@POOHEAD189 I'm tempted! Believe me, I just don't know how up to par my creation skills are...It's been awhile.

No time like the present!

I'm here. Sorry if I'm a bit late to the sound off.

Are second characters allowed? I assure you that I have enough free time to manage it. I'm thinking a Dwarven Warrior who wears heavy armor and fights with an axe and shield.

@Not FishingThat's cool.

And sure! A Dwarven warrior sounds like a good idea, my friend.

Race: Shield Dwarf

Gender: Male

Age: 103

Class: Fighter

Stats:

Strength: 18
Dexterity: 13
Constitution: 20
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 5

Physical Description: Joric stands at approximately 4' 9", with a light skin tone. He has an unruly head of dark hair, which sets him apart from most dwarves that prefer to go bald. Like most dwarves, he does have a beard. It is eight inches long, but neatly groomed unlike his hair - he usually wears a helmet anyways. His eyes are dark blue, and his nose is slightly misshapen from when it was broken long ago, and never healed quite right. He often has a cheesy grin on his face that reveals a missing front tooth. Some people may think he is not the most attractive individual, but some people do not understand true beauty.

Moving down to the rest of his body, Joric's muscles have been built up over years of training, traveling, and fighting. He has numerous scars that he earned fighting anything from common brigands to vicious beasts.

Armor/Attire: Joric wears a steel helmet with a sharp two inch-long spike on top, mostly to prevent taller beings from condescendingly patting him on the head, as many humans seem to do when faced with shorter beings. The helmet does not protect the lower half of his face, allowing his beard to flow out, and the eyeslits are larger than most - he likes visibility. The rest of his armor is standard heavy steel plate, although it is worth noting that the gauntlets and boots have short-yet-sharp spikes on the knuckles and toes. Around his waste is a black leather belt, and he has a simple traveler's pack on his back.

Equipment

• One-handed single-bladed steel battleaxe, fashioned from Dwarven steel with a hilt wrapped in leather. Joric frequently ensures that is sharpened, giving him an edge in combat. He keeps it on his belt at his right hip.
• A steel longsword, or at least a longsword by Dwarven standards. Though he prefers his axe, there are times when a sword may be more useful. It never hurts to have a back-up, either. You could say Joric has proven this point on multiple occasions.
• A round steel shield, glowing softly with a magic-resistant enchantment. Fire and ice will neither heat nor cool it, the shield itself is less likely to break under magical force, and Joric himself is less likely to be knocked off his feet. The shield itself is painted with the image of a red axe crossing a blue sword.
• A flask of strong dwarven brew at his belt.
• Basic traveling supplies in his pack: a canteen of water, some food, some rope, a bedroll, a knife.

Mental Description/Personality: Joric is rather optimistic, I guess. And by optimistic, I mean inappropriately so. He likes to yell out puns and one-liners, especially in combat. Some of these are cheesy or poorly thought out, while others can actually be rather clever. He can also be regarded as reckless, having a tendency to charge straight in or announce his presence before discussing battle tactics. Rarely will he back down from a challenge. All that said, he has a strong sense of honor and loyalty. There are a few other things I could say about his personality, but I'd rather leave that for others to piece together as the story progresses.

Goals: Joric doesn't have much of a purpose, to be completely honest. He simply seeks to wander the surface, slaying monsters and exploring new locations. If he happens to save some lives or earn some coin in the process, then all the better.

Background/History: Joric was born in an underground mining settlement somewhere in the Silver Marches. His parents were blacksmiths, and he was expected to follow in their footsteps, although he always harbored a curiosity as to what was on the surface. And while he did have an interest in weapons, it was more to do with how they were used than how they were made. He would take flawed weapons that his parents had discarded, and practice with them in secret. And being the son of a blacksmith allowed him to pick up quite a bit of information on what qualities to look for in a weapon, and how to do minor repairs on basic objects.

The work and training his parents continued to pile onto him prevented him from having an opportunity to explore the surface, even for a visit. And on the odd occasion that he did get free time, he was unable to work up the courage to actually go and explore.

As the years went on, his naive and idealistic desire to become a wandering hero started to fade, but his fascination with weaponry and combat didn't stop. He instead decided that he would rather be a guard. So when he came of age, he signed on with the town militia. After only a few weeks of actual training, he proved to be a skilled fighter from his earlier years of practice. Both his trainers and his comrades knew he had potential.

And then came the cave-in.

To this day, no one knows how it started. One day the ceiling of the cave just collapsed, burying the mines as well as half the town and killing most of its population. Joric had been in the middle of a training session at the time, but his parents had been in the other half.

His parents dead, the population devastated, and the town's main source of income destroyed, Joric was distraught. He and the other survivors dug away at the rubble for days, hoping to find survivors or recover valuable possessions. When the tool provided to him broke, he used his hands, clawing away at dirt and stone and until his fingers were raw and bleeding. As the days wore on, any hope of finding the survivors was lost.

Joric soon realized he had no reason to stay. He couldn't bear it. Picking up his weapon, he left for the surface without a word. He was set upon by a pair of bandits only a few days later, which he promptly slew. He remembered how much he enjoyed training with the militia. He thought of the thrill he had just felt, battling and overpowering two men. He looked up at the open sky above him, taking in the smell of the fresh air and the surrounding wildlife. He recalled his childhood dream to wander the surface as a monster-slaying hero.

Well, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

His fifty years of adventuring took him all across the Realms, doing mercenary work and even earning a modest reputation as a hero in some areas. He fought various beasts and rescued innocents, just as he had set out to do, although he quickly found it was not as glamorous as he imagined, but it was a life that he loved nonetheless. Eventually his travels took him to the Moonsea, and from there he found his way to Hulburg, where he answered a call for aid.

@Not Fishing@Assallya@Ezmeralda@IcePezz@Vor Posted!

Also@Not Fishing, I like the character. Only a few things that need to be changed. 1) Dwarves enjoy living within mountains and underground, but every Dwarf does see the surface every now and then, so he wouldn't be a stranger to it.
2) Make it so he's from the Silver Marches in his history. I want it to be closer to some lore, and up there is a wild region where sparse Dwarf settlements like the one you described can sometimes be found.
3) I realize this isn't a dice game, and the stats are merely guidelines, but if you want someone with a 7 intelligence, you'll not be speaking in complete and competent sentences. A 10 is usually a normal speaker, much less someone who gives witty puns or one liners, so keep that in mind. Your guy might be going "Me likes caves to fight in, yes? Goblins much much yes? Me enjoys fun with Gobbos!"

Other than that though, he seems fine :)

I think that kind of speech would be hilarious, imo.

Completely off-topic, but that reminds me of the old Infinity Engine-era RPG's where low Int characters had different dialogue and it was fucking hilarious.

So Trump style speech. Good English!

Amazing... The president elect can't even speak his native language and people wonder why I retreat to fantasy realms.

Completely off-topic, but that reminds me of the old Infinity Engine-era RPG's where low Int characters had different dialogue and it was fucking hilarious.

LooooL. I got this off Neverwinter Nights. I had an 8 INT Dwarf and he was asked to speak the code of the serpents, and his best dialogue was "Me likes snakes"

Well, Joric really didn't go up on the surface because he never had an opportunity - helping out his parents, training, as well as the concern that if he did go up, he would either find it to be an awful place, or find that it was a fantastic place and never want to go back home. He was around fifty when he finally left, which according to the wiki is the adult age for a dwarf, so he was still living with his parents as well.

And while that speech WOULD be funny, unfortunately it's not the kind of guy that Joric is (this isn't my first time using him in a roleplay, by the way. His last name would have been Ironfist, but apparently there's already a pre-existing clan of that name somewhere in the lore.)

I'll bump it up to nine, because while he's not an eloquent speaker he isn't a complete idiot - just a bit below average, which was what I thought 7 was. I wonder how a level 1 intelligence character would sound?

Also his jokes don't usually have much thought put into them. He just says the first thing that comes to mind, and sometimes it just so happens to be clever.

Edit: I adjusted his stats accordingly, and mentioned the Silver Marches in his background. Still hadn't been to the surface before the collapse, but I added in the reasons why.

Edit2: You know what, I'll just swap his intelligence with his wisdom. He now has 12 intelligence and 9 wisdom.

Wow. Apparently I DID name him Ironfist - I thought I put Ironfoot. Old habits die hard, I guess.

While it is very much the central tenet of all things Dwarven to be miners there are a few small clans that have taken to farming life. Usually these clans are looked down upon with disdain for they likely lost their mines to orcish invaders (or Smaug!) in the past or, quite possibly, the mineral veins dried up. I've sometimes used the background of searching for a new mine as an impetus for a character's adventuring abroad.

There are also tradesmen who travel abroad with the mine's wares. After all, you simply can't trust a human to give you a fair price for your ingots and gems when you're located inside a remote mountain. "Here's two bags of oats. Give me a gold ingot!"

There's also a tale of one group of dwarves in southern Faerun that live in something similar to the grand canyon, only deeper, and they literally live in the walls of it. I can't remember their names as it has been a decade but it's a very atypical twist on the common mine.

@AssallyaThe Gold Dwarves in the Great Rift, you're right.

@Not FishingEven if he's not an adult yet, he'd have seen the surface. It'd be like...an inside dog 3 years old that's never seen the outside. Sure he lives inside and spends about all of his time there, but he's at least looked out a window, if not gone to the bathroom outside. I guess I shall allow it, but Dwarves really will think that's odd. All of the Dwarves he's known would have gone to the surface a few times, like a vacation if not a daily ritual. BUT, I won't stop you. I'll give your character a looksie in a small bit. Watching The Walking Dead with a friend atm.

I'm away all day and it seems that I miss all the action :p I shall have a post up soon ... ish :D

@Not FishingHe seems good. All I'd want you to add is what he did after deciding to leave his cavern home. Nothing specific, just that he merc'ed his way to the south east and then back north east until he found the moonsea and sailed to Hulburg or something. Other than that, he's done. You can even put him in the character tab and post for him as long as you add maybe 3 sentences to his history adding that.

Super sorry I've been absent, I will be posting today after work. Had intended on this morning, but I kinda slept in. I absolutely love the interactions by the way :)

I feel like our party is going to be sassy with each other the whole time. xP

That's what happens when there is so much estrogen in the room :p

My speculation: I can see Assallya and Darius becoming the party's sassmasters. I imagine Sumia will turn out to be the strict: "If you are anything other than lawful good, then I owe you at least one stern lecture before this adventure is over" type. I don't know about the Orc Cleric, but he seems like a wise and honorable type, so I would expect a few disapproving glares. Joric doesn't sass people so much as make them cringe (and occasionally laugh) with his stupid jokes. I'm not sure how much sass we can expect from the human rogue lady whose name I will butcher if I try to spell, but there will probably be a few arguments given her apparent temper. As for Poohead's own characters, I have no idea, but the Duergar is probably used to dealing with angry squabbling humans.