Words Have Power

As you delve into RISE, you will begin to see that there truly is unlimited potential for character creation here. You can take almost any aspect of the game and make it the root of your character. Today, we are going to play with the idea of using the Linguistics Competency (with no specific connected theme) as the base of our character creation. Let’s get niche (the adjective not the noun). It’s background story time!

"Old man with book" Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz 19th Century

As a traveling trader with her family, your character grew up with the uncanny ability to make a deal, get out of or into pretty much anything she wanted to, or protect herself, using just her words. Her ability to understand the hidden meanings behind what people were saying allowed her ample opportunity to harness this special gift. As her family traveled, she was able to put this gift to use with languages that were not her native tongue, and found that she was successful with these as well. Linguistics became a love of hers, and soon she discovered that her words were not only special, but that they had power!

Okay, cool. But how do you actually build an effective character off of that? I am looking at Linguistics, and the only power for that Competency simply allows you to understand more languages. How can I contribute to battles? So glad you asked! Here is where your imagination comes into play. Let me show you some homebrewed powers for just this situation.

You may notice that some of these powers are similar to powers you might find in Sage, Wizard, or some other competencies, but wait… I don’t want to be a Sage or a Wizard. I want to be the best Linguist in the world. They will call me Silver- Tongued!! Well, that’s why we changed the origins and flavor of the spells. We switched around the base of these powers, using Linguistics instead of Strength or Intelligence, and chose appropriate keywords rather than the common power keywords like Poison and Lightning.

That’s not to say we couldn’t add these things later if you so choose, but that is not our purpose here. Our purpose is to show that you can absolutely stay true to your roleplaying wants and needs in RISE, while still being a fully effective and useful character, even in battle. If you want to create a *Cunning Linguist, you get on with your bad self, and make it happen! If you want to create an Artist who is able to bring his paintings to life, get it done! While Bards and Sorcerers, and Barbarians are always fun to play in RISE- if you want to try something completely different, something that doesn’t have a ready- made template to follow, RISE offers the guidelines for some serious creative flexing, while still staying within the rules and parameters of the game. So, get out there and stretch those creative muscles!

As always- Happy Gaming!

-Shyel