My favorite weapon in Castlevania Aria of Sorrow was always the Sword in the Stone for that exact reason
Soma, the darklord to be, may not be able to pull the sword out, but he can still beat demons to death with the stone
I don't think mine was
His main quest was revenge against his own father
He did a lot of good things and save a lot of people, but he was a liar and did all of that to hide his identity
Partially
He had still honor and was ready to die to fulfill his duty or to protect his party
And at this point there's a very blurry line where his old self was ending and new self started
But he was set on his goal and I don't know if what he would do after taking his revenge
Doesn't matter if it's magic or not because the people who care for such things default to taking an interest in magic (i.e. rejecting his intrinsic nature) to begin with.
No, he was a burnout who murdered a woman in a coldblooded rage over a tragedy out of her control. Also a wizard, which I'm sure is a nonstarter for a weapon as righteous as Excalibur.
My last character was a golem construct that gained sentience from a magical experiment that went awry. After escaping his creators he took refuge at a local church and learned about the world from the priest staying there. The two became a inseparable power-combo that broke up a child-trafficking ring, saved an entire town from an evil enchantress, safely escorted a caravan to establish a new town, defeated an ogre warlord threatening said caravan, and thwarted three beastman army attacks. Instead of seeking out his creators for revenge or to learn the mysteries of his origin, my golem learned about philosophy from his cleric friend and took up painting as a hobby. I think the party would unanimously agree that he would be 200% worthy of Excalibur.
My current character is a feral kobold who's an evil little bastard that causes problems on purpose. I think he might explode if he touched Excalibur.
a big part of golem myths is how they rebel against the rabbi's controlling them. garden gnome's occasionally exclaim "I've created a Golem" when something or someone they influenced goes against them.
a big part of golem myths is how they rebel against the rabbi's controlling them. garden gnome's occasionally exclaim "I've created a Golem" when something or someone they influenced goes against them.
Originally, Excalibur is Caliburn "French-ified". Caliburn itself seems to be a latinized Welsh word Caledfwlch which might be an archaic word for "sword" (calder, hard - fwlch, cleft/breach). Originally it just a really good sword and was not magic in nature.
Caledfwlch does mean 'hard cleft' and its interesting to note there is an Irish legendary sword also called 'hard cleft' in the ulster cycle
some celtic scholars believe the two swords are linked, ie they are the same, or the legendary swords descend from an earlier insular celtic or pan celtic myth
although perhaps the two swords just ended up with the same name
DMing atm so I'll use my lads' chars >Disposessed monk turned whore peddler >Poacher >Poacher AND a drunkard >Spaniard
Fuck no, though I am considering featuring an Arthurian character in a future session, dunno to make him a villan or a quest/macguffin
I have no idea. He's a Van Helsing-ish vampire hunter who's definitely a good guy, but he's been running with some pretty questionable people for a while now, and it may have tarnished his morality somewhat. Might depend on just how the sword judges worthiness.
He was am edgy human-passing devilspawn descendant that leveraged his bloodline into joining the soul trade for power and fiendish pussy. Told himself he was good (he was not) and only hunted acceptable targets (he did not), getting away with it mostly because he made a few big-profile success against demon worshipers, playing up the lesser-evil fighting the greater-evil and things like 'we all live here so of course I will fight to defend it' when confronted. All while maintaining a polite businessman air and acting as the groups healer and support while they always failed to question how he seemed to rotate through hanger-on's and cohorts with a constantly new flavor of the week.
>Raised by psychos who opened portals to the abyss in major metropolitan areas for fun >Grew up sort of understanding that demons are too retarded to be friends with after the 17th time they ripped him apart after escaping the magic circle(parents were very bad at containment magic) >Got really really into the setting's lovecrafty abominations instead, made a few deals he shouldn't have >After encountering traces of the last contractors and assisting in a war against demons, started having second thoughts about being evil >Started researching how to break contracts and become his own person again >Successfully did so, though it did mean leaving the party for a while(I had to leave the group because I was doing tabletop shit 6 nights a week and it was taking a toll on me) >If I ever return he will return as a redeemed abjurer who casts out all things of the dark attempting to invade his home plane
No joke, my character would be a great hero
My character is more likely to magically enchant whoever draws that sword, bed him, bear him a son, raise that son to hate him, and ensure that his own son is his ultimate downfall.
Morgan le Fay. I'm saying my character is Morgan le Fay.
Anyone got animal companion stories? >5e game >We were sort of fighting a weakened lich, we were supposed to run away but someone activated one of his contingencies and he teleported to the other side of the continent >During the fight he stomped on our rogue's pet rat, killing him >I was a level 5 cleric and I had just learned Revivify, but I didn't have a diamond >Mug the NPC wizard for the pearl she was using to identify everything for the party >Set the rat corpse in a circle of candles and attempt to cast revivify with the pearl >DM made me roll a d100 >The rat was resurrected >Rogue swore to repay me someday
My character ended up getting Disintegrated by the lich and the rat later got caught in a trap and teleported to the Abyss. We hoped when we went to the Abyss to go bully the lich's master we'd find a doom slayer viet cong rat still loyal to its master, but the DM had to drop the group because of a change in work schedule so he ended up giving us a McGuffin to jump 7 levels and go invade his castle for a final boss fight. We won.
He most likely isn't. Too self-driven and duty-bound as a retainer to ensure that he doesn't lose what he has yet again. He'd fight the world for that one person, and doesn't aim much higher than to grow stronger for her sake.
That, and he wears a demonhair shirt.
I believe I would be worthy, yes. However, I would not accept the sword from the stone in any case. I have my own blade, and with it, I shall die, serving right and justice one last time, seeking one last heart of evil, stilling one last life of pain.
>Group 1, game 1: Pathfinder, Human Warpriest boy
He is the most likely out of the group to be, though he's LN trying to be LG instead of LG, so he might not quite measure up
>Group 1, game 2: Pathfinder, Elven Investigator girl/poison collector
Hah, no
She'll probably push the party paladin/eyecandy towards it though
>Group 2, game 1: Stars without number, Telekinetic catboy hacker
Again, hah, no, but he'll steal it stone and all and use it to whack people with cause it's hilarious
>Group 2, game 2: Lamentations of the Flame princess, 'kistune' (read Halfling) boy
He'd give it a tug or two before shrugging and leaving it be
>Group 2, game 3: Godbound, God of Knowledge, Wealth, and Artifice
I don't actually think so? He's motivated by making sure the Republic is well run and it's infrastructure is up to date, but I think he might have enough flaws to not be able to pull it out
That said, he could also probably steal it rock and all and would likely try and figure out how the enchantment on it works
2, game 4: OSE Stylish hack, Dwarf (read: Goblin wearing a robe and hat that conceals everything) elementist
Probably not, no, he's meek and well meaning, but he has a prideful and judgmental streak when it comes to his cooking skills and is prone to hesitating in the face of temptation
hell no my last character was a setite on humanity 4 and i think you need either humanity or road of chivalry 8+ to even try to drink from the holy grail in vtm
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
My most recent character is most certainly unworthy - he failed to protect his wife, he failed to raise his children right due to unresolved grief, he failed to stay and help his friends and instead dove into the Abyss to murder his way to the whore spider god that sent yochlols after his wife, he failed to recover her soul, failed to break free from the cycle of hatred, failed to save his brother, failed to save his best friend, and failed to stand up to evil at the most critical time. His rage is legendary, and because he doesn’t really know how to handle evil his reaction is fury. He carries the taint of evil in his bloodline and his only hope now is to stay alive as long as possible to deny his adversary the power he has, and to die doing something right for once.
Can anyone in this thread even agree why Arthur was worthy when the likes of Percival, Bors and Galahad exist? If you think you can predict whether the sword would choose your character, then you don't understand the sword.
The sword in the stone is supposed to test a person's character and only respond to someone who is "worthy" to rule the kingdom. In the original story noone knows what being "worthy" actually means and so they assume you just need to be strong enough to yank it out of the boulder, which is why you always see a line of 100 gigachads trying and failing only for the physically weak Arthur to baffle everyone by drawing the sword with no effort.
So the question is if strength isn't relevant in determining the right to rule, what is? The values upheld most by Arthur and his knights are courage and righteousness, so you could use that as your answer, but this raises further questions. Can there only be one worthy ruler of the kingdom, or does the sword respond to the first person to meet its requirements? If you answer the former then how can Arthur be the most righteous of them all when Percival, Bors and Galahad have each achieved the holy grail? Some accounts even go as far as to depict Arthur as a controlling husband while exalting Lancelot as a more honorable suitor to Gwynevere.
It doesn't help that pretty much every Arthurian legend after the original Welsh poetry is a fanfic, including mass Christianization and the Arthur-Lancelot love triangle which differs depending on whether the writer is Team Edward or Jacob.
But even if you set aside all of that and take the sword in the stone in a vaccuum, humans are too complicated to be judged by each other. Noone can truly know if they're brave enough, righteous enough or whether they fit some unseen third quality until they actually grasp the hilt and give it a tug. The best way to run a test of character like that in an RPG would either be to roll percentile dice for any character that might reasonably fit the bill and then retroactively consider them worthy on a 00, or design a quest that will deconstruct a character so that the finer points of their morality and conviction are brought to the forefront.
TL;DR if this thread's OP instead asked "Why was Arthur the rightful King?" then 90% of the replies would be back and forth arguing, and that's honestly how it should be
I'll be honest. I made the thread mostly because I love hearing people talk about their characters history, motivation, characterization more than raw stats. By asking, I get to hear about the characters, but also the thoughts from anons about what makes someone worthy and if they feel their character fits the bill.
Honestly I've only ever had one character that might be able to apply. A Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut. But even if he met the alignment requirement, he still had his arrogance and was always too willing to put himself in danger when there were other options available. If the Sword in the stone is judging you based off of your potential qualities of a King, I don't think a king that's willing to put himself in danger when it's not needed is a good one. Elsewise you get a character like Cailan from DA:O who's more glory seeker than a good ruler.
Fuck, autism strikes again. In my defence I find it more interesting to not "know" my characters well enough to confidently decide whether a God or magical higher power would find them worthy. Here's all my current dudes tho
>Drow Paladin of Moradin
Spared by the dwarves who killed her family at a young age, taken into their temple and indoctrinated into their culture and religion. Has a burning hatred for her own race but is resovled to never kill an enemy before giving them the chance for redemption as she was once given. Was recently brought back from the dead by DM fiat following a particularly nasty chain of events in which I rolled a 20 in stealth and then dropped to -100% HP before even getting to roll initiative, all due to lucky orc rolls. He fluffed the revival as Moradin personally sending me back to lead my temple's crusade into the underdark, which basically forbids me from abandoning my oath on pain of death even if I wanted to. I'd say she has bravery and righteousness in spades (with a helping of naivete) but posseses zero leadership material and would make a shit queen
>Human Not-Viking Bard
A fisherman who accidentally strayed too far from his village and was captured as a slave by a great hero (in the viking sense of the word). Managed to scuttle the ship and wash up on dry land, but it turns out the people here were depending on this hero to save them from a tyrannical ice goddess. For the sake of not getting lynched I've been pretending to be his last surviving crewmember as I try to raise enough money to buy a boat and go the fuck home. Generally a good guy but would rather flee with his life than defend the innocent, though this is slowly changing as he grows closer to the other PCs and the region itself. Maybe he has the potential to be worthy of Excalibur or maybe he's destined to be the nobody he always has been.
2 weeks ago
Anonymous
>Gnome Druid
Trained under her adoptive human father after an invasive crocodile species fucked up her village. He went missing while pursuing a dragon-worshiping cult to the far north and now she's doing the same in the hope of finding him. Her defining character trait is that she's a massive fucking coward because her existensial belief system revolves around the natural heirarchy of predators and prey, and she views gnomes like her as low on that spectrum. Therefore she relies solely on traps and guerilla tactics to survive combat as I try to roleplay using her fear as her greatest weapon. Fortunately for the other PCs, we've never been placed in a situation where I have to choose between fighting an unwinnable battle or leaving my friends to die. I genuinely don't know which option she'd choose. Also she's been slowly overcoming her racial disdain of kobolds thanks to being bros with the kobold monk DMPC. All in all I'd say she's completely the wrong type of character to wield Excalibur but would make a fun Morgan le Fay expy if the setting was more Arthurian
There are a couple others but those games have only been played for a couple sessions each and are firmly on the backburner while these three are still ongoing
The way I always saw it is that your character would have to be Lawful Good to start with, along with other qualities. I don't think even in the loosest interpretation
>PF1e Neutral Death Witch
Nah. Not only does he have no confidence in himself he's not even the right alignment.
could be considered worthy. So while we could probably argue on what qualities would be required, I think we can all still agree what qualities wouldn't be accepted.
>If you think you can predict whether the sword would choose your character, then you don't understand the sword.
I understand that my character doesn't need to understand the sword to be worthy.
>minotaur fighter
Is a literal actual monster only nominally tamed by halfling pussy and an unexplained burning hatred of demons. Could be worthy, if the powers that be have a sense of humor. >capeshit game starchild
Has too low of an opinion of herself from being the runt of the eldritch litter and getting bullied for calling the God-Machine mom in class. Can probably just toss the rock around though. >evangelion pilot
Has gone in too many Terry Davis schizophrenic rants to be worthy, would likely try to destroy the sword in the first place. Is also like 30 kilograms soaking wet so she can't even physically pick it up.
At the start of the campaign, hell no.
But after getting converted to worshiping a noble deity by the barbarian and offering to sacrifice himself just to give his party members a chance to flee, even though they were all strangers up until some time ago, so that they'd have a chance to save all the people trapped in hell and the kingdom, I think yeah, actually.
Yes. Literally free from sin and chosen by god. Unfortunate that this is because he’s something like the 15th version of himself and every time he gets tempted to sin, his material form is destroyed and replaced with a newer version.
among current PCs, >Lovecraft's Catgirl
No, or absolutely no, depending on her mood. She will loudly cry until the party's actual knight gets it for her. >Frontier Doctor
No. No real kingly traits, probably a cursed bloodline, generally just a decent fellow. Wouldn't bother to try. >Angry Autist Demigod
He just picks up the sword with the rock still attached and is too fucking arrogant to see the problem. He's strong enough to swing it that way. >Brain Droid
No, he's on a quest to prove all the clanker-haters right.
among previous PCs, three jump out to me: >extremely esoteric elfoid
Already a rightful queen, and therefore the sword should answer to her. Should it not, she will not weave it into her great enchantment. >techno-barbarian space knight
Has honor, righteousness, strength, and a people he needs to protect. He's the only one who's actually likely to get the sword on his own merits. >The Phoenix Bitch
Takes the stone to the party barbarian, since she's been judged worthy by other weapons of legend. If that doesn't work, uses it to attract tourists for tax revenue.
's Catgirl >No, or absolutely no, depending on her mood. She will loudly cry until the party's actual knight gets it for her.
Mildly amusing both our PCs would have roughly the same solution to not being able to pull it out
>among previous PCs, three jump out to me:
Made me realize most of my previous PCs would have a relatively bland reaction to being unable to pull the sword out, except the tiny /size/ witch and the mummy kobold, they'd both likely burn on contact with it
My main character is a remorseless murderer and a scheming traitor, my other is !not Voldo from Soul Calibur, which probably means no for both.
In Descend into Avernus my char was worthy though, and she got a cool idealised look out of it.
just wait till arthur get's marmyadose he then loans excalibur to whoever is currently leading his army with him (mostly gawain, but hey asking costs nothing)
Such a sword surely does not hold a psi-convector and probably doesn't even have a monomolecular edge. My character would not be interested in this sword
he does not want to rule a kingdom or even be the captain of the ship he's captaining. in his eyes the crew and the other PCs are just along for the ride
the greater good's just incidental. he wants to fucking kill That Dude. he NEEDS to kill That Dude so he can die. everything else is just a stepping stone
perhaps if it had not been for That Dude he would have become a great person and leader of men and an individual the sword would see worthy but alas
the character I played two campaigns ago was worthy though. good ol' markus.
No. The last time he had power he abused the fuck out of it, which is why he's a penitent knight to begin with instead of being one of his lord's retainers. Even if he did try and somehow felt it giving way he might very well pretend he'd failed.
She's a Saber whose wish was corrupted by the Grail and was instead some random peasant girl who lead the actual King Arthur to the stone. She tugged on it to demonstrate that no one was able to pull it out of the rock.
It came loose.
After much wailing and prayers to God, King Arthur had her try again, and she couldn't do it. He tried it, and he was able to yank it out. He promptly made her a Lady and gave her family some land as a reward in exchange for not telling anyone what happened.
Fine by her, since she's a screaming coward who probably gets given mana on a daily basis
He killed some highborn teenagers that were cultists worshipping a dark god in the manor he had been guarding his entire career. That'd be fine and all but he did not need to curbstomp continue hacking at their lifeless bodies, or stab the one that was trying to surrender, for justice to be delivered. He did that because he already severely maimed them, in for a penny in for a pound and someone had to find joy or relief in the event, so may as well.
His ass is NOT worthy.
Why can't I just break the rock?
You can, but the pebbles would be magnetized to the rock
>>
It's easier to pull a sword out of pebbles than a solid rock.
Not when they're magnetically attached
The pebbles are magnetized to the rock, not the sword.
The pebbles ARE the rock, silly, and the sword is magically stuck in the rock even if that rock is now a bunch of pebbles
could I in theory swing the sword fast enough for the pebbles to shoot out like a shotgun but then come back to the sword?
I have you one better
My favorite weapon in Castlevania Aria of Sorrow was always the Sword in the Stone for that exact reason
Soma, the darklord to be, may not be able to pull the sword out, but he can still beat demons to death with the stone
Bonk.
Fun fact, the Sword in the Stone is classified as "Hammer" damage type, not blade
I don't think mine was
His main quest was revenge against his own father
He did a lot of good things and save a lot of people, but he was a liar and did all of that to hide his identity
Did all the good to hide his identity? Or all the lying?
Partially
He had still honor and was ready to die to fulfill his duty or to protect his party
And at this point there's a very blurry line where his old self was ending and new self started
But he was set on his goal and I don't know if what he would do after taking his revenge
My last character was a superior Wizard caster master race and didn't need martialfag trash.
May I see your character sheet?
>The sword stores 10 spells.
What now dress enthousiast?
That's not a sword, that's a staff with an illusion on it to make it look like a sword.
Is that why she looks like she belongs on Gaia Online?
And I'm sure you love to "transmute" your body with drugs and estrogen too!
Neither of those things sounds like magic. They sound like your personal fetishes.
Doesn't matter if it's magic or not because the people who care for such things default to taking an interest in magic (i.e. rejecting his intrinsic nature) to begin with.
>Dies cause the barbarian farted in their direction
Bet ya wish ya didn't dump con, huh?
No. He fought by Arthur's side and admired him, but he's probably too arrogant and fickle to be worthy.
Also too much of an idiot, if we're honest, depending on whether the sword checks for competence.
I have seen Monty Python's Holy Grail. It does not.
Worthy of what? Being cucked by a gay Frenchman?
>depending on whether the sword checks for competence.
Seeing as it chose a cuckold (one with a vagina if you ask half this board), it doesn't.
Was Alexander worthy of solving the Gorgian knot?
Oof. Only because today is Monday. My Paladin is worthy. He's also a hyperextended Stupid Sexy Obi-Wan joke.
My last character was a breakdancer from Koreatown NYC named Benny.
Benny cares not for swords and ancient lineage.
All Benny needed was a sick beat and 9 square feet of cardboard
Considering she’s currently locked in a dungeon, probably not.
She’d probably just make her own, though.
No, he was a burnout who murdered a woman in a coldblooded rage over a tragedy out of her control. Also a wizard, which I'm sure is a nonstarter for a weapon as righteous as Excalibur.
Fuck you I'm the King of England.
>Broken tales version of this is just merlin made a sword that couldnt be pulled out to waste adventurers time.
Kek
My last character was a golem construct that gained sentience from a magical experiment that went awry. After escaping his creators he took refuge at a local church and learned about the world from the priest staying there. The two became a inseparable power-combo that broke up a child-trafficking ring, saved an entire town from an evil enchantress, safely escorted a caravan to establish a new town, defeated an ogre warlord threatening said caravan, and thwarted three beastman army attacks. Instead of seeking out his creators for revenge or to learn the mysteries of his origin, my golem learned about philosophy from his cleric friend and took up painting as a hobby. I think the party would unanimously agree that he would be 200% worthy of Excalibur.
My current character is a feral kobold who's an evil little bastard that causes problems on purpose. I think he might explode if he touched Excalibur.
>My character was a golem (gnomish monster)
>worthy of excalibur
lmfao
a big part of golem myths is how they rebel against the rabbi's controlling them. garden gnome's occasionally exclaim "I've created a Golem" when something or someone they influenced goes against them.
read
and then go read a book
Originally, Excalibur is Caliburn "French-ified". Caliburn itself seems to be a latinized Welsh word Caledfwlch which might be an archaic word for "sword" (calder, hard - fwlch, cleft/breach). Originally it just a really good sword and was not magic in nature.
>Implying it wasn't magic.
Caledfwlch the name existed the same time as Arthur having a magic dagger than never failed to land a strike when thrown an unbreakable spear.
if anything the French versions outright ommit the fact Arthur had a Magical Arsenal that would make Cu Chulan Blush.
Caledfwlch does mean 'hard cleft' and its interesting to note there is an Irish legendary sword also called 'hard cleft' in the ulster cycle
some celtic scholars believe the two swords are linked, ie they are the same, or the legendary swords descend from an earlier insular celtic or pan celtic myth
although perhaps the two swords just ended up with the same name
DMing atm so I'll use my lads' chars
>Disposessed monk turned whore peddler
>Poacher
>Poacher AND a drunkard
>Spaniard
Fuck no, though I am considering featuring an Arthurian character in a future session, dunno to make him a villan or a quest/macguffin
I have no idea. He's a Van Helsing-ish vampire hunter who's definitely a good guy, but he's been running with some pretty questionable people for a while now, and it may have tarnished his morality somewhat. Might depend on just how the sword judges worthiness.
No.
No, I almost exclusively play bastards.
>Play shitty people unashamed
>Pic related
Great taste
Ah hell nah
He was am edgy human-passing devilspawn descendant that leveraged his bloodline into joining the soul trade for power and fiendish pussy. Told himself he was good (he was not) and only hunted acceptable targets (he did not), getting away with it mostly because he made a few big-profile success against demon worshipers, playing up the lesser-evil fighting the greater-evil and things like 'we all live here so of course I will fight to defend it' when confronted. All while maintaining a polite businessman air and acting as the groups healer and support while they always failed to question how he seemed to rotate through hanger-on's and cohorts with a constantly new flavor of the week.
>Raised by psychos who opened portals to the abyss in major metropolitan areas for fun
>Grew up sort of understanding that demons are too retarded to be friends with after the 17th time they ripped him apart after escaping the magic circle(parents were very bad at containment magic)
>Got really really into the setting's lovecrafty abominations instead, made a few deals he shouldn't have
>After encountering traces of the last contractors and assisting in a war against demons, started having second thoughts about being evil
>Started researching how to break contracts and become his own person again
>Successfully did so, though it did mean leaving the party for a while(I had to leave the group because I was doing tabletop shit 6 nights a week and it was taking a toll on me)
>If I ever return he will return as a redeemed abjurer who casts out all things of the dark attempting to invade his home plane
No joke, my character would be a great hero
My character is more likely to magically enchant whoever draws that sword, bed him, bear him a son, raise that son to hate him, and ensure that his own son is his ultimate downfall.
Morgan le Fay. I'm saying my character is Morgan le Fay.
No, but his animal companion is.
Anyone got animal companion stories?
>5e game
>We were sort of fighting a weakened lich, we were supposed to run away but someone activated one of his contingencies and he teleported to the other side of the continent
>During the fight he stomped on our rogue's pet rat, killing him
>I was a level 5 cleric and I had just learned Revivify, but I didn't have a diamond
>Mug the NPC wizard for the pearl she was using to identify everything for the party
>Set the rat corpse in a circle of candles and attempt to cast revivify with the pearl
>DM made me roll a d100
>The rat was resurrected
>Rogue swore to repay me someday
My character ended up getting Disintegrated by the lich and the rat later got caught in a trap and teleported to the Abyss. We hoped when we went to the Abyss to go bully the lich's master we'd find a doom slayer viet cong rat still loyal to its master, but the DM had to drop the group because of a change in work schedule so he ended up giving us a McGuffin to jump 7 levels and go invade his castle for a final boss fight. We won.
He most likely isn't. Too self-driven and duty-bound as a retainer to ensure that he doesn't lose what he has yet again. He'd fight the world for that one person, and doesn't aim much higher than to grow stronger for her sake.
That, and he wears a demonhair shirt.
I believe I would be worthy, yes. However, I would not accept the sword from the stone in any case. I have my own blade, and with it, I shall die, serving right and justice one last time, seeking one last heart of evil, stilling one last life of pain.
>33rdpbp
Just pull the stone out of the ground and use it as a mace.
>the virgin straight sword user
>the chad kirkhammer enthusiast
The last no. The one before that? Sure, he literally sacrificed his own life to save the party from certain death.
>Group 1, game 1: Pathfinder, Human Warpriest boy
He is the most likely out of the group to be, though he's LN trying to be LG instead of LG, so he might not quite measure up
>Group 1, game 2: Pathfinder, Elven Investigator girl/poison collector
Hah, no
She'll probably push the party paladin/eyecandy towards it though
>Group 2, game 1: Stars without number, Telekinetic catboy hacker
Again, hah, no, but he'll steal it stone and all and use it to whack people with cause it's hilarious
>Group 2, game 2: Lamentations of the Flame princess, 'kistune' (read Halfling) boy
He'd give it a tug or two before shrugging and leaving it be
>Group 2, game 3: Godbound, God of Knowledge, Wealth, and Artifice
I don't actually think so? He's motivated by making sure the Republic is well run and it's infrastructure is up to date, but I think he might have enough flaws to not be able to pull it out
That said, he could also probably steal it rock and all and would likely try and figure out how the enchantment on it works
2, game 4: OSE Stylish hack, Dwarf (read: Goblin wearing a robe and hat that conceals everything) elementist
Probably not, no, he's meek and well meaning, but he has a prideful and judgmental streak when it comes to his cooking skills and is prone to hesitating in the face of temptation
Absolutely not. He's not a terrible guy but he would be a dogshit king and I imagine the sword would know that somehow
My last character was a televangelist robot. Does great knowledge in the teachings of Kenneth Copeland make one worthy?
hell no my last character was a setite on humanity 4 and i think you need either humanity or road of chivalry 8+ to even try to drink from the holy grail in vtm
>Black Templar Assault Marine in a DW campaign
Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be very keen..., he's already got one, you see?
At the start of the campaign? No.
By this point? Yes, but there's no point. He's king by his own hand. A conqueror, bringing order to lawless land.
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
My most recent character is most certainly unworthy - he failed to protect his wife, he failed to raise his children right due to unresolved grief, he failed to stay and help his friends and instead dove into the Abyss to murder his way to the whore spider god that sent yochlols after his wife, he failed to recover her soul, failed to break free from the cycle of hatred, failed to save his brother, failed to save his best friend, and failed to stand up to evil at the most critical time. His rage is legendary, and because he doesn’t really know how to handle evil his reaction is fury. He carries the taint of evil in his bloodline and his only hope now is to stay alive as long as possible to deny his adversary the power he has, and to die doing something right for once.
Can anyone in this thread even agree why Arthur was worthy when the likes of Percival, Bors and Galahad exist? If you think you can predict whether the sword would choose your character, then you don't understand the sword.
Now I'm curious. Care to help me understand?
The sword in the stone is supposed to test a person's character and only respond to someone who is "worthy" to rule the kingdom. In the original story noone knows what being "worthy" actually means and so they assume you just need to be strong enough to yank it out of the boulder, which is why you always see a line of 100 gigachads trying and failing only for the physically weak Arthur to baffle everyone by drawing the sword with no effort.
So the question is if strength isn't relevant in determining the right to rule, what is? The values upheld most by Arthur and his knights are courage and righteousness, so you could use that as your answer, but this raises further questions. Can there only be one worthy ruler of the kingdom, or does the sword respond to the first person to meet its requirements? If you answer the former then how can Arthur be the most righteous of them all when Percival, Bors and Galahad have each achieved the holy grail? Some accounts even go as far as to depict Arthur as a controlling husband while exalting Lancelot as a more honorable suitor to Gwynevere.
It doesn't help that pretty much every Arthurian legend after the original Welsh poetry is a fanfic, including mass Christianization and the Arthur-Lancelot love triangle which differs depending on whether the writer is Team Edward or Jacob.
But even if you set aside all of that and take the sword in the stone in a vaccuum, humans are too complicated to be judged by each other. Noone can truly know if they're brave enough, righteous enough or whether they fit some unseen third quality until they actually grasp the hilt and give it a tug. The best way to run a test of character like that in an RPG would either be to roll percentile dice for any character that might reasonably fit the bill and then retroactively consider them worthy on a 00, or design a quest that will deconstruct a character so that the finer points of their morality and conviction are brought to the forefront.
TL;DR if this thread's OP instead asked "Why was Arthur the rightful King?" then 90% of the replies would be back and forth arguing, and that's honestly how it should be
I'll be honest. I made the thread mostly because I love hearing people talk about their characters history, motivation, characterization more than raw stats. By asking, I get to hear about the characters, but also the thoughts from anons about what makes someone worthy and if they feel their character fits the bill.
Honestly I've only ever had one character that might be able to apply. A Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut. But even if he met the alignment requirement, he still had his arrogance and was always too willing to put himself in danger when there were other options available. If the Sword in the stone is judging you based off of your potential qualities of a King, I don't think a king that's willing to put himself in danger when it's not needed is a good one. Elsewise you get a character like Cailan from DA:O who's more glory seeker than a good ruler.
Fuck, autism strikes again. In my defence I find it more interesting to not "know" my characters well enough to confidently decide whether a God or magical higher power would find them worthy. Here's all my current dudes tho
>Drow Paladin of Moradin
Spared by the dwarves who killed her family at a young age, taken into their temple and indoctrinated into their culture and religion. Has a burning hatred for her own race but is resovled to never kill an enemy before giving them the chance for redemption as she was once given. Was recently brought back from the dead by DM fiat following a particularly nasty chain of events in which I rolled a 20 in stealth and then dropped to -100% HP before even getting to roll initiative, all due to lucky orc rolls. He fluffed the revival as Moradin personally sending me back to lead my temple's crusade into the underdark, which basically forbids me from abandoning my oath on pain of death even if I wanted to. I'd say she has bravery and righteousness in spades (with a helping of naivete) but posseses zero leadership material and would make a shit queen
>Human Not-Viking Bard
A fisherman who accidentally strayed too far from his village and was captured as a slave by a great hero (in the viking sense of the word). Managed to scuttle the ship and wash up on dry land, but it turns out the people here were depending on this hero to save them from a tyrannical ice goddess. For the sake of not getting lynched I've been pretending to be his last surviving crewmember as I try to raise enough money to buy a boat and go the fuck home. Generally a good guy but would rather flee with his life than defend the innocent, though this is slowly changing as he grows closer to the other PCs and the region itself. Maybe he has the potential to be worthy of Excalibur or maybe he's destined to be the nobody he always has been.
>Gnome Druid
Trained under her adoptive human father after an invasive crocodile species fucked up her village. He went missing while pursuing a dragon-worshiping cult to the far north and now she's doing the same in the hope of finding him. Her defining character trait is that she's a massive fucking coward because her existensial belief system revolves around the natural heirarchy of predators and prey, and she views gnomes like her as low on that spectrum. Therefore she relies solely on traps and guerilla tactics to survive combat as I try to roleplay using her fear as her greatest weapon. Fortunately for the other PCs, we've never been placed in a situation where I have to choose between fighting an unwinnable battle or leaving my friends to die. I genuinely don't know which option she'd choose. Also she's been slowly overcoming her racial disdain of kobolds thanks to being bros with the kobold monk DMPC. All in all I'd say she's completely the wrong type of character to wield Excalibur but would make a fun Morgan le Fay expy if the setting was more Arthurian
There are a couple others but those games have only been played for a couple sessions each and are firmly on the backburner while these three are still ongoing
The way I always saw it is that your character would have to be Lawful Good to start with, along with other qualities. I don't think even in the loosest interpretation
could be considered worthy. So while we could probably argue on what qualities would be required, I think we can all still agree what qualities wouldn't be accepted.
>If you think you can predict whether the sword would choose your character, then you don't understand the sword.
I understand that my character doesn't need to understand the sword to be worthy.
He's a humble knight. He'd not believe himself worthy.
>PF1e Neutral Death Witch
Nah. Not only does he have no confidence in himself he's not even the right alignment.
>minotaur fighter
Is a literal actual monster only nominally tamed by halfling pussy and an unexplained burning hatred of demons. Could be worthy, if the powers that be have a sense of humor.
>capeshit game starchild
Has too low of an opinion of herself from being the runt of the eldritch litter and getting bullied for calling the God-Machine mom in class. Can probably just toss the rock around though.
>evangelion pilot
Has gone in too many Terry Davis schizophrenic rants to be worthy, would likely try to destroy the sword in the first place. Is also like 30 kilograms soaking wet so she can't even physically pick it up.
At the start of the campaign, hell no.
But after getting converted to worshiping a noble deity by the barbarian and offering to sacrifice himself just to give his party members a chance to flee, even though they were all strangers up until some time ago, so that they'd have a chance to save all the people trapped in hell and the kingdom, I think yeah, actually.
Yes. Literally free from sin and chosen by god. Unfortunate that this is because he’s something like the 15th version of himself and every time he gets tempted to sin, his material form is destroyed and replaced with a newer version.
right up until the kender brothel
Hell no. He's a liar, a cheat, and a thief to the core.
among current PCs,
>Lovecraft's Catgirl
No, or absolutely no, depending on her mood. She will loudly cry until the party's actual knight gets it for her.
>Frontier Doctor
No. No real kingly traits, probably a cursed bloodline, generally just a decent fellow. Wouldn't bother to try.
>Angry Autist Demigod
He just picks up the sword with the rock still attached and is too fucking arrogant to see the problem. He's strong enough to swing it that way.
>Brain Droid
No, he's on a quest to prove all the clanker-haters right.
among previous PCs, three jump out to me:
>extremely esoteric elfoid
Already a rightful queen, and therefore the sword should answer to her. Should it not, she will not weave it into her great enchantment.
>techno-barbarian space knight
Has honor, righteousness, strength, and a people he needs to protect. He's the only one who's actually likely to get the sword on his own merits.
>The Phoenix Bitch
Takes the stone to the party barbarian, since she's been judged worthy by other weapons of legend. If that doesn't work, uses it to attract tourists for tax revenue.
's Catgirl
>No, or absolutely no, depending on her mood. She will loudly cry until the party's actual knight gets it for her.
Mildly amusing both our PCs would have roughly the same solution to not being able to pull it out
>among previous PCs, three jump out to me:
Made me realize most of my previous PCs would have a relatively bland reaction to being unable to pull the sword out, except the tiny /size/ witch and the mummy kobold, they'd both likely burn on contact with it
Depends on if my DM thinks so.
My main character is a remorseless murderer and a scheming traitor, my other is !not Voldo from Soul Calibur, which probably means no for both.
In Descend into Avernus my char was worthy though, and she got a cool idealised look out of it.
just wait till arthur get's marmyadose he then loans excalibur to whoever is currently leading his army with him (mostly gawain, but hey asking costs nothing)
>but hey asking costs nothing
Morgan Le Fay is behind this.
Such a sword surely does not hold a psi-convector and probably doesn't even have a monomolecular edge. My character would not be interested in this sword
he does not want to rule a kingdom or even be the captain of the ship he's captaining. in his eyes the crew and the other PCs are just along for the ride
the greater good's just incidental. he wants to fucking kill That Dude. he NEEDS to kill That Dude so he can die. everything else is just a stepping stone
perhaps if it had not been for That Dude he would have become a great person and leader of men and an individual the sword would see worthy but alas
the character I played two campaigns ago was worthy though. good ol' markus.
Not sure, he was a paladin but he was essentially on a jihad against Tiamat.
Yes.
No. The last time he had power he abused the fuck out of it, which is why he's a penitent knight to begin with instead of being one of his lord's retainers. Even if he did try and somehow felt it giving way he might very well pretend he'd failed.
She's a Saber whose wish was corrupted by the Grail and was instead some random peasant girl who lead the actual King Arthur to the stone. She tugged on it to demonstrate that no one was able to pull it out of the rock.
It came loose.
After much wailing and prayers to God, King Arthur had her try again, and she couldn't do it. He tried it, and he was able to yank it out. He promptly made her a Lady and gave her family some land as a reward in exchange for not telling anyone what happened.
Fine by her, since she's a screaming coward who probably gets given mana on a daily basis
No. Absolutely not. Playing Stairway in a Music Shop? Unforgivable.
He killed some highborn teenagers that were cultists worshipping a dark god in the manor he had been guarding his entire career. That'd be fine and all but he did not need to curbstomp continue hacking at their lifeless bodies, or stab the one that was trying to surrender, for justice to be delivered. He did that because he already severely maimed them, in for a penny in for a pound and someone had to find joy or relief in the event, so may as well.
His ass is NOT worthy.