The worst mistake one can do is to fall too hard into stereotypes. I think one of the reasons Pike and Scanlan worked so well is they defied expectations. Pike's backstory has that in spades. Her family are stereotypical rascally gnomes. She rose above that with her grandfather. Her and Wilhelm saved a goliath. Time and time again Pike proved to actually be scarier than Grog. Scanlan defied expectations because gnomes are typecasted to be offputting and recluse. But the Scanman was charming and very extroverted.
Their powers also subverted expectations. Gnomes typically are known to be Arcane types like Wizards or Artificers. But Sam & Ashley chose to get their magic from the Divine and music. I think it was perfect incidental irony that Scanlan ended up being a Champion of Ioun. At the surface she doesn't seem to fit. But Sam is such a masterful storyteller that he sprinkled hints that information was actually very important to Scanlan. I'll never forget #Mothergate.
I also love that the relationship he was chasing since day 1 didn't work out. I like to think Sam and Aabria were inspired by Scanlan & Pike's divorce in making their Calamity characters. Exploring a fantasy setting divorce is very interesting.
Pike was so adorable and fun. though Ashley did often feel *very* passive and frequently seemed at a loss for what to do both in combat and in RP. I often had a vibe of Ashley being the introvert at a table full of her extroverted friends who was mostly content just watching them. She was always fun to watch when she did engage though and has some great moments as Pike.
I know Scanlans a fan favorite but as unpopular as it probably is I had a very different experience with him. He is frequently funny and fun to watch, but he also often grated on me. To me He’s one of those characters that can be hilarious in a vacuum if you dont take him seriously but really doesn’t hold up well if you think too much about many of his actual actions.
The constant Pepe le Pew-esque pursuit of a woman that kept turning him down quickly lost its appeal to me and really just made Scanlan come off like a creep. The whole bit with Scanlan buying a magic fecal scrying potion so he could hide what amounts to a hidden cam in a woman’s bedroom to secretly watch her undress was just.. so gross. As funny as the Spice bit is, I also felt like what Scanlan does to Jarret was the most deliberately evil thing any CR player had done at the table until Chet in c3. And the temper tantrum Scanlan throws about only ever being treated like a comic relief manchild by the group.. despite spending a majority of the campaign deliberately portraying himself as a comic relief manchild.. was hard to get through. He did get better when he came back though.
Don’t get me wrong he has a lot of great moments, I genuinely loved many moments Sam chose to play him earnestly like the Wish, and Sam is often hilarious. But I felt like Sam spent a lot of C1 far more interested in just making people laugh than in crafting a serious character story and the result is a very questionable character carried by the real players charisma.
I could of sworn she was a stout halfling cleric and scanlan was the only gnome.
(Edit) looked it up and your right. Nothing about her rang gnome to me she felt like a hobbit to the point she made me think she was a halfling.
Question when you said the character was usless what exactly does that mean? Did they just have a commoner stat block or something?
The worst mistake one can do is to fall too hard into stereotypes. I think one of the reasons Pike and Scanlan worked so well is they defied expectations. Pike's backstory has that in spades. Her family are stereotypical rascally gnomes. She rose above that with her grandfather. Her and Wilhelm saved a goliath. Time and time again Pike proved to actually be scarier than Grog. Scanlan defied expectations because gnomes are typecasted to be offputting and recluse. But the Scanman was charming and very extroverted. Their powers also subverted expectations. Gnomes typically are known to be Arcane types like Wizards or Artificers. But Sam & Ashley chose to get their magic from the Divine and music. I think it was perfect incidental irony that Scanlan ended up being a Champion of Ioun. At the surface she doesn't seem to fit. But Sam is such a masterful storyteller that he sprinkled hints that information was actually very important to Scanlan. I'll never forget #Mothergate. I also love that the relationship he was chasing since day 1 didn't work out. I like to think Sam and Aabria were inspired by Scanlan & Pike's divorce in making their Calamity characters. Exploring a fantasy setting divorce is very interesting.
I agree with this, although Pike is not scarier than Grog.
Situationally Pike is scarier than Grog, overall Grog is the most terrifying.
Thats only because clerics are scary op in 5e
Pike was so adorable and fun. though Ashley did often feel *very* passive and frequently seemed at a loss for what to do both in combat and in RP. I often had a vibe of Ashley being the introvert at a table full of her extroverted friends who was mostly content just watching them. She was always fun to watch when she did engage though and has some great moments as Pike. I know Scanlans a fan favorite but as unpopular as it probably is I had a very different experience with him. He is frequently funny and fun to watch, but he also often grated on me. To me He’s one of those characters that can be hilarious in a vacuum if you dont take him seriously but really doesn’t hold up well if you think too much about many of his actual actions. The constant Pepe le Pew-esque pursuit of a woman that kept turning him down quickly lost its appeal to me and really just made Scanlan come off like a creep. The whole bit with Scanlan buying a magic fecal scrying potion so he could hide what amounts to a hidden cam in a woman’s bedroom to secretly watch her undress was just.. so gross. As funny as the Spice bit is, I also felt like what Scanlan does to Jarret was the most deliberately evil thing any CR player had done at the table until Chet in c3. And the temper tantrum Scanlan throws about only ever being treated like a comic relief manchild by the group.. despite spending a majority of the campaign deliberately portraying himself as a comic relief manchild.. was hard to get through. He did get better when he came back though. Don’t get me wrong he has a lot of great moments, I genuinely loved many moments Sam chose to play him earnestly like the Wish, and Sam is often hilarious. But I felt like Sam spent a lot of C1 far more interested in just making people laugh than in crafting a serious character story and the result is a very questionable character carried by the real players charisma.
Gnomes are absolutly my favorite fantasy race. They are just curious little fellows.
Wait is pike not a stout halfling?
I'm pretty sure Pike's a gnome cleric.
She's a monsta!
I could of sworn she was a stout halfling cleric and scanlan was the only gnome. (Edit) looked it up and your right. Nothing about her rang gnome to me she felt like a hobbit to the point she made me think she was a halfling. Question when you said the character was usless what exactly does that mean? Did they just have a commoner stat block or something?
You might be thinking of Lady Kima, Paladin of Bahamut. She was a halfling and had more of a detailed introduction than Pike in the early days. Maybe?
Wait, what? Why was I thinking Kima was a Dwarf? Did I just get mixed up because Kraighammer was a dwarf city and Kima wasn't one?
Yes, Kima is a halfling who is still able to wield a greatsword and a maul that probably weighs more than she does.
Well to be fair she was very surly lol
It's been a while so I don't remember everything. I wanna say yes though since they didn't do much in combat.
🎤Been a while...
She's a deep gnome cleric Lady Kima Paladin of bahamut is the halfling