Thursday, January 2, 2025

Character Creation Challenge: Worluk Shadowreaper

Worluk Shadowreaper aka Torin Addingdale
 Yesterday, I introduced you to Pathon Addingdale, the patriarch of the Addingdale line. But he almost wasn't. He had a twin brother who was "lost."  Today, I'll talk about that twin.

Worluk Shadowreaper aka Torin Addingdale

The story goes that Pathon and Torin were separated at birth. Years later, Pathon was due to ascend the throne of his kingdom when he fought a notorious assassin, Worluk. They had disarmed each other, and Worluk picked up Pathon's mace Stormshadow. The mace glowed, something it only did in the hands of the true heir. Thus, they both learned that Warluk was really Torin. 

Derivative? Maybe. But like I said before, we ALL did stuff like this back then, and it was great fun. It still is, to be honest.

If Pathon was Grenda's "ego character," then Worluk would be his "Id." Worluk would show up in the game, and he ran as a foil for my largely Lawful Good group of characters. He wasn't presented as an enemy so much as a chaotic force. An evil one, but never directed directly at us. When I would play my own evil character, Death Blade, Worluk would show up as a rival. 

Years later, I revived another Grenda character, Yoln. I misremembered his last name and gave him the Shadowreaper last name as a title. 

Worluk Shadowreaper for Wasted Lands

I am going to provide playable stats for the Wasted Lands RPG from Elf Lair Games. Why? Well, one I want to do is provide Dungeons & Dragons alternatives, and Wasted Lands is my game of choice. 

Though, like Pathon, I am pulling his class from NIGHT SHIFT. While mechanically, Worluk is a survivor, he is even more of one thematically. While a Wasted Lands "Renegade" would also work, I like the idea of Survivor better.

Worluk Shadowreaper
Class: Survivor (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 15
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Evil
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N    
Agility: 16 (+2) A    
Toughness: 16 (+2) N
Intelligence: 16 (+2)  
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 14 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 79 (d4)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 2

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +5 vs Death attacks and area effects

Survivor Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-6 d8), Perception, Vital Strike x5, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Teleport
Level 3: +1 to melee attacks
Level 5: "Luck" benfit
Level 7: Powerful Defense vs. melee
Level 9: Reroll
Level 11: Spell: Invisibility
Level 13: +1 to attacks, checks, and saves

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Warrior

Gear
Sword, elven chain, hat of disguise, thieves tools

Ok, I like this version a lot.  Much like Nigel, I imagine Worluk (maybe now going by Torin again) is alive in NIGHT SHIFT.

I did notice that Pathon, in his early versions, worshipped Zeus. Worluk worshiped Loki. This was common for us back then, mixing up mythologies. This was certainly the genesis of my Black Forest MythologiesHere, Pathon and Worluk would worship Unser Vater and BetrĂ¼ger, respectively. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

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