|
Let's Finish what we started: Let's Play Exile 2 - Crystal Souls What is Exile 2: Crystal Souls? Exile 2: Crystal Souls (or simply E2 if you're reading the thread) is an Ultima inspired RPG developed and published by Spiderweb Software under Jeff Vogel in 1996. It is the followup from their previous game, Exile 1, which was published the previous year. While the style is very simplistic, there is an amazing depth to the world building that appears in the game. Story? To avoid spoilers, this game takes place approximately five years after the end of the previous game. If you're interested in a detailed breakdown of the events that occurred in E1, then I suggest you read my LP of Exile here. It introduces many of the characters, PC and NPC as well as setting up most of the events that occur in this game. After the influx of prisoners and malcontents was cut off, the Empire made plans to invade Exile in retribution for the actions taken by the party in the first game. By the start of the game, they have. However, the party is no where near the front lines yet. Instead, they have been mustered at Fort Ganrick for their own minor mission. But things will quickly spiral out of control as a new force makes an appearance. So, how is this going to work? This is an old-school RPG, so it'll be a screenshot RP with narrative. I freely admit that Nakar's Ultima LP's are a source of inspiration, and I intend to honour that great work. I don't have a firm update schedule in mind yet as it's an old game and not compatible with newer systems, so I have to do extra work on my end to make an update. Not Compatible? Yes. Exile is 20 years old at this point, and it can't run on any system higher than 32bits. That means pretty much any system past Windows XP can't run it, even in compatibility mode. I'm running the game using an emulated 32bit XP on a Virtual Machine available through Microsoft. Past that, you'll have to get those resources yourself. Hey, at least the Exile Trilogy itself is now free! Exile is Freeware Oh yes, it came to my attention that the entire Exile Trilogy has been made freeware by Spiderweb Software. You can download it from here! You may need to run a Virtual Windows 32bit XP Machine (or lower) to operate them correctly, as I am. Also, there is a 'Wrapper' for certain Macintosh OS' to allow you to run these games on modern systems, to be found here. Audience Participation There's going to be a little bit of it. After the first post is done, and I explain the mechanics of the characters and give a little tour of the first town, I'll be asking for submissions for the other members of the party, as well as polling the thread for major decisions like what quests to go after. However, once we reach the end-game sections, there won't be much to vote on. Table of Contents Act 1 – The Barriers Update 001 – Welcome to Fort Ganrick Update 001 – Character Creation Update 002a– Potential Party Members Update 002 – The Attack on Fort Ganrick Update 003 - Fort Draco and Under Draco Update 003a- Spells Update 004 - The Nephilim Castle Update 005 - Gunston Homestead and the Lizard Lair Update 006 - The Lair of Motrax and Formello Update 007 - The Blasted Ruins Update 008 - The Verdant Valley Update 009 - Exploration and Tiny Fort Update 010 - More Exploration and the GIFTS Update 011 - The Aranea Web and the Nephil Castle Update 012 - The End of the Road Act 2 - Black Waters Update 013 - Mysterious Ruins, Island Hut, Watery Ruins Update 014 - Ruined Water Fort, Ruined Villa, Coffin Cave Update 015 - The Tomb of Dahris-Bok and the Long Fall Act 3 - Testing Update 016 - Avit and Olgai Update 017 - The Three Tests Update 018 - Mancuso and Resting Cell #4 Update 019 - Elgi and the Olgai Council Update 020 - The End of the Beginning Act 4 - Crystal Souls Update 021 - The Tower of the Magi and the Serpent Cult Update 021a- Status Effects Update 022 - Mertis and the Grim Cavern Update 023 - Silvar and Fort Duvno Update 024 - Cotra and the Secret Empire Fort Update 025 - Coven Cove and the Secret Sliths Update 026 - The Nepharim Fortress and Training Update 027 - The Great Map Update #1 Update 028 - Fort Dranlon and the Tower of Eldaran (1) Update 029 - The Giant Fort and the Brigand Madhouse Update 030 - Almaria Update 031 - The Castle, and Magi Clearance Update 032 - A Peculiar Place, Erika's Tower and The Barrier Tower Update 033 - Camp Samuels and Fort Emerald Update 034 - Blosk Update 035 - Gnass and Patrick's Tower Update 036 - Dharmon and the Scree Cave Update 037 - The Unfinished Fort and Fort Dolthar Update 038 - Revelations and Cleaning Up Update 039 - Tower of Eldaran (2) and Exploration Update 040 - Tiger Den and Fort Remote Update 041 - Kothar Update 042 - Empire Tunnels and the Totem Tunnels Update 043 - The Great Map Update (2) Update 044 - The Tower of Sixus and the Trapped Halls Update 045 - Micah and the Giant Lands Update 046 - Northern Waters (1) and the Empire Archives Update 047 - The Rescue of Jekknol-Bok Update 048 - Northern Vahnatai Lands and the Lava Dome Update 049 - The Vahnatai Fortress and Cleaning Up Update 050 - The Spore Tunnels and the Tomb of Delrin-Bok Update 051 - Fort Haledon and the Rescue of Caffren-Bok Update 052 - Demonslayer and the Lair of Sulfras Update 053 - Erika's Tower, Places of Interest, and the Return to the Ziggurut Update 054 - Harston, Pyrog's Cave (2) and the Northern Waters(2) Update 055 - The Empire Teleporter Update 056 - The Dark Tunnel and the Waterfall Warrens Update 057 - The Halls of Chaos and the Lair of Athron Update 058 - The Rescue of Vyvnas-Bok Update 059 - The Path to Garzahd Update 059a- The Great Great Map Update and Things Missed Update 060 - The Assassination of Garzahd Other Links The Encyclopedia Ermariana is a Wiki for Exile and Avernum, and the primary resource I've been using for helping develop the background. Fan Art The Shady Amish Terror, while I was looking for pictures for the PCs to use while talking, drew up this set of six images.  Aaarth-Tss  Art  Chester  Dmurr/Dmmur  Kai-Lyss  Marianna  A rough Sketch of the entire Party. berryjon fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Jan 18, 2016 |
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 07:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 17, 2024 00:22 |
|
|
Update 001 – Fort Ganrick  Go on, get out of here.  Weird. No patrols, no nothing  They were sent in a time when the Empire was at peace! There was no context for their actions!  You can try!  I'll be an adventurer, and cast spells, and go to every tiny little corner of these caves!  I DON'T KNOW YOU.  Is this it? Are we free?  Yes, yes we are.   "Ugh... I hate nightmares." Hello, and welcome to Exile 2: Crystal Souls. This first update will cover the basics of the gameplay, as well as explore the first town we're in. The next will be character creation where I will ask for submissions from the readers to fill out the rest of the party. Let's get to it, shall we? "Oh, my head... I need some water." This is the main screen on which the game is played. On the left is the visible area, with the active party in the center. You can scroll around by clicking on the grey edge of the area, but for the most part you won't be doing that unless you're taking some long distance shots in combat. In the middle, you can see the lead character of the party, which in 91% of the case will be this lady in the purple poncho. In the upper left is the primary status screen. It cycles through three different types of display – though I have the second one up. The first is the general overview of the party. Their current health, spell point reserves, any positive or negative statuses or the like. The second, here, is the detailed breakdown of the status of an individual party member. Art here has all of her stats laid out in a reasonable manner. I'll go over everything in more detail in character creation, but for now, there are two things I would like to point out. The first is the 'Weapon 1' line which shows off the bonus to-hit and bonus to damage that comes from our stats on our equipped weapon(s). This is a new feature in Exile 2, one for which I am truely grateful. The next line is Encumbrance. Poorly explained in Exile 1, this is a number that goes up the more equipment you are carrying. At 1 or 0, there is no negative effect, but past that and the character starts to lose actions points in combat and has a chance to fail at casting spells. Not shown are the personal inventories of the characters (16 items each, up from 12! HALLELUJIA!), and the pages of Key Items that we will eventually have. The lower right is the activity log, which records the last 20 or so messages you've received while playing the game. It can also be used to display special messages, and I'll record those properly. At the bottom is the command bar. From the left is Cast Mage Spell, Cast Priest Spell, Look, Talk, Pick Up, Use (manipulate environment), Map, and Combat Mode. These should all be self-explanatory, though Use is primarily done to open or close doors. Oh yeah, you can do that in this game too, if you want to. I'll show off Combat mode when it's time. “Now, where was the mess again?” This is the map screen. The unmapped parts are shown by the dots, open ground the grey. Doors are boxes in the walls, while boxes on the floor are places you can see through, but cannot walk on (unless it's a special encounter). The largest advancement made is that all towns and dungeons are no longer fixed to a 36x36 map, but rather they are now scaled to small (Fort Ganrick, 24x24), Medium (36x36) and Large (48x48). This change only improves the game as it reduces wasted space on maps. “AND WHERE THE HELL IS MY KIT?” “Argh... Water first. Equipment later.” “Oh, sorry. Wrong room.” This is the talk screen, which pops up whenever you talk to a friendly NPC. The top-left shows a picture of whom you're talking to (though that should be obvious). The bar on the top right allows you to type in whatever subject you want to talk about. You pick out (or are given) a key word to ask about, type it into there, and the NPC will respond. The next two segments are where the NPC gives their response, while there are some instructions below that.The bar of buttons at the bottom should be easy enough to understand, except for the 'Save' Button. Save is the saviour of this LP as it allows me to dump into a text file every response given to me. Without it, I would be transcribing thousands of lines of text, which would not be fun. At all. And like in the last LP, I will be bolding the words required to advance the conversation.  A scrawny man wearing the robes of an apprentice mage is reclining on the bed. He seems to have a headache. “Hey.” “I'm Ian. Who are you?" “I'm Art. I don't suppose you have anything for the headache?” He looks you over. "Oh. Adventurers. Go away." “Seriously? That's just rude.” "Go away. I have a headache." “So do I!” "You're here to help against the Nephilim, right? I thought so. Well go run off and do something, there's a good chap. My head hurts." “Do I look like a chap to you? What's your problem?” "Yes. From my journey. Wake me if we get attacked." “You little prick! It couldn't have been that hard to give you a problem like that. At least I have a reason! Where are you from anyways?” "From the tower." “The Tower? You with a unit?” “Yes! From the Tower of Magi. Perhaps you've heard of it. A place where magi can learn and grow and gain power without having to fight kitties and Sliths and whatever. It's far to the south. Too far. Now will you please go away?" He rolls over on the bed and grumbles at you obscenely. “I hate you too, buddy.” As this is a narrative LP, I will be using mostly the actual lines for NPC responses. However, I will flesh out, tweak and expand them as I see fit to make the narration work better. All conversations will be true to the game, but the actual words said may change. “Maybe the sign will give me directions?” You can (L)ook at a sign on a wall to read it. “Or maybe not.” “Ugh... Where's the pit?” “Reeks... “ “drat me. I should have done better. Stupid Art. STUPID!” “Rook would laugh at me if he saw me like this. Isn't that right, Mister Lizard?” Not everyone you can talk to will be obvious. There's a lizard in the garbage pit back here, and you can talk to it! My discovery of this 17 years ago was mind blowing. A small lizard darts happily across the floor. It looks up at you. Then it skitters around some more. “So, what do you do around here?” It doesn't seem to be interested in discussing its career prospects. “Thought so. Well, no sense in delaying things. Who knows when they'll show up?” “And of course it's a dead end. This place isn't even finished yet!” “And why would someone throw out a perfectly serviceable club back here?” “No, not going to leave yet. Got to wait for the new meat.”  “HELL YES!” “Where is it?” Items on the ground can be picked up, and outside of combat, you can determine who gets what. In combat, it's the active party member. Art's not grabbing anything right now. “Dammit! I know I had it with me when I got here last night!” “Not back here, either.” Behold, secret passages! These are often means by which you can find additional goodies, or bypass dangerous areas, or to simply advance the plot. “Maybe...?” “Logical. If my brain was currently working through logic at the moment.” “Nope.” “WATER! Oh Mother-Of-Us-All, water!” “If you're thirsty, serve yerself, Ma'am.” You meet a harried, balding man. He doesn't want to slow down to talk to you. “Thanks! Art, by the way.” "I'm Gridley. And I don't have much time to chat. I'm the quartermaster for Fort Ganrick. And I need help!" “With what? And hand me that stack of plates, I'll earn my keep, thanks.” “Here. Pot's over there. We need help more than anything. More people, more supplies. As things are, we can't hold up under a serious attack. We keep asking Fort Draco for supplies, but the Empire has them so scared they won't spare anything to fight the Nephilim." "You passed Fort Draco on the way up here. It's just a little ways south." “I know. Actually, there's supposed to be a detachment of trainees coming up sometime today to help out. I'm supposed to be their teacher. Where are the Nephilim anyways?” "They live to the east. We're here to hold them in." “Thanks for that. You must have fun, being quartermaster.” "Yeah. I keep track of supplies. Well, that's supposed to be my job. But I also cook. And clean. And hold the kids hands. And try to get everything in shape before we get attacked." “You think that'll be soon?” “They have to. It's in their nature. They've been wandering all around here, between the river and the dragon for years now. That they've finally settled down after their last place got blown to hell, what, five years ago? Yea, about that. Anyways, they have a base and they're making themselves a nuisance.” There is no in-game correlation between the events of update 13 of my previous LP and the presence of the coming dungeon, save the ones I created wholesale for the sake of the story. “I would have thought they would have disbanded after Anastasia died?” “No clue. Have you talked to the Captain yet? She can tell you more about what you need than I can. And thanks for helping out. I appreciate it.” “No problem.”  “No need to go in there. But I should check to see if they're here.” “Hrm, my people aren't here yet either. drat.” Some items are not available for taking. If you try when someone is watching, you'll be a thief, and the guards will attack you. Guards will ruin your day like nothing else ever will. So don't steal! “...” “Maybe I should check in with the Captain now. That water hit the spot.”  “Might as well get this over with.”  You meet a small woman with long red hair and intricately made chain mail. She wears the insignia of a captain, not to mention two long, vicious looking rapiers. “Greetings, Captain. Art, Unspecified Services.” "Cecile Vidican. Captain Vidican, to you. Welcome to Fort Ganrick." “What's the situation, Captain?”"I'm trying to help this fort get established. That's where you come in. There's Nephilim to the east. And a reward in it for you." “You mean the reward money I dropped off when I got here yesterday?” She nods. "Five hundred gold if you can kill their chieftain, a fierce Nepharim. He's somewhere deep in their fort. If you can find the rear entrance, though, you might get close to him. Should you succeed, come ask for your reward." “Feels weird accepting a bounty like that.” “You know the rules as much as I do.” “Right. How's the Fort doing? Granick, right?” "Fort Ganrick. Before the Empire attacked, this was a peaceful mining area. Then the Nephilim snuck up here, wiped out the miners, and got established. Now we're here to hold them in until we can root them out." "The kitties have established a lair to the east. We don't have the troops for a frontal assault, but we have high hopes that a small band can sneak in and do some damage to keep them off guard. The hard part is getting past the gate." She pats her blades. "We have to do something before they attack. We're ready, but not that ready." “You sound certain they'll attack soon.” “They've made raids in the past. We're worried they'll attack this fort in the near future. Small sorties we can handle, but we're not ready for a pitched battle yet." She thinks. "If we do get attacked, we'll need your help. Be sure to use the armory." “I saw it. I was looking for my kit at the time.” "You can find supplies in the rooms to the east. Help yourself. We won't send you into the jaws of doom empty-handed. We don't have much to offer, I'm afraid. Little more than stone weapons, until Formello sends up something." “Actually, I'm headed there myself as soon as I can. How is Formello these days? She sighs. "Formello's the biggest town in these parts. It's where I grew up. It's a ways to the southeast. I've been all over, and Formello is the nicest place in Exile by far." She sighs again. "Of course, that's not saying much." “...” “...” “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, where the hells is my sword?” “I put it in my room for safe keeping. You were in no condition to keep it in your quarters.” She gets up for a minute, then returns, bearing Art's weapon. “Never seen its like before. What is it?” “Officially, Boutell's calling it the Alien Blade. He's not sure what alloy it's made of, let alone who did.” “All wavy like that. How can anyone handle it?” “Surprisingly well. The curves seem like they would make a mess of things, but it's actually pretty good once in motion. It's also hard to block because you can't tell exactly where the edge is.” “You actually sound like you know what you're talking about. I expected less from a fake.” “Excuse me?” “You're a fake. No way a looker like you” “You think I'm a looker? That I got this job because of my face?” “Yes! That, or you slept your way into position as a morale officer. There's no way that you did everything people say you did.” “Oh come on!” “It's people like you who give good soldiers a bad name!” “Easy for you to say, sitting in your office worried about some damned Kitties! I was actually out on the front, doing actual work!” “I don't believe you. There's no way anyone could do the things people say you've done. Kill Sss-Thsss? I can believe that. But a Demon Lord? And the Emperor? And that you found the Exit? Impossible! You know what? I'm sick of you. Get out of my office.” “Typical. But I suppose I'll just practise here until they show up, then I can start their training.” And that's that. Now it's time for the thread to suggest characters to join Art in her new adventure. Exile has room for six people in the party, and I'd like to have you guys create the rest. Check out the post on Character Creation, and design a PC. Remember that you'll have 60 Skill Points and unlimited funds to work with! Write up a backstory or a character description and post it in the thread. I'll compile them, and once I feel we have enough selection, I'll select one PC to joint the party outright, then have the rest voted on by you guys. And here's the map of Fort Ganrick, with locations marked.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 07:38
|
|
|
Update 001a – Character Creation Time to introduce the mechanics for Character Creation in Exile 2. In most ways it's the same as its predecessor, but with the addition of Traits that can help complicate or make for more interesting characters. The other big change is the addition of non-human characters. Exile has improved relations with the Nephilim and Slithzerikai, and as such, those two species are also available as PCs. It doesn't affect gameplay in any material manner, but it will affect my story. This is the default party selection screen. 6 average PCs that I don't like, and will of course be replaced by the suggestions of the Goons in the thread. So I'm going to delete them all. Much better! Let's move on with Art's Character Creation, shall we? When you first start a character, you are brought to this screen. Here you choose the species of your PC, their Advantages and Disadvantages. All these options have some effect on the amount of XP the character needs to level up. You see, by default, the bog-standard human requires 100XP to go up a level. Improving your character increases the XP required to level up, and giving your character disadvantages reduces it. Note that all percentages are multilplicative, so stacking Advantages on someone will hurt their long-term prospects, a lot. So, from the top:
For the purposes of this LP, I would like one of each of the Nephil and the Sliths represented, though no more than 3 PCs total. Now, the Advantages are something that increase your character's ability in Exile, mostly in combat – though exceptions exist.
I will say this right now. The PCs are not leaving the starting town unless one party member has Cave Lore. More than that would be redundant. Disadvantages, however, are not so nice. Though they do provide a reduction in the amount of XP required to level up.
Not all Traits are made equal, and this shows in their unpolished nature. One thing that Avernum did better was improving this system, but we're here with version 1 of the system. Art, for expediency, is simply Ambidextrous, which she was in the first LP, but the mechanics didn't support it. Now it does! She has no other traits, as, honestly, they don't fit her character, and she doesn't need them to be the whirling buzz-saw of doom she's built to be. Now, on to allocating Skill Points for our PCs: This looks like a lot, so I'm going to start going down on the left side from the top. The first field is the name of NPC we're training. All training through skill points earned via level up also occur on a screen like this. However, seeing as how this is a new NPC, we haven't had a chance to name him/her/it yet. The purchasing of skills is done with two resources. The first is the amount of skill points we have on the character (earned at level-up), and the amount of gold we have in our party. The image is good enough, I won't recite the numbers later. However at character creation, we have 60 SP to work with, and infinite gold to spend. But what to spend it on? Health is a flat measure of HP. It goes up based on a character's Strength at each level-up, but can be increased directly. Every character starts with 6 Health that cannot be reduced. The max is 201. Spell Points power magic spells, and do not go up with level, they can only be purchased with the skill points earned by levelling up. The max is 99. Strength represents a character's soundness of body. The higher, the more HP a character will have in addition to dealing more damage with physical attacks. All characters start off with 1, but if they feel like taking any damage at all, should start with at least 3. The max is 20. Dexterity affects how ofter you hit or get hit in combat, as veterans of RPGs may assume, but also affect the Actions Points of a character, which will be explained when combat comes around. A high Dexterity will allow a person to do more per turn of combat than others. All characters start with 1, but if they want to do well in combat, should have at least three. The max is 20. Intelligence affects Spell Points and Magic damage as Strength affects HP and physical damage. It's a nice dichotomy. All characters start with 1, but if they want to do anything with magic, should have at least 3. The max is 20. Edged/Bashing/Pole/Thrown/Archery are all classes of weapons. Swords, Clubs, Spears, Throwing Stars and Bows respectively. They represent specialization in weapons, and the more you have, the better your ability to deal damage goes up. Focusing on a weapon can give more benefits than just the general benefits from a high Strength and Dex, so don't forget them. They all go to 20. Defence is a general skill to defend yourself with; making shields better and in general not getting hit, or even reducing damage. However, the most important aspect of it is that this skill reduces the Encumbrance you get from your equipment. I'll explain that in Combat. A good long-term investment. Goes to 20. Mage and Priest Spells represent the levels of spells available to the character. Having levels in these also improve your SP upon levelling up! Spells will be covered in more detail later, but at character creation, only spells up to level 3 are available. By the time we get to places with Level 4 spells available, we'll have enough skill points to buy more ranks in this. They both go up to 7. Mage Lore is a passive skill that is pooled across the party to determine if they know about stuff for plot points or resolving quests. It goes to 20, and by the mid game, we should have at least that many points in it across all our PC's. Alchemy is important for brewing potions from ingredients gathered from across the world, and they range from the 'why bother?' of thinks like Weak Poison Potions to 'absolutely vital' like Skill Potions. There is a core quest that requires this, but that won't be until very far into the game. Goes to 20. Item Lore allows us to identify items in our possession without spending money or spell points on Identify spells. It's fairly passive, and useful at low amounts to detect if an item is cursed or not. This goes to 10. Disarm Traps and Lockpicking are exactly what they say they are. Used for Traps and Locks, the skills go up to 20, and can be used on things magic won't work on. Dexterity provides a passive hidden bonus to these skills. Assassination is an unusual skill. Characters with it have a chance of doing bonus damage against any foe lower levelled than they are. This can help with cleaning trash mobs, or even against boss fights if you're over levelled. I like to think of this skill as the 'Win Harder' skill. Goes to 20, at which point you're dealing massive damage to anything less powerful than you. Poison is a skill that allows you to safely add poison to your weapons to try and hit foes with. Can be useful with Thrown or Archery based weapons, but I find it's just not worth the skill points in the long run. Goes to 20. Luck costs no money to train, and it does the most dangerous and powerful thing of all – it affects the RNG. Can go all the way to 20, if you dare. Here is what I'm putting into my initial character. 4 extra points of Health, 5 baseline Spell points, 5 in each of the base statistics, 3 levels of Priest spells, and the last 8 points into edged weapons, as knives and swords are common weapons. In practice, this a build that buff themselves using Priest spells for a round or two, then charges into melee. Casters and other ranged attacks can pick it apart, so support will be needed in the long run. This is the Character model selection. All PC's can have their own icons, and here is where the fun really begins! All PC images are bitmap images, 36x28, mirrored for when facing the other direction. For this LP, I will accept custom images for submitted PC's! Added to this from Exile 1 are the last two columns. 4 more Human PCs, including a freaking NINJA (WHY?), then four Nephil PC portraits then 4 Slith. I'll say it right now, I find the non-humans to be far less interesting than the human ones, so if anyone really wants to try their hand at a new PC graphic, please be my guest. But for now, I'm just going with the bottom of column two for no apparent reason. Wait, no, I have a splendid reason. And it's not just because it's the same graphic for Art back in Exile 1. Finally, we get to name our PC, and I've chosen Art. Because I can. Submissions!  I'll be taking calls for FIVE additional Player Characters. What I want are names, backgrounds and stats (or just guidelines). You can choose a PC picture yourself, or make on for additional brownie points. Just keep in mind that over the course of the game, we're going to be getting a lot of skill points to spend (upwards of 200 more during the course of the game), so you can have some flexibility in what you want to do. If there are more than five characters submitted, I'll put it up to the goons to weigh in on which ones they think are better. I will, of course, reserve the final say for myself. Now, on to the show!
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 07:40
|
|
|
This might be useful for anyone wanting to make sprites: e: Name: Marianna (Mari to her friends) Race: Human Icon:  Advantages: Nimble Fingers Marianna's parents probably hoped that boarding school would make their daughter into an upstanding member of society. Sadly, the education she got was rather different; in between the theatre classes (which she loved) and memorizing the names of Emperor Hawthorne's distant relatives (which she hated), she spent most of her time sneaking out after curfew, tricking her fellow students into cheating for her, and lying her way out of everything. In her senior year, this culminated in an ill-fated dognapping of the headmistress's pet, Mr. Barkums, which resulted in Mari getting summarily expelled. Rather than return to her parents in disgrace, she fled to the imperial capital, Solaria, and put her talents to use relieving the wealthy and unobservant of their valuables. Lies, fraud, impersonation, and a bit of old-fashioned larceny filled her pockets with jewellery and her ears with sordid secrets. But the Mr. Barkums Incident had taught her nothing of humility, and she got greedy. One of her nobly-born marks caught wise, alerted the guards, and then it was chains and dungeons and the portal. Exile is no place for a city-slicker, what with the horrible beasts and the lack of upscale coffee shops, but she's trying to make do. Skills: Story-wise, her main skill is deception; she's preternaturally good at misleading and manipulating other people, and can change personalities like most people change clothes. She's been faking it so long, she's almost forgotten how to tell the truth. For in-game skills, though, she values having an adaptable skillset, so she'd probably be a jack-of-all-trades, and learn whatever happens to catch her fancy at the moment. Just make sure she's got plenty of luck. megane fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 09:01
|
|
|
Alright, let me try my hand at this. Name: Mercy (Real Name: Khaaa-Hss) Reference Pic:  Icon:  Traits: Slith, Pacifist, Frail Skills: Intelligence, Defense, Priest Spells, Alchemy, Luck Background: An exile of a different sort, Khaaa-Hss was forced from his home during the tyrannical reign of Sss-Thsss, as his political views did not endear him to his increasingly war-like peers. A curious and friendly sort, Khaaa-Hss's spent the years trying to find a place to live amongst the other races of Exile; however, he found them all too warlike for his liking. During Grah-Hoth's demon invasion, however, Khaaa-Hss found an unlikely home amongst the humans: fleeing the demons, he sought shelter in a nearby village. He was almost killed on the spot, had he not managed to croak out the word "mercy", the sum total of his knowledge of the human language at the time. His skill with alchemy and healing soon made him invaluable to the small settlement, and he was tentatively allowed to live nearby; before long, he became the village's unlikely doctor. The townsfolk called him Mercy after the first word he spoke to them, though thankfully he became skilled with the language rather quickly. Mercy's been living amongst humans for years now, and has almost forgotten that most of humanity would distrust him. When war with the Empire started, he chose to help as best he could, applying his knowledge and magic as a medic for the forces of Exile. He refuses to personally engage in combat, remembering all too well the horrors of what his people became while under demonic influence. Personality: Mercy is friendly and jovial, but a bit naive. He takes a diplomatic approach to conversation, and will try to make new allies anywhere he can. Should a fight break out amongst his companions, Mercy will be the first to try to calm things down. Trauma from his exile has made him skittish amongst his own kind: he'll seek to avoid dealing with them whenever possible.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 09:39
|
|
|
Name: Conrad Ayers (Sorry, I'm not so good at names) Icon: Top of third row might work best Traits: Magically Apt (+20%), Sluggish (-10%) Skills: Intelligence, Mage Spells, Mage Lore, Item Lore Background: There are a few traits that don't mix well with being a mage. Conrad is most of those. Boisterous, loud, and with a love of stiff drink, he never really endeared himself much to his fellows at the tower. Combined with his general laziness about getting any work done, most of his teachers were glad to be shot of him once his initial training was complete. While he didn't fit in so well with his peers, he did have a natural talent for the art, soaking up the information given to him, and in the library like a sponge. One of his skill might have been on the fast track towards the upper echelons of the tower. "Hell no!" Conrad replied, and set forth for the lesser explored parts of Exile, seeking adventure, and wrongs to right. It would seem that books of magic were not the only ones he absorbed, mixing his extensive learning with more than a few stories of heroes saving towns from beasts and rogues. His heart is in the right place, however a little incident near the town of Cotra involving a troupe of actors derailed his quest, and the choice became either prison due to being unable to repay the damages, or work. And so he was sent to Fort Ganrick to aid in the garrison there. It hopefully won't be long till he works off the debt, but will he survive the boredom of guard duty? Personality: Active. Extremely friendly. However he has a tendency both to leap before looking, and to see things in black and white. Likes to think of himself as the hero in one of his stories, but in reality, he's just wrecking an entertainer's wagon, thinking it's a dragon. (Huh. That was a bit different in my head, but he ended up coming out something of a cross between Brian Blessed and Don Quixote. I think I like him better now)
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 10:15
|
|
|
And here we have the first Exile game that I really played. Going back to the first one seemed like a huge step back in terms of usability (though there were only a few changes they're really noticeable) and god drat it I like my kitties and lizards 
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 10:21
|
|
|
berryjon posted:
It doesn't seem like much, but I feel like this is the most noticeable difference between the first two games. I had only put a few hours into 1 when I started playing 2, and for some reason this made it really hard to go back. Name: Orssa - Female Slith, Magically Apt. Portrait:  Icon:  Stats:  (before racial bonuses)Orssa was chosen by the Slith elders to serve as an ambassador for her people. Intelligent, magically talented and unusually gifted in the human tongue, her official goal is to cement Human-Slithzeriki relations following the fall of Sss-Thsss by working with the government of Exile. Personally she seeks to learn more about surface-worlder magic and to integrate it into the daily lives of her people. For the time being, she is content to acclimate to human customs, such as their bizarre desire to drape themselves in cloth. Kiavahr fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 10:47
|
|
|
I always like culture-clash situations arising in a party, so here's my character suggestion: Name: Mrrawn Race: Nephilim (+12%) Icon:  Advantages: Nimble Fingers (+12%), Cave Lore (+6%) Disadvantages: Magically Inept (-8%) Skills: Health STR DEX Archery Disarm Traps +4: 8 pts Lockpicking +4: 4 pts Total points spent: 60 Personality: You'd think a hunter, especially one as skilled as Mrrawn, would be the silent type. And indeed, when he's on the hunt, Mrrawn becomes almost eerily focused, and the only words he says to his hunting companions are all focused on the business of bringing down the prey. But back home, in the company of his friends, he's quite gregarious. He's always had a fascination with humans, and has often watched human towns from a camouflaged position, observing the humans going about their business and trying to figure out what they are thinking and why they do what they do. He's gotten some things right, and some hilariously wrong: for example, he thinks beer-drinking is some sort of sacred ritual devoted to the human's fertility gods, since humans who've engaged in heavy drinking will often end up participating in mating behavior shortly afterwards. Recently, the elders of his village approached Mrrawn and suggested that it seems important to make friendly contact with the humans, and Mrrawn would be well-suited to do so. While Nephilim are a very individualistic culture and taking "orders" from any other Nephil would be a loss of face, a "suggestion" from the village elders carries almost the same weight as an order, and besides, this sort of thing is right up Mrrawn's alley anyway. So he packed his bow, snares, and provisions and set out for the nearest human town, Formello. He was greeted with hostility at first, but someone decided that he might be genuine, and sent him up to Fort Ganrick to fight the Nephilim bandits in the area as a test: is he loyal first to his race, or to the ideals of civilization? Since Mrrawn hates bandits, bullies, and any who would prey on those weaker than them, he has no problems with this idea. Tax Refund fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Dec 19, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 11:16
|
|
|
Left the stat array as priorities because I couldn't remember how costs scaled anymore. Name: Dmurr Race: Female Nephilim (+12%) Icon: Nephil Archer(there's kind of only the one) Advantages: Nimble Fingers - (+12%) Cave Lore - (+6%) Disadvantages: Frail - (-8%) Main Stats: Strength 3(6pts) Dexterity 6(15pts) Intelligence 1 Warrior Skills: Archery 4(8pts) Magic Skills: Alchemy 4(8pts) Other Skills: Disarm Traps 3(6pts) Lockpicking 3(3pts) Poison 2(4pts) Luck 2(10pts) Background: Thrown out by her tribe for being persistently drunk, Dmurr has an exceptional love and low tolerance for strange concoctions to spice up the dreadful quality of drink available in Exile, going so far as to make her own brews. She wanders the wilderness of Exile, seeking out more things to bottle. There should be something out there that could make the alcohol decent, if only she can find it. Unfortunately for her, her quest was derailed by trying out a new mushroom brew in Cotra. The ensuing property damage, and the stolen booze in her pack, got her sent to Fort Ganrick, the better to sober her up and pay off the damages. She heard they have no alcohol of any sort there. It must be hell. Personality: Cheerful and annoyingly friendly when she's had a bottle in her, Dmurr gets increasingly high strung and jittery the longer she gets between drinks, giving the illusion of being extremely focused(which she is, but only on getting her hands on the next bottle). Nevertheless, she has a well honed survival instinct, and is surprisingly capable of shooting straight even when barely able to stand straight. veekie fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Dec 19, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 12:17
|
|
|
quote:Pacifist - (-40%) - This character cannot cause damage. At all. Not through spells or through weapons. They are stuck in a support role, and can only gain Plot XP, and XP from the other party members killing things. The biggest pain with the pacifist trait is that it doesn't even allow you to cast Bless spells or similar. Just healing and non-combat spells.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 14:54
|
|
|
HisMajestyBOB posted:The biggest pain with the pacifist trait is that it doesn't even allow you to cast Bless spells or similar. Just healing and non-combat spells. Not even buffs huh. No summoning either I suppose?
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 15:12
|
|
|
veekie posted:Not even buffs huh. No summoning either I suppose? Nope  I tried running with a pacifist priest in my recent playthrough. Good for healing/curing and light, but not for much else, sadly.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 15:19
|
|
|
Wow, every suggested character so far has been nonhuman. Guess my suggestion needs a quick race-lift then  Name: Irving Race: Human Icon: 4th from the left, 3 row (guy clad in leathers with open vest) Advantages: Cave Lore, Good Constitution Build: Sword-based fighter with a focus on Assassination (+STR, +Blades, +Assasination) Background: A soldier in the Slith War of Exile 1, Irving was part of an ill-fated attack on Sss-Thss's island fortress. An early injury to his leg took him out of the combat, leaving him to watch as his comrades fought their way into the fortress...and never returned. When a Slith patrol came looking for him, he was forced to take one of his squad's boats and flee into the Waterfall Warrens, the only place he could reach where they would not follow him. He stayed there, thoroughly lost, for the entire rest of the war, tending his wound as best he could, surviving off of fish and lichen, and fending off the many hostile creatures of the caves. By the time he finally made his exit from the maze of waterfalls, the Slith War was long over. He returned to the army, volunteering his new survivalist skills to the cause as a scout and, when he has a map, guide. He's been assigned to keep an eye on this new group of recruits and make certain they don't get into too much trouble. A genial sort (and a bit lax on military discipline), he doesn't hold much of a grudge against sliths or nephils (after all, he knows that the ones in this group are not the same ones that killed his comrades in the war)...though he wouldn't mind going for a wrestling match against them. Just for fun, you know. TooMuchAbstraction fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Dec 19, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 16:11
|
|
|
Looks badly in need of a Mage/Priest/Human dedicated mage to me.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 16:21
|
|
|
Also, something to keep in mind: experience penalties aren't a huge problem, since the amount of experience you get from a kill scales based on the difference between your level and the enemy's level. In other words, there's a soft level cap no matter what; having experience penalties just means it takes a bit longer to get there. Contrariwise, you can really hose yourself with some of the negative traits, without really getting much of an advantage from higher levels.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 17:00
|
|
|
TheBystander posted:Name: Mercy (Real Name: Khaaa-Hss) As others have noted, not all Traits are made equal. Being a Pacifist is a large hindrance in the long run. RaspberryCommie posted:Name: Conrad Ayers Human Mage who is wondering why Art is the protagonist? Perhaps.... Kiavahr posted:Name: Orssa - Female Slith, Magically Apt. A Slith Mage, to contrast the previous Human Mage. Fair enough. Also, I see you're playing the Mac version. Tax Refund posted:Name: Mrrawn As with E1, Archery and Assassination don't stack. veekie posted:Left the stat array as priorities because I couldn't remember how costs scaled anymore. They don't. It a fixed cost no matter what. veekie posted:Name: Dmurr Nephil Drunken Archery Master? TooMuchAbstraction posted:Wow, every suggested character so far has been nonhuman. Guess my suggestion needs a quick race-lift then No, Conrad is human too! TooMuchAbstraction posted:Name: Irving Straight up stabby person, excellent! Keep up the suggestions people. And do throw a few more humans into the mix, please! I'm not sure when I'll close down the suggestions, as I know Christmas is almost upon us, but I will give people fair warning.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 17:41
|
|
|
berryjon posted:As others have noted, not all Traits are made equal. Being a Pacifist is a large hindrance in the long run. Ah, I had no idea; I thought at least you'd be able to Bless. Just remove Pacifist as a trait then.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 17:46
|
|
|
HisMajestyBOB posted:Nope Though if you want to see how fast you can die you could always make a party of 6 pacifists.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 18:21
|
|
|
Oh awesome the lp is up! Name: Montoya Race: human male Trait: ambidextrous (at some point says "I'm not left handed") His whole family was exiled when he was a child. In the recent attacks his father was killed. And now the empire needs to die. He rash and good with swords.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 18:24
|
|
|
Shwqa posted:Oh awesome the lp is up! Nixed for being mechanically the same as Art. And I'm far too low class for the Princess Bride. You're welcome to try again! So, yes. Unless Nakar comes here and submits Steve personally, I'm just going to put the kibosh on any blatant things like that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 18:44
|
|
|
Edited in my entry upthread. It's interesting trying to match Exile's graphic style, but brings back fond memories of making dumb recolored sprites when I was a kid. If anybody wants me to pixel them a PC sprite, I'd very much enjoy doing so; just give me a description to work from!
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 19:06
|
|
|
megane posted:Edited in my entry upthread. It's interesting trying to match Exile's graphic style, but brings back fond memories of making dumb recolored sprites when I was a kid. If anybody wants me to pixel them a PC sprite, I'd very much enjoy doing so; just give me a description to work from! This gave me huge flashbacks to spending dozens of hours lovingly crafting new character portraits for my Dungeon Master / Chaos Strikes Back characters, with glowing eyes and swords and lightning because when you're 10 that poo poo is bad rear end.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 19:39
|
|
|
Name: Sss-Graa (James) Race: Slith Trait: Toughness Pic:  Found from here: http://koutanagamori.deviantart.com/art/Lizard-man-168597199Skills: Pole Weapons, HP, Str, Dex, Assassination Background: A Slith warrior who grew up in Gnass, at a young age his talent with pole weapons and his dedication to combat quickly earned him the respect of the elders. However when he became of age, his wanderlust got the best of him and he began to travel to learn more about the caves. His markings that told others that he was from Gnass helped him as they showed he came from the peaceful Slith and he took the human name of James to help blend in with humans. James has always been a slith of few words, allowing his actions to speak for him, however ale and wine tend to help loosen his tongue pretty quick. He heard the stories of the Exiles who killed the emperor of the Empire from the chieftains and upon hearing that one of them was looking for recruits, he made his way towards Fort Ganrick to further learn and explore the caves. Kuros fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Dec 19, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 19:41
|
|
|
berryjon posted:They don't. It a fixed cost no matter what.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 20:56
|
|
|
Name: Adel Behdin Race: Human Icon:  MAny thanks to megane for the recolor!Portrait:  Traits: Magically Apt, Toughness, Frail Skills: Intelligence, SP, Priest Spells (Primary), Mage Spells (Secondary), Luck. Background: Heretic, homosexual, charismatic, there are a myriad of reasons why Adel was seen fit to banish to the underground at the age of 19. Born to a pair of priests of the Order of Prevailing Righteousness, Adel was expected to be a link in the chain. To have strong faith, to build a strong family, to fight evil with priestly powers and to never ask uncomfortable questions. Instead he was thoughtful, of wavering faith, of no interest in taking a wife. He was placed under the tutelage of a harsh elder priest who sought to scourge out the undesirable characteristics from the boy, putting him through hard work with little food or rest and teaching him priestly spells with a merciless edge to every rite and supplication. He turned his bitterness into introspection and through his magical tutelage developed his own perspective on faith. He's come to believe in the One Source: that all magic, priestly or arcane, comes from a single flow and that flow of energy is itself divine, benevolent and intelligent. He believes the Source to support harmony between systems, to be empowered by freedom and independence and quashed by imperialism and oppression. His teacher pulled some strings and had the boy banished to Exile for his heresy, slipping him right through the cracks. Personality: Adel is gentle and thoughtful and always in good humor, an absolutely fundamental believer in goodness, charity, freedom and protecting the innocent. His new-found faith has made him a church of one and when he's not espousing virtue he's conducting experiments to discover or contact the One Source, to truly see if his faith holds up under scrutiny. He no longer believes in gods, only in people and the turning of systems such as community, nature and magic. He's fascinated with magical artifacts and channeling magical energy and would gladly endanger himself to learn more about them or acquire means to enhance his ability to channel. To this end he's taken up the study of Mage spells as well as priestly, to expand his knowledge of different ways to channel spell energy. Those who channel magic live longer than those who don't. He believes this fact is integral to proving his theories and discovering the One Source to be truth, to those ends he wants to become a font of SP. He wants to break past the fundamentally understood limits of the human body storing magical energy and in that moment touch divinity. Edited: Added in megane's awesome recolored icon. Sparda219 fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Dec 23, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 21:21
|
|
|
Sparda219 posted:Stuff about a new religion Judging from Adel's philosophy, a) you've played Exile II before, and b) there's a very specific spell you're hoping berryjon will abuse the crap out of. Though I suspect it won't make Adel happy  For what it's worth, Irving is somewhat inspired by Steve Irwin (I figured actually calling him "Irwin" would be a bit too on-point), but he's not necessarily tied to that characterization. Maybe his portrait should be Paul Hogan (c.f. Crocodile Dundee)?
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 21:32
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Judging from Adel's philosophy, a) you've played Exile II before, and b) there's a very specific spell you're hoping berryjon will abuse the crap out of. Oh I'm banking on it not making him very happy. I would love to see where berryjon takes it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 21:42
|
|
|
Oh, I'm not that interested in abusing mechanics. I'll show it off, certainly, but I won't go out of my way to break things that hard. OF NOTE FOR CHARACTERS, enough time has passed in Exile that PCs can be native-born, more than just the Sliths or Nephil. Not everyone has come from the surface. In fact, no one has for the past five years.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 21:46
|
|
|
berryjon posted:Human Mage who is wondering why Art is the protagonist? Perhaps.... Figured it could make an interesting contrast. Idealist with all his ideas about what a hero should be vs. an actual hero and how things actually happen.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 23:25
|
|
|
berryjon posted:As with E1, Archery and Assassination don't stack. Thanks for letting me know; I've updated my character post with new stats. Edit: Also, Mrrawn and Dmurr look like the same basic build: a Nephil archer/scout/thief with nimble fingers and cave lore. The only real difference I can see is that Mrrawn is more focused on archery and traps, whereas Dmurr spent points more widely by including Alchemy, Poison and Luck in the build and is, consequently, not quite as skilled at fighting and thief skills. I'll probably only vote for one of the two in the party, since two nearly-identical builds is unnecessary. Edit 2: Nobody's submitted a tank build yet, so here's one. Name: Chester Race: Human Icon:  (fourth column, second row)Advantages: Toughness, Cave Lore Disadvantages: None Skills: Health +10: 10 pts STR +6: 18 pts DEX +4: 12 pts _____ Weapons +5: 10 pts Defense +5: 10 pts Total: 60 pts For Chester's weapons skill, pick one of edged or bashing, whichever is the best fit for the party composition. Basically, whichever is least used in the rest of the party, so that someone can use any weapon you pick up. (Given that we'll have a Slith or two, pole weapons will probably be covered, and anyway most pole weapons don't lend themselves well to shield use.) His fighting style is either sword-and-board or club-and-board. Background: Chester was born in Exile, in a small farming village, and has never known the surface world. When the Empire invasions started, he was just 13, and couldn't join the army yet -- but he started training with whatever weapons he could get his hands on, and built a shield out of planks to train with as well. He didn't have any family killed by the Empire, he just wanted to defend his home against the invaders. The day he turned 18, he walked down to his local recruitment station to sign up. He was a little disappointed to be sent to some remote outpost to deal with Nephilim bandits rather than going to the front lines, but he'll serve wherever he's needed most. And if that means a remote outpost, then he'll serve at a remote outpost. Hopefully if he does a good job here, this will lead to more important postings later on. Personality: Earnest, honest, straightforward, Chester is exactly what he seems like. If this world had grenades, he'd be the guy who would jump on the grenade to save his buddies. Basically, think Captain America in personality, though not in any other way. (He doesn't throw his shield, he came by his muscles genetically rather than via a super-soldier experiment... He's not intended to be a clone of anyone.) He doesn't always pick up on sarcasm right away, making him a great unintentional straight man for more snarky party members to play off of. But he's not stupid either; if you're making fun of him, he'll figure it out and let you know he doesn't appreciate it. And if you ignore his polite request to stop, he'll let you know in other ways... like lizards showing up inexplicably in your bedroll. He may be a bit of a boy scout, but he's not going to let anyone push him around either. Note on character build: Since a lot of characters are showing up with Cave Lore, I thought of omitting it from Chester's build. But his backstory, growing up in Exile, means he basically would have Cave Lore. Still, feel free to omit it if it's not needed due to many other people having it. Tax Refund fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2013 23:30
|
|
|
 Cameron Carson, Disreputable Mage Image:  Skills: Primarily Intelligence and Mage Spells, plus some Lockpicking, Disarm Traps and the Dexterity to support them. Advantages: Magically Apt, Nimble Fingers. Disadvantages: Frail. Background: Cameron is a coward. He always has been and he always will be. He was a coward growing up in Baghra and hiding from the petty pickpockets and bullies; he was a coward when he snuck through the caverns of the giants, escaping the lawlessness of the Abyss for the safer caverns east; and he was a coward when he stole a book of spells from the under the noses of the Tower of the Magi. Because, unlike many cowards, Cameron finds his fear doesn't paralyse him; it spurs him into action. He is painfully aware that he is surrounded by danger at all times: the blades of the Empire, the justice of Exile's government, and the monsters of the caverns. The world, Cameron reasons, is a dangerous place; the solution is to become more dangerous than it. And, lacking the physique to learn swordsmanship, there's really nothing for it but to become the most powerful wizard who ever lived. He thought he'd found a safe spot in Cotra to settle down and perfect his studies, but with one thing and another, he found himself drawn north. The military there was recruiting, and he figured the safest place to be right now was behind a large number of trained, armoured, and above all loyal soldiers. Cameron is paranoid. Cameron is devious. And Cameron seeks out opportunity. People who don't understand him think he's motivated by gold, or by favours, or by magical knowledge, but really all that he's after is safety. It's just that Cameron measures his safety by the number of people he can kill in the first minute of combat.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 01:07
|
|
|
Whybird posted:Cameron Carson, Disreputable Mage So he's Rincewind, if Rincewind were a competent mage? I can dig it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 02:30
|
|
|
Name: Geoffrey Archer (Human) Mr. Archer is the only child of a modest background, neither poor nor affluent. Despite the name, Geoffrey was an all-kingdom fencing champion in his youth who became something of a minor celebrity. Despite his burgeoning fame, he kept a level head on his shoulders and remained humble. Nevertheless, despite a lack of hubris he was brought down. One day he was skirmishing with some spoiled brat son of a noble house and beating him quite badly. The noble, infuriated that a "peasant" like Geoffrey could be the better of him despite his insanely expensive training and "good genes", ceded defeat. While Geoffrey was wiping his brow, his opponent stabbed him in the left knee with his rapier, which was secretly enchanted to burst into flame on command. The damage was severe and, though he is mobile, not even magic could totally heal his affliction and he limps noticeably to this day. The injury actually causes him no pain, merely a weakness and instability in the joint, but he is very self-conscious about his limp. After his wounding, he naturally had to give up swordplay, which was the only life he had ever known. After a time, his savings ran out and his condition made it that he couldn't even earn a basic living, which left him on the verge of homelessness and starvation for several years. During this time, he developed a deep loathing for the wealthy classes who allowed decent people, him and others, to flounder and waste away while they lived in appalling luxury. Finally, a sharp mind and a quick tongue earned him a fellowship with a magical college where he excelled. During his studies he became a vocal opponent of the wealthy aristocracy and the monarchy that supported them, as he blamed that group for his crippling and fall from grace as well as much of society's ills. His acrid critiques of the ruling class made him a lot of enemies, and he was one of the final surface-dwellers exiled before the practice was terminated. Advantages: Magically Apt... some people just got it, mate. Disadvantages: Sluggish. His mobility is limited due to his bad left knee, which had a strong influence on his desire to become a capable thaumaturge and a decent shot with a bow. As he is no longer as active as he was as a fencing champion and a scholar's life is a sedentary one, he is also somewhat overweight, which limits his mobility further. Additional disadvantages: Pyrophobe. Due to the burning injury that destroyed his knee, Geoffrey despises fire in all forms and has since refused to use any fire magic for any reason. (This isn't in the game, it's just for flavour) Physical Skills: A bright and robust chap with good Str and high Int, but limited dexterity due to the aforementioned bad knee. No skill in melee weapons - his swordsmanship skills have degraded and his handicap makes it very hard for him to manoeuvre in combat. He sought some training in archery so that he could defend himself from distance when sorcery wasn't an option. Other skills: I wouldn't propose such a character in Avernum with the 4-character limit, but since Exile allows 6 I propose Geoffrey as the generalist tertiary caster. He's equally balanced between clerical and arcane magic, though later on you can stop growing his clerical magic at level 4 or so. A bit of mage lore as well, if possible, but the key quirk of this chap is that he keeps his distance as his handicap makes him all but useless in melee combat. Granted, some of that might be in his head. Personality: Geoffrey uses his rapier whit (pun very much intended) to cope with the anger he feels towards his injury and the hatred he feels towards the ruling classes and the wealthy. He is a tremendously generous and compassionate man towards the legitimately downtrodden and disenfranchised, but has no compassion or patience for the decadent, rich, or spoiled. He idolises the original Committee and especially Art for taking down Hawthorne, and holds her in very high esteem. Despite being a humble, if bitter, fellow, he tends to speak in a rather elite way, using a lot of technical terms and purple prose. However, it's merely a personality quirk and not a way of putting himself above others. (Think Karmas from Exile 1) Deep down, Geoffrey is slightly glad for this invasion as he badly wants to hurt the kingdom in any way that he can. On a lighter note, Geoffrey enjoys cheese and cats, though there's little cheese in Exile (I presume) and his new role in the party would preclude feline companions. JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 03:34
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:So he's Rincewind, if Rincewind were a competent mage? I can dig it. There's definitely a lot of similarity between the two, but Rincewind's problem was always that he could never see the big picture because he was so focused on escaping whatever dangerous situation he'd fallen into. Cameron is kind of the opposite: he spends so much time focusing on this obsession with being an unassailable magical powerhouse that he doesn't realise it's the main source of the danger he's supposedly trying to avoid.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 08:55
|
|
|
Name: Hawthorne Rekban (human) The Rekban clan was a small but wealthy family living in Blackstone on the continent of Pralgrad. Such was the family's esteem for the Empire that Hawthorne's mother named him after King Hawthorne, who she often declared to him was 'the greatest man ever to live'. Unfortunately at the age of six, one of the family's rivals framed his father for the crime of theft from the treasury he helped manage, causing him to be executed and the remainder of the family Exiled below. Without a father and with a name to engender the hatred of most in Avernum, young Hawthorne had to grow up fast. He got into fights at first over his name, and then over the way other people looked at him - and occasionally because of the way other people apologized for the way they looked at him. He worked as a boatbuilder's apprentice in Cotra for a few years, earning little, but enough to keep his mother fed. However, the caves of Exile did not agree with her, and an illness of the lungs killed her. It was during this time that a shipment of iron weapons were being sent south from Cotra to Almaria, as the war with the slith was just beginning. Hawthorne was sent along to fix any problems with the boat en route. During that time, the craft was attacked by slithzerikai,and the crew butchered. Hawthorne hid in a cupboard on board, and was not seen by the slith. The boat foundered on the shores near the Honeycomb, the slith's attention drawn to another passing craft. Realising his good fortune, Hawthorne quietly lifted the entire cargo and managed to sell them piecemeal to adventurers, mercenaries, and so on. He wandered south, eventually making his way to the Tower of the Magi. There he bartered his way into an apprenticeship, and became a passable mage. His habit of getting into fistfights with the other apprentices over very little, his slow progress learning spells, and his relative inability to study with the same proficiency as other, more talented apprentices meant that there was no place for him in the Tower after he finished his apprenticeship. So he went north, seeking a job as an adventurer. Image: Fifth column, second row. While most mages wear robes to showcase their mystery and power, Hawthorne tends to find his get in the way of a solid punch and so often prefers to go shirtless. Skills: 2 points in strength, 4 points in intelligence, 4 points in mage lore, 3 points in mage spells, 3 points in defense. 5 points in health, 8 points in SP. Advantages: Magically Apt. While not very intelligent, Hawthorne always seemed to manage to throw some of the biggest fireballs. Personality: Boisterous, often drunk, and always pushing for a fight, Hawthorne likes to round out his punches with fireballs or ice bolts between swings, and seems to have very little sense of what is and isn't dangerous. While a decent magician in combat, he tends to fall short when trying to identify items, decipher scrolls, or determine whether an enemy is just an imp wearing a mask or an actual god-to-honest haakai. Despite this, people seem to like him, largely because of his instantaneous loyalty to anyone who doesn't make fun of his name and the fact that those who mock his friends always seem to end up with a few bruises and black eyes (and occasionally a burn). Despite being a mage, he is not well-read and often uses long words wrongly or stumbles across a word or two with occasionally embarrassing results.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 10:48
|
|
|
I've had an idea ever since halfway through the first thread, I just need to find thirty minutes to write it up. Maybe later tonight.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 14:52
|
|
|
Caradoc Icon: Second column, first row. "Most people down here think of Exile as a place for the politically undesirable or dissidents who need to be gotten out of the way. There's some truth to that, but me? I probably deserved being booted into Fort Emergence." "I was born in Sharimik in the Valorim province Up There, but I grew up in Kriszan. My parents abandoned me and left for the Isle of Bigail to join some cult when I was ten, and it left me out on the street. I wasn't about to give up, so I fell in with a gang. Being tougher than most kids my age and some adults, I did decent enough. Our leader Griff was a careful one, always made sure to grease the palm of one of the guard captains, a prick named Arbuckle, and was careful about the targets we picked. We never rolled anyone too rich or too connected and we always spaced out our activities. At the time, I didn't give a poo poo, I just did what I was told to do by Griff. Whatever I was told to do. Didn't make much of a difference to me if it was threatening an cloth merchant's daughter with my mace to get her mother to pay protection money or beating a priest who was preaching against the small brothel we had opened. I did my job and did it well." "That is, until we picked the wrong target. A weapons dealer who had bribed Arbuckle to provide new weapons to the city guards for an inflated price. He never saw me as I worked him over for his gold, but he saw Griff and that was enough. The next day, Arbuckle arrested all twelve of us and executed Griff in the city square in front of us. 'An example for those who disrupt the public order.' The rest of us were given a choice: Exile or the Army. Most chose the Army, I chose Exile. I had taken enough orders and wouldn't put myself in that same position again." "Since I came down just before the death of that cheesedick Hawthorne, I wandered. Occasionally worked as a guard for a merchant moving between Cotra and Formello, occasionally worked as a sellsword going after the Sliths before Sss-Thsss was made into a leather bag, occasionally crushed a couple of Kitty skulls. I just did what a man who's good with a mace does when he needs to get beer in his mug and food on his plate. Since the Empire started flooding into the caverns, I figure the frontier's getting all the regular soldiers pulled into the meat grinder, leaving room for someone like me to make a bit of coin. Never been to Fort Ganrick, but figure it'll be worth the trip." Caradoc is a fair-complexioned man in his early thirties with a broken nose and a couple of small scars on his face. He is well-built and dresses in plain clothes. Personality: Caradoc is a thug, with all that entails. Mostly amoral, he doesn't really care how he uses his skills, just that he makes some money while doing so. He's fine with most anyone so long as they don't try to preach or moralize at him, but those he truly despises are hypocrites like Arbuckle. His parents' abandonment of left him with a skepticism of religion and the religious as well as a soft spot for children. He had to grow up quickly on the streets and it's always been something he's resented. He never hates those he fights, because he only ever fights in self-defense or for money, an opinion he gladly shares with anyone whenever the topic comes up. Build: Focus on Strength, Bashing Weapons and Assassination. Toughness and Good Constitution for Advantages. Must Love Dogs fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2013 20:44
|
|
|
I've got a character concept for personality, less so for mechanics - if the mechanical build doesn't seem too useful, that can slide. Name: Aarth-Tsss Race: Slithzerkai Background: Aarth-Tsss was born in Gnass - only an unnamed child during Sss-Thsss's reign of terror. She grew up hearing tales of the monstrous Slith's madness, and how she had to be better than that - how she had to learn to not hate humans. Then, one day, six humans came to visit the settlement. She did not speak with them, only watched from afar - and yet, somehow, she knew that this would be important. And then Sss-Thsss died. Slain, by a human woman named 'Art'. Aarth-Tsss chose her name upon coming of age with the intent of honouring this heroic woman, venturing toward human society in an attempt to mend bridges. One of the humans slew the cruel overlord - they were capable of great good. She was innocent, unknowing of what they could truly do. And she learned. She learned of the magi, of Linda, of Erika. She learned of the Empire, even then beginning its assault on Exile, and of the cruelty of Emperor Hawthorne. A human like Sss-Thsss - - and like him, also slain by the heroine, Art. The more Aarth-Tsss learned about her chosen namesake, the more she sought to emulate her. She signed on to assist the humans in repelling the Empire's vengeance - as the Slith monster was opposed, so should be the Human monster - seeking to learn more about this 'Art' woman, hoping to one day meet her. Praying, even - where the gods had not helped, Art had. This has culminated in a rumor - that there was a mission to be accomplished, and that Art might - just might - be involved in it. A chance Aarth-Tsss could not pass up. She would meet her hero. And she would do anything in her power to help her. tl;dr: Slith fangirl of Art, Slayer of Sss-Thsss. Stats: As mentioned, less important. Tempted to suggest a defensive frontline build - possibly with Toughness, definitely putting points in Defense. Priest spells optional but handy - someone to stay standing long enough to heal the others. Not sure how compatible pole weapons are with spears - if it comes down to a choice, I think Pole Weapons are more traditional for the slith, all things considered. Image: I like the second Slith picture - final column, fourth row. Though I'm half-tempted to photoshop up a slith with a purple poncho...
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 05:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 17, 2024 00:22 |
|
|
Must Love Dogs posted:Caradoc Are you really sure you want that background? Are you really sure you want to submit that character in this LP, and not, say, for E3? Gullwhacker posted:tl;dr: Slith fangirl of Art, Slayer of Sss-Thsss. I.... Whoa. I can have *fun* with this. A lot of *fun*.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 07:17
|
|