Siegfried Phalmont
A wandering, former knight, who saves lives and steals for good causes.
Special Equipment:
He carries a silver pendant that has a bright blue sapphire that shines with an otherworldly light. Its history and contents are unknown, but some say that the sapphire has the most pure, crystal water within that may show the wielder's past or future depending on the situation the wielder's in.
Appearance:
Sieg is well built. He's not too muscular, but not too thin. He has semi-spikey maroon hair that sort of curves on the sides, as well as the back. He has deep violet eyes that have a bluish red tint when light hits them. Given to him by his parents, he wears black armor that shines with a purplish tint along with three spikes that line his shoulder guards. His gauntlets and greaves are made specially by damascus, a special black metal that can absorb fire. The gauntlets basically have leather under it that is made for padding. He makes sure he wears his chain mail made of adamantine for extra protection. Although clumsy, he is a kind knight who helps anyone in need, whether it's a person in poverty, to enemies that are in desperate need of help. Sometimes his gullibility gets in the way which is one of his major weaknesses. Unfortunately, he has an even stronger weakness which is almost humiliation to him, and that is his shyness for women. His weapon his a thin, yet durable rapier that is specially made for fencing as well as slashing. It is made of a specialized crystal that is harder than diamond.
Background:
At age 16, Sieg joined a royal knighthood, thinking that this would be an oppurtunity to hone his skills as a swordsmaster. At age 18, Sieg's sword skills were nearly unstoppable and was promoted to a higher ranking knight, but once he turned 22, many of his fellow knights were a bit jealous of Sieg's skills and immediately turned against him. Sieg tried to control his emotions and walked away, since he desired that there shouldn't be any bloodshed between friends. That's when trouble brewed. The second when Sieg turned his back, one of his fellow knights stabbed him in the back, but fortunately missing any of the vital organs. Sieg was knocked out unconsious for several days, at least a week. When we woke up, he was in a mercenary's hideout where a small band of mercenaries treated him. There, Sieg was now an official member of their group and took the job of cooking as well as a merc. Sieg's group found his cooking skills the height of hilarity. Now away from his parents, Sieg spends his life as a wandering mercenary, saving lives, and occasionally stealing for good causes.... although his group has a bad reputation...
Roleplaying Notes:
Sieg is surprisingly smart and reads almost 24/7 in his spare time. Although isn't very good at reading, he actually knows a couple of spells here and there. The reason is, is that when he was little, he spent most of his time copying his mother, who was an excellent mage. He imitated the chants his mother said every night before he went to bed and surprisingly knew almost all the spells his mother knew.
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? Responses (13)
Well, I think Sieg has some potential, but I have a few questions.
1. Sieg's armor and weaponry sound impressive and exotic in their descriptions. How did he afford, or come to own this much gear? In normal economics, a suit of plain plate mail is going to cost on par with a midrange car, and I would guess Sieg's gear would be in the neighborhood of a F1 race car.
2. Who are these mercenaries, and how did they come to save a rising star of a knight who was attacked, and almost killed by one of his own?
On a final note, I think Sieg could be the next big role for Steven Seagal, you know, 'I'm just the cook'
Garg!
'Damascus', in real life, is not a black metal that absorbs fire, it is metal made in such a way that it has a striking pattern.
The background needs serious work.
2/5.
Captain, what about you posting another character of a quality closer to Cynithia Khlack, the Duchess of Gears? This one is not TOO bad, but...
Btw., a diamond rapier sounds nice, but any crystal will be brittle ... have you slept in chesmistry? Materials with a cristalline structure cannot resist sudden impact well due to being made of ions or a delicate network of atoms like diamond - but anything that disturbs this will destroy it. A crystal is not flexible, but a rapier needs to be!
Anyway, a rapier could never achieve enough force to punch through plate - just imagine the typical french fencer against a guy with a large shield and heavy armor - all the vital spots covered, and the heavy blade of a broadsword CANNOT be stopped by a rapier - KCHING! - there goes your pretty needle. The main reason the rapier was popular was that even nobls who did not do any training except screwing ze madmoiselles could use it without breaking their wrists - a KNIGHT could use a broadsword with the same elegance a french sybarite would weild the rapier, but with a wholly different class of effect (oi, you slashed my face vs. oi, you cleaved me in two). Try fighting the undead or a hydra with a *chuckles* rapier. I dare you!
Why are you railing against me? It's not my character!
re CP: Ummm. It's fun?
Remember, it is supposed to be friendly, helpful comments.
Re: Rapier. All rapiers are stabbing and slashing weapons. You can fight with them in a variety of styles, only one of which is come to us as the Sport of Fencing. Foils were training weapons for Rapier combat, but became the weapon of the sport.
Actually, the fencer will not have a big issues avoiding the knight in plate and shield. Part of Fighting in the Round training (i.e. the warrior precursor to fencing) was how to deflect heavy weapons without snapping your blade and avoiding heavy blade strikes. The initial stabbing- point techniques were used against heavy armor folk. While the only targetable stop in late era plate was the eye slots, most people in plate had targetable locations at every joint... and chainmail is not proof against point weapons. While it is not easy, it can be done... as many SCA fighters will attest.
And knights did not use broadswords with the same elegance. They are mass weapons, used to crush through targets with armor. They have no edged point (except in late period verions) and only a nominal slashing edge (in comparison to many sword clas weapons).
Foils became popular because of style and fashion. You could not wear a heavy weapon in a city or durring a time of piece, yet part of the nobles code required them to wear them. Thus light weapons, (rapier, saber, slim sword, and epee) were developed.
Undead would not be too much of a problem, as a blind undead is a ineffective undead. But remember, these were weapons of style and grace, not the thing you took out into battle (untill the gunpower era when nobody was wearing anything but half plate) or adventuring (when you were expecting real trouble).
Anyways, check out http://www.thehaca.com It will let you know about Western Martial Traditions.
Re: Crystal weapons look good in videogames, but don't have any versimiltude when it comes to an RPG or story. Crystals are vunerable to stress across their matrix, though they are incredibly tough when going with their matrix. So unless it is totally magic, don't use it.
re: Damascene http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/kap_5/advanced/t5_1_1.html
Blind the skeleton! I dare you! Blind the zombie whose eyes have rotted out! Blind the hydra who regenerates!
Deflect the strike of the massive bastard sword. I know that the swords used to crush more than cut, but this is fantasy RP, and comfortably wearable full plate (mithril, adamantine, or the plain 'Lighten' Spell) is quite often to be had...as well as 'swords with a blade that will never dull'...yep, there DO cut. Fching! Both rapier and fencer.
The term you need to know: slide deflection. You do not block across the arc of attack, you block nearly parallel to the arc. The attacking weapon slides along and off the thin blade and guard. There is usually a side step involved. You control the motion with a slight deflection, much the way many martial arts teach you to slip block incoming attacks... by deflecting the thrust rather than stopping it. Many an 'against weapons' technique in a martial arts uses this principle. So Sharp or dull, big or small, slide deflection will work... if you are skilled enough and willing to move about.
After 4+ years of fencing, some time in the SCA (how many Knights, Kings, Dukes, do you know?), and a bit of time in the dojo, I might know a thing or two about it. Have you fought as a fencer (preferably in the round) or in heavy armor (SCA plate/ mail will count)?
Also: Not all fantasy RPs have such poor versimiltude, and those that do (have poor ...), usually do not support the use of fencing skill nor good technqiue anyways. Try playing RQ III with the fencing options or En Gaurd (if you can find it in print) or even GURPs using the marital arts rules (which True Fencing is a Western Martial Art).
Note: I did not say anything about the Hydra, unless you are a Greek Hero you are probably toast. And they don't regnerate injuries, just the removal of heads (unless your game system is different).
Depending on the game world, taking out Zombie eyes will stop them from seeing (while they might be able to smell or sense your body head... depending on the game world). Removing the head usually prevents the body from seeing (having watched many a stumbling zombie with no head). Removal of eyes will prevent seeing.. but not stumbling around lurching for you. Again, your world may be different.
well, GURPS martial arts tends to be pretty cinematic at times, so I did not know what to thing true and what not...but the same GURPS rules tell quite a bit about rapiers breaking...
Okay, I am biased towards heavy armor, though I personally could not wear it - tried chain-mail once, quite heavy, and don't want even think of wearing plate.
As for the Hydra - I do use GURPS, and they do regenerate all injuries - limbs, eyes... lots of undead likewise.
How skilled is skilled enough? Still, I find a quarterstaff a more believable excellent parrying weapon than the rapier, don't ask me why. Or the japanese longsword, though it is profanized by western cinema and many many roll-players...
well, GURPS martial arts tends to be pretty cinematic at times, so I did not know what to thing true and what not...but the same GURPS rules tell quite a bit about rapiers breaking...
Okay, I am biased towards heavy armor, though I personally could not wear it - tried chain-mail once, quite heavy, and don't want even think of wearing plate.
As for the Hydra - I do use GURPS, and they do regenerate all injuries - limbs, eyes... lots of undead likewise.
How skilled is skilled enough? Still, I find a quarterstaff a more believable excellent parrying weapon than the rapier, don't ask me why. Or the japanese longsword, though it is profanized by western cinema and many many roll-players...
I did not say I'm a pro, in fact I am not, and so will believe your experience, though I WOULD like to see you fighting that armored knight with his bastard sword, ten pounds of steel. With a video camera at hand :D
Except for the elements that they expressly say are fantastic, Gurps is a painfully accurate representation of combat skills.... if you are actually using their base line combat rules, with the MA skills added. Think about all those points you need to invest in MA before you get a response.
Hero and Core are the cinematic games, GURPS and CORPs are realistic... to the point of pain.
That's why I don't like GURPS or CORPs.
Platemail is damn heavy. It's like walking around...Well, it's like walking around encased in metal. And it's hot. Flaming hot. Like standing inside a human-shaped oven.
Yeah, that's what the Cool and Lighten spells are for - GURPS provides us with those. But as for the real world - I had enough of the idea of wearing armor after a friend explained extensively and colourfully how it was running around in armor on a summer day when they were LARPing...
But then, I'm no knight.
Agree with the comments. Best part is the discussion the submission elicited.