5th Edition D&D: Jedi Knight

Daemana is here!  But first, read this little update...

This blog entry has been revamped to fall into line with the newest version of itself.  This change follows in the wake of my new Fifth Edition Creative Companion available from the Dungeon Masters' Guild, which you can get to by clicking here.  

From the DMG, you can download the 45 page PDF file for a measly $1.99.  Here's the description:

Fantasy author J. D. Brink first discovered Dungeons & Dragons more thirty years ago.  Finally, with the advent of the Dungeon Masters’ Guild, he can now share some of his own game innovations with fellow players of the world’s greatest roleplaying game.  

Contained herein are more than 40 pages featuring custom game rules, a new experience point system, and 16 new feats for players.  But that’s not all. 

A Cthulhu warlock, steampunk mage, Shinto samurai, and rogue spymaster: these are just 4 of 10 characters created from new takes on existing classes, complete with detailed backstories and decision descriptions.  Ten characters meant to provide players and DMs with new inspiration for developing their own worlds and the heroes to save them.     

What's in the book started here on the blog as a creative exercise in character creation for the 5th edition of D&D.   

I also used to have some cooler, more specific images for the blog, but they weren't acquired by strictly legal means.  (Turns out Google is not a magical copyright-granting fairy.  Don't exactly own the rights to use "Jedi" either...)  So sorry, the images are gone.  But you have a good imagination, right?

So using the creation guidelines outlined in the book (which includes a bonus feat for everyone), I made up some PCs both for my own inspiration and for yours.  Hopefully they'll give you some new ideas for your own game.

*****

DAEMANA FIREHEART, KNIGHT OF THE OBSIDIAN ROSE

“My preference is peace.  My purpose is justice.  And, unfortunately for you, my art is death.”

  

Fighter (5)

Alignment: LG

STR	13	+1
INT	16	+3
WIS	15	+2
DEX	16	+3
CON	13	+1
CHAR	16	+3

HP:  55

AC:  15 

PROF:  +3

SAVES:  STR (+4) CON (+4)

INIT:  +6

RACE:  Tiefling

* Char +2, Int +1

* Darkvision

* Hellish Resistance

* Infernal Legacy

* Languages: Common, Infernal

BACKGROUND:  Acolyte

* Reputation of the Order

* Carpenter’s tools

* Language: Draconic

FIGHTER:

* Fighting style: Dueling

* Action Surge

* Second Wind

* Extra Attack

* Martial Archetype: Eldritch Knight

-- Bonded weapons: Rapier, Sickle

-- Spells

SKILLS:

* Insight (+5)

* Arcana (+6)

* Athletics (+4)

* Acrobatics (+6)

* Bonus Languages: Dwarvish, Giant, Goblin

FEATS:

* Weapon Focus: Rapier

* Martial Adept

 -- 1D6 superiority die

 -- Save DC (14)

 -- Maneuvers: Parry, Reposte

SPELLS:

* Spell Save DC (14)  Spell Attack Mod (+6)

* Spell slots: 1st (3)

* Known Cantrips: Thaumaturgy, Bladeward, Magehand

* Known Spells

-- 1^st Level: Witchbolt, Charm Person, False Life, Protection vs Evil & Good

* Infernal Legacy Spells: Hellish Rebuke, Darkness

GEAR:

* Chain shirt, heavy cloak, traveling clothes

* Rapier, sickle, 5 darts

* Explorer’s pack, only as much money as she needs to get by

  

STORY NOTES:

Thirteen years ago, a tiefling girl was running for her life.  She and her parents had been traveling and happened into the wrong human city.  Her parents were there killed by a lynch mob prejudiced against her people, widely feared for their demonic traits.  The young girl—ten-year-old Daemana—scarcely had time to process her family’s death before her survival instincts drove her to flee for her own life.  She stumbled down an alley, around a corner, and smack into a cloaked man.  The girl bounced off the man and landed on her rear end.

The man Daemana had run into drew a polished rapier from his belt.      

Overwhelmed with fear and confusion, the tiefling girl closed her eyes and prepared for death.

The mob of savage pursuers rounded the corner in search of their prey and came face to face with the man and his rapier.  He offered them a chance to turn around and go home.  None of them took it.  Though he was outnumbered eight to one, the cloaked man dispatched six of them before the last two decided that their hatred wasn’t worth dying for. 

The cloaked man took Daemana under his wing and, after two months of traveling, delivered the girl to the monastery that had raised him.  The Order of the Obsidian Rose was an organization shrouded in mystery, though rumor of their quest for perfection and justice was widely known in that quarter of the world.  The young orphan was taken in and made an acolyte of the Order.  By virtue of her passionate and sometimes wild nature, the girl became known as Daemana Fireheart. 

For nine years, Daemana lived and studied within the monastery.  She became a monk and knight of the Obsidian Rose; indeed, she became one of the most noble and powerful of their small number.  The Order emphasizes perfect control and purity through physical and psychological means.  The tenements include justice and respect for all, no matter race, status, or creed.  A knight’s first priority is non-violence, but when this is not possible, it is their duty to be the most powerful violent force involved in any conflict.  They are as the wind or the flame: in peace, to barely exist at all; but when required, to become an irresistible force that consumes all who refuse their grace and mercy.  Inwardly, this is achieved by perfecting one’s own mind and body.  Outwardly, this is evident by their mastery of the rapier and control over the winds of magic.  The knights’ focus on mastering their own skill is so great, in fact, that they refrain from carrying or using any magic items.

Nine years of training is the First Phase of the Rose.  Daemana Fireheart then began the Second Phase of the Rose: to spread mercy and justice everywhere fate takes her.  And when she feels the time is right, she will enter the Third Phase of the Rose and return to the monastery to train the next generation of knights, until death takes her.

GAME NOTES:

My general goal with these character creation exercises was to make non-typical D&D heroes.  I also like to blend genres and in looking at the Eldritch Knight path of the fighter, I started assembling in my mind what that might look like.  The image I had quickly resembled a certain order of knights from a galaxy far, far away.  I also found that this order favored mastery of a single weapon, and so the Japanese Kensai came to mind.  I melded these ideas together into something I think works as a cool character concept.

I also got incredibly lucky with rolling out the stats.  I’m usually cool with having some 8s or 10s to balance things out into a realistic character, but the Dice Gods were smiling on me this day.  And ironically, the scores I cared about least for her were the iconic Fighter abilities of Strength and Constitution.  Saves in INT and DEX would really be a better fit for this gal, but…  Whatcha gunna do?

The monk-like focus for this monastery was not unarmed martial arts, but mastery of a single weapon.   And which is more graceful for a lady or gentleman than the rapier?  To supplement the perfection of that art, I selected Dueling as his fighting style and took my feat Weapon Focus, as well as Martial Adept for his 4^th level feat.  (Thus getting a sliver of the Fighter’s Battle Master archetype too.)  And these special maneuvers are tailored to the rapier: parry and reposte. 

You might also notice that I altered the Acolyte background to fit my needs, swapping the Arcana skill for Religion.  In this monastic order, magic is taught over gods.  I also renamed “Shelter the Faithful” and “Reputation of the Order.”  The plater and DM could figure how and when to make this work.  I also figured that with her high INT (and my bonus languages rule) she didn’t need two more languages, so I gave her one and a tool proficiency—monks would learn a skill and have to maintain their own monastery after all.

Racially, I wanted to not go human again (as I usually do go human), and figured having a race with innate magical abilities would mesh well with this.  I also figured having the hated outsider would work well.  (Worked for Drizzt, right?)

Viva La Revolucion! Again!

When 2014 was new, we had a “Fugitive Fiction Revolution” during which we made changes of attitude and updated some policies.  I’m feeling the need for another yearly reassessment of where this publishing venture is going and how to adjust course as an author to make my journey toward freedom a shorter one.  So those thoughts are swirling around right now, and while I may not enumerate them for all to read here, I’ll be working on that behind the scenes.  One change is quite obvious right now, though, if you’ve been reading this blog at all lately: I changed the look of this blog.  Again.

I did really, really like that “magazine” layout.  I liked the look, I loved that there were images everywhere that made it easy to browse recent posts and pick out something that interested you.  That was great. 

The big drawback—and the main reason for the change back to the old style—was that I couldn’t insert a column of images or links along the side.  As an author, I feel like having all my attractive book covers displayed for your perusal is important.  The “magazine” style had a hidden column that only appeared if you activated it, and then it only showed a small black box that would link to somewhere if you clicked it.  

Not as useful.  I really wish I could combine the two styles, but I didn’t see that as an option.  I might be able to do that with another site provider, but that would mean uprooting and moving all my stuff, as well as having all my links and printed materials out there not going where they’re supposed to anymore, which would suck.  I’m already facing that with a box full of bookmarks that bear the old website that Google allowed to vanish out from under me because they wouldn’t respond to my calls for help, so…  

Frustrating. 

Another factor of my 2015 Revolution is a reduction in cyber-time spent doing…  well, pretty much everything.  I only recently got onto Twitter and I've been trying to “build my platform” and network and meet other fine writers that way, but again…  That’s time NOT WRITING.  So those of you on Twitter, please don’t feel offended if I don’t follow-back or seem to pay a lot of attention there, because, well, I’m doing more productive things with my limited free time.  (Note that if you send me a direct message, though, I will respond in relatively short order.)  

I also spent some time, and will spend more, updating the Fugitive Fiction website.  Click here to check it out, especially if you’re interested in ordering paperback books, and especially if you’re a bookstore or interested in ordering multiple Fugitive Fiction paperbacks.  You’ll find good rates there.  

(Please note, though, that it isn’t worth the resources required to make that “bookstore” there fully functional at this time, so if you want to order any, do use the Contact Form and we’ll get back to you and make it happen.)

Okay, I guess that’s all I have to say on this topic for now. 

OH WAIT!  It’s worth noting (or tooting, as in my own horn) that ever since Hungry Gods released there has only been one day thus far that I haven’t sold books, which is very exciting!

And speaking of that kind of encouragement, I need to get back to work on “Invasion”.  It’ll be the longest story in Dreams of Flying, which will be a collection of four or five in the Identity Crisis series, shedding a little light on some of the backgrounds hinted at in Hungry Gods.  Planning to publish around June of this year, if all goes according to plan.

Okay, that’s it.  Thanks for reading!   

Two-For-One, Dark Fantasy Double Feature

A quick word on a two-for-one, double feature deal.  The Prince and the Darkness offers both of my darker fiction pieces from 2013 at one fantastically low price!  You can buy this combined ebook volume for only $3.99, vice paying $2.99 each for A Long Walk Down a Dark Alley and The Prince of Luster and Decay individually.  That’s a total of five stories of dark fantasy, crime-noir, black magic, and vampiric beauties for only four bucks! 

Here’s some links to some of your favorite retailers where you can buy it right now.  It may also be available at some of your other favorite places.  Look for it and let me know if it is, I’d love to hear about it!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

Apple iBooks

Blio

Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox

I just watched this 81 minute animated movie and was so surprised by it that I felt compelled to give it a quick review.

Okay, I actually fell asleep the first time with my son lying on top of me, then I woke up and watched it again when he was in bed, but that's not commentary on it being boring.  Quite the contrary!

I had considered renting this before, but seeing it was Flash-based, I thought, "Nah, Flash stinks."  He's quick but boring, his rogues gallery is lame, he is lame.  (Just never got into that character, as you can tell.)  But what I do really like to see is alternate universes and DC Elseworlds, new takes on familiar characters and timelines.  And that's what Flashpoint is all about.  Between the Flash and his enemy the Reverse Flash (see, told ya: lame!), the timeline itself gets distorted and the resulting reality is a very dark one.  This movie is actually ultra-violent with a lot of death in it (almost more than I'd expect on a PG-13 rating).  The characters are fundamentally different from the norm.  For example, there's a war raging between the Atlanteans and the Amazons that's already destroyed most of Europe!  This movie/story not only makes Flash not seem so lame, but even makes Aquaman into a bad ass.  (I often refer to him as Aqua-Pud, another character I' like to see made cool, but he just never gets there.)  The whole thing is apocalyptic in scale and is almost an hour and half of gritty, guilty fun.

In summary, this one made me reconsider my biases against some long-standing DC heroes.  It takes place in the New 52 Universe, so Cyborg and Captain Marvel (is he even called that anymore?) are in there too (another old man gripe I'll save for another time) and are used in new and exciting ways.  The animation has a definite Anime style to it, to the point where some characters are so muscled that you expect their tiny heads to pop off, but it still looks and moves great.  If I were to offer a tagline, I guess it'd be this: Ultra-Violent Bad-Assery in the DC Universe.  I plan to read the source material now as well.

Okay, "gotta run."

Writing in 2015: January Recap

It is my intention to set my writing career on an upward course this year, as mentioned in my 2015 News Years Resolutions post.  So as part of my accountability and tracking toward this goal, I have been keeping better stats on my progress.  This helps motivate me to strive for better scores and to show my progress in the long term.  Of course, this is 99% for myself; most of you who may happen to be reading this won't especially care.  But some of my fellow indie writers may take an interest or find some inspiration for building their own efforts and careers.  These monthly posts will be cumulative and largely repeating of the same intro/premise with new numbers toward the end.  The December post will, therefore, be a nice picture of the entire year.

My basic metric for measurement and progress is word count.  By setting goals and expectations, this makes me strive to write more words and thus produce more stories and books.  I also keep track of all other writing-related activities, such as workshops, marketing, submissions, and working to fulfill the Kickstarter rewards for my generous supporters.  Although I record those things in my charting, I won't be reporting all that stuff here on my blog.  My monthly reports here will recap my word count and publishing, as well as misc goals accomplished.

I set my word count goal based on a formula suggested by Dean Wesley Smith: Determine what would be your ideal production (writing) rate, and then cut it in half.  Sounds kind of harsh to cut that clean in half, but I have found it to be a very realistic adjustment.

For me, ideal would be 1000 words a day.  Seven days a week is super-ideal, but more realistic and acceptable is assuming there'd be one day I would take off and just not get to writing, so I'm going with this:

   -- (1000 words) x (6 days a week) x 1/2 = 3,000 words per week.
   -- (3000 words per week) x (4 weeks) = 12,000 words per month. 

Admittedly, this is not an incredibly ambitious goal.  But given my "real" life, this is doable.  I hope to exceed it, but if I can just make this cut I'll be pretty happy.

How I'll count words: This is somewhat arbitrary stuff, but for my own obsessive-compulsive reasons, I want to lay out some ground rules.  New words, of course, are the most important ones, but I also don't want to discount some of the other necessary work that I spend my limited time on; to do so would be kind of unfair to myself.  So new words count at full weight, especially in writing new stories/novels.  But it's also necessary to spend time on my second and third drafts.  The second is a lot of work in fixing from beginning to end before sending it off for proofreading/editing.  The third is not a lot of work, basically combing the proofer/editor's notes and making line edits.  So second draft work will count as half; so if I revise a 5000 word story, I'll count that as 2500 words worth of real work.  Third drafts will count at one quarter; so the 8800 words story I fixed tonight only counts as 2200 words, because I was mostly just addressing specific issues.

In summary:
   -- New Words/1st Draft is 1:1  (full weight)
   -- 2nd Draft Revision Work is 1:2  (half weight)
   -- 3rd Draft Line Editing is 1:4  (quarter weight)

...Okay, anyone still give a damn about any of this boring shit other than me? 

So now the monthly benchmarks:

January:  12,650 words (8550 words on the novella Invasion) 
                  published The Prince and the Darkness
                  published Hungry Gods
                  Hungry Gods release sold well beyond my goal, had a nice halo effect that reached pretty much all my other books, and all the accumulated sales were spread across SIX different countries!

A hell of a nice month for me, and the start of a good year to come!

Last Chance: Superheroes vs Zombies for only $0.99

Just a quick reminder that my new superhero novel for grown-ups is still up for pre-order until the end of the month, during which time you can snag the ebook for only 99 cents!  After February 1st it will go to it's natural price of $5.99, so this is a pretty good deal.  The paperback is also out now, generally for $13.99 (depending on the retailer, who might be offering it for less).  

Here's the blurb:

Superheroes. Undead. ‘Nuff said.

The country’s premier superhero team is missing. So when a mutant monstrosity goes on the rampage, it’s Spitball to the rescue! He’s a third-string hero today, determined to be first-string tomorrow. And the Army may be giving him just the chance he needs. Spitball has been invited to undertake a secret mission into America’s heartland. What he’s about to discover, however, is not a chance at stardom, but a horror movie come to life...

Hungry Gods is a fast-paced adventure of costumed superheroes, government conspiracy theories, and flesh-eating zombies.  

And here's where you can find it for "pre-order," which means you pay now and on January 31st it'll be delivered to your device or computer.  

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Apple iBooks  

If you read it, and you like (or even if you don't), I'd certainly appreciate it if you'd take a moment to post a review (on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, your blog, wherever) and let everyone know how fun (or disappointing?) it was!  Thank you.

KICKSTARTER UPDATE: A Box of Books has Arrived!

The box full of paperbacks has arrived!  And they look MARVELOUS!  The matte covers are REALLY nice.  Classy, definitely classy.

The box only took ten days after printing to reach Japan, which is pretty amazing.

Hopefully in the next week or two I'll have all the paperbacks mailed out.  Bear with me, my work schedule is kind of a monster. (In fact, I'm currently attending day-time training and then doing two 12-hour night shifts over the weekend, no break in between...)

When I send these out I'll include any bonus books you have as well (based on your reward level and survey responses).

I'll still plan on sending out ebook versions to everyone who's got an ebook of Hungry Gods or a paperback coming to fill the time gap, just as I promised.  That should happen in the next few days too. 

At that point we'll have what I'll call the Standard Round all wrapped up!  Yeah, we did it!

Which will just leave the Bonus Round, which, if you'll recall, is the collection that is replacing the short story "sidekick".  My hope is to have that published by June of this year.  I still have quite a ways to go on the two big stories in it, plus proofing, cover design, publication, etc.  It'd be nice to have it ready before then, but June is a pretty realistic goal right now.  

I just have one more favor to ask, as if you haven't already done enough to make this project a reality.  After you've read the book, please tell people about it.  Whether you're bad mouthing it or singing its praises, spread the word.  One great way to do that is topost a review, like on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, your blog, wherever you find and talk about books.  Word of mouth and evidence that someone has actually read (and hopefully enjoyed) the book goes a long way to bringing more potential readers to consider it for themselves.  THANK YOU.

Freedom! Short Story Paroled

My short story "Puppet Theatre" has just come off the Kindle Select chain gang.  I was lying in bed when I realized the date and so I had to jump up, hop in the car, and go pick it up from jail!

I just threw it back up on Smashwords and all its distributor channels, but it'll take days for it to get spread around again.

Part of my new writing philosophy in 2015 is to give the finger to the whole exclusion idea.  Amazon may be a giant, but it's a mistake to put all your eggs in that one basket (no matter how big that basket may be).  Unfortunately I was late to save my novel Tarnish from the Kindle Select jail cell--you have to activity UNclick the box or else it will automatically re-up for another 90 day round.  So Tarnish comes up for parole again in March.

I'll be waiting at the gates with flowers and a six pack.

More Pirating: Paying Authors For Their Work

My network of spies have made me aware of the below site and this string of posts.  It's hard to figure out when this all happened, because the time signatures occur before the reviews referenced were even written, or the book even published, for that matter.

I'm not sure if I should be flattered or pissed.  I'm both, actually.

http://www.wearewilder.com/reviews-147-3892-tarnish/

The link goes to a site where cheap, lazy internet folks are discussing how to steal my book!  At first, I was like, "What??  They want to steal MY book?  Gee, that's so sweet."

Then I was thinking, "Wait a minute, you bungholes?  After all the time and money and sweat and blood I put into that book, and you can't cough up a few lousy bucks to pay me for it??  I don't even get what you pay, I get a percentage.  You're not ripping off a multi-billion dollar publishing house, here, you're ripping off me!  You can buy the ebook for the same cost as a Big Mac value meal.  And while you're stuck on the pot with diarrhea after your Big Mac, you could be enjoying the book in the comfort of your own bathroom.  You cheap bastards!"

It's very frustrating to someone who sees very little return or sign of interest in his work, to find out that people ARE reading it, they just aren't paying for it or allowing you to know that they care.  How am I ever going to get out from under my day job to write full-time this way?

Folks, if you enjoy an indie author's book, please BUY IT.  Don't pay someone else, like the person who stole it first!  Indie books are generally cheaper anyway, and the authors aren't making much off of them as it is.  And if you do steal an indie book and then say, "Hey, hurry up with the next one so I can read it," and can't figure out why that author doesn't have time to write the book between day job, side job, and family time...

You get the idea.  You want to see more work from aspiring young authors?  Pay them for their time.  Reward them for their work.

* * *

(And at this point, I have to confess to some hypocrisy: thanks to the magic of Google Image searches, I use a lot of images in my blog posts that aren't mine and I haven't paid anyone for.  In my own feeble defense, I do try to reference the artists if I can.  And I generally use images everyone recognizes as popculture icons, or ones that some giant company has already made an awful lot of money off of.  So I'm usually stealing from the rich rather than the poor.  I don't feel it's as much of a crime as what I'm discussing above, but I am guilty of it too.)

Hungry Gods Paperback Available Right Now!

As of about two hours ago, the handsome paperback edition of my superheroes and zombies novel for grown-ups (on account of language and violence, don't ya know) is up for sale!

UPDATED LINKS

Directly from the Printer (so no middle man gets a cut from my share)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

And quite possibly your own favorite paperback retailer.  You don't know if you don't check!

5th Edition D&D: Steampunk Wizard

Daisy Geartwitch is here!  But first, read this little update...

This blog entry has been revamped to fall into line with the newest version of itself.  This change follows in the wake of mynew Fifth Edition Creative Companion available from theDungeon Masters' Guild, which you can get to by clicking here.  

From the DMG, you can download the 45 page PDF file for a measly $1.99.  Here's the description:

Fantasy author J. D. Brink first discovered Dungeons & Dragons more thirty years ago.  Finally, with the advent of the Dungeon Masters’ Guild, he can now share some of his own game innovations with fellow players of the world’s greatest roleplaying game.  

Contained herein are more than 40 pages featuring custom game rules, a new experience point system, and 16 new feats for players.  But that’s not all. 

A Cthulhu warlock, steampunk mage, Shinto samurai, and rogue spymaster: these are just 4 of 10 characters created from new takes on existing classes, complete with detailed backstories and decision descriptions.  Ten characters meant to provide players and DMs with new inspiration for developing their own worlds and the heroes to save them.     

What's in the book started here on the blog as a creative exercise in character creation for the 5th edition of D&D.   

I also used to have some cooler, more specific images for the blog, but they weren't acquired by strictly legal means.  (Turns out Google is not a magical copyright-granting fairy.)  So sorry, the images are gone.  But you have a good imagination, right?

So using the creation guidelines outlined in the book (which includes a bonus feat for everyone), I made up some PCs both for my own inspiration and for yours.  Hopefully they'll give you some new ideas for your own game.

*****

DAESIMACH GEARTWITCH, STEAMPUNK WIZARD

“I admit she’s talented.  Perhaps too talented for her own good…” – Guild Master Gursh McWyld

Wizard (3)

Alignment: LG 

STR	8	-1
INT	17	+3
WIS	13	+1
DEX	16	+3
CON	12	+1
CHAR	11	0

HP: 21

AC: 15

PROF: +2

SAVES: INT (+5) WIS (+3)

              ADV vs. magic

INIT: +6  (includes small size)

RACE: Rock Gnome

* Int +2,Con +1

* Languages: Common, Gnomish

* Darkvision

* Gnome Cunning

* Artificer’s Lore

* Tinker

BACKGROUND:  Guild Artisan

* Guild Membership in Tinkerers’ and Alchemists’ Guilds (though not liked in either)

* Tinkers’ tools

* Alchemist kit

WIZARD:

* Arcane Recovery 

* Arcane Tradition: School of Transmutation

-- Transmutation Savant

-- Minor Alchemy

SPELL CASTING:

* Spell DC (13)  Spell Attack Mod (+5)

* Spell Slots: 1st (4) 2nd (2)

* Prepare 6 spells

* Known Cantrips: Mending, Shocking Grasp, Dancing Lights

* “Spellbook” Spells (plans and formulas for devices and alchemical mixtures)

-- 1^st Level: Find Familiar, Grease, Chromatic Orb, Identify, Color Spray, T’s Floating Disc, Fog Cloud, Feather Fall, Shield

-- 2^nd Level: Web, Cloud of Daggers, Blur, Locate Object

SKILLS:

* Arcana (+5)

* Investigation (+5)

* Insight (+3)

* History (+5)

* History (+7) on magic items, alchemy, devices, etc.

* Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elvish, Halfling

FEATS:

* Lightly armored

FAMILIAR:  Klick-Klack, the clockwork owl

BASIC GEAR:

* Tools, belt pouches, & satchel (arcane foci)

* Light crossbow with bolts, 2 daggers

* Studded leather armor

* Tinker’s tools, alchemist’s kit

* Traveling clothes, working overalls

* Selma the donkey (with cleverly locked saddle bags)

STORY NOTES:

Daesimach Geartwitch—Daisy for short—is herself rather short; she is a gnome, after all.  And while she had generally been regarded with respect and a smile among her own people, she found the greater world to be less receptive.  Was it because she was a gnome?  Perhaps elves and dwarves, even halflings, were better respected in the human lands?  Not only was she a gnome, but she was also female.  It was jealousy, her friends told her, played an equal role to these, if not more so. 

Daisy was presented to the Pact of the Philosopher’s Stone Guild (alchemists) and the Turns of the World Guild (Tinkers and Artificers) with great enthusiasm by her mentor, the great gnome master Cagghai Pennybottom.  She became a guild member on his recommendation, and to say that she was excited would be a terrible understatement. 

Perhaps the excited, ingenious young girl didn’t realize that her great success and new ideas might be an insult to some of the older, less talented guild members who had always thought themselves important.  Those jealous old men clearly couldn’t compare their own abilities to this young, inhuman, female prodigy.  Pennybottom’s command of respect was the only thing that kept Daesi in good standing with the Guilds’ more rancorous chiefs for as long as it did.  And when the old gnome master disappeared, it wasn’t long before Daisy found herself in ill-favor among her “peers.” 

She seeks now to find out what happened to Cagghai Pennybottom.  Not to restore her respect to those petty guild masters, but to discover and, if necessary, rescue her friend and teacher from whatever fate has befallen him.

Like most gnomes, Daisy is generally cheerful and innovative of mind, but she has learned to distrust the baser motives of the human world and its inhabitants, be they human or not.  She feels more at home in communities of the shorter races—dwarves, halflings, and gnomes—and this is where she can finally feel free to be herself.  She otherwise spends too much time guarding her emotions.  Therefore, despite the miracles of craft and chemistry that she is capable of, Daisy generally does not live up to her true potential.  The only friend she feels completely at home with is the mechanical owl Klick-Klack, her homemade clockwork familiar.

GAMES NOTES:

As with all of these D&D character creations, I wanted to do something different with the class.  Here I’ve made a wizard, always my least favorite class.  Wizards are traditionally too fragile and, in the beginning levels (which is where I prefer to play), they tend to be one-trick ponies.  (Can you say magic missile?  I hates me some magic missile…)  It seems like everyone who’s ever made a wizard made the same damn boring character and stocked up on the same damn spells, first and foremost being magic missile.  (Notice Daisy doesn’t use it, though it would fit her well as self-propelled darts of some kind.)

I wanted to make a wizard who wasn’t a spellcaster in robes, but instead is a gadgeteer and craftsman (or craftswoman, in this case).  And though it does kind of conform to the stereotype, it seemed most appropriate to make her a gnome.

The most important thing about this character is that her spells are not incantations, but are clockwork, steampunk, or alchemical gadgets and effects!

Her “preparing spells” at rest is mixing potions, and winding up and preparing machines.  A few spells (like Mending) are as much talent as minor magical effects, but mostly I imagine her throwing breakable glass vials and releasing tiny devices to achieve her magic.  Feather Fall, for example, might be spring-loaded wings, a small parachute, or propellers with claws for grabbing peoples’ backs.  Shocking Grasp could be metal conductors in her gloves hooked up to a chemical battery and/or routed through the metal studs of her leather armor.  Chromatic Orb and Fog Cloud are chemical mixtures in small glass globes.  Color Spray is a strobe light that shines through a prism.  Cloud of Daggers is a swarm of wind-up, free-flying, bladed propellers.  I chose all of her spells based on the idea that they could be imagined this way (and specifically didn’t take magic missile!).  I also assumed that in her three levels of adventuring she’d picked up a few extra spells for her spell book in the form of formulas and design schematics, so she’s got a few more than you might expect.

In her creation, I replaced the persuasion skill from the Guild Artisan background with Arcana, given the nature of the guilds she’s part of. Besides, Persuasion isn't befitting this character's social awkwardness, which is also reflected by her low Charisma score.  These experiences do, however, make her good at reading people, thus her Insight skill.  I also tweaked the background to give her two toll proficiencies, one in each of her areas of expertise.

Also fitting the theme is her homemade familiar, Klick-Klack the clockwork owl.  (Inspired by the original Clash of the Titans movie, my favorite as a kid, but I believe that owl’s name was Boobo).

I actually made up Daisy over a year ago as part of my character creation exercises on my blog.  The other wizard on this list, Kurzette, I made up just a week ago for this book.  And now that I’m revising Daisy’s story, I see the eerie similarity in their personality and story.  I guess inventive, shy nerds have a lot in common, eh?  (Including talent!  Break out of your shells, my fellow shy nerds!  Trust me, there’s nothing to be afraid of!)

This character is one of my favorites from this exercise and I have already developed her into a central hero in my future series of fantasy adventure novels.  (If only I could escape the day job to get them written!)