Since reading pg. 23 of the Advanced Race Guide Playtest, I've been wanting to play a fire elemental. More specifically a sorcerer, since the idea of a being made of fire with fire-related magic abilities appeals to me.
However, I'm wondering how I would play such a character. What motivates a fire elemental to go adventuring? How would it interact with the other characters? What would it say in a given situation and would it be talkative, or not so talkative. Would it be emotional or stoic?
I think the character would either adventure in order to find a way to return to his home, or to explore the new world in which he finds itself. In either case it would be beneficial to work alongside companions. Possibly the elemental would not have much emotional connection to the other PCs, seeing them as merely allies of convenience. This may or may not change as the campaign progresses. However it's possible that the elemental might be curious about these strange beings and would ask about they're ways and customs.
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While your character's theme will be based on off the fire elemental bloodline, it does not define your characters personality. With the fire elemental bloodline...
- Your home city could have been burned to the ground, so your character can hate her innate ability to control and create fire.
- You can be the stereo typical pyromaniac whose catchphrases follow the lines of "You smell like burning."
- You can be an happy orphan who was adopted by a baker who marveled at your ability to start the oven without tools.
- You can be the plucky neighborhood exterminator who got bored with killing vermin.
Your bloodline is the spice to your character, not the meat.
While your character's theme will be based on off the fire elemental bloodline, it does not define your characters personality. With the fire elemental bloodline...
- Your home city could have been burned to the ground, so your character can hate her innate ability to control and create fire.
- You can be the stereo typical pyromaniac whose catchphrases follow the lines of "You smell like burning."
- You can be an happy orphan who was adopted by a baker who marveled at your ability to start the oven without tools.
- You can be the plucky neighborhood exterminator who got bored with killing vermin.Your bloodline is the spice to your character, not the meat.
I mean that my character's race would be fire elemental, not just that he's a fire element bloodline sorcerer.
If you get to run this character, remember that elementals are kind of the "starfish alien" types - even most aberrations share more biology with humans than this guy. Everything from eating ("That is incredibly revolting!") to picking locks ("Why don't you just seep under it?") is going to strike a fire elemental as comical, obscene, or pathetic. Draw a line from various robot characters from fiction, as they're closest to the alien viewpoint you'd need.
On another note, bear in mind that the Prime Plane is just as bizarre to him as the E.P. of Fire is to regular PCs. His first view of rainclouds should elicit a shriek of horror, while he may well gibber and hide the first time he sees a lake or shoreline. It's all so cold and moist: the locals are all made of meat and spend their time killing other meat creatures (and the rules on which kinds of meat you're allowed to eat after you kill it are quite arbitrary): gravity is not a matter of personal preference and the locals actually use wood - wood! - to build things with. He's likely to be either contemptuous of, or fascinated with, the idea of a day/night progression and the concept of "stars." It would be an amusing quirk if he assumed that aliens from other worlds must exist, because those stars are made of fire, and fire must obviously be inhabited, right?
This. If you're going to play an exotic race like a fire elemental, put some effort into it to avoid it being a human made out of fire. A few other things to add in, elementals are ageless so they likely have little regard for short term events or setbacks.
As a side note on wood: Mundane fire deals 1d6 damage per round. Wood has hardness of 5. Energy damage gets halved before applying hardness. Max(1d6)/2 = 3 < 5 so wood takes no damage from mundane fire.
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I mean that my character's race would be fire elemental, not just that he's a fire element bloodline sorcerer.
While your character may be from a different plane I'd have to disagree that eating and lock picking would be comical, obscene or pathetic. There is no point of reference for such emotions. You will still have a high enough intelligence to be on par with the average human. Because of this I see no reason why elementals would be bound to a racial personality. You can still be the plucky adventuring fire elemental, or the cliche "hehehehe, burn, hehehehehe" elemental. Just as a Sorcerer's bloodline is flavor, not personality, so too is a fire elemental's race flavor.
Ok so you are
- The roaming elemental who is bored with the local scenery
- The elemental who created a bond with some traveling adventurers who were in need of power, for a price of course
- peaceful, but a local village is scared of you and sends adventure's to snuff you out. Luckily your high charisma helps you explain that you are not a monster, but your own person.
- A superhero who burns evil to the ground!