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Viscount Einstrauss
2007-04-08, 04:29 PM
I know there's been a lot of anger on the boards recently over whether it's better to make optimal characters to roleplay with or to purposely take suboptimal choices specifically for roleplaying reasons. So I thought it might be a refreshing change of pace to dedicate a topic to making character concepts that aren't really about out-statting everyone else, but instead looking really cool doing it. I'll start-

Jon, the Cowardly Knight
Fighter 4/Barbarian 4/Ranger 7/Scout 5
With his high dexterity stats and tactical feats such as improved disarm and trip, Jon is a terror on the battlefield- for his employers. Jon has focused much of his adventuring career on surviving encounters regardless of the price this might impose upon his allies. He's somewhat competent in a fight, but the moment a sword gets a little too close to his shoulder the man is gone. Some might scoff at his modus operandi, but Jon has managed to reach middle age while being a full-time adventurer- something very few in this occupation ever accomplish.

TheThan
2007-04-08, 04:36 PM
Master Wong the great
20th level monk
Master Wong is a martial artist (monk) of great skill, he has mastered numerous styles of martial arts over the years and has developed his own martial arts style based on his vast knowledge and experience in the martial arts field.

He’s recently open up his own monastery deep in the mountains so others may come and glean knowledge from the great master. Some stay and learn his secrets while others simply visit, looking for enlightenment. Visitors and students alike have dubbed his martial art “The Wong Way”.

OzymandiasVolt
2007-04-08, 04:50 PM
Of course eventually a small group of students concluded that their master's style was tainted by his adoption of so many elements from so many other styles. Led by Lexington Wight, they left to form their own school, where they endeavored to refine and purify the Wong Way style. This new style was dubbed "The Wight Way".

Roethke
2007-04-08, 05:50 PM
Of course eventually a small group of students concluded that their master's style was tainted by his adoption of so many elements from so many other styles. Led by Lexington Wight, they left to form their own school, where they endeavored to refine and purify the Wong Way style. This new style was dubbed "The Wight Way".

Key to Lexington's technique were a series of blows to the back of the head that left the recipient unable to see for some time. These unfortunate victims were "Blinded by the Wight".

Anyhoo....

There was a character concept I had come up with that sort of falls under the counterintuitive, 'cowardly knight' type rubric. Was gonna play him in a campaign, but didn't have time. It's a very, very plant-oriented druid. A gardener type who's actually somewhat scared of animals.

A little homebrewing might be necessary to make it a reasonably effective class (e.g. figure out a suitable plant companion, allow wildshape in to appropriately powered plants), but seeing how druids are decent casters anyhow, it's not really necessary. I think it'd be a blast to play.

NullAshton
2007-04-08, 05:54 PM
I prefer taking suboptimal character concepts, and making them as optimal as I can. That way you get the best of both worlds.

Dhavaer
2007-04-08, 06:44 PM
Monk 2/Barbarian 2/Ranger 2. Probably not too bad a warrior, but where she really shines, oddly enough, is with Sense Motive. Very peculiar character.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-04-08, 06:49 PM
Ha, I can see that.

Party Face: So, you're telling us we can find the bandits in the hills far outside town?
NPC: Yeah, that's right.
Party Face: Dhavaer?
Dhavaer: He's lying.
Party Face: Right then. Grab the manacles and whips.

Kultrum
2007-04-08, 06:50 PM
I always wanted to play a commoner in a lvl 1 campain and slowly takelevels in what the others in the party had

He was forced to battle for his life. His assets were few and liabilities many. The only thing he has going for him is his ability to learn quickly. Over time he would be on par with the rest of the part. albeit not as good as any one of them at any one thing.

F.L.
2007-04-08, 07:02 PM
I always wanted to try a character who was 1 level of every class possible. Darius the Dabbler. Jack of all trades, and worth jack in a fight.

Duraska
2007-04-08, 07:36 PM
I don't know why, but I really like the idea of a barbarian eventually turning into a paladin.

Like a character who starts out a barbarian warrior who travels to a major city for some quest, and eventually champions a cause and becomes a paladin.

Of course, you'd have to either allow Barbarians to be lawful, or enact an alignment switch (maybe NG -> LG).

Jack_Simth
2007-04-08, 07:42 PM
Cleric of Fharlanghn

Every night on the road, lays out a series of crude stone tiles, casts Wall of Stone to bridge them with a stone hut, then Stone Shape to put Fharlanghn's symbol on the side of the stone hut and get crude stone tiles for the next such.

At rivers, gorges, and the like, he does the same - but with a bridge, rather than a hut.

Wherever the cleric of the god of Travel goes, travel becomes more pleasant. And gets marked with his symbol.

You know - a Cleric that quietly spreads the word in a way people who are of the sort who might be appropriet worshippers could appreciate.

Roethke
2007-04-08, 07:43 PM
Cleric of Fharlanghn

Every night on the road, lays out a series of crude stone tiles, casts Wall of Stone to bridge them with a stone hut, then Stone Shape to put Fharlanghn's symbol on the side of the stone hut and get crude stone tiles for the next such.

At rivers, gorges, and the like, he does the same - but with a bridge, rather than a hut.

Wherever the cleric of the god of Travel goes, travel becomes more pleasant. And gets marked with his symbol.

You know - a Cleric that quietly spreads the word in a way people who are of the sort who might be appropriet worshippers could appreciate.

I like it. For added flavor, he could plant apple trees.

goat
2007-04-08, 07:47 PM
Lawful Evil Halfling Knights.

They'd be a cult of some sort, dour and sullen. Slaughtering their way through the heathen tall-folk in the name of their lord and master using shield and spear to stab at the throat/face.

Probably would have to multi-class them to make them in any way efficient.

Kultrum
2007-04-08, 07:48 PM
I like it. For added flavor, he could plant apple trees.

no don't rip off a well known figure, have him plant like pomegranates or something

Jack_Simth
2007-04-08, 07:51 PM
I like it. For added flavor, he could plant apple trees.
Yeah - doesn't mechanically work until 9th, though (Wall of Stone).

Works fine at 9th, though - at the "normal" 2 inch thick Wall of Stone, he gets nine 5-foot squares to play with - a 5x5x10 box, including floor, walls, and cieling, with one side missing as a door.

Rotproof, fireproof, and with hardness 8, immune to the vast majority of weather. With 30 hp, it'll take a beating, too.

All spells are Instant, so it will be around a long, long time.

Innis Cabal
2007-04-08, 07:55 PM
sorcerer 4/ warlock 4/ eldritch theurge 5, not very versitle, really not good at personal combat thanks to the poor hit die and B.A.B but so fun to play, the idea of being able to teleport then zap people is fun. Been playing one since level one, and the whole "demon/dragon blood" thing makes for many open RP lines that its not even funny

tsuyoshikentsu
2007-04-08, 10:39 PM
Uhm... why not try to take awesome concepts and turn them into optimal characters?

For instance, let's take Kemryn. Kemryn was self-taught when it came to his arcane powers, and though he never learned to do too much with them he was always very good at what he did. He knew that there were others of his kind, and he knew that they had obtained most of their power by trading away part of their souls. He tracked down a master of something called incarnum, and from him learned a way to keep a little of his soul "bled off" from the rest. He then openly contacted the fiends of the Nine Hells and cheerfully signed away part of his soul in a pact. The devils laughed, thinking they'd got the best of him, but the joke was on them: all they were getting was incarnum.

Kemryn: Warlock 9/Hellfire Warlock 3 with the Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) feat

Use ll your HFW abilities and never pay for them. Reducing the ability damage directly circumvents the "immunity" restriction. And you have to admit, it's a cool story.

Epiphanis
2007-04-08, 10:45 PM
A very cool, extremely impractical concept was Ryo Mizuno's manga/anime character Louie the Rune Soldier, who actually was based off of an actual RPG character.

Louie was a very strong, more than slightly stupid guy trained from birth to be a wizard, which he was completely unsuited to be. The world mechanics pretty much were the same as D&D, and Louie would beat monsters over the head with his magic wand and punch out undead.

Funny stuff. TPK in play.

Edo
2007-04-08, 10:48 PM
I always wanted to try a character who was 1 level of every class possible. Darius the Dabbler. Jack of all trades, and worth jack in a fight.As a thought-experiment and a tribute to Fumbles, a friend of mine actually bothered to stat that out.

It wound up with a BAB of +15 and some pretty spiffy saves. And a level of samurai, which (combined with its levels of swashbuckler and warblade) made a convincing spiked chain monkey if it had one on hand.

Innis Cabal
2007-04-08, 10:51 PM
they had one of those in the ecology of the adventuerer in Dragon

Krellen
2007-04-08, 10:52 PM
Louie was a very strong, more than slightly stupid guy trained from birth to be a wizard, which he was completely unsuited to be. The world mechanics pretty much were the same as D&D, and Louie would beat monsters over the head with his magic wand and punch out undead.

I always suspected Louie had, somehow, cooked up a researched spell called "LOUIE PUNCH!" That always seemed rather effective.

Hoorex
2007-04-08, 10:53 PM
The crazy Australian guy, and the crazy British guy. They're always arguing over who has the accent. Aussie likes heavy artillery like shotguns and rocketlaunchers, while tea-lover likes handguns. GO WITH IT!

Toliudar
2007-04-09, 12:29 AM
The fourteen year old girl paladin. All the sense of righteousness and black-and-white morality that sometimes comes with the teen years, and the force of smiting behind it. Add in a unicorn mount at higher levels, and it becomes tinged with "My Little Pony" niceness, but still the potential to, well, kill a lot of evil things. Gives a completely different reason for stick-up-butt rigidity.

Exarch
2007-04-09, 12:36 AM
I've always been a fan of the naive young knight who's thrown into the world and must learn that not everything is black and white, but somehow retains a portion of his innocence.

Anyone else ever seen Record of the Lodoss War? Oh yeah, go Parn.

The_Werebear
2007-04-09, 12:45 AM
A LG Paladin from a barbarian tribe.

He wanders from area to area acting as the fair judge when two tribe members have an argument. There is no set rule, just what he thinks is right and what is precedent. He is a noble, so he has power to enforce his judgements.

Now, set this man in a "civilized society" filled with law courts, lawyers, loopholes, and corruption. Not only does he have as much trouble with general civilization as a barbarian, he also has his own version of the law in his mind.

Sornas
2007-04-09, 12:46 AM
Well, I'm fairly partial to a Conjurer that I'm playing right now.

His basic philosophy is that Divine magic is power granted by some sort of higher being in order to manipulate the world, be it people, nature, whatever. Clerics heal the sick, Paladins smite the wicked, Druids empower nature. But all of that is power given by a Divine being/concious/Banjo.

He feels that while Druids may have the power to manipulate the earth, Arcane magics are the power OF the earth, the power of everything in the world. So while Druids may be able to make the trees grow better, that is simply a result of power granted to them. The Earth, the moon, and the stars grant him his power, he is drawing the very energies of the world to do his work, and that makes him closer to the earth than any druid ever could be.

Fhaolan
2007-04-09, 12:54 AM
One I've never been able to pull off, because D&D really isn't the system for it, is the reformed BBEG.

Take a powerful Lawful Evil Warlord, and push him to the point he has a full-on mental breakdown. He finds himself in a religious monastary (not D&D monks, European-style monks), and slowly regains stability.

Now a Lawful Good priest, something dire happens and he has to pull out the sword that the abbot had hidden away. He is a reluctant Paladin, regretting every instant he needs to use his talent for violence and still hounded by what he did before his breakdown.

The problem with this character in D&D is that unless you're a solo player, you can't play it from 1st level. You have to start much higher for the background to make sense. And I don't like starting at high levels.

TheOOB
2007-04-09, 01:13 AM
In a rather short campaign I played a fun character, Milo Greeves, chaotic neutral halfling wizard. Milo an overly curious eccentric wizard who always had to take everything just a step to far. He literally survived purely because of the halfling luck bonus to saving throws 4-5 times. Heres some examples of the situations he went in.

-Trying to find ways of beating a neck brace that shocks you when you try to cast spells, including jumping up in the air while he casted so he wouldn't be grounded(didn't work)

-Used burning hands on a bridge to stop pursuers...while he was still on the bridge

-Rolled a natural 1 to intimidate a group fo guards "Fear my arcane power" and was promptly clubbed in the back of the head

-Placed in 3' by 3' metal box for claiming to be able to escape a jail cell

-Managed to use said box as a weapon by casting shocking grasp on it

-Caused an explosion by dropping a tinder twig into a chamber pot

-Jumped out of a flaming window, survivng by landing on the parties rogue with -8 hp

-Blinded himself by casting color spray in view of a mirror

Sornas
2007-04-09, 01:15 AM
One I've never been able to pull off, because D&D really isn't the system for it, is the reformed BBEG.

Take a powerful Lawful Evil Warlord, and push him to the point he has a full-on mental breakdown. He finds himself in a religious monastary (not D&D monks, European-style monks), and slowly regains stability.

Now a Lawful Good priest, something dire happens and he has to pull out the sword that the abbot had hidden away. He is a reluctant Paladin, regretting every instant he needs to use his talent for violence and still hounded by what he did before his breakdown.

The problem with this character in D&D is that unless you're a solo player, you can't play it from 1st level. You have to start much higher for the background to make sense. And I don't like starting at high levels.

Well, it would be a little cheesy, but you could always say that the "Mental Breakdown" included the loss of his spellcasting abilities, and for flavor reasons, say he never had ANY combat training, so being a Paladin is just like starting anew.

Edit- Whoops, I thought you said Wizard, not Warlord. @.@

jlousivy
2007-04-09, 02:09 AM
Really High HP, very low ac fighter-type with karmic strike. Obviously the party cleric's kryptonite, but all the same a fun character i'd think.

Fizban
2007-04-09, 02:27 AM
I can't remember where, but I seem to remember the DMG or maybe PHB suggesting that going without adventuring for too long could result in xp loss if the DM so decided. This way you could say that after his breakdown he lost all class levels until he became a paladin, starting back at level one.

Or, I've liked the idea of modeling a rusty hero by applying a bunch of negative levels to a high level build, then removing them with experience. So you start with all your feats and a suprising amount of magic, but low hp, BAB, skills, and no top tier spells. (I actually thought of this trying to model Link, who starts out with effectively a ton of feats,[whirlwind attack at the least] but squat for hp).

tsuyoshikentsu
2007-04-09, 02:31 AM
I can't remember where, but I seem to remember the DMG or maybe PHB suggesting that going without adventuring for too long could result in xp loss if the DM so decided. This way you could say that after his breakdown he lost all class levels until he became a paladin, starting back at level one.

Dude, if you can ever source that, let me know. It would do SO MUCH for me.

TOAOMT
2007-04-09, 03:03 AM
THE JUGGERNAUT

STR 18, Dex 18 (after an ability bump), Con 11, Int 12, Wis 16, CHA 9

Doctor Ravyn Harlock (what's he a doctor of? Well, he tends to dodge that subject) was my attempt to make the most non-monk monk I could. Adorned in the garb of a swashbuckler (complete with the rapier he didn't know how to use), the good doctor was only lawful so far as his strict self-discipline, though he rarely implemented it in social situations. With no diplomacy or bluff, he always stepped up when no one else would do the talking, and rushed into combat with no regard for the fact that he was quite brittle. Not without honor, he considered it insulting to himself to ever attack an opponent who was on the ground, or unarmed, and he would insist that any fight was unfair unless he was outnumbered at least four to one. Created at the onset of the "Juggernaut Bitch" animation, his battle cry was "Look out it's the juggernaut, bitch!" He annoyed the other players a bit I fear, but they all loved him for pulling everyone else out of the situation whether it was his fault or not.

Funkyodor
2007-04-09, 03:21 AM
I had a Halfling dog archer. I was working him up to be a Lvl 4 Rogue / 4 Fighter / ? Archer type prestige class. He was gonna end up acting alot like Attila the Hun, and try to rally the Halfling communities in a large barbarianish horde, but he got eaten by something, can't remember.

GM inserted Barbarian/Monks from a desert nomad society seemlessly in the campaign. (represented as the Honored Matri from the Dune series).

I also feel that character progression is something that should be worked on throughout the campaign. Starting with all the abilities that you want is kinda boring, and the story that builds while adventuring is more important than the actual stats on the paper.

Darkxarth
2007-04-09, 04:00 AM
Askadar Lightwielder - Aasimar Paladin
From the moment he returned to his village to find it destroyed, and saw the Demons escaping through a portal, Askadar has hunted them. He spends every waking moment stalking through different lands, his golden eyes constantly glowing as he uses his divine gifts to detect unholy powers.

However, Askadar's constant travels into the Abyss often get him killed, and the Temple of Heironeous (or another appropriate god) in Fiefel (a temple he created) is tired of spending all of their earnings on diamonds to Resurrect him. Askadar knows this, but continues to hunt the Demons anyway, knowing that if he falls and his Temple does not bring him back, that his god will, so that he can take divine vengeance on the priests who would try and stop his holy mission.

Basically, not particularly questing for the sake of Good so much as for the sake of his personal vendetta against Demons. However, until he directly and severely screws over his Paladin Code or the divine plan, his god will continue to grant him his Paladin powers, so that he may continue the endless fight against the diabolic forces of the Abyss.

Barnaby Broadarm - Half-Orc Paladin
Raised by Gnomes after he was found as a baby, Barnaby has always followed Garl Glittergold's teachings. And though he is not the prankster that his Gnome brethren are (he thinks them somewhat too disorderly) he knows their hearts are in the right place.

After leaving home with his 'brother' Oriwin Tiggum Fizzle-Beard "Nine-Toes" Boar-Rider MacGiggles, a Gnome Druid with a Badger companion named Willaby Toe-Biter, Barnaby has traveled far and wide, spreading Garl's holy name and cutting down enemies of righteousness.

Lawful, yes, but not in the same crazed sense that many 'bad' Paladins are. He rights wrongs and tries to instill justice where possible, but accepts that some laws have to be broken if the Good is to triumph over Evil.

Yes, I think Paladins can be some of the most interesting and cool character concepts out there. Whether optimized (Aasimar) or not (Half-Orc).

Sir Giacomo
2007-04-09, 05:04 AM
Hi, great thread!

some more unusual concepts I already played:

- a cynical old dwarven warrior who used to be a paladin/cleric in his great days, but completely lost his beliefs and some levels after being a mercenary and hermit for a hundred years and had a level of rogue (for sneak attack dirty fighting) some fighter levels (for feats). In the campaign, he at one point regained paladin status, but with his stats modified by his age he was not that great in combat any more and had to rely a lot on his wisdom and overall tactics (battlefield control etc.)
- a Jean d'Arc-like paladin character with a level of commoner first
- currently playing a Cyrano de Bergerac-like fighting poet with bard/rogue multiclass mixture going the (since it is a high magic campaign) fochlucan lyrist/sublime chord route for purely fencing-enhancing spells (good to get a contingency with haste up at the start of each combat)
- an iron golem who believes to be a normal human craftsman in a city (very humanlike appearance, with intelligence and some skill points), until getting involved with some adventurers on a quest.

Some more ideas I'm toying with
- a character not realising he is dead/undead (6th sense anyone?). Or a cursed knight having become a ghost for betrayal.
- a low-level human illusionist or beguiler trying to fake being whatever class is needed on an adventure (including fake blood over disguise self for plate mail etc., charlatan healing potions etc.)
- an extra-planar creature (maybe with a d20 modern class) poising as a human who is something like a "tourist" (à la Pratchett) accompanying a group of adventurers and trying to figure out a medieval fantasy society (including having no concept of money, religion, boiled food, humor etc....)
- a plain vanilla human fighter
- a sorcerer going into melee combat with ray and touch spells, trained to be a bodyguard in an ultra-high magic campaign (magic replacing science, resulting in a world similar to our current time in everyday magics and living standards)
- a gambler and masterthief abusing the great sleight-of-hand skill

- Giacomo

Shikton
2007-04-09, 05:36 AM
One I've never been able to pull off, because D&D really isn't the system for it, is the reformed BBEG.

Take a powerful Lawful Evil Warlord, and push him to the point he has a full-on mental breakdown. He finds himself in a religious monastary (not D&D monks, European-style monks), and slowly regains stability.

Now a Lawful Good priest, something dire happens and he has to pull out the sword that the abbot had hidden away. He is a reluctant Paladin, regretting every instant he needs to use his talent for violence and still hounded by what he did before his breakdown.

The problem with this character in D&D is that unless you're a solo player, you can't play it from 1st level. You have to start much higher for the background to make sense. And I don't like starting at high levels.

Sounds a lot like a character named Skilgannon in the book "The Swords of Night and Day" by David Gemmell. Awesome char, but he didn't start out as evil though. Fun concept none the less.

Shadow of the Sun
2007-04-09, 06:14 AM
Fhaolan's reminds me of Ulic Qel-Droma, Sith Lord turned hermit turned teacher of the force.

Shotaro
2007-04-09, 06:21 AM
one of the clerics in my campaign worships the old god of death and has access to the death domain (plus one more but i forget what) anyway the idea is that he's crazy and thinks he IS death there's a list of all the PCs carved into his shield he never talks and he won't finish someone off unless its with the "Touch of Death" ability. The guy who thought up the idea isnt the best roleplayer but if he pulls it off it will be awesome - vow of poverty has been houseruled to let him use a scythe, a white shield and some plate mail beneath his cloak, but thats all he CAN use. he gets the no eating benefits and attribute bonuses to counter the lack of boosting magical items also added in his equipment automatically gains an enchantment every 4th level so at level 4 all his equipment is +1 etc etc.

If the character dies he just disappears and the shield drops to the floor, his name gets scored away then the shield too fades. The idea of course being that he actually WAS death just an avatar of the wrong god.

Latronis
2007-04-09, 07:00 AM
I don't know why, but I really like the idea of a barbarian eventually turning into a paladin.

Like a character who starts out a barbarian warrior who travels to a major city for some quest, and eventually champions a cause and becomes a paladin.

Of course, you'd have to either allow Barbarians to be lawful, or enact an alignment switch (maybe NG -> LG).

Or take a half-orc paragon and call him a barbarian since he has a rage, take human paragon afterwards, then finally go into paladin taking half-orc racial substitution levels from races of destiny.

Abardam
2007-04-09, 08:17 AM
I always wanted to play a sneaky paladin. Paladin/Rogue, ranks in Hide, a crossbow, and Ranged Smite, and Devoted Inquisitor. Follows the party around in the shadows and smites the enemy if they start losing / rescues them from captors / heals them up if they all go unconscious. He'd also have a cool cloak (maybe with a cowl), of course.

Dunno how this would interact with the paladin code, though.

Fhaolan
2007-04-09, 08:18 AM
Well, it would be a little cheesy, but you could always say that the "Mental Breakdown" included the loss of his spellcasting abilities, and for flavor reasons, say he never had ANY combat training, so being a Paladin is just like starting anew.

Edit- Whoops, I thought you said Wizard, not Warlord. @.@

Actually, that's also an interesting idea, him being a Wizard previously. Not precisely the flavor I was looking for originally, but that's very interesting. Thanks. :)

Fizban: If you ever find the source of that idea, I'm very interested. It doesn't sound familiar, so it might be out of a third-party sourcebook like one of Monte Cook's. It sounds like something he'd do.

Shikton, Shadow of the Sun: Actually, this guy's a classic character. I've seen him done in literature many different times, each with it's own variation. The one I'm particularly fond of is the Cadfael mysteries, by Peter Ellis.

woc33
2007-04-09, 09:14 AM
There's an concept i always wanted to play (try to guess what it's based off):
Basically, it's a warforged made of darkwood trying to become more human, thus taking the durid class because he heard they can change into animals, he starts as a level 1 druid and over a period of time he gain experience and at level 5 he finally gains wild shape.
For those who got the reference, he spends his skill points on bluff ;)

JackMage666
2007-04-09, 10:47 AM
I have a few...

Vincent "The Chain" Barsh (Human Thug(UA)/Streetfighter)
Basically, he's the criminal. He's just a tough street urchin who spends half his time in a tavern and the other half in jail. He's not evil, but VERY chaotic in nature, and not really afraid of most things, especially when drunk. Gets through life by stealing and mugging, but doesn't kill unless he feels threatened. Called "The Chain" due to his favored weapon, the Spiked Chain, which he uses to keep fights unfair. Makes heavy use of Bluffing in combat, in order to gain his sneak attack.

Ignot the Mage (Dwarven Wizard/Cleric of Boccob/Runesmith/Mystic Theurge)
An old dwarven mystic theurge who wears Adamantine Full Plate and weild an Adamantine Dwarven War Axe. Throw on a Adamantine Shield Gauntlet, and he's set up to look like a tank, but casts spells better than most, partly because of his deceptive nature. If it's a 20 level build, you can do it so he has 5 levels of fighter as well, meaning you have an OK melee character who can cast spells as a 15th level Cleric/Wizard, and keep in full armor at all times. Transmutation should be used to maximize effectiveness.

I once tried a Dark One (from Fiend Folio and, obviously, the better looking one) Aristocrat who was more pacifistic in nature than not. He carried his (practically useless) rapier and acted like a nobleman, as well as his Darkwood Hand Crossbow that he hated to use in fear of breaking a string on it, or chipping th wood. He carried a bag of holding for the strict purpose of holding all his clothes (mostly, black silk, but he had a number of white garbs as well, and even more shoes), and a large amount of soap so he could bath/wash clothes every few days. He was forced into adventuring by the government. He was also a very good dancer. And he seduced a nun. The suprising was that he actually saved the party a number of times, using his sneak attack and staying well hidden. He killed 6 cocatrices on his own when some party members were turned to stone. Well, he had the help of the other party rogue, but he took all the credit anyway.

In an off-beat campaign, I made a Vampire Cleric of Pelor, with Sunlight Resistance. He made his prayers last less than a minute, or he'd burn up.

KoDT69
2007-04-09, 01:42 PM
What about a Minotar monk dual-weilding monkey-gripped and oversized nunchuku? That would be pretty scary considering those chucks could be like 100lbs each due to the immense size of the character. Once he gets up in levels he can get unbounded leap... Like the Super Mario build with weapons and horns!
A goblin ninja, because they rock!
A kobold Half-Dragon barbarian, because it would be funny!
A gnome <insert any classes but bard or illusionist> :smallbiggrin:

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-04-09, 01:51 PM
Hey, one of my favorite gnomes was Cindy the Barbarian. She was an unstoppable juggernaut to everything of fine size or smaller!

Rolaran
2007-04-09, 02:08 PM
One of the oens I've always wanted to try is a Dwarven Warmage, from the little known First Dwarven Spellcasting Infantry. Basically, he would be the result of a disastrous attempt by dwarven military to begin a group of arcane magic users, and the company would have fallen apart due to some disaster before it became widely known. So we have a single dwarf wandering the earth, serving as a mercenary, and always getting "typecast" as a fighter or cleric ("What are you doing? I can't be at the front lines! I have to be near the back! This axe is for show, I use fireballs mostly!" "Yeah, sure ya do. Now get to the front, Fireballs.")

MaxKaladin
2007-04-09, 02:37 PM
First Dwarven Spellcasting Infantry:smallsmile: There was a running joke in the campaigns I ran in college about the "Dwarven Imperial Navy" with their stone ships.

MaxKaladin
2007-04-09, 02:45 PM
The very first character I ever made for 3.0 was a Barbarian/Monk. His backstory was that he'd been a viking-style raider who was grievously wounded while raiding a remote monastery and left for dead. The monks found him and nursed him back to health while trying to teach him the error of his ways. In the end, he ended up embracing their philosophy and became a lawful monk himself. I don't remember all the mechanical effects beyond losing the ability to rage and keeping the d12 hit dice, but I really liked the concept.

Telonius
2007-04-09, 02:50 PM
no don't rip off a well known figure, have him plant like pomegranates or something

Or Kudzu! You could have an entire Druid sect out to find this guy.

Edo
2007-04-09, 03:02 PM
Donal the Klavenner ("bladesmith" in an extinct language) is, in fact, the incarnate God of Vengeance from a pantheon that dissolved as its worshipers declined, fell and were absorbed into their surrounding cultures.

Nobody ever pins him as unusual, because he spends his days working as the village blacksmith, relocating every thirty years before questions start getting asked.

When he finds out that somebody is, by his standards, wronged and unavenged (which isn't as often as you'd think; his portfolio sense doesn't go off unless 1,000+ people go unavenged at once), he waits until nightfall. Then, under cover of darkness, he approaches them and hands them a masterwork dagger.

What they do with the dagger isn't his concern.

(This wasn't actually a PC, but I could definitely see it working as a cleric of Hoar or something like that.)

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-04-09, 03:15 PM
But should they ever tell anyone about Klavenner, there could be Grave consequences.

Latronis
2007-04-09, 03:37 PM
There's an concept i always wanted to play (try to guess what it's based off):
Basically, it's a warforged made of darkwood trying to become more human, thus taking the durid class because he heard they can change into animals, he starts as a level 1 druid and over a period of time he gain experience and at level 5 he finally gains wild shape.
For those who got the reference, he spends his skill points on bluff ;)

heh never seen someone play pinnochio before :D

KoDT69
2007-04-09, 04:41 PM
Any character class based off of the Kingdom of Loathing!
http://www.kingdomofloathing.com
Heh, dual weilding fighter using Bastard Sword & Martini Glass!

ArmorArmadillo
2007-04-09, 05:00 PM
As much as it is unoriginal, you can get some good characters by starting out by basing it off of something else.
Edouard de Leon Based off of Mugen (From Samurai Champloo), he's a fighter with high Dex, high Cha, and Wis 5, and maxed out Perform (Dance) (I gave up ride and handle animal to take it as a class skill); I also use a homebrew feat that lets me add my Cha bonus to AC while unarmored. He was fun, but turned out to be pretty underpowered, so now I've taken levels in sorcerer to add an extra element of power; now I am a swiftfooted mage who specializes in touch attacks and can take significant hits in combat; and also loves to use defensive spells like mirror image for frontal combat.

Also, my english professor once said the key to great writing was to understand the rules, so that you knew why you were breaking them.
Cato Trahn (Rogue 2/Artificer 3/Combat Trapsmith 2) was a Neraph born in Limbo, but due to odd circumstances, he and his brother were sold into slavery on Mechanus. They later left for the prime material; and he took his natural brilliance, skill with design and construction, and bizarre mixed philosophy of Chaotic and Lawful heritage with him. He plays the "Fixer/Trapper" role in a stealth campaign.

Finally, you can't go wrong with mythology and a few well-highlighted quirks.
The next character I'm trying to make will be a Totemist. She was born the daughter of a town elder in a small hamlet, but her quaint village home was destroyed utterly by an earthquake. She was one of few survivors, and was sent to appease the Catfish King who caused the worlds Earthquakes. She left to oversee his lake and worship him, and in turn gave up all ties to, but not the memory of, civilization to live in veneration of her natural lord. She's not a Druid per se, but I plan to highlight her mystic Shamanic powers and savagery with her lingering ties to her old luxurious home. Trademark incidents would be such things as wearing beautiful clothing to a fancy resteraunt and then grossly devouring things with her bare hands.

Necromas
2007-04-09, 05:08 PM
A Maug with dual stone spitters, a heavy steel shield, and a brilliant energy longsword makes a good gundam.

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2007-04-09, 05:11 PM
This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! [/gundam]

My favorite 'cool concept' character I'm playing at the moment is a Half-giant Totemist/Rogue, specializing in stealth-augmenting Soulmelds and combat acumen; he dual-wields Dire Picks carved to resembles birds of prey.

Nifty? I think yes.

Khantalas
2007-04-09, 05:18 PM
A character that has Super Speed and Alternate Form (energy, fire) as Linked powers! When he increases his speed, he bursts into flames!

CockroachTeaParty
2007-04-09, 05:19 PM
I'd like to make a human woman, starting off as a commoner with ranks in perform (go go dance), who gets her leg eaten off by zombies. She then replaces her missing leg with a heavy repeating crossbow. Wee!

Oh, I'm a bugbear now. Huh.

TheThan
2007-04-09, 07:41 PM
I also want to play a dwarf rogue that wields a knife and a hand crossbow. He wears a pinstriped suit and is a high-ranking enforcer for the local thieves’ guild. Very well known, and feared, but he’s got connections and uses his contacts to avoid jail time.

Or I was thinking of an atheist cleric. He doesn’t believe in the gods, he just thinks the establishment is exists to control society by keeping the populous poor and dependant on their clerics for healing/blessings/etc.
He believes in this so strongly that he has been granted cleric powers.

So he goes around from village to village preaching his word. After a while he begins to gain a following. This following grows and soon he finds himself leading a bloodless social revolution in which the country (if not the world) throws down the gods and begins worshiping him as a god. Thusly He ascends to god hood himself. While the original gods die off (or go to sleep whatever the case may be) as his “true word” spreads.
Unfortunately for him, the universe cannot handle that amount of irony and the world is destroyed in a cataclysm.

storybookknight
2007-04-09, 08:13 PM
I had a friend once who played a druid named Edwin Anjanar; a lost noble son who fell into the jungle and was raised by displacer beasts. (This is Eberron, where you can take a magical beast as your totem animal and get them as an animal companion). He rode around on his 'mother's back, and otherwise was a spellcasting, displacer-beast-riding, Mowgli. Or maybe Tarzan.

For my own part, I've (recently) played Donovan Grey, the world's greatest swordsman under 3 feet in height (a halfling swashbuckler/fighter/rogue);
and a shifter barbarian who worshiped the Silver Flame. Nothing quite so dramatic in backstory, but both were excellently fun to play.

headwarpage
2007-04-09, 08:29 PM
I recently came up with the idea for a variant Druid class that I'm calling the Stoneheart Druid. I just began playing Belrak Stonefriend in the PbP forums. The basic idea is that nature, for him, is embodied in the living earth rather than the flash-in-the-pan organic life on it. Generations of Stoneheart Druids before him have painstakingly chronicled the formation of limestone caverns and the formation of hairstone fractures along stress lines, and passed this knowledge down to their students so that they can understand and appreciate how the earth grows and changes over time. Even the longest-lived mortals will never see these changes, except when they lead to some sort of spectacular explosion of power in form of an earthquake or volcano, but the Stoneheart Druids know them, and devote their entire lives to studying them. To them, the millenia of slow building of pressure is just as important as the actual earthquake. Belrak himself doesn't add much to that, but maybe once I've established an archetype I'll start expanding on it.

De_Carabas
2007-04-09, 11:52 PM
Sick and tirerd of the classically over used orphan heros, I created Jimmy Farmhand. (barb 1/fighter X/???)
Raised by a large extended family on a farm several days out of the nearest town, Jimmy eventually left home after he got sick and tired of his mother and aunts continually pestering him to find a nice girl, settle down and give them some grandchildren to spoil. In town he ended up getting caught up in the excitment of adventures, and figures that he will eventually get rich and famous, and if he hasn't found a wife by then, women will be lining up to ask him to marry them.
Used to informal, tight knit groups Jimmy is far too trusting, and always on the look out for a potential bride. His manners are pretty base and he doesn't quite get women (more so than most men).

Jamie Fameflame
2007-04-10, 12:24 AM
One I've never been able to pull off, because D&D really isn't the system for it, is the reformed BBEG.

Take a powerful Lawful Evil Warlord, and push him to the point he has a full-on mental breakdown. He finds himself in a religious monastary (not D&D monks, European-style monks), and slowly regains stability.

Now a Lawful Good priest, something dire happens and he has to pull out the sword that the abbot had hidden away. He is a reluctant Paladin, regretting every instant he needs to use his talent for violence and still hounded by what he did before his breakdown.


- "My name is Earl" :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

Latronis
2007-04-10, 08:43 AM
Sick and tirerd of the classically over used orphan heros, I created Jimmy Farmhand. (barb 1/fighter X/???)
Raised by a large extended family on a farm several days out of the nearest town, Jimmy eventually left home after he got sick and tired of his mother and aunts continually pestering him to find a nice girl, settle down and give them some grandchildren to spoil. In town he ended up getting caught up in the excitment of adventures, and figures that he will eventually get rich and famous, and if he hasn't found a wife by then, women will be lining up to ask him to marry them.
Used to informal, tight knit groups Jimmy is far too trusting, and always on the look out for a potential bride. His manners are pretty base and he doesn't quite get women (more so than most men).

The farmboy running off to be an adventurer is no less overused

De_Carabas
2007-04-10, 09:24 AM
Very true, it by far the family aspect I was aiming for.

Shadow of the Sun
2007-04-10, 10:09 AM
I generally use this concept in either freeform or point based games, it just doesn't work in DnD, at least without a homebrew class.

I got the idea from Elric and samurai novels- Elric wields a sentient demonic blade- literally, his weapon is a demon in the form of a blade. This character wields a blade that is quite literally their soul taken the form of a weapon. They are not a lich, in the fact that their body is still living, and their mind still functions, it is just that their weapon is literally their soul.

This is more fun with characters that are extremes of alignment- a chaotic evil person wielding a blade that is a demonic form of their soul? Priceless.

I am planning on putting this concept into use in the Town, soon.

AmberVael
2007-04-10, 10:28 AM
Here is my contribution- a very high powered character I created for Town and later gave a character sheet for an Arena fight against a Deity character.
Oh, and she won. She won really fast:

Aesa the Vala, daughter of Skuld the Norn
Sorceress 5, Human Paragon 3, Loremaster 17, 10 Vala (homebrew class- some of you may have seen it), 5 Fatespinner.
Divine Rank 0 (used human as the race, along with the winged template).

Aesa, interestingly, is the second daughter of Skuld the norn. her story begins with her sister, who was named after the norn Verdandi.
Verdandi was, quite simply, an accident. No one knew how she really came about, and to hide the confusion she caused, she was simply thrown among the valkyries and they called it good.
After a while, she decided she really didn't like being a valkyrie that much, and instead wanted to defend people rather than retrieving their souls. So she left the valkyries and began to do just that.
-Then the norns realized that her deeds were manipulating the tapestry of fate. Changing what was meant to be.
Not a good thing, in their eyes. Not at all.
Their first reaction was to kill Verdandi and be done with it once and for all, but Odin refused to let them, for reasons left unstated... how he persuaded the Norns is also a mystery.
However, he suggested that they instead create a way to balance out Verdandi's existance.
Thus, Aesa was born. She was imbued with enough power to cancel out every act of her sister and thus reweave the tapestry of fate to the way it should be.

But... Verdandi was a paladin. This meant that quite often Aesa had to do very vile deeds to keep up her work, and she wasn't actually an evil person. She was as nice as her sister really.
But the norns demanded it. She had to continue her work.
Thus, Aesa slowly adapted. She never grew to actually love evil or quite want to be that way... but she learned to enjoy it. To enjoy what she had to do, no matter how despicable.
Furthermore, she grew weary of the monotony in the world, and made it a secondary task to find things that amused her, or simply found ways to amuse herself.

Eventually she and Verdandi found ways to free themselves of the norns and their influence, and Aesa attempted to take the life she had never been allowed to have-
But it was too late. She was used to her evil now, and enjoyed it too thoroughly to actually want to do much else. It pained her, but that is the way it was.
Ever so often, she attempts to become the good person she dreams of being, the person she always was but was not allowed to be- but she has never succeeded.

Hologram Golem
2007-04-10, 04:09 PM
This is actually an NPC I created as a non-traditional protagonist for a Ptolus police procedural game I run.

Seeslis. LG Lizardgirl Paladin2/Bard 2

Max ranks in Performace (oratory) and Diplomacy. Seeslis is a paladin of Bahumut who tries to better her people's lot in life (The lizardmen in Ptolus are mostly homeless drifters and are often kidnapped by slavers.) Given her status, she actually finds herselves at odds with both the government and her own people for being such an oddball religion.

Surprisingly solid Saves. Toss the Devoted Performer And Improved Smiting feat in there and you're good to go.

Matthew
2007-04-10, 05:48 PM
I know there's been a lot of anger on the boards recently over whether it's better to make optimal characters to roleplay with or to purposely take suboptimal choices specifically for roleplaying reasons. So I thought it might be a refreshing change of pace to dedicate a topic to making character concepts that aren't really about out-statting everyone else, but instead looking really cool doing it. I'll start-

Jon, the Cowardly Knight
Fighter 4/Barbarian 4/Ranger 7/Scout 5
With his high dexterity stats and tactical feats such as improved disarm and trip, Jon is a terror on the battlefield- for his employers. Jon has focused much of his adventuring career on surviving encounters regardless of the price this might impose upon his allies. He's somewhat competent in a fight, but the moment a sword gets a little too close to his shoulder the man is gone. Some might scoff at his modus operandi, but Jon has managed to reach middle age while being a full-time adventurer- something very few in this occupation ever accomplish.
Did you just totally rip off the Dungeons & Dragons 80s Cartoon? Eye of the Beholder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons_cartoon)

Fhaolan
2007-04-10, 05:59 PM
Did you just totally rip off the Dungeons & Dragons 80s Cartoon? Eye of the Beholder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons_cartoon)

Don't dis the cartoon, man. I remember watching that when it was first broadcast. :smallbiggrin:

I remember digging through the books going, "But those magic items aren't in the DMG! Why is the DM showing up as a character? Why aren't they using the rules???"

*sigh* To be young again. No. I take that back. I never want to be that age again. :smallsmile:

Matthew
2007-04-10, 06:06 PM
Hey, I'm not dissing it. I loved that cartoon. It's relationship to the game was odd, but the flavour was always there. Some episodes were fantastic, such as The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow and Child of the Stargazer.

SpiderBrigade
2007-04-10, 06:24 PM
Hey does anyone have that book that stats the characters from the show up for 3.5, with a little mini-adventure or two to run through? I saw it briefly and it looked pretty amusing.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-04-10, 06:25 PM
Sadly, I'm only 20 and wasn't around to appreciate it. So no, I couldn't have deliberately ripped it off :P

Still, this might be a fun show to watch. Huzzah YouTube!

Matthew
2007-04-10, 06:51 PM
Hey does anyone have that book that stats the characters from the show up for 3.5, with a little mini-adventure or two to run through? I saw it briefly and it looked pretty amusing.
I so want that, but I think it only got released in the United States.

Sadly, I'm only 20 and wasn't around to appreciate it. So no, I couldn't have deliberately ripped it off :P

Still, this might be a fun show to watch. Huzzah YouTube!
Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.:smallwink: I could be misremembering, it might not have been Sir John the Cowardly Knight in that episode, but I think it was. Still, you have taken "your first step into a wider world..."

McDeath
2007-04-10, 07:07 PM
My current character is a gnome sorcerer specialising in Enchantment spells. He's True Neutral, and convinced that good and evil are relative concepts - and he tries to "open people's eyes" by stripping away their illusions and exposing them to both horrible and beautiful things. He acknowledges the existence of gods, but says they are no more than powerful beings meddling because they can - so why follow them?
He broke a minor noble's mind, and the church excommunicated him half an hour after he entered the country.

Fax Celestis
2007-04-10, 07:14 PM
Here's an interesting concept: I am an animate, intelligent weapon, with a granted power of telekinesis. I wield myself.

Now, I also confuse the DM for I take levels in Kensai and Monk. I can flurry with myself, but I'm a broadsword. So am I a natural attack, a manufactured weapon, or an unarmed strike (or god forbid, all three)? And what happens if I take Snap Kick or Versatile Unarmed Strike? Can I choose myself as my own Signature Weapon?

goat
2007-04-10, 07:22 PM
I like the idea of a character who's sending 10% of their money back home to the folks. They lose out on equipment (at least initially), but they have people who they can depend on where they're in trouble, who will lie and hide them if they're hunted, always provide them with honest information, care for them if they're crippled, and maybe more should the situation require it.

Make them the adventuring son of an aging blacksmith/artificer/wizard, and whenever they do pop home, they can pick up some low/mid level kit that their parents/family have lying around.

It also gives them a HUUUGE amount of plot hooks. Family problems, family friend problems, historical enemies of the family, the whole reason why they need to send money home...

RS14
2007-04-10, 10:37 PM
My crazy idea is a totally misanthropic Wizard/Cleric/Mystic Theurge follower of Tharizdun. His goal is to free his god and bring about the end of the universe. Keep in mind that he can't cast divine spells until he gets his hand on a relic or unless he is in a temple to Tharizdun (both difficult), paladins will smite him faster than Vecna himself, and he's probably going to have to hide his cleric levels from the rest of the party. Yeah. :smalltongue:

The second idea that spun off of this is a once mighty (Epic) wizard who had once, eons ago, tried to destroy the world for similar reasons, but had tried to do so by destroying an artifact. He then failed his will save and lost all spellcasting, but his contingency plan allowed him to escape to already prepared magical stasis far, far below the earth (like imprisonment) until much time had passed, and, when the spell ended, he was mostly forgotten even by the gods. He then has to find some other way to live on and to stay in hiding, as if he were nobody special.

The Gilded Duke
2007-04-11, 01:07 AM
Jack is a rogue of rogue, a master of scoundrels, and one of the best damn card sharks you will ever meet.

That is what he says anyway, and nobody beleives him. He isn't very sophisticated, he isn't very subtle, and his attempts to cheat at cards are blatant.

Fortunatly him being a level six barbarian helps him survive the resulting bar fights.

Jack is a Barbarian who thinks he is a rogue... and really wants to be a rogue... and really tries to be a rogue. Unfortunatly along the way he got addicted to devil weed and owes the mob money... so he does a bit of adventuring on the side to avoid ending up face down in the river.

Unfortunatly the game never got started.. I was really looking forward to playing this character, had his image all worked out too. He looks like Abe Lincoln. Tall and Lanky with long arms and a black beard. Wears a top hat tipped forward slightly. Always smoking.

Khantalas
2007-04-11, 05:18 AM
Here's an interesting concept: I am an animate, intelligent weapon, with a granted power of telekinesis. I wield myself.

That puts a whole new level to the saying "My body is a lethal weapon".

Unless you're an intelligent sap or whip, then it creates a new saying "My body is a non-lethal weapon". Which doesn't have the same feeling.

Zincorium
2007-04-11, 05:40 AM
I posted it in the 'flavor characters' thread we had a while back, but:

'Jeeves', warforged swashbuckler.

Originally comissioned by a noble family in Cyre as a personal bodyguard for their rebellious teenage son, Raleon, as well as a companion to follow him in his revelry that would be immune to the effects of drink and the charms of the fairer sex. Gaudily colored, with rich purple and red enamel competing with gold filigree for attention over a streamlined suit of integral mithral armor, Jeeves was viewed as much a fashion accessory as a servant by the young scion. While initially trained as a soldier, the only combats Jeeves was involved in during his duties were duels and tavern brawls, much more suited to the tactics and equipment favored by Raleon's friends, bravos and rakes from all walks of life. Jeeves adapted quickly and soon became a master in the use of a pair of daggers.

When the war began, Raleon accepted a comission as an officer and boldly if unsubtly led several sorties into neighboring lands, always with Jeeves at his side. The newly promoted lieutenant's luck eventually ran out, and he was separated from his troops and bodyguard in battle and slain. Were it not for the cataclysm, Jeeves would, full of regret and anguish, have returned dutifully to the family manor to tell Raleon's parents of their son's death.

As it is, he now wanders the lands in search of adventure and romance, attempting to live up to the spirit and sense of adventure that Raleon had always talked about.

elliott20
2007-04-11, 09:29 AM
My fun character? Quagmire, GIGGITY!

JackMage666
2007-04-11, 10:14 AM
Someday, I'd like to lay a Corpse Creature Rogue/Assassin who keeps himself pretty with an item that does gentle repose. He'd perfer small weapons, and his favored hiding places would be in his forearm, carefull tucked inside a fold he had cut out and sews up when he doesn't use them. As well, he holds a number of other daggers and weapons in other parts of his body, parts that have "healed" over with Inflict Spells, so he can rip them out if he is in need of them.

It would be a difficult idea, but it'd be cool to do this with a living creature too. Only, I'm sure he'd die.

Fhaolan
2007-04-11, 10:46 AM
Unless you're an intelligent sap or whip, then it creates a new saying "My body is a non-lethal weapon". Which doesn't have the same feeling.

I would *so* play that character. If nothing else, just to watch the faces of the other players when I introduce it.

I have other funny character concepts, but they're awfully hard to do in text. They depend a lot on the voices I do for them.

There's Pex, the incredibly dim half-ogre socerer. High Cha (for a half-ogre), moron-level INT and WIS. His rat familiar, who he calls 'Kitty', is more intelligent than he is.

Then there's the Centaur Bard who always introduces himself as: "My name's Star, from Silverpool." He talks about how in his previous group they raided a Cloud Giant's castle, and he wrote a song about it: "Looting in the sky for diamonds..." [I'm willing to bet only 10% of this forum will be able to figure out the joke in that. It *really* helps if you hear the accent.]

Fax Celestis
2007-04-11, 10:52 AM
Then there's the Centaur Bard who always introduces himself as: "My name's Star, from Silverpool." He talks about how in his previous group they raided a Cloud Giant's castle, and he wrote a song about it: "Looting in the sky for diamonds..." [I'm willing to bet only 10% of this forum will be able to figure out the joke in that. It *really* helps if you hear the accent.]

He wouldn't happen to have a brother "Ringo" and a sister "Lucy", would he?

ArmorArmadillo
2007-04-11, 01:45 PM
I posted it in the 'flavor characters' thread we had a while back, but:

'Jeeves', warforged swashbuckler.

Originally comissioned by a noble family in Cyre as a personal bodyguard for their rebellious teenage son, Raleon, as well as a companion to follow him in his revelry that would be immune to the effects of drink and the charms of the fairer sex. Gaudily colored, with rich purple and red enamel competing with gold filigree for attention over a streamlined suit of integral mithral armor, Jeeves was viewed as much a fashion accessory as a servant by the young scion. While initially trained as a soldier, the only combats Jeeves was involved in during his duties were duels and tavern brawls, much more suited to the tactics and equipment favored by Raleon's friends, bravos and rakes from all walks of life. Jeeves adapted quickly and soon became a master in the use of a pair of daggers.

When the war began, Raleon accepted a comission as an officer and boldly if unsubtly led several sorties into neighboring lands, always with Jeeves at his side. The newly promoted lieutenant's luck eventually ran out, and he was separated from his troops and bodyguard in battle and slain. Were it not for the cataclysm, Jeeves would, full of regret and anguish, have returned dutifully to the family manor to tell Raleon's parents of their son's death.

As it is, he now wanders the lands in search of adventure and romance, attempting to live up to the spirit and sense of adventure that Raleon had always talked about.
Awesome, just awesome. Bravo, this is a great character; I humbly request to be able to use an analogy of this character in my Eberron campaign?

SpiderBrigade
2007-04-11, 03:42 PM
Then there's the Centaur Bard who always introduces himself as: "My name's Star, from Silverpool." He talks about how in his previous group they raided a Cloud Giant's castle, and he wrote a song about it: "Looting in the sky for diamonds..." [I'm willing to bet only 10% of this forum will be able to figure out the joke in that. It *really* helps if you hear the accent.]I want to make a joke about him being a born silver-puller, but it wouldn't quite come across. Like you say, it's in the accent. In this case a Silverpudlian accent.

edit: centaur, though? That part slides past me.

Zincorium
2007-04-11, 04:12 PM
Awesome, just awesome. Bravo, this is a great character; I humbly request to be able to use an analogy of this character in my Eberron campaign?

Go right ahead, Jeeves has yet to see actual play, since I can't seem to convince our group to try Eberron.

Fhaolan
2007-04-11, 04:40 PM
I want to make a joke about him being a born silver-puller, but it wouldn't quite come across. Like you say, it's in the accent. In this case a Silverpudlian accent.

edit: centaur, though? That part slides past me.

Yeah, that's far more obscure, and is something of an in-joke. Most of the people I game with work with horses on a reasonably regular basis, so they have a tendency to name Centaurs after real horse terminology (usually misspelled). Winni, for example, is my wife's main character, a Centaur Sorceress. 'Star' is a technical term for a white marking between the eyes of a horse. That's actually how it all started, a Centaur named 'Star', simply because it's a horse term. And then I realized where that could go, and it snowballed on me.

Gungnir
2007-04-11, 11:01 PM
I'm partial to my boy Hern, Fighter 8:
Apprentice to an armor smith, he grew up reading stories of Heroes over and over again, and decided that he wanted to be immortalized himself in his own legend. He's since worked constantly to become the ultimate leading man; imposing (due to his massive spiked armor), unique (in a race of short, dark haired people, he is 6 feet tall and has long silver hair) and charismatic. He inserts a dramatic flair into everything he does, from shopping casually in a bazaar, clad in frightening armor yet bartering fairly with old ladies, to leaping to the sky with the help of an ally to cleave the wings off a monster, only to drop down on it like a lightning bolt.

Karaswanton
2007-04-12, 12:12 AM
My first "real" campaign involved a nation of humans, a nation of elves and a nation of orcs. The elves were LG instead of CG, but were still at war with the
orcs. The humans were CG and not organized and therefore were neutral in the war. Additionally, the elf lands were between the orc and human lands so the orcs weren't an immediate threat.

Anyway, the DM wanted all of us to be human.
I *hate* playing human. I *am* human, why RP one?
Dm says he'll only allow non-humans if we have good backstory.

Here's mine, I played a Half-Orc Barbarian.
Half-orcs are usually the result of rape on the battlefield.
Kesht was not the case, there was no battlefield and his parents were lovingly married. Kurotch (his father) for whatever reason never fit in with the other orcs. They were stupid, savage and disorderly.
Kurtoch had a vision--a god told him to leave his lands to find another home, so he did so. He crossed over the elven lands, and was met with suspicion and fear. He was often jailed simply for being an orc, and when this happened his faith in his god (St.Cuthbert.) dictated that he go along, meekly. He would sue for his freedom and was able to gain it.

Eventually, he came to the human lands, met a woman and settled down.
His wife would later give birth to a son who would prove to be a disappointment to him on almost every level.

Kesht was violent, prone to anger, proud, and ultimately stupid.
I had a lot of fun with Kesht though. Stupid, but lovable.

It was especially fun when I got in a fight with one of the other PCs and Dad showed up. Mace to the kisser.

KoDT69
2007-04-12, 06:42 AM
What about a Fog Giant that is a Monk/Barbarian/Forsaker with the half-dragon template. Give him Oversized 2 Weapon Fighting and a pair of oversized nunchuku. Since he's 30' tall already, the oversized chucks would have to be equal to double your average telephone pole diameter and about 6' long or more for each handle. Think about it, he could move at 100ft charging you, make an unbounded leap like 60'+ and use the Shock Trooper and Leap Attack feats. That would hurt!
Oh, what about a Goblin Necromancer that has a paranoia disorder making him afraid of dead things!

Mellchia
2007-04-12, 01:51 PM
In an Eberron campaign that we appear to no longer be playing....

Mender is a Cyran Warforged (Soulknife 1/Fighter 1), who fought in the Last War. His regiment was in Cyre, returning from battle on the Day of Mourning. He has no recollection of what happened, except that he is the only one (that he knows about) that survived, regaining self-awareness by a border village in Breland. Upon discovering that Cyre has vanished totally, he has moved to Sharn and taken up apprenticeship to a surly old dwarven smith.

What makes him different is that he recalls having no special "latent abilities" before the Day. He was just a regular soldier. Upon gaining conciousness, he discovered that his mind could produce a sword of sorts. Highly irregular (He also recalls no other warforged being capable of performing the same act or using Mind instead of Physical Strength), he has kept this a secret from all except the Dwarf. To compound his confusion further, he has memories of a Cyran house with a family. It is as if the memories of someone else has penetrated his mind. He quietly searches for clues about the cause for these memories to suddenly exist in his mind. He is actually much better skilled in sketching pictures of memories and he frequently stores them in scroll cases. He actually has purchased a spellbook - he hopes drawing these in the spellbook will reveal something (actually, nothing yet. Funny story about that Spellbook too).

He personally hones his Mind Blade abilities by himself, accidentally discovering or witnessing acts and trying to perform them again and again, until he understands what he has done. He holds both the Lord of Blades and those who seek to become flesh with disdain - he firmly believes that the Warforged is unique, in being sentient, free, and aware of their surroundings that there is no reason to become like the other races or return to a construct similar to golems and the like.

He's currently adventuring with two companions who he trusts (on a certain level) - a Changling and a Warforged Cleric of Light - which should open up all levels of problems should he ever run into Kalashtar and the Quori. While the other two players have a goal in mind (prestige class or power), my guy is more or less advancing how he lives. He started out as a Soulknife, but I wasn't able to use any psionic skills or power (thankfully so), so I ended up just leveling in Fighter.

Luircin
2007-04-12, 03:29 PM
I usually am accused of being an optimizer/munchkin, even though I don't think that I am. In either case, in my current game, I've purposely created a close-combat character whose damage is sub-par at best (1d4+7, 1d3+4 + PA), and is the only melee character in the party.

Irtilashik is a wyrmling brass dragoness. While she was still in the egg, her parents were murdered by a slightly mad blue dragoness (who wanted nothing more than to have a child of her own) and the blue dragoness's "pet" tribe of generic evil hobgoblins. Unfortunately, the hobgoblins had no idea how to properly care for a dragon egg, and the mis-care (Including being dropped on her head several times) damaged her brain before even hatching.

Before Irtil hatched, however, the (Insert generic paladin order here) declared a crusade against the hobgoblin tribe and the blue dragoness, defeating both, but while the order was looting the dragon's lair, Irtil's egg was overlooked and she hatched alone.

Her "character hook" is the fact that she has very little self-control and runs almost entirely on emotions and instinct. Her "childish tantrums" tend to be deadly, but she has a very loose grasp of the concept of death, and doesn't understand why things stop moving when she's burrowed into a body and torn apart some vital organ.

Stats: (6-HD wyrmling brass dragon/Barbarian 4. ECL 12)