I've noticed two people seem to show up on Dungeons cover quite a bit, and inside the adventures as well.
A guy in a long red coat with two weapons and someone who looks like a cleric.
Anyone know who these guys are? Playtest characters or something?
Those are playtest characters for the AOW campaign. I can't remember who the guy with two swords belongs to, but the cleric who shows off her cleavage all the time is James Jacobs cleric of Wee Jas I believe.
If I'm wrong on either count, someone let me know. As it is, I don't know the names of the characters, although I have read them before.
They're not playtest characters so much as the iconic characters used in all the art. They don't have names, as far as I know, and they don't have statblocks. So far I've noticed the following recurring guys:
The tower shield carrying, bastard sword swinging paladin dressed in blue. Reminds me of Saber from Fate Stay/Night. Good thing he's a human, because it lets him take Tower Shield Proficiency and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword) both at level 1.
He's pretty much known as Abelard, because one of the playtest characters was based on his picture. Abelard the Paladin was the first character to die in the Age of Worms (to the beetle swarm & mad slasher). I think that's actually a longsword he's wielding, but I could be wrong.
The female tiefling with the unusual sword and the silly forehead thing. I find it odd that she's in the art for the first Age of Worms adventure, since she'd have to be a tiefling with no class levels. From the cover of #124 we see that she later switches to dual-wielding a greatsword and sickle; I henceforth dub her Kia, after the only female character name used by the player of mine who enjoys such zany things.
I believe she is dual-wielding a bastard sword and a sickle. She appears to be leading with the sickle (a move I approve of), but is unfortunately using it against a creature that cannot be tripped...
The druid with the headdress made of horn - headdresses are quite the fashion accessory among druids, if we notice that Vadania (Player's Handbook) has something similar. Or is she a druid? The cover of #124 shows her with what seems to be a metal mace or rod - is she a druid, then, or a sorceress who just likes nature and showing off her cleavage?
Not a druid, but a cleric of Wee Jas. I believe she is called Tyralandi, after another one of the playtest characters who took Tomb-Tainted Soul and Spontaneous Healer as her first level feats. It is rather odd that she is using a mace rather than her goddess's favored weapon, the dagger.
The drow bard from the cover of Dungeon #124 - bard, because that's either a kind of drow razor-wire lute on his back or a really silly paddle - who has the unusual combination of a longsword and whip. I bet he's a chaotic good drow and he's only doing that because his DM wouldn't let him wield scimitars. I hope that big worm on the cover kills him in the next round.
There's been some debate about this character's fighting style. I believe that he doesn't use them both in the same round, just whichever one is more appropriate for the situation. Probably his off-hand is the whip.
I've heard that Erik doesn't like her, so she got mothballed. (He's like the Paizo Godfather...)The female ranger with the wolf headdress - again, headgear is popular among those woodsy folk. I don't think I've seen her in a while so I guess she got killed at the end of the Istivin arc! I guess that's what happens to an archer when most of your monsters are undead and constructs.