Vampire Werewolf
Colin: Our latest Patreon Poll has come to a close, and the people have (sort of) spoken. Asked to choose a monster as the next inhabitant of Handbook-World, our Quest Givers wound up punting the decision. With 48 total votes, the result was a perfect 50/50 split. And so, with the age old question of vampire vs. werewolf too close to call, we must make do with this monstrosity. Gaia help us all.
Laurel: After days of watching the poll switch back and forth before finally ending on a dead tie, Colin and I debated doing a tie-breaker but eventually settled on the idea of Miss Gestalt here, who has trouble choosing between ideas and therefore far too many character classes and themes and backgrounds squeezed into a single character sheet. Being both a vampire and a werewolf, she will very firmly be joining the side of evil as BBEG’s middle-manager.
Also, the WoD ribbing is very much with love–I’m a big fan of how over-the-top the lore gets, even if it gets us some silly concepts in the long run.
Colin: I love me some serious-face roleplay, but there’s something to be said for dialing a character concept up to 11 and going for balls-out camp. So even if BBEG is a little hard on the new hire, I’ve got to admit that there’s a special place in my heart for over-the-top backstories. (Longtime fans may recall our “Special Snowflake” oneshot, for example.) It’s the same impulse that gave rise to Dungeons: the Dragoning 40,000 7th Edition, as well as the much-loved tale of Slappy. That’s exactly the sort of uninhibited gaming goodness that I can get behind.
Laurel: My all-time weirdest character is a Pathfinder 1e concept that I’ve yet to actually play. It’s a fighter/sorcerer gestalt build I call “Kitsune-Kitsune,” and it involves beating your opponents to death with all nine of your very-fluffy tails. Because Kitsune-Kitsune was raised by a tribe of kobolds, she gets the tail terror feat. And through a liberal application of magical tail, she gets a lot of natural attacks along with a lot of spell-like abilities. Is it legal? Probably not. Fight me.
Colin: You guys already know my weirdest character. I described my goblin cabin boy Terrence Gilliam back in “The Help.” Sapping Henry VIII over the back of the head before riding off on a mastiff while dressed like Batman remains one of my fondest gaming memories. And by the thinnest possible logic, it also segues neatly into our question of the day.
Tell us all about your most insane character concepts! What ludicrous shenanigans have you pulled off at the table? What multiclassed monstrosities have you got lurking in your “build ideas” folder? Share all those half-dragon half-vampire half-angels down in the comments!
EARN BONUS LOOT! Check out the The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. We’ve got a sketch feed full of Laurel’s original concept art. We’ve got early access to comics. There’s physical schwag, personalized art, and a monthly vote to see which class gets featured in the comic next. And perhaps my personal favorite, we’ve been hard at work bringing a bimonthly NSFW Handbook of Erotic Fantasy comic to the world! So come one come all. Hurry while supplies of hot elf chicks lasts!
CALLED IT!!! Tremble in fear before my prophetic powers, puny mortal realm! insert diabolical laugher here
You can henceforth skip all those ‘what class are you’ quizzes. You’ve got oracle on lock.
…
Please tell me I get to pick my own Curse. Only being able to understand Aklo when I’m nervous I could live with. Having my flesh rot away or host a swarm of creepy crawlies on the other hand would be an…. inconvenience.
Sorry. I’m afraid you’ve been cursed with introversion:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/Oracle/oracle-curses/#Reclusive
*Divination Wizard
I had a character named Grelka Slaubont in PF 1e. She was the result of a mad wizard magically sticking his own genetics into a kobold egg, resulting in a human who hatched from an egg.
Mechanically, she was basically an excuse to use a human’s ability to pick up some adopted ancestry stuff to get kobold traits and other goodies. I don’t have her sheet on from of me right now, but the most critical detail was a minor power from a side book (Kobolds of Golarion iirc) that lets a divine spontaneous caster become a dragon disciple. She was thus a Hunter/Dragon Disciple. A very silly combination that typically isn’t even legal, to say nothing of whether or not it’s a good idea.
She may look human, but I’m 100% sure that she’s got a full nictitating membranes.
I really like playing well optimized powerful characters, to the extent that i can feel a bit uncomfortable when i try to make one that isn’t. I do also quite like silly concepts though, and this urge was getting in the way of that. Something else i like alot was puffin forest, and in particular his character ABSERD. As such , i decided i would try to make an optimized version of that character, in which by level 14 i would have atleast one level of every character class. I did end up miscounting the classes, so it would actually be by 15, but it was still good enough for me. In the end, i made abserd, the malfunctioning runaway warforged. Thanks to his warforged nature and heavy armor proficiency, along with the shield spell and ansorb elements, he was quite tanky, thanks to having around 10-12 different cantrips and a bunch of skills and utility abilities, he had alot of utility, and thanks to eldritch blast, agonizing blast, and 4 levels in warlock for 18 cha, i had good damage. i admit the 4 warlock levels were a bit much for the concept, but as I thought at the time that i could still get a level in every character class by 14, i was fine with it. Altogether this made the new mechanical ABSERD quite competent, to the mild annoyance of the dms i played him under in our collective campaign. Things got even better after i got a belt of giants strength, which, combined with the expertise in athletics he already had, naturally made him a great masked luchador. He was alot of fun to play.
In the same way that puns are ‘a lot of fun’ to tell, I appreciate that you inflicted such pain on your DMs. Good show.
Good ol’ Puffin Forest. That video (here’s a link, for those who are curious) made me think about rolling up my own omni-class character — mostly as a thought exercise, since I don’t think I’m likely to play in a 15th-level campaign. I’d name him Ludic Ross.
Props to you for trying to optimize ABSERD. My plan would be to see if the DM would eventually let me become a 2nd- or maybe 3rd-level omniclass as a divine boon or something. To me, the concept is so inherently silly that optimizing it just doesn’t even occur to me.
Do you mean having a level in every class by level 3? That seems really strong. Also for me, usually my first thought when hearing a bizarre character concept is how i might make it workable and strong. Its alot of fun for me to just think about how to best manage that.
No, I mean having 3 levels in every class (effectively 45th level, hence the need for divine intervention to make it happen).
Ah i see, though it would be level 36 effectively actually, as there are 12 main character classes, the 15 levels to finish my abserd was just needed due to the 4 warlock levels.
Oh, wait, you’re right; I miscounted. He’d be a 39th-level character at that point (I’m including Artificer, since it’s had an official release now).
Is it telling that this is probably the hardest question I’ve been asked by Handbook world? How do I judge insanity? Strangest mechanics? Most convoluted backstory? Number of times something in my backstory came up and made people exclaim profanity in shock?
Strangest mechanical decision was the Elan I played in the Eberron Campaign. I pitched the idea to the GM, then lamented that Elans are very different in Eberron from what they are in D&D. The Gm replied it was fine and thus Maria Violet was made cannon. Maria Violet was originally a set of twins. Maria was a telepath (and a chaotic good alignment due to her natural empathy) while her sister, Violet was a more telekinetic oriented Soulknife (who was Chaotic Neutral.) At least, if they had been born proper. But when one sister started dying in the womb, the telepath had pulled the dying sister’s mind into her own body and they had been born two minds in the same body. The GM added that she was secretly a pet project of one of the Lords of Madness, and the aberration lord was very confused/intrigued by the way she had turned out. The fun came when the GM actually let Detect Alignment function depending on which personality was in control (I very clearly roleplayed the two differently), so the Cleric ended up very worried that his friend (The only other good character in the party) would occasionally slip into this state of not caring about others and not being good anymore.
As an exercise in writing, I wrote a version of an Exalted backstory that split based on whether I was playing the character as a Solar, an Abyssal or an Infernal Exalted. It was fun, because the changes were madely timing based. She was part of the resistance in Thorns, and the Mask of Winters had been playing this game of manipulating the resistance into tipping their hand for years. When she finally confronted him with an enchanted arrow that was supposed to be his bane, the story splits. The Solar version has the Unconquered Sun empowering her the moment she fires, and the arrow actually hurts him due to holy effects. The Abyssal version has him revealing the deception and deciding that he was impressed that she had managed to sneak past his deathknights of the time and offering her a place in his service. Of course, if she refused, he would murder her sister and torment her ghost, so there was also that. It ended up with an Abyssal who hated her Deathlord. The Infernal option had him deciding she wasn’t worth it, and putting her on display for public ridicule after executing her sister and the rest of the resistance. She was allowed to live because he thought it would break her. Instead, Adjorian sent a representative and she accepted the Green Sun Exaltation under the condition that she gets to kill the Mask of Winters.
I’m certain that Borges would approve of a Garden of Forking Exaltations.
Hooray for Lauren comments! Hopefully we’ll see more of them in the future. Or down in these comments, giving her own opinions. Can’t have Colin have all the fun. 😉
Laurel typically lurks behind the Patreon wall, greeting all who venture beyond with a tray of pomegranate seeds and running commentary.
(It makes more sense for her to run that part of the operation, as she’s the one who manages the mostly-visual fulfillment.) 🙂
Some of my group are doing a Tyranny of Dragons campaign while our home setting’s DM is on the other side of the state for college. I rolled really well during character creation, and those numbers screamed at me to do a MAD build. That’s how Feldar the Paladin/Rogue was born. He’s Oath of Conquest, and Inquisitive Rogue. Alignment: Lawful Good.
Wait… what?
I replaced the official Conquest fluff with stuff about how he believes evildoers deserve to be scared shitless, and his Rogue levels are justified as him being from an order of Inquisitors that splintered from the Order of the Gauntlet under the notion that they’re not harsh enough on evil.
Rogue/Paladin was my build for Ravenloft. Of course, I was Ancients instead of Conquest, planning to make use of cunning action to deliver all those auras around the battlefield….
What’s your split, btw? Rogue 2? Rogue 3?
Rogue 3. Inquisitive Rogues get everything I really want at that point, and by the end of Rise of Tiamat I should have enough in Pally to have that sweet sweet Improved Smite.
I can’t wait to use his method of interrogation. It involves the wordless exhibition of some ominous looking implements and an actor or two shrieking and pleading for mercy in the next room over.
I’m pretty new, but I came up with a character I love and sadly it looks as if the campaign he was in is dissolving.
He is a warforged barbarian. During a great battle he was struck hard in the face, knocking him unconscious. As the battle raged on, he got covered up and buried in the mud, never found by corps removers. Years and years fo by and eventually the firner battlefield becomes farm land. While plowing one day, a farmer strikes the buried warforge, who reawakenes. He has severe retrograde amnesia with no memory if who he was. The blow to the face also mangled him and caused his mouth to not open, preventing him from doing more than humming.
The farming family took him in, naming him Paul and giving him a slate mask he can draw facial expressions on with chalk. He turned out to be quite the gentle soul. At least until you angered him or threatened someone weaker than you.
I know it’s not really insane, but so far it’s the most interesting character I’ve come up with to date.
I think Paul would get on well with Ranger:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/strong-silent-type
Thing is Paul is pretty aloof. Think of Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Ranger strikes me as fairly stoic. Unless she finds his childishness an endearing quality she might get annoyed with him.
You see weird characters pop up more often when you’re playing with point-buy systems like Mutants and Masterminds. In my past experiences as a M&M player and GM, Ive seen…
Three siblings who can merge into one angel of justice.
The equivalent of a Yu-Gi-Oh gamer if he has cards that can do real magic.
A chef who can make food appear out of thin air.
And I kid you not, a human that was turned into a sentient chicken.
What is the benefit of becoming a chicken?
The character tasted very good when BBEG added hot oil, a thin layer of flour and 11 herbs and spices.
I don’t know much about BBEG’s backstory, but it’s at least conceivable that he was a colonel.
The funny thing is, the sentient chicken character was a PC for a supervillain game!
What were their powers? Other than “peck” and “crow” I mean.
Ok, so I managed to track down the character sheet. And as it turned out, the character wasn’t a human that was turned into a chicken, but rather an ordinary rooster that somehow became super intelligent.
Doctor Chicken’s powers are…
Is a Chicken:
Chicken Scamper: Speed 3
Chicken Talk: Comprehend 2 (Speaks to Animals, Understands Animals, Limited to Chickens)
Chickens are Small: Permanent Shrinking 8
Hyper Intelligent Chicken: Quickness 16 (Limited to Inventor, Artificer and Ritualist)
Fowl Arsenal
Cok-a-deathle-doo: Easily Removable Damage 10 (Ranged, Incurable, Ricochet 1, Split 2)
Devil’s Egg: Easily Removable Damage 8 (Ranged, Burst 1)
The Chickenator: Easily Removable Afflict 10 (Fatigued, Exhausted, Transformed)(Ranged)
MOTHA CLUCKER!: Easily Removable Damage 8 (Cloud Area 3, Ranged, Distracting, Unreliable 5 uses)
To think when I put suggested a supervillain game, I imagined it would be something like the Sinister Six being formed so they can have their revenge against the Superman expy that sent them to prison before their origin story.
And then somebody made a mad scientist chicken.
I feel like every group has a “pun guy.” I must make sure that mine never sees the word(s?) ‘Cok-a-deathle-doo.’
In the players defense, this system has a canon villain who is a psychic housecat with mind control. Who has a complication that she’s a cat. And her evil schemes sometimes end with her getting distracted by the red dot even though she has an intelligence of like 4. (that’s an 18 to you D&D folk.)
I think concept wise the weirdest I got is either my undead rights activist necromancer for good ol’ 3.5 or my AR MMO obsessed mage in Shadowrun, whose spirits possessed life sized Starcraft models.
Heh. Undead rights is a fun one:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/mean-girls-part-1-3
Did you have any good slogans?
I’ve LARPed that necromancer. She made knitted sweaters for the local zombies and labelled them with their names, where to return them to if found, and, if I remember correctly, “Please be kind to me :)”
The town guard found her very quickly – she was signing all the zombies after all – and necromancy was punishable by death, but the thing was she wasn’t raising any undead, just adopting them. There was a big argument and I know she got clonked in the head by an angry ghoul who didn’t fancy his nice new woolly scarf, but I don’t think they ever executed her. I loved playing that crazy zombie hoarder lady.
nice! what larp?
Man I loved that Shadowrun character. =)
My most wild character concept comes from trying to figure out the maximum possible single-round damage. What I ended up with was a greataxe-wielding half orc with 5 classes. 11 levels fighter (eldritch knight), 3 levels of rouge (assassin), 3 levels of paladin (devotion), 1 level warlock (hexblade) and 2 levels cleric (grave). With action surge, multiattack, GWM, and assassinate, we get 7 crits in one turn. The cleric’s power gives the enemy a vulnerability to damage from the first hit as well. Thanks to smite, hex/curse, and the half-orc racial ability, this build can deal somewhere over 500 damage in a single move against a target with AC 20.
It relies on some ambiguous stuff (can you hex someone without them knowing? can you use the divinity power before initiative gets rolled?, etc) but overall, the character is balanced out by sacrifices. Multiclassing so much means that every ability score needs to be at least 13, so none are much higher. Additionally, we don’t know any spell above 2nd level. Need for stealth puts us in leather armor, and our dexterity modifier leaves us with 12 AC.
I figure that we grew up on the streets, dabbled in dark arts, got drafted, had a terrible time, and went through a late redemption arc towards holiness.
Most of the best silliness relies on at least one generous GM call. Carry on, says I.
Now I want to see a remix of the last comic that featured a vampire, featuring VW instead!
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/improvised-weapons
Also, who’s supplying the Handbook vamps with those fabulous cloaks? Did VW nick it from the ashes of the last one?
Gestalt’s last victim was in a grunge band. She skinned him and a made a cloak from his flannel.
So, do we refer to the new arrival as VW, WV, or ‘Dragon’ (as befits the trope-role she just got promoted to)? https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon
The name is in Laurel’s first comment. The new character is named Gestalt.
“Dragon” would probably too confusing for a comic that may end up having a literal “generic dragon” character in it.
“Henchwoman” or “Abomination”, maybe?
Then again, looking back at the author’s commentary, it looks to me like Laurel is referring to her as “Gestalt”, which works for me.
It was Laurel’s call on the name this time around. “Vampire Werewolf” is clunky. “Abomination” is obscure. There’s something about “Gestalt” the seems suitably gothic though, and it covers the “too many ideas crammed into one character” angle. It tickled my fancy in any case.
Hmm…
Physically Strangest I’ve Played;
Ss’thrak, the cybernetic bugman arcanist, whose love for science was only marginally beaten out by his love continuing to live so he could keep doing science.
Physically Strangest I Haven’t Gotten to Play;
Swarm, a single sentient entity distributed across a cloud of nanites, who keep up a humanoid appearance most of the time, but every now and then ‘grey goos’ people.
Conceptually Strangest I’ve Played;
Space Pirate Cthulhu, the tentacle faced space pirate who had a sailing ship that flew through space because of science
Conceptually Strangest I Haven’t Gotten to Play;
Umu, the Slime Girl Knight, who sleeps in a chest to ambush bandits and is full of chivalry and honour.
Are ambushes honorable?
They are if you’re ambushing the person trying to ambush you!
Ouroborambush.
Her plan is actually to burst out of the chest when they open it and then challenge them to single combat. She’s got a heart of gold, and a mind like a steel anvil.
lol. That’s not a bad NPC hook. Mimic eats a paladin, gains his alignment, and concludes that anyone who tries to rob a treasure chest is committing an evil act.
“Stop fiend! In the name of my goddess, I challenge you to single combat!”
My wackiest character concept is actually two characters: a pair of twins, one a tiefling sorcerer and the other a half-dragon fighter. I’d probably have to roll death saves to see if their mom survived the pregnancy, though.
Maybe I’ll have them show up as NPCs in my campaign, as is the usual fate of my neat character concepts.
‘Tis the fate of the weird ones. Born under a cursed star, they must wander the world as NPCs.
Why stop at Werepire, why not make them the ghost of a mummified werepire Triton so we can get get a ghost, mummy, werewolf, vampire, and creature from the black lagoon in one character? All the Universal monsters at once.
I have yet to go mechanically silly in any way. I have gone very thematically silly though. My favorite in that regard is my Bard who cast all of his spells by me singing snippets of classic rock. (Only do this if you can actually sing, and your table is down for it)
Healing Word: Livin’ on a prayer, Feather Fall: Free fallin’, Haste: Don’t stop me now, Hypnotic Pattern: The Wall, Confusion: Crazy Train, Hold Person/Monster: Under pressure. etc.
I’ve always wanted to do a “van art” campaign where everyone takes levels in bard. Every session is based on an 80s power ballad, and you play the song the session was based on at the end of each session. Haven’t had the chance quite yet though….
As for Gestalt, she’s more of a shoutout to World of Darkness. If we were to add more bits and pieces to her, it would probably involve Changeling and Promethean, since I think Wizard has Mage covered already. Of course none of those are quite so iconic as the Kindred or the Garou, and so they weren’t part of this month’s poll.
Ooh, I had a Kitsune/Kitsune before too. Mine was Kitsune sorceress.. with the kitsune bloodline. I mean.. she’s a kitsune, why wouldn’t she have a kitsune bloodline. That’s how that works
My weirdest character I can think of offhand would be a Lunar, who was a daiklaive. After seeing the success of Death at the Root, made by a lunars ritual suicide.. some crazy elder tried to make another artifact daiklave with a similar effect designed to hate the fae.. except it turns out that if you try and bind an unwilling lunar’s soul to a weapon, you instead end up with a sentient and very hostile sword
He then got lost out in the wyld for millennia after the borders came in, only coming back into the world just in time for the normal setting era. He was kinda corrupted by the wyld and more than a bit mad. Obsessed with finding his solar partner to be wielded by them
He could turn into a pool of metallic acid and eat other artifact weapons to gain their shapes, and add some of his own charms to attacks made by a wielder. Such as activating DBT to turn into a grand daiklaive form instead.
For a fair while everyone in the group thought my character was the dragonblooded guy who was carrying him at the time, but nope, was his sword all along
That character was obviously very houseruled
I believe that was the schtick behind Laurel’s concept. And also the reason she was named “Kitsune Kitsune.”
And if you like playing as weapons, have I got an RPG for you!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131729/Wield
Oo, weirdest. That’s a tough one; I love theorycrafting strange concepts, especially ones that exploit rules as not intended.
If I had to choose one to share, it would be when I tried to make Cube from Rusty and Co. a rules legal playable character in 3.5. Take a gelatinous cube and cast Awaken Ooze (Dragon Magazine 304, and also lets it speak) on the cube. Beg the DM to let you take Fleet of Foot (PGtF 38) to help compensate for the abysmal move speed. If you can’t, take the Quick Trait (SRD, and it’s chosen on character creation, not “1st level”). Dip one level of monk with the Overwhelming Attack varient fighting style (UA 52) to get Unarmed Strike and Power Attack as bonus feats, pick up Great Fortitude as a feat from racial HD, then go Fist of the Forest for Con to AC (since it’s unclear how a gelatinous cube wears armor), faster movement (really trying to make up for a cube’s natural 15ft move speed), and decent unarmed strikes. Depending on how strict the DM is with you using items as a gelatinous cube, it may be a good idea to take Vow of Poverty (BoED 48) too, since you won’t be using items anyway. After that go into Warblade (ToB) focusing on Iron Heart, Diamond Mind, and Tiger Claw, since Warblade plays quite well with multiclassing and gets some sweet moves like you see in the Cube pull off in the comic.
Voila! Rules legal gelatinous cube PC that should have decent capabilities and be fun to play.
For anyone curious:
http://rustyandco.com/comic/38/
We had a monk gelatinous cube in our Out of the Abyss game. It wasn’t very good, but boy was it fun watching “him” “run” 120′ in a round and hoover up a tunnel full of drow. We actually had a small translucent dicebox with a hinged lid as his mini, so we joked that he was a fightin’ dumpster. Never could fit more than 3 minis at a time in that thing….
The silliest character idea I’ve had is actually relatively straight forward, build wise. It’s a Conquest Paladin, with a 3 (or maybe 4) levels dip in Sorcerer. What’s silly about it then? Well everything else.
See, it’s a kobold. A bronze one. That hails from a tribe of volcano worshipping kobolds. His name is Awan Berapi (Malay for “Fiery Cloud”), ans his mount is a “Giant Velociraptor” (Deinonychus stat block) called Krakatau (yes, I’m really pushing the volcano theme). His levels in sorcerer are there for only one reason : getting him access to Dragon’s Breath, which allows him and his mount to spit clouds of ashes and dust that triggers volcanic lightning (or just plain fire. But Bronze Dragons normally deal lightning damage). He just runs in, screaming like a madman, spitting lightning and crushing skulls with his obsidian flail.
I just like the juxtaposition of “he is so dedicated to the idea of glory in battle and crushing his enemies that it allows him to be an absolutely terrifying presence of arcane, divine and martial might on the battlefield” and “he’s a goddamn 3 feet tall kobold riding a big toothy lizard”. Haven’t had a chance to play him yet, but one day I will, and it will be glorious.
What’s the progression like? I mean… Is it functional before 7th level? That’s always been my challenge with sorts of builds, and I usually wind up sandbagging them until I find a “we start at 8th level” type campaign.
I’d say it’s DM dependent.
The Sorcerer levels are ultimately optionnal, they’re mostly here because the ash cloud thing looks cool, the main stuff is Paladin. So the question is, will your DM allow you a Deinonychus mount with Find Steed (a bit of a stretch, as the strongest creature you get from the normal Find Steed list is a Warhorse, CR 1/2, while Deinonychus are CR 1) or if you have to wait until Find Greater Steed (where it shouldn’t be a problem, it’s not on the list but most options here are CR 2).
If you can get it with Find Steed, then the build works just fine at level 5. Otherwise, Find Greater Steed is not until level 13.
I’d talk to the DM about homebrewing something. Maybe a reflavored regular Mastiff for level 1 to 5, then still a reflavored Mastiff but with all the advantages of Find Steed from level 5 to 13, and then a normal Deinonychus. In which case you’d be good to go right from the start. If you don’t intend to have your Deinonychus use its attacks in combat you can start taking the Sorcerer levels after paladin 5, so at level 8 you’d have your full build (albeit with a reflavor).
It is deceptively strong, because Kobolds have pack tactics, and with a mount you will always have a nearby ally. So in sunlight you’re rolling normally (instead of with disadvantage), and everywhere else you have permanent advantage to your attacks.
Also I’d play him as a Strength based character, despite the Kobolds’ Strength penalty. So definitely not optimized – but definitely usable.
Nothing wrong with a DM making a few allowances to enable a cool idea. The trick is figuring out how much to bend, since an honest “deceptively strong” can turn into “accidentally broken” all too easily. For my part, I think it seems like a reasonable character.
Well gameplay wise other mounts work just fine – if not better. A Mastiiff costs 10 GP, and from level 5 onward you can summon one with Find Steed, so there’s nothing stopping you from abusing pack tactics RAW, which is probably the strongest part of that build.
Also, technically, controlled mounts can’t attack. So RAW it really doesn’t matter, the only important stats on a creature become the defensive ones, and Deinonychus are actually quite squishy.
I’m usually not the kind of player who powergames to hell and back or makes very convoluted builds and backgrounds (I generally play core/standard races and rarely aim for prestige classes), but I made one particular accomplishment with a Pathfinder halfling oracle with a mishash of different feats and two class archetypes at once (perfectly legal if they don’t interfere with each other) that actually all fit together in a consistent theme:
She was a reluctant and pessimistic adventurer who felt like a burden she didn’t ask for had fallen on her shoulders, fearful and mistrusting, sometimes to the point of paranoia, of everyone she met after her entire life spent in Cheliax as a slave/runaway slave and the terrible betrayal her former companions in the Bellflower Network attempted to pull off – quite the opposite of the typical cheerful and happy-go-lucky halfling. Her only friends were one of the party members for the campaign and her hedgehog familiar. Her patron deity was Milani, minor deity of revolt and enemy of oppressors and tyrants. I knowingly neglected strength and wisdom to reflect her damaged mental health and justify why she feels insignificant and pathetic most of the time, with feats to compensate for both, bolster her will saves and use dexterity in combat. Her skills were mostly stuff you would expect from a fearful adventurer, with maxed out Acrobatics, Stealth, Sense Motive and Escape Artist. I chose the dual-cursed and warsighted archetypes, her curses were quite fittingly reclusive (main curse, forces everyone to roll for touch attacks to cast touch spells on her, forces her to attemp saving throws to resist all spells from anyone else, empowers personal heals and buffs and grants spell resistance at high level) and powerless prophecy (prevents action in surprise rounds, wastes a move action at the start of every encounter without a surprise round, grants uncanny dodge). I picked a hedgehog familiar with feats for the bonus to will saves at first, and the hedgehog happens to fit my character quite well as a harmless, notoriously shy and borderline antisocial animal until it finds someone trustworthy enough, and also the closest thing I could find to a mouse, Milani’s sacred animal. It was a sage familiar by the way, with less AC and unable to benefit from its master’s skills but with massive intelligence and bonuses to Knowledge checks and its own skill ranks to spend on any skill. This led to an interesting master-familiar relationship of mutual protection, the familiar warning its master against stupid decisions and its master protecting it of harm.
A pity we never got past level 5 in the campaign before our group fell apart, it could have been interesting to see how it would all evolve into at high level.
That’s the Property of Assured Abandonment. The more you’re enjoying a campaign, the more likely it is to suddenly end.
Craziest mish mash of character ideas?
cracks knuckles
Allow me to present “Futility”, who I built for a Villainous Competition on GitPG. She’s a winged anthropomorphic wolverine, who used to be a member of a barbarian lodge before going feral and hunting down any animal or human that strayed into her patch of woods. She often used a local Dread Blossom swarm to do so, luring tough enemies or driving fast enemies into its paralyzing grasp.
Then one day, a wandering hero used fire magic to kill her, and the dread blossom swarm started using her corpse as its new nest. Which would have been fine, except she rose as a gravetouched ghoul while it was still living there, mechanically represented by the symbiotic creature template. She also picked up the Blazing Berserker and Frozen Berserker feats, meaning she gains the fire and cold subtypes whenever she goes into a rage (which because she’s a wolverine, is any time she takes damage).
Aesthetically, the result of this is what looks like an undead anthropomorphic wolverine covered in plants… right up until it takes flight, dissolving into thousands of chunks of undead flesh, each tangled in the roots of a single vampiric flying rose. Like Voltron meets the T-1000 meets Poison Ivy. And she used incarnum, so she’s also got floating glowing blue ghostly limbs and other body parts hovering around the swarm. She’s only vulnerable to fire and cold damage (everything else does nonlethal), but if you actually hit her with either of those she goes into a rage that turns her body into fire and ice and makes her immune to both until you’re dead or she is.
I’d post a link to the build and story, but GitPG servers are down right now.
Well then. I think we’ve got a new leader in the thread. O_O
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/014/532/1374796030634.jpg
Foamy, the Flying Squirrel, my character in a pathfinder 1E awakened animal campaign.
Foamy is a Striker, a class from the Spheres of Might 3rd party expansion best summed up as the best parts of monk and barbarian. His primary companions are a Peacock Commander with no concept of indoor voice or humility, and a noble (if ditzy) Corgi Paladin with a long-suffering spirit guide/mentor.
We were encouraged to include how our character was awakened in our backstory, so Foamy is a former test subject for a magical lab. It is unclear whether they intended to awaken him, or if this was an unintended byproduct of the same experiments that justify a build based around being a tiny creature able to suplex a moose. Foamy just knows that he doesn’t trust mages and alchemists too much, and neither does his trusty friend Knife.
Like Slappy, Foamy has surprised me with his character development- the turning point was when the Paladin bravely drew the dracolich’s attention while Foamy did his best impression of a bull rider… only for the Paladin to be blindsided by a lethal spell from the mole necromancer who raised the dracolich.
The loss of one of the first beings to actually be nice to Foamy in his life was followed by one of the best instances of cooperative dice I’ve ever been a part of. Foamy successfully separated the dracolich’s skull from its spinal column the next turn, and with the assistance of our third party member, proceeded to get medieval on the necromancer thereafter.
Upon reducing the opponent to the consistency of toothpaste, we learned from the freed spirit of the dragon that the field was chosen by the necromancer for this ritual because it had strong magical properties relating to resurrection.
Foamy requested that the Paladin’s mourning familiar heal the necromancer back into consciousness. He pointed to his fallen friend, then to the well-pulped mole in full “pupils with different dilations” mode: “Dig.”
The intimidation check determined that he dug very, very quickly.
Then the party, somewhat confused paladin and all, went back to the village and enjoyed a victory feast as Foamy worked on turning his zombie wolf skull into a lantern/puppet.
Jesus shit! I haven’t thought of Foamy in years!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmD_8cBqhW0
Did you guys use the same voice?
Legitimately strange minds thinking alike for the name there. XD
That’s very close to what I had in mind, but with a little Gremlin mixed in there:
https://youtu.be/VAli2gisXkA
Miss Gestalt is a verry fitting name as Missgestalt is the German word for „deformed creature“.
I’m spending my summer in Berlin, so I have no doubt that this information will come in useful in my daily struggles with conversational German.
Does it count a former-Tremere-now-mortal-again Dhampir Shugenja Exalted of Tzeentch? I think he counts 😛
lol. Did you actually play Dungeons: the Dragoning 40,000 7th Edition? I heard it was surprisingly playable….
Nope. That twisted thing comes from a game some time ago. Our DM have lost the notes for the campaign while running away from his girlfriend’s boyfriend. Without notes me made a very experimental thing. In poetry, at least in Spanish, i don’t know the English term, there is something called a Cadaver Exquisito, exquisite corpse. Is when a bunch of people reunites and make a poem by each one of them in turn doing a line of the poem. That session we made something similar, after reading the notes of that day our DM send some water to analyse just in case. The campaign involved the Digimon-Pokemon war that our group fought to help the East side win with the help of the Phyrexian reinforcements. Still the Phyrexians betrayed us and destroyed the evidence we manage to get that the Wizard of OZ was behind the dug trade in Gotham City. But we manage to help Captain Kirk defeat Lando Calrissian and recover the Galactica to help save the Geo-Front from a Gundam attack 😀
I didn’t know “The Lego Movie” did an RPG.
Also of note, it’s the same in English. I guess it was French originally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse
Please don’t compare my beloved campaign with that abomination 🙂
As i said, our DM lost his note running away from a jealous boyfriend. We needed to do something, and we really did it. We keep tossing things into the campaign adding more and more elements put together as we introduce them. That is why there is at least a dozen different fandoms involved. For just that kind of heteroclite mix to work together was really lucky for us 😀
Kinda it was like using that Cipher System to make a setting and all things on it :/
Ok, I haven’t actually been able to play any character because one group had too many people in it already, one group said I can’t play with them until I have played before because they’ll refuse to answer a noob’s questions (despite the fact they let an inexperienced player in later), and one group hasn’t started yet because no one has played before and no one wants to be GM. I still am making up characters to be creative, and have made ones that are more mechanically normal, but this idea was one of my weirder ones. Lucky you, you also get to read my creation thought process.
The bard class looks so fun to me, so I started from there. My bard has to have a reason why they’re adventuring now, so they got kicked out of their traveling theatre troupe. I didn’t want to be an average bard race, but I didn’t want to nerf myself by choosing a race that’s poor at charisma or dexterity, and I found the Changeling race. Now, it’s a bard that was pretty popular within the troupe, because who needs to waste makeup or a disguise self spell when changing characters in the play, but was seen impulsively changing by some fans and caused the troupe to be chased out of town by an angry mob.
My Changeling will have three personas (because it’s a manageable number of personalities to keep track of). They’re all a part of Yin, the Changeling, but Naranja is a bubbly and impulsive female dwarf with ginger hair, Vert is an eternally nervous male half-orc, and Sagol is a non-binary elf with a lilac-tinted skin tone and the belief that they can’t do anything right. Yes, each persona is a different secondary color (orange, green, purple) in a different language, and each one represents a different aspect of a mental illness (mania, anxiety, and depression).
My character will be interesting to say the least, but I want to have Lin impulsively change, just like in the backstory. I don’t want control over the changing, because then I would only change when it was convenient, but the DM would have me change only at the worst possible moments. I want it to be semi random, but to emphasize that Yin has to focus to stay as one persona for a long time.
I realized the dice can help me with that. The CR for not changing impulsively can start at 0 in the morning after a restful night sleep, but after any stressor to the major persona, the CR goes up by 1 and a d20 is rolled. If the check fails, Lin changes within the next 10 seconds and the CR resets to 0. It doesn’t have to stress out the rest of the party, either: if Sagol delivers a finishing blow on a monster, and everyone celebrates and congratulates them, then the CR goes up and a d20 is rolled because now Lin really wants to do a victory dance as Naranja. If the check is failed, Sagol will change into Naranja. For rolls triggered by stressors that don’t correspond to a differing persona, the failed check leads to changing into one of the personas at random.
Of course, I will still be able to control my character’s deliberate changing, but that doesn’t allow release unless they change deliberately during a stressor to what they are stressed to.
Sorry, the name is Yin, not Lin.
Yes. To say the least. O_o
It sounds like you’re a newer player, so have a warning by me: The multiple personality trope is REALLY HARD to do well. If you’re not careful it can come off as full penguin of doom…
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/katy-t3h-pengu1n-of-d00m
…rather than interestingly quirky. Not saying it can’t be done, but I’d keep that one in your back pocket until you’ve got a few campaigns under your belt. It runs the risk of stealing a lot of game time by “suddenly changing personalities at an interesting time,” which all too often translates into “derails the dramatic moment in favor of random character hijinks.”
Good luck finding a group, though! You certainly have a lot of creativity to add to a table. 🙂
Yeah, of course, but you asked for my weirdest idea, not a good one :). I wrote this before looking at tips on how to make a character that isn’t so extra. I think I’m getting better at it, but you can let me know for my Circle of Spores Druid (if you want).
In the large stretches of grassland between towns, there is a nomadic pastoral, composed largely of wood elves. They are mostly ignored by the various governments, for better or for worse. They usually don’t bother with the big cities, but more and more recently they’ve had to venture into towns to trade their goats for spell components that they can’t find in the wild anymore.
Greatmother has been watching these difficulties emerge for a while. You see, about 6,500 years ago, there was a close call for an end-of-the-world event, and a druid was a part of the party that saved the world. In appreciation, the fae blessed her with a long life (in DnD 5e, druids age 10x slower after level 18; it’s considered a useless perk by most, but I call it a cool idea). The druid retired from adventuring with her husband and decided to herd goats.
My character Ash Maple is 117 years old and a 14th generation grandchild. Every six years, the tribe returns to the forest where Greatmother and her party asked the fae for help to save the world. Five tribe members are chosen, given a hallucinogen, and are supposed to complete tasks related to what the party members did when they were trying to win the fae’s favor while the rest of the tribe prepares a weeklong feast. Looking for one seed of every kind in the forest, Ash got an arm stuck in a bear trap hidden in a bush. Long after Ash lost their voice from screaming and after the arm started to decompose from lack of blood flow, a fairy found Ash, cast a spell on the arm, and went to get others to help. Ash was brought back to the tents unconscious.
When the wisest people of the tribe went to amputate the apparently dead limb, it sprayed a cloud of poison at them. While Ash was nursed back from the brink of death, the rest of the tribe held a vote. For having an abomination of an arm that sickened Greatmother and others, Ash was to leave the tribe until it was destroyed. They left Ash at the nearest town with some money and not much else. Ash’s goal is to find Greatmother’s wizard party member and get him to fix up the dead arm, and the way to do that is to go with some adventurers to find where he went.
I would act wise, trying to be the peacemaker, but really not knowing how modern society works. The only things in my backstory that would frequently intrude would be my disdain for my arm, my connection with the outdoors and animals, and, if it comes up, my inability to read in Common despite a decent intelligence score.
If that’s too much, I also have a character idea for a fighter: an apprentice blacksmith whose boss wants him to learn how to make balanced, durable swords by forcing him to use what he makes.
That’s a fair cop. 🙂
Hey, if I’m going to presume to criticize, I can at least do so on request.
I like the central concept of “cursed and must leave the tribe.” Whether you cast the tribe’s decision as valid or cruel can be an interesting question. Ditto whether or not the “cursed arm” is actually a curse. There’s a lot that a GM can work with there.
My biggest question would be the ancient history angle. It can sometimes be tough to make this sort of thing work: “About 6,500 years ago, there was a close call for an end-of-the-world event, and a druid was a part of the party that saved the world.” If there are characters still alive from that event, then you’ve got major NPCs, their descendants, and setting-altering story arcs attached to this one PC. And if a GM has a game world that doesn’t already include that sort of thing, your cool plot point can wind up getting ignored: “I was hoping to focus on the threat of King Dragon’s kobold army. I’m not going to rewrite my campaign to be about some ancient adventure.” That’s an extreme reaction, but it’s the sort of thing you want to avoid.
When pitching this character to a GM, I’d recommend phrasing it as, “[Generic elder] was sickened, and so I must find her old companion to heal the both of us.” That’s a great hook, and it doesn’t make any demands on a GM’s world. You can still pitch the backstory as a neat readymade: “I was thinking that they were a powerful adventuring party who, about 6500 years ago, etc. etc.” But at the point I think it becomes a conversation with a GM rather than a set-in-stone history.
For my part though? I’d rewrite my world a little to accommodate the hook. Because it’s a good hook, and there’s a lot you can do with it. 🙂
Cool, you made a Werepyre. http://media.artix.com/encyc/AQ/AQPedia/Monster%20Revamp%20Pics/Letters%20W%20X%20Y/Werepyre.jpg
As for my own creations, just for the fun of it I made a character with as many natural attacks as I could fit. It’s a Kasatha with 4 levels of Weretouched Shifter, 3 levels of White-Haired Witch, and 2 levels of Barbarian. Thanks to feats, class features, and items, my character ends up with Bite, Claws, Talons, Tail Sting, Wings, Tentacle, Gore, Slam, and Hair. Sadly, I was unable to fit in Hoof, Tail Slap, and Pincer attacks.
Isn’t kraken-based transformation supposed to be the hotness for stupid numbers of natural attacks? I could swear I remembered hearing something along those lines….
Yeah, but I didn’t want just a bunch of tentacles and only tentacles. I wanted as many DIFFERENT natural weapons as I could just. And considering I got all but 3 of them, I’d say I did pretty good.
Picture of my creation. https://www.deviantart.com/shozurei/art/Monster-822255507
The boxing glove really pulls the whole outfit together, lol.
That’s the slam attack. Figured it would be a better representation than just a fist.
Delayed post on crazy characters coming right up! Most of my characters are some degree of quirky, weird, or crazy. Mostly cause I like gimmicky builds or weird race/class combos. Alternately, the characters are based off an image, meme, or popular media character. Now, let’s see…
Witlash, A tiefling bard, flavored as a ‘devil went down to Georgia’, ‘opera level violinist’ and ‘Aurelio Voltaire’ type of musician. His parents were lawyers who made pacts with infernal forces. He hated them and later humiliated them. He had a pet dire bat. He died in a tornado, trying to save said bat.
Ook-Uok, formally known as Dr. Bananas. He was a investigator/steel hound vanara. In other words, a monkey with a gun. With a side of Dr. Who intelligence. He claimed he had a phd from Ustalav, but if pressed, could not prove it with evidence.
3) Torr-Dok, a tengu druid. Wore a plague doctor mask and garb at all times. Generally friendly, if weird and creepy. Regularly force-fed injured allies disgusting healing potions via druidic herbalism. Inspired by plague docs stuff, especially darkest dungeon stuff.
4) Shinku Kyo. Lush drunken master monk kitsune. Cussed like a pirate, brutally spoke the truth, gave no fucks about anything or anyone. Suffered from constant inebriation (which made her superpowered) and extreme mood swings. Occasionally bludgeoned people to death with thrown Dan Bongs (fancy monk weapon-stick). Regularly attempted to hire people into being bards or establishing a tavern against their will. Character I’m proudest of. Alas, the game she was supposed to star in hiatus’d and she’s in PC limbo.
Hassan Cho’ph. Skald Suli, later gaining mythic levels (Wrath of the Righteous). Was proud and boisterous man (think Reinhardt), especially fond of his cleaving sword that would gib most baddies. Based off of a certain Looney Tunes character.
Scrit Clawhair, current Ratfolk Wizard. Mildly insane, mixing rationality and blatant insanity in his behavior, which fits his religion of Nethys. Until recently, was missing an eyeball he lost in a backstory event. Regularly collects and/or eats eyeballs. Occasionally uses said eyeballs in his empty eye socket. Cleanly to a fault and logical. Otherwise, a devout Nethysian and the genius scribe/researcher/nerd of the party. Regularly giggles like a maniac at destructive magic.
Dax – Upcoming PC for Mummy’s Mask. Gunslinger kobold. Think wild west style gunslinger mysterious stranger. Only a kobold. Part of a party of all scalies (two dragon-ancestry PCs and a snakey lamia).
I think I recognize the source of Dr. Bananas:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/023/322/legiao_p6_VNkO0Gm43CQngolqUh7jFvAYitPDuZT8rK9eLHI.jpg
I approve. 😀
Bingo! Have a gestalt cookie/donut. The monkeys look was inspired by this particular tumblr blog as well:
https://wukong-themonkeyking.tumblr.com/
In case you think crazy characters are reserved for tabletop, the upcoming Wrath of the Righteous videogame, judging by what was so far unlocked by the Kickstarter rewards, will allow players to play… holds breath
A mythic-powered skald swarm-that-walks kitsune riding an armored-smilodon, on a quest to fight demons from the abyss and potentially romance a queen along the way.
What’s the swarm made out of?
Provably mice or rats. You are what you eat! If I could choose, it would be more tiny foxes.
Alternately, a swarm of leadership cohorts, familiars and animal companions.
lol
Hmmm. I’m not one who particularly likes multi-classing. Unless it’s Gestalt.
I don’t know if this is my weirdest character. I don’t even know where to start with that.
So I’ll just go with a silly gestalt character I did once.
They were a…. actually here’s the character sheet link instead of me trying to sum up this goofball.
https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1166752
Mario lives in the Upperlight. True facts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJwqr4aiuQ
Interestingly, were-people can become vampires, but vampires cannot become were-beasts.
The lycanthrope specifies creature type, but the vampire does not. Were-creatures are still humanoids, but vampires are undead. So yes, you could throw a werepire at the party by RaW.
That said; there is a RaI argument that the vampire couldn’t bite a lycanthrope. Their bite deals piercing and necrotic damage, but one could argue that if the piercing damage doesn’t go through (Not magical, not silvered) then the necrotic damage shouldn’t apply.
I go by Van Helsing rules. If Hugh Jackman bites you, you die. No saving throw.
How about an entire group character concept? points for co-operation?
One of my old DM had a series of campaigns and several of them had unique starting stuff. One of them was based on a sort of refuge island for good-aligned versions of typically evil stuff and the result was starting ECL 15 (DnD 3.5) and you can play junk out of the monster manual and then maybe or maybe not have class levels based on the ECL.
SO a group of us that had ran this particular campaign before in separate groups were now playing together and hit on this really fun idea of LOOKING like only one person for the whole party, that possibly talked to himself in the eyes of onlookers. One guy played a regular ol human with 15 levels in i think Factotem and the rest of us would be able to somehow hide on his person.
one friend made a Ragamoffyn bard that was a noble sentient cape that would be able to billow in the wind and give inspirational bonuses, one was a variant of will-o-wisp that would glob onto our human’s chest and feed off his emotions and could turn invisible and all the fun fierey stuff and I think ended up with caster levels so shooting lightning bolts and whatnot from seemingly nowhere, and i myself played a tiny imp that would hide in the hood of mr ragamoffyn cape or under human’s hat and i had levels in psion (which this DM had a bunch of weird house rules for).
thus we had a whole party that looked like one dude talking to his clothes. we didn’t get to finish the campaign but DAMN was that fun for a bit. i wish i could remember the character names.
Holy shit, you guys were Muppet Man?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bPjUz9X8I8
That is amazing and I love everything about it.
second entry- most mechanically nuts thing. same DM had another fun rule- the party was allowed to gestalt from unearthed arcana……on the caveat that he as the DM was allowed to do the same with npcs/villains/anything in the world with class levels. (this GM was the kind of experienced where he could handle whatever shennaniganery the players could dish so he let them do whatever was most fun. also he was terrifying as a player. once got banned from a table playing a 0th level commoner and somehow breaking the game once)
i played a gestalt ranger/cleric, that on the cleric side later took the radiant servant prestige class (homebrew gods so not pelor specifically- i was favored of a moon god). i had water domain turn fire elementals, moon domain turn lycanthropes, regular turning, seperate pool of greater turning form the prestige, and later got to pick a 3rd domain so i went air to turn earth elementals. and had an extra turning feat- increasing the counts of ALL of them. aasimar with 20 wisdom and charisma, and zen archery feat. DM ruled that since i was using wisdom to fire my bow it counted in place of dex for archery feats, those that i didnt get for free from ranger anyhow.
then theres this fun feat called divine metamagic. lets you sack turns to apply metamagics to things for free on the fly. this game went into epic levels and this DM also gave feats every 5th level on top of every 3rd….. it was pretty damn fun to say sack x turns to add smiting spell to inflict critical, pop that in a manyshot, then also sack y turns for a quickened mass heal spell to top off the party.
being gestalt is fun at low levels and all but when it gets to higher levels it just feels dirty. one of the other pcs also had two spellcasting classes so the paperwork was UP THERE.
I’m about to restart my “Curse of the Crimson Throne” game. Only two players in that one, so gestalt is necessary. Can’t wait to see what shenanigans Laurel’s aether kineticist / cabalist vigilante gets up to at higher levels.
ps- the entire group had to have a 100% unanimous agreement for the gestalt rule, even one person not wanting it and he wouldn’t allow it. so it didn’t happen as often as you would think.
No lie, it is straight up WORK to manage those characters.
I once made a Kisatha Monk build for pure theory testing (OG monk not unchained). It was a hilarious build with no less than 5 attacks per turn at level 1 due to extra natural attacks.
I’ve also been interested in trying out the Songbird of Doom build that is somewhat infamous in Pathfinder (A multiclass monk/swashbuckler/paladin/slayer build that focuses on being a tiny bird of death).
My actual crazy build was a single player campaign with a tri-gestalt character Ninja/Paladin(later multiclassed into Shadow Dancer)/Sorcerer with mythic levels. Sevia was a Fetchling who was the former God of Death and had been betrayed/killed by another god, reviving in a tomb thousands of years later.
I really liked playing that character, unlike Pharasma she was more like a holy assassin type, but specifically Neutral and with her own Paladin code. Which was also weird because she had an undead Shadow familiar as a shadowdancer (The way I roleplayed it was that she helps non-malignant spirits find peace to willingly go back to the afterlife, and destroys malignant undead and necromancers).
So basically she could turn invisible at will for sneak attack, could smite, had buff and utility spells, could hide in plain sight, and had her own flanking buddy that killed enemy strength scores. Oh, and her mythic powers let her teleport away if damaged and literally SoD enemies with an annihilation attack, among other things. Too bad the DM was not exactly great and always had every encounter way too challenging.
I was wondering if someone was going to bring up the Songbird. That thing hits my funny bone in a way that Pun-Pun doesn’t. It is almost kind-of-sort-of reasonable if you turn your head and squint. At least compared to gaining infinite stats.
What were the other tri-gestalts in that game? And how do you even challenge that kind of a team? Just crank the CR up to a million?
There’s a Kitsune-centric version of the songbird of doom build. It uses Kitsune Fox Shape for its base and augments it by going barbarian levels, turning into a floof of ankle destroying rage with ridiculous AC (from size and dex), and damage (from rage, dex to dmg and other stuff). I saw it on the Pathfinder reddit as a gilded post, gonna try to find it later.
Yeah dude. Link me that mess!
I’ll be curious to know what level the build “turns on” though. So many of these things turn out to be better NPCs than “play it from 1st level” ideas, but I’m nevertheless intrigued.
I am currently playing a bizarre multiclass that basically plays as close to a 5E Paladin, but it’s a 3.5 character.
It’s a Ranger4/Cleric3/OrdainedChampion3/SeekerOfTheMistyIsle2/Sacred ExorcistX
For Ranger I took alternate class features that removed my spells for bonus combat feats and removed my animal companion for my Favored Enemy bonus being applied to attack rolls. I also worked with my DM based off of a blurb in the Ordained Champion text about other Gods with War as a domain having Champions; as such, I am playing an Ordained Champion of Corellon Larethian.
Everything else has been pretty normal, save for one part: I have four Domains, including one that isn’t even technically a domain of Corellon Larethian, but only two Domain Features, since I traded two of them for combat feats.
As far as how it works like a 5e Paladin, Ordained Champion has the ability to use Smite to target any foe, I deal extra damage to undead, and I have diminished my casting enough that my character will only ever reach 8th level spells. It plays like a focused Undeath-foe, but due to party dynamics, it is also the party front-liner.
Currently, I swing at Undead (a common foe this campaign) for +23 (attack roll) and damage for 1d8+35, at level 13. That’s not the greatest, but it’s still big damage with three swings a turn, and the damage only gets stronger as I get higher level spells (Holy Warrior Reserve Feat) and higher effective turn-undead levels (Smite damage based off of it).
What was the motivation for this build? I mean… Was it all just a really convoluted way to say, “Hey guys, I’d like to play 5e next campaign?”
No, not really, it all just came together in a good way is all. We started at level 5, and knew it would be an undead-focused game, but Ranger 4 was all I needed of that class. So I intro’d a Ranger/Cleric. I intro’d a guy that wanted to end the existence of undeath.
Then I realized how much versatility Ordained Champion gave, with full bab and the ability to smite regardless of alignment. From there I wasn’t sure what the exit point of the PrC would be, but was convinced to go 3 for the extra spell progression and class features.
Then I saw Sacred Exorcist, and realized it’d be exactly what my character would want. But additional levels of cleric get boring. So I went into a second PrC to fill the gap and give access to a really useful Domain.
Each step along the way was just finding the right PrC or multiclass to make the Undead-Hunter theme work better while losing as few caster levels as possible.
And then the fourth player joined and insisted on being a Dread Necromancer, despite how hard I would have to twist my character to not just pvp. I just hit Sacred Exorcist, and combat’s getting weird.
Yo… Seems like the wrong game for that choice. Was the dude just utterly unwilling to compromise?
I mean, we did the write-up about Paladin & Necromancer way back here…
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/mean-girls-part-1-3
…But if one dude’s the established character, and another is just joining in, it seems easier for the second guy to bend. How did you wind up twisting your character to accommodate?
I’d say my quirkiest character build so far is from D&D 5E. See, I noticed that you can dual-wield lances when mounted with the right feat, lances aren’t heavy weapons, Small rangers can ride their animal companions, and the Revised Ranger lets you put your animal companion’s ASIs into Intelligence, and decided to roll them all into one character. Thus was born Tajiki, the goblin fighter/ranger who dual-wields weapons three times her size from the back of a wolf who’s smarter than she is.
Gotta get that third lance held crosswise in your teeth. No one expects the horizontal mouth lance strike!
My craziest build to be put into practice (okay, there’s the Magus/Bloodrager/Cleric, but that wasn’t exactly planned in advance) would be a modification of my “Nature/Lunar Knight” build. Dual-Cursed Nature (or Lunar) Oracle 1/Invigorator Mind Sword Paladin 2/Spelleater Verdant Bloodrager X/Swashbuckler 1?. Nature or Lunar Oracle unlocks a revelation that adds CHA to AC in place of DEX, so I can dump DEX and focus purely on STR, CHA and CON, but still use light armor. Dual-Cursed Oracle unlocks (with the Extra Revelation feat) the extremely useful support power Misfortune, which lets me reroll one allied or enemy d20 roll per turn (though only once per target per day). Powerless Prophecy Curse gives me Uncanny Dodge. Oracle spells give me a little bit of out-of-combat healing. 2 levels of Paladin gives CHA to saves, Invigorator replaces Smite Evil (which, granted, would have some use) with a non-level-dependent power that basically gives the whole party DR 1/-, and the Mind Sword allows me to throw my weapon with CHA to accuracy and STR to damage (giving me an accurate ranged attack). Did I mention that that weapon is a greatsword? Bloodrager gives fast movement (40 ft speed in total), boosts to STR through rage, and some fast healing through Verdant and Spelleater. Swashbuckler parry is fun, but requires choosing a less devastating weapon to recover panache. Still, four parry attempts a day isn’t nothing! When I originally envisioned this build, I imagined it as a magically-empowered but otherwise clumsy loudmouth running around at high speed with a giant sword hefted and thrown only through the power of anime. When I actually played it, I ended up combining it with a different fluff concept and the result was a 5’1″ drow girl (developmental equivilant of a 13-year-old human) running around throwing a sword that is one inch shorter than her, thanks to her magical strength. And that proved to be way funnier.
My go-to backup character is a Fetchling Scaled Fist Monk 1/Dual-Cursed Dark Tapestry Oracle X (possibly with a Swashbuckler level in there). Scaled Fist adds CHA to AC, and Dark Tapestry has a revelation that functions like Mage Armor except it scales at higher levels. The result is that the character adds their two highest stats (CHA and DEX) to AC, while still wearing what is basically a breastplate. Stealth boosts plus darkvision plus no armor check penalty makes them a sneaky sort, and the result is a sneaky, shadowy sort who can function decently as an AC tank, a melee combatant, a support caster, a blaster or a scout. And they look awesome while doing it.
I recently helped a partymate make a “John Wick build”, which combined Flowing Monk and Black Powder Vaulter Gunslinger for a guy who runs around, trips people, punches them and then shoots them. (In practice, he’s really only done one of the other, but it’s still a cool feature.)
Oh, and the Unarmed Swashbuckler. (Brawler 2/Swashbuckler X, with a style feat for piercing fists.) Never not a good time when you can block people’s attacks with your bare fists.
How did you get the sword back after you threw it?
Oh, I guess I didn’t mention that. The Mind Sword Paladin’s power is a variation of the Universalist Wizard’s Hand of the Apprentice or the Magic Cleric Domain’s Hand of the Acolyte power (except Charisma based), so the greatsword automatically and immediately returns to your hand. Which is a freakin’ awesome mental image to boot. (I also have a smaller-sword-focused version of that build called the Jedi Build, for obvious reasons.)
That works with a full attack? Solid! No more messing about with blinkback belts. 😀
It actually doesn’t work with full attack (or Vital Strike, for that matter – it is a standard action), and you can only do it 6-7 times a day (with max range of 30 feet), but it is still a really good opener, anti-flier or emergency ranged attack. (The Powerless Prophecy curse also leaves you staggered on your first turn if there was no surprise round, so being able to do 2d6+STR damage at range using your best/second best stat for accuracy is really nice before you close for proper melee.)
One of my players is a half-gargoyle, half-fang dragon necromancer aspiring to lichdom (and likely soon to achieve).
My players have a lot of freedom in what they are, just so long as I have final say on the numbers behind it.
How does a gargoyle/dragon happen in nature?
My most convoluted character of all time was Teela and Seric. Human nature mage married elf ranger. Human was getting old when an oopsie on a spell that was supposed to let him see though the eyes of an animal put his consciousness sharing his wife’s body (she had control but could let him use it). So the character was ranger/nature mage. Not very good at either. But the fun part was that the personalities weren’t telepathic. To talk to each other, they had to do so aloud. So the character talked to itself a lot.
That takes a high degree of skill to pull off, but I do enjoy the concept. And ya know… Steve Martin: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0086873/
I have a PC that is two characters in one body, and while they have telepathy, they do NOT like each other, and fight over control a lot. The best part is that not only do the rest of the party not know this, the rest of the PLAYERS don’t know it, and the GM and I have set up some big reveals for when the party learns that my PC is not one but two characters they have heard about in backstory. (The other PCs have their own secrets that the rest of us players don’t know, and that has made for a really fun paranoia game as everyone tries to figure each other out without admitting their own secrets.)
I have a Vampire werewolf OC. I call him “edgelord” as a nickname (my other OCs do the same) and the running gag is he’s really not that edgy. Also as a substitute for blood he’s obsessed with cooking (Discworld vampire rules)
Discworld gets a pass. Discworld will AWLAYS get a pass from me.
She’s a widdle bit of evil.
Yeah she is.