I have not been feeling all that well for the last few days, so I decided to write up some character ideas. I won't be playing this character; it is just one that I am creating because I am not feeling well enough to do very much else but sit on my sofa.
Anyway, I thought I would create a monster hunter, and because this character is just for fun, I rolled for my ability scores. Here is what I got:
16, 14, 8, 12, 17, 15
I also wrote up some ideas for the character's backstory, which I will give you.
----
BACKSTORY - CHARACTER IDEAS - EBENEZER KOPPEL - MONSTER HUNTER
He used to be a priest in a former life until all his chanting and prayers failed to save the children under his care from a coven of hags who attached the orphanage attached to the Church where he was the head priest. The hags easily disabled or killed all of the caretakes and then proceeded to kill and eat several of the youngest children, before taking others with them as they left.
The character was severely injured and left for dead by the hags, who forgot about him, as they tucked into their feast. However; he remained alive, and although he could not see, or speak, he could hear what was happening, and in his mind, he began to pray; asking the Gods that he had spent his whole life believing in, to save the children from harm. For hours he lay there listening to the carnage, and for the entire night, even after all had gone silent, he prayed to his God, and his God did nothing. When he was finally found and given healing magic, he was able to tell the authorities what had happened and learned that he was the only adult who had been present in the orphanage that night who had survived the attack. Later that day, he surveyed the carnage, the blood of his murdered brothers still coated the floor and the walls, the furniture was scatted and broken as the children had tried to hide or fight back, and one by one had been killed and eaten by their assailants. Those few children who had survived were so terrified and psychologically scared that many of the survivors were catatonic, unable to describe their attackers.
As the priest walked from room to room, he felt his faith draining from him. He had grown up in the order, his entire life he had believed that the Church and its grounds were sacred, protected from evil by the Gods, and so long as one priest had breath in his body, and held to the tenants and beliefs of the order, no evil could harm those who sheltered there. Eventually, he came across a toy he recognised; a small stuffed bear that he had given to one of his most recent charges, to help him sleep. He had told the boy that the bear was magic and that it would watch over him as he slept, keeping him safe from the monsters in the dark. In truth, he had lied to the boy; the bear was nothing more than a stuffed toy, but the priest had hoped that his little lie would help comfort his charge and that in time, the boy would grow not to need such comforts. He knelt and picked up the bear, and it was then that he noticed the small bloody handprint; the child to whom this toy belonged must have held tightly onto it, believing the lie that the priest had told him, right up until the end.
Tears welled up and sprung from their hiding places in the corner of the priest's eyes, and as a great sorrow filled his heart, he cursed those who had harmed his brothers and the children for which they cared. He condemned the monsters that had brought death into this scared place, he cursed the gods for allowing it to happen and cursed himself for being too weak to protect what was most precious to him; and then the priest made a promise, a new vow, that he swore upon the bloodstained toy in his hands. No longer would he be weak and helpless, no longer would he waste his breath on useless prayers. He would become strong, and if the Gods would not protect the innocent from the monsters, then he would. In the name of his fallen brothers, with that bloodstained toy as a witness, the priest swore that he would become a defender of innocent, a champion of the weak. That; if the Gods would not give their aid to the worthy, then he would give his, that he would become a line in the sand against the terrors of the night.
That evening, he packed his things and left. If he was going to become strong enough to hunt the monsters that had brought evil into his home, he had to find someone to teach him; the priest needed a mentor, someone who knew about the evil he hunted.
The priest, now known only by his name; Ebenezer Koppel, eventually meets others like himself, people, whom, for reasons of their own, are also seeking power, riches or glory, and decides to join them on their quest. At first, he keeps to himself and doesn't talk much about his past, his reasons for joining the party or why he carries a bloodstained stuffed toy around with him, but as he becomes friendly with the other party members, he begins to open up a little. Eventually coming to consider the others not just friends, but family, for whom he would do anything. Although he never forgets the vow he made.
Ebenezer; becomes a monster hunter, dedicated to eradicating all monsters, but specialising in the hunting and extermination of hags. He develops powers and skills that focus on antimagic and dealing massive amounts of physical damage, once he has shut down a hags magical abilities. He also becomes quite strong and resilient, able to absorb physical attacks and stay in the fight.
----
So, what do you think? With the ability scores that I rolled and the backstory, I have just given you, which race and class do you think best fits this character? I will create the character sheet and share it with you, and you will all be welcome to use it if you like it, but I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, criticism and suggestions for race and class.
It's a bit sad that the backstory precludes cleric, as the given ability array (assuming it's in order) is very good for a combat cleric of the War, Forge, Tempest, or Twilight domains. The very low Constitution is a problem, but beyond that you hit the exact breakpoint for medium armor and hit the benchmarks for Strength and Wisdom.
Given the fact that cleric is off the table, however, just about the only other thing that fits both the story and the numbers would be the Monster Slayer ranger Emmber mentioned. The name and general tone of the backstory very strongly suggests human, but this could also be a mountain dwarf suffering from their hag-inflicted wounds to explain their miserable Con.
If one goes human, they could use Tough as a starter feat to offset the terrible Constitution, and as a story beat - the character is badly wounded and those hag wounds limit their endurance and ability to withstand exertion, but that core of stubborn toughness within them that allowed them to live when so many others died means they can stand in the face of injury better than their decrepitude would suggest when lives are on the line.
Ranger could be used to dovetail into a rejection of the gods - the character might've previously been training as a cleric, but the Hag Slaughter drove them from the gods and into a source of power that would bloody well answer when he called. Plus, Druidic Warrior works here - the wandering monster slayer who fights with a simple traveler's staff imbued with primal might (thanks to Shillelagh aligning it with Wisdom) and banishes the darkness with Produce Flame (note: you can light your hand on fire with Produce Flame, then grab stuff and work/fight like normal. Your hand stays on fire and provides you with a bit of light for your work). This character isn't martially trained or physically sturdy enough for a typical fighting style, but he can call on primal magic just fine.
That would likely be my take. V-Human with Tough, allocating points to Constitution and Wisdom, as a Monster Slayer ranger using Druidic Warrior to fight with a magic-imbued staff. Move on from there.
At a push, it’s not like the Cleric class couldn’t be reskinned. Make it like a warlock-type deal with some other powerful entity but use the Cleric mechanics instead. Divine fealty is not needed to keep the class in check. With the right background (Sage or Cloistered Scholar for research purposes, or Outlander if you need some survival skills) a lot of classes can make sense though - a Barbarian’s rage could be rooted in this tragedy, an Eldritch Knight could be trying to combine martial strength with arcane skill, a Paladin’s Oath could be the vow this character swore. Those are some of the more obvious ones, but every class is essentially about becoming stronger in some way or other.
That said, Ranger and a couple of its subclasses are still a better fit for a monster hunter than anything else.
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Well, it's your sterotypical, run of the mill edgelord of the "my friends/family/loved ones were killed by monsters" variety so any kind of martial class would fit. As suggested, monster slayer and vengeance paladin are probably the most suited. Twilight Cleric could have worked had you not foregone the religious aspect of the character.
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Hi everyone,
I have not been feeling all that well for the last few days, so I decided to write up some character ideas. I won't be playing this character; it is just one that I am creating because I am not feeling well enough to do very much else but sit on my sofa.
Anyway, I thought I would create a monster hunter, and because this character is just for fun, I rolled for my ability scores. Here is what I got:
16, 14, 8, 12, 17, 15
I also wrote up some ideas for the character's backstory, which I will give you.
----
BACKSTORY - CHARACTER IDEAS - EBENEZER KOPPEL - MONSTER HUNTER
He used to be a priest in a former life until all his chanting and prayers failed to save the children under his care from a coven of hags who attached the orphanage attached to the Church where he was the head priest. The hags easily disabled or killed all of the caretakes and then proceeded to kill and eat several of the youngest children, before taking others with them as they left.
The character was severely injured and left for dead by the hags, who forgot about him, as they tucked into their feast. However; he remained alive, and although he could not see, or speak, he could hear what was happening, and in his mind, he began to pray; asking the Gods that he had spent his whole life believing in, to save the children from harm. For hours he lay there listening to the carnage, and for the entire night, even after all had gone silent, he prayed to his God, and his God did nothing. When he was finally found and given healing magic, he was able to tell the authorities what had happened and learned that he was the only adult who had been present in the orphanage that night who had survived the attack. Later that day, he surveyed the carnage, the blood of his murdered brothers still coated the floor and the walls, the furniture was scatted and broken as the children had tried to hide or fight back, and one by one had been killed and eaten by their assailants. Those few children who had survived were so terrified and psychologically scared that many of the survivors were catatonic, unable to describe their attackers.
As the priest walked from room to room, he felt his faith draining from him. He had grown up in the order, his entire life he had believed that the Church and its grounds were sacred, protected from evil by the Gods, and so long as one priest had breath in his body, and held to the tenants and beliefs of the order, no evil could harm those who sheltered there. Eventually, he came across a toy he recognised; a small stuffed bear that he had given to one of his most recent charges, to help him sleep. He had told the boy that the bear was magic and that it would watch over him as he slept, keeping him safe from the monsters in the dark. In truth, he had lied to the boy; the bear was nothing more than a stuffed toy, but the priest had hoped that his little lie would help comfort his charge and that in time, the boy would grow not to need such comforts. He knelt and picked up the bear, and it was then that he noticed the small bloody handprint; the child to whom this toy belonged must have held tightly onto it, believing the lie that the priest had told him, right up until the end.
Tears welled up and sprung from their hiding places in the corner of the priest's eyes, and as a great sorrow filled his heart, he cursed those who had harmed his brothers and the children for which they cared. He condemned the monsters that had brought death into this scared place, he cursed the gods for allowing it to happen and cursed himself for being too weak to protect what was most precious to him; and then the priest made a promise, a new vow, that he swore upon the bloodstained toy in his hands. No longer would he be weak and helpless, no longer would he waste his breath on useless prayers. He would become strong, and if the Gods would not protect the innocent from the monsters, then he would. In the name of his fallen brothers, with that bloodstained toy as a witness, the priest swore that he would become a defender of innocent, a champion of the weak. That; if the Gods would not give their aid to the worthy, then he would give his, that he would become a line in the sand against the terrors of the night.
That evening, he packed his things and left. If he was going to become strong enough to hunt the monsters that had brought evil into his home, he had to find someone to teach him; the priest needed a mentor, someone who knew about the evil he hunted.
The priest, now known only by his name; Ebenezer Koppel, eventually meets others like himself, people, whom, for reasons of their own, are also seeking power, riches or glory, and decides to join them on their quest. At first, he keeps to himself and doesn't talk much about his past, his reasons for joining the party or why he carries a bloodstained stuffed toy around with him, but as he becomes friendly with the other party members, he begins to open up a little. Eventually coming to consider the others not just friends, but family, for whom he would do anything. Although he never forgets the vow he made.
Ebenezer; becomes a monster hunter, dedicated to eradicating all monsters, but specialising in the hunting and extermination of hags. He develops powers and skills that focus on antimagic and dealing massive amounts of physical damage, once he has shut down a hags magical abilities. He also becomes quite strong and resilient, able to absorb physical attacks and stay in the fight.
----
So, what do you think? With the ability scores that I rolled and the backstory, I have just given you, which race and class do you think best fits this character? I will create the character sheet and share it with you, and you will all be welcome to use it if you like it, but I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, criticism and suggestions for race and class.
Thanks
Forge XD.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Well - I mean... there's literally a Monster Slayer Ranger subclass which has martial and anti-magic abilities.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
It's a bit sad that the backstory precludes cleric, as the given ability array (assuming it's in order) is very good for a combat cleric of the War, Forge, Tempest, or Twilight domains. The very low Constitution is a problem, but beyond that you hit the exact breakpoint for medium armor and hit the benchmarks for Strength and Wisdom.
Given the fact that cleric is off the table, however, just about the only other thing that fits both the story and the numbers would be the Monster Slayer ranger Emmber mentioned. The name and general tone of the backstory very strongly suggests human, but this could also be a mountain dwarf suffering from their hag-inflicted wounds to explain their miserable Con.
If one goes human, they could use Tough as a starter feat to offset the terrible Constitution, and as a story beat - the character is badly wounded and those hag wounds limit their endurance and ability to withstand exertion, but that core of stubborn toughness within them that allowed them to live when so many others died means they can stand in the face of injury better than their decrepitude would suggest when lives are on the line.
Ranger could be used to dovetail into a rejection of the gods - the character might've previously been training as a cleric, but the Hag Slaughter drove them from the gods and into a source of power that would bloody well answer when he called. Plus, Druidic Warrior works here - the wandering monster slayer who fights with a simple traveler's staff imbued with primal might (thanks to Shillelagh aligning it with Wisdom) and banishes the darkness with Produce Flame (note: you can light your hand on fire with Produce Flame, then grab stuff and work/fight like normal. Your hand stays on fire and provides you with a bit of light for your work). This character isn't martially trained or physically sturdy enough for a typical fighting style, but he can call on primal magic just fine.
That would likely be my take. V-Human with Tough, allocating points to Constitution and Wisdom, as a Monster Slayer ranger using Druidic Warrior to fight with a magic-imbued staff. Move on from there.
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Another option might be a Paladin of Vengeance. Paladins don't necessarily serve gods - they can get power directly from their oath.
That said, I do have to agree that Monster Hunter Ranger is the perfect fit.
At a push, it’s not like the Cleric class couldn’t be reskinned. Make it like a warlock-type deal with some other powerful entity but use the Cleric mechanics instead. Divine fealty is not needed to keep the class in check. With the right background (Sage or Cloistered Scholar for research purposes, or Outlander if you need some survival skills) a lot of classes can make sense though - a Barbarian’s rage could be rooted in this tragedy, an Eldritch Knight could be trying to combine martial strength with arcane skill, a Paladin’s Oath could be the vow this character swore. Those are some of the more obvious ones, but every class is essentially about becoming stronger in some way or other.
That said, Ranger and a couple of its subclasses are still a better fit for a monster hunter than anything else.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Sounds like a Human Ranger (Monster Slayer from Xanathar’s) or Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) to me!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Well, it's your sterotypical, run of the mill edgelord of the "my friends/family/loved ones were killed by monsters" variety so any kind of martial class would fit. As suggested, monster slayer and vengeance paladin are probably the most suited. Twilight Cleric could have worked had you not foregone the religious aspect of the character.