Once again I need your help with my next character. Start is with level 5 (point buy), basically it plays at the Swordcoast, the adventures are mostly created by the DM himself, Homebrew, Critical Role, UA etc. everything is allowed (Homebrew after consultation with the DM).
Now I have a character idea, but don't know yet how exactly I can form this without being completely useless.
The background story (sorry for the long text):
Eliza Lionheart is the daughter (second born, has an older brother) of Richard Lionheart the I. She grows up at court and is prepared for a life at court. However, she can't do anything with it and, like her father before her, wants to experience adventures that the nannies all over the country will tell about. Her father understands her intentions, but can't help her officially, her mother on the other hand wants to marry her off early to have her out of the house (yes, they don't like each other too much). After Eliza's 18th birthday, many nobles arrive to ask for her hand in marriage. The night before the nobles arrived, she decided to run away and have her adventures. Unnoticed, she is able to sneak out of the castle and the city and sets out to explore the world. Her absence is only noticed the next morning, her father knows immediately what she has in mind, but keeps this information to himself, her mother rages and gives the search for your daughter in order. Since then, Eliza has been an adventurer, exploring ruins and helping the population as best she can (mostly on her own and without a group).
Eliza's traits/Character:
Eliza, partly because of her father's upbringing, tries to help everyone who needs help and to protect those who cannot help themselves. She detests the things she learned from her mother (court etiquette, ladylike behavior, "the position of women at court"). Since she was raised as a woman by her mother to be a good wife to a man, she never (at least not officially) learned how to fight. From her father, however, she learned dueling, archery and how to survive on her own in the wilderness. Thanks to her nocturnal wanderings through the castle, the occasional theft in the kitchen (she gave the food to the homeless children) and cheating at dice games, she is also extremely skilled at dishonest activities.
For the classes I have one or two ideas: 1st idea: Based on her past experiences / adventures, Eliza is a Rogue (Swashbuckler). During her adventures she explored a supposedly cursed ruin, discovered something (don't know exactly what yet, depending on the Patron) and involuntarily made a pact with it (Rogue/Warlock MC). 2. Eliza found on her travels a companion in the form of a Panther (Ranger Beastmaster (Revised, possibly mc in Fighter))
What do you think about this, do these combos work, what kind of combos did you think of, what can you recommend from your own experience (and what do you think about the backstory, too tantalizing?).
Thanks for your feedback and for reading through everything. And if there are any mistakes, sorry, english is not my native language.
I'm going to be honest, I'm not a fan of these sorts of backgrounds in which the character is a super-special one-of-a-kind individual, like a princess or the half-immortal offspring of a deity. These work great in movies because there is a writer and a protagonist, but your character is not the protagonist of a D&D campaign, but part of an ensemble cast who are all supposed to be equals. It's hard to see how they can be equals when your character is legally able to rule over the rest of the party should she desire to take her inheritance seriously.
It's one thing to maybe have her be a distant-cousin minor-noble with the Noble background and some courtly experience that would be effectively the same (mechanics-wise), and would allow you to RP her as a snob if you want, but would not put her into the position of being a virtual heir to the throne. But "I am a princess and the daughter of Richard the Lion-hearted" is, IMO, too much for a PC background. I would not allow it, personally. (Leaving aside the question of whether there even is a R-t-L-H character in the world.)
I think the Rogue/Warlock MC feels a bit more like it matches the backstory you wrote for the character. It doesn't have quite as much synergy with Warlock as Swashbuckler, but I actually think your backstory lends itself to the Scout Rogue a little bit more than Swashbuckler. It gives you that wilderness survival aspect without needing to fully dedicate yourself to Ranger, since I feel a bit like the magical skills of a Ranger don't feel like they fully gel with the character you've written.
As for your Warlock class, I feel like the obvious choice is to go Hexblade... all you need to do is say that you found a weird sword and now you have magical powers, but I feel like Hexblade is kind of boring and is difficult to make as interesting as other subclasses. I actually think that the Genie subclass lends itself well to your background... it's something you can justify as being discovered through an object you uncovered somewhere... maybe Eliza escaped her circumstances thanks to a wish from a powerful Genie, but as a result she had to serve the Genie as payment. It's a fun subclass... very customizable, so you can pick which particularly type of Genie that will best compliment your playstyle. The Subclass lets you deal additional damage with an attack once per turn, which will partly make up for the loss in Sneak Attack damage you get from multiclassing. I'd say it's worth taking to level 6, where you get a bonus action Fly ability, but otherwise you're gonna want to be more Rogue than Warlock.
If they grew up at court, you are going to want to have at least expertise in 2 of the social skills if not all 4. You could also justify stealth acrobatics and sleight of hand from years growing up at play adventures with help and training from one of your family's retainers. Your access to better education and access to books with tales of daring do would play well with the bard, as would the standard wanderlust to make your own. Also the lack of formal martial training wouldn't hurt the bard, she'll learn it as she goes along, but can make do without it, but can step in and pitch in if the need arises. You'd have the ability to bluff your way into the shady parts of the city, or fit right in with high society. Lies and truths become your weapon, and if you want to lean into roleplay more than combat, than bard is a great class. And they don't always have to be sex crazed maniacs.
I think I'd roll with a "Joan" Snow, take John Snow form Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire, switch the gender and go about as a fighter and/or ranger. The antipathy with the mother is because you both know Joan is a Bastard (ie illegitimate off spring) and therefore you disappearing from court isn't that great of a loss aside from some whispers and rumours, this could give your DM some little story things to plant into the world, maybe the court think you've died suddenly or have gone off to marry some random noble in a far flung country.
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I think Warlock is a strong choice, multiclass or otherwise, for one very big reason: Mask of Many Faces
You are a princess. You will have an entire kingdom moving heaven and earth to find you. Reward posters and bounty hunters everywhere. You aren't going to get very far just walking around looking like yourself all the time.
In fact, I'd have the warlock be the 'initial' class -- have her make the pact in order to escape the impending forced marriage. She could then pick up the rogue skills as a fugitive if that's the multiclass you want.
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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Hello all
Once again I need your help with my next character. Start is with level 5 (point buy), basically it plays at the Swordcoast, the adventures are mostly created by the DM himself, Homebrew, Critical Role, UA etc. everything is allowed (Homebrew after consultation with the DM).
Now I have a character idea, but don't know yet how exactly I can form this without being completely useless.
The background story (sorry for the long text):
Eliza Lionheart is the daughter (second born, has an older brother) of Richard Lionheart the I.
She grows up at court and is prepared for a life at court. However, she can't do anything with it and, like her father before her, wants to experience adventures that the nannies all over the country will tell about. Her father understands her intentions, but can't help her officially, her mother on the other hand wants to marry her off early to have her out of the house (yes, they don't like each other too much). After Eliza's 18th birthday, many nobles arrive to ask for her hand in marriage. The night before the nobles arrived, she decided to run away and have her adventures. Unnoticed, she is able to sneak out of the castle and the city and sets out to explore the world. Her absence is only noticed the next morning, her father knows immediately what she has in mind, but keeps this information to himself, her mother rages and gives the search for your daughter in order.
Since then, Eliza has been an adventurer, exploring ruins and helping the population as best she can (mostly on her own and without a group).
Eliza's traits/Character:
Eliza, partly because of her father's upbringing, tries to help everyone who needs help and to protect those who cannot help themselves.
She detests the things she learned from her mother (court etiquette, ladylike behavior, "the position of women at court").
Since she was raised as a woman by her mother to be a good wife to a man, she never (at least not officially) learned how to fight. From her father, however, she learned dueling, archery and how to survive on her own in the wilderness. Thanks to her nocturnal wanderings through the castle, the occasional theft in the kitchen (she gave the food to the homeless children) and cheating at dice games, she is also extremely skilled at dishonest activities.
For the classes I have one or two ideas:
1st idea: Based on her past experiences / adventures, Eliza is a Rogue (Swashbuckler). During her adventures she explored a supposedly cursed ruin, discovered something (don't know exactly what yet, depending on the Patron) and involuntarily made a pact with it (Rogue/Warlock MC).
2. Eliza found on her travels a companion in the form of a Panther (Ranger Beastmaster (Revised, possibly mc in Fighter))
What do you think about this, do these combos work, what kind of combos did you think of, what can you recommend from your own experience (and what do you think about the backstory, too tantalizing?).
Thanks for your feedback and for reading through everything. And if there are any mistakes, sorry, english is not my native language.
So your character is a princess?
I'm going to be honest, I'm not a fan of these sorts of backgrounds in which the character is a super-special one-of-a-kind individual, like a princess or the half-immortal offspring of a deity. These work great in movies because there is a writer and a protagonist, but your character is not the protagonist of a D&D campaign, but part of an ensemble cast who are all supposed to be equals. It's hard to see how they can be equals when your character is legally able to rule over the rest of the party should she desire to take her inheritance seriously.
It's one thing to maybe have her be a distant-cousin minor-noble with the Noble background and some courtly experience that would be effectively the same (mechanics-wise), and would allow you to RP her as a snob if you want, but would not put her into the position of being a virtual heir to the throne. But "I am a princess and the daughter of Richard the Lion-hearted" is, IMO, too much for a PC background. I would not allow it, personally. (Leaving aside the question of whether there even is a R-t-L-H character in the world.)
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm getting strong College of Eloquence Bard vibes off of this sort of character.
I think the Rogue/Warlock MC feels a bit more like it matches the backstory you wrote for the character. It doesn't have quite as much synergy with Warlock as Swashbuckler, but I actually think your backstory lends itself to the Scout Rogue a little bit more than Swashbuckler. It gives you that wilderness survival aspect without needing to fully dedicate yourself to Ranger, since I feel a bit like the magical skills of a Ranger don't feel like they fully gel with the character you've written.
As for your Warlock class, I feel like the obvious choice is to go Hexblade... all you need to do is say that you found a weird sword and now you have magical powers, but I feel like Hexblade is kind of boring and is difficult to make as interesting as other subclasses. I actually think that the Genie subclass lends itself well to your background... it's something you can justify as being discovered through an object you uncovered somewhere... maybe Eliza escaped her circumstances thanks to a wish from a powerful Genie, but as a result she had to serve the Genie as payment. It's a fun subclass... very customizable, so you can pick which particularly type of Genie that will best compliment your playstyle. The Subclass lets you deal additional damage with an attack once per turn, which will partly make up for the loss in Sneak Attack damage you get from multiclassing. I'd say it's worth taking to level 6, where you get a bonus action Fly ability, but otherwise you're gonna want to be more Rogue than Warlock.
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1 Rogue/19 lore or whispers bard .
If they grew up at court, you are going to want to have at least expertise in 2 of the social skills if not all 4. You could also justify stealth acrobatics and sleight of hand from years growing up at play adventures with help and training from one of your family's retainers. Your access to better education and access to books with tales of daring do would play well with the bard, as would the standard wanderlust to make your own. Also the lack of formal martial training wouldn't hurt the bard, she'll learn it as she goes along, but can make do without it, but can step in and pitch in if the need arises. You'd have the ability to bluff your way into the shady parts of the city, or fit right in with high society. Lies and truths become your weapon, and if you want to lean into roleplay more than combat, than bard is a great class. And they don't always have to be sex crazed maniacs.
I think I'd roll with a "Joan" Snow, take John Snow form Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire, switch the gender and go about as a fighter and/or ranger. The antipathy with the mother is because you both know Joan is a Bastard (ie illegitimate off spring) and therefore you disappearing from court isn't that great of a loss aside from some whispers and rumours, this could give your DM some little story things to plant into the world, maybe the court think you've died suddenly or have gone off to marry some random noble in a far flung country.
Hello there
thank you very much for all your feedback and tips, it helped me a lot.
Always great this community ;-)
I think Warlock is a strong choice, multiclass or otherwise, for one very big reason: Mask of Many Faces
You are a princess. You will have an entire kingdom moving heaven and earth to find you. Reward posters and bounty hunters everywhere. You aren't going to get very far just walking around looking like yourself all the time.
In fact, I'd have the warlock be the 'initial' class -- have her make the pact in order to escape the impending forced marriage. She could then pick up the rogue skills as a fugitive if that's the multiclass you want.
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)