Tellus: Character Concepts (Ulma)

Just me throwing around some crude characters ideas (for my JRPG-inspired setting) made up of one or two sentences so my potential players can use them. It might also double as NPC ideas, who knows? Many of these are taken from the excellent blog Middle Finger of Vecna.

Ulma

The term Ulma is fancy-pretentious-alternate-name for the 'Human' of Tellus. They fill the same setting niche as human in other settings. However, it isn't impossible to introduce rare variants of Ulm which are functionally another D&D race. These individuals tend to belong to a single clan or small nation and have become changed by exposure to magic. On the whole, Ulma are an ambitious lot and capable of producing great heroes and horrific villains in equal measures. They are the least innately magical race but that has never stopped them from producing many arch mages through sheer pluck and ingenuity. Visually most Ulma exist in this weird artistic style of looking indistinctly neither Asian nor Caucasian, as is often the case with JRPG characters but there are other tribes and nations which look different. They also take many of the ideas and concepts associated with Dwarves, such as clans and giant cities carved in stone. They, likewise, are the most technologically advanced race and have begun developing devices we would associate with 'magitek' or 'steampunk'.

Arcane Spellcasters

Etrian Odyssey Harbinger, aka
a good style for a JRPG-styled Warlock.

While Ulma are the least innately magical race, this hasn't remotely stopped them in attempting to master all forms of magic and inventing quite a few more in the process. Being the most common race also help in ensuring Ulma spellcasters remain plentiful, even if truly powerful individuals remain quite rare. The vast majority of Ulm spellcasters belong to the Black Mage or White Mage class. These are examples which deviate from this norm. These tend to be Bards or Wizards, as Sorcerer are nearly completely unheard of in Ulma barring the truly rare and unusual individual.

Wizards

The arts of the Wizards have developed alongside (or aside) from the modern Black Mages. Their magic is a tad more complex and unusual as it draws upon disparate sides and energies of magic. Many of their techniques and spells have since been absorbed by the standard Black Mage class in the modern age, leaving the more unusual Wizards to be seen as strange orthodox techniques passed down through a mentor and student relationship. Other Wizards are unusual because they come from rare and bizarre cultures.

• Each of the once-core Arcane Traditions of the Player Handbook could be chosen, with the player character and heir to this decayed and half-lost tradition. Potentially this could even make their form of magic nearly unique and at the heavy risk of being lost forever.
• In fact, Universalists are quite likely to be the more common type of Wizard, even if they are more likely to be found in exotic lands.
• War Magic is a new style developed by the many military schools of the Sheradil Empire. It fully embrace the idea of magic-as-weapon. They are likely to be distrusted and any defector will be hunted down and captured as to not spill the secrets of this new tradition.
• You are a Tattoo Mage, member of an exotic culture called the Chiwel. You were heavily influenced by the colorful markings found on the body of the Dragon Clan people, both natural and unnatural. Your odd bodily markings mark you as a foreigner wherever you go.
• You are a Chaos Mage (Kobold Press Chaos Magic) of the tradition of the School of Chaos. As a native of the bizarre land of Ysmin, you live in a particularly unstable region charged with unusually high amount of random energy. You are wacky, bizarre and probably a comic relief.

Warlock

Just because innate magical affinity is rare and set a birth doesn't mean there aren't other ways of obtaining power. The Warlock is just that. In-universe, most Warlocks are generally unique due to the nature of their pact.

• In a moment of despair you forged an Fiend Pact with a powerful Fiend. This experience has likely horribly scarred you (physically or mentally) and made you really, really edgy. You probably dress in all black and red! That said, odds are you aren't evil. Just mopey. Any kind soul might even manage to help you turn your powers toward the forces of good.
• The Hexblade is a suitable alternative to a Fiendish Pact but the details remain mostly the same. Alternatively, you are a Hexblade because you have bonded with some ancient cursed weapon from the distant past. This weapon isn't so much as a physical object as some metaphysical curse.
• Japan is generally less bothered by gambling, thus a Lady Luck Warlock is well suited to the setting as some dashing rogue with unusual luck. Backstory may or may not be irrelevant.
• Your Patron is a Feline Spirit and this has left its mark on you, complete with cat ears! Yes, its stupid. I know.

Other Options

Then there are some even more oddball cases:

• The Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster and Arcane Archer (cut from its Elven association) are all example of a magically-gifted character who turn his or her skills toward wielding magic in a way which complement their fighting style. Overall 'magic knights' are fairly common in JRPG.
• An alternate Hexblade from Vecna's Middle Finger also works as does their take on the Magus. They also have a Spellthief which is a valid archetype in its own right.

Divine-Aligned Characters

Paladin from Final Fantasy
Tactics Advance.

The faiths of Tellus are deliberately vague, given that most JRPG tend to either go into too much depth (because of plot relevance) or not enough depth (because its not relevant and they just want something vaguely like a D&D Cleric around) when it come to established and fleshed out religion. The general assumption is that, in addition to the lifestream-esque Animism and the Taoist aspects of duality implied by the magic system, there are Gods but they are not an active force. Gods, at least the way I see it right now, are an abstract force and made up of archetypal beings/forces within the natural magical energies of all living things. Thus Cleric and their ilk exist but at no point will a God pop into existence to solve a plot. That said, Ulma, as the main civilization in the current era of Tellus, provide many opportunities for characters with a religious background. It can be assumed most deities worshiped by the Ulma are of the usual stuff you'd expect to be praising: Gods of healing, protection, the light and all that stuff.

Cleric

Clerics are not ordinary priests but rather people with a stronger connection to these ill-defined archetypes which exist within the magical energies of all things. In addition to White Mages, they tend to form the spell casting elite of whatever local faith exist. Some are humble and pious individuals while others are self-serving dickheads. In general, the Gods have no direct power over their Clerics. A good example of a Cleric-like player character would be Yuna from FFX. She's well meaning and self-sacrificing...despite not even realizing the darker truths of her faith. Another good example would be Agnes Oblige from Bravely Default.

• Your character is a shrine maiden, taking cues from Shinto beliefs. An inciting event is what drags your character into action, possibly against her will. This is the kind of character well suited to be 'the childhood friend' to someone else. Life or Light are suitable domain.
• You are a  Water-Keeper, a member of southern sects dedicated to the preservation of life and water. Born in the harsh desert environments of southern lands, you wield the powers of the Water domain. What was the inciting event/backstory element which made you travel from your homeland?
• An alternative/addition to the concept of the Water-Keeper is that you are an Elemental Priest, dedicated to one of the four Elements. Such power is generally associated with Black Magic but you are neither evil nor destructive: instead you harness the constructive and transformation aspects of each Element. Your magic is quite rare and poorly understood by the main civilizations of the world.

Other Divine Options

Not every Divinely-touched character is of the Cleric class. Some are even not directly empowered by divine energies so much as driven by Faith alone.

• Your character is a Sin-Eater Paladin and his class would likely be listed as a 'shinigami' in the game menus. The odds of you being a gloomy, misunderstood androgynous emo are relatively high but none can call you selfish. Your mission is to purify souls so they pass on and don't become fiends.
• Deeply driven by your faith, you fear that too many individuals abuse the sacred powers of magic and see it as nothing but a tool. Lacking any magic yourself, you have trained in the way of the Spellbreaker. Balance must be restored. Magic and faith are so much more than the tools of tyrants!
• As a Celestial Pact Warlock, your patron is a being associated with the (hopefully more positive sides of) the Light side of magic. You yourself lacked a proper connection to magic but nonetheless, faith, pluck and a desire to do good have imbued you with powers.
• As a Divine Soul Sorcerer you are an extremely rare being touched with a level of innate power very few, if any Ulma, naturally has. It is likely you bear some fancy mark, such as silver hair or something like that. Whatever the true origin of your power is, its bound to be linked to some major event. It is recommended to pick Good or Law as your Affinity.

In general, people with a connection to the Divine are rare. Even more rare than the one-in-several-hundred magically gifted individuals. Usually each major region will only see a few divinely-touched individuals per generation, of which most never have the potential to get past 1st or 2nd level in overall power. This has left the ranks of many churches and sects filled more with White Mages than proper Clerics. Some of the more exotic Divine Casters, such as Divine Souls, are believed to be tied to very specific cosmic events ill-understood by mortals or even be the reincarnation of ancient heroes and saints.

There are rare and ancient bloodlines which produce a much higher-than-average level of divinely-attuned individuals. Many of these can be traced back to ancient heroes and mighty kings. Several of these even predate the emergence of Ulma and were once Sky-Folks or members of long-lost races unknown to modern historians. Since Ulma can cross-breed with Sky Folks, these bloodlines may have some ancient and latent blessings beyond modern magical and scientific understanding. In time of great need, perhaps they act some sort of vessel to these ancient souls.

Eastern Flavor

Etrian Odyssey Ronin.

Wutai Rule: Most RPGs, no matter what their mythology, include a land based on ancient Japan. Full of pagodas, shrines, shoguns, kitsune, and sushi, this completely anachronistic place is the source of the entire world's supply of ninja and samurai characters.

-The Grand List of Console Roleplaying Game Cliches

Just about every JRPG out there, at least those from the NES to PS1 era had a tendency to feature ninjas and samurai no matter how heavily the setting was ripped straight out of Dungeons & Dragons. This, of course, make sense: these games were made in Japan. Not only that but Asian pop culture as a whole is replete with wandering swordsmen (be they heroes of Wuxia from Chinese novels or Ronin roaming Feudal Japan), spellcasters and assassins. Oh and monks who know kung fu.

• You are an exiled warrior or prince from some faraway Eastern land. Alternatively you are some morally dubious mercenary who is slightly older than the rest of the party (but still 'the old man' even if you're barely scratching forty!). Either way, you are a Samurai and most of the fanbase will think you're cool.
• Do I need to point out the entire Monk class?!