Character Exploration 43 - Yitheris Shadowtongue

This week we had a fiend-thralled lizardfolk who came through The Worldwound with a dedication to what is true and righteous in the world. Strong, quick, durable, and charismatic, but with a low wisdom—which could mean oh-so-many fun things. There are a lot of other things to work with: a large family, an influential associate, an inability to truly connect in romantic relationships. So where to start?

First thing I want to do, of course, is pick a class. To me, the elevation from fiend thrall who ran with a bad crowd, to someone who represents order and decency screams Paladin. If it hasn’t been clear through the history of this blog, I’m a paladin fan. I’ve spoken about why paladins don’t need to follow gods in Shining Light. Three of my other random characters have become paladins; Marluk Denbrauth, Billup Wheatwhistler, and Standing-Stone.

Yitheris Shadowtongue

The battle for Golarion may not start in The Worldwound but it very often ends up there. With each passing day the demons push the borders of their corruption further and further. The shrinking lands which the crusader state Mendev protects, the only thing stopping the beasts from getting out into the wider world.

Because the demon force remains, for the most part, contained within the borders of the Worldwound, they need mortal agents who can travel into the wider world. The Demon Lord Shax already has a few such agents, a tribe of possessed Kellids he uses to bring in more chattel to kill, torture, and corrupt. These Kellids raid into Numeria, Mendev, Ustalav, and even The River Kingdoms.

Yitheris was born in Echo Woods, a forest many think has a sentience of its very own. With Azlanti ruins, giant spiders, raiding Kellids, and mischievous fey, the wood can be a very dangerous place. The west edge of the forest which borders the Western Sellen River is home to that Snapjaw tribe of lizardfolk. With his mother, father, and two older sisters, Yitheris called this place home.

When the Kellid raiders came it wasn’t unexpected. When the shadows came, that is when the fear set in. A good half of the tribe was taken that day, Yitheris and both his parents among them. Luckily his older sisters lost their pursuers in the wood.

Those who were captured were dragged back up the West Sellen to The Worldwound. Their trek took them straight through the heart of the chaos and corruption and into the frozen region called Frostmire. The Sabertooth Vale was were their journey ended.

Nearly a quarter were slaughtered on the first day in some bizarre ritual. The rest were pushed into caves and ushered into the darkness. It was here that the lizardfolk learned who their true captors were. In the shadows the form of the Kellids flickered, showing the malevolent demons that ensconced themselves in barbaric flesh like a warm coat. These shadow demons, servants of Shax, were the lizardfolk’s new masters,

Yitheris was singled out among his tribe; he wasn’t sure why but he didn’t suffer the same predations as the others. At first he didn’t mind because it meant the shadow demons and their Kellid puppets let him be. As time went on, the young reptilian began to enjoy the powers that the shadow showed him, learning to love the darkness and the fear it caused.

In his teen years he began to run with the Kellids. He raided with them, howled with them, and slaughtered with them. He became disconnected from even his own family as his lust for darkness grew. To prove himself he would pull pranks on his younger siblings who were born in captivity. For Yitheris it was all about the power that the shadows promised.

Life has many twists and turns in it and even the shadow demons do not control the chords of fate. During a raid into Mendev itself, Yitheris fell. The Lizardfolk was left for dead by the Kellids who fled in the face of defeat by a large contingent of paladins. Only Yitheris was left. Expectation of his own death however was not to come.

The knights were a mixed group of holy warriors from many faiths, but their leader was a devout worshiper of Zohls. He looked into the boy’s eyes, maybe even into his soul, and saw the truth. The knight, Iris Sant, took the young man back with them, not as a prisoner but as a lost soul.

The nights were long as Sant sat with Yitheris and the two spoke. The paladin never made the lizardman feel lorded over, always asking questions, digging for the truth with determination. Yitheris spoke of his family, his sisters back in the Echo Wood, and his parents and younger siblings trapped in Sabertooth Vale. He was sullen when he spoke about them, he felt bad for the way he treated them.

It was weeks before Yitheris was able to walk again, but he insisted that he must save his family. Iris told him that though Zohls appreciates determination, he was in no condition to go. Sabertooth Vale is deep in Worldwound and he’d never make it on his own. The paladin did promise he would lead a small group himself and see what they could do. All he asked was that Yitheris pray while he was gone. Pray to see if Zohls saw the truth of his path.

Iris Sant and his knights were gone two fortnights. In all that time Yiterhis did nothing but pray and contemplate his path. He ate little and slept less, and was left undisturbed. The riders returned, their horses’ hooves beating fast. They were followed by things that should not be. Other paladins rode out to meet them and eventually beat back the tide, escorting the riders home.

Yitheris ran out to see what Iris and his troops had found. They returned with two of his younger siblings, a brother and a sister. They were gravely injured, but being chased across The Worldwound gave the riders no time for succor. When Yitheris went to touch his sister his hands began to glow and many of her most grievous wounds were healed. Iris looked to the boy and said that Zohls musts have seen the truth of his path.

Yitheris was saddened to hear that his mother died in the rescue and that his father and brother were still trapped among the possessed Kellids. The Lizardman wanted nothing more than to save his family and work toward the truth of Zohls. Some of the other knights who were returning home took his siblings to find his sisters in the Echo Wood. But Yitheris stayed to train as a paladin even though he doubted he could ever make up for all of the things he did.

Some mechanical notes with this character: I wanted to go the Temple Champion/Oath Against Fiends paladin archetypes The domain he will choose when he gets to 4th level is good. The character is going to be about redemption. But I also want to play up the self-doubt aspects and I think this would come out as taint from the demons he was with. At 3rd level I would probably pick up Eldritch Heritage Shadow Bloodline to represent the influence of his former patrons the shadow demon. And I would probably continue picking up that line of feats to show he can never get away from what he was, but can he use that to make himself what he should be.

All of that information has congealed into the tale of Yitheris Shadowtongue. You’ve seen what I did, but what would you have built? Who is your Lizardfolk follower of Zohls? How did you make your decisions when fashioning a background like this?

Becoming more than we once were is a tale as old as time. And if you enjoy my tales then consider contributing to my Patreon. Check out the Patreon page for a video message from yours truly. The CRB is also spreading across social media. You can join the community of gamers on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google+. Come share your stories with everyone else.

All For One

In a previous article I’ve touched on using a theme in your game when creating your party. The article went on to talk about two broader themes, the classical elements and Arabian nights. Today I’d like to talk about one of the other ideas I touched on but didn’t expand upon. It doesn’t happen often although I’ve done it myself one or two times, the “all one class” party.

As much as I do love the idea of the all one class party, it does pose its own difficulties. The first thing you need to overcome is the similarity of powers granted to each of the base classes. Some classes—like rogues with their rogue talents, wizards with their school specialties, and sorcerers with their bloodlines—allow for differentiation in the characters you can build at their base. Even those difference don’t always allow for a good enough spread of skills to make a group viable.

Depending on how strict you want to go with the all one class party, you could allow for some small amount of multiclassing. The combinations are pretty endless if you go this route. For many players this may seem like a substantial loss of power. Pathfinder in particular has made sticking out the full twenty levels of a base class very appealing. If you’re like me, however, a good character can outweigh the lure of power, as long as you don’t go too far and completely gimp your party.

Old school D&D introduced kits, and this helped make your character a special member of its class. 3.x D&D took this idea a bit further and brought in prestige classes, letting players branch off into specific directions for their characters. Now Pathfinder has taken the idea and added archetypes to the mix, allowing you to stay the full twenty levels in one class; although they do retain prestige classes allowing for more variations. All of these options allow you to customize your characters even further while still staying true to the same class rule.

Now that we’ve laid out how we might go about creating an all one class party I think I want to talk about of my all-time favorite ideas for a single class group: the all paladin party. For some reason the idea of holy warriors of different gods getting together interests me greatly, each going about their holy duty in their individual way. But how can you keep all the characters unique and with their own niche in the party? For this example I will stick to some of the more popular deities for Pathfinder, for those not well-versed in all their deities and those who don’t use the system.

Eris Handler

Voice of Shelyn Goddess of art, beauty, love, and music

 

Eris is a lover and a fighter. Blessed with both the gift for song and a silver tongue Eris wasn’t always a choir boy. His childhood was a life of grifting one the streets of Magnimar, one of the many street urchins in the city of monuments. After one petty theft too many he finally found he couldn’t talk his way out of being sentenced the hells. Luckily for him, his mark didn’t want to see a child good to jail.

Eris was taken in by a holy warrior for the church of Shelyn. After years by the side of his mentor, he was finally accepted into the ranks of the church and trained to become a paladin like the old man. Now he travels around Varisia bring the word of Shelyn to those who need beauty in their lives.

I’m picturing Eris as a Paladin/Bard a nice little synergy with the charisma stat for both class’ abilities. His early life abilities may make him seem unpaladinly at times. Who ever heard of a paladin that could pick a lock or palm a key?

Noran Wex

Wing of Apsu god of good dragons, leadership, and peace

 

The tales in Noran’s family always spoke of his great-great grandmother having a dalliance with a man who turned out to be a golden dragon. Although none of his forebearers ever manifested any dragon-like features or powers, the stories still drove young Noran. When he was of age he pledged himself to the church of Apsu so he could lead others into the battle against evil and bring peace to the land. Maybe it was Apsu himself or maybe it was his great-great grandmother’s dalliance but Noran eventually did manifest the abilities of a gold dragon.

For this I’m seeing Noran as a Paladin/Sorcerer (Dragon Bloodline) using his smite with his dragon-like powers. Again charisma fuels both class’ powers so we’ve got some synergy. If you want to take the theme further you could even go dragon discipline as you weren’t going to be getting to 9th level sorcerer spells anyway. Probably the most stereotypically paladin in personality of the bunch, looking to do good at every turn and admonishing those who don’t

Jalreeha Vishaharanti

Fist of Irori god of history, knowledge, self-perfection

 

Many of the men in Jalreeha’s family felt the call to Irori and went into the monasteries to perfect their body using martial arts. But it was Jalreeha, the eldest daughter, who felt the true calling of the ascended god; and not just  for the perfection of her body but also for the perfection of her spirit. Her father, however, was furious as he promised his daughter to the son of a noble family. The increase in the family’s stature was more important to him than his daughter. With sadness Jalreeha left home for faraway lands where she could expand her knowledge of things, adding a well-tuned mined to her already holy spirit and trained body. 

I see Jalreeha as a paladin of Irori (called the enlightened paladin on the d20pfsrd) which will replace some paladin abilities with some monk abilities. As much as I’d like to go full on multiclass monk/paladin I can’t deny needing to have at least six out of eight stats at decent levels to function well is just too much. I also picture her as the least worldly of the group learning about her new surroundings as they travel.

Branack Thunderstone

Itinerant of Lorris charity, the disadvantaged, and volunteering

 

Branack was an odd dwarf; he heard the calling of a deity not of the dwarven pantheon early on. The Empyreal Lord Lorris spoke to the young dwarf about charity and aid. These lessons also made him quite a bit more outgoing than most dwarves are used to. Rather than being taught the ways of paladinhood in a church, Branack learned by doing. He left his mountain home and wandered the world seeking to aid those in need. He left with but two things: a suit of armor and an odd weapon his father always kept stowed away, a pistol.

Branack will be a paladin and a gunslinger with the mysterious stranger archetype. Mysterious stranger will make gunslinger abilities work on charisma instead of wisdom. Yes, dwarves take a negative to charisma, but who cares? As for the type of character, imagine one of the samurai from The Seven Samurai. Or maybe more accurately one of the gunslingers from its American remake, The Magnificent Seven.

Have you ever played a party with all one class? If so which class? If you were going to play in a party with all one classes which would be your favorite? For our all paladin party what kind of character would you make?

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Character 23 - Standing-Stone

A strong, smart, charismatic half-orc; that all screams paladin to me. So today you get to meet the Abadarian half-orc paladin I made from Monday’s random rolls.

The Shadde-Quah or Axe Clan of the Shoanti are not known for their acceptance of outsiders. The hardy seafaring people don’t much appreciate change or variance. Even when you are born into the tribe, if you are different you are shunned. Such was the life for Standing-Stone’s parents among the people. Both Half-Orcs born of violence, they naturally took to each other as they were kept on the outside of the clan. And when their first child, a daughter, was born of full-orc blood their situation only worsened.

Looking to put distance between themselves and the tribal home of the Calphiak Mountains, the Half-Orc parents and their Orcish child left the lands of Varisia all together. The family trekked south as tales of the free land of Nirmathas spoke of a kingdom where one’s status was determined by their actions, not their heritage. They settled in a small town on the Tournadel River, near the border of Lastwall, wedged between the Northern and Southern Fangwood. It is here in these new lands that Standing-Stone was born.

Unlike his sister, Standing-Stone was born a half-breed like his parents. He was premature and sickly, and the midwife thought the child would never survive. But against the odds, he did. He grew up listening to the tales his father told, not just to him but to the whole town. His parents place as lore keepers among the Shadde-Quah translated quite nicely to a job as entertainers in a trading town’s main inn. His love of tales and his scrawny stature saw Standing-Stone, at the time called Slender-Reed, dive into book learning.

While his big sister took well to the fighting arts early, Standing-Stone spent much of his time reading and watching people. He made friends easy and he attracted others to confide in him. Growing up he spent much time as the ear to Four-finger Fezik, a Kelesh thief who came to Nirmathas to escape an uncertain future. The “reformed” criminal often regaled the young half-orc with tales of his own daring crimes. More importantly, he imparted life lessons and taught him how to pay attention to more than just the outward actions of people.

Standing-Stone should have learned these lessons better as he failed to see the true motives of Fezik. When the “ex”-thief’s past caught up with him, his friend managed to convince his pursuers of a greater bounty on the half-orc’s family. Fezik made his escape as the bounty hunters went to Standing-Stone’s household. Unaware of the ruse and defending against an unprovoked attack the young man’s mother was felled before the truth could come out. Because of Fezik, Standing-Stone lost his mother.

As he grew up and became a man, the half-orc hit a growth spurt. His strength became the talk of the town, although he still had a bit of a glass jaw. On his 14th birthday he lost his childhood name of Slender-Reed and became Standing-Stone. Being on the border of Lastwall and near the Hold of Belzkan meant orc attacks happened on occasion. Standing-Stone’s parents apprenticed the now strapping boy to a local priest of Gorum, following in his sister’s footsteps.

Standing-Stone didn’t take very well to the teachings. The chaotic nature of the god was abrasive to the sensibilities the half-orc had gained while his nose was buried in a book. There were many offense to the Gorumite and the apprentices were meant to carry out the punishments for these. Being tasked with the lashes of another apprentice who had failed to stand against the insurmountable odds of some local bullies was the last straw for Standing-Stone. The half-orc himself “failed” to properly apply the punishment and left the service of the Gorumite with no regrets.

The young man, now adrift, began searching for his place in the world; and with many travelers and traders coming through the small town on the river he had many paths to follow. What he knew of religion had left a sour taste in his mouth, so it surprised his parents greatly when he took up with some Abadarian warriors he met at the inn where his father worked. The sense of order and dedication spoke to Standing-Stone and he signed on to fight in the service of the knights in Lastwall.

During battles against the Orcs of Belzkan, Standing-Stone showed that his strength as well as his intellect could turn the tide. He began to make a name for himself, and when the Lord of the First Vault bestowed upon him the ability to smite the evil attacking the borders many of the aspiring paladins were in awe. Standing-Stone accepted the trust his god had imparted upon him, and dedicated himself even further to all that was right and good in the world.

Having served his term as a defender of Lastwall, Standing-Stone has returned home. His sterling reputation preceded him, something that he takes maybe a little too much pride in. The half-orc knows not what his god has planned for him, but he awaits the call of the Judge of the gods for whatever he sees fit.

Half-orcs are not known for their civilized manner, but an Abadairan paladin is certainly off the beaten path. If you’ve enjoyed meet Standing-Stone then consider becoming a patron of the CRB here. Also remember to follow us on twitter @SimonSezCRB. If you’re afraid of missing a beat, head to the sidebar and sign up for email notification, and be one of the first to know when a new posting hits the CRB. This is especially good if you’re finding the CRB on reddit as I can only post to a given reddit once a week. And finally there is a tumblr for the CRB, if you’d to see some more frequent musings from yours truly.

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Shining Light - A New Take On Paladins

Let me start by saying that I know a lot of you have strong feelings about paladins. Some of you love them, and some of you hate them. Some of you hate the alignment restriction, and many despise alignment altogether. I don’t play them often, but I really like the concept of the paladin. I don’t hate alignments either, although I can see why many people would. So this is just my take on paladins given the information I’ve been sifting through.

Let's take a look at what some of the books have to say about the paladin. We’ll start with the CRB entry on the paladin.

“Through a select, worthy few shines the power of the divine. Called paladins, these noble souls dedicate their swords and lives to the battle against evil. Knights, crusaders, and law-bringers, paladins seek not just to spread divine justice but to embody the teachings of the virtuous deities they serve. In pursuit of their lofty goals, they adhere to ironclad laws of morality and discipline. As reward for their righteousness, these holy champions are blessed with boons to aid them in their quests: powers to banish evil, heal the innocent, and inspire the faithful. Although their convictions might lead them into conflict with the very souls they would save, paladins weather endless challenges of faith and dark temptations, risking their lives to do right and fighting to bring about a brighter future.”

The first sentence of import is this one:

“Knights, crusaders, and law-bringers, paladins seek not just to spread divine justice but to embody the teachings of the virtuous deities they serve.”

Now I know many can read this as them serving one of the virtuous deities, but I have had much discussion about this point among my writing and gaming friends. It seems that it could be interpreted as Paladins can serve any number of the virtuous deities, one, two, four, or all. The number doesn’t matter.

The second part to look at is the next two sentences.

“In pursuit of their lofty goals, they adhere to ironclad laws of morality and discipline. As reward for their righteousness, these holy champions are blessed with boons to aid them in their quests: powers to banish evil, heal the innocent, and inspire the faithful.”

Again I’m sure there are many interpretations but to me it reads that it is their ironclad laws of morality and discipline that reward them with their power.

The next piece of information comes from the Sacred Servant Archetype in the Advanced Player’s Guide.

“Paladins as a general rule, venerate the gods of good and purity, but some take this a step further, dedicating themselves to a specific deity and furthering the cause of the faith. These sacred servants are rewarded for their devotion with additional spells and powerful allies.”

As you can see here it specifically says that unlike other paladins these ones dedicate themselves to a specific deity. Leading me to believe that most paladins do not pick just one deity to serve.

There are a few relevant quotes In the book Faiths & Philosophies and most people will immediately jump the quote about belonging to a church.

“All clerics and most inquisitors and paladins follow ecclesiastical traditions as members of deity-based churches, and some druids and other divine casters do as well.”

But that is in a section specifically entitled “Ecclesiastical,” which is speaking about followers of a faith. Before that there is a section on communal philosophies which has this to say:

“Cavaliers, paladins, and those concerned with honor are commonly attracted to the lawful bent demonstrated by the majority of communal philosophies, and bards often find their culture’s beliefs inspiring.”

Later there is an entire section on pantheistic philosophies which includes discussions on paladins.

So there you have all the information that I’ve been looking at for paladins as I’ve been pondering to myself how paladins really work. We have a vague statement that could mean they worship one out of all the good and lawful gods, or as many as they chose, or just outright all of them. We see that although most of their abilities seem to come from inner power they get a divine bond and a capstone ability that are definitively granted by a divine being. We have an archetype that says that unlike core paladins, these paladins dedicate themselves to one god and gain power for it. Lastly we have a statement that says that most paladins dedicate themselves to a church but not all do.

To me it seems that paladins do not get most of their power from a single deity, Much like other philosophies, they get their power through an ideal. Their ideal is their alignment. By sticking to their code and being the paragon of Law and Goodness, they gain their power directly through their own force of will. Seeing as how they gain spells and the use of most of their powers through Charisma and not Wisdom (like most other divine spellcasters), It seems logical that their power comes from within and not without.

Now does this mean that a paladin cannot dedicate themselves to an individual god, or doesn’t in the long run? No. We still need to reconcile Divine Bond and Holy Champion abilities, as well as the fact Faiths & Philosophies says they dedicate themselves to a church.

Our paladin, unless they take the sacred servant archetype, gains their ability from their own righteousness. But even if they aren’t a sacred servant they can dedicate themselves to a church. The paladin would do so only to a god that they believes stands for the same things that they do. By working for this church they accept the moral tenets they follow and in doing so it attaches this extra code, as can be found in Inner Sea Gods, onto their paladin code. Although there is nothing in inner sea gods that says they lose their paladin powers if they fail at one of the church’s tenets, I think it's appropriate.

We are now only left with Divine Bond and Holy Champion, and yes, I am totally shoehorning them in here. Even if the Paladin hasn't picked an individual deity, one of the gods of good or law has seen their good works and grants them the aforementioned abilities. If they are a sacred servant and does dedicate themselves to a deity, or if they decide to work with a particular church, the deity of that congregation grants them these abilities.

So there you have it, my new take on paladins and how I’m going to start running them in my campaigns. I’m sure many of you have vast differences in opinion, so let’s hear them. Tell us how you see paladins as a GM? How you’ve run a paladins as a player? Or just yell at me and tell me I’m wrong, but please tell me why and what your opinion on the subject is.

Character Eighteen: Billup Wheatwhistler

In Andoran there are many Halfling settlements. The nature of the freedoms granted by the country appeal to the little folk who in many other nations are little more than slaves. Haflings can have holdings, become rich and wield political power. Billup Wheatwhistler is one such halfling from a merchant family.

Like many halfling towns his family was one of many extended groups. The Wheatwhistler clan was well thought of as farmers and traders. Billup has four siblings of his own and his father had six, his grandfather seven. The Wheatwhistler’s even had the distinction of being the longest running winners of best harvest feast for ten years running

Of all his family Billup’s favorite was his uncle Jaret. Jaret was the black sheep of his father’s generation. Unlike all of his grandfather’s other children he left the small town to become a mercenary. But family is family and Jaret would always come back home during harvest time with the best stories. Uncle Jaret may have fought for money but he had his own sense of discipline and conviction that Billup always admired.

When Billup was finally old enough to go with his father to negotiate trade for the town’s excess harvest goods, uncle Jaret took him to the side. Jaret handed him the sword that he had been carrying into combat since he left home. He told Billup that the sword was given to him by his uncle and that the second sons of the oldest sibling were given the blade when they were ready. Jaret had to promise to keep the blade and pass it on to his brother’s second son when it was time.

On his first trip to a human city Billip was in awe. There were sights to see and aromas to smell. At one point the young halfling found himself separated from his group wandering the streets. In one particularly rough part of town he came across a young Chelish man and his friends. Having long had a distain for the little people the Chelish man began to taunt Billip. The trader’s son had never really seen such aggression and was taken aback. More than a little naïve Billip got talked into a duel, a duel in which he lost the family sword.

Billip, ashamed, never spoke of the encounter to his father. He meant to ask his uncle for forgiveness when he came to the next harvest festival, but Jaret never arrived. Jaret had fallen in battle in the summer against hill giants in north. Billip never got his chance to seek penance and it ate him up inside. With his inner disgrace and disdain for non-halflings because of his encounter, Billip resigned himself to never leave his small settlement again.

He tried to live a normal life and even had a serious relationship for a while, but he just couldn’t get over his own inner pain. After the relationship fell through he dedicated himself to family and community. He worked closely with the local priest of Erastil and his dedication and purity of soul brought him to his calling as a paladin. He chose to use his power to serve the church of Erastil. Although he couldn't ever make up for failing his uncle he would never fail his people.

Character Sixteen: Marluk Denbrauth

Life in a small town can be very daunting for anyone let alone the youngest child of a Merchant family. Brother already being groomed as the heir to the family business. Sister being shopped around the upper classes to marry more wealth into the family. Left to your own devices, the forgotten youngest child can lead to all the wrong things.

The Denbrauth trading company had a thriving business through the small towns and villages of Brevory. Marluk Denbrauth was never interested in any of this. He spent much of his childhood running around with some of the older boys who were constantly getting themselves in trouble. Many times Marluk would find himself sitting in the kitchen with his father scolding him after he and his best friend got caught stealing, or cheating people out of their money at games of “chance.”

Always feeling his Brother and Sister had everything to look forward to Marluk felt like an outcast in his own home. When he turned twelve and puberty set in this was even further exacerbated what his Jann blood emerged and his Suli heritage was revealed. His family was further horrified at the stigma this might bring to them and sought to keep their youngest child locked away at home.

While he was being hidden away his parents gave birth to a new youngest child. At first envious of the boy, his heart softened as the child grew and was the only member of the family not afraid of him. The two youngest of the Denbrauth clan had a strong friendship even with their many years apart. When the youngest of the clan caught the pox and died at age four Marluk was heartbroken.

His brother’s death infuriated Marluk who broke from the family. Leaving his life in exile to rejoin his childhood best friend on the streets. Having moved up from petty thief to a member of what passes for the biggest gang in a small town, the young Suli was quickly swept up in things that would sully is parent’s reputation. Not the brightest of the toughest of thugs Marluk was quick, of both fingers and wit, and transitioned nicely into a life of crime.

One fall when the nearby villages were bringing their harvests to the market square all this changed for the Suli thief. Travelling among the farmers, vintners and goat herds was a holy man, a paladin of old one eye, the god Erastil. The man looked the part of a woodsman selling his own furs at market but flashed a little too much coin for his own good. Marluk and his troupe made to relieve him of his riches one night. The fight was quick, none expected the resistance they got and Marluk lay unconscious as his fellows ran off.

When the Suli child awoke he was in a comfortable bed being tended to by the woodsman. He wasn’t restrained but he still didn’t run. The follower of Erastil had seen the pain in the young boy’s eyes even during the battle. The Paladin offered to take him away from the town and show him a better life. He wished to show him the bounties of the world through the one good eye of his god. With nowhere left to turn Marluk left that day with the Paladin.

Years later Marluk returned to his home, bow in hand, symbol of Erastil around his neck. He met with his father who hand since retired, leaving the business to his brother as expected. He sat at a table through the night and much of the day, the same table at which his father scolded him as a child. The teachings of the stag god put family first and on that day Marluk reconciled. He was now not just a paladin but he was once again a member of the Denbrauth clan.

Remember the first person to post a race (Core or featured), that will be the race I use for my next randomly rolled character.