So what are the strangest concepts your players came up with for their characters and how did you work them in? I had a player who was really set on playing a raptoran from the Races of the Wild, but I was concerned about fitting the race into Greyhawk. I wanted the characters to all be local, but it didn't seem to me like there was any place nearby that really worked for raptorans. I think if they do fit into Greyhawk that they would inhabit mostly the western mountain chains, i.e. the fringes of civilization. But I needed a good way to work that in. I was also concerned about the power of a PC able to fly (once he's 5th level of course). So here's what I came up with. The character was captured in goblin raid when he was but a young hatchling. The goblins tortured him and cut off his wings to humiliate him. They quickly sold him off to wicked merchants who took him with them until they found someone willing to buy him. They found a buyer in the Free City, a mine manager named Tilgast who had pity on the poor creature. Tilgast allowed the character to purchase his freedom by working in the mines over a period of 10 years. Thereafter, he made his way to the Bronzewood Lodge and trained under Nogwier as a cleric of Obad-Hai.
What are your unusual PCs?
In my first group (I'm running two concurrent AoW campaigns!), there's a poison dusk lizardman sorceror with Draconic Heritage, black.
He ran away from his kinfolk in the Mistmarsh, because the black dragon they worshipped would eat any of its descendants that showed sorcerous talent, to prevent rivals.
He was captured by a group of adventurers and sold to the Emporium, where he was put on display as "Chameleon Boy." (Pretty much the same as "Demon Boy" in Erik's playtest group, but this was arrived at independently by the player, who has not read these messageboards, as far as I know!)
Anyway, Sotek (the PC) escaped, and took shelter at an abandoned mining office. By coincidence, a group of adventurers were meeting there the next day to explore the Whispering Cairn....
In my second group, which will start playing Wednesday night, there's a goblin character. I haven't figured out yet how to work him in. I have to figure it out tomorrow....
I have a two players that are running rather unusual characters. The first is a hafling rogue that was raised by gnomes????? Ding, as he is known (his gnomish name being unpronounsable by anyone but the person playing the character)has all the standard halfling abilities but a distinctly gnomish outlook and flavor. The player has a long standing hatred of gnomes for no particular reason and is trying to work through his issues. The second is a human fighter using the vow of poverty from Book of Exalted Deeds. We were both interested in how a completely equipment free character would fair long-term. Armed only with a great set of ablility scores (rolled in full view of three witnesses including myself) and a quarterstaff he is taking on the Age of Worms.
In my first group (I'm running two concurrent AoW campaigns!), there's a poison dusk lizardman sorceror with Draconic Heritage, black.
He ran away from his kinfolk in the Mistmarsh, because the black dragon they worshipped would eat any of its descendants that showed sorcerous talent, to prevent rivals.
He was captured by a group of adventurers and sold to the Emporium, where he was put on display as "Chameleon Boy." (Pretty much the same as "Demon Boy" in Erik's playtest group, but this was arrived at independently by the player, who has not read these messageboards, as far as I know!)
Anyway, Sotek (the PC) escaped, and took shelter at an abandoned mining office. By coincidence, a group of adventurers were meeting there the next day to explore the Whispering Cairn....
In my second group, which will start playing Wednesday night, there's a goblin character. I haven't figured out yet how to work him in. I have to figure it out tomorrow....
Ask him if he is willing to play an albino goblin, then you can have him call mole man! And be part of the emporium. I had a player who really really wanted a gobo PC, and that is how I worked it for a while, until I could talk him into going back into "standard" races.
Another concept is to have the goblin all painted blue "like a blue" but really just be a goblin that plays tricks for mentalism.
If the goblin is a Rogue (which is their favored class I believe) make him take ranks in Disguise and pass as a gnome or halfling... He may avoid real members of that race and the more perceptive characters (such as Rangers with a decent Spot check).
Why would he disguise himself? Good question. Make the PC work that one up is he really wants to play a gobo.
The first is a hafling rogue that was raised by gnomes?????
Cool!
My homebrew is actually based around this concept. I've created mechanics for mixing heritage and culture. Basically, in my campaign, you can play a half-dwarf, half-gnome raised by elves, or whatever you want, which gives you a unique mix of racial qualities.
In my second group, which will start playing Wednesday night, there's a goblin character. I haven't figured out yet how to work him in. I have to figure it out tomorrow....
The best thing about goblins is that they are small, but move 30. sweet!
For what it's worth, I don't see why a goblin would be particularly out of place in Diamond Lake. Could be a laborer. - shrug -
- rob
If you're in Eberron, it's actually highly likely that there's at least a few Goblinoids in Diamond Lake. Probably no more than a dozen, but still.
If you're not in Eberron... Well, I don't know. But, really, Goblins aren't too far from being standard PC races anyway. One with a physical mutation (such as ablinism) could easily be a display in the Emporium, otherwise, I can think of a few good uses for a small, easily-bullied humanoid in a mining town...
In my second group, which will start playing Wednesday night, there's a goblin character. I haven't figured out yet how to work him in. I have to figure it out tomorrow....
I ran the first session with my second group this evening. The goblin character was squatting in the abandoned mine office with his small herd of goats when the rest of the PCs showed up.
He claimed to own the mine office, and sold the other PCs some goat milk. He overheard them talking amongst themselves about treasure (rolling a natural 20 on his listen check), and steathily followed them to the cairn.
Weirdest one I ever ran into was a chaos gnome sorcerer who had been drugged by some rivals in the Free City and sold into bail bondship in Diamond Lake. Of course, he was naturally lucky, and had a bit of control over luck (as well as ranks in Profession (Gambler), so he had won enough to buy out his contract over a table at Lazare's Games), plus there was the fact that he was planning to specialize in probability-manipulation spells and area control. Grease, Ray of Clumsiness, Hail of Stone ("My goodness! What are the chances rocks would fall from the passage's ceiling right this moment?"), Glitterdust, Unluck, etc...
I've seen so much strange characters....In the Great Modron March campaign: a minotaur fighter who thought he was the son of a cow and ate only potatoes, it was 2nd edition with no ECL a minotaur was very powerful in a group, so powerful that all npc attacked him and not the gnome wizard, the unarmored cleric with a staff, the half fey with thrown daggers which always missed and the female spirit folk fighter without armor(and without strength, my pc).
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The weirdest character concept to make it into my Age of Worms campaign is Vox, the hobgoblin druid.
He is the current character of one of my players who lost his psychic warrior to Madtooth in The Champion's Belt.
Backstory: Vox lived as a hermit in the same swamp as Ilthane and the lizardfolk. He had established a peaceful co-existence with Madtooth, whose prescence kept the more dangerous critters in the swamp FAR AWAY from Vox's territory.
Vox came back to his hovel one day to find that Madtooth had gone missing. He discovered that some powerful individuals from the Free City "kidnapped his frog" and he wanted him back.
So Vox left the swamp, and went into the city, and started asking about his "frog". He found his way to the Champion's games just in time to watch the party kill Madtooth.
He found a way into the arena through the sewers in order to ask the party "who stole [his] frog." He agreed to join them in order to get back at Loris Raknian.
I have a lizardfolk druid in the party named Kal-drac. His father was the original lizard king of the Twisted Branch, who was slain by Shukak. Kal-drac's brothers were slain as well, but before Shukak could slay Kal-drac, his mother sent him away. For her actions, she was killed, though Kal-drac was thought to have died in the swamps. He found other members of the current party, and the rest is history.
Kal-drac later returned to the Twisted Branch lair with his fellow party members, and he managed to slay Shukak, becoming the new lizard king. He refused to rule, leaving that to another, wiser member of the tribe so he could continue investigating the Age of Worms.
*When I saw the lizardfolk angle in "Encounter at Blackwall Keep," I convinced one of my players to run a lizardfolk, and it's been great.
I also have a half-orc good-aligned werewolf in the party named Kragg. The player wanted levels in Stalker of Kharash (Exalted Deeds), so I introduced a cleric of Selune as his mentor, and he was ultimately mauled by an aspect of Kharash (a good-aligned werewolf), which made Kragg a good-aligned werewolf and one of the favored of Kharash.
In fact, Kragg recently committed what I would consider an evil act (slaying a helpless rival who had yielded... "Doing the will of Malar" as it was), so Selune cursed him. Now Kragg is stuck in wolf form until he atones (which will hopefully happen somehow during his time on Tilagos Island). ;-)
*I always wanted to DM a lycanthrope, so the player's choice to take levels in Stalker of Kharash allowed that. The curse came from seeing Link forced into wolf for in the Wii Legend of Zelda. From there, I had to figure out how to make that happen, and the player's actions, again, allowed me to move foward.
I really have a great group of players. Their actions and choices help make my decisions that much easier.
I had a warforged psion who was made partly out of stone from a petrified couatl. I thought it was kind of a neat idea.
The next character I want to play is a monk.
How is that so strange?
Well, it is more the fist and the staff usage that draws me in, and here's why:
What I envision as my monk, is not a monastery-living, rice-eating, straw-hat and pyjama-wearing martial artist, but as a giant, kilt-wearing highlander (as in a Scot not as in immortal) that uses his fists and a kaber to belt his foes with. I would even take a giant sized quarterstaff along with the associated penalties just to roleplay it.
Alternatively, a native-american style warrior who uses his fists and a totem pole to the same effect is also on the cards.
Dibs on the concept people! The next PbP I get into is going to see this!
Monks with Vow of Poverty kick major butt..
Naah. Monks need items. Druids, on the other hand ...
I have a player who ALWAYS chooses a strange character concept.
He used to run a hermaphrodite lizardfolk wilder who is obsessed with the idea of accumulating an army of slaves who he will use to get back at "the man" for the torments he suffered in his own brief pre-campaign period of enslavement. The character's name is KoKo (for short; he tells us nobody can pronounce the full name) and his player insists on "roleplaying" him as having the same accent as JarJar from Star Wars and never shutting up about wanting some more mutton or about the enormous wheel of cheese he's been nursing ever since the party's trek to the observatory in Diamond Lake back in the 1st installment of the AP.
That character has since left the party to assume rulership over what is left of the Twisted Branch Tribe from the EaBK adventure; his dream come true with, like, 4 loyal minions or however many the party didn't wipe out, plus the friendly druid one who wanted to negotiate, who is now his cohort (I gave him Leadership as a bonus feat for as long as he is the lizard king, though I fear he may return to the campaign someday if his new PC ever dies, which might happen tonight via the Apostle of Kyuss in the CB adventure).
Thanks the gods I managed to talk him down from playing a pair of twin incestuous gay paladin brothers as KoKo's replacement (I mean, c'mon, gimme a break; I'm pretty easy-going about letting questionable stuff into my game, but... paladins?!?) - now he's Gegnus, a point-buy optimized kilted redheaded falchion-wielding improved critting whirlwind power attacking fighter with a ridiculous french accent, which only goers to show that sometimes it's better to have one of your players enjoying the "roll-playing" min-max game than focusing on the "interesting" character quirks angle.
In our group's other ongoing campaign (we alternate at the end of each adventure), he plays a half-machine gnome sorcerer. Strangely enough, given his other PC choices, this one did not become a half-machine on purpose (and is in fact considering ditching the half-machine template with the wish he earned at the end of our last adventure).