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Jayngfet
2008-02-29, 12:17 AM
I was working along on my campane and world(getting close to completion!)

when I looked at one possible antagonist, she could be a paladin or a blackguard/fighter

supposedly she's an orc from the harsh deserts, an orphan who was picked up by a high level of whatever class is decided

he sensed great power and potential in her, so she became his apprentice

however there was a war on, and he was good enough that a hit squad was sent out after him

sensing this, he told her to leave and get some water to the well...

...when she returned she found her master and all but one of the assasins dead, a poisoned arrow and deep gouges in her beloved teacher's skull

unarmed and armorless, she was still strong and smart, and her enemy was badly wounded, she made short work of him...


...but he left a scar deep in her left cheek, just below the eye

she took the arrow from her masters body and reforged it into her mentors greatsword, its magics greater than her own longsword, and used it when an opponent could not be brought down by her bow or standard +2 longsword

she took her masters place in the war, quickly becoming a high ranking soldier under the goblin king (champion 7, fighter 4)

what do you think?, or should I make it a new class entirely?

the greatsword is +5 and I was thinking of making my worlds orcs ride monsterous spiders (large)

DementedFellow
2008-02-29, 12:38 AM
So we have orcs (read: evil), scars (evil again) and spiders (evil). I think the choice is rather obvious ;)

Yeah, I know not all orcs are evil, but they aren't renown for their kindness.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-02-29, 01:37 AM
Evil motif certainly, but that can be subverted.

Well, what's this girl's motivation in life, after her teacher's death? Honor? Glorious combat? Revenge? You give us lots of details up to the major turning point in her life, then nothing. Why is she working for the goblin king? How does she act in combat? Motivation and personal values are 100% key to potential paladins like this one.

You also want to consider how you want her to fight, what kind of capabilities you want her to have, etc. when deciding on a class.

Also, the greatsword should have a special ability from the arrowhead she added (which is incidentally probably better to boss onto the pommel someplace, rather than reforging the whole blade just to incorporate it.)

RTGoodman
2008-02-29, 01:42 AM
I don't really know what alignment you're set on going with, but in case you haven't seen them, you should check these out (http://systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/unearthedCoreClass.html#freedom-slaughter-and-tyranny). They're variant paladins for different alignments - CG (Paladin of Freedom), LE (Paladin of Tyranny), and CE (Paladin of Slaughter).

I prefer the Paladin of Tyranny over Blackguard, so I'd suggest that, but I guess it all depends on alignment and whatnot.

Jayngfet
2008-02-29, 03:51 PM
we'll lets see what I can ansewer

the reason she works for the goblin king is because she was born under his lands, her teacher was a fairly high ranking soldier, and she was taught servitude and loyalty, after her master died she buried deeper into the one thing she was loyal to, destroying anything in her kings way, hating the humans she blamed for the tradgedy, eager for human enimies (a lot of her opponents were bugbears, kobolds, spiders, and the occasional yuan-ti and giant), with all this combat she ascended in both rank and level.

she rides a spider because they're fairly common where she comes from and a good mount(if they lose a leg its not as big a deal)

and yeah, the pommel would make sense...

Roderick_BR
2008-02-29, 03:59 PM
Given her background, I don't see why she'd become a paladin, unless she decides to battle evil as a way to revenge her master in general. Also, what kind of works she does for the goblin king? If they are evil in nature, attacking villages instead of just soldiers and monsters, she's readed into evil territory.

Jayngfet
2008-02-29, 04:13 PM
Given her background, I don't see why she'd become a paladin, unless she decides to battle evil as a way to revenge her master in general. Also, what kind of works she does for the goblin king? If they are evil in nature, attacking villages instead of just soldiers and monsters, she's readed into evil territory.

her master could have been a paladin(or blackguard)

her work involves finding traitors in the military, leading charges against more powerful foes, and training advanced soldiers(roughly, this is all speculation, nothing's really definate)

the king is Lawful neutral and his kingdom is neutral, but they are a bit desperate for some supplies due to the country being like a magic egypt, one big river and a desert dotted with oasises,

to make matters worse, marauding bugbears and kobolds are a problem to the south and yuan-ti, giants and some other things, but these generally come from less inhabited places and rarely attack.

Mando Knight
2008-02-29, 04:26 PM
So we have orcs (read: evil), scars (evil again) and spiders (evil). I think the choice is rather obvious ;)

The choice is obvious: always throw the fastball when the batter's looking for the curve.

Make her a Pally (played straight LG through and through), and your players will never be able to assume alignment based on the opponent's appearance or race ever again.

Darth Mario
2008-02-29, 04:42 PM
Mmmm... Paladins and spiders... Brings back memories of a certain Horror campaign lying around these forums somewhere...

Jayngfet
2008-02-29, 10:49 PM
So we have orcs (read: evil), scars (evil again) and spiders (evil). I think the choice is rather obvious ;)

Yeah, I know not all orcs are evil, but they aren't renown for their kindness.

the thing with the spider's in my world is that a good deal of the world uses them as mounts, humans and elves use straight up horses, dwarves can use some type of ram or a pony, but spiders are better for the harsher enviroments inhabited by halflings, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, bugbears and kobolds, human nobles also keep a few for silk or more exotic transportation

monsterous centipieds are often pack animals for bugbears, kobolds, and halflings

also, the longsword is steel, the greatsword is cold iorn


...perhaps a bit of world mechanics explanation is in order...

...a lot of spellcasting classes require being born with a certan sensitivity to magic, we already have paladins and sorcerers saying it right in the fluff, so I decided to take it all the way, wizards still study, clerics still pray, champions still draw frrom outsiders, but you need to have a sort of "attunement" to be a blackguard, paladins and blackguard attunements are similar enough to warrant switching for ex-paladins.