About Me: First things first, I'm a 28, male, software engineer looking for start times around 5-7pm EST during weekdays. I shouldn't have a problem attending, except on certain occasions like over this Christmas break. Experience: I DMed a game short term for 5e till people moved away, but am largely inexperienced with actually playing the game, though I've read up and done some theorycrafting. I may need some reminding or an explanation of some things from time to time, but hopefully not much. I also have really no experience whatsoever with Roll20, so all of that will really be new to me. I toyed with making a game on here, but didn't get very far at all. Also, incidentally, I'm not all that experienced with really RPing. What I'm looking for: I want a long term game where characters can grow and train and make choices that impact the world and themselves greatly. I'd like the world to be a living thing with events happening outside the influence of the adventurers, that, if they so chose, could involve themselves or not; basically not an adventure on rails. I want a grittier, mature, RP experience where encounters are serious and sometimes the choice might simply be not to fight. I want to earn what I have, not just with dice, but decisions. Furthermore, I want to be able to craft and make things, as I find that to be rather interesting and possibly its own adventure. I'd love for the various tool proficiencies and skills to come more into play than they seem to in a more "casual" game as it gives extra purpose to group members and reasons for them to be working together despite different agendas. This all kind of sounds like I want a rather serious game, but I think it can be challenging and complex without sacrificing it being laid back so long as people can keep up with things. I'm not looking for a munchkin level, but a level that forces me to somewhat intelligently utilize what's at my disposal. Character Name: Arryn Sanguinaria. His true name is unknown, and this is the name his elven mentor gave him. A Sanguinaria, also known as a bloodroot, has, as its second name suggest, reddish roots. It is a flower that blooms pure white, and can have medicinal value, or be made into a poison. It is a fitting analogy to Arryn's life, where he was rooted in the bloody deaths of his true family. His mentor had hoped, that out of those roots, he would blossom into the purest flower, and thus gave him the last name Sanguinaria. Character Build: I'm more of an arcane warrior person which is why I want to play a Fighter 1/Bladesinger X. My race will kind of depend on stat rolls or if its point buy as the build is kind of stat dependent. My choices, in order of preference, are Forest Gnome, Eladrin, High Elf, though this still depends on stat rolls. The build could change as things go on and stat rolls, such as extra levels of fighter. Perhaps I might toy with Bearbarian 3/Bladesinger X if I get good enough strength for strength weapons, enough dexterity for AC, enough Constitution for health and concentration, and enough intelligence to fully realize the bladesingers potential, which is all very MAD. I've also considered a couple levels of Paladin for Divine Smite. I do want to maintain high caster levels, however, for my characters background and purpose. I need feats for this character as well (war caster and tough at a minimum), and it would be great if through events in game they could be learned. Background: My background would be a splicing of Criminal and Sage, which I just refer to as the Criminal Sage. It's centered around the concept that my character has lost important people to him multiple times. As I'm framing it, which is subject to change based on the World, he doesn't remember his family, as they were killed by marauders when he was an infant. At that point he was taken in by a group of elves, and for his aptitude, schooled in the art of the Bladesinger. After growing up, and many years of training under his master, there was another attack, and his fellow students and master were slain. He barely managed to escape (how is based on race) with his mentors diary. The diary contained various information about creatures, myths, teachings, elves, and magic in general. There's also a single page with one question written on it: What power lies beyond the weave? Fleeing his forest home with the elves, he ended up inside a large city. The forest had taken two families from him, and he wasn't about to trust it to not take a third, or perhaps himself next time. It was far too dangerous a place. At first, he tried to ply the teachings of his master, and knowledge he'd gain with his second family, but starvation and squalor quickly forced him to start taking on odd jobs to survive. After a while, he managed a good wage, even settling down, taking a wife. Eventually, they had a child, Naleema, or Nalee for short. He had found happiness and fulfillment once more. For 7 years it lasted, till one day he returned home, to find them brutally murdered. The city guard told him some criminals hid in the house, butchering his family in the process to keep them quiet, after the guard had begun chasing them. The first time he'd lost his family he was too young to feel anything, and his mentor discouraged any such negative thought. The second time, fear and the need to survive kept hatred to not even a distant thought. This time, though, rage and hatred filled his every fiber of being... hatred for the guards who had let this happen; hatred of the criminals who had done this; and most of all, hatred for his own weakness in being unable to prevent this happening to himself time and again. It wasn't the forest that was dangerous, but the whole of this world. However, it wasn't till he retrieved his mentors diary to once again practice the skills of a bladesinger, out of a desire for vengeance, that his true passionate hatred manifested. What power lies beyond the weave? , he read once more, and it was then he realized: there was power beyond the weave; power the gods had locked away from mortalkind. It was the gods decision that beings of this plane be forced to endure death; forced to endure the weakness of being unable to stop your loved ones from being taken. It was then his drive and purpose solidified, that his true object of vengeance was found: death itself. From then on, he sought power through the arcane teachings of his master, and all other sources, and through that power he would find a way to end death for all mortalkind, as they experience it. He ate, worked, rested, researched, and practiced day after day. He sold all unnecessary possessions, save for a few mementos, and bought good armor and weapons, and other equipment. When he wasn't researching, or practicing, he was prowling the shadows, pursuing any hint of the arcane, in pursuit of power and knowledge. His bladesinger training, along with his heritage, proved useful in this endeavor, as he found himself adept at the art of stealth, and gaining access to places he didn't belong, though he has the scars to prove his occasional failures. Eventually, his hatred, along with most other emotion, went cold, leaving only his drive, which some might call an obsession. Now, he seeks companions to overcome his weaknesses, so that he might achieve the power he needs, for despite his research and shadowy excursions, he has achieved little progress, though he is still far more capable than most. Religion: Through his studies and the teaching of his mentor and elven tutors, he learned much of the various gods of magic, among others. Of all the gods, he gives reverence to Boccob alone, for it is only Boccob that permits and encourages mortalkind to seek and gain great power over the arcane. Boccob even allows mortalkind entry into his Library of Lore, to attain great knowledge. Even gods such as Mystra, whom tends and mends the Weave, are known to strike down any mortalkind that achieves "too much" power. Alignment: Chaotic Neutral; He hardly gives any thought to the laws of any given civilization in his endeavors, though he also wishes not to draw too much attention and so will usually keep the laws of the land, at least while there's a watchful eye. He also, despite the willingness to do what needs be done, dislikes death and therefore killing and will only do so out of his own sense of necessity. He won't, however, hesitate when that necessity arises. Notable Quirk: He keeps locks of hair from his wife and daughter in hopes of one day using the locks to resurrect them. Quotes: What significance have the laws of mortalkind, when the laws of gods subvert them? I do not tread this path lightly, nor without sacrifice. What must be done, must be, for the long term good of all mortalkind. The gods are crazed with power, and seek only pawns in their machinations. Death is the chain that binds us, and I will break it. Death is the oldest and truest enemy of mortalkind. Once I defeat it, we will all be free. We are defined by Death. Once it's gone we can finally define ourselves. Boccob alone, of all the gods, allows us true power and knowledge. He alone deserves my reverence.
