Hi friends! Ginny Di here, and if you are new to my channel: I'm a cosplayer,
singer and professional... geek person? Check out my other videos for cosplay
tutorials, parody and cover music videos, comedy shorts, and other miscellaneous
videos of me talking about stuff. There's not... there's not really a theme. Anyway,
today's video has been much requested, which shocks me, because I spent so many
years as a teenager trying so hard to get people to care about my OCs. And
nobody ever did because that's what it's like having OC's when you're 15.
So when I started playing D&D and people kept asking me about my character I was
very surprised. But also totally willing to just spend an entire video talking
about her because I love her. Before we get into this, this video is sponsored by
1985 Games and their book Dungeon Craft, so big thanks to them for making this
possible. I just need to rave about this book for a second because I genuinely
think it is an incredible resource for D&D groups. It's a book of over a
thousand one-inch gridded map pieces that you can cut out and just place on
your table or your gaming mat to create maps. Each piece is dry and wet erase
compatible and they're fully reversible, so if you want your summer tree to be a
winter tree, just flip it. If you want your tent to be on fire... you can do that!
The book comes in a box where you can store the pieces once you've cut them
out and the best part is it's only $30 so if you've ever looked at the price
tag on those incredible hand-painted three-dimensional terrain pieces and
wanted to die... don't worry! You have so much to live for!
Ok, back to it. First, some context for my game. I've only been playing D&D for a
little over a year now. I had tried it before but never really with the right
people, so I never got into it. It wasn't until I started watching Critical Role
that I started to feel like I really understood why people
play D&D, and what kind of game I would enjoy playing. I've spent that whole year
plus playing with the same group, some good friends including Blake who does
all of the instrumentation for my music and all of my studio recording, and Lee
our DM, who has his own YouTube channel where he offers super helpful DM advice.
I will link his channel in the description in case you wanna check it
out. However, I have not spent that year playing the character that I'm going to
introduce you today. I started off playing a homebrew steampunk robot monk
named Petra, and there was a lot that I liked about playing her. It was fun to
say snarky thanks to people in what was basically a grocery store
self-checkout recording voice, and she was really good at punching. But I
realized after a while that I didn't love her the way that some people seem
to love their D&D characters, and after some thinking, I figured out that it was
because I had created a character that was interesting to observe, not
necessarily fun for me to play. I wrote her the way that I would write the
protagonist of a novel. What I really wanted, and what a lot of people go to D&D
for is wish-fulfillment, basically. I wanted to play a beautiful elf with
plants growing right out of her and cool magical powers. I wanted to play the kind
of character that I wanted to draw, the kind of character that I wanted to
cosplay. And the group I'm playing with would absolutely never be the kind of
people to make fun of me for playing a character that made me feel excited and
happy, even if it was cliche. It's a game! We play it to have fun. When I told my DM
about this, he was totally game to help me write off Petra and introduce a new
character. Thus... Aisling was born. Time for some dramatic backstory!
the widow Roisin was the matriarch of her clan, which slowly dwindled, leaving
her old and alone. She took in Aisling, whose mother died birthing her, in hopes
that she would take on the role of matriarch someday and rebuild the clan.
They lived at the edges of elf society. Roisin was rumored to wield dark powers
and Aisling grew up beneath the weight of that, the other elf children whispering
"witchdaughter" when she passed. She didn't know at first that not everyone
saw visions of an otherworldly creature with long, tangled hair and flowers
sprouting from her eyes and a mouth full of soil. She called her Ùir after the
earth. She didn't see the creature often, and each time she appeared, Aisling was
afraid. But when the widow Roisin died, the Woman Ùir appeared once again to
Aisling and offered her a choice: Stay, rebuild Roisin's dead clan, inherit her
responsibilities and her isolation... or make a pact. Become the powerful witch
everyone had always feared she was. Reject the restrictions of elf society.
Forge her own path with her own powers. for Aisling, the choice was clear.
Ùir gave her a companion, Nightshade, and uncanny abilities — weak at first, but
more powerful as she practiced. Aisling's fearful reputation grew up
around her like a bramble as she trained and waited to carry out her patron's will.
Then, the Woman Ùir sent her a prophecy: The Rot.
A pale, swollen blight, sickly, that would consume the world. "It cannot change," Ùir
told her. "My gift is the knowledge of the story's end." This Aisling refused to
accept. She gathered a band of Reavers, the handful of odd, outcasts Elva who
would join her, to seek out the source of the rot and stop it. But with each
further clue they uncovered, Aisling began to realize she had led her companions
against something much darker and larger than she had fully understood. One by one,
her companions fell to the dangers of their hunt, until at last, only Aisling
remained. Even she would have been lost had it not been for the band of
strangers who rescued her. Now, plagued by guilt and regret,
reevaluating her path, she's joined their party in hopes of either
recruiting them to her cause or at least not facing the end of the world alone.
Wow, so dramatic!
Aisling is an elf warlock, Pact of the Chain, with an archfey patron. She's
currently level 5,I'll put some of her stats on the screen for people who like
to see that kind of stuff, but I'm not a Min/Maxer or anything, so please don't
critique my character build. I'm not gunning for the most efficient warlock
award. Her familiar is a pseudodragon named Nightshade.
She's nocturnal, so she spends most of her time during the day sleeping curled
up around Aisling's neck and if Aisling has to wake her up, she gets super grumpy
about it. When Aisling made her pact, her newfound connection with the Woman of
the Soil made her hair start changing colors with the seasons, like the leaves
of a tree, and flowers and foliage started growing in it. I want to cosplay
Aisling, so I commissioned my friend Kelsey, known online as toughtink, to
help me conceptualize her clothing. She worked with me to put together a sort of
a mood board and then created a bunch of thumbnail sketches that I could work
from for costuming. I want this to be less "make a costume" and more "make a
collection of garments that Aisling would own that can be worn in different
combinations." So you can expect to see this design expanded on and developed
over the long term. I love Aisling a lot, and I hope that some of you guys will
grow to love her, too! I would absolutely love to do more videos about her and
just about D&D in general, so please let me know what kind of D&D related content you would like to see
from me. And of course, I'm not just a player, I also recently started DMing my
own game, which is why I am super pumped about how much more immersive my maps
are going to be thanks to Dungeon Craft, which makes it super easy for me to have
beautiful, detailed maps that don't require pretty much any prep on my part,
because... God knows DMing takes enough prep without even touching on maps and
terrain! They also have a brand new book called Hell or High Water which has
terrain that's great for seafaring and hellish modules like Ghosts of Salt
Marsh or Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus.
Maybe I can cry tear!
Mom: Can you?
I don't know! Lemme watch a sad gum commercial.
I don't know if I can feel sad while you're filming me!
Josh: Why are all these Oreos here?
It's dirt for my mouth!