Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Apr 24, 2007 21:51:33	Generally speaking I'm all for unusual charactors. And lets face it, Darksun is THE home for unusual charactors. I mean, common, what other campaign setting has intellegent bugs for one of the base line PC races? That said, I need some help making a judgement on this little charactor background two of my players have submitted (Go figure, haven't even gotten the first DS Adventure off the ground and we now have 2 new players thanks to it being a darksun campaign). The charactor's wish to play a Multi-Classed Mul Wilder/Wizard (Preserver) and a single class Mul - Druid. Now, there are a few points I wonder about both for continuity sake, and for reasonable disbelief. First tho, before I mention my two concerns, let me outline the charactors background story he presented. The charactor's, a Female Mul and a Male Mul, were born to a free woman of Draj who was also a noble. Before she gave birth tho maternal instinct kicked in and she fled Draj wishing to avoid her child (she wasn't aware she was carrying paternal twins) being made into a slave. Having heard that the slaves of Tyr had been freed she fled there. Her journey was a long one, fleeing the templars of Draj who placed her fleeing as the same as theft of property (not to mention the lucritive bribe her husband paid to get the templar's involved). Her trip, tho riddled with danger as the inept Templars attempted to track her (The templar's may have been bribed, but they wern't about to send thier best and brightest after a half breed child), was for the most part quiet. Finally she was in sight of Tyr when murphy's law set in. She entered labor. As she lay in the sands in the throughs of birth she was happened upon by a band of adventurers returning to Tyr. The druid amongst them assisted in the delivery wich killed the mother, but her children had been born free. Her dieing wish was to ask the Druid, a 1/2 elf, to care for her children. He decided to honor this request and took the children as his own and once the party reached Tyr he left them, with the infants, for his secret guarded lands. What the mother didn't know, and perhaps for the best as she might have refused the kind druids aid other wise, was the druid was also a wizard, a preserver. As the children grew he found that the boy had a great affinity for the animals that inhabited his lands, and so taught him the ways of the druid. The girl, however showed latent psychic powers and a great aptitude for wizardry as well. Since he had no way to teach her to directly control her psionic powers, he taught her wizardry in the hopes that it might help her to contain and harness her psionic energies with out bringing damage to herself, or the enviroment. Eventually the two children grew of age and the 1/2 elf ushered them out saying that they needed to experience the world some before they returned home. Now, the continuality issue arrises with the "twin" issue. Can Mul's be born twins? Or rather, specificly, is there any precident saying they cannot be born as twins? The believablity issue arrises with a Mul - Preserver. In Athas.org's 3.5e Rules it states that Mul - Wizards are unheard of. Granted, this seams to stem more from fear and circumstances of being a slave than anything. Yet, this is an exteamely "odd" background story for Athas and one that could be hung on a wall with all the potential holes in it. Yet, I would like to allow it as it is creative, doesn't grant the PC's anything "extra" like contacts other than an ageing druid who may or may not be dead the next time they visit his guarded lands. If anything, it potentially marks them as targets in Draj. Anywho, just wanted some opinions from other DM's on this one since I'm still new to DMing Darksun and wasn't sure if it was reasonable/possible.
#2 hrt Apr 24, 2007 23:20:10	I'm new to darksun as well, but since you asked I see nothing wrong with it. The rules don't out and out forbid Mul wizards, so go ahead. I've never really thought of Mul twins, but why not after all? So I say go with it.
#3 j0lt Apr 25, 2007 0:08:43	DM rule #1 - The DM is always right. DM rule #2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1 DM rule #3 - If the DM is not sure if allowing something in their campaign is right, consider this simple question: Will it help the players have fun? I think the race/class mix is a bit strange, but it sounds interesting. I'd probably make them humans or half-elves if I were making the characters, but that's just my preference.
#4 zombiegleemax Apr 25, 2007 9:45:59	DM rule #1 - The DM is always right. DM rule #2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1 DM rule #3 - If the DM is not sure if allowing something in their campaign is right, consider this simple question: Will it help the players have fun? I think the race/class mix is a bit strange, but it sounds interesting. I'd probably make them humans or half-elves if I were making the characters, but that's just my preference. I know of DM Rules # 1 thru #3, tho they are stated slightly different as per my former DM Guru. However, when entering into a new campaign setting not of my own creation I try to keep to established facts before I go and start changing any fundimentals until I get more comfertable with the setting and am sure I won't fubar anything. So I figured I'd get some advice. When in doubt, ask for help. After all the only stupid question is the one that is unasked.
#5 aggilus Apr 25, 2007 12:51:33	I know of DM Rules # 1 thru #3, tho they are stated slightly different as per my former DM Guru. However, when entering into a new campaign setting not of my own creation I try to keep to established facts before I go and start changing any fundimentals until I get more comfertable with the setting and am sure I won't fubar anything. So I figured I'd get some advice. When in doubt, ask for help. After all the only stupid question is the one that is unasked. Very well put indeed Sorentia!! I agree with you in trying to keep the setting as it is unless I don't like the details in some sourcebook or accessory. I want to run an updated v3.5 campaing with Sadira of Tyr going behind the scenes to bring back athas to green age, after all the defling magic and corrupted psions had done to the world. I´d say go for it if you think the player will have fun and you too and both are confortable enough. Cheers and good RP sessions Rolando
#6 korvar Apr 25, 2007 13:14:32	Nothing I know of saying Muls can't be twins - but given the difficulty of bearing one Mul, bearing two would, I assume, be very difficult, and the twins born very prematurely. Not really a problem (given there's a Druid about to take care of things), but something worth mentioning. The real problem is how she managed to get pregnant with Muls in the first place - as I understand it, Dwarves really really don't like creating half-breeds. I seem to recall the worst insult you can give a male Dwarf is to call him a "Mulfather". So I'd be curious to know more about the father of these kids, and how he came to be making babies with a human noblewoman. In Draj, no less, which has a fairly strict culture. Not insurmountable obstacles by any means, but I think they could do with explanations. Plus that kind of thing leads to plot hooks...
#7 zombiegleemax Apr 25, 2007 21:10:25	Nothing I know of saying Muls can't be twins - but given the difficulty of bearing one Mul, bearing two would, I assume, be very difficult, and the twins born very prematurely. Not really a problem (given there's a Druid about to take care of things), but something worth mentioning. The real problem is how she managed to get pregnant with Muls in the first place - as I understand it, Dwarves really really don't like creating half-breeds. I seem to recall the worst insult you can give a male Dwarf is to call him a "Mulfather". So I'd be curious to know more about the father of these kids, and how he came to be making babies with a human noblewoman. In Draj, no less, which has a fairly strict culture. Not insurmountable obstacles by any means, but I think they could do with explanations. Plus that kind of thing leads to plot hooks... I totally agree, and originally they had a very convoluted love story bit about thier mother. However, I told them to wipe that portion out. I could see the mother, as she gave birth and went through labor relating bits and pieces of her story during the early portions of labor to the druid and then the druid to the children when they were old enough. However, even if she managed to keep her sanity long enough to relate the story to the druid in any form, truely deep detail would have been beyond her ability at the time. A small warning of whom was seeking the infants, and her, and why but not much more. This leaves it open for me to fill in some things here and there as we go along allowing for me to use it as a plot device that targets the two with out them knowing everything. I have some ideas, perhaps along the lines of the carrying and birthing of a mul child was some form of "payment" her family owed on a debt or something of that sort.
#8 squidfur- Apr 26, 2007 18:35:19	The real problem is how she managed to get pregnant with Muls in the first place..............and how he came to be making babies with a human noblewoman. In Draj, no less, which has a fairly strict culture. That, and why she would be fearful of her child being made a slave. Slavery in Draj is handled somewhat differently compared to the other cities, and muls are particularly respected for their aptitude for combat. However, I suppose if the children were conceived in an adulterous affair, than we might have another story - as adultery is punishable by death, no matter the social class (templars included).
#9 zombiegleemax Apr 26, 2007 20:47:25	That, and why she would be fearful of her child being made a slave. Slavery in Draj is handled somewhat differently compared to the other cities, and muls are particularly respected for their aptitude for combat. However, I suppose if the children were conceived in an adulterous affair, than we might have another story - as adultery is punishable by death, no matter the social class (templars included). Hence why I wanted them to leave the detials prior to her fleeing Draj a blank. It allows me to do some further research and learning to decide on a suitable "prelude" to it all and use that as an adventure hook.