This mage is definitely not the fire and brimstone blast you with fireballs type, although… there is no real limit as to what he can do
Markin Bray was the fat son of the old tax collector. Primus, his father, was a pompous arse and even after ‘retiring’ he still demanded the respect of everyone in the town. No one liked him – the old story, he gets rich while taking our hard earned money. And he was quick to arrest those who couldn’t pay.
As for Markin’s mother, she died when the lad was about five years old, while giving birth to his sister. He was told his sister had died too. His father got meaner after that, and didn’t care much for Markin saying the boy reminded him of his wife too often.
Left to his own, Markin ate. Markin played. Markin ate. Marking did some reading with a tutor. Markin ate. Markin got big and fat like his father.
Markin got beaten up a few times, for been the son of Primus and for been fat. Markin hated it. Asked his father time and time again to arrest the boys, but his father could not. Usually said something like “are they stealing from the king?” and made Markin feel like a fool.
Things changed for the boy, when after his 14th summer, he found this old dusty chest in the basement. He never came down here – scared of rats – but he was bored and it was day time and he had a lantern. The rats wouldn’t be there, he thought.
Markin used a crowbar and put his full weight – around 160 pounds – to break open the locked latch. He fell to the floor, and covered his ears when he heard this low ‘hiss’.
Nothing happened. Marking pulled himself up and opened the trunk. It was filled with junk and he slouched in disappointment, but still, he rummaged through it and at the bottom, in a leather satchel he found this old dusty tome.
The latch on the book opened with no effort, and inside Markin found pages and pages of mystic symbols and images of monsters. Markin went to his room, and sat on his bed ‘studying’ the book.
Markin saw power in the book, and his attitudes changed. The next time a group of youths tried to attack him, cornering him in an alley, he pulled out the book and said – “Stand back you scum, I am a wizard!”
The laughed at him, and as they lunged forward he screamed, and held up his hand, with his palm out stretched – as he fell backwards there was a blast of light and fire, and the youths screamed, running away in terror and pain.
Burnt flesh filled the air. Markin opened his eyes. One of the youths was dead, and the wooden buildings scorched and smoldering. Markin smiled, with an evil grin he stood up and returned to his home.
“I am a wizard!” he said again.
Building Marking
Well, honestly there is actually nothing to build per se. Markin uses Mana and Unskilled Magic. So let’s take a look anyway.
Getting Started
Markin’s ability scores (this is needed for this build) – we use the standard array 15/14/13/12/10/8.
Strength 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Char 13, Int 15, Wis 14
As a human, we have 48 character points, plus the 6 for the bonus human feat. 54 character points. Plus Fast Learner (Skills) gives us 4 at level 1
The Basics
Hit Dice: d4 – 0 character points
Saves: Will+1, nothing on the others. 3 character points
Warcraft: 0
Proficiencies: Limited simple weapon set. 2 character points (as the wizard class – this is staff, dagger, club, sling, dart)
Skills: 4 (bonus) + 8 (intelligence) + 12 character points.
Total Spend: 17 cp
Specials
Mana: As mana (1d6 mana points, average to a 4) and with Unskilled Magic. We buy this 4 times for a total of 16 mana points. 24 cp. (12 cp per level of the adventurer frame work, counting level 0 as a level)
Caster Level is Character Level or Intelligence/3 (use lowest) – for Markin, that is a cater level of 1
Max Level of effect is Will Save Bonus or Wisdom/3 (use lowest) – for Markin, that is a max effect of level 1.
Countering Side Effects requires a Charisma Check, DC 6 + double mana spent.
Costs: 2 mana per level of effect. Might gain ‘bonus’ mana if emotional (hate, fear, etc)
Privileges: He is the son of a tax collector (retired) and still has some immunities to laws etc. 3cp
Total: 27 character points
Grand Total: 44 CP – still leaves 4 cp and the level one feat. Both of these could be spent on skill points
This character idea I had way back in early stages of 3.0 d20…. works kind of well with Eclipse though.