Tag: dndcharacter

Autobiography

Discovering D&D: Getting Started

Thread of Souls

This is an autobiographical post. The names of people and places may be changed.

We decided to write autobiographical posts about the colorful life we have lived. There will be tales of sleeping in a campervan on the beach, of defending a bird’s nest from a snake, and of running away from wolves while sick with bronchitis. There will be tales of diagnosis with PTSD and ADHD and how it changed our lives, of meeting biological family, and of job loss. It’s a tale of overcoming challenges, of finding out who we are, of love, hope, cats, and of a marriage that’s gotten stronger through it all.

Autobiography Post 15

Discovering TTRPGs changed our lives. Ever since 2015, it has impacted our hobbies, our interests, and led to the launch of our book series. There is no way to minimize how it has shaped our future.

But it had very modest beginnings.

Critical Role

Dorian watched Critical Role long before I ever did. He would tell me about the stories and the characters. Seeing the rules played out before him made him want to learn how to play the 5th edition of D&D. He bought a rulebook and would read it frequently, learning the game. He invited me to learn but I was hesitant. It was so confusing to me when he would explain it. I didn’t understand how it was played.

Ending Up Involved

Once Dorian felt confident with the rules, he met up with his friends to have them make characters. He met with five different people and they scheduled a time to all play their first game together. But the week of, only two of them said they would show up.

“It would really be better with three players,” Dorian sighed. “I don’t know who else to ask.”

I hesitated, then offered, “I could play. It’ll be fun.”

He brightened and helped me through making a character. A chose a druid because I could do elemental spells and have an animal companion. That was when I made Jade and Foxy. I still didn’t understand, but I was willing to give it a try to support my then-fiance.

During the first game two of Dorian’s friends showed up. It was the person who played Brother Zok, and the person who played Sen. About an hour before the game Dorian encouraged me to call my adoptive sister to see if she’d be interested in joining us.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to learn how to play DnD,” she admitted. “I can’t tonight, but I might be able to join another week.”

So the three of us playing Jade, Sen, and Brother Zok sat down at the table. We had an incredible time playing through what’s ended up being the first two chapters (not including the prologue) of Phantom Five.

Learning More

Not long after that, I started watching Critical Role with Dorian. Seeing a game played out helped me learn and realize what a TTRPG could become. Though we started out with D&D 5e, over the course of the years we learned many other systems and ultimately forged a game more homebrewed than anything else. That’s our creative minds at work!

Back then, we only used graph paper for a map and some lego pieces for characters. Years later it led to a huge Dwarven Forge collection and an entire bookshelf worth of miniatures. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the first games, but you get an idea of what we created in the following years!

We became so invested that it changed the course of our lives forever. And over the next couple of autobiographical posts, I am happy to share with you how it evolved and how it turned into Thread of Souls.

TTRPGs

Who Plays TTRPGs?

Thread of Souls

We talk stereotypes on TTRPG players, and about who all played at our table.

It’s a tired stereotype that still hangs around in the media. The overweight role-player who lives with their parents, has no job, and can’t socialize. They can name stats for the most obscure monsters but can’t cook more than box mac and cheese. Even big companies in the TTRPG world (which shall rename nameless in this blog) said they are realizing they had a stereotypical idea of who plays their games and see now they were wrong.

So, who are the TTRPG players? Drawing only on our own personal experience, we’ll list who has played at our table across the years.

  • A rogue character was played by an x-ray technician who worked in the ER at a local hospital. She owned her own home on enough land to have a farm. She liked to sing, play instruments, and was actively involved in her church.
  • A fighter character was played by her husband, another x-ray technician. He enjoyed playing video games and going out in the evenings. He was also a cancer survivor.
  • A ranger character was played by a legal assistant who worked for the social security administration. She was a former high school athlete that continued to play rec sports as an adult, and enjoyed video games and board games.
  • A wizard character was played by her husband. He transitioned from marketing to healthcare administration in his career. He enjoyed social activities of all kinds. They had an apartment in the city before building a house.
  • A paladin character was played by a math teacher and baseball coach. He liked to collect comic books and still played rec baseball as a hobby. He rented a house along with a group of friends.
  • A barbarian character was played by a music teacher who had a Master of Music degree. He enjoyed pizza and composing and relaxing with friends. He owned a house with his wife.
  • Our ranger and wizard characters are played by Dorian, an executive producer in television and a business owner. He likes video games, editing videos, and traveling.
  • Our cleric and druid characters are played by me, Talia, a professional writer and a professor. I like drawing, traveling, and fashion.

If you’re a TTRPG player and feel comfortable sharing, let us know your profession and hobbies!

The Spool of Souls: Updates & News, Thread of Souls

Holiday Card Feature

Thread of Souls

Happy holidays! We love this time of year so much. We watch holiday movies every Friday, and we do 12 Days of gifts to one another. As you know, we moved into a new place six months ago with pretty much nothing (not even a bed or a sofa), and it’s been great to see the new home finally take shape.

I drew four holiday cards this year featuring characters from our Thread of Souls series. We have Taliesin with “Merry & Bright”, Jade with “Oh Christmas Tree”, Jasita with “Let it Snow”, and Ruuda with “On an Open Fire”.

Enjoy!

Bardic Inspiration

Bardic Inspiration: Sounds of a Cleric

Thread of Souls

I’ve been playing a cleric (and writing a cleric) for many years now. Since then, instrumentals that have that cleric-esque vibe have stood out to me. Here are some of my favorite songs if you want some inspiration for your cleric!

Fight Song / Amazing Grace by The Piano Guys

I have listened to this one so many times. The combination of the two songs results in a very beautiful melody. It’s moving to listen to.

A Thousand Candles by Diane & David Arkenstone

The gentle singing in the background of this song has a very cleric-like vibe. It’s holy and sacred and moving all at the same time.

Be Thou My Vision by Sheldon Pickering

The melody of this piece just makes me feel calm and happy when I listen to it. It feels like the comfort a cleric would take when praying to their god.

Fate by Sean Gartner

Obviously as this is from our own soundtrack, it holds a special place in my heart! I really love Fate, as it has this deep, epic, and heavy feel. It reminds me of the weight of a god’s expectations of a cleric.

TTRPGs

My Favorite Druid Spells

Thread of Souls

As someone who has roleplayed a druid for eight years, and has written a druid character for five years, I definitely am familiar with all things TTRPG druidic. Here are some of my favorite druid spells that I always keep prepared when I play Jade (in no particular order).

Jade

Healing Word

This is something I always have on hand in case of an emergency. With a fully healing focused cleric in the party, there is rarely a need for my druid to need to heal anybody. With this spell, I can deliver life-saving healing at a distance. When playing a TTRPG, crisis situations always happen. This is my “just in case everyone is dying” spell.

Hold Person

This paralysis spell extremely useful both in and out of combat. There’s been a handful of times when I’ve needed to stop someone from escaping, running away, or killing another party member and Hold Person provided that opportunity. It’s another spell that doesn’t get used every game, but is crucial in clutch moments.

Conjure Animals

Not only is this spell useful, it’s just plain fun! I usually end up conjuring a group of large birds to carry party members when we are escaping a dangerous situation, but I’ve also conjured horses to carry civilians, and a rhino to cause a distraction. This spell does get used quite a bit and I make sure it is always prepared.

Jade

Commune With Nature

This is a great spell when you’re lost or confused and need some guidance on what to do next. I like that it can be ritually cast, as well, if you are short on spell slots. You sit in one spot and get to learn about the environment around you, including the populace, plants, and passages. I’ve used it to help find the path and to learn more about new areas we’ve entered. It’s a really fun way to roleplay as a druid, too.

Wind Walk

This is one of the beautiful benefits of being an upper-level druid. Travel is now much faster! Slipping into wind, you can lead your whole party across vast distances very quickly. We’ve also used it to sneak through places (mostly) successfully. I never wake up in the morning without this spell ready to go!

Do you have a favorite druid spell that isn’t on this list? Share below!

TTRPGs

Playing Level 18 Characters in DnD

Thread of Souls

Some may say level 18 characters in DnD are overpowered and no longer fun, but we disagree.

“My GM ended the campaign at level 10. He said that’s how most people do it because upper levels are too powerful.”

“We ended at level 14. Things get too complicated above that.”

“Does anyone actually get to tier 4? Most campaigns fizzle out before that.”

After a number of similar things being said from friends and online, we now find ourselves in the talked-about scenario. After nearly eight years of playing the same TTRPG campaign, we have level 18 characters. And this isn’t a game we just play once a month, either. We play it every week with the exception of being sick or being out of town (though we have played from a lakeshore cabin before!).

Progressing This Far in a Story

Being able to bring characters from level 1 all the way to level 18 in DnD is thrilling. You feel them grow up, get stronger, and take on bigger challenges. They change, for the better or the worse, with the story. You build relationships with NPC’s, with other party members, and you definitely get long-running rivalries with antagonists. It’s truly a joy to tell a story for eight years, and now be so close to seeing it come to a satisfying conclusion.

Level 18 Character Powers

We played in a short-term level 20 game with B. Dave Walters. He said, “Some people think you can’t challenge players at this level. I disagree.”

That certainly was the case in his game, with many of us coming close to death. And that’s been the case in ours, as well. There is no shortage of challenges. In fact, they just get bigger and more difficult. We’ve had characters go down, we’ve had spell slots run low, and we’ve had mid-battle stress deciding what to do next.

To clarify, we are heavy homebrewers. While DnD stat blocks are very useful for level 18 characters, it’s also entirely possible and simple to build your own bad guys and monsters from scratch that are up to the task.

Tips on Tier 4 Storytelling

If you find your party in tier 4, that is to say levels 16 – 20, here are some of our tips to make it less daunting.

  • When you’re this deep in the story, it’s not always about combat. The narrative and the characters are driving it at this point. Don’t worry so much about the biggest, baddest monster you can find.
  • The environment can play a huge factor in challenges for high-level DnD characters. Steep drops, crumbling ground, dangerous thunderstorms, blizzards, and more offer expanded challenges beyond just who can hit the hardest.
  • Keep it character-focused. Involve NPCs and antagonists frequently. Give characters situations they don’t want to just firestorm their way out of, like saving innocents.
  • When role-playing a high-level character, think about the weight of their power on them. How does this affect them? Are they more or less likely to use it? Do they feel heavy responsibility? Or has it made them arrogant and reckless?
Reviews

Baldur’s Gate 3: Act I Impressions

Thread of Souls

Our spoiler-free thoughts after playing the first act of Baldur’s Gate 3.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 since we played early access three years ago. The thing that appealed to us most was that we could create our own characters within a TTRPG setting, allowing us to create Taliesin and Ruuda. We always play them, and other characters from our game/book series when allowed to create an entire party. We’ve done it for Pillars of Eternity II, Neverwinter, WWE 2K23, and Solasta. As soon as the game was officially out, we jumped at the opportunity to begin this new adventure.

Character Creation

The character creation is decent. Since we tried to recreate our characters exactly, it was disappointing. When games with less development time like 2K23 allow you to enter your character height by inches and weight by pounds to adjust their physique, we expected to see a game with this much detail allow sliders at the very least. We were super happy you could play a duergar, however. That race always gets overlooked and it is a joy to finally have that option.

The graphics are certainly very pretty; the hair looks soft enough to touch. And the ability to dye your clothes to further customize your look is a wonderful addition. We wish you could preview the dye look before committing to it, though.

Gameplay

The gameplay is extremely user-friendly. You can toggle the camera between characters and swivel it around, giving you much more flexibility than the typical top-down perspective of similar games. You point and click where you want your character to move instead of having to fuss with directing yourself through the keyboard. It is easy to target enemies, and the hot bar has simple navigations to find what you are looking for.

Combat flows really well. You are allowed to scale the difficulty based on if you want to focus more on the story and less on fighting the same boss over and over. The three-dimensional environments allow for some really fun fighting locations.

Story

The story is the heart and soul of Baldur’s Gate 3. The characters have depth, are complicated, and have interesting backstories that influence your quests. You are allowed to make moral decisions, and it isn’t always clear on who to trust. You care about NPC’s, you are driven to explore, and the absolute vast amount of dialogue options allows you to feel like you are truly part of the story.

Overview

The first act of Baldur’s Gate 3 is an epic and dark adventure sweeping you into a fully-fleshed out world. You truly lose track of time when you play this game due to how simply fun it is.

Pros: Beautiful graphics, compelling story, great characters, user-friendly gameplay

Cons: Limited character customization, too gory

TTRPGs

How to Roleplay a Ranger

Thread of Souls

Rangers are versatile members of any party. They can lead a group through dangerous wilderness without getting lost, track a wild beast or missing person in diverse environments, and are capable of wielding a multitude of weapons. They’re hired by travelers as guides and make excellent bounty hunters and monster slayers when the time calls for it. They’re also quite passionate and considerate of nature and the flora and fauna that live among it.

If you’re playing or writing a ranger, we’ve got some tips on how to get in their head. Dorian has played a ranger for six years and understands them quite well. Having done so for such a long time, or course, not all rangers are the same. So, for those looking to play or create a ranger, here’s what you need to know.

Roleplaying a Ranger

Playing a ranger comes down to a few key factors. No matter if you’re using the most popular TTRPG in the world, Pathfinder, Forbidden Lands, or Lord of the Rings, rangers have several things in common. Focus on the following traits when you create a ranger to improve your roleplay and writing.

Ranger traits

  • Rangers are fierce protectors of nature. They work to safeguard all that is natural in the world.
  • Rangers know their plants. They can tell the party if a plant is deadly, poisonous, edible, or has healing properties. If they don’t know, they work to do so.
  • Rangers are kind to animals. As protectors of nature, they work to understand creatures of the world, even the dangerous ones. If it comes down to a fight with a beast, they may instead choose to scare away the creature instead of killing it. Rangers are also known to have animal companions.
  • Rangers always seek to understand. Rangers tend to stick to the wilds or live away from cities. This can make them curious about the world. Going to a large urban area can seem outlandish to them but with every place they visit, they seek knowledge first. Knowing more about a place, person, or creature is highly beneficial.
  • Rangers can be difficult at first. Like nature, rangers tend to be guarded and may appear off-putting at first. Once they get to know a person, they warm up easily to them and let their guards drop.
  • Rangers are masters of weapons. There is a reason rangers are known as masters of the hunt. Not for their hunting skills, but their ability to wield and master just about every weapon created.

Famous Rangers

As writers, we find inspiration in nearly everything we come across. So, we thought to help with your roleplay, we should introduce you to a few popular rangers from movies and video games.

  • Geralt of Rivia. Geralt is a Witcher, which is a fancy way of saying ranger. He hunts monsters, uses herbs to make potions and poisons, and is proficient in knowing creatures, tracking, and fighting. He’s gruff and blunt but has a kind heart and is always willing to help those in need.
  • Aragorn. Aragorn from Lord of the Rings is one of the best examples of a ranger we can think of. While known as a Ranger of the North, the title referred to a wandering people who protected the land but sought to remain a secret from others. This gave them a reputation for being distrustful, harsh, and dangerous. While Aragorn can appear quite harsh, he’s kind to everyone he meets once he learns more about them. He also has several animal companions during his journey. Brego is with him in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. While Bill the pony accompanies him in The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • Ruuda Drybarrel. Self-plug. Ruuda’s backstory in our fantasy book series Thread of Souls focuses on her interaction with a group or rangers. She was trained by Deep Stalker ranger Nier Shadowsnare but was not blessed to be a Deep Stalker herself. The Deep Staker rangers are protectors of the Deep Hollows and work to ensure safe passage for travelers on the roads, protect creatures, and are hired out when needed for specific jobs. Ruuda’s history with the rangers could play a larger part in her story, but you’ll have to read and find out.
Jasita
Uncategorized

Character Feature: Jasita

Thread of Souls

Jasita is this month’s character feature! Jasita is a crystalmancer and researcher at the prestigious Citadel. Analytical and fact-based, she finds emotion-centric people both fascinating and frustrating. Life is an experiment, and she is always gathering facts and conducting research. 

Jasita is good at being alone. An only child to absent parents and a young enchantment prodigy at the Citadel, Jasita has trouble in social situations. But she is intellectual, curious, and will happily study her way into exhaustion if it means learning a new spell. Many people don’t like her reading their mind without permission, and it easily puts her at odds with those who could otherwise be her friends.

Jasita

We first meet Jasita at the end of Phantom Five, apprehending Taliesin and Ruuda for being fugitives on the Surface, though they later escape. She makes a big return in Asunder when our heroes find their way to the Citadel. She realizes this is her opportunity to redeem herself before one of the most powerful people in all of Corventos, her boss, the Magistrate of the Citadel.

Taliesin
Uncategorized

Character Feature: Taliesin

Thread of Souls

Taliesin is this month’s character feature! A headstrong, passionate dark elf healer that cares deeply about others. His risk-taking and button-pushing approach to life creates plenty of conflict, but Taliesin never backs down in the face of injustice or threats.

Taliesin enjoys learning and reading. He is always up for a good time and a late night party. He hates the art of necromancy and has cultivated his skill in driving away undead and banishing ghosts. Religion surrounds his whole life and he wants to use it to guide and help others.

We first meet Taliesin in Phantom Five. His challenge of status in Berenzia has gotten him in trouble with the ruling priestesses. After recovering from eight months of punishment for his wild tongue, he has run away from home. He crosses paths with dark dwarf Ruuda, a fugitive in her own rights. Together, the two set out to explore a new land and find a new direction in both of their lives.

Taliesin