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Halfling_Daniel
2008-01-06, 02:38 AM
First of all, I freely admit that I got the idea to make this thread from the "Land of 1000 eye rolls: character cliches (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68472)" thread. With that out of the way, I'd like to make yet another thread where you brag about your character. This thread gives you the excuse to brag about any of yout characters by pretending you want to get evaluated on how unclichéd other posters think your character is or isn't. You may even be one of those "other posters" that comments on how clichéd any posted character is or isn't!

I'll start the cycle of bragging and criticism by posting some characters I played these last two years.

Character 1: Berian Caluser IV.
Class, Race, Age and alignment: Bard 6/Mindbender 4, Human, 21, Chaotic Good.
Meta-role: Obvious spoony bard (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpoonyBard) evolved into some sort of secondary lancer (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLancer) in contrast to the party's dark and neutral-at-best. Tried to be a messiah (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMessiah) through the Leadership skill, Diplomancing and his Mindbender abilities, but it remained as an informed ability (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility) due to the party's usually violent solutions to conflicts.
Character background: One of the sons of an ambitious merchant, who has carried on the arbitrary decision of Berian IV's grand-grandparent of naming his offsprings with numbers after their names in the belief that one day, they would be part of the nobility. Berian IV has three brothers, two of them older than him and one younger, and a younger sister. As a young boy, he usually avoided helping his family at the shop unless he was told to, and even then he did so reluctantly, choosing to lose himself in his private world of playing and fiction. He never was outrught rebellious, just evasive of his duties. That trend continued as he grew, choosing to go into taverns to tell stories to woo girls instead of becoming a soldier, a merchant, a scholar or a priest.
His life would have continued in a sort of status quo, with both of his older brothers becoming soldiers and the rest of his siblings working hard for their parents if his father had paid his taxes to the city of Isim. This tax evasion was discovered by the city's lord, Lord Arrax, who demanded the repayment of the evaded taxes as a monetary compensation and the service of one of the Calusers in a mission to reclaim a part of his domain stolen by goblin raiders as a restitution of the Calusers' honor. With all the other Caluser youths either away or physically unfit to go, Berian was chosen, despite his fear of going in an actually dangerous journey, unlike the mock duels and illusion competitions he had played in as a teen.
Gameplay: I was going to write a full account of his adventures, but I realized that it would be too long, so here's a summary: Berian changed from hiding behind a barrel of wine during battles and standing shivering out of battles into a daring telepath that looked out for his fellow companions, even though they had moral differences and always tried to look for the less violent solution to conflicts not out of cowardice but out of an avoidance of unnecessary bloodshed, which few of his companions agreed with. While his only two constant companions (AKA: PCs that never died) seeked out ways to benefit themselves, his greatest wish was to return with his family and assure them he was alive and well, and then fight evil for good reasons rather than fighting for selfish reasons. Whenever he adventured, he always tried to adventure to help people that were truly in need and worthy of his trust. He only met two "employers" of the sort during his many travels, and those two adventures were the most spectacular of the party's failures.

I think that's enough. I'll write more on Berian if there are any issues that may need to be mentioned or expanded on to determine if he's clichéd or not.