Indicus, a fire genasi too clever for his own good

[Kasmir]

First Name: Indicus
Last Name: He does not use it

Appearance:

This tall humanoid has an extraordinary appearance. His amber-red hair swirls and cavorts with living flame. His golden eyes glow and simmer and his skin is bright red, adorned with ornate dark tattoos that are inscribed upon his barely clad torso, back and arms. Small wisps of fire dance around his fingertips rather alarmingly. His clothing seems fine but very minimalist. A chain hangs around his neck with a pendant depicting a Phoenix rising from the flames.

Race: Fire genasi
Age: 35
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 170 lbs
Eyes: Golden, glowing
Hair: Wavy orange-red conflagration
Facial Hair: none

Personality Profile:
Indicus is a riot of warring emotions and influences on his mind. Far from his Neutral alignment being a 'happy balance', he is in fact driven by the chaotic, whimsical, impulsive and impatient nature of his race, and yet he constantly seeks to gain control over this innate nature and tame it. Often he does not succeed. This is most apparent in his beloved magic, especially fire magic which he sees as his birthright and something he was born to wield. He treats the power of fire magic as something to be controlled and harnessed. An innately chaotic and entropic force that needs to be contained and brought under his influence.

He is ridiculously clever. Unfortunately, he knows it. This, coupled with his impatient nature and 'otherwordly appearance' does not allow him to make friends easily. He finds many of the people he meets 'slow' and will tell them so, not out of malice, but because he is socially impaired.

This character has quite a bit of scope for the development of his personality should he be able to tame his unruly spirit as he progresses and dependent on his interactions with others.

General Health: Healthy but susceptible to cold

Deity: Kossuth - Not so much a devout worshiper as the natural choice for one so focused on the control of fire

Initial Alignment: Neutral (but see personality profile)

Profession: Mastery of fire. Amateur painter.

Base Class & Proposed Development:

Wizard (necromancy specialist, though he will never cast necromacy spells - see below. Opposed school = illusion), Eldritch knight, Arcane scholar, Thaumaturge

He would take the fiery burst reserve feat as soon as he can (L3) to represent his innate fire-wielding abilities and would always have the required spell memorized to cast it at its highest level.

Thaumaturge levels would come from his study of fire-subtype creatures and the elemental plane of fire.

High INT, low WIS, low CHA

Habits/Hobbies:

He will often just sit and twirl fire around his fingers for the 'fun' of it.

Often complains about the 'cold climate'

Impatient and prone to outbursts.

Outright rude, especially if people are (in his eyes) 'a bit dim'. however, this is not done with malice and he will be genuinely surprised when he gets bad reactions. This could get better over time if someone can be bothered to help him with it!

Despite his social ineptitude he is clever enough to understand his errors and his emotions, barely boiling under the surface, which often come to the fore. One of his habits if he gets embarrassed or angry is to spontaneously catch fire (since he can't get any redder!).

Despite his intelligence, his over-focus on fire can make him a little narrow-minded when it comes to strategic decisions.

His dislike of necromancy also manifests as an aversion to undead. Not so much a phobia, but he will go out of his way to avoid undead encounters unless absolutely necessary. Burning them to a crisp is therapeutic.

He has some talent as a painter though he rarely uses it. He carries a portrait of his grandmother around with him.

Languages: Halruaan and many other human dialects he has studied in his travels

Weapon of Choice: He is equally at home tossing fire at enemies or engaging them in melee. He usually wields a 2-handed weapons and seems to favour the greataxe.

Background:

Indicus spent most of his life so far in a rather privileged position, coming from a wealthy Halruaan family and being schooled by the finest practitioners of magic from an early age. The family had maintained its elemental bloodline for generations but Indicus's mother and father could almost have passed for human and tended to hide their heritage and their szuldar (family tattoos). Their own magical talents led them to the path of necromancy, something they then encouraged in the young Indicus. Their son found this distasteful, and became increasingly disillusioned with the wild excesses of his parents, extreme even for firesoul genasi. He was much closer to his paternal grandmother when she was alive, who like Indicus exhibited strong elemental traits and affinity with fire. In contrast to his parents, the elemental bloodline was very apparent in their son, as evidenced by his flaming hair and bright red skin, making him look more like a small efreet than a human being. He was proud of this fact and of his szuldar, as his grandparents had been, and he did not understand why his parents seemed to reject their traditions and even try to hide Indicus away as much as they could. Eventually, he decided to set out to find his own fortune, with the reluctant blessing of his parents.

Goals:
(i) Mastery of fire (see above)
(ii) Not a goal he would recognize but there is potential for personality development based on his experiences - will he find the control he seeks (lawful path) or fall into entropy (chaotic path)?
(iii) Seek out/join any wizard groups serious about the study and mastery of magic.

Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts:

Why did his parents reject their heritage and become necromancers - was there some other influence in Halruaa that might come back into his life later on?

Indicus is now a member of The Phoenix Company

OOC to mimic a 'fire mage' firesoul genasi since there is no relevant PRC and firesoul traits are only partially implemented here - self-imposed restrictions - (a) always have fiery burst active, (b) never cast a necromancy spell, (c) apart from wards/buffs and summons always pick attacking fire spells (d) Once he can cast energy immunity (fire) he would always have it cast on himself to mimic being a 'fire subtype' creature as he should be.

Last updated: 30th October 2015

[Jo3Dang3r]

Wow. This is the first character biography I've read, and bravo. This brings a whole new angle to the bgtscc experience. I wonder how many other biographies I'll read of people who I've come across in my travels!

[Kasmir]

*The fire-obsessed magician Indicus seems to have returned to the environs of Baldur's gate. He almost seems to have developed some social skills on his travels. He is tight-lipped about the reasons for his absence to all but his closest associates...*