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 - Michigan, “about to be Wisconsin” per his self-introduction [21]. 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 [5]. 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 [8], L708). The DM also addresses Brian’s PC as “Aldrich”/“Sir Aldrich” on checks [12], L1049).

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 “one wish, eventually, should I live long enough” commitment [4]; voided on death). Killed in session 18 by Glenn, an Aurelian patrol knight, at the road approach to the Bright Gate 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; [5], L2308). Mike’s Mizzium Apparatus and spellbook were confiscated by the patrol [6], L2437); body buried in a roadside grave by Hugo [7]. 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 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” [8], L708). 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 [9]. 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 [10]. 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 [11], L913-917). The DM addresses Brian’s PC as “Aldrich”/“Sir Aldrich” on checks [12], L1049), treated as a surname (full: Father Thomas Aldrich). 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” [13] and “an expectation of reasonableness… in any court of law in these lands” [14]. 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 [15]. His mechanical fluency includes the 2024-PHB ruling that Phantasmal Force does 2d8 psychic damage per turn rather than the 2014 1d6 [16] - Brian flagged the discrepancy mid-cast and the DM accepted the buffed wording.

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 via the Mizzium Apparatus to whisper to the rest of the party [17] - this was the trigger. Nick ruled that cantrips off Mike’s prepared list cast via the apparatus counted as a magic-item cast, which counted as arcane spellcasting, which the confessor would detect. 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 Message (not on the cleric list, so not eligible for the apparatus’s safe-list shortcut) were the load-bearing decisions. Brian took the death graciously at the table - “Not surprised at all. Okay” [18] - and the table briefly thought he had rage-quit when his phone died during the death-save discussion [19], resolved at [20]. 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.

The character-name spelling Brian used in his intro is “Valdekin” [21]; the transcript renders it variously as “Veldekin / Vidalcan / Vildulcan / Vildalcan” through Whisper-mangling. Per the DM’s post-s17 correction, all of these are transcription errors for Vedalken, which 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 757 — Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 18, line 2272-2276 — Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 18, line 2287 — Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 18, line 2400-2413 — Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 19, line 695 — Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 19, line 724 — Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 19, line 1198-1772 — Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 19, line 677 — Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 19, line 865 — Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 17, line 738 — Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 17, line 744 — Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 17, line 45-50 — Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 17, line 1701-1706 — Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 18, line 2047 — Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 18, line 2278 — Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 18, line 2143 — Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 18, line 2154 — Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 17, line 37 — Inline citation.
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