Brian

Stub-class article

Brian (Discord handle) is the player whose first character was Mike, joining the table in session 17 alongside Ash. He is from the US [34]. Mike was a Vedalken caster built around the Mizzium Apparatus, a multi-class cleric / druid / wizard concept that used the apparatus to cast any spell on his prepared list via an Arcana check with a backfire risk. Mike was killed at the Aurelian patrol intercept in session 18 [6]. Brian’s second character, introduced in session 19, is Father Thomas, a human Twilight Cleric of the Aurelian Pure Light who joins the party to atone for Mike’s execution [11][12]. The DM also addresses Brian’s PC as “Aldrich”/“Sir Aldrich” on checks [17][18].

Characters played

  • Mike (s17-s18; closed by death): Vedalken (blue-skinned, partially amphibious, can breathe underwater for up to one hour, [1]). Multi-class cleric / druid / wizard built around the Mizzium Apparatus [2]. Lawyer-brained personality, lawful-precision in negotiation; refused to sign Hugo’s Black Mask soul-bond contract within minutes of being rescued on three escalating legal grounds [3] and replaced it with a verbal promise to grant Hugo one wish, eventually, should he live long enough ([4][5]; voided on death). Killed in session 18 by Glenn, an Aurelian patrol knight, on the road inland from the coast on 843-03-31, after a Mizzium-cast Message during the patrol stop was detected as arcane spellcasting and the confessor’s Insight beat Steven’s disadvantage-Deception. Decapitated by greatsword on Round 2 (max damage; [6][7]). The patrol took Mike’s Mizzium Apparatus from the body [8]; the DM said they “would have searched the body before leaving” [9], so Mike’s spellbook is presumed taken; body buried in a roadside grave by Hugo [10]. This was Brian’s first character death.
  • Father Thomas (s19+; active): human Twilight Cleric of the Aurelian Pure Light, “Father Thomas, Priest of the Pure Light.” Brian’s replacement for Mike, introduced in session 19. Father Thomas was among the patrol that executed Mike in s18 (his exact role in it is unclear, and the executioner was Glenn), but comes to the party not to arrest them but to atone for the actions of his comrades, having “taken a leave from my order in order to pursue good works” after seeing “the brutality in the name of what should be goodness” [11][12]. A penitent at the start of a crisis of faith who still carries Aurelian reflexes: he frames his mercy as sparing Mike “perhaps only a finger” rather than his head [13]. Mechanically a Twilight Cleric with 300-ft darkvision, advantage on initiative, Twilight Sanctuary (DM-ruled 1d6+4 temp HP), and a Shillelagh + Booming Blade melee package via War Caster; his Shield was ruled detectable arcane magic by the DM [14]. Wears white robes and a holy-symbol shield, fights with quarterstaff and club, and plans to craft 50 gp platinum-ring spell foci with his jeweler’s tools [15][16]. The DM addresses Brian’s PC as “Aldrich”/“Sir Aldrich” on checks [17][18], treated as a surname (full: Father Thomas Aldrich), though it is unconfirmed: the DM’s post-s21 clarifications (2026-09-27) leave Father Thomas’s full name for Brian to confirm. In session 23 the character introduced himself as “father Thomas Aquinas”, “a cleric of Aurelia” and “a devotee of the Everlight” [19][20]; whether Aquinas is a surname or a joke is likewise for Brian to say. In the same session Brian said at the table that the one uncommon magic item the DM allowed the character is mithril heavy armour, “I can have heavy armor And not take a loss my movement” [21][22], which corrects the earlier record that Father Thomas wears no armour. This is Brian’s second character in three sessions.

At the table

Brian’s first-session voice was precise, lawyerly, and combative-in-negotiation: Mike’s refusal of the soul-bond contract was built around “You bet with something you don’t have” [23] and “there’s there’s an expectation of a reasonableness” [24]. Brian flagged at the table that he was originally going to play a very similar concept in a campaign that didn’t take off, hence the polished Mizzium-Apparatus pitch on first introduction [25]. When he cast Phantasmal Force expecting the 2014 wording’s 1d6, the DM corrected him to the 2024 wording’s 2d8 psychic a turn, and Brian took it cheerfully: “Well, I’m looking at the 2014 version.” “They buffed it.” [26].

In session 18 Brian’s gameplay choices set up the patrol-intercept death directly. During the friendly small-talk phase of the encounter, Brian decided Mike should discreetly coordinate the bluff and cast Message to whisper to the rest of the party [27]; this was the trigger. Message was not on his prepared cantrip list, so it went through the Mizzium Apparatus [28], and Nick ruled that a cantrip cast via the apparatus counted as a magic-item cast, and so as arcane spellcasting, which the confessor would detect [29][30]. The ruling was new this session and Brian had no prior way to know it would apply this way. The timing, mid-conversation rather than before or after the encounter, and the choice of an unprepared cantrip were the load-bearing decisions. Brian took the death graciously at the table, “Not surprised at all. Okay.” [31], and the table briefly thought he had rage-quit when his phone died during the death-save discussion ([32], resolved at [33]). Brian remains at the table after Mike’s death; he returned in session 19 on a new character, Father Thomas, a penitent Pure Light cleric drawn from the same Aurelian patrol that killed Mike.

Brian named Mike’s race in his introduction [34]; the DM confirmed the spelling Vedalken after session 17, and it is the canonical wiki spelling.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 17, line 155-161: Inline citation.
  2. ^ Session 17, line 37-50: Inline citation.
  3. ^ Session 17, line 732-744: Inline citation.
  4. ^ Session 17, line 756: Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 17, line 757: Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 18, line 2272-2276: Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 18, line 2308: Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 18, line 2287: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 18, line 2437: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 18, line 2400-2413: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 19, line 695: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 19, line 708: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 19, line 724: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 19, line 1198-1772: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 19, line 677: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 19, line 913-917: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 19, line 865: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 19, line 1049: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 23, line 1282: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 23, line 1286: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 23, line 304: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 23, line 344: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 17, line 738: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 17, line 744: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 17, line 45-50: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 17, line 1700-1706: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 18, line 2028: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 18, line 2039: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 18, line 2044: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 18, line 2047: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 18, line 2278: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 18, line 2143: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 18, line 2154: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 17, line 37: Inline citation.
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