I want to roleplay an old mage, but the protagonist is only 20. How can I make this work?
Stormvessel
Member Posts: 654
I want to play an old mage who is incredibly intelligent, incredibly wise, but nuttier than squirrel droppings.
I got a portrait ready which goes really well with either an invoker or diviner:
I got my sound file ready:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaP62uWSmfI&t=0m24s
I came up with a name that sounds good, and is harmonious seeing as how he's a disciple of Gorion:
Gideon.
So I create the character, roll a 94 (hard to do even for specialist mages), and set the stats:
10
18
16
18
18
14
I go into the biography to create Gideon's backstory:
Aw crap, that's right.
20 years.
And adding a "1" before the 20 makes no difference because the opening narration states the protagonist's age as being 20 years old.
Is there some kind of lore-friendly, D&D-friendly justification why a human wizard would be 20 but look 80? Now of course I know I could make him a wild mage, seeing as how in PnP 2nd Edition wild surges can change one's age. But this is NOT true of an invoker. Yes, haste can artificially age a character, but I see no reason why he would've used haste, considering it doesn't effect spell casting and he would have expeditious retreat for increased movement speed.
So what do I do with this character concept? Scrap it?
I really wish the Baldur's Gate team would've allowed the player to set their character's age. I see no reason why it would necessarily have to be set at 20 in all circumstances. For instance, sometimes a wizard apprentice will remain in their master's tower for decades upon decades before striking out on their own.
What a bummer.
I got a portrait ready which goes really well with either an invoker or diviner:
I got my sound file ready:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaP62uWSmfI&t=0m24sI came up with a name that sounds good, and is harmonious seeing as how he's a disciple of Gorion:
Gideon.
So I create the character, roll a 94 (hard to do even for specialist mages), and set the stats:
10
18
16
18
18
14
I go into the biography to create Gideon's backstory:
Aw crap, that's right.
20 years.
And adding a "1" before the 20 makes no difference because the opening narration states the protagonist's age as being 20 years old.
Is there some kind of lore-friendly, D&D-friendly justification why a human wizard would be 20 but look 80? Now of course I know I could make him a wild mage, seeing as how in PnP 2nd Edition wild surges can change one's age. But this is NOT true of an invoker. Yes, haste can artificially age a character, but I see no reason why he would've used haste, considering it doesn't effect spell casting and he would have expeditious retreat for increased movement speed.
So what do I do with this character concept? Scrap it?
I really wish the Baldur's Gate team would've allowed the player to set their character's age. I see no reason why it would necessarily have to be set at 20 in all circumstances. For instance, sometimes a wizard apprentice will remain in their master's tower for decades upon decades before striking out on their own.
What a bummer.
1
Comments
Maybe your character had an unfortunate encounter.
But you were supposed to have been together as kids.
Ignore the opening narration. It doesn't work for elves, dwarves or gnomes anyway.
Possible reasons:
- a group of mages sitting around a table at Winthorp's Tavern discussing various spells and a Wild Mage demonstrated one that refilled his Honey Mead - whoops; you were quietly waiting tables minding your own business
- Opened a prohibited book in the Library that contained some ancient arcane protection
- Mixing ingredients for a spell while learning and put the wrong ones in; had a life long changing effect
- When trying to steal a mage's belongings out of his/her room in the tavern, and was hit by the protection. Decided at that point to give up being a rogue and thought about becoming a mage instead. Much more powerful.
- When looking at Morphing spells in a spell book; made you a squirrel/rat/ (something that ages fast), Gorion wasn't around to fix the problem for a couple of weeks and when you were finally returned to yourself, you found you had aged years in animal life
I have used (for elves/dwarves) that they were actually older; somewhere between 10-20, when they arrived at Candlekeep but were unable to remember anything prior or the first few years at Candlekeep. This way, I could get around the age of various races and their looks. I then convert the 20 years of age into 20 years of memory... magic and mirrors...
Another I used; the godblood racing around your body rapidly aged CHARNAME to an age that was appropriate to the avatar I was using, aging then slowed down for a long life (or quick death depending whether I could make it past the next battle). Unexplainable by all except Gorion who knew but never told.
These could give more ideas (and I would like to add to my library of excuses), so keep em coming...
Happy Aging
Gus
Further proof Sarevok is older than you; he refers to murdering "children", speaking of the other Bhaalspawn he has disposed off, implying he does not consider himself a child.
So, Sarevok is probably somewhere around 28 yo in BGI.
Edit: Remember, once Bhaal foresaw the times of troubles and learned he would be killed, he started a rape tour of the swordcoast (with the exception of his willing priestesses) but the game does not really pinpoint a date when he learned of his demise, other than that he had heard the prophicies of Alandou, whom was an "ancient" (whatever that means) seer. This chance learning of the prophecies might thus have happened houndreds of years ago - though your other halfsiblings does not appear very much older than you. I mean the monk, yeah, he is probably in his midthirties or so. Therefore, my guess is Bhaal learned of the prophecy like 15-20 years before the ToT, so your halfsiblings are anywhere from 45 (in ToB) to 20, like you (in BG1).
Second edit: The reason Sarevok was raised in the Bhaal temple is because killing Bhaalspawn before Bhaal died would just have returned the essence to Bhaal. So, basically, on the eve of Bhaals death, the Bhaal temple was like a day care center, and, ironically, had someone visited the temple at that time, without knowing which deities temple it was, they would probably have believed it was devoted to some god of fertility.
For instance: an 20 year old goblin mage would be equal to an 50-ish year old human mage.
I also found it quite enjoyable to roleplay as an venerable necromancer who mastered his knowledge of souls to reincarnate as (or to possess) an defenseless child of Bhaal. All in the name of seeking even more arcane knowledge with the help of the divine spark. That way you can set whatever mental age you want for your CHARNAME to have.
Edit:
A relevant excerpt from The Complete Book of Necromancers, TSR 1995:
"I shall laugh as I place my head on the block, laugh at them all as the raven jeers at the gallows or the worm mocks the grave. It took the Prince's most powerful knights to bring me - shackled in cold iron - before my earthly liege, but not before I had slain a hundred of his retainers, twisted the insides of his beloved wife, cursed their only son with ravening madness eternal.
I have lain among the rat-gnawed bones of the oubliette and accepted the iron maiden's cruel embrace, but I am not alone, and I feel no pain. The slaadi still comfort me with their infernal melodies, and my invisible familiars still inform me, bringing news in the clammy darkness from my lord Thasmudyan. I shall have eternal life for my devoted service; the baatezu lord has promised me this final boon.
I will survive, of that I am certain, but my next evolution may not remember all of my secrets, all the cryptic mysteries of the Art. I shall bid the shadows to write them down, inscribe them in a book so that I may remember all that I knew before I died: And then I shall depart this earthly realm and walk on farther shores, undreaming and unbidden, until I stand once again in the ivory court of Thasmudyan.
- From Nebt Bhakau's Book of Shadows"
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shoon_VII
Protagonist is a mage imbued with a temporal incident that both powers and burdens him, causing him to age faster. (Hutchinson-Gilford progeria in Real World terms.)
Rapidly aging over what would have been a secluded childhood, the Bhaalspawn then rushes against time to achieve godhood, the final last hope for a refugee to survive his condition.
The portfolio of a God of Murder is the way out while the innate powers slowly murder the time itself that he has been given on Earth, urging him toward his destiny.
(Bonus point: edit his Bhallspawn powers to reflect this heritage over Time affecting powers, such as receiving Haste and Slow instead of Vampiric Touch x2)
--
P.S. You are very much invited to join in the no-reload thread if you want to role-play such story:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/40393/
Those voices are so good, wow, really didn't expect that level of quality.
The hell trials have you question what would have become of you if he had picked Sarevok instead of you, implying that you had similar chances of survival.
Gorions wards backstory is that he/she was picked up as a baby by Gorion, as Gorion killed Alianna just as Alianna was about to stab her newborn in a ritual to resurrect Bhaal.
This also explains how Gorions Ward do not at all remember his/her mother, and generally being clueless about his/her origins, while Sarevok while perhaps not at first realizing his origin still have an intense interest in it and studies it. His much confused childhood memories would have prompted such research.
Also note - and I draw this from memory, so do correct me if I am wrong - that Sarevok in the hell trials never suggest Gorions Ward was his age. To the contrary, he is mighty bitter about not being picked, even suggesting he has some foggy memories of the night of the raid, and being tossed away by the raiding party in favor of a baby (or babies, Imoen and perhaps other, indisclosed siblings might have been rescued in the same raid - remember, Imoen is of comparable age of Gorions Ward but not sent to Candlekeep until at a later date, suggesting whomever took Imoen in for whatever reason were no longer willing or able to function as her guardian, thus the harpers pulling the strings decided reunite the siblings). He is obviously not pleased with Rieltar, stating "I would have given much for a father like yours", suggesting jealously and bitterness over the rejection 20 years ago might have aided in his decision to kill Gorion.
Further, in BG1, Gorions Ward is stumbling about, while Sarevok is crafty and cunning, again suggesting there is an age difference.
I think, that Sarevok being around 8 and Gorions Ward being only a couple of days or weeks old at the night of the raid is canon, and anything that contradicts this, was either simply miscommunication in the dev / storywriting team or the in game characters themselves being confused - induced memories, such as the harper quest thingy, are after all notoroiusly unreliable when it comes to detail.
I simply applies Occhams razor; when there is a contradiction, whichever alternative makes more sense is probably the true story.
About the dragon... well, maybe Bhaal had some extramaritial affairs even before he learned of the prophecy? Deities are certainly no strangers to fooling around, just look at Loki, Thor and Odin... or why not Zeus and Poseidon?
It would certainly fit in with Imoen's comment that Charname grew up really fast.
Excerpt:
"For instance, a decrepit necromancer uses this spell to exchange life forces with a hale, young warrior in the prime of his health. While the wizard gains a young and vigorous body (and all of the benefits that go with it), the unfortunate youth finds himself trapped in the withered shell of a dying, old man."
Same thing happened in NWN2: I wanted to play a grizzled dwarf war veteran with strokes of grey in his beard. Cue the intro "OH MY LITTLE CHILD YOU'RE HERE, GO DO YOUR CHORES AND THEN YOU CAN GO TO THE CARNIVAL WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND HAVE FUN"
The fact that Sarevok knows what he's doing while the protagonist is "stumbling about", can't possibly have anything to do with the fact that Sarevok is at the heart of a long-prepared conspiracy while the protagonist is suddenly thrust into it and asked to figure everything out. That's not an argument.
You have no idea what canon means. Canon is whatever the source material says. You can't reject parts of the canon and then form your own canon. The term canon exists precisely to stop you from doing that.
You are also misusing the term Occam's razor, which means you are supposed to take the simplest answer that makes the fewest assumptions, not the one that makes the most sense to you.
The time of troubles lasted one year:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Time_of_Troubles
Also, do note the word babe.
"Others of the Children were there"
NOT possible if Bhaal impregnated them all in ToT, there would just be a lot of pregnant ladies at that time.
Ergo: Gorions ward was clearly a baby at the time.
Meanwhile, clearly, Sarevok walked out on his own, survived for a while in BG slums before being noticed and adopted by Rieltar.
Ergo: Sarevok is older than Gorions Ward.
The fact that this would make Gorions ward ten, not twenty, at the start of the game is a known mistake on part of the original devs (on that note, why not just make your char 80, the timeline anyway do not add up).