Who Are You? Part 2 - Bryn Iron Talon

Holiday schedules are playing havoc with getting the group together for session. But I still have plenty of 5th Edition characters to muse about. So I'll continue this little series until we get back on schedule. Last time I talked about my halfling rogue Milo Corvus. This time we are ready to do some damage!

Bryn Missenhein smiter of Dunderheads and hero
in training.

• Bryn "Iron Talon" - Half Elf Monk/Way of the Open Hand - Hubris and Ascension (Home-brew)
• I selected a Monk because I wanted to try a combat focused class. But not one that included a lot of magic to mess around with. 
• I went with a female character because all the characters in the game were male. I felt it would shake up some of the dynamics in the group - and it worked.
• I selected half-elf because I wanted some tension with her race (something the DM said would happen with the half races in his world).
• Bryn was another first name in the PHB. Since Bryn is very young by elvish standards, that name is considered appropriate for a child. Elves take a different name when they reach maturity.
• For her last name, I looked up the Tolkien Elvish words for missing and child and combined them. Missenhein (a warped approximation of those two) was her "family name" for a good portion of the game.
• Near the end of the adventure (the whole campaign lasted nearly two years), Bryn had become a true bad ass. She obtained a magical weapon carved from the talon of a giant bird called the Roc. From this, she took her new name Iron Talon.
• At the time we started the game, I was watching a live D&D game called Dice Camera Action. They were playing through the adventure The Curse of Strahd a series inspired by gothic horror. The DM was having fun with his eastern European accents. I liked giving Bryn a similar accent - unexpected for her character type, and fit in the concept that she was from a far away land.
• Bryn was the first D&D I had art commissioned for. Ray Cornwall did a great job with her design (using medieval Japanese influences). He's a D&D player as well (and known for his art featuring elven ladies). He seemed to be the perfect fit for this character.
• Backstory - Bryn was brought by her elf mother to a distant monastery on The Holy Mountain. Her mother died in childbirth, and she was raised by the full elf monks of the mountain. She wasn't treated well because of her mixed blood. She strove to prove herself, and was quickly gaining skills. Eventually her elders wanted her gone and manufactured a reason for her to leave. She was exiled and began traveling the world looking to help the weak.
• Typical Bryn - Everything was new to Bryn. So I had a great time with her being excited for new experiences such as seeing the ocean for the first time. But she was disturbed by the lack of discipline she saw in her companions. Bryn would often call people "dunderheads" and "dunces", about as extreme as her cursing ever got - but she was liberal with the use of dunderhead - it became her catchphrase.
• Favorite Moment - So many great moments with Bryn. It is hard to pick one. But I think she made a hell of an introduction. The party was exploring a dungeon hidden in a graveyard. Bryn arrived late, and discovered she had to jump into a grave to find the party. After commenting that "only a dunderhead jumps into an open grave", Bryn proceeded to do just that. Of course living skeletons attacked the party, and Bryn rolled like dynamite. She was kicking ass all over the place, saving the party and even managing to flip over a low wall and finish off the last skeleton. If I had tried to write a cooler introduction for the character in a television series or anime - I couldn't have. Bryn made an entrance and showed her personality and her abilities with one hell of a first session.

Bryn Iron Talon, in her final outfit and weapon for the campaign.
I love how the artist captured her more mature and deadly nature.