Oddball Parties: list yours here!

[Bismark]

While running my Turakian Age campaign (which is my first FH GMing for a LONG time), I realised that our party was a right mishmash of oddities, so I thought I would list them, and as well as inviting comments, see if other people have a party quite as 'out there' as this one...

 

I will start with the most 'normal' characters:

 

1. Restless Elven Noblewoman (from Elvenholme) out to build a reputation and score points off a rival [note: one cliché is avoided here - the player is female]. Has a rather spiffy brigandine corselet (7pt) and a magic longbow with no range mods. Can also cast a 10D6 EB thunderbolt spell or a wall of fog (when she can make the casting roll - she isn't very good at this). Has COM 20 and the 'Unearthly beauty' Distictive Feature.

 

2. A Druid (High Church priest of Almandré) who was on a pilgrimage to that stone tree but got sidetracked by the party. Fond of healing things, delivering babies, blasting bad guys with his 10D6 'Wrath of the Green' spell (straightforward energy blast) and hitting villains over the head with a cold iron ball-headed mace.

 

3. A Priest of Asvalak (from Keldravia - so he thinks of himself as a good guy and only carves up bad guys) with a banded mail (7pt) hauberk, 7 pt helmet, 5 pt vambraces and a BIG 2-H Axe that grumbles to him all the time (it is magical and is the 1-hex area effect 'minion-slaughterer'-type of weapon). Very fond of laying on hands before battle (Bloody Hands of Asvalak).

 

4. A Dwarf from the Vestrian highlands (a small isolated community) - complete with 'kilt', 'tartan', long braided hair and beard; has combat-enhancing spells that require him to chew on his beard and spit a lot while casting them); uses a magical armour-piercing Claymore. Since he spent some time in Aarn he got to know what foreign food was (especially fresh citrus fruits - he loves to eat lemons, and smears himself with the juice - as deodorant).

 

5. A 'Barking Mad' (it's on his disadvantage list) student of Necromantic lore at the Aarn Mages Guild; studies Necromancy because his parents were killed by undead and he now wants to know everything there is to know about necromancy - the better to hurt undead with. Was brought up by the guild, who indulge his hobby because they know that he is a GOOD GUY (if somewhat unhinged). Knows LOTS of protection from infernal/undead spells and offensive anti-infernal/undead spells as well. Has a morbid fear of badgers (?????!!!!!).

 

6. A vat-grown cat-woman hybrid (someone has been watching too much animé, methinks), whose master (a mage at the Aarn mages guild) was killed in mysterious circumstances. Is your classic thief/light fighter type. Has no spells, but regenerates 1 BODY per hour if injured. Has other 'talents' best left undescribed (use your imagination), but a 20 COM is a bit of a clue...

 

 

7. A renegade (i.e. on the run and Hunted by his fellows) Serpent-Man from the caverns beneath Indushara; he's an albino and recently the Serpent-Men have started to purge all 'abnormalities' from their gene pool - dear old Kal-Turak's influence is making them even more unpleasant than usual. Uses Shadow Magic to mask his appearance and can animate corpses; he is not exactly a good guy, but he's not evil either [he works on the 'enemy of my enemy' principle]. His cover got 'blown' recently - luckily it was other party members that saw him first.

 

We are apparently getting an eighth player in a couple of weeks - I believe we will be acquiring a Drakine character (score another one for inter-species harmony); no idea what his speciality will be, but knowing the player as I do I will expect warrior-magery of some sort.

 

And this lot are supposed to help save the world...

[teh bunneh]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Good idea for a thread. Not sure if this team counts as "oddball" (though I suppose any group who bands together in order to slay monsters and save the world is oddball in a way...) This is my group from my own homegrown fantasy world:

 

1) Luc le Loup -- A great swordsman from the cold wastes of Masube (think medieval Russia). He's from peasant stock, and wanted to make something of himself that involved more than digging potatoes. Has a morbid fear of frogs. He speaks with a French accent. Why a Russian speaks with a French accent is a long, strange story.

 

2) Nikolette "Niko" Taggerrun Farwander Windrider Spiderslayer Efreetfriend Wolfchaser -- A Hobbit rogue. Relentlessly cheerful. She's from the nation of Demoria, and she is annoyingly patriotic (to the point where she will often discount others' opinions because they're "foreigners"). She is a professional treasure-finder and tomb-breaker -- it's a point of pride that she "Never robs from those who are still alive to miss it."

 

3) Cori of the Lion Clan -- A horsewoman from the Plains of Morjiim. She was born... different. Her skin looks and feels like sandstone, and her hair feels like iron wool. It is surmised that she has some otherworldly creature in her bloodline (really, you think?). She has a pet dog named "Fang," who is the greatest coward in the world (mostly because we kept forgetting to use him in combat; eventually it became the running joke) and a war-stallion called "Rock" who is about the meanest horse in the world.

 

4) Siunetherit -- A member of the mysterious, immortal race of Osirans, descended from the gods themselves. She is a priestess of Isis, and conceals her face at all times behind a lapis and silver mask. Why an immortal demigoddess wants to hang around this bunch of mortals is unknown. Her two favorite spells are "Summon the Wrath of Ra" (a very big Indirect RKA) and Healing.

 

5) Beohorn Beowildsson -- A wizard from the far northern wastes. He dresses, looks, and acts like a barbarian warrior, so his foes are often surprised when he blasts them with a fireball instead of coming at them when an axe. He has no common sense at all. In fact, if it were possible to have "negative" common sense, he would have that.

 

6) Tevari -- A young girl with alabaster skin and bright red hair. She is convinced that she is descended from dragons -- she often has prophetic dreams, and most of them involve dragons in some way. She has some minor (and barely controllable) spellcasting ability, but mostly she is a forester.

 

Bill.

[Curufea]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Mine's so odd, I'm finding it quite challenging to work out a way to get them together. I'll start with the most normal

 

1) An elderly human mage, with an interest in immortality and a very powerful magical staff. A bit of a reputation and his activities are regarded as illegal by TPTB (The Powers That Be - ie the Church). Luckily he is quite wealthy and able to afford a measure of security.

2) An heir to a March (a Margrave - or if French, a Marquis) who fled the political intriguing that lost him his peerage and became a mercenary in the spartan-arabic lizardman empire, which regards strength as the highest virtue and almost killed him through their xenophobic tendencies to send non-reptiles on suicide missions.

3) An ex-Dornican pirate who made a deal with Loki and stole a spell from some druids. Now an assassin masquerading as a bard.

4) An ex-feline mage, reknowned for his magical skills in the nearby feline matriarchal empire, caught in a magical accident with a beast and had his mind swapped to its body, with no memory (or skills or anything else)

[Badger]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Bismark that necromantic character is smart. He would do well to be afraid of badgers.

 

Anyway if the non-Fantasy, Dark Champion-style counts. My group of oddballs would consist of

 

1) Frosty Bob- immortal ex-green beret turned mercenary, whose main goal in life is to shoot guns and chase women. And this guy is pretty much the leader. Became immortal due to being so helpful to Death. Long story.

 

2) Well this was my character (superbadger). Half-alien. Alien race was modeled after the Saiyans (had been watching way too much DBZ at the time). Other half was Irish. Irish-Saiyan? Talk about short temper, but anyway.

 

3) Weasel (had a name like Psycho, or something in front but always called Weasel- the power armor guy, a mathematics prefessor by trade. Seemed like a coward, although it was more of a try to figure out a plan while the rest just rushed in. Armor was equipped with a powerful cannon.

 

4) Bumblefly (and the name is the most normal thing about him)- physically modeled after the little midget from Island of Dr Moreau (the one that hung around Brando). His powers were MacGuyverish. And since the character in island of Dr. Moreau was apparently mute. Our guy also was. Communicated in hand signals that apparently only Superbadger and Bob could truly understand. (Weasel, a "newcomer" later learned it)

[Victim]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Why is this party a party? (D- for teamwork; A+ for raw power)

 

Xel: Xel is manipulative devil that was built by a crazy archmage 500 years ago. He's sneaky, subtle, and has magic powers that he never uses at full power.

 

Atticus Fitch: Atticus is supposed to be a badass assassin, one of the two greatest in the land. But he's pretty much a pansy, and unlucky to boot. He was mostlyn useless, and took tons of crap because of it. Note that this wasn't really his fault, the player has no killer instinct so many of his abilities were wasted. Any real assassin would have killed most of the group in their sleep rather than put up with all the insult we threw his way - he could have found some way to get paid out of it, so don't say it's professionalism. He dies in duel with his rival and is replaced with:

 

Correlon. Take a made in Hong Kong version of Legolas and add in some magic and divinely powered archery. You now have Correlon. He has no personality, but surfs around on a flying carpet and shoots arrows amazingly well (if he can magic up) and has some decent spells.

 

Urug uk Grimnar: Urug is an elite beserking warrior from an evil empire. This half orc is also a tribal chieftan, and wants to remove his tribe from the empire's oppresive grasp - so he can train his orcs to be more like a Roman Legion than a horde. His tribe is more of a liability than an asset, because vanilla orcs suck. However, the tribe's shaman is a notable exception:

 

Grumshalar: Grumshalar is priest of the orc god and thinks Urug is that god's chosen. He doesn't win friends with his charming personality (because he's an abrasive ass fanatically devoted to his vicious god and Urug), but most of the group doesn't care because of his amazing skill with enhancement magic. Still, Grumshalar and Correlon barely avoid fighting to the death upon a few occasions - maybe because Correlon does his own buffs.

 

Laura Emberblossom: Laura is a military wizard specializing in mass destruction (think low grade megascale). She's arrogant, sarcastic, prudish, bad tempered, and maybe a little crazy. But defending her feudal kingdom from the evil empire for nearly her entire life has got to count for something right? Yep, High Treason - notice how she's not there at the moment. Urug doesn't like Laura. Her killing ten of thousands of his people might have something to do with it.

 

Gawain is a land holding noble and paladin from the same country as Laura. Between his skills, divine smitings, and the fact that he rides a dragon, he might be greatest mounted combat expert in the world. Despite his awe inspiring presence, he tends to say things like "Shut up old man and give me a discount," which kind of ruins the effect.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Well, I've only ever had one FH party. And they were a tightly knit, cohesive bunch. (I have posted them before...)

 

Of course, there is a few oddities.

 

A knight. his noble steed. his enchanted sword. and his squire.

 

No, full stops, not commas. Presenting....

 

Parsifal:

Handsome, dashing, none too bright... stronger than a herd of elephants, has gills, regenerates like a troll... did I mention he's about 1/32 a member of almost every sentient humanoid species in the world? Oh yeah, and heir to the throne of (never got named). On a quest to recover his betrothed!

 

Schwert. His sword. Centuries old, intelligent, flying, singing, sonic powers. Fond of karaoke. Never used as a sword in actual play.

 

Equos: The intelligent equine's equivalent of Parsifal. Could become Unicorn, Centaur, Nightmare, Hippocampus, Pegasus at will.

 

James: Elemental Sorceror, squire, prince of the Elementals in disguise.

[paigeoliver]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

I dunno if these are oddball, but here they go.

 

Game is rules cyclopedia D&D. House rules put thief abilities at 3 levels higher than normal, because they were rediculously low in that version of the game. In my game elves stop aging after reaching an apparent age of somewhere inbetween 20 and 40 (varies from elf to elf). They will live forever unless killed, and never get sick (except magical sicknesses), but this comes at a price. They do not have souls, there is no afterlife for them, and raise dead only works on them if it is done quickly, raising an elf more than a few days dead will just create a living vegetable.

 

The characters are adventuring in "The Borderlands" and are currently about 1000 years in the past (at least as most of them see it). The last mission was the battle of Otterville, which found most of the characters aboard a goblin airship (packed with explosives), with a big rip in the air balloon, losing altitude fast.

 

Meriyc Stonecutter - Stereotypical dwarven warrior. When the group was caught looting a dragon's hoard by the returning dragon he used his first action to finish stuffing as much loot in his pack as possible!

 

Thysaline - Elf (Fighter-mage). We don't know a lot about him yet, he is replacement character for the presumed-dead "Vaine". He is an oddball in the sense that he is the ONLY character in the group in his own time, everyone else in the group is temporally displaced (the whole group went through time a few times and is now 1000 years in the past). Has a romantic interest in Becky, she has not even noticed him at all yet.

 

Megan - Cleric, age 20. Megan is a complete space cadet who inadvertantly created her own religion. Her god "blocky" is the all-emcompassing cube. She was the source of the religion in the first place, she visited the future and found a temple to blocky, which reinforced her faith in her (invented) diety. She quickly went with the rest of the group to the past, high on her recent discovery she began telling people about blocky en-mass. She was given a staff of healing (heals an unlimited number of people per day, but only once per person), to use at the battle of Otterville. She used it to heal thousands that day, and in doing so firmly established her religion and in effect made her god real (in my campaign universe dieties are born from the faith of their worshippers). She spends most of her time talking to her holy symbol, which is a cube. She has a platonic friendship with the much older "Don", but she is not interested in romance. She is not close to any of the other characters, and had a distinct dislike for the (now-deceased) Vaine. Megan is a tall robust girl with plenty of meat on her bones, and she is not particularly attractive.

 

Donald the Dampf - Warrior, age 43. Donald spent his life as a shopkeeper. Then one day at age 42 he decided that he should have followed his youthful dreams. He closed up shop, hired out with the first adventuring group to come along, and never looked back. Don is tall wiry fellow, he is immensely strong and dextrous, but has a CON of only 9. He is a Paladin candidate if there ever was one. He wields a 7 foot long sword (Ruiner), which was retrieved from the lair of the Goblin King Jarl (whom Don later faced in personal combat at the Battle of Otterville). Don will take leadership whenever anyone else does not step up to the role, although he prefers not to lead. Don has a frustratingly platonic relationship with Megan. In recent times he has realized that she is only in love with herself and Blocky, and thus he is on the lookout for someone new.

 

Becky Helicopter - Elf (Warrior-Mage), age unknown. Becky was purchased as an elven slave child over 1500 years ago (from the reference time that the campaign began). She was purchased by the time-travelling wizard Reneshat who raised her as his own daughter. Not even she knows how old she is because Reneshat and her lived in several different time periods. She is an adult however, and has been for decades. Becky's last name comes from the fact that as a child she had a toy helicopter (that Reneshat had brought from the far, far future), and she loved to ask for it in the form of "Becky Helicopter", while she was still learning the common language. Becky is packed with foreknowledge of the future, much of which often turns out wrong (timeline keeps changing). She is currently afflicted with two entire sets of memories of her adult life, one as the player's remember, and one as a fugitive from a corrupt humanoid empire. There are actually 2 copies of Becky alive in the current campaign area (1000 years back from the reference point), an adult Becky, and a child Becky. The adult and child Becky have never met, but most of the rest of the party has met both of them. Becky was away from the party for several months of gametime (she did not travel back in time with them originally), she instead came back in time with Reneshat later on, showing up at the Battle of Otterville.

 

Kelly Green - Male human thief, age 28. Carries a sword in each hand for flavor, even though the game system doesn't reward that in any manner. He is rather quiet, but comes up with lots of plans, and is always interested in equipment.

 

Julie - Female halfling warrior apparent age early 20s. Julie is a nice dumb girl, she likes to shoot her bow and is scared to death of giant insects. She is great at sneaking around (Elven cloak and boots), and is very useful in a fight, as long as there are no giant insects (she WILL NOT engage one in hand to hand, she will flee if one even starts to move her way). Julie is innocent, and doesn't even know what the big picture is half the time. She is the character most likely to keep pretty treasures (as opposed to selling them for gold), and is the ONLY character in the party capable of riding a Unicorn.

 

Brandy - Male halfing warrior, apparent age mid 30s. Brandy is very unsure of himself. He was dragged into all this mess by his wife, who is fearless. He lost her once (she was killed adventuring back before he was an adventurer himself), and he saved is postal carrier wages for a decade in order to have enough money to hire out a group (the player's group), to retrieve the body and get it raised. Since then he has just joined up with her to look after her, but HE is the one that usually needs the looking after.

 

Kerra - Female halfling warrior, apparent age late 20s (was dead for 8 years, so her same age husband appears a bit older than her). Kerra is a fearless warrior, she prefers leather armor so that she can run faster. She drew the first pick in selecting treasure after one scenario and firmly selected the most powerful weapon, even though it was too large for her. Well she just wields her 6' magical quarterstaff like it was a baseball bat, and smacks whatever she pleases. Kerra's is married to Brandy, and is good friends with Julie as well. Her current condition is unknown, she stayed on the ground at the battle of Otterville to lead a halfling group, while the bulk of the player's went on a mission to take out the goblin airship.

 

Vaine (Human wizard, missing presumed dead). - Vaine went into an abandoned space station with the party, split off from the group, and was never seen again. No body was ever found, and the station was searched. Vaine was (is?), selfish, bitter, in love with Megan (who despises him), willing to betray his friends, and he HATES Don with a passion.

 

 

NPCS.

 

Grond. Orcish chosen one. Lawful Orc, leader of the halfling-orcish kingdom. Grond is more properly a Demigod. He is fearless and good, but has a definite temper, and a dark side that becomes more and more pronounced each time the player's see him. They already know (from their own time), that Grond will eventually turn completely evil, but that the things he is still fated to do before then are so important that they must be allowed to happen. Abilitywise Grond is a warrior in the mid-teens level wise. He can also cast clerical and magical spells innately (one per round, no casting required, he can cast while doing another action), apparently as a cleric and mage of around 14th level. His spells are completely innate, he does not have to memorize, nor pray for them, but he is limited in the number of them that he can cast per day. After his death Grond will be entombed in a giant deathtrap tomb which will take the life of Kerra, and hundreds of others as well.

 

Reneshat - Think "Doc Brown" from Back to the Future. Time travelling wizard, who usually uses other people to accomplish his goals. He regularly visits himself, and because of the many temporal changes he has been involved in, he has memories of all sorts of things that never ended up happening. Reneshat died snapping a Rod of Wizardry at the Battle of Otterville. But he is still very much alive, as the Reneshat that died there was in his 70s, while the Reneshat that the player's tend to meet seems to vary between 35 and 55.

[Guest joen00b]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

The current group:

 

1) Martial Artist, I had mentioned in the other thread how we're trying to take all the stereotypical motivations for martial artists in Chop Socky films and wrap them all up into one. Since I always take great liberties, I made a monastery in upper Khirkovy where he is from. He was raised there his entire life like the Shao-Lin are. When he reached 20, he was sent out to find the 'Universal Truth' and return with the answer. Since then, he kind of got mixed up in a mercenary band and has been hanging with them ever since.

 

2) An ex-pirate of the high seas who got a little to close to being caught, so he changed his look and went inland, getting off his true love, the ocean, but has been running around Lake Baralka alot until he too got caught up in the border wars and joined the merc group. He's still as salty as the sea and misses it dearly, hoping one day to drop the facade of his fake life as a merc and return to life as the infamous pirate he once was. The price on his head got way too high, and he couldn't go anywhere without someone gunning for him. Merc life hasn't been much easier.

 

3) A rich kid with a knack for magic got mixed up in the wrong elements and before he knew it, he was a rather powerful necro of some small fame. He was given a large stipend of cash secretly from his mother when his father disowned him, as they were a very religious family, his older brother being a priest and all. He was smart enough to turn that stack of cash intoo lands and holdings and build it up into a grandiose sum within a few years. Unfortunately, he's rather absent minded and forgets about all the stuff he owns. He has no want or need for cash anymore, he's as wealthy as some of the richest merchants, so he decided to see how the other half lives. He joined the Merc Group out of boredom and to see what it is like. He quickly learned what it means to dig latrine trenches and the like and has been hating life since he joined the Merc Group. But, being in the magic portion of the Merc Group, he did sign a contract that expired when the leader of the mercs company did. He's unsure what to do now, as the last three years of his life were basically scripted for him, he always had somewhere to be and something to do when he was in the mec group, and he's learning that as much as he hated it, he's missign it just the same.

 

4) Eldest daughter to the Baron of Brecon, personal council to the Duke of Brecon, she was betrothed to 'Prince Donverness' in Skeld. Being politcally savvy, she knew her marriage would validate the wants of Duke Donverness who would use this marriage to cecede from Vestria, effectively starting a Civil War. She took off with small meager belongings and struck out for adventure! She was taught by the finest swordsmen in Northern Vestria, so she knew how to swing the thing around, but real battle is much different than training with someone that doesn't want to injure her. She quickly picked up the slack and was able, with her knowledge of politics, able to get to the rank of Corporal in the Merc Group. Since the merc group has disbanded, she is looked to for guidance from the people from the company she travels with now.

 

5) One half of the 'bruiser brothers', this dwarf is a mean, surly creature that would just as soon sink his axe into someone's noggin than to debate. Might makes right and dammit, he's the strongest around. Generally quiet and moody, he channels all his pent up anger and aggression in battles. Because of this, battles seem to happen alot around him. Diplomacy is lost on him, and he can think of no greater legacy than to die in combat along side his brother.

 

6) The other dwarf is the healer of the group, and the polar opposite of his younger brother. He's kind, considerate, well mannered, and loves to help people. He'd much rather talk his way through a situation than to have it go to battle, but if it must, it must, and he's just as mean and vicious as his brother in battle. Once the battle engages, he's a whirlwind of activity, smiting the enemy and healing his comrades, making sure to handle things 'in person' too with his mace and shield. Though kind and into diplomacy, he's never backed down from a fight and takes great relish in taking out enemies in the name of Gundarak.

 

We have one more person joining the group this week, but he's not returned any background information. It's a pretty hodge podge group, and they don't always get along, but they tend to get the job done when the need arises.

[Rick R Mortis]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

OK, they're D&D, but I think they define Oddball...

 

Actually, there's three parties of Oddballs from three different games. Group one are called the "Jokes", short for the "Sunday Night Jokes".

 

Anna Conda - Human Atheist cleric. She has the power of non-belief, a power that has done amazing things. She has bought people back to life with her refusal to believe in an afterlife. Anna is amazingly rational and has a belief in the greater human consciousness, despite all evidence to the contrary. She is also very large and carries a morningstar to add weight to her augments. Party Co-leader.

 

Ryan – Human, um, thief. Ryan is the most nondescript man in the universe. He’s a tallish, shortish, fat, thin, blond brown haired man who’s about yay tall and looked a bit like that other guy, you know. He’s a troublemaker, an opportunist, an independent-minded rebel, danger magnet, smartest man around and the party’s co-leader. There is surprisingly little else to say about him, which is just how he likes it.

 

Tyesha – Elf Monk. Elves are patient, serene and delicate. Tyesha is a crazed screaming maniac who makes people’s heads explode with her fist. She screams, charges around the landscape and gets antsy if she can’t kick someone in the head. Probably insane. She wears magical panties of armour. Don’t ask. Likes to spend “quality time†with Ryan, in which they devise new ways to get in trouble.

 

Danae – Human sorceress with huge charisma. No, really. Vain, self-centered, self-important and egotistical. She’s also easily excitable and likes to blow sh!t up. Her favorite quote is “FIREBALL FIREBALL FIREBALL FIREBALL!†followed by, well… a fireball. Flirts with all the men in the party, with a handful of exceptions. Likes shiney things, the easy life and explosions. Hates the arch-villain with a passion only for sharing her name

 

Belgarith (aka “Bel) – Human Paladin. Thick as a plank, but very wise. And shiny. Just smart enough to know how stupid he is. Athiest, but in a different way to Anna. Favorite quote: “Dieeeeuuhhh…â€. All in all one of the party’s most sensible members, which says a lot. Has a horse called Binky who’s far smarter then he is.

 

Rosalind – Elf Ranger. She is a real problem for the party, in so far as she’s normal. No, really. Everyone else is nuts. She has made up for this by, of late, whinging about her lack of a sex life. She has an animal companion, a dire wolf called Fluffy. She set out on a quest searching for something. She has no idea what, but will know it when she finds it.

 

Letitia – Human Fighter. Letitia is a big scary woman who carries a very big sword. But she’s surprisingly nice, actually. Tends to get intro trouble and then end up laying waste to everything around her. Spectacularly violent when she wants to be. She’s the long-lost twin sister of one of the PCs from another group.

 

Cristilite (aka Chris) – Elf Wizard. A trainee wizard who joined the group in the latest session, He’s on a mission to find someone, but he has no idea who. But he’ll know them when he sees them. Makes lots of rookie mistakes, like killing innocent bystander people.

 

There’s a number of recurring NPCs, but only one has worked with the group on a long-term basis.

 

Dean – Human mage. A student wizard, totally wusse-boy. He’s nice, but inexperienced and a little clueless. Enjoys magic theory, but helpless in the field. Tyesha toys with him constantly. I think he likes her.

 

There’s also a pair of PCs who are no longer around… but have had some profound effects.

 

Rand Cadfael (aka Rand the Joke, Piss Off Rand, That elf, Menace to Society, Tyesha’s bitch, etc) – Elf Ranger. Rand was useless. This is because his player was either incredibly stupid or had no idea what she was doing. Rand would stand at the back of the party and shoot arrows at random people. He would start fights and then run away. He once helped to torture a helpless prisoner who had already confessed everything, shot a Dragon that was watching the party and not doing anything else, and let a dangerous necromancer go free because he “seemed like a nice blokeâ€. Rand was completely mindless and would do anything he was told.

 

The player left the game, so he became an NPC. Was later executed for treason.

 

Firebrand Garl (aka Torch) – Half Orc Fighter. Brutal, amoral and ruthless. Liked Rand because Rand did whatever Torch told him to. Had no truck with subtlety, manners, and other niceties of civilization. Unlike Rand, he was being played by someone who knew exactly what they were doing. Loved getting into fights and collecting monster trophies. Kinda just wandered off.

[Rick R Mortis]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Second up is the Quack Experimental D&D team. The name says it all, really. They run under the same GM in the same campaign world and the same timeframe, constantly jumping a month or two ahead or behind the jokes due to matters of travel times, downtime, character death and replacement and the entire party being turned to stone. The practical upshot of which is that they are responsible for 70-80% of everything bad going on in the campaign world by accident.

 

Although they shift members a lot, the current roster is Taphalt, Fish, Vincent and Yorda.

 

Taphalt Spring – Explosive Human Sorcerer. If the team is responsible for most of the badness in the world, then Taphalt is responsible for most of the team’s stupid mistakes that unleash such badness. He’s the closest thing they have to a leader, which is a problem given that he’s an impulsive, reckless and foolhardy maniac with the attention span of a two-year old on a sugar buzz. Not actually a bad person, but never really thinks things through. Taphalt is played by a government employee who knows precisely what he’s doing, and loves every second of it. Oh yeah, and he looks like Vash the Stampede.

 

Taph’s two favourite quotes are “What does this do?†and “I shouldn’t have done that.â€

 

Fish (aka the Large Armoured Knight Guy, and Citizen Fish) – Human Fighter. The eternal straight man to Taphalt’s madcap antics. Remarkably sensible, but ends up going along with Taphalt anyway when his objections are ignored. Carries the ‘Moral Clarity’ sword, a holy weapon that lets him know if someone deserves to be hit after he hits them. It doesn’t really matter; Fish has a tendency to kill people, giants, trolls, monsters, mutated chimera thingies, defective hydras, snake men, etc. in a single blow anyway. Letitia’s twin brother.

 

Steve – (aka Steve the Barbarian) Human Barbarian. Steve wandered into civilization one day looking for a horse and decided he didn’t like it. Once he had a horse, he realized the rest of his tribe had wandered off, and decided to hang around with Fish and Taphalt. Steve didn’t believe in such advanced concepts as doors, books, writing, cities or agriculture, and thought that anything you couldn’t pack onto a horse and ride off with was a very bad idea. Took up hunting bizarre monsters for fun. Was eventually killed by an enraged troll that was at least three times his size. The party honoured his barbarian traditions by burying him on a longboat that they put out to sea and set fire to. With his horse.

 

Enadar – Human Cleric. Replacement character for Steve. Often referred to as the world’s dodgiest cleric. Enadar was drawn to the party while investigating the odd goings-on that followed them around and were often their fault. Enadar was constantly looking for ways to swindle those around him (party included!) and get into trouble, and only seemed to encourage Taphalt. Their morgue raid plan is still spoken of in hushed tones wherever thieves gather. Enadar was turned to stone with the rest of the party and carted off, current whereabouts unknown.

 

Vincent – Human Rogue. Replacement character for Enadar. Hired by Colin, the only survivor of the petrification incident, to find and save the party. For a wandering wilderness folksy traveling sort, it’s surprising how much of his life revolves around money. Nobody really knows what he does with it all. Has seen more of the campaign world than most people, but the rest of the party still manage to surprise him on a daily basis. Remarkably concerned with the current state of the world; he likes it and doesn’t want it to go away.

 

Despite having a lot of PCs, there are only three players, so the party has been filled out with successive NPCs…

 

Colin – Raven Familiar. Taphalt’s wisecracking, sass-talking familiar, Colin is remarkably afraid of a fair fight despite the fact that he’s survived worse than the rest of the party and, thanks to a pile of leftover magical gear, is practically indestructible. Colin runs messages for the party and joins in fights only when he thinks no-one will see him or Taphalt insists. His greatest moment was killing the owl familiar of a powerful wizard because “It was giving me sass.â€

 

Igor – Dwarf Cleric. Igor was a very sensible, no-nonsense kind of guy who mostly stuck with the rest of the party to keep them out of the worst of their own trouble. Didn’t do much more than heal them and get dragged along. Was killed by a combination of giant beetle and psychotic kobold when Taphalt abandoned his watch in the middle of the night to go look for shiny things.

 

Twitzel Zappa – Innocent Human Bystander. A mysterious woman that Taphalt found in suspended animation under a wizard’s tower. Naturally, he had to ‘save’ her, and drag her across country. Lacking any memory, she was arbitrarily named Twitzel Zappa by Taphalt, and wandered behind the party for a while, acting as a sounding board for Steve and Taphalt. Eventually ran across a magical staff that spoke; Taphalt thought it was a good idea to give it to the confused girl, and it lead her to release a devil prince. Also Taph’s fault. Eventually regained her memory and is now the party’s sworn enemy.

 

Mauser – Human Ranger. A bodyguard, hired for Enadar as he set about his mission for his church. Despite his combat prowess, Mauser was as thick as a block of wood, but was at least sensible enough to know how dull he was, and just kept his mouth shut all the time. Bore the brunt of Enadar’s mistakes and kept him out of trouble. Petrified along with the rest of the party; current whereabouts unknown.

 

Yorda – Elven Wizard/Cleric. On again, off again associate of the party, Yorda spent most of her time in the luxury of civilization, researching the various ancient disasters Taphalt had let loose. Of course, spending most of her time researching fiends from the lower planes caught a bit too much attention, and she soon found herself being dragged off. Rescued by the party, and has been following them since, providing support and pulling their heads out from between their shoulders. Hasn’t had a decent bath in weeks, and doesn’t mind telling everyone.

[Rick R Mortis]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

And last, but definitely not least, is the Multi-Culture Pals. A different world and different GM this time. The party wouldn’t hold together without a common goal, and this one is to save the world from their evil village-burning duplicates. Then again, they may just kill each other first.

 

Oskar Thordin Ungar of the Sentinels – Dwarf Cleric. Oskar is by far and away the most sensible member of the party, which makes him a lone voice crying in the night. He set out from his home to see the world and bring its wisdom to his people, but quickly discovered that the greater world didn’t have any, so he decided he’d bloody well give them some. Despite being wise and intelligent, he is an awful wimp who gets winded easily and drops with the first hit. Something approaching the party’s leader; more to the point, he keeps them on the track they’ve set for themselves.

 

Sasha – Human Rogue. A young, attractive blonde woman introduced herself to the party by saying that she worked at the docks, and it went downhill from there. What she omitted was that she worked for the local thieves’ guild, and has powerful underworld connections pretty much everywhere. Has her own idea about the party’s direction, and spends hours at a time arguing the point with Oskar.

 

Jill Vader (aka the Insanely Powerful Jill Vader) – Human Fighter. Tall, sinister and with a disturbingly friendly grin, Jill makes up the party’s frontline muscle. She thinks nothing of plowing through two or three opponents at a time, but holds a special place in her heart for spellcasters. That is, she has trained especially to kill them. She comes from a weird religious background and believes that magic is a dangerous power that should only be wielded by those responsible enough. Unfortunately, she decides who that is.

 

Ro – Gnome Druid. Ro lives so close to the earth and nature that she often takes it with her. A firm believer in the natural order, Ro does most things in a traditional way – such as eating raw meat, sleeping out in the open and not bathing. Rides upon Ferret the Wonder Dog, an animal companion and trained attack dog who is also the party’s third strongest fighter. Arguably the second most sensible party member which is a real problem.

 

Teandra – Halfling Sorceress. Teandra was content with a simple, comfortable home life, which became a real problem when she was dragged up on charges from her evil doppelganger. She provides the party with home-cooked meals on the road and heavy fire support, just as long as she doesn’t have to work too hard or take a share of the watches. Refuses to go anywhere without a hearty breakfast

 

Lyssa – Elven Wizard. A simple student at a magical college, Lyssa was swept up into events only for having an evil duplicate. She is one of the least suited adventurers ever, and will not even go near a fight, preparing to use her spells to bolster the party’s combatants and then run away. She originally seemed to be a delicate and harmless girl until she started slaughtering captive orcs wholesale.

 

Horri – Elven Ranger. A well-presented, impeccably mannered archer who refuses to tell anyone just where he’s from. He mostly hangs back and provides fire support, letting Jill do all the real killing. One of the most morally flexible party members, he seems to have little trouble with torturing and killing surrendered or captive opponents, as long as they’re orcs.

 

Iggy Ug – Human Barbarian. And odd young woman from the plains who was sent to the big city to attend “barbarian finishing school.†This encompassed lessons on when to and not to rage, how to pick out the best leather and furs for each season, and just what a chamber pot is used for anyway. She ran into the party and helped them kill the local highlord a couple of times, then decided to travel with them because they seemed like fun. Almost as scary in a “happy killing machine†way as Jill Vader.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Oddball Parties: list yours here!

 

Hmm...... Try This:

Tarzan of the Bobcats

Xena

Knight in Dark Leather (Me)

Circe De Solie "combatant"

 

Group Died.

 

Tarzan of the Bobcats

Xena with Psycho Xena Clone Follower

Psycho Dwarf(Me)

Psycho Indian

Wolf Rider

Druid-who-is-not-a-DND-Druid (Bastard Sword, Longbow, Ghost powered VPP, Mage magics, ) (me)

 

group broke up

 

Political Bard

Mage who Hunts

Eagle Totem Indian

Druid-who-is-not-a-DND-Druid (Bastard Sword, Longbow, Ghost powered VPP, Mage magics, ) (me)

Psycho Dwarf(me)

Earth Priest