30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 6: Favorite Deity

TYR

D&D has done its fair share of poaching from mythologies all over the world.  My original Paladin was a servant of Torm, who in turn is a servant of Tyr.  I never thought much of Tyr back then but I greatly enjoy the legend now.  Courtesy of Wikipedia.

According to the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, at one stage the gods decided to shackle the Fenris wolf (Fenrir), but the beast broke every chain they put upon him. Eventually they had the dwarves make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir. It appeared to be only a silken ribbon but was made of six wondrous ingredients: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, bear's sinews (meaning nerves, sensibility), fish's breath and bird's spittle. The creation of Gleipnir is said to be the reason why none of the above exist.  Fenrir sensed the gods' deceit and refused to be bound with it unless one of them put his hand in the wolf's mouth.

Tyr, known for his great wisdom and courage, agreed, and the other gods bound the wolf. After Fenrir had been bound by the gods, he struggled to try to break the rope. Fenrir could not break the ribbon and enraged, bit Tyr's right hand off. When the gods saw that Fenrir was bound they all rejoiced, except Tyr. Fenrir will remain bound until the day of Ragnarök. As a result of this deed, Tyr is called the "Leavings of the Wolf"; which is to be understood as a poetic kenning for glory. After a heartbreaking battle (of Ragnarök) Fenrir swallowed Odin the All-father, whole.

 A man willing to make sacrifices, a bold man whose strength is only superior to Thor and his son Magni.  Tyr is a mighty god who does not garner much spotlight.  It's a shame, his (Norse) origin is a lot more compelling than Ilmaters.  As for his D&D Origins, a man struck blind for questioning the Ur-God is a great lesson in Hubris, and his hand is conveniently bitten by a fancy wolf.  My last character before I was pulled into a newer edition was a reflavored Ruby Knight Vindicator dedicated to sentencing the Guilty.  Nothing quite like taking Dogma to an extreme.

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 5: Favorite Dice

Day 1 Can be found here.
Day 2 Favorite Playable Race
Day 3 Favorite Playable Class

Day 4 Favorite Gameworld


My original set of dice will always hold the nostalgic edge.

Below are my favorite d8's on account of their peculiar shape as well as my favorite d6, given to me by a friend long, long ago in a campaign far away.

I have a dear friend's wedding this weekend so days 6-8 will likely be posted on Sunday.

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 4: Favorite Gameworld

Day 1 Can be found here.
Day 2 Favorite Playable Race

Day 3 Favorite Playable Class

Assuming we are discounting home-brewed settings then I will rely on the limited experience I have with published campaign settings. Dark Sun has always held a special appeal to me, very Science Fiction with my favorite dose of combat: gladiatorial.  My experienc is extremely limited so I am hesitant to call it a favorite.    Likewise with Greyhawk, while I adore the modules I've never felt an interconnecting atmosphere within it and a gameworld is more merely the content of its dungeons, as magnificent as they may be.  Dragonlance is a great setting for reading but I've never felt the need to play in it.

I've played a lot in the Forgotten Realms of Faerun and I've read quite a bit of pulp on it.  That said while the Baldur's Gate series does a fantastic job at making a memorable setting I've had nothing but trouble running it and playing in it.  I'm afraid it is a setting that is simply too fleshed out, there is little room to go without tripping over something already existent.

That said there is one particular exception to that, the frigid northern wastes.  The Iceland Dales.  Always holding a warm place in my heart (and an art style I adore) it brings about a yearning for exploration whenever I see the vast tracks of territory, mostly empty and full of frigid death.  Where the enemies hunt you in pack or break through the ice and chase you down.  The Frontier is my true calling.

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 3: Favorite Playable Class

Day 1 Can be found here.
Day 2 Favorite Playable Race
Day 4 Favorite Game World
Day 5 Favorite Dice

Paladin by H-Minus

As a kid he grew up with all manner of Arthurian Romances and its fair share of derivatives the Knight in Shining Armor archetype always appealed to me so it's no wonder that I always gravitated towards the Paladin.  My first Paladin was in AD&D, he was my third character period and I was ecstatic with my dice rolls because I was actually able to play a Paladin (my first two characters were not legible due to the 17 Cha requirement) and this bad boy was also my first character to roll an 18 (92!) in Strength.  Without a doubt the best I've ever done with 3d6 in order.  Of course I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into being a wee lad at the time.  Saving throws and healing myself were great, the experience requirements were awful though.  When my Paladin joined a larger campaign by the time I hit 10th level everyone else was 13 (multiclass) to 16.  Still without the mighty spells I wasn't quite the low man on the totem pole.  I was assassinated, resurrected (as I played another character), returned with a half finished holy avenger, plunged it into the deep heart of an elder black dragon and drew forth a blade bathed in holy white flames.

Then later, I fell.  I became akin unto a god, unintentionally of course, I drew my own worshipers and displeased my God.  My lack of humility did me in, and my blade shattered.  I soldiered on as a powerless fighter, I fulfilled my noble role without the blessing of a god and when it came time I defeated an anti-paladin as my companions routed his army.  With the black blade of his unholy avenger I forged a new blade of yin and yang to symbolize the new path I was on.

I had forgotten the scope of that campaign.  It was what got me hooked on D&D to begin with.

Paladin: Heroes of Might and Magic

My favorite rendition of the Paladin is in Third edition.  I can't speak much for pathfinder as I have limited experience but I do like the changes they've brought to the table filling the 18 or so dead levels.  Mostly though I like how the formula for Lay-On-Hands was altered as it gave my low level self the chance to spread the healing around.  No longer did I have to make a difficult roleplaying choice between spending my once a day healing on a bystander or saving the life of an ally.  The saving throw bonuses, lower spell casting access (although I still found the spells to be superfluous), and the smiting really added quite an arsenal to the Holy Knight.  Still that smiting lead to the my first encounter with the dreaded 'Lawful Stupid", I'm glad I never behaved in such a way but I understand the trepidation people place on the Paladin and his code after encountering one of those straightjacket stick-in-the-muds.

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 2

Day 2 Favorite Playable Race:
Day 1 Can be found here

Weretiger by koutanagamori

I've played Humans most of my career, I recall a fellow player she played the  Avariel (Winged Elf) race before which always seemed neat although the claustrophobia was annoying.  My personal favorite race was when I was recreating an D&D Ranger with a Tiger companion for a Third edition game.  I was using an article on the Wizards site written by Sean K. Reynolds entitled Savage Progressions.  The series of articles dealt with taking a High Level Adjustment / Hit Dice Race and breaking down it's abilities on a level by level basis.  So I was able to create a Level 1 Character for a 4th level campaign, and start as a WereTiger right off the bat.

Save Progressions: Lich and Weretiger Template Classes

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 1

A new month, a new challenger approaches.  The originator of this challenge over at the "Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things" has proposed that for the new month we answer thirty questions, some quick, some not so quick about our experiences and favorites in D&D.  Sounds like a great idea!  Especially for someone who could use a good kick into gear and get back to blogging more often.

Dark Souls: Recovery and Exploration

One thing I particularly enjoy about Dark & Demon's Souls is that they are under no obligation to explain how being impaled only lowers your HP by so much.  The characters are already dead, either as phantoms, hollow zombies or soulless bodies so physical punishment and pain are negligible.  That said I particularly like how Dark Souls handled healing and ditched the clumsy method in Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls allowed you to heal by eating various kinds of lunar grass, each restoring a larger swath of HP.  Grazing took a very long time so doing so in combat could easily leave you open for some prime-time-skewering.  Grass was often hard to find early on but in some levels where delicious moon grass was overflowing you got to the point where your character could be permanently stocked and at full HP whenever he finishes a skirmish.  Sound familiar?  Sounds like a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (CLW) with plentiful charges to me.  The 4th edition of the worlds most popular roleplaying game decided to get around this by giving out personal healing surges (which also set a cap on how many potions one could quaff) and an extended rest that fully healed everyone.  In addition it introduced a milestone system that encouraged you to press on rather than full healing after every fight creating a 5 minute adventuring day.  Rife with flaws it did try to address the problem.  Dark Souls does this one better.  Allow me to explain.