NPC: Too Bad Jim

Too Bad claims to hold the office of Exalted Grand High Priest of Sharess—and does, in fact, maintain one of the few remaining "temples" to that diminishing power. Sharess is a Lesser Power whose worship is waning in the Realms as more people lean toward Sune and Lliira.

While Sharess worshipers appreciate beauty and parties, Sharess is the god of the idle rich and decadents of any stripe, catering to less socially acceptable pleasures and outright hedonism. Her portfolio includes lust, free love, sensual fulfillment, drunkenness, and excess of all kinds. The local farmers wives would not call this a temple, but are more inclined to refer to it as the "shameless whore house" run by that "degenerate little man".

In addition to the "clergy" or prostitutes, if you will, Too Bad Jim also has a mighty fine tonic he calls “Holier Water” that is really nothing but gin. This gin is magically created by Too Bad himself, who was granted a wish on one of his adventures and which gave him the ability to create gin at will.

Regardless of anyone’s opinion of his religion, he is a fully qualified priest and will pray, cast spells, heal, and provide other services for a "donation". The "temple" does rent rooms, but only by the hour.

Too Bad Jim also has a small shop called "Priest in a Poke" where he sells items which might be needed by travelling clergy of all faiths.

When we played in high school, each player had a party of 5 members. You've met the original 5 already...Galen, Groot Hairfoot, Thom the One Armed Bandit, Christo Lackey, and Shandar the Ashen One. I used a different mini back then for Shandar, but I don't think I still have it. It was a very tiny wizard leaning on a staff. I like the Heritage Gandalf mini much better, it is closer in scale to the others.

At any rate...how did the Hopeful Seven become 7 in number?

Well, in college I started playing in another campaign, this one run by Jeff Goode. He was a really amazing DM, and I had a lot of fun. One of the other players in that game was Stan Ruth, who was in the theatre program at Iowa with me. His character in the game was Too Bad Jim, and this is the miniature he used. I've done a minor repaint on it because the enamal paint has really chipped away. I tried to keep the flavor of his original paint job, though. Too Bad was a priest, but I don't think Jeff was using a specific campaign world or mythos. I remember that Too Bad got a wish, and he wished for the "Create Gin" spell-like ability.

Stan gave the mini to me after Jeff moved to go to grad school and we stopped playing. I incorporated the character into the Hopeful seven...because we didn't have a priest.