I am in a group that is looking to start up a med combat and med/heavy rp campaign. I have a character idea that will be fitting of the setting but I would like to get some idea on how exactly to bring the character to life in regard to possible multiclassing to maximize efficiency. I was heavily considering trying to cross class into either Sorcerer or Cleric but I am not sure if this would be effective.
Ideally I would love to play a very young Druid (quite literally a young kid). I want her to be bubbly, fun loving although somewhat mischievous due to her child like wonder. i am hoping to be able to fill primarily the healing or support role with her (Though I am always willing to hear all ideas). The biggest issue I am seeing is being held back by the fact that we are only going to be using PHB/MM/DMG for the campaign so it feels like alot of the good druid archetypes may be missing.
Please feel free to leave suggestions below/ideas please. Thanks in advance and happy adventures to all!!
A kid might be awkward to fit into the party. How would you explain why she’s taken up an adventuring career at such a young age?
If you have access to a druid archetype from another source and it doesn’t require extensive reference to rules from another book besides the PHB and DMG your DM probably wouldn’t mind letting you use it.
Tell me a little more about her background and her relationship with other PCs and NPCs. How old is she? (A 12 yr old is very different from an 8 yr old.) Maybe she’s the little sister of one of the other party members? Also, again addressing her age, how did she go thru the study and experience to become a 1st level druid (let alone multiclassed) at such a young age? Even prodigies irl are typically at least 13 or 14.
Druid/Cleric would probably be kind of redundant but Druid/Sorcerer could work. What deity does she follow?
Have you seen the TV series Britannia? The character Cait is very like your description. An outcast druid teaches her druid magic because he thinks she's part of a prophecy.
Have you seen the TV series Britannia? The character Cait is very like your description. An outcast druid teaches her druid magic because he thinks she's part of a prophecy.
Great call for Cait/Britannia., although it it quite a dark series.
I'd likely lean towards Circle of the Land Druid and keep wildshaping to scouting roles, its a shame OP is only allowed PHB/MM/DMG as a variant of Divine Soul Soorcerer using Druid instead of cleric spell list could would well.
I've seen players put together and run children characters over the years, occasionally successfully.
While 1e gave age related stat adjustments, this is not part of 5e. STILL, as a DM, to reflect the naivete of youth, I would expect a starting child character to have a Wisdom no higher than 12, and NOT have the insight proficiency unless they took the urchin background or the variant human starting feat
It is worth noting that a few character races physically mature in as little as 3 years. As i run my games, this doesn't mean they are necessarily emotionally mature. You can only learn social skills after spending years interacting with others or by MAGIC.
Note that in the D&D forerunner TFT, rats, slimes and children were listed as nuisance encounters.
I've seen players put together and run children characters over the years, occasionally successfully.
While 1e gave age related stat adjustments, this is not part of 5e. STILL, as a DM, to reflect the naivete of youth, I would expect a starting child character to have a Wisdom no higher than 12, and NOT have the insight proficiency unless they took the urchin background or the variant human starting feat
It is worth noting that a few character races physically mature in as little as 3 years. As i run my games, this doesn't mean they are necessarily emotionally mature. You can only learn social skills after spending years interacting with others or by MAGIC.
Note that in the D&D forerunner TFT, rats, slimes and children were listed as nuisance encounters.
You raise some very good points about child characters.
I've seen players put together and run children characters over the years, occasionally successfully.
While 1e gave age related stat adjustments, this is not part of 5e. STILL, as a DM, to reflect the naivete of youth, I would expect a starting child character to have a Wisdom no higher than 12, and NOT have the insight proficiency unless they took the urchin background or the variant human starting feat
It is worth noting that a few character races physically mature in as little as 3 years. As i run my games, this doesn't mean they are necessarily emotionally mature. You can only learn social skills after spending years interacting with others or by MAGIC.
Note that in the D&D forerunner TFT, rats, slimes and children were listed as nuisance encounters.
That sounds quite arbitrary. Why would a child be able to be as physically strong as a grown person but not be able to have the same kind of insight or eye for detail as an adult? As for insight, there are tonnes of examples of child characters who are able to tell when people are lying as part of their stories.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of children PC in general. Especially in games involving combat. Sure, they might not kill people but their party members will and taht just open up a whole different can of worms. I usually don't allow PCs below the age of 16 if I DM.
I've seen players put together and run children characters over the years, occasionally successfully.
While 1e gave age related stat adjustments, this is not part of 5e. STILL, as a DM, to reflect the naivete of youth, I would expect a starting child character to have a Wisdom no higher than 12, and NOT have the insight proficiency unless they took the urchin background or the variant human starting feat
It is worth noting that a few character races physically mature in as little as 3 years. As i run my games, this doesn't mean they are necessarily emotionally mature. You can only learn social skills after spending years interacting with others or by MAGIC.
Note that in the D&D forerunner TFT, rats, slimes and children were listed as nuisance encounters.
That sounds quite arbitrary. Why would a child be able to be as physically strong as a grown person but not be able to have the same kind of insight or eye for detail as an adult? As for insight, there are tonnes of examples of child characters who are able to tell when people are lying as part of their stories.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of children PC in general. Especially in games involving combat. Sure, they might not kill people but their party members will and taht just open up a whole different can of worms. I usually don't allow PCs below the age of 16 if I DM.
Interesting. You raise a very good point too. A girl raised in nature and in tune with her (or his, if it was a boy) innate intuition might not necessarily be “naive.”
Quick suggestion: check with your DM before you create a child character! I know some DMs who would allow it or even love it, but generally, they're either going to suffer serious trauma (like Arya Stark) which isn't very fun, or they're going to be anime-ish (which for me is even less fun). Plus, I'm not comfortable with giving a child a gory death if the dice go wrong, and the other players have to jump through hoops to justify why they don't just leave the kid with an orphanage. For all these reasons, I wouldn't allow characters under 16 in my game. Your character concept would be great for a book or a movie, and might be great for some DMs, but make sure yours is okay with it before you get too attached!
EDIT: If your DM does say no to the child, try a halfling! They're wide-eyed, fun-loving fellows, but they're also mature enough to handle adventures.
There are definitely some interesting points about playing child characters, I'll add a little to it. The PCs are the main characters in every D&D campaign. So you're not just playing some random kid on the street, you're playing a child prodigy that will someday be the savior of the realm. So I don't really don't have an issue with them having a high stats personally. There are children smarter and stronger than me, lmao. Just google child bodybuilders, or don't you probably don't want to do that, but just saying, lmao.
I think most adventurers are meant to be young adults. You could play younger but as a DM I'd probably want to apply stat penalties that are restored as you grow.
A lot of mythic tales include children though. For example, Hercules was strangling snakes with his bare hands before he was a year old.
One of the biggest points the movie pushes is that in spite of their incredible brilliance, gifted children are still children which others tend to forget in the light of that brilliance.
There are examples of incredibly strong,tough, quick and charismatic children, but wise children are exceedingly rare. (Makes me want to write up The Golden Child background.) The stories of reincarnated Lamas would be an example here.
The insight skill really only applies to understanding the motivation of people. (I know, the text says "creature," but I read that as meaning human and/or nonhuman person such as an elemental or dragon.) For the motivation of animals, animal handling is more appropriate. Kids often notice things adults don't perception and can figure out things as well as anyone Investigation.
But, as has been noted, PCs aren't your average muggle. They aren't one of the myriads of Mundanes that fill the world. Those people are the NPCs. While it's occasionally fun to play the supporting uncommonly common average Joe, most players want to play someone special. Someone unique defined by special capabilities.
In the end, as when designing any character with notable variation from the norm, discuss your character concept with your DM. Every DM runs their game a little differently.
One of the biggest points the movie pushes is that in spite of their incredible brilliance, gifted children are still children which others tend to forget in the light of that brilliance.
There are examples of incredibly strong,tough, quick and charismatic children, but wise children are exceedingly rare. (Makes me want to write up The Golden Child background.) The stories of reincarnated Lamas would be an example here.
The insight skill really only applies to understanding the motivation of people. (I know, the text says "creature," but I read that as meaning human and/or nonhuman person such as an elemental or dragon.) For the motivation of animals, animal handling is more appropriate. Kids often notice things adults don't perception and can figure out things as well as anyone Investigation.
But, as has been noted, PCs aren't your average muggle. They aren't one of the myriads of Mundanes that fill the world. Those people are the NPCs. While it's occasionally fun to play the supporting uncommonly common average Joe, most players want to play someone special. Someone unique defined by special capabilities.
In the end, as when designing any character with notable variation from the norm, discuss your character concept with your DM. Every DM runs their game a little differently.
I agree. Even really smart children are still children.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am in a group that is looking to start up a med combat and med/heavy rp campaign. I have a character idea that will be fitting of the setting but I would like to get some idea on how exactly to bring the character to life in regard to possible multiclassing to maximize efficiency. I was heavily considering trying to cross class into either Sorcerer or Cleric but I am not sure if this would be effective.
Ideally I would love to play a very young Druid (quite literally a young kid). I want her to be bubbly, fun loving although somewhat mischievous due to her child like wonder. i am hoping to be able to fill primarily the healing or support role with her (Though I am always willing to hear all ideas). The biggest issue I am seeing is being held back by the fact that we are only going to be using PHB/MM/DMG for the campaign so it feels like alot of the good druid archetypes may be missing.
Please feel free to leave suggestions below/ideas please. Thanks in advance and happy adventures to all!!
A kid might be awkward to fit into the party. How would you explain why she’s taken up an adventuring career at such a young age?
If you have access to a druid archetype from another source and it doesn’t require extensive reference to rules from another book besides the PHB and DMG your DM probably wouldn’t mind letting you use it.
Tell me a little more about her background and her relationship with other PCs and NPCs. How old is she? (A 12 yr old is very different from an 8 yr old.) Maybe she’s the little sister of one of the other party members? Also, again addressing her age, how did she go thru the study and experience to become a 1st level druid (let alone multiclassed) at such a young age? Even prodigies irl are typically at least 13 or 14.
Druid/Cleric would probably be kind of redundant but Druid/Sorcerer could work. What deity does she follow?
Have you seen the TV series Britannia? The character Cait is very like your description. An outcast druid teaches her druid magic because he thinks she's part of a prophecy.
Great call for Cait/Britannia., although it it quite a dark series.
I'd likely lean towards Circle of the Land Druid and keep wildshaping to scouting roles, its a shame OP is only allowed PHB/MM/DMG as a variant of Divine Soul Soorcerer using Druid instead of cleric spell list could would well.
Yeah I recommend Britannia for anyone wanting to know what druid magic might look like. Paticularly Big Pebble. But it is quite gory in places.
I've seen players put together and run children characters over the years, occasionally successfully.
While 1e gave age related stat adjustments, this is not part of 5e. STILL, as a DM, to reflect the naivete of youth, I would expect a starting child character to have a Wisdom no higher than 12, and NOT have the insight proficiency unless they took the urchin background or the variant human starting feat
https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/prodigy
It is worth noting that a few character races physically mature in as little as 3 years. As i run my games, this doesn't mean they are necessarily emotionally mature. You can only learn social skills after spending years interacting with others or by MAGIC.
Note that in the D&D forerunner TFT, rats, slimes and children were listed as nuisance encounters.
You raise some very good points about child characters.
That sounds quite arbitrary. Why would a child be able to be as physically strong as a grown person but not be able to have the same kind of insight or eye for detail as an adult? As for insight, there are tonnes of examples of child characters who are able to tell when people are lying as part of their stories.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of children PC in general. Especially in games involving combat. Sure, they might not kill people but their party members will and taht just open up a whole different can of worms. I usually don't allow PCs below the age of 16 if I DM.
Interesting. You raise a very good point too. A girl raised in nature and in tune with her (or his, if it was a boy) innate intuition might not necessarily be “naive.”
Quick suggestion: check with your DM before you create a child character! I know some DMs who would allow it or even love it, but generally, they're either going to suffer serious trauma (like Arya Stark) which isn't very fun, or they're going to be anime-ish (which for me is even less fun). Plus, I'm not comfortable with giving a child a gory death if the dice go wrong, and the other players have to jump through hoops to justify why they don't just leave the kid with an orphanage. For all these reasons, I wouldn't allow characters under 16 in my game. Your character concept would be great for a book or a movie, and might be great for some DMs, but make sure yours is okay with it before you get too attached!
EDIT: If your DM does say no to the child, try a halfling! They're wide-eyed, fun-loving fellows, but they're also mature enough to handle adventures.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
There are definitely some interesting points about playing child characters, I'll add a little to it. The PCs are the main characters in every D&D campaign. So you're not just playing some random kid on the street, you're playing a child prodigy that will someday be the savior of the realm. So I don't really don't have an issue with them having a high stats personally. There are children smarter and stronger than me, lmao. Just google child bodybuilders, or don't you probably don't want to do that, but just saying, lmao.
I think most adventurers are meant to be young adults. You could play younger but as a DM I'd probably want to apply stat penalties that are restored as you grow.
A lot of mythic tales include children though. For example, Hercules was strangling snakes with his bare hands before he was a year old.
Granted, uncommon children may have very high intelligence, (I've known quite a few gifted children.)
An excellent movie for understanding a few challenges faced by gifted children and their parents is Little Man Tate.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0102316/
One of the biggest points the movie pushes is that in spite of their incredible brilliance, gifted children are still children which others tend to forget in the light of that brilliance.
There are examples of incredibly strong,tough, quick and charismatic children, but wise children are exceedingly rare. (Makes me want to write up The Golden Child background.) The stories of reincarnated Lamas would be an example here.
The insight skill really only applies to understanding the motivation of people. (I know, the text says "creature," but I read that as meaning human and/or nonhuman person such as an elemental or dragon.) For the motivation of animals, animal handling is more appropriate. Kids often notice things adults don't perception and can figure out things as well as anyone Investigation.
But, as has been noted, PCs aren't your average muggle. They aren't one of the myriads of Mundanes that fill the world. Those people are the NPCs. While it's occasionally fun to play the supporting uncommonly common average Joe, most players want to play someone special. Someone unique defined by special capabilities.
In the end, as when designing any character with notable variation from the norm, discuss your character concept with your DM. Every DM runs their game a little differently.
I agree. Even really smart children are still children.