Jessica Darkwood

[CapKirk]

Sorry don't know where to put this.

 

Edited February 13 by CapKirk (see edit history)

[Milo Fezziwig]

Hi CapKirk, thanks for the interest. Are you familiar with AD&D? If you would like to take part in my adventure you are welcome to. I am brand new to this site so let me take a look at what I have to do to let you have access to creating a character in Cuthbert.

[cailano]

A lot of GMs make an Applications topic, which you can delete or archive later.

[CapKirk]

May I play this character? I know she is a child but I love roleplaying and character development. Whatever penalties and limitations you impose on her I will of course accept but I would like to play her as is. The background explains everything. Sorry don''t know how to decrease the size of the picture. I am just presenting to you the character outline and awaiting your approval before creating a character sheet. How many spells in her spellbook can she start off with if you are okay with her? Well anyways here she is.

 

Jessica Darkwood

 

Name: Jessica Darkwood
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 11
Hair: Golden Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 4'1"
Weight: 60 lbs
Class: Magic User
Alignment: Neutral Good

Description: You see a girl, a child really who can be described as cute. Basically your stereotypical cute and innocent looking little girl with her small size even for her age, still babyish face with a few freckles, pretty golden blonde hair, fairskinned and somewhat angelic in appearance. But if one were to take a closer look you would realize that there is more to her than one would expect. For one thing she wears tomboyish clothing consisting of a blue shirt, dark brown pants and a hooded red cloak which partially conceals a backpack. There is dagger and a large mullitpocketed pouch on her belt. Oddly enough the child seems to be travelling alone. The girl seems relaxed though if one were to observe her closely and critiquely despite her innocence and young age, her eyes show that she is alert and always aware of her surroundings to the best of her ability. From the way she dresses to the way she carries herself indicate that she is if anything someone who is well travelled and comfortable with doing so on a daily basis.

Personality: Jessica is a brave and courageous child with a stubborn and convictive streak. She is kindhearted and generous. The girl is constantly on the move and is very independent by nature, getting things done on the button and is self sufficient. She fights for the good of others, especially for the poor and downtrodden.

Motivations: Jessica is a do gooder. A genuinely nice and charitable person who is a champion of the oppressed and dowtrodden. It is just the way she is. Partly because of her father, partly because she is an empathic and very caring person. It is her duty to do as much good in the world as possible. Of course short term goals are basically survival and day to day living. But she is not a hoarder. She understands that she needs to take care of herself before she can take care of others. But attainment of coin is not an issue for her unless she truly needs it. Like any wizard, becoming better as a spellcaster and gaining more knowledge is always on her mind. She loves books and knowledge as much as she loves adventure and travel. However she does tend to prefer travel and adventure as opposed to being stuck in a library all day. She does not mind doing research, just not holed up in a library drowned in tomes and scrolls.

Background

Johan Darkwood and Marie Swordheart were both adventuring wizards who had fallen in love but could not sum up the courage to tie the knot. But then Marie became pregnant. So they settled down in Diamond Lake and 9 months later Marie gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Jessica or Jess for short. However Marie developed a dangerous infection and died.

Despite this terrible loss, Johan poured all of his love and affection to his daughter. She became his life and he became hers. To his surprise, Jess proved to be an exceptionally bright child learning to read fluently by age 3 and even write to a limited degree at age 4. She loved books and tomes, and was an avid student and researcher at an early age.

While this pleased Johan, it also worried him too. She spent too much time in the library studying. At ages 4 to 6 she was being quite the student. Which was fine by him. But Jess proved also to be a sickly child. Flus and boughts of shivering and malaise were a problem with Jess. She had no problem studying and learning quickly because she was in bed most of her young life.

Unlike most of the residents of Diamond Lake Johan in some ways was as influential as Allustan. He was very critical and somewhat outspoken of Lenod Neff and his henchmen often running interference the best he could for the town's population. Unlike most of the population though neither Neff, his brother nor his henchmen could do anything, partly because Johan was very popular and respected in Diamond Lake, largely because he was equal to Allustan in mage power. The two were rivals though Johan was for the most part a man of peace, as well as a man of stong moral and ethical convictions. Johan also ran interference with one of the town's smith who he formed a close friendship with. The smith's daughter Sorka occasionally babysat little Jessica and the two were close having a kind of motherly, doting aunt/big sister/niece relationship. But Johan constantly worried about his daughter's safety and had grown weary and disillusioned. He needed to leave before Neff's henchmen manage to find some way to threaten his daughter. 

So when Jess asked her father to teach her magic, which pleased him immensely, he did so with a plan. First he packed up all his stuff and his daughter's and sold the shop. Then he took his daughter and once more began to live the life of an adventurer. Jess was 5 at the time.

There were several reasons for this. When Johan was young he also suffered the kind of childhood Jess suffered through. Until his ranger father took him out into the forest and began gradually training him in outdoor survival. It helped toughen him up physically and for years he actually became a ranger until he developed an interest in magic.

So he did so with Jess, teaching her how to survive in the outdoors,and how to hunt and forage for food. He did this along with days of training her to learn spellcasting and manipulating the energies of the arcane. Jess found that she loved both, finding the peace and serenity of the wilderness and forests a calming influence which helped her study better and develop good concentration skills. She proved to be a quick learner and was mastering Cantrips by age 9. Eventually Johan gave her her first spellbook at age 10. But what was more important to him was that Jess was getting healthier and stronger physically. The gradual and careful exposure to the outdoors helped her develop a stronger constitution and made her overcome her earlier childhood bouts of sickness.

Then tragedy struck. About a week before Jess's 11th birthday, a town she and her father visited was struck by a plague. Both she and her father fell ill. But her own will to live and her previous battles with sickness when she was very young managed to help her overcome it with her father's help. Her father helped develop an alchemical cure for the plague but risked his own health doing so. He died at his daughter's bedside as Jess's fever broke and she began to recover. His death devastated her but she now continues to bravely live on and continue his legacy.

The town was decimated by the plague and to keep it from spreading was burned down as well as the dead bodies. The survivors, including Jessica, were taken to the nearby Free City of Greyhawk to provide sanctuary and further healing and recuperation at the local temples of Pelor and St Cuthbert. Before he died Johan wrote a letter stating that he wanted Sorka and her father to be Jessica's guardian since he knew that he would die from the plague. So a message was sent to Sorka in Diamond Lake informing her of this. And this is where her adventures begin!

Edited February 13 by CapKirk (see edit history)

[Milo Fezziwig]

Sure, I very much like the idea. Nice backstory. Please play Jessica. She reminds me of Paul's little sister in DUNE. Her name was Alia. Transfer everything to your character sheet. Include background, spells, etc. Roll your gold and start shopping. Use prices in the players handbook. Welcome aboard :)

  Alia from Dune

[CapKirk]

A few questions....

 

1. From the OSRIC rulebook Jessica will have 4 spells in her spellbook. 1 must be Read Magic, 1 is a spell of my choice, but how does one 'randomnly' receive the other two spells? Does that mean you will choose for me? Or do I have to roll some die?

 

2. What are Jessica's current living arrangements in the beginning of the game? Is she living in one of the temples, most likely the temple of Pelor? Being only 11 she wouldn't exactly be left alone to fend for herself regardless of whether or not she can take care of herself. Especially the church of Pelor. I'm sure that if they ever figure out that the 'children's book' she carries in her backpack is a spellbook it would most certainly catch their attention. 😄

[Milo Fezziwig]

I thought the OSRIC was a clone of AD&D 1e, so I am taking that down. Please refer to the AD&D1e PH. Modify with INT and/or race if appropriate. My bad if OSRIC says otherwise or lead to confusion.

[CapKirk]

Okay I am going for the minimum spells per level rule according to her intelligence of 16(7) and chance to learn percentage 65%.

 

 

[CapKirk]

While I rolled Read Magic learning and failed may I maybe replace one of the succeeded learn spells with that one. It makes no sense to me that she would not be able to learn spells without it and should be a staple of all magic users.

[Milo Fezziwig]

Well, call it a house rule. I would be okay if you just picked whatever spells you wanted at each level...automatically. Low level MUs are sooo weak. Choose your one spell and that is just fine with me. No % rolls needed. Also, I trust u guys with your dice rolls no proof necessary. Lastly, a house rule that we used to play with is as follows: A cleric gets a additional spells for having a high W(PHB, page 11, table II) Why should MUs be penalized and not get the have the same thing for INT and being a MUer? So, with your INT 16, I would be okay if you started with 3 total 1st level spells! Once you hit 2nd level, you would then get the additional two 2nd level. I hope your not a purist and offended lol.

[Milo Fezziwig]

When it comes to Jessica's living prior living arrangement, you could have been living on the streets fending for yourself after the death of her parents. Maybe the party new your parents and took you in. Possibly befriended by the group as a " little sister" at some point. Remember that you were all living in the City of Greyhawk ( or outskirts of the city). Decide the storyline that works best for you.

[CapKirk]

Okay we could say the nearby town or city the survivors of the plague were taken to was the Free City of Greyhawk. I need to talk to one of the other applicants but I will get back to you about this later.

[CapKirk]

Starting Money

[Excior]

Why does she have to be 11? why not 13? or even better 16 just curious her bing 11 gives me bad vibes is all I am saying.

 

Edited February 7 by Excior (see edit history)

[Excior]

Character creation post