Percy de Rolo—Human Gunslinger

After finally catching up on Critical Role, and getting swamped with university work, I've finally finished the first of what I hope to be another good series of characters. I've had to basically learn all of 5th edition D&D and how all of the systems and monsters interact. For the little bit of magic referenced in this write-up, I use my own Savage 5e D&D magic system (for the sake of accuracy), which is heavily inspired by Zadmar's Savage Vancian Magic.

Spoilers for Critical Role (Episodes 1–89) below

Name: Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III
Race: Human
Experience: 130 (Legendary)
Agility d10; Smarts d12; Spirit d8; Strength d6; Vigor d8
Pace 6; Parry 5; Charisma 2; Toughness 8 (2)
Hindrances: Arrogant, Bad Eyes (m), Enemy (Orthax), Loyal.
Edges: Accurate Attack (Shooting), Dead Shot, Elan, Gunsmith, Hip-Shooting, Jack-of-All-Trades, Magic Initiate (Warlock), Marksman, Musketeer, Noble, Quick, Quick Draw.
Skills: Boating d4, Fighting d6, Knowledge (Engineering) d8, Knowledge (History) d6, Knowledge (Metallurgy) d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Repair d8, Shooting d12, Stealth d6.
Cantrips: Become friends; minor illusion.
Novice Spells (1/day): Curse.
Languages: Common, Celestial, Elvish.
Inventory: Boots of Spider Climbing (1 hour), Cabal's Ruin [Attunement] (+2 to resist magical effects; when affected by a spell, the character may spend a benny (if used against a damaging spell, this also counts as a free Soak roll) to swallow the spell and gain 2 charges per Spell Rank up to 10: every 2 charges spent adds +1 electric damage on a physical attack), Dragontooth Necklace (pulses when allies with other necklaces from this set are Incapacitated), Earring of Whisper, Glasses, Gloves of Missile Snaring [Attunement] (Ranged Defender Edge), Gunsmith's Tools, Mithril Chain Shirt (Armor +2, torso only), Bad News (10/20/40, 2d8, Min Str d6, 2 action reload) with Scope (negates 2 points of ranged penalties) and an enchanted "flashlight" opal, Diplomacy (Vigor roll or Incapacitated; Vigor every round to recover, burns out with a 1 on the Fighting die), Dragonslayer Longsword [Attunement] (Str+d8+1, Fighting rolls +1, additional +4 damage vs dragons), Retort (5/10/20, 2d6+1, 4 shots, blackpowder revolver, 2 actions to reload per barrel), Animus [Attunement] (5/10/20, 2d6+3, 6 shots, blackpowder revolver, 2 actions to reload per barrel, user is Shaken with a 1 on the Shooting die).

Percy's backstory is best relayed through the character biography Taliesin (Percy's player) wrote, which preceded the early episodes of Critical Role:

"Percy was the third child of seven children, born to a noble family who lived far to the north in the ancient castle of Whitestone. With so many siblings to share the burdens of lordship, Percy turned his attention to the sciences, engineering, and naturalism.

One day, a mysterious couple, named Lord and Lady Briarwood, came to court. During a feast held in their honour, the Briarwoods violently took control of the castle, killing or imprisoning everyone who would stand in their way.

Percy awoke chained in the dungeon, only to be freed by his younger sister. Together they fled, chased by the Briarwoods' men. As they ran, Percy's sister took several arrows to the chest and fell. Percy kept running, eventually jumping into a freezing river and floating unconscious to freedom. He did not remember waking up on a fishing boat. He barely remembered the next two years, as he slowly made his way as far south as possible.

Then one night, Percy had a dream. A roaring cloud of smoke offered him vengeance against those who destroyed his family. When he awoke, Percy began to design his first gun."

Percy was rescued by the rest of the party of Vox Machina from a prison cell in Stillben after he attempted to murder a woman named Anna Ripley, who was connected to the Briarwoods. Since then, he has traveled with them, fighting trolls, dragons, demons, dread lords, beholders, and other vile monstrosities with his family.

After leading an uprising in Whitestone and assassinating the Briarwoods with the assistance of his friends, Vox Machina returned to the capital of Emon to witness the attack of the Chroma Conclave, and subsequently set out to dismantle the Conclave piece-by-piece. After nearly a month and a half of nonstop conflict, uprisings, alliances, worldly travel, and vestige hunting, the party only recently put down the last of the Chroma Conclave. Now, they journey forward as the heroes of the land.

Percival is an extremely talented engineer and inventor, building up bizarre and unique gadgets from a taser glove to inventing the first firearms (of which he is quite proficient). However, his inspiration for the latter appears to have been the product of a shadow demon named Orthax, who also granted Percy limited magical abilities—Orthax has since been banished, having possessed Ripley before Vox Machina murdered her to avenge Percy after his first "death."

Percy is also a self-professed nerd, having deeply studied history and engineering, as well as dabbling in just about everything. While his intellect can sometimes go to his head, deep down he is a kind soul who would do anything to help his friends.

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As far as a purely Savage Worlds Percy goes, I would simply replace "Magic Initiate" with No Mercy (#nomercypercy), and change Cabal's Ruin to absorb Power Points on a 1:1 basis, and expending 2 adds +1 to Percy's next attack roll. Otherwise, Percy is already one of the characters most suited to Savage Worlds with the removal of his few spells.

He can fire off a few less shots per round, but that's balanced out by doing tons of damage (for a fantasy setting) and also more realistic—blackpowder weapons are not fast weapons and magazines weren't a thing for them until fairly recently.

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Now that I've finally caught up to Critical Role, I'm able to going to start pumping out Savaged Critical Role characters—and even Savaged D&D 5e characters on the whole if I found some interesting ones. Anyways, if you have any question, comments, or criticisms (either of the build or of D&D on the whole), let me know down below.
—DoctorBoson