I was listening to an Elton John song on the way to the gym, and the line "selling potions in a travelling show" hit me as a good character to develop. Every fantasy world needs a potion peddler. And as it is easy to design a character in the Fantasy Trip, we'll go use those rules.
Interestingly, I get one of the 'zines, Tales of the Smoking Wyrm, and there is a section in each issue, Culpepper's Herbal. And I also have a book of fantasy mushrooms for world building, which of course I've not used. Perhaps wrap some of those into this post.
Going to also use some of the quick rules. My initial roll of 13 on the table ended up an Orc. I thought: traditionally Orcs are not thought of as peaceful creatures, though TFT does handle Orcs significantly differently than most RPGs. Thought I'd just re-roll. And another 13 came up. I take it as a sign for this poor Orc, peddling potions. An even roll and it is a female Orc, and a roll on the main motivation is seeking adventure. There are some personality rolls as well based on 2d6, where 2 is low and 12 is the high values:
- 11 for looks. She is a beautiful Orc
- 11 for bravery. Not only beautiful, but brave
- 6 for friendliness. Middle of the road, as she has probably had some bad encounters as well as good ones
- 5 for honesty. She leans to the corrupt, so perhaps her potions are not as good as she says
- 7 for mood, so not boisterous nor completely withdrawn and shy
Now, Orcs start at the same stats as human: ST 8, DX 8, IQ 8 with 8 points. I know I want her to have herbal and physicker skills. Naturalist is IQ 10 and physicker is 11. Putting 3 points into IQ leaves us 5 more points to spread out, and I'll just give her a 9 ST and 12 DX to give her a fighting chance for DX rolls. She'll also need some combat skills as living on the road is rough. A strength of 9 is not great: her choice of weapons is pretty limited. Knife and the ax skills will allow her to use a dagger and a hatchet well. and the bow may be handy. That's 5 points already. Physicker and naturalist bring us to 9. Woodsman will aid her in survival, Having 1 point left over I am leaning to literacy, though climbing is actually something she could use (having just seen some movie where they were herb picking and it was way up a mountain). We'll put in climbing - some of those herbs are hard to get to.
Now we have the basics for (and does some random Orc names, though how they differentiate male vs female seems entirely arbitrary). And there is not a lack of female Orc images floating out there, but I am aiming for the PG-13 crowd so that does make the search a bit smaller. And she is not a fighter so no She-Hulk Orcs either.
Sharn is a potion peddler who wanders the countryside. Beautiful for an Orc, she is sometimes a bit shy around people she does not know. With her pack, she wanders and gathers herbs and other pickings she finds to make potions. Healing potions, love potions, warding potions. you name it and she will have a potion or potpourri infusion she will sell you. She is also a physicker, and will help heal those that she comes upon if they need help. Coming from the southern mountains, she is more than capable of handling herself in the wilderness. She has found herbs in places most people would not even attempt. She carries a small book of mostly images. She can't read the words but is always on the lookout for those plants that are drawn in it. It is her prized possession, given to her by her mother. It is well-worn. She is trading some of potions at Lurbuk's stables for learning how to read and write. She passes through Windemere every few weeks and may say for a day or several weeks. She usually stays in Lurbuk's stables, though she has stayed at an inn when she has a few more gold. While not a guide, she is not averse to taking adventurers through the mountains south of Windemere. She can follow the trails and knows some of the better places to sleep. She is also very good at getting game and plants for meals.
She has a satchel, usually full of papers of dried herbs, or small potions. She sells those for the going price of 150 silvers, though for some people, she has some that really don't heal if she feels they are being mean or cruel. Her love potions she often sells to the caravans to be sold elsewhere. She trades with Alore Eldris sometimes when in Windemere, restocking her various magic potions. Sharn has also fetched herbs or mushrooms as requested by Alore. This is where Sharn gets her potion bottles from usually. It is not uncommon for Sharn to take along a couple of people on these excursions for both protection and to help haul back what she finds.
She tries to avoid the deputy when in Windemere as he has tried to arrest her more than once for selling potions without a license. Not that there are actually licenses to sell potions, even in Windemere. Newtonson just does not like Orcs and will harass them when he can.
The relationship graph for Sharn is a good deal smaller as she is not always in Windemere and does not know many people there. She lives on the road and has a small rough cave she lives in when in the mountains. She may be seen in the central market square on trading days, borrowing a bench and selling her potions. She may also be met travelling in the mountains or areas near Windemere. Her journeys take her leagues away at times.
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