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Stephan Du Rani, my swashbuckler thief,
by morris.113@postbox.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu.

Stephan was lucky, my dice ran very high with him, and I drew Balistic
attack as a wild talent.  Stephan was a cajun theif, and lasted a long
time on style and finess.  He quirked his balistic attack, only threw
coins from a black velvet pouch with silver thread.  I was fond of
stealing quotes from another cajun thief, (It can be thrown?  It can
be energized!)  I'll let you folks guess where it came from.  Stephan
aquired a medalion that allowed him an improved haste which allowed
him, in a pinch to stand up with the fighters, without aging.  Stephan
finally was retired after spelljamming adventures brought him to 14th
level.  His only magic was a pair of enchanted sabers and that
medalion.  Oh and a suit of elf chain.

He specialized in move silently and hide in shadows, with the other
abilites split evenly.  Except pick pockets.  He picked one pocket in
his entire career, seeing himself as a duelest and such actions being
beneath him.

He's up to be borrowed if anybody wnats a high level foppish rouge,
just please do not fold, spindle or otherwise mutulate this fine
gentelman.

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Name: Buzzard,
by smah@csu.murdoch.edu.au (Seng Ann Mah)
Race/Sex: Half orc, male
Age: early 30s, equivalent to a human approaching middle age.
AD&D stats: Str 18(96), Int 8, Wis 9, Dex 12, Con 19, Cha 8; 5th
fighter.

If Buzzard had another name before this one, he speaks nothing of it.
Instead, he has chosen a sobriquet which reflects his predatory and
scavenging instincts.He remembers almost nothing of his childhood days
save the endless drudgery of the work farm and the cruel sting of the
overseer's whip.  When he was old enough, he was sent to the mines
where his great strength and endurance could be put to better use in
the extraction of _faltha_ (a precious metal, about equivalent to
mithril) from the ungiving rock.  Life in the mines build his
character, even as it toughened him to hardship and made him bigger,
stronger.

Long, harsh years in the mines came to an end one day when a visiting
official saw the half-orc drop an overseer who had been especially
cruel.  Impressed by the man's physical prowess and savagery, he
ordered that the slave be removed from the mines and transported to
the city of Kharsus where a close friend who was lanista for a troupe
of gladiators was looking for new blood.  So it was that Buzzard ended
life as a menial slave and became an arena fighter.  He proved himself
an exceptional warrior in the ring and earned his lanista- master much
fame and fortune.  The man, grown rich on his slave's efforts, became
complacent in his treatment of the half-orc and for this, he died at
Buzzard's hands.  Before the authorities could be alerted, Buzzard
made a break and fled Kharsus under cover of a savage storm.

He lived for a time in the wilderness west of the city, foraging and
scrounging for food from the middens of nearby villages.  Still, it
wasn't long before he came to the acquaintance of other escaped slaves
and, through feat of strength and combat, became the leader of a small
band of ex-slaves turned bandits.  Buzzard's band raided and scavenged
the countryside until the authorities at Kharsus were alerted to their
activities.  A small force of soldiers was sent against the band, and
Buzzard let one of them live to return to Kharsus with a warning:
that the bandit slaves would not be taken easily.  The ire of Kharsus
now fully provoked, whole legions of soldiers were sent to find and
destroy the half-orc and his band, but Buzzard and his followers had
retreated further into the wilderness and, in familiar territory, they
would prove a match for whatever force the city state would throw at
them.

The legend of the renegade gladiator and his band of bandits soon
spread over the region.  To the villagers and farmers of the
countryside, he is a fearsome figure, a raider and a killer.  To their
slaves and the slaves of Kharsus, he is a liberator (though Buzzard
has yet to actively liberate any slaves), a man who has broken free of
the shackles of servitude and who actively opposes hated authority.
To those in power in Kharsus, he is a thorn in the side, a man who
undermines their power by his defiance.  Buzzard himself desires
nothing more than freedom for himself and his fellows.  He has no
aspirations to be a liberator, and is happy enough to continue
banditry and raiding to survive.

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Kes Murtall (LG hm P2),
by umhoyak@cc.umanitoba.ca (Paul Julian Hoyak)

Str 4, Dex 4, Con 6, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 6

Kes is a cleric (NOT speciality priest) of Lathander and is over 90
years old (91, actually)!!!!!!  The player had the worst rolls on the
face of the earth - I'm surprised he even made a class!

However, the player LOVES this character.  He always speaks in his
old-man voice (eg.  "What'd ya say, sonny?") which he does really
well.  He doesn't care that if he gets magically aged somehow that
he'll probably die immeadiately (he will - I rolled his max.  age =
97).  He loves insulting the young all the time ("you young folk
wouldn't know hardship if it hit ye on yer head") and just being a
pain in the butt - but still "lovable" - the others don't really want
to kill him (or shut him up, etc).  What's more, one of the other PCs
is his grandson!!

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Norbin Greybeard,
by sjcaldwe@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (scott)

Norbin Graybeard is an average hill dwarf with a positive attitude, a
fear of vampires, a hatred of half-orcs and only one arm.  He's done a
lot of things over the years.  He's now an 8th level fighter - no kit,
no artifacts, but I like him.  He carries a non-magical battle axe, a
magical hammer (Dwarven Thrower) and a non-magical crossbow.  He's
never without garlic, and has acquired a taste for it, occasionally
chewing on a bud when trouble abounds.  He carries a magical shield
strapped to his back, as well as a strange magical long sword of
dwarven make.  He doesn't know its powers or its history and he isn't
even proficient with it.  It was acquired as a split of the treasure
with his first adventuring party.  He's looking for the "right person"
to give it to.  He doesn't know who the "right person" is yet, but
he'll know when he sees 'em.  Norbin is always postive, he knows
things'll work out for him.  He's brave, but not foolhardy.  He hates
stupidity and cowards.

Things that he's done & things that have been done to him:

o he almost got choked to death by a vampire (losing 4 levels in the
process); he was then thrown against a wall and saved by his
companions, after the vampire retreated; the vampire still lives, but
Norbin's not goin' back

o "helped" (accidently) destroyed a demi-plane while trying to
retrieve an artifact (The Egg of The Phoenix ?); only he and one other
companion survived; on the plane all energy produced opposite results,
ie.  fire was cold, etc

o had his left arm bitten off by a red dragon (which was killed)

o fought an illusionist in an underground temple; twice he and another
character had thought that the illusionist was dead; finally killed
the illusionist and chopped his head off

o in the same underground temple he believed that the only doorway out
of a room was being bricked up, so he lowered his shield, adjusted his
helmet and charged through the wall - it was only an illusion :)

There are other little things.  I could go on for days.  Norbin's not
all- powereful, he's somewhat average, but he's one of my two
favourite characters.  Why one might ask?  Well ...  we've been
through a lot together.

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Brando, son of Gromm,
by smah@csu.murdoch.edu.au (Seng Ann Mah)

Brando son of Gromm, blood of Adbar (a name he seldom uses, unless
addressing older "longbeard" dwarfs).  Brando was a fairly average
dwarf (stats wise) who was a fighter thief.  I decided early on that
his "thief" skills would be customised to make it more like "scout"
skills, and he was a helpful, if fairly gullible, member of the group.
Though not bright, he had his good times, as well as bad, and ended up
(before the campaign was drawn to a close) becoming the foster father
("uncle") of a dwarf lad who was the sole survivor of a small clan of
dwarfs decimated by frost giants (which Brando and his companions slew
in order to rescue the boy).  He almost married a human druidess
(well, not married:  he was smitten by her beauty and kept visiting
her grove) but she had to leave to continue her druidical duties.  The
only magic item he had was a +2 dagger, if memory serves me well, and
he was wont to fight with a normal broadsword in one hand, and said
dagger in another.  Contrary to dwarven stereotypes, he was not a
grouch.  I took great pains to make him a personable character (had a
Cha of 11/12).  Brando's ultimate lifequest was to find the fate of
his father, Gromm, who went off adventuring while he was still and
child and never returned.  Sad to say, the campaign ended before
Brando could complete this quest.  :(

Rawl of Dronnar,
by smah@csu.murdoch.edu.au (Seng Ann Mah)

Rawl of Dronnar, a human corsair.  Rawl was created along the lines of
the big, dumb fighter when I was rolling and allocating scores, but by
dint of luck (?)  I ended up making him a corsair, which has really
defined this character.  Rawl is almost an archetypal sea-farer, but
he has a heart of gold.  He isn't a true pirate, though he has had
experience in "boarding" other ships, and lives life according to the
corsair's edict ie.  to the full, with passion, and with freedom.
Through the course of the campaign, Rawl courted a druidess (an NPC)
and ended up marrying her.  (I guess the unrequited romance between
Brando and the druidess was finally realised in Rawl and Namoith, the
druidess :) ).

IMO Rawl is the most fully developed PC I have run in the 8 or so
years I have been gaming, simply because he has gone through much
development throughout the 2.5 years I've been running him:  he
briefly became the captain of his own ship (his lifelong dream),
helped lead a group of freedom-fighters against an invading army, and
ferry a group of refugees from a conquered city-state to freedom.  He
is fairly simple-minded (only an Int of 7) and is prone to see things
as black and white.  I guess it's this fairly simple outlook on life
which has made playing him so appealing.