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Favourite character

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Nov 29, 2003 8:47:47 Through the years we've all had many characters wander the Lands of Mist. And so I wonder which one is your absolute favourite?
A quick summary of the character and their past would be great, and if your character had an unpleasant ending, how?
I'm hoping this could be a source of inspiration to newer Ravenloft players who have become too used to playing in other worlds where the stats are the character.
I'd like to post one of my own here, but since I've only DM'ed so far, it's somewhat impossible.

Dracon
#2
zombiegleemax
Nov 29, 2003 9:36:03 I got a few ones from my players since I'm also exclusively DM.

Rhiesa Dontscovitch Knight of the Shadows from Barovia.
She was the daughter of an important burgomeister (town hidden within the Balinoks for now, I'll use it as a plot hook later). And it turns out that her mother looked quite a bit like Tatyana but wasn't her reincarnation. Anyway, Strahd met his mother at a formal ball and bit her. Her husband managed to repeal Strahd but was killed. Rhiesa's pregnant mother fled with her to hide on a cottage. There she gave birth to an healthy boy. 10 years later, it turned out he was a dhampire and killed his mother out of bloodlust. Rhiesa made him flee. Blaming Strahd for this, she seeked a way to avenge her family and discovered the Knights. She got accepted within the order and protects the people of Barovia.

Malory Elrich A plain ordinary guardsman from Invidia. He was working for a wealthy merchant but discovered his employer was a ruthless criminal running a vast protection rackett. Malory became a wanted man, trying to flee his pursuers. His former employer got killed during the grand conjunction so Malory settled and had a family. But the man wasn't dead and came back, killing his family. Malory discovered why his old boss wanted him dead so much, he was a fiend in disguise.
Malory got killed while we were playing Bleak House, he sacrified himself to stop Metus. Still the player had an idea, Malory came back as a Revenant bent on destroying his former boss. They destroyed his current physical form (believing him dead) so Malory fell apart, not knowing the fiend was within his phylactery. We might see the return of the Revenant eventually whose family had managed to flee before the assassins arrived and burned their home.

Hope someone reads this...
#3
zombiegleemax
Nov 29, 2003 10:55:27 There was this really awesome true lycantrophe I once played, Dimitri Varosj. The true born lycan (wolf born) had fled from the life in which he grew up, where his evil family hunted innocent villages with the pack.
He spent his further life fighting the Beast within, trying to find an inner peace. The character was NG in human form, Neutral in hybrid form and Evil in Animal form. It was a fight against the Inner Beast, the feeling that came with it vs the Will that knew too well what would happen if the Beast came free, that erupted many pleasant times. (and the surprise on my comrads faces the first change)
#4
zombiegleemax
Nov 29, 2003 13:40:51 Cole Deschain- A former Kargat assassin, who eventually reformed- Making him persona non grata in Darkon. He's still active, after a fashion, in the "Halfling Walks" boards we had going back on the old Kargatane boards. Among other things, he went through "The Heart's Final Beat," where he pretty much put the kibosh on the Whistling Fiend.
#5
zar_niln
Nov 30, 2003 0:27:04 The one in my profile of course!
I've been meaning to write down his familie's history so if no one minds...

Elias Treeclimber, rogue extraordinaire, was adventuring on a far off world. His adventuring company grew in power and wealth, and eventually was commisioned to excavate a lich's tomb. Elias, trusted above all by the rest of the party, went in, invisible, to scout out main camp areas before the rest of the party moved in. Little did Elias know, the lich wasn't hiding here, it was trapped here. It had used up all available bodies trying to defeat the magic that kept it in its prison. It gambled for its existence by destroying its phylactery and using the negative outflow to become incoporeal. As soon as it detected Elias, it manifested and attacked. Elias fought the lich, but in a final moment the two slew each other. But Elias got up. The furious battle with the lich in the magical prison had embedded the lich's power, and evil, into the halfling. Elias returned, eager to test his new powers, slew one of the weaker members of his company with his new arcane abilities. The rest of the party never knew. That is, until Elias poisoned their last meals. As Elias looted their bodies and tents, the mists enveloped the campsite.

Elias Treeclimber arrived in Nova Vaasa. He enjoyed this new place. He ate at the finest inns, crashed the finest parties of Arbora, and often murdered minor members of the aristocracy for slight things, such as spilling a glass next to him or taking the third to last ouderve. He eventually got the attention of the true ruler of Nova Vaasa: Malken.

Malken instilled Elias as head trafficker of a new drug called Nova in Arbora. Elias enjoyed the power, but hated taking orders from someone who didn't even have arcane abilities (notice the lich's pride coming into play). Elias used the drug to gather a near army of people more loyal to him than to Malken. As he did this, he had many dalliances with halfling women. He fathered three sons: Hugo, Trulluck, and Caster. Although Elias was a capable arcane spellcaster, he lacked the experience needed to teach his sons. Using all of his contacts, he learned of a newly built wizard academy in Hazlan. He prepared to move.

Elias and his sons left in the night, under the protection of his most trusted (or most addicted) companions. The mistways seemed to favor them, and they reached the Hazlani border within a day. Elias was horrified to find no open, friendly border, but an impassable wall of fire. Elias ordered several crazed Nova addicts through, but none made it. Just then, Malken himself, with his own allies, arrived. The began overwhelming Elias's small, ragtag force. Elias barely noticed that a 3-foot hole formed in the wall. Seeing it as a sign, Elias picked up his youngest (and luckily, the closest to him) son, Caster, and threw him through the hole, just before he tasted cold steel at the end of Malken's blade. But Caster was safe in Hazlan.

Caster was picked up by a traveling merchant caravan, who were on their way to Toyalis. The caravan master took to the boy. It was he who noticed the boy's arcane potential, and it was he who enrolled him in the Ramulai academy. Caster took to wizardry, moved to Toyalis, and established himself as a noble/merchant/wizard, trusted advisor to Hazlik himself. Caster, disliking his father's reputation, took the name Spellweaver. His son, Hugo, took to the caravans, trying to gain wealth and a name for himself. Knowing he was inexperienced, he didn't want to embarass his family, and took the name Treeclimber, in honor of his grandfather.
#6
zombiegleemax
Nov 30, 2003 2:26:55 I think my favorite Ravenloft character was a gnome mage I had named Londex. My DM ran us through When Black Roses Bloom and I had a great time. He didn't really have much of a background in Ravenloft though, since he was an outsider. He basically just wanted to get back home and not be accosted by undead, lycanthropes, etc. while doing it. :P
#7
zombiegleemax
Nov 30, 2003 4:14:46 ...This is awesome. I wish my players had this sort of imagination, as the only thing they've come up with is "An evil killed my and I'm hunting it for the rest of my life"
"The rest of my life" turned out to be three sessions... (You don't say "come in" to a vampire)

Hoping to show them this thread... maybe they'll get some inspiration...
#8
zombiegleemax
Nov 30, 2003 8:31:27 Ah just for fun here's my name sack:
Charneka Varentowsky Born a Vistana, he was so much ashamed of his kind's (notably the Canjar and Zarovan tribes) evil towards giorgios that he cursed himself into becoming a giorgio.
#9
zombiegleemax
Dec 01, 2003 12:38:39 Well the only character i had playing ravenloft so far was an Elven cleric called Eric that failed a madness check when entering Ravenloft and came out totally depressed. Unfortunaltly at the time I was suffering from depression, so 0 roleplaying ability required! He killed himself when he was surrounded by bad guys by calling a flame strike on himself and imiolating the lot, killing himself and saving the party. Never went back to that group after that, they were pissing me off and I was too sick to roleplay anyway, but its still a good image.
#10
zombiegleemax
Dec 01, 2003 16:14:58 I've never played Ravenloft, but most of my NPC's are actually PC's from other campaigns:

Unit-39A: A rogue Modron Ft8. Come's from Trebor's Planescape Campaign. Nearly died on the Plane of Fire, but got sucked into the Demiplane of Dread instead. He has a ring of Human form and acts like Data from ST:TNG but with out the intellect (INT11)

Drinnik Shoehorn: No explanation needed, if you've read his past. He's a Nosferatu Kender Rog15.

Liseme Shoehorn: Drinnik's sister. She's still alive and think of the two elves in HoL, but one's in Sithicus, one's in Darkon. That was going to be a story between Drinnik and his sister. She's a Rog10/Gatecrasher5 (see MotP).

Erin and Thorbin Bae'Nir: Two elves. Thorbin was my brother's PC (Cl 6) and Erin was going to be introduced later. They came from Toril and they could trace their family name back to when Lolth caused the Drow rebellion. The House Baenre of Menzoberranzan was part of their family who rebelled. Thorbin wanted to redeem his family name, but Thorbin was a psycho who wanted to kill Thorbin.
#11
rian_lightblade
Dec 02, 2003 18:00:41 My favorite RL Character.

Valthanthalas Wintervale
A Classic DL character who was the only son of a noble family of the Silvanesti Elves (minor branch of the royal family) and a High level Ranger/Fighter (Knight of the Rose [Honorary]). His got sucked into RL shortly after the War of the Twins. He went throguh lots of adventures that I still talk about today.
#12
MidwayHaven
Dec 04, 2003 8:22:13 My favorite characters would be the Midway Haven characters, of course :D

Druinor d'Yantra (my character), a renegade Talon who searches for his Talon parents;

Maegan Rumwall, a Sithican half-elven princess who needs to proves she deserves the title of Speaker;

Kirby Nikolai, an afflicted werewolf from Hazlan who struggles constantly to regain his humanity back;

Fritz Winterboone, a sort of holy duelist from Neblus who seeks to remove his clan's curse;

Fatima Tartessos, a woman at war with her multiple personalities.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Nov 29, 2003 8:47:47	Through the years we've all had many characters wander the Lands of Mist. And so I wonder which one is your absolute favourite? A quick summary of the character and their past would be great, and if your character had an unpleasant ending, how? I'm hoping this could be a source of inspiration to newer Ravenloft players who have become too used to playing in other worlds where the stats are the character. I'd like to post one of my own here, but since I've only DM'ed so far, it's somewhat impossible. Dracon
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 29, 2003 9:36:03	I got a few ones from my players since I'm also exclusively DM. Rhiesa Dontscovitch Knight of the Shadows from Barovia. She was the daughter of an important burgomeister (town hidden within the Balinoks for now, I'll use it as a plot hook later). And it turns out that her mother looked quite a bit like Tatyana but wasn't her reincarnation. Anyway, Strahd met his mother at a formal ball and bit her. Her husband managed to repeal Strahd but was killed. Rhiesa's pregnant mother fled with her to hide on a cottage. There she gave birth to an healthy boy. 10 years later, it turned out he was a dhampire and killed his mother out of bloodlust. Rhiesa made him flee. Blaming Strahd for this, she seeked a way to avenge her family and discovered the Knights. She got accepted within the order and protects the people of Barovia. Malory Elrich A plain ordinary guardsman from Invidia. He was working for a wealthy merchant but discovered his employer was a ruthless criminal running a vast protection rackett. Malory became a wanted man, trying to flee his pursuers. His former employer got killed during the grand conjunction so Malory settled and had a family. But the man wasn't dead and came back, killing his family. Malory discovered why his old boss wanted him dead so much, he was a fiend in disguise. Malory got killed while we were playing Bleak House, he sacrified himself to stop Metus. Still the player had an idea, Malory came back as a Revenant bent on destroying his former boss. They destroyed his current physical form (believing him dead) so Malory fell apart, not knowing the fiend was within his phylactery. We might see the return of the Revenant eventually whose family had managed to flee before the assassins arrived and burned their home. Hope someone reads this...
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 29, 2003 10:55:27	There was this really awesome true lycantrophe I once played, Dimitri Varosj. The true born lycan (wolf born) had fled from the life in which he grew up, where his evil family hunted innocent villages with the pack. He spent his further life fighting the Beast within, trying to find an inner peace. The character was NG in human form, Neutral in hybrid form and Evil in Animal form. It was a fight against the Inner Beast, the feeling that came with it vs the Will that knew too well what would happen if the Beast came free, that erupted many pleasant times. (and the surprise on my comrads faces the first change)
#4 zombiegleemax Nov 29, 2003 13:40:51	Cole Deschain- A former Kargat assassin, who eventually reformed- Making him persona non grata in Darkon. He's still active, after a fashion, in the "Halfling Walks" boards we had going back on the old Kargatane boards. Among other things, he went through "The Heart's Final Beat," where he pretty much put the kibosh on the Whistling Fiend.
#5 zar_niln Nov 30, 2003 0:27:04	The one in my profile of course! I've been meaning to write down his familie's history so if no one minds... Elias Treeclimber, rogue extraordinaire, was adventuring on a far off world. His adventuring company grew in power and wealth, and eventually was commisioned to excavate a lich's tomb. Elias, trusted above all by the rest of the party, went in, invisible, to scout out main camp areas before the rest of the party moved in. Little did Elias know, the lich wasn't hiding here, it was trapped here. It had used up all available bodies trying to defeat the magic that kept it in its prison. It gambled for its existence by destroying its phylactery and using the negative outflow to become incoporeal. As soon as it detected Elias, it manifested and attacked. Elias fought the lich, but in a final moment the two slew each other. But Elias got up. The furious battle with the lich in the magical prison had embedded the lich's power, and evil, into the halfling. Elias returned, eager to test his new powers, slew one of the weaker members of his company with his new arcane abilities. The rest of the party never knew. That is, until Elias poisoned their last meals. As Elias looted their bodies and tents, the mists enveloped the campsite. Elias Treeclimber arrived in Nova Vaasa. He enjoyed this new place. He ate at the finest inns, crashed the finest parties of Arbora, and often murdered minor members of the aristocracy for slight things, such as spilling a glass next to him or taking the third to last ouderve. He eventually got the attention of the true ruler of Nova Vaasa: Malken. Malken instilled Elias as head trafficker of a new drug called Nova in Arbora. Elias enjoyed the power, but hated taking orders from someone who didn't even have arcane abilities (notice the lich's pride coming into play). Elias used the drug to gather a near army of people more loyal to him than to Malken. As he did this, he had many dalliances with halfling women. He fathered three sons: Hugo, Trulluck, and Caster. Although Elias was a capable arcane spellcaster, he lacked the experience needed to teach his sons. Using all of his contacts, he learned of a newly built wizard academy in Hazlan. He prepared to move. Elias and his sons left in the night, under the protection of his most trusted (or most addicted) companions. The mistways seemed to favor them, and they reached the Hazlani border within a day. Elias was horrified to find no open, friendly border, but an impassable wall of fire. Elias ordered several crazed Nova addicts through, but none made it. Just then, Malken himself, with his own allies, arrived. The began overwhelming Elias's small, ragtag force. Elias barely noticed that a 3-foot hole formed in the wall. Seeing it as a sign, Elias picked up his youngest (and luckily, the closest to him) son, Caster, and threw him through the hole, just before he tasted cold steel at the end of Malken's blade. But Caster was safe in Hazlan. Caster was picked up by a traveling merchant caravan, who were on their way to Toyalis. The caravan master took to the boy. It was he who noticed the boy's arcane potential, and it was he who enrolled him in the Ramulai academy. Caster took to wizardry, moved to Toyalis, and established himself as a noble/merchant/wizard, trusted advisor to Hazlik himself. Caster, disliking his father's reputation, took the name Spellweaver. His son, Hugo, took to the caravans, trying to gain wealth and a name for himself. Knowing he was inexperienced, he didn't want to embarass his family, and took the name Treeclimber, in honor of his grandfather.
#6 zombiegleemax Nov 30, 2003 2:26:55	I think my favorite Ravenloft character was a gnome mage I had named Londex. My DM ran us through When Black Roses Bloom and I had a great time. He didn't really have much of a background in Ravenloft though, since he was an outsider. He basically just wanted to get back home and not be accosted by undead, lycanthropes, etc. while doing it. :P
#7 zombiegleemax Nov 30, 2003 4:14:46	...This is awesome. I wish my players had this sort of imagination, as the only thing they've come up with is "An evil killed my and I'm hunting it for the rest of my life" "The rest of my life" turned out to be three sessions... (You don't say "come in" to a vampire) Hoping to show them this thread... maybe they'll get some inspiration...
#8 zombiegleemax Nov 30, 2003 8:31:27	Ah just for fun here's my name sack: Charneka Varentowsky Born a Vistana, he was so much ashamed of his kind's (notably the Canjar and Zarovan tribes) evil towards giorgios that he cursed himself into becoming a giorgio.
#9 zombiegleemax Dec 01, 2003 12:38:39	Well the only character i had playing ravenloft so far was an Elven cleric called Eric that failed a madness check when entering Ravenloft and came out totally depressed. Unfortunaltly at the time I was suffering from depression, so 0 roleplaying ability required! He killed himself when he was surrounded by bad guys by calling a flame strike on himself and imiolating the lot, killing himself and saving the party. Never went back to that group after that, they were pissing me off and I was too sick to roleplay anyway, but its still a good image.
#10 zombiegleemax Dec 01, 2003 16:14:58	I've never played Ravenloft, but most of my NPC's are actually PC's from other campaigns: Unit-39A: A rogue Modron Ft8. Come's from Trebor's Planescape Campaign. Nearly died on the Plane of Fire, but got sucked into the Demiplane of Dread instead. He has a ring of Human form and acts like Data from ST:TNG but with out the intellect (INT11) Drinnik Shoehorn: No explanation needed, if you've read his past. He's a Nosferatu Kender Rog15. Liseme Shoehorn: Drinnik's sister. She's still alive and think of the two elves in HoL, but one's in Sithicus, one's in Darkon. That was going to be a story between Drinnik and his sister. She's a Rog10/Gatecrasher5 (see MotP). Erin and Thorbin Bae'Nir: Two elves. Thorbin was my brother's PC (Cl 6) and Erin was going to be introduced later. They came from Toril and they could trace their family name back to when Lolth caused the Drow rebellion. The House Baenre of Menzoberranzan was part of their family who rebelled. Thorbin wanted to redeem his family name, but Thorbin was a psycho who wanted to kill Thorbin.
#11 rian_lightblade Dec 02, 2003 18:00:41	My favorite RL Character. Valthanthalas Wintervale A Classic DL character who was the only son of a noble family of the Silvanesti Elves (minor branch of the royal family) and a High level Ranger/Fighter (Knight of the Rose [Honorary]). His got sucked into RL shortly after the War of the Twins. He went throguh lots of adventures that I still talk about today.
#12 MidwayHaven Dec 04, 2003 8:22:13	My favorite characters would be the Midway Haven characters, of course :D Druinor d'Yantra (my character), a renegade Talon who searches for his Talon parents; Maegan Rumwall, a Sithican half-elven princess who needs to proves she deserves the title of Speaker; Kirby Nikolai, an afflicted werewolf from Hazlan who struggles constantly to regain his humanity back; Fritz Winterboone, a sort of holy duelist from Neblus who seeks to remove his clan's curse; Fatima Tartessos, a woman at war with her multiple personalities.