PDA

View Full Version : Roleplaying a Valkyrie



PrGo
2009-05-29, 01:21 PM
Greetings once more, fellow roleplayers!

My group has just started anew from level 1, but I have already set a goal for myself to join the group at around levels 14-16 with a Valkyrie from Tome of Battle.

I find the race amazing, and extraordinarily fun to play in combat. But their chaotic nature seems to be a problem in coming up with a story how the character ended up adventuring with the rest of the group. The Alignment description says: "Valkyries are always chaotic neutral. Although they see no reason to be cruel, neither do they see cause to be merciful."

I am aware that I could play my Valkyrie as some other alignment, but it would feel better to maybe develop into that alignment from their base one.

So I am asking you for help. How to think of a good reason why this specific Valkyrie has decided to travel with this group of mortals (none of which has proper martial skills to beat him in combat. The only martial we have is a Fighter/Druid who'll become a dragonslayer).
Thank you in advance :smallbiggrin:

DISCLAIMER: I am asking advice for playing a creature called Valkyrie that is from Tome of Battle, page 157, NOT the classic one from the Nordic mythology.

SurlySeraph
2009-05-29, 01:23 PM
If those wimps are too boring to be worth fighting, you'll make them practice until they are worth fighting!

Flickerdart
2009-05-29, 04:48 PM
After which you lead them against a foe they can't beat, they all die and you get kudos from Odin for over-filling your Einherjar quota again.

PrGo
2009-05-30, 05:59 AM
Well, that might be a hidden motive for starters, and eventually he'd grow fond of the group and forget about what he intended to do with them in the first place.

And that is always an alternative if they suddenly start to suck or something :smalltongue:

Choco
2009-05-30, 10:41 AM
Perhaps he is traveling with the group because he knows they are destined to fight some very powerful stuff?

Eldariel
2009-05-30, 11:01 AM
Mayhap he's there (Male Valkyrie? Really?) to ensure that someone's destiny happens in the party. They are divine servants after all. Or maybe he's just there to collect the party's souls once they expire.

Xuincherguixe
2009-05-30, 11:28 AM
Your Valkyrie could be there because adventurers tend towards lots of violent encounters. Some of the things they kill could be worthy Einherjar.

Like basically every single Orc ever.

.. What? You don't have to be good to go to Valhalla. Vikings weren't exactly nice people after all.

PrGo
2009-05-30, 02:38 PM
Perhaps he is traveling with the group because he knows they are destined to fight some very powerful stuff?

This one struck me the most. The party's fighter, dragonslayer wannabe, has had his family slaughtered by goblins led by an old red dragon that raided his town. He's since then had some epic criticals with his longsword that'll become a legacy weapon. Not to mention that he has a feat called "Heroic Destiny" :smalltongue:
Can't get more obvious than that. So this might be a good reason why he'll join them (yeah, male Valkyrie. they're gendered). To face that dragon and his powerful minions.
Nice :smallbiggrin:

Of course, keep the advices coming. I still have good 10 levels before I can start with this guy, so if some other, better reason comes up, I'll gladly implement it.

Sinfire Titan
2009-05-30, 02:45 PM
What? You don't have to be good to go to Valhalla. Vikings weren't exactly nice people after all.

Evil is subjective then. To a Viking, what they were doing was viewed as good inside society.

Woodsman
2009-05-30, 02:48 PM
Male... Valkyrie...?

Damn you, Wizards! What have you done to my lovely Norse mythos? :smallsigh:

Flickerdart
2009-05-30, 02:51 PM
Male... Valkyrie...?

Damn you, Wizards! What have you done to my lovely Norse mythos? :smallsigh:
Hey, all it takes is a Wizard using PaO on a Valkyrie to give it male reproductive capabilities, and then the creature sets out to take advantage of its new hobby. Bam, race of Valkyries.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-05-30, 02:53 PM
But...why?

Flickerdart
2009-05-30, 03:00 PM
But...why?
Boredom, and one too many ales.

Drascin
2009-05-30, 03:16 PM
Boredom, and one too many ales.

Indeed. Too many cataclysms have started with that, especially in D&D.

PrGo
2009-05-30, 04:57 PM
NO NO NO!! These are not the classic Valkyries. These are the D&D Valkyries. There are two versions. The classic ones are in Deities and Demigods. This is a less of classic type that carries souls from the battlefields, and more of the kind that goes around and challenges stuff to duels. It's from Tome of Battle. Check it out on page 157 :smalltongue:

THAT is the kind of Valkyrie that I'm playing.

imp_fireball
2009-05-30, 05:13 PM
If a valkyrie is chaotic neutral, then it can easily be concluded that they are warrior women that live for battle. They seek battle in all its forms (although they're still capable of withholding ideology; remember that alignment is not a straight jacket). They're that bad ass.

Even then, races aren't limited by alignment. The idea that a valkyrie is chaotic neutral is merely a construed concept made to fit a typical setting involving valkyries. It's fluff and fluff is there to fit a campaign's plot/setting. Take it up with the GM.

I think that an obvious line needs to be drawn between CN and CE though. CN people are arguably more logical in morality for one (they aren't only neutral because of the fact that they can appear on both 'sides' - I think someone of that nature needs to be called CN with Bisexual Tendencies).

Sam Fisher in double agent wouldn't be Chaotic Neutral if he wants to see both nations destroy each other (unless he believes that that's the only solution to peace).

Xuincherguixe
2009-05-30, 08:11 PM
NO NO NO!! These are not the classic Valkyries. These are the D&D Valkyries. There are two versions. The classic ones are in Deities and Demigods. This is a less of classic type that carries souls from the battlefields, and more of the kind that goes around and challenges stuff to duels. It's from Tome of Battle. Check it out on page 157 :smalltongue:

THAT is the kind of Valkyrie that I'm playing.

Too bad. Classic Valkyries were awesome. Those gals were terrifying.