Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Eivor in Forbidden Lands
Recently I was gifted Assassin's Creed Valhalla from some of my very favorite people (thanks Chris and Frank!), and I've been really enjoying my time with this game. I'm a big Assassin's Creed fan (despite not having played Origins or Odyssey). I even have the Assassin brand/icon/logo tattooed on the side of my hand! I'm also very into the setting of Valhalla, but that's a much more private matter.
I've been enjoying Eivor's story quite a bit, and the skill tree is equally a joy to explore! Right now I am invested in the Way of the Raven, and so my skill tree is focused on classic Assassin's Creed-style gameplay along with being a church-raiding heathen when I need to, wielding my axe and shield into battle!
To the point, I was playing Valhalla and wondering what Eivor might look like in a TTRPG, and since I'm playing a lot of Forbidden Lands lately, I thought I might whip her (or him!) up a character sheet and man—I've never wanted to play a character so bad. Here's what I came up with.
Kin: Human (or Elf)
Obviously Eivor is a human, and if we're strictly going off of our reference, this is what we pick. However, humans have Empathy as a favored Attribute which doesn't do us any good (can't have much empathy when you kill people who don't even know you're there!), so if you'd like to go the Power Gaming route, you may want to choose elf, which will bump your Agility cap higher, and also let you meditate, kinda like in the game!
Profession: Hunter
I may have lost some of you already—"an Assassin's Creed character should be a rogue!" I can hear you saying. Alas, my fellow reader, not in Forbidden Lands! Although the Path of the Killer is a tempting Talent tree for our Viking/assassin, it is not what is best, for the Path of the Beast is our next step toward accuracy! With this Talent, not only do we gain an animal companion (our raven friend Sýnin!), it allows our companion to scout for us AND warn us if threats are ahead! If you wish to bump this up to true Valhalla style, you could find a druid to teach you the Hawk's Eye spell, which allows you to see details of anything within Distant range by melding your mind with that of a hawk (or raven!).
Before we continue...
This is where a lot of people are going to start to differ, so I'm gonna come right out and say it: the Attributes, gear, and Talents will differ depending on how you envision Eivor and how you play them in-game! My play-style will differ from yours, and thus, my Attributes, gear, and Talents will differ wildly. As I said earlier, I focused on the old Assassin's Creed playstyle with a bit of Viking raider mixed in, leaning into the Way of the Raven. If you play another way, feel free to explore different set-ups than I have! Leave a comment below with what playstyle you like and maybe we'll do a future article about that! With that out of the way, let's move on to...
Attributes
Strength 4 | Agility 5 | Wits 3 | Empathy 2
Eivor carries a lot of gear, and to have what she has, plus food, water, and arrows (remember, we're playing Forbidden Lands here!), we need a decent strength score just to carry it all! Not only that, but we'll be investing in the melee skill as we gain XP, so it's good to have at least 4 dice in strength for that, and to keep her alive for longer.
Agility is where our stealth, marksmanship, move, and sleight of hand (for all your hidden blade tricks) is coming in handy, so it gets the largest value. Again, going elf for your Kin will allow you to go up to a 6 here!
As far as Wits goes, we know Eivor is clever, but her gifts lie more in her Skills than raw intelligence (more to come on that).
Last, and certainly least, we have Empathy with a score of 2. This is for all the cold-blooded murder you plan on committing—unfortunately your performance is also attached to empathy, so don't be surprised if you're not great at flyting out of the gate.
Skills
Melee 1 | Scouting 2 | Survival 1 | Stealth 3 | Move 2 | Marksmanship 1
Remember this is "level 1" character creation stuff, so all of these will improve over time (as you see fit)! Overall these are pretty self-explanatory and again, my interpretation of Eivor is going to differ from yours, but I feel like this is a pretty decent set-up. Since our raven Sýnin is going to be scouting for us, we don't need to dump 3 points in it; 2 is fine and will help us with our "Odin Sight." Move is going to help us leap from rooftops, walk across rope, spring from the hay upon our enemies, and all the other good stuff we'll be doing! Melee will be aided by our 4 in strength, so it's okay that we can only have 1 point in it for now (since it's not the Hunter's favored skill). Survival is going to help us figure out what mushrooms are okay to eat and which ones are going to send us through a hallucinatory journey. Stealth is gonna keep us sneaky, and Marksmanship is gonna help us hit stuff! Not bad! And now...
Talents
Oh boy. There are a TON of useful Talents in Forbidden Lands, and even more-so for our would-be assassin. Let's go through what we have, and then some optional stuff.
First, we have our Kin Talent: Adaptive. This allows us to use any skill we want for a roll by spending a point of Willpower, which could always be useful. If you built your Eivor out of an elf, you'll have Inner Peace, which allows you to meditate and heal! Very useful.
Next, we have our Profession Talent: Path of the Beast. This is what gives us our scouting raven friend. The other Profession Talents could be useful as well, but this one is the most appropriate for Eivor, and without druid spells this is our best bet for our raven sight!
Now, since Eivor is 26 when she arrives to the shores of future-England, she just barely has entered the Adult age in Forbidden Lands, giving her two General Talents to choose from. With a LOT of thinking, I chose the following two: Axe Fighter and Defender. Axe Fighter is going to buff up our axe attacks (giving us 7 dice to roll!), which any good Viking would be happy with, while Defender allows us to Parry for free once per round of combat with our shield. Remember, this is all Rank 1 stuff, so it only gets better! My Eivor is always with axe and shield, so these Talents are definitely a big part of how I envision Eivor. However, you could also take...
Ambidextrous. If your Eivor dual-wields axes (or whatever other hand weapon), this is a great one to grab! Grants an additional attack per round as a fast action!
Executioner. This is a Talent I would invest in regardless of how you envision Eivor, as it will allow you to perform incredible critical injuries on your targets, making your assassinations and "stun attacks" even more gruesome! Allows you to re-roll Critical Injuries you inflict!
Melee Charge. A great Talent to pick up if you want to run in to battle screaming to secure your seat in Valhalla! Allows you to move and attack as one Slow Action!
Shield Fighter. If you like the shields, this is a good one, modifying your parry by +1!
Gear
What gear you pick up will obviously be influenced by what you use in Valhalla, and will also influence what Talents you pick up, so just like the rest of this stuff, it's all subjective on how you imagine your Eivor to be! However, I took the following:
Closed Helmet
Large Shield
Leather Armor
Battleaxe
Shortbow
This set-up is definitely appropriate for Eivor, giving them access to everything they need while also ensuring a good amount of protection against those damned standard bearers or whatever else is going to be thrown at you. With the above Attribute set-up and all my resources, this puts me at 8/8 encumbrance, so there's little to no wiggle room here for me. If you want to carry more, consider the Pack Rat Talent!
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
I had a great time building Eivor in Forbidden Lands. Not only was it a fast and gratifying experience, I also feel it really holds true to how I envision her in the game. I'll definitely be scrounging for an opportunity to play this character in a game soon! Hopefully you found this little article insightful or inspirational and if you did, leave a comment letting me know what you thought!
