Overview

NAME Confidence ('Connie')
CANON D&D 5E (OC)
CANON POINT Level 11 (Character Sheet)

AGE 20
SPECIES Tiefling (Feral)
GENDER Male
APPEARANCE Description | Image

CLASS Sorcerer (Wild Magic)
BACKGROUND Noble

HEIGHT 4'9" (5'3" with horns)
BUILD A bit too thin for his own good.
HAIR Teal, dreads and braids with beads.
EYES Iris and pupil-less white.
VOICE Soft, quiet and nervous.
FEATURES Most noticeable are his tiefling attributes such as the horns and tail, as well his unusual coloring and freckles. He has a knotted scar about a foot and a half down his tail, and commonly has a white ferret rolled around his neck like a scarf.

PLAYER Draiol
TIMEZONE GMT+1
CONTACT draiol

BACKGROUND

Confidence's world is in D&D 5E's Faerûn setting, but with some homebrew that adds a more European continent near the standard continent of Faerûn. This is where the campaign took place.

Pre-Campaign Background: The city of Holzstadt is governed by the Duke and Duchess von Wingett of Oakspire Castle, and they are well-known courtiers among the nobles of the country known as Dreizehnwald. The family line is old, rich and with a stellar reputation, so naturally this family has a few scandalous secrets.

To everyone outside of the castle, Lord Damar and Lady Heloise had two wonderful, perfect children, ready to climb the ladder of the court in the future. However, there was also a secret middle child, whose name was never spoken and who was hidden from everyone outside the immediate family.

It seems the von Wingett ancestors had once consorted with fiends, and the surprise of a tiefling in their lineage was very quickly quieted down. Lady Heloise obviously had a stillborn HUMAN son. There was no third child in the house.

Unlike many other shames of noble families, however, the baby was not killed or thrown in the nearest orphanage. Lady Heloise had a bleeding heart and couldn't bear to be that cruel. Instead he was hidden away in the castle, to be raised by a halfling nanny named Elsbeth - who was paid quite well to keep her mouth shut. He wasn't even given a name, although the nanny called him her 'little deer'. (Pun intended.)

Most of the boy's childhood was spent in solitude, rarely having any contact outside of his nanny. He was very well educated by Elsbeth and not starved or physically mistreated in any way other than the isolation, but it was a very trapped and lonely childhood that shaped him into a very anxious and socially stunted person.

This changed slightly after he turned eight, when he met his little sister for the first time. Even though she was two years younger, she was curious about the locked door of the house and started to talk to her brother through it. Her name was Grace, and she also started calling him 'Deer'. She told him how she never even knew about him, because their mother had passed away when she was born and their father never said a word.

Although they at first rarely met each other face-to-face in fear of the nanny seeing her opening the door, Grace soon found out about the many hidden passages and servant corridors in the castle and started to take her brother with her on adventures inside them when Elsbeth wasn't around. This was a great way for him to both get some socialization and to listen in on the people of the castle. Soon one of his favorite things were staring at his family from inside a wall and learn about both them and the world.

Mostly he watched his father and the brother he never knew, the oldest of the von Wingett children. Varian was his father's pride and joy, and a perfect little copy of him. While Varian knew about his brother from the start (unlike Grace) he never visited and seemed to hold their father's opinion on the 'lesser people'. He ever only mentioned the tiefling boy as 'the secret' or 'the thing', and since their father had little love for the demonic taint in his son's blood and such high regards for his human one, there was an even deeper scar in little Deer's heart.

Naturally, this quickly taught him to hate himself. It created even more anxiety and even a desperate attempt to cut his own tail off and be more 'normal' like his brother. Thankfully he was stopped by his nanny, but he still has the scar as a reminder of how much he wants his family's approval, and how much he wanted to somehow please his father. To be good and not 'tainted'.

Then one freak accident changed everything. To the horror of the family, his older brother dies at seventeen after falling of his horse during a hunt. With his father having a worsening health problem, it seems as if the family has lost their favored heir - and Grace was still far too young to take over if something happened. Nobody knew about the middle child, after all, even if he now legally had the right to inherit everything.

Two years later, Lord von Wingett passed away and his brother, the children's uncle, came to deal with the affairs of the castle. Since he always had a good eye on the lands and wealth of his brother, he decides to officially name a fourteen-year-old girl the heir, and use her as a puppet to sign it all over in his name. While discussing this with his right-hand man, he's watched from the hidden passages by two siblings.

When he attempted to introduce her as the Duchess of Oakspire Castle among the other nobles, Grace knew that she had to stop his plan. Not only did she refuse in front of everyone, but she exposed her tiefling brother's existence to the court. His family could no longer hide the fact that he was the legitimate heir, despite his infernal 'curse'.

Not only was this a huge scandal for the family, but among the noble houses as well. A devil-blood among the upper echelon of Dreizehnwald? Impossible! A plan was made by the uncle and some other supporting noble houses to get rid of the boy in order to protect not only the name of the family (and the uncle's plans) but also preventing a tiefling from joining the nobility. An assassin was eventually hired to take care of the problem. A desperate act, some would say, but others thought it necessary - after all, he was 'just' a tiefling.

Said tiefling was stabbed in the chest in the middle of the night, in his own bed. That's where the story would have ended, but at the same time as he was stabbed, his wild magic manifested in a surge killing his assassin - and returning him to full health from their life force. Unfortunately it also killed Elsbeth, who had been rushing into the room to stop the assailant.

Terrified, the seventeen-year-old ran away that night with nothing but his clothes and an amulet with the house crest that his sister had once given him.

Eventually he ended up in Occitania, the country below Dreizehnwald. Although he was technically the Duke of Oakspire and now able to support his claim even more by accusing his uncle of attempted murder, he was more of an anxious and self-hating mess than ever.

He decided to try to learn to control his magic and gain both the power and mental strength to one day prove himself worthy of the title and able to hold on to it. He adopted the virtue name of 'Confidence' and attempted to find someone who could teach him.

A few months later he was found hiding in an alley by an older blacksmith named Cale Dormun, who got the young tiefling off the street and under his wing. Although Confidence was certain he was about to be abandoned at any mistake, Cale seemed fairly okay with random magic happening, even the time when the young man turned into a potted plant for a while. He found himself softly encouraged by Cale to socialize, and with his help grew slightly more used to the outside world.

Six months before the start of the campaign, Cale and Confidence moved to the small village of Ravenford, where they soon made a friend in the nearby temple - a firbolg named Malawin. It was a a relief for Confidence to see another non-human, and they bonded fairly quickly, with Malawin's calm nature doing wonders for the anxious teen.

In the village is also a tower that's said to be home to the wizard Izla, but when Confidence comes to knock on the door, a voice tells him to come back tomorrow...

In-Campaign Happenings:

• A month passes, and Confidence (at the encouraging of Cale) goes back to the tower every day, with the same result. At the last day, however, the door opens and he's allowed in to meet with Izla, a person dressed completely in robes and cloaks, so nothing of their face or body is seen. They teach him a lot about his magic, something he's clearly lacking.

• One afternoon by the inn of the village, an elderly gnome is brutally murdered after winning an odd chest off a stranger, and even though the temple cleric tried to revive him, it was impossible. Apparently the box was a spirit trap and had caught the gnome's soul.

• Malawin and Cale set out after the killers, with Confidence following. They're led to a cave where the three murderers have tried to hide.

• A battle happens, where some nice cover was provided by stalagmites, so Confidence could watch but didn't engage until Cale was hit by a crossbow bolt. Angered, the tiefling sets off fire bolts and is drawn into the action. He does fairly well with just cantrips.

• One of the murderers is apprehended alive and brought in for questioning, where they find out that they were ordered by a wizard to return the box the stranger had stolen, and the elderly gnome had been mistaken for the thief.

• The truth of this is unsure, so the three go back to their respective duties for the rest of the evening, with Confidence returning to Izla's tower for more training about how to push his spells to last longer or hit two targets at the same time.

• That evening, he's invited by some of the other village teens to a picnic, and although he's too nervous to accept, Cale accepts for him and pushes the boy to show his confidence and hang out with his peers.

• Of course, this leap of faith ends with the teens getting kidnapped by goblins. Confidence scares the goblins with thaumaturgy to protect the rest of the teens, but cannot get out of the cage they're in until Cale and Malawin comes to the rescue.

• After some goblin-killing, they all move up to the surface to try to get everyone back to the village, but the way is blocked by two giants, one of them ridden by a pack of goblins. When seen by the mounted giant, Confidence panics and holds up his arcane focus, sending off a massive blast of fire towards the creature. It incinerates all the goblins and badly damages the giant, so it was easily dispatched by Cale. The other giant was lured away by Malawin, and they all met up in the village again.

• The next day, Confidence comes back to Izla once more, and the wizard teaches him two wizard cantrips and the spell to summon his own familiar, ensuring that the young man would never be alone again. It takes some times for Connie to find enough paper, incense and ink, but he blows all his savings on it and summons the white ferret Grace for the first time.

• That night, a theater troupe arrives in the small village, with the director introducing the show to be called 'The Hidden Child'. This sets Connie on edge, as he finds out that the troupe is from Dreizehnwald. In the evening, he sneaks out of the tavern and meets up with the director in his wagon to ask what the show is about.

• The director tells Connie that the show is essentially the tiefling's own backstory, and Confidence panics, trying to run out of the wagon but stopped by magic. The truth comes out - he has a prize on his head and the director has been all over Dreizehnwald and now heading into Occitania to look for the heir of Oakspire.

• When he's about to be chained up, Confidence manages to break free and sends out another massive fire blast, setting the wagon on fire as well as the stage. This also causes a wild magic surge, turning him invisible. As the fire is being put out, it calls the attention of his friends, who start helping and even saves the director. Connie tries to warn them, but the invisibility seems to have blocked him somehow, and they can't hear him or his magical messages.

• Running to Izla, he's helped out of his invisible form, and the wizard says that his destiny isn't in this village any more. Instead they urge him to leave before he gets hurt, and hands him a bag to take with him. (While it's a magical bag of Holding, Connie still doesn't know this.)

• Hurrying to his room in the inn, Connie stuffs his few personal items in the bag and runs away, not even telling Cale or Malawin since he doesn't want them to have to deal with his problems. Obviously that doesn't sit well with them, and they grab their own things and set after him.

• The meet up on the bridge out of the village, and when Confidence mentions that the director wanted to kill him for something that happened in his past, the two others just nod and say they'll go with him. They have a soul trap they need to figure out, after all, so why not head towards the capital city and the Wizard College there, and look for answers.

• Surprisingly, Malawin pushes rather hard about Connie's backstory, but when the tiefling shuts down and stops talking to either of them, they apologize and promises to watch over him - no matter what happened. There's a bit of trust lost there, though.

• They head towards Lormont (the capital) and have some interesting adventures on the way, including bandits, a haunted house that they're briefly trapped in, an assassin coming for Confidence again, and earning money in a smaller city to get some horses and a wagon when they realize they need some more speed.

• They also end up with more of the thieves trying to get the soul trap from the gang. Now they find out the wizard that is paying good money for the trap is also from Dreizehnwald, so now they have two issues with Dreizehnwald and a lot of people out for them.

• They arrive in the massive city of Lormont, where it takes them a while to get to the College due to needing someone with access to even get into the building. Eventually they run into an old black-scaled dragonborn that helps them inside - and then it's revealed that he's the headmaster.

• They talk to him about the soul trap, and then meet a couple of more professors that know more about the magic that has to do with the trapping of souls. They're very interested in the chest, and Cale promises them that they can have it as soon as they get the old gnome's soul out of there, as well as any other innocent souls.

• After some discussions and research, the professors mention a staff that is supposed to help them free spirits from the box, but the knowledge of the staff's whereabouts is unknown. The only clue they have is that it might be beyond the wall to the wastes of Mavros Chora, a country which was once overtaken by undead and permanently scarred by necromantic energies.

• Yay.

• The party starts heading in that direction, hoping that talking to the Praesidium Tribunal by the wall, a place that studies the relics of Mavros Chora and are in charge of the guards that watch the wall into the dead wastes. Connie is kind of freaking out a bit, but the further away they are from Dreizehnwald, the safer it would be. Hopefully they don't have to cross into the wastes.

• They have to cross into the wastes.

• The adventure continues for 74 sessions and then the campaign dies out.

PERSONALITY

At the core, Connie's what most people would agree a good person is. He's compassionate, gentle and has kind values and high morals. He knows right from wrong and he knows that the world isn't black and white in those things, either. As a lawful good type, he believes that an orderly, strong society needs a well-organized government, trusting fully in laws and honor. He keeps his word and rather omits the truth than lie. In addition, he's intelligent, well-educated, curious and with a need to believe the best in people, even when shown wrong.

As a person with his background, however, he's been struggling with socialization, as he's only had about three years of freedom from living behind a wall all his life. This makes him socially awkward, and some day-to-day life is sometimes very new to him, as all his education is academic and language-based. As an example, he only recently found out where bread came from, that servants are actually paid and that eggs come from chickens. Cale does his best to educate him in things, and after these three years, he's getting better. He also knows a bit about blacksmithing. (Even if he can't do it himself.)

He's not exactly naive, but he's terribly inexperienced in how to read other people. He often thinks that stern or rough-looking people are mad at him for some reason, and often misjudges people's intent. Talking to someone new is stressful to him, because reading the person is a whiplash of new takes, and he tries to ride on one idea for as long as possible before they do something else that changes it. That approach of reading people makes it difficult for him to see if people are lying or not, as well. He's not very insightful.

Deeper down, he's struggling with a lot of anxiety that bleeds over into other areas of his personality. He's afraid of making people angry, afraid of doing the wrong thing, and when this collides with his social inexperience, his ability to collect himself and continue without panicking isn't that well-rounded yet. He doesn't quite have panic attacks in the standard way, but when his anxiety and stress reaches very high levels, his wild magic surges might happen just from that.

In addition, a lifetime of being hidden for what he is has affected him very negatively when it comes to his self-image and makes it very difficult for him to see good things in himself. His magic is one of the few things he expects people to deal with him in return for, so he tends to use that as a means to be 'useful'. This is unfortunately very easy to take advantage of.

The need to be useful and 'worth something' comes from his fear of being abandoned, tossed aside or that people will tire of him. If he can help someone he's happy to do so, but he expects to be forgotten right after - so he continues to offer more as long as it makes them friendly towards him. This is a very quick way to exhaust himself, obviously. He even expects this of longtime friends, constantly worried about the time when they'll turn their backs on him and leave.

What makes it more complicated is the fact that he has to depend on people because his own knowledge of how life works is so limited. This sometimes makes him just stand back and let people make decisions for him (as long as they are not against his morals), and it creates difficulties to make his own voice heard when it's easier to just let someone else decide.

This is why 'Confidence' is an important name to him. Not only because he never really had a name of his own, but it also set a goal for what he wants to embody in the future. He wants to be confident, he wants to be a stable person and he wants to be able to fight for his home and his sister.

So far that confidence only shines through sometimes, and often only when someone else reminds him of it. It keeps getting him in trouble, though, so he's been knocked down more than once in his attempts. Yet, for all his fears and anxieties, he's also terribly stubborn, and after a while, he tries again. (Maybe this time it won't get him kidnapped.)

TL;DR Essentially one of those shaking chihuahuas with no socialization. Just less peeing.

POWERS

▶ Tiefling - It's Not Just Tails and Horns

As a feral tiefling, Connie has Darkvision, meaning he can see in dim light like it was normal light and in the dark like it was dim light. He also has Hellish Resistance, which makes him less likely to be hurt by fire.

At will, he can cast Thaumaturgy, which is a neat little spell that can make his voice boom, lights flicker, the ground tremor very slightly, unlocked doors and windows open, weird sounds happen or alter the appearance of his eyes. It can last for up to a minute, and he can have three of them going at a time.

Once per rest, he can also cast Hellish Rebuke when harmed by someone, which retaliates with blue-green flames to hurt his attacker.

Lastly, also once per rest, he can cast a 15-foot sphere of magical Darkness, which cannot be seen through without magical sights (thought not Darkvision). It also cancels out the more common, lower-level light spells.

▶ Sorcerer - Magic's In Your Blood

Confidence is a sorcerer, meaning he has the ability to cast spells like a wizard. Unlike learning through studying and hard work, however, his magic comes from within. In fact, he's been touched by a chaotic magical force that flows through his every vein, and sometimes breaks loose even if he doesn't want it to.

This is known as a Wild Magic Surge, and means every spell he casts that isn't a cantrip has a 1 in 20 chance to backfire weirdly, with anything from explosions to turning him into a potted plant for a while. (Wild Magic Possibilities)

As a sorcerer, he also has the ability to use Metamagic, meaning he has so far learned to slightly alter spells to either extend their duration if they're usually just a minute or more, or twin a spell that normally only hits one person. Using his metamagic skills, he spends magic energy (Sorcery Points), which he can also use to regain a spell slot (or sacrifice a spell slot to make another point).

Spell slots are essentially how many times per rest that he can use a certain level of spells. He can cast cantrips as many times he wants, while he can only cast four 1st-level spells, two 2nd-level spells and two 3rd-level spells until he has to rest for eight hours.

▶ Feat - Magic Initiate (Wizard)

Since Izla taught him a little how to use his powers, he learned a bit of magic from the wizard magic traditions and gained two more cantrips and a wizard 1st-level spell (Find Familiar).