Saturday, September 5, 2009

Oswald the Retired Holy Guard



A fellow RPGBN member by the name of Save vs Pointy Stick came up with a great idea for how to come up with characters for your next roleplaying game by using the Television Tropes website. His method consists of clicking the random item button of the tvtropes page until you come up with three character tropes and then tying those together. From my own experience, I suggest searching

So using his method I've detailed the following for your use in 3.5 D&D.

The Paragon
Knight in Sour Armor
Knight Errant


Oswald lived a life of service to the people, as a member of the Holy Guard of Ahrian he served his king with distinction and honor. Oswald stood proud and noble, a fine example for the people of his kingdom to follow. Thus it was a huge disappointment when Oswald discovered the king's goal of war. Unable to pursuade the king of Ahrian to abandon the cuase of war Oswald resigned from the Holy Guard and now travels his homeland preaching peace and protecting the innocent from the ravages of the war that even now threatens the fledgling nation of Ahrian.


Using Oswald in your Campaign
Obviously I've laid a lot of campaign specific detail into Oswalds description, this needn't be the case. I created that background based around the three tropes linked above. I suggest reading the tropes, and then creating your own background, after all as the DM you are the best source of knowledge about your campaign.

My personal suggestions would be to use Oswald as a mentor for the characters, or with a group of neutral or even evil aligned PCs Oswald makes a good adversary or rival.

Oswald the Wanderer CR8
Human Paladin 4/Fighter 4
LG Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Listen +2, Spot +2
Aura courage (10ft, +4 on saves against fear)
Languages Common, Elven

AC 23, touch 11, flat-footed 22
hp 55 (8 HD)
Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +6

Speed 20ft (4 squares)
Melee +1 Longsword +12 (1d8 +4/19-20)
Base +8; Grp +10
Atk Options Improved Disarm, smite good 1/day
Special Actions lay on hands 8 points/day turn undead 5/day (+2, 2d6+4)
Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds (1st)
Paladin Spells Prepared (CL 2nd)
1st---cure light wounds
Spell-Like Abilities
At will---detect evil

Abilities Str 16, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 14
SQ aura of good, divine grace, divine health
Feats Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Investigator, Knight's Training*, Mounted Combat, Negotiator
Skills Diplomacy +13, Handle Animal +13, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Ride +14, Sense Motive +9
Possessions combat gear plus +1 Full Plate, +1 Longsword, +1 Heavy Steel Shield, bedroll, explorer's outfit, flint and tinder, signet ring (order of the Holy Guard of Ahrian), silver holy symbol of Heironeous, and a belt pouch containing 80 pp, 182gp, and 9sp.

*Knight's Training is a feat from the Eberron Campaign Setting that allows a paladin to multiclass without penalty, if you are playing without the material from that book feel free to change Knight's Training to Skill Focus: Diplomacy to further enhance Oswald's reason over violence nature.

Whiteheart Heavy Warhorse Mount
Oswald's mount Whiteheart uses the same statistics as a regular heavy warhorse, just change the AC to 20 and he carries the following equipment

Possessions Banged Mail Barding, Bit and Bridle, Military Saddle, Saddlebags, Tent

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