#she's a goliath barbarian btw

[skiptids-art]

My dnd OC Ivy the Brave:)

The drawing on the left was created in 2021, and the one on the right was done a year later (2022). I decided to redraw my babygirl after not doing much, as far as art goes, in the year between. Turns out if you take a year off and study a bit of anatomy, you can still improve! [x]

[too-chill-ka]

hi!!!!!!!!!! I just wanted to ask if you can share something about your party in this Icewind Dale campaign you're playing??

Me and my friends also started playing the adventure not so long ago, but I'm really enjoying it. I am just curious what kinds of characters do others have in this story :3

I'm playing a goliath barbarian btw

Hi! Since you asked, I figured it would be nice to make a little info-post about my Icewind Dale party! I am their DM in this campaign, so I will tell you about my players' characters.

WARNING: This may contain mild spoilers to the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign, mainly to the first chapter of the campaing guide, so read with caution.

So, there are four party members (it used to be five, but then one of the players left the campaing): Hans, Tif, Estelle, and Shaysiana.

They met during one of the blizzards, not far from the Bryn Shander, and Shaysiana joined them in Targos. Since then, they have been travelling together and moving through story in their own ways.

Hans

art by @jayneewalker

Hans is a human rogue, approaching his thirties. He is a hot-headed, short-tempered man with a caring heart on the inside, and special ways to express said care. He was born and raised in Luskan, and served on one of the navy ships for half of his life. He was sentenced to community work in Ten Towns as a lumberjack four years ago, after being framed by one of the other soldiers from the big land, and bailed out of it when the Everlasting Rime had started. His relationships with the party are...unstable, but he is trying to change for the better. Or at least everyone is telling him to do so.

Tif

art by @soda-esc

Tif is a tiefling warlock, sent to the Icewind Dale by his vampire patron to collect chardalyn. He mostly tries to give back to people the attitude he gets, which is netural or negative, save for a few cases. The man has a lot going on in his life and another man right inside his head, so he can come off as a bit moody at times. He traveled in from Cormyr, seeking to meet his brother in Ten Towns, but instead found no one and is now trapped in this place like the rest. His relationships with the party are okay-ish, but he and Hans have mutual intolerance to one another due to the small conflict during the quest from Dannika Graysteel and them being very prone to holding grudges.

Estelle

art by me

Estelle is the oldest one in the party, and she is a half-elf cleric of Lathander. Her persoality can be described with one word: warm. She is caring and very attentive towards the party, adopting basically every one of them, and she manged to safe her gentle nature despite the hardships of her past. She ventured to Icewind Dale as a part of her pilgrimage after receving an insight from Lathander and becoming a cleric, and now her main quest is to sustain her faith in the abscence of dawns. She loves everyone in the party, and will do many things to help them, even if it hurts her. Nevertheless, this girl has a pretty strong backbone, and can stand up to herself when needed.

Shaysiana

art by @jayneewalker

Shaysiana, or Shaysi, is a half-elf bard. She is the only Icewind Dale native in the party, being a run-away from the Tribe of the Elk. She is cheerful, chaotic, and generally very light-spirited with little responsibility or reliability in her. She ran away from her tribe out of curiosity and desire for a life that would suite her, and now is trying to adapt to the life in the Ten Towns, confronting the differences of their mentality and lifestyle. Her childish demeanor proves helpful only at certain times, but she has wisdom in her. She is just unwilling to use her brain most of the times. She manged to befriend everyone in the party, though her reckless actions lead to some of them being hurt, which has put a strain on their relationships.

Other party members

art by me

There are also several NPCs who travel with the party almost constantly:

Rudolph - college of glamour bard, a young pacifist and Shaysi's good friend (she proclaims that he is her husband).

Joseph - a drow, a retired war veteran, and a bard from college of eloquence. He and Rudolph come in pair as a found family dynamic.

Dawn - Tif's brother. The party found him not so long ago, and he does not like the idea of traveling with them, but he does not like the idea of leaving his brother even more.

Thatssss pretty much concludes it. It was a delight to get to talk a little about our silly imaginary people a little bit, so thanks for asking! I hope you have a blast playing this campaing, because it is geniunely really, really good.

[pathcrier]

Will accept gold to crush head in thighs

[katuer]

I’m finally introducing my OCs!

Time to ramble about my OCs into the void. I have an entire discord channel for this but its not enough, I need my brain-children to be on the internet. I have no clue what I’m doing so I’m just gonna give their bios I guess. they’re D&D OCs (with heavily modified/original lore surrounding them) thus the race and class info. I’m going to outline most of them so this is gonna be hella long you’ve been warned.

(btw if anyone has any suggestions on how to better present these characters and their stories, pls let me know)

Achlei Noblebash -- she/her -- human (demigod) sorcerer -- daughter of the corrupted god of earth. Was raised as a farmer in - then exiled from - a cult worshipping him. Is in a relationship with Ihuicatl.

Aoife McPhearson -- all pronouns, prefers she/her -- half-gnome half-halfling cleric/warlock -- emissary of the corrupted god of earth, capable of seeing the dead. Was raised as a nun before meeting Aghr’ull (the earth god). Tasked with finding Nova and Achlei. In a relationship with Shaemon.

Cruiz Ironhide -- she/her -- minotaur paladin -- devotee of Ilmater. Found and raised by a devoted guardian. Left to follow her religion and help those in need. In a relationship with Lucky.

Dex (last name changes over time) -- she/her -- fire genasi rogue/sorcerer -- protégée of the god of fire. Grew up homeless with Ringer, nearly died of disease as a child. A fun-loving person seeking happiness and skateboarding prowess. Ringer’s closest companion and best friend.

Dicholas Saint-Ailes -- he/him -- gnome barbarian -- former mafia boss, is currently on the run from the law. Is posing as a wise, reclusive elder while grappling with newfound spiritual power. Chance and Kurrl’s former employer.

Eleanor Easton -- ze/hir -- half-orc rogue -- mercenary for hire, tends to work alone. Horatio’s former colleague. 

Horatio Slaughter — he/him — goliath barbarian/blood hunter — former soldier. He was selected for a chemical experiment in which he was given performance boosting serums. Despite having been discharged from the military due to his affiliation with the mafia, he still relies on these serums to properly function. in a relationship with Chance. 

Ihuicatl Noblebash — he/him — human rogue — raised as the reincarnation of the earth god. He escaped the cult that worshipped him after Achlei was exiled. in a relationship with Achlei.

Jynn — they/she/he — triton/lizardfolk fighter — serves as head of security for a triton diplomat. Is dedicated to serving the water god and, by proxy, Chance. 

Kaezarr Qileez — he/him — aaracokra ranger — formerly served the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, but abandoned a quest he was given. Lived as a hermit for years until an unnaturally occurring cyclone destroyed his home. Is seeking help from Solace and Zyrcain, has but the faintest allegiance to the goddess of air.

Kurrl — he/him — bugbear barbarian — formerly a mafia assassin. Due to poor long-term memory, he’s forgotten about this past career of his. He became a gladiator, making a name for himself, but abandoned it all to pursue Achlei, who beat him in the arena using magic. 

“Lucky” — she/her — human rogue — unambitious and free-spirited, Lucky was pressured by her family into joining the crew of a trading ship. After accidentally setting fire to the ship and its cargo, she is on the run from the authorities. Cruiz helped her out of that tight spot; the two of them are now dating. 

March Perral-Hallor — he/him — half-elf bard — is a child when the story begins. As an adult, he enjoys traveling and performing his music in inns and taverns for a living. Zola’s younger brother, Solace and Zyrcain’s son. 

Nova Wysarŵ — they/them — satyr (demigod) artificer — lived alone with their grandfather, and hid their true form, disguised as a human. Once their goat-like visage was accidentally revealed in public, the two of them were forced to flee. They were saved by Dex and Ringer, and are the child of the corrupted god of earth. 

Ringer — no expressed preference — kenku/maybe aaracokra (no one knows for sure) sorcerer — lived in a bell tower, hence their name, till they were discovered by Dex. The two have been together ever since, through thick and thin. The origin of their magic is a mystery. Currently living with Dex in Solace and Zyrcain’s commune.

Second Chance — he/him — tabaxi barbarian — protégé of the god of water. raised on an island in an insular tabaxi community where he developed thalassophobia. Joined the mafia after he left, was later captured and imprisoned. Sexually involved with Horatio, hates the possessive water god who took an interest in him.

Shaemon Goldbeech — it/he — halfling warlock — formerly a snake oil salesperson, using false ties to the clergy to promote its goods. Swore allegiance to Aghr’ull after meeting Aoife for the first time. Is generally possessive and disagreeable. Has a crush on Aoife.

Solace Perral-Hallor — he/him — centaur cleric — worshipper of Selûne. Lives in the commune known as Lûné, though travels frequently pursuing quests for his goddess. He is kind-hearted and generous, and would do anything to protect his family and community. Zyrcain’s husband, Zola and March’s father.

Wyndi Wilhaul — she/they — elf wizard — raised by acclaimed author and recluse Hagatha Christie. Escaped from her as an adult, and now pursues the same profession. She enjoys shadowing “interesting” individuals, taking notes on how they live their lives.

Zola Perral-Hallor — she/her — half-elf ranger — protégée of the goddess of air. Archer who enjoys accompanying her father Solace on various quests.  March’s older sister, hesitantly faithful to the air goddess.

Zyrcain Perral-Hallor — he/him — elf wizard — librarian in his commune, hobbyist wizard. Somewhat quiet, though cares deeply for his family. Solace’s husband, Zola and March’s father.

[lulu-the-heavymetal-bard]

On brains and babysitters

So a quick recap of a couple sessions:

1. Lulu's current bff/ babysitter Gildove got her brain devoured

2. Lulu should under no circumstances should be left unsupervised

3. However she behaved long enough to prove she's not as bad as Nicile the wood elf rouge who likes pushing buttons, literaly

4. Lulu borrowed money from Jarlaxle who in the campaign is like an uncle to her and likes Gildove enough to help out.....even though Lulu did sabotage his plans a couple of times

5. We were eventually able to get this diamond that the temple of Seluna (Idk I'm probably misspelling it) needed to resurrect Gildove.

6. The party is happy the Lulu's babysitter is back. Now Lulu can go back to her normally scheduled supervised day drinking and shenanigans.....while helping the other party member get his brain back....once we find him....He's A Goliath Barbarian btw :l

[frogeyedape]

My new dnd character is a horrible person. 4.0, first time I've played it (I've played 3.5 before, amd heard podcasters play 5.0). She's a Slayer (subclass of Fighter) which, as it turns out, is basically a literate barbarian. (BTW I'm pissed about 3.5/5's insistence that Barbarians don't learn to read as a matter of class. Tribal/non-civilized/ie not city-dwelling and/or settled agriculture-using does not instantly mean literacy is lacking. What literacy looks like may differ from "civilized" (ie city-dwelling) cultures...maybe a Barbarian can't read books, but can "read" aka understand drum talk and/or knot talk and/or poetic songs carved into sticks as a courtship ritual (that's a thing real people have done and do, btw). So. Anthropologist rant done.)

Anyway. She's terrible. But she thinks she's good. What she really is is generally selfish, but not generally super selfish. Like, steal armour from a dead guy? Nobody's getting hurt, I want it, it can't be bad. Tried to save that woman and accidentally killed her? Well, I was trying to save her. And like...she's not wrong on that one, I don't think...she was trying to save this person who she accidentally killed instead...but the thing is, she's got a negative Charisma modifier. And I'm RPing the shit out of that. Which is super uncomfortable for me as a player cuz I don't like when people don't like me. But she's unlikable, and does things that are...uncouth at best, and resoundingly rude/horrible if not best...like breaking a long-time associate's hand for no good reason (she'd just been gifted with a chest of gold for saving some dwarves and thought it was for her, and her associate tried to reach into the chest w/o saying anything first. My character assumed the motive was theft (fair since associate had just been looting) and slammed the lid closed on associate's hand). That was dumb.

But. Charisma. Modifier. Negative.

I'm taking that to mean she's shit at social situations, intimidating when she means to be friendly/nice, is a bit too rough/doesn't know her own strength/size (7'5" goliath running around with a bunch of "adorable," as she says, small people...but among her own people she was not the tallest and actually felt quite small, so she still feels kinda small/weak and like she can't hurt anyone around her w/o using serious effort, because she never could before leaving her people).

So she's an unholy terror to be around.

And it's terrrrible. And also great. So much cognitive dissonance.

There is no point to this ramble. Thank you.

[mistressofdungeons]

Let me tell you a story.  A story about the day my players broke me.

It was a simple enough campaign.  The players were to infiltrate a suspicious temple at the behest of a child whose mother had disappeared there.  They had many different options to get into the temple.  They could sneak in, charge in, pretend to be needy people seeking aid, pretend to be a visiting sect of the same religion, pretend to be wealthy donors.... So many options.  They decided to masquerade as a band that wanted to put on a performance for the temple.  

Believe it or not, I hadn’t anticipated this obvious tactic.

So fast forward.  They got into the temple with their brilliant plan but they fall prey to a gas trap.  They have everything stolen from them and wake up in a room wearing just robes, waiting for some sort of sacrifice.  So they sneak out and go in search of their things.

They reach a door and the goliath barbarian listens at it, rolling very well.  So I decide to make an off-hand joke that he hears feminine voices and one of them says, “Would you take a look at these pants?  Can you imagine the size of what was in them?” and then laughter.  It should be pointed out that our Goliath is an 8 foot tall dude whose character token looks like this:

Anyway.  My mistake. This stupid joke somehow devolved into a plan to have the Goliath burst through the door and do a striptease while the Dragonborn monk sings a sea shanty, the warlock does strobe lights with minor illusion, the druid creates a fog cloud and the other two make trumpet noises.

At this point, I questioned my life decisions and what mistakes I had made that brought me to this point.  The full transcript is under the cut, if you want to read it, but it really can’t catch all the insanity because it doesn’t include them making the plan on voice chat.  Still, worth a read.

Cast:

Lo-Kag - Goliath Barbarian

Alinta - Tiefling Druid

Elior - Elven Ranger

Kriv - Dragonborn Monk

Cecil - Elven Alchemist

Gabriel - Human Warlock

Lo-Kag Thuliaga gestures everyone to start.

Alinta casts Fog Cloud.

Mayzy G. (GM): Fog starts pooling under the door

Lo-Kag Thuliaga opens the door and says "Hello Ladies!"

Elior starts making quiet trumpet noises

Cecil Tahromaere trumpets seductively

Mayzy G. (GM): Inside the room you see two very surprised looking older women staring at you. One is holding Lo-Kag's trousers. (I need descriptions and performance rolls from everyone who are singing/dancing/trumpetting)

Gabriel Barrineaux casts Minor Illusion

Kriv: Rolls 4 on Performance

Elior: Rolls 10 on Performance

Lo-Kag Rolls 5 on Performance

Cecil Rolls 10 on Performance

Kriv: (sings)Aft on the poopdeck, Walking about

Lo-Kag Thuliaga struts inside the door.

Kriv: There is the second mate, So sturdy and so stout

Cecil Tahromaere: The trumpets swells but kind of sounds like a fart and I make it as sexy as possible

Lo-Kag Thuliaga poses.

Kriv: What he is thinking of, He only knows himself

Cecil Tahromaere: A loud toot comes out of my horn

Lo-Kag Thuliaga winks.

Elior puts her hands on a dome around her mouth and the trumpet sound she's trying to make are off key

Mayzy G. (GM): There is a chest by the wall. Your maul is leaned up against the wall next to it

Kriv: Oh, we wish that he would hurry up, And strike, strike the bell

Lo-Kag Thuliaga struts over to his maul.

Kriv: Strike the bell, second mate, Let us go below

Lo-Kag Thuliaga drops the robes off of his shoulder.

Cecil Tahromaere Trumpeting softly

Kriv: Look away to windward, You can see it's going to blow, Look at the glass, You can see that it is fell

Lo-Kag Thuliaga drops the rest of his clothes and picks up his maul.

Kriv: We wish the you would hurry up, And strike, strike the bell

Elior moves in slowly while trumpeting

Lo-Kag Thuliaga rolls 18 to hit with his maul

Mayzy G. (GM): (I don't care that you all rolled terrible, these women are MESMERIZED)

Mayzy G. (GM): Sonal's head crashes against the wall with a loud ringing sound

Cecil Tahromaere: I trumpet loudly into the room

Cecil Tahromaere: TOOT TOOT LADIES WE'RE HERE

(Initiative is rolled and Kriv takes out the other lady with a quick unarmed strike)

Mayzy G. (GM): At least they died happy

Lo-Kag Thuliaga gives Kriv a high five.

Cecil Tahromaere: PLease I need my pants, it's breezy

Kriv has trouble reaching that high, and can't stop staring at what is revealed.

Elior looks at alinta awkwardly

Alinta shakes her head, cheeks reddening slightly

Mayzy G. (GM): Sonal was the one holding Lo-Kag's pants, btw

Lo-Kag Thuliaga: Hmm, are they bloody enough that they might need to be cleaned first?

Mayzy G. (GM): Nope, They look just as you left them

Mayzy G. (GM): Your pants are great. Just great. They miss you

Lo-Kag Thuliaga crouches down and tried to see if there is a keyhole to peek through.

Mayzy G. (GM): You see darkness. And you hear some very soft snoring

Lo-Kag Thuliaga decides that there is no urgent threat, and puts his pants on.

Mayzy G. (GM): How's Kriv doing? He ok?

Kriv is stunned. And traumatized. And a bit jealous.

Cecil Tahromaere: OPEN THE BOXI

Mayzy G. (GM): It's all your stuuuuuuuuuuuff!!

Cecil Tahromaere: MY BOOKS

Elior: MY BOW

Mayzy G. (GM): Yay! As everyone gets their underpants and whatnot, we'll draw the curtain for today Because for god sake, if we keep going, we might all die

Cecil Tahromaere: I look so cool 

[fearlesshades]

D&D Stories

@charlesoberonn asked for fun stories from Dungeons and Dragons so here are some of the best from the group I'm in right now. (There's eight of us and we are currently in 3 different campaigns so there's a lot of shenanigans.)

(Under read more because wow so much shenanigans it got way longer than I thought it would)

First Campaign:

This party consists of: a pyrophobic elven druid, a dragonborn sorcerer (pyromancer), a dwarven fighter, a half-elf warlock, a half-orc paladin, a changeling bard, a human ranger (me) and her Tibetan Mastiff, Pup.

We met our dwarf after he had pissed off an evil wizard and was teleported away, where he dropped on top of a table in the beginning tavern.

We met our warlock when he was completely naked

He had clothes. They were in his bag. He didn’t remember why he was naked.

Upon being confronted by a cultist asking after the gem we had just found in a mine, our sorcerer responds with, “What’s a gem?”

The time we were all being slaughtered by dragon wormlings (no spell slots between the 7 party members, four AOEs at our faces) and the dragons kidnapped our paladin to carry him to the top of the tower and our bard got to second base with a god

So we had already been in this tower and we had looked through the trapdoor in the ceiling. After seeing the BBG’s crest in the sky a la Dark Mark with bats pouring out of its mouth we closed the trapdoor and continued on our way. Turns out this tower roof was where we were supposed to meet BBG for the first time and have our first big battle with him.

We were trying to get out of the castle so we could rest in the forest without fear of being attacked en masse by the castle. As we’re walking through the front door the four creepy dragon statues turned into four creepy baby dragons that immediately dropped a couple of us.

We were struggling. Dying. It was not good. Until...

UNTIL

Our bard looked down and saw ‘Blessing of Milil’ written on his sheet.

Like three months ago real word time he had left like 10 gold at Milil’s alter and our DM had told him to write that, which we all promptly forgot about

But, in our dire straights, we decided it was time to try whatever that was.

Bard starts playing and calling to Milil. And light comes down from the heavens with tinkling music, surrounding our almost dead paladin and invigorating him. It filled his HP, his Lay On Hands, and his spell slots to the brim.

He starts slashing, healing, etc, managing to get everyone else out of the entryway. He then turns to get himself out of the entryway when he got hit from behind and dropped.

Dragon wormling takes him and starts flying for the top of the tower with the BBG fight we had accidentally skipped

Our sorcerer (no spell slots and 2 HP) and I (also no spell slots and 3 HP) sprint to the top of the tower where we are immediately Charmed by BBG.

We are expecting Death

Meanwhile, on the ground, our bard is still playing in the hopes of wresting one more favor from Milil

Milil shows up in person in front of him

Milil dusts him off (restores all his spell slots and inspirations and HP), then slaps him on the ass, sending him flying up to the top of the tower, screaming an empowered Counter-Charm the whole way.

The time our sorcerer set a tree on fire right next to our (pyrophobic remember) druid.

The time our sorcerer tried to make up for setting a tree on fire next to our druid’s head by getting him a magic flower pot

The pot is enchanted to resist cold so the flower doesn’t die and has a Ring of Spell Storing wrapped around it

He spent an entire day (in game) and thirty minutes (real world) doing this

The time we (level 7) fought an ancient red dragon with our DM’s old party

Three of them came up to play with us

One was an insane cleric named Pancake Flea (yes really)

One was a level 15 Druid (we didn’t know he was level 15 until we came up to the dragon though)

The third we thought was a bronze colored dragonborn paladin

He was not

He was an ancient bronze dragon

When we came up to fight the ancient red he dropped the polymorph or whatever the fuck he was using and transformed into a giant fucking dragon who then went toe to toe with the other one, sassing the whole way

The time I pissed off the DM by making him come up with what all the hundreds of alchemical bottles in a witch’s brewing room were and he blinded my dog in retaliation

The time our bard cast sleep on skeletons. And then did it again.

The time our paladin (of Bahamat. Oath of Devotion) ran away from skeletons, leaving our much less tanky sorcerer alone in their path

The time we made our DM hate us by using Leomund’s Tiny Hut to take a long rest in a dungeon, and then fought all of the things that had gathered around outside the hut through the walls of it

The time we beat the BBG I’ve talked about before by shoving him in an invisible box and ignoring him until he was tired

Staff of Power is ridiculous, and has Wall of Force

Second Campaign:

This party consists of: a human dragonknight and his friend platinum dragon, a human Eldritch Knight, a dwarven sorcerer, a half-elf monk, a human barbarian, a halfling bard, and a halfling rogue (me).

The time the rest of the group forgot to get me thief’s tools and then asked me to pick locks cause the key was broken

Turns out our sorcerer has mend. And didn’t use it on the broken key.

The time(s) our barbarian (INT 7) crit:

(Little bit of background, the barbarian, for roleplay reasons, can only attack while raging and can only rage when someone else in the party has been hurt)

Created a hang-glider out of bug parts, thereby allowing us all to get over a chasm and escape

Cast shriek because he couldn’t attack yet and the bard had just cast shriek

(He screamed and crit on the attack role, he did like 3 damage or something)

Did the best goddamn pose after the two halflings flipped onto his shoulders to diffuse tension

The time our sorcerer hit me with lightning so I hit him with fruit.

I wanted to hit him with fruit until I did equal damage he had done to me with the lightning (it worked out to 15 fruits that would have needed to hit him) but the rest of the party didn’t let me

Everyone in the party asking the dragonknight for permission to do everything, from getting out of line, to retrieving a dagger (ok it was actually just me but that’s only cause he had yelled at the sorcerer for not following orders) (also this character of mine is 16 (14 in halfling years))

Third Campaign:

This party is made up of: a human ranger, a human rogue, a tiefling multiclass, a human barbarian, a gnome mad scientist, a human monk, and a goliath fighter (me).

The time I got into a shouting match with a statue about the city outside that had been completely wiped off the face of the planet about 30,000 years ago

He didn’t know the city was gone

The city was fUCKING GONE

The time three of us couldn’t shake one bad guy’s concentration cause we were rolling too low on damage

The time our rogue got the entire town guard on his side and threw the ranger in jail

He said the ranger had stolen his dagger, which he actually just happened to have a match to, but the point was he was rolling really well on deception, the guards were rolling really low on insight, and the ranger was rolling really low on persuasion, so ranger went in jail

We went to get the ranger out of jail and the rogue said he would drop the charges if he got his dagger back. When the ranger got out of the jail, he started yelling at the rogue. The rogue had been doing so well on his roles the entire guard was basically in love with him and smacked the ranger, yelling about how “this nice, honorable young man just got you out of jail! How dare you speak to him like that, he’s so nice!”

The time our ranger filled a Bag of Holding with water and got all his stuff wet

The time my goliath (who doesn’t like alcohol btw) got into a drinking contest with the Viking barbarian and passed out, before waking back up and the two of us went drunkenly singing through and out of the town we were supposed to buy all our supplies in and our DM had spent hours on all the different shops and the various people running them

Just goes to show: don’t put effort into anything as a DM cause your players will fuck it up

The second time my goliath got into a drinking contest with the barbarian, won this time, before waking up with the worst hangover ever and deciding to stick to what she actually wants out of life and had milk with her breakfast

Don’t change for anyone, kids

[princelucivaryaslana]

I need to rant about my D&D character because a lot of heavy shit was revealed to me by the DM last night because even tho we are only 2 sessions in, pure luck and die rolls have accelerated the plot very quickly and i’m dying, it’s very long and i don’t expect anyone to read it, i just love my character and his brother and i’m DYING

So my character is a pink tiefling named Valafar Nemonis, but he goes by Mercy, right. He’s the firstborn of a fallen aasimar named Lillith “Lila” Nemonis and her tiefling husband Barnabas “Carrion” Nemonis, who also happens to be the head of the largest criminal organization in literally the whole continent and is also a VERY powerful politician. Valafar was his dad’s best assassin for YEARS, was deliberately groomed to be such, and he was a force to behold. 

There’s a lot of backstory backstory ‘cause this game’s taking place in the same universe that our old campaign took place in, but essentially there are these big amorphous gems that represent and contain the power of each plane of existence, and at one point due to Old Plot Reasons they shattered and now exist as thousands of small shards, which people have found and used for many purposes. 

Valafar’s dad, specifically, is in the business of finding as many of these shards as he can because of the power they contain. In order to make Valafar the heartless killer he desired him to be so as to achieve this end, he deliberately groomed Valafar to think himself superior to all but his father and drove a MASSIVE wedge between Valafar and his little brother Iari (who is the spitting image of his grandfather, Barnabas’s abusive dad; it’s tragic), to the point where Iari was moved to the servants’ quarters to separate them physically and was often used as a literal punching bag by both Valafar and Barnabas in Barnabas’s attempts to separate them emotionally, to reasonable success. (This is especially tragic because Valafar and Iari loved each other to the point where a 10-year-old Valafar got his mother’s help in creating a small heart-shaped dangley earring for his 4-year-old brother while their father was absent on business, simply because Iari had come home from an outing with their mother and excitedly told him about “a rose-colored tiefling woman who looked just like you! She was so pretty and had the most beautiful earrings!” He still has the earring. I’m dying inside.) 

The problem was, near the end of this training, Barnabas wanted to make sure his son was truly ruthless, and he did so by giving Valafar a puppy to raise, with a name and everything, and then ordered him to kill it a few months later. This trauma, plus the fact that Valafar couldn’t crush the pity he held in his heart for his brother no matter how much his father beat them both over it, led him to make the decision that rewrote his entire everything.

Valafar was sent to complete a botched mission that a few of his father’s underlings had failed to accomplish some weeks before, wherein they not only managed to kill the wife of the man they were after and not the man himself, but also failed to acquisition the piece of the Faewild shard they were sent to take from him. The man was, of course, on his guard this time, and he was able to arm himself with the sword that held the piece of the shard Valafar was after and fight back. 

Unfortunately, as providence would have it, three things happened at once: the man’s very young son entered the room upon hearing a racket; Valafar saw the little boy, about whom he had been previously unaware, and immediately realized he didn’t want to kill the man and orphan the child; and the man took Valafar’s hesitation as an opening and chopped Valafar’s shoulder with the sword. The green shard in the sword reacted to the magic that resided thick in Valafar’s blood, and the resulting explosion of green light killed the man, knocked the child unconscious, and bleached Valafar’s once solid-black eyes a fair mint bluegreen and rewired his brain a considerable amount (aka turned him from a lvl 10 assassin rogue into a lvl 1 druid and lowered his Intelligence to 10 in favor of boosting his Charisma).

Panicked, confused, and filled with a resolve he had previously found lacking, Valafar took the unconscious boy to a family in town to raise, stressing very heavily that he needed to leave and that he was relying on them to protect the boy. Then he took to the woods and lived alone for a few years, becoming acquainted with his new abilities, taking on the name Mercy, and desperately formulating a plan to save his brother from their father before it was too late. 

Meanwhile, Iari had made massive progress towards becoming a top-class assassin in his attempts to garner his father’s approval and become like his brother his whole life, but with Mercy on the run, his father’s approval still didn’t come; in fact, all he was given were assignments paid for by a new-money noble family across the continent and the overarching assignment to “Bring my son back to me, dead or alive. Do not fail me as you have your whole life.” His despair at his father’s hatred of him paired with his brother’s final abandonment of him unlocked the magic in HIS blood and expedited his growth as a top-tier killer. Now known as The Lavender Death, Iari is the most feared assassin in the entire world, and he is coming after Mercy.

Mercy was given the warning by a messenger from his father’s organization under Iari’s orders and is currently on the run to avoid “running into that little shit until I’m old and ready to die,” now teamed up with a goliath barbarian, a warforged wizard, and a baby silver dragon who recently lost its caretaker (the guy was playing a dragon trainer ranger and quit two sessions in lmao). 

Now, the reason that the plot has been accelerated very quickly is because, in an attempt to get out of the city and muddle any trail his brother might use to find him, Mercy asked the warforged’s creator to opened a portal to a random location for him and the goliath, who is also a target of The Lavender Death because he’s the escaped slave and murderer of a few of the members of the new-money noble family Mercy’s dad has contracts with (he’s also the son of a giant slave and a human woman from said noble family, it’s complicated and sad), and where should we be teleported by the luck of the dice

than to Mercy’s home country, three miles away from his home city, near enough that Iari could sense him via their mutual connection to the positive energy plane and begin his game of cat and mouse about three or four LEVELS early

So now we have a level 10 Iari after our little level 4 party of three (and a half) and i’m very scared and very tired and very Emotional and one of three things is gonna happen:

1) Iari is going to kill Mercy and then himself (he goes by the name Parricide, which the DM told me means “to kill someone dear to you” and i’m fuckin dying he still wears the earring Mercy made him 16 years ago the DM’s so cruel) 2) Mercy is going to have to kill Iari and deal with the trauma of watching his baby brother die in his arms because he failed to save him 3) By some power of luck and providence, Mercy will manage to stave off the deaths of his party and Iari long enough to make peace with Iari and become his ally and brother again

If Iari and/or Mercy die, their mother is going to finally get fed up with their father and leave him and take his eye out with Inflict Wounds (oh yeah me mommy is a DEATH CLERIC btw) when he inevitably tries to stop her

If Mercy lives, regardless of Iari’s fate, Mercy’s gonna build up his power and then D E S T R O Y his father 

I’M AN EMOTIONAL MESS

TL;DR: My character’s brother is a better assassin than my character was before my character’s levels were replaced with druid levels and now there’s a lot of complicated and heartbreaking plot underway and i’m very emotional about it because I am also irl a shitty favored older sibling who engaged in the mistreatment of my younger sibling and it’s amazing how much life imitates art