Spronzo the Sorcerer

Dedicated Watchers may remember that there is already a gnome named Spronzo in my gallery. That is the World of Warcraft version, and he is a rogue engineer. This fellow is the Dungeons and Dragons version, and he is a psychotic sorcerer:

Spronzo was born to a happy gnomish family in a quiet town. His life promised to be entirely ordinary, peaceful, empty of adventure, and secure. However, that ever-unpredictable knack of sorcery chose Spronzo, and his life was forever changed. The innate skills of a sorcerer usually manifest around puberty, causing all manner of trouble, but Spronzo was a special case. The powers of magic cropped up in his life at an extremely early age, and in those tender years the wild and untamed power of magic twisted and pulled at his young mind.

Further misfortune was visited upon the troubled youth, as he lost both of his parents in a freak accident, caused by his very own budding power. This branded Spronzo as a “strange child” by some and a freak by the rest, and he grew up with few to no friends, brought up in the harsh, comfortless halls of an orphanage.

In this vacuum of support or guidance, Spronzo grew into a wild, arrogant man. He wandered from town to town, getting in fights, disturbing the populace, and accidentally burning down the odd tavern. Yet mixed in among this discord, for whatever reason, Spronzo occasionally focused his powers for true good and because of this has several admirable achievements to boast of (and oh, does he boast).

As for his magic, Spronzo learned mostly through trial and error (hence, the burned down taverns). He only ran into his first teacher at the age of 50, after the tendrils of magic had been twisting his mind for 40 long years. His first mentor did what he could to reverse and heal these effects, and for a time Spronzo settled down into a much more stable lifestyle. He was even considering starting a family when yet another freak accident robbed him of his master. With that guiding influence once again gone, Spronzo took back to the road.

At the time of our campaign, Spronzo has grown into a highly unpredictable individual. Though 75 is still considered young for most gnomes, Spronzo seems to be showing his years -a haggard, crazed beast can be glimpsed behind the confident smirk and quick one liners. He has a strange, twisted sense of humor, and will often follow through on his joking threats if someone doesn't call him on them. His familiar is a rat named Bracchus, who is everything that Spronzo is not: cool, calm, collected, passive, and droll.

Through his adventures with the current party, Spronzo has remained relatively placid, but the storm that wrecked their ship seems to have shaken whatever tentative grasp on sanity Spronzo still has left. Some of his more observant companions may have begun to note this with concern, wondering whether the eccentric and powerful gnome will be a blessing, or a curse, to their party.