Who Are You? Part 3 - Olgar Bristlebeard

Time once again for a look at a character I've played in Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons. It is fun to try to distill each of these characters to some key elements. And it will keep them alive somewhere (even if some of them don't make it to the end of the game). It may also help you get ideas for your next character or maybe a backstory element you would like to try.

Last time we took a look at my deadly monk Bryn Iron Talon. Today we take a look at the lighter side of the game... as in a Cleric of Light.

Surrounded by undead, Olgar's sunny personality
turns deadly... see what I did there?

• Olgar Bristlebeard - Dwarf Cleric/Light Domain - Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
• In my quest to play just about every type of class and race Dungeons and Dragons has to offer, I went for a dwarf cleric. I wanted to try a bit of spell casting, and clerics are pretty versatile in that way.
• I had obtained Xanathar's Guide to Everything which included some excellent character creation questions to give your character a rich backstory. Olgar was the first character I used these on.
• I probably went overboard with the backstory, because I knew this was going to be short campaign, but it actually helped me flesh out a very fun character, even if I only got to play him for a few sessions.
• Once again Dice Camera Action played into my voice for Olgar. The DM on the show was using a pompous British commander style voice for his giant Hippo-man character. I loved it and felt that a slightly less pompous version of the voice would fit for Olgar.
• Backstory - Olgar had served in the Dwarven military as a lower level commander. They were doing battle in the Underdark and his entire unit was destroyed, only Olgar survived, but was blinded. As he groped in the dark the dwarven god of flame contacted him, and granted him sight. Olgar became a true believer of the god, and dedicated his life to him. This created a bit of a rift with his family - his wife left him. But he stays in contact with his children, even if they both think "dad is a little touched".
• Typical Olgar - Relentlessly cheerful and optimistic, Olgar was the cheerleader of a group trapped in a deadly ancient temple full of undead. The story hook was to seek out a way to open up a trading route for the rare fruit, mangos, to be traded to the city of Waterdeep. I'm not kidding. Olgar had never tasted a mango and become a bit obsessed with finding one. He would always ask if they came up on a treasure chest or if they were searching a sarcophagus, if there was a mango in there. He was doing it to bring levity, but after a while his obsession with mangos made him very dangerous. "I will not die in this Shrine! Not until I've tasted the sweet juice of the elusive MANGO!"
• Favorite Moment - I borrowed from Dice Camera Action again. Olgar couldn't get anyone's name right, especially picking on the elf rogue in the party. Poor Rolan kept getting called Ronald. It was great fun to have Olgar trying to cheer up "Ronald" and only making the elf more annoyed with the eternally cheerful cleric.

I used this as my character portrait on
Roll20 for Olgar. More great art from
Ray Cornwall.