Cam Buckland (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dontgiveabuckland) wrote2029-01-31 06:30 pm
dontgiveabuckland) wrote2029-01-31 06:30 pm
APPLICATION
SUBJECT SHOULD BE IN “APPLICATION: Character Name (Series)” FORMAT
Handle: Jessa
Contact: celesjessa@gmail.com; message this account
Over 18? Yes
Characters Played: N/A
Character Name: Cam Arune Buckland
Series: High Rollers
Canon Point: Episode 67 Before returning to Greybell
Character Age: 25
Background:
(Cutting it down to large events significant to Cam.)
Long ago, the world of Arrak lived in peace under the magical protection of a comet that orbited the planet, called Pelor’s Light. Then, one day, an event known as the Lightfall, the comet exploded, raining shards down onto the land, and ushering a new era of danger, as monsters began roaming the lands.
Abandoned as a baby, Cam was found by a group of traveling entertainers called The Bucklands and is taken in as one of their own. While under the employ of Keran Blackhearth, the Lord of Graybell, Cam found himself accused of the murder of his sister Mirela. Having no memory of the event, but with Mirela’s blood on his hands, Cam fled the city.
On the way to Talis’Val, the capital of the Dawn Republic, Cam met three other adventurers who would become his longtime companions: Elora, an elven princess; Trellimar, a dark elf sorcerer; and Jiutou, a tiefling monk. While passing through the town of Feyden, Cam accidentally causes the death of a man named Dimitriv. The people of the town show mercy to Cam, for his earlier heroics in helping the town, and only punish him with exile from the town, as well as a brand on his wrist, marking him as a murderer.
Cam and his friends uncover the existence of sinister faction named the Broken Sky, who have a plot to take control of the Dawn Republic. The majority of the campaign surrounds their adventures to fight the Broken Sky, and the party becomes trusted companions of the Champion of Talis’Val, earning them some degree of notoriety. But they also earn many enemies, including Princess Fillania, the leader of the Broken Sky.
A Cam-centric adventure involves Cam being haunted by a vengeful spirit, targeting because of his guilty heart, and he and the party are chased relentlessly. Cam undergoes a ritual to purge him of his demons, and Cam finally confronts the spirits of both Dimitriv and Mirela. With Dimitriv, Cam finds forgiveness, as Dimitriv passes on to the afterlife peacefully. In a tearful reunion with Mirela, Cam discovers that he was, in fact, framed for her murder, and that Keran Blackhearth was her true murderer. When Mirela finally passes on, Cam finds some degree of peace.
Personality:
On the surface, Cam Buckland is a shallow, simple, fool. Seemingly allergic to keeping his goddamn mouth shut, he has a real talent for getting on people’s nerves. Outwardly, Cam seems only motivated by instant gratification, and has little care for decorum or tradition, going as far as to magically charm high ranking elven officials into giving him a set of precious elven armor that caught his eye and flirting with a princess directly in front of her lover. Cam has a bit of a prideful competitive streak, often manifesting any time he feels emasculated, and is easily baited into turning normal things into a competition (even if he is the only one who thinks it is such.) He’s not a bad person, but he can be quite dense and his antics aren’t always met with an appreciative audience.
In truth, the Cam under all of the bumbling and ill-timed jokes is a thoughtful, genuine man who cares deeply about those around him. Despite often being physically unaware of the concept of personal space, emotionally he keeps people at an arm’s length, and often uses humor as a distraction to cover up insecurities and emotional vulnerability. Even though he is a nomad, with no real loyalties to the cities and governments around him, Cam throws himself into the fight to save the Dawn Republic. While he would never turn down monetary rewards and prestige for his good acts, they are clearly seen as a perk, rather than a motivation. He is often the first one to have his friends’ backs, regardless of personal rivalries. When Jiutou tragically dies early in the campaign, even though she had been the most openly hostile member of the party towards Cam, he fights the hardest to bring her back, and sacrifices a precious dagger-a gift from Mirela-to bring Jiutou back to life.
Cam has little knowledge of his birth parents (simply that one is still alive somewhere) and, although curious about them, he is more curious about the mysterious hereditary legacy they left him. Cam is known as a Lightborn, a rare, mysterious sub-race (as in, there can be Lightborn Humans, Lightborn Elves, etc) that are infused with the magical energy left behind by Pelor’s Light. Cam tends to keep his Lightborn heritage hidden, as it is largely seen as an anomaly in his world, and he shows great excitement and kinship with others who are shown to be Lightborn as well. When Lightborn children are rounded up for experimentation by Fillania, Cam battles fiercely to save them, and is incredibly protective of them when he finds them.
Surprising to some, Cam more cleric than rogue and Avandra, the goddess of Change, Travel and Luck, is Cam’s deity of choice. Commonly worshiped by travelers and thieves, followers of Avandra practice their religion more passively than others, favoring acts over open worship in temples. She is one of the few entities that Cam will show fealty to, and he cares deeply about her opinion of him. She occasionally communicates with him through his dreams, and will occasionally give him guidance and direction (or chastise him for acting like a fool). Even when Cam loses her favor, he still calls on her for guidance despite the radio silence on her end, and performs as a cleric in her name. When Avandra does interfere, Cam listens to her advice and instruction diligently, and uses her guidance to help direct his actions.
Whether it’s because of his devotion to Avandra, or because he is just poor at thinking ahead, Cam prefers to take chances and favors quick-thinking and gut choices over careful consideration. Quick-witted and confident, Cam is rarely caught without some idea of how to proceed next. This short-sighted approach at strategy can often cause problems for him and his comrades, but it also makes Cam skilled at rolling with highly unpredictable situations and what he lacks in strength, he makes up for in daring. He is often the one to throw himself into dangerous situations, often as a distraction or bait, such as when he entertains Sylval Frostwalker, a dangerous werewolf, biding time while the others searched for Elora’s captured father. Unfortunately, what can be considered daring in one situation can be reckless in the next. While he is particularly skilled at getting himself out of hot water, he is often the one to put himself in there in the first place. Cam’s gut is often wrong and his poorly made plans easily backfire. Often it’s to comedic effect, but his foolish short-sightedness has also lead to real tragedy (Cam is the epitome of the phrase ‘It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt’). One of the most notable examples of this is when Cam tried to use fire in order to smoke Dimitriv, a member of the Broken Sky, out of hiding. Unfortunately, the fire quickly grew out of control, and, despite Cam’s attempts to right the situation Dimitriv perished in the fire.
Even though Cam often seems unflappable, even in serious situations, Cam has a guilty heart, and will drop the jokester façade when things are truly bothering him. He readily accepts his punishment for his role in Dimitriv’s death, although it does little to absolve him of his personal guilt. Dimitriv and Mirella’s deaths weigh heavy on his conscience, and any time the topic comes up, Cam will grow uncharacteristically quiet and disinterested in things that he is normally quite enthusiastic about. Getting him to talk genuinely about his true feelings is difficult, even for his closest friends, and it takes some degree of prodding before he will allow himself a moment of open vulnerability.
Powers/Abilities:
Like the other D&D based characters, a lot of Cam’s spells tie directly into gameplay purposes. There is a full list of Cleric spells here, and his Trickster abilities here, but I’ve attempted to simplify the ones he uses the most in the list below.
Lightborn Abilities:
Hope Never Dies – Once per day, if Cam is killed or incapacitated, he will be filled with a glowing light and heal just enough to regain consciousness (1 HP in D&D terms). This ability takes a good amount of time to recharge, so if he is killed or incapacitated after the effect has already been triggered once, it will not save him a second time.
Cleric (Trickster Domain) Spells/Abilities:
Healing – Magically mend wounds and cure disease/poison (i.e Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Prayer of Healing, Lesser Restoration)
Support Magic - Temporarily increase characters’ abilities to make them harder, faster, stronger, better, or magical barrier to help protect them (i.e. Guidance, Resistance, Shield of Faith, Bless)
Spiritual weapons/guardians – Creates temporary ethereal weapons to protect (and to a lesser extent, attack) with (i.e. Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, Guardian of Faith)
Illusions – Uses illusions to create duplicates of himself, disguise himself, or otherwise distract or entertain (Invoke Duplicity, Disguise Self, Thaumaturgy)
Polymorph – Temporarily transforms one creatures into another creature. This lasts for 1 minute, or ends when the polymorphed creature is injured.
Control – Minor control over others, such as to give them commands, calm their emotions, or compel them to speak the truth, (Command, Calm Emotions, Zone of Truth)
Invisibility – Turns invisible for a minute (Cloak of Shadows)
Dimension Door – Immediately teleports himself and 1 willing creature up to 30 feet in distance (has to be a place he can see or has seen)
Power Nerfs:
I would expect that many of his high level, more game breaking spells just wouldn’t work. Things like Resurrection, anything that involves sending someone to/bringing something from a different plane of existence, and the like. Dimension door kind of touches on the overpowered, and if he’s allowed to keep it, I don’t plan on abusing it/can only use it infrequently, since it’s a high level spell.
Spells that directly affect other characters, like any of the control spells or polymorph, Cam is unlikely to use them on anyone that isn’t directly threatening him, but I plan on putting up a permissions post and contacting players about it if it happens to come up in a thread, and otherwise making them automatically fail if he attempts to use them. (Or I would be fine if those spells were just permanently nullified)
The only ability that I would prefer that he keeps in some capacity is his Lightborn Hope Never Dies ability. If it needs nerfing, I would propose that it manifests itself in a way that is just extra resilience when he is on the brink of death.
Inventory:
1 Magical Throwing Dagger (Nimbus) – At will, Cam can call back Nimbus to his hand
Light Armor
Bandanna
Cape
25 gold
Incentives:
Guaranteed safety of his friends, and to a similar or lesser extent, the other beings from his world, would probably be the most effective means of cooperation. Otherwise, if he feels it’s for the greater good, Cam doesn’t need much incentive to help people. He would absolutely not turn down gold, magical items, cool clothes, or grapes as an incentive (Though trinkets would not be as effective if he is being asked to do evil things)
A possible darker incentive would be, if Keran Blackhearth is one of the survivors kept in Stasis on the ship, Cam would gladly do something in exchange for watching Keran get shot out into space.
Cam and JJ
OOC
Handle: Jessa
Contact: celesjessa@gmail.com; message this account
Over 18? Yes
Characters Played: N/A
THE CHARACTER
Character Name: Cam Arune Buckland
Series: High Rollers
Canon Point: Episode 67 Before returning to Greybell
Character Age: 25
Background:
(Cutting it down to large events significant to Cam.)
Long ago, the world of Arrak lived in peace under the magical protection of a comet that orbited the planet, called Pelor’s Light. Then, one day, an event known as the Lightfall, the comet exploded, raining shards down onto the land, and ushering a new era of danger, as monsters began roaming the lands.
Abandoned as a baby, Cam was found by a group of traveling entertainers called The Bucklands and is taken in as one of their own. While under the employ of Keran Blackhearth, the Lord of Graybell, Cam found himself accused of the murder of his sister Mirela. Having no memory of the event, but with Mirela’s blood on his hands, Cam fled the city.
On the way to Talis’Val, the capital of the Dawn Republic, Cam met three other adventurers who would become his longtime companions: Elora, an elven princess; Trellimar, a dark elf sorcerer; and Jiutou, a tiefling monk. While passing through the town of Feyden, Cam accidentally causes the death of a man named Dimitriv. The people of the town show mercy to Cam, for his earlier heroics in helping the town, and only punish him with exile from the town, as well as a brand on his wrist, marking him as a murderer.
Cam and his friends uncover the existence of sinister faction named the Broken Sky, who have a plot to take control of the Dawn Republic. The majority of the campaign surrounds their adventures to fight the Broken Sky, and the party becomes trusted companions of the Champion of Talis’Val, earning them some degree of notoriety. But they also earn many enemies, including Princess Fillania, the leader of the Broken Sky.
A Cam-centric adventure involves Cam being haunted by a vengeful spirit, targeting because of his guilty heart, and he and the party are chased relentlessly. Cam undergoes a ritual to purge him of his demons, and Cam finally confronts the spirits of both Dimitriv and Mirela. With Dimitriv, Cam finds forgiveness, as Dimitriv passes on to the afterlife peacefully. In a tearful reunion with Mirela, Cam discovers that he was, in fact, framed for her murder, and that Keran Blackhearth was her true murderer. When Mirela finally passes on, Cam finds some degree of peace.
Personality:
On the surface, Cam Buckland is a shallow, simple, fool. Seemingly allergic to keeping his goddamn mouth shut, he has a real talent for getting on people’s nerves. Outwardly, Cam seems only motivated by instant gratification, and has little care for decorum or tradition, going as far as to magically charm high ranking elven officials into giving him a set of precious elven armor that caught his eye and flirting with a princess directly in front of her lover. Cam has a bit of a prideful competitive streak, often manifesting any time he feels emasculated, and is easily baited into turning normal things into a competition (even if he is the only one who thinks it is such.) He’s not a bad person, but he can be quite dense and his antics aren’t always met with an appreciative audience.
In truth, the Cam under all of the bumbling and ill-timed jokes is a thoughtful, genuine man who cares deeply about those around him. Despite often being physically unaware of the concept of personal space, emotionally he keeps people at an arm’s length, and often uses humor as a distraction to cover up insecurities and emotional vulnerability. Even though he is a nomad, with no real loyalties to the cities and governments around him, Cam throws himself into the fight to save the Dawn Republic. While he would never turn down monetary rewards and prestige for his good acts, they are clearly seen as a perk, rather than a motivation. He is often the first one to have his friends’ backs, regardless of personal rivalries. When Jiutou tragically dies early in the campaign, even though she had been the most openly hostile member of the party towards Cam, he fights the hardest to bring her back, and sacrifices a precious dagger-a gift from Mirela-to bring Jiutou back to life.
Cam has little knowledge of his birth parents (simply that one is still alive somewhere) and, although curious about them, he is more curious about the mysterious hereditary legacy they left him. Cam is known as a Lightborn, a rare, mysterious sub-race (as in, there can be Lightborn Humans, Lightborn Elves, etc) that are infused with the magical energy left behind by Pelor’s Light. Cam tends to keep his Lightborn heritage hidden, as it is largely seen as an anomaly in his world, and he shows great excitement and kinship with others who are shown to be Lightborn as well. When Lightborn children are rounded up for experimentation by Fillania, Cam battles fiercely to save them, and is incredibly protective of them when he finds them.
Surprising to some, Cam more cleric than rogue and Avandra, the goddess of Change, Travel and Luck, is Cam’s deity of choice. Commonly worshiped by travelers and thieves, followers of Avandra practice their religion more passively than others, favoring acts over open worship in temples. She is one of the few entities that Cam will show fealty to, and he cares deeply about her opinion of him. She occasionally communicates with him through his dreams, and will occasionally give him guidance and direction (or chastise him for acting like a fool). Even when Cam loses her favor, he still calls on her for guidance despite the radio silence on her end, and performs as a cleric in her name. When Avandra does interfere, Cam listens to her advice and instruction diligently, and uses her guidance to help direct his actions.
Whether it’s because of his devotion to Avandra, or because he is just poor at thinking ahead, Cam prefers to take chances and favors quick-thinking and gut choices over careful consideration. Quick-witted and confident, Cam is rarely caught without some idea of how to proceed next. This short-sighted approach at strategy can often cause problems for him and his comrades, but it also makes Cam skilled at rolling with highly unpredictable situations and what he lacks in strength, he makes up for in daring. He is often the one to throw himself into dangerous situations, often as a distraction or bait, such as when he entertains Sylval Frostwalker, a dangerous werewolf, biding time while the others searched for Elora’s captured father. Unfortunately, what can be considered daring in one situation can be reckless in the next. While he is particularly skilled at getting himself out of hot water, he is often the one to put himself in there in the first place. Cam’s gut is often wrong and his poorly made plans easily backfire. Often it’s to comedic effect, but his foolish short-sightedness has also lead to real tragedy (Cam is the epitome of the phrase ‘It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt’). One of the most notable examples of this is when Cam tried to use fire in order to smoke Dimitriv, a member of the Broken Sky, out of hiding. Unfortunately, the fire quickly grew out of control, and, despite Cam’s attempts to right the situation Dimitriv perished in the fire.
Even though Cam often seems unflappable, even in serious situations, Cam has a guilty heart, and will drop the jokester façade when things are truly bothering him. He readily accepts his punishment for his role in Dimitriv’s death, although it does little to absolve him of his personal guilt. Dimitriv and Mirella’s deaths weigh heavy on his conscience, and any time the topic comes up, Cam will grow uncharacteristically quiet and disinterested in things that he is normally quite enthusiastic about. Getting him to talk genuinely about his true feelings is difficult, even for his closest friends, and it takes some degree of prodding before he will allow himself a moment of open vulnerability.
Powers/Abilities:
Like the other D&D based characters, a lot of Cam’s spells tie directly into gameplay purposes. There is a full list of Cleric spells here, and his Trickster abilities here, but I’ve attempted to simplify the ones he uses the most in the list below.
Lightborn Abilities:
Hope Never Dies – Once per day, if Cam is killed or incapacitated, he will be filled with a glowing light and heal just enough to regain consciousness (1 HP in D&D terms). This ability takes a good amount of time to recharge, so if he is killed or incapacitated after the effect has already been triggered once, it will not save him a second time.
Cleric (Trickster Domain) Spells/Abilities:
Healing – Magically mend wounds and cure disease/poison (i.e Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Prayer of Healing, Lesser Restoration)
Support Magic - Temporarily increase characters’ abilities to make them harder, faster, stronger, better, or magical barrier to help protect them (i.e. Guidance, Resistance, Shield of Faith, Bless)
Spiritual weapons/guardians – Creates temporary ethereal weapons to protect (and to a lesser extent, attack) with (i.e. Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, Guardian of Faith)
Illusions – Uses illusions to create duplicates of himself, disguise himself, or otherwise distract or entertain (Invoke Duplicity, Disguise Self, Thaumaturgy)
Polymorph – Temporarily transforms one creatures into another creature. This lasts for 1 minute, or ends when the polymorphed creature is injured.
Control – Minor control over others, such as to give them commands, calm their emotions, or compel them to speak the truth, (Command, Calm Emotions, Zone of Truth)
Invisibility – Turns invisible for a minute (Cloak of Shadows)
Dimension Door – Immediately teleports himself and 1 willing creature up to 30 feet in distance (has to be a place he can see or has seen)
Power Nerfs:
I would expect that many of his high level, more game breaking spells just wouldn’t work. Things like Resurrection, anything that involves sending someone to/bringing something from a different plane of existence, and the like. Dimension door kind of touches on the overpowered, and if he’s allowed to keep it, I don’t plan on abusing it/can only use it infrequently, since it’s a high level spell.
Spells that directly affect other characters, like any of the control spells or polymorph, Cam is unlikely to use them on anyone that isn’t directly threatening him, but I plan on putting up a permissions post and contacting players about it if it happens to come up in a thread, and otherwise making them automatically fail if he attempts to use them. (Or I would be fine if those spells were just permanently nullified)
The only ability that I would prefer that he keeps in some capacity is his Lightborn Hope Never Dies ability. If it needs nerfing, I would propose that it manifests itself in a way that is just extra resilience when he is on the brink of death.
Inventory:
1 Magical Throwing Dagger (Nimbus) – At will, Cam can call back Nimbus to his hand
Light Armor
Bandanna
Cape
25 gold
Incentives:
Guaranteed safety of his friends, and to a similar or lesser extent, the other beings from his world, would probably be the most effective means of cooperation. Otherwise, if he feels it’s for the greater good, Cam doesn’t need much incentive to help people. He would absolutely not turn down gold, magical items, cool clothes, or grapes as an incentive (Though trinkets would not be as effective if he is being asked to do evil things)
A possible darker incentive would be, if Keran Blackhearth is one of the survivors kept in Stasis on the ship, Cam would gladly do something in exchange for watching Keran get shot out into space.
SAMPLES
Cam and ValjeanCam and JJ
nerfing, per the mods
As for his Lightborn skill, as it is a self-resurrection, we have to nerf it -- to make your suggestion more solid, we would like to nerf it such that it manifests its ability once per day prior to his actual death in battle; at, say, the equivalent of 5HP remaining, he would gain a boost enough to get him to safety."