Let's say you wanted to play a character who was pretending to be a member of a class that they weren't. Which class would you choose to be and which would you choose to masquerade as?
I've done it, in both D&D and Rolemaster. In both cases, I lied to the other players and only the DM knew the truth.
In D&D, I told everyone my character was a thief, when in reality, he was an assassin. I even lied about my alignment (it was listed as Chaotic Neutral but in fact he was Lawful Evil, I believe). Everyone guessed early on though... there was no great reveal.
In Rolemaster, I made up a Nightblade, which is a semi-spell-using assassin (think: "Assassin/Illusionist"), and they are way more dangerous than a non-spell-using assassin in that game (Nightblade, at least at the time, was one of the most, if not the most, deadly character class in RM). I told the party that I was playing an assassin, who was pretending to be a thief. So in character she convinced their characters she was a thief but all the players (thought they) knew she was an assassin. This went on for a bunch of levels with me passing notes to the GM about using spells to enhance my skills, and he secretly made perception checks for them and they never found out... until I got stuck in a situation where I had to use Smoke-Flash (which is a teleport spell with some flash -- think Batman) and they realized that she was a Nightblade. Their jaws hit the floor, I think more because I was able to deceive them, as players, for months, than because she was this uber-magical assassin.
Hmm. I can see how. If I might ask, which Pact and did you go for Chain? I was thinking of possibly going Eldritch Knight and pretending to be a Warlock. Also, are you trying to fool them IC or OOC?
Yeah, most primary spellcasters are pretty easy to pass off as other spellcasters. Non-spellcasters aren't gonna know the differences between the respective spell lists, and aren't going to know what the different spell recovery modes are.
I actually play a good aligned celestial warlock pretending to be a cleric/priest of a cult he is trying to set up. I'm spreading the good words of my celestial and chose my spells accordingly to be closer to the role of a priest : ceremony, lesser restoration, cure wounds, calm emotions, revivify etc.
I also played a rogue who tried to pass for a bard. The game had us started at level 5 at the time. Rogues have ample skill mastery selection to pick performance, deception, disguise kit, forgery kit and the like. I made him a High Half-elf of moon descent so he had a cantrip and then chose the feat Magic initiate at 4th level to pick vicious mockery and friends, plus one other 1st level spell i can't remember. I also had a magic luthe or cittern , an instrument of illusion so i could cast minor illusions while playing music. His background was Charlatan and picked false identity as backgorund ability. He roleplayed to be a Duke of some foreign imaginary country and named himself Elias Lington, so he was effectively a bard named The Duke E. Lington.
I have a Great Old One Pact of the Tome Warlock with the Magic Initiate (Wizard) Feat who is pretending to be a Wizard. He calls himself a War Mage. He has lots of spells so he’s able to pull it off.
A wizard pretending to be an Arcane Trickster... or (more difficult) vice versa.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
A celestial bladelock could try and pass themselves off as a paladin so people think they're some trustworthy holy knight, when really they're just in it for the money and/or power.
A bard with the criminal background could probably be a convincing rogue. A rogue with the entertainer background could convince NPCs that they’re a bard, but would need some spells to convince a player.
Bards would probably be particularly good at this kind of thing actually. They have a lot of versatility, and the subclasses kind of work like other classes. Valor and Swords work for the martial classes. Whisper and Satire work for Rogues. Lore Bards work for Wizards, Sorcerers, etc.
This isn’t my story but one time for a one shot someone I knew that played a bard who pretended to be a cleric, using only cleric spells and cantrips, until the end of the one shot when he turned to another party member and said, I use bardic inspiration, which shocked the entire party
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Marvarax andSora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
Lemme explain. A rogue with some fireworks, a decent performance skill and some good luck can more than pass as a level 1 wizard in 90% of campaign settings. Give a girl a roman candle and she suddenly has a Wand of Minute Meteors. Maybe she's got crap aim with them, but hey, it can be impressive. But the other players, due to characters sheets and a knowledge of game mechanics will know the real story. Ditto for a fighter who claims to be a rogue. Build a dex fighter and then take some background that gives proficiency in picking locks and you've got a rogue. But as gamers you know that the "rogue" can't back stab and that missing D6 damage is going to start to become apparent at the table.
But to that orc chief that thinks you're just a burglar and not a knight...
And never understimate the bard that claims he's a cleric. And when pressed to case holy magic? "My god does not perform upon command to prove herself to the unfaithful. Ye of little faith shall have to find your faith within before it can be shown without!"
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"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
* Sundays 7pm EDT: Ravenloft 1921 / Alt. Tuesdays 5pm EDT: CoHost of Happy Hour at the Old Timer Tavern * Wednesdays 7pm EDT: The Convergence - Homebrew 5E / Saturdays 8am EDT: The Bitter Victory - Pirate Homebrew 5E **Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir Join the table at: Start Playing Games
The Westmarches game I play in has a Warlock pretending to be a cleric, though it's not through deceit as much as confusion. The character really THINKS they are a cleric getting powers from their god, and does try to heal, and thinks their Eldritch Blast is a radiant blast. So all the players know, and the rest of the characters suspect something is up, but the actual Warlock is convinced they are a cleric!
I've also played a few multiclass characters that, for various reasons, hide one of their classes and try not to use those abilities when anyone is watching. For example the 5 fighter/1 rogue used to be a thief, but got out of the racket and are now a fighter. So they avoid using their rogue abilities because it's a reminder of a past life they're trying to escape. Which offered some wonderful roleplaying moments when the character had to reveal part of their checkered past in order to help their new friends.
I actually play a good aligned celestial warlock pretending to be a cleric/priest of a cult he is trying to set up. I'm spreading the good words of my celestial and chose my spells accordingly to be closer to the role of a priest : ceremony, lesser restoration, cure wounds, calm emotions, revivify etc.
I also played a rogue who tried to pass for a bard. The game had us started at level 5 at the time. Rogues have ample skill mastery selection to pick performance, deception, disguise kit, forgery kit and the like. I made him a High Half-elf of moon descent so he had a cantrip and then chose the feat Magic initiate at 4th level to pick vicious mockery and friends, plus one other 1st level spell i can't remember. I also had a magic luthe or cittern , an instrument of illusion so i could cast minor illusions while playing music. His background was Charlatan and picked false identity as backgorund ability. He roleplayed to be a Duke of some foreign imaginary country and named himself Elias Lington, so he was effectively a bard named The Duke E. Lington.
I love this story with the Rogue posing as a bard. I kind of love how many little tricks you were able to build up to fulfill the illusion
This is probably the bigger point. A character pretending to being something they are not is one thing, if the target are other NPCs.
But to fool other players with knowledge of the mechanics is another story. Playing a warlock who stumbled onto their powers, looks identical to a sorcerer at low levels. Or even a cleric. Can be done; but it helps to have a group looking at the DM for dirty tricks as the focus, and a DM to allow some things to slide or be unclear.
Sometimes the later doesn't even matter; One character in a group was a sorcerer, who THOUGHT they were a mage. The running joke was that their spell book was scribbled in crayon. The character would always claim to be casting a different spell, than what actually occurred ("Buring hands?!?! that was supposed to be Shield). It was all done for pure comedy gold.
I have a crab character who is a warlock. His arcane focus is a little wizard hat, and he's a great old one warlock, so he doesn't even know why he's magic. As far as the party would know in game, he's some weird fusion of a cleric and wizard, due to him knowing the ceremony spell and many terrifying mind magics. Also his hat.
I'm in a game where our warlock pretends to be a wizard. He's Pact of Tome so it kind of works.
My dream is to someday play a rogue who's so good at Deception, Persuasion and Sleight of Hand that they manage to convince everyone that they're a caster.
Let's say you wanted to play a character who was pretending to be a member of a class that they weren't. Which class would you choose to be and which would you choose to masquerade as?
I've done it, in both D&D and Rolemaster. In both cases, I lied to the other players and only the DM knew the truth.
In D&D, I told everyone my character was a thief, when in reality, he was an assassin. I even lied about my alignment (it was listed as Chaotic Neutral but in fact he was Lawful Evil, I believe). Everyone guessed early on though... there was no great reveal.
In Rolemaster, I made up a Nightblade, which is a semi-spell-using assassin (think: "Assassin/Illusionist"), and they are way more dangerous than a non-spell-using assassin in that game (Nightblade, at least at the time, was one of the most, if not the most, deadly character class in RM). I told the party that I was playing an assassin, who was pretending to be a thief. So in character she convinced their characters she was a thief but all the players (thought they) knew she was an assassin. This went on for a bunch of levels with me passing notes to the GM about using spells to enhance my skills, and he secretly made perception checks for them and they never found out... until I got stuck in a situation where I had to use Smoke-Flash (which is a teleport spell with some flash -- think Batman) and they realized that she was a Nightblade. Their jaws hit the floor, I think more because I was able to deceive them, as players, for months, than because she was this uber-magical assassin.
BioWizard
I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I guess I'm looking for something a little more radical than one archetype pretending to be another, though that would be a lot easier to pass off.
im about to convince my party im a sorcerer when in reality im a warlock
Hmm. I can see how. If I might ask, which Pact and did you go for Chain? I was thinking of possibly going Eldritch Knight and pretending to be a Warlock. Also, are you trying to fool them IC or OOC?
Evil warlock claiming to be a good cleric. This is how cults are made!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Yeah, most primary spellcasters are pretty easy to pass off as other spellcasters. Non-spellcasters aren't gonna know the differences between the respective spell lists, and aren't going to know what the different spell recovery modes are.
I actually play a good aligned celestial warlock pretending to be a cleric/priest of a cult he is trying to set up. I'm spreading the good words of my celestial and chose my spells accordingly to be closer to the role of a priest : ceremony, lesser restoration, cure wounds, calm emotions, revivify etc.
I also played a rogue who tried to pass for a bard. The game had us started at level 5 at the time. Rogues have ample skill mastery selection to pick performance, deception, disguise kit, forgery kit and the like. I made him a High Half-elf of moon descent so he had a cantrip and then chose the feat Magic initiate at 4th level to pick vicious mockery and friends, plus one other 1st level spell i can't remember. I also had a magic luthe or cittern , an instrument of illusion so i could cast minor illusions while playing music. His background was Charlatan and picked false identity as backgorund ability. He roleplayed to be a Duke of some foreign imaginary country and named himself Elias Lington, so he was effectively a bard named The Duke E. Lington.
I have a Great Old One Pact of the Tome Warlock with the Magic Initiate (Wizard) Feat who is pretending to be a Wizard. He calls himself a War Mage. He has lots of spells so he’s able to pull it off.
Professional computer geek
A wizard pretending to be an Arcane Trickster... or (more difficult) vice versa.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
A celestial bladelock could try and pass themselves off as a paladin so people think they're some trustworthy holy knight, when really they're just in it for the money and/or power.
A bard with the criminal background could probably be a convincing rogue. A rogue with the entertainer background could convince NPCs that they’re a bard, but would need some spells to convince a player.
Bards would probably be particularly good at this kind of thing actually. They have a lot of versatility, and the subclasses kind of work like other classes. Valor and Swords work for the martial classes. Whisper and Satire work for Rogues. Lore Bards work for Wizards, Sorcerers, etc.
My Wizard travels as a Ranger as he is a High Elf and gets a longbow as a racial prof.
This isn’t my story but one time for a one shot someone I knew that played a bard who pretended to be a cleric, using only cleric spells and cantrips, until the end of the one shot when he turned to another party member and said, I use bardic inspiration, which shocked the entire party
Marvarax and Sora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
The real trick is who you're pretending FOR.
Lemme explain. A rogue with some fireworks, a decent performance skill and some good luck can more than pass as a level 1 wizard in 90% of campaign settings. Give a girl a roman candle and she suddenly has a Wand of Minute Meteors. Maybe she's got crap aim with them, but hey, it can be impressive. But the other players, due to characters sheets and a knowledge of game mechanics will know the real story. Ditto for a fighter who claims to be a rogue. Build a dex fighter and then take some background that gives proficiency in picking locks and you've got a rogue. But as gamers you know that the "rogue" can't back stab and that missing D6 damage is going to start to become apparent at the table.
But to that orc chief that thinks you're just a burglar and not a knight...
And never understimate the bard that claims he's a cleric. And when pressed to case holy magic? "My god does not perform upon command to prove herself to the unfaithful. Ye of little faith shall have to find your faith within before it can be shown without!"
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
* Sundays 7pm EDT: Ravenloft 1921 / Alt. Tuesdays 5pm EDT: CoHost of Happy Hour at the Old Timer Tavern
* Wednesdays 7pm EDT: The Convergence - Homebrew 5E / Saturdays 8am EDT: The Bitter Victory - Pirate Homebrew 5E
**Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir
Join the table at: Start Playing Games
The Westmarches game I play in has a Warlock pretending to be a cleric, though it's not through deceit as much as confusion. The character really THINKS they are a cleric getting powers from their god, and does try to heal, and thinks their Eldritch Blast is a radiant blast. So all the players know, and the rest of the characters suspect something is up, but the actual Warlock is convinced they are a cleric!
I've also played a few multiclass characters that, for various reasons, hide one of their classes and try not to use those abilities when anyone is watching. For example the 5 fighter/1 rogue used to be a thief, but got out of the racket and are now a fighter. So they avoid using their rogue abilities because it's a reminder of a past life they're trying to escape. Which offered some wonderful roleplaying moments when the character had to reveal part of their checkered past in order to help their new friends.
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
I love this story with the Rogue posing as a bard. I kind of love how many little tricks you were able to build up to fulfill the illusion
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This is probably the bigger point. A character pretending to being something they are not is one thing, if the target are other NPCs.
But to fool other players with knowledge of the mechanics is another story. Playing a warlock who stumbled onto their powers, looks identical to a sorcerer at low levels. Or even a cleric. Can be done; but it helps to have a group looking at the DM for dirty tricks as the focus, and a DM to allow some things to slide or be unclear.
Sometimes the later doesn't even matter; One character in a group was a sorcerer, who THOUGHT they were a mage. The running joke was that their spell book was scribbled in crayon. The character would always claim to be casting a different spell, than what actually occurred ("Buring hands?!?! that was supposed to be Shield). It was all done for pure comedy gold.
I have a crab character who is a warlock. His arcane focus is a little wizard hat, and he's a great old one warlock, so he doesn't even know why he's magic. As far as the party would know in game, he's some weird fusion of a cleric and wizard, due to him knowing the ceremony spell and many terrifying mind magics. Also his hat.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
I'm in a game where our warlock pretends to be a wizard. He's Pact of Tome so it kind of works.
My dream is to someday play a rogue who's so good at Deception, Persuasion and Sleight of Hand that they manage to convince everyone that they're a caster.
Hombrew: Way of Wresting, Circle of Sacrifice