Character Tips

The overall concept of Tyrant’s Grasp—a resurgence of the Whispering Way and their new weapon of mass destruction— is one that likely appeals to a vast variety of characters, but how do you pick just one concept, and what will best fit with the campaign’s challenges and mood? Despite the large scope of the storyline, most of the challenges are personal and immediate— the Whispering Way and other minions of Tar-Baphon threaten the PCs directly and personally, and in uncovering and stopping their plot, the PCs will delve into ancient ruins, devastated landscapes, and secret strongholds with nothing to protect them beyond courage and a sturdy shield. The PCs will need to rely on themselves and their fellow adventurers rather than armies or the social order. The following suggestions do not cover every potential character concept appropriate for this campaign; many more possibilities exist, limited only by your imagination and familiarity with the various options presented over the span of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition products, as well as available third party and homebrew sources.

Alignment

Almost everyone, whether good, evil, or purely self-motivated, stands to lose considerable freedom and safety under the rule of Tar-Baphon and legions of the dead, and so alignment isn’t necessarily limited by morality or ethos for Tyrant’s Grasp so long as characters can agree that the Whispering Tyrant and the Whispering Way must be stopped. As Lastwall is a nation ruled by paladins, lawful good and good are the most common alignments, with plenty lawfully-bent unaligned people, with citizens expected to work toward the common good for their education, community and nation when they are able, and benefiting from a strong support infrastructure that delivers expertise, protection, and resources where and when they are needed. Even Lastwall’s villains tend to adopt a code of honor, leaning more toward evil than any chaotic evil outlook. Chaotic characters aren’t especially disdained, but they have a difficult time finding a place in the well-ordered societies of the border nation. Those who do exist drift toward border communities like Roslar’s Coffer or lumber camps in the Fangwood Forest, and many eventually migrate further south to Nirmathas. As always, talk to your Game Master before creating an evil character, as they are not appropriate for all groups.

Class Options and Themes

Most of the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path involves battling unrepentant evil and surviving in the face of overwhelming destruction. Many adventures involve difficult scenarios where awful things have already transpired, and the PCs must do what good they can in the aftermath—comforting survivors and healing victims. All character classes and themes are suitable for this Adventure Path, but those who rely on a certain degree of stable infrastructure, especially urban-focused characters, may have a harder time finding useful applications for their skills. This Adventure Path also requires considerable travel, and so characters with some ability to navigate effectively, get by on the road, or have some ability to travel faster will find practical application for their skills.

Given their prevalence in Lastwall, paladins are an obvious choice, as are clerics and invokers , but players of such characters should do so with an open mind, as many important growth moments in the Adventure Path require working alongside the lesser of two evils for the betterment of the world. It’s worth pointing out that even the most stringent of cavalier codes allows lawful good characters to work alongside evil companions for the greater good, so long as they can curb the dark actions of their allies.

Other classes well suited for the Tyrant’s Grasp include fighters, rangers, rogues, warlords, and wizards. Druids—residents of the nearby Fangwood Forest—are likewise a local feature, though druid players may find the desolate landscapes visited over the course of this campaign too limiting. Because of the prevalence of undead opponents, characters relying on poison damage or fear effects will find fewer targets for their offensive abilities. A few monasteries of Iomedae exist within the nation, encouraging enlightenment through martial skill and physical perfection, though they focus on Avistani fighting styles rather than those of Tian-Xia. Obviously divine characters are most represented in Lastwall but even warlocks and sorcerers are left in peace so long as their gifts aren't turned towards destruction or control.

Foes and Terrain

Easily the most obvious and numerous opponent players will face in the course of the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path will be undead, which make up the majority of the Whispering Tyrant’s forces. The PCs will also face many living opponents in service to Tar-Baphon, including humans and elves. Other common threats will include aberrations, plants, and strange half-dead creatures called mortics. The campaign will cover a variety of landscapes, with underground dungeons—where the dead and their secrets lie buried—being the most common. Other common landscapes will include urban and forest, as well as some time spent in the rolling hills and rugged mountains of Lastwall and Ustalav.

Origins

With the campaign’s beginning set in a border town steadily rebuilding after an orc attack a decade ago, most player characters likely hail from Lastwall in general, if not Roslar’s Coffer specifically. They may be clergy, engineers, farmers, healers, masons, town watch, or weavers, with the local industry focusing primarily on flax farming, sheep herding, reconstruction, and weaving cloth from the local flax and wool, as well as selling linseed oil and lanolin. Even though the border with Belkzen has been quiet the past few seasons, Vigil maintains a small defensive force in Roslar’s Coffer made up of healers, knights, scouts, and soldiers, as well as a few academic observers who report on the reconstruction efforts. Roslar’s Coffer attracts trade from Nirmathas and Ustalav, and even the occasional Varisian caravan and Razmiri refugee. The reconstruction effort attracted many souls eager for work, as well as a few opportunistic sorts who saw the local authorities handing out compensation and support to displaced locals and decided to take advantage of this generosity, though most of these have long since moved on now that the charity has dwindled to a trickle.

Languages

With the bulk of the Shining Crusade’s forces originally provided by Taldor, the Taldan common tongue is the language of the area. A large number of Kraggodan dwarves assisted in both the war and reconstruction, and Dwarven remains a fairly common tongue even among humans. Similarly, Lastwall’s proximity to Ustalav means that many among the peasantry speak at least a little Varisian—especially to mutter curses and protections. Hallit and Orc are still found on many of the old ruins that predate Tar-Baphon’s rule, while Necril was the language of choice under the Whispering Tyrant’s iron fist and remains the common tongue of the Whispering Way. The church of Iomedae also commonly commits important messages or prayers in Celestial.

Races

Humans are the overwhelming majority of Lastwall’s population, but the Shining Crusade brought defenders from across the Inner Sea region, and almost every ethnicity on Avistan is represented in the local populace. Though the majority of Lastwall’s population is at least part Taldan, most citizens carry a blend of Taldan, Chelaxian, Varisian, Kellid, and Garundi ancestry, and Keleshite and Tian heritage have also become more common as trade has increased following Lastwall’s independence from Taldor.

Dwarves and halflings are common sights, especially in the military. Gnome and elven visitors—primarily from the Fangwood Forest—are not unheard of, but by far the most common non-humans in Lastwall are half-orcs. Most of the nation’s half-orcs hail from the generations of tense but peaceful contact between human border towns and nomadic orc tribes, or even self-sustaining villages of half-orcs that have dwelled along the Mindspin Mountains since the Age of Darkness and that have occasionally adopted human or orc members into the local population. Despite these diverse origins, the negative perception of orcs among humans sees that most half-orcs bear at least some stigma.

Though rare, aasimars and dhampirs both call Lastwall home, and both are treated with a certain level of mistrust— dhampirs for their obvious ties to undeath, and aasimars for their otherworldly origins. Tieflings, fetchlings, and skinwalkers—many immigrants from Ustalav—can also be found in small numbers, but are uncommon enough that they generally don’t draw attention as anything more than unusual travelers.

Religion

Iomedae, the crusader and disciple of both Arazni and Aroden, is the most prominent god of Lastwall, followed closely by the war god Gorum, who is popular with both the crusaders of Lastwall and their orc rivals in Belkzen. Most soldiers worship both. Iomedae is the usual favorite, and the church of Iomedae is all but a branch of the government. Other gods commonly seen in Lastwall include the Taldan pantheon— Abadar, Cayden Cailean, Norgorber, and Shelyn—imported by the earliest crusaders. Sarenites are less common, but were still a strong foundation in the Shining Crusade, especially among healers. Desna, largely important among Varisian settlers, is also a common faith among the civilian citizenry. Many dwarves pay homage to Torag and the rest of the dwarven pantheon.

Many small cults exist to various empyreal lords as well, especially the avenging angel Ragathiel—whom many of the most violent paladins follow—and Andoletta, who is embraced both by communities hoping to invoke her protection and by veterans who look to her for healing and peace.