When converting characters from another system, it can be useful to see some examples to help to see examples. In this case, we are going to try and make an “iconic” D&D party - a fighter, a rogue, a magic user, and a cleric - but using (almost) only the Mythras core rule book. Of course, they are going to look a little different, but I've made an effort to bring in some touchpoints that should look familiar.
Baseline assumptions
Characteristics
We know that the characteristics can’t be exactly the same, as Mythras has 7 characteristics and D&D has 6 ability scores. So, we are going to take the standard array in 5e (15/14/13/12/10/8), get an average, and make a standard array for human Mythras characters. This gives us an array of 15/14/13/12/12/10/8. This also abides by the Mythras rule of SIZ and INT cannot be less than 8.
Those of you who play Mythras will see that this is a pretty high point value - 84. Since we are emulating D&D, a high fantasy game, this shouldn’t be too far off. It won’t allow for any more than a d2 damage modifier, nor the highest end of hit points. Neither does the standard array in D&D, so this seems like a good starting point.
Characters
Any culture is available, but since we are doing an Iconic set, and trying to match a D&D set of Iconics, we are going to assume the characters are some of the ones presented in the Mythras core rule book and in the adventure Sariniya’s Curse. We have on our roster
Anathaym, our trusty fighter. A Civilized Warrior if ever there was one. For her, we are going to have to invent a bit of a brotherhood, and make her an lay person in the cult of Myceras for a little folk magic.
Kara, Civilized priest (initiate level) of Myceras. In later adventures she’s presented as a full priestess, but we will assume she is still new for this. We'll end up using most of the Cult of Myceras in the cult section for her, with some small tweaks to get some of the flavor we'd like.
Mju, a nomad mystic. He is described as such in Suriniya's Curse (he has meditation and mysticism). We're going to use the School of Impenetrable Silence, a framework for a cult found on p211. He gets a small tweak to his Mysticism school teaching Sleight.
But there is no wizard. So what do we do? Well, everyone loves a redemption arc.
After being captured by Anathaym, Kara, and Mju, Kratos was dragged before the council of Meeros and sentenced to death. Anathaym made an impassioned plea, and with the help of her sister and the example she had set with Mju, clemency was granted - he would be allowed the choice of Rebirth. It was not without risk. The Rebirth ritual asked for had not been performed in a thousand years. The High Priestess of Myceras, Ludovica, warned them, but their minds were set.
Kratos was taken to the temple and stripped naked before the statue of Myceras that had so recently come to life. Initiates danced around home, chanting for him to return to the herd, to give up the serpent that had corrupted him, sponging his haggard form with milk from the Sacred Aurochs the temple kept. Ludovica read aloud, her voice reverberating through the halls, from an ancient scroll so old it could be smelt at 20 paces. A crowd of the faithful gathered, joining the initiates in their chant, braying and grunting and stomping and dropping to all fours in ecstatic fervor for the Bull God.
Ludovica raised her arms wide and everything fell silent. The initiates dropped to the floor, the sweat from their bodies mingling with the milk running from Kratos’ body. She cried, “who will take this calf as their own? Who will nurture it and feed it from their Udder? Who will bear the burden of the stray and teach it our ways?” The crowd grunted and clamored and mingled, waiting to see who would step forth.
“I will!” cried Kara. “I will succor this lost calf and give unto it my Milk! I will teach it the way so that it may love the earth and roam free again!” With this, she took a curious waterskin, larger than a human’s head with multiple spouts coming from it, and brought it forth to the naked Kratos.
“You must drink, my calf, or you will die. You must suckle to live!”
Looking at her warily and wearily, Kratos reached for the skin and drank. When it touched his lips it burned, but when he swallowed, he fell in pain, screaming. High Priestess Ludovica began chanting furiously and the initiates resumed dancing frenetically. Kara stepped back and joined the chant, over and over proclaiming “This is my calf! This is my calf! It has suckled from my Udder! You cannot have him!” A battle against the serpent demon-god that had poisoned him.
The milk on Kratos’s writhing body began to shine white, but also something inside him, tracing his veins, began to glow a sickly green and throb. The milk bubbled as if boiling and expanded around him, eventually encompassing him completely so none could see all of his form, only a hand or a foot pressing against a thick membrane, a milky caul.
Kara finally screamed, a scream like a woman in childbirth, and dropped to the floor in exhaustion and pain. In unison, the initiates dropped as well and raised their hands, all kneeling around the caul in a near perfect circle. Into the imperfection stepped Ludovica, her hands grasping at the caul. As she tore it, befouled milk gushed forth from it, spilling across the tiles. And where the milk touched, a rune appeared, each one being traced by a rivulet.
A gasp rushed across the crowd and a single word could be heard in the murmur of amazement. “Shepard!” “A shepard!”. On Kratos’ form, blazoned across his back, the head and horns of a bull extend from shoulder to shoulder.
An old woman, hunched over and using a cane, comes forward and grasps at Kratos, cradling him. He looks up at her, bewilderment in his eyes, “Mother?”
“All is forgiven, my son,” she responds. “The bull on your shoulders will help you carry the heavy burden you now must bear.”
Here we have given Kratos a new way, and introduced a Myceras-blessed form of sorcery. Over the course of the story, Kratos gains redemption. His knowledge of the dark sorceries he learned are purged from him, but leave him with white sorceries. His bull-scar is evidence of something more - perhaps a geas, perhaps something else, that helps to keep him on the straight and narrow. With this, we now have Kratos as a Civilized Sorcerer. We will give him a modified version of the Medical Order framework, presented on p212. Notably, he will have some different skills, as befitting his role as a Watcher of the Herd, and give him Repulse (Serpents) as an alternative to Repulse (Vermin). It keeps with his theme and ties it to the mythology of Myceras a bit.
In the next post, I'll show the build out of these characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment