Character
I couldn't think of a better title.
I was talking to my coworker Tim tonight. For those who don't know, Tim is my favorite coworker. He's old(er) and salty, and believes honesty is the best policy. He also has this thing about actually earning his paycheck.
Anyway, we shared stories of our fave D&D characters. Walking home, I realized something weird - none of my favorite characters are from any of the games I've played with Gratuitousness Escapism. To be fair, I also haven't played all that many games with them, but it still seems....incomprehensible, that the people I've gamed with for six-ish years haven't added to my "best gaming memories" list.
And since I know you're curious, I'll post my favorites below. And if you're not curious, that's okay. I'll post them anyway.
Rowan Bluemantle (D&D 2nd Ed., Revised)
Rowan was the son of Waterdevhian streetwalker and a John. He got "apprenticed" (read: sold) to a cranky old mage when his talent was discovered. Rowan's duties as apprentice largely consisted of fetching the guy booze, which is where his skill at larceny comes from. Between a handful of run-ins with the law and the seedy reputation of his master, the only job he could get was as a clerk in the Library. What a Library clerk does, I have no idea, but Rowan wasn't all that good at it.
When an accident with an artifact yanked him, a Paladin named G'zus, and a Watch member named Billie (short for Willimina) to the Outlands, he got a crash-course in survival and field wizardry. After killing a Dracolich and liberating a significant part of Undermountain from a Lich-wannabe, the three of them cleansed Hellgate Keep.
After that, Rowan had officially had enough of adventuring, and settled back down in Waterdeep with his enormous wealth and started adopting orphans off the street and training them to be adventurers. (Read: campaign ended)
Half-Elven Mage/Thief
Signature possessions: Cloak and Boots of Elvenkind, Scimitar of Speed +3, Staff of the Magi (86 Charges)
Signature quote: So help me, if you don't put down that world-destroying Orb right now, I swear to Beshaba that I will turn you into a toad. (Yes, I did, in fact, turn the Yuan-Ti into a toad. A yellow one. With blue polka dots. Then I turned it to stone, and put it on my mantle. Excellent bookend.)
Signature moment: Dropping a Wall of Stone onto a pirate ship. Our one and only sea battle (though "battle" is something of a loose term).
Alexandreus "Warlock" Dimitri (Aberrant)
The son of Russian-American parents, Alex grew up wealthy. Like some well-off kids, he eschewed his family's money, instead trying to make a living on his own. The fact that he was sixteen, and still living with his parents, put something of a damper on the whole idea, but he persisted nevertheless. His formative mentor was a Mr. Miyagi-type fellow, who taught Alex Tai'Chi.
At sixteen, corporate espionage gone horribly gone brought hired killers to his house, to kill his father, his mother, and him. By freak chance, Alex was awake when they broke in, and only the blinking "Entry" light on the Alarm told him anything was wrong. Confronted with invaders in his home, Alexandreus Erupted into a killer - no pretty words wrapped around it, no high moral arguments to defend it. He killed them all...and then, somehow, ended up working for Project Utopia. (Alex always credited it to a bribe from his father.)
Used as an assassin alternately by Utopia, Proteus, and the US, Warlock quickly ended up with a reputation as a merciless sociopath, a weapon to be pointed at an enemy and turned loose. That suited him fine; the longer people underestimated him, the easier they'd be to kill later. (Maybe "sociopath" was more on the mark than he realized...)
Powers: Claws 4, Armor 5, Force Field 2, Shroud 3, Invisibility 5, Quantum Bolt (Invisible Laser) 3 (Homing)
Mega-Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 4
Signature quotes: "You told me to kill him. You never said how."
"There's his way, and my way. His way might leave you alive. Might won't - the only question is how long it will take."
Signature moment: Quantum-Leaping between aerial assailants and decapitating them.
Alex is, hands down, my all-time favorite.
I was talking to my coworker Tim tonight. For those who don't know, Tim is my favorite coworker. He's old(er) and salty, and believes honesty is the best policy. He also has this thing about actually earning his paycheck.
Anyway, we shared stories of our fave D&D characters. Walking home, I realized something weird - none of my favorite characters are from any of the games I've played with Gratuitousness Escapism. To be fair, I also haven't played all that many games with them, but it still seems....incomprehensible, that the people I've gamed with for six-ish years haven't added to my "best gaming memories" list.
And since I know you're curious, I'll post my favorites below. And if you're not curious, that's okay. I'll post them anyway.
Rowan Bluemantle (D&D 2nd Ed., Revised)
Rowan was the son of Waterdevhian streetwalker and a John. He got "apprenticed" (read: sold) to a cranky old mage when his talent was discovered. Rowan's duties as apprentice largely consisted of fetching the guy booze, which is where his skill at larceny comes from. Between a handful of run-ins with the law and the seedy reputation of his master, the only job he could get was as a clerk in the Library. What a Library clerk does, I have no idea, but Rowan wasn't all that good at it.
When an accident with an artifact yanked him, a Paladin named G'zus, and a Watch member named Billie (short for Willimina) to the Outlands, he got a crash-course in survival and field wizardry. After killing a Dracolich and liberating a significant part of Undermountain from a Lich-wannabe, the three of them cleansed Hellgate Keep.
After that, Rowan had officially had enough of adventuring, and settled back down in Waterdeep with his enormous wealth and started adopting orphans off the street and training them to be adventurers. (Read: campaign ended)
Half-Elven Mage/Thief
Signature possessions: Cloak and Boots of Elvenkind, Scimitar of Speed +3, Staff of the Magi (86 Charges)
Signature quote: So help me, if you don't put down that world-destroying Orb right now, I swear to Beshaba that I will turn you into a toad. (Yes, I did, in fact, turn the Yuan-Ti into a toad. A yellow one. With blue polka dots. Then I turned it to stone, and put it on my mantle. Excellent bookend.)
Signature moment: Dropping a Wall of Stone onto a pirate ship. Our one and only sea battle (though "battle" is something of a loose term).
Alexandreus "Warlock" Dimitri (Aberrant)
The son of Russian-American parents, Alex grew up wealthy. Like some well-off kids, he eschewed his family's money, instead trying to make a living on his own. The fact that he was sixteen, and still living with his parents, put something of a damper on the whole idea, but he persisted nevertheless. His formative mentor was a Mr. Miyagi-type fellow, who taught Alex Tai'Chi.
At sixteen, corporate espionage gone horribly gone brought hired killers to his house, to kill his father, his mother, and him. By freak chance, Alex was awake when they broke in, and only the blinking "Entry" light on the Alarm told him anything was wrong. Confronted with invaders in his home, Alexandreus Erupted into a killer - no pretty words wrapped around it, no high moral arguments to defend it. He killed them all...and then, somehow, ended up working for Project Utopia. (Alex always credited it to a bribe from his father.)
Used as an assassin alternately by Utopia, Proteus, and the US, Warlock quickly ended up with a reputation as a merciless sociopath, a weapon to be pointed at an enemy and turned loose. That suited him fine; the longer people underestimated him, the easier they'd be to kill later. (Maybe "sociopath" was more on the mark than he realized...)
Powers: Claws 4, Armor 5, Force Field 2, Shroud 3, Invisibility 5, Quantum Bolt (Invisible Laser) 3 (Homing)
Mega-Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 4
Signature quotes: "You told me to kill him. You never said how."
"There's his way, and my way. His way might leave you alive. Might won't - the only question is how long it will take."
Signature moment: Quantum-Leaping between aerial assailants and decapitating them.
Alex is, hands down, my all-time favorite.