#as powerful as any other arcane skillset

[pocketss]

mmm soob

[kaimorkingdom]

Setting Basics

This game takes place in a heavily homebrewed world. Throw out most things you know about “canonical” D&D because this is a “I do what I want” zone.

The world at large is known as “Vertellus”, or the material plane. However, the campaign is set in a large, snowy kingdom known as Kaimor Kingdom. It is a monarchy, although there are many powers in the kingdom vying for power and control. Despite its large size, the kingdom is mostly icey mountains, alpine forests and frozen steppes. Its main export is precious gems and metals from the mountains, though it is an isolated faction. No one wants to wage war, as there is little to gain for a great risk, but the hostility and of the current king prevents the kingdom from gaining allies.

Some crucial things to know about the world at large is that, for around 800 years, the majority of Gods that all mortals knew have disappeared. No one knows what happened, where they’ve gone, or if they’re still even living. This has created an absense of divine magic across Vertellus.

This is particularly concerning in Kaimor, as undead plague the land. Anyone who dies returns as undead, and even destroying the body isn’t a guarantee, as they may return as a ghost or spectre instead of a zombie. Because of this, Kaimor is heavily militarized, with the majority of the populous having some level of martial training to help defend themselves and their community. All towns are also walled, preventing undead from wandering through towns.

Necromancy is illegal, punishable by death ironically. Being undead yourself, even if fully sentient, is as well. The majority of citizens don’t understand the intricracies of magic, thus anything that “looks” like necromancy will be considered as such.

Primal or druidic magic is the most common magic in Kaimor. Both druids and rangers’ skillsets are helpful to safely navigate the kingdom. Arcane magic is rare, as there are very limited places to learn such magic. Both aren’t well understood by the majority of people, though, and casters can find themselves mistrusted or even feared.

Divine magic has one main source in Kaimor, despite the lack of it everywhere else. The Church of Reverence, who worship a being known as The Hearken (It/Its). The Church is a beacon of light in the darkness of the kingdom, however ask for heavy prices. In order to recieve any kind of aid or healing, you have to be a part of the Church, and renounce worship of any other entities. You also have to concied to the hierarchy and norms of the Church. It was founded 70 years ago, after Saint Wilson Cylrien first began to worship The Hearken and convinced others of his mission. Since his passing, his son, Oltar Cylrien, is the leader and Hierophant of the church.

[b00ket]

PIRATE TIME BITCH

One of two crews I have in mind, this one dealing w Amani’s past and the other being encountered in her route.

Timole Bìlísì - The Devil’s Skull

Infamous Pirate Ship from Karnassos

The ship is fucking huge, skulls and other symbols carved into the wood. Runes of protection to guard against destructive spells

Would raid other ships, pillage any place their ship docked, often stealing for stealing sake

Really into theatrics, use of magic to threaten other ships as they approached

Has a fight club on their ship, akin to the gladiators of Vesuvia with their treatment

Stowaways and those stolen from other ships forced to fight each other to the death for the entertainment of others

Crewmembers could fight, often gaining the riches bet on them if they won.

Loyalty the most stressed quality on the ship, thoughts of betrayal and descent were dealt with harshly

Rumors surround this ship, often portraying the crew members as monsters causing chaos wherever they went.

Individual Crew Members below the cut:

Previous Captain: Khalid Adesanya (West African)

“Golden Devil of the seventy seas”

6’ 6”

From Karnassos

The Quarter-Master of an older ship, seeing the previous Captain was too soft in their desire for power, held a mutiny and assumed control. Their lover became their QuarterMaster.

Having fallen to the temptations of riches and mad with power, his methods grew darker and more sadistic. Attacking any town they docked at, stealing and pillaging other ships (friendly or not), hosting fight rings that often lead to death. Quartermaster left one night, making their own crew, abandoning Khalid and their daughter. He still wears the ring he had given them as a necklace.

More of a dictator than the democratic nature you’d expect of a Captain.

Raising his daughter, Rameze, to be just as ruthless and skilled as he is. He finds Amani fills the skillset he was looking for much better.

Current Captain: Rameze Adensanya (West African)

“Apophis Serpent of the Seas”

“The Sudden Captain”

5’ 6”

Age: Mid 20s

Born and raised on Timole Bìlísì

After the murder of her father, she immediatly filled the power vacuum of her crew. First action as Captain was to torture Amani and throw her overboard.

She was lackluster as a Captain, consequently led to her being far more democratic and collaborative with her crewmates.

Her ship was subject to more raids and revenge attacks from other pirate ships, hardening her and encouraging more violent behavior. Her desire for power instilled as the most effective way to protect her from birth, she’ll do anything to gain more.

Looking into the Arcana and demons, to give herself more arcane power to properly punish those who had wronged her and possibly bring her father back from the dead.

Due to the loyalty being reinforced as the most important trait of the crew, many stayed after Rameze took the mantle of Captain. Though she is likely to take stowaways, she’s ruthlessness paranoid and is more likely to toss them into the seas.

Quartermaster: Matu Mũya

Helped to keep the ship running as Rameze officially settled into the role.

Wise, Quiet, Charismatic, Insightful, Nosey, Brutal, Hedonistic

Warned Rameze of Amani’s proficiency and likelihood to replace Rameze’s future as the next Captain

Despite their held back nature is die hard loyal to the Captain and his descendants.

First Mate: “Ayad”

Joined the crew directly after Amani was casted out

No real power, follows Captain Rameze’s orders wordlessly

Naive, Yes-Man, Attentive

Everything Rameze wanted Amani to be

Has a name, Rameze chooses to call them Ayad instead

Sailing Master: Kobra Khosravi

Shares the Captain’s desire for power, able to predict the best times to raid towns and ships.

Is the only other member allowed in the room of riches, filled with spoils from their pillaging.

Focused, Warm, Gruff, Selfish

Gunner: Kira Tokinao

Off the walls batshit insane, is only on the ship for the chaos and violence

Bombshells and swords hang from the ceiling of their quarters

Uses magic to tell great stories and folklore to scare the younger crew members, mastered the dramatic evil laugh

Powder Monkey: “Mini Kira”

A walking ball of nerves that Kira drags around and teaches how to use all the weapons

Sees Kira as a father figure, for some reason

Boatswain: Light Aman Yonas

Wants to be called by her full name

Has been nicknamed LAY

Not happy about that

Neurotic, goblin screeching, feels like the crew is going to fall apart at any moment

Has seen terrifying monsters that lie within the ocean, or so they say anyway

Surgeon: Necahual Pacheco

5’ 1”

Immigrant from Nopal

Dating the Cook

Grossly in love

Hates Kira, surprised they haven't died yet (thinks about killing them herself)

Likes to lie to give people medical scares for fun

Cook: Baati Arsia

Only raids ships for spices, raids nobles homes for premium ingredients.

Fishnet for his beard, little seashells on there for decoration

Rumors of their skills in necromancy to bring animals and people back to life to help them cook

Notes on the general crew:

It's a huge ass ship there are so many general crewmembers

Generally sectioned under the orders of the Cook, Surgeon, Gunner and Sailing Master

All of which report to the Quartermaster who reports to the Captain

Captain Khalid had a habit of taking in younger people to work on his ship, providing a decent environment and training them for a specific role

To promote loyalty and he just had a soft spot for youngins

Young stowaways were adopted into the crew

[crackinglamb]

You Have Chosen Nydha To Be Your Companion!

Hopping off @little-lightning-lavellan's idea to take a DA:I OC and turn them into a companion, may I present Banal'ras Nydha (from Hope Is a Fragile Thing) and her wiki page.

General

Banal'ras Nydha looks human, although there is something that doesn't seem quite right about her. She has dark hair and skin and startlingly green eyes, and speaks with a low, raspy voice. It is often difficult to find her in a room. Nydha first appears, and is available to recruit, in the Temple of Sacred Ashes before attempting to close the Breach. She offers knowledge and combat tactics against demons. If dismissed, or never spoken to, she will then be spotted in Haven behind Solas's cabin. She will not be available to recruit at that time, although once the Inquisition is relocated to Skyhold, she will make an offer to travel with the Inquisitor. If dismissed again, she will become a non-interactive NPC in the Rotunda, usually found near the mural or atop the scaffolding. If she is never recruited, she will disappear from Skyhold after the final battle with Corypheus.

Nydha is not romanceable by any Inquisitor, but can engage in a relationship with Solas if a female Dalish Inquisitor has not done so. She is friendly and bonds well with most of the other party members, especially Cole, Dorian and, of course, Solas. She prefers diplomacy and tends towards mediation rather than confrontation. If a Dalish Inquisitor has romanced Solas, and has high approval, Nydha will offer comfort and sympathy upon termination of the relationship. If low approval, Nydha has nothing to say.

She has strong opinions on the plight of elves, slaves and mages. She is supportive of any measures that would improve the lives of them. Her early banter with Dorian revolves around debating Tevinter's practices and trying to get him to see a better way. She will also speak with Iron Bull about the shortcomings of the Qun, although never with the same level of disdain as Solas. While she never openly mocks the Chantry or Andrastianism, she isn't a strong supporter or believer and has no opinion on who becomes Divine.

Location

In Haven, Nydha can be found behind Solas's cabin, usually in the darkest corner. Once the Inquisition relocates to Skyhold, she can be found in either the Arcane Library or the Rotunda.

Approval

Nydha's approval level is based upon empathy. An Inquisitor who is helpful, respectful and curious will gain approval. Nydha has no opinion on quests such as Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts or the outcome of Here Lies the Abyss, but approves diplomatic resolutions to judgments. She will greatly approve allying with the Free Mages, and only slightly approve conscripting the Templars. Conscription of the Free Mages or allying with the Templars will result in full disapproval. She will greatly approve Iron Bull becoming Tal-Vashoth and keeping Cole as a spirit. Actions that are ruthless or cruel will lose approval.

A high approval Inquisitor will learn that Nydha was born in another world and 'crossed over' through the Veil when the Breach opened. She will tell the Inquisitor that her name was given to her as a gift from someone she met in the Fade. She does not, however, say that it is Solas (see below for unique Trespasser dialogue). She will say that her name means 'Shadow of Night', according to her translation. A Dalish Inquisitor can have special dialogue to recognize the name as being Elvish and can question how a human came to have it. Nydha will answer that it is because the native language of the Fade is Elvish, a remnant from when elves held all of Thedas before human arrival.

A low approval Inquisitor will not learn this part of her history and she will remain an enigma. If approval falls to zero, she will refuse to speak to the Inquisitor, although she does not leave and is still available as a companion.

Quests

Survivor In the Shadows – the quest for meeting Nydha initially at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It begins upon speaking with her, and ends with either recruitment or dismissal.

From the Ashes – only available after either In Hushed Whispers or Champions of the Just, but before completion of In Your Heart Shall Burn, Nydha will ask the Herald to accompany her back to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to search for her few belongings. The Herald will find a journal, a bundle of unusual clothes and a single unmarked vial. Nydha will approve completing this quest.

A Better Form – Nydha will ask for help in stabilizing her corporeal body if Dagna is brought into the Inquisition. Resolution of this quest will involve having Dagna create a unique amulet that will act as a permanent grounding source, rather like a lightning rod. Components for this amulet are: 1 blank rune stone, 1 wisp essence, and either 5 dawnstone or 5 volcanic aurum (both imbue constitution bonuses). It will act as an Amulet of Power, granting Nydha an extra skill point. This is the only time such an ability will be available to her. This will also allow her to wear other amulets throughout the remainder of the game. She, and Solas, will greatly approve completing this quest.

Twice-Born – available during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC. Nydha, if in the party, will ask to speak with the Augur of Stone-Bear Hold once relations with the hold have been established. If she is not among the Inquisitor's party, she will be found in the main scout camp near Professor Kenric. What the two speak about will be unknown, but at the end of the quest, Nydha will inform the Inquisitor that she has been given the legend-mark Twice-Born from the hold's 'gods'. Cole will greatly approve completing this quest, regardless of whether or not he is in the party.

Note: This quest is not dependent upon approval, but is the only time she will speak with a zeroed out Inquisitor, should that level of low approval be reached.

Ability Tree/Specialization

Nydha is technically a rogue, and can utilize either a bow or double daggers. She has an autolevel preference for the Subterfuge tree, and has an additional, unique starting skill in Fade Cloak. This does not require further leveling to be active. It is the only skill that cannot be deactivated from her skillset.

She can specialize in either Tempest or Rift Mage, due to her nature as a being from the Fade. She is not otherwise a mage. Her decision on specialization can be influenced, as she will ask the Inquisitor's opinion. If no opinion is given, she will default to taking Tempest.

Combat comments

“Come get some!”

“Catch me if you can!”

(If specialized in Tempest) “Burn, baby, burn.”

(If specialized in Rift Mage) “Ooh, the stuff of nightmares.”

Kills an enemy

“Another one bites the dust.”

“Cool story, bro.”

“Then perish.”

Low Health

“This was not on my agenda today.”

“A little help?”

Low Health (Companions)

For all general companions: “I have your back.”

If in a romance with Solas: “Take a breather, fenorain.”

Fallen Companions

For all general companions: “I'll make them pay!”

If in a romance with Solas: “NO!”

Location Comments

Ferelden:

Hinterlands: “Why is it so big? Why is everything so big?”

Fallow Mire: “I have mud in unmentionable places. Can we go now?”

Storm Coast: “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky.”

If companions question her: “It's just from a poem I once read.”

Orlais:

Exalted Plains: “So much death. Can't you feel it?”

Emerald Graves: “This forest is old. Very old.” [laughs] “I always wanted to say that in proper context.”

Emprise du Lion: “Stay away from the bloody lyrium. And wear a hat.”

At Suledin Keep after Imshael, if Solas is in the party: “Ir abelas, lethallin.” (If romanced) Ir abelas, fenorain.”

Solas's reply (only translated if the Inquisitor is Dalish): “Ma serannas. Ea lam'an.” (It is in the past)

At the Pools of the Sun, regarding the trio of dragons: “Can't we just leave them alone? They really won't hurt anyone if we keep our distance.”

Hissing Waste: “You know, if you ignore the endless vista of sand, it's really quite beautiful. In a bleak kind of way.”

Western Approach: “Hot. Hot and blighted. I need a drink.”

Forbidden Oasis, upon reaching the second camp: “That's it, I'm never leaving.”

Arbor Wilds: “Mind your footing. This place is full of secrets.”

In Val Royeaux: “Pretty place.”

Frostback Basin: “I could stay here forever. Even with the varmints.”

The Descent: “Nice and dark, just the way I like it.”

At the Wellspring: “Wow...that's amazing.”

Trespasser: “Now it all ends, my friend.”

If the Inquisitor questions the statement: “You'll see soon enough.”

Companion/Advisor comments

Varric – Gotta watch out for Spooky, there's something about her I can't put my finger on.

Cassandra – She is an able fighter, but I would not trust her out of my sight, which is far too often.

Solas – She is secretive by nature, but I would assure you that she means no harm.

Iron Bull – She's a tricky one. Good fighter, lotta secrets. Good at keeping them too. I don't think I've cracked a single one that she didn't tell me herself.

Dorian – She's fascinating. I am not at liberty to say why, of course, if you don't already know.

Cole – Bright as the sun and scattered as the stars. She wants to help, just like I do.

Vivienne – She seems capable enough, my dear. But I would not dare to trust her. She is an accomplished player of the Game, for all her smiles and good cheer.

Sera – She's as bad as Creepy, although she's better at jokes. She's better at hiding than I am!

Blackwall – She knows something. She knows too many somethings.

Josephine – She keeps to herself and has caused no diplomatic incidents. I wish I could say the same for some of the others gathered here.

Leliana – I find it curious that I cannot find any solid evidence of her existence before the Conclave, but that does not automatically mark her a spy. However, her nature makes me no more inclined to trust her. I would be wary of her.

Cullen – Who? Oh, the...shadowy...person. I hear she can handle herself. I can't say I've spoken with her, so I don't have an opinion.

Trespasser

There is a unique dialogue tree available to the Inquisitor while speaking with Solas if Nydha was recruited as a companion.

“Did you know about Nydha?”

“Yes, I am the one who gave her her name. I found her while I yet slept, and she became corporeal after the Breach.”

(First branch) “Is she one of your agents?”

“No. She has only ever been my friend.”

(Special, if not romanced) “Your friend? It seemed to be more than that.”

“In another world, perhaps.”

(Second branch) “Is she joining you?”

“No, I would not wish her on this path.”

(Third branch) “She knew this whole time. Why didn't she tell me?”

“She had her reasons for not telling you. (If high approval) I hope you will not hold them against her.”

Regardless of approval, Nydha disappears after the Exalted Council. She settles in the Frostback Basin among the Avvar. A high approval Inquisitor will receive correspondence from her from time to time, but she will refuse to come back to the 'civilized' nations of Thedas, preferring privacy and isolation.

Trivia

If in the party during Here Lies the Abyss, the Nightmare demon will speak to her in Elvish. Her reply is a scoff and nothing else.

Nydha can be a third option at the Vir'Abelasan if she is in the party. If she is chosen to drink from the Well, Abelas does not object, although he will still point out that she will be bound as they are. If Nydha drinks, she will summon Flemeth and work with the Inquisitor to tame the dragon for the final confrontation with Corypheus. If she is in the party during Trespasser, she will be able to provide the password to the spirit guards, preventing a fight.

If Morrigan is allowed to attack Abelas, she will attempt to defend him and will argue that the witch is not worthy of the knowledge she seeks if brutality is her only way to get it. If there is a peaceful alliance with the Sentinels and Morrigan is chosen to drink, Nydha will slightly disapprove but hold her tongue on the matter.

If the Inquisitor drank from the Well, and succeeds in finding enough clues to determine that Solas is Fen'Harel, Nydha will appear saddened when the Inquisitor rebuts to the Viddasala that they already know. She will state that this was what she'd been waiting for. The Inquisitor will have the option to accuse her of knowing the whole time. She will answer yes, but she won't explain.

If Nydha is never recruited, and remains an NPC in the Rotunda, one will hear her occasionally speak with Solas. These conversations range in topic from books they are reading to the mural. Never about Inquisition business. There is a slight chance to hear them speaking in Elvish, and their words are not translated, regardless of Inquisitor's race. Solas's replies appear to be noncommittal.

Nydha will remark upon the Inquisitor's romantic choices, usually with something supportive and a hope that they are happy together. She will also comment something generally pleasant about each companion if asked. The exception to this is if Iron Bull remains Ben-Hassrath. Nydha will caution the Inquisitor to be careful of telling him too much since his loyalty is now unknown.

It can be implied from various interactions and from high approval conversation that Nydha was in fact aware of everything that would happen during the course of the game. She never gives a reason for keeping her silence on matters pertaining to what foreknowledge she had, although any input given during the game events is sound and often given in such a way so as not to risk suspicion.

It can also be implied that regardless of what Solas says during Trespasser, Nydha has actually left the Inquisition to join his ranks, or at least does not stand opposed to him. This is not confirmed, however, and according to her epilogue card, she is enjoying a quiet life in the Frostback Basin with no intention of ever interfering with Thedosian politics or events again.

[magneticmage]

Man, just thinking some more about my Baldur's Gate OCs;

Rune and Lucine are Folk Heroes. He is a Moon Circle Druid after a brief brush of lycanthropy (they were misplaced for the problems below and Rune and his sister don't know that yet) when their village was attacked by an unknown plague that was actually brought on by a devil, their tiefling paladin father Riven's Cambion father, in retaliation for killing him before the twins were born, and so he could transfer the "illness"/curse to their mother, a tiefling bad named Lunara, by making a deal with her to "save" her child in exchange for her taking on the illness. It's actually caused by an artifact buried in the nearby ruins that causes whoever dies on the "illness"' soul to be shunted off to the Nine Hells to fight in the Blood War. Luckily, most of the town was "cured" when they ousted the werecreatures and their father returned from his adventures to help nurse their mother back to health while they went off in search of a longer term cure for their home. They instead got kidnapped by mind-flayers and tadpoled into shenanigans. Anyways, his sister is a cleric of Selune (Light Domain) after they were saved from an ambush of the aforementioned weres by a passing cleric of the same faith (who, amusingly enough, turned out to be an ex-flame of their dad's before he met their mother) who stopped to help them defeat the worst of the "plague" at home.

Lyr(e/a/an) Lovemoor and Saga Musehart (who occasionally goes by her stage name of Muse) grew up as a pair of criminals under the tutelage of Lyr's crime-lord and human father (his Seladrine drow mother-named Elissahanna Lovemoor-having died from pregnancy complications surrounding his stillbirth twin and his births), Wilber Musehart. Saga, however, always dreamed of grander things and so pursued an education in the finer arts and eventually became a Bard of a Lore-based College. She even managed to teach Lyr a few things about illusions and glamors and other arcane tricks to aid in their heists (Lyr's an Arcane Trickster). She graduated with honors and had a bright future ahead of her, having finally escaped her darker beginnings. That is, until her foster father demanded one last job before letting her and Lyr go off on their own. The pair were eager to cut ties with the dangerous and shady life they grew up in and so agreed. The job was a set-up as Wilber refused to let anyone leave his guild of assassins and thieves and other criminals, especially his children. He bribed the guards of their prison to blind and maim and torture-but not kill, oh that'd be such a waste of talent-Saga in order to break her spirit and finally crush the hopeful defiance she'd harbored for years. They partly succeeded before they were interrupted by a fellow criminal and Lyr's elder human half-sibling Nel Silosen. Nel helped them escape from both the prison and the city, having faked their deaths and told them to only return when they were ready to help them end their evil father. They were headed to a private house Saga had bought years ago with a portion of her earnings from her performances during her school years when they were accosted and abducted in the night.

Faenerys (her child name was Gaell) was born the secret love child of two feuding wood elven noble families, with her parents names being Helefina Elendir (mother) and Faeris Rosandoral (father). She was raised by her maiden aunt (her mother's sister and baby half-elven cousins whose human father had died in battle, Keynala Iliren and Mialas and Aeven) and given her mother's surname. She spent much of her life sheltered in seclusion and passed the years by studying the magical tomes and scrolls between proper lessons by her Archmage aunt, quickly proving herself to be a prodigy in the Abjuration School. However, one night, a pair of strangely pale and red-eyed men arrived and demanded Faenerys. Her aunt sent Fae and the twins away but a mishap landed them in a parlor room of an unknown house. Worse, one of the twins had gotten stuck in a wall and their arm needed to be amputated. The resulting screaming brought a disheveled looking old elven woman to the room. After things had calmed down and the twins had been put to sleep, Fae discovered this was her grandmother and that her father had become a vampire spawn of powerful and dangerous vampire lord, who went by the name of Roxeiros, who had been hunting down all of his lover's family to kill them in vengeance for murdering his love for her affair. Faenerys set off to find him and hopefully spare whatever was left of her family. Instead, she was abducted and spent half a century as a prisoner and plaything of Roxeiros, who kept the knowledge of her existence from her father by ensuring he was either away on missions or, much later, simply dead. Shortly after her escape, she was taken prisoner yet again and this time was tadpoled by mind-flayers.

"Sable Shades" is the alias of Risdaer Ilaeliom (given to the heavy black clothes and veils he often wears), a Lolth-sworn drow Warlock bound to an Archfey. He was a Szarkai or a rare albino drow. He was born to the leading noblewoman named Matron mother Nhildra of House Ilaeliom but was nearly sacrificed at his birth, were it not for his father, Seladril who shared his condition, volunteering to become a drider. His two older brothers, Rizal and Quilyraen, never let him forget the great loss to their family. His three eldest sisters who were all also Szarkai or albino drow, Haelkiira and Elvandia and Charris, kept them in line from outright killing him but did little to make his life any easier. To that end, he spent much of his childhood learning how to blend in and become what others expected and wanted from him, always masking his true motives and intentions to get what he needed and wanted, a Charlatan in all but name. This behavior earned him the chance to become a spy and was as much to prevent him from causing further trouble (he'd seduced both a High Priestess of Lolth named Menzonae and a rival House's heiress named Lyzrima Baenoth and let them fight over him at his matron's request, which resulted in both's deaths and nearly destabilized the city's power structure in the process due to both calling on various alliances to "win") as well as to gain valuable arcane knowledge and items and wealth on his family's behalf to use against their rivals. He obeyed and, after a few years of adjusting and adventuring to surface life, met a mysterious elven woman who wore a crown and gown made of wintery ice. His attempts to charm and seduce her failed spectacularly. It was only when he admitted that he no longer knew who he was beneath the personas and masks he wore that she acknowledged him. She promised to aid him in his journey of self-discovery in exchange for a century's worth of service. He agreed and set out. Needless to say, he was surprised when Roan stumbled on his camp during the day-and then again moments later when they were both captured by mind-flayers.

Roan Roarke was born to a pair of farmers in a small hamlet. The local noble press-ganged the young and able-bodied into an army for his own gain and Roan was forcibly conscripted in order to spare the razing of the family farm. In the military, he quickly distinguished himself as a capable tactitian and Fighter (he's a Battlemaster). While he was out on campaign, a horde of goblinoids led by horned man who called himself Velkan (whose believed to be a Cambion or other demonkin) killed and looted his hometown. Unable to enact vengeance due to his noble patron having plotted with this Velkan in exchange for powerful magics and his family buried in the ashes of his childhood home, he moved on to grow strong enough to defeat his enemies. To that end, he became a Mercenary Veteran who took on whatever job he could, his morals fighting with his practicality for a time. One time, he took a job that involved hunting down a renegade drow named Jarimar Araburden with the aid of his elven comrades, Nymlil Tarn and Rhysyldrin Baeloth (sadly both of whom later perished when the illithid ship crashed) and received word that a mysterious white elf named Sable knew his whereabouts.

~For the Companions backgrounds, here's my best guess based off their skillsets+some of my headcanons and thus it may change as we discover more of these companions~

Shadowheart is a Half-High Elf Cleric of Trickery Domain with the Urchin background.

Wyll is a Human Warlock of the Fiend Pact with the Noble background.

Astarion is a High Elf (also Vampire spawn) Rogue (gave him the Thief archetype for fic purposes) with the Noble background.

Gale is a Human Wizard (gave him the Evocation School for fic purposes) with the Sage Background.

Lae'Zel is a Githyanki Fighter (gave her the Eldritch Knight archetype for fic purposes) with a Solidier background.

[rcguna-archived]

*    𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧     !

›    basics

name :  Raguna Glen. nickname :    Ragu, The Guna, Young Man age :   21. species :    Human / Earthmate.

›    personal

morality :     Neutral Good. religion :     Dragon Gods. sins :     greed  /  gluttony  /  sloth  / lust /  pride  / envy /  wrath. virtues :    chastity  /  charity  /  diligence  / humility  /  kindness  /  patience  /  justice. known  languages :   Noradian / Common.

›    physical

build :     scrawny  /  bony  / slender /  fit  /  athletic  /  curvy  /  herculean  /  pudgy  /  average . height :    5′10" scars  /  birthmarks :     Several cuts and minor scars on his arms and legs from working. Nothing particularly showy or deep thanks to him healing away most major injuries from combat.

abilities  /  powers :  

Earthmate. Hailing from the now endangered line of Earthmates, an ancient bloodline of tenders and protectors- Raguna has a unique affinity to the land and spirits. He’s a natural at tending to crops and other plantlife, infusing them with magic that results in faster yields, greater size, and overall improved vitality. This spiritual connection allows him to see otherworldly entities, hear their voices, and utilize their abilities to certain extents. Being able to process Rune also enhances his physical capabilities- strength, durability, stamina- he’s capable of fighting a long time and is especially more capable in the vicinity of healthy vegetation.

Canonical capabilities of Earthmates are very vague. It goes from as simple as ‘they’re good at farming!!’ to as deep and ridiculous as ‘they can open rifts between dimensions and control beasts and monsters within them’. Who’s to say what Raguna is or isn’t capable of when he’s pushed into a tight spot?

Magical Affinity. Stemming from the prior, Raguna can use his reservoir of Rune to cast standard arcane magic. While he’s most proficient with Earth and Water magic, he’s more than capable of using fire, wind, light, and dark as well.

Aptitude. If anyone is familiar with Fire Emblem, they may know about this ability. Raguna is able to learn things fast. He starts out with new skillsets particularly awful but everything (combined with his vast curiosity) inevitably can be mastered in surprising short time. It’s because of things like this that make him a great chef, a blacksmith, an alchemist, a tailor, a carpenter, and miner... fisherman... (you get the idea). Fortunately he’s incredibly humble about all of this, otherwise he’d probably be insufferable.

Resourceful. Raguna’s mysterious past makes him a natural at wielding weaponry, conventional or otherwise. He can be about as fearsome with a hoe as he is with a hoe. Even watering cans and fishing rods can be wielded to some destructive capability. He’s also got a knack for navigating caverns and ruins. Capping all this off, he has the ability to instantly teleport himself home even when he’s in the middle of a pinch.

restrictions :

Oddity Magnet.  Raguna attracts weird things to him as part of his nature of being a protagonist. Whether it be world-ending calamities, runaway nobles, vampires, or talking islands- this young man finds himself dealing with a lot of things whether he wants to or not. He’s also designated errand boy and for whatever reason can’t bring himself to turn any of it down.

Amnesia / Naivete. Raguna’s past is lost to him, and while he’s unaware of it there is unfortunately no way for these memories to return to him. It leads to him being a little easy to manipulate and a loss of connection with certain situations. He can’t relate to too many things and is blissfully unaware of history, important figures, and many customs. He’s a curious reader and researcher but is only able to cover so much.

›    favorites

food :     Produce, smoothies, sandwiches pizza  topping : peppers and olives color :     Red. music  genre :   Folk. movie  genre :   Action and adventure. curse  word :   Damn. scents :     The rain.

›    fun stuff

bottom  or  top :  Would prefer to top, easy to turn it on him. sings  in  the  shower :    He hums! likes  puns :    He’s more of a dry humor type, so he may not understand or just sighs defeatedly.

tagged by :  nabbed from @dekirukoto tagging :  I’m making @orderbourne do it, but also tagging @omikhle @cromwellharvests @ivakir @dolcetters​ @cirocchio​

[elfyourmother]

She does! (Again if the white boy can why can’t she?) A good example is when she was fighting Shinryu in Between the Seconds. Off the top of my head, she swapped between Red Mage, Dark Knight, and White Mage in that.

Cutting this because it got really, really long.

Quick reminder of her canon Jobs:

Red Mage

Astrologian

Black Mage

White Mage

Summoner

Scholar

Dark Knight

Samurai

Dancer

Yes magic works somewhat differently on the Source as compared to Thedas’ shard but not a whole lot (in my verse Lyrium is just crystallized aether, and Red Lyrium is corrupted aether). Gisele being an omni-disciplinary mage as the WoL makes a hell of a lot of sense, because it’s what she was in Thedas. Circle Mages are trained that way—my ex-British Traditional Wiccan is showing again but I’ve long stolen the old Gardnerian maxim “the witch who cannot hex, cannot heal” and attributed it to the Circle in my DA verse. From the very beginning of her existence as a character, Gisele has been about that duality of being capable of immense destruction and powerful healing by turns. In DA:O/A she was an Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer (Battlemage was added in Awakening) and her style was about big elemental nukes as much as healing. She identifies as a healer, but her signature move was Storm of the Century after all (as homage to Ororo). 

The hilarious thing is I always wrote Gisele’s Arcane Warrior style as being exactly what XIV’s version of Red Magic was like, years before it was even a thing, even though DA:O’s vanilla game mechanics really didn’t lend itself to it without balance mods. I always envisioned it as akin to the old 2E AD&D Bladesinger kit for Elven Fighter/Mages, which is very much RDM style. But this is an example of what I mean when I say that Gisele really belonged in FFXIV all along, much more than DA, and I didn’t realize it until I brought her into it.

So of course she would seek to learn as much as she could, in Eorzea. It fits her and it makes sense--Gisele is ravenous for knowledge esp. of magic and none of these disciplines would be terribly foreign to a Circle-trained mage. Black Magic is just the Primal school stuff she mastered, White Magic is Spirit + Primal. And while they’re not the same by any means, Gisele’s favorite subject in the Circle was Tevinter astrology so the Sharlayan flavor would naturally be of interest. Gisele always had an affinity for spirits in Thedas, even if you take into account that the main “spirit” she always worked with was actually Hydaelyn, so Summoner and Scholar make perfect sense, especially with the latter’s emphasis on tactics and strategy given Gisele’s strong interest in those aspects of combat.

One of the cool things that I really like about FFXIV’s version of the Job system from a lore standpoint is all of them are “magic” somehow, in the sense that aetherial manipulation is involved to varying degrees even in the melee & ranged Jobs. So her picking up more overtly physical skillsets isn’t at all weird like it would have been in Thedas. I chose the ones that make the most sense aesthetically, personality wise, and what meshes well with her story. Dancer in particular fits her so well it hurts, given that I’ve long described her fighting style as resembling dancing anyway even in DA:O, and the Kriegstanz from a metaphysical standpoint is very much about healing. (I get why people were upset DNC wasn’t another healer Job. It certainly feels like it should have been, after doing the quests)

She starts off the ARR story as a thaumaturge and transitions into Black Mage as normal, and picks up the others as she starts traveling to the other city-states, but generally is a Black Mage main for most of that story. During the 2.x Seventh Astral Era quests is when she meets X’rhun Tia and starts studying Red Magic; by the time of the Bloody Banquet it’s her preferred Job. She becomes an Astrologian after getting to Ishgard and Dark Knight happens at some point* along the way. Samurai she learns from Hien and Gosetsu, in SB. And she becomes a Dancer and joins Troupe Falsiam between Haurchefant and Alisaie getting yeeted to the First (that was at the end of Ghimlyt Dark) and hearing back from Cid’s folk re: the beacon.

Anyway, depending on who she’s with, Gisele typically defaults to Red Mage and adjusts if/as the fight demands. With all due respect to a certain catboy she was the original “All Rounder”, changing Jobs as needed. She’s much more likely to swap between the magic Jobs as those are her bread and butter. Like for instance in the Aery she was Estinien’s pocket healer for 95% of the dungeon and then swapped to Summoner and let Titan tank Nid while Estinien drew on the Eye. When she and Ysayle fight Primals she’s again RDM and will change as needed. In ShB, Gisele had much more of an even split switching between magic and phys, and actually tanked Innocence and a large portion of the fight against Hades as DRK.

I really treat the Job Crystals as more like FFX-2′s Dresspheres. Gisele wears them as a charm bracelet, usually glamoured to be undetectable so that it’s not a tempting target for an opponent. What we have as saved gear sets for each Job from a meta gameplay standpoint, she has attuned to each of those crystals. All she has to do is reach out with her will, focus on vibrating with the aether of the crystal in question and boom, instant henshin sequence. At first it takes a lot more concentration, but over time Gisele is so practiced with it, it’s muscle memory and instantaneous just like White Boy’s instant changes in the ShB trailer.

Tbh, being an omni-disciplinary mage is really easily supported with canon if you care about that kind of thing. Red Magic straight up has Black & White as a foundation and lorewise can’t be mastered without knowledge of both schools (this is actually an important plot point in the SB Job quests, wrt Arya). Summoner and Scholar share the same base class and can very easily be handwaved given that they level up at the same time. Hell, I play very fast and loose with the lore on this and Gisele has devised her own multi purpose grimoire/codices--she’s an Alchemist, why not? Sharlayan astrology’s contrasts and similarities with earth-based healing magic is literally the whole theme of the SB era AST quests so a healer with a conjury background picking it up makes sense to me, from the “as above, so below” standpoint.

I also headcanon that WoL’s stupidly OP nature compared to other characters who share their Jobs is a result of having a more complete soul than most, so being able to master many Jobs makes sense. The potential is there, they just need to have the opportunity to a) get the Crystal and b) practice. Gisele is a magical prodigy with insane raw potential but she’s also extremely driven and studious, and that’s a trait she’s had literally since childhood. That’s what makes her the strongest mage of her generation, in both worlds.

I’ll save the numerology stuff for another post because this is already enough diarrhea of the keyboard for one post.

[*Dark Knight is the one that I’m still really unsure about--I never intended for Gisele to have a tank Job, like at all, and figured if she ever had one it would likely be Paladin because she’s such a strong healer. But then I leveled DRK and realized that lore wise, it deeply fit her--the whole “flame in the abyss” concept is 100% quintessential Gisele. Love is what empowers her, always, and she’s the first to say it.

But the thing is I still haven’t figured out how to reconcile the DRK quests with the rest of her HW story. Haurche and Ysayle surviving isn’t actually what’s thorny to me about it, because gods only know Gisele has a world of pain she could draw on instead (hello Thedas). It’s very, very easy to make Myste an amalgamation of Alistair and Leliana instead, for example. But her closeness with Aymeric makes a lot of that ish with the Temple Knights...problematic, to put it gently. And Gisele is too politically savvy to be running around doing vigilante shit while she’s a known Ward of House Fortemps trying to ingratiate herself to the city--she has to tread lightly enough as it is wrt the AST quests and antagonizing House Durendaire, she is incredibly conscious of how her actions reflect on Edmont, it’s at the forefront of her thoughts always. Gisele might have been born in Ferelden but she’s Orlesian to her bones and that didn’t change after she died. So like, I know it’s sacrilege because that story is so universally loved but I don’t see how the DRK story works for Gisele without some pretty hefty revisions.] 

[mithrilwren]

Carillon

For @essek-week​ day 6: tower/possibilities. This was a VERY last minute fill, and it was an absolute miracle I got it done before the clock struck midnight, but woohoo, here we are! It’s mostly for ‘tower’, but I think it has shades of ‘possibilities’ as well.

[Also on Ao3!]

“I really do appreciate that you were willing to come all this way.”

“Yes, well,” Essek said, inclining his head slightly. “It isn’t so far to travel for people such as us, is it?”

The blonde-haired woman smiled serenely. Lady Allura Vysoren, member of the Arcana Pansophical, senior member of the Council of Tal’Dorei, a talented and accomplished wizard - all facts he’d committed carefully to memory the night before, after a series of hasty messages to his more worldly contacts. She ushered him from the teleportation circle through an oaken door, into a hallway of fine wooden supports and demure beige paint. “Have you been to Tal’Dorei before, Essek?”

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t. My duties rarely take me outside my home country.” He gazed up at the high ceiling, wondering vaguely which government building she’d transported them to. He knew they were bound for Emon, but he hadn’t had time to collect any information about the layout of the city before Allura arrived to collect him.

“That’s a shame. I do love to travel, when I can.” Her pleasant niceties, far from putting Essek at ease, only amplified his confusion as to why he was chosen for this assignment. The role of ‘Shadowhand’ was exactly as unobtrusive as the name implied - he was no diplomat. His work was best done through intermediaries, if any social interaction was required at all. 

His work with the Mighty Nein was an aberration, but not wholly outside his purview: to gather information about illicit dealings within the Dynasty was quite within his usual set of duties, even if the method was… unusual. But he could not fathom why the Bright Queen would select him to play the role of ambassador, unless his seeming success with the Nein convinced her that he had some special pull with humans that other drow lacked.

Yet again, he found himself teetering on the knife’s edge of civility, trying to maintain his balance in an arena he did not understand. If he had little experience playing the host, he had less being the hosted, and he grasped one hand by the other in a vice grip behind his back as he floated after Allura, following her into a little parlor off the main corridor. She gestured to a chair, and he felt at once foolish to have taken the effort to resume his levitation spell, only to be forced to descend within a minute in order to sit.

“Please, make yourself comfortable,” Allura said as she walked to a little table and began pouring cups of tea from a delicate porcelain pot. Beside her, there was a glass door, partially ajar and seemingly leading to a balcony, but Essek could not see past the railing to guess any more about their location. Instead, Essek sank back into the armchair - plush, and upholstered with warm auburn velvetine that complemented the other splashes of autumnal colour within the room - and watched the light breeze from the balcony ripple within the blue folds of Allura’s dress as she finished pouring. 

A receiving chamber, perhaps, for foreign officials? It seemed pleasant enough for it, though nowhere near as grand as the Bright Queen’s throne room. Every so often a shout or cheer drifted up from the street below, also very unlike the reverent silence that he knew so well. Perhaps those things mattered less for a government ruled by a collection of individuals, rather than a sovereign. He had no frame of reference to compare it against.

After handing him a cup, Allura sank into an armchair across from him and took a small sip, just enough to wet her lips, before speaking again. “I hope it’s alright. I tend to drink a lot of tea in the afternoon, but if you prefer something else, I’m sure I can muster it up.”

“This is fine,” he said, and took a sip to prove it. And it was - a pleasant, earthy aroma, subtled by a splash of cream and what he assumed must be sugar. He’d never met anyone besides Jester who preferred sweetness in herbal drinks (or any drinks, in her case), but he had to admit that the flavours melded well. “But- you’ll forgive me, but I wasn’t given much information on the nature of this meeting. What was it you wanted to discuss?”

Matters of politics he had at least a good understanding of, a better one than how to act friendly and convince others to enjoy your company, and Essek was eager to shift to more familiar ground as soon as possible. While he doubted his social graces could net Allura’s esteem, at least he might be able to engage her mind in discussion, and then perhaps the worst of his awkwardness could be overlooked. 

And, for the most part, he believed he succeeded, in the ways that mattered. It turned out the Council of Tal’Dorei had simply wanted a check-in with the Dynasty after Allura’s involvement in the peace talks - a move which he now gathered was only loosely sanctioned by the council itself, though she had seemed quite confident when she arrived before the Bright Queen’s court all those months ago. She meant to shore up relations, and ensure that open communication would continue between their governments. 

He agreed to what he could, proposed options for further engagements, and all in all, performed adequately in his function, but hadn’t quite shaken the feeling he was missing some important detail in all of this - something that might explain why he, of all people, was the one taking part in this conversation. Allura was clearly a skilled diplomat, in addition to her arcane prowess. She projected an air of competence, tempered by a warm, inviting demeanor, but he did not doubt that her demeanor would change were they in her personal tower, rather than within the public eye. Wizards were not known for their hospitality, after all, and the ones he’d met outside himself always guarded their isolation jealously, quick to drop all illusions of civility once they were within a domain of their control. 

“Lady Allura,” he asked as she got up to refill their cups, unable to contain the pressing question any longer. “I’ve enjoyed our conversation today, and I think we’ve made good progress. But… if there is any skillset that I particularly may provide, please, do not hesitate to ask.” There. A way of proposing the question without betraying his own ignorance. The best he could do without surrendering ground in their back and forth. This was, after a negotiation, even if he couldn’t sense the parameters yet. One wizard did not call on another unless they desired something that the other could provide. Even Caleb primarily turned to Essek for help with spells or magic beyond his level, and they were friends - at least, they were.

(He pushed down any thoughts of dinner parties, or good conversation over wine, as the fancies of the past that they were. It was a bitter hope, to believe that there was a different sort of relationship they could have had, one not based on favours and needs. It did not serve him to dwell on it, when his own hand was what quashed that hope for good.)

Allura smiled, setting down the pot on the table. “Nothing of the sort. Truth be told, I actually asked for you personally.” Essek’s eyebrow raised.

“Really.” Though she made no threat, his hand itched towards his wrist, where his components were hidden. Weeks of warnings from Caleb and others in the Nein that an assassination attempt by the Cerberus Assembly might be coming, now that he had outlived his usefulness, had set him on edge. The thought of a powerful wizard with connections both in the Dynasty and the Empire asking to see him personally, and alone? It was worth every  bit of caution in the world.

“You sound surprised.”

“Diplomacy is not my accustomed role.”

“Nor is peacemaking mine, but we find ourselves in strange times.” Allura turned away, looking towards the window and the afternoon sky. “I confess, I still don’t understand the whole of the conflict on Wildemount’s shores. There are shades of grey to every war, and I don’t trust myself to recognize them with an outsider’s perspective. Which is why I asked the Mighty Nein who they would trust to speak to me honestly, and fairly.” She turned back to Essek. “They named you.”

A jolt went through Essek. “When?” he asked, shocked to hear the state of his own voice, strained as it was.

They’d barely spoken in the weeks since the end of the peace talks, other than the warnings about Ikithon and Jester’s occasional messages at inconvenient hours. He’d assumed any ties of trust he’d had with the Nein had been irrevocably broken. Despite any protestations in the Balleater’s hold, he had a hard time believing that No- Veth, or Beau, or even Fjord would count him as someone to be recommended. And yet-

“A few nights ago, when I asked them. I’m glad you were available on such short notice.”

“I as well,” he answered faintly.

And yet-

“Oh no.”

Essek’s head whipped up at Allura’s sudden change in tone to something akin to horror. 

“Is something the matter?”

He stood quickly and floated over to her, scanning the room for any sign of an intruder or threat, but instead he found her staring at a timepiece on the mantle, her eyes tracking the short hand with increasing distress. 

“She’s going to kill me.”

“Who?” Essek insisted, but she was already striding away from him towards the door. 

“How would you feel about a quick tour of the city?” Allura asked, her smile gone from welcoming to hurriedly apologetic in an instant. 

“...Alright.” Strange, but he couldn’t sense an immediate threat. He followed her out the door and into the same hallway, which soon led to a winding spiral staircase leading downwards into a depth of stone. 

“I’m very sorry for the abruptness,” she explained as she walked, “but I promised I would pick something up for someone, and I lost track of time. I’d like to send you off properly, but I also- I really did promise.”

“It’s alright,” he said. “I’m in no rush.” If anything, he was curious to see a bit more of Emon than whatever government building they were in - though, he thought as they continued to descend, it was a strange construction for one. If anything, the layout of the staircase reminded him more of a-

In what seemed like an instant, they were outside, and Essek’s suspicions were immediately proved unfounded. The moment they stepped out onto the street, they were surrounded by bustle - crowded houses, children playing in the street, dogs begging scraps from a food stall down the way. No wizard’s tower would be built so close to the rest of society. They were built for privacy, secluded and elevated above the world. His own house was a half-formed imitation of what he had someday hoped to achieve for himself: gated and lofty, and lonesome.

He didn’t have time to reflect further, or even glance back, lest he lose Allura in the crowd as she hurried away at a breakneck speed.

In the end, he caught up to her on the outskirts of a market, where sellers were just beginning to put away their wares for the coming evening. Essek found Allura at one particular stall, clutching a package of something smelling distinctly briny and looking triumphant.

“Lionfish,” she explained. “They only sell it one day a week, because it’s so hard to keep fresh on its journey from the coast. It’s also my wife’s favourite dish. I would not have heard the end of it, if I’d forgotten.”

“Your wife?” Essek asked, his understanding of Allura shifting in great bounds, like so many shifting cogs whirring into a new configuration. Had he ever met a wizard who was in a partnership, let alone married? It had always seemed to him that a relationship of that kind could only take time away from his work: an unsound investment. Or at least that was a convincing argument, on the days that the loneliness felt like it would suffocate him from within. He almost wanted to ask how she managed it, ambition and love both, but held his tongue. 

“Kima,” Allura provided. “She’ll probably be home by the time we make it back. Maybe you’ll meet her.”

“I’d like that,” said Essek, and found he meant it, which was the most surprising thing of all.

Now that they weren’t in a rush, he was able to get more of a lay of the land. The city was a strange arrangement of highs and lows. It seemed that they were in the high portion, with many houses spread out on the plain below. 

“This is the Cloudtop District,” Allura explained as they walked. Essek had decided to forgo his usual hovering, as his drow appearance was already garnering enough stares from passersby. “It used to be home to the most wealthy citizens of the city, but nowadays there’s a mix of all sorts here.”

“What changed?”

“A horde of dragons razed the city to the ground.” Allura shrugged. “The social divide seemed rather immaterial to most people after that.” She pointed forward at one singular spire, rising above the rest of the mostly one-or-two level dwellings. “Luckily, there was enough space left for me to rebuild the Ivory Tower, and the city’s come up around it.”

Essek stared. It was certainly the direction they had come from, and that they were now headed to.

So it was her tower then, that they had been in. Her tower, that she called ‘home’, that she used to entertain guests, and shared with her wife, and occasionally left to buy fish from a market three streets down. 

“Does it ever feel... crowded?” Essek asked, his own skin already crawling at the proximity of the strangers around him. 

“Sometimes,” Allura admitted. “But I like being able to say hello to my neighbours. I hid my nose in books for so much of my life that it’s a welcome change, for it to be as easy to meet new people as to walk outside my door. It takes some of the work out of it for me.”

That was… not a way that Essek had considered the problem before. He had wondered when he was younger why so many of his peers fell into relationships - platonic or otherwise - without any seeming effort, while he could not fathom how to make a single friend. But he had been separate from the start - isolated because of his mother’s position, and his own talent. Were relationships truly as simple as being in the right vicinity to stumble into them?

He pondered that thought all the rest of the way back to the tower, and up an unfamiliar staircase. “I just want to stick this in the icebox,” Allura explained, “and then I promise, I’ll see you home properly.” He followed her through a new door and into a little kitchen with an adjoining dining room, separated by a half-wall and banister. 

The kitchen itself was fascinating. He got the sense of Allura as an organized individual, but most of the space was pure chaos. Mismatched mugs were haphazardly piled on top of bags of produce and sharp knives were stacked, uncovered, by the sink. Allura’s nose visibly wrinkled as she moved aside a few unopened boxes with her foot in order to open the icebox and shove the package inside.

“Who’s this?”

The new voice caught Essek off guard and he whirled, only to find the air empty at his eye level. He looked down, and found a halfling woman in improbably large plate armor staring up brazenly at him. 

“Essek Thelyss,” Allura supplied from behind him, standing up and dusting her hands off on her skirt. “A guest of mine, from Wildemount.”

The woman didn’t extend her hand, but she gave Essek a good once-over before nodding, apparently satisfied by his look that he wasn’t a threat. He tried not to take it as a snub as the woman shouldered past him to get to Allura.

“Did you remember to get the lionfish?”

“Of course, darling,” Allura said, glancing over the woman’s head at Essek with a look that clearly read I told you so. “I wouldn’t have forgotten.”

Kima, then, and the swift kiss she planted on the back of Allura’s palm confirmed it. “Great, I’ll get started then. Go finish up with your friend, dinner’s in forty.” With that, she was off, pulling pots and pans out with reckless abandon, and utterly unconcerned with either of their presences. It was clear now to Essek that this place was Kima’s, which explained the incongruity with Allura’s neat parlor. 

He thought of his own house, where half the rooms were empty for lack of things to fill them with. He had always wanted to live alone, had never questioned the idea that he would hate to share any part of his home with someone else. 

And yet-

He could understand the appeal now, of sharing a space. Of seeing another person’s marks left over the places they frequent - the dishes in the sink, the paintings on the wall - or to be greeted by a kiss on the doorstep, from someone listening for your footsteps eagerly. It wasn’t a possibility for him, but he thought... he could see it. Why someone would want that. 

Allura sent him back to Rosohna with a promise of future visits and cups of tea to come. By the time he arrived back at his house, it was nearly time to rest, but he headed to his laboratory, intending to check on one of his experiments before closing his eyes for the night. 

The walkways between the different segments of his home were dark, as always, but they gave a good view of the streets stretching beyond his own empty one. From here, he could clearly see the light of Caduceus’s tree, the one beacon in the darkness that surrounded them all, guarding a house too small for seven occupants, but somehow functional, with enough space for all. 

During the day, neighbouring drow still flocked like moths to the flame, walking by the house and trying to catch a glimpse of the strange goings-on inside. He’d never understood the purpose of the tree, when all it did was draw unnecessary attention to the group. He started to wonder now, if that was the goal all along.

His spire was not a tower, but it was removed, just the same. Meticulously organized, just as he liked it to be, but there were still traces of clay he hadn’t managed to scrub from the floorboards. Essek stood on the threshold and saw scattered images of the past: of Nott laying on the floor, of Caleb at the desk, of Jester hounding him for snacks from down the hall. 

They flickered out, one by one, leaving only Caleb, trapped in a scene not from his memory, but from his mind all the same. He watched Caleb stand from the desk and move to the table, beckoning Essek forward. 

“Did you find it?” the shadow Caleb asked, and Essek nodded, heart caught in his throat as he handed over the requested scroll. “Good. Then we can finish tonight.” Caleb leaned over and gave Essek a peck on the cheek, and his lips felt of fog, immaterial and crushing at the same time.

Then he blinked, and it was all gone. Caleb was nothing more than a memory again, and the only proof of his one-time presence were the stains of reddish dirt across the floor.

He stumbled off to his room, feeling unsettled, and deeply tired, with question after question flitting through his mind.

How far would his tower have to climb, so that he couldn’t see the light of that accursed tree from his window?

How long can he pretend that he wouldn’t rather be under that roof tonight, instead of his own?

[theworldbrewery]

multiclass your... DRUID!!

Druid is a tough one, because the key with multiclassing is to be sure that whatever early levels you take are worth not getting/putting off the next level in your class and, let’s be fair, druids at mid-to-high levels can become insanely powerful. 

Your Druid Circle can play a role to some degree, but most importantly, how you multiclass is dependent on whether you play your druid in a casting-focused or wild-shape-focused way. Because of that, it’s much harder to break the options up into good or bad. Instead, we’re just taking them as they come.

Druid + Barbarian

A druid multiclassing into barbarian has this really key advantage: you can be wild-shaped and rage at the SAME TIME! As a beast, you make melee weapon attacks, mostly relying on Strength, which means you can gain all the benefits of rage and reckless attacking. As a bonus, your unarmored defense from the barbarian will carry over to your beast form. However, if you aren’t really a wild-shape kinda druid, this multiclass isn’t going to work nearly as well for you, as barbarians can’t cast or concentrate on a spell while raging. 

Druid + Bard

This combination will be nicer for you if you’re casting-primary, because the best benefits of the bard are only valuable if you’re able to speak and cast spells. You’ll get extra spell options, bonus cantrips and first-level spell slots, and best of all, that Bardic Inspiration and Jack-of-All-Trades. While you can certainly use these (and Song of Rest!) irrespective of your wild-shape or casting preferences, you’ll get the best use out of this multiclass if you’re already leaning more on spells than shapeshifting.

Druid + Cleric

Like bards, clerics are best for you by way of bonus spellcasting, but this is with a twist--you’ll also get to pick your subclass at first level and immediately gain the associated perks. Most of these perks can be used even while wild-shaped, but they’re limited in capacity--at early levels, you only get to use it once per long or short rest. The best part of this multiclass is that you only need to have a good Wisdom score to do it well--which you should already have, being a Druid.

Druid + Fighter

Let me level with you: this one isn’t really ideal for either wild-shapers or casters. The fighter’s Action Surge will let you cast another spell on your turn every once in a while, which can be clutch, and the Second Wind can help keep you standing. Some druids might make good use of that fighting style, so it’s not unlikely as a choice. But if you’re a wild-shape fan, your fighting style will be functionally useless because they require holding shields or using weapons with certain qualities, not all melee weapons, so your claws and bites don’t count. You can definitely make this work, but it’s probably not worth the sacrifice of your next level in druid. 

Druid + Monk

This one depends on a DM ruling. Definitely don’t do this without discussing with the DM, I would say. Here’s the deal: depending on whether or not your group considers natural attacks from claws/bites to be unarmed strikes, you could technically pull off using Flurry of Blows to make unarmed strikes while wild-shaped. If it works, you can make the most of the Martial Arts feature as well. Besides that, you can employ the Unarmed Defense and Unarmed Movement features to great effect regardless of whether you’re a caster or a wild-shape user, and ki points in general are nice to have for your bonus action. The DM’s discretion is really key for making this better than other options, though.

Druid + Paladin

If you’ve got the charisma and the strength scores to back up your choice? It’s a good option for a druid who wants to get into the hitting of things. You can blow a high-level slot on a smite, should you so choose, but you’ll also be able to use paladin slots on druid spells, take a fighting style that suits your interests, and use Lay on Hands for triage when too many people need healing at once (remember you can’t cast Cure Wounds and Healing Word in the same turn, so using Lay on Hands actually works in your favor for a nasty moment) Alternatively, you can use your Smites to wild success while wild-shaped, as bites and claw attacks are considered melee weapon attacks and are up for grabs for a Divine Smite--though not a smiting spell.

Druid + Ranger

The Ranger skillset is going to work to your advantage here. You can cast ranger spells using your druid slots and vice versa, and although you don’t get any cantrips, you can get perks that make your druid more skilled. It’s best not to rely on the ranger for much in the way of casting or wild-shape enhancements, but it’s potentially worth it in the role-play or exploration-play sense. Still, if you’re a wild-shape-er, this won’t do much for you, so I advise steering clear.

Druid + Rogue

Rogue multi-classes are always strong, but this one...it’s not such a big deal compared to other options. You have that cunning action and sneak attack, but nothing about the rogue at early levels really suits a druid. It’s not going to harm you, and it’s a feasible option, but it’s nothing special either. Best for if you wild-shape and want to use cunning actions to enhance your tactics.

Druid + Sorcerer

Time for your decent charisma to carry you through to a strong casting position! Right off the bat you’ll get four cantrips and two new spell slots, plus at second level you’ll be accumulating sorcery points. Now, metamagic is usually worth it if you progress to third level, but regardless, spending sorcery points to buy more spell slots is another great option! Furthermore, you’ll get the first benefit of your sorcerous origin right away. I don’t recommend this one for wild-shapers, since sorcery is all-casting all the time.

Druid + Warlock

This is a pretty bad multiclass for a druid that favors Wild-Shape, since even melee-oriented warlocks mostly gain perks with physical weapons. And even as a casting-focused druid, this isn’t as good as some other options. Warlocks have one or two first-level spell slots and two cantrips to offer you (though the scaled attacking of cantrips is nothing to sneeze at), and 2 eldritch invocations. The effects of your patron can be worth it, maybe not, depending on your play style, so don’t write it off completely, but overall, you can do better.

Druid + Wizard

This one, like the warlock before it, is just...fine. It’s fine. Wizards are classic glass cannons and they might be a lot of fun, but there’s not a lot going on there. The best the wizard can offer is additional spell slot recovery (like your druid recovery-on-a-short-rest ability), a handful of extra spells and cantrips, and the beginnings of an Arcane Tradition. It’s not suitable for a wild-shaping druid, though a primary caster druid can certainly make use of many of these abilities. It’s just that other multiclass options can do the same or better.

If you enjoy our work, consider supporting us on Ko-Fi! In our next post in this series we’re planning to look at multi-classing monks--a flexible class that you can take in many new directions.

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Niko,

We're doing out best to collect some information for you, some data, though it's hard going without many parameters. I told you before about who we were thinking of, and about trying to draw some lines between people. After your nebulous answers and our continued observations, I think the most useful people I mentioned in that message are Midat Tiyan'li and me.

You met Midat, or at least saw the work she was doing at the Zahin house, so maybe she's one of the ones who got you thinking about this. I don't need to say much about her, then, except that there's a phrase Brennu used to talk about the project that seems apt, given the situation. He talked about her streak of “innovative inspiration.”

And if I'm part of this, as I must be in at least some measure, my gloves must be too—I still credit a lot of their new use and power to you, and the wondrous fabric you wove for me, but maybe you can tell me best: you wove it so circuitry could be built into the fabric, so that they could store an immense amount of data and information. Did you weave it so it could store arcane information too? Or did I somehow add the arcane storage on my own, and the little pieces of extra power that go into my spells? It's such a vast improvement from my last set, and I've been giving all the credit in that to you and Aluarashi, but maybe I'm underestimating my own contributions—even my sudden determination to go wireless at the end of my last iteration and continuing into this one when I'd been content enough with the wires for a few years before. (Though I do chalk that up to adventuring being much harder use than I'd been giving the gloves before, and all the wires were too easy to pull from sockets and sever and otherwise have disasters with. But this is subtle, if it weren't you wouldn't be asking us to help you confirm things, so I'm not completely discounting it either.)

We've been at a festival these past few days on Iriossis, for a few reasons, but one of them has been to ask crafters about what they have in their stalls, since there are plenty selling them. Maliah and I have been asking people what we could—concentrating on stalls where everything looked like it might conceivably have been made by one person and on stalls where there was a showpiece on display, somebody's masterwork, full of months of their time and effort and skill.

Some people haven't noticed any difference, these past few years, and I have no reason to believe they're missing differences. Others, a decent amount, have been more productive than usual, and several have mentioned adding new skills and techniques to their existing ones—a maker of fine woodwork game boards, a dwarf, adding elvish design influences after seeing an example he admired, or a metalworker starting to learn the basics of enamel inlay, missing color in their work.

And some, I would be remiss not to say, are experiencing the opposite—I've talked to two people who have been less creative and productive in the past year than they have in a long time. One of them was philosophical about it, and just glad to be selling some of the backlog they've built up over the years. The other still had plenty of stock from backlog, but was feeling frustrated, very aware of that block.

We're planning to keep asking, whenever we meet a crafter. My brother knows, and he works in tech design and repair, so he'd be in a position to notice things, and he sees our mother often, and she's a tailor, so what she doesn't notice to tell me, he could. Athan on Mir knows to be on the lookout, though I just realized today that we should have asked Kian if he's noticed anything, being a mage and a crafter. If you're on your way to Nosirion-1 through Mir, you might stop at the Crow. I'll send Athan a message making sure he knows that you're part of this particular query too, so if he has data he can share it with you.

I suspect, as we look, what we're going to find is more of this—more people adding to their skillsets, feeling pleased and inspired, more people frustrated and less creative than usual. We talked to more flourishing than doing poorly, but that might have something to do with our parameters. If you think I should be looking out for arcane or divine signs, I'm happy to. If you feel confident on the what and want to move onto the why, I'll help you there too. In the meantime, Maliah and I will keep our eyes open, and I hope that you'll keep us updated, and don't hesitate to summon us to Nosirion-1 when you know enough to want help. We're always happy to offer it to friends.

With my best wishes for clarity of thought and for answers resulting,

Elyn

[dailycharacteroption]

Studious Librarian (Bard Archetype)

I enjoy archetypes based on scholars and the like, representing the gifts of knowledge and critical thinking being turned to practical ends.

The bards called studious librarians are another one of those “bard in name and skillset only” sharing their dilettante mastery of magic and knowledge, not to mention performances (which often take the form of oratory or even acting, recounting useful knowledge at a moment’s notice), while still being very different than a professional musician and storyteller.

These librarians, unlike their thematic cousins in the archivist archetype, focus more on researching lore in libraries and other repositories of knowledge, as well as magical esoteria, instead of the monster lore and ability to befuddle foes with droning lectures.

Regardless, they make great use of not only their on-hand knowledge but the bodies of work they have in their arsenal.

 As one might expect, these librarians are trained in binding spells into scrolls. However, their real strength comes from acquiring scrolls of other magical traditions (specifically other arcane traditions that support full casting), for they have the limited ability to rapidly understand the magic on such scrolls and adapt their own magical understanding, allowing them to cast the spells written on scrolls using their own magic without consuming the scroll itself, at least, a few times a day.

They also are adept at understanding the indexing or other organization of libraries and the like, making it much more likely for them to have a breakthrough when doing research.

Additionally, their minds are so keen they can recall much if given ample time to mull over a subject.

Going back to scrolls, the most powerful of these librarians can temporarily replace a spell they know with another taken from a bardic scroll, but doing so consumes the magic.

The bard class is already known for its versatility and knowledge, but this archetype replaces many performances with the ability to diversify their spell list further, drawing upon arcane magic known to arcanists, sorcerers, wizards, and witches. As such, I recommend building this archetype with the same principles in mind as a gadgeteer rogue, that is to say, getting as many magic items and scrolls as possible to have a trick for every situation. Though remember that you may be forced to occasionally consume the scrolls that are meant to be used for their special spellcasting. Also, the fact this archetype has some benefits for the research system from Ultimate Intrigue could be quite useful as well.

 There’s always something new to discover, and while librarians are more associated with archiving the discoveries of others, I can easily see them as being eager to discover new things on their own, or perhaps rediscovering mysteries thought lost.

  Horrific as it is, the Library of Flesh is whispered as a blasphemous, but invaluable trove of knowledge, its contents whispered about in scholarly circles, particularly those with an interest in multiple disciplines of the arcane. However, as if the fact that the collected works are tattooed onto preserved skin wasn’t enough, the whole archive is in fact alive, a flesh colossus discorporated among shelves and drawers.

 More than competent in many scholarly disciplines, Eekugh knows more about Ranaan library than any other archivist. The ratfolk has even perused the restricted section in great detail, making him a target if some sinister group were to go looking for information, but the old rat has more than his fair share of tricks up his sleeve.

 The party have made their way into a legendary haunted castle, chock full of the restless dead and the master’s monstrous servants. When they come across the library, they find the surprisingly mortal librarian. Normally, this could lead to a fight against a spellcaster with a surprisingly diverse array of magics, but he is also a greedy sort, eager to trade useful things for riches plundered from other parts of the castle.

[aj-the-satyr]

Oriel 1.3

And new Alliances

Fidaelius stood unharmed before the group and sighed.

“I offer you a chance at greatness and this is how you repay me?”

Maximus snorted. “You have offered nothing. I learned your name from the person who just attempted to kill you. By the way those things are loud, can't you do something about that?”

The Cartographer pulled the lever on the side of his rifle with a KLAK and slid another cartridge into the breech. “No. Silence is not one of the many spells that I have learned. Until then this remains as loud as it is.”

“You can.... huh. Artificer and Cartographer.” Maximus smiled. “If we survive this I, perhaps, can help you with that.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” preened Fidaelius. “I brought you here, an accomplishment of no....”

Kurt cut him off. “You’ve done the power play before Fidaelius. Might I remark how annoying it is to learn you name from someone else and not your own lips.”

Fidaelius looked affronted. This clearly wasn’t going according to plan.

Maximus merely held his smile. “So. Do you try to fight or do you acquiesce to our polite request for information?”

“Polite!?” Fidaelius would have spit out a drink if he’d been doing so. “He shot at me!” He indicated The Cartographer. “And you did nothing to prevent that. What would you have done had I died?”

Maximus blinked slowly. “Trusted in The Cartographer to return us home. You have provided no welcome to any of us, despite the fact we arrived at different times. You clearly waited for us all to be here before introducing yourself. Not a particularly good host, especially since the room we arrived in had no visible exits.”

Fidaelius coughed. “Given your various skillsets I thought that nary a problem.”

“Ah.... Inconsiderate as well. You are certainly not doing yourself any favours here.” Maximus ate some beef that was on the end of his fork. “Although the food is good.”

Fidaelius slumped a little and eyed The Cartographer who had reloaded his rifle. “Why persist with that thing?”

Maximus just chuckled. “If you don’t know that then there is no hope for you at all. I’ve been entertained by many Fae and you make a poor showing in comparison.”

It was then Bikk struck using the distraction everyone was providing. His dagger bit deep into the side of Fidaelius who cried out in shock and collapsed to his knees. In a moment Kurt had a smaller version of his rifle in a hand and had moved closer to the downed Fidaelius and pulled back a small part of it with a thumb. The metallic KLIK seemed to echo around the room.

“It seems we have you at a disadvantage sir.” Maximus stood wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Now. You will answer some questions or we’ll be finding our own way out of here.”

“I doubt that!” Snapped Fidaelius as he made a gesture with a hand. Everyone watched as nothing happened. “WHAT?!”

“Oh.... did you underestimate with whom you were dealing?” Maximus strode forward as he spoke. “I’ve been prepping countermagic since I arrived. Youa re far too enraptured in your own magnitude to even consider the fact that I could outwit you in an Arcane battle that you focused on the physical threat of the others, while forgetting about Bikk it seems. Something that I don’t think people do more than once. So. Talk. Or that other option I mentioned, that is still on the table.”

(And yay! The goat does more of that writing thing.

Usual tags. Ask to be added or yeeted as appropriate.

@anntarinsanitymaterialized @the-bearded-hylian @jaimistoryteller @elitefourkylewantstobattle

YAY WRITING!!!!!)

[necroarchy]

not meme but youre the resident Scourge Expert so, I have a desperate burning curiosity. warriors/paladins get raised as death knights, generally spellcasters are liches, people with no useful skills are generally ghouls, elves become san'layn--- if the scourge raised a Druid, what would *they* be? because none of the Named Things seem to really use the skillset of Druid and like, I doubt the scourge would just throw away those Useful Skills, so like, whaddya think that might look like?

     I’m putting Scourge Expert on my resumé.

     ( Note that the below is pure speculation and headcanoning, and is also weakened by my knowledge of druid lore being very dated. )

     I personally feel like druids can’t transition easily from life to unlife the way other classes can, because there’s no dark analogue for them to draw power from which is under Arthas’ control. Iirc, kaldorei, tauren, and worgen druids draw their power primarily from the Emerald Dream*, which is why they’re especially susceptible to Nightmare corruption; it’s a taint of the Dream. They still maintain a mockery of their powers because the Nightmare is still of the Dream, is embedded in the fabric of it, and thus is still able to supply them with a bastardized version of their powers. They’re drinking from the same well as before, it’s just that the water is poisonous.

     Arthas, though, has no foothold in the Dream. He possesses no territory in that plane of existence, no power over it. This is backed up by the presence of one of the ICC bosses, a captured green dragon named Valithria Dreamwalker. Arthas is attempting to corrupt her so he can access the Dream and infect it with something similar to the Nightmare, but the plan is foiled by us storming the Citadel.

     Because Arthas can’t access the Dream at all, his servants can’t either. So Scourge “druids” probably have to make do with subpar connections, drawing upon Shadow and their own knowledge of flora and fauna in order to influence and corrupt the land around them. It gets the job done, sure, but it’s not the same. I bet Scourge druids can’t shapeshift, nor call upon (un)nature’s fury with anything approaching the universal ease of a living druid. They likely have to rely more on potions, poisons, reagents, and catalysts than living druids do.

     Troll druids are also messed up in unlife because they lose their connection to the loa which patron them. There’s a way to fix this, as the Drakkari aptly demonstrated, but I don’t suggest it. Nor do I think it’d be especially possible for Scourge trolls who suffer already from a broken connection… and Bwonsamdi taking such an active interest in the world these days.

     They probably work primarily in gardening and animal husbandry, tending to the various plant life found on Blighted ground and the beasts of the Scourge such as the spiders, giant maggots, Jormungar, blighthounds, and bone hawks. ( Relatedly, this is why I feel Grand Widow Faerlina should have been a night elf or tauren instead of human. There’s your corrupted druid! ) Additionally, I bet they’re heavily involved in the sciences behind the various plagues and diseases the Scourge is inventing and concocting daily, alongside those gnome scientists we see everywhere.

     None of this is to say that druids in the Scourge are weaker than any other class… exactly. They’re denied the range that others are, though, because without a connection to the Dream, they’re unable to pervert their old nature as extensively as the others. Paladins have the Shadow to replace Light, and arcane cares nothing whether you’re alive or dead. Druids are cut off from an essential aspect of their powers, and it has consequences.

     Which in turn, I bet has resulted in them becoming viciously clever in making do with what they have.

     * While I acknowledge the contributions of Elune and An'she to their children’s druidic powers, undead druids would assuredly be excommunicated from them as surely as they are the Emerald Dream. At least until Arthas acquires a crystal space rocket of his own and invents the Brethren Moon.

[utilitycaster]

Lucretia’s D&D Class

Please see my evidence for why Lucretia is a druid with 2 levels of paladin. Spoilers for literally all of TAZ: Balance.

1. Her school of magic per the relics, as well as the one spell she casts in canon (Shield of Faith), are both abjuration spells. Druids don’t specialize in any school of magic, but they are protectors of nature and have a good number of abjuration spells.

2. In the finale, she is still alive when Magnus dies. Canonically, she and Magnus are both humans and she is about 20 years older than he is (having given up 20 years of her life in Wonderland, she appears to be in her 50s at the time of the main series and Magnus is in his early 30s) Magnus is stated to live a long life. It’s definitely possible she just lives to be in her 90s or older, but if she were a L18 druid by that time she would age 1 year for every 10 years of life per Timeless Body and would easily outlive Magnus. She’s obviously a primary caster and no other casting class has a similar agelessness - only Oath of the Ancients paladins and mystics (if you include those) do. However…

3. Shield of Faith is a first level spell available to clerics, paladins, and artificers. Because she has to be able to take 18 levels in druid she can be no more than 2 levels in another class. She can’t therefore multiclass into artificer as they don’t have any spells until L3. She also has stated she puts no trust into the gods and so I don’t think cleric is a good fit. Hence, paladins: they can believe in the gods, or they can swear an oath to a concept, and a L2 Paladin has first level spells. Given Lucretia’s dedication to duty above all and willingness to suffer terribly for it, a few levels of paladin aren’t surprising. Now, you may ask why she’s not just a L15+ Oath of the Ancients Paladin, who cannot die of old age and would definitely have this spell (and whose directive is to nurture the light). However, she shows virtually no physical combat skills and is able to cast an unnamed extremely strong shielding spell, and so she is unlikely to be solely a paladin, as they are a mixed fighting/casting class.

4. She makes a wooden staff as her item. Druids don’t use metal armor or shields and are proficient with clubs and staffs.

5. Her spell in the finale isn’t anything in the player’s handbook, but druids have access to a lot of shielding and planar spells such that this is a feasible extrapolation for the sake of narrative fiction and the power of the staff, which is already, as a relic, able to do things beyond the abilities of the creators (eg: Magnus’s relic can do magic and he can’t).

6. The fandom jokes about the lack of party balance for the Starblaster’s crew, but most of the NPC classes are never stated explicitly and they don’t necessarily need to be wizards. Therefore:

Magnus is a fighter, Merle is a cleric, Taako is a wizard (canonical PCs)

Lup and Barry are probably wizards given their abilities and the fact that they were able to become liches, though Barry either multiclassed into fighter or his amnesiac Faerun self became a fighter but his true lich self is a wizard.

Davenport does illusion magic, which could be any of the casters, or an arcane trickster. His stats are never stated nor can I find a specific spell he cast online (I haven’t relistened to the series in full while writing this).

Therefore: if Davenport were a high level arcane trickster he could serve as a battler along with Magnus as needed, or he could be a bard and serve as a backup healer. If Lucretia were a druid, we still have a wizard-heavy party but it’s nowhere near as bad:

3 wizards of different skillsets (transmutation, evocation, necromancy). Note that a necromancer would probably know Vampiric Touch which lets them heal by draining the life of others, evocation lets you do ridiculous amounts of damage, and Taako has a high dex modifier and is good with acrobatics so he can probably stay out of the way of a lot of damage, especially if Lup has spell-shaping to begin with.

A cleric

A fighter

An arcane trickster or college of glamour bard (both high-utility characters; also if Davenport were a bard this adds some great additional narrative reasons for Lucretia taking away most of his ability to speak)

A druid, perhaps one who took the paladin levels as part of her character arc (maybe during the year she was alone, or as part of her ultimate decision to protect the light?)

This is a much more balanced party with at least one and maybe two additional healers, which would also explain why Merle is unused to being the sole healer of the party (though obviously any weirdness before the second voidfish incident can be chalked up to the induced amnesia).

Addressing potential counterarguments:

1. She’s an NPC and not subject to class requirements: true, at which point this whole argument and all arguments about Lucretia’s class are moot. Like, this does not impact your ability to appreciate the story but some of us like to come up with complicated mechanical explanations for D&D stories that fit in the rules, even though the whole point of having a DM is allowing exceptions for the sake of story. We are nerds. Just...bear with us.

2. The wiki says wizard. Whatever. Not stated in canon. Next.

3. She never uses Wild Shape, a major hallmark of the druid. However, it is worth noting that she doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time during which she’s not being the director and therefore needs to be reachable and able to communicate, which many animals cannot, and if she doesn’t reach L18 in druid until post-story (ie, in between the Day of Story and Song and Magnus’s death) she would be unable to cast in Wild Shape form and hence may avoid it unless absolutely necessary. Based on her pre-Stolen Century nature she seems more of a Circle of the Land spellcasting-focused druid than a Circle of the Moon wild shape-focused druid. Having access to wild shape would actually help explain a few items, notably how she could survive for a year in hiding on her own, how she made it through Wonderland, and how she could personally gather information before having the whole Bureau set up. Also the real reason she doesn’t want dogs on the moon so that no one will smell the cat in her office from when she wild shapes into a cat and hides in a drawer for some goddamn peace and quiet.

4. Wizards have access to Modify Memory. Obviously it’s not perfect and has limitations (opportunities to resist, can’t be cast on a wide net) but never does Lucretia even consider using Modify Memory for small things. It’s voidfishes all the way down.

5. Wizards cast with intelligence. Druids cast with wisdom. Is it wise to do what Lucretia did? I would argue that she truly believed she was doing the right but hard thing and was acting based on that. The knowledge of the planes and the impact of her shielding spell is more of an arcana element that the wizards of the party can understand but perhaps a wise but not as intelligent character would not. Wisdom is also considered to be akin to resilience, willpower, and resolve - all things Lucretia demonstrates. Her trait in the beginning of the Stolen Century is perception - she’s the journal keeper. Later, she knows what she’s doing is deeply controversial and her insight shows her that the hunger will devour all if she doesn’t stop it…but she doesn’t quite have the intelligence to know how. Contrast her quiet determination and forging ahead with her plan vs. the intelligent wizards, who endlessly search for solutions but don’t take the same kind of definitive but painful action.

[iturbide]

Although all Assassins receive the same general training, each individual eventually develops a rather more specialized skillset focused on their unique strengths. Some are better at gathering information, for example, while others are at their best in combat. Most Assassin Outposts will have members that excel in at least one area, which allows them to mobilize quickly to meet any need. Robin's group of friends and comrades each have their own unique specialties that work well together, a fact that has been instrumental in their success and renown in the Order.

Robin excels at stealth operations: collecting information, advance planning, dispatching guards with throwing knives or a bow, evading notice, and either stealing information/artifacts or assassinating a target. He is also adept in close-range combat, particularly with a sword, and his skills with arcane magic are unrivaled (though he uses them mostly in emergency situations).

Henry is the Order's foremost expert in hexcraft: creating custom arrays to a desired purpose in advance or hexing on the fly with ingredients at his disposal to support operations. When necessary, he is also a dangerously skilled combatant with either tomes or his hidden blade, though his pain tolerance can lead to him sustaining severe wounds without readily noticing.

Tharja is an expert in information gathering and espionage: using her exceptional talent for divination, she can locate targets, monitor activities, and even listen in on gatherings where no wards are in place. She is also adept at both tome-based magic and hexcraft; her results in the latter tend to be more consistently reliable than Henry's, given his penchant for experimentation compared to her own use of recipes.

Gangrel is a master of infiltration: entering and exiting seemingly inaccessible strongholds, mostly be means of acrobatic feats like scaling sheer walls and sneaking through tight spaces. Though he is capable of some magic through use of a Levin Sword, he prefers to use a blade in combat rather than magic, and is frighteningly deft with a blade.

Gregor is at his best in reconnaissance and field operations: assessing field conditions and enemy locations, gathering information, and adapting to the unexpected. He is, in particular, excellent at social stealth, since his accent and demeanor lead most to take him for either a foreigner or a fool who won't understand anything he overhears. He is also a deft fighter with a sword or in hand-to-hand combat, and makes easy use of his environment in a fight rather than needing magic.

Corrin, though he has only just graduated from a novice, has already made a name for himself as a fighter: he is gifted with a sword and capable of exploiting weaknesses in a target's defense through a combination of dexterity and strength while avoiding, blocking, or parrying incoming blows. In an emergency, he is also capable of transforming into a dragon, significantly increasing his raw power and granting him the ability to manipulate water, allowing him to make short work of all but the hardiest of foes.

[labmems-blog1]

WHAT’S YOUR D&D 5E CLASS ?

Mystic

You are a mystic! Your power comes from the Far Realm, a cerebral realm which the likes of Chtulu call home. Naturally attuned to this realm gives you supernatural extrasensory powers known as psionics. These psionics can manifest in a number of ways, from telepathy and mind control, over altering one's own metabolic processes and physical characteristics to abilities such as teleportation, telekinesis and pyrokinesis. Different orders of mystics focus on different psionic capabilities. Some focus on telepathy, some on self-altering, others on emotional manipulation or teleportation and others yet on manifesting psionic power as physical energy. To use these abilities, a mystic needs razor-sharp focus and an unerring mental discipline. A mystic is a strange and supernatural sage, who uses varied and unpredictable powers for battle as they take steps on a path to self-perfection and a greater understanding of the universe.

Ranger

You are a ranger! Your skillset is a blend of naturalistic knowledge and personal survival skill. Rangers are at home in even the wildest and least hospitable of places, such as vast jungles or suffocating caverns. They are skilled hunters and nimble warriors, a base which they supplement with impressive tracking skills and a vast knowledge of their prey obtained through observation and experience. Some rangers bond with an animal and battle alongside it as a partner, while others practice complex combat maneuvers or place a focus on stealthy ambushes. Some even focus on harnessing the magical power of nature, much like druids. A ranger is a skilled and self-sufficient skirmisher who uses their mobility and skillset to fight effectively at any distance - especially against their favored prey.

Artificer

You are an artificer! Your weapon of choice is science and the applied power of an inventive mind. Some artificers focus on alchemy, using various bombs and concoctions to affect the field of battle, while others apply their ingenuity on traps, gunsmithing and even the art of golemcraft! All artificers know the basics of arcane magic, but rather than focus on casting powerful spells, they focus on the interaction of magical forces and the objects in which they are placed. An artificer is a clever and versatile combatant who relies on their ingenuity and an impressive array of gadgets and magical items to prevail!

Ranger

You are a ranger! Your skillset is a blend of naturalistic knowledge and personal survival skill. Rangers are at home in even the wildest and least hospitable of places, such as vast jungles or suffocating caverns. They are skilled hunters and nimble warriors, a base which they supplement with impressive tracking skills and a vast knowledge of their prey obtained through observation and experience. Some rangers bond with an animal and battle alongside it as a partner, while others practice complex combat maneuvers or place a focus on stealthy ambushes. Some even focus on harnessing the magical power of nature, much like druids. A ranger is a skilled and self-sufficient skirmisher who uses their mobility and skillset to fight effectively at any distance - especially against their favored prey.

Fighter

You are a fighter! The base of your power is tireless martial training and a rigorous discipline. A fighter is any type of trained warrior, whether it's a soldier, mercenary, soldier, gladiator or knight. What they all have in common is an intimate knowledge of different types of armor and weapons as well as a trained combat stamina which allows them both to exert themselves to end battles quickly and survive prolonged assaults. Some fighters polish these basic techniques to perfection, while others practice complex combat maneuvers or even basic combat magic to supplement their martial prowess. A fighter is a seasoned and dedicated warrior who can battle effectively at any range, using a dagger, an axe, and a longbow with equal comfort and striking a balance between offense and defense on the battlefield.

Druid

You are a druid! You draw power from nature itself and channel it into powerful magic. A druid's signature power is the ability to take on animal forms and observe the world through different eyes. Some druids focus on mastering this art, transforming into fearsome beasts and even primal, elemental creatures! Others seek to master the healing aspect of nature, gaining great curative capabilities. Others yet focus on the destructive powers of the elements, calling forth thunder and lightning, or beckoning animals and plants to defeat their foes. Whichever aspect a druid specializes in, they have access to the full spectrum of nature's gifts at their beck and call. A druid is a wise and empathic priest of nature with the power to summon allies, heal friends and destroy enemies with equal ease, though they eschew tools of civilization, technology or even items made of metal in exchange.

Monk

You are a monk! Your power comes in equal parts from training your body and your search for spiritual enlightenment. All monks practice martial arts in some capacity, honing their bodies to be deadly tools even without using any weapons or armor, but some - often called ninjas - focus on stealth and striking from the shadows, while others prefer direct combat or even possess the ability to channel their spiritual energy - called ki - to produce magical effects, such as fire breaths or blasts of force. As they step towards enlightenment, many monks transcend ailments of the flesh entirely, including disease, poison, hunger, thirst and even old age. A monk a mobile and versatile combatant, whose resistance to ailments of the mind, flesh and soul alike makes them a difficult opponent to counter.