Introducing Jaspin Ward, aspiring necromancer…

I’m about to playtest the first very rough draft of my Town Adventures system, so I need a character to playtest it with.  What sort of character to build?  Well, I’ve been playing budding heroes a lot recently, so I thought it might be fun to play a budding villain – someone who could end up becoming one of those Dark Lords so popular in fantasy, if he’s just given the chance.  Thus I came up with this fellow – Jaspin Ward, aspiring necromancer.

Jaspin Ward, Aspiring Necromancer

Description

Jaspin is a deeply objectionable young man.  His official job is “Gravewarden,” which means that he maintains the grounds of one of the small cemeteries on the outskirts of Dunmoss.  Being a gravewarden pays very, very little, though it does provide Jaspin with somewhere to live: the Gravewarden’s Lodge, a tiny stone-walled, thatch-roofed hut on the edge of the cemetery.  To help put food on the table and ink in the inkpot, Jaspin also makes a little money on the side by trading in old books.

Jaspin was raised by the monks of the Ecclesiarchy, and thus he has had the benefit of an unusually good education.   He’s a highly literate fellow.  He’s also extremely proud, and considers his work far, far beneath him.  Consequently, he doesn’t do a very good job of it – the cemetery is quite overgrown with weeds.  Instead of working, Jaspin spends most of his time at home poring over mouldy tomes.

Jaspin is fascinated by history – especially the stories of great conquerors who lived long ago.  His desire to become a necromancer is motivated partly by his desire to raise one of those Great Men from the dead, so as to get his approval, and partly by his longing to make himself into a Great Man like his heroes.

Jaspin is built on 100pts.

ST 10              HP 10
DX 10             Will 16 [10]
IQ 14  [80]      Per 14
HT 11 [10]      FP 11

Advantages
Detect (Dark Magic) [5]
Charisma 1 [5]
Resistant to Disease +8 [5]
Luck [15]

Disadvantages
Struggling [-10]
Selfish (6) [-10]
Jealous [-10]
Obsession (master the art of Necromancy) [-10]
Secret (aspiring necromancer) [-15]

Quirks
Prefers his own company [-1]
Sympathizes with the Cult of Singroth [-1]
Tells himself he despises the nobility, but in fact longs to be one of them – he’s always considered himself born to rule [-1]
Admires those he considers the “Great Men” of the past – especially ruthless conquerors [-1]
[Undefined quirk] [-1]

Skills
Expert Skill (Thanatology) [2] 14
Hidden Lore (Undead) [2] 14
Thaumatology [1] 12
Theology (Ecclesiarchy of Sarnos) [2] 13
Theology (Cult of Singroth) [2] 13
History [2] 13
Writing [1] 13
Poetry [2] 14

Acting [2] 14
Fast-Talk [1] 13
Streetwise [1] 13
Propaganda [1] 13
Public Speaking [1] 13

Stealth [2] 10
Smuggling [1] 13

Savoir-Faire (Servant) [1] 14
Cooking [1] 14
Area Knowledge (The city of Valiroth) [1] 14
Professional Skill (Grave keeper) [1] 13
Professional Skill (Bookmaking) [1] 13
Naturalist [1] 12
Hyper-specialization Perk: +5 to naturalist when harvesting oak gall for use as ink [1]

Equipment

Jaspin is Struggling [-10], so he only has 500 silver pieces worth of stuff.

It’s tempting to stat all this out, but since I’m just whipping up this character for the playtest, I think I’ll just leave it all undefined.  The most I’ll do right now is say that he doesn’t have any real weapons, armor, camping gear, or anything like that.   What he does have is:

• the right to reside in the Gravewarden’s Lodge (as long as he keep his job…)
• some clothing, furniture, cooking supplies, etc (none of it fancy…).
• a small book collection, including a few tattered manuscripts that seem to deal with the rudiments of necromancy (if only he could understand them…)
• sundry low-quality powders, reagents, dried herbs, and so on, all supposedly useful in necromancy (though he has yet to confirm this in practice…).

And with that, I think we’re good to go!