Let’s go with that, then. Zachary and Joseph both had professions that involved traveling around followed by setting up in or near populated areas for short periods of time, so their paths easily could have crossed several times. Later, Joseph could have arranged for Zachary to tag along with any of his mercenary bands while traveling through bandit country or what-have-you.
“No, that was someone else entirely, my friend. I distinctly remember not being there in the first place, and as for the comely lass, I never met her. May I interest you in today’s special offer? A simple preparation of sal epsomi, much recommended for all humorous imbalances by Galen himself. The sheikh of Araby, and no lesser customer, paid five hundred crowns for a small box no bigger than this, but my price today is but fifty crowns - no, twenty - no, ten - no, by Hippocrates himself, I shall accept but a single piece of gold. Shall I wrap it for you?”
I got around to using PCgen as well and I’ll send the updated character sheet to the DM as soon as I can. No major changes but I figured some skill ranks wrong. (I couldn’t find the Surprise Weapon trait on PCgen for whatever reason, I’ve substituted another trait. And it seemed to want to let me carry on adding formulae until the cows came home, I’m sure that’s not right.)
I’m finding that as well. If you folks could email me the character file, not just the pdf, it would save me time.
Do you need me to re-send Harald’s sheet in the PCGen format ?
The pcgen file itself? Ok, will do when I can (the laptop’s running a big backup at the moment so it will be some time tomorrow).
Ideally, yes. It saves me the trouble of trying to reverse engineer how you got to your final result.
Sent.
Doesn’t seem to automagically add the 2 nat. attacks from Lesser Beast Totem OR factor in Furious Focus (power attack should be the same to-hit as normal, since I only got the one greataxe attack), but other than that everything look fine.
Okay, I’ve finished up my character. The mounted barbarian build wasn’t really doing it for me, so I went back to the wrestler idea I had.
The Brute is an enormous mountain of a man. His six foot plus frame is covered in sheets of rock-hard muscle under rolls of fat. His race is impossible to guess - somewhere East of Araby, perhaps even past Hindustan. If his massive frame, dark skin, and exotic features were not enough to make him stand out, his shaven head is covered in intricate tattoos and studded with piercings.
From all appearances, the Brute is mute, and possibly simple minded. He takes instruction well enough, but absent directions, he tends to sit quietly by himself. He’s normally quite gentle, but becomes violently angry when his friends (for lack of a better word) are threatened.
He had apparently been living on the streets of Venice for some time when he was found by Zach Hawkins. Zach had taken a wrong turn, and found himself in a narrow alley, surrounded by thugs. His habitual glibness was failing him, and things looked like they were about to take a distinct downturn, when a veritable giant loomed out of the darkness and laid into the gang of thieves. Between the two of them, they finished off the muggers. Zach immediately recognized the advertising potential in having his own painted savage, and offered the man a job on the spot. Which was apparently accepted, as the silent creature has been following him ever since. Lacking a name for him, he calls him the Brute, and has found him to be useful as a marketing gimmick, pack mule, and, on occasion, personal bodyguard.
Secret Background Stuff: Everyone’s welcome to read it, but this is stuff that isn’t yet known to the other PCs. Skip it if you want to be surprised, read it if you want to help work it into the narrative.
Aji was born in the slave pits of a minor pirate kingdom in the islands of the south China sea. His parentage is entirely unknown - like many of the pirates, he’s a mix breed of Southeast Asian ethnicities. Of a prodigious size even from an early age, he was quickly marked for training as a pit fighter, a profession in which he both excelled, and reveled. He gained a reputation as an especially savage and brutal bare-handed gladiator. Had he continued in that path, he might one day have won himself a place on a pirate crew and a measure of freedom, but fate had other things in mind.
A young monk was captured by the pirates. Impressed by the fight he put up, they sent him to the pits for the entertainment of the crowd. He shared a cell with Aji, and an unlikely friendship began to form. The monk taught Aji some fighting techniques, adding a bit of style to his brute force technique - but more importantly, he began to teach Aji in the ways of the Buddha. The friendship was shortlived, however, as the owners of the ring became frustrated with the monk’s refusal to kill his defeated opponents. After a month sharing the cell, they found themselves sharing the ring. Faced with the prospect of having to kill his first and only friend, Aji refused to fight.
Outraged, his owner had the skin scouraged from his back, but still the giant refused to fight. After days of torment, in which he refused to so much as speak to his torturers, he was finally sold as a galley slave.
A year at the oar brought him to India, where he was sold again, this time as brute force labor for an Persian merchant’s return home to Nishapur. Once there, and no longer having a use for the giant, he was purchased by an Arab trader who thought to sell him in Jerusalem as an oddity. There, he was bought by a Byantine noble who intended to display him at court in Constantinople. The noble never made it home, however - his ship was attacked by Cretian pirates just outside the Sea of Marmara, and he and the crew were slaughtered. From his size and fearful demeanor, the pirates assumed they had found themselves a plum new recruit. Their new prize was a disappointment, as the pirates learned to their detriment when they, in turn, were chased down by a Venetian anti-pirate flotilla returning from a patrol near Cyprus. Aji refused to fight, sitting cross legged in the middle of the deck as the pirates were slaughtered around him. Aji and a few surviving pirates were taken captive, for a show trial in Venice followed by a public hanging.
Aji’s passivity during the battle had been noted, however, as well as his apparent simple-mindedness, and the captain took pity on him. In an act of Christian charity, he released him on the docks when the ships arrived in port.
Truly free for the first time in his life, Aji had no idea what to do. He lived on the streets for a few days, getting by begging and scavenging, until he happened upon a back alley mugging - several toughs were descending on Zach Hawkins. Surprising himself as much as anyone, Aji threw himself into the fight, for the first time in his life using his strength and brutal prowess to help and protect, instead of just kill. He’s found that it is to his taste. He has since followed Zach, somewhat to Zach’s consternation.
In his long enslavement, Aji has learned the value of camouflauge. He has a reasonably sharp mind under his brutal exterior, and his short tutelage from the Buddhist monk has awakened it. He is fascinated by the idea of karma, and the prospect of being reborn on the next turn of the wheel of life. He only has a muddled understanding of how karma works - but he’s pretty sure his is pretty screwed up. He wants to improve it, but isn’t entirely sure how to go about it. More than anything, right now he’s seeking a moral instructor. He’s pretty sure Zach isn’t the right choice, but he’s developed a certain amount of affection for the con man, as well as a sense of responsibility to him. He tries to meditate like the monk taught him as often as he can, which others often misinterpret as the vacancy of an imbecile. Aji does not think that he can attain enlightenment in this life time, but hopes to give himself a leg up in his next incarnation.
The most startling thing Aji is hiding about himself is his astonishing gift for language. He can pick up the rudiments of a language in a few days, and speak almost as well as a native within a month. He’s developed an impressive collection of tongues from his polyglot upbringing and during his long journey across the known world, and always keeps his ears sharp for new ones.
And some game mechanic stuff. Not really secret, but relates to stuff in the last post.
appleciders, I’ve got my character saved out as a PCGen file, and will send it along to you shortly. Just a couple things I wanted to ask about.
One of the traits I picked is Reincarnated. Its from the Ultimate Campaign hardback, and hasn’t made it into PCGen yet. It gives me a +2 on saves versus fear and death effects - my understanding of the wheel of reincarnation grants me a certain amount of bravery in the face of my own death. I hope that’s cool?
Also, I have a request for a house rule - to model the polyglot idea, I maxed out my ranks in Linguistics. However, I want my character to be illiterate. Can I sacrifice all the reading stuff you can do with linguistics - interpreting difficult texts, creating forgeries, etc - and in exchange get an extra language for each rank I put into it?
Speaking of languages, the ones on the PCG character sheet are incorrect. My languages currently are Malay, Mandarin, Urdu, Arabic, and Italian. If you agree to the above idea, I’d add Persian, Han, and Javanese.
Equipmentwise, I’ve just got a chain shirt, which I’m going to say was given to me by Zach. For my magic item, can I suggest a ring or amulet that might have been given to me by the monk, that I’ve managed to keep hidden (don’t ask where) until now?
I’ve sent the pcgen file for my character.
Is it possible the Brute knows the word “Hodor” by any chance? Just asking, you understand?
I found the PCGen app on the net and thought it would help me, as I’m the newb. If we use something else I won’t complain, I’m not tied to it. I also can’t vouch for its accuracy, it seemed to match the web-only apps that were discussed upthread with some (seemingly) minor variations. I like it because it’s easier to use and more in-depth than anything else I could find.
I’ll go with whatever the group decides, I do think we should work from a single platform though.
It’s entirely possible. 
I worked my character out on paper, then converted it to the PCGen system, and it matched up nearly perfectly - there was a skill point discrepancy, but it was on my end. Turns out, 8 + 2 doesn’t equal 11.
I’m good with using this format.
I rather like the PCGen program. I’m good with continuing to use it.
I like the PCGen program, too. It’s really powerful, and if it can help me reduce the bookkeeping part of this, I’m all for it. However, it has a couple flaws. For instance, I can’t yet figure out how to tell it that Harald is a devotee of Thor (and sometimes Catholicism), not one of the default gods. Still, it’s a pretty slick program and I’m pleased that you all brought it to my attention.
Off the top of my head, well done! That’s a well-rounded character, and a great background. I like it a lot.
First, yes, the “Reincarnated” trait is fine, and certainly appropriate. I think that’s a great choice.
Second, remaining illiterate in exchange for additional languages-- this is fine, as long as you promise never to try to become literate, as there really isn’t a good in-game reason for me to deny Aji that possibility. I think it’s a great roleplaying choice*, but with Aji’s interest in better understanding Buddhism, collecting knowledge about it will presumably be an interest for the rest of the game and it doesn’t make sense, exactly, for Aji to not care about it.
Yes, I’ll give you an amulet or ring as your magic item. Speaking of…
For everyone’s start-off magic item, I don’t want to start with a +1 weapon or armor or something like that. Those sorts of things get discarded or sold within the first three adventures, and never matter to the story. But what would Frodo be without the Ring, or Luke Skywalker without Anakin’s lightsaber? Starting equipment should be a hook, if at all possible, and something useful but not game-breaking for the whole campaign at a minimum. Here are some proposals:
Zachary Hawkins: An efficient cauldron, so well made that it reduces the cost of all potions, extracts, and any other consumable items created with the cauldron by one-quarter, stacking with any other benefits. That ought to be useful at the outset and still useful at the end.
Joseph Beneviste: A Book of Contacts. This is less a magic item than a benefit of your wide travels, high charisma, and ability to do and have the former without actively pissing people off (Like Zach Hawkins, for instance). Once per adventure, you can call on someone from your Book of Contacts. That’s to say that once per adventure, you can declare that you’ve got a friend, former co-worker, or other person who owes you a small favor, and that that person is in a useful position. This person cannot be a person of great importance, but it could be a person of little importance in a good position to help you. For instance, you can’t call on the Doge of Venice; he’s too important to me manipulated by you. But you might know a member of the palace guard, or his wife’s chambermaid, or maybe an accountant in the warehouses of the great Venetian trade fleets. Or maybe you know well a librarian who just happens to know the language you need translated, or a master smith who can repair the plot-critical item you’re carrying. You also can’t call out someone who I’ve already named or defined as part of the story. This is a new character that you’re bringing into the mix. Check out this link for what I’m talking about: it’s a variant rule available in D&D 3.5; I’m adapting from this source. Check out the ideas for the sorts of contacts you might declare. In general, the principal is that you don’t know the CEO of the company with all the power, you know the janitor with the big ring of keys. Does that make sense?
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/contacts.htm
Solsken: An Amulet of Falcon’s Sight. This item gives him the ability to see through the eyes of his falcon animal familiar twice per day for one minute each time.
Taye: A Brass Dragon’s Tooth. Worn around the neck, it provides an extra d6 of damage to any fire spell cast.
Harald Ragnarsson: a Danish Whetstone, usable only once per day but able to give such a sharp edge to any weapon that the weapon gets +1 to attack and damage rolls for one day, stacking with all other benefits.
Aji: an Amulet of Mighty Fists +1. +1 to all attacks and damage rolls with unarmed attacks and natural weapons. A gift of the monk who trained Aji.
Giacomo Martinus: a Cloak of Elvenkind, with +5 to Stealth checks.
Thoughts? Does that sound fair? I’ll get you up to your recommended wealth total in the first couple adventures, but these have a little more attachment to your particular characters.
*It reminds me of a player in an evil game whose character gave up the ability to speak Common, and used INT, WIS, and CHA as dump stats. He ran around collecting eyes as a sacrifice to his deity. (His deity did not actually demand eyes as sacrifice. The character misunderstood his religious requirements.) When questioned about where he found the eyes, he responded: “In faces!” Because where else do you get eyes?
I’ve been thinking about the literacy thing, and I came up with an idea for a house rule. I’m thinking of adapting it for the campaign I’m running. Tell me what you think:
For each rank you buy in Linguistics, or each point of your Int modifier, you can either speak and read one language, speak two languages, or read two languages. This way, we can model things like illiterate street urchins who can speak eight languages, or dead languages that are still read by some scholars, but not spoken by anyone. Like Latin.
Also, the Amulet of Might Fists is cool, but it’s also something I’m going to replace at my first opportunity - it’s basically the +1 long sword of unarmed fighting. Something I’d be likely to hang onto for my character’s entire life would be something that increases the damage die for my unarmed attack. Unless I somehow get a monk level (and with my Wisdom, that’s not likely) I’m going to be rolling d3s my entire career. Just being able to bump that up to short sword damage would be awesome, and not something I could easily replace later on.
That cauldron sounds like a fun item, since it means I can make an awful lot of stuff for one-quarter sale price. I’d envisaged Zachary moving his belongings about in a light wagon or possibly a hand-cart not unlike the trek-carts that Boy Scouts used to use - which is another reason why he gathers travelling companions, as they can throw their gear on the cart (or in the wagon) in exchange for their help pulling it.
While Zachary may refer to “the Brute” by that name in front of paying customers, he treats him kindly and respectfully in front of friends or when they are alone, and though the giant does make an excellent porter, Zachary gives him only a load that he can easily manage (even if it’s a prodigious burden to a lesser man). He has the habit of holding up both ends of a conversation with him, and wonders if his skills might ever pierce the man’s eternal silence.