Set in my version of Avalon Solo Adventure’s World, I decide to explore the life of a Noble Wizard, born to one of the western baron’s. I really enjoyed Mendy’s campaign, and would like to run a wizardess in a slightly different setting, where magic is a little less common, the world is a little less civilized, and I have a character who can help me explore the halls of power. Not that I won’t enjoy my usual staple of wilderness travel, city exploration and dungeon crawling.
Farhold is one of the Norgardian baronies on the western continent where human civilization is striving to reclaim the remains of the ancient Thrum empire, which was devastated 3000 years ago. Carved out of the wilderness by an adventurer of dubious morality twenty-five years ago, Lord Faust quickly married Meriel, granddaughter of the Baron of Truestone, in order to help legitimize himself and has since seen to strengthening his domain. Sill a man of flexible moral principles, he is raising his children to take on the challenges of the world and endure. The Barony has a population around 33,000 with nearly 4500 people in the central town of Farhold. It exports cheese, leather goods, mead, wheat and beer, and Farhold produces the best horses on the continent.
Then after rolling stats, and assigning the “must have” spells (Prestidigitation, Mage Armor and Shield), I used ChatGPT to help define my character, as I find it more interesting to play someone I did not build someone entirely from the ground up. Since ChatGPT did not assign a spell list, I rolled randomly for the rest of her first level spellbook, but did swap out one of the two suggested cantrips for one that actually does damage. I hate having to rely on a crossbow and dagger as a wizard.
Yseldra is the fourth child of Baron Faust of Farhold. She a polite, composed young noble woman of elegant dignity, or so it would appear to those who only meet her in court. In truth, she is a highly competitive woman who strives to overcome…herself more than anyone else. She seeks to prove her value to her father, and to herself that she is worth as much, or more, than any of her siblings when it comes to defending her father’s realm and achieving greatness. Like her father, she is an eternal pragmatist, constantly analyzing people and situations to see how they can be leveraged to whatever cause she supports. She speaks softly, but is careful with her words, and is inclined to outwardly agree whenever disagreement gets her nothing. She knows that everyone has their triggers, their levers, their strengths, weaknesses and uses. She will judiciously offer and always return favors, and remembers those who don’t. Most people see her as a simple, bookish dilettante who will soon be married off. Those who know better consider her “the Baron’s Clever Girl” who knows and sees more than she lets on, though the wise do not call her that. She understands that in this world, No one survives alone, but some alliances are worth more than others.
Then, having generate the composition and skill levels of the local adventuring companies, I fleshed out the “promising amateurs” a band calling itself “The Warhawks” as her potential initial companions. Generally, I roll randomly for NPC parties, but swapped out two character classes as I prefer low magic parties, and I’ve never really played a druid before anyway so I didn’t want to run two in a group. For personalities, I use a combination of Universal NPC Emulator for their motivations, and Hearts and Arrows (a romance supplement) for something “interesting” about each character. I feed this information and the rolled statblocks to ChatGPT to generate character images and to inform the AI of their base personalities so I can upload journal entries and verify that I am “playing them right”. A habit I have fallen into over recent months.
Colbrock, Human Barbarian: Healthy//vital with frown lines, good with kids, promote the oppressed, persecute freedom, age 45 Calbrock is a typical Craglander seeking his fortune in the civilized lands. He once had a wife and children. He adored his children and generally gets along well with kids. He wants to help people who live under the heels of another, slaves, indentured servants, but he also resents excess liberty, the antics of the spoiled who have no concerns, nobles, guild masters, pampered elites who never have to work. A good man is free to work for his own bread, and a good man will never shun hard work for his own bread.
Habran, Human Ranger: Intelligent (witty), can fight, support propoganda, steal lies, 25 years old. Habran is a witty Craglander barbarian who is more than capable of holding his own in a fight. He likes to use his obvious Craglander heritage to intimidate people, relying on is race’s known fearsomeness to do its work. He hates deception, and if he can unravel a lie and embarrass a liar, he will.
Bareln, Human Fighter: stern, good cook, deter atrocities, blight the public, 25 year old male Bareln is a serious minded soldier who was sickened by the savagery that orcs demonstrated raiding human lands, but also by the slaughter of orc women and children in the counter stroke. So he left the army to make his own decisions. He holds ordinary civilians in contempt for their ignorance and sheeplike behavior. He happens to be a good cook.
Anlyn, Half Elf Bard: charismatic/charming, stacked, builds things, undermine vigilance, and prepare deprivation age 27 Anlyn isa very charming man who frequently boasts of his allegedly impressive “manhood”. He likes to build his own instruments. He is a rather lax individual, not particularly attentive to his surroundings and often a distraction to those who might be more watchful. He is, however, a light eater, often depriving himself of meals not out of a lack of hunger, but simply being distracted by some thought or tune in his head.
And having generated Farhold’s taverns, named the surrounding villages, sketched out Faust’s children and a few key members of his council, it was time to play!
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