A genie grants a wish that you could actually visit the Sword Coast...
Lemernis
Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
...but you must spend the rest of your life there. It's for keeps. There's no turning back, so choose wisely.
You must choose a race and a class. You will have your own current real world stats. And you must choose a location to start.
What do you do? Where will you start out? How do you intend to make a living?
***
Edit:
Not to make this overly complicated, but let's just say the genie tricks you into committing to this choice.
The genie gives you the option of being in your physical prime, if you like.
You can choose any time period of FR, and that can certainly be concurrent with the events of the BG1 story. But your presence there does not necessarily mean that you're part of the game's story (unless you attempt to make it so once you're there). We'll leave it open-ended as to who Gorion's ward is, but it is not you.
In this scenario, the future is unwritten from the point that you enter the world.
Starting location can be anywhere in Faerun, even beyond the BG game's map.
Even if you believe you'd be a commoner, you still have to survive somehow... and start out somewhere on the map...
You must choose a race and a class. You will have your own current real world stats. And you must choose a location to start.
What do you do? Where will you start out? How do you intend to make a living?
***
Edit:
Not to make this overly complicated, but let's just say the genie tricks you into committing to this choice.
The genie gives you the option of being in your physical prime, if you like.
You can choose any time period of FR, and that can certainly be concurrent with the events of the BG1 story. But your presence there does not necessarily mean that you're part of the game's story (unless you attempt to make it so once you're there). We'll leave it open-ended as to who Gorion's ward is, but it is not you.
In this scenario, the future is unwritten from the point that you enter the world.
Starting location can be anywhere in Faerun, even beyond the BG game's map.
Even if you believe you'd be a commoner, you still have to survive somehow... and start out somewhere on the map...
Post edited by Lemernis on
1
Comments
And elven is just based on getting more time so I wouldn't have to consider various unsavoury magical life extenders.
Pursue the path of becoming a Demi-God and one day perhaps start my own religion of Love and Peace.
I`d hire out to people that needed other people hit over the head, maybe branch out into protection and dragon eviction.
Level 0 Civilian it is!
Either an Elven wizard or bard. I sing pretty well, and I love to read. I'd probably end up working in Candlekeep anyway.
But if you don't, I'll sic Wolfwood on you B-) But you'd probably like the attention of a bad boy.. But then we're back to the message of Love and Peace again.. You know what? Yes. Yes I'm Vash XD
Bard because I'm rather music-oriented, and my name Riordan actually means "royal bard."
Or Cleric because I'm pretty religious and my highest score would definitely be Wisdom. Then Charisma, and decent Intelligence everything after that would be downhill. :P
If we get racials, make me a fey'ri bard, I know how to play a flute!
No racials? Half-elf fighter. Pass me a crossbow, a sword and a shield and I'll try to do some good, or die a horrible death at the hands of gibberlings.
There would be absolutely no hurry to do anything, since Sarevok's plan takes months or even years to start working, and I would have huge amounts of foreknowledge of everything about to happen, and of the enemies my friends and I might face, pretty much everywhere.
I would probably have my youth restored, and possibly even have my gender changed in harmony with my personality, so that the guys in the new reality would be interested in me.
I have real life aptitude for bard music, magery, and priesthood. I would be torn about what to do. I know I would be human, because I'm a big guy, and that's integral to my personhood.
If I had some time to "feel" the various kinds of superenergy available to me, I would try to delay a final pick of training as long as possible. I would be very attrracted to musical magic, the chance to be an almost omnipotent sorcerer, and to relying upon an outside entity, i.e., a deity, to guide and protect me.
As an atheist in the real world, who used to be one of the most devout people you could ever meet and "called to the ministry", I think that I might actually wind up devoting myself to a deity if I suddenly found myself in a world where "deities" actually exist, and one of them cared about me and communicated with me, giving me of his or her insight and power. I wouldn't really choose the deity, because I would not have faith and belief unless that deity chose me, and let me know about it.
Assuming that one of the deities of Faerun would choose me, I would more than likely end up being a cleric, or a cleric-mage. If all my hopes of grandeur were dashed, I would wind up being a bard, frequenting the taverns, and playing instruments and singing for people, and using my subtle power over quantum wave collapse functions to support my friends, and praying that I might never be without them, for without them, I would be relatively powerless and vulnerable.
I would also know that my eventual fate would include horrible imprisonment and torture at the hands of the dreaded Irenicus. I would be wanting to avoid it as long as possible, but also fascinated by how I might withstand it without going insane. And since I would foresee that I would survive it no matter what, I might eventually seek it out in order to complete my life story's arc.
But first, I would be filled with dread about facing Sarevok, Tazok, Angelo, and Semaj. Only the foreknowledge that I was destined to survive regardless would drive me to that end. It would be the nature of the new dream reality that, if I "died", which might happen with some frequency, I would find myself reawakening at some point in the past, before the worst had happened.
The one compensating point about this connection with my own personal "heaven", would be that I would feel with mundane intensity, all of the pain of every "death". That pain would certainly be one of my motivations for doing everything I could to avoid the dream "death". It may not be as permanent as mundane "death", but it sure would hurt like heck!
And then, I might be motivated to learn how to bear a whole lot of pain, armed with the knowledge that nothing it could do to me would be permanent.
What a fascinating question the OP has posed.
But in all honesty? I don't know if I'd take it, if given the option. It's hard to say. There's a lot of adventure to be had in this world too. Want to live a Baldur's-Gate style life? Train with some weapons and then go hunt down slavers and bandit lords in Africa. Make a lot of money collecting bounties, and it'd help the locals out a lot. Put together a party of others if you don't mind splitting the dough. Even cap it at 6, if you want the full Baldur's Gate experience
First thing I do when I get there? Ask Imoen for a date (she's not my sister in this scenario, right?)
Then I set up in business writing guidebooks to rival Volo's.
When that fails to take off I head to Baldur's Gate and get filthy rich by looking in barrels.
I'm studying to be a doctor so I should probably be a cleric, but I think I'ld rather be a mage because I would cure people using my knowledge instead of using faith in any god.
I do not want to run into an ankheg. Ever. I would use the genie's wish for something less insane, like a personal theme tune, or a talking teddy bear. Name those references, folks!
(Visiting the sword coast vicariously via Baldur's Gate is great, but the people there live in constant danger of being drawn into a catastrophic war with Amn which would kill millions. That and the sheer number of monsters around the place. There's a reason why I play computer games instead of working as a mercenary in a dangerous 3rd world country.)
I guess I should have made this a forced choice to accept the wish, really... (Topic starter edited accordingly.)
I think my stats would make for a respectable cleric-mage. And if that was my choice I'd choose the race of half-elf. I have no idea what divinity to serve as a cleric... Lathander, I reckon...
That or keep it simple and just be a human mage. Tough call.
For fear of spreading myself too thin, taking on too much, etc., I think human mage would probably be wisest. It's just that if I did decide to adventure I certainly want to have both mage and cleric skillsets!
Anyway, I would choose to start in the city of Baldur's Gate. Just drop me off in front of the Elfsong Tavern, thank you. I'd ask for job sweeping the floors at Sorcerous Sundries.
As for adventuring, for me I suspect it might be hard to live in that world and not take the plunge at some point, I think. The question for me would be when would I feel proficient enough to survive. And of course what adventuring opportunities present themselves. Even what seems a low level quest could turn into something really hairy. Low level adventurers die in pretty large numbers, I would think. The odds of survival are probably not great.
I might be content as student of magic, and eventually try to open a shop, and then travel. Not to adventure, but just to see the sights and meet people. That would be an adventure in itself.
Come to think of it, I might be able to eke out a living as a scholarly bard as well. So bard is an option too. In that case I would still start in BG city as well, I think.
There is the draw of choosing to start in Candlekeep. Perhaps several months or a year or so before the BG story to watch it develop. To get to know Gorion, his ward, and Imoen. But as a stranger suddenly appearing there within the keep, the Watchers would probably kick me out. And I definitely wouldn't want to find myself escorted outside Candlekeep's gate to fend for myself by my lonesome.
Edit: I think I'd go for half-elf all the way, per Shin's and koteko's observations about longevity.
If I had to, I'd probably choose Candlekeep or some other place that's fortified and safe. I'd become a dwarf or stay a human (dwarves live 400ish years and are awesome, but I kinda like being human...)
I'd join the temple of Kelemvor asap, so I can heal myself when I get hurt or so that, when some monster or cataclysm inevitably dooms me, there'll be somebody to raise me from the dead. And Kelemvor's dogma suits me quite well.
My point still remains, FR world is dangerous and I wouldnt want to end up in the belly of some ogre or torn painfully apart by a horde of gibberlings.
I would remain sheltered and relatively safe!
Race: human
Class: class that would suit my skills best would be ranger, I'm physically very fit and strong, as an avid outdoorsman the woods is my natural habitat, I'm also a good shot with the bow.
I would settle down near that cozy town as hunter and guide for hire for travelers and expeditions in that area.
is the likely fate of most low level adventurers! In droves probably. Especially along the Sword Coast.
Half-elf, most probably. Humans are too short-term oriented, elves are too..elves. The problem is that I want to live as long as possible. To this end, I'll immediately start looking for a master Wizard and study hard in his tower. No adventuring for a few decades, improving my knowledge of magic.
I'll try to choose a human master so that I'll be able to inherit his properties after his death. He has to be good of alignment, 'cause I'm Neutral Good and I'll always be.
Yes, I'll be neutral good even after becoming a lich. An Arch-lich: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Archlich
After the death of the first master, I'll directly go looking for the most powerful good-aligned wizard in the world and try to become his apprentice.
I'm still not sure about half-elf vs elf. 180 years might not be enough to gain the knowledge needed to become a lich.
Any advice in case the genie arrives? :P
IIRC there can sometimes be problems with half-elves fitting in because of their mixed race. But the Sword Coast is a frontier region with pretty strong racial diversity. So I think most bigotry encountered would probably be idionsyncratic.