Character 11 - Goblin Wizard

You were born into a family of goblins living in the goblin shantytown section of the Free CIty of Endmere. that had established itself in one of the poorer sections of Karnstown, but life there for a goblin was pretty good. Your parents earned enough coin repairing various things that the Tallfolk broke or discarded to keep the family well fed. It helped that the fishermen never seemed to want too much in the way of coin for a bucket of fish guts and heads. And while you quickly learned the skills of a tinker to be able to carry on the family business one day, your parents had other things in mind for you.

You knew from an early age that you were too smart to be an unappreciated tinker goblin all your life. You were destined to be something more Important! Your family had stories of ancestors... and one of those ancestors was really Important. Even the Tallfolk new about Piknix the Wizard. He fought pirates... and orcs... and highway robbers... and giant spiders! He found treasure hoards and defeated trolls... and even a dragon once... to bring these treasures home. Piknix was an Adventurer! People loved to hear the stories told by adventurers... they bought them drinks in the taverns... they did favors for them... they scrambled to be noticed. Wouldn't it be fantastic to be on the receiving end of all that attention and fawning? Yes... Yes it would!

But one does not simply become a mage. It is hard work, and it is expensive. Fortunately, your family and others in the goblin community scrimped and saved every coin they could. One day, you were told there was enough to let you enter the Univeristy of the Arts in the Temple District of the city. You were mildly surprised to find that the university didn't blink twice when you - a goblin - appeared and asked for admission. They asked you a few tricky questions, took your money and told you where you would be living while you studied. University life agreed with you, and the Folk there - students and teachers alike - were friendly and helpful. And you were a good student. Two years after walking through the University gates, you were presented your first sash - an honorific that recognized you as a capable practitioner of the lowest forms of magic.

You were also presented with a bill indicating that if you wanted to stay and learn more magic, it would cost more gold. A lot more gold. More gold than you, your family, or even your whole neighborhood could afford. It seemed your career as an Adventurer was going to begin sooner rather than later. Reluctantly, but with excitement, you packed your bags and your spellbook and left the University. You knew that Adventure was everywhere, but there was a lot more of it down south in the Feywood - in the true frontier lands. Others may be content to settle into some village and churn out magiccal pebble light sources or the like, but you wanted true adventure. The maps at the University mentioned a small, but allegedly prosperous gold mining town called Crystal Rock. That sounded like a good place to start.

After many weeks of walking south, you found yourself in Feybridge Crossing. There, your bubble burst. Crystal Rock? The barkeep laughed. Six shacks, fourteen miners, and not a nugget of gold in seven years! All the tales told in the north were propaganda spread by the destitute miners hoping to find some simpletons to buy out their claims. You were shattered. All this way for nothing? But your spirits were lifted that very evening when you heard about an Inn about a week's walk from here... an Inn where adventurers met and set off to find their fortunes. You set off for there the next morning. And now, here you are... in the Bugbear's Head Inn, looking around for a band of adventurers to join up with so you can start down the road to Being Important!

Race

Goblin

Heritage

Tinker

Background

Tinker

Class

Wizard (Universalist)

Trained Skills

Acrobatics, Arcana, Crafting, Diplomacy, Occultism, Society, Stealth, Thievery

Armor

Explorer's Clothing

Melee Weapons

Fist, Club, Dagger

Ranged Weapons

Dagger

Spellbook

Cantrips

Detect Magic, Electric Arc, Light, Mage hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Produce Flame, Ray of Frost, Shield, Telekinetic Projectile

Level 1 Spells

Grease, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Mending, Unseen Servant

Children

Physical Description

Goblins are stumpy humanoids with large bodies, scrawny limbs, and massively oversized heads with large ears and beady red eyes. Their skin ranges from green to gray to blue, and they often bear scars, boils, and rashes. Goblins average 3 feet tall. Most are bald, with little or no body hair. Their jagged teeth fall out and regrow constantly, and their fast metabolism means they eat constantly and nap frequently. Mutations are also more common among goblins than other peoples, and goblins usually view particularly salient mutations as a sign of power or fortune. Goblins reach adolescence by the age of 3 and adulthood 4 or 5 years later. Goblins can live 50 years or more, but without anyone to protect them from each other or themselves, but few live past 20 years of age.

Other Characteristics

As a Goblin...

You constantly strive to prove that you have a place among other civilized peoples -- you have an inborn need to be seen as useful if not important. Sometimes you need to even prove this to yourself. You will be willing to fight tooth and nail -- literally, if need be -- to protect yourself and your friends from danger. You will always seek to cheer people up that you perceive as troubled, though sometimes your antics, pranks, and practical jokes may not be viewed in this light. Others will be wary of you, especially whenever you are around fire or breakable things. Many will assume you're illiterate (comical for a "learned" profession such as wizard or alchemist). You will find yourself constantly being asked how goblinkind has survived this long given your gastronomic choices, reckless behavior, and love of fire.

As a Tinker Goblin...

If you see two things that have never been put together before, you have a deep-seated desire to see what you can make of them. If you come across a new device or construct - magical, mechanical, or alchemical, you won't be happy until you've taken it apart to see how it works - and hopefully put it back together again. Your curiosity may get you in trouble from time to time, but your practice at crafting gives you skills that others soon come to appreciate.

As a Former Tinker...

Creating all sorts of minor inventions scratches your itch for problem-solving. Your engineering skills take a particularly creative bent, and no one know what you’ll come up with next. It might be a genius device with tremendous potential... or it might explode. But because of your heritage, you were (and still are) particularly skilled in crafting items when needed.

As an Wizard...

During combat encounters, you will likely try to stay out of the fray, carefully judging when to use your spells. You save your most powerful magic to incapacitate threatening foes and use your cantrips when only weaker foes remain. During social encounters, you provide a well of knowledge about arcane matters and solve arguments with logic. While exploring, you locate magical auras and determine the arcane significance of magical writing or phenomena you uncover. When you run across an unusual obstacle to further exploration, you probably have a scroll that will make it easier to overcome. In between adventures, you learn new spells, craft magic items, or scribe scrolls for your party, and seek out new and exciting formulas in addition to spells. You might even forge scholarly connections and establish a school or guild of your own.

You might have an unquenchable intellectual curiosity about how everything in the world around you works—magic in particular. You believe fervently that true mastery of magic requires knowledge of all schools. You use esoteric jargon and technical terms to precisely describe the minutiae of magical effects, even though the difference is probably lost on other people. Others probably consider you to be incredibly powerful and potentially dangerous. They may fear what your magic can do to their minds, bodies, and souls, and ask that you avoid casting spells in polite company, as few can identify whether one of your spells is harmless or malevolent until it’s too late. They will assume you can easily solve all their problems, from dangerous weather to poor crop yields, and ask you for spells that can help them get whatever they desire.

Cartyrion - An Overview

Laurels & Loot