I did a thing over on bluesky talking about my current DnD character, and I’ll just post it here too for better readability.
Introductions: Valeria Wynne, 30ish. Sea-aficionado, book worm, daughter to traveling traders, Aasimar (the only one in the family), self-taught wizard. Lost nearly all of her crew in a smuggling-related search. Ends up in Saltmarsh searching for… something. Connection. A purpose. Anything.
Mannerisms, habits, quirks: carries herself with the air of a misplaced English teacher. A little awkward, confused, but shoulders squared. She doesn’t like being gawked at or judged for her halo, so she used to hide it under a big hood. That came off after the death of a friend though.
Signature move/spell: Shape water! Learning to manipulate water was the first thing she figured out as a child (thanks to books found and collected (for resale) by her family), and she spent hours toying with water on travels over the years. Fidget water, basically. Especially fun on boats!
Fighting Style: She prefers not to. If reasoning doesn’t work she will do the usual wizard moves - magic missiles, tolling the dead… maybe a dagger if she has to. She bought a light crossbow, but it feels unwieldy and strange. Her magic is very storm-over-a-dark-sea, color and feel wise.
How did she join the party: Arrived in Saltmarsh, found a room in a shady tavern, went to the market to get fresh bread and enjoy some sea air. But the market got attacked by mud mephits, and she and a few other adventurers not only defeated them, but also decided to find out what‘s going on. The rest is history.
Travel Party: Companions of opportunity. Things just kept happening after the mud mephit incident, and she’s not unhappy about having found a purpose and some people to stick to. She‘s also grown to really like them, against her better judgement.
Favorite Party Member: Officially no one. Secretly the Druid. He’s a good egg, and his magic is fascinating. They currently have a companion kobold called Miepo, who she has taken a fierce liking to. (Sadly the kobolds will probably-maybe-eventually have to die. Later on. We‘ll see.)
Role in the party: exasperated big sister. She cares and will make sure you’re okay first, but she will give you shit if you deserve it
Personal journey goal: Community. Long term she’d like to open a library.
What/who does she believe in? As far as you can be in Faerun, she’s agnostic. She knows gods are real, having divinity literally running through her veins, but she is convinced gods see mortals as playthings, and any exchange with them is deeply transactional, wether you accept it or not.
Heart, mind, or instinct? She loves to pretend she exclusively follows her mind, but actually it’s her heart more often than not.
How much does she show her true self to others? More than she likes. At heart she’s a very open and honest (and sometimes blunt) person, keeping a facade up is too exhausting.
What is one thing your character has lied about? Nothing yet. She got by with half-truths and avoidance/omitting in regards to her past, which she would prefer to be forgotten about.
Does she feel powerful? No. There’s so much more to learn about magic, she barely scratched the surface…
Important or a nobody? A nobody. She‘s slowly starting to feel a little better about herself now that they’ve done some good deeds for the city, but when she arrived she felt like less than nobody.
What is love like for her? Acts of service and anxiety. She’s not overly physical, although she’d like to be, and she struggles to accept people loving her for her, and not her sliver of divinity.
What is hate like for her? Very cold, determined and silent. She won’t tell you to your face. However, she will fuck you up if she can.
Could she become evil? Yes. „A child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.“ —it would take a LOT to get her there, but she could definitely tip that way if enough was taken away from her (forcibly and/or unjustly)
Does she believe in fate? No. Gods toying with their chess pieces is not fate, it means you’re being used as a plaything. Entropy and the divine intermingle in strange ways sometimes though.
Does she thrive on chaos or order? Order. Life needs a little chaos for spice, but currently too many things are in flux for her liking.
How does she calm herself down when upset/angry? She internalizes most of it and soldiers through it. She has recently acquired a little wooden token though, and she found she’s fiddling with it a lot when she gets nervous.
If nothing bad had ever happened to her… she’d just be very bubbly, probably training to take over the family business, maybe a wife/husband and a child. She would probably only dabble in magic for the most basic of cantrips and useful tools for her day to day life.
Who hurt your character the most? Her dad. As she’s the only aasimar in the family, he doubted his parentage, and it has put a lifelong strain on their relationship.
Who loves her the most? Her former captain. He basically took her out of her family situation as an „apprentice“, but actually she was the daughter he never had. He‘s dead now, thanks to a random search gone wrong. Surely that won’t leave any lasting marks on her. :)
Who or what does she love the most? The sea. Not necessarily being on it, but close to it. She had a love interest in her former crew, and while he is still alive, they decided it’s best to part ways and not stay together.
A lie she tells herself: That she‘s perfectly fine as a lone wolf. (She’s not fine.)
Is there something she would give her life for? She’s the self-sacrificing type, so probably, yeah. She’s not eagerly waiting for a chance, but if push came to shove there’s a few scenarios where she would give her life to save someone else’s.
How does she feel about death? After her recent brushes with it, she’s trying even harder to not think about it. Dying isn’t an option. For now. There’s too much to do!
What do I wish for her right now? To befriend the small white dragon we found! Who’s a good boooooy? 😌 (Did I mention that self preservation isn’t her strong suit?)
What would a happy ever after look like for her? A library of her own, a loving partner who dotes on her, and maybe democratizing magic secrets. (Why yes, she wants to build a lending library for magical secrets.)
(Art by me!)
