So the other day I was doing a little thinking about character's I've played. How they have evolved and whatnot, how my playstyle has changed.
All that nostalgia got me thinking. If you could bring back any one character from your gamming past to your next pathfinder game, who would it be and why? [dont worry about rule restrictions, assume anything you needed to be allowed into the game to make the character happen is allowed in this hypothetical game]
For me It would be the character that is my namesake. He was the first 3.0 character I ever played. A Elf sorceror/mindbender named Kolokotroni. Though I played a signficant amount of AD&D before I picked up 3.0, I feel that this was when I truly got 'into' dnd. This character captured my imagination, and represented the first time I played in a long standing (several years) campaign. I enjoyed his ego, and his constant manipulation of just about everyone he interacted with (i mean whats the point of being a mindbender if you dont mess with people right?). There is something special about convincing an NPC to pay you for the use of their own pants.
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I think my favorite character was Yuugami, a weaponsmith and Kensai (Sword-master) from the eastern lands that was exiled from home.
There were many moments that made an indelible stamp in my memory, but I think my two favorite instances were when he made "gifts" for the entire party, and when the Cleric of the party had a little crisis of faith, and approached Yuugami to teach him how to fight.
The gifts were essentially masterwork (though this was 2nd Ed.) but each was designed for each of the characters in mind. One I remember was a light blade for an Elven Fighter Mage that enjoyed using the Web spell. So Yuugami crafted the scabbard with a web design in the lacquer.
Anyway, nostalgia... ^_^
Thanks for the thread... stirring up some memories.
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My favorite was a Nosferatu in Vampire the Masquerade.
Starting out as a handsome playboy who used his looks to get his way in the world, he was sired as punishment, stripped of his only remarkable advantage in life (his pretty face), and forced to construct a new self, from the ground up.
From the twisted nightmare that his life had become, he went on to become a leader among his (tiny and insular) Clan, and respected enough in social matters that the membership of a rival Clan voted to put him in charge of resources or positions traditionally kept in-house. (I played versions of him in tabletop and Live-Action, and in both cases, wheedled him up to higher social status than any of the local Toreador or Ventrue, becoming either Keeper of Elysium or 'head Harpy,' depending on the game. In a Live-Action game with sixty players, STs would send new Toreador players to my Nosferatu to 'learn how to play a Toreador.')
The first Nosferatu Clanbook had a character archetype called 'The Cleopatra,' a Nosferatu that had been beautiful, but now was freakish, and the picture was of some diva-looking actress in a fancy dress, hiding her monstrous face behind her hands and shrieking about / mourning the loss of her beauty. That picture was my inspiration, and it was one of the few times I just ran with a pre-generated concept from a book that way, instead of coming up with my own whackier notions (like my Setite boxer who ran a dojo or my Tremere big game hunter...).
As a PC, I had a Gnome/Werebear. He had a magic carpet, would fly above a group of bad guys, the jump down on them and change on the way down landing as a very heavy large creature.
He also had an amulet from Savage species that turned his claws into magic weapons When in Bear form he had +1 brilliant energy claws. Alas, I only played him for 3 sessions then had to leave the campaign.
As GM (which I did a lot) I had some fun NPC's. When running one 3.5 campaign I had a wonderfully eclectic collection, my favorite being
"Zargon the magnificient" who was a 15th level Magewrignt (Ebberon NPC class) with no attack spells whatsoever, not even ray of frost. He used his 5th level support spells so that every player assumed he was a powerful wizard, but when threatened would either whip out a an eternal wand (Ebberon magic item that any spellcaster could use without having the spell on their list) and cut loose a ray of frost (oooh 3 whole points of damage) but he usually just used his crossbow or ran. The players assumed he would come to their rescue, but of course he couldn't, unless it was simply to help then run away.
My long-time favorite character, and the inspiration for my name, was Luthien Greyspear, a 2e necromancer/fighter (gladiator). He went from having a horrible background (enslaved as a child, twisted into a spiteful bitter young man, and came home to find his mother murdered by his biological father) to becoming a hero. It was a lot of fun actually seeing his psychology shift as the game went on.
The funny thing was, I designed him with another party member in mind. He was a mid-game addition to a college game (game ran three years, I joined beginning of year two), and I knew a bit about the party. The cleric of the party was a very young priestess of the Death god, who was a shepherd of souls rather than the evil murderer type god. I decided to make a very bitter and confused worshiper of her god, someone that thought that he himself was a crime against nature (because he was a necromancer). I was hoping for some nice dramatic role-playing. What I got was married to the priestess, and became the second most powerful guardian of the sacred island they retired to.
From 6th level to 20th, it was a hell of a ride.
What the heck, I'll contribute to another one of these threads.
Another favorite character of mine was Celeberon from a Rifts campaign. Everyone called her 'Silver' because they couldn't pronounce her (Elven) name. She had elven godparents but was an Achilles Neo-Human who stood about 6'6" tall and was built like the She-Hulk. Mind you, she was also a fiery redhead with a temper to match who enjoyed tequila and beating Deadboys into a pulp with WWE moves. In her early career she lost a good bit of personal armor in fights and ended up naked quite a bit, much to the distraction of her opponents. She was known to enjoy doing things like yanking people around with her Hyperkinesis when she didn't incinerate them with the various plasma weapons she was fond of. Among my favorite moments included landing atop a CS trooper who had been magic-netted to his hovercycle in what became known as 'the People's Elbow'. I was in my Predator at the time and it was messy to say the least. I also killed someone after undergoing my supernatural transformation by headbutting them. We didn't discuss how much of them I was wearing after that, but I was irritated that someone had ruined my dress;)
Tristam Ravenwind, a male "witch" (wizard kit with no martial proficiencies and affected by various cosmic events, but starting off with a magical item and a variety of assorted powers, including a powerful charm effect) set in the Greyhawk setting of AD&D 2nd Ed.
He was a minor noble which one day stubled upon ancient ruins with his fiancee. They awakened a powerful (and very dark) extra-planar being, who taught them magic and some combat arts, gave each of them a magical gauntlet meant to channel the power of an ancient and powerful artifact, and manipulated them so they'd go on a race to retrieve said artifact.
The love/hate relationship between this character and his fiancee (female NPC) was very interesting. Add to this the fact that over the time he collected a bunch of boons and curses. For instance, at some point he became the "Master of Day and Night", being able to force the sun to either set or rise at his whim (once a week I think), but had the side effect that when someone asked his identity he was compulsed to reveal it, including all of his titles. And after a while, he had a bunch of those. His full name was so long I could'nt say it in a single breath. DM tought it was funny as hell.
He also had a bunch of followers (Deck of Many Things effect), of the most various kind, including a Kilmoulis knight and a Succubus concubine (a motley crew indeed), one of which was prophecized to betray him at some point (other Deck of many things effect).
Last time time I played him, I believe the session ended as he was being cast into some planar portal to god only knows where. Will probably roll him up again at some point under PF or 4E rules, probably amnesiac or severely drained.
Funny, two of my most memorable characters where a bit like ones played by Knight who say neek! and Necroluth in some aspects.
First one was a 3.0 shifter-druid (ridiculously overpowered). It was a campaign with a lot of army battles. A favorite tactic of his would be to wildshape into a small and quick flying creature (hawk), fly up, dive down on the ennemy, and then whildshape into an Iron Golem, and meteor smash into the ennemy formations. To add a bit of oomph, the party wizard sometime would craft a necklace of fireballs and give it to me. I would keep this piece of equipment unmelded as I shifted into golem shape, having the wizard fireball me as I landed, voluntarily failing my saving throw. *BOOM*. Did I mention iron golems are healed by fire, including magical fire? We called this move the "Golem bomb".
This guy also good married to the mother of one of the PCs...
Other character was a 2ndE TWF elven fighter. I joined this campaign after a few session, and the character was first meant as a joke to another PC, which was described as having a moon crescent as a symbol on her shield. As such, I decided my character would be sent on a quest as a chosen champion of the moon goddess, and his symbol would be a necklace with a moon crescent. Was extremely misogynous at first, but ended up marrying another champion of the moon goddess, and guarding her sacred Island, where they retired... O_o
I have 2 I particularly liked. Ghontix and Garath.
Ghontix was an exalted, Half-Actic Elf, Arcane Hierophant. He and his celestial baboon were summoned from death to serve a treant Demigod. In his past life he was an evil ranger, he had repented in death and was brought back in a very weak body. He teamed up with a CN Half-orc binder and a LN wyvern-riding mercenary whose antics often went against his exalted principles. They spent most of their time on diplomatic missions between countries that invariably fell into violence. This frustrated Ghontix who, in spite of 20+ Cha for the whole campaign, proved to be a horrible negotiator.
Garath was a Half-Elf Monk/Psychic Warrior. He was raised among evil worshipers of Wee Jas, but had so little magical aptitude that he was looked down on and made to do only physical work. He was taught the basics of painting and fighting arts by another one of the laborers at the commune. As an adult he struck out on his own, eventually falling into work as an inter-planar mercenary of sorts. His first exposure to the astral plane awakened his dormant psionic ability. In spite of his upbringing he was a worshiper of Wee Jas, and would often draw portraits of recently deceased PCs/NPCs. He was the only character that made it from beginning to end in that campaign. The others all switched out or died along the way.
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The PC I had the most fun playing was a 1E Paladin of Heironeous. He eventually made level 20, with a keep and a large land-grant. He was manipulated my Asmodeus's daughter (can't remember her name) and lost is paladinhood. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to atone, he went mad, took a couple levels in thief (there was no assassin/blackguard class) and was slain by his own knights and vilagers.
Definitely in my 'top 3' of favorites was Charlotte the Red Monk. Started in 1st Ed and eventually converted to 2nd Ed.
She was a LE 15th Assassin / 18th Monk / 11th Illrigger (LE variant of the Anti-Paladin) by the time the campaign ended.
Kaiu Mondo, Crab Investigator. Went to the Kitsuki detective school, and basically a Perception machine. Would be considered Lawful Evil under any level of examination, but was the most heroic, clever and downright resourceful bastard I've ever played. Because tough people make tough decisions, and Mondo never flinched before tough decisions.
To bandits, holding the remains of a Crab outpost hostage: "Surrender now and you will be executed quickly. If I have to storm your fortifications, you will pray for death before I am done with you."
To a high ranking Crane Shugenja: "As near as I can tell, someone violated your young daughter, drugged her, and placed her in the room at the inn I was staying at - while I slept. You should be more careful with your children. Your cousin made rash accusations and my bodyguard was forced to kill him. I suggest you focus your anger at the persons responsible for these crimes, I have other matters to attend to." This was, BTW, exactly what happened. Kaiu Mondo was a terrible liar, and I had been SO railroaded by the GM I was spitting out fire and coal.
To one his underlings: "The merchants will bribe the tax collectors to keep their taxes low. The tax collectors will bribe you to keep their positions. You will use those bribes to pay informants so that we can catch the bandits that have been plaguing the area. Oh, and keep a list of those corrupt tax collectors. We'll deal with them later."
To the governor of Ryoko Owari (aka the head of the opium cartels in Rokugan): "I would like to assess the poppy fields so that you and the Emperor may receive your proper taxes. There seems to be a large number of untaxed production, and the Emerald Champion is concerned." Opium prices rose, the cartels made more money, and the Emperor got his taxes.