Tristain, proud country under Brimir in the magical land of Halkeginia, and your home. It is a small but fairly prosperous country nestled between its mother nation of Gallia and the barbaric empire of Germania. Off the coast to the North the floating Island of Albion drifts in an ebb and flow and far to the south lays the holy kingdom of Romalia, birthplace of the holy Founder Brimir.
This land is watched over by nobles, bloodlines blessed with the right to rule in the form of powerful magic by Brimir, our Lord and Founder, six millennia hence. The magic of this land is split into five elements: The solid and stable earth, the chilling yet nurturing water, the blazing flame, the raging wind, and finally the lost element of Void, from which all other elements spring. Wielding these elements the noble families guard the common folk against the dangers of the world.
This land is blessed by the Founder.
This land has stood protected for six thousand years.
All is not well here.
Orcs raid villages, beasts feed upon the unwary, and on occasion a poor soul will simply disappear never to be seen again.
A rebellion has broken out in Albion, and the mysterious "Reconquista" pushes the royal family back daily.
Unrest spreads throughout the kingdom and ancient forces begin to stir as figures plot in the shadows.
This land needs help.
It needs miracles.
It needs Adventurers.
*************
You were born third in your family's noble line to the Duke of La Valliere and given the name Louise Francoise de la Valliere.
Your family, The Vallieres, are a powerful family and distinguished in their service to the throne, your mother and father alone being near a near legendary former soldier and general respectively. Your eldest sister, Eleanore, is a focused researcher on the workings of magic and though afflicted with sickness Cattelya is a beacon of kindness for your family.
As the third of three children you are not the heir. You can only serve your family and the crown to the best of your ability with your power and the skill you will gain.
You are diligent.
You are determined.
You follow the rule of steel as taught to you by your mother.
And you are a failure.
Despite being born with outstanding pedigree, despite all your effort, your magic is… stunted. Every attempt you have made to draw upon your magic has met with the same result: destruction. The power breaks free of the spell without fail, turning even the very smallest spells into an explosion. As you grow older you begin to despair, this problem shows no sign of being resolved with maturity. As the day when you will be sent to the Tristain Magical Academy your worry grows, the academy will be your last chance if you can find no way to overcome your current state there you know that you will truly be forced to give up and consign yourself to simply being married of to the benefit of the Valliere line.
This is your last chance and you know it.
Or at the least that's the way it was supposed to be.
Class Select
Note on the subject of Void Magic: Louise definitely has it. For the moment it's taking the shape of the bonus feat "Void Connection" which makes it possible for her to take levels in the class "Void Mage" and disqualifies her from the other four mage classes native to Halkeginia.
On Multi Classing: House rules here, you can choose which class to level up when you gain enough exp, your total level is your class levels combined, and you have access to all the pros and cons of the two classes regardless of their relative levels. I will be allowing a max of two classes right out the gate but you can take more with later levels under the same rules as for the first two. Finally I'm not really running gestalts in this case so sorry about that.
[] Fighter Classes: With magic denied you tried to gain at least some connection to your families' military legacy.
-[] Fighter: The straight warrior. Using strength of arms and a proficiency with everything from axes to bows. Gains bonus martial feats and high power.
-[] Ranger: Experts in the wild, with the ability to track, handle animals, and survive in wilderness. Tend to be skilled with bows as well as dual wielding.
-[] Monk: A master of unarmed combat who uses their bodies natural energy to empower their strikes. Can avoid blows and strike multiple times in quick succession.
-[] Paladin: Holy warriors who, in exchange for holding stringently to the ideals of their god, wield divine power to smite foes and protect themselves and their allies.
-[] Swordsage: Those who devote their entire souls to the mastering the sword. They gain the ability to use maneuvers to achieve pseudo-magical affects with their swords.
-[]Crusader: A knight of the church who hunts those who defy their gods will; Gives off auras and gains divine fortitude.
-[] Write-in
[] Skill Classes: You may not be good at magic but you seem to pick up other skills easily enough.
-[] Rogue: Thieves, Assassins, and the various folk who do their best work in the shadows. Can inflict incredible damage by striking from surprise, move unseen and unheard, and get pick locks.
-[] Bard: A skilled performer and smooth talker. Charismatic, diplomatic, and a jack of all trades with the ability to wield weaponry as well as magic.
-[] Factotum: Make a career out of being just good enough at everything. Skilled in a thousand different ways, they can draw on their inspiration to temporarily become whatever the situation requires.
-[] Scout: Focusses on fast movement and quick attacks. Can traverse difficult terrain and use their momentum to add power to their strikes.
-[] Write-in
[] Divine Classes: You have always sent prayers to Brimir every day as any proper lady should. These prayers only became more fervent as your… slight trouble with magic began to emerge. One night your pendant began to glow in response.
-[] Cleric: the standard divine spell caster. Prays to their deity to receive spells to heal and boost allies and produce miracles. Can use to force of their faith to turn away the undead.
-[] Favored Soul: Blessed individuals who have a direct connection with their god. Naturally talented with the favored weapon of their god and able to call on a portion of their power through sheer force of will.
-[] Archivist: A devout soul dedicated to the recovery and collection of knowledge. Can use their knowledge of Dark things to grant themselves and their allies' advantages against such creatures, and use divine magic.
-[] Write-in
[] Caster Classes: You should be happy you really should, but… just what sort of magic is this?
-[] Druid: Forms a connection with the natural world and draws on primal energies to create life, change their form, and control their form.
-[] Binder: Forms pacts with entities from a realm of nothingness, taking these Vestiges into the Binders body so they can experience existence in exchange for granting the binder power.
-[] Warlock: Sold their soul to a demon in exchange for fell power. Use demonic invocations to create minions, harm and debilitate enemies, and grant themselves powers.
-[] Wizard: Scholars who use knowledge and memorization to draw and shape energies from the Arcane Plane. Can memorize and cast spells with a wide range of effects.
-[] Sorcerer: Natural magicians who draw arcane of power with their will. Can improvise spells on the fly but gain magical power slowly.
Restrictions are pretty loose with class choices for published materials. Basically as long as I can find it it's probably okay. Homebrews on the other hand… well I'm not planning on disqualifying homebrew entirely but I guess the best way to put is that Homebrew has greater burden of proof with me. I'll only allow it if I find it sufficiently… good, and both balance and completeness of concept will be a factor in that.
[X] Divine Classes: You have always sent prayers to Brimir every day as any proper lady should. These prayers only became more fervent as your… slight trouble with magic began to emerge. One night your pendant began to glow in response.
-[X] Favored Soul: Blessed individuals who have a direct connection with their god. Naturally talented with the favored weapon of their god and able to call on a portion of their power through sheer force of will.
Favored souls are pretty great overall, a good mix of abilities to go with her Void Mage powers later. Not exactly super optimal in regular play, but it's a good one in a setting where you won't be expecting many other classes, and Louise would be getting a Fighter in the form of Gandalfr.
I am a bit unclear on when Louise gets a class? Has she had it all along? Develops it in the academy? Gets it during the whole summoning ritual instead of a familiar? What?
Is Louise unique in having a DnD class, or does everyone in this world have one? (so for example would she be the only Favoured Soul in the world?)
[X] Skill Classes: You may not be good at magic but you seem to pick up other skills easily enough.
-[X] Factotum: Make a career out of being just good enough at everything. Skilled in a thousand different ways, they can draw on their inspiration to temporarily become whatever the situation requires.
It's been a while since I watched ZnT but I remember Louise as very devoted. I'd like to see that faith rewarded. I don't actually know which divine class I would prefer, but this is in the lead.
EDIT: @Condor12, what domains would Brimir cover? I'd expect Magic, but I'm not sure what else would fit best.
[X] Divine Classes: You have always sent prayers to Brimir every day as any proper lady should. These prayers only became more fervent as your… slight trouble with magic began to emerge. One night your pendant began to glow in response.
-[X] Cleric: the standard divine spell caster. Prays to their deity to receive spells to heal and boost allies and produce miracles. Can use to force of their faith to turn away the undead.
Louise has always been very faithful, so a divine class fits.
I am a bit unclear on when Louise gets a class? Has she had it all along? Develops it in the academy? Gets it during the whole summoning ritual instead of a familiar? What?
Is Louise unique in having a DnD class, or does everyone in this world have one? (so for example would she be the only Favoured Soul in the world?)
This starts before the ritual. She develops it before leaving for the academy though precisely how she develops it changes depending on the class that gets picked. Most DnD classes don't exist in the context of the normal individuals of Halkeginia though Louise has to have gotten hers somewhere, so either unique or similar too. (regarding "class" as the precise abilities or powers making up the typical DnD classes, because their are of course people who know how to fight or can use the local magic around.)
Ah, regarding Divine classes and prestige classes thereof, if Louise were to take Warlock with the explicit player intention of going into Enlightened Spirit as soon as possible, would that mean that her original power source was Brimir or a supernatural servant of him?
It's a subpar prestige class, so I don't expect players to go for it, but I thought it'd be neat.
It's been a while since I watched ZnT but I remember Louise as very devoted. I'd like to see that faith rewarded. I don't actually know which divine class I would prefer, but this is in the lead.
EDIT: @Condor12, what domains would Brimir cover? I'd expect Magic, but I'm not sure what else would fit best.
Good question there. My preliminary write-up for Brimir as a DnD deity looks like this
Brimir (in terms of DnD deity, yes the fact that he is capable of acting as this may be a plot point at some point) Favored Weapon: The Wand-Sword Domains: Magic, Law, War Alignment: Lawful Good
And will go in the info when I finalize it.
Domain Explanations: Magic doesn't really need explaining, directly or indirectly brought about the current Law on which most of Halkeginia runs and was, I believe, a war leader.
Ah, regarding Divine classes and prestige classes thereof, if Louise were to take Warlock with the explicit player intention of going into Enlightened Spirit as soon as possible, would that mean that her original power source was Brimir or a supernatural servant of him?
It's a subpar prestige class, so I don't expect players to go for it, but I thought it'd be neat.
Sorry but no. Running fluff for roleplaying in a lot of places here so you have to be a proper Warlock before you can repent into a Enlightened Spirit even if that whole process happened before the campaign proper started, which means a demon/devil was involved in there somewhere.
unrelated but probably signing off for the night soonish.
Okay, I'm actually not sure we could turn into a dragon (takes special feats, I think), but shapeshifting is still incredibly useful. Throw spellcasting on top of that, and... yeah.
-[X] Cleric: the standard divine spell caster. Prays to their deity to receive spells to heal and boost allies and produce miracles. Can use to force of their faith to turn away the undead.
Since Saito is going fighter/Anti mage i figure we need Lousie to go support build at the start (Gandelfir boost+ speed buff+Strength buff!? Saito will be a god of war) and it will alow us to heal people and build up her rep.
Saito will be a god of war) and it will alow us to heal people and build up her rep.
