Die spanische Melodic-Death-Metal-Formation BLOODHUNTER kehrt mit Wucht und einer neuen Single zurück.

#Bloodhunter #melodicdeathmetal

https://www.burnyourears.de/news/54771-bloodhunter-video-the-devils-own-kuendigt-neues-album-an.html

BLOODHUNTER Release Ferocious Video For New Single “The Devil’s Own”. #bloodhunter @BLOODHUNTERBand

https://slrmagazine.com/2026/01/21/bloodhunter-release-ferocious-video-for-new-single-the-devils-own/

A larger blood hunter lad! Did a tapir this time, Think I never saw anyone make a fursona/oc with them? they're interesting creatures.

#anthro #tapir #furry #anthropomorphic #fantasy #dnd #rpg #bloodhunter #daggerheart #pathfinder #illustration #art #artwork #krita #oc #characterdesign #gaertan #bulky #larger

This is going to be Part 1 in an ongoing series as I use my current D&D character to explore the nuances of Character development on a general level, focused more on the storytelling than stats or level progression, though those things will feature in this development as those decisions server the character in tabletop roleplaying.

Character development is one of my favorite parts of roleplaying. “Storytelling” is, of course, the overall draw. But, at the heart of every great story is a solid character who takes the reader/viewer along with them on their journey. We experience stories through the eyes of the main characters.

Roleplaying gives us the opportunity to live those stories as the main characters, if only just for a little while.

This is a cornerstone of storytelling, to my way of thinking. So, I thought it would be interesting to chronicle the development of one of my active characters and really examine the choices I have and will make in shaping the story this character tells.

Lets start with the character concept.

About a year ago, my D&D group started a new campaign based on the, then newly released, Strixhaven module. The setting for Strixhaven is a magical university where spellcasters from across planes and dimensions could come together and study magic. Being that a good chunk of our group, including the DM, comes from the journal-based fandom games played on such sites as LiveJournal and Tumblr, it’s unsurprising to anyone who knows us that we reflavored the setting to be an AU version of Hogwarts and our characters AU versions of canon characters from the Harry Potter books.

My character of choice in Hogwarts games is Remus Lupin and this campaign is no different.

I’ve played Remus in more games than I can count. One of my friends and I have often talked about the appeal of playing the same characters in different games. For us, we’ve settled on the fact that it allows us to explore different aspects of the character in their responses to different situations and experiences. Playing the same character didn’t mean telling the same stories, but finding new stories through familiar eyes.

This comes about because there are a set of core traits that make a character who they are and define the foundation of a character. But, over that is a layer of development formed by the experiences a character goes through in life.

Let’s take a look at Remus. (And, take note, this is my interpretation of this character. I do not speak as the creator of the original character.)

There are a few traits that I feel define the character of Remus Lupin in all incarnations:

• Lycanthropy (obviously)
• Kindness
• Bookishness
• Mischief
• Protective of his friends and loved ones
• Experience with the Dark Arts

Beyond these traits, it becomes open to further interpretation based on experience. For example, I personally hold the headcanon that a younger, angrier Remus Lupin had more of a backbone than the broken, downtrodden man we see in Book Three after years spent alone in hardship due to societal reaction to his condition. But, as the years weighed heavily on him, his need to avoid confrontation outweighed any desire of defending himself. It’s only when Harry, Sirius, and Tonks are put in danger, when the entire wizarding world is on the existential brink, that he finds that Gryffindor courage that had first led him to join the Order of the Phoenix during the first war.

So, how to translate this concept to D&D terms in a D&D world?

The first question, of course, is the lycanthropy. Being bitten at such a young age and living his whole life as a werewolf was a defining experience in young Remus’ life. The rules for lycanthropy in D&D are notoriously lacking in opportunity for character development as written. So, after some research, I decided to use the Blood-Hunter class by Matt Mercer, opting for Order of the Lycan as his subclass. Blood-Hunters are not well thought of in the world of Exandria, where they originate, and tend to keep their identities secret, which gives some of the flavor of the werewolf stigma. To bring this more into his history, I also chose to make him a Shifter. Shifters are a race with more bestial traits that do not feature in the world of Exandria prominently. So, it was easy to make them a very small minority group that was distrusted by the local majorities as a result of their more “animal” traits.

There is also lore connected to the Shifters that they choose a name to be known to the world as when they reach adulthood. This allowed me to dub him “Moonfang” in a nod to his nickname from the other Marauders, “Moony”.

To tie him to the Dark Arts, I chose to multi-class him into a Shadow Sorcerer. Multi-classing worked because we were starting our campaign at level 4. So, I was able to take levels in both classes from the start. Choosing the Shadow Magic origin for him gave him that dark Shadowfell influence on his magic. Combined with the Blood-Hunter’s hemocraft, the more necromantic leaning of the Shadow Sorcerer picks up that flavor of darkness turned to a positive purpose, much as Remus turned his knowledge of the Dark Arts toward the defense against them.

Kindness, bookishness, mischief, and protectiveness are personality traits more easily depicted in gameplay than through stats. But, I did take them into account when choosing details such as spells, blood curses, and skill proficiencies.

I themed his spell choices around fire, shadow, and blood. There are a good number of protection spells, utility spells, and attack spells. But, while picking his attack spells, I picked once that did straightforward damage without being vindictive about it. Fire Bolt, Chromatic Orb, in later levels Flame Sword and Shadow Blade. When choosing his Blood Curse, I picked Blood Curse of Binding, which was more about stopping someone than hurting them. Mage Hand is one of his most utilized spells for it’s pure versatility. He uses it for everything from opening a door from a distance to avoid traps (learned from living in a dorm room with the Weasley Twins) to retrieving his dagger in the middle of combat when he’s thrown it at an enemy.

Mage Hand is also a nod to a moment from an early version of Remus I once wrote in a game where Moody had taught him how to make fists and hands of air and he turned the spell toward mischief.

Finally, for his skill proficiencies I selected things such as Arcana and History to represent his love of learning, perception and insight to augment his kind heart, also stealth and survival to reflect his hard life. A fun quirk I have often written into Remus’s character is a hobby of whittling wood, something he could have learned with relatively small pieces and inexpensive tools. So, I also he has also been given a proficiency in woodcarver’s tools after some downtime practice in game.

In the next installment, I’ll talk a bit about crafting a backstory that both honors his story in canon and simultaneously grounds him into the D&D setting.

https://esoteric-renaissance.com/2023/10/11/a-study-in-character-development-character-concepts/

#bloodHunter #characterCreation #dD #orderOfTheLycans #remusLupin #seriesStudyInCharacterDevelopment #shadowSorcerer #strixhaven #strixwarts #ttrpg