So what are we Mashing today?
Warhammer Fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons
Warhammer Fantasy (which is a fancy way of saying the world that the Warhammer Fantasy Battles is set in) has a lot of neat, dark fantasy elements that are chock full of flavor. Today’s mashup has us borrowing a piece of the Old World, the vampire haunted province of Sylvania and its ruling family the Von Carsteins. So let’s take a look at how this idea turned into a character concept that i ended up using to make a character for a Dungeons and Dragons game.
Thoughts and Background stuff
The character i have played (and will play again) with this backstory is Rikard, a cleric (depending on which way i want to play, i have two character sheets for him) with either the Life Domain or the Forge Domain. Rikard is human, like all of the living Von Carsteins, and has the noble background, representing his position in the family. I give him the Title of Count, even though it gives no tangible benefit for him in game, it’s just one of those things when you can introduce yourself as Count Rikard von Carstein.
So the question i typically ask myself after i have fleshed out this much of the background is how does this shape the stats of the character? Well, from the choices in the Cleric Class (and i’m not going to walk you through all of these, there are tons of articles and examples of character creation (Including the one i put together for the Character Bahama last year) on the interwebs.
Quick hits
Rikard ends up with the History, Persuasion, Medicine, and Religion skill proficiencies. He’s also proficient with Light and Medium Armor, and Shields, plus all simple weapons from the Cleric class. He gains proficiency on Wisdom and Charisma saving throws from that as well. The Forge Domain also grants him proficiency with Heavy Armor. The Noble Background also gives him proficiency in a language of his choice (elven) and a gaming set of his choice (He chooses a card game from the Lakeport setting).
Fine Details
Now, here’s where we get a little outside the boundaries of the normal D & D rules because Rikard has an extraordinarily screwed up past that he’s running from. So what does that past look like on Rikard right now?
Rikard’s body is covered with the scars of where he has been fed on by a variety of vampires. Some of the scars look extremely old and healed over, but others look extremely fresh and look like they could still be bleeding wounds. Since he entered the church, he’s also covered his body in tattoos, glyphs and other symbols of a religious nature.
Rikard’s escape from Sylvania took him through a battlefield where his family was in the middle of a border dispute with their neighbors, the Empire. During that escape, he was struck by a cannon, and lost his right leg at the knee. The higher ups in his church have crafted a suitably ornate prosthetic, and Rikard walks with a limp (and uses a cane). From a mechanical standpoint, i decided that the reduced mobility of the artificial leg means that anytime Rikard moves more than 20 feet in a round, he takes disadvantage on Dexterity checks, (this is an optional rule and you won’t find it anywhere in the game books).
Rikard is also doing his best to escape the mental trauma he experienced as a child/young man and tends to indulge himself far too heavily in recreational narcotics, mind altering substances, and alcohol. This lifestyle allows him to cope with the trauma, but he is most assuredly terrified of vampires (and to a lesser extent other forms of undeath).
If we were going to construct some personality traits for Rikard, they would look something like this:
Alignment:
CG (Death to Tyrants)
The best way to calm a disturbed mind is to keep it too busy to fixate on any one thing (this is how he justifies his indulgences and the thing that lets him sleep at night, and he encourages the behavior in others)
Blood doesn’t make you a Noble, your choices and your actions in regard to the rest of the world determine that. (Rikard is pretty sure his entire bloodline is cursed, and doesn’t hold stock in pedigree as a measure of a person’s worth).
Tyranny is the enemy of all free people, and must be opposed wherever it is found (Rikard, for all of the many things he is terrified of, is a champion of the people).
The Church of the creator has given me everything, i owe them my life and my service. (The Church took Rikard in after his escape and nursed him back to health. He feels a great sense of duty to them for that).
The Madness is always there, hiding behind the veils and waiting for it’s time to shine (Rikard has tremendous mental health issues that he is treating with a partially effective method. He isn’t dealing with the causes, and the madness is waiting to spring on him).
You can take a character idea that you see in a movie, a comic, or really any other form of media and use them as a basis for a character you want to play in a game. There are some interesting choices to make about how closely you’re going to make your character to the source material, and how you are going to make them different. I’ve seen characters that are basically characters lifted from movies (the one that comes to mind is the guy i played In Nomine with who made a character based off of the Federal Agent from the Boondock Saints movie, “except he’s not gay.”) I’ve also seen characters that are homages to other characters (like the superhero who had air control and wind powers but was certain his demonic father was coming to destroy reality, soon, and that’s why he put together a team of heroes). Finding a character that you think is cool can be a wonderful starting place to build a character of your own. Figuring out what makes your character different from your inspiration is what makes your character uniquely yours.
Happy Gaming, and Game On, Game Fans.
Personality Traits:
The best way to calm a disturbed mind is to keep it too busy to fixate on any one thing (this is how he justifies his indulgences and the thing that lets him sleep at night, and he encourages the behavior in others)
Blood doesn’t make you a Noble, your choices and your actions in regard to the rest of the world determine that. (Rikard is pretty sure his entire bloodline is cursed, and doesn’t hold stock in pedigree as a measure of a person’s worth).
Ideal:
Tyranny is the enemy of all free people, and must be opposed wherever it is found (Rikard, for all of the many things he is terrified of, is a champion of the people).
Bond:
The Church of the creator has given me everything, i owe them my life and my service. (The Church took Rikard in after his escape and nursed him back to health. He feels a great sense of duty to them for that).
Flaw:
The Madness is always there, hiding behind the veils and waiting for it’s time to shine (Rikard has tremendous mental health issues that he is treating with a partially effective method. He isn’t dealing with the causes, and the madness is waiting to spring on him).
Conclusions and Further Thoughts
You can take a character idea that you see in a movie, a comic, or really any other form of media and use them as a basis for a character you want to play in a game. There are some interesting choices to make about how closely you’re going to make your character to the source material, and how you are going to make them different. I’ve seen characters that are basically characters lifted from movies (the one that comes to mind is the guy i played In Nomine with who made a character based off of the Federal Agent from the Boondock Saints movie, “except he’s not gay.”) I’ve also seen characters that are homages to other characters (like the superhero who had air control and wind powers but was certain his demonic father was coming to destroy reality, soon, and that’s why he put together a team of heroes). Finding a character that you think is cool can be a wonderful starting place to build a character of your own. Figuring out what makes your character different from your inspiration is what makes your character uniquely yours.
Happy Gaming, and Game On, Game Fans.
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