So, I'm playing Curse of Strahd and just died, need a new character... We are level 6 so already done a few things around the area.. Survived way too many encounters by a lot of luck really, but it finally caught up and here I am.
So, we are only 2 players (+gm) but decided we would have two characters each to.. survive I guess, since we heard it's a pretty hard campaign at times. To make it easier we decided to pretty much make one character the main character with the other one for different reasons being a bit more laid back, for easier roleplaying..
Anyways my friend has a greatsword wielding bloodhunter and a dual (short sword) wielding fighter (battle master).
I had a (main) Ranger (undead monster slayer) and as the other a celestial warlock aasimar, where the backstory pretty much was that my main character found out about a gifted young man in a village who apparently had some connection to the gods/celestial realm and decided to use him in a ritual to talk with them because he needed some info, instead he accidentally bound a spirit inside his body which got stuck there (turning him essentially into an aasimar. I know it's not really how it's done but it fit with the random backstory we rolled for the main)... The spirits radiance slowly burned out the other original soul in there causing him to disappear more and more, the more levels he got basically. Of course he died and kinda came back, with some outside help and reincarnation (well, the original soul accepted after I rolled double failed saves to resist). Now the body is a thiefling of all things, with the original soul and the celestial a bit more intertwined (I roleplay them both but in general they are a bit more quiet).
Of course my previous main was unfortunately 8 charisma which led to, with him being main and the other being a silent brooding vengeful aasimar, that I had less roleplay opportunities. I want to change that. :)
Now, the intro story now will basically be something about him escaping from the big Castle or something like that... And I have an idea where I want to play some kind of bard/entertainer/paladin combo. And I need advice, or rather just help deciding which to do, no spoilers just... Which idea is coolest and would work in a setting that goes roughly to 10 with ... well you know what's in here ;)
My idea is something like my previous party was killed by Strahd, or someone else and they kept him alive cause.. It's fun to play with your food or something. I want to do something like (starting at lvl 6)... Bard, either Lore or College of Swords. And possibly Paladin, either just 2 levels, no oath, or oath of vengeance or ancients. I'll be a half-elf (because I rolled it randomly). The high Charisma should be enough, with a persuasion proficiency, to get me through enough social situations so thats no issue. Would like to have a few skills of knowledge as well if I can, so the lore bard would go a great length without having to raise intelligence... College of swords would make a kinda fun duelist type and some paladin levels on that would be enough to smite enemies now and then... So should work well. On the other hand, lore bard 6 would be really effective too with some nice stolen spells later.. Oath of the ancients seems really great at 7th level, though not sure how useful it would be in this story.. Faced a few people on a hill and saw there could be some use in the story but anyways...
Lore bard 3, see some friends get killed... Decide to get some payback. Paladin, oath of vengeance? Thematically it works well. Oath of the ancients would also work, being half elf and having lots of lore, making the oath of his ancestors.. With lore bard 3 I'd be able to get the 7th skill of it as well. Paladin 2, see friends get slaughtered... Lose hope. (haunted one background?), swap career and go bard (4 from start).. Lately deciding to get back into the smiting game when finding new companions and some hope. Bard (college of swords) 5-6. Same as first more or less, just a bit more duelisty from start. Would also get me those bardic uses on short rest + extra attack from bard if 6 levels. paladin all the way, of the ancients. preserve life and all that. Go entertainer background.
I can't decide. I want charisma opportunities for roleplay, which should be easily. I also want some knowledge skills but with half elf I should have about 7 skills (-1 for persuasion) to spread out, so can probably pick a few even without lore bard, though those extra 3 skills would be really nice. I (since I'm picking/leaning paladin multiclass you might have guessed) am not too sold out on bard spells right now, I know they are good though.. But some support skills are fine, but I want to be able to handle some bad situations up close as well... I also don't want to get into the other players roles, so basically dual wielding and greatswords are off the table, as well as battle maneuvers or blood hunting :p I also don't want to pick warlock levels, even though I know it could be good (cha on attack and so on), since I already have a warlock.
I don't have to be the best at combat/ for the story, but I like the idea of poor bard going paladin or the other way around, poor paladin scared out of picking an oath :p (of course I blame the shadowfell corrupting the poor guy). I can imagine him telling stories, trying to give some tribute to his fallen comrades, where he tells the stories of their greatness, maybe detailing the events that led to their demise but then changing the end to a more happy one while he sees the true events unfold in his mind. Anyways, some input would be great! Suggestions for spells, other ideas you think could fit and so on.. Thanks in advance... Sorry for the long post ;)
For party survivability I would either take a Vengeance Paladin or a Cleric of Lathander, Light domain. Bring light to the darkness etc. Looks like your party is fighter heavy so the cleric is where I would go.
As someone who's run Curse of Strahd and introduced new characters, I'm thinking there are three ways to approach a new character.
Be a local: human, half-elf, or male dusk elf
Bring them in, brand new to Barovia, from somewhere/somewhen else.
Be a retired adventurer who settled down after getting burned out by Barovia.
The fun thing about the last two is they don't need to be from the same setting the other players came from. My first time in, we had two parties of three, one from Faerûn and one from Khorvaire.
For party survivability I would either take a Vengeance Paladin or a Cleric of Lathander, Light domain. Bring light to the darkness etc. Looks like your party is fighter heavy so the cleric is where I would go.
I actually was considering a lathander cleric earlier with that light to the dark idea, but I decided bard/paladin would be more fun. The bard can get some healing word going as well and the celestial warlock has some good healing going so it's fine on that front really and while I agree that a cleric is probably a better support, at least in this setting, im a sucker for bards ;) Though, I guess a lathander cleric with the entertainer background could work as well. You didn't really "help" here, cause now I have another option back on the menu :p
As someone who's run Curse of Strahd and introduced new characters, I'm thinking there are three ways to approach a new character.
Be a local: human, half-elf, or male dusk elf
Bring them in, brand new to Barovia, from somewhere/somewhen else.
Be a retired adventurer who settled down after getting burned out by Barovia.
The fun thing about the last two is they don't need to be from the same setting the other players came from. My first time in, we had two parties of three, one from Faerûn and one from Khorvaire.
Yeah, good advice! The GM (not me) already decided on the whole capture/flee thing (I think, maybe it was just a suggestion though). I more or less decided on a plan which involved my character getting aid from a certain type of bird.. Which got him part of a thieves tools to get out, or the key or something similar... And he would make the story greater by explaining how he trained the bird for days to make it understand his commands, so he could get it to fetch for him. Could also lead to some funny interactions later.
Play what you think would be most fun. Your party is going up against Strahd though... The Light cleric has a great buff spell with Faerie Fire and has Fireball. So not only are they great support characters, in the campaign you are playing in they are great offensively as well.
Play what you think would be most fun. Your party is going up against Strahd though... The Light cleric has a great buff spell with Faerie Fire and has Fireball. So not only are they great support characters, in the campaign you are playing in they are great offensively as well.
Yeah, of course, that's my issue really. I can't decide which I think will be the most fun :p
So it's down to
1. Cleric of Lathander, entertainer background. (Good Aoe, support and still could probably hold their own in battle. Roleplaying aspect I like, but will be lacking in both persuasion and knowledge skills, which is the only reason I'm having doubt's about this really... Not because it's game breaking but because I really want that) 2. Duelist style bard (Lots of spells and can use the bardic inspiration a lot for some extra damage and AC, would be fun gameplay both in and out of combat. Decent amount of skills and good persuasion, but still might get squishy for a lot of battles and could easily die because of this..) 3. Lorekeeper bard (Good extra skills, some extra spells like fireball for some AoE we are lacking + later on could just take holy weapon if I wanted, for that holy feeling. Bit squishy though)
One of the above mixed with Paladin levels. Out of these the options are:
Lorekeeper 3/Oath of the ancients 7 (Lorekeeper 3 would get me lots of skills to gain both persuasion and lots of knowledge, and still get me that nice level 7 paladin power. Thematically I like the idea, I have the bard parts, fill the knowledge and persuasion roles. Being lorebard fits well with knowing the oath and changing the life path in that direction as well. Effectiveness is also good, I will boost party defence (saves) and get tankier and also have some nice smites for damage).
Swashbuckler 6+/paladin 2+ (Thematically I like the idea of the swashbuckler who wants vengeance for the deaths of his party. Roleplaying the oath of vengeance with a cheerful bard will be harder but possible. since it stops at level 10 I'm unsure if I should go for only 2 levels of paladin for the smites, a 3rd level for the oath or a 4th level for the ASI (if i wanted the oath, since 8 bard would also get an ASI). I'd give up some extra spellslots of 4th level though. I think 8 bard 2 paladin with the same rough intent feels better than actually taking the oath because it will be more dedication to stopping evil than just outright by all means killing strahd. Though I do think the oath could make for some interesting roleplay as well, so a 6/4 could also work (Or 7/3 if I don't want/need the ASI).
I ended up making a straight paladin, oath of the ancients 6 levels, with 2 tool proficiencies for instruments instead. Have knowledge History, Nature and Religion, the other characters do have Arcana so feels ok. I also got the Chef feat so now I can do some sweet well needed cooking for this setting ;)
Thanks for the the replies, at least helped me along the way of making the decision :)
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So, I'm playing Curse of Strahd and just died, need a new character... We are level 6 so already done a few things around the area.. Survived way too many encounters by a lot of luck really, but it finally caught up and here I am.
So, we are only 2 players (+gm) but decided we would have two characters each to.. survive I guess, since we heard it's a pretty hard campaign at times. To make it easier we decided to pretty much make one character the main character with the other one for different reasons being a bit more laid back, for easier roleplaying..
Anyways my friend has a greatsword wielding bloodhunter and a dual (short sword) wielding fighter (battle master).
I had a (main) Ranger (undead monster slayer) and as the other a celestial warlock aasimar, where the backstory pretty much was that my main character found out about a gifted young man in a village who apparently had some connection to the gods/celestial realm and decided to use him in a ritual to talk with them because he needed some info, instead he accidentally bound a spirit inside his body which got stuck there (turning him essentially into an aasimar. I know it's not really how it's done but it fit with the random backstory we rolled for the main)... The spirits radiance slowly burned out the other original soul in there causing him to disappear more and more, the more levels he got basically. Of course he died and kinda came back, with some outside help and reincarnation (well, the original soul accepted after I rolled double failed saves to resist). Now the body is a thiefling of all things, with the original soul and the celestial a bit more intertwined (I roleplay them both but in general they are a bit more quiet).
Of course my previous main was unfortunately 8 charisma which led to, with him being main and the other being a silent brooding vengeful aasimar, that I had less roleplay opportunities. I want to change that. :)
Now, the intro story now will basically be something about him escaping from the big Castle or something like that... And I have an idea where I want to play some kind of bard/entertainer/paladin combo. And I need advice, or rather just help deciding which to do, no spoilers just... Which idea is coolest and would work in a setting that goes roughly to 10 with ... well you know what's in here ;)
My idea is something like my previous party was killed by Strahd, or someone else and they kept him alive cause.. It's fun to play with your food or something. I want to do something like (starting at lvl 6)... Bard, either Lore or College of Swords. And possibly Paladin, either just 2 levels, no oath, or oath of vengeance or ancients. I'll be a half-elf (because I rolled it randomly).
The high Charisma should be enough, with a persuasion proficiency, to get me through enough social situations so thats no issue. Would like to have a few skills of knowledge as well if I can, so the lore bard would go a great length without having to raise intelligence... College of swords would make a kinda fun duelist type and some paladin levels on that would be enough to smite enemies now and then... So should work well. On the other hand, lore bard 6 would be really effective too with some nice stolen spells later.. Oath of the ancients seems really great at 7th level, though not sure how useful it would be in this story.. Faced a few people on a hill and saw there could be some use in the story but anyways...
Lore bard 3, see some friends get killed... Decide to get some payback. Paladin, oath of vengeance? Thematically it works well. Oath of the ancients would also work, being half elf and having lots of lore, making the oath of his ancestors.. With lore bard 3 I'd be able to get the 7th skill of it as well.
Paladin 2, see friends get slaughtered... Lose hope. (haunted one background?), swap career and go bard (4 from start).. Lately deciding to get back into the smiting game when finding new companions and some hope.
Bard (college of swords) 5-6. Same as first more or less, just a bit more duelisty from start. Would also get me those bardic uses on short rest + extra attack from bard if 6 levels.
paladin all the way, of the ancients. preserve life and all that. Go entertainer background.
I can't decide. I want charisma opportunities for roleplay, which should be easily. I also want some knowledge skills but with half elf I should have about 7 skills (-1 for persuasion) to spread out, so can probably pick a few even without lore bard, though those extra 3 skills would be really nice. I (since I'm picking/leaning paladin multiclass you might have guessed) am not too sold out on bard spells right now, I know they are good though.. But some support skills are fine, but I want to be able to handle some bad situations up close as well... I also don't want to get into the other players roles, so basically dual wielding and greatswords are off the table, as well as battle maneuvers or blood hunting :p I also don't want to pick warlock levels, even though I know it could be good (cha on attack and so on), since I already have a warlock.
I don't have to be the best at combat/ for the story, but I like the idea of poor bard going paladin or the other way around, poor paladin scared out of picking an oath :p (of course I blame the shadowfell corrupting the poor guy). I can imagine him telling stories, trying to give some tribute to his fallen comrades, where he tells the stories of their greatness, maybe detailing the events that led to their demise but then changing the end to a more happy one while he sees the true events unfold in his mind. Anyways, some input would be great! Suggestions for spells, other ideas you think could fit and so on.. Thanks in advance... Sorry for the long post ;)
For party survivability I would either take a Vengeance Paladin or a Cleric of Lathander, Light domain. Bring light to the darkness etc. Looks like your party is fighter heavy so the cleric is where I would go.
As someone who's run Curse of Strahd and introduced new characters, I'm thinking there are three ways to approach a new character.
The fun thing about the last two is they don't need to be from the same setting the other players came from. My first time in, we had two parties of three, one from Faerûn and one from Khorvaire.
I actually was considering a lathander cleric earlier with that light to the dark idea, but I decided bard/paladin would be more fun. The bard can get some healing word going as well and the celestial warlock has some good healing going so it's fine on that front really and while I agree that a cleric is probably a better support, at least in this setting, im a sucker for bards ;)
Though, I guess a lathander cleric with the entertainer background could work as well. You didn't really "help" here, cause now I have another option back on the menu :p
Yeah, good advice! The GM (not me) already decided on the whole capture/flee thing (I think, maybe it was just a suggestion though). I more or less decided on a plan which involved my character getting aid from a certain type of bird.. Which got him part of a thieves tools to get out, or the key or something similar... And he would make the story greater by explaining how he trained the bird for days to make it understand his commands, so he could get it to fetch for him. Could also lead to some funny interactions later.
Play what you think would be most fun. Your party is going up against Strahd though... The Light cleric has a great buff spell with Faerie Fire and has Fireball. So not only are they great support characters, in the campaign you are playing in they are great offensively as well.
Yeah, of course, that's my issue really. I can't decide which I think will be the most fun :p
So it's down to
1. Cleric of Lathander, entertainer background. (Good Aoe, support and still could probably hold their own in battle. Roleplaying aspect I like, but will be lacking in both persuasion and knowledge skills, which is the only reason I'm having doubt's about this really... Not because it's game breaking but because I really want that)
2. Duelist style bard (Lots of spells and can use the bardic inspiration a lot for some extra damage and AC, would be fun gameplay both in and out of combat. Decent amount of skills and good persuasion, but still might get squishy for a lot of battles and could easily die because of this..)
3. Lorekeeper bard (Good extra skills, some extra spells like fireball for some AoE we are lacking + later on could just take holy weapon if I wanted, for that holy feeling. Bit squishy though)
One of the above mixed with Paladin levels. Out of these the options are:
Lorekeeper 3/Oath of the ancients 7 (Lorekeeper 3 would get me lots of skills to gain both persuasion and lots of knowledge, and still get me that nice level 7 paladin power. Thematically I like the idea, I have the bard parts, fill the knowledge and persuasion roles. Being lorebard fits well with knowing the oath and changing the life path in that direction as well. Effectiveness is also good, I will boost party defence (saves) and get tankier and also have some nice smites for damage).
Swashbuckler 6+/paladin 2+ (Thematically I like the idea of the swashbuckler who wants vengeance for the deaths of his party. Roleplaying the oath of vengeance with a cheerful bard will be harder but possible. since it stops at level 10 I'm unsure if I should go for only 2 levels of paladin for the smites, a 3rd level for the oath or a 4th level for the ASI (if i wanted the oath, since 8 bard would also get an ASI). I'd give up some extra spellslots of 4th level though. I think 8 bard 2 paladin with the same rough intent feels better than actually taking the oath because it will be more dedication to stopping evil than just outright by all means killing strahd. Though I do think the oath could make for some interesting roleplay as well, so a 6/4 could also work (Or 7/3 if I don't want/need the ASI).
Maybe I should make a poll :p
I ended up making a straight paladin, oath of the ancients 6 levels, with 2 tool proficiencies for instruments instead. Have knowledge History, Nature and Religion, the other characters do have Arcana so feels ok. I also got the Chef feat so now I can do some sweet well needed cooking for this setting ;)
Thanks for the the replies, at least helped me along the way of making the decision :)