Aetrimonde

In this next post covering a third sample character, elf artificer Gwynne of House Midwinter, we’ll be going over choices of skills, perk, and languages.

Skills

Gwynne has some overlap in her preferred skills:

• Arcana and History (Caras Elvaren culture)
• Arcana and Engineering (Technician stratum)
• Arcana, Engineering, Medicine, Perception, Subterfuge, and Warfare (Artificer class)

So Gwynne only has seven preferred skills, one of which (Arcana) she’s required to have by the Artificer class. She next gets to pick five other preferred skills to be trained in; she gets one extra due to the Extended Youth elf ancestry feature.

Frankly, it makes more sense to decide which preferred skill Gwynne won’t be trained in. I don’t see this former toymaker being particularly warlike, so we’ll rule out Warfare, and she’ll be trained in all the others.

And for her final choice of skill, which can be any of the eighteen, Gwynne will be trained in…Insight. I’m increasingly working to a theme here, and it will help if she can tell who’s naughty and nice.

Gwynne’s trained skill bonuses (before any encumbrance penalties) will thus be:

• Arcana +6
• Engineering +6
• History +6
• Insight +4
• Medicine +6
• Perception +2
• Subterfuge +3

It helps that so many of Gwynne’s trained skills key off of her high Intelligence!

Perk

I think there’s only one reasonable choice for Gwynne’s perk, given the theme I’m working to. As a former toymaker, Gwynne will have the Craft [Elven Children’s Toy] perk. Will this be as directly useful in adventuring as Etterjarl Ragnvald’s Craft [Clockwork]? I’ve no idea, really. I suppose it may depend on how many children Gwynne runs into.

Languages

In addition to the campaign’s common language, which we’ll presume to be the default of Westerling, Gwynne also gets to speak Modern Elven due to her Caras Elvaren culture.

Up Next

Coming up next, we’ll be taking a look at the kinds of powers, feats, and equipment that Gwynne can choose from, including some Armament and Ward powers that are especially appropriate for an artificer. Stay tuned!