Orym

Orym is a halfling fighter and member of the Air Ashari who appeared in Exandria Unlimited and in Campaign Three of Critical Role. He is played by Liam O'Brien.

Appearance
Orym is a little over 3 feet tall, slender, with ropy muscles and fine features. He has a short shock of brown hair less than an inch long. He has a full-sleeve tattoo of swirling winds and clouds on his left arm stretching up onto his chest, and a tattoo of Ruidus cradled within a crescent Catha on his right shoulder. He wears green armor with a leaf theme over brown leather, with well-worn sashes with ivy and flower patterns around his waist, and his boots are brown leather with green stone rings laced into his shin guards. His shield is adorned with ivy.

Personality
Orym is generally serious, dutiful and level-headed. He considers himself responsible for “babysitting” his friends' antics, and makes efforts to protect them in combat. Orym prefers to leave complicated, dangerous matters in the hands of more experienced figures whom he trusts.

Orym is uncomfortable with getting involved in crime or “fucking people over”, believing there’s more to the world than corruption and temptation. Dariax considered him to be the most moral member of their group.

Background
Orym served as a guard when he lived in Zephrah. There, he overheard conversations with Vox Machina.

His father's surname is Tarrintel, but he does not use the name.

Campaign Three
Following the events taking place in Exandria Unlimited, the party returned to Byroden. Subsequently, Keyleth sent Orym on a mission to Marquet, telling him that his friends Fearne and Dorian could be helpful. Keyleth used Transport by Plants to sneak them to the skyship port in Emon, on which they traveled eventually to Jrusar. They soon found themselves responding to a mysterious attack of animated objects in the streets, fighting alongside Ashton Greymoore, Fresh Cut Grass, Imogen Temult, and Laudna, and they attracted the attention of Bertrand Bell, who promised to make introductions to high-placed people in the city.

Relationships
Orym alludes to working for a female leader in Zephrah, later revealed to be Keyleth, but it was a long time ago; he also says she had told him about the people of Emon and that she was exactly right about them. He later said he was aware of Keyleth and her possession of a Vestige, and that made him conscious of the danger and unlikelihood of stumbling upon a Vestige himself.

Notable items

 * Boots of Striding and Springing
 * Refined residuum stolen from the Nameless Ones
 * Sentinel Shield
 * Short sword

Halfling abilities

 * Brave
 * Halfling Nimbleness
 * Lucky
 * Subrace: Lotusden halfling
 * Child of the Wood (Druidcraft cantrip at 1st-level)
 * Timberwalk (ability checks made to track against have disadvantage, and can move across difficult terrain made of nonmagical plants and undergrowth without expending extra movement)

Fighter abilities

 * Fighting Style: Superior Technique
 * Bait and Switch
 * Action Surge (once per rest)
 * Martial Archetype: Battle Master
 * Combat Superiority
 * Student of War

Maneuvers
As a 3rd-level Battle Master with the Superior Technique fighting style, Orym knows three combat maneuvers from this subclass and has five Superiority Dice, which are d8s. Through magical boons, he temporarily learned two additional maneuvers:
 * Bait and Switch
 * Feinting Attack
 * Goading Attack
 * Pushing Attack
 * Quick Toss

Behind the scenes
Orym was developed as an initial character concept for Campaign Three. He was brought into Exandria Unlimited for further development. Though he had the option to choose another character for the campaign, Liam chose to continuing playing Orym. Liam was offered the opportunity to reroll Orym's stats under the same rules as other characters in Campaign Three and prior campaigns—using the rolled method in the Player's Handbook with a homebrewed rule that if the sum of the scores was less than 70, they could reroll the scores—but chose to keep his Exandria Unlimited stats.

Quotes

 * "I know that you are wrong. I know that there's more in this world. I know that temptation and corruption and imperfection is rampant in this world, but that's not all there is."
 * "I am not becoming a criminal. I am babysitting."

Trivia

 * Orym identifies as Neutral Good, although this was a spur of the moment addition from Liam.
 * He is the second member of the Air Ashari played by Liam, following Derrig.
 * Both Orym and Derrig are Battle Master Fighters.
 * Orym is also the third of Liam's characters to have a connection to Keyleth, following Vax'ildan and Derrig.
 * He and Vax also share one aspect of their childhood, since both were raised mainly by their mothers in the absence of a neglectful father.
 * Several hints point to the fact that Orym previously had a lover that he was separated from, and who may be deceased.
 * During Campaign One, Liam had planned a halfling from the Air Ashari as a backup character "sent by Keyleth’s father, to be of aid to her in her grief. He himself was going to be a widower(?) to another Ashari fella named Riegel". After the premiere of Campaign Three, Liam stated that Orym had been "percolating in my skull since 2017", likely confirming that his backup character was in fact Orym.
 * Orym's playlist features My Lover by Birdtalker, a love song with the caption "Not a day goes by...", as well as Les Coeurs Jumeaux by Concrete Blonde, a song which features the lyrics "I miss him all night / I hope he's all right" with the caption "Ink". The two songs are placed back to back in the playlist.
 * According to Anjali Bhimani, Orym would be the best character from Exandria Unlimited to have as a roomate because he is "quiet, respectful, honest, accommodating, and [...] doesn’t take up a lot of space" and that "if someone broke in late at night, little murder man would SO be on the case before I even woke up".