore, and stood there wondering what to do. Everything in Hermea had been planned and organized; this small town was chaos. "It's not so bad," said a bird perched on the dock railing beside her. "There's always a need for heroes." "I didn't think birds usually talked," Valerie said dubiously. They certainly hadn't at home. "Well, most of us don't", the bird said, "but there was a nice lady somewhere who thinks you could be beautiful, Silverhair. Really beautiful, soul as well as body. Follow me, and see!" It fluttered off. And Valerie followed.
Appearance and Personality:
Valerie is tall and athletic, with blue eyes and dark hair streaked with silver. She is quick to react, fast and nimble on her feet, and quite charming. Of course, she ends up putting her foot in her mouth a lot, because nothing is familiar and everything is strange. She was well-taught, but Hermean philosophical training is somewhat lacking in practical skills. She loves art and beauty, and has begun to follow Shelyn's path. (You'd think Iomedae's, but by this time Valerie is used to life throwing her curveballs. Certainly she means to be a hero. There's more than one way to be a hero. It isn't all about the athletics, or the feats of arms. It might be about the spirit.
Still working on the crunch.
Basic profile for Billy up. I'm not sure how you want to handle gear and traits so I've left those off for now. |