I have a bit to catch up on here.

I went to a local D&D meet-and-greet at a public library. There were the host and about five other guys there, with the guys all looking for a game to play. By the time it is done, one of the guys agreed to run a game for the rest of us. The big difference for me is that I have not actually played D&D in years, because I am constantly running games instead.

So no campaign building, encounter planning, NPC composing, and miniature and terrain painting. Just make one character, paint one miniature, maybe put together some player kit (dice, etc.) and I’m done. Which is very, very weird.

I decided to do something I hadn’t done before and opted for a spellcaster. I decided on a sorcerer as a compromise between the hermetic wizard with the high spell list and the limited-option blaster that is the warlock. I looked over the options and spotted an interesting possibility: the clockwork soul.

Sorcerers with the clockwork soul have a modron as an ancestor, giving them access to the law-based powers of the mechanical beings from that plane. A lot of these are associated with defense and buffing allies. Clockwork souls are less of a nuke option and more offense with a side of divine-esque powers.

Here is the backstory:

Finare Suva comes from a family that centuries ago became embroiled with a member of the Modron hierarchy.    While the details are a closely kept secret, even among the members of the Suva family, generations of Suvas were gifted with a “Clockwork Soul” which gave them access to manipulate magic, especially those related to order and balance.  In return, they would agree to perform tasks for the Modron.  The purpose of some of these were very obvious, like preventing a major catastrophe, while other tasks seem to lack any purpose whatsoever, like placing a pumpkin on a particular rock in a specific field.

What is also a mystery was why fewer and fewer people in each generation of the Suva clan were manifesting the Clockwork Soul.  The gift was once prevalent but now only appears in a rare number of people.

This is why many in the family were disappointed with the Clockwork Soul appearing in Finare.  Finare was a bookworm, a career academic who loved nothing more than to study and learn about faraway places, ancient cultures, and exotic mysteries.  He cared little for the political machinations of “Grandfather,” the name many of his relatives gave the ancient Modron who guided and empowered them.  Frustrated by his apparent lack of fealty and ambition, Finare’s family cut off supporting his endless education at universities and schools across Faerun, forcing him into the “real world.”  Undaunted, Finare used his changed fortunes to begin his own efforts at research and exploration in hopes of becoming a famed author himself (and keep himself fed and clothed).

Despite his cloistered life, Finare is a likable, outgoing, and cheerful person, if a bit pedantic at times.  His enthusiasm for learning can sometimes overcome his common sense and self-preservation, but his growing magical powers have helped him avoid serious harm.  Finare has several friends, mostly sympathetic members of his family and former professors and classmates from his academic years.  There are also a few less-than-treasured relationships, including his cousin Makaela Suva, another possessor of a Clockwork Soul who not only has embraced the family obligation, but seems to have adopted the ruthless will of a modron herself.  If a certain butterfly in the Realms may cause a hurricane elsewhere, Makaela will not only kill that butterfly, but every other in the forest just to make sure.

At the beginning of this campaign Finare has come to Neverwinter in search of knowledge, financial resources, and the chance to achieve his own destiny.