The character is Lawrence Greyson, a roughly five and a half foot tall man in his late twenties with completely unmanaged grey hair, a piecemeal leather armour covered by a shirt of mithril chainmail of elven design; rather out of place over the cheap leather. He carries a shortbow and keeps a battleaxe for his off-hand and a dagger for his main. He carries a rather full backpack, filled and covered with various tools and supplies.

He is playful, but amoral. Not evil, just certainly not good. He laughs and jokes at peril, while continually throwing himself into it. Deep down, it’s for de-stressing, as he gets stressed very easily and defusing situations with humour helps avoid it (as well as infuriating whomever he’s facing, which always helps). He likes working with others, but only if they can keep up. He doesn’t rely on magic, trusting only his own physical ability, and barely enough magic on his weapons to make them effective against his opponents rather than useless.

Growing up near the (to them, unnamed) elven lands had an affect on young Lawrence, a curious and eccentric boy. He spent most of his dependant years crossing the border into the forests, and playing with the children there. His parents thought them a bad influence, as the elves were mistrusted. The boy grew up physically and mentally much faster than his playmates and had to socialise with many older crowds. During that time he became more in touch with the world than most elves thought humans could, and more agile and graceful, having to travel through the treetops like the natives do. One of his acquaintances who (unbeknownst to him) was a member of the Bladed Leaf, a prominent military guerilla warfare and reconnaissance unit asked him if he’d want to be trained in their ways, with no obligations to them afterward. Lawrence agreed, and the man was convinced that he would join them when his training was complete. Lawrence was a prodigy, and became expert in mobile combat and survival skills. He then left as soon as his training was done, without even saying goodbye, much to everyone’s surprise.

His motivation was simple – see the world and have a good time while doing it. All Lawrence seemed to care for was his own journey, and while he was intolerant of what people would call ‘evil’ acts, he didn’t take much stock in good and evil himself. This caught the attention of a man known as ‘the Saint’, a roguish figure with a lot of influence and a knack of knowing just what is needed. As most auspicious meetings are, the two met by pure luck. He started doing work for the Saint; steal this off a powerful wizard, take this from a dead dragon’s lair, each task ever more dangerous and daring, just how Lawrence liked it. He laughed as he went, being ridiculous and astounding between one moment and the next. His personal best was when he stopped an entire Yuan-Ti force in their tracks by claiming brazenly that he was a ‘mighty wizard’ and making such a good impression that they backed down long enough for him to escape with their temple’s golden idol through an open skylight. Though he wasn’t a worshipper, he became known in some circles as ‘Olidammara’s Laughter’, for his roguish and comic ways.

3^rd Edition

Race: Human

Level: 23

Classes: Scout 16/Thief-Acrobat 4/Ruathar 3

Favourite Class Feature: Fast Acrobatics. It is the basis for his brand of tumbling combat, allowing him to constantly change position and tie up a large force while also always able to escape if it gets too difficult.

Favourite Feats: Acrobatic Strike, Dual Strike and Keen-Eared Scout. Acrobatic Strike, mixed with his tumbling around the battlefield, gives a pretty much constant +6 to his attacks, as long as he keeps moving. Dual Strike allows him to attack with both his weapons after tumbling, getting Skirmish bonus and the attack bonus from the earlier feat for both weapons as they count as the same attack, for a devastating amount of damage. Keen-Eared Scout lets him identify threats from far off, down to what they are, what they’re wearing and carrying, how far they are and where they’re going. It’s a huge help when he’s the party scout.

4^th Edition

Race: Human

Level: 23

Class: Rogue/Cat Burglar/Eternal Seeker

Favourite Race or Class Feature: Rogue Tactics – Artful Dodger. It allows his tumbling combat style to continue since the loss of Tumble as a skill. A high Charisma modifier makes him virtually untouchable while mobile.

Favourite Powers: Dazzling Acrobatics, Instant Escape and Bloody Path. Dazzling Acrobatics allows him to dart around the battlefield at great speed, just in case the enemy is inaccessible or he needs to get out fast. Instant Escape gets him out of tricky spots as soon as he gets into them, and he slips by. Bloody Path uses his speed against the enemy, causing a large group to potentially kill themselves while trying to hit him as he rushes past.

Favourite Feats: Sure Climber and Flanking Manuever. Sure Climber further increases his aptitude for movement, allowing him to scramble up cliffs and walls quickly to further confound the enemy who previously thought themselves safe, or thought him cornered. Flanking Manuever allows a greater range of movement, through many normally inaccessible spaces, further emulating his tumbling around, darting behind and around foes.

Back in 2007 we decided to run an Evil party through the Cormyr campaign. Some slight tweaking of the plot was required, but the Lawful nature of the Bane hierarchy served the DM well. The party:

The Lady Corey, a beautiful but twisted disciple of Bane, given this mission because she has annoyed her superiors. A servant of hatred and tyranny, forcing her will on others makes her smile. She specialises in making dead men dance.

Samir, an ex con-man from Calimshan, hideously scarred in his initiation ritual and forced into Corey’s service by means of a cursed falchion. He cannot disobey a direct order from her, although whether he keeps to the spirit of what she wants is another matter. This is a man with a grudge against the world, and you do not want to get on his bad side.

Kmeiri, Samir’s Thindol slave. Kmeiri is a follower of Shar, but where Samir goes he goes and it amuses Corey’s bosses to keep it that way. Fast, strong, silent, observant, speaking freely only to Samir (in Alzhedo, which nobody else understands), the others are never sure if he is as stupid or as passive as he pretends and they keep a safe distance.

Mal, a well-spoken wizard who has given his soul to Bane in pursuit of personal power. His purpose on this mission is as unclear as his background – is he a spy for Corey’s superiors, or in hiding, or has he upset someone too?

The highlight of the campaign for Samir was when Corey tasked him with silencing a serving girl from the Wheloon tavern who’d seen too much. As he crept into her bedroom in the small hours, he did not realise she already had a visitor – none other than the captain of the Purple Dragon Knights! Not so tough in his long johns, and Samir cut him down in two rounds but the girl’s screams woke the town and the party had to leave swiftly along a “secret” route we’d found on a map.

The campaign ended abruptly with a TPK in a swamp, but we had fond memories of the characters and when 4.0 came out the DM suggested we give them another go with a plot he’d cooked up especially for them.

So. 105 years later, the party wakes up in an underground temple. Resurrected by none other than Fzoul Chembryl, they are sent without explanation to the Western Heartlands on what appears to be a messenger’s task. Promised a long, long life in the hands of Fzoul’s torturers if they should fail, the team is highly motivated but troubled:

Corey – on her own in the church, every contact long dead, her aim is redemption but the only tools she has are the fools whose incompetence got her killed. Can she keep them under her control for long enough to succeed?

Samir – with his falchion lost, what is it that keeps him at Corey’s side? Something about the way he looks at her suggests it may be better not to know.

Kmeiri (now an NPC as the player moved away) – brought back as a Revenant, his immortal soul is in agony as he is compelled to obey Corey’s will, her thoughts passing through a ring she wears. If that ring should ever be removed…

Mal – must have survived that final battle all those years ago, because he is not here now. Instead we have the company of Thoth, a half-mad sorcerer who carries the ancient orb which the party has been sent to retrieve for Fzoul.

Unfortunately for the party, the orb is sentient and is currently embedded in Thoth’s chest after an encounter with a snake demon cult went awry. The task now is to convince Thoth to return to Cormyr with us, since the orb isn’t going anywhere without him and we don’t dare kill him in his sleep as we have seen the power that this thing has.

Samir in 3.5:

Race: Human. Class/Level: Fighter 2/Rogue 4

Favourite Class Feature: Sneak Attack

Favourite Feat: Various Luck feats from Complete Scoundrel, mostly concerning critical hits.

3.5 Samir focussed on initiative and damage. Deadly with the falchion which kept his soul in thrall, if he hit you first then you didn’t get back up. This was at the expense of everything else – he was reliant on Corey for healing, Kmeiri for flanking and Mal for area attacks (which would often “accidentally” catch Samir and Kmeiri in the blast radius).

Samir in 4.0:

Race: Human. Class/Level: Rogue 6

Favourite Class/Race Feature: Ruthless Ruffian. The extra damage and Intimidate give a nice threatening aura.

Favourite Power: Downward Spiral. Just when they’ve got him surrounded and think the fight is over…

Favourite Feat: Slaying Action allows him to show a little of his old spark from time to time. If he gets the drop on someone he can do some serious damage before the other guy can even draw his sword.

4.0 Samir uses a Bloodclaw mace, and his hands are scarred from channelling its power. He dreams of finding his falchion again one day.