| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lord Lysander |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 15:20:12
Helo there!
My fellow scribes, I will befin a new Campaign and I have one player who wishes to play a Human Knight. We'll play at the High Forest...
And we need to creat a background. A really good one.
Thus I have come here asking for precious ideas...
I am sure that you will be happy to give ideas and everything.
Fell free to improvise as you wish!
After all I am sure that you will like it... |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Lord Lysander |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 23:54:12
quote:
originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Well, when you're the DM, they're sort of *ALL* your characters, but I know what you mean.
Yes, it is a huge blessing and curse to see the players characters to rise in both power and force of personality. There are a lot of characters (of those my players created) that I wanted to play...
But it was also a blessing to see them playing in my campaign, knowing that I gave the opportunities to develop them...
Great ideas were written in this very scroll... Thank you very much for the help.
Waiting for more ideas...
 |
| Arion Elenim |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 23:28:54
It's always fun to play a character with a lot of motivation, and a fallen knight in search of atonement (via either the spell or just moral settlement) is a great way to go.
If your knight was a soldier who broke ranks during the crucial push against the darkness, then awoke with his power stripped and his faith damaged, he could jump at the chance to redeem himself by joining a party of intrepid adventurers. Maybe he could even seek an audience with his god... |
| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 20:52:53
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Lysander
Well it is not my character , I am DMing, it is one of my players...
Well, when you're the DM, they're sort of *ALL* your characters, but I know what you mean.
Neat setup--sounds like that will be fun. Good luck with it all!
Yuen has some excellent suggestions, there. I think any of those would be a seed for a very compelling backstory.
When it comes to enemies, that depends on the nation/person he serves. If he is a Knight in Silver or otherwise sworn to the Silver Marches, then his enemies are their enemies: the Shadovar, the Churches of Bane and Shar, the Zhentarim, the drow of the Northdark, Obould and his orcs, the trolls of Nesme (more about this in the Silver Marches sourcebook).
If he's a private/personal bodyguard knight then his enemies will be those of his employer--a particular merchant might employ him to fight against a rival's interests or hire him on a personal vendetta against basically anyone. If he's a sellsword, then he can have any enemies you (as the DM) want him to--people he fought against in the past, good or evil, folks whose deals went south.
As for family, the key decision is whether he grew up poor and aspired to his station, grew up rich and does the knight thing as a matter of course, or is somewhere in the middle. Be aware that your choice of family affects the sort of knight he is--and vice versa.
The two types of good knights who spring into my head at the moment are these:
1) The hedge-knight: Despite being poor, our hero has beaten the odds, vanquished his detractors, and become a knight despite his low socio-economic station. He endures constant harassment from his "betters" who don't feel he's worthy of knighthood and constantly has to prove his valor.
2) The black knight: Not "black" = "evil," but black as in "hidden identify." Nobles in the middle ages who wanted to ride and joust and fight went without arms or under pseudonyms to hide their royal identities, and the same is true in the realms. They may or may not be ashamed of their wealth or they might be hiding a history of ignominity or dishonor--regardless, they seek to prove themselves without preconceptions due to their status and power.
Cheers |
| Yuen |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 19:25:55
quote:
What could lead a knight to follow the path of civalry?
- maybe he saw knights in shining armor riding alongside the king at a grand parade when he was young, and since then always wanted to be one of them.
- or he witnessed them in battle when a small band of your favorite paladin order arrived just in time to save the village from the terrible gnomes of doom.
- he might have been pressed into knighthood by his father who himself always wanted to be one, but couldn't because of his limp leg. he might not even be fully comfortable with kighthood
- maybe his nanny used to read knightly tales to him before going to sleep
- maybe he's a noble's son, but not the firstborne, and joined an order because he felt the need to do something useful, and not sitting around all day long, drinking fine wine and having fun with women like his older brother does.
- some people just feel the need to help others. you may ask your local policemen, firefighters or doctors why they chose to walk down that path
- though some of those may do it only for the fame/money that comes with it
- or to impress the other gender with your huge... lance
quote:
Facts that marked his life? A friend's death or something which made him not to trust people?
Not to trust people:
- maybe he served in the city watch for a few years and encountered mostly the bad in people during that time
- his most beloved mentor turned out to be a member of your favorite evil cult when the local paladin order purged their underground lair
- a friend from his youth which he hadn't seen for 5 years got publicly executed for murder
- the one and only true love in is life cheated on him with a wealthy merchant's son
- a group of thugs attacked him and his friends in a dark alley, and they left him behind to save their own hides (he couldn't run because he was recovering from an injury substained at work)
- in a prank gone bad he and his best friend accidently burned down the local clothier. when the city watch questioned the youngsters his friend blamed him alone, despite both of them agreed to deny everything beforehand
I hope that helped a bit. I'll leave the rest of your points to other people because my favorite TV show starts soon. maybe I'll drop a few more lines later on |
| Lord Lysander |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 18:11:38
I think that the knight may have been sended to the temple of Sune by his Order, but you know, that is cliche, and I used this kind of stories when I started D&D several years ago. Now I need something more... interesting.
As for family and the like?
What could lead a knight to follow the path of civalry?
Facts that marked his life? A friend's death or something which made him not to trust people?
Any enemies? Why? Several interesting qualities of his character?
Suspicious? Fears certain things?
That kind of information...
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| Lord Lysander |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 18:00:53
Well it is not my character , I am DMing, it is one of my players...
But since you asked why this knight is at the forest I'll tell you about the story...
Three hundrend years ago a war raged at the lands southwest of the High Forest... During these conflicts the High Forest was some kind of outposts for the two rival forces (dark elves in the woods, supported by orcs and their kin at the southeast, where the main battle was...
and humans elves and dwarves at the other side)
During the struggle and into the forest a female drow wizard, Javandthre, and a male moon elf ranger ,Nundruin ,are both knocked unconssious during a scirmish.
They wake up in a prison cell under earth, and from there they escape. Anyway due to several circumstances they get to know each other (and also not to kill each other).
Javendthre follows Ellistrae and with Nundruin they form a team against the other drows, also away from the moon elves eyes.
They aquire an artifact which the drows are searching nowadays.
Thus I will gather the party to find the item before the drows. Thus they do not know each other. They are playing in high forest because there was the history happened.
They'll follow the tracks of Nundruin and Javendthre in order to find the item... And they will begin from a temple of Sune which is in the forest.
That's why they'll play at the forest, they have to. As for why the knight should go at the forest I do not know... If you need any more info, or you want to know about the story let me know...
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| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 17:57:55
Based on the surrounding area (Northlands, Silver Marches), I have a recommendation that builds on Na-Gang's:
I am a particular fan of the Knights in Silver--the standing army of Silverymoon--and would recommend you check them out (for this, refer to the 3e Silver Marches supplement). They're basically Silverymoon/North natives who love their homeland to the exception of themselves and swear upon the land to defend it to their dying breath. They wear armor laced, plated, or made entirely out of silver, and they are well known for how bright they reflect the sun, mounted with lance at the ready.
Your human knight (depending on level) could be a 1st level squire-wannabe/in training, a 2-3rd level knight out on his first assignment (to investigate something sinister in the High Forest), a 3rd level+ knight-errant who is serving the good of Silverymoon (ambiguous exactly as to how--perhaps he's in the midst of a greater quest, or perhaps he's just seeking treasure to increase his city's wealth, experience to make himself a better agent, etc, etc, whyever you've got the PCs on this adventure).
Knights-errant (who have a PrC built for them in the Silver Marches book but don't need to take levels in it in order to be knights-errant) are freed up to go on solo missions for the benefit of Silverymoon, either on their own initiative or under orders from the reigning High Lady/Lord (not sure what era you're using: Alustriel in 3e or Methrammar in 4e) or one of her/his administrators (i.e., your knight's boss).
Notes:
1) If you go this route and you're interested in eventually taking the Knight-Errant of Silverymoon PrC in the Silver Marches book, you'll need to do some mechanical wizardry regarding the prerequisites (some feats and skills don't jive with the 3.5 Players Guide to Faerun). Let me know if you need suggestions.
2) If you're a Realms fiction fan as well, there are three Knights in Silver featured in my novel Ghostwalker, if you want to glean some sense of how they operate. I don't know of another novel in which they feature, but there might be more out there.
3) As the PrC suggests, Knight-Errants aren't necessarily entirely just fighters but also often have a certain amount of rustic/backwoods knowledge that makes them perfect defenders of their homeland. (This might be reflected in a few levels of ranger, some skill/feat choices customarily taken on the ranger path, or the 4e multiclass feat into ranger, depending on what era you're using.)
Cheers |
| Na-Gang |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 17:31:39
I imagine Silverymoon's your best bet for this kind of character, in that region. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 16:42:20
We could probably help you better if you told us more about your preferences (for example, why you want to play a knight). |
| Pandora |
Posted - 09 Sep 2008 : 15:56:10
Hmmm ... Knight sounds like "Platemail and horse". So a forest is somewhat unusual for such a person. Maybe he is hiding from someone? |
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