In our current DnD 5th Edition game, I'm playing an Eladrin Kensei Monk who is 8th level. The player of our party's Dwarven Evoker Wizard has been on vacation for the last few weeks and I played the character last session because my Monk had been turned to glass by an undead medusa. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing the character--even more so than my Monk. I immediately had a full-blown personality for the Wizard, where I've been having trouble figuring out who my Monk is over 8 level and that has really bothered me.
We played tonight and I was back to my Monk. We had a great time, but the whole session I was trying to figure out who Gyre is? It really is irksome knowing that I could so quickly get into someone else's character but I can't get into my own.
But I think that might be who Gyre is -- a blank slate struggling to decide who he is. His alignment is currently Neutral, and he was raised on a merchant ship by his Aunt, Yasmeen, who taught him the Tsimytar Path. However, he decided to leave that life behind when bambling debts led his Aunt to take up piracy. He left the only life he knew behind because he was frightened by his lack of remorse at the violence he was capable of. In his heart, he wants to be like the sea that his Aunt taught him to love, calm and gentle, but his gifts often find him angry and merciless. He doesn't like that part of himself, but he is worried that perhaps that is truly who he is. After several years of wandering about, he came upon the group he currently works with.
Three situations have defined Gyre in the course of play: First, was when an enemy Wizard teleported into the midst of his party and began trying to threaten them so that he could press them into his service. Gyre got lucky and went first when we rolled initiative and between Stunning Strike, his weapons, and Flurry of Blows he single-handedly slaughtered the Wizard then and there. That was the moment, looking back where I began to see the conflict within the Eladrin.
Next, his group came across a wight wandering around Saltmarsh with a sign around its next saying it was owned by another local Wizard. They took the wight to him and found out that he brought the undead from a nearby island and that it was the poor man's only friend. Gyre has no love for undead due to the fact that Vengmar Nash, the owner of the Shimmering Isle Casino who his Aunt is indebted to, keeps a pack of ghouls that eat his enemies. Gyre helped convince his allies to destroy the wight, but afterward, the Wizard lashed out with a spell and tried to kill him out of grief. After threatening the Wizard he and his cohorts left for the island with the wights to clear it out.
Finally, his group had been dealing with a Tieling Quartermaster and after several successful transactions, discovered she served Iuz the Evil. Gyre and one of his comrades decided to ask about service to the Old One and she intimated that their talent for battle would be welcome in her religion. The sole aspect holding them back was committing their souls to Iuz.
Those events have made me realize that Gyre is trying to decide if he can be Good or if he will simply take the easy road and embrace his talent for violence. Part of the reason I don't know who Gyre is yet is that I still need to figure that out -- that is his arc.
It was cool to immediately know who the Wizard I played for a session was, but I think Gyre's journey is longer and more complex. He is hiding from who he is even from himself to see if he can be Good or if his talent for violence and his lack of guilt will lead him to embrace Evil.
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