Happy Halloween! I hope that everyone has a great October 31st, even if you don’t enjoy this unusual holiday. Sorry there was no post at all this past week, my procrastination demons were at it again. And it seems the dice gods wish for these last half-dozen posts to continue in a racially-alphabetical order. Weird. Well, it still works out. I made sure that the last half-dozen would have no repeats of class or race. Okay, the inner workings of my post-making-system aside, let’s get to half-elf fighters.
So, what can we say about a half-elf who pursues the martial abilities of the fighter. Well, it might mean they’re a soldier or a mercenary as we’ve seen with other fighters. They could also use their near two-century life-spans to serve as guardians, teachers, or commanders for longer than their human counterparts. But then why wouldn’t you go with an elf in that position instead? Well, for one, the elves are probably serving in their own forces. For two, your humans might distrust the elves too much to allow one to be in a prominent position in a human organization. In that situation, a half-elf might be just close enough to be trusted, experienced enough to lead, and yet young enough to be good for a few decades at least. Of course, not all of these fighters have to be veterans. Don’t forget the importance of a rookie, quaking at the knees, literally in awe of your heroes.Oh… I’ve just realized I have never talked about the importance of a recurring NPC in your game and their relationship to your players. Perhaps I’ll make it a post in-between the Core Rulebook and whatever comes next. But how about we get to these half-elf fighters I’m coming up with in my head?
Lord-Captain Sascha Bachmeir of the Singing Dancer
The half-elven captain of the naval vessel docked in this small fishing village can be found fuming in their quarters. Sascha was infuriated to find that repair supplies for the ship could not be sent for a full month, and wound up running full drills and unarmed combat sparring with every one of their sailors. They had just led their crew to victory against the twin pirate vessels that plagued these isolated waters and personally ran through Dread Green-eye! Lord-Captain Bachmeir’s reputation will take an equivalent hit among the other captains for being crippled for so long. If anyone could help them acquire materials from the nearby wilderness, the Lord-Captain would be quite willing to part with some of their victory purse and even their special parrying technique.
Nobody thought that a half-elf would ever be recruited into the merchant prince’s guards because of his highness’ low opinion of half-bloods. But now that his son has taken the title, that restriction has been lifted. Alemeyahu was chosen because he stopped a thief from absconding with the new prince’s coin purse, but he knows that all of the veterans look at his slightly-pointed ears and frown. He is being given more difficult training than other recruits, and he’s pretty sure that more than one of the veterans has tripped him to fall into the weapon racks. What he wouldn’t give to train with someone he was sure didn’t have it out for him.
A stereotype of half-elves is that they are all angry, anarchistic savages. But while Nergui does somewhat embrace the chaos of battle, she is actually quite structured in her day to day life. More so than that, she has a strict code that she follows which puts into continual doubt that half-elf stereotype. Nergui is a “professional duelist,” meaning she is essentially a champion for hire. Some call her a legal assassin, while others call her less than polite words and names. Regardless, she is always well dressed, armed, and prepared, and is never caught disregarding the nobles’ ways of honor. They may call her a savage, but they’ll never have anything to back their claims, and she’ll take their gold while spilling their blood.
