Let's Make an Elf!

Welcome to my second blog post, where I’ll be creating a Player-Hero for my Strider Mode adventure in The One Ring.

I’m going to start with the “flavor” aspects of this character – backstory, personality, appearance, etc. – and fill in the character sheet to line up with what I create. The storytelling aspect of the game is more interesting to me than the mechanics, and since this is my first time playing, I’m not going to worry too much about optimization. 

Writing her Story

Starting with the basics, I know I want to play a female Elf. Several ideas came to mind for my solo Player-Hero, and I decided to go with the angsty scholar from Rivendell.

(Yeah, I know, the Hero with a Tragic Past has been done, like, a zillion times. My goal here is to have fun, not write the next great fantasy novel.)

After spending way too much time sifting through names and root words on Parf Edhellen, I decided on the name Saelin, pronounced “sigh-lin”. (It’s a variant of Saelind, which means “wise heart”. Saelind was listed as a wise woman of the Edain, but she’s an obscure enough character that I don’t mind borrowing a variation on her name.)

As for her backstory…

Saelin comes from a family line loyal to the House of Fëanor. Her father, skilled in the art of forging weapons, learned much from Celebrimbor and Annatar about imbuing crafted items with enchanted power. He used Annatar's methods as a starting point and secretly developed his own techniques to forge increasingly powerful swords.

Sensing a growing darkness around the time the Great Rings were forged, he did not reveal his research to anyone except his wife. He kept his notes and the weapons he created in a hidden mountain stronghold. His wife counseled him to warn the other elven smiths of the evil he suspected was growing, but instead he continued to learn what he could from Annatar, plotting to use the Enemy's knowledge against him.

He was too late. Because of his silence, the elves of Eregion had no warning of Sauron's betrayal. Sauron's forces never found out about his research, but when Eregion was overrun and destroyed, Saelin's parents were cut off from the hidden stronghold. They fled north with the refugees led by Elrond. They decided to keep their cache a secret and leave it undisturbed for now. If the elves could drive back Sauron's forces without it, the knowledge - dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands - had no need to come to light. If there ever came a time when it was needed, Saelin's parents would retrieve it.

Saelin was born and raised in Rivendell, learning history and strategy from her mother and the forging of weapons from her father. However, he refused to teach her how to craft enchanted weapons, saying the knowledge was too dangerous to pass on. Saelin accepted this for a while, but as many years passed and she grew more skilled, the desire grew in her heart to follow (and one day surpass) her father’s achievements.

Meanwhile, her father began growing frustrated that his greatest achievements should remain secret. To others, he was simply an elven smith in the old Noldorin tradition. Little did they know he was actually a master crafter of weapons whose power could one day rival the Great Ring, if only he could continue his research!

It appears I've created an elven mad scientist. I'm starting to like this guy.

In TA 2951, the Dark Lord Sauron revealed his presence in Mordor. Saelin’s father, convinced that the efforts of the White Council would not be enough, set out alone on a quest to reclaim his trove. He vowed not to return until he had crafted a weapon powerful enough to destroy the Dark Lord.

When ten years passed and he never came back, Saelin’s mother went in search of him. She made Saelin promise not to come after her if she vanished too, and for four years Saelin has kept that promise.

Now, however, rumors have surfaced of a mysterious warrior cloaked in shadows, wielding a sword matching the description of one forged by her father. Saelin must embark on a quest to either rejoin or avenge her parents, and keep her father’s treasures out of the wrong hands…

 

Not gonna lie, I had fun writing that. It’s not as tragic as some of my earlier ideas, but I think it’s more conducive to a ttrpg adventure. Plus, trauma is more effective when it happens during gameplay, instead of before… *rubs hands together with an evil laugh*

…Anyway. Moving on.

Saelin portrait by Seaborn Studios

This is what she looks like! Seaborn (@seaborn.studios on Instagram) did a wonderful job on this portrait of Saelin. I love how it captures her subtlety and intelligence; and the color scheme, lighting, and background work perfectly for a Rivendell elf whose ancestors followed the Fëanorians. Saelin typically wears dark colors (especially blue), but her red-and-gold circlet is an heirloom of her family and she always wears a red jewel to honor them.

Now that I have an idea of her backstory, personality, and motivations, it's time to put her into The One Ring!

Character Sheet

This is a character sheet for an elf Player-Hero in The One Ring. (The other races have the same information to fill out, but with slightly different art.) Saelin’s Heroic Culture is the High Elves of Rivendell, so I’ll be using the supplementary Rivendell rulebook to fill it out.

Age

I chose Saelin’s age to be 1130, which means she was born in the year TA 1835. This makes her old enough to have spent significant time studying under her parents (to the point that she feels she needs access to her father’s hidden research to progress further in the art of crafting weapons), but not old enough to have experienced the great wars firsthand or be as powerful as Elrond’s children.

Standard of Living and Cultural Blessing

The High Elves’ standard of living is Prosperous. They get the cultural blessing Elven-wise (+1 to one Attribute of my choice), along with Beset by Woe (which makes Shadow points more difficult to remove – essentially, High Elves are more lastingly affected by evil).

Attributes

The One Ring uses a system of three Attributes – Strength, Heart, and Wits – to describe an adventurer’s physical, emotional, and mental capabilities. The rules include several options for each Heroic Culture, and for Saelin, I chose Strength 5, Heart 2, Wits 7. I added the extra point from the Elven-wise cultural blessing to Heart, increasing it to 3. The other numerical stats are derived from these three values.

Distinctive Features and Calling

For Saelin’s distinctive features, I chose Inquisitive and Subtle: she is driven by a desire to learn, and she prefers to achieve her goals through cunning rather than force. Her calling is that of a Scholar, and her Shadow Path – her likely fate if she is unable to resist the influence of evil – is an arrogant obsession with her own schemes and secrets, to the point of becoming untrustworthy.

Skills

Each Heroic Culture is given a set of skill stats, which can be built on by spending Previous Experience points (they represent a character’s additional skills due to – you guessed it – previous experience). The Strider Mode rules grant additional Previous Experience points to allow a lone Player-Hero to handle situations that would normally require an entire Fellowship. I built out Saelin’s skill sets, focusing on Craft (what she learned from her father) and several of the mental skills. I didn’t add any levels to her combat abilities; she learned to use a sword (and to a lesser extent, a bow) but it was more of a traditional sport than actual warrior training.

Equipment

An elegant sword with elven runes sweeping across its silver blade and a blood-red ruby set into its golden hilt: for hundreds of years, this heirloom has been displayed in a place of honor in Saelin’s family quarters, but now she will carry it on her quest.

She will also bring a dagger she crafted, a bow, and leather armor. As someone with a Prosperous standard of living, she gets three additional useful items; I chose a detailed set of maps, flint and steel for making a fire, and a sunstone for navigation in cloudy weather.

Starting Reward and Virtue

Rewards and Virtues are granted as adventurers grow in Valour and Wisdom, and they start out with one each. Rewards (valour) are focused on the adventurer’s weapons and gear, and Virtues (wisdom) have to do with the specific abilities of an adventurer’s people.

For the starting reward, Saelin’s heirloom sword is Keen-edged – it’s more likely to deal a Piercing Blow on attack.

Saelin’s starting virtue is Confidence, which seems necessary for a sheltered scholar to strike out into an increasingly dangerous world in search of a cache of weapons hidden she’s not sure exactly where. Not to mention the mysterious shadow-cloaked warrior who may have beaten her to said cache. Saelin’s Hope increases by 2.

Gathering the Company… Only Not

In a traditional multiplayer game, this would be the point where we assemble our Fellowship and collectively choose a Patron (quest-giver) and a home base, and calculate a Fellowship score. In Strider Mode, I still get a Fellowship score, but instead of representing the bonds of the Company, it signifies the connection my adventurer has to the world and communities around her. Rivendell is Saelin’s safe haven, and Elrond will be her patron.

I think that’s it for character creation! Saelin will begin her adventure in my next post.

See you then!

-Jess