Isembard Ironfist was one of those characters that were dictated by the dice. I usually let my players choose how to allocate the rolls for their primary statistics (for a dwarven warrior strength and reflexes) and roll the rest directly to see what comes out. In Isembard’s case this resulted in a low psychic talent and looks, no surprises for either of those. But when it came to intelligence, we rolled a straight 18.

And then came the question regarding what a young dwarf was doing in a settlement in the middle of northern Albion! We decided that he had been farmed out to his uncle, smith of Karickbridge Castle for the last three Lords of Karickbridge. His clan simply didn’t know what to do with him any more. He couldn’t smith for toffee but had a scholarly bent. Nobody knew what to do with him or what should become of the dwarf who always had his head either in a scroll or in the clouds.

As it turned out, his uncle, the dour Grim Ironfist, self-imposed exile from the dwarven clans of the Shriven Hills, didn’t know what to do with him either, and so beside devouring all the books the castle library had to offer, his lot fell in with the grown children of the captain of the guard. Since their first escapades together, he has proven himself to be as skilled with an axe as with a scroll and has rediscovered some of the ancient art of runecrafting.

For all the character conversions I’m using ValhallaGH and Planecreek’s suggestions from the PEGINC forum.

*modified from track and to replace riding respectively
+House-rule to reflect tougher nature of dwarves – roll 1d6 less for poison saving roll

Further Skills:

Obviously some Knowledge skills should be thrown in, d6 on Runes. A d6 on Investigation, Shooting and Persuasion for good measure.

Hindrances and Edges:

We thought that Isembard would probably have the All Thumbs hindrance, as well as Curious. No clear Edges yet.

Gear:

As well as possessing a Valandar sword, Isembard was given a suit of rune-engraved scale male made by his uncle that offers some degree of magic protection – translated as armour with the Arcane Resistance Edge. He also has a torc that, when activated, can create the equivalent of a (SW) Armor power.

Conclusions:

Using Asmor’s SW character generator, this build uses 7 points in attributes (according to the Fantasy Companion dwarves get a starting d6 in Vigor) and 18 Skill points. Essentially a starting character (15 points +3 for the Hindrances). If I give him 4 advances to bring the character up to starting Seasoned, the player can buy a few more skills and/or edges. Basta.

Next up Nab’han, the grateful assassin…