Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian

The following set of stats represent Robert E. Howard's Conan as he appears at the start of "The Tower of the Elephant."  In this story, Conan is relatively new to Zamora and to urban civilization; I've therefore rated his "Thief" career at 0.  He gets "Blacksmith" at 0 as well; this career reflects his childhood in his father's smithy back in Cimmeria.  The "Mercenary" rank of 1 stems from his mercenary service alongside the Aesir (depicted in "The Frost-Giant's Daughter").  "Barbarian" is of course a no-brainer for Conan, clocking in at the highest possible starting rank of 3.

At this point in his life, Conan is as fast as he is mighty, so I devoted the same number of points (2) to both Strength and Agility.  Melee is his highest combat ability; I thought about making Brawl equal in value, but Conan's fight with the spider convinced me that he knows how to avoid getting hit (and thus merits a Defense score of 1).  "Country Bumpkin" is an obvious fault for the young Cimmerian; "Sneaky" reflects his natural stealthiness; "Marked by the Gods," his uncanny instincts that repeatedly save him just in the nick of time.

Attributes
Strength 2
Agility 2
Mind 0
Appeal 0

Combat
Brawl 1
Melee 2
Ranged 0
Defense 1

Careers
Barbarian 3
Blacksmith 0
Mercenary 1
Thief 0

Resources
Lifeblood 12
Hero Points 6

Gear
Very light armor (d3-1 protection)
Sword (d6 damage)

Boons
Marked by the Gods ("You are the hand of Fate")
Sneaky ("He made no more noise than a panther stealing through the night")

Flaws
Country Bumpkin ("He . . . was too new to civilization to understand its discourtesies")

Comments

  1. I posted my version of young Conan on my blog and rpg.net a couple of months ago. The similarities and differences are interesting.

    Conan
    As a young thief in Zamora.

    Attributes
    Strength 2
    Agility 2
    Mind 0
    Appeal 0

    Combat
    Brawl 2
    Melee 2
    Ranged 0
    Defense 0

    Careers
    Barbarian 2
    Warrior 1
    Hunter 1
    Thief 0

    Lifeblood 14
    Hero Points 6

    Armor - Bracers 1
    Weapons - Broadsword d6

    Languages - Cimmerian, Aesir, Zamoran

    Boon
    Marked by the Gods
    Hard to Kill

    Flaw
    Distrust of Sorcery

    Hope you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to suggest that you post your characters over on the Stat the Classics thread on RPG.net. But it looks like you already put Fafhrd on it. Thanks.

    http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=431835

    ReplyDelete
  3. Narmer, I have indeed seen that RPG.net thread, and your version of Conan was indeed an influence on mine. I agonized for a long time over the decision between "Marked by the Gods" and "Hard to Kill."

    ReplyDelete

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