Grommar Stoneclad, my first ever D&D Character

I was brought into the game of D&D by a trio of my close friends who spoke about the possibility of running a session simply to have fun and have a cool experience with the game. Out of the four of us, two of my friends were already very experienced with D&D and were part of two different groups, whereas me and my best friend had never played but were intrigued by the stories that we heard from our other two friends. We were in a call on Discord at one point and we all spoke about the possibility of having a session for the four of us. 

We eventually agreed to have a session through a call on Discord once our characters were made and an idea was conjured for the game. The setting was based in the world of Tal’Dorei after the events of the Chroma Conclave, so I had a lot of options when creating my ideal character. And this is how I created my first D&D character: Grommar Stoneclad, otherwise known as Grommar the Mountain.

Grommar was a Goliath Paladin who was born near Westruun, in the Gatshadow Mountain, where he lived with his Goliath tribe known as the Stoneclad, hence his surname. For most of his young life he lived with his tribe until the invasion of Umbrasyl, a terrifying Black Dragon that had attacked the city of Westruun before making its new home within the Gatshadow Mountain. The Stoneclad Tribe fought the dragon in an attempt to protect their home but proved no match for Umbrasyl and were forced to abandon their home and escape from the dragon’s wrath. 

After making their way to the Bramblewood to recover, the Stoneclad Tribe were attacked again by a group of Hill Giants who saw an opportunity to loot the weary Goliath tribe. The Stoneclad Tribe, Grommar included, would not be caught off guard and attempted to fight off the Hill Giants. Only being a teenager, Grommar was not as strong as his brethren and was swiftly knocked unconscious during the battle. When he awoke, Grommar only saw the bodies of his fellow tribe, his father being among the dead with a pile of dead Hill Giants lying before his broken corpse. Grommar soon buried his father and the other members of the Stoneclad Tribe with a heavy heart and an angered soul, yearning for vengeance for his Goliath brethren. Once Grommar paid his last respects to his tribe he left the Bramblewood to find a way to avenge them.

This later led Grommar to become a soldier among the ranks of Emon’s military as he served the city during the fight against the rule of Thordak the Cinder King, an ancient Red Dragon who had seized Emon for his own. After the fall of Thordak, Grommar served for a few years as a sergeant in Emon before leaving again to seek a way to avenge his family still. As Grommar travelled the continent of Tal’Dorei he soon found an audience with Tyr, the God Justice, who offered to aid him in his quest for vengeance in return for servitude as an Enforcer to Tyr. Grommar accepted his offer and became a Paladin of Vengeance, travelling Tal’Dorei under Tyr’s guidance to areas that required the need for justice and vengeance. 

When our session began Grommar began to work for the people of Whitestone, who were needing a group of adventurers to investigate a minor issue that concerned possible poachers within the area. It was during this task that Grommar met his new allies: a Half Elf Rogue known as Artemis and a Tiefling Sorceror known as Vassago. After meeting his new companions they ventured onward to deal with the concerns of Whitestone, which turned out to be a group of Ravagers being led by a large Orc Captain who had magical markings carved into its head. They were held up in a small cave outside of the city and appeared to be carrying large crates into a secretive area of the cave. The battle between the Ravagers and the Adventurers was swift but brutal as Grommar clashed with the large Orc brute in single combat whilst Artemis and Vassago dealt with the Ravagers.

Artemis crept into the shadows two snipe two of the Ravagers in quick succession with his bow whilst Vassago cast Fireball in the small cave, killing a large portion of the Ravagers without realising the damage he had done to his new allies. Grommar dealt blow after blow to the Orc Captain but it proved to be a resilient opponent as it proceeded to slash at Grommar with hateful intent. Vassago was now being flanked by the two remaining Ravagers that were out of his initial Fireball range. After suffering a few blows from the Ravagers, Vassago was nearing death whilst Grommar was trying to withstand the vicious onslaught of the Orc Captain. 

Grommar saw Vassago struggling to fend off the Ravagers and granted a brief shield to help him withstand the next attack from the Ravagers and Artemis managed to take out one of them before it could attack the Tiefling Sorceror. Vassago barely managed to kill the last Ravager before it could deal the final blow to him, and Grommar finally bested his green-skinned opponent after a series of devastating blows from both the Goliath Paladin and the Orc Captain. As the Orc Captain lied broken and bloody before Grommar, he and the rest of his group decided to rest and recover before they returned to Whitestone to report their news. 

From that moment onwards Grommar, Artemis and Vassago went on several adventures and escapades that resulted in action, laughter, stupidity and overall enjoyment for the game. Ever since this first experience with D&D I have come to love the game and have since became a DM because of the first session I got to partake in. Grommar Stoneclad has since become one of my most iconic characters due to his dedication to justice, his honorable role as a soldier and his not-so smart decisions made by his player (I never made a lot of smart decisions with Grommar, but those are stories for another day). 

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