Barney Amoran
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Barney Amoran is a young High Elf artificer played by Trey from session 20 onwards, the party’s fifth seat after Steven was written out. His arrival is a retcon rather than a scene: on the interrupted night that closed session 19 the party woke with a spike of pain and two equally real sets of memories, one in which the warlock Steven had always travelled with them and one in which Barney always had, and no Steven existed at all [1]. Out of character, this handled a table change, the player behind Steven left and Trey joined. Barney is a self-professed sceptic of magic who nonetheless plainly casts it, fighting with gear rather than incantation (“it’s magic but it’s flavoured very mechanically”, [8], and he insists he does not need to rest (most likely elf Trance, since he needs only four hours, [5], L790). He wears a self-built power suit of Armorer artificer armour, carries a reconfigurable magical screwdriver that becomes a wand, and reads the world with a ley-line detector gizmo whose forearm bracer dims as the lines fail [21], L1251, L1620). He left an unfinished artificer apprenticeship to investigate the failing ley lines around Aurelia and was pulled by the party “from the wreckage” a couple of days before the swap, an event no one has yet explained [18], L1184). Wary at first, the party half-accused him of being an imposter, apologised when his hurt showed, and then promptly elected him their decision-maker [6], L361). In his combat debut against a road ambush he tanked a critical hit on adamantine plate, made his save against a ghoul’s paralysis, and ended the fight by punching a ghoul’s head clean off with his suit’s stored energy [13], L1666).
Appearance and personality
Barney Amoran is a young High Elf with shaggy black hair, round glasses, and a boyish face marked with grease. He keeps a welding mask pushed up above his forehead and wears a leather apron over dirty brown overalls tucked into heavy boots, with metal braces covering both forearms, the left a little larger than the right, and a screwdriver usually in hand [1]. He reads as an inventor first and an adventurer second: the party’s shared memory of him includes “watching him work on his armor” [1].
His defining paradox is that he does not believe in magic yet visibly produces it. Asked to prove he could cast, he balked (“As someone who doesn’t believe in magic you’re kind of asking me to do a lot here”, [3] and disclaimed ever firing anything like Eldritch Blast, and yet when pressed on how he has been fighting alongside the party he described it as “magic but it’s flavoured very mechanically”, things he makes “on the spot” rather than spells he casts [8]. He is earnest and easily wounded: when the party treated him as a possible imposter after he had, in their doubled memory, risked his life for them, his quiet “It’s heartbreaking” [6] turned the room and won an apology. By the end of that first confused hour the party had decided he was the level head they lacked and made him their decision-maker [7].
Background
Barney is an artificer who left an apprenticeship unfinished. He set out, he says, to investigate the failing ley lines around Aurelia, from a place “just outside of our campus” that the transcript renders as “the licks and reach side” (a Whisper-mangled, unconfirmed place name) [10], L1186). He believes “mechanical engineering and the arcane can coexist and bounce off one another” [11], and admits he rushed out before finishing his training, “trying to impress people in the eagerness to get to where I wanted to be” [12]. In the party’s memory he was “rescued from the wreckage” a couple of days before the swap [18], an unexplained wreck that echoes the shipwreck rescue that first brought Steven and Mike into the party in s17. The nature of that wreck, and of the memory swap that installed him, are both open questions (see Open Threads).
Build
- Race: High Elf. Has darkvision [4] and needs only four hours to long rest, taking double watches, consistent with elf Trance, the most likely reading of his “I don’t need to rest” line [5], L790).
- Class: Artificer, playing as the Armorer subclass on the evidence of his kit: a power suit he can use without the Strength requirement, Thunder Gauntlets, and replicated magic items [10], L1347, L1485). The subclass is inferred from play rather than named in-fiction.
- Feat: Alert (he offered to swap initiative order, [19].
- Combat style: gear over incantation. In his debut he opened by taking a ghoul’s critical hit and retroactively equipping adamantine plate to blunt it, made his Constitution save against the paralysing claws, struck with the suit’s Thunder Pulse, cast Ray of Frost through his screwdriver-wand, put Sanctuary on Caelumn, and finished the fight by punching a ghoul apart with the suit’s stored energy [13], L1376, L1485, L1620, L1666).
Equipment
See Barney’s loadout for the full list.
- The power suit (Armorer artificer armour): stores and re-emits kinetic energy; the source of his Thunder Pulse gauntlet strike and the fight-ending decapitating punch [20], L1485, L1666).
- Adamantine plate: turns critical hits into ordinary hits; usable without the Strength requirement via the Armorer feature [13], L1359).
- A magical screwdriver: reconfigurable into different tools or a wand he casts through [15].
- A ley-line detector gizmo and a glowing left forearm bracer that dims as the ley lines fail; his most plot-relevant device [21], L1251).
- Welding mask, leather apron, overalls, heavy boots, and forearm braces with the left larger than the right [1].
Campaign role
Barney joined in session 20. Notable beats from his debut:
- [22]: the dual-memory arrival. The party woke to find him at the fire with two contradictory memory sets, quizzed and half-accused him, threatened Zone of Truth, and were disarmed by his hurt before electing him their leader [1], L142, L346, L361).
- [23]: introduced to the merchant Laura Bennett by name, “Barney Amoran,” as the party hired on as her caravan guards.
- [24]: read the failing ley lines on his gizmo and briefed the party, tying the omen to the world-dragon behind the Egg quest; Caelumn seized on his detector as a way to find dragons without waiting on Sevryn [21], L1256).
- [25]: combat debut in the road ambush. Tanked a crit on adamantine plate, saved against ghoul paralysis, and killed the last ghoul with the suit-energy punch that ended initiative [13], L1666).
Status at session 20
Alive, travelling with the party toward Umbrafall as guards to Laura Bennett’s caravan, and newly installed as the party’s decision-maker. His true nature, the wreck he was pulled from, and the memory swap that wrote him into the party all remain unexplained.
Player
Played by Trey (Discord handle; from Australia). Barney is the replacement for Steven, whose player Ash left the table between sessions 19 and 20; the DM handled the change in-fiction with the dual-memory retcon rather than a fresh in-world introduction.
Notable quotes
“As someone who doesn’t believe in magic You’re kind of asking me to do a lot here” — Barney, [3]
“well it’s kind of it’s magic but it’s flavoured very mechanically so wherever I can it’s more of a more of a thing I make on the spot more than like casting anything” — Barney, [8]
“I’ve been here the whole time.” — Barney, [17]
See also
References
- ^ Session 20, line 94 — The dual-memory cold open: a young High Elf at the coals (shaggy black hair, round glasses, grease-marked face, welding mask, leather apron, forearm braces with the left larger, a screwdriver); the party wakes with two memory sets and Steven is gone.
- ^ Session 20, line 101 — The retcon rule: one memory-set has Steven in Barney's place, one has Barney in Steven's place.
- ^ Session 20, line 107 — "As someone who doesn't believe in magic you're kind of asking me to do a lot here" (the magic-sceptic paradox).
- ^ Session 20, line 264 — Barney has darkvision ("I also have dark vision").
- ^ Session 20, line 334 — "I don't need to rest".
- ^ Session 20, line 346 — Hurt at being doubted after his rescue from a wreckage: "It's heartbreaking".
- ^ Session 20, line 361 — Elected the party's decision-maker: "We're giving you the stick, you're the leader now".
- ^ Session 20, line 527 — How he fights: "it's magic but it's flavoured very mechanically so wherever I can it's more of a thing I make on the spot".
- ^ Session 20, line 790 — Only four hours to long rest, so he pulls double watches (elf Trance).
- ^ Session 20, line 1184 — Backstory: an artificer investigating the failing ley lines around Aurelia, out from "just outside of our campus".
- ^ Session 20, line 1190 — "mechanical engineering and the arcane can coexist and bounce off one another".
- ^ Session 20, line 1197 — Never finished his artificer apprenticeship: "I was in too much of a rush... trying to impress people".
- ^ Session 20, line 1347 — Retroactively equips adamantine plate to downgrade a ghoul crit to a normal hit; the Armorer feature lets him use it without the Strength requirement.
- ^ Session 20, line 1485 — Power-suit Thunder Pulse (Thunder Gauntlets), 1d8 thunder, imposing disadvantage on the target's other attacks.
- ^ Session 20, line 1620 — Casts through his reconfigurable magical screwdriver-wand (Ray of Frost as "solid ice cubes").
- ^ Session 20, line 1666 — Ends the ambush: energy builds from his suit into his glove and he punches a ghoul's head clean off ("the end of initiative").
- ^ Session 20, line 1777 — Bookends the night: "I've been here the whole time".
- ^ Session 20, line 178 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 1312 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 1478 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 1140 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 94-361 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 502 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 1140-1256 — Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 1305-1666 — Inline citation.