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My group is getting ready to run through Carnival of Tears and they're rolling up new characters. One of them wants to play a wizard from the lands of the linnorm kings. He's trying to build a backstory, but he doesn't really see how that would fit into the whole viking feel of the area.
Are there any areas of that area that are civilized/advanced enough to have a "learned" class like wizard?
Does anyone have anyone have any suggestions for how to create a backstory for him?
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I can come up with a quick background...
Warriors went on a raid. Warriors killed foreigners. Warriors brought back treasure. Child discovered spellbook in treasure. Child learned how to cast spells. :)
We've considered that, but in keeping with the mystery of magic we feel the arcane writings of a spellbook should be largely incomprehensible for anyone who hasn't had some form of training in how to read it and use it.
They call me...Tim
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The inhabitants of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings are hard-bitten and in many ways barbaric, but they are extraordinarily well traveled as a culture, and books are something most everyone would know of, if not own. Yes, the vast majority of the culture is illiterate, but there are definitely wizards running around up there.
An interesting background would be for the character to be the son of a Viking who traveled with his father through the Arch of Aroden to the city of Absalom, on the Isle of Kortos. In the so-called City at the Center of the World, the character took to local schooling while his father served as a mercenary guardsman for a wealthy noble, and in the course of this instruction the character began his studies in the magical arts. Before he could get too far, though, his father was called back home and he was left to return with his books to the barbaric culture that had spawned him.
The pale-skinned, light-haired human inhabitants of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings are known as Ulfen, incidentally. Their language, which shares an alphabet granted to them by ancient dwarves in the Age of Destiny, is called Skald.
More to come in the Gazetteer, of course.
An Ulfen (Wolves?) would make a good candidate for Eldritch Knight, IMO. Wizard 6/Fighter 1/Eldritch Knight 8/Archmage 2 is a great build for a Pathfinder AP (give up two levels of spellcasting for BAB increase of +5).
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An interesting background would be for the character to be the son of a Viking who traveled with his father through the Arch of Aroden to the city of Absalom, on the Isle of Kortos. In the so-called City at the Center of the World, the character took to local schooling while his father served as a mercenary guardsman for a wealthy noble.
I like that, sort of like the Byzantine Varangian Guard, right? We might just run with that, thanks Erik!