My Name is Dusty and I have never played DnD Table Top but huge fan of the dnd CRPGS and I played dnd themed chat rpgs on IIRC clients back in early 2000s
This my first character I have created and would love both mechanical feedback and RP Feedback
A fun unique character yuan-ti pure blood character that could easily fit into most parties
I see this character as
As a thief tool user & off healer who uses cantrips in battle. Working as a deceitful party ambassador while in town and crafter & purveyor of magical trinkets and potions.
RP Feedback I’m interested in (it appears people can’t see the notes section of the char sheet which has all the rp related info, so I have provided the info at the bottom of this post)
Does this character seem believable to you, or do you roll your eyes?
Do you think this character would work in most groups?
Does this character seem like a character a DM could work into their campaigns?
If you were a fellow PC with this char in the party would you like them as a party member ?
Mechanical Feedback I’m interested in
* note on mechanical choice - I chose poison spray as an artificer cantrip even though they get it for free as Yuan-Ti Pure Blood. The reason for this choice is so the cantrips gains the benefit from both alchemical savant, poisoner feat & the artificer spell focus. My understanding is ALL artificer spells can be cast through their focus, but spells outside the class will only gain the benefit IF a material component is required. Am I understanding this correctly?
Does this character seem workable?
Do they add anything to the party?
Have my infusion choices helped balance out their weak spots?
Would you recommend other choices in skills/feats/infusions spells?
I made a custom background which is basically just Hermit skill choices but using arcana skill instead of religion and using the sage background feature of researcher. Does this seem balanced ?
I also thought of maybe having her get to 3rd level in rogue to benefit from fast hands and to spec into arcane trickster as thematically I like the idea for her, but I feel like it would be too much of a sacrifice for their artificer progression and wouldn’t add much other then flavour. What are your thoughts on this?
concerns I have
dms seem to hate the artificer class in their campaigns and have seen lfp posts specifically banning artificers
Dms seem to hate the yuan-ti race in their campaigns or any of the monstrous races that are not the typical goblin/orc variety
Player made poisons seem weak and crafting seems to be complicated
all of this said I made this character for fun and to learn as I have never played before and don’t have anyone to play with.
I plan on doing LFG post later when I have the time and energy
I have responded to LFP posts but when I say I have never played before and I show character I am working on the conversation dies. So I am wondering what I am doing wrong.
Thanks again for reading any feedback is appreciated,
Character background information in the notes section.
organization -Axiom Of The Overflowing Chalice
Secret Hermetic Society that seeks among other things the secret to eternal life.
The society is distrustful of one another and normally do not work together or share knowledge with one another only doing so when necessary or to gain a benefit from doing so. The society members are diverse and secretive often not really knowing who else is a member or find themselves in conflict with one another
Most members are either invited in because they hold some important piece of knowledge connected to who has invited them or they were clever enough to gain enough leverage over another member.
Society members are found in the employ of nobility & temples acting as regents, advisors, healers & mystics Some members have been known to pose as priests to infiltrate temples in attempt to obtain sacred knowledge
Back Story-
Abducted & raised from an egg by a manipulative alchemist. While on a reseach mission in Chult an alchemist from Amn chanced upon her egg after slaying her parents who had been stalking him for months .
Taphnutia’s mentor is part of a secret society that seeks to attain among other things the secret of everlasting life.
Taphnutia was raised in Amn
Taphnutia was experimented on as a child which has lead her to develop into a weakling
Taphnutia was taught she was a monster that society hated and would be killed if discovered. Her true identity must be hidden Taphnutia was taught that the Yuan-Ti would not accept her into their society and would killed and eaten should she meet another Yuan-Ti
Taphnutia was raised to assist with his studies as well as to act as a spy and body guard. Instead of an obedient assistant Taphnutia developed into an envious and deceitful assistant. She would keep valuable information & objects acquired for herself and would cause experiments to fail so that her mentor would be deprived knowledge. To get her out of his hair her mentor prefers to send her on missions abroad or contracts her out to other members of the Hermetic Order.
Personality Traits
I use polysyllabic words that convey the impression of great erudition I’m convinced that people are always trying to steal my secrets.
Ideals
Power. Solitude and contemplation are paths toward mystical or magical power. (Evil)
Bonds
I’m ungrateful and envious of my mentor I seek to surpass them and steal their knowledge
Flaws
I like keeping secrets and won’t share them with anyone.
Speech Impediment. This character has spent their life hiding their true race, this has manifested itself as speech impediment. Must spend extra time memorising verbal components. Some npcs react negatively to the lisp. This character does not like physical activity/labour and expresses her displeasure of it
Hi thanks so much for your response and kind words of finding the character interesting. At this point I would be happy to rp with any group as I have no one to play with 🙃
by easy to fit into groups my thought that was that she needs to hide her race even from party members so that could avoid most in part conflict
her being contracted out or doing research in various locations gives her a reason to be where most campaigns would start
her intelligence and wisdom levels would be high enough that she knows she would need to work with the party to achieve her goals or at least smart enough to know if she betrayed them the consequences would most likely outweigh any benefit
but yeah she’s not a typical adventurer that would fit into a group as easy as a dwarf fighter out for glory or elf bard who wants to chronicle an adventurer would
Medicine is probably the single worst skill in the game (seriously, RAW, Performance is more likely to come up than Medicine is). Drop it, get some money, buy some healer's kits, never look back. Choose an Intelligence skill to be better at knowing things for the party, or choose Perception, the most-rolled skill in the game.
Sleight of Hand has similar issues (unless you're planning on going Arcane Trickster, in which case it's totally justified) - it's more useful than Medicine, by a long shot, but it still just very seldom comes up. Since you took Deception, I recommend swapping SoH for Persuasion, the most-rolled Charisma skill in the game.
You don't have the chops to be a party ambassador, although you could radically respect yourself if you wanted to be one. The bare minimum for a competent party face is a decent bonus in Persuasion and Insight; you have neither. I would give up on that goal given your artificer build - the stats artificers need lend them much more towards int-based skills. There's nothing wrong with being the party loremaster (although everyone will end up needing Perception at some point).
I recommend anyone with proficiency in poisoner's kit also consider proficiency in the Nature skill, so you can harvest poison from downed enemies.
All custom backgrounds are intrinsically balanced in terms of proficiencies, according to the rules. The only backgrounds you need to worry about the balance of that I can think of are the overpowered ones from Ravnica.
Rules question you asked:
My understanding is ALL artificer spells can be cast through their focus, but spells outside the class will only gain the benefit IF a material component is required. Am I understanding this correctly? -- Yes, but you've badly misunderstood... something, so I'll just explain:
Poison Spray is an Artificer spell you know, even when you only know it as a Yuan-ti Pureblood. You can't learn the cantrip twice, and furthermore, if you could, there would be no benefit.
The rule about Artificers adding an M component to spells is based on spells cast using their spellcasting feature (although RAW this means a multiclass Artificer stops adding the component, I would expect most GMs to throw this in the dumpster where it belongs). The only spells they cast using their spellcasting feature are the leveled ones - no one needs any sort of spellcasting feature to cast cantrips, because they have no interaction with spell slots. This means Artificers only add their component to leveled spells, not cantrips. You can't use Alchemical Savant to buff Poison Spray. It's possible you could use the Artillerist version of the ability to buff Poison Spray, because the Artillerist version of the rule contains some word salad about casting through a firearm that makes no sense unless the firearm is a hoop and you literally put it between yourself and your target when you cast, so how it plays out in practice is GM specific, but Alchemical Savant has wording that actually follows the rules, so it's clear it fails.
Final bit of mechanical advice: your statline is weird. I don't know if you rolled your stats, but if you used point buy, you should basically aim for one of these statlines. DnD 5E, like most any RPG ever made in the history of humanity, rewards picking a role and being good at it, while punishing spreading yourself too thin and being mediocre at everything, with no specific role to fill in the party:
15/14/14/12/8/8 -> racial mods -> 16/16/14/12/8/8 makes you good at two stats (for an artificer, these are usually int and con), mediocre at two (usually 14 dex, 12 wis), and bad at 2 (str and cha).
15/15/14/10/8/8 -> 17/16/14/10/8 is the same, only you're planning a so-called half feat at L4 (+1 to the stat that's 17, with a benefit, e.g. the Resilient feat).
15/15/15/8/8/8 -> 17/16/15/8/8/8 is for planning at L4 to bring the two odd stats up so you're 18/16/16/8/8/8. It's useful when you badly need to be good at three stats at once instead of two, like if you're a monk.
The only real exceptions are half-elves, mountain dwarves, humans, kobolds, and custom lineages, none of which you are.
Hi Thanks so much for your thorough reply and feedback.
I made two alternate builds based off your suggestions, I am leaving the original build up for anyone who wants to comment.
to min/max them a bit more to try to make them a more useful party member. I dumped charisma and the charisma skills all together and focus on the other skills suggested, which on paper seems like a good useful spread, but doesn’t seem to benefit from choosing yuan-ti as a race
The second I leaned heavier into the charisma side still seeming to keep the important rogue skills up. I had to take skill expert to do this which bumped dexterity up to 14 and gave another skill to tag and have expertise in. Sadly I had to sacrifice the poisoner feat in place. Perhaps I can pick it up at level 8 artificer, but it feels like she wants the +2 stat boost to either int/wisdom/dex i till tagged Nature as I figured this would synergize with the herbalism kit. I also couldn’t fit stealth into the tags. Is stealth vital, is it more important than investigation?
I had a feeling medicine would not be that useful and yes figured nature was something the character should pick up. Interesting about sleight of hand I thought it might come into play more often.
shame about the synergy of poison spray not being able to benefit from alchemical savant.
Interesting side note on poison spray cantrip there would be some benefit of taking it twice depending on ability point distribution. yuan-ti scales off of charisma, while artificer scales off of intelligence. Also I’m not sure if this an intended feature in the dnd beyond app, but it does allow you to take the feat even if you have it innately perhaps it tags them as separate skills because of how they scale.
A comment on how I pick and choose which sources players can use when I’m DMing a campaign. I decide on a campaign world (or I create one) and then I pick which source books fit into that world. Not that I dislike the other source books, it’s just Ravnica doesn’t fit the same worlds that Eberron fits in.
Thank you for your insight on how you allow players choose which source books they can use for campaigns. it makes a lot of sense as why that would be a rule used.
From my understanding of Yuan-Ti lore they appear in Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and Grey Hawk. However the only source book they appear as a Playable Character is Volos Guide to Monsters.
The Artificer seems to only appear in Eberron.
So from your rule set I could be Yuan-ti Artificer only in Eberron campaigns, but I could be a Yuan-ti with an appropriate class in any campaign taking place in Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and Grey Hawk. ?
Interesting side note on poison spray cantrip there would be some benefit of taking it twice depending on ability point distribution. yuan-ti scales off of charisma, while artificer scales off of intelligence. Also I’m not sure if this an intended feature in the dnd beyond app, but it does allow you to take the feat even if you have it innately perhaps it tags them as separate skills because of how they scale.
Oh, that's a good point. I would definitely let you do this, as your GM, if you wanted to, so it makes sense DDB lets you.
If your goal is to make a character that can fit in at any table, then aim for PHB only. Many tables will not have all optional supplimentry books, so choosing from those does restrict your options. Some races are hard to fit in (flying birdmen, monster races etc), and some classes don't fit well (some artificers are very steampunk which can clash with a pure fantasy setting. Firearms, steam engines, robots and cannons can be quite jarring to the theme). A pure medieval tinkerer would be a jack of all trades/smith, going from town to town repairing, sharpening and selling small items. If they have a stable form of income (university professor, comes from a wealthy family or some such) then perhaps they could work on inventions in a workshop, but even then you need to consider what technology level the world has and how magic interacts with it. This can be a fine balancing act.
I also notice you have designed your first character as level 7, but if you are looking to start playing at a new table then most likely you will start at level 1. It is fine to plan ahead and figure out feats and goals, but plan for a low level campaign for your introduction. Character design this early should be focused on backstory, unique hooks/flaws to make them interesting and a progression plan.
thank you for your suggestions for alternate choices to achieve the rp flavour desired and for the justifications of why people would not like artificer / yuan-ti pureblood player character.
I definitely see the point of overtly monstrous races like the bird/lion/elephant trope. However I feel like Yuan-it pureblood would have a much easier time then those races would. From their description and lore they are very humanoid and can pass for human. They also feature in 3 worlds Eberron, forgotten realms, & greyhawk. So I thought it might be along the same likely hood of believability as a something like Drow being in the party maybe even easier if the yuan-ti is trying to pose as human and concealing their features.
I definitely agree about Artificers feeling very SteamPunk 🤮 I don’t like the idea of shotguns or trains being in DnD & definitely would not have used any those aspects, I wasn’t even interested in the tinkering side of things. What I like about the Artificer class is the Alchemist Class, which for the most part does seem very much in keeping with a fantasy setting. For an alternate to that I would imagine any spell casting class could probably achieve that flavour. I just like the idea of alchemy from a RP perspective so a class being an alchemist jumped out to me.
as for the level 7 thing I know most campaigns start at level 1, it was for mechanical feedback on how I saw the character progressing through out the campaign and if it was something viable or too garbled at the end.
I do feel the two descriptions could be contradictory "I use polysyllabic words that convey the impression of great erudition" and the Speech Impediment. Feels like she should either be self conscious about her lisp, or talk with an upper class/high education style. If you are saying the speech Impediment is caused by her upbringing then it would seem she would say no more than she absolutely must.
Trying to RP a speech Impediment could be hard too. Remembering to lisp at the right time and not have it end up comedic could be a challenge.
Hello I agree that role playing a character with a lisp has its challenges,but I would definitely disagree with a character using polysyllabic words and having a lisp are contradictory.
While I would agree they would be self conscious of their lisp, the character using polysyllabic words would be a DIRECT result of that self consciousness. The character is smart and has something beneficial to say but people probably have discounted their intelligence or made fun of their lisp. To prove their intelligence and to show they know what they are talking about they will use fancy words people might not understand to put the other at a disadvantage. Suddenly a character goes from snickering at the lisp to perhaps feeling stupid that they don’t know the word she just used. In a simple sentence she can go from someone people might make fun of to someone who has proven her intelligence is greater than theirs albeit maybe highly frustrating for her if despite that people still snicker. The lisp is not for comedic value, but rather for interesting interaction how others might react to the lisp.
I think it would provide a fantastic opportunity for rp interactions not only for the player, but the DM on how they choose npcs to react (if at all) and for other players as well. Do they join in on making the character feel self conscious? Are they protective of the character and jump to their defense if someone makes fun of them ? How does my character react to their reactions? I think it could provide for some interesting party dynamics and social interactions.
As far as for rping the lisp I don’t know if I would actually type out “Thufffering Thuckatch” all the time or even at all. I think it’s something that could require some ethical deliberation. I think it could be disrespectful to peoples who have a lisp. ( I dont have one but did have to go to speech therapy) I think maybe peppering it in to remind people and reinforce the narrative or maybe describe the how they are pronouncing the words, or maybe describe the inner dialogue in their head as they say a sentence they are going to have difficulty with. The way a lot of writers portray characters who have speech impediment, is they write the words normally, but we are reminded of the lisp by the way the world reacts to it.
Not everyone who is “othered” shrinks into the background because they are an other, yes they may be self conscious of what makes them “other”, but what do they do to gain an upper hand despite having a seemingly natural disadvantage in a situation?
Feels counter intuitive for a person who is mocked for their speech to decide using even more complex sounding and harder to pronounce terms will be better for them. Doing so guarantees more mistakes and highlights their impediment. Also you are saying they are trying to hide their true form, so doing things that draw attention to themselves would be counter to that goal. The speech impediment being a hiss from the forked tongue is fairly normal, but something she would have to work hard to hide.
Would they exhibit the snake features they are famous for? They are described as having yellow slit irises, patches of scales and forked tongues. While that can be covered by illusions, that would depend on what is available. If the snake attributes are obvious then you get potential conflict with the party, guards, npc mages or practically anyone from the human cities.
I definitely know what you mean about it feeling counterintuitive for someone with a lisp to not want to use polysyllabic words as something that would be a common attitude for someone with a lisp to feel. However I think individuals are not monolith, and many people who face a type of difficulty in their life don’t like for it to control them or define them and push back harder against it and actively do things that are difficult for them. Also there’s plenty of polysyllabic words that do not have the S sound. I can definitely see your point though about talking too much being counter intuitive to hiding her true form, and that would be something to think about, but I also don’t think that the character would necessarily be a chatter box, but when they do speak they are using fancy words.
In terms of appearance from the way the character dresses embracing mystical apparel (which I forgot to copy and paste with the rest of the rp related boxes) only they eyes would be clearly visible, which yes them being snake like would probably make them stick out. I wasn’t quite sure how the character would justify having those eyes, I thought maybe blaming it on a sickly childhood or blaming it on a alchemical experiment gone wrong, perhaps a curse? I wasn’t sure how much of an issue it would be to have strange eyes in a fantasy setting. something else for me to think about
Also would everyone in the setting know what a pureblood looks like? Is everyone immediately hostile to them, or are they just distrusted and feared? From some of the lore and descriptions it seems they have worked in other races before, even some pureblood serving under kings of other races.
I guess people's reaction to meeting a person from commonly known evil race but one who is not currently aggressive would be at best wary, at worst fear and potential conflict. If you are a guard and you see someone who you know is high risk, you would probably be holding them for questioning and depending on the paranoia of the day, your life would be at risk with every meeting. If the people have had direct conflict with the race in the past, then you could expect open hostility. Perhaps she could wear dark glasses or a veil to hide her uncommon eye shape and colour?
Personally I wouldn't allow a creature race at a game I was running unless it was a campaign designed with that theme from the start. If everyone in the party builds characters to the same theme then it could work well (sounds like a joke "A goblin, a kobold and a bugbear walk into a bar..."), but one "evil" race amongst a group of good aligned characters would be hard to make work. If you can design the character in tandem with someone else at the table, then you can link their backstories. Say one of the party has a noble background, comes from money and is off to explore the world. Then perhaps the family has hired a creature race as a bodyguard. You can make that apparent with a uniform, by sticking to your employers side and allowing them to handle the introductions etc. Someone with influence who will smooth the way and vouch for you. The need to pull such a ruse could grate on your characters nerves, they go along because they have to, but they hate their own more feral bethren because of the suffering and anger they have generated in the world.
I love the idea of her working in tandem with another party member especially someone in good or noble standing! There’s so much that could be done with that and seems like it would be a fun dynamic. +++
I do have veil for her in character portrait on the char sheet but it didn’t seem to cover the eyes enough so yeah maybe something a bit more obscuring.
I definitely agree this character would not work in all lawful good party, but parties of all alignments come together to achieve a goal for a variety of reasons, and often diverse groups are the most interesting and memorable. If we take Baldurs gate party dynamics as an example (albeit a video game designed for 1 person) Pretty much all of the evil aligned characters will end up coming to blows with the good Paladin character. However other interesting party dynamics form. Vionca the evil drow develops a friendship with Branwen a neutral human cleric because Vionca views human women as weak and she considers Branwen strong so she respects Branwen, this in turn is very flattering for Branwen. Even more unlikely Alora the good halfling develops a friendship with Edwin the evil red wizard of thay over a party member they both dislike. What bonds these characters is not their alignment but their values. Vionca and Branwen both value strength this is what bonds them. Alora and Edwin get mistreated by other party members their dislike for a certain party member brings them together.
And just because party members share an alignment doesn’t mean they don’t have conflict this is especially true for all evil character parties played as murder hobos.Good Aligned characters can come into conflict with each other as well. A Chaotic Good character wants or is doing something illegal because they believe it’s morally the right thing to do might come into conflict with a Lawful good character who wants to uphold the law. I think it comes down to the ideals & action of characters. What they hold important and what they place value in.
Hi and firstly thank you for reading
My Name is Dusty and I have never played DnD Table Top but huge fan of the dnd CRPGS and I played dnd themed chat rpgs on IIRC clients back in early 2000s
This my first character I have created and would love both mechanical feedback and RP Feedback
Character Sheet Link
ddb.ac/characters/48562663/D59RoO
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/48562663/D59RoO
I wanted to create
A fun unique character yuan-ti pure blood character that could easily fit into most parties
I see this character as
As a thief tool user & off healer who uses cantrips in battle. Working as a deceitful party ambassador while in town and crafter & purveyor of magical trinkets and potions.
RP Feedback I’m interested in (it appears people can’t see the notes section of the char sheet which has all the rp related info, so I have provided the info at the bottom of this post)
Does this character seem believable to you, or do you roll your eyes?
Do you think this character would work in most groups?
Does this character seem like a character a DM could work into their campaigns?
If you were a fellow PC with this char in the party would you like them as a party member ?
Mechanical Feedback I’m interested in
* note on mechanical choice - I chose poison spray as an artificer cantrip even though they get it for free as Yuan-Ti Pure Blood. The reason for this choice is so the cantrips gains the benefit from both alchemical savant, poisoner feat & the artificer spell focus. My understanding is ALL artificer spells can be cast through their focus, but spells outside the class will only gain the benefit IF a material component is required. Am I understanding this correctly?
Does this character seem workable?
Do they add anything to the party?
Have my infusion choices helped balance out their weak spots?
Would you recommend other choices in skills/feats/infusions spells?
I made a custom background which is basically just Hermit skill choices but using arcana skill instead of religion and using the sage background feature of researcher. Does this seem balanced ?
I also thought of maybe having her get to 3rd level in rogue to benefit from fast hands and to spec into arcane trickster as thematically I like the idea for her, but I feel like it would be too much of a sacrifice for their artificer progression and wouldn’t add much other then flavour. What are your thoughts on this?
concerns I have
dms seem to hate the artificer class in their campaigns and have seen lfp posts specifically banning artificers
Dms seem to hate the yuan-ti race in their campaigns or any of the monstrous races that are not the typical goblin/orc variety
Player made poisons seem weak and crafting seems to be complicated
all of this said I made this character for fun and to learn as I have never played before and don’t have anyone to play with.
I plan on doing LFG post later when I have the time and energy
I have responded to LFP posts but when I say I have never played before and I show character I am working on the conversation dies. So I am wondering what I am doing wrong.
Thanks again for reading any feedback is appreciated,
Character background information in the notes section.
organization -Axiom Of The Overflowing Chalice
Secret Hermetic Society that seeks among other things the secret to eternal life.
The society is distrustful of one another and normally do not work together or share knowledge with one another only doing so when necessary or to gain a benefit from doing so.
The society members are diverse and secretive often not really knowing who else is a member or find themselves in conflict with one another
Most members are either invited in because they hold some important piece of knowledge connected to who has invited them or they were clever enough to gain enough leverage over another member.
Society members are found in the employ of nobility & temples acting as regents, advisors, healers & mystics Some members have been known to pose as priests to infiltrate temples in attempt to obtain sacred knowledge
Back Story-
Abducted & raised from an egg by a manipulative alchemist. While on a reseach mission in Chult an alchemist from Amn chanced upon her egg after slaying her parents who had been stalking him for months .
Taphnutia’s mentor is part of a secret society that seeks to attain among other things the secret of everlasting life.
Taphnutia was raised in Amn
Taphnutia was experimented on as a child which has lead her to develop into a weakling
Taphnutia was taught she was a monster that society hated and would be killed if discovered. Her true identity must be hidden Taphnutia was taught that the Yuan-Ti would not accept her into their society and would killed and eaten should she meet another Yuan-Ti
Taphnutia was raised to assist with his studies as well as to act as a spy and body guard. Instead of an obedient assistant Taphnutia developed into an envious and deceitful assistant. She would keep valuable information & objects acquired for herself and would cause experiments to fail so that her mentor would be deprived knowledge. To get her out of his hair her mentor prefers to send her on missions abroad or contracts her out to other members of the Hermetic Order.
Hi thanks so much for your response and kind words of finding the character interesting. At this point I would be happy to rp with any group as I have no one to play with 🙃
by easy to fit into groups my thought that was that she needs to hide her race even from party members so that could avoid most in part conflict
her being contracted out or doing research in various locations gives her a reason to be where most campaigns would start
her intelligence and wisdom levels would be high enough that she knows she would need to work with the party to achieve her goals or at least smart enough to know if she betrayed them the consequences would most likely outweigh any benefit
but yeah she’s not a typical adventurer that would fit into a group as easy as a dwarf fighter out for glory or elf bard who wants to chronicle an adventurer would
Skills:
Rules question you asked:
My understanding is ALL artificer spells can be cast through their focus, but spells outside the class will only gain the benefit IF a material component is required. Am I understanding this correctly? -- Yes, but you've badly misunderstood... something, so I'll just explain:
Final bit of mechanical advice: your statline is weird. I don't know if you rolled your stats, but if you used point buy, you should basically aim for one of these statlines. DnD 5E, like most any RPG ever made in the history of humanity, rewards picking a role and being good at it, while punishing spreading yourself too thin and being mediocre at everything, with no specific role to fill in the party:
The only real exceptions are half-elves, mountain dwarves, humans, kobolds, and custom lineages, none of which you are.
Hi Thanks so much for your thorough reply and feedback.
I made two alternate builds based off your suggestions, I am leaving the original build up for anyone who wants to comment.
to min/max them a bit more to try to make them a more useful party member. I dumped charisma and the charisma skills all together and focus on the other skills suggested, which on paper seems like a good useful spread, but doesn’t seem to benefit from choosing yuan-ti as a race
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/hhsyppvy87/characters/48664929
The second I leaned heavier into the charisma side still seeming to keep the important rogue skills up. I had to take skill expert to do this which bumped dexterity up to 14 and gave another skill to tag and have expertise in. Sadly I had to sacrifice the poisoner feat in place. Perhaps I can pick it up at level 8 artificer, but it feels like she wants the +2 stat boost to either int/wisdom/dex i till tagged Nature as I figured this would synergize with the herbalism kit. I also couldn’t fit stealth into the tags. Is stealth vital, is it more important than investigation?
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/hhsyppvy87/characters/48669209
I had a feeling medicine would not be that useful and yes figured nature was something the character should pick up. Interesting about sleight of hand I thought it might come into play more often.
shame about the synergy of poison spray not being able to benefit from alchemical savant.
Interesting side note on poison spray cantrip there would be some benefit of taking it twice depending on ability point distribution. yuan-ti scales off of charisma, while artificer scales off of intelligence. Also I’m not sure if this an intended feature in the dnd beyond app, but it does allow you to take the feat even if you have it innately perhaps it tags them as separate skills because of how they scale.
thanks again for your response 😁
A comment on how I pick and choose which sources players can use when I’m DMing a campaign. I decide on a campaign world (or I create one) and then I pick which source books fit into that world. Not that I dislike the other source books, it’s just Ravnica doesn’t fit the same worlds that Eberron fits in.
Professional computer geek
Hi Tim,
Thank you for your insight on how you allow players choose which source books they can use for campaigns. it makes a lot of sense as why that would be a rule used.
From my understanding of Yuan-Ti lore they appear in Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and Grey Hawk. However the only source book they appear as a Playable Character is Volos Guide to Monsters.
The Artificer seems to only appear in Eberron.
So from your rule set I could be Yuan-ti Artificer only in Eberron campaigns, but I could be a Yuan-ti with an appropriate class in any campaign taking place in Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and Grey Hawk. ?
kind regards
Oh, that's a good point. I would definitely let you do this, as your GM, if you wanted to, so it makes sense DDB lets you.
If your goal is to make a character that can fit in at any table, then aim for PHB only. Many tables will not have all optional supplimentry books, so choosing from those does restrict your options. Some races are hard to fit in (flying birdmen, monster races etc), and some classes don't fit well (some artificers are very steampunk which can clash with a pure fantasy setting. Firearms, steam engines, robots and cannons can be quite jarring to the theme). A pure medieval tinkerer would be a jack of all trades/smith, going from town to town repairing, sharpening and selling small items. If they have a stable form of income (university professor, comes from a wealthy family or some such) then perhaps they could work on inventions in a workshop, but even then you need to consider what technology level the world has and how magic interacts with it. This can be a fine balancing act.
I also notice you have designed your first character as level 7, but if you are looking to start playing at a new table then most likely you will start at level 1. It is fine to plan ahead and figure out feats and goals, but plan for a low level campaign for your introduction. Character design this early should be focused on backstory, unique hooks/flaws to make them interesting and a progression plan.
Hi Wertbag,
thank you for your suggestions for alternate choices to achieve the rp flavour desired and for the justifications of why people would not like artificer / yuan-ti pureblood player character.
I definitely see the point of overtly monstrous races like the bird/lion/elephant trope. However I feel like Yuan-it pureblood would have a much easier time then those races would. From their description and lore they are very humanoid and can pass for human. They also feature in 3 worlds Eberron, forgotten realms, & greyhawk. So I thought it might be along the same likely hood of believability as a something like Drow being in the party maybe even easier if the yuan-ti is trying to pose as human and concealing their features.
I definitely agree about Artificers feeling very SteamPunk 🤮 I don’t like the idea of shotguns or trains being in DnD & definitely would not have used any those aspects, I wasn’t even interested in the tinkering side of things. What I like about the Artificer class is the Alchemist Class, which for the most part does seem very much in keeping with a fantasy setting. For an alternate to that I would imagine any spell casting class could probably achieve that flavour. I just like the idea of alchemy from a RP perspective so a class being an alchemist jumped out to me.
as for the level 7 thing I know most campaigns start at level 1, it was for mechanical feedback on how I saw the character progressing through out the campaign and if it was something viable or too garbled at the end.
thanks again for feed back and suggestions
I do feel the two descriptions could be contradictory "I use polysyllabic words that convey the impression of great erudition" and the Speech Impediment. Feels like she should either be self conscious about her lisp, or talk with an upper class/high education style. If you are saying the speech Impediment is caused by her upbringing then it would seem she would say no more than she absolutely must.
Trying to RP a speech Impediment could be hard too. Remembering to lisp at the right time and not have it end up comedic could be a challenge.
Hello I agree that role playing a character with a lisp has its challenges,but I would definitely disagree with a character using polysyllabic words and having a lisp are contradictory.
While I would agree they would be self conscious of their lisp, the character using polysyllabic words would be a DIRECT result of that self consciousness. The character is smart and has something beneficial to say but people probably have discounted their intelligence or made fun of their lisp. To prove their intelligence and to show they know what they are talking about they will use fancy words people might not understand to put the other at a disadvantage. Suddenly a character goes from snickering at the lisp to perhaps feeling stupid that they don’t know the word she just used. In a simple sentence she can go from someone people might make fun of to someone who has proven her intelligence is greater than theirs albeit maybe highly frustrating for her if despite that people still snicker. The lisp is not for comedic value, but rather for interesting interaction how others might react to the lisp.
I think it would provide a fantastic opportunity for rp interactions not only for the player, but the DM on how they choose npcs to react (if at all) and for other players as well. Do they join in on making the character feel self conscious? Are they protective of the character and jump to their defense if someone makes fun of them ? How does my character react to their reactions? I think it could provide for some interesting party dynamics and social interactions.
As far as for rping the lisp I don’t know if I would actually type out “Thufffering Thuckatch” all the time or even at all. I think it’s something that could require some ethical deliberation. I think it could be disrespectful to peoples who have a lisp. ( I dont have one but did have to go to speech therapy) I think maybe peppering it in to remind people and reinforce the narrative or maybe describe the how they are pronouncing the words, or maybe describe the inner dialogue in their head as they say a sentence they are going to have difficulty with. The way a lot of writers portray characters who have speech impediment, is they write the words normally, but we are reminded of the lisp by the way the world reacts to it.
Not everyone who is “othered” shrinks into the background because they are an other, yes they may be self conscious of what makes them “other”, but what do they do to gain an upper hand despite having a seemingly natural disadvantage in a situation?
hope this thought process makes sense.
Feels counter intuitive for a person who is mocked for their speech to decide using even more complex sounding and harder to pronounce terms will be better for them. Doing so guarantees more mistakes and highlights their impediment. Also you are saying they are trying to hide their true form, so doing things that draw attention to themselves would be counter to that goal. The speech impediment being a hiss from the forked tongue is fairly normal, but something she would have to work hard to hide.
Would they exhibit the snake features they are famous for? They are described as having yellow slit irises, patches of scales and forked tongues. While that can be covered by illusions, that would depend on what is available. If the snake attributes are obvious then you get potential conflict with the party, guards, npc mages or practically anyone from the human cities.
I definitely know what you mean about it feeling counterintuitive for someone with a lisp to not want to use polysyllabic words as something that would be a common attitude for someone with a lisp to feel. However I think individuals are not monolith, and many people who face a type of difficulty in their life don’t like for it to control them or define them and push back harder against it and actively do things that are difficult for them. Also there’s plenty of polysyllabic words that do not have the S sound. I can definitely see your point though about talking too much being counter intuitive to hiding her true form, and that would be something to think about, but I also don’t think that the character would necessarily be a chatter box, but when they do speak they are using fancy words.
In terms of appearance from the way the character dresses embracing mystical apparel (which I forgot to copy and paste with the rest of the rp related boxes) only they eyes would be clearly visible, which yes them being snake like would probably make them stick out. I wasn’t quite sure how the character would justify having those eyes, I thought maybe blaming it on a sickly childhood or blaming it on a alchemical experiment gone wrong, perhaps a curse? I wasn’t sure how much of an issue it would be to have strange eyes in a fantasy setting. something else for me to think about
Also would everyone in the setting know what a pureblood looks like? Is everyone immediately hostile to them, or are they just distrusted and feared? From some of the lore and descriptions it seems they have worked in other races before, even some pureblood serving under kings of other races.
Thank you for your thoughts
I guess people's reaction to meeting a person from commonly known evil race but one who is not currently aggressive would be at best wary, at worst fear and potential conflict. If you are a guard and you see someone who you know is high risk, you would probably be holding them for questioning and depending on the paranoia of the day, your life would be at risk with every meeting. If the people have had direct conflict with the race in the past, then you could expect open hostility. Perhaps she could wear dark glasses or a veil to hide her uncommon eye shape and colour?
Personally I wouldn't allow a creature race at a game I was running unless it was a campaign designed with that theme from the start. If everyone in the party builds characters to the same theme then it could work well (sounds like a joke "A goblin, a kobold and a bugbear walk into a bar..."), but one "evil" race amongst a group of good aligned characters would be hard to make work. If you can design the character in tandem with someone else at the table, then you can link their backstories. Say one of the party has a noble background, comes from money and is off to explore the world. Then perhaps the family has hired a creature race as a bodyguard. You can make that apparent with a uniform, by sticking to your employers side and allowing them to handle the introductions etc. Someone with influence who will smooth the way and vouch for you. The need to pull such a ruse could grate on your characters nerves, they go along because they have to, but they hate their own more feral bethren because of the suffering and anger they have generated in the world.
I love the idea of her working in tandem with another party member especially someone in good or noble standing! There’s so much that could be done with that and seems like it would be a fun dynamic. +++
I do have veil for her in character portrait on the char sheet but it didn’t seem to cover the eyes enough so yeah maybe something a bit more obscuring.
I definitely agree this character would not work in all lawful good party, but parties of all alignments come together to achieve a goal for a variety of reasons, and often diverse groups are the most interesting and memorable. If we take Baldurs gate party dynamics as an example (albeit a video game designed for 1 person) Pretty much all of the evil aligned characters will end up coming to blows with the good Paladin character. However other interesting party dynamics form. Vionca the evil drow develops a friendship with Branwen a neutral human cleric because Vionca views human women as weak and she considers Branwen strong so she respects Branwen, this in turn is very flattering for Branwen. Even more unlikely Alora the good halfling develops a friendship with Edwin the evil red wizard of thay over a party member they both dislike. What bonds these characters is not their alignment but their values. Vionca and Branwen both value strength this is what bonds them. Alora and Edwin get mistreated by other party members their dislike for a certain party member brings them together.
And just because party members share an alignment doesn’t mean they don’t have conflict this is especially true for all evil character parties played as murder hobos.Good Aligned characters can come into conflict with each other as well. A Chaotic Good character wants or is doing something illegal because they believe it’s morally the right thing to do might come into conflict with a Lawful good character who wants to uphold the law. I think it comes down to the ideals & action of characters. What they hold important and what they place value in.
Thank you for all your suggestions and thoughts.