Marullus' character creation thread.

[drpete]

Hi Marullus!

Welcome aboard!

DCC Lankhmar is a variation on DCC, which is a version of D20 designed for old school play.

The first things I'll need from you are some 3d6 rolls for stats. Stats are rolled in order though you'll be able to swap a pair, if you like. The campaign ID is 682.

The stats are:
Strength
Agility
Stamina
Personality
Intelligence
Luck

You can then decide if you want to swap them around to get a class you would like to play. The available classes are warrior, thief and wizard.

There is no xp bonus for good stats, but stats give benefits as you might expect (int is good for wizards, str is good for warriors, etc)

Once you get these stats worked out, we'll roll for some background type info, and some advantage/ disadvantages for your character.

[Marullus]

[3d6] = 13[3d6] = 6[3d6] = 11[3d6] = 13[3d6] = 8[3d6] = 10

Strength 13
Agility 6
Stamina 11
Personality 13
Intelligence 8
Luck 10

I'd like to reserve the right to swap and do so after I roll background, if I may? I'm not sure which class I want, but I'm likely to swap STR for AGI (for a Thief) or STR for INT (for a wizard) or if I stay a fighter, AGI for INT. I usually like Wizards, but there appears to be a lot for me to review about how magic works in this system before I commit.

What other PCs are already in the group?

[drpete]

That's fine, you can swap later, if you want. At the moment, there is a wizard with some martial training (Shmehk) and a thief (Raamiz). Trinculo is jumping right in with anl second wizard, it seems.

For background, I need you to roll...

1d8 for your place of origin
1d20 for a benison (advantage)
1d20 for a doom (disadvantage)
1d30 for birth augur (lucky roll)

There'll be a few more rolls, but this is most of them...

[Trinculo]

Hey Marullus, do you want to be soul brothers? I got this is as my Benison.

"The PC and one other character in the party are two halves of a heroic whole. Due to the ineffable whims of reincarnation, a long-dead hero’s soul was broken in half when he or she reincarnated, with each fragment manifesting in a separate body. The two halves immediately recognize their shared connections (even if they don’t understand it or know why they have one) and likely become either boon companions or instant enemies. A PC with this benison chooses another player character who—assuming he agrees—also gains this benison for free. It does not count against the second PC’s starting number of benisons nor require the player to roll for another doom. This benison allows each Split Soul PC to spend Luck with double the benefit to help the other. Each point of Luck grants a +2 bonus to the assisted PC’s roll. Also, Split Soul Heroes can spend permanent Luck in addition to fleeting Luck to help one another and regain this expended Luck much faster. (See Part Four: Luck in Lankhmar for full details on this process.) This benison can apply to more than one PC. If two or more PCs begin the game rolling or choosing this benison, they can possibly form an entire party of Split Soul Heroes, the reincarnated forms of a great hero whose soul was fragmented multiple times. The death of a Split Soul Hero ends the mortal connection between the two PCs."

[Marullus]

[1d8] = 6 [1d20] = 11 [1d20] = 11 [1d30] = 6
Initial Spells [1d27] = 9[1d27] = 7[1d27] = 2[1d27] = 20
Languages [1d12] = 11[1d12] = 12[1d12] = 8
Spell Stipulations [1d100] = 34[1d100] = 51[1d100] = 30[1d100] = 26
[1d5] = 3 Natives of
[3d10] = 15 coin
Intriguing Item [1d100] = 89
HP: [1d4] = 4 [1d4] = 1

What does that look like?

Place of Origin: The Cold Waste
Benison: Excellent Outdoorsman (3 Luck) [+1 for survival checks, +2 for cold wastes)
Doom: Outcast
Birth Augur: Born on the Battlefield (Damage Rolls +1)


As a Wizard...
Strength 8
Agility 6
Stamina 11
Personality 13
Intelligence 13
Luck 10

Spellbook:
- Ekim's Mystical Mask (137) - Spell is mentally draining when performed incorrectly. A failed casting of the spell inflicts 1 point of temporary Intelligence loss. Manifestation: Caster plucks the mask out of thin air.
- Comprehend Languages (136) - No Stipulation. Manifestation: His eyes glow.
- Cantrip (130) - Ineffective against Foresters of the Eight Cities
- Read Magic (152) - Spell is cursed. A failed spell check when casting it automatically results in corruption as well as potential
spell loss. Manifestation: His eyes glow.

Languages Known:
Low Lankhmarese
Northspeak (Cold Tongue)
Kleshic
Eevamarensee
Simorgyan

Fiemar Snow-born
Born in the Cold Wastes and fated to a live in bloody strife, Fiemar was always considered an ill-omen to his people. He was abandoned in the snows to die as a child, left to the God's Fate and cast out by his tribe. But that is not what the Powers had in mind... he was rescued by a being who helped him reach his nascent adulthood and who stoked his insatiable desire for the deep secrets, lost beneath ice and time. The Powers have taught him dead languages full secrets, taught him to wrench lore from both glyphs and script which time has forgotten...

A lanky youth with plaited white-blond hair and piercing ice-blue eyes, possessed of a confidence when he locks eyes (+1 intelligence, +1 Personality). His hands and feet show the unmistakeable scars of nerve-damaging frostbite (Agility -1 modifier).

Alignment: Chaotic
Alone and outcast, he will rip the deep secrets free for his use.

HP: 5

Training: dagger, longbow, longsword, shortbow, short sword, and staff.

Equipment:
Staff [1d4] (.5)
Shortsword [1d6] (7)
Backpack (2)
Waterskin (.5)
Flint and Steel (.15)
Unkempt reddish-gold wig (interesting item)

4.85gp. (Torches, Sacks, Oil, etc.)

How's that?

[Marullus]

Hey Marullus, do you want to be soul brothers? I got this is as my Benison.

"The PC and one other character in the party are two halves of a heroic whole. Due to the ineffable whims of reincarnation, a long-dead hero’s soul was broken in half when he or she reincarnated, with each fragment manifesting in a separate body. The two halves immediately recognize their shared connections (even if they don’t understand it or know why they have one) and likely become either boon companions or instant enemies. A PC with this benison chooses another player character who—assuming he agrees—also gains this benison for free. It does not count against the second PC’s starting number of benisons nor require the player to roll for another doom. This benison allows each Split Soul PC to spend Luck with double the benefit to help the other. Each point of Luck grants a +2 bonus to the assisted PC’s roll. Also, Split Soul Heroes can spend permanent Luck in addition to fleeting Luck to help one another and regain this expended Luck much faster. (See Part Four: Luck in Lankhmar for full details on this process.) This benison can apply to more than one PC. If two or more PCs begin the game rolling or choosing this benison, they can possibly form an entire party of Split Soul Heroes, the reincarnated forms of a great hero whose soul was fragmented multiple times. The death of a Split Soul Hero ends the mortal connection between the two PCs."

That's fantastic. Makes sense for us to begin exploring it recently, since he was discarded and Outcast.. Also may be why the Powers took an interest in him. What's your PC look like?

EDIT:
Okay, I looked at your thread. I think it is interesting that:
* We are both wizards, but with a split soul
* You are illiterate, but retained by the Tribe. I was obsessed with literacy and an outcast. (Tells us something about the tribe)
* You are strong but less charismatic, I'm less strong/agile but have a bonus on charismatic (also may tell us something about the tribe)

Want to be born as mirror-image twins? They kept you (seventh son blessed) and discarded me as the ill omen (born to battlefield/outcast). Once you came of age, you sought me out? It explains why we're outside our homeland.

I picked Chaotic to play-up the ill-omen outcast. What Alignment are you looking at? Perhaps you're polarized to Law (raised within the tribe) and are trying to bring me back?

If we're in a thieving group in Lankhmar, I figured my ultra-literate angle would fit in. I like having the two soul-bound brothers being literary foils of each other.

[drpete]

Hi Marullus,

Looks good, so far

Technically, there's no alignment in the game, though you can use it as an inspiration.

Also, we should figure out what the story is with these strange languages...

Kleshic is the language of the southern jungle and coastal region of Klesh. Like Desert-talk, Kleshic has many tribal dialects, but they aren’t substantially different from the root language to create communication barriers among native speakers.

One of the three Eastern tongues, Eevamarensee is the dia-lect of the far-off and decadent Empire of Eevamarensee. Eevamarensee is seldom encountered in the lands around the Inner Sea and generally only known by wizards, schol-ars, and exceedingly well-travelled merchants anywhere west of the Eastern Lands.


Simorgyan is the aquatic language of sunken Simorgya. It is a dialect of a much older version of the tongue spoken in the days before Simorgya slipped beneath the waves. Mod-ern Simorgyan evolved from the older form, becoming a language better suited for underwater communication.

These are pretty... exotic... languages. Any sense how you might have come to study them?

Also, I think you may have one language too many. You get two per point of intelligence bonus, but you seem to have rolled 3?

[Trinculo]

Not twins, no, I think having two fractured parts of the same soul is enough.

[Marullus]

Not twins, no, I think having two fractured parts of the same soul is enough.

Same tribe? Rival Tribe? Different parts of the Cold Wastes?

How old is your PC? I'll just match you.

Also, I think you may have one language too many. You get two per point of intelligence bonus, but you seem to have rolled 3?

Because I read it wrong. I read the first line "wizards get two extra languages" and not the second line "for each point of INT bonus." So, I rolled two for being a wizard and one for having a +1 INT.

Kleshic was the third roll, so we'll drop that one.

Also, we should figure out what the story is with these strange languages...

One of the three Eastern tongues, Eevamarensee is the dia-lect of the far-off and decadent Empire of Eevamarensee. Eevamarensee is seldom encountered in the lands around the Inner Sea and generally only known by wizards, schol-ars, and exceedingly well-travelled merchants anywhere west of the Eastern Lands.


Simorgyan is the aquatic language of sunken Simorgya. It is a dialect of a much older version of the tongue spoken in the days before Simorgya slipped beneath the waves. Mod-ern Simorgyan evolved from the older form, becoming a language better suited for underwater communication.

These are pretty... exotic... languages. Any sense how you might have come to study them?

Randomization leads to interesting results. He's an Outcast in a northern wasteland, raised and mentored by a being which only taught him magic to understand things (Comprehend Languages, Read Magic, Cantrip), by which he became fluent in two archaic lost languages of ancient civilizations rich in magic. I'm trying to work within the rolls (Cold Wastes, Outcast from the only culture there, became a wizard by a patron while outcast and alone).

My interpretation of that is that he was exposed to them by the actions of his mentor-being, whose purpose is served by making him able to unearth secrets. I imagine this as a natural fugue state or a ritual-based magic meditation in which his mind is able to witness things across space and time. Without it being a spell (yet) and with him being low-level, it is purely plot device - you can reveal plot hooks and information through his visions as suits you, being the GM, but I don't have any effective way to control or direct the activity until I level up and make one. This allows him to have unexpected wider knowledge (via GM-plot info and esoteric languages) as he arrives from the desolate north -- I prefer it over the "he them became widely travelled" angle.

I have been vague so far on what his "mentor/being" is. It could be a mundane loner/witch who raised him, a mystery that never revealed its face, or some Lost God trying to regain influence in the world. If I can have a more direct relationship with an actual patron, it would be nice to have patron bond and invoke patron added as extra spells to support the story (as precedent, this is given to all Elves for this reason, but they aren't in this chronicle). If I could pick, I would take "The Three Fates, who control the fate of all men and gods to see that the world reaches its destiny" from the list. His innate connection with the Fates could be the cause of his being Outcast (a child announcing deaths before they happen may not last long in a superstitious culture). Storywise, I like serving the fates who even the Gods must eventually subcumb to. If you want him to have an actual Patron, I'm open to any you pick, though... the character wouldn't have a say in who claimed and directs his sliver of soul.

All that serves to make a character who is designed to act as a plot-device for the GM; that's a role I enjoy. It is only viable if that fits YOUR style, though. He's otherwise rather niche and passive... he isn't going to be a great fighter. I'll do my best to use that +1 Personality to help the Swindler on jobs, but he's no Thief. His spells are purely for the acquisition of future knowledge, so it only is viable if "uncovering mysteries" is a big part of the game.

If that is NOT jiving, and doesn't fit with the direction of the game, I can switch to make him more proactive/martial (but it also requires he be more dark, which I'm not sure fits with the other players or game, either). If I have him dedicate his life to Black Magic (compendium, page 30), then I can choose to replace two my rolled spells with spells from that list. I could switch Comprehend Languages (a white-list spell) for Magic Missile (a black-list spell) and Cantrip for Choking Cloud. This would give him a +2 to the spell check and +1 to damage with those two Black spells and make him more useful to standard adventuring.

So... what's best for the whole?

[drpete]

Hrmm... I see where you're going with that.

In the Lankhmar system there's a sort of middle ground between totally independent and having a "patron bond" which seems like it might be appropriate. Essentially making you an agent of a supernatural being without being quite as formal as casting a spell (here, the patron bond makes one a "servant", while this would be acting as an "agent")

There would be a system of favors granted and debts that you would owe to such a patron. In the Lankhmar books, these were beings like Sheelba and Ningauble (and could be here, as well, or a handful of others... powerful wizards or gods). Does this sound like it might synch up with your thoughts?

[Marullus]

Being an "agent" over a "servant" is fine; I'm good with either and see how Agent relates more to the original works. I'll admit that I read one or two of the books thirty years ago - I'm using extensive google-fu to catch up with references.

In this case, I'd look more to a Ningauble than a Sheelba (both for Cold Waste linkage and for their personality/domains). Ningauble being in a cave in the frozen north and connected with Fate/divination meshes quite well. I'm only apprehensive about using a canonic character when I'm light on canonic knowledge, but that's your call. If you want to use Ningauble directly or to use a different being/god which has taken an interested in Fiemar's fated future... your call.

So, we're avoiding the patron bond spell/method. Is it acceptable to have a ritualized magic (the section on Ritualized Magic in the DCC RPG rules on pp. 124-126) only usable in downtime for communication with my patron? Or do they contact me only when they want to?

Does your vision for the chronicle have enough use for his limited spells and uncovering of mysteries?

Or, would you like me to specialize in Black and switch the two spells, becoming a more generally-useful wizard for standard adventuring?

[drpete]

Though I've read a few books worth of the stories recently (and others many years ago), I am by no means an expert, and I'm not really worried about having the game follow the books, except generally speaking, so don't worry too much about that.

Looking at your character, I can see your worry about having a very limited, passive set of abilities. Though I can see uses for these spells in a campaign, I'm not sure that I could say this character would be "busy" a lot without the group taking a pretty specific type of direction (read magic and read languages could certainly come up, but I wouldn't imagine that as a continuous feature of the game).

If you want to switch over to being a black magician, keeping your first two spells (comprehend languages and Ekim's magical mask, and maybe Cantrip) that would be fine, though you would have a 1 die penalty on casting Comprehend Languages as a result of going "black".

I'm still thinking about the patron thing... Ningauble sounds fine, but I want to look at it a little bit more.

[Marullus]

If you want to switch over to being a black magician, keeping your first two spells (comprehend languages and Ekim's magical mask, and maybe Cantrip) that would be fine, though you would have a 1 die penalty on casting Comprehend Languages as a result of going "black".

If I have him dedicate his life to Black Magic (compendium, page 30), then I can choose to replace two my rolled spells with spells from that list. I could switch Comprehend Languages (a white-list spell) for Magic Missile (a black-list spell) and Cantrip for Choking Cloud. This would give him a +2 to the spell check and +1 to damage with those two Black spells and make him more useful to standard adventuring.

Can I choose which to keep, per above?

What's the expected utility of Read Magic? (if all wizards don't have it, it doesn't seem to be the "you can't learn a spell without this" version of other OSR games.) Can we read and acquire scrolls, spellbooks, etc without it?

I originally was going to drop Comprehend Languages because of the White penalty, but it has obvious utility, where Read Magic does not. Making sure I understand: What is a "one die penalty" in this case? I thought it was a -1 to the die roll?

The Cantrip spell isn't as versatile as in other OSR systems and I feared it wasn't "serious" enough for the Lankhmar setting's view of magic. If you're not objecting to it, though, I DO like the idea of Cantrip and Comprehend Languages in a thief heist crew.

Edit to add:

Mouse’s painful suffering* (level 1)
*denotes a new spell (see Judge’s Guide to Nehwon for more details)

Anyone have that book/spell?

[Wintermute]

DCC uses the Dice Chain (d3, d4, d5, d6, d8, d10, d14, d16, d20, d24, d20). A -1d means you are bumped down the dice chain one step.

That is the standard set of DDC dice used above. Some people like to insert more dice in there, which is not a problem when using online rollers: d18, d22 ect.

[drpete]

We're using the "standard" dice chain, which means you would roll a d16 on comphrehend languages.

Given that the rule with black magic is that you can choose some spells, but the others are randomly rolled, I think taking the first two rolled spells is a reasonable way to retroactively switch to black magic, so comprehend language and Ekim's mask seem like the "randomly rolled" ones.

The spell you mentioned is magic, but not available to beginning characters

[Marullus]

Okay... taking all that into account (and the reticence on the other thread to deep dark), I think I'd rather have him be Sworn White.

Magic Missile Stipulation [1d100] = 16

Sworn Black:
- All his first level spells use Nehwonian Major Corruption Table.
- Add +2 to skill check for Magic Missile
- Use [1d16] for skill check on Comprehend Languages

Spellbook:
- Ekim's Mystical Mask (137) - Spell is mentally draining when performed incorrectly. A failed casting of the spell inflicts 1 point of temporary Intelligence loss. Manifestation: Caster plucks the mask out of thin air.
- Comprehend Languages (136) - No Stipulation. Manifestation: His eyes glow.
- Cantrip (130) - Ineffective against Foresters of the Eight Cities
- Magic Missile (144) - Spell causes advanced corruption when it occurs (Nehwonian Greater Corruption).


Sleep Stipulation [1d100] = 2
Animal Summoning Stipulation [1d100] = 96

Sworn White:
- Subtract -1 from spell damage rolls
- Add +2 to skill check for Comprehend Languages, Sleep, and Animal Summoning.

Spellbook:
- Ekim's Mystical Mask (137) - Spell is mentally draining when performed incorrectly. A failed casting of the spell inflicts 1 point of temporary Intelligence loss. Manifestation: Caster plucks the mask out of thin air.
- Comprehend Languages (136) - No Stipulation. Manifestation: His eyes glow.
- Animal Summoning (129) - Spell requires the caster to be fully dressed when invoking its mystical energy. Manifestation: animal erupts from the ground fully formed.
- Sleep (155) - Spell requires the caster be outdoors when working its magic. Failure to do so results in a -1d penalty to the spell check die. Manifestation: A warm breeze smelling of poppies.

This collectively plays more off his "excellent outdoorsmen" aspect. His sleep spell only works outside and he can summon animals to aid him (but they don't appear if he's naked).

Fiemar Snow-born

Still a speaker of fate, he was outcast from his tribe as a child but, rather than dying in the snows, he was rescued by the being that raised him. The being had a formative effect, teaching him of magic, but the perils of using the magic arts to interrupt any living being's natural doom. (Death still comes to all, in their time, some even by his sword. But to use magic to slay is a dangerous interruption of the Loom.)

Strength 8
Agility 6 (-1)
Stamina 11
Personality 13 (+1)
Intelligence 13 (+1)
Luck 10


Languages Known:
Low Lankhmarese
Northspeak (Cold Tongue)
Eevamarensee
Simorgyan

HP: 5

Training: dagger, longbow, longsword, shortbow, short sword, and staff.

Equipment:
Staff [1d4] (.5)
Longsword [1d8] (10)
Backpack (2)
Waterskin (.5)
Flint and Steel (.15)
Unkempt reddish-gold wig (interesting item)
2 large sacks (.24)
10 Torches (.1)
10 days rations (.5)
1 piece of Chalk (.01)

1 Gold Rilk left

[drpete]

Interesting!

[Marullus]

I edited to pull down the other character stats and updated his equipment. I'll try to figure out how to fill in the actual character sheet next.

Anything you want to add as GM about the being that raised him? (I did keep the "agent of the fates" angle; I still like that.)

Can I begin with spell components? I need animal parts to summon animals. (As an expert outdoorsman: a rat tail thong, a necklace of wolf teeth, a weasel paw, crow feathers) Or do I need to go out hunting during gametime?

[Trinculo]

Grr.. This is really annoying: I lost a post that I swore I submitted. Or else I can't find it now, I don't know.
Anyway, the gist of it was that:
My character's tribe, his people, believed him to possess a fractured portion of a great mage's soul, a hero from their past. Set apart from the rest, he was raised in this knowledge, and trained in magic against the day when he would go out into the world and find the other carriers of the mage's soul, and challenge them to a deadly wizard-duel. Only in this way can the mage's soul be whole again, and the hero reborn. Certain prophecies guide his steps, as well as intuitions that he believes are the voice of the mage's soul. And in this way he has traveled for ten years, ending up in Lankhmar. So, kind of Highlander, but with less katanas and more magic. Hopefully there's still room for some Connery in there somewhere too.
I would like to have met Marullus' character and made a friend out of him. He has not recognized him as the other half of the hero's soul, however, as certain misguided prophecies have veiled this truth. That is, he believes the other soul-fracture to belong to a woman, or bear a certain mark, etc.

Oh yeah, name change too. His name is now: Asle Lunn. (Os-luh Loon)

[drpete]

Marullus,
You can have 1d6+int mod different animal bits... make them fairly "common" things (no Jaguars or wooly rhinos) please