| 2nd Edition Statistics | |
| Alignment | Neutral Good |
| Class | 5th Level Bard |
| Strength | 14 |
| Dexterity | 15 |
| Constitution | 14 |
| Intelligence | 13 |
| Wisdom | 10 |
| Charisma | 18 |
| HP | 31 |
Dareth Paladinson
One of the last campaigns I was involved with, the setting portrayed a pair of empires that didn't get along (to put it kindly). I broke with tradition and made a character who was more suited for a somewhat humorous bent-and so Dareth Paladinson of Westbank was born. The character was built using the Player's Option ruleset, but I'll present here as if he were a "regular" character. I did take some inspiration from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain 's Fflewddur Fflam. A falling out with one of the other characters led to my retiring the character in favor of a new one.
| Dareth Paladinson | |
| Basic Information | |
| Titles | Heir Apparent of Westbank |
| Home | Westbank |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Human |
| Occupation | Bard |
| Known language(s) | Chaldian, Scythian |
| Rules Information | |
Description
Dareth is a blond haired youth, just beginning to grow in a short beard. He is usually dressed in a green tunic under a grey cloak, and wears a large floppy hat-a necessity after being pasted once too often by birds overhead. He carries a exquisitely crafted short sword at his side, a flute and harmonica in a pouch, and a harp on his shoulder. Another pouch holds dozens of spare harp strings.
Personality
Dareth is a fairly nice guy. However, he gets sidetracked with his morality on occasion if a good song or story is presenting itself. He fancies himself a ladykiller-not literally, of course-and a master bard. He has a definite vengeful side, but he rarely thinks of killing the objects of his vengeance. He prefers longer lasting revenge, such as his ballad of the thugs, and giving the bloodied and smelly chronicle to the future Duke D'Galle.
He views himself as somewhat open-minded. He'll keep calling Fluvio an "Evil Fiend from Hell" on occasion, but he doesn't really mean it. He's traveled with the half elf long enough to know that if he was that evil, Dareth would already be dead. That experience alone has tempered his attitude towards elves a little bit.
For a time after his possession by a demon, Dareth had trouble sleeping, and avoided some of his favorite pastimes. He was known to quietly sing the elven chant a bit, as if doubting the demon's end. Fortunately, Dareth's personality was elastic enough to weather that trauma.
Once past that, Dareth did some of his best work ever, which made a name for himself-by far beyond his family's name. It inflated the bard's ego just a bit. However, Dareth still didn't really care overly much about the reputation; in fact, he quickly realized that his days of relative anonymity was over. He decided at the time to merely make the best of it, figuring that his luck would eventually turn sour again.
Of note: Dareth won't take anything seriously if he can avoid it. He is somewhat atheistic, or perhaps agnostic. He doesn't really care about the gods: if they leave him alone, he'll leave them alone. Of course, once he starts delving into magic, he'll likely choose to venerate a party god-which will throw his father into even greater fits. Finally, it's important to note that Dareth does come from an extremely influential family, and nobles in-the-know will possibly recognize Dareth as being the future heir and Duke of Westbank. Luckily, Dareth takes other nobles about as seriously as everybody else: not at all.
Abilities
Weapon Proficiencies: Short bow, short sword, club
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Scythian, Chaldian, musical instruments, singing, read/write, dancing, heraldry, etiquette, land-based riding, local history-Westbank
Possessions
Equipment: Short bow with 36 flight arrows, signet ring (seal of the Paladinson), flute, chain mail, 50' rope, 20 sheets of paper, ink, green tunic, grey cloak, large floppy hat, scrolls of spells, riding horse
Magic Items: Harp: when user either exaggerates his own achievements or outright lies about them, strings break-the number broken indicates how big the exaggeration/lie.
Thief Skills: Pick Pockets: 20%, Read Languages: 40%, Detect Magic: 45%, History: 25%
History
The Paladinsons are not the strongest family in the land, or the richest; however, due to their integrity and the great friendship that the family has with the king, the Dukes of Westbank are one of the most influential families of the land. More, the blood of gods run through their veins, as Richard Paladinson married Sonja, daughter of Malachai Thor's son.
Ever since the first of the line, Galreth the Paladin, established Westbank, each firstborn son has become a paladin in their own right, and taken the surname of Paladinson for their own. This line has never been broken.
Well, at least until about seventeen years ago. That streak of bad luck seems to have followed the firstborn son of Marhn Paladinson ever since. Dareth Paladinson was expected to be the epitome of nobility, full of grace, wit, charm, and powerfully dedicated to Good. Well, three out of four isn't bad.
Dareth quickly was shown not to have those great qualities of a paladin. Oh, he could master the physical tests without problems. On the other hand, chastity, common sense, and respect for the gods didn't exactly fall into his plans. Marhn was known to have broken down and cried after discovering that his son was really quite the wastrel.
Love does make fools of all, however. Instead of following the advice of his chancellors, he did not immediately disown Dareth, and try to get rid of all records of his existence; he instead tried to change Dareth. He hoped that by example he would turn Dareth to paladin material. It took about two months before he realized that there was no way in hell that Dareth would ever become a paladin.
Just when he thought his son was irredeemable, he happened to hear Dareth singing. It was a bawdy, off-color tune, and Dareth had almost begun to get drunk, but the talent was there. When given a flute, Dareth proved to be potentially the greatest musician in history. Visions of a distinguished master composer danced in Mahrn's head. He really should have known better by now.
In hopes of reforming him, or at least to slow down the damage, Mahrn gave him a harp constructed by his most trusted magicians. It would play beautiful music, but upon one of Dareth's little exaggerations-or outright lies, for that matter-strings would break. It hadn't helped: in fact, Dareth kind of got a kick out of it.
Eventually, the wanderlust struck Dareth. It was, perhaps, the only thing that Dareth had in common with his paladin ancestors. Mahrn made Dareth promise to keep his heritage kind of quiet. There wasn't much chance that it would remain secret, but it would spare the family at least a little embarrassment, and perhaps head off any hostage-taking attempts. Mahrn wasn't really sure he'd even pay any ransom.
In time, Dareth ran into the wanderer Armand and the swashbuckler Fluvio. That meeting spiraled into adventure, where Dareth got attacked by Death Dogs, got to chronicle a trial, learned that Fluvio was an "Evil Elven Fiend", nearly got splattered by some demonic creatures, and gotten beaten to an inch of his life by ruffians sent by the local baron, who later became Duke D'Galle-he later got revenge by composing his popular ballad of the "Four Gaily Dueling Thugs".
Dareth also managed to become a focal point of a excursion to exterminate the darkwings of a local forest. He was saved by elves there, but he neglected to mention that fact to anyone. It was more of a desire to appropriately set the song than to conceal their presence. After wearing out his welcome at the baron's castle, he accompanied his friends to the duchy of Allori, where he was promptly possessed by a demon. At that point, Dareth got a front row seat to the demon's memories of the Abyss-which was a fascinating place, really, once one got past the gory details-as well as the demon's attempt to plunge the region into war. Thankfully, Fluvio inadvertently drove the demon out of Dareth with a mystic chant-which Dareth promptly converted into a little ditty. Dareth later found the demon's phylactery-a vase-and decided to see if it was resistant to a sudden stop after being dropped about one hundred feet. The vase didn't really take it too well; the demon within didn't either, being sucked back to its home plane of existence.
During a ceremony afterwards where Armand finally got a title (or at least a military rank), Dareth's uncle, Smithan, offered Dareth a huge amount of money to drink an elixer of youth. Dareth's brother, Rufort, had just taken holy orders and deemed a paladin, and Smithan figured that if Dareth were a little younger, Rufort would then take the Duchy. He hadn't reckoned on one of those extremely rare events in Dareth's life: an attack of conscience. Of course, the fact that the stuff was green didn't help Smithen's case, either. Dareth wrote a letter to his father outlining this event; Mahrn is believed to have fainted dead away upon reading of Dareth's assumption of responsibility.
Dareth's next problem occurred during the pre-wedding celebration of D'Galle and Allori. During the party, he'd stumbled upon a group of sprites attacking outside Fluvio's room. He later discovered that they were a part of the Sylvan Liberation Army. With the timely arrival of Fluvio's halfling slave, Demetrius, he managed to break the morale of the only surviving sprite by graphically killing one with a flaming club. Of course, the other three had been slain by guards and Fluvio, but they were all unconscious at this point.
The bard then crafted what was to become the first of his greatest songs: "The Guards Battled Spritely", a song with a dubious title, but an incredible song and score that would propel Dareth's name into fame and legend. He sang this score at the wedding, to critical acclaim. Dareth was beginning to get bored, however: when Armand asked him to go to the Barony of Lafayette, Dareth was all too happy to agree.
The visit was notable for two events. The first was a concert performed by Dareth at Lafayette's request. The concert was a success that almost guaranteed virtual immortality for Dareth (in song, of course). The other event, equally massive, was the mysterious death of Lafayette in his own room. Armand guessed that an emissary from another noble named Duke Delamonte was responsible, and the emissary was lynched. Dareth then accompanied a campaign to put that duke in his place.
In the process of that campaign, he ran into his younger brother, Otgar-who had just taken the oaths of a paladin-and killed a vampire with the vorpal weapon of L'Duc. At arriving at Delamonte's castle, he was "captured"; he got out of it by banking on his newly acquired fame and inciting a riot. The castle fell, and Delamonte was killed.
Dareth intended to follow Armand on his visit to the king, but a messenger brought word of illness-his father's, in fact. Concerned that he might actually have to be responsible, he returned to Westbank to be at his father's side. However, the reports of his father's near-death proved to be slightly exaggerated. Dareth quickly decided to leave Westbank yet again.
The bard caught up with Armand by looking for the biggest active army, reasoning that Armand couldn't possibly keep out of trouble for any real length of time. Upon reaching Armand's new earldom, he was promptly nearly killed by a clone of a warrior. Dareth returned, after an extremely unpleasant awakening in a coffin. He eventually deduced that he really didn't want to stick around to help Armand on his somewhat genocidal war against the dwarves of that area, and he chose to head out with some adventurers, preferring their potential for songs to Armand and his war.
Rumors and Legends
Dareth's music has itself become legend. Of the man himself, however, there remains little to determine. History does not record whether or not Dareth took his father's place as Duke of Westbank; indeed, Westbank's location is itself lost to time. Only the songs and concerts composed by the bard speak of its existence.