Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A “weekly” blog-letter exploring topics in the tabletop gaming arena. We explore design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop. Explore the solo play entries from Glyph and Grok here.
Introduction
We are taking a break from the first thread with Pelf. One of the main purposes of my Solo Shadowdark play in my world of Giathos is testing out different ideas I have for play to help me gut check them. This entry will have creation of three characters. Xara and Sabaar will be the main player characters and their charge, the noble Eazim Minalar, will also have a PC character sheet, but will start out as a glorified NPC from my perspective.
As one of the other major points of my solo play, narrative fiction writing practice, I will also be canonizing some thoughts about the area in Northern Catastros, between the nation-states of Kaxos to the west and Sil-Dimas to the east. One noticeable thing about the following character sheets is everybody is going to be human in this setting, at least as the only playable race/ancestry. I will likely have goblins and elves but they will be something different and not playable. I still want to mix up the characters starting features, so I am taking a mix of the racial bonuses from the Shadowdark book and giving each nation-state’s background in the region of Catastros four of the total six available ancestral bonuses, and then rolling a D4 to see which one they end up with. Languages will have some wiggle room here as well, without the other ancestries available, I plan to give each nation-state their own common language which makes sense to me.
This story will take place about a month before where we left off with Pelf, I have loose aspirations of tying the stories together, but that will depend on how this goes.
Character Sheets
Xara Qawai - Female Priest of Sala
Caste: Wasat (Middle)
XP: 0
Stats:
14 STR +2
7 DEX - 2
10 CON +0
11 INT +0
12 WIS +1
10 CHA +0
AC:
11 with shield
Weapons:
club, crossbow, dagger, mace, longsword, staff, warhammer
Armor:
All + Shields
HP:
8 HP
Languages:
Celestial, Diabolic, Primordial, Kaxese, Common
Deity:
Acolyte of Sala Eleftheri - Goddess of Life
Alignment:
Lawful
Traits and Abilities
Heritage: Kaxos - Kaxian
Desert folk - Dark skin and hair, dark green or brown eyes
Caste: Wasat (Middle)
Prophetic, shamanistic follower of Sala.
Acolyte background
Carries a wooden carving of a flower opening its petals, lacquered, on a thin iron chain around her neck. Gift from her Mother Zixa Qawai.
Stout: +2 HP, roll HP at level with advantage
Spellcasting:
Turn Undead
Cure Wounds
Shield of Faith
Priest Talents:
+1 Melee Attack
Gear and Gold Ledger
45 GP
Crawling kit : -7 = 38 gp
Leather Armor (1 slot): -10 = 28 gp
Shield (1 Slot): -10 = 18 gp
1 Mace (1 Slot ): -5 = 13 gp
Gift to Sabaar Qawai: -1 = 12 GP
Gift to Sabaar Qawai: -1 = 11 gp
Current Gold: 11 GP
Inventory (11/12 Slots)
Crawling Kit (7gp) (0 Slots)
1 Backpack (0 slots)
Flint and steel (1 slot)
Torch qty 2 (2 slots)
Rations qty 3 (1 slot)
Iron Spikes qty 10 (1 slot)
Grappling Hook (1 slot)
Rope, 60' (1 slot)
Leather Armor (11+dex) (1 slot)
Shield (+2 AC) (1 slot)
Mace (1D6) (1 Slot)
Sabaar Qawai - Male Fighter of Sala
Caste: Wasat (Middle)
XP: 0
Stats:
13 STR +1
10 DEX +0
12 CON +1
8 INT -1
7 WIS -2
10 CHA +0
AC:
13
Weapons:
All
Armor:
All + Shields
HP:
7 HP
Languages:
Celestial, Diabolic, Primordial, Kaxese, Common
Deity:
Sala Eleftheri - Goddess of Life
Alignment:
Lawful
Traits and Abilities
Heritage: Kaxos - Kaxian
Desert folk - Dark skin and hair, dark green or brown eyes
Caste: Wasat (Middle)
Pragmatic fighter following Sala, but disenchanted with religion and the Gods, despite the power his sister wields.
Warrior Poet - Soldier background
Stealthy: Once per day become invisible for 3 rounds
Hauler:
Add CON mod to number of gear slots (+1)
Weapon Mastery (Longsword):
+1 attack and damage + 1/2 level round down to both rolls
Grit (Strength):
Advantage on STR checks to overcome opposing force like kicking open a stuck door.
Fighter Talents:
+2 CON stat
Gear and Gold Ledger
35 GP (0 slots)
-7 (Crawling kit) = 28 GP
-10 (leather armor) = 18 GP
-10 (shield) = 8 GP
-9 (Longsword) = 0 GP (1 borrowed from Xara Qawai)
-1 (spear qty 2) = 0 GP (1 borrowed from Xara Qawai)
Current Gold: 0 gp
Inventory (12/12 Slots)
Crawling Kit (7gp) (0 Slots)
1 Backpack (0 slots)
Flint and steel (1 slot)
Torch qty 2 (2 slots)
Rations qty 3 (1 slot)
Iron Spikes qty 10 (1 slot)
Grappling Hook (1 slot)
Rope, 60' (1 slot)
Leather Armor (1 slot)
Shield (1 Slot)
Longsword (1 Slot)
Spear (1 Slot)
Spear (1 slot)
Eazim Minalar - Male Wizard of Ischiri
Caste: Aleal (Upper)
XP: 0
Stats:
15 STR: +2
11 DEX: +0
13 CON: +1
17 INT: +3
16 WIS: + 3
10 CHA: + 0
AC:
10
Weapons:
Dagger, Staff
Armor:
None
HP:
4 HP
Languages:
Kaxese, Common, Diabolic, Draconic, Sil-Diman, +2 Common
Deity:
Ischiri Sympan - Goddess of Magic
Alignment:
Chaotic (Presents Lawful)
Traits and Abilities
Heritage: Kaxos - Kaxian
Desert folk - Dark skin and hair, dark green or brown eyes
Caste: Aleal (Upper)
Secretive wizard seeking knowledge of Aether manifestations in the world
Background: Wizard’s apprentice
Stealthy: Once per day become invisible for 3 rounds
Learning Spells:
Can learn spells from scrolls DC 15 INT
Spellcasting:
Magic Missile
Mage Armor
Detect Magic
Wizard Talents:
+1 to wizard spellcasting checks
Gear and Gold Ledger
30 GP (0 slots)
-7 crawling kit
-5 sp - Staff
-1 gp - Dagger
-5 sp - Rations Qty 3
Current Gold: 21 gp
Inventory (10/10 Slots)
Crawling Kit (7gp) (0 Slots)
1 Backpack (0 slots)
Flint and steel (1 slot)
Torch qty 2 (2 slots)
Rations qty 3 (1 slot)
Iron Spikes qty 10 (1 slot)
Grappling Hook (1 slot)
Rope, 60' (1 slot)
Staff - (1 slot)
Dagger (1 slot)
Rations qty 3 (1 slot)
Conclusion
These characters are a nice mix and I have the seeds of a story brewing in my mind where the siblings are escorting the enigmatic wizard to a site he has heard may have physical Aether for examination. I am going for playing through my ideas to create an interesting world narrative, and experimenting with the longevity of my characters may become an important aspect of it.
Next we get some play sessions in with these characters and see what happens!
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