Balin Gemseeker

Meet Gemseeker, Balin Gemseeker, my new character for our next campaign. He is actually my second character. My first, Fjori Ulfsson, died in the very first outing because of a zombie like infection. Balin was rolled up on the fly and given a valid reason for being in the area. Now he's 4th level.......and safe? Safe enough for me to paint a mini for him I guess.

Balin is sort of a loner. Well, maybe more lost in his own cause really. He is a bit obsessive. Proficiencies in 2nd ed are new to me so I spent a lot of time deciding what he was going to "be". I decided to go the fluff route instead of min/maxing him. He is skilled in gem cutting, appraising, mining, mountaineering, and endurance I think. He is a rock hound.....

His weapon skills went the same way. Instead of going for the most damage and quickest initiative, I decided to focus him in a certain area.....the axe. His main weapon is a battle axe, which he specialized in. He is also skilled in the chopping/crushing weapons like hammers and maces. To help him out at range, instead of a crossbow or bow, I gave him another specialization in throwing axes. He carries two. He'll throw them first if he can, then charge in with the battle axe.

Balin's obsession with rocks and gems might lead him to trouble. He is a follower of Dumathoin, Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain. Dumathoin is a good diety, one who hides treasures for dwarves to find. But, his brother, Abbathor is the dwarven god of greed. These two are connected in Balin's mind, and his sentimentality leads him to believe that the two will one day reunite. Towards this end, Balin secretly keeps a dagger hidden away, which is a symbol of Abbathor. He is constantly looking for precious gems to add to the dagger, in the hopes that one day it will become a valuable offering to the Gods. It will be interesting to see if Abbathor's greed gets the best of Balin...

Dwarf: Grunbar

Grunbar is a keg carrying pugilist of a dwarf. He's a character that one of my friends, JJ, plays in our ongoing Wednesday night campaign. He's actually a replacement for the druid & ranger characters that died in a horrible fireball explosion a while back thanks to Dave rolling 1s on his saving throws.

I was asked to paint Grunbar a couple of weeks ago. JJ had a picture that he had found on the internet somewhere that gave me a good vision for what he was supposed to look like. The mini itself is nice. It's made of resin, pretty solid stuff. JJ got it from a company called scibor? minis. A little expensive I think, but good detail. I really like how the wood and his beard turned out. They have a few more coats of progressively lighter dry brushed highlights. The base was rather plain looking so I took a micro pen, .05 tip, and drew some runes around the base. Overall I think it came out pretty well.