GIANT ROBOT CLUB!

Okay, after all that talk yesterday seeing what you were looking for, I had an idea for a character that I think will work perfectly. He’s an apprentice blacksmith with a passion for the metalworking magic used in his trade. Most smiths only use a bit of tricks here and there, but my character is fascinated by the spells, much to his mentor’s chagrin.

In terms of backstory, my idea is that he is the son of a once-despised bandit who ransacked the region. The bandit left him in the care of the town government once he was around 12, considering him a burden and without potential for banditry. The town leaders, needing a way to get him off their hands, gave him to a smith who lives in the outskirts of the area.

He is now around 15, his father is dead (or so he heard…who knows how), and he is distrusted by the rural folk of the area because of who his father was and by his master because he shows a lot more interest in the smith’s magic than in the actual physical work involved in smithing. He is eager to prove to the townspeople that he isn’t the same as the father who abandoned him. His whole story will be one of fighting for respect and approval against the general consensus of everyone who knows him.

He’ll be in the Black Mage class, with some skills in brawling and thieving (the kind of thing a kid raised among a group of bandits would pick up) in addition to the basic blacksmith skills (basic knowledge of swords, etc). His main traits are his intellect (specifically his imagination) and his strong will. All of his starting magic has to do with metals and smithing- making things sharper, harder to break, identifying magic objects, etc.

As he goes on, I think he’ll learn how to transmute matter from one state/substance to another, reshape materials and alter their size, make golems of different metals and control them, etc (the kind of thing that can be done with a high level in the Matter sphere in Mage, essentially).

@Sean
In the same way that your other character ideas were a little off the mark in terms of the way the story was going to go, this idea nailed it totally. This would be a great character for the campaign.

I’ll play the healer/internal magic class.

I’m split between two ideas; one is the more typical hero, while the other is more of a tragic hero.

I don’t want to give my characters too much in the way of backstory, and this is for several reasons. First, I don’t want backstory to shackle our GM. I want to play the story Geoff has designed, and too much backstory can complicate that. Second, I’ve found that the most enjoyable characters I’ve played have been the ones I’ve “grown to know” over the course of playing. The more a character is a personality blank slate, the easier they are to enjoy. Other times when I’ve come at creation with a very defined idea, I’ve been disappointed with the results.

Anyways, my two ideas are highly similar, save for a critical backstory difference. I want my characters “level 1″ status to be explained by his youth. In short, I want to play a teenage character. Additionally I want to play a runaway.

Idea #1) The elfish hero: This character ran away from elfish society to back out of an arranged marriage. I’m taking some loyalties with character of Loial, but I think it would work out just fine.

Idea #2) The orcish tragic hero: Again, it’s the same concept; a teenage runaway. However my idea for orcish society is that internal magic is an unwanted characteristic; one that is culled from their society by killing. My character would be running away from a certain demise.

The final idea I pick will also define play style to some extent. The elf would be a bit more “buff” oriented while the orc would be more “debuff” oriented.

I think the ultimate decision will be made at the time of character creation. I see there being a large number of ways to “fuck it all up” during character creation; to render my character useless by picking poor starting spells. Until I have a bit more idea of what the spells do “in game” I don’t want to commit to anything.

I’m sorry for not getting back to you on this sooner, no excuse, just being lazy.
But I like either idea, neither one raises any red flags. Even the thing about Orcs culling internal magic out of people.
In regards to your concerns about fucking it all up by picking poor starting spells, keep in mind that it won’t be long before your character levels up, and can buy new spells, so at worst it will only be fucked up for a session or two.