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I've been doing quite a lot of brainstorming about character concepts for our upcoming Strange Aeons campaign, and one I've really become quite fond of is the idea of playing an Oradin. We haven't had anyone play one yet, and the concept is right up my alley - I love playing tanks and supports, and the Oradin really delivers.
I have the mechanical side of the build figured out, but I've been giving a lot of thought to the character herself.
I'll obviously be taking Fey Foundling, like every good Oradin should, but I didn't want it to just be a feat, I really wanted that story to be an integral part of her character. I'll even be taking the mechanically terrifying Fey-taken drawback to further push that concept, along with the Adopted trait.
For the longest time, my concept was that she'd been found alone in the woods by a family of gnomes, and been taken in. I love the idea of playing a pure innocent in a horror campaign, so that's what she'd be - a wide-eyed, spirited follower of Shelyn (who seemed a nice common ground for her gnome parents and my half-elven paladin.)
As I read more into the First World, however, a more complex story took hold:
One or both of Ilessa's (Ilessa being my character) parents (probably her elven parent) bought something at the Witch Market years before she was born, with the promised payment of their first-born child (*classic* fairy tale trope.) The fate of Ilessa's parents is unknown, and up to the GM if he decides to use it.
In turn, the Witch Market sold the half-elven child, and she was purchased by a concerned gnome family that still lived in the First World, at a steep price; all of her adopted father's colour. Bleaching is a death sentence for gnomes, so it serves to show an example of how she grew to see and appreciate Goodness and sacrifice through her father. Obviously, half-elven children mature much faster than gnome children do, so her adopted father yet lives, though with few years left. Ilessa's journey back to the material plane, I realized, would be a quest to save her adopted parent as well as an opportunity to possibly find her birth parents. (Both of these major events can be assumed to occur post-campaign as a result of her in-campaign questing should the GM decline to use them.)
It's here that I realized that in this version of her tale, one so steeped in fairy fantasy and based wholly in the First World, worship of Shelyn seemed very out of place. Wouldn't she instead worship one of the Eldest?
Two of the Eldest are available for paladins to worship: Imbrex and Magdh. Both are fascinating, and each very different. Magdh is suprisingly approachable, so my first thought was that perhaps she went to Magdh in search of answers, and Magdh advised her to search the Material Plane (plus, how often does a paladin get to *MEET* their god?) On the other hand, Imbrex is the god of statutes and endings, and as the god of endings, is very appropriate not only for her leaving the First World to begin a new journey, but also is very campaign appropriate. And it seems just as reasonable for her to have gone to Imbrex personally, even though they're more ineffable.
She'll be a Chosen One, so a little hedgehog familiar for Imbrex sounds adorable (Imbrex's favored animals are hibernating animals), but it's not especially a problem either way.
I was wondering what people's thoughts were about which of the two would be more interesting, as well as the broader question of:
What would a paladin of the Eldest be like?
Great concept both mechanically and story/plotwise. Dotting to keep abreast of the growth.
This is amazing. I love it.
I always thought of fey foundling as interesting for the paladin's backstory.
Often, I consider the fact that most fey, while in the first world, are virtually immortal and can recover from deaths. That seems like something that could skew a child's view of the world, seeing happen time and again.
So you can easily have fey foundlings that are either oblivious or just unphased by the concept of getting attacked and hurt. Just dashing in without regard for bodily harm. And such a play style is encouraged by the feat, since it allows them to heal themselves more with their swift action healing, allowing them to tank such hits.
I always thought of fey foundling as interesting for the paladin's backstory.
Often, I consider the fact that most fey, while in the first world, are virtually immortal and can recover from deaths. That seems like something that could skew a child's view of the world, seeing happen time and again.
So you can easily have fey foundlings that are either oblivious or just unphased by the concept of getting attacked and hurt. Just dashing in without regard for bodily harm. And such a play style is encouraged by the feat, since it allows them to heal themselves more with their swift action healing, allowing them to tank such hits.
You know, I was aware of this trait of the First World fey, but I hadn't really given much thought as to how it would have influenced her. You actually helped me come to a pretty significant character breakthrough, though amusingly going the opposite direction of your suggestion.
Since Ilessa is not native to the First World, her parents would have had to come up with quite a lot of Rules in order to keep her safe, as well as being extremely cautious about the fey that they allowed Ilessa to play and grow with. These factors actually fit how she would have grown to have a Lawful alignment in an otherwise often-Chaotic plane.
Additionally, her return to the mortal realm would have been a big wake-up call, because there, she's suddenly not the only mortal anymore. That big heart of hers likely cried out in pain as she began to understand the permanence of death in the "Second" World, leading her further down the path of wanting to protect and heal others - the path of the Oradin.
It fits really quite perfectly :) I was kinda' wondering how I was going to get that Lawful influence in there, and this just nails it.
I probably should have gone into the personality I have planned for her more than I did in the first post (but it was already so wordy), but I plan on Ilessa being kind, sweet, naive, truthful, highly concerned about fairness, and extremely protective of others.
She also probably models her behavior somewhat off of the various sidhe knights she may have met.