Moon Beard

Appearance

Moon Beard looked much less like the stereotypical wizard, and more like a thin shifty eyed thief from the rough side of town. He is average height, with a mop of dark brown hair, and an expressive face that despite his relative youth, shows a great deal of personal experience. He wears casual clothing, and easily vanishes into a crowd. Moon Beard considers this to be his true alternate persona, the act he puts on, being normal.

Moon the Loon is a performer, a musician, an adventurer-upon-return, and a Percussion Mage.

When it is time to go on adventure, he picks up his Boom Drum, dons his wizard's robes embroidered with fireballs, shooting stars and fire nymphs, and straps on his magic beard. Thus the quiet man who's name is easily forgotten becomes Moon Beard, the Percussion Mage, Moon the Loon.

Percussion, Drums and Magic

Moon Beard's magic style is based not out of chanting and somantic gestures but instead flows from music. He 'casts spells' by beating out tunes on his mobile drum kit and how and what he plays determines the effect of the magic. As his magic is coming from hitting things with sticks, it is seldom subtle or complicated. Percussion Magic is the magic of blowing things up, setting things on fire, and otherwise making a big loud mess.

Moon Beard has garnered his reputation as he is an incredibly gifted mage, able to cast a stunning volume of spells. Rather than working in a funded laboratory or other scholarly endeavor, he uses his magical competence to blow stuff the hell up. While in combat, his ability to inflict wounds, shatter shields, cause enemies to flee in fear and otherwise destroy things is often overshadowed by his strong dislike of pottery, glass, and other objects that are easily broken.

More than once, an after-adventure blow off in a bar has ended in mayhem as he has gotten extremely and dangerously drunk and starts beating out spells on the table with his bare hands. Bottles explode, mirrors shattered, and violent unruly mobs break out with Mad Moon the Loon laughing and playing his way through them.

Personal Excess

Moon Beard is well known for something other than his ability to bring down the house with his magical drum solos, and that is his addiction to personal excess and vice. Moon Beard drinks constantly, often waking up to have a bottle of liquor for breakfast. This has left his health in somewhat poor shape, and he is underweight. He is also constantly indulging in all sorts of magic potions. He has polymorphed himself more times than he can count, experienced untold alternate states of perception, poisoned himself more than once, and has a solid dependence on healing potions and mana potions.

Mix the red potion with the blue potion, spike it with some silver absinthe to cut the taste and bottoms up!

Moon's Drumkit

The 'Pictures of Lily' drum kit has been with Moon Beard for several years now, and while being of excellent make, with the best gold and copper fillings, and set with wyvern wing leather, they are showing their age. The main array of tom and snare drums are arrayed in from of Moon Beard, worn on a shoulder harness rack. The rest of the drums, the high hats, cymbals, kick and bass drums drift along behind him, coming up as they are required for his playing. Should he find a stationary spot, all the drums will pull together into a cohesive set, and his ability to drum up spells will drastically increase. When drumming on the move, he has slight penalties to spellcasting, and he is limited to low and middle range spells for terms of damage and effect.

The drum kit itself is not magical, but is rather the effect of Moon Beard himself, as his drumming has created an entourage of phantasmal roadies that carry his drums as he goes on tour. These spectral assistants do nothing but carry and care for the drums and it is only their ministrations that have kept the set functional as Moon Beard is known to end a battle by throwing parts of his drum kit, or kicking parts of it.

Moon Beard has slowly become somewhat infamous for his Art of Destruction. He destroys rooms at Inns, and if the guest room lacks stuff to wreck he will instead pick the common room. When employed and guests of higher income types, he shows the same lack of restraint, throwing things out windows, knocking things over, and generally making a good hearted but very destructive mess of things. This behaviour has only been accepted out of fear/respect for his ferocious ability to destroy wantonly with his drumming magic, and his generally being a good guy, not killing people, etc.

Some wealthy employers of Adventurers-Upon-Return have daringly invited Moon Beard to their soirees just to have his destruction of things become part of the entertainment, such as when he attended the post coronation ceremonies of Prince Vandhelm III, where he quite famously threw a 600 year old statue out of a window, to smash a 1000 year old fountain.

On Tour

Moon Beard is a Percussion Mage for hire, generally to whomever is willing to pay the most and offer the most carnage for him to inflict. He is currently working with a small adventurer team consisting of Acton Daltrey of Hammersmith, a suave fast talking bard/thief, Entwhistle the Ox, a beast of a man carrying a magic heavy ax, and Blandford Townshend, a cunning swordsman and tactical leader.

The standard tactic in an encounter has Moon Beard at the center, with Entwhistle and Townshend providing protection for the percussion mage. Daltrey tends to plug holes and provide moral support and leadership as needed. Should a large foe enter the fray, Daltrey will bait it, setting up Entwhistle for a flanking or rear attack with his magic ax. In larger battles, the band will work more in a supporting role, with Moon Beard's drum kit fully assembled, and the front line fighters forming a strong perimeter for the now immobile artillery piece that is Moon Beard.