Forgeborn (39/365)
Alikin Forgeborn was my initial character concept for the Silver Gryphons game. He was a dwarf, the progenitor of the Ironarm family that eventually produced Liam Ironarm. Related by clan to my Runecaster Dwarf because they both came from Dol Azoth. Though this guy might have even been Alikin's father but I don't know for sure.
Alikin himself was called Forgeborn because he was literally born on the floor of his mother's workshop when she went into premature labor. He was born slightly early and very weak but seemed to get heathier and stronger by the day. The priesthood declared it was a sign of Moradin's favor and that Alikin was marked for great things.
That was more or less when everything went wrong.
He spent his time in the forges where he had a great deal of talent but he also made clear his intent to join Moradin's temple as a priest. He did....and Moradin wouldn't speak to him. Alikin spent 60 years travelling back and forth between Dol Azoth and another dwarven enclave further into Asalonia but no matter what he did Alikin just didn't recieve that divine connection which would've marked him as a cleric. Neither did he manifest the gifts of the paladin.
The entire course of his life, though, changed. Dol Azoth was attacked by a horde of greenskins, backed by Lord Hestor in an ettempt to breach Asalonia's borders. While the hold was wiped out to a dwarf more or less, the entire attacking force was decimated and the tunnels through the mountains were collapsed via magic, cutting off any easy entry into Asalonia's interior. During the attack, however, Alikin found his calling in Moradin's name; he was the Hammer of the Forgefather; the wrath of the Soulforger. He awakened to his calling as a Crusader of Moradin.
Eventually he joined the Army and Light and from there the campaign begins.
Alikin is actually somewhat of an interesting build considering I made him -- he's pretty damn simple. No weird rules, no esoteric features, just simple.
The entire build is centered around divine power and a blossoming connection to the earth (something that strengthens as the generations progress until Liam Ironarm comes along as its pinnacle). I've thought about adding in various classes but in the end.... I tihnk I like Alikin exactly where he is now.
And where is that?
Level
1 Crusader True Believer
2 Crusader
3 Crusader Weapon Focus (Maul)
4 Crusader Earth Sense, Earth Adept
5 Crusader
6 Pious Templar Battle Blessing
7 Crusader
8 Pious Templar
9 Pious Templar Earth Devotion, Weapon Specialization (Maul)
10 Pious Templar Martial Study/Stance
11 Crusader
12 Pious Templar Earth Master
13 Pious Templar
14 Crusader
15 Pious Templar Devoted Bulwark
16 Pious Templar Martial Study/Stance
17 Crusader
18 Pious Templar Extra Smiting
19 Pious Templar
20 Crusader Diehard
So, let's get in the meat of it, shall we?
Alikin is a divine powerhouse of a different stripe. He's not a cleric, he's not a paladin, he just channels Moradin's fury and hot DAMN does he do a good job of it! While he may not be a paladin, Alikin did end up getting alot of similiar abilities to a paladin, hence Pious Templar. Between Crusader and Pious Templar he's sitting as a 10th level caster with full access to every Paladin spell in there game along with an Initiator Level of 15. He's also sitting on DR 2/-- with a delayed damage pool of 15. I have Mettle, I have 20 levels of a good Fort save, 10 levels of a good Will save and I add my Cha bonus to my Will Saves (Okay, so I'm an earth dwarf, my charisma sucks). d10 HD throughout which is pretty cool and even better is that I smite 3/day before any feats.
See, Pious Templar is pretty awesome, it gives you a smite ability. But if you already have a smite ability -- which crusader does at 6th level -- then I just get more uses of Smite (2 to be specific over 10 levels) and the damage stacks. So I get to smite 3/day with a +20 to damage. Fun times eh?
And then we get into feats, yes?
At first level I'm taking True Believer and I do this for two reasons. One is because Pious Templar needs it and Two is because it fits RP-wise. Alikin spent his entire life believing Moradin has had some purpose for him, some duty for him. So he's the sort of dwarf who believes hard and doesn't ask why
3rd level and I get Weapon Focus (maul). There's a few reasons I'm doing this -- one, the maul is more awesome than the warhammer and it was still going to be allowed to count for Moradin's favored weapon. The reasoning I had was that the Warhammer is both a tool (symbolically) and a weapon of war. The maul is nothing but a weapon and so fits better with Alikins' position as the Wrath of the Soulforger.
Tangentially, if I could've swung a greathammer (so to speak) as Moradin's favored weapon I would've totally done that.
Now I have two feats listed at 4th level and this reflects the two training feats we got. I chose Earth Sense and Earth Adept because they represent Alikin's connection to the Earth via his ties to Moradin. In the event of a campaign where you don't get those feats I'd drop both of them (and Earth Master later). As for what they do? Earth Sense lets me use a move action to sense everything touching the earth around me (20 feet I think) and then Earth Adept gives me a +1 to damage if both of us are touching the ground.
At 6th level things get fun because I hit Pious Templar and start getting Paladin spells. So I naturally pick up Battle Blessing which lets me cast most paladin spells as a swift action now. Fun times eh? If I'm not switching stances I might as well cast spells, right?
At 9th level I get two feats, one from Pious Templar (Weapon Spec) and one normally which is Earth Devotion which is about as far as I'm taking the whole earth connection/power idea. He can carefully reshape a bit of it, once per day. That's good enough for me.
Now at 10th level I get a bonus fighter feat from Pious Templar. I'll either grab Martial Study or Martial Stance. Either way I go I benefit. Fun times.
12th level rolls around to let me pick up Earth Master whiich gives me a +1 to attack rolls if my opponent and I are both on the ground. Pretty nice all things considered.
At 15th level I grab Devoted Bulwark but really, it was a random selection. I might be better off with something else, who knows. It's a fun feat and makes me harder to hit sometimes.
16th level I get my second bonus feat from Pious Templar and again I'm grabbing either a maneuver or a stance. Since I only have a maximum initiator level of 15 I want to grab a little bit of extra oomph in that area.
18th level rolls on and I grab Extra Smiting. Why the fuck not, am I right? 2 more smite attempts with +20 to damage? Hell yeah....
And at 20th level I get Diehard as a bonus feat from Crusader. Fun times.
Siege Engineer, Knob, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, Paladin of Revelry, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Voice of Gruumsh, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Missile Mage
Alikin himself was called Forgeborn because he was literally born on the floor of his mother's workshop when she went into premature labor. He was born slightly early and very weak but seemed to get heathier and stronger by the day. The priesthood declared it was a sign of Moradin's favor and that Alikin was marked for great things.
That was more or less when everything went wrong.
He spent his time in the forges where he had a great deal of talent but he also made clear his intent to join Moradin's temple as a priest. He did....and Moradin wouldn't speak to him. Alikin spent 60 years travelling back and forth between Dol Azoth and another dwarven enclave further into Asalonia but no matter what he did Alikin just didn't recieve that divine connection which would've marked him as a cleric. Neither did he manifest the gifts of the paladin.
The entire course of his life, though, changed. Dol Azoth was attacked by a horde of greenskins, backed by Lord Hestor in an ettempt to breach Asalonia's borders. While the hold was wiped out to a dwarf more or less, the entire attacking force was decimated and the tunnels through the mountains were collapsed via magic, cutting off any easy entry into Asalonia's interior. During the attack, however, Alikin found his calling in Moradin's name; he was the Hammer of the Forgefather; the wrath of the Soulforger. He awakened to his calling as a Crusader of Moradin.
Eventually he joined the Army and Light and from there the campaign begins.
Alikin is actually somewhat of an interesting build considering I made him -- he's pretty damn simple. No weird rules, no esoteric features, just simple.
The entire build is centered around divine power and a blossoming connection to the earth (something that strengthens as the generations progress until Liam Ironarm comes along as its pinnacle). I've thought about adding in various classes but in the end.... I tihnk I like Alikin exactly where he is now.
And where is that?
Level
1 Crusader True Believer
2 Crusader
3 Crusader Weapon Focus (Maul)
4 Crusader Earth Sense, Earth Adept
5 Crusader
6 Pious Templar Battle Blessing
7 Crusader
8 Pious Templar
9 Pious Templar Earth Devotion, Weapon Specialization (Maul)
10 Pious Templar Martial Study/Stance
11 Crusader
12 Pious Templar Earth Master
13 Pious Templar
14 Crusader
15 Pious Templar Devoted Bulwark
16 Pious Templar Martial Study/Stance
17 Crusader
18 Pious Templar Extra Smiting
19 Pious Templar
20 Crusader Diehard
So, let's get in the meat of it, shall we?
Alikin is a divine powerhouse of a different stripe. He's not a cleric, he's not a paladin, he just channels Moradin's fury and hot DAMN does he do a good job of it! While he may not be a paladin, Alikin did end up getting alot of similiar abilities to a paladin, hence Pious Templar. Between Crusader and Pious Templar he's sitting as a 10th level caster with full access to every Paladin spell in there game along with an Initiator Level of 15. He's also sitting on DR 2/-- with a delayed damage pool of 15. I have Mettle, I have 20 levels of a good Fort save, 10 levels of a good Will save and I add my Cha bonus to my Will Saves (Okay, so I'm an earth dwarf, my charisma sucks). d10 HD throughout which is pretty cool and even better is that I smite 3/day before any feats.
See, Pious Templar is pretty awesome, it gives you a smite ability. But if you already have a smite ability -- which crusader does at 6th level -- then I just get more uses of Smite (2 to be specific over 10 levels) and the damage stacks. So I get to smite 3/day with a +20 to damage. Fun times eh?
And then we get into feats, yes?
At first level I'm taking True Believer and I do this for two reasons. One is because Pious Templar needs it and Two is because it fits RP-wise. Alikin spent his entire life believing Moradin has had some purpose for him, some duty for him. So he's the sort of dwarf who believes hard and doesn't ask why
3rd level and I get Weapon Focus (maul). There's a few reasons I'm doing this -- one, the maul is more awesome than the warhammer and it was still going to be allowed to count for Moradin's favored weapon. The reasoning I had was that the Warhammer is both a tool (symbolically) and a weapon of war. The maul is nothing but a weapon and so fits better with Alikins' position as the Wrath of the Soulforger.
Tangentially, if I could've swung a greathammer (so to speak) as Moradin's favored weapon I would've totally done that.
Now I have two feats listed at 4th level and this reflects the two training feats we got. I chose Earth Sense and Earth Adept because they represent Alikin's connection to the Earth via his ties to Moradin. In the event of a campaign where you don't get those feats I'd drop both of them (and Earth Master later). As for what they do? Earth Sense lets me use a move action to sense everything touching the earth around me (20 feet I think) and then Earth Adept gives me a +1 to damage if both of us are touching the ground.
At 6th level things get fun because I hit Pious Templar and start getting Paladin spells. So I naturally pick up Battle Blessing which lets me cast most paladin spells as a swift action now. Fun times eh? If I'm not switching stances I might as well cast spells, right?
At 9th level I get two feats, one from Pious Templar (Weapon Spec) and one normally which is Earth Devotion which is about as far as I'm taking the whole earth connection/power idea. He can carefully reshape a bit of it, once per day. That's good enough for me.
Now at 10th level I get a bonus fighter feat from Pious Templar. I'll either grab Martial Study or Martial Stance. Either way I go I benefit. Fun times.
12th level rolls around to let me pick up Earth Master whiich gives me a +1 to attack rolls if my opponent and I are both on the ground. Pretty nice all things considered.
At 15th level I grab Devoted Bulwark but really, it was a random selection. I might be better off with something else, who knows. It's a fun feat and makes me harder to hit sometimes.
16th level I get my second bonus feat from Pious Templar and again I'm grabbing either a maneuver or a stance. Since I only have a maximum initiator level of 15 I want to grab a little bit of extra oomph in that area.
18th level rolls on and I grab Extra Smiting. Why the fuck not, am I right? 2 more smite attempts with +20 to damage? Hell yeah....
And at 20th level I get Diehard as a bonus feat from Crusader. Fun times.
Siege Engineer, Knob, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, Paladin of Revelry, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Voice of Gruumsh, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Missile Mage