#abd al'aysar

[eldritchmoms]

What do you think the fandom for your character would be like? Are they a fan favorite, a love to hate villain, derided for whatever reason, or something else? for Abdul

META ASKS:If Your OC Was Canon. || Accepting

I can imagine Abd Al'Aysar fandom coming together from the three threads of "oh no he's baby", "that's my autism coded blorbo", and (I have to be careful with this one) "that's one of the few fleshed out PoC characters and we're grabbing that representation with both hands". The fandom is mostly producing the cutest art and fic and is generally wholesome right up until you get the issue of whether the "oh no he's baby" section goes too far in infantalising a character who is neurodivergent and PoC then the discourse ERUPTS.

[eldritchmoms]

I got lost in the autism and didn't write the post about what led to the autism, which is DISABILITY IN FANTASY SETTINGS

I didn't plan it but the ASD and possibly dyspraxia coding in Abd Al'Aysar can no longer be ignored. Social skills are hard, routine and Knowing The Rules is a comfort mechanism, there might be some sensory issues (a little hard to tell whether it's that or just being on alien plane where water falls from the sky amongst other things), and he would probably love a weighted blanket thanks. He's still closer to inconvenient but manageable ASD adjacency than the more intensely disabling effects it can have. The dyspraxia is much more impactful, especially on the fine motor level. In particular he has terrible difficulty with writing that doesn't come with the reading or language processing issues of dyslexia or dysgraphia.

Ren has multiple interrelated chronic conditions that span an entire spectrum of physical to magical to uh oof your soul shouldn't actually be doing that. On the physical level, he has the internal scarring from a serious lung injury - not enough to cause severe health concerns but enough to interfere with both endurance and more intense kinds of movement, either through tightness in the area, difficulty taking a full lungful of air, and (for a significant portion of his life) low level chronic pain. A good part of his ability to hide and compensate for that is through his monk training. On top of that the same incident left him with a nasty case of his soul not being as tethered to his body anything like as strongly as it should be, a connection to the Shadowfell, and the link leaking shadowstuff and his own life force back and forth. Tied in to the physical injury, this tends to manifest as the stuff manifesting in - then being violently coughed out of - his injured lung. Curiously to some people's assumptions this doesn't tend to happen as a result of him using his cleric or shadow monk abilities.

[eldritchmoms]

Tell us about Abdul's relationship with the society he was raised in!

Backstory Asks || Always Accepting

Most people's picture of a Genasi is of someone who grew up marked and exceptional, an oddity even in places where they are known to appear, regarded with awe or suspicion depending on the culture they find themselves in.

Abd Al'Aysar grew up on the Plane of Fire in the City of Brass, where considerably more powerful planar beings in the form of the Efreet are the bulk of the inhabitants and being merely a genasi is considered somewhat unfortunate. Especialy when you are first and (so far) only son of nobility.

That position and his age have sheltered him from much of what outsiders would consider the city's cruelty - not in the sense that he is blissfully unaware of it, but in that it is entirely normalised and its necessity built into all that he knows of how society should be run. Strict hierarchy is natural, laws and those with the power to make them are to be respected and obeyed, reputation and face are all important. One's word must be kept, one's honor maintained, at risk of total exclusion from society - and that means punishing slights as extravagantly as showing generosity.

He's not particularly good at all this. But expectations, at least from outside his immediate family, are not high, and the same rules of face demand that they not be seen to be badmouthing of of their own to outsiders. He does not relish the harshness, but it's the rules, and so far those have been far more a point of safety and security than they have a source of moral conflict.

[eldritchmoms]

Which Sad Planet Analogy Are You?

Abd Al'Asyar:

The Moon doesn't have its own light, it just reflects on others

You've always felt as if you only were someone else's shadow, you've tried so hard to shine on your own, yet your spotlight is always stolen by others, you're wonderful on your own way, you're kind, you're talented and very compassionate, yet nobody seems to notice

Tagged by @umbralined Tagging: all three other people who actually follow me here so @d20forinitiative @luxsclaris @eclipsecrowned just pick a muse y'all have so many and I want to see. Also if you are none of the above just steal it.

[eldritchmoms]

Lae'zel is very front and centre presented as someone with very different values from a Lawful Evil flavoured culture and you come to expect it.

Abd Al'Aysar, extraplanar fish-out-of-water with all the air of a sheltered but well-meaning noble, will blindside you with "well the slavery is fine of course, but I am certain that some kind of law has to be being broken here with the specifics of their rations" and similar attitudes that suddenly shock you back into remembering that he grew up in a differently Lawful Evil flavoured culture too.

[eldritchmoms]

Random "but what if dnd 2024?" thoughts for the muses (based on what is known, not official release)

Abd Al'Aysar

new and controversial Warlock vibe of "the precise nature of your patron is a mystery until 3rd level" clashes so badly with his backstory where his patron is a member of his own family and not in a mysterious distant extraplanar ancestor way. He knows his patron is a noble efreeti. He knows WHICH noble efreeti. They lived in the same city all of his childhood.

Remains Pact of the Tome, though that is now a pick folded under your Eldritch Invocations selection

He's a baby warlock and early invocations will be classic damaged base, but when he gets far enough Gift of the Protectors is so <3 for him

no good info on genasi or a possible Genie warlock patron for 2024 afaik

Noble background still works for him, with an intelligence and charisma boost, but given the option I'd trade out Skilled for... honestly of the available origin feats I don't know. Nothing really fits the sheltered failnoble nepowarlock I'm going for. Lucky maybe, or Magic Initiate (Wizard). Sage is the best mechanical fit to express what I'm going for through build but sits a step to the left of capturing his actual backstory when Noble is right there. (...This is going to be a theme.)

Tsaexl

Remains a Battlemaster with a "dirty tricks survivalist" vibe rather than "noble scholar of war" one (Ambush, Distracting Strike, Menacing Attack, Trip Attack, those kinds of maneuvers).

No good lizardfolk pc info yet

Mechanically, Soldier or Sailor are the best picks - probably Soldier. She's really not any of those on a backstory level, where Wayfarer or Hermit might be a better fit - but neither of those offer good stat boosts, feats, or skills for her class and backstory.

Renosos

Most developed, only one with a full build, arguably the most basic of them in relying on what was in 5e entirely core content in terms of race/species and subclasses... and this is hard.

Half-elf is gone, so it's a choice between Human and Elf with non-mechanical flavour. Neither quite work. Picking Human might help with some of the Background build issues below for allowing an extra origin feat, but I've now long established that he leans far closer to his Elven ancestry and the Elf species traits are what I'd want for him... apart from the magic, which don't get me wrong is some nice stuff but jaring to a character who I'd had as a certain minor part of his characterisation being NOT inherently adept at magic. His CHA will be slightly nerfed but that was from 5e half-elf opness and not important to me.

Let's get a backgrounds right away: ouch. He's got a (story) background that clashes with what you'd expect from the basic classes, and 2024 hates that with a passion. On top of that he's reliant on two ability scores, Wisdom and Dexterity, cutting mechanical options to 4: Guide (clashing story, feat, skill (survival), and tools), Sailor (clashing story, feat, and tools, might give redundant skill options too), Scribe (mechanically the best option, despite a bad tools pick, for my, er, shitty little runaway delinquent who skips out on all most of the knowledge skills?), and Wayfarer (another good option but thieves' tools are redundant with his rogue level and the Lucky feat feels so wrong on him). Charlatan is in some ways the best backstory and mechanics balance, but it nerfs him entirely by disallowing a wisdom boost on my cleric/monk. Criminal does likewise and cuts into the important skills I've established him as having with Alert rather than Skilled. As it stands I WOULD be going on my hands and knees for a custom background, even if it was only by swapping out a feat or allowing a WIS boost and potentially ignoring all the backstory implications.

If I can get around those two though... hahahaha omg his classes and subclasses have been given some NICE boosts.

On the Monk, he's going to be more dangerous in combat with boosted attack dice. He'll be burning less AND regaining more focus points (formerly ki), now that patient defense/step of the wind allow disengage/dash as a bonus action without cost and uncanny metabolism allows instant focus points refill at the begininng of one combat per long rest. Uncanny metabolism also has some nice potential for adding flavor in how exactly it works/manifests >:3. Deflect Attacks is now less narrowly defined and a nice defense broad option to reduce incoming nonmagical damage a bit. Yeah, stunning strike has been nerfed. I don't care. Ren's monk levels are for mobility and defense anyway.

Warrior (way) of Shadows now gives you the ability to see in your own magical darkness when it comes from that subclass ability. NICE. Several other spell-likes (silence, pass without trace) have been removed but they were always redundant on a caster. Darkvision now stacks (I THINK this is a universal on options that give darkvision now?) as well, so assuming an Elf species that's now 120m darkvision for him.

Clerics now, finally, get to properly specialise as casters with Thaumaturge divine order and potent spellcasting as options available to all by default. An extra cantrip at level 1 (Thaumaturge) and extra Wis bonus damage on cantrips (blessed strikes: potent spellcasting) at lv 7? Ren's ability to fuck up/outright kill low level characters with Toll the Dead is now even more deadly. This man does a MINUMUM 9 damage on a failed DC 19 WIS save. WIS bonus added to Religion and Arcana checks is also so much fun given a) it fits and b) how many skills does this man have above a basic skill roll now????

Trickery cleric works better overall in and out of combat, at the expense of the amazing spell selection from 5e. No more Mirror Image, Blink, or Polymorph, but the addition of Invisibility as a spell is so much better than whatever Cloak of Shadows was trying to do. There's now more of a focus on mind-snaring incapacitating debuffs with Hypnotic Pattern and Confusion, which is flavourful. Nondetection is potentially niche but makes me :D on a Maskarran. Invoke duplicity is now fun, teleporting you on casting and leaving the duplicate in your place to act a lot like it did before in the old version (though I can see a potentially broken loophole strategy opened up by how it works now that it no longer requires concentration, and wonder if something about it will be nerfed in the future). Ren's high enough level to use the ability to swap himself and the illusion in space on a bonus action every turn too which opens up so many noncombat shenanigans :D.

Strictly speaking, the way I have Ren built stops him from ever getting an epic boon - he gets his last ASI/feat at level 17 because of his multiclass split. HOWEVER if I was somehow allowed to put the last off until level 19 (or get it some other campaign reward based way)? LAUGHS IN BOON OF THE NIGHT SPIRIT

[eldritchmoms]

🥃 + Does your hair always flare up when you're flustered? (Abdul)

"Er... yes? Wait, was that part of the game? I answered, so I don't have to drink."

He looks almost disappointed at that.

[eldritchmoms]

🥃 + Abdul, why are you so cute?

"I... um... uh..." Oh no, he's blushing hard enough to show it even against the iron black skin and his hair looks like the bellows were set on it. "C-cute? I... What were the rules of this game again? Do I have to drink if I can't answer the question?"