The Isles of Gold Character Creation

Normally, when asking people to create characters for a campaign, I ask them to make something a little over the top in terms of power. I like to keep my players on their toes, or ideally, missing a few.

For The Isles of Gold I asked them to do something a little different. I wanted a character concept that was bitchin' awesome. Basically, if the player thought it was totally sweet, I promised to find a way to make it over the top in terms of power, so as to let them run wild with character creation.

I made one slightly non-standard rule: I disallowed races with a swim speed or which could breathe underwater, and I will be vetoing class abilities, spells, and items that produce those effects before about fifth level (When druids get wild shape, and clerics and wizards hit 3rd level spells). This may seem odd for a game which will take place primarily at sea, but the reasoning is simple: the sea should be scary. For sea travel to be thrilling and an adventure in and of itself, the sea should be a terrifying, awe-inspiring, hostile environment - and playing creatures that ignore its dangers ruins that effect.

I had characters begin at level 1, which I think is the place to start for most campaigns, especially those involving players who have not played very much previously. There's something exciting, to me anyways, about watching a nobody turn into a colossus - after all, that is one of the main points of roleplaying. I gave them the following numbers to arrange as ability scores, and told them they could subtract 2 from one number and add 2 to another number if they desired to do so, although they could not decrease the 10 or increase the 18: 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10. High-powered, but it's more fun that way - and it helps balance meleers and casters at low levels. I gave them 50 gold, plus whatever equipment they felt like having, subject to my approval, because I think it's ridiculous that Dungeons and Dragons assumes you spontaneously appear, stark naked and clutching a giant pile of gold coins, in Ye Olde Adventurer's Supplie Shoppe.

I allowed characters to take a single flaw, and to use any books they felt like using, though I discouraged them from taking humanoid races other than human, as such beings are very rare in the Isles of Gold. Also, I gave each character an extra 2 skill points per level (8 at 1st) because I like skills, and made Swim and Profession: Sailor class skills for every class, to reflect the realities of life in a chain of islands.

And so, without further ado, the characters and players:

Alric Diefield, Male Human Paladin

Player: Ian

Ian has done a lot of roleplaying, but has only, so far as I know, played Dungeons and Dragons once, in a previous (and short-lived) campaign of mine. In that, he played a fighter, and decided to stick close to his roots for this game, choosing not only a similarly melee-focused class, but the same name as his previous character. Ian is the most into roleplaying as a form of artistic expression, and will frequently come up with innovative or interesting in-character plot hooks and solutions to problems. Alric is, so far, a fairly standard paladin build, with Nymph's kiss, Good Devotion, and Power Attack, looking to move into charging smite and divine power at later levels. Because I find the alignment rules somewhat restrictive, and have opted to remove such things in favour of a more relativistic treatment of good and evil, I have ruled that his smite ability works on anyone whose motives and methods he finds incredibly abhorrent, as (mostly) determined by me.

Alric's backstory is mostly unfinished, as the character was essentially created in twenty minutes before session one. He is a champion of order and justice, and maintains a relationship with a sea nymph, which I am interested to see play out, as I am curious as to whether we can actually handle such things in-character in a roleplaying group of five guys, or if we will be obliged to skip over them for the sake of our sanity.

Constance, Female Human Druid

Player: Tom

I had encouraged Tom to try a caster, as he is the member of the group with the most experience playing D&D, and also the most likely to optimize successfully, and so he would provide the party's backbone of power through the mid and high levels. In the end, he elected to play a druid, with the Elemental Companion alternate class feature from Complete Mage, choosing an air elemental names Aelous. Though elemental companion is normally considered weak, it has considerably more application at sea: the ability to create gusts of wind will be fantastically useful should the party ever be becalmed, and the whirlwind power of the elemental will make a potent weapon against enemy ships. I was a little surprised, though, because I had assumed that a water elemental would make the natural choice - but of course the air elemental has more versatility.

Constance seeks power, and is exploring the world to find the source of it. Her magic comes from the spirits (and the player is slowly working out an entire animist religion for her background), and so she spends her days trying to find concentrations of spirits or energy to learn more about her gift. The tribe that she and Tahitoa come from was wiped out in an unspecified war or disaster, and so they must preserve her knowledge, lest it be lost forever.

Taran, Male Human Rogue

Player: Patrick

Patrick, so far as I know, has never roleplayed in a serious campaign before now. However, his experience in various forms of theatre makes getting in character come more naturally to him than to many starting players. Of the four players, he takes roleplaying the least seriously, which I see as an asset more than a hindrance: we forget, sometimes, that the goal of roleplaying is, first and foremost, to have fun, and so a little goofiness is a wonderful trait to have in a session. Taran is built more for social and non-combat encounters than for combat mastery, although the rogue is more effective in combat in a world where undead are incredibly rare, and most battles take place in the close confines of a ship, making flanking much easier.

Taran was abandoned into slavery as a child, and has just recently escaped. His primary motivation, therefore, is to put as much distance between himself and his former master as possible, that he might not be recaptured. He is very young, and, while not sinister or malevolent, has a somewhat loose attitude towards things like the laws of possession. He isn't a ridiculous kleptomaniac, as so many rogues are wont to be, but nevertheless is given to taking what is not his if the opportunity presents.

Tahitoa, Male Human Lion-Totem Barbarian

Player: Philip.

Philip is very enthusiastic and excitable, and so I will be looking to him to provide our group with the core of its energy (I believe that players fall into specific, well-defined roles within a group just as their characters do). However, he is also easily distracted - for instance, he spent nearly half an hour looking up Polynesian names for his character, before finally settling on one that means "First Warrior." And so, my job is to keep his energy focus on the game. He was interested in playing something that did something weird in combat, and so we worked up a homebrew set of weapons for him to use, that simulated the ritual combat of his and Constance's tribe. A fishing spear and net, used a tripping weapon and an entanglement, plus improved trip, means his character will be throwing opponents all over the place, dropping them prone, and then perhaps flinging them over the side of a ship or into a wall. I will suggest the dungeon-crasher fighter variant, with more house rules (or feats if I can find them. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be wonderful), to combine tripping and bull rushing, for the extra damage when he flings people against objects.

Tahitoa is Constance's companion and bodyguard (companion in a platonic sense - uncle or mentor being the sort of relationship they have developed). The players are coming up with a fascinating dynamic whereby Tahitoa's experience sometimes overrides Constance's wisdom and his awe of her powers, and sometimes gives way. He is sworn to protect her and keep her safe, and to safeguard the honour of their tribe.