Eric

I am a 47M teacher from California (UTC-7) who enjoys woodworking, cooking, movies, and TTRPGs. Married with Children. I have been listening to a lot of electro swing lately. I have been playing D&D since highschool as both a player and DM. I prefer playing, but always seem to end up as DM. I am somewhat new to roll20, discord, and skype but take feedback and hope to get better.

A great game is one where sessions vary the balance of combat, role play, and exploration with opportunities for each character and player to shine. A great party is one that embraces the collaborative storytelling part of D&D and find ways to work together towards shared goals. Though I have no talent at voices and sometimes struggle to get going, I really enjoy roleplay, find it rewarding, and want to improve in this area.

I think about game mechanics and ways my characters can interact well with other characters and their abilities. I think game mechanics should be considered in balance with character concepts and party composition to make decisions. I have no problem with half-orc wizards, but don't have patience for wizards with a 6 intelligence score. I would rather play a friend than a mortal enemy of another player. Characters should be able to work together, not just be a disruption.

When playing, I find that I tend to gravitate towards support/utility roles. My last four characters were: (1) Dain, a strong silent type totem barbarian that played the tank role in blocking enemies from friends. He often used grappling to help create advantage and mobility for the party's rogue; (2) Varis, a bookish abjuration wizard that enjoyed investigating and creating problems. The former was a motivation for problems. The latter was his approach to combat through disables and battlefield control; (3) Cloud, a tabaxi swashbuckler driven by curiosity who was great at infiltrating to open doors and create opportunities for the party; and (4) Yoric, a grave cleric, tormented by not knowing why he alone survived the massacre of his village. Unfortunately, he never had a chance to really develop as a character in a fast-paced combat focused campaign. I will always pick my character with the party in mind, but I would like to try a wild-magic sorcerer or try the concept for Yoric again perhaps as a battle master fighter.

Favorite Combat Moment: We were maybe a round away from a TPK against a demon lord near the end of Descent to Avernus. The paladin had taken the attention of a bunch of the minions, Yoric (my grave cleric) had just got the rogue/ranger back up with healing word and used path to the grave to give the demon vulnerability to the next attack. The sorcerer missed twice with a twinned spell upcast chromatic orb. Then on the last turn before the demon, the rogue I had just got up came out from hiding and shot a crit on the demon, sneak attack (thanks paladin), and did over 100 damage (I think it was 124) to finish off the demon with an arrow through his open mouth into his brain.

Favorite Role Playing Moment: Watching the trouble making halfling rogue (player) start working with the somewhat naive moon druid (player) to frame/blackmail an opposing faction leader to cede control of an area to them for a headquarters. In one evening, changing the landscape of the campaign from the book to their own story.

Possible Starting Points for Characters:

Aaron, Human Battlemaster Fighter, Haunted One - An eldest brother from a long line of soldiers and town guards. His father was lost in a campaign when he was 14, forcing him to enter the guard at a young age to support his mother and younger brothers. His mother ran off to ???? when his youngest brother died. He is haunted by being the only survivor of a campaign battle with ???? in which his entire company including his only surviving brother were slaughtered. He will make sure he dies before he lets his new companions fall.

Thom (need a new name), Human or Half-elf lore bard, a traveling performer that sings and tells stories in inns and taverns as he wonders ????, staying out of the eye of a powerful jilted lover (????) who has ordered him dead. The plight of ???? (another player) pulls at his heart strings and memories of a younger brother he once let down in a time of need. Perhaps he can redeem himself and be free of his burdens.

(not ready yet) Overly protected cast out noble or rich merchant kid who suddenly finds himself in the real world with real problems.