Meet the players: Paiya

Even when the story begins, heroes in the world of Dungeons and Dragons are just that - heroes. What forces shaped them? What destiny guides them? Meet the players, and find out.

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Paiya, Half-elf Cleric

Player: Allison

Paiya grew up in an established town, Streamlan, primarily made up of humans, about a day’s travel outside of the capital city North Haven. Her mother was human; her father, an elf. Her father, Reed, in the midst of traveling, came to the town years ago with fantastical plans – blueprints for building cities, ideas of creating portals to other worlds, etc.

After falling in love with her mother, Reed settled down in the town, and none of his plans came to fruition. Paiya grew up under the constant frustration of her father, and the exasperation of her mother (who, while loving Reed for his ingenuity, never actually believed any of these plans to be of any use).

Paiya was never satisfied with the life in Streamlan, and was convinced that if she met the right people in the city nearby, she would finally achieve her ultimate goal of fame. She practically worshiped her father. She became star struck by Reed’s stories of cities in the sky and how he would become famous one day…. If only he could catch a break. Traveling merchants and minstrels would stop at the town to catch a night’s rest, and she would cling to every word they spoke. Stories of heroic adventurers and dragons sitting on mountains of riches mesmerized her.

A few times a year or so Paiya would spontaneously leave in the middle of the night to hitch a ride with a traveling merchant to visit the city. While these trips certainly vexed both of her parents, they were pleased when Paiya came back after traveling one day to announce that she had plans to become the next High Priestess of North Haven. Although in private her parents (mostly her mother) had a good laugh over this lofty goal, they were delighted that Paiya had finally found a calling in life as a cleric. Always flighty and impulsive, they never thought that Paiya would settle into doing anything of worth. And so they sent her off to North Haven for formal training.

Paiya is lithe with distinctly green eyes and jet-black hair. She’s somewhat immature, and is generally overly optimistic to a fault, but can take people off-guard with her insight and diplomacy skills.

Paiya travels and involves herself with adventurers mainly to hear people talk about her later. Being famous is her ultimate goal (she frequently mouths the name “High Priestess Paiya” to herself just for the sound of it), and she would love to have her name written in myths and legends. While this is primarily a selfish goal, she also believes that she would help her father live vicariously through her should she seriously become famous.

Paiya unquestionably worships Avandra, the goddess of change and luck. Paiya knows that her next break is just around the corner. Although squeamish with the thought of putting a sword through a foe, or drawing a bow and arrow, she excels at channeling Avandra’s spirit and healing and leading her companions.

Session 1

In which the players meet, consume snacks, and discover where the heck they actually are.

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First session! Sweet.

As you can probably imagine, our first session of 4E D&D involved quite a bit of stumbling and rule-checking - and, simply, learning how $#!+ works. Our two "experienced" players - DM Pete and player Ashley (Calen, Shifter Ranger) - were both over a decade out of practice and had "fond" memories* of THAC0 and other ancient conventions. It was as much a learning experience for them. Pete's first conclusion: "Combat takes a LOT longer... but it's also a lot more fun." Apparently at-will powers like Twin Strike and Eyebite** are more interesting than rolling 1d4 to swing your dagger. Even without the perspective, I'm inclined to agree.

Our original plan had been to use the published "Keep on the Shadowfell" adventure - level appropriate and fully realized, so Pete would be able to get his bearings on DMing before he started getting super-creative. Then we realized that KotS is, in fact, one of the adventures featured in the Penny Arcade podcasts... which meant most of us were already familiar with it, since the podcasts were what got us interested to begin with. A subscription to D&D Insider abruptly came to our rescue when we discovered that each issue of Dungeon includes several adventures - and the most recent ~5 issues have all featured the "Chaos Scar" as the setting for a large number of L1-5 adventures. Salvation!

So Pete asked us what had brought us together, and we asked him what had brought us together, and he explained that the temple of Avandra near the Scar had put out a call for adventurers to help with the evil festering on the far side of the King's Wall. So let's see...

Volk, Goliath warden: yeah, I'll help people in need against evil.

Kerrick, charismatic Eladrin wizard: fame and fortune? Volk between him and arrows? Sure!

Calen, Shifter ranger: as a Walker of the Unseen Path, eager to defeat the Scar's corruption.

Gift, Tiefling warlock: looking to prove himself and his newfound Pact.

Paiya, Half-elven cleric of Avandra: a representative of the temple to watch after the adventurers.

Sweet! It's a group, and we're all interested in facing evil!

Pete's really intent on elevating the role-play element as we progress, but feeding us an adventure for the first few session seemed the easiest course of action to get us into the game and help all of us learn the ropes. Much learning was certainly involved - but so was much getting-into. The afternoon flew by. What happened? Well, from the characters' perspective not a whole lot - we're new at this, after all. But there's definitely an in-character blog post's worth of "happened."

* No one actually has fond memories of THAC0. Some people are just delusional.

** I'm taking Fran's word on this one, since he missed every time he tried to use the spell. But it would have been "totally awesome."

Meet the players: Gift Connor

Even when the story begins, heroes in the world of Dungeons and Dragons are just that - heroes. What forces shaped them? What destiny guides them? Meet the players, and find out.

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Gift Connor, Tiefling Warlock

Player: Fran

The bundle on the doorstep could have been called many things. A mistake, perhaps - the inevitable culmination of too much wine or lust. A shame, maybe - yet another unwanted burden on a struggling city. Unwanted? Abandoned, certainly, and unwanted at least by his mother. But to the Sisters of Mercy who took the tiefling newborn in that night, the bundle - like every other child that found its way to their door - was a gift, and so that is what they named him.

In fact, the sisters gave the name "Gift" to every child they took in. It was a suggestion to each orphan that their name and who they could be was up to them to determine. Each was rechristened as he found his place in the world. But from the beginning, the young Tiefling was set apart from the other children.

Against the odds, Gift was adopted by a wealthy human family. He also never received a new name; "Gift" suited him and his new life. He grew up in the wealthy neighborhoods of the city where he played Adventurers and Goblins with the other children... but also among the myriad books of his parents' library. His appetite for knowledge was voracious. His parents' wealth and station gave him the opportunity to attend the Imperial University, where he dove into the study of history and the Arcane.

As human as they can be, Tieflings are a race of inevitability. Perhaps, therefore, it isn't surprising that Gift began to chafe at the restrictions and protocols that governed the University. He left the school, but continued his study of the world's magics through any means he could find. The Fey in particular fascinated him, and he delved deeply into the reckless, primal magic of the Feywild. Whether the portal he created was intentional or the result of an incantation gone wrong, Gift will not say. Either way, he passed through and found himself deep in the Feywild, cut off from the familiar world of his youth.

His knowledge of the Feywild was his salvation, and he eventually found his way to one of the great Eladrin cities. He spent years there, learning of the ancient powers that shaped the world and how to bend them to his will. Eventually he found a Crossing and returned to the mortal realm, but the power he gained there remains in his soul - twisted once by his Tiefling birthright, and again by his pact with the Fey.

Meet the players: Volk the Hammer

Even when the story begins, heroes in the world of Dungeons and Dragons are just that - heroes. What forces shaped them? What destiny guides them? Meet the players, and find out.

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Volk "The Hammer," Goliath Wild Warden

Player: Dan

As a child, Volk lived with his tribe in low mountains and hills near the coast. One day when he was still very young, a neighboring tribe attacked and destroyed his village. Those who survived and did not flee were taken prisoner and forced to march to the ocean, where their captors sold them to slavers.

Volk, just a boy, became an oarslave on a merchant ship that ran from port to port along the coast. The work was hard, and he grew strong and tough from his hours on the oars. He also grew large - as Goliaths generally do. By his late teens his physical presence intimidated the captain to the point that Volk was chained at all times, whether at the oars or in his cell at night. He was called "Troll" by the crew and his fellow slaves, thanks to his enormous size. Eventually the captain - a sour, nervous rake of a man - decided his strongest oarslave was simply not worth the risk to his crew and cargo, and put Volk up for auction.

He was bought by a half-orc named Grubak who owned an arena in the southern islands. Grubak dubbed him "Volk The Hammer" for his brutal effectiveness with maul and mace. Volk's Goliath heritage made him a spirited combatant and crowd favorite, and he learned to use his size to his greatest possible advantage. He became the star attraction of the previously unremarkable arena, especially after a dramatic fight between several gladiators and an immature Spitting Drake cost Volk his eye - but every other combatant his life. As Volk's fame grew, Grubak began receiving - and accepting - offers to bring him and the other fighters to larger events throughout the south.

During a voyage to one such competition, a summer storm surprised the ship carrying Volk and the other gladiators. The ship was destroyed by the monstrous waves, and Volk rode a piece of the shattered mast through the night, finally washing up on the shore of a deserted jungle island. Free after years of slavery, he thanked the God of Storms, Kord, and promised to honor him in all his pursuits. At first he struggled to survive on the island, but he came to understand and appreciate the natural rhythms of the earth, the jungle, and its inhabitants.

In time, those rhythms awakened the primal powers within him, and he took up the mantle of the Warden. He traveled the length and breadth of his small island, learning from it and its creatures the ways of the Primal Spirits. He revered the fierce tenacity of the boar as he hunted it for sustenance. He admired the cunning grace of the panther even as it stalked him in turn. He loved their freedom. He was independent and wild; never again would he be a slave to the will of another.

Years passed. Then one day the north wind whispered to him as he walked the beach, a long spear casually across his shoulders. This island is safe, it said.

The volcanic earth, the mountain that had risen from the seabed to form this island, rumbled beneath his feet. It is free.

The ocean waves pulled at his feet and he looked out over the ocean, to the northern horizon. Help those who are not.

The next day he began to construct a sturdy - if simple - raft. There was work to be done... beyond the horizon, on the continent he hadn't seen in so many years.

D&D Boston - the beginning

Every story has a beginning. This one begins with six friends, inspired to pick up Dungeons & Dragons ten or fifteen years after their first brushes with it. Some never or barely played; others created whole worlds for their friends and spun fantastic tales of adventure.

"Fantastic tales of adventure" sounds pretty good to me... so that's what we're going to do. Five players and a DM - let's see what happens next.