Dragon Age - Characters thread (OOC discussion)

BASICS



Name: Marina
Age: 24
Gender:Female
Class: Bard
Race: Human


CHARACTER BUILD-UP

General Appearance/Physical Appearance: (1 - 3 Paragraphs Please)

A beautiful and charming woman, Marina stands about 5'6 with straight brown hair and brown eyes. Men and women cannot resist looking at Marina who has an unusual allure to her. Marina's voice is loving and relaxing combined with her wit and grace, she is able to charm even the most hardened of people into listening to her. She is good in bed, as the men and women who has the chance sleep with the young woman would tell you.

Marina's clothing is expensive, but modest compared to the fancy clothing worn in Orlais. She loves the colors red and black and is often seen wearing them. Whenever she needs to be more active, Marina dons a dark red shirt with red separate sleeves and a brown belt which holds, a dagger on her right hip, a longsword on her left, two brown pouches containing poison darts or anything Marina needs to complete her mission. Marina is never seen without her golden necklace with a red ruby in the middle complete with elven engravings.


Personality: (1+ Paragraphs Please)

Marina's captivating and lovely personality bellies her cold and calculating demeanor. As a Bard, Marina uses everything to her disposal. When she's spying or assassinating, she turns up the charm and personality (and sex appeal) and seduces her targets. Striking when they least expect it, the opponent either divulges important information needed for Marina's mission or they end up dead sometimes both.

Despite her young age, Marina understands the game quite well and plays it like a true professional. As a promising Bard, Marina enjoys the thrill of being a master manipulator, playing her victims like fiddles and exchanging any valuable information for sovereigns. Her photographic memory ensures she remembers every detail and can describe anything in explicit detail. Though there are times when she plays so many roles, Marina is often lost in who she really is as a person and has some doubts on what she wants in life and she even capable doing anything instead of creating anarchy. There are times when Marina wants to get out in the world and explore her horizons or settle in a fireplace to read a good book. She also loves Wicked Grace and is a notable card player, winning many tournaments.


Skills/Abilities/Weapons/Powers:

Trained as a bard since she was very young, Marina is the ultimate bard: Manipulative, charismatic and more importantly, a versatile fighter. She has the quickness and strength to use a bow, dagger and a longsword, though because she prefers to persuade and influence her skillset is best described as: "jack of all trades, master of none."

Bard Tree:
Song of Valor
Captivating Song
Song of Courage
Distraction

Rogue:

Dirty Fighting
Coup De Grace
Deadly Strike


History: (200-400 Words Minimum Please)

Marina is actually the bastard child of a lord named Francois Grandis who had an affair with an Ferelden commoner during his stay in Ferelden. When he found out Marina's mother was pregnant, he urged her not to tell anyone in exchange for gaining support. The mother agreed, but tragedy struck when the mother died in childbirth. Not knowing what to do, Francois took the newborn Marina to his personal Bard: Angele Ancel swearing to the woman not to tell Marina her heritage and Marina spent all of her childhood under the guise of Angele Ancel whom Marina looked up as a mother. Angele trained Marina to be a bard at a very young age, instilling in the young girl discipline, honor, and an education. Marina excelled and was given her first mission at 17 to infiltrate a party and gain information on lesser lord for a rival. The job was successful and it began a string of triumph (and sexy time! XD) for the young woman who had her services called upon by many lords with notable including: Grand Duke Gaspard and the Inquisition. Marina now waits to go on an adventure, or wait for someone to summon her again.

Angelica Grace




Age: 19

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Class: Mage

Personality:

Angelica is naturally prone to sweetness and consideration of others. She's very bubbly and a natural exvort, loving to socialize with others whenever she gets the chance, and she is naturally prone to being a healing Mage. Whenever she gets the chance to do that, she'll be happy. She's also strong, having sucessfully succeeded the harrowing just a few months ago. She's naturally innocent and really, quite sheltered. Having grown up in the Circe, she's extremely unaware of things like cultural mannerisms, but theirs a hight chance she read about it in a book. She's also very much a hopless romantic, even if it's a innocent child-like thing, as the only experience she has with love is in her reading of books. She has a big heart, and some might say she's a bit too trusting, and that she should go back to the Circle where 'sheltered' little mages like herself should dwell. Yes, she's heard of the game, but she didn't play it, considering it to be a too big of a thing like herself to go around playing, and so stayed out of the way of those kind of things.

Ablities:

Spirt Healer

Heal All Party

Resurrection

The third healing spec ablity

Fourth healing spec

Acrane

Acrane Bolt

Ground

Armor

Sword

Ground Hand

History:

Angelica Grace was born in Orlais to two unknown parents. She was taken away to the Circle at a young age, young enough she never knew her parents and so she lived in Orlias's Circle of Magi for most of her life. Growing up, the little red haired girl was always interested in spirts, having a guardian angel in her dreams she claimed, that protected her from the nasty demons, and 'he' called himself Bravery. As she grew older, she'd start to Apperatice under a Senior Enchantor that had talents similar to her own. From than on, that woman became almost like a mother to her. She'd learn from her, and as she reached her harrowing, her teacher gave her some words of advice before sending her off into the dream world. She remembers her harrowing being like she was trapped in her worse thoughts imaginable, which included a lecturing teacher that said mean words to her. She succeeded in the end though. Once she graduated from her harrowing, the revolution began and so the mages were freed, including herself. She doesn't understand this 'freedom' the rebels were on about, as they took away her home and made her basically homeless.

Appearance:

Angelica has long red-colored hair, and brown-colored eyes. She's extremely beautiful, and short though, standing just barely at 5.'1'. She's got a normal Orlaisan accent. She's doesn't care about fashion, having lived in a place where everyone looked the same in their blue or yellow Mage dresses, and is content with looking somewhat reasonable (by her own standards; to most Orlaisans they think she dresses terribly shabbily). She's got a lovely body, even though she's a virgin, which most people at the circle couldn't believe when she told them. She never wears her hair up and often times her hair is a awful mess of red-curls.

Got pictures of Margret!

Marina will first divulge information information from Vailern before killing him! XD

Helen was a loyal member of the Circle Magi before the rebellion. She did not join the rebels when the circles fell. An Orlesian noblewoman offered her protection, and Helen gladly accepted. Life on the run was not for her.

Helen now serves her benefactor as a bard. It is mostly a comfortable life. There is much time for scholarly pursuits, such as the reading of literature. The only problem is the distasteful work her patron forces her to do. The Game keeps everyone on their toes. Helen recently killed her first man. The poor boy was shocked when the palms of Helen's delicate hands scorched the flesh from his face. Now the smell of freshly cooked meat makes Helen nauseous. 

Helen is not a malicious person. Violence does not come natural to her. Circumstance, however, may force her to be ruthless. Her identity as a mage must be kept a secret at all costs. Every act of callousness makes the next one a little easier. It is a slippery slope, especially when her bardic friends keep goading her further along the path.

Helen has always thought of herself as a noblewoman. Working as a bard allows her to keep up this fantasy. She gets to be near the people she aspires to be like. The truth is that her parents were commoners struggling to make ends meet. Helen made no effort to contact them after she fled the Circle. The fact that she came from nothing bothers her. 

It is unlikely that Helen will ever voluntarily join the College of Enchanters or the new Circle of Magi. Helen never completed her Harrowing, and she worries that she should be viewed with suspicion if she were to return to the fold. It is also unlikely that Helen's patron will release her from service any time soon. A dept to a noblewoman must be paid back many times over. Helen does not mind. She knows she is in a privileged position. Few people get to chose their fate and Helen's cage is more gilded than most.

Jehan is the eldest son of the patriarch of a dying noble house. The Lancasters are the laughing stock of Orlais. Their slow decline over many generations have made them the butt of many joke. Jehan realised early that he would not be the one to restore his family’s station. With little money to inherit, he saw only one option. He became a chevalier. His youth was spent desperately training, always pushing himself to be the best.

The chevaliers were not welcoming of Jehan. Jehan has done little to improve the tainted reputation of his house. He was very nearly kicked out the academy several times for misconduct. Jehan is selfish, impulsive, vain, belligerent and antagonistic. Despite his long list of faults, everyone respects his fighting skills. Jehan is an accomplished duellist and killer. These days, few dare insult his honour, or lack thereof.

Jehan’s good looks charms most women and annoys most men. Though most judge him to be as dim-witted as the rest of his family, he has a surprisingly sharp tongue. It best not to take offence, however, because he can back up his insults with violence.

OOC: I am unsure if I will RP him. He will to quickly end up fighting other characters over perceived insults. He could easily work as either a villain. I may use him as an ally to Helen, though I do not think she likes him much.

The word I was looking for was antagonist. All my characters will be somewhat villainous.

Since Jehan is not my main character I do not feel the need to give him plot armour.

I was thinking. There aren't a lot of just regular folk.
I am setting myself a challenge. Trying to make an average joe in a fantasy setting interesting.
This could backfire horribly.

Name: Theige Tassar
Race: Dwarf
Age: 38
Class: Nope. He is not a warrior, rogue or mage (Dwarves can't be mages anyway). He is just a regular guy like 99.9% of people who live in Thedas.

Profession: Menial worker in a cotton mill.
Skills: He is okay at his job. He is a decent parent and caring husband. He is good at sewing and is a half decent painter too.

Background: Nothing noteworthy happened. Grew up in Orlais amongst the proletariat. Sheltered, low income background. No major issues. Though he did at times find life difficult as his parents found it difficult to make ends meet. He was brought up with strong work ethics and strong moral values. His parents taught him the basics of: show empathy, be kind, always be willing to help etc. The usual ethical values that seem pervasive in most cultures, were taught to him.

As a result of his background, he became a very traditional, hard working young man. However he did not follow his parents footsteps in becoming a blacksmith. The reason wasn't down to choice, but rather a lack of talent. He found forging tricky and in his early twenties he tried many jobs. He had a go at: fishing, carpentry, mercantile etc. After many failed attempts, he eventually landed on a menial job at a cotton mill. He was just about good enough to keep his job. Only just...

His past times. He is someone who spends a lot of time singing and dancing in taverns. He spends a lot of his free time sewing quilts with references to Dwarven history, mythology and folklore. He is someone who also engages in painting too. Whilst none of these hobbies are strengths, this is where he expresses himself.

His wife also engages in similar interests. He met Feruya (a fellow dwarf who works at the same cotton mill) when he was 31. They have been together ever since and they have raised a son called Ravia (named after an Elven wizard who served the Dwarves when defending Orzamar against the Darkspawn). Feruya taught Theige how to sew, and how to paint. Currently both Feruya and Theige are teaching themselves how to do pottery. Ravia shares his parents interests too.

Ambitions: Theige wants to raise his son to be honourable, ethical and an all round decent person. Yeah, Theige really isn't much for ambition.

Quirks: Theige has a slight forward leaning gait, stresses "s", "r" and "a" sounds when he speaks and tends to fidget with his hands when idle.

Traits: Creative, ethical, calm, loving and hardworking.

Flaws: Easily distracted, does not excel at anything, and can't hold a conversation.

Your character was amazing.
She is competent without being too powerful.
She is capable and intelligent.

I think she would be challenging to role play because you'd have to emulate that character's intelligence, cunning and wit.
I've done enough role playing to know that high intelligence, high wisdom and high charisma characters are really tough.

Average and below average characters are easier to play.
That way you're not constantly having to justify why a character did something stupid.

If a police investigator misses an obvious clue, it is hard to justify. Especially when you've told the audience that this investigator is the best at their job.
However if your character is an average joe having a go at investigation and is bad at it, that is easy to justify.

I have tried role playing as awesome characters and I find it tricky. I am not awesome in real life.
Ask me to play Joe Bloggs and I could pull that off quite nicely. Ask me to play someone below average at everything and that is easy.
If you've watched Iron Fist television series, Danny Rand is supposed to be the best martial artist that ever lived.
The show demonstrates passable fight scenes. They're good fight scenes, but they can't hold a candle to the best martial arts flicks out there.

However if Danny Rand was starting out, then the sub-par fighting would be justifiable. Then as the real life actor improves in his martial arts prowess, so does the character.

Well, here goes my first roleplay character.



Between 35 and 40

She’s well-muscled but still slender with feminine curves that armor doesn’t hide. She’s at best average height for a human woman and is stronger than she looks. Thene might have been pretty once, with her rich brown hair and thickly lashed golden-brown eyes. While her twice broken nose and scars don’t help, it’s her palpable aura of rage and anger that truly define her appearance and disposition. Her mother died when she was a child and her father, a good man and generally good-humored, took to drink when he found himself overwhelmed. It didn’t help that he was an elf and, without her mother as a buffer, they found themselves singled out for abuse or contempt by both humans and elves. Thene adored her father despite his faults, and forgave him for breaking her nose one time when he was drunk and suffering from a darkspawn nightmare.

When he was killed by bandits, she grieved and then tracked them down one by one and killed them as slowly as possible. Then she did the same to the guards who did nothing to help when they could easily have prevented her father’s death. If there’s a price on her head as a result, she neither knows nor cares. She took to the roads, taking work when she needs to in order to continue her self-given mission to help the abused and helpless. That sounds noble but hasn’t always been a good life choice.

Her nose was broken the second time when she was helping a small group of mages who were being attacked and tortured by a group of templar zealots. She never trusted templars; to her mind they had too much power and too little oversight, at least until a few years ago, so she was happy to lend a helping hand to the mages, the little bastards. Her intervention distracted the templars enough for the mages to regroup and fight back. After some vicious fighting, during which one heavy templar gauntlet broke her nose and gashed her face, the templars were either dead or fled. Thene made the mistake of letting her guard down; instead of healing her and thanking her, the mages robbed her and left her helpless and hurting. It was a long night.

Now, as far as she is concerned, the mages and templars can tear each other to pieces as long as nobody else gets hurt because of it. She distrusts humans and elves equally. Except for the Dalish; they are worse than humans or other elves. Too often they were as non-helpful as the guards when her father was killed; slipping away rather than help someone when it would cost them nothing. She and her father experienced their ‘kindness’ first hand more than once. In frustration she yelled that they were ‘supercilious, self-righteous, self-absorbed snobs who could go bugger their turn-tail Creators.’ Her father reprimanded her and she kept quiet, but she didn’t change her mind.

And yet, walking bundle of rage that she is, she still helps people in trouble without asking anything in return. She certainly doesn’t expect it and is always ready to defend herself against those she helped. She likes sword and shield because she really likes bashing people with her knobby dragonbone shield. She also likes a good brawl, or even a bad one. She has a handful of what others might call friends; they consider themselves her friends even if she considers them people who are less crappy than everybody else. She fought at Ostagar and respected the Wardens she met. She even toyed with the idea of joining the organization, then they all died . . .

Edit 4/15/2017: I should probably mention that she's a fair hand with potions, poisons and, to a lesser degree, traps. Let's face it, with her lifestyle she probably needs to be. Elfroot is a girl's best friend.