History of Sir John Milton (Henry De'Montford)

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Mike
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Sir John Milton - History & Statistics

Post by Mike »

Sir John, as he is known fondly by his friends, is one of the last great knights of the land. His great deeds and charitable contributions are exagerated as legends in his own time.

Sir John is the youngest son of a large family and was raised by the family motto Vi et Armis (By force of Arms). At a young age he was attached to a powerful teacher whom the family hoped would instil a good career into their youngest, and least likely to inherit, child.

This training suited the Young John perfectly and he excelled in the trials of combat perscribed by the Order the Sword. The order of the sword, being the youngest and least taxing of the Knights three orders, quickly promoted the young Knight to a commander in the field. During the following wars he became known as the "White Knight" due to the fact his pure white charger (and himself) were never dirtied in the field of battle. After instilling a great fear in his enemies for his seeming invincibility he returned to the chapter house and was raised to the Order of the Crown for services rendered to the Kingdom.

During the following peace time John took a wife, the daughter of a widowed Baron in the barony of Dragonstone. Unfortunately he never sired a child as his wife died during the agony of childbirth. Shortly after the death of his wife his brother in law inherited the Barony of Dragonstone and the cloud of war once again covered the kingdom and called John north to battle the armies of the Witch King. After many battles the Witch King was thrown back and John returned to his beloved home to discover the barony's main source of income, Dragonstone Mines, overrun by evil.

Gathering together a group of brave and worth adventurer's he set forth to reclaim the mines and restore the ailing fortunes of the valley. Unfortunately for him the party was weakened by the onslaught of undead creatures and powerful subterrainian dwellers. Eventually after traversing many caverns and caves the company came upon a temple dedicated to a great evil deity. It is within the temple that John Milton bravely fought to save his allies.

They became trapped in a room filled with over 100 wraiths. The party suffered greatly and John called the retreat. As they forced open the doors to retreat John turned to his collegues and entreated them to flee whilst be delayed the many energy draining opponents. As the party fled John stood resplendent in his armour, clean and burnished as the day he left, blocking the doors to the temple.

John never speaks of the battle that took place in this temple. It is said that he fought for 2 days and 2 nights with the evil denizens being energy drained many times by the creatures before they were forced into a stalemate situation. He was found a week after his collegues returned home wandering the valley of Dragonstone, dazed, weak but defiant.

John was, for his bravery and sacrifice, raised to the Order of the Rose, the most revered of the Knightly orders, and dubbed Sir John Milton. However, his defeat at the temple weighs heavilly on his mind. Sir John is ashamed on his poor performance against the wraiths and believes the fourteen levels lost were justified given the magnitude of his failure. He resolved to journey the lands again until he had regained his might in battle before returning to finish the evil in the temple.

He has been on the road a year now and at the tender age of 74 is starting to feel a wearyness in his bones. The "White Knight" has yet to re-discover a pearly white charger to replace his mightly steed, he has yet to regain his full might through force of arms and he rightly believes that the window of opportunity for defeating the temple is growing shorter by the day. . . . .

Sir John Milton
Cavilier 6th Level [Energy Drained from 20th Level]
ST: 17 - 02%
INT: 14
WIS: 15
DEX: 17 - 02%
CON: 16 - 42%
CH: 14

COM: 14

Sir John is an ageing Knight (74), he is always dressed in his full battle armour which is covered by a white surcoat and adorned with a single rose on the left breast and a white charger (outlined in black) on the right breast. He wears an openfaced helm, complete with a white feather, which reveals a face lined and worn by his recent ordeal. He has sparkeling blue eyes and hair as white as snow and long white moustashs (which he has the habbit of stroking) adorning his upper lip. Sir John has a shield strapped to his back (again with a rose and horse motif). Sir John's armour and clothing always, note ALWAYS, look freshly pressed, cleaned and burnished.

His family long sword is strapped to a very strange belt. The belt has four horse shoes stiched onto its leather surface. The horse shoes are gleamingly clean and sparkle in the sunlight.

------------------

Any comments welcome! 8)
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Post by Fez »

isn't he a little too old to be trying to rebuild his strength after suffering so greatly? i like his background, but it does seem unlikely someone of his age would be physically capable of even attempting to regain the glories of the past as he is surely much closer to the grave than the vigours of youth.

on the unmagically gifted, old father time has a much more obvious and harsh impact on physical strengths with the maturity of years, and even taking into account the probable good shape he's kept himself in, when a guy gets into his 70s he can't be expected to be as strong, agile or fast as in his heyday.

it is a good history, but methinks you've made him a decade too old to stand any change of regaining his previous status without powerful magical assistance - something i doubt will happen without seriously undermining the statistics of the other characters who surely wont attain such a high level before they themselves are a good deal older.
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Post by Mike »

Fez wrote:isn't he a little too old to be trying to rebuild his strength after suffering so greatly? i like his background, but it does seem unlikely someone of his age would be physically capable of even attempting to regain the glories of the past as he is surely much closer to the grave than the vigours of youth.
He does indeed fall into the 'old' category in the DMG. However he is the premier Knight of his land and that attitude, confidence and determination will continue until he dies. Sir John actually believes he WILL eventually succeed. After all there are very few Knights of the Rose and almost none as youthful as he!
Fez wrote:. . . .on the unmagically gifted, old father time has a much more obvious and harsh impact on physical strengths with the maturity of years, and even taking into account the probable good shape he's kept himself in, when a guy gets into his 70s he can't be expected to be as strong, agile or fast as in his heyday.
You have cottoned onto the most powerful reason why he should be that age. He is a venerable knight and the aches and pains of his age should be reflected in the role playing of the character. Hopefully you will not need to jump any chasms!

Also as you astutely noticed he has only just managed to keep hold of 17 STR and 17 DEX (cavaliers have 2d10 each level to STR, DEX & CON as long as they are still active, i only allowed myself 6 rolls for this before I took away the age modifiers) due to the age modifiers he has lost about 3 points off each of those three and gained 1-2 points back.
Fez wrote:. . . . it is a good history, but methinks you've made him a decade too old to stand any change of regaining his previous status without powerful magical assistance - something i doubt will happen without seriously undermining the statistics of the other characters who surely wont attain such a high level before they themselves are a good deal older.
Magical assistance? Surely you add insult to injury!! Sir John feels badly enough about his failure of his force of arms. His inadaquacy in the field of battle has brought great suffering on his land, they are growing poor and starving due to his poor standard of skills. He honestly does not want the old skills back, they are obviously flawed and he feels he needs to re-learn his abilities first hand and to get it right this time! :wink:

With this in mind it would take someone forcibly pinning him to the ground to cast restorations galore on him to restore his fourteen levels. AND in the unlikely event of this occuring he would march to the nearest undead stronghold and allow them to drain his fourteen levels right back again. :D 8)

It might pan out that he dies before he completes his mission but if that is the case then it is fate and no one can accuse him of not giving the battle his upmost.
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Post by Mike »

Hello all,

I thought a Sir John update was in order. I am a bit disapointed in my playing recently (apologies for this) as I have not got his character quite right. Instead of being rather frivoulous he is supposed to be a kindly old knight. I will be trying to remedy this in play!

ttfn
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Post by Mike »

Woho! Following the new level increasing I am now nearly as powerful as I was prior to the level drain down to 6th. That is impressive. Have just re-read the history, it is amazing what you forget after creating a character. Must re-capture the playability!
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Post by mr_e »

Yeah, I've just re-read mine. I need to sort my character out and play him properly. 18th level and a propensity for big destructive spells. Should be fun.
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Post by johnriley1uk »

Please do - the new adventure will need everyone to be on the ball, otherwise the consequences could be catastrophic.

When you start an adventure casually meeting Tenser the Arch-Mage that is a big hint that things are seriously high level...

Good luck!
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Post by Mike »

Not only that but the DM seems to think that we need a forum post to TELL us it is a seriously painful adventure! :shock: Uh-oh were in trouble!
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Post by Mike »

Is now set to Marry Anna the ex genie! May I play her character as a PC Mr DM?
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Post by johnriley1uk »

Perhaps Lizzie should play Anna? :wink:

But DM Mischief aside, I found a really old, huge copy of "Don Quixote" in a second hand bookshop yesterday, so for a fiver it was mine.

You should read Chapter One at the very least, if only for the incredible description of Don Quixote's preparations as he prepares to launch himself as a Cavalier...It is Sir John Milton, without a shred of doubt.

OK, the Carry On version of Sir John Milton, but even so...
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Post by Mike »

I would be interested to read that one - I will ask Lizzie if she wants to play her but I though she was happy with Lady Amy to be honest.
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Post by johnriley1uk »

Perhaps both the ladies in Sir John's life shouldn't be under the same control...

Give the guy a break, what with all those demons to fight and everything else.
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Post by Mike »

Your talking crazy, its worrying when the DM does that! :D
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Post by Mike »

Lizzie would actually like to play Anna, I was surprised but it just goes to show I don't know s**t! Can you let us know what the requirements are so we can roll her up a character for next week? Or are you planning to just give over a completed character?
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Post by johnriley1uk »

Anna is a normal woman now, but of course her Djinni heritage must have some effect. I'll e-mail you some details over the weekend. By all means develop her character in the meantime, bearing in mind the collosal change in her and what impact this must have. She was in a very cosy world, and now...
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