Forum

So me and my group of friends are planning to play soon and I've made a barding messenger character. But I've had trouble thinking up a reason for a Barding to be in Eriador. I read the thing about Barding merchants and warriors in the culture section but I don't feel like either of those work. Anyone else given some thought to a reason? Also I'm not sure if I'm able to take Language of Birds (Barding cultural virtue) at game start.

But I've had trouble thinking up a reason for a Barding to be in Eriador.

Also I'm not sure if I'm able to take Language of Birds (Barding cultural virtue) at game start.

I’d suggest a Lake-Town merchant prince had a caravan that has departed leaving the Barding behind. Perhaps the Barding was too ill to travel with the caravan which needed to get over the high pass before it closed for winter.

You cannot pick a cultural virtue during character generation, only pick it up when your Wisdom increases. See p.51 of the Core rule book for Starting Virtues.

My 2 cents, if you are looking to justify why you would travel all the way from Dale to Eriador I can think of many good reasons. Dale folk are a prosperous trading people who are recovering from a long period of hardship when Smaug was in the lonely mountain. Now that Smaug is gone, there is opportunity to re-establish old trading ties with other regions. The goblins of the Misty Mountains were soundly beaten and the pass over the mountains is open again though not without danger. If Dale is going to recover it's former glory, bold adventurers will need to go abroad and spread the word that Dale is open for business again. Other free people will need to come together and support each other if the shadow is to be prevented from rising.
If the elves of Mirkwood enjoy Dorwinion wine then surely they can acquire a taste for Longbottom Leaf. Maybe Saruman gets it shipped from Dale.
Perhaps a trade route can be established with the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains again.
Bree probably has ... Brie? Everyone likes cheese. I do anyway.

In a group I'm LMing, we have a Barding Warden. That's hard to justify too. A Messenger could be just that, someone who delivered a message to someone in Eriador, maybe a future Patron like Elrond or Bilbo. For the Warden, it's more difficult because a Warded Land must be chosen and he isn't from this area. His favored enemy is undead, so we cooked up a story that he tracked a roaming undead creature through Mirkwood and over the mountains and all over Eregion/Hollin where he finally caught up with and destroyed it. So he learned all about the Eregion region in his travels and it is now his favored area.

I tinkered with making him take the Erebor/Lake Town area, but none of the written adventure goes there and it felt like cheating the player of a major feature.

Hi.

What year is your campaign set in? And how old is your Barding?
TOR2e is set to start about a quarter century after the Hobbit of course

The Battle of 5 Armies was therefore at least 24 years ago. The youngest fighting Barding (or Esgarothian really) would be a teenager at that time. Anyone younger than that would not have been in that battle.

This means all Bardings less than 35 years old are not veterans of that fight.
They have grown up with parents etc who did. This Previous generation would have had their own mini version of rebuilding a bombed out Europe after WW2; a shattered Yugoslavia after the events of the1990s; the uprooted America after 1865.
The children of the victors would be born into a time where they would be told it was now an era of optimism and opportunity.

Except of course, the IMMEDIATE opportunities have already gone! Dale has been rebuilt, farming is re-established and the immediate lands all taken and "owned". Any new businesses are competing with the established ones now that the pattern of demand has changed. In addition, the inevitable baby-boom is in mid flow, and, if the Dale economy does not expand, then the second post-Smaug generation will start to find not enough to do, and recession will strike.
This is the time of your Barding adventurer.

An intelligent person will be looking OUTSIDE of Dale for newer opportunities. What rumours will they hear in the taverns?
Tales of wealthy dwarves from over the mountains that funded Thorin's expedition... Traders who came to New Dale from both east of the forest and west to the inland sea with their goods.... Visitors and scholars, musicians and artisans, will have arrived from non Human Cultures to see the restored Erebor and to grab a bit of the New Wealth

All these are places that can intrigue an enquiring or adventurous mind . "Go West Young Man" ( and if you don't mind the forest)!

So me and my group of friends are planning to play soon and I've made a barding messenger character. But I've had trouble thinking up a reason for a Barding to be in Eriador. I read the thing about Barding merchants and warriors in the culture section but I don't feel like either of those work. Anyone else given some thought to a reason? Also I'm not sure if I'm able to take Language of Birds (Barding cultural virtue) at game start.

I think you answered your problem with your character idea. He is a Barding Messenger, therefore he would be representing Dale and the King in Eriador. Just pick who you want him to establish communication with. Say, Bree and the Shire, and even the Grey Havens. Dale, Esgaroth and Erebor all need Ole Toby.

I believe the hero does get a starting virtue, see page 28 in the CORE book. Bardings get a Cultural Trait called "Starting Virtue", it clearly says "You gain one cultural virtue of your choice (see page 80)." The hero would then get more virtue options later at higher levels as part of the Messenger Calling.

I believe the hero does get a starting virtue, see page 28 in the CORE book. Bardings get a Cultural Trait called "Starting Virtue", it clearly says "You gain one cultural virtue of your choice (see page 80)." The hero would then get more virtue options later at higher levels as part of the Messenger Calling.

I just realized my answer applies to the 5e game, not sure if OP is playing TOR or 5e.

I believe the hero does get a starting virtue, see page 28 in the CORE book. Bardings get a Cultural Trait called "Starting Virtue", it clearly says "You gain one cultural virtue of your choice (see page 80)." The hero would then get more virtue options later at higher levels as part of the Messenger Calling.

I just realized my answer applies to the 5e game, not sure if OP is playing TOR or 5e.

If they're playing TOR, then no, their Cultural Blessing is very different (Favoured Valour Rolls). It seems odd that they've reinvented the CB given how well it directly would translate to 5e. Maybe the power level was off.

Marriage/betrothal is often a good route to giving a character local links. Whether it is a Barding married to a Bree-dweller, or a High Elf betrothed to a Wood Elf Prince/Princess, it is a good route to explaining why a character is in a particular region. Not only that, it gives them a stake in what happens and a reason to care about local events. It is a ready made plot hook too if their beloved needs help/rescued/can provide rescues!