Character 95 - Keeler Frot

I really enjoyed writing this week’s character. This is one of those times when the random bits really just coalesced into something right from the get-go. The only problem was that I had half of this background written and I still couldn’t figure out what class to choose. Although the character’s intelligence was extremely high none of the actual casting classes made sense. He also had a high enough wisdom to be a divine caster but nothing there sung to me either. Eventually I found just the archetype that I was looking for in the investigator class, the majordomo.

Keeler Frot

Lord Hugrin Firebelly was a good and honorable man who chose to live the life of a full-time crusader. As the tenets of Angradd say, “passivity gives evil a chance to thrive and spread” and so the dwarven lord left his lands in the hands of his sons and set out to find evil to thwart.

He didn’t go alone, however. Being a lord he still had a certain life he felt he deserved to live, and on the road with him came squires and servants of all kinds. His retinue included more than just dwarves and among his servants was an orc man and his human wife. These two had made a home on the dwarf’s lands when no one else would have them, and when he left on his personal crusades they opted to head off with him.

Keeler was the duo’s first and only child. He was born on the road when the lord was traveling to the front in Lastwall. He was born rather sickly but the clerics on in the lord’s retinue saw him survive the rough childbirth. The young half-orc grew up to be big, although not strong, and a bit flabby around the middle.

The young boy’s heritage and immensity saw him teased and bullied a lot as a child. It didn’t help that he didn’t know how to communicate the way others did. He missed social cues that caused him even more trouble. This drove him to a life buried in books. The tomes never talked back or teased him.

His mother died when Keeler was only eight. She contracted an illness and although the clerics were able to cure the disease once they discovered it, it had eaten away at her body from the inside. She passed not long after the sickness was actually cured but nobody resurrects a peasant even if they had the ability to.

Keeler’s life always seemed to be in disarray. Chaos came from all the traveling and he began to keep his life as ordered as he possibly could; everything in its place and a place for everything. After the death of his mother, this habit became even more pronounced and he had a hard time dealing with anything that was out of order. Whereas this organization was helpful in many situations it tended to grate on the others around him.

In Ustalav there was a battle against a cult of Urgathoa worshipers. Members of the church of Angradd had alerted the lord to the evil afoot and he went without delay. The cultists were crafty and had no problems with civilian casualties in their reach for undeath, and although the group was eventually routed, Keeler’s father fell when he jumped in front of a poisoned arrow meant for Lord Firebelly. And so at age twelve the young half-orc was without any family.

Because Keeler’s father was so dedicated to the Lord – having gone as far to give his life for him – he took the now almost grown man under his wing. Lord Firebelly tutored the boy in the ways of his patron, Angradd. Keeler took well to the idea of tactics, as it seemed very orderly to him, but the battlefield appeared to destroy all that order. The half-orc took up the worship of his liege’s deity but he would never make a good paladin.

What Lord Firebelly did discover was the Keeler had a way with the organization of his schedule and apartment, so he tested a theory and saw that his pupil also could get his household staff to move things along. Although he had a tendency to ruffle their feathers when giving orders, the lord took him on his chief steward.

Things around the camp got done faster and with more precision, but in the first few months he lost a lot of staff who couldn’t put up with Keeler’s seemingly uncaring attitude. Lord Firebelly wished to keep his staff but craved efficiency, so he gave Keeler an assistant: a young dwarf lass with a gift for gab who was the daughter of one of his knights. Keeler would come up with the plans and she would give the orders.

Lord Firebelly’s retinue has settled in Mendev where Keeler’s liege believes the greatest battle for Golarion will be waged. The half-orc now has a proper household to attend as well as briefings on tactics for his lord’s forays into The Worldwound. Life on the front isn’t so bad now that Keeler has found his place.

How did your half-orc turn out? What class did the random rolls suggest? Where did he grow up if not one specific town? Who was the liege lord that mentored him? How does a half-orc worship a dwarven deity?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Character 93 - Danior Herne

I found this week’s character rather interesting and I had an idea for him the instant he was rolled up. I’ve done one other character from Lastwall and I really like the history the region has with the whispering tyrant. Seeing as the land is a constant battlefield, both to protect the land from outside incursion by the orcs of the Hold of Belzken and to guard what is believed to be the tyrant’s final resting place, the idea of knights went through my head. Although the charisma for the character was high enough to be a paladin we got neutral good and not lawful neutral as an alignment, so I went cavalier instead.

Danior Herne

Danior’s family came to Lastwall a few generations ago. His great grandfather built a business on importing the weapons and armor that the crusaders needed to defend the line from the orcish invaders. His grandfather and father would continue the tradition. It was assumed that Danior would as well, but his father passed on before he had grown into a man.

The business passed on to his father’s partners, which was all well and good because Danior didn’t have a head for it. Pricing and inventory was not the boy’s strong suit. Anything with numbers was beyond him, as the younger Herne turned out to be more than a little slow. Being a trader was never something the boy wanted anyway. He dreamed of being one of the knights he saw daily heading to the front, or to guard some other location important to the region’s defense.

It wasn’t just the knights. One of the things that Danior’s father left him before he died was a small shield that had been enchanted. The boy would use it to play knight every chance he got. Even though his mother told him that his father wasn’t one of the crusaders, Danior always imagined his father as a knight in a full suit of resplendent armor.

Not all the warriors on the front were knights. Some of them were mercenaries, hired to fill gaps in the defenses. One of them took a liking to the boy and started training him at an early age. He taught Danior how to swing a sword and carry a shield. The sword-for-hire also taught him how to make a deal for his services, to always be fair, and to always uphold your end of the bargain.

Things changed for Danior around his thirteenth birthday. Some tieflings are born with the outward traits that expose them as such. In Danior’s case he lived a normal childhood, but when he hit puberty his body changed. Whether it was from his mother’s side or his father’s, the blood of some abyssal creature flowed through his veins, deforming him.

At first Danior covered his body. He thought that if he could conceal himself in a suit of armor like the knights he could just pretend this wasn’t happening to him; that he was as perfect as they were. That never really worked, so eventually he ran off. He was turned away from the knighthood so he joined up with one of the mercenary bands.

Danior was only a decent fighter but he had a certain presence about him which helped to motivate others. And his visage could be quite intimidating, which he used to his advantage when he wasn’t trying to hide it from the world. But he was young and impressionable as well, and not every group of sellswords was like the man who showed him how to use a weapon back when he was a kid.

The mercenaries were nominally working for the government of Lastwall, usually doing missions that the knights saw as beneath them. The group had been tracking down an item that was deemed too dangerous to be left about, and it was in the hands of a young and reckless sorcerer. Danior was tasked with stealing it from the man, which he did, but no matter how he played it out after it always felt wrong.

Eventually, though, Danior’s talent and dedication to his homeland got noticed. A group of crusaders not officially tasked by the government approached him. Their order has been working to keep the creeping evil of the whispering tyrant locked away and thwart those who would try to unleash his power or follow in his footsteps.

Danior joined with the order and swore to defend Lastwall and the world from the insidious evil. But even with their acceptance, he is never sure he really belongs or even deserves that honor. He works hard to make them proud, but in every step he has his own doubts.

What became of your tiefling? What class do you think his life and stats led him down the road to? How did his father die? Why did he steal an object from a spellcaster? Who was his mercenary mentor?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on  my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Character 92 - Herlish Insigal

This week’s character started out as just a skinwalker descended from wererats with a good dexterity. The oddities came when we realized he has both older and younger half-orc half-siblings as well as older and younger full blooded siblings. We added to that growing up in the mountains of Nex, of which there are two ranges, where pretty much everything outside of the magically protected major cities is a blasted wasteland. So with this odd mixture of background bits and dexterity with wisdom as the next follow up stat, I decided to go with the ranger class this week.

Herlish Insigal

The story of Herlish really starts with the story of his mother. She was a woman with little to no luck throughout her life. She was born in Lastwall, a place at constant war with the orcs of the Hold of Belzken. Unmarried, she bore a half-orc child, although she had never had any untoward contact with any of the orc raiders. It is believed that one of the many half-orc warriors who come to Lastwall to live down their heritage is the father but Anka never said and fled the frontier country with her child.

She made her way to Absalom and managed to secure a husband despite having a bastard half-orc child. The man was a gruff former soldier who sold his services to any who would hire. This included a merchant who was traveling to far off Nex. So Herlish’s father uprooted his family and they took the long trip across the inner sea to Nex, and from its capital Qauntium to the city of the fleshforgers, Ecanus.

Ecanus was where Herlish was born, although his parents had already spawned one boy child. Herlish was a twitchy child and as he grew up he was constantly bullied for his nervous reactions. The young boy found solace in watching all the bizarre creation going around him. Although he could never quite grasp how these oddities were made, he cherished the art of creation and many of craftspeople would show him how they made their ideas come to life.

Ecanus was also a dangerous place, and the merchant his father worked for did volatile, although not illicit, work. When you buy and sell living creatures crafted by magic, accidents are bound to happen. Some of the beasts shattered their bonds on the small estate of the merchant and sent his staff and their families running. Herlish’s father stood firm in protecting his charge but fell in the battle, leaving Anka with now four children, Herlish’s younger sister having only recently been born.

The fleshforges often require living flesh to create the monsters that are birthed from the vats. Although many of these are unintelligent animals or horrors not worth mentioning, some unscrupulous crafters will use sentient creatures to fuel their creations. In Nex slavery is legal and the fleshforgers will often buy slaves just for these purposes. But sometimes those slaves escape.

Orc and half-orc were often used as stock for these experiments because of their durability. Those that escaped started a secret underground based out of the Barrier Wall mountains to help others avoid the horrific fate of being immersed in the vats. Herlish’s older sister Alysse got herself involved with these freedom fighters and dragged her younger half-sibling along.

Since Herlish was human he could pass more easily among the oppressors, and he did this willingly, flaunting the law for his sister and loving every minute of it. The young man was adept at keeping to the shadows although not every excursion was without incident. Herlish was slowly learning the tricks to battling the creations of the fleshforgers.

Some of the beings they rescued were already changed by preparation rituals or even just proximity to magical and alchemical substances. But they were not the only ones that saw a change come over them. Whether it came from his mother or father’s side he didn’t know, but Herlish’s found the ability to alter his own shape. He was able to take on aspects of a rodent and minor abilities attributed to wererats, of whom he realized he was probably kin.

As things became more serious Herlish and his older sister went to their mother and got her to leave the city and take up residence in the stronghold in the mountains that the rebels were using. There she married yet again, a half-orc with some mutations due to experimentation. She bore one last child, another half-orc bringing her brood to a total of five children.

Herlish and his sister still fight the good fight and their younger brother seems eager to join when he comes of age. Life may not be easy for the odd family but they’re still happy.

What did you do with your skinwalker? What class did his background dictate for him? Who did he have both a younger and older half-sibling? What law or oath did he break?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Character 91 - Rangi

For this week’s character I went out of my way to write up my own halfling culture based in Tian-Xia. So this week’s character belongs to the Tagata halflings on Minata, which are based on Samoan culture. This choice certainly set the tone for the kinds of characters I would make. Having only a high constitution and charisma limited the choice of classes that he would be any good at. Then I had to fit in some of the background information: born to an omen, to a seafaring people, and worshiping the god of sea and storms. I jumped immediately to the idea of a kineticist.

Rangi

Born on the day of a raging storm that did not touch his people’s home island of Uali’a, Rangi was considered to be touched by the god Hei Feng himself. This meant from the time of his birth a lot more was expected of him than the other children of the tribe. Even though he was born to a pair of craftsmen and not a chief or a medicine man, his people treated him as though he was of a higher station.

When Rangi was old enough to understand why people treated him in such away he began to fear he would never live up to other’s expectations. Being somehow chosen made the young halfling want to run and hide. But Rangi was treated to a laundry list of mentors that his patron, the chief of the tribe, paid to discover what abilities the omen meant he would have.

He learned some medicine from the tribes Fofo, a type of witch doctor. Although he never achieved his own communion he worked with the Taula who could take the spirits within him. The tribe’s shaman taught him everything he needed to know about the spirit world itself, and how to get there. He even learned the art of tattoo from the tufuga ta tatau. Rangi took in all of these lessons but excelled at none of them.

With all these mentors – masters of their field all – it was someone with no practical life experience that helped Rangi find his calling. Lanuola was the first girl he ever loved and during their time together she would always tell him that he needed to be himself and not what others wanted him to be. She said he should be like the water that flows in its own patterns and when it meets an obstacle it goes around instead of through. Her words themselves were prophetic for his true power came when the two were swimming. That was where he learned he had the power over water itself.

Gaoioi’Suavai or water movers haven’t existed among the Tagata in ages. Legend says the great Gaoioi’Suavai left with the expeditions to find the homeland after the cataclysm that broke Minata in to small island. They would use their power over water to help move va’a tale at great speed across the ocean. A Gaoioi’Suavai had not been seen among the Tagata since then and Rangi was now the inheritor of their power.

After the manifestation of his power Rangi gave himself over to the sea. He could always be found out on a fishing vessel, diving for crabs, or just swimming around his island home. There was no one to teach him to use his power, although the storytellers could related tales passed down from the time before. He still had to learn everything on his own. The power did go a little to his head and he became obsessed with his reputation and being the ‘protector’ of his people.

When they oyster beds were mysteriously being ravaged Rangi took it upon himself to solve the mystery. He waited day and night for over a week, stalking the beds to which his tribe laid their bivalves. It was on the night of the full moon that he saw the crab-like creature devouring the oysters, particularly the ones that had pearls sitting with them.

The creature is it turns out was a rare elemental species – consigned to a physical form – called a tojanida. The one thing these creatures enjoy about their physicality is the taste and texture of food. The oysters with their pearls were something new that this particular creature had grown a taste for. The problem is that pearls are the only form of money that the Tagata have to trade with the outside world. So Rangi used his considerable persuasive power to convince him to eat elsewhere.

Now Rangi seeks other ways to grow his own legend. He wants the Gaoioi’Suavai to mean something to his people again and for himself to be the forefather of the new era of those with the ability. He expects that he is the first, but not the last and he needs to be ready to train those who come after him.

What did you do with your halfling? What class did you choose? What omen came at his birth? Did he live up to that omen? Why does he worship Hei Feng? What non-humanoid creature did he seduce?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to get the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon. And to keep up with my other musings and thoughts you can follow the CRB on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Character 90 - Gribble

I love goblins almost as much as I love grippli. This week’s goblin is another non-evil one, for some reason the random rolls seem to love them. The stats left the character open to a number of options and with the high wisdom and the parents in a clergy it almost screamed wisdom-based caster. Being from a metropolis in the Mana Wastes left only the city of Alkenstar as the place of origin. Having a high dexterity means a ranged character, and the high wisdom means a decent grit pool. And so I went with the gunslinger, specifically the gun scavenger archetype.

Gribble

Although goblins are far more common in Avistan they’re not unheard of on the continent of Garund. In the Mana Wastes along with mutants, giants, and other monsters roam a handful of small goblin tribes. These goblins tend not to be as fecund as their Avistani kin and their tribes, and therefore their tribes are smaller.

These tribes tend to be scavengers, not just of items and technology but of language, culture, and religion. Some goblins follow in the protective nature of the calikangs while worshiping the gods of the giants or chittering away in the indistinct language of the sand krakens. A tribe that revels in the chaotic nature of magic can be found warring with a group of goblins that piece together the black powder technologies of Alkenstar.

Gribble was born to a family that was considered heretics even among the goblins. His parents were part of a cult that worshipped a storm giant god. These goblins began their worship by learning about Aegirran from a book—another taboo among the goblins—because there are no storm giants that call the Mana Wastes home.

His parents and other members of the sect were forcibly run out of goblin society. Some died in the purge. This number almost included Gribble who sustained a critical wound from a gunshot by one of the more tech based goblin tribes.

Although the sect was dispersed, Gribble’s father still worshiped in Aegirran’s name after moving into Alkenstar. The deity was so impressed with his father’s dedication that he became the first and only goblin cleric of Aegirran, and he was granted the ability to heal, which is what saved his son from death.

In Alkenstar Gribble’s parents set up a church to Aegirran in a ramshackle building that also doubled as their home. The goblins were considered an odd bunch; worshipping a deity of another race, who had domain over sailors in a landlocked nation. But they did good deeds and helped support the community, even taking in a young orphan Halfling that Gribble grew to know as his brother.

His closest confidant through growing up in Alkenstar was his brother. Although others thought it was weird Gribble could never think of him as anything less than true family. The duo was inseparable. His brother had lived on the streets for quite a few years before Gribble and his family took him in. The young Halfling was invaluable for learning about the other races and how best to live alongside them, as well as the ins and outs of the metropolis itself.

Since his brush with death, Gribble had fostered an interest in guns. Many goblins would have been scared of the thing that almost killed them, but not Gribble. He showed an intense curiosity for all things black powder, although being poor he could never afford anything as lavish as even a pistol. This interest led him to take up work as an assistant to an investor. Although his gizmos were far from guns they did employ gears, springs, and other moving parts.

Gribble made a deal with the inventor to keep his mechanical secrets but as time went on the goblin began to produce more and more of the man’s actual work. He saw the things he created get sold and money and accolades go to the inventor. In a fit of jealousy he told one client that the doodad he was buying was actually his invention, and told him how it worked, but the man wouldn’t believe a goblin. Gribble left his position and felt bad for breaking a promise, but the experience made him realize how hard it was to not be socially acceptable just because of his race.

The young goblin wanted to make a name for himself, he wanted people to know goblins could be helpful and kind. He wanted people to know goblins weren’t all dumb. He just didn’t convey these things well. He wanted to build a reputation, and his brother said he would help him, and so the two spent their time going around Smokeside trying to become heroes. Helping kittens out of trees and old ladies across streets was no way to do this, although it did net the two tramps access to some pretty interesting salvage.

Gribble took everything he learned from the inventor and his own studies and used the spare parts they found or were gifted to make his own gun. They also took payment in some flamboyant clothes, stuff two young boys thought befit a dashing hero. Gribble swore to make a name for himself as a great gunslinger, and his brother would sing his praises as his own personal storyteller.

The two wander the streets of Alkenstar but who knows if that’s where the adventure ends.

So how did you build your goblin? What class did you choose? Who was his Halfling brother? Why were his parents in a cult? How did is near demise come about?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to get the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon. And to keep up with my other musings and thoughts you can follow the CRB on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Character 89 - Brogru

Illustration by Luis Perez

With every character I make there is always a hook, something for you to latch onto and get stuck in your craw. This week was no different. I didn’t settle in on the stats, there wasn’t one background bit that caught my eye and made me go “aha”. It was the randomly rolled deity that really drove this character to its final form. The Infernal Duke of language who collects tomes in dialects that have never existed. So looking through all the choices – and there were a lot with this spread of stats -  I went with the occultist. In particular I choose the tome eater archetype, and from there the character just flowed.

Brogru

Most of the citizens of Irrisen can trace their lineage back to either the original Ulfen inhabitants or back to the children of Baba Yaga herself. Although those are the most dominant bloodlines in the region they are not the only ones. On the border with the Realm of the Mammoth Lords reside quite a few families that can trace their families back to the tribes of their eastern neighbor.

Brogru’s family are some of those Kellids that have lived just across the border of their homeland for generations. The Jadwiga consider these tribesmen citizens and like any other residents of Irrisen they are not allowed to cross the border. These Kellids now inhabit the frontier between the town of Bosorka and the town of Isseld.

When Brogru hit puberty and changes came upon him it was not the typical growth spurt into the mountain of a man his parents expected. The young Kellid’s hair began to turn white, and his skin tone paled a bit. His aging slowed and there was obvious evidence that he was touched with the blood of air elementals.

Brogru would often spend time trekking from his family’s homestead to Isseld. The town was gaining a name for trading in the carved fetishes and talismans of his people, so the sight of a Kellid – even one touched by the wind – was not uncommon. It was here that he fell in with a bad crowd.

Illustration by Luis Perez

Isseld may have only been a minor stop on the Frozen Road, but it was a trade stop nonetheless. The thieves and scoundrels which he called friends would often rob from merchants traveling up the river road. Although Brogru had no qualms with theft and extortion, violence was never something he enjoyed. When his cohorts killed a merchant he was appalled and locked them in the small cabin on the boat and set the thing ablaze.

Borgru was captured by the authorities and imprisoned. At his trial he was sentenced to exile. It is not often that a citizen is allowed to leave Irrisen but the young sylph was brought to the border of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and told never to return. With no way to go back, he had no choice but to move forward into unfamiliar territory.

The tribes of the Mammoth Lords actively shunned him, some even tried to kill him, so he could find no home with cousins of his own people. He was adrift and alone out on the frozen tundra. He would have frozen to death in the first year if had he not stumbled upon a ruin close to the border of The Worldwound. He took shelter here during the harsh weather and was kept alive and out of the bitter wind.

What was in the ruin would change who and what he was. Locked away in a stone case, wrapped in cold iron chains he found a book. The book appeared perfectly preserved and seemed to be in a language that not only could he not read, but he was almost sure didn’t exist. The book called to him to skim its pages and every night in that ancient place he had dreams of manor house in a fetid swamp, and scaled wings fluttering by.

After a week within the confines of the ancient structure the wind and the snow stopped and Brogru took the opportunity to move on.  With no place to call home in the lands of his ancestors he skirted the border of The Worldwound and then followed the river from the Tusk Mountains and through the Shudderwood into Ustalav. By the time he arrived in more civilized lands he was ravaged by the elements and near starvation. The only thing that kept him going was the book that was now tied to his waist with the very cold iron chains in which it had once been bound.

Brogru found some succor. He was given a warm place to sleep and a hot meal in a small temple of Desna, but the food could not sustain him. He had a need for something more. He left the temple and began his search, he knew not what for, until he came upon a small bookshop. When he entered he felt the tome at his side call to the other books until it found the one it wanted. Brogru plucked the volume from the shelf and opened it. He felt the sudden urge to tear out the pages. As he did this the paper became subsumed into his own body and he felt sated. The shopkeep noticed this odd behavior and ran him out, screaming for him to never return.

The book filled his hunger the way no food could but it also opened his mind to the true nature of the codex he carried with him. The book allowed his mind to touch that of the being known as Crocell, the Infernal Duke. He was now a servitor of this power and it was his task to find other lost folios to add to his master’s collection. For this he looked to sign on with adventurers who would be heading into other ancient ruins where he might find volumes lost to the sands of time.

How did you piece together your character? What class did you think best suited this Sylph? Why did he commit arson? Who were the people he murdered? Why did he take up the worship of Crocell? Tell us in the comments.

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to get the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon. And to keep up with my other musings and thoughts you can follow the CRB on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter.

For more art by the illustrator Luis Perez you can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart.

Character 88 - Ungus Splitlick

Illustration by Luis Perez

As I mentioned in the rolls themselves, I love grippli. There is something about the frog-folk that I really enjoy and I actually cannot put a finger on it. This is the third grippli I’ve done in the nearing two years of the blog’s existence so I wanted to do something different than the first two, even though the stats for this frogman screamed monk.  So where to go this time around?

Looking at some of the background information he is a worshiper of the god of shepherds and herd animals, and he also made his first kill early on. The high wisdom and dexterity means that a wisdom-based caster was probably a good choice but the shepherding and early combat sent me in another direction. I settled on ranger, just a straight-up ranger with an archery focus and I think that would tie in well with a number of the other ideas I had.

Ungus Splitlick

There are many different tribes in the Mwangi expanse. Although the humans are the most populous they are not the only race that has taken up a home among the trees, waterways, and marshlands. There exists within the bounds of the Mwangi Jungle a few tribes of the frogmen known as grippli. They live as primitive herders, tending flocks of large sweetgrass slugs, water possums, and giant amphibians such as turtles and lizards.

Ungus Splitlick was born to one of these tribes. He was an only child to parents whose position in the tribe was to trade with those outside of the grippli communities. For him this meant learning how to travel through the jungle to the larger human villages to trade meat and animal products at a young age. This often meant moving unseen through territory that had other, more hostile, tribes in it.

Illustration by Luis Perez

As he grew he became more adepts at moving through his people’s home territory. There were quite a few other grippli tribes in the area, each a separate entity although led by the grand chief of one of the tribe. He loved exploring and meeting new people, even when his parents weren’t making their trips to the human cities.

On one of these walkabouts he came across a young grippli being menaced by a wild cat. Quick thinking and being more than adequate with his bow allowed him to dispatch the feline and save the young frog’s life. The grippli he saved was the son of the Great Chief and the two became friends.

When the chief died and the son rose to his position Ungus was made the Grand Shepherd. The grippli were herdsmen and each tribe had to protect their flock, but the Great Chief was the shepherd of all his people and the Grand Shepherd was duty bound to protect the herdsmen as his own flock. Given the crook of office the job suited Ungus well as he now had reason to travel from tribe to tribe.

Although his friendship with the Grand Chief was never in doubt, Ungus was plagued with a bit of jealousy. He occasionally felt that some of the others who served the chief were undermining his connection to him and on occasion he may have been a little untruthful so as to make the Grand Chief do things the way he thought was best for his people.

For now, though, with his crook of office -- which he cherishes as the greatest gift he’s ever received -- he patrols all the tribal lands. He protects his people from dangers within and without, following the teachings of the grippli’s patron spirit the great angel Rowdrosh.

What became of your disparate bits of information? What class suits the grippli? How did he get his first kill? Who is the liege to whom he serves? What is the object he is attached to? Tell us in the comments.

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Character 87 - Mahita

This week’s random rolls left a lot of room to work with. There is so little written on the Impossible Kingdoms of Vudra, and I even got to invent a war. But looking at our character it was almost obvious that I was going to have to go with a wisdom-based caster, but I had to find something that would make use of her high strength and constitution. My initial thought was ranger, but in the long run I decided the intrinsic connection to the Matra river was important and made her a river druid. So I introduce you to our Vundrani halfling and steward of the river.

Mahita

Halflings were never native to Vudra, but as the people of Avistan began to build trade routes through the Impossible Kingdoms many of the sailors who plied those routes were halflings. Some of those little folk set up homes in Vudra, although their numbers are still few and far between. Like many other halflings who latch on to the human cultures in which they live, these Vudrani halflings would adopt some of the native culture’s traditions.

One of these groups of halflings went back to their forebearer’s itinerant ways and they became nomads of the great Matra River. They lived off of barges and brought trade goods up and down its banks. As the story goes: Early on in their time in Vudra the leader of the group, a charismatic hafling named Urly, saved a Vudran princess from drowning. The Rajah wished to give him a reward -- lands and a title -- but the halfling wanted to continue to ply the river. So the Vudrani ruler made him the prince of the section of the Matra River that ran through his kingdom.

Generations later the river dwelling halflings still claim that section of the River as their own. They are the only halflings with hereditary titles in all of Vudra. The current Prince of the River is a man named Nadish, having adopted Vudrani names over the generations. Nadish has five children including a daughter named Mahita.

Mahita took after her father in that she loved the river. Everything from the water to the banks held her interest. She wanted nothing more than to see her family and her river prosper. Like most of the halflings in her group she paid homage to the goddess of the river, Matravash, but unlike many others The Wide Water also spoke to her. Over time this connection would grow and she would become a druid of the river, but her first contact with the spirit of the river was to warn her of the coming war.

The Matra had been essential to trade in Vudra. Each Rajah controls the part of the river that traverses his domain. However, everyone wanted to claim the river trade for themselves. Backed by the Rajahs of their domains individual trading companies began sabotaging each other. Fighting would break out in tiny skirmishes until those who used the river for illicit trade got involved. Full on war between trading companies (that could be disavowed by the Rajahs) broke out.

The Prince of the River did his best to keep his own people together and protect his portion of the river. Unlike many of the other river traders he was a noble and this was his domain. Although his Rajah could not intervene, the prince knew it was his duty to keep his land – or water in this case – safe. Mahita would join in her father’s plans, along with her then lover Nikattah.

During the fighting of what would become known as the Undeclared War, the Prince of the River’s forces would most often clash with the river smugglers who sought to take advantage. Mahita and her partner hated these men for the dishonor they brought to the river. In a ruse to root out information about the smuggler leader’s plans the two girls would try and tempt the River Rats into divulging these secrets. Mahita, never the best people person, failed but had no qualms about trying. Nikattah was better at it, but not good enough to go undetected and sadly the River Rats killed her, leaving Mahita to mourn her lover’s loss.

The Undeclared War would end in less than a year. There were many casualties and bad blood left between those who had to continue to trade with each other. The River Rats suffered a terrible blow from the fury of Mahita and the forces of her father, the River Prince. The smugglers are now all but known in the prince’s territory for fear of deadly reprisal.

Even the great goddess Matravash saw the valor in her halflings and especially Mahita who had heeded her warning well. The Wide Water gifted Mahita with magics and a deeper connection to the waters her family had plied for generations. Even one of the creatures of the Matra, a river otter, presented itself to her as a companion. She named it Nik after her lost love.

With three older siblings, Mahita realizes that as much as she loves the river and her people, she will not be the next Prince of the River. So for now she has decided to take to traveling, to get to know the entire length of the waters of which Matravash has made her a steward. With Nik at her side and the knife given to her by her companion’s namesake, she heads off into the wider world.

How did you flesh out your halfling? What class did the she choose? How did your halflings get to Vudra? When did her family become nobles? What war did she witness?

Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time job. A pledge of as little as one dollar a month on Patreon or a one-time donation to my paypal can help keep the lights on while I concentrate on producing new content for you.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media; please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

Character 86 - Borgo Blackscale

Illustration by Luis Perez

Snakes. This week our random rolls really gave us the opportunity to get serpentine. We had a half-orc who follows the goddess of the naga and all things snake-like. He was big but not strong, hefty but not durable. Although touched by divine power at birth and the fact he at one point died really spoke to a divine class, his low wisdom made that impossible. We had to make do with a high intelligence and a high charisma. So to that end I kept to the basics and went with the sorcerer class. But how did I tie it all together? Let’s find out.

Borgo Blackscale

Borgo Blackscale was born to a small enclave of orcs living in the swamps of the Hooktongue Slough. His tribe had lived in the area for a few generations after fleeing Numeria. Upon their arrival they had come to follow a water naga who used the area they were dwelling as her summer home. If they served her she promised to protect them from the boggards and trolls that infested the area.

The orcs became a serpent cult, serving the naga and paying homage to the goddess of her kind, Nalinivati. Occasionally the naga would bring other followers, lost mainly, to the little village and one of these men would become Borgo’s father. When the half-orc was born he was blessed by the shaman and came into the world with a crack of divine energy.

The cult was pretty self-sufficient, most of what they needed could be found in the swamplands. The group would occasionally need to hire out to run off particularly foul beasts when the water naga was in her winter home, and a mercenary crew arranged to come through around that time every year. The band was small but effective and always dealt fairly with the orcs. Borgo was always keen on the mercenaries being able to travel where they wanted when they wanted, and he respected them for their fairness with his people.

Growing up Borgo wanted the freedom that the mercenaries had, although he quite misunderstood what kind of responsibility freedom meant. He wanted to be an outlaw like tales he heard of famous other ne’er-do-wells in the River Kingdoms. He even went so far as to rob a young wizard who was travelling the waterways near the swamp. But the use of violence to threaten another never sat right with him so he never told anyone although, he regrets it deeply.

Illustration by Luis Perez

On his fifteenth birthday Borgo was officially inducted into the cult. As all who had come before him, the rite of passage was a trial by snake bite. The snakes they use usually didn’t give more than an allergic-like reaction but Borgo went into shock and died. His passage over to the other side was brief, but long enough to give the boy – now a man – a new outlook on life. His emotional changes were also accompanied by physical changes, which included a patch of black scales on his chest.

Between being touched by Nalinivati at birth and his near death experience, something awakened inside of him. The touch of the serpent in his blood allowed him to force his will upon the world in strange new ways. When the water naga returned in the summer she found the young boy struggling to manifest his power and she trained him. She taught him that his powers came from within and showed him how best to force them into existence. For this Borgo would always love his mentor although he knew she would never reciprocate.

When she could teach him no more she suggest that he do as she did; head out into the world and explore, although never forget about home. So Borgo packed his things and made plans to set out into the world. His plan is to travel for a year and then return home and share his experiences.

So what became of your half-orc? What class did the he choose? How did he die? Why did he rob a spellcaster? Who was the mercenary that influenced him?

Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time job. A pledge of as little as one dollar a month on my Patreon or a one-time donation to my paypal can help keep the lights on while I concentrate on producing new content for you.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media; please join us on Facebook,  Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

The character illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart. 

Character 85 - Roo’k Treetickle

Illustration by Luis Perez

Sometimes when doing these random rolls there is very little to build on. For the orang-pendak society I had but a paragraph in the Bestiary 5 to work from. In preparation I wrote my own piece on the entire race, using elements of the random rolls to influence the write-up. Here we are with one of the blankest slates I could start with; and now to see what he has become.

Although the high strength and high con really geared the character toward being a straight up fighter of some kind, I have done at least three fighters in the past two months. The decent wisdom score meant I could go with a divine caster. In my write up for the orang-pendak I mentioned that mostly nature based casters as being part of their tradition and so I went with shaman. In particular I choose the shaman of lore because some of the abilities like brain drain and confusion meshed with the aspect of madness belonging to this character’s patron deity, The Lantern King.

Roo’k Treetickle

Life in the Bandu Hills for the Treeburr tribe was as peaceful as the orang-pendak could manage. The Treburrs were one of only a handful tribes to wander the hills. Like many tribes of the ape-men their numbers were small and each birth was considered a sign from the spirits. When Roo’k was born his parents thought him their own little miracle. When he died for those few moments, so soon after coming into the world, they were distraught. But death was apparently only temporary and the boy’s spirit found its way back into his body.

The eldest medicine woman who was on the tribal council took an early interest in Roo’k. She was convinced that his death had somehow allowed him to touch the spirit world on a level deeper than any living orang-pendak had. She felt that he was destined for something and took the boy under her wing when he was old enough to learn.

The medicine woman was proven correct. Roo’k took to her teachings faster than any had before. He was the first to find his spirit animal, a mischievous monkey with a wizened look in his eyes. He was the earliest ever to manifest a spell from the spirits. His connection to the spirits brought him knowledge beyond his years and a light behind his eyes.

As Roo’k connection to the spirits grew stronger he began to question everything. The orang-pendak had to test every boundary. If he saw something was wrong he felt compelled to teach the correct way. His lessons, though, were often misunderstood by others. Except for his teacher. She knew what he was becoming.  She realized that he didn’t just have a connection to the spirit world but to the trickster himself, the Wisp Lord.

Illustration by Luis Perez

The role of trickster is a sacred trust. They are supposed to teach lessons and not just cause mischief. But even if he is connected to the spirit of the Wisp Lord, a child is still a child. Roo’k took a dislike to one of the training storysingers. The two were rivals and he took any chance to teach the other boy a lesson. One such lesson brought into question the boy’s worthiness of being a storysinger, the thing he had worked his whole life for. Roo’k’s ‘trick’ showed the boy unworthy and he was sent back home to his parents.

As the young orang-pendak came of age he felt a pull. The Wisp Lord was calling him away from his people. Very few of the ape-men left the tribe to but Roo’k knew in his heart that he was meant to go. He traveled down from the Bandu Hills and into the Chelish held lands of Sargava. His travels led him to the colonial city of Kalabuto.

Roo’k spent months in hiding watching the people. There were the colonials who were so few but controlled so much. There was also Mwangi tribesmen who split between those who served the colonials and those who wished to overthrow the yoke of oppression. Lastly there were the strange creatures that moved through the ruins that both the Chelish and the Mwangi avoided.

Roo’k knew he couldn’t reveal his true nature, his people must remain protected. The people of the ruins gave him an idea, however. One day he step forth from the broken husk of a building and presented himself as one of the monkey men who were occasionally seen among the crumbling old city at night. He said his people wished to learn more about the ways of those who inhabited the city with them and he was to be an emissary. No one had interacted with any of these beings and none risked angering them, so Roo’k was accepted as one of the peoples of Kalabuto.

The trickster sees the people of Kalabuto as lost. He realizes that his path is to teach them how to find themselves, whether they want him too or not. Being an utter mystery to both the colonials and the tribesmen allows Roo’k to push the boundaries of their society easier than any of them could themselves. One way or another they will learn to see the world as he does.

With little to go on how did you create orang-pendak society? What class did the ape-man choose to become? Why did he die? What spellcaster did he humiliate? Who was the seer that influenced him?

Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time job. A pledge of as little as one dollar a month on my Patreon or a one-time donation to my paypal can help keep the lights on while I concentrate on producing new content for you.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media; please join us on Facebook,  Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

The character illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart.