#from the idea of a barbarian wood elf

[quirkwizard]

So recently I have been on a huge tabletop RPG kick so I thought it would be fun to talk about Class 1-A playing their own tabletop game, both the characters they'd play and how they'd be as players. For the sake of this, I will be writing in the context of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition since that's the system myself and others would be the most familiar with.

Rikido Sato: Half Orc Life Cleric Doesn't really get the game too much. Tends to forget the rules a lot and his own abilities. Just kind of picked a class at random. Is the king of bringing snacks and the like, all of which are homemade.

Mashirao Ojiro: Wood Elf Open Hand Monk Pretty average in all respects as a player. Not too remarkable in all respects. Doesn't realized how bad the monk is until they started playing, but is too attached to the character and their concept.

Koji Koda: Firbolg Shepard Druid Is only really here to hang out with his friends. Too shy to really do any roleplay with the rest of the gang, mostly doing small moments with his animals friends. Accidently made an overpowered build.

Minoru Mineta: Dhampir Phantom Rogue Knows the rules, but is a power gamer. Uses the game more as a power fantasy to look as cool as possible at all times, even if it is dumb, though will quickly panic if anything goes slightly wrong.

Hanta Sero: Gith Horizon Walker Ranger Really interested in all the lore and history of whatever the dungeon master came up with. The kind that dungeon masters either love or dread. Is the one constantly asking question and cracking the odd joke about it.

Toru Hagakure: Changeling Arcane Trickster Rogue Super big into the roleplay of it all and is always excited. Mostly took Changeling so she'd have the excess to play as many roles as possible. Probably makes little masks to remind people who she currently is.

Yuga Aoyama: Aasimar Glory Paladin Is insanely devoted to the role of the noble paladin, much to the detriment of everyone else. Likely says the line "But it's what my character would do more then any other player. Constantly hints at a backstory that nobody is biting on.

Mezo Shoji: Hobgoblin Gloomstalker Ranger Not the biggest into roleplay, does fairly well with the actual gameplay. Plays the typically reserved ranged. Tried to tie his and Koda's backstory together to try and take some of the stress off of him in terms of roleplaying.

Kyoka Jiro: Half Elf Whispers Bard Wasn't really sure about all of this before play and went with a bard because she liked the idea of playing music. It was a rocky start, but quickly got into it and started having fun. Will make custom songs and playlists for the party, as well ambient tracks and battle music.

Denki Kaminari: Air Genesi Storm Sorcerer Wanted to try it out because it was popular. Went with something he thought was cool and did not expect it to be so complicated. Needs to be constantly handed the book and remined of the rules in order to make sure he gets it. The amount of math hurts his head. Eijiro Kirishima: Goliath Giant Barbarian Like Denki, wanted to get into because it was popular. Bakugou helped a lot with building the character. Has a lot of fun smashing stuff. Plays his role pretty well, even if his character doesn't go beyond the nice brute whose name is very close to Kirishima's own.

Mina Ashido: Satyr Glamour Bard One of the students the most into the roleplaying. Is very light hearted and goofy about the whole thing. Can play a lot in bard stereotypes because she thinks it's funny. Another instigator, though mostly from her getting too into character at the worst of times. Fumikage Tokoyami: Tiefling Fiend Warlock Has been playing the game the longest and super familiar with all of it. Always makes characters he thinks are "cool", which means are super gothic and depress, both in class and in race. Does occasionally have Dark Shadow dress up and roleplay as his patron. Ochako Uraraka: Fairy Zealot Barbarian Ochako just wants to smash stuff. She has a lot of fun rolling dice and doing cool stuff with her friends, both good and bad. Likes playing the typically pixie before going nuts. Can be an instigator, but tends to backtrack when she realizes just how badly it goes wrong. Tsuyu Asui: Halfling Moon Druid Like Koda, is mostly here to have fun with friends. Often plays mediator both in and out of character. Does a good job with roleplaying thanks to how much she had to play pretend with her simplies. Always causes a riot whenever she becomes a dinosaur. Shoto Todoroki: Hill Dwarf Fighter Champion One of the worst players both in game and in roleplay. Played a character Izuku basically made for him. Is somehow still one of the best because he is constantly getting amazing rolls at the most critical moments, much to the frustration of Bakugou.

Katsuki Bakugo: Custom Lineage Chronurgy Wizard Powergamer, no question. He knows the rules back and forth to make the most broken build possible. Acts like D&D is a game you can win, even when it comes to roleplaying. Not a full on murder hobo, but by far the biggest instigator in the group.

Tenya Iida: Warforged Devotion Paladin Very much devoted to the rules, both in and out of the game. Gets confused when people say that he's doing a good job at playing a robot. Collects a lot of dice. One of the best Dungeon Masters of any of the students, though can be rather controlling at times. Momo Yaoyorozu: High Elf Forge Cleric A really good player with the rules though can be pretty awkward with the roleplay with how much she tries to get into it. One of the best DMs in the class. Makes custom miniatures for everyone in the party. Puts a lot of money to make the ultimate game room. Izuku Midoriya: Variant Human Bladesinging Wizard The perfect player. Knows the roles, but focuses more on making characters. Takes the most notes, pay attention, and makes sure everyone is having fun and feels included. Likely gets roped into the role of dungeon master more then anyone else because of these reasons.

[youronlybean]

Saw the D&D post and how you said that our own takes are good to include, so I went to dndbeyond and searched for some fun races and subclasses. I haven't touched D&D books in years, so it'll be a little scuffed

Larry - a Hedge, College of Eloquence Bard, the best flirt in town >:]

Apple - a Strig, Oath of Devotion Paladin, a Gladiator that fights for freedom of other gladiators that still have to fight for some feudal lord

Bonsais - Warforged (folk made of wood and metal), one is a War Domain Cleric, the other is a Battle Smith Artificer, and they are both former Soldiers, tired of war but can't quite able to leave behind fighting skills

Em - a Haregon, Forest Druid, a known neighbour who keeps both the forest and the passerbys safe from each other

What do you think?

Format: Name - [Subrace] Race, Subclass Class, Background + any relevant feats

Larry - Hobgoblin, College of Eloquence Bard, Soldier

Apple - High Elf, School of Divination Wizard, Noble

Bonsai(s) - Warforged, Scout & Thief Rogues, Criminals

Em - Aasimar, Storm Herald Barbarian, Knight

Larry is ABSOLUTELY a college of eloquence bard, though I think he would not be resistant to being charmed as hobgoblins normally would lol. I picked Soldier just for COD, though I think he would have been dishonourably discharged for fraternising with the enemy

Apple had to be a high elf with her posh accent and quite proper manners. I don’t see her fighting as much since she’s not very confrontational, and divination wizard is better as support.

I love the Bonsais as warforged, and I really like the war cleric and battle smith artificer, but I always think of them as very crafty and deceptive. I like the idea of them being a pair of notorious thieves who work in tandem to evade the law.

Em to me is Pasta’s knight. I think she would be assigned to protect her at birth during a magical storm that made her an aasimar. I don’t exactly know why I chose storm herald specifically, I think it was another gut feeling

[eldritch-ace]

Here’s some sketches from my stranger things dnd au from last year(not like anyone’s done that before).

I left some explanations under the cut…

So Steve is a high elf eldritch knight fighter/ paladin. Eddie is a black dragonborn valor bard. Robin is a half gnome illusionist wizard/ bard. Chrissy is a fairy bard. Erica is a half wood elf thief rogue. Dustin is a stout halfling lore bard/ battle smith artificer. Hopper is a half orc path of the warchief barbarian. El is a bloodline of levistus tiefling aberrant mind sorcerer. Max is a fire genasi speedster rogue/ fighter. Lucas is a half wood elf hunter ranger. I also have races and classes (and spells and character sheets) set up for characters not in these drawings too.

I have a lot of ideas of how the world would work. It’s more of a stranger things except it takes place in dnd kind of au. I tried to set up a lot of characters with that in mind. I thought through everything for quite a while and I’m pretty proud of it.

[hawkinsgirlnextdoor]

okay but imagine dming a girls-only dnd campaign with Nancy, Robin, El, Max, and Erica

The D&D scene in Hawkins has always been kind of barren. A boys club if you will. Of course there was always the party and the Hellfire Club but you were always looking for a space where you could feel more comfortable playing with other girls. 

When things become more stable in Hawkins you acquired a solid group of female friends. Nancy and Robin are your age, and while you definitely spend time with the boys, you’ve started to hang out just the three of you. 

El and Max are younger than you but you always enjoy their company. You serve as a kind of older sister figure to the party and the two of them kind of look up to you. 

You’ve only recently started hanging around Erica but you like her a lot and once she gets in to D&D you two start to bond. 

It’s actually Erica’s idea to start the campaign in the first place. 

All of the girls are coming in with different levels of experience. 

Nancy has observed D&D through Mike for a good chunk of her life and has occasionally participated so she knows the basic mechanics and other random facts about the game. 

Robin has never touched a 20 sided die in her life. The people that she’s hung out with before the summer of 85 were never the type to play D&D and she barley knew it existed before the whole Satanic Panic thing started to sweep Hawkins. 

Max has always been a bit put off by D&D. At first it was something that was used to exclude her from the group and once she became friends with the party she would be insecure that she wasn’t as good at it as the boys were. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will had been playing forever and she feels like she doesn’t fit in.

When you pitch the idea to her you assure her that the majority of the participants are starting from square one and there's nothing to be worried about. That persuades her to give it a shot. 

El is just happy to be doing something with other girls. Of course she’s friends with Max but she longs for more female company. She also knows a little about D&D due to how much Mike has tried to explain it to her. 

Once Robin is introduced to D&D and learns the rules she’s super psyched about playing and creating her character. She also rolls her dice really weird (big Ally Beardsley ala Fantasy High energy). 

Robin is obsessed with languages so she quickly tries to learn Elvish and uses it during role play. Her experience in drama also leads her to commit especially hard (sometimes too much lol). 

As for classes and races: Robin plays as a teifling bard, Erica as a half-elf rouge, Max as a tabaxi barbarian (my first instinct was also rouge but Lady Applejack is already a rouge so gahhh), El as a half-elf mage, and Nancy as an elven duel class cleric and fighter.

Nancy is the resident note taker and jots down every detail, stat, and piece of inventory. 

She also probably unravels all of your planning with her great detective work. Like you’ll spend ten hours crafting a mystery that's supposed to be revealed in the very last session and she cracks it by the third.

Erica spends hours hand painting minis for each character. The detail is astounding.

"Did you paint a tiny star in her eye?" "I'm thorough."

El is that player who cannot do basic addition for the life of her (aka me). Max always has her back though.

"I rolled an eighteen. Eighteen plus seven is ....." "Twenty five." "Thank you."

El is also proficient in animal handling and constantly adopts wildly dangerous creatures to be her pets.

You might think that Erica is a head-straight-into-battle kind of player due to the absolute powerhouse that is Lady Applejack but she's actually incredibly tactical. Her and Nancy tend to alternate as party leader.

Max and Robin on the other hand are the kind of players who crave chaos.

You: "The villager seems to know something about the creature that lives in the woods. You can see however that he's apprehensive to answer any of your questions."

Max: "This guy is totally shady." Robin: "Yeah you're right ... we should punch him." Max: "Oh my god you're so right. If I roll a nat 20 can a tooth fly out?"

As a DM you are very attentive to your players. You craft scenarios for each girl to shine and show their growth as a player. You also make little dice boxes and customize. You make their favorite treats and have them in the middle of the table every session.

You notice they all seem to be getting closer and more comfortable with the game which warms your heart.

Sessions are hosted on Friday nights and usually conclude with movies, pizza, and sleeping over someone's house based on the availability of their living room.

Each girl also gets to make her own mixtape to play during sessions. The vibes of which are all over the place. Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Tiffany, Blondie. The works.

The environment of the campaign is so comfortable. Yes you're putting their characters through horrible danger and mental gymnastics but its out of love <3.

Your players are amazing. You feel so lucky that you're able to share something you love with the girls in your life and make it your own.

By the time you're nearing the end of your campaign Dustin and Lucas are begging to get in on the action for the next one, only to be disappointed when Robin slams the door in their faces clarifying that this party is "Ladies Only!".

[infernalbarbarian]

@wildskissed — closed starter.

ecstatic. no, that isn’t right. karlach doesn’t think there actually is a word to describe how good she feels, knowing that she’ll be able to touch another person without turning them into burnt charcoal. the idea that maybe, just maybe, her wood elf companion might still be interested in gratifying a desperately touch-starved barbarian was the only notion keeping karlach from completely scrutinizing over the reality that her own infernal engine will soon be the literal death of her. as if perhaps it’s alright that she punches life’s time clock early, as long as she gets to do everything she’s wanted to do before that happens — everything she never got to do living in the hell that is avernus. these tadpoles swimming in their thinkers is a bittersweet blessing, also probably killing them, but what isn’t these days? the little bugger still got her out of avernus, didn’t it?

after a successful day of getting one step closer to figuring out exactly what’s going on with aforementioned tadpoles, you’d think karlach would be in a better mood, especially since she got to hold the prettiest flowers in the woods she’s ever seen without them bursting into flames and crumbling to ash within her gentle grasp. the way they grew so healthy and strong even in the darkness of the cursed lands they trekked. they were unlikely, but they were lovely. they made her think of eve, and so she wanted to give them to her. but those flowers still lie on the ground in those woods, because when she went to give them to the elf, she spotted her offering up her neck to astarion, and it seemed… intimate. she hoped they hadn’t noticed her there, how utterly humiliating that would have been. if you were to ask her, though, she would pretend like it didn’t hurt. in fact, she carried on the rest of their day as though she was still over the moon.

her feelings are unclear, and so very contradicting this evening, now that they are safe back at last night inn. she feels good, because she can touch people — something she’s wanted to do for over a decade. but it came with life-altering, life-halting news, news that she so desperately wants to erase from her mind and just live the rest of whatever time she has left in ignorant bliss. but that’s impossible now, and the more she has to drink in this pub, the more her thoughts race. she isn’t speaking to anyone, sitting alone at the back of the dimly lit room, as people around her are lively and buzzing with chatter. there’s laughter, as everyone relishes in another day of survival from the shadows surrounding them. she wishes she could join them, maybe even find someone else to share an embrace with, but… for some reason, the only person she felt any kind of connection with was eve. and what good is a tender embrace without real feelings behind them? sure, it might still be nice, but… it wouldn’t mean anything. lips press against the rim of her mug filled with wheaty ale, this is probably her eighth one now, it seems she’s lost count. she as brings the cup down, swallowing the alcohol she’s hoping to numb herself with, she’s met with eve across the table from her, and the barbarian is hoping she doesn’t notice how brightly her chest burns at the sight of her, “oh, hey, solider,” she says, forcing a smile — she’s not good at it. the air immediately feels a bit awkward between them, but maybe karlach is the only one who can feel it, “you fancy a pint?” her words a bit woozy, accent a bit thicker, she looks down at the mug within her grasp as she places it back on the table, “good day today, yeah? feel like we made a lotta progress and i can shake people’s hands without cookin’ ‘em,” she forces another chuckle, trying her best to be her usual self. though she can tell she’s failing.

[thedragonagelesbian]

3, 17, & 27 for cyrus pleeeeease!

<333333

3: Race and subclass?

Race: Wood elf

Subclass: It's Complicated

I actually have a full level 20 D&D character sheet for Cyrus that I made back when he was still just a Dragon Age OC. So, when porting him over to Baldur's Gate 3, I decided to keep as much of that build as possible, making Cyrus a base paladin (because being a knight is his Whole Thing) with a barbarian multiclass (because he has a lot of repressed anger and ruthlessness that become more and more evident the more and more the world wears away at his sunshine kindness, and paladin-barbarian is just a very sexy build).

His original subclasses were Oath of Devotion (again, textbook fairytale knight, this is The quintessential stereotypical paladin oath) and Path of Ancestral Guardians (one of the more support-oriented barbarian subclasses and plays with the idea of Kirkwall itself as his guardian spirits).

On the paladin side of things, I just kept him as an Oath of Devotion pally in BG3, although he did end up breaking his oath during Act 2, switching him over to the oathbreaker subclass.

However, BG3 doesn't have the Ancestral Guardians subclass, and the flavor is very specific to the DA2 version, so I decided early on that when he took his third level of barbarian, he'd be Wild Heart instead-- angling for 'bear heart' specifically because it grants immunity to almost all damage while raging, and being unkillable is an important part of Cyrus' whole deal.

And also.

I wanted him to have fire resistance (however conditional) for smooching Karlach.

And as I also had Karlach specced as a Wild Heart barbarian, it occurred to me that Cyrus' multiclassing into her class could be like. a Thing for their relationship. I wrote a little bit about it in my fic for them-- Karlach being the one to train Cyrus in how to be a barbarian, helping him find his rage & be okay with experiencing negative emotions instead of repressing them, giving him his wild heart piercings after the Ketheric boss fight...

(also in this first playthrough, Cyrus ended up romancing Halsin too, which makes the bear's heart thing that much more significant)

But the thing is. I love Cyrus and I love shipping Cyrus, and I knew very early on that I would want to play through the game again to romance at least Astarion and Wyll with him. But. I love narrative-mechanics overlap too much to repeat his paladin-barbarian build for the other runs, because that's His And Karlach's Thing, and he needs a different thing for Astarion and Wyll.

SO.

I have two other BG3 timelines for Cyrus with two other builds.

The first starts off with the same base class of paladin with Oath of Devotion as the subclass. However, after Astarion kills him while feeding from him the first time, Cyrus Comes Back Wrong and spontaneously develops an innate connection to the Shadowfell for uh... reasons that are truly beyond the scope of this already ridiculously long answer. So, in that timeline, Cyrus is an Oath of Devotion Paladin (he will still break his oath at least once when freeing the other vampire spawn, but I imagine this version of Cyrus will want to retake his oath?) with a (modded) Shadow Sorcerer multiclass.

The second involves moving Cyrus' entire timeline around so he's older, more experienced, and more jaded by the time that he gets tadpoled. He swore an oath of devotion to a tyrant who abused him and then he swore an oath of vengeance against them and their reign, and neither made him happy or let him live his life on his own terms as more than just a Title and a set of obligations.

So, this version of Cyrus lost all of his levels of paladin during the couple of decades of self-imposed exile that precede the game. In addition to some stat shuffling around, his base class switched to Ranger for the 'was living all on his own as a hermit in the woods' vibes, and also to keep him as a martial/melee character because that feels the most correct for him.

I only just got this version of Cyrus to level 3-- I specced him into the Hunter subclass originally, but I think I'm going to switch to Gloomstalker instead. There's just something thematically interesting to me about Oathbreaker-Shadow Sorc-Gloomstalker, a lot of Cyrus' character is propelled by the literal, physical internalizations and manifestations of all the bad shit that happens to him, and struggling to make peace with that and even turn those changes to his advantage.

(Also gloomstalker in BG3 gets misty step as an autoprep and I can never turn down a short-range teleport)

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

Paladin/Barbarian Cyrus: unequivocal yes! Cyrus loves nothing more than to feel useful and of service, and adventuring is the best way he knows how to be helpful.

Paladin/Sorcerer Cyrus: he says yes, but he's been in a state of perpetual existential crisis for the entirety of the game made worse by the fact that he tells himself he needs to swallow all of it down so as not to get in the way of the adventure & helping others

Ranger Cyrus: no lol he really thought he had left this life behind, and he is Too Old For This (spiritually). I think he's really thrown for a loop the first time he sits down to trance, comes to having spontaneously manifested some goodberries in his lap, and realizes he can do magic again for the first time in a couple of decades. He'll do the adventure, and he won't even complain that much, and I think as the game progresses, he'll find more to like about it, but at the moment he's quietly being a real sourpuss about the whole thing.

27: What was their life like before the events of BG3?

Kind of alluded to this in the subclass answers, but in the main timeline (which covers both pally/barb and pally/sorc), Cyrus was having a splendid time as a dashing young adventurer.

Ranger Cyrus was living by himself in a small cottage in some corner of Sword Coast wilderness, cut off from the rest of the world by choice. He was able to fend for and provide for himself just fine but was also much lonelier than he would have admitted to himself. Being around people again is a huge change-- and try as he may to keep some distance between himself and his companions, he just can't resist Wyll's smile.

[whitegoldtower]

Making my official intro post for my Durge: A wood-elf, Circle of Spores Druid-Barbarian named Ungolhir (Goldie for short).

My ideas for him came from playing through Act II with another character (if you know about Thaniel and Oliver, you'll see where I'm going with this). Basically, Ungolhir is the Oliver to Halsin's Thaniel. Halsin is a hawthorn tree, and Ungolhir is a blackthorn tree. Halsin wears light colours, Ungolhir wears dark. Together, they're representative of the balance druids strive for, and just as Ungolhir helps Halsin with his problems, Halsin helps him with his urges. Halsin represents the order of nature and 'life', whereas Ungolhir represents the chaos of nature and 'death', or more accurately 'decay'.

His name is in reference to his wildshape, which is a giant spider. (Ungol coming from Tolkien's Quenya for 'spiderweb'). I wanted to werewolf-build him a little bit, wherein when his urges strike, he loses control over his wildshape (a bit like Halsin, again, only in the other direction - Halsin loses control during a romance scene, whereas Ungolhir loses control when he kills), so the last thing Alfira sees is probably a massive, salivating spider (which then proceeds to partially eat her).

He's on his redemption arc, though. He started off with extremely poor control over his urges (I was basically making him give in to nearly all of them), but Alfira's death is the turning point at which he basically says 'yeah no, fuck this' and starts fighting it.

... And now Astarion has TWO big strong druids to keep him safe and warm.

Also I think it's kind of poetic for Astarion (as a vampire spawn) to be sandwiched between representations of Life and Death (who are also holding hands).

[tsurugis]

i wanna write little short things on the side for all my other characters without losing focus on these fuckin novels with the 4 og ones

cause we got, in their original simple dnd forms but I've already talked about them:

fenriel the druid white dragonborn

ozadius the tiefling wizard

atreyu the drow/wood elf warlock

ithiliel the drow/wood elf draconic sorcerer

but i also got:

hadrey the non binary tiefling swamp druid who has a backstory weirdly similar to astarion (without the vampire thing) where he was found as an orphan kid and used to lure murder targets for this guy who he has the big stockholm syndrome with fjjfjf when he got old enough the guy is like you gotta start killing them yourself and he does for a while but then cant take it anymore and shit happens. larian and i had a similar idea for a twist on the charlatan backround haha uwu murder but he's the goofiest sweetest boi and he has a raven familiar named verity

kaitru the sad little absolutely feral goblin barbarian boi who hates and wants to fucking kill all goblins because traumatic revenge tm

suri the teeny feral water genasi girl great old one warlock who was raised by mermaids and like kills for fun while giggling and shit inspired by my old friend savannah jfjdjd who meets hadrey and he sees his old self in her and they becomes friends

barrick the color changing lizardfolk bard who plays feral music and hangs out with kaitru fjfj

mogi the kenku nature cleric who has big religious trauma

and g'loob the grung (fuckin frog people) artificer who sounds like the feral guy from titan ae jsjsjs he loves to cook weird shit for people and make experimental alchemical brews and test them on everyone and he and mogi are in love JSJSJ

[zhemimir]

Introduction to some of my OCs you might see here!

Zhemir (he/him) Druid Mephistopheles Tiefling My second tav and the only one I've finished the game with. Nervous wreck people-pleaser who wasn't raised with other tieflings and was ostracized for being one. Got into academia through ways he isn't proud of, and has lofty dreams of getting a job at Candlekeep. Often seen with @carolmaclaine's Kai, with whom he eventually becomes friends. Astarion-romancer who is a little too into having his blood drained. Short as heck and fan of written smut.

Lissa (she/her) Paladin? Lolth-Sworn Drow My tav from my first run, permanently stuck in Act 2. I had no idea what I was doing in my first playthrough and made some bad rolls that will come back to bite me in Act 3, so I don't know if I'll touch her save file again. Which is a pity, because she's really cute. Mistakes I made included not knowing how to customize any aspects of my character other than appearance and name, so she was a Barbarian for most of Act 1 until I changed it. She was supposed to romance Karlach but I think I fucked that up, but both Gale and Wyll have had romance scenes for her so I might go back to finish one of their romances.

Inke (they/them) Rogue Half-Elf (Wood Elf) My Durge, whose story has only started! It took so much self-control not to make them blue like my other two. They're mostly a rogue so I have an excuse to not have Astarion in my party for once, but it's difficult. Dude's funny. No idea who I'll romance with them yet!

[powerwordeepy]

This has been plaguing my mind for weeks with no end, so I finally wrote it all out with the help of some discord friends. It’s late and I have no idea if this is coherent or not BUT, I present to you:

The Princess Bride characters (but they’re a D&D party)

Westley

Half-wood-elf swashbuckler rogue! Specifically with the pirate background. This one was extremely easy tbh, but it’s still funny that the perfect fit for him was Right ThereTM.

Inigo

Human battlemaster fighter! Another friend also suggested bannaret for the subclass for eloquence and such, but we decided battlemaster better fits his skill/maneuvering abilities :] also, guild artisan background due to his father being a sword maker.

Fezzik

This one was a fun one. Obviously we were thinking some kind of giant race, and originally I had settled on goliath, but also. He’s a sweet guy. he’s gentle. thus: firbolg berserker barbarian! gladiator background because his parents made him fight for money

Buttercup

Now. Listen. This one is going to be a stretch no matter what class I choose because Buttercup has very little agency in the original movie. However, that also gives me the freedom to do whatever I want and I personally believe that she should be allowed to blow shit up with her mind for the enrichment! She deserves nice things like magic powers, so: high elf wild magic sorcerer! as for her background, i was originally thinking noble, but she also was a farm girl most of her life, so i really don’t know lol

i love assigning d&d stuff to characters from non-d&d media. frothing at the mouth. PLEASE send me requests for characters to do this for, I absolutely will as long as I have some familiarity with them. ultimate useless hobby of all time‼️

[adleryoung]

"Oh don't tell them, Roger!" Venatrix protested. "They'll ruin everything! Mac will want to build a temple here, and Al will want to hold his detestable orgies in it." "Al is a bit of a cad, I admit," Barkingthwaite admitted. "And Art will want to write a book about it all," Venatrix continued. "That's not so bad, is it?" Barkingthwaite countered. "It was a book that led us here, after all. And what about Bill?" "Bill's all right," Venatrix declared. "He's a poet." "What are you two talking about?" I demanded. "What's an Orderly Golden Dome?" "The Mystic Order of the Golden Dawn," Barkingthwaite started to explain. "A group of scholars of ancient lore, would-be sorcerors and magicians …" "Come into the circle where we can talk more comfortably," I insisted. "No need to cower in the bushes. On my word as an elf, you won't be harmed and you can leave whenever you wish." "They don't lie, Roger," Venatrix pointed out. "All of the literature agrees on that point."

The two of them emerged from the undergrowth, and I yelped and jumped back when I saw that Pellia Venatrix was a spider! Dreadful long-forgotten memories of Sheila na Gig rose to the surface of my mind! "Really, Your Lordship," Venatrix snorted. "That is uncalled-for." "Bad form, old boy," Barkingthwaite added, with a stern puff of his pipe. "My apologies," I gasped as I willed my heart to stop racing. "Spider-folk are uncommon among the elves, very rare, and once upon a time I had a bad experience with one long ago." "Ah, understandable then," Barkingthwaite puffed. "You must overcome your old-fashioned prejudice," Venatrix scowled. "It's an enlightened age now." "Quite right!" Barkingthwaite declared ethusiastically. "Britannia rules the waves! The sun never sets on the British Empire! Steam power and telegraphs! You can travel anywhere on the globe in six weeks or less, and get the world's news the day after it happened!" "Horses are all but banished from the streets of London," Venatrix stated proudly.

"Seriously?" I retorted. "And you dare call ME prejudiced? In Faerie, horses are free to go wherever they please." "She means feral horses," Barkingthwaite explained. "Mere beasts of burden. You forget, Pellia, my dear, that here in Eire they still use ants." "Barbarians," Venatrix muttered. "Animals should not be enslaved for any reason. That's why we have replaced their labor with mighty steam!" Who taught these lowfolk the Gramarye they would need in order to ride around on clouds of steam? "Where is the Duchess?" I demanded. "Which one, Milord?" Venatrix responded. "We have several." "Duchess Catherine O'Daisies," I elaborated. "A skunk. Very Unseelie. She was in the weapon-making business last I heard of her." "I've no idea," Venatrix shrugged. "Wasn't there an O'Daisies among Napoleon's entourage?" Barkingthwaite mused thoughtfully. "I can't recall offhand, but I'm sure I know nothing about any nobility by that name now." "What about Rebecca?" I continued, deciding that if these lowfolk hadn't heard of the Duchess then she must not be a major threat. "You said she went wild in the woods? And you mentioned Mother Didelphis?" "Ah yes, a quaint little legend," Barkingthwaite chuckled. "Which I have every reason to believe is FACT," Venatrix interjected. "The tale goes that they tamed the notorious Raccoon Monster and formed a Sisterhood in the northern woods." I didn't like the sound of that, but it would all have to wait until I was free from this circle of stones. "Your manner of dress is strange to me," I stated, as a plan began to form in my mind. "Tell me all about the fashions of your modern lowfolk world."

[crowempress]

OOOH Hell yeah! Love to see some thematic fey stuff. Plus there is a TON of scottish/irish/gaelic folklore you can pull from for that.

That sounds fun! What are your PCs like? is there anything planned for them discovering why the gods havent been seen in 300 years?

I love hearing about this kind of stuff. It gives me ideas for my own campaign! <3

The PCs are delightful! We have a wood elf Cleric trying to investigate the rot plauge, a scrappy moon elf barbarian whose decided to come along to experience adventure and help people out, and a mysterious aasimar sorcerer that always wears an owl mask. We also have a bard DMPC named Dove, she's a young firbolg who is a little naive but means the best :]

There definitely is plans, unfortunately I can't talk about it here since I'm followed by 2/3 of my players on here hehe!

Here's one of my fey gods though! This is Lobhadh (Lauv-ah-yeh), the Lord of Rot and Decay (they/it). It is very polite <3

[dwollsadventures]

AD&D Game Idea

A video game idea based on the map crawling, dungeon exploring, treasure hunting aspects of old D&D. The best comparison I can make is probably pikmin, as odd as that sounds. In it, you play as a party of adventurers, playing one at a time and switching at base camp, searching for treasure. You explore a variety of locations and must fight monsters, discover treasure, and bring it back to the home base to sell it off. Unlike pikmin, the focus is on real time combat and movement options that each playable character offers. They'll have different ways of interacting with the environment. Exploring said environment is another gameplay aspect, including climbing trees, crawling in holes, sliding down inclines, wading through shallow water, diving with waterbreathe, and scaling surfaces. Enemies are another focus; rather than acting like typical video game enemies, they'll have movement options similar to the PCs, and attack in patterns consistent with real life animal behavior, and monster behavior extrapolated from that.

Playable Characters

Human Barbarian - tallest, widest, strongest. Has a huge ax capable of cutting enemies in half. Best for melee, but is not as maneuverable.

Human Acrobat - third lightest, third strongest. Able to run the fastest and jump the farthest. She can use a pole to leap and cross gaps or climb with ease up a tree or down a cliff. In combat she uses a dagger and her pole as a staff. Best used as a scout, since she can explore areas efficiently and run away from dangerous encounters.

Dwarf Spelunker - the heaviest and second strongest. Uses tools to secure and manipulate the environment, usually stone. Pickaxe, dynamite, shovel. As a dwarf he can see in the dark and notice marks in stone readily. He also can't swim, just sink.

Gnome Illusionist - shortest and lightest of all the player characters. Uses magic, specifically illusions. While he can't shoot a fireball out of his hand, he can employ tricks and true arcane powers to make it seem like he can. This is especially useful against beasts, who flee quickly at such sights. It takes much less energy and time to learn/do, but casting spells still drains stamina. Four spells can be prepared at one time, though the player can pause to change which spells are prepared.

Wood Elf Ranger - the best at traversing the wild. Uses a bow and spear. Can see better than any other, both in the dark and highlighting animal tracks on the ground. Can climb trees and jump in holes faster than the acrobat but isn't as agile, nor as strong. Is an all-around character for exploration and fighting.

Human Healer - non-playable. She is simply paid to sit at camp and heal injuries that the others incur. If you’re able to shamble your way to camp she’ll heal you back to full health. If petrified, another playable character can bring the statue back so she can revive them.

Treasure

All that is found in the field must be carried back to the home base. Sometimes items are small enough to be put into a character's backpack, which has a Resident Evil-like space limitation. If it won't fit in the bag, characters can carry it in their hands. This means they can only use one-handed weapons if the treasure is small enough, or nothing at all if it's so large that it requires both hands. Some treasures are so heavy that carrying them significantly slows the player down, prevents them from jumping, and causes them to sink in water. And finally, some treasures are simply impossible to carry by hand. In this case, the dwarf is able to pull out a cart from a magic pocket (realized as a bag of holding??) which can be pulled by players wheelbarrow-style. If the wood elf has tamed a horse or wild ass, they can be hitched up to the cart to drag it for the player, who has to direct them back to base camp. These creatures have weight limits, however. Asses can carry more than horses but they have a limit as well. Kelpies have no such limit and can carry back any weight with no slowdown. Taming one is risky business though. Some NPCs will trade for treasures.

Enemies and Creatures 

(A sample of some to get a good idea of what I’m getting at)

Goblins - Small humanoids that live in the wilderness, kicked out of their homelands by hobgoblins and dwarfs. Have low health and defense, enough for a single hit from the barbarian to take them out. Make up for this deficit by using a combination of bows, smokescreen, and poisoning their arrows and daggers. Use guerilla warfare tactics by climbing trees and using camouflaged armor. Most the party will encounter are small bands (3-8) of hunters and scouts looking for game or potential settlement locations. Rarely the aggressors of a conflict. They will engage the party in combat in one of two scenarios: they see a party member carrying a goblin treasure, and thus assume it was stolen or looted, or they see the dwarf. History has made dwarfs enemies of goblins, and they will attack a single dwarf on sight. Goblin settlements are underneath hills and resemble rabbit warrens. They are willing to trade a number of small treasures for food and things they deem valuable, like amber or monster eggs.

Toad, Giant - Found in dry habitats away from sources of water. These bear-sized amphibians are round but have well developed legs to carry themselves after prey. Natural camouflage keeps them hidden among rock piles. Their main attack method is a great leap towards prey, trying to swallow it whole. They will chase slow prey for a while, plodding along until they reach the limits of their territory. During the night they like to wallow in mud and are completely docile. 

Kelpie - A horse-like creature that lures people into deep waters. Specifically this is a trap for the wood elf, who can tame wild horses for a day and allow other characters to ride. The kelpie is always at least 500 feet next to a deep body of water, and always has a white or gray coat. Up close, one can also see the rushes within its mane and the crocodile-like gape of the mouth. If ridden, the player is stuck. Getting dragged under the water is an instant kill. Cold steel can render them harmless. In this case, it will make them as docile as a normal horse, with the added benefit of limitless stamina and being able to run across water. Once dismounted though, it will disappear.

Tekeli Tekeli Bird - Man-sized penguins living in the deep caves of the ice wastes. Almost completely blind, relying on sound to navigate. Heavy footsteps and treasure clanking around in a bag can give a player character away. They communicate to each other with horrible screeches. They do this to coordinate attacks against the player and prey. Will swarm their target and slap with their flippers while biting. Bite delivers a freezing effect that slows the player character's movements and stacks with subsequent bites. Deep within an alien dungeon is a flute that can confuse them and send the birds into a panic.

Chimera - One of the most feared monsters. These creatures are a mix of lion, goat, and serpent, though they are nearly the size of a buffalo. Vigorous hunters that pursue prey even across rough, rocky terrain with their goat hindlegs. The lion front is capable of grappling with its claws and delivering a mortal blow to the skull with its great jaws. It can also spit fire at a short range. The snake tail acts like a scorpion stinger, lashing out and poisoning the player. Chimeras will follow the player across the map, except to basecamp and underground. They can be lured away by the corpse of a large beast, which it will consume for a little while before resuming the hunt. Chimeras are cruel predators that will go out of their way to track players even after losing them underground or across water. Fortunately there is only one per map.

[stevesaxetogrind]

Thinking about the Party/other characters and what they’d play in DND (or at least my idea of mixing the canon PCs of the Party with their RL experiences) but I don’t know shit about ADND but I do now have a stupid amount of 5e in my brain so I have opinions:

Max- Tiefling Rogue 3 (Thief Archetype, Mobile Feat)

Lucas- Human Ranger 3 (Variant, orginally a homebrew Lion Beastmaster- but reworked into a Monster Slayer archetype. Crossbow Master Feat)

Jane- Elf Sorcerer 3 (Spring Eladrin, Aberrant Mind Sorcerous Origin; Fey Touched resulting in glowing eyes in game)

Will- Human Wizard 4 (solo play boost, Greatsword Proficiency, Arcane Focus is a Staff, & granted Ritual Caster Feat, School of Evocation- he probably knows better than me how to finesse this build & he’d do some Downtime Research to boost his build even more- maybe take a level in Grave Domain Cleric, but he’s just a singularly focused Wizard in my brain)

Dustin- Gnome Artificer 3 (Rock Gnome, Battle Smith Specialist, an absolute shit ton of home brewed tinker devices)

Mike- Human Paladin 2/Fighter 1 (If continued in Paladin, he’d go Oath of the Watchers post-UD, with Blessed Warrior Fighting Style- but he starts taking levels in Fighter bc he wants to play full melee after rejecting the support roles he was rocking in the beginning of their campaign, reflecting his shift from Seasons 1-2 to Seasons 3-4; ergo, Fighter 1 with Protection Style.)

Erica- Elf Rogue 2/Warlock 1 (Wood Elf; Elven Accuracy Feat. Hexblade Patron- while her in show character is a CG, this is who they are as characters, so CN fits her)

Nancy- Half Elf Fighter 2 (Gunslinger Archetype, but if Dustin or Mike kick up a fuss about “loss of immersion” she’d be a Archfey Warlock to reflect her quest for knowledge/secrets at expense of her own self. Either way, she wields twin starwheels designed by Dustin’s Artificer which act as her arcane focuses, or just act on their own as dual wielded weapons).

Jonathan- Human Cleric 1 (Peace Domain, he’s not a fighter at all. Even when he had the bat, he ended up just as the plan guy and total support. There is no Brother Magic class but Peace fits him.)

Argyle- Lizardfolk Druid 2 (Circle of the Land, Druidic focus of wrapped fur scraps & dried mushrooms; totally Outlander background. Chef Feat for flavour).

Robin- Tabaxi Bard 2 (Proficiency with Horn, but also has a pan flute; Eventual College of Spirits)

Steve- Human Barbarian 2 (Variant, Tavern Brawler, rolled stupidly well on Constitution but his die either goes Nat20 or Critical Fail, barely any in betweens which explains his strange showing; Season 4 is basically him levelling up into Path of the Berserker- interestingly, I’d put Billy in the same category)

Eddie- Changeling Bard 4 (Mandolin, College of Eloquence, makes extensive use of shape changing abilities for chaos)

[serendipizzy79]

Too many ideas...

I want to make a run for each Origin just to see how they differ. I've started Astarion's and Shadowheart's, but I need to finish my resist Durge run first. I've found I can't run multiple runs anymore as I have so many mods to keep track of - I think Duvessa's previous runs got trashed due to updating mods for one playthrough and not the other. I just don't update anything now while the run is in progress!

But... I also really want to run a completely stupid, non-violent (as much as possible) run. My last 5 original characters have been Durge as I love the possibilities they offer and didn't get to finish my first resist Durge Elma due to patch 7 and my unpreparedness. But I really want a change before going all ambivalent again!

Maybe a really naive but charismatic bard? I have played Rogue, Sorcerer, Barbarian, Druid, and a few modded classes too like Blood Mage and Blood Rager. I've never been a paladin either, only found out about the Oathbreaker Knight through a post on here!

Too many ideas, not enough time. Thank goodness for poly mod and no party limit. At least they mean I can combine romance lines and team banter in the same runs.

Duvessa v. 1 before I found the Shadowheart face mod. Started out as a Wild magic sorcerer.

Duvessa with her correct face, now Shadowheart's twin. She got up to saving Thaniel before falling to a mod update.

Du'vessa - the first evil Duvessa run. Half drow. I think she was a sorcerer too? She accidentally saved Gale and fell in love with him, they made it to the tieflings party before the mod issue. Wasn't too worried as that was not the indulge Durge I was planning 🤣 she just really wanted the rizzard, I guess 🤣

Duvessa v.2 the resist Durge wife of Gortash, twin to Shadowheart, lover of Astarion. Assassin rogue/blood mage. The current runner! She has made it all the way to taking Orin's netherstone to Gortash, only to have Karlach kill him and give the saddest fucking speech I have ever heard. So I went back to the start of act 3 for us to not piss off Gortash before we get him to the Morphic Pool, and save Karlach to go to Avernus with Wyll. I've already had squidlach and I don't want Duvessa to go with her as she's gonna be busy with a god awful harem of Gortash, Astarion, and Gale, the way things are looking at present 🤣 maybe hell would be quieter?

Nemesis, the evil Duvessa. A cambion vampire polymaath which was cool as that's about 5 classes in one! I never used the vampire stuff, wouldn't bother with the vampire origin again. Gotta say, having wings made the game so much easier. She had two endings: accepting Bhaal and killing the world, and resisting Bhaal but only atop the brain. That was really fucking sad. He made her go mad. I didn't really enjoy being evil, but it made for a quick run.

Alekto. An Erinyes vengeance paladin. Only in Act 1 at present.

Elma Volta. Orin's sister. A storm sorcerer. Was just on the way to the Morphic Pool when patch 7 auto-updated from steam 😩

Morrigna, my first Tav, a wood elf druid, and first complete run. She ended up exploring the world with Halsin after getting the best ending I possibly could for everyone.

There was also Memory (chaos Durge wild magic sorcerer), Hekate (lawful Durge blood mage), and Bellona (Neutral Durge barbarian), who I haven't really got decent pics of. Hekate's run is ok but the other two are gone. Yes they are all self-inserts to a point 🤣 I just really like being a pretty elf, what can I say.

[martyslittleusedblog]

Prologue: An Adventure Begins

(Author's note: PLEASE DON'T LOOK YET! I'M NOT DONE!

...Ahem...

Trying my hand at a fantasy story. I'll be using D&D 5e (*before* 2024) rules to assist; hopefully, nobody minds if I do so or specify that I do. Click the "Keep Reading" tab below to check out the full story!)

-----------------------------------

A young man named Gen Sänger -- an average-looking young human of 5'7" in height, with brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin, dressed in dark green traveler's clothes -- was stirring from an uncomfortable sleep with a groan. When he woke up, he realized he was not at home in his bed; he was lying on a stone floor in a relatively dark room, and there were iron bars bolted into the floor and speared into the rocky ceiling. The only source of light was a large opening about twenty feet away; it seemed to be some kind of arch, leading out into a hallway with openings in the ceiling to let sunlight in.

And he wasn't alone in this...what he now realized was a cell; a colorful menagerie of other prisoners lay in this and another sturdy, iron cage.

Looking to his left, Gen saw someone lying against the bars: a thin man with long, pointed ears that ended in what looked like butterfly antennae. He was slightly taller than the human -- very slightly, by one inch -- had short, wavy, silver hair, skin that was almost a pale blue shade, and was dressed in dark purple common clothes. And Gen recognized the species of this man: a wood elf. Elves tended to have a few insectoid features -- such as antennae, almond eyes almost resembling compound ones, and on rare occasions, transparent wings like a dragonfly -- and wood elves tended to have other features that hinted at their stronger connection to nature, such as leaf-green hair or skin resembling stone.

The antenna-eared fellow looked to Gen as the lad started to sit up. "Ah, the human has awoken." He then turned to look past Gen.

When Gen followed the elf's gaze and looked to the right of himself, he jolted and had to actively keep himself from letting out a startled yelp -- instead letting out a sharp gasp -- because squatting there was a short (3'10"), green-skinned humanoid with a wide, grinning mouth like a beartrap watching him with beady, shark-like eyes. Two large, pointed ears stood out from either side of his head, which was topped by a mess of black hair. Swaying back and forth behind him was a thin, mid-length, lion-like tail with a black tuft of fur sticking out of the tip. Gen recognized this fellow as a goblin. He was dressed even more simply than Gen, only wearing a pair of burlap trousers; this allowed people to see that, while he wasn't as muscular as one would expect, say, a barbarian to be, this little fellow had enough musculature to reveal that he could hold his own in a fight.

"Well, rise and shine, green jeans!" greeted the goblin, in an accent that Gen recognized as being from one of the big cities back on his home continent, "You wouldn't happen to be an expert lockpick, would you?"

"Uh...I wish?" Gen had no idea how else to respond to that question, but a new one came to him immediately after. "Where are we?"

Gen looked at the other cage, wherein he saw three other people.

One was a halfling woman dressed in fine, fancy, bright red clothes that Gen had seen nobles and other elites wear during the few times any visited his humble little village. She had curly brown hair framing her face, ruddy tan skin, and hazel eyes, which were currently focused on the cage Gen, the elf, and the goblin were currently being held in. Her sleeves were rolled up, showing enough musculature to reveal she could probably use her fists quite effectively.

As Gen looked over the group in the other cell, he was surprised to see what looked like an oversized brown rat in a dark blue set of clothes, including a hood. They appeared to be asleep, arms crossing their chest as they were curled into a fetal position sitting up against the bars, their naked tail twitching slightly on the ground next to them.

Finally, also looking at Gen's group seemed to be another goblin, a female with neatly-combed black hair, light blue eyes, and oddly enough to Gen, a small pair of horns poking out of the top of her head. Her ears were slightly bigger and floppier than the male goblin's, and her tail was shorter and thicker, more like a cow's than a lion's, even flicking to one side occasionally as a cow's would. She had a difficult-to-read look on her face -- Gen wasn't sure if she was bored or just calm -- and she sat on the floor in a set of travelers' clothes -- boots, a wool skirt, a sturdy belt, a jacket, and an ample cloak with a hood (which had holes cut out of it for the ears) -- with her knees drawn up to her chest. The clothes seemed so bulky, Gen had trouble telling how much person there was under there.

The hooded rat soon stirred from their slumber. The male goblin walked over to the bars of his group's cage to address her. "Finally avake, eh?" he teasingly asked in an accent Gen recognized as that of the people from the Norselands, which he heard trolls also originally hailed from.

The rat rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. "I am," they -- she, if the voice was any indication -- responded, "And I see the human is, as well."

"Nice!" the male goblin cheered, "Now we can all six of us put our heads together, get outta here, and maybe get back at whoever locked us up in the first place!"

"I imagine that will be difficult if none of us can pick locks," the halfling noted, "We have tried breaking the locks, and all we achieved is the possibility of brain damage for Mekzek." She indicated the male goblin.

"Ha!" the goblin, Mekzek, laughed, "C'mon, have you seen this big ol' head o' mine? It's made to be a battering ram! I couldn't have dain bramage! ...Wait."

The horned goblin sighed, "If I had my weapons, I might have been able to cut through these bars."

"You mean the weapons in this room?"

This voice came from outside the bars, in one of the darker parts of the room. It didn't stay dark for long, as a head of fire came to life on the end of a torch, illuminating a door being unlocked with a key. Said key, and the torch, were being held by green, goblin hands.

"A lot of goblins around here lately," the rat woman mused.

"Ah, but not just any goblin!" the voice corrected as the torch moved closer to the bars.

The light of the torch illuminated the face of a bald goblin with a proud, cheerful grin on his face. As the torch moved around, the group could see he was dressed in chain mail and...was that a cape? Yes, billowing behind this little green fellow was a little, bright red cape, like he was trying to be a superhero. "Behold, Rochidi of Greatmarsh!" the goblin stage-whispered, "Your savior, here to release you from your wrongful imprisonment!"

There was a commotion from much further ahead -- the sound of several pairs of bare feet flapping, as well as several voices shouting -- echoing off the walls and causing Rochidi's ears to lower as he looked behind himself. "Your captors are here; we need to move quickly!" He swiftly got to work unlocking the cages.

"Yes!" Mekzek cheered, punching the air.

Soon, all six prisoners were freed, and Rochidi started hurrying through the archway. "I'll meet you all up ahead!" he called back to them, "A friend of mine needs my help! ROCHIDI OF GREATMARSH, AWAY!" And with that, he was out of sight.

There was a brief pause as the six of them processed what just happened. "Well," the elf remarked, "He's quite a character, isn't he?"

The rat woman shook her head to refocus and dashed over to the unlocked door. "Nevermind that; I need my weapons." She stopped in front of the doorway and, after checking for any traps -- there weren't any -- she stepped into the room, which was illuminated by torches in sconces. The other five soon followed her in.

The room was littered with all sorts of items, mostly various types of armor and weapons. The group quickly figured out that all the items in the room belonged to one of them, and so each member gravitated to a collection of objects they knew belonged to them.

"I guess now's as good a time as any for introductions," Gen surmised as he picked up his chain mail -- he could tell it was his because it was his size -- and started putting it on, "My name's Gen Sänger. I'm a fighter from a little town from across the ocean. ...That's about all I can tell you, because I'm not good at conversation..."

"Ah, fret not," the halfing reassured him as she picked up her spear and pocketed ten darts, "you seem to be doing just fine. Lady Andry Handel, at your service; I had been following a group of bandits on behalf of the people of the town of Jacob -- a fairly recent establishment -- but it seems the bandits found me, which would explain why I woke up in a cell and am now having to gather up my weapons and armor once more."

"My circumstance is similar," the rat woman added as she inspected her rapier, "the difference being that in my case, it was mostly for the bounty on the offenders' heads. As for my name...well, you can all call me 'Adelia' -- a ratfolk, so you don't get confused. ...And I'm going to need somewhere private to don my leather armor. I want to wear it under my clothes, you see."

The female goblin noticed a look on Adelia's face: annoyance. "Somefing wrong?"

Adelia sighed. "I'm just wondering why the hell I didn't put it on earlier, before I set out. I knew what danger I was in for, so why--" She stopped herself. "Nevermind. I'll do better next time." She glanced to the goblin woman. "Speaking of armor, do...you not have any? I know goblins tend to be a bit sturdier* than one would expect from us smallfolk, but I can't imagine travelers' clothes being much protection against a knife..."

"Well," explained the goblin, "I'm only half-goblin. The other half is minotaur. I'm a bit sturdier than full-blooded goblins, but not as much as minotaurs. Graness is my name; I wasn't doing much, just taking a stroll down the road to clear my head. Then some git hits the back of my head, I black out, and then...yeh."

"Hey, what a coincidence!" Mekzek commented as he donned his chain mail, "Me too! Except, not just down the road. See, I was just wandering, like I always do. I recently moved here from across the pond and was exploring the woods. I found this cave and some local goblins, and I was gonna chat 'em up. Then I felt something hit my head, I blacked out, and when I woke up, I was here." By this point in his recounting, he had just finished inspecting his light crossbow for damage. "Good thing the shmucks that knocked me out didn't hurt my baby here, or there'd be HELL to pay! Not that I don't plan to smack 'em around anyway..."

"You said your name is Mekzek?" Gen asked the goblin, "it's nice to meet you." He held out a hand to shake. Mekzek just looked at it, then back up at Gen. There was an awkward silence as Mekzek just looked blankly at the offered hand and Gen, as if not understanding the gesture. Gen slowly lowered his hand back to his side, a bit discouraged. "Uhh...a-as long as we're talking about how we got captured...I was out hunting for lunch, myself. Then I felt something hit the back of my head, and the next thing I know, I wake up in that cage."

"In my case," the elf spoke up, checking his "I was traveling in a wagon to that Jacob town that Lady Handel mentioned. It was an excursion from a lake town further up the road, wherein I had finished studying an important subject at the library. I was hoping to acquire more information at Jacob, when my wagon was attacked! It was a group of bandits -- mostly goblins, though I caught glimpses of taller folk, as well -- and I had to retreat into my wagon to avoid the hail of arrows and crossbow bolts! Of course, the canvas covering offered no protection, so I had to lie flat on my belly. Alas, I think there must have been a mage of some kind among them, because suddenly, I fell unconscious, likely from the Sleep spell."

He stopped and blinked, glancing around at everyone. While Lady Handel and especially Gen were paying attention, Graness and Adelia were clearly impatient to leave. Mekzek wasn't even in the room, having gone back to the cell block to load his crossbow and keep an eye out for the oncoming enemy.

The elf cleared his throat. "I apologize, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Peren Stradivarius, librarian. I would show you my card, but I'd forgotten to bring it. Perhaps a good thing; I shudder to think what the bandits would have done with them..."

History Check: Gen: 6; Mekzek: 4-1=3; Lady Handel: 16+2=18; Adelia: 11+2=13; Graness: 20+1=21

Success for Handel and Graness!

Lady Handel and Graness each raised an eyebrow; a long time ago, this man would've been seen as an oddity, for wood elves were once believed to only be interested in nature; nowadays, it was more widely accepted that wood elves and other "nature folk" could be interested in what the metropolises and other humanoid-made parts of the world had to offer, such as fine clothes and more opportunities to learn about something new (one widely-taken opportunity being the libraries more commonly found in cities).

* (I'm basing this idea on the fact that in D&D 5e (before 2024), playable goblins got a +1 to their Constitution score.)