I've had a few Player Characters over the years, but by far my favorite is my current one, based on the concept of making him a Pokémon trainer. Early on in the design process I decided to multi-class so that he'd have access to multiple 'mon, even if he's only using one per turn (which works well with the conceit of Pokémon battling anyway). I decided to go with an Battle Smith Artificer / Circle of the Shepherd Druid. This was because it had the most pets possible, so far as I figure: the Battle Smith gets a Steel Defender and a Homunculus Servant, while the Shepherd gets his Wild Companion and his Spirit Totem. But other combinations are possible, especially if you don't want to be primarily a Steel-type trainer, and I might explore them in future builds. I'll enumerate a few ideas I've had, but am interested in ones I haven't thought up.
Ideally, most of the relevant features will come online after two to three levels in each class, at most, so between level four and six overall. I mostly play in campaigns that start at level three, and my longest running campaign has only now reached level fourteen after two years, so builds that don't come into their own until higher levels are of less interest. As such, most of these builds are going to be combinations of the Battle Smith, Beast Master, Drakewarden, Shepherd, and Swarmkeeper.
Steel-type trainers
Battle Smith / Shepherd
Battle Smith / Moon Druid
Battle Smith / Beast Master
Dragon-type trainers
Drakewarden / Shepherd
Drakewarden / Moon Druid
Grass and/or Poison-type trainers
Spores Druid / Beast Master
Bug / Fairy / Flying-type trainers
Swampkeeper / Shepherd
Swarmkeeper / Moon Druid
Anything missing? I've heard Conjurer suggested, but don't see its advantages, especially at lower level and sans a pet. What about Echo Knights or Artillerists or something else?
I think it's also possible to just flavor any spellcasting as being from a Pokemon. Like... you could flavor Firebolt as just, "I let out my charmander, he shoots a big ball of fire, then pops back into his pokeball".
I know very little about Pokemon, but look at College of Creation bard, Circle of Wildfire druid, and Pact of the Chain warlock. The first two fit better than the third.
I know very little about Pokemon, but look at College of Creation bard, Circle of Wildfire druid, and Pact of the Chain warlock. The first two fit better than the third.
Circle of the Wildfire Druid would definitely work as a Fire-type trainer.
You could also work towards getting ahold of one (or more) Bag of Tricks.
I'd not heard of this before, but I'll definitely be begging my DM for one of these. I let him get away with murder (of his fellow PCs, no less) in the campaign I DM, so hopefully there'll be a bit of quid pro quo.
Oh yeah, a Bag of Tricks, I totally forgot about that. Other than the little balls the creatures come out of being described as "fuzzy", it's a fairly literal version of a Pokeball in D&D terms... I think the only difference is that creatures summoned by a Bag of Tricks can't be put back into their ball form at-will... once it's out, it's out until it dies or the next day comes.
I've had a few Player Characters over the years, but by far my favorite is my current one, based on the concept of making him a Pokémon trainer. Early on in the design process I decided to multi-class so that he'd have access to multiple 'mon, even if he's only using one per turn (which works well with the conceit of Pokémon battling anyway). I decided to go with an Battle Smith Artificer / Circle of the Shepherd Druid. This was because it had the most pets possible, so far as I figure: the Battle Smith gets a Steel Defender and a Homunculus Servant, while the Shepherd gets his Wild Companion and his Spirit Totem. But other combinations are possible, especially if you don't want to be primarily a Steel-type trainer, and I might explore them in future builds. I'll enumerate a few ideas I've had, but am interested in ones I haven't thought up.
Ideally, most of the relevant features will come online after two to three levels in each class, at most, so between level four and six overall. I mostly play in campaigns that start at level three, and my longest running campaign has only now reached level fourteen after two years, so builds that don't come into their own until higher levels are of less interest. As such, most of these builds are going to be combinations of the Battle Smith, Beast Master, Drakewarden, Shepherd, and Swarmkeeper.
Steel-type trainers
Dragon-type trainers
Grass and/or Poison-type trainers
Bug / Fairy / Flying-type trainers
Anything missing? I've heard Conjurer suggested, but don't see its advantages, especially at lower level and sans a pet. What about Echo Knights or Artillerists or something else?
Not a Pokemon expert, but aren't there undead Pokemon? Your regular Necromancer could also be such a trainer, yes?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I think it's also possible to just flavor any spellcasting as being from a Pokemon. Like... you could flavor Firebolt as just, "I let out my charmander, he shoots a big ball of fire, then pops back into his pokeball".
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I know very little about Pokemon, but look at College of Creation bard, Circle of Wildfire druid, and Pact of the Chain warlock. The first two fit better than the third.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
You could also work towards getting ahold of one (or more) Bag of Tricks.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Circle of the Wildfire Druid would definitely work as a Fire-type trainer.
I'd not heard of this before, but I'll definitely be begging my DM for one of these. I let him get away with murder (of his fellow PCs, no less) in the campaign I DM, so hopefully there'll be a bit of quid pro quo.
Oh yeah, a Bag of Tricks, I totally forgot about that. Other than the little balls the creatures come out of being described as "fuzzy", it's a fairly literal version of a Pokeball in D&D terms... I think the only difference is that creatures summoned by a Bag of Tricks can't be put back into their ball form at-will... once it's out, it's out until it dies or the next day comes.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium