Ah! The Adventures I have... not known?
1 × Long Bow (1d6) or
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Ah! The Adventures I have... not known?
I'm a day behind in my #charactercreationchallenge. I'll have to catch up and skimp on my goal to have a useful image in each post.
In many of my campaigns, I use Assassins as soldiers. The reason for this is that assassins have valuable military skills for recon. While OSE doesn't specifically list spying as one of their abilities, their skill set supports it.
Meet Ormonde, a nicely named soldier-assassin.
Level 3 Assassin
Armour Class 5 [14] (leather)
Hit Points 11
Attacks:
1 × crossbow (1d6)
1 x sling (1d6)
1 x short sword (1d6)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement Rate 90' (30')
Saves D13 W14 P13 B16 S15
Alignment: Neutral
STR 9 INT 13 WIS 12
DEX 17 CON 12 CHA 16
Items: Beastiary, country map, journal, papyrus, ink, 3 quills, knife, map case, lamp, oil flasks x3, sarcina, bed roll, trinket bag, 5 days of rations, 24 bolts, 2 potions of healing, 1 potion of giant strength, 2 potions of diminution, 6 potion vials of rum (non-magical), a small net bag, 100 gold pieces.
Ormonde is a veteran of many campaigns but has never progressed in the ranks. That has not held him back, he loves army life. Very often he is paired with a new lieutenant or unit of green troops. He has a special ability to teach the troops to campaign. He had a very hard time as a recruit due to his lack of strength and constitution. Often mocked, he was able to turn this around by putting his other skills to use. He was a master of collecting gossip and scuttlebutt, which he offered to his superiors and peers usually for a price but sometimes for free.
When things got rough, he can calm and soothe the troops. Many nights around the campfire, he would pen letters home for the new recruits or tell stories of fantastic (and funny) beasts. Ormonde has a funny map that doesn't seem to be useful for anything but telling tall tales. He has a trinket bag full of lucky charms, orisons of hope, and boozy potions of courage. Most of his "rations" fall under the category of welcome and surprising treats like dates and other dried fruits. Items that can be soaked in booze or poison or nothing at all.
Everything about him screams Bard, except for the whispers of things that happen in the dark. Ormonde uses his other abilities to make dangerous and foolish people disappear. He will do anything to keep his warband safe.
He is often elected or volun-told to travel with rookie troops and smooth out any mistakes or poor choices by the officers or the troops, one way or another. These special assignments require payment in gold to ensure what is desired by the officer or peer happens. Much to his credit, the vast majority of newbies return home with more skill and respect for the institution of soldiering than those who don't return. He is known and highly valued by a select number of veterans and officers in the army.
He is a savvy assassin. His sling remains hidden until needed either as intended or as a garrot. Ormonde will lend his crossbow out for hunting and take the time to teach how to ambush prey. He is a terrifyingly good shot, which is often more the point than hunting.
Ormonde is also careful to explain his potions to his peers, so as not to be mistaken for a poisoner. Many times he uses his potions on others in creative ways. Usually, the drinker is willing in the case of healing. On other occasions, he will dose someone with a potion of diminution before putting them in a net bag until they learn some important facet of soldiering or command. Other times, he will drink the potion himself to gain access to places he normally couldn't reach.
There is one famous tale about Ormonde which is usually told around the campfire. Ormonde and three young soldiers were cornered and almost captured behind enemy lines. He dressed in a dirty sack and gave his charges the Diminution potions before placing them in another dirty sack. He brazenly walked through several enemy checkpoints, offering to sell his bag of chickens to various officers and sergeants. He was kicked, knocked down, and punched so many times, it took him a month to look and walk like himself again, but he and his men escaped. Those three men are generals now, but cluck when he calls them "his chickens".
I said I wasn't going to create characters for the 31 day challenge back in this post here. Then I posted a list of 20 sets of die rolls for other people to use for characters.
Well, tonight I got bored and started plugging in stats into characters. So shoot me. I lied.
My method was from the original red box rules and I assigned stats in the order I rolled them. I started with clerics and went through every character type in order, one block of stats for each. When I got to the end, I started over until I ran out of statistics.
The red box requires certain stats of 9 or better with a few exceptions. Clerics require a 13 in Wisdom while Thieves, FIghters and Magic Users have no required minimum stats. Every character type benefits from having one or two high stats for a better return on experience. Prime requisites kind of exist, but not really.
When I made this list of die rolls, this one jumped out. It's the only time I ever recalled rolling four 1's in a roll. Then I thought how bad it would be to have this set of stats. As luck would have it, this block of rolls was assigned to a thief who has no required scores. I cocked my head in thought.Strength: 10
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 3
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 15
Charisma: 18
Oh my god. He exactly the thief that you don't want in your party! He has high intelligence, enough to look down on people. He is charismatic so he can lead people into harms way. His constitution garners a slight bonus to hit points, hopefully enough to get out of some horrible mess he is bound to create.
He's perfect!
If you give a handwave to his backstory, he has a ton of gold because he stole his gear from mom and dad. He has some vaguely weapon-like implements from the kitchen and backyard plus handfuls of gold to lead his associates astray with promises of more. Of particular note are 3 maps his dad had in his chest of drawers. Obviously, those must lead to treasure even if they are clearly standard maps of the Kingdom, the County and the Capital. What trouble could that be?
Obviously, the surviving family dog's wisdom is just high enough to not to want to be a part of this.
This guy was rolled to be rolled.
Yesterday, I declined the challenge myself, but offered 20 sets of die rolls to create your own character. I want to spend my time reading a blog a day in January.
Today, I'm reading blogs. Games in Libraries is up to the challenge, as is Spodding.
Now for the plug. I wrote a book called "Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners" specifically designed to roll up NPCs and to give Player Characters professional skills. It's meant for B/X and AD&D e1. It's available at DriveThruRPG for PWYW. I also have a handy dandy character sheet for AD&D e1 and Unearthed Arcana. It's a scan of a sheet I created in the 80's in PDF format. Suitable for printing.
And with that, I am off to read some blogs.
I have to be honest, it took me 30 seconds to find Tim's post not counting the 30 minutes of reading his other recent posts. Follow those links above and subscribe.
I can't leave you high and dry on New Year's Day. I do have a small contribution to this 31 day endeavor. Here is a list of 20 4d6 rolls with the lowest roll dropped.
A) 15, 12, 12, 9, 16, 10
B) 10, 14, 14, 9, 12, 11
C) 13, 16, 17, 13, 13, 12
D) 11, 14, 15, 12, 12, 13
E) 9, 13, 12, 15, 12, 14
F) 14, 10, 10, 11, 10, 11
G) 14, 13, 10, 14, 16, 12
H) 13, 15, 14, 13. 14, 14
I) 14, 17, 16, 6, 9, 11
J) 11, 13, 11, 12, 15, 14
K) 10, 15, 11, 13, 14, 14
L) 11, 8, 12, 13, 9, 17
M) 10, 16, 3, 11, 15, 18
N) 13, 14, 17, 14, 11, 15
O) 12, 17, 15, 14, 12, 12
P) 17, 10, 14, 13, 13, 15
Q) 10, 7, 13, 17, 12, 15
R) 12, 14, 10, 9, 17, 16
S) 13, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16
T) 14, 12, 16, 14, 15, 15
I hand rolled these numbers on my lunch breaks last week when I thought I would be participating. What I find interesting is, I don't ever recall rolling a 3 as a stat. I'd like to say I must cheat a lot when rolling dice, but in this exercise, I didn't roll a single 4 or 5 and the one 3 I rolled was actually four 1 in a roll. By the same standard, I only rolled one 18, 7 and 8. That is weird, but thems the dice for you.
Green-5 is a unique droid to the Tarkeren Campaign. He has been on his own for far too long, Green-5 is suffering from corruption. He has taken on some traits that are not helpful.
He has this obsession with turning speeders into fighters, which is less useful than it sounds. He has also taken on the idea he should know medicine. For a tactical droid, this is even more questionable than the thing with the speeders.
T-Series Tactical Droid Statistics
Medium 4th-Degree Droid Soldier 3
Force Points: 2
Initiative: +6; Senses: Perception +7
Languages: Basic, Binary, Zabrak, Rodian
Defense:
Reflex Defense: 18 (Flat-Footed: 17), Fortitude Defense: 13, Will Defense: 13; Vehicular Combat
Hit Points: 30, Damage Threshold: 13
Immune: Droid Traits
Offense
Speed: 9 Squares (Walking)
Melee: Unarmed +1 (1d3)
Ranged: Heavy Blaster +2 (3d8)
Base Attack Bonus: +1; Grapple: +2
Attack Options: Quickshot (Heavy Blaster)
Base Stats:
Abilities: Strength 10, Dexterity 12, Constitution -, Intelligence 14 (Corruption. 10), Wisdom 14, Charisma 12
Talents: Battle Analysis
Feats: Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Vehicular Combat, Weapon Proficiency (Pistols), Weapon Proficiency (Rifles), Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons), Point Blank Shot.
Skills: Initiative +6, Knowledge (Tactics) +7, Perception +7, History +6, Use Computer +7, Treat Injury +2, Pilot +1, Astrogation +1.
Droid Systems: Walking Locomotion, Heuristic Processor, 2 Hand Appendages, Internal Comlink, Vocabulator, Backup Battery.
Possessions: Heavy Blaster, Electrobinoculars, Durasteel Plating (Droid Armor; +6 Reflex), Cape, Notebook, Pen.
Availability: Unique
These are photocopies of a character sheet I had on hand and I rewrote what the players did on their sheets. There are mistakes, either one of the players didn't write in languages or I missed it.
In either case, these are available by hitting the Pregenerated Characters tabs above or from the links below. When the players share their updated sheets, I'll load those, too.
Just to recap, there are 5 player characters. Nonin is a Devaronian force adept with a blaster. Talhana is a Zabrak force adept, also with a blaster. Malta is Rodian scoundrel and dreamer, with a tiny holdout pistol. Dex is a human handiman and fringer with a sporting blaster. And lastly is Lidda. She is a twi'lik solder with more weapons than anyone else. Click those links for the individual PDF files.
The characters have made it to level two, but I wanted to show their initial stats from Session 000. Click the link for a recap. The short of it is, all of the characters have far more equipment and funds now.
These characters the players created are forcing me to change up the scenarios in Invasion of Theed. In dumping the players on a different home planet, the scenarios can't play out as described. That one I knew. The second change followed by an adjustment was the players wanted to be in a place like the worlds in The Mandolorian. Since they made that choice they changed their minds. They want lightsabres now. Not too hard. The final change I have to make is the final villains can't exist on the players homeworld for a variety of reason, but the primary is, as played the characters would see these villains as heroes. That just won't do.
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In reality, our plucky heroes didn't come close to landing a hit. |
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One square is 10 yards. |