Thursday 15 April 2021

My next player character: Jackdaw

Escape From The Enemy

Jackdaw, a Sea Elf cutter pilot, possibly with some magical control over water.

OneDice Fantasy, a group choice for simplicity, for a custom setting where some variations on classic fantasy character cultures flee in a Battlestar Galactica style ragtag fleet from a human empire ruled by gods gone mad.


Jackdaw is a Sea Elf, a cutter pilot from a line of sailors, shipwrights and fishermen.

When the Elves of the Golden City sailed into the Realm of Ennor a thousand years ago, the Sea Elves crewed their great ships. Tied to the element of water as other elven lineages are to air and earth, and the Golden Elves to fire, they were always few in number but known as the finest sailors of their kind.

Only a few returned, on a single battered ship, claiming that the Golden Elves had found the land they searched for but they could never return.

The Sea Elves were mistrusted by the queens of the great forests and veldts, thought to be unpredictable as the waves and to have abandoned their kin.

They also claim some kinship with the children of Ennor, the long-gone merfolk, which made them doubly suspicious to their cousins.

So they were more often found on the coasts and river cities, among humans. Skilled navigators and shipwrights, they were welcomed for their skills at least. Some few of them have gained a modicum of respect. One of those was Jackdaw’s mother, Red Swan, a trader who knows the Retribution Islands well. She now captains the South Star, the last elven ship to escape from Summerport, full of refugees from the Autumn Forest after the Queen and her hunters fell against the Enemy. They may resent owing their lives to a Sea Elf, but they listen to her words. For now.

Jackdaw and his sisters Tern and Bluejay are each in charge of outrider ships used by bands of explorers and their guards when the fleet nears land.

Young in human years, let alone those of Elves, Jackdaw is curious, adventurous, and his humour is only muted a little by the new responsibility he finds himself with.

Though slim and slight, and with a pallid cast to his skin, he looks almost human, keeping his silvery black hair short. Like all his family, his eyes are the silver grey of the moon, brighter or dimmer as it waxes and wanes.

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Jackdaw

Sea Elf

Abilities

Strong 2
Clever 2
Quick 3
Magic 0

Health 6
Defence 9
Move 30

Profession

Fighter

Skills

Blades 2,
Archery 1, Navigate 1, Shiphandling 1, Swim 1

Feats

Last Stand
When reduced to 0 Health, a Fighter can make a Last Stand – his or her Health is restored to half its starting level (but, unless healed, will drop to 0 again, as soon as the fight is over). This can only be done once per game session.

Equipment

Cutlass (damage 3)
Dagger (damage 2)
Short Bow (damage 2, range 25)
Rugged Costume
Rope
Backpack
Hammock
Flint and Tinder
(provisionally Very Light Armour)

The Elf nation ideas are all very archetypal, with Meaningful Names in English rather than DIY Elvish. Since they're largely gone I hope that works.

Son of Red Swan, the captain of the South Star, in case you want some Apollo - Adama family issues in the base ship.

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