Magic Carpet Ride?
By Bricu | January 11, 2010
My name is Delion, and I make this magic carpet look fabulous.
Here, Delion of the Wildfire Riders shows off his Magic Carpet. Delion is a priest of Elune; however, his real calling is tailoring. In fact, one might consider Delion to be Feathermoon’s Tim Gunn. Delion owns the Finest Thread, in Stormwind, and he has the reputation for being one of the Kingdom’s most brilliant designers.
If you are lucky enough to have a character like Del in your RP group–one that knows their class and RPs brilliantly–then you know how wonderful it can be to RP with someone who has character goals that go beyond the classics tropes (vengeance, money, power, grudges). Every character, while not as awesome as Delion, can develop traits, skills and quirks that go beyond the stereotypical “Bad Ass Adventurer.”
Trade skills are a perfect way to develop these traits. For instance, Bricu became a jewelcrafter, not to make magical trinkets, but to make an engagement ring for Threnn. Ilarra Stormrunner maxed out her First Aid and has been known to describe herself as a Doctor (although, to be fair, she could also just be a bit touched). Aelflaed, in addition to being a combat medic, has now inherited a farm (one that she plans on using). Yva Darrows is a fantastic baker (just eat the fudge she made).
How do you incorporate your trade and secondary skills into your RP? Is your character famous for anything that she, or he, makes?
12 Comments
Itanya Blade on January 11, 2010 at 6:18 pm.
Dorri’s talent in jewelcrafting expresses itself in small figurines that she used to carve to keep her hands busy, since she had some much trouble just sitting still. She’s not famous, but she makes a decent living selling them and trading them to others for materials she can’t get on her own.
Dorri was never a one note character, but adding the depth of the trade skill proved that she was good for more than getting pissy and smacking people around. Not that she doesn’t still do that.
Tarquin on January 11, 2010 at 8:28 pm.
I sort of did that in reverse. Tarquin’s cooking has been at 1 (not untrained, 1) pretty much since he came into existence, and it’s a major character point – he’s barely capable of making tea without setting something on fire. It’s a great excuse for being too lazy to level cooking.
Itanya Blade on January 11, 2010 at 8:45 pm.
And that’s a change for Yva, by the way, she used to be notorious for having bits of things in her conjured bread. Much like Pill’s maggots often end up in her conjured pastries.
And Tarq, I do the same thing on Then’liath. She is a gathering toon, which is how she took care of herself during her initial exile. A pampered noble woman, struggling to keep herself above water. She also can’t cook.
Keltyr has been teaching Dorri how to cook (she constantly talks about what a good cook he is) but Dorri’s so particular about cleaning that she likely drives Kel crazy.
Sorcha on January 11, 2010 at 9:25 pm.
Deyla cooks. Oh, how she cooks. And she sews. These are the skills she has used to support herself ever since she grew too old to live in an orphanage. It gives her an out so she doesn’t have to train as a mage, which she considers to be difficult, dangerous, and dirty. The life of an adventurer makes her unhappy, even in theory. Her goal is to live an ordinary life, even in this most unordinary of worlds.
Tif on January 12, 2010 at 2:36 am.
Tif being the whole technosoldier is a bit obvious, but when I picked up Jewelcrafting as well, to me it just makes him out as someone who excels at the delicate work involved in things, whether it’s wiring bombs or cutting gems.
Bricu on January 12, 2010 at 3:12 am.
Threnn has 0 in cooking to demonstrate that she, does not, cook. However, on her Warrior alt, she is working on increasing her “bows” weapon skill to show that she is a competent archer.
Ringo Flinthammer on January 12, 2010 at 3:55 am.
Ringo’s a gunsmith, which means being an engineer. Beyond simply knowing how to break down, clean and reassemble his gun, he can build new ones, build and fit scopes and even makes his own ammunition.
It’s too important a job to leave to anyone else.
Kel on January 12, 2010 at 4:41 am.
Tadrith is a leatherworker, with a dream of someday finding himself a small place to set up a shop. We’ll see if that ever happens, since he is, by nature, a wanderer, as well as feeling claustraphobic in cities. Maybe someday that will change…
My baby rogue on Wyrmrest Accord, Kalirra, is a jewelcrafter. I think it’s mostly because of her magpie-like love of shiny objects. And it gives her hands something to do, when she’s not out stabbing things.
Arien, my paladin, is an engineer, because 1. bombs, 2. mote extractor (she actually does enjoy running around zapping clouds), and 3. bombs. Plus rocket boosters. And did I mention bombs?
Kalenedral, my Nelf warrior (and Arien’s best friend), is a really good cook. Unfortunately, she doesn’t actually -like- to cook. So any time she actually offers to make supper? It’s most likely a bribe.
Duugvilder on January 12, 2010 at 3:19 pm.
As I’ve been playing the game for a ridiculously short time, as compared to so many of you, I’ve been on the lookout for RP openings. Obviously Duug’s timeline as far as quests go wouldn’t jive with the Wildfire Riders and their friends/family/allies, so I’ve used skills/occupations, achievements, and even his physical characteristics as my way of opening some RP doors.
I’ve already parlayed my Alchemy and TRANSMUTATION MASTERY(!!!) into Winter Veil gifts for Friends, and hopefully the World Traveler achievement provides another opening for long term RP. While First Aid, on the surface, does have possibilities, I’ve rarely used the skill past making a ton of bandages that no one seems to need (heh).
Then there’s the small matter of exalted status with the five Alliance houses…and what to do with all these pets…oh, the possibilities!
Yva on January 12, 2010 at 4:31 pm.
Pill is right about Yva: she was mocked /so badly/ for her cooking/conjured grit biscuits that she IC’ly went on a tear to level cooking and become “a better wife” to Melciah. It carried over after that. She doesn’t like being bad at something and . . . the cooking bit was basically her pride kicking her in the butt that she couldn’t do something. It’s also why she goes /so/ over the top when she bakes and makes sure everyone around her has to have some to prove she overcame her uhhh, failure.
falconesse on January 12, 2010 at 7:59 pm.
Threnn’s cooking is probably closer to 10 now, but only because she’s lit the campfire a few times. (How does that even count?) If she wasn’t a paladin, she’d be a blacksmith, specifically a swordsmith. She’s always fascinated by blades and their construction.
Annalea’s an alchemist with a side-specialty in poisons, since I think it’s fair to say the two are related. Where her sister sucks at cooking, she’s pretty darned good at it.
Davien’s a tailor. Before she went to Ambermill to study, she was apprenticed to her aunt, who owned a tailoring shop in Stormwind (come to think of it, her shop probably wasn’t all that far from where The Finest Thread is now. I wonder if Del might have been acquainted with Davien’s aunt before she died. Hrm…)
Okay, back to being in Ireland and slacking at blogification. <3!
Teuthida on January 14, 2010 at 4:28 pm.
Ovistine struggled with her tradeskills for a very long time. She wanted to be a knitter and tailor like the girls she went to school with in Stormwind, and she still does tailor, but man, she is godawful at it. (She’s got 440 skill or so, but IC she is the World’s Worst Tailor.) Her strategy is to knit or sew things anyway, and if she screws them up too badly, try to find someone they fit. (This is how Teu has ended up with so many dresses made by Ovi. The proportions and tail-holes are perfect for her.)
In the meantime, she finally admitted she loves tinkering. She learned it from her father, who builds and maintains steam tanks for the Alliance forces in Northrend these days, and she’s very very good at it and very proud of herself for it.
Agness v1.0 (Agnesdea the priest) was an excellent tailor, and even though I’ve rerolled her and she’s now a scribe, she still knits IC. The scribe thing is more a calligraphy hobby than anything else, though she’s still trying to get good at it.
Nancie has done a little bit of everything, but after years of helping Geoffar out in the mines, she ended up pretty good at prospecting and picking out a good gem from a bad one. She eventually decided to learn how to cut the things herself, though she doesn’t train as much as she ought to. (She’s 450, but I’m lazy about the daily JC quest.)
Teuthida mainly enchants because she loves to make things as sparkly as possible. An enchant from Teu is liable to glow like crazy. (The idea of Buu running around with a dozen massive SPARKLYSPARKLE!! enchants cracks me up to no end.) Teu v2.0 (Teuthidae the mage) is a transmute alchemist who has been experimenting with gems lately: sparklies plus magic = MOAR SPARKLIES!!
For Valinar and alts: Vaelen has never so much as trained cooking. He can’t so much as boil water. Valinar, on the other hand, actually left the elf lands in the first place to learn more about “gnomecraft”, and is an extremely well-respected tinker. He’s also an expert cook and very proud of his cooking. He’s been trying boutique brewing lately, but is too nervous about the quality of his brews to let Ovistine try any.