#dnd chars

Fuck: Ayrlinn, Belisse, Bloom, Bugrotz, Calvajhex, Caolinn, Darting Minnows, Dismay, Evangeline, Franzka, Gerri, Gruthark, Hidden Reed Rope, Housin, Jaala, Jedda, Kenan, Kitah, Kolya, Laughter, Malithah, Murgta, Myerzo, Nib, Patches, Phyrea, Rightmost Grouse, Saffron Kite, Sassafras, Sylphiamedea, Thenaril, Tiaathque, Urtha, Usakrut, Vasuvinti, Vivi, Yelkha, Yildgrunn

Marry: the Armsmaster, Cirion, Corric, Dagna, Decius, Dworic, Eirelis, Falkra, Felicity, Fifth Red Petal, Fsssh, Gabriev, Greignar, Gyrda, Heggluk, Hendrich, Hiophis, Isgrac, Ishalthyn, Krue, Merrit, Nan, Olaaru, Orilde, Ruarrk, Shalur, Sh'reel, Sipho, Theodera, Tulkar, Vroskaul, Werydd, Weyroun

Race: Dispater Tiefling

ASI: Cha +2, Dex +1

Age: 24

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Size: Medium (5′ even, 100 lbs)

Speed: 30 feet

Darkvision: Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. 

Hellish Resistance: You have resistance to fire damage. 

Legacy of Dis: You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Disguise Self spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Detect Thoughts spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 

Languages: Common, Infernal

Class: Bard (College of Spirits)

Hit Points: 8 + CON / 1d8+CON per level

Armor proficiencies: Light armor

Weapon proficiencies: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords

Tool proficiencies: Ocarina,  Lyre, Flute

Saving throw proficiencies : Dexterity, Charisma

Skill proficiencies: Arcana, Deception (Expertise), Performance (Expertise)

Bardic Inspiration: As a bonus action, inspire one person within 60 feet who can hear you.

Jack of All Trades: Add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn't already include your proficiency bonus.

Song of Rest: During a short rest, revitalize your allies with a performance.

Guidance: Cast the Guidance cantrip with a 60-foot range.

Spiritual Focus: Uses her puppet as a casting focus.

Tales from Beyond: Channel the tales of spirits to empower allies.

Background: Noble

Skill proficiencies: History, Persuasion

Tool proficiencies: Dragonchess set

Languages: Goblin

Feature: Position of Privilege (accommodated as a noble)

Personality Traits:

No one could doubt by looking at my regal bearing that I am a cut above the unwashed masses.

Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood.

I strive to have no personality—it's easier to forget what's hardly there. (from Faceless)

I am ever learning how to be among others—when to stay quiet, when to laugh. (from Faceless)

I am utterly serene, even in the face of disaster. (from Hermit)

Ideals:

Responsibility. It is my duty to respect the authority of those above me, just as those below me must respect mine. 

Independence. I must prove that I can handle myself without coddling from my family.

People. I like seeing the smiles on people's faces when I perform. That's all that matters. (from Entertainer)

Bonds:

Nothing is more important than the other members of my family.

My instrument is my most treasured possession, and it reminds me of someone I love.

Flaws:

I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin my family forever.

I would rather observe than meddle. (from Anthropologist)

I never make eye contact or hold it unflinchingly. (from Faceless)

As a young adult in his mid-forties, Dworic was assigned as an attendant to an elderly priest of Moradin. When a band of raiding orcs attacked the hold, the old priest rushed to the scene of the battle to minister to the dead and dying with Moradin’s rites. The orcs had been driven away, but many still littered the battlefield, as did many dwarves; the priest’s attendants, Dworic included, were dispatched to clean up the battlefield, which meant triaging the injured, attending to dead dwarves with all reverence, piling up the orc bodies to be burnt, and dispatching any orcs who had not died quickly enough. The first three Dworic found easy enough. The last....

He found only one orc who was still alive. She was badly wounded, but might live, given a chance to flee the battlefield; she was clearly playing possum in order to seize a chance to do so. When Dworic grabbed her arm to drag her and realized she was still living, she looked up at him with such a fierce desperation in her eyes that he was struck by pity, and horrified at the idea of killing this helpless woman where she lay. Instead, he dragged her still alive to the orcish bodies, to the far side where other dwarves would not see her, and left her to try her chances at escape, for he dared do no more for her than that.

Though he could not know what her fate might have been after that, his actions didn’t seem to have been discovered. He went back to the temple with an uneasy mind, though, knowing that the orcs were foes and that Moradin would have wished him to kill her. Desperate to talk about it, he confessed to the only person he could: Therlin, whom he trusted to keep his secret. As far as he knows, she did.

But the gods often see what mortals do not. It was two days later that Dworic was called into the presence of the temple’s elders and found himself facing a priestess of Sharindlar, who told the elders that, yes, this was the dwarf whom Sharindlar had told her to take as a gift from Moradin’s temple to her own, that he might join the paladins who defended Sharindlar’s peaceful healers from the ungrateful. Dworic, very aware why he might suddenly have come to the attention of the Lady of Mercy, was in agony, but told the elders when they asked if he was willing that if Sharindlar wished him to defend her faithful, he would gladly answer her call.

The priestesses (and priests, though they were very few) of Sharindlar taught him the oaths that her paladins kept. He was grateful to find that his role first and foremost was to diffuse threats through nonviolent means if possible, whether by a show of strength or a show of goodwill, and that even in battle, killing was to be a last resort. It suited his nature better, he thought, than the uncompromising slaughter desired by most of the pantheon. He easily made friends among his new comrades and charges, and the only pang was that he no longer saw his close friend Therlin every day.

Fortunately, it seemed that Therlin, too, had been called, for in short order she had joined the forge clerics of Moradin, learning to channel divine power to create weapons and armor of great power. Out of what was doubtless her respect for Sharindlar’s faithful, given all that he’d told her of his temple and his new friends there, she was always bringing weapons and armor to their temple for their clerics and paladins, and somehow her best pieces always ended up in Dworic’s possession. She was also concerned for their repair, visiting even when she had no new pieces to bring so that she could examine and tend to it, inviting him to the halls of Moradin’s forge to do the same. While Dworic had feared that their friendship might ebb now that they no longer ate every day at the same table and slept every night across the same hall, those regular visits, along with time stolen amidst both their duties to spend time together outside of the temple, kept it vibrantly alive.

...And after three years of that, which was also three years of teasing from his new friends in Sharindlar’s temple and old friends from Moradin’s halls, it finally sank in that maybe, just maybe, her concern for Dworic’s outfitting, her generous gifts, her many excuses for them to spend time together, might have more than friendship as their motivation. Dworic will be the first to admit that he is not a clever man.

Brief mechanical bits (level 3):

Str 14 (+2) / Dex 14 (+2) / Con 16 (+3) / Int 11 (+0) / Wis 9 (-1) / Cha 16 (+3)

hill dwarf, acolyte background, redemption paladin

skill proficiencies: Athletics, Insight, Persuasion, Religion

languages: Common, Dwarvish, Giant, Orc

interception fighting style

(and, finally, the image I saw this morning that inspired this pair:)