Characters you've been waiting to play.

[PG_Askew37]

So it's been a few years since I've played the IKRPG and I am incredibly excited about the new game. So what character concepts does everyone have ready to draft and play as soon as the main book is released?

Personally, I recently rewatched the movie "Ravenous", and now want to play a Cygnaran military officer who is secretly a cannibalistic Wurm cultist.

[Psychomancer]

Personally, I recently rewatched the movie "Ravenous", and now want to play a Cygnaran military officer who is secretly a cannibalistic Wurm cultist.

That's such a great flick- the last time I saw it was late at night with some of my friends, and the second the film ended, we all said the same thing- "So, who's hungry?" We went to an all night diner and had steak and eggs.

Anyway, I've had this gunmage/mechanik rattling around in my head for a while next to the ogrun bokur/weaponsmith. I like playing characters who can build things.

[Iron_Peanut]

Firstly, I would love to play a trollkin fell caller. The trollkin fell caller epitomizes the irresponsible power fantasy PC archetype in the iron kingdoms - they are wildly egotistical, try to mate with anything blue and of the corresponding gender, are frequently drunk, and are inclined to solve problems by yelling at them or killing them. In spite of this, they are afforded respect and status within their community and are assumed to be in a leadership role in the party. He will be named Balasar Bedlam, he will wear a hat, and the game will be hilarious.

Other idea: Dr. "Skip" Tennesson, adventuring scholar, anthropology post-doc. He is a guy thrilled by the amazing cultural depth of the more niche populations of Western Immoren. I keep imagining the party coming across some waif in diaphanous robes (mandatory attire for druidic sacrifices) chained to a sacrificial altar, her heart about to be torn out and devoured by tharn. Dr. Tennesson is torn between rushing in and rescuing the maiden and hanging back to take notes on this human sacrifice, because it's been so long since he put out a paper that was really well-regarded by his peers in academia, and the religious rites of the tharn aren't that well-documented, and this might just be the kind of thing that could put a guy on the lecture circuit for a year or two.
I am hoping that the scholar Career has abilities called Intern (gives you a low-powered NPC follower) and also Tenure (replaces the followers at no penalty should they be eaten or crushed).

Finally, I really like the idea of Dragule's Mice, which is the sort-of intelligence arm of the Church of Morrow. I'd like to play a guy with a criminal past, maybe a reformed Thamarite, who is putting his skills to use for the good of the Church. I might also like to branch him out into the Order of the Illuminated, depending on how that works in the game. It would be cool to play a character with a stock rogue skillset who is trying his best to be staunchly moral about it.

[jdripley]

I'm really interested in playing a Llaelese noble (ex-noble?) who has a veneer of civility and properness, fights for the freedom of his sadly fallen nation with pistol and blade - but secretly is an infernalist, or Thamarite, or something else icky like that. Not as dark and crazy as Ragman, but more of a "we really do need some more firepower if we ever hope to throw off these Khadorans in our lifetimes" sort of a person. He's thoroughly disgusted by what he's doing, but he doesn't see a viable alternative, and he's willing to be cursed himself if it means a free Llael. Not sure if I'd be playing him from in front of or behind the DM screen, but that concept has been rattling around. His mindset is ultimately "good" in that he just wants freedom, but his means are definitely evil.

Rorschach from The Watchmen might be a decent analog.

[PG_Cloud-Gatherer]

I, too, would love to play a Trollkin Fell Caller, though as a correction to Iron_Peanut's excellent description it should be noted that Greygore Boomhowler has demonstrated Fell Callers not to be terribly picky about the races of their amorous conquests. Fell Callers are every inch the pre-Christian epic hero, and that's very appealing as a character archetype.

I also like the idea of playing a military or naval surgeon patterned on the doctor from Master and Commander - a man of education and refinement who very earnestly wants to do his part but maintains a wall of separation from the rough culture by which he is surrounded. I think such a character could have tremendous role-playing potential.

[PG_Geist]

Likely a trolls in fellcaller.

But I also want to run a game based around the cygnar an reconnaissance service.

[PsychoLaughs]

an ordic gun fighter/knife thrower.

[novakidx]

The character I'm making right now is fun. A mercenary character with low resources, but a high temper. He is a strong tactician and also lightning reflexes [yes...the feat]. So he likes to use the environment to his advantage and using his own body (grappling, punching, ect). He also uses tricky maneuvers that are very cheap to buy. For example, tripping up opponents with caltrops and starting oil fires.

I think that this is something that would only work in the RPG scale and style.

[Carnage]

Gobber bodger/ironhead with large sized steam armor

[Clone01]

I'm looking to make a Rhulic Military Officer/Mechanika Engineer. His goal will to not only start a well respected mercenary company, but to outfit them with an arsenal of his devising. There's no better advertising than a victorious army wielding "Boro Blackhammer's Automatic-Pneumatic Steam-sledge"!

[PG_ThatRickGuy]

I'm working on a Cygnar Gun Mage based loosely on this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1KL5U-fyMc

He fought in the war for Llael, lost his shooting hand in a battle, developed an opium addiction while recovering, received a mechanika hand before being drummed out for his inability to shake the habit. After winding up in 5-Fingers, on his last dime and jonesing for a fix, just about to hock his brass hand, he winds up inadvertently becoming a hero (that chunk I'm still working on).

Basically, he's a tortured soul stuck between Morrow's redemption and Thamar's pleasures who sees "adventuring" as a means of funding his addiction.

Toss in a couple of hallucinations of the runes on his pistol flickering when his need starts taking affect, and occasional shifting of allegiances when his stash is getting low, and I think he'll be a delightfully challenging and interesting character to play.

-Rick

[PPS_Simon]

I dig it. Reminds me of some ideas I've been kicking around for a campaign set during the occupation of Llael largely inspired by Leonard Cohen's cover of the The Partisan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_223jKXKgQ

[jdripley]

I also like the idea of playing a military or naval surgeon patterned on the doctor from Master and Commander - a man of education and refinement who very earnestly wants to do his part but maintains a wall of separation from the rough culture by which he is surrounded. I think such a character could have tremendous role-playing potential.

It's worth noting that that character, Steven Maturin, also appears in the novel that the movie was based on. In the book he's way better (why doesn't that surprise anybody anymore?). And he was actually a spy in the book! So you can take all of that good character, and toss in "and I use my doctor skills as a cover for running clandestine intel schemes as well." Very cool.

Also, he can't swim and lives on a boat. Most excellent.

[cryptomancer]

Well, I'm in a game right now using the Pathfinder rules, and I believe I'll continue playing that character: a Rynnish-by-ancestry Caspian-raised Sorcerer once a child prisoner of the Inquisition now working for the Corvis underworld (you think that's convoluted, we've also got an Idrian gunslinger. I refer to him as "a Bedouin Cowboy in Venice").

The other characters I'd like to play in future games (or as Alts, if my Sorcerer ends up eating a bullet or whatever) include: a Dhunian trollkin Monk, a pacifist rastafarian gatorman healer, and a gunslinging gobber desperado. That's my top three on my IKPC wishlist.

crypto

[Iron_Peanut]

I, too, would love to play a Trollkin Fell Caller, though as a correction to Iron_Peanut's excellent description it should be noted that Greygore Boomhowler has demonstrated Fell Callers not to be terribly picky about the races of their amorous conquests.

Where are you getting this information from? I think maybe he says something crude to Ashlynn at some point, and she responds like a mature and reasoned adult; by cutting his arm off at the elbow. I can't recall any sexual innuendo going on. I always figured trollkin would be uninterested in non-trollkin ladies.
"What, the human? She's okay, I guess. You know, for a human. But she has such narrow shoulders! And her chin is so small! And she has all that... hair... on her head. It's not doing anything for me. Give me a nice kin female, hips like she's hiding saddlebags under her skirt, shoulders wide enough to carry a pig under each arm! That's what I'm talking about!"

I do remember that Boomhowler is not terribly angry about getting his arm cut off. He just seemed kind of upset at the inconvenience. Maybe playing a fell caller isn't a terribly smart idea - I feel like choosing trollkin as your race is like giving the GM carte balnche to dismember your PC.

Also, he can't swim and lives on a boat. Most excellent.

I have heard that a sailor being unable to swim is not uncommon for the time period.
One explanation is that learning to swim was considered a transgression against the incredibly fatalist set of superstitions that seamen lived by. If you did learn how to swim, you were either tempting fate to permit you use that skill (by way of sinking your ship) or implying that you did not trust fate to protect your ship (for which fate would surely punish you by sinking your ship).
An alternative explanation is that the admiralty discouraged sailors from learning how to swim, believing that they would be less likely to go AWOL or mutiny if they could not actually escape the boat they were on. It's a crazy, paranoid thing to do. Given the frequency with which men were press-ganged into service, maybe some crazy paranoid things really seemed like sound practical measures at the time.

[Kriegtanzer]

I like my gunmage and may recreate him or another if we switch to MkII. I also would like to try a Trollkin whether a fellcaller or not. A scout/rifleman also intrigues me. I also liked the idea of the adventuring scholar.

[jdripley]

I've also got this idea rattling around in the brainpan that was spawned by that piece they did about Alexia Ciannor not too long ago - about the armed coach transporting the Witchfire for the Order of Illumination that Alexia ambushes and takes down. I think there's alot of adventure potential for a group of PCs that own and operate their own armed coach service. They could transport stuff or even people, anywhere from across town to across borders. I think the biggest trouble is that most of your combat encounters would all revolve around the coach, which would probably get dull. But man.. how much fun would it be to play the guy with the scattergun??

[drachenfels]

Fellcaller Thief.

[PG_Cloud-Gatherer]

Where are you getting this information from? I think maybe he says something crude to Ashlynn at some point, and she responds like a mature and reasoned adult; by cutting his arm off at the elbow. I can't recall any sexual innuendo going on. I always figured trollkin would be uninterested in non-trollkin ladies.

I just went back through and checked. The unit entries for Greygore Boomhowler & Co. in WM: Prime, WM: Prime Remix, WM: Prime Mk. II, and FoW: Mercenaries all contain some variation of "The trollkin's legendary voice has entranced females of all races throughout the Kingdoms."

[Psychomancer]

I always figured trollkin would be uninterested in non-trollkin ladies.

For what it's worth, the Trollkin in our party will hit on anything female that walks, and has been taken up on his offers more than once-not always by trollkin ladies, either. Your mileage may vary. And a trollkin can regenerate a severed limb- in the case of Boomhowler getting his arm cut off clean by Ashlynn, he can have someone pick it up and sew it back on and it'll be good as new in a couple of weeks. If it were mangled beyond all repair, he could regenerate it in a couple of months.

Currently it's not really a problem, as the D20 rules don't have anything specific about dismemberment. Seeing as trollkin can regen limbs and there are rules for mechanika prosthesis, I bet we'll see some specific rules about losing limbs in the new IKRPG.

[novakidx]

Currently it's not really a problem, as the D20 rules don't have anything specific about dismemberment. Seeing as trollkin can regen limbs and there are rules for mechanika prosthesis, I bet we'll see some specific rules about losing limbs in the new IKRPG.

I'm wondering why the [D20] rules limit "regeneration" to limbs, unlike the [d3 based] regeneration roll.
Then again, I'm pretty sure that was a beast only thing.

[jdripley]

Well the regeneration that Trolls (and a few others) have in the wargame isn't really a representation of the troll re-growing a limb during the battle, it's more a representation of the natural hardiness of the race. Where as others suffer crippling blows and are crippled, and that's it, Trolls are so tough that a crippling blow staggers them, but they can take a moment, grit their teeth, and get past the pain and damage to continue wrecking things. Typically you're using Regeneration when you've got one or two aspects out and it's worth it to blow a fury to regenerate and get that aspect back.

This talk about prosthetic limbs and regenerating missing parts has me thinking about healing in general. The "cleric" is pretty much a key staple in any d20 roleplaying group - the game is tuned so that you really do need somebody to heal the group (yes a DM can modify things such that a healer isn't needed). I wonder how healers fit into IKRPG2. Will they be necessary? Will there be a "one size fits all" healer similar to the d20 cleric - with minor flavorings to suit the player, but basically each party has to have one member that's religious or else you're kindof screwed? Will there be the cleric of Morrow/Menoth approach, but also an alchemist/apothecary approach? How about a field medic approach? Again, of course any set of rules can be re-flavored, so those "cure light wounds" can be re-named "combat bandages" and "bless" can be renamed "hand out adrenaline syringes to your buddies." But I guess I just hope that some variety in the way of healing is built in.


Time for my 3rd "I want to play this character" character. I'm really amped about the idea of playing a mechanic/bodger type. My mind keeps going to Star Wars and Firefly, and some combination of Han Solo and Kaylee would be a blast to play. Somebody who doesn't really have the stomach for front line combat (or at least has the sense that one should keep their head down and use their wits whenever possible), but is definitely behind the people who do get themselves in sticky situations, and is the one who keeps the tech going and tries to work miracles with the machines at the critical moment. That would be a fun archetype.

[The Happy Anarchist]

I just went back through and checked. The unit entries for Greygore Boomhowler & Co. in WM: Prime, WM: Prime Remix, WM: Prime Mk. II, and FoW: Mercenaries all contain some variation of "The trollkin's legendary voice has entranced females of all races throughout the Kingdoms."

I seem to remember it being mentioned in the IKRPG as well, in the Fell Caller fluff when it talks about Bragg's conquests. Could be wrong on that.

[Psychomancer]

Only females? Surely there are female Fell Callers as well- are they as popular with the gents? Is there a particular bent in the Iron Kingdoms for ladies built like a brick shed and with skin like a life-raft? Word of advice, lads- don't let her top.

[PsychoLaughs]

femputer: femputer sentences them... to death!
everyone: *gasps*
femputer: by snu snu!
men: yeah! alright! *high five*

back on topic!
on second thought, i'd like a roguish ordic gunmage (with a really tricked out magelock pistol, with lots of rune plates).
or an adventuring scholar with a focus on orgoth artifacts and lore. armed with two wrist mounted two tiered crossbows, a true magic orgoth melee weapon (not sure if sword/axe/mace).

[Dacian]

I want me a hard core hex hunter ala Bayal. Magic orgoth stuff, cold spells, sneaky ninja magic user goodness.

[PG_Cloud-Gatherer]

Only females? Surely there are female Fell Callers as well- are they as popular with the gents? Is there a particular bent in the Iron Kingdoms for ladies built like a brick shed and with skin like a life-raft?

Grissel Bloodsong is a female Fell Caller, but she's always been portrayed as an unusually noble and non-rowdy one. We don't have a lot of background info on what she was like before her beloved mate died.

Incidentally, I'd hit that.

[jdripley]

I think Grissel spent some time as a Merc. With the Red Hammers maybe? The details are fuzzy in my head.

Ok time for character #4 for me. Can you tell I've been mulling over this new RPG quite a bit? This guy seems fun to me. The idea crystalized when I heard about the whole "two careers" thing. I've always thought that a great character could be played using a sort of batman or zorro concept - a social elite who clandestinely pulls off high adventure of one sort or another. Heck even Indiana Jones fits that theme somewhat, although it's somewhat more widely know that Indiana Jones goes on adventures than it is that Bruce Wayne goes on adventures. But you'd probably take the Intelligent or Skilled archetype, then for careers some form of nobility or perhaps scholarly career and then whatever other one suits your fancy - something roguish would make sense since there's already a layer of built in subterfuge, what with the double life and all, but it could be any sort of focus for the adventuring half. Your nobleman who is good at fencing could just as easily be the party fighter I suppose.

[Top]

A Cygnaran gun mage who uses a rifle or carbine and has seen service with the Reconaissance Corps, a long service veteran, and smokes a pipe.

[Haugfather]

an ordic gun fighter/knife thrower.

How about an Ordic Knife fighter/ gun thrower?

We have 2 campaigns in mind for when the new IKRPG hits

Five Fingers (A nice re-introduction)
A hideously ugly female merc rifleman who has come to look for work from a distant relative who just happens to be a High Captain (remake of an old character).

Llael, a military campaign from the Khadoran side
A newly initiated Greylord sent to deal with the accursed rebels and becomes embroiled with the rest of his elite squad in dealing with Skorne, Menites, Trollkin and even Cryx who have smelled the blood in the water and come to try and take what rightfully belongs to the motherland.

[jdripley]

How about an Ordic Knife fighter/ gun thrower?
Llael, a military campaign from the Khadoran side...

Wow.... Since I'm planning on running a Llael campaign from the Resistance side... how awesome would it be to have the parties throw down in epic player versus player showdown mode??? Too bad you live in the City of Trees, that's not close to where I'm from.

[Javaman]

I want to run a Trollkin merc Jack-marshal. Someone from the cities who's turned his back on his country cousins and embraced the future.

[PG_Zeber]

Since ninjas are not an option PIRATE ! Can't go wrong with pirates!

Also a Gobber sniper/bodger sounds fun. Big sniper with mechanika strapped to it.

[Chasu]

A barrel-chested drunk of a Ordic GunMage with a magelock break action shotgun, that is as far as I got.

Also a kayazy warcaster, who got some poor schlep (so?) to make him a light jack from parts of a cyrx stalker bonejack. It runs on Cryiss style tech and he uses it to assassinate marks who are a little to dug in for his liking. Kind of using that puppet spider thing from Naruto as an example of the idea?

[Iron_Peanut]

Some of the old IKRPG material had hooks about Ogrun converts to the Morrowan faith. An ogrun Knight of the Prophet sounds cool, especially if I could get a sideline on crafting skills since ogrun are natural metalworkers. Maybe he could be the guy who puts together the blessed armament for his order.

Since ninjas are not an option PIRATE ! Can't go wrong with pirates!

Ninjas not an option? You don't need to go to the far East to roll a ninja. Allegiant Monks of the Order of the Fist were stock monks in the d20 days, and I hope they continue in that direction for the new RPG. They are so perfectly out-of-place in the setting that they bring back what is cool about Monks. A guy in robes leaps thirty feet across a canal, the PCs scrabble out of the way just in the nick of time, the force of his jump kick shattering the cobblestones where they were only a moment ago. This dude is parrying sword strikes barehanded, bending rifle barrels, punching warjacks to death, while the PCs are yelling "What is going ON?"

[Mr Fahrenheint]

I want to play a Druid. I'm still not sure what I can do to make the concept more unique, but I want a druid.

Ooh, maybe a sea druid or a pirate one. Please tell me I can have an aquatic warbeast

[Cyber-Leader-3]

I wish playing a gatorman was a option. I figured I could be shaman pirate (think about it-they're made for life at sea) who acted as the ships doctor or healer by simply zombifying the wounded parts of his crewmates. Maybe sometimes he'd go a little too far!

[StJason]

I wish playing a gatorman was a option. I figured I could be shaman pirate (think about it-they're made for life at sea) who acted as the ships doctor or healer by simply zombifying the wounded parts of his crewmates. Maybe sometimes he'd go a little too far!

...actually, freshwater animals who swim in sal****er for two long get sick. If it's salty enough they'll desiccate and mummify!

[PG_ThatRickGuy]

... salt-water.

-Rick

[Whimper]

I just want to reply to the OP: Ravenous is a fantastic movie, and informs a lot of my wishes for my frontier IK campaign.