I recently made a thread about building warlock with a certain set of skills. After tinkering around with several classes I was left a little frustrated. You see, I want a character who is very good at talking to people but is also fairly smart. he has some toughness (constitution and strength), but lacks street smarts and fine motor skills (wisdom and dexterity). In particular I want to work with a human, variant or not because I just like playing as a human in this fantasy role playing game for some reason. I just have not found a build or class that works with this. I know it isn't the most optimal layout of points but I do strongly feel that it would be fun to make this character in my own unique vision.
Here's an example I made: 13,8,14,14,8,16 Vhuman feat and class not decided.
Paladin seems like the obvious class as the base. High CHA for your casting stat, low DEX/high STR points to heavy armor for your AC
Smart but not wise/lacking "street smarts" even fits with the kind of sheltered backgrounds that often get associated with paladins, like Noble or Acolyte
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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)
Paladin… yeah! You know I’ve always like paladins, but the question is, what oath do I take? the oaths I am most interested in are the oath of the ancients, oath of glory, and the oath of redemptions. I would assume redemption would work best in this particular build, but I wanna see if ancients and glory could work. update: I came up with a new build with standard human. Yeah I know standard human is probably the most boring thing to choose, but it gives 13 9 14 16 9 16 which is a very unorthodox build for a paladin but it would make for a very fun challenge with the oath of redemption! At first I wasn’t to crazy about this whole redemption to g, but now I’m beginning to like it! Thanks guys!
Any of those could work with the kind of personality you're thinking of:
Redemption could be the naive "true believer" who has not/will not be broken or made cynical by life
Ancients could be someone raised in the deep wilderness who isn't as comfortable around people as they are around their animal/fae pals
Glory could be someone who's been told their whole life the world revolves around them/they are destined for greatness, and doesn't understand why things don't come so easily once they leave home/the cloister/wherever
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 like that first option, but replace cynicism with self-doubt and worst case scenario thoughts (or as I like to call them, "catastrophic thoughts!")
I want to detail more about my background because there are two options I want to explore:
Noble: Not the wealthiest Noble, or the most powerful, but definitely lived in a nice prestigious neighborhood with successful parents. Kind and respectful, my character grew tired of the haughtiness and snobbishness some of his fellow young peers, and set off to find greater purpose.
Sailor/pirate: I'm also really tempted to do a pirate background or incorporate it with my noble background. I recently got accepted into Umass Dartmouth (their mascot is a Corsair)and I've been playing a lot of kingdom rush (my favorite hero is captain blackthorn from frontiers) so I thought going to a port town to learn in a good school, I make friends with a pirate captain or something.
I like that first option, but replace cynicism with self-doubt and worst case scenario thoughts (or as I like to call them, "catastrophic thoughts!")
I want to detail more about my background because there are two options I want to explore:
Noble: Not the wealthiest Noble, or the most powerful, but definitely lived in a nice prestigious neighborhood with successful parents. Kind and respectful, my character grew tired of the haughtiness and snobbishness some of his fellow young peers, and set off to find greater purpose.
Sailor/pirate: I'm also really tempted to do a pirate background or incorporate it with my noble background. I recently got accepted into Umass Dartmouth (their mascot is a Corsair)and I've been playing a lot of kingdom rush (my favorite hero is captain blackthorn from frontiers) so I thought going to a port town to learn in a good school, I make friends with a pirate captain or something.
waddya think?
Putting on my DM hat...
Noble's the easy option, so I'd definitely nudge you toward Pirate ;) . I can see something like a Wesley/Dread Pirate Roberts (from Princess Bride) sort of relationship -- your character was on his way to school but his ship got attacked and he was taken prisoner. For Plot Hook Reasons (lots of ways you could go with this, or maybe your character doesn't even know why yet), attempts to ransom you back to your family failed, but rather than just dump you overboard the pirate captain spared you and made you a part of the crew for a time, until you eventually earned your freedom somehow (potentially another Plot Hook for the DM)
It was that act of mercy that led you down the path to your Oath -- if even a pirate captain can find a bit of light in their heart, anyone can
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 like that first option, but replace cynicism with self-doubt and worst case scenario thoughts (or as I like to call them, "catastrophic thoughts!")
I want to detail more about my background because there are two options I want to explore:
Noble: Not the wealthiest Noble, or the most powerful, but definitely lived in a nice prestigious neighborhood with successful parents. Kind and respectful, my character grew tired of the haughtiness and snobbishness some of his fellow young peers, and set off to find greater purpose.
Sailor/pirate: I'm also really tempted to do a pirate background or incorporate it with my noble background. I recently got accepted into Umass Dartmouth (their mascot is a Corsair)and I've been playing a lot of kingdom rush (my favorite hero is captain blackthorn from frontiers) so I thought going to a port town to learn in a good school, I make friends with a pirate captain or something.
waddya think?
Putting on my DM hat...
Noble's the easy option, so I'd definitely nudge you toward Pirate ;) . I can see something like a Wesley/Dread Pirate Roberts (from Princess Bride) sort of relationship -- your character was on his way to school but his ship got attacked and he was taken prisoner. For Plot Hook Reasons (lots of ways you could go with this, or maybe your character doesn't even know why yet), attempts to ransom you back to your family failed, but rather than just dump you overboard the pirate captain spared you and made you a part of the crew for a time, until you eventually earned your freedom somehow (potentially another Plot Hook for the DM)
It was that act of mercy that led you down the path to your Oath -- if even a pirate captain can find a bit of light in their heart, anyone can
Wow. That's pretty awesome! You're really good at this whole character creation thing.
Reading this gave me this idea for a background: I had the idea of after going to school I joined a crew with a friendly pirate captain who had a strict but fair pirates code. This gave me a perspective of my own set of morals as well as showing mercy to those less fortunate (such as helpless crew members living in an unfair ship where the captain gets all the gold and glory)
The Pirate background would give me perception and the noble part of it would give me persuasion. I think that's pretty fair and cool, as well as some interesting developments where I can get along with the powerful and wealthy, but also get along with some more chaotic folk (especially those chaotic good).
edit: tried out a new build with Vhuman and got 14 8 14 14 (or int of 16 if the DM is willing) 8 16 with the crusher perks and I am very proud of this line-up. It should suffice well!
Basically any single attribute caster of cha/int works wonders!
Worrying about combat prowess depends entirely on your DM's approach and your party composition.
I always build my games around the particular party, so an optimized party will face more difficult enemies.
With a decent con you only need to get some AC or supplements. Maybe the Tough feat for some more HP.
Spells like misty step to escape grapple and disengage. Mirror Image is a great supplement for AC, but you need to get it on in every combat, so needs some thinking.
Sorcerer, bard, wizard. All work just fine.
The Blink spell is awesome btw. I once had an encounter where I got lucky and the boss could never even target me. I just appeared, nuked and disappeared time and again. 😅
You don't need to avoid every hit. No build does that. Just avoid ENOUGH damage.
cool! I've definitely toyed around with sorcerer and wizard, but I didn't touch the bard because of my low dexterity.
Thanks for the reassurance. I think I've just been worrying to much but i'm sure I can figure something out with my DM and friends!
Bard can use leather armor to negate some of that terrible AC you plan to have.
Lore bard has cutting words that can reduce enemy attack rolls. 🙂 the Vicious mockery cantrip has terrible damage, but it's a good support spell if you are low on slots.
Dissonant whispers is an amazing tactical spell. Can be used to deal damage AND drive away an enemy who gets too close. In the right positions you could use it to grant Opportunity Attacks for multiple allies.
Silvery barbs is not very useful for self protection against attacks, since it doesn't increase your AC. With a terrible AC the disadv will probably be a hit too.
Heat metal is great for dealing dmg and giving disadv of their weapon/armor is made of metal.
Bard gets mirror image too.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Finland GMT/UTC +2
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I recently made a thread about building warlock with a certain set of skills. After tinkering around with several classes I was left a little frustrated. You see, I want a character who is very good at talking to people but is also fairly smart. he has some toughness (constitution and strength), but lacks street smarts and fine motor skills (wisdom and dexterity). In particular I want to work with a human, variant or not because I just like playing as a human in this fantasy role playing game for some reason. I just have not found a build or class that works with this. I know it isn't the most optimal layout of points but I do strongly feel that it would be fun to make this character in my own unique vision.
Here's an example I made: 13,8,14,14,8,16 Vhuman feat and class not decided.
What could I make of this?
Paladin seems like the obvious class as the base. High CHA for your casting stat, low DEX/high STR points to heavy armor for your AC
Smart but not wise/lacking "street smarts" even fits with the kind of sheltered backgrounds that often get associated with paladins, like Noble or Acolyte
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)
Paladin fits the best.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E and OSR geek.
Paladin… yeah! You know I’ve always like paladins, but the question is, what oath do I take?
the oaths I am most interested in are the oath of the ancients, oath of glory, and the oath of redemptions. I would assume redemption would work best in this particular build, but I wanna see if ancients and glory could work.
update: I came up with a new build with standard human. Yeah I know standard human is probably the most boring thing to choose, but it gives 13 9 14 16 9 16 which is a very unorthodox build for a paladin but it would make for a very fun challenge with the oath of redemption! At first I wasn’t to crazy about this whole redemption to g, but now I’m beginning to like it! Thanks guys!
Any of those could work with the kind of personality you're thinking of:
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 like that first option, but replace cynicism with self-doubt and worst case scenario thoughts (or as I like to call them, "catastrophic thoughts!")
I want to detail more about my background because there are two options I want to explore:
Noble: Not the wealthiest Noble, or the most powerful, but definitely lived in a nice prestigious neighborhood with successful parents. Kind and respectful, my character grew tired of the haughtiness and snobbishness some of his fellow young peers, and set off to find greater purpose.
Sailor/pirate: I'm also really tempted to do a pirate background or incorporate it with my noble background. I recently got accepted into Umass Dartmouth (their mascot is a Corsair)and I've been playing a lot of kingdom rush (my favorite hero is captain blackthorn from frontiers) so I thought going to a port town to learn in a good school, I make friends with a pirate captain or something.
waddya think?
Putting on my DM hat...
Noble's the easy option, so I'd definitely nudge you toward Pirate ;) . I can see something like a Wesley/Dread Pirate Roberts (from Princess Bride) sort of relationship -- your character was on his way to school but his ship got attacked and he was taken prisoner. For Plot Hook Reasons (lots of ways you could go with this, or maybe your character doesn't even know why yet), attempts to ransom you back to your family failed, but rather than just dump you overboard the pirate captain spared you and made you a part of the crew for a time, until you eventually earned your freedom somehow (potentially another Plot Hook for the DM)
It was that act of mercy that led you down the path to your Oath -- if even a pirate captain can find a bit of light in their heart, anyone can
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)
Wow. That's pretty awesome! You're really good at this whole character creation thing.
Reading this gave me this idea for a background: I had the idea of after going to school I joined a crew with a friendly pirate captain who had a strict but fair pirates code. This gave me a perspective of my own set of morals as well as showing mercy to those less fortunate (such as helpless crew members living in an unfair ship where the captain gets all the gold and glory)
The Pirate background would give me perception and the noble part of it would give me persuasion. I think that's pretty fair and cool, as well as some interesting developments where I can get along with the powerful and wealthy, but also get along with some more chaotic folk (especially those chaotic good).
edit: tried out a new build with Vhuman and got 14 8 14 14 (or int of 16 if the DM is willing) 8 16 with the crusher perks and I am very proud of this line-up. It should suffice well!
Basically any single attribute caster of cha/int works wonders!
Worrying about combat prowess depends entirely on your DM's approach and your party composition.
I always build my games around the particular party, so an optimized party will face more difficult enemies.
With a decent con you only need to get some AC or supplements. Maybe the Tough feat for some more HP.
Spells like misty step to escape grapple and disengage. Mirror Image is a great supplement for AC, but you need to get it on in every combat, so needs some thinking.
Sorcerer, bard, wizard. All work just fine.
The Blink spell is awesome btw. I once had an encounter where I got lucky and the boss could never even target me. I just appeared, nuked and disappeared time and again. 😅
You don't need to avoid every hit. No build does that. Just avoid ENOUGH damage.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
cool! I've definitely toyed around with sorcerer and wizard, but I didn't touch the bard because of my low dexterity.
Thanks for the reassurance. I think I've just been worrying to much but i'm sure I can figure something out with my DM and friends!
Bard can use leather armor to negate some of that terrible AC you plan to have.
Lore bard has cutting words that can reduce enemy attack rolls. 🙂 the Vicious mockery cantrip has terrible damage, but it's a good support spell if you are low on slots.
Dissonant whispers is an amazing tactical spell. Can be used to deal damage AND drive away an enemy who gets too close. In the right positions you could use it to grant Opportunity Attacks for multiple allies.
Silvery barbs is not very useful for self protection against attacks, since it doesn't increase your AC. With a terrible AC the disadv will probably be a hit too.
Heat metal is great for dealing dmg and giving disadv of their weapon/armor is made of metal.
Bard gets mirror image too.
Finland GMT/UTC +2