#sabetha coded

11. what skills are they proficient in? why?

Cassiopeia - in her original campaign, she had insight, medicine, persuasion, and religion. Religion and medicine because she is a religious figure and a healer, brought up in a temple. She’s good at reading people and seeing the intention behind their words, so insight. She’s a paladin so she has persuasion based on her sheer force of personality.

Sunburst - she’s proficient with perception, medicine, insight, and religion. Similar to cass, she was brought up in a church and trained as a healer, so medicine and religion (even tho she’s maybe succeeded one (1) religion check over the entire year-long campaign). Perception for her awareness of her surroundings and bright light, and then insight because she really has an ability to connect with people and glean the truth from them.

Sabetha - so I don’t remember her original stats and I lost her sheets, but for the purposes of my dnd-inspired story with these guys, she has history, arcana, religion, and deception. History, specifically religious history, and arcana are her special interests so naturally she’s proficient with those, and she’s a warlock, of course she can lie. It’s all she’s got.

38. what do they smell like?

Cassiopeia - she smells a bit like brimstone and smoke, but she wears a wild rose perfume, so kind of a smokey rose

Sunburst - pure woodsmoke and embers, and if you get really close, burning range close, a bit like gasoline

Sabetha - warm damp earth, sage, incense, myrrh, and a bit of iron

45. how do they hug people?

Cassiopeia - she gives the best hugs - she’s tall and strong and soft and warm. She hugs in the way she wants to be hugged - tight and close like she’ll never let you go.

Sunburst - her hugs start a bit timid and a-frame, she’s terrified of burning someone. But if you’re not afraid of that, she’ll hug you so gently and so warmly that it’s almost reverent.

Sabetha - her hugs are soft and warm and a bit afraid, like they’ll be taken away from her too quickly.

56. what animal do they most relate to?

Cassiopeia - guard dog, or better yet, fighting dog

Sunburst - bird of paradise

Sabetha - some kind of crow or magpie, something slightly skittish that can be caged

69. (Nice) how would they describe their party members?

Ooohh so cass and sab no longer technically have parties, as their campaigns ended (and I don’t remember sab’s party members since it was like 8 years ago), so sadly I won’t be able to answer for them, but Sunny has a party! She has many thoughts on them!

the barbarian - that's Sunny's bestie, that's her girl. They're ride or die, even though they couldn't be more different. Sunny thinks she's a bit rash, a bit wild, a bit shortsighted, and she cannot stand the necromancy, but doesn't want to make any decisions for her, so she grits her teeth and tolerates it. She'd do anything for her.

the ranger - Sunny thinks very highly of him. She thinks he's a gentleman and that people are way too mean to him given he's an outsider. She is too, and she thinks he's got a good heart, even if he's fine with casual violence. Although he did lie to her face last session, and she let slide because she could tell he was uncomfortable. But a lie's a lie....

[ 🫳 ]ㅤ.ㅤwho do they feel they owe, but never paid back ?

Sunburst - She owes the party's wizard money for something she never actually asked them to do and hasn't paid them back yet. But also, in a way, I think she feels like she owes her mentor perfection and hasn't yet delivered.

Sabetha - in a fucked up way, she feels like she owes her patron for "saving" her, and she's waiting for the day the devil comes to collect

[ 📿 ]ㅤ.ㅤwhat superstition or ritual do they cling to ?

Sunburst - she's a pious cleric and god's favourite princess, she loves a ritual. She does a sun salutation ritual every morning followed by a meditation. She also prays before bed every night. It's grounding for her.

Sabetha - she also loves a ritual! Doing her makeup and getting dressed each day has become a bit of a ritual for her to build her confidence and sense of self. She also does literal rituals on full and new moons.

[ 🪶 ]ㅤ.ㅤhow do they laugh ?

Sunburst - she has kind of a breathy, cackling laugh. She sounds like she smokes a pack a day (she has never had a cigarette in her life! she's just Made Of Fire)

Sabetha - kind of bubbly and shy at first, but then a bit louder and more joyous as she gets going or when she's more relaxed.

[ 🧩 ]ㅤ.ㅤwhat’s a truth about themselves they refuse to admit ?

Sunburst - that she's not as patient or understanding as she claims to be. She's internalized a lot of not-so-healthy things throughout her life in the church, but she denies denies denies that anything's wrong. She's convinced if she is understanding and kind enough, then any anger/hurt/offense she feels will just go away.

6. How does your character express that they're uncomfortable?

Sabetha: she’s a bit obvious about it, even though she’d desperately try to hide it. She takes a bit longer stringing together sentences, her tail flicks like a nervous cat’s, she can’t make eye contact, and fidgets with her hands and jewelry. If she’s with trusted people, she’ll probably try to say she’s uncomfortable if there’s something they can do to help, but otherwise she’ll try to keep it to herself to avoid being a “burden”

Sunburst: her eyes go really wide and her hair flickers and flares. She’s confident enough though that she’ll announce that she’s uncomfortable with whatever aspect she’s uncomfy with, and she’ll remove herself from the situation as calmly as possible. If she can’t leave, she holds herself quite rigidly as an attempt to seem not uncomfy, and will excuse herself at the first opportunity.

20. Can your character flirt? Are they aware they're flirting? How do they do it?

Sabetha: so. She can flirt, it takes a lot of conscious effort though and doesn’t really come naturally so those attempts seem a bit uncanny valley or insincere. When she’s genuinely just being herself and talking though is when she may be accused of flirting just because she’s being nice, and those situations usually work out better than her intentional attempts. Let her infodump about magic and compliment your outfit!

Sunburst: she cannot flirt to save her life but could be accused of flirting because she is genuinely very kind and complimentary, and doesn’t plan on changing anytime soon.

36. What makes them blush?

Sabetha: a lot! Compliments, people being bare-minimum nice to her, women (especially muscular and athletic women…. Or knights. Knights make her blush).

Sunburst: oh goodness so much! She’s a bit of a prude so anything overtly sexual, flirts, cool combat tricks, guilt/shame, drinking alcohol, a particularly beautiful sunset

40. Describe a corruption/redemption arc version of your character.

Sabetha: omg I’ve thought about this one! Evil ending sab! She would lean more on her patron for emotional validation and regulation, following without question whatever was asked of her. Her magical experiments would take a darker and more self-inflicted route, turning to blood magic as her research becomes more esoteric and niche. She’d isolate herself from most of her friends (with encouragement from her patron “you don’t need them, you only need me”), and cling on to her morally-ambiguous ones who are less likely to intervene (ie she can drag judas into whatever situation given he’s not going to dissuade her because of his own blind loyalty), having massive breakdowns if they go against her. She’d spiral into the deep depths of anxiety and depression, and her patron would have her convinced that’s fine.

Sunburst: she’s sort of on a semi-corruption arc now? A full corruption arc would include getting stuck in the hells and breaking under the weight of all the horror there. Being surrounded by unfettered evil and suffering would eventually erode her optimism and hope, and in a last-ditch attempt to hold onto that, she’d probably go scorched earth zealotry. To be fully corrupted though, I think she’d have to listen to Gideon and the shield/Gargoth and denounce Lathander’s light. There’s nothing he can do for her down here. There’s nothing he can do for anyone down here. He’s not even going to try.

56. If your character had wings what would they look like?

Sabetha: I think classic devilish and bat-like, but small and cute

Sunburst: ooohhhh would it be too cliche to say fire? Almost biblical avenging angel wings of feathers and flame?

57. How does the way they act seemingly contradict their ability scores?

Sabetha: she is a walking contradiction! Her charisma is very high but she presents awkward and unsure in most social situations due to her various mental illnesses. You’d think she’d have good wisdom from years of self-reflection, but no, she’s not very wise. Can’t learn life experience from books really. But she has good insights into what her friends need to hear. Her con is decent even if she looks seconds away from fainting at any given moment.

16. How do they cope with intrusive or impulsive thoughts?

Sabetha - she scolds herself. She’s very hard on herself for them. Sometimes she’ll indulge and explore the fantasy of giving in to them, especially if it’s self-inflicted. But she usually scolds herself out of it.

Sunburst - instantly dismisses them, reminding herself of her values of kindness and truth. She never ever allows herself to indulge them.

18. How do they handle long stretches of solitude or silence?

Sabetha - pretty well, all things considered. She’s very used to it - she wasn’t allowed to go outside really as a child/teen, the farthest she’d been was the back garden. She’s also quite introverted and needs her quiet time. She usually just reads, because if she gets thinking too hard the anxiety and loneliness will get in and not leave her alone.

Sunburst - she doesn’t mind them too much, she spent her formative years as an acolyte, so stretches of silence are comforting to her. She’s also pretty introverted, and sometimes will use that quiet time to pray or meditate. But if she doesn’t talk to people for too long, she gets squirrelly and lonely, and that’s a negative emotion, she can’t have those.

20. How do they react when confronted with something they can't explain or don't understand?

Sabetha - usually with equal parts panic and curiosity. She craves understanding, so if she doesn’t understand or can’t explain something, she’ll go to lengths to try to figure it out. She can’t really rest until she does.

Sunburst - oh lowkey badly! Especially if it challenges her worldview. She gets quite defensive and agitated until she understands a bit better, or until she’s had time to sit with her feelings and literally cool off a bit.

25. What are their irrational fears?

Sabetha - I’m not sure how irrational it is, but she’s terrified of being abandoned and alone. She’s scared everyone’s out to get her. I also don’t think she likes clowns too much.

Sunburst - heights! And experiencing the very normal emotions of anger or disappointment. Or, goodness gracious, letting people down.

29. What is their breaking point?

Sabetha - her breaking point is quite low and she’s reached it many times, but it’s mostly being rejected and/or abandoned by those she loves. She just wants to be loved, and her breaking point is the compaction of all the loneliness and dejection she’s felt her entire life. Her warlock pact is a physical manifestation of that breaking point - she was in such an emotionally desolate point she sold her soul just to ease the pain a bit. And for magic power.