So I have this idea but have no idea how to make a build to help fit it.
Concept: My character was once a simple farmboy from a far off village. Until the day his home and people were pillaged, taken and sold as slaves. He was forced into gladiator style combat as cannon fodder, however no matter how many death matches they put him in, no matter how low the odds he kept winning and became famously known as the 'Survivor'. Forcing him every battle to take on bigger and more threatening goes, each fight more deadly than the last, until eventually he loses an arm but still wins by killing his opponent.
That night after loosing his arm he rests in his cell he feels the will to live slipping, he gives up and waits to slip into the eternal dream.
He wakes up the next morning, alive and with a new vigour. He knows something happened in his sleep, but he can't remember what, but more importantly he no longer wants to die, he wants to live, not just survive and most importantly he wanted vengeance for his people.
He breaks out and escapes the gladiator stadium and goes into the world with his new strength and skills to find the ones who destroyed his home, find the people who financed them and most importantly find his family.
Ok so that's the flavour and story, so far I plan to start him as a fighter at LVL 1 with the unarmed fighting style for how they constantly made him fight unarmed, his weapon skills a result of him using weapons he took from opponents in battle.
As for later levels I am not sure, I had this idea to multiclass a little to warlock to gain a pact weapon that would turn into a replacement arm (using a floral or a whip to have a chain arm with a claw hand tip).
Main thing his for him to be a brawler and maybe get a replacement arm and maybe he has some supernatural guidance that helped to give him a kick start to his will to live.
First be careful with a concept of a powerful character before level 1. It might become a less fun concept when low levels you feel weak possibly never achieving your ideal. Still a recovery story is possible and can be good fun play too. Let your dm/table know what it is you want for this character.
Artificer is the only way to get limbs replaced early via class skills and it may suit your playstyle as they are a bit tanky. Just use spells slots as smart as possible because they are limited.
Another route you could take would be a astral self monk. Again ki is a limited resource but being 1 armed is not Really a problem for monks. Multi-class to ranger when you have what you want from monk.
There really are alot of ways to go forward especially if you're willing to use the "favor is free rule."
I’d agree with roscoevian that monk is worth exploring, especially if you plan to stick with the 1-arm aspect. And it helps explain your success while being unarmed and unarmored. Maybe that opening village was a monastery?
Supernatural guidance can be pure role play. Any character, of any class, can have such an experience. A gladiator monk who is super religious is, to me, a more interesting type than, for example, taking a level of cleric to “explain” your behavior. Not every character choice needs a mechanical component. You can make a promise and not be a paladin, you can make a deal and not be a warlock, you can love nature and not be a druid, etc.
And if you do want to go into it mechanically, without going all in on multi classing, you can always take a feat to represent getting that, like magic initiate: cleric to give you a tiny taste of divine flavor. Or decide your help came from the raven queen and pick up fey touched. Or it came from a darker place and take shadow touched.
Replacement arms will be up to your DM. Prosthetic limbs are magic items, so it will be their call if they even exist in the world. There’s also the spell regeneration, but that’s a 7th level spell, so it would be a while before you get access to it. And I’d keep an open mind about the whole thing. Your character could start with this drive to get a new arm, but later decide they don’t want one. Either way it gives you good options for character development.
I agree with the above about your backstory should portray a really powerful character and then you start at level 1 where you will lose to anything except the weakest of enemies. Hsving a couple of wins before losing your arm would set you up more for a level 1 character.
Another thing to be aware of is until you get a replacement arm you will be nerfing yourself fairly significantly. With a second hand holding a shield your AC would be 2 higher, that is a significant difference. Far more than you get from uping your damage de from a d6 to a d8. Also speak to your DM about whether it will affect you in other areas, for example will you have a penalty for things like climbing? This sort of thing often sounds like fun initially but after a couple of sessions it just gets frustrating.
Background is screaming gladiator but for class you can pick pretty much anything. What I thought of with a character who wakes up wanting vengeance for his people is a vengence paladin. Paladins don't get a fighting style until level 2 and RAW are not allowed ot take unarmed fighting but you could probaby work something out with your DM.
My first thought reading it wasn't fighter but barbarian, aiming for zealot at 3rd level. Strength-focused build good at grappling, rage/thirst for vengeance, and (eventually) being weirdly hard to kill. (The whole "mysterious change in outlook and vitality while asleep" thing also suggests a warlock's pact, but that would be much trickier with the kind of melee character you seem interested in playing, and you could basically role-play the same kind of thing as a zealot barb who has been chosen by some powerful entity, just without the specific warlock trappings)
Unarmed battle master fighter with Disarming attack etc. could also work, but it doesn't tie in with the other elements of the backstory
As others have already said, at 1st level you shouldn't be imagining them as an unbeaten long-time champion of the arena -- that's a description of a much more powerful, much higher level character. Scale it back -- maybe they lost that arm in one of their first fights, but because they survived and their captors didn't like to waste resources, they were kept alive to do menial tasks like cleaning, cooking etc. for the other gladiators. Your character was no longer seen as a threat... which allowed them to develop their fighting skills in secret, watching the others train, until they finally saw their chance to escape
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I will echo the others and caution you against creating such an elaborate backstory for such a powerful character. A couple of wins would make sense, but a slew of them would more suitable for a character of a much higher level, at least 5th or higher.
I will also echo AntonSirius and suggest Barbarian instead of Fighter. That backstory is right out of Conan.
I would also echo the others and recommend against the whole missing arm thing. It’ll be a major downside until you get around it. I had a player make a character that started out with a missing hand. He went Hexblade, and at 3rd level took the Pact of the Blade. I allowed it to replace his character’s hand since it says “You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it…” so I let it be a gauntlet that could turn into a weapon. Just putting it out there.
I will say it is possible to play a higher level character fallen low if that's what you are set on but talk to your dm first. I bet each poster in this thread has had an experience where they can relate to "expectation problems" at the table.
If it's a fun story table it may not be a problem. If the table is more optimized/difficult play, I expect the power fantasy will be lost.
I for one didn't want to discourage the concept only shine enough light that ensures realistic expectations.
As others have said, this backstory doesn't really work for a level one character. You're only slightly better off at adventuring than a Commoner at first level, and most of that can be put down to luck more than judgement (quite literally if you roll for your stats). This is before you've even broken out of the stadium, which isn't going to be easy unless there's some freak accident or a slave revolt that your character was another faceless part of.
Depending on your starting class it's going to be difficult to multiclass into something that will give you a supernatural or artificial limb. If you go with the choice of Barbarian, it means you've got your STR, DEX and CON... leaving your INT, WIS and CHA lower for your potential Artificer (for the artificial limb), Druid (for Wild Shape) or Warlock (for the Pact of the Blade). So you might well want to try and become a Paladin (CHA), swearing an Oath that matches your style. You'll miss out on the shield and may face complications with spells, among other mundane actions, but at least you build yourself up for the potential need to multiclass. This is assuming you even want to multiclass for the limb: some DMs would stock artificial alternatives, have the magic to restore your original as a reward, or even grant you a sentient one until you've performed a task.
Finally, and I must say disclose that this is entirely a 'me' thing because not every DM's as much a hard ass but were I to trust you enough to play a disabled character with dignity (assuming you are able-bodied), I'd still hamper your character considerably. Losing a limb isn't meant to be 'fun' or a unique character gimmick: it's going to be serious. If you live long enough or the party keeps you around to get a new arm, it's going to function normally. Is the suffering for that first tier of play really worth it for you and the party to get to where you could at character creation? I'm not against debilitating injuries in this game, but unless they have a damn good reason to choose one, I'd flat out refuse it.
Talk with your DM first, and then see what they come back with. Until we know the parameters, they'll allow for their game I couldn't comment further. I wish you luck with it!
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Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
There are actual rules for loss of limbs in the DMG I believe.
There are, among other lingering injuries. In a way I'm glad they're an option in the DMG, but I wouldn't use them willy-nilly were I a DM. I'd have to know everyone at the table was on board, for whatever reason I decide to utilise such a mechanic, and when it happens it's going to be a big thing, not something casually cooked up for cool factor.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
In a recent long-running campaign I played as a character that was an accomplished, fairly well known gladiator prior to the events of the game, but part of his backstory involved him becoming grievously injured and re-training himself from the ground up into a new fighting style, so by the start of the campaign he was level 3 with a different subclass than he had in his backstory. I think that taking your character and establishing them as an accomplished fighter works, especially with the caveat that they lost an arm in the process and get knocked down back to 1 in the process. But here's what I recommend, especially combined with your idea to eventually multiclass into Warlock...
Instead of just saying they lost their arm... let's say that they just outright DIED. Dead. D. E. D. DEAAAAAD! But as they're passing they're visited by some kind of mysterious figure who offers them a second chance... an opportunity to escape. Who this being is doesn't fully matter, but the important thing is that you become an Undead Warlock. Undead is actually a solid choice for a martial-focused Warlock (you don't have to be a Hexblade to pull that off), since Undead comes with the "Form of Dread" feature, which grants temp HP and allows you to frighten enemies by attacking them. If you take Eldritch Invocations that feed into this concept, you can have a really solid melee-focused Warlock without requiring any multiclassing.
The only thing this lacks is that there's no easy way to justify, mechanically, using your unarmed fighting style. There aren't any Warlock cantrips that really "feel" like an unarmed strike... You don't even qualify for the Fighting Initiate Feat with this build, since that feat has a prerequisite that you be proficient with at least one Martial Weapon. Are there any backgrounds that give weapon proficiency? Because if you're proficient in at least 1 martial weapon you could play as a Variant Human, start the game with the Fighting Initiate Feat to get Unarmed Fighting, then just go full Warlock after that. Grab Thirsting Blade at 5th level to get Extra Attack, maybe nab Eldritch Smite just to unload some additional damage and you're well on your way.
Way of the Long Death Monk. Character lost an arm and his will to live in the arena. He can get his Survivor name by being the sole survivor of several gladiator contests by accident. Being knocked out and assumed dead, being trapped under a defeated foe, etc. He would see any "friends" among his fellow slaves die over and over, but somehow survive himself. This gives him an obsession with death. He actually wins his last fight but at the cost of his arm. This brings you to his escape point with the Survivor name, lost arm, gladiator backstory, but still could be believable low level as he didn't do much actual fighting in the arena. He then trains as a 1-armed death monk.
OR
same strategy but he awakens the rage inside him as a zealot barbarian
OR
he is filled with divine purpose by a god of death and awakens as a death cleric
OR
he makes a hexblade pact and his pact of the blade weapon takes the form of his lost limb (DM would need to OK)
class is up to you, but I think tweaking the backstory could solve some of the continuity problems. Or talk your DM into a lvl3 or lvl5 start for the campaign.
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So I have this idea but have no idea how to make a build to help fit it.
Concept: My character was once a simple farmboy from a far off village. Until the day his home and people were pillaged, taken and sold as slaves. He was forced into gladiator style combat as cannon fodder, however no matter how many death matches they put him in, no matter how low the odds he kept winning and became famously known as the 'Survivor'. Forcing him every battle to take on bigger and more threatening goes, each fight more deadly than the last, until eventually he loses an arm but still wins by killing his opponent.
That night after loosing his arm he rests in his cell he feels the will to live slipping, he gives up and waits to slip into the eternal dream.
He wakes up the next morning, alive and with a new vigour. He knows something happened in his sleep, but he can't remember what, but more importantly he no longer wants to die, he wants to live, not just survive and most importantly he wanted vengeance for his people.
He breaks out and escapes the gladiator stadium and goes into the world with his new strength and skills to find the ones who destroyed his home, find the people who financed them and most importantly find his family.
Ok so that's the flavour and story, so far I plan to start him as a fighter at LVL 1 with the unarmed fighting style for how they constantly made him fight unarmed, his weapon skills a result of him using weapons he took from opponents in battle.
As for later levels I am not sure, I had this idea to multiclass a little to warlock to gain a pact weapon that would turn into a replacement arm (using a floral or a whip to have a chain arm with a claw hand tip).
Main thing his for him to be a brawler and maybe get a replacement arm and maybe he has some supernatural guidance that helped to give him a kick start to his will to live.
Any suggestions or ideas?
First be careful with a concept of a powerful character before level 1. It might become a less fun concept when low levels you feel weak possibly never achieving your ideal. Still a recovery story is possible and can be good fun play too. Let your dm/table know what it is you want for this character.
Artificer is the only way to get limbs replaced early via class skills and it may suit your playstyle as they are a bit tanky. Just use spells slots as smart as possible because they are limited.
Another route you could take would be a astral self monk. Again ki is a limited resource but being 1 armed is not Really a problem for monks. Multi-class to ranger when you have what you want from monk.
There really are alot of ways to go forward especially if you're willing to use the "favor is free rule."
I’d agree with roscoevian that monk is worth exploring, especially if you plan to stick with the 1-arm aspect. And it helps explain your success while being unarmed and unarmored. Maybe that opening village was a monastery?
Supernatural guidance can be pure role play. Any character, of any class, can have such an experience. A gladiator monk who is super religious is, to me, a more interesting type than, for example, taking a level of cleric to “explain” your behavior. Not every character choice needs a mechanical component. You can make a promise and not be a paladin, you can make a deal and not be a warlock, you can love nature and not be a druid, etc.
And if you do want to go into it mechanically, without going all in on multi classing, you can always take a feat to represent getting that, like magic initiate: cleric to give you a tiny taste of divine flavor. Or decide your help came from the raven queen and pick up fey touched. Or it came from a darker place and take shadow touched.
Replacement arms will be up to your DM. Prosthetic limbs are magic items, so it will be their call if they even exist in the world. There’s also the spell regeneration, but that’s a 7th level spell, so it would be a while before you get access to it.
And I’d keep an open mind about the whole thing. Your character could start with this drive to get a new arm, but later decide they don’t want one. Either way it gives you good options for character development.
I agree with the above about your backstory should portray a really powerful character and then you start at level 1 where you will lose to anything except the weakest of enemies. Hsving a couple of wins before losing your arm would set you up more for a level 1 character.
Another thing to be aware of is until you get a replacement arm you will be nerfing yourself fairly significantly. With a second hand holding a shield your AC would be 2 higher, that is a significant difference. Far more than you get from uping your damage de from a d6 to a d8. Also speak to your DM about whether it will affect you in other areas, for example will you have a penalty for things like climbing? This sort of thing often sounds like fun initially but after a couple of sessions it just gets frustrating.
Background is screaming gladiator but for class you can pick pretty much anything. What I thought of with a character who wakes up wanting vengeance for his people is a vengence paladin. Paladins don't get a fighting style until level 2 and RAW are not allowed ot take unarmed fighting but you could probaby work something out with your DM.
My first thought reading it wasn't fighter but barbarian, aiming for zealot at 3rd level. Strength-focused build good at grappling, rage/thirst for vengeance, and (eventually) being weirdly hard to kill. (The whole "mysterious change in outlook and vitality while asleep" thing also suggests a warlock's pact, but that would be much trickier with the kind of melee character you seem interested in playing, and you could basically role-play the same kind of thing as a zealot barb who has been chosen by some powerful entity, just without the specific warlock trappings)
Unarmed battle master fighter with Disarming attack etc. could also work, but it doesn't tie in with the other elements of the backstory
As others have already said, at 1st level you shouldn't be imagining them as an unbeaten long-time champion of the arena -- that's a description of a much more powerful, much higher level character. Scale it back -- maybe they lost that arm in one of their first fights, but because they survived and their captors didn't like to waste resources, they were kept alive to do menial tasks like cleaning, cooking etc. for the other gladiators. Your character was no longer seen as a threat... which allowed them to develop their fighting skills in secret, watching the others train, until they finally saw their chance to escape
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I will echo the others and caution you against creating such an elaborate backstory for such a powerful character. A couple of wins would make sense, but a slew of them would more suitable for a character of a much higher level, at least 5th or higher.
I will also echo AntonSirius and suggest Barbarian instead of Fighter. That backstory is right out of Conan.
I would also echo the others and recommend against the whole missing arm thing. It’ll be a major downside until you get around it. I had a player make a character that started out with a missing hand. He went Hexblade, and at 3rd level took the Pact of the Blade. I allowed it to replace his character’s hand since it says “You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it…” so I let it be a gauntlet that could turn into a weapon. Just putting it out there.
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I will say it is possible to play a higher level character fallen low if that's what you are set on but talk to your dm first. I bet each poster in this thread has had an experience where they can relate to "expectation problems" at the table.
If it's a fun story table it may not be a problem. If the table is more optimized/difficult play, I expect the power fantasy will be lost.
I for one didn't want to discourage the concept only shine enough light that ensures realistic expectations.
As others have said, this backstory doesn't really work for a level one character. You're only slightly better off at adventuring than a Commoner at first level, and most of that can be put down to luck more than judgement (quite literally if you roll for your stats). This is before you've even broken out of the stadium, which isn't going to be easy unless there's some freak accident or a slave revolt that your character was another faceless part of.
Depending on your starting class it's going to be difficult to multiclass into something that will give you a supernatural or artificial limb. If you go with the choice of Barbarian, it means you've got your STR, DEX and CON... leaving your INT, WIS and CHA lower for your potential Artificer (for the artificial limb), Druid (for Wild Shape) or Warlock (for the Pact of the Blade). So you might well want to try and become a Paladin (CHA), swearing an Oath that matches your style. You'll miss out on the shield and may face complications with spells, among other mundane actions, but at least you build yourself up for the potential need to multiclass. This is assuming you even want to multiclass for the limb: some DMs would stock artificial alternatives, have the magic to restore your original as a reward, or even grant you a sentient one until you've performed a task.
Finally, and I must say disclose that this is entirely a 'me' thing because not every DM's as much a hard ass but were I to trust you enough to play a disabled character with dignity (assuming you are able-bodied), I'd still hamper your character considerably. Losing a limb isn't meant to be 'fun' or a unique character gimmick: it's going to be serious. If you live long enough or the party keeps you around to get a new arm, it's going to function normally. Is the suffering for that first tier of play really worth it for you and the party to get to where you could at character creation? I'm not against debilitating injuries in this game, but unless they have a damn good reason to choose one, I'd flat out refuse it.
Talk with your DM first, and then see what they come back with. Until we know the parameters, they'll allow for their game I couldn't comment further. I wish you luck with it!
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
There are actual rules for loss of limbs in the DMG I believe.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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Hardcovers, DDB & You
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There are, among other lingering injuries. In a way I'm glad they're an option in the DMG, but I wouldn't use them willy-nilly were I a DM. I'd have to know everyone at the table was on board, for whatever reason I decide to utilise such a mechanic, and when it happens it's going to be a big thing, not something casually cooked up for cool factor.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
In a recent long-running campaign I played as a character that was an accomplished, fairly well known gladiator prior to the events of the game, but part of his backstory involved him becoming grievously injured and re-training himself from the ground up into a new fighting style, so by the start of the campaign he was level 3 with a different subclass than he had in his backstory. I think that taking your character and establishing them as an accomplished fighter works, especially with the caveat that they lost an arm in the process and get knocked down back to 1 in the process. But here's what I recommend, especially combined with your idea to eventually multiclass into Warlock...
Instead of just saying they lost their arm... let's say that they just outright DIED. Dead. D. E. D. DEAAAAAD! But as they're passing they're visited by some kind of mysterious figure who offers them a second chance... an opportunity to escape. Who this being is doesn't fully matter, but the important thing is that you become an Undead Warlock. Undead is actually a solid choice for a martial-focused Warlock (you don't have to be a Hexblade to pull that off), since Undead comes with the "Form of Dread" feature, which grants temp HP and allows you to frighten enemies by attacking them. If you take Eldritch Invocations that feed into this concept, you can have a really solid melee-focused Warlock without requiring any multiclassing.
The only thing this lacks is that there's no easy way to justify, mechanically, using your unarmed fighting style. There aren't any Warlock cantrips that really "feel" like an unarmed strike... You don't even qualify for the Fighting Initiate Feat with this build, since that feat has a prerequisite that you be proficient with at least one Martial Weapon. Are there any backgrounds that give weapon proficiency? Because if you're proficient in at least 1 martial weapon you could play as a Variant Human, start the game with the Fighting Initiate Feat to get Unarmed Fighting, then just go full Warlock after that. Grab Thirsting Blade at 5th level to get Extra Attack, maybe nab Eldritch Smite just to unload some additional damage and you're well on your way.
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Way of the Long Death Monk. Character lost an arm and his will to live in the arena. He can get his Survivor name by being the sole survivor of several gladiator contests by accident. Being knocked out and assumed dead, being trapped under a defeated foe, etc. He would see any "friends" among his fellow slaves die over and over, but somehow survive himself. This gives him an obsession with death. He actually wins his last fight but at the cost of his arm. This brings you to his escape point with the Survivor name, lost arm, gladiator backstory, but still could be believable low level as he didn't do much actual fighting in the arena. He then trains as a 1-armed death monk.
OR
same strategy but he awakens the rage inside him as a zealot barbarian
OR
he is filled with divine purpose by a god of death and awakens as a death cleric
OR
he makes a hexblade pact and his pact of the blade weapon takes the form of his lost limb (DM would need to OK)
class is up to you, but I think tweaking the backstory could solve some of the continuity problems. Or talk your DM into a lvl3 or lvl5 start for the campaign.