So I've just retired an old character of mine and came back into play with a new, level 9 character. From a mechanical standpoint, he is pretty solid, but I want to give him some depth, a past, some background and some personality beyond his current quirks and quips. Which brings me to the following question:
How much adventuring has a level 9 character done without gaining too much renown for it? I'm not getting any good ideas from the old character, despite having played him from lowly level one.
So I turn to you; Does anyone have any ideas or experience on the subject matter?
Thanks.
So I've just retired an old character of mine and came back into play with a new, level 9 character. From a mechanical standpoint, he is pretty solid, but I want to give him some depth, a past, some background and some personality beyond his current quirks and quips. Which brings me to the following question:
How much adventuring has a level 9 character done without gaining too much renown for it? I'm not getting any good ideas from the old character, despite having played him from lowly level one.
So I turn to you; Does anyone have any ideas or experience on the subject matter?
Thanks.
Perhaps he was just a local hero. Protecting the town and what not. Lots of practice, but not overly worldly. Of course he could simply have been a very private person, but been part of an adventuring party. Or just changed his name, etc.
Play him as a....
Foreigner, just off the boat from Tian, or some other ill-defined corner of Golarion.
A Ranger, or Druid, who's spent most of their life isolated in the wilderness.
A time traveler from the past. If you don't want to fiddle with traditional time travel, just say the party killed a medusa and all of her statues have come back to life.
I realize I should perhaps give some background as to what seeds I'm currently working with. I've played many melee types over the years and always wanted to try my hand at a spellcaster. So I decided to play a human wizard. Having randomly determined his age (19), I decided to have him be a bit of a prodigy. As I wanted him to have a varied assortment of craft and profession skills, I figured he would be /that/ kid. The one that always skips out of school, always out doing something else. Runs away once from the wizard academy: decides he wants to be a carpenter for a theater troupe. Gets caught by parents/school/law enforcement. Runs away again. Decides this time he's going to try his hand at architecture, with maybe a particular focus on stained glass for temples, churches and cathedrals. Rinse and repeat. He was bullied a lot as a child, and has rich parents (considering it's a low magic world, probably VERY rich parents). He's a dilettante trust-fund kid. He's also a "bro" or more accurately given his physical stats, more of a wigger (and I apologize if that's not an appropriate word to use here). He's that scrawny kid that hangs out with the bros. And he's an illusionist. Because nothing is more mischief-inducing than some well placed illusion, as well as being a great way to get out of trouble. Or postpone trouble.
This would be fine in my eyes for a level one character, but as I sit down to write more about this guy, I can't fit in the extra 8 levels he has.
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This would be fine in my eyes for a level one character, but as I sit down to write more about this guy, I can't fit in the extra 8 levels he has.
Well. Here's one way to guage the sort of experience he's had:
They guy has defeated 13 encounters of each level, 1-8. thats 104 encounters total, but more importantly its 13 of each level.
So lets say a combination of monsters and humans of CR 8 to make up that 13. Those are most of his "big" accomplishments. Maybe he's defeated a CR 9 or 10.
Some cool ones you could work in are (B1): (8) Ogre Mage, Gorgon, Dark Naga, Efreeti, Erinyes. (9) Dragon Turtle, Vampire, Greater elemental, Bone devil. (10)Couatl, Guardian Naga, Rakshasa.
Aside: I dont thing a wigger is a weak or poser version of a bro. They tend to look and act quite differently. NPH's character in HIMYIM is a Bro. They're focused on getting chicks, and being elitist. Wiggers are focused on emulating rappers, and wear baggy pants and oversized hoodies and stuff, and acted like idiots, irritating me all throughout highschool.
I'm going to assume you mean someone who wishes they were a bro, because I cant think of any way you could work a wigger into a D&D game without seriously breaking the fourth wall and ruining the fun of nearly any group.
So...
Maybe after learning some wizarding he used his illusions to get into the military. He joined up with the army, and uses trickery and illusion to distract the enemies for his buddies to kill. He uses illusions to make himself look buff, and tries to make people think he's a fighty type unless he knows them well, so he can trick them if necessary. He often uses illusions of himself, or the buffed up fighter version of himself he has come up with. His soldier buddies are in on it, though his superiors likely are not.
By level 9, He's likely a few ranks below general. has commanded legions. etc. If he's independent, he likely had his own mercenary or adventuring company. He's been pretty successful, and has been successful in many expeditions.
If its golarion, he could be a decently ranked member of the pathfinder society.
But my guess is he slums it with swaggering fighty types who get the ladies better than he does.
For his reputation, if he's a poser fighty type, he's part of a troupe that has done cool stuff. the groupe or groups he belongs to are famous, but he has a hard time getting people to believe hes part of the group, and he was there, without anyone else to verify it, even if he was the one in command, because he is simply underwhelming in terms of the impressions he gives people.
Good point on the wigger/bro thing. Yes, he's not the annoying, trying to be a raper guy. The "bro" thing got tagged on by the DM when I first pitched the guy. And with a 14 in both his Dex and Con, he could pull some of it off. The bad Str score is the one thing that makes him "that" guy. The one scrawny guy that hangs with the big overly boisterous bros, dresses like them, emulates their ways. But at the core, I'm really going for the dilettante Trust Fund kid with noble parents and a ton of money; a spirited, brash, easygoing young man with a taste for freedom and the ability to do whatever he wants.
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If he's a trust fund kid, then it's entirely possible that he was drawn into his parents political manipulation from time to time. Of course, his victories there are a secret shared only with his parents. Additional leverage as needed, you see.
Additionally, this kid is very likely to get himself into many situations that are well over his head. As a prodigy, I'd expect that most of his encounters ended up being well over the recommended challenge rating, meaning fewer of them needed for him to level.
Spends a week as a carpenter, notices crazy high order rate of strange design.
Next week, works as a glass-maker, notices crazy high order rate of glass paneling that just happens to be sized to fit the designs from the carpenter job. Also reminds him of a certain not-so-nice spell, if it were enlarged about a hundred times.
Go go boy detective!
Ends up with some strange crazy fighting in dark catacombs as he prevents an embittered exile from using the contraption to cast a spell of plague and death on the city. Of course, no one happens to see him fight to save the city, and the area collapses so there is no evidence to prove anything happened. And he gets docked pay for missing work :p And none of his friends believe him. In fact, he probably gets a nickname or something for coming up with this elaborate story just to miss work :p
It sounds like you're trying to create a Beguiler-like character. If so, you can probably just use the Beguiler class mostly as is, just bump up the hit die and update both the skills and spell lists. There are even a few threads on doing so somewhere on the messageboard.
This would be fine in my eyes for a level one character, but as I sit down to write more about this guy, I can't fit in the extra 8 levels he has.(9) Dragon Turtle
DONE!!!! He is a dragon turtle hunter that has traveled the world hunting DRAGON TURTLES!! Easily the most hysterically not frightening sounding monster in the game