Having enjoyed playing in the short December campaign that I made a “child of Asmodeus” character for. I want to continue on playing characters from that bloodline going forth.
We will be starting a new campaign set in the same world that was established by my DM in the December short campaign. All our characters from December are now NPCs and years has past between the events of the December campaign and the events of the campaign we will be starting this January.
At the end of December, my character was starting to get involved with an the daughter of the NPC lighthouse keeper. So, I decided that during the time skip, my characters relationship developed to the point that he married her and took an apprenticeship with her father, eventually becoming the new lighthouse keeper.
They had three children together.
The oldest child died at sea when the ship he was serving on was caught in a monstrous storm. The middle child is my character and the youngest child is only 8 years old. The youngest child has the strongest connection to her grandfather and can see and talk with spirit beings, who help her tell the future. She is destined for something greater as an adult - a greater darkness or a greater light, no one can yet tell.
The middle child, my character, wanted to follow in his brothers footsteps and become a ships navigator. Having lost one child to the sea already, his parents did not want him to. Instead his father took him as an apprentice lighthouse keeper and charged him with continuing the family traditions that he himself had married into.
When he was 15, he ran away to follow his dreams of becoming a navigator and managed to secure an apprenticeship in that regards, but found that the sea did not agree with him. He became terribly sea sick and the crashing of the waves against the ship terrified him. He was eventually released from his duties, and having no other means of supporting himself, was forced to return home repentant, to ask his father to allow him to continuing the apprenticeship that he has abandoned.
He worked hard and continued his training for several more years, before getting involved in events that lead him away from home at the start of the campaign.
The character is a Tiefling, although he looks human, apart from a tail. His tail isn’t thick and bulk, is more like a devils tail, that he can easily hide. He also has a normal human skin tone and doesn’t have any horns or anything.
Because of the way he looks, I was thinking if making him a variant human instead of a tiefling, and just giving him a cosmetic tail.
He is also a brawler. Immensely strong and resilient, thanks to his infernal heritage, but at the start of the campaign he is totally untrained in any form of weapon based combat and relies solely on his fists, and fast, unpredictable movements and reflexes to pummel his opponents into submission.
As he progresses, I want him to develop a set of fighting skills that allow him to utilise the environment and improvised weapons in combination with his strength and resilience.
I am thinking that he should probably be a monk class, but monk doesn’t fit with his background and upbringing.
is there anything other than monk that would fit this kind of character?
Thanks
XD
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
If you were going to go variant human (or custom lineage from Tasha's) then you could start with the Tavern Brawler feat from the PHB. At that point, you could go either Fighter or Barbarian if you wanted a martial that wasn't a monk. Barbarian's Unarmored AC might suit your concept.
Custom Lineage allows you to make up whatever, and classes aren't backgrounds, you can be a monk with the sailor background. Barbarian might be more thematic, but even monks are proficient with simple weapons.
I played a giant bird of prey with the aarockocra stat block, I reskinned my quarterstaff as a beak tackle. It's not that hard to reskin you action as something thematic even if your using specific rules. If your a Barbarian who punches stuff really hard, just use the maul stats and say it's a punch.
My first thought is to go Battle Master Fighter. The maneuver options are varied enough to be flavored how you like. Not as resilient, but Rogue may also work.
As already mentioned, Tavern Brawler and Fighting Initiate: Unarmed to get your damage
And you could partner with your DM for the Eldritch Claw and Barrier Tattoos to aid further.
I played a giant bird of prey with the aarockocra stat block, I reskinned my quarterstaff as a beak tackle. It's not that hard to reskin you action as something thematic even if your using specific rules. If your a Barbarian who punches stuff really hard, just use the maul stats and say it's a punch.
I disagree with this part. Mauls have that damage because they are weapons that you carry, and are not inherently attached to your character. If you were to just apply that damage to your fists, that means that you are doing the damage but without the limitations of carrying a maul. You wouldn't be able to be disarmed by things like a battle master maneuver, and walking into places where weapons weren't allowed would have no effect on you. There is a reason tavern brawlers and monks exist, and there is a reason why they don't just give you 2d6 unarmed strikes.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
The character concepts was to be immensly strong and resilient rogues, along with monks rely on speed to give and avoid damage, the character concept screams barbarian to me you could potentially go fighter but fighters tend to be trained in the art of war and you really have to wear armor.
There are two ways of getting your unarmed strikes to be effective tavern brawler or path of the beast, you need at least one of those, they are not mutually exclusive taking both would allow you to make an additional attack as part of your attack action and make an attack as a bonus action. Of course path of the beast would only come into effect at level 3 so I think the best option is vHuman or custom linage to get the feat at level 1.
Bear Totem Barbarian is another option, this puts the emphesis on extremely resiliant, at the cost of reducing your damage and I think fits the character concept at least as well as beast.
If you do go fighter I think champion fits the concept most but it is quite a boring subclass to play once tyou get the hang of the game
I played a giant bird of prey with the aarockocra stat block, I reskinned my quarterstaff as a beak tackle. It's not that hard to reskin you action as something thematic even if your using specific rules. If your a Barbarian who punches stuff really hard, just use the maul stats and say it's a punch.
I disagree with this part. Mauls have that damage because they are weapons that you carry, and are not inherently attached to your character. If you were to just apply that damage to your fists, that means that you are doing the damage but without the limitations of carrying a maul. You wouldn't be able to be disarmed by things like a battle master maneuver, and walking into places where weapons weren't allowed would have no effect on you. There is a reason tavern brawlers and monks exist, and there is a reason why they don't just give you 2d6 unarmed strikes.
That's an artificial limitation to a role playing game, if you simply obey the restrictions regardless of the flavor inconsistency, it works the same, there isn't some magical enforcer that ensures your gameplay remains plausible. If that's really such a challenge for you to overcome, you could just have 2d6 cestus that perform exactly the same as a maul and can be removed 🙄
I would go Barbarian and get unarmed fighting style via feat, and later get tavern brawler if you really want to use improvised weapons.
I could see using monk as well. Not sure how it doesn’t fit your background, it’s just mechanics with some flavor text. It’s not required that you spent your childhood in a monastery meditating on the sound of one hand clapping. The life at sea, mind and body becoming one with the sway of the boat and contemplating the wonders of the sun and stars you navigate by can be very serene. And what else do a bunch of drunken sailors have to do but punch each other when not on duty? (Seriously, don’t answer that!)
Nothing about this character says Monk other than perhaps the fact that they sometimes fight unarmed, which is something every single character can already do. Bar fights aren't restricted to just monks, you know. ;) It is also quite weird how "he is totally untrained in any form of weapon based combat" when monks are trained in quite a lot of weapons, from spears and short swords to light crossbows and slings.
Anyway, you've gotten some really good suggestions. As mentioned, this character would be an excellent candidatefor the custom lineage which allows you to take the Tavern Brawler feat which is really all you need to get everything you want for this character.
For background I'm assuming sailor? Fits perfectly even as a lighthouse keeper since a lot of lighthouse keepers had extra duty as lifesavers during storms so they needed to be able to handle boats. Many of them were also former sailors.
As for class, it depends which route you want to go. A Strength-based class is, in any case better suited for what you want for your character. Someone with high strength doesn't need to be a hulking brute with 200 pounds of muscles, Bruce Lee could do two-fingered pushups and that requires some seriously high whole-body strength. So now you have to decide whether or not you want to focus on the punching people part or something else. If you want to go martial then Barbarian (Beast or Totem, with totem tattoos because sailors like tattoos, right?) or Battle Master (with maneuvers reflavored as dirty fighting tricks you learnt in different tavern brawls) is probably your best bet even if the humble Champion is never a bad choice. If you want to go a different route then Rogue also works. You get the agility from Cunning Action and Sneak attack and anyone can wear a leather jacket. Or you can say that the thick oilskins or other leather or fur foul weather gear is your light armour. Thief would be my suggestion for subclass. Second-story work and the other abilities can easily be reflavoured as skills you picked up udring your upbringing. Like climbing the riggings and/or even the outside of the lighthouse (Bran Stark-style). Even if you go Thief I still think Strength-based fits best for the character you presented.
Warrior with the Unarmed Fighting style from Tasha's, you can take take grappler as a feat to bear hug your opponents into submission or death. Battlemaster or Rune Knight are good options.
I would go Barbarian and get unarmed fighting style via feat, and later get tavern brawler if you really want to use improvised weapons.
I could see using monk as well. Not sure how it doesn’t fit your background, it’s just mechanics with some flavor text. It’s not required that you spent your childhood in a monastery meditating on the sound of one hand clapping. The life at sea, mind and body becoming one with the sway of the boat and contemplating the wonders of the sun and stars you navigate by can be very serene. And what else do a bunch of drunken sailors have to do but punch each other when not on duty? (Seriously, don’t answer that!)
The character concept does not really fit monk as the concept is" immensely strong and resiliant." Monks rely on dex and wis so to have a very high con and str means you need to roll for stats and roll insanely well. All the monk features are either based on high dex (eg increase movement) or wisdom / control of ki (increased AC based on knowing what the opponent is about to do) from what the op said I do not think either of these fit into the concept.
I initially thought monk because of unarmed strike and the ability to make multiple unarmed attacks. I felt that the character would start with strong unarmed attacked and unarmed defence, and then for progression, they’d use things like the eldritch claw tattoo to boost their unarmed attacks while also learning to use some simple weapons along the way.
With Annabelle, the parties rogue, teaching them to use some simple weapons and helping him find some basic armour that fits his fighting style.
The two characters develop a close friendship while escaping from Baldur’s Gate together, so Annabelle teaching my character to use simple weapons and helping him get some basic armour as the campaign progresses is not so strange. Annabelle’s player is totally up for that too.
However, having read all of your replies, you are right. Monks require high DEX to be effective, which goes against the character concept of having high STR and CON.
It does seem that going V. Human for the race, with the tavern brawler feat and Barbarian for the class, is going to be the best option. Barbarians don't need armour anyway, as they are naturally tough. The only problem with barbarians is that they still require weapons, and there is nothing in the character's backstory that says he would know how to use any weapon. That said, I guess swinging around a giant hammer or maul doesn't take much skill, and the character could become proficient with it and more skilful in its use as the campaign progresses.
I also didn't want to play a dumb barbarian who hits stuff because he's full of anger and rage.
Anyway, thanks, guys, you've given me something to think about.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Who says Barbarians have to be dumb? That’s just a stereotype and rage is just a mechanic that, despite its name, doesn’t mean you have to go all mindless Brock Samson Swedish murder machine on people. Could be you become more focused on the fight, reminding me of the Rocky movies where Rocky gets to the point where he just starts taking punches while spouting lines like “You ain’t so bad”.
Plus unlike monks, barbarians can use light and medium armor or go unarmored. Monks can’t use martial arts with armor. So you could start without armor and then “pick up” armor use from the rogue like you said. Take Fighting Initiate: Unarmed Fighting to do better damage starting out the. Pick up Tavern Brawler later
I also didn't want to play a dumb barbarian who hits stuff because he's full of anger and rage.
Because of his specific heritage and that he's supposed to be a watered-down tiefling, I would view his rage being more of tapping into and/or releasing some of that hellfire in his blood. Your barbarian might not become the stereotypical anrgy/dumb rage-machine, but he's instead temporarily empowered with the strength and vigor of something diabolical deep within himself. Doesn't even have to be violent per se... You're just temporarily tapping that inner strength that makes you tougher for a moment.
In fact, if you do choose to go with Path of the Beast subclass as Rob76 suggested, then this rage concept would intermix well with the beastial aspects being some other ways that your infernal heritage are being called forth...
It does seem that going V. Human for the race, with the tavern brawler feat and Barbarian for the class, is going to be the best option. Barbarians don't need armour anyway, as they are naturally tough. The only problem with barbarians is that they still require weapons, and there is nothing in the character's backstory that says he would know how to use any weapon.
ThriKreenWarrior already mentioned it, but I would also suggest that you consider taking the Fighting Initiate feat as your variant human feat. You could take the Unarmed Fighting style with the feat, which would give your barbarian a more potent attack with his bare hands. Tavern Brawler certainly works as well, but I think that Fighting Initiate fits better with the brawler concept that you're trying to develop. Picking up Tavern Brawler later would be him learning how to utilize stuff in the environment and improvised weapons.
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Hi,
Having enjoyed playing in the short December campaign that I made a “child of Asmodeus” character for. I want to continue on playing characters from that bloodline going forth.
We will be starting a new campaign set in the same world that was established by my DM in the December short campaign. All our characters from December are now NPCs and years has past between the events of the December campaign and the events of the campaign we will be starting this January.
At the end of December, my character was starting to get involved with an the daughter of the NPC lighthouse keeper. So, I decided that during the time skip, my characters relationship developed to the point that he married her and took an apprenticeship with her father, eventually becoming the new lighthouse keeper.
They had three children together.
The oldest child died at sea when the ship he was serving on was caught in a monstrous storm. The middle child is my character and the youngest child is only 8 years old. The youngest child has the strongest connection to her grandfather and can see and talk with spirit beings, who help her tell the future. She is destined for something greater as an adult - a greater darkness or a greater light, no one can yet tell.
The middle child, my character, wanted to follow in his brothers footsteps and become a ships navigator. Having lost one child to the sea already, his parents did not want him to. Instead his father took him as an apprentice lighthouse keeper and charged him with continuing the family traditions that he himself had married into.
When he was 15, he ran away to follow his dreams of becoming a navigator and managed to secure an apprenticeship in that regards, but found that the sea did not agree with him. He became terribly sea sick and the crashing of the waves against the ship terrified him. He was eventually released from his duties, and having no other means of supporting himself, was forced to return home repentant, to ask his father to allow him to continuing the apprenticeship that he has abandoned.
He worked hard and continued his training for several more years, before getting involved in events that lead him away from home at the start of the campaign.
The character is a Tiefling, although he looks human, apart from a tail. His tail isn’t thick and bulk, is more like a devils tail, that he can easily hide. He also has a normal human skin tone and doesn’t have any horns or anything.
Because of the way he looks, I was thinking if making him a variant human instead of a tiefling, and just giving him a cosmetic tail.
He is also a brawler. Immensely strong and resilient, thanks to his infernal heritage, but at the start of the campaign he is totally untrained in any form of weapon based combat and relies solely on his fists, and fast, unpredictable movements and reflexes to pummel his opponents into submission.
As he progresses, I want him to develop a set of fighting skills that allow him to utilise the environment and improvised weapons in combination with his strength and resilience.
I am thinking that he should probably be a monk class, but monk doesn’t fit with his background and upbringing.
is there anything other than monk that would fit this kind of character?
Thanks
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
If you were going to go variant human (or custom lineage from Tasha's) then you could start with the Tavern Brawler feat from the PHB. At that point, you could go either Fighter or Barbarian if you wanted a martial that wasn't a monk. Barbarian's Unarmored AC might suit your concept.
I'd go Path of the Beast Barbarian, flavour the claws, fangs and what not from your rages as your infernal heritage coming to the fore.
Custom Lineage allows you to make up whatever, and classes aren't backgrounds, you can be a monk with the sailor background. Barbarian might be more thematic, but even monks are proficient with simple weapons.
I played a giant bird of prey with the aarockocra stat block, I reskinned my quarterstaff as a beak tackle. It's not that hard to reskin you action as something thematic even if your using specific rules. If your a Barbarian who punches stuff really hard, just use the maul stats and say it's a punch.
My first thought is to go Battle Master Fighter. The maneuver options are varied enough to be flavored how you like. Not as resilient, but Rogue may also work.
As already mentioned, Tavern Brawler and Fighting Initiate: Unarmed to get your damage
And you could partner with your DM for the Eldritch Claw and Barrier Tattoos to aid further.
I disagree with this part. Mauls have that damage because they are weapons that you carry, and are not inherently attached to your character. If you were to just apply that damage to your fists, that means that you are doing the damage but without the limitations of carrying a maul. You wouldn't be able to be disarmed by things like a battle master maneuver, and walking into places where weapons weren't allowed would have no effect on you. There is a reason tavern brawlers and monks exist, and there is a reason why they don't just give you 2d6 unarmed strikes.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
The character concepts was to be immensly strong and resilient rogues, along with monks rely on speed to give and avoid damage, the character concept screams barbarian to me you could potentially go fighter but fighters tend to be trained in the art of war and you really have to wear armor.
There are two ways of getting your unarmed strikes to be effective tavern brawler or path of the beast, you need at least one of those, they are not mutually exclusive taking both would allow you to make an additional attack as part of your attack action and make an attack as a bonus action. Of course path of the beast would only come into effect at level 3 so I think the best option is vHuman or custom linage to get the feat at level 1.
Bear Totem Barbarian is another option, this puts the emphesis on extremely resiliant, at the cost of reducing your damage and I think fits the character concept at least as well as beast.
If you do go fighter I think champion fits the concept most but it is quite a boring subclass to play once tyou get the hang of the game
That's an artificial limitation to a role playing game, if you simply obey the restrictions regardless of the flavor inconsistency, it works the same, there isn't some magical enforcer that ensures your gameplay remains plausible. If that's really such a challenge for you to overcome, you could just have 2d6 cestus that perform exactly the same as a maul and can be removed 🙄
I would go Barbarian and get unarmed fighting style via feat, and later get tavern brawler if you really want to use improvised weapons.
I could see using monk as well. Not sure how it doesn’t fit your background, it’s just mechanics with some flavor text. It’s not required that you spent your childhood in a monastery meditating on the sound of one hand clapping. The life at sea, mind and body becoming one with the sway of the boat and contemplating the wonders of the sun and stars you navigate by can be very serene. And what else do a bunch of drunken sailors have to do but punch each other when not on duty? (Seriously, don’t answer that!)
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Nothing about this character says Monk other than perhaps the fact that they sometimes fight unarmed, which is something every single character can already do. Bar fights aren't restricted to just monks, you know. ;) It is also quite weird how "he is totally untrained in any form of weapon based combat" when monks are trained in quite a lot of weapons, from spears and short swords to light crossbows and slings.
Anyway, you've gotten some really good suggestions. As mentioned, this character would be an excellent candidatefor the custom lineage which allows you to take the Tavern Brawler feat which is really all you need to get everything you want for this character.
For background I'm assuming sailor? Fits perfectly even as a lighthouse keeper since a lot of lighthouse keepers had extra duty as lifesavers during storms so they needed to be able to handle boats. Many of them were also former sailors.
As for class, it depends which route you want to go. A Strength-based class is, in any case better suited for what you want for your character. Someone with high strength doesn't need to be a hulking brute with 200 pounds of muscles, Bruce Lee could do two-fingered pushups and that requires some seriously high whole-body strength. So now you have to decide whether or not you want to focus on the punching people part or something else. If you want to go martial then Barbarian (Beast or Totem, with totem tattoos because sailors like tattoos, right?) or Battle Master (with maneuvers reflavored as dirty fighting tricks you learnt in different tavern brawls) is probably your best bet even if the humble Champion is never a bad choice. If you want to go a different route then Rogue also works. You get the agility from Cunning Action and Sneak attack and anyone can wear a leather jacket. Or you can say that the thick oilskins or other leather or fur foul weather gear is your light armour. Thief would be my suggestion for subclass. Second-story work and the other abilities can easily be reflavoured as skills you picked up udring your upbringing. Like climbing the riggings and/or even the outside of the lighthouse (Bran Stark-style). Even if you go Thief I still think Strength-based fits best for the character you presented.
Warrior with the Unarmed Fighting style from Tasha's, you can take take grappler as a feat to bear hug your opponents into submission or death. Battlemaster or Rune Knight are good options.
The character concept does not really fit monk as the concept is" immensely strong and resiliant." Monks rely on dex and wis so to have a very high con and str means you need to roll for stats and roll insanely well. All the monk features are either based on high dex (eg increase movement) or wisdom / control of ki (increased AC based on knowing what the opponent is about to do) from what the op said I do not think either of these fit into the concept.
Thanks, guys
I initially thought monk because of unarmed strike and the ability to make multiple unarmed attacks. I felt that the character would start with strong unarmed attacked and unarmed defence, and then for progression, they’d use things like the eldritch claw tattoo to boost their unarmed attacks while also learning to use some simple weapons along the way.
With Annabelle, the parties rogue, teaching them to use some simple weapons and helping him find some basic armour that fits his fighting style.
The two characters develop a close friendship while escaping from Baldur’s Gate together, so Annabelle teaching my character to use simple weapons and helping him get some basic armour as the campaign progresses is not so strange. Annabelle’s player is totally up for that too.
However, having read all of your replies, you are right. Monks require high DEX to be effective, which goes against the character concept of having high STR and CON.
It does seem that going V. Human for the race, with the tavern brawler feat and Barbarian for the class, is going to be the best option. Barbarians don't need armour anyway, as they are naturally tough. The only problem with barbarians is that they still require weapons, and there is nothing in the character's backstory that says he would know how to use any weapon. That said, I guess swinging around a giant hammer or maul doesn't take much skill, and the character could become proficient with it and more skilful in its use as the campaign progresses.
I also didn't want to play a dumb barbarian who hits stuff because he's full of anger and rage.
Anyway, thanks, guys, you've given me something to think about.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Who says Barbarians have to be dumb? That’s just a stereotype and rage is just a mechanic that, despite its name, doesn’t mean you have to go all mindless Brock Samson Swedish murder machine on people. Could be you become more focused on the fight, reminding me of the Rocky movies where Rocky gets to the point where he just starts taking punches while spouting lines like “You ain’t so bad”.
Plus unlike monks, barbarians can use light and medium armor or go unarmored. Monks can’t use martial arts with armor. So you could start without armor and then “pick up” armor use from the rogue like you said. Take Fighting Initiate: Unarmed Fighting to do better damage starting out the. Pick up Tavern Brawler later
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Because of his specific heritage and that he's supposed to be a watered-down tiefling, I would view his rage being more of tapping into and/or releasing some of that hellfire in his blood. Your barbarian might not become the stereotypical anrgy/dumb rage-machine, but he's instead temporarily empowered with the strength and vigor of something diabolical deep within himself. Doesn't even have to be violent per se... You're just temporarily tapping that inner strength that makes you tougher for a moment.
In fact, if you do choose to go with Path of the Beast subclass as Rob76 suggested, then this rage concept would intermix well with the beastial aspects being some other ways that your infernal heritage are being called forth...
ThriKreenWarrior already mentioned it, but I would also suggest that you consider taking the Fighting Initiate feat as your variant human feat. You could take the Unarmed Fighting style with the feat, which would give your barbarian a more potent attack with his bare hands. Tavern Brawler certainly works as well, but I think that Fighting Initiate fits better with the brawler concept that you're trying to develop. Picking up Tavern Brawler later would be him learning how to utilize stuff in the environment and improvised weapons.